God-Recommended Enslavement

God-Recommended

Enslavement

Emmanuel Oghenebrorhie

Copyright © 2011 by Emmanuel Oghenebrorhie.

ISBN:          Softcover                                 978-1-4628-8515-2

                   Ebook                                      978-1-4628-8516-9

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Unless otherwise indicated, scriptures are from the Good News Bible (GNB) also known as Today’s English Version (TEV), New Century Version (NCV), Contemporary English Version (CEV), Amplified Bible (AMP), The Living Bible (TLB), The New English Translation Bible (The NET Bible), Easy to Read Version, Revised Standard Version (RSV), New Living Translation (NLT), (THE MESSAGE), New International Version (NIV), New American Standard Updated (NASU), English Standard Version (ESV), GodsWord, New American Standard (NAS), American Standard Version (ASV), Young Literary Translation (YLT), Bible in Basic English (BBE), and New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

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Contents

Introduction

Chapter I Gainful Giving

Chapter II Grander Generationext

Chapter III Kindness and Hospitality Compelling Loyalty

Chapter IV Requested to be lord and ruler

Other Published Titles by the Author

Dedication

All respectable members of the International

Council of Rewarding Rulers and Laudable Leaders

Appreciation

All glory to God that this is available for others to read. Lord, a thousand tongues is not enough for me to express my gratitude for this unique opportunity to be a blessing to my generation and future generations. Surely, everything in this call and commission is your doing and it is marvellous in my eyes.

Doris Okocha edited substantial part after Cletus Okuguni edited the initial draft. It is highly appreciated. May God swell your heavenly account richly, in Jesus’ mighty name, Amen.

Introduction

God is concerned about the oppressor, the oppressed and His purpose and He uses oppression when necessary to achieve His objective. Genesis 15 says He orchestrated the oppression of the descendants of His friend, Abraham, long before the descendants existed. He allowed Satan to afflict Job for a purpose after which He restored Job’s fortunes. Long before He lived in the flesh, God the Father, meant Jesus’ detractors to afflict Him before He would put them to shame and glorify Jesus. In Luke 24:26 Jesus says His sufferings were inevitable for His glorification. Hebrews 12:2 lends credence to this and in fact, admonishes us to accept to be oppressed to enable us enter into our God-ordained glory. Job 2:10 and Ecclesiastes 7:13-14 suggest that God is the author of both good and bad experiences in order to achieve His planned purpose, while Ecclesiastes 6:10-12 and Isaiah 43:13 say no man can escape from God’s planned purpose at any point in time. Therefore, we could have said Between God, Man and Oppression, God’s Oppression Concept or God-authored Oppression Concept".

An acquaintance once said religious leaders are not treating their lieutenants and followers well in his estimation and it was becoming rampant with church leaders. I told him that he is both wrong and right. The leaders have every right under the sun to do what they like but the followers equally have the God-given right under the sun to decide what to do with a bad leader. The key word is that they are followers. Also, a sister told us that she can never marry a man she could not readily respect and submit to. Now, I cannot say if it was part of the reason she never married. I do not know if most women think like this. It could be the heart-hidden yearning of most women searching for men they could readily respect. She calls such men followable husband It is not our concern here. If the leader chose to be bad, the followers should choose to refrain from following him or her rather than following and complaining. That is what commonsense dictates. Someone said, I should not popularize such postulation because it would lead to rebellion in churches and I said, he should dissuade the leaders who are giving bad impression to church members from doing so. If members must remain loyal always, the leader must equally convince them that they deserve their loyalty always.

There is what I call Faulty Followership and Burying Bandwagonness or Brutal Bandwagonism and it includes the fact that, if you follow wrongly, then you are bound to suffer fatally. Frustration, fracturing fall and fatality follow faultiness nearly inevitably. If there is a word like faultiness then, we should realize that faultiness and fatality are somewhat synonymous. As they say you cannot eat your cake and have it. You have God-given right to be yourself rather than unwisely live subject to the whims and caprices of someone else.

Part of what you should spend your private time to do is to ruminate over your affiliation with the leader and find out if you are reasonably following him or not. If you find reasons to think otherwise, it is reasonable to see what other options are worth considering. There are two sides to solving any predicament, you can solve it from your own angle or from the angle of other persons involved in the dispute or disagreement. If your faulty leader would not repent, consider seeking solution from your personal angle. Consider possible retreat rather than continuing to grumble underneath. The key to your survival and success is with God, but seeking safest solution is an individual responsibility. There is fantastic followership on one hand and frustrating followership on the other. But let’s leave it at that.

There was this saddening story we were told about a somewhat certified criminal who had gone to jail more than once. He got to court once again facing the magistrate that had sent him to jail previously and the magistrate asked him why he got into crime that is bound to send him to jail once again. He was honest enough to say that integrating into the society is pretty difficult so he opted to return to jail so that at least he is certain of three square meals daily. Those must have been days when prison conditions were humane in his country. He was content living off government purse rather than having to work hard to fend for himself. Some might say that this was a twisted mindset which has lost all sense of self worth and dignity. Perhaps, society was never fair to him. It is possible that he was being resented because of the tag of ‘ex-convict’ and, getting a legitimate means of livelihood had been very difficult for him in the regular society.

Chapter I

Gainful Giving

Maybe, this could have been tagged as Lovely Lording or Recommended Lording. This means that there is nothing seriously wrong with lording it over others, provided it is done decently and therefore, delightfully, such that the person being lorded over is glad to be in that position. This gives rise to the thought of Satisfied Servants and Satisfactory Servanthood or Contentment with Servant Status. Exodus 21:5-6 and Deuteronomy 15:16-17 say—

5 But if the slave declares that he loves his master, his wife, and his children and does not want to be set free, 6 then his master shall take him to the place of worship. There he is to make him stand against the door or the doorpost and put a hole through his ear. Then he will be his slave for life.

16 "But your slave may not want to leave; he may love you and your family and be content to stay. 17 Then take him to the door of your house and there pierce his ear; he will then be your slave for life. Treat your female slave in the same way. (TEV)

Let us make our concern the fact that a slave who is supposed to have been freed could say that he or she does not want to be free according to God’s command to set slaves free in the year of jubilee. Do you think that this is still possible in this generation? Should we consider it the fairy tales of old that are no longer relevant today? Can a modern man be content with serving another man for the rest of his life when he has the opportunity to be free? Could we liken those who work for decades and retire to receive pension in their old age with such persons?

More importantly, this passage is an onerous challenge for rulers and those who are rich enough to own servants. God meant that it is possible to treat one’s servant kindly to the extent that even when he or she is supposed to be freed he would not want to leave to enjoy freedom. It means that such slave is sure that he could never get a better deal elsewhere or on his own as a free man. It is like an employer who is struggling to pay staff but they still would not resign because he had impressed them considerably before things got difficult, and the regular payment of wages became critical. The employees could decide to stay on believing that the employer would continue to treat them fairly when the company’s fortunes improve. This must have been Job’s experience during his period of tribulation.

I Samuel 30:9-21 and Luke 7:1-10 say:

9 So David and his six hundred men started out, and when they arrived at Besor Brook, some of them stayed there. 10 David continued on his way with four hundred men; the other two hundred men were too tired to cross the brook and so stayed behind. 11 The men with David found an Egyptian boy out in the country and brought him to David. They gave him some food and water, 12 some dried figs, and two bunches of raisins. After he had eaten, his strength returned; he had not had anything to eat or drink for three full days. 13 David asked him, Who is your master, and where are you from? I am an Egyptian, the slave of an Amalekite, he answered. My master left me behind three days ago because I got sick. 14 We had raided the territory of the Cherethites in the southern part of Judah and the territory of the clan of Caleb, and we burned down Ziklag. 15 Will you lead me to those raiders? David asked him. He answered, I will if you promise me in God’s name that you will not kill me or hand me over to my master. 16 And he led David to them. The raiders were scattered all over the place, eating, drinking, and celebrating because of the enormous amount of loot they had captured from Philistia and Judah. 17 At dawn the next day David attacked them and fought until evening. Except for four hundred young men who mounted camels and got away, none of them escaped. 18 David rescued everyone and everything the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives; 19 nothing at all was missing. David got back all his men’s sons and daughters, and all the loot the Amalekites had taken. 20 He also recovered all the flocks and herds; his men drove all the livestock in front of them and said, This belongs to David! 21 Then David went back to the two hundred men who had been too weak to go with him and had stayed behind at Besor Brook. They came forward to meet David and his men, and David went up to them and greeted them warmly.

1 When Jesus had finished saying all these things to the people, he went to Capernaum. 2 A Roman officer there had a servant who was very dear to him; the man was sick and about to die. 3 When the officer heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to ask him to come and heal his servant. 4 They came to Jesus and begged him earnestly, This man really deserves your help. 5 He loves our people and he himself built a synagogue for us. 6 So Jesus went with them. He was not far from the house when the officer sent friends to tell him, Sir, don’t trouble yourself. I do not deserve to have you come into my house, 7 neither do I consider myself worthy to come to you in person. Just give the order, and my servant will get well. 8 I, too, am a man placed under the authority of superior officers, and I have soldiers under me. I order this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes; I order that one, ‘Come!’ and he comes; and I order my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it. 9 Jesus was surprised when he heard this; he turned around and said to the crowd following him, I tell you, I have never found faith like this, not even in Israel! 10 The messengers went back to the officer’s house and found his servant well. (TEV)

The Amalekite master in the first passage above was very unkind to his Egyptian servant, and, as we can see it was to his own detriment. If he had been kind to his sick Egyptian slave, the slave would not have been available for his enemy in this case David, to use against him.

It is instructive that David helped the Egyptian slave to recover before he could be useful. It is not in every case that God would use angels to help, even, His beloved. Much as God guided David to go after the Amalekites, He did not send an angel to guide him to where to meet them. The fact that God left David to help the man so that he would in turn help him, meant that God wants us to learn to help one another in order to enjoy His own help.

The Roman officer was