IS OBAMA THE MESSIAH?

The word messiah simply means ‘anointed one’ or ‘Chosen one’ (It is different from The Messiah). The biblical The Messiah is the one expected to be the descendant of the Biblical David. He is expected to save the Jews and restore everything they lost while running away from the war and strife that characterized their stay in the ‘the promised’ land. Both the Messiahs and Messiah share the same job description (save the people from whatever ails them) except that The Messiah connotes both spiritual and physical job unlike Messiah. The arguments can be advanced that once a peoples physical needs are met then the spiritual becomes a done deal. It is the foregoing that seems to blurs the line between The Messiah and Messiah however there is a difference between the two.

It is worth mentioning that for there to be a messiah, there must be a villain. Villain could be a natural situation or manmade. It could be an individual or a phantom like the Christian and Islamic Devil. Whatever the case, mortals look out for messiahs most times only when times are hard. Hard times can be as a result of natural catastrophe or manmade disaster but more often than not Christianity and Islam credit the Devil with such anomalies instead of trying to understand it.
‘Throughout history there have been claimants to the title "messiah." Some of these led their followers into military adventures that ended badly. Others were peaceful, yet because they were not accepted by orthodox authorities of their faith, ‘’they cannot be called the Messiah or even messiah,’’ they ended up forming their own sect or even a new religion. Thus Bahá'u'lláh (1817 – 1892) claimed to be the promised one of all religions, and founded the Bahá'í Faith. The Shakers believed their founder Mother Ann Lee, as the bride of Christ, was the female Messiah. The Ahmadiyya religion, considered deviated by mainstream Islam, believes that the Messiah and Mahdi have come in the form of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, India (1835 – 1908). In the Unification Church, Reverend Sun Myung Moon is considered to be the Messiah along with his wife.’

Without any doubt, humans have forever expected Messiahs and have had to invent one when they are faced with seemingly insurmountable problems. Needless to say none of these Messiahs have succeeded in alleviating the problems of humans. Our generation has been inundated with stories of frauds who masquerade as the Messiah. We have heard and read stories of natural disasters credited to the all powerful Devil that can only be checkmated by the messiah! It is important to add here that the Devil has succeeded one times too many as humans wait for the Messiah to intervene! Whether we are talking about the biblical Noah deluge or the recent tsunamis in Asia or even the farfetched disastrous biblical story of the forbidden fruit; what must be said, though, is that majority of disasters in the world today are manmade.
America, Zimbabwe and of course our own dear Nigeria is currently experiencing avoidable man made political disasters that make us look out for messiahs’.

I have read and heard and even argued with people with the belief that Nigeria needs some spiritual engagement to be able to disengage from our political wilderness. America is not out of the woods yet but with this singular act of political astuteness, one can see where they are headed. American Messiah is here and it is the American who chose him and anointed him!
The Messiah has a more universal appeal because of Christianity. From where I stand, Messiah would be someone with a clear philosophy and an agenda to better humanity. Realization of such vision and philosophy would come to fruition if the people` accept his/her ideas and are willing to roll up their sleeves and work side by side with such Messiah. As the people work hard in pursuit of the vision, they would come across problems, how they navigate through such problems would depend on how much they believe in their Messiah’s vision.

The Messiah as a theorem postulates that at the time of difficulty, the Messiah would come and resolve our difficulty. Take the Jews obsession with their expected The messiah as one example. According to Jewish teaching, The messiah would restore ‘...ingathering of the exiles; restoration of the religious courts of justice; an end of wickedness, sin and heresy; reward to the righteous; rebuilding of Jerusalem; restoration...of the Temple service’. (Judaism 101)

Emmanuel Joseph, the son of Mary and Joseph has been called many thing amongst which is Jesus The Messiah. He was known to have flogged people in the synagogue when they turned the place into a shopping mall in his effort to restore order and sanity. He spoke against the political power of the day in his attempt to establish his own political order. It must be added that he succeeded beyond his own imagination posthumously. For his troubles he paid with his life. Can we then say that Jesus is The Messiah? The Jews don’t believe it.

‘All past Messianic claimants, including Jesus of Nazareth... have been rejected’. Curled from http://jewsforjudaism.org

Jesus could not achieve the prescription of what The Messiah must do in the bible (according to Jews) in his life time, a situation that challenges his claim to the title. His followers in order to make him relevant looked beyond the small Jewish community of Israel to the Gentiles. The gentiles have been mislead into abandoning their own Messiahs and core values and belief system by those who sees the story told of Jesus and Mohamed as a fast and easy way to earn a living. Gentiles bought into this world wide scam propagated by self styled children of God in their born again Christian and fundamental Islamic assumptions. This misguided loud minority can’t imagine looking beyond their Idols in the global quest for a Messiah. The interesting thing is that The Messiah is forever in us if only we can look inward for the infinite good every one of us is imbued with.

Followers of these two belief system are still trying to convince the world that they carry the light in the dark tunnel where humans search for The One. Jews cannot believe their ears and eyes when Christians claim that Emmanuel Joseph is the One. Jews have out rightly rejected Jesus as the Messiah. The coming of the messiah as conceptualized by the Jews would restore everything lost in battle and Jerusalem would be returned to them. It would mark the end of suffering. Since Emmanuel Joseph did not meet these expectations, the Jews do not recognize his messianic appellation

‘Because no person has ever fulfilled the
picture painted in the Bible of this future
King, Jewish people still await the coming
Of The Messiah.
Curled from http://jewsforjudaism.org

In lieu of the foregoing; one could safely argue that the job of The Messiah is to redeem or restore through radical and fundamental changes what is wrong with society or a people.

It is against this background; one can argue that those who see Obama as The Messiah or Messiah or the Chosen One (to rid the world of evil) in the present dispensation must be allowed to run with their claims. They are no different from any other group of people in history. If anything they have more reason to do so than any other group in history! They must now roll up their sleeves and take to the pulpit to actualize the Barrack Obama, (their Messiah’s) dream. If Barrack Obama chose to claim that title, he will be doing so with better pedigree than any other person in history! His father was pure bread from the black race that went to the best school of his days. His son followed in his foot step and has history behind him. His world goes beyond the borders of America and cut across race and creed.

According to ‘http://www.jewishpassion.com ‘...his reign (‘’the Messiah’’) will be an historically verifiable reality, self-evident to any person, it won't require belief or faith.’

Obama’s claim to the title is not only an historical and verifiable self evident fact; one does not need any faith or belief to see that he is the anointed one of America if the last election result is correct. Compared to any other claimants to Messianic role in the past, Obama enjoys a more universal acceptance than any other person dead or alive in written history. Obama’s support is found among Jews and Gentiles. Both Jesus and Mohamed could not even unite the two feuding houses from the loins of Abraham not to talk of the world.

Added to this is the fact that, past claimants to the messianic throne could not spread their message of peace, if they had any, beyond their immediate vicinity. If anything they were hunted by those who know them. They all died a painful death! They operated in a small part of the world where they left behind divisive messages that have left humans at each other’s throat. Either they have been misinterpreted or their adherents have correctly interpreted them by killing each other and non believers in their effort to spread the messages of their own Messiah or The Messiah!

Obama though hunted by some misguided white supremacist and no doubt gullible myopic colored; enjoys more acceptances and can reach his followers directly through all the means provided by technology today. His message may be misinterpreted by non-believers but those who truly seek the Obama truth can get it first hand from his website and other media without the middle humans like clerics. A situation that makes Barrack Obama’s messianic claims not only unique but his story authentic for this generation.

When society starts seeing messiah in unlikely places, it is a pointer to an inner desire for some forms of dramatic change. This change can occur in the corridors of power as seen in America of today or it could be lead by fraudsters in G-d name as is the case in most part of the world where democracy does not enjoy popularity. This is one way to explain why religion is gaining currency in most part of the developing world. Be it Islam or Pentecostal Christianity they pander to the desire of the people for fundamental changes in the face of daunting economic calamity.
America of today has a need for both The Messiah and Messiah more than ever. Not only because GOPs,’ lead by Bush, has nearly ruined American economy but it has ruined their image everywhere and this is taking its toll. The world perception of America is at an all time low because of the unnecessary war started by Bush. The war has taken a toll on American economy; this has made life a far cry from what America knew it to be. The leadership provided by George Bush in the last eight years can be described as the leadership of the biblical serpent or Lucifer, a situation that make the concept of a messiah relevant in today America. OBAMA, if he can turn these woes around would be The One in this dispensation. The villains have had their day under Bush. The New World Encyclopedia writes, ‘The term Messiah, literally "Anointed One," refers to the belief in a religious (and often political) savior figure who inaugurates a new age and overthrows the old world order. If Obama succeeds he would be the later.

Does this mean that Obama would end all our troubles? Not even Jesus or Mohamed or any other claimant to that title has achieved anything near that. If anything most Messiahs only make matters worse. One only need look at the troubles we are faced with in the world today because of the feud between Christianity and Islam that claim to be doing the work of The Messiah or the Chosen one to see the reason why the world problems would not end with Obama’s reign.

Using the forgoing as our yardstick, can we say Obama is The messiah or Messiah? It is difficult to conclude for many reasons. One reason is that most Messiahs, if not all, are recognised as messiahs at death. It is normally generations after their reigns that recognise their messianic credentials.

The word Christian was used for the first time after the death of Jesus. ‘It translate as the followers of Christ’ Jesus never started any religion, and I doubt if he had any intention to start one. The level of popularity enjoyed by Jesus today could never have been imagined by anyone who lived when he was working to earn his keep on earth. The villains in the time of Jesus were the political leaders of his time. They are still the villains’ today!

In Summary, let reassert the fact that no messiah have ever enjoyed universal acceptance among the human race! Each has their small band of followers who will go to any length, including wars and murder to let one know that they have the answer to humanity quest to the answer that plagues it. Obama has an unparalleled stage from which he can rule the world. His rhetorical message of peace so far has gone down well. If he can take it to the level of praxis; his Messianic appellation would stick for Good and at death, who knows, he may be remembered as THE ONE. The Messiah!

OBAMA OPENS A NEW CHAPTER IN POLITICAL DISCUSS

‘If there is anyone out there who still doubt that America is a place where anything is possible....tonight is the answer’ Obama.
‘America first family is black’ those were the words of a black BBC TV reporter reporting from Atlanta Georgia this morning! The unmistaken pride in the voice of the black reporter says it all.

Finally, the world witnessed the dunk of an old era and the dawn of another. It is often said that people most times miss history when it happens. In this case the world begged for history to happen at the only place where it is practical and not only plausible but possible and they were not disappointed! America reaffirms the worlds believe in the American dream. That much touted axiom was given a name, blood and flesh in Obama!

4th of November 2008 would go down as one of those defining moments in historical epochs. The monumental political earthquake that happened on that day is elixirs that will revive hope for the hopelessly oppressed and hapless minorities in America and elsewhere.

This wind of change no doubt would bring angst to racist white supremacist that have and will refuse to see Obama for what he is (half white) and the gullible and misguided blacks that hate being black. This ‘white people’ trapped in black skin hate being black so much that they believe anything labelled black (except their black shoes and suit) is a misnomer. It borders on the anathema to such people to be associated with humans with the appellation black! Such black people will go to any length to vilify anyone with any link to black parentages. Their desire to be seen as -am not sure what- makes them go shamelessly beyond the acceptable norm of social discuss to deprecate their kith and kin! What they fail to realise is that each time they strive to destroy their own, they destroy part of themselves and by so doing give everyone in the kindred a stain.

These are the blacks who see Obama either as a non-starter or communist. They wasted their vote on McCain! And now they are praying for Obama to fail so that they can have their; I told you so moment. Needless to say they have failed once and failure will remain their portion. How anyone could have failed to see that Obama is unique and was going to win tell more about the reasoning of such detractors and to a large extent their sense of judgement to say the least. I remember one of such misguided black man literarily begging John McCain to vilify Obama in one of the numerous town hall meetings held by the GOP candidate in the course of the campaign. The guy look so pathetic, I was left wondering who was egging him into such ignominy.

Obama should be seen as an epitome of the complexities called America! He is neither white nor black rather he is a classical example of what America should be; the melting pot of colour, race, ideology and a living example of intelligence. Obama is an American dream comes true. He share his gene with the blacks and whites.
It is heartening as an African to see the white press sell him wholesale as black. I think it is a shame and a tsunami size disgrace to describe everyone and anyone with one black parent as black. If Obama’s father was white and the mother black, he would still be called black. With a black father, it makes the appellation easier to hang. You can only be white when both your parents are white. Thank God it is becoming less prestigious to be white. I have a strong feeling that we are at the threshold of the day when humans will be seen simply as humans, not black, not white, not Arab or African or European. That day may be closer than we can imagine. The reason I say this is because the whites who promote the concept of racism are shrinking in population and their progenies now see the world in Technicolor. The progeny of the white progenitors do not see the world as black and white and that is why about 60% voted for Obama. I have this feeling that they may soon start a new trend of seeing human’s jus for what they are; just human... that way they can remain relevant in the human kaleidoscope instead of races.

What set Obama aside from black American achievers like Harry Portiere, Collin Powel and Condellizzer Rice to name but a few, in my opinion, is not the fact that he is semi-black nor is it because he is the first colour leader of the free world...nor is it the fact that he is the ‘first person’ in the world today.
What struck me most is the meteoric rise in his political career and the simple fact that he got to where he is by breaking stereotype frontiers; by taking the power houses in American politics on an flooring them one after the other. He pitched his intelligence with the best offered by the rest and he excelled beyond any ones imagination.

He went through one of the toughest job interview in a circus; a job that for years has been exclusively the reserve of those who see others as less human and you know what; he was found superlunary convincing! That is what set him apart for me.
Before long whites would realise that they are easily giving away what could help inflate their ranks. As the whites’ majority peters into minority and probably obscurity with time, I can’t shake the feelings that they will sooner than later revise the meaning of what it means or takes to be white. I.e., once one of your folks is white or once you are not all that black, they will try to steal you from what has been traditionally coloured...you will enjoy the appellation of ‘whitehood’.
As we celebrate Obama stupendous historical achievement, Nigeria needs some political self appraisals. The Hausa-Fulani oligarchy supported by a few misguided political bigots from the other two major tribes has held Nigeria hostage politically over the years. What happened in America should teach us something. It is time to go beyond the tribal chasm and the club of the few that hold sway in the Nigerian political terrain and build a truly Nigerian political party where all will have a stake. It is time for the minority to have a say in Nigeria politics. I have no grouse with this group of people ruling Nigeria for ever; as long as they get their power from the broad spectrum of the Nigerian electorate. I think it is time we allow the Nigerian political playing field to level out. Let the Obasanjo disgrace that foist President Shehu Musa on us be the last time election is rigged in Nigeria. Even tiny countries like Sierra Leone and Liberia have successfully organised transparent elections!

Obama’s ascension to power confirms the truism that given opportunity; most people will succeed. Never in the annals of history has any political organisation enjoyed so much support from the proletariats. Obama’s rise is truly the rise of the grass root.

Some have gone as far as calling him the messiah; though the majority disagree with this appellation, the minority may not be entirely wrong! This is because at no time has any of the messiahs’ of the past been recognised as such by all. Take Jesus and Mohamed for instance, both gained popularity after their death. Mohammed was chased into a rock while Jesus was nailed to a plus sign because the majority did not recognise them for what we are told later that they are!
(In my next piece, I will be exploring the concept of Messiah to see how Obama fits in)
For Obama to have come this far; the almighty God must have planned it from creation and 4th of November is the day that the lord has made. Humans can only rejoice in it. When will Nigeria have her 4th of November?

As we frolic in the bliss of Obama success, we must also spare a thought for McCain historical failure. Where did John and his crew go wrong, was it the economic crisis; was it the universally despised and pathetic poor leadership of the GOP in the last 8 years; is it that Obama was just too good for his competitors or could it be that McCain was just not up to the battle for the white house? These and many more question will be chewed and digested in the days to come by political pundits however, no one can deny the fact that McCain bowed out with pride despite the bad blood that flowed easily during the campaign. That is one lesson that Nigeria need to imbibe too.
Inaju