Reports from Elijah Challenge Africa Coordinator Emmanuel Rhema

 

Before my birth

When my mother was pregnant with me her third child, as she was on her way to the market one day she met a man who told her that the child in her womb was going to become an IMAM (an Isl–mic preacher). The man saw wrongly not knowing that I was going to be a preacher of the gospel of Christ Jesus, preaching Him crucified.

When I was born, at the exact age of two I was forced into Isl–mic school and by the time I was nine (9) years old, I had finished the sixty (60) Izzu (books) of the Quran, which qualified me to be an (Ustaz) Isl–mic scholar. At that tender age of nine, I was already preaching and training some disciples, mostly mature men and women.

 

The mystery of the Quran

The Quran is termed the holy book of the Isl–mic religion but the truth inherent in it remains that it has satanic breath, just as the Bible the holy book of Christ carries the life (Zoe) of GOD.

In the Quran every verse and chapter can be use for either white or black magic. I am saying this because I was exposed to it early enough after I became an Isl–mic scholar.

The most dangerous chapter in the Quran is called (Yasin). This can be used for destruction of lives, for protection against enemies and for wealth acquisition. When I was a Musl__m I made some charms with the Quran, like charms against witchcraft, charms for favour, charms against gunshots and even for disappearing when you stand against a wall. I was already trying to do the charm of disappearing at will when I was arrested by the Lord Jesus Christ.

I personally assisted many to do some of these charms using verses and chapters from the Quran. The irony of this whole thing is that the charms only work for a while because they usually fail especially when you need their assistance most. It is only Jesus that does not fail because they that trust in the Lord shall not be disappointed or ashamed. He is a sure hope and help in time of need.

 

Terrorism

Every child born to a Musl__m fanatic is brainwashed and poisoned with words against Christians and white people as their enemy and enemies of GOD. Such a Musl__m child grows with strong and perfect hatred for Christians at a very early age. In the Musl__m world it is believed that when a Musl__m kills a Christian he will receive a reward from GOD (Allah) and when they are killed they will go to paradise where they will be given seven virgins for marriage. As a result of this notion, every Musl__m becomes ready to die for the cause of Isl–m; this is the reason behind suicide bombers. They call such confrontation JIHAD—meaning holy war.

I was poisoned against Christians from my childhood, especially against pastors and the white man. We don’t regard them as human beings but we see them as enemies of GOD (Allah). With this hatred in our heart, we cause trouble against them and if they react unknowingly of our plans we kill them, burn down their churches and their homes. I personally was fortunate not to have killed anybody, but my colleagues did it with pleasure. The killing of Christians in the northern part of Nigeria became constant because we see it as doing the work of God (Allah). This is zeal without knowledge.

 

My conversion

By the time I was 15 years of age we burnt down churches and killed many Christians. After the whole game I felt a feeling of dissatisfaction. It was just like something was missing in my life but I couldn’t explain it. A deep thought kept coming to my mind that if I die now, where will I spend eternity. I became so confused and started saying to myself that if I become a Christian and at the end Isl–m becomes the right way to heaven, what then will I do? I was indeed in the valley of decision and greatly needed the help of GOD. Amidst this all thought there was an inner feeling that Christians are innocent and cool-minded. They don’t retaliate despite how they were treated. I then concluded that Jesus is the right way to heaven. But within a short time, I would go back to my stand that Isl–m is the way to GOD.

One faithful day as we were working on charms to enable us to disappear at will with a late friend Charles, a young Christian man who had converted to Isl–m, something wonderful and spectacular happened as I was saying that Charles had converted to Isl–m—that is the first thing we Musl__ms do when we meet any Christian. We try to convert them and many do get converted, including pastors because of money.

During the course of our charm business some preachers on street evangelism came to us and preached the word of GOD to us. The words that came from of their mouth were like a sword. They really pieced into my soul. At the end of the preaching they led us to Christ because we couldn’t resist the power of GOD in them. But when they requested for my name and address I gave them a wrong one. As GOD would have it, they left a tract with me.

 

A supernatural experience

Even after the preachers prayed with us, I was left in between two opinions. That same night I had a divine revelation. For the first time in my life, I saw a man of GOD preaching with a megaphone along the street, I discovered that people that were not born again were compelled by a supernatural force to follow him, but with the born again children of GOD nothing happened to them. I was among the people compelled to follow him and we were taken to a mighty field. The man of GOD told us that the people that want to be born again should wait and those that are not ready should go. Many left but a few of us remained. Suddenly we heard the sound of thunder. I was afraid and I saw Jesus standing on a rock saying:

“Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest, take my yoke upon you and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30).

It was later that I discovered these words in the Bible. After this whole revelation I woke up from sleep and that is how I gave my life to the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Persecution

In the Isl–mic religion when a Musl__m gets converted to any other religion he is automatically declared as an enemy of God. Isl–m encourages Musl__ms to kill such a person, promising them reward in paradise. For this reason my dad and other Musl__m leaders decided and concluded that I should be killed. Many attempts were made at having me killed but the good Lord delivered me from them all. When I got converted I stopped practicing what they practiced. I used to walk ruggedly before, going to the mosque. All these things I stopped. In fact, I disassociated myself from them. All these I did without disclosing my identity because of fear as a new convert. But within a short while the whole thing was discovered and the news spread like wildfire because of my valuable status within Isl–m as the youngest Isl–mic scholar.

One night as I was sleeping a gang of Musl__m was sent to kill me; they took me away to a two bedroom flat where others were already waiting in the darkness for me. The room was locked with a padlock and there I was given beatings from different angles. At one point I could no longer breathe well, I was already suffocating. At this point in time a voice spoke to me to get close to the door and as I did, I saw myself outside. This was not the work of the charms we produced because all the charms had been burnt as I went for a series of deliverance from GOD through the hands of powerful and influential deliverance ministers. The charms we did do not move you outside, you can only remain in that same spot but invisible. What happened to me was the hand of GOD in operation.

As my attackers came out and saw me they ran after me shouting thief, thief. In the northern part of Nigeria they kill thieves anyhow and since they had decided to kill me it did not make any difference to them if I get killed by the crowd. The crowd gathered against me and stoned me from different angles using sticks and irons on me. The pains I felt were indescribable and at a point I got so weak that I couldn’t run again and I fell. I thought it was the end of my life. I made a decision in my mind that I will not give up. That if I die, let me die in Him and if I live let me live in Him. So I prayed and said “Father do not charge them with this sin, forgive them for they know not what they do.” Immediately after I finished praying, I heard a voice that said, “son get up.” As I stood up, I was relieved. I saw myself running with such a light speed giving so many gaps to my pursers, but was not feeling the impact on my legs. It was like using the legs of the Holy Spirit. I ran to an uncompleted building that had a fence, and as I was about to climb over the gate, a force lifted me up and before I knew what was happening I was at the other side beyond my greatest imagination.

At this time I was just 16 years old, so I had to stop school for about a year since they were looking for me, even in the school, to kill me. Even my Church leaders were afraid of the Musl__ms and did not want them to use the pretext of hunting me as an excuse to burn down the church. So many tried to discourage me, including the pastors. They encouraged me to return back to Isl–m since I was still young. They advised that when I was mature enough then I can return back to God. I told them that I have made a decision for Christ with no turning back. Since my life was at stake, I decided to live on a mountain, as nobody was ready to accommodate me because of fear of the Musl__ms. I stayed on the mountain alone for six months and on that mountain there were snakes, scorpions and all manner of creeping things.

On one occasion when I was sleeping a snake climbed my body and passed through. When I woke up I saw it going away, I was not really afraid because the Bible said believers shall take up serpents and they shall not hurt them according to Mark 16:18.

At another time after I left the mountain, I was coming from church around 8 pm and some boys, about 50 of them, rushed toward me with speed. I resisted them, but one came and was about to stab me on the head and I managed to dodge him. Another came trying to stab me on the chest, but as I tried to prevent him with my legs the knife pieced through into my legs. When I got to the hospital a part of my flesh was cut and taken to the laboratory. The doctor reported back that a poisonous knife was used on me. I suffered the pains for sometime, but eventually got a miraculous healing, though the scar still remains to this day.

On another occasion I went to buy prescription drugs from a chemist, and about twenty Musl__ms attacked me and demanded my Bible. I said I had no Bible with me. Some at that stage said “stab him,” but others said no, so I was left to go. When I was at the chemist’s place a voice came to me telling me to pass through another way home and I obeyed. Later it was reported that the boys decided again to kill me so they went to the chemist and inquired about me. When they could not get me they used their knives to make the sign of the cross on the chemist and he was beaten half dead before some good Samaritans took him to the hospital.

On another occasion a very influential Musl__m scholar who was my former mentor sent people to monitor my movements. He was very unhappy about my conversion. Three of the men he sent got me into the trunk of a car and before I knew what was happening I was inside their palace. I was given three days to change my mind or face the consequences. I made use of this time to preach to the prison keeper who consented and decided to open the door for the two of us to escape because his life was automatically at stake as he agreed to listen to me.

Three months after this incident I was kidnapped again by some Musl__m youths in the school. They tricked me and took me and from there got me back into the prison. I again preached to the prison keeper who released me and escaped with me. This was how I escaped the kidnapped attempts planned by the notable Isl–mic scholar who has now passed away.

There was a day I happened to be in the forest close to my house. A Musl__m man shot me with his gun. The bullet hit my chest and fell down without injuring me. When I looked up, I saw the man about to release another shot. His eyes were greenish which is suggestive of the spirit of murder. He wanted to kill me.

A notable Moslem native doctor kept telling me that I am joking with them. He promised that he will use my head to do charms for people. After some months his skin started getting dark and very dark until he eventually died.

My father personally tried to lynch me to death with a sharp mouthed, iron-like spear, but God supernaturally delivered me.

In February 2002, there were killings of Christians in the North, in Kaduna my home state. About five thousand Christians were killed. Houses belonging to the Christians were burnt down. At this time, I had already become a popular preacher in the state. I was specifically marked for killing, but they could not get me. They came to the house several times to kill me, but God did not give them the opportunity. On one occasion they almost killed my elder brother, thinking he was I because we look alike. Even though he is a Musl__m, he had to escape for his life. The venue of my ministry was burnt down, including the compound of the woman who gave us the space. All our equipment was also destroyed. When I discovered that I could no longer stay in the Northern part of Nigeria for security purposes, I relocated to the South where I am now doing God’s work.

 

My calling to preach the gospel

I have a mandate from heaven to reach out to the world especially the Musl__m world, so I need your encouragement in any way possible.

Just last year the Lord spoke to me in an audible voice that he has given me a healing ministry. However I didn’t quite know how to go about it until the Lord brought Brother William to Enugu State of Nigeria. Even before this, the Lord had connected me to him after I asked him via his website how I could be connected to somebody in Africa to train me on healing the sick. He then specifically invited me to Enugu where the Lord taught me a lot of principles and secrets on ministering to the sick. Today I can say God has fulfilled his word in me through Brother William as I am currently seeing instant healings taking place in my meetings. By the grace of God in the year 2005 we shall start to reach out to the Musl__m world with the demonstration of signs, wonders, healings, and miracles.

Evangelist Emmanuel
Delta State, Nigeria, West Africa