Balanced Ticket or Balanced Federation? (5)


Deviating from addressing the false premise of the Constitution and by extension the foundation upon which the “balanced ticket” is being advanced, Pastors and church leaders have begun to validate Scriptural truths with political slogans. Political slogans, by definition, are shifty and can be portrayed in any manner by any political operative.
Scriptural truths are validated by the Scripture itself.

Therefore, when preachers and church leaders, in this political season, “warn” their congregations that those who “disobey God will reap the rewards of disobedience”, they are directly turning their political preference, Peter Obi, into a god.
Peter Obi’s political supporters self-identify as “obidients”, which his opponents counter with “obituary”. Other formulations may yet be on the horizon.

When pastors and church leaders predicate their sermons on Obedience as a Scriptural Truth with a direct and indirect endorsement of a political slogan and therefore the candidate, they have subjected Scriptural Truth to carnal authority and influences, confirming what the Scripture says about such pastors and preachers.

It is written:
“Her priests have violated My law and profaned My holy things; they have not distinguished between the holy and unholy, nor have they made known the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they have hidden their eyes from My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them. Her prophets plastered them with untempered mortar, seeing false visions, and divining lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD,’ when the LORD had not spoken. (Ezekiel 22: 26, 28)

They justify their admonition to their congregations by citing Prophet Samuel’s pronouncement on King Saul, who had tried to hide his disobedience under the canopy of “obeying God’s instructions” when he was only following the dictates of his “flesh” anchored on his role and authority as king, performing this role to dispense “justice”, thereby conflating his carnality with the Spirit.
In these perilous times, we must be able to differentiate between the works of the flesh, which elections are, and the Spirit, which emanates from the inerrant Word of God, but now being corrupted by using the Pulpit to cover the works of the flesh in Spiritual garb.

Church leaders exercise authority because of, and behind the Pulpit just as the king exercises authority by virtue of his position in the administration of the State.

This is where the separation, and collaboration, of Church and State occurs simultaneously. The State is administered by human laws aimed at the good of the society, applying human wisdom and which may or may not be reinforced with Godly wisdom.

Hence, the Scripture reminds us of kings like Jehoash, Azariah et al, guided by Godly wisdom and who “did what was right in the sight of the Lord”; Jehoahaz, Pekahiah, et al, who rejected Godly wisdom and who “did evil in the sight of the Lord”.

These pastors’ promotion of a “balanced ticket” hinges on the rhetorical, thereby turning the entire mission of Jesus Christ on its head.
Jesus Christ neither began nor conducted His ministry based on any rhetoric of the moment, or any assumptions on what Satan or even the Pharisees or tax collectors did or could do.
His anointing was enough.

It is written:
“And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me, To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.” Then He closed the book and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:17-21)

Therefore, followers of Christ cannot proceed on the rhetoric of the moment, to wit: would Muslims vote for a Christian-Christian ticket? This can further be replicated to ask: what if Obi is not a Presidential contestant? Would “obidients” exist? Would this absence negate the need for Obedience to God, even in this political season? Other rhetorical questions can be devised, showing the limitations of rhetoric.
The Scripture is not rhetorical but absolute truth.

Christians must therefore act on the Scriptural truth stated clearly by our Lord Jesus Christ, to ensure justice, progress, and peace for the society.
The question, therefore, is not about “Balanced Ticket” but “Balanced Federation” upon which Independence was attained and whose period signified the only reference point for socio-economic development in Nigeria and which would be beneficial to Christians, especially in the North.

This is because Nigeria has had Christian Presidents; had, and currently has a "balanced ticket", all of which made no impact on what the Pulpit is promoting as Christian anxieties today.

Merely replicating more of the same things that have not addressed the problem is not Godly wisdom.

Human wisdom acknowledges this truism with the aphorism, to wit: insanity is doing the same over and over and expecting a different result.
Human wisdom says history repeats itself, first time as tragedy, second time as farce.

Obasanjo, the Christian President, solidified the negation of the “Balanced Federation” in his first coming as the military Head of State.
History repeated itself, as a tragedy, in his second coming as the civilian president when he simply looked the other way when Islamic fundamentalism was taking root in the North, dismissing it as mere “politics”. He even condemned the Christian Association of Nigeria.
Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian was President. He made a foray into reestablishing Nigeria as a “balanced Federation”, hoping to piggyback on earlier attempts by previous administrations but failed to ensure that the Peoples take control of the process. A major participant from Yorubaland, a Christian, glibly dismissed the exercise by saying “we went there to play”. That is, the entire conference was a playground.
It was a farce.

Godly wisdom is the prevention and transcendence of both the tragedy and the farce.

Yet, Christians must vote, as they had been voting all along. The question this time around is to channel the votes in such a manner as will change the course of earlier attempts at addressing the fundamental question facing the Peoples of Nigeria.

This starts from acknowledging the word of the Lord in the resolution.

It is written:
“For thus has the Lord said to me: “Go, set a watchman, Let him declare what he sees.” ….. And look, here comes a chariot of men with a pair of horsemen!” Then he answered and said, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen! And all the carved images of her gods He has broken to the ground.”
(Isaiah 21:6-9)

For Nigeria, “Babylon” is the oppressive Post-Colonial Nation-State where, contrived or not, “the enemy has come in like a flood” enveloping the entire country.
A Nation-State is what it says it is, that is, a State Apparatus anchored on the Nationality making up the country. The break-up of the Holy Roman Empire led to the formation of various European Nation States, largely culturally and linguistically homogenous, formalized by the 1648 Treaty of Westphalia, and which subsequently became what is now known as the “modern Nation-State”.
This was the form of State forced on the various multi-Cultural and multi-Lingual Peoples of Africa by the colonial power, and in Nigeria’s case, the basis for the 1914 Amalgamation. Therefore, the oft-repeated mantra of the indivisibility of Nigeria as a Nation-State has become the god with carved images.
These carved images are the Apparatus of State, legitimized and validated by a Constitution aimed at homogenizing the various Peoples into a Nation-State and upon which other images of administration are carved out.
Hence the Nigerian Post-Colonial State and its carved images have broken to the ground when it has become inundated with and overwhelmed by insecurity, economic hemorrhage, political instability in an increasing manner since 1999.
Which human wisdom defines as a “failed” or “failing” State.

Wale Odeku
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the Churches.

Hehehe.

The structureless politician giving the structured politicians a big run for their money.

What we need in this country is a balanced country,where every group,tribe and religion have a sense of representation and belonging.

A country where the principle's of federal character is respected.

A country that will move from consumption to production. A country that our children will be proud of.

You cannot labour in vain....
Obi should keep it up.