Tuesday 26 February 2013

Nigerians are too emotional

I guess the AFCON 2013 fever is over and this post probably stale but the truth is, I have borne this burden in my heart for weeks but have just not had time to write my thoughts.

Were you as amazed as I was about how carried away Nigerians were because we won the Nations cup?

I am still shocked at how Steven Keshi suddenly became everybody's favourite coach and how people began to say God finally answered the prayers of Nigerians concerning our football.

Let us all not be fooled. Even unbelievers are successful. It is a law of nature/ Karma or whatever you want to call it. What you sow you reap; if you work hard, some day you will be successful.

If Keshi didn't have faith and the players didn't give the games their best shot, they would have lost even with prayers. God blesses the labour of our hands. If we do not sow, then He has nothing to bless. God is the God of all mankind, not just the God of Nigerians. Otherwise, how do you explain the success of Psy and the Gangam Style? There's simply no big deal with the song or the dance steps but I guess it was God's time to bless the long-standing Korean musician.

We need to stop being unnecessarily emotional. The problems with Nigerian football i.e. corruption, poor preparation still loom. Prayers will not take them away, only men!

Sunday 24 February 2013

Fall down and die!

Sunday School is my favourite part of church service because it is interactive. We listen and learn from our Sunday School teachers and thereafter ask questions.

Today was particularly very interesting because it was a review of lessons learned in the last quarter.

A gentleman had a mindboggling question under the topic - False Prophets, it was -
"Is it right to pray for the devil to fall down and die?"

In answering the question, the Pastor reminded us that it would be futile to ask the devil to die because the Bible tell us that the devil will be around until judgement. We were referred to Jude 1:9 which shows that even Archangel Micheal when contending with the devil dared not bring an abusive condemnation against him but simply said,"May the Lord rebuke you!"

He explained that people who say such prayers do not refer to the devil, but to the 'devil' in every challenge they face which could mean, poverty, sickness, failure, rejection, delayed married etc.

As I meditated on these words on my way home, I began to wonder if:
  • the devil called PHCN was dead and we had constant power
  • the devil called kidnapping was dead and we didn't have to fear for the lives of our beloved
  • the devil called Boko Haram was dead and people could gather in churches every Sunday without the fear of bombings
  • the devil called delayed married was dead, and all eligible batchelors and spinsters go married at the right age, or it was pretty normal to stay single
  • if devil called unemployment was dead and people got jobs on merit
  • if the devil called bad roads were dead and we had little or no road accidents
  • if the devil in our aviation industry was dead and we had no plane crashes, and so on...

The big question then is - will the pews in our churches still be filled every Sunday?

I think the answer to my question is NO. Nigerians do not love God. If we did, these devils wouldn't exist in the first place. So, if you are one of those who ask the devil to fall down and die, please STOP and remember that it is all about the man in the mirror.