The Deception of Brother Samuel

I was taught this idiom "A wolf in sheep clothing" right from secondary but I never knew that life will teach me the true meaning of the phase. A few years back when I was attempting to begin a small business in school during my university education, I wasn't getting enough financial support from home so I thought of doing something that will increase my financial strength so that I would be able to take care of my basic needs, so I intended to start a pastry business at the bus stop close to my hostel where university students like me passes daily and some office workers were passing daily. I intended making pastries like chi chin, meat pie, puff puff, fish rolls and all but the issue was that I lacked the money to even start the business and that was when I met Mr Samuel. Mr Samuel was a middle aged man who is always decently dressed and very active in our fellowship, he came to the university for his masters program, he was known by everybody as Brother Sam, he would always receive me with a big smile and his deep voice was warm. After service every Sunday, he would come out shaking hands with everyone and quoting bible verses. One Sunday, he walked up to me after a service and he said "I heard you telling Sister Mary that you want to begin a shop", I nodded in affirmation and he replied with "Don’t worry, I will help you” I was shocked. “Really, sir? I have been praying for a helper” , he laughed and said "I am not a helper, I am just your brother in Christ”.  He became a great deal to me ever since that day, he started coming to my hostel occasionally to tell me stories about how he had assisted a lot of the brethren during his undergraduate days, he always sounded so genuine. When I told my mum about him, she was happy with gratitude in her heart towards him and she said that he is God's gift to us so I should always respect him, that people like him are rare to find. After some time, he gave me the money I needed to start my business and he said I can start refunding him in installments, six months later without interest. I was so happy and grateful to God for sending him to help me. I used the money which was a hundred thousand naira to start the pastry business in a shop at my bus stop. Initially, the business wasn't really selling well but with time when people started tasting my products, they couldn't go elsewhere. Every morning school children, civil workers, teachers and even bus conductors use my snacks as breakfast every morning. Sometimes Brother Sam would come by and pray aloud that "Father, bless this business, may it be fruitful as a palm tree!" while he is also helping me to attend to some customers. People respected him, while some even told me that I'm so lucky to have him as my supporter.  However, everything began to change three months later. One evening he arrived at the shop in a serious mood, he told me he would like me to borrow him 30,000 thousand naira urgently because his younger brother is admitted in the hospital due to an accident and he doesn't have any money on him. At first I hesitated and said "But sir, the money is much and if I remove it from the business, it would have impact on sales", but he just touched my shoulder with his hand and said " Don't worry, God will multiply it, remember how I helped you, please help me too". I was too guilty of turning him away so I gave him the money. That was when the wahala started from. Weeks passed but he didn't return the money rather he returned with a different story. This time it was rent, he said "Precious my rent has expired, please help me with 20,000 thousand naira, God will reward you".I was uncomfortable and I reminded him that he has not refunded the initial money, he frowned for the first time and said "Does it mean that you do not trust me?, me that gave you your start up capital?". I had to quickly apologize and give him the money. By the end of the fifth month, my shop was almost empty because I had spent the larger part of the profit and even my stock to meet his insatiable demands. Each time I attempted to complain he would either feed me with guilt by reciting Bible verses or remind me of how he rescued me out of poverty. One day, I was in the shop when a woman entered the shop looking for Brother Sam. She asked angrily "Where is Samuel?", "I don't know Madam" I said "This is my shop." "Don't mind that man, he owes me 100,000 thousand naira and he told me he invested it in your business. My heart sank "Invested? but he has just lent me some money and I promised to pay him back".The woman shook her head. "He's a liar, he has been misleading a number of people, even some of your prayer group members gave him money as well. On that same evening, I challenged him "Brother Sam, what's going on? Why did you dump people of money in my name?", he was shocked but he had to use bold face and said "Listen young woman, be careful how you talk to me and who do you know in this church?, you should know that without me you won't even have a business so I do not owe you or anybody any explanation", then he just walked away. Months passed before I was able to recover from the damage. My business nearly collapsed, I had to clarify myself to those who believed that I had been involved in his deceptions, some people believed me while some didn't. The most difficult thing was to accept the fact that I was fooled. Brother Sam was later exposed. After several complaints, the fellowship Matrons and Patron summoned him and he just stopped attending fellowship. It was rumored that he had relocated to a different neighborhood and I know it's possible for him to repeat the same game. At the end I understood that it is people of this his kind who are the true wolves in sheep clothing. He had the robes of kindness, humility and religion but under it was a manipulator. Thank you for staying with me this far, I hope you had a good read, see you next time 😁. Noted: All pictures are generated on Meta AI