Pastor Dachi Maduako: The Holy Ghost did his surgery

He looked to his right and then to his left and then mused. For sure, his wife, and the children, who were there, heard also what the Medical Doctor said. He reviewed it again within, perhaps, he did not hear well, “This is for Two Million, Five Hundred Thousand Naira and the other is Four Million Naira. Choose the one you like”. Some people, if they were told that, would pay immediately. It might not be so for a pastor.

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If it was in Oshodi market, trust me, when these Aba traders tell me to pay N2,000 for a belt, ordinary belt, I do not hesitate to inform them that I schooled at Dick Organ Memorial School, Aba. This I do, with ‘Aba’ bold face, offering N500 and they accept usually. The request of N2.5M or N4M was in the hospital and it seemed that it was the sellers’ market since the sickness was critical, very critical.

That was the fate of Pastor Dachi Maduako, a journalist and pastor in Four Square Gospel Church. He was diagnosed with heart disease and the doctors suspected he must have had it without knowing. The questions of the medical personnel in the first hospital he went showed that they had imagined the worst. His outlook justified also, their pessimism. What was strange to them was his cool attitude before them. Dachi, his confidence in the Lord Jesus, is beyond human conjecture.

Pointing to him, the limited number of cardiologists we have in Nigeria, his doctor recited a few of them and told him to choose one. He did and went there. They told him to pay N700,000. The amount being high, his doctor referred him to another hospital. He paid there, N400,000 for registration. They asked him to pay N350,000 for the treatment. It became a real albatross. His wife could no longer keep quiet. She had to evoke her esprit de corps, being a retired Senior Nursing Matron from LASUTH. They bought it. The bill was slashed to N250,000. Their examination, to God’s glory, showed that there was no blockage of blood in his body. A little treatment they gave him made great improvement in his health.

They recommended then, a kit that would improve the flow of blood in his left ventricle at the cost of N2,500,000 or N4,000,000, depending on his choice. His Adam’s apple might have moved convulsively up and down. There is a way some rich people mention money as if it is mere sand, which everybody can get. When my annual salary, as a graduate and staff of Texaco Oversees Petroleum Oil Company, was N5,400, I won a plot of land in FESTAC Town, Lagos, and was to pay N25,000 within a time limit. My kinsman, who belonged to the cults, and who did not go beyond the primary school, heard it, and told me, in the most arrogant manner, to pay immediately. I could not as I did not have the money.

God knew that there was no way our pastor would raise that amount of money. The next Sunday, at the Airport, when his daughter, was travelling to Canada for Post Graduate studies, he received a text message from an NGO, that he had been booked for free surgery on Wednesday at the University College Hospital, Ibadan. It removed the fear that had clawed at his heart about raising the money. His son drove him and his wife there on Tuesday for admission. At Ibadan, Dachi, who was the former National Secretary of the Scripture Union, and the Editor-in-chief of Plumbline, her magazine, remembered that he belonged to a large Christian family. He informed the General Director [GD] of his admission.

The GD mobilized immediately the Headquarter staff, including those of the Scripture Union Press and Books Ltd, [SUPB] for prayers. He contacted also, the National Chairman, Prof. Madu Iwe, Deputy Vice Chancellor, Michael Okpara University, who mobilized the Regions and Areas of our great Union for prayers. Our US representatives, Dr. Julius Edah and Rev. Yinka Eniade, were also mobilized for prayers. The GD and the MD of SUPB were in the hospital till late that evening for prayers to encourage him.

That section of the hospital, at that time, was like a market place, hosting many patients for surgery from all over the country. One of them was very angry. He was billed for surgery on Sunday and till Wednesday, he had not been called for it. As he was told not to eat any food, they had compelled him indirectly to fast, when he was not prepared for it. No longer ready to tolerate the hash condition, he started shouting but nobody listened to him. What rather complicated his problem and that of other patients was the apology made that Wednesday night to the patients, who had been waiting for their turn for surgery. The NGO had chewed more than it could swallow! The patients were to go back to their homes, and wait for another opportunity.

To Dachi, that announcement was not strange, a man, who, contrary to the instruction, had eaten that day. One wonders why he forgot that he should not. As he was leaving the hospital for Lagos, where he lives, unknown to him, he had left behind him something inconceivable. That was the wahala that brought him there – the heart disease! He started doing things he could not do before his admission. He started feeling in the way he was feeling before the deadly sickness ravaged his heart. His wife and son, and the people around him noticed his healing, which his doctor also confirmed.

Such healing was not strange to him, since the Scripture Union members were praying for him. He could remember the experience of Architect Chris Okeke, our former General Secretary. He was diagnosed of cancer. He went to the UK for surgery. We, the Scripture Union members prayed and no trace of cancer was seen again. Our Jesus had healed him.

After eating food that Wednesday, Pastor Dachi might have felt guilty for that ‘mistake’. God, before he was born, had written, “All things work together for good to them that love Him” – Rom 8:28. For God, there was no mistake. His surgery had taken place and it was done by the Holy Ghost. He, the Holy Ghost, is not scared if food is taken before surgery! God is still at work.

What He did for our brother, He will do for all His children, scattered in various Churches and ministries all over the world. They do not need to pay any money. All that is required is for someone, according to the Scriptures, to be born again. This is by accepting that he is a sinner and pleading with God for forgiveness. The person will then surrender his life to Jesus, and accept Him as his Lord and personal Saviour. He can join any living Church. The Scripture Union is also there to help him.

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