THE WESTERN DEVELOPED WORLD OF THE US AND THE UK CANNOT STAND AS ROLE MODELS FOR NIGERIA AND AFRICA OR BRING ABOUT WORLD PEACE
February 12, 2021 | News
THE WESTERN DEVELOPED WORLD OF THE US AND THE UK CANNOT STAND AS ROLE MODELS FOR NIGERIA AND AFRICA OR BRING ABOUT WORLD PEACE
It has been said by the holy writ that “Righteousness exalts a nation: but SIN is a reproach to ANY people.” That means it is only when right, good, light, and uprightness is exalted and upheld by a society and its people, that such a society and people would experience peace, unity, all-round-soundness and of course progress in all ramifications. But when this is not so, such a society would respectively witness gross moral decay, rifts, bitterness, anger, criminality, and so many other things that are wrong. And such a society should never be regarded as an ‘example’ for others to follow/emulate. These are natural and divine principles which have always proven to be true throughout history, both in nations and on individuals. In other words, a society might seemingly be seen as making progress and development based on the world standards of physical/visible structures, but that same society may be innately corrupt and dead from within, simply because it allowed pride and arrogance of its achievements to becloud its ‘moral sensitivity’ and uprightness.
This was the picture painted clearly in a short video online that went viral some time ago, tagged: ‘Social Disease in the Western World.’ The speaker in the said video started by noting that: “Between the US and the UK, considered to be the two most sophisticated advanced civilizations, there are 27 million persons addicted to drugs. There are 89 million people addicted to alcohol. There are 106 million persons addicted to cigarette smoking. 21 million of those die every year from diseases related to their addiction to cigarette smoking. 24 million women prostitutes themselves ‘legally’ with licenses. 8 murders or homicides are committed every 19 minutes, and 2 rapes are committed every seven minutes, and there are 3 robberies every 59 seconds.
“There are 257,000 children who are killed in the womb by license. 21 million children are born every year out of wedlock, who do not know their mothers and fathers. Or who do not know whom they’re fathered by. 2.8 million suicides every year of human being who find no reason to live.
“275,000 persons are locked up in their prison industrial complexes. And today, the prisons are built as industries. They are no longer built simply to house and to reform criminals, they are built as industries, and major conglomerates compete with one another for the contracts to build, and to administrate these prison complexes because they have found that the labour from prisoners are just like the labour in South America, or India and other places. They can have people locked-up for 20 years, 30 years, or for life, and have them to work for 53 cents (6.8Naira) an hour. So, it makes sense to build prisons, and it makes sense to give people life in prisons.
“These statistics are shocking. They are depressing, and they are evident themselves that such societies do not qualify to be the models, or the champions for the source of bringing peace to the world. With these kinds of social problems inside of their own boundaries, inside of their own Governments, and their own institutions, how can they bring peace to the world? It does not make sense!”
Valid argument and statements of facts you would agree right? So, the next time we would want to compare African countries to these Western nations, and strive to be like them, we should also take into consideration of the fact that they cannot stand as good role models for any society and its people. It is no news that most of the immorality and problems across the world today, especially in Nigeria, were adopted and learnt from the Western developed world and their suffocating influences.
Mind you, the America we know today for instance, was not like that when it first started its journey towards national development and nationhood. In fact, America’s founding Fathers built the nation on godly and righteous principles. Even its Constitution recognizes this fact. "In God We Trust" became the national motto of the US since it was signed into law on June 30th,1956 by the then President Dwight D. Eisenhower. And it is boldly inscribed on the US Dollar currency. And I believe these uprightness foundation of America, was the reason for their tremendous progress and development in all ramifications, including their advancement of modern Democracy across the world after the Greeks pioneer of Democracy. But over the years, pride, arrogance and unrighteousness became more prevalent in the American culture, hence we now see the statistics presented above.
In one of his books about shaping history... Derek Prince reiterated a Proclamation that was made by Abraham Lincoln, which is still preserved in the Library of Congress as Appendix number 19 in volume 12 of the United States At Large. The said Proclamation "was initiated by a resolution of the United States Senate, and was officially declared by President Lincoln on March 30, 1863. Its message contains two related themes that challenge our careful consideration.
First, the proclamation acknowledges the unique blessings enjoyed by the United States, but suggests that these blessings have brought about an attitude of pride and self-sufficiency that are the root causes of a grave national crisis. Some of the phrases could apply with equal force to the condition of the nation today: "We have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown....We have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own....We have become too self-sufficient... too proud to pray to the God that made us!"
"Second, the proclamation unequivocally acknowledges "the overruling power of God" in the affairs of men and nations. It indicates that behind the political, economic, and military forces of history, there are divine spiritual laws at work; and that by acknowledging and submitting to these laws, a nation may change its destiny, averting threatened disaster and regaining true peace and prosperity."
Fast forward to the present generation of America, what we find is the above stated statistics as proof of a morally decaying society, which very few Americans like Donald Trump were trying to reverse and restore the nation on the path of rightness. Even a US Court in 2018, had to reject Atheists' Appeal over "In God We Trust" inscription on US currency, citing its longstanding use and saying it was not coercive. Now, we have President Joe Biden, using his Presidential might to try to reverse all that Trump has done, including the liberty and freedom for Gay people and same sex marriage. And he wants the rest of Africa, especially Nigeria, to embrace such immoral nonsense that is alien to us, or face some sanctions.
Nigeria might not be developed as we would like, but there is still some element of sanity in our culture and way of life. However, this is eroding too because over the years, our younger generations wants to copy and paste everything American and Western lifestyles. It breaks my heart, to see that all the values, uprightness and morality, that once held and made our society relatively stable, noble and productive, seem to have been eroded from one generation to another. So much so that some of us, as the older generation in this 21st century, are now wondering what went wrong. What are parents/guardians/public office holders and every adult that has attained some measure of responsibility, been doing, or not doing, which has contributed to, and responsible for today’s mayhem in our society? What went wrong? WHY HAVE WE BECOME SO COMFORTABLE WITH WHAT IS WRONG, THAT WE CHOSE NOT TO CONDEMN IT? And when few persons choses to do the right thing, they are seen as people who are not normal, or that something is wrong with them. We see this anomaly in both the public sector and private sector.
This process of changing the narrative, and bringing back the values that once held our society firmly, we believe, must start from the political leaders/elites class, who are the CUSTODIANS OF OUR COLLECTIVE WEALTH, and the best examples that the Nigerian masses would easily follow in doing the right thing. This is because, by virtue of the positions they occupy in public offices, they have the power to influence the change we all so desire to see in our society. The truth is, the rot we see in our society today, is daily made worse by the irresponsible and unaccountable dispositions of the Nigerian political leaders at all levels of Government, most of whom, are the very people who break the laws and disregard the rule of law that ought to uphold and differentiate wrong from right, and right from wrong.
Zik Gbemre.
February 12, 2021
We Mobilize Others To Fight For Individual Causes As If Those Were Our Causes
It has been said by the holy writ that “Righteousness exalts a nation: but SIN is a reproach to ANY people.” That means it is only when right, good, light, and uprightness is exalted and upheld by a society and its people, that such a society and people would experience peace, unity, all-round-soundness and of course progress in all ramifications. But when this is not so, such a society would respectively witness gross moral decay, rifts, bitterness, anger, criminality, and so many other things that are wrong. And such a society should never be regarded as an ‘example’ for others to follow/emulate. These are natural and divine principles which have always proven to be true throughout history, both in nations and on individuals. In other words, a society might seemingly be seen as making progress and development based on the world standards of physical/visible structures, but that same society may be innately corrupt and dead from within, simply because it allowed pride and arrogance of its achievements to becloud its ‘moral sensitivity’ and uprightness.
This was the picture painted clearly in a short video online that went viral some time ago, tagged: ‘Social Disease in the Western World.’ The speaker in the said video started by noting that: “Between the US and the UK, considered to be the two most sophisticated advanced civilizations, there are 27 million persons addicted to drugs. There are 89 million people addicted to alcohol. There are 106 million persons addicted to cigarette smoking. 21 million of those die every year from diseases related to their addiction to cigarette smoking. 24 million women prostitutes themselves ‘legally’ with licenses. 8 murders or homicides are committed every 19 minutes, and 2 rapes are committed every seven minutes, and there are 3 robberies every 59 seconds.
“There are 257,000 children who are killed in the womb by license. 21 million children are born every year out of wedlock, who do not know their mothers and fathers. Or who do not know whom they’re fathered by. 2.8 million suicides every year of human being who find no reason to live.
“275,000 persons are locked up in their prison industrial complexes. And today, the prisons are built as industries. They are no longer built simply to house and to reform criminals, they are built as industries, and major conglomerates compete with one another for the contracts to build, and to administrate these prison complexes because they have found that the labour from prisoners are just like the labour in South America, or India and other places. They can have people locked-up for 20 years, 30 years, or for life, and have them to work for 53 cents (6.8Naira) an hour. So, it makes sense to build prisons, and it makes sense to give people life in prisons.
“These statistics are shocking. They are depressing, and they are evident themselves that such societies do not qualify to be the models, or the champions for the source of bringing peace to the world. With these kinds of social problems inside of their own boundaries, inside of their own Governments, and their own institutions, how can they bring peace to the world? It does not make sense!”
Valid argument and statements of facts you would agree right? So, the next time we would want to compare African countries to these Western nations, and strive to be like them, we should also take into consideration of the fact that they cannot stand as good role models for any society and its people. It is no news that most of the immorality and problems across the world today, especially in Nigeria, were adopted and learnt from the Western developed world and their suffocating influences.
Mind you, the America we know today for instance, was not like that when it first started its journey towards national development and nationhood. In fact, America’s founding Fathers built the nation on godly and righteous principles. Even its Constitution recognizes this fact. "In God We Trust" became the national motto of the US since it was signed into law on June 30th,1956 by the then President Dwight D. Eisenhower. And it is boldly inscribed on the US Dollar currency. And I believe these uprightness foundation of America, was the reason for their tremendous progress and development in all ramifications, including their advancement of modern Democracy across the world after the Greeks pioneer of Democracy. But over the years, pride, arrogance and unrighteousness became more prevalent in the American culture, hence we now see the statistics presented above.
In one of his books about shaping history... Derek Prince reiterated a Proclamation that was made by Abraham Lincoln, which is still preserved in the Library of Congress as Appendix number 19 in volume 12 of the United States At Large. The said Proclamation "was initiated by a resolution of the United States Senate, and was officially declared by President Lincoln on March 30, 1863. Its message contains two related themes that challenge our careful consideration.
First, the proclamation acknowledges the unique blessings enjoyed by the United States, but suggests that these blessings have brought about an attitude of pride and self-sufficiency that are the root causes of a grave national crisis. Some of the phrases could apply with equal force to the condition of the nation today: "We have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown....We have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own....We have become too self-sufficient... too proud to pray to the God that made us!"
"Second, the proclamation unequivocally acknowledges "the overruling power of God" in the affairs of men and nations. It indicates that behind the political, economic, and military forces of history, there are divine spiritual laws at work; and that by acknowledging and submitting to these laws, a nation may change its destiny, averting threatened disaster and regaining true peace and prosperity."
Fast forward to the present generation of America, what we find is the above stated statistics as proof of a morally decaying society, which very few Americans like Donald Trump were trying to reverse and restore the nation on the path of rightness. Even a US Court in 2018, had to reject Atheists' Appeal over "In God We Trust" inscription on US currency, citing its longstanding use and saying it was not coercive. Now, we have President Joe Biden, using his Presidential might to try to reverse all that Trump has done, including the liberty and freedom for Gay people and same sex marriage. And he wants the rest of Africa, especially Nigeria, to embrace such immoral nonsense that is alien to us, or face some sanctions.
Nigeria might not be developed as we would like, but there is still some element of sanity in our culture and way of life. However, this is eroding too because over the years, our younger generations wants to copy and paste everything American and Western lifestyles. It breaks my heart, to see that all the values, uprightness and morality, that once held and made our society relatively stable, noble and productive, seem to have been eroded from one generation to another. So much so that some of us, as the older generation in this 21st century, are now wondering what went wrong. What are parents/guardians/public office holders and every adult that has attained some measure of responsibility, been doing, or not doing, which has contributed to, and responsible for today’s mayhem in our society? What went wrong? WHY HAVE WE BECOME SO COMFORTABLE WITH WHAT IS WRONG, THAT WE CHOSE NOT TO CONDEMN IT? And when few persons choses to do the right thing, they are seen as people who are not normal, or that something is wrong with them. We see this anomaly in both the public sector and private sector.
This process of changing the narrative, and bringing back the values that once held our society firmly, we believe, must start from the political leaders/elites class, who are the CUSTODIANS OF OUR COLLECTIVE WEALTH, and the best examples that the Nigerian masses would easily follow in doing the right thing. This is because, by virtue of the positions they occupy in public offices, they have the power to influence the change we all so desire to see in our society. The truth is, the rot we see in our society today, is daily made worse by the irresponsible and unaccountable dispositions of the Nigerian political leaders at all levels of Government, most of whom, are the very people who break the laws and disregard the rule of law that ought to uphold and differentiate wrong from right, and right from wrong.
Zik Gbemre.
February 12, 2021
We Mobilize Others To Fight For Individual Causes As If Those Were Our Causes