On a bright California Sunday morning in December of that same year, 1996, right in the midst of all our immigration disputes, I suddenly received an early morning phone call. One of my uncles was on the other end of the call and said, "Your father has been a.s.sa.s.sinated." My world naturally stopped. I screamed! And I instantly recalled a very supernatural ex perience I had overnight that had only been interrupted by the loud ringing of the telephone in the morning, waking me up to the terrible news. The many tears would come later, accompanied by all of the agonies of laying a dearly beloved one to rest.I immediately tried to find out where my mother was, and was informed that she had been rushed back from a Christian conference she had been attending and was now at her pastor"s home. I lost all reasoning for a while when no one seemed to have the pastor"s home phone number. I called every minister I thought would know him to obtain the number. It took a few hours before I ftnally reached and got to speak to my mom in Nigeria. Our mother had been attending a weeklong conference and was not at home when the attack took place. Dad"s death is still a bit of a mystery, but a few details later emerged.
Due to his extensive involvement in acquiring land for the use of various Christian organizations, he had previously been targeted and threatened by persons with connections to Islamic extremism. It is believed that some of the land he helped to purchase may have been of interest to persons connected with the Islamic faith for their own intended use. Unknown gunmen were sent to carry out their threat by executing him. This was, and still is a very rare occurrence in the southern part of Nigeria, as many faiths and ethnic groups had dwelt side by side peacefully for many generations, and still do. This was also long before the emergence of the Boko Haram terrorist group who still largely operate in the northern part of Nigeria. This violent trend against Christians was not at all taken seriously in those very early days as they had never happened before. His death made front page news in the Nigerian national Daily Sketch Newspaper of Tuesday, December 10, 1996.
Our grief was unquantiftable as we very slowly came to terms with the tragedy. All four of us, his children, were later handed letters he had handwritten to each one of us found around him. Mine was dated December 5, 1996. He had just ftnished writing the very last of the letters earlier on that fateful morning when the attackers called him to our front porch and fatally shot him. I still have my dad"s ftnal letter to me carefully put away in pristine condition among my treasured things. In it, he had thanked us for the Christmas card we had all jointly sent to them that year and prayed blessings upon us for the New Year. He had also expressed his deep grat.i.tude to me for supporting my siblings during all the earlier tribulations and trials the family went through. How kind G.o.d is to let Dad" s ftnal words to us be recorded in his own handwriting while we were all so far away. Being the oldest child, the primary responsibility of strengthening our heartbroken mother and supporting my siblings again fell on me.
How I was able to travel to Nigeria and fulftll all my duties towards his burial in the light of our uncompleted immigration papers, remains one of G.o.d"s mightiest displays of His power. I am unable to share the details of this huge miracle with you as many would simply ftnd it too hard to believe. I will only testify to the fact that G.o.d"s power is real, His grace is unsurmountable, and I have experienced his mighty acts. By this great grace, I went to Nigeria for the burial and returned safely back to my family in California.
Many wonderful people carried us through this extremely dark period in every way possible. Collectively shocked and overwhelmed as a family, we could not "walk." After moving my mom from her pastor"s home, the Akinyele family took her temporarily into their home, caring for her and the family as we all traveled to Nigeria from England, North America, and many other places. Chief T. A. Akinyele had been the Director of Budget and Special Adviser on Budget Affairs to former Nigerian President Shehu s.h.a.gari from 1979–1983. They were close family friends with my parents, and they entertained the many people who daily stopped by or called to offer their support and condolences.
"Can anything ever separate us from Christ"s love? Does it mean He no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or dest.i.tute, or in danger, or threatened with death?" (Romans 8:35 NIV)
"We are a$icted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed." (2 Corinthians 4:8–9 NIV)
W hen our mother seemed to at one point be completely lost in her grief, I could only think to sing her the words of Micah 7:8 as a worship song. My youngest brother, "Big B" and other people present joined in with my singing in an attempt to reach her mind with G.o.d"s word.
"Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me." (Micah 7:8 ESV)
"But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so G.o.d will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus." (1 Thessalonians 4:13–14NIV)
When all the necessary arrangements for our beloved father following his untimely death were fully completed, he was laid to rest on our family estate. A local poet graced him with the following words to summarize his life.
You served your family with a$ection
You served your Church with commitment and openness
You served your generation with zeal You served humanity with concern
The founder and presiding bishop of his local church, The Christ Life Church aka Sword of the Spirit Ministries, Bishop Francis Wale Oke, named one of their major buildings after our late father, and it still bears his name today: "Elder Olu Olarewaju Hall."
I went to the British emba.s.sy in Nigeria, obtained visas for our mother to recuperate for a while in England, after which she subsequently traveled to South Korea. There she completed her master"s degree in Divinity and continued with the missions work she had previously been involved in with my dad. It was in the process of this service, almost eight years to the date after my father"s untimely demise, December, 2004, that she also got involved in a strange and fatal car accident and died. I, again not by my choice, became the unlikely head of our surviving family. Many dark years followed. I cannot articulate them except to conclude this part by sharing the lyrics of the t.i.tle song of the ftrst alb.u.m I was able to record in America over a decade after all these events.
Through the love of Christ our Savior, All will be well,
Free and changeless is His favor; All, all is well.
Precious is the blood that healed us, Perfect is the grace that sealed us,
Strong the hand stretched forth to shield us, All must be well.
Though we pa.s.s through tribulation, All will be well,
Ours is such a full salvation; All, all is well.
Happy, still in G.o.d confiding, Fruitful, if in Christ abiding, Holy, through the Spirit"s guiding, All must be well.
We expect a bright tomorrow; All will be well,
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Faith can sing through days of sorrow,
All, all is well.
On our Father"s love relying, Jesus every need supplying, or in living , or in dying, All must be well.
(Author of original lyrics: Mary Bowley Peters (1847); Public Domain)
It would take my siblings and me many more years to recover from all these happenings and the many unexpected accompanying distresses. G.o.d again brought us through. We all fully pushed forward, pressing on into our G.o.d-given destinies. After so many years of losses, brokenness, and other family tragedies, we ftnally overcame as a family. People can be killed, but G.o.d"s word cannot be "killed." We are all continuing to fulftll G.o.d"s purpose and destiny, daily manifesting His glory. The enemy attacked and made major a.s.saults against our faith in Christ and our family structure. It was an attempt to stop Christ"s call on our lives, but G.o.d brought us through, kept us together, and led us in His triumphant victory.
All manner of violent deaths and inexplicable sufferings were also experienced by the early apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. The spiritual principle that I very gently and humbly offer to any Christian facing the heavy weight of persecution or the painful agony of grief is found in John 1:5. In the darkness G.o.d is still our light.
"The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." (John 1:5 NIV)
"Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your sta$ protect and comfort me." (Psalm 23:4 NLT)
"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." (Matthew 5:4 NIV)
Faith in C hrist, humor, optimism, streng th, an outstanding work ethic and all of the real estate they had personally acquired were all part of the legacy our precious parents left us. Today all four of their children still continue to serve the Lord.