Christian Giving: How To Give Your Gift To God



Today’s church world is replete with recognition seekers and praise-hungry, proud-hearted church goers, who would gladly donate huge sums to adorn church buildings but neglect the very thing that interests God—giving to the poor. I laugh out loud (Lols) not mordantly though, each time I encounter people like this. I’ve actually encountered many of them in my few years of service in the Vineyard. In fact, they are in the majority in our churches today. Perhaps you may want to know why I laugh in “Swahili” each time I encounter them. The reason is simple: people of this nature demonstrate in full glare the zenith of puerile Christianity and somewhat spiritual imbecility, period!

The foundational call of God’s children to charity—especially giving to the poor and needy-- is a frequent theme of Scripture. All through scriptures, from the Old Testament to the New Testament, the Holy Spirit didn’t hide God’s interest in the poor, widows and strangers. They have always had a special place in the heart of God, to the extent that Jesus himself made it clear that the only way anyone can give him anything is when they give to the poor and needy in their midst. Sadly, the reverse is now the case in our Churches.

Literally speaking you can’t find Jesus anywhere in the streets today to give him anything, yet he is always ‘physically’ present and close to you. If Jesus were to show up in person today in our streets, many of us who are mere church goers and religious trumpeters, not really true Christians, would gladly offer him everything we have to show him how much we love him. Yet, the same people would ignore the same Jesus Christ, who hides himself in the poor and starving and lives in their midst, and choose instead to run to their churches and or prayer ministries to make huge donations, where they receive applause and recognition, and of course the usual accompanying noisy prayer from the man of gold, believing they are giving to God in such places. You foolish Christian who bewitched you not to know what true worship is This is the height of hypocrisy in today’s Christendom! This is stupidity in full maturity. This is what I call spiritual imbecility and sheer disobedience to the true Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. St. James in his epistle explains what true religion is. See James 1:27 for details.

Now before you say that yours sincerely is discouraging people from supporting Church projects, I wish you hear what St. John Chrysostom has to say on this: “Do not, therefore adorn, the Church and ignore your afflicted brother, for he is the most precious temple of all more than where you are seeking recognition.” Hear also from some other saints of old:

The rich man who gives to the poor does not bestow alms but pays a debt. -St. Ambrose of Milan

It would be considered a theft on our part if we didn't give to someone in greater need than we are. -St. Francis of Assisi

If you want God to hear your prayers, hear the voice of the poor. If you wish God to anticipate your wants, provide those of the needy without waiting for them to ask you. Especially anticipate the needs of those who are ashamed to beg. To make them ask for alms is to make them buy it. -- St. Thomas of Villanova

The bread you store up belongs to the hungry; the cloak that lies in your chest belongs to the naked; the gold you have hidden in the ground belongs to the poor. - St. Basil the Great

For it is in giving that we receive. -Francis of Assisi

God has no need of your money, but the poor have. You give it to the poor, and God receives it. -Saint Augustine

Charity is that with which no man is lost, and without which no man is saved. - St. Robert Bellarmine

Alms are an inheritance and a justice which is due to the poor and which Jesus has levied upon us. - Saint Francis of Assisi

Give something, however small, to the one in need. For it is not small to one who has nothing. Neither is it small to God, if we have given what we could. -St. Gregory Nazianzen

Let us have charity and humility, and give alms, for almsgiving cleanses our souls from the filth of sin. At death we lose all that we have in this world, but we take with us charity and the alms-deeds we have done, and for these we shall receive a great reward from God.' - St. Francis of Assisi

If we look forward to receiving God's mercy, we can never fail to do good so long as we have the strength. For if we share with the poor, out of love for God, whatever he has given to us, we shall receive according to his promise a hundredfold in eternal happiness. What a fine profit, what a blessed reward! With outstretched arms he begs us to turn toward him, to weep for our sins, and to become the servants of love, first for ourselves, then for our neighbors. Just as water extinguishes a fire, so love wipes away sin. - St. John of God

Obviously, the medieval church clearly understood Christ’s position on giving to God, and practiced same in truth, and the grace of God was abundant with them. The fact remains that we scarcely hear such admonition from today’s church leaders, which makes it look as though our brand of Christianity today is different from what the apostles and saints of old practiced. Somewhat, methinks that what some of us practice today, as Christianity in many quarters, is merely a show of STUPIDITY. I don’t think this is an insult on those concerned.

Sometimes I think something is seriously wrong with our brand of Christianity in this clime. Sometimes I wonder who sold us this blindness and self-deception we practice today as Christianity. I see people demonstrating flagrant disobedience to God yet claiming to be doing God’s will. For instance, concerning the topic we have today on GIVING TO GOD, I see people donating hundreds of thousands of naira, even millions, for endless church projects, yet the same people ignored poor people in their localities starving to death, children sent home from school for not paying their school fees, widows with children languishing in poverty and deprivation. I know that many greedy characters will misunderstand my position on this and think I’m discouraging people from bringing their money to Church; but that is not a problem to me. Supporting church projects is every Christian’s responsibility, yet it shouldn’t precede Church’s main project—taking care of and feeding God’s sheep, both spiritually and materially.

Fact is: I choose to stand with and for Jesus Christ and what he taught in his teachings. I choose to stand with the apostles of Jesus Christ and the saints, who themselves observed to the letters the injunction from Christ to take good care of the poor and needy. I choose to stand with Mother Church, whose responsibility it is to cater for her numerous children, both spiritually and materially. I choose to stand with the Holy Spirit who takes the responsibility of providing everything she needs to fulfill this assignment. Lastly, I choose to stand with my conscience, the just voice of God in me. Hence, I make bold to say that if you are the type that donates thousands and millions to adorn Church buildings but neglect the poor and needy around you—indeed the real temples of God—you are not doing God any service. In fact you are somewhat incubating ignorance and foolhardiness, period!

The Jesus Christ of the Bible has something interesting to say on the topic of almsgiving to the poor. Yes, you heard me right! I said “Jesus Christ of the Bible” because there many ‘Jesuses’ being preached today in Christendom. These foreign Jesuses come with strange gospels--gospel of demons---, which promise prosperity to the giver when they empty their pockets and give to their pastors, priests, and church leaders for mere endless church projects. But these end up using their monies for selfish interests.

Interestingly, the same Jesus Christ who willingly offered himself up for crucifixion to secure our salvation clearly stated that judgment at his second coming would not be based on one’s Church attendance, huge donations for erecting gigantic Church buildings and other sundry church projects, but it would hinge solely on charity to the poor and needy. Hear him yourself:

31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:

32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:

33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:

43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.

44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?

45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal. Matt.25:31-46.
We shall continue this discussion in our next edition. Then I shall bring to your notice passages of scripture where God speaks on true giving to him. God bless you.
By Rev. Br. Kenneth Chigozie Alamezie, BSS

MY FEARS FOR HOLY MOTHER CHURCH: I’M SORRY MAMA
“For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear.”(2Tim 4:3)
Present happenings in contemporary Church, almost in all nations of the world, show undoubtedly the accurate fulfillment of the above scripture right before our very eyes. The sudden explosion and mind-boggling rise of pastorpreneurs and gospel merchants, defiant clowns, ferocious hyenas in sheep’s clothing, workers of iniquities, and emissaries of Hell in today’s church has created gargantuan confusion in the sacred body and deepened her very disconcerting comatose situation. The spate of flagrant deceit and abhorrent charlatanry ongoing in today’s church is deeply worrying, especially considering the level of impunity with which these are being perpetuated.
I am writing today to express my fears for the 21st century church, the sacred mother whose children are fastly embracing whoredom and eagerly consuming profanities; the sacred mother whose children are working assiduously, day and night, to cast her glorious image in the mud; the sacred mother whose heart is continuously being pierced by her own children, with vicious arrows embarrassing as they are heart-shattering. I am writing to express my fears for this Holy Woman, who now bleeds profusely, like never before, from the heart because of the height of wickedness of her children.
• I fear that soon, and I mean very soon, holiness, which used to be the likeness of the holy mother, would be entirely ripped off her, and replaced with muckiness. Now, a good number of her children, perfidious and callous of heart, are hell-bent on making that happen. I’m sorry Mama.
• I fear that the current teaming population of her children on this side of the world, Africa, will soon see a deplorable and unmanageable decline, as it has and continues to happen in the west. Over there, the Old Dragon has gone haywire in his action. His violent pursuit of the Holy Mother to harm and rip open her bowels has gained renewed vigor. His malevolence plans for the Holy Lady are now being hatched in the open, before the very eyes of her obtuse and slumbering brood. He is no longer working clandestinely as used to be the case, hitherto. He has let loose his highly equipped human minions with quite fiendish mission of street-to-street, house-to-house evangelism, their purpose being to evangelize the world by preaching Satan as god to the masses. I never thought this could happen in my lifetime, but it’s a pity I’m seeing it happening already. The demons are now taking over the world using America as their starting point. The obviously decadent society has always served as a breeding ground for the Dragon and his fire breathing kids. I love the US and pray that sanity returns there soon. You can use the links below to watch the videos to see things for yourself. This is no joke. Only an imbecilic mind would think otherwise.
https://www.facebook.com/tagocim/videos/10211986965725878/?t=265
Watch this too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMzGdIQspOA

There is no doubting the fact that the emissaries of hell are so emboldened by the lethargy abounding in almost every hand in Church, hence they are actively propagating their activities on earth in right-in-your-face audacity and in crack of dawn. I repeat, the children of lawlessness do not operate behind doors anymore. It's just scary! I’m sorry, Mama!
I fear that --the massive rampant corruption ongoing within her, the repulsively ugly growing trend of moral decadence defining majority of her children, the precarious impunity characteristic of her children’s modus operandi, especially the microphone-handlers amongst them, the systemic endemic unruly politics crippling her just hands and hitherto godly activities but straightening and promoting mischievousness, whimsicality, nepotism, factionalism, favoritism and mere shameful antics, the startling metamorphosis of her saintly look into a grotesque appearance, due to her children’s unrelenting effort in bathing her with black ink, the sudden loss of her moral voice to conventionalism and unhealthy acceptance of satanic acculturation, the unbridled contextualization ongoing within her—may expose her to acute ‘spiritual Mild Cognitive Impairment’, leading to total identity loss. When—not if (since it seems impossible for the concerned authorities to arrest the situation) this finally occurs, there will be no difference between the Church and the world.
• I fear that majority of the Church’s soldiers have become deserters. Yet the same are still within the church and are working round the clock for her downfall.
• I fear that the Holy Mother’s children have become her own worst enemies---flamboyant, fashion-minded, crazy, kunfu pastors and south-bound sheep, jet-flying Daddy GOs competing with witches for space in the air, worldly-minded priests ready to strip the sheep of their haggard skin for fast cars, sin-laden Jezebelic women and ostentatious living, tithe-loving preachers with greedy prying eyes that see into members slim pockets, ignorant sheep with unbridled quest for prophetic messages and dangerous prayer mixings for extinguishing perceived enemies, bulletproof pastors and priests displaying stage-managed indestructibility in the most repugnant manner—indeed descendants of Simon the sorcerer, defiant marauders in well-tailored apparels.
• I fear that these “hell’s men” would end up making the name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, a thing of mockery among the uncircumcised at heart.
• I fear that coming generations of Christians may be worse in character, because of inability to differentiate between true Gospel and empty rhetoric.
• I fear that the Mother’s continued degenerating health may not have solution anytime soon.
By Rev. Br. Kenneth Chigozie Alamezie, BSS

A SHAKEUP IS IMMINENT IN CHRISTENDOM
Ecclesiastes 4:4-6 Then I observed that most people are motivated to success because they envy their neighbors. But this, too, is meaningless–like chasing the wind. “Fools fold their idle hands, leading them to ruin.” And yet, “Better to have one handful with quietness than two handfuls with hard work and chasing the wind.”
2. Galatians 6:4 Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else.
3. Luke 16:15 And he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

At present, there is a dangerous trend ongoing in Christendom. It is the trend of imitation and unhealthy competition among gospel preachers, evangelists, pastors, and priests. Ordinarily these people are called to serve (ie to minister), tend, that is to pastor, God’s sheep. However, such is no longer the case. The reverse is now the case, as charlatans, religious racketeers, self-seeking, fame-conscious, money-loving egoists have taken over the pulpit.

Uniqueness is God’s conception which aim is to help foster and make perfect His good plans for humanity. Thus, each of us has received a unique calling from God. The same way we have different fingerprints, God has given to each one gifts unique to him or her. Even your own fingerprints do not match each other. This should tell us something—YOU ARE UNIQUE THE WAY GOD MADE YOU. This also means that you have a clear-cut role to play in your generation, whether you are in the ministry or not. Ministry means service; and, to minister means to serve. Now, the fact remains that we are all called to serve. Yet each of us has received a specific area of service to execute. Interestingly, your area of service, if and when you identify it, must align with your temperamental makeup and giftedness. This beautiful alignment is what makes you function perfectly and efficiently and as a result makes it easier for you to fulfill your purpose on earth. Again, this means uniqueness.

Understanding the term uniqueness in this concept is very essential. When properly understood, especially among those serving in the ministry of shepherding souls, it’ll help to curb, if not permanently nip in the bud, this prevailing competition, albeit unholy and pointless, ongoing among today’s Gospel ministers. I can’t see the need for competition in this well-ordered Vineyard of Christ, wherein there are plethora of works to be done.

I make bold to say that any minister, and that’s regardless of the person’s denomination, who copies verbatim what others do and competes with them for success in ministry is fake, period! Such a one has the spirit of Lucifer controlling his or her actions; and, I don’t care whether or not such minister can raise all the dead in morgues and call down fire from heaven like the fiery Prophet did in the Old Testament. Such things aren’t the mark of a true servant of God. Satan does things like that very well. Ask the Prophet , Moses, and he’ll tell you more on this. He saw Pharaoh’s magicians pull these things fast. Yours sincerely have seen such things also. Satan is a master manipulator; he’s also a master imitator who thinks he is competing with God for supremacy. Imitation and unhealthy competition are his traits. He doesn’t have originality but tries to pattern his works according to what he sees God do.

Originality is wisdom in action. Being unique in your area of calling is the wisest thing anyone can do. Copycat spirit can lead you to an extent, but surely, it will lead you astray. Though it can help you to run on a very fast pace, acquire a lot of material wealth within a very short period of time, yet you’d be deceiving yourself. Copycat spirit will help you become everything but your true self. The worst thing to happen to any human being is lying to oneself; and, that’s exactly what copycat spirit would help you achieve.

This is why as a minister you shouldn’t seek to be someone else; you shouldn’t pattern your ministry like someone else’s ministry; you shouldn’t copy other ministers’ programs, tone of voice, style of operation etc. Doing so makes it obvious that you haven’t the Holy Spirit in you thus you are FAKE. People in this category do not work for God and His Christ, but for themselves and their ego. You shouldn’t because you think the other person is making headway in life, seek to imitate verbatim the things he or she does; people have different spirits and motives controlling what they do. Rather you should seek to understand yourself and the area of your calling. You should be yourself and do what God has equipped you, beforehand, to do. Yet, you can imitate some good qualities you see in others, since we all learn from each other—life itself is about consistent learning, but copying others to the point of losing your originality is not just stupidity but also satanic.

This copycat spirit and trend is the bane of Christianity in modern times. Regrettably, this spirit is the inspiration behind activities of many so-called men of God in today’s church world. Being filled with this ridiculous spirit, instead of the Holy Spirit, they utilize every opportunity to enthrone themselves, instead of Christ, as savior, hence becoming the object of worship in their various business centers operating as Prayer Ministries. To the best of my knowledge, this spiritual deceit WILL fight back in the shortest possible time! A massive loss of faith and mass return to African Traditional Religion (ART) is in sight. I see majority of Christians freely and enthusiastically embracing the occult as a result. Should I apologize for saying that? I don’t think so. I only pray that the Chief Shepherd intervenes before it is too late. Of course he will, and soon. Yes, soon, and I mean very soon, these blind sheep, numerous indeed, who are being led astray simply because they are blind and can’t see the Way for themselves, will have the Balm of Gilead rubbed on their eyes by the Chief Shepherd and they will receive their sight back. This may spark up a movement within the church world that might appear radical in nature. The liberation of truth in sight.“But I will restore your health and heal your wounds, declares the LORD, because they call you an outcast, Zion, for whom no one cares" Jeremiah 30:17.

Apparently, a good number of the sheep have severe spiritual glaucoma, which has affected their ability to see clearly, hence they can’t see beyond their quest for immediate miracles, as well as the customary frequent falling and rising during prayer, not excluding goose pimple feelings that characterize the razzmatazz being sold them as true worship. In their blindness, they measure the spirituality and truthfulness of preachers by one’s ability to mesmerize the congregation thus drawing crowd to his business center, shout them into temporary ‘spiritual epilepsy.’ Against the Lord’s advice, they do not consider the fruits being produced by (the character of the preacher and those he shepherds) a preacher, instead they hold on to the leaves--.their razzmatazz. Yet, the Lord will heal them. He will come for their rescue, whether or not the concerned authorities want it! Those of them keeping quiet in the face of this absurd spiritual charlatanry ongoing in Church should keep holding their tongue!

Our bane in Nigeria, in all sectors of the nation’s economy, is the age long, absurd culture of silence. Being silent in the face of obvious evil is in itself the highest form of evil. It’s painful and very surprising that religious leaders seem quite comfortable with perverted happenings in today’s church world. There is no doubting the fact that this is the only reason for unrestricted escalation of religious racketeering and spiritual charlatanry in the body of Christ. It amazes me that things will be going obviously south and the leaders who have the God-given authority to arrest the situation would rather choose to keep mute. Maybe it’s because they love the system the way it runs. Or maybe they feed fat from it, after all no sane mind would want to attack his source of livelihood! Whatever be the reason for their silence, the fact remains that corruption can’t be ruled out of the picture. This monster has a way of making people weak, deaf and dumb. Undoubtedly, the forces prodding these happenings in the Body are the same forces fighting Her for over one thousand five hundred years now. The concerned authorities can keep mute as long as they want, yet the Chief Shepherd Himself isn’t keeping mute anymore. Soon everyone will see how much he cares for his blind, deceived, and beleaguered sheep. A big surprise is about hitting Church in no distant time. The Chief Shepherd is going to do amazing things in his Church, things that will shock everyone to the marrows. A shakeup is imminent. God bless you.
By Br. Kenneth Chigozie Alamezie, BSS

FATHERING SUNDAY 2018: 8 GREAT QUALITIES OF A GOOD FATHER

“You are not a father simply because you stock up the earth by bringing children into the world; even animals do so. You are a father because you are active and true to the calling. Fatherhood isn’t motherhood; it is accountability made possible by commitment and profound, passionate activity beyond the usual passivity characteristic of contemporary fathers.
---Rev.Br Kenneth Chigozie Alamezie, BSS

“For every father shall one day stand before the judgment throne of God and give account of the children entrusted to his care by God…”

“If there’s anything in shortage today it is real fathers that take responsibility for their actions and take care of the financial, spiritual, emotional well being of their homes.”

“ A true father is a good brother, a true friend, a remarkable husband, a great mentor, a powerful priest all packed in one person”
--Br. Kenneth Chigozie Alamezie, BSS

Just last Sunday the Church in the eastern part of the country marked fathering Sunday celebration of the year, 2018. The day is set aside to honor our fathers and celebrate the gift of fatherhood, paternal bonds, and influence of fathers in Church and society.
Historically, father’s day celebration dates back to at least the Middle Ages. Traditionally, it is celebrated on 19 March being the feast day of St. Joseph, the foster father of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Some countries have different dates for marking this celebration. According to Wikipedia, the Catholic Church actively supported the custom of this celebration on St. Joseph's day from either the last years of the 14th century or from the early 15th century, apparently on the initiative of the Franciscans.

Against the backdrop of what many people in our modern society think fatherhood is all about, I feel there is more to it than the passive insinuation often given it. To most people fatherhood may simply imply fathering a child, in that sense of giving birth to a child. Yet, fatherhood transcends that as it is about giving a child a life to live. The two are not the same, as one might succeed in bringing a child into this world and fail to give him or her life a to live.

I had once written a piece wherein I explained in detail that fatherhood goes beyond the usual idea of a man getting a woman pregnant and by her bringing forth a child to the world. In the said article, I argued that even mere animals do that very well more than most men do, as you can find a he goat, for instance, during its lifetime fathering more than twenty ‘children’ of its kind. In view of this fact, we could tell that the call to replenish the earth is not exclusive to man, as animals do well to replenish the earth also. There is one exclusive to man, and that’s the call to subdue (take control, master) the earth. This call may not be properly implemented without proper mentorship, of which is what fatherhood offers.

Beneath every child is the quest to be a hero; this may well tell the yearning in every child to emulate someone (or some people) he or she thinks is a hero. Also, adults need role models to imitate; the real reason our youths copy the lifestyle of societal failures that pride themselves today as role models. In the center of this yearning is the desire for mentorship, which fatherhood supplies. Hence, fatherhood within this concept becomes a call not exclusively reserved for the married alone as each of us is given the capacity to be good role model to others placed under our care, whether directly or indirectly, by Divine Will. This shows that one can give birth to a child or children without being truly a father to them, whereas another may be a father to those children (or some people) even without directly giving birth to them. On this note, the one who plays well the role of mentorship in the life of a child fulfils the requirements of fatherhood, hence may be called a father to the child, not minding whether or not he gave birth to him or her. This may appear a bitter bill to swallow, but it’s worth pondering over.

I shall list here some qualities that make a good father.

1. He leads by example
Fatherhood demands leading by example and true fathers are the ones who do not take the approach of “do as I say, and not what I do,” but they will lead by example. A good father commands obedience by the examples he set with his lifestyle, and not by the harsh tone of his voice. For instance, if he tells his children not to smoke or drink he also will not smoke or drink alcohol. If he tells his children not to keep late nights, he will make sure he doesn’t keep late nights hmself. There are no differences between his words and his actions.

2. Protective
Good Fathers protect their children from dangers. There emotional, spiritual, and physical safety is his priority. He knows that people fall into diverse dangers that destroy their destiny and future not because they like to, but because they lacked knowledge and consequently they made the wrong choices. Thus he draws clear boundaries for his children, talk to them in that voice that assures them that their interest is his priority and that he truly cares for them. He talks to them about things they should be aware of, and equip them for life’s challenges. He teaches his children about the consequences of making the wrong choices, how to be a real man or woman according to the standard of Scripture, and warns them of the dangers of sin. He is best friend to them, of which offers him the opportunity to know about everything going on in their lives. This way he can advise them appropriately and they are not afraid to talk to him about their feelings and experiences. He does not yell at his wife and kids. He knows that only dogs do that and he is not a dog. He does not harbor resentment against his wife and kids. He corrects their mistakes in love and does not use it against them. As the main provider of security and necessities, a good father will do whatever he can for his family. He’ll put his own safety on the line to keep them out of harm’s way. This is how a father instills in his children the importance of personal sacrifice. A GOOD FATHER KNOWS HE MUST ACCOUNT BEFORE GOD FOR THE LIVES OF HIS WIFE AND KIDS, SINCE HE IS GOD’S REPRESENTATIVE TO THEM.

3. Open-minded
Good fathers understand that times and seasons change, even people and tastes change over the years, so he guides his children on best practical ways to adopt so as to adapt positively to the changes without trying to get them stuck in his own world or past.

4. A good teacher
Good fathers are good teachers. A good father is the first teacher his child ever encounters. He molds his kids into well-rounded members of society. He knows the right stuff to give at every given time. He helps his children learn conflict management. He is very close to them and monitors their developments. Good fathers as teachers prepare their children to enter adulthood and face the tough world around them. This means that fathers give their children survival skills that will help transform them into successful and responsible adults. In order to be good teachers, fathers must be credible and earn their children’s trust, respect and love. He especially instructs them in proper etiquette, on being honest and keeping to their words, and on being thankful and hopeful. A good father knows he must sacrifice his own comfort for his fatherly duties; the good of his children is paramount to him. For instance, if he comes home from a hard day at work and sees that his kids need his attention, however, he’ll make out time for them even though he’s tired. In teaching them, he should not become a tyrant. Ephesians 6:4 states: “Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” Here St. Paul cautions fathers not to criticize their children, but instead focus on teaching them with the same love and understanding that our Lord used when teaching the disciples.

5. A good listener
Good fathers are good listeners. A true father will take time to listen to his children even when it seems they don’t have anything meaningful to discuss. Sometimes all your children need is your attention, love and presence and they’ll try to get that by any means possible. Giving them your undivided attention and trying to understand things from their perspective is paramount to their all-round formation and development. When a father is always in haste and scarcely has time to listen to his kids, he pushes them away into the hands of destiny killers, those that will destroy them, and it’s a sign of gross failure on the father’s side. Fathers should not take anything their children tell them for granted especially when there is suspicion of abuse of any kind.

6. A good challenger

Good fathers are good challengers. A good father wants his children to be the very best they can, hence he challenges them to live out their full potentials. He instills good work ethics in his children and teaches them by example. Good impressions are important and a good fathers is a positive role model to his family. Children tend to imitate and adopt their parent’s behaviors. Children need to see hardworking fathers and good fathers challenge their children to learn through activity. He gives them challenges that help them grow. This means giving them some liberty to face setbacks and resolve conflicts on their own. He encourages them to keep the heat on even in the midst of apparent discouragements.

7. Hopeful
Good fathers are a source of hope and inspiration for their families. A true father is his family’s pillar of strength and hope and he is the one that speaks soothing words of hope that things will be all right when tough times are around the corner. Even though he may find himself complaining at times, yet he shouldn’t let that be known to his kids. Rather he should always show optimism and resilience because his kids will learn that from him. Clare Boothe Luce once said, “Where there is no faith in the future, there is no power in the present.” In contrast, good fathers are as the Father found in the Parable of the Prodigal Son; good fathers are forever hopeful and inspire their families to push beyond themselves.

8. Faithful
Lastly, good fathers are faithful people. They are a gift to humanity as their presence and faithful work gives the society a harvest of morally stable leaders to take up tomorrow’s leadership challenges. He is first faithful to God and trusts God with his whole heart, soul, and mind. Good fathers believe in God’s promises, that God will preserve their families, and that our good Lord will provide their families with everything needed for salvation. Good fathers accept their role as the spiritual head of the household and set the tone for family worship. As the home’s spiritual leader, good fathers take an active part in their children’s spiritual development. Good fathers are reliable, responsible, and consistent. They are trustworthy. Children need attentive and reliable fathers to be their role models. In order for children to grow up into responsible adults they need a stable and reliable role models. Good fathers take up this position in the lives of their kids. They are consistent in how they meet life’s challenges. Irresponsible people run away from problems, unreliable fathers make excuses for their inconsistent conduct, and never lead a life of integrity. Good fathers are of proven character, they are faithful to their calling, and are reliable to those that need them.

A father’s influence is paramount to a child’s development into a happy, well-adjusted, productive adult. Fatherhood is not motherhood; however, it is an active rather than passive activity. Good fathers are involved in their children’s lives, look out for their best interests. Dads have to make hard choices and realize that popular decisions are not always the best decisions. Good fathers are able discern and develop their children’s hearts, souls, and minds.

Sadly, many men today are not consistent in their fatherly duties and neglect to see the importance of their role as a father themselves. Fathers need to be reinstated to the level of importance that God intended for them! A failed father is a potential danger to his children. God bless you.
By Kenneth Chigozie Alamezie (Rev. Br)

Crucifixion: You Must Be Lifted From Your Own Earth

"My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not one of those who treat Christ's death as meaningless…" ~ Galatians 2:20-21


The Easter celebration, every year, is preceded by a Lenten journey that lasts for forty days. We begin the preparatory forty days journey with our Lord, during which time we employ various godly means of mortification to checkmate and control the interminable desires of the flesh. Yet, thoughtful and Spirit-filled believers don’t seek to get prepared; rather they stay prepared, having in mind the hour in which we live. They are not like the foolish virgins, who waited for midnight before going out in the street to buy oil for their lamps. No! They are like the wise virgins who have everything put in place and carried extra oil for their lamps. That’s what it means to stay prepared, isn’t? A believer with the latter’s spirit knows that you shouldn’t wait until the forty days Lenten period to apply measures to bring the flesh under control. The flesh is not a good friend to parley with when the spirit really wants some space to grow.


Following Jesus means walking in the same path he walked and following in his footsteps every step of the way. This also means carrying one’s cross, as the Lord himself carried his. Ever before walking down the Golgotha Avenue with the Tree on his back, the Lord had always carried the cross in his heart every day of his life. As a 12-yr-old child, he showed this when they visited Jerusalem and he stayed back in the temple to learn of his father’s commandments from the teachers of the Law. “After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions” (Luke 2:46). Zeal for his Father’s house consumed him, Psalm 69:9, John 2:17. During his earthly ministry, he would often talk about the Hour, about his mission for coming into this world, about the suffering he would face and the ignominious death that would follow. The cross has two sides to it—the side that points us to our mission of existence and the side that leads us to the path of the Crucifixion--the glorious but highly avoided path wherein the believer’s mission of existence is accomplished. Death is a necessity in accomplishing ones purpose on earth. No one can achieve his or her life’s purpose in the kingdom who haven’t died first and resurrected to a newness of life. A seed must be sown in the ground, decay—that’s death, before it could germinate—resurrection--and bear fruit. I think this is one of the vital laws of productivity in the kingdom of Christ.

The Lord understood this and didn’t hesitate to carry his own cross, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself" (John 12:32). No one carries the cross to make a show of it. It is not an Iphone7 neither is it a Samsung Galaxy S9.Rather, the cross largely signifies sentence to death by crucifixion. Every Christian is invited to carry his or her own cross and follow the Lord. “Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Matt. 16:24). The statement here is an emphatic one. The believer is not allowed to choose whether or not to carry his or her own cross. The Lord says to be his disciple one MUST carry his or her cross and follow him. Nevertheless, one may ask, “and follow him to where?” “And follow him to the crucifixion, of course.” YOU MUST BE CRUCIFIED IN HIM. YOU MUST BE LIFTED FROM YOUR OWN EARTH. It is only when you are lifted from your own earth that you can accomplish the purpose for which you were created.


Crucifixion is a no-do-without for anyone who so desires to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. The Christian faith and Crucifixion are joined at the hip. I feel it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that without the crucifixion it is impossible to be a Christian.


The Easter celebration is made possible only because the Christ willingly accepted to carry his own cross, die on it, was buried, and rose from the dead. Likewise, the only way the Christian person can live out the Easter triumph in their lives is by willingly accepting their cross, the consequent crucifixion and death---death to sin and self, and to fleshly desires. The flesh, the old self, must die for the Spirit to exercise full control over the believer’s life; else, the Christian life is never going to work out. Living according to the dictates of the flesh is akin to living an aimless kind of life, living in the dark, for in such a situation the Christian person becomes like one running in every direction without having a specific place in mind to arrive at. Living in the spirit is the opposite, and offers the solution. The believer’s life is directed by the Spirit to focus on Christ; and by focusing on Christ, the believer discovers his or her talents/mission of existence. Hence, the Spirit guides him through the death so as to allow for its accomplishment. The Spirit guides and steadies our feet on the right path, so we don’t miss our way and lose focus. In Christ, we discover our true worth and accordingly the true meaning of life, the believer’s purpose of existence. Without the Spirit’s assistance, we are bound to be swayed by the wave of the time, unable to know our direction nor recognize our own hour, to embrace and walk into it. Each of us has got his or her own hour set by God---that’s the time set for the manifestation of one’s purpose on earth; “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens” (Eccl 3:1).


In Jesus’ case, just a little while before the hour, before he lifted the wooden thing, he was riding on the back of an Ass in the streets of Jerusalem amidst chants of “Hosanna in the Highest…” from the mammoth crowd. That’s more like a celebrity thing, isn’t it? The euphoria was on the high side and he could have opted to remain on the back of the animal reliving the moment every step of the way. That wouldn’t have made a bad idea, you know. After all, life is about choices. We live, each of us, by the choices we make. Being guided by the Spirit, he didn’t lose focus. Of course, the praises from the crowd on the day of the triumphal entry into Jerusalem has no lasting importance. Yet, the Lord had a choice to make-- whether to remain temporarily in the Streets of Jerusalem as a celebrity or to walk the rocky path of Golgotha to the death, and obtain the kingship. This is regardless of the fact that he was born to embrace the hour.


The mandatory crucifixion for every believer—death to self—is a matter of choice. In the kingdom of God, the crown is given only after the death had occurred, and of course, the attendant resurrection that follows. As in the case of our Lord, the believer needs to submit to the death willingly and the Holy Spirit would raise him or her to a newness of life. Against what many think Christianity is, being a true follower of Christ means more than the usual notion of Christianity as merely about Church membership and recognition, ritual observance and vain lip worship. Christianity goes beyond that. It involves a binding ‘something more’---Golgotha experience, with the cross, crucifixion and death.
St. Paul is one person who understands about this well. He writes, "My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not one of those who treat Christ's death as meaningless…" ~ Galatians 2:20-21. Likewise, your Christian life can only have meaning, bear much fruit, become a shining example, just like Paul’s, when you willingly submit to Death to your old self. Then would you no longer live aimlessly, but Christ, through the Holy Spirit will be the one living through you. Happy Easter celebration and God bless you.

New Testament Giving And Modern-day Teaching On Giving: As Prominent Preachers Make U-Turn

Some days ago, I was browsing through the internet when I came across an interesting news headline, “Bishop Mike Okonkwo Totally Rubbishes Tithing In New Video.” Upon sighting this, at first, I thought the story was another cheap work of contemptible bloggers seeking to gain traffic to their sites. But the video clip convinced me. I sought, found, and viewed the video clip myself. The respectable ‘firebrand’ preacher who has plied the trade for many years now openly accepted that regarding message on tithing he had once sold the wrong stuff to his numerous audiences. His words: “The first mention of tithe, there was no curse in it. Abraham gave the tithe of all to Melchizedek which was before the law. There was no curse and he did it willingly. “I have frightened the church with curses for not paying tithes and that was because I didn’t know any better. “You know we conjure all kinds of semantics like, ‘If you don’t pay your tithe, your life will be tight,’ and the people pay out of fear without God’s blessing. “God wants you to pay tithe out of love, it shouldn’t be about the money but about Jesus.” I must confess I’ve come to love this man very dearly. Not many would accept to swallow their pride and come out publicly to own up for their mistake, just the way he has done.

Yet, he is not the only Nigerian ‘celebrity’ preacher in recent times to have openly own up selling, in the past, erroneous teachings to worshipers. In as much as I commend them for taking the Bull by the horn in their bid to rewrite wrongs committed in the past, yet this development since it started has really got me thinking. If this message on tithing, which they once preached with deep fervency, has turned out now to be wrong doctrine, how sure, then, are we that those other messages they sold the public were not wrong after all? Could it be that all the while, they were merely doing their own thing, just mere mouth business, and in the way they thought was very pleasing to their numerous ignorant worshipers? Could it be that they were never following in the footsteps of our Lord Jesus Christ all these years? Jesus couldn’t have said YES today and NO tomorrow. His words on every issue remain YEA AND AMEN. Could it be that they never cared to listen to and learn from the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, whom they had always claimed lived in and spoke to them? Could it be that they had all along busied themselves copying each other’s errors and exporting same to ignorant sheeples? I had always feared that this whole thing might be just what another Pentecostal bishop termed it, MOUTH BUSINESS. Nonetheless, I reiterate my hearty commendation of the bishop and others like him who have publicly accepted their mistakes. I salute their courage and admire their public show of repentance on such a sensitive issue as this. No doubt, the Good Lord will look on them with mercy. I pray that these other jet-flying brethren and Daddy G.Os would borrow a leaf from them and make a U-turn as well, especially the Warri-based cleric, who, recently, was captured in a video threatening his own members with death should they decline tithe payment to him. I didn’t blame him when I first heard that from him. After all, another general election is by the corner and some people might be in need to service their airplanes for lease, should there be need for importation of sensitive election materials.

In another video gone viral on the internet, the same highly celebrated preacher, former President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria and founder of TREM also publicly denounced and termed as misleading the typical message of doom for believers who do not observe FIRST FRUITS seed sowing. What is FIRST FRUIT seed sowing? This is the act of surrendering to your pastor or priests all your profits and or salary for the month of January of each year, in a bid to obtain blessings from God for the New Year. Lol… sounds ridiculous, isn’t it? Funny enough, this Machiavellian practice has dominated the pulpit in almost all Churches and prayer ministries today. Again, the courageous bishop hit the nail right on the head. He didn’t mince words in his condemnation of this heinous crime against love and conscience. Uncurbed spiritual charlatanry in the Body of Christ gave rise to all these monstrosities being practiced by today’s greedy ‘Men of gold’(they are not men of God, for gold is their god) who indulge in, promote, and sell to their members all manner of satanic stuffs under the guise of gospel message. How in the world did we get here?! Who bewitched us? The fact is that these rubbishes thrive simply because people patronize these criminals robbing people with microphone and Bible. Stupidity can make people do unprintable things all in the name of obeying Jesus-- the same Jesus who never tricked anyone into surrendering their monies and property to him; the same Jesus who didn’t allow his apostles carry extra bags on their first try in the evangelical work; the same Jesus who urged them to give freely as they had received freely; the same Jesus who instructed them to accept only what was presented them freely and nothing more. Yet, his apostles who handed to us this gospel, they never preached claiming testimonies with money. They rather preached willful and cheerful giving; and even when one Simon wanted to ‘claim his own testimony’ with his money, the Rock seriously rebuked him on the grounds that one cannot buy God’s gift with money.

I thank God that Truth is finally finding its way back to the Body of Christ. Silence in the face of evil is the most wicked thing to do, and those who do that, no matter what their reasons are, are the true perpetrators of evil. The point is that people like the bishop who has come out to acknowledge that he was in error, and retraced his steps, may not have known that they were dwelling in error and teaching same, had it not been for the public outcry, which began about two years ago against greedy men of gold on tithing and seed sowing. Since the last two years, when the social media campaign against wrong doctrines on tithe/seed sowing collection in today’s Church began to gain steam, some renowned pastors, both within and outside the country have taken a bold step to publicly denounce their previous misleading messages on the subjects while also accepting the fact that believers are not cursed in anyway simply because they couldn’t pay up their tithes and or sow endless seeds of faith to their pastors or priests. I remember someone once confided in me that she had to stop going to church because at some point in her life, her finances took a sharp decline and in consequence, she couldn’t pay up her tithes anymore.

Somehow, many years ago, the big lies about tithing vis-a-vis its incontestable power to cause open doors resulting to wealth inflow for the complying believer as well as its ability to effect the opposite for the non complying believer, managed to steal their way into many Church pulpits. Many Pastors and Priests apply various semantics and threatening talks to instill fear in their listeners so as to move them to give their hard earned money without applying reason. Semantics and threatening words like, “if you don’t tithe your pocket will get tight and dry” if you don’t tithe God will curse your finances and shut heaven’s windows against you,” the latter obviously extracted from Malachi 3:10, “if you don’t tithe your ways will remain tight” etc became the message in many churches and prayer ministries. This is even as, lack, sickness and other understandable challenges of life still visit both tithe paying believers and non-tithe paying ones. There have been cases where hardship has forced even tithe paying believers to question God about his promise to open up windows of heaven for them. Once I listened with nostalgia as a fellow, he actually wallows in culpable ignorance and operates on such nauseating impressionist basis, barraged his listeners with curses purportedly from God because they weren’t forthcoming with their tithes and offerings. At some point in the meeting, I literally slipped through the back door to a lonely place where I engaged in prayer to be canceling his bombardment of curses as he rained them on the audience. I couldn’t believe that such a person who claims to be hearing from Holy Spirit and is being led by him could be so ignorant of the fact that the New Testament(covenant) worship of God has a greater and more deeper approach cum realistic implication to it, centering majorly on FREEDOM of will, true and personal relationship with the true God, than the Old Testament (covenant) worship, laced with dos and don’ts, compelling as it was, which were mere types and shadows meant to hold the forth until the time of the Messiah, who would fulfill all things and set in a new covenant for God’s people. The NT approach to giving is non-compelling and does not attract any curse to it. Rather believers are urged to give freely out of love, according to their earnings and in cheerfulness, “On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made(1 Cor.16:2), “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor.9:7). The fellow in question, and others like him, perhaps has not read these Scriptures before. Yet in as much as the NT giving does not compel us to give, we receive in the same way as we give, “But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully” (2 Cor.9:6), “ Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (Luke 6:38). So out of ignorance he took out time touring through the OT and citing quotations suggesting curses for those who don’t pay up their tithes regularly. Yet I waited for him to tell the people the injunction by God in the same OT, that the people should bring their tithes and eat it in his presence. Perhaps he and other tithe advocates may also have to explain to the people the meaning of the scripture, "You shall eat in the presence of the LORD your God, at the place where He chooses to establish His name, the tithe of your grain, your new wine, your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and your flock, so that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always” (Deu. 14:23-29). God bless you.
By Rev. Br. Ken Alamezie, BSS

Fasting God’s Way: See What The Bible Says
"Fasting and prayer? Don’t you think my stomach ulcer will exasperate badly beyond containment? I’ve been fighting the monster sickness for quite some years now, and I wouldn’t want to pull the trigger myself.” The lad who said this to me wasn’t trying to escape participation in the both good religious exercises customary in almost all religions of the world. Almost all religious traditions observe fasting and prayer, though in ways unique to each tradition.
My discussion with the lad hinged on how best to participate in this year’s ongoing Lenten period so as to reap the full benefit therein. To walk in the spirit means training the spirit to mature and gain full mastery over the flesh, which rebellious tendency is capable of boxing the spirit into the box when left without regular examination. Brother Paul didn’t mince words admitting this fact; hear him, “For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it” (Rom 7:19-20). The flesh, no doubt, is a frantic driver. Your spirit must rise above its reckless actions and commitment to vanity, in order to gain control over the mutinous thing and its unruly inclination to evil. There’s no other way than this; and this explains the need for ‘true fasting’.
Almost all religions of the world hold fasting to be a spiritual exercise which when undertaken engages the soul on a marathon work out that helps it shed off accumulated spiritual toxins which afflict the spirit with dreadful spiritual bugs. These bugs cause the spirit to suffer greatly; and sadly, very often, without the needed attention to effect its cure. Fasting in this case seeks to call the soul’s attention to the affliction of the spirit. This it does by taking the soul on a journey of profound introspection with the aim to diagnose it of possible encumbrances suffocating the spirit. These encumbrances trap the soul into hedonism, thereby paralyzing the spirit severely. The human spirit needs a free and healthy soul to function to its finest, hence the need to free the soul of worldly inclinations, which drag it into restlessness. The prevailing opinion today is that fasting, serving as a period of psychological cum spiritual diagnosis and cleansing, must involve abstinence from food and or some other pleasurable things very dear and customary to oneself. This idea isn’t a bad one, anyway, as such could even be traced to the Bible, hence could be termed Bible-based. But ‘true fasting involves more than just embarking on a hunger strike. It goes beyond the usual to the unusual, beyond the realm of routine and empty performances, Pharisaic in nature, to the realm of truth, to the realm of realism where honesty trashes sycophancy and mere rites observance. I shall return to this in a jiffy.
However, there are some people, Christians in this context, who believe, at least subconsciously, that fasting and prayer aren’t for today’s Christians’ use. In some way, they think that the practice was something of the medieval times, which was unlucky to survive the harsh wind of modernism. I do not blame such people as nobody can grow beyond what he or she knows, and good knowledge is but a product of sound teaching. The fact is that today’s religious leaders have a case to answer in this regard as is so in other visible areas where they err greatly. In many churches, presently, Gospel preachers scarcely teach about ‘true fasting and prayer’ as a vital part of the Christian faith. Greed won’t let them teach their followers, many of them ignorant ‘sheeples’, gospel truth. Rampant in today’s churches are teachings about God’s grace, which many preachers have distorted to mean, “Receiving everything good from God without having to put in any effort whatsoever.” But true grace of Yahweh does not promote lackadaisity, nor does it expunge discipline. In as much as fasting may have been largely misunderstood , especially in Church world, and among those who still practice or want to practice it, yet its rewards cannot be undermined. I have read so many opinions on fasting, and to a very large extent almost all the opinions I have read on the subject seem to promote mainly abstinence from food, together with pleasurable things of life. This isn’t bad in itself; but Scripture points out some practicable things that make a good fasting.
True fasting is, first and foremost, submitting to God’s will in all matters of love and justice. The duo reflect God’s true nature; and noteworthy is the fact that what God demands of us is simply that we reflect his true nature inherent in our human spirit. Being created in His image and likeness, we resemble Him in our human spirit, meaning we have his nature already running in our human spirit, only that the flesh, being a rebellious wrecker, very often, does not allow it to show. The idea of fasting, then, is to subdue the flesh, rid it of its rebellious inclination, detoxify the soul of toxins inherited from the hedonistic flesh and that way enable the spirit exercise full dominion and reflect the God-nature innate in it. But this we can achieve not buy merely abstaining from food and walking about hungry and gloomy in an annoying pharisaic demeanor, but by detaching completely from those things that pollute the soul and in consequence yoke the spirit down. All acts of injustice, wickedness, and mad quest for ephemeral acquisition, of which majority of the time exposes the heart to monstrosities and sinful inclinations, are such things to be resisted for a true fast to be achieved. Complete detachment from those things that do not add value to the human spirit is panacea to all the evils ravaging humanity; and I think this kind of detachment could be made possible through giving.
Egotism being the mother of greed—a deadly virus that eats up the soul-- is the root cause of evil in our society. Thus, giving becomes the ‘antiretroviral drug’ that can combat this virus to a near insignificance in our souls. Selfless giving is the kind capable of achieving this wonders, as it is a sign of love and as such is a strong factor in the promotion of justice, and vice versa. No unjust person can claim to be of God. God hates injustice with passion, whether done passively or intentionally. Often we manifest injustice in many ways, yet we shamelessly bow our heads in fasting and prayer thinking we’d be heard in the throne room of Justice. It doesn’t work that way. It’s clearly more important to treat one’s neighbor well than to seal one’s mouth in a show of hunger strike capped with so-called prayer. True fasting should be able to identify affliction in other people’s lives and cure it. Fasting in Scripture is always linked with prayer, and true prayer manifests itself in changing the mindset of the one praying to reflect the personality of God in his or her own character. Fasting God’s way, then, is imbibing God’s nature and living it out.
The Lord speaking through the prophet Isaiah explains what true fasting implies, that’s fasting God’s way. His words, “Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul?(I take this affliction of the soul to involve denying oneself food and pleasurable things of life.) is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD? Is not this the fast that I have chosen? To lose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rearward. Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday: And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not”(Isaiah 58:5-11KJV). God Bless You.

HERDERS KILLINGS: A CRY TO THE JUST ONE FOR SPEEDY INTERVENTION
Isaiah 62:1
For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake, I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burns.

It appears that a transmutation of the dreaded Boko Haram sect is what we are combating now in the guise of the bloodletting, blood-lusting Fulani herdsmen maiming and killing innocent Nigerians at will, and with impunity. These gun carrying, knife wielding killer herders and agents of destruction from Tartarus, spiteful imps and irate wraiths from the dark, indeed callous Hyenas and prowling Lions have shown, in recent times, that their dexterity in the acts of murder, butchery, rape and the like is not without ulterior motives, and has nothing to do with their often cited insubstantial claims of unproven provocations. These warmongers, I think, are showing in black and white their readiness to rid Nigeria of humans, and populate the confluence state with their darling Cows; and Our government seems to be happy with this development. I feel that for reasons best known to them, the Buhari-led government has purposely left Nigerians at the mercy of these deadly monsters. I mean, it seems that the president and the concerned security operatives are waiting until all Nigerians are butchered in their homes and their farms taken over before they would do the needful---proscribe the activities of these herders and roll the tank in their direction. Under president Buhari’s watch, Nigeria has become uninhabitable, as terrorism has overtaken the land leaving fear on every hand. Nigeria’s image now wears crimson red because of the blood of the innocent; and our government seems committed only to the welfare of Cows…mere animals! for this reason I shall not keep quiet anymore. the president should know that those of us speaking out against obvious misrule in his administration are doing so out of love for him and for our mother country; hence it is a show of wickedness trying to witch-hunt us in anyway.

Thus, for Nigeria’s sake, for the sake of her maimed body and bloodstained image, for the sake of her “shithole condition,” and fantastically corrupt soul, which has made her become a thing of mockery in the eyes of other nations, for the sake of her comatose psyche and failing spirit, for the sake of my compatriots who are being terrorized and traumatized by the vampirious beings from futa Jalon, for the sake of conscience, for the sake of posterity I have chosen not to hold my peace; and for the sake of the Christian faith which is under threat by the dastardly activities and daily vituperation of the jihadists under whose loins lie hate, fury, and thirst for human blood I will not rest, until justice, equity, and fair play thereof go forth as brightness, and impunity, sectarianism, graft, and obvious wanton killings of the citizenry are killed and buried in the blue sea of peace, sincerity, and truth.
I shall not leave my place at the watchtower, and my tongue shall not cease to cry out for justice against the vultures feeding fat on the carcasses of the slain innocents, against the vampires drinking and getting drunk on the blood of pregnant women and their unborn babies. I shall hold fast to my Biro, writing in condemnation of the wickedness of our cow-loving political leaders, whose eyes are filled with greed and whose hands are covered with the blood of the innocent.
I shall not let my arms grow weak from sending out holy requests into the throne of justice, for the intervention of the JUST GOD in the affairs of my dear country. I shall continually beseech the angels overseeing this side of the divide, to shame and dethrone these modern-day Midianites destroying our crops and farmlands, to oust the Saul from Futa Jalon. I shall continue to tell my King, the Just One, and Maker of the heavens and the earth, to upturn the table against him and give his staff to a David. I shall continue to plead with the Ancient of Days to make an example of all Nigeria’s Sennacheribs, especially the vile tongue who has boasted that no ethnic group in Nigeria can defeat them---possibly the reason they ambush, rape, and kill pregnant women, rip open their wombs and dash their unborn babies against a stone. Chei! Chei!!...I shall not cease to curse the day these malignant sons of the dark were born into this world.
Be not silent, O God of my praise!.For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me (Psalm 109 1-2)
I cry to you, O God of my salvation, Creator of the Universe and all that it contains, keep not silent anymore. Look down from your holy heaven and see the wickedness of the Fulani herdsmen in the land you gave us. Their feet hasten to do evil and with their hands, they spill innocent blood. They boast arrogantly that no one can contain their murderous act of killing the life you have created. They beat their breasts saying, “Who is like us, and who can challenge us in the land!” They threaten the innocent and beset the peaceful with violent words and actions. They attack the harmless without cause. They lit up people’s farms, burn down towns and villages, kill pregnant mothers in the most gruesome manner, and hack the weak to death. In all these, our leaders do not show concern. They have left us at the mercy of the killer-machines. They cannot protect us. The love Cows more than those created in your image and after your likeness.
Righteous Father, reverse their own wickedness against them, and turn their hungry guns and machetes against themselves. Give them over to their own rage and unruly appetite for innocent blood. Let them know that you alone are to be feared; let them know that they are but mere breath.

just write and post, and I'll read...

Between the ‘shithole’ allusion and a ‘shithole country’

In recent times, Nigeria has wobbled from one chief crisis to another. Any honest observer of the country’s political power play since the adoption of democracy as the country’s system of government could tell that the obviously hijacked and cabal-run nation is Chief among the African nations that rightly merit the recent vituperation of the POTUS referring to African countries and Haiti as ‘shithole’ countries. The audacious American Cyrus is a known truth-spiller as he scarcely considers political correctness in his lexicon when using the muscular organ in his mouth. Hate him or like him, this fearless, loquacious POTUS sure knows how to get the bitter bill across to those in need of it. Truth is bitter; yet its curative power lies in its bitter nature. It is only an idiot, I mean a ‘s***hole’ character that abhors and will always seek to combat truth because of its bitter taste.
The internet has been on fire since the Donald stirred up the hornet’s nest with his unflattering statement about African nations and Haiti being ‘shithole’ countries. Instead of the leaders of these countries to go in and find ways of pulling their nations out of the shithole, some of them have rather busied themselves in frantic moves to get the US government give convincing clarifications on the position of their countries in the ‘shithole’ allusion of President Trump. Even, many African essayists have written against this vituperation of President Trump, terming it racist, uncalled-for, and very derogatory. Yet, methinks we shouldn’t let the truth in the statement drown in the muddy waters of sentiments and questionable patriotism. For once, let’s face the fact and quit playing the Sudoku with very serious issues. We take our own Nigeria as a case in point.
Judging by the present state of the country, can any sensible and truth-loving Nigerian, doubt whether or not Nigeria fits in properly as a SHITHOLE country? Funny enough, I read in the news that the FG summoned the US ambassador to Nigeria for clarifications on Mr. Trump’s so-called ‘demeaning’ allusion of African nations and Haiti as shithole countries. Methinks this is a step in the wrong direction. The question is, is Nigeria not showing in full glare all the symptoms that define a shithole country? Sometime in the recent past, the UK’s David Cameron termed Nigeria as “fantastically corrupt.” And to my bemusement some Nigerians came out to kick against it. But a nation where cows are valued more than human beings, where the security operatives are being used to silence the truth and crush freedom of speech (you try saying the truth and the next day you’ll have to entertain mean, gun-carrying visitors from the DSS. FFK and the courageous pastor from Jos, Isa EL-Buba are said to be having it hot simply because they spoke the truth on the true state of the nation. This government is the worst evil to have befallen Nigeria since its creation!), where workers are not paid up to nine months salary while the government keeps buying Porsche cars for lazy legislators, molding statues of foreign leaders with criminal records, where big time criminals are celebrated while petty ones are arrested, prosecuted and jailed possibly because they didn’t raise their game, where sectarianism has replaced equality, where a majority of the nation’s religious leaders have metamorphosed into the prophesized grasshoppers and cankerworms that devour people’s harvest, does such a nation not fit in as a shithole country
Frankly speaking, Nigeria in her present state is far worse than a shithole. The nation’s rulers, both past and present, have turned her into a shitty rot. My assertion here is devoid of exaggeration, as I have my points to back it up.
It is only a shithole country that can accommodate, protect, and pamper blood lusting itinerant predators masquerading as Fulani herdsmen to maim and butcher fellow compatriots like goats. Rampaging killer herdsmen have vowed, so it seems, to hold the already battered and asphyxiating nation by the jugulars. Their well-organized devilish act of bloodletting, with obvious impunity, on fellow citizens has continued to draw questions and reactions from many quarters except from the president’s camp. The one who once mouthed, “I belong to everybody and I belong to nobody” has shown himself a double-tongued, double-faced hardhearted hypocrite. In truth, his handling of issues concerning federal appointments, much hyped corruption war, and herders wanton killing of innocent citizens in the country has shown that he belongs only to a section of the country and does not in any way belong to the other sections of the country. He has shown this in black and white on countless occasions. The IPOB, last year, got the terrorists badge sticker put on them, and loads of war tanks were rolled in their direction simply because they raised their voice in agitation against obvious marginalization of the Igbos. Yet killer herdsmen have been butchering Nigerians, razing down villages and destroying properties worth millions of naira at every slightest provocation of their cows; and the concerned authorities seem not to notice their dastardly escapades. Just on Wed.17 Jan. 2017, I read in the news that the founder and General Overseer of Living Faith Church Worldwide, Bishop David Oyedepo, received a letter from a coalition of Fulani herdsmen known as Fulani Nationality Movement. The outspoken cleric revealed in the news, the content of the threatening letter from the herdsmen. Here is a part of the news as posted by Dailypost, “”Just last night, I got this, believed to be from the Fulani Nationality Movement, saying that God has given them this land and that they have the right to live anywhere, and until the colony is established, there’ll be no rest in Nigeria.”I heard them say that the cattle colony is the only solution to the crisis, whether the Government or State Government accept or not.”We have asked all Fulani herdsmen all over West Africa to move to Nigeria and penetrate every corner for the upcoming Jihad.”
The speculation that some masked murderous elements somewhere in the country are sponsoring these herders is now becoming a reality. I feel that the present administration’s idea of democracy is “government of a people, by such a people, and for such a people. Ordinarily, democracy should be about ‘rule of the majority’ but such is no longer the case in Nigeria; here it is now about ‘rule of the minority’—the Fulani herdsmen to be precise. These insensitive, cow-loving, blood lusting itinerants have shown themselves to be above the law. I could interpret their actions in recent times to read, “We are in total control of this country and all you ‘shithole’ tribes in Nigeria must respect our rule or be butchered in your homes.” It is left for the president to prove me wrong on this by calling these wicked monstrous marauders to order. Before scouting for this writer, let the president and his DSS team ask themselves if they truly love the present happenings in the country. Extreme poverty, famine, unemployment, recession, loss of jobs and businesses, carnage has become the lot of Nigerians for voting in the Buhari-led APC government, and these are the characteristics of a shithole country.
The APC government has made history as the only government that gains its strength to govern from the wasted blood of the citizenry it pledged to protect. One of the worst regrets I have had in my live is pledging my unflinching support for President Buhari in the last presidential election.
It is only in a shithole country that hundreds of thousands of students are graduated each year with no job provision or clear-cut future for them. Nigeria’s education sector is a flop, a misnomer! Our universities are mere glorified primary schools. Grades are sold to the highest bidder, and payment is done in cash or in kind (by sex). Revelations have shown that our universities are filled with shameless, undisciplined, sex maniacs who pride themselves as university lecturers preying on female students, most of whom fall victim to their wickedness for fear of being frustrated in their usual way of frustrating students. In some cases, it has been shown that the authorities who should call these teachers/agents of pervasion to order simply turn a blind eye to their evil acts because they also involve in it. On this note, these satanic lecturers have a field day sexually harassing and abusing female students even with stern threats to deal ruthlessness with them if they fail to play along with them, and would even boast that nothing would happen should they report them to concerned authorities. As a result, we end up harvesting illiterate university graduates with distinctions in their chosen disciplines. These also pay and or sex their way to significant positions once they go into the labor market. In the end, they make a mess of everything as they were never qualified for the job in the first place. This is a true mark of a shithole country. The
By Ken Alamezie, BSS.

THE WORLD IN YOU MATTERS A LOT
Very often, the dominant view among young people is one depicting life as having a way of supernaturally supplying our every wish, whether they be noble or not, hence one does not need to bother on going deep down in themselves to discover the Creator man in them. The Universe couldn’t have been a reality if the Creator had busied himself cruising on the wings of wishes and fantasy without exercising his creative power. Needless to say we are made in his image and after his likeness. Having the creating Spirit of the Creator residing on the inside of you makes you a creator-man, hence you are a creator yourself; thus whether we know it or not, like it or not, we live through life creating things, which in turn create the kind of world inhabiting each of us. Noteworthy is the fact that this world in question, the world inhabiting each of us, is unique and different from the cosmos wherein we live. And it is this world living in each man that determines the quality of life and somewhat the length of life that each man will live on the outside world. The man with a comatose world on the inside will definitely reflect same on the outside world. He is beleaguered by circumstances, birthing frustration and angst; causing everything he does to veer south. He lives a very difficult and unpredictable life; and this is all because he failed to create the world he so desires to inhabit.
This shows you have 75% control over your destiny. Somewhat, you are the architect of your life. Granted, this may sound strange but common sense shows that if we truly have the Spirit of the Creator in us as the principal agent of our life, it shows we share in his ability to create. And if this is so, it means he had actually empowered us to further creation, bringing things into being that can make life better for each other, and that way make the outside world fit for human habitation. Methinks this is the explanation of the command to go and subdue the earth.
On this account, work now becomes a commitment to the Creator’s work of bettering humanity, a necessity deserving profound understanding and excellent participation. I have discovered from experience, that when one understands the very implication of work and it’s enormous effect in the life of the worker and others around him, it helps to resurrect that power to create resting in every individual. Yet, no man can actually put up an excellent work on the outside world, who has not first worked keenly to foster an enabling world on the inside. A bitter and confused man has not built a good world on the inside of him; hence, it would be very difficult, if not impossible, for him to carry out an excellent work on the outside world. Very often, people who make positive use of this creating power in their work are the ones said to be highly creative, and celebrated by society. The reason for this is simple: in work we liberate and put to use, the creating power in us, which enables us to make the best use of reason in creating things that could better people’s lives. People who do this with godly drive thus gain mastery over life and with every passing day, they become better in themselves. Happiness and prosperity in life, therefore, is largely dependent on the kind of things you create, in and outside you, and the things you create tell much about you. The things you create will determine the response, spiritual, physical, and psychological, you get in life. Life responds to us accordingly.
How then do we create? You may ask. I feel that we create by our thoughts. These create the feelings we carry to things around us. Thoughts also translate into words and actions; hence, you are a product of your thoughts. The fact is that a thought must be in our mind before any action could take place. The intercourse between thoughts and your mind is what gives birth to the world inhabiting you and consequently the world around you. . Yet it takes a healthy mind to produce useful thoughts. The Wright brothers would never have experienced their first flight at Kitty Hawk if the thought of a plane hadn’t first been sown in their minds. Once I came across this quotation, Sow a thought, reap an act;
Sow an act; reap a habit; Sow a habit; reap a character; Sow a character; reap a destiny. This is critical because, as the saying goes, “The thought is father of the deed.” Guard then your mind by being mindful of the thoughts you let into it. This way you would’ve built a great world inhabiting you, which will in turn help build the world you inhabit. God bless you.
By Br. Kenneth Alamezie, BSS (Rev.)

When Envy And Gossip Brace For A Mission
Just recently, at the closing of the celebration marking the kingship of the King of the universe, I had managed to get my spirit into the spirit of the event, not minding my ongoing fight with this fever kicking me for days now. The changing weather seems to be using its macho, harsh fists on me. Yet, I am beating it to the game, though, since the effect could hardly show on my face. Night fever isn't quite a good visitor to entertain! But...what else? I've learned, that nothing lasts, even this fever. Therefore, even when you find yourself trapped indoors or slowed down by the hit of a fever, just give it time and it'll pass away.
So I was very calm than was customary of me, and almost speechless where I was seated, looking steadily towards the direction of the Eternal King as the priest lifted him up. The dust in the air couldn't let me concentrate. I literally was eating the particles through the nose.
Just then, a finely built elderly man, I believe he should be somewhere around his 60s, came up from behind and tapped me on the shoulder.
He looked defeated in his own world. I could tell at once he doesn't belong to the world of the poor. His appearance told me everything in a flash. But the rich also cry!
"What could be the fight going on in him? He must be facing a sort of Anthony Joshua of a situation on the inside," I said to myself.
"You look very much like a seminarian that gave me communion at my parish sometime last month...." He quickly mentioned the name of the parish. " Oh, sir, of course you are looking at the same person, only that he isn't a seminarian but a religious brother from Congregation of the Brothers of St. Stephen." I jokingly responded. "I see...hmmm...aren't you too young for that kind of life?" He asked at once. " Oh, maybe my look is deceiving you, sir. I may be older than you think. I guess there is no set age for the religious life; and age, I believe, is a thing of the mind and never something of the calendar. " I jokingly replied him. "And you, you look bothered, aren't you?" I quickly cut in.
"Of course I am. In fact that's the reason I came to share with you." He said. "Ok...may I know what the matter is, please." I said.
"Thank you Brother. The issue is that I have treated an innocent boy very badly; and since I discovered the truth about the matter, I haven't had peace of mind. If my guesses aren't wrong, the boy in question should be around your age. I picked him from a very poor family to serve me as an apprentice. I have shops at Main Market where he and my brothers in-law who are in the same apprenticeship with him stay. I gave the said boy what you could call the choicest of the shops because of his personality and commitment to my business. His settlement is slated for Easter next year. But sometime early this year, my brothers in-law started bringing in a lot of bad reports about him, accusing him of cheating and stealing. They all sleep in the same room, so I took their words to be true. Although there wasn't any substantial evidence of liquidation in the shop he was managing and his character didn't change either. But as my brothers in-law continued to bring in reports against him almost on a daily basis, I started developing some level of hatred towards him. And this was a boy I loved very dearly, of which all of them knew it. Last two months, they brought another allegation of stealing against him and this time saying he bought a house with my money, and that the location was somewhere at Asaba. Already I had developed this Ill feelings towards him that when that news came in, I immediately jumped into conclusion that it must be true, since there is a saying that 'in every accusation there is always an element of truth.' On this account my wife urged me to send him parking and hand over the shop he was managing to one of his brothers, and I did. The boy's name is "Chiemeka". Just last week something happened that opened my eyes to the truth. They had accused him falsely! The poor boy was innocent all the while. I never knew they merely being envious of him and had their eyes on the shop I gave him; and they never liked the fact that I loved that boy more than them. My wife also didn't help matters, at all.
My first son, who is in school, somehow got wind of the situation and my consequent action towards Emeka, and went into thorough investigation. He was the one who found out the whole truth concerning the matter. My kids also love the boy dearly."
"I have practically lost peace of mind since I discovered the truth, and every effort I have made to bring Chiemeka back seems to be a waste of time. He's this praying type that doesn't talk much but likes being left in his world. I learnt he even said under oath that nothing would make him return to my house or receive any dime from me as settlement for the six years he served me. I never knew I could act so foolishly, and I have myself to blame for all this mess. Since this incident happened, my blood pressure has jumped, and, I've noticed that my income keeps dropping heavily by the day. Very recently, I met a priest in Enugu for solution to my continued and increasing setback in business since the past one month now, and he told me I had wronged an innocent soul and as a result the arm of justice is up against me. He said I must go and make things right else I may soon loose everything I have now. But...brother.... loosing my things is not just the issue here, but how to get Chiemeka to forgive me and return to my house. Or even if he doesn't want to return to the house, let him accept that I settle him as supposed. I've always lived carefully not to trample on anyone's feet; and I am ready to make things right in this case. Do you have any Idea what I could do to win his heart back and get him to the table for settlement?" He asked.
"This is not surprising to hear, sir... I mean the downward plunge you are experiencing in your finances now. I've seen a whole village, even communities, families, religious bodies etc held hostage because of an act of injustice meted to one innocent soul. God is a firm upholder of justice and the cry of a just person treated badly will always get to his ears. The inescapable arm of Justice is too long that none of us can escape it when it comes knocking. Nevertheless, you've shown yourself a just man by accepting the blame to yourself and seeking for ways to make things right again. That's a plus for you and a good start as well. It shows you aren't like other Ogas who would gladly seize this kind of opportunity for their selfish gain. The only mistake was you allowing yourself to be influenced by mere gossip lacking any substantial evidence.
Gossip has shattered destinies, set homes, marriages, communities ablaze, destroyed lives and withheld progress where otherwise should not be. As you can see, gossip is the principal agent of destruction in this case, fueled by envy and jealousy. It's obvious that Chiemeka was a Joseph in the house and your brothers in-law were the incensed ten with evil intent against the blessed one. Such is always the case where people allow folly to reign in their hearts. Nevertheless, I'd like to obtain Chiemeka's contact number. You may have my number and if you truly need my help, you can call me once you get his number, and the rest will be history. I've had similar experiences on many occasions, where I was painted black for reasons unknown to me. I believe after sharing my experiences with Emeka, he'll see there are others like him who have had quite similar experiences, if not far worse, but they didn't let the current sweep them off their feet. He'll sure have a rethink." I said.
"Thank you brother. I'll surely get back to you once I get his telephone number. I'll forever remain grateful to you if you would help me get over this situation. it's up to my neck now." He said.
"Don't worry, sir. You are a good man yourself, and that's the only reason you are very much concerned about how to make things right again. Some senseless, selfish men would have carried on with life without batting an eye unless when their business collapsed beyond resuscitation. It's well anyway. Give my greetings to your wife. Maybe one day I shall have the opportunity to share some words with her. I'll be going now. I need to go take my pills. But before I leave, I wish you permit me to share our discussion in my column for others to learn. I won't include your name and the victim will get a pseudo name, please."Oh! You are free, please." he said. "Remain blessed then."
Lesson
Things are not always what they seem to be. Always think deeply before you act.
The saying " there is always an element of truth in every allegation " has deceived many into error. Don't give judgement based on hearsay. Irredeemable mistakes have been made by this. I've realized that there are people who have taken it as their assignment on earth to tarnish other peoples' images. Such people will stop at nothing to achieve their satanic aim. Jesus said they are like their Father--Lucifer--who has been a murder from the onset. For instance, who would have believed that Hon. Tony Nwoye of the APC was not a cultist as was widely speculated. The accusation was that he is a cult leader and a dangerous one at that. But the truth has surfaced now, and many who helped to peddle that rumor, seeing the truth now are regretting their actions. Only fools and gossips spend precious time to listen to gossip and gossips. Let love and wisdom lead in every judgment you make. there are actions that are irredeemable.Thanks and God bless you. Have a nice and splendid week ahead of you.
Br. Kenneth Chigozie Alamezie, BSS.

My Table Talk Experience With ‘A Megalomaniac Friend’
“Lord,” said Thomas, “we do not know where You are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you had known Me, you would know My Father as well. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.”… John 14:6
Sometime not quite long, I got engaged in a discussion with this gentleman, a fine and well decorated “Church man” whose claim of possessing numerous academic laurels, intellectual power and sound sapience in varied disciplines almost got me boxed into a corner. While our discussion lasted, he would literally cut up every topic brought to the table; and this he did with this quire look in his eyes that reads, “forget it champ! I am way beyond your level.” He would often boast about his rich experience garnered through his many travels to many countries of the world. Methinks he's even become nomadic, kinda.
“All religions lead to God; and you are in good standing with him if you live well and practice virtues. Your religion does not matter but the way you live. People can connect to God and consequently make heaven through Buddhism, Shintoi, Hinduism, (ATR) African traditional religion, just name it.” It doesn't matter what religion you practice. Christianity is just one of the organized religions of the world…” This was the wisdom of my itinerant 'table friend.' The words hit me like a thunderbolt that I actually didn't know when I literally pulled a question at him.
“What's your major, please?” He quickly shot the answer back at me, “Religion of course.” His voice at this point sunk so deep as though he wore a lace over his neck. “It's like my second nature. I've done a lot of research on it. That's the reason am always in the air flying all over the world. We are the Church!” He spitefully chipped in. At this point, I couldn't believe my ears anymore. The both tingled seriously with every vomit he made. I felt as though one trapped in a malaria-induced dream. But I wasn't. In a bid to make sure I got his rhetoric right, I asked very calmly, “Yeahhh…the Church… I believe that includes us, right?” “But you are not a clergy” he retorted. Bewildered by this statement that shows gross ignorance of what the word Church truly means, I calmly asked again, “Could you throw more light on that, please?”
“But, as a Brother you ought to know where you belong in the house. I mean…I need not to lecture you on this. Of course, this is something they should have taught you from the first day of your formation. I guess you know you are not a clergy?” My amazement grew more this time. Hitherto I had never discussed with such a megalomaniac before. Slowly but cautiously I gave him a reply:
''You are somewhat right. But I was taught that every baptized child of God shares in the priesthood and kingship of our brother and Savior, Jesus Christ; and that's far more important than the clergy role. I was taught that being a member of the Body is fundamental and precedes whatever role one is playing in the Body. I was taught that your certificate to eternal bliss with God in heaven is not your clergy role and title but your realistic faith in the Son of God, which reveals itself in the way you live your Christian life. I was taught that one could be a clergy and still miss heaven but one cannot be a true Christian and miss eternity with God.”
“I was taught that the term 'Church' embraces the entire people of God—all those redeemed by the blood of the Lamb—and does not in any way mean a hierarchical structure capturing but a few in the Body.”
“I was taught that every religion claims exclusivity, as each religion makes different truth claims on a number of basic issues. This, hence, doesn't suggest unification pointing towards the one path. I was taught that Buddhism had existed for quite a long time before the advent of Jesus Christ into the world. And not being ignorant of that fact, Jesus went on to make the most daring and emphatic statement regarding the lone Way to God: “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” John 14:6. This literally means you can't get any other Way leading to God outside Christ; and only Christ among all religious leaders dared to make such a claim.”
“I was taught that it takes one with a childlike disposition to uncover the mysteries of the kingdom of God. Very often these mysteries are not given to the learned even in all their learning.”
“I was taught that flying all over the world in search of the truth or enrolling in the ivy universities of the world in search of knowledge does not dispose one to the Wisdom of God; rather God gives it to the humble of heart. I was taught that one could be preaching Christ from the most decorated pulpit and with such eloquence as mesmerizing as it is electrifying, yet he doesn't know Christ for himself. I was taught that education without Christ is the true definition of idiocy. I was taught that you need Christ to know God; you need the Holy Spirit to know Christ but you need silent introspection to know your true self. I was taught that character is assassinated when learning seeks to work in isolation of truth and common sense.” God bless you!
By Kenneth Chigozie Alamezie, BSS (Rev. Br.)

Path To Rest: Let God Be The Shepherd!
The role of God as our Shepherd is one full of loaded meanings that are capable of refashioning a doubtful heart into a faith filled one. “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want,” says the psalmist in psalm 23 vs.1.
Understanding the work of a shepherd will sure give us a lucid comprehension of God’s role in the life of his children. A shepherd watches over the sheep and doesn’t let his eyes off them. This means he stays up even when the simple creatures are asleep: “he who keeps Israel will neither sleep nor slumber” Psalm 121:4. If the sheep didn't have a shepherd, they would always have to be constantly on their toes for fear of the wild Cats, Jackals and Hyenas, who see them as fine food. They would have to be watching and guarding themselves, and by watching their own back, they wouldn't have time to eat the grass or lie down beside still waters in peace. They would always be distracted and as a result wouldn’t lead a quality life. The shepherd knows this quite well; to get the best out of the sheep, he has to do his best for the sheep, the reason he does his job with every sense of commitment. By this, the sheep know that their shepherd loves and cares for them, so they don't have to be constantly on guard. They don’t have to worry about the vicious predators that walk in the day or by night. A shepherd leads the sheep to green pastures. He knows it’s his duty to spot out a perfect location where they would graze. He leads them to the spot, where he makes them lie down in peace and feed in security. The sheep don’t have to worry about how to get there; that’s the business of the shepherd and not theirs. A shepherd leads the sheep beside still waters, where they would drink to their fill and be refreshed. They don’t have to worry about spotting a perfect spring for themselves, a place of refreshment. The shepherd does that for them, for he knows it’s his duty to do so. And as they drink, they don’t have to be afraid. They know the shepherd is watching over them. Bearing his staff in his hand, he walks around, watching, and if he sees a predator lurking around to destroy one of his sheep, he takes his staff and drives the wicked thing away. If the shepherd sees his whole flock drifting in the wrong direction—maybe toward a road where they might get hit by a passing vehicle, or toward a cliff where they might fall, or close to the trees where wolves, Lions and bears lurk, or to any place of danger—he begins to guide the sheep away from danger and back to safety. The man after God’s heart did this quite often. He wouldn’t let vicious creatures prey on any of his sheep; he said that himself. If a shepherd sees one of his sheep wandering off, he goes over and tries to get that sheep back to the flock. Sometimes he would have to tell the sheep, "Get back, hairy one!”
The above-illustrated picture of a good shepherd and his commitment to the welfare of his sheep can help us to comprehend what it means when the Scripture refers to God as our shepherd. Truly, God is our shepherd; and we are the sheep of his pasture. Yet God isn’t just a Shepherd. He is more than that: He is “the GOOD Shepherd.” You can’t get any shepherd anywhere who is as good and caring as our God. He seeks to lead us to life’s green pastures. It’s his utmost desire to bring us to a place of rest. Protecting and providing for us is his sole responsibility. As his sheep, it’s our right to be catered for by him; it’s our right to look up to him for all we need for sustenance, but that’s if we aren’t playing the shepherd ourselves. Many do that.
God isn’t anything like the shepherds (religious leaders) of our time, who are ruthless and egocentric in character. Of course, we have to draw the line here, since there are really bad shepherds out there in our churches today, pretty bad eggs raping and reaping the sheep apart, just to satiate their wanton desires. Examples of bad shepherds in today’s Church world are the men of gold parading themselves as clerics in most churches. You spot them by their fruits, as their concentration is always centered on money and how to fleece the faithful of their hard-earned money. It doesn’t matter to them how the sheep fare. All they care about is how to milk the sheep dry and even rip their skin out for personal suites. They are what the Lord termed as “hired hands” “thieves that came in not through the Gate but by the fence,” and that sure tells why they have protuberance eyes with which they spot out vulnerable and ignorant sheep for a kill. Accursed, mendacious characters doomed to fail!
You know a good shepherd by the disposition of his heart towards the sheep. He could put his life on the line trying to protect his sheep from the adversaries. This is what Jesus did for us on the Cross. He laid down his life for the sake of his sheep—you and your household. But one may say, “if Jesus is truly the Good Shepherd he claims to be, why then am I starving here like a rejected sheep?” the answer might not be farfetched, you know. There is every tendency you have assumed the position of the shepherd of your life and by that have relegated the Lord to the place of the sheep. You do that by living the worry lifestyle. When you make yourself a worrywart, you’re practically telling God you don’t trust him enough to leave issues of your life in his care. He isn’t going to wail because you didn’t let him be your shepherd. He’s so gentle that he can’t do that. Scripture says He knocks at the door of our hearts, and never that he pushes through the door of our hearts. If you want to live the happy life, then it’s time to let the shepherd do his work.
The Good Shepherd is now very interested in what goes on in his Church. Although today’s men of gold may be jumping up and down now like a Monkey given some Bananas because they believed they have relieved the Good Shepherd of his work; yet soonest, the tide will change. A mighty wind of Change is about to hit Church, and this wind will blow through the length and breadth of the Church to set things right. The era of deceit in the Body of Christ is quickly coming to an end, as the Chief Shepherd has already begun a process of awakening and consequent handover of power in his Body. Wicked and deceitful shepherds are going to meet with a sentence similar to the one handed herdsmen in Benue and Ekiti State. They are going to be cut down to size. The Truth of the Gospel is back again to set the myopic sheep free. The Lord has come to Shepherd his sheep by himself, to heal the wounds of his bruised sheep. If you are yet to make yourself his sheep, you can do that now. God bless you!
by Rev. Br. Kenneth Chigozie Alamezie, BSS

YOU BECOME A BETTER YOU BY MAKING OTHER PEOPLES’ LIVES BETTER

“To be of good quality, you have to excuse yourself from the presence of shallow and callow minded individuals.”
― Michael Bassey Johnson
“Nothing is as approved as mediocrity, the majority has established it and it fixes its fangs on whatever gets beyond it either way.” - Blaise Pascal
“Most humans, in varying degrees, are already dead. In one way or another they have lost their dreams, their ambitions, their desire for a better life. They have surrendered their fight for self-esteem and they have compromised their great potential. They have settled for a life of mediocrity, days of despair and nights of tears. They are no more than living deaths confined to cemeteries of their choice. Yet they need not remain in that state. They can be resurrected from their sorry condition. They can each perform the greatest miracle in the world. They can each come back from the dead...”
― Og Mandino, The Greatest Miracle in World
“Once you begin to sow life and joy in other peoples’ lives, Infinite Wisdom sees to it that you become the best of who you are”--Br Ken Alamezie, BSS

I get scared to the marrows each time I recall the anesthetizing thought that a man can actually freely succumb to the alluring but noxious settee of mediocrity and by it loose the gems given to him by Infinite Wisdom for the betterment of humanity. Many they are who have toed this devastating part of life. They visited this world with much in their mind and hands but for some unwarranted reasons they also ended up going with those precious gifts on account of their intercourse with the Jezebelic Reaper.

We all are born to achieve something purposeful, unique and useful for the family, organization, community and country at large. Although we all came into this world with varied talents and giftedness embedded in us to use for the betterment of humanity, yet such talents may never be useful if we settle for less in our various endeavors, if we fail to put them to use and enhance them appropriately. The way you enhance your own giftedness is by constantly exploring ways on how to make others become better themselves, by ignoring clamoring pessimistic voices of mediocre minds. By seeking out ways to better the society wherein you dwell, you actually bring in additional knowledge in your chosen field of expertise; and via this course, you upgrade your skills and competence and get an amazing attitude that qualifies you for good breaks in life. The secret of growth in every sphere of life lies in death to egocentricity, and it’s only in dying that we encounter true life. I find that true joy comes only when we begin to think less of ourselves, spend less on ourselves, and give more of ourselves for the benefit of others; when we go out of our way to make others see reason to believe in the existence of a God that is actually good and cares for them. This is what Christianity truly entails. In truth, Christianity without good works is as good as stupidity. Being a Christian is being a light to those dwelling in darkness; it’s being a salt in a decaying world wounded by selfishness and greed. It’s being a voice through which the Creator advocates for the disenfranchised, it’s being a hand through which he caresses the weak and hurting; it’s being a shoulder upon which the bruised can lean on. There is no other way of making our world a better place than this.
Somehow, sometime back in my past, I had an experience that left a positive score on my life, and since then I noticed that with every passing day I keep developing a fired up disdain for the twin evil of selfishness and mediocrity. Thus, with every passing hour of my life I become a better me; I find purpose for being alive at this time in history; I discover more the beauty of living truly and not merely existing; I realize the evil therein living a selfish and mediocre life. The said experience—I have no time to tell the whole story here—made an impression on my mindset, especially as it regards the reason for living, and the previous notion I had about life swiftly got a quick and enduring shift. All thanks to fate. That was my own moment of Divine awakening. Then, almost out of the blue it dawned on me that the sole reason for living is principally to cultivate, multiply and spread life around, however morally possible; to go forward and even out of one’s way and give hope to those beaten down by life; to become an inspiration to others, especially the hapless among men; to play mouth to those whose mouths have been sealed by escalating injustice and relentless intimidation by a few indifferent minds walking around as demigods; to play hand to the handicapped, give voice to the voiceless, become the eyes that the blind use to navigate their course on the rough radar of life, be a source of joy and happiness to the hurting. I feel intensely that any life that is not making any positive impact on the lives of others isn’t worth living and as such deserve pity and should be counted among the living dead. There is more to life than merely eating and drinking, getting married and acquiring wealth for selfish reasons or just for the sake of it.

Evil arises from selfishness and a mediocre is as good as evil, since mediocrity uses, often, the shield of self-pity, which is a disguised way of selfishness, though unpronounced, to shield itself from confrontation. You become a mediocre when you choose to settle for less in your own field of endeavor, perhaps out of fear of criticism or persecution. A man living a mediocre life will scarcely achieve his life’s purpose. Mediocre is a disease that has crippled many otherwise swift limbs. Re brand yourself to see a new you in you for others to see and experience. Get that belief that you can change for better and the belief will set you in motion to undertake deeds, which you have never done. Take massive action; put more and more of improved action to the problems and challenges you face in your own field of endeavor. Improve your action to get the required results. Rise above the mediocre level. Work towards greatness and excellence. Undertake those new heights, which challenge you and make you uncomfortable and painful to you. In the longer run what you thought was difficult and tough becomes manageable. Together let’s heal our world. God bless you!
By Rev. Br. Ken Chigozie Alamezie, BSS

WHAT MAKES PROMOTION FEASIBLE

Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him.
The Church today is replete with miracle seekers who do not want to hear anything about hard work. Thanks to uncurbed religious racketeering and spiritual charlatanry, which has birthed in Church of today a growing number of egotistic, narrow-minded spiritual pewees who would gladly opt to reap where they did not sow; ignoring the fact that nothing good comes on a platter of gold. They are taught promotion is gained based on “receive it by fire,” and consequently they want to be successful without attitude. They think lasting good things really come to us based on “I claim it by faith.” But no man thrives on the wings of mere wishes and claims. Even faith without works is as dead as a lath.
Those living in that world of self-deceit know very well the cost—stagnation with false hope of rescue. Religious racketeers and spiritual charlatans, indeed phony characters in neatly sown garments have helped to dampen their already dampened eyes.
Scattered all over the Holy Writ are compelling evidences showing the operations of the Principle of sowing and reaping as a major force behind every human activities on this side of the divide, yet sheer ignorance has kept miracle seekers from perceiving this truth. The man who wants promotion and desires to attract to himself the good things that life has to offer must give heed to and practice the eternal principles governing our dealings in this world.
Promotion as a reward from God does not come by chance. You must work for it if you so want it. Some people think only those with the education and charisma get promoted, while others feel that employers promote people based on friendships or special connections. But the Bible says something completely different:
Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him, Daniel 6:3. The young Hebrew champ, Daniel, along with his three friends and fellow countrymen received promotion in their work because they applied the touch of excellence in everything they did, thus the ever rewarding principle of sowing and reaping made sure they reaped the fruit of their labour. They didn’t claim it by fire, did they?
As pointed out earlier, there are laid down principles governing what we do on this side of the divide, and the man who has turned a blind eye to this wisdom is as good as a buffoon, for he may spend all his time on earth chasing the wind, and blaming God for his woes. In the course of my service in the Lord’s Vineyard, I have seen and encountered a lot of wind chasers and grasshopper hunters who have turned themselves into prayer machines, daily praying their tongues and hearts out just to get promotion in the work of their hands. On giving such people a close watch, I often found out, they don’t practice honesty in their dealings with others, let alone doing things with fineness. They haven’t nobility of character. I have also encountered those whose hands are as tightfisted as anything you could ever think of. Such people, it seems, loathe the act of giving as the ISIS members loathe the Christian faith, yet they seek increase in their finances. People of this nature think and use religion as a means of escape from reality. Little wonder in their flight they end up as meat in the canine teeth of ferocious Tigers spotting suites made for the Lambs.
Promotion comes from God, yes! Yet God doesn’t promote persons with mischievous characters. If you feel like you're working a cul-de-sac job, you’re putting in so much efforts, but lack the spirit of excellence and honesty in you, you might think it's God's fault you’re locked in a place. I hate to burst your bubble, but God isn’t behind your woes. No! Not Daddy! He doesn't promote slippery persons. Agreed, Father God is the One who exalts, but there's more to it than that. It's about what's inside you. It's about your heart's attitude. Promotion is partly up to you.
The Word gives us a great example of godly promotion. The book of Daniel shows us how Daniel and his three Hebrew friends gained promotion in an evil, ungodly society. That sounds like our society today, isn’t it? Though the lads arrived in Babylon as slaves, they grew in favor and influence with four different kings in two different world systems and became trusted advisors and rulers under each. How was this possible? How could four men experience so much favor under such adverse circumstances? Daniel 6:3 gives us the answer: Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him.

Daniel, a captive from Israel, was preferred above rulers and princes! He and his three friends were promoted because they each had an excellent spirit. That's awesome! The supernatural favor they had didn't hit them out of the blue. They didn’t ‘claim it’, either. It didn’t come from their external circumstances; it came from the inside. It was something intangible, something like attitude. I bet you attitude is everything.

Sadly, many Christians are lacking in good attitude. They believe God for everything good but lack the attitude to attract it. They shoot at everything and hit it at nothing each time. But heroes of faith like Daniel, Joseph, Moses, and David show us a different approach. They believed God for something more, and because of their attitude of faithfulness-their excellent spirits-they were promoted. If we want to experience the results they had, we have to start doing the things they did. We have to start cultivating a good attitude while aiming at our target.
This is good news because circumstances are often outside our control, but a good attitude stabilizes us on the path of peace and promotion. Remember, attitude is a matter of the heart. An excellent spirit is faithful. It's consistent. It has a moral foundation that doesn't fluctuate or compromise. It causes a person to do what's right even when no one is watching.
An excellent spirit will promote you in business, in ministry, or at home with your family. It will promote you with your neighbors, in your school, at meetings, in fact anywhere. God delights in excellence, and excellence begins in the heart.
Proverbs 23:7 says, "For as [a man] thinketh in his heart, so is he" (brackets added). No kind of Change manifests externally which did not first start from the heart. The attitude of your heart could be what has been hindering you from attaining your promotion and living out God’s best.
If you are tucked in a place and not being promoted, or if it seems like everyone else is prospering while you struggle to make ends meet, check well the situation on the inside. Do you have an excellent spirit? God bless you!
Br. Kenneth Chigozie Alamezie, BSS

LIFE IS A GAME OF SOWING AND REAPING
Life is good; and it can be fun depending on your understanding of the salient principles of life. Life is interesting; and that interesting part of it is what will form our discussion today.

I find that the major thing that makes life very interesting is the fact that each person reaps what he or she sows. Sowing and reaping is a law of the natural world. On the third day of creation, God commanded the earth to bring forth living plants "bearing seed" and fruit "with seed in it" (Genesis 1:12). These plants were then given to man for food (verse 29). Ever since the beginning, man has understood the process of sowing and reaping and has applied it to his benefit. Sowing and reaping is also a law of the spiritual world. It is more than just an agricultural principle. It is an axiom of life that we reap what we sow. Galatians 6:7 says, "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows." There are natural consequences to our actions. The world operates under the law of cause and effect. There is no way around it: every time we choose an action, we also choose the consequences of that action.

Do not be fooled, then, by vain thoughts, which tend to deceive you into believing that your actions and words do not matter. Both your thoughts, words and actions are seeds, and you live through each day sowing these seeds knowingly or unknowingly. Some people don't want to hear about this; but the principles of life don't run on your mere wishes and or wants. These principles don't even consider your feelings, either. Rather as just as they are in their operations, they make sure you receive adequately what you sow, what you deserve. No "wayo or Baba Ijebu" dealings in this regard! In fact, I find that ignorance in this regard is highly detrimental. The principle of sowing and receiving works both positively and negatively. "The one who sows righteousness reaps a sure reward" (Proverbs 11:18b), but "whoever sows injustice reaps calamity" (Proverbs 22:8a). This sounds great, right? I sure love this. Just know that each time you are sowing injustice, anywhere and anyhow, you are certainly arranging for yourself the big bang--CALAMITY. This sure doesn't sound like something you want anywhere near your roof. And noteworthy is the fact that we reap proportionately to what we sow. This means the more seed planted, the more fruit harvested.

Yet the principle of sowing and reaping makes sure we reap more than what we sow. In other words, the law of sowing and reaping is related to the law of multiplication. Jesus spoke of seed that brought forth "a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown" (Matthew 13:. One grain of wheat produces a whole head of grain. In the same way, one little fib can produce an out-of-control frenzy of falsehoods, fallacies, and fictions. Sow the wind and reap the whirlwind (Hosea 8:7). Oops! That thing is a monster, and I believe you don't want it over your head. I bet this is getting more interesting. Yet, positively one kind deed can result in a blessing to last a lifetime.

Found throughout Scripture, the idea of sowing and reaping is an important principle imparting wisdom for both this world and the world to come. Today, they say, is the father of tomorrow. Ask questions and you'll be amazed how true this is. The point here is that what you are today is the result of what you have been thinking, saying, and the way you have lived in the past. You may be surprised to learn here that your yesterday has a way of projecting itself into your today, and how you manage your today will determine how your tomorrow will look like. This doesn't sound like one of those "receive it" junkies you're told from the pulpit, right? Wisdom knows her children; and bitter pills they say often carry curative powers.
Those who speak wisely today are sowing good and healthy seeds for tomorrow's harvest; and they will surely reap a bounty harvest of the good things of life that Words bring. This is so because inside every man lies the creative power of his Maker, who does most of his creation by spoken words. You are a creator man and the sooner you put this into your head the better for you. Jacob knew this very well. By spoken words he fashioned the destiny of all his twelve sons and to this day, it has remained just as he said it thousands of years ago. You may like to find this out for yourself, and it will amaze you to learn that all twelve of them ended up just as he said they would. The randy Reuben is an example. The big Ben hasn't found his place among his brethren till this day. This is a lesson for randy people; I have found that people like this often end up like the big uncle Reu.

Your words govern your world; hence, you are the product of what you have been saying. Ignorance is not an excuse here. Parents should be mindful of this because most careless parents very often speak very negatively of and to their children not knowing that those negative words have great forces trailing them to bring them to manifestation. Equally, your actions matter in the same way that your words do. Those who act wisely today will have wisdom to make wise and rewarding decisions tomorrow and as a result, theirs will be good breaks when tomorrow comes.
Acting wisely today, inter alia, gets you into rich relationships that will bring out the best in you. This is because no man is self-made. Relationship is one of the best gifts of God to us. The kind of relationship you keep today more than often influences your perception about life. Get into a relationship with people of depraved minds and sooner than later you'll have to reap a bad influence on your character, Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character" 1 Cor 15:33. Your character is who you are. A BAD CHARACTER REPELS GOOD BREAKS. That being said, no single tree can make a forest. You need good people around you to become what destiny has drawn up for you. The relationships you keep today will determine whether or not you will become what God has destined you to be, how long it will take for its manifestation; and it is your actions that draws the kind of people you need to you. Wisdom seeks wisdom, the same with folly. You attract people that sow into life like you do. Be careful then how you so. Give heed to how you behave. Life is a game. You reap what you sow, don't forget! God bless you!

THE LORD WANTS YOU FIXED FOR GOOD
One thing remarkable in the Life of Jesus is his gentleness; and gentleness is a mark of love. Our Lord Jesus was gentle with all people, but in particular were those knocked down by life, those regarded as very sinful and lost to hell forever, those rejected and regarded as condemned to God’s wrath. The Lord came to help such people because society had written them off. Jesus loved and still loves bringing out the best in people. Jesus doesn’t look at anyone as a goner. He is the one through whom all things were made and for whom they exist. He is the potter and we are the clay; no life can damage beyond what he can fix. The woman caught in adultery, the tax collectors despised by all, the thief on the cross, the Samaritan at the Well side, married and divorced many times; Jesus met them as they were and cleansed them, poured fresh water on them and gave them a new name. The people regarding themselves as unloved he showed the deepest of love. The people termed ‘not my people’ by religious folks he called his brothers and sisters. Such was the gentleness with which Jesus dealt with everyone; such is the gentleness with which he deals with us even now.
We read in Matthew 12:20, "Jesus would not break a bruised or a battered reed and would not put off a dimly burning wick." A reed is a very small little thing. If it were bruised or battered, most people would throw it away and pick another reed, because reeds are cheap. But Jesus wouldn't do it; even now he cannot do it. And a wick that is burning very dimly, Jesus would fan it to flame. That is what it says there. He would not quench a dimly burning wick. If you are like a battered reed - weak, most of your life broken and trampled upon by circumstances, you are fearful and always filled with a sense of filthiness and unworthiness, if you always feel rejected and think yourself as a-never-do-good then you are just the right kind of person Jesus is looking for. You need not be afraid of him; you need not shy away from him. You need not behave as Peter who jumped into water upon hearing “it is the Lord,” because he had denied him thrice and as a result was ashamed of seeing his face. You need not behave like Judas who out of guilt went and hung himself. You need not behave like those disciples who left Jesus because they thought his ways are tough and hard his sayings. As a good potter, he delights in fixing those works of his considered as unfit for repair.
It does not matter how you see yourself presently; it does not matter how your family members, friends, spouse, co-workers see you; it does not even matter how Satan sees you. Satan may tell you that you cannot be any better than you are now; he may tell you to quit trying to live holy and in love, that you have already become a hardened sinner, a serial looser, a promiscuous wretch. You know, it's not his fault he could say that to you. You know what the Lord calls him—the Father of all lies, hence you do not expect him to tell you the truth about yourself. His lies do not matter. What matters is how Jesus sees you. Noteworthy is the fact that he sees you as God sees you, as someone he could die for, as one bearing his very image and likeness, as a victor and not a victim, as one carrying his glory. He saw the good qualities in the Magdalene; he saw the good qualities in the tax collectors, Matthew and Zacchaeus, the same with the serial Samaritan divorcee. He still sees, and more profoundly so, the good qualities in people. His love for you is not sentimental. Out of love, he may rebuke you, even with strong words of admonition like the one he did to Peter, but his rebuke is to bring out the best in you. Only a father who sincerely loves his child and wants the best for him or her would rebuke with strong admonition whenever the child is on the verge on loosing it all. Has Jesus rebuked you before, anywise? That sure shows he LOVES YOU DEEPLY and wants you to represent him well.
We are living in the end times. Happenings around the world attest to this fact. I have told you how much Jesus loves you and wants you well. Yet a day is coming, and fast approaching, when Jesus will judge each man according to his or her deeds. Then his love will protect all those who gave their lives to him and lived according to his dictates. But his justice will make sure the wicked reap in full all the fruits of their labour. Hell is a real place. The place of torment isn’t a joke. Abba Father never meant it for humans but for Lucifer and his minions. But those who in life chose the way of the Father of lies will certainly spend eternity there with him. Don't be fooled by some doctrines of demons selling in many churches and places of worship now which seek to deny the existence of Hell as a pit of fire and sulfur.Would you like to make Jesus your Lord and savior today? If yes say this prayer from your heart:
Lord Jesus Christ, from the depth of my heart I come to you today. I thank you for paying with your own blood the eternal price needed for my redemption. I acknowledge that I am a sinner; I confess my sins to you (confess those sins separating you from the Lord. For Catholics, be humble enough to see a priest after and confess your sins equally). Forgive my sins and blot out my name from the book of death. I confess you today as my Lord and savior. I believe in my heart that God raised you from the dead. Give me Lord the grace to overcome sin and every sinful inclination. Fix my life, Lord, and help me to become a better me in you. Thank you for saving me today. By grace, I receive now your righteousness; I receive the power to live the blessed life, Amen.
Rev. Br. Kenneth Chigozie Alamezie, BSS

SEEK YE HIS FACE, NOT HIS HANDS

Christendom today is replete with miracle chasers and prophecy seekers--people who seek the hands of God, HIS POCKETS, and never his face. “ The Lord says, "These people claim to worship me, but their words are meaningless, and their hearts are somewhere else. Their religion is nothing but human rules and traditions, which they have simply memorized” (Isaiah 29:13 GNT). People of this kind come to God not to know him and learn of his ways, but to force open his hands and if possible ‘con him of his stuffs’. Little wonder in the end, they end up being conned themselves by those having the same character as them. Lolz…life is but a game; and people get only what they sow.

Abba Father delights in performing miracles. Often, he uses such extraordinary deeds of power, spiritual occurrences and events when He, Lord God Almighty, suspends His natural laws and bypass physical barriers to make interventions in the affairs of men, which aim we could tell is to reassure us of his mighty power and his constant presence among us. Examples abound in Scripture, both in the Old and New Testaments, where Abba Father performed extraordinary deeds of power through his chosen vessels. For instance, in the OT we find that Abba Father gave the prophet Moses special grace to perform miracles and the reason was to draw the peoples’ attention to him, get them believe in Moses his servant, and that He—Abba Father--may show forth his mighty power among the Egyptians. It was even through a miraculous sign that he caught Moses’ attention to himself. Our Lord Jesus Christ in the New Testament performed extraordinary deeds of power, miracles, and the reason for that we could tell was to get the people believe he was who he said he was. The truth is that Father still performs miracles till today and each time he does that through his chosen vessels, the reason is still the same--to draw our attention to Himself and to clear any existing doubts in us that may be hindering us from knowing him as a Father. These accumulated doubts may be due to ill experiences owing to overwhelming sufferings and difficulties in our world today.

When we consider God’s motive for performing miracles among us, each time he does that, which is to draw our attention to himself, we’d realize that he doesn’t just want to draw our attention to him so we could come stare at him as though one who lost his mind. No! Rather, he wants to draw our attention to him so that we may know him and learn of his ways and statutes. And his ways are righteous, and true his statutes, “The LORD is righteous in all his ways and faithful in all he does” (Psalm 145 vs. 17).” Yet you are near, LORD, and all your commands are true.” (Psalm 119:151). From this, we can deduce that every miracle performed by God, whether in Bible era or in our present age, is aimed at bringing us closer to Him, so that we may learn from him the path of righteousness. And this path, when we learn it, helps us become more like God whose true nature is LOVE, JUSTICE AND MERCY. These attributes of Abba Father make us truly human. None of us can be truly human when these attributes of God are lacking in us. That would be like trying to drive a car that has no engine.

Yet, the trend has changed in today’s Christendom, especially here in Nigeria. Miracle has lost its meaning and purpose. It has somewhat become the bane of the Nigerian Church in this 21st century era. Many among the Nigerian Bible preachers and the faithful have all, it seems, misunderstood the term Miracle and why Abba Father performs it in our midst. Sadly, many of these Bible preachers today do a lot of things in the name of performing miracles, just to lure members to their church. And the central focus is increase in revenue generation. The more members there are the more tithes and offerings to be collected. We are not trying to play the judge here; but the truth is there for all to see. Even, these days there are Bible preachers, it doesn’t matter their denomination or what they have as title, who practice voodoo, belong to the occult just to acquire paranormal powers to do exceptional things in order to woo ignorant miracle chasers to their churches. On the part of the faithful, we find that many who throng places of worship today, not minding the kind of bizarre things being practiced in most of these places all in the name of worship of God, go there not because they are seeking the face of God to know him more as a father, but because they are seeking his hands and his pockets to see what they can get out of them.

Miracle chasers don’t understand that Abba Father has ordained a structure for us to live by. They don’t understand that Father wants us to live and walk permanently in his blessings, rather than waiting for his miracles. Miracles as we know often do not occur regularly; but his blessings, which comprise of all the spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, whether they be grace for spiritual growth and wellbeing, grace for sustenance in difficult times, grace for physical and emotional healing, good health and life, spiritual and material prosperity (for the Lord delights in the prosperity of his people, Psalm 35:27; and, all the promises of God, ‘whatever they are and wherever they are written in Scripture’, are yes in Christ, 2Cor 1:20) are meant to be a permanent experience for all of us in Christ Jesus. All of these blessings have been paid for by the sacrificial death of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, and all we need to do is to believe this great and Good news and reach out with faith for them.

But one who doesn’t know the Word may never get to know what it says about him or her and how to tap into the blessings therein. Pitifully, this happens to be the problem of many a Nigerian Christians—ignorance of the Word. St. Jerome says, “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” And obviously ignorance of Christ is ignorance of the Father. My people perish because they lack knowledge, the Lord says, “my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6 NIV) New Living Translation Puts it finely “My people are being destroyed because they don't know me.” Is it not surprising that the Lord didn’t say His people are being destroyed, perish because they do not pray enough, fast always. So many people pray like a running machine; fast more than the saint from Assisi, yet they haven’t anything to show for it. I bet this is getting interesting, isn’t it?

Knowledge of God is what guarantees us success in everything we do, and not any other thing. The Son of God himself showed how important this is, during his earthly ministry. He spent his entire ministry life teaching about God’s nature and his ways, but took less than twenty-five minutes to teach his disciples about prayer. Does this mean, then, that prayer is not important? Of course not. But prayer, no matter how long one engages in it, without ample knowledge of God and his ways, will be nothing but a waste of precious time and energy. I have seen people who could pray their hearts out, so to say, attend all the Masses there are to attend in a day, yet when you encounter them you would see nothing representing Christ in them. In fact, some of them can kill with their heart. They can sting more wickedly than the black Scorpions do. You would see no traces of Love, Justice, and Mercy in their life; rather they manifest in entirety the opposite of these three major attributes of God. In some instances, you would even prefer to tag along with the so-called traditional religion practitioners, rather than going with such people. It’s as bad as that. Such people practice mere religion and not true Christianity. They are those that go to God because of his hands, what he could offer them, and not because of his face, to know him and to learn from him the path of righteousness; and this is the zenith of self-deception. God Bless You!

Hyenas, Jackals and the Lion King: A Prayer For Nigeria's SIMBAS AND MUFASAS
Prayer By Rev. Br. Kenneth Alamezie, BSS
These days, people pray all manner of prayers with view to obtaining relief from many self-made troubling circumstances bedeviling humanity. Some of these prayers, no doubt, sound anomalous to the ear as they are often filled with death sentence proclamations and evil wishes to some superficial enemies, even spirit beings, perceived to be responsible for one’s predicaments.
Yet, to pray is an exercise of faith in the Supreme Good for His intervention in one’s affairs, especially as circumstances in our world today continue to go acerbic by the day, hence we shouldn’t and won’t stop praying simply because some people have chosen to pray the wrong way—the death prayer.
Men have become like the wild cats to fellow men, tearing, and sucking dry the blood of one another. Hope dashes by the minute, if not seconds, given that each day greets us with happenings as bizarre as they are spine-chilling. Seeing all these, prayer, then, becomes a must-do as it has proven repeatedly to be a better alternative to whining; and for this reason, I am going to pray here for You, yes you; for my country, for Church, and for other sundry issues bothering us today. It’s a humble prayer kind of, and I’ll do it as the spirit directs me. You may kneel, that’s if you haven’t arthritis, as we begin our prayer:
Father, I thank you for caring for humanity since the time of creation. You have always been there for us even though we fail to recognize how close you are to us.
Father, I pray for Nigeria my country, whose name some of her custodians have changed to something very demeaning. By their recent rhetoric, they have now made it obvious to the world, that the secessionist was right all the while in his allusion of the nation as a zoo. And to prove how serious they are with this, these lackadaisical caretakers now employ witty but deprecating metaphors to best portray their view on this, referring to each other as Jackals and Hyenas, and their Principal they refer to as Lion King. I never knew the APC government was only prepared to reproduce for Nigerians another live version of the SIMBA movie. What a wrong choice we made at the last general elections, to have voted in a team of entertainers or at best carnivorous animals, wild Cats and Dogs, as our leaders! Oh, what have I said in my prayer! But I didn’t call them that. They did themselves. The Principal’s wife (I shouldn’t call her SARABI, not minding that she has already taken up the name by herself) also followed them in this obnoxious trend, referring to her ailing husband as the Lion King, although she didn’t tell us whether here he is playing MUFASA OR SIMBA. Needless to remind her to tell us who then is the NALA. I think we also need to know who the SCAR is in this show.
Little wonder they named our national team after an Eagle. Mayhap they knew very well about the Zoo nature of the nation ever before the intrepid and fast rising secessionist, NKOK, ( Nnamdi Kenny Okwu Kanu) came up with the scurrilous metaphor. I pray thee, Father, to let not these self-proclaimed hyenas and Jackals, and even the Lion King and his Lioness queen succeed in their quest, so it seems, to make our nation a jungle and turn us human beings who make up the citizenry of this country into lesser animals like cockroaches and ants. Father, by your Good Hand remove every wild animal in any position of power in our country.
A deadly thing has fastened itself on our president; the waters have risen against him. May you save him, if it be thy will, from the grasp of the grave and bring him home soonest.
I pray for our beloved Anambra state, that the gritty IPOB members in the state would see reasons why the scheduled November guber election should be allowed to hold. And come November 18, I pray that you guide the people’s decision aright; let them vote wisely for our common good. May they vote only for a candidate that has the interest of the people at heart, has vision, and most importantly is prepared to end touting, multiple taxation, thuggery, and intimidation reigning in the state. You know, Father, of the reign of terror caused by these miscreants and their paymasters, who seem to have backup from the government. You know of their devilish activities in this state, how they go about without fear or restraint inflicting pain and terror on commuters in the state, extorting money from them in the most despicable and gruesome manner. These hoodlums spring up like grass and multiply on a daily basis. With hard sticks, iron rods, and a heart equivalent to that of Leopard, they devour the weak, beating the hell out of Keke and Bus riders, who try to question their originality; and this evil they perpetrate even before security operatives, who see no wrong in their actions, showing they are all working in tandem. Holy Father, may they never operate on our roads again after this coming guber election. May their reign in this state be brought to an end. Give, O Lord, whoever will emerge governor come November 18, the wisdom and strength of heart to deal wisely with these uncontainable touts by relocating them from our roads to our farmlands, where they’ll use their strength in the most judicious manner.
I pray for the Body of Christ, that revival may sweep across the nations of the world. I pray thee to save your numerous sheep from the grasp of hired hands, slimy characters and religious racketeers, ‘Christian’ witch doctors and occult grand masters, indeed charlatans, whose numbers grow ceaselessly and multiply by the day, just as their shenanigans continue to bloom as though being watered by the dew. Righteous Father, I ask that you disgrace and dislodge these Machiavellian characters from among your people. Break their satanic hold on your sheep and raise shepherds in their stead who are people after your own heart. Give both our leaders and the led enough light to know the power of unity among us and seek same. Help us to overcome the issue of power tussle and petty doctrinal differences fermenting squabbles among us, thus tearing us apart and preventing the full manifestation of your Son’s prayer for unity in his Body. Bless and keep Pope Francis as well as every church leader who has the interest of the poor at heart and works for their betterment. Help our pastors and priests and indeed all those saddled with the responsibility of preaching the Good News, that they may comprehend the true meaning of gentility and being poor in spirit. Bring back some of them who have run off into the desert of sin in their pursuit of ephemeral things and vainglory. Save those residing with Delilah in her adulterous marquee. Keep us all from the clutches of her numerous insidious daughters perambulating the earth now. Enlighten the eyes of the hearts of your priests, pastors, prophets, and evangelists whose hearts are beclouded with confusion and filled with trickery. To those of them who have become taskmasters, using every ploy possible to fleece the susceptible, ignorant, and unsuspecting sheep of their hard-earned valueless naira, may you expose and relocate them to their rightful job. They can do well as sales men for companies in need of their talent. Save, O Lord, your sheep from heartless wolves parading amongst the sheep in their skin. May their sins find them out. May their days be numbered. May their horns be broken and their jaws busted, and their teeth remove O Lord from their mouth. By this you’ll show forth your justice and righteousness and your name will be feared among your people.
I pray for the Igbos up north, that the threat by AREWA youths to expel them from the region by October this year be brought to naught. Father, I ask that you break the power of those sponsoring terror in our nation; expose these warmongers and shame them accordingly. Give us the wisdom to know and understand that despite our diverse cultures and religious background affected by events and time, we all came from one stock, which makes us brothers and sisters (siblings) to each other.
Thank you for answering my prayers, Amen. God Bless you for praying along with us.

Igbo Quit Notice Order: A Modern political ‘Game of Thrones’
By Rev. Br. Kenneth Chigozie Alamezie, BSS
“Only God knows how much some elites, who hid behind the curtains, paid those who made that declaration in Kaduna.”
“It will be worst for us if we allow some selfish people to push us to unnecessary war. Nigeria holds a lot of promises for all of us.
“I know and we all know that a lot of you have been excluded from the good things of this country and of course we can trace that to poor and bad governance over the years.
“But again, what we should be clamouring for is good governance, not separatism, not secession. This is all about elite competition. The youth are only being used as tools to promote socio-politicaldisorder.
“Okay, if I don’t want to be importing things from Singapore, I can use this idea of Biafra to make money and some people are making huge money from it.
“Those, who were agitating and calling for Biafra before, are now singing another tune after building their palaces”.

Special adviser to the President on political matters, Senator Babafemi Ojudu, was quoted to have made the above statement. Senator Ojudu is a northerner, hence the need to take seriously this revelation from him. I have always suspected that the unwarranted tension gripping the country now and caused by the eviction notice to Igbos residing in the north is politically motivated. Some power-drunk political riff-raffs are intentionally heating up the polity to create a diversion. But does it worth it, this carefully calculated stoking of embers of hatred among the Nigerian youth, simply because of political office?
The northern youth have allowed themselves to be used as a tool for creating anarchy and dissension in their own country. The so-called elites using them to stoke embers of hatred and stir up venom among fellow compatriots should bury their heads in shame. Shame on them! Like the biblical Haman, they are digging their own graves. If Sen. Ojudu’s claim is anything to go by, then those elites sponsoring this evil are nothing but birdbrains, irresponsible oldies, and a bunch of irrational warmongers and despots.
Why would any rational thinking person want to heighten the tension already existing and ravaging the comatose nation, all in the name of sheer politics of power tussle? Owing to their Machiavellian act, fear has now gripped the heart of even the least Nigerian. The feeling as it is now in the country is that of hate and suspicion, as even the atmosphere seems to be brewing and releasing the evil smoke by the second. It couldn’t have gotten to this level had they—those despots heating up the polity--recognized their position as elites.
But the damage is already done! The cries of war could now be heard at every corner. Preparations are ongoing while the Vultures are closing in. The slogan One Nigeria has been shown to be everything but true. Perhaps it was invented in the first place for mere political wingding, or something. Many have argued that there was never a Nigeria in the first place. It is now obvious that the so-called elites knew this from day one, that the marriage performed by Lord Laggard was a charade put up to benefit a section of the country. It doesn’t always look pretty when someone is being hunted by his shadow. This seems to be the case with the north. Am I now sounding like the so-called elites? But who would feign ignorance of their reason for stoking embers of hatred and discord among the Nigerian citizenry, and gathering evil clouds for another civil war?
Obviously The Throne is the Bone of Contention here; northern rule is the reason for this political bravado; 2019 is fast approaching and Baba’s fate is still unknown. Buhari’s condition, uncertain and shrouded in secrecy seems to be the cause for this sudden support for Biafra by the north. Insisting on the October 1 ultimatum for Igbo eviction and urging Osinbajo to let Igbos have Biafra could be understood. It’s now more or less a kind of “Igbos must lose everything they have up north, should anything happen to Buhari.” Of course, that’s if the president is still receiving treatment as claimed by his wife Aisha. We can understand Aisha’s position in the matter, as no one in his or her right senses would want to go through what she went through the last time she broke the Carmel’s back to the BBC, Hausa. Far from wishing the President dead, yet we all know that the Ex-British lawmaker and former military officer, Eric Joyce, who some time not quite long rumored of the president’s demise and sent in his condolence has not been arrested nor questioned by the FG. Perhaps they did that undercover. Nevertheless, why the Igbo and their businesses scattered across the nation have always been the target each time there is a little quarrel in the country, is something still eluding the mind. Perhaps it is just history trying to live up to expectation! I still remember the story of the wicked Haman and the Jews.
Amid rumors that the President is in a vegetative state and could no longer carry on with the very tedious task of governing the nation, even as Eric Joyce had come out to broadcast the death of the president, fuelling rumors that he may have died after all, the northern political leaders have found it necessary to divert Nigerians’ attention from the president’s health to something else. Hitherto, the news headlines had centered on the president’s health condition. I believe the so-called northern elites never liked that because of what is at stake. No doubt the so-called elites have been out in the market looking for an alternative junk for a replacement until IPOB decided to give them one free. The huge success recorded in the sit-at-home order by the secessionist group, IPOB, understandably has turned out to be just the tool the northern leaders have been looking for. Painfully, the same IPOB’S gift to their neighbors has turned out to be their nightmare.
The state of affairs in Nigeria, especially as it regards the current situation where the Igbo are now seen as a threat to national unity and progress, reminds me of the account in the Bible involving the Power-drunk Haman and his ploy to wipe out the Jews of the era. The same was said of the Jews at the time, that they were disrespectful, proud, and evil. Haman and his cohorts, just like these so-called northern elites now sponsoring their youth for Igbo eviction, saw the Jews as a threat to national security, and unity, simply because of their God-given ability to thrive wherever they find themselves and in everything, they do. The power-hungry elite, Haman, thought in himself that by wiping away the Jews he would have opportunity to lay his hands on their properties scattered across the entire kingdom. But God was watching; just as He is watching now. My candid advice, hence, to those sponsoring this evil agenda against the Igbo living in the north, is that they kindly sheath their sword, as the table may turn against them if this fire they are stoking is allowed to explode. God is not man; and the Igbo race, aside their claim of ancestry with the Chosen Israel, have always shown they have Divine prodding with them.
#let’sgivepeaceachance# God bless you.

The Eden You Must Cultivate To Gain Good Success
Rev. Br. Ken Chigozie Alamezie, BSS
Everyone you meet on the streets today wants to live in high spirits and enjoy good breaks in their endeavors, but unknown to many is the secret door to that life of serenity, happiness and good success which they covet. Of course, there are some who know a thing or two about this secret door to life of bliss but who wouldn’t want to take that step necessary to get to it. This desire in man to live a blissful and fulfilled life, I find, isn’t an evil thing as one could say it is something inbuilt in him. The Creator, in the beginning, never had it in mind to put us through life of suffering and pain. He couldn’t have! He is goodness and mercy in himself. Also, one could say that he purposely put in man this desire to be happy and succeed so as to help him cultivate both himself and the environment where he finds himself. You find that happiness and fulfillment can only be found in that man or woman who has ‘cultivated’ ‘tilled and taken care of’ himself or herself. It is this self-cultivation that awakens in one the tools, potentials, with which he or she can use to cultivate his or her environment. Yes, people must cultivate themselves before they could better cultivate the environment, institution, whether social or religious where they find themselves; and those who think and or want it otherwise are doomed to fail.
It is not by chance that the very first thing the Creator did after creating man was to place him in a garden, Eden, where he would cultivate. “Yahweh God took Man and placed him in the Garden of Eden to Cultivate it” Gen 2:15. Some translations translate the word ‘cultivate’ in this passage as ‘till it and take care of it.’ Yet, despite the translation used in your version of the Bible, I think the important thing is to comprehend the message it carries.
To ‘cultivate’ or ‘till and take care of’ in this context simply means, I believe, to explore and bring out the best in us and everything around us; to discover one’s hidden potentials and those lying within everything and everyone around him, maximize same and guard the growth consequent in doing so; to make fruitful oneself, everything and everyone around him or her . The Creator couldn’t have told man to cultivate (till and take care of) a place shown him if he hadn’t deposited in him everything he would need to achieve that purpose; and, giving man such a task, I think, was a way of telling him to continue from where He stopped in the work of creation. This explains the reason for Man’s advancement in scientific innovations today.
But there is something remarkable in the passage cited above: immediately after Man’s creation, his Creator took and placed him in a Garden called Eden. Eden we are told is an Hebrew word for “where God dwells.” In other words, it is the abode of God. In the verse sixteen of Genesis 2:15, we find that God immediately after placing and telling Man to cultivate Eden—His Presence, Where He dwells—didn’t hesitate to tell him what he must do and what he must not do. “Then Yahweh God gave Man an order saying, You may eat of every tree in the garden, but of the tree of Good and Evil” Gen 2:16. And having received simple and explicit instruction regarding (what to do to tarry in the place Where God dwells) Eden, Man was saddled at once with the responsibility to explore his potentials, his creative prowess in this context. The succeeding verses tell us so, as there we find God bringing all what he had created to Man for him to name them. That’s creativity at play, isn’t it?
The point I wish to draw out here is this: as Man that you are, one created in God’s image and likeness, the possibility of you discovering your God-given potentials, impacting positively your generation and by this attaining the very height you were meant to attain in life, is solely dependent on your ability to cultivate the Eden in you—your HEART, “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life”(Prov. 4:23).
Folks, your heart is this Eden-- God’s dwelling place, a magnificent temple--where God desires to live. This is no empty talk. Hear this, “Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet, Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest? Hath not my hand made all these things?” (Acts 7:48-51) “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16-17).
Yet God does not and cannot dwell in a scruffy place. This means you have a duty to tidy up, ‘cultivate’ ‘Till and take care of’ your heart, if God must come in and remain there. And know that it is only the light of God—his presence--in your heart that can awaken and illuminate the eyes of your heart to see the potentials put in there and with which you can cultivate your environment and have a successful life on earth.
But how do I do this now? You may ask. It’s simple: work on your Eden by uprooting from it every tree growing there whose fruits are capable of driving God’s presence from you. Friend, be wary of any tree that its fruits are capable of polluting your Eden and consequently drive God’s presence from you! As it was then, so it is today. Then Father, God, told Papa Adam to stay away from the fruits of a particular tree and not to partake of them, as he would die if he did. Now he tells us to stay away from every fruits of unrighteousness, if we must retain his presence and glory in us. “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God” (Gal. 5:9-21). All these are fruits of a tree called sin, and they are capable of driving God’s light from any man, which result is confusion, stagnation, and death. Folks, if there is anything you don’t want to lose in life, it is God’s presence, his light. It is this presence, light, and glory of God that guarantee happiness and fulfillment in the life of any man. God bless you!

Demonic Preachers And Their Criminal Tendencies

By Rev. Br Ken Chigozie Alamezie, BSS
kcgalamezie@gmail.com

Judging by goings-on, deceitful, pathetic and tear-jerking, going on in many churches and places of worship around the world today, somewhat it appears to be true the saying that religion is the opium of the people. But the Nigeria’s case here appears to be the most devastating, in the sense that gullible and vulnerable sheep of the fold easily swallow hook, line, and sinker anything sold them in the gospel market; thus they have become food for barefaced, conscienceless, unconverted, and daredevil shepherds, indeed tricksters plying their nefarious trade with Bible and microphone, two very powerful weapons, and in the most inconspicuous but highly treacherous manner. The ongoing trend of deliberate slothfulness to Scripture reading and studying among Christian faithful, given to gratuitous cleave to hedonism, mad pursuit of ephemeral acquisition overriding people’s hearts now, we can tell is the sole reason why worshippers easily fall prey to miscreants in clerical attires dotting the Nigerian scope.

To many Nigerian Christians, the feeling is that once someone is handling the microphone in church and places of worship, dressed in well-tailored suit or other religious attires and is using Scriptures to backup his overtly overreaching actions, though sinister and reprehensible, and claims, whatever garbage he or she is selling to the people, such a one is called of God and infallible; hence the continued empowerment—via sundry means--cum proliferation of jackals and kangaroos parading as ”men or women of God” in today’s Body of Christ. I am not in the least surprised at the sudden and continued multiplication of these terrible characters presenting the Christian faith in a bad light. Jesus predicted thousands of years ago of their advent, even their scandalous modus operandi now visible to all.

Nigeria, as we have noted severally in this column in our previous writings, is a country where anything goes; where impunity reigns as king, and mediocrity celebrated with fanfare; where capriciousness has replaced responsibility and as such is held, both in the public and religious space, as the mark of a reasoning man, and stupidity reckoned as humility; where demons reign and control power at the Nation’s seat of power while being worshiped as God in many places of worship, not minding the names these ministries, prayer grounds or churches bear. Sadly nothing, I mean absolutely nothing is impossible to do with impunity in this country, the reason all forms of criminality thrives, and injustice festers like cancer. The most despicable persons receive accolades from members of the public, who are ready to defend their shady heroes even with the last breath in their lungs. Seeing the respect and warmth reception given to blatant criminals, amorphous minds, decadent characters, ritualists, and certificate forgers in the society, is it any wonder that virtually everyone you meet on the streets today doesn’t give a damn about morality and accountability? Is this not the reason why thieves, I mean bloody thieves and unrepentant witches and wizards preaching today in many quarters the gospels according to themselves, receive acceptance and wild endorsement from the masses?

Bible preachers—I purposely choose not to call them ‘gospel’ preachers here since they scarcely bring anything goodnews with them---are usually considered to be without sin and largely infallible human beings who only carry God's message, even when it’s obvious very many of these shady characters carry their own messages/Lucifer’s sermons, doctrine of demons often spiced with all three forms of concupiscence advised against in Scripture , which emphasis is on giving of one’s money, whether by seed sowing or tithe payment, in order to qualify to receive the so-called blessings. I wonder who is fooling who!

Wicked and conscienceless are many Nigerian pastors, and that’s no matter their religious attire and church denomination. Like Vulture, they do not spare even the carcasses of the impoverished ones among their followers, as they would collect tithes and offerings even from ailing, impecunious widows, pensioners, financially struggling students, poverty-ridden workers on minimum wage and even the unemployed. Shame to these unmerciful servants, a breed of demoniacs they are! It’s only demons that steal, as they do, without mercy, kill and eventually destroy. What in the world has Christianity turned into Presently, virtually no one cares anymore about anything. People now don’t see evil, deception as what they truly are, the reason these preachers with satanic tendencies grow from strength to strength.
With their large bowels, hell-like in nature, as they serve their Babylonian Mistress, Mammon, they do not care that many of the people they collect tithes and offerings from could not afford ‘three square meals in a day, let alone hospital bills or tuition fees for their wards. Just recently, I got a call from a lady whose child was dying in her presence due to accumulated sickness left untreated because she has no money to take the little lad to hospital, as she has not been paid since December 2016 in her place of work. Narrating her story, she said the most troubling part was that her pastor has been on her neck, calling and asking her why she was yet to pay her tithes for those three months. And when the lady told the ‘thief’ her ordeal, instead of lending her a helping hand, he suggested she should go and borrow and pay up her tithes, claiming it was because she has not paid up that calamities are befalling her household. What a wolf this kind is! What a wickedness from a supposed ‘man of God?! If you are reading this and you know, your pastor or whoever is shepherding the flock where you fellowship behaves in like manner, I urge you to leave the damned place and the fellow and find yourself somewhere healthy for spiritual growth and nourishment.

It is his kind, as are abundant today, that uses the same tithes and offerings collected from their wretched and ‘buhari’-affected members to buy expensive clothes, jewelries, automobiles or even private jets for themselves and family, travelling around the world establishing private businesses, buying costly properties, with their kids studying and visiting the best hospitals for medicare abroad. Just their Gucci suits and shoes, Armani watches, you may try taking note of this, cost more than the annual salary of a decent grade twelve-government worker, university don or the annual profit an honest executive. I know some warped minds reading this piece may think this writer is simply being jealous of prospering pastors. But I’d rather be jealous of a dying Rabbit than being jealous of impenitent thieves marked for destruction.

Don’t get it twisted; but it is people with this kind of nauseating mindset that do not see anything wrong in their so-called pastor(s) gifting their mistresses posh cars, expensive mansions, huge amount of the scarce dollar, which could be payment for unholy sex and recruitment for such. And even when their so-called Pastor/Reverend(s) are caught red-handed, like the one caught recently and was tied hands at the back and beaten to a pulp by sane folks, they would come out shamelessly to defend him or her with excuses that he/she is still human and as such is subject to fall, or that he/she is being set up by ‘non existing’ foes in the political circle. Hogwash!

I feel it is time to tell our Bible preachers, and I don’t mind the garment they put on or the office and title attached to their name, to preach first to themselves and repent accordingly, as the Kingdom of God, as was preached by Jesus Christ and his apostles, is devoid of practices of injustice of any kind, impurity and criminality. I feel it’s time for the righteous among Bible preachers to rise to the challenge of telling people that tithe payment in this dispensation of grace is not mandatory and given the dispensation in which we operate God is not and will not curse anyone who doesn’t pay his or her tithes. Nowhere in the NT are we told that the Apostles themselves who handed this faith to us ever preached, practiced or forced tithe payment on believers. Rather in Acts 15:23-29 at the first council meeting in Jerusalem, we see what discussions and resolutions were made as to what is expected of every true believer in Christ Jesus, And they wrote letters by them after this manner; The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia:
Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment: It seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, Men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things by mouth. For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things; That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well.
Enough of this nonsense in the Body of Christ!. God Bless You!

Worry Not ; The Barrel Of Meal Shall Waste Not

Rev.Br. Ken Chighozie Alamezie, BSS

"The barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord, which He spake by Elijah."
1 Kings 17:16

The Zarephath widow was at the city gate gathering sticks with which to prepare her last meal. Her only son was hungry, or rather starving. The situation in the city wasn’t in her favour as there was hunger and starvation in the land. That means she couldn’t beg for alms from people even if she had wanted to, since every home was plagued by the famine. Poor widow! To get the real picture of the situation then, you need to imagine what the experience is like now for a poor widow in this Buhari-led government. But it’s far worse then. What hit the land at the time was a debacle. It’s as bad as that; though I wouldn’t tell if there were ,then, hardhearted political robbers, ruthless demoniacs, like the breed we have now in our government.
But God is always there for the poor. Scripture says he gives favours to those whom he loves; and he provides for them even while they are asleep. I sure love this; and you know what? I believe it means what it says it is—while still in bed he’d make my coffee ready. I don’t know of anybody who doesn’t like good things in his/her life, who doesn’t like a situation whereby you just wake in the morning only to see that things have worked out perfectly well. He sure loves the poor, no doubt; and this should be their consolation.
With his eyes penetrating everywhere in the earth, he gazed steadily with love on the poor widow and her hunger-stricken son; just as he does today. The same was the case with the embattled Hagar and her son Ishmael, when the latter was left for dead in the desert of Beersheba, due to thirst. God’s never late, you know. Ishmael was at the very point of death when He intervened and caused water to flow in the scorching desert. And you know, it didn’t matter to him that it was a desert and posed no hope of water, no matter how dirty. Even dryness obeys him! Ask those who have crossed the Sahara Desert, and they will tell you better. Some people have had to dry to death in desert.
In the Zarephath woman’s case, her son was also dying; at least the lad knew death was imminent as he could see the last handful of flour in the basin and knew there was no hope of getting another, even if it meant something similar to what was fed the prodigal son on a pig farm. Mama, on her own, wasn’t happy. She was going to, after baking the last cake, watch her only son starve to death; she would stare while the grim reaper rips his delicate stomach through. That was quite an experience, awful, you know. But Love was watching. There was this other lady from Naim, a widow too. She’d just lost an only son. A large crowd of townspeople followed her to the graveside, wailing as they went. From the human point of view it was obvious there was no hope. Yet his prying eyes, filled with compassion, were watching. Suddenly he made his way to them, came up and touched the Stretcher, and the men carrying the deceased stopped. Of course you know what followed.
Folks, the point we are trying to bring out here is simply this: See the faithfulness of Divine Love and quit stressing yourself up. Your worries cannot change a thing in your past, present, and future, so why worry. This is Good news, you know. I just wish you get it. He promises never to leave nor forsake us. He promises to carry our burdens, no matter how heavy and how many they are; that’s the job he does after all. He promises to care for us, no matter the circumstances we find ourselves into. He promises to protect us, provide for us, on a daily basis, our daily needs. Isn’t this beautiful! See how in the case of the Zarephath widow, he provided for her more than her needs,“ For the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord..." She had enough to feed herself, her child and the prophet, Papa Elias. Isn’t that awesome? I bet it is. He also cared for Hagar and her son when in a daring situation, providing a stream for them in a scorching desert. See also how he didn’t let the townspeople of Naim commit an only child of a widow to the grave. Oh, God is Love, really!
Maybe you are reading this piece now right from your own pit of lack, mourning, and hopelessness. Maybe you’re like the Tishbite, Papa Elias, whose supply of food was cut short, because he had to journey to Zarephath, where through him a widow and her son would be given life. It doesn’t matter where life has thrown you at the moment; it doesn’t matter, either, what it is throwing at you. It doesn’t matter how hopeless your situation is, or how much both folks and foes have told you, you’re not going to make it. What matters, though, is that Someone really cares and wants to lend you a helping hand. Simply acknowledge his power to save, which is mighty, and His love for you, which is eternal. This you do by simply casting your worries unto Him. Stop being a worrywart and start being a praise warrior. When you cease to worry, that’s Hakuna Matata, then he begins to worry your worries. And you know what...,When He worries your worries, you’ll definitely have no worries to worry. I pray that henceforth your barrel of meal, supply for your needs, shall waste not, and your cruse of oil, abundance of happiness, fail not; and that is whether or not the APC government wants it.

Buhari’s UK Medical tourism And Mr. Adesina’s Tweet

“The truth is inconvertible; panic may resent it, ignorance may deride it, malice may distort it, but there it is.” Believe!
“Some people have been lied to so much, they now find it difficult to accept the truth. Truth is inconvertible, even if some don’t believe.”
The above words, wise ones really, were tweeted by Mr. Femi Adesina in the morning of Feb. 9, 2017. Mr. Adesina was unarguably right in his tweet: truth, anytime, anywhere, is incontestably inconvertible. Nevertheless, the truth is inconvertible…, as he pointed out in the first tweet, leaves one wondering what truth Mr. Adesina was referring to. Perhaps the truth that the President was/is seriously sick to the point of incapacitation, due to a certain serious health condition that has seen his hearing organ speedily loosing strength and nearing deafness, according to reports milling around on the internet. Or perhaps Mr. Adesina was referring to the truth, that he—Femi Adsina does not know what to believe anymore, since he’s not been allowed to speak directly with his principal, but has communicated him, as he want us believe, via personnel waiting on him.
Mr. Adesina tweeted, some people have been lied to so much, they now find it difficult to accept ‘the truth’… Again I ask, what truth?! Indeed what truth was Mr. Adesina talking about in his post? The truth that the President has refused to address the citizenry to douse tension in the country about his whereabouts, even though he’s said to be hale and hearty? Or the truth that the President, whose so-called leave was supposed to have started on the 23rd of Jan,2017, according to the letter written by him and submitted to the NASS, jetted out of the country on the 19th, four days prior to the actual date, and without waiting for his Vice who was leading a delegation in Davos, Switzerland, to return? Or the truth that even when it was obvious all was/is not well with the president’ s health condition, at least we all know how some individuals at the helm have not ceased to show their fears, by consistently calling for prayers for the ‘hale and hearty’ headman, yet Nigerians were still told cheap lies by the presidency, that the president is enjoying his leave abroad and in high spirits? I mean, what truth was Mr. Femi Adesina actually talking about?! Perhaps some kind of truth that Nigerians are yet to know about; but definitely it cannot be this kind shrouded in secrecy and coated with funny colors of make-believe papers as they-the presidency- have continued to sell us. Or does Mr. Adesina know some truth about PMB’S whereabouts which Nigerians don’t know, and he’s afraid to break open the lid?
But Nigerians are getting wiser now. Things are no longer as they used to be. Really, they are getting to know their leaders well, and that’s a plus for us. They now know foul play when they see it, and that tells why they couldn’t keep mum when barely a day after the president jetted out of the country in such a hurried manner as he did, two former presidents of this country met in a closed door meeting at Ota, after which one of them, a renowned political juggernaut and a serious game-changer in the dirty game, came out to announce in the media the following day, that shopping for candidate for the presidency should go southeast come 2019. And the Baba who made this statement hitherto was known to have thrown in his hat for North rule till 2023; so what truth does Mr. Adesina want us to buy from Him and his colleagues again. I am still guessing. Perhaps the truth, that the hale and hearty PMB who gave the date of his return to the country as 6th Feb. 2017, surprisingly hours to the given date wrote again, however he did that, to postpone his return, and this time indefinitely? Or could it be the truth, that conflicting reports have continued to emerge as regarding the president’s true state and whereabouts, leaving Nigerians, who put him in office, in the dark? Whereas Mr. Adesina and his colleagues in the office have not ceased to give very erratic reports on the president’s true condition, insisting he is hale and hearty and at the same time urging Nigerians to pray for his recovery, others who claim to have visited PMB in London have on their own kept mute on his true state of health.
However, history always has a way of repeating itself; and this isn’t my saying; and saying it here does not mean I am praying for a repeat of the Yar’adua scenario. But all flesh will go the way of mortals. The truth, though, remains that the situation on ground has shown us that President Buhari’s presence in the country is no better than his absence. In fact, it even seems his absence these couple of days has far more greater advantage and promises a greater future for the citizenry. Yet, when the president returns from his trip abroad, he should discern wisely the happenings of this period of his absence and tell himself the truth no other person will tell him, not even his Minister of Information and Communication, whose questionable tongue has shown: Nigerians are tired of Mr. Buhari as their President; Nigerians don’t want Mr. Buhari as their president again; Nigerians demand an apology from Mr. Buhari and his immediate resignation from office; Mr. Buhari should show his much-talked sincerity and love for Nigeria, by tendering his resignation to allow a capable hand drive the country out of recession. #l StandwithNigeria#!

carry on TB, my brother...no hiding place for demons this time...

Gym's things sha, She's just testing how flexible her muscles have become...it's part of the game...

Pregnant Year 2017: By These Two Shall My People Stay Afloat

By Rev. Br. Kenneth Chigozie Alamezie, BSS

"If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother:
8 But thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth...
10 Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him: because that for this thing the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto.
11 For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.
(Deut 15:7-11 KJV)

The poor shall never cease out of the land, says the Lord! Interesting, isn’t it? Does this now imply biasness on God’s part, kinda favouring some people to be rich while leaving some others to be poor and wretched?! But doesn’t common sense tell us that all fingers are not equal, even the stars in the sky? And should we query God for not creating all of them equal? Well, for folks who may find this a hard pill to swallow—that all fingers as well as the stars in the sky aren’t and will never be equal—they may have to wait and strive to make heaven to find out why! After all, there are many things we may never get to comprehend here, no matter how hard we try. Such things we’ll get to know better over there, period.
The year 2016, apparently one that a vast majority of the citizenry would term as bizarre, luckily for us, has come to an eventful end, leaving the stage for its identical twin sister 2017 to occupy. The show, though very fear-provoking and tear-jerking, is still on, I must say! Did I hear you right...its identical twin sister, you just said?! Yes, you heard me right! The New Year 2017, for Nigerians in this leaden clime, is almost everything the out gone year was, especially vis-à-vis the gruelling economic recession and its ugly and very precarious daughter—poverty--biting hard on the nation’s fabric. The only exception may be that the biting economic recession may soon metamorphose into depression and depression to separation, however the latter may occur; and the outrageous mortality rate, the youth and children inclusive, which will explode in the land and that’s due to extreme poverty resulting to hopelessness and exhaustion that will characterize events as they unfurl. And I can’t forget to mention that the current systematic enthronement of Usman Danfodio’s strange ideology of North (Fulani particularly) supremacy may not be abating anytime soon, save the still raging wind of change blows once more to take our helpless Buhari back to his Daura native home and there crown him Emir of his people. I think he'll do well as Emir, since he's failed woefully as a president. But is he to be blamed or those who talked him into contesting for the presidency! How in the world did they not see this coming, that a frail and unconventional 74yr old nomad has absolutely nothing that could stir a sinking ship as has become the state of Nigeria out of quagmire?
My premise on this may appear very politically incorrect, but who cares about political correctness when some bloodthirsty, cow-loving, daredevil bunch and their likes in the country have made killing of harmless fellow citizens their leisure pursuit! Of recent it appears that no day passes in Nigeria without leaving Nigerians some fresh news, bloodcurdling, of killings of innocent, harmless citizens to grapple with. Trending on the internet for some weeks now is the alleged leaked telephone chat implicating two sitting governors, indeed chief security officers of their respective states, of involvement in encouraging and planning crime against humanity---unlawful killing of those they by right should be protecting. The worst is how joyful the duo were discussing their wicked intentions, going by the conversation attributed to them in the leaked audio tape. This shows how worse the situation has become. And no reasonable action has been taken, as at the time of writing this piece, to bring the vicious duo to book. Or perhaps this is just one of the atrocious fabrications of mean politicians who can go to any length in order to heat up the polity, who knows. But again this is Nigeria where anything goes, where impunity is the only neatly working constitution, where murderous, mediocre, insensitive human leopards are elected governors and presidents, where shedding and draining of innocent blood in the gutters is encouraged and heavily sponsored with taxpayers money, where politics and religion have become all about the number of blood of the youth, women and children shed in the most gruesome manner. This is Nigeria where the only thing predictable because of its free occurrence by the day is the killing and maiming of the godly, Christians in this context. Woe to the leaders of this blood field of a nation! God is watching...and that’s my only consolation.
I know that some funny folks reading this piece now may think this writer is simply being over reactive over what has come to be everyday occurrence in the country; yet the fact remains that only a deceased Zombie would look and treat with indifference the spate of wickedness ravaging the present Nigerian nation. Really things have fallen inconceivably apart in Nigeria since the rat-chasing, visionless, prejudiced, and hapless Buhari-led APC government took over the sceptre in the nation’s seat of power; and truth be told, this administration’s continued presence at the Villa guarantees everything to the citizenry but the solution and relief that is urgently needed. Nigeria under Buhari is merely hanging on the brink and her utter collapse is only but a question of time. I still can’t grapple with the fact that Nigeria has suddenly become an abattoir of a sort where innocent lives are butchered daily with reckless abandon, and impunity.
The recent southern Kaduna killings lay credence to all my assertions here. And I think what happened in that state and right under the nose of the bigot governor EL-Rufai can best be described as an act of monstrosity against the Body of Christ. Even, it may not be an exaggeration to say that some northern religious bigots in leadership position in the country have bound themselves under oath to do away with Christianity and Christians in Nigeria. And this it seems they want to achieve using the guise of herdsmen and farmers clash. You think I am taking this too far? But why would one not think along this line since even the president, himself a patron of Fulani people, has chosen to keep mum, behaving as though this speedily but systematic extermination of non Muslims happening daily around the country is lawful and does not concern him! This is Jihad, Mr. President, the so-called change you've ever wanted to enforce, isn't it? But you can still prove me wrong by doing the right thing as the GCFRN that you are. I bet the reason for this untoward indifferent attitude of yours over a matter as sensitive as this can be everything but good for Nigerians. It's time you weigh and consider your actions so far and I think I should remind you Mr. president of the ageless words of wisdom which says that he who sows to the wind must reap a whirlwind. This you can be sure of; yet you can as well ask history to verify.
This is the change Buhari promised Nigerians: a change from frying pan to fire; from#190 per 1 US Dollar to 500 of the same; from a crawling and managing economy to a crippled and disastrous one! It’s a pity some humans are very dull in learning and some don’t even care to learn from history. At this point I wish to remind the president that the same wind of change that hurled his predecessor out of the Villa, drove him all the way from his remote Daura native home to the coveted Aso Rock has not died down, at least not yet; and it may not have to wait untill 2019 to blow again. I urge those who lost their loved ones in the ruthless attack to send their cries to heaven, for Yahweh our God is a just Judge and He will rise in their defence. I sympathize with them in this very difficult moment of trial; and may I use this medium to make known my optimism that these vicious marauders, ferocious jihadists who call themselves Fulani herdsmen will soon meet with the devourer himself: “Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all the remnant of the people shall spoil thee; because of men's blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein. Thou hast consulted shame to thy house by cutting off many people, and hast sinned against thy soul. For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it. Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity! For the violence of Lebanon shall cover thee, and the spoil of beasts, which made them afraid, because of men's blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein.” (Hab 2:8,10-12,17 KJV)
As revealed in the heading above, there are two major principles revealed to us by which God’s people are going to stay afloat as long as the flood in the country lasts this year: Forgiveness and giving.
It's not going to be a walkover this year; and it's not guess work what we are about to share in this column. The truth as we’ll share them here is also revealed in the word of life, hence our work here is far from the usual practice of some fame conscious, media loving pastors who consult the internet and newspapers to replicate predictions from what their fellows dish out to douse the curiosity of the ignorant, weary, and gullible masses. Any willing fellow is free to inquire from the Lord the veracity of our message here.
Forgiveness and willful giving to the poor are the two major instruments with which God’s children are going to wage the war against poverty, frustration and death that may pervade the land this year. According to what the Spirit made us understand, people of God are going to obtain sudden and lasting release and subsequent radical Divine intervention in their lives if they’d forgive from the heart and release those they are holding captive through unforgiveness. The Lord says that everyone who has received forgiveness from him is ‘bound’ to forgive his/her offenders in order to enjoy the time of refreshment and prosperity prepared for God’s children in this year. For those of you who may wish to hold on to grudges for reasons best known to you, here is what the Lord has to tell you: “O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow servant, even as I had pity on thee? And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not everyone his brother their trespasses (Matt 18:32-35KJV).” Folk, know that tormentors—spiritual marauders more fierce than the rampaging bloodthirsty Fulani herdsmen--are going to walk the land this year. Don’t say we didn’t warn you!
And the Spirit says that many will live in uninterrupted experience of Divine supply, till the storm of famine and lack is over, if they’d be liberal and give freely to the poor; and even sudden death and perilous pitfalls would be averted through this very act of alms giving to the poor ( see Tobith 14:10-11), “He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack: but he that hideth his eyes shall have many a curse (Prov 28:27 KJV), Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard (Prov 21:13 KJV).”
Know that the almsgiving being emphasized here is not the type that some ill-bred self-deceiving churchy lots practice when they go to roadside beggars to dispose of their accumulated old #5or10 notes. Such is never giving to the poor but mocking the poor and their God. Those in the habit of doing this can tell you they scarcely experience anything Divine supply and interventions in their affairs. People who don’t give liberally should not expect to receive the promised blessing for the year: But thou shalt open thine hand ‘wide’ unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth...(Deut 15vs.8 emphasis mine). The Lord says you shall open your hand wide, and not a little, whilst giving to the needy this year. And continuing he says in verse10: Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him: reason: because that for this thing the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto.” I’d leave it here and not go further than this. But know that I’ve tried this myself over the years and it works wonders for me. I am even taken aback when this came up this year as one of the weapons to wield against what’s going to hit the land any moment from now.
The shame and disgrace that hit many a merchant of God’s word last year will continue this year. Many cocky and dubious characters, indeed spiritual charlatans in the body of Christ are going to have their comical boats of deceit rocked real time this year. Watch out! Here is what the Lord says concerning these religious rats and spiders painting black the LORD’s name with their evil escapades: “For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely. They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace. Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the LORD.” (Jer 6:13-15 KJV). A time of casting down is here for wolves parading as shepherds in the body of Christ, no matter their church denomination, as the Lord will soon pay his church a visit. Some are going to meet their own shame in the least expected places. We may not go further on things to expect in the New Year for want of time and space. But be assured your interest is God’s interest, in as much as you are in Christ Jesus. Lest I forget, may I bid farewell to those wicked and adulterous men and women who have sealed their fate with the Liar and as a result will have to leave us this year for the great beyond, especially those of them in politics and the entertainment industry. These guys know themselves and what we are talking about here, and only genuine repentance can unwind the hand of the clock for them. This is even as we pray for our aviation industries worldwide. God bless you!

CHALLENGING 2017: PART OF WHAT TO EXPECT IN THE COMING YEAR
REV. BR. KENNETH ALAMEZIE, BSS
It’s really funny how folks willingly take upon themselves the burden of needless expenses occasioned by tactless profligacy on frivolities at every Christmas celebration, which aftermath is lack, The celebration isn’t a new thing to man, yet each time it comes around you see folks behaving as though it would mark their last on earth. Of course, there are people—lucky or unlucky--who may not be here with us when Christmas 2017 comes around. But that’s not the point here today. We just thought it wise bringing to your notice today a bit of what to expect in the coming year: to be forewarned they say is to be forearmed.
You know, I kinda think it’s not a bad idea taking your wife and kids out for a shopping spree. You could visit any of the best Malls in town, or alternatively you could even fly them out of this comatose country to get a taste of something better somewhere in the US, Dubai or China, though I wouldn’t hide that the latter may have to feed you guys with plastic rice. And if your financial status is somewhere below average, it may not be out of place if you went to the Lagos Line Main Market, Onitsha, to spend your hard earned freefalling Naira. Those are good things to do.
But, as you carry on with your spending this season, I wish you don’t forget the very fact that it’s still the frugal/helpless president and his bungling team that are still handling things in the country. I wish you don’t forget that the vulnerable Naira is still on the freefall, nearing #500 in exchange of one US Dollar. I wish you don’t forget that the budget for the coming year is no better than the controversial padded one of the outgoing year, only that the padding this time may be a bit smartly done than the other one was. Yes, I wish you don’t forget that there is still no practical solution in sight to contain the biting recession in the country. The president is still helplessly searching. And don’t forget that people like Wole Soyinka, due to the worsening state in which the country is trapped, have already begun plans to exit this rudderless ship. Maybe Ghana may be there next stop. Lest I forget, the Nobel Prize winner has dubbed his own move Wolexit! Myself am still watching, yes! Also don’t forget that there is still a systematic stifling of businesses belonging to Ndigbo in the country. Above all, don’t forget that the ruling party, APC, is still the one and only “Apparently Poverty-generating Congress.”
Am I my being pessimistic here? NO, of course! Rather, in as much as I am embodied with the spirit of optimism, yet I feel a duty within me to remind you that optimism does not in any way negate viewing things from the lenses of realism.
Now, we advice you not to be carried away by the spirit of extravagance dominating the season, for after the celebration comes the true situation. We beg you—because of what’s going to happen in the coming year, read the hand writing on the wall—to try as much as you can to spend wisely, if at all you must spend anything, your depreciated and still depreciating Naira this yuletide; please tell others as well.

It may interest you to know that against what many money-minded, cucumber/fundraising preachers are telling you about how next year is going to be a year of surplus, bounty, rest and all that, the year 2017 will be more challenging than what many Nigerians have witnessed already in this outgoing year! Only Divine Intervention can make things happen otherwise. I only wish it would not get to the extent that people will be crying on the streets.

This is not to instill fear in anyone, as I wish not to be seen as Jeremiah's replica--the guy dubbed a prophet of doom. But folks, it's good we say things as they come to us--as they are, and I believe this is the only way we can get the people of God prepared for whatever the year will bring with it.
Let me make it clear here-- a lot of innocent blood have been shed and are still being shed in this Lugardorian enterprise, which is at best a blood field of a sort; and these hapless souls are crying for Justice and mind you, their cries may help to stiffen things the more for the living. Only, genuine repentance, reparation, and prayer from the heart--by Nigerians, especially Christians and their leaders--can halt the impending famine, death, of which many will be because of wishful killing that will explode in the land this coming year.

So, let no one deceive you with empty prophecies borne out of vain imaginations of bogus and whimsical minds. The year 2017 will have many ups and downs with it; though fellow Christians-- now I don't mean mere churchgoers who wear spiritual diapers even at their old age and as a result don’t know a thing about their God-given rights in Christ Jesus, but those mature folks who know they are of Abraham's seed-- are going to have bumper harvest amidst dreadful poverty, confusion, and famine in the land. God sure loves to give exceedingly to his own, even as he takes pleasure in the prosperity of his servants. This kinda sounds too good to be true, isn’t it? But it’s TRUE and I believe it.
However, more of what to expect in the coming year shall be coming your way via this platform in our first edition for the year 2017.
But be sure that though darkness, death, and fear may pervade the land, yet we who are journeying with the Glorious Holy Spirit residing in us, and in the glorious heavenly yacht, prepared by God himself for His own, are going to be having a good time while the devastating rain lasts. God Bless You!

Christmas Celebration And The Military’s ‘’Operation Python Dance” In The Southeast: Igbos Fear No Useless Serpent’s Dance
Rev. Br. Kenneth Alamezie, BSS
Life is lived in seasons, which means we are to do different things at different times (John L. Mason)
The Christmas season is here again, and people already are doing a whole lot of different things to make the swanky season count; it’s a fact what manner of changes we’re already witnessing. Here in Anambra the people can testify more to this, as the state is now wearing a new look with beautiful arty works of different types of stunning Christmas lights and glittering decorations perfectly put in place in strategic locations ---courtesy of the Working Willie’s magnanimity.
The husky but appealing ambiance characteristic of the season has really set in fully, a different season indeed, and situation of things in virtually all markets in Nigeria has taken the usual animated outlook associated with the season. Christmas is beautiful, isn’t it? Lest I forget, as you buy things for the celebration be careful not to buy the alleged imported plastic foreign Rice from China. I heard the deadly, carcinogenic thing has flooded the market.
The present situation of things in Nigeria is an eye opener to all, how God can and desires to take care of His own. I repeat again, one wouldn’t just believe it if told early this year, that the activities going on in the markets now could be a reality. Well, it’s Christ’s birthday we’re celebrating and I am not in the least surprised how he’s providing adequately for his own the things needed for the celebration. For my part, I only ask for a Turbocharger grace (anointing) for the race, as the Buhari administration continues to unfurl its nightmarish, useless policies for the citizenry. But the Lord is our provider! I remember He once told the saintly Abraham to go sacrifice to Him and He went before him to make provision for the animal needed for the sacrifice. That’s God for you; the Lord we serve!
You know, initially I was of the opinion that the poverty/death generating government of president Muhammadu Buhari in the country would make preparations for the season slow down real big. Because, instead of plenteous money vis-à-vis the promised change to Nigerians, poverty, wretchedness, frustration and premature death, due to preventable economic crunch resulting to continued inflation that has seen everything pushed up much higher beyond the reach of the hapless masses, which the poor constitute a greater percentage, have been in circulation as the president and his oblivious, confused team appear quite obdurate and determined to make sure this very saddening situation lingers on, to make sure each family in the country receives and lives with these evils. But God has a way of aiding His people, no matter what and where, especially they that put their whole trust in Him.
The president has now shown himself to be a full time wind chaser, the east wind at that, for instead of fighting tooth and nail to get our comatose economy back in shape, he’s rather out trying to get a python dance for the peaceful south easterners, who may be returning home for the yuletide. Now I dare to say this to the president: the fear of Biafrans and dogged quest to victimize them is the beginning of needless failure of your government! Haven’t enough blood been shed already in the country, that you’d give such a people as the Nigerian military the “operation python dance mission” against a people peacefully protesting perceived intimidation and discrimination in their own father land?! Seriously, I am beginning to sense in the president a deep-seated detestation for the heavily blessed Ibos, and I must say that even my love for him has continued to wane, since the day I got wind of this macabre assignment to the Army against my own people. Let the President prove me wrong on this.
Although I’ve never shown interest in the ongoing quest for secession by the Ibos, majority of who now see and call themselves Biafrans, because of obvious inequity against them in this befuddled amalgamated entity called Nigeria, yet I wish to state here that it is senseless, despotic and reptilian to launch such an operation as has the military against secession groups in the zone. This Napoleon approach to very important and sensitive issues by the Buhari-led government is becoming quite unbecoming! And it’s high time people who should speak out, especially religious leaders and others in sundry notable government positions, began to do so, as things are really falling apart in this country! Ruthless killings of harmless, innocent people have continued to thrive with impunity since this autocratic, insensitive government set sail and in most cases, the military were accused of perpetrating these evils. The other day cries of pain rented the air in the Niger Delta region, Bayelsa State to be precise, because an innocent footballer and breadwinner of his family was being buried. Some officers of the Nigerian Army allegedly killed the victim according to media reports. And up till date (as at the time of writing this piece) no arrest has been made and no word has come from both the FG and the Nigerian Army to that effect. Some months back it was the IPOB members who were holding a peaceful anniversary. Reports had it that the army shot at them freely as though they were terrorists or perhaps mere animals, killing over 50 of them in the most wicked manner.
One begins to wonder what this country has metamorphosed into; whether the emergence of Buhari as president is a blessing or a curse! I mean, no good father punches his children in the nose because the latter want to draw the former’s attention. Only a demoniac would do that. This is not to imply that the president is one.
And the forthright Fr. Mbaka should also, as a matter of urgency, evaluate himself and quit this uncanny trumpeting of the president’s praises that has become a part of him in recent time; I mean this farcical thing is obviously something foreign to his person and ministry as a prophet. I think it’s time he puts his emotions in check and not allow it dent his name and God-given ministry. With all sense of respect to this prophet and priest of God, may I dare to say that this unrelenting praise of the president in every matter is beginning to raise questions. I am relating this through this medium not to for any hidden agenda, but simply because Mbaka’s ministry has made it near impossible to speak with him one-on-one. Truly, Fr. Mbaka remains someone I love very dearly because of his courage and bluntness in confronting matters having to do with the helpless masses, yet his recent submission about the FG doing well in the fight against graft because the latter rounded up some alleged corrupt judges, in my opinion lacks true light. This is because the same Buhari-led Federal government gave ministerial appointments in the most biased manner, giving portfolios to inexpert candidates, who never studied in school the jobs allotted to them. I mean, where in the world can it happen that a lawyer by profession would be appointed as Minister of Power Works and Housing, and a surgeon appointed as Minister of Labour etc, if not in this corrupt clime. This is the zenith of corruption and one portraying the President himself as quite corrupt; and one cannot claim to be fighting what he is practicing himself. Undeniably, the cluelessness and unproductiveness of this government can be traced to this brazen act of idiocy and tactless allotment of portfolios to amateurish persons.
However, Scripture says THE LORD is my shepherd, hence I shall not want; and that’s no matter what this government does to generate poverty and frustration. This is because He makes us to lie down in green pastures and leads us beside still waters. This simply means he brings us to a place of Divine abundance, where we need not stress up ourselves because of what the Buhari government is busy generating for the citizenry. Today everything is on the high side including unemployment, and cost of living. Each minute brings with it some heartrending news: if it is not tariff hike, it is dollar scarcity, fuel scarcity, tomato or rice scarcity, or heavy tax imposition on the already burdened citizenry, and as a result the masses are living on their toes not knowing what again they will come up with tomorrow! But no matter what tomorrow may bring, we shall not fear. Reason is that God does the provision while we do the consumption, all of us who are in Christ. Ours is just to feed, feed and feed, after which he leads us to a stream serene and life-giving, where we need not fear the harassment of some insensitive trigger-happy military band or the threatening claws of a blistering wave and tumultuous waters. I sure love this so much; I don’t know about you. And this promise of divine providence does not accommodate the goats, those will have to get theirs from the government; and it doesn’t necessarily hinge on my own tireless efforts either, but on simple obedience and faith in Him. No good and sensible shepherd would demand otherwise from his sheep. Scripture says he provides for his own even while they are asleep. Our Father in heaven sure is the Great shepherd, who needs only that we obey and follow in his leading, which actually implies faith in Him, and he will always lead us to a place of green pastures and serene waters. You see, we have it all with God in Christ.
And even though we walk through the valley of the Miitary’s “Operation Python Dance” we shall fear no evil. This is because His Rod and His Staff are there to repeat the scene at the pharaoh’s palace, where Moses’ rod turned into a giant snake and swallowed up the former’s own silly baby serpents. I have no doubt in my mind we are going to see same happen again with the military’s serpent dance. They want to frighten us with the wicked creature and their reptilian nature, but unknown to them is the fact that we the south easterners abhor and fear no stupid, spineless creatures as serpents, let alone an image of a dancing one.
As the table is being prepared for us this season to once again celebrate our Lord and King’s birthday in peace and bliss, we are sure going to be feasting while watching the detestable thing and its guides dance themselves to lethargy and ignominy.
At last, it will be our cups that will overflow with the Lord’s kindness.
And this is as goodness and mercy shall follow us into and all through the year 2017, even as we will continue to dwell in the house of our Father in Heaven, Amen. God Bless You!

2016 Christ The King Celebration: A Brief Narrative Of My Personal Experience
BY REV. BR. KENNETH CHIGOZIE ALAMEZIE(KCG), BSS

From a distance I could see some cartons filled with empty green bottles. Those look like beer bottles, I said to myself. Gradually I drew closer to find out. I wasn’t wrong after all; those were already emptied beer bottles. Could it be that these guys- now the worshipers--carried them over to this place? I asked myself. But what on earth could cartons of beer be doing in such an occasion as this? What in the world has crates of beer to do with the Lord’s Kingship and adoration? What message is this dastardly act passing to onlookers of other denominations? Is this not the reason some of them call us Catholics “ unrepented Christians?’’ I continued to ask myself in anger.
Amazement seized me as my gaze shifted from the empty green bottles to the obviously filled fellow Christians. One could easily tell they weren’t filled this time with the Spirit, but with something else—liquor, of course. Seeing them leaping interminably like overfed calves, I needed not a Nostradamus to tell me what manner of anointing was behind their action. They had anointed themselves with beer, preferring rather to be filled with wine, and that’s against Scripture’s advice against such. Perhaps, they were never there for the celebration, you may say. You know, initially I thought as much, not until they proved otherwise. Each time the singer, James Arum lets loose his blessed voice, they were the first to back him up, though uninvited. They’d echo back in such a deafening tone as though the sound of a loaded Truck.
As the crowd became much, I decided it was time to seek solace under a tree within the compound; and that I did at once. From there I was able to see things more clearly and participate fully in the annual occasion. I was taken aback by my observations. Hitherto, I used to think the gathering, to all the faithful, was all about celebrating the kingship of Christ. I used to think it was all about praising and dancing to the glory of the soon coming King, like the saintly David did when he provoked one of his wives, Saul’s daughter, to jealousy. But I guess I was wrong. Yes, now I know better: some people, although they bear the name Christian, have different motives of attending this annual event; and this I learnt last Sunday.
From where I was seated I observed there were two categories of people in attendance at the event: the children of Mary and those of Eve’s household. I am not playing the Judge here, please; just narrating my experience. Mary’s kids, though few in number, did exactly like the Blessed Mother would—kept their heads straight and their eyes fixed on the Eucharistic Lord while opening their ears to get words they’d treasure in their hearts. But not so with the broods of Eve; the restlessness in them kept their feet busy. They were almost everywhere in the compound, gallivanting around as though seeking for whom to share their mysterious apples with. You could tell they were there on a mission. The males amongst them were the ones clinging tenaciously to the green bottles mentioned earlier above. Rascality was written everywhere in their faces as they sprinted unrestrictedly up and down like a mad horse, singing, in a mob-like tone, sundry preposterous war-like chants. And the females, they weren’t any different, only that they took the ground for another Garden of Eden—wriggling their body in a snake-like movement as they persistently moved about, which best described their base but not hidden intention to seduce any unwise offspring of Adam. I wondered the whole time what could be going on in the mind of Christ as he watched from his heavenly throne this funny but depressing drama.
Ours is a godless generation which promotes rascality with impunity and obvious insensitivity. Ours is a generation which glorifies and glories in mere religiosity while denying the life-changing spirit of religion. Ours is a generation which Christians have sold out their own culture in their bid to promote enculturation, the latter turning out a nemesis rather than a blessing; a generation seeking happiness in the mundane and upholding what’s vile as sacred.
It’s heart-rending the kind of mix-up we get now in church, especially in this clime. The body has become more or less a gathering of scoffers, and the trend keeps increasing by the day. No doubt, the church as we are taught is a combination of saints and sinners, but the fear is the manner of conversion now going on among the duo, how the so-called sinners are unceasingly converting the saints to their manner of life, thereby practically growing in leaps and bounds on a daily basis. The Groom himself had expressed fear that he may not find the bride in a solid faith condition at the time of his return, and this I think is playing out quite hard before our very eyes. The condition of the bride we can tell has grown past pathetic, as those that make her up are becoming more wordly than the world itself. Although the trend may look quite complicated and irreversible, considering how far we’ve strayed, yet in our respective ways each of us can choose to play the role of the three young Jews in Babylon whose insistence on doing the right thing brought about tremendous positive change in the era. While hoping to be around to witness the coming year’s Christ The King celebration, I pray you will be around also, and that you will have adopted a new leaf, should you be among those Eve’s kids scandalizing the Church at each time of the celebration. God bless you.

Buhari’s Response to Aisha: An act symptomatic of tyranny, demon-possession?

Rev. Br. Kenneth Alamezie, BSS

Every student of Aso Villa politics would readily admit that when people get in there, they actually become something else. They act like they are under a spell.
Should I become President of Nigeria tomorrow, I will build a new Presidential Villa: a Villa that will be dedicated to the all-conquering Almighty, and where powers and principalities cannot hold sway. But it is not about buildings and space, not so? It is about the people who go to the highest levels in Nigeria. I really don’t quite believe in superstitions, but I am tempted to suggest that this is indeed a country in need of prayers. (Reuben Abati)
"When our President can get up and tell the whole world all the way from distant Germany that his wife "belongs to the kitchen, the living room and the other room" simply because she dared to speak her mind to the BBC then you know that he is in the grip of something evil and that demons are speaking through him," (Fani-Kayode October 14, 2016)

I’ve exercised enough patience, since the first couple’s controversial public washing of dirty linens came to public view, to see if I could get the audio or video version of the First Lady’s interview with the press posted to my FB or WhatsApp wall. Now, I am not trying to doubt whether or not the President’s “living room and the other room” Lady made the statements credited to her by the media. I mean, that shouldn’t be and isn’t any of my business. The point is that for reference sake I would’ve loved to have the audio or video version of the controversial interview saved in my archive. The reason is simple: Aisha Buhari, unlike the husband who some have argued speaks under some powerful demonic influence, spoke the truth that is in the mind of over 200million Nigerians. And the President, whether he admits it or not, sooner than later will realize she had made a prophetic utterance; only that it may be too late for him then. The last time I checked only the good Spirit speaks truth unabashedly, hence Aisha’s recent submission is devoid of the demonic influence Dr. Abati said is prevalent in the Villa.
Nigeria under Buhari has become a shadow of herself. The nation said to have contracted HIV before President Buhari took her in, has seen the worst come her way. It appears now that she has been rid of even the antiretroviral medication, which hitherto had suppressed her malignant virus from ripping her lungs off, hence her current traumatic suffocating condition. Her incurable sickness has grown to full blown AIDS; and in my opinion I suspect the Buhari clueless administration has exposed her to the Ebola Virus, too. In her present situation, no sensible man would even want to sit with her in the same settee, let alone court her for marriage. She is a dying mother that needs only supernatural help to bring her back to life.
But the needed help for her seems elusive, considering the recent revelations from her respected former caregivers, Dr. Abati and Femi Fani-Kayode, whose respective submissions have showed her place of habitation as bewitched. Now we know the curse and cause of the worsening ailing condition of this 56yrold-plagued lady. Who wouldn’t want to believe the diagnosis of the duo of FFK and Dr Abati. At least one could say the duo know more about the deteriorating health of this helpless lady more than many of us, considering their former positions in the previous administration(s).
While Mr. Reuben Abati disclosed her predicaments as being supernaturally driven, his embattled scholarly brother Fani-Kayode described her husband’s obvious state of confusion as being demon-influenced. I know he will have to say that another day! In other words, the 73yr-old is demon possessed. It was the erudite FFK, as he’s fondly called, who said demons spoke through the skinny fellow who wrestled on three occasions to take the plagued 56yr-old in.
I never knew that even presidents could be demon possessed, not until now. But such can only happen in Nigeria! Or don’t you think so? I kinda think the senate also provides them with some form of immunity on that. Oh, now I am beginning to feel for them. Demon issues aren’t such an easy nut to crack, especially when involving the elites. You see, a person’s problem is as big as he is, isn’t it? Now I am beginning to suspect the double speak tendency often seen in the lives of virtually all of the nation’s Information Ministers, both present and former. I guess they also reside in the demon infested Aso Villa. Possibly their case is also demon related. Who knows, they get possessed and begin to double-speak as the demons give them utterance. Now, who says this might not be the reason the man holding the portfolio now decided to look starving Nigerians in the face and told them that the change they had promised earlier would begin with the APC now must begin with Nigerians!
Truth be told, it’s obvious the “Sai Baba” mantra that had hitherto dominated the air on virtually all quarters has now become “ Chai Baba.” You try mentioning the former anywhere around the market today, and you would’ve been the luckiest person ever if you made it home alive. This is how worse it has become. A hungry man is an angry man, they say.
I am constrained to believe Chief FFK’s premise that the president is under the influence of some Aso demons. And those must be terrible ones. If not, how on earth could a sane human being, now take aside the place of the exalted office, speak from the far away Germany and in the hearing of the international community, claiming his wife of more than twenty five years belongs only to his kitchen, the living room and the other room, simply because the latter said the obvious truth. I don’t even know what that means! Believe me, It still beats my imagination how President Buhari could’ve made such a ghastly remark on his wife merely because she spoke the mind of over 200million Nigerians.
Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks, says the Holy Writ; implying thus that the Buhari within and which has shown to the whole world, is the Buhari that does not listen to genuine and helpful words. A tyrant of a sort! And such, as we know it, is not the quality of a good leader. Now it behooves on the President to prove me wrong in the just made statement. In a more decent clime, where demons are not influencing the president’s action and where the nation’s seat of power is free of this scary ruthless entities, Buhari for having made such derogatory remarks about his wife’s position in his government,(of which by extension is an insult to all Nigerian women) should by now have tendered his resignation, with public apology to his wife and the women folks following. For this at best is a show of shame, incapability, and tyranny. Even the Sacred Writ says that a man who cannot govern his own household should not assume leadership office. I still love the President though and will continue to pray for his speedy deliverance, as long as he remains in that office. Yet I leave him to do the needful, which is long overdue. God bless you!