Olonitola Olatokunbo
Exodus 22:28 “Do not blaspheme God or curse the ruler of your people.
Acts 23:5 Paul replied, “Brothers, I did not realize that he was the high priest; for it is written: ‘Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people.'”
I know the country Nigeria, has its own many issues, Our government has failed us, Our rulers are wanting in so many ways, and character issue is one of them. Yet I didn’t write the above scripture that says thou shall not speak evil of the ruler of thy people.
We seem to think we have righteous reasons to disobey that command or we probably assumed God wasn’t talking about Nigeria when he wrote that scripture.
We must have assumed He probably doesn’t have an idea what our leaders are like, or else, how could we gallantly disobey a very pronounced command like that and in an unapologetic way. It has become a norm that you would be considered abnormal to think otherwise.
I see Christians make jokes of serious things, or pass along on their social media and share any comments of the likes, oh I have also laughed at a lot of them; we have a high sense of humor in this country. Yet we know the repercussion of these things but we are the first to make a funny skit out of it. I have to confess that these skits are really funny though and who wouldn’t laugh in this country where there’s so much pressure and we all look for opportunity to unwind. We make a joke out of everything, at anybody’s expense and it doesn’t matter whose reputation got tarnished in the process.
When you scoff at authorities, there is a name for this, it is called… ‘Rebellion’.. And it is also like the sin of witchcraft.
1 Samuel 15:23a *Rebellion is as bad as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as bad as worshiping idols…*
We seem to have gone in the way of the false teachers described in Jude 9-10
But even Michael, one of the mightiest of the angels, did not dare accuse Satan of blasphemy, but simply said, “The Lord rebuke you.” (This took place when Michael was arguing with Satan about Moses’ body.) But these people mock and curse the things they do not understand. Like animals, they do whatever their instincts tell them, and they bring about their own destruction.
The trick of the devil which we don’t realize is that, as the children of God, we hold the power to shape our world. We are the light of the world and when we refuse to shine, darkness will take over. Darkness is simply the absence of light.
I like to be practical; hence I will answer the question, ‘what should I do instead of being cynical?’
- Shine my light!
For the earnest expectation of the creature wait for the manifestation of the sons of God Rom 8:19
For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. Isa 60:2
The whole world is simply waiting for us to reveal the glory of God upon us, so no matter where you find yourself, shine your little light.
- Pray for my leaders; say the right words I want to see and not what I see!
I said, ‘You are “gods”; you are all sons of the Most High Ps 82:6
If we are indeed ‘gods’ as the scripture said and it has been written that I will decree a thing and it will stand; then why shouldn’t I be using my mouth to decree what I want to see?
As children of God, we are supposed to pray, we know that our words carry weight… when you call your ruler a ‘Mumu’ why then do you wonder when he begin to behaves so?
Oh… How devil has us exactly where he wants us to be; saying negative things against our rulers. We walk in disobedience when we say negative things against our rulers, while our negative words continue to shape them; our inability to pray for them makes things worse. We will eventually get what we continue to decree, yes we will.
- Extend grace to my leaders!
Why are we always the first to throw stones when people do wrong? We usually behave as if we would do better if we get there, without the help of the Holy Spirit.
Even though we know that to him who withholds grace from others, grace shall be withhold from him, yet we are always at the front pointing out the misdeeds of others.
If only you will take a stand with me and say no to speaking evil of the ruler of the people…. But to pray for them
Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt – Colossians 4:6a
- Stop the Jesting!
Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them Eph 4:29
Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes—these are not for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God. Eph5:4
So many comedians are all trending with jokes that should not even be jokes. We joke about sacred things, about anything.
Yes we are a product of bad governance… It’s a truth that is glaring to even the blind, but are we going to conquer this with evil words and curses? Has jesting ever solve anything? Has it made any economic change? When did jokes ever resolve any issue?
We can joke all we can to forget our troubles but after the final laugh, we are back at where we started from. Even our issues can join us in laughing, but trust me; they will not laughingly go away. We must continue to live with them if we do nothing about them.
keep winning!
