Can Anthing Good Come Out of Nazareth?

(Extract - Chapter One of Journey into the Dark Nations : Autobiography of Andrew Abah)

 The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, "Follow me." 44 Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. 45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote — Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." 46 "Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?" Nathanael asked. "Come and see," said Philip. 47 When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, "Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false." 48 "How do you know me?" Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, "I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you." 49 Then Nathanael declared, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel." (John 1:43-49)

The dialogue between Nathanael and Philip in this passage brings out a common known fact. The background one comes from matters a lot. For many it determines whether they can succeed in life and be relevant. I really do not know much about the negative side of Nazareth but from Nathanael's point of view, the place must have been be very bad and backward. It was not expected that anything good could come out of Nazareth but against all odds, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of all kings and the Lord of all Lords emerged from Nazareth.

The same story seems to have been repeated in different ways in so many passages of the scriptures and our society is full of many of such testimonies. Hannah in 1 Samuel 2:8 said: “He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honor”.

That is the summary of my story which will be shared in series here as I take stock of God's faithfulness in my life from childhood with the aim of first returning praise and glory to him for all he has done in my life and to speak to the lives of those who are in “Nazareth” today that the situation of life and reality of history has concluded that nothing good can come out of their lives.


Born to an Orphan,  A Vulnerable Street Boy
On Wednesday, August 12, 1964 God brought me to this world through Benson and Adunyi Ogwuche as the second son. The first born arrived two years earlier and was named Abraham. My father himself, grew up as an orphan having lost his father before the age of 10. Being the first born of his father, he had no one to look upto. His poor mother who was a young widow then was left with three boys and one girl to bring up  alone. It was very difficult and it was like the world crumbled on them. Being the eldest son he had no choice but to move to one of his uncle's house. Life there was worse. He farmed for him all day and yet was subjected to the worst form of abuse. He had no option than to leave the house in search of greener pastures. He could not explain how he found himself in Jos as a street boy.

According to him, the weather of Jos at that time was very chilly and sometimes freezing. It was the worst form of torture then being a street boy under such a cold weather but the inhabitants were friendly and liberal. At least the pain of hunger which he was subjected to in his village had become history because the people of Jos always offer food to the street boys generously.

From A Street Boy to Bricklaying and Textile Work
After some years he relocated to Kaduna, this time as a young adult. He took to both bricklaying and textile work. After saving his salary for several months, he rented an apartment and several months later thought of marrying a wife. My mother was the last female child of her parent and she was the apple of her father's eye. Unlike my father who was subjected to undescribable cruelty in his childhood, my mother enjoyed the warmth of parenthood. Unfortunately, the joy did not last long because she too lost her father.

On getting married, she left her village for Kaduna to face the harsh realities of life. At this time, my father being the eldest son of his father was already matured to the point of not only taking the responsibility of caring for his younger brothers, but spirituality also took care of his nephews including the sons of his uncle who subjected him to all forms of abuse. The money coming in from my father's place of work and my mother's trade were not sufficient to meet up with the increasing responsibilities.

One year after the marriage, Abraham was born precisely on August 20, 1962. His birth brought huge relief to the family. Many who came to visit on account of his birth brought gifts. When they sumed the finance, they realised surprisingly that it was almost sufficient to build a house. With his bricklaying skill and additional fund from his place of work, they built a house of their own and their status began to change. Again, because of the competing needs, the struggle to survive continued. At some point, the hunger became severe. My mother had to gather rotten yams, to dry and grind them into powder and make food with it for us to survive.

It was amidst this hardship that the family was blessed with a third child which they named Comfort. The arrival of Comfort unfortunately brought sorrow as she fell ill. Apparently not been able to give her proper medical care, comfort passed on. The fourth child, Emmanuel was born and the same fate befell him too. 

From Bricklaying to An Army Engineer
During the Nigerian civil war, there was the need to recruit more soldiers especially those who had different skills. My father was one of the Bricklayers recruited. He was trained at the Engineering unit for more specialized works such as building bridges in the case of emergencies and he was posted to the civil Engineering department. Changes began to crawl in but very gradual. Nevertheless, it was the beginning of a transition from grass to grace. From a very poor orphan, street boy, textile worker and bricklayer my father rose to become an Instructor in the Nigerian Army School of Military Engineering (NASME) after many years of experience at various units of Engineering Construction Regiment (ECR) first at Ukpakiri, Aba in today's Abia State and later to Ede in today's Osun State all in Nigeria.

The Cruelty of Poverty
One experience that will be very difficult to delete from my memory is that of growing up as a kid under the cruelest conditions of poverty. Unlike the modern days when almost all the army formation have primary and secondary schools, the few of us in the barrack had to trek several miles to the nearest primary schools and most times on empty stomach or rather on little porridge which was not usually enough to sustain one till the closing hour. With the severe hunger and the thought of how to trek back home after closing from school, it was practically difficult to be at one's best in learning.

First, it was at Ukpakiri, a village at the outsketch of Aba, the present day Abia State of Nigeria where kidnapping of kids for ritual purposes were common then. I had to trek the lonely bush- path because my father insisted that illiteracy is a curse and none of his children must stay out of school. 

God had ways of providing relieve as I sometimes stumbled into trees with fruits which I climbed, plucked and helped myself with them. At that time, owning a bicycle was a luxury. My father had one but he later sold it. Even when he owned one, it was out of place to think of giving me a ride to school because he had to go to work very early.

At Ede, the nearest primary school was not less than 5km away from the house. Then the barrack was located at the Ara road and most of the soldiers living at the peasant section of the barrack didn’t have children grown enough to go to school. Again, I had to trek the lonely bush path. The story of kidnaping kids for ritual purpose was also common and each time I went to school and returned, I prayed that God would keep me away from these evil ones. I was always full of fear but God answered my prayers.  I completed my primary education and proceeded to the boarding house in one of the first, best Primary Schools in the area at that  time, Baptist High school, Ede.

My father's choice of sending me to school was to give me the best of proper education but it was a huge mistake as I was caught up in the contradiction of being a pauper in the midst of kids from extremely wealthy parental background. My fellow students lived on the provisions their parent bought for them while returning from the holidays to school whereas I have to depend solely on the food they serve at the dining hall which was barely enough for us.

Several times, I literally became a scavenger picking up foods that were thrown away. I dared not ask my parent to treat me like my school mate because I was aware of the condition my parent went through to pay my school fees. They literally loaned money to complete my fees each time my holiday was over and it was time to return to school. They spent the rest of the term paying back the loan. At the time they were supposed to rest from payment of the loan, it was time to return to school again. 

The situation was that of utmost cruelty. The result was that I fell sick frequently. To worsen the whole situation, my parent relocated from Ede in Osun State to Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria and I could not afford to travel to spend the holidays with them anymore. I was from that time made to spend my holidays with an extended relation. The man was from the village I came from and supposedly a Christian from Apostolic Church background. He turned out to be unfriendly.  It was actually difficult to love a boy who was always sickly. It took a genuine Christian to truly love the unlovable, that was the situation I found myself.  He called me all sorts of names and accused me of having being initiated to serve as an agent of darkness and that I was the cause of my own sickness. The accusation was very tormenting as well as depressing.

The level of emotional torture coupled with the physical ailment no doubt affected my academic performance. Life became a misery. Having lost contact with my parent, I had to face the music alone. It was not like nowadays that there is telecommunication services everywhere. The fastest means of communication then was telegram. Then, telegram was reserved for the rich and for those with emergency news like death. 

Deeper and Deeper into Darkness
With the lack of parental love due to distance, I began to seek for fulfilment elsewhere and that led me to drinking of alcohol. Even at that I had no money to buy alcohol like others. I joined a gang of bad boys in school. Together we went into the bush late at night where palm wine was being tapped with empty bucket. We emptied their palm wine from the palm tree into the bucket and took it to the hostel where we drank it and gyrated. From that point Í sank deeper and deeper into darkness.

From drunkenness I began to patronise the juju priest through the influence of some friends in school and later started developing friendship with the opposite sex for immoral purposes. My life became more miserable. The Devil then had a greater stronghold and subjected me to more and more torment.


The Gains of Poverty
Some conservative Christians preached in favour of poverty. They argue that poor Lazarus went to heaven and the rich man went to hell. Some capitalised on Jesus statement of how difficult it is for rich men to go to heaven, likening it to the head of a camel going through the eyes of a needle to glorify poverty. I believed it was because they had not had the real taste of the cruelty of poverty. God in His wisdom programmed humanity to live in abundance and not poverty. That was why He created the Garden of Eden before creating man. It was a garden of abundance.  In John 10 Verse 10, Jesus promised to counteract the works of the Devil by giving us abundant life. In 3 John verse 2, the Scripture says: 'Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth''. Poverty is not something to wish one's enemy. It is UTMOST CRUELTY!

Nevertheless, there is no doubt that all things work for our good. In the words of Apostle Paul:  “ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,  who  have been called according to his purpose.”(Rom 8:28).  It was not by accident that God allowed me to go through this level of poverty. I can rightly say today that my childhood life was the beginning of my training for global missions with all its challenges. It was actually the beginning of my exposure to extreme ruggedness, hardship and a life of sacrifice.  That was the point I learnt to trek long distances and endure hunger. 

The cruelties I went through are not what I would ever wish my enemies not to talk of innocent little kids. This experience at that stage of my life generated in me my passion and pursuit today to help lives of vulnerable kids caught in the twin cruelties of poverty and darkness. It is one of the reasons why the ministry  I lead do not only preach the gospel verbally but have done much and will continue to do the much to salvage vulnerable kids and orphans under our Home Of Grace(HOG) child care program and the Helping Hands established to put smiles on the faces of widows. 

Many kids that found themselves in the snare of poverty did not bargain for it. If I had not gone through it, I would not have known how it feels. The gains of the torture I went through in the days of childhood poverty are the many lives that have been positively transformed today.

From Darkness to Light
I was born to a God-fearing family. My parents were lovers of God. We observed strictly the religious rule of going to church regularly and praying at least twice a day (morning and night). I became a member of the choir at an early age until my parent relocated from the town where I was schooling on transfer to Makurdi, Benue State when I sank deeper and deeper into darkness. In 1981, I completed my secondary school education and traveled to join my parents again. For those 17 years of my existence, nobody ever told me of the need to accept Christ nor how to do so. Not even my religious parent or my elder brother who was already born again from his encounter in High School.

As I wallowed in darkness, the cruelties persisted. My parents were quick to notice that I was no longer the religious God-fearing boy they left behind at Ede when they relocated. Even though I was not born again before they left me, I was at least religious. I was morally upright. The first sign they noticed was that I no longer had a Bible. They screamed at me but they still did not show me the way of salvation. I was not comfortable either. 

At this point, I was very adventurous. I wanted to visit my village for the first time in my life. My father had warned of the danger and preferred we went on holidays to my grandmother's village instead. At the age of 18, I considered it abnormal not to know the village I called mine so without hinting my parents I traveled home. I was warmly welcomed.  The village was notorious for witchcraft. Unknown to me, the woman who hosted me was an advanced witch. She had ruined a number of her own biological children and lo I was a big catch for her.

Few days after I arrived the village, I was to be killed. I became very sick and was literally giving up. Suddenly, a cousin of mine who was a military man in Kaduna State, Nigeria had something urgent to do in the village. He sighted me and discovered I was virtually dead. He quickly picked me up. At that time, I could no longer walk and vehicles came to my village only ones in a blue moon then. They carried me like a corpse and successfully moved me to Otukpo, Benue State. On getting there, life returned to me and I was warned not to attempt going to the village any more or else I become a prey. The prince of darkness was in charge of the village and the level of wickedness was at its peak. It was truly scary to go to the village without superior powers.

 At this time, there was a mighty wave of revival sweeping across Benue State of Nigeria which then included the present Igala speaking area of present day Kogi State. My elder brother, Abraham was not just a born again Christian but a beneficiary of the revival. His life was conspicuously different from mine. I had gotten a job as a Primary School teacher in a village called Igwu-Akor. It afforded me access to more alcohol. The Federal Government had introduced Universal Primary Education(UPE) then. Grown up kids were encouraged to go to school. Many of my pupils were young adults who were palm wine tappers. Part of their handcrafts was to tap and bring me kegs of palm wine.  Some of my fellow teachers were also drunkards so together we enjoyed the palm wine.

During holidays when the students were no longer there to bring palm wine, we resorted to mixing soft drink with hard liquor (popularly referred to as dry gin). Our salaries were rarely paid so the cash flow was not that much. Sometimes, the government delayed the salary for three to four months. When we were paid, we drank beer which was usually more expensive than the dry gin. The more I took these alcohols, the more miserable I looked. Like the prodigal son, I sometimes came to my senses and compared my look with that of my born again brother, Abraham. At a point, I was tired of my miserable life. I wanted a change. I wanted desperately to be like my brother. I knew his Jesus made the difference but did not know how.

I asked if I could get a place to be baptised. I was almost sure that baptism was what brought Jesus into the life of my brother and made the difference in him. Fortunately, I was directed to Christian Pentecostal Missions at North Bank, Makurdi, Nigeria.  I visited the church and joined the baptismal class immediately. The preachers, Marius and Okeke insisted that unless one was born again, baptism will be useless. This time, I asked, how could one be born again. I told them I desperately wanted to be like my elder brother. He was a model of a born again Christian. If baptism was not enough to make me like him, I wanted explanations on how I could be born again.

After two days of attending the baptismal class, I got answers to my question. I realised how wretched I was and that I could not help myself. I pleaded with Jesus to forgive me my sin and become the Lord of my life. I asked Him to save and heal me and make me like my brother. I liked his meekness. I liked his healthy life. I liked his level of moral uprightness. I watched him pray in tongues and I wanted to do just what my brother did. On October 20, 1982, I became born again, my life became transformed, I had peace and knew the secret behind my brother's living a complete life of as new creature. All old things passed away in my life also. I was freed from the shackles of drunkenness and immorality.

The happiest moment of my life was when I got born again. The difference was clear. The grace of God enabled me to reject the dictates of the Devil. Two days  after my conversion, the church spoke on the need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Many of those who came out to be prayed for began to speak in tongue but I could not. I however did not give up. I knew I needed to be filled so I could do exploit for the one who saved me.

That night, as I walked home from the church on the lonely tarred road between North Bank and Nigerian Army School of Military Engineering (NASME), I got filled and began to speak in tongues. Nobody laid hands on me. It was awesome. The experience is beyond what words can capture.  That was the starting point of my journey into the dark nations, candle in the dark places. It was October 22, 1982, the day I can never forget.

Back to the Den of Witches and Wizards
Less than three months after my conversion and experience of baptism of the Holy Spirit, my greatest burden was to go back to my village, the place where witches and wizards were to feast on me before God delivered me.  I felt vexed in my spirit and the need to confront them with the power I had just gotten. Again, without telling my parents, I traveled to the village in December 1982 and straight to the woman who was noted for providing leadership to the witchcraft coven.

I introduced myself as a brand new man covered with the blood of Jesus and untouchable. I went out to share the love of Jesus with the villagers and before long I had many converts.  On December 25, 1982 I was scheduled to preach at a Methodist church. Being a Christmas day, I naturally thought of preaching a Christmas message but quickly changed as  I later felt  these new converts needed more of the power of God to survive the witches and wizards than any other message. Few minutes into my message ,the power of God came down mightily and many of those in the church who were not born again surrendered their lives to Jesus.


Also, many of the converts got filled with the Holy Spirit with different manifestations especially speaking in tongues. More and more persons after the service came in from different parts of the village  to accept Christ. It was very clear that  the power of witches and wizards have been defeated. They could no longer attack me not to talk of feasting on me. Those witches and wizards who refused to surrender their lives to Christ literally came under fear. When they  saw me or any of the new believers coming their way, they took another path. It was clear that darkness could not comprehend light.