He was at the office when he received the phone call
It was from the most unexpected source
It was from the administrator of the Headquarter of the church he was attending
He joined one of the branches of the church as a young man and had grown to become an altar minister. He had
always known he was called into ministry but he didn't know why he had been summoned to the headquarters.
He got there very early the following morning, he was barely seated when the pastor of the branch he was with also came in
They were ushered into the office of the pastor in
charge of the headquarter church
There was a few chit-chats
More like a job interview and then the pastor of the headquarter church told him his pastor was being transferred abroad on mission work and had recommended him to take over the affairs of the church
He didn't see it
coming
The Pastor in charge of the headquarters parish told him he came highly recommended and she believed he would deliver
She prayed for him and told him she would come to their parish the following Sunday to come and make the announcement official
He drove home with his head
in the clouds
He was aware the pastor would be traveling for mission work but had assumed the church will post another pastor to the parish
He was just 33 years old at the time and it was the last thing on his mind
When he got home, he told his wife the good news
He also told som
members of the parish who were particularly close to him
The following Sunday, he and his wife wore brand new suits and got to church very early
By 8am, the Pastor in charge of the Headquarter church had arrived
She preached and told the church their pastor has been transferred
then she announced that she came to introduce to the church their new pastor
She called the name of the person
It wasn't him
He didn't hear anything that was said after then
It was as if a sudden static noise engulfed him
It was as if the ground he was standing on started to sink
Somehow he was able to see the service through with a plastic smile on his face
After the service, the pastor that recommended him called him into his office and apologized
He said he was also informed about the change of plan that morning and didn't have time to prepare him and
his family for the change in plans
The pastor said he was deeply sorry
He muttered something and smiled
he told the pastor it was all for the best but he was very angry within
He felt very embarrassed
He didn't know how he would face his wife and the people he had told about his
ascendancy to the throne
The pastor told him someone must have gone to the headquarter parish to pull some strings
To him that sounded like "The new pastor was an imposter, someone God didn't choose but who used a cunning means to cheat him of his birthright"
It didn't settle
down well with him
Two days later, he called a meeting of the ministers of the church and told them everything that happened
He said he didn't believe the new pastor was God's plan
He poisoned everybody's mind
By the following Sunday when the pastor resumed, everything had been
rigged against him
As soon as the poisonous seed he planted started to spread, church members started leaving
The few ministers on the ground had become the resistance army
The pastor didn't stand a chance
Within a year, the church was comatose
The pastor in charge of the
headquarter church couldn't believe it
How can a church of two hundred vibrant worshippers be reduced to thirty or twenty-five worshippers within a year?
She sacked the pastor but instead of retracing her step and coming to him as earlier promised, she sent another minister from
the headquarter church to pastor the church
This time they made him the assistant church pastor
He was determined to frustrate the new pastor's efforts too
He was determined not to play the fool for anybody
One night, the Holy Spirit came to him in a vision
He saw a small wheel
within a big wheel
The big wheel was moving steadily but the small wheel had a clog in it preventing it from moving
The Holy Spirit said "Your actions are clogging your wheel of progress. As long as you walk with the spirit of error, you will only produce errors in your reality"
When he woke up, he realized he had approached the issue carnally and rather than be a blessing, had become a problem for the church
He asked the Holy Spirit for forgiveness
He went to the ministers of the church and explained himself to them in another clandestine meeting
Then
he went to the church members' houses one and by one and invited them back to church?
Things turned around for the church gradually
In his secret place, he prayed fervently about the wheel he saw
He prayed that the wheel will begin to turn in sync with the bigger wheel again
He
knew the bigger wheel was God's plan being set in motion
He knew he had practically shut himself out of God's plan by his actions that year
He didn't act based on the instruction of the Holy Spirit or as anyone who understood the word of God
He acted carnally and his flesh got
the better of him
Two years after working joyfully with the new pastor and putting his all into making amends and rebuilding the church, he got another phone call
This time it was from a start-up company he didn't even apply to
He was offered a very good job but the location was
in another state
He prayed about it and was convinced it was God's plan
He informed the church and he was sent forth with joy
He had been with the church for six years and everything that had been moving initially stopped when he got involved with the church politics issue
He saw
job as a sign that things had started moving for him again
He relocated his family to another state and joined a branch of the same church
When he got there, he was recognized as a minister of God and given the room to minister the gospel
His ministrations were different and they
attracted people from far and near
Nobody could explain why it felt as if there was an anointing on him that others don't have
They brought the sick, the afflicted and the defeated to him and they always went home rejoicing
His exploits grew beyond the parish
Whenever there was
an outreach or a revival, he was the go-to guy
He was at the office, one morning when he received the phone call
It was from the most unexpected source
It was from the administrator of the Headquarter of the church he was attending
The administrator told him the pastor in charge
of the headquarter church wanted to see him
He arrived at the headquarter administrative office first thing the following day
The Pastor told him they had seen the hand of God upon him and they want to make him a pastor in one of their new branches
Had it been he had never had
such a meeting before he would have said "Yes sir" but he was no longer a novice in ministry
He said "Sir, why is my parish pastor not here"
The pastor said "I told him my plan about posting you to a parish and he disagreed, so I overruled him"
The news confirmed what he felt in
in his spirit
It was a test by the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit wanted to know if he had learned his lessons or not
He told the pastor he was sorry
He would prefer to work the pastor of his local assembly until the pastor joyfully releases him to do anything else in the ministry
It was the right response
That night, just as he knelt down by his bed to pray, he saw a bright light
This time he saw a huge wall clock
A smaller wall clock was in it
The time was the same and the movement of the second was in perfect sync!
It wasn't about loyalty to a man, it
was about being in sync with the plan of God
Six months after turning down the position, he started his own fellowship and one year later he was running a full fledge ministry by the power of the Holy Spirit
He had learned from his past error and adjusted his course appropriately
The brother came into his DM like a thief in the night
The brother said he needed some help
Things were tight and love was scarce
The brother said he was a Christian brother
The brother played the Jesus card
He told the brother to send his bank account details
The brother said
he would prefer that they meet
Silver and gold can come later
Can you please meet with me?
He told the Brother when and where
He sent the brother transport fare
They met and talked like brothers
The brother was quite smart
What he got when he was leaving
was ten times what he
would have gotten had they not met
The brother became a regular visitor
to his office
They would sit and talk about life and the gospel
The brother's situation was quite pathetic
No job, no money, nothing to show for his almost forty years of existence
He said he once had a job
The sickness came out of nowhere
At first, he thought it was as a result of his diet
He cut down the rice and other carbohydrates
He started drinking water only
He adjusted the time he ate too
He had never experienced any serious sickness before that season, the pain was terrible
it started at the amusement park
The church had organized a day out for all members to do sport and share some picnic
He was there as a staff of the church
His boss (The pastor) was also there to lead by example
Suddenly this stomach upset got a hold of him
He tried as much as
possible to hold it but the pain was everywhere
At a point he went to sit down and discovered that his chair was covered in blood
That was when he ran into one of the mobile toilets and discovered his body was all messed up
It was a strange ailment
He sent a test to his boss's
The first driver I employed in my life was employed in July 2020
I employed him for my wife
He came highly recommended and he spoke highly of himself too
I had always believed in trusting people and treating them as God treats us
Anyone who has ever had an encounter with me will
testify to this
I worked once with a pastor who treated people very poorly
Whenever i remembered how he treated his staff members, including me, I felt like retching
I have nothing against him personally, i believe he didn't know how to do better but I was determined never to
treat anyone like that in my life
God valued human life above all else
I am like God and i will value what He values
This driver resumed and was a calamity from day 1
He wrecked my wife's car twice
On both occasions, I had to buy two new tyres, two new shock absorbers and pay for
Her husband attacked the issue from a scriptural perspective
He quoted the story of Abraham and Sarah
He felt Sarah was the epitome of marital submission for believers and her life was an example for all Christian women to follow
He said Sarah called Abraham her Lord and followed
Him out of Ur of the Chaldees to a city shown to Him by God
Abraham was the first of His kind
The first Hebrew and the foundation upon which many religions were built till this day
His wife's obedience and support despite her background was instrumental to the success of their
marriage
Because Sarah obeyed Abraham at the right time when Sarah asked Abraham to obey her in raising a child through Hagai, Abraham obliged her, and when Sarah said she was no longer comfortable with Hagai and her son
Abraham, despite his reservations, threw both mother and
Something happened the day after he beat her blue-black for cheating on him
The boundaries of their relationship shattered
He was not an abusive person by nature but that singular act of raising his hand to slap her once and her response, not defiance but acceptance made it worse
It was raining that night
He was in severe pain
He had just been discharged from the hospital after a week
He barely escaped with his life
He had been poisoned by an unknown person
All he could remember was sitting down to sit in a palm wine joint in front of his girlfriend's
school
He had left his own school around 10 am and got to her school before noon
She was having lectures
He had walked into the school premises and seen her in the classroom
He had a key to "their" room but he decided to wait for her at the palm wine joint
He was not in a hurry
I remember that day like yesterday
Even i didn't know how vivid the memory was until today
I was working with a media firm in 2011
It was one of those private media outfits run
by people who supply media content to
TV stations
We were working with a private producer for
a tv show
on the housing industry
it was a poor paying job
A prominent Nigerian of Northern origin had been invited to an event by one of the notable cement manufacturing companies
It was a must "cover" event
I had to be at the venue with my cameraman and the independent producer of the
show
Suddenly I felt that thing that we all feel when someone was talking about us in an unkind way
It was very strong
I looked around and saw them
A guy and a lady
The guy was my wife's colleague at her own media outfit
He was telling the lady beside him something in whispers