https://nypost.com/2020/04/07/pastor-who-criticized-coronavirus-mass-hysteria-dies-from-illness/?utm_source=NYPTwitter&utm_medium=SocialFlow&utm_campaign=SocialFlow&__twitter_impression=true


A Virginia pastor who criticized the “mass hysteria” surrounding the coronavirus pandemic has died of the illness, according to new reports.

Landon Spradlin, of Gretna — a small town halfway between Lynchburg and Danville — started to feel sick while in New Orleans, where he went to preach to the crowds gathered for Mardi Gras celebrations, according to the BBC.

A month later, Spradlin — who was also a seasoned musician inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2016 — died.

“His mission was to go into pubs, clubs and bars, play the blues and connect with musicians and just tell them that Jesus loved them,” Spradlin’s daughter Jesse Spradlin, 28, told the BBC.

“Mardi Gras is like Times Square in New York during New Year’s Eve. It’s a sea of people just drinking and partying. He was loud and laughing and in his element.”

Spradlin began to feel unwell while in New Orleans but initially tested negative for COVID-19.

As he battled symptoms, he shared a controversial meme on March 13, comparing coronavirus deaths to swine flu deaths, Patch reported. The meme is no longer visible on his Facebook page.

The meme decried the public reaction to the pandemic as “mass hysteria” and suggested the media was using the outbreak to hurt President Donald Trump.

In the comments, the pastor said he believes the coronavirus “is a real issue, but I believe the media is pumping out fear and doing more harm than good.”

“It will come and it will go,” he wrote, according to Patch.

Another of Spradlin’s daughters said the family band never discussed the virus as they played in the historic Jackson Square — even though the deadly bug had already started spreading into the US.

“I don’t even remember us talking about the virus,” Naomi Spradlin, 26, told the BBC. “With what’s happened, we keep looking back, and we didn’t talk about it once.”

But Spradlin’s son Landon Isaac, 32, told the outlet his father “didn’t think it was a hoax, he knew it was a real virus.”

“But he did put up that post because he was frustrated that the media was propagating fear as the main mode of communication,” he said.

By mid-March, on the 900-mile drive back home to Virginia, Spradlin’s health rapidly deteriorated.

“I spoke to him five minutes before he collapsed in North Carolina,” Isaac told the BBC. “I could tell his breathing was getting bad. And I just said that you’ve got to get home. But he didn’t make it.”

The pastor was taken to a hospital in North Carolina where doctors discovered that he developed pneumonia in both lungs — and this time he tested positive for COVID-19, according to the report.

He died after eight days in intensive care.

“We just never thought our father would pass away because of this,” Jesse Spradlin told the outlet. “But he wasn’t the type of person to just live in fear and let it rob him of the joy of the life that he had.”

No, Jehovah’s Witnesses do not practice tithing; our work is financed by anonymous voluntary donations. What is a tithe, and why don’t Jehovah’s Witnesses practice tithing?

The commandment to tithe, or contribute a tenth of one’s belongings, was part of the Law given to the ancient nation of Israel. However, the Bible makes it clear that this Law—including the “commandment to collect tithes”—does not apply to Christians.—Hebrews 7:5, 18; Colossians 2:13, 14.

Rather than giving required tithes and offerings, Jehovah’s Witnesses imitate the early Christians and support their ministry in two ways: by performing their personal ministerial work without pay and by making voluntary donations.

We thus follow the Bible’s direction to Christians: “Let each one do just as he has resolved in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”—2 Corinthians 9:7.


“YOU can call me a beggar; that doesn’t bother me. I’m begging for Jesus.” Those telling words of a Protestant minister underline the controversy that swirls around religious funding. Organized religion seems to be able to survive only with sizable financial support. Salaries need to be paid, temples need to be built and maintained, evangelizing campaigns need to be financed. How is the necessary money to be found?

For many churches, the answer is the tithe.* “Tithing is God’s way of financing His kingdom on the earth,” claims evangelist Norman Robertson. “It is His system of economics which enables the Gospel to be preached.” Not shy about reminding his followers of their responsibility to give, he emphatically states: ‘Tithing isn’t something you do because you can afford it. It is an act of obedience. Not tithing is a clear violation of God’s commandments. It is embezzlement.’—Tithing—God’s Financial Plan.

more here: https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2002880
https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2003884
https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2002881

Reading some comments here shows just how daft we have become as a people and how some brains run on reverse logic. Rather than commend a good initiative and offer suggestions on execution, the see no gooders will condemn the initiative in its entirety.

Please tell, where are the okada riders sent packing recently or the molue drivers whose livehoods were taken away from them? Oh, they are armed robbers now, abi?

Hundreds of jobs have been created through BRT scheme all over and more will be created. There will always be opportunities for the people who open their brains. 90% of okada riders went into Marwa riding and other businesses. The lazy ones are still running the risky business at least until the law catches them. If Ambo brings another scheme wise people will look for opportunities and not complain. Danfo is not the best thing for us. The drivers and conductors are not the best, abeg lets start from somewhete to sanitize the system.

If you like danfo so much, please ride it to your village and keep it there.

Your answers please....

SOLD JOOOoooo

.

CORDROSS: 200k Bro. And i will help you nurse this bride that you have posting available on for some weeks now.

.

COME.....and marry IT.

..

Ding...

Available................

Still available.

Ding.

ukandi1: bros, i have 200k for this deal. let me know ur mind if it will fly this deal

Come around. If you're really serious then we can work something out.

ding

...

Very neat. And the instrument cluster is in good working condition.

The car is in abule egba.

...

Negotiable.

Still available

.

hi

THE CONCLUSION OF THE MATTER AFTER ALL HAS BEEN READ IS 'TOO MANY PEOPLE CANT COMPREHEND A SIMPLE WRITE-UP'. READ, THINK, AGREE/DISAGREE. BUT FIRST READ

hello my oga @ d top

Kindly help look up 1N4AL11D45N461432

Thanks in adv

I taught my wife how to drive and I just can't stop laughing thinking about the whole drama now. I shouted no be small. I was always afraid, didn't want her to hit any pedestrian.

The quarrels didn't actually go beyond the steering wheel, she understood the reasons for my shouting 'concern". My wife was humble I would say cos after a while I really felt maybe I was too harsh. I guess its better for the husband to teach his wife to build up his patience level and the wife's humility level too.....
Now she's a very good driver.

THE WATCHTOWER is the most widely circulated magazine in the world, with a circulation of 42,182,000 copies each issue in 195 languages. In second place is its companion magazine AWAKE! With a circulation of 41,042,000 in 84 languages.
[url]jw.org[/url]

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_magazines_by_circulation

Gosh!!! The usual Nigerian rant. They leave the KOKO of the matter and begin to chase shadows.

Welldone jare Wandy. Let the haters go and start their own. In 5 years they will come back and read their posts and wish they believed.

Don't mind Jonna.

,The President breaks social contract with the
people (1)
JANUARY 12, 2012 BY BOLA AHMED TINUBU 7
COMMENTS
As Nigerians gathered with family and friends to
celebrate the New Year, the Federal Government was
baking a national cake wrapped in the scheme that
would instantly make the New Year a bitter one. Barely
had the public weaned itself from last year when
government dropped a historic surprise on an
unsuspecting nation. The Petroleum Products Pricing
Regulatory Agency issued a statement abolishing the
fuel subsidy. By this sly piece of paper, the government
breached the social contract with the people. This
government, which owes its very existence to the
people’s desire to be governed by someone more
humble than elitist, has turned its back on the collective
will. By bureaucratic fiat, government made the most
fateful economic decision any administration has made
since the inception of the Fourth Republic and it has
done so with an arrogant wave of the hand as if issuing
a minor regulation. Because of the terrible substance of
the decision and the haughty style of its enactment, the
people feel betrayed and angry. At this moment, we
know not to where this anger will lead. In good
conscience, we pray against violence. Also in good
conscience, it is the duty of every citizen to peacefully
demonstrate and record their opposition to this
draconian measure that is swiftly crippling the economy
more than it will ever cure it.
By taking this step, government has tossed the people
into the depths of the midnight sea. Government
demands the people swim to safety under their own
power, claiming the attendant hardship will build
character and add efficiency to the national economy. It
is easy to make these claims when one is dry and on
shore. Government would have us believe that every
hardship it manufactures for the people to endure is a
good thing. This is a lie. The hardships they thrust upon
the poor often bear no other purpose than to keep them
poor. This is such a time.
I am not calling President Goodluck Jonathan an evil
man. I do not believe he is perverse. However, the
economic ideas controlling him are so misguided that
they have a perverse impact. Because he is slave to
wrong-headed economics, the people will become
enslaved to greater misery. This crisis will bear his name
and will be his legacy. The people now pay a steep tax
for voting him into office. The removal of the subsidy is
the “Jonathan tax.” This situation shows that ideas count
more than personalities. People may occupy office but
how that person performs depends on the ideas that
occupy his mind.
Though someday, Nigeria will have to remove the
subsidy, the time to do it is not now. This subsidy
removal is ill-timed and violates the condition precedent
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The 'Working' Governor should sign into law that the Government will be responsible for the goods damaged when trucks fall into pot holes or ditches all over Lagos roads. The money for the goods will be paid to the owner of the goods after evidence is shown that he pays his TAX. That to me makes more sense! GBAM

Addendum: The law will be tested in Lagos and if found effective will be adopted by the National Assembly and States' Assemblies all over the country.

DESPITE raising millions of dollars for publicity and
campaigns for the well-publicised May 21 rapture, the
failure of this doomsday prophecy and loss of money
invested in publicity has continued to generate its own
controversy. Though there were a number of strong
followers who believed in the efficacy of the prophecy,
there were also sceptics who tried to improve on their
moral lives just in case it turned out to be true. Many
people, especially in Nigeria however shrugged their
shoulders, paying little attention to this prophecy, which
faced a lot of criticism right from the onset.
As we began to approach the supposed rapture day,
social media, particularly Facebook began to record a
rising level of mockery of the prophecy. Bloggers,
facebookers and tweeters suggested to those who will
rapture on May 21, that they should will out their
properties ahead of rapture day. In addition, a group
asked people to join a looting event that was to start
after the rapture. Thus, those who think they will not
disappear, fly or levitate out of the earth were invited,
and this attracted over twenty thousand people who
wanted to attend.
On the 21st itself, people were encouraged to post the
names of missing persons in their area in other to get
others updated of the rapture count, cases of rapture
materials-snatching possibly by flying PDP“umblelas”
were also to be reported. However, the respondents
were only able to speak of missing mangoes, meats and
sundry items that may have caught the flight. That same
day, posts and later, text messages began to circulate
that reported that the“Rapturecrafts” and “Rapture
materials” have not arrived due to logistics or possibly
hijacking, diversions and snatching. Therefore, the
“Rapturecrats” have embarked on the “Jegalisation” of
the” rapturecratic” process. In other words, the rapture
day has been postponed, some say indefinitely, some
say till October, others say until 2012
As at the time of writing, some are still trying to find out
if the reason for the failed rapture could have been lack
of“rapture-eligibility” on the part of the entire humanity
as well as all the dry bones in the graves. In any case,
many have decided that there was certainly no rapture,
simply because“their pastors are still around”, in which
case the pastors becomes the “rapturometers” i.e.
instruments for measuring the degree of rapture. In
fact, the advocates of May 21 rapture are actually
“rapturometers” themselves, and since this particular
group of “rapturometers” are still around, then there
couldn’t have been any rapture after all. All the same,
it is not yet clear whether these May 21 rapture
advocates will be required to refund the campaign
donations or dragged to a court of law for financial
crimes. The other“rapturometers”, who did not accept
the idea of May 21 rapture date are also aggrieved as
the failed date may affect the belief in the truism of a
coming rapture as well as belief in other such church
dogma that were supposed to be unquestionable. This in
turn will lead to reduced patronage with a devastating
effect on the economics of rapture(“rapturonomics”)
which is a vital money-spinner in the “rapture industry”,
which happens to be the fastest growing industry in
Nigeria with millions of subscribers who are hoping to fly
or levitate one day to heaven. It is however obvious that
most of these rapture hopefuls do not want to be
bothered about a possible date for the event or perhaps
do not even want the event to come at all, despite
pretending to be interested in it.
As things stand, it is definitely becoming clearer that
each individual needs to undergo a personal re-appraisal
of the validity of all the information that comes his/her
way. In the specific case of rapture, which the clerics
and religious leaders have branded over the course of
hundreds of years as a one day event whereby eligible
people as well as dry bones in the graves would
suddenly grow wings and begin to fly into the sky. One
has to be particularly watchful and prayerful, because
there are other, perhaps more valid, even if not so
popular explanations and definitions of rapture.
What if the concept of rapture has been misunderstood?
What if rapture is not an event meant to take place on
any one particular day? What if rapture is not a
doomsday event? What if it has been happening all
along? What if rapture doesn’t mean a levitation or
flying to heaven? What if rapture is simply that moment
when two people were grinding corn and( one took an
inner decision to become a better person and begin to
pay attention to real life i.e. to spiritual life) was taken
and the other was left behind?