Hawk Eyed Parenting 2

When I was pastoring a church 
in Ketu, Lagos state. A woman 
came to church to attend one of 
our evening services, after the service 
she approached me and said “One 
of your church members is my 
neighbor, she locked up my 
18-year-old son at the police 
station since Sunday and all
our efforts to bail my son had 
been thwarted by this woman. I have 
come to appeal to you as her 
pastor to please help us appeal 
to her to release my son. 

The police said unless she dropped 
the case, they are charging the 
matter to court this week. Please 
help us intervene sir. I told 
the woman I will see what 
I can do. She told me 
her address and said “Please 
let me get home for some 
time before you come over, I don’t 
want her to know I had 
spoken to you. If possible sir, 
tell her the Holy Spirit sent you 
to her to resolve this matter 
because all the people that I 
had begged to appeal to her 
said as soon as they mentioned 
my name, she flared up and didn’t 
entertain whatever they had to say.
Hmmm…

I knew at that moment that I 
was being manipulated but I didn’t 
know why. So I asked her 
the billion-dollar question…
“Madam, what did your son do?”
She said “Your church member said 
he was playing rough play with her 
children. 
These children grew up together in 
the same compound, we have 
been neighbors for a long time and 
they are all boys. How my 
son was being punished for playing 
with her Children is the puzzle here.
Are children not supposed to relate 
and play together if they are friends 
and living in the same compound? 
She accused my son of a lot 
of things but I am sure the 
matter will be resolved with your 
kind intervention”
Hmmm…
I promised the woman I will get on it.

Later that evening I went to their 
compound and met this church 
member at home. She was by 
the door of her flat, picking beans.
I greeted her and asked after 
her children. She said she had 
moved them to her older sister’s 
house for the time being.
I asked why.
She said…

"I went to the market last week 
Sunday to sell some products 
to a long-term customer who came 
in from Owerri. I usually don’t 
sell anything on Sunday but this 
was an emergency. I left my 
sons 14 year old and 12 year 
old at home. They were watching 
the TV and I told them to lock
the door. I finished selling the 
goods on time and raced back 
home to prepare dinner.
When I got here, I saw my 
neighbor son who just came home 
from the university two days before 
In my sitting room, his trousers 
were drawn down to his ankles 
and he was kneeling over my 
12 year old son. My children 
were naked from the waist down too.
He tied their hands and was 
putting his thing inside them from 
the back. My children were crying 
and he was saying “I am 
Initiating you into our cult, you 
will become strong like superheroes 
and other things like that. Pastor, 
he sodomized my sons with 
their hands tied like goats!
I held his shirt and we began 
to struggle, he would have killed 
me if their father didn’t walk in 
to defend me just in time.
We took pictures and another neighbor 
called the police, that was how 
we locked him up sir."
Hmmm…

I spoke with her and encouraged 
her to please see the case 
to the end. I gave her some 
money and encouraged her to keep 
that young man locked up.
I was quite young at the time 
and I had no experience in 
dealing with such things, in fact, 
I was so green that I didn’t know
What was being described was possible 
or being done in Nigeria and by 
a Nigerian. I always felt such 
things were “white” in their 
manifestation.
It taught me a great lesson in 
parenting too. A lot of strange 
Spirits are in this world and 
they express themselves in 
destructive actions towards others

We must pay attention to these 
things as parents. We must do 
our best to ensure the gifts.
God gave us are not sullied 
by the wicked expressions of the 
devil in others.

- GSW