It sounds like tale by moonlight but it is indeed a verifiable fact
that a woman was delivered of a live turtle and a padlock in the
presence of thousands of worshippers during a church service in a Lagos
church.
Time was 5am on Wednesday, December 2, 2015 during the
Rhema water programme organised by the Elijah Faith Assembly Church,
Ajao Estate, Lagos. The incident took many, including the church’s
Overseer, Prophet Chinonso Favour Aniebo by surprise. Many took to
their heels as a result of fear and the irritation of seeing a pool of
blood that gushed out of the private part of the woman, Mrs Cassandra
Amaka Obi, before the turtle eventually came out.
After the
incident, the 22-year-old Cassandra from Ihiala, in Anambra State, lay
flat on the floor of the church, while deliverance prayers were going on
to resuscitate her, after some hours of going into coma. The story of
Cassandra, who is nursing a six-month-old baby girl, who she took to the
church that fateful day, will arouse fears and probably sympathy in any
human.
She told Saturday Sun that her problems started when she
was a little girl under her parents in their Umuabanike village, Ihiala.
According to her, her father, who is a strong and known native doctor
in the area, initiated her into the occult through his shrine when she
was seven years old and started using her to execute his job.
“When
I was nine, my father invoked both the key and the turtle in my body,
so that I will be strong spiritually to assist him in his shrine. That
time, this turtle was in his barn and was smaller. I really knew the
time he did the whole thing, but as a child, I did not know the
implication. Then, among all the children my father has, I was the
closest to him, so he decided to use me in his shrine. Sometimes, after
preparing charms, he would send me to go and throw them into the river
or anywhere he wanted me to send it to. And, because he used to give me
some money, I was happy working with him”, she stated.
Cassandra
said she continued working with her father in the shrine until she
clocked the age of 17 when someone came to ask for her hand in marriage,
but her father bluntly refused her getting married.
Her words:
“At 17, I thought I had served my father well and should, therefore,
marry, but surprisingly, my father objected to that, insisting that I
should not get married at all, instead, I should stay at home and have
as many children as I liked, in order to assist him in his job. But, I
refused. After much pressure, he managed to allow me get married. My
husband fulfilled all the marriage rites and on the day of our wedding,
my father did not come to the church, he only appeared when we wanted
to take photographs and he joined us. Could you believe that
immediately we finished taking a photograph with my father, I did not
get myself again, I lost my memory, pulled my wedding ring and threw it
to my husband and told him that the marriage was over. I ran away and
they caught me. In fact, our guests and everyone present were surprised.
Even when they managed to take me to my father’s house, I wanted to
jump the fence. It was when my father brought kola nuts and prayed that I
regained my senses and followed my husband that I was able to calm
down.”
That could be said to be the beginning of Cassandra’s
marital problems. After about six years of their marriage, she could not
conceive probably due to the padlock, turtle and other dangerous
concoctions her father put in her body. She and her husband went to so
many places in search of solution, and lots of money, energy and time
were wasted, but all were fruitless.
Meanwhile, as these were
going on, Cassandra did not reveal to her husband what was wrong with
her. “Though, I knew that all the things inside my body were the cause
of the problem we were having in our home, I did not want to tell my
husband because he will be scared and may decide not to continue with
the marriage.”
While the search for solution to their problem
continued, their neighbour introduced them to the Elijah Faith Assembly
Church in 2013 where they received prayers and deliverance. Shortly
after, she conceived and had her first baby girl.
“The problem
that brought us to Elijah Faith Assembly in August 2013 was six years
of childless marriage. As I came out in the church that first day to
give offering, the prophet sighted me, and told me to stop making up.
Also, when we went for service the next Sunday, the prophet still told
me that we came to the church because of fruit of the womb. In fact, I
did not take him seriously. When we got home, I thought it was due to
the same headtie I put on that made the prophet to recognize me as such.
So, I decided to change the headtie. Yet, when we went to service
another time, he prophesied that my problem started from my family, and
that my father was responsible for my problems. He, therefore, asked me
to see him after. But, while coming, I should buy whatever I knew my
father would like and bring them to him. So, I bought wrapper and drink,
and the prophet anointed them and directed me to send the gifts to my
father in the village and return to Lagos next day.”
Cassandra
explained that when she took the gifts to her father, he prayed for her
to give birth to as many children as she likes. “After that, I returned
to Lagos and became pregnant in September and delivered my first child.
Meanwhile, the objects were still inside my body. But, it was during the
Rhema water programme of the church that I vomited the padlock, after
delivering my first child. Then, I delivered the turtle, six months
after delivering my second child during the church’s Rhema water
programme.”
She said the turtle delivery miracle started when her
husband travelled home recently and visited her father, and he was
given some coconuts by her father’s maid. “Although, when my husband was
travelling, I warned him not to visit my father because I understand
him well, but he insisted. When he brought the coconut, it did not occur
to me not to eat it. So, I broke one, ate and gave some to my
neighbours. After eating it, I started to experience severe stomach
pains. Later, my stomach began to swell like a pregnant woman. So, when
I could not bear it any longer, I reported to Prophet Chinonso, he
prayed for me and advised me not to worry about it. But after sometime, I
started bleeding.
Then, I attended a Tuesday church programme and the
prophet prayed for me. Then, following day, being Wednesday, I returned
to the church for the Rhema water programme. And, during deliverance
prayer by Prophet Chinonso, the bleeding became more serious, as if I
was in labour. Meanwhile, before the bleeding, I had contractions and
those sitting close to me became curious and were asking whether I was
pregnant. But I told them that I was not pregnant, rather I am nursing a
six-month-old baby.”
Cassandra stated that when the bleeding was
on, the prophet was busy praying from the altear. So, he sent the
Assistant Pastor, Chukwuma Aniebo to give her Rhema water to drink,
while some was poured on her body. “After drinking the water, the turtle
rushed out with blood from my vagina and I became relieved
immediately.”
She thanked God for the miracle that caused a stir
in the church. “I do not know how to explain this because I have been in
bondage. But now I am free, therefore, I promise to use everything I
have to serve God.”
Her husband, Mr Onyeka Obi also narrated his
ordeal throughout their eight years of marriage. According to him,
“Since the time I married her, it has been from one problem to the
other. Sometimes, she would tell me that she made love with cat in her
dream. And anytime I made love to her, my business would suffer a
misfortune. In fact, it had been spiritual attacks all along and all
the places we went for solution and spent huge amount of money, did not
yield any positive result until we were introduced to Elijah Faith
Assembly Church. And thank God, all the problems that have been taking
us from one place to the other are now over. We have two kids, and all
the spiritual attacks have stopped. Meanwhile, I went through hell,
trying to find solution to her problems.”
Prophet Chinonso, who
was busy at the altar conducting the deliverance service when the
miracle took place at the nursing mother’s section of the church,
described it as one of the greatest God has performed through him. “I
thank God that He proved himself in the lives of the couple who have
been suffering from spiritual bondage. In fact, this miracle is hard to
believe. But God did it to uplift his name. We have been praying that
God should perform a miracle that would shake the world. And we are
happy that He has done it.”
One of the Church members, Mrs Chimezie Nwabugo who witnessed the
incident explained that she was the one that pressed Cassandra’s
stomach before the turtle came out. “I sat close to her in the church.
Eventually, she called my attention to come and press her stomach.
Initially, I was reluctant because I did not know what was happening to
her. But after much pressure, I decided to assist her. When I pressed
her stomach gently, she insisted that I should help her remove her
undies and press her harder. And, when I did, she told me that the thing
was coming out. Then, I wondered what she meant since she was not
pregnant.
Thereafter, she said it has come out. I did not see
anything, until when we pulled her away from the pool of blood where she
was lying and I saw something like a congealed blood that fell off her
cloth. When I looked closely, I noticed that it was a live turtle
covered with blood. Because of that, I ran away and almost everyone
close to the place left in fear. In fact, that experience was a very
strange one and I have not had it before. Since that time, people on the
streets call me midwife that helped a woman to deliver a turtle,
instead of a child, but I do not bother because God knows why it
happened like that”, she stated.
Source: The Sun
