The biggest mistake of my life

 A few years ago, I traveled to the countryside of South Africa to relocate in order to start a sports venture.

As I moved to that region, I had to find a place to stay. While looking for a place to stay, I stumbled upon an advert where a landlady was advertising her cottage to let. I replied to the ad and went to visit the place.

As I went to visit the place, I was welcomed by the landlady. She had a mansion and close to the mansion was the cottage she was renting. She was a young woman in her late thirties. She introduced herself as a Pastor and an Apostle. She was friendly.

As we went to the cottage, the place was locked. She told me that there was a tenant living in the cottage. However, there was a window covered by a curtain. I could see a little bit of what the cottage looked like. It was dark inside but it looked spacious. She said to me that she could not open the cottage because the tenant was still at work and that he had taken the key.

So, we went to her main house (the mansion) and we discussed some of her terms and conditions. As she was talking, she also mentioned her family, her business and a few good things about her. I felt very good about her. And I said: “You know what, I will take the cottage’.

And that was the biggest mistake of my life (to date).

A few days later, I entered the cottage. I will spare the details since they are too long and they form part of an upcoming book project. I lived in that cottage for three months and for three months I was attacked by demonic princes at night, almost every night…

I left the cottage but the demonic attacks continued to follow me to the point where I had to close my sports venture and leave that region since my physical life was in danger.

It turned out that the previous tenant moved to the main house (the mansion) while I was living in the cottage. On the day I left, I found out that the previous tenant was a witch doctor and he worked for the pastor. He was feeding her power so that she could have a powerful ministry. Again, I will spare the details because they are too long. Through prophetic revelations coming from brothers in the Lord, I found out that I was a dedicated sacrifice to the territorial spirit of that region. I was supposed to die in that house. When it failed, they tried to finish me physically. That’s when I left that region.


So what was my greatest mistake?


My greatest mistake consisted in the fact that I did not bother to enter and inspect the cottage. Should I have done that, I would have seen the witchcraft artifacts that the previous tenant was using in the cottage and I would have declined. I trusted that woman because she told me she was a pastor.

Many of us entered into avoidable trials simply because we never question nor check people and things that come close to us. In the book of Acts 17:11, the Bible says:

‘ Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.’


Paul is arguably considered as the one Apostle who worked the most and yet the Bereans were examining the Scriptures to see if what he said was true. In the Garden of Eden, in Genesis 3:1-7, there is only one dialogue: ‘the one between Eve and the serpent’. When Adam arrived at the scene of temptation, Eve gave him the fruit and he ate it without questioning anything.

Usually, there are three reasons why we don’t question nor test things and people:


Because we are gullible,

Or Because we are too afraid to offend,

Or it could be a combination of 1 and 2.

Sometimes, I look back at that evening when I met that landlady and I ask: ‘who on Earth takes a rental place without even visiting it?’

Some of us have let ‘serpents’ into our lives simply because we were too gullible, too afraid to offend with a ‘no’ or an answer. We let business partners, love partners, political candidates, relationships, strange business opportunities in our lives without questioning the and we end up dealing with nefarious consequences.

Even if you are a Christian, you still have the right to question things that you do not understand. You have the right to test people and their words against the Scriptures.

I can guarantee you this: ‘if we take the time to question and test things and people that try to come in our lives, then surely we will be able to prevent many avoidable troubles.