WHO ARE OUR ENEMIES??
I was in church one day during the intersessional prayer session when the Minister raised prayers for the striking of 'our enemies'. Prayer point after prayer point kept rebuking enemies in one form or the other "fall down and die", "thunder from God shall strike them"...and so on and i couldn't help wondering.
Just outside my room window are two churches...both small congregations but set to become mega churches in future. The more active of the two of them holds fellowships on weekdays. I am usually an auditory participant on Thursdays in particular because the Prayer sessions hold in the late evenings. Once again listening to the prayer session i couldn't help wondering if the people of the congregation really do believe that they have that many enemies and that a group of people somewhere actually do have it in for them.
I didn't really dwell on the thought much until i attended a weekly prayer service with my Mum at a pentecostal church not far away. After attending the service and joining in the prayers i started wondering if my whole family and friends really do wish me well and if they are not all enemies.
That got me thinking, asking myself...really if someone attends this kind of thing for a month, sooner or later everybody apart from the church people are gonna be seen as enemies...
It got me thinking and i came up with a theory....which i'm about to share with you
Enemy No. 1:
I wouldn't presume to be a theology scholar nor a pastor or priest or even a muslim leader with sound knowledge of the holy books, but Lets all agree for the sake of this blog that all men believe in a being higher than all. I personally refer to this being as God. It is the very core of human nature to admit to himself that some things are beyond comprehension or explanation. It goes without saying that at the core of every human being is that nagging reminder that try as much as possible, there are still some things that remain beyond control. Every religion teaches that there is a supreme being who is the embodiment of right or of light or of creation and that we come to be through this supreme being.
But....in the world not only exists right or light or creation...in the world also exists wrong, darkness and destruction which are also embodied, in every religion, in the antithesis of our supreme being....permit me to use a term that is common to most religions....the Devil.
Now the Devil is a direct opposition of God just as darkness is the direct opposite of light. If God seeks creation the Devil seeks destruction. If God seeks healing and hope the Devil seeks pain and despair. If man holds on to God by faith, the Devil shackles man by fear. I think you get the point.
Since the Devil works as an opposition to God, that, is a dictionary definition of an enmity.
Christian faith teaches that God is the embodiment of Love, an opposition to that would be Hatred embodied by the Devil. God loves all including man and the Devil hates all including man
My theory is that since man is ever seeking the supreme being and no religion can argue that we are not creatures of the supreme being, it simply means that we come to be by this supreme being the way descendants come to be by their ancestors.
So if man belongs to God, that is a reason for the Devil to hate man. Man comes to be through God and seeks God at his core meaning that man has inherited (from God) the enmity that the Devil created by becoming an opposition of God. When someone has decided to oppose you (man) and your family (God) and all that you stand for (right and light and creation)...that person becomes an enemy. Therefore (man's) enemy No 1 is the Devil.
The point though is that just as God won't come down to do the good himself or put smiles on faces, the Devil also won't appear himself to bring destruction and flog you to cry. In both cases, there is need of a vessel (or TOOL)...which in most cases is MAN (people). Now there are about 7 billion people on this planet but only one Devil as far as i know....wouldn't you agree that its far easier to rebuke one than to go on rebuking unKNOWN numbers? check am naa....
An understanding of this enmity is to look at the love of God from the Religious perspective. If we humans came into being as creations of God, it means God would love us as a father loves his children...which means we humans are deeply loved by God....;
IF I WOULD DIGRESS A LITTLE; FRANKLY, I WOULD RATHER BELIEVE THAT I AM A CREATION OF GOD AND KNOW THAT AN ALL SUPREME BEING LOVES ME SO MUCH THAN BELIEVE THAT I EVOLVED FROM APES OR SOMETHING ELSE AND NOT HAVE ANY POWERFUL BEING(S) WATCHING OVER ME....#JUST SAYING
BACK TO THE ARGUMENT... the Christian perspective (which I am most familiar with) purports that God loved us so much and even went ahead to send his son to die as one of us for the sake of our own iniquities and our own ultimate redemption NOW THAT'S LOVE!
The point is that if God loves us that (UNIMAGINABLY) much and the devil is the antithesis of God then it means that the same extent of love God has (for us) is the same extent if hate the devil has NOW THAT'S HATRED! quite unimaginably so.
It simply means that qualities which bring about the hate and destruction (of man) like envy, greed, lust, fanatism, distrust, war and so on are just tools the devil employs in his hatred and enmity of man.
Conclusion...our (man's) enemy number 1; THE DEVIL.
Enemy No. 2:
The mark of an adult is the ability to take responsibility for one's actions and decisions. It is said that when we look in the mirror we could at the same time see our best friend and greatest foe. Our enemy number 2 is the one who let's us be motivated by greed and selfishness. The one who doesn't remind us that time is of the essence, that putting off till later what we can do now is bad for the future. The one who doesn't put careful analysis and planning into actions and decisions. The one who doesn't learn from mistakes. The one who constantly let's anger cloud his judgement. The one who let's what other people think disturb his life. The one who gives up immediately he faces diffuculty. The one who doesn't ask the right questions when there is a problem, who finds it easier to blame the government or the economic sitiation or the other wealthy people for his social predicament. The one who wants a lot of money but hasn't put thought into how much exactly or how to go about getting it. The one who wants to join the class of the wealthy but isn't ready to put in the effort and sacrifice required.
Very few men actually get to know themselves in the course of their lives. The simple truth is that only one person on this earth has the same features and characteristics in exact proportions as you. The make up of a man includes DNA, diet, family, experiences, and education. This simply means that no two persons are ever exactly the same, even identical twins. It's the grand design of the Creator! 7 billion people and only you have the exact proportion of strengths and weaknesses as yourself. If one doesn't take time to get to know himself then he let's the one person who can counter his every single move get the better of him (keep your enemies closer!).
I hope you are getting the picture.
The mind is a very complex entity. It is fueled by emotions which may be positive or negative. If man doesn't actively feed his mind with the positive but scarce emotions like faith, love, enthusiasm and hope the mind will feed off the more common emotions like superstition, envy, fear, greed and lust. It doesn't need to be pointed out what kind of dumping ground a mind motivated by such becomes, what kinds of thoughts run through such a mind, then what kinds of actions come fort from such thoughts and what kind of life such a person leads.
Man's enemy number two is himself.
It's easy to say IT'S MY LIFE, but much more difficult to take responsibility of that life in such a way that other people get affected positively. It's easy to say IT'S IMPOSSIBLE rather than look beyond our shortsightedness. It's easier to wallow in self pity rather than ask the right questions and seek answers to them. It's easier to say THE GOVERNMENT IS USELESS rather than pick up the hoe and cutlass and go about creating a means (figuratively).
According to the bible, the ASKING, the SEEKING and the KNOCKING ON THE DOOR are our job. No one will do it for you, NO ONE CAN DO IT FOR YOU effectively.
Conclusion... Man's enemy number 2; HIMSELF.
These are the only enemies every single human being ever truly has. Others are just rivals and wannabes.
This blog is not in any way intended to change man (man is general for both sexes). But the greatest source of information of our time is the Internet. This blog is simply intended to induce curiosity into the fertile mind. A curiosity that could lead to asking the right questions. Somehow, when questions are asked hard enough, answers are around the corner.
Do feel free to ask questions or leave a comment, any comment.