In the purview of human existence it is imperative to look for a reflection to the journey that is about to be undertaken. It serves as the compass which guides our path and shape our mindsets towards making decisions or taking steps that will not have negative consequences on our life, destiny and purpose.
Countdown by Adeola Jerry Oluwagbemi is not just a movie, It is an existentialist spiritual movie which captures the reality of life. It lays siege on the root cause of the malaises that befall corps members when they find themselves in a strange environment for their service year.
This movie exposes the desire of many to give room to sexual pleasures, lusts of the flesh and the pride of life all in the name of freewill and choice; it is a call to order through its high sense of deep spiritual revelatory message. It is the wake up call that every Christian needs not to be selective in the souls they reach out for Christ.
The character formation of this movie is a blend of different forms of spirituality. The first of three is total spirituality as portrayed through Bro. Javan's burden for not only the souls in the village but also his passion for his fellow corps members and his spiritual sensitivity warned of impending danger that would eventually lead to the destruction of Steve; and also helped him lead Emily who was led astray in camp back to God. He is the definition of the total Christian who yielded himself to be completely used of God. He is an embodiment of Total spirituality.
Partial spirituality is also another important aspect in the character formation of this movie. It projects the ignorance of certain Christians Vis a Vis their selectivity in the category of people they preach the gospel of Christ to and this weakness plagued Tolani who despite being a Christian only limited herself to the village and ignoring her fellow corps members especially when it was obvious many of them were not born again and this led Toyosi who was her fellow corps member to question why she didn't preach to them during their service year and shockingly she was killed by a hit and run vehicle a few seconds after questioning her burden for lost souls and this metaphorized the need not to be a selective Christian.
The final form of Christianity captured in this movie is Fake spirituality. This were qualities reflected in the life of Steve and Jayeola; For the former, he was a fake Christian who professed to know Christ but his life didn't project Christ. He was drawn to the pleasures of this world and the pride of life and despite the impending danger revealed about him, he refused to heed the warning and this ultimately led to his destruction and a tarnished purpose and for the latter, he turned deaf ears to the instructions of his parents and because he was derailed, this made it difficult for him to be used by God.
This movie is a wake up call for youths to be awakened to the schemes and devices of the devil to derail us from fulfilling purpose. Gbadebo as a character symbolises every man created with a great destiny. He drowned non challantly in the abyss of life as a result of his desire for the lusts of the flesh. His involvement with Isabella a daughter of a chief priest almost led to his death as his life and destiny was almost sacrificed to the gods; he allowed his insatiable urge for the things of the flesh to contaminate his purpose and it in turn derailed and almost truncated the purpose of God for his life until he had an eleventh hour encounter with God when he was on the verge of boarding the flight to hell. His character formation is that of "every man". He symbolises warning to Christians not to joke with their salvation by toying with sin and unbelievers not to procrastinate the day of their salvation because tomorrow maybe too late. The fact that he was saved when he was about to die does not mean we should be careless about our salvation because not everyone will have the opportunity he had.
This is a movie everyone must watch. It is not only a tool for evangelism but also that which every Christian must watch to diagnose their walk with God; it is full of the message of this end time for Christians to be burdened for lost souls drowning in the stormy voyage of life and also to put themselves through spiritual check up which will help them to not only know their stand with God but also to walk in purpose. COUNTDOWN is not only for corps members but a warning to countdown to the imminent coming of Christ.
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