On Tuesday, 3rd March 1970, as I was about to go for lectures, I knelt down by my bedside to a short prayer (commending my way to God) before leaving my room - a practice I had cultivated since I became a christian. As soon as I knelt down, I was immediately caught up in a trance:
The Lord Jesus Christ appeared and stood by me. Together we were rocketed like a spaceship into the first heaven. At His prompting, I looked down. I saw spread out before me a vast open plain. The entire plain was filled out with crowds and crowds of human beings all in a stooping, kneeling position (like the posture of Muslims while praying). These people were so many that there was no space in between any two persons;they were jam-packed (crammed into one space).
Without saying a single word the Lord took me up into the second heaven. The horizon extended; so did the plain.Again the same crowd of people, in kneeling facedown posture, filled the plain. It was an innumerable crowd of people. At this point, frightened by the sight, I broke loose and started running. The Lord did not run with me. He allowed me to run until I got tired. ( If the Lord has called you and you are on the run, I wish you luck. Jonah tried it and he could not succeed, I , Geoffrey Numbere tried it and did not succeed. There is no distance that you will run that the Lord's Armcannot reach you.)
At that point, He simply stretched out His right Hand and as a would a forklift, picked me up, placed me by His side and together we shot up into a third heaven. Now the higher you go, the further you see into the horizon. Again a third crowd and at this point the crowd was simply unimaginable, with all of them still in the same kneeling, facedown posture.
Then the Lord spoke to me, "Take another look at this crowd. These are all My creatures that perishing. It is not My pleasure that as many as these of My creatures should perish." Then I asked, "Lord , what do you want me to do?" To which He replied, "Go, raise their faces that they may look up to Me, that they might live." Again I asked another question, "Where do I start from?", "Anywhere,"and then He told me,"I have chosen you, but be humble".
I came out of this vision and discovered I was still on my knees in my hostel room. I looked at my watch and discovered that one full hour had passed and I had missed my lectures. This vision, this commissioning had taken one full hour so it was not a fleeting vision that I could easily forget. I got up from my knees and sat on my bed. The picture of the vision began to replay on my mind. I pondered over this vision over and over again. My heart went out to those souls I saw in the vision. I lost interest in my academic work. I could not understand it but I lost interest even in the very course I was pursuing. Every interest in pursuing academic goals faded instantly that moment. Instead I began to see those crowds over and over again. I thought of the milions of people who did not know Jesus Christ. I thought of those, who were in the church like I was who had not known this truth, which I now had, and my sympathy went out to them. From that moment I knew that my days in the University were numbered.
As I left the university, I went to Pa Elton, the man of God whose prophecy I had rejected. When I got to Ilesha, I found out that God had already told His servant that I was coming. So he was expecting me. He laughed and said to me, "Have you finished running? I knew you would finally come." He took me in and we had serious discussions. He told me,"All that has been happening to you are from the Lord. The Lord is going to use you for your people. You are not to go to Bible College or any school whatsoever for the Lord will train you by Himself. He is sending you first to the North for your training."
I paid several other visits to Pa Elton and each time he he not only sought the mind of the Lord for me, he also poured out his wisdom into me and I would always sit at his feet to listen to him. It was Pa Elton who baptised me, ordained me and commissioned me into the work of the ministry.......
(THE PRICE OF THE CALLING in next edition)
