My name is Kingsley Ikechukwu Ephraim, the fourth (last) child and second son of late Mr and Mrs Ephraim Alozie Chimela Nwosu. I am a native of Isi-alangwa South, Local Government, area, Abia State.
I was aged 6 when I noticed strange happenings within me.
I used to hear a particular voice and see beings that were not human. But then my brain could not process who they really were.
I actually enjoyed the harmless and inspirational company of those beings as they always came to me each time I was bored, sad or worried.
These beings were always dressed in white. They always wore smiling faces. They would teach me as they discussed with me. They would make sure I was happy as I was used to throwing tantrums as a child when I didn’t get what I wanted. The truth is, I could not at the time understand fully what was going on.
But they taught me to pray, and emphasised the need for me to follow God’s ways and please Him. They frequently said to me: “If God is happy with you, no one can ever come near to hurt you”.
This saying inspired me so much. It made me fearless. But I also became stubborn thinking that no one could touch me.
I did not really understand who God truly is. I just knew Him as a good personality as taught by my parents, the churches and the Sunday Schools I attended.
My father would always make sure my siblings and I attended the Sunday school and weekly church activities by all means. My father, a no-nonsense retired soldier would unleash his belt as a whip against an erring child. Therefore, we did not dare to defy him.
The beings that used to visit me started to me to teach me lots of things. I was little but could already fix some minor electrical fault, repair electronics gadgets, do technical drawing, etc.
As I grew up, I become more stubborn. But I still had the urge to know God. This got me reading a popular children’s book called “My Book of Bible Stories”. My older siblings and I loved this book so much.
But all of this did not curb my stubbornness. My older siblings would often report me to my father. And I got punished. But the spiritual beings who visited me taught me to reserve a corner in my room to kneel down and pray in order to escape my father’s wrath. That habit of praying and involving God in the things I do, has lingered with me as an adult.
When I got into the secondary school, I became wayward in my first year. I got too carried away with bad friends that I engaged in smoking cigarettes and consuming Indian hemps.
I started drinking alcohol; the small stout being my favourite. When I was about the age of 12 to 13 old being in 1998, I had got more corrupted mentally and psychologically. I was already in the murky waters. I watched porn with others and indulged in immoral acts without the knowledge of my family who only saw me as one naïve little but stubborn boy.
Their ignorance of who I truly was encouraged me to continue secretly in my despicable act.
I felt like an invisible super boy. And at my age, I joined an infant cult where I was initiated in an uncompleted abandoned building.
I was not serious with my studies. I rather enjoyed going from school to school to fight and perpetrate several ungodly acts. I would always go home looking dirty and unkempt.
I failed my exams woefully. And my report card said I had to repeat a class. I was afraid my father would deal with me. As of this time, the spiritual beings who visited me had stopped doing so.
But getting home, I went down on my knees, and prayed from the bottom of my heart to God to rescue me from my father’s wrath.
When my father got back, he kept smiling. That unsettled me as I couldn’t read his mind. When he eventually saw my result, he just smiled. My mum pleaded he should not beat me. He said nothing. He later went into his room and slept.
I could not sleep all night as I prayed and gave thanks to God while making many promises to Him. I made up my mind to build my relationship with God. l decided to stay away from all evil friends and stop doing bad doings. I got rid of all my charms. But I left one under a chair in the sitting room as I could not find a way to get rid of it without attracting someone’s attention.
As I continued to grow in the Lord spiritually, I became a church worker. I served as a chorister. One day, I searched for the charm I kept under the chair but could not find it any more.
My brain opened as I became super intelligent. I began to acquire skills. I got to be multi-skilled being able to handle over 10 professional jobs without attending any special training for them. Till date, I continue to acquire more skills.
But a time came when I found being born again boring. I felt like I was missing out on the pleasures of life. I again got influenced by some friends who had the ” Enjoy your life while you are young” mentality.
I was sold to that idea. I got worse. My situation was that described in Matthew 12: 45. Seven more wicked spirits had certainly invaded my life.
I began to experience spiritual and physical attacks. I could not cope with the bizzare encounters I faced. I developed illnesses which ranged from an abdominal ache to malaria, and progressed from that to cholera and meningitis. I became a patient of different hospitals.
I was eventually admitted into the Lagos State Teaching Hospital. I struggled for survival but could not make it. And on a certain night, around 1:00 am, a doctor confirmed me dead.
But my parents and siblings would not accept that I was dead. I was told that my ex-soldier father could not come to terms with the reality of my death and troubled the hospital a lot insisting my body must not be moved.
A doctor then asked my father what he wanted them to do. He said they should fix an IV bottle on me. But he was told the drip was not getting into me as I had no pulse and already gone cold.
My father kept yelling that that the drip bottle be fixed. The doctor complied. But he called my father into his office and requested they pray together in faith for me.
My body lay there. Neighbours and loved ones kept visiting and praying. This continued for three days.
While this continued, I was having several encounters on the other side. I saw an angel. I saw people who had been dead. The angel was taking me round. I saw a lot. I was told a lot. I was yearning to go back home because the angel had told me that I would surely return to life to tell everyone I could, what I saw and that Jesus is real and would come back soon.
On a Sunday morning, I noticed that I could hear noises from afar. I heard people praying and singing praises. Immediately, I ran in the direction where these noises were coming from only to see my father’s house and getting to know that the prayers and praises were coming from there.
Immediately, I ran into the compound, climbed the stairs and opened the door to our sitting room.
I gained consciousness and faintly saw something rolling right above me with a white background. I then understood that I was lying down in a bed in the hospital.
I saw people around me. Everyone was gazing at me with mixed feelings of Joy, fear and amazement.
I requested for food. I would eat and eat. Yet I got so weak, too weak to lift my hands.
I couldn’t walk for months. I was being taught to walk again. But I became healthy again. I was administered 36 IV bottles of drip and was injected more times than I could count.
After undergoing medical treatment for a year and while trying to get back on my feet, I decided to follow, worship and serve only the sovereign God. And I still do that.
