By Toks Ero
As a child growing up, there were so many behaviours and attitudes considered detestable, abominable and sacrilegious by society. And not just the larger society, but individual families as well who had codes of conduct its members must strictly abide by – a kind of family mantra that guided the conduct of its members regardless of conditions, situations, circumstances or status.
I recall such codes drummed into our subconscious by my parents. Back then, it was not unusual to hear one’s parents admonish one “to remember the son of whom you are” as you packed your bags for boarding school. In fact, my father never missed an opportunity to tell us he will never stick out his neck for any of his children caught in any act that brings disgrace to the family’s hallowed name. I remember many occasions I told friends I couldn’t take home any possession I could not satisfactorily explain without my mother asking me how I came about such.
Back then, which wasn’t too long ago, people inquired how a man acquired his wealth hence society was wary of those who disappear from the community only to reappear years later with tons of cash to intimidate the poor or buy up the community, which explains why back then, we didn’t have questionable characters parading themselves with ill-gotten wealth or custodians of our hallowed traditional stools selling chieftaincy titles two for a penny to such questionable characters. Then, there was some sense of sacredness about these things.
We didn’t have a deluge of abominations such as killing for money-making rituals, of fathers who raped their daughters, of apprentices who wanted to get rich over night and so steal their masters into bankruptcy or of masters who devised all manner of satanic strategies not to ‘settle’ that boy who diligently served him for years despite a prior agreement between the boy’s parents and himself, and of parents who helped their children and wards cheat in public exams or of public servants transformed into self-servants because those who now seek to occupy public offices go to abominable extents to get to such offices because they want to line their pockets with our commonwealth. Should I go on?
The preceding paragraph aptly describes our today. Pick up any newspaper or magazine, tune to any television or radio channel, get on any social media platform, you will understand how deep in the mud we are. On a daily basis, various media platforms are awash with news of the deification of behaviours and attitudes once held in disdain by society. The most depressing of it all is that the family and society seem to have lost their collective sense of decency and morality thereby precipitating a free reign of the abominable everywhere.
The battle between the forces of good and evil is evidently being won by evil. Our hearts have been overcome by wickedness. The love of many has waxed cold. The spirit of the anti-Christ is here and working tirelessly to make our world as hellish as and before Hell Fire. We need to yield ourselves to the Holy Spirit for God to instil His fear in our hearts. Individuals, families and indeed society are in dire need of a total transformational value reorientation.
If today, society and indeed not many seem to be bothered about these worrisome trends, I am deeply worried about our tomorrow for I tremble when I think of a society where our collective sense of morality, decency and decorum would be finally crucified on the cross with no hope of a glorious resurrection.
And may be by then, the powers that hold sway in the kingdom of Armageddon would have finally taken over this land. God forbid!!!
Toks Ero blogs at www.toksero.org. He tweets from @toksero
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
