It is my joy and delight to welcome you to the February edition of Singles’ World for 2025. In the last edition, I discussed vocationally incompatibility with you, which is one of the trending issues affecting the love relationships of our singles today. In this edition, I discuss habitual dysfunctions that are potentially risky for marriages. These are the unconquered habits that have been attached to our lives since childhood that are now endangering most marriages; you are married to a personality, and it is this personality that we are to live with until death do us part. What couples experience as behavioural foundational deficits is incredibly disturbing and alarming. This calls for proper parenting, so that children can be brought up well. I will now address some examples of habitual or behavioural deficits.

Many couples regularly complain that their spouses are disorganised and careless. When you live with a careless and a disorganised person, you will realise you are living with Mr Stress or Mrs Stress. A careless and disorganised person is a bad planner. He muddles things up. He will not be able to discern between minor and major issues, important and frivolous issues, and significant and insignificant issues. When your partner is discussing very important issues, the careless partner may introduce or interject frivolous matters that he considers serious. He overlooked important details. He often makes mistakes without claiming responsibility for his actions but often makes excuses for his mistakes. Such a person acts on impulse without thinking about the consequences. He will disregard the established rules, procedures and safety protocols. Careless people are always reckless. He would like to engage in risky activities without thinking about potential dangers.

 Another trait is poor time management. He does not prioritise tasks, and that is why he will miss deadlines. Such a person will always procrastinate. How do you feel when your partner always postpones the important assignments given to him or her?  How do you live with someone who has an incorrect attitude towards time? Your partner is given a deadline to submit his application for employment, but he handles it with levity until the deadline expires. Your spouse makes you get to church services late every time. She always arrives at her duty place late, and there are complaints from her employers.

In addition, such people are always easily distracted. These are serious issues that can destabilise families. These observations are serious issues that families constantly battle. This began with individuals in their childhood. Unfortunately, some parents try their best and do not succeed, while others do not make much effort to discipline their children and prevent them from growing up with habitual dysfunction that will eventually ruin their lives and families.

Forgetfulness is another habitual dysfunction. Can you imagine your partner forgetting to brush his teeth every day? Can you imagine your partner forgetting to flush the toilet after using it? Can you imagine your partner forgetting to lock the door after coming inside it? Can you imagine your partner forgetting his or her car key at all times? There are families where partners regularly experience all this from their spouses without any solution. It is very challenging to be sincere.

Honestly, it is difficult to live with a partner in this habitual mess. However, the truth is that you cannot divorce your partner because of the character’s delinquency. In addition, individuals should be sincere to themselves and accept that they have these issues. They should then work on themselves and clean up their behavioural deficiencies. The problem is that after marriage, most people do not do anything to improve their character, especially when their spouses and others have been complaining of these unethical habits.

To minimise conflicts and reduce tension in the family, individuals should accept responsibility for their inappropriate and unacceptable behaviours, and take steps to overcome them. The singles should work assiduously on their characters before they get married. There is no point pretending that you are virtuous when indeed you are as rottenness in the bones of your partner-Prov. 12:4. Nobody is perfect and flawless. However, when there are noticeable, unquestionable, and unbearable flaws in your life, your best way is to address them diligently without any pretence. Practical steps, counselling, and prayers should be deployed, including deliverance, if necessary, to address them before it becomes too late.

By the grace of God, we will continue from here next month. Please do not forget to send me your comments and testimonies. If you are not born again, please surrender your life to Jesus Christ today. Tomorrow may be too late. Until then, God bless you. Amen.

Pastor Jide Ajidahun

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Compliments of the season to you all! Welcome to the first edition of Singles’ World in 2025. In the last edition, I discussed spatial incompatibility with you, which I consider an important foundational issue that can unsettle many homes if not resolved before marriage. If the man faces north and the woman faces south, they are spatially incompatible. You must resolve where both of you will settle in life, or else you may just be a nomadic or visiting couple. You will not really know each other, and your children may lack fatherly care, motherly care, or both. Besides, you may open the doors of your home to strange women and strange men. When infidelity sets in, divorce or broken home is inevitable.

In this edition, we will look at vocational or career incompatibility as another foundational issue that many intending couples often gloss over before marrying. When a marriage is built on vocational incompatibility, there will be upheavals that can be injurious to the stability of the home. You may be genetically and spatially compatible, and yet you are not vocationally compatible. In Genesis 2:18, God said he would provide Adam with an helpmeet that is suitable or compatible with him. You and your partner must be compatible physically, spiritually, intellectually, vocationally etc. or else there will be schism.

 If we are honest and sincere about ourselves during courtship, our problems will be manageable, but we sometimes become desperate in getting married and overlook the weightier matters of life that can weigh down our marriages. For instance, if you are called a pastor in the future, it is not any sister that you can marry. This is because it is not every Christian sister that is wired to marry a pastor. A pastor’s wife should be godly, virtuous, humble, supportive, hospitable, prayerful, wise, faithful, teachable and loyal to her husband, family and church.  A woman who is a human rights activist, feminist, or political activist will be incompatible with her husband’s pastoral ministry. This is because the core values of a pastoral ministry are radically different from those of human rights activism or feminism.

A feminist touts gender equality by compromising the biblical stand on the head position of the husband in the family. I have heard cases of women who refused to cooperate with their husbands’ pastoral ministries on the grounds that they were not called into the pastoral ministry. This can be challenging if it is not addressed before marriage. If you marry a potential pastor when you know undoubtedly that your vocation or personality is incompatible with the core values of the pastoral ministry of your husband, you are preparing for unmanageable trouble.

In addition, if you are a costumier or a professional theatre practitioner, whose vocation demands the deployment of African myths and rituals, traditional music and dance as well as the extensive use of makeups on stage, you are incompatible with a man called into the pastoral ministry. Of course, if your vocation is a Christian drama, you are compatible with a man’s pastoral ministry.   

Similarly, the work of a missionary involves frequent relocation, cultural adjustments, and unpredictable living conditions. If you value a settled lifestyle, you should not marry a missionary. Some Christian missionary organisations today ensure that missionaries marry missionaries to ensure stability in families.

In addition, if you are an 8-to-4 office worker and you want to marry a military officer whose work requires frequent deployments and unpredictable schedules that can be very challenging for a spouse with a traditional office job, you may not enjoy a settled home for life.  Again, if you are a politician, your life as a public officer requires transparency. Such a man is incompatible with a woman who is a private investigator, detective or investigative journalist whose job requires confidentiality.

In the Bible, Aquila and Priscilla as a married couple shared a vocational compatibility as tentmakers and ministers- Acts 18:2-3. Ruth and Boaz too were vocationally compatible as farmers and harvesters. Therefore, vocational compatibility is important in marriage relationships. If you are married to a spouse whose career is incompatible with yours, it is a terrible foundational problem that you will have to face for many years. It may be difficult to change one’s career after marriage in order to resolve the debacle. Prevention is usually cheaper, safer and more effective. May the Lord help you.

By the grace of God, we will continue from here next month. Please do not forget to send me your comments and testimonies. If you are not born again, please surrender your life to Jesus Christ today. Tomorrow may be too late. Until then, God bless you. Amen.

Pastor Jide Ajidahun

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I warmly welcome you to the September edition of the Singles’ World. In the last edition, I discussed the prevalence of bewitched people in our society and the danger of getting married to such people. One of the examples that I gave was about people who travelled abroad for studies or greener pastures and whose spirits were invoked and summoned to come back home with diabolical and mystical powers. Thereafter, their attitudes and dispositions were very weird and absurd.

Parents who perceive that their children who travel abroad and ought to take care of them at old age are not likely to return home again are noted for such malevolent acts. Creditors whose debtors ran away with a large sum of money could also resort to this. Demonic women or girls who were jilted or cheated by men after sexual abuse can also do so. I showed you that getting married to such bewitched people can greatly destroy your marriage and preclude you from enjoying life. This is a serious foundational issue that needs to be addressed.

Most marriages face many foundational issues that are often challenging, thorny and knotty to handle. In most cases, couples do not know the severity of foundational issues. In some cases, such couples direct their spiritual arsenals to wrong targets. Even when their targets are correct, they often do not succeed in overcoming such problems. Couples I know live with their problems in life. Can you imagine that! I often say that marriage is meant to be enjoyed and not to be endured.

In this edition, I intend to press on this issue of bewitchments.  I pray you will not enter this evil trap when choosing your life partners in the name of Jesus Christ. I also pray that the Lord will show those already in this trap mercy in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Bewitched People: Apart from those who are recalled magically and mystically from abroad and in the process become bewitched, there are others who experience bewitchment and are as deadly as those who are summoned from abroad through sorcery. First, there are parents, especially fathers, who place curses on their daughters that insist on getting married to men that do not enjoy the approval of their fathers.

Many years ago, there was a young girl who wanted to marry a young man, and the father was opposed to her choice. When the daughter insisted and married the man of her choice despite her father’s opposition, she was cursed by her father. The woman, who married as a virgin and was well read in the academe, has remained barren until today. There is no hope that she can ever have any child until she goes to the grave. She is a very good Christian. She is now over 75 years of age. Her husband found children for himself through other women after waiting and praying for decades without having any positive results. In this regard, God cannot be queried. Many men today jump at a chaste woman like her. All that glitters is not gold. Of course, this is not her fault. She had the right to marry the man of her choice, even though the place of parental consent in marriage cannot be easily overemphasized.

How do we know those that have been bewitched or cursed to avoid them very early? Occasionally, this can be difficult to achieve. Generally, it is not safe, especially in African society, to marry men and women whose parents are vehemently opposed to your marriage proposals, especially when your insistence is threatened by parental and ancestral curses. When your would-be in-laws are opposed to your marriage proposals and you have prayed, and they are not ready to budge on them, wisdom demands that you stay off from such partners.

In addition, if the prospective in-laws are diviners, soothsayers, spiritualists, magicians, witchdoctors, native doctors, Alfa, spiritists, occultists, necromancers, palm readers, star gazers, and astrologists, it may not be safe to marry the children of such people at all times, especially if they are not warm about your intentions to marry their children or wards. Even if they are completely in support of your proposal, such homes and children born into such families operate under very serious curses.

Secret sacrifices may be made about you without your knowledge. If they are not in agreement with your proposal and do not want to disclose this to you, they may cast a spell on your partner or put a demonic wedge between you and your partner, which may not manifest immediately but later. Such a spell or wedge can result in marital confusion, unmanageable and constant problems and divorce. The elders say all lizards lie prostrate, but we do not know which of them has stomach ache.

By the grace of God, we will continue from here next month. Please do not forget to send me your comments and testimonies. If you are not born again, please surrender your life to Jesus Christ today. Tomorrow may be too late. Until then, God bless you. Amen.

Pastor Jide Ajidahun

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We have been dealing with foundational issues in marriage and have focused on demonic in-laws. In this edition, I will discuss how to recognise and discern demonic in-laws. Do not forget that foundational issues are usually complicated to tackle in any marriage, and that they can destabilise the home. I pray that the Lord will give you the right understanding in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

How To Recognise Demonic In-Laws.

1. By their Fruits: One way to recognize them is by their fruits. If you are in courtship, and you are very observant, you will recognise them through their words and conduct. If there is stiff opposition to your marriage by your prospective mother-in-law or father-in-law for flimsy reasons, you should know that you will have issues with such a woman or man in the future if you finally marry their son or daughter. If they always suggest that you go with them to see a special prophet or a diviner concerning the person you want to marry or use a specially prepared medicine from the diviner, and you always object to their suggestions, this is an indication that your prospective in-laws are idolatrous and fetishistic. And that is the way they will be relating to you after marriage. If you refuse, they will operate surreptitiously. If you visit them, they may want to treat you as a house girl by indiscriminately sending you on errands. This is a warning.

You will have to be on your guard when they visit you and even when you visit them. To eat the food they prepare for you becomes an issue. Any gift they offer you will be an object of suspicion. Such in-laws hide under the garb of Christianity to pollute you. However, they were not fully given to Jesus Christ. They will always tell you partner not to travel on certain days or use a particular colour because of what the prophet on the mount has said. They are usually very curious about your partner. They always want to find out personal details about her which are not their business. Even when they see you, they will ask you indirectly and ask your fiancé directly or indirectly. Listen to her complaints when you visit. These are indications of what you will face after your marriage.

2. Through Prayers: If you give yourself to prayers, the Lord can reveal to you the real identity of your in-law, especially your mother-in-law. You may see her pursuing you in your dreams or carrying a black calabash and making incantations. You may also see her warning you not to marry her son if you do not want trouble. You may see her hiding from you or being in the midst of women wearing red or black clothing. Sometimes you may see her standing between you and your partner. The Lord is telling you she will be a great hindrance to your marriage. You may also see your prospective father-in-law trying to sleep with you in your dream.

You may see him pursuing you. He or she may be forcing you to eat or drink something in your dream. A particular mother-in-law slept with her son in the dream. Ask the Lord in prayers to reveal your prospective in-laws to you. Your prayers can reveal them in your dreams and in their acts. Regardless of how deceptive they are, the Lord can reveal them to you.

3. Though discerning of spirits: If you have a very close relationship with the Holy Spirit, he can reveal who your in-laws are to you. The Holy Spirit is our teacher and guide. If you have the gift of discerning of spirits, they cannot hide from you for long.

4. Through observation: If you are very observant, you can quarry the personality of your in-law from your discussion with your partner from time to time. Statements like “Oh! My mum is too stressful and curious!” “My mum will not let me rest, always calling and beeping my phone, ah!” “My mum is too difficult to please.” From these statements, you can have some idea about the personality of your prospective mother-in-law. This method will also help you to know all your prospective in-laws that are likely to be close to you after your marriage.

If the revelations show that you are going to have it tough with your in-laws in the future, it is advisable to quit the relationship or weigh the consequences before consummating the relationship. If you are fortunate to have a spiritual and smart fiancé who can manage his mother-in-law or father-in-law very well and curtail their excesses physically and spiritually without exposing you to dangers, you may go ahead with the relationship provided the Lord has ordained the two of you as husband and wife.

By the grace of God, we will continue from here next month. Please do not forget to send me your comments and testimonies. If you are not born again, please surrender your life to Jesus Christ today. Tomorrow may be too late. Until then, God bless you. Amen.

Pastor Jide Ajidahun

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In the May edition of the Singles’ World, I discussed demonic fathers-in-law and mothers-in-law who will be great hindrances to the success of your marriage, and I gave a life experience to illustrate this. Don’t forget that a foundational issue such as having demonic in-laws is complicated to manage. The antidote to it is to avoid them if you want to enjoy your life and live long. In this edition, I will also share another life experience. I pray that the Lord will use this edition to bless your life in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

1. There are demonic in-laws. By my calling as a pastor, I am privileged to know families that have been wrecked by demonic in-laws. There is a Christian brother who got married a few years ago. His parents always wanted to treat him as their son; they barely recognised the position of his wife. The father, at the time, even offered to rent a house for his son and pay for the rent when he and his wife were earning good salaries. He wanted him and his wife to pack into the house he had rented for them after their wedding. The wife objected to it, but the son had no reason to oppose his father’s supposed generosity.

The father would sometimes visit them and inspect the house to see if there was any need for repairs. For the son, it was normal, but for the wife, his father-in-law must leave them and allow them to live as husband and wife without undue interference. Any opposition to the domination of her father-in-law was seen as an insult from an ordinary wife or small girl whose forwardness and brazenness must be resisted firmly. Despite the son’s comfortable salary, he could account for how he spent his monthly salary. It was the wife who shouldered the family responsibility mostly.

The husband knew something was wrong with him, but he could not act against the wishes of his parents. One day the husband’s parents accused their son’s wife of being responsible for their son’s predicament. The parents went to find out from the diviners who said their daughter-in-law had an evil spirit which she was using to manipulate her husband whereas they were the manipulative ones because they were demonically possessed. The husband usually had dreams where his father was either preparing a sacrifice or asking him to carry the sacrifice. His younger brothers had earlier warned him to run away from their parents because they were demonically possessed, but he was too weak to act against the wishes of his parents even though he claimed to be a Christian.

Despite his pastor’s intervention, the man could not argue with his parents. His wife who was more vocal and desperate in liberating her husband was placed under demonic surveillance by her in-laws. They vowed to deal with her for not allowing them to have full access to their son. When the attacks were coming to her torrentially, and her spiritual stamina could not withstand them, she had to leave the house and run for dear life. The wife has been warned by her parents according to revelations that they heard that she must not have any contact with her husband or else she would die. The marriage has crashed. A demonic gulf has been created between the couple who must not see each other. Pitiably, the man is a caricature of himself now, and the wife is living a solitary life. Unfortunately, the man’s parents are happy that their son is living alone; they can now have full access to his miserable life anytime.

There is another fairly old mother-in-law who breastfed the baby of her daughter-in-law when she was busy in the kitchen. She secretly sneaked into the room of her daughter-in-law where the baby was and breastfed him. It was a messy and shameful confrontation when the wife of her son caught her. It was a demonic breastfeeding as it was later discovered. Of course, the husband took side with her mother and saw nothing strange or unusual in the breastfeeding of her baby by her mother. The mother-in-law was polluting and initiating the baby into occultism. The wife discerned that correctly, but the husband was spiritually blind.

Expectedly, the marriage crashed. This was a man who married after 40 years, and yet the household wickedness, symbolised by this mother-in-law, finally returned her son to his bachelorhood status. These demonic in-laws are common in society today, and many young men and women enter into their hands ignorantly through marriage. It is usually difficult to detach or extricate one’s marriage from the hands of such evil and atrocious in-laws. They are difficult foundational problems that stifle and choke many marriages. The Lord will help you to obey.

By the grace of God, we will continue from here next month. Please do not forget to send me your comments and testimonies. If you are not born again, please surrender your life to Jesus Christ today. Tomorrow may be too late. Until then, God bless you. Amen.

Pastor Jide Ajidahun

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In the last edition of the Singles’ World, I discussed the second type of demonic and possessive mothers-in-law which can be a very serious foundational problem in marriages. This mother-in-law does not want her daughter or son to get married. That is her decision, and she stands by it. For her, it is a sign that she loves you. When it is time for you to settle down in life, she becomes hostile and antagonistic to your plan to get married. Of course, such mothers may not come out plainly to say it, but her body language says it all. Even some of her utterances show that she does not want you to get married. If you proceed despite her opposition, be ready for a very long battle. That is a very serious foundational problem. I said such a problem is better avoided than managed if you want to live long and have joy and happiness. It is my prayer that this edition will be of tremendous blessing to you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

1. There are demonic in-laws. Some fathers-in-law and mothers-in-law have occult powers. I will share one life experience with you here to give credence to this discourse. First, occultists are those who practise spiritism, occultism, necromancy, and divination. Some of them are members of secret cults that are generally regarded as Satanic such as the Ogboni Fraternity, Illuminati, Guru Maharaji etc.

Some of them are real Babalawo, sorcerers and witches etc. Many of them have big positions in the church to hide their real demonic personalities. Imagine if your mother-in-law is Iyaloja or Iyalaje of her town or village. She is one of the leading witches in that town who superintends over the markets and the wealth of the land. The traditional marketplace is the rendezvous for the kingdom of darkness, especially the witches wizards and also marine spirits. Can you imagine if your father-in-law is the Olori Awo (Head of the diviners) in the town? He is in charge of every sacrifice that is made in that town. He is the right-hand man of the king of the town.

Don’t forget that such a man has eaten with the deities and has made covenants to be loyal to all the ancestral powers that govern the land. He is at their service. He gives whatever the deities ask for including her son or daughter or son-in-law or daughter-in-law. For him or her, it is not a big deal. His or her refusal will be calamitous. The deities will either go for him or her or take any of his or her children by force.

If your father-in-law is a member of the Ogboni Fraternity, you and your husband are not safe, and if your mother-in-law is a witch like the witch of Endor in I Samuel 28, your family is in trouble. Occultism is very prevalent in our world today because of the struggle for power, position and wealth. It is a world of the survival of the fittest.

Besides, in our world that is bedevilled with insecurity where lives and property can no longer be guaranteed by the government, people resort to occultism for protection, especially when the places of worship that were once considered sacred are being desecrated with impunity, and the priests at the altars are butchered like animals.

The belief in God is no longer seen by some people as a lasting solution; they must take their destiny into their hands is their mantra. Members of these secret societies live in our midst. They have children who will get married one day. The probability that they will get married to children from Christian families is usually there. If you are married to the son or daughter of a demonic father-in-law or a demonic mother-in-law, it can be a very serious foundational issue that can destabilise and even crush your home.

Some years ago, there was a Christian sister in a Nigerian university who never liked to talk about her father when others were talking about their parents in school. She was always talking about her mother, and her father was alive. A Christian brother who was close to her summoned up the courage one day and asked why she was not always talking about her father. The sister first took a deep breath and then told this brother that her father was a secret cult member who had donated her to the cult to replace him after his death. She was the firstborn, and she was ready to get married, but she dared not go home with her fiancé. She constantly lived in fear of the unknown of what would happen to her. During the holidays, she had nowhere to go to.

Besides, her dreams were very scary. She spent all her time praying, but it was a problem that was too much for her to bear. Her fiancé was equally scared of getting married to a woman who would soon replace her father in the kingdom of darkness. Imagine you getting married to such a woman or a man! The father had already made a covenant with the devil, without her knowledge and permission, to enthrone her on his seat and hand over his demonic mantle to her after his death. Of course, the devil was waiting for the man to die before activating the covenant.

In that case, both the sister and her fiancé were troubled and confused although that brother volunteered to assist her in prayers. If you are married to such a sister who had been covenanted to the devil, you are in for a real battle. Even a visit to such a father-in-law’s house is a big risk because you cannot be too sure of what he can do to you. A visit to such a mother-in-law’s house can be hazardous. Members of secret cults are secretive, mendacious, unpredictable, unreliable, untrustworthy, deceitful, vindictive and dangerous. When they give you water to drink, it may not be ordinary water. Their birthday ceremonies may be opportunities to make sacrifices to their gods, pollute and initiate their guests with demonic foods.

If you are privileged to know that your would-be father-in-law or mother-in-law is a member of a secret society or a man or woman who uses occult powers, run away.  If you want to stay and serve as his or her deliverer, make sure you have the calling and the anointing and also be sure that you are led by God. Otherwise, you are going to live a life of endless, ceaseless and avoidable battles, and either you or your partner may not survive it. I hope to let you see how you can recognise this type of in-laws subsequently. Someone said, “Bad in-laws can turn a loving marriage into a living hell.”  Forewarned is forearmed. May the Lord help you and prevent you from entering into the hands of evil and demonic in-laws in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

By the grace of God, we will continue from here next month. Please do not forget to send me your comments and testimonies. If you are not born again, please surrender your life to Jesus Christ today. Tomorrow may be too late. Until then, God bless you. Amen.

Pastor Jide Ajidahun

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You are warmly welcome to the April edition of the Singles’ World. In the last edition, I discussed with you demonic and possessive mothers-in-law as another foundational problem that can pull down the pillars of any marriage. I discussed mothers-in-law whose sons are their eyes. In this edition, I will discuss another type of mother-in-law that should be avoided if you want to enjoy your home. It is my prayers that you will have the grace to avoid these evil mothers-in-law in the name of Jesus Christ, and if you are already into it, the Lord will give you the grace to manage the situation in the name of Jesus Christ. 

1. There are women who don’t want their sons or daughters to get married. Is that not strange? Yes, it is, but it is true. While godly women are praying hard for their sons and daughters to have godly spouses and good homes, these ones are averse to their children getting married. These are different from women whose children are their eyes. Some of them believe that when their sons get married, their wives will take away their love from them.

Therefore, they will not have full access to their sons anymore. If they allow their daughters to get married, they may not even see their daughters again. It is their husbands that will be reaping all their labours on them. They are not always comfortable that their children want to get married. They will do everything possible to oppose their marriage proposals. In essence, such women are ‘married’ to their own children. If you want to marry the son of such a woman, it is going to be war, be ready to marry her and her mother. And if you want to marry the daughter of such a woman, you are having two wives already.    

Some of the traits of such a mother-in-law are listed below:

1. As a daughter, they may not ask about your marital life or discuss it with you. They are not interested in discussing any plan of marriage with you so that you will not get married.

2. As you are praying for God to give you a godly partner, they are inwardly praying against it. Even if they join you in a public prayer meeting to pray, their hearts are far away from it.

3. No matter the partner that you introduce to her, she will never agree that you marry any them. For her, none of them is the will of God for you. They will always have excuses to give why you should not marry that person.

4. Some of them can deplore the cultic power to control and make you obey them. They will tie you down in the family demonically so that you will not get married.

5. If you visit such a sister, just know that you are not welcome at all. Her mother is not ready to be your host. Although some of them can pretend to be good to you when you visit their daughters, some can also be hostile.

6. Some of these women will keep asking you for money, and they don’t want any marriage to impede the regular flow of this money to them.

7. If both of you decide to marry without the knowledge or permission of such a woman, you have entered into a life of war permanently except God delivers you. Such women will be angry with both of you. They will do everything possible to destabilise your family and make you regret in life.

Such mothers-in-law may have witchcraft spirits which they will deploy to fight you and your husband who had the guts to marry you without her permission. Except God helps you, she will frustrate your marriage. It is like stirring the hornet’s nest. Some of the experiences that you will be having include but not limited to the following:

1. Constant fighting and disagreement.

2. Miscarriage, infertility and barrenness

3. Demonic attacks in form of sicknesses, accidents, calamities, misfortunes, bad dreams etc.

4. Business failure, loss of employment, stagnancy etc.

5. Divorce

6. Death

This is a very serious foundational issue in most families today. Such women don’t live with you, but wherever they are, they will be throwing missiles into your family. This evil mother-in-law has declared both the wife and the husband as her enemies. There is nothing you will do to appease her. If you like send her all your monthly salary; she will still not be satisfied.

Some of them can even ban you from visiting them forever. This is a battle of household wickedness, and it is usually very severe and dangerous. The foundation of such a marriage is laid on warfare. Once such a mother is opposed to you getting married to her daughter or to her son, it is better for you to flee no matter the love you have for her daughter or for her son or else you are going to live a perpetual life of warfare which is unnecessary and avoidable. 

By the grace of God, we will continue from here next month. Please do not forget to send me your comments and testimonies. If you are not born again, please surrender your life to Jesus Christ today. Tomorrow may be too late. Until then, God bless you. Amen.

Pastor Jide Ajidahun

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You are warmly welcome to the March edition of the Singles’ World. In the last edition, I concluded my discussion on demonic children as one of the foundational problems rocking families today. In this edition, I will discuss another very serious foundational and fundamental issue affecting many homes. The import of this is for the singles to avoid it and for those who are facing it to recognise the enormity of the challenges and tackle them by the wisdom of God. It is my sincere prayers that you will not enter into this debacle in the name of Jesus Christ, and if you are already into it, the Lord will deliver you. 

Demonic and Possessive Mother-in-Law: As I said in the previous editions, foundational issues in marriage are usually very difficult to resolve. Prevention, as they say is not just better than cure, it is cheaper. Proverbs 22:3 says “A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.” First, God expects you to be wise. It is that wisdom, which is the principal thing, according Prov. 4:7 that will make you see evil coming and hide yourself.

When a wise man sees the evil coming and refuses to hide himself, the Bible says. He will be punished. The Bible does not say he will be pardoned or protected. Even if the Lord forgives him of his disobedience, he will still suffer the consequences. If the Lord tells you not to marry an unbeliever and you refuse and marry him, when he turns you into his punching bag; that is your punishment for your disobedience. Of course, God will forgive you if you genuinely repent. So, foundational issues are better avoided than managed.

In many cultures of the world, in-laws occupy prominent positions in the marriage institution. In Africa, for instance, you are not just married to your spouse but to the entire family of your spouse. The roles of the father-in-law and the mother-in-law are quite very cultural and traditional. Jethro was Moses’ father-in-law in the Bible; the father of Zipporah, the wife of Moses. The timely godly management skill that he gave Moses helped him greatly in his ministerial assignment.

When Isaac took Rebekah, the Bible says, he brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent-Gen. 24:67.  So, here we see that Sarah was Rebekah’s mother-in-law. In-laws can be greatly helpful, and they can be terribly nasty and irritating. The focus here is to look at the demonic and possessive in-laws who are majorly mothers-in-law, although we do have some very antagonistic fathers-in law. From research and experience, mothers-in-law can be that terrible, as they often constitute nuisance in the families of their children. We will look at a particular type of mother-in-law here now.

A.    There are women whose children are their eyes. They possess them in totality. This is not a natural but a demonic possession. Some of them believe that when their sons get married, their wives will take away their love from them. Therefore, they will not have full access to their sons anymore.  It is their husbands that will be reaping all their labours on them. They wonder why their children cannot visit them when they like. They are not always comfortable that their children want to get married. They will do everything possible to delay their marriage proposals and waste their time. In essence, such women are ‘married’ to their own children. If you want to marry the son of such a woman, it is going to be war. Be ready to marry her and her mother. There may be a soul tie between such a woman and her son.

 In most cases, it is this woman that will be running your house for you. Your husband, who is mummy’s boy, will always take to his mummy advice because of the special love that he has for her. When she comes visiting, that is the Thatcher of the house giving you orders on how she wants her son’s house to look like. If you have such a mother-in-law, you have two husbands, your mother-in-law first and then your husband. Remember, you cannot serve two masters. Some of the traits of such a mother-in-law are listed below:

1.     She wants to know your earnings and the earnings of her son.  

2.     She wants to know how much your husband is giving you on monthly basis; if it is too much, she will tell her son to reduce it. She may not talk if it is small. She has come to stop you from ‘wasting’ her son’s resources.

3.     She wants to know your menstrual cycle.

4.     She wants to know if you are pregnant or not and also your expected day of delivery (EDD) because of her curiosity. And if you are not pregnant on time, she already has her solutions whether you like it or not.

5.     She will dictate what she wants to eat and what you should cook for her son.

6.     If she is agile, she can take over your kitchen from you and begin to cook for her son.

7.     She does not need your permission to enter her son’s bedroom after all, it her son’s house. 

8.     Her son is the apple of her eye, and nothing must happen to him.  

9.     When she is not staying with you, she can summon her son to come and see her without giving him any adequate notice. You dare not oppose that lest you are in trouble. She can even ask all of you to come home and spend Christmas with her.  

10.  If you are busy or your baby is crying, she can breastfeed your baby for you without your permission and you dare not protest. There will be trouble.

When you see that your partner is mummy’s boy or mama’s boy according to the US English, please don’t wait. Run for dear life. Neither you nor your husband will be able to manage such a domineering, manipulative, oppressive, demonic and cantankerous mother-in-law. Can you imagine someone having Jezebel as mother-in-law?

 In most cases, your husband will be a yes-man to his mum. He will not like to offend her. In such homes, the wife is more or else like a housemaid or a slave. Many of such mothers-in-law are in society today, and they are posing great dangers to the families of their children. It is a fundamental issue that those who are into it may have to battle with for a very long time. If you like, be praying that they should die by fire, it may take time and the damages done to the home may be monumental, calamitous, irredeemable and irreparable. 

By the grace of God, we will continue from here next month.

Please do not forget to send me your comments and testimonies. If you are not born again, please surrender your life to Jesus Christ today. Tomorrow may be too late. Until then, God bless you. Amen.

Pastor Jide Ajidahun

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Welcome to the February edition of the Singles’ World.  In the last edition, I discussed demonic children as one of the foundational problems affecting many homes and families today. In this edition, I will continue from where I stopped. It is my prayer that the Lord will deliver families that are going through this in the name of Jesus Christ. 

• Demonic Children: Some consult babalawo (diviner). Some of the medicines obtained from these sources are directed to be used weirdly either before copulation or after copulation. Some are used by both the couple. Some women are asked to strap plantain stems or yam tubers on their backs at some specific hours of the day or of the night to symbolise the presence of the upcoming baby. Some can also be asked to carry some sacrifices to aid their quick conception.

Babies produced through all these traditional and demonic interventions are in our midst today as friends, classmates, roommates, bunkmates, siblings etc. They too will want to get married one day. Unfortunately, their consent was not sought before their parents obtained them from the idols with covenants. They had no control over their parentage or ancestry. Now that they are grown up adults, they want to live and enjoy what others are enjoying too including getting married.

Apart from those who deliberately consult diviners and idols, some demonic powers can tamper with the pregnancies of some women and exchange the babies in their wombs with demonic ones without the knowledge of the expectant mother. That is why they often say that pregnant women must not go out at 1:00 p.m. or enter the traditional market places in the afternoon. It is also said that pregnant women should not go to the riverside in the afternoon or go out at night.

It is believed that these demonic forces are very active at such periods. That is why pregnant women must be prayerful and be born again if they are not. They should regularly cover themselves with the blood of Jesus Christ. They have no reasons to be afraid as long as they are in Christ Jesus. Those that are not in Christ Jesus are not safe from this demonic oppression and possession. Their pregnancies can be manipulated and their babies will be demonised unknown to the parents.

We have many of them in society today causing troubles and pains. Isaiah 30:9 says “That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord.” Those are children that curse their fathers-Prov. 30:11. Those who can curse their parents can kill their spouses when they get married, because they are demonic children.

Getting married to them is like getting married to the devil. In most cases, they may not know these foundational issues that surround their birth. Some parents will not tell them, and some parents, after getting their babies, renege on the promises and the covenants they made with the idols; the goat they promised to bring to the babalawo annually, the dog or pig they promised to give Olokun yearly. Hence, the young man will face battles in life even before he gets married.  

Some of the characteristics of such people obtained from the idols are listed below:

1. Battling with spirit wife/husband.
2. Polluted foundation
3. Sexual lust and perversion
4. Excessive and uncontrollable anger
5. Regular and constant evil dreams
6. Lateness in getting married
7. Attracted to the wrong partner
8. Deadlock in marriage
9. Hostility in the home
10. Childlessness
11. Poverty
12. Adultery and Divorce
13. Untimely death

The manifestations are inexhaustible. If such people get married, welcome to a marriage of continuous and endless battles, conflicts and struggles without any end in sight. You are not just battling with your spouse; you are in battle with invisible forces behind the birth of your partner. How can you live with emere or ogbanje (spirit child) as your spouse and not have troubles in life. There is no free gift from the devil. When the devil asks you for your cap, he will come for your head later. When he asks you for an egg, he will take a hen from you soon. There is no how you can resolve such marital conflicts in the house without doing something about the polluted foundation of your partner.

If you are already married to a spirit in a human form or to a man or woman with a polluted foundation, how do you get out of this bondage? How do you identify such people? It is only God that can reveal such people to you if you are patient in prayers. Even the person may not know, but the manifestations will be obvious in his life. They are usually difficult, troublesome and uncontrollable children. By the time they are married, it is hell, mehn! If you are lucky to know that your parents asked of you from the idols of the land with covenants attached to it, you need to:

1. Give your life to Jesus Christ and be born again genuinely now.  
2. Repent of your sins.
3. Renounce every known and unknown covenant either made by you or made on your behalf.
4. Go for a thorough deliverance from the foundational bondage.
5. Be filled with the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues.
6. Attend regularly a Bible believing church.
7. Live a holy life.
8. Study the Bible regularly
9. Have a regular personal fellowship with the Lord.
10. Pray without ceasing.

If the Lord sets you free, you will be free indeed. Until you are born again and delivered, don’t get married yet. If the Lord reveals that your future partner or the man or woman you intend to talk to about marriage has this evil foundation, it is advisable to keep off or else, you will be in for troubles for life or for a very long time. It is not a law; it is an advice. Foundational issues in marriage are very difficult to resolve or tackle. The best way is to avoid them. Proverbs 27:12 says “A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.”

By the grace of God, we will continue from here next month. Please do not forget to send me your comments and testimonies. If you are not born again, please surrender your life to Jesus Christ today. Tomorrow may be too late. Until then, God bless you. Amen.

Pastor Jide Ajidahun

The post SINGLES WORLD- FEBRUARY EDITION’24 appeared first on The Olive Branch.

Welcome to Year 2024. It shall be a productive and prosperous year for you all in the name of Jesus Christ. In the previous editions of the Singles’ World, I dealt with the foundational issues that affect marriages and families. I focused on spoilt brats as one of the very serious challenges affecting homes today. In this edition, I will discuss another very important foundational problem confronting many families today. As said in the previous editions, the purpose of this discussion is for you to note that individuals with these foundational challenges are not good materials for marriage. Those who choose them as partners will find their marriages tempestuous and turbulent and the stress that it engenders will be irrecoverable.

• Demonic Children: This life is full of mysteries, and our perceptions are limited because we are human beings. Just as the physical world is real, the spiritual world is also real. It is not every person you see on the street that is a human being. If the Lord should open your eyes, you will see that we live in a weird world inhabited by both human and the unseen forces. It is not all babies that are given birth to are real babies.

Of course, they will be conceived naturally and be born like the way other babies are born, but what shows up later will determine who is who. In the past and even now, waiting mothers or barren women often resort to the traditional ways of conception by visiting the diviners or babalawo for intervention. Some consult Olokun who is believed by the traditional worshippers to possess the ability to give children to the barren. Some consult Obatala that is believed to be the divinity vested with the power of creativity by Olodumare.

Even though neither the devil nor his agents can create or make a child because the work of creation is the exclusive prerogative of God, the devil with his agents can manipulate the creative process and concoct a demonic baby. When a barren woman visits an herbalist or babalawo for spiritual intervention, some traditional medicines are prepared for her, backed with appropriate incantations to make them very potent. These traditional medicines are charged with demonic powers. Whoever uses the medicines will be under the influence of the demons together with the unborn baby.

Besides, covenants are made between the barren woman and the idol consulted which must be fulfilled or else the baby may suffer severely for it in future.  Some barren women go to the iroko tree and ask for babies. You remember the popular Yoruba folktale Oluronbi. We are told that some years ago in a village, there were many barren women who went to iroko tree and prayed to the spirit inside the tree to give them children. The spirit asked them to make promises, and they promised to pay with their wares because they were mostly market and business women. Some promised goats, pigeons, chickens, etc.

A woman called Oluronbi, an industrious trader, went to the same iroko spirit and prayed to the tree for a baby. She then promised to give her child back to the iroko treet. Soon after, Oluronbi conceived and gave birth to her child, and the iroko spirit asked Oluronbi to fulfil her promise, but Oluronbi refused and pleaded with the spirit to accept something else, but the iroko tree refused until the spirit took Oluronbi’s child away forcefully without having anybody to inherit her wares.

There are babies that are got through this same medium, and if their parents fail to fulfil their promises, the babies can die anytime. Even if they fulfil the promise, that child, both now and in the future, will be in perpetual bondage. The child is directly a child of iroko tree. If the child grows up to be a woman, and you are married to her, you are married to the daughter of iroko tree. If it is a boy, and he grows up to be a man, and you are married to him, you are married to the son of iroko tree. Your mother-in-law is a demon that lives inside iroko tree. That is very scary.

Some go to Olokun, the river goddesses to ask for babies. Osun Osogbo, a river goddess of fertility is one of the deities that people approach annually by barren women and other people. Its priestesses offer it sacrifices, while the people accompany the Arugba, a virgin whose face will be covered with a crimson cloth sewn with shells. The couple can even be asked to have a special bath at the river side under the close watch of Osun.

Children obtained from this river goddess are many in our midst today. When you get married to them, your mother-in-law is a river goddess. You and your partner have to worship this goddess regularly and give her whatever she asks for. If you don’t do it, you will see the anger of goddess, and if you obey, you are already into idolatry that the Bible forbids. Exodus 20:3 says “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” When you give yourself to idolatry, you bring yourself under a terrible curse- Deut. 28:15-50. It means the marriage is cursed too, and nothing good can ever come out of it except you repent, and give your life to Jesus Christ.

So, you see now that this is a serious foundational issue that could be avoided if you guide your life with discretion.

By the grace of God, we will continue from here next month. Please do not forget to send me your comments and testimonies. If you are not born again, please surrender your life to Jesus Christ today. Tomorrow may be too late. Until then, God bless you. Amen.

Pastor Jide Ajidahun

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