The Place of Prophecy And Men of God in Nation Building

Today, I write this piece at the risk of being called unprintable names, buffeted, mocked and condemned. But I would rather speak the truth and die than keep quiet and perish with the truth I know. Be that as it may, let me disabuse your mind that I'm not a pastor, a prophet or even a worker in any church, let alone being called a clergyman. At best, I'm a liberal christian among the Christians community. In fact, I will be the last person to defend a man of God (because I believe their God is capable enough to defend them if need be); and or hold forth for any religion, because I see religion as a way of life, and there are different media and platforms people can use to create a relationship with their Maker.

However, it has become necessary to write this piece in light of the growing attack on the Christiandom and men of God in particular especially with respect to the 2019 General Election, by both Christians and non-Christians. It's not surprising that such attacks are coming up at this time in light of the growing number of fake prophets in the country and the world in general. Ideally, however, this should only be a surprise to non-Christians if only the Christians have read their Bible well in the Book of Mathew 24:11 which summarily says in the last days, a lot of false prophets, pastors and clergymen (suffice to say men of God) will arise laying claim to the name of Jesus and even performing several miracles, until they are separated on the Judgment Day.

It's also the truth nonetheless, that there will also be some few men of God who are still in existence and ready to propagate the gospel and convey the message of God to mankind like in the days of Ahab in the Bible when Elijah thought he was the only prophet alive until God told him of other hundreds of prophets he had hidden through Obadiah from the wrath of Ahab and Jezebel. (See 1 Kings 18: 3-6). 

The truth is, every nation needs prophets, pastors, Imams, and clergymen, if not for anything because they are part of the agents of socialization. Through them, men and women learn and imbibe certain norms, mores, and cultures that help to give society a sort of sanity and morality. The dearth of true men of God is partly responsible for the upsurge of immorality and evil in our world today.

More importantly, every nation needs prophets and men of God to show them the minds of God, because the Bible says: "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children." In the same vein, the Book of Proverbs 29:18 says 'where there is no vision, the people perish.' Prophets, therefore, are Messengers of God meant to herald God's mind to humanity.

The question however is it every prophecy that God gives to a prophet that must come to pass. Far from it! This is because sometimes, prophecy are meant to warn us from a particular course we are about to take or we are taking, and of which if we desist from such a course, God will repent of his initial plan. This we see in the Book of Jonah as in the case of the People of Nineveh.

Similarly, the evil effect of prophecy can also be averted through prayer (s) of people (or men) of God. The Bible said if my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves and call me, will I not open the window of heaven and pour them an abundance of rain.. as stated in 2 Chronicles 7:14. A good case here is the example of Lot and his family who were saved through the intercession and pleas of Abraham to God in the Book of Genesis. On several times too, when the children of Israel journeyed to Cannaland, Moses had to intervene after God had purposed to destroy them for their unbelief and evil ways.

Sometimes, the ignorance of the people can also make a prophecy to tarry or not come to pass. It needs to be stated that we are free moral agents who can decide what we want to do at every point in time, but what we do is a function of what we know. The children of Israel were in bondage for over 70 years in Babalyonia even though they were just to be there for 70 years until Daniel understood by the reading of the Books and began to pray for his people deliverance. (See Daniel 9: 2). 

Thus to say prophecy does not exist or do not have a place in a country affair is to belittle the place of God in men's affairs. This is because the secret things belong to God and He reveals it to those that are his own, reason being that average men can hardly comprehend the way of God.

It, therefore, needed to say here that the fact that a man of God gave a prophecy and didn't come to pass doesn't mean the prophecy was not given to him in the first place. God might have repented of what He wants to do based on the prayers of the people concerned, made by themselves or people closed to them. And as a man of God, one cannot question Him, He has the final say, the duty of every man of God is to say what He sees if told to do so, and or pray to avert it when not necessary. If a man of God refuses to do so, he will be bringing danger upon his head.

I may be wrong, but I tell you that apart from the fact President Buhari enjoined some grace, there is another grace he and his government is enjoined today because he has Pastor Osinbanjo as his Vice President. There are hundreds of men of God (I learnt) who are daily on their knees interceding for him and this government, and God being not a wicked God will certainly listen to them and grant them answers to their prayers. You may be tempted to say are there not other men of God praying for other candidates in this election, certainly, there are, but I tell you God has favourites too. That I tell you for free because I've personally enjoyed his favour beyond what I merit in certain situations, that I know he can only be God's doing.

To me, therefore, name-calling men of God and insulting them because their prophecy failed to come to pass is needless, baseless, and uncalled for. I would rather say we leave them to God and let God be their judge.

As a matter of fact, and as much as we disdain these men of God, I would rather say we should applaud so many of them for taking over the role of the government in their own little way. Without the prayers of some of these men of God and the support system of various churches, the story of Nigeria might have taken a different dimension for the worst for I know of Churches who spent millions of naira meeting the needs of their members and nonmembers every month.

This is not to exonerate some bad eggs among them. Hence, the Bible says in Timothy 2:5 that every Christian should study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.; just as God says in John 5:39 that we should 'search the scripture' and also said in the Book of  1 John 4: 1-5; "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world."

To me, rather than blame men of God, I will blame the present day Christians who are too lazy to read their Bibles and pray to hear directly from God. No man of God will force you to come to his church or house for prophecy, it's those who find it difficult to pray on their own that run to men of God for every challenge they have, which is not expected to be the case.

Meanwhile, men of God have to become more circumspect in relaying vision, and prophecy on personal and national issue since God always had the final say. When God changes his mind on an issue, he doesn't need to consult anybody as we saw in the case of Zachariah when God told Isaiah to tell him to prepare his house in order, and the same God didn't allow Isaiah to get home after Zachariah prayed, when he asked him to go back and tell Zachariah he had added 15 more years. That is God, He does what He likes, when He likes, hence, the English man says He is an 'unquestionable God' while my people say He is 'Aseyi owu'.

God bless Nigeria!