Is God Deaf?
By Ezekiel Nabieu
Prayers for the end of the Ebola scourge have been unlimited and are still ongoing but desired results are still not achieved. In the triangular worst-hit countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone it is a pity that the land that we love is trailing behind. Under these circumstances the pride of most people in being citizens of Sierra Leone obviously recedes into shame. It is rather befuddling to know whether Sierra Leoneans who constituted the Athens of West Africa have now evolved into a lower species of homo sapiens mainly unteachable. Why are messages not apparently getting through?
Are they wrong or just incomprehensible? Should we downplay krio, the lingua franca and concentrate on the mother tongues of the people in this 70 percent illiterate populace?
It would appear that reiteration is no harm. It is necessary especially for people who I consider as half-baked. I said before that they are the category of people responsible for the negative attitude of the illiterate people. They go about ostentatiously peddling untruths and half-truths. Alexander Pope did say aptly “A little learning is a dangerous thing; Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring: There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, And drinking largely sobers us again.” This explains why only 50 percent of people in the Western Area believe that Ebola is real while 70 percent of the people in the provinces believe that it is so. As at the 2nd of this month it was reported that an Imam in the Western Area was shaking hands with members of his congregation. Can you beat that?
Back to base. We seem to have been nearly forgetting the original source of Ebola from bush meat, mainly bats and monkeys in the same way that HIV/AIDS is being put on the back burners.
It is not going to be easy to wean people in the interior far from the seas and rivers away from eating bush meat where there are no alternatives. Incidentally people in those parts cannot be easily seduced into becoming vegans. Even at the risk of being branded as imprudent let me suggest the taking of sea food to those vulnerable areas at subsidized cost if that does not impinge on the veiled propaganda money given to parliamentarians. These are root causes of the disease that should be rooted out if the disease is to be contained never to return.
DONT PRAY
Let it be known incontrovertibly that some of the deaths from Ebola are due to undue dependence on prayers. People have prayed and have been careless in abiding by the preventive rules against Ebola because they are “covered by the blood of Jesus.” I have often said that prayers should be accompanied by appropriate action.
In Matthew 7:7 we read: “Ask, and it will be given you; seek And you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” Have we not been asking? Jeremiah 33 verse 3 is said to be the telephone number of God.
It reads: “Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things which you have not known.” Some of our seers after prayers have told us that the plague will get worse before it gets better and others have said it will end soon (timeless soon) that started in June.
There is no need for one to pray mechanically without believing in his or her request. That is why I say that it is a waste of one’s precious time to pray without believing. The story is told of a man who wrote a prayer on the wall. Every morning he said “Ditto O Lord.”
An example of God’s answer to prayer is provided in the Bible. “Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects. Elijah was a man of like nature with ourselves and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth its fruit.” James 5: 16-18. Where are our Elijahs? Where are our men of God who have been ordering Ebola to stop in vain?
To answer my question in the headline our God is not only over sensitive to sound but he also hears the sound of silence. God’s answer to prayer is yes, no or wait. He is not for arm twisting.
QUESTION TIME
- Will the government consider taking fish and other sea food to remote interior villages to discourage their reliance on bush meat?
- (a) Was the dastardly behavior of the Burial team that displayed dead bodies in Kenema not due to political recruitments?
(b) When will such appointments cease?
- The World Food Programme (WFP) is a well-known reputable organization.
Recently our APPA Chairman stated that the organization had brought rotten
rice into the country not fit for human consumption. WFP has proved to the
government that their rice was fit for consumption.
In view of this slur on the organization shall we not tag Mohamed Bangura as
The Chief National Mischief Maker of the year? Let’s crown him!
- Ebola has an uncanny resilience. Shall we not bury it instead of kicking it out?
© Politico 11/12/14
