Author: Day Break

From Rhoda Godwin, Yenagoa

Bayelsa State Deputy Governor, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, has again stressed the need for Christians to sink their denominational differences and work as one united indivisible body in the service of God and humanity.

Senator Ewhrudjakpo laid the emphasis while speaking at the inauguration of new State Officers of the Organization of African Instituted Churches (OAIC) at the Eternal Sacred Order of Cherubim and Seraphim Church, Kpansia in Yenagoa.

In a statement issued by his media aide, Mr Doubara Atasi, at the weekend, Senator Ewhrudjakpo urged the Christian community to be more united now than ever in view of the challenges facing the church in particular and the society in general.

He maintained that Christians could impact society if only they uphold and practice the true values of Christianity which hinges on love as espoused by Jesus Christ.

Senator Ewhrudjakpo admonished them not to discriminate against one another on the basis of denominations and the various Christian blocs they belong.

While congratulating the Chairman, Senior Apostle Michael Makpah, and other officials of the OAIC, the Deputy Governor charged them to make patience, politeness, prayerfulness and critical reflection as their guide to avoid what he calls “followers induced errors”.

In the spirit of the 25th anniversary of the creation of Bayelsa, he also restated the call on the people to overcome hatred, malice and the pull-him-down syndrome with love for one another as well as cooperation and support to the government.

His words, “We have a disconnect between our Christian values and the Christianity that is in us. Until the Christianity in us surpasses the ordinary Christianity the Pharisees and the Scribes exhibited during the period of Christ, we will not be able to make the desired impact on society.

“I charge you to maintain the focus on your vision and don’t get distracted by what the people say. Don’t do the mistake of Moses and King Saul in the Bible. They listened to what the people said and not what God directed them to do.

“Leadership is a difficult task. But let me recommend the 3ps of patience, politeness and prayerfulness to you for you to succeed. You must learn to be patient because it is lack of patience that causes what I call followers-induced errors.

“It is very dangerous and attracts serious punishment because God does not hold the followers responsible but the leaders for any decision that was taken or not.

“And that is why if you watch me well, I don’t bother myself with what people say in the social media. Whatever you say in the social media is immaterial to me. What matters to me is whether the decisions I’m taking, impact positively on society or not.”

Performing the inauguration on behalf of the Nigeria Regional President of OAIC, His Eminence Dr Napo Emuchay, the Chairman South-South, Archbishop Israel Ege, charged the new leadership to be servant-leaders and make love for Christ their watchword.

Archbishop Ege, who is also the South-South Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), particularly advised the chairman to build on the achievements of his first term by maintaining an open and healthy relationship with other officers in building the body of Christ.

In his exhortation titled “The Dilemma of Leadership”, Apostle Precious Puanoni, enjoined the new leadership of the Organization of African Instituted Churches to see their emergence not only as an honour but a call to sincere service of God.

Drawing his message from Hebrew Chapter 5, Apostle Puanoni, urged them to think and act as generational leaders while making conscious efforts in building synergy to strengthen unity among Christian churches within and outside the state.

In their separate goodwill messages, the National Vice President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, Apostle David Zilly Aggrey and the Special Adviser to the Governor on Religious Matters, Rev. Godspower Asingba, thanked the OAIC for re-electing Senior Apostle Michael Makpah as chairman of the bloc.

When Hurt is not Contained. . .

When hurt is not contained by good reflections, it lingers very long and cuts deeply. The human mind is like a fertile ground where crops grow and bear fruits, only that these kinds of fruits are not physical, but translate to actions that can be felt and perceived.
When hurt is not contained quickly, it gets contaminated with more hurt. For it is said that the innate desire of the “oppressed is to be like the oppressor.”
When hurt is not conciliated, it becomes profound like the face of an open ulcer. Hurt is like a growing plant. If it is allowed, it will bear fruits eventually. When lies are uncovered, trust is broken and the heart is betrayed. The depth of hurt depends on who is responsible, as rightly sung by the singer Natasha Bedingfield. In her Album “I bruise easily,” she said, “Anyone who can touch you can hurt you.” She does not mean the physical touch, she meant emotional, psychological, mental or even material touch I suppose. . . It means that for you to experience hurt, you must have some level of affection, emotional or material connection or attachment, to the extent that trust is built.

Incidentally, we get tangled with others everyday in this kind of situation one way or another, either in the process of trying to discharge our daily functions or in any other way. There is no guarantee as to what kind of relationships our interactions with others may lead, be it business partnership, mere acquaintances, whether its in common places such as cafe, market, weddings, hospital, restaurants, even schools. Once the interaction has moved from the original form or reason for which it all began, that means that something personal has evolved. . . In most cases, this something personal is the “heart” and when the “heart” is involved, emotions are deployed and this is why one can easily get hurt by the other because the intellectual ground on which it all began has either been replaced or shoved aside by emotions or straits of material gains.

Emotions are the bedrock upon which our weaknesses are formed as human persons. It’s only sad that the thread connecting our rational side to our emotional side is so thin such that controlling our rationality becomes a problem especially, for an individual lacking self discipline or control which is why getting hurt is mostly inevitable because we sometimes get easily carried away by our continuous interactions, that we begin to get too comfy to the extent of deviating from our initial reasons of connection or commitment to something very engaging or involving.

We all do get hurt at one point or another. We all also get betrayed at one point or another. It’s only quite painful when this feeling of hurt is caused by someone trusted. . . The act of trust discloses a level of belief, reliability, confidence imposed on us by another individual. They probably come to the point in their thoughts where they are convinced beyond reasonable doubts, that we are incapable of hurting them because of what they think we meant to them at that point or time or how dear they are convinced they are to us, but the irony most times is that people tend to relax at certain points in a relationship. When they think they have gained your trust enough, they no more make enough effort to protect or preserve that confidence that has been reposed in them until that trust given them is lost. The hurt caused therefore by this kind of person is deep. People betray each other in business transactions everyday but the feeling of hurt for such experiences is deeper if the person involved is one that the other has never imagined can hurt them in anyway or by any means at all. It is easier to deal therefore, if the one who has caused the pain is one in whom no confidence or belief has been invested.. .

As we all know, to hurt simply implies to feel damaged, harmed, sabotaged, undermined, marred and so on. It is not a good place for anyone to be at all. . . May we also not forget that the resultant effect of this kind of situation on the victim, is the person feeling betrayed, heartbroken, scared which if not contained may evolve into the person’s inability to trust again, to love again, always being apprehensive and unable to believe in anyone else even themselves. . . May we therefore know that it’s our responsibility to support in honesty each other’s sanity by being careful with the kind of thoughts we imprint in them through our actions, during our interactions or relationships be it business or personal, because we may never have the opportunity to purge such out of their minds, thus leaving the next person they meet to probably suffer for our sins or work super hard to repair the emotional damage we sure did cause.