By Kingsley Obom-Egbulem
It is difficult to imagine your General Overseer’s son stealing cell phones during service and selling them off to any buyer. I’m sure you can’t imagine that same boy at the church’s parking lot begging members for money. All of these to sustain his drug addiction.
It’s even harder to imagine these scenarios if you were one of those who taught this boy in the children’s church where he was Bible quiz champion and led praise and worship.
Yes. It’s the same boy!
So, how did he miss his way? How did he move from being that adorable kid to a despicable junkie who steals phones while service is ongoing?
It’s a long story. But the focus of this conversation is about this boy’s comeback and glory days.
He did quit drugs and must have graduated from the University by now.
I met his father, a General Overseer, shortly before the Covid-19 lockdown. The event was the passing out ceremony for a set of youngsters who had just completed a one-year intensive drug rehabilitation programme in a Lagos-based Lagos. I had just finished hosting the event and was greeting some guests when this visibly elated light-skinned man, dressed in a suit approached me. “Are you a youth pastor?” he asked as he reached out for a handshake. “I’m not a pastor; I teach children and teenagers,” I said, smiling. “Given the way you’re dressed, you sure look like a pastor”, I said, grabbing his hand with my two hands. “Yes, I’m a pastor; my son is among the graduates from this set of the programme”, he disclosed.
Wait a minute; that was supposed to be a graduation ceremony for former drug users. “If your son was one of them, and you’re a General Overseer, then you have a story worth listening to”, I tried to reason.
The man went on to narrate how their world began crumbling the day they found out that their son had been using drugs. “My wife almost died of shame,” he said.
It was a long journey filled with pain and ignominy. But when the turnaround began, it was total and glorious.
“Our congregation were moved to tears, and the number of people who gave their lives to Christ the day I shared the story of how well he’s doing at the rehab was more than we’ve ever had on a Sunday”, disclosed the man.
The story of the prodigal son is just one of the many stories in the bible for a lot of Christians. But this man has lived that story. Bishop TD Jakes can relate to such stories too.
Sarah Jakes (the last child and youngest daughter of TD Jakes) would not have been a force to reckon with today if not for her comeback story. And that story would not be worth anybody’s while if her father had not forgiven her and given her a second chance.
Sarah Jakes is our modern-day reenactment of the story of the Prodigal Son. She was a Prodigal Daughter. But considering the profile of Bishop Jakes, I think the story of the prodigal son was child’s play.
Try, if you can, to picture this: the 13-year-old daughter of a powerful, popular, charismatic Nigerian preacher is pregnant. Feel free to cast your mind on any Bishop or General Overseer of your choice. Knowing how discrete the average Nigerian preacher’s family is, the news would not come out. That girl would have been shipped abroad to give birth and continue her life. Her mother would relocate abroad and travel regularly to see her daughter, who is believed to be schooling. The story would be buried for life. It’s also possible that the family would contemplate abortion. That is, if the father doesn’t die of shame, like Ezinne’s dad, the lady I shared her story in my previous post. (When God Allows Us the Opportunity to Play God)
I know a popular man of God who has a child living with Down syndrome, and to this day, not many people know about that child. Imagine what such a man would do if his 13-year-old daughter got pregnant?
When your children need forgiveness or a second chance, they are at their most pathetic and vulnerable state. That is when they should be running home, not away from home. There are countless adults whose source of misery and the reason they have not found their feet and realised their full potential today is because their fathers or mothers refused to forgive them. They never had a second chance after their fall.
They not only bear the scar of guilt from whatever offence they committed, but they also live with the pain of hatred and resentment, knowing that their lives could have been better if only their mom or dad had forgiven them.
I have seen many black sheep end up as golden kids; kids who couldn’t pass simple class exams now running businesses and thriving as adults.
I have seen kids leave drug rehabs, go back to school and end up graduating with fantastic grades. I have seen pregnant teenagers give birth, go back to school and are today called “boss ladies, thriving business women”. I have seen ex-convicts and former gangsters pastoring today, leading troubled kids to Christ and helping them find meaning in their lives.
That child that seems like a disgrace now is going to have a comeback story. Don’t give up on him or her. Don’t quit praying. And don’t die of depression or high blood pressure before the comeback.
Just so you know, popular South African comedian Trevor Noah was expelled from primary school for bad behaviour. Today, there is a big flag in front of that same primary school with Trevor Noah’s face on it saying, “We are Proud of You, Trevor.” How about that?