Resource Control (1): The Genesis of the Quest

Very few readers (if any) are oblivious of the happenings in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria – the gun fights, explosions, killings, kidnappings, etc – that have turn rivers of oil to rivers of blood and fire. Many too are conversant with my apolitical inclinations (at least from previous discourse). I have tried as much as possible to shy away from political confraternities for obvious reasons. In line with that stance, I’ll attempt to look at the Niger-Delta age long quest for resource control from another angle.

Before advancing, I would like to attempt a definition of the term “Resource Control”.

The term “resources” could be used to refer to anything – animate or inanimate, tangible or intangible, visible or invisible, natural or man-made, refined or raw, etc – which acquisition or ownership may provide certain level of satisfaction or benefit to a benefactor. Resources provide satisfaction. By extrapolation, resource control is an act, activity, or series of activities aimed at but not limited to exploring, exploiting, and directing the use (or not) of resources.

The genesis of resource control can be traced to the book of Genesis (in the Bible). Indeed the quest for resource control started since creation (or evolution). The first casualty of this quest (according to Biblical accounts) was Abel. Abel was cut down by his own brother who was jealous of his acceptance by the greatest source of resource in the universe (or multiverse) – God. God’s acceptance of the offerings of Abel and the rejection of Cain’s, ignited a deep sense of (resource) insecurity in Cain, warranting him to do away with the “competitor” – Abel – with the hope that he could enjoy the “resource” alone. It was not to be and he was punished severely for shedding the blood of his brother.

The quest for resource control continued down the generation. Again in the book of Genesis 13 (Bible), we were told of Abraham and Lots squabbles (though through their servants) for resource control. Abraham and Lot were very rich! They were so rich in cattle and servants that the land could not contain both of them living together. In their case, the resource well-watered land for their cattle. It was very scarce and their servants quarrel over them. The crisis was so much that Abraham (being older but humbler) asked Lot to choose any portion while he take the any portion left. Lot chose the “best” stretch of land. They separated.

Perhaps no other book of the bible discusses the genesis of the quest for control of resource more than this same book of Genesis. Listen to this word of God concerning Rebecca’s painful pregnancy:

Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger."

Here the quest for control of resource (birthright in this case) between Jacob and Abraham had started already begun while in their mother’s womb. Eventually after birth, Jacob the younger of the twins executed the famous “advance porridge fraud” to trickishly steal his elder brother’s birthright. Later on, aided and abetted by his mother, Jacob further stole the blessings (resources) that were meant for his brother.

Indeed the book of genesis is fraught with many incidents of squabbles for resource control that it will take many pages to narrate them all.

But why the squabbles for resource control? What is the way forward? If the reader knows, I would like to share from your knowledge.

GOD, AN ENDANGERED SPECIE?

In the Arthurian legend movie ‘Merlin’, the wizard Merlin was engaged in a protracted battle of wits, and magic with an evil sorceress Mab. The consequence was series of attacks against King Arthur, and anything that Merlin or King Arthur holds dear. After suffering many losses as a result of the machinations of the witch, Merlin applied an advice: “You are dead when you are forgotten” by mobilizing the community to forget the witch. This singular collective act of forgetting her, resulted in the unraveling, and demise of the evil sorceress – Mab. And Mab died!

“How does this apply to God?” you may wonder, “After all, God is neither a sorcerer nor wizard.” Truly God is neither sorcerer nor wizard, but then God is extremely concerned about the issue of worship. In the Holy Bible, we were told of a great battle in heaven, in which God’s Archangels succeeded in casting down Lucifer, the hitherto favored angel who turned ‘bad’ to earth. Lucifer, popularly known as Satan the devil, was said to have committed what the earthly judicial system might called ‘treasonable felony’ - he dared to receive worship like God! God did not intend to share His glory with anyone, certainly not Lucifer. Perhaps another pointer to God’s position on worship (praise) was in the nineteenth chapter of Luke, in the fortieth verse; when Jesus the Christ, assured that stones will (be made to) praise God should men hold their peace! From immortal heavenly hosts, to mere mortal man, the requirement for the creatures to acknowledge, praise, and worship the creator - God, can therefore not be over-emphasized.

‘Progress’ in science and medical technology like stem-cell, nanotechnology, hold a very great potential for longer life, and unimagined opportunity for mankind. Mankind is approaching the treasured destination – Godlike and immortality.
As mankind continue to gravitate further away from God towards science and technology, towards money and power, Darwinism and secularism; as mankind continue to rationalize sexual anomalies like same-sex marriage, homo-sexualism, and the likes, a time will come when the line between good and evil will be blurred. Mankind may depend lesser and lesser on the spiritual for guidance. And ultimately develop lesser and lesser reverence for God, and what He stands for.

But does this mean that God depends on His creations’ praise and worship for relevance, and sustenance? What would God do if mankind deliberately or unconsciously chooses to forget Him? Would God become an endangered being? In other words, would God go quietly into the night (vanish from man’s memory) should mankind stop praising and worshiping him as it is happening in some western nations? Would He vanish like mist or myth like it happened to the sorceress Mab in the aforementioned Arthurian legend, when forgotten by Merlin and the people? Or would God seeing that man’s heart is turning against him, reach out in His divinely interventionist way with confusion like he did to the Tower builders of Babel, or with cleansing flood like He did to the Noah’s generation in Genesis of the Holy Bible? Or will He send again His only begotten son to show us the way back home (Christ second coming)? Will the famous futuristic final conflict of good versus evil then take place – Armageddon? Or will God simply walk away from His creatures, and perhaps, in a planet in a distant galaxy, prepare another ‘primordial soup’, that evolutionary scientists claimed theoretical life ultimately evolved from?

While we may not know exactly what God will do or not, or what will become of God or man, we can at least decide what we do. Showing our children the way to God’s house is indeed the least we can do. For while many of us may not be standing around when that time might come, our off-springs, or our great (great, great …) grand off-springs may. A little seed of spirituality today, might give them a stepping stone tomorrow. I really don’t think God needs us, as much as we need him. An African adage says: “A river that forgets its source soon dries up.” In a conflict of wit, and might, between the most intelligent mortal - man, and an ageless being - God, do you honestly believe that man stood a chance?

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