THE FIGURINE

                                                        

It took another four years. The last time I watched a Nigerian movie which made a lot of sense was in 2008 and that was “Jennifer”. After an interminable wait, I eventually watched “The Figurine”. The movie was worth every second of the wait, it was of the first water, a master piece.

How I usually know that a movie has gotten to me is when it hangs like a sweet mist over the evergreen consciousness of my mind and refuses to dissipate with the winds of time. This flick was that and much more, about top-notch in every department. The blend of Yoruba and English is smooth on the palate of the senses like the taste of Kopi luwak coffee on the tongue (I love movies where traditional languages are mixed with English, they are usually a delightful cocktail).

Paradoxically I found Kunle Afolayan’s languid insouciance refreshing, Omoli Oboli’s uxorial personality was so endearing. I have never been a fan of Ramsey Noah but after seeing the ease with which he metamorphosed from a sick nerd to a stone cold gentleman, I can’t stop doffing my heart. But the butter icing on the cake for me was Funlola Aofiyebi-Raimi; she was like pounded fresh green pepper that makes a meal of fresh palm oil and roasted yam absolutely delicious. Her diction soothes the ossicles like a cool shower on a hot humid day. Needless to say, I fell in love.

The drama was a moving gallery exhibiting African art; I particularly liked the tie and dye “buba and sokoto” that Mr. Afolayan wore when he and Ramsey went into the jungles of Araromire to return the figurine to its resting place. The subtitling was also done pretty well, a resounding message to Nollywood Yoruba movie producers who cannot subtitle their productions to save their lives. I wonder how they are able to thrive in the international market since no one will be able to follow their story lines intelligently. We need to take a cue from other countries like South Korea where an epic/classic like “Jumong” has flawless subtitling.  You don’t have to understand the language to understand its unfolding plot.
 
The only blip on the scintillating screen of their performance was the club Ramsey and Funlola had their night out. The place was too juvenile and common for such a classy duo.

The figurine could also be likened to a flowing brook filled with precious stones and the nuggets below were some of the gems I panned out of it.

The god araromire was made out of the bark of a cursed tree and it ultimately brings pain to its worshippers after an initial seven years of prosperity.  The earth is cursed and irrespective of how much happiness we get from its endowments, the elation wears off after a while. Sometimes they even bring unhappiness. The euphoria of getting the latest car, phone or the best house in the neighborhood diminishes with time and by seven years might even cause embarrassment compared to the ones that are up to date then. That is why people who manipulate and kill others for earthly gains are so FOOLISH because they will eventually get their comeuppance.

From the onset it was so clear that Omoni Oboli was making the mistake of her life by marrying Kunle Afolayan. They were not compatible; he was too unserious for her. Till tomorrow, I still wonder why everybody but the lady who makes the mistake of marrying the wrong dude can see that she is walking into a dark pit occupied by a black mamba. She lost her life for that mistake. How many ladies keep losing their limbs, lives, destiny for this error? It is quite disheartening!
 
The flippancy with which ladies get into relationships with guys they don’t know diddly squat about the way Funlola Raimi threw herself at Ramsey Noah is mindboggling. This rush in the name of an increasing age number is as foolish as a prospector leaving everything he has acquired in a life time for an imaginary gold rush and ending up with nothing but sand trickling through his fingers. For some it’s like committing suicide at twilight after waiting for so many years with your knight in shining armour galloping in to see you dead at dawn. It is not worth it. Ask Funlola Raimi, she almost paid with her life for the desperation of having a marriage ring on her finger.

What was wrong with my brother Ramsey Noah, why could he not just go for the ring of the Saturn of his heart? He watched the light of the castle of his affection dim without trying to ignite her fire. His love rode into the sunset with another man until all he had in his embrace was the cold feeling of regret. For crying out loud, what makes some homies not go after the ladies they love? Ramsey’s inaction was what led to all the trouble in the first place. This is not just all about love though, in every area of life, please folks, let’s seize the day! CARPE DIEM!

One other thing that struck me was how the Afolayans ran from pillar to post in search of a solution to the problems plagueing them but could not zero in to the panacea of liberation. That’s is so typical of life where dehydrated people settle for dwindling streams of brackish water instead of slaking their thirst with the crystal clear Spring of living waters.

But most importantly, what kind of god will make its people flourish for seven years of plenty, then destroy them. That is how the gods of this world are; they give with one hand and collect with another. They are evil and mean, ugly and wicked. They demand for human sacrifices, feed on blood and revel in destruction. Thankfully our God is not like that. He drips with love, his affection for us is overwhelming, all His gifts are good and perfect. An ancient Hebrew king said the Lord is good and he doeth good. His mercies endure forever. His thoughts towards us are precious, we can never number them, and beside them the numbers of the sands on the seashore seem countable. While others seek for the sacrifice of their followers, He readily sacrificed Himself. Behold what manner of love this King has for us. It is totally amazing. What great devotion from He who is so uncontainable that He can never be captured by a figurine.

THE BLESSING OF THE LORD IT MAKETH RICH AND ADDETH NO SORROWS TO IT!!!

THE PARODY OF OCCUPYING NIGERIA

                                                                        

I got much needed rest. It was a much needed one considering I live and work right in the heart of the maelstrom called Lagos. The one week that was used to occupy Nigeria afforded me that opportunity. I also used that week to navigate the crystal clear waters of African literature. The long draught I took from the spring of Buchi Emecheta’s “Double Yoke” was quite refreshing. It highlighted the fact that some of the things that have tormented Nigeria are still so much around after 30yrs and more.

The fact that Nigerians came out en masse to protest against our mediocre government for a full week and were spoiling to continue thereafter is one of the rare times I have ever felt so cool about Naija. This was to the chagrin of our so called leaders who felt that we are too complacent to fight for justice. To me it was a rally against fifty years of being fed with rubbish and considering the protest came like six weeks after my post THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS, I felt as pleased as a cat stuffed with prime cream.

But as the weeks rolled by, the whole thing kept rolling through my mind like cud being ruminated in the guts of a Hereford bull.  I went down deep into my mind like a scuba diver searching for pearls and the nugget I came away with is that the whole occupancy was an ELABORATE CHARADE, WAY before Nigerian Labour Congress sold out.

Truth is we were railing against leaders who are corrupt and selfish but these people are not Martians; they are a cross section of our society. They were picked from within us. They are part of us. Thing is if a something goes wrong with a cake, leaving some parts of it edible, all will concur that something that the cake has gone bad. If part of the human body is ill, then the whole body is sick. You don’t point just point a guilty finger to the liver or the kidney as the malfunctioning parts. A doctor tried to save the whole body. Something went terribly wrong with Nigeria a long time ago.

A few months back I went with the marketing team of my organization to sell a product to a tertiary institution and we met the student union, young students in their late teens and early twenties who called us after the presentation to ask for millions of naira in bribe before they can give us the contract. I later learnt that the same scenario occurred with the other companies prospecting with us. They were looking for the highest bidder and were not even interested in who would offer the best health services to their colleagues.

We live in a country where people take money and don’t give the services they were paid for, commercial drivers knowing well enough that their vehicles aren’t good take fares from passengers then drop them in the middle of nowhere, the huge branded transport companies do the same, administrative officers inflate prices of diesel, fuel and other things until they cripple an establishment, drug peddlers supply fake drugs in the bid of making quick bucks, politicians shed innocent blood to win elections (this one really gets me, these mean guys decry a fuel hike of a few hundreds but will be comfortable spilling invaluable blood, it’s a crazy joke). I heard about a local government Chairman who instead of filling the local dispensaries with drugs got his own home and filled it with a fleet of cars within six months. Of course he made some of his godfathers richer in the process. This country is filled with jokers worse than the one in Gotham city but sadly enough Batman is hardly in sight yet. Most of these people played an active part in the occupy Nigeria riots. It does not take a genius to know that these folks will do the same thing if they were in the position of the people they are fighting. It occurred to me that what most of these people fight is being on the receiving end of the system and not the system.

It has happened over and over again in human history; the Bolsheviks fought against and toppled the ruling class in Russia but caused the people more pain than they suffered in the time of the Czars. Uncle Mugabe did the same in Zimbabwe. Thing is you cannot fight fire with fire; a different entity with dissimilar characteristics is needed. You cannot be corrupt and fight a corrupt system. You fight fire with water, hate with love, and ignorance with knowledge etcetera.

For Jesus to beat the world’s system, He had to be at odds with the system and that is why He kept saying he was not a part of this world. He said the Prince of this world could not find anything in him. He was at variance with the logical order he came to destroy. The Galilean also told his disciples that they were in the world but not a part of it. That the government of that age could not stop their movement is not in any way surprising.

We need a different kind of men to change things, if not we can occupy Nigeria until hell freezes into an ice cold mountain range. All we will achieve will be going round in circles like a game of ring around the roses until we all get blue in the face and fall down in exhaustion.

It is written that “the log must be pulled out of our eyes before we can objectively see the speck in another’s”. This is the only way that occupying Nigeria would work and we might never even have to take to the streets ever again. Since the chosen will always be one of us, let the change begin with you and me. Let the revolution start within us. LET US START BY OCCUPYING OURSELVES.

DON’T CONFORM TO THE WORLD’S WAY OF DOING THINGS, BUT BE TRANSFORMED BY THE RENEWING OF YOUR MINDS, THAT YOU MIGHT KNOW THE GOOD, PERFECT AND ACCEPTABLE WILL OF GOD.

..........which TLC?

                                                                      

For some reason it has been difficult to let go of a lot of things I grew up loving, Entertainment Wrestling is one of them. Some of my friends have laughed it off as infantile indulgence but I have still stayed stuck to it like a Rastafarian to hashish. My wife has told me that the passion I have for it equates me with the wild mobs of ancient at Rome going wild with excitement while watching souls destroy themselves in the Coliseum. I actually thought hard about that one but still can’t help it. I think you have to be part of the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) universe to understand the thrills that come with the membership but that will be the post of another day.

WWE has structured their events in such a way that their fans always have a major pay-per-view event to look forward to every month. That is part of what keeps the promotion alive.

The one held last December was TLC. In this show, wrestlers that have a lot of bad blood between them go extreme using Tables, Ladders and Chairs to destroy their opponents which explain the acronym. It is usually such carnage but what got me thinking was that it was held during Xmas a festive season of joy and so much love. Quite incongruous I must say. It is certainly a wrong mix.

But the truth is that it is a reflection of our world. We live in a world created by Love (God is love) yet there is so much cruelty, hatred, wars, genocide, bloodletting, goring, smashing, bickering, quarrellings, savagery, abuse, malice, insults. We go at each other like fighting cocks, constantly display enough animosity to make a mongoose and a cobra seem like sparring chums. It is absolutely astonishing and heartrending. From the home to the classrooms, work places, markets, roads, churches, this scenario constantly plays out. It is really sad.

At the slightest provocation we bring out our fists faster than a Texan outlaw draws his .45 Colt. Venomous words pour from mouths like corrosive spittle from a serpent. Hurricane Katrina seems like a gentle breeze compared to the destruction left in the wake of some couples altercation while their children watch. Class rooms are riddled with bullets. We use our utterances like chairs to batter one another’s self esteem, throw down other people from the sky reaching ladders of enmity, and smash their hearts through the tables of violence, injuring spirit, soul and body in the process. We observe nonchalantly as relationships bleed away into nothingness and the shock is never felt until it is too late to salvage anything. Humanity is a mixed ball of yarn filled with the wounded and the hurting.

Ironically the panacea to the above is also TLC; the acronym in this sense stands for (TENDER, LOVING CARE). Tender touch, loving word and a caring nature.

I read about studies that have shown that couples who kiss each other live longer (pucker up and live long according to Zig Ziglar), children who grow up being touched fare better in life than those who do not. The scriptures are filled with examples of where Jesus healed people by touching them. In a particular instance a leper who went about with a bell telling people to give him a wide berth met Jesus and asked for healing and instead of Jesus covering his nostrils and speaking a healing word from a distance, He touched the leper. It was a tender touch of acceptance, a touch that said you belong, and a contact that removed the gulf that made him a pariah. The guy was made whole not just physically but emotionally. There was a woman with an issue of blood who by Jewish law was required to be sequestered in isolation because of her infirmity. The lady touched Jesus and got absolutely healed. The touch she gave was not an ordinary touch because a crowd was milling about Jesus. It was a pure and special touch that made the Master know that someone had touched him differently. This lady’s life was hemorrhaging away, relationships, finances, health; name it but she got her healing through a touch. Which issues are you having today? They might just be healed by a tender touch, an embrace of love. These stories show that a touch is healing for both the “toucher” and the “touchee”.

Healing words are quite essential as well. All through the history of man, we hear God whispering sweet something into ears and hearts. He affirms that he loves us with an everlasting love; we are the apple of his eyes. He tells us that even if the mountains were removed, his loving-kindness for us will remain; He said He proudly carries a tattoo on his hand which bears our names and so much more. Little wonder that His words are healing since they contain so much love. Good words are like water that makes people bloom like exotic flora.

Thirdly, a caring nature will help to heal the hurts in our world. Instead of being prickly as human hedgehogs, let us care more for one another. We should begin to love our neighbours like ourselves like the Son of David told us to. The man was caring. There was a time when he had a seminar for families numbering more than five thousand and there were limited resources after the programme but he insisted that the crowd was hungry and they should be fed even though his men resisted the idea. Another time his disciples went fishing all night and caught nothing but before they came back in the morning, He had made breakfast and had a fire going for warmth because he knew they would be cold and hungry. Jesus did all these even though he had recently being betrayed by his friends.

The thing about Tables, ladders and chairs is that it maims, cripples and could even lead to death. It shortens careers and life span. They that live by the sword shall die by the sword (check out Ghaddafi). You sow violence, you reap violence.

So which is it for you……..TABLES, LADDERS and CHAIRS or TENDER LOVING CARE?

THE CHOICE IS YOURS! But remember which ever choice you make will determine how you will fare in the ring of life and thereafter. Instead of hacking people down the way a native Indian slashes at entangling brush in the floor of a rainforest.

It would always help us to remember that………………….

……………………………………………. LOVE IS KIND…………………………………..

EROS' ERRORS!

                                                                        

I absolutely love romance! Oh, the sheer magic of it! I wonder about my love for it sometimes since it’s gotten me a lot of flak from the wife recently for allowing the madness of Lagos to dry up my creative juices. But there is no denying that it is so beautiful and heartwarming. Anytime I remember Sabrina being serenaded by the musical group hired by Jason before he proposed in “jumping the broom” a sweet incandescent fire lights up within my heart and gently spreads through every fiber of my being. I can watch that scene a gazillion times. What about great romantic stories woven around it like that of Cupid and Psyche, totally engrossing! I guess if I were an ancient Greek heathen, I would have bred swans in honor of Aphrodite, the mother of Eros (Cupid), the Greek god of romantic love and desire.

All the fallout of amour is attributed to this brother. Rains of kisses, drizzle of chocolates, lines of poetry, forests of roses, the rollercoaster high of it all. This guy sure is something (anyone that controls romance certainly is for me). A sip from his pool will beat any drink that Bacchus brews any day. I like the dude. Of course I sought his friendship and made him my pal.

Unfortunately as I got to know him better, our friendship started going awry. I am not the kind of guy that gets unnecessarily carried away. As I observed his ways, I noticed there was something wrong with his magic. It lacked the kind of potency I sought for. The relationships he created petered out like a rivulet of water in the desert. They had the lasting power of tapestries woven in the loom of an arachnid. I wanted more, I want something that will last forever, something that will make me live happily ever after.

In all honesty, I love his imagination, he waves a wand over a bloke and the Romeo gets the idea to propose to his Juliet in a glassy submarine swimming in the guts of an ocean while guppies and marlin gaze on in bright eyed wonder and sea anemones clap their colourful tentacles in ceaseless amazement. The whole arena is lit by floating water resistant bulbs in the shape of oyster shells and quietly in the background Kenny G in conjunction with Chante Moore masterfully mixes the windy enchantment of the sax with sugared throaty tones producing a cocktail of delightful music. The whole experience is spellbinding. But a few months down the line, the two are deeply immersed in a messy altercation/divorce. Something is certainly wrong here and that is my grouse with Mr. Eros. Love should be forever, endless, eternal.

During Valentine season when Mr. Eros is mostly venerated, there is enough romance in the atmosphere to make Shakespeare speechless but paradoxically, the cauldrons of mother earth froth over with implacable hatred. It’s a befuddling occurrence, a shameful sham. Check out my earlier post VALENTINE BLUES .

Princess D had it all, castles, princes, flowers and horses, but I can almost wager she died of a broken heart. There is sure a missing link, a lost piece in Mr. Eros romantic puzzle.

During my ruminations, I met another fellow, who is not as glamorous but there was something about his own ways that appealed to me. His name is Agape and he is the custodian for charitable love, the God kind of love.  His kind of love is committed and practical. His love is the real deal. It is not fleeting, IT’S ETERNAL!!! This was the kind of love that made Jesus love and die for humanity even with all our depravity.

When push comes to shove, Eros gives way but as unexciting and as unglamorous Agape might seem to be, it is stronger than death. While Eros only lasts when the going is good, Agape goes the whole hog. Eros makes the mistake of being carried away by the zephyr of romance and does not bother to see the face behind the bouquet of flowers not knowing if it is a beast that would smack its chops while feasting on the raw pieces of one’s heart. Agape sees everything, warts and all and still decides to love deliberately, intentionally and unconditionally. Some I know say “ if you love me, love my fart”, that is Agape for you (for God commendeth his love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us). Agape would keep loving until the Beast turns into a lovable prince.

Agape believes the best, when your partner forgets to get a gift on a memorable day, it would make excuses but Eros would fight like a wounded boar until someone is left bleeding or hurting. He would charge like a bull in a china shop until emotions have been destroyed like delicate crystal. Eros can be merciless, Agape is merciful.

Eros is mostly self centered, he would saturate you with champagne, forget-me-nots and earrings made from lapis lazuli for sex or for the security he gets from being around you or for your money or because his esteem gets pumped up when he becomes the cynosure of all eyes as both of you walk into a restaurant (selfish bugger that he is). In contrast Agape is selfless, he would carry a cross; go through any kind of pain for his beloved.

Eros insides are darkened with bile, he would continually wave score cards of how you did not do this and how you did not do that, he never lets go of a grudge but Agape never keeps scores.

I am not saying romantic love is bad but it’s like the spice that adds flavor to a dish. It’s not the main dish and no one can live on spices. We need real meals to survive. Charitable love is the real dish, the main course and it is only through it that relationships can survive. Of course when the spices are added it makes the meal more delectable.

I think it is sheer folly and madness to build the foundation of our relationships solely on Cupid, a blindfolded cherubic baby who flys about shooting arrows at random.

For true love to flourish, we have to allow God flow through our hearts… FOR THE LOVE OF GOD HAS BEEN SHED ABROAD IN OUR HEARTS BY HIS HOLY SPIRIT…….

In a world where everything is crumbling with failing systems, we need the COMMITTED pillars of Agape. Eros will always come short of the mark despite the fact that Cupid has been shooting his arrows since time immemorial. He still can’t hit the bull’s eye of our hearts no matter how much he tries. All his shots are like the occasional high induced by drugs but…..

LOVE (AGAPE) NEVER FAILS…………………

CALL OF DUTY 4

                                                   
Call of Duty 4 is the best game I have ever played and finished. It is an orgy of gunshots, a buffet of weapons, and a shoot-fest. The tidal rush of adrenaline as I sprayed terrorists with hot lead was incredible; the surge of excitement as I finished each stage was indescribable.
 
That is until I got to the stage where I had to follow a veteran called Capt. MacMillan to snipe at a nasty piece of work called Imran Zakhaev. It was pretty hard going on that level. The bad guys were milling all over the place like soldier ants after the smell of meaty stew; getting through them was a nightmare. With every little mistake I made, a pack of jugular loving ferocious canines were onto me in a flash. Even when I didn’t have the hot breath of these dangerous beasts on my neck, getting out of the radioactive zone was like finding a way out of the labyrinth of Crete.  I had to start the stage over and over again until it wasn’t real fun anymore. In short, it became frustrating. Amazingly this was on easy mode.

I was playing the game on two different systems. After failing twice on the other system which was on a more difficult mode, the game became a breeze, easy peasy. Guess what made all the difference. I stuck to Capt MacMillan like a red billed ox-pecker to an Impala. I always made sure he was in front leading the way.

William Ernest Henley said in his Invictus that he is the captain of his soul and that is where I erred. Instead of following the Captain, I gamboled off like an errant lamb and paid for it dearly over and over again because anytime I went off on my own my mission was compromised.
 
Mr. Henley was wrong and in the game of life this is where we also err.  We have never gone through life, so at best we would be recruits as raw as sashimi and not decorated officers. But there is Someone who is timeless. He has been there, done that and knows the ropes of every inch of life. God incessantly pleads that we should follow but we are naturally resistant to the instructions He has laid down for us, we would do anything but. This is the reason why life may be an arduous task, a circuitous tour where one keeps going back to the starting point, a monotonous voyage of stagnancy.
 
Truth is with the Captain, I had to show a lot of restraint and that was not fun. The dude was too boring for me. The thrill of the game for me was to empty my clips into the guts of the enemy with furious abandon but this brother was cramping my swaggering style. On the other hand, doing things my way invited an early exit. In some of the places I lost constraint and rushed into battle, the Captain would rather side step and avoid the danger. It was less thrilling but I completed the mission.

In life sometimes we have to let go of the fun to complete our purpose. For example a young lady who wants to get married but keeps distributing her sexuality like a charity doughnut to all and sundry would have to zip up to attain her purpose of getting married. Exercise is more boring than gorging ourselves with all kinds of ambrosial dainties but it’s the way to a healthier lifestyle (purpose is more readily achieved with a body that is not riddled with diseases).
  
For me it was a continuous battle. The THRILL of the game was constantly pitted against its MISSION, the PURPOSE of my existence as an SAS soldier. My survival was intrinsically woven into being guided by the Captain and following his instructions to the letter. It made the mission simpler, less stressful and way faster. I went on the next stage in no time.

Thrill constantly squares against mission and purpose like gladiators in an ancient arena: the charged pleasure for the iniquitous opposed to eternity, the sensuous bangs of illicit sex leading to divorce against the framework of marriage, the rapacious love for money resists the long term benefits of integrity, the stimulating blasts of drugs stand in the way of a meaningful future, the explosive high of profligate spending  matched against financial liberty, languid indolence faces off with intellectual progress. If the thrill always gets the upper hand, then we open ourselves up to shrapnel and feral beasts that tear up destiny like it were a parchment from the tomb of an Egyptian monarch. God help us all.
 
Any time we follow, we go onto a higher level of living. A group of fisherman was lost in the hum-drum of their fishing business until Jesus told them to follow him. They did and instead of fish, they were upgraded to fishing for men. From limited country bumpkins, they became limitless cosmopolitan city slickers.

Are you tired of your present level? Do you want to rise to the next level in 2012, you had better follow the instructions of the Captain of our souls like I as a new SAS recruit called “Soap” MacTavish followed Captain MacMillan.
 
WILL YOU FOLLOW???

HE THAT FOLLOWETH ME SHALL NOT WALK IN DARKNESS, BUT SHALL HAVE THE LIGHT OF LIFE…………

WORD AND WONDERS!

                                                                  

Ranking high on the list of my favourite superheroes is Shazam (Captain Marvel).  Ever since I saw his advertisement in a comic book showing him towering over his boyish alter-ego with a caption that read “the world’s mightiest mortal is a kid at heart”, I have remained absolutely in love.

The story of this hero is that a boy called Billy Bateson someday happened upon an old wizard who gave him the magic word “Shazam”.  Anytime this boy utters it, he is transformed into a mighty being with the super powers of legendary figures whose names form the acronym of the change igniting utterance.   The wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Hercules, the stamina of Atlas, the power of Zeus, the courage of Achilles and the speed of Mercury.

The part of this that hits me like the fist of an enraged incredible Hulk is how one single word alters a lad into someone beyond his wildest dreams. That word for young Billy was an agent of change and amazement. It was inherently imbued with the power to effect astonishing feats by making his cells, muscles, bones, body, mind, soul, will, intellect go through metamorphosis like the conversion of a grubby caterpillar into an exotic butterfly. Likewise in “Masters of the universe”, Prince Adam is an ordinary fellow who turns into He-man, the most powerful being on earth when he holds the power sword aloft and cries “by the power of grayskull, I have the power”.

If you have been following my blog for a while now, you will have gotten acquainted with my reiteration that there is a thin line between fantasy and reality.

Words are usually much more than we think they are. Since they gush from some of us like water from leaky faucets, we make the mistake of thinking they are merely the wheels on which communication is conveyed. But that is where we miss it, WORDS ARE POWERFUL!

Have you ever noticed that spells are cast through the instrumentality of words! Blessings are rained through the same, curses too. No oath is covenanted absent them. The world we live in was formed with words.

The book of Genesis is filled with …..and God said, then God saw………….His words are active and powerful; saturated with living unction, they bring transfiguration and inspire wonder, they are supernatural. Our world was chaotic and disorderly until the Almighty spoke, then out of darkness came light; beauty came of ugliness and order out of chaos. When He wants to deal with a situation, He releases a life changing expression. An ancient Hebrew king recorded that when his people are mired in the quick sand of challenges, His words are the instruments sent to heal and deliver. There is dynamic power in His utterances to bring about a revolution. If God wants to remove a mountain, His words will become bulldozers and dynamite, if He wants a garden of daffodils, His words will become trowels, seed, water, sunshine and weed killers. If He wants to heal a septic patient or a cancerous growth, His words will become a living organism that will gobble up the inimical micro-organisms and malignant cells.  Jesus and his disciples found themselves in a vexing financial conundrum. He told Peter to go catch a fish and that the first one would have enough dough in its mouth to settle their bills. His words caused a chain reaction; not by happenstance a rich merchant while being ferried across the Sea of Galilee was counting his days proceeds when the ship hit a swell which made him lose a coin. The money was accidentally swallowed by a tilapia which got caught on Peter’s line (my own version of the story).

Simon was a shifty dude with the consistency of a reed who could not even stand up to a maid but the Messiah spoke words over him that turned him into Peter a rocky character that would become a bedrock of the early church. We are and become what his words say we are!

Mary even though a virgin conceived when she believed that God’s word can become a baby in her (are you hoping to jump the broom and it seems you are all alone like a marooned sailor on a hostile island, the word can become your mate).

Is your body continually ripped with the cat-o-nine tails of sickness and limitations? Does the tremor of challenges rattle the foundations of your marriage? Has the blight of lack tarnished the verdant growth of the fields of your finances? Have the orchards of your life stopped bearing fruits? Does your career swing like a yo-yo in the hands of a manic clown? Do you need the supplements of wisdom, strength, stamina, power, courage and speed that make one extraordinary? All you need my friends is the transforming power of your Creator’s words. YOU NEED A REVELATION! WHAT HAS HE SAID ABOUT YOU? WHAT DO YOU HEAR? For it is as you imbibe and speak those words that you will find yourself and your circumstances transmuting from an infantile state into a marvelous one like the word shazam turned an unassuming kid into Captain Marvel. All the growth and fruitfulness you need is in one word planted into the heart of your spirit.

Experiencing the miraculous in 2012 is dependent on your life being illuminated by the light of God’s word, quickened by the power of revelation. Whatever he tells you will come to pass because He watches over his words to bring them to pass. One of the popular catch phrases of Stone Cold Steve Austin in his hey days was a very emphatic “that’s the bottom line because Stone Cold said so”. If a human can be so cocksure of his statements, how much more the Master of the universe, He would rather self destruct than see any word He speaks to you fall to the ground.

This is what would make 2012 a year of WORD AND WONDERS!!!

 …… AND SO MIGHTILY GREW THE WORD AND PREVAILED!!!

2012

                                                       

                                              

There was something about the apocalyptic theme of 2012 (the movie) that could make one break out in goose bumps as huge as the Andes’.

The hair raising tsunamis, the heart racing earthquakes, the spine chilling disasters that marked the end of the world were almost too much for one’s imagination to conceive.  They were petrifying!

The globe has been inundated with different tales about the world stopping in its tracks in 2012. I read somewhere that following the movie people bought coupons on the internet in the bid to escape destruction when calamity strikes (isn’t it quite preposterous and hilarious that people would buy tickets to avoid death and destruction instead of repenting from nefarious activities).

For me the flick’s conclusion was quite intriguing in the sense that we were not told what happened to the survivors. Did they ultimately meet the end in the depths of a watery tomb like their unfortunate counterparts or did they survive the odds. But I think that was left for our imagination to decide by the producers.

The movie brought to my mind a similar story that happened in the genesis of creation. It was about a man called Noah, his family and the animals in his ark. The world as at then was wiped out by rain leaving this man and his family in a waterlogged earth. Everything had gone south; the world had drowned in the furious tears of heaven mingled with that of terror crazed earthlings. The planet was dead and silent. The only sound heard was that of rippling waves as the vessel was tossed to and fro in the mischievous grip of nature’s wrath .

Something then happened that changed the whole scenario, the scriptures recorded that God remembered Noah and his family. He sent a wind that dried up the world for them and gave the man a rainbow of promise.

You see it doesn’t matter how your previous years might have been nor the kind of sustained pressure the last years might have poured down on you.

Have the rains of life tried to pound you into submission? DON’T WORRY!  I believe strongly that the old is gone and the new has come. You are not forgotten or forsaken. Irrespective of the predictions by the bookmakers, this is your year of positive change.

The last years might have been so cold that you have gone into a frostbitten hibernation.

Have you stopped feeling? Has life has become a stuporous feast? But the truth is the winter season prepares a seed for spring.

I believe God will remember you this year! It all depends on whether you can see the RAINBOW of His promises, the bright colours of a better tomorrow. The rainbow tells us that the things that plagued us yesterday cannot overcome us tomorrow. It impresses on our hearts that the possibilities of tomorrow are better than that of the past. Can you see His assured token of a better future?  

In the midst of all that bleak landscape of never-ending water, Noah sent forth a dove which brought back an olive branch to him. Release your faith and it will come back to you with something that will tell you your life will be green again; your colours will reign once more. Your destiny will be sweet again. Things for you will become better than normal. Out of the oceans of pain will bloom trees of fruitfulness. Your heavens will once more be filled with the joyous cackle of singing birds. All you need to do is to allow the winds of God’s good fortune to blow away the memories of the excruciating agony of days gone by, the flood of pain induced tears. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy!

This is not a year of death but glorious life. You will not drown; you will not be submerged by evil but by blessings. But you will need to sign unto Noah’s friendship terms with the One who controls the seas and the elements.

Welcome to 2012, THE DAWN OF NEW THINGS, THE SPRING OF HOPE!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

REMEMBER NOT THE FORMER THINGS, BEHOLD I WILL DO A NEW THING……..CAN YOU NOT SEE IT……………..????