Sunday Morning Encounter: Discussions on Religion with a Port Harcourt Taxi Driver

I get out of the house, ready to hit the road for church, and sight my neighbour driving out. I greet her and she duly responds. She knows I'm heading for church but maybe thinks it's my home church just at the junction of our street I'm attending, so she doesn't bother asking which way I'm heading. But all the while I don't think of it this way. I just thought she wasn't interested in giving me a lift. 

So I keep walking towards the junction, even as I watch her turn in the direction I was heading. I was a little sad, knowing fully well that school was not in session and it was a Sunday morning, so taxis will be hard to come by. But as God will have it, when I get to the junction, a taxi-looking car drives by. I don't wave it down 'cause the driver is dressed corporately, a white long sleeved shirt and a black tie. He drives past me and stops some distance away, signalling me to know if I was going. I shout "yes" and run to him. I don't say anything when I board, as I wasn't sure what to ask, assuming he wasn't a taxi driver. Then surprisingly he asks, 

"Are you going to Rumuokoro?"

"Yeah", I replied with utter shock and joy. "See as God dey work!", I added. 

Then after some seconds, I ask him,

"Do you stay around here?" 

"No o. Na drop I come do" was his response.

"Ok", I said. 

The drive becomes pretty quiet as I listen to some Sunday morning gospel vibes on my favorite Sunday morning station, 95.9 Cool FM. 

After a while, I decided that it shouldn't be a quiet one, and so I initiate a conversation. It was one of the most revealing conversations I've had in a while. You know, one of my latest mantras has been 'learning is a process' and the fact that information gathering happens almost all the time resonates more with me these days.

"So you don't go to church on Sundays or you attend first service or third service? Or you work throughout?", I continued.

"Ehn, I go to church o. I'll go for kingdom meeting by 9am. I just said I should run two or three times before time reach. I attend Jesus Disciples Fellowship and we meet at 9am."

"Okay. As long as you find a way to connect with your God, that's fine by me. So is it like Jehovah's Witnesses?"

"No o! Jehovah's Witness no dey pray na. We, we pray. We also go for evangelism too like them. But have you heard of the fellowship before?"

"Nope. What did you call it again?"

"Jesus' Disciples Fellowship worldwide. We are a global church. Just search on internet."

"Ok", I said and whipped out my phone to do my research. 

Ha! The first content, one which must have probably been optimized for searches had something about 'cult' in it's title. In my mind I was like 'Hm!'. I have never heard of this 'fellowship' before. What could it be about? So we continue talking and he pickes some more passengers at some point. I tell him a lot of persons are just 'bandwagon' church members and really don't have a personal relationship with God. He agreed with me, adding that a lot of people are not living by God's principles. Then I give him my own understanding of what Chrisianity is, believing in God and His Son Jesus. After some more remarks by both of us, he chooses to attack me.

"Do you know I can expose you?"

"How?"

"I want to expose you. Should I?"

"Go ahead", I urge him. "I have nothing to hide."

He laughs. Then goes on to talk about my eyeshadow and how a man can see my eyeshadow and fall. I laugh as well, telling him I knew he was going to go there. Then a debate about what's more important, the heart or the outward appearance ensue. I mention Esther, and another passenger joins in and asks our driver if he truly knows the story of Esther, the gold and ornaments she wore and all. Our dear driver goes on to say, 

"Do you know all the gold in this world now belongs to the devil?"

"Hey!! So what of the one in heaven?" I ask laughing. 

He laughs too. We all laugh until we get to a police checkpoint, and our dear driver looks for N50 and squeezes it into the hand of the policeman. My laughter continues as I ask him what he just did. He laughs too, stating that nothing was wrong with it. 

"Ha! So it's not bribery and corruption?"

"No o. It's give to Ceasar what is Ceasar!  I don't see it as bribe. He may see it as bribe but I'm just giving him from my mind."

"You're sowing seed into his life ba?", the passenger who had joined our discussion said, laughing, as he alights and pays his fare. 

"Yes, something like that", our driver replies. 

We continue talking for a while and he finally invites me to his 'fellowship' program. I bluntly tell him I can't attend, using work as an excuse. He says the program is organized for people like me, because he sees I'm interested in learning more about God. 

"The devil has entered the church, and what people are doing now is not worshiping God. They need to learn more", he adds. 

"The church of God shall march on, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. The devil may be trying, but God is still doing things in His church", I tell him.

Well, we finally exchange contacts, and I get to know his name is Prince. Hopefully, we'll get to know more about Prince' 'fellowship' which I read up on. Seems there's a bitter member who went rebel and is trying to paint the church/fellowship as a cult. Me, I'm not interested. I have better things to do for now. 

But just before I wrap this up, I got wind of some interesting love story on my way back from church. Want to hear it? Catch the gist in my next post 😉