The gods of men

Nigeria's is increasingly populated by a 'specie' that infests our psychological, sociological and mental environments.  We deify men and equate them to gods, all in our confusion and mis-education. We forget that God is not a man that He should lie, whereas these tin-gods lie through their teeth.  They have capitalized on our greed, illiteracy and gullibility to play on our desire to worship God. We have allowed their greed to decimate our sense of reasoning and deprived us of our humanity. For a “pot of soup”, we sell our nation into perpetual war and feel the essence of living is the accumulation of wealth. We have lost our sensibility and given in to reprobate minds in our endless thirst and lust for riches. Where did we miss the way? How long off track have we gone? These are questions I seek answers for.

For me, we missed our way the moment when men of God or is it gods of men, began to see religion as an industry (a very lucrative one for that matter) then we lost all essence for religion. Now let me state clearly, by religion I am referring to the 2 main religions but my emphasis will be on Christianity as that is my constituency. First, I make bold to say as Christians, we have lost it completely. Christianity without charity is no Christianity. Christianity without forgiveness cannot be described as Christianity. Christianity that elevates wealth above morality is insanity.

I read of pastors preaching hatred on their cursed pulpits, condemning the demand for amnesty only on the ground that their members have been killed and failing to practice what they preach. “Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong” -Mahatma Gandhi. Yes, it is difficult to forgive but no one ever said it was easy for Christ to bear the nails and yet plead for God to forgive his persecutors for they know not what they were doing. However, if we claim to be Christians then we must act, no we must live like Christ.

But seriously, how long did we think we could go on educating only our own and leaving “them” to their fates? Now, even “yours” are denied sound education by ensuring it is out of their reach. Supposedly Missionary (Christian) schools are nothing but an aberration to sensibility with their outrageous school fees. The poor members' sweat and coins laid the foundations of these schools but now they cannot afford to send their wards there. 

Prosperity should not be promoted above hard work. Ministers of God should speak against ungodly acquisition of wealth and should stop receiving from members who cannot explain their sources of wealth while also ostracizing the leaders confirmed to have stolen our commonwealth. Even Christ surmised that it would take a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven.  It is not a sin to be poor and so don't blackmail anyone into paying tithe just so you could buy the latest jeep.