DELIVERED FROM THE POWERS OF DARKNESS

Chapter 6: Temptation and Victory

"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand" (John 10:27-28)

After my conversion of Christ, the first thing that happened was all the gifts from the sea, the telescope, the T.V., shirts, photographs that I snapped inside the sea and the photograph  of the Queen of the Coast which were displayed in my flat vanished.

On returning to port Harcourt, I had the urge to testify what the lord had done for me but was not allowed in church. My late uncle's wife, who is also a Christian , took me to one of the pastors, but the question he asked was:

"Did he bring the paper? "

It was later that I understood that the paper he meant was a membership letters! What has membership letter to do with testifying the power of Christ and what He has done for me - God, translating me from the power of darkness into the kingdom of His dear Son, in whom I have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of my sins?

I was sad, having known that Satan does not allow young converts to go about testifying, especially those who previously were deeply involved in his activities, and would do everything to stop such testimonies. Again I remembered, the lord clearly instructed me to "go and testify what I have done for you " and I was faced with rejection. Perhaps it was not yet time. So I decided to shelve giving my testimony to any one.

I traveled with three traders from Aba to Togo for a business trip. There I bought goods worth N160,000 (N-Naira). Out of this amount my personal money was N70,000 while the remaining N90,000 was borrowed from traders in Aba.

Amongst the things I bought were bundles of laces, assorted drugs(especially antibiotics), injections, thermometers, etc. At the Nigerian border, we were held by the Customs and later were asked to pay some bribe.

We refused and the goods were seized including those belonging to my colleagues. A few months later, those belonging to my colleagues were released, except mine. I went back later and was asked to pay N40,000, but on checking the goods I discovered that all the valuable goods, bundles of laces, injections, drugs, and etc, were already stolen. I assessed the remaining goods and knew that paying N40,000 to Customs would only increase the loss, so I decided to forego the remaining goods.

The traders whose money I borrowed started chasing me. Some called the police, others took the laws into their hands and planned to do away with my life. The only solution was to close my Bank accounts and use all the money I had settle all the depts. By God's grace, I paid all except N1,000 meant for my landlord in Lagos. I went completely bankrupt and would borrow even 20k for taxi fare.

I went to few business Christians I knew then, to seek for help to enable me start afresh. None said yes or no, rather I would be asked to come the following day repeatedly until I would be tired or find help.

I did not know the Word of God and with all the confusion in my heart, I would read the Bible and would not understand. Still contemplating on what to do, I received an urgent call from my village. I rushed home and found that the little building I was setting up had been pulled down by my uncle who was also present and threatened to kill me. The old nature in me was challenged.

I remembered when I was with the secret society, how he dreaded me and would go on my knees before me. But now he knew I was changed man (how he knew I did not know as I had not traveled home since my conversation ) and he now threatened me.

I called on the Lord and said " So you saved me to leave me frustrated and to allow my enemies to rejoice over me! "

I wept and decided to go back to the society .