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Picture of believers moved by the Holy Spirit
HOW I WAS HEALED BY CLASSMATES
DOING THINGS IN ANOTHER WAY
It is interesting that the last 15 years or so have seen an
upsurge in the number of Pentecostal churches operating in Cameroon. One
definition of the word, “Pentecostal” holds that Pentecostalism is “a renewal movement within Protestant Christianity that places special
emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through baptism with the Holy
Spirit.”
A DEEPLY-ROOTED PHENOMENON
In fact, not so many years ago, the
number of such churches had been known to rise so spectacularly that in a
single street in Bamenda, which is the headquarters of Cameroon`s North West
Region – Vicky Street – there were said to be at least six different churches,
although the street was not even a long one.
AN ALL PERVADING PRESENCE
Pentecostalism in the country has
found its way on giant street posters, in radio stations and on television
channels. Some of the churches have even set up their own radio stations and
television channels. For some reason, Nigeria has become the leading African
country in this domain with the Nigerian “man of God” most consulted by
Cameroonians being undoubtedly the Lagos-based “Prophet T.B. Joshua”. Only in
Buea, the regional headquarters of the South West Region, there are at least
four “men of God” who have taken up residence there and are regularly visited
by the converted and those seeking miracles. One of them is John Chi who
underwent mentorship under T.B Joshua in Nigeria but has today set up his own “ministry’
in Buea. Yet some others were simply “called by God” and started preaching and
converting, without necessarily going through pupilage. These include Divine
Okafor of the Transformers’ Ministries and Sonny Damian Nwachuku of the Jesus Kingdom
Embassy.
THE ORIGIN OF IT HERE
From my own observation, Pentecostalism
broke into Cameroon in the mid to late 1980s when the world economic crisis hit
Cameroon and deprived as well as destitute people were seeking for salvation
(to quote the Cameroonian musician, Afo-a-Kom). Our countrymen and women in
that great hour of need started turning towards God to seek solace. That was
also when Cameroonian Anglophones who had never before taken commercial singing
seriously started composing songs and selling them as well as staging concerts
here and there.
MIRACLES AS THE HALLMARK
Surely, one characteristic of the
Pentecostal churches is the performance of miracles or at least the belief in
them. Not surprisingly, when many of such churches advertize their services,
they put the thrust on miracles which they invite the public to come and experience.
So they promise a day or night of “astounding miracles”.
However, miracles are by no means the
preserve of Pentecostal churches because some mainstream churches have been
known to use them too. These have been seen in the Presbyterian and Catholic
churches. Pastor Wara Solomon introduced the movement in the Presbyterian
Church in Cameroon but was excluded by the Church. However, he has gone solo
and continued in the same vein under the canopy of what he calls “The Ramah Christian
Centre”. The Catholic Church practices it under the “Charismatic movement”. Of
course, when any such miracles are performed, the act is predicated on “the
name of Jesus!”
MY SHARE OF MIRACLES
The Oxford Advanced Learner`s Dictionary defines a miracle as “an act
or event that does not follow the laws of nature and is believed to be caused
by God”. Not only do I believe in the word; but in fact, I directly experienced
its effects when I was in Form 5 at Sacred Heart College in Mankon-Bamenda. I
was ill and for two days I lay in bed in the dormitory (St. John`s Dormitory),
unable to go for lectures. Since I was a Prefect, it was easy for me to get junior
students to bring me food from the refectory and carry out basic chores for me
such as laundry.
I can`t now remember whether it was
just an ordinary fever or it was the more serious malaria that kept me down so
mercilessly. However, what I know is that it made me feel terrible. One of my
classmates – today a medical doctor in Douala – Henry Joko who was at the time
our school`s Health Prefect and Student Dispenser gave me some drugs as was
expected. Despite his efforts, my illness persisted.
One afternoon, when it was time for
private classroom studies and my classmates where in class, I was surprised by
a visit some of them made to my bedside in the dormitory. They were Charles
Awasom (today, also a medical doctor), Emmanuel Ngwa Tahmundungnji Munanjo,
Joseph Tibui (Joe Louis), George Atanga(Papi), Samuel Nji Ngang (Slim), Julius
Fofan (Sly), Hyacinth nkuo (Thaddeus) who is also today a medical doctor, Christopher
Fon Akoh (Dah), Michael Tandiba Fombutu and Paul Njofang (Nkwawo). The
delegation was led by Charles Awasom.
They woke me up and when I opened my
eyes, Charles Awasom went into action. He proclaimed amidst the loud applause
of the others that they had come to heal me. He averred that whatever it was
that was afflicting me was “here and now being declared null and void”. He said
it was finished and now I was free to get up and walk. I cast off my blanket
and much to my surprise, I felt the illness had actually gone away and I was
feeling very much better. I made a few steps and they applauded.
I asked them to wait
for me to go to the dormitory bathroom and have a bath. They did. When I
returned and got dressed, they marched me in triumph to the classroom. When the
classmates who had stayed in the classroom saw me coming in, the joy was total.
From what I gathered, those who had come for me had vowed to the ones in the
classroom that they were going to heal me and bring me back to class. And they
did.
FOOTNOTE
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