In 1970, one day, the rumour mill was strong that a girl in our secondary school was impregnated by my fellow tutor, and that they had gone to Enugu to procure an abortion. It was reported that when the girl’s Dad, a very rich man, but an illiterate, heard it, he told her, “You are no more my son”. And he meant it. His ‘beautiful’ English tickled people more than the moral laxity exhibited by the girl. A few years ago, a Dad published the photograph of his son in the newspaper, telling him and the reading public, that he was no longer his father. One could imagine its agony in his heart!
It is terrible, when a father is compelled by a child to give him up in his life. It takes great pain to do that. One can be sure that it must have taken him a very long time of talking to the child and staying awake, most of the nights, before reaching that agonizing decision. In that situation, the man knows that there is nothing more he can do in impacting the life of his child. “God gave them up,” we are told in Romans 1:26. May He not do so to you! May He not do so also to me!
It is not enough to wish it, it is therefore, important for us to know, why He said so. “For the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness,” says Romans 1:8. It will be a different story if they did not know the truth. They did, but held it in unrighteousness. God, therefore, had no other choice but to give up on them. In consequence, they went ahead to do ludicrous things. Today, homosexuality, as the result, has come to stay. Most parents will collapse if they know some of the hidden things their ‘nice’ children do.
Sometime ago, I discovered what a certain young girl, in the name of chatting, was doing at midnight, when honest people were deep asleep. It was all about sex. Prudence will restrict me from mentioning these things and their indecent terms. I was very much disturbed, when I considered her age and her low academic stature. My conclusion from it is that one does not need to go far in age or education to be involved deeply in all forms of immorality. A housemaid may know what her master and mistress do not know and so also may a student know what his teachers in school do not know.
It was alleged that a young teenage girl confessed, how she was making much money by having sex with dogs before spectators! She was on the payroll of the organizers, who would collect gate fees from the spectators. Not long after, it was alleged that she had spent all the evil money she made, but the spectacle of her deed is still living with her. Is it not abhorrent that a man, dedicated to God at birth in the Church, and who is celebrated now by his parents, family members, friends and colleagues, because of his academic or financial attainment, will spend his money and time to watch shamefully, a lady having sex with an animal? One wonders what he will gain from that! Is it not gross evil for someone to teach an animal what it would never have imagined – to be having sex with human beings created in God’s image? During the day, who would imagine that he spends his night and money to watch a bizarre scene, an animal having sex with a girl, who may be as young as his youngest daughter?
For committing these evil, “God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things, which are not convenient,” says Rom. 1:28. There is nothing men cannot do. This why a man can rape his daughter, the baby he was cuddling in his hands a few years ago! This is why he cannot resist his housemaid’s accusation of raping her and he still eats food, dresses and goes to work or to his business, where people will ‘sir’ him! This is why a mum, well respected in the society, can rape her son, Junior of yesterday, whose birth gladdened her heart! A man of God told us during the Easter Retreat of last year, how four boys and four girls once confessed to him, that their parents had raped them! Imagine!
God details the various evil deeds of some people, such as: fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, backbiters, murder, deceit, malignity, envy, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, et cetera. It annoys Him much that these are committed by people, “Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them”. Three things stand out here: the committing of the evil deeds, which they know that God is aware of, knowing God’s impending judgment on such people, yet, they do them, and being in friendship with such care-free people.
What pains God most is when the people He created will change, “The truth of God into a lie”. Idol worshippers are called liars because they present God as if He has a body, while as, He is Spirit. They worship and serve the creature instead of the Creator. They will all face spiritual judgment, which is worse than the natural. If a patient refuses to submit to his doctor’s prescription, the sickness is sure to escalate. There is nothing the doctor can do. It is not his fault but that of his patient, since, as an adult, he has made his choice.
The implication of God giving up on someone is that the person is on his own. The father, who told his son above, that he was no longer his son, meant that he would not regard him again as his son. If the youth needed money, he would not give him. If he had a problem, he would not help him out of it. It is even worse when God gives up on someone. A youth rejected by his father can be helped by someone else. It is not so when God rejects someone. Nobody can replace God in his life. Samuel told King Saul that as he had rejected God’s Word, that God had also rejected him from being the king of Israel. From that day, God abandoned him. As young as, and as inexperienced as David was, God chose him to replace Saul. With the military armour at his disposal, Saul did his utmost to murder David but he could not. David on other hand, had opportunities to kill him but he spared him. Saul ended up in consulting a witch and not long after, he died.
When God gives up on someone, He will not provide for him, will not protect him and He will not answer his prayers. If he prays, it will be a waste of time. How can someone live then, without praying? True wisdom makes someone to consider ahead of time, the implication of anything he wants to do before taking decision. Foolishness is to make a choice without considering the likely result. It ends in regret.
For further comment, Please contact: Osondu Anyalechi: 0802 3002-471; [email protected]