Chapter 11

"We don't really know what is wrong with her at the moment but we think it is diabetes." the doctor said. His fatherly smile was gone. It had now been replaced by a thin worried look. Asanga sat opposite him in his office, still shaken from the dream she had had.

"The lab results came back and everything looks normal except her blood sugar."

Asanga moved to the edge of her seat but she made no reply. The doctor continued

"When she came in it was extremely high, more than even that we have ever seen in the worst diabetic. This morning, it has gone so low that I am wondering how she is still alive. Is there any relative in the family with diabetes?"

Asanga shook her head. "I am not sure. I never heard of any cases in the family."

"It's alright; we will need to do a pancreas function test so we can really know what is going on"

He scribbled something on a blue card that had Emily's name on it and handed it to Asanga.

"Go and pay for the test so that we can run it"

Asanga took the card, thanked him, and went out.

Before heading to the cashier which was out at the front of the hospital, she decided to check on Emily.

Emily had changed her position on the bed but she was still not awake. Asanga paused over her for several moments, looking at her with a pained look on her face. She hoped the test the doctor had written would reveal something that would be the answer to the problem.

The girl with the swollen limb lay on her bed chewing something. Asanga went out of the ward and headed downstairs to pay the laboratory fee.

A few minutes later, a man clad in black jeans and a black hooded jacket entered the ward and walked slowly to Emily's bed, limping in his tread.

The girl with the swollen limb got up on one elbow and looked at him with wide eyes. The man stood near Emily's head and spoke something to Emily. Emily woke up and started talking with him. The girl with the swollen limb lay back down, dismissing the man as a visitor of Emily's.

Emily smiled and got down from the bed.

"What took you so long?" she asked the Otafion

"I was not sure yet what to do until they told me this morning, Ma" the Otafion said

"Let's go. Where is Jessica?"

"She is in the car outside, Ma"

The Otafion held Emily's hand and led her out of the ward.

*

"Sister Priscilla, Sister Priscilla"

Asanga heard someone call her from behind as she stood in line to pay for the lab test. As she turned to see who it was, the person came up to her side smiling and looking at her excitedly. It was a woman. She was a tad taller than Asanga and much thinner as well. She had dark skin and short hair that had started greying at the roots. She was clad in a lemon green short-sleeved khaki blouse with a matching skirt and black threadbare ballet shoes.

Although Asanga did not recognize her right away, the appellation 'sister' announced where Asanga must have known her from.

Asanga smiled faintly in return still trying to place a name on the face, which looked beautiful but tired and in desperate need of extra flesh.

"My name is Ruth Etundit. We fellowship at Papa Otafion's assembly"

"Oh…how have you been? It's been a while since I saw you" Asanga replied, adding a bit more effort to her smile. She did not care much to retain the names of the other folk in the church but this one she had retained because the lady had spent some effort on her trying to make her study the bible.

Ruth had made it a habit of sending her messages containing parts of the bible to read and topics to pray about for six months. Asanga never read or prayed about anything she received. She simply typed an 'Amen' in reply.

After six months, the messages stopped. Ruth tried calling her several times but after the first few times, she stopped answering her calls.

Ruth was about 40 or slightly older, unmarried, and childless. She lived alone somewhere in the Biyem-Assi area and worked as a teacher in a private secondary school where she taught Religious studies and Moral education. From what Asanga had heard, Ruth's father had wanted her to go to the United States to Study Medicine but Ruth declined, saying that her God had instructed her to remain in Cameroon and preach the gospel. Her sister, Rachel, had laughed out her lungs but that did not make Ruth change her mind. Her father tried to dissuade her, saying that she could still preach in America but Ruth's mind was already made up. After her father conferred with his brothers they decided to disown her.

Ruth cried when her father told her and in the midst of her tears she said only one thing: "I have decided to follow Jesus and there is no turning back"

When her father sent her out of the house Ruth went to live with Mama Rose, the woman who brought her to the cross. She was nineteen at the time and fresh out of high school. She spent the next three years helping Mama Rose sell cooked food at Accacia market on a table beside the road. She could have continued but Mama Rose came down with an illness and the doctor said she had to quit cooking food. It was then that Mama Rose advised Ruth to get a teaching job at the school.

Mama Rose passed when Ruth was thirty-two and since that time Ruth continued living in the same house that they had been living in.

"It's been a long while," the woman said, her smile revealing coffee-stained teeth.

"Yes, really"

"Are you ill?" Asanga asked "What are you doing at the hospital"

"No, in my spare time I visit hospitals to pray for the sick"

"Oh, okay," Asanga said looking ahead of her to see if the queue was moving. There were four cashier posts but only one had a teller.

"You what are you doing here, are you ill?" Ruth asked

"No, it's my little girl Emily"

"Oh…the one in boarding school"

"Yes, she came home yesterday and took ill. I brought her here this morning."

"What did they say?"

"They don't know yet, but they want to run some tests that is why I came here to pay" Asanga replied turning slightly to face the cash desk hoping that Ruth will leave.

She did not. She asked Asanga another question.

"How is your godliness?"

"My what?"

"Your godliness…your spiritual life…how has it been going?" Ruth clarified

"Oh, fine." Asanga said curtly "It's just that I have been a bit busy with work but I still find time to attend church on Sunday. And God has really blessed me; I am now the regional Marketing Director of Super Water." Asanga smiled as she spoke.

"Oh that's wonderful," Ruth said with a hint of insouciance "but Sister Priscilla God wants more for you than just to bless you with good jobs and money. There is more to the life that you are supposed to have in Christ than jobs and the like"

"Really, like what?" Asanga asked "because as far as I know, he became poor so that we can be rich"

"He became poor spiritually not physically, he was rich in righteousness and we were poor in righteousness so he decided to transfer his riches to us"

It was Asanga's turn to pay for her test at the counter and she gave Ruth a look that said hang on a second. Ruth understood.

Asanga handed the piece of paper the doctor had given her to the cashier and waited. The cashier was a thin, dark-skinned woman clad in a pale green nurses' uniform. Her bottle-thick glasses sat on her nose as she typed some entries on the computer in front of her.

"Trente cinq mille"

"Huh?"

"Thirty-five thousand"

Asanga dipped her hand into her jeans but discovered she had no cash.

"Can I pay with Momo?"

The cashier nodded. "The number is on the wall"

Asanga spent the next few minutes sending the payment.

"Voila." She turned back to Ruth after taking the receipt from the cashier "What were you saying?" She did not give Ruth the chance to answer but followed with another question.

"Why, then, does your pastor…our Papa Otafion preaches that we need to give money to God so that we can be blessed. I mean…it almost sounds as if one is bound for the fires of Hell if they don't pay tithes."

"What Papa Otafion teaches is one thing and what the Bible teaches is totally something else," Ruth said, "Just like how the Jesus of the bible and the Jesus that Papa Otafion and the others like him preach are totally separate from each other."

"What are you saying?" Asanga asked. She pointed towards the stairs that went down to the laboratory. "I want to go and give this to the lab," she said holding up the receipt "so that they can run the test on Emily"

"Sure, let me accompany you," Ruth said.

The stairs led down into a deserted dimly lit corridor. The silence pressed against their ears and it made Asanga uncomfortable. The laboratory was at the end of the corridor, she could see its sign above the huge twin doors.

To break the silence Asanga said, "You were saying that Papa is teaching us about a different Jesus?"

"Exactly, most people don't realize it but there are two Jesus' worshipped in the world today. Since both of them are called Jesus, everyone assumes we are talking about the same person but you will see the differences clearly if you hold them up to what is written in the bible" Ruth replied

"Okay, maybe you have a point when it comes to money," Asanga said, pausing to look Ruth in the eyes, "Some of the preachers have stretched the money issue too much but I would like to think that's it"

"No, there are many other differences, glaring ones even," Ruth said "Of the two point three billion people who proclaim themselves to be Christians, only a very tiny part actually know the Jesus of the bible. The Jesus of the bible warns of sin, he warns of judgment and Hell, and he teaches that there are consequences of sin."

"Hmmm…and the Jesus of the world?" Asanga asked

"He never says anything negative, he accepts all. The Jesus of the world is like a genie that gives us health, wealth, and happiness. He is the Jesus that is worshipped in the prosperity gospel, the one Papa Otafion teaches about. Meanwhile, the Jesus of the bible gives salvation, hope, and joy."

"Boring" Asanga said in a sing-song manner

"The Jesus of the Bible is hated. His words do not bring in the masses but the Jesus of the world is loved by all, even Muslims love him"

Asanga chuckled. "Who wouldn't?"

"The Jesus of the Bible is hated because he offends the people with truth while the other one hates to offend you and speaks only of love. He never corrects you of sin; He lets you do as you want as long as we all love each other." Ruth said "They use celebrities as a voice for promoting Jesus of the world because he wants you to be fully about this world but the Jesus of the bible does not want you to be of this world or to love the things of the world as James four verses four teaches. The Jesus of the bible seeks that you should do only the heavenly father's will but the Jesus of the world encourages you to serve your own will. To do what you want"

"How did you get to know all this stuff?" Asanga asked

"Studying the bible" Ruth replied

"The same bible we all have or a different one?"

Ruth laughed.

Asanga sighed. "I think I know the Jesus of the world more than that of the bible. Could we pick up our bible study from where we stopped, please?"

Ruth smiled and nodded. "You need to tell me a definite time; I am done with sending you bible scriptures through SMS messages"

"Me too, ayo technology!" Asanga replied

"What?"

"I meant that we need to meet face to face for our bible study because I'm tired of using technology"

"Okay"