Is it not often true that we start to suffer the consequences of our evil deeds here on earth before our deaths? Many a time have I heard over the FM radio stations of people complaining about the illnesses or the problems they are sailing through? In some of these cases, the Men of God would tell them they had wronged someone. They tell them with precision what actually they had done wrong. They do always acknowledge what they are told on air; what evil they have committed consequent upon which they are being tormented.

I am less interested in what I hear on the radio but rather more interested in what has compelled a work colleague to continually say, "Life is about paying the price" This guy would often drop himself in a chair, lean forward, support his chin in his right palm, heave a sigh, and say, "Life is about paying the price" I have always been wondering why he keeps saying that until quite recently when the secret started to unfold. He has been arranging to get his newly wedded wife from Nigeria over to the United Kingdom but without success.

He was living with a girlfriend whom he had promised to marry. Both of them are understood to have prayed, fasted and made fervent supplications to God to help them secure cheaper Council accommodation and then to get married. The application for the accommodation was made in the name of the man, a British born Nigerian. As soon as their prayer was answered many years later, with the provision of a Council flat, this guy moved in alone. He has left the girl to proceed to Nigeria to marry another more beautiful and more educated woman. Whether by the design of God or the devil, he has messed up all his chances of procuring a visiting or a settlement visa for his newlywed whom he claims to have wasted no time to impregnate. He has realised his mistake and thinks he is paying the price for his dishonesty. To him, all the money he is now wasting on attempts to get his bride over to London as well as the loss of sleep he suffers have all to do with the blatant sins he has committed in his life. He is paying a dear price for his acts of ingratitude. This guy has come to be seen by me as a monster in an angel's skin concluding from his erratic bestial behaviour. The least said about him, much the better.

Do you think some of the problems you are going through culminate from some sins or acts of insincerity you've committed? Truly, life is a stage. Re-examine yourself and you are likely to find out that most of the problems you are encountering are the works of your own hands or actions. The Devil is always our own making. The Devil is nobody but yourself.

Rockson Adofo