 |
| Rev. Amb. Theodore Effiong |
“The trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them; and they said unto the olive tree, Reign thou over us. But the olive tree said unto them, Should I leave my fatness, wherewith by me they honour God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees? And the trees said to the fig tree, Come thou, and reign over us. But the fig tree said unto them, Should I forsake my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to be promoted over the trees? Then said the trees unto the vine, Come thou, and reign over us. And the vine said unto them, Should I leave my wine, which cheereth God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees? Then said all the trees unto the bramble, Come thou, and reign over us. And the bramble said unto the trees, If in truth ye anoint me king over you, then come and put your trust in my shadow: and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon.” Judges 9:8-15(KJV)
The scripture from the book of Judges talks about the parable of Jotham. Who gave a parable of the gathering of the trees, which came to elect or appoint who shall be the king of the trees. He was referring to leadership because a man called Abimelech had wangled his way into the seat of power in the government. He was not the rightful man that was supposed to be there. And so Jotham gave this parable, (the parable of the trees). In the parable of the trees, he sets forth four different types of trees, each representing four different types of leaders. Let’s consider the following leaders;
READ ALSO: Valentine Day Celebration: Sen. Gershom Bassey Empowers Constituent
HOLIER THAN THOU LEADERS
As the trees gathered to elect or appoint of their head. They all unanimously agreed that the olive tree is the most qualified to sit on the throne and rule the nation. To their surprise, the olive tree declined and said “…Should I leave my fatness, wherewith by me they honour God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees?” The olive tree is a type of the believers, the Christians, the children of God in the church who are so holier than thou, who don’t believe in involving themselves in politics, who can never accept to be part of the Babylonian system, who believe they have to completely separate the church from the state and have nothing to do with politics. Even though they are very qualified or they are the most qualified, they refuse to get themselves involved.
PROFESSIONAL/CAREER LEADERS
And when the trees discovered that the olive is not making any movement, they have to make another election and unanimously the fig tree was chosen. “But the fig tree said unto them, Should I forsake my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to be promoted over the trees?” “I will not be able”. The fig tree represents the professionals, those who are very successful in their chosen field of careers. They have the competency, the know-how, all that it takes to lead. I will not leave my career, my pursuit to run after political office, because I’m not sure of it. The fig tree also withdrew.
READ ALSO: Shocking as ‘retired’ Senate clerk disobeys orders, sits in the office
ECONOMICALLY EMPOWERED LEADERS
The trees had to gather again to have another election. And this time the vine tree was voted. “And the vine said unto them, Should I leave my wine, which cheereth God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees?” The vine tree represents the businessmen and women, those who have companies everywhere, those who are economically empowered, very fruitful. And the vine tree said No, that I will not leave my business enterprise, where I am right now, I am already making it and will continue making it and will never involve myself in ‘dirty politics. The vine tree withdrew.
WORTHLESS LEADERS
Who do we now pick to be the king of the trees? They now had another election, and seeing that all the most qualified candidates have all declined, there was no other person left again except the BRAMBLE. And unanimously they voted the bramble, and the bramble exclaimed in excitement and rejoiced. The bramble is not even a tree. It is a shrub and does not even bear any fruit. It has nothing to offer to its generation. The bramble is covered with thorns and thistles. It is very dangerous and injurious. It is very autocratic and brings his people under total subjection, everybody is a threat to him, its subjects are burned with fire, rule his people with an iron fist, and he is never disturbed when his people are being killed. But in as much as all the qualified ones have withdrawn, rejecting all the games in politics, finally, the only person they could lay hold of was the bramble. Mr. Bramble is unproductive, good for nothing, dangerous and worthless. Have you noticed it looks like at this point of the earth when we have come to the end of the world, it’s as if all over the world, bramble leaders are the ones entering the seats of power? I don’t know why we have entered a season, all over the world, Bramble leaders everywhere. What about my country, Nigeria? God will help us.
READ ALSO: Beggar caught with N500,000, $100, suspect detained
I pray the right man enters into the seat of authority in Nigeria and all the states in the federation as we get ready to elect our leaders, come 2023. God will give us the right people, in the mighty name of Jesus!
God bless you.
#TheodoreEffiong
0 Comments