NewStats: 3,264,150 , 8,182,783 topics. Date: Monday, 09 June 2025 at 09:26 PM 2c4m6z

OLIKOYE

By: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

How softly the rain fell that Monday morning when my water broke. Because I was used to the raging downpours of Lagos, this quiet patter calmed me, filled me with peace.

My husband Omoregie was at work and so our neighbor took me to the hospital, my dress slightly damp, my heart full of expectation. My firstborn child.

The nurse on duty was Sister Chioma, a woman with an unsmiling face who liked to crack sharp-tongued jokes. During my last check up, when I complained about the backache brought on by my pregnancy, her retort was, “Did you think about backache when you were enjoying it?”

She checked my cervix and told me it was early. She encouraged me to walk up and down the ward.
“You must be happy that your first is a boy,” she said.
I shrugged. “As long as the baby is healthy.”
“I know you are supposed to wait until he is born to decide on a name but I’m sure you already have something in mind,” she said.
“I will name him Olikoye.”
“Oh.” She paused. “I didn’t know your husband was Yoruba.”
“He’s not. We’re both Bini.”
“But Olikoye is a Yoruba name.”
“Yes it is.”
“Why?” she asked. My contractions were slow. I told Sister Chioma to sit down and I would tell her the story.

My father’s first child was a girl. He said she was a loud squalling baby who grasped his finger with surprising strength, and he knew it meant she would be tough. But she died at the age of four months. The second, a boy, was not yet four months old before he died. Some people from my father’s family said my mother was a witch, eating her children, trading their innocent hearts in exchange for her own long life.

But, at that time, other babies in our village in Edo were dying too. They got sick with watery shit and weak eyes. Some people said the diarrhea was punishment from God. The Christians prayed in church. The Muslims prayed at the mosque. The old people performed sacrifices. Still, babies died, and their tiny still bodies were wrapped in cloth and buried, and it seemed senseless that they had even been born at all.

It was 1985. My father was working as a driver at the Ministry of Health. He was in the general pool, a lowly position.

One day, he picked up a visiting dignitary from the airport, dropped him at his hotel, and then discovered, lodged in the back seat of the car, a thick envelope of cash that had slid out of the man’s bag. He returned it immediately. The man was so pleased — and surprised—that he told the new Minister of Health about it. Two days later, the new Minister asked for my father. “I want you to be my driver,” The Minister said. “I value honesty.”

The Minister’s name was Dr. Olikoye Ransome-Kuti. He had big sleepy eyes and seemed to come from another time in the past when old-fashioned integrity was easy. His simplicity surprised my father. He was not interested in the usual carousing of the powerful, no late nights and drinking and trysts, and my father did not have to guard any secrets for him. He ate breakfast with his family every morning, and took walks with his wife in the evening, and played tennis with his children on weekends. He listened attentively, those half-closed eyes so intent that my father, at first, felt uncomfortable when they were trained on him.

The Minister asked my father about his family, and my father told him everyone was fine. The Minister asked how many children he had, and my father said none yet, but that his wife was pregnant and due in a few weeks. (My mother was pregnant with me.) Then the minister asked a question that startled my father. “How many of your children have died?”

My father stuttered and said, “Two, sir, but we are praying that it will not happen again.” The Minister told him it was good to pray, but there was something else he had to do. “Our children are dying of simple illnesses and that must stop. I want you to take me to your village. I have started a program in Lagos but I want to start others in different parts of the country. We will go to your village next week.” It took my heavy-tongued father a while to find his voice and say, “Yes sir.”

In my father’s village, the Minister walked around with his assistants, meeting people and asking them questions and listening to them. He showed women how to mix sugar and salt and clean water to give their children who had diarrhea and he told them about washing their hands with soap and he told them the Universal Primary Health Care center would be open in a month. Once it was open, every baby would receive vaccines.

He showed them photographs of bright-eyed babies in Lagos and he told them immunizations were like small precious gifts for babies. They cheered and clapped. In the eyes of the villagers, my father was a star. No minister had ever come to them before.

Who even knew that our small village existed? But my father kept telling them that he had done nothing, that it was the minister who insisted on coming. Years later, when my father told me the story, I could still see his eyes full of things I could not name.

“The Minister treated all of us like human beings,” he said. “Like human beings.”

It took mere moments. A baby’s small open mouth and a drop of liquid. A baby’s warm arm and a small injection. It took that to save the lives of the babies born that year in my village, and in the villages around us and those far from us, in Calabar and Enugu and Kaduna. It took that to save my life. I was born in 1986. I often tried to imagine myself being immunized, in my mother’s arms, in the new clinic the minister built. Women filled the ages. The treatment was free. At the other end was the family planning unit where nurse was talking to a roomful of women, sometimes making jokes that made them laugh. My mother ed them.

Years later, she told me that the reason I did not die was that small injection in my arm, but the reason I was able to go to school was family planning. My sister was born two years after me, and my brother two years after her, and my mother ed the words of the family planning nurse who told her to “have the number of children that you can train well. Otherwise you will not be able to train even one of them well.”

Because of the Minister, my father came to know Nigeria well. The Minister went to other interior villages and towns, and my father drove him through the flat roads of the North and the undulating roads of the south. He followed the Minister to the clinics, watched him speaking, gesticulating, explaining, cutting ribbons to open health centers.

Everywhere they went, people followed the Minister. Some just wanted to touch him, to shake his hands. Others brought gifts. “No, no,” the minister said to my father, when he saw the yams and plantains and chickens. “Give it back to them. Tell them that they should keep it for me.”

I first met the Minister when I was six years old. I was in Primary One, and my father told him I came first in class and the Minister asked him to bring me to his house. I expected to wait in the kitchen, and felt awkward to be asked into the living room, into the sinking softness of the carpet and the smell of clean and new things. He appeared with his wife, both of them smiling. They gave me a book. A Childs Illustrated Book About The Body.

“Thank you, sir, thank you, ma,” I said, holding the book tighter than I had ever held anything in my young life.

Sister Chioma was squeezing my hand.

“So you knew him personally,” she said. “I finished nursing school the year he was appointed Minister.”

Her tone was different, less flat, more emotional. It was then I noticed that Sister Chioma, unsmiling, hard Sister Chioma, had tears in her eyes.

“It was because of Olikoye Ransome-Kuti that so many people in Nigeria did not die,” she said quietly, and I knew she had her own story about the Minister. Perhaps she would tell me the story later, or perhaps she would not, but it pleased me that we had a story in common.

“He was the best health minister this country has ever had,” she said, standing up and hastily wiping her eyes. My contractions were now shorter and sharper. Sister Chioma said it was perhaps time to push, and she got up to call the doctor.

Outside the rain continued to fall gently until Olikoye was born.

This story originally appeared in The Art of Saving a Life, a collection of stories about how vaccines continue to change the course of history, commissioned by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Source: https://textandpublishing.com/olikoye/

tunjilee003:
Well said! Lack of jobs has made many Nigerians settle for less and wallow themselves under the whims And caprices of hard labour.... The government needs to create an environment where labour thrives...with this, many Nigerians will be respected outside the shores... .

Noted. CC: Seun, Lalasticlala, Mynd44

Concerning Cheap Labor in Nigeria

By: Deji Yesufu

Throughout December the company that usually removes the garbage can from my home was unable to do so. When I finally reached the lady in charge, she told me that the Hausa boys they use to collect the dumps from each home had gone for Christmas holidays and they were still not yet back a week into January. When their company could no longer wait, and with incessant calls by customers to come and remove the overflowing garbage in their homes, they eventually settled for Yoruba boys. “So why didn’t you use them earlier…”, I asked her. “Ha, our boys charge higher o…” she exclaimed.

While the Hausa boys will take something between N1,500 and N2,000 for a day’s job, Yoruba boys take nothing less than N3,000. I was happy to hear this. It means that the cost of such labor is not too cheap south of Nigeria and anyone who is interested in employing young men from here would have to pay well for it. Yet, I was concerned that Northern Nigeria is still a source for cheap labor in Nigeria.

The phrase “labor is cheap” in Nigeria was brought to my reckoning by the brilliant Ibadan mechanic, Tunde Onokoya. In his morning radio program, he often explained that cheap labor is the reason many Nigerians know very little about DIYs on their vehicles. When it will cost you about a week’s wage to change the oil in your car, you are likely to learn how to do it yourself. I’ll return to this matter of lingering cheap labor in Nigeria. For now I must position this article with more anecdotes.

During the six-month lockdown, my children became increasing restless at home. My wife told me that she had learnt from a Zoom seminar that children will need to burn off excess energy by taking long walks around the neighborhood. So, one evening we took a stroll through my estate. I have a terrible nanner of never venturing beyond my house or the street I live in. I could live years in a neighborhood and not know what the ading streets look like.

So while walking through the estate, I discovered the share number of young able men either sitting by an estate gate or sitting by the gate of the house. They are usually referred to as “gate-men”. All they do is to open the gate when their employers arrive home and shut it when they leave. They also act as security guards. They run errands for the employer and they just sit around the gate – all day long doing practically nothing. We can afford to employ these men because they offer cheap labor to us. Yet we do not realize that what we have on our hands is a ticking bomb.

So they say we should travel so that we can learn how other climes function and we can imitate them. Permit me to bring my overly told story of my travel to in March last year here again. Fortunately or unfortunately it is an experience I am yet to get over with. The German economy is super rich; I understand it is richer than that of the United Kingdom. I noticed that everywhere we went in Berlin there was no such thing as a gate man.

Truth is that even if there was, this matter of a minimum wage will force you to pay him for doing practically nothing. So when you drive into a hotel parking lot, your room tag open opens the gate to the place. Whatever neighborhood you live has a gate tag that opens the gate automatically any time you drive in. The company I trained in was situated in a university campus. Everyone that owned a car came into the campus with a tag that you swipe through a computer, which then opens the gate for you. The gate man is not needed in such a country.

Now back to this matter of cheap labor: the southern part of Nigeria has built its work force to a point that the least degree any adult here has is a Primary School Leaving Certificate. Gentlemen, that certificate will be over qualification for the job of a dumpster or a gate man. So we will need to employ people from other parts of the country who have no education at all. We see then that if our nation can commit itself to building a populace where the least educated person has a university degree, then every employer will be forced to pay a minimum wage to their employees. Or else, you will do your job yourself.

The next thing that we can do to fix this matter of cheap labor is for everyone of us to have some milk of human kindness in us. We cannot say because there is unemployment in the country we can then employ people and pay them peanuts. How exactly would you distinguish yourself from the Lebanese overlords who employ Nigerians and use them like rain water in their companies. We will not be any different from them and we will earn the same judgement from God – which he has destined on such evil fellows.

My children are seven and nine years old. Their mother just designated them to begin washing the dishes on alternate days. Before this time she washed the plates and I helped her often. When we got married I told her I will not bring a curse on myself by employing under-age children to work in my home. For about a decade of marriage, my wife and I labored to keep our home – doing all the menial jobs ourselves. Only employing a woman to clean the house on alternate weekends because we cannot afford to pay her every weekend. This woman is not educated but we pay her well. I will not those who employ people at whim and pay them peanuts because labor is cheap in the country. Maybe this is the reason we have kept this woman’s services for close to a decade now.

What is the point of my rant?

It is two fold: the Nigerian people should commit themselves to building a nation of educated elites. I have purposely not said government because I no longer believe that government should be the sole builder of a nation – the people should. When we understand that an enlightened mind can do a lot more than just getting a job, getting a salary and living fine, we will realize that an educated populace has a way of naturally building the country inside out.

This matter is not just government not creating jobs; the matter is that Nigerians are not brilliant enough to be creative enough, to produce goods and services that people from all over the world will fall over themselves to pay for. And we are not there yet because oil is still servicing our incompetence – a subject for another day. Suffice to say here that a productive economy will naturally produce employment for people. Money will come in for goods produced, people will be employed in these companies and they will be forced to pay them well because the employees will have basic education you cannot just take for granted.

Second, Nigerians must develop a sense of patriotism and nationalism. When I wrote my book Victor Banjo, a Nigerian from the UK got a soft copy of the book off the internet. He said the mere fact that the book was written by a Nigerian propelled him to get a copy. If we all think Nigerian, if we realize that employing someone and paying that person well, is empowering this person to do more for his community, we will realize that what goes around will come around. A nation where its citizens are not paid peanuts will develop to be a strong nation within and without. Nigerians will remain in Nigeria; no one will need to go to Libya to live as a second class citizen. And when our people venture out of the shores of this country, they will be respected and paid well for the jobs they do.

Of course the other option is to continue with the stratified soceity that we have. Where we have the super rich and the mindless poor. And like they say when the poor find nothing else to eat, they will turn around and eat the rich. We all have a duty to do something about cheap labor in this country. You can start by paying that mechanic his due for what he did on your car. Employ an adult help in the house and pay them a reasonable wage – if not a minimum wage. If all you can get is an underage worker, commit to giving her an education as long as he or she is under your roof. Let us as a people take some radical steps at eradicating poverty around us and we can be sure that we will be building a future for ourselves and one that our children will be proud of.

Source: https://textandpublishing.com/concerning-cheap-labor-in-nigeria/

CC: MuttleyLaff

Concerning the Tragic Death of Renua Giwa-Amu

By: Deji Yesufu

Renua Giwa Amu killed herself on the 26th of December, 2020. She was only 26 years old. Renua is the last child of Femi Giwa-Amu, a lawyer and also a pastor. Renua had taken to social media to share a bit of her anguish. Over the years she had been sharing bits and pieces of her story on her numerous social media handles, but on the 18th of September, 2020, she finally barred it all. In an open letter to him, Renua called out her father for sexually molesting her at the age of seven. She said the physical trauma was so bad she nearly died of sepsis. Having gotten over the physical pain, Renua obviously did not overcome the emotional and psychological trauma that the events caused her. As a child all she had to contend with was the pain of sexual abuse but as she grew older, Renua had other issues to deal with. She explained in her letter to her father:

“Entire chunks of my memory were once lost and taken from me, entire friendships and interests and hobbies and goals I had just vanished and might still not fully ever come back… Instead I carried around such intense feelings of shame, regret and self-loathing disgust that it consumed me most times… Good or bad, traumatic or not, those memories of mine that hurt me and triggered me for so long have finally woken me up and reminded me that I promised myself if I survived you, escaped, and somehow found enough sanity to be willing to return home that I would never set foot in Nigeria unless I had publicly acknowledged that fact that you continually raped me as a seven-year old child until I had a possible prepubescent miscarry and almost died of sepsis. I wasn’t even in primary 4 yet.”

Renua will later warn the public to beware of her family shedding crocodile tears at her ing. Following her death, however, the family blamed her death on her psychological imbalance. Ezim Giwa-Amu Ede, one her aunts, wrote on Facebook on the 1st of January, 2021:

“… In September (2020) Renua started having her crisis again because she wouldn’t take her medication. She accused my brother, her father, of Rape, incest and abuse… The story went viral. All the gossip mongers thrived in circulating it. It became trending news nationwide…” In other words, Renua’s suicide should be blamed on her psychiatry history.

I did not learn of Renua’s story until after her death when various online news portals begun to publish the story. My first reaction to the story was one of deep grief. I did not know the girl but somehow I could identify with her struggles; except that I do not think that suicide was the route she should have taken out of it. I browsed through her Facebook wall and saw the video of her conversation with her mother. I saw that all that concerned the mum in that conversation was Renua taking down the September 18 open letter she wrote to her father. It was obvious that all that concerned the Giwa-Amu family was the preservation of the family name and thier integrity in the public; not the restoration of a broken and battered young woman. Renua had accused her parents, uncles and aunts in the letter of various things and I am not surprised that following her death they will be making every effort to preserve the family name. When Ezim Giwa-Amu Ede made reference to Renua’s stopping to use her medication, she was making an argument that is very familiar to me.

When I began to criticize churches on the practice of tithing, one church that had suffered the brunt of my criticism the most begun to suggest that I was psychologically imbalanced. They sold this line to a number of people and it eventually reached my wife, who then told me. Thankfully I have no records of visiting any psychiatric clinic in my life and I do not use hard drugs or anything that might warrant imbalance in my thinking. The “psychological imbalance” argument is cheap blackmail that only low thinking and defeated individuals employ to dispel sound arguments on the lips of their opponents. It does not always work but where it sails through the victim is quite easily discarded as one whose utterances should not be taken seriously.

I have not said that Femi Giwa-Amu raped his daughter. What Renua said, and went further to accentuate with her suicide, still remains an allegation. Unfortunately allegations of sexual molestation that happened some twenty years ago is almost never proven – even if it were to get to hallowed chambers of a competent court of law, as we saw recently in the Biodun Fatoyinbo/Dakolos rape case. My issue with the Giwa-Amu family is not that they were accused of doing many sordid things; my issue with them is thier almost graveyard silence and nonchalance when their daughter was making these allegations. When Renua began to talk about her funeral was when the family should have stepped in and ensured that she did not hurt herself. Unfortunately and probably coupled with the fact that she was living outside Nigeria, the family left her to herself and then published the news of her ing – referring to her as some beautiful soul.

It is this attitude of trying to cover up a family name at the expense of the psychological damage that a person has experienced that causes some of us to be a bit sympathetic with Renua’s story and to regard it as almost certainly true. The Giwa-Amu family is a very educated lot and perhaps the trait for argumentation which Oje Giwa-Amu (another of Renua’s uncle) has for religious issues on Facebook is a family trait they now use to defend their integrity in public. I understand quite a number of them are lawyers and they may wish to dispute this position of mine but whatever else they may say, I would really want to know what any of them did at reaching this young woman when she began to suggest suicide. If they did nothing, I will have to conclude that they are culpable in this young woman’s death.

I would never understand the psychology behind pedophilia. It is enough to know that it is a psychological problem that needs medical attention. Perhaps as the Giwa-Amu family explains what they did to forestall Renua’s suicide, they should also explain what they did when this young woman began to make these accusations of her father. If all they did was to seek to cover it up and preserve the family name, they have her blood on their hands.

Incest did not begin with our day; it is a long established sin that comes with the effect of the fall on human beings. Nevertheless the internet has helped to make us more aware of the evil all around us. In cases of incest, there are two victims: the perpetrator and the victim. Both of them will need medical attention and psychiatry evaluation. The Nigerian government may also help by enforcing laws instituted against this evil. Nigerian families should realize that some evils are not better solved by covering them up. When we cover up issues like incest, we allow the victim’s pains to fester to the point that many of them might begin to consider suicide as a way out. Renua Giwa Amu’s death is a perfect case in point.

Source: https://textandpublishing.com/concerning-the-tragic-death-of-renua-giwa-amu/

Attached photo: Renua Giwa-Amu

MuttleyLaff:
"³¹At that time some Pharisees said to him, “Get away from here if you want to live! Herod Antipas wants to kill you!”
³²Jesus replied, “Go tell that fox that I will keep on casting out demons and healing people today and tomorrow; and the third day I will accomplish My purpose.
³³Yes, today, tomorrow, and the next day I must proceed on my way. For it wouldn’t do for a prophet of God to be killed except in Jerusalem!
³⁴“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let Me.
³⁵And now, look, your house is abandoned. And you will never see Me again until you say, ‘Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’"
- Luke 13:31-35

So in a nutshell, you are saying that Tunde Bakare, in his capacity and/or mandate of taking care of the Lord's sheep, should be indifferent to the plight, pains, hardship and travails that the sheep are daily going through and not to show by speaking out, making public statement that reveals how he does feel and/or know about their affliction(s)

Somebody, now and then, has to step up to the plate and speak. if it happens to be a Tunde Bakare or a Bishop Matthew Kukah, so be it and of course, the more the merrier.

As a matter of fact, there is the time and place for, to be political and of course, there possibly is a deadly price for wading into politics, which is why it shouldn't be everyone's cup of tea or coffee really. Not everyone as a believer, is called to blend politics with their faith and/or religion, lmso. Yahshua Ha Mashiah aka Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour of the whole wide world though He shunned direct involved politics, He regularly was at loggerheads with those in political and leadership positions.

I restate not everyone is called into politics or called to make political overtures. MLK Jnr, is famous for the civil rights movement, is also famous for saying: "There comes a time when one must take the position that is neither safe nor politic nor popular, but he must do it because conscience tells him it is right." I'll be frank with you in letting on that, I even up to now, have never been impressed by Tunde Bakare, but I respect his inclination and disposition to speak up and say things because of how he feels about the otherwise unfortunate lives most are subjected to.

John the Baptist, with his head cut off and placed on a platter, paid the price for speaking out. Prophet Elijah turned suicidal when politics turned round to fight him back, lmso.

Tunde Bakare is human, just as everyone else is. He never claims that he walks on water, so of course expectedly will now and then give in to the craving of flesh. He just like you and everyone of us else, is not a complete man, lmso. He is work in progress as much as we all are work in progress.

Just because Jesus did not die to make Nigeria better, doesnt mean denying giving someone, if its just only person, hope from hearing Tunde Bakare, speak out, and lend his voice to the voiceless on social justice matters and issues.

I agree with longetivity, that Tunde Bakare talks with both sides of his mouth, and would say, as for me, he personally doesnt really have a squeaky clean air of sincerely made utterances. Case in point, when in 2006, he said Buhari is not part of the new, with saying: "Let me tell you the truth by the spirit of God, neither OBJ, Atiku, IBB and this tall one, Buhari are part of the new" and then fast forward to 2011, he was willing to be the running mate of a Muhammadu Buhari who he earlier had said was "not part of the new"

It is just so sad that Tunde Bakare had no choices, other than to put a pitch for shady Tinubu. Classic case of chasing between the devil and the deep blue sea (i.e. Tinubu versus Tinubu) lmso. I would have preferred he correctly and properly politically sensitise and be fawning over political heavyweight the likes of shady Tinubu.

Acehart:
There is:

1. Social gospel.
2. Marriage gospel.
3. Healing gospel.
4. Motivational gospel.
5. Morality gospel.
6. Deliverance gospel.
7. Empowerment gospel.
8. Prophetic gospel.
9. Prayer gospel.

Which one should a pastor focus on?

The True Gospel... Lalasticlala, Seun, Mynd44 consider for front page

culf:
but is like I have heard him preach from the Bible recently without any reference to Nigeria or polity....Maybe I'm not following him enough to notice...

Like many preachers like him, he does preach from the Bible. The problem is allowing his bias sip into his ministry.

When a preacher focuses on exposition of the Bible, he finds little time for his biases

Tunde Bakare’s Achilles’ Heel

By: Deji Yesufu

Tunde Bakare has been in the news in the last two weeks. Bakare came under severe criticism following his comments on the former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Bakare had predicted in the video that his words will be twisted and taken out of context, and true to to it that was what happened. People felt that Bakare was laundering the image of Tinubu and preparing him for the Presidential elections in 2023. When I watched that video, I saw something else entirely.

In 2004/2005, I was in Lagos searching for job after finishing school. I had to undergo surgery and my parent instructed me not to use my recuperating period for job search. Instead I spent that time going to Bakare’s Church, Latter Rain Assembly – while they were still in Akilo Rd. Ogba. I never regret the time I spent there. For some strange reasons, Bakare’s sermons centered on empowering jobless graduates to making a living. He taught us how to do things even with practically no resources. Everything I do today, besides my 9am to 4pm job, was inspired by my time listening to Bakare in that time period. For a while, after that, I regarded myself as a “Bakarite”. I have since jettisoned that label and I’ll return to that matter later.

My point at this juncture is to state that Tunde Bakare was certainly not laundering Tinuhu’s image in that video. Those of us who listen to Bakare’s sermons know that his words were more like adages and they require careful listening and not hasty conclusions. Whatever anybody may have against Tunde Bakare, whatever he might be accused of; one thing you cannot accuse Bakare of is financial fraud. Bakare is one man that is above board concerning financial matters and every effort by people to rope into some financial misdemeanor has never succeeded.

Having said that, I have this thing against Tunde Bakare; it is the reason I stopped referring to myself as his disciple or a Bakarite. It is my sincere hope that Tunde Bakare or some of his assistants will read this essay and help him to refocus his ministry. It is the matter that concerns the heart of his preaching.

When Archbishop Benson Idahosa was alive, Tunde Bakare preached series of messages where he accused the Archbishop of “loosing his vision”. He said Idahosa has allowed the gospel of prosperity to make him loose the true vision of ministry: which is seeking the lost for Christ’s kingdom. Incidentally, and by a strange turn of events also, it appears to me today that Tunde Bakare himself has lost the vision of true Christian ministry. Bakare has replaced the faithful preaching of the word of God, the Bible, which alone can bring sinners to repentance and faith; and is rather preaching a social gospel – a gospel of a better Nigeria. Which in a real sense is not a gospel of Christ but another gospel.

Let’s be clear at this point: I am not one of those who think that clergy men cannot comment on national issues or things that concern the well being of a people. I think it is plain hypocritical to say that pastors should face ministry and leave politics. The truth of the matter is that pastors oversea the lives of ordinary people and when these people are suffering because of some harsh economic realities, pastors must be able to say a word or two to caution government. This is why the recent comment by Bishop Matthew Kukah are quite welcome in our body polity, and the Nigerian government will do well to heed his warnings and not criticize the Catholic Priest. However something becomes fundamentally wrong when most of a preacher’s utterances concern social matters and not gospel realities. I am of the opinion that Tunde Bakare has left gospel preaching and is now wholly concerned with a social gospel.

My departure from “Bakareism” followed my renouncing of Pentecostalism. Pentecostalism is not a heresy; however it harbors many erroneous positions that leaves open opportunity for Satan to take advantage of the unwary in the movement. Pentecostalism does not offer a critical edge to guard against the encroachment of heresies, this is why less than half a decade following the birthing of this denomination, it was taken over by the heresy of the Word of Faith. While Tunde Bakare repudiates Word of Faith, he left himself open to another error: social gospel. Pentecostalism is prone to these errors because of an element within it’s movement: its tendency to glorify experience and minimize Bible teaching.

In seminary my teacher told us that a faithful minister of Christ has no business with topical preaching. Preachers should center their preaching on the word for word textual preaching of biblical texts or what is known as expositional preaching. When ministers do this, they are forced to remain within the text of scripture and not say things outside of it. Of course there are some texts that might warrant the preaching on a social issue but because the Bible is chiefly teaching Christ and the salvation he brought to humanity, Expositional Preaching will lead a minister to center on Christ and him crucified.

This is where Tunde Bakare errs. He preaches topically and not expositionally. And topically preaching will lead a minister to preach his own bias. Bakare’s bias is politics and unfortunately he makes the Bible preach what his bias. I genuinely pray that God opens his eyes to see this. I hope he repents and traces his path back to genuine Christian ministry.

The trouble with Tunde Bakare was not his speech on Tinubu, which clearly was not his endorsing Asiwaju for 2023. Bakare’s trouble is his social gospel: his belief that Jesus died to make Nigeria better. Rather, Jesus died to save men from their sins (Matthew 1:21). Period. Jesus did not have to die to make Nigeria better; hundreds of countries around the world are thriving without Jesus Christ and his gospel. What humanity needs is salvation from sin. A message that Tunde Bakare used to preach heartily sometimes ago but which he has since replaced with a social gospel today. This social gospel, Bakare’s quest for a better Nigeria, is his Achilles’ heel.

Source: https://textandpublishing.com/tunde-bakares-achilles-heel/

Giannis Adetokunbo becomes the highest paid player in NBA history

MuttleyLaff:
Who says?

See the paragraph following the one you circled

MuttleyLaff:
[img]https://s8/images/NowLaity.jpg[/img]
[img]https://s5/images/ezgif-2-bb81ab7ea10d.gif[/img]

He stepped down to return in January

Timi Adigun: When “Sorry” is not Enough

By: Deji Yesufu

I only learnt of whom Timi Adigun is when the scandal around him broke into open. A few days ago, social media began to buzz with the story of a Lagos Pastor who had gotten into another sex scandal and is at this time under discipline. Timi Adigun’s case is a little different because his ministry centers on the matter of sexual purity among teens. Pentecostal churches have this thing for “specialties”: so you have this minister who has the “anointing” for marriage, another for prosperity, another for praying for barren women to get pregnant; then you have those who have the knack for motivational speaking; there is one whose prophecies focus at bringing about a better Nigeria, and so on. Timi Adigun, on his part, teaches young people sexual purity. Unfortunately he failed in carrying out his own counsel and fell. He has published an apology note to the public where he wrote:

“I want to say I AM DEEPLY SORRY to everyone my actions and inactions have hurt at this time. The truth is, I was involved in inappropriate behavior with females over a couple of years. I went against the sexual purity message I preach and I believe in and I AM SO SO SORRY. I failed those of you who look up to me. Please find a place in your hearts to forgive me…”

Timi Adigun did not shed light on the nature of the “inappropriate behavior” he had with the young females over a number of years but he was quick to state in a latter part of the letter that “there was no sexual intercourse with any…” And for this reason, Timi believes that he has not sinned enough and is still at the point where he can still return to ministry and continue to preach. Dear Brother Timi Adigun, accept this as my counsel to you: you are forgiven but you will need to see a truth in scripture about sexual sin so that you might appreciate the depth to which you have fallen. Jesus Christ said: “But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). At what point does “lustful intent” translate to sin? Let us read James: “But each person is tempted when he is lured away and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death” (James 1:14-15). Let us talk man to man here: it is not every look or desire that exhumes from a man towards a woman that is sin. But there is a point where mere looks or even desire become sinful lust; it is at that point where one’s temptation becomes enticement and eventually sin. Notice that in our Lord’s onition to us, sexual intercourse does not need to happen before sexual sin is conceived. My dear sir I wish to state to you that what you did with those girls is as sinful as committing sexual intercourse with them; the caveat “… there was no sexual intercourse with any…” which you put in your letter was not necessary. There indeed was sexual intercourse, albeit it was in the heart and it is just as sinful as the very act.

The implication of Mr. Timi Adigun’s actions is simply this: he betrayed the trust given to him by a cross section of his congregation; he abused his authority as a spiritual leader; he broke his marriage vows with his wife; and at the moment Mr. Adigun stands disqualified from ministry. He would do well to step down from the pulpit, the congregation in the pew and never to return to the sacred duties of ministering the word of God to people again. Timi Adigun’s letter of “sorry” is not enough; he would need to leave ministry completely and find something else to do in life. This is the only way one can say that Timi has genuinely repented of his sin and the only way he would never be in a position to abuse the trust put on him as a spiritual leader.

Some months ago, I wrote an essay along this same line of ministers being disqualified from ministry when they fall into sin. A lady reached me privately and went on about how it was practically impossible for men, including pastors, to be chaste in our time. She explained that sin was everywhere and everyone would have fallen at one point or the other. If we were to go by my standard, she argued, no one will be in ministry. I responded that perhaps no one should be in ministry then. But the truth is that there are still a few who are still chaste and this is the more reason why not too many should be found in Christian ministry. Pastor John MacArthur says that a minister is a “one woman’s man”. What that means that a minister of God is permitted to know only one woman sexually in his lifetime (as long as his mate is alive). When Paul gave the list of qualifications for a minister he said that such a man must be above reproach and that he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil. Sexual sin, the type that Adigun got himself entangled with, is reproachful and it would forever dent his name and image in the public. He would forever be known as the man who sexually abused young ladies in his ministry. For this reason he is disqualified from the pastorate and should not be in ministry. Those who forgive him to the extent of returning him back to preaching are the ones lowering the high standard of Christian ministry and thus making the pastorate a common thing. In an environment like this, you can only await the next “fall” from grace with a lot of certainty.

Another reason why Timi might regard his “sorry” letter sufficient to restore him back to the pulpit is because of the nature of the gospel he preaches. Timi preaches sexual purity; a message that exhumes from the Pentecostal/Charismatic movement that has a tendency to produce all kind of ministry specialties. Where men specialize in everything but true righteousness and holiness. Those who read my essay know how much I bemoan the gospel of Prosperity that has taken over the heart of gospel preaching in our country, Nigeria. The result is that there is great emphasis on wealth and little emphasis on holiness and righteousness. It is a gospel that exhumes from the Word of Faith message where Christ’s death is seen as a means to resolve men’s troubles on this earth; while they ignore the more salient part of Christ saving men from their sin and leading them on the path of holiness. The result is usually that unconverted men take the reins of ministry and then preach messages that sooth the consciences of other unconverted persons. The other implication is that once in a while the true nature of these wolves shows forth in scandals like the one that Timi Adigun has fallen into. If Timi will hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, he would need to leave the ministry completely and embark on a journey of soul searching to find the gospel and the Christ that died and rose to save sinners. It is only in this manner he would truly find forgiveness with God and then show forth fruits in keeping with genuine repentance. Until then, all these “sorrys” is a waste of both his time and ours.

On a final note, those of us in ministry must take heed to ourselves. I recommend this book: God’s Rules for Holiness by Peter Masters to every person who is serious about keeping the laws of God. The author does an exposition of the Ten Commandments in each chapter. At the point of “thou shall not commit adultery”, the author states some formulas for which all men (and women) can abide at to keep themselves above board when it comes to sexual immorality. We are all bombarded with darts of temptation everyday but the Christian man is that man that knows how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor (1 Thessalonians 4:4). It is even doubly so for the man who is called to minister the gospel of Christ. As I write this piece, I am receiving information of some of our brothers who espouse reformed theology but who are throwing their consecration to the wind. In the name of Christian liberty they are doing things they ought not to do. I remind them of the high standard of both God’s word and the reformed tradition: if you are found wanting, you will lose your position and never return to ministry again. The Pentecostal/Charismatics may “forgive” their own in whichever way they wish; we do not have such traditions in our movement. Most men have a slim chance to serve Jesus in ministry; if they allow themselves to crash on the laps of Delilah, they will never recover from it.

Those of you who accept Timi Adigun’s “sorry” and return him to ministry, I feel sorry for you. You do not know the high standard that Christian ministry demands and it is for folks like you that ministry has largely gone to the dogs in our time and remains largely ineffective among the heathens.

Source: https://textandpublishing.com/timi-adigun-when-sorry-is-not-enough/

Ejiod:
The person that wrote is piece is a goat. Pure African goat. Just imagine someone writing without thinking

YES!

G.O.A.T: Greatest (writer) of all time!!

efighter:
The writer is mad, she has always been

Mryacks:
This was a good read and it pointed out lots of very important information, questions and I dare say, useful advice on the institution of marriage especially in our climes here.

Compare and contrast the two comments. Seun, Mynd44, Lalasticlala consider for front page

Resolving Marriage Crisis the Gov. Ortom Way

By: Deji Yesufu

The matter of spousal abuse was brought to fore again this past few days in the annals of Nigeria’s never ending melodrama when one Ifeyinwa Angbo took to Twitter and published a 90 second video of her ordeal in the hands of her husband, Pius Angbo – a staff of Channels television. In the video, Ifeyinwa explained that she is a medical doctor and had been married for six year – a union that has produced four children. With her face only recently brutalized, she talked about how she had endured years of beating at the hands of her husband. To the extent of this man sitting on her while she was pregnant and thumbing on the wounds of her caesarean section. In matters of hours the video had gone viral and had even reached the office of the Benue State Governor. Governor Samuel Ortom stepped into the family crisis and the matter has since been resolved. A news conference was granted and the public was duly informed of the couple resolving their issues and hopefully they will live happily ever after.

This couple’s problem brings to fore an age-old trouble with marriages: spousal abuse. In more developed climes Mr. Pius Angbo will be in jail by now but in Nigeria, State Governors step into celebrated family issues and help them resolve the matter. I will return to Mr. Governor later. Suffice to state here that while husbands beating wives is a very common event in spousal abuse matters there are other cases of abuse that usually go unreported and unnoticed. There are husbands who will not raise a finger to touch their wives but the words of their mouths are killing the woman daily. There are wives who oppress their husbands with their finances: they do not lend a hand to foot family burdens, they build houses and own properties without their husbands’ knowledge, and they strut around the home with pride because they do not depend on the man. There are husbands who punish their wives by depriving them of sexual intimacy, while many more women use sex to control their husbands. Marriage, as far as I am concerned, comes with a deep chemistry around it. I had once argued that marriage is difficult; right now I think it is more than difficult – marriage is mysterious.

Many people have said that Mrs. Angbo is foolish to acquiesce to those seeking to resolve the problem in her home. One commentator on radio said she clearly had been subdued. What most of us do not know is that there is something called the complete picture. The people who resolved the Angbo family crisis most likely saw the whole picture and realized that many more marriages have endured worse situations and have come out successful with time. The video we saw Ifeyinwa make was still her own side of the story; the man in question has not said his own side of the story. This is not to condone beating in marriage but to explain that in matters of crisis management, the two sides of the story should be heard. I find it interesting that many ladies are calling for the head of Pius. They forget that what is actually playing out in situations when men beat their wives is simply the stronger subduing the weaker. Many women also physically abuse their house-helps who they have greater strength over. Thus this matter is the issue of a depraved heart playing out in a fallen world; it is more than just a man beating a woman. To therefore resolve matters like this, the two sides will state their positions and when they both understand where they have gone wrong, reconciliation will be easier. When one party thinks he or she is the abused, and the entire fault belongs to the other party – there won’t be any reconciliation. The Angbos found reconciliation because the people arbitrating their matter helped them to see where both of them might have been wrong.

Reconciliation is also easier in marriage when the man and a woman are under proper authority, and here I would be employing biblical truths to make my point. One pastor said that the reason why couples rarely resolve issues among themselves in because of a loss of respect between them. The reason why Governor Ortom could resolve the Angbo’s family crisis is because the two spouses respected the person of the Governor. Incidentally the Bible makes the matter of respect and honor to be paramount in a marriage, and it is the wife the Bible calls to respect and honor her husband. Marriages are in crisis today because the age-old maxim “wife submit to your husband” is being disputed by a liberal age today. When a wife does not respect her husband, she will employ the weapon she has: which is usually her tongue against her husband and many men will lash out against their wives with the weapon they have – their brute strength. The Yorubas say that “sorry” comes in two genders: male and female. A woman that does not respect her husband can say the most innocuous thing with such deeply hateful innuendoes that only the man will understand. This might lead to increasing frustration that will eventually end up in his attacking the woman physically.

While the woman endeavors to honor and respect her husband, the man also has the duty to honoring and respecting his wife. The moment a man begins to have extra marital affairs he opens his home to all kinds of demonic activities. The man who sleeps with other women, should be able to bear the pain of seeing other men sleep with his wife. If he cannot handle this, he should zip us his tros. This is where religion, particularly the Christian faith, comes with a lot of advantage. The Christian man is taught daily by God the Holy Spirit within him to keep his eyes single. The practice of godliness, which requires the exercising of God’s grace over one’s weakness, is an age-old requirement for Christian men and blessed indeed is that church that teaches its men to be holy – in their bodies and spirit. When a man has a single eye, he has overcomed more than half of the problems that will befall most homes. If the allegations against Pius Angbo are correct, he should be blamed for the crisis that came on his home.

On a final note, I cannot help but see the hypocrisy written all over the matter of a sitting Governor, leaving important State matters, to go and settle family crisis. The hypocrisy in it all is this: who will resolve the problem in the family life of other couples in Benue State? Will Mr. Governor continue to hold press conferences on a marriage crisis? Should all women now begin to take to social media to report their husbands’ malfeasance? I would have taken Mr. Ortom seriously if after settling that matter, he states clearly that he and his team have further empowered perhaps the ministry of women or some other related ministries to help families resolve family crisis. If Mr. Governor had said he was sending a bill to the State legislative house to help strengthen family life, I would have understood. What I saw, in that press conference, was the Governor of a State doing something he ought not to be involved with. In a country where people have work to do, they will not be using state time and resources to settle celebrated domestic matters. One wonders what will happen to the thousands of other people who are being physically, verbally, and psychologically abused by their spouses.

As we lay the matter of the Angbo family crisis to rest, I will counsel the public against this quick resort to divorce that many advocate in matters of spousal abuse. We are told that many men kill their wives; incidentally we have quite a number of women today on trial over killing their husbands. My point is that the matter cuts two ways. I am sure there is no one that enters marriage with the intention of killing their partners. Crisis happen in the home and these things spill over in different ways. I will counsel couples to have authority figures over themselves. One of the greatest disservice that this American Christianity has done to Christian homes in this country is that they usually have no answer to marriage troubles. Most times they are too busy seeking to be financially successful they do not know how to counsel couples to live in harmony. A church should however be a place where couples can have their matters resolved. For those who do not go to church, you will still need an authority figure over you; someone the man or woman can report matters to when there are crisis in the home. If this happens, women would not have to take to social media and appeal to the court of public opinions and our State Governors will also find better things to use their time to do.

Marriage is a difficult and mysterious institution. It is even more so in a country like Nigeria.

Source: https://textandpublishing.com/resolving-marriage-crisis-the-gov-ortom-way/

Acehart:

You see ehn...the personal aggrandizing one I am speaking of is almost like the motivational speaking type; motivational speaking has a lot of personal aggrandizement ingredients sprinkled in large quantities. Then they drive the congregation to pray to be like them or deliver them like the people whom the preacher‘s intervention delivered from hardship.

Correct

Acehart:
You forgot to put in there the conversion of a Sunday service to a prayer meeting; it usually happens when the pastor has run out of armour i.e. when his infusion of personal experiences to embellish Old Testament narratives runs dry.

Another one would have been motivational speaking

How to Preach a Sermon without the Gospel in it

By: Deji Yesufu

When history will look back on the 21st Century, people are likely to name this century the age of pragmatism. In our day people are most concerned with how to get things done – quickly and at almost no personal cost. I am told there is practically nothing you cannot find on YouTube. If you cannot open a can of sardine, go to YouTube and somebody would have made a video of how to do it.

This spirit of pragmatism has also entered the Christian Church. We are now taught: how to be born-again; how to find a Christian wife to marry; how to become successful; how to pray; how to pray in tongues; and even how to have sex with your wife! In this essay, I want to share with you my readers, particularly the preachers among you, how you can preach a Christian sermon while leaving out the gospel message from it. I suspect that a lot of pastors are already doing this on their pulpit. Perhaps if I enunciate it a little more clearly in the essay, these pastors would make some effort to “improve” on their sermon.

The minister that is really intent on preaching a great sermon and is not too concerned about emphasizing the gospel message in it must spend his time to show the congregation the great advantage in moral suasion. Such a minister must show people that Christianity is about doing good things. “Christ went about doing good…” should be his text taken from the book of Acts. He must then fill his sermons with anecdotes on his life and about persons that he knows who did great things in the past and God, in his consistent manner of rewarding good works, ensured that they got the benefit of what they did later in life.

Many sermons in churches are already doing this but we cannot have enough of it. Christians must be taught that the first step into the kingdom of God is premised on what we do; like the great good of “giving our lives to Christ” and then following it up with a lifestyle that is consistent with godliness. Any sermon that factors in these points of good and great morals will certainly come forth as a great sermon that does not need a gospel message in it.

Another way ministers can preach a sermon while leaving out this burdensome gospel message is by preaching a message that emphasizes people’s needs while at the same time proposing means to solve these problems. One reality in a fallen world is that life is full of problems. Of all the problems that human life presents, none is worse than sickness and poverty. In fact while certain people may have broken through the challenge of poverty, sickness may be waiting for them at the end of the road and most times, these illnesses are life threatening.

You must have heard of that rich fellow who has only just come into wealth and is looking forward to a life of ease, food and plenty. He has a slight headache and after he is compelled to visit the doctor, he diagnosed with diabetes. The Doctor then list a number of food items he must not eat. He turns to his wife and says that just when he was being delivered from poverty and was already looking forward to eating to his heart content, here is the doctor restricting him. Life indeed can be unfair and the Christian minister is sent by God to help people make meaning of life. When delivering a good Sunday morning sermon, always that the people staring at you have problems and they are looking for means to solve them.

For the sick among them, ensure that there is a mighty dose of healing anointing in your message. For the poor among them, show them the way to prosperity. This is what Christ came to the world to do: Jesus came to make us healthy and wealthy. When you preach like this, dear minister of God, you would have succeeded in preaching a sermon that does not have the gospel message in it and God will bless you for it.

Before we go any further with more points on how to preach a sermon without the gospel message in it, permit me to use one or two paragraphs to tell us what the gospel message is and by all means, dear minister, preach everything that you may wish to preach but do not include these points in your sermon. The gospel message is the message of God’s works in Christ Jesus in redeeming sinners from their sin and from hell. The gospel is regarded as “good news”; it is a message when birth in the heart of the sinner and God causes him to see, leads to joy and rejoicing. It is good news because of the bad news of God’s judgement on all humanity who had sinned through their father, Adam.

Adam sinned and all human beings, who are indeed sons of Adam, have sinned through him. The good news, however, is that Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, was born of a virgin and came into the world with a message of salvation for all men. He would later be crucified by the Romans and he died on a cross. However, our Lord rose from the dead three days later and in doing this, he obtained eternal salvation for all who believe. This is the gospel (the good news) and this news becomes relevant to a man who has been made to understand that he is a sinner and a breaker of God’s holy laws. In this man’s despair, the Holy Spirit must show him Christ crucified and if he turns to look at Christ, even as the Israelites looked to the bronze snake in the wilderness and were healed of their snake bites, that sinner will be saved from the condemnation of hell.

This is the good news and like the people of my generation will say: “who gospel help sef”? What is the use of including a gospel message into a deliverance meeting or into a meeting where people are being taught to be rich? The fact of the matter is that in my day and time, the gospel message has no place in many sermons on the pulpit and what a lot of people regard as a good sermon is anything and everything that does not include Christ redeeming men from sin alone. So, kindly permit me to conclude my essay on how to preach a sermon without the gospel message in it.

Another effective way of preaching sermons and leaving out the gospel message is to preach topically as against a careful exposition of biblical text – word for word, sentence after sentence, and verses after verses. What moves people in the pew today are not messages like “Biblical Exposition of Romans 4”. If you want a church to come alive and respond heartily to your sermon, preach a topic like: “Ten Biblical Keys to Financial Breakthroughs in COVID-19 Times” or “How to Demote Your Enemy Forever” or “How to Get a Church hip of 20,000 people after 6 Months of Starting Your Church”.

Such a sermon will be explosive; it will be impressive; and it would attract people. By all means, dear minister, teach topically; do not ever attempt biblical exposition of texts. If you try it, half of the congregation will be sleeping five minutes after you start your sermon. Don’t bother people with what Jesus did on the cross or how the first century Christians lived; who care about olden days people. Most of these biblical characters were dirt poor and they are not worthy examples of a jet-age Christianity. Preach topically and move your congregation to a great height and you will never regret it.

At this point, I would just give you a summary of some other points you must pay attention to in your sermon – you are preaching a great sermon that must not have the gospel message in them. Kindly follow my bullet points below:

Preach social justice. Key into the contemporary needs of the time. Make a segment of the people in your congregation feel that they have been made second class citizens by others and tell them that there is hope in Christ Jesus to make them great citizens of their country. Tell them that Christ came to make everybody equal in this world and that government owes their citizens good governance, and particularly equality. Our world has been weighed down by social ills from time and it is the church’s duty to fight for the oppressed. Preach social justice and don’t bother people about Christ and him crucified. Such messages are biblically elitist and will not resonate with the lowly and oppressed of the society.

Prophesy to your congregation. that Paul said that we should prophesy according to the measure of your faith; that is right. Spend time prophesying. Label yourself a prophet; tell your congregation that God showed you a dream and build your sermon around such a dream or vision. Such stories bring preaching alive and helps people to identify with what God is doing in the now. Yes, God showed Peter and Paul visions but those where old visions; we need new and fresh visions from heaven. When you preach a sermon laced with prophecies, you will be preaching a great sermon and you will not need the gospel message within it.

Finally, by all means ignore Church history. Ignore anything any Christian has written in the past two thousand years. God is doing a new thing and we must key into it. Don’t bother comparing your sermons with what other ministers of old have preached; those guys did not know much. Never approach Bible commentaries – they are the works of dead theologians. Just ensure that you are always in the spirit and ensure that you are receiving new “personal revelations” from the spirit every time and every day. That way your sermon will be fresh and sound, and it would not have any silly gospel message in it. You must always keep in mind our maxim: “who gospel help sef”.

Again these are the last days and the days in which Christ will do great and mighty things through the Church. Any Church that wants to see God work through them must key into the pragmatic spirit of our age. Human pragmatism is what has birth the internet, the technologies and the space exploration we see today. If the Church will not be left behind, we must come up higher to what God is doing in the earth. Our pastors must preach great sermons and not bother themselves with age-old, orthodox, gospel messages.

I end my essay with a prayer: May God grant his Church ears to hear what the Spirit is saying. Amen.

Source: https://textandpublishing.com/how-to-preach-a-sermon-without-the-gospel-in-it/

micronut:
And he won the Kurt Schork Award again this December for that story.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1Fhe9lMm6A

Soyombo is a genius

sKeetz:
I'm dating an older woman. The difference in our ages is just 2 years. She is everything a man can ever dream of.

She's very ive. Doesn't bother me and let's me do my thing. She doesn't boss me or anything of sorts. She's also very independent, but the only thing that stresses me out is our age difference and it's quite obvious cause i even look quite younger than my age and she's quite matured both physically and mentally.

Are there any cons to marrying a lady that is older? Guys who are married to older ladies, are there any traits i should look out for ?

Ps: we've been dating for 4 years now, so its not like i just met her. So i know everything about her and she knows everything about me.

My wife is 4 months older than me. We have a great home. If this lady love and respect you, go ahead. Marry her.

techmo:


You hate Sharias Extremism in Kano but still blame Europeans and middle East people for making the same religion they created 2000 years ago away

Uncle Deji Adeyanju many youths, about 40 wrote a thousand pages of the Bible, before Constantine from Europe and peter Commissioned it,

Spirituality is key now not man made religion
..

This was not written by Deji Adeyanju

A Note to “Christians” who Voted Joe Biden

By: Deji Yesufu

The American Presidential elections are almost completely done with and the clear winner of that election, for me, is Joe Biden. For many Christians, this is not a competition of some sort; so it is not our place to begin to congratulate the winners of the elections. Rather this is a fight for America’s very existence and a battle for the only bastion of liberty in the world that has anything Christian in it. What many Christians who ed and voted Joe Biden do not know is that many western countries are now wholly post-Christian. The only country that is still committed to some Christianity in its political and national life is the United States of America but with the defeat of Donald Trump at the polls, we can as well kiss whatever we know of Christianity good-bye in the West. To shed some light on what I am saying, I invite you to watch this 4 minute report by CBS News on how Europe today has become post Christian. The video was brought to my attention by Tayo Farinre, a Christian brother living in South Africa. Watch:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tn3DzB2VNQ

For those who may not be able to watch the video, the documentary began with the narrator explaining that many of the ancient and reputable churches in Europe are today being turned into entertainment houses. I hear of some being converted to mosques and shopping malls. The narrator explains that Europe is simply no longer Christian and that Christianity has today shifted its base to Africa. He explains that with an increasing anti-Christian sentiment in Europe, Christians are now coming under attack for their convictions. Stories abound of people being prosecuted and convicted for refusing to bake cakes for gay couples. The video tells of one doctor who was sacked because he refused to call a transgendered male a “she”. Today many Christian channels on YouTube are being shut down for propagating “hate speech” because of their views against homosexuality and abortions. Facebook and Twitter continues to mount a campaign against Christian witnesses that speaks against the gradual liberalization of our world. The narrator explains that Europe is returning to her pagan root. The video ends with a touch of optimism though when it mentioned a concept of a “blessed reflex”. William Carey, the first European Christian missionary to launch into the world in modern times, and David Livingstone, the man whose work on exploration of Africa opened up the continent for missionary activities. These two men, before their deaths, said that there would be a blessed reflex in the days to come. Europe and America will one day be evangelized by Africans: the very continent that their fathers had sought to bring the gospel to some three hundred years back.

When I went to in March this year, I saw a nation sprawling in wealth. This wealth I will regard as well deserving because German people, and Europeans in general, are honest and hardworking people. They work hard and they have a lot of recreation – this, however, is about all that their lives consist of. There is no more religion in most of today. To get to our place of training every day, we were driven through some 15 kilometers distance, from our hotel in the middle of Berlin to the outskirt of the city. My colleague and I did not see one single church throughout our stay in that city; even though the whole city was sprawling with nigh clubs, bars and restaurants. I was particularly concerned about the high rate of smoking among women. One of the guys I met at the training explained to me that the government had jacked up the cost of cigarettes but the result was that while men cut down on smoking, women picked it up. Berlin is a wealthy city but a nation that has no religion in it. This is about the whole picture of what Europe, Canada and most of America is today.

The reason why Christians were very concerned about having Donald Trump return to power was not because we endorsed his lifestyle, his pride and garrulous nature; rather it was because Donald Trump and the Republican Party he represented were the only group in America’s national life that endorsed or ed anything Christian. While it was clear to us that Trump’s Christianity was a shamble, the little semblance of gospel realities in his Presidency was still keeping the American landscape within some Christian shadows. But with his exit, all hell will be let loose on the Church in America and the American nation will be the worst for it in the days to come.

Many Christians who voted Biden said that the sin of homosexuality and abortion was not any worse than the sin of pride and lies (as seen in Donald Trump). The answer to this objection is this: this is both true and false. It is true that with God there are no grades of sin. A holy God regards all sin as the same and all sin will earn his eternal displeasure. But for human beings, all sins are not the same. For example: before God, the person who entertained the sin of lust in his/her heart is just as guilty as the person who committed adultery or fornication. But within the persons themselves, the one who entertained the sin of lust can easily be absolved of his sin and will suffer fewer consequences than the person who was involved in the very sin itself. Paul warns about those who commit fornication as having sinned against their own bodies (1 Corinthians 6:18). This is very grievous indeed but not as bad as lust in the mind.

This is why a person who indulges in the sin of homosexuality brings about greater condemnation and repercussion on his person than someone else who commits mere fornication. It is even worse for a nation that has so revolutionized sex and has made homosexuality a national symbol. The wrath of God is breathing down such a nation every day and they will earn it in due course. The same thing goes with the matter of abortion: the person who is angry is as guilty as the person who commits murder before God. But these two situations carry different consequences within the human person and it is even worse when the murder being carried out is the killing of innocent children within the wombs of their mothers.

We should ask Christians who voted Biden: who or what exactly are you teaming up with? Paul warns about some who commit grievous sins and how even their ers will earn the wrath and damnation of God in Romans 1:32. When you vote in a government that openly s gay people and their programs, you are ing homosexuality and actually partaking in that sin yourself. When you vote in a government that funds abortion, you are partaking in the killing of babies yourself. Your vote may just be one vote but it is a vote that Christ sees and you are actually teaming up with a people who are against our Lord’s purposes on this earth. This is why I put the “Christian” in my title in inverted commas: it is hard to see anyone who votes for the Democratic Party in the USA as a Christian. God indeed knows those who are his but he has told us also that those who are really his people should depart from iniquity and any course that sin, idolatry and open blasphemy against God. A Christian may have voted for Biden out of ignorance. Now that you know it is a sin, it is not too late to repent of it and ensure you do not cast your vote for a platform like the Democratic Party in the future.

Most Christians in the United States are not troubled about a Biden Presidency. Christians in that nation have long known that America was slipping into the kind of post-Christian world that Europe is in today. They had hoped to slow down the process with a Trump/Republican presidency but it is clear to them that the inevitable is here. In the days to come all the vestiges and products of a Christian America will begin to give way. Liberty will begin to bow to socialist authoritarianism; Democracy will begin to give way to a one party system – like we have in The People’s Republic of China and in Russia; and the tolerance that the American nation spent years to build – following Christians fleeing religious persecution in Europe – will soon give way to the intolerance of the Left. The liberal community that was once asking to be tolerated in the American society have already began to take away the religious liberties that Christians once enjoyed in that country. Everything appears to be permissible in America today except Christianity and the gospel it espouses.

Fellow brothers in Christ who voted Joe Biden: welcome to a post Christian America. I hope in the days to come you will be able to tell your children that your votes contributed to making America an increasing godless nation. Or, you may repent of your deeds today and be more informed in your voting options tomorrow.

Source: https://textandpublishing.com/a-note-to-christians-who-voted-joe-biden/

Yes

Standing5:

Are you close the writer?

Lekki Shooting: “Unknown Soldier, na ‘im do am”

By: Deji Yesufu

In 2015 when soldiers of the Nigerian Army moved into Geylesu, Zaria, and mowed down the headquarters of Shi’ites, an Islamic sect in Northern Nigeria, most people felt that El-Zakzakky and his followers had gotten their due because the Shi’ites had become notorious for shutting down highways during their walks and rallies. This faithful day the Shi’ites had blocked the road in the quiet city of Zaria, Kaduna State, but this time they were hindering the chief of army staff, General Tukur Buratai from ing through their neighborhood. We understand that after some persuasions, the General was allowed to but he did not forget the incident. A few hours later, soldiers from a nearby barrack moved into Geylesu and mowed down the living quarters of the Shi’ites . Their leader, El-Zakzakky, was arrested along with his wife and has been in detention ever since – undergoing a protracted trial instituted against them by the government of Nigeria. It is believed that hundreds of of this religious group were killed that day but the news received very little traction from Nigerians because some of us felt that the Shi’ites were becoming too much of a nuisance to people in Zaria. However, a few concerned voices warned against the Nigeria military’s penchant for extra-judicial killings. They said in effect: it is the Shi’ites today; it can be you and I tomorrow.

On the 20th October, 2020, a little over a month ago, the Nigeria military’s penchant for extra-judicial killings drew closer home. This time soldiers moved into the city of Lagos and killed peaceful protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate. The protesters had been calling on the Nigerian government to end police brutality in the country. At first the military denied that its men were present at the Toll Gate at Lekki where the shooting occurred. Eventually they itted that personals of the Nigerian army were at the Toll Gate, after they were invited by the Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Sanwo-Olu. They said, however, that they did not use live bullets on protesters. The public is still at a loss as to how live bullets were not used on protesters, yet many were wounded and a few people were killed. A few days ago, the international news network, CNN, published their own finding around the shootings at Lekki in a five minute video and they arrived at the very uncomfortable position that live ammunitions were used on peaceful protesters – young people mowed down in their prime as they were holding up the Nigerian national flag and singing the national anthem – a sight that must break the heart of even the coldest hearted person.

The question remains: who ordered the shooting of unarmed peaceful protesters who were mostly youths at Lekki Toll Gate on the 20th of October, 2020; a day that carries a unique numeration (20/10/2020) yet has been quite infamous for the number of young people killed? No one has offered answers to that pertinent question. The Lagos State government has set up a of enquiry into the shooting and the facts emerging from these seating are quite interesting, to say the least. What is clear is that soldiers, no matter what they may have smoked or drank, will never take up guns and turn them loose on the same Nigerians the nation has armed them to protect. The only way soldiers could have reached Lekki is if one of the following people had ordered them to go there: The President of Nigeria; the Governor of Lagos State; or the Chief of Army Staff. One these three ordered soldiers to Lekki to quell the protest there and when soldiers are called out to the civil populace, we can be sure that they are not sent to pat people on their heads; but rather ordered to use maximum force to end the protests.

While we continue to ask the question regarding who ordered the shooting at Lekki, we need to remind ourselves of a few pertinent facts. First, the EndSARS protests carried out all over Nigeria was a protest aimed at ending police brutality in the country. For a long time young innocent Nigerians have continued to be killed and at other times maimed for the mere fact that they are young people. The protest was calling on the Nigerian government to carry out long lasting institutional reforms on the police so that Nigeria’s law enforcement can carry a human face and do their jobs in humane conditions like many of their counterparts around the world. The protest was a spontaneous reaction from the people of a nation who are sick and tired of government turning deaf ears to the cries of its people. Second, the EndSARS protesters did not precipitate the riots that enveloped the country following the shooting at Lekki Toll Gate. The riots, burning of public buildings and killing of policemen, began after peaceful protesters were shot at and killed at Lekki, Lagos. The protests were subsequently taken over by hoodlums and hooligans, who used the occasion to unleash mayhem on the nation – mostly in Lagos State. Thus, the arrest of leaders of the EndSARS protest and the closing of their numbers is actually totally uncalled for.

Third, and even most importantly, when people are not given opportunity to vent their frustrations, they find other ways of carrying them out. What is very clear is that if pent-up anger continues in Nigeria, it would find fruition in some other means. This is how revolutions begin in countries and these are the seeds that lead up to full blown up conflicts in nations and even civil wars. The Nigerian government will need to take heed; history is replete with situations like this and those who choose not to learn from it, end up becoming victims themselves.

Sometimes in the late 1970s, the Afrobeat maestro, Fela Anikulapo-kuti, got into a melee with the Nigerian government. Fela had mapped out a section of Lagos city, his home, and called it the Kalakuta Republic. He meant it as an independent state from Nigeria. No one took him serious. However, as head of his own state, he began to criticize the Nigerian government virulently over their stance. He condemned the 1977 FESCTAC feaster that had blacks from all over the world come to Nigeria to celebrate pan-Africanism. Fela, a pan-Africanist himself, condemned the whole thing; he said government was wasting money. Then he released his blockbuster song: “Zombie”, where he said the Nigerian soldier had no sense but are made to obey to the letter everything their superiors asked them to do. One day, soldiers broke into his “republic” and burnt down his home. Fela was arrested, along with other of his family. His mother, a politician and rights activists herself, was gravely injured by soldiers in the encounter. She later died at the hospital as a result complications from that incident. Fela was incensed. The moment he gained some freedom, Fela released “Unknown Soldier”:

Unknown soldier, na im do am
(…Unknown soldier)
Government magic…
I get one information for you…
That my mama wey you kill… she is the only mother of Nigeria
Which kin’ injustice be dis…
Wetin concern government inside…
If na unknown soldier…
We get unknown police… we get unknown soldier… we get unknown civilians
All equal to unknown government…

Incidentally, throughout the EndSARS protests, Fela Kuti songs kept blaring out of radio soro soke, the internet radio station for EndSARS. If the organizers had had any premonition, they should have sensed the ominous end that was going to befall protesters on the streets. Government had become jittery and had they allowed the protests to continue for another week, the government of Muhammadu Buhari might have been brought down. It only made sense that something drastic is done. Then we had the Lekki Shooting and the rest, like they say, is history.
We do not know what the findings of the judicial of enquiry will be in the days to come. What we are certain of for now is that unknown soldiers gunned down peaceful protesters at Lekki, Lagos, on the 20th of October, 2020. A rather infamous day; a day that will go into Nigeria history books in red, white and green.

Source: https://textandpublishing.com/lekki-shooting-unknown-soldier-na-im-do-am/

Hotonions:
I need your advice on how to go about with this. I am born again and I have been baptized for years now and yet I don't feel like I posses the holy spirit it's something I want really badly and yet I don't see myself receiving it.
Note: this is not as a result of lack of belief because I very much believe in the holy spirit and his works.
I also know that with the Holy Spirit to navigate you, the race becomes easier to run

If you are TRULY born again, you have the Spirit of God already.

If you think until you speak in tongues, you do not have the Holy Spirit, you obviously have been deceived.