TheNewsGuru

Tag: God

  • Victory comes from God, By Owei Lakemfa

    By Owei Lakemfa

    IT seemed a depressing day. Sunday July 18, 2021. News filtered that another military aircraft had crashed or been shot down. That would have been the fifth military aircraft lost in seven months by a debt-ridden country, facing serious insecurity and barely coping with grinding poverty and hyperinflation.

     

    My thoughts were not really on these, they were more on the soul or souls that might have been lost. But as the news or rumours gathered strength like a strong hurricane, the good news came from the military that this was fake news; in fact, no military jet had been in the air that day.

     

    However as I settled down to other matters, a video started circulating showing an helicopter conveying a Nigeria Air Force pilot, Flight-Lt. Abayomi Dairo who had survived and evaded capture when bandits that day, shot down an Alpha Jet he was flying on a mission over the boundaries of Zamfara and Kaduna states. Happiness enveloped the country; nobody was interested in the loss of another military jet or the earlier denial of the military, for this was indeed, a miraculous escape by a young pilot.

     

    The jet he was flying had explosives when it was hit, and the flight controls were destroyed. He ejected, aware he was right in enemy territory and would certainly be executed if captured. To add to his nightmares, on hitting the ground, he sustained a fracture in the neck, a strained foot and experienced a painful back and chest. Yet, he was able to cover almost 30 kilometres evading capture despite not having had any food or water all day.

     

    However, critical questions remain unanswered. Are those capable of bring down a jet fighter really bandits? Why would bandits whose main preoccupation is to kidnap for ransom, acquire anti-aircraft military hardware? If indeed they are bandits, is it the case that they have mutated into an insurgency variant?

     

    In that case, are we not at war? Again, given repeated claims by some governors and the Presidency that many of these so-called bandits are foreigners, is Nigeria not being invaded? Is it a case of the country’s leaders misdiagnosing leprosy as scabies (Craw-craw)?

     

    The next day, there was more good news for Nigerians as 100 children and women abducted in Zamfara State on June 8 by bandits, were released. There was no explanation why there were no males amongst them. As in all cases, the police claimed no ransom was paid. So, was it a case of the bandits in festive mood releasing their victims to celebrate the season?

     

    Another cheering news for Nigerians came; that the first batch of six A-29 Super Tucano aircraft bought from the United States have arrived the country after being flown across Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Spain, and Algeria. We are told that these are quite deadly combat aircraft that would decimate those waging war against Nigerians in Nigeria. The miraculous survival of our gallant pilot, release of so many women and children and the arrival of the Tucano aircraft were like a gift at this period of Sallah. On Tuesday, Sallah day, there was a breaking news that jammed the airwaves.

     

    After the Eid-el-Kabir prayers, President Muhammadu Buhari, dressed in a sky blue flowing robe with heavy security around him, trekked some metres from the prayer ground in his hometown Daura to his homestead! As a reporter, I wondered whether that was news. As a former Editor, would I have flashed that as breaking news and not the important message of hope to Nigerians the President gave? It then occurred to me that I might be missing the point the President’s handlers were trying to make. He was supposed to have travelled to Britain for his medicals on June 25 and return in the second week of August. So perhaps they want to prove that despite missing his medicals, the President is still strong enough to walk.

     

    It can also be an attempt to show Nigerians that despite advancing age, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, is still quite strong and capable of leading the war against terrorists, bandits and insurgents. It is equally possible that the point the Presidency is trying to make is that Katsina State is safer than when Buhari visited in December 2020. During that visit, bandits on December 11, kidnapped some 300 boys from the Government Science Secondary School, Kankara. They spent six days in captivity before their release in neigbouring Zamfara State. President Buhari’s advertised walk might also be a way of showing Nigerians that he remains a crowd puller.

     

    Such cheering scenario is dampened by the fact that many parts of the country are still under siege. Outside the North East where the war against Islamic insurgents has raged for about a dozen years, the epicentre of mass killings and banditry in recent times, has shifted from Plateau to Benue, Zamfara to Katsina, Niger to Kaduna State. The killings in Zango Kataf area of Kaduna State has turned the territory to into a huge waste land.The Atyap Community in the area announced that in the latest attacks, 42 persons were killed, seven injured and 338 houses set ablaze. It claimed that the community was attacked for seven days without the military coming to the aid of the victims. Expectedly, all schools and religious centres have closed and economic activities and farming have ceased.

     

    In trying to think through all these, I reflected that the country is at war virtually everywhere. In the North East especially in Borno and Yobe states, with the remnants of Boko Haram and their new foreign masters of the Islamic State. In the North Central from Niger, Nassarawa and Benue through Plateau on to Taraba, with rampaging terrorists. In the North Western states of Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto and Kaduna, against increasingly powerful bandits; in the South West with Yoruba nationalists; in the South East with pro-secessionist groups and limited skirmishes in the South-South which is also threatened by deadly banditry.

     

    The reality is that the Nigerian security forces are incapable of winning all these battles or wars. What common sense dictates is that instead of fighting on all fronts, the Buhari administration should pick what battles to fight; rather than run in circles around the country and achieve little, it should negotiate with some groups.

     

    In all humility, I also suggest to the administration to give some listening ear and thought to the Sallah advice of the Sultan of Sokoto and President-General Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, SCIA, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III. Especially where he declared: “It is no longer a story but a reality, people are in dire need of the leaders’ commitment to addressing the high rate of poverty, insecurity, and hunger among other numerous challenges.”

     

  • Take your grievances to God-TV presenter Morayo Brown tells sacked Winners’ pastors

    Take your grievances to God-TV presenter Morayo Brown tells sacked Winners’ pastors

    Popular media personality, Morayo Afolabi-Brown, has urged the sacked pastors at the Living Faith Church International, better known as Winners Chapel, to take their grievances to God.

    The TV host made this known on her verified Instagram page @morayobrown on Sunday, following the report on the sacking of pastors at the church.

    She wrote, “God is the real MD (Managing Director) of any Bible believing church. If you get ‘sacked’, take your grievances to Him, not the media. Only He can compensate you, not the rabble rousers on social media.”

    This came shortly after a certain Pastor Peter Godwin, a minister at the Winners Chapel, claimed that the church sacked him and about 40 other pastors in Ekiti State for failing to grow their respective parishes.

     

    In a letter that has been trending on social media, which is dated June 25, 2021 and signed by the Executive Secretary of the church, Adebisi Aboluwade, the pastors were asked to evacuate their official accommodation and hand over their identity cards to their respective area pastors.

    In a trending video, Pastor Godwin, who claimed to be one of the pastors affected in Ekiti State, said he was employed on August 28, 2020.

    He said that he was invited with about 40 of his colleagues by the state pastor on July 1, 2021, but was sacked for failing to grow the income of the church.

    The pastor said that, on July 1, he received a call that the state pastor wanted to see him, and that he was amazed to see about 40 other pastors when he arrived.

    Godwin said, “When I got there, I saw other pastors too, over 40 of them. So, I joined them.

    “A few minutes later, we were [each] issued a letter. I opened the content of the letter to see what was there and I saw that it was a sack letter.

    “So, I called the management the next day to find out what happened since I wasn’t involved in any dubious activity or evil act. I was told by the management that the church doesn’t operate at a loss.

    “They also told me that the total income that is being generated from my station should be able to cater for my welfare and accommodation, so as a result of low income, I’m hereby dismissed.”

  • The voices of man and God may differ, By Owei Lakemfa

    By Owei Lakemfa

    THE Imo State gubernatorial election in March 2019 was a crowded field of 70. A former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives and candidate of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, Emeka Ihedioha, came first with 273,404 votes. Coming a distant second was Uche Nwosu of the Action Alliance who polled 190,364 votes.

    Third was Ifeanyi Ararume of the All Progressives Grand Alliance with 114, 676, while Hope Uzondima of the All Progressives Congress, APC – the ruling party in the country – with 96,458 votes, came fourth. Former Governor Ikedi Ohakim of the Accord Party with 6,846 votes came fifth. Ihedioha was accordingly sworn into office as the elected Governor.

     

    However, Hope Uzodinma, the man who came a distant fourth in the elections, approached the Supreme Court making what appeared to be a laughable and hopeless case that in his pouch, he had votes from 388 polling units which a policeman who is not a member of the electoral commission, had collated for him.

     

    In still unclear circumstances, the Supreme Court admitted these unverified votes and awarded all to Uzodinma without indicating the votes scored by the 69 other contestants. Also, without evidence of Uzodinma meeting other constitutional provisions, the apex court declared him the State Governor!

     

    A shocked Governor Ihedioha raced back to the Supreme Court urging it to review its decision in the interest of justice and democracy, but the gods of the court in a false sense of infallibility declared that whatever they decide, is eternal: “it shall remain forever.”

     

    One of the seven lords who sat in judgement, Justice Centus Nweze, was a voice crying in the wilderness of justice. He pointed out among other things that Uzodinma had at the Election Tribunal admitted that he hijacked the result sheets from the electoral officials and completed the result sheets by himself.

    He warned his fellow lords that “the decision of the Supreme Court in the instant matter will continue to haunt our electoral jurisprudence for a long time to come”. But his colleagues would not listen.

     

    So it came to pass that they imposed Uzodinma on the people of Imo State, hence the popular appellation of the latter as a ‘Supreme Court Governor’. This is what Fela would have called ‘Government magic’. But no matter the illusion, the Supreme Court Justices are mere mortals imbued with human frailties.

     

    However, matters took a spiritual turn when on July 2, 2021 the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, His Eminence, Samson Ayokunle, travelled from his Oyo Town homestead and crossed the River Niger to go sanctify and beatify the controversial election results.

     

    The CAN president, without stating whether he consulted other CAN leaders or affiliates, saw a vision or was sent by God, told controversial Governor Uzodinma: “Let me tell you this, before you take any step or action, hear the voice of God, and you don’t reject the voice of God. I say this because you are a miracle governor. Your coming as governor was as a result of God’s decision. So, you are a miracle governor. That is why any step taken against you will be subdued because your coming as governor can only be possible by God.”

     

    So, is the ‘victory’ of Uzodinma magic or miracle? If the argument is that it is only God that puts people in power, was he also the one that put Adolf Hitler in power who gassed six million Jews and ignited the Second World War that led to 75 million deaths? Was he the one that put King Leopold II of Belgium in power resulting in the massacre of 16 million Congolese just to satisfy his colonial greed? In Imo State, was that the voice of Samson Olasupo Adenyi Ayokunle, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Amos and Theresa Bibilari Ogunkunle, or that of God?

     

    His Excellency Yahaya Bello of Kogi State is another controversial governor who brooks no opposition. In the 2019 elections, his supporters sang approvingly in the streets that anybody who opposed him would be shot. Indeed, people were killed before, during and after the elections.

     

    Thugs celebrating his victory burnt alive Mrs. Acheju Abuh, the PDP Women Leader right inside her home, and used arms to prevent her neigbours from rescuing her from the flames. Bello’s undemocratic actions are long and windy. But my primary concern here is his position on the corona virus, COVID-19.

    Even after many worldwide had been killed by COVID-19, he insisted that the virus does not exist and, therefore, refused to allow a lockdown of the state. When against his beliefs, officials of the NCDC visited the state as part of measures to combat the virus, he threatened to detain them in an isolation centre.

     

    Mass gatherings were known to be super spreaders of the virus; this led to the Federal Government banning all mass gatherings. Bello’s way of circumventing this was to call a meeting of religious leaders in the state and pose the question whether people should be allowed to congregate for religious activities. He announced that the result of his curious referendum was that majority of the clerics voted for re-opening places of worship.

    Also, when medical personnel in the state insisted that they be provided with Personal Protective Equipment, PPE, even if Bello does not believe that the coronavirus is real, armed thugs invaded the hospitals attacking doctors, nurses and other health personnel.

     

    Incredulously, when Pastor Enoch Adeboye, the General Overseer of the over five-million member Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG visited Bello on May 22, 2021, he praised his actions on the pandemic. The man of God told Governor Bello: “We are delighted by your show of faith in God, particularly in dealing with coronavirus. It takes a man of faith to have acted the way you did and we are very pleased with you.”

     

    Pastor Adeboye, a man with a first degree in Mathematics, a Masters in Hydrodynamics and a Ph.D in Applied Mathematics surely knows about science. Rather than praise, he ought to have admonished Bello whose actions and inactions on COVID-19, like that of President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, tantamount to crimes against humanity because they not only endangered the lives of Nigerians, but also deliberately compromised humanity’s collective fight for survival against the evil pandemic.

     

    The day Adeboye visited Bello, the world had witnessed about 167.2 million infections with over 3.47 million human beings dead; so, was this the voice of Pastor Adeboye or God?

     

    I think when men of God meet secular leaders, they should like Prophet Amos insist that “justice rolls down as waters, and righteousness like an ever flowing stream” (Amos 5:24). Is it not said that righteousness exalts a nation?

     

  • Paying the price – Femi Aribisala

    By Femi Aribisala

    Have you ever been to an expensive wedding that was a no holds barred affair? The champagne was ordered custom-made from France. The wedding cake was a three-story building. Forget about the wedding, but tell me, what happened to the marriage?

    One year later, they got divorced. What a waste of money. All that expenditure went up in smoke. You did not know at the time that the best man was also a divorce lawyer.

    Have you not noticed that the rich tend to be more security conscious than others? Why is that? They have more to lose and therefore have more to protect.

    What about you? Do you have anything to protect? Have you received anything that you need to guard jealously? If indeed the thief has come to steal, to kill, and to destroy (John 10:10), do you have anything worth stealing? What kind of security system do you have against the thief?

    The songwriter says: “Let the weak say that I am strong because of what the Lord has done for him.” (Joel 3:10).

    Despising God’s grace

    Your uncle gave you an exclusive car. It was the latest Lexus Jeep, custom-made. It was one of a kind. When they made it, they broke the mold. Everybody came and admired it. But what happened to the Lexus?

    Within two weeks you had crashed it into the Carter Bridge. They had to use a chain saw to remove you from the wreckage. What happened to the car? It was damaged beyond repair. Whose fault was it? Yours, because you despised, in effect, the gift of your uncle.

    The bible tells the story of two women. Both of them were sinners: harlots as a matter of fact. Nevertheless, the merciful Lord who is not a respecter of persons, who makes the sun to shine on the good and the bad, blessed both with children.

    But one was careless with her gift, so careless that she slept on her child and suffocated him to death. Thereafter, she envied the other her living child and stole it. Her game plan was simple. Either I end up with the child, or neither of us would have a child.

    When the matter was brought before the king, she readily accepted his verdict to cut the child into two. She said: “Let it be neither yours nor mine.” (1 Kings 3:26).

    Devil at work

    That woman was working for the thief. The devil has lost out. He lost his inheritance and was cast out of heaven. But he is determined that you should not come into your inheritance as well. It all depends on whether we know the value of what we received. It is only a birthright, so why is Jacob so determined to get it from Esau?

    Salvation is free. Jesus says: “Freely have you received.” The kingdom of God is free. But although it is freely given and freely received, we still have to work it out.

    Solomon says: “Build a wall, invite a burglar.” (Proverbs 17:19).

    Salvation is such a big gift that it makes us prime candidates for armed robbery. Our salvation was announced on the airwaves, and the prince of the power of the air heard it. The men of the underworld were all waiting outside during the award ceremony.

    So, although the gift was freely given, although we did no work to receive it, nevertheless, we are going to have to do a lot to keep it and to enjoy it.

    Who are these armed robbers and where are they exactly? Listen and understand. The worst armed robbers of all are in the churches. “Then (Jesus) taught, saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’” (Mark 11:17).

    You have just collected a lorry-load of cold hard cash from the Lord. But the problem is that the whole thing was carried in the newspapers and on television. Jesus says the whole place is full of armed robbers. They have come to steal, to kill, and to destroy. The whole neighbourhood gathered when the trailer came bringing in everything.

    How are you going to enjoy the abundant life that Jesus promised in that neighbourhood? Will you save your life by returning the gift so that you can at least live in peace? Or will you receive the gift and get ready to fight for your rights?

    Pay the price

    Jesus says: “From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.” (Matthew 11:12).

    The outfit was so beautiful, so lovely. You just had to have it. That is until you found out the price. Then you lost interest. Suddenly, it is not that good an outfit after all. What if someone were to buy it for you? Oh yes, please. But you said you do not like it anymore. Well, I could not afford it. Not exactly, you were just not prepared to pay the price.

    For how long are we going to look for charlatans to lay hands on us? For how long are we going to look for snake-oil salesmen to pray for us? It is time to grow up.

    The salvation of the soul is perfected: “In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. (2 Corinthians 11:27).

    Jesus paid the price. Even though he is God, nevertheless He paid the price. “Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. (Hebrews 5:8).

    The salvation of the soul will not take place without an effort on our part. Health and life will not take place without our exertion. Jesus says” “My father is always working.” (John 5:17). If God works, then we must work. A servant is not greater than his master.

    Work it out

    We must work out what God has worked in. Paul says: “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:12-13).

    “The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.” (Psalm 78:9). God armed them, nevertheless, they failed to realise that they still needed to fight for their deliverance.

    Jesus healed a paralytic with the command: “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” (John 5:8-9). Even though he was healed, he still had to rise, take up his bed, and walk. Without doing that, his obedience would not be complete, and his healing would not be perfected.

    There is no shortcut. There are no five easy steps to the anointing that breaks every yoke.

    Therefore, “Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.” (Ephesians 6:10). “Stir up the gift of God which is in you.” (2 Timothy 1:6). “Wage the good warfare. (1 Timothy 1:18). “Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life.” (1 Timothy 6:12). “Contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.” (Jude 1:3).

  • By his stripes we are healed – Femi Aribisala

    Abraham was a faithful man in all his ways. He was not only faithful to God: he was faithful to man. He was faithful to Sarah his wife.

    If there was anything Abraham wanted in this world, it was to have a son. However, Abraham discovered that Sarah, the woman he married, was barren.

    Abraham could have insisted that Sarah must get pregnant before they are married, so he can be sure she can conceive. But he did not. He might have waited for a few years and then married wife number two just to get a child. But he did not. He might have warned Sarah that all bets are off if she does not give him a son.

    But Abraham did not take any of these lines of action. He remained faithful to his barren wife. Then one day, God appeared to faithful Abraham and promised him a son. Abraham must have told Sarah about this promise of God. They must have been very excited. They must have celebrated this wonderful promise of God.

    But then they waited, and no child came. They waited and waited. To all intents and purposes, God had forgotten about His promise.

    Sarah’s carnal plan

    Then one day, Sarah decided that God needed help. She came up with a plan.

    “Abraham, you are a faithful man. You have been faithful to me even though I was barren. You did not drop me and marry another woman. You did not start sleeping around. You did not have mistresses. I am giving you full permission to sleep with our house-girl, Hagar. If she has a child by you, I will regard the child as mine.”

    Abraham must have asked Sarah: “Are you sure? Are you sure about this? Are you sure you won’t mind if I start sleeping with the house-girl?” Sarah said: “I won’t mind. Am I not the one suggesting it now? I would rather have a child through her than not have a child at all.”

    So faithful Abraham started sleeping with the house-girl. And lo and behold, the house-girl becomes pregnant. But once the house-girl becomes pregnant, she started acting strange and uppity with Sarah: “After all, with all your ‘Madam, Madam,’ I have been sleeping with your husband. With all your ‘Madam, Madam’ you cannot even have a child. With all your ‘Madam, Madam,’ I am the one carrying Abraham’s child.”

    Then Sarah attacked Abraham. She said to him: “My wrong be upon you! I gave my maid into your embrace; and when she saw that she had conceived, I became despised in her eyes. The LORD judge between you and me.” (Genesis 16:5).

    Sarah said to Abraham: “My wrong be upon you.” Yes, I was the one who made the mistake of asking you to sleep with the house-girl. Nevertheless, I want you to know that my mistake is your fault. Let the Lord judge between you and me.

    Kingdom dynamics

    Who is to blame, Abraham or Sarah?” If the Lord was to judge between Sarah and Abraham, whose side would the Lord take? Would the Lord blame Abraham for Sarah’s mistake? Would He put the wrong of Sarah on Abraham?

    In effect, Sarah said: “Abraham, I know God. Abraham, I understand kingdom dynamics. I know that God would put my wrong on you.”

    Is Sarah right in this conclusion or is she wrong?

    Yes, she is. God is going to blame Sarah’s wrong on Abraham. In the first place, Sarah is a woman under the authority of her husband. If she does anything wrong, God is going to hold her husband, Abraham, responsible.

    God said of Abraham: “I have singled him out so that he will direct his sons and their families to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just. Then I will do for Abraham all that I have promised.” (Genesis 18:19).

    At long last, the Lord opened the womb of Sarah and she conceived and gave birth to Isaac. The child grew and was weaned. But one day, Sarah caught Ishmael, Abraham’s son by Hagar, laughing at Isaac. And Sarah went to Abraham and insisted:

    “Throw out this bondwoman Hagar and her bastard child, Ishmael, because Ishmael will never inherit with my son Isaac.”

    Abraham was angry. “Why should I throw out my son Ishmael? Were you not the one who talked me into having him? Now that you have Isaac, you are only interested in Isaac your son; conveniently forgetting that Ishmael is also my son.”

    But the Lord took sides with Sarah because, here again, Sarah understood kingdom dynamics.

    “God said to Abraham, ‘Do not let it be displeasing in your sight because of the lad or because of your bondwoman. Whatever Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice; for in Isaac your seed shall be called.’” (Genesis 21:12).

    Scapegoat

    Sarah said: “My wrong be upon you Abraham,” and God agreed. We need to understand this peculiar way of God for it runs contrary to human logic and reasoning. We get an inkling of it when we observe the scapegoat principle of the sacrificial system under the Law of Moses.

    God says the priest: “Shall take the two goats and present them before the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. Then Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats: one lot for the LORD and the other lot for the scapegoat. And Aaron shall bring the goat on which the LORD’S lot fell, and offer it as a sin offering. But the goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make atonement upon it, and to let it go as the scapegoat into the wilderness.” (Leviticus 16:7-10).

    God, in His mercy, justifies the ungodly. (Romans 4:5). He visits the iniquities of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations. Jeremiah says: “Our fathers sinned and are no more, but we bear their iniquities.” (Lamentations 5:7).

    It was Adam who sinned, but he blamed God and God took the responsibility in Christ. We were blamed for Adam’s sins, that we may be justified by Christ’s righteousness. We were the ones who sinned, but the Lord laid all our iniquity on Jesus:

    “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6).

    Is it fair for God to punish Jesus for our sins and acquit us? If we consider it to be unfair, then we must be prepared to be judged for our sins, and the guilty verdict is inevitable. If we consider it to be fair, then we can no longer complain of injustice from a human point of view. If God cannot impute Adam’s sin to us, then He cannot impute Christ’s righteousness to us.

    “Just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works: ‘Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.” (Romans 4:6-8).

    CONTINUED

  • Mega pastors and mega churches – Femi Aribisala

     

    By Femi Aribisala

    Pastors contradict the counsel of the Lord without batting their eyelids. They plant church parishes like supermarkets in every street corner. They build cathedrals and church monuments like World Trade Centres, each one striving to be the biggest and most splendiferous in the universe.

    They gather thousands, even millions, of “worshippers” in front of television cameras every so often on the mountains of Kilimanjaro. They are the new spiritual superstars; the mega-pastors of the mega-churches.

    While the emphasis of some mega-churches on branch-networking and exponential growth might be a wonderful policy for a fast-food chain, as a framework for a Christian organisation, it has tended to produce half-baked pastors.

    Carnal growth

    In the world today, success in “churchianity” is measured by the size of the congregation and not by changed lives. Accordingly, highfalutin mega-pastors have fine-tuned church-growth strategies. It is all a question of numbers, numbers, and more numbers.

    Numbers determine how much money is fleeced from the flock. Numbers determine the extent of pastoral control and captivity of men. When pastors meet, the unspoken question is “how big is your church?” The answer determines social status. Like Mordecai to Haman, the pastors of mini churches are required to bow down to the mega-pastors.

    One pastor even maintains God gave him the specific mandate to establish mega-churches, as opposed to mini ones. raise up churches: he has only one church. He does not ask men to build churches for Him. Jesus says: “I will build My church.” (Matthew 16:18). Moreover, God despises what men esteem. (Luke 16:15). Therefore, He generally prefers the mini to the mega.

    Jesus identifies God’s flock as little, as opposed to large. He says: “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32). Thus, Zechariah asks rhetorically: “Who has despised the day of small things?” (Zechariah 4:10).

    Deceitfulness of riches

    Think of a man with companies at home and abroad. He has houses in every state capital and in choice locations all over the world. He has a fleet of cars and his own jet planes. My sister, is that not the kind of husband you would like? Know this for sure: God is less than impressed.

    The Lord says: “Tell the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your King is coming to you, lowly, and sitting on a donkey.’” (Matthew 21:5). Daughter of Zion, Jesus was not the classical husband-material. He did not drive around in a Mercedes-Jeep, but on a donkey. He did not even build His own house. Instead, He said: “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” (Matthew 8:20).

    Think of a woman of great and dazzling beauty. Our very own Agbani Darego easily comes to mind. She blazed the trail as Nigeria’s first Miss World; for a season, the acclaimed most beautiful woman in the world.

    But if we were to seek God’s opinion, He would consider her beauty to be ugly. That is why Jesus had to be an ugly man; that His beauty might be exclusively divine. Isaiah says Jesus was ugly: “He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.” (Isaiah 53:2).

    However, because Jesus was ugly according to the values of this world, He was handsome according to the values of the kingdom of God. The beauty of the Lord is the beauty of holiness. (2 Chronicles 20:21). His beauty is the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit that is of great price in the eyes of the Lord. (1 Peter 3:4).

    Kingdom dynamics

    Indeed, according to Jesus’ kingdom dynamics, the popularity of a church is eloquent testimony of failure and not of success. Jesus told his disciples: “The world would love you if you belonged to it; but you don’t- for I chose you to come out of the world, and so it hates you.” (John 15:19).

    However, the world loves today’s mega-pastors. Nothing rubbished a Nigerian pastor’s ministry more eloquently than Newsweek’s declaration that he is one of the world’s most respected men. Jesus says: “Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets.” (Luke 6:26).

    “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the LORD of hosts. Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain!’” (Zechariah 4:6-7).

    One of the great mountains before Zerubbabel was Solomon’s temple. Those charged with rebuilding it were intimidated that the new temple would not have the splendour and majesty of the old.

    But God is not concerned with size and other externalities. Through Haggai, he notes that, in spite of its physical shortcomings, “the glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former.” (Haggai 2:9). Before Zerubbabel, the great mountain of Solomon’s temple would become a plain.

    When the disciples extolled the splendour of the Jerusalem temple to Jesus, He replied: “All these buildings will be knocked down, with not one stone left on top of another!” (Matthew 24:2). The same fate awaits the magnificent cathedrals of today.

    God’s verdict

    In the kingdom of God, it is the stone the builders reject that becomes the headstone. (Psalm 118:22). According to Jesus, the first will become last and the last first. (Mark 10:31). So, today’s “first-class” pastors and their majestic churches will eventually be humbled.

    Isaiah says: “every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill brought low.” (Isaiah 40:4). This indicates that, in the day of the Lord, we are likely to discover that the big church is small in the sight of the Lord and the small church is big.

    Mega-churches readily sacrifice the doctrine of Christ on the altar of the imperatives for a large following. But we are not called to empire-building but to righteousness. Indeed, Jesus says to popular mega-churches across the ages: “I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.” (Revelation 3:1).

    David got into trouble with God when he became preoccupied with size. When pride moved him to conduct a census in Israel in order to glory in the size of his kingdom, God responded by decimating it with pestilence which killed seventy-thousand men. (2 Samuel 24:1-15). Jesus himself was not the product of a big “church,” but of little Bethlehem Ephrathah. (Micah 5:2).

    The messages that promote numerical growth often impede spiritual growth. Everywhere, pastors are engaged in church-planting, for the primary purpose of increasing their dominion and finances. The outcome is the mushrooming of churches that are impressive to men, but contemptible to God.

    Isaiah warns: “Because you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and have not been mindful of the Rock of your stronghold, therefore you will plant pleasant plants and set out foreign seedlings; in the day you will make your plant to grow, and in the morning you will make your seed to flourish; but the harvest will be a heap of ruins in the day of grief and desperate sorrow.” (Isaiah 17:10-11).

  • The Strange ways of God – Femi Aribisala

    By Femi Aribisala

    When we come to Christ, we must forsake not only our ways but also our thoughts. Isaiah says: “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:7). We must also jettison the traditions of men. Jesus berated the Pharisees for teaching: “Man-made laws instead of those from God.” (Matthew 15:9).

    God says: “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9).

    Therefore, child of God, forget your logic, your conspiracy theories, and your principles: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6).

    You ask a Christian a question and he answers by saying: “I think…” Nobody cares what you think. The question is: What does God think.”

    You seek someone’s counsel, and he tells you: “In my opinion…blah, blah, blah.” Nobody is asking for your opinion. Your opinion is irrelevant. We are only interested in the opinion of God. What do the scriptures say?

    We never need man’s advice. We only need God’s advice. The counsel of man is irrelevant. It is designed to land us in the ditch.

    Stranger than fiction

    The ways of God are strange. Indeed, in so many instances, God’s ways are foolish. But the scriptures tell us that: “The foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” (1 Corinthians 1:25).

    Does this mean God is foolish? How can He be? On the contrary, the bible affirms that we serve the only wise God. (1 Timothy 1:17). But for God to be able to relate to man, he must become foolish. For God to fellowship with man, he must come down to our level.

    You cannot dangle a baby on your knees and discuss Quantum Physics with him. No! You might start making idiotic cooing sounds and might even start making stupid faces.

    God is El Shaddai: The Almighty and the all-Sufficient. But surely, the all-sufficiency of God must include the ability to come down to man’s level to relate to us, communicate with us and interact with us. If he is unable to do this, then He is not God, for surely God is able to do all things.

    And so there must be foolishness to God and that foolishness must be to man’s advantage and justification. Certainly, the wisdom of God must be far beyond man. Therefore, there must be a foolishness of God to accommodate man’s foolishness, so that the all-wise God can also be the God of foolish man.

    For as David said: “O God, you know so well how stupid I am, and you know all my sins.” (Psalm 69:5).

    The incarnation

    The God who created the earth decided to visit His creations on earth. In His foolishness, He then decided to come as a man. He did not fly down from heaven like an angel. Instead, He came in through the womb of a woman.

    Can you imagine how foolish that was?

    And so, God was born of a woman as a baby. God sucked a woman’s breast. God crawled on the ground and learnt to walk and to talk. In His foolishness, God grew in wisdom and in stature. God then died a shameful death on the cross as a man. But in His divinity, He rose from the dead with power and glory.

    Isaiah asks: “Who has believed this report?” Without the help of God, we would not have believed it either.

    In conversation with God the Father: “Jesus answered and said, ‘I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight’” (Matthew 11:25-26).

    I did not believe the story of Jonah spending 3 days and 3 nights in the belly of a fish until one day God demonstrated it to me. He took me by revelation under the sea and kept me in an air bubble. I looked up and fishes were swimming all around me.

    Peculiar goodness

    The God of the bible is not nice as men define niceness. He could not have been because His kingdom is not of this world.

    What kind of father tells his son to marry a prostitute? What kind of person tells Ezekiel to announce to the world that his wife would die the next day in order to prove a point, and he tells him that he is not allowed to cry? What kind of person tells the Levites to carry a sword and kill members of their own family and relations?

    What kind of person instructs Isaiah to go around without his trousers for three years? What kind of person instructs Saul to attack Amalek and kill all the men, women, children, babies, sheep, camel, and donkeys? What kind of person kills off the Israelites one by one over forty years in the wilderness? What kind of father sends his children into captivity in order to teach them a lesson?

    God is that kind of person.

    David sinned by numbering Israel. For this, God killed 70,000 Israelites without including David. Was that fair? The Ark of God was falling down, Uzzah tried to prevent it and God killed him. Was that nice?

    If God were a man, He would not be a nice man at all. God’s concept of goodness is different from that of man.

    Rock of Offense

    When through Jesus, God became a man, the bible describes Him as a rock of offence.

    As a twelve-year-old, Jesus stayed all day and night in the temple for three days without telling his parents where he was. He called Peter “Satan.” He made a whip, beat the people in the temple, and smashed their wares. He did not just lecture them or tell them that what they were doing was wrong.

    He called a woman who came to request healing for her child a dog. He encouraged Judas to go and betray him. He refused to help John the Baptist when Herod arrested him. When told that his good friend Lazarus was sick, he said he was glad. He refused to budge until the man died.

    He always kept company with disreputable people. He took sides with a woman caught in adultery. He asked a woman who had been sick for 38 years if he would like to be healed. In a crowded scene of the sick, He only healed that one man and left all the others unhealed.

    He pronounced woe on the Pharisees and abused them, calling them white-washed tombstones. He called people fools. He told the Jews that the devil was their father. He denied his own mother and brothers.

    Nevertheless, this same Jesus is now our righteousness: “For (God) made (Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

  • ‘God gives and takes’, Pastor Adeboye says

    ‘God gives and takes’, Pastor Adeboye says

    General Overseer of The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) Pastor Enoch Adeboye on Friday admonished everyone to be thankful at all times because God gives and takes when He pleases, in a veiled reference to the demise of his son, Dare Adeboye.

    TheNewsGuru.com, TNG had on Thursday exclusively reported how Dare died in his sleep on Tuesday, May 4 in Eket, Akwa-Ibom where he was pastoring a church.

    The senior Adeboye who preached at the May 2021 edition of the church’s Holy Ghost service, urged everyone to always say ‘It is well’ even in unpleasant situations rather than ‘blame and question God’.

    TNG reports that Adeboye spoke from the studio of the church’s station – DOVE Media – alongside few officials including his wife, Folu Adeboye, while members of the church gathered at the auditorium along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

    He said: “Whatever we have is given to us by God, be it wealth, wife, husband, children e.t.c and if it got taken away by God, all we can do is give God glory for actually giving us the privilege to enjoy those wealth or kids temporarily and it is not for us to complain, blame and question God.”

    With biblical reference to Ezekiel 24:16, he said, “God took away Ezekiel’s wife and asked him not to mourn over her”.

    “What we see as sorrows might be joy in the sight of God, I mean His ways and thoughts are not the same with ours, we shouldn’t forget that both good and bad happen at God’s command. (Lamentations 3:38).

    “Finally in all things let’s learn to say thank you father and It is well. God bless all of you in Jesus’ name,” Adeboye said.

    The RCCG overseer further stated that peace is one of the blessings only God can give saying “There is a peace that passes human understanding. It is only God that can give that peace. I thank God that I have that peace.”

    Adeboye also allayed fears on over possibility of a third wave of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Nigeria, saying it was due to the prayers of Christians that COVID-19 did not take a detrimental dimension.

    “Don’t listen to any person who says it is by their own wisdom that coronavirus is now subdued in Nigeria. It is because you prayed. You asked God for mercy, and God heard and in the mighty name of Jesus, there will be no third wave.

    “But, I want to encourage you that you need to pray again. We have problems of many kinds in Nigeria so very soon; you might be summoned to pray again.

    “We need to pray against all the problems we are facing, and God will answer when we pray,” Adeboye said.

  • ‘He lived a life of exemplary service to God and RCCG, Tinubu speaks on Pastor Dare’s death

    ‘He lived a life of exemplary service to God and RCCG, Tinubu speaks on Pastor Dare’s death

    Former Lagos Governor and national leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) Sen. Bola Tinubu has commiserated with Pastor Enoch Adeboye, General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, over the death of his son, Pastor Oluwadamilare Adeboye, known as Dare.

    Tinubu in a condolence message on Friday in Lagos prayed for repose of the soul of the late pastor.

    TheNewsGuru.com, TNG had exclusively reported on Thursday how Pastor Dare third child of Pastor Enoch and Folu Adeboye died few hours after officiating at the Akwa Ibom state branch of the church.

    He was born on June 9, 1978 and died on May 4, 2021.

    Tinubu urged everyone to honor late Dare by committing themselves to a life of compassion and togetherness that the deceased believed in.

    “Pastor Dare’s ministry helped bring the word of God to many Nigerians across the country.

    “He lived a life of exemplary service to God and to his church,” he said.

    Tinubu noted that the deceased would be remembered with the deepest affection and love, not only by his family but also by the multitude of people whose lives he touched with his ministry.

    Tinubu also extended his condolences to the deceased mother, Pastor Folu Adeboye, the Adeboye family and the RCCG community.

    “May Almighty God give abiding peace and comfort to Pastor Dare’s parents, wife, children and the whole RCCG family so that they may have the strength to bear this loss.

    “May he rest in perfect peace in the Garden of Almighty God,” he said.

  • Abounding in the abundant life (2) – Femi Aribisala

    By Femi Aribisala.

    God is the rewarder of men. Every charitable deed gets a reward. The question is what kind of reward? Is it the earthly kind or is it the heavenly kind?

    The great reward is the heavenly reward. Jesus says: “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For indeed your reward is great in heaven.” (Luke 6:23).

    But the earthly reward is blasé. Jesus never tells any man to leap for joy because of

    it. It is déjà vu. Eye has seen it, ear has heard it, it has come into the minds of men.

    But the heavenly reward is extraordinary. It is exceptional. The bible describes it as “unspeakable” Some translations call it indescribable.

    Heavenly gift

    “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.” (Matthew 13:44-46).

    That speaks of the allure of the heavenly. Nevertheless, many insist on the earthly reward. “Men of the world” want their portion in this life. (Psalm 17:14). But David only wants the heavenly. He says to God: “As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness.” (Psalm 17:15).

    Which reward do we desire? Have we found anything worth forsaking the world for? Once we receive a reward for anything in this world, we cannot get another reward for it in heaven. To get the heavenly, we must forsake the earthly. God does not reward those who have received earthly payment.

    Jesus emphasises this in teaching about giving to the poor, who cannot repay. He says: “When you put on a dinner, don’t invite friends, brothers, relatives, and rich neighbours! For they will return the invitation. Instead, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. Then at the resurrection of the godly, God will reward you for inviting those who can’t repay you.” (Luke 14:12-14).

    In the same vein, He warns against ostentatious giving: “Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise, you have no reward from your Father in heaven. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.” (Matthew 6:1-2).

    Counterfeit riches

    The question is whether the Christian of today has found any treasure worth forsaking the world for. If we have not, then we have yet to inherit the kingdom of God. If all we want is here and now, then we can have no regard for the consolations of Christ. Paul says: “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.” (1 Corinthians 15:19).

    That was the problem of the rich young ruler. Jesus made him a proposition: “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” (Matthew 19:21). But he would not sacrifice the world for treasure in heaven and, therefore, he forfeited the grace of God. He had the “good” life on earth; he was not interested in the abundant life in heaven.

    People who have received the abundant life of the kingdom of God (the one provided by Jesus) have no difficulty in giving away the trappings of the counterfeit good life here on earth. They understand the kingdom dynamic that Jesus presents that:

    “Whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:25).

    Giving and receiving

    One of the cardinal principles of the kingdom of God is the principle of giving and receiving. (Philippians 4:15). This requires the believer to be liberal with his resources, thereby lodging spiritual credits in a heavenly account.

    However, this process of heavenly accumulation is only appealing to the spiritually minded and not to the carnally minded. For a church socialised into carnality and encouraged to seek prosperity in the world, keeping treasures in heaven is pie in the sky.

    Jesus warns emphatically: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21).

    How do you know a man who has true riches? In the world, we know how rich a man is by what he has. But in the kingdom, we know how rich a man is not by what he has, but by how he gives. A man abounding in the abundant life is always inclined to give to others.

    Paul exemplifies this by the generosity of the Macedonian church: “I bear witness that according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability, they were freely willing.” (2 Corinthians 8:3).

    Moreover, someone rich in naira has only naira to give. But the man who is rich in Christ has much more than naira to give. He does not just have abundant money; he has abundant life. He is abundant in all things that pertain to life and godliness. He abounds in every good thing; in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all diligence, and in love for others. (2 Corinthians 8:7). He is also abundant in grace.

    When we are not abundant in the grace of God, we cannot give. We are not sure we will be able to replenish whatever we give. But the man who is in Christ is enriched by him in everything. All his springs are in Christ. (Psalm 87:7). Therefore, he knows he will never lack any good thing. (Psalm 21:1).

    Indeed, the reason why God gives us the abundant life is so that we can give it away and come back for more. God gives us more life than we require; he gives us more than we need. He gives it to us so that we can use it to minister to the saints.

    In this regard, Jesus is our outstanding example: “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.” (2 Corinthians 8:9).

    Therefore, the reason for the abundant life is our liberality: “Yes, God will give you much so that you can give away much, and when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will break out into thanksgiving and praise to God for your help.” (2 Corinthians 9:11).