By Chika Abanobi
We live in a world divided along many fault lines: blood brother against fellow blood brother; spouses against each other; children against their parents; a family not on talking terms, for some reason, with another family; a neighbour at loggerheads with another neighbour living in the same residential quarters; a community engaged in an unending bloody battle with another community over boundaries; farmlands, control of natural resources, etc; one religion allegedly established by God against another reportedly established by Satan; one religious sect or denomination against another religious sect or denomination; one ‘man of God’ against another ‘man of God’; one tribe against another tribe; one race, namely Whites against another race,
Blacks; the rich against the poor; the feminists against the ‘men-ists’; Western churchgoers against African traditional religionists; military men against civilians; politicians against the electorate; the educated against the uneducated or semi-literate and one nation or country against another
In such a world, how should a Christian who, according to the Lord, is supposed to be a pacifist like Him or his/her heavenly Father (Matthew 5:9), live? But, first, what kind of Christians are we talking about? Or, better still, what kind of Christians are we not talking about?
Christian’ anarchists
This type of Christians cannot bring peace in a troubled world. This is because, being anarchists, there is no way they can cause peace to reign in a world full of turmoil! No matter how many prayer beads they use to pray for peace in such a world! No matter how long they speak in tongues, see vision or prophesy and no matter how philanthropic or patriotic they are.
At best, they can only be local churches, religious champions, or ‘heroes’ of the faith. But, peacemakers? Not at all! Or, how can someone who says, “If you want us to start scattering things, I am as ready as you are!” bring peace? With what hand or mouth is he or she going to bring peace?
‘Christian’ misogynists: In the Bible, it is written that “God created man…male and female created he them; and blessed them” (Genesis 5:1, 2, KJV). And, here comes a man who believes that God did wonderfully well by creating all the good and beautiful things we see, except women.
The International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Courts are located at The Hague, Netherlands. The United Nations General Assembly is located in New York, United States. But this fellow would wish that we have something like Inter-planetary Parliament or Court somewhere outside this planetary system where anybody who has any grouse against any aspect of the creation can take his complaint to.
If we have, then this man is ready to take his case against God’s creation of women to the place and have the matter settled, once and for all. The snag is, the man that hates women so much, as to want to sue God in the interplanetary court, who gave birth to him? A man, with another man? Or, a man with a woman? When the Yoruba talk about asking nakedness its name, if it promises to give you clothes that’s exactly the kind of madness they are out to address.
Now, the problem is, such a fellow, if he is busy praying somewhere on one of the pews in the church, if the sweat coming out of his body is such that he is soaked through and through, cannot effect any change in a divided world like ours. He may end up etching some marks in the hearts of fellow men like him who share the same belief. But that is all he can do. How can he ensure peace and unity, when he has not even read Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s much-celebrated book, We Should All Be Feminists, much less the Bible?
‘Christian’ feminists: Many cooks may have spoilt the broth but a good number of educated women liberationists believe that men spoilt the world. Like misogynists, they believe, either wrongly or rightly, that without men, the world will be a better place. And, so? The evil that men do, their ‘arrant nonsense’ is all they talk about, wherever you see them seated and having a conversation – their temperaments, their ego, their arrogance, their craftiness, their guile, their unfaithfulness and continuous cheating of the opposite sex!
They don’t believe that “all have sinned (men and women inclusive), and come short of the glory of God…As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one”(Romans 3:23,10). In Mark 10:18, Jesus said: “There is none good but one, that is, God.” Give the feminist a pen to rewrite or re-edit the Bible, you may end up having something like “only men have sinned and come short of the glory of God… as for women, dem dey kanpe” or “there is none good but two: women and God.” Now, you definitely cannot expect a ‘Christian’ woman who holds such a view, even if her own tongue-speaking has been proven to be of Asian origin, while she comes from a different part of the world, to bring a change in a divided world. She, simply, can’t, can she?
Christian’ tribal irredentists
One of the troubling revelations that came out of the 1994 Rwandan genocide is the fact that some highly placed and highly esteemed ‘men of God’ from one of the tribes were actively involved in the conscienceless massacre that took place. They not only lured to gruesome deaths their loyal members who used to honour and respect them as their pastors and who had been actively involved in the financing of their church projects, they also brought in tribal thugs or militants to send them to their untimely graves. Yet, if you gave such “men of God” forms to fill, they would gladly identify themselves as “Christians.”
The question is, what kind of Christians? The ones on paper? Or, indeed? I am sure that if the same kind of tragedy were to take place in any other African country, say, Nigeria, there would be “men of God” in whose lives Jesus did wash away every other sin except tribalism, and who will rise to the occasion.
So? If you have such a ‘Christian’ preaching, peace, unity and co-existence in our world, run for your dear life before they start running with the hare while hunting with the deer. As Paul the Apostle rightly stated in Romans 2: 28, 29 it is not every person that calls himself a Jew that is truly a Jew.
The same thing applies here. You or your church may be well-recognised by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) or Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN). But whether that recognition means that Heavens have nothing against you as far as active promotion of tribalism is concerned is quite another matter that you need to settle between your conscience and God. But suffice it to say that there is no way such a ‘Christian’ can be a useful instrument in the hand of God, in a divided world.
Feuding ‘Christian’ pastors
Sometimes, you see two “men of God” or churches engage in a bitter leadership tussle. A newspaper journalist who covered such tussle, some years ago, between one faction of a Pentecostal church and another, reported how intense and intensive prayers characterised by tongue-speaking among followers of the two factions or camps, went on for hours, week after week.
But within him, he was thinking about which of them that God would hear their prayers first and, based on what criteria? This is because when it comes to ‘fervent’ prayers, members of both factions really cried out their hearts to God and prayed as far as his eyes could see and his ears could hear. They both also claimed to be fighting a ‘righteous’ cause even as they pursued their case in civil law courts. Now, the truth is, under such conditions, none of the Christians from either camp can bring peace and unity to a divided world. They may win their case in the court of men but lose it in the court of heaven.
‘Christian’ hedonists/sex predators: This is another truth we need to tell ourselves. No ‘Christian’ pastor or ‘man of God’ given to sleeping around with prostitutes, female church members, daughters of their female church members or other men’s wives can be used of God to bring peace to a divided world. It can never happen either in this world or in the one to come!
‘Christian’ prosperity preachers: Prosperity preachers have their audiences. I am not sure people like the widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17: 7-16), poor Lazarus (Luke 16:19-21) or the widow who gave all that she had in Luke 21:1-4 are among them. There could be exceptions, but most prosperity preachers go for high-earners and well-to-do men and women in society. Even though the Bible says that there will always be the poor (Deuteronomy 15:11), no matter how you code the prosperity message, this kind of preacher regards poverty as a curse from which you need to be delivered as soon as possible.
Their message goes something like this: if you are poor, it is not because God wants to use you to test the magnanimity and obedience of the rich to His injunction but because, of all the vices you are saddled with – lust, envy, anger, jealousy, malice, etc – poverty seemed to be the foremost curse. And, the one you need to deal with immediately. So? In a divided world between the rich and the poor, someone like that cannot be used by God to give hope to the poor or to create the much-needed synergy between the two socio-economic groups.
The divided world in Jesus’ earthly days
Jesus also met a divided world during His sojourn to earth. For example, He met the woman of Samaria whose people didn’t have any dealings with the Jews (John 4:9). He met a man who wanted Him to intervene in the dispute between him and his brother over their inheritance (Luke 12:13-15).
He met the religious Jews, the Pharisees and Pharisees who didn’t have any social relationship with people they regarded as religious outcasts, and misfits. And, one of the problems He had with them was stooping low to relate with this type of people. They believed that if He was truly the Messiah, He ought not to have allowed a prostitute to touch Him (Luke 7:36-47). He had a problem with them over observance of some religious traditions, dogmas or doctrines.
If you check well, you will discover that the world that Jesus lived in is not too different from the world we are living in – in terms of division along tribal/ethnic or religious fault lines. A careful reading of how He handled biases and divisions among men should be a guide to how we ought to handle them in our world today. It is not what our people – families, communities, tribes tell us that should come first but what the Lord says.
This is because, oftentimes, our society’s expectations are incongruent with the Lord’s. At such times, it takes a courageous Christian to stand and to keep standing on the truth, even if he has to stand alone. Obeying and honouring the Lord has to be something of a daily commitment and consecration. Yesterday’s pious act or deed will not suffice. This is why He said: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me”(Luke 9:23).
Yesterday’s laurel or plaque given to you by people for promoting peace and reconciliation in our divided world will not do. You must make that a daily affair. The reason you need to do so is because the other party may not show any sign that they recognise your sacrifice, your decision to let go, for the sake of peace. They may even dare you by calling you a weakling or a foolish person. If you depend on their reciprocal gesture, you will not be able to carry your cross daily and follow Him. They may taunt you to do your worst. If you are a real Christian, it is at such a time you will need to carry your cross and follow the Lord who suffered many things of men (Hebrews 12:2, 3), including taunts, lies and false accusations (Matthew 27:39-43; 26:59-68).
How to know genuine currency, gold from fake ones
If you want to know whether the paper currency you have is fake or genuine you pass it through ultraviolet light or what some people know as “mercury” light. Doing so will make all its security marks like threads, magnetic and colour-shifting inks, watermarks, red and blue fibres, microprinting, etc. show up. The same thing applies if you want to know whether gold is fake or genuine. Experts say it has its methods of identification. You can start by checking its size and weight. A fake gold with the same thickness and diametre as a real one would be lighter. The second way is the magnetic test. Unlike most metals, gold is not magnetic. Therefore, real gold will not stick to a magnet.
The third method is testing by sound. If the sound is duller and shorter than the high-pitched ringing sound, then it is fake. Dragging gold across a ceramic plate is another way of testing whether it is genuine or fake. If you can see a gold mark on the ceramic then the gold is real. But if the mark is black, it is fake. These are some of the methods with which we can test gold.
The Rotary Club’s 4-Way Test
As a social organisation, the Rotary Club also has their Four-Way test. They are:
- Is it the TRUTH?
- Is it FAIR to all concerned?
- Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
- Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?
The 10-Way Test for genuine religion/church
Brothers and sisters, I think it is high time we too drew up some criteria or guidelines with which to check whether we can continue to worship with a religion/church or not. How about these?
- This religion or church, how does it handle the issue of ethnicity or tribalism that is threatening to tear our country apart?
- Does its sermon, its prayer points promote peace and unity or mutual suspicion, hatred and fear?
- How about prosperity? Does it make it a criterion without which no man can see the Pastor, his wife or come near the gate of the church?
- Does it place the honour and respect for a ‘man of God’ far above the honour and respect for God?
- Does the church hand over the list of its members who don’t give tithes and offerings to angels manning the heavenly gate to punish, send them to hell or block them from gaining entrance into the celestial city?
- Does it place material acquisitions and its wanton display above character, right living, holiness and personal relationship with God?
- Do the church’s preachers tell cock-and-bull stories about the government of the day in place of real messages that can help its members stand in times of temptation and hardship?
- Does it teach its members to pray for grace and power to make right choices in life or does it teach them to give bogus testimonies over material blessings?
- Does it place earthly gains above heavenly vision?
- Does it place the relationship with man above the relationship with God?
- Abanobi, pioneer staff, Weekend Concord, former Associate Editor, The Sun newspaper, Lagos, and winner, Governor Olusegun Mimiko Prize for Foreign News Reporter of the Year: 2018 Nigeria Media Merit Award (NMMA) is member, Journalists for Christ International.