He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise. — Job. 5:12.
It was a normal Sunday morning. The day was June 24, 2006. Beatrice Emelogu had looked forward to another exciting and soul-lifting Sunday Light Fellowship at the Watchman Catholic Charismatic Renewal Movement, Mushin District, Lagos. She had left her house early, and had boarded a bus at Cele Bus Stop on the Oshodi/Apapa Expressway, intending to stop at Ilasa Bus Stop, in order to go to the Watchman District Fellowship Centre at Mushin. But unknown to her, what she entered was a bus manned by kidnappers/ritualists.
But, her case was, however, different: She was a Watchman!
And God had, through the mouth of His Servant, the General Overseer of the Watchman, declared that all Watchmen are “Sacred Cows”. And so, as the evil men blew some powdery substance on them to induce her and the other passengers to sleep, she remained awake, while the others dozed off. This was a surprising and unexpected development to her captors. When they tried again, and the spell could still not overwhelm her, they decided to drop her, and by then, they had travelled several miles outside Lagos, far beyond Ikorodu, a suburb at the outskirts of Lagos.
Beatrice Emelogu: Kept Wondering, After Her Deliverance,
Whether She Was Still Allive Or Dead
But finally, they stopped and allowed her to disembark. They also threw out the items they had collected from her and sped off. Of course, the fate of the other passengers who had been overwhelmed by their spell, and who they had taken away, is anybody’s guess. So excited by what God had done for her, by singling her out for favour and deliverance, Beatrice was at a Special Combined Fellowship held recently at the Watchman Fellowship Centre, Aguda, Surulere, Lagos, to tell the jubilant crowd of Watchmen and their visitors, how she was miraculously saved from certain death. Her testimony:
“BRETHREN, if you are the one that experienced what I am going to share now, you will be jumping up and down and praising God the way I am praising Him now. I am persuaded that as you listen to my testimony this morning, you will be blessed in Jesus’ name. The day I shared this testimony in my district, I was weeping and asking myself whether I was still alive, whether I was still in the land of the living? But today, I am giving it with great assurance, because the Lord has made me know why He did that.
This testimony happened on June 25, 2006. On a Sunday like today, I was on my way to worship our great God, the God of heaven, the God of the IGMC, the Immirimious (deep, profound, unfathomable) God of the Watchman. I arrived the Cele Bus Stop as early as 6.30 am, as I usually did, and boarded a bus that was calling for passengers going to Oshodi/Ilasa. But unknown to me, the enemy had perfected an evil plan to take me captive, but unfortunately, he was not aware that the great and mighty God was there with me, by my side. As the bus approached Ballet Bus Stop, one of those with us in the bus, a man, suddenly turned to us, and told everyone to say his or her last prayers. By this time, I was already contemplating bringing out money to pay my fare.
I raised my head, looked at this very man, and told him that I would wish to disembark at Ilasa Bus Stop, because I was going to church. They paid no attention to me, and continued to speed along. As they got to my bus stop and sped past, I began to mutter some silent prayers in my heart, saying, ‘God, this will not happen; remember that I am going to Your house; I am not like the other people who are going to some other places; indeed, I am not going to a club house; You cannot allow this to happen because I am a sacred cow.’
As we got to Iyana-Isolo (on the same expressway), the man at the front turned and blew a strange powder on us. It was their charm. When this happened, I cried to God to please save me because I am a Watchman. When they saw that the spell was not able to affect me, they wanted to know which Church I attended, and I told them I was a Watchman. Then they replied: okay, are you greater than all these other people here?
You will soon be silenced. At this juncture, I could not hold my peace any longer. I called upon the Lord God, the Immirimious God, to intervene. Before we got to Charity Bus Stop on Oshodi/Apapa Expressway, my co-passengers had all dozed off, overwhelmed by the spell that had been cast upon them.
But I just flipped through my Bible, and got Psalm 23 and quickly looked at verse 4 which says: Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. And then I said: ‘God, today, You shall prove Yourself, and as I made this prayer, even in tears, they said: collect those things from them!
They collected both my songbook, and everything, and my bag, but my Bible remained with me. I gave it to them when they requested for it, and they dumped it where they kept other people’s things. As the journey progressed, I was busy making a lot of prayers. I was remembering a lot of things and telling God why I would not die in such a manner, until we got to a place I was no longer able to recognize.
All I heard next was: So, you have not slept? What about these other ones that are sleeping, are you greater than them? Why don’t you want to sleep? Then for the second time, they blew the powdery substance on us. This time around, it was not easy for me. I began to feel dizzy, and continued to struggle with the spell at the back where I sat. I bent my head and they thought that I was already sleeping.
Then I continued to pray and to say: Oh God of Watchman, save me; I shall not die but live; I know that your Spirit is moving! Incidentally, it was within that period that the General Overseer had come to our district and declared that the Spirit of God was moving all over the place. At a time, it looked like I had lost consciousness. I didn’t really know where I was.
All I knew was that after a while, I raised my head again, when they thought my fate was sealed and that I had fallen asleep. Then they looked at me and I looked at them. And they said: let’s drop this lady before she spoils things for us. As they deliberated on the matter, one of them said, let’s push her out! Behold they were on a very high speed. In fact, I was just imagining how these people will open the door and throw me out!
But I still talked to God and said: if You are the One that compelled them to drop me, then You cannot allow any harm to happen to me. They continued to debate the matter. Then one of them said: Let’s leave her! As they argued on this, behold, the driver, who had not said a single word all this while just applied the brakes, and stopped the vehicle. None of them asked him why he had to stop suddenly.
The one that had blown the powder had told the other one sitting by my side to open the door and throw me out, but since the driver had stopped, I had to come down without suffering any hurt. As I came down, I fell on the road there and began to thank the great God. I did not even know that they had dropped my things one after the other as they sped off, both my bible and my bag. I didn’t lose anything.
A Good Samaritan who was nearby and had seen when I hurriedly came down, and fell on the ground to worship God said he thought I was dead. He came and told me he was there because he had a flat tyre. When he came, I told him to leave me alone that I was going to church. He told me to just thank my God, and asked what church I attended. When I told him it was Watchman, he said: Oh, this God! I know the God of Watchman!
He asked me if I was the owner of the things they had thrown out which he had brought. I looked at them and identified them as mine. It was even strange how they were able to identify the things that belonged to me, because they had packed everything together. We trekked a long distance before we could get to where some buses were calling for passengers going to Ikorodu.
And he then stopped one of the vehicles and told them that this lady had just risen from the dead that they should please help me get back to Mile 12 or Ikorodu. He asked if I would know my way if I got to any of those places, and I just nodded my head.
I was just thanking the God of Watchman for rescuing me from the land of the dead and bringing me to the land of the living. Although I have read Psalm 23:4 which says: Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me, it was that day that it became real and practical to me.
Since then, I now have more boldness to preach to people. I tell them what God had done for me. And when I finish preaching, I don’t ask them to go to any Bible-believing church, I simply tell them to go to where I know God is moving and where God can do this kind of miracle--the Watchman.
Since this happened, it has dawned upon me that the God of heaven wants me to now have again the boldness which I had lost some years ago, and to know truly that He is very real and close to any of His children, and whenever we call upon Him, He is always by our side to save us. May God bless you all in Jesus’ Name”.
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