By Fr Pat Amobi Chukwuma
Soldier goes. Soldier comes. The barracks remains. No one knows exactly when this world was created. Anyone who knows the date of its creation should come forward and take over my father’s inheritance. It is not even contained in the Bible. The Holy Book has only this to say, “In the beginning, when God began to create the heavens and the earth, the earth has no form and was void; darkness was over the deep and the Spirit of God hovered over the waters” (Genesis 1:1 – 2).
When exactly was that beginning? The answer is beyond human grasp. Only God knows the date when this world was created. Of course no human being was in existence by then. The little creation account contained in the Book of Genesis was written through Divine inspiration.
According to the Genesis account, God illumined the total darkness that shrouded the earth by creating light, thereby separating light from darkness. The light was called day while the darkness was called night. God went further to form the waters and separated them from the sky. Then, He brought forth the land for future human habitation. Furthermore, God created vegetation, seed-bearing plants and trees which would bear fruit of all kinds.
After this He created wild and tarmed animals, including fish and birds of the air. Seeing that all his products were good, God finally said, “Let us make man in our own image and likeness” (Gen. 1:26). He created them male and female. This was the climax of God’s six days creative activities. I wonder who was present to count the days.
Adam and Eve and their immediate descendants formed the first human generation.Wickedness crept into the first generation of mankind when Cain killed his brother Abel. This was the origin of terrorism. The two siblings made sacrifices to God with their products. Cain was a farmer while Abel was a shepherd. Cain offered God useless fruits.
On his own part, Abel offered God the fatty firstborn of his flock. God rejected Cain’s wretched offering and accepted Abel’s generous offering. Consequently, envy clouded Cain’s vision and he persuaded Abel to a field. On reaching there, he killed his brother with a club. When God asked Cain the where-about of his brother Abel, he replied, “I don’t know; am I my brother’s keeper?” (Gen. 4:9). That was the first onslaught of the wicked generation.
After the murder of Abel by his brother Cain, the world did not remain the same again. God the Creator was so much displeased and he regretted having created man on earth. As a result, God asserted, “I will destroy man whom I created and blot him out from the face of the earth, as well as the beasts, creeping creatures and birds, for I am sorry I made them” (Gen. 6:7). What of you and I? Is God regretting having made me and you? Is my behaviour pleasing or displeasing to God? During this first set of wicked generation, God found great favour with Noah the righteous one.
He saved only him and his household including selected animal species who went into the ark. Then God flooded the earth for seven days whereby the rest of the wicked generation perished. Later the merciful God vowed, “Never again will I curse the earth because of man, even though his heart is set on evil from childhood; never again will I strike down every living creature as I have done” (Gen 8:21).
If not for the patience of God, this present evil world would have been destroyed and her evil inhabitants wiped out. Meanwhile God tolerates good and wicked people, to co-inhabit the earth till the Day of Judgment, when everyone will receive either eternal reward or eternal damnation. We shall reap whatever we sowed (Galatians 6:7).
It seems we are taking God’s mercy and patience for granted. That is why we sinful human beings are provoking Him more and more. Indeed, idolatry has eaten deep into the fabrics of the present generation. Creature is trying by all means to overrun his Creator. Artificial intelligence has almost usurped human intelligence. Robots perform human functions nowadays. Some of them have the power of speech. Not all those walking human beings you see here and there are real.
Insecurity is the order of the day worldwide. But it has its abode here in Nigeria. No one is sure nowadays of going out and coming back alive. Terrorists have taken over our lands and forests. Kidnappers have devalued human life by abducting, raping, demanding of ransom and killing of innocent persons going about their daily businesses. Thus the wickedness of Cain has tripled today.
Just recently, the National Catechetical Week was embarked by the Catholic Church in order to re-evangelize Christians and non-Christians, and lead them back to the path of divine salvation. The catechesis centered on the first Commandment in the Decalogue which says, “I am the Lord your God. You shall have no other god but me” (Exodus 20:3). Many Christians, especially the youths, have gone astray by worshipping idols. Idolatry has been enthroned to the highest level.
The youths, who are the hope of tomorrow, have abandoned the Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth. They are now chasing shadows in place of reality. Numerous young men and women have become occult doctors and idol queens, respectively. The old shrines abandoned by our fathers and forefathers who embraced Christianity have been renovated. Many new ones have been built. White cloths are tied on some trees and adorned as gods. In many places sacrifices are offered to these lifeless gods. Useless sacrifices are dropped between crossroads. I have come across so many whenever I embark on my routine health walk. I normally look for precious things in those occult sacrifices and have found none.
Becoming rich by dint of hard work is no more fashionable today. Wealth now comes from magical powers through the process of magic pot (okeite). The yahoo boys are now numerous. One of them buried his biological mother alive in order to become a millionaire. Many missing persons are victims of get-rich-quick syndrome.
The yahoo boys sacrifice their girlfriends in order to become millionaires, which they never become. One of the yahoo boys in my area hacked her girlfriend to death with an axe and dumped her remains beside a busy road. Eventually he was traced and arrested. He is now languishing in prison. His satanic plans have been shattered. His cries in prison and shouts: “Had I known!” Some adult men and women are sponsoring these futureless youths and leading them into the world of phantasy.One of the instructors in my parish described these futureless youths as confused generation.
Yes, they are really confused. Many of them are deep into dangerous drugs that make them more confused. They smoke, drink and chew the unhealthy drugs which lead them into insanity. One confused boy of 18 years, who was the only son of a widow, was seen eating human excreta after drugging himself. Also he drank his urine with pleasure. On one fateful day, his cup was full. With the influence of hard drugs he was apprehended while he was about to rape his biological mother. Instantly, the police took him away to an unknown destination. Which one is better: to be the mother of such a useless boy or to be childless? Confusion network has trapped this present generation. Is there any hope of a better future generation?
