In a world of diverging religious world views (Plurality) and consequently Personification (which says “make sure you keep your views at home”) a diligent seeker still needs to find coherence; what makes sense, the unity in diversity. The truth that unifies all truths and this is what University stands for “Unity” in “Diversity”.
Can all religious world views be right? Are they fundamentally the same? Are they all a quest by man to fulfill His need for a God?
I believe that there is a God, man has found it impossible to escape from Him, (I have made this point in my earlier notes in “An attempt at Meaning” and “Reason on Trial”) but another good question is; which God? I ask that question because two mutually exclusive opinions cannot be correct at the same time.
Two mutually exclusive religious world views cannot be correct at the same time.
None the less, as humans any good world view must provide the answer to
Origin: where am I from?
Condition: Who am I? And why do I do the things I do
Salvation: how can I be helped
Destiny: after here?
In my earlier notes I have written on why I know Jesus is the answer, one of those ways is in “the nature of salvation”.
Does man need Salvation and salvation from what? Of recent there was a very high profile discussion among elite circles on the topic “What does it mean to be Human”. It doesn’t take much imagination to fashion the course that discourse must have taken, the reality is that even people who are not intellectually inclined have agreed that man got a problem, implicit is the sentence that “the bent of man is towards evil”.
And man has from medieval times cried out for atonement. Long before Judaism, Christianity and Islam (the three major religions) man has made countless sacrifices on altars to appease “the gods”, apparently they weren’t.
The question is why? Why do we seek to be forgiven? Or better still is there anyone who does not need forgiveness? The sensation of Guilt and total unworthiness is the major cause of suicide and depression (antidepressants sale compete with that of coca cola), and you and I are witnesses to the length humans have gone to mask that emptiness.
What does God say about the condition of man? In the Torah and the Talmud (the Old Testament and Holy book of Judaism, God calls our condition “sin” and the penalty was death!)
To understand salvation one has to understand the nature of Sin. Sin is not the violation of God’s law per say, it is the violation of God himself (Who is described as being too Holy to behold iniquity). In the words of Max Lucado “God is not holy, He is not even Holy Holy, He is Holy Holy Holy” Holiness is the essence of His Godhood.
And man is sinful. In the same Old Testament we find the source of Sin; disobedience. Adam didn’t just disobey he violated God himself (that is why the punishment is death), but then man is Spirit.
the first man died a spiritual death , it is of then necessity that the restoration of man be Spiritual; a quickening of the dead spirit. It is then pertinent that we understand therefore why the blood of rams cannot take away sin, if so why then did God give the Law?
The Law was given so that man could see his need for salvation and to serve as a code of conduct. But it couldn’t make the person righteous. Well, only an ill patient seeks a doctor. And God said the illness (sin) is a life and death issue.
In Abraham, of whom the three major religions call Father, we see God declaring him righteous because He believed Him, Not because He performed certain rites. This was way before circumcision (a mark of the relationship that was borne out of His obedience). See Gen 15:6.
What we see in our society is a great malady called “Sin in the Heart of Man”. The multiplicity of religion, the despair of man and the resort to wantonness and deadening of conscience is as result of man’s interaction with the law which is written in our hearts. You and I know that our great great grand fathers without reading the Ten Commandments observe it to a very high extent.
Is there salvation?
Answer; God did not leave man alone in this dilemma, it is important to note that only God can initiate Man’s salvation, But God’s Justice must be satisfied also; someone must die for the sin of mankind and sinful man does not qualify.
When people wonder that how could Jesus, the Son of God as we claim in the Christian Faith come and die for Sinful humanity.
My answer is:
Could God (A Holy, Just and Loving God) do less to save His idea (Man)?
The silent question I believe in the heart of many is; what is the nature of God, does He? Could He have a son? What manner of Love is such?
Fortunately you can find that out for yourself; close your eyes in reverence to God and ask Him the very question; you can read the bible for yourself.
The seeker finds out He is sought.
Thanks
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Saturday, June 5, 2010
UNDERSTANDING THE FAITH: SURPRISED BY JOY SERIES 1
Dear significant friend, this piece is for the believer or seeker who intends to understand the Faith. It is really important that we truly have a good grasp of the themes, settings and pillars of the Christian Faith especially in times like this. In my young but eventful life in the faith I’ve found the level of ignorance to be quite high and considering that I suffered from such ignorance myself I felt compelled to write this to enable someone perhaps to live a more comprehensible and productive Life.
C.S. Lewis said of himself in his book “Surprised by Joy” that he was the most reluctant convert in the whole of England! (J.R.R Stolkein, the author of the “Lord of the Rings” was influential to Lewis’s comeback to Christianity), Oscar Wilde lived a life of pleasure all his days but at his deathbed asked for a priest as “God alone was big enough to cleanse this heart of mine”. On the floor of my hostel room at the age of 18 I began a fresh and lasting relationship with Jesus Christ.
Regardless of how and when we come to the Lord, the great news is that we came; you came.
THE PLACE OF UNDERSTANDING
“they do not know, they do not understand. They walk about in darkness. All the foundation of the earth are unstable” Psalm 82:1
“it seemed good to me also, having had a perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus” Luke 1:3.
Perfect understanding is attainable and when it is absent, instability is the rule.
WHAT HAPPENED AT NEW BIRTH?
The death and resurrection of Jesus brought several realities to bear;
1. Jesus died for the sins of the whole of humanity: from the Middle east to the Antarctica, humanity’s problem is not a “sin” issue it is a “belief “and an “understanding” issue. (1 Cor 15:3) Belief for those who don’t believe and understanding for those who do. People will go to hell for rejecting Jesus alone. For more see the meaning of salvation
2. He rose from the grave: His death and shedding of blood secured forgiveness, His resurrection provided the Life. When He died, He took a trip to hell and got the keys of Hell and death (Rev 1:18, Math 28:18). He disarmed principalities and led a triumphant procession out of captivity (Eph 4:8, Col 2:9). His resurrection marked the conquest of death which is a product of sin (Rom 5:13, Gen 2:17). Note that death is spiritual. If you are afraid of death or hell, lose it. He has got the keys.
On resurrection, He offered us the opportunity to live a life devoid of death (eternal life) 2Tim 1:10. This provision is called GRACE and is accessed by FAITH (Rom 5:2). Grace encompasses forgiveness and righteousness. This righteousness is not because we have not sinned but rather because we believe, it is called the righteousness of Faith (Rom 10:6-11).
So God sees me in the Light of Jesus Christ (in HIM), we are free of the burden/conscience of sin (Heb 10:22). I am also able to serve God on planet earth (Heb 10:19).
Jesus among other gods
Eckankar and other eastern religions subscribe to a doctrine of spiritual enlightening via many spiritual exercises; all are aimed at attaining this eternal life (the God kind of life). Islam on the other hand focuses more on atoning for sin via rites (a similitude to the karma, Hindi caste structure and reincarnation theories as all are a form of penance for offence (the present and previous-life).
Christianity offers forgiveness by a God who could forgive and an eternal life to those forgiven. Forgiveness and Salvation is the central theme of the Christian faith and is lacking in every other faith. We have a savior!
THE OBLIGATION OF THE SAVED
“for if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the Truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins but a certain fearful expectation of judgment and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries” Heb 10:27.
It is then my responsibility to live this new found life. It is essentially a Love life (Faith works by love –Gal 5:6) see my allegory of the Christian Life
Another good reading in dealing with everyday life can be found here “Word Patterns in Life’s Kaleidoscope”
What Happens when I do sin?
Know this for certain; provision was made (note the past tense) I John 2:1-2, you however have the ability not to sin and you must access this ability by faith see “The Bondage Breaker: Overcoming sin”.
THE BATTLE FIELD OF THE MIND
Your flesh in not born again though your Spirit is. So the significant you (the spirit You) must win the tussle by transforming the mind with the Word and prayer while starving the flesh of it’s desires (you know what…….). it is like the two heavy weight dogs of a certain man that fought for bets from onlookers, the owner always knew which dog was going to win. when asked, he stated that the secret was plain simple “starve one and feed the other”.
In conclusion, I hope this was not too long? I will close with the prayer of Blaise Pascal, the great French scientist:
“Almighty God who gave your servant Blaise Pascal a great intellect that he may explore the mysteries of your creation and who kindled in his heart a love for you and a devotion to your service; mercifully give us your servants according to our various callings, gifts of excellence in Body, Mind and Will and the Grace to Use them diligently in and to your glory through Jesus Christ our Lord who love and reigns with you and the Holy spirit, one God now and forever Amen.
Thank you.
Okwonna Nelson
nnamdiokwonna@yahoo.com
WORD PATTERNS IN LIFE"S KALEIDOSCOPE
The title suggests a manner of things in Life’s maze; I have come to realize that on this side of the divide, in God’s dealings with us there is a way He does His things. As a kingdom citizen there are some three basic facets of Life you are interacting with everyday and your success will be measured by the fruit of those interactions.
1. God’s promises
2. God’s ways
3. God’s commandments
The way we see life, our attitude and all we do is a function of our understanding of the above, though our individual experiences and mannerisms cannot be identical, our paths of faith are. I will summarize these thoughts without a stepwise pattern.
A cardinal issue is our view of God and our relationship with Him, a father or a God? A son or a servant, a dependant or an Heir: My association with Christ and His works: a finished work or a partial work. My understanding of the death and resurrection of Christ, is it just for salvation? What is the nature of that salvation? : Forgiveness of sin or power over sin, or both?
My interaction with evil forces: my battle or a finished battle? My position in Christ: the Power in that position. These perspectives and understanding matter a great deal and I would just stress one; victory over sin. For young people this is a prerequisite for birthing the purposes of God on planet earth. It really doesn’t take a special unction, it is an endowment on all born again believers, you have the power over sin! Yes you do (Rom 5:17, John 8:12). yet if you should sin, God will forgive. The issue most young people have is that we forget that the blessed man of Psalm 1 will not do some things for him to do some things and that every statement in the Bible is assessed by faith (they are spiritual).
The place of God in everyday life: God is the God of the whole universe. More importantly He is not just the God of the whole; He is also the God of the individual parts! So He understands commerce, I.T, pharmacy, medicine, quantum physics and Mechanics more than anyone. His influences is not out of those realms. They are everyday issues, in the Hall of Faith (Heb 11) all the men mentioned there were interacting with everyday issues as you and I. I said that because we often limit His influence to “spiritual” stuffs forgetting that all the parables of Christ were about everyday stuffs.
To bring the above point home, do we believe that it is God that ministers the advances in commerce, I.T, business, Medicine, Agric, etc to the hearts of man! A popular Scientist was quoted as always reciting these words as he entered his laboratory; “Lord open my eyes that I may behold wonderful things out of thy word”! Next time you look at the sun, remember it is made by the Word and the maker could minister the seed for the next alternative energy solution. God is not archaic! He is on the cyber and more!
All things are made by the Word! All! Everything we see, both the good and the bad are all provided for within the plan of God, He may not have been the one behind the death of that loved one but His plan provides for that eventuality! The day Bill Gates conceived Microsoft it was at the impulse of God, He knew I would be writing this from Windows Vista Home Basic service pack 1! In God’s kingdom there are not only sons, there are hired servants as well (Luke 15:17) and all are for Him. He is good to all! His sons have special privileges but He won’t force them to take it, He respects growth and will not give a man’s inheritance to a child for He had better the child be poor than lose him (He is Love). So if you are wondering why “not-so-good” people are thriving remember that our father is just and loving and in His plan He uses everybody; servants, hired servants, sons and children.
He is spiritual yet He makes the physical, the spiritual makes the Physical and he detests individuals that walk by the physical (unbelief). His blessings are spiritual blessings in heavenly places (Eph 1:3), they are not physical cars and houses. He doesn’t give wealth per say; He gives the power to make wealth.
He has given the earth to man and He respects His ordinances. Man must pray “thy will be done on earth” or it won’t, and man can only pray what has been revealed to him. So man’s greatest assets are the Words spoken to him, your greatest asset in Life are the Words of God in your heart, that dream that is burning holes in your heart, put them in a ledger. When the time comes they will speak. In the father’s agenda there are always intervals between the promise (the passion/seed) He has ministered and the fulfillment, once you have received such a ministration the next thing is processes.
Words are the only things that have equal significance in both the physical and spiritual realms, they bear the power of life and death and they are products of the heart, God knew and is much bothered with my heart. He knows that left to itself the hear would stray so He commands me to meditate on His words, He tells me to speak it and not allow it depart from my mouth for only then can I really prosper. He informed David to remind me that since 24hours is all I have I must not walk with, reside with or take the advice of certain folks before I can handle the word.(Psalm 1).
The primary prerequisite he demanded from those that walked with Him were independence, it takes an independent man devoid of emotional clutches (they owe me mindset) to walk with the Father. No one owes you anything! Depend solely on God, our continued dependence on individuals, connections and manipulations is the reason there are no difference in the lives of citizens of the kingdom and common folks. I must be independent of friends and general consensus, following the Father most time is an invitation to controversy but if you follow Him long enough those same people will chant your praises. Fans are a dime a dozen, they come and go; don’t take them to heart.
Only people of Faith can please Him, when you step out on faith keep stepping. It is like walking on solid water, if you doubt the water will melt! The faith walk has this inbuilt correction mechanism that provides a sinking feeling anytime one considers the odds (Mat 14:30) but thank God for His ability to rescue even in moments of doubt. When He communicates specific promises to you He calls you to process, His training is painful, He is never in a hurry, He understands how weak you are and why proper work must be done to enlarge your depth else you flow with the tide!
In the process, be faithful with everyday issues. It is a kingdom, the King makes provisions for His subjects and He knows you need most of those things on your prayer list! But you must seek the Kingdom first and its righteousness. Its righteousness implies the way things are done in the kingdom. The Kingdom of God is not limited to heaven (as a location). It is the counsel of God; the operating system of heaven! (You can read up the parables on the kingdom).
In the Kingdom, it is an Agrarian economy; seed time and harvest time. Things start small in the kingdom-mustard seed; there are no “rich men” there! You lose “mine” mentality, there is plenty there too. In the kingdom it is capitalism: you trade the talents well, you get more yet the Lord owns all. For God to trust you with a billion dollars He will first be sure your heart can handle it and that you won’t bank it! The question is can you stand to be blessed? To be blessed is not easy, believe me!
In the kingdom of God the perception of it is by being “born again”. The experience of it is by being “born of the Spirit and the Word”, (John 3:3-5) folks can be born again without being born of water (The Word) and of the Spirit. Outside of the Kingdom there will be gnashing of teeth, walking in the ways of the Kingdom and the revealed will of the King is righteousness (getting saved is the baseline righteousness!(2 Cor5:21 KJV). It will guarantee peace (Peace is the umpire of the will of God), and then Joy in the Holy Ghost.
There is the trio of anxiety, offence and profanity. They will kill the anointing quickly; the Word of Faith is established on”The finished work of the Cross” therefore it does not permit anxiety over any issue. Anxiety says I am not sure He can handle it, Also you cannot be offended and be anointed at the same time, thus Faith (the currency of this kingdom) works by confident love. Love says I choose to treat you kindly because I can afford to! That is it; I can afford to love anyone! I am a child of the King! The King is apt to forgive, He expects same. The King cannot stand profane individuals, He is the King remember and His scepter is that of righteousness.
In the Kingdom of God, Sons pray. It is the only means of bringing the power of the kingdom to bear in any situation! The prayer of a righteous man avails much since the blessings are spiritual. It is only in the Place of Prayers that a righteous man can make tremendous power available, he must speak the revealed will or he will not form them on this side of the divide. This is not a bless-me club! i.e. calling forth cars and airplanes! There is a place for that if that is the Word communicated to your Spirit (James 4:3), but it is more of calling forth the virtues and characters that are in you (Isa 12:3), the will of God on planet earth, creative ways of solving problems, Africa is in dire need of Kingdom children. It includes devising ways to be a blessing to nations (Gen 12:3), the open secret in the Kingdom is that if you pursue being a blessing, you cannot lack, even when you try!
In the kingdom, though children are all over the place and are coheirs they are not much different from servants! (Gal 4:1,7). The truth is that the King is seeking for Sons and if you listen attentively, one of the common words your spirit ministers is “grow up, grow up”. When sons refuse to grow, they will work, be taught and be under the tutelage of servants! I have long refused that option.
All the revealed will of God calls one into a process (righteousness)
(2Pe 1:4) “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”
We see this in the life of Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, David and Daniel. The process is often a wilderness but it is in those wilderness that King materials are made. There we lose our diapers and all childish tendencies, there our Heart is tested (our selfishness, abiding faith, dependence, forgiveness). On passing the exam we reign with the King in Life (this one here! Rom 5:17), the King said we already have Grace to pass.
In the Word of Faith, the Word of God is really a picture. If you continue looking at it you will line up with it. (James 1: 23=25, 2 Cor 3:18)
Dear, if you read this article up to this point then it was written for you, please I would like to hear from you.
We are still very much interacting with the promises of God for our lives. For more thoughts please visit www.nelsontalks.blogspot.com
”All things are made by the Word”
Thursday, May 27, 2010
FAITH AND I
FAITH AND I
One thing about writing these articles is that I’m really describing my heart’s convictions as I stride in the garden of life, it is like a walk in a park. One observes and mentally notes some things, some are noted as irrelevant and others subjects of great interest, I commit them to paper with the hope that someone might benefit from the thoughts of a young man. Below are my fresh thoughts on the subject of Faith.
1. Faith is not Christian, neither is it Hebrew
2. It comes by hearing the word of God and God speaks to heathens too
3. Faith is a visible posture, attitude or action brought about by one’s belief in God’s word in his or her heart (the invisible).
Rahab the Harlot, the widow of Zeraphath, The centurion of Great faith and the woman from Canaan who asked for the crumbs from the master’s table were all recorded to have been people of immense faith. They all were however not partakers of the commonwealth of Israel.
The Bill Gates of this world and the Zuckerbergs of our time did what many of us in Africa have refused to do; they believed the testimony of their hearts (most of us will never hear the thunder of God’s voice but every day we hear His inward witness). Another misfortune is that we are quick to limit these witnesses to “spiritual” realities. I’ve found God’s directions to be amply variegated, especially in enterprise development and innovation; He is the source of immense innovation. (He is the eternal novelty).
The word Of God is not limited to the written scriptures, it includes the voice that told Paul that a certain man was ready to be healed (Acts 14:9); He saw the man’s faith! Really the Word of God often comes as pictures in our hearts, like knowings in the spirit (see my last note on “The Conscience, the Mind and the Arena”. There are 4 postures to this word:
THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER: SEASON 8 OF LUKE THE PHYSICIANS TALE
1. Lack of understanding (ep1 12): wayside word, because it wasn’t mixed with Faith2
2. Lack of depth (ep1 13): it takes a strong conviction to go with the word and a major source of low-level conviction is low level personal mental dedication to the truths/value of God’s word. it takes independence of will to follow God’s word (break ties).
3. Cares of these word/deceitfulness of riches (ep1 14): “what shall I eat?”, “I don’t have the means”, Inability to defer gratifications. Note that the thorns were there before the word came.
4. A noble, good and patient heart (ep1 15): The good soil. The Word has a way of requiring patience and a kingly mannerism. Strife will not achieve it.
THE TREASURE AND THE GATE
In His letter, Mr. Peter Simon the ex small scale fishing entrepreneur called the Word; “exceedingly great and precious promises”3 . Bill Gates thought them precious enough to leave Harvard. If it is a treasure then the Heart needs a lock! Guarding the heart is our greatest challenge as our world is pretty noisy. It is easy to fill it up with irrelevant issues and miss the treasure. In the Kingdom the ministry of internal affairs is the greatest ministry. Learn to study silence (of the heart and mind).
PROCESSING THE WORD
The seed is not fast food! Its speed is very variable, it is a function of the nature of the seed and the condition of the soil. However it will change you, it certainly changed me and a lot of other folks.
1. It will make you a stranger4, please stay that way.
2. It makes God’s people priests and Kings5
In everything I do, I’m beginning to learn not to believe the system and I urge you not to do the same. Don’t be quick to line up with general consensus on any issue and please don’t believe the lie about Africa and Nigeria (Madiba didn’t), don’t believe the business models (it is failing and W.Buffet didn’t either). You can even be skeptical about our educational system (R. Kiyosaki has changed that forever), judge everything by the Word and the judge the Word in your spirit by the written one for they must cohere.
“Now, the parable is this, The seed is the Word of God.” Luke 8:11
Thanks
Thanks
Okwonna Nelson
nnamdiokwonna@yahoo.com
1 episode, 2Hebrew 4:2, 32nd Peter 1:4, 4 Hebrews 11:13, 5 Rev 1:6, 1Peter 2:9.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
THE CONSCIENCE, THE MIND AND THE INNOVATION ARENA
“We hold these truths to be self-evident……………………….” Thomas Jefferson in the United States declaration of Independence
When Thomas Jefferson made the above statement, America and indeed the greater part of the world were ushered into a dimension of living based on the mental awareness and agreement with an unwritten code of ethics based solely on a man’s conscience.
“………….we hold these “truths” to be self-evident,” Many years down the line, some new generation of Americans have unwittingly disagreed on the existence of “truths” (the concept of “no absolute truth” which has given birth to the pleasure-without-limits scenes and lyrics we get in the media) not to mention that they are self-evident.
I would like to explore a little on the distance between “truth” and “The Mind”, Obviously by Thomas Jefferson thinking some things are just the right thing to do (conscience) and his mind agreed with it (self-evident). When we talk of evidence, we imply reason (the mind). The declaration of Independence and the self-evidencing truths proclaimed therein for centuries created a moral framework for life in America as it brought God to the equation (“…………….endowed by the creator to certain inalienable rights”). Thus with regard to morals, individuals can mentally assent to and appreciate certain virtues simply because they are right (a qualitative term qualified by the conscience).
Note that “we” hold it to be self-evident, truths are not self evident by themselves till we hold it!
NOT LIMITED BUT INEXTRICABLY LINKED
However it is not only morals that are self-evident, to appreciate this I would like to emphasize that there is an interval between a man’s awareness of truth (conscience) and the period it becomes self evident. Today it is a self-evident truth that metals can fly in the air faster than the speed of sound, but at a certain time it existed as“awareness” in the mind of the Wright brothers and some other folks. Microsoft is an evidenced truth which initially was just an “awareness” till someone evidenced it. I know that innovations comes first as an “awareness” akin to moral awareness of truth without rational or scientific backing, the individual interacts with this “awareness” of which he is inept at explaining but convinced none the less. That interval is the arena of faith.
To mentally conceptualize and bring about a practical demonstration of a man’s awareness, his mind must be involved. For centuries America demonstrated that the moral values embedded in the “self-evidencing truths” can make a nation great. Businesses were built based on those truths and before our very eyes we are seeing the destruction that has arisen because those truths have begun to appear “non-evident”.
I must say then that the conscience is not limited to morals alone but also includes innovation and both can be brought to practical demonstration in a mind that has retained the knowledge of God without which the truths would be hard to evidence!
AFRICA
In Africa, as the Agent of Change intercedes for a Nation’s plight in prayers. He or She invariably would become exposed to certain “awareness of truth”, by this I mean of certain things which have to be and are right. My responsibility and our leader’s failings are to evidence these truths, a failing largely due to the inability to retain God in a man’s knowledge.
The reason why we are yet to eradicate HIV/AIDS and Malaria is simply because we are expecting folks who have lost the essential ingredient to produce the results. Note that one can exercise faith without knowing God (this has been the domain of science) but then the ones that has a claim on God ought to bring about more practical demonstration of his faith.
In conclusion, as we become “aware” (conscience not limited to morals) of certain things that ought to be, let us not separate the mind from it. The question “How shall these things be” in my own opinion is one of the most scientific questions and it was made by Mary the mother of Jesus, she got an answer that a mind could relate to and you and I today provide evidence to her awareness and response.
“…………..now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience and from sincere faith”
Nigeria, Africa is waiting for you to make certain truths self-evident.
Thanks
Okwonna Nelson
nnamdiokwonna@yahoo.com
Sunday, May 16, 2010
my gr8 friend
“Ideas Change Nations”, Leke Alder: A Man of Many Parts
Leke Alder
Ayodeji Jeremiah & Victoria Tandoh
He is resourceful and innovative. A man of small stature but big dreams and ambitions. His name naturally evokes thoughts on branding, strategy and creativity. A widely travelled man, his reception is an exhibition gallery of photographs of the many and far flung places he has been to. Leke Alder is a writer, a lawyer, a photographer, a painter, an architect, a brand and business consultant, a designer… “I’m what you can call a polymath: a multi-talented person. I paint, I draw cartoons, I design furniture, cloths and interiors, I write computer programs and I do so many other things.”
“I’m Leke Alder. I read law in school, but now I work as a consultant, a brand and business consultant. I’m a very simple person; I’m fortunate in life; God has been very kind to me and that mercy and grace is what has carried me thus far. I don’t ever want to forget that.” Leke, an only child of his parents studied law at the then University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University graduating in 1985 and was called to the Bar in 1986.
“I served in Bauchi, but I had facial paralysis so I had to come back to Lagos. I stayed six months in Bauchi and then completed my service year in Lagos.” Leke worked briefly in a law firm, Wole Lofun and company, “he was a Christian gentle man. That was during Youth Service and briefly after Youth Service; I worked there for about two years before leaving to start my entrepreneurial pursuit.”
“People often ask me what it feels like to be an only child. Sincerely, I don’t know. I grew up alone so I don’t know what it feels like to have brothers and sisters.” Asked if his being an only child might be a reason for his being so creative, “I’m not sure …because there are many other people that are creative who have brothers and sisters.”
Leke was born in Lagos. His family comes from Lagos and Abeokuta in Ogun State. “I also understand that some Alders come from Warri. There’s an Alder town in Warri, but I’m not from that part of the country.” Before proceeding to the University of Ife, Leke had his secondary school education at Igbobi College. “I schooled in Igbobi College and Kings College. I attended Igbobi College first. Every Alder had to go to Igbobi College. You just had to go there because there are generations of Alders that have schooled there before. Before I was born, my father also decided that I would go there.”
Did he start his entrepreneurial pursuit with the name Adler Consulting? “That’s like ascribing omnipotence to me! A vision is a progressive thing. It is revealed to you from stage to stage, as you display faithfulness. I had registered a company called Leke Alder and company as a young man during Youth Service. Every lawyer registers a company because every lawyer thinks he’s going to own his own law firm. But I never practiced law in my firm. We were doing something I call Visual Identity Design. Then I was advising people on marketing and marketing strategies. It just kept on growing. It wasn’t as if I had an extraordinary vision of what this company is right now. If God had shown it to me then, I probably would have fainted. It’s just progressing as we move along. It had to be from stage to stage because my faith as a young man could not have carried what I’m dealing with right now.”
Law, branding and visual editing are worlds apart, how did he get to put all these together? “There were bridges in-between. As a young man in the University- at about 18 or so, I held an exhibition. It was so large that it turned out to be larger than the Departmental exhibition itself. Over two thousand people came for the exhibition. That’s one of the things I think led me into this creativity field. It just kept progressing from there. Before I left the University, I had a registered a Greeting Cards company. I remember we printed some cards in the UK. After that, I formed another company called Peculiar Cards, and we did a series of religious greeting cards, which turned out to be very successful. But I felt limited so I left that and started literarily on my own. People would come to me for business advice and I would give the advice and they would make huge sums of money out of it. Along the way, people started paying me commensurate out of their profit. That was the progression. I never really had a vision for this company.”
Alder introduced branding to Nigeria because “we were passionate about our country. I remember I took a group of people to Moor House hotel in Ikoyi and I locked all of us in there and said, ‘We’re not going to leave here until we come up with a blueprint to solve Nigeria’s image problem.’ That was what eventually led to the Heart of Africa project. We started this in the year 2000, but in order to get to that stage where the whole nation will buy into the concept of branding, we had to do publications. We started what we call Brand Research in Nigeria. We published the Alder Brand Reporting, in which we rated all the banks according to their brand standards. This was an extremely innovative thing in those days because nobody had even heard the word branding at that time. We decided to lay the foundation and that was how society came to know us as a branding company. From there, we started liaising with external bodies and external institutions in order to elevate the country. For example, we went to Cranfield University in London and asked them to do a case study on Guaranty Trust Bank. It wasn’t on a profit basis. It was just something we felt needed to be done because Cranfield was a centre of dissolution of case studies in Western Europe. I worked together with Ambassador Bolade Osinowo and we did this branding thing in London. We formed an NGO in London to promote Nigeria’s image amongst professionals, and all the while we were spending our own money. We were also taking senior Nigerian Executives, up to CEO level to London. We organised an annual brand seminar called Mind The Gap. It was a program where CEOs, General Managers and Company Executives would be trained by Professors from Western Universities: Cranfield University, London School of Economics and so on. We had speakers from all over the world. Finally, we brought the concept down to Nigeria to train civil servants and those who couldn’t afford to go to London. We were able to train two thousand civil servants free. We also instituted what we call the Alder Prize, which was half a million naira, to anybody who had an idea of how to move the nation forward. Students from the University of Benin won that prize, and the Federal Government gave them the prize. The love of my county and the passion to make a difference in the environment is what has led to all these initiatives, and it has been one door opening to another. It’s not because we were gifted extraordinarily; it has just been one thing leading to another.”
Apart from Alder Consulting, Leke Alder is involved in many other pursuits. “There are so many of them. Don’t forget that I’m also an author. I spent eight months last year writing about fourteen books and they’re all doing well. They are a commercial success. We refused to launch any of the books because that’s not the way we work. And like every other thing we did, we started small, and because we wanted to achieve some level of excellence, we had to print some of those books abroad. We just wanted to access the technology there. The books also kept multiplying so we had to register another company to handle that separately from our consulting business, and it’s been doing well. It is called Leke Alder International. It’s just focuses on the Leke Alder brand and it has nothing to do with Alder Consulting because they are two different things. They have different brand values. We’ve published fourteen books now; we’re due to release another three very soon. We have a notebook line, a greeting card line and we’re also introducing other products. We’ve literarily created the Alder Brand as a separate entity from Alder Consulting. I get emails every day from thousands of people who have read through my books. It took a lot of research to write some of those books and they have helped thousands upon thousands of people, and now when I go out, I think I’ve lost my visual virginity. But they’ve all become so successful.”
How has the reception been to the idea of using branding to help the country? “It’s been fantastic! Look at the changes that have been taking place because of the power of a single idea. First of all, almost all the banks have changed their corporate identities, if not all. Second, branding is now being studied in the universities. Third, we now have Brand Managers in companies, not just Corporate Affairs Manager. Fourth, new magazines have now crept up that are totally focused on branding. Five, every major newspaper has a column dedicated to branding. Six, Nigerian brands are now being exported all over the world. Seven, the standard of our products have significantly risen because of an understanding of what branding is all about. Eight, we are now even able to talk about branding as a national phenomenon. Nine, because of the work on Heart of Africa, Nigeria became an investment proposition in the eyes of the Western World. The bad image that we had during the Abacha years is gone. Because of the enormous work we also did, issues of 419, kidnapping and prostitution have really reduced. So what we have is an extremely silent revolution. Even the advertising agencies now say that they are brand consultants, all because of a simple idea. Ideas change nations.”
Are there other people who are trying to do exactly what he is doing, and is Alder Consulting facing any form of competition in the business? “First of all, the fact that you’re being copied is a good compliment. Our approach was not to become the only masquerade in the market place. Our approach was to stimulate the environment and improve Nigeria’s economy. We started as an economic proposition. In fact, it was incorporated into the NEEDS document, under Dr. Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala. In terms of competitive scenario, we’ve never seen ourselves as competing with anybody. We just focus on the race. The purpose of our organisation is to use the power of ideas to transform society; we want to raise future generations of Nigerians who will have a passion for excellence. We want to help our clients’ develop their businesses. That’s all we focus on. We never use side mirrors or rear view mirrors. Our organisation is so unique. What we do is completely different. Our approach to work, our recruitment system, our culture; everything is completely different. We receive close to six thousand applications every six months in this company, and we never do any form of advertising or marketing. We don’t even have a signboard outside the office building. The secret of our success: One good job! That will make you recommend us to the next person. We are totally dependent on the quality of the jobs we do, and all the clients we have, whether local or international, have been gotten through the power of one good job. One of the reasons our clients come to us is that we’re not business touts. Our office environment is very quiet and very serene. CEOs and government ministers must feel free to walk in here without being embarrassed. We’re a gentleman company.”
Alder’s concept of leadership is Davidic: heart and skill. “You must develop skills to mange people, but that skill must be motivated by a good heart. We lead by example in this company. We have no titles so you will not see anyone with a title on his or her business card; we just lead by example. For us, there is no separation between work and life. We say that our work is a progression of our life. We don’t have any 9am to 5pm lifestyle; it’s a 24 hour life. We don’t, for example, reward hardwork in this company because we always work hard. I also believe that that term is an oxymoron because there’s no easy work. Work, by its very nature, is supposed to be hard. But there are things we reward: faithfulness and loyalty. Whatever we do must sing excellence. If it’s not excellent, it will never get out, and if it’s not excellent, it’s not us.”
“The greatest challenge in Nigeria is our thought system. Our political system has a particular thought system that discourages excellence. It takes a lot to go against that norm. When you believe in meritocracy; when you believe in values, you won’t subscribe to certain things. There is that spirit that discourages too many good people from being in the position of power, and power flows down. The Charis of leadership always flows down. For example, there was a time in this country when we had a leader who used what could be termed 419 as an instrument of leadership. What happened was that 419 just rose statistically in the country. And when we had a leader who was violent, the rate of violence also rose within the country. So it’s so important that people who are good for the country get to the position of power so that they can positively influence the politic and it will definitely take place in our lifetime!
Why won’t he want to take up any political office himself? “In the previous disposition, my job was to empower Government with ideas that could transform the country. We worked with quite a number of ministers, and you will never believe the extent to which our ideas worked. I cannot begin to enumerate them. Whatever I feel is right for me to do in order to transform this society, I will do. But I’m not going to make the mistake of doing what Shakespeare describes as rotten ambition. It’s not about me; it’s about where I am best equipped to transform the society. Right now, I am transforming society by trying to raise a new generation through my publications and my lectures, both in Nigeria and abroad. You’ll be shocked how effective those speeches have proven to be. That’s the first stage. If I do feel that I need to take a political office, I will take it.”
Has the current global financial crisis affected branding companies also? “Don’t forget that what we do here is based on ideas. So in any clime, we will always be relevant because during financial crisis, the question people ask Alder Consulting is, “How do we drive ourselves forward?” We are not a branding company, we are an Ideas Organisation. Branding is just one of the ideas we throw out there, and because we are very good at what we do, the power of that single idea just took on a life of its own; but a lot of the work that we do here never manifest as branding. People consult us for what we have upstairs. Any time you have to ask yourself “How?” or “What?” you can come to us. We only answer two questions: How? and What?”
On his wife and children, “I don’t like to bring my family into the public arena. I’m a very private person, and already my life is getting too public. I want my children to grow up absolutely normal. I don’t want them to have all these chips on their shoulders. I also don’t want them to carry what I call a name burden, where people begin to have huge expectations from them because they bear the name, Alder. They’re too young to begin to experience all that. I also believe that everybody has a program with God. This is my life; they have their lives and I expect them to find out their own purpose. Nobody chose my path in life for me, and I’ve made up my mind I will not choose for my children. I will only train them properly, and if they make mistakes, I’ll correct them. But my love for them will remain absolutely constant.”
Leke Alder, a Christian is the author of Life as I see it; Conversations of a 21st Century Saint; Grim White Green; Brandit!; 080808; My Boss is Demanding; Pilgrimage and The Great Alchemy.
Leke Alder
Ayodeji Jeremiah & Victoria Tandoh
He is resourceful and innovative. A man of small stature but big dreams and ambitions. His name naturally evokes thoughts on branding, strategy and creativity. A widely travelled man, his reception is an exhibition gallery of photographs of the many and far flung places he has been to. Leke Alder is a writer, a lawyer, a photographer, a painter, an architect, a brand and business consultant, a designer… “I’m what you can call a polymath: a multi-talented person. I paint, I draw cartoons, I design furniture, cloths and interiors, I write computer programs and I do so many other things.”
“I’m Leke Alder. I read law in school, but now I work as a consultant, a brand and business consultant. I’m a very simple person; I’m fortunate in life; God has been very kind to me and that mercy and grace is what has carried me thus far. I don’t ever want to forget that.” Leke, an only child of his parents studied law at the then University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University graduating in 1985 and was called to the Bar in 1986.
“I served in Bauchi, but I had facial paralysis so I had to come back to Lagos. I stayed six months in Bauchi and then completed my service year in Lagos.” Leke worked briefly in a law firm, Wole Lofun and company, “he was a Christian gentle man. That was during Youth Service and briefly after Youth Service; I worked there for about two years before leaving to start my entrepreneurial pursuit.”
“People often ask me what it feels like to be an only child. Sincerely, I don’t know. I grew up alone so I don’t know what it feels like to have brothers and sisters.” Asked if his being an only child might be a reason for his being so creative, “I’m not sure …because there are many other people that are creative who have brothers and sisters.”
Leke was born in Lagos. His family comes from Lagos and Abeokuta in Ogun State. “I also understand that some Alders come from Warri. There’s an Alder town in Warri, but I’m not from that part of the country.” Before proceeding to the University of Ife, Leke had his secondary school education at Igbobi College. “I schooled in Igbobi College and Kings College. I attended Igbobi College first. Every Alder had to go to Igbobi College. You just had to go there because there are generations of Alders that have schooled there before. Before I was born, my father also decided that I would go there.”
Did he start his entrepreneurial pursuit with the name Adler Consulting? “That’s like ascribing omnipotence to me! A vision is a progressive thing. It is revealed to you from stage to stage, as you display faithfulness. I had registered a company called Leke Alder and company as a young man during Youth Service. Every lawyer registers a company because every lawyer thinks he’s going to own his own law firm. But I never practiced law in my firm. We were doing something I call Visual Identity Design. Then I was advising people on marketing and marketing strategies. It just kept on growing. It wasn’t as if I had an extraordinary vision of what this company is right now. If God had shown it to me then, I probably would have fainted. It’s just progressing as we move along. It had to be from stage to stage because my faith as a young man could not have carried what I’m dealing with right now.”
Law, branding and visual editing are worlds apart, how did he get to put all these together? “There were bridges in-between. As a young man in the University- at about 18 or so, I held an exhibition. It was so large that it turned out to be larger than the Departmental exhibition itself. Over two thousand people came for the exhibition. That’s one of the things I think led me into this creativity field. It just kept progressing from there. Before I left the University, I had a registered a Greeting Cards company. I remember we printed some cards in the UK. After that, I formed another company called Peculiar Cards, and we did a series of religious greeting cards, which turned out to be very successful. But I felt limited so I left that and started literarily on my own. People would come to me for business advice and I would give the advice and they would make huge sums of money out of it. Along the way, people started paying me commensurate out of their profit. That was the progression. I never really had a vision for this company.”
Alder introduced branding to Nigeria because “we were passionate about our country. I remember I took a group of people to Moor House hotel in Ikoyi and I locked all of us in there and said, ‘We’re not going to leave here until we come up with a blueprint to solve Nigeria’s image problem.’ That was what eventually led to the Heart of Africa project. We started this in the year 2000, but in order to get to that stage where the whole nation will buy into the concept of branding, we had to do publications. We started what we call Brand Research in Nigeria. We published the Alder Brand Reporting, in which we rated all the banks according to their brand standards. This was an extremely innovative thing in those days because nobody had even heard the word branding at that time. We decided to lay the foundation and that was how society came to know us as a branding company. From there, we started liaising with external bodies and external institutions in order to elevate the country. For example, we went to Cranfield University in London and asked them to do a case study on Guaranty Trust Bank. It wasn’t on a profit basis. It was just something we felt needed to be done because Cranfield was a centre of dissolution of case studies in Western Europe. I worked together with Ambassador Bolade Osinowo and we did this branding thing in London. We formed an NGO in London to promote Nigeria’s image amongst professionals, and all the while we were spending our own money. We were also taking senior Nigerian Executives, up to CEO level to London. We organised an annual brand seminar called Mind The Gap. It was a program where CEOs, General Managers and Company Executives would be trained by Professors from Western Universities: Cranfield University, London School of Economics and so on. We had speakers from all over the world. Finally, we brought the concept down to Nigeria to train civil servants and those who couldn’t afford to go to London. We were able to train two thousand civil servants free. We also instituted what we call the Alder Prize, which was half a million naira, to anybody who had an idea of how to move the nation forward. Students from the University of Benin won that prize, and the Federal Government gave them the prize. The love of my county and the passion to make a difference in the environment is what has led to all these initiatives, and it has been one door opening to another. It’s not because we were gifted extraordinarily; it has just been one thing leading to another.”
Apart from Alder Consulting, Leke Alder is involved in many other pursuits. “There are so many of them. Don’t forget that I’m also an author. I spent eight months last year writing about fourteen books and they’re all doing well. They are a commercial success. We refused to launch any of the books because that’s not the way we work. And like every other thing we did, we started small, and because we wanted to achieve some level of excellence, we had to print some of those books abroad. We just wanted to access the technology there. The books also kept multiplying so we had to register another company to handle that separately from our consulting business, and it’s been doing well. It is called Leke Alder International. It’s just focuses on the Leke Alder brand and it has nothing to do with Alder Consulting because they are two different things. They have different brand values. We’ve published fourteen books now; we’re due to release another three very soon. We have a notebook line, a greeting card line and we’re also introducing other products. We’ve literarily created the Alder Brand as a separate entity from Alder Consulting. I get emails every day from thousands of people who have read through my books. It took a lot of research to write some of those books and they have helped thousands upon thousands of people, and now when I go out, I think I’ve lost my visual virginity. But they’ve all become so successful.”
How has the reception been to the idea of using branding to help the country? “It’s been fantastic! Look at the changes that have been taking place because of the power of a single idea. First of all, almost all the banks have changed their corporate identities, if not all. Second, branding is now being studied in the universities. Third, we now have Brand Managers in companies, not just Corporate Affairs Manager. Fourth, new magazines have now crept up that are totally focused on branding. Five, every major newspaper has a column dedicated to branding. Six, Nigerian brands are now being exported all over the world. Seven, the standard of our products have significantly risen because of an understanding of what branding is all about. Eight, we are now even able to talk about branding as a national phenomenon. Nine, because of the work on Heart of Africa, Nigeria became an investment proposition in the eyes of the Western World. The bad image that we had during the Abacha years is gone. Because of the enormous work we also did, issues of 419, kidnapping and prostitution have really reduced. So what we have is an extremely silent revolution. Even the advertising agencies now say that they are brand consultants, all because of a simple idea. Ideas change nations.”
Are there other people who are trying to do exactly what he is doing, and is Alder Consulting facing any form of competition in the business? “First of all, the fact that you’re being copied is a good compliment. Our approach was not to become the only masquerade in the market place. Our approach was to stimulate the environment and improve Nigeria’s economy. We started as an economic proposition. In fact, it was incorporated into the NEEDS document, under Dr. Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala. In terms of competitive scenario, we’ve never seen ourselves as competing with anybody. We just focus on the race. The purpose of our organisation is to use the power of ideas to transform society; we want to raise future generations of Nigerians who will have a passion for excellence. We want to help our clients’ develop their businesses. That’s all we focus on. We never use side mirrors or rear view mirrors. Our organisation is so unique. What we do is completely different. Our approach to work, our recruitment system, our culture; everything is completely different. We receive close to six thousand applications every six months in this company, and we never do any form of advertising or marketing. We don’t even have a signboard outside the office building. The secret of our success: One good job! That will make you recommend us to the next person. We are totally dependent on the quality of the jobs we do, and all the clients we have, whether local or international, have been gotten through the power of one good job. One of the reasons our clients come to us is that we’re not business touts. Our office environment is very quiet and very serene. CEOs and government ministers must feel free to walk in here without being embarrassed. We’re a gentleman company.”
Alder’s concept of leadership is Davidic: heart and skill. “You must develop skills to mange people, but that skill must be motivated by a good heart. We lead by example in this company. We have no titles so you will not see anyone with a title on his or her business card; we just lead by example. For us, there is no separation between work and life. We say that our work is a progression of our life. We don’t have any 9am to 5pm lifestyle; it’s a 24 hour life. We don’t, for example, reward hardwork in this company because we always work hard. I also believe that that term is an oxymoron because there’s no easy work. Work, by its very nature, is supposed to be hard. But there are things we reward: faithfulness and loyalty. Whatever we do must sing excellence. If it’s not excellent, it will never get out, and if it’s not excellent, it’s not us.”
“The greatest challenge in Nigeria is our thought system. Our political system has a particular thought system that discourages excellence. It takes a lot to go against that norm. When you believe in meritocracy; when you believe in values, you won’t subscribe to certain things. There is that spirit that discourages too many good people from being in the position of power, and power flows down. The Charis of leadership always flows down. For example, there was a time in this country when we had a leader who used what could be termed 419 as an instrument of leadership. What happened was that 419 just rose statistically in the country. And when we had a leader who was violent, the rate of violence also rose within the country. So it’s so important that people who are good for the country get to the position of power so that they can positively influence the politic and it will definitely take place in our lifetime!
Why won’t he want to take up any political office himself? “In the previous disposition, my job was to empower Government with ideas that could transform the country. We worked with quite a number of ministers, and you will never believe the extent to which our ideas worked. I cannot begin to enumerate them. Whatever I feel is right for me to do in order to transform this society, I will do. But I’m not going to make the mistake of doing what Shakespeare describes as rotten ambition. It’s not about me; it’s about where I am best equipped to transform the society. Right now, I am transforming society by trying to raise a new generation through my publications and my lectures, both in Nigeria and abroad. You’ll be shocked how effective those speeches have proven to be. That’s the first stage. If I do feel that I need to take a political office, I will take it.”
Has the current global financial crisis affected branding companies also? “Don’t forget that what we do here is based on ideas. So in any clime, we will always be relevant because during financial crisis, the question people ask Alder Consulting is, “How do we drive ourselves forward?” We are not a branding company, we are an Ideas Organisation. Branding is just one of the ideas we throw out there, and because we are very good at what we do, the power of that single idea just took on a life of its own; but a lot of the work that we do here never manifest as branding. People consult us for what we have upstairs. Any time you have to ask yourself “How?” or “What?” you can come to us. We only answer two questions: How? and What?”
On his wife and children, “I don’t like to bring my family into the public arena. I’m a very private person, and already my life is getting too public. I want my children to grow up absolutely normal. I don’t want them to have all these chips on their shoulders. I also don’t want them to carry what I call a name burden, where people begin to have huge expectations from them because they bear the name, Alder. They’re too young to begin to experience all that. I also believe that everybody has a program with God. This is my life; they have their lives and I expect them to find out their own purpose. Nobody chose my path in life for me, and I’ve made up my mind I will not choose for my children. I will only train them properly, and if they make mistakes, I’ll correct them. But my love for them will remain absolutely constant.”
Leke Alder, a Christian is the author of Life as I see it; Conversations of a 21st Century Saint; Grim White Green; Brandit!; 080808; My Boss is Demanding; Pilgrimage and The Great Alchemy.
BUSINESS SERIES 10: THE NIGERIAN OPPORTUNITY
In his book “Business Stripped Bare” English billionaire businessman, Richard Branson states; “if you want to see entrepreneurs go to Africa, go to Nigeria and see the spirit of entrepreneurship”. He went further to say that there were just too many opportunities here. (I’m well aware that Virgin Nigeria has been bought by Jimoh Ibrahim-our solutions are best homegrown.)
Mr. Branson couldn’t be closer to the truth, the opportunities here are so immense. Every obstacle to good business endeavour in Nigeria I have found out is of itself a good business endeavour! If we lose our selfishness and employ more of patriotism and patience we could reap great fortunes from such “obstacles”.
Consultants Needed: The Joseph Strategy
Though the term “consultant” is broad, here I refer to an individual that could understand a problem of another individual, group, organization, industry or state, identify a solution and fashion out strategic objective solutions to the problem. He is the prime business man, an Innovator.
This group of individuals is really lacking and their largest clients (perhaps unwilling) are policy/decision makers in public/private organizations. The consultant must however be proactive. The magnitude of Nigeria’s problem cannot stand a dogged assault from well meaning inspired Judaic Consultants. It is the Joseph strategy; it is not enough to interpret the kings dream, make him a proposal! who said you’ve to be a Pharaoh or a Nebuchadnezzar to govern an empire, just be relevant and therein is your own fortune and better you’ll save a nation! Bottom line; write a proposal and if you must present it for free, If Pharoah wants it then you’ve got your first client. If the problem is large enough you might need an office space, internet connection, some staff and some allowance to solve it!
It is not a coaster ride however and has never been, but it’s much better than complaining and imprisonment.
DISADVANTAGED? NO! IT IS ABOUT THE TIPPING POINT.
For Nigeria to achieve rapid economic growth we must reposition ourselves for the tipping points, for every generation and industry there are always tipping points that churn out the new phase of billionaires and mega economies. These economies are built on the shoulders/strengths of previous ones (that is why Asia could emerge as a world power in 25years). The Fords, Bill Gates, Bransons, Rockefellers, Dangotes and Adetola are products of particular tipping points. No age would last forever (though the money might and could be used to enter the next tipping point) and history has shown that the entry requirement for the next entry is not cash but service.
There is no technology that we really need that Nigeria cannot afford (never forget that). Entrepreneurs must be able to identify the next “age” in every industry and position for the flow. With or without you, things will definitely shift and with it a new phase of billionaires, significance and economies.
Nigeria can lose her timidity and inferiority complex and boldly enter the new realm of Telecommunication (Adenuga and Dozien), the new realm of energy (? And ?) Postal delivery (? And ?) IT (Zinox and ?) Steel (? And ?) Pharmaceuticals (? And ?) Health Care (? And ?) Banking (? And ?) media (? And ?)………………………
It is plain that there are a lot of spaces out there; there are no movements that are moving ahead rather there are individuals that are moving ahead.
Nigeria is an individual, she can be you or you can let the cap pass (or the headtie!).
©Okwonna Nelson
nnamdiokwonna@yahoo.com
Okwonna Nelson is the CEO of Onel Consults Ltd.
Okwonna Nelson consults for public and private corporations and is available for seminars and talks.
Friday, May 14, 2010
The Parable of the Talents: An african Perspective
"Again, the Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip. He called together his servants and entrusted his money to them while he was gone…………. He gave five bags of silver to one, two bags of silver to another, and one bag of silver to the last—dividing it in proportion to their abilities. He then left on his trip”
Mat 25:14,15
There are some interesting things about this popular parable
1. Nobody got nothing
2. The distribution was proportionate (……according to their abilities)
In the Kingdom, proportion is the theme not equality.
But the servant who received the one bag of silver dug a hole in the ground and hid the master's money. (Mat 25:18)
"Then the servant with the one bag of silver came and said, 'Master, I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn't plant and gathering crops you didn't cultivate. (Mat 25:24)
3. The guys decision was an attitudinal issue not because of what he got…………he wasn’t complaining of the amount!
AFRICA
1. We aren’t the ones that got a silver bag (Africa is the richest continent………in mineral resources).
2. We sure got the attitude!
A SAVING POSTURE
“The temptations in Africa are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than Africa can stand. When Africa is tempted, He will show her a way out so that she can endure.” 1 Cor 10:13 (forgive my reading of it).
The African challenge is common, until we believe that God has made provisions for escape we would look upon America, Europe and of recent Asia for solutions. Countries that of themselves helped themselves.
If our Solutions are not homegrown, they are at best long term complexities. The malaria challenge, the AIDS pandemic, corruption, electricity and education issues are problems whose solutions are panting in someone’s heart; an African. They are not at Harvard or Oxford, inasmuch as we might need those, they are not the real things.
If you can understand this article, you are among the elites that Africa is waiting for, away with our safe postures; a comfortable job, great house, nice car and once a year vacation. Let’s make the difference for our continent, at least for the less privileged for whom we are the only hope.
God is people oriented...........
nnamdiokwonna@yahoo.com
Monday, April 26, 2010
BUSINESS SERIES 9: LEARNING ON THE JOB!
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It is much easier to take a pay check than to grow your own business, worse still you may not have brought sufficient experience to the job! Very few individuals had an impressive CV when they were considering themselves for the CEO job of their business, no doubt the idea was too great. The desire was burning and adrenaline level was high! Then the job begins………….you find your first client or your first client finds you! And Gbim you are in Business! You’ve dreamt about this long ago but you didn’t understand the adjustments you’ll have to make, to make matters worse you’ve got deadlines to meet.
The taxi/bus people are completely oblivious of your plight and you can’t wait to get a car. in the midst of the whole brouhaha you’re sure you’re on the right track, it’s just that the track demands a sweat suit!
I now can understand why big firms pay their CEO so well, those folks deserve every bit of the dollar they get; though in the States the amount could swirl you for a moment. The quality a good CEO brings to the job is a very rare commodity; you’ll be surprised how few people are willing to think, act on their dreams and dare stick out the harmattan.
You’ll be even more surprised at the competence of those that have taken the plunge. The key folks, is the ability to learn every day, to think daily and Pray like every day was your final year exams, because in a way, it is. Adapt to new information and be quiet enough for fresh insights.
The idea that got you running may not be sufficient to keep you in the race!
People are crucial; they make or mar, Listen to your inner voice when dealing with people. If it looks right, sounds right but doesn’t feel right on the inside; delay the decision if possible.
Building the Dream
A house is built brick by brick, keep at it. One day you’ll reach critical mass.
Exposure is your responsibility; don’t be limited to your environment. Take a trip to somewhere you can learn or meet people that you can learn from, the good thing about working for yourself is the ability to learn what you want to learn when you want to.
Making mistakes is part of the deal, it is the hallmark of great men; Fall forward.
If you find the virtuous woman, marry her! (and vice versa).
Always remember to think Abundance!
MY PLEA
Nigeria needs more young professionals to take the lead, don’t be scared of the public sector. Only thread gently and reverently, you don’t influence people you don’t respect. If not for anything, they are there, you are not. Be like Joseph, interpret the dream; do the work and let Pharaoh take the credit. Do this and you’ll save a nation.
And while you are it, holler me and share the experience.
nnamdiokwonna@yahoo.com
The Bondage Breaker: Masturbation, Homosexuality and the Power of God.
You sure read right! We’re talking about this and don’t let the TV talk host confuse you, these are not normal. They go by different codes and names; self-love, ********(depending), you know it is a wonder the way we invent names for stuffs like these. No doubt these are not entirely new, the increasing attention on “sexuality” issues though more of a “new age” appeal is not entirely limited to new age philosophy. The new age monistic posture that “all is one” and the lack of substantive difference between genders has generated a lot of waves which though are not necessarily presented as logical arguments are offered via the media as concluded realities. (see previous notes on Redeeming the arts)
TV propaganda has made masturbation look normal, safe and rather a wise way of keeping things under control. In reality these are very powerful influences that we sometimes try to explain away , this author by the way is no stranger to such influences.
Whatever your world view is if you are under the influence of these powerful forces (more powerful perhaps than alcoholism/nicotine addiction), there is a way out and please do know this for sure; these are real bad habits.
Question; on what basis are they bad?
Answer: The same basis on which killing someone is wrong! Masturbation and homosexuality like all sexual sins are self-degrading and God despises such. The human conscience serves as a good pointer and I’ve found out that individuals can also “switch off” the conscience entirely, we can lose hold of the anchor post that defines what is good and what is bad.
But peradventure you are under the influence and want freedom then I’ve got good news for you. The spiritual influences behind pornography, masturbation and homosexuality fortunately are under the Lordship of another superior influence; the Lordship of Jesus Christ. His influence is available to set you free to smile again, to truly love and to live a life of real freedom. Freedom not to lewdness but freedom to virtue, the greatest and least available freedom is the freedom to choose that which is noble and right and to do it and keep doing it. Jesus Christ unlike no other gives that ability with a clear conscience to top it!
Personally I’ve learnt that this Christ influence can only be assessed by Faith; to believe in Jesus Christ as the one sent by God to die for the world’s sin and Who also rose that we may live in Him and by Him. If you already believe in the Lordship of Jesus Christ then lay hold on this and similar scripture and fight your fight of faith; “Once more Jesus addressed them.”I am the Light of the world," He said; "the man who follows me shall certainly not walk in the dark, but shall have the light of Life." John 8:12.
Hold fast to this, spiritual influences are only accessed by faith. You would need to make a public declaration (might, as the Spirit leads) and with time you’ll enjoy the victory that Christ alone brings.
Okwonna Nelson (nnamdiokwonna@yahoo.com)
THE BONDAGE BREAKER: DEALING WITH ABUSE
The first time I wrote on this topic, I had just finished typing it and was making some finishing touches when armed robbers stormed my office and made away with my laptop and other valuables. We however did not sustain any physical abuse! Of the trio of physical, Psychological and Sexual abuse I think the latter is more devastating. Sexual abuse is both physical and psychological.
“I was ravaged” were the words of a victim of sexual abuse. It really is a sore subject, one we often refuse to talk about. Our refusal however appear to be a product of our helplessness. A victim of sexual abuse would rather undergo the procedure again than talk about it.
She came to my office that day
She spoke in riddles,
The bottom line was that she was depressed
She asked for an anti depressant
She was fourteen
Her friend is undergoing an abusive scenario she said
I was surprised she knew the details so well
There wasn’t enough time
And I wanted to help
The story was ghoulish
I wouldn’t tell of it
The story of ravage
It is not just girl’s stories
I’ve heard the boy’s version
Told by men
Men with tears in their eyes
We read about it so often
And later try to forget
The victim wouldn’t
The victims couldn’t
The pain was real
Memories refuse to fade
Subconsciously we can hide it
Denial often is the escape
An escape with seeping side effects
HOW DO I OVERCOME ABUSE?
If this is your question, you are not alone and there is an answer. There is power for you to forgive and be forgiven, I didn’t say it is easy, you can’t muster the strength though but I know of One who can.
“To forgive is to let a prisoner free and to discover that the prisoner is you” , this is the “foolishness” of God; that in forgiving evil we find truth. Salvation is found only at the cross of forgiveness, the cross of Love.
The trip to that cross is the track on which an abused person experiences the saving redemptive grace of God’s power. It is a trip many have taken and found redemption, it isn’t an easy trip no doubt but a necessary one.
Accept the Love of Christ, He loves you enough to pay for humanity’s ill and all of lives burden are made light when we accept His love and dare to share it.
Leave the abusive scenario, flee it and run to shelter. Accept His Love and dare to give it.
“On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, "Anyone who is thirsty may come to Me! Anyone who believes in Me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, 'Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.” John 7:37
Anyone!
Okwonna Nelson
nnamdiokwonna@yahoo.com
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Indiana Jones, Immortality and the Grail Cup
Donovan has just shot his father and Indiana Jones got one more reason to get to the Grail cup, drinking from it held the promise of immortality and his dad was in desperate need for immediate mortality at least!
He had to pass the “breadth of God”, the several heads littering the walkway suggested previous fatal attempts; the “breadth of God” did a good work of decapitation.
Indiana muttered the words to himself as he crept towards the walkway; “the penitent”, “the penitent” .............
”……….only the penitent shall pass”; the words written in his father’s diary.
Perspiration was running down his spine when it hit him “a penitent man is a humble man...............”. “A penitent man kneels before the lord!”
He immediately knelt and just then the swirl of a rotating blade swept past his hair. He crept forward, found and unhooked the metallic death machine that was one of the 3 guards to the grail cup, the rest is history.
Like Indiana Jones and his father in the “Last Crusade”, immortality is a quest humanity has romanced for centuries; we all wouldn’t want to die. The cosmetic industry as it is today attests to man’s unending devotion to youth, Old age is fast becoming abhorring.
The wisest of men wrote that “He has also put eternity in their hearts” Eccl 3:11.
At the heart of every Faith is the promise of immortality, in Christianity it is called “Eternal Life”, it goes on to suggest that eternal life begins right here on earth and really it does.
The ‘born again’ life is a spiritual one and it is not bound by the limitations of time. In eternity, nothing is going to happen as everything has happened. This perspective will allow us understand the promises of God and the immutability of His counsel, He speaks from eternity. As a child of God, one is blessed with all spiritual blessing (eternally).
Though I might have lost some earthly goods, be undergoing certain trials but from an eternal perspective the total result is always good.
The consciousness of this eternal life and the Kingdom of God
Like Indiana Jones, I’ve knelt before the Lord, believed His word and I do have eternal life!
Okwonna Nelson
www.nelsontalks.blogspot.com
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
N for Nicodemus: Defining Salvation
The term “born again” has suffered a thousand qualifications and would have suffered death for it! Some folks could give a limb to distance themselves from such a term, yet it was Jesus Christ himself who made the first allusion to that term. (Luke 3:3).
Born again? What does it mean? The definition is found in verse 6: “that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (note the capital “S” and the small “s”.
The explanation is really that simple; giving birth! A Spirit gave birth to another spirit (YOU). It is a spiritual birth, you are given birth to by God himself! An entirely new ( recent innovation) creature, that life is of another plane with different characteristics just like plant life is different from animal life because they belong to another “kingdom”.
A born again Christian is of another kingdom.
The life of the new spirit is called “eternal life”. Eternal life is not just longevity, it is the quality of that longevity! (a function of the Character of the parent”( 1 John 5:4, 1 John 5:16, 1 Peter 1:23)
There are no sin scars in that new spirit! There are scars on the mind and on the flesh but on the spirit? Nope, not one.
REAL LIFE
If you’ve ever struggled to be good you’ll understand the struggle saved believers often go through in their bid to get it right. How can I live above sin?
Answer: By faith! On this side of the divide (eternal life), everything is by faith since you are limited by a flesh suit. We can only access an unseen eternal life by faith, in my own personal struggle coming across John 8:12 did the magic. I held on to that scripture; it says that you cannot sin. As long as you are conscious of the Spirit that is in you you’ve overcome all of lives challenges including sin.
To maintain that consciousness it is paramount that we understand that a new creature could as well be an infant and such needs milk, then something tougher and later on meat. Most folks are mal nourished, (if you are do, go find a church or a mentor that teaches the Word). Your growth in the Word and obedience to the gospel of Christ (the things God will tell you) would influence your ability to assess the provisions of that new life and they are immense.
God Bless
Okwonna Nelson (www.nelsontalks.blogspot.com)
nnamdiokwonna@yahoo.com
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
THE SEEKER AND BEAUTY UNTOLD
It is the soul of the faith
An ambassador’s honour
A soldier’s cause and a martyr’s tale
The best of news for society’s rum
And the eureka of her cream
A rooftop’s tale, told by the stairs
Freely received, often sold for money
The bleeding heart of a giver
Pardon has been given
A life lived, judgement deserved
Death by crucifixion, two for company!
A groaning saviour? Or a mock king?
A forlorn wish and a surprise reply
Paradise today, not tomorrow!
Bleeding hearts or a battered mind
An infirm body or an abused one
A prodigal son and a waiting daddy
Breaking news; the seeker is sought!
Paradise today, not tomorrow!
THE HOUND OF HEAVEN
I fled Him, down the arches of the years;
I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways
Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears
I hid from Him, and under running laughter.
........................................ ,..................................
Halts by me that footfall;
Is my gloom, after all,
Shade of His hand, outstreched caressingly?
"Ah, fondest, blindest, weakest,
I am He Whom thou seekest!
Thou dravest love from thee, who dravest Me."
Francis Thompson (1859-1907)
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