The Infidel

They were at a vigil when the issue came
to light
The pastor of the church heard the
testimony of one of the men of the church
earlier that week and decided to allow
him to share with the brethren
The man took the microphone and
explained how he had survived for
two years without a job!
As soon as he said “Without a job” the
congregation gasped!
It was impossible to even contemplate
that the man was out of a job for a
second
He always dressed corporately and
drove a good car
Everybody saw him as one of the
gainfully employed members of the
church
The man explained further that a
week after he lost his job in a stock
brokering firm, his wife found him
crying and promised him she would
ensure his shame was covered
The man said at the end of every month,
his wife would hand over her ATM card
to him and they would both go shopping
for the family and for themselves
She knew he would eventually catch a
break but she was determined not to
let him suffer simply because times
were hard
The man talked on and on about his wife’s
support and love
While the talk was going on, the
assistant pastor watched the man
with awe
When the man was done, a lady raised
up her hand in the congregation
She said she wanted to ask a question
She was the assistant pastor’s wife
When she was given the microphone,
she said she didn’t see any wisdom in
what the man’s wife did
She said she believed hunger is a strong
motivator for success
If you feed a jobless man and make him
feel comfortable, he will assume all him
well and dump the responsibility of the
marriage on the wife
He who did not work, should not eat
It was a principle she learnt from
her mother
It was a principle that she had discovered
to be tested and proven
As far as she was concerned, what
happened with the man and his wife
was just luck
The lady’s comment caused an uproar
in the church
Her husband (The Assistant pastor) just
lost his job and had confided
the pastor about the way his wife was
treating him at home
The pastor didn’t want the wife to know
the husband had reported and decided
to use the testimony to educate her on
how to treat her husband in such a time
Her response was not taken lightly by
many in the church others
raised up their hands and contributed
Some even insulted her tacitly for being
so myopic
After the vigil, she told her husband he
would have to leave the house she paid
for unless he got something doing
The people talking thrash in the church
have never walked a mile in her shoes
She was not brought up to feed a
grown man
She cannot be labouring while a man would
be watching TV hoping to catch a break
Her older brother didn’t have a job too but
he got involved in the illegal oil bunkering
business at Ikorodu
He was a graduate who did not mind
getting his hands dirty
Her brother was making between ten and
twenty thousand Naira daily
He was feeding himself and increasing his
savings daily
Why couldn’t her husband get into the oil
bunkering too?
Her husband said he was a pastor and
that it was illegal
She said he should move out of
the house
The bible says “A man who cannot provide
for his own household is worse than an
infidel
It was a fierce battle
Her husband caved in and called her
brother
He joined the oil bunkering business
Whatever he made daily, he dropped on
the dining table without touching a kobo
He did the bunkering business for seven
months
Eventually, soldiers were deployed by the
federal government to stop the bunkering
and he had to return home
Two weeks after he returned home, his
wife’s brother started an internet fraud
scheme
He was glad his wife didn’t invite him
to join her brother
After a few weeks, the brother had to
collect some money from the bank
(from the people he had scammed) and
his wife volunteered him as the person
who should pick up the cash
He protested but his wife and her brother
told him the money was sent in his name
He had to do it
It was the scariest day of his life
He thought he was going to be arrested
and whisked away to jail every minute
until he got out of the bank
When he got home, he went on his knees
and prayed
“O God! Please, arise for my help! I dont
want to do this anymore!”
Two days later he got a very good job
At the end of the first month on the job,
he collected his salary and gave everything
to his wife
He thanked her for standing by him when
things were tough
His wife was overjoyed!
Finally, they had gotten to a good place
One week later, he
left home and didn’t return
His wife waited for three days before
reporting at the police station
When she called the pastor to inform her,
the pastor told her he just finished speaking
with her husband
The pastor called the husband and asked
him where he was
The husband said he
has moved out of the apartment and the
marriage
The pastor was shocked
The wife was shocked too
She said they didn’t have any fight or
disagreement
The pastor called for a meeting
They met at the pastor’s house that
evening
The Husband told the pastor what she
made him do during
his trying time
He had started smoking and drinking
(An habit he picked up while bunkering oil)
He had carried a lot of guilt and resentment
in his heart towards God and his wife
He said he felt like Esau, who sold his
birthright for a morsel of bread
He said he felt like Adam
who ate the forbidden fruit and the
bidding of his wife
He said he felt like King Ahab, who
was prompted by Jezebel to provoke God
The pastor couldn’t believe everything
his assistant was confessing to
At the end of the meeting, the pastor’s
assistant had resigned and left both
the pastor and his wife grasping at straws

PS: It took the brother five years
to return to Christ
He never returned to the marriage
His wife remarried after waiting
for three years
He remarried in 2018 and has a daughter
He said she made him do things
that made him hate himself

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