An Excellent Spirit — Michael Howard

Kalibu Academy and Transforming Malawi Through Education

Hallelujah. It was an absolutely overwhelming opening of the academy in Malawi and many of you have invested in that and after you see this I trust that you may add a little more to what you gave earlier on because it's not just about the buildings.

The buildings are there to house the students and when you see these students so far we have a hundred students in the academy. We only opened at the end of January. We already have 300 for the next semester in September.

Half of them are boarders that they live there permanently but the most important thing about this academy it is to raise a new generation of Malawian children who are going to change the destiny of the nation.

We've just come out of two years ago ten years of an Islamic president who tried to Islamize the country and when the Minister of Education for the whole of Malawi was sitting on the platform she was so absolutely overwhelmed she said I cannot believe my government doesn't even know that this academy exists.

How did you people build it without our knowing? Well we were building during the years of Islam in Malawi and so we asked God to overshadow it and blind every eyes and that's exactly what he did. See God is so powerful.

God is so incredible and I want you to see your investment in these young people not in the buildings. The buildings are there because of the people and we already have two young men in that academy who both say one day it is my vision and my ambition to be the president of Malawi.

Come on you can get excited people. No we encouraged them in that. What a wonderful thing that one day there is going to be a man of God born again filled with the spirit who is going to be leading the nation.

Christian Education and the Gospel’s Exclusive Mission

I had a Muslim who came and we don't take Muslims at the school and I had a Muslim who came and because our fees are cheap and because the education is so good he wanted his child to come and he was arguing with me as to why his child shouldn't come to my academy.

I said well it's a Christian academy and he said but my child has been to other religious institutions and I just thought yeah they never got the gospel. So he said so tell me what's the difference between you and these other institutions.

Really the inspiration of God came on me and I said I'll tell you one thing when your daughter leaves my school she will be born again of the spirit of God filled with the spirit of God and baptized in water.

He said I don't want you in your academy then and I said neither do I want to. Now you may think that's marginalizing people but that's not our objective beloved. I don't have to put up with the Muslims when they come in they want to take over.

That's not our vision. Our vision is to raise a new generation. Yes I know they need Jesus Christ as well but that's not our purpose. Amen just in case somebody wonders why. Our purpose is to raise a new generation to lead the nation and to change and transform the face of Africa and that's what's going to happen and when you see this I want you to see the passion the spirit in these students.

Most of them came in as heathens. Most of them already are born again filled with the spirit and just a week ago Sunday we baptized 35 students from the academy because they've received Christ and they're so in love with him.

Can we have that DVD please? Hallelujah. That's the glory of God. Really we cannot take any praise or honor or glory from it. It was God that did it all. He inspired us. He called us to do it and the most wonderful thing when God calls us to do something it will never fail.

We had invited the president of Malawi on two occasions to come and open that academy but at the same time we had prayed that he wouldn't come because we wanted the glory to go to Jesus and you know when the president comes they take over it becomes political and so twice he turned us down and when the minister of education came she could only say the president has missed it.

And the following day after opening it she phoned up the president and politely told him what an honor he had given her to come to this facility and she said to me on many occasions as she sat next to me on the platform there is no facility in the entire nation like this.

Everything that we have done we did with a spirit of excellence. I think that's the most important thing and she said your excellency you really missed opening that academy. And just a week ago Monday I sent my administrator from Malawi up to the minister of education because she wanted the DVD and she made him sit down with her for a whole hour and 40 minutes and watch the entire opening all over again and spent three hours talking to him.

And wouldn't let anybody interrupt them and said I'm going to see the president in the morning and there are four things on my agenda to discuss with him and the very first one is Kalibu Academy and she absolutely said from the first moment my granddaughter is coming to this school next semester.

Thank you. Glory to God. Really it's all about him. It's all about his power. It's all about his excellence. If you have your Bibles turn with me to the prophet Daniel in chapter 5. Now you may wonder this morning why such a thing and a high school in your town, a high school in your state, a high school in your nation isn't going to make much of a difference especially if it offers bad education.

Education’s Power to Change a Nation

But in Africa a high school that offers good education has the power to change a nation and the continent because there is such a lack of education. There is such a lack of everything. We have the only high school in the nation of Malawi where every student has hands on at the computer.

Otherwise it's all theory. And you know to you, you may absolutely marvel when you know I was just staying with a family and not very well to do family just over the last day or so and I marveled that in every single room there was a personal laptop.

And this is western life. But in Africa you know all of my teachers there isn't a single computer amongst 25 teachers. And I'd love to get them all a laptop computer. Anybody want to donate one I'd gladly receive it.

But seriously I'd love to have for every one of my teachers to have a laptop computer. And you know in a nation where there is such abundance these things are so lacking and where you can provide even the minimum.

We have the best library in the nation. I'm not satisfied. We only have 12 ,000 volumes in the library but it's the best library in the nation. And you know when I go into a public library in this country in the smallest town I look at my library and I'm embarrassed I say it's nothing.

And you know we can't conceive how blessed we are when we live in it, we are raised up in it and we don't see anything else. But beloved I want to tell you that the vast majority of the world has nothing to what you have.

And you know we spend our lives grumbling and complaining, we spend our lives looking at ourselves and saying what we don't have instead of looking at ourselves and seeing what we do have and how God has supremely blessed us.

Daniel’s Excellent Spirit in the Face of Captivity

Daniel could have gone into the captivity in Babylon. He was made a eunuch. He was one of the nobles, the leaders of Israel, taken into captivity, made a eunuch in the land of Babylon like the rest of his fellow Israelites.

And he could have thrown up his hands like many of them did but he didn't. Why? Because inside of him there was something that stirred, there was something that was on fire, there was something that wanted to do more than just sit down, look at his circumstances, look at his situation and say what's the point?

Amen? Why? Because Daniel was of an excellent spirit. Read with me. Verse 11 chapter 5. There is a man in thy kingdom in whom is the spirit of the holy gods and in the days of thy father light and understanding and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods was found in him.

Hallelujah. See one of the most wonderful exciting things beloved about this walk with God is if God tells you to do it and you embark on doing it you can never fail. The reason why and I've really looked at people's problems, the issues of Christians, the issues of life and in our walk with God I really have come to one conclusion.

Obedience as the Key to Spiritual Growth

I'm not talking about the unsaved now, I'm talking about the church, I'm talking about the believer, I'm talking about those who say they love God. There's only one thing that stops us from experiencing the fullness and the glory and the power and the excitement of God and that is simply disobedience.

Amen? If you have reached a place in your life of your walk with God and you're at a plateau, I want to tell you it's for one reason and one reason only. Somewhere, sometime you said no to God or you disobeyed and until you are prepared to be obedient you won't go up to the next level in God.

And God is calling us all, all the time, all of us to rise up to the next level, to come up to another level with Him. Instead of looking around at our circumstances and saying no God, no God it can't be done.

There were 15 nations represented on the opening night in Kalibu Academy, 15 nations, not all nations from Africa but all over the world. And for a little country like the nation of Malawi that you really have to look for on the map of Africa, it's so small, what a significant thing.

And you know for the world it may have not been anything but God had brought together a team of people for His kingdom and His glory, why? Because God is looking for a people in this hour who have an excellent spirit, who are so filled with the spirit of God, who are filled with the passion of God, who are filled with the love of God to say yes God I can make an impact, I can bring change just by living excellently for you.

You don't have to be a school builder, you don't have to go out to India or China or Africa but you can so live for Jesus Christ right where you are that your life will so shine that you will impact people around you.

A Spirit of Excellence in Everyday Christian Life

There isn't anybody that comes to that academy, they cross that bridge where you saw the bus crossing and they walk into the presence of God. Everybody says it, what is so incredible about this school, what is so different?

Yes because they come into the order, the government, the authority of Almighty God and they can feel it in the atmosphere because the presence of God pervades over that school. Every day we have a time of worship and praise, every day we have a time of reading the word, every day we have a time of prayer.

And these students are going home and telling their parents and I'm getting phone calls from right across the nation, what have you done to our children? Mothers, fathers phoning up saying we cannot believe how our daughter, how our son has been transformed, what's going on in that school?

They want to study, they want to learn, they want to pray, they want to be part of what God is doing. One mother phoned up and said I can't believe what's happened to my son. He gets up every morning, makes his bed, cleans his room, he's never done that before.

Send your kids to my school. Hallelujah, what a God we serve, what an amazing God. The wisdom of the gods was found in him whom the king Nebuchadnezzar, thy father the king, I say thy father made master of the magicians, astrologers, chaldeans and soothsayers.

For as much as an excellent spirit and knowledge and understanding, interpreting of dreams and showing of hard sentences and dissolving of doubts were found in the same Daniel. Whom the king named Belteshazzar, now let Daniel be called and he will show you the interpretation.

And then in chapter 6, verse 1, it pleased Darius to set over the kingdom a hundred and twenty princes which should be over the whole kingdom. And over these three presidents, of whom Daniel was first, that the princes might give accounts unto them and that the king should have no damage.

Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes because an excellent spirit was in him. And the king sought to set him over the whole realm because an excellent spirit was found in him.

Beloved, an excellent spirit is in you today if you are born again of the spirit of God. Hallelujah, filled with the Holy Spirit, we have an excellent spirit. It's time that the excellent spirit within us was allowed to give voice.

It's time that we stop looking at our problems and our issues and we allow the spirit of God that is within us to be the director of our lives. An excellent spirit. Daniel survived four administrations.

Daniel’s Faithfulness Across Political Administrations

Now, it's in political world even today, if you succeed, if you're successful in one administration, you've made it. You know, every day you wake up, somebody's resigned from the cabinet, somebody's left government, somebody...

You know, it's such a topsy-turvy world. And yet here was Daniel whose one desire, one ambition, one purpose, one longing was to glorify God. I will pray. I will pray morning, noon and night. Nobody's going to stop me from praying.

It doesn't matter what decree. It doesn't matter what law. It doesn't matter what any man says. I'm going to do service unto my God first and foremost. Hallelujah. That's what God wants from us. Dear beloved, in your society, in your nation, there's so many attractions.

There's so many things that demand time, demand our attention. There's so many things that are exciting. Who wants to come to church and play silly church games when you got all the computers in the world to play computer games?

But what is it that we need to give? We need to give an excellent spirit. We need people to see that my life is so different. The hallmark of our academy is love. The teachers certainly love the students.

Every Person Has a God-Given Place and Gift

They'll do absolutely anything for them. And I certainly love the teachers. And one of the things that we seriously believe in that academy is that then we tell the students all the time, there's no failure in this academy.

See, so many people have got this mentality. So many parents have this mentality that if my child is not going to be an academic, then they're a failure. That's not true. We only believe in change of direction.

Hallelujah. If you're not going to be an academic, we're realistic. Some students are just never going to be academicians. But they've got a place. And it's our business, it is our duty to find their place.

To let them be locked in to what they're able to do, what they're equipped to do, what God has gifted them to do. Because God has gifted and talented every single one of us. Hallelujah. We all have a great responsibility to God to exercise the gift and the talent and the ability that He's given us.

We're the body. We're the living body. A dynamic living organism. And you know what my Bible says? The least member is the most important. Whoa. The least member is the most important. When I look at those women that so faithfully carried water.

Twelve years. And sometimes up a slope that you wouldn't believe. All day long. Can you imagine? How many people here would have the guts and the determination all day long, every day of your life, to get up and come to a building site.

And all you know you're going to do from 7 .30 in the morning to 5 o 'clock in the evening is carry a bucket of water on your head. Up and down, up and down. Fill it up, take it up. Day in and day out for twelve years.

All of those women have been elevated, promoted. Now they are my cleaner women. That's a promotion. Cleaning the floors, washing the windows, making sure that that school sparkles every morning. And you can come in, there's this army of women and now they don't come at 7 .30 in the morning, they're there at 6 o 'clock in the morning.

Because school opens at 7 and they have to have that school cleaned and tidy, sparkling before everybody comes. That's a spirit of excellence. And I never hear those women complain. I have never heard a complaint out of those women, ever.

And the least little thing you do for them, it's like you've given them the crown jewels of Great Britain. They'll be like, why? Because they're so excited about Jesus Christ. They're so in love with God.

They're so passionate about being part of this vision. They understand the vision. They understand the vision. And you look at them and you say, you know, if you were just walking along the school grounds and one of those women passed you, probably with a bucket on the head, you wouldn't think she was anything.

You'd just say, well, that's just another village woman. Just another African village woman. But without that just another African village woman, that school would never have been built. Come on. What a powerful thing.

Surrendering Everything to God’s Calling

And we need to begin to see our lives as being so impactive. Sometimes we say, well, I'm just this or I'm just that or what can I do or I'm nobody. Beloved, God loves to take nobodies, specializes in taking nobodies and making them something when we surrender our everything for his kingdom and his glory.

Hallelujah. We were just simple Africans. We came from a simple African village. But God promised, I will take you to the ends of the earth. If you will obey me. If you will do what I want you to do. And I look at this congregation this morning.

There are many of you here that God can take to the ends of the earth. There are many of you that God won't take anyway. But there are many that he will. And God doesn't need us to start debating with him, discussing with him, arguing with him about anything concerning our lives.

All God needs us to do is say, yes, Lord, share am I. Send me. Use me. Use me right where I am. God can never use us, beloved. You know, people come to the mission field and we hear wonderful mission stories.

But God's using failed, flawed vessels as much on the mission field in Africa, India, China as he is here. What does he want? He wants from us an excellent spirit. God, I'm so in love with you. I'm so excited about you.

I'm so passionate about you that I want the whole world to see and to know. So what we do, we need to do with the attitude and the spirit of excellence. I heard the pastor mentioning this morning about the dirty dishes in the kitchen.

That's serious for me. That's serious. It's serious because it shows that there are people in the body of Christ that don't care. When I go to a public toilet, I absolutely freak out. I sometimes say, well, what's the difference between here and a public toilet in Africa?

And then I wonder, do people behave like this at home? Do people behave like this at home? What right do we have to go into a public place and behave any different than we would behave at home? But you see, beloved, what constrains us, what stops us from just being anyhow, is an excellent spirit that rules inside of us that says, no, I won't put up with anything but the best.

No, I'm not going to do it. No, I won't leave the toilet in this mess. No, I won't leave the kitchen in this mess. Why? Because there's an excellent spirit. It's not about my upbringing. It's not about where I come from, whether I had servants or I didn't have servants, whether we were well-to-do or we were not well-to-do.

It's all about what rules inside of me is the excellent spirit of God rule inside of me because if it does, beloved, the spirit of God that rules inside of me, the excellent spirit says, I won't do this.

I won't put up with this. I won't have that. And that's what we're investing into our students in Africa, that they've got to have an excellent spirit because in Africa, people are just careless and casual.

Well, this is Africa. Oh, if you do something, fix it. If you break something, mend it. Or at least report it. An excellent spirit was found in Daniel. It wasn't that God suddenly just decided, I'm going to bless Daniel.

I'm going to pour in my wisdom, my knowledge, and my understanding. No, beloved, it began with a passion, a love for God, a thirsting for God, and because of that, a desire to spend time in the presence of God, a desire to worship Him, to pray to Him, that God began to fill Daniel with wisdom, knowledge, and understanding.

Eternal Rewards and the Testing of Christian Works

See, we want wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. We want those things, but Paul, the great apostle, had all of those things. Amen? I count them but done. I count them but done for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord.

Woo! Hallelujah! See, beloved, this pathetic sojourn on this planet, for every one of us, is preparing us for eternity. Amen? Now, there is a reward system in God. You better believe me this morning. God has a reward system, just like we have it on earth.

And there are going to be incredible rewards that God is going to dish out in that day. Every one of us is going to stand before the judgment seat of Jesus Christ. Hallelujah! And we are going to be judged according to our works.

When God fills us with abilities and talents and gifts and anointings and whatever else, beloved, we have a responsibility to exercise those things. Amen? Some of you here this morning, you are sitting on super talents.

You never used them. God is going to require an account from you one day. Everything that we have ever done in the kingdom of God, is going to be put into God's crucible, and He is going to apply His fire.

And everything that is me, if you stood before Jesus Christ, if Jesus Christ walked into this place this morning, and you saw Him with your eyes, and He said, What have you ever done for me? What have you ever done for me?

Now, there are a lot of people doing a lot of things, but it's not for Jesus. Amen? I see it all the time in the continent of Africa. There's a lot of people doing a lot of things. There are a lot of people building orphanages.

There are a lot of people feeding the hungry. There are a lot of people doing all kinds of things. And in our natural emotional state, we look at that and we say, Wow! Good job! What a man of God! What a woman of God!

Not necessarily. Not necessarily. Because what I do of myself, what I do because my emotions are wrapped up into it, no matter how good it may look, beloved, could well be a work of iniquity. If God didn't tell me to do something, if God didn't tell me to build that school, no matter how good it looks, no matter how wonderful those students are, then it is a work of iniquity.

And one day, one day, in God's judgment process, when He puts His fire to that school, it will be nothing but wood, hay and stubble. There will be nothing but ash left in the bottom of His crucible. Amen?

But if God tells you to do it, and this is the most wonderful thing about God, if God tells you to do it, He is going to provide. He is going to empower. He is going to do everything that He said He would do for that to be accomplished.

So you can't fail with God. He is so wonderful. He is so incredible. The great British healing evangelist, Smith Wigglesworth, one day asked God, and a friend of mine who knew him very well told me the story, asked God, God, who is Your greatest servant in Great Britain today?

And Smith Wigglesworth, in all of his humility, thought God was going to say, why, of course it's you. And God took him in the Spirit up to Northern Scotland to a little tiny hamlet out on the moors and there, took him down into that room and there was just one room, a fire hearth in one corner, a bed in the other corner, a few pots, kettle boiling on the fire, a wash basin with a jug, and a little old lady on her knees praying.

And God brought Smith Wigglesworth close in the Spirit to her. And what was she praying? Oh, God, bless Smith Wigglesworth. Pour out Your Spirit upon Smith Wigglesworth. And God said, there's My greatest servant in Great Britain.

Standing Above Circumstances and Living for God

Come on, people of God. See, God is incredible. His ways are not our ways. When He judges, it's going to be so fine. It's going to be so excellent. Beloved, what God is wanting, He's wanting you to rise up above your circumstances, above your situation, above your problems, above the things in your life and say, God, You have filled me with Your life.

You have filled me with Your power. You have filled me with Your substance. And I'm going to live for You. No matter what. Everybody was against Daniel. Everybody was against Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.

And yet here's this man of God with such an excellent spirit. A spirit, beloved, that either caused you to love him or hate him. Yes? You can't be indifferent to an excellent spirit. You cannot be indifferent to somebody with an excellent spirit.

You either love them or hate them. You hate them because they rough you up the wrong way. Because you're so opposed to what they're doing. Or you love them because you see in them the excellence of Almighty God.

We can't claim any praise. We can't claim anything. It's all about Him. And here's Daniel with this excellent spirit. Because of this excellent spirit of communion, of fellowship, of intimacy with Almighty God, God begins to whisper into his ears great things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

The Church as the Nation’s Solution

I've come to the United States this year. You know what I'm seeing in your nation? I'm seeing anger. I'm seeing real anger. I'm seeing Americans angry at Americans. I'm seeing anger to the extent that people don't know where they belong, what their purpose is, what their direction is.

That tells me a lot. Tells me that here's a nation that doesn't know where it's going. And I'll tell you why the nation doesn't know where it's going. Because the church doesn't know where it's going.

See, it doesn't matter what happens in the halls of government, beloved. The government is on our shoulders. Come on. The government was on the shoulders of Jesus Christ. That's what the Bible says. And because it was on his shoulders, it's on our shoulders.

How can we rule and reign? God calls us to rule and reign in the earth. He has taken us out of the kingdom of darkness, translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son with all of the excellence of Jesus Christ, with all of the wisdom and the knowledge of Jesus Christ, so that we may rule and reign in every circumstance and every situation.

But if we become part of the problem, we're not here to be part of the problem. We're here to be part of the solution. Amen? See, I don't care if you're a Democrat and I don't care if you're a Republican.

You know what? I really don't care about politics. What I care about is how passionate are you about Jesus Christ. Because it doesn't matter what political party you vote for. I don't give a hoot about that, beloved.

I care about whether Jesus Christ is reigning and ruling in your heart. And if Jesus Christ is ruling and reigning in your heart, he needs to rule and reign in all of your circumstances. Wherever you go, you carry the authority of Almighty God if you have the excellent spirit that God purposes us to have.

And you become the solution to the problem, not the part of the problem. There are here this morning families that are divided, families that are angry with one another, families full of unforgiveness.

Overcoming Bitterness, Anger, and Unforgiveness

How many people here this morning are full of unforgiveness, bitterness, jealousy, anger, hurt? Life didn't go the way you wanted it to go. Things didn't materialize as you expected them to materialize.

You know what happens? We begin to tabernacle around those issues. We begin to look at those problems in our lives or problems in lives of people around us. And instead of us being the solution to that problem, we become part of the problem.

Amen? When the mixed multitude that came out of the nation of Egypt got to grumbling and complaining, where was the rest of Israel to silence them and stop them? No, they became part of the problem. They engrossed themselves in exactly what they were doing instead of solving that issue.

I was looking for a people this morning who have an excellent spirit. God, I'm not going to be part of the problem anymore. And it doesn't matter whom I'm going to offend. I'm not going to be part of the problem.

Following Christ Despite Family Opposition

See, you're going to offend somebody. We spend our lives trying to placate the world. We spend our lives trying to placate our families and make our families feel happy. Amen? I remember when we first got saved.

Now, we were fisher people. We loved fishing. We used to say my mother was the worst. Give my mother a mud puddle and a fishing rod and she'd stand there all day even if there wasn't a fish in there. And every spare moment of time we had, we would be out fishing somewhere, anywhere.

Just find us some water and we'd fish. Then Jesus Christ came in. And when Jesus Christ came in, fishing started to go out. Well, that became really offensive to my parents. It's like, we've been a family that fished.

Why do you want to change us? Why do you want to spoil it? Why? Well, at 14 years of age, to try and tell your mother, look, I've fallen in love with Jesus. I'm more excited about Christ. That didn't comprehend.

And so, for a season, it was compromise, compromise. And the more you compromise, the more miserable you were. Because there was a call of God. There was a drawing of God. Until finally, there was only one place I wanted to be on Sunday.

It was in the house of God, worshipping the Lord. Too bad, mom and dad. Fishing's over. Fishing's over. I don't remember. Now, there's nothing wrong with fishing. But you know what? When God's got His hooks in you, and God's got a greater calling in your life, fishing becomes a sin if it stops you from doing what God wants you to do, if it stops you from going higher in God, if it stops you from being what God wants you to be, and having that excellent spirit that God wants you to have.

So, sometimes you're going to offend people by doing what God wants you to do. Too bad for people. There's no way to make that offense nice. Just offend them. Hello? Just offend them. There are young people who don't go on to serve God because they're afraid of what their parents are going to say.

There are parents who don't want to offend their children, and therefore don't serve God. I meet people all over your country who haven't done what God called them to do because they were afraid of offending somebody.

Too bad about offending somebody when the excellent spirit of God is in you and calling you to rise up and be who God wants you to be and do what God wants you to do and go where God wants you to go, beloved.

You are going to offend people. I've offended so many people over that school, I don't know who's left to offend. You know what? I don't care. I haven't gone out of my way to offend anybody, but people get offended because you don't do it the way they want you to do it.

You don't do it when they want you to do it. I thought a year ago, we had almost completed the school and I was so happy. I said, ah, that's the end. And it became very clear and apparent and as I waited on God, God said, no, you've got to build dormitories.

This is going to be a boarding school. God, we don't have money to build dormitories. I said, build. It would have been so easy to sit down and say, I've had enough. All these years of building here, all these years of building in Sudan, Lord, I've had enough.

I'm not a builder. I had a contractor. Came the day that I left to fly over here to the States. I said, let me just see what this guy is going to charge me to build another section of buildings. So I called this contractor in and he looked over all these foundations and he said, where's the plans?

I said, oh, don't tell me they're up here. I said, that's right. That's right. There are no plans. That's one of the benefits that we have in Africa. When I walk in and I see something, okay, knock that wall out, put it over there.

Stop that. Do that. We can do that in Africa. We do have building plans, of course. But, beloved, it doesn't matter who gets offended if we're doing what God has called us to do and we're doing it with an excellent spirit.

Daniel’s Perseverance Through Changing Rulers

Sometimes that excellent spirit will overcome, but not always. It will overcome the attitude of other people. Amen? Here's Daniel, this slave from Israel, this eunuch made of men, brought into the palace.

He didn't have some great agenda. He didn't have some great program. He was just a lover and a worshiper of God. He was just excited about God. He could have sat down with the rest of his countrymen and said, Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, it's me.