The root cause of national failure and tragedy, By Sunday Adelaja

Life is based on the law of cause and effects. For anything and everything you see happening around you today, there is a cause, a cause is at the root of all those things that we as Nigerians complain about daily.

There is a reason for our leadership failures, there is a reason for our corruption, there is a reason for our religious failures. Fortunately, I believe I have been able to discover this single cause that is responsible for all the malfunctioning of our society.

That cause is found in one single word, a word that is known to us, but at the same time remains elusive to our national consciousness. It is a word that is to most of us a mere philosophical concept rather than the foundation of life which it oughts to be. This word which ought to be the foundation of our every endeavor is hardly known to us. Although, we are all supposed to be basing all our thoughts, decisions and actions on it on daily and constant basis.

Ladies and gentlemen here is my submission, the root cause of all our sorrows and evils is our lackadaisical and nonchalant attitude to the TRUTH. The elusive word behind all our national woes is the word TRUTH.

Please when I’m talking here of truth I am not talking of the religious cliche like; “Jesus is the truth” or “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free”. Unfortunately that’s all most of our people know about truth. Thanks to the words of Christ in the New Testament. But before the coming of Christ the earth was sustained and maintained by truth.

Psalms 111:7-8 American Standard Version (ASV)

The works of his hands are truth and justice; All his precepts are sure. They are established for ever and ever; They are done in truth and uprightness.(Please take time to reflect on this passage). Even God himself build everything on the truth, this is why even in heaven he will only allow lovers of truth to get there. For all functions and is sustained by truth both in heaven and on earth. Yet, hardly will you find any organisation in my country that has made dedication to the truth it’s mantra. Even in our churches and mosques you can hardly find such congregations that make the truth the centrality of their activities.

I’m speaking here today about truth as a force, a social dynamics that is responsible for all that is built or sustained on planet earth. It is the foundation of everything seen and unseen.

Truth is supposed to be the basis and the only foundation for decision making and all actions. Truth is the reason why laws are enacted, the purpose of the law therefore is to force or compel people to live by the truth.

For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world — to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” John 18:37

According to this scripture even Jesus submits himself to the truth. In fact he came to affirm the place of truth in our lives. That is why he came.

So if truth ought to be the basis for all human judgments, actions and decisions what then happens where truth is an alien concept like in our country. Whenever truth is not established or elevated about all other norms, the people will find alternatives upon which they’ll base their decisions, judgment and actions. Unfortunately, this is the situation in my country, historically our people used superstitions, traditions, fear, and authority figures to be a replacement for the truth. Hence, the whole society behave based on these norms. On personal and individual level most people simply based their decisions and actions on their animalistic instincts, such as, emotions and sentiments. Meanwhile, truth is meant to be the ultimate authority over any other considerations. It ought to be the only basis for thoughts, decisions and actions for individuals and society at large.

So as the case is now in most African cultures and societies our decisions, actions and judgments are taken based on: superstitions, traditions fear, authority figures , sentiments, instincts and emotions.

Meanwhile, these are only replacements for truth. I’m sure you’re already asking so what then is truth and who establishes it. I’ll only give you a glimpse to this topic here. I did a three months teaching on this all materials are available for free on my YouTube channel, I also have two books out on it.

In a simple sense, what is truth?

Truth: is an expression, symbol or statement that matches or corresponds to its object or referent.  Truth must correspond to reality of how things ought to be like in order to be true. Truth is anything that corresponds with the original, prototype or model. Truth must be backed up by facts, questions, statistics, research, analysis and empirical evidences.

The point I’m trying to make is for any society to function and succeed it must elevate truth above all things. Truth (or law) must be the basis for all decisions, actions, and judgments.

Truth must be respected above traditions, it must be elevated above authority figures, truth must stand when all else take a sit.

This is one fundamental reason why God established the church in earth, to help promote and establish the truth throughout the earth. But instead of this the clergymen in my country just like the Babalawos before them have rather exalted the authority of man and human traditions over and above the truth.

The sad fact is that most of the things that you have come to believe in your life is basically because somebody has told you that. It is not because you found out that it is true. It is not because you have researched it. It is because somebody that you trust indoctrinated you. There is somebody that you believe in who believes in same thing. There is an authority figure in your life who you have confidence in. There is someone that you revere who you do not even question.

Because you will not question things, and because you would not question your authority figure, whatsoever they tell you basically is what you believe. You believe in people; you do not believe in the truth. The day you stop believing People’s authority and dare to question the things that you have always believed, you will discard many of the things that you have always believed in.

All of us are susceptible to the manipulation of authority figures. Many of us, if not all of us have been under the deception of authority figures at one point or the other in our lives. These authority figure could be a father, a Pastor, a Bishop, a General overseer, a political leader, a boss, a Church leader, an Uncle, an elder in the family, a friend or even a spouse. Many of us have actually walked out on the truth, many of us have denied the truth, many of us have out rightly rejected the truth because of the role of authority figures in our lives. Who do you follow, men of authority or authority of the truth?

For truth to reign, it must be questioned, please question everything to truly be free. I want to emphasize in particular the importance of elevating truth above Men’s opinions, especially those men we see as authority figures. Truth must be exalted about authority figures too. Truth must become the authority in all things, if not then men will become the authority.

God believes so much in the power of your will to the extent that He would actually write it down in His own book. When the word of God said, “Come let us reason together, it proves that God is for reasoning. God is on the side of reasoning and using your mind. Whenever you belong to a group, a religious organization, a culture or a people that tells you not to question things, you have been initiated into a cult. Whenever you are told that you do not have the ability to choose what to believe and that you do not have the ability to probe things and people, you have been violated and demeaned.  If the right to question what the authority is saying has been taken away from you, then you have been debased and stripped of your dignity. Whenever you come across such an organization, either it is a religious, civic, societal or family, then you have come to a dangerous place.

Sunday Adelaja is a Nigerian born leader, transformation strategist, pastor and innovator. He was based in Ukraine.