I can never forget that night. The first time I came in contact with Mount Zion video packs. It was a night I fondly remember like it was yesterday; it was in the middle of the night around 1998 that my mum had bought two movies titled Attacks From Home and The Story Of My Life.
I was much younger when I watched my first Mount Zion movie. It was probably around 1995 when the movie Agbara Nla was serialized on local stations probably across the nation.
There is no kid born in the late 80's or early 90's that will forget the scary nature of the serial when watching every night. Who will ever forget the depictions of the character of the devil and how he appeared at will? as well as the context as well as the overall application of the character of some of the really scary figure which painted a rich vein of vivid pictures of the operations of the world of darkness.
The imprint the movie had on my young mind then was such that made me have the assumption that the devil will always appear beside you to tempt you. Despite the scare, it was a really great movie in all retrospect.
Agbara Nla was a Television hit as people couldn't wait to get to their homes on time so as not to miss this series with their prayer points in sync for NEPA not to take power. When narrating my childhood experiences, this played a significant role in my formative years.
From that point on, the nation began to take notice of a Christian Drama Ministry taking the world by storm and preaching godly messages that transcends the test of time.
For a while, I lost touch with Mount Zion movies when most of their later contents began to appeal to the western audience. Their message seemed abstract and boring not quite because it was a true reflection of those movies but cause the mind has been so in-tuned to the idea of seeing Mount Zion Faith Ministries produce movies with a thematic thrust that is not only traditional but with purely an African thematic thrust.
It was much later that it became clear that Mount Zion Faith Ministries is not your conventional drama ministry and I was able to see beyond my African mentality to understand that despite their western motivated thematic thrust which painted pictures of the realities of those parts of the world, those movies never lacked depth and this is one of the reasons why the ministry is not a hit and run ministry.
Fast forward to over two decades later and Mount Zion made the world take notice again that the unction of the Holy spirit is still greatly at work in their latest Movie titled Abejoye.
This movie portrays a rich vein of africanness such as cultures, traditions, Proverbs, values and belief systems. It is not an art for arts sake but an art for message sake.
Who could have imagined two cultures being fused together? and it was a great spectacle which unveiled the culture conflict in the movie. The differing views between Baba Abejoye who is groomed in the African traditional belief systems and his sons and grandsons who have been exposed to the western culture greatly shaped the plot structure of the movie.
it is great to see how Mount Zion Film Productions could be able to work in tandem with a foreign Christian Drama Ministry in Flaming Sword Ministries and this in no little part played a great role in the success of the movie.
What is so special about this movie is the fact that the characters didn't force the message neither did they have to try so hard. The movie is beautifully sequenced and well structured. Hardly will you watch a christian movie without being able to predict the sequence of events but this particular one leaves you at the edge of your seats with the question of what will happen next.
I can validly state that Abejoye is the first christian movie I have watched whose infusion of African oral traditions, proverbs, chants and humour did not in any way or form dilute the spirituality of the content and context of the movie.
What this movie does is that it captures a lot of realities... From the typical reaction of someone with a village rooted mentality who finds his/herself in a foreign land by divine providence or chance; this is reflected in the character of Baba Olayiotan Abejoye who is a typical village traditional title holder from Ajibogun town.
The character formation of the movie is almost perfect and this greatly aids the appeal this movie has on the audience because it was almost beautifully cast except that the pastor seemed a little too young for the magnitude of the role he played but nonetheless he handled it with grace and finesse. He embodied how a spiritual authority should always be concerned and passionate about the welfare of his flock and his spiritual sensitivity helped to warn the Bamidele's of the looming danger in their home and through his constant praying the Holyspirit exposed the secret life of Laide's husband.
It was a beautiful spectacle to see the mesh of conflict between the eponymous character and the Bamidele family. The coincidental nature of events that succeeded the arrival of Baba Abejoye made the movie a joy to watch.
It greatly reveals the prevalent danger a home faces when not in unity. This is laid bare when Laide who is spiritually lacking points accusing fingers at others while she refuses to see her areas of failure and inadequacies through her lack of submission to her husband and not that it justifies the decision of her husband Bamidele to engage in extra marital affairs with Dedun.
Their respective acts almost destroyed their home as the devil saw a loophole to capitalise on as he begun to attack their home with nightmares and disagreements. The conflicts they faced is in sync with that of Baba Abejoye and the Obaojebolos; Olu Oje and Iya Akesan.
Their respective conflicts solidifies the belief that one can be spiritually attacked through dreams and it is imperative to be sensitive and alert because a true soldier of Christ is not expected to sleep because the devil never sleeps.
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. ( Ephesians 6:12)
Look at the scene Baba Abejoye was slapped in his sleep and shouted into reality. A lot of people who don't handle their salvation with fear and trembling incessantly become victims of spiritual attacks. The moment he gave his life to Christ, he became so alert to the extent that when Oluoje attempted to slap him again, this time around he was alert and dealt with him; One of the numerous messages this movie preaches from the scene referenced is to have a high level of spirituality and not the shallow version as portrayed by Laide who had a shallow prayer life to the extent after a few minutes of praying and she heard Baba Abejoye scream in his sleep; not knowing that he also had his own personal battles let her prejudice cloud her judgement with the assumption that the former was responsible for the predicament in their home.
The most important message to pick from this movie is the wisdom from God to preach the gospel. There is no one that can't be preached to and this is seen in the character of the pastor who employed wisdom to bring him home when his daughter in law who was supposed to be a christian had a preconceived judgement about Baba Abejoye because of his deep rooted traditional belief system.
Abejoye is probably the best movie to have come out of Mount Zion in the last 30 years but honestly it is hard to call considering the great movies that have come out of this ministry like: The Beginning Of The End, Agbara Nla, Ide Esu, The Great Mistake, Lost Forever,Attacks from Home, The Story Of My Life,The Unprofitable Servant, The Perilious Times, The Blood Covenant, The Storms of Life, The Fruitless Tree, The Storm Seas, Blood On The Altar to mention a few. Abejoye is right up there among the Mount Zion Classics.
It is no surprise to anyone that this movie is widely acclaimed because of the creativity and quality subtitles that embellish the movie beautifully. It totally defeated the language barrier problem. Show me a movie anywhere in the world including a Nigerian movie produced in the indigenous language that has been widely accepted as this. If this was an Hollywood movie, it would have been called a box office hit but since it's an heaven centred movie, it is an heaven office hit.
Though we are sad that the world premiere ends today being Valentines day, we are happy that it will soon start being distributed. This movie should not be treated as a monument but a treasure that should be in every home so we are glad that from tomorrow, the movie will be officially released.
In conclusion, This movie right here is a spiritual energiser for every spiritual life drowning in the pit of self righteousness, lust of the flesh, caught in the web of lies and deceit. it is the wake up call every christian home needs and a tool that will guide every christian to win the souls of an unbeliever with wisdom. This is not just an epic movie, it is what I call a spiritual realism. every second spent watching this movie will be a time of spiritual revelation and enlightenment.
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