FROM THE PREACHER'S LENSES

Sam AwedaTuesday, November 9, 2010
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ANNOUNCE THIS ARTICLE
TO YOUR FRIENDS

I AM A PASTOR; I WILL NOT ACCEPT GOVERNMENT SPONSORSHIP TO JERUSALEM
(ANOTHER OPEN LETTER TO SENATE PRESIDENT, GEN. DAVID MARK (RTD) & SPEAKER DIMEJI BANKOLE)

am a Christian by the grace of God and so a candidate of heaven. I am also a Pastor without border. I certainly do not consider it the responsibility of the Government to sponsor me to Jerusalem to perform pilgrimage and I will not accept sponsorship if offered either by the Nigerian Government or a Nigerian Politician.


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Is it that I do not want to visit Jerusalem? I do. Very much for that matter.

In fact, the plan has been on our table as far back as 1982.

Two years ago, I teased my wife with the rigor of the pilgrimage and she quickly mapped her plans of how to manage it. She quickly bought a very light collapsible chair, which she plans to carry with her.

Really and in all honesty I love to walk the path, which Jesus walked. I love to visit and see with my own eyes, the dungeon (stable) where a part of the creator of the heaven and earth was born.

I love to be at the sea sides and mountain tops where He preached His powerful and famous sermons. I desire to see the site of the tomb, which gave up Lazarus who had been concealed there for 4 days.

I love to be at the Upper Room where He ate His last supper on earth and where He delivered His powerful Valedictory Speech and offered a throughout ages prayer for the Church (John Ch.14 thro 17).

I want to visit the garden of Gethsemane, where He prayed the most powerful prayer in the history of mankind. Overwhelmed with the suffering awaiting Him in a matter of hours, when He would bear all the punishment of everyone ever born and yet to be born of a woman, He prayed in agony of spirit to the extent that His sweat were like great drops of blood.

I want to see the court where the most wicked and infamous judgement in history of mankind was passed, where hearing of the case, passing of the judgement and summary execution, was completed in just about 12hours.

I love to feel the presence of the site where the blood of the innocent was split as the world stood still and darkness covered the whole earth for a period, the blood that cleansed my sins and the sins of whoever will ask Him for cleansing, the blood that bought my pardon and the pardon of anyone who will believe in the power of atonement of that blood, the blood that overcame and overpowered the devil.

I love to see the tomb where the Lord of lords and Kings of kings was laid and where He graciously and gloriously rose from the dead with the same body that was murdered as the heavens stood still.

In spite of all these wishes, if I do not have my money in hand to finance it, I will not accept Government offer of sponsorship except from an individual who I am certain of his source of wealth. So this rules out a Nigerian politician from the list of any group, which I will accept sponsorship from.

I do not know what moral right anyone has, who accepts such favour from the Government or from any Politician to look up to them for not fixing all the collapsed infrastructures. We cannot have our cake and eat it at the same time.

General Mohammed Buari (rtd) at his inaugural speech after he sacked the defunct irresponsible ruling government of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) (Oct, 1 1979 -Dec 31 1982) promised to put a stop to all the wasteful expenses of the government.

On the list of wasteful expenses he identified is Government sponsorship of citizens to Holy Pilgrimages. I lived in the UK then and I do not forget the response of a close friend; now a Professor at Federal University of Technology Yola; he said our people will talk him out of such a plan and that was exactly what happened. What a disappointment!

For a country like Nigeria, where all the infrastructures have virtually collapsed and failure of electricity has killed many industrial houses and they have relocated to Ghana and other countries, boosting the economy of those countries and putting thousands of Nigerians out of job, resulting in breaking of marriages and homes, government sponsoring of citizens to Holy Pilgrimages should be the last thing in its agenda. In fact it should not be on her agenda at all until the things that are crucial to our living a fairly comfortable life are completed and are fine tuned

We have millions of unemployed graduates. Our schools are in dilapidation. Our Health Institutions are not properly equipped, modernized nor maintained. Citizens die of small ailments. Poverty has gripped many homes; many (especially in Lagos area) live in crowded sheds called homes, which are not even fit for goats to live in.

Tap water in many cities has run dry. Many citizens go long distances in search of water.

Most of our roads are impassible. The one time safe mode of goods and mass transportation, railway is now history.

Supposing the roads of Jerusalem and Saudi Arabia are like Lagos-Ibadan express death trap, will citizens of any countries of the world want to take such a risk in the name of performing pilgrimages? I can guarantee that none will, except Nigerians and perhaps one or two other countries, which I will not mention. And it is simply out of irrational sentiments.

Islam does not mandate her followers to visit Mecca except if one has the financial resources and good health to go through the rigor. And there is nowhere in the Bible which mandates Christians to visit Jerusalem before they can be saved.

There may be justification for such a spending if there is certainty that when the Jerusalem Pilgrims (JP), Alhajis and Alhajas" return they will shun corruption in all their endeavour.

But we all know it that no religious duties are able to conquer man's sinful desire. And that is why a Nigerian Police Corps will wear a tag on his uniform "Do not touch my anointed----"yet brutalizing and extorting citizens on the highway.

Citizens ourselves must help the government perform. We must allow them get on with important projects that will better our living condition, which will prevent us from doing evil so that we can enter into rest with God in the life eternal after our journey on this earth comes to the end.

The two big faiths will achieve what Napoleon could not if we will, with a joint voice henceforth reject government sponsorship to Holy lands. This singular act will force the government to think twice and be convinced that we are ready for the development of the country.

God will not consider it a merit for anyone who performs the Holy pilgrimage and is found wanting on the day of judgement; he or she goes to hell straight away.

The PM news in its edition of October 8, quoted the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) that the Federal Government may spend about N14 billion on Muslims who will attend this year's pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.

Then by December or so, about the same amount of money may be spent on Christians who will perform the Holy Pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

To me, the government needs to set her priority right. Certainly, fixing of all the collapsed infrastructures should take priority.

I know quite a number of citizens who have used all their useful, profitable and able-bodied life to serve the government but later run into poor health, which requires high bill in medical attention and the government turned its eyes away in spite of repeated plea.

Can we not use these monies to sponsor some researches that will be of help to us? Can we not use it to train some students in some areas of urgent technical manpower?

Any Government worth its salt must on occasions put politics and religious sentiments aside and do things that are in the best interest of the nation, even when the majority of the citizens do not appreciate it, irrespective of who is offended.

Any Government worth its salt must be bold to provide righteous direction for the course of the nation.

Even if a particular direction of the leaders is unpopular at that point in time, as long as it is done in good conscience, they need not to bother because posterity will vindicate them afterwards.

The only way to end this sensitive issue, which may be offensive to some people both Christians and Moslems due to ignorance, is to legislate it. This alone will spear the government of any blame since it will not be able to go against what has been legislated.

Let the duty of the Government be restricted to providing logistics and safety of pilgrimages at both ends and during travels.

Over to you Legislators in both houses.

Sam Aweda is President & Snr. Pastor, Jesus for the World Revival Mission

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