A Heartfelt Cry For Our Nation

THIS is a public message but also an intensely personal one as well. It can’t be nothing but heartfelt for everyone who truly desires the wellbeing of one’s own country. Degradation is everywhere you look; the steady decay of the society in Nigeria is apparent to all.  What does image and etiquette have to do with it? Much in many ways: if you approach the topic in a wholesome manner – the identity and image a man has of himself dictates the decisions that he makes; his compromises if any and his deep convictions. 

    What image does a man have of himself when he gives his little child over to be a suicide bomber in exchange for money? What value did he place on himself and upon his child? What depth of deception has a rich man hit when he believes that he can buy his life and preserve it through whatever means necessary – even at the cost of millions of innocent people? Among the religious (those who profess to be righteous without the fruit of it and those who are but fox in sheep clothing), it’s a sickening thing to see the pervasion and unabashed display of covetousness. Do we not see that we will all reap what we sow? We can never comprehend the power and reality the age to come holds.

   This goes beyond man’s outer expression of himself to whom he is inside. Without dealing with the inward man we will only be hypocrites with growing covetous cravings and shifting boundaries of how far a man can go to satisfy his unrestrained appetites. Let us not continue to deceive ourselves or others otherwise we would never come to the knowledge of the truth; If a vessel should be clean truly then it must be clean within and without.

Every recognition of need should lead to this question; what can I do?

“And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” Isaiah 6:8 (KJV)

I teach; this is the foremost gift that I have been given by God. Even then, one’s own abilities often seem so pale compared to the depth and vastness of the nation’s turmoil. Like many of you perhaps, I asked our Father what more He could use me to do to affect this country. (If there is anyone who knows the Father in this generation, let us not be found sleeping on our watch.) The truth is that we all can do nothing – but God can. Praying didn’t seem enough and the truth is that it isn’t. Hovering very close to what could be a personal burden of despair and acknowledging that it was one not meant for any man to carry, this article was impressed upon my heart.

   To speak politics is to converse with human wisdom which at best is limited; for we can only see what has been revealed, and that through the ignorant and prejudiced opinions of man. Also, everything we see is only a shadow of what goes on in secret. We cannot depend on debates much less be deluded into believing the age old lie that any one man can solve the problems of any nation or even a single human being. Has history not taught us this? Man has failed in every way possible and his kingdom has crumbled and continues to decay. 

     Worldly discussions only expose the faults and failings of men in and out of power and when we judge them we judge ourselves too! This is not the point – it is the view the enemy wants you to see, so that in contending with our fellow, imperfect men we are blinded to our common enemy. If we look upon the faults and failings of each other to determine who is right or wrong, capable or not, we judge after the flesh and are not wise. It might make us feel better about ourselves or justified in our own virtue, but it does nothing to answer the true needs of man. 

     Yet, the truth remains within the reach of every man. To affect the world, we do not need to know everything that goes on behind closed doors of political offices or highly influential human beings. There is only ONE TRUTH, ONE WAY AND ONE SAVIOUR for mankind. ‘This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4 11&12 ESV. Salvation comes through no other. It seems foolish to the natural man that the proclaiming of the gospel can deliver any man much less a whole nation. But the reason the whole world is perishing is because it has denied this Saviour. As astounding and staggering as it might sound, no one is going to go to hell because of the sins they have committed but because they have denied Jesus Christ. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.  He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil” John 3:16-19 KJV

A sinner is not one because he sins but he sins because he is a sinner. Accepting Jesus Christ changes the nature of the sinner, thereby changing his actions. If the identity of all corrupt men in high or low positions are changed – If their image (true nature) is transformed, then their intentions and actions too will be changed. The Truth (the Word of God – Jesus) is what makes a people free and has the power and authority to deliver any soul – as lost as they might be.

    The reality that most people want to push aside is that the world is steadily crumbling and no nation is spared. Life, as we know it, is going to get worse according to the scriptures (and has indeed been on that journey). The only people that will be saved are those who have come under the unfailing kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. As many people, therefore as know the truth can escape destruction. Through prayer, we enter into the counsel of the Godhead (even as Moses did praying for Israel) and through our speaking the truth, the power of the kingdom is released.

Speak The Truth

What is the use of salt if it has lost its flavour? How can the Nigeria be spared if the sons of God do not speak the truth? This is not a call to preach on a platform but to first accept the truth in our hearts and then testify of it to our neighbour. “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?” Romans 10:13-14 KJV