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| You can NOT cover Lagos-Benin in 2hrs- map from google |
If you remove the
embellishments, you can actually learn a bit of history but asides that, it can
quickly become a competition on the person with the most interesting story on
personal relationships with celebrities or popular politicians, disarming armed
robbers, near death experiences, ritual killings, and other stuff. Many of us
know these entertainers are lying through their teeth but we just keep quiet.
However, my experience on Friday shows that folks are just tired of the
tale-spinners they meet every day. Trust me; the dude in question is not likely
to spin another tale any time soon. I will relay what happened in a bit.
For a while now, I have
been considering doing a series on falsehood. After giving it some thought, I
realised that falsehood goes beyond telling a lie. I thought and still think
that the topic may turn out to require several posts to do it justice and I did
not want to entangle myself with that but the young man I shall call Nnamdi
clearly showed me that its high time we considered the issue of falsehood-among
Christians.
I was in one of those long
civilian buses that ply Oshodi- Sango route. If you have ever been on one, you
will know that the number of people who stand is almost double the number of
people who sit in the bus. Nnamdi was one of those standing. Now, normally,
Oshodi to Sango shouldn’t take more than an hour but Friday nights in Lagos are
anything but normal. You know how you grind your teeth as you realise that you
have spent 45 minutes on almost the same spot. Now that I think about it, it is
probably this frustration fires the imagination of tale spinners.
Anyway, we had just driven
past Ikeja along when out of the blues, I heard Nnamdi’s clear voice “I once
drove from Lagos to Benin in less than two hours.” It was quiet. All was still.
Brethren, people were stunned! I know I was. Two hours! I can’t even begin to
explain this to someone who is not familiar with the terrain but let me say
that there are at least two big states between both locations: Ogun and Ondo
states. I have attached a map to this post but I doubt if it will do justice to
the issue at hand.
When one of us recovered
his faculties, he asked (more like confronted) Nnamdi on how in the heavens he
achieved this feat. Obviously, the young man did not expect anyone to take him
up on the matter so to cover up his miscalculated speech; he launched into
talks about speedometers, car models, kilometres, state of the road and other
excuses. Trust Lagosians. They ‘oohed’ and ‘ahhed’ at the appropriate time to
deliver the right amount of shame. Nnamdi was flustered but he couldn’t stop.
He picked up his phone and called an anonymous friend to corroborate his
report. When everyone yelled for him to put the phone on speaker “so we can ask
your friend questions”, Nnamdi pocketed his phone and his voice dipped
remarkably. To say it was embarrassing is an understatement. I blushed for him!
Why this matter really
touched me was the fact that, without being asked, five minutes before the
outlandish statement that ruined the night, Nnamdi had pointed out his church
“where I go every Sunday” to everyone in the bus. Who asked him? When the
events unravelled, I felt that another one of my brothers had shamed Jesus in a
public bus. Indeed, in the multitude of words, there wanteth not sin.
Now that you have the
background statement story, permit me
to run a series on the issue of falsehood. Bear in mind that I do not write as
a Pharisee, but as one whom the Spirit of God has convicted on the same issue
in recent times. Typing this just hurt my pride. I wasn’t spinning tales, I was
‘withholding’ information- am I making
excuses? I hope not- that’s even worse. Sometimes, one can approach the
issue of privacy without wisdom and slip into telling lies- or withholding
information which in itself could turn into falsehood.
As a matter of fact,
falsehood has layers that range from subtle misinformation to blatant lies (ask
Nnamdi). Is there any difference in these types of lies? Technically, No. I do
not mean that I excuse one type of lie for the other. I only think that the
differences between them lie in how they are able to sneak up on us without us
realising that we just told a lie: for example, if I am working on my next blog
post during official working hours but I leave the company’s e-mail window open
so I can quickly make a switch when anybody appears to walk in my direction, am
I lying? Yes, I am.
Falsehood is not a
laughing matter. I believe it is one of the little foxes that can rubbish the
testimony of a child of God and limit the extent to which such person can be
used by the Holy Spirit. Jesus Himself stated that the devil is the father of
all liars. We cannot claim to have God as our Father and still want the devil
to adopt us. That is not a spiritually legal triune relationship. It can’t
work. It won’t work and since God respects the will of a man, continuing in
falsehood may just be us insisting on whom we want to call daddy.
If the Holy Spirit is
convicting you of falsehood or any other sin, rejoice first and then repent.
For at least, I take it to mean that my conscience has not been seared beyond
repair. Then I still have hope. God is still interested in me. I fear for and
pity the man whom the Holy Spirit no longer pricks his conscience on sin. That
man deserves the world’s pity for he is a tragedy that has happened, waiting
only to be revealed.
Has God at anytime
convicted you of lying or any form of falsehood? Do you have a testimony of
overcoming falsehood? Share your thoughts in the comments section, and
strengthen other readers.
I leave you In God’s care,
Miss.
August
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