Itinerant preaching did not just start today; it is as old as time. You may have come across these itinerant preachers in your neighbourhood as they go about doing their thing, inviting people to the Way. You may not like them, but you cannot hate their messages – if you care to listen. Most times, we are in a hurry, either rushing to work or dashing out to keep that important appointment that we do not have the time for these preachers. With a bell in hand, a megaphone and a Bible, they trudge the streets on evangelism.
To them, it is all about propagating the faith so that the work of “our Father who art in Heaven” can be done. They do the work zealously. They do not care if their words sear souls. That is the purpose, anyway, so as to get ‘’the lost sheep’’ to change their ways. The Good Book says there is only one way to heaven and that is through Jesus. According to the Bible, he is the “way, the truth and the life”. The preachers’ job is to call people to this Way. Having given their own lives, these preachers believe that they owe it a duty to ‘’save’’ others to free themselves from guilt.
They are only acting according to God’s admonition in Ezekiel 33 : 8-9 : ‘’When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it, if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul’’. The itinerant preacher perceives himself as winning souls for God; this is why he uses the Word to captivate his listeners.
Whether in the morning or in the evening he has his job cut out for him. ‘’Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand’’, he cries to our hearing, but how many of us listen? These days, the itinerant preacher is no longer a lone voice in the wilderness like in the days of John the Baptist. They abound everywhere in the country as they have gone into the world, as directed by Jesus, ‘’to preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth…shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned”. The itinerant preacher is not on a frolic of his own, but carrying out the Lord’s commandment.
We may despise the preacher, but we cannot disdain his or her God to whom we owe the essence of our being. In the free world we are today, we need the itinerant preacher to awaken us; this does not mean that atheists will cease to exist. But by hearing the word of God, their hearts might be touched and they may give their lives and end up being another Apostle Paul. According to the Bible, we can never say who will enter the kingdom of heaven. Many of us going about wearing our faith as a badge of honour may end up not making it, while latter day converts or even sinners, who repent at the last minute, like the thief on Jesus’ right hand on the Cross of Calvary, may enter God’s Kingdom.
Through their work, the itinerant preachers are trying to get us to lead a righteous life. But many of us tend to see them as irritants, who disturb our sleep early in the morning or our rest in the evening with their ‘unsolicited’ preaching. ‘’Didn’t the Bible say they should shake the dust off their feet in homes where they are not welcomed?’’ some would ask. The truth is by standing on the streets to preach, they are not in anybody’s home. The public space belongs to them just like any other person. So, we should learn to tolerate them.The problem is we are intolerant when it comes to religion. We always want to have it our own way when religion is at the heart of the matter. The Muslim is intolerant of the Christian and vice versa.
It is this intolerance that led to the dastardly killing, last Saturday, of Deaconess Eunice Olawale during her daily “Morning Cry” preaching in Kubwa, a satellite town in Abuja. What could she have done to have warranted been killed in cold blood a few metres away from her home? Was her preaching disturbing anybody? Did such people complain to the community development association (CDA) so that she could be called to order? But no matter how some might have felt about her preaching, killing her was not the solution. Her death will not deter other preachers. Rather, it will embolden them.
By killing Mrs Olawale, her killers have made her a martyr for Christ. She died doing what she believed in – winning souls for God. I know some would have been touched by her preaching and saved. These ones will always pray for her whenever they remember what she did in their lives. Deaconess Olawale may have died young, but it is not how far, but how well. She fought a good fight and ran a swift race in the Lord’s vineyard and a crown of glory is surely waiting for her. As the Bible says, those who die in Christ are not dead, but sleeping and will rise with Jesus on the Last Day.
Deaconess Olawale’s death is a challenge to the police. The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command must do everything to bring her killers to book. Someone must have seen or heard something that fateful day. It is the job of the police to ferret out such people so that they can get a lead to crack this case. Acting Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Ibrahim Idris, who assumed duty last month, should also see it as a top priority case, which will define his tenure in office. If he cracks this case, it would earn him kudos and pave the way for his success. If he does not, it would be what he will be remembered by long after he has retired. The police chief should not allow the voice of the ‘’Morning Crier’’ of Kubwa to be stilled without justice being done.
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