THE CHURCH IN A HELPLESS NATION

THE CHURCH IN A

HELPLESS NATION

the book of 2 Kings 19:1-7 says, "And it came to pass, when King Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord. And he sent Eliakim, which was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz. And Isaiah said unto them, thus shall ye say to your master, thus saith the Lord, be not afraid of the words, which thou hast heard with which the servants of the King of Assyria have blasphemed me. Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land." KJV.

At this time in Israel, Judah was under the threat of the nation of Assyria. And the representative of the king of Assyria full of pride came bragging about how they will destroy Israel and spoke in such a way that fear gripped those who heard him. So, they took the message to king Hezekiah, and because the king was a human being just like his subjects, he also had his fears. It is interesting to note that when the subjects of king Hezekiah were frightened, they turned to the king, but when the king was frightened, he turned to Isaiah, God's representative. Thank God, the king was not disappointed because Isaiah played his own role well. Isaiah dispelled the fears of the king when he declared the word of God to him. He sent to Hezekiah that God had already taken care of the Assyrians so he did not need to be afraid. Our nation is at a very critical point right now and those who are spiritually mature would have understood by now that Nigeria is not only desperate for a solution to her crises but that it has come to a point where it is clear that unless God intervenes, there is no hope in sight. For the first time in the history of Nigeria

some of our political leaders have rightly understood what our problem as a nation really is. Our problem is more spiritual than it is economic, social or political. As such, it is only a spiritual solution that will bring us out of the dungeon. However, the good news is that for the first time our political leaders are beginning to acknowledge this fact. In my book, God's Purpose for Nations" I quoted a portion of the address by President Olusegun Obassanjo to Senators at their retreat at Calabar which was reported in Sunday Punch of February 11, 2001, I wish to refer to that quote here to establish a point. "Nigerians have very little chance to make progress until there are enough citizens who are determined to put service to the society above their selfish interest. Obassanjo who advocated a fundamental change in attitude and a new orientation among Nigerians reiterated the need to eschew corruption and extol righteousness as a virtue worth dying for. He averred that Nigerians might end up building castles in the air if they busy themselves with materialism and neglect corresponding improvement in the spiritual and moral

sectors. This is why our biggest concern, while we reflect on the condition of our country must be how to bring about a fundamental change in attitude and a new orientation in

Nigeria. governance lett a Scar on the nation and stamped Nigerians with evil tendencies, which they must eradicate for progress to be recorded.

The president stated that evil According to president Obasanjo, new orientation is more urgent than building roads, schools and hospitals, and appealed to public office holders not to concentrate on infrastructural growth and development only but strive t0 bring a Change in attitude. How many of our political leaders in the pass understood this? Do you realise that the

issues raised by M President were absolutely correct?I want you to examine what is regarded as problems of Nigeria, and after all said and done, the root of the problem is that people lack the fear of God. And if that is true, if you like build the best of houses across the nation and allocate them to every Nigerian, after few weeks you will discover that most occupants will vandalize those houses.

I read of a woman in one of the newspapers who instructed her houseboy to kill her ten-year-old daughter so that she could use parts of her body for ritual purpose in order to make money. Another story I read was that a young boy living in Lagos came home to his village in the eastern part of the Country and told his mother that he would accompany her to farm. While the mother was excited at his intension, he had sinister motives behind his desire. While alone with his mother in the farm, he struck the old woman dead with a heavy object and took parts of her body for rituals. But someone was on top of a tree watching and that led to his being arrested. The other day, a small girl was sent by her parents to a nearby village to deliver a message and two motorcyclists ran after her and killed her for ritual purpose. Even a policeman on duty was kidnapped and his body later found with missing parts. Nigeria is a nation under siege of materialism. We have this perverted sense of value that money is everything, as such we can do anything to have it. At the centre of all this is that we have a spiritual problem; physical infrastructure are side issues that nonetheless should be addressed. complain of irregular supply of electricity but while government is doing that, Nigerians are just waiting for transformers to be installed so that they will steal them away. I was told that government posted guards to secure oil pipelines but it was discovered that these same guards were aiding pipeline vandalisation. I am convinced that even if the nation is physically developed, the number one problem may not have been Solved. And if that is true, then you Can be Sure that all the efforts Will be wasted because sooner of later every structure put in place will be pulled down. That is what the President meant when he said to the senators that we might end up building castles in the air unless we address the moral and spiritual problems of Nigeria. Hezekiah had said to Isaiah that at the point the child was ready to be born there was no strength to deliver.

Government knows precisely what the need is, and has introduced National Rebirth, Anti- Corruption commission and a host of other programmes to change the orientation of Nigerians, however, they need the Church to help because government cannot solve this problem alone. should provide the needed orientation for a moral and spiritual turn-around, is beset with two major problems which are ignorance and corruption. Therefore, while government is reaching out for help, the church itself needs help. For the Church to play effectively the role it is destined to play at this crucial time, something positive must happen to it. The Bible says that we should be the light and salt of the world.

commanded to shine as light in a crooked and perverse generation holding forth the word of truth. But can we do this in our present condition?

We are Nigeria is a nation that is controlled by the spirit of greed and materialism. Strangely, it is the same nation that the main message the Church has for it is prosperity. What we do when we major on prosperity as we preach to a greedy nation is to compound The philosophy of many Nigerians is that if you have money, you are in heaven but if you don't have money, you are in hell; then comes the voice of the Church giving the same impression. We tell people that the proof that they are children of God is the kind of house one lives in, the kind of car he rides and the clothes he puts This is the kind of message we are preaching to a nation that is already eaten up by greed and corruption. No wonder we multiply members by the millions but no corresponding change in the society. If we are going to make a difference in this nation at this critical time, the church must return to biblical Christianity and be restored to its lost glory. We must also put aside greed and put on the spirit of contentment and maturity. Moses had the opportunity of becoming the next Pharaoh but the Scriptures say that when he came to years, he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season because he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. Things of eternal value must have pre- eminence in our lives. We must come back again to live with eternity in view. We have to realise that life does not end here, that we are pilgrims and strangers in this wicked world that crucified our Lord; therefore we

have to live for heaven. If you look at the lives of those early Christians who lived before us, you will see that their orientation was Completely different from our own. T hey were ready to pay the price to see to it that the name of the Lord was glorified. We have the greatest opportunity of all times as Christians to change this nation to the glory of God and blessing of all Nigerians. situation before us where the nation's leaders are saying, "Come and help us." So, let us not fail our leaders and our nation at

We have a this time. I feel very strongly that God may not allow us a choice in this matter because what is involved is crucial in the programme of God; therefore we either do what God wants us to do or suffer for it.

The Bible says that, "Later on, however, King Benhadad of Syria mustered his entire army

and besieged Samaria. As a result there was great famine in the city, and after a long while even a donkey's head sold for fifty dollars and a pint of dove's dung brought three dollars! One day as the King of Israel Was walking along the wall of the city, Woman called to him, "Help, my lord the King!" If the Lord doesn't help you, We this time tomorrow two gallons of flour or Our gallons of barley grain will be sold in the markets of Samaria for a dollar!" 2 Kings

6:24-7:1 TLB.

Where was Let me ask you a question. Elisha when this situation became as bad as this? I Thought that being a man of God that Elisha was, he should have intervened in the Situation before it became that bad. When the king heard that his subjects are killin9 their children for food, he vowed to kill Elisha. Why should the king do that; was it Elisha that brought about the predicament? Of course not, but the king expected that Elisha being God's representative, if God cared enough for what was going on, he would have used him to bring a change.

As earlier mentioned, My prayer is that it does not come to a situation in this country

where people will turn against the Church. God has a way of doing things, if he waits for us to act but we continue to slumber in our own comforts and go on preaching false hope to the nation amidst the confusion going on, God will be left with no alternative than apply force and maybe he will use the nation against the Church. So, when the king decided to deal with Elisha for refusing to intervene in the deplorable situation, Elisha prophesied the solution to the problem by force.