“Secondly, the victim will have to burn the bridges… meaning, no shuttling between old friends and new friends. The person must leave old friends who encourage such acts, leave the environment that encourages all the negative acts. For those deep in masturbation and pornography, they need to burn the materials that encourage such. They need to stop watching movies that even show the slightest form of romance that can spark up the feeling of sex. The truth they do not know about sex, pornography and masturbation is that the devil has commissioned some of his agents to make erotic videos, movies that have sex scenes so that as they watch, they want to practice what they see. It is normal to want to copy what you see and besides you are what you watch. Remember, when the Israelites were plagued, Moses told them God asked those who wanted to be healed to look up to a bronze snake and as they looked up, they got their healing. That is to say, what you look up to is who you become. The more they watch pornography, they become that. If it means some of them completely getting off the internet for a while, they can do that. Sending messages to check up on old lovers or friends is also a no-no. Thirdly, the victim should be encouraged to be physically and socially active. Most people who masturbate tend to love their privacy; always staying alone. This is Satan’s time of speaking to their hearts, so at this point, the victim must occupy his mind with other things that will benefit his or her life. That is, learning a craft, improving their talents, going for Godly shows. When a person is preoccupied with the right things, there won’t be room for trash thinking. At this point, give them targets that will keep them extremely busy and at the same time help him/her grow. And lastly, continuous reorientation in letting them know who they are. They need materials to keep them burning for God. You must organize programs to keep them going. You build and boost their confidence. At this point you let them know the ‘Cause and Effect theory’. They need to know God more and understand that God is all they need to become the best they can be. Chuks, I tell you, when they follow these steps judiciously, you will be surprised how they will emerge,” Baba Agba said. He concluded by praying for me for grace. The next day was a great day for me as I poured out all that Baba Agba taught me. I poured the knowledge into them and they obviously got it. “So, how many people are willing to go on with me on this journey of cleansing and total abstinence from all forms of sexual sins…?” I said expecting few hands to be raised, but instead I saw all hands raised. “Wow, this is good news!” I said very excitedly. “Fortunately, over 60 of you are here and that shows that the first step has been covered, but we all need to burn our bridges,” I said. “If you know you have a problem with pornography addiction on your phone, can you raise your hands, remember we don’t judge each other here,” I said. I counted and over 20 hands were raised, though some were a bit reluctant. “Ok, so we need to burn the bridge. I am thinking we in this category need to give up our Android phones and get some phones that are not internet compatible, and whatever proceeds we have left over, we use it in doing something great that will help the community. Remember, it is just temporary till we have overcome our addictions.” “Yes… it is fine… I like the part of using it for something great, because a lot of us have expensive phones that can pay someone’s rent, for instance check out Kenneth’s phone… it can pay someone’s school fees for a term. There are projects we can carry out in this environment that is better than wasting our time on social media all day… I am giving up my phone first… and if others are willing, I suggest we do a public borehole, for people to fetch free water,” Abigeal suggested. “Or a solar powered light on the street so as to avoid the gang rapes,” a girl said from behind. Surprisingly, they started giving different suggestions and I was so glad! “Ok… based on all these suggestions, that means everyone is in support of my suggestion?” I asked. “The phone I use in surfing the net is actually my mom’s own, so I can’t sell that!” A young boy said. “Hmm… don’t go near the phone again, because one, it is highly disrespectful of you to take your mum’s phone to watch porn, two, you are destroying yourself like you know,” I replied. “So can we start?” I said with high hopes. We collected 18 phones, some of which were very expensive. Obinna, one of the young adults had a brother who sold used phones. Kenneth and Tunde went with Obinna to sell the phones, and on their way back, they bought small cheap phones that had no internet facility. Kenneth sold his own too, but removed the memory card that had the video we made for Mercy. They also got me a phone. The money left was more than enough to make the borehole. We decided to do the free Water Borehole for the society and one solar powered street light. I was elated at how God was set to use the children to do great works for Him in less than a month of assembling them together. The environmental project became a big deal that drew attention of the Landlords of the environment to what was happening in Baba Agba’s compound. A News station also came to interview me and I was happy to share the vision with them. At this point, the teenagers had started using their talents. I grouped them by their abilities. Kenneth was the leader of those who could draw and paint. Abigael was the leader of those who wanted to sing. Dabira was the leader of the Drama group, while Helen was the head of the Dance group. Austin was the head of the Footballers and all those interested in sports. Chizoba was the leader of those who loved cooking. I told them I had a project for them which would be in the next three months. “Light up Lagos!” It was going to be a program that will bring teens and young adults from everywhere to have fun in the presence of God. They were excited about it and we started planning the program in full force. Favour only dropped by occasionally, but Ajaara told me she hardly ate as she was always checking her phone to see if Mercy would call. A month had passed and no one knew where Mercy was, but we knew she was alive as she constantly logged in to chat. One day I had two strange visitors. I knew one and the other I didn’t know. Who do you think they were? To be continued.
