“Repent Or Perish!”

“Repent Or Perish!”
Once upon a time people drank end danced on the streets when gossip had it that somebody had died. And my worry then as it is now is why would anybody rejoice over the death of another person?
I had this old man in my quarter who was my friend. I bet you I learned a lot from him. But one thing I couldn’t tolerate from him was that from time to time he named other old people who were dead and told me they died for the evil lives they lived. One time I asked him whether he would live forever because he was a righteous person? Of course, he too had become manure many years ago?
Yesterday when we heard of the death of one youngman, most of us received the news with mixed feelings. We didn’t know whether it was good riddance or a sad tale. We were torn between and betwixt!
Sometimes we think that some people deserve to die, as if we are better than them!
There is no reason whatsoever why we should rejoice over the death of anybody. Even true soldiers who understand the ethics of war kill only when it is necessary! It is not so in Cameroon where soldiers are driving through a town and spraying all the houses by the roadside with bullets. The bullet marks are there as evidences on the walls of houses in all the towns and villages where they have passed.
What has become of capturing people who have surrendered as prisoners of war (POW)?
John Donne wrote “the death of any man diminishes me…” And that each time you hear the death knell being sounded it reminds you that one day you too must die!
The fact that you are still alive today is not because to you are the best; it is rather an opportunity for you to mend your ways!
When some people “told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices, Jesus answered, ‘Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower of Siloam fell on them – do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.'”(Lk. 13:1-5).
Yes, those more than twenty youths gassed in Bali, those massacred in Pinyin, all the people burned or shot in their houses and all the soldiers who have been killed are not worst sinners than all of us who are alive rejoicing how we neutralized them! Unless we repent we shall all perish!
This is a befitting time for all of us to repent! John the Baptist is still calling today that you and I repent and bear fruit worthy of repentance! Repent or perish!
Have a blessed weekend! Peace be with you!