لنستخرج كنوزا من المعرفة و الإبداع و العلم و الأفكار
As I have mentioned in my previous articles, there are prerequisites for development and civilisation. Anywhere you see development or civilisation it would be wrong to think that it was attained through accidents or coincidence.
We owe it to the famous English man Sir Isaac Newton the explanation of how our world functions. Thanks to his three laws of motion, it is now a common knowledge that anywhere there is an effect, there was once a cause. Wherever we see development and civilisation, it is only because some laws have been triggered. It is as a result of those triggered laws that we now see what we call development and civilisation.
If Africa is to come out of the status of the black continent as we are presently known to be, we must begin to agree with the laws of nature as God has made it to be. We must agree that our planet earth was created not to function by miracles, but by fixed laws and principles.
It is my firm belief that Africa as a continent is yet to record a land breaking progress despite all our potentials and resources. Primarily, because of our too much emphasis on miracles, we have been held back. We are a continent of believers, thank God for that. That is no doubt a huge advantage to a large extent. However, as things are in Africa today, that potential advantage is now working against us, as an inhibition to our growth and civilisation.
Ora Et Labora
Friends, you can guess that the topic of my article today is on the fact that developed nations and continents have managed to attain that height only because they are not over relying on miracles and the supernatural. They depend on pure pragmatism and adherence to the laws of nature. My thirty year experience in Europe coupled with my numerous traveling in all the seven continents of the world has taught me; that developed nations and continents have come to development andcivilization thanks to the fact that they depend more on diligence, pragmatism and hard work. Rather than be dependent on miracles, wonders and some other supernatural occurrences.
To put it more succinctly, in Africa WE PRAY AND WAIT FOR MIRACLES, WHILE DEVELOPED NATIONS WORK AND PRAY FOR MIRACLES. In the era of the protestant reformation and renaissance in Europe, the major slogan of that era was WORK and PRAY. It was a motto that was adopted by the whole society, it became the quintessential value of the era. In Latin it is largely known as ORA ET LABORA (pray and work. Better translated as work and pray.)
“A dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work.”– Colin Powell
My fellow Africans let’s face it, our continent is not going to supernaturally develop without somebody working for it. Today, as things are we believe more in going to church to pray than going to work. Some of us actually believe that going to work will not give you anything if you don’t pray. I’m sorry to say that the truth is the opposite. To function on the earth, we only need to abide by laid down rules, principles and laws by God. Prayer will not do for us what only work will do. For example, prayers will not build our industries. Prayers will not produce our automobiles. Prayers will not raise the buildings, skyscrapers, enterprises that are needed for our development. Factories, companies, firms and industries will not spring up from nowhere. They must be built and constructed with physical hands of physical people. No matter how much we pray, these things will not just appear from nowhere.
Don’t get me wrong, there is a place for prayers. Prayer is supposed to equip us to be better in tune with the Spirit of God so that we might work more effectively. That is why the Europeans use that Latin word ORA ET LABORA (Pray and work). Meaning when we pray we get a direction from the Spirit on how to work better. When we pray, we get to know how to more effectively labor. When we pray, we have the wisdom on how to work smarter. So prayer therefore is what equips us to work better, do better, perform better and produce better. But what we have turned prayer to in Africa is such that we pray and wait, rather than pray and go to work more effectively. In Africa, we pray hoping for God to come and fix our situations for us, rather than pray so that we could go out with more confidence to do what we need to do. Prayer itself without work is of limited impact, for faith without works is dead. We therefore pray to work better.
As I have said above, God has placed planet earth under some fixed natural laws, not just spiritual laws – natural laws. Our earth functions by natural laws. That means you don’t need to be a believer or prayerful person to function on the earth. Even what I call natural laws are actually spiritual laws, because they were created by God. God created natural laws, not Satan, not humans, not nature itself created these laws – God created them. So when we obey natural laws, we are actually obeying the injunctions of God. Therefore, to obey natural laws is also being spiritual.
We are not supposed to lock ourselves in the church believing that only what we do in the church is spiritual. That is wrong. All what we do for God is spiritual. The Bible says He created all things for Himself. So when we engage the laws of nature for the glory of God, we are serving God as effectively as the preacher on the pulpit.
So to work for the development of your country, to labor for growth and civilization of our continent is as pleasing to God as becoming a pastor or an apostle. God put the rules that govern the planet earth in place. Let’s have a look at how the world is meant to function. As I said earlier, we owe it to Sir Isaac Newton, the revelation of how our planet is created to work. Please bear in mind that Isaac Newton did not create these laws of nature, he only discovered them. Also bear in mind that Isaac Newton is one of the most devoted Christian Scientists ever. By discovering these laws, he worked for the glory God and for the betterment of our planet.
