WAY before he became a prominent pastor, Enoch Adejare Adeboye of The Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, was a Mathematics lecturer at the University of Lagos and at a point, the University of Ilorin and he reminded everyone of that recently.
Daddy GO. as he is fondly called, who has been married for 47 years shared with the audience at the first annual lecture of Pastor E.A. Adeboye professorial Chair for mathematics, the“linear equations for successful marital life.
Pastor Adeboye supported each equation with relevant biblical verses as he told the audience at the main auditorium of the University of Lagos, UNILAG, that his understanding of the mathematics of marriage is what has kept his marriage strong
“I told my children that why I have remained married for 47 years is because I understand the mathematics of marriage. Mathematics is a science of living,” he said.
His equation number 1, which states that ‘Love is blind’ was supported with a biblical passage from Prob 10:12, which states that love covers a multitude of sins.
Then he said the explanation for equation number 2, which is that “marriage is a miracle workers with special anointing for curing blindness” could be found in Genesis 29:16-25 which gives the account of how Jacob was so much in love that he did not know it was Leah that was given to him in marriage instead of Rachel until the next day. When simultaneously calculated, he said the result shows that during courtship, love does not make shortcomings obvious until after marriage, when all doubt about character are cleared.
Moving on to Equation number 3, which states that Angels don’t eat jollof rice”, he made reference to Judges 6:11-21where the sacrifice Gideon offered to the angel was consumed by fire, while he said Equation number 4 is that angels don’t marry, Matthew 22:30. In essence, Pastor Adeboye explained that women eat jollof rice so they are not angels and are not perfect, just like men.
He advised couples to have reasonable expectations of their spouses and not expect them to be like angel. Pastor Adeboye was the first Masters and Ph.D student of Mathematics produced by the University of Lagos. The Apapa Family of the RCCG endowed the professorial chair in Mathematics, valued at N50 million at the university on his behalf in 2009.
The UNILAG Vice Chancellox Prof. Rahamon Bello, announced at the lecture that the university would confer an honorary doctoral degree of science on Pastor Adeboye for his contribution to life and the growth of his church.
“In recognition of Pastor Adeboye’s contribution to life and the growth of the
Redeemed Christian Church of God, the Senate of the University of Lagos has
approved the award of a Doctor of Science (D.Sc) Honoris Causa to Pastor Adeboye. We look forward to the award will be bestowed on him officially,” he said.
He is a father to a fault – wife
Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye is a man of God and a child of God to start with. He is spirit filled, very hardworking, He has passion for people and very passionate about whatever he does and as we all jokingly call him, he is a coach. He doesn’t want anybody around him to end up being a nonentity He wants you to make it in life. Even while he was a lecturer in the University, none of his students would ever fail exam because if he noticed your weakness, he would seat with you and make sure he taught you until you got it. That same attribute in him, has helped him to be an achiever. He will stand by whatever he is doing in life until he sees that he has a breakthrough. Not only that, we know that he is a lover of the Word and he is a Teacher, an Apostle, you know, whatever offices has for His Ministers, he is qualified to be one of them. At various time in his ministry he operates in all these offices and we thank God for his life. He is a father to a fault. As he fathers the church, he fathers his children the same way, in a loving way. At the same time, rebukes and chastises when necessary. He loves and showers his love over them. He is always ready to do anything for any child who is obedient and teachable. For me as his wife, I have not seen him as a husband as such, but a friend and a brother. He has been very loving, very compassionate, he understands people, at least he understands me. I find him interesting to live with because without understanding there would be fighting. He respects and gives people dignity. Who ever you are, he will respect you for whatever God has called you to be even in the vineyard. As he does it outside, he does it in the house. He is very helpful. He is not the kind of husband that does not provide for his home. Even while he was a student, we all understood that he was a student. I had to be at home managing affairs on two occasions for him to go for his Masters degree and for his Ph.D. Immediately he finished, he took up his job again and tried to redeem the time. Up till today, he is still redeeming the time. Pastor E.A, Adeboye is very appreciative. Whatever you do for him, he will appreciate it. He will not only says by the word of the mouth, he also shows it. I think I said it sometime ago that in those days when we were still holding Congresses all around, because of the bulk of the work which was mainly on him and myself, after the congress he would just go out there and buy me shoes and things like that. That is because that is the only way he knew to appreciate but now he knows better. Probably you heard him often at times talking about it on the pulpit until I stopped him, that he must not put me in the open again. We fought about it, because I said he should just stop talking about me in the open.
For me, it is to tell the whole world the kind of husband I have. He is very appreciative. Because of this, I pour out myself into whatever he does so that he can be successful. He accommodates people, whoever you are. He accommodates people to make sure he builds them. He is a builder! You can see it in the ministry several people are being raised, by the grace of God, through him, through his teachings, his examples. He has indirectly built vessels especially within the RCCG hence we have so many teachers in the ministry, pastors, evangelists, apostles even though we don’t call them apostles but we know we have them in RCCG.
Of course, there have been a lot of changes. By the time we married, he was not yet a born-again Christian, though a nominal Christian. We all go to church. I can say I even knew more of the Bible because I was already a Scripture Union (SU) member in the college. Transformation, a great one came after being born again. When we got married, we were together being unborn again for some 13 years or there about, until we become born again. So  salvation is the only key aspect where he has changed. He became more compassionate.
He has more passion. We have heard him talk about it that it used to be very difficult to bring tears out of his eyes. However, from the time he became born again, he can shed tears for anybody even while he is counseling, because now  he has passion and compassion for people more than before. I want to say that while he was still very young, he was extremely active in sports. Though he may not be jumping up and down as a volley ball player now, he still maintains that stature and strength for sports. I think every man should emulate him because he would take his walk in the morning which makes him to be fit, very fit. Of course, increasingly, the Holy Spirit is giving him a lot of visions and inspirations, more than before.
He has always had inspiration for writing because he wrote a lot of poems in those days. In those days whenever he wrote a letter to me, apart from five sentences, the rest would be poems. He has transferred that passion to writing hymns and songs every year. Because of that particular gift in him, he wrote about three plays which we acted and they brought tears to the eyes of the people during the convention—The second coming of Jesus; The Noah’s Ark and the other one that he wrote, we acted when we were still using the headquarters church in Ebute Metta for the convention. So, you could say that most of the gifts that God has given him have been used better since when he became born again and with the inspiration from God, you can say that he has been a sharpened gift more than ever before. When we talk about family issues, we start from our children. We find time, a lot of time for them because when they are at home, they know that we are their parents and we play our role as their parents. We don’t just leave them like that; at least everyday we pray for them. What we do for them in those days; but we don’t have the time today, is eating together in the same bowl. All of them are married now, so they have their own homes but the relationship is very cordial, people can see it. Since none of them is disobedient, they hear what we say and they feel with us, they are side by side in the ministry with their doing. Every one of them has his role to play in the ministry, “and as you all know, all of them are pastors. The one who is not on the pulpit is doing one thing or the other to make sure God is glorified in the ministry and there is no loop-hole somehow. So, we still find time for the children and even the grand children. For the extended family, it is what you know how to do before you become great that you will continue to do. If you forget your source, there is no way you will not dry up.
All his extended family members are well taken care of. We are in good rapport with them, they come, we share things; ‘, they tell us what their problems are. We don’t leave them with their problems. In their joy we rejoice together. If they are having marriages for their children, we are there. That is why many of them are now in the Lord which gives us great joy, both his family and my family. Coming to friends outside, we may not be drinking beer with them as we did in those days, but God has given us a lot of opportunity to have a lot of influence over our friends, by that, many of them are in the Lord today.