In
this life, many have decided to form different bricks of deception,
grout of lies. They have decided to form a sturdy foundation sitting
right on sedition and deception. To them, honesty is a waste of
intellectual mind. To them, truth is nothing when compared to intricate
delusion.
It
appears everything is just mixed up, including sand and garri, water
and oil, love and jealousy, war and love and a host of others. It
appears treachery has become the order of the day as people are no
longer willing to open up with the truth. Most of the time, we tend to
doubt ourselves. We no longer believe even in our own ability, because
we doubt what we are capable of doing. At times, we find it difficult to
conclude in our mind on what we believe in. It has become a trend
today, and as such, the society now sits on treachery to succeed. Our
leaders have seen deceit and treachery as a major avenue to escape
momentarily from the angry jaws of the masses. So it has become a norm
that the same angry man who has been denied of all his constitutional
rights can join the same politician to sing praises for him. This is
what deceit and treachery has done to our psyche. Our problems have so
overwhelmed us that we cannot see beyond where we stand. We have failed
to see that the man sitting next to us in that bus or on that flight has
no hat on his head. The hat we see is only an illusion. Contrary to
what we see, he is only a time bomb waiting to explode so we could all
get perished. Most of the time, we allow such individual or individuals
to become the pilot of our plane. This is because we draw up our
judgment on face value. We don’t see beyond the drama, we don’t analyze
the character behind some of these fake people. Knowingly or
unknowingly, we all grossly get involved and we become liars like the
rest of them.
Some
forms of deception are not exactly lies: they could be comb-overs. Some
people, like our politicians actually nod when they are not listening.
Sometimes we lie to ourselves, as part of healthy self-esteem
maintenance or serious misapprehensions. What happens at the end is
that, it becomes obvious that we can’t handle the truth.
The
big question is, in this country, in Nigeria, who is not a liar? Who
succeeds by telling the truth at all time? Even in your most positive
intention to be truthful to yourself and others, you will be forced to
bend the truth, to become deceitful, and to manipulate for some people’s
selfish gains. The workers in the church may have lied to the
congregation, not because they actually wanted to lie, but to get things
done for their pastors. They have a way of justifying this act; they
are simply working for God and His church. The special advisers of-
special advisers- and of other special advisers have to say the opposite
in order to keep their ogas in office. Campaign is merely a ritual
process that must be fulfilled; otherwise, there would have been no need
for that. How many politicians keep to the vow of their offices?
The
above allusion is necessary to point out clearly that treachery has
taken over our country, that even the distinction between our men God,
whom I always like to call men of the church and men of the ballots- our
politicians, cannot be concretely established.
Can
we really see any clear dichotomy between our fat bellied politicians
and our most revered “men of God” whom the people have held at high
esteem? Most of the time, I get myself into this impasse of comparison
and I often end up tying myself up in a string of confusion, hence
finding it difficult to tell exactly who is a politician and who is a
pastor.
I
have said it on several occasions, and on this platform that I was
highly religious in my early years. If there was any other thing I would
have done perfectly and sincerely, it would have been to serve in the
vineyard of God as a priest, but because I had a different call, even
when I dedicated my life to the serving of God as a catholic Alter Boy, I
found my way into where I’m today. Even as controversial as what I do
today appears , I have decided to ‘worship’ the truth like it is my God,
thus I have stopped being religious, as I’m more spiritual now than
ever. Quote me anywhere.
This
topic actually calls for sober reflection on how it used to be when I
was still young. “Men of God” in those days were not interested in
celebrating wealth. They were rather interested in living selflessly in
other to save the souls that formed their churches. Churches were not
proliferated as they are today. Hope for eternal life and life hereafter
was placed above mundane benefits. Most men of God in those days
celebrated celibacy and penury. Most of them saw their profession as a
call to serve humanity and to live a simple and ordinary life. Whatever
they had was for their congregation. It was more of a communal living.
But like our politicians, the direction of the gospel has changed, just
like the political manifestoes have also changed. Like the interest of
the hopeless electorates have been completely wiped out of political
agenda, so also is the happenings around our many churches today. The
interest of our pastors is not really to serve God and men in order to
save lives, but to exploit the ordinary man while praying that it gets
better for him tomorrow. Because the political scene is not comfortable
for the average Nigerian, he takes solace in religion. He can give the
fattest calf to save the situation around him. It looks like ‘men of
God’, like our politicians with their sweet tongues have devised the
most appropriate words to carefully deceive their congregation into
believing even the impossible? The idea is simple-use your voice, your
talent to smile to the banks, and upgrade with a new private jet.
Painfully, the people have refused to see the truth; they have continued
to abandon their responsibly in search of miracles around the country.
‘Men of God’ have constructively argued that everything that happens
around a man has a spiritual connotation, which can only be flogged out
by a true “man of God”. But the question is who is that true “man of
God”? Where is he? How many souls has he saved? Are we talking about
those “men of God” who like our politicians walk around with bodyguards?
Are we talking about those with political like-minds who abandon their
visibly frustrated congregation in pain to fly around the world in their
jets? The question that I always put across to our corrupt politicians
is the same question that I ask religious leaders today. From where did
they make all that money? Have they become moneychangers? Is it from the
consultancy fees that that such huge money is being made from? I’m
forced to think about the offertory. What about seed sowing, tithes and
all other languages devised to reap off that helpless man who is
supposed to be assisted by the church? How many poor people has your
church sponsored since you joined became a member? As a body of Christ,
are we not supposed to help one another. Why has the preaching changed
towards prosperity? Is there any clear difference between political
exploitation and religious exploitation in this case? In both ways, the
masses are at the losing end. Now that our religious leaders have become
politicians, where do we go from here? Where lies the hope?
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