The Phoenix

His name is Temitope, he gave me permission
to share his story for a special reason
I met him in 2016, he was sick
The disease was a very strange one, it
causes him to go into spasms and seizures
often
He also experienced severe blackouts
and loss of memory constantly.
He might sleep in the bedroom and
wake up in the sitting room or in a
neighbour’s house without knowing
how he got there
His mother told him he was born a
normal child but being the son of a
side chick (secret wife), the main wife
of his father who had only daughters
afflicted him with the disease on the
day he was introduced to his stepsisters
and the entire family sometime in 1988.
His mother said his father had insisted
that she must bring him to the family
house while he was still alive so that he
can be introduced to the whole family
His mother said she and his father got
together in secret and he was the product
of their relationship
They were kept hidden until he clocked
two and his father felt he couldn’t die or
be afflicted by evildoers anymore
(His father had been told by a spiitualist
that if he was to have a male child, he
would have to do so in secret because
his wife was a witch who was determined
never to have a son so that she can
initiate all her daughters into witchcraft)
His father felt it was time for him and
his mother to be introduced to the family
It was Christmas Day, his father threw
a party and invited his relatives
They arrived and his father introduced
him as his son and his mother as the
secret wife
Perhaps it was not done in a sensitive
manner but the reaction of the family
was mixed
Some hugged her while others trooped
to the first wife to console her
After about an hour, the first wife emerged
with tear-stained face and insisted she
wanted to see the boy
At that point, she couldn’t say no
Her son went to greet the first wife
The first wife laid her hands on his head
and began to pray for him while in
deep tears
That was the very day the nightmare
and night terror started, it was terrible
His mother said it only got worse from
that day
She took him to the hospital, they
couldn’t find anything wrong with him
Then she took him to spiritualists and a
lot of things were said and done
He was supposed to die a year after
the sickness started but with a lot of
prayer he survived the sickness that
befell him
It was after the sickness that the
seizures and spasms started
It was a mental affliction and it almost
derailed the course of his life
He slept off twice on the days he was
supposed to write his JAMB examination
The third time, his mother drove him to
the JAMB center herself and sat in the
car until he was done
He was brilliant but would forget significant
Things as if his memory was wiped
Sometimes he would keep remembering
one incident over and over again as if
his brain was on a loop
It was crazy!
He eventually ended up in a private
university
His father had seen the evil done to him
and was aware of the deeds of his first wife
His father had also gone to several places
to pray and it was revealed that the illness
cannot be cured because it was serving a
larger purpose which will later be revealed
When he turned 27, that purpose was revealed
He fell sick from the seizures to the point
where he lapsed into a coma
When he got better, he suddenly discovered
that he was impotent
The doctors said it was psychological,
others said there must be a nerve damage
somewhere but the sickness couldn’t be
reversed!
He kept popping pills and changing doctors
as he was referred from one to the other
It was a life of pain and sorrow
The first wife had swore that the bastard
son would ever be able to carry the family
name forward and her words had come
to pass
His life became a tangled web
He would fall into depression over the
impotence and then into spasm and
seizures and couldn’t do anything productive
for himself
He just wanted to die
His mother wrote to me via Twitter DM
She told me all the issues and asked me
to pray for her son
I told her I’d like to meet the young man
Somehow his mother found a way to bring
him to my office
I was shocked by his appearance!
He was almost 7 feet tall, he was dressed
in a basketball kit, he was handsome
and well raised
I kept thinking “How can this athletic
looking young man be saddled with all
these life troubles?”
I asked his mother to excuse us
When we were alone I asked him if he had
given his life to Christ
He said yes
I asked if he was filled with the Holy Ghost
He said yes!
I nodded
I got on my feet and said “Let us hold hands
and pray in the Holy Ghost for a few minutes.
Let me hear what God has to say through
you to me and you will also hear what God
has to say through me to you”
He smiled
So we joined our hands and began to pray
in tongues!
He looked at me after thirty minutes of
prayer and said “Sir, I saw myself with a
woman, I think I am her husband.
I also saw children, a set of twins”
I nodded
I said “You will meet your wife in an office
environment. You will know her when you
meet her”
I also told him the Spasm and seizures
were gone
He said he had found a way to cope with
them and he didn’t have any hope of ever
being healed.
I told him it was a spiritual affliction and
therefore it has been handled from the
moment we joined our hands together in
prayer.
He said Amen!
I told his Mother not to shield him too much,
let him work or study for his masters or travel
but stop keeping him at home
A few weeks later he got the form for his
masters and started the registration process
He met his wife at the post-graduate school’s
secretariat
She was a secretary at the records office
He said as soon as he saw her, his body came
alive in an embarrassing way
He said she asked him how she may assist
him and all he could say was “I am sorry”
then he left the office hurriedly!
He said he called his mother immediately
and told her what happened
His mother went with him to the
Post Graduate School the following day
(Not a wise move) and met with the lady
The lady was eleven years older than him,
she was a single mother of a seven-year
old girl
The conversation between his mother
and the lady was light and friendly
His mother told the lady that he felt he
had offended her by his behaviour
the previous day
The lady didn’t even remember but his
mother used the opportunity to befriend
the lady
When they got home, his mother told
him the news
She was older and she had a child
His mother felt they should keep praying
He remembered my phone number and
called me
I was shocked
How Christians will hear an instruction and
do the opposite always amazes me
I told him she was his wife
He said “Yes sir”
He went to see her the next day and asked
to buy her lunch
She said No!
He was a student and she said she does
not get familiar with students
He went back the following day and said
he will be dropping out of the masters
programme
All he wanted was to take her to lunch
She went with him
They talked
He started taking her to lunch every day
and even on Weekends
She asked him to resume his masters
He took her to dinner!
He said the seizures didn’t stop immediately
after we prayed but they stopped when he
started seeing her
He proposed
She said “No” citing the age difference and
how his rich parents would accuse her
of all sorts
He convinced her that was not the case
Reluctantly at first, she met his parents
and he met hers
Things went well and they got married
in April 2017
The set of twins came 16 months later
They live in Anthony Village, Lagos

PS: Why did Temitope grant me the
permission to share this story?
He came from a very wealthy and
well known family
His family was one of those whose
stories you would read in gossip
magazines
His parents wanted to keep the
testimony very private
I agreed with them
Last week, something happened and
I called him to talk to him about it
He listened and said if his testimony
would help, I should share it
I hope this has helped someone