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.
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| 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.
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“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.
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“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 for water to drink. I gave her water but she vomited again. In the morning of October 1, we again went to hospital.
“As soon as we got to the hospital, she started breathing very heavily. All the doctors in the hospital, about five of them, and the nurses rushed out and they started calling out to Mumie because they all knew her very well. They asked why l did not bring her in the midnight. I could not answer because I was dumb founded.
“They rushed her to the ward. By the time they got to the ward, Mumsie turned to me and said the Matron told her that l was crying; she asked why l was crying. I could not answer her.
“They brought in oxygen to stabilise her breathing. While they were on it, I could not bear it any longer and was going in and out of the ward. I was just by the door of the ward when l heard a loud voice commanding me to go back to my wife. The voice was sharp and clear; so l went back to my wife and held her by the hand while I placed my right hand on her shoulder.
“As I was going out, the Medical Director instructed some nurses to follow me, as though I looked strong, l was lost. I went to his office straight and sat down on a chair after which we discussed.
“At that point, the warning echoed again that l must not cry, mourn or shave my hair. That encouraged me because Christ actually supported me very strongly. He had told me what was going to happen; therefore, I was not moved to tears because I would be offending God if I did so. It is painful to me but God knows best.
“In my hometown, men can shave a little of their heads to show they are mourning or wear all black to show that you are really mourning a wife.”
