Anatomy of a fall Week 27, 2015

“I feel you think this baby is mine” the pastor said to me. “Actually it is Daniel’s” (not his real name). Daniel was a policeman and a believer working in Delta State. I met him in the riverine community I worked in as the only doctor in the only hospital there. It took 45 minutes on the boat to get to that community, and no road existed there. It is not that there were bad or narrow roads. No road existed and transport was by boat on the River Niger. Transport, feeding (by fishing), and business (alcohol trade) were assured by the river in a community further blessed as being oil producing. There was a lot of fish.  Alcohol, women, and (inevitably) police cases were rife in such communities. I had been warned in the Corper s’ Christian fellowship such were reputed for ear-tingling immorality. Look! This was the sin of your sister Sodom and her daughters: Pride, too much food, undisturbed peace, and failure to help the poor and needy Eze 16:49 (ISV). Daniel had been posted there on occasion and went without his family (as did most workers on posting there). He knew the Lord but did not join the Church of God Mission there. There was no orthodox or any other Pentecostal church in that community. Perhaps because his denomination or group was not there he declined joining them. Let us not give up the habit of meeting together, as some are doing. Instead, let us encourage one another all the more Heb 10:25(GNB). But he was a believer and made that known. In the course of his stay a woman in the community took a liking to him and would help him out with household chores and cooking. Whenever he came around she would help him out. She openly declared her liking for him. One thing led to another however and she exposed her nakedness to him. Being a Christian and a married man he turned her down, but their association continued. “On 3 separate occasions she was naked before him but he turned her away. She wondered if he was actually a man” continued the pastor. He was; and he lay with her thereafter. When she became pregnant by him Daniel made another painful discovery – she was a married woman. Her husband waded in and demanded the customary penalty for adultery from him. “He cried like a baby when it happened”. Here he was, a believer not only having soiled his garments, but also publicly humiliated. Can you carry fire against your chest without burning your clothes? Can you walk on hot coals without burning your feet? It is just as dangerous to sleep with another man's wife. Whoever does it will suffer. Prov 6:27-29(GNB) 

I was there when the baby was born, and noted the pastor’s concern for the baby. He took Daniel in; and helped rehabilitate him spiritually. Daniel went on to participate actively in the church there, and brought his wife and family with him on his subsequent postings. So be happy with your wife and find your joy with the woman you married--- pretty and graceful as a deer. Let her charms keep you happy; let her surround you with her love. Prov 5:18-19(GNB). Mercifully she forgave him, and they had twins after. I took the delivery.