Fate brought two men of God together under the same roof. The first, Pastor Jude was a pastor in a Pentecostal church that was widely known for its ascetic way of life; it was sinful to dress gorgeously; possessing a TV was a passport to hell. The other, Elder Mat was a Shepherd in a white garment church which was widely known for its permissiveness. They were cousins. Pastor Jude had come to spend two weeks with Elder Mat, his cousin to attend a crusade organized by his church. He found no better place moreso since his cousin was also a man of God.

Pastor Jude’s arrival into the neighborhood marked the end of the enjoyable early morning sleep of the neighbours, as Pastor Jude’s loud and endless early morning prayers awakened everyone. Though he had been advised several times by his cousin, Elder Mat not to shout each time he prayed, Pastor Jude just couldn’t change his ways; it was in the blood. Seeing that he was unrepentant, Elder Mat vowed to stop the madness.

One cool and serene morning when Pastor Jude’s deafening prayers deflowered the virgin morning, Elder Mat walked up to his CD player, slotted in a disc and turned up the volume. It was air-rending, drowning Pastor Jude’s voice. As greatly disturbed as he was, since he found it difficult to concentrate, he still went on with his prayer. With the prayer now concluded, Pastor Jude vowed to give it back to Elder Mat.

‘Elder, have you prayed this morning?’, Pastor asked sarcastically.

‘Must I wake all the neighbours up before you know I have prayed? My God is not deaf you know’, countered Elder Mat smartly.

‘Look at you. You call yourself pastor. See the kind of music you’re listening to. Worldly music, even when you knew I was praying’.

‘Worldly music did I hear you say? Come and show me a music video or disc that’s not worldly, that God threw down from heaven and I will stop playing this’.

‘My God! You speak like an unbeliever. I wonder what you teach your members. Look at the posters on your wall, some nude!, continued Pastor Jude not relenting.

‘Oh I see, you mean simply looking at these pictures makes your organ stand erect and you want to commit fornication? You’re simply not a man then and are not worth being a man of God if you cannot resist temptations’, Elder Mat fired back.

A week; later, a man was summoned by the Body of Elders of his church and was handed a letter of excommunication. The man? Pastor Jude. The offence? He had been caught committing fornication.

On the fateful day, he had gone to visit the angels in a brothel but not for evangelism. He had gone to answer the call of nature; to give nature’s things to nature. For Elder Mat, this was simply incredible and disappointing. It was however explainable and understandable. Pastor Jude had come to attend the crusade alone, without the company of his wife. Was he not ordinary flesh and blood? Doesn’t the Bible say in Gen. 6:2 that the sons of God (angels) descended from heaven to have relations with the daughters of men when they observed how pretty they were? They probably did that out of frustration and loneliness. If angels who were not created with sexual urge could do that, Pastor Jude was definitely not a sinner. ‘A righteous man falls seven times and rises says the Holy book. Cheer up cousin! Even those who expelled you are probably worse sinners’, Elder Mat consoled his cousin.