A review of Reverend Sam Adesua’s book, The Clock of Man’s life: From Starting Point to Zero Hour by Adewale oshodi.
IN his new book, The Clock of Man’s life: From Starting Point to Zero Hour, Reverend Sam Adesua dwells on the life of man right from birth to his transition. The opening chapter explains how man is created by God, who distinguishes him from other animals created.
The author explains that man has a purpose for being created, unlike animals that cannot think beyond what to eat for survival, man has the capacity to think about tomorrow and plan for it in order to make it pleasant.
Apart from thinking about the future, man also has the capacity to think about his Creator and the need to be accountable to Him, both here on earth, and in the life after, “and this is the source of all religions in the world. This is why religion is basically seen as human efforts to please his Creator or the Supreme Being to attract His favour.
“Therefore, religion is full of morals; it is about dos and don’ts designed to make the religious adherent acceptable to his Creator.” (P4)
However, the author laments how religion has been modified in today’s world to suit the lifestyles of different religious faithful. It is unfortunate that some faithful now see religion as a means through which the Supreme Being can be persuaded to act in their favour, especially in their day-to-day needs and challenges, and also in their fights against perceived enemies — real or imagined.
“So the issue of trying to please the Supreme Being appears to have been relegated to the background by many who claim to be adherents of religions. Emphasis appears to be more on what to derive or enjoy from the Supreme Being than what to do to please Him.”
It is as a result of this that the author wants the people of the world to retrace their steps to doing the will of the Creator, rather than using religion to suit their lifestyles.
It is also to enlighten people and encourage them to live their lives with the consciousness of the brevity of human life, and particularly that sooner or later, everyone will reach the zero hour of life, a point where he will give account of how he spent his life to his Creator. However, for those who still don’t believe that there is life after death, the author juxtaposes scientific theories on how the world is created and the Biblical aspects of same.
Reverend Adesua explains the Charles Darwin’s theory that life on the planet evolved over a long period of time, till it got to the stage it is at the moment, and this is being used by atheists to dismiss the record of creation in the Bible.
However, the author reveals that both the Darwin theory, and the Big Bang theory, which highlights that everything that can be seen with the naked eyes, and even those that can only be seen with the aid of powerful telescopes and microscopes, emerged from matter that was at the initial stage concentrated in a very large mass, are non-issues, as they are mere products of human limited knowledge or thinking.
The author takes a powerful Bible verse in 1 Corinthians 1 vs 19-21, to back up his claim. The verses read: “For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.”
Adesua then takes a critical look at the Bible’s version of the creation of the world, while explaining that the clock of man’s life begins to tick at the time of conception in the womb. It is, however, God who winds and stops the tickling of the clock of man’s life.
The book’s fourth chapter focuses on life after death, while explaining that some people believes that once a man dies, then that is the end, while others believe that there is the after-life spirit world. Both views are, however, disputed by the author, who says the Bible reveals that, “then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” (Ecclesiastes 12:7).
The author, therefore, explains that whatever the Bible says on any issue is the right thing, and other contrary views are just developed using human’s limited knowledge, while emphasising the reality of heaven and hell, and man is bound to end up in one of these two places.
Consequently, the essence of this book is to remind people of the tickling of the clock of their lives, while bringing them back to Christ Jesus, who will determine the world’s fate at the fullness of time.
One positive thing about this book is that it is not targeted at those who profess the Christian faith alone, but by everyone who believes that this world is a ‘market place’ and everyone will return ‘home’ one day to give account of his deeds.
The author, Reverend Adesua is a senior pastor in the Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria.
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