Between David And Nathan: Confronting Leadership in Today’s Nigeria With the "Word".

I was privileged today (Sunday, December 21, 2014 - 4^th Sunday of Advent), either by design or accident, to hear Mass at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish, Gwarimpa, Abuja.

During the homily, the parish priest Fr. Peter Atsewe made reference to the Episcopal motto of the cardinal which reads: Thy Will be Done. Much later in the evening as I sat before the Blessed Sacrament at the Chapel of John Paul II Catholic Social Center, Wuse Zone 2, reflecting on the readings of the day, my heart confronted the motto of the Cardinal once again.

The first reading (2 Samuel Chapter7) captured what harmony and cooperation between Church and State should consist of. David is the King, but Nathan is the Mouth piece of God.

If honest intentions, sacrifice and powerful accreditations constitute good grades for secular leadership, discernment and absolute commitment to the will of God make an authentic minister of the Gospel. These are irreducible factors in Church-State relations. 

Our superficial desires, as honest and powerfully accredited as they appear, must be made to give way to the more solemn truths that build the Church and in effect, make society better. And when we come to appreciate that human reason is deficient and that our human efforts alone have always boomeranged, then we must, like David, be humble enough to acquise to the demands of faith. 

We must be courageous enough to swallow our pride and withdraw erroneous conclusions that are, consciously or unconsciously, the products of our bias, prejudice and flawed judgements no matter how influential and authoritative the sources are or seem to be. We must  learn to exchange the assurance of a calm and relaxed mind for the perplexities of a disturbed and troubled one, and probe further for superior facts. And we must be willing, if need be, to accept these facts even if they come to the most unwelcome conclusions. All these are involved in the notion of earnest search for truth.

 It is preferred to allow truth determine our worth than permit that the filthy air of arrogance and the allurements of distorted vision build us into Father X-mas  Balloon that weighs nothing and worth nothing despite the use propaganda might create it into. Surely, we may be compelled to entertain some bubbles of shame but let it be that the truth is illuminated.

It is thus to be observed that, more powerful than but comparable to the popular Rolex wristwatch advertisement slogan, faith has accompanied mountain climbers and ocean divers not to the top of Kilimanjaro nor to the bottom of the Pacific, but to the Mount Tabor and to Sheol and brought them back alive as eagles and heroes.

Faith has the capacity to build eagles out of fowls and heroes out of imbeciles. Nathan the man of God or a King David that fails to appreciate this concrete fact of divine omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence is counterfeit.

Ministers of the gospel must be courageous enough to confront secular leadership on policies and projects that they perceive to be opposed to and translate into the subversion of the will of God for the Church and for our nation. This responsibility must not be mortgaged at the altars of spurious allegiance and pretentious collaborations. To neglect this or to abdicate it for whatever reason is to give room for equivocation, subversion and inversion of the divine plan of salvation”. 

The truth of it all is that in life, certain things are better left the way they are. At the face value, they may appear unintelligible, incomplete and obfuscating. Nevertheless, despite our good intentions and the powerful accreditations they receive, some things are meant to be the way they are and they unreservedly task our faith even as they excite the human reason and engage our human efforts. 

The gospel reading (LK 1:26-38) is a powerful demonstration of God’s resolve to leave certain things the way they are. It is about the Virgin Birth. Despite the disagreements that rule modern day exegetes and biblical theologians, there has never been any attempt-or a successful attempt to re-write the story or “history” of the Virgin Birth. Instead, even as the story has boldly confronted and survived the pretensions of science and illuminated the poverty of ideologies, national calendars and events have been compelled to create room for great expectations about and celebrations of hope, joy and happiness which it heralded in human history.

The coming of the God-Man into human history is a mystery. But this mystery has rebuilt the human story and drawn up the route to be followed by those who accept it in faith. This alone and only this is the true human story.

 God is not the “Deus Absconditus”. God the “Discovered Unknown” of Karl Rahner is Immanuel.

To the social technocrats and political engineers of Nigeria, it may seem that the attitude of Bishops, Imams and Priests have actually endorsed your expeditions into corruption and terrorism but, united in the spirit of a common destiny and driven by a faith and a vision that celebrate God as the omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent one, we say to you- distinguished Governors, Ministers, Senators, Representatives, Commissioners and party stalwarts of the Federal Republic – God is Immanuel. God is still God.

We appreciate the contributions of specialized subjects, the enterprise of professionals in the different strata of government but theirs are not inexhaustible. The heavens hold superior alternatives.

Lies destroy completely but half truths reduce humanity to a dwarf and disable its potentials for growth and development.

The truth kept for ages but now revealed and tabernacled in the womb of a virgin that is capable of redeeming mankind from the slavery of sin, imprisonment of death, from extremists and from treasury looters must be whole and complete and need not be distorted in anyway by relativism, Pentecostalism, clericalism and secularism. And Satanism- its arch enemy - is not, cannot, and will never be its benefactor despite its pretensions and the different disguises it comes with. This is the significance of God’s direct intervention both at the Immaculate Conception and at the Annunciation. 

Truth is about knowlegde.But beyond factual knowledge, Truth is Revelation. And what is revealed is the “WORD”, or “LOGOS”.

Consequently, and as an after thought, I make bold to confront General Muhammadu Buhari on the choice of his running mate. It is on this ground that I present  and re-affirm my support for Pastor Tunde Bakare as the next Vice President of Nigeria. It is not to denigrate our learned counsel and the intimidating  profile of Dr. Osinbanjo. It is rather about the double–barreled  gun  that can serve corruption and terrorism their proper dues from the Aso Rock prison yard which leadership positions have been turned into in Nigeria. It is about the need to avoid another Yar'dua drama in Aso Rock.

 The choice of Pastor Tunde Bakare is about a superior revelation, a superior vision and a superior mission that are at the heart of the GMB re-brand. And should the highly respectable man of God and General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God Pastor Adebayo happen to come anywhere around this point in the not too distant future where the Mother Church is standing presently on this last Sunday of the Advent to confront world leaderships in America and Cuba –  and before it becomes too  late and very dark - my prayer is that he remains true to the spirit that drives authentic pentecostal ministry and begin to appreciate the sufferings of the institutional churches.

Therefore, out of a sense of  generosity and concern for the beautiful bride called the Redeemed Christian Church of God, I call upon Pastor Osinbanjo to renounce partisan politics and return to ministry at the RCCG. When I had to confront Pastor Tunde Bakare somehow in 2011, the Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Fatima, Queen and Patroness of Nigeria told me that General Muhammadu Buhari and Pastor Tunde Bakare are on their different but highly complimentary roads to preach the “WORD”, But last week, and even without asking, I was awoken to the fact that GMB’s original vision and mission at Aso Rock has been subverted, turned into defeat and reduced to a mockery against true and authentic believers – both in Islam, in Christianity and in Traditional Religion – on the imperative of peace, justice and truth for nation building. 

If this remains the case, then Mr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (PhD) is on the road back to Aso Rock again.  And again also, political animals like the lions, the vultures and the cobras will surely reconvene and the charade will begin all over again. Or in the event that GMB goes ahead to win the election under the present arrangement, then another President Alhaji Musa Yar'dua is on the road to Aso Rock. 

Real democrats, nationalists, freedom fighters and, indeed all agents of authentic change must subscribe to the GMB vision, passion and commitment but must not compromise on the need for necessary adjustments and re-alignments. This need is what the SACRED DEED is out to serve.

GO FOR THE SACRED DEED! GO FOR GOLD!!

WIN GOLD!!!