The Vessel

He had always found the hypocrisy of Christians 
galling!
His father left the church because of it
His mother was snatched from his Father by a pastor
It happened when he was eight years old
He was the only child of his parents and his 
mother was desperate to have another child
They were attending a supposed "Pentecostal" church
His mother went to the hospital and was told her 
womb was damaged and she would have to undergo 
a surgery if she was ever to have another child
Her mother was preparing for the surgery when a 
prophet in their village sent her a message that if 
she went under the knife she would die!
The prophet said the only solution to the issue 
was for her to trust God and pray because God 
has promised total restoration
His mother decided not to do the surgery again
She started going to church more, trusting God for divine healing
Then this sleek pastor came to their church from the North
He said he was ministering somewhere in Kaduna when the
word of the Lord came to him to go to a particular church and join the ministry
The leadership of the Church readily accepted the pastor
(Nobody could tell if the church leadership prayed or not)
What the church member saw was a sudden elevation of this stranger onto the altar!
He worked in miracles, signs and wonders
The church leadership celebrated him mightily
Testimonies followed his ministry and the church grew
They gave the title of "National Evangelist" and he was ranked fifth in the hierarchy of the church
Within a short time he became a household name
The go-to minister for the miraculous and the supernatural
His mother was drawn to him out of her desperation
The sleek pastor would give her his manuscripts (his books, sermons and manuals) to type
(Or perhaps she volunteered to type them for him)
She was a typist by profession and had her stall was located just Outside the post office in their state!
She started doing his works day and night without getting paid for her efforts!
His father complained
His mother told the prophet of his Father's complaints
Suddenly, the sleek pastor started seeing visions about her father
He told his mother that his Father had used her 
womb to do some charms and mentioned many things
Some of the things were true but harmless
But adding them together with the evil revelations made
her mother see her father in a different light
The prophet brainwashed his mother so much that she
stopped sleeping at home
She moved to the church and staying 
running away from her own husband!
She believed sincerely that her husband wanted to kill her
One day, the prophet and his mother disappeared!
They eloped!
Just like that!
It was a scandal and the church authority refused to take
responsibility for their part in the whole thing!
They closed ranks and pretended the evil never happened!
They let the fox into the sheep pen and closed their eyes
to the damage, they caused the sheep!
His Father left the church afterward
He wanted nothing to do with God and women since then!
He was eight years old when it happened!
He didn't quite understand what happened at the time
As he grew up, his father was always talking about it
He loved his wife so much and was very 
bitter by the whole episode 
He would complain about women being so 
gullible and easy to brainwash
He would talk about women believing ghost stories 
and forsaking reality so easily 
His father would quote the scripture and tell him how 
Eve fell for the antics of the serpent
He would say "Women can't be trusted to use their brains,
the only thing they think through is their feelings, 
their emotions"
His father never remarried
He would sometimes have a lady friend or the other
But he closed his heart to both the church 
and women forever
When he was going off to the university, his 
Father told him the plan
His Father said "I am setting you up for life! 
I have saved all my money
and gotten some investors! 
I am starting my own factory, a paint
manufacturing plant!
You go off to the University and study Business 
Administration
Make sure you face your studies! 
I will make sure there is a job
waiting for you upon graduation!"
His Father made him promise to keep away 
from woman and religion and face his studies!
His Father said "When it is time for you to 
marry, girls will queue up! 
You will have a good job, a glorious 
inheritance and you will be educated!
You will see at that point that all women are good
for is for having children and cooking! 
No matter how educated a woman is, a little 
lie from an idiot would wipe her brain clear 
of sense and replace her reality with empty bubbles"
He kept away from both when he got to school
No girls and especially no religion
His Father had proven true several times in 
his own life, especially about ladies!
in his second year, he drove his Father's car to 
a girl's birthday party 
And the girl followed him back to the car and 
made out with him while her "boyfriend who threw 
the party for her was attending to guests and 
making sure everything went on smoothly"
He saw how cheap it was to convince a lady whose "man"
loved with the whole of his heart with a borrowed 
car and fancy clothes!
The religious thing had no appeal to him
Especially the brainwashed brothers and sisters who go
about with tambourines, tracts, bells and other 
religious stuff
Some of them would claim they are doing morning cry
and wake people up on campus by 5 AM
Some would get in your face about Jesus
Some would tour rooms, looking for lame thinkers
whom they could sway
They avoided him like a plague
Ever since the day he told one of them he would 
stab his eyes out if he ever darkened his door 
to preach Jesus again!
He had no use for their Jesus!
When he got to 400 Level, he was given a 
room on campus
The policy on accommodation on campus favored 
fresh students
and final year students
He was given a room automatically because he was in 
the final year
His next-door neighbours were Born Again believers
It was a four man room but sometimes as many as 
twenty of them would cram themselves in the room 
praying and worshipping
They sometimes prayed till late in the night 
Unfailingly every day they prayed at 5 AM
They were a pest!
He had spoken with them one on one and 
even complained
They tried to keep their voice low
But even at a low tone, they were still many 
and they irritated him
One evening, they were praying
The time was around 5 pm and he wanted to sleep
He decided to go and shout them down
As soon as he got to their door
He fell into trance, he started speaking in 
tongues and prophesying
He was there for three hours
It was the most humiliating thing ever
He was a campus big boy! A wave maker! 
Head of two social clubs
One of the most influential guys on campus
Rich boy with swags and sagacity
He didn't know what they did to him
The next morning, he packed his bags and 
left the hostel
He rented an apartment in town and kept far 
away from the Jesus Crazy People!
He graduated and joined his father's business
Finally, the dream was becoming a reality
But as soon as he joined the company 
things started falling apart
Equipment developed faults, customers pulled 
out of deals
Government policies went haywire
It was crazy!
His Father's investors had a closed-door meeting with
his father and told his father to sack him or send 
him away
His Father didn't get the logic behind it
One of the investors said they had gone to pray and it
was revealed that he was the cause of the bad fortune!
His father laughed them to scorn
But the next day, they started pulling their funds
After a week, his Father ate the humble pie
His Father called him to a meeting and told him what
was going on
"You have to go, son, you have to go!"
He argued!
He convinced his Father he would get other investors 
within a week!
His father decided to give him that much time
The next day, his father slumped and was rushed 
to the hospital
At the end of the day, he was diagnosed with stroke
His Father was his best friend, his only close relative!
He prayed fervently for his recovery while seating at the
reception in the hospital
Suddenly at about 2 AM in the morning
A doctor came and sat beside him
The doctor said "Son, I watch over my word to perform it"
and left!
He watched the doctor leave, he wanted to speak but his 
tongues seemed tied!
About five minutes after the doctor left, he 
started searching for the doctor
He wanted some clarity
But the doctor was nowhere to be found
By 6AM he walked to his Father's room and said 
"I am resigning Dad, I have to do what God wanted"
He drove straight home and slept
He woke up around 2pm
His phone rang!
It was his Father, he had miraculously recovered 
from the stroke!
He reached out to the Brother in Jeans and T-shirt
The Brother in Jeans and T-shirt was there the 
day he spoke in tongues and prophesied on campus
They met!
He told the Brother in Jeans and T-shirt everything 
that had transpired
since he joined his Father's company
He needed direction
The Brother in Jeans and T-shirt produced a jotter
He said "This was your prophecy of that day"
He took the jotter and read aloud
"I have singled out this vessel for my work
at So and So village close to Ikirun in Osun State
He shall pull down strongholds and establish my light
in this community and its environs
Through this vessel, I shall raise many vessels for 
The Kingdom of Jesus!
He shall be a shining light and I shall be his light
I shall back him up with signs and wonders 
and my word!
He shall be a voice in the midst of a noisesome crowd
He shall be a trumpet heralding my appearing
I have poured my oil on him
He shall pour out my blessing on the land and lands and 
the land and lands shall yield for him by my power" Says 
the Holy Spirit
The Brother in Jeans and T-shirt said 
"After you left that day
the Holy Spirit told me to keep the prophecy for you!
He said you will come back for it
And I did!
WOW!
"I said all these" He shouted
"Every word" replied the Brother in Jeans and T-shirt
"Is there any way I can say no? Reject this thing?" 
He asked "You can always talk to the Holy Spirit, 
I cannot answer that" 
replied the Brother in Jeans and T-shirt
"But I am not even a Christian yet," He said
"Are you ready to become one now sir?" Asked the 
Brother in Jeans and T-shirt
He gave his life to Christ!
The Brother in Jeans and T-shirt laid hands on him
He received the gift of Holy Spirit and started 
praying in tongues!
The power of the Holy Spirit was strong upon him
He fell on his knees and prayed for hours
The next day, he packed his bag and traveled 
to the village very close to Ikirun
"Just to go and check the place out"
When he arrived at the village, a man was waiting for him
The man was a missionary who had been in the village 
for many years
The man said the Holy Spirit told him, someone, 
will be coming
to relieve him as he would soon be going home
He had been coming to the motor park in the village
every day for two months so that he would not miss the
sent one!
WOW!
The man showed him the small plank and 
brick church
(Could sit 50 people) and the small two-bedroom 
house beside it! 
(This serves as the home of the pastor and his office)
He settled in!
He arrived at the Village on 30th June 2011
He never left!
He got married to his wife and co-minister of 
the gospel in 2015
The church had grown to a 300 member church
It was the church of the community!
The hand of the Lord is obvious in the ministry
His Father supported the ministry wholeheartedly
In 2016, he met his mother after many years
His mother had relocated to Ikirun with the 
"National Evangelist" and 
came to the church for prayers when the 
"National Evangelist suddenly took ill"
The national evangelist eventually died! 
Leaving behind
his mother and two teenagers!
His Father met his mother in the church one 
Sunday when his father
came to pay him a visit at the village
His Father was 55 years old when he took his 
mother back
He never really stopped loving her
He adopted the two teenagers as his own and 
they all moved to his father's house in Lagos
His own wife gave birth to their baby boy in 2017
He didn't know how but everything somehow 
worked out

Ps: There is a hand that remolds the broken pitcher
The hand does it in style
Slowly and carefully bringing together
The broken and the tattered to make
a complete whole!

He is doing so well and I am proud of Him
He is a brother called forth out of the wild
He embraced his calling and walked in the
the might of the One who called him unto glory 
and virtue!

I am praying for you, that you will find your
own location in God's plan and you will be happy
to work with Him as a willing vessel! Amen!!!