Kenya is a strange country.
Kenya is a strange country because people have this habit of calling wrong right and right wrong. They proudly declare in the public square that they are making the wrong choice and they don’t care.
This is very strange. You would not expect this to be happening in a country whose foundations have been severely shaken by economic, political, social and spiritual turbulence in recent years. Unfortunately, this is our reality. It seems that our values are being turned inside out, again.
It is values that hold societies together and create harmony. The absence of values in a society leads to anarchy.
The latest in this case of throwing our values through the window has given birth to the slogan #mythiefmychoice. Those who believe this latest slogan are simply saying that they do not care if the person they align themselves with is a thief or if he is a rapist, or if he is a child molester, or any such thing for that matter.
Such manner of reasoning is what brings about the collapse of societies. Very strong world civilizations have been brought down by such manner of warped reasoning and going against reason and sound advice.
The relationship between God and the Israelites brings out this truth very clearly. In Isaiah 5:20-23, the prophet warns the people of Israel of the consequences of their turning away from the values that created harmony in their society:
“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight… who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice to the innocent”.
Israelites had so hardened their hearts such that they were willing to subvert justice. They embraced immorality and idolatry contrary to God's command. They called that which was right wrong and that which was wrong they called right. The leaders had closed their eyes to the suffering of the poor.
The prophet Isaiah warned the people that if they don’t change their ways, God would punish them. They refused to heed the voice of God and as the prophet had predicted, God allowed the Israelites to be conquered by their enemies in 600 BC. King Nebuchadnezzar, a pagan, conquered their land and took them to exile in Babylon.
In Daniel 1:1-2, we see the warning of the prophet being fulfilled:
“In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the articles from the temple of God. These he carried off to the temple of his god in Babylonia and put in the treasure house of his god”.
This was an act of humiliation for a people who were known as the people of God, the people of the Promise. They became a laughing stock of their neighbours. As a result of this, the Jews lived in exile for 70 years. They were exiled because of disobedience and making the wrong choices against wise advice from God’s messengers.
What do we learn from the experience of the Israelites?
One of the lessons is that God has, and will, let His people be humiliated if they fail to listen to his voice. God allows ungodly rulers to rule over His people when they disobey His voice and make wrong choices.
God even uses ungodly leaders to punish His people. He used Pharaoh of Egypt, He used Cyrus the Persian, Darius the Mede and He used Nebuchadnnezar of Babylon to humiliate Israelites when they failed to obey Him.
When Kenyans say #mythiefmychoice, I shudder and ask myself; do Kenyans really know what they are asking for?
If this trend continues, we will soon hear them say #myrapistmychoice, #myrobbermychoice and so on and so forth. Is this really the kind of society we are asking for, a society where integrity has no place in our choices?
And this is not just a Kenyan problem. It is happening all over the world, where people have decided to do away with godly values and are now embracing man-made ideas and idolizing their leaders.
A people who insist on doing things their own way will soon suffer the consequences of their choices. Any culture collapses when people throw away values that create the health of societies.
That is where this country, and any other culture - African, Asian or European - will head to, if they choose to do away with values that have held their societies together for centuries, and choose values that have no regard for God.
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