Their Latter Day Jesus by Pearl Adams : Chapter 11 – Success Is Your Birth Right
I lived a protected and secured life until two months after my sixteenth birthday. My world turned upside down when my father ran away with his Secretary to Brazil. The lot then fell on my mum to fend for my two siblings and me. It was a Herculean task because she had no skill to sell. The only succour was her brother, Schmidt who occasionally sent us pocket money. As the oldest child, I felt it was my responsibility to help mum. I performed all sorts of odd jobs in my neighbourhood that fetched me some Euros. In 2003, my only sister Emile got married to Michael Yuschenko, a businessperson of Ukrainian origin based in Stuttgart.
Through the generosity of Yuschenko, my brother Gabriel and I completed college in 2005. Thereafter, both of us gained admission into the University of Heidelberg, same year. While Gabriel chose Agricultural Science, I went in for Medicine. Two weeks into the registration process, the Faculty Officer, Derrick Heisher sent for me. I was not apprehensive because I felt I had satisfied the basic requirements for the course.
As I entered his office, I was surprised to find my mum there. Her smile though radiant, unnerved me. What could have prompted mother leaving home to travel almost thirty kilometres to the university? Before both of us could say anything, Heisher cleared his throat and said, “Jake, I sent for your mum so all of us could discuss an important issue. Yesterday the governing body of this institution met and resolved to prune down the number of intakes into the Medical School for this session. Unfortunately, your name was among those dropped.”
Heisher looked imploringly at my mum; apparently, both of them had discussed the matter at length before sending for me. She took my hands and said, “I know what this means to you Jake. Hope is not lost. Heisher spoke to the authorities on your behalf and they agreed to allow you pick any other course of your choice.”
To say that the turn of events devastated me was an understatement. I could barely restrain myself from crying despite my mum’s calming presence. I shrugged my shoulders and asked to be given time to think about the new development.
Without waiting for any response from Heisher, I walked out of his office. I had not gone far when my mother caught up with me. She had a pained look on her face. She held me by the shoulder and said, “You did not have to be rude to Heisher my son. He went out of his way to protect your interest. You must return and apologize to him.” My voice sounded thin in my ears as I responded, “I am sorry mum.
Let me go back and see him at once. The truth is I did not prepare for this kind of news mother.” She looked at me with tears in her eyes and said, “I understand how you feel son. Every broken dream destroys something beautiful in us. But we can rise from the ashes of our yesterdays into another life full of promises.”
Two days after the meeting, I registered for English and Linguistics. I could have settled for a science related course but I chose to make a clean break. I was lucky to have offered English Literature in my college examination despite my science background as it was a major requirement for my new course. I was the only science student that sat for the examination.
I had no idea that Linguistics was such a tedious course. In my first year, I made the mistake of approaching my studies with casualness. By the end of the session, I was four points below my targeted grade of 3.5 for a second-class upper degree. In my second year, I recovered enough to score 3.3 averages. I could have sustained or achieved my goal but for a chance, meeting with a woman whose influence almost truncated my academic pursuits.
I was relaxing at a water park in the campus on a Saturday morning when someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around to face a very pretty woman of about twenty-eight years old. She was about five feet seven inches tall and had shoulder length chestnut hair. She smiled and said, “Pleased to meet you, I’m Katherine, a member of Christ the Redeemer Ministries. Would you mind my inviting you to our church program this Sunday? It is a special anointing service for students.”
I introduced myself and thanked her for the invitation. I promised to make out time for the service. Satisfied with my response, she rummaged in her bag and brought out a flier printed by her church for the upcoming program. I thanked her again and assured her that I would be there. She left after we exchanged phone numbers.
My first day at the church was uneventful. Although my family members worship at an Anglican Parish, I had attended Pentecostal services severally at the behest of some friends. I was therefore familiar with the order of worship. At the end of the one-hour sermon, the senior pastor invited all students to the altar. Thereafter, he prayed and anointed each of us. I was impressed with the orderliness in the church. Before the close of the service, the man of God announced that he would conduct a similar program on Thursday of the following week.
He said this was necessary to seal the blessings God released during the first session. According to him, there were depths of demonic powers that needed more than a touch of God to secure the release of their captives. He drew parallels with the story of the blind man in the Gospel of Mark chapter eight verses twenty-two to twenty-five.
He explained that Jesus did not restore the sight of the blind man completely until he laid hands on him twice. Judging by the demeanour of the crowd, it was obvious that the pastor made a huge impression on everyone. I resolved to return for the second touch to entreat God’s favour to prop up my grades at school.
The moment I returned to the campus, I sought out my brother Gabriel and shared my experience with him. My usually reticent brother was excited and promised to attend the service. However, both of us agreed not to inform our mother about the program. She made no bones of her distaste for some Pentecostal churches. She once described them as ‘business centres’ because of perceived ostentatious lifestyles of their founders.
By four p.m. of the appointed day, my brother and I took our seats in the church’s large auditorium. We did not wait for long before Bishop Hegel arrived with his team. After the opening prayer and some worship songs, he went straight into business. He started the sermon with a scripture taken from Mark chapter seven, verse 27, which read, “Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children’s bread and to cast it unto the dogs.” He also read Deuteronomy chapter twenty-eight with emphasis on verse thirteen, “If you listen to these commands of the LORD your God and carefully obey them, the LORD will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always have the upper hand.”
Choruses of “Amen, Praise the Lord” greeted the message. At the end of his sermon, the Pastor encouraged us to enlist in service groups in the church. He said, “Working for God” was the easiest way to have “sweat less victories” in the battle of life. He then advised us to visit the church office the next day and register with the service group of our choice.
The following day, I left the campus alone after my unsuccessful attempt to convince my brother to make the trip with me. I was surprised that the message of the previous day had not taken hold of him as it did me. Anyway, I got to the church office and registered with the ushering unit. After the documentation, Michael Kaufmann, the leader of the service group, asked me to report for training the following day by five pm.
The three weeks training was exciting, though tedious as I was still contending with my studies. At the end of the program, Kaufmann posted me to the children’s church along with nine other new members. Kaufmann told us that he would deploy us to the main complex after successfully completing a three- month probation period at our current location.
Working with children was a big challenge for me. For one, I was not too enamoured with what I saw as their egoistical approach to life. Their desire for instant gratification riled me to no end. In fact, I almost lost my cool when one of them, a four-year old boy, insisted on eating his popcorn while a service was in progress. A friend, Dalen Seville managed to calm me down and cajoled the brat into letting go of the popcorn.
Three months later, Kaufmann posted six out of ten of us that registered for the program to the main complex, while he asked the rest to repeat the class.
I threw myself into service for the Lord with all my strength. Kaufmann initially assigned me to cover the elder’s pew and choir stand. Later, he asked me to take over the pastors’ pew from my friend Neville after the later moved to Berlin to pursue his Master’s degree. There was no doubt in my mind that God would reward me for my work in his vineyard.
In fact, I was too confident of excelling above my peers in school that I spent less time with my studies. Had the pastor not declared that those who serve the Lord would always be the head and not the tail? To me, this meant that I did not have to allow studies enslave me. I was special to God. That was all that mattered to me.
To my shock, the second semester result of my third year was appalling. I not only failed three of the five courses, but also had very low grades in the other two. I was devastated. My brother on the other hand, passed all his courses with excellence. I just could not comprehend why God would allow me to go through that kind of trauma. Instead of taking stock of my life and making necessary adjustments, I decided to double my service at the church. I thought God withdrew his hands from my life due to lukewarmness on my part.
I duly sat for the three failed courses but had to carry two over into my fourth year as my performance was still below average. In the first semester of my fourth year, I decided to appraise the course my life had taken. First, I went into a one-week dry fast to seek the face of God. I needed to know why he let me down and gave my brother success despite his aversion to the things of the spirit.
Two days into the fast, God spoke to me through his word. I was reading the book of Joshua chapter one when some words in verses four to seven literally popped out and caught me attention. I was surprised that the Lord, in spite of his promise to give Israel the land of Canaan, asked Joshua to “be strong and courageous.” My thinking was, “Why did he need to be courageous when God said he would fight the battle for them?
It was then I heard the Holy Spirit say, “Any faith that expects God to take full responsibility for everything that happens to a man is irresponsible faith. You accused me of betrayal because you failed your examination. What have you done with your intellect? Should I have caused your brother to fail his just to validate your skewed understanding of my gospel?
Success comes from obeying my word not in indulging in idleness under the guise of sacrificing your time for me. I did not ask for that kind of sacrifice. All I need is your heart, and you do not need to spend every waking hour in a church building to surrender it to me. Think about it and make the necessary adjustment then I will bless the work of your hands and your service would be acceptable to me.
There is nothing wrong with people offering their services to me. The point is I look at the motive not the action. When you offer such services to me to influence my judgment, you are practicing the worst form of witchcraft. I need your heart, not activities offered with a wrong motive.”
The Lord’s reproof hit me hard because I thought I was walking in his will. I wept like a baby and regretted every moment I spent in church striving to be the best usher. I knew it was too late for me to make any significant difference in my grade level. After repenting for allowing myself to misjudge God, I suspended the fast and devoted more time to my studies.
I eventually graduated with a second-class lower degree but with a new resolve to walk with God in line with his word. I tried to rejoice with my brother’s superlative performance as the best student in his faculty. I could not but squirm with envy when my mum held up his first class degree certificate to the admiration of other relatives we invited for our convocation.
Now, I look back with thanksgiving to God for his mercy in saving me from total disgrace. I have also learnt to share my experiences with other youth to open their eyes to the deception of the enemy and to encourage them to yield to the leading of the Holy Spirit in all areas of their lives.