₦airaland Forum

It is common in some churches notably some Pentecostal churches I have personally attended where a pastor will say something like, I need twenty people to raise 1 million Naira each and the twenty people come out. In some other cases, it is more like a countdown like from 1 million to 500 thousand to 100 thousand then stop at maybe 10 thousand. Some other churches also give recognition to members based on their monetary contribution to the church.

Money as a material item can also be gotten outside the blessings of GOD. The devil is more than capable to also bless one financially .Thus one might steal and contribute to the church and as such we need to be able to distinguish what giving is all about. It is ideal that the heart of a Christian be strengthened and established by grace and not by foods and monetary contribution which can also come from illegal sources.
New Testament giving focuses on the entire body of Christ and not just the pastors and priests compared to Old Testament giving which focuses mainly on priests.

The emphasis in all our offerings as Christians is the Grace of our lord Jesus Christ in the heart of the giver. The size, quality or quantity of the giving is irrelevant. What is relevant in giving is the grace of GOD at work in the giver. The grace of God in a man’s heart will cause a man to see giving as a privilege and it will not cause one to be ashamed to give anything no matter how small. Thus when a pastor starts a countdown for donation and stops at 10,000 Naira that means he is assuming anything less than 10,000 is not acceptable by GOD. Whereas in the face of GOD, the person contributing 10 Naira having done so with true grace and dedication may be accepted more by GOD than the one who donated millions without grace but how many pastors recognize the 10 Naira when they stop most of their offering collections at thousands of Naira ?.

Who says every offering we give has to be in monetary contributions? When we collect offerings in some of our churches from millionaires and celebrate them and give them all kind of recognition while neglecting church members who arrive early to sweep the church as what they can offer then we actually disdain the lord. The true purpose of GOD is not to actually build a church of just millionaires. His purpose is to build men and women full of Grace. Ephesians 2:8 says, “For by grace are you saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves.” The only way any of us can enter into a relationship with God is because of His grace toward us.

All in All, the greatest offering one can give the Lord is to release his or her life selflessly in service to GOD and the body of Christ. This is easier said than done. To give yourself in service to GOD and to let go of the pleasures of this world takes true dedication and Grace. The devil is more than capable to make one a millionaire or billionaire, the different in the devils billionaire and the True Christian billionaire is Grace.

The apostle Paul began many of his letters with the phrase, "Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 1:7; Ephesians 1:1; 1 Corinthians 1:3). God is the instigator of grace, and it is from Him that all other grace flows.
The critical success factor in giving offering and christian living is Grace and not show off.

May the Lord help us and his Church. Amen.

Is anyone there even speaking english. I am happy that the first son is hale and hearty. However how long do our leaders have to keep treating themselves in the best of the best in Nigeria or overseas. I wonder how many Nigerians can afford Cedarcrest Hospital, Abuja not to talk of flying to Germany. This same yusuf had his university education in europe. Treatment europe. treatment of his father europe.Ladies and Gentlemen, where is the hope of the general hospitals and nigerian universities ?

Jacob and papalolo : classic. Great work

ernieboy:
the write is talking about political participation by youth( especially from the south), not about our personal efforts at succeeding individually. the point to take away is that most Nigerian youths show more enthusiasm for things that have no bearing on their future e.g. bbnaija than things that do e.g. politics.

one important point however that the writer did not consider is illiteracy, especially in the northern parts. many of our youths are not capable of making informed decisions because they lack the intellect to analyse the issues and come to an informed decision.

I disagree with the bolded point. You can say most of the Nigerian Youths you know show more enthusiasm for things that have no bearing on their future. To say most youths as a blanket statement is quite harsh. I agree with you about political participation and i understood that from the write up but most youths i know are barely surviving and from my personal experience in trying to get into politics, there is a cult/diabolical movement in most of the Political Movements i have seen to the extent that i believe its only GOD that can rescue this country.

You raised a very valid point about the illiteracy level in the North. Perhaps if the Federal Government in conjunction with the state government invest heavily in that region rather than spending 200 billion naira on save face programs such as Npower then maybe things can be on a better track.

I am not a big fan of Big Brother but i find it tragic that one can be described as not making effort to make Nigeria better simply because you watch big brother. There is the rule and the exception. In my personal opinion, i know only very few youths who keep their eye off the ball. Almost every one i know has a job and at least one side hustle employing at least one other person. Its amazing that the writer could compare the age of awo and military dictators as a justification of youths of nowadays doing nothing. Awo and the dictators inherited a much better country and gave us youths a sh@thole country. My father fresh from secondary school was able to get a job as a clerk at UAC n the 70s. Same position today will probably require a master degree. We youths are barely surviving yet they want us to fix what the older generation messed up and are still messing up. If you can make ends meet and meet up your hustle while being law abiding, then continue to watch big brother as much as u want.

If you are a youth,you have three options:

DO nothing

relocate out of Nigeria or at least ensure you give birth to your children in the USA or Canada

Do the little you can. Touch your community and have impact. You dont have to be in government yet to touch lives. Hopefully your impact gets noticed then u can find yourself in a position of service and grow from there.And please get your PVC

Believe it or not,politics in Nigeria is Diabolical to an extent and if you dont have the mind or not on sound footing, then forget it.

its funny how so many people equate computer science to just programming and netowrking. Computer Science/Information Technology is much more than just programming and networking. Even parts of project management and IT Service Management is becoming a big deal although some people like to see this as Information Systems not computer science/IT.

That being said, unless universities have hubs like stanford , its hard to really rank computer science in universities simply because anyone can come up with the next best idea regardless of institution. while on the other hand, the ceo of a fortune 500 company will probably attend an ivy league school. Secondly ,IT and Computer Science is so dynamic that academic qualifications/knowledge cannot keep up. Only professional qualifications and work experience exposure/innovation/ideas can keep up. And finally, IT is the only field where the student can become a master overnight. All it takes is an idea and its excellent execution. Nairaland is nothing special technically but the idea and execution is bae.

Most of the messages & sermons in these prosperity churches only stimulate d emotions & intellect witout any impact on d spirit. If you want true teaching I highly recommend listening to Gbile Akanni and reading his books.

All thanks to Tinubu. Tinubu is our Lee Kuan Yew . Tinubu has been Governor since 1999. If you know, you know.

When the experts thought Chelsea was going to beat Arsenal in the FA cup final

Happy Sunday. God bless us all

BluntBoy:
God bless you, Lyoncrescent.

Amen

Take control of our churches Lord

Happy Sunday . OAM4J

Happy Sunday

I think most of these games thrived because the 80s and 90s had this kind of communal feel to it. Plus NTA used to start broadcast by 4 pm and school used to end by 2.00 p.m. All these games kept us occupied and all. There was no internet then and very few families had cable tv not to even talk of generator. I remember when i first watched cabletel station then DBN and Clapperboard. Gone are the days. Nowadays, even a three year old can operate a tablet and they have access to entertainment 24/7 hence the death of such outdoor and indoor games.

After Round One,Original Panadol Extra had a hack;If you choose Five as your number, you simply cannot loose. Just keep on dropping five.

I was also a guru in x and o

Name Animal Place Thing

I counted 27 or 28 south and 73 or 72 North. That 81 vs 19 is false but the whole thing still looks bad giving that the North is educationaly backward compared to the south.

Cc OAM4J

Prosperity theology (sometimes referred to as the prosperity gospel, the health and wealth gospel, or the gospel of success)[A] is a religious belief among some Christians, who hold that financial blessing and physical well-being are always the will of God for them, and that faith, positive speech, and donations to religious causes will increase one's material wealth.

In the prosperity gospel, also known as the “Word of Faith,” the believer is told to use God, whereas the truth of biblical Christianity is just the opposite—God uses the believer. Word of Faith or prosperity theology sees the Holy Spirit as a power to be put to use for whatever the believer wills. The Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit enables the believer to do God's will. I have often heard such preachers in Nigeria and beyond saying they cannot be sick, they cannot be poor and all that contradicting the words of Jesus when he told his followers to take up their cross and follow him and to expect suffering and trials. The Prosperity Gospel believes that temporal, material blessings are God's will for those who have enough faith and who give enough money to God the bank accounts of the preachers.

As Paul points out quite plainly, there is a heavy, heavy cost in following Jesus...

"Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches." (2 Cor 11:24-28)

To make heaven is very very very difficult. Jesus died so we may have eternal life. He didn’t die so that we may just become rich. To live a holy and righteous life in Nigeria of today is not easy. It goes beyond altar calls and pastors saying if you are not absolutely sure you will make heaven stand up and let me pray for you, it’s more than that. It’s an arduous journey filled with challenges. It’s good to hear messages that ginger us and sweeten our spirit, the ride on pastor kind of messages. However such messages should be mixed with messages on Sin, righteousness and Holiness which sometimes is lacking in such churches as it may cause sinners in the church to be sober and not come again.
The truth of it all is that the only thing that the devil cannot give is the promise of eternal life as found in John 3:16. I have once heard a Nigerian pastor say that he prayed to God for a church where if people see the car park, they will give their life to Christ. Ladies and Gentlemen, even the car park of Ogboni Cult probably has a better car park. We also have a lot of very wealthy Atheist and Agnostics and Mystics. Today's celebrated testimonies are those that confer some form of financial or material blessings.

Today's pulpits compete with corporate seminar podiums in disseminating an egocentric gospel that elevates human virtues and ability; but is largely silent on the character issues upon which civilisations have foundered. You hear things like I had nothing when I started with this church but now I am rich. Wealth is not true prosperity. True Prosperity is when we finish our journey on earth and take our seat in heaven by living a righteous and holy life. Satan can give riches and all the Glory of this world but cannot give salvation.

Satan knows the bible and knows the needs of men. I refer you to the third temptation of Jesus (Matthew 4:8-10): Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.”10 Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.’

My people satan was not bluffing. Had Jesus worshipped Satan, All the Kingdoms of the world and their Glory would have been given to him. That’s the reason why this particular temptation was the third attempt not the first. It was like the last joker. So many prosperity preachers have accepted this offer that Jesus rejected thus they are confined to the glory of the world.
I refer you again to an Interview granted by the only child of Pa Elton (a white missionary who lived and died in Ilesha,Osun State and groomed so many of Nigeria’s foremost Pentecostal leaders).


http://www.desireofnationsmission.org.ng/?page_id=82

Can you tell us some of your father’s legacy?

Mama Elton: Daddy had so many legacies, but the most spectacular was towards the end of his life. He began to perceive where the trend would lead to, so his message began to confuse a lot of people. He began to limit the number of invitation he honored and turned down many. He would prefer to preach in a little gathering under a small shed than to honor a major conference that had his name written bodily on the handbill. He began to warn about the spirit of Babylon pervading the church. He emphatically warned against the taking of titles and building of empires. He declared that this would usher in seasons of apostasy for the church, and men would begin to commercialize the gospel. He decried what the American Christianity was turning into, he discouraged the Nigerian church from patterning after it.

I pray the secret things are revealed but I leave you with this; Light and Darkness can never mix. Kenneth Copeland, Mike Murdork, Benny Hinn, T.D. Jakes and the late Kenneth Hagin, Look them up and pray and let the Holy Spirit tell you who they are. Whatever your prayer and findings tell you, look for Nigerian churches that are associated with such preachers and have invited them at one point or the other and you can then make your own conclusions. May God bless us and bless his church.

May God help us all.

I can't knock his hustle for his clever and gimmick marketing of the 30 days in Atlanta movie but the truth must be told, that movie is a truly terrible movie . Awful to say the least. I personally have refused to watch any other AY movie ever.

Happy Sunday to everyone

I love this. It will be nice for private universities to carve a niche for themselves. Babcock university for example has some very excellent Computer science graduates and Accounting Graduates doing great things in Nigeria and beyond .

emmanuel1990:
op ！ even u urself qouted where God himself refered himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob..... at that time were those people still alive？ NO... BT why was God calling thier names？ because of his convernant with them.....

there is what we call delegate authority in the bible.... For instance, if the president of this country sends u to ur state governor, and u went to the government house and tell them that u want to see the governor without telling them u send u.. u may spend the whole week there without seeing him....

bt if u go there and tell them u sent u, even if the governor is busy, he would leave everything to attend to u... he is nt doing it because of u, bt because of the one u send u......

those men of God, the real ones always fast and pray for thier members, so anytime u are using thier name to pray its called delegate authority......

jst like some persons, if i go to them for money, they may nt give to u, bt if u go through thier wife or mum, u receive double...

I see your point but things of God doesn't always work according to logic as you have described . I stated clearly why God is the God of Abraham , Isaac and Jacob. God doesn't refer to himself as the God of any other human being again in the entire bible. The covenant with Abraham is unique. Once Jesus came into the picture, even God of Moses, God of Elijah and God of Paul wouldn't work . I am saying these things via revelation not logic. However if you believe as a Christian that the spirit of God accepts you praying through a delegated authority who is a mere messanger then go ahead

No covenant is greater than the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And Jesus is with us always. Holy spirit is always there . Why delegate to someone who will die anytime or is already dead as in the case of oschoffa and babalola ?

I referred to this in my last topic https://www.nairaland.com/3342877/ready-short-message-christians-lyoncrescent

However i want to go into it in a greater detail in two parts.


I want to write a commentary about something that is very common in Nigerian churches today. When prayers are going on you hear people pray through the God of their pastors either living or dead. So you hear things like the God of Babalola, God of Oschoffa, God of Adeboye, God of Oyedepo, God of Olukoya and so on. I have heard many people including senior pastors refer to the example of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the bible and justify why they pray that way.

In about a dozen places in the Bible, the Lord God is referred to as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (e.g., Genesis 50:24; Exodus 3:15; Acts 7:32). This name of God emphasizes the covenant that God made with Israel and the Israelites’ special place as God’s Chosen People.

When God revealed Himself to Moses in preparation for bringing His people out of Egypt, He called Himself “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” in Exodus 3:15. He also instructed Moses to identify the Lord by that name when speaking to the Israelites (verse 16). In this case, the name carries a couple of important implications. First, when God identifies Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, He clearly distinguishes Himself from the gods of Egypt in whose land the Israelites dwelt. Second, the reference to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob implies a reason for the exodus: the promise of land. God had vowed that the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob would inherit a certain geographical area. God’s faithfulness and Israel’s blessing were directly tied to Israel’s possession of the Promised Land, and the name God uses for Himself harkens back to the covenant with Abraham.

Jesus alluded to God’s burning-bush appearance to Moses and used God’s name to teach a lesson on the resurrection to the Sadducees: “About the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living” (Matthew 22:31–32). As Jesus points out, the verb am is in the present tense; God did not say, “I was the God of your fathers.” He said, “I am their God,” showing that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were still alive (in heaven)

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has plan for the ages involving a Savoir who provides forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with God. That plan was set in motion when God called Abram and blessed him, and that plan was brought to fulfilment when Jesus died and rose again. Through the seed of Abraham, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob blessed all the nations of the world.

It is clear that in the Old Testament they couldn’t pray in the name of Jesus as that part of the prophecy had not been fulfilled. Additionally there were many other gods so they had to be able to distinguish. Also note that Elisha also prayed using God of Elijah (Jesus was not in the picture yet), there is also a reference to God of Nahor.With all the books of prophets in the Old Testament and despite the fact Jesus was not yet in the picture, God didn’t refer himself to be worshipped as the God of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, even Elijah and many others. Just Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Once Jesus came into the picture all that is necessary is to pray in the name of Jesus Christ period. Praying through the God of Adeboye for example is a wrong prayer. As soon as Jesus came into the picture, he becomes an intercessor. Jesus became our rabbi meaning our teacher. All these pastors are not the teachers; they are more like the class captains. They haven’t passed the exam and will still write their test when they die. Jesus has passed his test.
Another reason why this poses danger is a pastor can take something else as his God without you knowing. Having a genuine calling from God and maintaining that calling till the end are two different things et la Solomon and Judas. So when you pray and say the GOD of so so pastor, unless GOD reveals himself to you and refers to himself that way same way he revealed himself to Moses, don’t do it. It is just like praying that the God of Matthew, The God of Luke, The God of John the Baptist, God of Peter and so on. As soon as Jesus died and rose for your sins, that is the only name you need in your prayer alongside the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as we are all his descendants and Abrahams Blessings are ours. No pastor or General overseer died or will die for your sins. Don’t short circuit your prayers by praying through mere mortals.
I find it totally disturbing when pastors and general overseers beam with pride when their pastors or church members pray through them saying God of so so so. Let the holy spirit reveal to you if this is the best way to pray or not.

Deuteronomy 29:29New International Version (NIV)
29 The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.

cc OAM4J

SA

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Can you tell us some of your father’s legacy?
http://www.desireofnationsmission.org.ng/?page_id=82


Link of an interview with Ruth Elton pa Eltons only child.

Mama Elton: Daddy had so many legacies, but the most spectacular was towards the end of his life. He began to perceive where the trend would lead to, so his message began to confuse a lot of people. He began to limit the number of invitation he honored and turned down many. He would prefer to preach in a little gathering under a small shed than to honour a major conference that had his name written bodily on the handbill. He began to warn about the spirit of Babylon pervading the church. He emphatically warned against the taking of titles and building of empires. He declared that this would usher in seasons of apostasy for the church, and men would begin to commercialize the gospel. He decried what the American Christianity was turning into, he discouraged the Nigerian church from patterning after it. Daddy never retired, till he died on the 14th of January 1987. Before this, he always said he was going to rule over Nigeria during the Millennial reign, and Ilesha would be his headquarters, and he was buried alongside my mum in their Ilesha home.

When you see the likes of Benny hinn ,td jakes, late Myles Monroe and Kenneth coperland visit some of these mega pastors then you understand what pa Elton was scared of. God calling you and remaining true to the call are two different things.

It may be up for debate but General Sani Abacha is better than any Nigerian Leader we have had from 1999 till date.

Blessings from heaven is the best Grace of all.

Does this mean the xenophobia attacks against Nigerians in South Africa is caused by the perception of these few bad eggs