I am going to tell you a parable. I will facilitate the construction of the edifice of our instruction from an apologue. May the God who opens ears and eyes open our hearts and grant us comprehension.
Story, story…
There is a nation called Garinja. Some say it is the landmass composed of the remnant of many ancient empires – the Dahomey Empire, the old Oyo Empire, the Kanem Bornu Empire, the Benin Kingdom, the Sokoto Caliphate and even the Songhai Empire. The nation was thus forged from the anvils of hegemonic tendencies, human diversity, conflict and history. And even as one the people went to war against each other, brother against brother in a senseless and preventable orgy of violence that was born out of immaturity and nationalistic infantilism. The war consumed more than two million souls. This despite the refrain of their then national anthem: “Though tribe and tongue may differ, in brotherhood we stand”. They stood in brotherhood alright! Brother stood against brother. Since then Garinja has been struggling with whether it is a nation, or a country. Until Garinjaites resolve this issue, please permit me to use both terminologies interchangeably.
The people of Garinja are bold, fearless and confident. It is a gift from Almighty God and it consternates their neighbours far and wide. Even when they’re wrong they tend to be confidently wrong! Looking at the population of Garinja, that is a lot of confident people. Depending on whom you believe, Garinjaites are either 140million or 170million. Garinja is mostly made up of virile youths. 63% of her population is under 25. That is a blessing, if the rulers of Garinja understand. But somehow Garinja has not been able to put its act together, even after 50 years, or 100 years of existence depending on where you draw the line in the sands of history. To move forward Garinja dances like a crab – one leg forward, four legs sideways, one leg backward. And so nations that were subpar to Garinja at independence, nations like Singapore have overtaken Garinja in development. For all its existence, Garinja has been described as a nation with potential, and the young ones are asking, when will this potential become actualized?
Garinja is a study in irony. It is perhaps the most blessed nation on earth. It has 37 mineral resources! A nation called Canada has only five yet it’s described as the No.1 mining destination in the world. 15 years ago Garinja was not even on the mining map of West Africa, not to talk of the world. The country is so rich that one of its constituent states with a curious name phonetically proximate to Kongi’s Harvest is actually a cement factory. The entire state sits on limestone. Now, on top of solid minerals God blessed Garinja with petroleum resources. It is the 7th largest petroleum exporting country in the world. Even when 400,000 barrels a day are miraculously and consistently stolen – (the thieves are very exact you see) – the country is still so rich. Imagine somebody stealing $28m from you every day! That’s about $10bn a year. You must be very rich, or very reckless to lose that kind of money and not really care. The crude oil of Garinja is described by geologists with the affectation of someone consuming mellifluous amala. Amala is a granulated derivative of yam tubers. It is often accompanied by Corchorus capsularis aka ewedu; the combination can make a man speak in tongues under sweat. The crude oil of Garinja is described as “sweet brent”. And on top of all these God blessed Garinja with a huge reserve of gas. The gas is even more plentiful than the oil. Garinja is among the world’s top five largest exporters of liquefied natural gas.
Of course one will assume, and rightly so that in a nation so blessed there will be no poor person but you’re wrong. The statistics are scandalous, and scary. You see there are four yardsticks for measuring poverty. There’s a measurement called food poverty, another called absolute poverty, another called dollar per day poverty, and then there’s relative poverty. By every measure of poverty, at least 58% of Garinjaites are poor and wretched. Young Garinjaites sometimes wish they were from a mythical and tiny city-state called Dubai. You see, when a young man wants to get married in that city-state – and this is information from a tour guide and we shouldn’t believe tour guides. They have sweet mouths… When a young man wants to get married in that city-state he is given money to marry and a villa by the sea! I have not independently confirmed this fact so don’t quote me. But the people of Dubai don’t pay taxes. They must be backward, living in the days of Jesus. If you recall Jesus had said the rulers of this world do not tax their own people but foreigners. Dubai is no doubt a superstition. We’re even told that the bus stops in Dubai are air-conditioned. Come on! Who air-conditions bus stops so the sun doesn’t smite the people by day? These Dubai people seem to be living the blessings and principles of scriptures!
It would seem the lords of Dubai care a lot about their people. Rulers must have heart. And talking about hearts, the capital of Garinja is shaped like a heart drawn by an artist suffering from sclerosis. It’s a crude geographical heart. It is after all a heart of stone. And that often proves to be more than euphemism. You see, the rulers of Garinja stay in that city. It’s called Baguja. Its meaning has to do with something about bags of money fighting each other- Bag-U-Ja. There is an air in that city that seems to ossify even the most tenderized hearts. Hearts become unfeeling. But don’t get me wrong Baguja is a splendid city. It was built with a lot of money! The tallest building in the world cost only $4bn to build. It is in that imaginary city-state called Dubai. It put Dubai on the map of the world. Yet despite the huge amounts of money spent building Baguja there is not one notable building of global acclaim. No one really knows how much it cost to build Baguja. It was built over decades. But everyone knows it cost petro billions. There are many reasons for its lack of notability. One phenomenon in particular has baffled everyone. You see, money loses weight in Baguja! And so a billion dollars earmarked for a project can lose as much as four-fifths of its weight. It is an economic phenomenon called Convergent Weight Loss. All those struggling with weight loss need to study this phenomenon.
Now, here’s the amazing thing. None of the lords of Garinja was born in Baguja. You only move to that city when you become a lord. Once they get to that city they tend to change and forget what manner of men they were. The air in Baguja has amnesiac properties. It makes you forget your past.
There are two classes of children born in Garinja. Those born in mass transit systems who are thus known as the Masses; and those born with silver spoons acquired by all means who are therefore called Silvesters.
Silvesters are increasingly schooling abroad for obvious reasons, not in Garinja. They are therefore expatriates. Their motto is, “I just got back!” You see, those Masses, they tend to fail exams anyhow. Never mind the poor quality of teachers, ill motivation of the teachers and terrible learning conditions. In one exam with a curious name called WAYEC, 70% of them failed the exam. Nothing new there. They’ve been failing for a long time! 15 years ago some secondary schools scored 0.1% pass rate in that curious exam called WAYEC. But all this is of no concern to the lords of Garinja. They school their children abroad with weight loss resources.
Now, let me describe the atmospheric condition in Baguja. It is very different from the rest of Garinja. That’s because the city is under a dome, a special glass dome that is only visible to sinners. Because of its translucent quality the masses are hazy the lords of Garinja and they cannot hear them. They can’t hear their cries. So powerful is the dome translucence that when the people gesticulate in desperation the lords of Garinja think they’re hailing them on the efficacy of weight loss economics. Apparently the only benefit of being a Garinjaite is that you consume something a strange substance called Subsidy. It is a scientific feat. The mathematics of subsidy no one can understand. But it is made of false hopes.
There are 3 political parties in Garinja. There is a party called TRANSFORMATIVE CHANGE. Someone insists that is a tautology, but we have hopes. This is a very powerful political party. It is ideology neutral. Anyone can join. It is nothing more than a platform for the radical transformation of the circumstances of its members. In the old guard, the political operatives of this party privatized oxygen. The newly privatized air was branded Fresh Air!
Then there is the PEOPLES PARTY (PP). It’s a very powerless party. Surprisingly it has an ideology. The members subscribe to an ideology called Stomach Infrastructure.
Then there is the third party. It’s called the JERUSALEM PARTY (JP). It’s a very curious party made up of curious people who must really make their God curious. Members of this party suffer from an identity crisis. They don’t know who they are. They really don’t participate in the political process. Some are still arguing whether they should and that argument has been going on for 40years. They can argue! All they do is pray. They always pray for transformative change, though in truth they might as well join the TRANSFORMATIVE CHANGE party since both parties want the same transformative change. But these people don’t want to mingle with “sinners”. They’re like the Essenes in the days of Jesus who refused to contaminate themselves with society.
They have their own political meetings every Sunday. As long as they can sing choruses and other party songs, and implore God to pay their house rent, provide them with food, fine clothes for Sunday meetings…nothing else bothers them! Oh, I forgot, they also ask God for tickets to London and other exotic places. Never occurs to them they can turn their land into London. They come back from London wearing the latest onile gogoro, coupled with a phonetic accent they mysteriously acquired from eating fish and chips for just three weeks! God is a God of miracles!
They love to call God all sorts of psychedelic names- Jehovah Makadishkem, Jehovah Rohi, Jehovah Rapha – names that do not reflect their relationship with God. They do not realize that in the Old Testament the people related to God on the basis of experience hence those names. But that in the New Testament the relationship is familial. They are sons of God not the people of God. The paradigm of relationship was radically shifted by Jesus when he told them to pray, “Our Father, who art in Heaven.” They do not know that calling God Father is far superior to any relationship based on experience. Do not say I told you but I am told that someone somewhere actually came up with a new moniker for God, “Jehovah Sharp Sharp!”
The biggest conundrum about the Jerusalem Party is that they do not know that in conception they are a political party. They think they’re a religious order. They do not know that their Savior did not come to establish a religion but to establish a kingdom. That he introduced a new political dispensation called the New Testament. That, that covenant is a constitutional issue not a religious issue. That their job is to bring the ideals of God’s Kingdom into the dimensions of Earth. That their job is to propagate the fundamental objectives of state policy of the Kingdom of Heaven. That the Bible is replete with political realities of their faith. That the Bible does not call them citizens for naught. That their Saviour is not called Lord and King for naught. That Lord and King are political titles not religious terminologies. That their Saviour was the original agent of change. He advocated change from within. That their Saviour is the greatest transformative agent, after all if any man be in Christ he is a new creation, old things have passed away, all things have become new. That their Saviour is committed to the political emancipation of people from the shackles of the oppressor; that he is fully committed to social justice. It’s why they feed the poor and take care of the widows and orphans. That their Saviour kept talking about his kingdom, his kingdom, his kingdom. That indeed one of the political titles of their Saviour is the Sheblimini – he who sits on the right hand of Majesty – Otunba! They do not realize that even when they do what they call prayer battle it is not a religious exercise but a political altercation with a political enemy. That prayer is advanced weaponry system. That this enemy has a formidable political structure and runs a parallel government. That the titles this secessionist enemy gave to his political associates are not religious titles but political titles. Apostle Paul wiki-leaked those titles: Powers, Rulers of Darkness, Spiritual Wickednesses. These are political titles. A principality is a province governed by a prince, just like a kingdom is a geographical delineation governed by a king. Monaco for example is a principality. It is governed by Prince Al bert II. And so the word Principality is not “spiritual” it is political. And what could be more politically explicit than giving someone a title called Power, or Ruler of Darkness. If the other major titles are political, “Spiritual Wickedness” must also be a political title!
Members of the Jerusalem Party are so enamoured with religion they do not even understand the purpose of Pentecost after which some appellated themselves. They call themselves Pentecostal without understanding that Pentecost is a political phenomenon not a religious phenomenon. It is a tragedy in life when you do not realize who you are or what you lay claim to. Let me talk to you about Pentecost.
Pentecost was the herald of a new political dispensation. At Pentecost human calendar switched from the calendar of the 1st Adam to the calendar of the 2nd or Last Adam, hence the abbreviations BC and AD. BC belonged to the 1st Adam, AD belongs to the Last Adam, Jesus the Christ. Pentecost was the official takeover date of human history by the Last Adam.
The word Adam is a political title. It means “Federal Head of Mankind” even though the 1st Adam also bore it as a name. Pentecost marked the sharp break between the era of the old social contract with mankind called the Old Testament and the era of the new constitution called the New Testament. The word “Pentecost” is the Greek name for Feast of Weeks, a prominent feast in the calendar of ancient Israel celebrating the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai. Therefore the relevance of Pentecost for the Christian cannot be about the religious activity. We’re not under the Law so we can’t celebrate the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai. It is only so named because the event took place on the day the giving of the Law was celebrated.
The man who saw into the future and prophesied about what we call Pentecost was a relatively obscure prophet called Joel. God told him, “In the last days I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.” Apostle Peter would quote that prophecy at the herald of Pentecost. At Pentecost we see God franchise himself to individuals as cloven tongues of fire appeared on the disciples gathered in the upper room. God became democratized at Pentecost.
Now here’s the thing. When Apostle Peter quoted that prophecy to explain the seeming inebriation of the disciples speaking in international languages, no sons or daughters prophesied contrary to the prophecy; and no young man saw vision, yet the prophecy was fulfilled! How can this be?
The word “prophesy” in Joel’s futurological outlay is the Hebrew word “nãrã”. Among tamer words, it means to rave, play the madman, and act insane.
We may therefore reread that portion of Joel’s prophecy as follows: “In the last days I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall rave, play the madman, and act insane”.
The phrase “old men” in that prophecy in the Hebrew text has political connotation. It is “zãqën”. It means old, aged, eldest or senator. When Peter quoted the prophecy in the New Testament he used the Greek word, “pressúteros”. It means ambassador. We can therefore translate that portion of the prophecy as follows: “In the last days I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and your ambassadors shall dream dreams.”
The word “see” in Joel’s prophecy is “rãáh” in Hebrew text. It means to see intellectually, gain understanding, learn. The word “vision” is “chizãyõn”. It’s the masculine noun of “chãzãh”. It means to observe, divide, gaze, select- essentially an intellectual, observatory and analytical exercise.
Now let’s read the full prophecy to understand the original intent: “It shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall play madmen, your elders, senators and ambassadors shall dream dreams, your young men shall intellectualize, and observe, analyze, dissect, learn and understand.”
And so we see that Pentecost maps out specialized roles for members of the Jerusalem Party. There are those who will function as “madmen” – world changers and revolutionaries. There are those who will function in political office, and there are those who will function as intellectuals. The madmen will rant and rave as the conscience of society and agents of change. Those in political office will set a vision for society and handle all things political. The intellectuals will develop policy blueprints, do research and analysis.
How dare members of the Jerusalem Party reduce Pentecost to mere acquisition of glosollalia… the speaking in tongues. The speaking in tongues is not Pentecost. It accompanied Pentecost to signify the creation of a new nation and God’s intent to make Christianity an international phenomenon. Once that was achieved the style of tongue changed. We hardly speak the tongues of earthly nations again. We now speak the tongues of our heavenly kingdom. But it is scrambled. That’s why it sounds gibberish. God has a decoding system on the other end. Scrambled tongues enable us to bypass Satan’s intelligence network in the stratosphere. It is an enigma code- unbreakable since the days of Pentecost!
Joel’s prophecy was given in a political context. Prophecies don’t exist in vacuo. The prophecy which was proclaimed between 836BC and 797BC was given at a time of concentration of economic prosperity in the hands of a few. Social injustice was rife, social inequality was prevalent, the masses were oppressed- their economic realism was grim. This was the backdrop of the prophecy. It would take 800 years for it to be fulfilled.
The Jerusalem Party must understand the imperatives of the Christian faith; understand the signs of the times. They cannot be a people bogged down by ignoble prejudice, or a people assailed by the whiplash of debilitating ignorance. They must astutely assert the political hegemony of their God, who is the rightful owner of the kingdoms of this world. It is time for transformative change. The big question is, are you a change agent, or should we look for another?
This is the end of my story. Thank you and God bless!
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If you’ll like to give your life to Christ please pray this prayer: “Father, I come to you in the name of Jesus. I know that I am a sinner. I believe Jesus died for me and that you raised him from the dead. I confess with my mouth that Jesus is Christ is Lord and I receive him as my Lord and my Saviour. I am now born again. Amen.”
© Leke Alder | talk2me@lekealder.com