WHAT IS THE BIG “WHY?” OR MOTIVATION BEHIND BACK TO BASICS MINISTRY, INC?
The one-word answer is the word, ENTROPY.
The second law of thermodynamics states that entropy always increases with time.
What is entropy?
“Entropy is a lack of order or predictability; it is a gradual decline into disorder.”
Entropy is a scientific concept, as well as a measurable physical property, that is commonly associated with a state of disorder, or randomness. Take a closer look at your organization, school, community or society and you might find a downward spiral despite all effort to stabilize things. This is the law of entropy at work.
Entropy affects all aspects of our daily life. For example, if left unchecked, without constant and deliberate efforts to maintain and improve the present conditions, disorder, breakdown, or devolution will increase over time in infrastructures such as buildings, roads, and bridges, in relationships such as parent-child, family or marriage, in society, business, culture, school systems, youth, etc. By default, everything is prone to degeneration. The Bible refers to this trend as signs of the last days (See Matthew 24; 1 Timothy 4; 2 Timothy 3).
About one hundred years ago, preachers who spoke of the last days or possible fast-approaching midnight hour, “end of the world” were regarded as prophets of gloom and doom. Today, it is the objective, apolitical scientists and environmentalists who are the present day apocalyptic and catastrophic prophets, warning us and sounding the alarm about a universe that’s running out of life-sustaining resources and rapidly winding down, which are largely the consequences of human abuses of the Earth over years.
You solve one problem only to create two new ones: one step forward in science, two backwards in sanity. The Jamaican saying, “The more you look, the less you see,” may very well be their definition of entropy. If you consider me a pessimist, I pray you may live long enough for history to vindicate you and prove me wrong.
Coming from a pure science background, I often approach issues by attempting to frame them into questions that I can focus my energy and attention on.
So, I asked myself:
If nothing changes and the present trend continues, even without factoring in the law of entropy, ten years from now—that is, in 2033, will society be safer, will communities be healthier, will neighborhoods be friendlier, will politics be less divisive, will schools be less prone to gun-toting intruders, will road, rail and air travels be less apprehensive, will the environment be cleaner and less polluted?
I couldn’t answer with an emphatic, “yes.”
Now, if we factor in the inevitable law of entropy, and the present state of things in the educational, political, economic, spiritual, cultural, religious and social arenas can be projected for the next generation or 40 years—that is, to the year 2063—from today, in the best- and worst-case scenarios, what kind of world will our children be living in?
I’m terrified to even attempt to extrapolate or confront any such projection into the future.
The pervasiveness and prevalence of moral decadence, no value for human life, and continual erosion of sanity in society can be explained in one word: ENTROPY.
Like it or not, changes, sadly, mostly negative changes, are happening everywhere, every place, every time and every day. We have to be intentional and deliberate to stem this tide. To do nothing or resign to status quo is to witness a further rapid decline.
I’m in my early seventies. I’ve witnessed great astronomical rise in scientific inventions and innovations. If truth be told, the lightning speed, rate, and scope of technological advancements, good and desirable as they are, are frightening. Our airwaves and social platforms are filled with information pollutants and conspiracy theories that are threatening the cohesion of society. Even to the experts in the fields, the future that awaits us in the fields of artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, computer science and biomedical engineering is as scary as it is unpredictable. That’s why we want to do all we can before it is too late.
Our Goal
To saturate the campuses through free circulation of our inspirational booklets. These will direct our youths, the students, to our website for further free inspirational resources. Hopefully, by this, we may create an atmosphere that engenders a sizeable committed, equipped, God-fearing Christian young men and women—future leaders of the world— graduating from our colleges and universities.
WHY LITERATURE MINISTRY?
The following scriptures bear testimony to the necessity, relevance, and indispensability of literature. According to Exodus 31:18, Deuteronomy 5:22; 9:10; 10:4; even God wrote with His fingers, “And He [God] wrote on the tablets according to the first writing, the Ten Commandments, which the LORD had spoken to you in the mountain from the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly; and the LORD gave them to me” (Deuteronomy 10:4). Then, God expressly commanded Moses to “write …” (Exodus 17:14; 34:27; Deuteronomy 31:19, 22).
- Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write these words, for according to the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” (Exodus 34:27).
- Now Moses wrote down the starting points of their journeys at the command of the Lord. And these are their journeys according to their starting points (Numbers 33:2).
- “As it is written… For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope” (Paul in Romans 1:17; 15:4).
- “Then the LORD answered me [Habakkuk] and said: ‘Write the vision And make it plain on tablets, That he may run who reads it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, It will not tarry’” (Habakkuk 2:2, 3).
- “Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this” (Jesus to John in Revelation 1:19).
Can you imagine a world without the written word, without any printed page, without literature, without any form of recorded history, documentation of scientific achievements, or religious materials? A world without the written pages of the Bible, a world without written laws, codes, decrees, constitutions and contracts, a world without bookshelves and libraries, a world without the printed matter in all its forms is a world still in the prehistoric ages. Until recently, the Digital Age (or 21st C), the era of the internet, computers, AI, and robotics, the printed page had been the force that propelled society forward.
Hence, the saying, “The pen is mightier than the sword”, first written by novelist and playwright Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1839, in his historical play Cardinal Richelieu. Notably also, the saying, “Give me twenty-six lead soldiers and I will conquer the world,”referring to the lead type of bygone days of printing. This quotation is most often attributed to Benjamin Franklin, but it is also at times linked to Guttenberg, the founder of the printing press, and even Karl Marx.
There is power in the written word, as it is in the spoken word.
In chapter 10 of TEACH THEM, BOOK 2, I detailed how my service and ministry in the ADVERTIZERS OF JESUS in Ilesha under the leadership of Evangelist Bola Sanni (from 1977) and EVERY HOME FOR CHRIST in Lagos under the leadership of Reverend (Dr.) Bisi Orebayo (from 1984) provided the platform and foundation for my writing ministry. Suffice here to say that writing is the way I think and process my thoughts. It’s the way I journal my journey, experiences, and ministries, in all their forms, spiritually, emotionally, intellectually, etc.
WEBSITE RESOURCES
I published my first book in 1984. The world has changed and been changing ever since, and so have I, and the way I think and write. I wish I had the electronic versions of those earlier works. The message of truth remains unchanged and unedited, only the methods of its transmission have been modified to fit into newer realities of life. The first four books that I published in Nigeria before I relocated to the US were:
- The Reality of Life
- Pathway to Peace
- Overcoming Life’s Crises
- You Can Succeed and Achieve Your Goals
My first four publications in the US were titled:
- Blessed Are Your Tears
- God and Suffering,
- Emotional Wellness, and
- Even a Caged Bird Sings
From these titles you could have a glimpse into the kind of theme that had engaged my attention and agitated my minds over the years.
Then, I have a series of non-religious, story-based, workbook format Character Education books with teacher-friendly, virtue exercises, civility and character-building fun and educational activities, such as,
- Moonlight Stories from West Africa
- Let’s Talk About That!
- Forty Nuggets of Wisdom for Life and
- Teens of Character, books 1-4
- TEACH THEM, Books 1 and 2 and WHITHER BOUND: CHURCHIANIZED NATION? are my most recent works.
You will find some of these past and recent works on our website. They fascinate me because I can see—in and through them—my personal growth as a person and as an author.