As he was walking along the road, some boys came out of the town and jeered at him. “Get out of here, baldy!” they said. “Get out of here, baldy!” 24) He turned around, looked at them, and called down a curse on them in the name of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys. 25) And he went on to Mount Carmel and from there returned to Samaria. (2 Kings 2)

 

This happened some time ago.

I have been too ashamed of myself (for a reason) to share it but a recent discussion with a believer made me decide it is best to write it.

I must, however, attach a disclaimer: It is for the purpose of teaching those who have the knowledge of the way and manner of the Holy Spirit that I am writing this. It is not an affirmation of what happened. It is to help those who may find themselves in the same situation not to react according to the flesh or their feelings but to put their emotions in check.

It is best not to open Pandorah’s box. When we open it involuntarily as it sometimes happens in our walk with the Lord, we may never be able to close it. Even when we find a way to close it, the damage might be too severe for us to contain the consequences that come with it.

To the uninitiated in the way of the spirit, read this as a fictional story. The way we read or listen to folklore when we were young, learn from it the lessons (If any) but aim to do better than the progenitor of this story.

One Sunday afternoon, at around 4 pm. I was returning home from a church service. I usually arrive early for church service and most of the time I will be the last person to close. After service, there will be meetings or counselling sessions or both. Nothing that we do as believers should be done with a nonchalant attitude. Kingdom business is the most important in human endeavor. Every other activity will cease.

The success stories we celebrate and the failures that made us cry will all fade away. Kingdom business is eternal in its designation. It is the only thing that will count at the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.

After the service, I drove carefully as I headed back home. I was listening to one of the popular gospel musicians and I was singing along. I got to Allen Avenue, that roundabout that leads to Awolowo road. Suddenly, I heard bangings on my car, and I checked the mirror, a guy was by the roadside, rolling on the floor. Two other guys were running after my car and hitting the body of the car with their hands.

I parked and wound down the windshield. “What is the problem?” I asked the one on my side. The other one was on the passenger side.

“You have crushed somebody’s leg with your car, his leg is broken”

Wow!

“How could I have crushed somebody’s leg on the highway? Did his leg fly into the middle of the road by mistake?” I asked.

“He was trying to fix the tire of his tricycle, and you drove right over his leg” The guy answered.

I was not born yesterday. I know Lagos and I know the antics of the wise boys. I alighted from the car and locked my door. I saw the guy on the floor, writhing in pain by the side of the road.

Luckily, I had some cash in the car. I took out fifty thousand naira and gave it to the guy. I said “Go and treat yourself”

The guy jumped up instantly, it was as if I was Jesus, and I had told him to rise up and walk.

The other two guys began to smile. one of them said “What about us, settle us or we will call boys to come and burn you and your car”

I ignored that one. I looked at the guy who had suddenly received a miracle, I said “I gave you that money to treat a broken leg, you must use that money to treat a broken leg”

He laughed and said “O ti looooor” meaning “I have successfully fooled you and parted your money from you with my wisdom”

I smiled and said “You will use that money to treat a broken leg”

Suddenly a motorcycle came out of nowhere and screeched toward all of us. The two other guys jumped to safety. I also jumped backward to avoid the motorcycle. The motorcyclist regained control of his motorcycle and rode off in a puff

I turned around and the guy who collected the money was on the roadside. He was clutching his leg and screaming.

Lo and behold, his leg had gotten broken by the accident and the motorcyclist had left without any knowledge of the damage he caused.

The other two guys rushed to his aid. One of them asked me if I could help drive him to a nearby hospital. I didn’t reply. I just got into my car and drove off.

As I drove home from the scene, I nodded to myself in satisfaction.

The words of Jeshurun have not fallen to the ground. I am the anointed of the Lord. The incident gave me an inordinate joy. I remember laughing and praying all the way home.

Two weeks later, I was driving home from church. That time it was around 3 pm. I got to the highway leading from Ikeja to Magodo. The road popularly called Otedola road (in Lagos Nigeria). The traffic light turned red; I stopped as soon as I saw it. Suddenly this man came out of nowhere and stood before my car. He said I had gone beyond the line where I was supposed to stop, and he was arresting me. He had no uniform on to indicate who he was working for.

I asked him who he was working for, and he said the “Local Government Task Force”. He got into my car, and I drove him to a place opposite the Elephant Building in Ikeja. I saw other motorists who had been arrested like myself.

Their boss came to me and said I would have to pay seventy thousand Naira, or my car would be impounded. I said no problem, but I would like them to give me a ticket from the Lagos State government. They said I had to pay with my card to a POS operator who was on standby at the place.

I asked them if it was a Lagos State account and if I would get a receipt. They said they would deflate my tire if I didn’t cooperate. By this time, I had gotten very angry.

If you know me or anyone close to me, you will understand why I feel ashamed to tell the story. Anger lies in the bosom of fools.

I have trained myself over the years never to get angry with anyone. I would rather be the fool and give the person whatever the person wanted. Nobody can cheat me, I know this for a fact!

Anyway, I got out of the car and as soon as I opened my mouth, I realized a deep tongue was rolling from my belly out of my mouth, it was the kind of tongue that I only experienced its power when we were in deep prophetic meetings or worship services. It is the tongue of summons, the one that usually comes forth when there is a need to call forth ministering spirits and angels into a service.

I know it may sound like an excuse now, but please believe me, it is not. I take responsibility for everything that happened that day and it has never ever repeated itself since then. I trust the Lord that such will never happen to me again.

I wanted to stop but I couldn’t. The tongues were rolling forth and with them were deep curses, the like of which I had never heard said by anyone before in my life.

I remember telling the one who arrested me, “You lured me here to take advantage of me because I am a minister of the gospel who didn’t want to misbehave in public, you took my meekness for weakness. You have a daughter at home called Falilat, as I speak now, they are bringing her dead body to you.

I turned to the man he called his boss who demanded seventy thousand naira, I said “You are so and so, the son of so and so and you have collected such and such amount of money here today, that is the number of years you will spend in prison as soon as I leave this place. I turned to the POS lady, I said “You are a hyena, who swoops in to take advantage of the unfortunate in the name of business, I take your eyes from you from today.” The others ran.

One said from afar, “This is not a pastor, how can a pastor be cursing like this?”

I said “For daring to condemn me because I refused to be prey for you to fleece, a car shall crush you”

At that same moment, he ran across the road and got hit by a bus.

The hairs at the back of my neck were all standing, my body was shaking, it was as if I had been overcome by another spirit. I later realized this was anger. I had allowed anger to take root in my heart and it was venting through my spirit.

The people at the place began to beg me. “Please go without paying anything sir. We are sorry! Just be going sir. Please sir….”

I felt like one of those Yoruba film characters I used to watch on TV when I was young who would dress in a war garment and be puffing up and down while his followers would be shouting “ero ooooo, ero” meaning “Easy, take it easy”

They begged for a long time. I eventually got into my car and left. I cried all the way home.

It was not at all a good picture of the typical ambassador of Christ. I promised myself and the Lord that I would never be like that again in my life. I have kept that promise as the Lord has helped me through all the seasons, I have walked with Him since then.

 

PS: I share this story because I felt it might help somebody overcome anger even when heavily provoked. The Spirit of God in a believer is meant to be channeled into the works of the gospel in order to bring forth the fruit of the Spirit.

Jesus was provoked but he refused to allow the carnal provocations the room to thrive in his reality. I remind myself to do better every day.

Maybe if I didn’t enjoy the outcome of my outburst the first time, the second episode would not have occurred. One can never really know now.

Elisha might have experienced the same thing and in response to the provocation a lot of children lost their lives. We must do better than Elisha. The greater one lives inside of us.

 

–GSW–