ORAL ROBERTS: HIS LIFE AND LEGACY (3)

“Tuberculosis…had stalked two generations of the Roberts. Pleasant Roberts, Oral’s grandfather fell to it, as well as, two of Oral’s father’s older sisters. Although early symptoms generally include coughing up blood and chest pain, as it advances, patients become prone to night sweats, appetite and weight loss, frequent fever and fatigue. You can therefore imagine the feeling of déjà vu, when one day in February 1935, Oral was driven home by his basketball coach, Herman Hamilton. He had collapsed during a tournament. Thereafter, in the words of one of Oral’s biographers, Roberts became “bedridden, subsisting on raw eggs and milk”. Oral, pining away in bed, unable to do much else and even unable to communicate his pain to anyone properly, being a stammerer, was simply waiting to go the way of his grandfather and two aunties. Until that day of destiny…"

Welcome, my dear precious readers, to the year 2010. I wish you another Kingdom-centred year; one in which you will find joy in doing His will, in His way, to His glory and to your blessing. I pray that all things would work together for your good all through this year, in the mighty name of Jesus.

Yes, all things, no matter how seemingly bad, can work together for our good, because the Scriptures say so. And it did for the celebrated faith healing icon, Glanville Oral Roberts whose life and legacy we’ve been celebrating these past two weeks. Tuberculosis worked for his good – and by extension, the advancement of Christianity!

The deadly, infectious, bacterial disease, marked by the presence especially in the lungs, of small rounded swellings, known as tubercles, had stalked two generations of the Roberts. Pleasant Roberts, Oral’s grandfather fell to it, as well as, two of Oral’s father’s older sisters. Although early symptoms generally include coughing up blood and chest pain, as it advances, patients become prone to night sweats, appetite and weight loss, frequent fever and fatigue. You can therefore imagine the feeling of déjà vu, when one day in February 1935, Oral was driven home by his basketball coach, Herman Hamilton. He had collapsed during a tournament. Thereafter, in the words of one of Oral’s biographers, Roberts became “bedridden, subsisting on raw eggs and milk”.

Oral, pining away in bed, unable to do much else and even unable to communicate his pain to anyone properly, being a stammerer, was simply waiting to go the way of his grandfather and two aunties. Until that day of destiny…that day when news that an itinerant preacher was holding a tent revival nearby.

That preacher was a man known as George W. Moncey, described by one writer as "an elusive and shadowy figure, one of that generation of roving revivalists who continued to fight the devil in the depths of the Depression..." It was also said of this tool of God, much like the four lepers in the book of Kings, that he “had no address but a post office box and virtually nothing is known of his life before or after his encounter with Roberts”.

Anyway, Oral Roberts was driven to Brother Moncey’s revival and records had it, that the revivalist prayed on the sick 17-year-old in these words: “You foul, tormenting disease, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, come out of this boy. Loose him and let him go free!" And as he recalled it, Oral felt “a blinding flash of light and the feeling of electricity going through me."

The rest, as the cliché goes, is history. He was not only healed of tuberculosis, he was delivered from his stutter and, within two months of all that, he was in full-time ministry! He began by joining the Pentecostal Holiness Church, to which his minister-father belonged. He wrote for its publication, pastured some of their churches only but resigned his pastorate in 1947. Within one year of going independent, at the leading of the Holy Spirit, he bought his own tent and began a career that eventually changed the face of Christianity leading. It is that career which included more than 300 crusades on six continents, that has been celebrated world wide since his recent departure.

Incidentally, Oral Robert’s first experience with faith healing in his own ministry predated his first crusade. In fact it happened while he was still with Pentecostal Holiness Church, where faith healing was still a contentious issue.

In “The Ultimate Voice”, his last published book, Oral recalled that when he first went into ministry; the healing anointing was on-and-off. So, he could not claim to have “a genuine anointing of God to heal the sick for more than a decade.” He said he felt the healing anointing “at times…but not very long at a time.” Although fully persuaded that God could heal and desired to heal, yet, he was certain that the anointing there was upon his life, was not powerful enough to embolden him to overcome his fear of facing the sick and demon-possessed.

One incident, which was to give him an idea of the power that was available to him, happened while he was still pastor in one of the Pentecostal Holiness churches in Georgia. One of the deacons in that church, Clyde Lawson, had accidentally dropped a heavy motor on his foot while working on a car in his mechanic’s workshop. Oral was invited to go and pray for him. When he and his associate, Bill Lee, arrived at the workshop, they were confronted with a crushed foot and a he-man crying like a baby, from the great pain he was experiencing.

Roberts recorded the rest of the incident in these words: “Feelings of compassion came over me and without thinking I knelt down and touched the end of his shoe with my hand. I said a few words of earnest prayer and stood up. The moment I straightened up, Clyde Lawson quit screaming. He tried to move his toes in his shoe and found that he could. The pain was gone. The bleeding had stopped. He jumped to his feet, stomped his foot on the floor of his garage, and said, ‘Brother Roberts, what did you do to me?’ I said, ‘I didn’t do a thing.’

“He said, ‘yes, you did. The pain is gone. My foot is healed.’ I was as amazed as he was. He tore off his shoe and showed us his foot. His toes were perfectly normal. Bill said to me as we drove away, ‘Brother Roberts, do you have that kind of power all the time?’

“I said, ‘Bill, I wish I did.’ He said, ‘If you had that kind of power all the time, you could bring a revival to this world.’ I didn’t have any doubt about that. I just didn’t have any clue as to how a person might develop that kind of power all the time”.

That we are celebrating Oral Roberts today, more than 50 years later is evidence that he sought and found “the clue”. The enemy meant his tuberculosis affliction for evil; God allowed it for good. So shall your experiences be this year and beyond, in the precious name of Jesus.

ORAL ROBERTS: HIS LIFE AND LEGACY (2)

Marilyn Hickey, a member of Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association’s Board and one-time ORU Board of Regents chairperson, touched many hearts as she recalled Roberts' ministry and his impact in her life, including the healing of her mother while watching Oral Roberts on television. She declared: “The wonderful thing about Oral is that he was the first to blast the world with the message of healing; he really sacrificed and I remember the criticism he suffered. He sacrificed his reputation, his money, his family -- everything. Now you can go all across the world and they know the healing message."

As expected, Evangelist Oral Roberts' life and legacy were celebrated on Monday with a mix of gusto and solemnity at his home-going service at the Mabee Center on the campus of the university that bears his name. Over 4,000 persons, including a host of who's who from the evangelical and charismatic movement in the USA, were on hand to honour “a man who obeyed God and popularized the Pentecostal movement in the 20th century.”

Attendees at the event included Jack Hayford, Kenneth and Gloria Copeland; Kenneth and Lynette Hagin; John Hagee, founder, Christians United for Israel; James and Betty Robison of Life Outreach International; Marilyn Hickey, Creflo Dollar of World Changers Ministries, Pat Robertson, founder of Christian Broadcasting Network; and Fox News anchor Kelly Wright, an ORU alumnus who sang during the service. The roll call of dignitaries from around the state of Oklahoma included Governor Brad Henry, U.S. Congresswoman Mary Fallin, Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett and many local politicians.

Statements, paying glowing tribute to the pioneer televangelist, who passed on six days earlier, came from Christian leaders like Billy Graham, Robert Schuller, David Yonggi Cho, the Korean megachurch founder; Joel Osteen, founder, Lakewood Church; healing evangelist, Benny Hinn and Trinity Broadcasting Network’s Paul Crouch.
Roberts truly went home in a blaze of glory, as songs of praise and worship kicked off the event, leaving no one in doubt that this indeed was a celebration of life. Notable among the songs were “Falling in Love with Jesus”, “Amazing Grace.” and the curtain raiser, “God is a Good God”, which, reports say, the Roberts family sang together at the legendary faith healer’s bedside during his last hours. Pat Robertson then gave the opening prayer turning on the tap on, as it were, for another flood of eulogies.

Dr. Mark Rutland, current President of Oral Roberts University, in what might be the funeral oration, described Oral as a man made extraordinary because "he experienced a gracious and powerful God…He was not a perfect man; he was an extraordinary man—a giant who served a perfect God…What an interesting and historical irony that He took a young man with a speech impediment and caused him to be named Oral, healed him of tuberculosis and made him a world-changer, a healer of the sick and an inspirational leader. That is the God of Oral Roberts, and that is our God as well."

Rutland, who for ten years until last January, was President of Assemblies of God’s South-Eastern University in Florida, said of Oral’s impact through the television screen: “There was something when Oral leaned into that television and said, ‘something good is going to happen to you today.' There was something that leaped inside of us and said, ‘it’s true.'"

The missionary, evangelist and an Assemblies of God-ordained minister who had served as pastor of Calvary Assembly of God in Orlando, Florida, recalled that Roberts emerged at a time when the church was "weary and dreary, and made us believe in a God who enjoys blessing people.” He described Oral’s seed-faith teaching as "entirely biblical" …citing that “Jesus himself said, 'Give and it shall be given unto you.' Oral didn't make up those words, but he made them manageable and bite-sized."

The two surviving children of the departed faith icon – he had lost two, Ronald Roberts and Rebecca Nash, both in tragic circumstances - Richard, who used to be ORU President and his sister, Roberta Pott, an attorney, then took centre stage. They spoke separately and later, in one of the most emotional moments of the event, came together to lead the audience in one of the songs remembered so well from their father's crusades, "Don't Turn Him Away."

Remembering their father as a man who was committed to obeying God despite the fact that it often meant he was absent from home, Roberta said, "he left his family behind, knowing they would be hurt…He chose to go where God's light is dim, then he chose to build that university that God called him to build ... It hurts…(but) I know my father made the right choice. And I'm so proud that he made that choice."
Recalling Oral’s last moments, she said their father had asked to see her and Richard, and when they arrived at the hospital he was singing songs such as "Expect a Miracle" and "Something Good Is Going to Happen to You," though he could barely move. Her words: “He was singing at the top of his lungs…Then he would stop for a while and say: ‘I'm going home. I'm going home. Hallelujah.'"

Richard, on his part, recalled how after a season of rebellion, God healed his relationship with his father at age 19 and declared that to date, "I have been with him every step of the way—until he drew his last breath on earth and his first breath in heaven.” He said his father taught him "Jesus is a healing Jesus. He taught me how to walk in love. He taught me how to forgive."

Marilyn Hickey, a member of Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association’s Board and one-time ORU Board of Regents chairperson, touched many hearts as she recalled Roberts' ministry and his impact in her life, including the healing of her mother while watching Oral Roberts on television. She declared: “The wonderful thing about Oral is that he was the first to blast the world with the message of healing; he really sacrificed and I remember the criticism he suffered. He sacrificed his reputation, his money, his family -- everything. Now you can go all across the world and they know the healing message."

Hickey closed her remarks like Roberts used to close every one of his crusades, with an altar call. She gave everyone in attendance, and the countless thousands watching live around the world via television and Internet, an opportunity to make a personal commitment to Christ. The response was a fitting tribute to his life and legacy as attendees joined hands across the aisles united in prayer.

The service, which also featured a 15-minute memorial video summarizing Roberts' remarkable life, his family and highlights of his evangelistic ministry, and pioneering efforts in education, ended with a closing prayer by Creflo Dollar. Expressing thanks and praise to God for Roberts' life and ministry, the preacher said: “He kept the faith. He finished the course and left us with a double portion of his anointing…Oral Roberts was an ordinary man who knew that God could not be kept in a box." CONTINUES

ORAL ROBERTS: HIS LIFE AND LEGACY (1)

“Oral, who would have been 92 on January 24, was the founder of Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association (OREA), the ministry through which he conducted crusades across the globe over six decades. The ministry birthed, among others, Hunger Needs a Voice, a humanitarian outreach delivering nutritious meals to starving children, and the famous Oral Roberts University (ORU), a comprehensive Christian university—promoting the education of the whole person—mind, body, and spirit, with alumni all over the world. The outpouring of grief and the celebration of his life since the announcement of his passing has been of almost torrential proportions. It bespeaks love, great love and appreciation from a variety of sources.”

Tomorrow afternoon, a public memorial service will hold in Tulsa, Oklahoma in the US to honour one of the greatest men of God of our time, Evangelist Glanville Oral Roberts, who went to be with the Lord last Tuesday. He had a fall in his home the previous Saturday, was rushed to hospital and although he had a couple of broken bones, his departure was attributed to complications arising from pneumonia.

Oral, who would have been 92 on January 24, was the founder of Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association (OREA), the ministry through which he conducted crusades across the globe over six decades. The ministry birthed, among others, Hunger Needs a Voice, a humanitarian outreach delivering nutritious meals to starving children, and the famous Oral Roberts University (ORU), a comprehensive Christian university—promoting the education of the whole person—mind, body, and spirit, with alumni all over the world.

The outpouring of grief and the celebration of his life since the announcement of his passing has been of almost torrential proportions. It bespeaks love, great love and appreciation from a variety of sources.

Leading the cheer, naturally, was his son, Richard who described him as a beloved husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. He said, he was “not only my earthly father; he was also my spiritual father and mentor. He was the greatest man of God I’ve ever known. An innovator and a modern-day apostle of the healing ministry, he was one of the first men of his generation to build a worldwide ministry, an accredited university, and a medical and research center. He had a passion to bring healing to the sick. He came along when many in Christendom did not believe in God’s power and goodness, yet his name became synonymous with miracles…”

Pastor Benny Hinn who acknowledges Oral as his long-time friend and mentor admonished that “even as we grieve Dr. Roberts’ passing from this earth, we rejoice that he is now in heaven.” He continued: “What an amazing life! He was a giant in so many ways, and I was privileged to have him as a dear, dear friend for many years. Every time I was with him, I saw firsthand a heart consumed with the love of Jesus Christ. Through the years I have often thought of the standard he has set for so many ministers and believers to follow, and on this day of his glorious home-going, it is once again a time for all of us to reflect even more upon his tremendous impact…Only heaven will reveal how many hearts he has pointed toward heaven, how many homes have been revolutionized through his seed-faith teaching, and how many ears have heard his faith-filled phrase, "Expect a miracle!" God has used him to open doors that were once considered closed to the miracle-working power of the Gospel, and wherever I travel, I have been ever thankful for the trail he blazed…”

The two major US-based Christian broadcasters, Pat Robertson and Paul Crouch were not left out. Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) founder, Robertson said, "I am grieved at the passing of my dear friend, Oral Roberts…He was a pioneer in healing evangelism and in Christian education. He inspired a generation of young people to follow his lead in the charismatic ministry. We were friends for over 50 years and I will miss him…"

Dr Crouch of Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) who described Oral as “our dear friend” and “a spiritual father to millions of people both here in America and around the world,” was “thankful for the commitment he made to God to spread the Gospel message of salvation and healing. He was a sawdust pioneer who brought his tent revivals into the 20th century by means of radio and television and became the highest rated evangelist in prime time television. He opened the door for all of us who are now in Christian television.”

We've always considered Dr. Roberts a wonderful part of our TBN family…We will always be grateful for Dr. Roberts' enthusiasm and support for TBN, and will forever treasure the messages of inspiration he gave to Jan and me personally as he encouraged us to expand the vision and outreach of TBN to reach the whole wide world. His prayers and wisdom helped strengthen our faith in times of trial and difficulty. We…were blessed to see that he still had the desire to continue sharing the message God gave to him until his assignment was finished…”

Franklin Graham, President of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, had this to say: "Oral Roberts was loved and admired by millions of people around the world. I always appreciated the times when he went out of his way to befriend me. He invited me to speak at Oral Roberts University when I was just starting my ministry and was an encouragement to me.”

From this avalanche of tributes, two are noteworthy as they reveal the heart of the departed man of God. Kenneth W. Hagin, whose father was a contemporary of the late faith icon, apart acknowledged that one of my greatest compliments he was ever paid came from Oral Roberts who described him as a “preaching machine” after he preached at Campmeeting one year, also recalled Oral’s letter to the Hagin family at the passing of the older Hagin. It read in part: “My heart feels the tug of Heaven as it won’t be long until I am with him (Brother Hagin) face to face in Heaven.”

The other was from Billy Graham. He remembers Oral Roberts as “a man of God, and a great friend in ministry” whom he loved “as a brother” and with whom he “had many quiet conversations over the years, recalling that he invited “Oral to speak at one of our early international conferences on evangelism held in Berlin in the 1960s”. Then he added: “Just three weeks ago, I was privileged to talk to Oral over the telephone. During the short conversation, he said to me that he was near the end of his life's journey. I look forward to the day that I will see Oral and Evelyn Roberts again in Heaven--our eternal home.” (Continues Next Week).

A TIGER TRIPPED BY SEX

But today, the media is awash with reports of his secret sex life. At the time of writing, 11 women are seeking their moments in the sun of infamy, proclaiming that they had had the honour of sharing moments of animal passion with one of the world’s most famous, most handsome, and richest athletes. Of course, it may not all be true, but what is known is that Tiger has owned up to some “transgressions” and sought the forgiveness of his wife and two children. His statement reads in part: “I have let my family down and I regret those transgressions with all of my heart. I have not been true to my values and the behavior my family deserves. I am not without faults and I am far short of perfect. I am dealing with my behavior and personal failings behind closed doors with my family…”

We were saying last week that when the male’s God-given ego is abused it leads him inexorably to pride, which is the absence of humility. That is a veritable tool of the enemy. One of the results of pride is a self-dependence that leaves God out of our lives either entirely or partially. There is a sense in which the former is better than the latter. Trust me, it’s true!

It is better not to have God in your life entirely than to think that you have Him without really having Him. A state of unpretentious godlessness opens you to help, even if it is the prayer of do-gooders who have resolved to save your soul from afar. But to have what the Bible described as “a form of godliness” is the most dangerous state to be in. You deceive yourself and might succeed in deceiving others to believe that all is well with you. That is why Jesus says that they that are neither hot nor cold, He’ll spew out of His mouth.

That, believe me, is the unfortunate state of most of us men. Even when God in His infinite mercies reveal us to ourselves and we are convicted, our warped ego (Edging God Out, as my pastor friend, Gabriel Irokwe loves to emphasise), which is now full blown pride, prevents us from seeking help. So, the bacteria that triggered the disease transmutes to the virus that sustains it.

In no area of our lives as men is this more pronounced than in our search for relevance or significance which, make no mistake about it, is why God wired us with an ego. But as someone has famously said, when the use of a thing is not known or not fully understood, abuse is not too far off. So, our inbred drive for significance leads us to seek power to make money or money to buy power that we might boldly declare, “damn right, I am somebody!” That is why we’ll do just about anything to acquire money and power beginning with whichever one is within easier reach.

But, interestingly, we don’t have fulfilment, at whatever point we might have reached in the continuum; because power corrupts and money makes such a poor God indeed. That is why there is such a phenomenon as a powerful, influential man, awash with cash, but feeling empty. He tries to fill his emptiness with things and more things. Sex of the illicit, immoral type, more often than not, belongs on top or near the top of that list. It is so because it gives some kind of pleasure; gives an illusion of power and can be done in secret. It is this third element in the mix that makes sex attractive. But of course, as experience over the ages has shown, secrecy has its expiry date and the very best of covers are, sooner than later, blown.

Ask Tiger Woods. He is the man you want in your son or son-in-law. Or as Paul Edwards put it in a commentary during the week, “there wasn't a man on the planet who in some sense didn't want to be Tiger Woods.” He had it all. Handsome, sprightly, world champion golfer and stupendously rich, he has a ravishingly beautiful wife and two kids. And he could boast of a father who loved him and poured himself into him. To quote Paul Edwards a bit more: Tiger Woods “had a father who loved him—not just in words, but in action, pouring himself into his son, building a love that survives to this day, in many ways making Tiger the man he became. Try as we may, there aren't too many men who can lay claim to all of these elements of success at once. Tiger has it all, and it wasn't just handed to him. He came by his success through hard work and discipline. He earned it.”

And the side of him that the world saw until late November was so adorable, so squeaky clean that he was the ultimate role model. His Tiger Woods Foundation is doing all the right things; meeting the needs of the less-privileged, putting training programmes in place and generally just being a the nice guy next door. His investments have been wise. His general comportment has been exemplary. He was being considered for a Congressional Medal for his service to the game of golf and through it the society. His billion-dollar endorsement portfolio is the stuff dreams are made of.

But today, the media is awash with reports of his secret sex life. At the time of writing, 11 women are seeking their moments in the sun of infamy, proclaiming that they had had the honour of sharing moments of animal passion with one of the world’s most famous, most handsome, and richest athletes. Of course, it may not all be true, but what is known is that Tiger has owned up to some “transgressions” and sought the forgiveness of his wife and two children. His statement reads in part: “I have let my family down and I regret those transgressions with all of my heart. I have not been true to my values and the behavior my family deserves. I am not without faults and I am far short of perfect. I am dealing with my behavior and personal failings behind closed doors with my family…”

My heart goes out to this young man who will be 34 in about two weeks and I do pray that he is able to live it all down and eventually get back to doing good with his life. But it is necessary to point out that he is not the first to get to the pinnacle, be getting it right in virtually every area of life only to be tripped by the male ego gone awry. When our ego gets bloated we believe we can do things and get away with them; we fill the emptiness that success cannot with things that do not satisfy. We do not have real friends; we do not submit to discipleship, we are accountable only to ourselves. It’s one more powerful reason why all men need to belong to a Bible-based men’s ministry. Men, please don’t allow the enemy to isolate you. Women, please encourage your men in this direction.

A MAN, ALMOST ALWAYS A MAN! (2)

For any male to mature into a man therefore, he has to be able to maximize his ego without slipping to pride; he has to learn to use his ego for the purpose for which God bestowed it upon him. To do that successfully, he has to be totally submitted to God; seek to exalt God by his actions and omissions, and avoid self-glorification. This has eluded most of us men. So, we live the “’I’m the boss” life - terrorising the family at home; oppressing subordinates at work; and pursuing narrow, self-serving agenda in public service. That is why the nation is the way it is. That is why men need to learn how to be men, real men; men who, like David, are ever willing to learn; men like Joseph, pursuing his dream with eyes firmly fixed on God; men like Jesus who did only what he saw His Father doing.

It can bear repetition that the Nigerian condition is a reflection of the condition of the Nigerian male. This, as we pointed out last week, is because wherever and whenever anything is going wrong, there is always a man. The state of our nation country last week buttresses this.

By midweek, there had been nobody statutorily in charge of Nigeria for more than a week. You know the story very well. President Umar Yar’Adua took ill and embarked on what somebody mischievously described as another medical pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia. The constitution required him to formally inform the National Assembly of the situation, and then hand over to the vice-president, Dr Goodluck Jonathan. He did neither. Instead diverse officials have been playing roles which Goodluck should have played in an acting capacity. By implication we had a collegiate presidency of faceless, unelected people running the affairs of the nation.

The point has been made that because the vice president received the sallah homage of Moslem leaders, and presided over the weekly Federal Executive Council meetings, it would be incorrect to say that he is not in charge. That would be self deception. Assuming, without that the vice president was de facto in charge, he certainly wasn’t de jure, that is statutorily. In other words were he to be bold enough to take any decisions as a stand-in president, such decisions would be invalid because the due process of handing over did not take place.

The furore resulting from this situation was yet to abate at the time of writing. First was a media report stating that the vice president was being pressurised to resign his position. Vigorously denied, though it was, it certainly is in the character of our political leaders who thrive in expediency. The goal obviously would be to prevent a situation where Jonathan, a southerner, becomes president by default in case the unexpected happens; a scenario that would short change the North, which turn it currently is to produce the president in the rotational arrangement they have foisted on the nation.

Into the fray came a group of opposition politicians and activists with a call on Yar’Adua to resign from office on account of inability to discharge his duties due to ill health. As with such things, the list of signatories to that statement has had its share of controversy, with some denying involvement. But the group, whether of 57 or 54, did pack quite a punch with such irrepressible, veterans of political struggles like Dr Tunji Braithwaite and Alhaji Balarabe Musa firmly on board.

Now, take a good look at the dramatis personae in this melodrama. They are men. The president who swears by the rule of law but omitted to do what the law prescribed is a man. The vice president whose position is being rubbished and doesn’t have the courage to walk is a man. Both wings of the Legislature, which should have taken a stand against the vacuum illegally foisted on the nation is led and dominated by men. Yes, it is also true that the group that has spoken out against the situation is also dominated by men, but even so those chickening out are also men.

It is possible to get statistical about this issue and seek to explain the dominance of men in this hall of infamy with the preponderance of men in the public space; but that would be lead to inappropriate comparison. Apples and oranges may be fruits, but how do you compare them?

That was the point made last week about the role God, in His sovereign wisdom, chose to assign to men. The man is the leader. He is assigned to lead at home, at work and in the community. He is specifically wired for the task. That is why the male ego is one of his most prominent attributes. As Evangelist June Newman Davis, put it in one of her books: “The male ego is what God bred into man to catapult his desires, motivations and attitudes. His ego makes him want to take initiative, be the leader, the provider, the protector of his domain. These are traits God created in all male species of life, therefore an important part of his nature.”

Ironically, it is this very important distinguishing nature of the male that’s at the root of most societal problems. The male in his immature stage misapplies and abuses this God-given attribute. So, it degenerates to pride, which Davis succinctly defines as, “a boastful assurance of one’s own resourcefulness eliminating his need for God…exalts a man and shows a covetousness for adulation, the very opposite of humility.” For any male to mature into a man therefore, he has to be able to maximize his ego without slipping to pride; he has to learn to use his ego for the purpose for which God bestowed it upon him. To do that successfully, he has to be totally submitted to God; seek to exalt God by his actions and omissions, and avoid self-glorification.

This has eluded most of us men. So, we live the “’I’m the boss” life - terrorising the family at home; oppressing subordinates at work; and pursuing narrow, self-serving agenda in public service. That is why the nation is the way it is. That is why men need to learn how to be men, real men; men who, like David, are ever willing to learn; men like Joseph, pursuing his dream with eyes firmly fixed on God; men like Jesus who did only what he saw His Father doing.

That is why we need men’s ministry. For ten years, Christian Men’s Network Nigeria has been at it vigorously. For all of those ten years, I have had the privilege of being involved, thanks to the confidence that my senior pastor, Dr Tunde Joda has in me and the team. Now, I feel called upon to do a bit more – in addition. That explains the birth of Kingdom Men, an independent ministry to men taking off this Saturday with a Men’s Breakfast Roundtable on the “Irresistible Husband”. Join us at 8am at CTEM Plaza, Ogba Bus Stop, if you can. If not, please join us in prayer.

A MAN, ALMOST ALWAYS A MAN!

The headline derives from a passage in this column two weeks ago, “Olabode Ibiyinka Judged”. The relevant paragraph read: “It works like this. A man (almost always, a man!) corruptly enriches himself. The law catches up with him and when he eventually manipulates his way through the system, his handlers organise a massive rally to welcome home their “illustrious son” – in a show of ‘People Power’”.

Who is chiselling at the foundations of our nation through all kinds of malfeasance? Who has warped up our democratic aspirations? Who is at the forefront of the desecration of our social values? Who are the serial violators of corporate governance ethics in banking, finance and other sectors of our economy? Who is responsible for most of the breakdown in marriages? A man, almost always a man! Or, a group of men.

It is unfortunate, but true, isn’t it, that wherever and whenever something has gone, or is going wrong, there’s a man - oftener than not. Contemporary Nigerian history bears this out with such blinding glaringness. Episode after episode of the Nigerian story reveals the sad and saddening condition of the male species in our land.

Who is chiselling at the foundations of our nation through all kinds of malfeasance? Who has warped up our democratic aspirations? Who is at the forefront of the desecration of our social values? Who are the serial violators of corporate governance ethics in banking, finance and other sectors of our economy? Who is responsible for most of the breakdown in marriages? A man, almost always a man! Or, a group of men.

Ah, yes, you might counter that at the forefront of resisting many of these ills is also more oftener than not, another man. Or, that wherever these ills rear their ugly heads, there’s also always a woman somewhere in the chain. And you would be correct, on the surface of it. But this issue is more than skin-deep.

Let’s begin with a basic understanding of the role of the man in God’s master plan, as revealed in the Bible, the life manual of this columnist, the column, and hopefully a preponderance of its readers. God’s first being was a man He named Adam. It was from one of his ribs that He chose to make the woman, describing her as a “help meet for him.” It was to the man that he gave the assignment to tend the expansive Garden of Eden (see Genesis 2: 8, 18, 21-23). To be sure who was in charge, God gave Adam the right to name His wonderful new creation, the same way he named other creatures. This explains why the Almighty directed his query to the man after he had joined his wife to eat the infamous forbidden fruit.

The point here is that God expected and still expects a lot more from the man than He does from the woman. Examples abound. Whenever God had a major assignment, He almost always looked for a man. There is a famous verse of Scripture in the book of Ezekiel: “And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none (22:30). The word “man” here derived from the Hebrew root word “Iysh” which is man as male, a carrier of the “Y” chromosome; not man as in mankind. Of course, most of the greatest people in the service of God in the Bible were men. In God’s sovereign wisdom, Jesus also had to come as a man. In short, man is God’s gender of choice for manifesting His will on earth.

Flowing from these truths, therefore, is that the extent to which the men in a community or nation recognize the responsibility God Has trusted into their hands, and fulfill it His way, is the extent to which that community or nation will grow, develop and prosper.

Unfortunately, scant attention is paid to issues affecting men specifically. You have people and institutions concerned with women, children and youth issues, the disabled, widows etc. But who looks out for the men? Who teaches the man how to be a man or, more correctly, who teaches the male to become a man? Any wonder that things are the way they are?

Dr Patrick Morley, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Man in the Mirror, a men’s ministry based in Orlando, Florida in the USA told a story that illustrates the absurdity of the situation in his best selling book after which his ministry is named. One of the donors to the ministry one day called to inform him he was going to stop supporting, Man in the Mirror. Asked why, the donor told him he had decided to channel his giving to two other causes. One was a prisons ministry, while the other was a group dealing with teenage pregnancies. Morley was shocked at the shallowness of the thinking. But he politely pointed out to his caller that he was abandoning the cause to deal with the effects.

Think about that. Who dominates the prison population? Isn’t it men who have personally failed in their manhood and/or have been misled or lured into crime by this category of men? Who is responsible for teenage pregnancies? It’s mostly men! It’s men, who lured young girls to bed; men who failed in their duties as father either to the girls or to boys who end up in premarital sex.

That same scenario is playing out here in Nigeria. Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) exist for many critical socio-political, economic and even cultural issues – which is a truly welcome development. But if men don’t come to the fullness of who they are created to be, they would continue to serve as production lines for the problems these NGOs are tackling.

The churches aren’t doing much better. They all have children and youth ministers. Many have women ministries, courtesy of the pastor’s wives. Very few have men’s ministry worth the name. Where men are encouraged to gather, they soon become welfare fellowships and business clubs with little or no manhood development content. I know there a number of exceptions to this general rule. I have been involved with one such ministry, Christian Men’s Network Nigeria in the last ten years. But this nation needs hundreds of well organised ministries like CMN - if we are going to even begin to confront the challenges. And dear reader, you have a role to play. (Continues Next Week)

PIX: Dr Patrick Morley, Chairman/CEO, Main in the M1rror

THE SON IS THE FATHER OF MAN

Does this imply that we are not supposed to work? No! It simply implies that we are workers in the family business like Adam in the Garden of Eden and like Jesus going about “my father’s business.” It means that we see whatsoever job that we have as a calling, an assignment within our father’s vast conglomerate. If we grasp this truth, we would not put the assignment above the assignor; we would not do despicable things to get and keep our jobs, and we would not cut corners on the job. We would understand that God, as our father has responsibility to provide for us and he’s not about to shirk his responsibility… Be a son, brother and you’ll never have to worry about your manhood!

The Christian man would typically like to see himself as either a mighty man of valour, or aspiring to be one – understandably. Gideon, the poster mighty man of valour, was a success story. He started out an unknown, belonging to a poor family in the least of the tribe and in his own words “the least in my father's house.” Called to battle by the almighty through an angel, he at first declined, until God patiently showed him through the signs he himself requested, that He would be with him. One thing led to the other and he eventually became conqueror of Israel’s colonial tormentors, the Midianites. His epitaph may as well be this passage of Scripture in the book of Judges: “Thus was Midian subdued before the children of Israel, so that they lifted up their heads no more. And the country was in quietness forty years in the days of Gideon.”

But, for whatever it is worth we must not forget that many of the men referred to as mighty men of valour were not necessarily great men. Some were little more than ciphers, pawns on other’s chess boards, without personal achievements of their own. But given our antecedents in the Christian Men’s Network in Nigeria, it can safely be assumed that our “mighty man of valour” is simply the Christian Man in pursuit of Christ-likeness. And that shall form the basis of what I am bout to say on the “Coping with the Challenges facing the Mighty Man of Valour”.

Incidentally, my take on this subject shall be based through and through on what I sincerely is the biggest challenge facing us as Kingdom persons today – that of being who we are. And this challenge is far greater among us men because of the critical nature of our roles in the churches, families, communities and nations. It is the challenge of sonship.

The need and the process of transiting from boys to men have both been very soundly and biblically articulated by the previous speaker. The man of God, Rev Ademola Iroko has identified absolutely correctly that the Christian male who would become a man has to be able to identify and seize opportunities. He must be disciplined because the bridge between goal and achievement is discipline. He must learn to prioritize. And he must also be a good time manager. Time wasted, he said poignantly is life abused. These are nothing but nuggets of wisdom based, as they are, upon the word of God.

However, I wish to suggest that the reason many of us do not have these attributes; the reason we are having to “cope with challenges” of being real men, is essentially because we are not being who we profess we are. Let me explain. Ask any one of us who we are, we would unhesitatingly declare that we are sons of God. Asked how we know, we would quote the Bible. But are we living as sons of God? I have my doubts. In fact, if truth be told, most of us are not. You see a major part of sonship is the impartation of the divine nature, the very essence of God, His love nature, his holiness and faithfulness. If we really know that we are and are being sons of God, rather than people who just know about its possibility, we would manifest these attributes and the items listed above by the man of God would simply be part of the territory! They would be fruits of sonship rather than the root of it.

To appreciate the point I am trying to make, let’s refresh our memories about creation and the divine plan as revealed in the Bible particularly as regards work and money which is one of the enemy’s most powerful tools for robbing us of sonship consciousness. We saw in the book of Genesis that God set out to create a kingdom of sons on earth through Adam. Like the good father that he is, God provided for everything that this first son would ever need. All that this son had to do was be a son! Take care of the family business including the family estate also known as the Garden of Eden, which he was told to “dress it and to keep it” (Genesis 2:15). The original plan of God did not include today’s “work to eat” situation. God never tied Adam’s continued well-being to his success or failure in the family business. They were totally unconnected. Proof of that was that it was after the fall that God made the declaration that “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread…(Genesis 3:19). This was one of the curses that Jesus, the second Adam, by his death and resurrection and therefore reinstatement of what lawyers call the status quo ante, came to repeal. So, if we are still seeking to eat bread, by the sweat of our brow, we are still living under the curse!
Does this imply that we are not supposed to work? No! It simply implies that we are workers in the family business like Adam in the Garden of Eden and Jesus going about “my father’s business.” It means that we see whatsoever job that we have as a calling, an assignment within our father’s vast conglomerate. If we grasp this truth, we would not put the assignment above the assignor; we would not do despicable things to get and keep our jobs, and we would not cut corners on the job. We would understand that God, as our father has responsibility to provide for us and he’s not about to shirk his responsibility. We would grasp the full import of these famous verses in Romans 8: “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: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.” Be a son, brother and you’ll never have to worry about your manhood! (Derived from Ministration at CMN Ojokoro’s Men’s Retreat at Ota on Saturday, November 14)