adminIt had nothing to do with the usual beef of checking out whose wife had the fanciest hairstyle that week, who gave more than who to the Lord and who got fired from work or even who is closer to the pastor those days.
The pastor in a shiny Armani suit looking a bit cheaper than the original but doing okay in front of the church fashion police was preaching about “Forgiving your enemies”. His message had even those sisters that we were partying with all night a few hours before giving it undivided attention.
I swear if one of the guys I was seated with had tried the usual trick of using pick up lines during the session he could have been ignored by the same girls that are interested in jumping into his car and spending his money to the last cent as if he gets it from a tree in his garden.
The guy with the I-Pad, galaxy tab or any of these fancy “salady” gadgets had nothing on the preacher at that point. Maybe a person who could disturb the flow would be someone who would scream.
“I have won the lotto!”
“You should learn to forgive,” screamed the pastor through the microphone carefully balanced with the sound system by those guys who come to church every Sunday but never really get involved unless the pastor disturbs the sound system.
Before he could repeat his rhetoric a sound track was cross faded into his words to make them sound nice.
“You should learn to forgive (and the song played),” the pastor said it again. His words woke me up as I was about to sleep in public. At home I was told that I talk (ukuwumana) in my sleep. Thank the Lord I was saved from saying stuff in church.
He finally said something new.
“Brothers and sisters, how many of you are willing to forgive your enemies?” he asked.
About half of us held up our hands (I didn’t raise my hand though).
Not satisfied he harangued for another 20 minutes and repeated his question. This time he received a response of about 80 percent.
Still unsatisfied, he lectured for another 15 minutes and repeated his question. With all thoughts now on Sunday the lunch hour, all responded except one elderly lady in the rear.
“Mrs Ndlovu, are you not willing to forgive your enemies?”
“I don’t have any,” she said.
“Mama, that is very unusual. How old are you?” asked the preacher.
You know what? These preachers don’t like people who try to outwit them or ask tricky questions and at that point the preacher was scared that he was going to be caught offside by the old lady.
“I am 93,” she said.
So far so good the preacher was still in charge with no signs of being tricked.
“Mrs Ndlovu, please come down in front and tell the congregation how a person can live to be 93, and not have an enemy in the world,” he said with authority obviously expecting Mrs Ndlovu to say something like “if you are born again you forgive your enemies” or “The Lord forgave them for me” or something along those lines.
Mrs Ndlovu tottered down the aisle, very slowly, turned around and said:
“It’s easy, I just outlived the b******s.”
Her message was strong worded but at the end she told us why she did not have enemies.
But truth be told we all have enemies. Be it at home, work, social soccer or in life generally. There are some among us who make it a profession to become other people’s enemies. The same people who would smile at you and the next thing go behind your back to say stuff or leak information about you to your bosses at work. Or your wife, maybe husband or just about anyone in one’s life.
If you are a politician or you just have too many enemies read on.
Never put too much trust in friends, learn how to use enemies. The idea of using enemies is something most never even consider, but using enemies as part of your web strategy can be potent.
Enemies can and will link to you
If you have an enemy, they are going to be watching you closely to wait for their moment to pounce. On the web, this means links. So if you push their hot buttons and have already consciously created a group of enemies, they’re going to link to you and pick apart the details of what you say. This is a great thing, links are the lifeblood of the web and if you can create enemies of those within your niche that have authority, you’ll benefit greatly by their links to you.
Having enemies is a social proofing signal.
If you have made it to the point you can have an enemy, you should for the social proofing benefits. It’s a signal to others that you are worth paying attention to. People will be compelled to pay attention to you since someone else worthwhile is paying attention to you (even if it’s negative).
That is the case with “Cyclone Ree” Lungile Mathe (even though she might not know this). With the bad publicity she has been getting in the media and bad relations she has with some powerful people — she can build something out of it and people will notice her.
Enemies keep you laser-focused.
Having a nemesis is one of the better motivations to stay heads-down on producing the highest quality results. If you have enemies who keep you focused and motivated, consider yourself lucky. They provide the balance to an equation which can otherwise go unchecked when you have none. After stretches of time unbalanced, it’s possible to become complacent and suffer stagnation.
Contact [email protected]
Online Reporter