Adeboye: My parents were so poor I had no shoes for 18 years

Enoch Adeboye, the general overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), says he had no shoes for the first 18 years of his life.

The cleric spoke about his poor background in his Christmas message titled “Perfect Gift” on Saturday.

Adeboye said his parents could not afford a pair of shoes for him at the time because they were poor.

The clergyman also said his life is an example that God can change people’s situations for good.

“Some of you who know a little bit about my background, you know when they talk about people coming from a rocky background, that means from a background of hardship. My own rocky background was rock among the rocks,” he said.

“My father was so poor, (that) poor people called him poor. The elders have a saying, when there is a hardship for the husband, and hardship for the wife, there must be a hardship for the children.

“The hardship rubbed off on me. For the first 18 years of my life, I had no shoes. My father was so poor. The day he bought an umbrella, we were rejoicing, but look at me today, look at what Jesus can do, He can change the poor to the rich; change the unknown to the known.”

In a Facebook post on Sunday, the cleric further recounted how people mocked his father in the village then because he was poor.

“Growing up, the poor in our village called my family poor because of how wretched my father and mother were. But today, there is nowhere the Redeemed Christian Church of God is not known worldwide all by the mercies of God,” he added.

“I pray for you, that my God Will announce you for good and poverty will become a thing of the past in Your life in Jesus name.”