Responses to last Sunday’s piece have reinforced my belief that there are only two types of human beings. I came to that conclusion a few years back from accumulated personal experience, other peoples’ stories, research as a writer and recent events. How can a person look his fellow human being in the eye and slit his throat?
In a world drenched in blood and evil, two kinds of people are identifiable. Both are powered be forces they relate with. There are those who fear God and those who don’t. God is intolerant of evil, so those who fear or truly love Him have a greater tendency to be good people to keep. At the other end are people who live on evil and so have evil tendencies or are highly susceptible to them.
While God loves even the sinner and tries to save them, it is certain that He does not love sin or evil. However, it does appear that there is no middle ground, although most people seem to tilt towards one end or another. You love God and have a personal relationship with Him or you don’t. It has nothing to do with religion or church/mosque attendance or the number of your religious titles.
Another takeaway is the obvious existence of dark and good forces. There is a tendency for people to ignore the existence of evil forces. But they exist. Even the holy books say so. In Christianity, there is a deliverance ministry, which refers to the activity of cleansing a person of demons and evil spirits in order to address problems in their lives as a result of the presence of said entities and the root causes of their authority to oppress the person.
This week, I will just relate some stories for illustration and desist from comments.
Pastor a shrine struck dumb
Last week, there were reports that a pastor who tried to demolish a shrine in Ogun State was to be charged to court for malicious damage and conduct likely to cause a breach of public peace.
The pastor, Wale Fagbere, who is yet to state his case, was earlier reported to have been rendered unconscious and speechless after invading a community shrine at Ketu, Ayetoro in Yewa North Local Government Area of Ogun in a bid to pull it down.
He was believed to have been trapped at the shrine by forces suspected to be spirits. Fagbare was said to have boasted before his congregation he would flatten the shrine where the community traditionalists congregate to worship.
But he was said to have been rendered motionless until people spotted him.
It was gathered that those who sighted him in his agony, unable to lift his feet, raised the alarm which drew attention of priests in charge of the shrine.
It was learnt the priests demanded some rituals must be performed before the trapped pastor could be set free.
He was, however, said to have regained consciousness after treatment following intervention of the Alaye of Ayetoro, Oba Abdulaziz Adelakun.
The pastor has spoken at last. He said “I was beaten with charms but I kept mute because God had told me not to speak.”
He claimed he suffered no physical or spiritual harm.
Ogun Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, confirmed the incident.
Imitators of Apostle Paul
The Bible tells a story of the sad end of some people who tried to imitate the spirit of Apostle Paul in Corinth. It says, “God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.
Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed.
They would say, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.”
Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest did this. One day, the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know and Paul I know about, but who are you?”
Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.
The Adeboye experience
According to Pastor E.A. Adeboye, General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, “There was this young man who went to attend a programme somewhere – I don’t know what kind of a programme it was, because he came back home heavily loaded with demons. So heavily loaded was he that he couldn’t do anything other than just lie down. He couldn’t stand or walk.
Later he was brought to the church at the headquarters and I began to pray for him.
“I command you to kneel down for prayers,” I said.
He said, “I can’t kneel down.”
I said, “I command you!”
Did you hear what I said? He answered, “In whose name?”
I said, “In the name of Jesus.”
“Oh,” he said, “that is different,” and knelt down.
When I finished praying for him, I said, “Now stand up and go home.”
He said, “I can’t stand.”
I said, “I command you to stand.”
He asked again, “In whose name?”
I said, “In the name of Jesus.”
“That is different again,” he said and got up.
I said to him, “Go home now, have a bath and be normal again.”
He said, “In whose name?”
I said, “In the name of Jesus.”
The man became normal again.
Another Adeboye Story
“During one of our meetings, I saw, from the altar, a woman running with some people following her. After the service, they brought her to me and I asked, “What is happening?”
She said, “As you were preaching, my clothes caught fire, then I knew I had reached the place where I would be set free.”
“What do you mean?” I asked her.
She said, “Let me tell you my story.”
She was trying to protect her children from dying, so she went to a certain church (a white garment prophet) to ask for help. While she was waiting to be attended to, as the prophet was busy attending to other people, the prophet’s wife asked her what she wanted the man of God for. The woman informed the prophet’s wife that she wanted to prevent her children from dying.
The prophet’s wife said, “That is no problem, just take this kolanut and eat it, none of your children will die again.”
Innocently, she took the kolanut and ate it not knowing that through it she had been initiated into witchcraft.
Within seven days, she began to fly at night, attending meetings where they shared a human body and so on to eat. Soon, they came to her to say it was her turn to provide meat for the feast. So she killed her husband. Of course, she was very sad, because that was not what she bargained for.
From that moment, she started going from one Babalawo to the other, but she was only adding petrol to the fire. The killings went round again and it came to her turn once more. This time, because her husband had been killed, she had to sacrifice one of the very children she was trying to protect. I think it was almost time for her to donate the second child when she came to the church. That was when the fire of God came down mightily and her dress caught fire.
We prayed a simple prayer and she went home. In some villages, they still use what is called pit latrines. It is a kind of toilet whereby when you want to relieve yourself, you do it on some old newspaper spread on the floor and later throw it into the pit. This was what she did that night, but to her amazement, she excreted a dead snake. And from that day, she became free.”
