2015 Polls And Season Of Prophesies

THIS is election time, an interesting time for Pastors and men of God. It is a time for making utterances claiming such utterances to be the divine messages of God. At a time like this pastors are very interesting people to listen to. Because from what they say and how they say it, we have some insight into the workings of men’s heart. Some of them have been saying that God has revealed to them the winner of the presidential election. They claim to have heard from God. Those of us who do not have the kind of gift they have are in capacitated at questioning the validity or otherwise of their prophesies.
But one thing is very clear. Pastors are human beings and they have imaginations in their heart, like the rest of us. We are somehow worried if they are not mistaking the imagination of their hearts for God’s word.
Or if they are not simply misconstruing their personal wishes and desires for God’s revealed truth. Some of us do not fear God and we do not even care about the consequences of misrepresenting Him.
This reminds me of what a Lagos based popular pastor prophesied in 1999 that Obasanjo would not win the presidential election of that year. But Obasanjo won the election. When he was asked why his prophecy failed; he said what matter was not just winning election but whether the winner would survive the office. What he simply meant though, he didn’t say it directly, was that though Obasanjo had won the election he would not complete his tenure either as a result of death or some other thing happening to him. At the end of the day Obasanjo did not only complete his 8 years of two terms; he even wanted to go for a third term. And the same Obasanjo is still alive today making waves and causing a lot of storms and rumblings in the polity.
So when men of God predict the result of election based on the imagination of their hearts and claim to be speaking for God they are not only bringing embarrassment to themselves, they are also committing sins against the Holy Spirit. God knows the workings of our hearts. He knows what we will think tomorrow, not just what we are thinking now and He discerns our motives.
So sometimes, when I read in the papers or hear on the radio or television of a pastor claiming to know the result of the yet to be held election I just laugh. Not because I do not believe that they are working for God or they are capable of hearing from God but essentially because some of them have proven that they cannot be trusted with their utterances What pastors owe this nation at this critical time is prayers not announcement of result of an election that is yet to be held. Because of a truth what they are doing is simply to put their wish before the word of God.
Some of them are doing the work of political analysts. They simply look at variables on ground and do their calculations. Again we must not also fail to realize that some prophetic utterances by some men of God are underpinned by commercial/financial considerations. This reminds me of a piece I wrote about two years ago entitled “Commercial Prayer Warriors”. In that article I wondered why some self styled prayer warriors move from offices to offices looking for rich corporate executives and political office holders to pray for. What they actually do is to invade offices of highly placed political office holders claiming that they have been sent by God to pray for them. You can’t find them in the hospitals where the sick really needs prayers or prisons where inmates require the word of God to turn a new leaf. Because visitations to such places cannot procure the needed financial gratification.
Thank God the Bible is there and we have been warned by Jesus Christ our Lord and savior that not all of those claiming to be working for him are real. Some are simply working for themselves using the name of God and Jesus Christ as a cover up or means of pursuing their personal ends.
It has been alleged in some circles that some men of God have been financially induced to speak in some particular way about the 2015 elections and to make it appear as if what they say has divine legitimacy. If that is true they are not deceiving Nigerians but they are bringing punishment upon their heads because God can never be deceived. The manipulative power of the tongue in collaboration with the selfish thoughts of the heart can never succeed in altering God’s plan.
My position on this matter is that nobody, irrespective of how highly placed he is in Christendom or the title he carries along, can alter what has been ordained by God. The result of May 28 elections can only be authoritatively revealed by God. For now only Him knows the result. Everything that will happen during and after the election is already known by Him and nobody can take the place of God. The only thing we mortals can do right now is mere permutation based on observable facts and realities.
We need to pray hard for a violent-free and fair election so that at the end of it all Nigerians will be happy to glorify the almighty God.
Another thing that is very clear in this election is that of religion. Those who beat the drums of religion during election do not even know the intentions of God for mankind God cannot be carried away by our selfish inclinations. God wants the best for us if only we cooperate with him in prayers
Nobody can decide for God. His wish for us is that we prosper and prosper in good health.
From my observation those who exploit religious sentiments are even very far from Christ or Prophet Muhammed. Poverty cuts across religious boundaries. Economic crises is not religiously segregated. So those who appeal to religious sensibilities for political gains are merely charlatans. Because if they love God and fear Him they will know that God cannot be lobbied to discriminate among his children.
Like I stated earlier we should go down on our knees for prayers and let our pastors be at the forefront of organizing a national prayer for free and fair election devoid of violence. Let them stop telling us that God has revealed to them the winner of the election. Let them stop dancing to the gallery for obvious reasons of financial self-gratification, let them stop exploiting the sensibilities of contestants for personal gains.
We are in a country where a pastor or Bishop who prophesies one thing today reverses himself tomorrow for reasons we all know.
I am optimistic that God will surely intervene if we put our trust in Him. At this tension-soak times, we actually need political leadership imbued with the virtue of public – spiritedness and a firmness of soul in the face of adversity because whether we accept it or not presidents are always under terrific pressures. And that requires that when faced with competing options or claims he should have the courage to strike off the best possible compromise in an imperfect world.
When a man, out of sheer instincts of self-gratification and desire to mislead, allows the imagination of his heart to be released and promoted as God’s revealed message, he does not only bring curse upon his head, he has also insulted Heaven whose judgement is inevitable.
“For those pastors claiming to have received revelation from God on the winner of 2015 presidential election, they should ask Tunde Bakare how he feels now, fifteen years after ‘prophesying that Obasanjo would never make it.”