Allow
me to first respond to those young people who reacted to my article a
fortnight ago, under the title, ‘When the dead speak.’
While I am happy with the responses, which were mainly encouraging, I am touched that it was only young people who took note of the dream.
My peers appear not to have been touched by it.
That, of course, is worrying because it means my generation no longer cares what happens on our continent.
That does not give us hope about what we are going to bequeath to future generations, who have been denied the opportunity to learn about who those leaders in the dream were and why their appearance matters.
On the other hand, there are still those who believe that I am faking these dreams. Of course, such thought is unfortunate.
Am I sharing genuine dreams here?
Yes, what you may want to ask yourself is something like this: are these dreams, ordinary dreams or something more important than just dreams? Rather than question of whether the dreams are true or not, I believe that what we should be asking ourselves is: what is the message to us as Africans, if the dead were indeed to say what they said in my dream?
Just think about it.
Today’s article has been motivated by the way justice is manipulated by the powerful in the world.
The world’s poor and vulnerable are commonly denied justice by the political elite in their respective countries.
In fact, not only the poor and vulnerable are denied justice but of late, even those with dissenting voices, (the media included) are now denied justice.
The question we should be asking is: why and how have we come to this?
The answer to this question may be found in the acknowledgement that the world has moved away from God.
The God who says: “The Lord loves social justice; the earth is full of His unfailing love”, Psalms 33:5.
The political elite have, through instilling fear, usurped the powers they were given by the citizenry. The poor have no access to justice because the world’s political systems are structured such that it is nearly impossible for the poor to access justice.
Our justice systems are skewed in favour of the rich and powerful.
Yet God says: “Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength, or the rich man boast of his riches but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am The Lord who exercises kindness and social justice on earth, for in these delight,” Jeremiah 9:24-24.
However, what we see in the world today is that the rich and powerful, aided by being politically well-connected, are able to subvert justice with impunity. The sad thing is that the operatives in the execution of these acts of injustice call themselves Christians.
In fact most of those who are agencies of injustice pride themselves as being Christians and are highly respected by church leaders, simply because they give the particular church organisation some semblance of respectability.
They are not told by the average church leaders to stop subverting the cause of justice and to act justly.
The only important thing to the church is the gravitas the individuals bring.
What has led to all this? Bad politics of course, in each of the countries in the world where justice has been subverted.
First, there had to obtain a rotten political climate, wherein the rule of law counts for nothing; where institutions that were meant to support justice and democracy have been turned into instruments of oppression.
Countries like Rwanda, Uganda, Zimbabwe and now Egypt, have clamped down on media freedom such that workers in independent media are either jailed or mysteriously killed!
As you read this article, journalists from Al Jazeera have been languishing in jail in Egypt, without trial, for over four months.
They were jailed for simply reporting objectively about what was happening on the ground, after the military takeover from the democratically elected President Morsi.
Judges in that country are dishing out judgments that are nowhere closer to justice but meant to endear themselves to the military and that country’s political elite.
situation
In Rwanda, the same situation obtains.
The country’s minority Tutsi tribe of President Kagame has unleashed a reign of terror, having successfully subverted the rule of law and destroyed the justice system.
Political opponents, who mainly come from the majority Hutus, are often hounded down, and if arrested, find themselves in lengthy periods of detention without trial, while those who manage to flee the country are hunted down and assassinated in their countries of refuge.
President Kagame is a practising Christian, yet the justice of God has not influenced him to afford justice to his opponents.
I will deliberately not talk about Swaziland. You know why.
Issues of justice in our country have become well known in the civilised world, and therefore, need no repeating.
Instead, I will address myself to churches that have, as their members, people who serve in structures that are supposed to deliver justice without fear or favour. As to how they find themselves comfortable with people who have failed to serve God by using their mandates to deliver justice.
I mean, we know who goes where as his/her church, and we know who is and who is not subverting the cause of justice in this tiny kingdom.
What are we saying to these fellow Christians?
Do we ever remind them about God’s desire to see justice being afforded His people, especially the poor and vulnerable?
Do we ever question them about their roles in the delivery of justice or lack thereof?
What we need to see is a church of God that seeks to restore Him, in His desire to see justice flowing like a river.
As Job of old says: “I rescued the poor who cried for help and the fatherless who had none to assist him. The man who was dying blessed me; I made the widow’s heart sing. I put on righteousness as my clothing; justice was my robe and my turban. I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame. I was a father to the needy; I took up the case of the immigrant. I broke the fangs of the wicked and snatched the victims from their teeth, “Job 29:12-17.
Africa is a very religious continent and is mostly Christian.
We would have expected the Church of Jesus Christ in Africa to demonstrate God’s desire to see justice being afforded to His people without fear or favour. Sadly, what we see is the situation wherein the institutions charged with the delivery of justice turn their heads against the truth of God, serving, instead, the desires of the political elite.
In some countries in Africa, the rule of law has become so subverted that immunity is given to the political elite, so that they may not be prosecuted for their actions.
This, of course, has its own bad outcomes for African countries in terms of attracting foreign direct investments, due to the perceived absence of the rule of law in our respective countries.
May true Christians, during this Easter Holiday, seek God’s kind of justice?
May those who have allowed themselves to be used as instruments for injustice repent and seek to deliver the justice of God.
If you are a true, born-again Christian and you have acted unjustly in the past, use this weekend as your turning point and seek justice.
People like Judge Mumcy Dlamini can celebrate this weekend with a clean conscience. Peace!
While I am happy with the responses, which were mainly encouraging, I am touched that it was only young people who took note of the dream.
My peers appear not to have been touched by it.
That, of course, is worrying because it means my generation no longer cares what happens on our continent.
That does not give us hope about what we are going to bequeath to future generations, who have been denied the opportunity to learn about who those leaders in the dream were and why their appearance matters.
On the other hand, there are still those who believe that I am faking these dreams. Of course, such thought is unfortunate.
Am I sharing genuine dreams here?
Yes, what you may want to ask yourself is something like this: are these dreams, ordinary dreams or something more important than just dreams? Rather than question of whether the dreams are true or not, I believe that what we should be asking ourselves is: what is the message to us as Africans, if the dead were indeed to say what they said in my dream?
Just think about it.
Today’s article has been motivated by the way justice is manipulated by the powerful in the world.
The world’s poor and vulnerable are commonly denied justice by the political elite in their respective countries.
In fact, not only the poor and vulnerable are denied justice but of late, even those with dissenting voices, (the media included) are now denied justice.
The question we should be asking is: why and how have we come to this?
The answer to this question may be found in the acknowledgement that the world has moved away from God.
The God who says: “The Lord loves social justice; the earth is full of His unfailing love”, Psalms 33:5.
The political elite have, through instilling fear, usurped the powers they were given by the citizenry. The poor have no access to justice because the world’s political systems are structured such that it is nearly impossible for the poor to access justice.
Our justice systems are skewed in favour of the rich and powerful.
Yet God says: “Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength, or the rich man boast of his riches but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am The Lord who exercises kindness and social justice on earth, for in these delight,” Jeremiah 9:24-24.
However, what we see in the world today is that the rich and powerful, aided by being politically well-connected, are able to subvert justice with impunity. The sad thing is that the operatives in the execution of these acts of injustice call themselves Christians.
In fact most of those who are agencies of injustice pride themselves as being Christians and are highly respected by church leaders, simply because they give the particular church organisation some semblance of respectability.
They are not told by the average church leaders to stop subverting the cause of justice and to act justly.
The only important thing to the church is the gravitas the individuals bring.
What has led to all this? Bad politics of course, in each of the countries in the world where justice has been subverted.
First, there had to obtain a rotten political climate, wherein the rule of law counts for nothing; where institutions that were meant to support justice and democracy have been turned into instruments of oppression.
Countries like Rwanda, Uganda, Zimbabwe and now Egypt, have clamped down on media freedom such that workers in independent media are either jailed or mysteriously killed!
As you read this article, journalists from Al Jazeera have been languishing in jail in Egypt, without trial, for over four months.
They were jailed for simply reporting objectively about what was happening on the ground, after the military takeover from the democratically elected President Morsi.
Judges in that country are dishing out judgments that are nowhere closer to justice but meant to endear themselves to the military and that country’s political elite.
situation
In Rwanda, the same situation obtains.
The country’s minority Tutsi tribe of President Kagame has unleashed a reign of terror, having successfully subverted the rule of law and destroyed the justice system.
Political opponents, who mainly come from the majority Hutus, are often hounded down, and if arrested, find themselves in lengthy periods of detention without trial, while those who manage to flee the country are hunted down and assassinated in their countries of refuge.
President Kagame is a practising Christian, yet the justice of God has not influenced him to afford justice to his opponents.
I will deliberately not talk about Swaziland. You know why.
Issues of justice in our country have become well known in the civilised world, and therefore, need no repeating.
Instead, I will address myself to churches that have, as their members, people who serve in structures that are supposed to deliver justice without fear or favour. As to how they find themselves comfortable with people who have failed to serve God by using their mandates to deliver justice.
I mean, we know who goes where as his/her church, and we know who is and who is not subverting the cause of justice in this tiny kingdom.
What are we saying to these fellow Christians?
Do we ever remind them about God’s desire to see justice being afforded His people, especially the poor and vulnerable?
Do we ever question them about their roles in the delivery of justice or lack thereof?
What we need to see is a church of God that seeks to restore Him, in His desire to see justice flowing like a river.
As Job of old says: “I rescued the poor who cried for help and the fatherless who had none to assist him. The man who was dying blessed me; I made the widow’s heart sing. I put on righteousness as my clothing; justice was my robe and my turban. I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame. I was a father to the needy; I took up the case of the immigrant. I broke the fangs of the wicked and snatched the victims from their teeth, “Job 29:12-17.
Africa is a very religious continent and is mostly Christian.
We would have expected the Church of Jesus Christ in Africa to demonstrate God’s desire to see justice being afforded to His people without fear or favour. Sadly, what we see is the situation wherein the institutions charged with the delivery of justice turn their heads against the truth of God, serving, instead, the desires of the political elite.
In some countries in Africa, the rule of law has become so subverted that immunity is given to the political elite, so that they may not be prosecuted for their actions.
This, of course, has its own bad outcomes for African countries in terms of attracting foreign direct investments, due to the perceived absence of the rule of law in our respective countries.
May true Christians, during this Easter Holiday, seek God’s kind of justice?
May those who have allowed themselves to be used as instruments for injustice repent and seek to deliver the justice of God.
If you are a true, born-again Christian and you have acted unjustly in the past, use this weekend as your turning point and seek justice.
People like Judge Mumcy Dlamini can celebrate this weekend with a clean conscience. Peace!
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