We claim that 98% Nagas are Christians. In church every one is at their ‘Sunday best,’ conforming to accepted norms and codes of conduct, displaying true Christian-like behavior; but outside, our activities and behavior illustrate the contrary. The inexcusable rampant corruption and gun culture seem to have taken deep roots in all areas of our societal life. Becoming true Christians as a community, leading a victorious life seems next to impossible. Therefore our theme for this crusade “Not By Might But By My Spirit” is most relevant and vital in the present day. Our number one responsibility today is to become true Christians of the true God Almighty. We should strive to discover His plans for us, commit to His purpose and direction, lead a thriving and victorious life, and pass a safe and secure future to the upcoming generations.
1.Landless Unemployed Educated Children
The hypocrite jaggery producer told the King that his process of jaggery preparation was absolutely hygienic, but after few years he was caught red handed by the King doing the exact opposite. On a defensive note, he told the King, ‘Oh King, that is what we talk and this is what we all do’ and requested the King to cross-check with all other jaggery producers of the country. The culture of “that is what we talk and this is what we all do” seems to be familiar and successful with Nagas of today. As a result of such culture and behavior in the Nagaland scenario, one can clearly see that too much money and too much land are chasing too few people, creating spiritual and social imbalances, even to the point of posing grave threat to peaceful co-existence in the state.
What may happen to us, innocent villagers after a few years is of great concern. If we look at the rural areas, we find that most villagers especially in the foothills and plains have sold out their terrace fields and jhum lands, for want of money to educate their children. The rich buyers have replaced them with Miyas to take care of those lands. The consequence is felt when their children’s aims and chances of securing government jobs fail, for obvious reasons such as corruption, red tapism and nepotism! The villagers lose out on all sides, without neither farmlands to cultivate, nor government jobs or business enterprise to fall back on. Available data shows that there will be thousands of landless educated unemployed children in a few years’ time. If this is the by- product of present Christian community, we can’t blame our Hindu friends advising their friends against becoming Christians until they visit Nagaland and witness for themselves the daily practices of the average Naga Christian, such as corruption, immorality, fratricide and extortion.
2.Not by Might, but by my Spirit
The Jews of Jerusalem were defeated around 607 BC and all able-bodied men and women and their children were taken captive to Babylon. After 70 years of exile, when the King of Persia conquered Babylon, he granted the displaced persons permission to return to their homeland. A group of Jews returned to Jerusalem; Zerubbabel became King and Joshua became the High Priest. Their first and most important task was the rebuilding of the temple and the city of Jerusalem, so that they may be blessed and become a nation again. But there were only few workers available for the onerous job. Other Jews were skeptical and preferred to remain in Babylon. As such there was a great crisis and their survival as a nation came under severe threat.
At this critical juncture prophet Zachariah brought a bold message from God, which was that the task of rebuilding the temple and city can be carried out not by human might and power, but by divine power. This powerful message from the Lord came in as a flash of powerful light in the eyes of the Jews, giving insight and encouragement in their despair. With this strong moral encouragement from the Lord all the Jews came forward from different territories, rebuilt the temple and city in about four years’ time and became a nation once again.
3.We have God’s DNA in us
God tells us today through Zachariah’s prophecy that the huge task to become true Christians in Nagaland can be done the same way the temple and city of Jerusalem were rebuilt; honesty, purity, love, unselfishness and trust can prevail in our land not by muscle, money or gun power but by the spirit of God. We know that we are wonderfully and fearfully created by God in His likeness and image. We are the royal children of the Most High God, and when He made us He put a part of Himself into us. So we may say that we have the spiritual DNA of the Almighty God. We have His nature and traits. In our genes right now are His favor, wisdom, strength, talent and ability. God breathes His life into us. Just as our natural DNA came from our parents, our spiritual DNA is from our Heavenly Father. It is thus our natural duty to hate sin of every nature that glues us irresistibly to intoxicating vices, making us strangers to our Heavenly Father.
4. Hearken to the Wake Up Call
The good news is that if we whole heartedly repent and come to Christ Jesus, God’s DNA in us will override any negative DNA of worldly vice in our natural family line. We call ourselves Christians but we allow and let the spiritual DNA in us slumber for too long. So sincere repentance and obedience to Zechariah’s wakeup call of “not by might nor by power, but by my spirit” is the bounden responsibility of the present generation, to negate the wrongs and build a better future for our youth.
5.Blessed Home
In the same principle, corresponding to our theme the Bible says “Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain”. What I understand of this verse is this: if we human beings were like animals without soul and the spiritual DNA, then the best architects, engineers, masons and carpenters with the best building materials would have been enough to build our homes. But since we are the royal sons of our Heavenly Father, we are to be in constant harmony with Him in His divine purpose while building our home, family and career so that there is abundance of God’s blessings and peace at home and in our society. Deut. 28:3-6.
6.Impossibility without God and Bible
It is said that there is a vacuum in every human heart which can be filled by God alone. So without God in our lives, there is always a feeling of emptiness. George Washington rightly declared “It is Impossible to Govern Rightly Without God and Bible”. The America of 1775 had a population of just one million spread over 13 colonies, was overburdened by multiple taxes and denied representation to the Government under Great Britain. But it overcame the hurdles and became a powerful nation under the leadership of a person who whole heartedly committed to God and the Bible, and was unanimously elected the first President of U.S.A for two terms and honoured with the title “Father of the Country.” He is none other than George Washington.
Washington’s aforesaid declaration may be interpreted as, it is impossible for the self, family, society and government to work rightly, without God and Bible. He did not build America by human power but through God and Bible. America of today may have attracted much of God’s curse for their immorality, but America was definitely blessed by the Almighty God because its political movement, the idea of nationhood, independence and government were built on the foundation of God and Bible. It is an example of how God and Bible, and not human might can do miracles to a nation. Neglect of God, Bible and Holy Spirit is the major cause of all our problems today. It is the responsibility of the present generation to rebuild the temple and city of Nagaland’s broken Jerusalem
7. Alive outside but Dead inside.
I have seen that in the USA, there are many physically alive, but spiritually dead; there is no happiness on their faces. We have many such people in Nagaland too. Zachariah’s call for faith in God rings out as a clear solution. “Worship the Lord your God it is He who will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies.” II Kings 17:39. Worship can mean committing our heart, time, energy, sweat, and possessions into God’s purpose and direction. Then deliverance from our enemies of corruption, poverty, ignorance, sickness, immorality, extortion, fratricide, alcoholism and the like will follow.
8. My Cross is Easy.
We are all burdened with temptation to hypocrisy and bad practices, and we do not want to pass this legacy to our children. Let us look at the life of Simon of Cyrene, Libya, North Africa. He was asked to carry Christ’s cross to Mt. Calvary. If asked, perhaps he might have said it was not so harsh; in fact it was musical. He might say that he was the luckiest person in the world to have got the privilege to carry it; it did not harm him in any way, but rather saved him, his family and many other Gentiles. Our Lord Jesus is calling us today to carry His “easy yoke” that is His “easy cross” to save us from the burden of our sins. Are we willing to repent and submit ourselves into God’s Will and purpose and whole heartedly make bold fervent prayers to heal our land and let Him enlarge the territory of His blessings? Let us pray for big things and expect big things for the extension of His kingdom.
Kuolachalie Seyie
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