WHEN FULANI HERDSMEN SET PETROL TANKER ON FIRE IN LAGOS…
Happy new month dear steemians, I
hope you all went to church? I'm motivated to bring your way one out of the many chaotic situations in Nigeria my country. Happy reading.
Let us start this article at the right place. Let us start by offering our heart-felt prayers, and paying our condolences to the friends and families of all those that have lost their lives, limbs, and livelihood in the increasing spate of the gory violence and disasters that have been visiting the Nigerian nation in the last few years. It is our prayer that the Lord will console the bereaved, heal the wounded, and compensate those that have suffered loss in one way or the other. Our hearts are truly with them.
It is also important to condemn, in the strongest possible terms, the perpetrators of these vile acts of gross wickedness and barbarism. One day, they will live to reap the evil seeds they are sowing today. And if they do not live enough to harvest their seeds, the generations following them may harvest it in truckloads. For in the judgement of God in the natural world, what goes round comes round. Whatever a man sows, that shall he reap. In addition to God’s judgment, the laws of the land must take its course in dealing with the perpetrators of these dastardly and wicked acts.
We must not also fail to deplore the inefficiency and, at times, the gross insensitivity of the government at all levels, as well as their agencies, in finding a solution to these heart-wrenching, mind-numbing violence and disasters that are afflicting the people they were voted to protect and serve. Their failure is a shame that will haunt some of them for a long time, and history will not forget their gross ineptitude.
Having observed all these right and proper protocols, we must now turn our attention to something much more fundamental and inevitable. For our freedom from these afflictions, our moving forward more strongly as a nation, will not flow from ONLY giving these right responses, but in addressing and dealing with the weightier roots that may be nurturing the evil fruits that we see on the surface and lament today.
The living cannot bring back the dead. The living cannot turn back the hand of time for the dead. What the living can do in honour of the dead is to ensure that the sacrifice they made in losing their lives leads, one way or another, to the betterment of those that they leave behind. If this is achieved, and if it is possible for the dead to look back and see such progress, they may be comforted in knowing that their death, however gruesome, may have not been in vain. But, if the living fails to make progress from the trail of ruins, then shall the dead weep again. Pained that they may have died in vain. And, even in death, I guess that would hurt deeply.
When confronted with a similar situation involving the wickedness of Pilate to some Galilaeans, Jesus was not overly sentimental in His response. He focussed very narrowly on what mattered the most to a wise man – what does the disaster imply for the living? What can we take out, and move forward with, as we mourn and bury our dead? The conclusion of Jesus may have shocked his hearers, or they may have even accused him of gross insensitivity. Hear Him: “I tell you, Nay: but, EXCEPT YE REPENT, ye shall all likewise perish” (Please see Luke 13:1-5). He repeated this exact phrase again in relation to the 18 people that died when the tower in Siloam collapsed on them. You may mourn them, but you need to go deeper than that.
Going deeper will mean different things for different people, and mean different things at different levels. On the secular level, it may mean standing up for the oppressed. For some, it may mean organising lawful, orderly protests. It may mean finding other legitimate means of holding the authorities to account. Many options are available. And, fortunately, Nigeria is blessed with a lot of people with the skills and resolve that are necessary to organise this necessary secular response. It is a great thing to do. But this article is NOT addressing such people.
Rather, it speaks to spiritual people that can see beyond the surface, and find solutions that go beyond the secular. For, sometimes, there are some knotty issues that go far beyond the secular. And when we are too focussed on the secular, this could be a perfect recipe for the disaster of missing the deeper issues – which are, at times, spiritual in origin. This is a task for ONLY wise men. Spiritual men with understanding. Men with a vision for discernment that sees far beyond the fruits that secular men see, to focus on the roots that bear the fruits.
Ordinarily, such men ought to abound in the Christian faith in Nigeira. For these are the types of men that Jesus came to the world to raise for the Kingdom of God. Men that will OCCUPY THE LAND of their habitation for God, discerning the spiritual issues that need to be addressed for God’s will to flourish in the land. Men like the children of Issachar in 1 Chronicles 12:32. That was in the Old Testament.
Sadly, even the advent of Christ has not given us such men in abundance in Nigeria. Because we are a corrupt people that tolerate and celebrate A VERY CORRUPT VERSION OF CHRISTIANITY. A form of Christianity that is visibly not bearing good fruits of godliness, yet most cling to it as if their lives depend on it! A form of Christianity where leaders repeatedly (every week) fleece poor and vulnerable people with the false promise that God is coming soon to multiply the money they are giving to the coffers of the ministry of the ‘men of God’. This form of Christianity has given us a huge harvest of men and women with DARKENED UNDERSTANDING. Eyes that do not see. Ears that do not hear. As well as the arrogance of religious superiority that God abhors.
These people are the evil fruits of an evil form of Christianity that continually gives the impression that Fulani herdsmen are the major problem of the desperately sick Nigerian nation. Let’s be clear. These barbaric herdsmen are a grotesque specie that is a disgrace to humanity in the 21st century. Savages that have no dwelling place in human civilisation. But, collectively, do they constitute the root of our hydra-headed problems in Nigeria? Are they not the ugly, sickening fruit of a much deeper root? Please think of the numerous calamities that befall our nation, at times on a daily basis, that have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with Fulani herdsmen. Particularly, our chronic underdevelopment, and our starvation in the midst of the abundant natural resources bestowed upon our land by God.
It is this same God that has been signalling for quite a while now to get the attention of wise Nigerians. In order to cause men to pause and think; God, at times, allows evil to take its natural course. The purpose of this divine forbearance from stopping evil is so that men will think, look around, and retrace their steps in humility and repentance. Particularly is this true of nations that have a matured spiritual agenda in God’s calendar. (Like Israel at a particular time in God’s agenda. For it is not in all nations of the world that you see a situation where two men need to uphold the tiring arms of another man, in order for that nation to win a war – Exodus 17:10-13. In terms of purpose, all nations are NOT the same before God.).
Spiritually speaking, Nigeria’s time is ripe. As a matter of fact, it is becoming over-ripe in the commencement of her spiritual destiny. And God has been nudging this nation. Allowing us to be shaken. Allowing us to be discomfited. So that we can ask ourselves some difficult questions, and turn to God for answers. Answers that will constrain us to look inwards. To look at our own wicked hearts. And to acknowledge that any lasting change in the bigger society can only start from our individual hearts. This is the painful truth that can cause us to turn in humility to God for answers. For the help we need. The divine help that will stop beggars from riding horses, while princes walk after them bare-footed, with heads bowed in pain and shame. This is what God is waiting to do for Nigeria. But, as usual with Him, He is looking for men and women to use. Looking for His children that have understanding to know the signs of these times in this nation that He has destined for greatness.
But, alas! His children are busy throwing barbs at Fulani herdsmen. And looking for church leaders that will arise and lead a protest against Fulani herdsmen! The extremely naïve among them have been recently applauding Dr Oyedepo for cursing Fulani herdsmen, and speaking out publicly against them. What utter foolishness! The blasphemy, hypocrisy, and sacrilege committed by men like Dr Oyedepo and his like, using the hallowed name of Christ, are a key part of what irks God against this nation!!! Men that are dragging the revered name of Jesus in the mud. In Revelation 2:2, Jesus praised the church in Ephesus for TESTING and REJECTING FALSE APOSTLES. But the church in Nigeria joyfully celebrates all such men, calling them ‘our fathers in the faith’!!!
These are the men that we are thanking for cursing Fulani herdsmen! Are they not in the same category, if not even worse? For while Fulani herdsmen butcher poor and helpless people in the most gruesome manner, do these false men of God not butcher the SAME SET OF PEOPLE slowly, by corrupting their destinies with falsehood – and taking their money in the process. While Fulani herdsmen carry out their atrocities in scorched and remote villages, ‘men of God’ carry out theirs in air-conditioned halls, with soothing music and sweet talk. Fulani herdsmen terminate lives, but ‘men of God’ exterminate spiritual destinies. In the long run, which of the two is worse???
The crass form of foolishness that is endemic among the supposed people of God in Nigeria is acting like fuel in the inferno that is threatening to engulf this nation. But among this number, there are yet a few that God is calling upon today. Honest men and women. Those that have enough understanding to know that if we humble ourselves and repent in truth, it doesn’t take God a long time to arise in this nation and defend His purpose in the land. For it is His purpose – not ours! Nigeria is His land – not ours! And we cannot prevail in establishing the spiritual destiny of a nation by fighting with secular, carnal tools. Secular men will do what is necessary. But spiritual men need to go beyond them to do what is imperative.
This is the ding-dong that is going on in the nation at this time. We cannot be over-focussed on the threat posed by Fulani herdsmen – they were not the ones that set the fuel tanker ablaze in Lagos! They are a great part of our problems, but they are not THE PROBLEM. Please let us take a cue from the wisdom and words of Jesus Christ as quoted earlier – “I tell you, Nay: but, EXCEPT YE REPENT, ye shall all likewise perish.”
When men repent, it can induce the righteousness that exalts a nation (Proverbs 14:34). But if we persist in finger-pointing (pointing at government, pointing at Fulani herdsmen, pointing at everybody – EXCEPT OURSELVES), what will happen is that righteousness will continue to fall in our streets, and it will be difficult for equity to enter the land (Isaiah 59:14). It will be difficult for God to intervene – in spite of our many seeming prayers. Prayers that are not working BECAUSE God does not act in a vacuum. He acts in the overall context of His word – starting from the place of genuine repentance.
God has a purpose for Nigeria. The time is ripe for this purpose to begin to come into fruition. In this hour of our visitation, we are found wanting as a people - for we are NOT seeking the righteousness of God. But, in mercy, God is calling us to repentance. So that His purpose for our nation may stand, and may be accomplished. If we continue to be stiff-necked, if we continue to be foolish in not bringing ourselves and our nation into repentance before God, He may withdraw His purpose. And then give it to another nation that will bring forth the fruits of that purpose. If we lose our purpose in this way as a nation, we also stand to lose the mercy of God upon the nation! And if God withdraws the mercy that has been sustaining this nation in all these difficult years, then shall we know that our REAL SUFFERING is still exercising in the gym of time. May it not come out with fire and fury! Amen.
Let the wise hear. Let the wise think. Let the wise act.
Thanks for reading, God bless you.