The Bible teaches that no unclean thing will enter heaven. This means that everyone exhibiting the root of bitterness will end up in hell. Pastor Dan Ekechukwu learnt this lesson the hard way. He died and was raised from the dead at Reinhard Bonnke’s Crusade in Onitsha, Nigeria, after being in the mortuary for three days. Many people know about the fact that Pastor Dan died, was embalmed and raised from the dead after three days. But not many people know the circumstances of his death and its implications on where everyone will spend eternity.
Pastor Dan is the General Overseer of a church in Onitsha. He had an evangelistic crusade which he was preparing to attend as the guest speaker when one of his sons took ill. He gave his wife money and a car to take the boy to the hospital. While the crusade was still going on he also sent a car to take the boy and his wife back home from the hospital after they were discharged.
The crusade finished and he came home to receive a rude shock from his wife. As he got into the house she held him by his trousers and said, “Are you the only man of God in the world? Our son was ill and you abandoned us to attend to others at a crusade.”
Dan’s wife was obviously angry and certainly bitter. She was completely oblivious of the falsehood of her statement. Her husband gave her money lo lake the boy to the hospital. He sent a car to take them hack home when they were discharged. Surely, he did not abandon them.
Pastor Dan’s wife was speaking like Naomi who blamed God for numerous adversities and concluded that she went out of Bethlehem full but came back empty. Bitterness makes us to tell unlikely lies, When God asked Cain about Abel his brother after he had murdered him, Cain said he did not know about Abel’s whereabouts. He added insult to the injury when he asked God if he was his brother’s keeper. Bitterness makes us to insult those we should respect.
Dan’s wife held his trousers and asked him if he were the only man of God on earth. He was still wondering what had gone wrong when his wife slapped him. He did not slap her in retaliation. He simply took her hands off his trousers, walked into his room and locked the door. He was angry. He was bitter and he began to scheme how he would send her to the village for two years, to teach her a lesson.
Later in the night Dan’s wife apparently realized the stupidity of her actions and came to the door to beg him. He would not open the door or even listen to her pleadings. In the morning, he came out and she greeted him, but he did not respond to her greetings. He got into his car and drove off. It was while he was on the road that he had the accident that led to his death.
He did not die immediately after the accident. He was incapacitated in an ambulance with his wife by his side He knew by the way he felt that he was dying. He turned to his wife with his last strength and instructed her to take care of the church, the children and some other vital matters. Dan’s wife was still screaming “My husband, you cannot die, my husband must not die!”, when two angels came into the ambulance. Only the dying man saw them. They picked him up from his carcass and he could literally see his body down on earth in the ambulance as they went up.
The angels first took Pastor Dan to heaven and showed him the glory of the place. What he saw was awesome; the serenity, the tranquility and the order in heaven amazed him. From there the angels took him to hell. The contrast between heaven and hell was too obvious. Hell was truly ii place of anguish. It was a place of eternal torment. Dan, in his testimony, said that he saw men and women who died with bitterness in their hearts and went to hell. He saw fornicators, adulterers, murderers, witches, and wizards. They were crying, weeping and willing to repent, but it was too late. The whole place smelt of putrefying flesh. The state of hell was simply abominable.
At some point he looked at the angel wondering why he was there. The angel looked back at him and told him that this was where he belonged. He protested vehemently, telling the angels that he was a child of God. He told them that he was the General Overseer of a church, and that he just came back from a crusade before he died. His protestations meant nothing to the angels who simply told him that hell was where he belonged because he died with bitterness in his heart against his wife.
Pastor Dan Ekechukwu probably would have gone to hell if it were not for the mercies of God. The wife was determined to see to it that her husband was raised from the dead. He was already dead for three days. He had been embalmed, yet she took him to Bonnke’s crusade where the miracle of his resurrection was wrought to the glory of God. Today, Pastor Dan travels around the world warning people on the dangers of bitterness and careless living. Revelations 21:8 says, But the fearful and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, ‘shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”
