KULA - A SATANIC KING BOWS TO JESUS

The island of Kula was much farther down the Atlantic Coast than the other places they had been to. Though Kula was distant and remote, Apostle Numbere was determined to get the gospel across to them. Numbere had to make contingency plans for the pythons too, for this was python land, so he co-opted into his field team a brother nick-named “Apatti” (pronounced ah-pa-tee) who used to claim he was adept at eating snakes, especially pythons!

Narrating this incident, Apostle Numbere said,

“The interesting thing about the incident at Kula was that God decided to match the enemy, action for action. I often dramatized my sermons to impact on the people that idols were powerless. In Kula, it was like I knew what the king was doing, for I was led to dramatise my sermons more than ever before. Using the juju items the people had given up as they got saved, I dressed myself up in the full regalia of a juju-priest and exposed the powers of darkness. It was like a mockery, a daring on Satan and his agents, especially the king, to do their worst. God swept aside all the powers and made them into nothingness.

The campaign to Kula proved to be one of the most hazardous, yet most exciting trips we had in all of our Sea Campaigns. It was a battle royal in which the Lord Jesus showed His Supremacy and Satan was subdued. On 4th December 1976, we left Ke by 5:00 p.m. for Kula. Our only means of transportation was a dugout canoe to which we had attached a small engine. The engine was not in a good condition so our movement was quite slow. It turned out to be a windy day. The first channel was quite rough and we wondered what the open sea would look like. We knew it was definitely going to be much rougher out there in the San Bartholomew River.

As we were about to burst out from this channel we could see the sea stretched out there before us. It was so terribly rough and windy. The waves were high and frightening as they rolled and billowed. The scene therefore was a terrible one. I was at the tail end of the boat and I could read fear, anxiety and concern on the faces of my Ministers who were mostly young boys and girls.

I could understand their fears. Nobody ever dared to attempt to cross those seas whenever they were that rough. Faced with imminent danger, the best thing would have been for us to turn back, but how could I? The boat we were using was a rented one and if we did not travel to Kula that day we would lose the money we had paid and we did not have money for a second charter. Besides, I was prepared to die for the gospel, even if it was for just one soul out there in that far away island. So we had to go on. We moved into the first sea into the full brunt of the storm and the raging sea. As we were being tossed up and down, to and fro, the seawater was fast entering into the boat and sooner or later we were going to sink and perish in the sea. However, I was not afraid: I was calm in my spirit. Led by the Spirit, I picked up my Bible and carefully found my way to the front of the boat by walking along the edge of the boat. I stood in front of the boat, raised my Bible to the sky and over the sea, and I began to pray, “Lord Jesus, I know that you died for the whole world, and there are souls out there in Kula and I know that you died for them too. I have never been to Kula, but I heard that they are idol worshippers; they worship snakes and they do not know you. And here am I, Lord, I’m taking the gospel of salvation to them but here I have this obstacle of the wind and the sea. Lord I know that you did rebuke the wind and the sea and they obeyed you. I have read in your Word and I know You have not changed so please, Lord, quench this raging tempest for me”.

At this point I began to rebuke the wind and the sea, “Lord, in the Name of Thy Dear Son Jesus Christ, I rebuke this wind and I rebuke this sea!” I had hardly finished speaking when the wind and the waves “died”. The entire sea became calm, cool, and as placid as glass! Indeed God does not change, has not changed and will never ever change. I turned to look at the faces of my Ministers. I could see smiles and confidence on their faces. Peace and calm had returned to their spirits and to their hearts. I put my Bible under my right arm and found my way back to my seat. Thus we were able to cross that first sea without any further incidence. It was a wonderful experience.

We thought that was the end of hitches in our journey. We did not know that that was only the first obstacle. By this time it was dusk and darkness had started creeping in. We entered into the second channel but because we did not know the sea-lane, mid-sea our boat ran aground on a rock. We had to roll up our trousers and the sleeves of our shirts, jump into the water to heave and push our boat off the reef. Now the danger in that was that the sharp surface of the reef could have cut our legs giving us serious injuries and we did not even have a first-aid box with us, or there could be some sharks lurking around in the water. Blood from any injury on any of our legs would have been a perfect trail for them to have had us for their meal. Worse still, our boat could have been badly damaged and we would have been stranded in that sea that night. Who knows what would have been our fate if that had happened? But that same God Whom we serve protected us and delivered us. We succeeded in pulling our boat back into the water and moved on again.

Finally, we arrived at the waterfront of Kula in the night. Here again was a third obstacle. This time it was not inclement weather or hostile natives, it was an attack by mosquitoes! Generally the villages were infested by them, so we were used to being bitten by mosquitoes.  The mosquitoes at Kula waterfront were something different. They came upon us like an invasion army, very much like the plague of flies in Egypt. They were so many that they flew into our eyes, into our nostrils, when we opened our mouths they flew right in; and they bit us right through our clothes. We had to slap our faces, ears, and the rest of our bodies as we tried to kill them but the more we slapped our bodies, the more the mosquitoes that swarmed on us and the more terrible their bites. The attack on us was so vicious that though it was night already, we almost turned back. Again the desire to preach the gospel pushed us on. The Lord gave us the grace to endure and we finally got all our things out of the boat and moved down to our lodge (a school hall with half walls) which was nearby. Eventually, we settled down and after our evening devotion we all went to sleep totally exhausted from the long journey and from the day’s experiences.

We found Kula to be such a citadel of idolatry that it was a place of “pilgrimage” for most juju worshippers in Rivers State. They went often to revive or appease their gods especially the python-god which was called, Adum. The entire island was full of idols and juju shrines so much so that the people built bigger and better houses for their idols than their personal homes. They built cement-block houses for their idols while they lived in mud-and-thatch huts.

The Amanyanabo (King) of Kula, King Sara II, gave us his courtyard for our Crusades. For the next three days, December 5th to 7th, we stormed Kula with the gospel. Each night the Lord moved mightily in our midst. Many were saved, many healed, many were delivered of evil spirits, and many gave up their idols. The whole island was turned upside down for the Lord Jesus Christ. King Sara himself was not on the Crusade ground with the others, rather every night he sat on the balcony of his palace, which was directly over me, and watched keenly while I ministered to his people. I did not consider this strange, for being the king no one would expect him to sit among his subjects.

On the morning of 8th December, being our fourth day on the island, I was in the lodge when my men ran in to tell me that the king had come to the lodge and wanted to see me. When he came he introduced himself, “I am the king of this place”. I rose up and respectfully greeted him, “Your Royal Highness, Sir!” After he sat down on a school desk, he began to talk, “Like I said, I am the king of Kula. I am a very powerful man and no man or woman dares to cross my path. If a pregnant woman offends me, I can destroy the child in her womb. If any man offends me I easily destroy him. My subjects know my powers and they all fear me”.

That was definitely strange boastful talk and from a king! The scepticism on my face must have been too obvious, for at this point he paused, “You seem not to believe me,” he said, “I want to ask you a few questions so you can have a little idea of who I am”. “When you were coming here did you run into a storm?” he asked. That definitely was not a guess for we did not tell our experiences to anyone there. I was puzzled but all the same I replied, “Yes,” but somewhat whimsically. “I raised that storm”, he told me. Then came his second question, “When you got into the second channel, did your boat run aground?” At this point, I sat up for I realized that there was truly something uncanny about him. Again, my reply, “Yes!” and his comment, “I caused it”. Yet a third question, “When you arrived at the waterfront, did mosquitoes attack you?” By this time I did not need any further evidence of his mystical powers. It was the same “Yes” and “I caused it”.

A thousand thoughts raced through my mind, for how could he possibly have known all these things without being told? Was he as powerful as he claimed to be? I was soon to find out. He continued to speak while I listened attentively: - “Through my magic mirror I saw you and your team as you were coming. I did not want you to come here and preach the gospel. I used my magical powers and raised the storm, caused your boat to run aground and had to cause mosquitoes to invade you at the waterfront so you would turn back, but you endured the mosquito bites and came ashore.

Do you know why I gave you my courtyard for your Crusades? It was because I wanted to use my magical powers to paralyze and kill you. On the first and second nights of the crusade I stood over you and while you were preaching I was making incantations and invoking my juju and occultic powers on you, for you to collapse and die, but nothing happened to you. Instead of getting weaker you were getting stronger as you preached. The third night I went further into my innermost occultic chambers and brought into play all the juju powers I had ever known. But this third night I found you to be strongest. Instead of you getting weak, you got stronger with each passing hour and night after night, I saw my people getting saved, healed and delivered. I saw the lame walking, the blind seeing, and the deaf hearing. I saw the joy on their faces as they received Jesus. Each night I looked around you to see the source of your strength and power but I saw no charms or talisman around you. All I saw was an open Bible. I have come, I too I’m sick. I want to know that Jesus whom you preach and I want to be healed”.

Wow! How do you think I felt? I saw God’s power in action! He told me what his sickness was. He was suffering from cancer of the prostrate, which was at an advanced stage. He was bleeding from that cancer. I led him to receive Jesus Christ as his Lord and Saviour and I laid hands on him and cursed the cancer. He was healed instantly. He checked himself out; there was no trace of any blood anymore! He was so overwhelmed that he started crying, he cried and cried and could not stop. They were tears of joy. With excitement he invited me to come to his palace to remove all his idols, occultic and magical items. He had been a member of several cults including the Egyptology cult, which he had been in for almost three decades. I took along my team members who took with them knives, shovels and diggers. We spent almost the entire day – from his doorstep, to the ceiling into every room, to every corner of his palace, including his courtyard, we were digging or pulling down one juju or the other, one talisman or the other, one occultic item or the other. He gave everything up for the Lord Jesus Christ. Afterwards the king gave us the town hall for Fellowship. News of his conversion spread far and wide. The island was agog with joy.

And the pythons? My python eater was disappointed. They seemed to have had a premonition because all through our stay in Kula they kept to their holes.”

 Culled from "A Man and A Vision" by Nonyem E. Numbere. For inquiries, visit our bookshop.