How can somebody die in the middle of a service of all places?
I was ministering at a church-service at Christian Video Network, Lagos. Suddenly, I observed that a lady in the second row was fidgety. She seemed very uncomfortable. Then, she got up and rushed out.
Soon after, someone came in, spoke to some women, who also rushed out. The service continued but some thirty minutes later, someone came in again. This time, she walked up to me and interrupted the service. “We seem to have a crisis on our hands,” she said. “Mrs. Osanyinjobi had an asthma attack. We’ve done all we can to help her. I am afraid the woman is dead.”
Dead on arrival
Dead? I could not believe it. How can somebody die in the middle of a service of all places? What kind of embarrassment was this? The whole church practically moved to the room where she was. There I met the ladies who had apparently spent the last thirty minutes trying to revive her and were now resigned to the inevitable.
I knelt down beside this woman’s lifeless body and started to pray. “Father, she will not die but live to declare the works of the Lord in the land of the living. You are the Lord that heals. You took our infirmities and carried away our sicknesses. By your stripes we are healed. You are the Sun of righteousness. Arise with healing in your wings. You are the balm of Gilead. Healing is the children’s bread.”
I went on and on and on, praying every scripture I could think of. After a while, I became exhausted. I did not know what else to say or to pray. I was young in ministry, and could not handle this kind of crisis. So I stopped praying and cried to the Lord in my heart. “Father,” I cried, “I need help. I don’t even know what to pray any more. I don’t know what other scriptures to claim.”
Jehovah-Shammah
And then something happened. It was something magical; something glorious. The Lord spoke. I heard him as clear as a bell. “Femi,” he said. “Pray in tongues.”
That solved the problem. Immediately, I calmed down. I realised I was not alone. The Lord was there. So I switched to praying in tongues. I prayed and prayed and prayed. And just as suddenly, something happened again.
Out of the blue; out of nowhere; Mrs. Osanyinjobi sneezed. Then she opened her eyes and sat up. Then I helped her to stand up. And everybody went absolutely crazy with joy.
We went back with her to the service with dancing and singing and shouting and clapping. She sat down calmly in a corner. But the Lord said to me: “Ask her to dance.” So I asked Mrs. Bola Osanyinjobi to join in the dance. And to the amazement of all, there was this woman, who had been lifeless for hours, dancing with everybody else as though nothing whatsoever had happened.
Talitha-kumi
Pamela Momah, Deputy-Director of Library, Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Lagos had a stroke. She was rushed to Military Hospital, Onikan, Lagos. When we went to see her, we were overjoyed it was mild. But while still with her, another drama ensued.
A man had brought his sick child for treatment, but he had no money. Therefore, the nurses ignored him. Suddenly, the boy died, right there and then in his arms. He let out a big cry. My colleague, Pastor Sandra Chikan, had apparently been watching the drama for some time. “This man kept pleading with the nurses,” she said. “But they refused to attend to him. Look now, his son has died.”
Without thinking, Sandra and I descended on the scene. I grabbed the dead child from the arms of his wailing father, and we started to call upon the name of the Lord. Sandra and I prayed fervently, confident that God is more than able to raise the child from the dead.
After a while, God honoured our faith and answered our prayer. Life flowed back into the boy and he opened his eyes. Rejoicing, we handed him back to his astonished father.
At last, the nurses agreed to attend to him. They took him away, still grumbling that the boy’s father could not afford the treatment.
About an hour later, a male nurse came to us with a strange announcement. “The boy has died again,” he said with a tone of finality. Then he stormed out of the room, leaving us with nothing left to do than to console his grieving father.
Jesus says: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die” (John 11:25-26).