Several years ago when the cell phone newly became available to the Nigerian public, news began milling around that certain persons were using certain GSM numbers to call innocent and unsuspecting people to spiritually harm them. Tales were told about how innocent people received anonymous calls from these numbers and died shortly after. These numbers were dutifully passed around and many notified their loved ones in panic.

This type of event occurring in the wake of the introduction of cell phones in our society reveals how diabolical we can be as a people. Some years later, I had my initial cell phone evil experience when an unknown person would call my line and rain curses on me in Yoruba, specifically in the Ibadan dialect and I would be unable to link this voice to anyone I knew.

This continued for some time until this anonymous caller called me on the first of January, and began the usual mantra and for the first time in months, I was livid and retorted sharply with curses, doing this repeatedly. This reaction invariably marked the end of the evil call to date.

More recently, I changed residence and moved to an elitist neighbourhood supposedly filled with ‘gentlemen and ladies of honour’ and within weeks of taking up residence in this estate, I noticed a curious pattern. Whenever residents would walk down the lane right in front of my block, they would slow down their pace just by my block; bring forward their phones and begin to frenziedly scroll through it then follow this with a tap in a matter of seconds and thereafter move away with a quickening of pace until they are out of my sight.

This trend would equally be replicated whenever I am in the parking lot, ready to drive out. Now, this strange behavioural pattern continued for some months and I was quite curious to understand what this was all about but knew better than to ask anyone.

Finally, as it’s often the case with me, illumination day came and I realised it was my life energy field that was being invaded with subsequent draining of my energy for their use the rest of the day. Was I horrified? This experience forced me to intensify my efforts in the area of life energy protection as I had been encountering energy vampires draining energy using other methods before this time.

You can now imagine my shock when I attended church on a Sunday morning and sat right behind this well-dressed lady, who within minutes of sighting me changed her seat to a more vantage point, stood up, pulled out her phone while prayers were going on, and began to nervously scroll through it; then tap! At this point, I realised someone in the know must speak up for the sake of innocent Christians who need to understand that the church (a place that eagerly welcomes the public without any screening) is full of energy vampires and self-protection is non-negotiable as we attend worship services.

These unscrupulous ones attend worship services armed deftly with their cell phones to perpetrate the sinister act of draining life energy out of others leaving them lethargic, lacking in favour, and unable to accomplish with ease the mundane activities of life during the week. Indeed, I once had a client who withdrew from a church where she was a worker simply because of retrogression in her life since joining the church.

I tried to convince her to remain but then she was resolute about leaving and I eventually succumbed to her judgement. To my surprise, within weeks of withdrawing from the church and while lingering at home waiting to find another church, situations turned around for the better for this wonderful sister.

Was I miffed? At the time of my experience with this lovely sister, I knew nothing about energy vampires and so wondered if something was probably spiritually wrong with the church building but today I know better.

Moreover, the cell phone; though fabricated for human advancement has become an instrument of wickedness in the hands of many and this underscores the importance of vigilance and sobriety in its use by Christians (whose faith is largely physical) and therefore can easily fall prey to these evil agents.

Furthermore, the Church can assist Christians in this regard by restricting the use of cell phones within the Church premises on a day of worship. The practise of using cell phones while church service is in progress is most irreverent and should be discouraged by church leaders.

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I seriously doubt that any Muslim will use cell phones while Jumaat service and prayers are in progress in a Mosque but then the reverse is the case in the churches as many Christians make use of soft Bibles on their phones rather than hard copies and this alone can be a tenable excuse for using cell phones with its attending distractive tendencies during worship service.

Perhaps churches should encourage members to return to the use of hard-copy Bibles during services. It should be noted that the activities of energy vampires are not restricted to gatherings but could be perpetrated anywhere human association exists.

Nonetheless, the issue of protection becomes a matter of utmost importance in a situation like this, and effective protection from energy vampires will often involve lifestyle adjustments. Special attention must necessarily be paid to how we dress up daily as wearing dirty clothes or repeated wearing of fairly clean clothes and lack of fragrances on clothes can expose a Christian to vampire spirits.

A word of wisdom from King Solomon sums up this reality. (Ecclesiastes 9:8). Also I have found the wearing of jewellery of precious stones particularly helpful, especially the wearing of Biblical stones used in the ornament of Aaron, the first high priest.

These 12 stones (representing the 12 tribes of Israel) include the Sardius, Topaz, Carbuncle, Emerald, Sapphire, Diamond, Ligure, Agate, Amethyst, Beryl, Onyx, and Jasper (Exodus 28:17-20). Any of these stones in black colour worn as a jewellery will protect from energy vampires.

In a situation where accessing any of these stones proves impossible, some other precious stones such as black Obsidian (which is quite affordable and readily available) could be used. The Obsidian stone is an igneous rock formed when molten lava emitted from volcanic eruptions cools down into glassy crystals which are then cut into beautiful shapes and beads for jewellery.

It is advisable to wear these stones as a bracelet, anklet, necklace, or pendant rather than as a ring or earring considering that these stones are activated when rubbing against the skin of the wearer.

Finally, all energy vampires’ camouflage as Christians should be embarrassed and embrace repentance. The Lord Jesus Christ never ruined any lives, He neither stole from anyone to survive the realities of life, nor did he encourage us to do so. Any attempt by anyone to redefine the Christian faith will attract God’s judgement.

Dare Oduwole, a Christian counsellor, can be contacted via 08027291632