FREEDOM!

Slightly intoxicated from the evening's drinks and mind ablaze with the night's exhilarating liberty, a sardonic smile marked Chichi's countenance as she walked briskly through the dark Lagosian streets. Could life be better! With no cares to check her, responsibilities to tie her down or plans to restrict her, life was without limits, each new day birthing new opportunities to exercise new independence. Suddenly, the silence was shattered: “Hello Chichi…” Whipping around in a myriad of shock and wonder, Chichi beheld the intruder of her solace to discover a dark man with an eerie countenance, smiling softly. Thoughts began racing – moments earlier she had surveyed the empty street opposite the graveyard. Where did this man come from? “I like you… come with me.” Chichi stared on, caught in the conflict of reason and freedom. 'Well, why not? Should be fun!' Reason waned and Chichi followed. It was a decision ever etched in the echelons of her life experiences, a decision she would later describe with the term, 'disastrous', a decision that left her enslaved in the hands of evil for seventeen years of torment.

For 16 year old Chichi, life revolved around going from one party to the next. It seemed the pinnacle of enjoyment and the height of delight, until the carefree attitude landed the teenager in a predicament she never anticipated. The problem's genesis stemmed from her strange encounter with a man who simply asked her to follow him. Chichi explained, “He brought me to a house, and it was completely empty. There was only a foam mattress inside the house, nothing else! I didn't even recollect the way we moved that night or the road we walked down. During that process, we made love together. The following day, he told me he was going somewhere – and left at five in the morning. That was the last I ever saw of the man physically and the last I ever saw of the house.”

From that day on, life for Chichi became miserable - anything she put her hand to suffered while any promise to help her was left empty. At night, the torment continued as a strange figure in the form of a snake came to make love with her, calling her his wife, shattering her peace and destroying her future.

“Each time I sleep, in the dream this person will come as a snake and we make love in the dream. Since then, anything I lay my hands on, everything will end in disaster and disaster. My life has not been the same. Even though people give me money, the money will be scattered. People will promise to marry me but along the line the whole thing will be in vain, and they will say that they are not interested again, In short, I have not been myself for the past seventeen years and I am never happy. He will come in the form of a human but change into a snake down the line and make love with me – every night. On two occasions he told me that I am his future wife and that I should never date another man. He said we are going to have 22 children before he puts a ring on my hand and weds me. I have had four children in the night. He would normally say that these are his children, that they don't belong to anybody – and that anytime, he will come and take them. When I wake up after these dreams, all my body will be wet. It was a very terrible experience.”

Deeming life of slavery to a snake worse than worthless, contemplations of ending the nightmare once and for all filled her senses. Was life really worth living again? It was in such a state that a flick through the channels on her DSTV satellite revealed a renewal of hope, Emmanuel TV, run by The Synagogue, Church Of All Nations in Lagos, Nigeria. After barely a week of viewing, Chichi resolved to visit The SCOAN, knowing only divine intervention could prevail. The resolve was not without its challenges, as Chichi explained, “The night I decided to come to The Synagogue, when I slept, he still came and made love with me, but he said I should not make a move to the place I wanted to go and I should not leave him alone. He said I should not disown him and that I am his wife and must remain his wife. I woke up in the morning and said 'Devil – you are a liar. I must go to The SCOAN. God has spoken to me that I must go there and that he will use the man of God, Prophet TB Joshua, to deliver me.' Through watching Emmanuel TV, I had courage.”

The following Sunday, Chichi was arranged in the prayer line of The SCOAN. It was a date with destiny, and one she will not soon forget. “As TB Joshua was praying for me, I felt something suddenly came off my head as if something just flew out. I knew that something was going out of me. Then I actually saw these snakes surrounding me and I started shouting, 'Snake! Snake! Snake!' He stretched his hands over me – and I saw many snakes running away. There were more than twenty – both little and big ones going out of me. When he placed his hand on me, I felt, something cold cooling my head and going right over all my body. I just felt free like a new born baby.”

After seventeen long years of captivity, Chichi was instantly and remarkably delivered! But the story was not yet over. As the church service progressed, TB Joshua gave a word of prophecy in the midst of the congregation, saying, “There is a newcomer here with a 'rasta' style haircut. A snake has been making love with you in your dreams every night. This problem came from the time you slept with a man. The man came from a graveyard.” Chichi rose from her seat in amazement. She was hearing her life experience from a man she had never personally met. In fact, she had only disclosed the strange dreams to a few close colleagues. Coming forward, TB Joshua told her, “That man you slept with was not a human being – he was a ghost from the graveyard!”It all made sense – the man's sudden appearing out of thin air, the strange house he brought her to, the terrible experiences since then.

Reaching home that night following the incredible service, Chichi experienced real peace of mind for the first time in seventeen years. Lying on her bed, she slept soundly with no dreams, or strange encounters with the 'snake-man'! The nightmare had finally ended! Brimming with joy, Chichi now has hope for the future. Her words to the youth are clear: “I know a lot of young ladies out there like me and I know what I went through in life. My experience is a very big one – a disaster experience. I will advise them to give their lives to Christ and come close to God. You should not allow anyone to come and deceive you into the party lifestyle. By the time you keep on doing it, you will find yourself empty and you will gain nothing. Stop going to parties because there is danger in it. In the process, they will experience what they don't expect and it will destroy the person. So my advice is simple - to come to God.”

SOURCE: All Voices