Remember now your creator (Eccl. 12:1)

Ecclesiastes reminds us that this world is the creation of a rational being who is still interested in his creation. God created man in His image and set before him the task that should occupy him from cradle to grave. To fear Him and keep His commandments remain a lifetime engagement for man irrespective of colour, tongue or creed. Judgment will be on how faithful or otherwise one responds to this task. We are charged to remember our creator always, as a way of avoiding the unpalatable consequences of failing in the duty to fear Him and obey His commandments.

The killings that go on everyday and the unprecedented savagery that attend these killings keep one wondering whether people still believe that there is God. It is still not within the prospect of belief that a human being can severe the head of another and proudly displays it with every sense of accomplishment, yet it is happening before our own eyes. Have we not seen video clips of human beings being freely dismembered by others without any twig of compunction? What do we make of the very high rate of organ harvests for ritual purposes? That a lady can be raped and her body sold in parts is sickening to contemplate. The get-rich-quick syndrome has lured many a young man into acts that are unnatural and ungodly.

The spate of kidnapping for ransom is in the increase, as the act has become a very well organised and highly flourishing business. It is now a sin of sort to build a decent house or buy a car after many years of toil and labour because that is now an open invitation to those who like to fish from the boat instead of the river. I often wonder how this people think, reason or sleep. Our society appears inured and helpless at this unfortunate new normal, as these killings, kidnappings and decapitations no longer make news to most people.

When one remembers that those engaged in these satanic business are young men and women whom God has endowed with strength, energy, good health and life, when one remembers that these ones appear not to know that God is the source of the strength and energy they are using negatively, when one remembers that they appear oblivious of why they are on earth, one is filled with pity, sorrow and pain.

• Culled from the presidential address/Bishop’s Charge of The Most Rev. (Dr.) David O. C. Onuoha to the Synod of the Diocese of Okigwe South held from May 26 to 29, 2022 at St. Cyprian’s Church, Umuihi, Imo State.