For there is nothing hidden that will not become evident, nor anything secret that will not be known and come out into the open. – Luke 8:17
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood [contending only with physical opponents], but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this [present] darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) places. – Ephesians 6:12
…
Far away, Sangolabi, the god’s oracle heard a strange sound. It was the sound of a violent rushing wind. It was as though the shrine was being invaded by a strange power. Then, he had a sound. It was the calabash. He rushed to the inner room and saw that the impossible had happened. The calabash where he kept Sangofunmi’s figurine was broken.
Sangolabi was angry! How could it be? Where did the mighty wind come from?
As he was asking the questions, he felt a bright light in the room, and then he heard a voice.
Voice: I am the One. I have come to deliver my son.
Sangolabi knew the Voice. It was the Voice of the Saviour. He felt weak and fell on his face.
Sangolabi: But Great One, you know that Sangofunmi is a lawful captive. His father was a priest just like me. Sangofunmi is meant to be one of us. He was destined to be a chief priest. His father sacrificed him to us.
Voice: Well, that person is dead. Sangofunmi is dead. I have decided to rescue my son, and nothing can stop me.
Sangolabi: Great One, why now? And why him? You know that his father shed the blood of several innocent people. Those families cursed Sangofunmi’s lineage, and the blood of the victims still cries for vengeance.
Voice: I understand, but there is a blood that speaks better things that the blood of Abel. I shed my blood for him. It is by my blood that Adeoluwa is saved. He is no longer Sangofunmi. The time to set my son free has come.
The light disappeared and Sangolabi felt a strange darkness fill the room. He wondered what was happening, but as he tried to clean his eyes, he realized. He was blind.
…
It was 6:00am but Adeoluwa had not closed his eyes. He feared that it was all a dream. He was afraid that if he slept, he would wake up with the feathers back on his body.
His phone rang. It was his mother. Ade was worried.
Ade: Hello. Good morning, Mama.
Mama Ade: There is nothing good about this morning, Sangofunmi. There is nothing good o! Ah! Sangofunmi! You have killed me o.
Ade: Mama, I have told you to stop calling me that name. My name is Adeoluwa.
Mama Ade: Whether Sangofunmi or Adefunmi, that is not the issue. The issue is that the chief priest is here in our house, and he is shouting your name. He was brought in by his sons, Sangodele and Sangodare. He is blind and he said you are the cause. His children have promised to burn our house if their father does not see immediately. Sangofunmi! Please don’t put me into trouble o.
Ade: Mama, first of all, my name is not Sangofunmi! And as for the chief priest, tell his sons that if they burn our house, their father will die.
Mama Ade: Ah! Sangof…, sorry Adeoluwa, please don’t put me into more trouble. The phone is on loudspeaker. They can hear you.
Sangodele: So you want to kill our father? If our father does not regain his sight in three days’ time, your mother will die.
Ade: Ah! I am sorry. I did not mean it that way. Hello…hello…
Ade realized that the call had been terminated.
He took a deep breath, and as he wondered what next to do, his phone rang again.
Ade: Hello, Sangodele. I am sorry for what I said. Please forgive me. I did not mean it that way. Please.
Pastor Ebenezer: Brother Ade, it is me. Ebenezer. Who were you talking to? Who is Sangodele? What happened?
Ade took a deep breath for what seemed like the hundredth time in a few minutes.
Ade: Pastor, it’s a long story. I need to see you.
Pastor Ebenezer: That’s fine, but I am not sure you are in the right frame of mind. Let me come over to your house. Please can you send me your address as a text message. I will find a way to locate it.
…
Ebenezer terminated the call and stared at his wife. He was confused. There were so many characters coming up. The Lord had told him about Sangofunmi, and that turned out to be Adeoluwa’s former name. Now, there was another person in the picture. Sangodele. He wondered who that could be.
However, a few meters from him, his wife wondered. She wondered whether God was up to. She wondered if this could be the unravelling of the only secret she had kept from her husband.
…
She was about to find out.
…
Ebenezer: Sweetheart, please can you join me? Let’s visit Adeoluwa together. You can go to work from there. I just got his text message, and the area is not far from your office.
For a few seconds, she considered rejecting the invitation, but she could not come up with any reasonable justification. She reluctantly nodded and entered the room to get ready.
…
Ade heard his phone ring. He was going to put the phone on “silent mode”. He was having panic attacks just by hearing the ringtone.
It was Pastor Ebenezer.
Ade: Hello, sir. Are you around?
Pastor Ebenezer: I am not sure. The map led us to this location, using the address you sent, but what we can see here is a bakery.
Ade: Oh okay sir, just look across from the bakery, you will see a gate. That is my compound. I will come out from the gate now.
Pastor Ebenezer: I can see a black gate. The fence is painted yellow. Is that it?
Ade: Exactly sir. That is it.
As he approached the gate, Ade heard a knock. He opened. He could not believe who he was seeing.
Ade: Aunty Funmi!! Pastor, how did you know her?
Ebenezer was confused. “Who is Aunty Funmi? This is my wife. Her name is Bisi.”
Ade: Sir, no o. This is sister Funmi. Abi, are my eyes deceiving me?
Ebenezer: Honey, answer him. It must be a case of mistaken identity.
Ebenezer took a glance at his wife, expecting a rebuttal, but her reaction told a different story.
…
Episode 4 ends.
…
Iremide: This story has taught me a lot of lessons. The chief priest’s encounter with Jesus at the shrine was a wonderful experience. It opened my eyes to the justification that the enemy had against Ade. There was a covenant over his life. His father had pledged him to the idol. Also, there were innocent lives that had been shed, which demanded justice. Ade was a debtor. A lawful captive.
However, Colossians 2, from verse 13 to 15, makes it clear that God forgave us all our sins. He cancelled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us, and nailed it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, Christ made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
In Isaiah 49 verse 24, a crucial question was raised. “Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captives of the just be delivered?”, the Lord answered in the next verse, “For thus says the Lord: Even the captives of the mighty will be taken away, and the prey of the terrible will be delivered…”
And as such, even in situations when the enemy seems to have a valid basis to hold on to, we see that the sacrifice of Christ still remains sufficient.
So, I pray for you and your loved ones, in any way that you are being held as (lawful) captives, in the name of Jesus, you are set free! You are delivered! The blood of Jesus that speaks better things that the blood of Abel will speak for you. It will speak deliverance. It will speak forgiveness. It will speak restoration. You will rejoice in Jesus name. Amen.
…
For our story, I am wondering what the relationship between Ade and Pastor Ebenezer’s wife is? Also, what do you think will happen to Ade’s mother if the chief priest remains blind after the three-day ultimatum? There are so many questions. I believe we will get some answers next Friday, by God’s grace!
See you then!