Gov. David Umahi of Ebonyi on Wednesday said that only God will decide his next destination after leaving office as the state’s governor in 2023.
Umahi made the declaration in Abakaliki while reacting to speculations making the rounds that he was eying the federal level with the aim of replicating his infrastructural strides at the national level.
Umahi had inspected some on-going projects across the state including the new Ebonyi Airport, the International Shopping Mall and the new EXCO Chamber, after which a newsman threw in the question.
The governor said that he had done a lot of work since assuming the mantle of leadership of the state and ‘will want to rest’ after leaving office.
“I have worked so hard from my youth, even harder for the government but it is up to God to decide whether to rest or not at the end of my tenure.
“God is on my mind. Where He wants me to go, I will go and what He wants me to do, I will do.
“I keep saying that leadership is about the fear of God, passion to work for the people and the realisation that this is a transitional camp which we will all leave sooner or later,” he said.
Umahi said that he embarked on monumental projects to enhance the people’s wellbeing and correct the wrong notion about the state which made people to ‘look down’ on it.
“We want to punish people who underrate us by embarking on these monumental projects that they cannot see elsewhere.
“When you have the passion to help people, God will be with you and give you the divine wisdom to actualise all your goals.
“God sees the hearts of men and it is not what men say, we politicians say, that matter but the heart which God sees.
“God will bring somebody who will take care of these projects after I leave office and ensure that they are judiciously channeled toward helping the people,” he said.
He said that the projects had not been stalled by lack of funds even for one day because he had the biblical favour of ‘when men are saying cast-down, God is saying cast-up’.
“When God sends you on a mission, He gives you the vision to accomplish it and you cannot even have a vision if you don’t have passion.
“God gave us the experience as we have done this job (construction) for more than 30 years in the private sector, complemented by God’s grace and wisdom,” he said.
Tag: God
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Only God can decide my next political move after 2023 – Umahi
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Called to minister to God – Femi Aribisala
By Femi Aribisala
Those who minister to God lament over the things that break God’s heart. We grieve over the afflictions of Joseph. (Amos 6:6). We commiserate with a distressed Father who daily sees His beloved children going astray, taking the wrong decisions, and falling into the traps of the enemy. We feel God’s pain and anguish at the sinful condition of the world.
The world God created is broken. The people He loves have gone astray. Therefore: “Gird yourselves and lament, you priests; wail, you who minister before the altar; come, lie all night in sackcloth, you who minister to my God.” (Joel 1:13).
“Let the priests, who minister to the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar; let them say,” Spare Your people, O Lord, and do not give Your heritage to reproach.” (Joel 1:17). “Then the Lord will be zealous for His land, and pity His people.” (Joel 2:18).
It also means sitting sometimes quietly in God’s presence, as we share in His grief. This is what the friends of Job did: “They sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great.” (Job 2:13).
Entering into God’s pain
God created man in His image and likeness. He did this because He wants us to be exactly like His Son Jesus. Paul says: “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.” (Romans 8:29). For this reason, we are being transformed by the Holy Spirit into the image of Christ from glory to glory. (2 Corinthians 3:18).
God wants us to share in His divine nature. That is one of the reasons why He required Abraham to offer up his son, Isaac. God planned to offer up Jesus, His only begotten Son, for our sins. Therefore, He asked Abraham to offer up Isaac, his only begotten son, for God. He wanted to see if Abraham would agree to go through the same ordeal that He would go through in offering up His Son Jesus for the sins of the world.
By agreeing to sacrifice his son, Abraham ministered to God. Heaven is designed for those who are prepared to be of the same mind in the Lord. Accordingly, Paul says: “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 2:5).
Fellowship of sufferings
Paul prayed concerning Jesus: “That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings.” (Philippians 3:10).
God wants those who minister to Him to be like Jesus; men and women of sufferings and sorrow, acquainted with grief. (Isaiah 53:3). God appeared to Ezekiel, gave him a book, and told him to eat it. The book was full of lamentations, mourning, and woe. (Ezekiel 2:9-10). God wanted Ezekiel to identify fully with his feelings of distress before going to preach to Israel. Similarly, Jesus redeemed mankind in the travail of His soul. Isaiah 53:11).
God told Elijah that he had prepared a widow in Zarephath to feed him. But when he got to her, he discovered that she had no food. So, how had God prepared her? He prepared her through pain and suffering. He prepared her through the loss of her husband and in famine. If we have not been prepared through pain and suffering, losses, and sorrow, then we cannot effectively minister to God.
Hannah was a woman of sorrow over her barrenness. She ministered to God in her distress and God used her sorrows to produce Samuel, a mighty prophet in Israel. God was grieved over the sins of Eli the High Priest and his sons. He needed to share his grief so He turned to a woman of prayer called Hannah. He shut her womb and brought reproach on her from her rival Peninnah. So, Hannah was in great distress but her distress was evidence of God’s love.
In her distress, Hannah ministered to God in prayer. God wanted a mighty prophet as a saviour of Israel: Hannah wanted a son. So, God took Hannah to the place where, in her distress, she struck a tremendous bargain with God. If God were to give Hannah a son, Hannah would give him up for the Lord. Thereby, Hannah entered into God’s ordeal of giving up His only begotten Son for the salvation of the world.
Atonement with God
To minister to God, we have to be one with Him. We have to feel through His heart and see through His eyes. Therefore, God takes us through pain, losses, and adversities because He wants us to identify with Him.
God shares in our affliction: “In all (our) affliction He (is) afflicted, and the Angel of His Presence saves (us).” (Isaiah 63:9). Jesus did likewise: “He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5).
In the same manner, God wants his ministers to share in His afflictions. God suffers from unrequited love. He loves us but we don’t love Him back. He loves us but we love money life and women. We cannot understand the depth of God’s pain at the unfaithfulness of men until we have also experienced the unfaithfulness of our loved ones.
So, out of God’s love, He takes us through the experience of an unfaithful husband or an unfaithful wife. Accordingly, God said to Hosea: “Go again, love a woman who is loved by a lover and is committing adultery, just like the love of the Lord for the children of Israel, who look to other gods and love the raisin cakes of the pagans.” (Hosea 3:1).
When we share in God’s pain, He then empowers us to share in the pain of others. You cannot operate in a healing ministry if you do not minister to God.
Expressing God’s anguish
God does not just give us His Spirit and himself, He also wants to give us His life and His experiences. God became the son of man so that man can become the son of God. When God became a man, He expressed our anguish and pain: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46/ Psalm 22:1). Now that man has become a son of God, we should express God’s anguish and pain to God.
Ministering to God means listening to God’s heartbeat. We are now the body of Christ, which means we are now part of God. Therefore, we must act accordingly by taking up God’s yoke and by bearing His burdens.
When tragedies occur as is happening right now with this coronavirus pandemic, the first thing we need to do is minister to God. If people are dying, you can be sure God is hurting: “‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’” (Ezekiel 33:11).
CONCLUDED
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Expression of grace in the ministry of Jesus (2) – Femi Aribisala
By Femi Aribisala
Paul says: “By grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8).
This agrees with Jesus’ expressions of grace. He says: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me.” (John 6:44-45). “People can’t come to me unless the Father gives them to me.” (John 6:65). “The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing.” (John 6:63).
That means the grace of God is unmerited. “Who then can be saved?” asks His disciples in bewilderment. Jesus says to them: “With men, it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible.” (Mark 10:26-27).
So, when some Jews ask Him: “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” Jesus says to them: “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” (John 6:28-29).
God’s grace is 100% the work of God. However, we can only enter into this blessing by faith. That is why Paul says we are saved by grace through faith. (Ephesians 2:8). At its most fundamental, God is not a respecter of persons. (Acts 10:34). His grace is available to all men: “The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.” (Titus 2:11).
However, not all men receive it. Even some who initially receive it fall from grace because they fail to abide by the principles of God’s grace. The grace of God that brings salvation is received by faith without merit. But it is perfected by works.
Grace through faith
In the first place, God does not give grace to the wicked. Isaiah says: “Though grace is shown to the wicked, they do not learn righteousness; even in a land of uprightness they go on doing evil.” (Isaiah 26:10). Therefore, in order to show grace to a man, God first has to give him the gift of repentance from sin. (Acts 11:18). This means even repentance is a gift of God’s grace.
This gift of repentance is one of the things God promised in the past that is now “Yea and Amen” in Christ. He says: “I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.” (Zechariah 12:10).
But God’s grace does not come to an end after we repent. John the Baptist says Jesus has come to give us one grace after another. (John 1:16-17). Through the way Jesus made for us, we can now come again and again to God’s throne of grace to receive more and more grace: “Let us, therefore, come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16).
However, unlike the grace of God that brings salvation, what we receive from the throne of grace is not only accessed by faith, it must be perfected by works. This grace is merited because: “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” (James 4:6). It is only given to those who agree to be: “created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10).
It is not given to those who despise the grace of God and continue in sin. The psalmist says: “The Lord will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.” (Psalm 84:11). Believers who drawback and are not upright can fall from grace. (Galatians 5:4). But true believers grow in this grace. (2 Peter 3:18).
Grace with works
That is why James cautions us saying: “But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?” (James 2:20-22).
The example of Abraham is very instructive. God called Abraham and made some promises to him entirely by grace. He told him: “I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:2-3).
Abraham did absolutely nothing to deserve these blessings. But: “He believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.” (Genesis 15:6).
However, much later, God tested Abraham by telling him to sacrifice his only son, Isaac. When Abraham obeyed, God repeated to him the same promises He had earlier made to him by grace:
“By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.” (Genesis 22:16-18).
In this manner, the same promise that was made to Abraham by grace that he received by faith was now perfected by the works of Abraham.
Word made flesh
In 1996, I had a video shop in Victoria Island, Lagos that was making, on average, 7,000 naira a day. But one day, God gave me a dream where I opened the account book of the shop and discovered to my surprise that it made 23,000 naira in one day. I immediately received this prophecy by faith and then set out to work.
The psalmist says: “Since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, ‘I believed and therefore I spoke,’ we also believe and therefore speak.” (2 Corinthians 4:13). Therefore, I told everybody that my Victoria Island shop would make 23,000 naira in one day. But Ernest, my assistant, did not believe.
However, I did more than just talk. I filled the shop with goods far above the level of business. I did this so persistently that God spoke to me. He said: “Femi, because you believe me, I will tell you when this prophecy will be fulfilled. It will happen on 29th December 1996.”
On that appointed date, it was my unbelieving assistant who brought me the news. But, paradoxically, the shop did not make 23,000 naira: it made 29,000. When I asked the Lord the reason behind the discrepancy, He said to me: “Femi, you exceeded the prophecy.”
And so, this gift of grace also ended up with a surprise. Although it was unmerited and I received it by faith, I perfected it by works (also by God’s grace.) But it did not end there. I kept going back for more and more grace and the income kept growing until it peaked at 55,000 naira a day in 2002.
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God must be our savior – Femi Aribisala
By Femi Aribisala
I have never asked God a question he did not answer. He might not answer immediately, but all I have to do is stand upon my watch like Habakkuk, and he answers sooner than later. (Habakkuk 2:1). But a while back, the Lord answered a question I did not even ask. Or maybe I should say he answered a question I should have asked.
I should have asked him why he says: “Whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 16:25). I know this is a cardinal principle of salvation that makes all the difference between life and death. But why is it so important?
Fighting for my life
Saving my life is the story of my sinful life. If you slap me, I save my life by slapping you back. If you abuse me, I save my life by abusing you back. If you cheat me, I save my life by confronting you. I resist passionately any attack against me or my loved ones. Like Bob Marley, I get up and stand up for my rights.
But we cannot obey any of the commandments of the Lord unless we lay down our lives. Jesus says: “Whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:33). This means whatever we would normally try to defend should be relinquished at the get-go for Christ’s sake.
This is the counsel of Jesus: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21).
If we were to obey this injunction, we would have nothing left to defend.
It also important to recognize that this refers to more than our material possessions. It also means relinquishing ourselves. It means relinquishing our pride. It means relinquishing our self-esteem. It means relinquishing our self-worth.
Let us try to think this through. How can we forgive those who offend us if we are determined to save and defend ourselves? It is not possible. It means we cannot retaliate against an infraction. We cannot seek vengeance for any offence done against us. We cannot even hold grudges for grudges are also instruments of self-defence. We feel we are so important that the denial of our fellowship will somehow drastically affect those who upset us.
But Jesus goes even further. He says we should not resist evil: “I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two.” (Matthew 5:39-41).
Tall order
This is a very tall order. It is one thing to know that the Lord wants me to lay down my life, and another thing altogether to obey. And then it is another thing again to obey willingly; without grumbling or complaining. Paul says: “Do everything without complaining or arguing.” (Philippians 2:14). None of these injunctions can be obeyed willingly unless the Holy Spirit helps us. Jesus says: “Without me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5).
The scriptures say of Jesus our fore-runner: “He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; he was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.” (Isaiah 53:7).
Accordingly, I need our Father’s help to enable me to keep my mouth shut. Since he is always listening to my heart, I also need him to guard my heart with all diligence, so I don’t keep grumbling and murmuring inaudibly; but to God’s hearing.
The Shepherd’s voice
I don’t have to tell you it is difficult to lay down my life. Everything about me fights against it. And yet, Jesus says it is easy. He says: “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:29-30).
The problem then is that I don’t want to be yoked to the Lord. When I feel his restraints, I fight God. I say in rebellion: “Let me break his chains, and throw off his cords.” (Psalm 2:3).
I probably thought it would amount to insubordination to ask the Lord why attempts to save my life are so harmful as to jeopardise my salvation entirely. But he decided to tell me anyway. I woke up in time for a vigil and the Holy Spirit shouted in my right ear: “God must be your Saviour.”
It was a short sentence, but it spoke eloquently to me. Indeed, I heard it as an entire sermon. I must have no other Saviour but God. It actually translates into one of the Ten Commandments: “You shall have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3). God says in Isaiah: “I, even I, am the Lord, and besides me there is no saviour.” (Isaiah 43:11).
Fighting to be God
It is not so much my having other gods as my determination to be my own god. I feel I am the best person to defend my interests. God does not do this satisfactorily because he insists it is his will that must be done. However, his timing is not my timing. But it is important for me to recognise that my times are in the hands of God. (Psalm 31:15).
When I want things done immediately, Isaiah says: “Whoever believes will not act hastily.” (Isaiah 28:16). Solomon concurs: “He has made everything beautiful in its time.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Therefore, I often find myself in Gethsemane, pleading pathetically with God for my will to be done.
But God must be our Saviour. We cannot call God Saviour and then insist on saving ourselves. We cannot call him Saviour and then dictate to him the terms of salvation. God can save by helping us avoid a problem. Or he can save us in the problem. Or he can save us through the problem. Or he can save by redeeming our losses from the problem. He can save from life, or from death, or in death, or by resurrection from death.
If he is to be our God and Saviour, then the prerogative must belong exclusively to him. God says he will not give his glory to another.
However, for many of us Christians, our saviour is not God.
Sometimes our saviour is a godfather. Or our saviour is a lie. Or our saviour is a bribe. Or our saviour is a theft. Or our saviour is a fight. Or our saviour is an abuse. Or our saviour is deception. Or our saviour is a sacrifice. Or our saviour is a judge. Or our saviour is divorce.
But our Saviour must be God.
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Living with the truth (2) – Femi Aribisala
By Femi Aribisala
Why don’t we like the truth? We don’t like the truth because we prefer lies. We prefer lies because we cannot handle the truth. We prefer lies because they are our refuge. We prefer lies because they provide a place for us to hide. We prefer lies because the truth is bitter.
Would they still love me if they knew the truth? Would they still love me if they knew I am a fraud? Would they still love me if they knew I am still striving against sin? What if they found out that I beat my wife? What if they know I am a cocaine addict?
Calm down! “God did not send (the Truth) into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” (John 3:17).
No place to hide
Nothing is hidden from the Truth. The Prodigal Son left home for a far country so that he can be with prostitutes without having his father breathing down his neck. No such luck! The Truth is Jehovah Shamar: The God that is always there. He knows everything: He sees everything.
What a relief! He knows: he knows. He knows I am a thief. He knows I have lustful thoughts. Nevertheless, he still loves me with an everlasting love. Even though my sins are scarlet, He is determined that they will be as white as snow.
Redeeming truth
We have met the truth and He did not destroy us. We discovered that the Truth is not as damning as we have been led to believe. The truth is good news and not bad news. The truth is the gospel. (Galatians 2:5). Thanks to the Truth, we can be naked and not ashamed.
The truth says although you have been stealing, you are not a thief. It is actually not in your nature to steal, to lie, to cheat, or to fornicate. The truth is that you have the innate ability to be righteous, and to live a godly life. The Truth bestows on us all things that pertain to life and godliness.
The truth reveals that God has provided the opportunity for the man who has messed up, the man who has blown it, the man who has failed, the man who has sinned and the man who has transgressed, to begin again. He has done this by giving us new birth in Christ Jesus, thereby creating a completely new man.
But I am an old man says Nicodemus: “Would I have to go back into my mother’s womb?” (John 3:4).
It does not matter if you are young or old. It is a spiritual, and not a physical, rebirth. The slate is wiped clean. The past is forgiven and forgotten. Once we come under the precious blood of Jesus, God does not remember our sins anymore. (Isaiah 43:25).
Contradicting the Truth
When Gideon met the Truth, He told him he is a mighty man of valor. Gideon did not believe this. He countered: “O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us?” (Judges 6:13).
Gideon knew the lie that he was not a mighty man of valor. But the Truth told him: “‘Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!’ ‘But Lord,’ Gideon replied, ‘how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family!’” (Judges 6:14-15).
This is what happens when we have been socialized into lies. When we finally meet the Truth, we start arguing with Him.
I met the Truth in the middle of an armed robbery attack. He told me there and then that nothing would happen to me. But immediately after He told me this, I was shot in the leg. Nevertheless, the Truth told me that nothing was wrong with my leg.
In that manner, He made me understand that getting shot is nothing. He also showed me that my health is not dependent on my flesh by subsequently healing my bullet-ridden leg. Reality is not dependent upon what is outward in the flesh, but by what is inward in the heart. It is not determined by the letter but by the Spirit. (Romans 2:28-29).
The outward is prone to deception, whereas the inward is a more proper index of truth. God writes His Truth in the inner man. David says that God requires truth in the inward parts. (Psalm 51:6). This means whatever the flesh tells us is a lie. It makes no difference what we feel, if it contradicts the word of God, it is a lie.
Salvation from lies
“Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, ‘If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.’” (John 8:31-32).
What will the Truth make us free from? He will make us free from the lies of the devil. He will make us free from the lies of the world.
When you know the Truth, you realise certain things. You discover that the devil is completely powerless. He has absolutely no power at all. All power in heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus. (Matthew 28:18). The devil has none. All the devil has is lies. He uses lies to deceive. He cannot make you do anything. But he can deceive you into doing many things.
To say “the devil made me do it” is a lie. He was able to deceive you because you walk in lies. You believed his lies because you don’t know the Truth. And Jesus is the Truth.
Who are you?
A man cannot know himself unless he first knows Jesus, the Truth. It is the Truth that reveals to a man who he is. Some people think they are white and some think they are black. But when they meet the Truth, they discover they are neither. Some think they are tall: some think they are short. Some think they are handsome: some think they are not. But none of this has anything to do with who or what they are.
Because we don’t know who we are, we are susceptible to lies. You do a job and are paid 500,000 naira a month. Is that really how much you are worth? Do you even know how much you are worth?
Hear and understand. Even if they were to pay you a million naira, they would still be paying you peanuts. You are worth so much more. It is the Truth that reveals the true value of a man. He reveals that our worth is determined by the cost of our redemption. We must be very valuable indeed because Jesus died for us. He ransomed us with His own life.
“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” (Romans 8:1-2).
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The Titan sunk while God was ‘watching’, By Stephen Ojapah MSP
Stephen Ojapah MSP
The question of evil has remained with humans, right from time immemorial. A classic example of the question of evil and the suffering of the innocent can be found in the book of Job. “Man born of woman is short-lived and full of trouble” (Job 14:1). The scriptures tell us that human suffering cannot be approached scientifically. Good men as well as bad men suffer no matter how well you prepare. In Isaiah (52: 13- 53: 12), we read about the suffering servant; whose innocence and suffering cannot be rationally explained. In modern history, Philosophers endeavored to make sense out of human suffering. Nietzsche critic religion and metaphysics. He pondered time and again why the human mind is bewitched by the notion of a true world behind the apparent world. His answer can be seen in a remark found among his notes after his death: “It is suffering that inspires these conclusions: fundamentally they are desires that such a world should exist; in the same way, to imagine another, more valuable world is an expression of hatred for a world that makes one suffer: the resentment of metaphysicians against actuality is here creative” (Will to Power, 579).
Nietzsche wrestled with this problem in his first published book, The Birth of Tragedy. There, he argued that the Greeks were “keenly aware of the terrors and horrors of existence.” To endure those terrors, the Greeks interposed between life and themselves as “shining fantasy of the Olympians.” The Greeks’ folk wisdom was enshrined in the myth in which King Midas hunts down the wise Silenus and asks him about the most desirable thing of all. Silenus answers: “What is best of all is utterly beyond your reach: not to be born, not to be, to be nothing. But the second best for you is – to die soon”. In other words, immunity to suffering is dying as soon as you are born: This is inspired by the stack reality of pains in our world and our immediate environment.
For good or for ill, COVID 19 will remain on our lips for some time. It has brought untold pains and suffering to millions of Nigerians it has brought untold sadness to many. We have lost thousands of lives and billions of naira. The suffering that comes with COVID 19 would have been solved, according to Nietzsche, if one died as soon as one was born. But to be alive means occasionally enduring such tragedies. Tragedy, whether caused by natural or human factors have always left us in pains. One of such in modern history is the tragedy of the Titanic ship. RMS Titanic was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line. The ship, sank in the North Atlantic Ocean in the early morning hours of April 15, 1912, after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City. Of the estimated 2,224 passengers and crew aboard, more than 1,500 died, making the sinking one of modern history’s deadliest peacetime commercial marine disasters.
RMS Titanic was the largest ship afloat at the time she entered service, and was the second of three Olympic-class ocean liners operated by the White Star Line. She was built by the Harland and wolf shipyard in Belfast. Thomas Andrews, chief naval architect of the shipyard at the time, died in the disaster. The ship was built in four years between 1908 and 1912. It cost GB £1.5 million (£140 million in 2020) and in naira that would be N56, billion in 2020. This tragedy defied preparedness of maritime technology. In the movie, Titanic, based on the true-life story of Beatrice Wood, Rose Calvert and Leonardo Di Caprio acted together as main characters; reenacting the experience of the survivors.
One of the moving scenes in the movie is the band singing the hymn: “Nearer, My God, to Thee,” a 19th-century Christian hymn by Sarah Flower Adams, which retells the story of Jacob’s dream (Genesis 28:11–12). They sang the song in the face of utter hopelessness and death of hundreds of people on board. The tragedy of death and pain did not forestall them from singing; at best this hymn is a song of surrender to God. As St Paul captures it more succinctly, whether we are alive or dead we belong to God (Rom 14: 8). Thus, we can equally say, God “watched” as the Titanic ship was sinking, just as He “watches” the COVID 19 ravaged the world, claiming hundreds of thousands of lives. In our pains; Mystics, Philosophers and Theologians like St Augustine have tried to make sense out of any moral or physical evil.
St. Augustine reflects on this in his great work, The City of God. The work, which he considered his greatest, was occasioned by the decline of the Roman Empire and the sacking of the city of Rome by barbarians under Alaric in 410 AD. Augustine wrote the work to ponder how a once mighty empire had fallen into such decay. There were of course many sufferings inflicted on the citizens of Rome by the Barbarians. “Sacks” are not pleasant events. Some were killed, many women were raped, grave damage was inflicted on the city, and the property of many were damaged and taken. In chapter 28 of the City of God, Augustine ponders why God would have allowed such suffering, especially to the Christians of that city, and in particular to the Christian women of virtue who were raped. At times, his reflections seem almost unsympathetic. But in effect, St. Augustine points to humiliation and suffering as a strong but necessary medicine for pride, which is far worse than any of the ills suffered to remedy it. Very importantly, St. Augustine begins by disclaiming any ability to offer a complete explanation for suffering. He says: If you ask me why they [the Barbarians] were allowed the liberty of committing these sins, the answer is that the providence of the Creator and Ruler of the world transcends human reckoning (Psalm 138).
Like the victims of the Titanic tragedy and COVID 19, none was experienced by the victims by any act of negotiations. Suffering whether caused by physical or moral evil makes us shining examples of history, when we pull through in faith. Like Job in the bible; the victims of holocaust, as in the story of Maximilian Kolbe. The victims of Rwandan Genocide as in Immaculee Ilibagiza, the victims of Boko Haram like Leah Shaibu, the victims of kidnappers like the twin brother of late Michael Nnadi: the slain seminarian of Sokoto Diocese. And the perfect model of suffering is Jesus himself. As we go through this moment of great uncertainly let me suggest few things to distract us from the “boredom” of the moment.
Find time to read again and again the amazing stories in the bible like the story of Job and his friends, (Job 4-23); the inspiring Story of David’s Plight and Flight (I Sam 21-24), The touching story of Jeremiah the weeping prophet (Jer 31:27-34) and the story of Peter’s denial. (Matt 26:34-75). On a very light mood: It will be great also to connect back to old books and movies that made you happy when you were young. What was that book that was fantastic when you read it in the university or in the secondary school? Go and find them on your bookshelf or in your store and read them again. For me, it is the Trials for Brother Jero by Wole Soyinka, A man of the People by Chinua Achebe.
Others are Cry Freedom by Peter Abrahams, The River Between by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o and Jagua Nana by Cyprian Ekwensi. Any of these books will take you back, bring all those memories and fill you with the joy you need at this time. Get that book that brings it all back. Borrow one from a friend if you have lost yours; reward yourself. Call a friend from your past and share (Eugenia Abu, Daily Trust, 2020). It is our prayer that this ship of COVID 19 will not sink humanity before our brave scientists and governments across Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Americas come up with a lasting solution. In the meantime, let us keep the social distancing, avoid non-essential travels; wash your hands regularly for at least 20 seconds. While God “watched” his Son die on the cross, he surprised the world with the mystery and the glory of the resurrection.
Fr Stephen Ojapah is a Missionary of St Paul. He is equally the director for Interreligious Dialogue and Ecumenism for the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto. He is also a KAICIID Fellow. (omeizaojapah85@gmail.com)
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Popular gospel artiste dumps Christianity, says ‘I no longer believe in God’
Jonathan Steingard, the frontman of the Christian rock band Hawk Nelson, has admitted he no longer believes in God.
In a lengthy post that was shared on his Instagram account last week, the singer revealed that after a lifetime as a Christian, he no longer believes in God and would be leaving the band.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CAbHm10lt7w/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
“After growing up in a Christian home, being a pastor’s kid, playing and singing in a Christian band, and having the word ‘Christian’ in front of most of the things in my life — I am now finding that I no longer believe in God,” read Steingard’s statement. “The last few words of that sentence were hard to write. I still find myself wanting to soften that statement by wording it differently or less specifically – but it wouldn’t be as true.”
The 36-year-old Canadian musician went on to write that losing his religion occurred over several years as he began sharing his doubts to close friends. Steingard said he felt like this was the right time to make the announcement given that his band is on hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Hawk Nelson issued a statement on Wednesday supporting Steingard following his announcement that he would be leaving the Christian rock band.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CAsYzgzhMTP/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
“One of our best friends, one with whom we have walked, worked and lived alongside for 20 + years revealed some of his innermost feelings on his faith journey this past week,” read the band’s statement posted on Instagram. “Our mission as Hawk Nelson has always been to inspire and encourage all people with the truth that God is FOR them and not against them. In that message’s most simple and purest form, that THEY matter.”
Steingard originally joined Hawk Nelson in 2004 as its lead guitarist, and became the lead vocalist after founder Jason Dunn’s exit from the band in 2012.
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Living with the truth (1) – Femi Aribisala
Femi Aribisala
God told Moses that the children of Israel should bring Him an offering. He asked for gold, silver, and bronze. Blue, purple and scarlet thread. Fine linen and goat’s hair. Ram’s skins, badger skins, and acacia wood. Oil, spices, and sweet incense.
He left the bombshell for the last. He said: “Let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.” (Exodus 25:8).
This means trouble. “The sinners in Zion are terrified; trembling grips the godless: ‘Who of us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who of us can dwell with everlasting burning?’ He who walks righteously and speaks what is right, who rejects gain from extortion and keeps his hand from accepting bribes, who stops his ears against plots of murder and shuts his eyes against contemplating evil.” (Isaiah 33:14-15).
Who is the person going to live among the Israelites? The Truth is going to live among them.
Who is the truth?
Jesus told Pilate that He came from heaven to testify to the Truth. Pilate asked him whimsically: “What is Truth?” He did not even wait for an answer but simply walked away.
What indeed is Truth? The truth in the bible is not abstract but real and tangible. The truth is a person with a personality. The truth in the bible is Jesus Christ. Jesus says: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6).
In effect, when Pilate asked: “What is Truth?” the Truth was staring at him in the face. He did not know the Truth and could not be bothered with the Truth. It is near impossible to know the truth if you have been living with lies and liars. When this happens, you can no longer differentiate the Truth from falsehood.
Nevertheless, the Truth wants to live in the midst of His people. That means living in the midst of lies and liars. How can that possibly work? Something has to give. For the Truth to live with liars, the hail will have to sweep away the refuge of lies. (Isaiah 28:17).
I can imagine the people saying to Moses: “Please look for a way to tell him not to come. Or you can tell Him He cannot come now. Tell Him to come next year.”
“Tell Him He can come after we have finished paying our debts.” “What debts?” “We are debtors to the flesh. We owe our flesh some worldly achievements: we cannot accomplish them with the Truth. We owe our flesh a certain reputation: we cannot accomplish this with the Truth. We owe our flesh a certain status in life: we cannot accomplish this with the Truth.”
“How long will it take for you to pay back all your debts so the Truth can come to stay with you?” “Not long! Give or take 5 years at the most.” “No,” says the Holy Spirit, “it will take you a lifetime.”
Way of escape
When David met the Truth, he started looking for a way of escape. Since he could find no earthly counselor, he ended up asking the Truth Himself. He said:
“Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me.” (Psalm 139:7-10).
When Isaiah met the Truth, he knew he was in big trouble. He cried out: “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” (Isaiah 6:5).
When Peter met the Truth, he wanted to run away. He said: “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” Luke 5:8).
Knowing the Truth is different from knowing the scriptures. The Pharisees knew the scriptures but did not know the Truth. The scriptures are just a road map directing us to the Truth. Therefore, the Truth says to the Pharisees: “You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me! Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life.” (John 5:39-40).
It is a waste of time to stop at the road map. It is a waste of time to stop at the road sign. The Truth is the destination. Therefore, we need to proceed to the destination. We need to know Jesus, the Truth.
The Pharisees knew the scriptures but did not know the Truth. They knew the scriptures but walked in lies. Therefore, when the Truth came in person, they could not stand Him. They ended up by deciding to silence Him.
But you cannot kill the Truth. You can do nothing against the Truth but for the Truth. (2 Corinthians 13:8).
Fighting the truth
The Truth is: “despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.” (Isaiah 53:3).
Herodias had John the Baptist killed for telling the truth about her adultery with her husband’s brother. But killing John the Baptist did not remove the truth of Her adultery. The only thing that could do that was repentance. Repentance means agreeing with the Truth and deciding to walk in truth.
However, most people cannot even live with themselves, how much more with the Truth. They don’t like themselves. They hate who they are. So, they walk in lies and not in the Truth. They prefer to be told lies and not the Truth.
Some are so disgusted with who they are, they go into depression. Some take refuge in alcohol and drugs. Some even end up committing suicide.
But why do we hate the Truth. We hate the Truth because the Truth is bitter. We hate the Truth because the Truth exposes us. We hate the Truth because the Truth reveals our awful secrets. We hate the Truth because we believe in self-deception. We hate the Truth because we don’t like ourselves. We hate the Truth because we are not who we want to be. We hate the Truth because we are not who we claim to be.
Jerry Brown-Johnson brought a man to our fellowship at Healing Wings. He was very excited about the fellowship initially. But suddenly, he stopped coming. Jerry said he felt coming to church makes him a hypocrite. There were too many things wrong with his life. He felt he should not come to church when he has not yet dealt with them.
But the problem of this man was not his hypocrisy. His problem was not even his sins, whatever they might have been. His problem was that he did not know the Truth. The truth saves us without condemning us. He declares: “I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” (Matthew 9:13).
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Eid-el-Fitr: Don’t lose faith, courage in God because of Coronavirus, Buhari tells Muslims
President Muhammadu Buhari has charged Muslims across the country not to let their faith in God be dampened by the scourge of the global health crisis caused by the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic.
President Buhari, in his message to the country in celebration of this year’s Eid-el-Fitr, regretted the fact that Muslims had suffered harsh conditions in a bid to keep themselves and the world around them safe, including being prevented from the important traditional practices that would usually go along with the Ramadan fasting.
The President, according to a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, said “no government would intentionally impose these tough and demanding measures on its citizens if it had a choice.”
He, however, urged Muslims to keep their spirits up in spite of the (COVID-19) pandemic, “which caught the world off guard, and has put a damper on what would otherwise have been a time of celebration for the Muslim faithful to mark the end of the Ramadan fasting period.”
In his Sallah message to Muslims on the occasion of Eid-el-Fitr, the President noted that “for the first time in recent years, the COVID-19 pandemic has taken a heavy toll on the people’s spiritual, social and economic lives.”
According to President Buhari, “this year’s fasting period was particularly challenging for Muslims because they had to forgo many important aspects of their daily worship, including the routine congregations for prayer and the recitation and interpretation of the Holy Qur’an as well as traveling for the lesser pilgrimage to Makkah.”
He said that “it is not easy to give up many of these important duties and activities, but it became imperative to do so in order to control or limit the spread of this deadly disease.”
“Let me use this opportunity to commend the sacrifices of both Muslims and Christians for their cooperation in the enforcement of the social distancing guidelines. I am well aware of the inconveniences these tough measures have brought on the lives of Nigerians, including limiting religious activities and gatherings in large numbers,” the President noted.
President Buhari also appealed to other Nigerians “whose businesses and means of livelihoods were badly affected by the prolonged lockdown measures for their understanding and cooperation.”
He assured Nigerians that the lockdown measures would not go on longer than necessary because they would be reviewed from time to time to ease the increasing hardships on the people.
He also exhorted people with means to continue helping their neighbours and the less well-to-do “so that we can all come out of this pandemic stronger and more united.”
President Buhari told the Muslim faithful that “this year’s Eid event is an occasion for sober reflection rather than celebration because of the long shadows of gloom that the coronavirus has cast on people’s lives.”
He prayed to Allah to ease the hardship among the people as they struggle hard to flatten the curve, while wishing all Nigerians “Eid Mubarak.”