Benumbed

At a point we will all have to admit

That not all illnesses are natural

This assertion has nothing to do with Africa

Or Village people 

It has nothing to do with race, colour or tribe

It is simply the truth

He was sponsored to Russia for his education on a Federal Government Scholarship

He was trained by the brightest and the best

They had a saying in Russian language he came to love

"God is as big as the hair on a vulture's head"

Apparently because vultures are bald, there is no God!

He doesn't believe in God

How could he?

He grew up under the most difficult circumstances

His mother died giving birth to him

His Father's new wife treated him like a slave

He had to run away from home at the age of twelve

He trekked for miles before he got a bus that took him to the capital

When he got to the capital, he slept in the motor park by night and worked in the market as a porter by day

He was able to feed himself and save some money

God gave him nothing!

Even though he cried, and begged and toiled and laboured

He was left to his own wits by God!

He toiled this way in the cold and heat for a year before 

he got arrested by an agency against child labour 

They asked him all sorts of questions

Where are your parents?

Where did you come from?

Do you have any relatives?

To all the questions, he gave only one answer

"I am an orphan and I have nobody"

The placed him in a remand home

It was the greatest gift he ever got

While many children were placed at the remand home for their truancy

He was placed in a home with some form of structure for the first time in over a year

He put his head down, begged the minders to please let him attend the public school close to the house

They agreed! He was the most well behaved of all the children

He excelled! Especially in Mathematics and other science subjects

An international charity Organization took interest in him when he passed his papers in one sitting

His story was extraordinary

He had his primary education and his first year of secondary school in the village

He was out of school for a year

Returned to school and picked up from where he left off as if he never stopped!

He was an extremely gifted mathematician

By the time he finished his Ph.D in russia at the age of 28

He and two other mathematician had proposed an hypothesis about the inexistence of God

It was a good hypothesis that they hoped would become a theory someday

He was 30 years old when he was diagnosed with Lupus

Discoid Lupus is a long-term autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system becomes hyperactive and attacks normal,

healthy tissue. Symptoms include inflammation, swelling, and damage to the joints, 

skin, kidneys, blood, heart, and lungs

As a result of the disease, he had to wear a flat cap or an ascot cap because the lupus rash was on his scalp

He also had joint pain, fatigue and weakness

He was told he would have to live with it and manage it medically

He lectured on in Russia for another five years before he decided he needed to get married

He had fathered a child with a Russian partner but the relationship didn't work out and they had to part ways

In all he spent 15 years in Russia

He returned home

He was offered the post of a senior lecturer in a private University

The problem was, the University was founded by a Christian mission

He could have chosen to work in a government funded University

But the private university offered him the opportunity to continue his research works in Russia

He gets to spend four months in Russia every year until his research work is done

The University also isolated the lecturers from their religious activities

He settled in very well

He visited his father in the village for the first time in 25 years

His Father was still alive and well

He also got to meet his siblings and his step mother

It was not an emotional reunion

Nobody was sorry for anything that happened

He took to his job like duck to water

It felt fantastic being home again!

He met a lady, a postgraduate student in Animal Science department

They met at the filling station

He was seating down under a tree while his car was being serviced when she approached him

He was bored and needed some company

She was peddling tracts and wanted to talk to him about Jesus

He listened to her and told her about himself

He explained to her that there is no God!

God, fairies, angels, demons, spirits and heaven are all products of the imagination

in all, their discussion lasted until his car was ready

He gave her a lift to her hostel

They exchanged numbers

They became friends

She kept inviting him to her fellowship

He kept laughing it off

One day he dropped her off at the hostel and drove home

She called him about an hour later 

She had forgotten her keys in his car!

He volunteered to bring it back to her hostel that night 

He had a flight to catch at 4AM the next morning

She told him to bring it to the fellowship venue

He got to the fellowship venue at around 7pm

He called her twice but she must have switched off her phone

He had the option of waiting in the car for them to close

He decided it wouldn't hurt to sit in the service

If only to stop her from pestering him

He sat at the back of the hall, looking odd with his ascot hat on his head during service

The person ministering was a young man, probably his age mate or younger than him

The person spoke for a while and started singing

"When the spirit takes over your soul, when the spirit takes over your soul

You'd be changed, His glory will be revealed, when the spirit takes over your soul"

Everybody stood and the brother started praying in tongues

He sat there watching their ignorance in full display

Then the brother said "There is a man here with a strange autoimmune disease, 

you have been told you have to manage it all your life, that disease is demonic

I proclaim you healed tonight! I command that demon of darkness to leave you now!"

He could barely restrain himself from laughing hysterically

"The lady must have told the young pastor about their relationship and since he didn't keep

His health situation a secret, he must have learnt it from her!"

He walked out afterwards!

He sat in his car until the lady called him about 30 minutes later

He drove her home but was too angry to say anything to her

He was so disappointed in her!

As far as he was concerned the friendship was over

He could tolerate other people's view as long as they dont try to manipulate him

Early the next morning, he took off for the airport

It took him a week to notice certain changes in his body

The rashes on his scalp had disappeared and hair was growing on the spot again

The weakness had disappeared totally

He was fine!

He stopped taking his drugs and went to the clinic

He was tested and he was declared free of Lupus

He couldn't believe it!

He asked the doctor what happened

The doctor told him his body must have somehow rebooted itself

There was no logical explanation

"These things happen and he should thank his luck"

He waited a few days before calling her

He had refused to do so since he travelled

He asked him about the fellowship and the pastor that ministered the night he came

She told him the person who ministered on the night he came to her fellowship was an invited guest

The brother had since returned to his base

He didn't say any more

When he returned to his country

He went to see her

At first she didn't notice that he was not wearing a cap on his head

But he was too excited not to tell her

He had kept it to himself throughout his stay in Russia

Nobody would have believed him if he talked about it

Again, his academic credibility depended on his keeping out of the God business

The following weekend they travelled together to meet with the brother in Jeans and T-shirt

He had never met them personally before

He shared the testimony

They all thanked God

The brother in Jeans and T-shirt laid his hands on him

And said "Today, the Holy Spirit has made you whole"

That was the last straw

He suddenly became somehow convinced there is a God

And that He needed this God in his life

He said "How can i be saved?"

He accepted Jesus as His Lord and saviour

The Atheist Professor from Russia became a Christian!

PS: God knew everybody wouldn't believe in Jesus

That was why the scripture says "Whosoever that believeth shall have eternal life"

The truth is salvation has come to all men

Accessing it is free

Only believe and confess Jesus as Lord and saviour

It is true that there are charlatans claiming to be Christians

But if you believe and confess Jesus Christ as lord and saviour 

on your own what do you have to lose?

Nobody but you profits from the deal

And you are set on course till eternity!

Hallelujah!