Education Minister Hon. Sean Edward commended the Cadet Corps for its significant support, especially during the time of disasters, and says the organization has the answers to some of the major social ills faced with young citizens. The St. Lucia Cadet Corps is a paramilitary organization which operates through secondary schools within the island's education system, instilling survival, discipline, healthy living, and leadership qualities in its members. Minister Edward says where the home plays a very important role in the development of a child, the classroom, and certainly young people's involvement in extracurricular activities such as those provided by youth organizations like the Cadet Corps play an equally important role in overall development of young people that helps keep them on the street and narrow. This single week, my office is inundated with cases and acts of indiscipline on the part of students and young people, and I can say categorically in the absence of empirical evidence that a dove in the activities of specialized groups in our country has in part contributed to the breakdown of discipline in young people in this country. The minister disclosed that ministry officials will soon meet with the high command of the St. Lucia Cadet Corps to chart the way forward for the continued development and strengthening of the organization's role to effectively function and provide the positive impact it has been providing over the years within the school structure of the education sector. Your work is on the value, and I make no apologies for that, but the significance of what you do is immense, and it is against that backdrop the government that is a part of will stand shoulder to shoulder with the Cadet Corps to ensure that we give you the requisite support so that your work can be even more impactful than it has been. The 2024 Cadet Corps Commandance Parade presented a cadre of 160 out of its almost 700 island-wide membership due mainly to the implement weather. It shifted its proceedings from its usual location of the Mindo Philip Park. Commandant of the St. Lucia Cadet Corps Lieutenant Colonel Nathan Hyacin thanked his rank and file and echoed sentiments expressed by Education Minister Sean Edward saying the Corps remains a symbol of hope in the development of young people and becoming productive citizens. They are the ones who really stand tall, they are the ones who really show that, listen, we can be part of the solution to the ills that we have in our communities. I must also express my thanks, gratitude to the government of St. Lucia, who over the past few years I must admit has been sharing a whole lot more interest and been giving some resources in order for us to participate in our activities. Several awards and promotions were dished out at the activity. The Corps will celebrate its 95th anniversary in July of this year with a gala event and has called on the support of the wider St. Lucia community in helping raise funds for the organization. The cadets paraded before acting Governor-General, His Excellency Errol Charles, government officials and well-wishers. From the Communications Unit of the Department of Education, Innovation and Vocational Training, I am Chris Sackney, reporting.


Personal notice, Stange is my stock and trade. If the job's too tough for you to handle, you got a job for me, George Valentine. Write full details. Standard of California, on behalf of independent Chevron gas stations and standard stations throughout the west, invites you to let George do it. To Near the Sky, another adventure of George Valentine. Dear Mr. Valentine, my telephone number is Grammar say 3747. Can you remember that? Grammar say 3747? I've investigated you thoroughly and I know you won't get it wrong. You won't forget. A man as good-looking as you are just couldn't be irresponsible, at least not about women, or maybe it's the other way around. It doesn't make sense. I know I don't make sense, but then if I did, that would show that I wasn't afraid, wouldn't it? And then I wouldn't be needing you, would I? Please, please, please, the moment you got this letter. Mrs. Sonya Belsing, Grammar say 3747. We've been trying to telephone you all afternoon, Mrs. Belsing. I know, I know, my line's busy. It's always busy. But my dear, you said Mr. Valentine... I'm right here on the extension, Mrs. Belsing. Extension? Oh my, it's just like one of those quiz programs, calling isn't it? Yeah, yeah, they have a hard time getting answers too.  Uh, you want us to come to a party? No one must know who you really are, so you'll be Mr. Valentine.  Oh, but Miss Brooks... Yes? He can't have a date if you know what I mean. Oh, well I guess I could be Mrs. Valentine. I wouldn't mind a date. No, no, no, that's one thing you mustn't be. Uh, his sister, that's it, you'll be... Mrs. Belsing, please, you said you were afraid of home. Of what? Why? There's an old dear, dear friend of mine who's just back from Lake Tahoe for the first time in a year. A Vivian Hargrove, she's giving the party in her penthouse. The 32nd floor, that's the top floor of the Hargrove Sims building. Yes, okay, so much for that. Are you superstitious? Huh? I mean, it's rather a strange place. I hope it doesn't make you uneasy or nervous.  Eric Sims, but don't really say anything. You'll understand why when I meet you there. If we can't talk, I write a little note giving you instructions. Mrs. Belsing, I'd rather understand everything right now. So would I, Mr. Valentine, but there's no hurry, and besides, something has come up. Of what I mean is, by the time I see you, I'm sure I'll have the answers for you. I'm not a coward, and I've never made a false accusation in my life, but I am superstitious. But why do you want us there? Superstitious about what? Well, Mr. Valentine, murder, of course. Isn't that your business? Oh, push the button again, George. Well, I did, I did, but the arrow just stays there on the 32nd floor. But George, we're late. Try one of the other buttons. Well, the other elevators aren't automatic, so they're all closed up for the night. Oh, fine. Me and my long dress and these high heels, they're no issues. Oh, well, Angel, we take a case from a middle-aged maniac. We don't even know what she wants, so we shouldn't complain about walking up a mere 32 flights of stairs, should we? I can't help it, George. This hike toward the sky gives me the queerest feeling. I know. Nothing is deader than an office building at night. And shadows. Lots of shadows. You know, I think if I believed in ghosts, I'd imagine them living in a place like... George, what is it? It's nothing, Angel. You just bumped into a fire extinguisher. Oh. What's more dangerous to us is the sign over it. What do you mean? Yeah. It only says the 21st floor. Well, at least it should be a swanky party. Well, honest to gosh, penthouse, no doubt about that. I wonder. I wonder if there really is anybody up there. What we're walking up to. What kind of people are... Hello. Hello. I heard you on the stairs. Elevators stuck again. Yes, that's right. Well... This is the 31st floor. Where are you? We're on our way to a party. A party? Upstairs, Mrs. Hargrove. At... Oh, I see. So, if you'll excuse us, we'll... Oh, no, no, no. Excuse me, please. I didn't mean to be rude or curious. You see, I'm the general manager of this company. These are the executive officers on this floor, and my name is Eric Zinn. Mr. Zinn. Come in. Come in, won't you? Get a chance to catch your breath. Well, thanks, Mr. Sims, we will. I'm George Valentine, and this is my sister, Claire. Pleasure. And you do look charming, Miss Valentine. Oh, thank you. Valentine. We're cousins of Sonia Belting. Oh, of course. Sonia's quite a person, isn't she? I love her. I suppose she must have talked about me. She usually rattles away about everyone she knows. No, no, I don't think so, Mr. Sims. But coming up, we were a little curious. Yes, the size of your building. Oh, our company is just on two floors. Real estate investments, Mr. Valentine. Oh, I get it. You built the place. That's it. And this is my bailiwick in here. Oh, my, what a lovely office. Perhaps you'd like a drink after all that exercise. Oh, no, thank you. But I am warm. Do you mind if I open a window? Of course not. Whatever you wish. Those last ten fights just about ruined me. Use both hands, Miss Valentine. What? Get the window on both sides. It sticks. It's been painted just yesterday. The entire office. Oh, yes. You know, I'm not sure I like the color, though. This Vivian Hargrove's idea. I wrote the decorator from Tahoe, and he came storming in here like a wounded hen. I couldn't argue with him. What do you think, Miss Valentine? Oh, oh, I'm sorry. I wasn't listening. George, come here a minute. Yeah. Look. Just look down there. Way up in the air, aren't we? 31 stories. Might as well be 31 miles. Look at those cars in the street. They're so tiny. See, what's the overhang up there? It cuts off the view above. It's a guardrail for the penthouse. Guardrail? Safety ledge, that's all. Just put up. There certainly isn't one down here. George, look at the way the wall of the building just falls off the lotion. Down, down, down. Excuse me, the draft. I have a little cold. Of course. I was just enjoying the view. Look here, I don't mean to be rude tonight, but I've been finishing some special work on my dance. Yeah, sure, Mr. Center, understand. We'll go on upstairs to the party. Well, Sonya may have given you the wrong impression. There really isn't a party. What? It'll be just us, I mean. The few of us, the lonely people in the tower.  We'll manage to have fun somehow. But I'm glad to have you. Both of you. Well, thank you, Mrs. Hargrove. Hargrove, if we'd known... I loved the way you're dressed. I bet it was Sonya's idea. She thinks people should dress like Englishmen in the jungle. Oh, that sounds awful. All mixed up just like her. Well, Sonya isn't Elsa Maxwell. Isn't she? Only I do wish there were going to be more of us. So far, it's only me and Rock Mononoff over there. Well, don't let it worry you. Crowds scare me.  See, Mr. Valentine, I know exactly why you're here. Oh, do you? Yes. And I think you're beautiful like all the rest of them she brings. But I'm not in the least interested in your work. You're not? No. I've only been back in town a few days and Sonya's been haunting me with men. Me, a married woman, you understand? Huh? I said me, a married woman, and I love my husband.     Forgive it. He's my brother. Peter Cannon. And he knows not what he does. Hello. How do you do? Brothers and sisters should pour yourself a drink, won't you? Not yet, thank you. You look pretty well poured. Good guess tonight, Vivian, for improvement. Don't you ever get tired of the same tune, Mr. Cannon? Oh, no, it's the apartment. Tired of the same world. That's... Well, that's been nice, huh? I'm a host. I'll show you around. My husband's apartment. Vivian, please. It is. She means Hargrove did the decor. Oh, well, it is rather an unusual place, isn't it? Yeah, strange decorations. Oh, I don't know. For Harvey, that's all he collected stuff. He does. Vivian, what's in all the cases here? My golly, George, look. Hand cup, black jacks, knives, dozens of them. Ma'am and violin. Don't look shocked. It's just for Harvey. Over here, here. Out here are the real prizes. All over the wall. Yeah. Rose and rose of masks. But they're all... Yes, Mr. Valentine. Death, ma'am. Sure, that's right. Some from the South Sea, some from Africa. It's a good collection. It's one of the best in the world. My husband is obsessed with the idea of death. Oh, cut it out, will you? The guy's got a penthouse. Why not be unique about it? Now, some people like Zebra Skin... Well, he got a bang out of this stuff. He is. He's obsessed. Look, even out here, the roof garden. See the statues? Sure, it's wacky, but a hobby. One guy's hobby, that's all. Are you superstitious, Mr. Valentine? Are you? Are you? Well, I'm beginning to think maybe I am. You feel the wind. It's a penthouse with wacky decoration. And that's all. Just picture a penthouse. Of course, Mr. Valentine, my husband is. My husband is. Dear, please, be quiet, will you? Mrs. Hargrove, I know we've intruded and you don't want us, but let's get this straight. When I heard you'd been living in Nevada the past year, I naturally assumed... Oh, no, we're not divorced. We're quite happy. We're quite happy. Well, last time, baby, will you get out of that present tense? George! Take it easy, but dear... But her husband's been dead for the past six months. He says if you live too close to the stars, you've got to fall sometime. And he walks out here alone. And he moves toward the railing. Like this. And then, very smoothly, like a shooting star, aimed at the bow. Mrs. Hargrove! Well, there's no need for you to go along, too, you know. Oh, I won't. Forgive me. I'm not really out of my mind. Oh, no, no, not much. But you're gonna be, baby, if you don't stop this. Dear, be at peace. This is the haunted place. The slice of heaven were just you and I. I killed my husband. That's what it is, Mr. Valentine. Six months ago, I killed my husband. We'll return to tonight's adventure of George Valentine in just a moment. Winter weather in the West offers a grand variety of sports. But it nearly always means extra work for your car's battery. That's one good reason why you should rely on chevron supreme gasoline. Or its premium quality gasoline, specially blended to give faster starts with less battery strain in the coldest weather. But equally important, chevron supreme is the gasoline that's climate tailored. It's tailored to each different season and to the different altitude and temperature zone throughout the West. So wherever you drive, rely on chevron supreme to get the best out of your car. Faster starts, faster pickup in traffic, ping-free power on hills. Try a tank full tomorrow. You'll find you can't buy a better gasoline for today's high compression engines. Ask for chevron supreme at independent chevron gas stations and at standard stations where they say, and mean we take better care of your car. Now back to tonight's adventure of George Valentine. A penthouse too close to the sky, decorated with weapons and curios and death masks. Sonja Belsing, who asked you to this strange place and this strange party that is in the party, hasn't even shown up yet. You're not even sure why you're here. But if your name is George Valentine, you have a pretty good idea what needs to be done. When Vivian Hargrove screams out that her husband is dead, that six months ago he fell 32 stories to the street and then almost casually adds the remark that she killed him. Mr. Sims, what sort of a man was your partner? Hargrove. Well, he drank a bit, like his brother-in-law Peter there. But he was big, hearty, the greeter of the firm, with an obsession about death. Yes. And now his wife is all... I really don't know Vivian very well. She's been away so much. See here, I really think it would be better if you and Miss Valentine would... Yes, yes, okay, we'll be going. Oh, how is she, Angela? Oh, hello, Mr. Sims. She's all right now, George. Perhaps I'd better go in. Excuse me, did you find the telephone, George? Telephone? Yeah, I did. I wonder if you'd mind if I went in to see Mrs. Hargrove. Mr. Sims, I'd like to tell a good night. Well, of course. In the meantime, it'll give you a chance to go over and pour some black coffee on those piano strings. You say you use the telephone. Mrs. Hargrove, when I hear something I don't understand, I'd like to get an answer fast and straight from the horse's mouth. In this case, the policeman is Hargrove. Police? You said you'd killed your husband. Well, I didn't tell them why, but I asked them what happened. They say six months ago there was an investigation that your husband had committed suicide. Yes. Well, I just thought I'd say it. But you really know it, don't you? They were very kind at the time. I first knew it when the wire came. The ranger had left it in my cabin. Wire? Range? I was up at Lake Carhoe. But why do you accuse yourself of... Field, I suppose? I was in Nevada because I was going to get a divorce. I wasn't patient enough. I left him down here alone with a strange obsession instead of helping him. But that scarcely caused her... A feeling of guilt is a terrible thing. Like pretending he's alive when I really know he's dead. But I didn't ever act this way or feel this way until I came back for the first time a few days ago. Why did you come back to the same place at all? Well, the furniture had to be sold, the apartment lease, sort of business. I certainly don't intend to stay here. I wasn't worried about it. My brother was coming with me. Oh, yeah, that brother of yours is a big help. Oh, he doesn't know any better than Saul. It's just a building somehow. The tower. Even before I came back, I was a little nervous. I ordered my husband's old office, Mr. Sims, now repainted. So I wouldn't remember him. I sat it out in that office. I was my husband's secretary several years ago. But the things up here I had to face and I couldn't. All the souvenirs of death... Why, Mrs. Hargrove? Maybe because you still think your husband's collection was just a hobby the way your brother said? Was it an obsession that led to suicide? I wish... I wish Sonya were here. He called from the drug store, but we're just the elevator... Oh, everybody's upset. Maybe no one close to him thought he'd actually do it. Only in your case, you can't see any other explanation, and so you develop all this stuff about your own guilt. Mrs. Valentine, no. No. No, Mr. Valentine, please. No, I won't listen. I'm mixed up enough. I can't believe that. It had to be suicide. All right, all right, all right, all right. I'm sorry. Forget it. You're afraid I'll go spinning off the handle again. I know the elevator wouldn't stop Sonya, but maybe I should see about having a fix if it hasn't been... I've already spoken to your brother about it. Oh, oh, Peter doesn't know what to do. Down in the office is a separate house for the building engineer. I'll run down and talk to him. Yeah, yeah, that might be a good idea, Mrs. Hargrove. Give me something to do, you mean. Maybe. I'm all right, Billy. I am. But we'll do lots of things tonight. We're singing and dancing, or we'll have so much fun.  We'll go after him. And, Angel, we don't even know yet why we're here. For George, it wasn't just to take care of an hysterical woman. Sonya said she was a great woman. Come on. What do you think you're doing? Hey, hey, hey, hey, what is this? Look at him, handcuffed. I did it. Handcuffed? Get me out of these. Valentine, take that key away from me. Oh, no, you don't. No. English handcuffs at that are antiques. Hey, what? Now try and find your key. All right, Buster. So you threw it to the birds. What's the big idea?  Leave him here, Mr. Valentine, and come with me, will you? Come with me out to the elevator. The arrow points to the ground floor, you see? And earlier the one down there was pointing up here. So since then it must have been... No, no, no. Look at this arm. You reach up, you can grab it. Yeah. Yeah, it's swinging loose. It's been pulled that way. So nobody would guess. What do you mean? That the elevator isn't broken at all. But it's not downstairs. It's right here. Right here. Is that... Yeah. It's on your belt. Yeah, she's dead all right. She's dead for some time, I guess. Since before we got here. I was asleep in my room all afternoon. Oh. It's a knife, huh?  When George hears her prayer. Yeah, we'll take a look. It's the note. You know the note she told us she'd write, remember? To you with the instructions. Yeah, let me see that. Oh, no, you don't. Let me see it. I'm gonna call the police. I'll tell them. I'll stand still, will you? She's calling the police. But I gotta tell them that Sims did it. He did it. Sure, bright boy, with a handcuffs. Who says so? Sonya didn't like him, see? She was afraid of him. She wanted Vivi to get interested in other men, so Sims wouldn't try to get next to her. You'll make as much sense. Oh, I know. I know I've been drinking. But believe me, nobody close to Hargrove ever thought he'd kill himself. And it drives all of us crazy. But his death masks were just a laugh. That's all. There were a big gag to pull at parties. Okay, bust off. Don't you see? Sonya was wise. She thought it was his partner. It was Sims who murdered Hargrove. And I'm going in and...  Pleasant dreams. Get a major? Yeah, I talked to Lieutenant Riley. He'll be here as fast as he can. Now, let's see that note, Sonya Belsing wrote it. You know, George, it's funny. It was our instructions, all right? But she was gonna fire her. What? Yes, it just says she's sorry to have bothered us, but she's decided to handle matters in another way.  Please, please, please, Sonya Belsing. Darling, she must have been threatened. That's the only explanation. So she did know something. And look here. On the other side of the road, paint. Little spot of fresh paint. Mm-hmm, the same color as that office. Hey, Mr. Sims. Mr. Sims. Ain't you worried? Well, George, I've been at the phone. What do you have handcuffs on anyway? What difference does that make? He's gone. I know, I know. And I've been asleep at the switch. I let Vivian Hargrove go downstairs to that very same office. It's Sims' office, all right? Come on through here. Mrs. Sims! Mrs. Sims! Mrs. Sims! Mrs. Sims! Mrs. Sims! Mrs. Sims! Mrs. Sims! You're all right. Hang on. Hang on. Oh, George. I was here in the office. He followed me. He had those handcuffs on him. He hit me with them. Come on, George. Take it easy. Get away from the cell. It was awful. He was insane. He knew I just that he killed my husband. Oh, Mrs. Hargrove, it's all right now. He knocked me down. And then he opened the window. I struck him. When I heard you coming, I screamed. The police I sent for them. Too bad they couldn't have flown. Oh, Mrs. Hargrove. Look, Mrs. Hargrove, stop crying on my shoulder. If you live too close to the stars, you've got to fall sometimes. Stop it. His death was useless.  What? But if it hadn't happened, I guess we never would have caught you. Caught? Shit.  What did you do, Mrs. Hargrove? Knock Sims out, have him ready. And when you heard us coming, give him the final shove so you could start screaming out the next act. He hit me. He hauled me over to the window. He was handcuffed. George, that doesn't make any difference. Feel yourself still. How did he open the window, Mrs. Hargrove? No, no, don't touch it. Police like fingerprints. Come on now, how did he open it? It was part of your own act to order this place repainted, remember? So the sash sticks, they always do. You've got to push on both sides at once. And how are you going to do that, Mrs. Hargrove? When you're wearing handcuffs.  No, Peter. You've just been trying to dodge the truth. And after all, Sonya Belsing picked on Mr. Sims just as you did. Well, that's what she was going to tell us originally. Only then, the paint on the purse. Sonya got together with Sims. Began to realize what he'd already begun to suspect. That it was Vivian all along. That's when Sonya wrote the note we found saying she'd handle it some other way. It's not easy for a best friend or a business partner or a brother to decide what to do about a woman they suspect of murder. I still can't see Vivian doing it. Sure, it's hard to place Peter. But Mrs. Hargrove admitted to the police she wasn't really at Tahoe. She was down here. Yeah, yeah, I know, I heard her. But why? Well, maybe she was ambitious, I don't know. The secretary married one of the partners. He was going to divorce her, so she knocked him off. Half-owner. Then six months later, she comes back with a neurotic act to cover knocking off the other partners, Sims. And she'd own the whole company? Only she realized people were getting suspicious. She had to get rid of Sonya first and then in we walked. No wonder Vivian was so scared and upset. Hey, Peter, Peter, why do you keep playing that record? It doesn't bother me. So happens I like my sister. Yeah, kid, I know. Picture of Penthouse way up in the sky. George, I still get dizzy, just thinking. That's not the line to remember, Angel. We can thank our lucky star that we're living as we are. Let's go, Brooks. Man doesn't have to lift the hood of his car to keep it running naturally. He can put some gas in the tank, forget all about the vital parts under the hood, and his car will run all right for a while. But if you want both safety and savings for your own car, it's wise to have your station man look under the hood regularly at standard stations In the independent Chevron gas stations, the under hood checkup is part of their protective service. That's when they can catch a worn fan belt or leaky radiator hose, things that might lead to major repair bills. Another example is regular oil check. Maybe nine times out of ten, they'll tell you your oil is at the safe level. But when fresh new oil is needed to avoid costly engine damage, that's when protective service pays its own way many times over. A few minutes of your time tomorrow for an under hood checkup may save you hours of delay and expense the day after. So why not stop at an independent Chevron gas station or at a standard station where they say, and mean, we take better care of your car. Tonight's adventure of George Valentine has been brought to you by Standard of California on behalf of independent Chevron gas stations and standard stations throughout the west. Robert Bailey has starred as George with Francis Robinson as Brooksy. Let George Do It is written by David Victor and Jackson Gillis and directed by Don Clark. Also heard in the cast were Sarah Selby as Sonja, Robert Griffin as Sims, Marine Tuttle as Vivian, and Jack Edwards as Peter. The music is composed and presented by Eddie Dunstetter, your announcer, John Heaston. Listen again next week, same time, same station, to Let George Do It. This is the Mutual Downly Broadcasting System.


I voted for Charlie Baker. I voted for Martha Cookely. Uh, for Baker. Those were the voices of voters who came to the Old South Church on Boylston Street to cast their ballots Tuesday morning. As the governor's race between Martha Cookely and Charlie Baker winds down, those from one of Boston's most affluent neighborhoods described how they chose between two candidates who lost elections in 2010. Uh, I generally tend to hue conservative and he's a nice liberal Republican for Massachusetts, which I think is about good right for the states. Well, I'm a pretty active Democrat. I have voted for a Republican in the past, but I'm also someone who really cares a lot about women's rights and I'm a little concerned right now with some of the changes that have been made. So I just really want to make sure that the Democratic Party is as strong as possible in the state of Massachusetts. Uh, the reality is I think there's been no growth in the state of Massachusetts over the last eight years. And I think that new jobs in Massachusetts over the last eight years is about zero. So I think Massachusetts is desperate needed growth and I think Charlie Baker is the guy to do it. And aside from candidate platforms, what else brought these voters out of bed and to the polls? I vote because I believe in democracy and it's incredibly important for all of us to have our stay.  You know, it's really important. People have a lot of issues with the way our democracies run. People aren't always as focused on issues as they could be. Uh, it's your civic duty. It also gives you a sense of ownership of the of the political process and it makes you feel good. It's still early yet, but here in the back bay all signs point to this gubernatorial race coming down to the wire as was expected from the Old South Church. I'm Peter Zampa, BU News Service.


Until all are free, that's what it has tagged for this year, seven years after the Chiba Girls were kidnapped, the Nigerian government of course has been asking numerous questions and its efforts with freeing these remaining 112 school girls. This morning to have a discussion on what the last seven years has been like and what next we've invited Bukala Shurnibare to join us, she's a member of the Bring Back Our Girls group. Thank you very much for joining us, Bukala. It's a pretty difficult conversation to have mostly because it makes you and every other person to reflect on what the last seven years has been like for these girls and for their parents, where they are today, have they been sold, where they raped, what exactly have they been through in the last seven years? So let's start with that. It is one more day, one more month, one more week and still no sign of these girls. What have the Bring Back Our Girls group or what do you think the last seven years has been like and the whole struggle to find these girls? I think if we analyze when we do an analysis of what the last seven years has been like we literally have to unpack the different categories of people that have been affected in the last seven years. First is the girls themselves, the fact that young girls went to school just the same way any other child will go to school and they just did not come back. That in itself is harrowing the abduction itself that it happened and if we listen to a lot of, if we follow a lot of the stories that happened when they were abducted, the fact that they were taken from their school, they were deceived by guys who were just wearing military uniforms and then for days they were going through bushes and they dressed at 57 of them escaped within the first week and then to have 219 of their friends just taking like that. I think for the girls it has not been easy and from the stories and the experiences that have been shared by the girls that have returned, it just gives us an idea of what they are going through. We know that they have been snakebites, we know some of them have died as a result of so many things. So to just have their life changed all of a sudden for the girls it is actually a very sad experience. One can never explain or quantify what this effect would have been on them.  Let's now go to the parents of the girls, the relatives of the girls. We know a lot of the parents have died as a result of many things, high blood pressure, mental issues. I've been to Chibok a number of times, I've spoken to some of the parents and I know that one of the things that you know is quite worrisome for me is how this parents cannot just explain the pain they are going through, they don't have the words to explain, depends that they are going through. I'm having to watch that, I'm having to see that they can't even describe it, it's in itself difficult. Some of them have died, some of them are still sick mentally, psychologically, some of them just do not have their lives all over again. We say that mothers face these pains a lot, fathers also go through this pain too a lot. We know that fathers are usually slightly unbreaking apart. We know that fathers usually are closer to their daughters and we cannot even describe what these people are going through, their friends, their communities just to have their children taking. And for us as the complainants that have been on this, people have gone through a lot just complaining on this issue. There has been character assassination, people have been insulted, the mental torture of just having to talk about this every day for seven years has not been easy. So if we have to look at how this has affected people, then we have to really unpack the different communities of people that have been affected. I like to jump in here. This picture you just painted, it's so dark, it's traumatic. But you also talked about you, the campaigners and all of that. I remember when this happened, you and your group did a fantastic job as a pressure group. We kept seeing you in Abuja at the square daily and all of that. But we don't see that anymore. Have you lost some steam? Is it because of the character assassination? What is going on? Do you still pressure government to bring back the girls? You see, one thing I must first establish is that the campaign for the rescue of the triple girls is for all of us. Even though some of us came out as the ROX or the frontline campaigners, injustice to one person is injustice to everyone. So it is everybody's responsibility. If a child in Chibok has been taken, my child has been taken, your child has been taken, everybody's children have been taken. In terms of the last seven years and how we have seen the fact that we no longer see bring back our girls' campaigners on the frontline every day we used to. That is a given. We really need to, and I've gotten this question a lot, that oh, we no longer see you at the Unity Fountain again. People are no longer coming out again and know that. It's literally expecting, campaigning on the same thing every day, coming to the Unity Fountain every day is not an easy task. People have lost stuff, people have lost friends, money, their lives, just coming out on a daily basis. However, I must say that we are no longer coming to the Unity Fountain. And I must say also that not coming out to the Unity Fountain on a daily basis is largely due to coronavirus. By the time coronavirus happened, it was one of the decisions that was made at the strategic team level that we cannot be going out any longer. But up until that time, at least one, two, five, ten people were still coming out to the Unity Fountain on a daily basis. And that we are not carrying placards and going on the streets the way we were doing at the beginning does not mean we no longer question government. In advocacy or strategic advocacy, there are different ways you could do the direct marches and the protests that we usually do. But there are other salient back end approaches that can be done. I recall when we were developing the strategic plan for the bring back our girls at the beginning, in which I was part of the development. One of the things that we had to do was what we call scenario building, where we looked at what this is what the first year would look like. This is what, if it ever goes beyond that, even though we didn't think it was going to go beyond 30 days, after we did our first march on April 30, you know, if it ever goes beyond that, this is what it will look like. This is what it will look like at different points in time. And so I'm not surprised that this is what the situation has been. But I must say that it is not a reflection of whether we are tired or whether we are no longer campaigning for the girls or whether we are no longer as passionate as we were at the beginning of this campaign. All right. I read through a report yesterday and it says the bring back our girls group says it will continue to seek international support to go on with its advocacy until the remaining Chiba girls are free. So tell us about that. You know, what kind of international support are you looking out for? And how do you think that would work? One of the things we have done since the beginning as a strategy is for us to get international support. And by international support it just simply means that we keep calling on partners, on friends, on governments across different parts of the world just to join and not just calling on the Nigerian government to ensure that their primary responsibility is being done. But most importantly also, you know, to keep putting pressure and keep doing everything within their power without violating the principle of non-interference in international law. You know, so it's just for us to just keep going to people that we know that even by the very basis of international law seeking international cooperation and support is part of what is provided for. So when we say we will continue keeping seeking international support, it is just simply going to our friends. Those that have been campaigning on this issue are not just those of us in Abuja or Nigeria. There are people in New York, in London, in different parts of the world, you know, who are campaigning. And so doing that just means that we are joining forces and we are asking, you know, governments across the world to also support. Let's not also forget that the United Nations also have a responsibility to every citizen of the world across the world. So when we also say international cooperation, we are also seeking those international organizations and communities. You know, now that we talked about international support, like it or not, your group has become very, very important. I mean, when you talk about abductions in Nigeria, you always think about the BBOG group. So I wonder how you feel about the series of abduction that have also taken place, not just the Chibok girls now. You've had so many and it keeps happening over and over again. Like I said, I wonder how you feel about it. Also, do you intend to advocate for these other people who have been abducted? Thank you. Do we intend to? No, we do not intend to. Yes, we have been. It is not a question of intention. It is a question of what we have been doing. For every time there is an abduction, and like you rightly said, going back our girls have been synonymous to abductions generally, campaigning against abductions. And so it's not even about abduction of Chibok girls or abduction of girls, but abductions of school children generally.  Besides the April 2014 Chibok girls abduction were 276 girls were taken. In 2018, February 19, we know that 115 girls were taken. And that's why we still have them. And as though we thought that was all, if you looked at the gap between 2014 and 2018, one would expect that the Nigerian government would have learned from the Chibok girls abduction to put measures in place to ensure that we do not have a repeat of not just abduction of school children, but that kind of large-scale abduction. And so four years down the line, we still saw the abduction of the Dabchi girls. But as though that was also not enough, between December 11 of 2020 and February 26 of 2021, we've had other four abductions, you know, right from the 344 children that were taken in Karkara-Karstina state. That was in December of 2020. December 2020 as well. We have 80 children taken from Islamiya schools in Karstina state. In February 2021, we had 27 children taken from Karkara in Ninjasti. And even in February 2021, February 26 precisely, we have the abduction of the Djangebe children, over 300 of them. I think one of the significance of a day like this is for us to put the responsibility back on the table of the duty bearer. We cannot have a country where abductions like this keep taking place. When a government, by section 14 of section 2B of the Constitution, has a responsibility, a primary responsibility for the security and life of the people. And by chapter 2 of our Constitution, every child in Nigeria has a right to education. So abduction of school children is the direct violation of their fundamental rights, not just nationally guaranteed or constitutionally guaranteed, but even internationally guaranteed. So I think a day like this, where we're commemorating the sad abduction of the Chiba girls is also a day for us to say that we cannot have a nation where it has become a norm that school children have been abducted. The Nigerian government must do better in ensuring that our schools are safe in adhering to all of the principles enshrined in the safe school declaration in making sure that there is minimum standard for the security and safety of schools so that all children can indeed go to school freely and enjoy that fundamental rights, absolutely. I also want you to speak on the reaction of the Nigerian government so far. From 2014, it was a different government. Now, of course, the current administration has taken over. How would you rate their reaction with regards to finding these 112 girls that are still unaccounted for? Does it bring back our girls group yet the support that it needs? Do you think that they have good enough excuses why these girls have not been able to be rescued so far? Thanks for that question. The reaction has sadly been different. If we want to sincerely analyze what all of these abductions that I've talked about, but the reaction could be pinned to different factors, and I won't go into all of those debates that happen around the fact that where school children were taken at a particular time in a particular place, oh, they were quickly brought back, I won't go into that debate. But one of the things that I've seen is the fact that first is first established that those abductions should not have taken place in the first place. We should not be having our children being taken. That is one. The other thing to then be said is that what we have seen in the abduction of the triple girls, the triple girls particularly, we saw that there was, you know, denial of the fact that abduction took place, and then that first start for a number of these. And then as a result of that, we have all of these girls being taken or being ferried away for a long time. And we know that security experts have repeatedly said that the first 48 to 72 hours of 24 to 48 hours actually of any abduction is critical to the eventual outcome of that situation. But what we have seen is, you know, that sense of irresponsibility on the part of the government, not just the fact that the abductions take place, but also the fact that the swiftness with which we would expect, you know, actions to be taken is not being taken. If a child is taken in sales clients, you know, literally every security architecture is deployed just to make sure that that child is brought back like immediately. That is one child. How much more when we are talking about tens and hundreds of children. And so this drills down to our very basis, the architecture of our early warning and rapid response system. If we don't have that kind of structure in place, if we don't have that kind of system in place, then the government cannot act outside of the structure of the systems it has actually created. We don't have that architecture where we can say that there are systems within our schools, especially for a country that has recorded or that we keep seeing abductions of children that have become, you know, commercialized, commercialized. And so one would expect that reactions would be based on an early warning and rapid response system specifically designed for schools and specifically designed for the different kinds of factors that, you know, describes or relate to different sectors. The way you would set up the early warning and rapid response system, for instance, if not east, is different from the way you would set up, for instance, in south west. Because in north east, there is the intersection of violent extremism that is going on there. In south west, we are not seeing much of that, but we're seeing more criminality. The same thing with north west, you know. So what would expect that we should be able to have that kind of system to back what sort of response the Nigerian government would be having, such that an avid Nigerian would be able to sit down and say, if abduction takes place, we know that the government has a system in place for some kind of child or children to be brought back into this for a while. So my assessment of the Nigerian government's response to abductions in terms of making sure that they have got back and all of that is actually tied directly to the system that we know is not existing. Until the Nigerian government can have such kind of architecture. Early warning and rapid response that is specifically targeted tied to school or that is specifically for schools. And the good thing is the safe school declaration has actually laid that very basic for such kind of people. Until we have that, then the government will only be reactionary or will only be responding based on expediency. As a result of that, we may not be able to get a quick response as we expect. Our hearts and our prayers go to those girls, wherever they are, including those who are still in captivity that were never recorded or were never named. From reports, still dozens who have been kidnapped that never made it to news media. So our hearts go out to everyone who is in a situation like that. And of course, for their parents, thank you so much for the work that you do and for speaking with us this morning. We look forward to speaking with you again, hopefully with great news. Thanks for having me. Absolutely. All right. Tough interview. Stay with us here on the breakfast. We're going to be back after this short break and we're moving into talking about the 2023 elections and the idea of early campaigning. We'll be back.


The title of our sermon tonight is weak like any other man weak like any other man our text judges chapter 16 verses 1 through 22 and tonight now as we return to the history of Israel during the period of the judges We find ourselves once more embroiled in the circumstances that surround the life of Samson as foretold by the angel of the Lord Consecrated as a Nazarite before he was born even from the womb Samson would be the miraculous child of a barren woman Destined to deliver God's people from the grip of their Philistine oppressors and what began as an account as a story of Great hope what should have been a cause for great joy has turned out with our main character Being somewhat of a walking contradiction being a bit of a paradox He is on the one hand the agent of providential divine fulfillment right Samson called by God to deliver his people and On the other hand Samson appears to be the embodiment of fallen human disappointment and human depravity He is a man of extraordinary strength and at the same time a man of very ordinary Weakness and we see both of those qualities exhibited in Samson at one moment He's the walking expression of divine power and the next moment He seems to be a sinful expression of human depravity. He's a walking contradiction a bit of a human paradox here often Strength being displayed and yet we see him as weak like any other man Well this evening in chapter 16 We bear witness together of the downfall of Samson the judge the seeds of this downfall have been sown all along the way all along the account that we've been given here and We see that in the character and in the actions of Samson Samson has a problem with lust And it will play a significant part in Samson's undoing he takes a wife From among the Philistines for no other reason that Samson likes the way she looks right she appealed to him She looked good in his eyes tonight in chapter 16 Samson is found in the bed of a harlot Then he is found in the arms of the devious and deviant Delilah We'll see that as we work through our text to this problem with lust We could add other physical passions that Samson appears to be driven by we've seen that as we worked through these chapters Samson is angry and he seems to be driven by anger Samson driven by his passions motivated by emotion He has a blood lust for vengeance as we've seen and beyond that Samson has shown Little to no observable commitment to the Lord or to the Lord's cause Samson seems to be out for himself. He's abandoned His consecration his separation to the Lord as a Nazarite. He's all but abandoned that commitment He is self-serving following what he believes to be his own course He doesn't attribute his victories to the Lord as other judges have apart from crying out to the Lord in thirst He doesn't cry out to the Lord at all He doesn't seek the Lord's direction. He doesn't ask for the Lord's help. It doesn't appear to be grateful for the Lord's gracious provision instead Samson Gives every evidence that he is prideful Driven by his passions Samson sent tends to be self-reliant self-confident self-willed self-absorbed and The seeds of his downfall have been sown in this self-will Samson apart from the Lord is weak like any other man, and I think that's one of the morals of the story, right? Samson Apart from the Lord apart from the work of the Spirit of God in him is weak Just like any other man and he displays many of the weak and fallen attributes of any other fallen man Doesn't matter how strong you think you are these Character flaws these sinful tendencies are the seeds of disaster For any man for any woman doesn't matter how strong you may think you are It's through these that men fall all the time They've been the downfall these character flaws have been the downfall of many a professing Christian many many a professing Christian these Flaws have been the downfall of many a deacon They've been the downfall of many a pastor The downfall of many a husband many a wife many a son many a daughter Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall Tonight we witness the downfall of Samson the downfall of Samson in Chapter 16 begins with a fatal compromise in verse 1 look at verse 1 with me Samson went to Gaza and saw a harlot there and Samson goes into her as In chapter 14 Samson shows himself to be dominated by his lusts Gaza is in the far south of the country It's along the border of the Mediterranean Sea in the south of Israel So it's a good ways away, but you don't have to go too far today to wind up in the bed of a harlot Do you it's just a clicker to a way right a clicker to a way and you're in adultery a clicker to a way And you're in the bed of a harlot Proverbs chapter 6 verse 26 For by means of a harlot a man is reduced to a crust of bread. I Believe there that what Solomon intended is that it a Man who's given over to harlots will find himself in poverty But I also think a crust of bread is a really good way of describing his constitution a man who is continuously given over to his lusts Continuously in the wicked bonds of sexual immorality will find him weakened as a crust of bread His constitution dried up. Do you see he's not strong. He's weak. He's weak By means of a harlot a man is reduced to a crust of bread and an adulterous will prey upon his precious life Can a man take fire to his bosom and his clothes not be burned Can one walk on hot coals and his feet not be seared you're with the Proverbs saying right verse 32 whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding he who does so destroys his own soul Wounds and dishonor he will get and his reproach will not be wiped away Well, Samson Doesn't go far from her house Samson winds up in her bed. How many times have we seen men? We would have presumed to have been strong you'd have thought would have been strong How many times have we seen men torn down? Reduced to a crust of bread over sexual immorality. How many times? How many times we have to be reminded of that lesson before we will repent of our sexual immorality and turn Brothers Proverbs chapter 5 verse 8 remove your way far from her Fear that place near her like the plague and avoid it Do not go near the doors of her house. Let's you give your honor to others and your years to the cruel one Why do you remove your way far from her? What's the reason for that? So get that sin that sin has tentacles That sin has a far-reaching power. It has an influence so one's talking to a brother a while back I'm just reminded of this that he had repented of former drug use years ago had been involved in drugs and Repented of that turn the Lord gave him deliverance from that praise God right repented of his drug use and came to Christ and He was in the house one day of stranger in there had been invited in and they had a bag of weed in the kitchen sink and He said that the memory of all that came sort of flooding in upon him and he felt the physical effects of the Remembrance of that sin that he'd once been involved in it had a it had a power that sin has tentacles Do you see you may think that you're strong? But you get too close to that and it has a power over you it can lead you into temptation Lead you into lust lead you into sin sin when it's fully conceived brings forth death Remove your way far from her. You've got to cut off every one of those tentacles. Don't entertain any semblance of Habitation with that wicked sin. Do you see? Matthew Henry Those that would keep would be kept from harm must keep out of harm's way Such tinder there is in the corrupt nature that it is madness upon any pretense whatsoever to come near the sparks You've got to cut off the hand of that offends pluck out the eye that offends Make your way far from her You put yourself think with me you put yourself near to temptation and Yet you pray Lord deliver me from temptation Right lead us not into temptation Lord and then you put yourself near to temptation lead us not into temptation Lord and then you allow for Tempting influences in your life Cut them off go to every put every effort into it make every diligent effort to cut off temptation Whatever a man reaps that will be so Putting yourself near to temptation or allowing temptation To be near you while praying Lord Lead me not into temptation is mocking God. Do you see it's mocking God? Trust the Lord Otherwise you are weak like any other man. Trust the Lord fight depend upon the Holy Spirit and trust the Lord Well in verse 2 when the gaseys were told Samson has come here They surround the place and they lay and wait for him all night at the gate of the city You know the spiritual illustration of this or counterpart the analogy might be Satan prowling around like a lion seeking whom he may devour Waiting for you to slip into the room with that harlot Gaseys were told Samson has come here. They surround the place They lay and wait for him all night at the gate of the city They were quiet all night saying in the morning when it is daylight we will kill him the gates of the city We're very often at the end of a tunnel like opening in the city wall City walls were often thick and there was a bit of a tunnel made because of guard housing on either side of the entrance Way to the city gates at one end guard houses on either side. It made like a tunnel a tunnel like passage It's likely that they would have slept in the guards quarters there on either side of the entrance way to the city until morning Either way it was Samson was able to get to the gates and pick the gates up Look at verse 3 Samson lay low till midnight and he arose at midnight. They would have been sound asleep Maybe even a drunken slumber He took hold of the doors of the gates of the city the two gate posts He pulled them up bar and all put them on his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron the gate houses to a city like this Often were known to be Two to three stories high these gates would have been absolutely massive Made of iron a mixture of iron thick wood. They were made to be defensive structures weren't easily to break into So they would have been very thick very strong and very very heavy remember one time we were at the British Museum and I believe it was the the gates of the city of Nineveh They actually had these gates in the British Museum from that time period, which is absolutely amazing But these gates were massive massive huge wooden iron structures So to think that Samson literally walked over those gates and heaved them up upon his shoulders And then Hebron if you think about the location of Hebron Hebron was 40 miles to the east northeast in the heart of Judah So this was a long way that Samson walked with these gates before he before he dropped them off And essentially Samson was making a point to his own people I'm not gonna be bested by the Philistines right drops these huge gates off at the hill that faces Hebron But notice in the text No mention of the Spirit of God rushing upon him Now obviously Samson did this in the power of the Spirit There's not a man strong enough To do this on his own apart from the power of the Spirit of God We've seen the Spirit of God rush upon Samson before he killed a thousand Philistines with a jawbone of a donkey Right, we've seen the Spirit rush upon Samson here Obviously in the power of the Spirit Samson lifts the gates But no mention in the text of the Spirit of God coming upon him This is a looming foreboding ominous Thought that trouble is soon on the way Spirit of God not mentioned as before Samson has a problem the effects of that problem are gonna become clear here very soon well apart from genuine repentance One tragic compromise leads to another which leads to another which leads to another which leads to full out apostasy and downfall And we see one more compromise leading to another with Samson beginning in verse 4 Afterward after having gone into the harlot and Gaza afterward it happened that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorak Whose name was Delilah. He should have stayed in Hebron But he didn't stay in Hebron Hebron in the heart of Judah He goes back out west toward Philistine country and he finds another harlot Delilah Delilah here is the first woman mentioned by name in the Samson accounts You notice that that's interesting It's likely the name is a Hebrew pun when you break it apart in the Hebrew. It means of the night So Delilah was of the night. It's Samson's plunge into sin with this woman of the night that will plunge Samson himself into darkness Literally plunge Samson into darkness when the Philistines scoop out his eyes But spiritually it plunges Samson into darkness when the Lord departs from him In verse 20 so trouble's coming Well the plot for Samson's downfall then is now cast verse 5 the lords of the Philistines the governors Came up to Delilah and said to her entice him Find out where his great strength lies and by what means we may overpower him So that we may bind him to afflict him and every one of us will give you 1,100 pieces of silver Now the plan of the Philistines here made clear through the use of four verbs in verse 5 Look at those verbs in verse 5 that we may discover That we may overpower That we may bind and then we may torture. This is the plan of the Philistines There were five Predominant cities of the Philistines meaning that there would have been five Philistine lords or governors So Delilah's take for her trouble would have been 5,500 pieces of silver and that is an Absurd amount of money. It's a large sum more than the 400 shekels of silver that Abraham paid for the land in Hebron to bury his wife in Genesis chapter 24 It's more than the 50 shekels of silver that David paid for around as oxen and second Samuel chapter 24 It's more than the 30 shekels that was the price of a slave in Exodus chapter 21 It's more than the 30 shekels that Judas was paid for betraying the Lord Jesus Christ It's more than three times The weight of gold that Gideon got for besting the Midianite kings in Judges chapter 8 And we saw in Judges chapter 8 how Gideon lived like a king off that money that he'd made in Judges chapter 8 So Delilah said to Samson verse 6 motivated by the money, right? Please tell me where your great strength lies and with what you may be bound to afflict you It seems to us like Wow, there's a motive to that question Doesn't it tell me with what you may be bound so that you may be afflicted. Well, honey, why would you ask? Why would that come to mind? So Samson said to her I think at this point right Samson is Samson's prideful We've already seen that he is confident very self-confident self-reliant and so Samson Even from the beginning of the count really seems to be playing games here, right? Even from posing the riddle with those men of the Philistines and then You know, he's building up self-confidence self-reliance here. And so I think he's willing to play along Samson said to her If they bind me with seven fresh bow strings not yet dried then I shall become weak and be like any other man Well, these would have been seven fresh sinews. What does that mean? They would have been tendons from a newly or freshly slaughtered animal. I think with me They're not yet dried not unlike the fresh jawbone of the donkey That Samson picked up to kill the Philistines in the last chapter What does that tell us once again once in a Samson is specifying specifying that these are to be fresh Hamstrings, you know fresh tendons Samson is once again ignoring his original vow Ignoring his consecration as a Nazarite They were forbidden to have come in contact with any part of a dead anything and yet here Samson is specifically mentioning fresh bow strings It's beginning to sound like Samson may actually be showing contempt for his consecration, doesn't it? Like he may be actually despising his separation to the Lord. We'll find out as we go verse 8 So the Lord's of the Philistines they brought up to her seven fresh bow strings not yet dried and She bound him with them Now men were lying in wait staying with her in the room and she said to him Philistines are upon you Samson But he broke the bow strings as a strand of yarn breaks when it touches fire So the secret of his strength was not known first attempt ends in failure All right, let's see what happens with the second attempt verse 10 Delilah said to Samson look You've mocked me Samson.  Please tell me What you may be bound with You know again Samson Playing along with the game because she was obviously seen with the first attempt to be devious and manipulative and Wanting to bind Samson delivering Samson over into the hands of the Philistines and yet Samson continues to play along He said to her this may be in Samson's mind just a way to kill more Philistines Verse 11 he said to her if they buy me securely with new ropes that have never been used Then I shall be weak and be like any other man Therefore Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them and said to him The Philistines are upon you Samson Men were lying in wait staying in the room, but he broke them off his arms like a thread So the second attempt ends in failure You'd think that Samson Maybe even Delilah would tire of this game Delilah's got 5500 shekels of silver on the line. She's not going to tire that easily Samson continues to play along verse 13 Delilah said to Samson again until you until now you've mocked me you've told me lies Tell me what you may be bound with And he said to her if you weave the seven locks of my head into the web of the loom And so she wove it tightly with the baton of the loom and said to him the Philistines are upon you Samson But he awoke from his sleep pulled out the baton and the web from the loom The third attempt ends in failure.  He has started Mentioning his hair now right with the loom So what does Delilah do then she begins to get a little more desperate? And so Delilah Resorts to the same age-old strategy employed by Samson's tim nightwife That we saw earlier She said to him verse 15 How can you say I love you Samson? When your heart is not with me You've mocked me these three times and have not told me where your great strength lies And it came to pass when she pestered him daily with her words and pressed him so that his soul was Vexed to death. Now notice the Hebrew verbs again in verse 16 Delilah oppressed him Delilah Excuse me Delilah persistently annoyed him. It's what the word means And Delilah vexed him to the point of death Delilah is relentless. Is she not? and so Samson Exasperated he's just come to the end of his Patience with all of this finally pours out his heart to her Verse 17 he told her all his heart and said to her No razor has ever come upon my head For I've been a Nazarite to God from my mother's womb If I am shaven then my strength will leave me and I shall become weak and be like any other man Shocking isn't it shocking Samson think with me Samson has been fully aware of his vow all along Think with me about the accounts in chapter 14 and then in chapter 15 and now in chapter 16 and each time Samson just neglects his Nazarite vow And it first blushed through the text we might think to ourselves Well, maybe he's not aware of that or maybe he doesn't understand what he's supposed to be doing Maybe he doesn't know the law no It all of a sudden becomes very obvious that Samson is fully aware of his vow his consecration to God as a Nazarite All along he knows that he's not to shave his head. He knows the rules the regulations surrounding the Nazarite covenant that he's made He's certainly and fully aware of the high calling with which he's been called by God Samson is aware of these things So his neglect then really Doesn't look like neglect anymore does it Looks more and more like contempt looks more and more like obvious avoidance he You could say Despises that birthright He treats it as a common thing. He seems to be going out of his way now to violate his consecration To despise that he has been separated to God Maybe he's now grown because he you know, he doesn't feel as though he can do his own thing He's so self-willed self-reliant He wants to live life for himself and this consecration to God is a hindrance to him. It's burdensome to him. And so he intentionally purposefully despises it by of by faulting himself in it by Transgressing the covenant that he's made Looks like he's despising his birthright Maybe samson thought that he could trust Delilah here verse 17 I really believe that it was likely pride that causes samson samson to finally give in samson's exasperated But samson all along has really thought that he wouldn't face any consequences for his actions He says in verse 20, I'll go out as before at other times and shake myself free Right his hair has been cut But samson in his pride thinks that he's going to go out just as he all just as he always has Right no consequence is going to fall upon me and there's this subtle and insidiously deceptive thought That always creeps into the mind of a brazen or high-handed sinner And it's exemplified here in the the account of samson The brazen or high-handed sinner begins to think to himself I will go on as I have before I will go out as at other times And shake myself free And they continue to sin And I'll go out as other times before and they continue to sin. God is forgiving No consequence is going to come upon me and they continue in their sin I'm a christian I prayed the prayer or I walked an aisle or I did this thing or that thing or I was sincere I mean it listen. I believe in jesus No harm will come upon me I'm not going to face the consequences of my sin I'll go out as before as at other times and shake myself free No terrible consequences will befall me. I'm a christian listen That is a lie that you tell yourself The bible gives very strong warnings to those who persist in unrepentant sin Turn from your sin or be sure your sin will find you out There are many many many who will say to him in that day lord lord who will not enter the kingdom of heaven But those who what? Who do The will of my father in heaven look lord. Look what we've done in your name, right? We've preached in your name. We've cast out demons in your name. We've done many works In your names many wonders in your name and yet. What does the lord say? Depart from me. I never knew you you who practice Lawlessness you make a practice of lawlessness What you're doing is validating that you are not a christian Turn from your sin Faith in the lord jesus christ and the lord by his spirit By his spirit will give you strength such that you're not fighting your sin like any other man But you're going out in the strength of the spirit to fight your sin and you will have victory in him But don't just continue to turn In a brazen high-handed self-willed self-reliant self-absorbed way to your sin and expect that you'll go out As you always have everything will be fine, right? There are those scoffers that come peter mentions them in second peter chapter three scoffers that come in the last days mocking And saying where's the promise of his coming things have continued this way from the beginning And they willfully forget that god judged the earth with a flood And there is a flood of judgment coming for those who do not turn from their sin to trust christ alone We cannot play with sin. That is the one of the morals of this account from samson Cannot play with sin The spirit of god is the source The spirit of god is the cause of the christian's strength against sin quench the spirit through brazen heavy-handed unrepentant sin And your strength goes do you see your strength goes you'll be found weak like any other man Well in verse 18 When delilah saw that he had told her all his heart She sent and called for the lords of the philistine saying come up once more for he's told me all his heart So the lords of the philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hand Then she lulled samson to sleep on her knees and he called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head Then she began to torment him And his strength left him Well in asserting The spiritual reality reflected in this physical account The lord jesus christ says in john 15 that apart from him we can do nothing Apart from the work of the spirit samson can do nothing God is our refuge god is our strength. It is he who gives strength and power to his people The soma says my heart my flesh fail, but god is a strength of my heart and my portion forever It's his strength that has made perfect in my weakness Therefore most gladly paul says i will rather boast in my infirmities that the power of christ may rest upon me Well, this is a lesson That samson is going to learn in the school of hard knocks verse 20 She said the philistines are upon you samson So he awoke from his sleep and said i will go out as before at other times and shake myself free But this is a tragic statement But he did not know that the lord had departed from him Full of fatal self confidence Full of fatal self reliance samson says i'll go out as before at other times But a tragic deception. He did not know that the lord had departed from him Well in verse 21 the philistines took him And they put out his eyes They brought him down to gaza. They bound him with bronze fetters and he became a grinder in the prison And what begins in gaza in a harlot's bed ends in gaza in a prison cell however Leaving us with hope The hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaven Now what's so interesting About samson Is that here in this account samson is not only samson samson is also isreal think with me consider samson Is to be consecrated or separated to god unlike other men All right, he's separated to god to be unlike other men. He's a nazarite separated to god and yet he despises his separation despises his consecration And he insists on acting like any other man his conduct proves that To the point where he is so distant from god that he is weak like any other man Now think about the comparison with me isreal Israel is to be separated to god from other nations And yet isreal acts just like other nations despising her consecration despising her separation to god And she is weak Here she's powerless against the philistines.  Does israel suffer for her waywardness? Yes Israel is sent into exile first into asyria the northern kingdom and then jude the southern kingdom into Babylon Only when he needs something water for example something to drink does samson cry out to the lord for help Israel only when she is misery in misery does she cry out for deliverance And it's entirely self-serving when she does that It's amazing the parallels right this story is in his in israel's history To point israel to their own failures their own weaknesses this account It's a historical account by the god who authors history, but it's a picture of the nation of israel their parallels also between samson and jesus christ As a judge samson points us beyond his weak and flawed Character this weak and flawed savior to the lord's anointed the messiah the lord jesus christ Angel the angel announces his birth the angel of the lord remember and judges 14 It's a miraculous conception His consecration is to god from the womb His own people at one point reject him want to want to turn him over to pagans He suffered mocking and scorn and derision. He was numbered among the transgressors Great victory comes through his death as we'll see next week These are all hints at one who is perfect Who is the embodiment of divine power? We'll see the lion of juda pictured in that next week God is the author of history. It's amazing how the lord does that But samson also brothers and sisters samson is a picture of many a professing christian Many a professing christian who believe themselves that they are strong When they are tragically weak and they don't know it Don't understand it won't acknowledge it. They don't realize the danger that they're in Don't realize the dangers that they face friends with this world Like samson marrying a philistine woman Friends with this world who believe that they are rich have become wealthy Have need of nothing And yet as john says do not know the lord says do not know that you are wretched miserable poor blind and naked Many run off after their own schemes giving no consideration to the one who made them The one who called them with a holy calling In doing that they despise their consecration their profession of faith despise that they have been separated to god They'd rather run in the course of this world They have abandoned their vow as samson did it's become burdensome to them, right? That's why john says that Holiness obedience to the lord is not burdensome obedience to his commands isn't burdensome to the christian But to the professing christian that wearies of their consecration of the lord it is burdensome And someone comes along and says, you know, that's not honoring the lord what you're doing or how you're living And they get defensive and hostile because they Despise that consecration would rather not have it so They don't attribute victories to the lord frankly victories are fleeting and Often none to be spoken of they cry out to the lord only in their need When they become miserable enough in their circumstances to In desperation call out to him. They don't seek the lord's direction. They don't ask for the lord's help They don't appear to be grateful For the lord's gracious provision of a savior in the lord jesus christ Whose love for us should compel our gratitude and our obedience and our faithfulness and our love and our devotion and our worship They are often prideful Driven by their passions self-reliant self-confidence self-willed self-absorbed Notice the comparison the seeds of their downfall have been sown And apart from the lord they are weak like any other man They believe themselves in christ to be strong Where's the evidence of that right? If you find yourself in that condition turn to the lord in faith Turn to the lord in faith He is our strength. He is our refuge. He is our hope. He is our joy for some of those Who are genuine sons It's the grace of god to discipline them as sons. That's hebris chapter 12 And hardship comes they learn those lessons in the school of hard knocks I've had to learn many lessons in the school of hard knocks We've been walking with the lord for a little while. You've learned lessons in the school of hard knocks You know exactly what i'm talking about And it's in that school of hard knocks that we often realize ourselves to be weak like any other man Lord knows I am weak and I need him It's oftentimes that we forget that reality and we start walking around in our perceived strength And we forget that we are in great need in desperate need of the lord's help in desperate need of his strength And the lord reminds us graciously For our good reminds us through adversity through difficulty through trial through suffering that we are weak like any other man And we need him It's in that weakness paul says that god shows himself to be strong And he is our strength and lord I'd rather boast in my infirmities then the power of christ may rest upon me Boast in your infirmities and rest in the lord We must trust in christ who is our strength the one who has become for us Wisdom from god and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Amen All glory be to him and have a load. Let's pray Father in heaven, we praise you our strength our refuge our help in time of need our savior our deliverer Our great living almighty god We thank you lord for the salvation that we have and the lord jesus christ and the Power that you've given us by your spirit to live for you and to Steer clear of sin. I pray lord in the strength of the spirit. We would do that That we would rely upon you Our faith in the lord jesus christ and that we would turn from sin in the strength of the spirit supplies According to your word and live for you fervently devotedly earnestly in love In praise and gratitude And thankfulness and I pray lord That you would encourage us encourage your people With strength from your spirit Genuine strength true strength spiritual strength To turn from our sin and to live lives devoted to you hearts soul mind and strength lord. We want to love you And want to praise you and worship you as we should and want to live lives that are pleasing to you worthy of the calling With which we've been called Help us to do that lord. We are weak like any other man in our own strength That where we are weak you are strong and we praise you and thank you for it. Thank you for these promises We love you lord. In jesus name amen