It was a Sunday afternoon when the weather changed, the wind came like a roaring Lion amidst a thunderous sound that proceeded after the elongated lightening. Chief Uche was in his compound in Umudike a small community with bad roads and evil elders. He was in his sitting room discussing with his little boy, John. John happens to be the only child of Chief Uche. Due to the evil things going on in the community many women could not deliver safely, most of them had several miscarriages including Chief Uche's wife, Susan.
It rained heavily that many houses were flooded, and most of the inhabitants of the community came to spend the night in Chief Uche's compound which happens to be the only compound in that community that was not affected by the flood. Chief Uche being a nice man accepted them and prepared some rooms in his compound for them. Most of the men that spent the night in the compound were evil men. Evil thought ran through their head as they arranged strategy in a bid to eliminate Chief Uche so they could possess his wealth and compound. Some of these evil men were his uncles and relatives.
They all went to their various houses at dawn as the flood had receded. And in the evening of the following day, some of the evil men assembled in their meeting place and held a serious meeting to eliminate Chief Uche so they can achieve their evil plans by claiming ownership of his compound. They were filled with enthusiasm that with their charms they will succeed. They summoned the spirit of Chief Uche to depart from his body that night of their meeting. Their evil meeting was successful as the spirit instantly appeared before them.
At dawn a loud came from the compound of Chief Uche. "Who is that" a man asked, " It sounds like the voice of Susan, Chief Uche's wife, can't you hear her lamenting words like, my husband is dead, who did this evil will never live" one of the evil men replied with disgusting looking. Crowd clustered the inner room of Chief Uche were he slept the previous night. "Oh! an iroko has fallen" Chief Uche's Uncle exclaimed in disguise.
John was still in school when his father died. He travelled home for the burial and later returned to school to complete his degree. He received several advises from his mother, several well wishes from his pastor and condolence visits from his friends in campus when they all heard the news. While John was still in school studying hard to make good grades, the death of his father kept bothering him but he was determined to get away from every dark light the evil men had placed.
Susan on the other hand was battling back home with the elders and her husband relatives who promised to deal with her if she does not vacate the compound of their brother Chief Uche, before now Susan knew they always carried out their threats and evil promises attached with evil deeds. She had bad dreams severally with different men chasing her with machete. She was physically visited by stroke and partial madness, but with the help of her pastor and church members she recovered.
After several trials and attack from the evil men, countless advises and warning from her pastor, she went to Lagos to live with her son. John concurred with his mother when she explained all she went through and why she needed to leave the compound for the evil men.
A year later John graduated from University of Lagos where he studied Electrical Engineering. All was going well with mother and son but John was rejected many times in different Job interviews. He imagined if the evil men called his uncles really placed a curse on his family, he vowed never to do any work below his degree. He expressed much zeal on how he wished to experiment what he has studied as an Electrical Engineer in a good Firm.
Two years later, John was still sleeping when his mother left for her business in the market. She happens to be the only family he has. She was walking and thinking about the joblessness of her son when a car knocked her down.
The reckless driver quickly zoomed off leaving John's mother in the pull of blood. Clifford a neighbour to John was at the scene of the event. He quickly ran home to inform John of the accident.
"You are here sleeping, John. Your mother has been knocked down by a car" he barked as he slapped John on his left leg. "Just come closer and tell me you are joking" John quickly replied as he jumped to his feet.
John stood up, wore his shirt because he was only in his short and accompanied Clifford to the hospital his mother was taken. On getting there the doctor told him his mother want to speak to him because they cannot do anything due to the excessive loss of blood and fracture.
He quickly rushed to his mother. "John my son, I know I've not been able to give you the beauties of life, but here I will give you my last words of wisdom" She said amidst tears while holding John's left palm. "Mother what are you talking about?" John stammered. "Son always be independent, you've got God by your side, so always be the man your father want you to be, also be prayerful and avoid women like I always told you. What I meant is for you to avoid wayward life and strive to be great" She said as her eyelids began to close.
John could not bear the shock that his mother left him to the other world. He leaned on the wall, tore his shirt, screamed but tears failed to proceed from his soft eyes. He vowed never to misuse the words of his mum while leaning on the wall in pains.
"The evil men took away my father, now they've taken my mother in an accident so I won't know it was their deed" he whispered to himself. John's family has been in the agenda of the evil men, they were bent on eliminating Chief Uche's family but John being the only progeny of Chief Uche has God on his side. They were fading the light on John same way they did to his mother and father, he received several evil attacks. His family has been in darkness of light and John is the only survivor to break that yoke and make the light to be bright instead of fading. John went to seek for solutions from his pastor, after attending many pastor's counseling, he became a full member of the church his late mother attended.
He later became an evangelist and a preacher as well. God had before now given a pry on the trials in his life and how he lost his parent. But God knows the perfect time to do His exploits. God used John to do good deeds; he healed the sick in his church and did other miraculous works. "When did John become an Evangelist that he now heals the sick?" a sister asked. "So many questions are in my head to ask Evangelist John when time he visits my home" the other responded.
Evangelist John was sleeping in his room one night when he had a dream of two men chasing him. This time the men were not putting on mask as they normal do in his previous dreams. “This is not just an ordinary dream” he said to himself when he woke up. It was indeed a revelation from God, what my evil Uncles are planning next. It was indeed a vision on the extent they have gotten to. John in the vision as he claimed it was. He was being chased by two men accompanied with two pythons. He was running when he stumbled on a stone that pushed him to the floor, as the men came closer a Bible fell from the sky to the floor beside him, he quickly picked it and started quoting scriptures of warfare that overpowered and outsmarted the evil men, suddenly fire from nowhere started burning them the moment John shouted holy ghost fire continuously and zealously. The Holy Ghost fire burnt them till they vanished with their python that accompanied them, that was when John instantly woke up saying thanking you Jesus, thank you Jesus continuously before he went down on his knees and prayed about the dream and thanking God for it was indeed a clear vision revealed to him.
That same day by dawn John called the pastor and explained the vision to him. "Evangelist John, this is not what we should discuss over the phone. Come to my office in the evening let's pray over it and see the next step the holy spirit will lead us to take" the pastor replied. In the evening of that day, John being fully prepared after spending the whole day praying and reading the bible, went to the pastor's office and they both discussed about the issue and they both prayed over it and embarked on seven days fasting and prayers.
The fasting ended with a vigil in Evangelist John's house. A brief discussion held that same night. "Evangelist John, the holy spirit spoke to me that it is time we go to your community and break the yoke of those evil men and set all the people they've placed in the darkness of light making their light to fade" the pastor said. "Okay pastor, since it is a nice decision, let us journey to break the yoke because God is with us" Evangelist John replied.
In the morning of that day, they journeyed to Umudike community, where they met most of the evil men parading the community, they have encountered a lot of challenges on their way before entering the community, the car broke down. Smoke proceeded from unknown place to disrupt them but with prayer they became victorious. They summoned few of the believers in the community who were zealous to see the charms of the evil men destroyed. The battle line was drawn. The evil men were prepared they attacked Evangelist John, the pastor and the believers from the community with their charms. They were nine in number but the believers, the pastor and Evangelist John were praying fervently as the holy spirit manifested His work by sending fire to destroy the men. The men screamed and shouted for help as the fire burnt their bodies. The fire was not physically seen burning but was it burning them spiritually after which their leader confessed all the atrocities they did. All their secret meeting venues were visited by Evangelist John, the pastor and the believers. They destroyed all their charms and calabashes. They prayed upon many houses in the community bringing then out from the darkness into light. The members of the community were happy and they surrendered their life to God.
Evangelist John established a believers’ center and a place of worship for the community and many of them were happy, the yoke has been broken. The light in their lives will no longer fade. Their stars must shine and they were all zealous in becoming great in the things of God. Evangelist John thanked the pastor who risked his life for his community and vowed to always worship God and do His work.
©Sunsampaul Egwu Philosopher
Sunsampaul4globe@gmail.com
+2348180861170
23:09:2016
04:49pm
