AS THE GREAT GAY DEBATE HOTS UP

"If you read the newspapers, you already know that the Church was in the vanguard of support for the bill to become law. Describing it as portending disastrous consequences for mankind because it endangers the family as God conceived it, the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) submitted that 'same sex marriage, apart from being ungodly, it is unscriptural, unnatural, unprofitable, unhealthy, un-cultural, un-African and un-Nigerian...'"

Now, the gay rights debate is raging, as we said it would. And I think it’s time for everyone to stand up and be counted on this subject. That is why I am going to be deliberately copious in mentioning the dramatis personae on both sides of the struggle. I find this necessary because, like I said in a different context, the new divide at this juncture of human history is between those who seek after righteousness and those who don’t; between those who refuse to worship the god of this world masquerading as angel of freedom, civil rights and political correctness and those who prostrate at his altar. Forgive me therefore, dear reader, if you find the prose a bit more tedious than usual.

First, a bit of retrospection. The gay right issue came to the fore in Nigeria in 2006 when a certain group which styled itself as Changing Attitude in Nigeria (CAN) went public with its presence within the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion). As I have said here many times, it was a first shot in what I characterized as the battle for the soul of the church and eventually the nation. I did say that Nigeria had become a very important target of the international gay movement, because of the firm stand of the Church of Nigeria’s firm stand against gay ascendancy within the Anglican Communion worldwide. That stand has led into a full-blown crisis within that wing of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. I had posited then that the thinking was that if the home turf of the general of the resistance in the person of Most Rev Peter Akinola, the resistance would be weakened.

Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, then President of the Federal Republic, probably caught their drift and sent an executive bill to the National Assembly to prohibit same-sex marriage in this country. The bill didn’t go too far, on the face of it, because the legislative arm was already winding down. But, as I pointed out at the time, the tardiness in this respect might have been “the result of subtle, underground resistance from the opposing camp, to which foreign funding is always available…” Anyway the bill died with the 2003-7 National Assembly.

That was the situation until ((HB. 150) House Bill 150 surfaced last year. Titled, A BILL FOR AN ACT TO PROHIBIT MARRIAGE BETWEEN PERSONS OF SAME GENDER, SOLEMNIZATION OF SAME AND FOR OTHER MATTERS RELATED THEREWITH, it was sponsored by 49 Honourable Members of the Federal House of Representatives. Among them, Chukwudi Mayor Eze, C. I. D. Mmaduabum, John Owan Enoh, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, Mohammed Darangi Kwakwara, Abolagba J. A., Ernest Ibejiako, Juliet Akano, Chuma Nzeribe, Peace Nnaji, Samson Osagie, Mohammed Sani Abdu, Chile Igbawua, Kolawole Yusuf, Arole Fancy, Aribisala Adewale and Paul Eze.

Others on the list of sponsors are: Sylvester Ogbaga, Ogbuefi Ozomgbachi, Pat Asadu, Kalu Uduma, Umeoji Chukwuka, Bassey Eko Ewa, Nnanna Uzor Kalu, Mathew Omegara, Emeka Ihedioha, . Leo. O. Ogor, Stanley Ohajuruka, Ibrahim Ghalid Mustapha, Hembe Herman, Rufus Omeire, K. G. B. Oguakwa, Chuka Ama_Nwauwa, Solomon Ahwinahwi, Hassan A. Haruna, J. J. Idachaba, Darlington Okereke, H. S. Dickson, Anies Ikpong King, Emman H. Jime, Abass Braimah, Friday Itulah, Mohammed Maifats, Eziuche Ubani, L U. Chima, Chukwuka Onyema, Uche Ekwunife, Henry Shawulu, and Paulica P. Igwe.

As is always the case, the human rights establishment swung into action, and on January 26, 2009, Amnesty International issued a statement on behalf of itself, Human Rights Watch, the Nigerian Bar Association Human Rights Institute and other so-called Nigerian human rights non-governmental organizations (NGOs) expressing deep concern about the bill.

The 23 other bodies include from Nigeria): Centre for Democracy & Development, (CDD); Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development (CEHRD); Centre for Law Enforcement Education (CLEEN Foundation);;Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), Nigeria; Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Nigeria; Girls' Power Initiative (GPI); House of Rainbow Metropolitan (HRMCC) and Human Rights Law Service (HURILAWS).

Other Nigerian groups on the list are: Human Rights Monitor (HRM); International Centre for Reproductive Health and Sexual Rights (INCRESE); Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEDAP); Legal Resources Consortium (LRC); Nigerian Humanist Movement; Partnership for Justice (PJ); Prisoners Rehabilitation and Welfare Action (PRAWA); Socio-Economic Rights & Accountability Project (SERAP); The Independent Project for Equal Rights; Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC); and Youths 2gether Network.

Changing Attitude Nigeria, United Kingdom; International Resource Network for Africa; and Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC), both United States based complete the list.

And what did this disparate “cloud of witnesses” have against the bill? Hear them: “…The Bill …is in contravention of the Nigerian Constitution and inconsistent with Nigeria's obligations under international and regional human rights treaties which the country has ratified…Provisions in the Bill violate sections 37, 38, 40 and 42 of Nigeria's Constitution and the analogous provisions of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (i.e. articles 2, 3, 11, and 28) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) (i.e. articles 2, 18, 19, 21, 22, and 26)…The Bill singles out one group of people to be deprived of rights that all people enjoy as guaranteed by the 1999 Constitution and international human rights treaties to which Nigeria is a state party. In particular, the Bill violates the right to freedom from discrimination as recognized in section 42, 1, of the 1999 Constitution:…The Nigerian government has an obligation to promote and protect the human rights of its population without distinction of any kind, including sexual orientation or gender identity. As a member of the UN Human Rights Council, Nigeria is required to uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights of all people regardless of their sexual orientation. We therefore urge the National Assembly not to pass this Bill.”

This was the background against which the House Joint Committee on Human Rights, Women Affairs and Justice Committee held a public hearing on the bill on March 11. The melodrama that attained the hearing was well reported in the media, with a group that calls itself the Queer Alliance of Nigeria taking centre stage in disingenuous defence of the right to live outside societal norm and more importantly outside the will of God. They were joined by, such other groups as, Sexual Minorities Against Aids in Nigeria (SMAAN) and BAOBAB for Women's Human Rights.

If you read the newspapers, you already know that the Church was in the vanguard of support for the bill to become law. Describing it as portending disastrous consequences for mankind because it endangers the family as God conceived it, the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) submitted that “same sex marriage, apart from being ungodly, it is unscriptural, unnatural, unprofitable, unhealthy, un-cultural, un-African and un-Nigerian. It is a perversion, a deviation and an aberration that is capable of engendering moral and social holocaust in this country. Outlawing it is to ensure the continued existence of this nation." Of course there were copious references to the Bible backing up this position.

Interestingly, The Guardian newspaper jumped into the fray during the week with an incisive and forthright editorial opinion which its natural allies in the human rights community must have been very uncomfortable with. Unfortunately it crash-landed on the side of what I have termed “the price of fish” syndrome that has held a sizeable percentage of the Nigerian elite captive. (TO BE CONCLUDED).


IS ANYBODY LISTENING?

In a recent piece titled, Do the Old Rules of Money Work? Bisi Ojediran wrote as follows: “In many countries everything possible has been done to stop the economic downturn, but no luck. The old rules of money don’t seem to work anymore. In the US, Keith Fitz-Gerald, an investment expert writes: ‘Everything these so-called experts predicted was going to happen hasn’t happened. And what’s happening can’t be explained by their ‘tried and true’ theories.’

“The Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Chukwuma Soludo may have seen some traces of that. He calls it a paradox. Hear him: ‘The paradox that we face currently is that excess liquidity co-exists with rising interest rates, which in real terms and in relation to the deposit rate, seem to be high. On the one hand, we need to tighten liquidity to address inflation and exchange rate concerns, while on the other hand, we would need to address high interest rate by relaxing monetary conditions. Another paradox is that the observed excess liquidity has not translated to commensurate credit creation; in fact, credit growth appears to have slowed down’ ”.

That reads to me like the word of God in Isaiah 29:14 which in the Message paraphrase reads: “I'm going to step in and shock them awake, astonish them, stand them on their ears. The wise ones who had it all figured out will be exposed as fools. The smart people who thought they knew everything will turn out to know nothing." Is anybody listening?

NO SIR! FAITH IS RELEVANT IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN

Pity, the likes of Professor Wole Soyinka do not think so. He was quoted as saying that religion has become irrelevant in the public domain. And I ask, since when? He and people like him need to read the book, “HE MADE THE DIFFERENCE, the Dynamic Story of Ambassador Christopher Kolade in Britain” written by Pamela Chinekwe and published in Nigeria by KP Books

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I said in closing last week that Senate President, David Mark was right and wrong in his answer to a reporter’s question on the crude oil price benchmark used in calculating the 2009 budget. He had been quoted as saying: “Really who can see the future? If we all can, we will be more than happy. But because we didn’t foresee these and they have come now, who knows what the dollar is going to be against the naira tomorrow, do you know? Nobody! We can’t really predict that. There is no accurate or specific way of doing it.”

Of course, he is right – on one level. He is right to declare that man, as he is generally understood, is finite. He may manifest extreme brilliance and rare intelligence; she may be most instinctive and intuitive. Man may even be clairvoyant, but they are, at their very best, limited.

The Bible did say that man is fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:4) and that is as true as anything you’ll ever find in the Bible. Finis Jennings Dake, the Bible scholar and writer, obviously quoting scientists, in the Doctrine of Man, records for instance, that the body consists of “various chemicals—iron, sugar, salt, carbon, iodine, phosphorus, lime, calcium, and others”; that it “has 263 bones; 600 muscles; 970 miles of blood vessels; 400 cups on the tongue for taste; 20,000 hairs in the ears to tune in to all sounds; 40 pounds of jaw pressure; 10,000,000 nerves and branches; 3,500 sweat tubes to each square inch of skin (or 40 miles long); 20,000,000 mouths that suck food as it goes through the intestines; 600,000,000 air cells to the lungs that inhale 2,400 gallons of air daily; and a communication network that relates to the brain instantly any known sound, taste, sight, touch or smell;” and also that “the heart beats 4,200 times an hour and pumps 12 tons of blood daily.”

Benjamin Carson, the Black American neurosurgeon, is severally quoted as saying that the human brain has hundreds of billions of interconnections and is therefore much more sophisticated than anything that man has ever or possibly would ever create and call a computer. He should know; he is one of the most brilliant brain surgeons the world has ever known, and has been successfully involved in procedures that were considered impossible.

In spite of all of these, man, the one that we see, is limited in everything including the ability to see tomorrow. That is the level at which the respected soldier turned politician and lawmaker is correct. And that is why, those who fail to see the place of God in the affairs of man in general, as well as, in particular situations, circumstances and settings need to do a rethink. That is why the Bible says and I have repeated this here again and again, that the wisdom of man will fail.

But the Senate President is wrong fundamentally, because, man in his fullness can indeed “see” tomorrow! Yes, man properly defined, and operating at the level God would have him operate; need not be subjected to the beggarly elements of this world.

Now, what do I mean by “man in his fullness”, “man properly defined”, and “operating at the level God would have him operate”? As many Christians should know, man properly defined, is a spirit which has a soul and resides in a body! God made man in his image and after his likeness (Genesis 1:26), remember? And it is said that God is a Spirit (John 4:24). At creation therefore you were a spirit, like the One who created you in His image. After the fall, man required to be restored to his original state, the spirit-man state; and that’s what happens when you accept the gracious gift of salvation and become a Christian. Immediately upon rebirth, you are regenerated, your spirit comes alive and it becomes fit for God’s own spirit, the Holy Spirit to live with – inside of you. As Kenneth Copeland, the American preacher puts it “the spirit is that part of you which takes on the nature of God”

But you also have a soul, which is the seat of your will, your emotion, your intellect. This is where the action is. This is where you think your thoughts; make your plans and eventually take action.

Then, you have a body. Created to house you for the period of your earthly sojourn, (Kenneth Copeland calls it your “earth-suit”), it is simply the part of you that enables you, the spirit, to operate in the material world of nature.

Now, the soul receives stimuli from two sources, the spirit and the body. The spirit which is the seat of the Holy Spirit of God is able to influence your thoughts, your plans and therefore your actions. So is your body. Whereas, your spirit receives knowledge and wisdom from an infinite source and is therefore able to communicate them to your soul and thus lead you into all truths, show you things to come and guide you thereby; the body interfaces with the soul more easily because it is fed from the outside, from stimuli received through your five finite senses that are essentially earth-tools. The result is often that our soul becomes more “body”-conscious than spirit-conscious. We tap more into the material world with its tunnel or even keyhole vision than into the omniscience of the spiritual.

God did not plan for it to be so. He wants His children to be led of His Spirit. Chapter 8 of the Book of Romans says a lot about this all-important subject: “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (14); “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God, And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ…”(16-17).

Speaking of the things we have access to in the Holy Spirit which is ours by faith, Apostle John recorded the Lord Jesus as putting it this way: “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth…and he will shew you things to come…(John 16:13-14).

Yet the current aberration is avoidable. If we will feed our soul from the abundance of truth, revelation and wisdom that is available from the Spirit of God through His Word, the Bible; if we will meditate upon His word, we will become exactly who we ought to be – children of God endued with wisdom, insight and power. Instead, we feed our soul from the abundance of junk that the world has to offer. When we develop the intellect with the finite wisdom of the world, which at best enables us to discover or adapt rather than create, we get puffed up and begin to enthrone such “knowledge” to the level of deity. The result: political, economic and social crisis.

Now, I have said all of that simply to say these: Children of God are expected to make the difference wherever they are. God expects so and so does the rest of the world! Verse 19 of the same chapter of Romans cited above says: “For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God”.

When a child of God is Spirit-led, he knows “things to come” because the Holy Spirit will show him. The same Spirit is able to teach him how to communicate what he knows at the right time and place and to the right people. And that applies everywhere. Do you work in an establishment, if you are sufficiently committed to your work; God is willing to bless the outfit for your sake and can give you insight that’s otherwise not yet available to anyone else. If you are a legislator; God expects you to make a difference and He will enable you to, by showing you things to, and granting you the wisdom that you need to carry your colleagues along.

There are three critical elements here. First is the need to understand that you are first and foremost a spirit with access to the all-knowing, all-able and everywhere present Spirit of God. The second is that you keep it so by keeping your soul fed much more from that source than from any other. Finally, understanding that what God has given you is applicable as much to your personal affairs as it is even to public affairs at every level you chose to diligently apply it. Pity, the likes of Professor Wole Soyinka do not think so. He was quoted as saying that religion has become irrelevant in the public domain. And I ask, since when? He and people like him need to read the book, “HE MADE THE DIFFERENCE, the Dynamic Story of Ambassador Christopher Kolade in Britain” written by Pamela Chinekwe and published in Nigeria by KP Books.

YOU, YOUR NATION AND DIVINE ECONOMICS

It was a critical moment and the president was, for once, almost presidential, as in, radiating the air of someone in charge. You see, this is a major requirement of the times because fear expressed is fear enthroned. And fear is what fuels economic crisis. The world calls it being proactive. You hear a rumour, otherwise known as “market intelligence”, you spread it and many of those you tell work with it and it becomes self-fulfilling. Bank runs are known to have been the result of such scenarios...Fear is the most potent weapon of the enemy and that is what Mr President has wisely disallowed free rein in the matter of the economy. And that is what you and I must do. Now I do not know the root of his owns convictions, but I do know that, as Christians, our own lack of fear must be based on the word of God.

Now, you’ve heard it from the horse’s mouth. The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Alhaji Umar Yar’Adua used the occasion of signing into law the 2009 Appropriation Bill, otherwise known as the Budget, to give a kind of state of the economy address.

He was forthright: “In December 2008, I presented a Budget Proposal with an aggregate expenditure of N2.87 trillion with a deficit of N1.09 trillion or 3.95 per cent of GDP. Based on the revised fiscal framework subsequently agreed with the National Assembly, we had a deficit of N654 billion or 2.36 per cent of GDP. After due consideration of the Budget Proposal, the National Assembly passed a N3.1018 trillion budget with a deficit of N836.6 billion or 3.02 per cent of GDP. As passed, the 2009 Budget projects higher oil revenues than in the original proposal. However, I must express some reservation regarding these higher forecasts given the current realities of declining international oil prices and production constraints. Due to militant activities in the Niger Delta, our production has sometimes declined to as low as 1.6mbpd from a projection of 2.209mbpd.”

He was as truthful: “Should this low production turn out to be our average for the year, and the average price falls to $40/barrel from the original budget projection of $45/barrel, our fiscal deficit would increase to N1.35 trillion or 5.24 per cent of GDP, which is well above the three per cent allowable limit under the Fiscal Responsibility Act. Financing such a large fiscal deficit will have its own challenges…Our revenue base is dwindling with the drastic fall in the price of crude oil. As at today, the Naira has lost about 25 per cent of its value against the Dollar. Our stock market, once a choice investment destination, has not escaped the adverse effects of the economic downturn. These developments have grave implications for macro-economic stability, economic growth and sustainable development in our country."

But thanks to God, he didn’t exactly press the panic button: “For us, therefore, the present global economic crisis offers an opportunity to re-examine the structure of our economy and implement strategies that will reposition our nation for the global economic order that will emerge from the current experience. With our collective aspiration to make Nigeria one of the world's 20 leading economies by 2020, we see this global crisis as an obstacle we must overcome, and not a reason to abandon what we consider a worthwhile journey…As a government, we are committed to doing everything possible to minimise the impact of the current global crisis on the people of this country. Whatever the sacrifices that have to be made, we will not allow the weakest among us to shoulder the burden,”

Instead, he left no one in doubt that he intends to stay focused: “The 2009 budget is devoted to sectors which we consider critical to the regeneration of the economy. There is a decided bias for power supply, transportation and other critical infrastructure. There is also increased funding for education, health, agriculture and other areas critical to the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals. The peace, security and sustained development of the Niger Delta are also a core priority in the 2009 budget… The aim is to ensure effective and targeted implementation of critical projects, while at the same time instituting efficiency and accountability in the management of scarce public resources.”

It was a critical moment and the president was, for once, almost presidential, as in, radiating the air of someone in charge. You see, this is a major requirement of the times because fear expressed is fear enthroned. And fear is what fuels economic crisis. The world calls it being proactive. You hear a rumour, otherwise known as “market intelligence”, you spread it and many of those you tell work with it and it becomes self-fulfilling. Bank runs are known to have been the result of such scenarios. The news media unwittingly dig their own graves when they allow themselves to be used to work up such frenzies, because the first expenditure head that’s scalped is publicity and promotion. So advertising revenue slumps, panic sets in and the unemployment market begins to beckon to bright young men and women. Of course, their suppliers are soon affected; then the manufacturers from which supplies are sourced, followed by the producers of raw materials right down the line.

Fear is the most potent weapon of the enemy and that is what Mr President has wisely disallowed free rein in the matter of the economy. And that is what you and I must do. Now I do not know the root of his owns convictions, but I do know that, as Christians, our own lack of fear must be based on the word of God.

A scriptural passage, as popular as Psalm 23, is enough to guide the true Bible- believing child of God through all the seasons of life. Just think about it: “Jehovah is my Shepherd; I shall not want, He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake (verses 1-3). Is God really your shepherd? If He is, you cannot lack anything good. He is your source, sustainer and sustenance. He’ll provide (verse 1) for you body and soul (verse 2) and spirit (verse 3). That is total provision, after all, isn’t that all that you are - a spirit who has a soul and lives in a body!

That is why we, like the psalmist, must never be part of any panic parade. That is why we must be bold enough to declare: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me” (verse 4). In other words, no matter where I am, no matter what the circumstances portend, I have no expectation of evil; I have no expectation that things will turn negative for me! So, no Murphy’s Law for me (remember him?), the one who says if anything can go wrong, it will?). Everything has to work together for my good (see Romans 8:28).

This famous psalm continues: “You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over” (verse 5). Now that excites me no end, particularly since my dear Rev Bayo Oniwinde (the bishop!) redirected attention to it at a recent service. Do you get the import of this verse? It says in the midst of the so-called recession, in the presence of the enemy’s tool known as economic melt-down, your barn is full, your silos are overflowing, your bank accounts are bursting at the seams. You are anointed to prosper and to abound to every good work, all good works! That is the word of God and His word is His will and His will shall be done here on earth as it is done in heaven.

Then it climaxes: “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I shall dwell in the house of Jehovah forever”. Now, you say that everyday, don’t you? But no, don’t rush through it this time. Think about it. Goodness, like love and grace, is a core attribute of God; it is one of the reasons He does what He does! So is His mercy. These are not put-ons available occasionally. They are what He is and they are the reasons He’s going to bless you in spite of what the economic indices are saying.

Now, I know most of us are intellectuals, we have developed our intellect to the fullest and, if we are not already attending seminars about how to survive the recession, we probably are preparing to attend one. But I assure you NONE of those will benefit you. We said it last week; the wisdom of man has failed and will continue to fail, even if for the simple reason that we do not control events by the power of our intellects! And what applies to us individually applies to the nation.

Senate President David Mark told journalists in answer to a question about the crude oil price benchmark used in calculating the budget: “Really who can see the future? If we all can, we will be more than happy. But because we didn’t foresee these and they have come now, who knows what the dollar is going to be against the naira tomorrow, do you know? Nobody! We can’t really predict that. There is no accurate or specific way of doing it.”

He is right and wrong! How so? Please join me next week..

BRETHREN, TIME TO SWITCH ON THE LIGHT

So, is the global economic crisis therefore, a punishment from God? Not necessarily. It’s the inevitable repercussion of the choices of a people who have sold their souls to the devil; it is an affliction from the god of this world whose own ministry is to kill, to steal and to destroy. That is why I once said here that the divide is no longer geographical, as in North versus South or the West against the East. Nor is it along the old traditional socio-economic lines, any longer. It is not even racial or political. The new divide is spiritual. The Bible said of this divide in Isaiah 60:2 “For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee”. In other words the divide can be said to be that between revellers in darkness and carriers of light. What we are seeing today is the beginning of darkness that’s covering the earth, and its people; but children of the light cannot be covered by it. Darkness, after all, is simply the absence of light!

That the global economic crisis is already taking its toll on the Nigerian economy is incontrovertible. Even when you concede the position of being so vigorously canvassed by the Central Bank of Nigeria governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo that all the banks are healthy, which is doubtful, there is still considerable cause for anxiety.

As I write this, bank lending rate is a whopping 27% and as usual only big ticket transactions qualify; one US dollar exchanges at the unofficial market for N170; and prices of many essentials are heading northwards, in response. Crude oil price have remained on the floor. Though it rose marginally to about $45 during the week, this is still a great distance from the $147 height it crashed from a few months ago.

The situation on the stock market is not in hurry to improve. Market capitalisation of many of the big operators remains at five-year lows. The banks are still carrying those toxic assets known as margin credits on their books with little hope of recovering them, unless government steps in. A sizable percentage of the emerging middle class which responded to the lure of mouth watering returns from the capital market is still reeling from the crash aftermath, with grave consequences for the consumer goods market.

The rank of the unemployed is swelling already, with the addition of new entrants from the tertiary institutions at home and abroad; and the usual big employers, already considering downsizing, and therefore with no appetite for new recruits.

There is restiveness on the labour scene. Teachers in the Southern states are on strike to force the hands of governments to pay them the new Teachers Salary Scale; oil workers are still dissatisfied with the security situation in the Niger Delta which has over time taken the lives of many of its members; and labour and civil society are warming up for resistance against the Federal Government’s decision to withdraw subsidies on petroleum products in the name of liberalisation.

It is already well known that government workers are likely to take pay cuts in the coming weeks in order to reduce its estimated N1.3 trillion annual wage bill. It may therefore be incongruous to expect that same government to accede to any pay rise agitation, which inexorably follows every sharp rise in price levels. Were the government to want to accede to wage increase and/or other spending stimulation stratagem, it has paucity of funds to contend with. What with dwindling foreign reserves, depleted excess crude oil account, nose-dived oil revenue and threats to the revenue from Customs and Excise! A resort to ways and means, which is official jargon for printing money, is one way out; but traditionally, nothing fuels inflation more effectively!

So, as the journalist, Ray Ekpu would have put it, it’s a hunchback problem, no matter where you touch it, it hurts! In other words, all facts considered, we may as well hang out the sign “bumpy road ahead”! And as we pointed out in No Hiding Place (January 11), there is really nowhere to run to. We wrote in that piece: “The situation used to be that if things got tough in Nigeria, you endured whatever humiliation they heaped upon you at the United States embassy, get a visa and bolt. If the United States won't do, you tried the United Kingdom or Ireland, or Japan, or China or wherever else seemed likely to provide succour. But, just look around you, virtually every major economy in the world is either on the verge of recession, already in recession or is unofficially already in depression”.

Now those are the stark physical realities, the facts of the case. But are they the truth, from a spiritual standpoint? Are you, as a child of God, subject to these facts and figures, permutations and conjectures; well thought out as they are? The answer is an unqualified ‘No’. Why should you trust the economic wisdom that could not prevent the set of circumstances from arising to correctly predict its outcome?

You see, the truth is that we are where we are because the wisdom of man has failed as the Bible has said it would. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? (1Corinthians 1:19 &20)

This truth leads to another inevitable truth, the current global recession seemingly triggered by the financial market meltdown has its roots in the spiritual. We’ve said it here before, the wise men of the western world build a gargantuan financial and economic structure based on greed and fear, fuelled by the unholy trinity of me, myself and I and operated on the principle of “everyone for himself; the devil take the hindmost”. They called it the free market system and it became attractive because of its seeming success. Itself an offshoot of the free market of ideas in the field of politics, so successful did the system become that pride set in. Freedom became the object of worship. God took back seat, wherever and whenever He had a place at all. The West became so proud of this system that it began not just to export to willing importers but also to the unwilling by share force. My Bible says God resists the proud!

So, is the global economic crisis therefore, a punishment from God? Not necessarily. It’s the inevitable repercussion of the choices of a people who have sold their souls to the devil; it is an affliction from the god of this world whose own ministry is to kill, to steal and to destroy. That is why I once said here that the divide is no longer geographical, as in North versus South or the West against the East. Nor is it along the old traditional socio-economic lines, any longer. It is not even racial or political. The new divide is spiritual.

The Bible said of this divide in Isaiah 60:2 “For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee”. In other words the divide can be said to be that between revellers in darkness and carriers of light. What we are seeing today is the beginning of darkness that’s covering the earth, and its people; but children of the light cannot be covered by it. Darkness, after all, is simply the absence of light!

In very clear terms therefore, there is absolutely no reason why a child of God should be consumed in the darkness of economic recession whether they live in the United States or sojourn in China; whether they be Negroid or Caucasian, whether they be Nigerian or Pakistani.

How so? That is because God’s children have access to resources that children of the world do not. First you become a child of God because you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord and Saviour. Apostle John puts it like this: “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name” (John 1:12 ). Then your regenerated spirit opens up to be led of God’s Spirit. This is powerfully stated in chapter 8 of the book of Romans: “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God…The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God” (verses 14,16). Access to the wisdom of God through the Holy Spirit is one of the things that makes the child of God able to prosper even in the so-called difficult times.

Another thing that marks us apart from the world and which should insulate us from the hard times is dominion power. The book of Genesis records that “God created man in his own image…And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion…” (Genesis 1:27-28). The will of God is here clearly revealed: that His children should not just multiply and replenish the earth, they should subdue it! To subdue is to conquer, subjugate, bring into bondage, force, keep under, bring into subjection. So, nothing on earth should be able to hinder your success and prosperity in whatsoever your hand finds to do, even in the midst of economic meltdown. So, don’t let the economic crisis reach you. Reach for your key resource; listen to your spirit and do what the Spirit of God is saying to your spirit, whether it makes sense or not. When you have, go right ahead and exercise dominion, like your Father does: speak your success into manifestation. Arise don’t melt with the darkness, switch on your light!

DON’T TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN

Do you get the picture? It is one of the challenges of social engineering that on the one hand we complain that most of the people, who are celebrated, held up as heroes and therefore as potential role models, are charlatans. But on the other hand, those who deserve to be honoured and held up for the generality of the people to emulate, do not want to be celebrated! They shy away from the limelight out of humility; which is the Christ-like thing to do! Yet, even the Lord Jesus said that candles are not meant to be placed under tables and He wasn’t talking about the potential for setting off a fire! He was talking about the illuminating role of the candle. So what do we do? We play the leper as often as we can! The Bible recalls that as a result of the fact that the leper “…went out, and began to publish it much, and to blaze abroad the matter,” people “came to him from every quarter.”

Please don’t tell this to anyone. Do not share it with even your closest confidant, lest it be noised abroad. But if you must, please do not say that you read it here that Rev Dr Chris Tunde Joda, President, Voice of Faith Ministries and Senior Founding Pastor, Christ Chapel International Churches will turn 50 on Tuesday, March 3, 2009.

If you are wondering why I shouldn’t be quoted, let me just put it this way: I am kind of playing the leper here… and you don’t want to join me in that, do you? You don’t want to join me in behaving exactly like that leper in chapter one of the Book of Mark. His story read like this:

“And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean. And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed. And he straitly charged him, and forthwith sent him away; And saith unto him, See thou say nothing to any man: but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing those things which Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them. But he went out, and began to publish it much, and to blaze abroad the matter, insomuch that Jesus could no more openly enter into the city, but was without in desert places: and they came to him from every quarter” (Mark 1: 40-45).

Do you get the picture? It is one of the challenges of social engineering that on the one hand we complain that most of the people, who are celebrated, held up as heroes and therefore as potential role models, are charlatans. But on the other hand, those who deserve to be honoured and held up for the generality of the people to emulate, do not want to be celebrated! They shy away from the limelight out of humility; which is the Christ-like thing to do! Yet, even the Lord Jesus said that candles are not meant to be placed under tables and He wasn’t talking about the potential for setting off a fire! He was talking about the illuminating role of the candle. So what do we do? We play the leper as often as we can! The Bible recalls that as a result of the fact that the leper “…went out, and began to publish it much, and to blaze abroad the matter,” people “came to him from every quarter.”

In other words, for the true heroes to be known and appreciated; for the true role models to take their place for the betterment of society, there would seem to be the occasional playing of the leper. That is what I have found myself doing in this column now and again; and that is what I am doing again today.

Yes, Dr Tunde Joda, my Senior Pastor, my coach, my teacher and spiritual father is 50. I can hear many say, only 50? Yes, only 50, although he seemed to have been around and in our consciousness like forever! That’s partly because he has spent more than half of that, precisely 26 years, in ministry, having founded CCIC in 1983.
That is also because, he pioneered a new move of Pentecostalism in Nigeria, a move that not only took young people out of the formalism of denominationalism, but also weaned many of them from the not-so-informed fundamentalism of the Scripture Union era.
His punk hairstyle, which he still wears today, his sartorial choices, his general mannerisms and most important of all, his teachings on faith were all revolutionary at the time. His philosophy was come just as you are. This deemphasised the dress sense, or lack of it, of the potential Christian, which he sees as being outward manifestation of the state of the heart and which, he knew the Word was capable of changing. This drew a huge crowd of youths even if it opened the church to criticisms from either extremes of Christendom.

It is already well known that he gave up what was clearly a promising career in medicine, a profession he pursued with vigour at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, as someone put it out of “his natural love for humanity.” In the words of a piece published last year during the 25th Founders’ Day commemoration, “God had a greater plan of using him not only to heal men’s physical bodies but to make men totally whole by healing them spiritually, emotionally and financially.”

Since yielding to God’s plan for his life there has been no going back; no looking back and no turning to the left or to the right. He has kept his focus; daring to blaze trails here and there as he feels led of God. If a school room was what was available to “church” in, he took it. When it was a cinema hall that was large enough, he didn’t allow the social stigma associated with such a premises affect his judgment. Indeed many men and women who were later to become Spirit-filled pastors and leaders in many churches gave their lives to Christ at the Super Cinema in the Surulere area of Lagos.

It is incontrovertible that this man of God, has his imprint in a sizeable part of the word of Faith movement in Nigeria and beyond. This was demonstrated last year when a group of alumni of Christ Chapel decided to put together what they called a Home-Coming event. It was a spectacular reunion of men and women who cut their spiritual teeth under the ministry of TJ and Sister Ebun as the man of God and his wife are fondly called. And they came from all walks of life – Ministry, the academia, the professions etc.

There are no shortages of testimonies about how this man of destiny has been used of God to touch lives in diverse ways over the past 26 years, but space, the tyrant, would allow me chip in only this one.

Her name is Faith. Understandably. She is a product of faith, the God kind of faith, so powerfully propagated by this man of God. At the time of telling her story, last year, she was already 23 and a final year student in one of the universities.

Her mum had been had been prone to miscarriages of pregnancy. Of course you can imagine that she would not have been sitting pretty, doing nothing; there must have been regular visits to doctors and clinics of all kinds. Then one day a young doctor turned pastor came calling at the campus of Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOLY) as today’s LACOSTECH used to be known. She attended the meeting, answered the altar call and thus became born again.

Then she started attending follow-up classes as the church located at Ibidun Street where she was counselled and encouraged to live by faith. The pastor during one of those meetings prophesied that there would be a turn around in the life of this aspiring mother before the end of that year. Here is how it played out in Faith’s own words:

“My mum conceived before the end of 1984. The pastor made sure she attended the ante-natal clinic at LUTH (Lagos University Teaching Hospital), where he worked. To the glory of God and the joy of my parents, my mother carried the pregnancy to full term. I was that baby.”

Now, in spite of everything that God has done through this pastor of pastors, he has placed an embargo on celebrations! You organise or do anything to celebrate him at your own risk!! I can only pray that this piece is not seen as a violation of that embargo.

But if, like me, you were at that point where in place a buoyant spirit, all you were feeling was emptiness; where, you had started chalking up defeat after defeat and failure after failure in place of victories and successes; where it dawned on you that you had been foolishly taking credit for God’s wonder working power upon your life and he seemed to have decided to let you “do it your way”. If in that state He leads you to a flock where, led by his chosen under-Shepherd, you are fed with the engrafted word of God, taught to worship Him and nurtured back to spiritual buoyancy, you’ll probably, understand why I have chosen to play the leper and publicly acknowledge the coach at the golden age of 50. Thanks for letting God use you to touch lives, including mine, and glorify Christ.