By Ugochukwu Ugwuanyi
A devious debate, presented as empathetic, was staged online last week. Stripped of all pretences, the convo was a calculated attempt to prevent beneficiaries of supernatural deliverance from appreciating the grace of being singled out for safety. Their goal was to make those who couldn’t help but be emotionally (un)intelligent feel guilty for surviving while testifying to the Lord’s mercies.
It started when an X user who goes by the name Viktor (how ironic since a Victor would be expected to be a proponent of testimonies per having probably prevailed over a predicament) posted: “Testimonies in Nigerian churches sounds like ‘I’m the only one who survived the accident that claimed the lives of 20 persons’ how’s that a f**king testimony?” As of this writing, his tweet has garnered 29.4K views, 1.6K likes, 384 retweets, and 61 comments.
It was followed by interventions like that of ChevyX, who posted: “It’s narcissistic to give loud testimonies like this in church or anywhere really, because what happened to others involved? Weren’t they loved by God? Be grateful for life but don’t rub it on people’s faces and say God loves you more that’s why you survived, be graceful about it.”
Responding to the one who commented: “So I should not celebrate my graduation because others failed even though they their best? I should keep quiet when I recover from an illness that some other person died from it? The intent of testimony is not to mock but to acknowledge what you went through and encourage others,” Viktor railed: “Your reasoning is irritating, it shows how selfish y’all are, seeing the d€ath of other people as a reason to thank your God who should either prevented the accident or saved everyone. While you’re in your church testifying some other people are mourning their loved ones but it’s not your business because all that matters is you survived but don’t worry you may not make it next time and the ones that did will testify in church.”
A sentiment analysis of the responses indicates that most commenters agree with the author of the controversial post. But that’s due to the context within which Viktor presented his POV. A careful examination of the subtext smacks of an ulterior motive. This came to the fore when he gave a 100 percent endorsement to @AbujaCleaner’s comment that “The Christian god enjoys misfortune. Always want to be praised for others tragic incident.” So, it’s not about empathy after all, but a weaponisation of sympathy to shadow-box the Almighty. You see, lexicographers are aware that there are people who just hate God. This is why they devised a name for them in the dictionary – anti-theists. One can see their bile towards God writ large in the conversation. Yet, these contrarians forget that God “maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Matthew 5:45).
Seeing that they can’t fight the Supreme Being, they pick on whoever comes across as His proxy. This is how they’ve turned themselves into humanists trying to demoralise saints who can’t hold back details of their survival, not by the whiskers but by the mercies of the Lord. Granted that there is a need for sensitivity to victims and their loved ones’ ordeal, but gratitude and compassion aren’t mutually exclusive. Indeed, the doings of the Lord in people’s lives can be so wondrous that no other consideration matters whenever the beneficiaries get the chance to talk about His unimaginable love towards them.
Usually, the magnitude of the calamity heightens the passion and fervour of the testifier. Such an outpouring of emotions shouldn’t offend anyone since the testifiers are entitled to constitutionally guaranteed freedom of thought, conscience, and expression. If it’s about reading the room to be emotionally intelligent, it is highly plausible that persons directly or indirectly connected to the said misfortune are not in the congregation. It would have been a different matter altogether if they were. So why would Viktor and his co-travellers be crying more than the bereaved? Perhaps, to vent their frustration towards God. The spared who come forward to testify shouldn’t be seen as insensitive; they are like the writer of Psalm 115:1, who declared: “Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, But to Your name give glory, Because of Your mercy, Because of Your truth.”
If these testifiers are in the wrong (thankfully, being wrong in the eyes of men doesn’t approximate to being wrong in God’s sight), so is Noah. Note that it was the same flood that destroyed people of his days that kept him and his family afloat, safely sequestered in the Ark! After touching ground when the water receded, Noah didn’t grieve in solidarity with the souls that perished but proceeded immediately to build an altar to the Lord. That act of faithfulness brought humanity an eternal blessing widely quoted to this day. That’s Genesis 8:22, “While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.“
Rather than belly-ache over how survivors of close shaves choose to announce their praise report, these freethinkers had better secured themselves by subscribing to the name of the Lord, which is a strong tower. By believing in and confessing the resurrected Jesus as their Lord and personal saviour, God “shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways” (Psalm 91:11). They will even get to the level where nothing shall by any means hurt them. (Luke 10:19). That’s how to enjoy the covenant of exemption, and not be affected when “a thousand fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand.”
In a related development, it has come to light that many Christians are discouraged from testifying due to the presence of mixed multitudes in churches, who exploit testimonies of blessings that congregants share for nefarious activities. A tweet shared a few days ago claimed that “Someone had a testimony in my church about hitting a big contract at work and that same night, he was robbed in his house, he came back to church the next Sunday, gave another testimony while emphasising that there was a thief within the congregation.” That’s in the physical; something similar obtains in the spiritual realm, where dabblers in the dark arts have made a listening post of Testimonies Time in church.
I’m aware of someone who continued earning in USD until he testified about his gig in church. The cessation of the dollar rain was demonically engineered based on the intelligence agents of darkness picked up via his testimony. Senior pastors of ministries, therefore, have their work cut out for them. It’s a dent on their altar for a worshipper to suffer related loss after announcing before the congregation how the Lord has favoured them. To this end, general overseers should intentionally lead the prayers of dedication said after the sharing of testimonies during service, even if their lieutenants moderate the proceedings! If this prayer can be like the Luke 17:19 declaration by the Lord Jesus upon the healed leper who returned to give thanks, demons and thieves dare not toy with the seal!
*VIS Ugochukwu is a Sage, Narrative Architect and Branding Strategist who responds to feedback via X @sylvesugwuanyi