Because
iniquity will abound the love of many shall wax cold. The love of millions
waxes cold by the day because salvation is not forthcoming. Those who had hope
for a long time that those things will turn out for good but because when the
Lord is not forthcoming the righteous lay his hand on iniquity.
Men that have
stood for something are losing patience and the need to eat, clothe, enjoy
life; buy good cars, own good homes, live in comfort is making men to
compromise. Remember men like Reuben Abati, remember Ebenezer Babatope and many
more. Remember many righteous men; clergy men who once stood on the altar of
truth but due circumstance and the endless waiting for deliverance had to eat
their vomit. It is so easy to stand on one’s high horse and proclaim those men
cowards, mediocre etc. the same way it is so easy to castigate Esau for selling
his birth right for a pot of porridge when he was hungry. In reality, how many
people can really decline Abati’s offer if given the opportunity? It takes a
man to sell his soul to make a sharp turnaround like Reuben Abati. He was a
shining light for some of us at a particular point in time but like many
Nigerian in the cold weather of hunger, of poverty, the endless wait to be
relevant and recognised, being estranged by families and friends because in
real life Nigeria, you are on your own if you are poor. You are a stigma and
after enduring such loneliness of standing aloof for morality when such
opportunity comes, how many dare reject it. The millions of moral voices we
have are millions of voices without the opportunity. How many of us in the
corners of our offices, shops, homes, business etc. create shortcuts and still
stand on moral platforms to criticise those whose sins have been exposed, while
we keep our own sins hidden. The sins of some sure follow after them while that
of some is revealed beforehand. Asking for mere mortal to stand alone on moral
ground is suicidal at best if the righteous does not bond so that they can jointly
resist the onslaught of hunger and poverty. Money is good and prosperity is
sweet that is why that is the hottest selling commodity in our local churches.
If it is not preached, the need of the people is not attended to but in reality
are we experiencing the prosperity and blessings. Many may say well I am not
affected; I am not involved because I have never dipped my hand into such but
be sure that you make such boast because there is a hedge around you. If that
hedge is removed like that of job I doubt if you can stand. Many are homeless
and cannot afford a warm place to sleep, how does one expects such to stand and
declare that they stand on the side of righteousness or morality. Some cannot
even eat once a day and those who have seem as if they are the only one God
attends to and our society and altar have made it look so. Indeed the love of
money is the root of all evil. Don’t try to justify your greed because that
statement is loaded.
In
John chapter 8, some men brought a woman caught in the act of adultery for
Jesus to judge. Were they really seeking justice? I bet not because of justice;
if they were indeed seeking justice according to the Law of Moses, the two
parties should not have been brought to Jesus and when two or three witnesses
had been found the two partners in crime should be stoned to death. Alas they
brought the woman to Jesus. Jesus perceiving that they only seek a partial
Justice and seeking to test Him asked anyone who had never sin to cast the
first stone. If indeed they were seeking justice they never needed Jesus to
help out, they would have stoned the people involved to death. Alas these were
bunch of rogues themselves seeking juggle justice for a common criminal. They
had spared the partner in crime (for reasons best known to them) and brought
the defenseless party for justice. How often does the justice system favour
some people against the other because all men though born equal are not equal
before the law? Remember the song of
African China that said ‘poor man that steals Maggi (a type of branded
seasoning in Africa made by Unilever) will appear on crime fighter while rich
man that steals money never gets to appear’. How often do ‘criminals’, having
caught another criminal, decide to make a scapegoat of other criminals because their
own sins have remained hidden from other men? How many of those men who carry
out jungle justice; stoning people to death in public places for stealing, for
witchcraft etc. can really boldly say I have no sin that is why I am
participating in this jungle justice. Men in the days of Jesus had the moral
conscience to withdraw from participating in jungle or partial justice when
their conscience was pricked by the truth but I am pretty sure that men in this
generation will not bat an eyelid before carrying out such jungle justice. We
have men whose conscience have been seared with hot iron; men without
consciences who are themselves chief of all rogues casting the first stone
without first removing the specks in their own eyes. Our justice system is not working
is the excuse of many but if really the justice system is really working, most
of the jungle judges will be behind bars. It is so easy for us to see other
people’s sins and error without seeing our own fault. We can be blinded by such
hypocrisy that our lives remain glued to forming opinion about people rather
than realising our own fault and addressing them
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