“The law is paralysed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted… Woe to him who builds his realm by unjust gain to set his nest on high, to escape the clutches of ruin! You have plotted the ruin of many peoples, shaming your own house and forfeiting your life. The stones of the wall will cry out, and the beams of the woodwork will echo it... the poor and the needy were bought for a pair of shoes…” These statements are scattered pieces from the holy prophets who lived in the ancient Israel and pronounced judgment upon the injustices and exploitation of the poor and needy. The wealth meant for the mass went into personal mansion, the poor sold worth the price of a shoe and justice was nowhere to be found. It was a time of unprecedented prosperity for the unrighteous and the ungodly but for the others, a time of distress and depression. But it does not last long. The Babylonian exile was on their way. The justice was set right and the wrong repaid in full. Does it strike a similar sound with our state of affair? The things that were happening back then are occurring in our time. Nothing is new under the sun…
In the year 1955 before he was assassinated, Martin Luther talks about the keys to the struggle for equal rights. “But it is not enough for us to talk about love,” said he, “There is another side called justice. And justice is love in calculation. Justice is love working against anything that stands against love. Standing beside love is always justice.” For Luther, injustice and inequality was an outcome of less love for people. The blame actually too rests upon the onlookers who do nothing but watch the condition indifferently. This article is birth out with a heavy spirit upon the writer. It’s not one with pessimism or negativity but one with genuine concern for our people. The society is going through a radical change but not for good. The rich are becoming richer and the poor, poorer. Majority of the people living in villages are struggling to buy a pair of warm clothes for winter while the rich in towns lavishly spends away on extravagant self-indulgence lifestyle. The attitude of indifference towards people’s cry and plea will have reached God’s ear. No! Not one will escape from His hands. In the mouth of Jeremiah the prophet, “How can we shout ‘peace, peace’ when there is no peace in our land…? From the least to the greatest, ALL are greedy for gain. This is the nation that has not obeyed the Lord its God or responded to correction. Truth has perished; it has vanished from our lips. The word of the Lord is offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it.” Nevertheless, the Lord declares that “if there is but one person who deals honestly and seek the truth, he will turn his wrath from this land.”In other words, if there is anybody willing to pay the price and stand for the truth? Then restoration will surely come to this land.The corrosion of morality has infected from the highest to the lowest strata in the society. From the over-ground to the underground, all are equally guilty before the God of heaven. Therefore, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, O people of Nagaland, officials and all the leaders. This what the Lord says: Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of his oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the alien, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this land.’ If we pay heed to hisword, then the promise of God will come to fruition but if we go unheeded, declares the Lord, I swear by myself that this land will become a ruin. People from many nations will behold our land and ask one another, “‘why has the Lord done such a thing to this land?’ And the answer will be: ‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God and have worshipped and served other gods (The gods of materialism, mammon, greed, immorality and vanity).’”Nonetheless, if we will return to the Lord and plead for mercy, act right and do justice. Surely the Lord will reinstate us to completeness and favour. The land of my people will once again rejoice and be glad in their satisfaction. The “Nagaland for Christ” will be lifted up for the whole world to react in awe. It will be one of the greatest restoration stories in the history of Nagaland. Yes, we long to see that day!
Vebu Khamo Kohima Bible College
