(Part 1/2) My name is Timothy Bentum and I am a Ghanaian. I grew up in a very religious home. I was a very adventurous young man and ended up with a lot of bad friends. I went to 6 schools before writing my A level exams. At the age of 13, I began to smoke weed and got introduced to cocaine when I was 19. My cocaine habit lasted for about 12 years or maybe a little more. I've been into all sorts of vices and done all sorts of things, including stealing to feed my addiction, because it was a very expensive one. Alcoholism was not excluded from my list of vices and I had a few bashes with the law, got caught a couple of times and had to bribe my way out.

After all this, I met a woman (who is now my wife), and she told me I couldn’t continue to live like I did. She started taking me to church and over time I began to have a craving for God. Even though I had gone so deep into nonsense; growing up, my parents had taught me to read the Bible. I even still have chapters in my head which I had memorised. We would memorise chapters and recite them in church. People were doing memory verses while we were doing memory chapters. Growing up, you would think that I was a brother, but it was a seed that was sown. So every time I walked by a church, I would feel a pulling like I've got to go in there. A couple of times I actually walked in and just sat there while the service was going on. After a while, I began doing the church thing little by little.

But one day, I met one of my friends who used to come to my home to eat. He was on his way to church with his family and here I was asking him for money that day. When I got home I said to myself, “This has got to stop. Enough is enough, I can’t be begging for money.” So, I decided I wasn’t going to drink or smoke again.

I had almost 2 decades of an addiction and I stopped without any hassle, or withdrawal symptoms like ‘cold turkey’ or ‘a twitch’, or ‘running nose’ or ‘fever’. Everybody says it's impossible to stop an addiction without the side effects or withdrawal symptoms because the body is used to the addictive substance.

(Part 2/2) The grace of God kept me as I overcame my addictions, because the truth is, if I had had withdrawal symptoms, I would’ve gone back and God knew me. So he took away the withdrawal symptoms and made me sail through easily. 

Thankfully, I met Pascal Amafo and we connected and just started to do stuff. I have seen what God has used him to do; the healings and the miracles, and he has inspired me a lot. We have been together for a while, along with Majid Michael, and Majid also has a very strong teaching and healing anointing. Together, we have a kind of inseparable relationship. It is as if God covenanted us together even before we got here, because everywhere we go, we move in very unique ways and people are blessed.

Personally, I think that my story has been very profound. People have been helped. I'm still talking to a lot of people who are on drugs. I believe God takes us to places and brings us out so we can go back and save people. That's why God doesn't take us out of the world, rather he takes the world out of us. He puts us in the world to be able to affect the world.

We are told time and again that if you have an addiction of any sort, whether homosexuality, pornography, masturbation, alcoholism etc. that you should say, “I can do it” (i.e. break free from it) and then you just will yourself to do it. But I will tell you to say, "I can't do it. Lord I roll it over to you, for without you I can do nothing." God said in John 15, “I am the vine, you are the branches and without me you can do nothing.” So, roll it over to God, Let him see your helplessness and then he will step in because you are available. But if you say I can do it, it’s like saying "Yo, step back, I got this". Get into a space of total reliance and dependence on God. Everyone should have a dependence creed because we are supposed to be dependent on God. 

Moving forward, I'm expecting to walk the face of the earth with an anointing that has never walked the face of the earth before. I desire the kind of move of God that has never been seen. 

It was the year 1961 and I was a 22 year old boy in England. She came to visit me with her friend. (Her friend was my friend’s girlfriend.) They were both studying nursing outside London. That was the first time I saw her - August 1961.

I met her again in February 1962. We started talking. She and her friend were to take their nursing exams sometime in March. I remember I said to her, "Look if both of you pass your exams, I'll take you to the pictures (movies)", which was the popular thing in those days and then of course they passed. So, I asked that they come to London for the weekend so I could take them to the pictures. It was like a double date, my friend and his girl, and her friend and myself. We went to the pictures and watched ‘The Magnificent Seven', a popular movie at the time. I remember at the pictures I said to her, "I want us to be friends and I want to marry you. There's no need to answer me. I have thought about it, I know what I want, so go ahead and think about it and let me know." In the summer of 1964 (September 5), we got married.

I moved back to Nigeria in 1969 to work in the oil fields and my wife moved back a year after. I remember I would spend 5 months in the fields and one month at home. And in that month, I'd have to go to England. Before she started work, I would take her with me. Everywhere I went internationally, I would take my wife with me. Because I was away for 5 months, I wanted to spend the little time I had with family. Separation in marriage is a terrible thing.

Of course, we’ve had our challenges but we were able to overcome them. We were able to handle our finances which is a major issue in marriages. We both understood we are two different individuals with different personalities coming together as one. And so many things have helped us through, of course God being the foundation and rock of our marriage.

If you ask me, my plea to young people is no matter how serious the challenges may be, if it doesn’t include spousal abuse, endure it, because what you think is big today, in 5 years time is nothing. There's no problem that can't be overcome.

We will be celebrating our 53rd wedding anniversary in September.

I started engaging in sexual activities when I was 8 years old and in primary 4, after I caught 2 adults engaging in a sexual act. I was caught the second time by my parents and they flogged me mercilessly. I stopped for a while until I went to live with my grandmother during my junior secondary school. My male cousin introduced me to porn, and from there we started having sex. My female cousin too started fondling me.

When I finished JSS 3, I returned to live with my parents. I hated them and thought they didn’t love me. I decided to seek for the love I desired outside. I had my first boyfriend in SS1. While all this was going on, I was the head chorister in church and saw visions.

Before university, I had slept with 5 people. I noticed I could no longer hear God. I knew I was on the wrong path but the more I tried to stop, the deeper I fell. All the relationships I entered into never lasted long because after every sexual act, I felt bad and cut them off. After a short period, I would go back to the guys. Immediately I left any (relationship), I entered into another one. The devil always had an alternative for me.

I was such a curious person. I wanted to know what young ladies saw in dating older men so I decided to give in to a leader in church who was pestering me.
On a particular Sunday, my group pastor was addressing us and told us to confide in her if we had anything eating us up.

When I got home I called her. She counselled me and told me to go for deliverance and to see the assembly pastor. I thought that was all but few months after the deliverance I went back to the acts. When I tried to stop fornication, pornography set in.

During that period of my life, every time I went to church, all the sermons pointed at me. I knew God had been talking to me for more than 3 years, but even when I listened and repented immediately, I would still go back.

I decided to surrender my life in totality to him and God has been faithful. I now see visions and hear clearly from him. I also thought no one would ever accept me with my past but he has given me a fiancé who not only accepts my past but is willing to make me forget it all.

(Part 1/2) I'm an actor and a voluntary teacher. I also keep people healthy. Let me tell you my story.

 

In 2001, I was part of a child to child network in secondary school. We contributed our pocket monies to make sure students in public schools had enough school materials. So, I would say my giving spirit started then.

 

In the university, I joined the Orphanage Support Team of Covenant University's Project One Million Souls started by Reginald Bassey. We visited and worked with Orphanages in Lagos State (and around Ogun State). The philanthropist in me matured.

 

In 2009, I joined Hauwa Abass Hadejia of Silver Lining for the Needy Initiative (SLNI) to refurbish an orphanage in Maitama, Abuja. We got funds for a bus to take kids to school. 

I simply continued along the line of philanthropy and in 2011, I registered ADANSONIA Foundation for arts, education, agriculture and peace keeping in Nigeria, to focus on sustainable development. 

 

In the midst of all these initiatives, I made mistakes. In 2008, I went for NYSC. From that point until 2011, my life revolved around PLAY Lounge in Abuja. I would go for Lapooza Night on Wednesday, then on Thursday, I would go for BYOB while Friday was the normal Club Night. On Saturday, I would also go to the club. I never went to church on Sundays. I didn't care about church. I was like, "Yeah, God created me but what does he want from me again?" So, I was just living my life. Sometimes, I would even go to the club on Sunday for Tequila Night and stay there until 12 midnight then go to work on Monday morning. I was just 19 at the time. 

 

All the same, because I had learnt how to live the giving life and it was an innate part of me, I had some seed of Jesus in me that was just not very clear. 

 

(Part 2/2) In 2011, I had an encounter after I went to the club. My friends and I had a road accident but I came out unscathed. God kept me but I took it for granted. Then the next day which was a Saturday, I had another accident and this time, it was inside my house. I fell in the bathroom and hit my head. Before then, Akah Nnani kept inviting me to his church, but I never agreed to go; I wasn't interested. After my accident in the bathroom, I called up Akah and asked him about church. 

 

I went for the service and the Pastor talked as if he was reading my life as a script. That was how I joined the church and the choir. I started allowing God to run my life. Prior to that, I had been changing jobs - 3 months, 2 months and I'm out. I would sit at home feeding on the past salary that I had. I wasn't stable at all.

 

In 2014, I just handed everything over to God and told him he should handle everything, because I didn't know what to do. In 2013, I was working with a consulting firm, and in the same year I started the 'Read to Succeed Project' which I franchised in 2015 under the umbrella of ADANSONIA Foundation in Lagos. Read to Succeed kept me going because it was a CSR project and I believed that God was in full support. 

 

I came to Lagos in 2014 to study acting at Royal Arts Academy and for 2 years I didn't get a job. I got my first proper job on TV in December 2016. Previously, I had lived my life how I wanted it and when I allowed Jesus to take over, he gave me my first major job.

 

I applied to join the Global Shapers Community of the World Economic Forum, and in 2016 I became a World Economic Forum Global Shaper. My voice is about to be heard by World Leaders just as promised in Proverbs 22:29. Through 'Read To Succeed' and other projects that are coming up, I'm sure Nigeria will be a better place. My aim is to make sure that I train futute leaders to be leaders who will then train other future leaders for a better Nigeria.

I'm the last of three children. I didn't grow up in a conventional setting where the sibling before you is maybe 2 or 3 years older. Our 2nd born is 16 years older than I am and the first born is 18 years older, so quite frankly when I was born they were all grown up. I had no one to relate to.

I was told by my mum that she had always been expecting a 3rd child even when everybody didn't believe so. My father never really had a connection with me, I think maybe because out of 3, I was this last unexpected child that happened, so I had issues with him. He loved the others even though I was told I'm the one that's most like him.

At about 7 years old, I started living an independent life. I wasn't getting attention, even though my mum was there for me. I started doing so many things at a young age; drinking, smoking, and all sorts of inappropriate things.

I always felt like one "bad guy". If God was going to use anybody, it wasn’t going to be someone like me but I met with God in an unconventional way. It made me realise that regardless of how many years you may think you have wasted, when God is ready for you, he is ready for you. There is nothing too hard for him to do.

I mean right now, God worked things out so much that if my dad doesn't speak with me in a day, he'll feel like something is missing. Everything is now falling in pleasant places for me just because of one thing; I now serve God. There's nothing else that is as rewarding as working for God. I mean you might not be where you think you want to be but it's all a plan. See, this whole life is a script. You are just an actor and someone is directing everything. Every move you make is a script written by God and he's not the kind of God that would forget your labour of love, if you work diligently in his presence.

I'm 22 years old, but I've seen so many things in life to make me trust in God because there’s nothing I can do without him.

August 2010 was a tragic month and year in my life. I was still in secondary school at the time. It was our holiday period and I was attending summer lessons. 

I was a member of the Nigeria Girl Guides Association NGGA and I was the president in my school. We were about to go for summer camp so we were asked to come for a meeting. I told my mum about the meeting but said I wasn't going to attend, so she told her driver to go home.

That day, the weather was very bad because it was raining. At about 3:30 or 4 pm a friend of mine called to tell me the meeting had started and all my friends were around. I got excited and decided to go for the meeting. My mum came back home and told me not to go for the meeting that no one would drop me, but I insisted. She warned me not to leave the house but as stubborn as I was, I snuck out of the house when she was upstairs.

I saw a bike (okada) and boarded it. The bike man was speeding but I did not tell him to stop because I wanted to meet my friends. The rain was falling heavily. The bike man did not see a moving trailer coming towards us. We ran into the trailer and there I was half dead.

I woke up eventually and was told I had been in a coma for close to three days but God saved me. He kept me and sent me back to this world. He made sure I lived even though I went through a lot. I was blind for months. Finally, one eye opened after 3 months. I lost my upper gum and 14 of my teeth. My nose was damaged. In fact, my face was disfigured but God held me close so I wouldn't let go. His mercies kept me alive.

I did a lot of face surgeries. I still feel the pain and wear artificial teeth, but that can't be compared to life. I am alive and beautiful and the secondary school girl back then is now a Mass Communication graduate from University of Lagos and the founder of Soft-touch Charity initiative which is up and running.

(Part 1/2) About 5 years ago, I gave my life to Christ. I basically grew up on the streets, in the hood of Bariga, so you can understand what I had been exposed to at that age. I lost my dad at a very young age, so I was taken to live with my uncle. 

I had opportunities to do a lot of bad things, but for some reason God kept me. I was exposed to smoking, drinking and all that but I never tried them out. I remember sharing this with someone and the person said, "Your father's prayers worked", because my dad was an evangelist at MFM. 

I started going to church at some point but I never really found anything in the church fun. For me it was a routine. I had the mindset that you can’t serve God when you're young till when you're all grown up, married and you've enjoyed life to the fullest.

After secondary school I was looking for what to do because there was no one to sponsor my education. So, I started working as a bricklayer to survive, earning 800 Naira per day. After that, I started to teach in schools. I had this mindset that there was more to life, but for me, the idea of more to life was going out to hustle and doing something for yourself. I also worked with a welder on a particular project. I was doing whatever came my way so as not to appear lazy.

I was making some money but it just didn't fill my void. I was empty inside.

I was also a dancer, so I would go for dance rehearsals and meet with my guys to sing once in a while. We would meet and freestyle, doing street stuffs. I was good at what I did. Guys had their eyes on me and I had the opportunity to work for some people. I went on like this until someone told me about Solid Foundation Ministry camp meeting. It’s a teens and youth ministry. 

At the camp, there were about a thousand teens present from all over. Just one day into the camp and I was feeling funny. Like I said earlier, my idea of serving God was something to be done when you are mature, married and old but that camp meeting changed my life. I saw young people on fire for God. 

(Part 2/2) At the camp, there was a particular guy, very young, from South Africa. Whenever it was time for bible study, he was the first to get there, always ready. Almost everyone around me was in that world and I felt left out, but something on the inside of me felt peace, and I knew I needed more of this to fill the void in me. 

I started interacting with some of the guys, asking questions about the Bible and the Christian walk. They put me through, made me see reasons why the best time for me to serve God was now. We had series of bible studies and a lot of other activities and then one of the days at camp, there was an altar call and I gave my life to Christ. I still remember the whole experience. I woke up every day at camp eager to see what would happen next. I really can't find the right words to explain my experience, but it was different.

After camp, I got a new sense of direction. God was leading me and things started coming to me easily. I got to know God better, I got to understand why I needed to study the scriptures, the essence of devotions and fellowship with the Spirit.

My whole life changed. Being someone that had a lot of crazy experiences growing up, it was easy for me to relate with people. I bless people with my music. I sing indigenous rap music. Right now, I have a lot of people from the streets who look up to me. I've learnt that in order to win people, you don't need to look or feel different from them, or look down on them. You need to get close to them. I've been where they are so I understand them. That experience has helped me style my music and reach out to people.

God has been faithful. We've been able to win souls daily. Every opportunity I get to minister to someone, even on the road, I use it. I share my testimony. Even if they don't accept Christ at that moment, I believe that for everyone I talk to, I sow a seed and the Holy Spirit does the rest. 

I'm growing by the day and I now understand that serving God is not by age. It's how much you experience him, and every day is a new experience. It's been an amazing journey.