originally from southern part of the country. My father was a soldier in the Nigerian army and my mother was a trader as far as I can remember. My neighborhood in Kaduna was quite a mixed one. I can still remember some my childhood friends; Segun, Usman, Jumai, innocent, etc. The aforementioned were friends I had in my nearly years in life. We all played together, our parents related with one another. We shared gifts during “religious” celebrations and none discriminated against the other. I can still remember how my mother would send cooked food very early on Christmas mornings to our Muslim neighbors, the same they did to us during their Salah celebrations. It was all fun! But now, it’s a different story. Hatred is now the message being preached…kill them all is the chorus in a city and a country that once held people together in unity. Why? Do we have a new breed of Nigerians? Sometimes I wonder if this is actually a religious matter or there’s more to this divisive cankerworm eating up the very things that have kept us together for this long. Someone may say; “the politicians are the bane of our unity.” Yes, I quite agree with that to extent. The truth is that; it is to whom you believe, you serve.
I am a Christian and have read Bible for many years and have seen the truth for myself, I have touched the truth and heard from the truth. I am not a religious bigot, but I’m addicted to the truth about the Word of God as written and as experienced.I must also say that; Christianity as introduced by the Lord Jesus Christ is not a religion, but a relationship. It is a family affair, where there’s a father and his children. Religion is an act, Christianity is a life.
Jesus said to His disciples to love their neighbors as their self.
Luke 10:27, “And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.”
Lev. 19:18, “Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord.”
Now, who is your neighbor? From the beginning of this article, you would find out who our neighbors were in Kaduna. They weren’t entirely Christians, but we related to them with love.
The bases of our relationship with God is to the extent at which we express LOVE to others. You cannot say you love God and obey His commands, but hate your neighbors to the extent of killing them, burning down their properties, kidnapping and rapping their wives and daughters in the name of God. No, that’s not nature of the true one and only Almighty God.
Yes, religion over the years before Jesus Christ came was the only way man could try to reach out to God ; which requires the killing of bulls and rams for atonement of sin. But Jesus Christ has bridged that gap between man and God through the sacrifice of His blood on Calvary.
“Faith in the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the only true way to God.”
“Religion breeds contentions, because it is based on acts that would only lead to competition.”
Prov. 10:12, “Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins.”
In recent years, many religious groups have been teaching their ignorant followers on the need to be hostile and violent to prove their supremacy. The Lord Jesus Christ in His entire life time was never involved in violence, He never instigated any war; neither any religious or civil disorder. He preached love and peace, because he is love and the Prince of Peace is His name.
By the grace of God, we work as missionaries to the northern Nigeria, though we are based in the south. This can only be possible through the love Christ that has been shared abroad in our hearts.
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