Alternatives

He came across the Jujuman’s house in the course 
of his research work
He was an undergraduate at the time
He was studying Human Communications 
His Head of Department taught them about griots, 
remembrancers, Izi Bongo and other historical African 
traditional means of keeping historical records
At the end of the Lecture
They were divided into groups and given a group 
assignment
He was selected as the group leader
And the assignment for his team was to visit the local king’s 
palace and interview the griot or remembrancer or cognomen 
reciter to the king
His group contributed the necessary fund and four of them 
were chosen to visit the palace!
The following Saturday, they got to the palace around 
10 am
They explained their mission to the palace guards
The guards directed them to a house down the street 
They hurried to the house and found an elderly woman 
outside the house washing clothes
They told her what they wanted to do
The woman quickly dropped the clothes and dressed up
She was the person they were looking for
Every year the school would send a set of students 
to the palace for the same project
She knew they would pay her handsomely for her time
They could have recorded her presentation somewhere 
quiet around her house
But the group had opted to do a video recording as 
against the audio recording done year in year out by 
previous students who took the course
They needed her to sit in the place so that they can 
use the palace background to give some
Historical context to the woman's recitation 
They set out for the palace
Just as they turned a sharp bend towards the palace, 
greeted the woman
The person was young, much younger than the woman 
and shabbily dressed
The woman greeted the young shabbily dressed man 
with great respect
She told him the charms he did for her worked
The man smiled like a Carmel
The man told the woman to come and see him later in the 
day to get another charm
The woman thanked him again
As they moved on, the woman rambled on
“That young man is one of our children, a powerful boy,
 some people owed me money! Good money and they 
refused to pay me! When I told him he gave me a charm!
He told me to use it in the middle of the night
Mix it with Camwood, pour some water in a bowl and 
throw a small mirror into it
Then command all those owing me one thing or the 
other to come and pay up immediately 
He told me to say some incantations after this and 
mix the camwood
Then rub it on my feet and go straight to bed
I did it as he said
The next morning, three of those owing me came 
running to my door to pay
By the second day, people who had owed me for a 
long time that had refused to pay, I have even forgotten 
that some of them were owing me came to pay
The most shocking aspect of it all was my uncle, 
who forcefully took my mother’s land came to my 
house on the third day to give me the full value he 
sold the land for!
The woman rambled on and on
To him, the woman was playing with fire
The demonic invocations that the woman set in 
motion would come back to haunt her
He was sure of this
He had been a Christian for many years and had
 grown in the things of the spirit
As a novice Christian he used to regard fetish people
 and charms as very dangerous things
He kept his distance from anybody reputed to
 be dabbling into such 
In fact, he used to pray this way
“Devil, I am not one of those binding and insulting you!
 I just want to live my life in peace, please keep
 away from me!”
But that was before he knew the Lord
That was before he got filled with the Holy Spirit 
That was before he understood spiritual manipulations 
He understood the temporary solutions demons
 provide in exchange for long term domination over
 many destinies
He had cast out many demons that came into
 people’s lives through spiritual negotiations by
 demonic agents like the Juju-man they met and
 other spiritualists!
He didn’t say anything to the woman
He just wanted to do his class project and move on
The project was a success
They submitted the video recording and their report
They moved on
A month later, the examination was fast approaching=
And he had not paid his school fees
He had prayed
He had fasted
His father had the money
He had discussed the issue with his father 
several times
His father lived abroad
But his father was not very concerned about the state 
of things with his children and family anymore
He had married another wife abroad and had children
On his scale of preference, the children of the first wife 
did not rank very high
He called his father both day and night 
Most times his father wouldn’t pick his call
He would sometimes hide his number and call his father
His father would pick only to drop the call as soon as 
he heard his voice 
He asked the Holy Spirit to intervene
He spoke in tongues
He commanded the wind
Nothing worked!
One day he made the call
His father picked the call by accident
He heard his father telling the people around him
"These people in Nigeria thought they had slaves 
here working to give them a life 
“This one (Referring to the person on the line) has 
been stalking me for school fees since! Is it compulsory 
to go to school? He should go and work and sponsor 
himself through school! Perhaps then he would know 
the value of getting an education”
He cut the call after that
He realized he had been eavesdropping and what 
he was hearing could poison his mind against his father
He also got the message
His Father had no intention of paying his school fees 
He cried all night 
It was too late to drop out
He was determined to get his degree on time
But how?
The next morning he saw his classmates going 
to the faculty to collect their examination cards
They had just a week to D-day!
He decided he had to do something
Desperate Situations leads to desperate decisions 
He thought about his future
He prayed
Holy Spirit please come through for me now
Holy Spirit please come through for me this week 
He fasted throughout that week 
Nothing happened! 
The examination would start the following Monday
Somebody sent him a message that the chaplain of 
the school wanted to see him!
The chaplain was aware of his situation and had 
joined him in prayer several times
It didn't work
He knew the chaplain was going to offer words 
of encouragement 
That was not what he needed at that moment!
He needed a solution, something concrete 
On Saturday morning, he sneaked out of the 
school very early in the morning and took a taxi
He told the driver to take him to the King’s palace
As they were going, the Holy Spirit came into the car
The Holy Spirit said,”Where are you going?”
He didn't answer, he just turned his face away!
The Holy Spirit said ”Do you realize that if you sit 
with the juju-man to discuss anything other than 
his salvation you are practically going to sign his 
death warrant!
Do you think the Ark of Covenant can ever now to Dagon?
If that juju-man does through your action, I will hold 
you responsible for his life!
He couldn't believe it!
There he was asking the Holy Spirit to help him 
with his school fees
The Holy Spirit ignored him
But when he was going to seek help elsewhere 
the Holy Spirit showed up
Not to solve the problem but to stop him from getting 
the alternative he desperately wanted!
Out of nowhere, he started laughing!
Laughing so hysterically that the taxi driver parked 
and asked him if all was well
But he couldn't answer! The Holy Spirit had 
jumped on him and was wreaking havoc on his insides
The taxi driver started shouting
”I have carried a mad man! 
See the way his eyes were bulging! 
See the way he was holding his tummy! 
I have carried a mad man! 
How come a lot of young students are going crazy 
nowadays, it must be the cannabis and other drugs 
thy take!”
The more the taxi driver lamented, the more 
he laughed!
He couldn't help it
He wanted to stop it and control it
But the laughter wouldn't stop!
Eventually, the taxi driver alighted and opened 
the passenger door
”Get down! Get down! Get down!!!” barked the taxi driver 
He got down
As soon as he was a safe distance from the taxi, 
the taxi driver jump his taxi and sped off
He continued to laugh by the roadside until the 
taxi got out of sight 
The laughing episode lasted about forty minutes
As soon as the taxi was out of sight, he turned around 
and started walking back to his school 
As he walked, he cried!
He didn't really know why 
Maybe it was the guilt be felt for actually going to 
look for an alternative to the Holy Spirit or the pain of 
not having the school fees issue resolved or both!
He cried until he got back to school 
Later that evening, the chaplain invited him to his 
office and said ”One of my friends in America asked 
me what he could do to support this school and I told 
him to adopt a student whose education he will sponsor.
 He likes the idea and I suggested you yo him!”
He has agreed to sponsor you and sent your school 
fees for this session!
I will like you to mail him and say thank you!
The chaplain handed him an envelope
Inside was his school fees receipt for the academic 
session in his name
On the outside of the envelope was the email address 
of his benefactor!
He checked the date on the receipt
His school fees had been paid the previous day!
He felt a pain deep within his heart
God had not disappointed him after all! 
While he was going to look for help at the wrong place, 
God had already answered his prayers!

PS: Many of us still do this
We claim we had been backed into a corner
We claim we were at our wit's end
We sleep with someone to get that job!
We go to spend a weekend with someone to get that money
We consult spirituality to get a headway in life 
We turn to darkness for help because we felt the 
light has failed us
It is not too late to repent 
It is not too late to turn to the Holy Spirit and destroy the 
contrabands of evil in our possession
Remember the three Hebrew men?
They said even if God will not save them, they 
wouldn't compromise!
Let's learn from them!