Stronghold

Strongholds

He told the church pastor and ministers about his wife’s condition

He said his wife was a witch

He said his wife was responsible for the death of their first son

He said his wife’s mother was also a witch

He said the wife’s mother was the one who initiated his wife and he had to escape with his children before the children were initiated into witchcraft too!

He said a lot

The church pastor and the ministers listened carefully

Of course he could be telling the truth but they had seen and heard many tales before

When a marriage goes sour, love birds usually turn to jackals

He was a seriously religious man

He walked into their church one Sunday and joined the believers class

It was very obvious he was not a novice

When the follow up team visited him at home

They discovered he was a single father of two children

A boy and a girl

He was a computer engineer and a gifted teacher

Within a few months he had been integrated into the church

He had the logos in his head

He said he was adopted by a missionary as a child and trained by the church

It was quite obvious

But being a single parent had its downside

Some single members began to eye him as a possible life partner

The fact that he was gifted, “born again” and he had a good job made him very eligible

The pastor tried very hard to err on the side of caution

He didn’t want a situation where a sister would suddenly turn up pregnant and create a mess for everybody

Desperate people can do and undo!

Pastor called a compulsory minister’s meeting

The brother was put on the hot seat

He said all he could

Pastor asked him for the address of his wife

He gave the address and phone number willingly

When he was asked to excuse the pastor and ministers for further deliberations, he said “I hope you will speak with her only to confirm my story sir, I don’t want to marry her anymore”

Pastor smiled

The ministers laughed

Nobody answered him a word

The following Saturday, Pastor and the ministers all drove in a convoy

They went to his in-laws house

His wife was living with her parents

She had a good job

When they got to the house, the story changed!

His wife said she was not a witch

While she was pregnant with their third child

The first child caught measles

She begged him to let them take the poor boy to the hospital

He refused!

He insisted his children will never use medicine

He refused to allow the children take immunization as babies

They tried other remedies

The child only grew worse

She sent for her mother

Her mother decided to take the child to the hospital before it was too late

He arrived home and saw them in the process of carrying the child to a waiting taxi

He got angry and started calling them “unbelievers”, “Faith Killers” “Witches” and so on

At a point he turned violent and dragged the sick boy from those trying to get him to the hospital

Eventually it became an altercation between her mother and him

Words were exchanged

That night, around 10pm her mother left

Two hours later, her first son died

The shock triggered her into premature labour

By the time she got to the Hospital she had dilated

She delivered less than an hour later and lost all consciousness

She was diagnosed of postpartum psychosis!

{* Postpartum psychosis is the most severe form of postpartum psychiatric illness. It is a rare event that occurs in approximately 1 to 2 per 1000 women after childbirth. ... Women with this disorder exhibit a rapidly shifting depressed or elated mood, disorientation or confusion, and erratic or disorganized behavior.}

By the time she recovered from the hospital, her baby was 6 months old and her husband had abandoned her

He went away with their two children

He claimed she confessed to being a witch while she was sick!

She had no recollection of the things she said during that time, she didn’t even know if she was alive or dead

How she could be accused of witchcraft as a result of having mental breakdown was beyond her!

Her mother also spoke!

She said he was a wicked man whose religious fanaticism had broken her daughter emotionally, spiritually and mentally

She said her daughter was too fragile to be reconciled with him

They should find him a new wife and allow her daughter heal on her own or in the love of another

Later that evening the pastor called another meeting with the him and the ministers

Pastor asked him several questions

He admitted that he didn’t believe in using medicine

He also admitted that his wife was diagnosed with postpartum psychosis

He was the one who concluded she was a witch after questioning her while she was rambling and talking like an insane person in the hospital

The pastor and the ministers met afterwards

The pastor wanted to reconcile the couple

Some ministers were for it, some ministers were against it!

Eventually the pastor overruled them

The pastor said the lady deserved to be with her family

The man also deserved to be with his wife

Otherwise they would both remarry and be committing adultery

“Adultery is when you divorce and marry another while your spouse was still alive!”

Some ministers agreed with pastor’s definition of adultery while others didn’t

They aired their opinion freely

Pastor told them he would pray about it

The following day, the pastor and the ministers met with the husband and the wife together

Both aired their grievances

The pastor appealed to them to give it a try

The man stated his conditions

The wife stated her condition

Pastor did the back and forth

After several hours of negotiation

They agreed

A week later she moved back to his house

Everybody cheered

They couple fitted very well into the church

The husband joined the Sunday school, while the wife joined the Choir

One Sunday, six months later

The wife suddenly turned violent and disrupted the church service

It came out of nowhere!

The Pastor managed to drive her and her husband to the hospital

In the process, the Pastor’s windshield got broken and he sustained some injuries

WOW!

The pastor was scared witless

The lady was violent and very dangerous

The doctors claimed she was supposed to be a taking a particular injection every month and had missed out on a couple of months

Why did she miss out?

Her husband claimed he knew nothing!

Two days later she was discharged

She had calmed down and had started responding normally

The pastor asked her why she missed out on her monthly injection

She said she was exercising her faith

She wanted to please her husband

He didn’t like her taking drugs and had refused to come to terms with her reality

He was always talking and reacting to her after taking the injection as if she was a leper

He wouldn’t come near her or show her any care

That was why she tried to stop

If he wouldn’t compromise his belief, then she must!

The Pastor didn’t believe it

How could a Christian be this religious?

How could religion be such a stronghold in a man’s life that it would take away his compassion, sympathy, common sense, and love?

The following month the pastor invited the brother in Jeans and T-Shirt to his church to minister the following Sunday

He was hoping the Holy Spirit would move in such a way that the woman would be cured of her malady

He had witnessed such miraculous turnarounds several times in the past when the brother in Jeans and T-Shirt was ministering

The service began

The brother in Jeans and T-shirt released the pneuma

Many worshippers were caught up in the presence of the Holy Spirit

The whole church expected the woman to do an “Ayamatanga”

Her husband sat beside her prepared to hold her in case she turned violent

She was calm as she received the ministration

Shockingly!

The husband started manifesting violently

He could barely be restrained

This was the all too put together guy who stood firm on his religious convictions despite the fact that it had cost him a child, exposed the other two children to harm (refusal to allow them get immunized) and the current state of health of his wife

The brother in Jeans and T-shirt laid hands on the man

He rebuked the demon manifesting violently in him

The man fell on his knees and screamed violently

The man was set free

The brother in Jeans and T-shirt laid hands on him to impart the Holy Spirit on him

His heart was melted by the spirit of Jesus from within

He wept

Long after the service was over, he was still in church, alone and coming to terms with himself

The following month he drove his wife to the hospital himself

She was told to return the following day because her doctor was out of town

She didn’t go back

It’s been four years!

She had been completely free from the mental illness and her home totally restored

He also allowed his children to take their immunization shots

How come it was the Husband that got the deliverance but it was the wife that got the healing?

Ps:  This event happened in 2014

The brother in Jeans and T-shirt didn’t see the family again after the ministration

The pastor that reached out to share the testimony when she was certified whole by the doctors

Are you suffering from depression, mental illness, psychosis of any kind or demonic oppression?

I command the trigger of such in your life to lose its hold

I command such an affliction to leave you now in the name of Jesus

I command your full restoration in the name of Jesus

No matter how mild or severe, every mental illnesses are healed right now in the name of Jesus

Thank you Jesus

Sweet Holy Spirit, I proclaim a repair and a restoration of all broken and lost minds right this minute

I command sanity to fall like the rain

Your days of joy are here

In Jesus name I pray

Amen