“In this country, you need to attach yourself to one church or another if you want to make progress”, says Chidinma, a Nigerian based in Brooklyn, US. She was indeed going through what she called hard times, part of which is lack of husband. The other problem is her credit facility which she has not been able to honour because of loss of job. In the process, she lost her car, her house and as a citizen, she relies on food stamp from government to survive.
As a typical African, Chidinma believes that someone in Nigeria has sworn that she will never make progress even though she is far away from home. “If it is possible they will make sure that I am deported to Nigeria. My greatest luck is that I am already a US citizen. In this confused country, you need to attach yourself to a good prophet. There are also demons of different kinds in this country,” she said.
Still on her ordeal, Chidinma told Saturday Sun that the reason she was abstaining from food was based on the instruction of her prophet who told her to observe seven days fasting while taking only water. The prophet who she referred to as Jeremiah from Ondo state runs a ministry known as “Jehovah is the answer”, in the New York suburb, Brooklyn.
At the end of the seventh day, she is to attend a vigil. Out of curiosity, Saturday Sun decided to escort her for the vigil.
On the fateful day, at 11pm EST, our correspondent set out to one of the houses on Rockaway, Brooklyn. The house looked like the regular apartment on the street without any signage to show what was going on inside. At the reception area, there is an instruction that all guests who came to see the prophet must drop their belongings and footwear before stepping into the main sitting room which was described as temple.
Inside the sitting room which is also a temple are drapes covering the walls. On the floor is a soft black rug. “We were asked to sit and wait for the prophet and be in a prayerful mood. We were advised by a woman who Chidinma referred to as Deaconess Funke to pray seriously as it was the only way God will reveal to the prophet our heart desire”, our correspondent revealed.
Minutes later, a six-feet tall man dressed in all white emerged from the inner room with chaplet on his neck and held one while he murmured prayers. We were asked to drop our offering which we did while his prayer became louder.
Suddenly, he moved towards our correspondent who was only on a two-week visit and started prophesying. Part of which is that she will find love in America. She will get money in America and she will give birth to twins. She should come for special prayer to hasten these prophecies. At that point he said: “Come sister Chidinma, the time has come. I hope you bought the anointing oil. Come sister, come. The Lord is waiting,” singing out loud as he directs her into one of the rooms.
Thirty minutes later, Chidinma emerged bitter and requested that we should leave immediately. She tried to control her emotion while we stepped out to collect our personal belongings at the reception.
“I have wasted my time and energy in the name of fasting. I nearly had ulcer in the name of fasting. Fraud, fraud! I can’t believe this happened. Almighty, forgive me and punish that idiot who calls himself a prophet,” she cursed and spit on the floor.
Dragging our correspondent who was still confused at her outburst, Chidinma confessed that she was the one who told him that she was coming with her friend who was on a visit to the country for the very first time. “Wonders will never end. God will punish him. Can you imagine how he used the anointing oil, instead of pouring it on my hair and pray, he started robbing it all over my body? His hands were all over me. And I stood there frozen, till he was done sexually abusing me,” she said and burst into tears. it on my hair and pray, he started robbing it all over
When asked if the prophet had sex with her, Chidinma stared blankly and said. “What is the difference between a man squeezing your breasts lustfully and the actual thing? I feel abused, raped and deceived. I need to call the police to pick that fraudster up”, she said weeping.
A bit calm and at home, Chidinma further narrated that: “I never believed in all this nonsense till my friend, Linda advised me to go to that fake prophet. His real names are Jeremiah Waheed. He is from Ondo and that so called Deaconness is his relative. I decided to give it a try because my friend who normally attends prayers there has a good job, house and is currently engaged. She never told me that this was what will happen. I wouldn’t waste my time starving. I know that there are many fraudsters in the name of religion but I never believed that I will be a victim.”
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