As the fifteenth century gave way to the sixteenth, Jesus returned. He reappeared in Spain, on the streets of Seville. There were no fanfares attending his advent, no choirs of angels or supernatural spectaculars, no extravagant meteorological phenomena. On the contrary, he arrived ‘softly’ and ‘unobserved’. And yet the passers-by quickly recognized him, were irresistibly drawn to him, surrounded him, flocked about him, followed him. He moved modestly among them with a gentle smile of ‘ineffable compassion’, held out his hands to them, conferred his blessings upon them; and an old man among the crowd, blind from childhood, miraculously regained the faculty of sight. The multitude wept and kissed the earth at his feet while children tossed flowers before him, sang and lifted their voices in hosannas.

At the steps of the cathedral, weeping mourners were carrying inside a small open white coffin. Within it, almost hidden by flowers, lay a child of seven, the only daughter of a distinguished citizen. Urged on by the crowd, the bereft mother turned to the newcomer and beseeched him to restore the dead girl to life. The procession was halted and the coffin was set down at his feet on the cathedral steps. ‘Maiden, arise!’ he commanded softly, and the girl immediately sat upright, looking about, smiling with wide wondering eyes, still holding the cluster of white roses that had been placed in her hands.

This miracle was witnessed, as he passes with his entourage of bodyguards, the city’s cardinal and Grand Inquisitor ‘an aged man, almost ninety, tall and upright in stature, with a shriveled face and deeply recessed eyes, in which, however, there still burned a gleam of light’. Such was the terror he inspired that the crowd, despite the extraordinary circumstances, deferentially fell silent, parted and made way for him. Neither did anyone dare to interfere when, at the old prelate’s behest, the newcomer was summarily arrested by his bodyguards and led off to prison.

When the Grand Inquisitor visits Jesus’s cell, it is clear he knows only too well who the prisoner is; but the knowledge does not deter him. During the prolonged philosophical and theological debate that ensues, the old man remains adamant in his position. In the scripture, Jesus is tempted by the devil in the wilderness with the prospect of power, of earthly authority, of secular or temporal dominion over the world. Now, a millennium and the half later, he is confronted by precisely the same kind of temptations. When he resists them, the Grand Inquisitor consigns him to the stake.

Jesus responds only by conferring on the old man a kiss of forgiveness. Shuddering, the kiss ‘glowing in his heart’, the old man opens the door to his cell. ‘Go’, he commands ‘and come no more… Come not at all, never, never! Released into the darkness, the prisoner disappears, never to be seen again. And the Grand Inquisitor, in full consciousness of what has just transpired, continues to adhere to his principles, continues to enforce his reign of terror, continues to sentence other victims often self evidently innocent to the flames.

(Extracted from Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh’s ‘The Inquisition’ Penguin Books, 2000)

From the passage above it is evident that the Grand Inquisitor will do anything to hold on to his earthly power and position even it means selling his soul wholeheartedly to the devil.

However should Jesus walk the earth this present day, one can only decipher that he will no doubt be faced with the same kind of resistance he faced in the passage above, not from the masses of present day Nigeria, but from members of the ruling class and the clergy.

Permit me to say that the Grand Inquisitor in the passage above is no different from many of the members of both the ruling class and the clergy, who have formed a symbiotic relationship of lobotomizing the Nigerian masses.

One cannot seem to argue the level of episodic decadence that has slowly been eating its way into the fabrics of the Nigerian polity. And who do we have to blame for this decay, one can only point his or her fingers to those who have occupy the position of power in this country and members of the clergy who sit back and do absolutely nothing to ease the suffering of the masses.

Observe critically the way members of the ruling class always sort the help of the clergy when it’s time for election or when there seem to be turmoil in the country. Members of the ruling class pay unceremonious visits to members of the clergy and seek their help in the lobotomization of the Nigerian masses. While one cannot fault any member of the ruling class from paying visits to any clergyman, one is also forced to ask, how many times have we seen or heard that the President of the United States visit a clergyman in his country? Or even the Prime Minister of Britain? With this however, one can only question the rationale behind these unscrupulous visits.

So they question now is how have the clergy succeeded in subduing the anger of the masses?, they continuously tell they masses to pray and hope for the best, and the masses forgetting that ‘action speaks louder than words’ and also forgetting that ‘hope’ which is a fine quality but when possess in excess can be very dangerous do exactly what the clergymen say because of the fact that they revere them, while they the clergy continue to get grants and cash gifts from members of ruling class. It even made the front page of many newspapers the way some members of the ruling class pay surreptitious visits to a clergy man who was incarcerated for burning members of his church. Even the visit of the President of Nigeria to the Redeem Christian Church of God is testament to this. The list is endless.

So the question is, why allow someone or even endorse someone who is responsible for the gross decay in the country to come and pay visit to members of the clergy? I know some will say Jesus spent all his time on earth with sinners and not the righteous, but what they fail to note is that did Jesus sit back and receive gifts from the sinners without admonishing them of their sins?, did he sit back and encourage them to go on and continue in their sinful ways?, did he by any chance endorse them? The answer I leave for you to answer.

Calliope. I'm sure you'll love to read this.

SalomonKane:
Calliope. I'm sure you'll love to read this.

had you not drawn my attention to this wonderful piece embedded with an atom of truth written by joe, i would have missed it

i had a good read, but may i know your intent

calliope:



had you not drawn my attention to this wonderful piece embedded with an atom of truth written by joe i would have missed it

i had a good read, but may i know your intent

My intent is pure I assure you. I've been seeing your shares, so I thought you'd love to read this piece written by Joe.

I'm glad I wasn't wrong.

SalomonKane:
My intent is pure I assure you. I've been seeing your shares, so I thought you'd love to read this piece written by Joe.

I'm glad I wasn't wrong.

uhm ..

you guessed right then

but i find this gesture of yours repulsive; if i may ask are you christian?

if yes. then i got the essence of this

calliope:


uhm ..

you guessed right then

but i find this gesture of yours repulsive; if i may ask are you christian?

if yes. then i got the essence of this

Repulsive? Why? I'm not a Christian and that's a fact

SalomonKane:
Repulsive? Why? I'm not a Christian and that's a fact

Tot you were a xtian, sorry about misunderstand-in.

atheist?

calliope:


Tot you were a xtian, sorry about misunderstand-in.

atheist?

Nope. I like to say I'm non conformist.