The faithful are only human. And often times, when confronted with situations of unwarranted persecution, it is a serious struggle, requiring superhuman efforts to totally obey religious injunctions, which advocate forbearance. For instance, Christians are enjoined not to retaliate, as vengeance belongs to God. They are also urged to pray for their enemies and love them. They are not to hate their enemies or work for their downfall. But what happens in the situation, where the ‘enemy’ is taking forbearance for stupidity? When the faithful is truly pushed to wall, what next should he or she do to overcome? Should the faithful endlessly tolerate injustice? CHRIS IREKAMBA reports.
‘If We Agree That We Are Followers Of Jesus Christ, We Should Abide By What He Taught Us’
(Rev. Fr. Ojaje Idoko, Director of Pastoral Affairs, Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, Abuja)
“Vengeance is mine, says the Lord” is a common phrase we hear often. Violence, hatred, anger and revenge, are attitudes, just as peace, reconciliation, love and forgiveness. Some people possess the attitudes of violence, hatred, anger and revenge, while others possess the opposite. It is natural for people to manifest and promote the attitude they possess. It is on this premise that I would like to respond to the above question. Asking a person, whose nature it is to promote peace, love and forgiveness to revenge or retaliate is to ask him to change his nature and embrace another person’s.
In Christianity, we have some religious leaders who, unfortunately, do not belong to the category of promoters of peace and reconciliation. Not all church leaders have the gift of patience, peace, reconciliation and forgiveness, which Saint Paul calls fruits of the Holy Spirit. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness and faith, meekness and temperance.” The opposites are violence, hatred, anger, revenge, etc. and they are called the works of the flesh (cf. Galatians 5:19-23).
In the present circumstance we find ourselves in Nigeria and in fact, all over the world on account of Islamic militancy that is plaguing the whole world, it will be a defeat of goodness and love for anyone to suggest that the only way out is to fight back. Remember, this is not the same as self-defence. It is not the same as Christians planning how to protect their territories, churches and establishments from aggression. It is about how to react after you have been attacked. It will be wrong to plan a counter attack, revenge and retaliation leading to hatred. It is the nature of evil men and women to plan and execute evil. It is the nature of Christians and good Christian leaders to plan forgiveness, healing and love. While evil men and women can go on, planning how to take life, revenge and destroy, it is the duty of the good Christians and people of goodwill to spread love and peace, reconciliation and joy. That is why the message of Jesus Christ is called “The Good News”. No other religious book is ever called “The Good News”.
The above are the ground rules of a Christian’s character in relation to those who do not like him or cause him or her harm.
Remember what the husband of the murdered woman pastor in Kubwa did. He said he has forgiven those who killed his wife. That is also the stand of the General Overseer of their Church. Some people would say Christians should go after the killers and retaliate. Some of the people say this not because of their Christian faith, but because of the perceived tribal/ethnic bias of the suspected assassins of the woman. If we agree that we are followers of Jesus Christ, we should abide by what He taught us. There are no better ways to evangelise than that. I have heard people say, “Now that the person, who killed my son has been arrested, prosecuted or sentenced to death and executed, I have found peace and my son can now rest in peace”. However, that is peace of the graveyard. That is not the kind of peace that Christ gives. Since its introduction, capital punishment has not stopped violence and armed robbery, which shows that retaliation and revenge can never restore peace and happiness in the community and in individual’s heart. An eye for an eye makes the whole town blind.
‘I Have Had So Many Enemies In My Life, But In All, God Fought For Me’
(Dr. Francis Akin-John, president, Int’l Church Growth Ministries, Ipaja, Lagos)
The issue of enemies is a fact of life; predicated on the fact that not everybody will like your face, accept you, desire that you succeed in life endeavours. Some people will just hate you for your guts, either out of jealousy, hatred or bitterness of heart, inspired largely by Satan and carnalities of the human heart.
The Bible, the final authority in the life of Christians, is very clear on this issue. Satan, the archenemy of God and man, is the chief enemy of all that is good and godly. He is darkness and, therefore, hates anything that is light. Satan inspires hatred, malice, ethnic bias, injustice, killings, strives and violence in human hearts so as to get back at God and make humans suffer, as much as possible.
Jesus Christ our Lord teaches so plainly that we should love our enemies, pray for those who spitefully use us and do good to them. This means that we should not see humans as our enemies, even though they do violence and injustice to us. Rather, we should see it that Satan is the one influencing them to do those evil things. When we pray against our enemies, we should never have people at the back of our minds. Rather, we should ask for God’s intervention to stop the attacks and violence of Satan against His people. Our prayers must never be borne out of vengeful heart, rather a heart of compassion.
Good work is another way to respond to our adversaries. Do as much good as possible to those who hate you. Keep on being the light and focus on God in spite of strong oppositions. Christians are not called upon to revenge and descend low to do evil like our haters. An eye for an eye makes the world go blind. That is not the Spirit of the gospel. I have had so many enemies in my life, either by my stand, vision, ministry or inadvertent doings. But I just kept on doing what I have enumerated above and the good Lord has been fighting my battles for me. The Lord fights the battles of His people, when they seek Him earnestly in prayers and good works. But if we choose to fight for ourselves, the Lord will stop fighting for us. And that will be calamitous!
‘Wise Believers Should Hand Over The Enemies To God’
(Pastor Ezekiel Joel, Full Salvation Believers’ Assembly Int’l, Nnewi, Anambra State)
To begin with, let us know that whatever God demands of His people or gives as a command, is possible. Otherwise, He, as an exceptionally good God, will not command His children to do such things. Let it be settled in our minds, also, that God’s commands, “are not grievous” or burdensome (1 John 5:3). He always factors it in any of His commandments, His divine ability, which He makes adequately available to all His children, especially those who are willing to obey Him. We must, however, realise that every of God’s demands are usually in a context, and in line with His dispensational dealings and governing arrangement. If taken out of it’s context, any of His commands can be misunderstood and misapplied to our own detriment (2 Pet.3: 15, 16). For instance, the way Israel was led by God to deal with her enemies in the Old Testament dispensation is different from the way believers in Christ are to deal with theirs, in the New Testament era. We have the gracious example and teachings of Christ Jesus, our Blessed Saviour and Lord in these matters. How did He deal with His enemies or traducers and opposers? We are to follow His footsteps (1Pet.2: 21-24). We should never take the laws into our hands. In civil matters, which have constitutional implications, we have the privilege of the courts of competent jurisdiction to adjudicate on such matters, if and when our rights have been infringed upon. The wise believer should, however, be able to differentiate between spiritual, religious enemies, on one hand, and human, physical enemies, on the other hand.
We need the Holy Spirit’s guidance on how to deal with the different types of enemies. We cannot afford to be foolhardy, and hand over our lives to the enemy, just because we are told to love our enemies. Even our Lord escaped from His religious enemies, and that teaches us to do the same (Luke 4:28-30; John 6:15; 7:1-9; Matt.10: 16, 22, 23). So then, when we have the means of escape or of protection from imminent danger and death, wisdom demands that we take advantage of it. True believers know that it is best to avoid bitter debates, especially with reprobates, and bloodthirsty folks (Titus 3:9-11; 2Timo.2: 23, 24; 3:5; 1Timo.6: 3-5; Matt.10: 11-15).
Like our Blessed Saviour did, wise believers should hand over the enemies to God. He is better able to handle them than any of us. He is the God of battle. Vengeance belongs to Him, and He has never lost any of such battles. Believers in Christ are to be patient with, and gracious to those who constitute themselves into the opposition, in the Church, although I would consider that to be an aberration, since the Church is not a political party. We should not act as if we are wiser than God. There’s no point praying for the perceived enemy to die. Once the case is transferred to God’s court, He will determine the appropriate course of action. After all, the Bible says: “Thou prepares a table before me, in the presence of my enemies…” (Psa.23: 5). It is such enemies that will help to clear up the “mess” after we are done enjoying the divine largesse! In all, our attitude to all categories of enemies should be dictated by the Holy Spirit’s guidance, as the occasion demands, and in line with the principles of the Bible.
‘Pastor Adeboye Demonstrated Exactly Same Thing, When He Prayed God To Forgive Deaconess Mrs. Olawale’s Killers’
(Pastor Tom Okonkwo, General Overseer, Resurrection Power of God Ministry, Lagos)
The person who hates you, steals your property is an enemy. Put simply, an enemy does not love you. Your archenemy is Satan, he comes to steal, kill and destroy John 10:10a. We have physical and spiritual enemies. Governments, institutions and authorities only see physical enemies. For example, people that attempt to overthrow a constituted authority by force are called enemies of the state. When caught, such people are dealt with according to the law of the land. Equally, those who stole from the public coffers are regarded as enemies of the state. Micah 7:6b refers to the ones at home as “household enemies”. Cain killed his brother Abel because of hatred. Gen 4:8. Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery due to jealousy (Gen 37:19-20, 27-28). In 1 Corinthians 16:9, an enemy appears, when a great door of breakthrough is opened to you. He comes to contend with you so that you don’t gain entrance into it.
In Christendom, we are well educated on who is our real enemy. Ephesians 6:12, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers…”. These are unseen forces fighting God’s children through people. It is misapplied energy, time and resources to fight such persons physically. In John 14:6, Jesus came to show us the Way, the Truth, so that we can receive full life here on earth and eternal life hereafter. Jesus commanded us to love our neighbours as ourselves, Matt 22:39. The only thing that can prove your love for me, Jesus says, is for you to keep His commandments, John 14:15. A law-breaker does not love Jesus. In Luke 10:29-37, the popular story of a Good Samaritan teaches us about our neighbour. Jesus came into this world as a man, lived a victorious and sinless life. He gave us a classic example of how to live together in love and going through life’s problems as a Son of God.
In Hebrews 4:14-16, we are invited to come boldly to the throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace to help in times of need. Grace gives you the ability to do what you will not be able to do ordinarily. Look at this grace in action here: In Luke 23:34, Jesus prayed for those who crucified Him, “father forgive them for they know not what they do.” Some people will argue that Jesus was able to forgive His killers because He is God. Okay, but what about Stephen, who was stoned until he died? Acts 7:59-60 “and they stoned Stephen, kneeling down he cried with a loud voice, Lord lay not this sin to their charge….”
In our present generation, and indeed very recently, we have seen our amiable and dearly beloved Daddy, Pastor Enoch Adeboye doing exactly the same thing, when he paid a condolence visit to the family of the slain Deaconess Mrs. Eunice Olawale in Abuja. The slain sister was a member of RCCG, who died in active service. So, you can feel the hurt in Pastor Adeboye’s heart, but what did he do? He prayed to God for her killers to be forgiven. May God give Nigerian leaders such hearts that can easily forgive all, including their enemies. There is no religion that can give you such a gentle and meek heart, except the love of God. What is common in our days is “give and take action”. When someone has offended you, the next thing is to retaliate. Strangely, this is even common among public figures. But if you are truly born-again, the gentle Holy Spirit will take full control of your life (Romans 8:14).
‘Praise And Thanksgiving To God Is Secret Of Victory Over Enemies’
(Rt. Rev. (Dr.) Michael Olusina Fape, Diocesan Bishop of Remo, Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, Sagamu, Ogun State)
The Scripture is very clear on the model Jesus Christ recommended for Christians, when relating to those we would ordinarily regard as our enemies. Jesus, speaking in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:43-45).
Speaking in the same vein, Paul admonished Christians in his Epistle to the Romans, “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. Therefore, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head” (Romans 12:14, 17, 19-20).
It is true also that there are references in the Old Testament, where people pleaded their causes that God should avenge them on their enemies. A good example that can be readily quoted is in Psalm 35, where the Psalmist said, “Plead my cause, O LORD, with those who strive with me; Fight against those who fight against me” (Psalm 35:1).
While such an example can be found in the Bible in the Old Testament, yet in the New Testament, Jesus Christ provided a perfect example of what should be the attitude of Christians to those perceived as their enemies. In actual fact, while an individual may perceive another person as an enemy; it is not unlikely that others may also see him as their enemy. Therefore, as someone is cursing others for being his enemies, there are others also who may be cursing the same individual for being their enemy.
Certainly, there could be frictions and misunderstanding among Christians, so much so that somebody could have been hurt. However, that should not be enough reasons to be raining curses on the perceived enemies or praying that fire should come and devour them. In fact, Christians should talk and pray less about their enemies. More time should be spent in praising God and acknowledging His goodness in our prayer sessions, just as Jehoshaphat did in 2 Chronicles 20. Praise and thanksgiving to God will become the secret of a victorious life over the enemies. More of this should be done among Christians in their various places of worship.
‘We Are To First Of All Think Of What Step To Take Because We Are Christians’
(Most Rev. Dr. Solomon Gbolahan Abimbola, Bishop of Lagos West/Archbishop of the Archdiocese of the West, The First African Church Mission)
1 Corinthians 13:1 says, “If you love your brother, you will not plan any evil against him. When you also read verse 4 of same chapter, it says, ‘love does not hate, love does not do anything evil and when you go to the last verse of same chapter, it says there are three things, but the greatest among them is love. And Romans 12:17 says, do not pay evil with evil; have regard for good things in the sight of God, live peacefully with all men, that is Romans chapter 18; and 19 says, ‘do not revenge yourself, but rather give place to wrath, for it is written vengeance is mine and I will repay,’ says the Lord. When we look at these scriptures, they are telling us that whatever somebody might have done to us wrongly, we shouldn’t retaliate. And even the Lord’s Prayer says, ‘forgive us our sins, as we do forgive those who offended us.’ So, no matter what somebody might have done to us, we need to take it easy as Christians and do that which the scripture tells us. Remember what Peter said to Jesus about offence ‘… how many times should my brother offend me and I forgive…?’ Jesus said ‘seventy times seven.’ So, I see no reason why we should begin to say because someone has done this to me and because of that I begin to look for his downfall or plan evil against him. It is unethical and not a Christian attitude.
No doubt, evil things in the world have penetrated into the church of God today, to the extent that people behave, as if they are not Christians any longer. You hear Christians saying, ‘I won’t talk to him; it is over my dead body until we get to heaven. We shall settle it over there.’ But that is not the Christian practice or idea. We must love our brothers, no matter what they might have done against us. We are not perfect and even Jesus said, ‘why callest me good? There is no one that is good apart from my Father, which is heaven.’ And so, when we look at those things in the Bible, as we read and understand it, we should be able to interpret it well and practise same as good Christians. We will know that when somebody has offended us, we have to forgive and that is why the Bible says, ‘we should be annoyed, but it should not lead us to sin.’ There is no way somebody will do something to us and at the initial stage you’ll say I have forgiven him. It is not possible, we are human beings.
Even Jesus Christ cursed a fig tree at the initial stage, when He expected something from it. But then, when somebody offends us, we are to first of all think of what step to take because we are Christians. So, we must forgive our enemies for whatever wrong they did to us. It is practicable by His grace. There are church leaders, when it is time for them to promote those under them, but because of one thing or the other they’ve done, the leaders would appoint those that are less qualified. It happens everywhere. Some people will say, ‘I have forgiven you,’ but the thing is still in their mind. And their behaviour towards you will show they have not forgiven you, because that grudge is still there. Actually it is not everybody that will say, ‘I have forgiven and have forgotten about the offence.’ Some will still harbour it in their heart. What we are saying is that it is unchristian. What we need to do is to commit the offender unto the hands of God by saying, for example: ‘Father, you saw what this man did to me, but rather than revenge, I leave him in your care because You know the right thing to do. I will not because of him offend you.’ The Bible encourages us to pray for our enemies: ‘If he is thirsty, give him water, if he is hungry give him food…’
Even the Boko Haram people, we should be praying that God should touch their hearts. That is our duty as Christians, but that does not mean you will not defend yourself. If somebody is pursuing you with a cutlass and if you can lay hand on something to defend yourself, then by all means do so. But if the offence has been committed, what we can do is to pray to God to forgive and make them change their mind, let them do that which is lawful and right before you. They may not know that what they are doing is wrong. So, in managing our enemies, we are to pray for them and love them according to the injunction of the scripture, which says, if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him water; for in so doing you are heaping coal of fire on his head, do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good.’ That is what the scripture says in Romans 21:20.
