Muslim-Muslim Ticket: Christians, Stand Up For Your Faith In 2023!

 By Olu Fasan

This weekend, on December 25, Christians worldwide will celebrate Christmas to mark the birth of Jesus Christ. In every country with a predominant or substantial Christian population, the president or vice-president, the head of state or prime minister, will be a Christian.

However, in Nigeria, where Christians account for nearly half of the population, this year’s Christmas may be the last, for probably the next eight years, that Christianity would be represented politically at Nigeria’s seat of sovereign, the Presidency; that someone professing the Christian faith would be either president or vice-president!

Kumuyi In Ogoniland: A Crusade With A Golden Touch

 By Israel Mkpaoro and Banji Ojewale

Ancient Greece had a mythological king with a golden touch. The tale is that whatever King Midas handled became gold. It was a power he was said to have requested from a god. Midas enjoyed this boon until it threatened his sanity and humanity. He couldn’t eat food nor drink water because all turned into gold when he touched them. 

*Pastor Kumuyi in Ogoniland

The situation became tragic when, upon hugging his daughter, she was changed into a lifeless golden image. The monarch was sad. You can’t celebrate a possession that denies you life. Midas’ sea of gold was devoid of the true joy that should come with wealth.

But in our day, we have in our midst Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi, a servant of Heaven who preaches that God’s abundant blessings come without any accompanying sorrow experienced by a king. This is what we see repeatedly at Kumuyi’s outreaches, which we have come to know as Global Crusade with Kumuyi, GCK. 

Osinachi's Death — What A Wife Should Do If Her Husband Is A Wife Beater!

 By Pastor Chris Ojigbani

Recently, a Sister Osinachi Nwachukwu died. She was one of the most profound gospel singers in the world today. The lady that sang Ekwueme. People cry when she sings. Her voice makes people cry. When you listen to her, you go to the throne of God. You go to the throne of heaven immediately.

*Osinachi

She sings naturally. She died because of alleged domestic violence. It was alleged that her husband beat her to death. It's so painful because she's one of the gospel singers whose voice I love. I love her voice so much.

If you listen to her, you will know that she truly worships the Lord. She worships God from her heart. She instantly takes you to the throne of heaven without wasting time. But look at the manner she died— after severe beating from her husband. The person that is supposed to love her more than any other person in the world.

Soyinka: Celebrating Our Own Kongi At 87

 By Dan Amor

It was once the fashion to single out four men of letters as the supreme titans of world literature – Homer, Dante, Shakespeare and Goethe – each the embodiment of a great epoch of Western culture – ancient, medieval, Renaissance and modern. These four literary icons of all time remain secure; but idolatry of Professor Wole Soyinka as the prototype of the inquiring spirit and courageous intellect of modern man has been sharply appreciated in our time, especially as we pass beyond the more leisurely issues of the post-modernist era.

*Soyinka

The intensely contemporary character of his works has made him the tallest iroko tree in the post-modernist forest of global dramatic literature. Yet, the commencement, two weeks ago, of the Wole Soyinka 87th  Birthday Festival, which ultimately climaxes today, July 13, 2021, his date of birth, unfortunately doesn't seem to wear the official insignia of the Nigerian government especially because he has started telling them the truth about the Nigerian condition. But, it is expected, as Christ Himself says in Matthew 13:57, "A prophet is not without honour, save his own country and his own house."  

Buhari, Bigot Who Does Not Want To Be Seen As Zealot

By Reno Omokri

Have you read Buhari’s Opinion Editorial in the Church Times of UK in which he accused his political opponents of politicising religion? If you have not, do yourself a favour and do not read it. The hypocrisy will make you want to march to Aso Rock and donate two slaps to Buhari’s face!

*President Buhari 

It is just annoying, and certainly hypocritical, that a man who in 2003 said ‘Muslims should only vote for those who would uphold Islam’ is now writing an Op-Ed (can Buhari write? A consultant wrote it) asking Nigerians not to politicise religion. No man has politicised religion in Nigeria like Muhammadu Buhari! It is an insult for Buhari to claim in his consultant written Op-Ed that “Along with the millions of Christians in Nigeria today, I believe in peace, tolerance, and reconciliation”. 

Nigeria: A Requiem For The Lifeless One

By Femi Fani-Kayode

”A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping. Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted because they are no more”- Jeremiah 31:15.

O lifeless one, you have lost all sense of decency and you are drunk with power.

As the children are murdered in cold blood and cut short in the streets of Abuja by your soldiers you watch silently from a distance: smug, smiling, detached, indifferent and secretly egging the killers on.

Nigeria: Of Treacheries By Political Mercenaries

By Sufuyan Ojeifo

“As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. 

So Jesus told him, what you are about to do, do quickly”

– John 13:27 (New International Version of the Holy Bible). 

Those who are conversant with the verse of the Bible quoted supra would remember very vividly what happened and the context in which Jesus made the statement.  

*Buhari and Saraki

But for those who are not, what transpired was that the time that Jesus Christ would be crucified was at hand and it has been written that one man, Judas, a son of perdition, who would fulfill a negative prophecy, would betray him to those who sought to carry out his arrest for the purpose of His trial and crucifixion. Jesus knew from the outset of creation that Judas had been predestined to accomplish that task in human history.  Judas, therefore, did not have the grace to resist the supernatural obligation to keep that grisly appointment with destiny.

The Robert Mugabe In Most Of Us

By Martins Oloja

This week I have had to deepen my understanding of why Master Jesus had to be angry with (religious) hypocrites of his time. Jesus is introduced to us in the scriptures as a calm, cool and collected teacher, preacher and healer until he encounters hypocrisy and speaks angrily about hypocrites. In the account in Matthew 23, Jesus who for the first time shows that he can lose his cool too, pronounces a series of woes on the hypocritical scribes and Pharisees. 

*Mugabe

He condemns the Pharisees’ lack of spiritual values, as shown by the arbitrary distinctions they make. For example, they say: “If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is under obligation.” They thus show their moral blindness, for they put more emphasis on the gold of the temple than on the spiritual value of Jehovah’s place of worship. And thus, they “have disregarded the weightier matters of the Law, namely, justice, mercy and faithfulness.”​ (v-16-23).

Nigeria: From Detribalisation To Retribalisation (3)

By Matthew Hassan Kukah

Click Here To Read PART TWO 

For the purpose of our reflection, there are those who might be tempted to argue that Nigeria is where she is today because she has allowed ethnicity or tribal differences to get in the way. Those who make this point believe that if only we can get rid of tribalism, that is, become detribalised, all will be well.

But, as I have said elsewhere, the real challenge in addressing this question is to understand and accept that differences in tribe and tongue are not the reason for our monumental failure to build consensus around development, common citizenship and fairness. There are, however, many reasons for this failure, to which we shall now turn.

*Kukah

I have argued that, in the words of Frost, one of our greatest tragedies lies in the consequences of ‘road not taken’. We inherited a regional arrangement that had its pitfalls but if we had the patience we could have finally worked out a system to accommodate us all. Undoubtedly we can still do that. However, a combination of factors took us continuously back to the bottom of the hill where we have remained like frogs in a bucket, unable to either climb out individually or collectively. The greatest tragedy of the nation is that we have not been able to create a common vision of an egalitarian society. In almost every department, the infrastructure that the British created has since fallen into absolute and total decay. A few examples will do: 

W.F Kumuyi: The Missing Link In National Development

By Banji Ojewale

There is a small but vocal circle of Nigerians who do not believe that their country needs more of the quickening touch of the Divine to help turn things around for the prostrate land. They look all over the place and spotting what they see as a sea of churches, they conclude that Nigeria would be better off without a ‘surfeit’ of ecclesiastical industry. They refer to patently disturbing reports of abominable conduct in the Church and return the verdict that the trouble with Nigeria isn’t its politics or economy; it is the Church which encourages a craving for materialist prosperity. They argue that the Church and its leaders no longer aim at addressing the soul as their Lord Jesus Christ taught. Today, they say, the Church is master at pandering to carnal needs.

Pastor W.F Kumuyi

So they want less of sacerdotal activity and more of agnostic enterprise.

Well, this contrasts with the position of a famous French historian and writer as he also studied the role of the Church in the United States of America when that country was struggling with the challenges that came after a war.

The famous French writer Alexis de Tocqueville visited the United States of America in the first half of the 19th century and returned with reports of how great America had become not too long after it had emerged from its war of Independence and passed through the teething problems of nation-building. His extensive tour led him to probe the source of this eminence.

When Tocqueville had undertaken an arduous search, he wrote: “I sought for the greatness of the United States in her commodious harbors, her ample rivers, her fertile fields and boundless forests and it was not there. I sought for it in her rich higher learning and it was not there. I looked for it in her democratic congress and her matchless constitution and it was not there. Not until I went to the Churches of America did I understand the secret of her genius and power”.

Tocqueville attributed the prosperity of the nascent American State to the fact that its leaders instituted a national policy that encouraged the Churches of the day to pray to God on behalf of “kings and… all that are in authority” as enjoined in the Holy Bible (1 Timothy 2:2). As far as he was concerned it was obedience to that Divine order coupled with diligent work that brought down God’s blessings both on the American people and on the land. Indeed the concluding part of the text we quoted says such intercessions will lead to “a quiet and peaceable life” adding that “this is good and acceptable in the sight of God” (verse 3).

Pastor William Folorunsho Kumuyi, founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry (DCLM) is in the same class as Tocqueville. He believes that the absence of Jesus Christ in the citizen’s life in Nigeria is responsible for the problems assaulting us, the same way that lack is the source of all of the world’s problems at the moment. The point, he argues, is not to have less of Jesus’ message of tolerance, righteousness, Biblical holiness, love for fellow man (even if he is your enemy), abstemious lifestyle, focus on Heaven etc. Outlawing Jesus amounts to outlawing peace and order. Man’s duty is to admit Him and allow Him full reign.

Kumuyi has maintained a diligent outworking of this faith in the power of the Gospel to change the fortunes of society if sincerely embraced. He has embarked on a back-breaking crusade nationwide. It has taken the Deeper Life Bible Church leader to far-flung areas including such so called no-go states as Plateau, Bauchi, Adamawa and Gombe. He was in those places only last week even in the midst of deadly outbursts of violence.

Pastor Enoch Adeboye On Indecent Dressing

By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye

[I was very glad when I stumbled on a report that Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) recently came down hard on the very nauseating culture of indecent dressing ravaging our landscape today, which is even sneaking into the church, damning the souls of men and women, and even being rationalized by some obviously backslidden and lustful pastors. Given that Pastor Adeboye heads one of the largest churches in the world, I am very confident that this ungodly trend would be significantly reversed if, by this timely crusade, he is able, at least, to successfully ensure that his own congregation alone is rid of it, and all his pastors join in denouncing and isolating it in their various local churches around the world. Indeed, such a feat would equally rub off on an appreciable number of the millions of his admirers and listeners around the world who are not members of his church.  It is with these in mind that I reproduce Pastor Adeboye’s remarks on this very important subject, which was forwarded to my box late on Saturday by an online magazine. Although I am not a member of the RCCG, I admire Pastor Adeboye’s very uplifting simplicity and exemplary lifestyle and I feel greatly honoured to provide him further platform to take his very edifying message of reclamation to an even wider audience.]:                 

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“What is this? Modern fashion? Purity in the inside and not on the outside is fake! You are only de­ceiving yourselves, not God. Also purity on the outside but not inward is fake. You can’t tell me that God sees your inside, that you are clean inside, holy or righteous, when the way you dress cannot differentiate you from a prostitute on the street. Your outward dressing is a true manifestation of the spirit inside of you. You will know a madman by his dressing, which includes his/her peculiar manner of hairstyle. It is something known worldwide. The hair grows carelessly, gets twisted and continues to overgrow. While the rest of us would quickly rush to the barber to look neat, the mad­man cares less.


Pastor E.A Adeboye (Pix by Vanguard)

What you see on the head of the modern-day boys, girls and ladies is the madman’s hairstyle. Truly, the spirit manifesting in them is that of madness. Since the spiritual controls the physical, this is the naked truth. There is the manifestation of the spirit of madness in modern dressing and hair fashion.

When you dress half-naked, when you refuse to cover necessary and vital areas of the body because of fashion thereby exposing your body parts to the world, what you are saying as a lady is this: “Come to me. I am available. I am cheap.”

No wonder we have a high level of unmarried adult ladies everywhere. I now see the reason behind the high level of divorce rates among those who are married. The ladies are simply blind. If anyone approaches you in the tattered dress you put on (in the name of fashion), no matter how highly placed you are, he has one thing in mind: sex, to suck and drop you.

Ladies, what do you gain when you leave your breasts half covered? Even as a married woman, you still go to the level of putting on those tattered, dresses (you) call fashion. In your ignorance, you choose to compete with your daughters who should be scolded by you! Are you truly mad in the spirit? When you go out in this tight fitting breast­-exposing dresses, whom are you hoping to attract again? Your husband at home or someone else somewhere? Are you dressing like that to become somebody’s  concubines or sex partners? Ladies, is your multi-coloured hair style a sign of maturity? What statement are you making by such a dangerous signal?

You cannot tie your man (to yourself) by dressing (half) naked nor make a success of your marriage by stupid fashion. Most men are no fools. Men who also allow their wives to dress in lewd or licentious manner are stupid, silly husbands who care not for decency and godly behaviour. They even encourage their wives, daughters and sons to dress in conformity with satanic wishes and dictates of demons.

I met a boy the other day and was touched by his funny manner of dressing. I saw him dressed like a cowboy and all that nonsense they call fashion, including an earring. When I asked him why he needed to appear so, he told me that his mother bought them for him. He told me that he didn’t really like that manner of dressing and that,   somehow, he felt bad appearing like that. I then explained to him the spiritual implications of what he was doing. In reply, he said: “I know all along that my parents don’t like me, they don’t care whatever happens to me.”

It’s amazing and disturbing when I discovered that some parents actually fear their children. Some leave them to unholy decisions and disgraceful ways of modern life. “She is an adult. There is little I can do to correct her,” some normally say. Many would even say: “It’s the modern way of life. Let her enjoy her life.” They have forgotten that it is such attitude that brought a curse on Eli, the high priest and his whole family. There are many families today who are living under one curse or the other inflicted [on them] by their grandparents and even those that are still alive by their careless attitude to life and living life the way they want. They lack self-discipline. Anyone who transgresses must pay the price. Broken homes, truncated relationships and manipulated destinies can be avoided if we respect God and worship Him in holiness and truth for this is the way God wants.

scruples2006@yahoo.com