Mark Gillmore: Hello and welcome once again to our Go Mission podcast.

I’m Mark Gilmore, and today I have the privilege of coming to you from the center of Cameroon in West Africa.

I’m here in the town of Bankim with my friend Godlove.

Pastor Godlove and I have had many years of relationship and partnership and it is a great privilege not just to have him speak to you today but for me to be with him here in his region of Cameroon.

So brother Godlove, welcome.

Thank you Pastor Mark Gimmel.

It’s good to have you joining us and a couple thousand teenagers here today.

Our friendship goes way back.

Guest Speaker: Yes.

Mark Gillmore: And I think it especially developed in 2013.

Sure.

In June of 2013.

Absolutely.

We had a mission.

What was our mission that June?

Pastor Godlove: 2013, I think we went out to our choir area and we gave out some couples of Bibles and some gospel tracts.

We walked through mountains and forests.

We had a lot of good experience, especially giving out the gospel.

Yes.

Really, I have very big motivation to myself and many came to Christ through that trip.

Mark Gillmore: We had 10 teams out and each team took a different trek from village to village.

Exactly.

And you and I got paired together as the leaders of our team.

Yes.

And we trekked over mountains, and for some it was more difficult than for others.

Pastor Godlove: Yeah, it was just very exciting because some were already adapted to the terrain, and it was not strange to them.

They could overcome their obstacles easily.

People like Pastor Felix, who had been in that area, and some brothers from that area too, it was actually an exciting moment for them.

I remember when we asked about different places, like maybe there is a village around.

They will always tell us that it’s not too far from here.

It’s just a stone throw.

And when they use the word stone throw, referring to maybe three miles, a mile or three miles.

So you will trek for quite a long distance before you will reach where you wanted to go.

So it was very challenging to some of us because we were strangers in the area, even though we are from Cameroon.

Mark Gillmore: I learned something to never ask, are we there yet?

But realize you just keep going until finally you reach.

If your expectation is a short time, you will be disappointed.

Exactly.

I learned something what you were just talking about there, how that often we may think coming from our side, let’s say America, that to reach the next area might be difficult for us, but we think it will be easy for the people who live in that region.

But it isn’t.

No, it isn’t.

For many of you, we were all in a new place.

Pastor Godlove: Yes, we were all strangers in that area.

All learning new things.

Yeah, we were unprepared.

Physically speaking, spiritually speaking, we were ready.

Because we knew we were going to suffer.

Yes. referring to the example of our Lord, how he trekked long distances.

In those days, there were no workers, so even though they used donkeys and other means of transportation, but it was not so easy for them to.

So we’re quite prepared, spiritually speaking.

Mark Gillmore: That’s a blessing because the step of faith that came out of some of my burden, was also created a step of faith for many of the believers here in Cameroon.

Yeah.

And together we grew.

Yeah.

And after that trip in 2013 of June, then you and I, our group, we went to a small village called Bombay.

Pastor Godlove: Exactly.

Mark Gillmore: It was not on the map.

Yeah.

And there we preached the gospel just one day, one night, one evening.

Yes.

And the chief welcomed us.

Yeah.

And God put on my heart that just because we came and brought the Bibles, we are not finished.

Sure.

We have to return.

Yeah.

And so we made a plan about six months later, you and your wife, me and my wife and several others, Cameroon believers, American missionaries.

We went and we lived back in Bombay.

Yes.

For two weeks.

Yeah.

That’s all the time we had.

Yeah.

And our goal was to teach the people how to become disciples.

Exactly.

As we preach the gospel and plant a church.

So those two weeks, how would you summarize those two weeks?

That was January of 2014, 11 years ago.

How did God lead us in those two weeks?

It was quite marvelous.

Pastor Godlove: It was great because during this week, the souls that have made decisions for Christ in the previous time that we passed there, remember as we gave out the gospel the first time using the gospel presentation chat, many of these people were not really convinced.

Most of them had not yet been baptized. even though many of them heard the gospel, but not really in a concrete way.

So when we came this time around, we had some time of Bible study with these people, and several of us in the group had to teach a lesson.

I remember one brother, Brother Oscar.

I don’t know if you remember him.

I do.

And he was handicapped.

He was with Pastor Felix and he’s from that area.

So he himself also taught a lesson.

And myself, I remember teaching a lesson too from the Bible.

And you yourself and Pastor Tai from Canada was there.

And so this led to a lot of other people coming to Christ also, even during that time.

And we, at the end of the week, I think, was it the first week or the seventh week, we have some baptisms.

Yes.

So we baptized some of these people.

And the chief was very happy.

I remember the chief there sharing his testimony and even shedding tears somehow.

And he was weeping and saying, you people should not go and go.

Please don’t go and go.

Come back.

My people really need the word of God.

And the palace of the chief had a lot of, you know, idol representations.

There were statues in the palace a lot.

Most of the rooms was just frightening to spend a night there.

But from this time, we could see the Lord transforming the life of this chief because he was getting more and more interested in the things of God.

And he wanted that the church should be started.

The church should even be built, not only, you know, built in words, but let there be a church house for his people.

Where he took us and we went in that forest behind, deep into the forest again, and he showed a place to us where the church house could be.

Guest Speaker: Yes.

Pastor Godlove: And I was so happy.

There are a lot of things that maybe I have missed out.

But I remember this young child that died when we were there.

Yes.

Can you remember the name again?

Not of the child.

It was a baby who is not really a baby, but just a child of about, I think, three years, four years like that.

They brought this child to us.

And during this time that we were there, then the following day we learned that that baby died.

Maybe it should be related to Roland.

I think so.

Yes, Roland Mbafosam.

Guest Speaker: Roland, who is now Mbafosam.

Pastor Godlove: So, and this child was living with Kalista.

Do you remember Kalista from Bombay?

Yes, that was one of the children.

Not really her biological children, but it was like the children of her sister who died and allowed these children with her.

So, I just saw how these people were suffering and how it would not only spiritually, but even physically.

So that really gave me a lot of burden too as a Cameroonian to think about my people.

Like Paul said, curse is unto me if I preach not the gospel.

So I saw them suffering physically as well as spiritually.

And I said, the Lord really, we really need the Lord.

These people need the Lord in both ways. so our time in Bombay was very very exciting maybe I’ve missed out a lot of other things because we are talking about many years ago I know you can remind me of some maybe

Mark Gillmore: as God has been leading you from that time how did he place on your burden to do the work you’re doing now because we are now here and we’ll talk about that in just a moment but God has called you.

What has God called you to do?

Okay, God has called me to be, let me say,

Pastor Godlove: an evangelist church planter.

Yes.

Yes, to do the work of an evangelist and to help start many churches.

That has been my call.

And I have a very strong burden to reach, especially those who have never heard.

Yes, because I believe that when the Lord came, when we look at the scriptures, you will see him in Matthew chapter 9, when he was going around from town to town, you will see many were following him.

And among these people, when you look very well, you see that most of them were the poor underprivileged, many who were really ingrained in it.

So I have that burden that if we are to give the gospel, we should really start from that.

We should start from those people who are in that darkest place of the world because they are ignorant almost in everything.

And so I have the burden especially to read those who have never been reached, those who have never heard.

And I was first in town, but my years there, yes, I preached the gospel and I planted the church.

But when years went by, I became so burdened that the Lord really wanted me to go deep into the forest.

Yeah.

Yes.

So I’m trusting God for that.

Mark Gillmore: That’s exciting to hear because that burden is from the Lord.

Yeah.

It’s of his Holy Spirit.

And when you say evangelist, church planter, among those who have never heard, that is the very biblical definition of a missionary.

Amen.

A missionary is not the color of your skin.

It’s not even going, even, let’s say, crossing oceans.

The missionary is the one who’s burdened to find those who’ve never heard And to go there and to think of you functioning in that way here in this country is very exciting.

That’s different from the pastor.

And it is a definite calling from the Lord.

Praise God.

So the Lord has led you here.

We are in Banquim, which is going into central Cameroon.

So how did the Lord bring you to this place?

Okay.

Pastor Godlove: Yes, when I trusted the Lord myself, let me just date it back so it should be clear to everybody.

I was actually studying to be a medical doctor.

That was my first ambition when I was growing up.

So when I went to high school, the Lord brought someone to me, a missionary as well, who met me on the road.

And he was with one of my friends who invited me to their church.

So when I went there, they preached the gospel from John chapter 3, verse 16 to 18.

And it said, that verse that says, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believed in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

He that had the son is not condemned.

He that had not the son is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God.

So when they explained this passage to me and used the word, he that had not a son is condemned, believe not a son is condemned already.

And he gave the room for questions.

So at the end of the day, I went to him and said, this verse that someone is already condemned is baffling.

I don’t understand how somebody can be living condemned.

What do you mean?

Does it mean God has already judged the world?

Whereas we are taught from other religions that there was going to be a universal judgment of everybody before the fate of everyone will be decided.

So he did explain to me that, see, if you are living in this life, you have not trusted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you are already qualified to go to hell because God will not examine you like in the court.

God knows you now.

He is not waiting to declare your doom on the last day.

So if you trust Jesus Christ to have your sins forgiven, you are free.

And it was like, how could I be so foolish that I read through the scriptures, but I could not understand simple things like this?

I had been in Catholic Church for many years and in other churches.

So it was like, this is incredible.

So I trusted Jesus Christ.

That was 2006.

And from that time, my perspective about life just began to change.

I was wondering that my service, if I have schooled off to this level, went to churches and I could not understand this.

Guest Speaker: There should be many people as myself who are suffering the same things.

Pastor Godlove: So I started struggling to share my faith with my school friends, not because the church was telling me to do so.

It was just like, this man might be like me too.

And at school, I started discussing the Bible in the class with some of my colleagues and showing them the verse.

And my pastor, Pastor Eric Mosman, in those days, he was a missionary too in Fumban.

And he helped me a lot with other Bible literatures.

And he encouraged me to share with others.

Whenever I had a difficult question, I would go to him and he would clarify me.

Later on, I left to Bafia and he followed me there.

I want to say this, I owe him a lot of credit for that.

I’m always praying for him because even when I left Fumbank, I was struggling with my vision to become a medical doctor.

At the same time, having a strong burden within me that must serve the Lord.

And I didn’t know how that could work out.

So I left from him and went to Bafia.

And I was there in Bafia.

He located me out and knew where I was.

One point in time, I called him.

Yes, I was on the phone.

And he asked me where I was.

I said, I’m right in the bush there in Bafia.

I thought he would not come.

To my greatest surprise, he called me.

When I was not calling, it was his car packing.

I said, how did you get here?

He was just smiling.

He came out with some Bible literature and said, I wanted to just give you this.

I thought it would be of help to you.

I was imagining where he left.

And I knew where from Fumban, the house was comfortable.

And I said, but how could such a responsible man who would have been doing something else to earn a lot of money just suffering like this?

And then when I read through the scriptures, I came across verses like Romans chapter 1 verse 16, where Paul says, For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe it. and then verses like first corinthian 9 that says they are cursed just paraphrasing he says war is unto me by preaching of the gospel verses like romans chapter 10 verse 14 that says how can they hear without a preacher so when i was reaching reading through these things myself too i now understood why he was suffering the way he was suffering i could not afford to let those things go so my burden increased to to become more like him so i later on call him and said i really want to preach but i don’t know how i could be doing this because i’ve never been trained but i believe i should be given the gospel he said wow i’ve been praying for you god love you can go to the bible institute in sapga and there the lord will tell you what to do so when i reached there I made a very good Bible study that was going on in Bermuda.

And I saw some of my friends too who have schooled a bit higher like myself.

And they were all studying the Bible and they were very excited.

They were not caring about other things, just the Bible.

I said, wow, it seems to be a good atmosphere.

So that is how I brought my subject.

So from Bermuda after my training, that is 2009, I finished 2009.

I found my wife, Sister Mourinho, and it was a great blessing.

So the Lord blessed me with the wife.

And we moved out to Bafia for ministry, where I came from, because I had, you know, noticed this lostness around there, a lot of chaotic churches, charismatism, Pentecostalism, Catholicism, and all these other primitive ones.

There were no name around there.

And there was nothing truth going on there.

So when I went back to Bafia, I said, this is where the Lord actually opened my eyes.

So I must give the gospel in this area.

My brother David was in Bathia in those days and he had been lost himself.

So I went back to Bathia and we started preaching the gospel in Bathia with some of my friends from the institute.

So as we preached in Bathia, the burden there, the work grew and there was a need for someone to guide these people through.

So I shared that with the Church of Sapga and with the true Pastor Tom, Thomas Needham, with his family.

And we prayed over that.

And through them, the Lord supported us to move out to Bafia and to lead the work there.

So while in Bafia, now we preach the gospel and many others came to Christ.

And I was just so happy to see how people now were coming to Christ through me.

My vision of the medical fee was just dying.

So I said, if I become a medical doctor, it’s still serving people.

Now that I’m a Christian and I’m a believer, what is my highest goal in life now is to glorify the Lord. 1 Corinthians 10 verse 31.

From the documents that my pastor gave me, the verse said, Therefore you eat or you drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God.

I say, if becoming a medical doctor is for God’s glory, becoming a pastor is for God’s glory, then now God really wants his word to be preached.

Why not just continue preaching the word of God still for his glory?

Then my burden of medical fee just died down.

Say, where if I become a medical personnel, it will not be for money.

It will still be to serve the same purpose, to glorify Jesus Christ.

So I gave, I dedicated my life completely to the Lord Jesus with my family.

We preached in Bafia.

I think we spent around nine years to ten years in Bafia.

While in Bafia, the Lord raised this brother that is now, we are now here in Bafia.

He was in our church in Bafia.

And he was saved, baptized, and he was very pushful.

Then when he saw the need of the gospel, he remembered his village and his grandfather who had spent 50 years as an evangelist in the Protestant church, but he was never saved.

So he started sharing this burden in the church of Baxia.

He said, oh, I would really wish that this world should be taken to my own village, but I don’t know how I can really do it because it’s very far from here.

We would tell him, we will be praying.

There is nothing impossible with the Lord.

If we trust that, if you trust the Lord, all things are possible to him that believe.

So we stayed many years with him evangelizing and citing other churches in the butchers.

And he kept on sharing brothers about his village.

But I never thought of coming this way.

I thought of the Lord using him to come and plant the church or other group to come plant churches in this area.

So as we were in Bafia, we had prayed that the Lord should use us in Bafia for three years.

We thought we could pray and convince the Lord to actually have us stay in Bafia within a certain length of time.

Maybe have us do or go to other areas.

But when we pray, we pray three years.

We stay more than that, close to nine years.

And their brother arrested.

After some years, the Lord actually let me get into some accidents.

So that my vision of the church was a bit different.

Because while in Bafia, I thought I had to control everything so there should not be errors.

So the people should not make mistakes.

I will not let the Lord really lead the church as it’s supposed to be.

God, for me, leaving the church and going away from the church was like killing the church.

So when I attended Goal Missions through you, I’ve forgotten even Necastle.

Sorry, that was a very important, fantastic experience.

While in the institute, I remember you come and others, you taught Necastle on several occasions.

That was even when I learned so much how to give the gospel.

Amen.

That even today, I can tell you, I’m not like, you know, being proud, but it’s good to say the truth.

I’m like a gospel machine.

Yes.

Yes.

And it’s all my next custom material.

And also this chart that you brought later on, the gospel presentation chart.

Yes.

From Genesis, creation to Christ, we chat.

And also the only bridge to heaven.

So all this training that you brought, you like molded me up.

So, it was, as this brother shared this burden, now I did not really want to live by fear.

I didn’t really think that the Lord would have for me still to go that way.

So, when we were praying about it, one day I made an accident.

And this machodah was, I had, we call it a luxation in French.

I don’t know which term of it is like machodah.

I dislocated the older.

Yes.

And things become so hard for me now to handle my family, handle the church and the ministry there.

I remember Sister Ellie met her gentle soul, rest in peace in heaven.

Guest Speaker: She was really helpful to us.

Pastor Godlove: So she helped me with this issue, with the accident.

So I had to move from Bafia to Bamenda to stay there for a while with my brother so that I could get healed. and go back.

So while staying there, I was praying and asking the Lord, what is happening to me now?

I can no longer handle things.

I don’t know what is going to happen with your ministry.

Remember, I have been protecting this ministry in my heart.

I could not leave the ministry like that.

But while in Baminda, I saw the Lord taking care of the church in my absence.

The brothers who were in the church, and they were claiming that they could not, you know, which, you know, anytime I was giving them a duty in charge, they was like, they’d never love to do it because they felt they were not qualified.

So when I left through this accident, they also had to get into 100 things in my absence.

And I would call them and ask, how are things going?

They would say, no, it’s okay.

It’s okay.

So now I discovered that, ah, so these people could even lead.

Things could walk away in my absence.

Yeah, this is interesting. yeah so as I was praying and asking the Lord where am I going to be should I go back to Bafia and continue ministry then this brother that her brother arrested that is the name from this area he started calling me and he was telling me where are you now so I’m still in Bermuda he said wow I’m in the village too I have had an accident myself but we don’t have any good church as I was sharing in Bafia.

My village, my father is 50 years in Protestant church.

She’s not saved.

The wife is not saved.

Many lost people.

I have been sharing the gospel in the village here and I have a group of people that they have been interested.

But I don’t know how I’ve shared everything that I know from the Bible, but I know you will have something more.

So please, I don’t know how you can do this.

I know Banking is far from Bafia.

Is there a possibility that you can we can how can we do that that told him where I will pray about it and see what the Lord would have me to do so as I prayed about that the burden increased and I said okay the Lord convicted me that yes you can go there and start a Bible study mold the Bible study for a while and then you can leave it with this brother so I left Bamenda instead of going to um going to Barfia Abafia is a town, it’s a city.

But I had this burden of going to the loft right deep there, those who have never heard.

So when he was, this brother was, you know, insistently calling me, I did not bow because I have been thinking about people right in the forest, even from aqua area.

So when the Lord finally convicted me, I had to move here with my family.

And we left all our things that way.

And helped by Pastor Tom.

He’s a very good missionary with his family.

They prayed for us a lot.

They provided, they supported us in many ways that cannot be overemphasized yet.

They are really, we owe them a lot.

We owe them a lot.

So he moved us out here.

At the time I wanted to transfer, I was not yet well healed.

But I had to come. because I must obey.

He had to help me and carry my family in his car.

On the bad roads to reach here is not an easy task.

During that time, now the road is good, but a bit good.

But during that time, to access this place, you needed to be an experienced, very experienced driver before you could reach here.

A lot of portcoles, but he supported all that and carried us here.

So when we receive the Lord, before we came, we visited on several occasions.

And all the times we were visiting, he was the one who was supporting us to come visit.

So the first time we came, the father of God arrested who had been evangelist in the Protestant church for 50 years.

And he was not saved.

When we came, he gathered his family and we preached to them here. and he got saved with his wife and he was so happy he said i have been an evangelist for 50 years but i’d never understood the gospel until now and he was just like blessing us he was telling me my son god has called you in this land and i i believe that he’s going to use you more and more and he just like blessed me with his wife like that and we went to the pigmies there in gambe Ngambe is the first town even when we visited before he didn’t come in here.

We went to that town.

We came here on several occasions first.

But we went to Ngambe and we went to the picnic camp.

We met the picnics and we preached the gospel there.

That very day that we preached the gospel.

More than around, there were around 50 of them in one place that day.

And among the 50, I remember we baptized around, that was around 10 of them that day.

And they were so happy.

They sang, many of them sang for their first time, as they were saying.

Because no one had ever come there and really like, you know, preached the gospel to them in that way.

There were other first churches around.

Other churches, let me not say first because have never attended their services. but there were other churches around.

But these pygmies were so excited with what they heard because we taught them from creation to Christ using the charts that we had.

And they saw everything in a picture form since most of them can’t read or write.

And the atmosphere was just wow.

So some of them made decisions for Christ and we baptized them the same day.

So when we were about to go, they said they wanted to be baptized.

Because as we are going now, they don’t know when we will come back.

So we had to baptize them that same day.

We took them to the water, including the chief too.

He was among them.

And we got them baptized.

When we came out, the chief told us that he was pleading that we should not abandon them. because many have attempted this way, but they have gone and never returned.

So they are just lost, as we can see.

They don’t have any church.

They don’t have anybody preaching to them, as we can see.

So their condition was very, very pertinent.

As you will see, even as we were there, we see some of them dying with sicknesses.

The atmosphere was not so encouraging to see, because while we were there, there was one child that was having this epilepsy and the child was shouting on the ground.

You could really know that he was tormented.

He was a type of lunatic.

And they were just requesting for our help that we can see ourselves.

This is demonic.

So we had to pray too for the child.

We prayed for them.

And that day, we went back.

So when we came back next time, we met this child was doing fine.

And the chief told us that, you see, your prayers have helped my people.

And we started a Bible study, a church, because now they had baptized.

So we started the church before the palace.

And they were so happy.

Many of them, you know, some of the pygmies, they are in the forest.

And they heard about this church and they were coming out to come and attend the church.

Then among them, there was one that could read very well.

He was called Gabriel.

So since we could not just stay, we were still planning to come and stay.

Gabriel opted that he would lead them.

He would read the Bible for them.

So we took some time with Gabriel with another brother that I cannot remember his name now.

We instructed them from the Bible.

And we left some materials with them.

They promised that they would teach, they would continue to teach the time that we would come.

So it was interesting.

The Church of the Pygmy was founded, and we went back, planned to come, to come and stay first.

Our main burden was to disciple the Pygmy first before we come to other people.

So when we planned to come, when we arranged our things, There was a conflict between the Ticaris, who are the descendants of Pygmies, and the Bamuns.

So they had a very big conflict.

It was like a tribal war.

The routes were blocked and the ferry, because to get to Ngambi, you have to cross to a ferry.

So they cut the ferry, so there was no way to cross.

So now we had to come back to Mbang Kim instead, to stay in Mbang Kim for some time before we can go to Nganbe and be with the picnics.

So when we came here, Mamba is the same area, even though it’s difficult to assess them.

So we continued the work here in Mbang Kim.

But here in Mbang Kim, the Lord blessed his work to us as we came and settled. we met a lot of people too who were suffering heart wise remember Mr.

Ali who you met when when whom you met there Mr.

Ali was very sick he was a Muslim and he was you know he was dying on the bed and the sister was crying around when we just arrived so I went there she was crying and I comforted her and I told her that the Lord could heal the brother.

She should not just believe that the brother would die.

The Lord would heal the brother.

With God, everything is possible through Jesus Christ.

And she gathered the other people in this compound where we stayed.

The owner of this compound had three wives.

It’s common this way

Guest Speaker: to find people with a lot of wives

Pastor Godlove: and a lot of children.

So they gathered everybody in that house and we preached to them just from our arrival. and Mr.

Ali was not talking at that time.

We preached to these people and in that group, I think about seven people made decisions for Christ that God saved.

And we engaged praying for Ali that the Lord will heal him from the sickness and we prayed to him and encouraged the sister.

After some day, Ali got improved and he started speaking, uttering words.

The sister was just surprised.

She didn’t know what to say.

Then after Ali was never standing up, I had to go and tell her I could raise him up, he would sit.

He said he would not sit.

As we see him, that position is difficult. many have tried.

I said, no, he’s going to sit.

Now, when I trusted the Lord pray, and I went and raised Ali up so he could sit, the sister was surprised.

She said, but he was not sitting out.

I said, well, myself, I don’t know, but I just believe that with God, everything is possible.

Ali sat up, so I took some time later on, since you could now understand a bit.

I preached to him with pictures then Ali got saved too and when he got saved he has been come so attached to the Lord I was requesting for prayers but he was a staunch Muslim so the wife came and discovered that the husband has trusted Jesus Christ that became a very big problem because the wife is holy from a muslim family so she took the children and she will no longer come here easily to visit her husband but she believed that her husband has been um let’s say um how do we say is it so now he’s a christian and so that is not easy but i thank the lord for how he has used us here That is just one example.

One mother was also at this deathbed, and we had a Bible study around Solange’s house, and they came and invited us to this house.

So when we reached there, there were a group of people who came to wait that this mother should die so they can go ahead with the burial and other funeral aspects.

So when we went there, I preached from John 11, the story of Lazarus. that he was already dead for four days in the grave and how the Lord raised him up and how the Lord says his resurrection and life.

So I preached it.

Everybody there was shouting and their focus was on the dead person on the bed that he would raise up.

But my target was their salvation.

So when I preached, challenged them about believing in the Lord Jesus Christ to be alive spiritually, not just physically, but spiritually, I made the emphasis this.

And almost everybody in that room made a decision for the Lord.

They confessed Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, including the children.

Then now, when we finish with that, we pray for the sick person on the bed.

We said, just as the Lord raised Lazarus up from the death, he will raise you too.

We believe that with him, everything is possible.

He said, we should go preach the gospel and heal the sick.

Cleanse the leper.

So we prayed for the woman.

And I was not really feeling, humanly speaking, I didn’t really expect such a miracle, to be honest.

But I just expressed a childish faith like that and left.

So I stayed many days.

I was not passing there, less thinking that maybe, how do they say, she died.

Yes.

That would be embarrassing for me as a preacher to say, how can you pray?

So when I was passing, it was the lady who came and said, but you have not passed to see our patient again.

I said, what happened?

She said, she’s alive.

She’s already healed.

She’s even sitting on the door and eating.

She has been wondering where you’ve been since that day.

And I came around with some sisters.

We met her sitting on the door.

And we were ourselves, we were so happy.

So it was just like me.

I would say, wow, these things are becoming real.

The Lord is working for me.

Praise the Lord.

And when she met me, she jerked her two hands up and hurt my hands.

And she was calling me her savior.

I said, no, I’m not your savior.

I’m just a messenger.

She said, you prayed for me.

And she said something like this.

I don’t know.

This is what she told me.

She said, by the time you were praying, even though I could not get people who were around, but I saw somebody, somebody was sitting before me with a white, in a white garment.

That’s what she told me that day.

So I could not, I didn’t understand whether I was in the war or where was I, but the person was sitting around me in a white garment.

And just told me, the person told me, don’t mind, you are free.

That’s what the mother said to me.

But I did not really, you know, we are careful of being charismatic.

So, but that’s what she testified.

But she became so thankful.

And the daughter also started attending our church faithfully.

The son got saved.

And the son was with us.

But later on, they moved to Douala.

So they’re right now in Douala.

But the mother is still alive. to the day.

So those are some of the miracles that the Lord has done.

And not to talk about salvation of people, mainly God saved here in Bankim.

We started a lot of Bible studies in houses.

And I will go here and there because the people will not want to gather in my own house or in another person’s house.

They prefer to have church or Bible study in their own houses.

So we had about three Bible studies here. in banking.

Yeah, four Bible studies.

And that one was dissolved.

But right now we have the church, the meeting place.

We didn’t have a place to meet.

So we had this Bible study for some time.

And we thought it necessary that if we only continue with house Bible studies, maybe we will end up not having a church.

One never knows what will happen in a particular house.

Because we started Bible study in the house of brother Martin and sister Solange.

So they later on moved to Ngambé and we had to carry the Bible study back to my house.

And we were entering the Bible study in my house and later on there was church as we have some baptized right here in this house.

But we thank the Lord how he has been using Martin, brother Martin and sister Solange because they were really our motivation too let me mention that when we came here and preached the God save and it was through them that brother Aristide mounted more pressure that we should come and help them grow spiritually so brother Martin and sister Solange has really been pushed for both here in Bankim and in Nganbe where Martin transferred to Nganbe and so when he reached Nganbe he started sharing the word of God and we will go there to share the word of God with him.

Whole Bible study in his house where he stays and through that he has taken the initiative, seeing the blessings that God has given him that with time through his coming to the Lord with his family, he has just decided to build a meeting place for the Lord.

He bought a lamb with his own money.

We were praying for the Lord to raise some income so we could buy a piece of land there. for the church when martin did not really tell us that he was really having the burden but like the personal burden that sometime he surprised me that he is already building a place for the lord so he called me and said this is the lord’s house it is like a memorial to the lord for what he has done for me and my family so he’s thankful for his salvation because he used to be a very rough man with his family and their past is not really a good one but from his knowing the lord his experience he has had with lord jesus christ he’s like he wants to sacrifice almost all for the lord so he bought this piece of land and he has started the church building a church house and so that the believers there in gambay in gambay center because you remember there is a pick me section, Pikmi Village at the END that is far away from Gambia Center.

So Martin now is building this church house so that the church that is inside his house in Gambia can move under this roof.

So that is a big blessing.

So I want us to be praying for Mr.

Martin Tours.

He’s somebody that the Lord has been using with his wife, Sister Solange.

Really, I would say they are like Joshua and Caleb here.

They are very pushful.

Yes.

And so here in Bankim, back in Bankim here, we are happy to see how the Lord has blessed the ministry here and on that we have moved the church from this house to a rented church house and that we are hoping that the Lord will provide also for us to have a permanent church house for the Lord and not only a rented property.

But we thank the Lord for all his blessings.

I don’t know.

Mark Gillmore: It’s not easy living here.

Yes.

You’re sacrificing much.

The electricity comes and goes.

Yes.

It’s off and off.

Yeah.

Another drawback.

But God is doing miracles around you and giving you these connections, these open doors. and your wife is right alongside of you.

Exactly.

I just admire both of you together living and your children are in elementary age and their hearts are so pure and sweet and tender.

Praise God.

And that’s because you and your wife are sincere.

Yeah, we’re telling God.

And that’s, I’m just overjoyed.

Amen. with how God is giving you strength and faith.

Several things in your story just highlights that come to my mind as you share what you have just shared.

I think, first of all, you are fruit that remains.

Amen.

When I think of Brother Eric Mossman, who God has directed him out of Cameroon, serving the Lord back in the U.S., but you are the fruit that remains.

Praise God.

And the sacrifice he made to invest in you, the faith to bring you the gospel has left behind.

Amen.

Perhaps someone who can even do greater things than he could do because you’re from this area.

And I think that is the greatest joy of a missionary, the fruit that remains, the people who take it and go forward.

And that is a promise that we have in Scripture, that I have chosen you, that your fruit will remain.

And we need that kind of confidence and we need to see this living testimony of that.

I think also of how you mentioned your time in Bafia.

I remember being aware of that.

And you were going through so many difficulties and trials and yet you stayed and you didn’t run.

And you mentioned how God was teaching you that lesson that it’s his work, not my work.

I don’t have to control it.

God will enable the people and training to continue.

And that is such a key testament.

And there’s stages in life where God is teaching us those lessons, maybe in new ways so that he can use us, even preparing for what he’s doing out here.

So I praise God for just sustaining your faith and then guiding your steps.

And he often guides us, I think, as your testimony shows, through people connections, like with Brother Aristide, who’s from up here.

Yes.

He was down there with you, but he got the burden for back in his home village, and you began to make the connection here.

Exactly.

And then God showed you a family of Solange and Martin that you reach, and now they’re calling for you, and these connections are what God is using.

I am very intrigued about this connection to the pygmies that you mentioned.

I was with you just yesterday, and I saw the chief that you mentioned who received Christ.

And as we arrived there, he was rebuking you for some time.

You’re not right.

And I tell you, I’ve learned that when a chief has to rebuke you, you just be humble.

You let him talk, you let him speak.

Say, kids, as you are listening, take that, apply it to your parents.

If your parents are rebuking you, do not defend yourself.

Exactly.

Just receive it.

That is the best course of action.

Very important.

The Bible really says that too.

The Bible says it. 3 verse 10.

Truly.

Yes.

But this applies out in the mission field.

Yeah.

With the chiefs of villages.

Of course.

Some people in authority, they have a point they want to make.

You allow them to make that point.

And if you allow them well, everything is far.

Exactly.

And the chief, but I was amazed.

The reason he was rebuking you was because when you showed up and you preached the gospel, he knew he was hearing truth.

Yes.

And he knew he was not hearing that from other churches.

And he even got saved and was baptized.

He received it.

And I think of when, way back in 2014, when we went to that village of Bombay, Chief Asanji, When we brought the gospel to him, he knew it was the truth.

He knew the other churches were not bringing it.

There are so many churches spread across Africa.

It’s kind of discouraging when you think these big churches are not preaching the gospel.

But yet we can be encouraged that when we show up with the truth, God will take even chiefs and open their eyes and it will become an open door.

And the pygmies said, don’t leave us.

We need you.

We have people, they come and then they go.

You must stay.

You must plant this church.

You must teach us.

And that is exactly what Chief Assange said.

This is exactly what Chief of the Pygmies said.

And I am, it’s not easy.

You could see satanic worship going on.

You mentioned the epileptic boy who is a lunatic.

Demons are involved.

When we were there yesterday, we saw a husband and wife fighting.

Fighting.

Literally on the ground, slugging each other.

There’s strife.

We saw one of the pygmy huts go up in flames.

Burning.

Burned by the sun.

Supposedly, the sun burned the grass hut because the father was with another woman inside that one.

In fornication.

So fornication.

So you see these strongholds, fornication, smoking, strife, demon worship, idolatry, and they are there.

And yet right alongside of those strongholds is this open door.

Yes.

A chief who’s in the middle of all that says, this is what my people need.

Yes.

And why did you wait to return so long?

And he’s going to rebuke you because you did not come.

Pastor Godlove: Yes, you are right.

I fell back myself.

I have been feeling bad because I could not go there as they needed me.

Given the interruption from the war, I had to settle in Bankim.

But to leave Bankim to go to Ngambe during rainy seasons, especially is very difficult.

It’s very difficult.

I took the path yesterday.

Mark Gillmore: And it’s dry season.

The roads are dry. but it’s still almost two hours on motorcycle between here, Bon Pim, and there in Gambay.

And you cannot just make that trip every day.

And those of you listening here, laborers are needed.

If you will go, allow God to teach you those lessons, but if you will go, he will show you open doors.

And he will do some miracles.

And I think the greatest open doors or the greatest miracle in the harvest are these individuals that we discovered.

Yes.

And you had mentioned Solange and Martin.

Yes.

And Solange, you told me earlier, here is the wife.

She is a bold witness.

Pastor Godlove: Yes.

Mark Gillmore: Right?

She is going everywhere, preaching the gospel, teaching it.

Pastor Godlove: Yes.

Remarkable.

Mark Gillmore: Yeah.

Pastor Godlove: She’s a remarkable woman in faith. of her own.

I serve in all my ministries as I’ve been a witness for Christ too.

I’ve never encountered a lady like her.

She’s very bold.

She with a spirit.

It’s like she wants to attack almost everybody with the gospel.

Even Muslims, that does not mean anything to her.

She’s careless about your religion.

She’s the most

Mark Gillmore: bold.

And her husband is down there in Ngambe.

We were with him yesterday and he of his own accord yeah has purchased a piece of property yes and of his own accord they’re building the mud block brick house yes for the lord for the lord um and the the head man yesterday from whom we made the purchase he he told us yesterday speaking to martin and drossi said martin i have another piece of property behind that’s bigger yeah why did you not purchase my bigger piece you prefer the small one he says do you want a small church or do you want a big church what is your vision yeah uh you know and i’m reminded of that statement from the lord according to your faith yeah beat is that well i think god also grows our faith and he’s clearly doing that but you say well where will the church building come from well this local man is building it.

Yeah.

Praise the Lord.

Amen.

Amen.

And so we are here.

You had mentioned Banking is kind of a center of many people groups.

Yes.

In this place.

And those people groups.

So establishing the work of God here could be very important.

Very important because Banking is the biggest town of the Ticaris.

Pastor Godlove: Ticaris, when we use the word Ticaris.

Tkawi in Cameroon history, it talks about the descendants of Pykmys.

They are the indigenous people of Cameroon, the very first tribe of Cameroon.

And they are believed to be the forefathers of all Cameroonian race.

So they are the original owners of Cameroon land before any other tribes.

So here in Bankim, the firm or the chief of Bankim is the biggest chief in Cameroon.

All right.

Because they are the regional descendants of this land.

And so many other chiefs have to come.

And whenever they are enthroned, they will need to come.

And, you know, a worship team.

I always use the word worship before.

So here you have, it’s a cosmopolitan areas that you have the bansals. you have the Bermendays, people from Bansal, Babisi, you have people from Dopp, you have people from Nigeria too, people from Oku, from Canberra.

So you have other mixed tribes here in Bancim represented.

And it is a type of, you know, 60% French and 40% English. so you can have either both French missionary, somebody who will speak French, somebody who will speak English, as well as some of these dialects will be better than 700 of the laws in this area.

Mark Gillmore: The way it works in countries like this in Africa, you have a national government, and we think of the president and that whole structure, but then you have, you could say, a local government They’re a tribal government that as long as they are, as long as the tribals are at peace, they run and make a whole level of decisions and so forth.

And you are telling us that the Fon or the chief of Banking is the number one of the local African tribal government.

Yeah, tribal government.

And all of Cameroon.

Yes.

So we need to pray much for this center to work.

Even as you were mentioning how the pygmies were an open door, and yet the tribal war, the local war, kept you from the freedom to go down there.

And I’m just reminded that spiritual warfare, spiritual dynamics are involved when it comes to these open doors. that Satan is going to stir up strife.

Yeah.

He’s going to get in the way.

Paul talks about being hindered from going where he wanted to go to.

Sure.

And that is why the least we can do on our side is we can pray.

Yes.

We can pray over these open doors.

Yes.

And let us, let me just encourage you to pray for Brother Godlove.

He is here.

His wife, Maureen, is here.

Their four sons are here in the town of Bon Kim.

And then just a couple hours down the road is Ngambe with another open door.

And really their vision as church planting evangelists is multiple churches.

But they are planting, they’re overseeing.

And it will not be apart from victory and spiritual warfare.

Even you talked about that lady who you prayed for on her deathbed.

She was healed.

She even had a glimpse of this white figure.

And that is clearly an angelic partnership that we have.

And that’s what Hebrews says.

They’re ministering spirits alongside of the messengers as we go.

And we are part of that ministry in a spiritual battle between the forces of Satan and the angelic realm of Christ himself.

And we know we have the victory.

Yes.

We have the victory.

And if we will, if we will go, if we will grow, and if we will be involved in the prayer ministry that God has called us to.

I just this morning was reading in Romans chapter one, there Paul’s testimony about himself, as he said that we have received grace and apostleship.

Yes.

For obedience to the faith among all nations.

Amen.

And God love that’s your testimony for sure.

Yes.

You have definitely received that grace and that apostleship.

You are a sent one as a Cameroonian missionary.

Amen.

That’s the gifting that you have.

And it is for the obedience to the faith among all nations.

What an encouragement.

Amen.

That is, that this is the mission that God has called us to be.

And just to see firsthand, that share on this podcast, what God is doing. it’s a great privilege again brother Golov and his wife are not living an easy life they’re good at it, they understand it well but it’s not easy it’s not easy and we must uphold them in prayer so remember the only way to stay at peace in times of turmoil and uncertainty is to stay on mission with Jesus in his go mission Amen.