The East To Read Version (Part 1) The Gathering Storm And Avoidable Shipwreck: How To Avoid Catastrophic Euroclydon. BEING TEXT OF SPEECH BY PASTOR ‘TUNDE BAKARE AT THE STATE OF THE NATION BROADCAST ON SUNDAY THE 4TH OF JANUARY, 2015. VENUE: THE LATTER RAIN ASSEMBLY, END-TIME CHURCH, 4, AKILO ROAD, OFF OBA AKRAN AVENUE, OGBA, IKEJA, LAGOS. THEME: THE GATHERING STORM & AVOIDABLE SHIPWRECK: HOW TO AVOID CATASTROPHIC EUROCLYDON CENTRAL TEXT: ACTS 27:1-25 (NKJV) ACTS 27:1-25 (NKJV): 1. And when it was decided that we should sail to Italy, they delivered Paul and some other prisoners to one named Julius, a centurion of the Augustan Regiment. 2. So, entering a ship of Adramyttium, we put to sea, meaning to sail along the coasts of Asia. Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, was with us. 3. And the next day we landed at Sidon. And Julius treated Paul kindly and gave him liberty to go to his friends and receive care. 4. When we had put to sea from there, we sailed under the shelter of Cyprus, because the winds were contrary. 5. And when we had sailed over the sea which is off Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra, a city of Lycia. 6. There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship sailing to Italy, and he put us on board. 7. When we had sailed slowly many days, and arrived with difficulty off Cnidus, the wind not permitting us to proceed, we sailed under the shelter of Crete off Salmone. 8. Passing it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near the city of Lasea. 9. Now when much time had been spent, and sailing was now dangerous because the Fast was already over, Paul advised them, 10. Saying, “Men, I perceive that this voyage will end with disaster and much loss, not only of the cargo and ship, but also our lives.” 11. Nevertheless the centurion was more persuaded by the helmsman and the owner of the ship than by the things spoken by Paul. 12. And because the harbor was not suitable to winter in, the majority advised to set sail from there also, if by any means they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete opening toward the southwest and northwest, and winter there.13. When the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their desire, putting out to sea, they sailed close by Crete. 14. But not long after, a tempestuous head wind arose, called Euroclydon. 15. So when the ship was caught, and could not head into the wind, we let her drive. 16. And running under the shelter of an island called Clauda, we secured the skiff with difficulty. 17. When they had taken it on board, they used cables to undergird the ship; and fearing lest they should run aground on the Syrtis Sands, they struck sail and so were driven. 18. And because we were exceedingly tempest-tossed, the next day they lightened the ship. 19. On the third day we threw the ship’s tackle overboard with our own hands. 20. Now when neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest beat on us, all hope that we would be saved was finally given up. 21. But after long abstinence from food, then Paul stood in the midst of them and said, “Men, you should have listened to me, and not have sailed from Crete and incurred this disaster and loss. 22. And now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. 23. For there stood by me this night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve, 24. Saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must be brought before Caesar; and indeed God has granted you all those who sail with you.’ 25. Therefore take heart, men, for I believe God that it will be just as it was told me. INTRODUCTION: Fellow citizens of our country, gentlemen of the Press, ladies and gentlemen: At this crucial juncture in the history of our nation, I bring to you a word in season which, in time to come, may turn out to have been a final warning regarding the imminent storms threatening to hit our nation. At the same time, this is a word of hope; the assurance that despite the looming chaos, Nigeria in the hands of God is going to be the biggest miracle of the century. First, I must reiterate in unequivocal terms that my position in the unfolding political situation of our nation is that of a nation-builder and not a politician, and that my desire is to see a nation that works in my lifetime. On the 16th of November, 2014, as I stood on this platform to share with you “The Nigeria of My Dreams”, I laid it bare to all and sundry why I would rather incline my ears to the melodies within my reins as to the beat of a distant drum. Although the position I stand here today to declare may appear as controversial to many, I do not go about seeking controversies. It is the Lord who has a controversy with the nations, with the inhabitants of the land, and with His people, because their counsel is contrary to His, according to Jeremiah 25:31 (NKJV): A noise will come to the ends of the earth – For the Lord has a controversy with the nations; He will plead His case with all flesh. He will give those who are wicked to the sword,’ says the LORD. Let me therefore declare upfront my desire for a successful transition exercise irrespective of political party interest. About this time five years ago in 2010, when the nation was engulfed in a constitutional crisis that bordered on the refusal to transmit power to the current president, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, and the hijack of presidential powers by a cabal following the incapacitation of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, as I was inspired by God to take action, I gathered the heroes of democracy with the help of civil society organization leaders at The Sheraton Lagos Hotel, Ikeja, and the Save Nigeria Group (SNG) was born. We marched the streets of Abuja and Lagos until the Doctrine of Necessity paved the way for the restoration of constitutionality. After President Goodluck Jonathan was sworn in, we, at the Save Nigeria Group, had a series of meetings with him in the bid to chart a new course for our nation offering him what we termed “A Contract to Save and Transform Nigeria”, which we consider an irreducible minimum standard of governance below which the Nigerian people should not be subjected. We sought to lend capacity to a man in whom both God and the people had great expectations. We thought that, having come from a part of the country that had borne the brunt of our lopsided political structure, Mr. President would understand, like the Biblical Queen Esther, that “for such a time as this he was brought into the kingdom” to be the facilitator of geopolitical restructuring and national integration. However, when we could not find fruit of genuine commitment to these ideals at that time and when it appeared to us that the president had chosen a path that could lead to the antithesis of what we consider his unique role, we went across the nation talking to leading political contenders in search of the most suitable candidate to whom we could lend our support. On the 31st of July, 2010, we brought together those we called ‘Arrow Heads’ who could constitute a team of transformational leaders for our nation, including the likes of Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, ex-governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, Nuhu Ribadu, Fola Adeola, Jimi Lawal, Hon. Wale Osun, Yinka Odumakin, amongst others. Meetings were held in my home where I made it clear that I would not be seeking political office so that people would not think I convened Save Nigeria Group for that purpose. It was thereafter some of us found General Buhari to be the most suitable of the leading presidential contenders. When, months later, he invited me to be his running mate on the platform of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), I flatly refused until after much persuasion and corroborating counsel. Details of what transpired in that period will be out in my book, Strategic Intervention in Governance: Volume I,which will be presented to the public on the 4th of February this year by God’s grace. I say all of this to make it clear that I do what I do just because I desire a Nigeria that works, not because I seek any political office. However, it is my considered opinion that capable men and women who love God and love the people must offer themselves to serve when the opportunity arises, for, as Plato said, “the price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men”. That is why I am so grateful to God and thankful to General Buhari for offering me the opportunity to break the jinx and forever eliminate from our consciousness the notion that no pastor should have anything to do with politics. The fact that another pastor who has never won an election is running mate to General Buhari in the 2015 elections is a testimony to that. As we approach the general elections few weeks from today with President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) pitted against General Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) the second time around, there have been questions regarding my political leanings. It is clear except to the mischief makers where my loyalties lie but this broadcast is not about political endorsements; it is about alerting the nation of the storms ahead. If you must know, my political loyalty lies with General Buhari and I cannot claim not to know the issues surrounding the APC Primary and the processes that led to the selection of his current running mate. Nevertheless, this broadcast is about the counsel of the Most High who rules in the affairs of men and gives rulership to whoever He wills. THE WINDS AND THE MAKING AND UNMAKING OF NATIONS: First, I would love to remind you that the Most High cannot be crowded out of history because history is His story. Kingdoms have emerged or disappeared, nations have risen or fallen, great leaders have mounted and exited the stage, but none of these have occurred without the direction or permission of God Almighty. Not only has He authored history, He has also ordered the times and seasons for the unveiling of the content of its pages, having predetermined the appointed time for each nation. As though opening the pages of a book with His hands to reveal its content, God orders and unveils the story of the nations with the stirring of the winds. In the Bible, we see the destiny of nations unfold in response to this stirring of the winds upon the earth and the sea. Whenever these winds blow, changes occur in the governance of nations, for good or for evil. In the Book of Daniel we see the Four Winds of Heaven stirring up the Great Sea which represents the people, multitudes, nations and tongues (Daniel 7:1-8). In response to this stirring, four beasts came out of the Great Sea. These four beasts were four kings and their kingdoms known today as the Babylonian Kingdom, the Medo-Persian Kingdom, the Greek Empire, and the Roman Empire. The Four Winds of Heaven are the attributes of God: Mercy, Truth, Righteousness and Peace. Psalm 85:10-13 (NKJV): 10. Mercy and truth have met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed. 11. Truth shall spring out of the earth, And righteousness shall look down from heaven. 12. Yes, the Lord will give what is good; And our land will yield its increase. 13. Righteousness will go before Him, And shall make His footsteps our pathway. Ironically, when these forces impact upon the earth, they expose the beasts in the rulers of nations. These beastly rulers leave behind them a trail of devastation and dryness after which the Four Winds of the Heavens are again prophetically stirred to expel these beastly forces and bring restoration to the Valley of Dry Bones and its content (Ezekiel 37: 1-14). In the parallel Book of Revelations, the Four Winds of the Earth are revealed as forces affecting the nations. These forces result in the troubling or change of governmental orders. The Four Winds of the Earth are politics, economy, military and religion. These forces could be channeled to either the making or ruining of nations depending on the dispositions of the leaders and the people. For instance, national ruin was the result in many African states with the emergence of tyrants after independence – the likes of Idi Amin Dada of Uganda, Mobutu Sese Seko of Democratic Republic of Congo, Jean Bédel Bokassa of Central African Republic, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea, General Sani Abacha of Nigeria, and many other ambitious men whose dreams, drives and delusions unleashed a devastating storm into the political space of their respective nations. This political storm resulted, or has resulted, as the case may be, in economic ruin as these men enriched themselves at the expense of their respective nations. At some point in Uganda, for instance, currency was printed just to satisfy the whims and caprices of Idi Amin without recourse to any principle of monetary policy management. Mobutu, on his part, amassed so much wealth through corruption that he was reportedly richer than his country and appropriated many of his country’s assets as it plunged into infrastructural collapse. Bokassa, intolerant of opposition politicians whom he allegedly killed and ate or fed to crocodiles, diverted and squandered the little wealth his country had. General Sani Abacha became the most brutal dictator in the history of Nigeria, eliminating perceived opponents by means of a deadly killer squad and stashing away over $3 billion of public monies in foreign accounts. Obiang, who is still the president of Equatorial Guinea, is reportedly worth $600 million. He is said to have taken full control of his country’s national treasury and deposited more than half a billion dollars into accounts controlled by himself and his family claiming that he did this to prevent civil servants from being tempted to engage in corrupt practices. It will be observed that the emergence of these African dictators was as a result of the invasion of the military wind manifesting through coup d’états or civil wars which, in some cases, resulted in counter-coups or extended civil wars. In more recent times, especially since the turn of the century, the wind of religion and the wind of the military have been unleashed upon the continent and upon the nations of the earth like a genie in a bottle, manifesting in the form of terrorist organizations from Boko Haram in Nigeria to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and Al-Shabab in the Horn of Africa; from Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS); and from Hezbollah in Lebanon to Hamas in Palestine. Conversely, the Four Winds of the Earth have also served in ushering nations into seasons of genuine or perceived transformation. For example, the formation of the United States of America was preceded by the stirring of the combined winds of religion, economy, politics and military in Europe as well as in America. Many of the colonies which formed the United States were created by settlers who fled religious persecution in Europe. This quest for religious freedom and the discipline that characterized the puritan migrants became the fuel for the highly profitable agricultural and commercial activities that produced economic prosperity in the colonies. The political wind blew when the colonies declared independence and this declaration was accompanied by the war of independence upon which was laid the foundation of a prosperous nation that has become the most powerful country on earth today. Similarly, the formation of the Islamic kingdoms, the largest of which was the Ottoman Empire that later transformed to modern day Turkey under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, was inspired by this interplay of the four winds of the earth. Other cases in point include the economic miracle of the Asian Tigers including Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, and Singapore as well as the Asian giant, China. It is gladdening to know that the Four Winds of the Earth, no matter how ferocious, are under the God’s control: (Edited Easy to Read Version. End of Part 1.)
Posted on: Mon, 05 Jan 2015 17:07:37 +0000
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