The Prayer Room

Their Father was one of those silent millionaires
A man of few words
Right from the day, they were born
They were like a pack of wolves
When their mother didn't conceive 
almost three years after their wedding
Their Father flew her abroad for 
a medical appointment with a top gynaecologist
The gynaecologist told their Father that 
their mother's ovulation was abnormal
and there was a slim chance she 
would ever have children
Their Father took the report badly
He told their mother he would give her
 a year's grace then marry another wife
He was from a polygamous background 
and had promised himself he wouldn't 
marry more than one wife
But he was the only surviving child of his 
mother and was under pressure to have children
The medical report showed that he was 
in perfect health and very virile
He didn't see any reason to delay 
the inevitable 
Their mother took the doctor's 
report to God in prayer
She was a very pragmatic person
She was the one who threw out the 
bags and baggage of his younger brother's 
wife when she didn't have any children 
after four years of marriage
Her younger brother was the only boy of 
their family and they all wanted him to 
have children to keep their lineage alive
She knew she had to get pregnant or 
pack out of her husband's house
Their marriage was not a lovey-dovey affair
They were both top executives in 
their field and financially independent
She was the one managing the logistics arm of her 
late Father's company
Her husband was working with an international 
oil firm
They both understood what is practical 
There was no room for sentiment
When they returned home, she considered 
her options
Herbal option, spiritual option, medical option 
and natural option
Nature seemed to have failed her thus far
Medicine also offered a very slim chance
She spoke with her mother about a herbal or
 traditional option
Her mother took her to a native doctor, a shaman
The man listened to her mother's explanation
What her mother wanted to check was the future
Would she and her husband have children 
and a good life together?
The shaman said Yes!
Then they brought up the issue of barrenness and 
the one year of 
grace her husband gave her
The shaman gave her four black eggs
She was told to swallow each a few hours after 
making love to her husband
One per month!
It worked!
She had four boys in the space of five years, 
and seven months!
She firmly secured her position in her husband's house
Her husband was extremely glad 
Finally, the shout of joy was heard in his house!
The children grew fast amidst her fears 
and apprehension
She knew that the source of the children was very diabolical
She was not naive in any way
Throughout her pregnancy, she took the 
pregnancy to the shaman for inspections
He did a lot of incisions on her knees, waist 
and even her breast
He warned her sternly that the children will 
have flaws
She must be on the lookout and run to him as 
soon as she notices anything
The eggs she had swallowed were the eggs of 
a rare creature
The incantations and concoctions she ate 
afterwards were to steady the pregnancy
But he couldn't predict how the children would 
be once they were born!
He was very wrong!
The children were fine!
Ten fingers, ten toes!
They walked when they ought to, talked when 
they ought to, 
did everything at the right time 
They were sent to the best schools as soon as 
they turned six
Their Father was a happy man and so was she!
The boys loved each other in a very strange way
If she disciplines one of them, the others would 
be crying and throwing tantrums
She didn't count it as anything
If one of them had issues with another boy in school, 
the four of them would beat the boy up
She tried to separate their school but they all fell ill
Her husband loved it, said, it was 
Philadelphia (Brotherly love)
It was when they became teenagers that
 everything turned
They were just wild!
The first of them started driving at thirteen! 
He would pack his brothers in the car and they
 would go for wild driving escapades
Sometimes they went  lizard hunting and killed 
hundreds of lizards in one day
They would go bee hunting and smoke out bees 
out of their own hives
Many times they would be stung by the bees but 
they carried the sting like a battle scar, the one 
with the least number of stings would be mocked 
and ridiculed
As they grew, it grew worse
They started luring and raping girls in the house
The four of them on one unfortunate girl 
They would torture her until they have their fill and 
then set her free
They started with her housemaids
When she discovered, she stopped employing housemaids
Then they pounced on young girls hawking bread, 
oranges and other things
Soon the news spread and such girls started 
avoiding their street totally
They did the same to rats and snakes
They would catch the creatures alive, douse them in 
petro and set them free only to set their trail on fire
They would jeer and scream with joy as they watch 
the creatures run from the fire that would eventually 
cremate it alive
They had a taste for blood, like predators!
She tried talking to them
Their father flogged them until his hands hurt too 
much from flogging them
Their natural leader was the first child
By 16 he was far taller than his Father, 
he was also very handsome
But he was a psychopath! As were his brothers!
The beginning and end of his concern for another 
person was his
 concern for his younger ones
Parents from their schools and neighbours often 
come to the house to report them
It was more of a routine occurrence
Their mother went back to the native doctor 
but he had died!  
One day their Father threatened to separate them
The first child look at their father in the eye and said 
"Try it and I will kill you with my bare hands"
He said it with meaning, their Father got the message
Their father couldn't sleep all night that day
He came to a point during the night where he realized 
he had given birth to monsters
The next day their Father and mother ran to a church
He explained everything to the pastor
Please pray with us!
The pastor prayed with them told them they needed to 
set new examples with their lives
Their father said he was ready, he gave his life to Christ
Their mother also followed suit
They became tongue talking believers, praying day and 
night and waiting  for the salvation of the Lord
The children didn't get any softer
They started committing greater atrocities
Fighting at snooker joints, beer parlours, clubs, 
gambling centres etc
The boys started frequenting police detention, 
more often than not all four of them 
would be behind bars at once
They were called the "Bone thugs" on the street
They were like a cult group unto themselves
The first two gained admission into the University at 
the same time
One to study architecture, the other to study 
civil engineering
Somehow they got into drugs!
Cannabis!
They became the main distributors on campus
As soon as they got their accommodation off 
campus, their younger brothers moved in with them
They stopped going home for anything
It was as if they never had parents
Their father and mother were nobodies to them
They didn't want anyone but themselves in their 
own lives
To their mother, it felt like being bereaved of all her 
children while they yet live
If she goes to their flat to look for them, they barely 
give her any recognition
Just a casual greeting and then moving on with 
their businesses while ignoring her
Their father cried bitterly every time he 
thought of them
The children that were supposed to bury him 
in his old age had become total strangers
Sometimes he doesn't see them at all in a year!
Other children would go home to collect something 
from their parents, school fees, pocket money, 
foodstuff, but not them
They were rolling in drug money and growing in 
influence by the day
The other two also gained admission into 
the University
By this time they had become household names
Girls looking for a good time threw themselves 
at their feet
Low lifers hung around them and crime seemed 
to be their call card
Their mother prayed the more, so did their father 
but nothing changed
One day in 1997, their paternal grandmother died
The burial was to take place at their home town
Their parents travelled home for the event
The four boys arrived at the venue of the burial 
with four big busses conveying "their" people
Gun carrying bodyguards accompanied them
They turned the party into a fiasco
It was like watching a replay of Sodom and Gomorrah!
Their Father didn't know what else to do
He had prayed and fasted and cried to no avail
His children had become like the children of Belial
Having an orgy party right at the burial ceremony 
of their grandmother
In his presence and that of his relatives, 
friends and well-wishers
They put him to shame and ridicule, they tarnished 
his good name forever
Many of his friends left the party in a hurry as soon 
as his children arrived
Those who wanted to talk sense to them were 
manhandled and insulted
His sons had become the kingpin of crime 
Without regard to his authority as a parent and his 
standing in society
Soon after the burial ceremony, their father took 
ill and died!
It was a rude shock for their mother
Their Father was just 57 years old when he died
He had lived a good and healthy life and was expected 
to live much longer than that!
She informed her sons immediately it happened
None of them showed up to condole with her
She handled the burial arrangements with the help of 
some of her relatives and friends
She mourned alone for several weeks
Two days to the burial ceremony, they arrived
The four! Looking like some characters out of the 
"Scarface" movie
They walked into the house, greeted her like
strangers and walked off to their Father's room
She followed them
When they got to their Father's room, they 
looked around
Then they wandered into their Father's study
Their Father's study had been converted into a 
prayer room for several years
In the room, their Father had prayed, sang hymns, 
sang worship songs, sang choruses, 
locked himself up for several days fasting, crying 
and petitioning the Lord
on behalf of his children
As soon as the four of them got into the study
Something strange happened
Their eldest sat down and started crying
It was strange, he was their don, the capo! 
The skippo!
He was not made of "crying" materials
He was a man of strength and ruthless power
A few moments later, the others joined in
Soon they were all wailing and sober
Something strange happened in that prayer
 room that cannot be explained
They were there for several hours, crying 
and praying!
Their mother checked on them almost every 
hour
They didn't leave until the next morning
They went to a church, gave their lives to Christ and
 turned their lives around
What their Father couldn't achieve while he was alive
Was achieved after he had slept in the Lord
As they laid him in the grave at his internment
All his sons had become born again Christians
Brand new creatures in Christ!

PS: The four children are pastors today
The first child said "something dawned on him 
in that prayer room"
He just became curiously aware that he was 
not right with God
The second child said "I was shaken from 
within my stomach,
Do you remember how the Bible says the prodigal 
son came to himself
that was the best way to describe it!
The third child said "I saw Jesus! He was right 
in the centre of that room,
arms outstretched, His face was all lit up!
The fourth child said "With me it started a few 
days before then,
we were in South Africa for a deal two days before 
then, the deal went bad
we were shot at close range but none of us 
was hit 
We weren't even supposed to make it out of
 the country
The police were searching for us everywhere
But we escaped and returned home in one piece
We told ourselves when we landed that it 
must be the spirit of our Father that kept us alive
But when I entered that prayer room
It was as if a bottle of raw love was smashed 
into a million pieces inside my heart
I just knew Jesus loves me and I must love Him back!"
This story happened in Lagos Nigeria
The four brothers are now ministers of the gospel
Don't ever give up on praying for your children
The prayer of a righteous person avails much!