"On my way home, the spirit of God started to reveal pieces of wisdom to me. First, He referred me to the book of Mark:8.36 which says, “For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” (MKJV) Then I recalled another Bible passage about the fact that it is only “God that blesses and adds no sorrow to it...”.
If you are without knowledge, you can be easily fooled without remedy. But if you are knowledgeable, attempts will be made to fool you but your knowledge will set you free. Below is the writer's personal experience in this regard :
"...About two years later, on
my way from school one afternoon, I sighted Alhaji on the other side of Bolade Bus Stop and hailed him. He was very
glad to see me again and immediately invited me to his new house. I obliged him and we arrived at a one-storied
building in a street not far away from the point of our recent meeting. We then climbed upstairs and he opened the
door leading into the sitting room where he welcomed me.
But it was not a normal sitting room because it was filled
with some very voluminous Arabic Books, a mat, a huge bowl filled with beach
sand, a row of assorted perfumes and all sorts of other things that conjured
bizarre thoughts within me!
I was indeed shocked but I kept quiet even in the realization
that I was in for some trouble. Alhaji seemed to discern my uneasiness and
tried to allay my growing fears. He
assured me that as a father, he would only want to help me. He boasted of big names he had already helped
to became rich in life. He dropped such
names as the Abiolas, the Dantatas and a host of other very prominent people in
the society.
Then he requested for some money to buy some perfumes with
which he wanted to do something for me.
At this point, I was no longer myself.
I plaintively informed him that I was in fact looking for my school fees
and that I had little or nothing on me.
However, I searched my pockets and found a little amount which was just
enough to buy the perfumes. Painfully, I gave it to Alhaji. He opened one of
his stock of perfumes and poured its contents into my palms. He advised me to rub the liquid on my face,
hands and body. I did as he commanded
willy nilly.
Next, he took out one of the big Arabic books, tore off a
piece of a plain sheet of paper, folded it and enclosed it between the pages of
the book. He then asked me to kneel down and pray for whatever I wanted. I
prayed my desires, albeit, in Jesus' name.
To him, the mode and language of the prayer did not matter.
After my prayers, he opened the book and brought out the same
plain sheet of paper he had inserted into the Arabic book in my presence. Lo and behold, the paper replicated
everything I had uttered in my silent prayers
in black and white! It was in
very beautiful scripting and in my actual words! Besides, on the same page metamorphorsed a
beautiful talismanic ring. A detail of the magical facsimile informed me that
all I requested had been granted. The actual requests were spelt out. I had no problem with that verisimilitude because
I had prayed in Jesus' name.
But these disclosures
were shackled with conditions and claims I must accept in my life thenceforth
following God's favours I had apparently been granted. It was at this point
that the knowledge of the word of God concerning temptations quickly came to my
mind to rescue me!
The first condition was that I should thereafter regard Alhaji
as my god and that his words would be binding on me. I would worship his spirit
too.
My immediate spiritual reaction was a silent recitation of the
Bible passage in Exodus 20:3 which states: “You shall have no other gods before
me”. So I stood on the ground that the
demand of this so-called spirit negated the will of God in Exodus 20.5, which
says, “You shall not bow yourself down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD
your God, am a jealous God..”
The next hurdle was the claim of the devil-writer that he was
a spirit in the River Mississipi (USA).
My canceling reaction: the claim ran counter to Exo. 20:4 which says:
“You shall not make to yourselves any graven image, or any likeness of anything
that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth, or that is in the water
under the earth.”
Condition 3. I was required to provide a ram for a
sacrifice that would be carried out in the night at the Bar Beach, Lagos.
My reaction: Sacrifices
belonged to the Old Testament times. Jesus Christ has completed every form of
sacrifice we needed to perform with his blood. In the Book of Jn. 19:30, the
Lord Jesus says, “it is finished!” (MKJV)
Condition 4. The miracle ring that sprung out of the
process would be released to me to wear protectively always. This requirement was contrary to church
practice where only marital rings were worn.
Besides, I was too visible as a member of the Choir to be seen suddenly
to be wearing a peculiar ring. How would I explain it to my Pastor and fellow
choristers?
As I ruminated, the Alhaji was exhorting me to take advantage
of the 'golden' opportunity, otherwise, I would risk sudden death.
Poverty
Sets Me Free!
For once, my enemy seemed to be in agreement with me! This is because my escape route lay in the
fact that I had no immediate financial capacity to carry out other concomitant
requirements to fit into Alhaji's coven of converts, and I told him so. But he urged me to go to wherever I could
raise the money and assured me that, in no time, I would be able to repay it.
As my self-assurance returned, I took the window of
opportunity that this opened and agreed to go look for the required money,
promising to return later to accomplish the final initiation!
On my way home, the
spirit of God started to reveal pieces of wisdom to me. First, He referred me to the book of
Mark:8.36 which says, “For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the
whole world and lose his own soul?” (MKJV)
Then I recalled another Bible passage about the fact that it is only
“God that blesses and adds no sorrow to it”.
Then the Spirit reminded me of my past covenants with God
(truly I had some, many of which were surprisingly also re-echoed in the magic
letter!) and of how God had consistently helped me. Why should I then suddenly turn against
Him? Besides, I should review the life
of the Alhaji himself. If he was as capable as he then claimed, why was he
unable to have babies from his first wife?
With such resurgent thoughts, I
was sure that I did not need Alhaji's help for what God wanted me to become in
life.
But the threat of sudden death, should I
fail to go back to Alhaji, still nagged me!
Although I was then not conversant with Psa. 118:17 which says “I shall
not die, but live and declare the works of the Lord” (MKJV), I resorted to
Esther's courageous and defiant spirit: “if I perish, I perish” (Est. 4:16)
(MKJV). And I never went back to
Alhaji, the agent of the Devil!
In the spirit and aftermath of the foregoing encounter, I wish
to commend Jesus Christ to my readers
who are yet to accept Him as their personal Lord and saviour to do so because
only He can see us through the temptations of life and lead us to fulfill our
God-ordained destiny. To have a foreknowledge of the word is to be battle-ready
at all times.
Culled from "Better Tomorrow" (Chapter 19) by Yemi Omogboyega
