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Tag: Femi Aribisala

  • Femi Adesina and Garba Shehu: Tweedledum and Tweedledee – Femi Aribisala

    By Femi Aribisala

    Four gravely ill Nigerians went to see their doctor. One was Hausa, another Yoruba, the third Igbo and the fourth from Niger-Delta. They all had very high temperatures and could hardly walk and talk. They had the same complaints: chest-pain, high blood-pressure, migraine, vomiting, stomach-ache and heart-palpitations. They had all lost considerable weight and were skin and bones.

    The doctor examined them one-by-one. Then he decided to ask them a few routine questions. “Have you not been eating? Why are you all so lean?” he asked. “We don’t have any appetite,” they replied in unison. “Besides, we have great difficulty keeping anything down.” “How long have you been feeling like this?” asked the doctor.

    “That is the most worrying part of the whole thing,” they replied. “We have been feeling like this since you became our doctor. We are convinced there is something seriously wrong with the treatment we have been receiving from you since 2015.”

    The doctor became very agitated. “You are all liars!” he shouted. “There is nothing wrong with you. You are just determined to ruin my reputation. What I want to know is this: who sent you? Who paid you to do this?”

    “Are you not a doctor?” they replied. “Can’t you see for yourself that we are sick? Have your tests not confirmed this? You may be a doctor, but you cannot tell us how we feel. You cannot tell us we are not sick when we are literally dying right here before your eyes. Is it possible to pretend and have high temperatures? Can we pretend our weight loss and hair loss? Why are you so determined to deny the truth?”

    The doctor would not be moved. “Let me tell you something. You can’t fool me. I am too knowledgeable; too experienced for this kind of trickery. You are not sick: you are just pretending. Everyone knows I am the best doctor in this country. There is no doctor North or South; East or West that can be compared to me.”

    “When I give a diagnosis, it is authoritative and final. This is my diagnosis concerning the four of you. You have never had it so good. I prescribe that you take a public holiday on June 12 so you can be refreshed and come back to your senses. Then you will realise that you have never felt better. Please leave my office now before I call the guards to throw you out.”

    Concerned Nigerians

    Last week, leaders and elders of the Afenifere, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Northern Elders Forum (NEF), and the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) held a meeting in Abuja to deliberate on the situation in Nigeria. They resolved to push for a more visionary and dynamic government in order to redeem Nigeria from the captivity of poverty, insecurity and bad government.

    The meeting was attended by “timber and caliber” politicians from the different geopolitical regions of Nigeria, including former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Chief Edwin Clarke, Ayo Adebanjo, Professor Ango Abdullahi, Umar Ghali Na’Abba, Adolphus Wabara, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, and Dr. Hakeem Baba Ahmed.

    They concluded that the APC government of President Muhammadu Buhari is incompetent. In their communique, they lamented the fact that: “the country now witnesses unprecedented incompetence and enthronement of mediocrity in dealing with the horrendous spate of killings and general insecurity across the nation.” They claimed that: “in the eyes of many affected communities, there appears to be palpable government complicity in the killings going on around the country.”

    They noted with dismay the mismanagement of the economy by the present administration: “Today, the economy is characterized by significant loss of output, massive youth unemployment, a rising level of poverty, instability and irregular migration of skilled and unskilled labour. In fact, according to the World Bank, the unemployment rate in Nigeria has increased despite its purported exit from recession in 2017. This is a national embarrassment and a disgrace to a country that is endowed with abundant resources.”

    “According to World Data Laboratory, Nigeria overtook India this year as the poverty capital of the world. In addition, Nigeria’s ranking on the human development index was one of the lowest in the World, standing at 152 out of 188 countries surveyed in 2017.”

    They also noted with great concern that: “Despite the present administration’s war against corruption, the highly acknowledged global monitor of corruption perception, Transparency Intentional, has adjudged Nigeria to be more corrupt today than it was in 2015. It is disturbing that Nigeria has in the last 3 years degenerated from the 136th to the 148th place out of 180 countries surveyed for corruption perception in 2018.”

    “The kleptocratic nature of governance and appointments to public offices and institutions, as well as the carefree attitude of government to citizens’ discontent, have resulted in breading deep divisions and inter-communal distrust. This is a development that is of grave concern to all Nigerian patriots.”

    They observed furthermore with great alarm: “the flagrant abuse of and disrespect for the rule of law as well as the systematic violation of our electoral processes. These infractions are steadily eroding public confidence in our hard-earned democracy.”

    In a speech by Obasanjo delivered by the former governor of Osun State, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, the former president berated the harm that “the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, by his action and inaction, has done and is doing to our commonwealth and our common heritage. Nigeria, in recent times, has not been so divided along religious and regional lines as it is today with inexcusable killings and devastating poverty and with government’s wringing hands and apparently incompetent to stem the tide except giving one unrighteous and unacceptable justification after the other.”

    “The obvious indication is that the government is seemingly confused and has got to the end of its tether and the nation is being left divisively and perilously to drift.”

    Tweedledum and Tweedledee

    The people who reached these conclusions are Nigerians. They live in Nigeria so they experience the Nigerian condition. They were not talking about the Nigerian situation or the Nigerian government in abstraction. They were talking from first-hand knowledge. Their point of view is easily confirmed by the overwhelming majority of Nigerians who live in Nigeria and are not members of the Buhari administration or the APC.

    They belong to the recognized organs of the major ethnic groups in Nigeria; from East to West and North to South-South. Besides, they cannot be said to be implacable enemies of the Nigerian government. Indeed, some of them, like Ango Abdullahi and Obasanjo, were ardent supporters of the government.

    Nevertheless, Tweedledum Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, did not take kindly to their criticism. He labelled the communique as: “the shedding of crocodile tears by selfish leaders, who felt alienated after a transparent and accountable system halted their disproportionate survival on resources of the state.”

    Said Garba Shehu: “The Presidency urges Nigerians to ignore the unholy alliance by these groups who are stepping up their assault on the All Progressives Congress administration as it expands its national dominance and moves closer to securing an outright victory in the elections next year. The Presidency notes with dismay that the refrain about President Buhari not doing anything about security in the country had turned into the number one fake news item being peddled in the media.”

    Garba Shehu then referred to a statement published by Tweedledum Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President, which outlined some of the achievements of the government that are apparently oblivious to the generality of Nigerians:

    “(1) Nigerian Army’s Exercise Ayem Akpatuma covering Benue, Taraba, Kogi, Nasarawa, Kaduna and Niger States launched in February to tackle cases of kidnappings, herdsmen/farmers’ clashes, among others; (2) Nigerian Air Force establishment of three new Quick Response Wings (QRW) in Taraba, Nasarawa and Benue States respectively, and deployment of Special Forces personnel.”

    It was the same Tweedledee Adesina who opened his mouth wide and made one of the most idiotic and outrageous statements ever made in Nigerian politics concerning the issue of Fulani herdsmen killing innocent farmers in order to graze their cattle on their land. Adesina said:

    “You can only have ancestral attachment when you are alive. If you are talking about ancestral attachment, if you are dead, how does the attachment matter? So, if your state genuinely does not have land for ranching, it is understandable; not every state will have land for ranches. But where you have land and you can do something, please do for peace. What will the land be used for if those who own it are dead at the end of the day?”

    Short-sighted sycophants

    Who are these people and why do they talk like this? How much are they being paid for this sycophantic job? What happens when the job ends, as it must? Should they not be wise and prepare for the inevitable?

    They need to be told what they should know: Nigerians are no fools. A doctor does not prescribe the condition of the patient: he prescribes a cure. Garba Shehu and Femi Adesina are wasting their time trying to convince Nigerians that all is well when we know different. The patient is dying, but the doctor insists he is well. This is nonsensical.

    The tenant tells the landlord his house is on fire. But the landlord insists it is secure. This is idiotic. If the landlord cannot yet see the fire, surely, he can see the smoke. Surely, he can see that many people are running out of his house for dear life. They are throwing down their APC party badges and running out. If care is not taken, their flight might very well become a stampede.

    But Tweedledee and Tweedledum see no evil and hear no evil. They fabricate their preferred version of reality. They specialize in feeding their boss, the president, with lies and falsehood. Does he not know that Nigerians are suffering? Does he not know Nigerians are hungry? Does he not know we are jobless? Does he not know we are being killed all day long?

    How many jobs are created by rhetorics? How much electricity has anti-corruption generated? What economic miracles were achieved by the illegal pronouncement that June 12 is now Democracy Day?

    All that Tweedledum and Tweedledee want to hear are lies upon lies. Femi Adesina’s twitter page is eloquent testimony to that. People are being massacred in Benue, what has he got to say about that? He compiles praise-songs for the president: “You don’t want any life lost. You are a man of swift action. You are a bold man, action man. -Gen Atom Kpera, retd, to PMB.” “Thus far, I salute your efforts in the areas of security. -Paul Unongo to PMB.”

  • The natural man versus the spiritual man – Femi Aribisala

    By Femi Aribisala

    Before I met the Lord Jesus, I was righteous in my own eyes. I learnt my righteousness at the feet of my old man, T.S.B. Aribisala. According to T.S.B.’s protocols, you do not cheat, you do not steal; you do not tell lies. You are faithful in love and kind and generous to others.

    As Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources of the old Western Region of Nigeria, T.S.B. Aribisala was one of the few public servants declared to be free of corruption in the probe conducted by the military after the coup of January 1966. As a result, I grew up upholding with pride the righteousness of T.S.B. Aribisala. It was righteousness that far exceeded what I observed among Christians.

    But then, one day, I read about the righteousness of Jesus. This is threw me clean off my high horse. Jesus’ righteousness could not be compared with that of T.S.B. Aribisala. It also far exceeded my vaunted righteousness. Worse still, it was righteousness I knew I could not possibly attain.

    For example, I was not prepared to turn the other cheek if slapped. Neither could I do so even if I wanted to. While I could keep myself from adultery, I could not adhere to a code that prohibits “a manly man” from occasionally looking at a woman lustfully. Therefore, as far as I was concerned, the righteousness of Christ is practically unattainable.

    Hearing ears

    But when I finally met Jesus, the first thing he did was to open my ears so I could hear him. He became my personal saviour by rescuing me from the armed robbers who attacked and shot me. Then, he told me to read one of his words in the bible; one of those words I was sworn to avoid. Paradoxically, this now became his personal message to me:

    “Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not; nor do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah which said, ‘By hearing you shall hear and shall not understand; and seeing you shall see and shall not perceive; for this people’s heart has become gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and they have closed their eyes, lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.’ But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear.” (Matthew 13:13-16).

    From that day, I started to understand scriptures that had defeated me in the past. I also developed a new appreciation for the righteousness of Jesus. I discovered that Jesus’ righteousness cannot be fulfilled by a natural man. To fulfill the scriptures, God has to give us a new heart and he has to put a new Spirit in us. As Jesus says to Nicodemus: “Unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3).

    Spiritual words

    Jesus says his words are: “spirit and life,” (John 6:63). Therefore, they cannot be understood by someone who is not born of the Holy Spirit. Paul explains this: “The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Corinthians 2:14). The natural man is born with a hard and un-regenerated heart that is not amenable to God and to things of God.

    What then needs to happen? The natural man must be born again. He must be born of water and of the Spirit. He must receive a new heart.

    That is what happened to me; and it is the promise of the New Covenant: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will keep my judgments and do them.” (Ezekiel 36:26-27).

    In order to understand the scriptures, God has to open our heart. Jesus had to do this with his disciples. On his resurrection: “(Jesus) opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.” (Luke 24:45). Luke says the same of Lydia: “The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul.” (Acts 16:14).

    This explains Jesus’ statement that: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me.” (John 6:44-45).

    Heart identity

    It is the heart that defines a man: “As he thinks in his heart, so is he. (Proverbs 23:7). “As in water face reflects face, so a man’s heart reveals the man.” (Proverbs 27:19). Therefore, the Lord referred me to the prophecy of Isaiah, which requires that the heart of the natural man be closed to the word of God:

    “Tell my people this: ‘Though you hear my words repeatedly, you won’t understand them. Though you watch and watch as I perform my miracles, still you won’t know what they mean.’ Dull their understanding, close their ears, and shut their eyes. I don’t want them to see or to hear or to understand, or to turn to me to heal them.” (Isaiah 6:9-10).

    Thus, Paul makes a distinct differentiation between those in Christ and those without Christ: “To this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.” (2 Corinthians 3:14-15).

    Redemption of David

    David was a man who loved God. He is described in the scriptures as a man after God’s heart. Nevertheless, David took another man’s wife, got her pregnant, and killed him in order to hide his sin.

    Jesus says: “This is why I speak to them in parables: “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.” (Matthew 13:13). Therefore, when God sent Nathan to David to convict him of his sin, Nathan spoke to David in parables. He told him the story of a rich man who took maliciously the ewe lamb of a poor man.

    David heard the prophet but did not hear him. He saw the point that the prophet was making but did not see. He heard him but he did not understand. Sin had waxed his heart and made it gross. His ears were dull of hearing and his eyes were closed, until the prophet told him he was the subject of the parable.

    When David understood his predicament, he prayed in contrition: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” (Psalm 51:10). Elsewhere, David acknowledges God answered his prayer: “My ears you have opened.” (Psalm 40:6).

  • Praising the Lord – Femi Aribisala

    By Femi Aribisala

    PRAISE HIM! The God who made you and formed you. (Deut 32:6). PRAISE HIM! The God who sees you. (Gen 16:13). PRAISE HIM! The God who watches you. (Isa 48:17). PRAISE HIM! The God who sustains you. (Ps 54:4). PRAISE HIM! The God who has kept you. (Gen 30:2). PRAISE HIM! The God who saves you. (Ps 51:14).PRAISE HIM! The God who blesses you. (Gen 49:25). PRAISE HIM! The God who has compassion on you. (Isa 54:10).

    PRAISE HIM! The God who is rich in mercy. (Eph 2:4). PRAISE HIM! The God who comforts all who mourn. (Isa 61:2). PRAISE HIM! The God who gives beauty for ashes. (Isa 61:3). PRAISE HIM! The God who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth. (Jer 9:24). PRAISE HIM! The God who is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. (Jonah 4:2). PRAISE HIM! The God who fulfills the desires of those who fear him. (Ps 145:19). PRAISE HIM! The God who delights in the well-being of his servant. (Ps 35:27).

    PRAISE HIM! The God who will contend with those who contend with you and will save your children. (Isa 49:25). PRAISE HIM! The God who answered you in the day of your distress. (Gen 35:3). PRAISE HIM! The God who gives you his shield of victory, and his right hand sustains you. (Ps 18:35). PRAISE HIM! The God who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory. (Deut 20:4).

    PRAISE HIM! The God who gives breath to the people of the earth, and life to those who walk on it. (Isa 42:5). PRAISE HIM! The God who encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. (Ps 34:7). PRAISE HIM! The God of Israel who gives power and strength to his people. (Ps 68:35). PRAISE HIM! The God who made a way through the sea, and a path through the mighty waters. (Isa 43:16). PRAISE HIM! The God who upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down. (Ps 145:14).PRAISE HIM! The God who alone does marvelous deeds. (Ps 72:18).

    PRAISE HIM! The God who has upheld your cause. (1 Sam 25:39). PRAISE HIM! The God who fulfills his purpose for you. (Ps 57:2). PRAISE HIM! The God who loved you and gave himself for you. (Gal 2:20). PRAISE HIM! The God your Savior, who daily bears your burdens. (Ps 68:19). PRAISE HIM! The God who delights in your vindication. (Ps 35:27). PRAISE HIM! The God who directs you in the way you should go. (Isa 48:17).

    PRAISE HIM! The “I AM THAT I AM.” (Ex 3:14). PRAISE HIM! The God who lives forever. (Dan 4:34). PRAISE HIM! The God who created all things. (Eph 3:9). PRAISE HIM! The God of Israel, who made heaven and earth! (2 Chron 2:12). PRAISE HIM! The God who is Lord of all. (Acts 10:36). PRAISE HIM! The God who formed the mountains by his power. (Ps 65:6). PRAISE HIM! The God Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim. (1 Sam 4:4).

    PRAISE HIM! The God who has delivered you out of every trouble. (1 Kings 1:29). PRAISE HIM! The God who is your shield, in whom you take refuge, who subdues peoples under you. (Ps 144:2). PRAISE HIM! The God who saves you out of all your calamities and distresses. (1 Sam 10:19). PRAISE HIM! The God who remembered you in your low estate and freed you from your enemies. (Ps 136:23-24).

    PRAISE HIM! The eternal God who is your refuge. (Deut 33:27). PRAISE HIM! The God who avenges you. (2 Sam 22:48). PRAISE HIM! The God who trains your hands for battle; so that your arms can bend a bow of bronze. (2 Sam 22:35). PRAISE HIM! The God who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion. (Ps 103:4). PRAISE HIM! The God who is your fortress, your stronghold and your deliverer. (Ps 144:2). PRAISE HIM! The God who exalted you above your foes. (2 Sam 22:49).

    PRAISE HIM! The God who is from everlasting to everlasting. (Neh 9:5). PRAISE HIM! The God who says: “I am the Lord, and there is no other.” (Isa 45:18). PRAISE HIM! The Lord God Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim. (1 Sam 4:4). PRAISE HIM! The God who rides on the clouds. (Ps 68:4). PRAISE HIM! The God who holds firm the pillars of the earth. (Ps 75:3). PRAISE HIM! The God who weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance. (Isa 40:12).

    PRAISE HIM! The God who forgives all your sins. (Ps 103:3). PRAISE HIM! The God who heals all your diseases. (Ps 103:3). PRAISE HIM! The God who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. (Ps 103:5). PRAISE HIM! The God who arms you with strength and makes your way perfect. (2 Sam 22:33). PRAISE HIM! The God who makes your feet like the feet of a deer; and enables you to stand on the heights. (2 Sam 22:34).

    PRAISE HIM! The God who judges the earth. (Ps 58:11). PRAISE HIM! The God who does no wrong, upright and just is he. (Deut 32:4). PRAISE HIM! The God who alone does great wonders. (Ps 136:4). PRAISE HIM! The God whose works are perfect, and all his ways are just. (Deut 32:4). PRAISE HIM! The God who performs miracles and displays his power among the peoples. (Ps 77:14). PRAISE HIM! The God who is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. (Ps 145:18). PRAISE HIM! The God who decrees victories for Jacob. (Ps 44:4).

    PRAISE HIM! The God who is your life. (Col 3:4). PRAISE HIM! The God who is able to keep you from falling. (Jude 24). PRAISE HIM! The God who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. (1 Peter 2:9). PRAISE HIM! The God who works in you to will and to do according to his good purpose. (Phil 2:13). PRAISE HIM! The God who began a good work in you and who will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Phil 1:6).

    PRAISE HIM! The God who stilled the roaring of the seas. (Ps 65:7). PRAISE HIM! The God who turned the rock into a pool, the hard rock into springs of water. (Ps 114:8).PRAISE HIM! The God who held the dust of the earth in a basket. (Isa 40:12). PRAISE HIM! The Lord God who knows, and by whom deeds are weighed. (1 Sam 2:3).

    PRAISE HIM! The God who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you. (Isa 49:7). PRAISE HIM! The God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways. (Dan 5:23-24). PRAISE HIM! The God who gives the oil of joy for mourning. (Isa 61:3). PRAISE HIM! The God who gives a garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. (Isa 61:3). PRAISE HIM! The God who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that you ask or think, according to the power that works in you. (Eph 3:20).

    PRAISE HIM FOREVERMORE!

  • Who is Afraid of Daddy Freeze? – Femi Aribisala

    By Femi Aribisala

    Nothing in recent memory seems to have affected the bank-balances of Nigerian pastors as Daddy Freeze’s exposure of the deception of tithing in the churches. Nigerian tithe-collecting pastors are up in arms, throwing every possible missile at him, including death threats. Jesus says: “Whoever desires to save his life will lose it.” (Matthew 16:25). Since Freeze’s exposure, tithe-collecting pastors have been spouting fire and brimstone, hopelessly trying to save their lives.

    Death threats

    The assault on Freeze brings to mind the assault of Jewish pastors on Jesus when he also exposed their deception and hypocrisy. The upshot of this was the decision to have Jesus killed with extreme prejudice. Similarly, Daddy Freeze says a pastor, whose church he attended for 11 good tithe-paying years, has placed a death-sentence on him for preaching against tithing. The pastor “prophesied” that Freeze would die within 2 years.

    Jesus says: “An evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:45). You can easily tell that this so-called pastor is a charlatan masquerading as a child of God. Not only does he curse his enemies contrary to the way of Christ, even his curses are fake. Otherwise, why wait for two years for Freeze to die? Why not kill him right now?

    Apostle Suleiman

    Perhaps that anonymous pastor learnt a lesson from another endangered tithe-collector: self-styled Apostle Suleiman. The “apostle” exposed himself by foolishly prophesying that Nasir El-Rufai, the Governor of Kaduna State, would die within two weeks. Unfortunately for him, the Governor obstinately refused to die.

    “Apostle” Suleiman is so riled up over Daddy Freeze’s preachments against tithing, he announced the decision to raise his tithe from 10% to 30% in retaliation. Clearly, the “apostle” needs to go back to bible school. So doing, he would learn that a tithe is 10% and can never be 30%.

    Rather than boast publicly about fictitious increases in his tithes, his eminence the “apostle” should endeavour to listen to Jesus: “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 6:1). “When you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” (Matthew 6:3-4).

    Paul Adefarasin

    On his part, tithe-collecting Paul Adefarasin took the whole debate to stratospheric levels, the better to make tithing unassailable to fastidious bible scholars. He said: “God created the universe, he took a tithe: the Milky Way. God created the Milky Way, he took a tithe: the Galaxy. God created the Galaxy, he took a tithe: our Solar System. God created the Solar System, he took a tithe: Planet Earth. God created the Planet Earth, he took a tithe: Israel. God created Israel, he took a tithe: Jerusalem.”

    At this juncture, I began to wonder if it could equally be postulated that God created Lagos, he took a tithe: Adefarasin’s House on the Rock! Who ever heard of God paying tithes? By the time the erudite pastor waxed lyrical and refashioned Jesus as: “a tithe, holding a tithe, going into a tithe,” his congregation could not bear it any longer. They burst into wild applause which I took to mean: “This pastor of ours is just too much!”

    Matthew Ashimolowo

    But the response to Freeze that took the cake came from Matthew Ashimolowo of Kingsway International Christian Centre. He felt so threatened by Daddy Freeze, he dropped his mask of holiness and became abusive. He told Daddy Freeze to “Shut up!”

    Said Ashimolowo “ex cathedra:” “Some bunch of yoyo somewhere should not determine what we believe. Some guy who beats his wife, throws her out, throws his children out of the house should not determine what we believe. Not only that, he broke his own son’s knees while trying to defend his wife. Not only that, he drinks alcohol, sleeps with women and he is trying to preach to preacher?”

    But, while we are on the subject, should Ashimolowo himself be telling anybody what to believe? Not according to Jesus.

    Jesus says: “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” (Matthew 7:3-5).

    Ashimolowo”s hypocrisy is mind-boggling. Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones.

    Wealth transfer

    Some years back, Ashimolowo advertised a crusade in Port Harcourt, captioned “The Coming Wealth Transfer.” This was based on the spurious pie-in-the-sky notion that God is soon going to transfer the wealth of non-Christians to Christians.

    However, officials of the Charity Commission in England, an organisation which routinely polices the affairs of nominally non-profit organisations including churches, detected a more genuine wealth transfer taking place in Ashimolowo’s KICC. That wealth transfer was not from God to the members of Ashimolowo’s church: it was from members of the church to Ashimolowo.

    The Commission discovered “serious misconduct and mismanagement” in the finances of KICC. It alleged that hundreds of thousands of pounds were dubiously transferred overseas. A £120,000 birthday party was given for Ashimolowo, out of which £80,000 was used to buy him a spanking Mercedes Benz. It was also reported that Ashimolowo used the church’s visa card to buy a timeshare apartment in Florida.

    Should a man with this questionable CV tell Christians what they should believe and give? You be the judge.

    The Commission maintained Ashimolowo acted as both trustee and paid employee of KICC, in contravention of British charity law. He allegedly approved suspicious payments and benefits to himself and his wife made to his private companies operated illegally from church premises. As a result of these irregularities, KICC was placed in the hands of receivers, new trustee managers were appointed and Ashimolowo was asked to repay £200,000 to the church.

    The upshot of this was that Ashimolowo relocated temporarily to Nigeria, where he started preaching about “Sweat-less Wealth,” and “Twenty-Four Hour Miracles.” The latter required the gullible to give their monies, cars, televisions, stereos, cell-phones and even the Certificates of Occupancy of their houses to preachers in order to receive fictitious financial windfalls from heaven within 24 hours. A few of my acquaintances were scammed at these 419 “crusades.”

    Deceived-deceivers

    God says: “Among my people are found wicked men; they lie in wait as one who sets snares; they set a trap; they catch men.”(Jeremiah 5:26). Daddy Freeze has put these tithe-collecting fraudsters on the warpath, fighting to defend their bank-balances. Surely, he did not expect them to surrender their meal-tickets without a fight.

    Who is afraid of Daddy Freeze? Thief- and-robber pastors. The fear of Daddy Freeze is the beginning of mischief in Nigerian churches.

  • Who is Jesus? [2] – Femi Aribisala

    By Femi Aribisala

    • The God who appeared to Abraham and promised him a son is none other than Jesus Christ.

    God says to Moses: “You cannot see my face; for no man shall see me, and live.” (Exodus 33:20). John equally affirms the same: “No one has seen God at any time.” (John 1:18).

    If no one has ever seen God and no man can see God and live, which God did Jacob speak to at Penuel? Jacob said: “I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.” (Genesis 32:30). How come Jacob did not die after seeing God? The same question applies to Moses: “The Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.” (Exodus 33:11). Which God did Moses speak to face to face?

    Jesus says to Israel about God the Father: “You have never heard his voice nor seen his form.” (John 5:37). But Moses saw the form of the Lord. God said: “My servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house. I speak with him face to face, even plainly, and not in dark sayings; and he sees the form of the Lord.” (Numbers 12:6-8). If no man has ever seen the form of the Lord, which Lord did Moses see?

    Glory of God

    The Lord no man has seen is God the Father. The Lord who spoke to Jacob and Moses face to face is the Lord Jesus Christ. Accordingly, David says by divine revelation: “The Lord says to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” (Psalm 110:1). David was king of Israel, so he had no earthly Lord. The Lord that spoke to his Lord was God the Father. The Lord that God the Father told to sit at his right hand is Jesus; God the Son.

    Jesus confirms this. He says to the Jews: “From now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God.” (Luke 22:69). The writer of 1 Peter further validates this. He says Jesus Christ has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand- with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.” (1 Peter 3:21-22).

    Isaiah also says: “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple.” (Isaiah 6:1). The Lord Isaiah saw was Jesus. This is confirmed in the New Testament: “Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him.” (John 12:41).

    Judge of all

    In Genesis, God appeared in person to Abraham. He then renewed his promise to give him a child: “I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son.” (Genesis18:10). Close investigation reveals that the God who appeared to Abraham and promised him a son is none other than Jesus Christ.

    Mindful that his nephew, Lot, lived in Sodom, Abraham pleaded with God concerning the planned destruction of the city. He said: “Far be it from you to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:24-25).

    Who is the judge of all the earth? It is Jesus. According to the testimony of Jesus himself: “The Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son.” (John5:22). Paul also affirms that Jesus is the judge of all: “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.” (2 Corinthians 5:10). So Jesus is the God who spoke to Abraham.

    Rock of Ages

    Not only Moses, but the elders of Israel are all said to have seen God: “Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel.” (Exodus 24:9-10). But again, the God they saw was Jesus Christ. Here is the proof.

    Moses chided Israel: “Jeshurun abandoned the God who made him and rejected the Rock his Savior.” (Deuteronomy 32:15). The psalmist says: “Behold, he struck the rock, so that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed.” (Psalm 78:20). Israel’s God and Rock is actually none other than the pre-incarnate Jesus.

    Paul says: “All our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.” (1 Corinthians 10:1-4).

    Jesus is the Rock of Ages. He is the one who enjoins us to build our house on the rock. (Matthew 7:24-25).

    God of Israel

    Indeed, on investigation, it becomes clear that Jesus is the God who called Moses to deliver Israel from Egypt.

    When God called Moses at the burning bush, Moses asked: “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” God replied: “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” (Exodus 3:13-14).

    Jesus reveals he is the “I AM” who sent Moses. He said to the Jews: “Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.” This irritated his listeners who queried him: “You are not yet fifty years old, and you have seen Abraham!” Jesus’ answer was loaded. He said: “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was born, I AM!” (John 8:56-58).

    This shows Jesus is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. (Exodus 3:15).

    Forgiver of sins

    When Jesus said: “I and my Father are one,” the Jews decided to stone him to death. They told him: “For a good work we do not stone you, but for blasphemy, and because you, being a man, make yourself God.” (John 10:33).

    However, again and again, Jesus proved to be true to his words. When a paralytic was brought to him, he told him: “Son, your sins are forgiven.” The teachers of the law who were there said: “He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Jesus then decided to demonstrate to them that he is God indeed.

    He asked them: “Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” He then said to the paralytic: “I tell you, get up, take your bed and go home.” (Mark 2:5-11). The man got up, picked up his bed and went home, proving once and for all that Jesus is the God he claims to be.

    In short, the God of the Old Testament is the Jesus of the New Testament. Jesus confirms this to the Jews: “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me.” (John 5:39).

  • Killing me softly – by Femi Aribisala

    By Femi Aribisala

    Something terrible happened to Mr. Job. Something happened that made him despair for life. Most people celebrate their birthday, but Job cursed the day of his birth. He wished he had never been born.

    Job longed for the peace of death: “Let the day of my birth be cursed,” he said, “and the night when I was conceived. Let that day be forever forgotten. Let it be lost even to God, shrouded in eternal darkness.”(Job 3:2-6).

    How did Job come to this predicament?

    Endangered life

    Life happened to Job. The life Jesus came to deliver us from happened to him. The life many cling to tenaciously and rapaciously happened to him. Imagine you are suffering from a terminal sickness and when you consulted your doctor he simply tells you: “You are suffering from life.” How can you be cured from life? Jesus is in that business. He is in the business of delivering men from counterfeit life to eternal life.

    Life became deadly to Job. Life became sickness to him. Solomon, in his wisdom, reached the same conclusion. He lamented: “Therefore I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me, for all is vanity and grasping for the wind.” (Ecclesiastes 2:17).

    Therefore, Job too hated life. At that stage, Job was ready for Christ. Job was a prime candidate for death, and for resurrection to newness of life by Jesus Christ.

    Job is everyman and he is every believer. Many Christians do not like to read the book of Job, afraid that his adversity might rub off on them. Most Christians would like to know Christ, but without the fellowship of his sufferings. But the dynamics of the kingdom of God indicate that God needs to take us to that place where we despair for life. He needs to take us to that place where we are convinced that it is better to die than to live. Only when he does this are we likely to relinquish counterfeit life.

    Sudden adversity

    Have you ever reached a point where you despaired for life? That is what life does. Life suddenly comes up with a problem for which you have absolutely no solution. Life suddenly throws you a curve. Everything was smooth sailing and you were blessing God and giving him thanks and then, “straightaway,” a major crisis of insoluble proportions shows up unannounced out of nowhere, and it completely changes your theology.

    Suddenly somebody close and dear dies. It might be a husband, it might be a wife, it might be a child, it might be a relative, and it might be a friend. Suddenly, there is a catastrophic accident, and somebody is hospitalised. Suddenly, there is a business failure, or a failed bank, or an armed robbery. Suddenly you lose your job.

    It has nothing to do with how righteous you are. It has nothing to do with how faithful to God you are. God himself testified that Job was righteous. And yet in one day, Job lost all his children, lost all his business and all his wealth, and then he lost his health. Then we are faced with the million-dollar question: will Job lose his faith as well?

    Why does this happen?

    Knowledge of good and evil

    It happens because we live in a fallen world. We live in a world that God was determined to shield man from. It is a world built with knowledge from the tree of good and evil. It ensures that everything man-made combines the good with the bad.

    Electricity provides light and it powers all kinds of useful gadgets. But the same electricity can shock and kill. The airplane is a wonderful means of transportation. It can take you from Cape Town to Cairo, or from Buenos Aires to New York in a relatively short time. But at the same time it can have blow up or come hurtling catastrophically down from the sky. It is only the blessing of the Lord and of the kingdom of God that enriches and adds no sorrow. The “blessings” of this world are prone to failure and can bring sorrow at any time.

    We live in a world under the sway of the evil one where the good, the bad and the ugly are intertwined. All are exposed to calamity. It is only in the future world where the good will be happy and the wicked will be punished. In the world to come, all that is irregular on earth will be regularised. “Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low.” (Isaiah 40:4).

    But here on earth, the sun shines on the good and on the evil. The wind blows, the rain falls, the storms come on the good and on the evil.

    Appointed to suffer

    The righteous actually obtain fewer blessings from God than the wicked in this world. The wicked are happier and more prosperous: “The truth is that the wicked live on to a good old age and become great and powerful. They live to see their children grow to maturity around them, and their grandchildren too. Their homes are safe from every fear, and God does not punish them… They are prosperous to the end.” (Job 21:7-12).

    The psalmist concurs: “Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches.” (Psalm 73:12).

    I woke up one morning to find the Lord singing a Roberta Flack song to me. The song goes: “Killing me softly with his words.” “But Lord Jesus,” I thought, “Why would you want to take my life? Why are you so determined to see me dead?” You may well ask if it was Jesus after my life. Would Jesus kill his beloved? Don’t ask me: ask Moses.

    Killing to make alive

    God called Moses to deliver the children of Israel from the hand of Pharaoh. But on the way, the same God met him and wanted to kill him: “It came to pass on the way, at the encampment, that the LORD met him and sought to kill him.” (Exodus 4:24).

    Does God want you dead? Don’t ask me. Ask David. He was promised a kingdom and anointed as king. But instead of going straight to the throne, he spent years running for his life. I know you thought he was running from Saul, but David was in no doubt it was God he was running from. He knew Saul could not succeed unless God allowed him. He knew only God could take his life.

    Therefore, David pleaded: “What will you gain, O Lord, from killing me? How can I praise you then to all my friends? How can my dust in the grave speak out and tell the world about your faithfulness? Hear me, Lord; oh, have pity and help me.” (Psalm 30:9-10).

    The Lord wants us dead. He wants us to surrender and, like Jesus, lay down our life. Then, and only then, can we receive the abundant life he has in store for us. Protestations will not change God’s will. If we want to live, we first have to die. God kills before he makes alive. (1 Samuel 2:6).

  • You must be born again – Femi Aribisala

    By Femi Aribisala

    My wife and son were trying to open a drawer at home, but it was stuck. They tried and tried, but to no avail. So they came to ask me to help. I said to them: “I’ll be with you in a minute.” When they left, I quickly turned to the Lord. I said to him: “If they cannot open the drawer, neither can I. But I know I can open it if you help me. Therefore, I am asking for your help.” Then I got up and went to the room where the problem was.

    When I got there, my wife turned the whole thing into one big joke. “Daddy, Daddy; strong, strong, Daddy,” she chanted, knowing I would not be able to open the drawer or, at best, would have difficulty doing so. But just then the Lord spoke to me. “Femi,” he said, I want you to stick out your little finger.” Then he said: “Use it to pull out the drawer.” When I did, the drawer came out easily and smoothly as if it had been greased or buttered; to the great astonishment of my wife and son.

    Born of God

    Nicodemus came to Jesus in amazement. He said to him: “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.” (John 3:2). Jesus gave him the way out of his predicament: “You must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:7-8).

    He explained to him furthermore: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (John 3:6). When you are born of the Spirit, you are born of God. For example, your name is no longer Simon, son of Jonah: your name becomes Simon, son of God. Therefore, Jesus says to his disciples: “Do not call anyone on earth your father; for one is your Father, he who is in heaven.” (Matthew 23:9).

    Jesus is the beginning of the new creation. (Revelation 3:14). The first human kind was in Adam. The new creation is in Christ. As Levi was in the loins of Abraham when Melchisedec met him, so have we been in the “loins” of God from the foundation of the world. As Noah was in the ark, so are we in Christ. The new creation is a completely different kind of human being. He comes through no human agency whatsoever. He is not by blood, or through the flesh, but as a result of the will of God. (John 1:13).

    There is only one new creation and he is Christ. There is only one personality. There is only one character. There is only one look, and that is Christ: “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:27-28).

    Body of Christ

    Christ is in the new creation. We often try to be religious by devotion, by dedication to the word, or by concentration on Christian graces. But Christ is in the new creation not as a result of any self-application, but because God has installed Christ in us. God is at work in the born again believer. What is he doing? He is working in Christ, systematically transforming the believer more and more into the likeness of Christ.

    Moreover, the new creation draws strength from the reservoir of the body of Christ. The body of Christ is not made up of one part but of many parts. Therefore, the born again believer is no longer alone. He is now a member of an incredibly large family. When God said: “touch not my anointed,” it is not a vain threat. The new creation is his brother’s keeper: “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honoured, every part rejoices with it.” (1 Corinthians 12:26).

    Therefore the man who dares to fight a born again believer is going to have to face him together with all his relations. He might be in Lagos, but there are brothers and sisters of his in Toronto and everywhere else prevailing in battle on his behalf. Once the battle cry is raised, a message is transmitted to the twelve tribes of Israel that it is time to repel the forces of the enemy. So it is spiritually with the body of Christ.

    Therefore know this for certain now, son of God; you are no longer alone. You are now part of a great army united in spirit and in power. You now have the spirit of excellence. You have the spirit of wisdom and revelation. You can see the invisible kingdom of God. You can hear the voice of God. You can perform miracles and do the works of Christ. You are the fulfilment of the law and the prophets.

    Veiled glory

    The new creation stands in perfect atonement with Christ and with God. This was the prayer of Jesus and it was answered completely at the Pentecost: “That they all may be one, as you, Father, are in me, and I in you; that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. And the glory which you gave me I have given them, that they may be one just as we are one.” (John 17:21-22).

    Jesus said to Nicodemus: “ No one has ascended to heaven but he who came down from heaven, that is, the son of man who is in heaven.” (John 3:13). This is a wonderful kingdom dynamic. The son of man who is in heaven is here on earth at the same time talking to Nicodemus.

    As a man on earth, the pre-incarnate glory of Jesus was veiled. This ensured that Jesus baffled many. There was dissonance between his mighty works and his human pedigree. People wondered about him. He was brilliant, and yet he never went to school. “He’s just a carpenter’s son,” they reasoned, and yet no carpenter ever healed the sick and raised the dead. But we know his mother and his brothers. Surely he is just another Joe. (Matthew 13:55).

    But at the Mount of Transfiguration, Peter, John and James discovered what type of man Jesus is. They saw him in a completely different manner, covered with the splendour and glory of God. That is the nature of the new creation.

    “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:1-2).

  • Developing immunities to Christ – Femi Aribisala

    Developing immunities to Christ – Femi Aribisala

    By Femi Aribisala
    Many Christians reject central tenets of the faith Jesus delivered, while still claiming to be Christians.
    We have been socialised on the word of men, contrary to the word of God.
    Indeed, many have established no-go areas in their hearts and minds against the word of God. These no-go areas pertain to issues dear to us, about which we are not prepared to entertain anything contrary.
    Thus, when a man loves money and desires to be rich, he would not entertain a gospel about Jesus living on earth as a poor man, but would rather transform the donkey he rode into Jerusalem into a Cadillac.
    When a man’s heart is set on acquiring the good things of this life, he becomes immune to a gospel which insists we should hate the world and the things in the world. When a man is determined to prosper in the world, he becomes immune to any message that prescribes suffering for the sake of the gospel.
    Enemies of the cross
    The result of these “immunities” is that many Christians become “estranged from Christ.” Just like the Peter of old before the transformative Pentecost, we love the things of men more than the things of God. We persist in our own righteousness and reject the righteousness of God. We justify ungodliness by the idols of our heart. We prefer to be told what we want to hear than to hear the true word of God. We would rather be told lies than the truth.
    Needless to say, God finds this tendency particularly offensive. He says through Isaiah: “They tell my prophets, ‘Shut up- we don’t want any more of your reports!’ Or they say, ‘Don’t tell us the truth; tell us nice things; tell us lies. Forget all this gloom; we’ve heard more than enough about your ‘Holy One of Israel’ and all he says.’” (Isaiah 30:10).
    Therefore, the Lord himself sets us a trap. Since we don’t want to hear the truth, God makes sure we believe lies. He sends us his word but not in order to save. The word of God is preached that we may be snared by it. Isaiah says: “The word of the LORD was to them, ‘Precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little,’ that they might go and fall backward, and be broken and snared and caught.” (Isaiah 28:13).
    All men cannot receive the truth, but most men can receive lies. All men can receive money, but most cannot receive peace of mind. All men can receive death but most cannot receive life. Jesus said to the Jews: “He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.” (John 8:47).
    Vaccination against the truth
    Many Christians have been so socialised on the traditions of men, we find it difficult to receive the word of God. Solomon says: “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6). But when a child is breast-fed on falsehood, it becomes difficult for him to receive the truth. False doctrines immunise us against the truth. That is why it is sometimes easier to preach the gospel to an unbeliever than to a Christian.
    These immunities to the word of God are often developed by the very act of going to church. We do so by being followers of men and not of Christ. Without realising it, the messages we prefer vaccinate us against the sincere milk of the word. When we don’t read the scriptures for ourselves to find out the truth for ourselves, we become open to all kinds of strange self-serving indoctrinations.
    Once we are grounded on falsehood, the truth of God becomes offensive to us. When we hear the true word, it provokes us and makes us uncomfortable. God’s wisdom is peculiar; it is by nature unpalatable to the flesh. It requires us to turn the other cheek, when we want to fight back. It asks us to pray for our enemies when we want them punished. It asks us to submit to one another, when we don’t feel like it. It asks us to obey our masters, even when they are horrid.
    Therefore, even though we say we are Christians, we simply refuse to accept the counsel of God. The answer is that we pick and choose which scriptures we will obey. And yet, Christ cannot be divided. Jeremiah says: “To whom shall I speak and give warning, that they may hear? Indeed their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot give heed. Behold, the word of the LORD is a reproach to them; they have no delight in it.” (Jeremiah 6:10).
    Pick and choose
    If the scripture is about blessings, we cram it, recite it and claim it. If it is about righteousness we overlook or ignore it. When it is convenient for us, we stand on the word of God. When it is inconvenient, we reject it. So doing, Jesus becomes for us: “a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence.” (1 Peter 2:8).
    The Lord is constructing a building. The scriptures say we are that building. But the stone he is using is the word of God. He is building us up precept by precept; line upon line. But when we prefer the word of men to the word of God, then the building becomes our building. The Lord is no longer the builder: we are the builder. But the psalmist warns: “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labour in vain who build it.” (Psalm 127:1).
    Thereby, many depart from the true faith without even realising it. We quote the scriptures but fail to abide by its precepts. We go regularly to church, but are no longer believers. We preach stridently about one thing and do the exact opposite. We talk love but act hate. We preach to others but fail to preach to ourselves.
    God knows how many times we have heard it preached that fornicators will not inherit the kingdom of God. Nevertheless, we continue to sleep with our boyfriends and girlfriends. We are still telling lies. We are still being mean, abusive and quarrelsome. We say to ourselves: “This particular scripture cannot apply to me. After all, God knows that it is not possible for a man to clear his goods at the ports without paying bribes.” “God knows that if I don’t get pregnant my fiancé might not know I am fertile and therefore might not marry me.”
    And so it goes on and on. Ever so gradually, we convince ourselves that God will understand and condone our sins. After all, “nobody is perfect.” Without realising it, we soon become children of disobedience.
    Jesus is the stone the builders rejected that has become the chief cornerstone. (Matthew 21:42 ). What he says to biblical Israel, he say to us today: “Therefore the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.” (Matthew 21:43).
    On the last day, we shall be judged by the truths we reject. (John 12:47-50).

  • Prolific scholar, Femi Aribisala writes for TheNewsGuru.com

    Prolific writer and scholar, Femi Aribisala joins the growing list of influential writers and columnists writing for TheNewsGuru.com starting from this Sunday.

    As usual, It’s controversial. It’s “unputdownable”. It’s hot. It’s typical Femi Aribisala!

    Join us from tomorrow (Sunday) to sip from the revered scholar’s pool of knowledge.