Ahamefule is a name of someone meaning, “My Name Must Not Be Lost” or rather, “Keep The Legacy”. It is a name borne by Nigerians of Igbo extraction. It is a passionate plea that reminds every Dick and Harry that the name they bear is very important, and as a result must be preserved accordingly.

Africans know what it means to preserve a name and so go to any length in order to achieve that. In traditional Africa, whenever a man takes a wife and in the course of time it was discovered that the woman was barren, efforts would be made to either divorce her to make way for another woman, who would produce children for the man. If the woman had female children, which means that they will soon get married and take up another man’s name, arrangements would be made to either marry another woman or leave one of the female children in her father’s house (that is, not giving her out in marriage), so that she can produce children that will answer her father’s name. In cases of impotence, the man secretly enters into an agreement with another man who would be doing the work of a man to his wife, thereby preserving his name through the children that would be produced.

Because of this word, AHAMEFULE, people can do anything legitimate or illegitimate so as to feel belonged. Apart from the Igbo people of Nigeria, God gave every being a divine injunction not to forsake His ways. Those who do well to preserve the legacy are honoured, and as a result, people have been struggling to be in the good book of God so that their names should not be lost. But no matter, how we try, at one time or another, man has always tried to go his own way, regardless of what God says. According to Bible stories, the land of Egypt at one time witnessed the tearing apart of what was put together in creation by a strange hand, because Pharaoh wanted to make a name for himself – the Pharaoh who resisted the move of God! And he paid so dearly for it. The reaction/punishment that followed was what Pharaoh needed to acknowledge God’s greater power, because no storm had so wasted proud Egypt as the storm from God.

Egypt, having occupied a prominent place in history, forgot entirely where they came from, even to the point of having a king that knew not Joseph – a man who had interpreted an earlier king’s dream and then developed and managed Egypt’s famine-preparedness programme. Without Joseph, Egypt could have been wasted by a devastating seven-year famine. God used him to save Egypt and made her grow stronger to the level of helping other nations, yet Egypt forgot history and elected a king who had nothing to do with Joseph and His God.

There are so many nations of the world today, like Egypt, who was destined for world leadership under the direction of Almighty God. It is not to be doubted that God richly blessed these nations because of the righteous principles upon which they were founded. With all the government that is at work in many of these nations, being interested in almost everything that people do, yet these nations seem intoxicated with the deadly poison of sin. At the root of sin is the absence of real fathers in our world. The sin problem is a fatherhood problem, because sin is the result of a man, Adam, who declared independence from God, his Source and Father. Adam believed he didn’t need a father and that he could be a father without the Father. That is when the human race fell into rebellion against God, and as a result, man could be regarded as a “fatherless child” because of his choice. Imagine being orphaned by choice, homeless by choice, etc. How tragic! Can this be the story of your beloved nation? I asked because all the laws your country was able to put up are not able to deliver a man or woman from sin. When the Law-Makers attempted to pass into law, a bill that outlaws speaking against homosexuality in many of our countries today, did your fear heighten, just as mine did? I was troubled because that single law could have thrown majority of world’s population into prison for violating it. I mean people who would prefer to obey God rather than men; people who cannot stand or tolerate certain ungodly acts that are creeping in unawares into the societies today.

No doubt, the world is a beautiful place with a lot of good things that make it the jealous of all its inhabitants. Many of these nations of the world are founded on righteous principles, but sinful men have gotten in the government, some of them are openly gay, who work day and night to propound and even work harder to pass evil laws. These men do not know, or rather careless about the godly or righteous principles on which these nations were founded, tantamount to Egypt’s king that knew not Joseph.

Many of us have gotten to the place where God is not even allowed in sporting events, schools, and government buildings, but He is allowed in prisons. You can worship God whenever you want in prison. You can take whatever religion you want. In fact, the government has to supply religion for inmates in the prisons. They hand them New Testament Bibles, but yet forbid people to take those Bibles to the Schools for whatever reasons – may be God is not allowed in the schools so that He will have no place in the hearts of the children. Imagine mere men tampering with God’s absolutes.

Today, atheists in are even challenging the Pledge of Allegiance of many countries. In so many places, ninety percent of the people are against removing the godly phrases that are embedded in their countries’ currencies, buildings, public schools, etc. The surprising thing is that the Judges and Law Makers often listen to the 10 percent, but no one is sure if an activist Judge will not put his stamp of approval on it, one day, if he emerges. It was in this generation that a man woke up one morning accusing and suing God in a law court. The man, who for 38 years running, has been a Senator representing a part in the State of his country. He was accusing God of causing death, destruction and terrorism.

His accusation suggested that people have the right of attorney to accuse God in the event of whatever occurrence. People should sue God anytime they lost a dear one, especially as a result of excessive use of narcotics. People should sue God for failing elections; for sustaining injuries under the influence of alcohol, etc., because God made all things, whether good or bad. May be the man wanted the trial Judge to drag God to his court, sentence Him and then jail or hang Him. It still baffles me what he really wanted exactly. Was he trying to immortalize his name by simply trying to challenge God to a duel? That’s an insult. Men can do or say anything once they are opportune to fill up their stomach with bottles of alcohol and a bowl of food. Is it not shameful that many intimidating university libraries of some countries are filled with all sorts of books, except the Book of books – the Bible. You dare not find a copy, even at the reference sections.

When evil practices increase, the separation of right and wrong become blurred and as a result, people question this and question that, hopping to have their way in everything. A nation that is built on godly principles and values does not throw morality to the dogs. In one of the African countries, a man who was noted for controversial lifestyle was accused of divorcing his 19 year old wife whom he married at the age of 17 to settle with a 13 year old girl. Being a law-maker, this man was part of the group that signed the Child Right Act into law, prohibiting marriage to under-aged females. Today, this same man is taking cover under the cloaks of religion that absolves him of any offence, yet he’s still serving the civil society, not a religious group. While a Governor of a State, he forced his people to employ a culture of dressing modestly, regardless of their age, and he did well to settle with his perceived adversaries quickly, without going to court to look for loopholes. Though, through the courts a lot of people have loosed a flood of sin upon their nation. Right now, babies can be murdered under the protection of the law, against God’s express injunction, “Thou shall not kill” (Exodus 20:13).

Marriage, which is the will of God for man, has been discredited to the place where couples actually live together before marriage, and divorce is gradually becoming a norm. The feminist movement, who is in opposition to God’s standard of a woman submitting to her husband, is not helping matters. A married woman should know that God planted her in the home to take care of it, keep the house clean, put meal on the table, do the laundry, and make the beds, not to gallivant all over the neighbourhood. In a home, parents take adequate care of their children and not raising them up in daycare centers, because the home is meant to be a haven for children.

The enemy of our lives, Satan, is seriously fighting anything that is good in us, even in our nation; so we have to battle him, and not give in to his antics or tricks. Just like the men who founded many of the great nations of the world, we too, must never give up, but rather, press onward and upward to our final rewards, so that Our Names Should Not Be Lost. We should remember that righteousness exalts a nation, but sin a disgrace to any people, and so must learn again to walk on the righteous principles on which our great nations were built. God demands 100 percent obedience from us – we cannot be His children and behave like orphans by disobeying Him continually. Our attitudes should not show us as orphans or bastards – we have a Father, who loves and cares for us. Let us therefore, stand against Satan’s evil tendencies against us and our nations for we did not descend from the blues – we have an origin; a present and a future. God bless the World, again and again.