Locked-In

He was seated in his own sitting room when 
the strange storm came from nowhere
He was watching the premier league
A match between his favorite team and another 
title contender
His wife was in the kitchen preparing his meal
He had just bought the 47 inches flatscreen and 
the cable TV
After years of toiling and managing
He had finally found himself in a wealthy place!
He was a fisherman
That was the only life he knew
He was born on the water, in one the floating 
communities of Lagos
By the time he was eight, he had mastered the 
ways of the Lagoon
He got his own canoe at 12
It wasn't really his, it was his father's canoe but he 
was given the latitude to take it out alone for as 
long as he wanted whenever his father wasn't 
using it
They were poor but so were their neighbours
Poverty was a must for their communities to remain 
unchanged
Nobody can wake up with lofty ideas of building a 
mansion or buying a Ferrari
Such desires would mean leaving the lagoon and 
settling on land
It would mean deserting the legacy of their ancestors
Deserting the worship of their gods and deities
None of them would dare do such
The lagoon is their life!
Most of them are fishermen and fishmongers
Their women are mostly fishwives
The lagoon is the water they drink and the water 
they defecate on 
The Lagoon is their life
He got married quite young
About the age of 26
All he needed for marriage was a floating plank 
house of his own, a canoe, fishing nets, and a 
good mat or small mattress 
He got everything before he clocked 21
He was a hardworking young man and quite a 
catch in the community
The riverine community is a little lax on sexual 
issues
Essentially, they live in a slum
Slums are a little iffy when it comes to decency
It’s like being in a sewer and complaining of 
bad smell 
The sheer number of people, the high rate of 
poverty, exposure to sexual activity from an 
early age (especially 
because parents and children share a room 
and children couldn’t help but be in on the action) 
made having sex at 
a young age a normal thing
He lost his virginity at the age of fifteen
To a girl who was supposed to be in school but 
sneaked into his parents' shack at about 9am 
one day
His parents had gone for a community meeting
She picked him at random
He usually wasn’t at home at that time and 
they were not on talking terms
She was quite mature for her age 
He had seen her several times hanging out 
with the older guys
She didn’t say a word
Just smiled and climbed the stairs into their shack
He dropped his net and followed her Immediately
He didn’t want her stealing anything!
That was how life was in the slum
Petty theft is normal
Nobody blames the thief
Everybody blames and mocks the careless victim!
When they got into the shack
She started taking off her school uniform
She looked at him and said “Why you come 
dey look? Una no wan do?”
(What are you looking at? Don’t you want to have sex?)
They were there for four hours
There was nothing else to do till 2pm when she 
had to return home from school
They had nothing to discuss
He explored and learnt as fast as he can
He was also aware that the opportunity may 
not come a second time
She told him she had spent her school fees to buy 
hair attachments
Her father would kill her if he knew
Her boyfriend promised to give her the money but 
he failed her
She couldn’t go to school for fear of punishment for 
non-payment and
She couldn’t go home!
She went to see her boyfriend but he was nowhere 
to be found
Then she saw him and decided to spend some 
time with him!
He gave her the money
40 Naira!
He had over 500 Naira hidden in the room
He felt he owed her that much
She was very grateful
By the time she was leaving around two
They opened the door to find his parents sitting 
on the canoe
It was a little awkward
She greeted them and waited on the step while his 
Parents stepped out of the canoe to the stairs
His mother was angry but she masked it well
His father smiled “knowingly”
Later that night his father gave him a lecture 
about “women”
His mother waited for three days before unleashing 
her anger by pointing at all the pregnant girls in the 
community and telling him “I will not back 
anybody’s baby! If you get someone pregnant,
 it will be your funeral”
That was the first of his numerous sexual encounters
There was nothing like being “loose” or 
“engaging in fornication” 
It was their way of life
Often you will hear a lady say “Why wouldn’t I be doing it? 
When I am not under a curse”
That was the mindset!
When you are old enough to do it, do it!
The turning point of his life came at the age of 22
A group of people from a foreign university came to 
their community for a research project
They spoke with the community head and his canoe 
was chosen as one of the vessels to be used to 
convey the researchers to their chosen locations 
on the lagoon
He got some money from the researchers every day
More than he usually made from fishing
The project lasted for three months
At the end of the three months, he had become quite 
friendly with some of the researchers
One of them took him to a bank and helped him to 
open an account
He told him his account details were needed in 
order to process the payment for his services
A few weeks later a bank agent visited their home
His account has been credited with a stupendous 
amount of money by the researchers
Wow!
He didn’t tell anybody
He continued his fishing business
Set up his own shack and got married to the most 
educated girl in the slum
His wife had a National Diploma in Public Administration!
After the wedding, he told her about the money 
He had to!
He was way out of his depth and had no idea what to do
His wife was a very intelligent woman
She started investing the money
She bought landed properties, set up shops and got 
him three fishing trawlers 
She employed eighteen staff members
Opened 6 seafood outlets
It was like money rain
He couldn’t do anything wrong
The money kept coming
His wife was the brains and he was the king
He bought the fresh fish, shrimps, periwinkles and 
other catches from his community processed them 
and supplied such to hotels and seafood restaurants 
He got refrigerated trucks and employed drivers
By the time he was 30, he was making a profit in millions
His house was a few hundred meters from the slum
He had touts, widows, orphans, panhandlers, mooches 
and beggars at his door both day and night
His wife kept telling him they were wealthy enough to move
But he wouldn’t move
He wouldn’t know how to live anywhere else
Far from the smell of the lagoon
Far from the blessings of the deep
Until he caught his six-year-old daughter and an 
eight-year-old boy one afternoon
The boy was a neighbour’s son
They were playing husband and wife
And trying to figure things out under the covers
On His bed!
Wow!
The next day he told his wife to make the arrangements 
He has no excuse 
He must give his children the best!
They moved to a three bedroom flat somewhere at the
 heart of the city
He set up the flat to taste
His daughter had her room
His four-year-old son had his own room
He and his wife stayed in the master bedroom
The very first night he spent in the flat
He had a dream
He saw himself and some friends sitting in the slum
Drinking and talking
Suddenly he saw some elderly people
Seven of them dressed in black long attires
They appeared out of nowhere and stood directly 
in front of him
His friends ran away
He wanted to run but his legs wouldn’t move
One of them threw a sack at him and told him 
to get in the sack
With fear and trembling he got into the sack
As one of them was tying the sack up
He woke up!
He wouldn’t have told his wife the dream 
But he woke in such a frightful state that she 
was startled too
His wife calmed his down 
The next morning he went to see his parents
They told him they would do some consultations 
on his behalf
Later that day, as he was watching the game
A strange wind came into his sitting room
It carried him bodily and slammed him against 
the ceiling
Then it dropped him on his back to the floor
He wanted to scream but the air was trapped 
somewhere in his throat
It carried him again
This time he struggled!
It threw him against the wall
The third time it carried him up and slammed him 
against the glass window
The window shattered 
By the time his wife rushed out of the room to 
see what was going on
He was lying lifeless on the floor
His wife raised an alarm
He was rushed to the hospital 
The doctors examined him and started working on him
After eight hours, he opened his eyes
But that was all the part of his body he could move
His eyes!
They waited in vain for the rest of his body to respond 
to stimuli
After three months the doctor diagnosed his condition 
as Locked-in syndrome. ... 
Locked-in syndrome (LIS), also 
known as pseudocoma, is a condition in which 
a patient is aware but cannot move or 
communicate verbally due to complete paralysis of 
nearly all voluntary muscles in the body except for 
vertical eye movements and blinking.
It has no known medical cure!
After a long deliberation with the doctors
His parents decided to take him to an herbalist
The herbalist said the deities of the Lagoon were
angry because he moved away from the slum
after they had made him rich!
In all he spent seven weeks with the herbalist 
It was to no avail
A friend told his wife about the Brother in Jeans 
and T-Shirt
She called him
She narrated the dream and told him about her 
husband’s condition
He had never heard it before
Locked-In Syndrome
He went to their house on a Thursday morning
He told the husband about Jesus
The husband just stared at him and blinked 
once in a while
He laid hands on the husband and declared him 
free from the Locked-In state
After praying, he told the wife to expect a positive outcome
On Sunday morning, the wife called
“Please, can you come around after service”
The Brother in Jeans and T-shirt visited them after 
Sunday service
The husband was moving his head, neck and left arm
The Brother-in Jeans and T-shirt laid hands on him 
again and decreed a completion of his healing
That night, He regained the full use of his body
That same night the healing was completed!
The next morning when the Brother in Jeans and T-shirt 
got to their house, he met the previously afflicted 
man-eating pap and bean cake
They shook hands!
The man’s handshake was firm and strong
His voice was also fully restored 
It was as if he was never sick
The Brother in Jeans and T-shirt told him he needed 
to receive the Holy Spirit in his life and 
become a Christian
The man said he would think about it
The following Sunday, the man’s wife called and told 
the brother in Jeans and T-shirt that her husband 
had forbidden her and the children from attending 
church
The Brother in Jeans and T-shirt drove to their house 
The man was waiting for him at the gate 
The man said “See, brother, my family does not practice 
Christianity! In my religion, it is a taboo for a child to 
leave the religion of his parents and follow another 
religion! I thank God for using you for me but I will 
politely ask you to keep away from me and my family. 
Thank you”
His attitude was very combative!
Wow!
The Brother in Jeans and T-shirt left without another 
word

Four months later, the man’s wife called!
She said he screamed from sleep at about 2 AM in the 
morning and started struggling
She tried to help him but she didn’t know what to do
He eventually quietened down and slept off
The next morning, at about 6:30 AM, when she roused 
from sleep!
He was dead!
She said he was buried the same day according to his 
religious beliefs!

It was a tough story to tell!
But it needed to be told
Demons and their agents are scared of only one name
When they are involved in a case, you cannot shake
them off that easily
The name of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit
preserves you every day from waves of attacks
If Jesus healed you through the power of the Holy Spirit
You have to abide in him and let his word abide in you
You have to be filled with the Holy Spirit and abide in 
His presence
Jesus warned a man he healed to sin no more so that 
something worse will not happen to him John 5:14
If you desert the living waters simply because you 
were healed of an infirmity
Where will you drink from tomorrow?