I, The Preacher have been in the trenches for the better part of my adult life, representing sundry causes and commitments…

I make bold to say that I will not be prideful, if I say the Struggle(s) is My Life, with many indelible scars and countless perils…Peril of poor decisions and errors of judgment; peril of hunger, peril of lack, peril of broken promises, peril of pseudo comrades, peril of spies, peril of flirts, peril of sycophants, peril of users, peril of Judas, peril of failed social system, peril of Third World…

If today I pretend to owe anyone an apology or repentance for what I represent as CAUSE and The Preacher of the Glorious Gospel According to Child Rights/Protection and Family STRENGTHENING, I shall be the chief of wasters and cowards, who has paid too much and yet will present before the swine the blood and sweat-earned pearls so gained from so great perils…

Yet, I must never lay claim to immutability of ideology or perfection of character as that will amount to the TREASON of competing with the only perfect God, perfect in Himself and all His ways…

This day, I, The Preacher has reached to my PLEASURE and SCARS to share with you with for your own benefits, dear fellow sojourners, with almost oracular precision of the categories of men and women that show up once you REPRESENT and LEAD a CAUSE…

How well you will do and how far you go in your cause will largely depend on your GRACE and SKILLS in the DISCERNMENT of men and women when they show up, claiming to be FOR your CAUSE…

The NUMBER ONE and MOST PRICELESS skill of a Street-SMART CRUSADER must be to develop the razor-sharp INSTINCT to DISCERN all men, beyond the LURING POWER of SUBTLETY…It is the POWER to SEE beyond the OBVIOUS…

Here are the categories of people that you will surely find around you…I am sure because they were all around my LORD, WHOM I SERVE, WHOSE I AM:

The TOUCH BEARERS: These ones are God-sent to you to give you DIRECTION…They are first very SECURED in themselves that they bring you on SPEED to SAIL on their SOARING WINGS…They have nothing to PROVE with you but to PRUNE you for your own IMPROVEMENTS…

The TOUCH BEARERS LABOUR hard until the RIGHT MIND and VALUES be formed in you for the CAUSE for which you have been called…They LOVE you too much to LEAVE you to YOURSELF, even when you don’t see what they SEE…They SEE AHEAD…They SAY AHEAD…They LEAD AHEAD…They PUSH AHEAD…

Even in your DEEPEST MESS, they SEE a MESSAGE..With these ones, you don’t argue…You REASON with them and follow their INSTRUCTIONS as if your LIFE depends on it because your LIFE ACTUALLY DEPENDS ON IT…These are FINGERS that have FED you and LIFE demands that you may most respectfully DISAGREE with them but you must NEVER bite those FINGERS as they are SACRED to you.

These ones have secured a PERMANENT REFERENCE POINT in YOUR DIARY of CHANGE, Your LIFE and Your CAUSE…Their CORE MOTIVATION in working with you is, ‘The WORLD is a MARKETPLACE. SACRIFICES are its REWARDS…They are not PERFECT, yet they DESERVE your UNRESERVED HONOUR and CELEBRATIONS and most importantly your PRIVATE and PUBLIC ACKNOWLEDGEMENT, for they are not COMMON at all…They are RARA AVIS…Yes they truly ARE…

The FOLLOWERS: They come around you for the CAUSE…They truly SEE their DESTINY and RELEVANCE in the CAUSE…They OWE their LIVES to the CAUSE and OWES The CAUSE their LIVES…

They HONOUR you genuinely as the SYMBOL of the CAUSE…With FOLLOWERS, a CAUSE never dies even when the SYMBOL dies..

When there are FOLLOWERS, death comes too late…The FOLLOWERS are not ashamed of their FOLLOWERSHIP and therefore points to the FOLLOWED as their SOURCE both in PRIVATE and PUBLIC…They LAVISH the FOLLOWED with PUBLIC ACKNOWLEDGEMENT…They are not ASHAMED to be COUNTED as a FOLLOWERS…

The FRIENDS…These ones have all the attributes of a FOLLOWER and MORE…

FOLLOWERS, often adores the SYMBOL of a CAUSE to a fault that they are not able to tell him/her the TRUTH as they see it…FRIENDS rise to the occasion all the time to SPEAK the TRUTH as they see it to their ADORED SYMBOL, yet in all HUMILITY, HONOUR and DECORUM…FRIENDS risk their LIVES to say the TRUTH not to talk of their FRIENDSHIP…Friends KNOW and PRACTISE these DIVINE PRINCIPLE, ‘Faithful are the WOUNDS of a FRIEND…OPEN REBUKE is better than LOVE CONCEALED…’

The BELIEVERS/ANNOUNCERS: These ones believe in you and your CAUSE…The LORD has touched their HEARTS for you…They do not only give you their hard-earned PLATFORMS, they also ANNOUNCE YOU to others within their NETWORK…The LORD uses BELIEVERS and ANNOUNCERS to OPEN INCREDIBLE DOORS for you, yet without demanding any STRING…They are GREAT SOULS, blessed of the LORD with a large HEART for others PROGRESS…

The FLIRTS: There ones are driven by nothing and if they are driven at all, it is by their NEEDS or BELLY…They lack understanding of any CAUSE, though, they DROP THE PRINCIPLES thereof…

These ones go to where they think things are happening; therefore, you cannot hold them down to any SYMBOL or CORE IDEOLOGY…They are tossed to and fro by every WIND of DOCTRINE on the slippery STREET called, FARE-WEATHER…

The SYCOPHANT: These ones sing your PRAISE for their OWN GAIN, strictly for their OWN GAIN…SURVIVAL is their CAUSE, PRAISE-SINGING is their TOOL…They praise your GOOF as GOOD for their own GOOD…These ones set up an UNWARY LEADER or a man or woman on a MISSION for his/her WATERLOO faster than a horde of vicious and well-equipped army…

The USERS: These ones take ADVANTAGE of your TRUST, MAGNANIMITY and PURENESS of HEART…They simply USE you and when they are done, they DUMP you and RETREAT to seek yet another VICTIM…Their WORDS are as LIGHT as their HEARTS, for from the abundance of the HEART, WORDS PROCEED…It is the ULTIMATE CHARACTER of USERS to VIOLATE your GOOD WILL, doing VIOLENCE to MUTUAL RESPECT…

The SPIES: These ones seems to know WHERE they are going but do not know how to get their on their own…So they see themselves as a voice, who just need to know what works…They come as FOLLOWERS but they have the heart of COMPETITORS, employing SUBTLETY as a CORE TOOL…SPIES do not ACKNOWLEDGE you as their SOURCE…They even use your REGISTER/WORDS, CONCEPT and CONTENTS without your CONSENT and ACKNOWLEDGING you…SPIES do not FOLLOW, they BENCHMARK you and DENY you the GLORY…You must BEWARE of them, they are after the SECRET of your EDGE like Delilah was after SAMSON’s…

The JUDAS: These ones seek their own CAUSE and PERSONAL GAINS, violating your SPACE…They are often TRUSTED people, who have no SHARE in your CAUSE but took you in by DEFT DECEIT…

They are the BRUTUS, yet very close to the throne of CAESAR…They nurse nothing but INORDINATE AMBITION and lack STRENGTH of CHARACTER to stay to what they hold out themselves to be to you…

They MANIFEST in the very day when NECESSITY is PLACED on them to give a VOTE of CONFIDENCE to the CAUSE they claim to REPRESENT or its SYMBOL, they CLAIM to ADORE…

Their INTEREST OVERRULE their CONFESSION of COMMITMENT and LOYALTY…IT’S to YOU that TRUST is INVALUABLE but to them TRUST is yet a LURING tool to get you caught UNAWARES…They are masters at DOUBLE-DEALING and finding the SLIGHTEST EXCUSE to SIDE UP with SUBTLE or VIRULENT enemies of your CAUSE, even when they seek your LIFE to take it…JUDAS are MOLES in your SYSTEM…

I, The Preacher, as a veteran in the trenches of personal and social struggles, having come in contact with all the species of men and women in the CATEGORIES analyzed above…I conclude that FOLLOWERS are FEW…FEWER are FRIENDS…Few are BELIEVERS…yet FEWER are TOUCH BEARERS…MANY are JUDAS, MANY MORE are SPIES…yet MANY MORE are SYCOPHANTS and USERS…

I, The Preacher, NOW KNOW like the back of my hands and NAME their PROFILES and must by the INEVITABLE DEMANDS of DIVINE WISDOM, treat all CATEGORIES according to their INTENTION and ACTIONS or OMISSIONS and not by their PROFESSION…To GIVE HONOUR to WHO HONOUR is DUE and CAUTION to WHO CAUTION is DUE…

To do otherwise is to become the sad story of a WISE man, who died at the backyard of a FOOLISH man…

Like my MASTER, I, The Preacher must KNOW ALL MEN and yet GIVE MYSELF NONE…I must KNOW NO MAN after the FLESH but after their CHARACTER…

So HELP US GOD as we sojourn CIRCUMSPECTLY on earth to do GOD’s WILL…That He may say to us, WELCOME GOOD and FAITHFUL SERVANTS…

Do have an INSPIRED week and I remain Sober on my Knees on the LORD’S day.
(C) 2016 by Taiwo ‘ODINAKACHUWU’ AKINLAMI…All Rights Reserved
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