GOD, POLITICS AND NATION BUILDING: THE EXPERIENCE AND THOUGHTS OF A YOUNG CHRISTIAN LEADER (THE DECISION 2)
Some weeks to the lifting of the ban on campaigns, I had begun to have second thoughts. I was told that I would have to resign from my position as Missions Secretary of the CMDA students arm. Of course, the decision was to maintain the neutrality of the umbrella Christian body in such a contest. In retrospect, the association made the best decision;though at the time, it only fed my fear of my relationship with God being weakened by this course I was about to take. That experience as well as what I have observed in the political space both home and abroad since then, have contributed to my convictions on some issues.
First, churches and religious organisations should always strive to maintain the highest form of neutrality and fairness in the political space. I believe they can borrow a leaf from the CMDA and ensure that Pastors or Ministers who go into the political space, resign their positions and drop their titles (at least the titles that connect them to the church/fellowship). The reason is that the political space is a competitive space. It is a battlefield where the weapons (ideally) are not physical weapons but wit, logic, charisma, ideology and strategy. The name of Christ should not be dragged into it. Jesus Christ came to the world to suffer, die and resurrect for the salvation of all human beings irrespective of political leanings or aspirations. This is not to say that Government leaders should not be allowed to minister to the brethren. They should if they can. However, they should not be allowed to hold office in the church or religious setting as long as they occupy political office. By overtly taking the side of an individual, ideology or political party, the church is alienating the very people we are sent into the world to preach the gospel to. The end and mandate of the church is Jesus Christ and him glorified. Anything else or less is a sham from the pit of hell. My aim here is not to be confrontational but to push you to critical and scriptural thinking. I hope you don’t fall, but if you do, I hope it is into the abyss of understanding and wisdom.
Second, the bible describes the office of a political leader as a form of ministry in itself. All political/Government leaders will give account to God exactly the same way Pastors and other church ministry officials will give an account to God for the work they do in their various offices. The bible is clear on this.
Those in authority are God’s servants for the good of society. But if you break the law, you have reason to be alarmed, for they are God’s agents of punishment to bring criminals to justice. Why do you think they carry weapons? This is also the reason you pay your taxes, for governmental authorities are God’s officials who oversee these things.
Romans 13:4, 6 TPT
https://bible.com/bible/1849/rom.13.4-6.TPT
The child of God who serves in the office of a government official or leader has a spiritual/scriptural duty to maintain fairness to all and sundry, irrespective of religious, political and cultural leanings. Their duty is to create a society in which everyone can thrive and grow to the maximum extent their potential will allow them to whether they are Christian, Muslim, Atheist, Buddhist, Hinduist or free thinkers. Their duty is to create an environment in which everyone can live by their individual beliefs and convictions (liberal or conservative) in peace and prosperity, as long as the fundamental human rights of their neighbour is not violated. This much is explained in Paul’s first letter to Timothy in which he was asking that prayers be made for kings and those in authority. It says:
And pray for every political leader and representative, so that we would be able to live tranquil, undisturbed lives, as we worship the awe-inspiring God with pure hearts. It is pleasing to our Savior-God to pray for them . He longs for everyone to embrace his life and return to the full knowledge of the truth.
1 Timothy 2:2-4 TPT
https://bible.com/bible/1849/1ti.2.2-4.TPT (Bold emphasis mine).
The third thing that the experience of my having to resign taught me was that the work I do for God does not determine the quality of my relationship with Him. I had known this for some time, but this experience further grounded that conviction in my heart. I do not need to be an official church minister in order to do the work of the ministry and to impact as many people as I can with the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is just a part of who I am and irrespective of the office or position I hold, whether secular or religious, living for the glory of Jesus Christ is my purpose for being. It is essentially, the purpose of the entire new creation in Christ.
The lifting of the ban was a few days away, when after critically examining my chances in the race, I decided to speak with one of my opponents. He is a Muslim but I have always admired his thought process. He was far more popular than me (I was the least popular of the three candidates) but I knew that we have a similar thought process. After sharing my vision for the hall with him and listening to his, I made a decision. I was going to step down and run for something else to support our joint vision for the hall. There was a vision I was willing to sacrifice my ambition for. This concept of vision is critical. Unfortunately, we have a leadership culture across all sectors (including church) that glorifies men in our country. We follow charismatic leaders without vision. We wait on the words of rich society members without vision. We are moved by social media influencers without vision. This is absolutely sad and is one of the reasons there is no accountability, no progress and a general lack of fulfillment in our leadership and Government.
About 24 hours after the discussion I had with my former opponent, whom I had decided to step down for, I received a call from him. He said we needed to discuss. I thought it was about perhaps helping with finetuning some of his plans and strategy, so we set a meeting time and place. It was there that he informed me that he was going to have to step down due to personal reasons. To say that I was shocked would be an understatement. I began to think in my heart; was this a sign from God that I should run and win this election? Immediately, I threw my hat back into the ring. The vision could not die. I was not contesting because I was interested in the position. I was “fighting” for the vision. My former opponent, became one of my greatest allies in the race that followed. That race, was beautifully crafted by God and if anything, it strengthened my faith in him.
It is important to note also, that I was willing to step down for my opponent who has a different religious belief than mine. This must be raised because as a country, we have allowed the petty and superficial loyalties of religious affiliation and following to prevent us from making the right decisions many times. We treat people different because they don’t belong to our religion or tribe. These things should not be. I cannot tell you categorically that I am a nationalist or that I believe that Nigeria should remain one country going forward; my mind is open concerning this. Time will tell whether we will remain together as one. However, I can tell you this categorically; we can never make meaningful progress and have sustainable development without true unity behind a vision for a progressive and prosperous country.
To be continued
