IF I BE A MAN OF GOD BY BISHOP BENSON IDAHOSA
(No time to negotiate with the devil)
In October 1972, I had some missionary friends visiting us from England. In my home then, we had no air-conditioned or electric driven fans. We usually fanned ourselves with newspapers but these English missionaries from Liverpool were not used to newspaper air conditioners.
Accordingly they left their windows wide open when they went to bed at night. At about 3 am, 7 armed robbers paid a visit to my home. They had been attracted by the open windows and peeping in, they had seen white men fast asleep. Thanking their good fortune, they had woken up the men and demanded for their money at gun-point. Snapping out of sleep, the missionaries demanded who they were and what they wanted. “Men of the underworld are we and we are here to relieve you of your money and other valuables. Any resistance will be met with Death. So now hurry!
Sensing danger, they quickly informed the men that they were visitors and were therefore not the owners of the house. They asked for permission to contact the owner at the family sleeping quarters and the thieves agreed. They rushed to our section of the house and woke up my wife.
“Mrs Idahosa, there are 7 men outside who say they are thieves and want our money and personal effects and other valuables. Can you wake up the Pastor?
My wife woke me up and they all began to speak in tongues. When the thieves heard the commotion of tongues inside, they shouted “Shut Up!”
And they all shut up. My wife said “Honey, let us pray”.
I said I had prayed before they came. I got up, snatched my Bible and marched towards the
door.
“Who are you? I shouted”. “We are men of the night” was their response.
I said “I am a man of the day. Are you ready for me? They said “Yes”.
I said, “Wait for me and in a few seconds, if you are all not flat on your stomachs, certified dead, then I am not a man of God”. Uncertain of what I meant, they hesitated only for a while; then they jumped into the nearby bushes and melted away in the darkness!
No time to negotiate with the devil.
