Altars of Balaam!
Dr. Offiong C. Offiong, JP
It’s so easy to deceive the gullible, especially in a place like our beloved State where majority appears to shop for direction through self-elavated prophets. Such lame duck religiosity has given rise to overnight half-baked prophets who are lining their pockets with naira notes in exchange of what is thought to be prophecy but deliberate prank.
Late last night, I stumbled on a promo for a prayer meeting of ACA, branded “The Battle of the Altars.” I couldn’t stop laughing not because of the intriguing title but because of the leading characters involved in organizing the prayers.
In this State where these characters are clearly known for all but negative threads of events, one wonders which altars are to lock horns in the battle. Is it the altar of greed, idolatry, sensuality, subterfuge or outright wickedness?
Glancing over again at the title, what immediately came to my mind is the desperation of Balak the king of Moab and Balaam the greedy prophet who was hired by the former to help curse Israel, so they won’t advance further. But he failed, altogether.
The same theatric will be engaged by the organizers of ACA’s meeting at Archbishop Cletus Bassey’s Destiny Mission Thursday 19th May, 2022. Cletus Bassey’s main agenda is to play the prophet Balaam’s script. Balaam failed!
From all indications, Archbishop Cletus Bassey has publicly stood against Governor Udom Emmanuel and all he represents in Akwa Ibom State. Inspite of the patience and kind-heartedness the governor has shown him over the years, the archbishop has vowed revenge because the vault of government house was closed against his numerous demands.
In a clear collusion with some governorship aspirants tainted with cultism and violence, in which Udom Emmanuel administration has denounced, Cletus Bassey is sponsored in to distract the polity. His paymasters have seen that it would be extremely difficult to stop the train of Udom Emmanuel’s succession plan and have engaged the Balaamic approach.
Prophet Balaam built many altars for King Balak, yet the altar of God, represented by Moses, stood against the several altars of greed, avarice and immoral stench of prophet Balaam. It was really “the Battle of the Altars” as God altar swallowed up the greed- induced altars of Balaam.
While it was in the heart of Balaam to curse Israel to stop their advancement, it was in the heart of God to bless them the more. And Balaam said: “How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom the LORD hath not defied?” Numbers 23:8 (KJV)
As ACA gathers, no curse causeless shall stand, because they are raising defective altars; defective in the sense that ACA, as it stands today, is a stolen platform, which was subterraneously registered against the knowledge of the governor who dreamed it out.
Secondly, you cannot successfully fight the fingers which fed you. The golden rule forbids it! ACA, as volunteered by some of the coordinators, was the brain child of Gov. Udom Emmanuel, who financed it personally. They knew how much the governor also supported Cletus Bassey with funds for his upkeep. Some said that the archbishop’s church couldn’t cope with his financial needs; as most financially strong members left.
The many altars ACA is busy raising is defective because its leaders are in league with cult-tainted individuals who have no covenant with the living God of Akwa Abasi Ibom State.
Try hard as they may, God has already blessed Udom Emmanuel and his succession plan and none can stop it. Not even hundreds of prophet Balaams with their dozens of altars can restrain it because, if the foundation is defective, the righteous can do nothing (Psalms 11:3).
