So, What Are You, A Goat?

I’ve recently discovered food. I gobble up any grub that comes my way—well, except goat meat. Curiously, I don’t know the word for it, if indeed there’s one. I know mutton is for sheep, beef for cow; pork for pig; venison for deer.... Before you start constructing mental portraits of a 190kg Yokozuna with convoluting layers of fat tumbling down a 600 gallon waistline, let me add that to balance the appetite for bread is a healthy thirst for the Word. There comes a season when, “man shall not live by bread alone,” becomes a present reality for you. If you haven’t reached that season, just wait.

For me, it’s the season. So I bought a gleaming copy of Our Daily Bread, rather belatedly, and purposed to go through the Bible in a year. It has been my long-term dream.

A month into the devotional and enthralled with the erudition of the ‘Carpenter’s Son’, in Matthew, a word caught my attention: goat! And for good reason too: In the evenings—when NEPA allowed—I usually put on my NIV DVD Audio Bible and listen to the Old Testament. Even there, in Leviticus, goats featured prominently in the grand wilderness opera.

In Matthew 25:31-46, I see Jesus separating the sheep from the goats in His Kingdom. “Hey, goats!” I imagine Him shout, “come on, go to the left! Sheep to the right.” Goats to eternal damnation; sheep to, “inherit the kingdom prepared for [them] from the foundation of the world.” In the Torah, God, through Moses, instructs Israel to deliver goats to the priests’ knives to be mutilated and sacrificed a sin offering for the transgressions of the people (Lev 4:23&28; 5:6; 23:19). Goats were literally scapegoats. An unlucky one—chosen by lot in a pool of two!—carried the sins of all Israel on its head and was set adrift in the sandy sea of the ancient wilderness (Lev 16:8). Poor goat! 

Goats were the item of trickery in the plots of grand deception in the pristine theatre of the early Old Testament. They took centre stage in Sarah and Jacob’s plot to usurp the firstborn’s birthright (Gen 27:9; 27:16), Jacob’s tricky payback against his father-in-law (Gen 30:32-32:14); and his sons’ wicked cover-up of the sale into slavery of their dreamy brother, Joseph (Gen 37:31).

After reading these verses, I pondered for days seeking illumination for this goat tale. Why were they used for sin offerings? Why did Jesus use the goat metaphor to portray the condemned sinner at the great judgement? We’ll have to examine the character of the goat and that of the sheep.

I admit I’m approaching this issue with a great bias against goats. They deserve the dishonourable mention in the scriptures. I mean, they are stubborn! Self-willed and hardy, they approach disobedience with a single-mindedness that is both amazing and infuriating. Plus, their meat stinks. If someone calls you a goat, you’re indeed insulted.

I remember when I was a child. My neighbourhood was still suburban and had a free wilderness feel to it. There were long stretches of bushes we kids played Scouts, shot birds with twig catapults and chased lizards. Some folks kept goats. How destructive they were. So hardy, they ate everything: grass, the neighbour’s vegetable garden, even polythene bags. They would do anything to get at food. Chase them away a thousand times—with all kind of missiles—they’ll come back a thousand times to nibble at the sliced okra, tomatoes, yams—whatever—you were trying to sun-dry! Goats! Arrrrh!

Sheep on the other hand are docile, loveable creatures. They will follow the shepherd anywhere he leads them. Plus, they produce milk, wool, and tasty mutton. Sheep! Hmmm!

Ironically, when the ‘world’ calls you a sheep, it means to insult you. It says you lack courage, self-assertion or leadership qualities. But it’s the sheep that God is looking for to populate his kingdom: Those who’ll cede their will to conform to His and walk with Him with an ovine obedience and a God-kind of faith. Satan, the god of this world, wants us all to be goats...have caprine self-will and a stubborn determination to get at bread—no matter whose bread it is!

In Matthew 25:31-46, I see the sheep obeying the Jesus Commandment: “...that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another” (John 13:34. See also Matt 22: 37,39). Goats clearly don’t, and are unaware of their transgressions. Disobedience and living by their will is their second nature. In God’s eyes, all unbelievers are goats, and perhaps some (carnal) ‘Christians’ too?

I’ve been a goat all of my pre-conversion years; and most of my friends are goats still, their ‘Christianity’ notwithstanding. In spite of the doctrine of the Security of the Believer, most ‘Christians’ are caprine-ovine hybrids: both goat and sheep, serving both mammon and God. 

   

I see these hybrids everywhere; sometimes in my own actions or inaction. My former colleague would do anything for a penny. She would inflate any receipt that would fatten her purse. When it comes to money, she says, unabashed, “abeg, put Christianity aside jare!” And she’s a respected member of her church band and choir.  She recounts stories of how her former bandleader ‘camped’ a girl for seven years. In between near-death beatings, he put the girl through school, just for her to dump him and marry someone else on graduation. Good riddance! He had stayed on as bandleader these seven years, only abstaining from the Holy Communion as concession for his goat-like life. 

Then there’s one of my friends who is perennially unforgiving (Matt 6:12; 6:14-15) and always has an opinion which is always contrary to the scriptures (Prov 3:7). And there’s this man I know who is into construction. He refused to pay the full due of one of his subcontractors, even though they are members of the same church (Lev 13:19b). I also know of an Elder in a certain church who kept two mistresses (Mark 2:19). How about materialistic ‘Men-of-God’ who openly show deference to wealthy parishioners? (Lev 19:15; James 2:1-11). 

Before I get flak for struggling with the speck in other people’s eyes (Matt 7:3-5), I’d better expose the plank in mine: My eyes dwells more than a little on Coca-Cola-bottle figures.  What? I’m a young man, and I only look. Perhaps I should pluck out my eyes then? (Matt 18:9). Maybe I should. So should the men who were reported to have submitted a petition against a young usher (in a certain church in town) for the bizarre crime of having, “too much hips.”

I don’t know about you, but I’ll rather not be a goat.

“How?” you may ask.

Here is how: “...lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness [like the sheep] the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” (James 1:21,22 NKJV). It’s not as hard as you think. Jesus himself said, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart [like the sheep], and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matt 11:29-30 NKJV).

If you’re the Christian you say you are you’ll live like Christ lived. You know what? As Paul joyfully declared, “I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil 4:13 NKJV), and so can you!

This is the season to live, “not on bread alone, but...by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD” (Deut 8:3; Mark 4:4; Luke 4:4 NKJV). Only then will we build the faith to trust and obey His commands. Then in the Kingdom to come, we’ll escape the fate of the goat. In the meantime, let me attempt to cure my bias against goats with a steamy bowl of isiewu [goat head pepper soup]. So, what are you, a goat? If not, please, join me. Bon appétit!                                                                  

POLARIZATION AND THE 'ONE NIGERIA' MYTH By Zachariah Chinne

The dividing line between polarization and discrimination are sometimes too slim. I have deliberately chosen polarization instead of discrimination but not without acknowledging that the former is a necessary outcome of the latter and the latter dominant where the former is normative.

     Globalization, with its pros and cons, may have successfully reduced the world to a global village. The threat of polarization in a globalized world however, still stares us in the face. From the universally irreconcilable North-South dichotomy to racial and religious differentiation, from regional to continental self-ascription of prominence and worth over others, polarization rears its ugly face all around us. Polarization sometimes takes the form of subtle accolades such as “the West and the Rest.” I have deliberately left out the duality of Platonism so as not to complicate my conversation for those not so inclined to academic jargons, and for those so inclined not to hide behind it as a basis for explaining away  human responsibility for and culpability in Nigeria’s polarization.

      From Kano to Kaduna, Bauchi to Jos, the Nigerian nation is plagued by emerging settlement patterns that are religiously and ethnically polarized. Some of these settlements may have been shamelessly termed “Afghanistan,” “Saddam City,” or zionistically “New Jerusalem.” These designations depict a caging in on itself by the agitators for such appellations. It defines not only who belongs but also who does not. In these exclusivists’ settlements, others are discriminated upon based on having a religious and ethnic affiliation and affection different from the designators.

     The founding fathers of the Nigerian nation may have this glowing tribute to their credit of being people who were unequivocally united in the pursuance of one indivisible and indissoluble Nigeria. They are often referred to as selfless and detribalized, and this, ironically, by a generation of Nigerians that think only in terms of self and tribe. If there were undisclosed ulterior motives for Nigerianization in the minds of some of the Nationalists at this point, those were carefully concealed under the ‘One Nigeria’ slogan

     When Nigerianization got sacrificed on the altar of regionalization, and with that religionization, not only were the warning lights of polarization blared, but regional and intolerant religious ideologies were sown with a painful bounty harvest of casualties in the coming years.  The Constitutional categorization of Nigeria as a secular state—secular not secularly—was perhaps to guard against the excesses of religionization defeating the collective aspiration for Nigerianization. Not so much because there is anything inherently evil about religion but because some religionists and their religions are notoriously, intolerant and as such religionization becomes tantamount to radicalization. More so, that religion could susceptibly excite the best and worst of human reactions.

     Shortly after the Nation’s independence the Nigerianization project suffered its first national threat—the   Nigerian civil war. The civil war was the first loudest call that the one indivisible and indissoluble   Nigeria will certainly go beyond the ‘One Nigeria’ slogan cum cliché. Yes, Gowon may have declared at the end of the civil war, “No victor, No vanquished”, and we may have acronymized his name into “Go On With One Nigeria” (Gowon), but Biafranization was the lone voice audibly protesting that inaudibility in the face of obvious discriminatory marginalization for fear of unfavorable labeling only accentuates the spread of polarizing ideas and influence. Unfortunately, the three “R”s (Reconciliation, Rehabilitation, and Reconstruction) of the post-civil war declaration of Gowon sounds good to the ear only rhythmically, but does not translate to reality. The ‘splitting’ of the nation into so-called geo-political zones seems an admittance of and legitimization of polarization.  Rather than being a statement about unity in diversity, the zoning of the country is more a statement about divisiveness in this ‘unity’—Nigeria.

     How more glaring can polarization be than in acronyms such as WAZOBIA, an invitational from the so-called ‘three major languages’! The identification of three major languages leaves the rest grappling for minority placement. There is a way in which such a coinage defines the ‘owners’ of Nigeria and those who are either late-comers or even tenants. The eclipsing of the minority by this so-called majority soon lends itself to arrogation of a superior status by the powerful Three and that of inferior/subordinates on the nameless others. But it must also be said that the big three are internally fragmented as the three-legged stool they pretend to be soon severs one they are not comfortable with, as is the case with the marriage of convenience fraudulently called ‘Zoning,’ (where the heirs apparent to the throne are the ‘wa’ and the ‘zo’ not the ‘bia’). But even the two are never without mutual suspicions. In this battle for supremacy among the powerful three, the powerless, nameless, minority becomes the proverbial grass that suffers. This sets the tone for ‘us’ and ‘them’ in an entity we call Nigeria.

     Apart from the colonial antecedent, polarization in modern Nigeria is the creation of an Islamic Northern hegemony that has held sway to power for far too long. The Nigerianization project soon fell prey to the predatory antics and craftiness of Northernization—Northernization here more religiously than regionally defined. But if regionalization defined ‘us’ and ‘them’, northernization defined who is ‘us’ even among ‘us’. This explains why the Middle Belt does not fit into this configuration, even if situatedly ‘Northern’.

     One would have assumed that this was going to pave way for national integration where leadership would not be the exclusive reserve of some geo-political zones of this country but for all. When some zones of this country are shortchanged, one wonders the meaning of integration.

     In some earlier submissions, I have argued that the fueling of polarizing ideals are to be found in the sacrifice of genuine nationalist agenda of some of our selfless founding fathers on the altar of parochial and myopic egocentricism and eclipsed by regional agitation. This threatens national integrity and constitutional stability threatened through the fanning of Regional, sometimes religional tensions.

     But if as I have argued in an earlier submissison, Nigeria at 49: So Far, How Far, (published by Today’s Challenge); The proliferation of regional pressure or unity groups in Nigeria seems to consistently perpetuate the tradition of mutual suspicion in the Nigerian political orientation. This regional identification suggests that remaining one indivisible Nigeria may not necessarily mean the dissolution of regional ethnicity. So long as harmonization is understood not as meaning homogenizing, the Nigerian nation will remain one internally fragmented polarized state.

     The desecration of the constitutional secularity of the Nigerian nation reached a crescendo with the Shariah declaration by Ahmed Sani Bakura of Zamfara State. Shortly after fracturing the secularity of this nation for ill-conceived Islamic sentimentality, other northern States with sinister motives followed suit. This was a breach of the country’s constitution by a northern oligarchy who have always thought of themselves to be by nature custodians of power in the country. But as is to be expected, no one dare cautioned the ‘aggrieved’ northern hegemony from whom power was democratically wrested, since any caution would be religiously interpreted letting heads rolling over shoulders. The allowance of Shariah by the Obasanjo administration seemed an appeasement move to placate the non-appeasable Islamic North.

     It is this sort of allowance in 1979 that saw the provision of Shariah and Shariah courts of Appeal with their Grand Khadis into the Nigerian judicial system. With this benefit of hindsight, we would not be wrong to say that Ahmed Bakura, by his Sharia declaration was just harvesting the seed of sharia sown in the 1979 Constitution where sharia courts of appeal and its legal system were dished out to the unsuspecting Nigerians.

    As it is there is now no secrecy about the country’s polarized status. The country’s numero uno citizen Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan during last year’s army day celebration alluded to an obvious polarization in the military along religious lines as evidenced in the Jos crises.  If the assertion of Mr. President about the Nigerian army being religiously polarized is true, then we can say the constitutional custodians of the nation’s indivisibility and indissolubility are themselves a house divided against itself, which invariably means we are standing on the quicksand of divisiveness. This being the case we can emphatically say that the seeds of mutual suspicion, hatred, and anarchy have already taken deep roots in the heart of the nation. This, to say the least, is a sad commentary for a nation that still professes indivisibility and indissolubility.

     I am not for bloodshed, I do not subscribe to any form of religious fanaticism that means the extermination of anyone who does not worship as we do, or even speak as we do. Whenever there is a crisis, which these days carry the stamp of guerilla warfare, there are proven cases of the involvement of the military. This only goes to mean that the very ones shouldered with the task of ensuring the ideals of One Nigeria are actualized have indeed become its derailers. By implication, a whole nation is left in the hands of miscreants and mercenaries instead of the military.

     If Murtala sowed the seed of a Polartized military, they were watered and pruned by Shehu Musa Yar’Adua in the massacre of senior Army officers of Middle Belt extraction; fertilized by Babangida, but the ingathering ripened with Danbazau. When Danbazau said the military is apolitical and that the military is his constituency one wonders if by that he was referring to his Islamic military constituency or the Nigerian military in general.

     Nevertheless, I long for a Nigeria where a man isn’t judged by his ethnicity or religion and region, but by the strength of his character as a Nigerian. I dream of a Nigeria where the children of the Hausa-Fulani Muslims and those of the Beroms, Bajju, or Bassange will have access to equal educational, health, vocational, and credit facility. My heart longs for a Nigeria where the citing and execution or non citing of any projects in a domain are not determined by a religious or ethnic constituency but that we are all citizens of equal constitutional standings. For this Nigeria, I pray; for this Nigeria I live; for this Nigeria I work; yes—ONE NIGERIA.

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Welcome to the QreatifDave Blog. This blog presents a Christ-eyed view of life and current affairs. We present issues (politics, relationships, business and current affairs) through the prism of the illuminated Word of God; bringing Him to bear in every area of our personal and national life. The QreatifDave Blog will also regularly profile men and women of faith to provide you a glimpse into their walk with God and share how they have overcome the travails of life through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We thus invite you to regularly partake in this feast; inviting your family and friends to join in the meal, in the process, we believe you will be edified and blessed.