By Obinna Ejianya (9News Nigeria – Melbourne, Australia)
“And of the children of Issachar, which were men that had the understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do; the heads of them were two hundred; and all their brethren were at their commandment.”
Throughout the centuries, Africa has been home to numerous powerful kingdoms and empires that have left a lasting impact on the region. From the early Nok civilization to the mighty empires of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai, the African kingdoms flourished and thrived. However, the arrival of European powers in the 19th century marked the beginning of the end for many of these ancient African kingdoms. How the Europeans managed to evolve from obscurity to domineering prominence is what will influence the context of this article, understanding the time and season of life.
Divine timing is a concept that transcends human understanding. It is the perfect synchronization of events and circumstances orchestrated by a higher power. In the African context, divine timing plays a crucial role in the continent’s development and progress. It is the alignment of Africa’s aspirations with God’s plan for prosperity and growth.
The significance of divine timing in African development cannot be overstated. When Africa is in sync with the reality of the turn of events and seasons, remarkable transformations take place. We witness the rise of visionary leaders, the emergence of innovative solutions, and the unlocking of the continent’s vast resources. Divine timing brings about a harmonious convergence of factors that propel Africa towards a brighter future.
It is time for Africa to completely do away with the old practice of the Dark Ages, to totally embrace the principle of civilisation which is the stage of human social and cultural development and organization that is considered the most advanced, bringing about progress and development at the right pace.
And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins.”
The world we are living in has passed through phases of changes ranging from the Ages of Obscurity, the age of oppression of man against another man without universal law, the Age of Barbarism, the Dark Ages, the Stone Age, and The Age of Enlightenment, Age of Western Civilization ushered in by the universality of Christianity by the Roman Empire, The Age of Industrial Revolution, Industrial age, and now we are in the digital age, the Information Age.
But Africans have not understood how things are changing, hence we Africans mix up Western civilization with ancient African religious practices such as paganism, witchcraft, voodoo, occultic worship of dead spirits and manism.
This makes it difficult for Africa to make progress in the pursuit of civilisation which was the foundation for other revolutions that followed after the Age of Enlightenment such as the Industrial Revolution and others. Africa and other parts of the world that try to mix up Western civilization with ancient religious practices such as paganism, witchcraft, voodoo, occultic worship of dead spirits and manism continued to be backwards in terms of politics and developments.
Right now, people of Africa especially those from the South East of Nigeria, the Igbos are chasing development and craving for political stability, and economic and infrastructural development just the way we see it in the West. We crave for the developments in the West to be replicated in Nigeria and the South East. We like technology, good houses, good roads, good cars, and everything that the West have invented, we need them to be the same.
With one hand we are beckoning for these things and with the other hand, we are clamouring for what we call traditional religion which, truth be told, entails ancient practices such as paganism, sorcery, witchcraft, voodoo, occultic worship of dead spirits and manism.
These practices pollute and negatively affect the minds of people to focus on dead works, and wickedness against each other, thereby enforcing the annihilation of human dignity and the sanctity of human life. It also makes those who practice such, to relegate the ability of the mind to think and bring about solutions to problems, but rather focus on superstition and fear rather than reality.
Therefore, instead of progress, they eventually bring about backwardness and a lack of sympathy and empathy for other humans which is the basic requirement for civilisation.
The practice removes the focus of the mind from solving the problems of humanity to using humanity as a way to appease the spirits. This is why even the leaders continue to meander without any focus on making the lives of the people better. Humanity is not the focus of the leaders, even though they profess that they care, they do not have the heart to care because of what they practice. They desire civilisation but they practice something else and it does not work that way.
It is not surprising to see that countries where Western civilization is mixed up with ancient religious practices such as paganism, witchcraft, voodoo, occultic worship of dead spirits and manism have remained under-developed, suffering political and economic instability thereby having their citizens languishing in poverty and deprivation.
This is because these people have no understanding of the time and season of progress towards the plans of God for humanity. Those who profess to practice civilised religions like Christianity and Islam still adulterate it with other practices thereby making it hard to actualise a civilised society.
There is no doubt that the Universality of Christianity contributed to Western civilization through its many institutions, missionary activities, monasteries, religious orders, and universities, the Christian faith formed European culture and introduced a universal religion that would forever change the world. The Western Civilization was the foundation on which Human Rights laws were built and it brought tremendous revolution towards the present-day progress made so far.
There are three major religions that took over the Dark Ages and moved the world from barbarism, and worship of idols to philosophical belief which led to civilization. These three religions are: First was Buddhism, Christianity and lastly Islam. These three religions are founded on philosophical principles that teach mankind how to develop their mind by engaging in the renewal of the mind from negativity to positivity. These religions taught us how to behave positively to people around us and show kindness, thereby doing away with barbarism and its practices that involve the degradation of human beings, killing, sacrificing and sometimes even cannibalising other humans.
The three religions ushered in the ages of Asian Civilization, Arabic civilisation and Western civilisation and they all brought in the enlightenment that brought progress in the ages that followed after the Age of Enlightenment.
Until Africa and other countries where civilization is still mixed up with ancient religious practices such as witchcraft, voodoo, occultic worship of dead spirits and manism, there will continue to be wrong results in the effort of the political leaders and citizens to completely become a developed country. These countries will continue to miss the target and continue to make mistakes in the policies that should bring a better life to the citizens. Because the way a person thinks is the way they become. If we must make progress then we must do away with the old practice that is antagonistic to civilisation.
It is worth knowing that about 600 years ago, the countries we know today as the custodians of Western civilisation were in the dark, barbaric and without any civilisation just like today’s third-world countries. The Europeans were practising all sorts of barbarism, paganism, sorcery, charms, witchcraft, idol worship, occultism, worship and invoking of the dead spirits and whatever you have in Africa and other third-world countries today. However, the advent of Christianity brought tremendous change to Europe, and about 400 years ago, the majority, almost entirely turned from the old practices and embraced the principles of Christianity.
Christianity contributed greatly to the development of European cultural identity in addition to some from other civilisations from Asia and the Middle East.
Pure civilisation will definitely bring about political and economic stability which has been the desire of citizens in the countries of Africa and other third-world countries who would decide to face out the old practices.
By Obinna Ejianya (9News Nigeria – Melbourne, Australia)
