By Sulaiman Momodu
Three months into 2024, I hope you are still committed to your New Year resolutions. I like the saying: “Before you argue with someone, ask yourself, is that person mentally mature enough to grasp the concept of different perspectives?” Trained as a journalist and having spent many years researching the things of God, I have found out that many people over spiritualize things. Please stop over spiritualizing things and looking at every cockroach as a witch and every challenge as the work of darkness.
As someone who currently works at the international level, my encouragement is – stop over spiritualizing things or your life. If I may ask, if armed robbers broke into your home, stole almost all your hard-earned possessions and then were caught by the police and they asked for forgiveness, what would you do? Let us assume that you decided to forgive them, but a few days later, the same armed robbers attacked your home again because you are a believer and this time, they did not just take the little that they had left, but they even raped young girls, mercilessly beat you up, and then killed someone. Once again, they are caught, and they tell you the Bible says you should forgive 70X7. What would you do? Please understand that believers have a responsibility to protect themselves, their families etc and seeking justice is scriptural. It is not vengeance.
Don’t be ignorant! Jesus, and all Messengers from God encouraged people to have values, virtues, and live in peace. Spouses have lost their lives because they find themselves in toxic relationships and people over spiritualize things and tell them to stay until they are killed by violent husbands or wives. Osinachi Nwachukwu, the Nigerian gospel musician died in 2022 as a result of domestic violence.
A careless medic will leave instruments inside someone’s stomach after a surgery and when the patient dies, instead of dragging the medic or hospital to court, people will over spiritualize things and take no action.
There are some offences that people commit that are State offences and that is why there are correctional centres. There is also something called presidential pardon for people who have committed offences and expressed remorse.
God loves us, but His forgiveness goes with confession and repentance otherwise everybody should just go to heaven, no need for hell, no need for fasting and prayers, no need for order and rules in places of worship etc.
One theological question that I have answered over the years is: “Religion is a major source of conflict, and the world would be a better place without belief in God, discuss.” Of course, I strongly argued that we need religion, but I condemned extremism, religious perversion, and over spiritualizing things. To deny the existence of the spiritual real is to deny the existence of angels, demons, evil spirits, the occult, witchcraft, and some bizarre spiritual encounters and afflictions that some people may have experienced or are experiencing.
Trust me, if you are a sincere believer, you have nothing to do with fear. The day I discovered that God has given us power and authority, I regretted why I had not discovered it earlier. I honestly think that spirituality is profitable, but don’t over spiritualize your life. God wants us to have a purposeful and beautiful life, but there are conditions. Similarly, if you want to have a good job, pass your exams, have a good home etc, there are conditions. Some years ago, when I realized that French is imperative for my career development after some stagnation, I went back to school to learn “bonjour” and I have worked in French-speaking countries since then, including Switzerland, Cameroon, and Cote d’Ivoire. I have also visited many French-speaking countries including Paris, France. As a father, I encourage my children to pray, but they must study hard and merit their grades. I don’t give excuses to take care of my responsibilities, so I need no spiritual excuse for poor performance.
I have read many motivational books. All of them encourage people to work on themselves; become better individuals and work hard. This is what the Word of God is about. Back to the example of the armed robbers, when people engage in wrongdoing and no action is taken, impunity rules.
Our Maker is a God of order and high standards. Sometimes I visit some offices or homes and I marvel at the level of cleanliness and orderliness. Visit other homes and their good morning is profanities (mammy cus), quarrels, and fights. The other day, I went to an office beyond the borders of Sierra Leone, and I requested to use the restroom. I was told to meet the security who opened the door using a code. You can’t just enter and leave the absolutely very clean toilet as you like. You see, some of us have issues because we have opened our doors to chaos, no control. We are allergic to order and transparency, we focus on short term benefits, we break the rules, don’t follow procedures, we are lawless, and then we blame God. This is precisely the way many people sadly behave in Sierra Leone.
Also, some of us visit evil altars and are ready to pay witchdoctors and obey their ridiculous instructions and drink concoctions instead of obeying God’s Word. Always remember that fasting and asking God to forgive our sins should lead to a positive change in our ways of doing things.
Trust me, if you can endeavour to be self-discipline, respect yourself and be respectful, control the desires of the flesh, be grateful, work hard, strive to be a person of values, be strategic, don’t focus on illegally acquiring wealth or qualifications, if you can be humble, honest, obey rules, be trustworthy etc, testimonies await you – you will live in peace and your success will be unstoppable. This is my wish for you. Best wishes!
