After 44 years of marriage, Sir James Joseph Itapke, a knight of the Catholic Church, lost his wife and mother of his five children, Lady Angelina Itakpe, to a brief illness on October 1, 2014. He told Sunday Vanguard that 14 days before then, precisely September 17, that year, God informed him that He would take away what Itakpe loved most.
Itakpe retired as a Manager in Union Bank and hails from Afowoh in Etsako West Local Government Area of Edo State.
“I usually gather my family every morning and evening for prayers. On September 17, 2014, I told my wife to read the Bible and pray before we went for the activities of the day. My wife and I read the daily verses according to the Roman Catholic Church. We read Ezekiel in which God was talking to Ezekiel, sending a message to Israelites. We read the gospel and we did all normal prayers,”he started.
The knight continued: “But when we finished, she took her Bible and went into the room. She said l should expatiate more on what God was telling Ezekiel. All of a sudden, a paper appeared before me.
James-Joseph-Itapke
“The Lord said in that paper, ~Very soon, I am going to take the one you love most. I am going to kill your wife and, when that happens, do not mourn, do not cry, do not shave your hairs as mourners do’.
“I could not completely digest it; so I took the Bible and went into my room and I asked if it was me God was talking to or Ezekiel. And I said, ‘ No, it couldn’t have been me but Ezekiel’. I came out of my room and behold my wife was coming out of her room looking gaunt in her structure, weary and weak. I kept my gaze, I just shook my head and turned my face.
“On September 21, 2014, we had our annual harvest thanksgiving during which my wife danced to the altar, and we presented gifts with smile and everything..The following Sunday, September 24, she did her work as Church Warden in the parish. During the Holy Communion, she caught a small girl in the parish with the Holy Eucharist on her palm even as the church had ordered that only priests should serve the Eucharist because of the fear of Ebola.
“This little girl went to the altar, took the Eucharist and closed her hand without anybody seeing her and was going to her seat. Mumise, as my wife was fondly called, took the little girl to the priest after Holy Communion and opened her hand and the Eucharist was there. She asked her where she was going with it. The little girl replied that she was going home with it. The priest took her to the altar and told the congregation that girl had committed a sacrilege. The priest then took the little girl to his office and started interviewing her; more revelations came out after which we left.
“By September 27, 2014 midnight, my wife broke down. She said her stomach was cold, and I said we had to go and see a doctor. She agreed but said we would go in the morning as it was risky to go out that late. Efforts to persuade her failed and we waited till early morning of the 28th and phoned our doctor for an appointment and the doctor said he would be at the clinic by 5pm; we had to wait till 5pm to see the doctor.
“When we got to the hospital, the doctor was in the theatre, so we waited. After the operation, around 6pm, the doctor came our and administered some drugs to calm her. While we were at it, Mumie started belching and wanting to vomit. I held a bowl by her mouth, she vomited in it. It was then that the doctor realised it was more serious than is he looked. She was admitted and given drip. She felt better and was subsequently discharged.
“On the way home, she started belching again, trying to vomit but nothing to vomit because she had not eaten. By midnight of the 30th of September, the sickness got worse, Mumise became very restless. She advised against going out in the midnight. She sat down and requested
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