The most titled in the Church in the Bible was the Apostle. This is no longer the case today; we no longer suffice with the title of Apostle: We have senior Apostles, senior senior Apostles, Graces and Eminences. Not Elijah, he was simply introduced and remained the entire time he was on the biblical stage as Elijah the Tishbite.

But he could say; if I am a man of God, let the fire come down. Today there are many talkers. Some are busy with analyzing grammatical faults or errors made by the Preacher. Many preachers compete with their congregation as well as the wearing of fashionable clothing, but Elijah said: if I am a man of God… I have nothing against titles and good dressing. I am an Archbishop by title and those who know me can testify that I dress well, but the anointing is not in the title or the clothing.

If you wear a pastoral collar without the anointing of the Holy Spirit, your title will be auctioned off! Elijah said: if I am a man of God! That was a challenge that the devil could not contradict. Challenge the enemy; throw the Gauntlet, challenge the devil to pick it up, in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, then the devil will present you with a pair of clean heels!

At the age of twenty-four, as a young Preacher, self-styled Evangelist, and international Ambassador of Christ (don’t laugh!), I was in church one day when my Pastor stood up and declared that the Lord Jesus said we must heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, and cast out demons (Matthew 10:5). I perked up my ears like those of a dog that heard the word Bone.

> “Who said that?” I asked.

> “Jesus said it,” he replied.

> “What?” I was skeptical.

“To heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, and cast out demons?” He was patient.

I was particularly fascinated by this part: raising the dead.

> “Did Jesus say to raise the dead?” I asked again;

> “Yes,” he replied;

> “To whom did he say it?” I insisted to know;

> “To the Church, to us, and to you too,” he replied;

> “Can I heal the sick?” “Can I cast out demons?” “Yes.” “Can I raise the dead?” “Yes.” “Who should heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, and cast out demons?” To be sure, I asked again;

> “the church;” was his answer again

So let’s see; Church! Heal the sick! Church, cleanse the lepers! Church, raise the dead! Church, cast out demons! In the name of Jesus!

> “Pastor, that’s good for me;

> ” I took up the question again;

> “Tell me, have you ever done these things?”

> “Negative;” he replied “Can I do them?”

> “Affirmative!”

So I took my Hercules bicycle and my Bible, then I circled from street to street asking the question:

“Is there anyone dead here? Do you have a dead person here?”

The answer was always no! What would you think of a man whose greeting to you is to ask if there is anyone dead? I could have cut a figure, but I didn’t care.

“Is there anyone dead here?” They were astonished! Finally, some took the trouble to ask: “What do you want to do with the dead? Why are you looking for a dead person? A corpse?” “My Pastor sent me to resurrect the dead,” was my response. This was in my city, in Benin City, Nigeria; not in America or England. From house to house, I went asking: Is there anyone dead here? From eleven o’clock until evening.

Finally, around four thirty in the afternoon, I found a home that had just been bereaved. There was someone dead in this house. Shout Hallelujah! On my question, is there anyone dead here? They replied that there was one, but what do you want to do with it? I said:

> “I have come to resurrect the dead from death.” They said:

> “You are facing one”; I replied: “Glory to God!”

Indeed, a little girl had died that morning. After washing the corpse, it was laid on the bed while preparations for her burial were being made. I took the dead girl in my arms; she was three years old. The lifeless form of a corpse is not confidently friendly. All the morning’s enthusiasm seemed dead. I didn’t know what to do or how to start the process of resurrecting the dead. I had never done it before, yet my Pastor who said I could do it had never done it either. It’s always easy to have a local reference, but here I had none.

Yet, my Pastor said I could do it. Still fixed on the dead baby, I said:

> “Baby, be healed”; there was no response.

> “Baby, please be healed!” She seemed more dying than ever.

> “My Pastor told me I could resurrect you, so be healed!” It was total silence.

So I started crying, but the corpse didn’t seem to care, because it remained still and dead.

Finally, I laid the baby on the bed and turned to my Bible, then I located the passage where the Lord commanded the Church to heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, and cast out demons. My God; it was still there, but why wasn’t the baby responding? So I opened the Bible passage where the Lord Jesus raised the dead daughter of Jairus, and I noticed that the Lord put out all the relatives of the deceased. So I said:

> “Great! Dad, mom, friends, family members, everyone out!”

Embarrassed, they all left the room and went into the hallway; and asked me what I wanted to do.

> “Nothing; but the Lord drove people out before resurrecting the dead in my Bible passage; that’s why you must stay out.” That was my answer.

I turned my Bible again and saw that the Lord had said to the dead girl: “Girl, I tell you, get up!” Believing that Girl was the name of the dead little girl that Jesus raised, I then called the parents into the room and asked them what the girl’s name was because the name of the girl in the Bible was Girl. Reader, you can laugh at this point, although it is not my intention to make a joke!

> “What is your child’s name?”

> “INUWATA,” they replied.

> “The girl’s name is INUWATA.” So I shouted:

> “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, INUWATA, I command you to get up now, in the name of Jesus!”

And the dead child sneezed; Hallelujah! As she did, she swelled at the same time; but who cared?

Lifting the child towards the sky, I began to dance and sing praises to God. The crowd watching from the corridor joined in the jubilation as I rushed out with the now living and groaning child. It was a victory for faith and the Bible! Hallelujah! If I am a man of God, let…!

At that time, I had no title. I did not have an Honorary Theological Doctorate. I did not yet have a Bible School Certificate. I was a novice who wanted to manifest the Bible, the word of God; and it worked, it worked! It worked! The power of God has not changed. The blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is still available for miracles. The efficiency of the blood remains as strong as it has always been. I laid the child on her feet, and she started walking.

So quickly I picked up my Bible, in the same passage where I read that Jesus asked the parents to give the child in the Bible something to eat. After which I turned to INUWATA’s parents to tell them; give the baby something to eat; and they did. I looked again in the Bible and read: she ate and He gave her back to her mother. After the baby had eaten, I returned her to her mother. Do I need to say that there was great rejoicing in that house? Glory to God! If I am a man of God, let’s see a copy of Christ’s ministry!

So I decided to look for another dead person to resurrect. The next day, taking my bicycle again, I continued my city rounds with the same exciting question; is there anyone dead here? I searched every day for an entire week, but I found no dead person to resurrect. The following week, still no difference. Three weeks later, I found another dead person. This time it was a boy, eight years old. The bereaved family said he had died the previous evening and that they were busy making a coffin to bury him that morning. I told them not to bother. I am here! Say to yourself: I am here!

The reason you are born again is to save the lost, heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, and cast out demons. You are not born again just to speak in tongues and dance. Salvation is more than falling under the anointing and rising again. Salvation is: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, and he who believes will be saved.“

I prayed for this eight-year-old dead boy, and he too woke up from death. A few days later, my gate was filled with the sick, the blind, the lame, the deaf, all seeking healing for their bodies as well as the God who can empower ordinary men to bring the dead back to life. And since then, God has resurrected more than eight people from death after my prayer.

You can now ask: Does this mean that you have the gift of raising the dead? No. That is not my calling. God just honored my prayer after I had prayed, but raising the dead is not necessarily my gift.

The great and happy moments of my life are when I stand before a multitude to preach the gospel and proclaim that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Elijah said; if I am a man of God, that…. He didn’t say; if you think I’m a man of God. He said if I am a man of God; then shame bowed down! Diseases bowed down! Demons bowed down! Infirmities bowed down! Fear bowed down! He commanded fire and fire came down from heaven.

You will never have a powerful testimony as long as you allow the devil to use you as a vacuum cleaner or as a tennis racket to play with.

“It is time to show the world that there is power in the name of Jesus.”

It is time for the Church to say: if I am a man of God! Are you a man of God? Are you a woman of God? When was the last time you cast out a demon? When was the last time you said, “Don’t bury this man, I will resurrect him from death?” When was the last time you said:

“Give me the coffin, I will sell it, and give the money as an offering, and I will return him alive, strong, and healthy?”

This text is an excerpt from the book “If I am a man of God ” written by Benson Idahosa.