AKINGBOLA, IBRU AND COLLEAGUES (2)

Inevitably all these have led one to begin to wonder what all of these are about. Are we faced with an altruistic but overzealous attempt at righting wrongs in a very important sector of our national life? Or is this a mixed bag of personal vendetta, score-settling, pursuit of certain group agenda all wrapped in national service? There has been no shortage of tales in support of the latter; ranging from Soludo-era accusation of de-marketing campaign against Sanusi by one of the sacked CEOs, to alleged attempt by some of the CEOs to block Sanusi’s appointment – all unconfirmed and unproven. But into the fray comes a certain report, the front page lead story of the March 23, 2009 edition of Vanguard newspapers. Its uncanny semblance to what is currently playing out is, to say the least, interesting.

He was a mathematician and logician; a photographer and an Anglican deacon, but he made his name as an author in a most unlikely genre of literature. An intellectual by all account, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson’s claim to fame came through his exertions in a field that became known as Literary Nonsense authoring three books and some poetry. Curiously, I had Lewis Carroll, as he is more popularly known, author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, on my mind, all week. And it’s all thanks to that famous line in chapter two of this classic: “‘Curiouser and curiouser!’ cried Alice (she was so much surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English).”

Events in the unfolding melodrama in Nigeria’s banking sector have left me in wonderment and caught me joining Alice in her resort to that “bad English” exclamation – curiouser and curiouser! You’ll probably understand why as I try to goose-step through this piece.

Let’s begin this way. Last week, I emphasised that the five bank CEOs and in particular the two reflected in the headline had not been accused of anything illegal; that all the issues were basically those of risk management, most of which are matters of judgement rather than law. That was why I closed with a number of questions that I believed were central to the situation at hand.

For ease of reference, the appropriate paragraph read partly: “Now, of the questions that have arisen…I consider the most important as how these banks got into the mess that the facts and figures suggest they are in? As I said earlier the risk management issues that have come to the fore would have their roots in a variety of soils. These might include inadequate expertise at risk evaluation, lack of depth in their management cadre; support for government policies or, greed for gain leading to the rush to the gravy trains that the capital market and oil and gas were up to 2007. Of course there are questions also of whether sacking of the executive boards of the banks was the only effective solution? Was appropriate care taken in determining the extent of bad loans? Could an organ of government like CBN have helped with recovery of policy-support loans where government is the ultimate debtor? Most germane of all, in relation to this column is the implication of these developments for the place of faith in decision making as corporate helmsmen – for those who profess their faith.”

Now consider how things have unfolded since then. Erstwhile Group Chief Executive of Intercontinental Bank, Dr Erastus Akingbola and Chief Mrs Cecilia Ibru of Oceanic Bank were declared wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC “in connection with fraudulent abuse of credit process, insider trading, capital market manipulation and money laundering running into billions of Naira.” As I write this, Akingbola’s whereabouts was still a subject of speculations, while Ibru turned herself in on Wednesday. Although they had not been arraigned as I turn in this piece, media reports had it that charges had been framed against them. Apart from those for which the two were declared wanted, others being bandied about in the media are securing foreign loans without consulting the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and; indirect granting of loan to themselves through fronts.

Pause a bit, dear reader and contemplate this dramatic twist to the tale. Two of Nigeria’s most celebrated top flight bankers declared wanted like criminals! Akingbola, a minister of the gospel who runs God So Amazing Foundation through which millions of copies of a quarterly devotional, The Word for Today is distributed in Nigeria , Ghana, Cote D’Ivoire, Kenya and South Africa free, a fugitive, accused of crime as at the time of writing? Ibru, the stately wife of one of Nigeria’s foremost pioneer entrepreneurs, Michael Ibru, top member of one of Nigeria’s biggest Pentecostal churches, whose bank’s board of directors is chaired by the highly respected former capital market icon, Apostle Hayford Alile, being accused of money laundering and capital market manipulation? Curiouser and curiouser!

The EFCC also moved against the alleged major debtors of the five banks, issuing a seven-day ultimatum to persons and companies named in a list earlier published by the CBN, a list which generated lost of controversies on account of its inaccuracy and non-currency. Imagine that. CBN didn’t get its numbers right! Why the haste that led to blunders for which they had to issue explanation and apologies? Was it impossible for the fastidious Lamido Sanusi to have gotten the numbers updated, rather than publish May figures in August? And there was EFCC Chairman, Farida Waziri sounding every bit like her predecessor, the controversial Nuhu Ribadu. Where did all the niceties of due process to? Curiouser and curiouser!

Of course the originator of all of these, Lamido Sanusi wasn’t just acting, he was also speaking. He was either being quoted as saying that he would soon open the window for potential buyers of the five banks to express their interest, or that he would encourage the banks to merge with stronger ones. And he’s not kidding, is he? You put in N100 billion in a company built on the industry and sweat of individuals and groups and with assets worth twice or more that amount in Naira and promptly assume the role of lord and master? And that as if existing shareholders have all shipped out to Mars? Curiouser and curiouser!

Inevitably all these have led one to begin to wonder what all of these are about. Are we faced with an altruistic but overzealous attempt at righting wrongs in a very important sector of our national life? Or is this a mixed bag of personal vendetta, score-settling, pursuit of certain group agenda all wrapped in national service? There has been no shortage of tales in support of the latter; ranging from Soludo-era accusation of de-marketing campaign against Sanusi by one of the sacked CEOs, to alleged attempt by some of the CEOs to block Sanusi’s appointment – all unconfirmed and unproven. But into the fray comes a certain report, the front page lead story of the March 23, 2009 edition of Vanguard newspapers. Its uncanny semblance to what is currently playing out is, to say the least, interesting.

Headlined, “Group plots take over of five banks”, and signed by Omoh Gabriel and Emeka Mamah, it reads in part: “ANTI-CONSOLIDATION forces have regrouped with the hope of dismantling the structures and forcing a takeover of the top five banks in the country, Vanguard can now reveal. The grand plan by the group is to cause panic and uncertainty in the industry and make the target banks look unsafe for depositors… Vanguard investigations revealed that the aim of the anti-consolidation forces is to cause loss of public confidence in the banking industry and compel the Federal Government to move in by injecting funds. Further, they ultimately plan to instigate government to take equity holdings in the targeted banks.

“Vanguard gathered that the group at work is made up of former bank owners who lost out during the consolidation exercise, a powerful clique in the present government, and some aggrieved persons in three of the six geopolitical zones in the country who felt left out in the consolidation exercise. Presidency sources disclosed that those who felt left out in the consolidation exercise are up in arms to recoup what they felt they lost during Obasanjo years. Part of the plans hatched by the group is to ensure that the incumbent Governor of the Central Bank, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, does not get a second term. The plan is also to ensure that whatever gains consolidation recorded are discredited. This, it was learnt, was meant to force the President to act quickly in the matter of appointment of a successor to Soludo as they anticipate that the president's slow move may scuttle their dreams and cause the renewal of Soludo's re-appointment for a second term…

“A CBN official who spoke on condition of anonymity said that it is unfortunate that top five banks are the target. The banks, he said, are sound. The CBN had mistaken in the past the ongoing move as de-marketing by competitors in the banking industry, saying it is unhealthy competition. “The group is using this means to make depositors panic and undertake massive withdrawal of funds from the targeted banks in an attempt to cause liquidity problem in the bank. In that state they hope to cause a take over by the government which may buy a stake in the bank and later sell to members of the privileged group who may be appointed in the interim into the board of the banks…” Curiouser and curiouser, don’t you think? Lord, have mercy!

PIXES: CBN Governor Lamido Sanusi with EFCC chairman Farida Waziri (Mrs) exchange pleasantries at EFCC Lagos Office premises;
Chief Mrs Cecilia Ibru, Oceanic Bank's sacked CEO (centre) flanked by health personnel and lawyers arrives EFCC premises to give self up. Extreme Left is Mr Ajibola Oluyede of TRLP Law; Far left is Mr Niyi Akintola, SAN both attorneys to Mrs Ibru.

AKINGBOLA, IBRU AND COLLEAGUES

“Penultimate Friday, both banking icons were among chief executive officers and executive directors of five banks made to step down from office, on the orders of the Central Bank of Nigeria. My heart truly goes out to them, and I have joined many others in praying for them. As I perused the facts and figures that have been placed in the public domain, reactions from several quarters and the usual interplay of factors and interests in policy formulation and execution, a number of questions beg for answers. But I’ll come back to this later. It suffices to emphasise that these CEOs and their executive boards have, as I write this, not been accused of any criminal activities. The issues are those of risk management, which is basically one of judgement and its resultant effect on the strength of their operations; they are issues of corporate governance.”

Last year, the men’s ministry that I have the privilege of coordinating planned what we called a Mighty Man of Valour Dinner. It was intended to be the climax of a relatively active year in our outreach programme. We wanted someone to speak on the topic, “Navigating the Babylonian System with Kingdom Tools” which was what, in retrospect, had turned out to be our focus for that year. We wanted a man who was incontrovertibly Christian in the way he operated the business he is in. We found that man in Dr Erastus Akingbola, Group Managing Director, Intercontinental Bank Plc. We therefore prefixed the theme, “Banking on God.” Unfortunately, the event did not hold for various reasons, including unavailability of the guest speaker.

In a different capacity, we tried to reach out to Chief Mrs Cecilia Ibru, Managing Director/Chief Executive, Oceanic Bank Plc to speak at a Luncheon on “The Place of Christian Ethics in Corporate Governance”. Again, the event did not fly – for several reasons – also, not excluding the proposed speaker’s minders’ inability to even respond to our letter.

I have recalled these to demonstrate the very high esteem in which this writer holds these two bankers who exemplify, in their public activities, a commitment to the faith they profess. For me, they are people who made their name, fame and resources available for the propagation of the gospel and therefore role models who should have things to impart to others. Although, one was disappointed that their inability to accept those invitations contributed to the indefinite postponement of both events, the high esteem in which I held them did not and has not diminished.

Penultimate Friday, both banking icons were among chief executive officers and executive directors of five banks made to step down from office, on the orders of the Central Bank of Nigeria. My heart truly goes out to them, and I have joined many others in praying for them. As I perused the facts and figures that have been placed in the public domain, reactions from several quarters and the usual interplay of factors and interests in policy formulation and execution, a number of questions beg for answers. But I’ll come back to this later.

It is important to emphasise that these CEOs and their executive boards have, as I write this, not been accused of any criminal activities. The issues are those of risk management, which is basically one of judgement and its resultant effect on the strength of their operations; they are issues of corporate governance.

This should bring to memory the controversy that followed a report by a Paris, France-based journal, The Africa Report, published a few months ago. In that cover story headlined, “Nigerian Banks, Signs of Life” authored by Nicholas Norbrook and LeoNard Lawal, only four of Nigeria’s 24 banks were adjudged to be as “Strong” and “Thriving”. None of the five banks whose top management went under Central Bank Governor Lamido Sanusi’s hammer made that list. Nine others were rated as “Satisfactory”. These are banks the journal said were likely to “survive” in spite of “some margin lending issues”. Of the five only Afribank made this segment. The other four were named among those having “serious governance issues (that) need urgent attention” and grouped alongside three others as “Shaken.” A fourth group was labelled “Stressed” and described as “on the ropes, will either sink or be swallowed”

Interestingly, the magazine was vilified by some organs of government, the banks and a section of the media. It was even accused of doing a hatchet job for some foreign investors looking to invest in the Nigerian financial sector, on the cheap. Yet, a reading of the very brief report would have shown that no matter the motives, the facts were empirical and not in anyway different from those that have been published and commented upon by some of the more perceptive ones among Nigerian financial journalists. For instance, the report spoke about the Nigerian Stock Exchange’s loss of “over 65% of its value since March 2008” and how “an estimated N8trn ($54bn) has been wiped off bank stocks, which represent two-thirds of total market capitalisation.” It also reported that “the CBN believes that the sector could face up to N1trn of bad loans and has talked of setting up an asset management company onto which banks can offload their toxic assets.” It quoted a financial analyst, Latyr Diop of Afrinvest West Africa as saying that “Most of the banks have over-leveraged their balance sheets during the boom cycle and are stuck with trillions of naira worth of bad debts…” In situating the crisis, the report said: “…Lending was particularly strong to government and the oil and telecom sectors. Though telecoms seem to be holding up, the other two pose greater problems. The fall in the price of oil has put several energy related companies out of business, with repercussions for those banking them”. None of these ranks as revelations, save that key stakeholders were either living in denial, or were wary of rocking the financial system boat.

So vociferous were the attacks on the magazine that it had to respond. In a statement standing by their story, the management headed by a veteran, highly connected reporter on Africa and African issues, Patrick Smith wrote in part: “Our ranking of the banks was based on qualitative not quantitative factors. Nigerian banks are used to being graded on numerical performance indicators, a grading process that is in itself open to manipulation…Qur report was about transparency, corporate governance, accounting practice, lack of disclosure and up-to-date financial reporting, Banks & Other Financial Institutions Act infractions, auditor commentary and accessibility.”

What the journal said in May 2009, for which they were called names, was exactly what CBN’s Sanusi repeated both in his address to the media two Fridays ago and in his exclusive interview with ThisDay thereafter. Among other things, he was quoted as saying that he ordered a special examination of the five banks because he was alarmed: “at the quantum of exposure which some of the banks had…An exposure to a capital market that has lost over 70 percent of its value was a long term problem unless people believe that the capital market will pick up in the next few months and I do not think that stocks are going to go back to that very high level within a short time.”

From these, it is clear that what the CBN had to deal with was not crime, at least, not yet. What we have here is a case of poor judgement, which might have its roots in any number of other soils. As Sanusi told ThisDay Board of Editors: “…In every capitalist environment, if management loses a lot of money, it will go. It is not a crime. The MDs of all the banks behind the mortgage crisis in other parts of the world took the right action and resigned. They did not steal money. They did not commit a crime. But they ran an institution in a manner that cost it its franchise, or cost its shareholders money or placed their depositors at risk. They put their firms at risk and they took responsibility for it. So, it is in this light that the action that we have taken should be seen. “

Now, of the questions that have arisen from the on-going situation, I consider the most important as how did these banks get into the mess that the facts and figures suggest they are in? As I said earlier the risk management issues that have come to the fore would have their roots in a variety of soils. These might include inadequate expertise at risk evaluation, lack of depth in their management cadre; support for government policies or, greed for gain leading to the rush to the gravy trains that the capital market and oil and gas were up to 2007. Of course there are questions also of whether sacking of the executive boards of the banks was the only effective solution? Was appropriate care taken in determining the extent of bad loans? Could an organ of government like CBN have helped with recovery of policy-support loans where government is the ultimate debtor? Most germane of all, in relation to this column is the implication of these developments for the place of faith in decision making as corporate helmsmen – for those who profess their faith.
We’ll examine these questions in the concluding part next week. By the way, has anyone sent The Africa Report an apology, yet?

PIXES: EMBATTLED BANK CHIEFS...
Dr Erastus Akingbola, Intercontinental Bank PLC &
Dr Mrs Cecilia Ibru, Oceanic Bank PLC

WHEN MEN RISE...

...Whether it was the “Western Education is Evil” (Boko Haram) campaign, with its the mindless violence and summary justice inflicted on its leaders by agents of the State or; the cynical end-game being played across the land over the Niger Delta or, the theatre of the absurd that electoral reform and constitutional amendment have been reduced to by politicians, the same question that come to my mind is this: Where are the men, the real men? When will these self-centred, myopic, micro-thinking, devil-may-care boys grow to others-centred, far-sighted, macro-thinking, godly men?...

When men praise
Dreams are fulfilled
When men praise
Families restore
When men praise
The home is warm
When men praise
The enemy’s defeated…

Those are the words of one of the songs on the debut CD of Mighty Men of Praise, the all-men musical group of Christian Men’s Network Nigeria. Written by Daniel Nzekwue, one of the most prolific and versatile young men in ministry that I have had the privilege of calling my friend and co-labourer, it gets me thinking every time and all the time. In those few words he captured the power of praise and worship in the life and ministry of men, and sought to wean us away from the stiff starchiness that we tend to exhibit even in church. But, it has never ceased to get me thinking beyond the praise, such that I find myself substituting the word “praise” with such others like “pray”, “love”, “care” and etc. But recently, my favourite word has been “rise” – with very good reason.

Exactly one month ago, about two hundred men gathered at a church auditorium in the Surulere area of Lagos, Nigeria for the opening session of a four-day conference. Hosted by Christ Chapel International Churches (CCIC), the church founded by Rev Dr Tunde Joda over 25 years ago, Men’s International Summit 2009, was as it was titled held for five days. It is the theme of that event, “Rise, He Calleth Thee”, drawn from the Bible book of Mark 10:49, that’s the catalyst, the instigator of my latest version of Dan Nzekwue’s beautiful lyric.

Events before, during and since that conference have all confirmed what many of us drawn into men’s ministry have been agonising about - the need for men to rise to higher levels of manhood. Whether it was the “Western Education is Evil” (Boko Haram) campaign, with its the mindless violence and summary justice inflicted on its leaders by agents of the State or; the cynical end-game being played across the land over the Niger Delta or, the theatre of the absurd that electoral reform and constitutional amendment have been reduced to by politicians, the same question that come to my mind is this: Where are the men, the real men? When will these self-centred, myopic, micro-thinking, devil-may-care boys grow to others-centred, far-sighted, macro-thinking, godly men? But, these are matters for another day, hopefully.

For the moment, allow me share with you some of the highlights of the conference. So motivated were we in the Organising Team for the men’s summit, which I had the privilege of chairing that, in our search for a theme song, somebody wrote these lines: “Rise, He calleth thee/ Rise from blindness/ He calleth thee to sight/ Rise from lethargy/ He calleth thee to refire/ Rise, He calleth thee; “Rise, He calleth thee/ Rise from grabbing/ He calleth thee to giving/ Rise from compromise/ He calleth thee to constancy/ Rise from self/ He calleth thee to serve/ Rise, He calleth the /; Rise from fear/ He calleth thee to faith/ Rise from anxiety/ He calleth thee to peace/… Rise, man in the gap/ Rise you are His method; Rise, Christ calleth thee/ Rise, He calleth thee/; “Rise from the grind/ He calleth thee to His grace/Rise, He calleth thee; “Rise, He calleth thee/ Rise from Gloom/ He calleth thee to Glory/ Rise from the valley; He calleth thee to the hilltop/ etc” Pity, it never got put into music!

Delivering the opening ministration, Rev Clyde Oliver, senior pastor of Maranatha Christian Centre in Florida, USA, says Jesus is calling the men to rise to their duty as fathers. In a message titled The Difference a Father Makes, he drew extensively from the scriptures to illustrate the pivotal place God has placed fathers. He pointed out that God closed the old covenant with this significant statement in the very last verse of the Old Testament, Malachi 4:6 – “And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” This, according to him, demonstrates that God places great premium on father-son relationships. And he proceeded to illustrate it.

Drawing the examples from God, the Father’s relationship with Jesus and subsequently with all of us who have became sons and daughters through faith in the Lord Jesus, he identified public affirmation as one of the major ways fathers can truly motivate and strengthen their children. He cited God’s proclamation of Jesus right after his baptism in the book of Luke: “And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased" (chapter 3:22). This was as public as it could get. But he also cited the example from the Mount of Transfiguration where the Bible records God’s affirmation of the Lord Jesus to a select audience of five, namely, Moses, Elijah, Peter, John and James, the last three who would subsequently play major roles in founding of the Church. To this elite group he not only affirmed him, he commanded them in these in “a voice out of the cloud” words: “…This is my beloved Son: hear him” (Luke 9:35).

Rev Oliver climaxed with this powerful assertion: “When our hearts are filled with security and love from an affirming father, we start living from the approval of our father; not for his approval.” How many of us are still living for the approval of our parents rather than from it and in their love and security? How many of us fathers are giving our children the kind of affirmation that they need to go out and make the difference? The absence of such godly affirmations may be responsible for the insecurity that many men exhibit today; an insecurity that leads many of us to grabbing and grabbing rather than giving and giving wherever we find ourselves – in corporate or public governance. It is an insecurity that reflects in the way we relate to the opposite sex at work, at play and even within marriages.

Talking about marriage brings me to some of the ministrations by Rev (Dr) Ronald Merthie, pastor of the New Life Word Center, Sanford, Orlando, described in one of our pre-event releases as a man with a testimony; one every man needs to meet. Although he ministered so powerfully on the subject of prosperity which he anchored on the principle of seed time and harvest, which he even demonstrated by giving away items of clothing, including a very expensive suit he was wearing, his frank talk on sex within marriage was particularly illuminating. So in your face was he about the subject in one of the earlier sessions, that women were barred from the Saturday afternoon “Men’s Roundable” In his opening ministration, for instance, he asked the question, how many men here like sex? The hall was quiet. He then wondered aloud: where did the population of 14 million in Lagos come from, if nobody likes sex!

Married for more than 30 years before his wife went to be with the Lord on May 15 this year, he said he could count on his fingers, the number of times his wife didn’t climax in sex. That is because he learnt to apply biblical principles in every aspect of their marriage, including in bed. No, I can’t tell you all that he taught in the session, but well, let’s mention one or two. To show how little men know about their wives’ body, he asked how much blood does a woman lose during menstruation. Nobody knew. How long does it take a woman to reach orgasm? No answer. Such ignorance, he says, is responsible for poor sex within marriage leading many to becoming explorers.

Dr Merthie addressed such issues as masturbation among men who think it’s probably preferable to getting into bed with another woman. He also spoke about the place of oral sex in general. The first, he showed from the Bible is a form of idolatry, while the other is an abuse of purpose bothering on poor stewardship of the body, which is a temple of the Holy Spirit.

As I reflected on the conference and the various issues deliberated upon, I became ever more persuaded that men need liberation, men need knowledge; men need to rise if our families, communities and the nation will develop, prosper and fulfil its divine mandate. And Men’ Ministry is a pivotal part of the mix. I plan to stay steadfast in the race. So, help me, God.

OPEN LETTER TO ALL KINGDOM PERSONS (4)

Nor is the business person is left out. He’s ever ready and willing to play ball with officials in both the public and private sectors. He’ll offer inducement to get contracts and acquiesce at over-invoicing. Many start out well, resisting the temptation to play the devil’s game but let the devil bare his fangs a little, and we cave in. One brother recently told his story. He had been in the marketing communication field for a while now just getting by with small accounts because he found he had to either pay “public relations” upfront or collaborate with relevant officials to inflate invoices. Now, he says he’s tired of playing the “saint” where everyone else is a “sinner” laughing joyfully to the bank. Why does he want to do that? He was getting married and would therefore soon have a family to provide for...

As we come to the home stretch, I wish to reiterate that those of us who have accepted the Lordship of Jesus Christ have no business living our lives as anything but sons. The kingdom that the Lord Jesus helped to birth is a kingdom of sons, not of subjects. Adam was a son of God who worked in the family business. When he lost his son-ship through rebellion, God promised to restore him one day. He did through the Lord Jesus, also known as the second Adam. The restoration is total. The Bible says he who knew no sin was made sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. The import of that was that we were restored to that state of fellowship, which Adam had with God the Father in the Garden of Eden; that state where they enjoyed “Tales by Moonlight” together in the cool of the day. Righteousness means right-standing. It speaks of that state of being able to stand in the presence of the Father without any feeling of guilt, unworthiness or inferiority. That is an envious state to be in!

But what use is an enviable position that is not used for any good? What use is son-ship if, in practice, it’s just another name for servant-hood? Yet that unfortunately is the rule rather than the exception in Christendom, a whopping 2,009 years after Jesus finished the work of reconciliation, reinstatement and restoration at great personal cost to the entire Godhead. The Bible says God was in Christ reconciling us to himself. It says Jesus came to restore unto us eternal life, which is the very nature of God. It says that to those who believe, he has granted the power, the right to become sons of God.

I have been saying that in nowhere else is our servant mentality more glaring than in our attitude to work. If some sociologist had not conceptualised the rat race, the average Christian would have, because, he epitomises it! From cradle, he is primed for the race – the race to get an education so that he can get a certificate or certificates, so that he can get a job, so that he can make money to put food on the table, wear good clothes, live in a good part of town, ride the best cars, put his children in the best schools, so that they can join the rat race with a couple of advantages over others.

If somewhere along the line, he realises that things are not working exactly as he would have wanted, it dawns on him that he needs God. So, he inserts God and church somewhere in his schedule. From that point on, he never leaves home without praying which oftener than not is simply to tell God what’s going wrong and ask him to fix it “in the mighty names of Jesus.” And off he goes to work for his daily bread!

If, like many, he doesn’t get a job fast enough after acquiring his degrees, he, as the Americans used to say, “gets religion,” which is saying, he becomes active in church. He’s the first to arrive for every service. Whatever work there is to do, he’s available. He’s fervent in spirit, serving the Lord to borrow the words of Apostle Paul. Then his prayers are answered, he gets a job. Glory to God. Of course he is no longer available to serve the Lord – understandably. He has to wake up at five in the morning, in order to be at work before eight. He does not return home till 10pm, thanks to heavy commuter traffic. He’s in the rat race now to make money so that he can put food on the table, wear good clothes, live in a good part of town, ride the best cars, put his children in the best schools, so that they can join the rat race…

Of course, our now gainfully employed brother feeds his intellect fat in the course of his job - no choice about that. It is a requirement if he’s to keep his job and ever get ahead. In contrast, he has become a Sunday-only Christian who sits under the word only on the Sabbath. And if his church is one of those seeker-friendly ones; where the service, as one of my pastors (Rev B) would put it, is the microwave, fast-food type, that can mean hearing the word of God for no more than 30-40 minutes a week. In effect, his spirit is severely malnourished. He becomes heavily depended on the wisdom of man, not having fresh supply of the wisdom of God that’s available in God’s word.

This is the general trend. We are resigned to the demands of the Babylonian system. We even tell God to understand because, after all he gave us the job, and in any case that’s where our tithes and offerings come from.

Next, when issues arise threatening the job, we are ready to give it whatever it takes to retain it. The guys are willing to play tough and rough while the babes are willing to play soft and smooth. The former is euphemism for maiming and killing while the other can mean bed-hopping and unscheduled late nighters.

It doesn’t end there. In the civil service for instance, take-homes are routinely increased through doctored touring advance retirement featuring fake receipts and sundry documents. This obtains in the private sector too. Contract inflation is the order of the day while payment for jobs never done is the norm.

Nor is the business person is left out. He’s ever ready and willing to play ball with officials in both the public and private sectors. He’ll offer inducement to get contracts and acquiesce at over-invoicing. Many start out well, resisting the temptation to play the devil’s game but let the devil bare his fangs a little, and we cave in. One brother recently told his story. He had been in the marketing communication field for a while now just getting by with small accounts because he found he had to either pay “public relations” upfront or collaborate with relevant officials to inflate invoices. Now, he says he’s tired of playing the “saint” where everyone else is a “sinner” laughing joyfully to the bank. Why does he want to do that? He was getting married and would therefore soon have a family to provide for. Food on the table, again!

You already know about the politicians among us. To get nominated to contest at all, they have to play ball at the party level and other levels thereafter depending on how high on the ladder the office is. Some of them literally maim and kill to “win elections”. When they finally get to office, the primary assignment is to recoup expenses, including but not limited to, those to be paid with huge interest to “godfathers,” and the cost of financing mayhem. As many readers of KINGDOM Perspective might recall, we sounded an alarm at the fact that at one stage there were many more professing Christian ex-Governors being tried than adherents of other faiths.

Nothing new in all of these, I can hear you say, but what has it got to do with son-ship? Let me try to answer in the little space that I have left. First, a child of God has no business trusting in anything or anyone else to provide for him/her. When you understand that your job is not your source; that it is simply God’s place of kingdom assignment for you, you’ll do it differently. You’ll find it easy to go to God and ask for a change if the job is getting in the way of church, for instance. That’s because it can never be God’s perfect will for you to be in a job that forces you to “forsake the assembling of yourselves together” or which stifles your ability to grow your faith through hearing the word of God.

When you see your job as a kingdom assignment, you’ll appreciate the need to apply only kingdom principles in carrying out your duties. You will not seek to hold on to it at all costs; you’ll resist the urge to do the immoral, the illegal and the sinful. You will do it as unto the Lord. One of the most effective weapons of the enemy is the lie that faith and your work don’t mix; the lie that work is work and it has its own methodologies, and faith is faith and it has a different set of rules. The truth is that children of God have only one assignment – to grow the family business, which is the kingdom of God. You grow the business not to earn a living, but to serve your father in love. You have a heirloom to draw from as a heir of the Father and joint-heir with Christ. God will meet your needs, if you let him. If he chooses to do so through the department he has posted you to, that is his prerogative. But that job is not and can never be your source, He is. (CONCLUDED)

OPEN LETTER TO ALL KINGDOM PERSONS (3)

It can bear repetition here that the original plan of God was for his sons to tend the family estate, the Garden of Eden, as a loving contribution to the sustenance of the family heritage. Work as we know it today, that is the work-to-eat, work as a means of “putting food on the table” and “getting the good things of life” was not God’s original intention for his children. It came with the original curse and which was only further expounded in the curse of the law. Recall that it was after our forebears, Adam and Eve, had eaten of the forbidden fruit that God handed Adam the punishment of having to work for a living.

We have seen from the Bible that God’s kingdom on earth is one of sons, not servants or slaves. We have seen that God has not called upon his sons to serve him in order to “earn their keep.” This was clearly demonstrated by the story of the prodigal son, who did not lose his status as a son to become a servant, even when he had claimed and wasted his inheritance. We have read that God does not approve of the rat race to fend for ourselves, preferring instead that we “seek first the kingdom.”

Many of us might already be wondering: how working to provide for my family is the rat race? Am I supposed to seat idly by and watch my children go hungry? Not even ministers of God do that! This is a legitimate issue to raise, and it is possibly the best place to continue our discussion today.

First, let me explain what the rat race is. A basic dictionary meaning of the phrase is, “fiercely competitive struggle for position, power, etc.” Another meaning is “the endless and futile attempt to achieve something that is unachievable and the competition with others involved in that futile attempt.” A third meaning is “an endless, self-defeating or pointless pursuit”

It has its origins, according to an online source, in “the traditional image of rats being used in laboratory experiments such as placing them in mazes or on treadmills in order to test their learning ability or measure their energy under certain conditions, respectively. The poignancy of this lay in the fact that whatever series of activities laboratory rats might engage in, it gets them nowhere. Wikipedia puts it like this: “It conjures up the image of the futile efforts of a lab rat trying to escape whilst running around a maze or in a wheel. In an analogy to the modern city, many rats in a single maze expend a lot of effort running around, but ultimately achieve nothing (meaningful) either collectively or individually.”

Two things stand out here, among others – competition and futility. That these two are not of God is borne out of the truth that in a kingdom of sons, there is no room for competition, only cooperation. The futility is underlined by the word of God in Matthew chapter 6 which says in verse 27: “Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?”

It can bear repetition here that the original plan of God was for his sons to tend the family estate, the Garden of Eden, as a loving contribution to the sustenance of the family heritage. Work as we know it today, that is the work-to-eat, work as a means of “putting food on the table” and “getting the good things of life” was not God’s original intention for his children. It came with the original curse and which was only further expounded in the curse of the law. Recall that it was after our forebears, Adam and Eve, had eaten of the forbidden fruit that God handed Adam the punishment of having to work for a living.

The relevant passage of the Bible reads: “And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return ...Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken (Genesis 3:17-19,23). Some other translations of the Bible render the core verse(s) this starkly: “…you'll get your food the hard way, Planting and tilling and harvesting, sweating in the fields from dawn to dusk…” (The Message); “You will have to sweat to earn a living…” (CEV); “By the sweat of your brow, you will produce food to eat…” (GW); and “By the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat…” (NLT).

It can also bear repetition that one of the “finished works” of the Lord Jesus is the reversal of the curse and return to status quo ante, the state we were before the curse. That is the reasonable, not to say, revelational import this declaration of Apostle Paul in chapter 3 of the book of Galatians: “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree… (verse 13).

This derives from the Jewish law as recorded in Deuteronomy 21:22 & 23 as follows: “And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree: His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.”

It is not generally appreciated that God could have permitted some other ways for Jesus to die besides hanging on a tree, as crucifixion became known. But if he had, and his body never hung on a tree, Jesus’ death and resurrection might have met the conditions for other components of the salvation package, but the curse would have remained. It is this critical factor that was also responsible for God’s acquiesce, as it were, with Christ’s crucifixion outside the city gates! These were both requirements for cleansing the Jews from the repercussions of sin by anyone of its condemned citizens, and it was made applicable to taking away the curse.

These are all truths of Scripture that all of us need to acquaint ourselves with, meditate upon and appropriate. But it’s really up to us. We need, as individuals, to settle in our heart whether we still live under the curse or not. This is an important question because once answered, it would affect our attitude to what our hands have found to do. It would determine whether you are working for a living or serving your father. It would be a good indication of your understanding of your status in Christ - slave, servant or son.

I am certain that the question on many lips, at this point, is how do I take care of my needs if I am not supposed to work for living? And that precisely is the problem: we live under the illusion that we are responsible for providing for ourselves; whereas that is not true. You are no more able to meet your needs than a field of lilies is able to clothe itself! That is what your Father said in St Matthew’s gospel. He says it is his duty to provide for you and he’s not about to shirk his responsibilities to you. He says you should mind your own business, which is seeking the Kingdom and all its righteousness. He says once you do that, those things that you are preoccupying yourself with will pale into insignificance; you’ll discover that they are additions or “jara” as my Hausa brothers would have put it. They are the icing on the cake.

So, each time we go on our knees to pray and we start and end with those so-called needs with the fervency of a servant pleading for a raise, we call God a liar. Each time we inundate heaven with prayer for sustenance, we are wasting time and energy on the puny things and leaving the real things unattended to. The kingdom is our assignment. The focus of our prayer should be that he reveals to us the department of the Father’s conglomerate he has posted us and the equipping we need to serve productively in that duty post as his loving children. God is calling us to a higher level in every area of our walk with him; away from mundane Babylonian pursuits and methods. (CONCLUDES NEXT WEEK)