UMAR FAROUK ABDUL MUTALLAB AND I: THE MUSINGS OF A YOUNG HEART

When Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab stepped on board flight 253 bound for Detroit without a return ticket, He not only placed Nigeria in the news he also allowed us a glimpse into the heart of a 23yr old.
This morning I started to ponder at the thoughts, questions and then the answers that must have plagued the minds of this young man who all over the world has become different things to different people.

What really did Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab do? He attempted to blow up himself and 250 other passengers in the USA on Christmas day 2009.
In as much as I may not fully understand the circumstances that led to his choice I can comprehend his thoughts because in the course of time we had all asked familiar questions though our answers were different and thus our action.
As a young man, young Mutallab must have as a devout believer in God asked these questions:
Who is God?
What is His Nature?
What am I to Him?
What does He expect of me?
Oh God, why there so much evil/injustice all around me and in me?
What can I do about it?
Oh God, what is my purpose on planet earth?
Oh God, I feel eternity in my heart but I see death all around, what is my response?

You and I may not be 23yrs old but we had at various times in our lives asked the very same questions, consciously or unconsciously we live every day the summation of our answers.

So Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab on that fateful day boarded the plane with these convictions I believe:
He will attain a joyous eternity
He will advance the course of God
He had to do what he had to do
He had to fight the evil
God expects him to fight
God has enemies.

Looking at these, you and I must attempt to consider the possibility that we could be the one with the explosives that fateful Christmas day given different circumstances.
So I dare to say that my friend Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab is not an evil person per say, He just happened to be a victim of his convictions; Just as you are to yours, whether good or bad, conscious or unconscious.

Ask me, in the maze of young Mutallab’s thoughts and yours, of the sex worker in the streets of Abuja, the corrupt Political Godfathers of Nigeria, her billon dollar Governors, the mind of an assassin, the homosexual priest, the religious demagogues, the monk in the monastery, the everyday people you meet at work, the young girl that is wondering whether it is right to keep her virginity or lose it, abortion doctor, the Wacko Jacksons, drug battered celebrities, breast and stomach infatuated female stars, the physically sexually or emotionally abused individuals, the agnostic, the atheist , your neighborhood imam and pastor. What makes sense? Where is meaning? What is the right thing to do?

Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab looked at all these and concluded that for him it was to climb a plane and go to heaven and send the other 250 to hell on a day half the world marked in remembrance of the birth of the Lord Jesus to earth, in a country that has its motto as “in God we trust”. Young Mutallab looked at these and concluded that he was on the right path and the world today is thanking God that we have the privilege to tell him that he was wrong.
But not the whole world, not the whole world thinks he was wrong, and certainly not the whole world thinks that there is anything wrong with the corrupt office holder, the homosexual priest, the wacko Jackson, our starry eyed celebrities, power crazed presidents and on and on, certainly not the whole world.

So in the midst of this relativism of meaning, you and I must discover for ourselves what is Truth?

And I will summarize it thus:
1. There is a God who is Holy and He is a judge.
2. Man (you and I) are sinful; we are not just unethical, we are by nature lost in sin, the inclination of the human heart is sinful (that explains everything young Mutallab saw)
3. God is still judge but He is also LOVE.
4. God’s Love is not conditional or He wouldn’t! And He loves all of us not only my dear Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab.
5. You and I need salvation ( a deliverance from this sinfulness)
6. God has made a provision ( the proof of His Love),
7. His solution cannot be attained by actions (our good intentions (like young Mutallab’s) could be selfish and He is too holy for our “righteous” acts and rites.
8. His provision is that He has forgiven our sin (the past and future) and He demands we believe in Him (our Savior)
9. He then commands that we worship Him
10. He is not angry or burning in rage at man, He is just bidding His time for judgment day.

What I believe Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab missed (which is easy to miss) is that one cannot worship God without accepting His salvation, and when we accept His salvation we find the meaning of true Love, it is true love that makes me look at young Mutallab and say “Though your aim was to cause disarray on the 25th of Christmas, I still love you brother.” It was for you that Jesus died.

Hear the words of a man with a similar background:
“ I can anticipate the response that is coming: "I know that all God's commands are spiritual, but I'm not. Isn't this also your experience? Yes. I'm full of myself--after all, I've spent a long time in sin's prison. What I don't understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. So if I can't be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it, it becomes obvious that God's command is necessary.
But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can't keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don't have what it takes. I can will it, but I can't do it. I decide to do good, but I don't really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway.
My decisions, such as they are, don't result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time. It happens so regularly that it's predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God's commands, but it's pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.
I've tried everything and nothing helps. I'm at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn't that the real question?
The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.
With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ's being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud.
A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death.
God went for the jugular when he sent his own Son. He didn't deal with the problem as something remote and unimportant. In his Son, Jesus, he personally took on the human condition, entered the disordered mess of struggling humanity in order to set it right once and for all. The law code, weakened as it always was by fractured human nature, could never have done that. The law always ended up being used as a Band-Aid on sin instead of a deep healing of it.
And now what the law code asked for but we couldn't deliver is accomplished as we, instead of redoubling our own efforts, simply embrace what the Spirit is doing in us. “

Mr. Paul the Apostle in Letter to the Romans Chapter 7:14-8:2

Okwonna Nnamdi Nelson
nnamdiokwonna@yahoo.com
If you have enjoyed this article and others on this blog pls do share same with friends.

The challenges of present day Nigeria and what We can all do.

I have always been passionate about my country and over the years I have proposed many ways to help her

One of such was in an article I wrote during my secondary school days for the national essay competition on the topic “Corruption the way out” in it I canvassed for a revolution! A bloody one at that, I cited the Ghana example and took it all the way back to the French revolution! (just finished reading “A Tale of Two Cities”. So hot was my desire to see a change that I didn’t mind if they thought my article distasteful. That was in year 1999 or 2000, surprisingly the essay won a significant position.

Now what can we do:

1. Pray: we often downplay the power of prayer until we are hit by trouble; Nigeria is in enough trouble already. Pray that Righteousness will reign like a river!

2. Begin to think Solutions in your small corner; we often take ourselves for granted. Say you are a banker, you can offer to teach a class of 10 underprivileged youths around your block the A—Z of banking. You might discover you’re teaching the next president or taming the next fanatic!

3. Let’s start giving out solutions for free. Learn to share insightful ideas with people that it will benefit (this is one thing I intend to do on this blog),

4. Quit complaining, it hasn’t changed a thing.

5. Buy Nigeria as much as possible (imported products is killing the economy).

6. If you are reading this post, you’re quite educated. Capitalize on that, your education has given you the ability to think. Pls create, I will be providing more insights on how to bring your ideas to fruition.

7. Lose your entitlement mentality. If anyone owed you something, forget it! Live like they don’t. Never expect the government, your parents, uncles or connections to make things happen for you. Take responsibility for your Life especially when you are out of the University.

8. Read, Read, and Read: Television has done much harm to Africa, it has made us passive. Our answer believe me is in us all along. THINK SOLUTIONS not Problems (it doesn’t cost anything)

9. Be bold enough to package your solutions, start drafting proposals for institutions and governments (after all it doesn’t cost much to do so). Go buy a printer and type the stuff. Try this if you are unemployed. Look at a local business around you or a school institution or something, detail their problems. Then write a proposal on How to change things and go give the management for free! You’ll be surprised at the outcome, as I said it will not cost you much.

Imagine what would have happened if Joseph taught his ideas would be of no value to Pharaoh (note that Pharaoh didn’t know Joseph’s God) or that David didn’t believe his experience with the bear and Lion had any correlation with Goliath.

When you are taking on big issues like this, pls don’t negotiate pay. There is an underlying principle that the bigger the issue the bigger the consultancy charge but all big issues have miniature similitude.

To be continued…………………..

Okwonna Nelson

THE COMPELLING POWER OF A NEW AFFECTION

Oh Lord what kind of Life do you want me to live?

From whence shall I get the power to live such a Life?

What quality of life do you want me to live?

Answer: Be different from the rest of the World.

Have you asked the questions above, the answer has not changed. In a world of diversities of affection, the Christian must live a life of total affection for God and the statement is true that “one can never truly give God first place until you have given Him everyplace”.

Years ago, the beetles sang a song:

“Yesterday all my troubles seem so far away,

Now they seem they have come to stay.

Oh I believe in yesterday.

Yesterday love was such an easy game to play,

Now I need a place to hide away,

Oh, I believe in yesterday”

In our experience it appears that yesterday the grass always seems greener, the weather gentler, the youths kinder, the music softer, the economy better and the pocket heavier. “Oh I believe in yesterday.”

Contrast that with the lyrics of Don William’s country song;

“Don’t think about tomorrow.

It don’t matter anymore,

We can turn the key and lock the world outside the door

I need you so now

c’mon, let’s go now

Kick off your shoes

Turn off the light

And love me tonight.”

In the lyrics of both songs above, we find the temptation of the spirit of the age (a common denominator in every secular music) and somewhere between her wishful romanticizing of yesterday and the wishful dismissal of tomorrow is the reminder that “This is the day that the day Lord has made”. Jesus is the eternal contemporary, as the scripture said “Jesus is the same today yesterday, today and forever!” in Him we find a God that knows our tomorrow and understands our yesterday’s far more than we can contemplate and yet He says “Because I live, You will live also”.

Jesus brings meaning to every expression and gives strength for today.

We live in tempting times, we live in perilous time, we live in a time when it is a crime to be different, we live in a time when the vogue is “to be in vogue”, we live in times where in our imaginations the good has been made to look boring and uninteresting and evil made to look classy, charming and beautiful. In reality there is a nothing as beautiful as the good and there is nothing as ugly as evil. Good and evil are like the positive and negative points of an electrode, when you transpose them darkness falls.

That is why man is a stranger to himself.

The question again;

Oh Lord what kind of Life do you want me to live?

From whence shall I get the power to live such a Life?

What’s the quality of life you want me to live?

Answer: Be different from the rest of the World.

How can I be different from the rest of the world?

Answer: Do You Love me more than these? Love me.

Is it not amazing that this was the most important requirement Peter had to meet, do you love me?, More than these? The question has not changed.

This is called “the compelling power of a new affection”.

Please think about the world you live in, there is a continuous tension between the ways of the world and the way of a Holy God. In Mathew 5, we hear the march of a different drummer; The Christian counterculture.

In Luke 7 vs. 37-50, we find a sinner woman that met Grace. Jesus concluded with the words “Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.” (Luk 7:47)

……….and he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace. (Luk 7:50).

Dear Friend, it takes compelling love to live and it takes Faith to truly Love, Faith is not for claiming things as we often mistake it. In Hebrews 11 we find a faith that understood (vs. 1) earned a good reputation (vs. 2) offered (vs. 3) pleased God (vs.5) built (vs. 7) obeyed (vs. 8) didn’t despair (vs. 9-10), believed (vs. 11) concluded God ( vs. 19). Blessed ( vs. 20) refused (vs. 24) left a good place (vs. 27) followed God (vs. 30) …….you can complete the list:

From whence shall I get the power? Have Faith and Love Him.

The woman worshipped, at the place of worship we find power over sin, at the place of His fellowship as sons we learn correction, He curbs our pride by calling us to servant hood, teaches us dependence by humbling us and gives us His power to live today by filling us with His Spirit.

We live in tempting times, we live in perilous times. When Jesus saw the scenario he didn’t say “In the world you will have tribulations, let’s pack our bag and go”. Rather he said “in the world you will have tribulations, but be of good cheer I have overcome the world”. He doesn’t say “escape with me” He says “engage with me”. We are called not to fight for victory but to engage from victory because the greater one, the victorious one is in us.

God bless

Okwonna N. Nelson (nnamdiokwonna@yahoo.com)

The King and You

it was a serendipitous morning (I love big words)
it wasn't like you asked for it
just minding your own business
behind the strawberry tree, in the cool shade of the trees
the flower has bloomed and the sweet smell of the nectar
rent the air
the diverging rays of the sun cast a glow around the fair luminous matter that was your skin

and you just sat there.
the setting wasn't bad at all
but not too good either for a lady to be sitting in
not alone and not in so solitary a corner
it was a weather that was made greater by company

so He strode along (the King I mean)
"dear lady" He whispered
"mind if I join you"
you would have preferred the sole company of your thoughts but then for courtesy.
He didn't take much time though
He spoke like He knew you from somewhere;
you never even remembered telling Him your name
the warmth of His presence was just refreshing
so you stayed and spoke with Him
it was a voluminous talk but in little time
no language was spoken

you asked, He explained
You cried, He soothed and cried too
they called from the balcony
you didn't hear
you were there with the King
His words were Life and you took it.
the gentle way He talked and His knowing looks
spoke a ton.
They said we need to know the Why of our Lives
you found the Who

then you heard the chirps of the bird all around
the sun had disappeared, the stone stool was suddenly cold
you looked around; the King was gone!

then the voice from the main house; inpatient this time
they have been looking for you
sad gloom almost filled you at the loss of that presence
until you heard His voice
"I am here" He said

with joy, you turned around
thinking he was right behind the shade
but no one was there
again you heard "I am here"
the voice was as if it sprang from within
and indeed it did, "Now listen"
He said
"I wish to remain here with you"
and He did, never left again

many times the voice has dimmed
a times it was as if He slept off, He didn't
His was a voice that has brought meaning
brought hope and brought Life
A life you've called yours
A voice many heard, few heeded
A voice that makes all the difference
The Difference

it is Christmas
The Kings Day

Happy Christmas then to the Kings daughter
we bow before Him for we can do nought less

He loved us because He can do nought less.

Happy Christmas My Friend

When The Rules Don't Fit The Game

We see it in the quiet desperation of our souls, the lifeless sacrifices by the road side, in our villages, in the cities, men have sacrificed on altars of clay, of gold and of flesh, for ages the heart of man has cried for atonement.

Thousands, millions, if not billions of sacrificed rams, goats, fowls and sometimes humans will bear testimony to this; the plea for forgiveness.
Besides forgiveness, man has looked outside of himself for help, from time immemorial, He has known of a power greater than him; he has seen it in the rise and fall of the sea, the gentle roar of the thunder, the majestic view of the hilltop, the beauty of the lilies, the beauty of the rainbow, the blossom of the flower and in the face of a baby. Man needing no schooling had known that this world wasn’t for ours only.

In Man’s search for a higher power, He has found names for his findings, He has built majestic altars to them, have carved wood, molded clay, cast iron, bronze, silver and gold, He has made sacred items, foods, animals and performed rites.

Man has gone out of his way to find an object of worship, in the stars, the moon, in angels, in demons and in ourselves.

Modern man came along, smoldering with knowledge, freed of the burden of silly superstition, of “faith’s irrationality, stupidity and obvious lack of objectivity “and has created a God of himself.

He has made goddess of vain beauty, of Madonna’s and mascara babes and has worshipped at her altar. Man has worshipped at the altar of music, of drama, sports and automobiles; his very creation.

As if that were not enough he has at will destroyed himself in the name of women rights, aborting potentialities while fighting for forest preservation and animal rights. Man has given much attention to the kangaroo of Australia, the extinct wildlife of years gone by, the marvels of mars and the moon than the unborn babies in the womb, the dying children in Sudan. We care more for our alligator leather shoes and bags than the alligator, and more for alligator survival than for unborn babies, even when we care for the babies we do so in no different manner than a mother chimpanzee will do for her kids if not less.

A noted scholar looked at the situation and concluded that we have educated ourselves to imbecility, we have romanticized ourselves to impotency and excited ourselves to incredulity that should a young lady adore herself with twice the efforts of a mortician, of paints, colors and shades we would clap, gasp and utter “she looks just like herself, doesn’t she?”.
We are a stranger to ourselves and the sad news is that we might never meet.

To a follower of Jesus Christ who is entangled in this maze in which we often find ourselves albeit without intending to, a lingering cry had been:

Oh Lord what kind of Life do you want me to live?
From whence shall I get the power to live such a Life?
What’s the quality of life you want me to live?
The answer: Be different from the rest of the World.

In the sermon of the mount a message someone aptly dubbed “Christian counter culture” we find the ways of a Holy God.

Jesus is not telling His disciples “in the world you will have tribulations, let’s pack our bags and leave” rather He said “in the world you will have tribulations, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world”

We are not fighting for victory, we are fighting from victory.

There is a continuous tension between the World and the ways of a Holy God. We are not of this world.


“From the canyons of the mind,
We wander on and stumble blind,
Way through the often tangled maze
Of starless night and sunless days,
Hoping for some kind of a clue
A road to lead us to the truth,
Who will answer, who will answer?

Is our hope in wars not in shells?
Worn round the neck with temple bells
Or deep within some clustered walls
With hooded figures playing shells
Or high upon some dusty shelves
Or in the stars or in ourselves
Who will answer, who will answer?

If the soul is darkened by a fear it cannot name,
When the mind is baffled
And the rules don’t fit the game
Who will answer, who will answer who will answer

Dr. Ravi in “Can man Live without God.”

“Who” will answer?
It is therefore reassuring my friends that in Jesus, the eternal contemporary, we find the answer.

“IS ANYONE THIRSTY?” HE SAID, “LET HIM COME”………………”I AM THE WAY, I AM THE TRUTH, NO ONE COMES TO THE FATHER EXCEPT BY ME”

REASON ON TRIAL

“Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player,

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,

And then is heard no more. It is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing.”

Shakespeare’s Macbeth.

The greatest challenge of the modern man is not to clone DNA’s or life at Mars, it is not stem-cell research or cancer therapy. It is not to find a cure for HIV, aging or recently the newer breeds of flu. In as much as these are all worthy causes, they ultimately serve to feed man’s curiosity and to prolong his days. Days that in the words of Shakespeare are “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”!

Though many people folks would not agree with Shakespeare on this note but they no doubt would understand that at least he could describe it, for many a suitable description is still lacking. Man’s greatest challenge has been to attain meaning.

The human experience is so complex that entire disciplines (philosophy and psychology) were developed for its study. And it appears we haven’t made significant headway, the departure to psychology and philosophy was after the discourse on theology became boring and devoid of much intrigues and thrills, besides the subject matter didn’t give much room for our unusual fantasies,

Then we found science! Eureka screamed the modern man and kept her as a bedmate for 4 centuries, apparently that romance is going sour and a return to theology is eminent. The exodus has started already, but on a different note now. The Theos for this Modern man is Man Almighty himself.

But before Man “falls” for his latest catch, it is important that we all stop and think (I believe you still can); where/what is meaning?

Socrates describes “nonsense” as the things rocks describe among themselves! Nonsense; no sense, is used to describe things we cannot comprehend and “chance” is one of them. Man is yet to prove that Time (tick, tick, tick,), Matter (kpa, kpa, kpa) and Chance (Socrates’ rocks) gave birth to my mega super coordinated brain, which for the records just managed to fit into a very hard almost rocky box we call skull! Science is yet to prove that the perfect harmony and dynamism seen in the sexual relationship between man and wife is a product of chance (Socrates’ again).

Modern man seeing that the evolution hypothesis has become too hard to prove would “condescend” in a new awakening or illumination to the theism he once abandoned, this time his theism.

Before modern man embraces his Modern bride, it would be wise to ponder at what really is the meaning of Life. Why all these unpleasant pleasantries, distasteful privileges (e.g. abortion). The complexities of life are quite that; complexities. But is there really a comprehensive understandable meaning to it all? I believe there is. (see my previous note on “My take on meaning” and “The premise for meaning”)

Theism is the belief in God or gods, Karl Marx called it (religion) the opium of the people and I must say that to an extent he was right, what he didn’t answer was whether the opium was right or wrong and which brand of opium he would generally prefer for he offered “the people” one!; Communism, many years later his opium has been found particularly distasteful to many.

Talking of opium, there are many shades to it;

One that gives you Godly laws to make you righteous and on the basis of your obedience declares you righteous. On the other hand it condemns you when you fail. In some cases you never know if you failed or not till we get there.

The other tells you that we are all unrighteous and that you only have to accept that God has forgiven via His only Son, and on that basis declares you righteous. After that you have certain responsibilities.

Another tells you that you are more of a God yourself, and yes your forefathers are gods also, you just do the good and interact with them.

Modern man looks at all this option and decides to be free (makes a lot of sense) and make his own opium depending on how he feels about it when he feels about it and anyhow he feels about it. Or at best takes a little of one (or a mix) to fit in, after all he is a social being.

The other tells you that it is all about you, that God is dead (i.e. if He ever was alive), it all depends on the way you feel about it.

This is the dilemma of the modern man, but then we still hold certain to be observable truth;

1. There is a unity in the diversity of creation (Uni-versity; that is why some of us went there) and it suggest a purpose and demands for meaning.

2. The premise for that meaning can be found in an intelligent creator (without whom there will no moral law, no basis for the observable “good” and “evil”, and hence no meaning) and the heart of every man has known His law. (I dare say that you know it).

3. Moral law from a Moral Law giver suggests punishment on offenders

4. Man is a chronic offender ( He is quite aware)

5. Man is a victim of the Law

6. Man for centuries has wondered if there is a Rescue.

Is there? (Don’t bother about the law, it can’t rescue man. It condemned him in the first place. Also man has never heeded it and God knows better, grace maybe; Presidential pardon!)

7. God has taken the initiative; Man for centuries has heard that he has been forgiven! Even for the sins he is yet to commit. No man deserves punishment for an acquitted offence except if he is unaware of it (or if he rejects the acquittal, for he can)

But in His confused state, modern man has looked at God and has blurted an answer

If you really exist, then you don’t care enough, in fact, I wonder if you are good at all. See the tsunamis for heaven’s sake.

I don’t care if you care or exist. I got to live this life (most unscientific/unreasonable answer)

I know you exist and care, but there is so much confusion down here. I can’t help myself.

I do love you God; see how hard I am trying to obey your law. I work so hard, I hope you can see how clean I look! Which acquittal?

I know you care and love me, please help me to be clean. I accept your acquittal.

To these, God answers;

|I care, trust me if you don’t, we will see.| (l’ll explain more in “The face of human Tragedy/suffering”)

|I care and I know you care that I care. I’m still waiting, for a while though|

|I know you can’t help myself, I have helped you already|

|I care dear, and I see your efforts, your dirty hands can never make you clean enough for me, I have forgiven and I am not angry no more, just believe me. See I have paid the price, I am the judge remember, and I have given my verdict; Not guilty!|

|I have paid the price for the sin of the whole world, just believe in me. I have helped you already and I am with you to the end of days|

My Stand

God made man for himself. He desired increase, God is Love and Love allows for choice. Man (Adam) chose bad and we all fell for it. The law was given to make that certain. You would think God was mad but His Grace has said; |I have judged you and found you Not Guilty! For another has paid the price!| . It is only in Jesus that we find this answer, and believe me His person gives meaning to all that you can see.(that is why Truth is so exclusive)

Like many a men before, I have bowed my knees to Him, accepted the pardon and like Harriet Tubman has found “the sun shine like gold through the trees”

Okwonna Nelson