"The Soup does not shake in the Elder's stomach."
."Things have gone far, far worse than before the bomb came. Far, far worse."
"So may I thank you very much for making the theme of tonight: “America, thank you, but you have to do much more.”"
"There are certain people in my country only God can deal with. There are some people, I regret to say, who are untouchable."
"If you want to help us, help us."
"What nobody has told you, which means you have to hurry, is that the younger Christians are not as cool-headed as those whose stomach will not allow soup to shake.".
".... If you are going to help us, help us soon."
"We will keep praying. We will keep fasting. But we need help."
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TRANSCRIPT
G.O. PASTOR ENOCH ADEBOYE’S WASHINGTON SPEECH THIS WEEK (Edited Transcript for Distribution)
Well, I am sure that those of you who know me know what I am going to say next.
Let somebody shout hallelujah!
God bless you. Please be seated.
God is good.
All the time.
A sister here told us a story about some children who were living in a place where it was always winter, and they kept saying, “Who was it that was moving?”
“Aslan.”
That story is prophetic, because God is moving in Nigeria.
Because of what was going on, when the pain became almost unbearable, and some people were
accusing me of being quiet at a time when I should be talking, I was compelled to cry unto God.
We had been fasting and praying for a particular group of schoolchildren who had been captured. The kidnappers felt that the government was not reacting fast enough to give them the money they had asked for. So they slaughtered their teacher and showed the video to the rest of the world.
Then some people began to speak, challenging those of us who said, “We have been praying.” They said,
“You have fasted. You have prayed. Where is your God?”
So I went to the Lord in prayer, in deep agony. I said, “Father, You have heard them. They are asking,
‘Where is our God?’”
And then God spoke to me. He told me that, as for the release of the children, it was going to be dramatic.
He did not tell me the timing or the details. Then He told me that, if I left that aspect by itself, He would talk to me a bit about what would happen after this particular incident.
Among the things He said, He mentioned what would happen to those who have been sponsoring
terrorism and kidnapping in Nigeria. He also spoke about several other things.
I did not have any idea of what was going to happen here. I only know that my son, the father of that young man who has been the organizer, told me about this meeting. He knew I would be in America for the American convention of our church, and I was supposed to have been on my way to Nigeria by last Sunday.
The [unclear] program will be taking place tonight, and I said I would wait. So, if I disappear before the program is over, it is because another assignment is waiting, and it is not in America at all.
I am happy that you said this program is not political. I am not holding this meeting to discredit the
government, and so on and so forth. If we talk about what is happening in Nigeria, vis-a-vis Christianity, it is a bit difficult for me to bear all that is happening there.
But in Africa, the elders are the custodians of very deep philosophy. They may not be highly educated, but they have education, if you know what I mean.
They say that after an elder has eaten some soup, no matter what is happening, the soup will not shake in his stomach. The point is that an elder, to be called an elder, must be able to suffer long and just pretend that nothing is happening.
One of the things people were complaining about was that I am from the southern part of Nigeria, and the northern part is supposed to be predominantly Muslim. So they were accusing me, in particular, that because I am in the south, I am not paying enough attention to the churches in the north.
So I smiled in pain.
I smiled in pain because, as of now, in the north, where the persecution is supposed to be toughest, I have more than 8,000 churches under my care.
I have suffered things that, if the soup were to shake in the belly of the elder, we would not be having this kind of meeting.
One of my daughters, a pastor in the north, went for what we call morning evangelism. It is simply telling everybody, loud and clear, “Jesus loves you.” That is all she was doing.
She was passing by the front of a mosque. Some people came out of the mosque and killed her. That was not hidden; it was news...
The younger generation of Christians made some suggestions. “The police will not come. They have done their own. Let us do our own.” They said, “We know the mosque. We know the chief imam. Let us do something. After all, the police will not come.”
And I smiled, because if I had agreed that we should do what they said we should do, you know young people now. All you need to do is give the go-ahead. By the time they finish, even you will say, “I did not ask you to go that far.”
But I told them, “If there is going to be a religious war in Nigeria, I will not be the one who will start it.”
As you saw in the video tonight, where some people were being slaughtered — I am happy they took it away very quickly — it reminds me of what happened in one of our churches in the north.
I have taught my own people: We do not run. Light does not run from darkness under any circumstances.
So Boko Haram drove away the churches in the Middle Belt. The pastors there fled, but my pastor refused to move. One day, they came to visit him at home. “He does not want to go. We know what to do.”
But he was not in. However, his wife was in, and she had just given birth to a set of twins.
So they said, “Well, the husband is not home. We will leave him a gift that will cause him to move.” And they slaughtered the twins.
The soup was not shaking in the belly of the elder.
When I heard, of course, the poor little mother nearly went mad. It was quite a terrible experience. So I told my son, the pastor, “Come to the south. You have already paid your price. I mean, when you get to heaven now, and Paul is bragging about how many times they beat him and how many times they stoned him, you can say, ‘Okay, you never married. You never had a set of twins. I had a set of twins, and I lost them for Christ’s sake.’”
I said, “You have made a mark. Come to the south. We will arrange for somebody else to take your place.”
He looked at me and said, “Daddy, what are you saying? You also taught us that we do not run, and we did not run.”
They are still there. Not only are they still there; to mark the occasion, we established an IDP camp.
The children have been there. We started a school for them, and they have been around now for years. As a matter of fact, by the grace of God, come this September, we are going to start a secondary school there.
The IDP camp had, of course, the mothers and the children. Where were the men? They can run, but they cannot settle.
So we had to arrange for the mothers to learn something they could do, because, after all, one day, they are going back home.
Amen.
By the special grace of God.
Now, I am not here to tell a long story. And everything I am saying, because this meeting is being watched,
at least in Nigeria right now, live, I am not going to say anything that I have not said before.
Thank God for Trump.
Thank you very much. Thank you.
Last year, around November, he sent a message that he was coming to bomb Nigeria. And I felt that,
again, if I did not say something, things might not go the way they should go.
You see, there is something wonderful about bombing. The only problem with it is that no matter how accurate your bomb may be, some innocent people will suffer. And I think he meant to bomb us several times.
So again, I had to speak in November, on the first Friday of November last year. I announced publicly that the government must do something quickly.
I said to them, “I have never met Trump, but I have followed him, and I like him.”
That does not mean I agree with all his ways. What I like about him is this: one, he tells the truth. He is the best politician I have ever met.
During his first term, the ambassador in Nigeria at that time visited me in my home. After discussing
whatever we discussed — which is none of your business — he asked me, “What do you think of our new president?”
I said, “Trump?”
He said, “Yes.”
I said, “I like him.”
He said, “Why?”
I said, “He is doing what he promised you he would do.”
With apologies to my brothers here who are politicians, to be a good politician, you must be able to say two things from the same mouth. That is what makes you a professional politician.
And I like him because, when he says, “I want to do this,” you had better get ready. Many times, he would even have done what he was going to do before telling you.
So I said to my government, publicly, on the first Friday of November last year, “God has just given you an opening. When this man says he is coming to bomb you, he is coming. If you do not believe me, ask Iran, because he bombed Iran first before Iran knew that there was a bomb coming.”
I said, “In our own case, God has given us an opportunity. He has told us in advance.”
So I told them to do three things. It was all recorded in all the papers.
One: government, go and meet Trump quickly. Beg him. Tell him to give you 100 days of grace. When I say, “Do not come,” all I am saying is, “Give us 100 days of grace.”
Two: as soon as you have done that, call the military officers — the Army, Navy, and Air Force. Tell them,
“Within 90 days, stop this mess or resign.” I said it.
Three: those people who are kidnapping people, who are doing terror, you know them. The boys doing the dirty work are in the bush.
The sponsors are wealthy people, and you know them. Some of them are businessmen.
Some of them are politicians.
Go after them.
Because if you do not deal with those who are supplying these people with arms and ammunition — and most of the time, when they go about, it is on motorcycles — if you do not go after the sponsors, the problem will continue.
After I made that announcement publicly, I was invited into our own White House, and I met with the
president and his wife. For your information, the wife of the president is one of my pastors. And, without fear, I repeated what I said in the open.
“Sir, do not waste time. Get in contact with President Trump. Go through the ambassador. Call your
military officers. Give them a marching order — 90 days: wipe out this rubbish or resign. And then take care of the supporters, the sponsors.”
They came. How do I know they came? It was in the news that the wife of the president was in the
gathering. I do not know what they were doing here.
When they begin to tell you about how large my church is, they are always exaggerating. I am not as big as they say. I am just a small boy.
He contacted the U.S. He called a meeting of the senior officers. What he told them, I do not know, and I do not need to know, because he is the commander in chief. If the commander in chief is giving
instructions to his subordinates, who are you to be there?
And, this needs to be clear: I do not support those who are accusing the president of not doing enough.
When the commander in chief has given instructions to his subordinates, he has done his bit. You do not expect him to go and put on khaki and fight.
When my friend Trump gives instructions to bomb anywhere, he does not leave the White House. He has done his bit. He commands, “Bomb Iran,” and then he goes to his bedroom and sleeps. The rest is left to his subordinates.
So, what he told the military officers, I do not know. All I know is that on Christmas Day, the bomb landed
— maybe just to let us know, “I mean what I am saying.”
But then, of course, the Iran war came in, and I think he is still busy dealing with that. He is almost finishing that now.
So thank you that you asked us to meet tonight, so that maybe you will reach him before he brings more bombs.
There was a situation today, probably because he might have been misunderstood. People think, “Oh no, all he wanted to do was throw just one bomb. He is no longer interested in Nigeria.”
Things have gone far, far worse than before the bomb came. Far, far worse. So bad that they are asking,
“Where is your God?” That is how bad it is.
The terrorism, kidnapping, and so on that were in the north are now even at my doorstep. They have come all the way down to the south. And, of course, the sponsors — they are all known, and they are still moving about freely.
So may I thank you very much for making the theme of tonight: “America, thank you, but you have to do much more.”
There are certain people in my country only God can deal with. There are some people, I regret to say, who are untouchable.
Forgive me for taking you a little bit into mathematics. I am a mathematician, you know. Once a
mathematician, forever a mathematician.
Newton’s first law of motion says a body remains at rest or maintains uniform motion in a straight line, except an external force compels it to do otherwise.
One way to put it in simple language is this: If you leave this table where it is, and you shut the doors so that no wind can blow in and there is no earthquake, and you come back in ten years’ time, the table will still be there — unless somebody from outside causes it to go in another direction.
If you want to help us, help us.
It does not matter who you elect into office if God does not help us.
It is wise and correct when they say, “Where is your God?”
Let me close, because I have a plane to catch.
I would want to say this as a small boy. Somebody would say, “He is the father of the Christians in
Nigeria.” Me? That is a joke. I am an ordinary pastor. The father of Christians in Nigeria is an Archbishop.
And if you want to know the distance between a pastor and an Archbishop, it is the same as the distance between the earth and Mars.
Use your influence. Here in this nation, only a fool would dare America. When you say you want to face it,
do not be a fool, because if America says, “I want to wipe you out,” it has the power to do it. We all know it.
Use your influence to help us, preferably not by force, because I do not even want a Muslim to die. They are my potential brothers. If you kill them, who will I have to convert?
And I know very well that the picture painted for you is that, yes, there is a problem in Nigeria, but it is not Christianity alone.
That is true. If you look at that statement, you will find a lot of very true corollaries.
Forgive me for talking mathematically again.
It is true that Christians are not the only ones suffering from terrorism. But that truth confirms, number one,
that Christians are suffering. You said they are not alone. Okay — but they are suffering.
Number two, nobody has told you that, in all the attacks, not one can be traced to a Christian. Not one.
What nobody has told you, which means you have to hurry, is that the younger Christians are not as cool-headed as those whose stomach will not allow soup to shake. There are many of these younger ones who are so restive now that, if God were to take me home today, God have mercy.
So we have to move fast. If you are going to help us, help us soon.
All we are asking for is that Christians and Muslims can live together in peace.
You see, I was born in a home where Christians and Muslims used to live together in absolute peace. I had one uncle whose name was Alhaji, a Muslim name. One of my sisters — same father, same mother — was married to a Muslim. In my family, you heard names like Rasak, Hadiat, and so on and so forth.
So I know there are decent Muslims. We were living together in peace, celebrating together in peace.
We want that back.
Help us. Use your diplomatic influence. Use whatever other influence you have. As somebody suggested, contact other nations that can team up with you — places like Britain, maybe Switzerland, maybe Australia — so that the whole world can combine its efforts.
We will keep praying. We will keep fasting. But we need help.
God bless you.
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Quality Review Notes
This is an edited transcript prepared from the user-provided raw transcript. It has not been
independently verified against the original Facebook video audio.
Obvious transcription errors were corrected for readability, including punctuation, paragraphing,
grammar, and likely misheard words such as 'pain' for 'pay,' 'asked for' for 'fast for,' 'three things' for '30
things,' 'twins' for 'trees,' 'cool-headed' for 'school headed,' and 'restive' for 'restrictive.'
Terms that could not be confidently resolved from the written transcript were retained with [unclear]
rather than guessed.
For public release, verify all against the
source video before distribution.
Suggested Distribution Header
Remarks on Nigeria’s Security Crisis, Religious Violence, and the Need for Urgent International Diplomatic
Engagement
Edited transcript prepared for public distribution.
Editorial status: Cleaned for grammar, spelling, punctuation, paragraphing, and distribution readability.
Content meaning preserved where reasonably clear from the raw transcript.
Important note: This transcript should be checked against the original video before official publication, especially where marked [unclear]
