The shocking part of the deal was that the money was paid in full to Clay World and she only had to marvel at how rich the church was. Engineer Osadolor, the Chief contractor of Clay world and Engineer Okoro, the Director of Building had gotten to work. She had gone to inspect the site the previous day and the work was coming along very well. The place had been graded and workers had been hired to flag off the site. They had also done a ceremonial laying of the church foundation which was done by the General Overseer who she met for the first time, Bishop Cyrus Imade. Lisa didn’t want to be in the ceremony, but she was obligated to be there, as president of Clay World. She finally met Bishop Imade and he was an imposing figure, probably almost 7 feet and his dark skin and heavy built figure made him a giant among his other pastors. She also shook hands with him and they had a very short but interesting conversation.
“Are you the Atheist?” Bishop Imade asked with a smile.
“Yes I am sir”, she replied proudly.
“An atheist and you are this big”, he said, “Imagine what you can do for the kingdom with that brain and drive of yours”.
That was two weeks ago and from time to time, she had gone to inspect the work from the office before going to pick up Daniel from school and finally getting home. The church was going to be a thing of beauty and all she could think of was the possibility of that money invested in something else. Something like an Industry in Benin and one could not help but wonder the level of employment that would create. Instead, they were building a church. It was a bitter pill to swallow and it just highlighted the job their network had to do.
It was Saturday and Lisa had taken that opportunity to get a well-deserved rest. She had invited friends over for a little get together in celebration of her new position as President of Clay World. She had not really had the time to celebrate as work had started immediately on the Revelations Ministry project but she was glad she had time that day to call friends together.
Lisa didn’t have any friends outside her atheist circle so everyone in there was a part of the atheist network she belonged. Her best friend from her teenage age and director of Business Development in Clay World, Victor Ahamba was there that day. He was also Daniel’s biggest enemy and friend at the same time. Victor had the power to make her son cry this minute and laugh the very next. He was also one of the very few people she felt a little comfortable leaving her son with, but she had to admit she had reservations due to his drinking habit. They all drank, but Victor took his to another level.
Then there was beautiful and talkative Gloria Asiegbu, A 35 year old Job Agent and part time writer and fashion designer. She was probably the most talented person Lisa had ever met because it actually seemed like there was nothing Gloria couldn’t do. Lisa and Victor had met Gloria when they had just graduated from the university. Judge Chinwe had recommended Gloria to them during their job search and the Igbo girl had not disappointed as she had revealed the opening at Clay world for them. They immediately applied and the rest was history. Gloria was very good at what she did and Victor would constantly say “Gloria can get a fish a job as long as that fish is an atheist”.
That was very true. She could get anyone a job, whether Christian or Muslim, but if you belonged to her circle, she would move mountains for you.
There were other people present, but they weren’t really friends of Lisa’s, just people in their network and they were mostly friends with Victor and Gloria. She only invited them as courtesy and because her two closest friends insisted. They were about nine of them and they all looked friendly and warming. She had spoken to some of them on line before, especially one by the name of Godwin Akpan, a business man who was into large scale importing of Electronics and Generators. He was also a very knowledgeable Atheist and sometimes appeared on Judge Chinwe’s YouTube debates. There were drinks, food and music and every one of them was having a good time even though they were divided into two factions. Gloria, Godwin and Victor were with her and her son Daniel on the dining table while the rest were at the sitting room eating and drinking. Some had started to get drunk and were already dancing. Two of the men in the sitting room were even busy playing Daniel’s video game to the admiration of the rest of them.
“You know the worst part of your promotion?” Gloria complained. “Our Lordship wouldn’t allow me peace”, she said referring to Judge Chinwe. “She’s always chatting me up, asking if I want to be a Job Agent for the rest of my life. Look at Monalisa she is now president of Clay World, you gave her that Job, remember?”
The four of them shared a short laugh. “She only wants the best for us”, Godwin was next to speak. “I have known that woman for eight years and I can tell you how ambitious she is. I think she sees a little of herself in Lisa”.
“Lisa has become her new favourite child”, Victor chipped in.
“She knows we can only be influential if we are at the very top”, Godwin added.
“Let her talk to me when she becomes Chief justice”, Gloria hissed, “She’s not my mother you know?”
“Believe me Gloria”, Godwin replied, “Chinwe Nnadi will become Chief Justice of this country in no distant time”, he announced. “She’s gunning for it”.
Lisa was lost in thought for a while and when she suddenly realized she was thinking of Pastor Phillip, she quickly tried to shut him out of her head. That was when she noticed Victor was staring at her.
“What is wrong?” He asked.
“Nothing”, she replied. “I am expecting someone”, she quickly said.
“Who?”
“Remember that pastor from Revelations…”
“Phillip?” Victor raised his voice and the other two turned towards them “You invited Pastor Phillip here?”
Victor had gotten the attention of Godwin and Gloria. “Who’s that?” Gloria inquired.
“Lisa here is getting friendly with a pastor guy”, Victor replied.
“I am not getting friendly with him”, she denied.
“There is nothing wrong in getting friendly with Christians”, Godwin chipped in. “One of the ills of religion is the division it causes among people and as forward thinking as we are, we shouldn’t practice that. Atheism is not a religion we should remember that and we shouldn’t act like one”.
“So the pastor is coming here?” Gloria smiled. “We can roast him”, she said excitedly. “Send him back home doubting that stupid faith of his”.
Lisa strongly doubted that. Phillip was too smart for all of them, only Godwin could come close but even then, she doubted he would be able to win the pastor in a debate. “Excuse me”, she said as she got up to walk into her room. She didn’t know why she felt uneasy at the prospect of Phillip coming to her place, but she knew she wanted to see him. She ran upstairs to her room, sat on her bed and placed her face in her hands. Phillip’s words were in her head, but it was the final words of Osas that bothered her. What exactly did she mean by those words? It replayed in her head over and over again and why did the church secretary scare her so much? Death was the only way someone like her could find out the truth about God? What did that mean? She also claimed in Lisa’s last breath, she would realize she was a great fool.
“I have to stop thinking of this”, she whispered to herself. “She was just trying to scare me”.
“Who was trying to scare you?” She heard Victor’s voice and it made her jump.
“It’s nothing Victor”, she lied as he came to sit beside her, a glass of wine in his hand.
“So, you and Phillip are best friends now?” He wondered.
“Are you jealous?” She smiled and he smiled back.
“Jealous only because I am in love with you”, Victor said.
Lisa bowed her head as she took a deep breath. “It’s been a while since you said that”, she admitted. “I thought you had gotten over that”.
“How can I get over someone so…”
“Victor”, she called, “please don’t because I don’t feel that way for you. Please”, she pleaded. “We are awesome friends and I honestly don’t want to spoil that. Please!”
He nodded and she could see the pain in his eyes. How long could she continue to reject him? The things Victor had done for her were incredible, they were things even her husband had never done, but the fact remained that he wasn’t the type of person to get serious with. He was spontaneous, jumping from one girl to another. Lisa could recall Esohe, two years back that Victor had dated. She could recall how Victor boasted to her that Esohe was the love of his life and that he had found the perfect girl. The relationship only lasted two months and that was it. Her best friend was never settled. How could he then say he was in love with her?
“I just need you to know”, he said after a brief silence, “I am not going to give up on you”.
“The faster you do that, the better for you”, she said bluntly. “After what happened to Ehimen, I just can’t handle another relationship”.
“But it has been over eight years”, Victor protested. “I was there before Ehimen, and I am still…”
“But I fell in love with Ehimen”, she cut him short as she got up from her bed. “Not you”.
“And the Pastor?”
“I am not in love with Phillip”, she denied. “I barely even know him. Only met him a couple of times”.
“You barely knew Ehimen before you started falling in love with him”, she recalled.
“Can we please stop talking about my late husband?” She pleaded.
“The pastor is not married, is he?” Victor wondered.
“He is not”. She replied.
He gave a mocking smile and he stood up from the bed. “No matter how long it takes, I will be waiting. You are worth the wait”.
He left her standing there, deep in her thought. She had definitely run out of nice ways of telling him ‘no’ and she wished he would understand. As she headed back to the sitting room, she heard Gloria call her name.
“Your gate man says there is someone at the gate”, Gloria announced.
It had to be Phillip, she thought. She rushed to the gate and ordered Tayo her security guard to open the gate and he duly obliged. She recognized his car, his Toyota Highlander jeep as it drove into her compound slowly. He jumped down from the car after he had parked it successfully and she couldn’t help but notice he looked different. Probably because this was the first time she was seeing him in a simple round neck polo shirt and a pair of Jeans trousers. He looked very different but he was handsome as ever and his smile was just amazing.
“Mrs Lisa”, he called with an outstretched hand.
“Oh please just call me Lisa”, she pleaded as she received his handshake.
“And you can call me Phillip”.
“Can’t do that in the presence of Mrs Osas Ojo though”, she joked and Phillip gave a soft laugh. “This way”, she said directing him into the house, but stopped him just at the door. “What is with her anyway?”
“Who?”
“Osas Ojo”, she replied as Phillip gave a thin smile.
“Does she scare you?” He inquired.
“A little”, she admitted.
“Don’t be”, he advised. “She is a nice person. She’s had a rough life you know? Similar to yours”.
“Mine?”
“She lost her husband 12 years ago”, he explained, “On their wedding day”.
“Wow!” Lisa exclaimed. “That is terrible”, she admitted.
“On their way from the reception venue to the hotel, the car ran into a heavy duty truck. The driver and her husband died instantly. She on the other hand was in a coma for four and a half months”, he explained. “I had just joined Revelations Ministries then and we were obviously not as big as we are now. But I remembered how much we prayed for her and God answered. She opened her eyes but couldn’t speak. She had damaged her Larynx and the doctor couldn’t understand it because with that kind of damage she was supposed to be dead”. He paused for effect. “She gave a sign the moment she woke up for a pen and a paper and when that was given to her, she wrote the words ‘JESUS IS REAL’.”
“That’s…weird”, she admitted.
“To you it is”, he smiled. “To us it’s a message. But you notice the contrast between you and Osas? While your terrible experience took you away from God, hers brought her closer.” He moved closer to her. “Let us not judge God with evil man brought upon himself. By the way, God has absolutely nothing to prove to me, you or anyone. He’s not on trial, we are the ones on trial and we are the ones that need to prove our loyalty to Him”.
Lisa nodded mockingly with a smirk on her face. “So how did Osas regain her ability to speak?” She wondered.
“God healed her”, he replied.
“Or you had good doctors”, she chipped in as she turned to walk into the house and he followed closely behind. She introduced him to every one of them and they all received him warmly, except Victor who wasn’t very happy and she could understand why. She offered him food and alcohol but he refused and that was when it hit her she had no soft drinks in the house. She had to drive out and buy. She quickly hopped in her car and drove to a nearby store to get a nonalcoholic wine. As she drove back, she felt she should not have left him alone in her house with her friends, but something told her Phillip could always hold his own. She knew if he got into a debate with any of them, she was going to root for him. Which was weird and wrong because she didn’t agree with his belief.
As she got back into her house with the bottle of wine, she could hear Phillip’s voice and when she got in, she saw her friends around him on the dining table listening attentively to him. All of them except Victor who was in the sitting room playing a video game with her son.
“Morality is one of the biggest proofs that God exists”, he said answering a question one of them must have asked. “You people say man is just a walking matter, but let me ask you. Can morality come from just a walking matter? Who determines what is right and wrong if there is no ultimate rule giver? Who makes the rules? Why are we so different from animals? Why don’t we ever try the pig for killing its young or the male dog for forcefully mating with the female? For humans, who determines killing as wrong and helping others as right?”
Lisa stood to listen.
“Our conscience”, Godwin replied confidently.
“So you admit that we have an innate sense of morality?” Phillip asked and she knew he was pushing them to a wall. He was brilliant! Very brilliant! But the fact was that his brilliance didn’t prove anything about God, it just proved he was…well, brilliant. “So how come humans have this sense of morality, while animals don’t, if we are just walking matter like they are? The truth is, humans definitely have an innate sense of morality. Deep down we know what is good and what is wrong. You don’t have to tell a child that hurting another child is wrong before he knows it. Now where does the conscience get such an absolute authority? There are four options. From something less than us which is nature. Now you ask yourself this question, how can you be absolutely obligated by something less than you? For instance animal instinct? It is not possible. The next option is from ourselves. Then you ask the question, how can you obligate yourself absolutely when you are not absolute? And if you locked yourself in the prison of obligation why can’t you break out? Even how hard you try you still see that it is wrong to disobey your conscience. The third option is from others equal to us which is society. If you can’t obligate yourself, how can someone equal to you obligate you? Why should society obligate you? Does quantity make quality? Does a million humans make a relative absolute? Now the final option is someone greater than you which is God. Only someone greater has the right to bind your will and morality.
“But how can you people explain this? How can you explain why it is wrong to do some things? So the fact is, if moral value exists, then God exists too”.
She smiled, like she was proud of him as she walked into her kitchen to place the bottle of wine in her freezer. She could hear her friends, especially Gloria raising their voices trying to raise arguments and questions. It was funny that all her friends couldn’t even match him and this was making her a bit worried. What if he was right? She allowed herself to have that thought for the first time in a very long while. He wasn’t right! She concluded. He was just brilliant and only knew the right things to say. He only needed to meet someone who would match his intellectual ability and that person was probably Judge Chinwe Nnadi. That would be a debate she wouldn’t miss for the world.
As she left the kitchen, she could hear his voice again. “You people have this flawed idea that Christians aren’t great minds. You all believe that because we can’t comprehend reality, we stick to fantasies. You believe when we see a task bigger than us, we run to our imaginary God in prayers. Permit me to share a Bible verse with you. Luke 19 verse 10 says that the Son of man has come to restore that which was lost”, he paused for effect. “Notice the use of the word ‘that’? It means Jesus didn’t come to restore humans to God alone, he came to restore everything that was lost in the garden of Eden. Now when Jesus told us greater things shall we also do he meant that we are to continue the restoration process, which means Christians are to take over every sphere of life and restore them to God. We are supposed to be problem solvers, we are not supposed to run from it. So when we encounter a task of a difficult situation like Nigeria is in now, it is our job to tackle this task and restore Nigeria back to God. But lots of Christians do not get this, instead we push everything back to God when he has given us the ability through his son Jesus to tackle problems. Another passage in acts chapter 4. Peter and John had healed a man at the gate called beautiful and people had gathered around them. Now when Peter and John spoke, the Bible made us to understand the people saw the boldness in them and they marveled. They were shocked because Peter and John were unlearned men but they spoke with such boldness and were articulate in their speech. And because of this, the people knew that Peter and John had been with Jesus. They didn’t know this when Peter and John healed the man at the gate, but knew they had been with Jesus when they spoke. What does this tell us, we do not represent Christ by miracles, one of the ways we represent Christ is by our knowledge. So Christians need to have knowledge of God, and whatever knowledge required to stay ahead of others. So when I study, I want to study to the point where people will look at me and say, this man has been with Jesus just by hearing me speak. So Borrowing Lisa’s words, Christians are not supposed to have the IQ of a chicken”.
They all shared a short laugh including Lisa who just stood listening to her new friend speak. He looked at her, they exchanged stairs and he gave a big smile. That was definitely something Victor noticed as he was now staring at the both of them. This was getting very awkward but she didn’t regret inviting him.
“But you can quote the Bible all you like”, Godwin said after the short laughter. The fact still remains that the most brilliant minds in the world today are atheists. Look at Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg…”
“You people are quick to mention these two names while trying to defend your beliefs but this doesn’t actually prove anything”, he replied. “It only proves that Christians are yet to see their place in Christ but by God’s grace we are changing the mindsets of many of these Christians because the Bible clearly tells us to dominate the earth. When God made Adam, he told Adam to dominate the earth and when Adam sinned, he fell away from God’s original plan. Jesus came to restore that plan. Talking about Billionaires, it might surprise you to know and I say this as a fact that 56.2 percent of the world’s billionaires are Christians. From 1901 to 2000, 65.4 percent of Nobel prices Laureates are Christians. Overall, Christians have won a total of 78.3 percent of Nobel prices for Peace, 72.5 percent for chemistry, 65.3 percent in Physics, 62 percent in medicine 54 percent in Economics and 49.5 percent in Literature”, he paused and gave her his trademark smile. “Tell me again how Atheists have the most brilliant and progressive minds?”
They were silent. Seven of them against him and they were being schooled. “Atheists believe that we are a result of a cosmic accident”, he continued. “One thing led to another and boom, life came into existence. But look at the intelligent design of this world. Animals are male and female because they need to mate to reproduce. I don’t have to go into the complex functionality of the human body which is insane to call an accident. As humans we are perfectly made to survive in this world and so are other animals. The rays of the sun are harmful to our skin and so by accident, the ozone layer was made? Oxygen is only about 20 percent of the dry air in the atmosphere but humans need oxygen to survive. Science has proved that 100 percent oxygen is harmful to us and so by accident nature made it about 20 percent large enough to keep us alive but small enough to keep us from dying. Also if Oxygen was a hundred percent, a little spark of fire and we are all dead because this makes it highly combustible. But nature knows this and makes it large enough to keep a fire burning but small enough to prevent it from being highly combustible. I can go on and on, so do you people want to tell me that such an intelligent design was as a result of an accident?” They were silent. “An intelligent design needs an intelligent designer and the fact that all these cannot be comprehended by the human mind shows the bigness and the awesomeness of God”.
Lisa smiled. She didn’t know why she was happy Phillip had succeeded in shutting her friends up. The happiness suddenly started to turn into to worry as she realized she had started to believe him. That cannot be! She thought. He was just a good orator, a well learned pastor and he had done better research than all of them. She knew if she went back to the drawing board, and did her own research on the flaws of Christianity, she will find hundreds of them and would shut him up too. That was exactly what she needed to do. Her job was to bring people out of the delusion of religion not to fall into it herself.
“Someone is here to see you ma”, she heard Tayo’s voice from the door.
“Who?” She wondered as she walked towards him.
“He says his name is Miracle Odefe”, Tayo replied and her eyes brightened. Even Victor who was pre-occupied playing video games with her son had heard the name and was now paying attention to her.
“Do you want me to come with you?’ Victor asked as she went towards the gate to see him.
“There will be no need”, she replied. She walked to the gate to receive him because she wasn’t ready to let the son of a thief into her house.
“My name is Miracle,” he said when she got to the gate, “I am the first son of Mr Lucky…”
“I know who you are”, she cut him short. “May I help you?”
She didn’t know Miracle very well, but she knew he was in his thirties. He had his father’s face which looked like one that never smiled. She remembered seeing him on her wedding day and his picture on the table of Mr Lucky’s desk which was now her desk. She had replaced that picture with the picture of her son.
“I just want to plead with you”, he said, “if you are setting my father up to get his position, he doesn’t want it anymore. Please Lisa, we need him out of jail. He is in the worst state possible, Dr Beatrice is deliberately putting him in terrible prisons and he is getting sick”, the young man explained. “My father is too old to be in prison cell like that. I beg you to do something about it, you can have the position he doesn’t want it anymore”.
“Do you really think I will stoop so low as to set your father up?” Lisa wondered. “Your father stole from my mother in-law and you were expecting me not to report it? I didn’t report because I wanted his position. I told Dr Beatrice because I felt she deserves to know who her real friends are”.
“My father is not a thief”, he argued.
“Then you don’t know your father very well”, she smiled.
“He has worked with Dr Beatrice for over 35 years, why would he steal from her now?”
“Maybe he has always stolen from her and no one was smart enough to find…”, she replied.
“Mummy!” Daniel called running out to her mother as she turned to see what was wrong with her son. “Uncle Victor won’t allow me play the game”, he complained.
“Go inside honey”, she instructed him. “I am coming to spank uncle Victor right now”, she promised as he ran back inside.
“He’s a lovely boy”, Miracle admitted.
“Yes he is”, she agreed.
“Stark resemblance to a young Ehimen”, he said. “You know Ehimen and I grew up together?”
“What is your point Miracle?” She wondered.
“I have known your mother in-law all my life”, he explained. “She loved her son more than anything in the world. I bet she sees a lot of Ehimen in that boy”. He giggled. “You better pray God protects that boy. Because if you lose him, you will lose your mother in-law’s love faster than u can spell your name”.
“Get out of my compound”, she ordered him. “Tayo!” She called her security. “See Mr Miracle out”, she said as she walked back into the house.
“No God protects my son”, she said to herself. “I protect him myself!”
This chapter was edited by Glory Uwanna Kenneth
NOTE: Chapter nine titled "fairytales" will be posted on the 21st of October.
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