Partakers of the Divine Heritage by Ogar Victor Irianyohe

 

 

                  Partakers of the gracely heritage
CHARACTERS
Stanley: Protagonist
Mark: Stanley’s Friend
Stella: Stanley’s Fiancée
Overlord
First Principality
Second Principality
Third Principality
Fourth Principality
Fifth Principality
Sixth Principality


Scene One                                Light Falls
(Light falls on scene which is an almost dark but dimly lit up by the faint glow of a red light from an unknown source revealing a room almost empty, except for a massive odd looking table in the centre of the poorly lit room which appears to be illuminated by the very dim glow of a red light giving the room an sinister paranormal ambience. A sinister humming is heard in the background as it’s accompanied by chants of demonic origin as the sight and sound is enough to make the bravest of men cower in fear. Six men dressed in black suits and hats walk through the walls into the room and stand a few metres from the table, three men on each side of the table. They continue their harmonious humming as a black mist drifts into the room and taking his place at the head and finally taking the form of a man also dressed in a three piece suit but with a red mantle placed on his neck. At his appearance, the six men bow their heads in reverence to him.)
Overlord: Let the darkness grow and let the chaos reign!!!
Principalities: (All in unison) Let the night grow longer and let the dawn be delayed!!!
Overlord: Let joy cease and let happiness diminish!!!
Principalities: Like vapour from a steaming pot of water, let their gladness evaporate and as water vanishes from the soil under the scorching sun, let their happiness fade away!!!
Overlord: Let their pleasures be short-lived and their smiles be momentary, may their pain be unending!!!
Principalities: Let misery be their new companion and let painful sorrows forever accompany them!!!
Overlord: Let their problems be deeply rooted like the mountains!!!
Principalities: And let the branches of their depression be spread abroad!!!
Overlord: Bringing forth like the ever green leaves of the palm tree!!!
Principalities: And let their despair bear eternal fruits!!!
Overlord: Those who don’t drink of the story’s bitter cup!!!
Principalities: They’ll never partake of the glory’s pleasant cup!!!
Overlord: Without the experience of pain!!!
Principalities: Gain is only a reality possible on the imaginary plane!!!
Overlord: If the price paid is not accompanied by pain!!!
Principalities: Then the prize obtained cannot be identified as gain!!!
Overlord: Without the shedding of blood!!!
Principalities: There can be no reception of the glory!!!
Overlord: It takes dead men to effectively bear the weight of glory!!!
Principalities: As life and the blood is an anomaly that cannot coexist with glory!!!
Overlord: No blood!!!
Principalities: No glory!!!
Overlord: No glory!!!
Principalities: No blood!!!
(The Overlord raises his head which has been bent downwards the entire time and instantly, the quaking body of a young lady in her twenties draped in a wrapper appears on the table, her barely audible voice which is struggling to escape her lips as she weakly pleads for help. The men totally unfazed by her pleas starts moving round the table and after seven consecutive movements round the table, they stopped as abruptly as they had started each man at his initial position and the Overlord steps forward standing directly above the head of the lady, he swiftly plunges his bare hands into the chest of the lady and pulls out her heart as her screams pierced through the air. The other men marched forward and producing knifes from their attires, they plunge the knives intermittently into the already limp body of the lady as blood spills out and flows onto the table. )
Overlord: (Holding her heart in his hands, he begins to make declarations loudly) This is the body of a young virgin and we use this as a symbol to signify the body of Christ in this nation and in extension, the globe. Her heart shall be a representation of the grace virtue in the Nigerian church and in the life of believers as grace can be likened to the heart which pumps the reality of the divine experience into the life of believers for Paul the Apostle and our adversary of old has said he is what he is by the grace of the Righteous One. As we disconnect her heart from her body, we disconnect believers from the virtue of grace, as her resistance was inconsequential so shall their struggles to stay connected to the grace be.  
(The Overlord takes a bite out of the heart in his bloodstained hands and with a hideous grin on his face, he passes the heart to the other men who do the same till the heart is completely exhausted, he places his hands beneath the table and he rises up with a golden bowl almost filled with blood, raising the bowl high above the girl, he begins to make declarations again)
Overlord: This bowl of this virgin’s blood indicates the virtues that the church in Nigeria has received as a result of being partakers of the divine heritage called grace. We drain it and likewise the benefits of grace which the believers have received shall be drained and as we drink this blood, the virtues shall be ours to wield and control.
(He raises the bowl of blood and after drinking from it, he passes it round to the members who also do the same. When the drinking of the blood has stopped, the Overlord cleared his throat and began to address them)
Overlord: It’s that time of the year where we converge for our annual operations review which involves us relaying reports of the year, what we could and could not achieve, a time of reckoning when rewards and punishment is apportioned to everyone according to the measure that they’re deserving of it. I wish I could say I’m glad to be in your midst but the situation on ground had ensured otherwise as I can affirm that this year has been a very gruesome one for us all due to the activities of the so called Grace Advocate, We’ll sort out his matter later but for now let us evaluate our impact for the year.
First Principality: I’m the Prince of the South-Eastern Province and the Leading Herald for the Business sphere of influence. My influence on this sphere in this already passing year has suffered greatly and the major reason why this is so is because most believing individuals have subjected their business enterprises under the influence of the Righteous One limiting my influence over their enterprises as they have become participants of his divine heritage called grace.
Overlord: Do you have any plan as to how to regain control and bring their enterprises under your subjection once more?
First Principality: I do my Lord. I plan to recondition the state of the business space by increasing the ruthlessness present there and afterwards releasing financial advisors and business consultants onto the mortal plane and their aim is simple and that is to give suggestions that will make the business possessors to increase input of mental resources, financial resources, applications of suggestions, labours and the likes and these will divert their attention from the finished work of HIM on the cross and thus preventing them from accessing the grace made available unto them as they’d be so busy engaging in physical labours without any input of grace. This is the overview of the plan as it has many underlying components. (Steps back to his original position and bows his head)
Second Principality: I’m the Prince of the South-Western Province and the Leading Herald of the Governmental sphere of influence. Thus far I can proudly say I did a good job during the course of the year, as I have set in motion an already planned path and it has been very functional and effective. I have ensured that leaders in all strata of authority made life pleasurable and comfortable for the citizens and since life is now very okay for them, they’ve now lowered their guard as there are no worries. Also in collaboration with the Leading Herald of other spheres of influence, a lot of attractive activities have been whipped up so as to lure the consciousness of the people away from the divine heritage that has been made available unto them and you can’t partake of what you’re not aware of. (Steps back to his original position and bows his head)
Third Principality: I’m the Prince of the South-Southern Province and the Leading Herald of the Media sphere of influence. In this passing year, I’ve faced challenges reason being the media space has now been invaded by the opposing force and although we’re still in control of the media, their influence seem to be getting stronger and they seem to be tackling and damaging a huge part of progress that I ought to have been making but recently, I’ve introduced a newer and more subtle form of attack against the grace consciousness that the believers possess since the children of light are becoming conscious and aware of our vices on the media space. In partnership with my colleague from the Educational sector, we have started shipping out darkened but attractive knowledge from the underworld that will bait a lot of people and take the place of divine knowledge distracting them from knowing Christ and partaking in his grace (Steps back to his original position and bows his head)
Fourth Principality: I’m the Prince of the North-Central Province and the Leading Herald of the Science and Technological sphere of influence. In this passing year I’ve ensured speedy advancements in Science and Technology and have created highly advanced knowledge that disproves the existence God as certain problems now have their solutions in science drifting the faith of the masses from the undefeated grace of the Righteous One onto science and technology as the answers to their problems and no longer on God anymore (Steps back to his original position and bows his head)
Fifth Principality: I’m the Prince of the North-Eastern Province and the Leading Herald of the Religious sphere of influence. I’ve succeeded in snuffing out the life and light of the true gospel and have now fed them with false doctrines. Their messages are no longer on grace and the finished work of the cross but on mundane matters that bear no weight in the kingdom of light. I’ve also blinded the leaders of religious organisations by their greed and pride (Steps back to his original position and bows his head)
Sixth Prince: I’m the Prince of the North-Western Province and the Leading Herald of the Educational sphere. The educational system is now a thriving ground for our activities of distraction as the minds of students that all they worry about is their daily cycle and how to emerge with the best results believing it’s only by hard work that success is attained so the students and lectures push themselves to the extreme in order to ensure they come out top in their various endeavours completely ignoring the virtue of grace made available unto them as they believe solely in the reward of their own efforts. (Steps back to his original position and bows his head)
Overlord: I’m the Overlord and the Leading Prince of the National Territory, the Leading Herald of the Arts and Entertainment sphere of influence. Objects of entertainments are now in circulation and people even the so called believers are getting so engrossed in it that even the ones who are unconscious partakers of the divine heritage of grace have their soul flooded that the knowledge of grace cannot find a suitable breeding ground for it to find expressions in their life. Now onto our big discuss, this Grace Advocate of a fellow has caused untold damage to our plans and we must find a way to put an end to his interference.  Anyone with a valid suggestion?
Third Prince: Permit me to speak my Lord.
Overlord: Go ahead and speak if you have something to say.
Third Prince: My Lord, I suggest we begin to let the desires to begin to engage in serious spiritual activities awaken in his heart, then we let suggestions flow in that he takes his spiritual life serious. He yields to that and this is when we frustrate him massively in whatever way we can up until he changes his  perception and being someone with a lot of influence, he drags a whole lot of people down that path with him. We table his matter before the Celestial courts and the Righteous Judge himself would determine his fate and I tell you that it definitely won’t be pleasant.
Overlord: This is a wonderful suggestion, build on it and table it at the next official meeting and this brings today’s pre-meeting briefing to an end.
(The seven men began humming as they move backwards and as soon as they move through the walls, the light slowly fades)                                                   
                                                                                                                          Light Fades
Scene Two                                 Light Falls
(Light Falls on scene which appears to be a sitting room, a young fellow is seated about to consume a meal, his unzipped trousers struggling to stay on his waist. He’s about to commence the consumption when a knock on the door interrupts him and he rises up and walks towards the door with one hand supporting his trouser. He opens the door and a distraught lady march in muttering words of complaints, he returns back to his initial position, the look of surprise and concern visibly expressed on his face)
Mark: Ahn ahn Stella, this one you are marching in like you’re storming in looking like the weapons of our warfare, I know all is not well so what seems to be the problem?
Stella: I’ve been trying your friend’s number for the past eight hours but he has neither been picking my calls nor responding to my messages.
Mark: Maybe he’s very busy at work or he’s at a place with poor network connection.
Stella: That had better be true because since we’ve made this appointment he has been either postponing the visit or giving one excuse or the other and today that he finally agreed to go with me, he is not picking up my calls or responding to my messages.
Mark: Don’t be offended. I know Stanley to be someone who can give excuses but once he gives his word of assurance on something, he does not turn back on his words.
Stella: I won’t say anything further. He’ll come and meet me here.
Mark: You can seat and wait for him till he comes as he usually comes here from work before going back to his place.
Stella:  (Falls sulkily to the chair as she relaxes her head on the headrest of the sofa and dozes off few moments before the door opens to reveal a dejected Stanley walks into the room with his shoulders dropped and his head bowed)
Mark: (He throws a chunk of meat into his mouth and licks his fingers as he turns to address Stanley with his mouth full)  How far guy come chop oh, na the last food wey dey house be this. And if I finish am, hunger go tear your belle before you go house.
Stanley: Guy you can finish the food, I’m not interested in eating anything today.
Mark: Guy wetin dey worry una this evening? Una just dey behave somehow somehow this evening, me I no come understand una character this evening oh. First your babe wey no dey ever go man house been come my house come find you and her face come dey very strong unlike the Stella I know wey dey smile very well. You ma sef come enter with your own long face, you no gree chop and me and you no say you like food pass anything and you no even look your babe side. Baba wetin dey sup.
Stanley: Bro I was accused of signing a fraudulent document in the office today.
Mark: (Exclaims loudly as he places his left hand on his head)  Haaaaahh!!! This na serious matter oh bro.
Stanley: Indeed it’s and because of that I received outright dismissal from my duties, my assets were seized and all my accounts were frozen. My only offshore account where I has some money, i sent the money to a particular guy to invest in a particular business and this guy scammed me leaving me with nothing.
Mark: That one bad oh my gee.  Abi dem no investigate well before them jump into conclusions?
Stanley: They did their thorough investigations and I actually signed the fraudulent document and what was more incriminating was that a part of the money gotten from the deal was discovered to have been transferred into one of my personal accounts. I was almost arrested but my boss released me saying I should go and that they would call me once they begin investigations.
Mark: Guy this your case na very technical one oh and as e be like this, na only God and a very good lawyer wey get better wisdom fit help you out of this problem wey you don enter so.
Stanley: (Places his head in between his palms in a sorrowful position) And I don’t know why all these bad things alongside other misfortunes started happening after I started taking my spiritual life seriously.
Mark: Shey I been dey warn you that time say make you leave online ministry for people wey get am but you say no, say God gave you a message to pass onto the people and like fire shut up in your bones is a burden you can’t contain it. Tor I come dey tell you say even as far as say you be Grace Advocate devil go still put eye for your side so make you take your spiritual life serious but you no gree hear word now you see wetin don do you.
Stanley: But it’s as I was just beginning to take my spiritual life serious that I started facing these challenges.
Mark: And you think say the devil go stand dey watch you like lukman make he leave you dey do your thing, dey there dey whine yourself(Stands up and clears the plates moving into the adjoining room leaving Stanley in a thoughtful state and returns in a brief moment. Stella wakes up and Stanley glances towards her direction and flashes a weak smile to her)
Stanley: Babe, you’re awake, I wasn’t expecting to meet you here.
Stella: After ignoring my calls and texts almost all day long. Don’t even get me started.
Stanley: I really do apologise for that. Something came up and it involves a fraud case I’m thought to be caught up in.
Stella: (Gasps in surprise) I’m so sorry about that and also for being insensitive and self centred. How bad is the case?
Stanley: It’s quite bad considering my assets have been confisticated and my bank accounts frozen. I unknowingly signed a fraudulent document on the office not knowing it was fraudulent and some money from the deal was transferred into my account implicating me the more and the painful part is that all these is that everything started happening after I started taking certain actions concerning building my spiritual life.
Stella: Wow that means things are not good to a great extent.
Stanley: You’re very correct if you say that.
.
Stella: But I hope you do know that you had a very huge part to play in causing this misfortune that befell you, and you played your part exceedingly well. You played it so well that if there were twenty points to be ascribed to the cause of your problem, fifteen points will actually go to you.
Stanley: (Turns to face her with a perplexed expression on his face) What do you mean by that statement? How can you tell me I’m responsible for a misfortune that befell me?
Stella: There are actually a lot of things you did to bring this upon yourself but I’ll only highlight some of your contributions to it. First is Ignorance of what has been given to you, Secondly is the unconsciousness of the gracely heritage in which you’re a partaker of, failure to utilize what has been given unto you and the lack of realization of the enemies lurking around to deny you access and to strip away from you what has been given .
Stanley: (Fixing his gaze more intently on her as he listened attentively to her words) You might have to explain more as I’m a bit confused.
Stella: Let me further buttress on the points I made mention of earlier and I’ll use certain instances to explain. The first thing I made mention of is ignorance and ignorance can come in two ways either in total absence of knowledge,  or partial absence of knowledge and partial knowledge can exist in the sense of not knowing either the worth of what has been given to you, or how to access it. Let me explain what I mean by total absence of knowledge and partial absence of knowledge with these certain scenarios. The first scenario is that of a community where there is scarcity of water and without the knowledge of the people, a borehole is built and yet people still trek for miles to the neighbouring community to fetch water and many of them even die of thirst not because there’s no water but because they are either unaware of the water in their proximity or they don’t know how to access the water made available unto them and the knowledge to their drought is their awareness of the fact that water is present in their community and how they can access it. So many Christians have gone past total ignorance into partial ignorance but can’t seem to go past this state. They know that Christ has died for them but sometimes they’re not aware of the full extent of the procured grace thus living a life far below the standard expected of a child of God and even when they come into the realization of what Christ’s death has obtained for them, they’re not able to access it and looking at the first part of Hosea chapter four verse six it says “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” not for lack of grace or virtue.
Stanley: Listening to what you’ve said, I’ve now begin to realize that although I passed the message of grace online, I was actually limited in my knowledge on the concept and just limited it to just salvation and making heaven.
Stella: The second thing I made mention of was the absence of the awareness of the gracely heritage. Looking at the scripture from John 14:20 which says “ At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you”
Looking at the scripture from John, my emphasis is on the phrase “At that day you shall know” my emphasis is on the word “Know” and you might be asking how do we get to know?  The answer to that is in the first part of Acts 20:32 which say “And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.” The word of God builds your understanding or should I say your knowing of the gracely heritage and the knowing here refers not to just head knowledge but a knowledge that resides within your spirit man, occupying the vast chambers of your mind. So when you study the word of God and meditate on it consistently, the knowledge of the gracely heritage which you’re a part of keeps flooding your mind till it becomes part of and one with you and that consciousness which has been built in you now gives you an inheritance amongst those who are sanctified not just from sin, but also from the ignorance of the heritage of grace. An instance that depicts this is of a thirty year old fellow who originally was a prince but because he had spent his entire life struggling to fend for himself, but his fortune changes as he’s brought to the knowledge of his true identity. He might not begin to behave like royalty immediately but as he observes the behaviour of the royal family and is fed with the knowledge of his identity, his perception gradually begins to change till the fact is fully set in his subconscious mind and that’s how it ought to be with believers that we constantly study God’s word and meditate on it till we are transformed as it says in 2 Corinthians 3:18 “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, [even] as by the Spirit of the Lord.” The final scripture I’ll give in relation to this point is from 1 Peter 1:2 which says”Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord.” So the working of God’s grace in your life multiplies as your knowledge of God increases.
The third thing I made mention of is failure to utilize what has been given unto you. After you’ve come to the realization, the next thing to do is to properly receive and utilise what has been given to you by the reason of the engraced assembly which you’re now part of for it says in 2 Peter 1:4 which states that “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”. In order to do this we first need to know that in as much as the exceeding and great promises that has been given to us that through them we might be partakers of the divine nature, it’s totally our responsibility to receive them  and labour effectively with them  and in order to receive them, we must first have escaped the corruption that’s consistent with this present generation through lust and we can escape the lust by making conscious efforts to consecrate ourselves to the Lord daily and when all of these is in operation and we begin to operate and function from the perspective of those in the gracely heritage, then there’s little to nothing that the enemy will do that will have effect in your life as they and their works thrive well in secrecy and in the ignorance of the believer but  as God has enlightened you through me and you act on what you’ve just heard, your life will never remain the same.
Stanley: (Stares thoughtfully into space for a brief moment before he speaks) Thanks a lot for all you’ve said. I’ve come to the understanding of the error of my ways and will try very much to adjust by the grace of God.
Stella: May God grant you the grace to do as you’ve said in Jesus Name.
Stanley: Amen.
Stella: (Rising from the chair and picking up her bag) I had wanted to pray for you but the Lord says you should speak to him yourself.  He wants a one on one discussion with you and that I should also tell you that the brief storm you’ve experienced is over as he had allowed it so as to draw your attention to himself.(Slings her bag to her shoulder as Mark walks her to the door bidding her farewell and Stanley falls on his face flat in prayers as the light slowly fades)                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                          Light Fades