You see in Nigeria, our strain of Christianity is unique. It’s fashioned specially and customized to fit our particular brand of insanity. Although we are big believers in ghosts, spirits and the supernatural, we still have a pressing need to personalize demons; we need to put them in an embodied and recognised format. And so we attribute our challenges and concerns to that which we can see. Often we blame those surrounding us. So, awkward housemaids are empowered with alleged spiritual forces by our fears, our perceived jealous colleagues or envious friends are accused of ‘jazzing’ us with their ill-fated wishes aimed in our direction. At other times, we journey thousands of kilometres, to loudly lay the blame at the feet of villagers unknown. “Tied Down in the Village, Yet Needed in the City”, for instance, was the battle cry of a valiant charismatic church made up of members who clearly do not have enough housemaids, colleagues or friends to accuse. True story.

This brand of Christianity I know, I understand. But, there is a new strain of our faith that is daily growing with a potency set to erupt in danger if left unchecked. It appears innocuous because this new and perceived enemy, we can reasonably agree appears threatening. Yet this threat begs the question, “Who is the real enemy?”

Nigerian Christians, led by pontificating pastors across the Christian spectrum, are leading a charge not against spiritual wickedness in high places as manifested by housemaids and long-lost villagers, we are now united in fighting against a new enemy: Islam.

I tell you, I can see how, I can even understand why, we would think- as Christians- that fighting against Muslims is the correct thing to do. After all from Europe to Africa, we see the havoc wreaked by men and women in the name of God. We see people weekly sacrifice themselves, taking many others unwillingly, in the name of serving this ‘God’ and we say, “No, this brand of religion is dangerous, it is perverse and it must be stopped!” And so as a faith, we collectively turn our attention from the spirit behind all evil, and we fight Tom and Jerry-like, against the manifestation of evil…when the real evil sits on the throne of hell and makes the earth its footstool.

Muslims are not our enemies.

Let me say that again. Muslims are NOT our enemies.

The very first time I truly doubted Christian doctrine was when I visited my friend in the Gambia. I marveled at the love and kindness of the Njies. “How, how would I go to heaven and these people not go only because they lived humble, simple lives as Muslims?” I wondered. This isn’t a discourse on scripture, it was simply a quiet question I posed to God in one of our morning talks. He told me to mind my business sha.

Yet, it’s people like the lovely Njies that suffer the most when we perpetuate a face of evil that fits squarely on the visage of every terrorist…but not on many Muslims. Growing up, our neighbor had what many Nigerians refer to as a “Mallam” in front. A little shack selling knick knacks and many times run by Hausa shopkeepers. Amongst the Mallams Next Door, there was one in particular who we called Aboki. “Aboki”. “My Friend”. He was our friend; he brought us hampers at Muslim holidays from his meagre supplies and even though he could never pronounce a name right (insisting on calling me ‘IN-KAY-MEE’ instead of Nkem), we liked him tremendously. Religion simply never existed between us. He was Aboki. He was my friend.

The common enemy of every religion that seeks to exalt the human condition and edify the human race, is Evil. Satan, Shaitan, Iblis, Ahriman, is the embodiment of evil and should be the focus of our ire as Christians, as all religious people. The spirit that encourages a man to behead another in a quest for salvation is a savage, destructive spirit and no good is found in it. Islam, like Christianity, is open to interpretation, yet the geist running through all sincere-hearted people who practice a religion is to utilize its tenets for the betterment of ourselves as people and the human race as a whole. Anything that falls short of this standard is not religion, it is simply evil.

Evil is our enemy and all religious, regardless of faith, must join together to fight this collective attempt to terrorise our world with the only answer to evil: Love. After preaching unity all note long, I hate to sound divisive but allow me to narrow my discourse to my fellow Christian brothers and sisters.

Christians, ours is a truly unique religion, one that subverts the standard systems of the world by acting contrary to the culture of the age. The late Dora Akinyuli said something that changed how I looked at Christianity forever. She said, “Christianity is the religion for me, it is the only religion founded totally on nothing but love.” We are asked to turn the other cheek when someone slaps the one cheek, and give a coat as well as a cloak when only a T-shirt is requested of you. Christianity is a religion that calls for love. An abundance, an excess, an unrealistic, non-stop, almost-impossible type of love modeled after Jesus’ sacrificial love for us. This sort of extreme love leaves no room for hate and is the only thing with the power to defeat the evil or terrorism.

Jesus said the enemy comes to kill, steal and destroy.

Hate kills joy, steals peace and destroys love. Hate messages suppose that whoever is not for us, is not merely against us…but must be totally destroyed for being against us.

The love message exalts others above oneself saying, “² If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. ³ If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it;

^[a] …but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.”

Photo Credit: www.darlingmagazine.com (My favourite magazine!)