Bribery, Corruption And Christianity

Bribery, Corruption And Christianity

Luke 19:1 “And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho.
2 And, behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich.
3 And he sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for the press, because he was little of stature.
4 And he ran before, and climbed up into a sycomore tree to see him: for he was to pass that way.
5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide at thy house.
6 And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully.
7 And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, That he was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner.
8 And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and IF I HAVE TAKEN ANY THING FROM ANY MAN BY FALSE ACCUSATION (BRIBERY), I RESTORE HIM FOURFOLD.
9 And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham.
10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

All bribe giver/taker and corruption minded people around the world are LOST!

As a citizen of Nigeria, one of the things that are used to paint Nigerians in bad light and place them in the position of ridicule, mockery and evil speaking of is bribery and corruption. In fact in some school of thought, the unborn Nigerian child is already corrupt from the womb because this epidemic has eaten very deep into our fabric that it now runs in our genes affecting even the unborn community of innocent Nigerian children who actually are pure innocent of this wicked acts and practices.
With this perception therefore, the good, bad and ugly Nigerians are unjustly put and weighed in the same unbalanced scale of injustice, prejudice and subjugation, without any recourse to the fact that despite having twelve as apostles of CHRIST, only ONE was a Judas Iscariot. This unfair and condemnable judgment of those that hold tenaciously to this wicked perception has forced and pushed well meaning and good conscience Nigerians into becoming and actually behaving to the assertion of the promoters of this debasing argument, even though such is never to be in the first place.

To this end, we can actually see today that every sector of the public service in Nigeria is deeply rooted in bribery and corruption. From the highest to the lowest officer in the land, everyone has the tendency to be corrupt or be corrupted by the corruption inflicted minds. This is not just restricted to the public sector alone, it cut across the private institutions and sadly, it is also seen and practiced by professing Christians who are unable to crucify their flesh and its affections Galatians 5:24.
It is a very sad development which should never be seen among Christians at all. But, where is the man that will take the lead to rebel against the institutional corruption in the land, ravaging governments, families and everyone today? GOD was only looking for a man who will stand in the gap; the man that will be able to differentiate between law and lawlessness, good and bad, light and darkness, and execute impartial and unfavourable judgments. Will you be that man today that will turn the anger of GOD away from Nigeria? Stand up now and ride against the tide. Ezekiel 22:30 “And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.”

Some years ago in Benin City, Edo State of Nigeria, while using a motor bike (Okada) to work as a means of employment, I ran into a decent and true practicing Christian Policeman. It was around 8 PM or thereabout when he halted me down in a police check point mounted along Dumaz Road, Off Sapele Road that night, and a passenger was on my bike that I carried from a church premise as they just closed from evening service that day.
With the mindset that every police officer in Nigeria was corrupt as they are mainly identified with bribery in their check points, I had pulled a N20 note to squeeze into the approaching officer’s hands so that he could give me a passage without any delays. As I stretched out my hand, he said ‘stop’ and asked ‘what is that?’ I had lightly told him ‘officer you know na’ while telling him that I carried my passenger from a church and that he needed to get home on time. As soon as I mentioned ‘church’, I received the greatest shock of my life as this police officer disappointed my earlier perception that all policemen were corrupt.

He had humbly asked me; ‘Is that what your pastor told you, that whenever you see a policeman you should give him money?’ With this statement from him, a cold chill ran over me and shame was my reward before this officer.
Brethren, I couldn’t believe my eyes that a Nigerian police officer mounting a roadblock in the night could resist the urge of bribery! At the end, the officer collected no dime from me after checking my papers and advised me to renew them because they had expired at the time.

BRIBERY
Bribery is corruption and corruption is bribery. So the two cannot be separated.

The married woman:
Woman, you who is telling your husband to first buy you something, or sign a cheque for you before allowing him to perform his legitimate right over you on bed, what do you think you are doing? Repent from this wickedness now and apologize to your husband because this will certainly send you to hell fire.

Result/Appointment issuing officer:
You officer that is responsible for issuing results slips or appointment letters to successful candidates, you always demand for nonexistence fees from people before handing over their legal documents to them, what do you think you are doing? Stop this wicked practice now and repent because it will surely send you to hell fire.

Police officers:
You police men and women, who after checking the papers of motorists and discovery that everything is intact, but because you want that man/woman to part some money with you, you then speak a language to confuse the motorist faulting his up to date and complete document, what do you think you are doing? Repent and renounce bribery and corruption now because it will send you to hell fire.

Children:
You children, who always refused to attend to your parent’s instructions unless you are given some money, sweets and any other inducement, stop it now. You are giving room for the devil to damn your soul in hell.

Students:
You student that usually frame up lies to collect more money from your parents and guardians to squander on your extravagant lifestyle on campus, what do you think you are doing? Repent and restitute to your parents now because this will surely damn your soul in hell.

Purchasing officer:
You purchasing officers colluding with vendors to inflate price and then defraud your organization, what do you think you are doing? Repent and restitute to your organization now because you are playing with eternal fire of hell.

Politician:
You political office seeker, you buy salts, rice, clothes, and give money to prospective voters so that your candidacy could be voted for, what do you think you are doing? Stop this wickedness now and become an agent to eliminate bribery and corruption in Nigeria.

Judiciary:
You, the presiding judge over cases, you execute your judgment based on the highest bidder, what do you think you are doing? Repent now of all your injustices and undue judgments, for you will surely never miss hell should you continue in this wickedness.

Pastor:
You pastors that blind your eyes to the truth of the Bible, and instead encourages your members in sin so that you won’t lose them, what do you think you are doing? Repent now. 2 Timothy 4:2 “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.”

Job seekers:
You that paid money for your employment to be influenced so that you are now employed, what do you think you are doing? Resign and sack yourself from that job now because it will damn you in hell.

Lecturers and teachers:
You lecturers and teachers that frustrate your female students from passing their exams and deny them graduation except they sleep with you, what do you think you are doing? Repent and embrace JESUS CHRIST as this action is a sure way to the bottomless pit of hell.

Bribery and corruption pervades the land today, but should you choose to become different in your entire official, non official, marital, academical, politics, job seeking dealings and others, the LORD will strengthen you to stand firm and surely, you shall overcome the evil epidemic of bribery and corruption.

Prophet Samuel said “Behold, here I am: witness against me before the LORD, and before his anointed: whose ox have I taken? or whose ass have I taken? or whom have I defrauded? whom have I oppressed? or of whose hand have I received any bribe to blind mine eyes therewith? and I will restore it you.” 1 Samuel 12:3. Can you also be bold enough to declare like Samuel did?
May the good LORD JESUS CHRIST give us victory today as you uphold his name in this wicked world.

Shalom!