These Pointless Persecutors

By Emmanuel Oghene

There is a story of a young man who apparently was not experienced about the ways of men. He was a personal assistant to a highly placed official in his of work. It was this official who employees or ensured that he was the one employed to occupy that position in his fairly exalted office in the establishment, Over the years they became so close that many things he did as PA, his boss never had any idea of how to do them on his own.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris UK
• Release date: Dec 14, 2010
• ISBN: 9781456806668

Emmanuel Oghene

Rev Emmanuel Oghenebrorhie can be described as a Paper-pulpit Pastor and Bible Preacher by publication. He is divinely ordained to teach, preach and publish the Gospel of Christ Jesus and has been teaching and preaching since 1994. He began to publish in 2004 and presides over Emmanuel Oghenebrorhie Ministries, that encompasses several arms. He operates Christ Redemption Publications, based in Ibadan, Nigeria. He has been published by other publishers overseas. He makes the working word of God relevant to daily living, to prepare the saints for heaven. He hosts a monthly Bible Seminar every second Sunday at his Nigerian base, Ibadan. His audiences often comment that he gives a realistic interpretation to the word of God in a way they never heard or read previously and that he directs the word of God to where it matters in a man’s life when it matters most. He can be reached on [e-mail] or [e-mail] or 234-7037825522 or 234-8182022262 or 07055989850

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Copyright © 2011 by Emmanuel Oghenebrorhie.

ISBN: Softcover    978-1-4568-3580-4

ISBN: Ebook        978-1-4568-0666-8

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 Today’s English Version (TEV) also known as the Good News Bible (GNB), King James Version (KJV), New King James Version (NKJV), Modern King James Version (MKJV), Revised Standard Version (RSV), Bible in Basic English (BBE).

This book was printed in the United States of America.

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CONTENTS

Dedication

Appreciation

Introduction

I

II

III

IV

V

VI

VII

VIII

IX

X

XI

XII

XIII

XIV

XV

Author’s Other Published Titles

Dedication

To all the victims of undeserving persecution in every generation across the globe

Appreciation

As always, all glory to God that this is available for others to read. Lord, everything in this call and commission is your doing and it is marvellous in my eyes. A million thanks for giving me the privilege to serve as sole administrator of this foreordained purpose.

God bless Cletus Okuguni for serving as editorial assistant. Mrs Yvonne Olatunbosun, my principal editor did editorial duties. My Lola did not fail in her overwhelming support throughout the writing and production of this work. I appreciate Rev Mike Atilola’s loyalty and support. May God swell your heavenly accounts richly, in Jesus’ mighty name, Amen.

Introduction

There is a story of a young man who apparently was not experienced about the ways of men. He was a personal assistant to a highly placed official in his place of work. It was this official who employed or ensured that he was the one employed to occupy that position in his fairly exalted office in the establishment. Over the years they became so close that many things he did as PA, his boss never had any idea of how to do them on his own.

Then, the boss had trouble with his superiors at the headquarters and he thought that his PA was loyal enough to him to represent him at the regular meeting at the headquarters until their differences were resolved. He represented him for nearly a year while the crisis lingered. However, the officials at the headquarters decided to pull a fast one on the presumed difficult official at the regional branch who was holding them to ransom in what they had come to believe was a battle they must win. So, they set out to woo his loyal PA with the assurance that they would make him the regional head if he would cooperate with them to remove his boss. After some months they succeeded in convincing the PA and he decided to play along with them and finally, his boss was thrown out of the organization.

Initially, they made him his boss’ successor to enable them to stabilize their grip on the region which the former head had started and grown into a profitable segment of the entire organization. When the dust of his boss’ removal was just about to settle, they pulled the real joker; they got his subordinate managers to insist on his removal and another high official was sent from headquarters to serve as the substantive head of that region of the organization. This PA was so frustrated that he left the organization without getting another job.

As a result, the former PA could not forgive those who used him to remove his benefactor and boss just as he could not forgive himself for blowing up his rewarding relationship with his former boss for what never profited him eventually. As they say it, Had I Known became his loquacious lot. He was living in a cosmopolitan city where the cost of living is acknowledged to be very high and he had to be unemployed for a while with a wife and children to cater for. His wife’s income was considerably meager considering the city they lived in.

The PA soon realised that those he trusted, and most of them were much older than him, betrayed him just as he betrayed his boss. Even if he got another job he would never forget the experience and the disappointment which he met with persons he thought could be trusted. We shall not concern ourselves with the fact that some would think that it serves him right to suffer at the hands of those he aligned with to undo his benefactor. The issue of nemesis and that perhaps his boss, actually erstwhile boss, belonged to the category of those I call Their Enemies’ Nemesis to which Abraham and David, Mordecai and several others belong, is another matter that our focus here would not allow us to delve into in detail.

Also, we shall not concentrate on whether God used this PA to join forces with his headquarter bosses to push the regional boss into his own God-ordained breakthrough because, if he had not been forced out that way, he might not have considered seeking to establish his own God-ordained outfit. That is not a vital aspect of our focus also. But if God used them, should this betrayed boss give thanksgiving gifts to the PA and his headquarter collaborators or should he merely forgive and not begrudge them as long as he lives? Share your opinion with someone who could benefit.

This discourse began as Peninnah’s Pitiable Projections, Persecutions and preventable pains. Later the thought of tagging it Preposterous Peninnah followed half way through the entire work, before the current final thought emerged, when the revelation including issues and experiences beyond the case of Peninnah was borne. Eventually, it is obvious that there are Peninnah-like persecutors through the generations.

Perhaps one of the worst things to happen to any man is to be disappointed because of failure to obtain a desire despite concerted effort. Even when the pursuit is evil the individual still feels very unhappy about the failure to obtain it. Wasted efforts, time and resources are some of the reasons and of course, dashed hopes and the attendant set back in diverse ways. Severally, King Saul reneged on his promise never to attack David again and did it until he died. As evil and unjustified as his plot against David was, he could not accept to live with the disappointment of not taking down David. To him it was the worst thing or thought to live with, the fact that though he was the king, there was an untouchable subject in his domain.

The capacity to cope with challenges and crises arising from disgusting disappointment differs from person to person. Ruth and Orpah reacted differently to Naomi’s explanation of the futility of their cleaving to her continuously. Ruth and Naomi became childless widows, though at different ages but while the former took it with grand style, the latter caved in and began to blame God for her plight. Ruth resolved to believe in the same God that Naomi blamed even more. Saul and his son Jonathan reacted differently to the sudden fame of David just as Nabal and his wife Abigail reacted differently. The challenge of Goliath which swallowed King Saul, his army of Israel commander Abner, other officers and numerous soldiers, including David’s three eldest brothers—Eliab, Abinadab and Shammah for forty days and nights, David confronted headlong within an hour of hearing about it. He got rid of Goliath and the ridicule he constituted by God’s help.

Naomi gave up hope of better days when her husband and sons whom she considered her lifeline, joy givers died. It raises the question of what one does when one’s lifeline strand of joy snaps. Handling the loss of a lifeline or being able to bounce back after losing an original lifeline is vital. When Hannah’s husband and Pastor failed to give her preferred comforting motherhood respite she resorted to seeking a personal solution from God, the ever unfailing source of solutions to all problems. Ruth and Naomi lent credence to what I call there is surely a way out. Therefore, do not concede final failure until you obtain your aims and objectives. He knew that Ruth got the solution of remarriage and joy of motherhood through the God-approved custom of kinsman redeemer. At the point when Naomi told her and Orpah that there was no more hope for them, Naomi had forgotten this tradition or did not believe they could wait for as long as necessary because if she were in their shoes she would not be that patient. Isaac told Esau that there was no way but when Esau would not agree Isaac told him one of the few options available. Genesis 38 says that even after losing two marital lifelines, Tamar did not give up. She still struggled to cling to the household of Judah. She had Fantastic Fortune Fetching Attitude to life’s challenges. Genesis 26 says that the more Isaac’s wells were blocked by the Philistines, the more he continued to dig until they got fed up and left him alone to enjoy them and he confessed that he got to his place of rest—Rehoboth. He did not allow enemies to determine his attainment and enjoyment of his rest or his heart’s desire. Isaac did not fight like someone like David would have done. He wore out his enemies with persistence rather than letting his enemies wear him out.

Tamar practicalized what could be called, Yes, But cannot. She obeyed Judah. But when she sensed that he wanted to get rid of her, she determined that much as she would obey him, she would never to let him get rid of her. She gave Judah a good fight and prevailed because she constrained him to take her back and provide adequately for her and their twin sons. We do not know what to call her affinity with her father-in-law Judah which produced twin sons. He thought she was a harlot when he had intercourse with her. When compared with Hagar bearing Ishmael for Abraham, which was better?

There is no record that Abraham had intercourse with Hagar after the birth of Ishmael. Genesis 38:26 specifies that Judah never had intercourse with Tamar after the birth of their sons. Hagar knew her fault and might not have minded her plight. Genesis 19:30-38 do not indicate that Lot ever had intercourse with his daughters after they bore him Moab and Ammon. Also, Tamar must have known that she was playing her last trump card by getting pregnant for her father-in-law. Since God gives children and allowed her to get pregnant as she desired, then it seemed that God blessed her plot to enable her to remain attached to Judah’s household. God saw the integrity of her heart concerning cleaving to the family. She must have been older than Judah’s youngest son yet she was prepared to marry him as long as it helped her to cleave to the family.

Tamar preceded Ruth in cleaving to God’s chosen people maritally. Their husbands came to offer them marital opportunity in their hometown. They turned their back on their fellow natives to marry them as foreigners. Despite their initial set back by the death of their husbands they held on until they benefitted greatly from the union. It is most likely that Boaz was already married when Ruth married him. There is no record that she became a nuisance to Boaz’s other wife or wives. She made it clear that her target in marrying Boaz was to enable him to offer her protection and provision, rather than drive away other wives so she could have Boaz to herself alone. She only took advantage of what she knew about Boaz’s opinion of her to seek covering under him.

One poignant point with Peninnah’s persecutions is that she added insult to Hannah’s injury of childlessness. There is no record that Hannah had been wayward and that it was partly responsible for her childlessness. There is no record that she sinned against God so that He kept her barren. If we say that God delayed her bearing a child because He had decided to use her to bear the replacement for Eli’s sons, then she too could not explain why she was barren because God never told her the reason He did not give her children on time. This meant that she was unhappy that she was suffering unjustly only for a neighbour to blame her for her predicament. Since we know in part we should not be too confident or over presumptuous that we know it all. Peninnah did not know that God was responsible for Hannah’s plight and would therefore surely make Hannah laugh last.

It is like while someone mourns the bereavement of a loved one, he or she is accused of being responsible for the bereavement. This was what Job’s friends did to him. Job 8:4 and 11:6 confirm this when they said that he and his children must be responsible for their misfortune because in their estimation God does not allow such magnitude of misfortune to befall someone who has no secret sin. Technically, they agreed that since they had known Job he had never done any evil that made him deserve the magnitude of evil that had befallen him. Therefore, it must have been that it was because he committed some secret sins which they never knew about hence God allowed it to happen to him. This is a classic example of Ignorance Ignited Blame and Torture. If I may ask, have you ever done it to someone, seen someone do it to others, or has it been done to you and how did you react to it, either way? Often we run curious commentaries over what we do not have full details about. It is like football commentators which prompt what I call Between the players, referees, linesmen and the commentators in their cozy commentary box. There is no way that the commentator would understand what the players and referees are going through on the pitch while the game is ongoing. You can analyze and interpret whatever you observe but the players feel the real heat of the game. Meanwhile, Job was crying from the roof top that he had no sin of any sort to deserve such a misfortune. It is like hitting the open wound of an aching person. And it would have been better if they had never come to console Job. They came to Job under the guise of commiserating with him but they turned around to blame him. If you feel very strongly that a mourning man deserved what he got, restrain yourself from going to rub your beliefs in his face. Be kind and caring enough to do him the help of letting him grieve without your extra stabs in his feelings.

Since God authored Job’s experience, we can say that ignorance was part of the problem of his friends. Actually, God authored his tribulations but not because of his sins or we could say for the opposite of the reason which his friends claimed. Even if he sinned amidst his level of sinfulness, God still adjudged that he was holy enough to be their high priest. This realisation must have been stronger than fiction to them. They might have been faithful friends earlier but during the tribulation, they transformed into faulty friends. And, it is similar to the case of Peninnah who never knew that God was responsible for Hannah’s barrenness and that God would yet give the choice child afterwards. Therefore, one of the worst things that could happen to you in life is to have people who lack understanding around you particularly in your times of troubles and tribulation. If you are desperate for an answer like Pharaoh in Genesis 41, Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 2, Belshazzar in Daniel 5, Absalom in II Samuel 15-18:1-16, it can be very frustrating to have ignoramuses around.

Job suffered what we can call Curious commiseration. This understanding makes one wonder which of Job’s friends and relatives helped him during his tortuous tribulation. Job 1:22, 2:10, 8:1-4, 11:1-6, 19:13-19 and 42:7-12 say—

22   In spite of everything that had happened, Job did not sin by blaming God.

10   Job answered, You are talking nonsense! When God sends us something good, we welcome it. How can we complain when he sends us trouble? Even in all this suffering Job said nothing against God.

1   Are you finally through with your windy speech? 3 God never twists justice; he never fails to do what is right. 4 Your children must have sinned against God, and so he punished them as they deserved.

1   Will no one answer all this nonsense? Does talking so much put a man in the right? 3 Job, do you think we can’t answer you? That your mocking words will leave us speechless? 4 You claim that what you say is true; you claim you are pure in the sight of God. 5 How I wish God would answer you! 6 He would tell you there are many sides to wisdom; there are things too deep for human knowledge. God is punishing you less than you deserve.

13   God has made my brothers forsake me; I am a stranger to those who knew me; 14 my relatives and friends are gone. 15 Those who were guests in my house have forgotten me; my servant girls treat me like a stranger and a foreigner. 16 When I call a servant, he doesn’t answer— even when I beg him to help me. 17 My wife can’t stand the smell of my breath, and my own brothers won’t come near me. 18 Children despise me and laugh when they see me. 19 My closest friends look at me with disgust; those I loved most have turned against me.

7   After the LORD had finished speaking to Job, he said to Eliphaz, I am angry with you and your two friends, because you did not speak the truth about me, the way my servant Job did. 8 Now take seven bulls and seven rams to Job and offer them as a sacrifice for yourselves. Job will pray for you, and I will answer his prayer and not disgrace you the way you deserve. You did not speak the truth about me as he did. 9 Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar did what the LORD had told them to do, and the LORD answered Job’s prayer. 10 Then, after Job had prayed for his three friends, the LORD made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had had before. 11 All Job’s brothers and sisters and former friends came to visit him and feasted with him in his house. They expressed their sympathy and comforted him for all the troubles the LORD had brought on him. Each of them gave him some money and a gold ring. 12 The LORD blessed the last part of Job’s life even more than he had blessed the first. Job owned fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, two thousand head of cattle, and one thousand donkeys. (TEV)

As we can see, some never came around because they could not comprehend why such magnitude of troubles happened to him despite the fact that he was a good man. But the three came to castigate him and his sons for the calamities. They were very sure it was God’s punishment for secret sins when it was the opposite. You cannot live without interacting with others yet they cause you more pain than otherwise. One wonders what Job’s friends did, how they made up when they realised that they had accused him wrongly over the cause of his misfortune. What would they do to relieve the pain they had caused him while his tribulations lasted?

Then, there is Ignorance Ignited or Induced Persecution. Also, there is Plight Harnessed Persecution. Because of lack of understanding of the cause and purpose of the person’s plight some would vilify the man merely suffering for what had nothing to do with retributive justice. Since everyone has their God-ordained time to suffer and enjoy, we can postulate that though Job did not sin, when it was the foreordained time of his life to suffer God, invited Satan to afflict him. His friends lacked this understanding. Therefore, it could be that God foreordained that Hannah would endure barrenness before having a last laugh in marriage. Peninnah did not know this and she could never have known for two key reasons: (1) God’s thoughts are far higher than ours; (2) she was not good enough for God to tell His will and God’s plans for Hannah’s life was not her business even though they shared the same husband.

Job 30:1-10 says—

1 But men younger than I am make fun of me now! Their fathers have always been so worthless that I wouldn’t let them help my dogs guard sheep. 2 They were a bunch of worn-out men, too weak to do any work for me. 3 They were so poor and hungry that they would gnaw dry roots— at night, in wild, desolate places. 4 They pulled up the plants of the desert and ate them, even the tasteless roots of the broom tree! 5 Everyone drove them away with shouts, as if they were shouting at thieves. 6 They had to live in caves, in holes dug in the sides of cliffs. 7 Out in the wilds they howled like animals and huddled together under