TheCable

Alarmed by what he had read overnight about the many charming ladies in Nigerian cities, especially Lagos, Soji Olusoji, who had failed to resist the temptation gets an appointment with a Pastor to break everything down for him. He had often boasted that the only thing he couldn’t resist was temptation, now he was scared about his future.

“You look very troubled! That shouldn’t be the case when you know God,” the elderly Pastor Paul Obi with two Ph D degrees spoke slowly, as his visitor dropped heavily in the chair. He was so gifted as a Bible teacher that many wondered why he was just a pastor of a branch of his church, and not a General Overseer of his own church. But the God-fearing man had a simple answer to it. “You don’t venture into what God has not called you to do.”

SOJI: ‎Sir, I won’t want to waste your time but is it fair to say that when the devil wants to destroy a man, he sends a woman?

PASTOR OBI: Emmm, you mean using women to rob people of God’s Glory or destroy their destiny? Well, there have been cases like that even in the Bible. Remember Samson and Delilah? But remember also that we say behind every successful man is a woman – his wife really.

SOJI: (Not convinced; he fetches his Iphone) Sir, I want to read to you something ‎that has been trending in social media. It is very long, so I will read only part of it to save time. They say it is a revelation God gave Pastor W.F. Kumuyi.

OBI: Okay, go ahead.

SOJI: (Reads hurriedly, his voice almost trembling)”All of a sudden, my eyes opened and I was in another realm. I saw an array of ladies both young and old, very beautiful, coming from the sea side. And I asked God, who are these?

“And He said, ‘these are marine spirits that have been commissioned by the devil to drag many to the kingdom of darkness. His time is almost up and he has vowed to cause many to fall.’

“I asked, why women? He responded, ‘They are not really women but are evil spirits that have taken a feminine form.’

“So I asked, what is their mission? And He said, ‘see! All of a sudden I saw people having sex. What amazed me was that some were having sex by the wayside, some in bushes, some on beaches, some in offices and in open places.’

“So, I asked why?

And He said, ‘these are sent to spread lust and cause many to fall into the sin of fornication. The spirits are meant to befriend many young ladies, show them care and eventually initiate them to be used by the enemy.’

“I saw many unsuspecting ladies being initiated and as soon as they were initiated, they had an insatiable desire for sex. I also saw sugar mummies luring young men with money and cars. Right after sleeping with them, they are gone. I saw new dresses being introduced. Dresses that expose all parts of the body! In fact, I saw a very fair lady that was almost naked. About 3 quarters of her breast was exposed and the dress she wore was so transparent that one could virtually see her nakedness. Then I saw many people buying these dresses — skimpy short skirts and transparent leggings and blouses that exposed their cleavage. Bleaching of the skin was on the rise. I saw them pouring potions on their eyes to lure men…”

OBI: Hmmmmm! Well, I have heard about it, but I am not aware of any confirmation of the source. Have you checked with the Deeper Life Bible Church. Pastor Kumuyi is one of the respected pastors in the land.

SOJI: No, sir, but it sounds very true.

OBI: Hmmm, my son. No matter how true a statement sounds, it is not true if it is not the truth. Falsehood could be peddled aggressively to sound as the truth as politicians do.

SOJI: I have a friend who has been chased by women all his life.  Initially, he thought it was fun but as he grew older and started taking God seriously, he got wiser and tried to stop them, but some of them wouldn’t stop. Sir, can you believe a particular woman has been after this friend of mine for over 5 years just to sleep with him?

OBI: Either he must be very handsome or there is something else about him that lures women to him. Remember also that some men have chased women for that long.

SOJI: In our culture it is normal for men to do the chasing.

OBI: Even when the woman is not interested or is married, as in some of the cases I have heard about? It might be just to sleep with them as you might be aware of.

SOJI: (After some seconds of trying to understand the Pastor’s argument. He was noted  for his intellect, loads of experience, and understanding of the spiritual realm). I’m confused, sir. Maybe if you can respond to my initial question, there will be some clarity about my fears.

OBI: The Samson and Delilah example may be a clear case of the devil’s plan to destroy a judge. Samson was supposed to be a judge as well a man anointed for exceptional strength. You may also say that in the Garden of Eden, the serpent found it easier to use a woman. Many men of God too have fallen to sexual temptation and destroyed themselves. I know you would say the devil destroyed them.

SOJI: (Jumping up) Exactly!

OBI: But note also that men rape women, and even defile children and there have been cases of men using women for rituals. You would say the devil used them to truncate the destinies of women?

You may also look at cases like David’s. Who was to blame in the case of the King who chose to lazy about on the rooftop of his palace, from where he caught sight of a married woman having a bath in her house, instead of being at the warfront? Remember, Prophet Nathan,  a member of David’s royal court and one of his closest advisors didn’t blame the devil. He blamed David!

And note also that some ladies are naturally beautiful without being possessed, and some men would do everything to have them, even if it means committing fornication or adultery.

SOJI: It is getting complicated again, sir.

OBI: You may be feeling that way when the examples don’t reinforce your point of view. But let’s leave the Bible and come home. I will read for you Pastor Enoch Adeboye’s account of his encounter with sexual temptation. I have always kept some of his testimonies for illustration.

SOJI: Okay, sir.

OBI: And I read, these are his own words: “There was once a highly educated lady in this church. She was a senior official of the West African Examination Council. She was married with successful children – one of them a bank manager. Everything about her looked normal, but she was an agent of the devil. How did we know? She came to me one day and declared, “Thus saith the Lord, you are my husband.

“I said,  ‘That is not possible. I’m happily married. I’m a man of God and you know I’m committed to a life of holiness.’

“’You are joking,’ she declared. ‘I’m going to marry you, God told me so.’

She then resorted to writing me love letters every day.

“I got fed up with this one day and pleaded with her, ‘Please, I don’t want to see any more of these letters.’

“One day, she came to the Redemption Camp to threaten my wife, saying, ‘If you will not allow me to marry your husband, I will kill you.’

“It was hard to imagine such a well-dressed and highly educated woman who occupied an enviable position in her work place resorting to such dire threats, but she was an embodiment of evil.

“So we invited her husband and key family members and begged them to restrain her.  When all our efforts proved abortive, we took the case to the Inspector General of Police to try to stop her from coming to the church. But that also didn’t work.

“One day I went to London. It was a secret trip because I didn’t want any interference with what I was going there to do – to prepare a Sunday School booklet. I planned to work quietly for three days before making my presence known.

“The moment I arrived at the house where I was going to stay, the phone rang. I picked it up and the voice said, ‘Welcome, I have been waiting for you. I will be with you in fifteen minutes.’

“I knew there was a very big problem. It was the woman. I told her, ‘If you don’t know anything at all, you should at least know that the British police don’t tolerate this sort of harassment.’

“She insisted, ‘Fifteen minutes! I know where you are staying, I will be there.’

“The police shall be waiting for you at the door,” I warned.

“She knew that there was a police station less than a two-minute walk from where I was staying, so she didn’t come. But she kept on calling. In those days there were no IDD phones to enable callers’ number to be seen. So until the phone was picked up, you could not tell who was calling. At that stage I had to turn to God in prayer.

“Father, what do I do now?

“Daddy said to me, ‘Son, you know the meaning of whatever you bind on earth is bound in Heaven, whatever you loose on earth is loosened in Heaven?’

“I said, ‘Yes, Lord.’

“You know it means that whatever you allow is allowed, whatever you forbid is forbidden.

“I said, ‘Yes, Lord.’

“He said, ‘It is up to you.’

“Ah, up to me? Then this mountain shall move, I said.

“So I told the woman one last time to leave me alone and, with God’s will behind my command, she obeyed and I never had any trouble from her again.”

SOJI: Wonderful!

OBI: Do you know his solution to sexual temptation, which according to some of you is a demonic strategy to ruin people?

SOJI: No sir.

OBI: Flee! Flee from the source of the temptation. Flee because the flesh in itself is very weak against the temptation. You may require Grace to withstand it but programme fleeing as your default button. Do you know how Pastor Adeboye explained it? I agree with him completely.

If you check, I have never counseled a woman one-on-one in my office in the absence of my wife; she must be there.

Okay, this is what Pastor Adeboye said: “Avoid any source of temptation! Resist when you should and run when you should. Some people take it as an act of cowardice to run from those they feel sexually attracted to. No! It is not cowardice, it is wisdom! God knows how He wired your body, so if He says you should run in a particular situation, please run for your dear life!”

SOJI: Flee from fun. Hmmmm! That is difficult for most people.

OBI: I know that is the reason you look so terrified. I preach about sexual immorality often, but some of you would rather be changed by bitter experience than the word of God. I guess it is time up for you. I have preached this repeatedly, now let me remind you again. Spiritually, this is what happens as the Book of Corinthians explains: “And do you know that if man joins himself to a prostitute, he becomes one body with her? For the scriptures say, “The two are united into one.”

SOJI: That is my point.

OBI: Let me finish. It is double danger here. If she is demonic, you unite with the demon, but more seriously you offend God, and will be cut off from His blessing or glory. Read Psalms 51 and then you will pity a whole King.

SOJI: That is why the “Adulterous Woman” and the “Strange Woman” in the Book of Proverbs literarily woo men to destroy them, exactly as it was revealed to Pastor Kumuyi. That is the devil thing I am talking about. Sir, they may not appeal to you, but have you noticed the kind of women I am talking about? So, irresistible; and they are so many in this Lagos.

OBI: Please, be careful with over-generaliation. Not all beautiful or charming ladies are demonic.

SOJI: I am sorry, sir.

OBI: You seem more sober now, so let me explain how I believe this works. One: Every person who carries God’s glory naturally attracts people – the good, the bad, the charming and the ugly. Some of these people are out to destroy; they could be men or women — your Lagos women.

SOJI: Hmmm!

OBI: Two: There are millions of demons in the atmosphere, but they operate through vehicles. So it is possible for them to possess a beautiful lady and use her to destroy even an anointed man. Samson was anointed. And you must have witnessed examples of this mighty fall in Nigeria. The demons may be resident in a family or contacted through various means. If a lady goes to a demonic clergyman or woman for help, she may end up with a legion of demons in her. A pastor friend told me about some of these your Lagos women who patronize a so-called church near a creek in this same city for powers to influence  men. He says they are very beautiful women, who go there at dawn, and throw things into the creek later.

SOJI: Haaa, we are dead!

OBI: You are not. There is opportunity for you to confess your sins and repent immediately, but that will not stop them. You remember the Adeboye solution?

SOJI: Flee, flee, flee.

OBI: (Laughs). I think he used “flee” once in the example I gave you. Well, I have also heard that when these possessed people rob your glory or truncate your destiny, they are promoted in their dark kingdom. I have heard some of them confess, but I have no verifiable evidence of that.

SOJI: Haaaa!

Lastly, Soji, let me also say that the devil seems to have copied God in a way it changes systems. When God wants to change a system for good, He plants somebody there to change it from within, like the cases of Esther, Moses and Joseph. The devil has a way of planting demonic people to ruin people, families or even systems. You must have heard about beautiful families ruined because the man dated a demonic woman or took a second wife. So, if you say a particular woman has been chasing your friend for years let him go and check her spiritual background.

SOJI: Thank you, sir. I am going there right from here.

OBI: What about you?

SOJI: (Kneels down).