Pastor Sam Kayode's new booklet, explores the animate and inanimate nature of helpers of destiny.
The very first time I heard the statement ''helpers of destiny'' was from my youngest sister, Mrs. Ifeanyi Edith Fakunmoju. She had used it with such instructive force of conviction that it struck home on me – a natural lone pathfinder.
And I recall that one of my closest friends, Mr. Efosa Omokaro once said to me from close examination that I was trying to succeed alone; ''it doesn't work that way'' he nailed in.
When I was therefore told by a friend, Mr. Ike Osadunkwu that I was going to be reviewing a book, I was put off by its religiosity and its ''pamphleteering'' as I called it for its mere 30 page, five or six words per line of bold point-size lettering and a cover page visual interpretation that is insufficiently thoughtful let alone creative; coupled with the printer's trimmer's space left untrimmed, and the ill-edited introduction.
But all of these turned out to be bad helpers of destiny; for the booklet must never be judged by its cover, nor must it be unread because it lacked the benefit of clinical editing, for its values are in the womb of the book, like diamonds in the depths of the earth.
Published by Gem Communications Resources, 2012 in Lagos, Helpers of Destiny comes as a booklet to reach the many non-readers of the present world hijacked by television and other visual devices 'weaponed' against the minds of an 'unreading' generation.
As a tool for mental reorientation, it has surely come in the right sizeable pack for former illiterates and the growing new alliterates who have since stopped reading for their renewed literacy and mental improvement. Pastor Sam Kayode of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Heaven Gate Parish, Ilorin, Nigeria, begins with the Bible story of the Good Samaritan.
The story of a man ''who fell among thieves'' but is rescued by a concerned passer-by; where others, including a religious man of God, had neglected him. He undertakes the care of this victim by taking him to a hospital, and committing finance, time, conviction and consequence to a complete stranger.
It is from this story that Kayode derives ''some attributes of helpers of destiny, which will help us detect them and develop healthy relationship with them.''
The six detectors are that ''helpers of destiny ''usually render timely help to individuals they are sent to; never tired of helping; go the extra mile to make things easier for you; have necessary connections that can help you; and help the individual they want to help just the way they are.''
Kayode however identifies major stumbling blocks to realising help… "many people have ignorantly blocked their blessings by their careless interactions with their destiny helpers, and prays that ''May your attitude never shut the door against your helper of destiny in time of need.''
As such, ''we must endeavour to pay the price to keep a healthy relationship with all the people we encounter in the journey of life.''
Among these are in his views: a good wife, servant or maid, a good son, daughter, inlaw, circumstances, angelic visitors, prophetic utterances, the right spiritual mentor.
To prove that help can come from the most unlikely source, he retells the Bible story of a maid who suggests to her madam the solution to her husband's leprosy; a major ''but'' in the of Naaman – the military General. Kayode curiously observes that there is a link between destiny helpers and divine location…[ for] you will always find a helper of destiny whenever you are where God wants you to be;'' using the story of Jacob the 'supplanter' and depriver of his brother's blessing living under the guilty weight of being haunted by Esau.
But at the point at which he pulls himself apart in consecration to God, an angel visits him. So also is the story of Joseph who twice escaped destruction and eternal slavery from his jealous brothers till he fulfills his destiny. Yet a wrong location can be very disadvantageous to finding the right help.
''As soon as the wise men [left Jesus to whom they were assigned at birth, and went to Herod, the star they were following disappeared, because they were in the wrong location.'' Similarly, ''God asked Adam, where are you?
After eating the forbidden fruit at the East side of the Garden; because] He was in a wrong location.'' Elusive as this mutual discovery of the Helper and the Helped can be, Pastor Sam Kayode says: ''At times, God could have raised you to help the fellow [helper] first … it usually starts somewhere.''
The point of fracture between them however arises from the arrival of power play: ''when a supposed helper of destiny turns around going against the original God-sent assignment.''
At other times, ''some may even take advantage of those God has mandated them to help.'' While the general application of this theology is indisputable as a principle of life, one cannot help also suspect that it is a possible manufacture of people and professions with extreme dependency orientation and practice meant to sustain some beggarly trades, or trades made beggarly.
Yet the profound sociological force of the argument in real life situation in inter-personal, inter-group dependence and inter-dependence and relations, is completely unassailable, undefeatable.
It is a sound call to eternal vigilance for golden opportunities; the type that marks a turning point in one's life, an apprehensible sense of ellusive recognition; something similar to, but beyond business men and women's capacity for sensing money-multiplying opportunities, like a journalist's sensitive nose for breaking news. But where do we put the conniving opportunists who take advantage of situations for personal gains?
Like politicians and greedy business people. Helpers of Destiny is written from an investigator's enquiry into the nature of opportunities and how they can be converted to personal use or for divine destiny.
It is a good enquiry from a mind desirous of knowing how things work and what factors make it workable under one situation, and unprofitable under another. Pastor Kayode, using the Bible, gives a persuasive and thoughtjolting attention to this issue commonly taken for granted in a language that properly delivers the argument.
A most recommended hand and guide booklet. Chike Ofili is a Lagos-based writer and former chairman, Association of Nigerian Authors, Lagos Chapter.
