Faith Without Works is Dead.

The sermon for today is simple: There is a time for prayer and there is a time for work. Even the Holy Bible says, “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also” (James 2:26). Faith without works is a dead faith because the lack of works reveals an unchanged life or a spiritually dead heart. Faith can only be demonstrated in a transformed life.

Dialogue With Nigeria by Akin Osuntokun.

While expressing a routine disappointment with his naked display of Northern/Muslim parochialism the other day, I was quickly cautioned by a supposed beneficiary of this identity category that Buhari has rendered those of them outside the Kano/Katsina/Kazaure loop the latest victims of his penchant for parochial discrimination. This was about two years ago. If we are not there yet and given his record, there is the distinct possibility that he is ultimately headed towards converting Nigeria into a Daura dominion writ large.

As it is well known, I have a chronic allergy to Buhari’s brand of toxic politics-predicated on tribalism, hypocrisy and primitive demagoguery. I have a fundamental and longstanding opposition to his assumption of the Nigerian Presidency. My opposition is rooted in the conviction that any political leader who rose to prominence on the wings of dividing the people of this country should never be rewarded with the Presidency of Nigeria. It is a contradiction in terms to propose that a politician sworn to pseudo jihadist vision of Nigeria should be entrusted with the role of fostering an enduring Pan-Nigeria consensus and unity. He is as undeserving and incapable of rising to the occasion as Donald Trump is incapable of uniting America. The dangerously divided state of Nigeria under Buhari’s watch is a reflection of the caution that you cannot give what you do not have. Unity and national harmony are not in Buhari’s DNA and his natural instincts tend towards fractional conquest and political subjugation.

Buhari, Nigeria's current president.

To the regret of many critical stakeholders who supported him to win the 2015 presidential election, the reasoned counsel that you cannot know Buhari more than what the man has shown of himself was discountenanced. They were blinkered by the non-strategic focus on the disappointment with the Goodluck Jonathan’s Presidency. But, again, as the saying goes, to every disappointment, there is a blessing-and that there could be a hidden utility in the costly miscalculation, after all. Were he to be denied the presidency and remain untested Buhari would have gone down in the history of Nigeria as a martyr of messianic proportions and handily break the record of the contemplative status of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo as the best President Nigeria never had.

Yet if only the unwary had exercised greater caution and listen more carefully to the rhythm blowing in the air they would have detected the premonition of his romance with the dollarized rogue governor from the North, in the blind exoneration that ‘Abacha did not steal any money’. They would have made the inference of misplacement of belief in his capacity to secure Nigeria from the antecedence of being swept away like a forlorn obdurate child by the Ibrahim Babangida coup of 1985. The speculation that he was not in charge of the mandate entrusted to him by the Nigerian electorate was ultimately confirmed by his wife. This is also an echo from his past incumbency as military head of state where it was common knowledge that it was his deputy, Babatunde Idiagbon, who was the indispensable power behind the throne. It certainly was no coincidence that his removal from office was timed to coincide with the absence of Idiagbon in the country. 

Nigeria's founding fathers: from left, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Alhaji Ahmadu Bello and Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

There is no doubt the chemistry of a godfather/godson relationship has bonded Buhari and El Rufai. Shortly after the Kaduna State governor drove a bulldozer to demolish the residence of a political foe in Kaduna he paid a visit to Buhari in Aso Rock Presidential Villa. Upon sighting him, the choleric president broke into a wide smile and approvingly hailed his protégé ‘the bulldozer governor’ or something to that effect. It is not exactly clear how the characteristic low scale intensity of the interminable violence that has bedeviled Kaduna escalated into genocidal proportions but the degeneration coincided with the assumption of office by both men in Abuja and Kaduna in 2015.

The fact that el-Rufai saw nothing wrong and was in fact spitefully gloating over the joint Muslim/Muslim governorship ticket in a state that is defined by religious dichotomy and conflict is an indication of a mental indisposition to seek a meaningful amelioration and healing of the fraught religious divisiveness that has predisposed the state to perennial violent upheaval. What is more chilling is the precise information provided on the guardian angel role of President Buhari in deliberately aiding and abetting the institutionalization of a formula he knows will encourage rather than discourage the deepening of the divisive volatility in the state. Is a winner takes all formula the best instrument of fostering the spirit of consensus, cooperation and harmony among contending pluralistic groups? Would the governor and president have similarly found nothing wrong in the orchestration of a joint Christian/Christian ticket? How does this decision promote confidence building among the warring communities? Take note that this was a decision taken in the thick of the rampaging genocidal bloodletting in the Middle Belt provoked by a similar fractious and callous identity politics.

And then as if intent on reminding Nigerians and the international community of a Nigerian potential to relapse into the international pariah status fostered by the Sani Abacha military dictatorship era, el-Rufai launched a seemingly mindless attack on the international community. The million naira question is what does he know that we don’t? Was this what President Olusegun Obasanjo was warning us about? Are these people preparing for a free and credible elections or large scale brigandage? Was the siege on the National Assembly a while ago an isolated incident and a sole lunatic overreach of a rogue security chief? Is there no sequential logic tying this development to the orchestrated subversion of the judiciary via the subterfuge of scapegoating a light fingered Chief Justice? Why all this desperation and impotent rage? Haven’t Obasanjo and Jonathan proven that there is life after power?

And just when you think it cannot get any worse, Buhari springs a new trick on you. Given to stretching and breaching the delicate thread that ties Nigeria together he is always to be found in the laboratory experimenting with fissiparous tendencies. He was neither the Sultan nor the Grand Khadi yet it was him who became the chief missioner for renewed Sharia agitation once he spotted the negative potential to rally the Muslim North against the Obasanjo government and the rest of Nigeria- “I will continue to show openly and inside me the total commitment to the Sharia movement that is sweeping all over Nigeria. God willing, we will not stop the agitation for the total implementation of the Sharia in the country”. As we were made to believe, he was neither the founder nor leader of Boko Haram, yet he was the one nominated as the group’s representative in an abortive mediation proposal. The backdrop to the recognition was his divisive and inciting demonization of his predecessor’s military engagement with the terrorist group ‘as tantamount to injustice against the North’.

Now our president has become the first Nigerian leader to invite leaders of another country for political mobilization against his fellow nationals. “Tomorrow, it will be officials from Togo or Benin or even Equatorial Guinea dictating to us. Indeed, international intelligence agencies recently confirmed heightened influx of tons of persons into Nigeria from Niger. Everyday thousands are entering Kano, Katsina and Jigawa axis. What is going on?” laments a concerned Nigerian.

What a way to reciprocate the statesmanship of his predecessor who rose to the occasion in 2015 in a rare African display of enlightenment and adult comportment. Were the potential winner of the election not a personality who shares the same ethno-regional identity with the incumbent only God knows the extent to which Buhari would have exploited the attendant cleavages to drive Nigeria to the precipice.

Nigeria, We Hail Thee.

As far as the forthcoming presidential election in Nigeria is concerned, we might as well begin to congratulate President Buhari in advance. How can he lose his second term bid with the following setup? He has ensured that all the sensitive security and civilian positions are held by individuals from the smartest, most hardworking section of the country:

 

Chief of Army Staff: Northern Muslim.

Police IG: Northern Muslim.

Minister for Defence: Northern Muslim.

Minister for Internal Affairs: Northern Muslim.

National Security Adviser: Northern Muslim.

DG, DSS: Northern Muslim.

Chief of Staff to the president: Northern Muslim.

ADC to the President: Northern Muslim.

CSO to President: Northern Muslim.

Protocol to the President: Northern Muslim.

Private Secretary to the President: Northern Muslim.

DG; Customs: Northern Muslim.

DG, EFCC: Northern Muslim.

DG, Nigeria Prisons: Northern Muslim.

DG, Immigrations: Northern Muslim.

 

And the "icing on the cake" for Buhari are these sensitive civilian positions:

 

Head of Judiciary/Chief Justice of Nigeria: Northern Muslim.

Head, Federal Courts of Appeal: Northern Muslim.

Minister for Petroleum: Northern Muslim.

Minister for FCT: Northern Muslim.

LEADERSHIP IS NOT A BUSINESS.

The time the Leader of the Islamic State, Umar Ibn Khattab (RA) demands from the people of the city of Hims (in Syria) to list out the names of the needy so as to assist them with a share of the State funds; what Umar came across shocked and amazed him. In the midst of the name of the poor and impoverished people was the name of the Governor of Hims, that is, Sa’eed Ibn Amir (RA).

Umar asked why the name of the Governor was included in the list of the needy. They replied: “He shares his salary to the poor and needy such that by the time the cycle completes, he is left with nothing”.

Then Umar asked further: Does he do things that you don’t want? They said: Yes.

1. He doesn’t come to attend to us until mid-morning

2. He doesn’t see us at night

3. In a week, he keeps away for a day without anyone seeing him.

Umar (RA) then asked him why? He (Sa’eed Ibn Amir (RA)) said:

1. The reason why I don’t come out until mid-morning is that my wife has been sick and I don’t have any helper at home, so I usually stay back to complete the basic domestic works, thereafter I will then come out.

2. Why I don’t see anyone at night is because I have set aside the whole day for the people, to respond to their needs. And I have set aside the night to relate with my Lord

3. Why I set aside a day in a week not to see anyone is because that is the day I take off my clothe to wash and wait for it to dry up because I have no other clothe aside this.

Umar (RA) burst into tears.

LESSON: *Leadership should be a sacrifice not a business*

Struggling Mom Wins the Lottery & Donates $700,000 To Her Pastor. But He Sues Her For More Money.

Most of us have dreamed of winning the lottery one day, I know I’ve done it a couple of times. We all dream of the things we’d do with our winnings. Pay off the mortgage, get a dog, buy some nice clothes and a car. That sort of thing. Most of us wouldn’t consider giving our money away. 

But after winning the lottery, this struggling mom decided to donate some money to her local pastor. After years of living in poverty, Marie Holmes from North Carolina, luckily won the lottery. Marie, who is a mom of four, managed to win a lot of money on the Powerball lottery. It lifted a huge weight of her shoulders financially. This struggling mom was working several different jobs just to make ends meat, so when she won the lottery, she thought her money troubles would be finally over.

Little did she know that a Pastor named Kevin Matthews decided to sabotage her chances of escaping her financial worries. Marie couldn’t believe her luck when she won $188 million on the North Carolina Powerball lottery back in early 2015. She opted to take out her winnings as a $127 million lump sum, per Inquisitor.

However Miss Holmes was about to learn a valuable lesson; the more money you have, the more problems you also have. It wasn’t long before she was betrayed by her neighborhood pastor. This seemingly well-meaning and trustworthy pastor fought to take MILLIONS of dollars from Marie. Marie had gone to Kevin Matthews in the past for counselling sessions, which made Marie believe she could trust her pastor. After her life-changing win, it wasn’t long before the two came up with a plan to help him purchase a plot of land. 

The land would be used in order to build a new retreat center. But, even after Miss Holmes forked out $700,000 to purchase land, Pastor Kevin was hungry for more money from. He claimed that she had originally agreed to cough up more than twice as much, and he decided to sue her. In an interview, Pastor Kevin claimed: “The bottom line… I just want her to do what she said she was going to do. I want peace and to do what God told me to do. I want her to do what she said she was going to do. I really feel like a warrior for Christ and people need to be accountable.”

Kevin successfully sued Holmes for $10 million after she failed to pay him the $1.5 million he wanted, which was the deal they had originally ‘agreed’ to. Pastor Kevin claimed that the stress of the whole trail caused him to undergo an increase in his anti-depression medication.

“Because of the emotional distress and mental stress, they put me through, I had to start taking more medicine for anxiety and depression due to this situation.”

It would be an understatement to say that he received a lot of negative backlash following the court case. To further add to Miss Holmes’ worries, she recently had to fork out $21 million to bail her partner, Lamar McDow, out of jail. Lamar was arrested on suspicion of being a drug dealer. This is a claim they both strongly deny and claim it’s something which is fueled by “racism” from the neighbors on their new estate. Lamar said: “We are a couple, and I am the father of her youngest child. This is what people do for each other. She has the money and she can do what she wants with it. If I had that money then I would do the same for her. People are just jealous because of how much she won and people want to see me locked in jail.”

Thankfully, Marie found herself a helping hand. Iyanla Vanzant, the host of the show, Fix My Life, heard about Marie’s struggles and decided to help her out. “It is my intention to show Marie that hers is not a problem of wealth. It is a problem of maturity, of self-respect and of dignity.”

Thankfully the mom of four is getting the help she desperately needed! After all her struggles, I hope that Marie and her family can start to enjoy her newfound wealth. She certainly deserves it!

A Nigerian Pastor and Wife Arrested In US After Starving Son To Death In 40-Day Fast.

In the above picture are the emaciated faces of Kehinde Omosebi (left), aged 49, and Titilayo Omosebi (right), aged 47. They are residents of the United States and both face up to 37 years in prison on a combined sentence as they have been charged with starving their 15-year-old son to death.

 

Another son, aged 11, was found alive but he was extremely emaciated. According to the Madison State Journal, Kehinde, the boys’ father, who claimed he is a pastor with Cornerstone Reformation Ministries, had ordered a religious fast that lasted as long as 40 days. All the boys had as nourishment during the fast, which began on July 17, was water. The deceased died on Friday in Reedsburg, while the couple was charged on Tuesday in Sauk County, Wisconsin, USA.

 

According to Reedsburg Police Chief Timothy Becker, policemen had to break through padlocked doors to reach the boys at a residence on Alexander Avenue on the west side of the city, on Sunday, after the father reported the death to the Police, two days it occurred. On the other hand, the 11-year-old boy had to be assisted to walk out of the residence. He held onto a Bible and an envelope, which, according to the Police, contained pamphlets about death, which were distributed to the officers when they arrived at the residence. In a letter signed by the 11-year-old, and addressed to ‘Lawyers of Sauk County Circuit Court’, he wrote: “The hunger is too much. Please help me now so I may eat. I can’t continue in such a life with no food and If I don’t get food now I’ll probably die of hunger.”

 

He has been taken to the American Family Children’s Hospital in Madison, and placed in protective custody. Speaking on the state of the Omosebi’s residence, Becker said: “The residence had no phone, no power, no food. I’ve never seen anything like it before. It’s tragic.”

 

Sauk County Circuit Judge Wendy J.N. Klicko set bail at $5,000 for Kehinde Omosebi, and ordered him to have no contact with his surviving son. An initial court hearing for Titilayo was delayed. However, both parents are said to be eating again, according to Becker.  Kehinde told Police that it wasn’t the first time the family would be involved in a religious fast, noting, however, that this was the longest and they were awaiting “blessing from God”. He also told the Police that the fast was supposed to end on Friday, the day his son died. Furthermore, he said they were moving to Atlanta, because God had directed him to. Titilayo also told the Police that they needed God’s blessing before relocating, just as she claimed the fasting began on July 19, while the boy said it began on July 20.

Beware of the Fake Preachers.

“For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” – 2 Timothy 4 (3-4).

You Think There is no God?

Every day, a woman stood on her porch and shouted, “Praise the Lord!” 

And every day, the atheist next door would yell, “there is no Lord!”

One day, the woman prayed, “Lord, I’m hungry. Please send me groceries.” 

The next morning, she found a big bag of food on the stairs. 

‘Praise the Lord…” she shouted in gratitude.

“Ah! I told you there was no Lord,” her neighbor said, jumping from behind a bush. “I bought those groceries…not some Lord.” 

“Praise the Lord!” the woman shouted louder this time. “He not only sent me groceries, but he made the devil pay for them."   

Courtesy: Readers Digest (May, 2013 edition).



The Irritating Hypocrisy in the Christendom.

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” - Matthew 7:21 (NIV). 

The Millionaire on God’s Payroll.

Rows of sick people queue up one afternoon in downtown Lagos. There are people with crutches, mothers with crying babies, a couple of wheelchair-bound people and several with bad coughs. This is not a hospital; it’s a sports center. And they are not waiting to see a doctor; they are here to see a priest. 

T.B. Joshua is one of Nigeria’s most controversial clergymen. Besides claiming to have a direct line to God, this 52-year-old has been performing so-called “healing miracles” for 20 years. Call him the Oprah of evangelism, the African case study in the kind of mass preaching that much of America is so famous for; he has his own TV shows, two million Facebook fans, sold-out events and branded merchandise. And like Oprah, he’s rich as hell. The latest estimates put his wealth at about $150 million. His church has branches all over the world, from the U.K. to Australia. He often goes on what he calls “Miracle Crusades” to other nations, and he claims that more than a million people have paid to attend his Tony Robbins–style seminars worldwide.

Joshua is certainly not the only millionaire priest in Nigeria. Over the past 15 years, televangelism has taken over the country, and Pentecostalism — a Christian renewal movement that emphasizes a direct, personal experience of God — is booming across the entire African continent, as well as in Latin America.

His pastoral style is sui generis. Joshua, who didn’t respond to OZY’s requests for comment, doesn’t preach that much. Rather, for a few minutes, he screams into the microphone, often prophesying what is to come — wisdom garnered from the latest chat with God. (He claims he foresaw the September 11 terrorist attacks.) Then, he takes his powers away from the mic and toward the sick, praying over the bodies of the afflicted and asking God to release the object of his prayer from cancer, syphilis, whatever disease it may be.

Chimbiebere Stanley Okah, 42, one of Joshua’s followers, tells us that he found the preacher through TV and was convinced when he saw one of Joshua’s “miracles” — healing a man from baldness with a sip of water. “I’ve seen countless miracles,” Okah says. “His preaching is flawless.” As for Joshua’s critics? “I have nothing to say,” Okah tells us. “The Holy Book teaches us to love even our enemies.”

It would be churlish to paint all of Joshua’s followers as naive or wooden-headed. “It’s hard to believe you can run on empty claims for over 20 years,” Marshall says. Those who come to Joshua are, after all, seekers; many have prayed and dreamed for years on end. Like Paul Ighodaro, 37, a Nigerian living in Greece. A composer, singer and writer, Ighodaro tells us about a vision he had: A son of God would appear in Nigeria. Ighodaro himself began to spread this word, which brought him to Emmanuel TV and Joshua. “I know the signature of God when I see one,” he writes. Ighodaro doesn’t even need to go to Joshua’s church, he says — he never has attended. He’s seen himself in Joshua’s congregation in a dream, wearing the choir garment. But don’t think he’s just relying on visions to connect with Joshua. Ighodaro credits the internet most of all. 

Courtesy: Laura Secorun Palet,Ozy Sun, Sep 18 1:00 AM PDT .

The Real Face of Jesus.

Wow! Too many people across the world (including Africa) will be grossly disappointed to learn that the real Jesus did NOT look like the usual image of a tall, White Hollywood lead actor (with long hair) that has been depicted for many years. This was the same way they were disappointed about a decade ago when the true image of Moses was researched and published by the Newsweek magazine.  

According to  the Esquire Magazine, forensic Science has revealed the true, most likely image of Jesus Christ (as shown above). This image "emerged from an exciting new field of science: forensic anthropology. Using methods similar to those police have developed to solve crimes, British scientists, assisted by Israeli archaeologists, have re-created what they believe is the most accurate image of the most famous face in human history."

In a published research, the Esquire Magazine stated further "While forensic anthropology is usually used to solve crimes, Richard Neave, a medical artist retired from The University of Manchester in England, realized it also could shed light on the appearance of Jesus. The co-author of Making Faces: Using Forensic And Archaeological Evidence, Neave had ventured in controversial areas before. Over the past two decades, he had reconstructed dozens of famous faces, including Philip II of Macedonia, the father of Alexander the Great, and King Midas of Phrygia. If anyone could create an accurate portrait of Jesus, it would be Neave."