The young man called me around 2pm: “Uncle Harry, I had a dream! In the dream, I was carrying engine oil on my head, walking along the street, marketing it! Please, what does it mean?”
I sighed…
I get asked these kind of questions on the daily: people have dreams and somehow believe it has an “interpretation” and somehow, Uncle Harry has the “gift” of interpreting dreams!
I replied the young man, “It means you were carrying engine oil on your head, walking along the street, marketing it!”
He did not like my response. I did not say what his itchy ears wanted to hear…
He called in the afternoon, I believe he must have been asking around since morning and will continue asking around (as I did not give him any interpretation!) until he gets one.
The problem here is, THE YOUNG MAN HAD BEEN CONDITIONED TO BELIEVE DREAMS HAVE INTERPRETATIONS!
Now, imagine I had responded with, “Hmmmm…. What kind of engine oil were you carrying? Mobil? Total? Oando? NNPC?” He would have been expectant! “Total engine oil, sir!”
“Ah! That means you will soon be employed by Total to HEAD the ENGINE OIL Department!”
He would have been glad! Then I add the clincher: “To provoke and hasten this blessing, you need to sow a GOOD seed! I suggest you give me a Hundred Thousand Naira!”
He would have sourced that money for me anyhow…
Or I told him, “Total oil! Ah… Your enemies want to take away your anointing TOTALLY! They want the OIL on your HEAD to dry TOTALLY! I will need to engage some “Prayer Warriors” to thwart their plans…”
I sow the seed of FEAR into him. Then I make same monetary demands for my “Prayer Warriors”…
It is unfortunate this is the brand of Christianity we practice in Africa/Nigeria, where the flock is subject to the shenanigans of the leadership, where the flock has been conditioned to believe they can’t have access to God, they need an intermediary (a pastor, prophet, reverend, bishop or apostle) to interface with God on their behalf. And they are fleeced for their ignorance.
A few days ago, I was working on my laptop and listening to some worship songs. I paused and actually LISTENED to the song playing. It was a song titled “Open Heaven (River Wild) by Hillsong Worship.
The chorus of the song is,
“Holy Spirit rain
Falling like a flood
Break upon my praise
As I sing of Your love
Holy Spirit fire
Burn within my soul
As I call on Your Name…”
I listened to the song over and over again. The song clearly portrays the Holy Spirit Fire as a CLEANSING AGENT! It burns in our souls to clear out all impurities and sin. It changes us from WITHIN!
But in Nigeria/Africa, the Holy Ghost Fire is something else! It is a weapon of WAR! You invoke it to burn your enemies! Kill them! Destroy them!
It is all about CONDITIONING: we have been conditioned to see too many enemies out there, whose sole aim in life is to destroy us and hinder us from fulfilling our destinies. Nobody ever considers this: “AM I SO IMPORTANT THAT SOME FOLKS WOULD ACTUALLY WANT TO DESTROY ME?”
We teach this brand of Christianity because of the society we live in, where nobody wants to take responsibility for his actions, where we outsource blames for our shortcomings and failings. We blame “Village People”, we blame a faceless Wizard or Witch. We blame our boss, our spouse, our parents for our lot in life. Our religious leaders know this, so they capitalize on it to keep us in perpetual bondage.
To enjoy the best life, to enjoy the best Christianity has to offer, to be the best versions of ourselves, we MUST rid ourselves of this primitive mindset, folks!
Shalom,
Haruna Daniels