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Tag: Evil

  • Necessary evil – By Femi Aribisala

    Necessary evil – By Femi Aribisala

    “God will make sure we have just the right amount evil that we need in our lives”.

    If, according to God’s kingdom dynamics, the ways of God are antithetical to the ways of man, then God must consider evil to be good for man.

    Evil did not just happen, God created it. He says:

    “That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.” (Isaiah 45:6-7).

    Evil is not of essence. Evil is created: evil is a creature. The good God is the creator of evil. Therefore, evil is subject to good. Evil is subject to God’s divine purposes. Solomon says:

    “The LORD has made all for Himself, yes, even the wicked for the day of doom.” (Proverbs 16:4).

    Evil day

    Jesus says evil is necessary in the life of a man: “Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:34).

    This means the man who is not confronted with evil is at a disadvantage and cannot develop into a perfect man. God will not shortchange us in the amount of evil we will have to face but will make sure that we have just the right amount that we need.

    Jesus’ principle about the necessity of evil is also linked to others that point to God’s safeguards in our lives. Paul says:

    “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13).

    This means God, and not sin, is the determinant of providence. When Jesus’ disciples saw a man who had been blind from birth, they asked Jesus:

    “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered: “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.” (John 9:2-3).

    In effect, we cannot draw any definitive conclusions about the righteousness of a man from anything that happens to him in this life. Bad things will happen to good people and good things will happen to bad people and vice-versa.

    Jesus’ theology undermines the classical basis we have for thanksgiving. We usually give thanks because something good happens to us or because we escape something bad. But in this, we are mistaken. God does not favour us by saving us from calamity. Neither does He punish us by allowing us to suffer.

    Both the disciples of Jesus and “the Jews” believed that the man was born blind because of some sin, either that of the man or his parents. But no! Jesus’ answer indicates that regardless of the circumstances that occur at birth or in any other situation, God does not interfere either to bless or curse.

    There was some physiological reason why the man was born blind. But God does not discriminate, not even because of gross immorality, either to correct a condition or to cause it apart from the normal operation of the divine laws of nature.

    But Jesus, who intended to heal the man by a miracle (in this special case He did interfere), gave a reason for it: “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.” (John 9:3).

    God is responsible

    Inevitably, God is responsible for all the evil in the world. If God does not require evil, it would not exist. If He does not require evil, He would not create it. Thus, Amos asks rhetorically:

    “Will a lion roar in the forest, when he has no prey? Will a young lion cry out of his den, if he has caught nothing? Will a bird fall into a snare on the earth, where there is no trap for it? Will a snare spring up from the earth, if it has caught nothing at all? If a trumpet is blown in a city, will not the people be afraid? If there is calamity in a city, will not the LORD have done it?” (Amos 3:4-6).

    Indeed, God is behind everything. David says to God: “I was mute, I did not open my mouth, because it was You who did it. Remove Your plague from me; I am consumed by the blow of Your hand.” (Psalm 39:9-10).

    Purpose of evil

    Moses says to Israel: “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.” (Deuteronomy 30:19).

    It is God Himself, and not an enemy, that has set good and evil before us. He does this, not for our injury, but for our benefit.

    Without evil, we would have no appreciation for good things. Without evil, there would be no salvation. Without sickness, there would be no healing.

    Immediately after His baptism, the Holy Spirit handed over Jesus to Satan. Jesus had to overcome him by trusting in God and in His word. Thus, evil is meant to be overcome. It is like running a steeplechase or hurdles race. Evil constitute the obstacles in our way that must be surmounted.

    An overcomer must have things to overcome. Evil is the mountain or hill before us. Jesus says: “He who overcomes will inherit all things, and I will be his God and he will be My son.” (Revelation 21:7).

    But evil cannot be overcome with evil. Evil must be overcome with good. (Romans 12:21). Thereby, evil provides a testing ground for righteousness. Evil is designed to provoke righteousness.

    Purifying agent

    Jesus says: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” (Matthew 5:8).

    God uses the afflictions of the devil to purify our heart. This is what happened with Job. After undergoing the ordeal that God orchestrated, Job’s eyes were opened and, for the first time, he saw clearly “the invisible attributes of God.” (Romans 1:20). He said to God: “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You. Therefore, I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:5-6).

    Because evil is beneficial in measured doses, Jesus does not restrain Satan from prevailing against Peter. Instead, He tells him that the lessons learnt from the experience will enable him to strengthen his colleagues:

    “The Lord said, ‘Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.” (Luke 22:31-32).

    Jesus then told all his disciples that the devil’s testing is divinely designed to identify those who will be given the crown of life:

    “The devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.” (Revelation 2:10).

    Testing tool

    God also uses the devil’s testing as a tool of righteousness. This was Paul’s experience who was also handed over to the devil. He says: “One of Satan’s angels was sent to make me suffer terribly, so that I would not feel too proud.” (2 Corinthians 12:7).

    In similar fashion, Paul also hands over sinners to the devil for their good. He writes to the Corinthians about an adulterous man: “You must then hand that man over to Satan. His body will be destroyed, but his spirit will be saved when the Lord Jesus returns.” (1 Corinthians 5:5).

    He also writes to Timothy: “Two of them are Hymenaeus and Alexander. I have given these men over to the power of Satan, so they will learn not to oppose God.” (1 Timothy 1:20).

    Accordingly, Habakkuk, who had complained about God’s inclination to allow evil to flourish unrestrained, finally realizes that God uses the devil and his evil works for good, disciplinary, and corrective purposes. He exclaims at last: “O LORD, you have appointed them for judgment; O Rock, you have marked them for correction.” (Habakkuk 1:12).

    Even if God kills us, we will not die. He will raise us from the dead. Even when God brings calamity it is for righteous reasons. As Daniel observes:

    “The LORD has kept the disaster in mind, and brought it upon us; for the LORD our God is righteous in all the works which He does, though we have not obeyed His voice.” (Daniel 9:14).

    “This is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all.“ )1 John 1:5)

    In God, there is no duality of right and wrong, or good and evil. Everything that God is, and everything that God does, is good and right. It is only in man that we have interplay of the negative and the positive.

    Because God is good, evil can never destroy the good. Evil can only destroy evil. Because God is good, evil can never triumph over good. Therefore, God gives us this reassurance:

    “Behold, I have created the smith that blows the coals in the fire, and that brings forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy. No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, says the LORD.” (Isaiah 54:16-17).

    Since all things proceed from God. All things operate through Him. And all things will be reconciled in Him. Then, even evil will end up as good because God is goodness.

    “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever!” (Romans 11:36).

  • Bishop Kukah explodes again: Northern Nigeria under grip of evil, gradually turning into ‘Arewanistan’

    Bishop Kukah explodes again: Northern Nigeria under grip of evil, gradually turning into ‘Arewanistan’

    The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Dr. Matthew Kukah, yesterday expressed fresh frustration at the unrelenting security challenge in the north where he said a “catalogue of unprecedented cruelty has been unleashed on innocent citizens.”

    He feared the region could soon become Arewanistan in view of the persistent killings.

    “In their sleep, on their farmlands, in their markets, or even on the highway, innocent citizens have been mowed down and turned into burnt offerings to gods of evil,” an angry Kukah said in his Christmas message entitled ‘A nation still in search of truth and vindication’.

    “Communities have been turned into gulags of misery, death, pain and perfidy. We must move quickly before Arewa, our beloved Arewa, descends into Arewanistan,” he added.

    Kukah recalled how he was heavily slammed in parts of the north when he first criticized the federal government’s handling of the security situation in that part of the country last year.

    He said: “At about this time last year when I raised the alarm about the perilous state of affairs in northern Nigeria, all kinds of accusations were levelled against me, especially by my northern brethren.

    “When the Catholic Bishops protested openly against the killings of our people in March 2020, we were accused of acting against government with religious motives being imputed to our noble intentions. Now, we are fully in the grip of evil.

    “Today, a feeling of vindication only saddens me as I have watched the north break into a cacophony of quarrelsome blame games over our tragic situation.”

    Urging President Muhammadu Buhari to speak on the situation, Kukah said: “Tales and promises about planned rescues have since deteriorated into mere whispers. Nothing expresses the powerlessness of the families like the silence of state at the federal level.

    “Today, after over seven years, our over one hundred Chibok Girls are still marooned in the ocean of uncertainty.

    “Over three years after, Leah Sharibu is still unaccounted for. Students of the Federal Government College, Yauri, and children from Islamiyya School, Katsina are still in captivity. This does not include hundreds of other children whose captures were less dramatic.

    “We also have lost count of hundreds of individuals and families who have been kidnapped and live below the radar of publicity. We have before us a government totally oblivious to the cherished values of the sacredness of life.

    “The silence of the federal government only feeds the ugly beast of complicity in the deeds of these evil people who have suspended the future of entire generations of our children.

    “Every day, we hear of failure of intelligence, yet, those experts who provide intelligence claim that they have always done their duty diligently and efficiently.

    “Does the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria not believe that he owes parents and citizens answers as to where our children are and when they are coming home?

    “Does the President of Nigeria not owe us an explanation and answers as to when the abductions, kidnappings, brutality, senseless, and endless massacres of our citizens will end? When will our refugees from Cameroon, Chad or Niger return home? We need urgent answers to these questions.

    “While I commend the efforts of our security men and women, I call on the President, in collaboration with the governors who are doing their best to preserve and protect their people to develop a more honest, open and robust strategy for ending the humiliation of our people and restoring social order to our people. We have borne enough humiliation as communities and a country.”

    Kukah paid tribute to several northern Christians who, he said, have either been killed or kidnapped for their faith.

    His words: “When Michael Nnadi, our teenage Seminarian from Sokoto Diocese, stared down the nozzle of the guns of terrorists and called them to repentance, he knew he was signing his signature with the blood of martyrdom.

    “When Mrs. Bolanle Ataga, a Kaduna-based housewife of a medical doctor, defied the evil hands of the head of her captors who sought to violate her honour in exchange for freedom, she knew she was signing her signature with the blood of martyrdom.

    “When Lawan Andimi, leader of the Christian community in Michika, Adamawa State stretched out his neck and was slaughtered by his abductors because of his faith, he knew that his blood would flow into the ocean of those martyrs who have gone before him.

    “When our dear Leah Sharibu raised her voice against the advice of her young Muslim friends who loved her dearly and wanted her to deny being a Christian, she, like Jesus, acted in defiance but she knew what awaits her in a new Jerusalem, the capital of martyrdom.

    “Their heroic witnesses re-echo the defiance of the Apostles who said: We must obey God rather than men.”

    He asked religious leaders to stand firm in the face of what he called the injustice in the country, saying: “When the politicians embark on outright favouritism or nepotism, we must not be carried away by the belief that our religion is being favoured.

    “Religious leaders must stand together and condemn lack of fairness to any group because the powerful and the powerless all need to be saved.”

    On the polity, especially the Electoral Amendment Bill which President Buhari recently declined to sign into law, Kukah asked the National Assembly to “quickly take notice of the observations made by the President on the issues of Direct or Indirect Primaries and return the Bill to the President for assent.

    “I believe that the President’s heart is still in the right place and we should focus on the serious issues,” he said.

    He told the youths to “seize the moment by coming out to register and be ready to vote.

    “Endsars protests and the aftermath should be a mere punctuation mark in the sentences and chapters of our struggle for a better society.

    “There is a lot to live for in this country. There is a lot for our Youth to dream about.

    “The spirit of Christmas should be seen as a spirit of renewal. Be courageous, because we shall turn the corner together.”

  • “It is uncultured to wish Buhari evil” – former presidential candidate

    “It is uncultured to wish Buhari evil” – former presidential candidate

    Mr Ademola Abidemi, presidential candidate of the Nigeria Community Movement Party at the 2019 general elections says it is uncultured for any Nigerian to wish President Muhammadu Buhari evil on his birthday.

    Abidemi stated in Abuja on Monday that it was unfortunate that people wrote negative things against the president in spite of the sacrifices he had been making to make the country a better place for all.

    “If President Buhari had died many years ago as a soldier defending his country, those wishing him evil today would have called him a fallen hero.

    “It is funny to see write-ups that implied that all the woes that had befallen Nigeria were what they wished him.

    “It is unfortunate to note such hatred and wicked mind-set from Nigerians to a fellow Nigerian.

    “It is also very funny that one of the writers of such negative write up against Buhari ended his curses with the name of Christ,’’ he lamented.

    He wondered where such was written or taught in the Bible.

    According to Abidemi, the idea of making those evil wishes as prayer points is not different from the concept of kidnappers, bandits and Boko Haram terrorists.

    He stressed that those wishing Buhari death were not different from enemies of the country.

    Abidemi also noted that many of such persons had not laboured or sacrificed half of what Buhari had sacrificed in his lifetime for Nigeria.

    He added that attacking the president without justification, could hinder the attackers’ personal prayers for their own well-being.

    “Such prayers are not honoured by God because those making same are not left out of the causes of the challenges and problems you are trying to place on the president.

    “If you don’t pay your tax; urinate on the road; throw refuse on the road; take or give bribe; hurt others in your little capacity and influence, you are not qualified to pray evil on the president.

    “If you go against traffic rules or disobey the laws of Nigeria in any way, you cannot pray evil for the president.

    “God sees through sinners,’’ he stressed.

    Abidemi added that trying to condemn the president for his purported errors or mistakes in leadership to the point of raising curses on him in any guise was indirectly cursing Nigeria the more.

    He noted that when some individuals took on former President Goodluck Jonathan between 2014 and 2018, rather than fall under their curses, he has been prospering even the more.

    “He is enjoying his life and moving from glory to glory; the problems befalling an average Nigerian does not in any way affect him.

    “Even after office, President Buhari can never live like an ordinary Nigerian except he so chooses,’’ Abidemi stated.

    He added that when God placed people in position of leadership, their failure could only be adjudged by only Him, especially when it is the very first leader of a sovereign nation.

    The former presidential flag bearer congratulated President Buhari on his birthday and wished him long life in prosperity and good health.

    Abidemi also wished Buhari more achievements, ability, capacity, wisdom, knowledge and understanding to conquer the challenges befalling his administration and the country and to leave Nigeria better than he met it.

  • President Buhari pleads: I need your support to confront ‘evil’ in the land

    President Buhari pleads: I need your support to confront ‘evil’ in the land

    President Buhari has called for the support of all Nigerians as his government confronts the various faces of evil plaguing the land.

    He was reacting to the latest massacre of travelling villagers in Sokoto.

    “It shows that the evil this administration is confronting is one that requires the support and involvement of all Nigerians”, said spokesman Femi Adesina.

    The presidency put the death toll in the attack at 23. The charred remains have been given mass burial.

    Buhari expressed sadness over the gruesome attack on the innocent travellers.

    As he had done in the past, Buhari said the nation’s security agencies have been instructed to put an end to the attacks.

    “I am very distressed at the manner of death visited on these hapless citizens who were undertaking a legitimate journey to another part of the country.

    “I extend deep condolences to the families of the victims as I assure that the security agencies will continue to give their all to bring to an end the operations of these despicable people.”

  • El-Rufai: “The evil that men do…” By Enyeribe Anyanwu

    El-Rufai: “The evil that men do…” By Enyeribe Anyanwu

    By Enyeribe Anyanwu

    “The evil that men do lives after them” is a famous quote from Julius Caesar, one of the political plays of legendary playwright, William Shakespeare. In the play, Anthony, Caesar’s friend, is ironically vilifying Brutus and his fellow conspirators for murdering Caesar, but to the conspirators Mark Anthony is referring to Caesar whose murder they had tried to justify before Roman citizens.

    In the view of a literary critic, “the evil that men do lives after them” is a true statement because the evil of people’s actions lives on in the consequence of those choices and deeds long after the person is gone. In other words, the effects of people’s poor choices and wicked actions resound for days, months, and years as those left behind deal with the consequences of the evil committed.

    True as this statement is, it has been modified further to accommodate the present. It is no longer the people the evil doer lives behind that deal with the aftermath, but the evil doer himself also lives to face the consequences of his evil deeds. Hence in this modern time, one can hear: “the evil that men do lives with them.” This modification aptly fits Nasir El-Rufai, the present governor of Kaduna State, as he grapples with the outrage that has continued to trail the unrelenting attacks and abductions of Nigerian citizens in Kaduna State vis-a-vis his stance not negotiate with bandits.

    In the last few weeks, bandits have been on the rampage in Kaduna State, abducting students of tertiary institutions. The most recent of these abductions is the mass abduction of students of Greenfield University out of which five of them have been killed, and the bandits threatening to kill all if their demand is not met. The students were killed because the governor has vehemently refused to negotiate and even threatened to prosecute anyone that negotiates with the bandits. To him, the only answer to the bandits is total annihilation. While insisting he would never negotiate with bandits or terrorists, El-Rufai has continued to talk tough against the bandits. This is regardless of the fact that he has no means of exterminating them neither does he control the apparatus that should be used in accomplishing the task. This, he has voiced this several times.

    On its face value, El-Rufai’s stance or argument makes sense, especially his insistence that payment of ransoms to bandits cannot stop banditry. Instead it will further empower them and equip them to commit more atrocities. Payment of ransom, he insists, amounts to rewarding the criminals for their heinous crimes against the state and humanity. This is a sound argument to which many people subscribe.

    Unfortunately, as things stand, El-Rufai and his government have no alternative, especially as human lives are at stake. Nemesis appears to have caught up with him because of his caustic words for former President Jonathan. He is now face to face with the famous statement by Shakespeare quoted above.

    In 2014, in the wake of the abduction of the Chibok girls, many of whom are still in Boko Haram captivity, Nasir El-Rufai was very harsh on President Goodluck Jonathan whom he accused of negligence and apathy over the abduction. El-Rufai had vehemently and arrogantly urged Jonathan to negotiate with the terrorists to secure the release of the Chibok girls.

    “Whatever it takes to rescue those girls should be done. If one of these girls was Jonathan’s daughter the story will be different, the only reason these girls are still in captivity is because they are not the daughter of any important man in Nigeria and we know it,”El-Rufai had bellowed.

    He went further: “I am in support of any option, you have lives of your citizens at risk, you should not take any option off your table, you should be flexible, you should listen, you should negotiate and look the price you have to pay and get the girls out, you should not say you won’t do this, you won’t do that, it’s irresponsible.”

    Six years after this outburst and insult on the sitting President, fate has brought El-Rufai face to face with Jonathan’s dilemma. The choice he was pushing Jonathan to make is what is facing him now and he has refused to budge. And no one has told him that it is irresponsible to take any option off his table; that he should be flexible, that he should listen and negotiate since the lives of his citizens are at stake?

    It’s so sad that not even the killing of five of the abducted students, the future leaders of the nation can move El-Rufai to reconsider his position. Instead he has continued to infuriate the bandits, telling them that what they deserve is death and not the N800million they are asking for, when all he can do is talk and hold meetings.

    El-Rufai’s reaction to the video making the rounds in the social media where he was making the call on former President Jonathan to negotiate with Boko Haram terrorists is worthy of mention. His reaction to commentators on the video who have condemned his past and present action is a measure of what has become the hallmark of the present administration in the country, that is, diversion of issues. According to his Special Adviser on Media and Communication, Muyiwa Adekeye, El-Rufai’s invectives and advice to Jonathan was based on what he termed Jonathan’s “initial refusal to acknowledge” the abduction of the Chibok girls, which he said Nigerians appear to have forgotten.

    But while diverting attention and trying to whip up sentiments against Jonathan, he could not deny that it is still citizens’ lives that are at stake, and that no option should be taken off the table to secure the lives of the abducted students. However, like his compatriot, Pantami, El-Rufai is telling the nation and the entire world that time has changed his opinion and stance on preserving human lives and pampering and rewarding terrorists and bandits.

    But, however, Nasir El-Rufai tries to justify his stance of annihilating the bandits who are holding and killing his citizens as against securing the lives of the citizens first, he cannot get away with the judgment of history, and the stark reality that the evil that men do lives after them.

  • God is not good all the time – Femi Aribisala

    By Femi Aribisala

    Nobody spoils a man’s life like Jesus. Jesus is a killer of all worldly joy. God’s attitude to the world is often lost on many. God hates the world system. The world hated Jesus and killed him. Therefore, anyone who is a lover of pleasure; anyone who likes this world becomes an enemy of God.

    Accordingly, James asks: “You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.” (James 4:4). Paul is of the same opinion: “She who lives in pleasure is dead while she lives.” (1 Timothy 5:6). Thus, Jesus assured his disciples: “In the world you will have tribulation.” (John 16:33).

    God is so implacably opposed to the world; he has doomed it to destruction. Isaiah says: “I have heard from the Lord God of hosts, a destruction determined even upon the whole earth.” (Isaiah 28:22). In the meantime, God plans “to bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth.” (Isaiah 23:9).

    God allows wickedness to prevail on earth, the better to commend to us the superiority of the kingdom of heaven. Job notes that: “The whole earth is in the hands of the wicked” (Job 9:24). This is because God allows it to be so. Thus, God allows the worst kinds of people to be heads of states and governments: “The High God rules human kingdoms.

    He arranges kingdom affairs however he wishes, and makes leaders out of losers.” (Daniel 4:17).

    Wonder-less world

    Thanks to Jesus, we are brought to the realisation that what we deemed to be life is actually death. Under the tutelage of the Holy Spirit, believers are made foreigners and strangers here on decrepit earth; having become citizens of a spiritual heavenly kingdom.

    Out of this new reality is then fashioned a completely different psychology. The atonement kills everything before it makes alive. This is what God says about his own peculiar process: “I, even I, am he, and there is no God besides me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; nor is there any who can deliver from my hand.” (Deuteronomy 32:39).

    Christ makes every pain irrelevant and he diminishes every joy outside of himself. Therefore, be contemptuous of every advantage. Overlook every disadvantage. Jesus is a leveller. The kingdom of God cancels deficits and erases credits. Before the glory of God is revealed: “Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill brought low.” (Isaiah 40:4).

    God is at pains to make us see that what we call wonderful is “wonder-less.” He tells us the man who is blessed is not he who won the lottery, but he who receives forgiveness of sin: “Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him.” (Psalm 32:1-2).

    Jesus maintains the joy to be cherished is the joy of salvation: “Look, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy, and you can walk among snakes and scorpions and crush them. Nothing will injure you. But don’t rejoice because evil spirits obey you; rejoice because your names are registered in heaven.” (Luke 10:19-20).

    Man of sorrows

    God prefers to make people cry than to make them laugh. Jesus was a man of sorrows; acquainted with grief. (Isaiah 53:3). The bible says of him: “It was the Lord’s good plan to crush him and cause him grief.” (Isaiah 53:10).

    There is really very little to laugh about here on earth. What is there to laugh about in a world riddled with sin, where souls are perishing every day; and where the thief comes daily to steal, kill and destroy? (John 10:10). What is there to laugh about in a grief-stricken world?

    Therefore, Jesus pronounces woe on those given to laughter. He says: “Woe to you who are full, for you shall hunger. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep” (Luke 6:25). Amos also says: “Woe to those lounging in luxury at Jerusalem and Samaria.” (Amos 6:1). James goes even further to prescribe a strange tonic for the soul: “Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.” (James 4:9).

    But we thought Jesus came to give us beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness? (Isaiah 61:3). Yes indeed! But Jesus’ ministry is only for those who are sorrowful and mournful. Moreover, the consolations of Christ come not through the reform of this world, but by invitation to another kingdom; a kingdom not of this world.

    Divine prescription

    The nature of this ungodly world is such that, according to the wisdom of God, even in laughter the heart should sorrow, since the end of mirth may be grief. (Proverbs 14:13). Solomon says: “Sorrow is better than laughter, for by a sad countenance the heart is made better.” (Ecclesiastes 7:3). By laughter and merriment the heart is made worse, vainer, more carnal and more sensual. It is made more in love with the world and more estranged from God and godliness.

    If sorrow is indeed better than laughter, then the man who God makes sad is more blessed than the man who is happy. When a man decides to be good to another man, he tries to make him happy. He ministers to his body. He makes him comfortable. Not so the goodness of God. When God is really good to someone, he is more likely to make him sad. God’s goodness works more on the heart than on the flesh: “The goodness of God leads you to repentance.” (Romans 2:4). Its main objective is to lead us along the path of life and make us heirs of salvation.

    Therefore, God is not good in the way that is normally considered to be good. If we don’t understand the peculiarity of God’s goodness, we are likely to be sad when we should be glad, and to be glad when we should be sad.

    In the kingdom of God, the way up is down.

    In order to enter, we must be born again. (John 3:3-5). In order to see, we have to be blind. (John 9:39). In order to be full, we have to hunger. (Luke 6:21). In order to gain, we have to lose. (Matthew. 13:44-46). In order to be rich, we have to be poor. (1 Samuel 2:7). In order to be strong, we have to be weak. (Judges 7:2-7). In order to be masters, we have to be slaves. (Matthew 20:25-28). The elder must serve the younger. (Genesis 25:23).

    In order to laugh, we have to weep. (Luke 6:21). In order to enter into glory, we have to endure suffering. (Luke 24:25-26). In order to be healed, we have to be sick. (Luke 5:31). In order to live, we have to die. (John 12:24). In order to save our life, we have to lose it. (Matthew 16:25-26). In order to be first, we have to be last. (Matthew 19:30).

  • God is responsible for all the evil in the world (1) – Femi Aribisala

    By Femi Aribisala

    As a Christian, life becomes a lot easier once we take God at his word. Nevertheless, many find it difficult to do so. One area of great difficulty concerns the origin of evil. Christians find it difficult to believe the God who is love is behind all the evil we see in this world? We would rather be diplomatic and attribute it all to the devil.

    However, the devil is merely the servant of God. God says categorically he is the author of evil: “I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create evil; I, the Lord, do all these things.” (Isaiah 45:7). Amos echoes this: “If there is calamity in a city, will not the Lord have done it? (Amos 3:6).

    Nothing good or bad happens outside of the will of God. The devil initiates nothing. He only does what God permits. (Job 1:6-12). “Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come? (Lamentations 3:37-38). Thus, Job asks his wife: “Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” (Job 2:10).

    Indeed, God takes issues with those inclined to limit him to one-dimension: “It shall come to pass at that time that I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and punish the men who are settled in complacency, who say in their heart, ‘The LORD will not do good, nor will he do evil.’” (Zephaniah 1:12).

    Counsel of God

    The devil did not just happen: God created him. He was not God’s mistake; God cannot make a mistake. God created the devil to be a devil. Jesus says: “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree corrupt and its fruit corrupt; for the tree is known by its fruit. Offspring of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things?” (Matthew 12:33-34).

    Who makes the good tree good and the corrupt tree corrupt? Only God; the creator of all things!

    Popular Christian theology says the devil was created good, but he became evil. In short, he diverted from the purpose that God purposed. That is impossible! Nothing deviates from God’s purpose. The counsel of God is immutable. His will is always done. Paul says: God “works all things according to the counsel of his own will.” (Ephesians 1:11).

    God is emphatic: “My purpose will stand.” (Isaiah 46:10). “Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will stand.” (Isaiah 14:24). The psalmist says: “The plans of the Lord stand firm forever.” (Psalm 33:11).

    So where do Christians get the fallacy of a devil created good who then deviated to evil? The scriptural backing for this error is found in Ezekiel 28:1-19 where a lamentation of the king of Tyre is said mistakenly to be about Satan; and Isaiah 14:12-23, where a proclamation about the king of Babylon is also said incorrectly to be about Satan.

    In actual fact, in Ezekiel 28, the king of Tyre is compared to Adam and not to Satan. It was Adam who was in Eden, the garden of God. (Ezekiel 28:13). It was Adam who was perfect in all his ways until iniquity was found in him. (Ezekiel 28:15). It was Adam who was cast out of the mountain of God. (Ezekiel 28:16).

    The devil, on the other hand, was never perfect. God created the devil to be devilish. He says: “I have created the waster to destroy.” (Isaiah 54:16). Jesus also says the devil has always been devilish: “He was a murderer from the beginning.” (John 8:44). So, God did not make a mistake with the devil. The devil and his works are part and parcel of the will of God. As a matter of fact, the role of the devil is crucial in God’s plan of salvation.

    Times and seasons

    So why did God create the devil, and why does God create evil?

    God creates evil that we might know and appreciate the good. If we don’t know darkness, we would not appreciate light. If we don’t know evil we would not appreciate good. If we don’t know sickness, we would not appreciate good health. In short, God creates evil that we may know him: the good, merciful and compassionate God.

    For this reason, God creates times and seasons of good and evil. Solomon says: “To every thing there is a season, and a time for every purpose under the heavens: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pull up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-4).

    Unlike man, God does things in twos: “The LORD makes poor, and makes rich: he brings low, and lifts up.” (Isaiah 2:7). The psalmist says: “God has spoken once, twice I have heard this: that power belongs to God. Also to you, O Lord, belongs mercy; for you render to each one according to his work.” (Psalm 62:11-12).

    If God speaks once, it is absolutely essential to hear him twice. This is because the first time might be the expression of his power: but the second time will be the expression of his mercy. Remember: God’s mercy ultimately triumphs over God’s judgment. (James 2:13).

    “For God does speak- now one way, now another- though man may not perceive it.” (Job 33:14). God’s second often brings his first into sharp relief. While the first might reveal the wrath of God, the second reveals the grace and mercy of God. Accordingly, the first man was Adam the sinner but the second man is Jesus the righteous. God first gave the law through Moses, where the wages of sin is death. Then he revealed his grace through Jesus, where the gift of God is eternal life.

    The resurrection and the life

    Make no mistake about it, God is a killer: “The Lord sent a plague on Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell dead.” (1 Chronicles 21:14). Don’t romanticise Jesus out of this either. Listen to his words: “I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. I will kill her children with death.” (Revelation 2:22-23).

    However, unlike man who kills in order to destroy, God kills in order to make alive. Therefore, expect God to redeem life out of death: “The LORD kills, and makes alive: he brings down to the grave, and brings up.” (1 Samuel 2:6). “He bruises, but he binds up; he wounds, but his hands make whole.” (Job 5:17-18).

    That is the beauty of our lord Jesus Christ. He creates evil in order to redeem perfectly from it. He kills in order that the redemptive works of God may be revealed. (John 9:3). Now you can understand why Jesus stands in glory as: “the resurrection and the life.” (John 11:25).

    CONTINUED

  • Those plotting evil against Rivers will not know peace – Wike

    …says President Buhari was under pressure to declare state of emergency in Rivers

    Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has said the recent surge in crime as witnessed in the state was sponsored by some selfish politicians insisting that those plotting evil against the state will not know peace.

    The governor who was apparently angry at the spite of crime and killings in the state said the leadership of the ruling All Progressives Congress mounted pressure on President Muhammadu Buhari to declare a state of emergency in the state.

    Wike made the remarks when he received the Anglican bishops of the Niger Delta Province on Friday. He explained that he learnt of the pressure on the President during his meeting with the Commander-in-Chief at the State House.

    The governor, however, said that the plan to make the President declare a state of emergency in Rivers failed while measures put in place by the APC leaders to achieve their aim only manifested in their states.

    He said, “When I went to see the President, he told me that he was under pressure to declare a state of emergency in Rivers State.

    “Those things they planned to use in declaring a state of emergency in Rivers State fell on their own states and it became difficult to do so.”

    Wike added that due to insecurity in the country, the “evil eyes of the plotters have left Rivers State.”

    He said, “When you sit and plot evil against Rivers State, you will not know peace. If they don’t apologise for plotting and executing evil against Rivers State, they will never know peace.”

    The governor said that the state survived because of the prayers of clerics and the church.

    He urged the church to take interest in the leadership that would emerge in the country at all levels, warning that bad political leadership would affect everyone.

    “If you don’t participate in what is happening through voting, the country will degenerate further. People should acquire their Permanent Voter Cards to enthrone the leadership they desire,” he said.

    The governor pointed out that in other climes, if 10 persons were killed, the President would visit the place to assess the situation, adding that the country had become a security nightmare with 73 persons killed in Benue State recently.

    He observed that a mass burial was organised for the victims of herdsmen attacks in Benue State while the Presidency acted as if nothing happened.

    Wike restated that his administration would set up a Christian Trust Fund to cater for indigent clerics, maintaining that funds had been proposed in the 2018 budget for that purpose.

     

  • Evil, bitter, unpatriotic Nigerians angry at news of recession exit – Presidency

    …Says restructure your minds before asking for nation’s restructure

    The presidency on Saturday accused some bitter, unpatriotic and evil Nigerians of expressing sadness at the news of the country’s exit from recession which was announced on Tuesday by the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS.

    This was revealed by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari, Femi Adesina in a special piece he wrote to lash out at those expressing divergent views ever since the news of the exit from economic recession broke.

    The presidential aide urged those category of Nigerians to seek a restructure of their minds before demanding that the nation should be restructured.

    In his words: “The sing-song in the country today is restructuring of the polity. We want more states. We want a return to regional structure. We want a revision of the revenue allocation formula. We want six vice presidents, one from each geo-political zone. We want those zones to be the federating units, rather than the states. And so on, and so forth.


    In fact, so loud is the cacophony of voices over restructuring that if you ask 100 people what they mean, they give you 100 different explanations. But as a country, I believe we will get there someday. And soon.


    However, is political restructuring the most urgent thing Nigeria needs now? I don’t think so. For me, what is more urgent is the restructuring of the Nigerian mind. A mind that sees the country as one, that believes that we have a future and a hope, that believes that we are one people under God. But what we see now is ruinous for any country. It is hemlock, bound to poison the entire polity, and send it to a premature perdition”.

    Adesina explained that while these few but bitter Nigerians who are probably still pained by their 2015 political loss happily received the news of the nation slippering into recession in 2016 without questioning, they have however stoop so low to question the news of the exit from recession.

    “On Tuesday, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced that we had exited from economic recession. It was cheery news for majority of Nigerians, save for those in the gall of bitterness. They spat in the sky, and collected the spittle with their faces. Who gave Nigeria the permission to exit recession? Who gave her the audacity of hope? How can the economy attempt to rebound, when it should sink deeper and deeper into the miry clay? They were in the doldrums, unhappy because good news came for the country. In their befuddled minds, Nigeria must never see a silver lining in the sky. The ravening clouds must ever remain victorious, must forever possess the sky, simply because of primordial reasons.

    The party in power is not my own, so why should Nigeria make progress under it? The President in office was not the one I voted for, so why should he succeed? He does not speak my language, he is not of my religion or ethnic stock, so why must Nigeria prosper under him? They, therefore, throw all sorts of tantrums, like a child whose lollipop is taken away, and attempt to rubbish the news on exit from recession. And those same people would canvass for a restructuring of the polity. Big mistake. Wrong priority. They need to have their minds restructured first, so that they have goodwill towards their own country, and towards all men. Left to them, they wish that when NBS releases results for the next quarter, Nigeria should have gone back into recession. Filthy dreamers! Awful imaginations! They need a restructuring of their minds, and quickly, too,” Adesina said.

    He noted further: “The National Bureau of Statistics announced our descent into recession. They embraced the news, almost with sickening glee. Now, the same agency has announced exit, and they begin to question its impartiality. What kind of people are they? They want to hear only bad news?

    May their minds be restructured, lest bad news dog their footsteps. Malediction? Am I cursing anybody? Not at all. Just a warning, and a call to new attitude, new thoughts, new conduct. The things we expect have a way of coming upon us. Ask the biblical Job. “What I feared has come upon me. What I dreaded has happened to me.”(Job 3:25).

    The seasoned journalist further explained that while the news of the exit from recession is cheering, President Muhammadu Buhari and the NBS had clearly warned that the nation’s economic team should not relax on their oars as there was still a lot to be achieved to finally put the nation on the path of greatness.

    “President Buhari says exit from recession is cheery news, but until the life of the average Nigerian is positively touched by the economy, he doesn’t consider the job done.

    Very good. Even the NBS, which brought the good news, says the economy is still fragile, and the good work must continue, so that we don’t slide back. That is exactly what this government would do. That is the motive behind the ERGP (Economic Reconstruction and Growth Plan). So, let nobody be filled with diabolic thoughts. Government does not feel it is there yet. Action stations! All hands on deck,” he explained.