By Dare Oduwole
“Thou shall not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shall not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbour’s.” (Exodus 20:17).
Several months ago, my close friend who has been living in the USA for the past 23 years, upon learning about the loss of a loved one called me up and engaged me in an hour-long discussion about emigrating to her adopted country, offering a detailed explanation of the inherently fine benefits of emigrating at this point in my life and I listened intently assuring her of my intention of pondering her advice.
Interestingly, a few weeks later another friend called me up from the UK on the same subject and flustered me when she demanded squarely the essence of my continued stay in my home country, a question I most honestly considered alarming. Alarming because we were all raised in Nigeria and I’m unable to understand why living in this country should sadly be considered such an anathema.
I engaged her in a lengthy conversation about all the inherent benefits of living in Nigeria (ranging from the fairness of our weather, affordable rents and simplicity in the acquisition of property, readily available and affordable native foods and beverages, comfortable work-hour system, interesting social and family life to simplicity of life).
While all I stated are sincerely important to me, I tactfully refrained from presenting my most crucial reason for remaining in my home country; that is ‘faith reasons’.
Considering that my entire adult life represents a maze of major decisions made only after carefully seeking the face of the Lord, the subject of emigration would normally fall into this category such that I wouldn’t contemplate the idea of emigrating without first seeking the counsel of the Lord.
Interestingly to date, I’m yet to receive a Lordly counsel to vacate my home country even in spite of the most recent astronomical increment in the pump price of gasoline, a national situation which forced me to finally seek the face of the Lord about emigrating but unsurprisingly drew a nay response from heaven, furthermore strengthening my enduring faith in the Biblical counsel on the popular subject.
Unfortunately, many Christians ignore the Biblical counsel on the subject of emigration especially when it involves migrating to a country of the Western world, and are sadly willing to engage in all manner of ignoble and ungodly acts (ranging from false passport and documentation details, abandoning husband or wife in the home country, application of charm and voodoo in emigration process, contracting of contract and common law marriages to neatly escaping upon expiration of visa) to facilitate the process, while many modern pastors project emigration as a laudable achievement.
Although, I must respectfully exclude Bishop David Oyedepo of the Living Faith Church from the lot as I’m aware of a life-transforming sermon the witty clergyman preached against sinful emigrations in the early 2000s at the London branch of the church, a sermon which saw many concerned immigrant members penitently relocating to their home countries.
While our country Nigeria boasts its share of world economic and social problems, there are hundreds of naive young people vacating the country annually upon completion of college more because of peer influence rather than these economic or social problems. These have been advised that the nation holds no valuable future for the youth while living abroad would offer more value especially if emigration is embraced early enough.
Unfortunately, some of these fledgling professionals abandon secure and promising college-level jobs and careers for uncertainty.
Equally, there are those vacating the country due to economic hardship and social difficulties for instance, a broken heart following a job loss or a series of broken relationships has been known to inspire emigration but then these challenges are often more spiritual than national since these problems often disappear with spiritual maturity.
There are also the victims of tragedy and social evils such as rape and violent armed robbery who relocate abroad for a change of environment to find closure and healing of the trauma. Notable are the innocent ones who were spiritually manipulated by the spiritually wicked ones to emigrate leaving their valuables to others in their home country while subsisting abroad in a disoriented manner.
There is, however, a curious category of Nigerians who vacate their home country upon initiation into native Hoodoo covens. These pack up families, auction huge and valuable properties and voluntarily retire from meaningful careers to embrace a new life in a foreign country in a bid to escape the inevitable scourge that tends to accompany later life Hoodoo initiation.
There are opinions from various quarters about the sensibility of this erratic position with some suggesting that the decision to emigrate in this case is attributable to the advice of friends and families already domiciled abroad who opine that the scourge of Hoodoo initiations are better managed abroad than at home, while many others perceive the advice to emigrate in this case as only a ploy by those in diaspora to form viable Hoodoo covens abroad.
Nevertheless, the Biblical position on migration should be adopted and respected by all genuine Christians understanding that there can be no fulfilment of purpose and destiny in life without obedience to Godly commandments. Indeed, the devil has continued to succeed in compromising great destinies by dangling the ‘live abroad’ bait before many using the slave trade in ancient times and immigration opportunities in our modern times (Psalm 137:3-4).
Firstly, the Ten Commandments being a cornerstone of the tenets of the Christian faith encourages us as stated in our Bible text above to avoid coveting whatever belongs to our neighbours and this necessarily includes our neighbour’s continent since the Bible informs us clearly that God divided the continents of the earth into 12 rather than the seven we have globally adopted, directing each race to the portion of the earth he desires and designed it to occupy, with frontiers to be respected by all, demonstrating that our domicile should be within and not beyond our continent (Deut. 32:7-8).
Secondly, God directed each race to the portion of the earth most suitable for that particular race to subsist and know him with special attention given to the weather and seasons of the location to facilitate his purpose (Acts 17:26-27).
Thirdly, whenever our home country is unsafe for whatever reason and it becomes sadly necessary to evacuate, we are expected to relocate to other locations within our continent, understanding that the Biblical continent is a geographical location occupied by a particular race (Matthew 2:13-14, 10:23).
Finally, be advised that while it is Biblically acceptable to sojourn in a foreign land or continent for various reasons (ranging from Christian ministry, security, business, education, health, government, and tourism to vacations), it is a sadly bitter truth that to eagerly embrace permanent residency and subsistence on another’s continent is seldom the will of God for any Christian and as such, any counsel to emigrate to another continent must be considered with caution understanding that many have lost godly purpose and direction in this process.
Dare Oduwole is a Nouthetic Christian Counsellor and founder of Godly Counsel Christian Foundation, Abuja. She can be contacted via 08027291632.
