Archbishop (elect) Emmah Gospel Isong has revealed that during his undergraduate days at the University of Calabar, he was drawn to a life of adventure and faced the temptation of joining confraternities. He expressed gratitude to God for ultimately saving him from making that choice.
In excerpts from his autobiography, Diamond from the Rough, published to mark his 60th birthday and upcoming consecration as an Archbishop, Isong shared that he once sought protection and influence on campus, believing that joining an occultic group could provide him with power. However, he listened to a “still small voice” within him and chose to surrender his life to Christ instead.
“As a young boy, I was eager to belong and be seen as one of the ‘happening boys’ on campus,” Isong wrote. “I really wanted to live my life to the fullest. The pressure to join a confraternity was high, especially as some of my friends who had joined were dying unexpectedly. Nine students died within two weeks, and it was the first time such a thing had happened in the history of UNICAL.”
Isong recalled how rumors about the disturbing initiation rites, such as eating a dead rat, delayed his decision to join. Eventually, he realized that no matter the powers he sought through these groups, someone with higher occultic abilities could still harm him. “I needed a God who could protect me from those more powerful than me,” he said.
Reflecting on his turning point, he added, “All the occultic groups would have given me a false sense of influence and power, but I thank God that I listened to the still small voice and surrendered my life to Christ.”
Isong emphasized that from the moment he chose God, his desire for power and fleeting pleasures on campus vanished. Now the National Publicity Secretary of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, he observed that many young people seeking knowledge and power through confraternities are, in fact, searching for God—but in the wrong way.
