Olabode Ososami's Blog, page 79

Reducing the Cost of Governance

 

Of recent as budgets are being dissected, the issue of cost of governance has again come to the fore. People cannot spend what they do not have and should not spend what rightly belongs to or should be spent on others. It is also not right to sit at a job collecting a salary and contributing almost nothing. I suggest that these are more ethical issues. It should be easy to see that corruption thrives better when every stakeholder is indirectly served …some in bags of loot …others more elegantly in empty roles…. most in redundant jobs.

Jdg 7:2  And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me.

In environments that lack rigor, you will often find the odd dozen working ten hours a day unraveling the damage that another 1200 are doing.  And worse the 1200 doing nothing will justify their idleness as a puny price to compensate them for keeping quiet as they observe vast funds spiral into an abyss. The suffering population – paying for everything in their being denied decent utilities – is told to wait and patience reaps its fruits as a new election ushers in fresh protagonists in this macabre drama.  Every new group seems set to outdo the previous.  A bloated civil service is not a secret.  Perhaps less evident are the interrelated elements that must keep making it fatter and fatter.

I was maybe alone to be somewhat perturbed when I heard a testimony in church of a lady who after much struggles and unemployment suddenly found herself in a cosy government job and living in a huge government house in Abuja which eventually became hers within a few months.  Every one said Hallelujah …perhaps a few wondered if this was not another shade of wastage/corruption. Maybe no one understood that everyone in the hall was indirectly paying for her new found joys.  She may be doing better before God if she were running a farm in her village employing ten staff properly engaged and adding value as she goes further to process farmed crops to intermediate produce.

Unions are the easiest to manipulate … as every union leader seems poised to preserve or improve the benefits of the specific interest group they represent in a vicious game of monopoly or be voted out. The song of the unionist is ‘ my group will not be the first to sacrifice or release her goodies …let the sacrifice start elsewhere…” and they may be right. This manner of thinking makes them cheap to bribe given the huge stakes.

When a nation is perceived as corrupt … it actually speaks more of the people than the government.  Why are the “holiest” people perceived as amongst the most corrupt … perhaps  because they are too “holy” to see what is really going on.  Rather than call for bold adjustments to self and others – they perhaps leave too much in the hands of God … who is always the perfect judge and rewarder… also making the church the most vulnerable target for tricksters.  God is more than able to protect His house and true children.  But who protects the corrupt nation if it persists on a wrong path?

No one is bold to announce that a call for 50% reduction in the Nigerian civil service is the understatement of the century. Dignity of labor was one of the key Bible ethics that built western civilizations. Fair pay for fair work.   It is maybe still harsh to call for reductions when alternative small business opportunities are not adequately facilitated and normal safety nets that cushion redundancies are not in existence.  But where do we put God in this equation? Who but us are taught to look up to God?  Is God not able to meet our needs when we stand on His word?  Do we imagine we will not answer for wastages and corruptions that deny funds to lift others living below the poverty line through improved amenities, affordable decent hospitals/ education …offering them a better life etc?

In my text, God speaks to Gideon that he cannot rely only on what He sees for help and also rely on God. God will not fight and give victory until Gideon adjusts to a situation where God can be glorified.

May God help us all to adjust. Let us begin by thinking differently. Trusting God.

Books by BODE OSOSAMI (click image)

The Snake is Dead

We often miss the subtle details and the wonderful victories that are not as talked about in scriptural narrations.  As we approach the end of the year and end with a wellness that is inexplicable, I can discern that for someone out there … that the snake is dead.

Who or what is the snake?  Many that came out of the occult to Christ have confessed to the keeping of strange pets especially assigned to supervise a demonic agenda through worship and periodic consultations.  Some would call it an evil medium …or oracle… often it is a snake – the very form Satan took to deceive Eve…

We read that Haman in the book of Esther was able to control the courts of King Ahaseurus but not many understand that he did this through occult consultations to the extent that the ring of authority of an entire nation was given to him, while Mordecai stayed at the gate.  I know you do not believe this … but the Bible said Haman carefully consulted for months before approaching the King.  And he was successful …for a while.

Est 3:7  In the first month, that is, the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of king Ahasuerus, they cast Pur, that is, the lot, before Haman from day to day, and from month to month, to the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar.

Est 3:10  And the king took his ring from his hand, and gave it unto Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the Jews’ enemy.

Until a day came when the King could no more sleep.  God had arrested and silenced forces maintaining his deception.  What happens when the snake dies? You could say the spell breaks or the scales fall off the eyes of the deceived. But more expressly it means the days of the priest and disciples of the snake are soon to come to an end. It means authority is about to be returned to whom God has selected – Christ His son.  When the snake dies there is a sudden realization of danger when sin and evil that has long masqueraded as allies is suddenly exposed and there is grace to flee sin seeing it for what it really is.  When the snake dies, it dawns on the controlled victim that something is not right.  He begins to think right.  Many arguments sustained and promoted to legitimize evil in society are the workings of the snake.

Indeed, many saw a glimpse of the snake in the Harry Porter series which I daresay is anything but entertaining for children…

Things changed very rapidly for Haman after King Ahaseurus woke up … he was like a man out of a spell. He began to research and think afresh.  In a few days Mordecai was honored and Haman was hanging.  Mordecai represents the reign of Christ while Haman represents the usurped authority of forces of darkness.  I want to declare that whatever stronghold or methods Satan has used to control or deceive your past actions, thoughts and decisions have been destroyed in Jesus name.  I declare that the snake is dead – the evil pet behind demonic worship and consultations that have manipulated your decisions against the will of God – is dead.  I declare again that the serpent is dead. Receive this proclamation by faith.

We pray for all our leaders in every level and seat of governance that they may one day wake up.  We pray for judges and law enforcement.  We pray for decision makers that affect our lives.  That they wake up – like Ahaseurus did. Even as I declare that the snake is dead.

Christ and his good purposes will reign afresh and you will wake up to honor Him.  All the good things that the enemy sought to corner … in Christ, you will enjoy them … even jets and palaces.  We learn again and again that God is not against great wealth and honor.  But this is a joy that spreads … for the people of God have joy and gladness … and many come to know Christ … as the love of God, wealth, peace  and goodwill spreads,  by His grace and power.   Your story will end well, like it did for Mordecai. A good ending awaits you.

Est 8:15  And Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal apparel of blue and white, and with a great crown of gold, and with a garment of fine linen and purple: and the city of Shushan rejoiced and was glad. 16  The Jews had light, and gladness, and joy, and honor.   And in every province, and in every city, whithersoever the king’s commandment and his decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a good day. And many of the people of the land became Jews; for the fear of the Jews fell upon them.

Est 10:3  For Mordecai the Jew was next unto king Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews, and accepted of the multitude of his brethren, seeking the wealth of his people, and speaking peace to all his seed.

The Bible is full of happy endings and sudden changes for good. Once again I pronounce that the snake is dead.  You will end the year – well and strong.  So different from how you began – and all for your good and the good of the land. Celebrate a great deliverance  and turnaround.  Amen

Nigeria, the Tortoise and Faith (Part 2)

In the previous part to this blog post, I  referred to a Punch article by Henry Boyo  “Tortoise Folklore as metaphor for national Leadership” referring to the old tales about the tortoise and how greed and corruption at national scale borrows from the subtlety of the tortoise to corner wealth and to whom many Nigerians owe reparations for violation of copyrights.  A speech by Professor Pius Adesanmi – Assistant Professor at Carlton University, Canada and Guest Speaker at a lecture organised recently by the Save Nigeria Group was featured in the article.

Many may ask for the evidence to allude to the tortoise, and though it may be unhelpful if not odious to mention names, still let me refer you to the latest Nov. 2012 profiles in the Forbes list of richest Africans and future women millionaires and allow you to form your own conclusions.  Though there are clear exceptions and almost all the names on the list are notable for generous philanthropy and merciful foundations – it still does seem that ;

Of the 12 names of Nigerians mentioned in the Forbes lists which includes two women,  Forbes is actually bold to detail that seven had close relationships with present/past military leaders even naming one as a possible proxy to a former Head of state and another a former governor. Alliances with leaders or holders of previous top government posts with access to national resources feature prominently.
Oil and Gas and Nigeria’s discretionary and non-discretionary largesse in granting oil blocs to a favored group have contributed to more than half of the list.
Opaque access to government in some form or the other has opened the flood gates for a unique entrepreneurship that contributes to at least 75% on this list.

In summary, the lists prove that in Nigeria being in government or a friend, confidante, doctor, barber or seamstress to someone in power or having access to leadership in some form may be one of the surest ways to sustained wealth plus of course a dash of entrepreneurial brilliance and philanthropic flavor that cannot be denied.

God is not in any way against legitimate wealth and the pursuit of honest and fair gains.

While Nigeria boosts to be among top Africa’s wealthiest, BBC reported in February 2012 that poverty has risen in Nigeria, with almost 100 million people living on less than a $1 (£0.63) a day, despite economic growth. The National Bureau of Statistics said 60.9% of Nigerians in 2010 were living in “absolute poverty” – this figure had risen from 54.7% in 2004.  Many believe the situation today may be worse.  Where then is the righteousness?

Pro_12:10  A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.

On their own, many faith organizations are commendably filling the gap by doing more in social responsibility efforts.  But is enough being preached to caution against social ills, corruption, inequality in incomes, rising unemployment and poverty or are we indirectly encouraging the incomes gap and criminality by instantly embracing the economically advantaged as favored?  Is government coming to terms with the reality that it has become a willing or unwilling vassal albeit innocently to be manipulated one way or another to enrich or maintain the wealth of an elite niche? Are there alternative models that will truly improve the earning capacity and lot of the masses? Are most people with alternative propositions now too nervous to irritate an all-powerful government that seems to have the key to unlock to the individual the opportunity of a glorious financial future? One simple answer is to shrink government through extensive privatizations but the concern remains how to ensure assets do not end up with the same club.

Back to the clever tortoise and Professor Pius Adesanmi’s speech – quoted in the Punch…

“The second telltale sign of  Ijapa ’s antisocial culture and greed was his contrivance to corner for himself all the fruits from the only tree that remained productive in his famine-ravaged village.  Instead of intoning the usual song that would drop his personal ration of one coconut a day on his back, the selfish tortoise’s melodious deviant refrain ultimately demanded that all the potential output of the coconut tree should fall on him in one fell swoop, so that he would corner the market and make substantial profit from selling the fruits to the starved villagers!”

It should be obvious to all that poverty only increases in times of economic growth mainly because someone else has gathered together that which should have benefited a larger mass of people.  The innovation of the tortoise that feeds the mega-rich classes of a few while the larger masses in majority suffer – is wickedness.

This is not saying that all that are wealthy on any list are devious or that all close to or in government exhibit greedy cunning. Still many Nigerians are becoming impatient to discover a nouveau and old riche whose mastery continues to be trips to government hubs and subtle alliances with leadership and may someday be demanding for much more detailed explanations than Forbes seems bold to make.

It is worth watching the historical documentary attached below for a perspective on the history of the nation – to be reminded on how we got where we are today.  People ask why I am convinced that God will do His wonders and still finish His great work in Nigeria and we shall sing all is well. This is a nation that has previously witnessed God’s intervention, special goodness and uncommon compassion … a nation with divine purpose.

Mat_16:26   For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

Lord, show us a sign that all is well.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Nigeria, The Tortoise and Faith

Only yesterday, my attention was drawn to a hilarious article on the back page of The Nigeria Punch “Tortoise folklore as metaphor of national leadership”   ( a must read)… in which it was claimed that Nigeria owes the Tortoise reparations for decades of stealing her wisdom and perfecting her copyrighted virtues of greed and selfishness.   Issues of faith are again in global news with Obama defeating Romney, despite all the appeals of conservative evangelicals to vote to halt the moral decline.  In Nigeria, the luxurious living and wasteful consumption amongst a new religious elite in an impoverished nation with struggling congregation members … is again making headlines.

As a still growing Pastor with a fledgling congregation and a lot to learn, I do not claim the revelation or objectivity to judge aright the headlines on faith but can overwhelmingly agree with Professor Pius Adesanmi in most of his comical assertions caricaturing our political leaders as tortoise “wannabes”.  Craftiness has indeed emerged as national core competence.  It may also be true confession to add that it takes a good tortoise to know one.

It may be challenging for at least the weaker saints like myself to focus on Heaven as rightly taught if submerged in a new emerging Pentecostal culture of copious spending, wasteful luxury and shows of extreme carnal entertainment masquerading as church – which are meant to glorify the God of both heaven and earth. The silver, gold and oil blocs belong to our God so why must I be denied my share?  Again, the tortoise metaphor … I say guilty as charged by the pious Pius.

But God loved the weak Jacob too – the quintessential “tortoise”  amongst brethren in scriptures. Still Jacob was changed to Israel … God was merciful and Israel is a quiet, tired and pained man ravaged in a famine … seeing all his sons depart … even Benjamin.  Jacob reaped the harvest of every single act of corruption and craftiness he had justified. His sons paid him back multiples of what he had done to Isaac, Laban, and Esau … and a household steeped and well seeded in favoritism and guile produced a like harvest.  When faced with the truth that Joseph is alive and the unfolding of the unimaginably wicked schemes of his sons,  Israel is silent concerning his sons.  Perhaps he perceives the evil harvest must at last soon pass.  He has learnt to love. He waits for what God has to say … and God saves His words for the end.

Nigeria deceives herself to imagine she will not reap what she sows and when suddenly faced with the harvest of another “Halliburton” …  people gape as if to say – they do not know where this has come from.  Every act of the tortoise in traditional folklore ended with a negative consequence that the tortoise himself had to bear … making the fables very compelling to teach virtue.   We can make grand pretentious declarations, but the reality of harvest of our real postures soon dawns when electricity is suddenly cut off … or new wicked sons and daughters emerge as icons to torment us.

A limp, famine, wicked children and divine mercy combined to reshape Jacob who eventually melts in his heart. He becomes a true man of God who waits on God and walks with Him.  Israel summarizes his transformation as he realizes God has been good and all ends well as He has promised. Jacob proves that it is possible in God for hope to bloom again where there was absolutely none.  Israel blesses all his children and especially Joseph and his sons who for years he thought would never be seen again.  As he blesses,  Israel declares the ultimate lesson …

Gen 49:18  I have waited for thy salvation, O LORD.

Nigeria is a great nation and her renaissance is unstoppable reality.  I will witness the transformation of this nation – by the grace of God.  All my hopes would have been lost for myself and Nigeria but for God – who I must not leave out of my equations.  He is indeed the God of great wonders … the God of the defeated and hopeless who can reverse even the reversible.   He is the God of new beginnings. We await His wonders concerning our great nation.  If the house of Jacob waited on Him and became great – why does any think His wonders cannot lead to our transformations – which has started with increased intolerance for the status-quo?

Meanwhile, Professor Adesanmi pleads that we become our brother’s keepers, and urgently enthrone the ethos of the greater good for the community.  I would add that we come to the end of greed, wasteful consumption and craftiness and get rid of the strange gods and surrender afresh to the God of great wonders for whom all things are possible.

We must pray for leaders to be given limps and come to an end of themselves and reexamine their paradigms and welcome the change that God enforces.  God will have no choice but to drown the Pharaohs that insist on enslaving His own in witchcraft, deceptions, waste, corruption and mediocrity.  Moses is at the Red Sea … behind him is Pharaoh – the evil priest of the tortoise.

Exo 14:13  And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.  14  The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.

May the God of great wonders bless Nigeria.   Jesus saves to the uttermost. Amen.

Obama’s Victory

The US elections are history … and Barack Obama has won. It will not surprise most to see that the sun still rises and heavens have not fallen.  The relief from a stormy fiery battle for power is assuaging … and the networks are on a brief break to find another big story.  Both winner and losers soon find they have challenges.  It is not always so obvious when we get what we want that we have found what we initially sought. Victories are full of its deceptions and one of its myths is that it is always sweet. What we learn from victory or defeat tends to reinforce what we should already have known.  The clear difference in the platforms provides enough guidance for stakeholders to make needed adjustments.  All can be winners by learning.

David came back from a heavy loss at Ziklag to recover all from Amalek only to be embroiled in a different internal battle … how to share the spoils.  The protagonists this time do not contend on open media but these poisonous fighters  insist that their investments in time, love and support for David must now yield the promised dividend.  David disagrees.

1Sa 30:22   Then answered all the wicked men and men of Belial, of those that went with David, and said, Because they went not with us, we will not give them ought of the spoil that we have recovered, save to every man his wife and his children, that they may lead them away, and depart. 23  Then said David, Ye shall not do so, my brethren, with that which the LORD hath given us, who hath preserved us, and delivered the company that came against us into our hand. 24  For who will hearken unto you in this matter? but as his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth by the stuff: they shall part alike. 25  And it was so from that day forward, that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel unto this day.  26  And when David came to Ziklag, he sent of the spoil unto the elders of Judah, even to his friends, saying, Behold a present for you of the spoil of the enemies of the LORD;

I have often seen – even amongst brethren, a  wicked “winner takes all” posture that Is quick to freeze out many. The Bible identifies love as the ultimate test of who a Christian really is – and it is love for the less congenial that proves this virtue to onlookers.  Simply put – how we win will determine if we are sons of Belial or sons of God.   We may not be as comfortable with kissing our Judas … but if Judas had not hung himself we can learn from the truth that Christ would most likely have sought him out … like He did for another traitor -  Peter.

1Jn_4:20  If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

President Obama is not King David and we cannot ordain that politicians should throw their hands generously to the dangerous opposition or the less ardent supporter to share in the spoils – but this can be the decent thing.  Christians know that their enemies are not physical but wicked spiritual arrangements arrayed to frustrate the purpose of God.  That is why the Bible is also clear that we should pray for all our leaders  (tools in the real battle) and  especially those able to impact events at a global scale – even if and especially when we did not admire or vote for them. This is commanded and is wise.  Still, from the perspective of God, little has changed.  He still reigns and His plans have not been dented – not even slightly.

Note also that not all that went with David are men of Belial.  This suggests that there are not as many wicked parties, groups or associations … as there are wicked men.   Ponder these truths as we felicitate and pray with winners all over the world.  The real losers are the wicked men and women of Belial. All assemblies tend to have them.

In the story of Joseph is another model of Christian forgiveness, love and generosity, even when Jacob his father dies and the opportunity to get even emerges. The author has written a new devotional “Songs of Joseph”   published by Authorhouse to be released soon.

Come to Christ and be a winner – always.

Songs of Joseph

Walking with God and calling the name of God are not the same experiences.  In the Old Testament, the Bible says that after the birth of Seth to Adam, people began to call upon the name of the Lord, but it was not until after over 400 years when Enoch was 65 that we are told (after Adam’s fall) that someone walked with God.  This must imply that there is a difference to be discovered. Enoch became perhaps the first sign and wonder in the scriptures as we are told God took Him also noting he had a rare prophetic gift and for three hundred years maintained an uncommon consistency.

Walking with God is not cheap and implies consistency.

Gen 5:21   And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: 22  And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: :23  And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: 24  And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.

I want to suggest that calling the name of the Lord involves a rebirth – a renewal of the soul and an invitation to be part of a glorious and personal relationship. A close walk with God is different in that it is an acceptance of God’s invitation and agreement to the unchanging non-negotiable terms and conditions of the Most High thus concluding the reconciliation of fallen man.

Christ in His parable of the wise and foolish builders reminds us that many will call and do great works, but He must say He did not know them – they built not on the solid rock but on shifting sands and passing fancies. They could not trust and obey God.

365 years of Enoch is another sign of God to mankind in this age that His intention is that we should walk with Him every day of the 365 in the year. By the grace of God, I have published a devotional “Songs of Joseph” to be released in December 2012 that focuses on daily devotions that can only perhaps augment many other better written guides to help in our walk with God.  Joseph, David, Moses, Elijah, Elisha, Daniel, John the Baptist, Jesus Christ, the Apostles Peter and Paul … all walked with God and that close walk led them at various stages to the pit, the prison of Egypt, Pharaoh’s palace, wildernesses, the Brook Cherith fed by ravens, be escorted in glorious chariots to Heaven, the den of lions, many shipwrecks, the Roman Jail and many crucifixions – but what made these different?.  Why did they not lose their prayer, praise and walk with God – despite the many spiritual rapids they encountered?

I recommend “Songs of Joseph” my fifth book,  to all interested in the marathon of faith – written to be used any day of any year … I pray for grace for new improved editions to be released in future years.  It should already be evident even to the frolicking spiritual debutante that the future years will be like the days of Noah … ‘tis pointless to dispute the terms of God with humanity to whom we must continue to plead with earnestly … and gently to surrender to Christ and grow beyond mere calling His name.   In this post-modern era, I discern that discouragement of the fervent will be a more potent tool for the enemy and our times of devotion must raise prayers, daily hymns and songs of praise that silence doubts and help us to hold on as we shine and do the impossible in the looming darkness. Psalm 65:1 Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Sion:

In the Hymn by the well-known Poet, William Cowper writes …

So shall my walk be close with God,

Calm and serene my frame;

So purer light shall mark the road

That leads me to the Lamb.

Songs of Joseph is a daily devotional soon to be published (December 2012) by Authorhouse.

 

God Waits for Man’s Sin to Become Ripe for Judgment

The people of Canaan, whom God commanded to be killed, were being punished just like Sodom and Gomorrah was punished and like the world in Noah’s day was punished. The whole earth had become corrupt in Noah’s time with sexual sins (Gen.6:11). The Canaanites too were indulging in degrading sexual sins and Satan worship. And so “the land itself spewed them out”. (Leviticus 18:24, 25). Deuteronomy 9:4 and 18:10-12 give us clear reasons as to why God destroyed the Canaanites. Where there are polluting influences in any nation that defile and corrupt the land, the only thing to do is to punish such a nation by eliminating the people – lest their influence spread and corrupt others too.

A God of love destroys some people just like a kind doctor amputates a man’s foot when the gangrene in his foot is so severe that it threatens to destroy the whole body. If you saw a doctor sawing off somebody’s leg, and did not understand medicine, you would imagine that the doctor hated that man. But actually the opposite would have been true. The doctor was doing it in love. God also acts in love for the world when He cuts off certain people who would otherwise corrupt it. Wiping out the world’s population at the time of the flood was an act of love, so that the human race could be preserved without being totally controlled by demons (Gen.6:2 – where the “sons of God” refer to God’s creation – the angels who fell). The apostle Paul once smote a man with blindness because he was leading another person astray (Acts.13:8-12). I have heard of cases of people who were smitten dead by God because they opposed a revival. So what we read of in Joshua was not the murder of the Canaanites. It was surgery for the world.

Many years earlier, when Abraham was living in Canaan, there were Canaanites there. But God did not destroy the Canaanites then. God waited for over 400 years, because, as He told Abraham, the Canaanites were not “ripe for judgment” at that time (Gen.15:16). We pluck mangoes when they are ripe. God also waits for man’s sin to become ripe for judgment, before He judges. He judged Sodom and Gomorrah when their sin was ripe. So too with the Canaanites.

After Israel had occupied Canaan for 700 years, when they committed the same sins as the Canaanites, God drove them out of the land too. The Assyrians came and captured them. One hundred and twenty-five years later, when Judah, the southern kingdom, rejected the messages of God’s prophets and ripened for judgment, God sent the Babylonians to destroy them too. God is not partial. Whether it be the Canaanites or the Israelites or the people of Judah, His standards are the same. If His people keep on violating His standards and ignoring His prophets, He performs the same surgery on them too. God does the same with us too. If God were to excuse your sin, it would prove that He did not love you. If a father were to allow his children to live with their diseases, it would prove that he did not really love his children.

Article by Zac Poonen

Things will not Fall Apart.

I recently read the reviews in the News Week of Chinua Achebe’s  new memoir There Was a Country. (see link) even as the distinguished author turns 82 this November.  The book is said to have all the elements of the famous author’s journey through his own life. Uzodinma Iweala, who wrote the  Newsweek review, commented on how Achebe opines that after the war…  ”the Igbo were not and continue not to be integrated into Nigeria, one of the many reasons for the country’s continued backwardness, in my estimation …”  Uzo is right to say “it is near sacrilege, for any young African writer to find Achebe wanting …” … and I expect that this novel will earn all the accolades it deserves.

My personal memories from National Service teaching at a secondary school at Mbutu Ngwa, Imo State of Nigeria are still lucid in confirming that the Igbo people remember the war from a far different perspective than most would think.  There were conversations, anecdotes, jokes, stories almost every day about what seemed initially to me like a distant tale … but the silent inner cries from the wounds of a people still mourning the over 3 million lives could sometimes be discerned by any that cared.

But then – I recall another Nigerian senior statesman justifying the Boko Haram pogrom with the argument of unfair development and resulting high poverty and social disaffection in parts of the North… and if you encounter a die-hard Awoist,  one is likely to be lectured on a comprehensive position on how the country sacrificed its greatest opportunity for progress.  But we also suspect that history tends to be tainted by the spectacles of the historian  … even as for example we were for many years once convinced by the British educators that it was Mungo Park who discovered the River Niger. 

The Bible extols the virtue of forgiveness and warns always of dangers of looking back.  Indeed, it was this final gesture that destroyed Lot’s wife.  Only few are strong not to fall into some delusion or the other about how things could have been if and only if this or that person did or did not do this or that.  Most of our idols (like us by the way) are only made of clay and while we honor worthy men, we do well to heed the wisdom that the best are human i.e. flawed. Musing inordinately about the past will often produce a faulty hero-worship and severe distortions from a naturally selective memory.

I also suspect that the new generation of Nigerians may be less interested in tribal embers  -  arguably the bane of a society that seems cursed to reject progress – and want a different array of thoughts. Thoughts to explain why most citizens in the most celebrated black nation in the world today will enjoy less than 40% electricity uptime in a scenario over-endowed with natural energy resources and the best engineers.

For example Pastor Adefarasin also asks on his facebook page this week “When will our leaders take the fight against corruption seriously? In our legal system we are all equal in the the eyes of the law, however many leaders behave and are treated as if they are above the law. If a man steals a loaf of bread to feed his hungry children he will feel the full impact of the law. Theft is unjustifiable under any circumstances, but we have many who have stolen pension funds, fuel subsidy, from banks, who have inflated contracts and so much else who walk the streets freely and continue to enjoy government largesse. These things can only continue while the righteous remain silent. …”

What questions should we be asking? I suspect the solutions lie more in looking forward, learning from but seeking grace to forgive the unforgiveable past but also boldly laying out a new vision for what the future could be and positioning (irrespective of tribe) the prepared leadership that will make this happen. Sliding down the slippery staircase of tribal histories can also produce a very different and perhaps less useful set of answers.

Php 3:13  “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.

Lord, help me to forget those things that are behind that you want forgotten

Shallow Faith by Tozer (Part II)

The book, “The Dangers of Shallow Faith” was a present from my wife on my 50th birthday last August … knowing how Tozer was a favorite author and how his insights can be blamed for shaping some of my thoughts in the early days.  I plunged into it dutifully only to discover it was not as enjoyable as it used to be … to read again the familiar words of the sage who died in 1963 and  who wrote in a style I was well accustomed to.

My other present was a lovely wristwatch, from my brother which I gave to my son having developed a phobia for wristwatches and expensive mobile devices following being abruptly relieved of them in the past by armed Lagos urchins.

In Part I of this article  (see link) I summarized some of the thoughts that made Tozer, as far back as  the fifties, one of the less popular amongst the preachers of his time.  As I read “The Dangers…”  I wondered  - was Tozer fake or was I or were we just different … is there one true church(not denomination) or different genres ?  I find I am browsing through this book at a much faster pace as I stumbled on the chapter … The Process of backsliding, and finally come to the conclusion – this book must have been written to kill the remaining joy I was salvaging on my jubilee.   Then as I take a pause only to read one of another favorite preacher’s  blogs – Zambia’s Conrad Mbewe … I find a very offensive title … Beware of Nigerian Religious Junk .  You may open the link only if you are not too sensitive. I am too nervous to comment on this article but will at least want the bolder to read it.

Back to Tozer … he says there are stages to backsliding …and it’s all about the heart, the heart and the heart.  First the heart is fickle …true our ability to change our mind is our hope but this is also our undoing. Though many make an initial step toward God, most did not last, simply because serving Jesus Christ is contrary to the human nature and by nature we do not persevere.  Then the heart is evil … Michele Obama was right when she recently said the Presidency does not change you but brings out who you really are.  Tozer reminds us that the Bible says the heart is evil and the natural constitution of a human being is against being good as God defines it.

So what happens in the backsliding heart.  It begins with losing interest in the things of God, then it graduates to losing interest in communion with God…justifying a rest from evangelism …becoming easily bored with things of God (demanding more theatrics from preachers who will gain any attention) and then having a critical spirit … then of course our spontaneous cheerful and generous giving declines. God help me … I think I have read enough …after all, it is my diamond jubilee celebration month  -  I must find something more cheerful to do as I look forward to dinner with family … I think I will listen to some worship music or maybe watch Joel Osteen.

The human mind is so constituted that it must consider something, so it compromises by considering other people’s ways. Pharisees knew the sins of everybody but themselves.  Wickedness conspires to prevent all but the very few  from considering their own ways … and loving to preach of others…(always prevented from seeing ourselves)

Tozer writes of the law of consequence and the main characteristic of spiritual lethargy  to think we will no more deal with consequences  … distorting the truth … “I am living by grace”.  Many make terrible choices without consideration for the future to gain a temporal acclaim or relief.  Today we face the consequences of yesterday’s choices … tomorrow we will find the consequence of todays.

So …what causes backsliding.  The prime sources of danger are the unmortified flesh, the world with new tricks every day and Satanic guile.  Victories can spoil us even as defeats can destroy us.  The adoring crowd that thinks you are worthy of great acclaim today may turn their backs on you tomorrow. Focus must be on God and pleasing Him always.

… Hag 1:7  Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.  

Lord, help me to come up higher.

The Cost of Rebellion

It is strange that Deuteronomy ends with Moses blessing all the other tribes and Simeon is not mentioned. Not even once is Simeon referred to as twenty nine verses are dedicated to honor and encourage all the other tribes with kind words and prophetic utterance.  Why is Simeon excluded?

Moses declares as he closes this service of blessings. But not a word is said of Simeon.

Deu 33:29  Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the LORD, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places.

In the book of Numbers, you recall there were two instances when there was a census ordered to count the able men.  The results revealed a lot especially the second census of male soldiers after a plague devastated the Israelites after incidences of immorality with the Moabites upset God.  According to Numbers 1, at the initial census, Simeon was the third largest group with 59,300 only after Judah with 74,600 and the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim combined to 72,200. If we treat Manasseh and Ephraim as two separate tribes, then the Simeonites were second only to the tribe of Judah in their military might.

Now, let’s examine the second census taken approximately 40 years later listed in Numbers 26. Numbers 26:2 confirms that it is again the sum of males “twenty years old an upward…all that are able to go to war in Israel,” so each census was conducted with the same criteria. Simeon, one of the largest tribes had plummeted to be the smallest of the tribes … loosing 37,100 people while Manasseh gains 20,500 people and if you combine with Ephraim, the blessed tribes of Joseph have taken the lead.

In the previous chapter, before the census we learn that Phinehas, a Levite, executed “a prince of a chief house among the Simeonites for his audacity in taking a Midianite woman into his tent at a time when God was punishing Israel for such deeds.

Num 25:6  And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. 7  And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand; 8  And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel. 9  And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand. 10  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 11  Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, while he was zealous for my sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy. 12  Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace: 13  And he shall have it, and his seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel. 14  Now the name of the Israelite that was slain, even that was slain with the Midianitish woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, a prince of a chief house among the Simeonites. 15  And the name of the Midianitish woman that was slain was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur; he was head over a people, and of a chief house in Midian.

A plague which killed 24,000 people was stayed by the action of Phinehas.  The Bible gives no details of the tribes that suffered the most …but to account for a drop of 37,100 soldiers in the second census just after this plague cause  us to suspect that the Simeonites bore the brunt of this plague.  The tribe of Simeon – which was cursed with Levi for being an instrument of cruelty for the vengeance over the rape of Dinah,  now worsens its situation with immorality with the Midianites. It is suspected that there was a crisis after this incident that led to a mutiny of many men of Simeon …after many had walked out … only 22,200 can now be counted.  They are now the least of all the twelve tribes.

Genesis 49:5-7 prophesies that impulsive wrath leading to violence would characterize both Simeonites and Levites .  Now the Levite has executed a Simeonite Prince and the Levites in a previous incidence stand up passionately for God and His servant Moses., God mercifully re-directs the Levites’ propensity to violent slaughter into becoming a tribe of butchers, killing, cutting up and sacrificing innumerable animals under the system of animal sacrifices established in ancient Israel. Simeon fades out from the army either through a mutiny or a natural attrition, sickness or wastage. The likelihood is that they simply walked out.  But what is the final result.

At the time that tribes are being blessed, Levi is forgiven and praised by Moses but concerning the tribe of Simeon, Moses is quiet. While Levi gains an important and blessed priestly role, the Simeonites you could say have gone from bad to worse.

Moses ends his blessings by declaring that Israel are a happy people saved by the Lord(not by any man, group or tribe) and all their enemies shall be proven to be liars.

Reflect on this devotional.  Are you in mutiny against the people and purposes of God.  How can you possibly win?  Is the correction of God to flee sinful exuberance, immorality and worldliness too severe for you to bear.  Learn from the Simeonites and the blessings they eventually missed.  Rebellion is a costly game.  It has cost many their destiny.

Father, Lord help me …  I repent of everything that could cost me my destiny.