A LETTER TO LEADERS!

National tragedies ,ethnic cleansing and other national problems don’t just happen . They are consequences of a leadership and people that have lost sight of their origin. Truth be told how many leaders alive today really know or even care to know about their origin.

Nations get into trouble when they neglect the existence of the owner of nations nor care less about pleasing Him. However bitter a pill this might be for man to swallow,it does not reduce from the fact that God owns all nations and He created them to serve Him and do His Will and nothing less will do!

National problems are not exclusive to Africa.Does that not explain why there are troubles everywhere.It is either the earth is quaking in Chile and Haiti or there are bloodbaths in Jos.There have been several ethnic problems and tragedies in several other parts of the world. Does this have to continue.what can Nigeria do to stem the tide of this evil?

One of the best references I have come to know as a panache for effective leadership(call it manual,if you like) is God’s Word: The Bible!

There are several accounts in that book that provide a head start for any leader that will rule his/her people well and keep them away from harm’s way.Of these several inferences I will just take the reader through just two of them.Coincidentally, both instances involve the same person:David,the best King of Israel yet!It was he (David)who ,shortly before he died, was quoted to have said ”When one rules over men in righteousness,when he rules in the fear of God,he is like the light of morning at sunrise on a cloudless morning,like the brightness after rain that brings the grass from the earth.” 2 Sam.23:3-4.

David was a leader who made several mistakes (ranging from adultery to murder to pride)but also thought us how to be sincere and admit it when we are wrong and to humbly seek to made amends.At different times this great leader and accomplished warrior never failed to crush any oppositions that came his way in the form of external aggressions.

During his tenure of office(2 Sam.21:1-14),there was famine for three years and life got very tough for his subjects owing to a wrong earlier committed by his predecessor(King Saul had ,while he was the political leader, mercilessly massacred the Gibeonites, a minority group of people living among the majority Jewish nation)and though Saul himself was since dead and gone the consequences of his erratic leadership was beginning to tell on the citizenry.Inflation had galloped to an all-time high and life was just simply unbearable.And what did David do?Complain and do nothing,play the blame game and line his pocket and that of his cronies?No,no no,and no!

Great leaders do no such things ,only chalatans .Rather David the leader got concerned,empathized with the minority.He even called a national conference to plavcate the hurt that the minority had suffered.He asked them in plain language how he could make amends(2 Sam.21:3).He made it up to them.

He knew this economic plague was a fallout of a wrong done to some people and that it was not going to leave until the hurting parties were placated.Isn’t it htime leaders of this nation took responsibilities for wrongs done in the past by the fathers,open their minds and seek a reprieve for the people they claim to lead ?so that all this acts of aggression,killings and continued heating of the polity can stop.Its been said severally that people who are hurt, hurt other people .The only reprieve will come when they are placated. Call the parties.Meet with them.Ask them what they want and do it! They are bound to sheath their swords and broker peace.Enough of our leaders begging the truth.Or isn’t leadership all about leading anymore?

In the second analysis(2 Sam.24),he was moved to conduct a census which turned out to be a plague on his people .Precious lives were lost.Unfortunately, any time leaders fail to do the right thing the consequence comes on the led. Don’t leaders ever get it?It was David that (probably out of ego and a feeling of accomplishment )counted the people and now it was the people suffering for his egomaniac decision.The Pandorra box had been opened.

Instantly David knew it was time to make amends.Sure it is human to make mistakes but it is also honourable to humbly get it fixed.David had enough leadership intelligence to know to go back to the Owner of nations.He pleaded with God and gave an offering to appease Him.Real leaders should trace their way back to God in repentance. what is so hard about our leaders calling a convocation ;a national day of repentance where they lead the led back to the Owner of nations with each of us encouraged to bring an offering in repentance to our God ; cutting yet another covenant.

A Greater Testimony

TEXT: John 20:1-18.

We live today in an age that is laden with so much impatience and speed. There is a deliberate attempt to do everything almost at the speed of light. This phenomenon is responsible for the invention of different electronic gadgets we now use to speed up almost all human processes in the different sectors of our human endeavor. For instance speed in service delivery was a major concern in the creation of the so-called new generation banks we now have in Nigeria. People could no longer put up with having to wait in long queues to be attended to as it obtained in the earlier banking operations. At the creation of the new generation banks therefore many customers migrated, and that had a great effect on those existing banks who themselves have had to speed up their processes in order to still enjoy some good measure of patronage. If they must compete they must accelerate and innovate. Now enough said of banking operations.

Even the many eateries we now have in most of our major cities is also a factor of our desire to have even our food delivered to us without any need to have to wait. Young people today hardly want to spend any time in courtship once they find someone they are tripped by; they just want to go to the altar immediately, if at all. Even in the home, parents hardly allow their children to complete elementary six before getting them to secondary school. These students who can hardly recognize their names face the world of adults quite early. These instances and many like them confront us in our daily lives as urban dwellers in time and space.

A popular Nigerian musician in the ‘80s captured this very well in a song he titled "Time na money"; and since most of us now almost live to just make money, there is therefore no time to "waste" anywhere or in anything. Unfortunately, this phenomenon is also having a bearing on way many Christians approach God and relate with Him. This reader will do well to know that there is still a great value in spending some quality time with our God, as we desire to make conscious effort to patiently dwell(or tarry) in His presence.

By the account in John 20:1-18,the Apostle John reports that early on the first day of the week (apparently the third day of Jesus’ death) it was Mary Magdalene who first ran to the tomb where Jesus had been buried and found that the tomb was open and that the body Jesus was not there. She then ran back and told Peter and John about the new development, and they all ran to the tomb together to see what may have happened. By this posture, it was clear that Mary had a depth of love for, and devotion to her Master and Lord Jesus. (This was the same woman who had earlier, while Jesus was still alive, worshipped him with a very expensive oil, which she poured on his feet as an expression of her love for him.)

John may have been afraid to go into the tomb, even though according to the account, he got there before Peter. But he was encouraged when Peter ran straight in on his arrival and so he also went in. Both of them experienced the empty tomb. It was no longer a mere tale to them. Both men were seeing firsthand the linen cloth and the handkerchief with which Jesus was buried but did not see him. It was both men that hurried back to their families ,the same speed at which they came to the tomb.Sure they left the tomb with a great testimony, that they entered the empty tomb where Jesus was buried; that they saw the grave clothes with which he was buried; and that He was not in the grave. That he had risen just like He said ,He would!

However, the third person, Mary Magdalene, chose not to follow them when they left. She was not satisfied with just the sight of an empty tomb, the grave clothes, or that Jesus was not in the grave. This was a great testimony to tell but she wanted something more. She would wait to see Jesus at all cost. Time was not an issue for her. She was not in a hurry to leave. She was willing to wait patiently. She had become desperate to see Jesus. Her heart was too broken so she wept.

Again with an expectant eye, she scanned the tomb, truly desiring and believing to see Him.It was at that point she saw two angels; they spoke to her; she also spoke back to them. Finally on turning around her, she saw Jesus at last.He spoke to her; she also spoke to him. (Though she did not recognize him at first sight) he opened her eyes and she recognized him, and worshipped him. Certainly her heart was filled with joy unspeakable full of glory; she had a much greater testimony than the Peter and John, and it was simply because she loved Jesus enough to wait on...