They called it elephantiasis
A disease said to be caused by a strange mosquito
I was at the Bible College at the time
I had been sent for my Teaching Practice at a church located at Ogudu Ori-Oke
The pastor of this church was a gentleman
He and his wife were chartered accountants
and they were blessed
I was a personal assistant to another pastor and the coordinator of the Bible College had to practically beg my boss to allow me to observe the Teaching Practice at another church (He had insisted I do it with him and I would have spent the time carrying his
Bible and practicing nothing)
When I reported for duty, I was assigned the duty of follow up and evangelism
My primary assignment was to liaise with the follow-up lady and visit all the members who have not been to that church in weeks
I was also given the altar to minister one
Sunday a month (sermon) and other Sundays in various capacities like leading the church in prayer, taking testimonies, and closing prayer
We met this brother on the way to a member's house early one Sunday morning
He was sitting outside a building, wearing yellow slippers and
looking hopeless
We had walked past him but my spirit reached out to me, so I asked the sister to turn around with me so that we can minister to this brother
He was happy we came around
He said he had spent everything he had on the leg and he was desperate enough to accept any
form of help
He was a non-christian and usually wouldn't listen to a male and a female dressed up in church attires on a Sunday morning
He told us he knew we were strangers the moment we stepped into their compound (Not fenced but demarcated) He said no Christian who knew his
family would dare because of his father's disposition towards every believer
In asked him where his father was at that moment
He said His father was ill and was inside the house
I asked if we could talk to his father
He said No
I said he should let us talk to his father all the
same
When we got into the sitting room we found his father lying on the mat
He was all bones
His eyes were sunk and he was very frail
Everybody seemed to be waiting for him to die
He had tuberculosis and had lost his sight a bit
He couldn't really see us
So I asked him in yoruba
language that if i offer to heal him right there and then would he accept the healing
He said yes
I said If he had to do anything to gain his healing would he do it?
He said as long as he does not have to kill anybody, he would accept any help
I said all you have to do sir, is
repeat the following words after me "Lord Jesus, I accept you as my Lord and saviour today
I confess that your body had been broken for me and your blood was shed for me to live in divine health
As I take on your body as part of my inheritance as an heir of salvation, I drop this
sickness and disease ravaged body. I leave it behind and accept by faith a body full of life and the pulsating spirit of God. Amen.
The man said it without stammering
Then I laid hands on him and said "Lord Jesus, I establish by the authority of the Holy Spirit at work in me that
I am a witness to the sincere conversion of this man and I affirm that he has relinquished his old life and accepted the new life he inherited in Jesus. I hereby rebuke this sickness and disease and declare his body changed into a Healthy body in Jesus name. Amen.
I left my hand
his body for about two minutes
I was silent and so was every other person in the room
Then I said "Can you see me sir?"
The man smiled and said "Pastor, I see you clearly"
But he was still weak and coughing and didn;t look any better
If not for the clear eyesight, it would have
seem as if there was no change
I wanted to tell him to keep praying because the angels of the Lord are at work and would perfect his healing but the Holy Spirit restrained me from living
I felt in my spirit as if I had left something out or forgotten something
I waited in silence
Then it lit up in my spirit
Communion.
I turned to the young man with elephantiasis and said "YOu are about to witness a miracle but before I go-ahead to do what the Holy Spirit has said to me, would you be willing to give your life to Jesus too?"
The young man nodded and the
sister with me led him to Christ just as I did
Bear in mind that GSWMI had not even been conceived as an idea at this time.
I was an altar minister in church and she was a sister I met in the church two weeks before that moment
She was confident and unshaken
I felt more confident
heard her pray
(Her name is sister Rita, she was learning how to bake at the time. She was also a student of a polytechnic in the East. She came to Lagos for her IT)
After she had led him to Christ, shelaid hands on him and prayed for him just like I did
While they were praying,
the leg affected with elephantiasis became so heavy that he had to sit down while screaming in pain.
I told the sister not to remove her hand from his body
We might not be able to explain what was going on with him but one thing was sure, he didn't have that reaction before we
started praying.
I asked someone to get us cracker biscuit and a beverage
The person came back with a bottle of malt
I blessed it and said "Thank You, Father, for the gift of Your Son. By the stripes that fell on His back, my body is healed from the crown of my head to the very
soles of my feet. Every cell, every organ, every function of my body is healed, restored, and renewed. In Jesus’ name, I believe and I receive. (The man repeated after me and I broke the bread and gave it to him. He ate it
Next, I poured the malt in a cup and said:
Lord Jesus,
thank You for Your precious blood. Your sin-free, disease-free, poverty-free life is in Your blood. And Your shed blood has removed every sin from my life. Through Your blood, I am forgiven of all my sins—past, present and future—and made completely righteous. Today, I celebrate
and partake of the inheritance of the righteous, which is preservation, healing, wholeness and provision. Thank You Lord Jesus, for loving me. Amen. (The man repeated the words after me and drank the cup. His son did the same)
I began to pray in the Holy Ghost, the sister joined
me.
By the time we said Amen, the man had slept off
His son's leg was vibrating but he had stopped screaming.
We had spent about 45 minutes with them
We were already late for the worker's meeting
We hurried to the house we were headed to before our detour
The lady told us she had
started attending a church where they sing a lot, dance, and feast every Sunday especially when there are birthday celebrants.
It was a branch of the same denomination but obviously richer and more invested in music and entertainment (These are good things pls, I am just stating
facts, not opinions)
That afternoon, i was with the pastor trying very unconvincingly to explain what happened in the morning when the father and son arrived at our church
The man had stopped coughing and regained enough strength to walk by himself
They came because the son's leg
was still vibrating and they didn't know what to do
After they had settled down in the church, I took my bible and read three scriptures out loud from the book of psalms
The vibration stopped
I told them they would both be back the following Sunday, totally recovered to give
thanks to God
And so it was.
They joined the church
The man's entire family joined and were baptized by immersion and with the Holy Ghost
After my Teaching practice, I returned to the parish where I was an altar minister
The family continued to wax strong in the Lord
PS: Today
is another GSWMI Global communion service
The body and blood of Christ continues to work wonders in His church by the power of the Holy Spirit
The service will hold on zoom mobile app this evening from 6pm
If the Holy Spirit is asking you to be a part of it, please don't hesitate
GSWMI is inviting to its Global Communion Service
When: Friday February 12, 2021
Time: 06:00 PM West Central Africa
Theme: Melchizedek
Whenever i look at the drama in Nigeria
I am tempted often to draw parallels with the scripture
Ken Saro Wiwa reminds me of Sheba son of Bicri
Late President Yaradua reminds me of King Uzziah
Abacha reminds me of King Ahab
Babangida reminds me of King Herod
Late MKO reminds me
of King Zachariah
Chinua Achebe reminds me of Prophet Ahijah
Wole Soyinka reminds me of Prophet Jeremiah
All the politicians remind me of the priests of Samaria
The garb may not fit perfectly but human nature is the same regardless of culture, tradition, and language
The Lord
Jesus lamented that Jerusalem was a prophet killing city
And he was right but so also is Nigeria
The voice of a prophet is a voice of dissent
The one that took the side of Biafra died in exile
The one that tried his best to stop the war is still lamenting
A country that cannot be
She didn't see that far into the future when she decided to pitch her tent with the rich but married engineer
She was 24
Young, plump, and beautiful
She had tried dating young single guys but for her, it seems they were all bones and no flesh
They were unable to offer anything
of value apart from empty words and instant gratification in form of sex and infidelity
The three guys she had dated since she was 16 all cheated on her and practically used and dumped her
The first one, the one she would call her first love got her brain so tangled up that she
stole her mother's money for him and allowed him to do all sorts to her in the name of love
When she caught him cheating, she looked the other way because she didn't want to break up with him and be alone
It took her two years to get the message
She was a fool and he was milking
She started the creche right after her NYSC
It had always been her life goal to own one
She loved babies and when she was in
secondary school, her mother ran a creche
Her mother was a matron with the government
hospital
Her mother also took maternity cases at home
especially
cases involving members of her father's church
Her mother's creche was a side hussle
It was located at the second sitting room of
her father's mansion
A house built to impress the world but was found
to be too big for the family
Too many rooms were unfurnished and unoccupied
this was primarily because her father lost his banking job before completing the building and they had to move in
before their rent expired
Because her father married two wives, one wing was built for each wife and her children
To present a front of equality and keep the families
He had a babe once, they met at a fellowship programme when he was an undergraduate
He was in his final year.
Their fellowships was hosting their church convention and he was the one tasked with the duty of organizing the event. She was the secretary of the conference. He always
believed he was a smart guy, a wise guy. Somehow they started dating. He couldn’t explain it how. He found her in his space throughout the planning process, she was easy to talk to and she was kindhearted. One day, he went to see her in her school and she said "The first day i
set my eyes on you, i told myself i was going to be your girlfriend. I just knew it had to be and i made it happen. She was 20 years old, she was so proud of herself that she didn't know when she said it. His ego couldn't take it. At that time, it felt too much like he was a
I saw the greatest of all injustice earlier this year
It happened in a nation where many of us assumed such an injustice could never happen
It happened right at the time I had assumed that due to the advancement in technology and the "All Eyes on Me" position of the nation
concerned in global affairs that such can never happen
I was wrong.
It happened and nobody could do anything about it, not even the fact that the victim was occupying an office deemed to be the most powerful in the world.
Power, true power works from behind the throne. For many
years the balance of power in the world was controlled by a few faceless people who will back someone bold enough to step into the limelight as long as such did their bidding
Even presidents have sponsors, constituents, and organizations they must remain loyal to if they are to
She had always known her husband was susceptible to negative influence
She was 18 when she met him
He was 24
She was an undergraduate at the University of Lagos
He was a post-graduate student
They met at a friend's birthday party
He came after her with everything he had
She liked
him and was convinced his attention was for real
He wanted to marry her immediately
She would have married him gladly but for a conversation, she had with her parents on a Saturday morning in which she stylishly asked them what they think of her getting married and her mother
said she must not talk about marriage until she was at least 21
So she told him what her parents said
He was disappointed
She assured him that courting for two or three years was not out of place
He agreed reluctantly that day but it was the beginning of six months of hell
The