It was the Apostle Paul in his second epistle to Timothy, his spiritual son, who predicted the following: “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come. For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God…” (2Tim. 3: 1-4). When the news broke concerning the multiple attacks that hit Paris on Friday, 13th November, 2015, what came to my mind was that these events were a re-confirmation of the fact that we were living right in the middle of the perilous times foretold so long ago.
Of course, the date of September 11, 2001 stands out as that day when everything could be said to have changed for the worse. Since then, it would appear that the reign of terror and evil has increasingly picked up speed and has now attained a real gallop. Of course, there has always been evil in the world – or, put more correctly, evil in the hearts of men. Otherwise, why should Cain have murdered his brother, and then to have the nerve to reply, when God asked him where his brother Abel was: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” And all the horrors of wars fought through the centuries, of “man’s inhumanity to man” evidenced, for example, by the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the holocaust. The heart of human beings, truly, can be desperately wicked.
In recent times, however, we are being confronted with evil on a scale and in a manner that are truly confounding. The terrorist groups ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) and Boko Haram, to mention but those two, have brought into our collective consciousness a most disturbing reality – an apparent delight in and enjoyment of evil. They film and post online the slitting of the throats and decapitation of some of their victims; with apparent glee they threaten the world and seek to cow and scare us into submission to their evil agenda. Several mundane activities which are ordinarily taken for granted have suddenly become perilous, as the recent attacks in Paris have demonstrated: going to watch a match at a stadium, eating a meal in a restaurant with friends, having some fun dancing at a night club; all have become imbued with potential peril. What can we do? From where can we get some help?
The response of world leaders, especially those of Western countries, and their citizens to terror attacks is truly inspiring. They seem at such times to dig deep into their collective identity and shared values and rise to confront the assault on them with dignity, strength and defiance. They refuse to be defeated by the evil, even though there is anger, and sometimes fear. Above all, one must be impressed by the way their security operatives swing immediately into action and manage to capture some of the perpetrators of the heinous acts, sometimes within hours (as in the case of the Paris attacks), sometimes after a few years (as in the case of Osama Bin Laden). It is sad that we in Nigeria have not been able to mount a similar kind of response in respect of the Boko Haram insurgency. Indeed, it is to the great shame of our country that the funds, running into billions of dollars, voted for equipping our armed forces to effectively combat Boko Haram have been discovered to have been diverted into private pockets. That the leaders of a nation would actually be that callous beats the imagination – leave their abducted daughters for over a year in the hands of ruthless and insane jihadists, and allow their citizens to be killed at will by suicide bombers!
While one cannot deny the importance of the Western style of response and even commend them for being able to confront evil with such single-minded resolve, there is nonetheless a nagging question as to the actual effectiveness of it all, especially on the long term. How come the terror unleashed on the world fifteen years ago when airplanes were rammed into the Twin Towers in New York City has not abated, but rather increased? Is this a war which can be won through the dropping of bombs on ISIS strongholds in Syria as well as on Sambisa Forest in Nigeria? Is the seat of the evil being confronted a physical location?
It is almost unimaginable now to expect world leaders to call on God for help in any challenging situation confronting either their countries or the world at large. Some form of religious sentiment might be allowed when a disaster occurs and a leader states that the nation’s “thoughts and prayers” are with the victims of whatever calamity might have taken place, be it a plane crash, an earthquake, or even a terror attack, as in Paris. And yet, the real evil being confronted is in the hearts and minds of human beings. Who on earth has direct access to people’s hearts and minds? I have often wondered, naively, no doubt, why leaders do not ask their people to call on God for help in the face of serious challenges. Is it because we feel self-sufficient? The obvious reality, unfortunately, is that we cannot help ourselves. Science and technology have not been able to resolve the problem of the wickedness and depravity of the human mind. We need God’s help!
