Action speaks louder than words. The action of President Julius Maada Bio, in targeting churches and mosques ostensibly on scientific advice, not only bodes ill but also raises doubts with regard to his belief in efficacy of corporate prayer for the nation.
Nature abhors a vacuum. He has created one in churches and mosques, which will be filled by Satan and his demons. With regard to his disdain for the Christian religion, one of his first acts, on ascending to the throne, was to reinstitute market activities on Sundays, starting stealthily with abolition on Sunday mornings and now he winks at selling from dawn. He never refers to God without also mentioning Allah, giving rise to a suspicion of his being Chrismus (neither here nor there). Even the Muslim Dr Tejan Kabbah was not so ambivalent. He referred to God, period.
At the beginning of Christianity, worship was conducted in house churches after the Jewish Synagogues and Temple worship. Our strong man, in religion and not in secular affairs, is virtually forcing us willy-nilly to revert to house worship and we are bound to conform in order not to leave our flock shepherd-less while in incarceration.
True Christians are aware of the Bible’s prescription that: “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities.” -Romans 13:1. Whether such subjection is dictatorial or not is not elaborated upon.
Incidentally, in this country, which is an exemplar in religious tolerance, high handedness would not permit our omnipotent President from consulting Inter- Religious Council, comprising the Body of Christ, CCSL, the Council of Imams et al. It is needless stating that most citizens who are either Christians or Muslims are angry that everyone can deprive them of their spiritual activities citing flimsy excuses.
All is not lost for true Christians. Let us accept the fait accompli of the loss of congregational worship. A believer would have ordered churches and mosques to limit their numbers like being done for weddings and mosques. But the all powerful President has given peremptory orders.
The Bible states, in Mathew 18:19-20, “Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name three I am I in the midst of them.” But an infidel would not care two hoots in the exuberance of power.
Talking about enclosure as the epicenters of COVID-19, NACOVERC seems to have taken schools, colleges, market places and herd transportation as exceptions to the rule. But this is a biased exception against religion. It is now evident that the wearing of masks in the Western Area, which is the epicenter of the disease, is being treated defiantly by the citizens.
It is chin wearing ineffectively that is common place and the authorities who themselves do not conform to little or nothing about it. It is an irony that in the part of the country where the disease is there is laxity by the authorities while in less prevalent areas people are fined heavily.
There is no gainsaying the fact that President Bio has the final say in all these goings-on and should not be absolved by any sycophants. He bears the ultimate responsibility for the arbitrary closures of the places of worship. He will go down in history as the man who clamped down on religion in a bid to achieve world fame. He will carry our load. We should not be surprised if he keeps renewing the closures, which are said to be AT LEAST one month. Whether he really believes in God is the question.