TO BE DELIVERED IN THE NAME OF GOD (PART 2)

TO BE DELIVERED IN THE NAME OF GOD (PART 2)

Previously on TO BE DELIVERED IN THE NAME OF GOD

*

After a few days, my mother had them all ready, and we returned to the church. Not long after we arrived, the prophetess and her minions did a little prayer and then proceeded to make a concoction with the milk from the coconuts my mother brought, some olive oil and sand from the entrance of the church.

This concoction was then handed over to me to DRINK!

It tasted horrible, and a couple of hours later, I started to feel diarrheic. I had to go to the toilet, and when I came back, it was to meet the prophetess telling my mother that I was excreting all the evil in my body.

Jeezuz!

Towards evening time, the prayers started. And among the prayer warriors was a guy named Festus. Festus was a very effeminate guy who used to work for my neighbour in a cyber cafe. I was both shocked and amused that this person who gave off such gay vibes would make himself a part of this charade.

By this time, I remembered what my sister said about me being more cooperative. There was wisdom in that, though not the type my sister intended. I was ready to do whatever I could to convince everyone concerned that this period in this church would cure me. I didn’t want to have to come back here, to this situation.

So, during the prayers, I played along. I jerked and whirled and thrashed about, playing up the act of one whose demons were getting smitten by the Spirit. All the while, I had an eye on my mother, silently willing her to believe that all this was working. When she eventually left me to the church’s care at the end of the day to go home, I’d never felt lonelier in my life.

The following three days spent in the church were a real test on my mental health. I was made to fast every morning till 6 PM. Then, I would have a bunch of people stand around me and cast and bind over me while I stayed kneeling. Those were the longest three days of my life. I tried to stay sane through it all and it was a struggle.

On the second day, I staged an act to prove that I was feeling more heterosexual. My mother and Charity had come around to witness the deliverance session that day, and I deleted a bunch of numbers from my phone in their presence, letting everyone know that I was cutting off the other snake people from my life.

The third day was the grand finale. It was a Wednesday, the day of the weekly service. During that service, I tried to be more participatory, even though a lot of things just didn’t make sense to me. As the service went on, a young woman was brought by her mother and sister to be healed from kidney failure. They said the doctors claimed there was nothing that could be done anymore. This young woman’s legs were so swollen, she could barely walk. The prophetess started declaring how the mother was angry with the young woman over some hurt she caused her. The mother agreed, because as it turns out, the afflicted woman had indeed been very cruel to her mother and sister. It would seem impressive that the prophetess got this right – except that we lived in a very small town, where almost everybody knew everybody’s business, and she could have simply heard the gossip about this family’s dysfunctionality.

The prophetess went on to state that the mother had to forgive her daughter, and that the whole church had to forgive her as well, and that the daughter needed to buy a few things to appease her mother. The mother begged on her daughter’s behalf, pleading that they had used up all their money on her treatment. So, a few prayers were said and all was believed to be well.

The young woman died a few days later.

When the service came to an end, it was my time again. My deliverance resumed. This time, I was asked to put on the white kaftan, socks and gloves my mother got. Then a coffin-sized box was brought out to the deliverance grounds, and I was asked to lie in it. Then they stuffed my nostrils with cotton wools and I was asked to lie very still. Then the prayer warriors launched into their prayers, while dancing about all around me. They looked absolutely ridiculous, and I had a feeling I looked even worse, trussed up as I was, all in white, with cotton wools up my nostrils like a bad Nollywood character playing dead.

Then they took the brooms my mother got, set their ends on fire and started beating at me with it. The flames singed my body, causing me to scream in pain. They claimed they were sweeping away the death hanging over me. I lay trapped in the box, petrified, enraged and sad all at once, wondering if my mother could really see what these people were doing to me. Tears pricked my eyes as I sought her out in the small crowd, silently beseeching her to put a stop to this madness.

When they were done almost setting me on fire, I was instructed to rise out of the coffin – er, box. The kaftan was ripped off of me and I was stripped down to just my briefs. Then they proceeded to cover me with oil and sand. I had so much oil and sand all over my body, the only place they didn’t manage to get the oil and sand on were my privates. Then I was led to a section of the grounds, where a guy was asked to bathe me.

After all that, the prophetess declared that I’d finally been delivered. She however added a dire warning, that if I went back to homosexuality, I would end up dead.

I felt very terrible, but for the most part, I was just relieved to finally get to leave this place. But by the time this whole drama was over, it was almost midnight. My family members had left earlier, and so, I had to spend the night in the church yet again.

Late that night, everyone around me had fallen asleep, no doubt exhausted by the great battle they engaged in with the demons they cast out of me. I couldn’t sleep. Another person who wasn’t sleeping was Festus. He was on the phone with someone who he was trying to guilt-trip into coming to visit him at his place. It was so apparent that he was speaking to a guy, and at various points during the conversation, was even flirting with him.

And yet, I was the one getting delivered of homosexuality.

The next morning, my family came to take me home. I was still so numb. I couldn’t feel anything. I spoke with my friend, Diamond, on the phone. She’d called to check up on me and to know my state of mind. But I didn’t know. I didn’t know what was going on in my head. It was almost like I was catatonic. I stayed that way for two days. I didn’t shower. I barely ate. And I still had parts of oil and sand on me.

I stayed in my room for those two days, unable to process what I’d just been through.

On the third day was when I finally snapped back into some semblance of my life. I first went to the barbershop to cut my hair, because washing off the sand in it would be much too tasking.

During this time, I got a few text messages from my other sister, Karen. She must not have been following up with my mother regarding what was going on with me, because her first text was her expression of displeasure over me disrespecting her. She wanted me to move out of her place when I come back to town. I didn’t reply.

Then, a few hours later, she texted again, saying she had just spoken to our mom and heard that I was “better now”, and so, I could continue to stay with her. Still, I didn’t respond.

A few days later, I was set to go back to the city because a new semester had started. When I got to my sister’s house, she wasn’t home. Finally alone for the first time since this whole nightmare started, I wanted to let it all out, all the emotions I’d kept bottled up all this time. I tried – oh god, how I tried. But I could not break out a single tear. I had buried everything so deeply that I couldn’t feel the sadness anymore. Instead, I felt rage. I was MAD!!! At myself, at my sisters, at my mother, at my friends… I was mad at everyone and everything that had happened.

The next day, my sister came home and was acting like nothing had happened, like she wasn’t the one who had set me on this nightmarish path I’d been on for the past several days. As she chattered about the house, I stared coldly at her, thinking of ways to kill her.

I wanted her dead because I could not stand the sight of her. I was so filled with a cold murderous rage, I am positive I would have been pushed to do something harmful to her, had she spent the night at home. She didn’t. She left home in the evening and didn’t come back that night.

The following day, I packed my bags and all my belongings and left. I told my mom that I was going to stay with a friend in school. Truth was, I had absolutely nowhere to go, but I could not share a roof with my sister any longer. I didn’t want to see her or hear her, or I was going to snap.

So, I left. I called up my ex and begged him to find me a place to stay. He tried, but nothing seemed to work out. He took me to meet one of his friends who he’d given a brief summary of what happened to me. The guy couldn’t provide accommodation at the moment, but took my number, promising to see what he could do for me.

I went from house to house; I even begged a friend to let me keep my bags in his place so I wouldn’t be lugging my belonging about, and he agreed. I ended up crashing for the night with a friend in a room with three other guys in a lodge near my school. It was very uncomfortable, but it was a lot better than my sister’s house.

My friend accommodated me for about a week. Then my ex’s friend called me, asking me to come over. He apologized for not being able to let me stay with him back when I initially needed it, because his cousin was with him then. He welcomed me into his home.

He also seemed into me, and when he kissed me, I was more than willing to go all the way. And for the first time since I was delivered of homosexuality, I had sex again. And it felt fucking good. We went at it for almost the entire night. He was good, an aggressive lover, which was what I needed at the time.

But as the days passed, as I struggled to get a handle on my life, I began to slide deeper and deeper into depression. Months passed and I got worse. I would wake up in the morning and just lie there, staring up at nothing for several minutes, until someone comes to shake me out of it. My life had lost its colour, and that was the way it was for almost a year.

I finally got better with the help of friends who did everything they could, whenever they could, to bolster my spirits.

And after a long while, and a lot of ignored calls, I was finally able to communicate with my sister, Karen, without wanting to kill her.

It took a couple more years for me to finally forgive her. Even then, till this day, I still carry a little hurt in my heart against her for her betrayal of me. For outing me and being the catalyst for an experience that nearly broke me.

Written by Rolex

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  1. bamidele
    April 05, 10:41 Reply

    Mmm… What a story. I am glad you survived
    What many of these religious organisations are doing to people poses unspeakable. Many have met their death through them. Many became handicapped, others even contacted life time diseases.
    Good you’re able to overcome this trauma at last…

  2. Delle
    April 05, 11:29 Reply

    Hmm. So many sad bits in this story.

    I’ll start from the saddest:

    THE FACT THAT YOUR FAMILY MEMBERS NEVER STAYED THROUGH ANY OF YOUR DELIVERANCE SESSION!

    I do not know about you, but that goes a long way to show how much they value you, the love they have for you in their hearts and it’s quite shitty, to be honest.
    I understand ignorance pushes us to do the darnedest of things like watching your son get dressed like a fucking corpse but not staying through till the end!? I know my mum. She’ll want to be certain that at no point during the deliverance do I pass out. Inukwa flogging with burning broom!

    Another sad bit?

    YOU NEED CLOSURE WITH YOUR SISTER!

    They say time heals but I do not agree. Time not well used will not heal but hide. You need to walk up to that lady and give her a piece of your mind. My goodness! The things she put you through could have thrown you into rehab, could have made you a serial killer or something. Thank God for your high sense of self and impeccable restraint.

    Get that closure, Rolex and please LIVE! After all that torture, the worst will be to keep hiding.

    I wish you all the positive things life’s got to offer. You’re a survivor.

  3. Higwe
    April 05, 12:32 Reply

    Your sister isn’t a bad person , she was just painfully ignorant .

    *****************
    My favorite person in the whole world is my older sister and I grew up pretty much resenting her .

    For some reason , I could never measure up to her.
    She was much better academically.
    Far more physically attractive .
    Had our parents’ heart – still does BTW .
    All the best looking boys in our secondary school BT, I was secretly crushing on had a crush on her.
    She got the post of DSP while I couldn’t even be a class prefect.

    So pretty much all my early days , I was playing catch up …and boy o boy did she rub it in my face ! ??‍♂️

    Now ,everything I resented about her back then are the things I love about her now.
    And whenever those asphyxiating tingles of resentment tries to suppurate again , I remind myself of everything she’s done right and just like a bunker buster , it extirpates it .

    Which brings me to you ?

    ****************
    Your sister might have done something wrong but she did a lot of things right.
    She took you in , when she didn’t have to . Fed you . Clothed you .
    And what did she get in return ?
    You were obstinate .
    Unruly .
    Ungrateful .
    And unholy son of hell , you sure know how to pick friends ??‍♂️.
    And even till this day , you still fancy yourself blameless .?

    No one deserves to go through what you went through and I completely commiserate with your angst…..

    But just like I pointed out earlier , let’s use the memory of the good ones to wipe off the stench of the bad ones.

    If I’ve learnt anything about life , it’s the fact that grievances only slow down the carrier.Everything else just keeps moving – including life herself, which moves you along regardless. ?

    Forgive ( completely) and heal.

    • Francis
      April 05, 13:14 Reply

      What he said. You played your part in this whole nightmare. You might not see it now but years down the line you will (hopefully)

      Just accept it and do your best to move on. Where there’s life hope dey.

    • Audrey
      April 05, 18:50 Reply

      Oh Higwe! You saw all the things he didn’t do right in the first episode and didn’t call him out for it but was quick to deviate from the rebellious writer to attacking Prophets and Prophetesses but was quick to sell us the potency of Alfa’s and star guessers…Smh

      I know you to be better nna please don’t fall my hand.

      • Dunder
        April 17, 19:37 Reply

        I like that you used the words GUESSERS because just like this aunty that could reveal her guesswork about death but not the dreaded serpentine affliction of homosexuality, all those fakers are gazing up their asses.

  4. De King George
    April 05, 14:20 Reply

    What you experienced was almost too difficult to bear I admire how you handled the psychological trauma aspects of it and how you were able to keep being who you are.

  5. Bennet
    April 06, 03:29 Reply

    Drink sand? Burning brooms? What the actual fuck? I most definitely would’ve put an end to that “deliverance session” at some point; no way I’d drink sand?

    Just like Delle said, you’re a fucking survivor, man. If you aren’t already, you should be very proud of yourself for your resilience. Wish you the best with your healing process.

  6. ChubbyLover
    April 06, 10:38 Reply

    Drink a concoction which contains sand from the entrance of the church and you did…..still don’t understand how people live with a bit of rebellion.

  7. O.B
    April 06, 14:21 Reply

    I think you’re very nice for even being able to forgive her for that. I don’t think I could

  8. Jericho
    April 07, 22:41 Reply

    Rolex I’m so sorry about all the pain you had to go through

  9. Lucky
    April 08, 01:58 Reply

    So sad wish I can tell mine

  10. Rexxy
    April 11, 07:16 Reply

    It’s what you went through but I think I you can accept that you were the architect if this misfortune I will go a long in helping move forward in your healing process. Hating your sister for doing what any typical Nigerian will do is pretty senseless.

    You outted yourself and flaunted her rules, she owns the right to her anger and whatever happened next was a result of your foolishness.

    Until you accept your mistake and forgive yourself, trust me you will keep going round in circles.

  11. Dee
    March 02, 08:34 Reply

    Really felt bad for reading dis…

    Dont know how long we have to continue been tortured by the ones we love and call families ..

  12. Yaya
    July 19, 06:34 Reply

    You outed yourself
    Look how Festus is having a ball
    Learn to swim in a river of sharks
    Dumb

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