The topic of this lecture ─ Rhapsody of Realities as a first-rate Agent of Social Change ─ requires definitions, however succinct, of some terms that are crucial to an understanding of the subject-matter of the lecture. The lexical definition of the expression “to reach out” is to show that you are interested in somebody and you want to meet and help him/her.

 “Nigeria” is a federation, currently of thirty-six States. By virtue of a little poetic licence, the two words “reach out” have been joined together and used attributively as “ReachOut Nigeria” to describe the extent of the missionary work which the Believers’ Loveworld ministry, by reason of its abiding love and interest in the nation-space and its citizens, initiated some years ago to take spiritual, physical, mental and socio-economic health to the doorsteps of all the ethnic nationalities in Nigeria. “Rhapsody of Realities” is a peerless daily devotional, co-authored by Rev. (Dr.) Chris and Rev. Anita Oyakhilome and read by both Christians and non-Christians alike. This adumbration of Rhapsody of Realities will be expanded as the lecture progresses.

In the context of this paper, social change is definable in terms of a theory of spiritual and socio-economic development, a supra-cultural evolution which straddles the various phases of human existence.

The topic of this lecture suggests that Rhapsody of Realities, distributed in over 150 countries in 84 languages, is an all-star agent of social change, a concept that is at once the most difficult and the most fascinating problem in Sociology. Modern Sociology was sired with attempts by Auguste Comte and other 19th- and 20th-century writers, like Karl Marx, to explain the causes and the course of social change which was dramatically expressed in French political and the English industrial revolutions. Another great 19th-century sociologist, Herbert Spencer, saw the evolution of society from small-scale simplicity of structure and function to large-scale and powerful differentiation.

In the early 20th century, attempts at large-scale theorizing about social change fell out of favour in sociology and efforts were concentrated more on the detailed study of particular societies, communities and institutions using increasingly exact methods of observation, survey and measurement. More recently, the older and valid problems of economic growth and social development have been tackled afresh, stimulated by the spread of industrialism into the “underdeveloped” world. Since the early 1990s, when Marxism, socialism and communism would seem to have received the death sentence, there was no one theory of social change but a complex debate between Marxist, Marxisante and liberal or pluralist theories.

Quite clearly, associated with the concept of social change, hitherto, were the unnavigable labyrinths of socialism and communism as well as the uncharted but predatory and soulless sea of capitalism, which led Karl Marx to the conclusion that “the history of all existing societies is the history of class struggle”. We couldn’t agree more, because it has been shown definitively that both in the political and industrial realms, social change has been characterized by violence, injustice, discrimination, prejudice, avarice and the concomitant deification of Satan. It was, thankfully, appreciated, with time, that a positive social change, which recognizes and respects the totality of the human person and banishes doubts and fears with their associated vices, must be rooted in the Word and founded upon Christian soteriology.

Consequently, sedulous, even if, fruitless efforts have been made by religionists, over the years, to introduce an odour of sanctity and high principles into the concept of social change to reflect a process, which wears a human face and develops the spiritual and socio-cultural aspects of human life through the Word of God. A common thread that ran through such fervid, even if unproductive, efforts was the publication of fat religious books and devotionals, written in arcane and otiose languages, that were barely intelligible even to some of the most erudite theologians. Until recent years, this was the challenge of positive social change in many countries, including Nigeria. Instead of facilitating a constructive social change in terms of the common good, such books or devotionals, accompanied by phrenetic, even if idle, preachifications, merely made the realization of positive social change a chimerical pursuit. Barely literate persons and even the very well-read in the society found it irksome to amble through tomes of religious precepts and prescriptions and so tended to abandon the effort to follow in the Word-path.

It was this situation that gave birth to Rhapsody of Realities, an unsurpassed daily devotional, which has been aptly described as being more than a daily devotional. This is because it is at once revelational, spiritually invigorating, inspirational, illustrative, enlightening, faith-building and life-transforming. As a daily devotional, Rhapsody of Realities abounds in flashes of insight that elucidate and construe some of the most important spiritual questions of our time. For good measure, it is a rejuvenating technique, a kind of elixir of life. Slim but practical and written in lucid and intelligible English language, Rhapsody of Realities is, in itself, a spiritual healer par excellence, deriving its healing powers from the spirit-dictated words of its authors, who are themselves the very personification of spiritual powers. As a Bible guide, Rhapsody of Realities carefully conducts its reader through the nooks and crannies of the entire Bible in one or two years, depending on the reader’s choice, and as a reference book, it is replete with path-finding scriptures which serve as interpretative or explanatory notes to larger biblical texts.

Reading Rhapsody of Realities is a powerful way to maximize insight, intimacy and understanding of the Word which, alone, is the surest or most reliable foundation for positive social change. Reading and internalizing the messages conveyed by Rhapsody of Realities imbue the reader with the capacity to get transmuted into a spiritual world of power and into the socio-economic world of excitement.

That Rhapsody of Realities is a great tool that can help, and has helped, supercharge readers’ communication with God and change their lives inexorably cannot be gainsaid. To the extent that it is handy, readily available to many and intelligible to all strata of society, the useful little book is a first-rate agent of social change, perceptibly impacting at once on its readers’ spiritual, moral, physical and socio-economic lives. Rev. (Dr.) Chris and Rev. Anita Oyakhilome the co-authors of the daily devotional, use vivid examples from real life to explain how word pictures can help us capture people’s attention, make our messages memorable, open the door to greater intimacy with God and bring about lasting spiritual, physical and material changes in our lives. Their approach to the scriptures is the approach of Christ; the approach of leading both old and young people to the deepest and most profound knowledge of themselves.

ReachOut Nigeria was designed to be an annual event during which the Believers’ Loveworld (a.k.a. Christ Embassy) ministry distributes, gratis, millions of copies of Rhapsody of Realities to old and young Nigerians in all walks of life. The question may arise as to why the ministry elects to distribute millions of copies of Rhapsody of Realities (amounting to hundreds of millions of Naira) to millions of people when, at a time of global economic crunch such as we are in, it could have either given such huge sums of money to the needy or established some industries to accommodate the unemployed among us. Such a line of thought would seem to give the lie, erroneously, to the suggestion that it is better to train a person how to fish than to assure him of a ready supply of fish! Monetary gifts could only go round a few hundreds of Nigerian citizens; a spiritual gift will benefit tens of millions more! Countless people, worldwide, including even the employed, the unemployed and the under-employed, find themselves in the same group with the American William Miller, who wrung his hands in utter frustration as follows: “Annihilation was a cold and chilling thought, and accountability was sure destruction to all. The heavens were as brass over my head, and the earth as iron under my feet. Eternity ─ what was it? And death ─ why was it? The more I reasoned, the further I was from demonstration. The more I thought, the more scattered were my conclusions. I tried to stop thinking; but my thoughts would not be controlled. I was truly wretched, but did not understand the cause. I murmured and complained, but knew not of whom. I knew that there was a wrong, but knew not where or how to find the right. I mourned, but without hope.”

Rhapsody of Realities is the surest path-finder! It imbues its readers with knowledge, the ability to stand on ones own, with faith, hope and charity. And that’s why it is the first-rate agent of social change, positive social change.

Thank you.