Tola Akinsulire
Author Archives: Tola Akinsulire
A married guy with a precocious son who works his (I mean me, not my son - I bet you know, right?) day job as a financial guy trying to make real estate projects have some sense to the investor. I like to talk about what I learn along the way as I live my faith in life (family, work, friendships, fellowship, community and anything else you can put here).
GOD & MIGRATION
In part 2 of this series, I mentioned in passing how migration has a significant role to play in God’s overall plan for humanity and nations. Its importance warrants a stand-alone discussion and that’s why we are here.
To understand migration, we need to start with the 5 groups of migrants.
1 – The Fair Weather: They migrate because they are looking for a location that promises good times. And they are open to moving from one location to another as long as the next location promises something better than where they currently are.
There is nothing wrong with this. And God has been shown to use people’s desire for wanting something better to achieve his plans for nations.
But there is something wrong if this becomes the only reason to live life. There is something more that we will discover as we unpack the rest of the 4 groups.
2 – The Preservers: They move or are moved to a new location because God wants to preserve the prosperity of the new nation or delay judgement. Think of this group of people as the rest of the 10 good men that were not found in Sodom & Gomorrah so that judgement could be held off.
GOD & NATIONAL PRAYERS
“Christians need to stop praying. Praying has not achieved anything for us as a country.”
Unless you have been living under the rock in Nigeria, you would have heard this expressed now and again.
But any Christian who pushes this sentiment is signing up for a job with the Dark Side – and it ain’t with the Sith Lord.
Jesus said “men always ought to pray and not lose heart,” Luk 18:1 and the Bible encourages us to “Pray without ceasing,” 1 Thes 5:17.
If Jesus expects us not to stop praying, it means praying is important.
But I understand the reason for the sentiment. People have been praying for things to get better in the country but things have been taking a walk on the downside.
If the problem is not in the activity – “praying” (Jesus says it’s important), the issue might be with the people doing the praying.
There are two reasons why this may be so.
GOD & NATION BIRTHING
Now and again, I hear the agitation here and there that it’s time for Nigeria to split as a nation.
The agitators want the predominantly Muslim north to go its way while the south picks its direction.
I have no problem with non-Christians making these statements. My concern is more with Christians who join the bandwagon.
There is a misguided concept that Lord Frederick Lugard forced the amalgamated nation on us.
Some have even come up with a mystical reason why we should not have existed as a country. According to them, some dark forces came together under the ocean to create Nigeria.
Nothing could be more ridiculous than this to a Bible-believing Christian.
God has complete control over His creation and nothing happens without His say-so.
GOD & NATIONAL PROSPERITY
One of the biggest problems that a sense of nationhood has bred in people is a false narrative about why leaders are chosen.
We assume that when we choose political leaders, their value is solely for the impact they will create in our countries.
This is where we have to get the big picture.
God has an overall plan for the whole of humanity. Each nation has a role it plays. And the readiness of the people of a nation determines how well they play their role and the type of leaders they get.
Our ability to understand the big picture will shape how we respond to God’s choice of political leadership.
One of the biggest expectations that most of us have when new political leadership is been chosen is the hope that he or she will usher in peace and prosperity.
GOD AND ELECTIONS
I was listening to Pastor Bankie a few weeks back and he made a statement that resonated with me.
For the uninformed, he is a consultant pathologist with a professional career and leading a teaching ministry in Enugu state, east Nigeria.
He said (I paraphrase) that even Moses the anointed leader of the Israelites with all God’s backing could not take the people that left Egypt into Canaan because they were not ready for the land.
This was pretty instructive for me. Almost every election cycle brings up a new set of “messiah leaders” promising the best deal at the auction. If only we would raise our calling cards for a buy to the auctioneer.
I’m of the school that “people deserve the government they get because those in governance are a reflection of the people since they come from the people”
Yes, you might argue that this is over-generalization.
And I might concede that on occasion a good leader might come out of a bad society but a bad leader can’t come out of a good society.
Why?