From Pastor Popoola To The Presidency (2)
Abba Mahmood
— Jan 8, 2015 | Leave a comment
Pastor Gabriel Popoola continued: And just like Femi Fani-Kayode, Okupe has gone to town to announce the wonderful similarities between his paymaster in Aso Rock on the one hand and the Lord Jesus Christ on the other hand. One is compelled to ask whether Okupe gave his allocution a thought before presenting it.

It is imperative to remind Dr. Okupe that the Lord Jesus Christ laid down his life for the human race; and He did so willingly (John 10:17-18). Is Okupe’s paymaster – Dr. Jonathan – ready to sacrifice anything for the welfare of Nigerians, not to talk of dying for the nation? Considering the way and manner the president has holed himself up in Aso Rock, paralysed with fear, and unable to venture to even Chibok, where over 200 school girls were seized by the gun-wielding, throat-slitting rogues, it is obvious that the President is not the kind of leader willing to risk his comfort and safety for anyone.

If Dr. Okupe must learn anything however, it is this: President Jonathan actually has a doppelgänger in the Bible; but that character is not the Lord Jesus Christ. That character is King Saul, the son of Kish – Israel’s first king ever.

Their first similarity is in their emergence as leaders. In 1Samuel 8:1-22, the Israelites had, arising from certain national issues, asked Prophet Samuel to give them a king. But the old prophet, being not in a position to unilaterally give them a king, talked to the Almighty God about this demand. In response to Prophet Samuel’s prayer, God divinely chose Mr. Saul Kish as the king over Israel. It must be noted that Saul, who was busy about his father’s animal business, contributed nothing at all to his emergence as King of Israel (1Samuel 9:15-17). Nigerians have not forgotten how President Jonathan, against all odds, and without any dream in his heart, suddenly became the vice presidential candidate to late President Musa Yar’adua. And then eventually, the nation’s president.

Their second similarity is their style to leadership. Shortly after being anointed and pronounced king, Saul, who earlier appeared to possess a lot of prospect, began to incline towards rashness, misjudgment, disobedience, and eventually spiritism. As king, all he was supposed to do was to follow divine orders as laid down in the Law of Moses and as divinely directed from time to time by the able Prophet Samuel. But Saul failed. He went into establishing a code of operation for himself, different from what God prescribed. This continued until God had to totally reject him (1Samuel 15:1-28).

President Jonathan is one president that assumed office with a lot of goodwill and expectations. Like King Saul, all he was expected to do was to uphold the nation’s Constitution and obey other extant laws; do what is right in all situations, eschew all forms of evil – pettiness, corruption, deception, sycophancy etc. –, and move Nigeria up in the right direct. But what do we have today? The very opposite of all that he should have stood for. Under President Jonathan, Nigeria has been pushed to the very edge of disintegration. Under him, financial recklessness of unimaginable proportions has occurred, and is still occurring. Under him, and just like King Saul who, again and again, pointed in the direction of the “people” as his reason for failing (1Samuel 15:21), we have had more untenable excuses thrown at us as the reasons why the C-in-C, with all the powers and resources at his disposal, could not perform his constitutional duties. Everyone and everything, apart from Mr. President himself, have been blamed for his failure. Very much like King Saul indeed!

The third similarity touches on the uncanny ability of King Saul to hide under the pretext of his closeness to Prophet Samuel to maintain his high rating before the people of Israel. Except one reads this particular portion of the Bible carefully; one is very much likely to miss this point. This is crucially important, and this is how the Bible puts it:

1Samuel 15:30: Then he said, I have sinned: yet honour me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD thy God.

1Samuel 15:31: So Samuel turned again after Saul; and Saul worshipped the LORD.

The above situation occurred just immediately after King Saul had received a damning judgment from God, and his rejection announced to him. Saul, a man wholly preoccupy with peoples’ rating of himself, wanted Prophet Samuel to still move around with him so as to give further impression of continued acceptance.

It is like this: “I know I’m already rejected; I know I have failed the LORD and His people; but these people are gullible, they will continually accept me if you keep up with me openly. You are a prominent prophet, and associating with you is very important; just move around with me and my subjects will continue to believe that I still remain the divine choice”. This was King Saul’s devious appeal to religion. Well, Prophet Samuel granted his one request, but that did not change the mind of God. God eventually reminded His prophet that He had rejected King Saul (1Samuel 16:1).

It is open secret that President Jonathan, despite his dismal performance and inability to stir Nigeria and Nigerians towards tangible developments, has continued to hobnob with leading and powerful spiritual leaders to shore up his rating. But I’ll like to say that leadership goes beyond serving just the people only; God, whether this is believed or not, is keenly monitoring affairs of the world. When a leader steals, embezzles, deceives, kills, destroys, and then pushes his nation into a backward movement, God sees and records. And no amount of prayers (wherever it is offered) or laying on of hands, will bring divine blessings until the leader repents and does what is right! This is the Bible and nothing changes this!

As long as Nigerians are suffering as a function of the actions and inactions of President Jonathan, God cannot be expected to suddenly break his Word and continue to support him. God honours his Word. God’s mercies can be sought and received, but the receiving heart must be ready to change. With our national wealth being gleefully stolen; with our patrimony being squandered by a few at the top; with millions of Nigerians being daily driven deeper into despair; with funds meant for security agencies being diverted into private pockets; with the word “shame” daily become more conspicuous on the faces of Nigerians; it is certain that President Jonathan’s approach will not work for him, just like it did not work for King Saul, his real look-alike.

Dr. Okupe must therefore tell his leader that Nigerians have wised up. They won’t accept, any longer, some empty religious lines delivered by some empty fellows. They won’t accept that he is similar to the Lord Jesus Christ, except they see real changes. However, I doubt if any change will occur now, given Aso Rock’s preoccupation with winning 2015 presidential election. A preoccupation that is bound to end in whispers and tales!

boladex1:
From Pastor Popoola To The Presidency (2)
Abba Mahmood
— Jan 8, 2015 | Leave a comment
Pastor Gabriel Popoola continued: And just like Femi Fani-Kayode, Okupe has gone to town to announce the wonderful similarities between his paymaster in Aso Rock on the one hand and the Lord Jesus Christ on the other hand. One is compelled to ask whether Okupe gave his allocution a thought before presenting it.

It is imperative to remind Dr. Okupe that the Lord Jesus Christ laid down his life for the human race; and He did so willingly (John 10:17-18). Is Okupe’s paymaster – Dr. Jonathan – ready to sacrifice anything for the welfare of Nigerians, not to talk of dying for the nation? Considering the way and manner the president has holed himself up in Aso Rock, paralysed with fear, and unable to venture to even Chibok, where over 200 school girls were seized by the gun-wielding, throat-slitting rogues, it is obvious that the President is not the kind of leader willing to risk his comfort and safety for anyone.

If Dr. Okupe must learn anything however, it is this: President Jonathan actually has a doppelgänger in the Bible; but that character is not the Lord Jesus Christ. That character is King Saul, the son of Kish – Israel’s first king ever.

Their first similarity is in their emergence as leaders. In 1Samuel 8:1-22, the Israelites had, arising from certain national issues, asked Prophet Samuel to give them a king. But the old prophet, being not in a position to unilaterally give them a king, talked to the Almighty God about this demand. In response to Prophet Samuel’s prayer, God divinely chose Mr. Saul Kish as the king over Israel. It must be noted that Saul, who was busy about his father’s animal business, contributed nothing at all to his emergence as King of Israel (1Samuel 9:15-17). Nigerians have not forgotten how President Jonathan, against all odds, and without any dream in his heart, suddenly became the vice presidential candidate to late President Musa Yar’adua. And then eventually, the nation’s president.

Their second similarity is their style to leadership. Shortly after being anointed and pronounced king, Saul, who earlier appeared to possess a lot of prospect, began to incline towards rashness, misjudgment, disobedience, and eventually spiritism. As king, all he was supposed to do was to follow divine orders as laid down in the Law of Moses and as divinely directed from time to time by the able Prophet Samuel. But Saul failed. He went into establishing a code of operation for himself, different from what God prescribed. This continued until God had to totally reject him (1Samuel 15:1-28).

President Jonathan is one president that assumed office with a lot of goodwill and expectations. Like King Saul, all he was expected to do was to uphold the nation’s Constitution and obey other extant laws; do what is right in all situations, eschew all forms of evil – pettiness, corruption, deception, sycophancy etc. –, and move Nigeria up in the right direct. But what do we have today? The very opposite of all that he should have stood for. Under President Jonathan, Nigeria has been pushed to the very edge of disintegration. Under him, financial recklessness of unimaginable proportions has occurred, and is still occurring. Under him, and just like King Saul who, again and again, pointed in the direction of the “people” as his reason for failing (1Samuel 15:21), we have had more untenable excuses thrown at us as the reasons why the C-in-C, with all the powers and resources at his disposal, could not perform his constitutional duties. Everyone and everything, apart from Mr. President himself, have been blamed for his failure. Very much like King Saul indeed!

The third similarity touches on the uncanny ability of King Saul to hide under the pretext of his closeness to Prophet Samuel to maintain his high rating before the people of Israel. Except one reads this particular portion of the Bible carefully; one is very much likely to miss this point. This is crucially important, and this is how the Bible puts it:

1Samuel 15:30: Then he said, I have sinned: yet honour me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD thy God.

1Samuel 15:31: So Samuel turned again after Saul; and Saul worshipped the LORD.

The above situation occurred just immediately after King Saul had received a damning judgment from God, and his rejection announced to him. Saul, a man wholly preoccupy with peoples’ rating of himself, wanted Prophet Samuel to still move around with him so as to give further impression of continued acceptance.

It is like this: “I know I’m already rejected; I know I have failed the LORD and His people; but these people are gullible, they will continually accept me if you keep up with me openly. You are a prominent prophet, and associating with you is very important; just move around with me and my subjects will continue to believe that I still remain the divine choice”. This was King Saul’s devious appeal to religion. Well, Prophet Samuel granted his one request, but that did not change the mind of God. God eventually reminded His prophet that He had rejected King Saul (1Samuel 16:1).

It is open secret that President Jonathan, despite his dismal performance and inability to stir Nigeria and Nigerians towards tangible developments, has continued to hobnob with leading and powerful spiritual leaders to shore up his rating. But I’ll like to say that leadership goes beyond serving just the people only; God, whether this is believed or not, is keenly monitoring affairs of the world. When a leader steals, embezzles, deceives, kills, destroys, and then pushes his nation into a backward movement, God sees and records. And no amount of prayers (wherever it is offered) or laying on of hands, will bring divine blessings until the leader repents and does what is right! This is the Bible and nothing changes this!

As long as Nigerians are suffering as a function of the actions and inactions of President Jonathan, God cannot be expected to suddenly break his Word and continue to support him. God honours his Word. God’s mercies can be sought and received, but the receiving heart must be ready to change. With our national wealth being gleefully stolen; with our patrimony being squandered by a few at the top; with millions of Nigerians being daily driven deeper into despair; with funds meant for security agencies being diverted into private pockets; with the word “shame” daily become more conspicuous on the faces of Nigerians; it is certain that President Jonathan’s approach will not work for him, just like it did not work for King Saul, his real look-alike.

Dr. Okupe must therefore tell his leader that Nigerians have wised up. They won’t accept, any longer, some empty religious lines delivered by some empty fellows. They won’t accept that he is similar to the Lord Jesus Christ, except they see real changes. However, I doubt if any change will occur now, given Aso Rock’s preoccupation with winning 2015 presidential election. A preoccupation that is bound to end in whispers and tales!

Spot on comparism. Don't forget SAUL IS THE FATHER OF JONATHAN 1st Samuel 19:2