THE CONFLICT II

(kindly read #afterNote under first before deciding whether to read this or not. Nothing serious)

"0-7-0-3-2-2-7-0-1-4-A. I'm getting a 0-7-0-3-2-2-7-0-1-4-A..."

"Jeeeeesuss!!! Thank you Jesus! Thank you Lord!" An abrupt scream rent the atmosphere as the Pastor was calling the number the second time.

A fat lady with a big wig jumped out screaming. The ushers couldn't hold her. The congregation was laughing, it was quite a sight that she could sprint like she did from the mid section of the auditorium, up and across the large expanse in front.

'Madam, are you the one? Do you recognize that number...?'

'Hey God!!! Jesus is reeeeal! I will serve God forever and evermore...' the woman was still screaming and pacing round an axis as the ushers tried to restrain her.

'Madam! We know Jesus is real, he has been real since, not just-- hold her!!!' The woman made to collapse as the ushers quickly dashed to catch her. They were strained from the struggle to drop her safely, with that weight.

The congregation came alive with laughter! Korede was seated in the fourth roll behind the choir stand. His life was miserable. You could clearly see the disgust on his face. 'This is all carnality and mere emotional outburst. Everything going on here is useless', he thought to himself. He couldn't wait to break free from his parents control so he would be free from the compulsion of coming here. His logical nature had discarded everything else along with the few excessive outbursts of overwhelmed congregants.

'Madam, I seem to be getting that this is the first time in a long while, you're entering a church, is that so?'

The ushers had helped her up. She was more calm now but still very emotional! They had a microphone to her mouth.

'Madam, answer me, is that so?'

'Yes man of God, sir. (Sobs). Oh people of God, this God is real, I tell you. Oh my Jesus, I will serve you forever...' she lifted her hands into the air and paused for a bit. The Pastor was quiet, so she composed herself some more and continued.

'I am Ufuoma, 44 years old and I work as an secretary of community secondary school at the junction. When I was 14 years, my mom was sick. I remember how I prayed to God, begging him to spare her life or I will be his enemy forever, I even fasted but she still died. Since then, I lost my belief in God. I have hated church and religious people for years for the absurdity of believing in a God who was said to be all powerful yet couldn't save my mother. This is the first time in a church like this. I came because a colleague in the office..."

'Neka!' The pastor cut her off as he turned sharply to the congregation. 'N-E-K-A. Ney-kaa...or is it Nneka! Nneka, Tochi or something like that. Who's that?'

'Oh Jesus, forgive me!' the woman resumed, obviously more excited at the reveal. 'That's my friend that invited me, man of God. Father I will serve you forever and ever, no mat...'

'Madam, calm down' the Pastor spoke again, with a mild smile across his face. 'We know, you'll serve him.'

A wave of mild laughter coursed over the congregation.

A fair lady walked out quietly from the same section holding a small boy. The ushers raised the mic to her mouth.

'That's me sir. I'm Nneka Tochukwu', the woman replied simply. The congregation roared in excitement again.

'Two weeks ago, you got up at 2am, went to the guest room to hide and cry because you were told you've got fast spreading cancer in both lungs...'

'It's true sir!' the woman had begun to tear up.

'The Power of God is burning that cancer up as I speak.' the congregants responded with a thunderous 'Amennn!'

The woman fell over backwards with a brief shriek and went limp.

In the overflow section of the same service, sat Angela with her mother. Angela is 25 years old and had finished her youth service some 3 years ago. She has a comfortable job but her parents won't let her live by herself like she wanted to. 'It's not African to do such' her father had insisted, 'Your husband must come and carry you from this house, you're not a bastard.'

She sometimes wished, she was as heady as her younger sister Mirabel, who was quick to fight her mom and dad over any issue. If she had the heart, she'd have stopped coming to church long ago. Not just this one, any church at all.

For her, religion was hogwash and the prime symbol of the uncivilized world. She couldn't tell that to her hyper-religious mom, she'd die of heart attack. Her mother's prime concern was removing every evil embargo delaying her marriage. Whereas, Angela has dreams of furthering career.

As for all the 'gymnastics' Pastor Deji was doing to astound the people, she believed they were all arranged and paid actors, the alleged healings, the fainting spells, etc.

'He must be a smart man to memorize all those information, that he gives out as prophecies', she often thought to herself, 'Too bad, another good brain that could have been used to put a Nigerian astronaut in orbit is wasted in religious fantasies and delusions!'

#AfterNote:

This is NOT a doctrinal material that is explaining scriptures, it's a read and weigh people's actions kind of work.

My purpose for writing this is to mirror real life situations as much as my mind can imagine them and to present the uneven blurs that is part of the human experience.

Thus you may observe one character can have a right view about one subject and a wrong view about the other or a right notion but wrong approach- just like real life people. Pretty much in the end, I don't expect this to make anybody particularly happy.

But my hope is to encourage some form of leniency, in NOT rating the actions of others too quickly by singular events, seeing life isn't as easily classed as black and white: It's not always as it seems.

Thoughts and words of characters are just that- THEIR thoughts and words.

There appears to be NO closure to this write ups. I know. So what's the point then? Good question.