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Melvin Ejiogu in ‘The Greatest Reality Show’

By Kehinde Olatunji
07 June 2020   |   4:00 am
Life is full of drama, which some people even call reality show. When human beings tell the stories of their lives, they always want to tell them from the end point.

Life is full of drama, which some people even call reality show. When human beings tell the stories of their lives, they always want to tell them from the end point. Human experiences metamorphose into knowledge, which define their successes in life. Knowledge, many believe, is the channel to success, and to live an abundant life, is to be open to learning. Oftentimes, human experiences have shaped their personality, perfected their behaviours and dealings with people. Every human understands his or her strength cum weakness.

These and many more are the emotions taken away after reading Melvin Ejiogu’s book, The Greatest Reality Show, an unscripted tale from two dimensions. The book boasts of a mixture of free flowing narrative and the knowledge of the divine.

In the book, Ejiogu provides a father-child narrative for believers, which, however, must be guided by a sense of responsibility. He dredges up the reckless lifestyle of many believers that have led to lives without purpose and mission on earth.

The book comprises four parts with a total of 19 chapters. The first two parts, which have 11 chapters, dwell on biblical knowledge of God and his creations from the old and new testaments. These two parts help the readers see the creation of the world from a unique, intimate perspective that proves creation was not only intentional, but designed with love and incredible detail.

The remaining two parts, which have eight chapters, pose a reason to think deeply on the future and choose wisely the role that is being played on the earth which Ejiogu tagged, “The greatest reality show.”

The author posits that many are engrossed with the thoughts of being the best on earth with little regard to what happens life after.

And so, Phil, a dedicated, smart and hardworking young man, who works in a successful business chain and preferred by his boss, decides to go on vacation without the permission of his supervisor. Despite several attempts to reach him, no one is able to so, until after three days.

Phil, inspite of his misdemeanour, is pardoned. He runs into trouble and needs a bail out, but his employer takes steps to shield the company from running into debt because of an employee.

“This parable is not any different from our individual stories as Christians. Just as Phil was hired and given wonderful promises by his boss, by virtue of our baptism and believing that God wants the best for us, we received a promise of eternal reward from Him. He adopted us as His sons and daughters to share in His kingdom, and He even promised to teach us Himself,” the author said.

Not the least is the pathetic story of Charles, a friend of Ejiogu (the author). Charles loved the fine things of life. To him, and to everyone around , he is a successful youngman.

One day, Ejiogu is burdened to speak to his friend (Charles) about his faith after a prayer and fast. This doesn’t happen as expected.

As the author puts it, “before the phone conversation, I asked him where he was, and he simply replied, Dude, I’m still at work. I felt one more push in my spirit to talk to him about his faith, but I shrugged it off and instead made him promise to meet with me the next day. Four hours later, Charles slumped and died; his role in ‘The Greatest Reality Show’ abruptly came to an end.”

Also Tina, a Christian, outspoken, witty, tough, and very pretty is married and has three children, but she is filled with bitterness, envy, greed, pride and jealousy. She is one of those Christians who do not understand that Christ’s sacrifice on the cross has power to save her from the sinful nature. Seeing that she is a weak Christian, who is unable to take advantage of the sacrifices of Jesus Christ to overcome her weaknesses, she becomes a sure target.

The fourth part features the author’s journey of faith. The author, for many years, lived in sin but God’s grace found him, after he had faced many challenges and suffered the consequences of his actions.

Growing up as a Catholic, Ejiogu is convinced that all he needed was going to mass on Sundays. He believes that as he is not out there killing people or breaking the 10 Commandments, he’s fine. He selfishly loves confession because if he sins during the week, he goes for confession on Saturday and receives communion on Sunday. The will to resist temptation died.

Ejiogu’s redemption after a reckless life yields multiple layers of conviction and conversion to both unbelievers and believers.

Speaking on what prompted him to write the book and the choice of title, Ejiogu says, “people who write a book have something to share. My experience in life prompted me to write this book. I believe I have something to share that others might learn one or two things from.”

The book, Ejiogu adds, is about those “who yearn for more knowledge about this incredible life and the God who created it will find great satisfaction in this book. They are just like I was in that they may find the arcane language of scripture difficult to understand but still want to explore the world of religion and spirituality.

He continues, “the book is for those who want to gain more wisdom and understanding of the world around them. No matter your religion or level of spirituality, this book sheds light and inspiration on all those who read it.”

According to him, “anyone who has a relationship with His maker would understand the role they are supposed to play and play it well.”

When they make a mistake they will be corrected and will continue to remain in His will. They will end up fulfilling their role on earth perfectly. And what happens when an actors plays their part very well? They get an award.”

The book glorifies God and gives humanity a reason to worship Him and not to allow Christ’s death on the cross to be for nothing.

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