Invoking God's name to do evil, gain power

The preamble of our Constitution acknowledges the supremacy of the Almighty God. The first stanza of the national anthem is actually a prayer to God. But seldom has the concept of God been abused more than in the recent past.

When it is not a politician proclaiming themselves to be God’s elect, it is the adherent of some sect eschewing modern medicine in an erroneous exercise of faith.

Sample this: Two boys from Kitui County bled to death after a botched up circumcision. Their father said: “We did not take them to hospital because I am saved and according to scriptures, we are not allowed to go to hospital.”

A leading politician was quoted saying, “only God decides on a leader when his time comes”. Yet another leader has capitalised on religious tropes, constantly using the word Canaan to conjure images of a political, social and economic nirvana.

But is God to blame for the deaths of the two Kitui boys whose father resignedly said, God gives, and God takes away?” Is God responsible for poor electoral outcomes; for leaders of unbridled avarice who excel only at sucking State coffers and are woefully deficient in statecraft?

For many, God is at once a convenient crutch to revive flagging personal fortunes and the whipping boy for all else that goes wrong in a country. How far from the truth! Absurd that the lines between personal and divine responsibility are so blurred that anything goes.

Electoral queues

A way out of this morass is to know the truth. The Bible in John 8:32 says, “And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free”. For purposes of this discourse, the first truth is that we are responsible for choices on earth and not God.

Psalm 115:16 says, “The heaven, even the heavens are the Lords; but the earth, He has given to the children of men”. It is therefore a fallacy to talk of earthly leaders who are “anointed” by God. God does not stand in the electoral queues nor does He dictate citizen choices.

Second, although God does not force His will on anyone, He sits in an advisory role in man’s affairs. Micah 6:8, says, “He has shown you, O man, what is good and what the Lord requires of you, but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

In Proverbs 31:4, He further prescribes the conduct of leaders saying, “It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine nor for princes intoxicating drink; lest they drink and forget the law, and pervert the justice of all the afflicted”.

Yet many citizens fatalistically believe that deeply flawed characters, by dint of their association with the church, transform into great leaders.

Those who point out glaring personal inadequacies in such, are accused of being judgmental. Hackneyed phrases like “God judges the heart” are used to coerce many to acceptance.

Thief or murderer

But while it is true that God’s perspective is based on the heart or motive which cannot be seen physically, that of humanity is based on actions which are evident to all and sundry.

Thus, one cannot be said to be sanctimonious when they call out a thief or murderer or serial philanderer based on the evidence of their actions. It remains the height of folly to consider such persons for leadership positions.

That the country has plunged to the nadir of morality is apparent in citizen attitudes. Many have become impervious to the effects of corruption.

A young girl, on being admonished for flaunting her family wealth, allegedly obtained through fraudulent means, lashed out at her detractors, advising them to tell their fathers to steal public funds as well.

Huge sums of Covid-19 funds meant to alleviate the effects of the pandemic are unaccounted for. Donated medical equipment for the same exercise remains missing.

The just refuse to be lectured on God by those who by their actions reveal them to have the greatest antipathy towards divinity. They refuse to subscribe to the notion that there is a special category of leaders appointed by God, their personal foibles notwithstanding.

The situation that currently obtains is best described in Isaiah 59:14 which says, “Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands afar off, for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.” O, foolish Kenyans, who has bewitched you? Clearly, si maombi, ni uchawi!

 

Mr Khafafa is a public policy analyst