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THE ABUSE OF POWERJuly 1, 2007 On July 2nd, 2007, the African Union convened their 9th extra-ordinary session of the Executive Council on the proposals for the Union government of the African States. The meeting took place in Accra, Ghana. The debate, although not conclusive, proposed that a government of the United States of Africa be established. The proposal for an African Union government is neither foreign nor new. In 1958, President Kwameh Nkrumah of Ghana proposed the need for the unification of the continent. Fifty years later the issue is still on the AU agenda list, but closer to fruition than ever before. The principle of unification cannot be challenged as it intends to strengthen the economic base of the continent and to make it more competitive in a globalised world. As an evangelist however, my dream is to see Africa bend its knee before the cross of Christ and ensure that Godly values and faith become part of every aspect of the African life. While we boast of our great crusades with thousands of souls coming to Christ, Islam has adopted a more aggressive evangelistic strategy. While we count people saved, Islam is counting entire nations. Christians would claim that twenty million Africans gave their lives to Christ, while Islam will say we have won five more countries to the Islamic faith. We target individuals while they target nations. They target political and business leaders. They invade politics and business and consequently support only candidates that are sympathetic to Islam. They understand that political leadership on the continent has everything to do with the destiny of those nations. They actively identify and encourage individuals they can sponsor to run for political office. While most of our evangelism strategies are disjointed and in isolation from one another, Isalm has a grand plan aimed at taking over Africa at a certain time. The overall efforts are therefore well coordinated to achieve this objective. The Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is now the sponsor of the Union government agenda. Under his sponsorship, he pushed for the transformation of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) to African Union (AU) in Lusaka Zambia in the year 2001. To date, he has sponsored numerous meetings in Libya to set the stage for the United States of Africa. He has lobbied extensively using his financial muscle to persuade most African governments to endorse his proposals. At African Union meetings, Col. Gaddaffi has airlifted Mercedes Benz cars from Tripoli, Libya to various venues of the AU meetings to provide transport for presidents. He is the dominant figure at every AU session. I personally respect Col. Gaddaffi for his focused strategy. He does not only wish to see a United Africa, but he will also have no competition when the time comes to elect the president of the United States of Africa. When this happens, the next debate will be whether Africa should be a Christian ‘nation’ or Islamic ‘state’. The answer to this question could be obvious. There is no known Christian or Christian organisation actively engaged in the process of creating the United States of Africa. The church considers such activity as being ungodly and not part of the high calling of God, which only targets the salvation of ‘souls’. Consequently the church finds it ungodly to finance the quest for good governance. This is considered ‘unconstitutional’ by most churches. This anomaly has accelerated the expansion of Islam on the continent. Unless the church frees herself from theological chains of exclusivity and isolationism, our impact will remain limited within church circles. I am of the view that the Christian must engage both mentally and financially at both national and continental levels to truly become the salt of the earth. As we speak, Africa is headed towards Mecca. God is looking for Christian generals who are willing to engage and turn the tide. “The harvest is plenteous, but the labourers are few.” We have neglected our God-given power to change the ‘World’ and are satisfied with a few numbers coming to Christ. We console ourselves in scriptures like Luke 15:7 “Joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repents”! We have the power to change the world, but we are abusing this power by limiting it to lesser challenges. Acts 2:8, “But you shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you and you shall be witnesses unto me - - - and unto the uttermost parts of the world.” The power we have is enough to change the thinking patterns of our nations, it is enough to change politics and commerce. This power can deal with the African problem of poverty. Unfortunately for most of us in the charismatic world, we have been intrigued by the power of the Holy Ghost and have built entire ministries on the various manifestations of the Spirit rather than to change world structures which are contrary to God’s Word. We are totally side tracked by people falling under the power, spiritual laughter and other signs of God’s presence, after being blown upon. Time has come for us to accept that we have what it takes to change the shape of nations. The power to change the world. In Genesis 1:2, the power of the Holy Spirit is mentioned for the first time. The circumstances in which the Spirit of God is mentioned are in a shapeless, dark, void and formless world.The transformation of this apparent chaotic, lifeless scenario is attributed to the moving of the Holy Spirit upon the face of the waters: “and the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit descended upon the 120 disciples and the commission was to change the “world”. Any use of the Holy Ghost apart from this mission is abuse of power. The church must engage in all fields, so that change can be effected to the whole world; the ‘world of sports’, the ‘world of media’, the ‘world of politics’, the ‘world of economics’. This is our mission. This is the high calling of God. To change the way Africa thinks. Africa shall be saved. I pray that these thoughts can help us open up debate on this important subject. • Back |
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