Pastor Adeboye On Make-Up, Jewelry, Wigs And Bleached Hair

 

*Pastor Adeboye 

The elders have a say, "if children of the same mother enter into a room to talk and come out smiling, they have not told each other the truth." 

Alright, so in the next three minutes, you might not be smiling as I am going to tell you the truth, because am your daddy. Strictly speaking I have searched the scripture, there is nowhere that I have found where it is written, if you wear make-up, you will go to hell or you will not make it to heaven, I can’t find it in the Bible. It is not to be found anywhere at all, but I have done my own research. 

There are, however, two places in the whole Bible where references were made to painting of face; only two places, and the two places are bad. One of the places talked about Jezebel. How many of you will name your daughter Jezebel? As recorded in 2 Kings 9:30, the day Jezebel was going to die, she did make up properly, painted her face, decked her face with jewelries, but at the end of the day, dogs ate her! 

The second place is in Jeremiah 4:29-30 where God was speaking in anger to daughters of Zion, He says: "when I make up my mind to deal with you, you can paint your face as you like, it is not going to deliver you."

Read it in your Bible. Those are the only two places I found, and they are terrible references.

I Left Prison Broke In 1998 – Obasanjo

*Obasanjo

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has disclosed that he left prison broke in 1998, after he was released by former Head of State, General Abdusalami Abubakar following the death of General Sani Abacha, then head of state on June 8, 1998. Obasanjo, who claimed he had no money by the time he regained his freedom after serving in Kirikiri, Jos and Yola prisons for about four years however revealed that the Ford Foundation and the founder of the Cable News Network (CNN), Mr. Ted Turner, surprisingly gave him a lifeline through the sum of $150,000 that was donated to him and which enabled him to settle the tuition fees of his children, whose studies were almost truncated by his incarceration.

The former president, who shared agonising memories of his prison experience at a recent programme organised by Christ The Redeemer’s Friends International (CRFI) of the Redeemed Christian Church of God at the Intercontinental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos, however revealed how he became born again in prison and won souls for Christ. Obasanjo was sentenced to life jail in 1995 by the Abacha junta after he was tried by a military court on trumped-up charges of felony and conspiracy to overthrow the Abacha government, an allegation the former president denied with evidence.

But exactly one week after Abacha passed away on June 8, 1998 under unclear circumstances, Obasanjo was released from the Yola Prison by the administration of Abubakar.

Giving the testimony on how God rescued him from Abacha’s plot to inject him with viral poison at the fellowship recently, Obasanjo said he was broke immediately after he regained his freedom from the Yola Prison, revealing that he had no cash at that time to settle the tuition fees of his children, who were studying in the US.

Before he left the Yola Prison, Obasanjo said he resolved “to live a new life – quiet, peaceful and possibly private. But it was surprising when I got to the airport; a presidential aircraft was already waiting for me. I did not believe it. When I arrived Lagos, two cars with pilots were waiting to convey me to my residence. I held my peace.”
Shortly after he returned home, Obasanjo said he decided “to travel to the US for two reasons. First, I needed to see my children. When I was in prison, they could not pay their tuition. One of them was not allowed to continue because he could not pay his tuition.”

Tenure Of Church Leaders: Between Obazee And Biblical Uzzah

By Onuoha Ukeh

When the Federal Government, on Tuesday, announced the sack of Executive Secretary, the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FCR), Jim Osayande Obazee, 48 hours after the controversial law on tenure of church leaders became an issue, I remembered the biblical story of Uzzah and the Ark of God. As the Bible recorded, when David and the people of Israel were bringing back the Ark of God, Uzzah was struck dead when he held the Ark, in an attempt to steady it.

*Osinbajo, Buhari and Adeboye 

The Bible stated, in 2 Samuel 6: 7-11:

“And David and all the house of Israel played before the Lord on all manner of instruments made of fir wood, even on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals.

“And when they came to Nachon’s threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the Ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the Ark of God.

“And David was displeased, because the Lord had made a breach upon Uzzah: and he called the name of the place Perezuzzah to this day. And David was afraid of the Lord that day, and said, How shall the Ark of the Lord come to me? So David would not remove the Ark of the Lord unto him into the city of David: but David carried it aside into the house of Obededom the Gittite.  And the Ark of the Lord continued in the house of Obededom the Gittite three months: and the Lord blessed Obededom, and all his household.”

Having gone back to read the story of the Ark of God and relating it to what happened to Obazee, I am beginning to think that the former FRC boss suffered the fate of Uzzah. Yes, the Ark of God shook, as the oxen moved on. Uzzah, in his wisdom, thought it wise to hold the Ark of God, to prevent it from falling. But God, in anger, struck him dead, for touching the Ark. And God’s reason was that he touched the Ark when it was not his duty to do so. Now, Obazee, as head of FRC, a government agency saddled with the responsibility of regulating the affairs of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and others, had moved to enforce a law on tenure and financial reporting, as it affects the religious sector. His agency had insisted, according to the provisions of the Act, that leaders of churches, who had been in the saddle for 20 years or attained the age of 70 or both should step down. The agency’s insistence caused the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, to relinquish his position in Nigeria, with his appointment of a National Overseer in the country, while he remains the worldwide leader of the RCCG. There was outrage in Christendom. And Obazee was fired. The board of FRC was dissolved. And the controversial code suspended.

Some people have said that Obazee was sacrificed by the Muhammadu Buhari government to save face in a perceived failed attempt to regulate religion. Others have said that he was axed because he overstepped his bounds, as a government agent. Whatever be the case, the issue is that government has retraced its steps. The code has been suspended. And we all can have some peace. However, I must say that there is nothing wrong with government taking interest in the conduct of religious leaders. Religion is a serious matter. It inflames passion and has the tendency of causing crisis, especially when mismanaged. Therefore, a close look at what religious leaders are doing could be the beginning of wisdom.

Breaking The Anti-Adeboye Code

By Paul Onomuakpokpo

It is unnecessary to boast about the defeat of the contentious corporate governance code of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN). Neither the religious people, especially the Christians who felt affronted by it nor the government and its officials have fought a good fight that requires self-adulation. The only loser is seemingly the Executive Secretary of the FRCN, Jim Obazee. He overreached himself by insisting on the implementation of the code that precipitated the exit of Pastor Enoch Adeboye as the General Overseer of The Redeemed Christian Church of God. Consequently, Obazee was sacked by the authorities he defied.

*Pastor Adeboye

But the Christians must have a fair share of the blame for waiting for the matter to degenerate to this extent. It is good that the Christians as represented by Adeboye want to be good citizens by obeying the laws of the land and this was why the famous cleric offered to quit. But they should have also used the laws of the land to relentlessly interrogate a policy they found iniquitous. They should not have waited for the government to help them. It is not enough for them to seek redress in the court, lose and give up. They should have gone the whole judicial hog – to the Supreme Court. Even the policy was made when Christians led by Goodluck Jonathan were in power.

Instead of pastors and bishops leveraging the influence of these people to make policies in their favour, they were busy collecting fat offerings in their churches when they came to give testimonies of how God made them to win elections, without hinting at how their so-called electoral victories were preceded by killing, maiming, lying and cheating. It is the same way bad policies are made by the government and clerics watch in acquiescence as their members writhe under them. They watch when teenage girls, especially Christians, are forcibly converted and married off. In the same vein, lawmakers in the National Assembly and other leaders in government, and Christians and their clerics are now keeping quiet when efforts to forcibly take over their land through the grazing bill are being made. After the law is now made, they would now wait for a miracle to deliver them from its baleful implications.

It is to the government’s credit that it took an action that negated the suspicion that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari wants to Islamise the nation. This suspicion existed even though the code was not originated by this government. However, the development has also thrown into sharp relief how the rules of men and not those of the land determine the actions of our government. For it is not likely that if Adeboye were a different person, the government would have quickly roused itself from its now familiar dithering and sacked Obazee as it did. There is the perception that it is because the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, and the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Okechukwu Enelamah are pastors in The Redeemed Church that the government’s intervention was timeous.

Since the government has proved to be able to muster such a swift response to a controversial issue, it is expected henceforth to react promptly to matters that affect the wellbeing of the citizens. If it had been prompt in its responses, our teenage girls would not be abducted, converted and forced into marriage with the complicity of emirs. There would have been peace in all the parts of the country. The carnage in southern Kaduna and other forms of Fulani herdsmen’s terrorism would not have festered, and the crises in the Niger Delta and the South East would have been resolved. And there would have been restructuring of the polity which is believed to be the panacea to the ills plaguing the nation.

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