The story of Easter dates back to more than two thousand years back, and to Christians, it weighs more on the faith than a devoted Christian can afford to ignore. For, besides serving as the prelude to the founding of the Christian faith, it provides a new definition in the relationship between God the creator and mankind. That definition is illustrated in the unique act of one man sacrificing his life on the cross, in exchange for the forgiveness of the sins of many. That one man is Jesus. At least this is what the scripture says and it is convincing, because it is a recorded historical fact that, a certain man called Jesus was sought out and crucified because he dared proclaim himself to be the ‘’Christ’’ the only son of God.
However, there is the other school of thought that does not actually accept this as the bare truth, but as just a hypothesis. It is our conviction that whichever way we may make our assessment of the impact of Easter on Christians, Christians have just one option, that is, to accept this season as a turning point in their Christian living. Unfortunately this year’s Easter Season would seem to be the most trying in the faith of Christians in our country Cameroon. The country as a whole, now finds itself in the middle of a senseless war at a time when peace ought to occupy our inner thoughts in order to justify the sacrifice that one man made to save many from the wrath of God, whom, according to the scripture, had already made up His mind to destroy a ‘’disobedient mankind’’
This apart, we in this Newspaper strongly believe, that even if the message in the scriptures, as well as the impact of Easter do not hold much water for those who hold contrary opinion of what the scripture says about Easter, there ought to be the natural yearning for peaceful among people who have opted to live together as one. Here again, we in this Newspaper want to believe that this country is blessed in many ways. One of which is the fact that the circumstances provoking this senseless shedding of blood of citizens of the same country, have nothing to do with the religious diversities, such as have plagued and plunged other countries into regrettable situations, where lives are lost simply out of greed and the show of force.. This is why we hope that the message of Easter should be taken seriously, not only by Christians alone, but by members of all other faiths that believe in love, peace and understanding, as the fundamental focus of their various faiths.
For those leading this country, whom it is evident are a mixture of Christians, Muslims etc., we appreciate at all times their cooperation when it comes to how they direct the affairs of this country without necessarily indulging in religious polemics. We urge them to apply the same temperament and put their heads together, and with the help of God the All Mighty to grant them the wisdom and serenity to take advantage of the message this current Easter season to take this country out of the mess in which it finds itself. We plead particularly to Christians throughout the country and even those out of the country to take up the armour or God in prayer against the devil, and the arrow of the spirit in defense of the truth.
In the spirit of Easter, we believe that the devil is at work in all that is happening in the country today. For under no normal circumstance must a brother take up arms against his brother except when the devil is in control. We are certainly not very knowledgeable in the matters of religion but we are only basing our hopes on the fact that, if in the true sense of Easter, Mankind has received salvation through grace that came to us through the blood of Jesus, then Christians also have the obligation to live in the spirit of Easter and learn to love and live as the scriptures instruct us to.
Under the present circumstance, we as Cameroonians, both the leaders and the led, we have only two options left before us. We either have to build or destroy what for over half a century, we have struggled to sustain. The land and the people are a precious gift from God. Let us jealously guard it for posterity.