₦airaland Forum

Gombs: No ma'am, I am not capable of hate! I can't even if I want to. But what is worth doing is worth doing well... if you want to express in English, do it well. I correct alot of folks here, not because I hate them, but because I hate struggling to read what someone wrote.

I like you so much that I've gathered 50% of info about you. You interest me ma'am

paulGrundy: @Nora544, I think you guys should focus on the 115 people who lost their lives and pray for the relatives of the bereaved, instead of looking for a way to pull tb joshua down.

Gombs: Grammar ma'am

Work on it, channel the energy you use on hating on productive things. This is a public forum for Pete's sake.

emmasege: Yes, he is but I wish he could do more by not just protecting his immediate territory-Living Faith. God's generals have been known not to be quiet when the integrity of the church is at stake. He is an opinion leader whose voice carries enormous influence in our society, and I expect him to throw his weight behind papa Oritsejafor in defence of the gospel in Nigeria. I am personally not happy the way he's standing aloof and letting the aggrieved catholic bishops hurl insults at the body of Christ and undermine the Nigerian Church. he's got the same charisma as Oritsejafor and among the prominent men of God in Nigeria, i don't see anyone else being able to challenge islamisation of Nigeria and the holier-than-thou posture of the catholics.
I hold the Bishop in high esteem but for God's sake he should replicate the spirit of Archbishop Idahosa, whose mantle he inherited just like Oritsejafor.
It's not all about Living Faith Church, but about the Nigerian church at the moment.

paulGrundy: No I don't think so. I respect the man and I believe in his ministry, for him to be a General his teachings and ministry must have had an impression in the Charismatic movement of the larger society, not only in Nigeria.

Pentecostal Corruption: Prosperity Gospel is a Scam
Today we shriek as we hear of financial scams, corporate greed, and virtually anything money-related that isn’t entirely on the up-and-up. While religion has generally been a help in these economically difficult times, there is one segment of Christianity that is scamming as many as they can. Those who have ears (and debt) let them hear.

The Prosperity Gospel, also known as a facet of the Word of Faith movement (a louder voice in Pentecostalism), has been writing checks with its lips that’s its theology can’t cash. Last year’s Pew Foundation mega-poll, which surveyed nearly 35,000 people (one of the largest religion polls ever accomplished), revealed a few interesting facts about Christians in the Pentecostal tradition, among them:

Pentecostals have the lowest incomes of any other Christian denomination.
Pentecostals have the least education of any other Christian denomination.

The results show that Pentecostals have the most high school dropouts, the fewest college graduates, and the fewest post-graduates. But the most interesting thing is that they earn the least annual income of any other Christian tradition polled. This is shocking, considering that a main feature in popular Pentecostalism is the Prosperity Gospel, where church members are promised that God will make them rich beyond their wildest dreams if they tithe generously and believe that they will receive the money.

The trouble I’ve seen…

Not only do Pentecostals fail to out-earn the regular “non-spirit filled” Christian, they make less. For me, to read such information is heartbreaking, as I am a teacher in a private school that’s part of a Word of Faith church. The church is doing very well for itself, as most Pentecostal churches are, but the people are suffering.

I often speak with coworkers and church members as they slowly slip into despair. I watch helplessly as their hopes dim, and their pennies dwindle. When I attend a service at this church, I hear the pastors declare that God will make everybody rich, if only they will throw what little they do have into the offering plate. Loud confident voices echo off the palatial walls of the sanctuary, while weary, struggling believers bristle with the hope of God’s “promises.” My impoverished friends dance down the plush expensive carpet to the altar and pull out their dollar bills (not their food stamps and government checks, though they have those also) and cheerfully give. The pastor nods approvingly, his hands folded in prayer (a shiny Rolex on his wrist), his eyes misty.

Say what you want about the corruption of the pulpit, or the decadence of the minister—that’s not my issue. My point is that while the world howls at the scam artists who fail to deliver on big promises, Christianity has its very own Ponzi scheme that’s alive and well. At least when Bernie Madoff promised big returns he actually delivered (if only for a moment); the prosperity gospel doesn’t even do that much. When Joel Osteen, Ken Copeland, Paula White, or Benny Hinn take your money, you’ll never see it again (unless you happen to glimpse one of their private jets leaving a runway for Bermuda).

Creating “The Least of These”

When a major tenet of your theology is that people who invest in your church will experience wealth, while the facts show that your congregants are among the poorest and most desperate in the country, you have just been exposed. Further, when the national economy is in shambles, it should be criminal to continue to avoid taxes as a charity, yet earn immense amounts of capital on the promise of a better future. In the business world we call it a scam.

So why are we silent while this happens in every neighborhood in America?

Another concern raised by the Pew poll is the average profile of the victim. As Pentecostals tend to be the least well-educated group of believers they make a prime target for would-be millionaire pastors. In many ways, I am as green with jealousy as these prosperity preachers are with greed, in that the scammed believers have more faith in their little finger than I will probably ever know in my lifetime. They would give the shirt off their backs if they believed God wanted them to, and many of them have. These people have the purest of Christian hearts, trusting the intentions of their Shepherd as they’re led as lambs to the slaughter.

Bankrupt Prosperity

Imagine that there was a brand of theology in which people were taught that God has promised to give followers an additional arm, right from the center of their chest. Let’s say it taught that scripture had everywhere indicated that this was the case, and that by believing this “fuller” version of the gospel, you were opening up the as-of-yet closed off area of blessings that Christians have forgotten about (i.e. growing another appendage to better do God’s work).

Let’s imagine that after about 50 years the movement has spread worldwide, with followers numbering in the millions, and you look to see how many of these folks have in fact grown that “arm of the Lord.” Upon inspection you find that the vast majority of them have lost an arm, leaving them worse off and less able to serve than even those old two-armed folk. The irony would be overwhelming.

Despite the statistics, and the continued empirical evidence of devastated human lives (Pentecostals also have the most divorces), few if any Christians have plainly spoken against the Prosperity Gospel, or raised awareness that measures any merit. While high-level corruption and financial disarray are the soup du jour of recent weeks’ media cycles, this prominent and aberrant theology has been allowed to wreak destruction on a mass of people who are grasping at economic straws.

Prosperity Gospel theology is bankrupt. The debate raged for years about how much sense coveting money made in the context of biblical principles, but now the fruit has been borne and the numbers don’t lie: those who attend Prosperity Gospel churches are in fact worse off for it.

lustra89: Now, why i asked this question, was beause i ran into a friend's update, sending birthday wishes and calling him title's like ''God's General'' to me i dnt think he deserve that title, judging from what most God's general's has done including people like whycliff jean, john hus, martin lurther knox etc,, this are men who fought for the bible we read today, including giving their life so the bible could be interpreted to the language of the common man,, when the catholics, kings and pope insist it must be in latin, they fought for reformation of the church, destroyin most belief,, many reason's which i cnt go on mentioning, even when john hus was kill because of his Reformation to the church, he said '' lord have mercy' and in 1999 pope john paul apologised for a sin commited by the church to him, after 385years, to me i dnt fink Bishop david oyedepo should be address as such,,, please what's ur humble opinion,, no insult please, but if you do,, i will humble smile no skin pain.... Thanks

Twisting the Word of God
Touch not my anointed and do my prophets no harm!(Psalms 105:15 KJV)

Some discipleship groups interpret this verse to mean that we shouldn't question or say anything negative against our leaders. This interpretation squelches legitimate questions or complaints that might stop errors. Leaders who adopt this slant on scripture become almost immune from accountability to their people. This is only one example of the ways in which abusive discipleship groups may use Bible verses. Passages are often taken out of context and their true meanings distorted; but these groups also correctly interpret many verses. That is why it is so difficult to see what they are doing.

Gilbert Trusty, a former pastor who used this passage to control his flock now explains...

This particular concept is so twisted, so groundless that it would be funny if it was not so sad. In context, in those verses (Psalms 105:9.15) (KJV) God is talking about the patriarchs, about how He protected them, about how He kept Abraham's life. The main thing the scripture was dealing with is when Abemelech took Sarah into his harem. God wanted Abraham to keep his wife. God was protecting Abraham because from him was going to come a nation and from that nation was going to come the Messiah. Also John tells us that in the body of Christ we each have the anointing of God. (1 John 2:20-27) This anointing does not apply only to the man behind the pulpit; we each have the anointing of God. The Holy Spirit is available to every one of us. We can be filled as we open ourselves and yield to God. It's not just one man, or some church leaders on earth who God has set apart anointed. "Touch not my anointed" refers to all of us who are in the body of Christ.

Many times people forget that this scripture could never be used to mean that sheep should not question their leaders. A good leader should be honored and respected; but we are instructed (1 Thes. 5:21). to prove all things. First Tim 3:10 says that deacons must be proved. According to Revelations 2:2, even those who call themselves apostles should be tried. Jesus commends them because they tried those who called themselves apostles and found they were false. In abusive discipleship the mere fact that someone is a leader means that I should never say anything critical about that leader.

What a nice position! To be a leader when your flock feels that they can't be critical of you without going against God! But this is very dangerous for the flock.

The foundation of the discipleship movement is the authority of the discipler. What distinguishes discipleship relationships from the typical relationship between a pastor and the flock is that the discipler is granted a significantly greater authority to guide the directions and decisions of the disciple. Could this possibly be Biblical, that a young Christian lay person is granted power to oversee souls? This heightened authority may be communicated directly to disciples through teaching, combined with an insistence that disciples be submissive, obedient, trusting and broken. Another way in which the excessive authority is indirectly communicated is by the way in which a leader exercises authority over the disciple. The church has always held that both the content of a leader's doctrine and the leader's behavior are important. (1 Tim. 3:1.13; Tit. 1:5.11; 1 Pet. 5:2,3)

Image123: You knew the story about the bribe or about the healing?

Image123: This one is late. Did he just realize or remember today that tb tried to bribe him?

okojieamos82: Nora544, when u need a miracle, u ll believe and u ll need 1 very soon- trust me

Daddybee: Is dis the first time u experienced dis kind of situation? I know it happens but as a journalist of note, how many of such cases av come to ur notice and given much publicity dis way? I don't attend SCOAN but I want to believe u av some personal reasons concerning dis issue because as a journalist many has happened b4 dis case. Why did u keep quiet for so long?

MizMyColi: 5 Reasons Not to Judge People:

1. You don’t know what is going on inside another person.
How many times have you been asked how you are, and said “fine,” even though you weren’t? We all know this is true. We mask our pain. We suffer in silence. We put on the happy/smiley face when we are dying inside. Just because you don’t see it, doesn’t mean another person isn’t hurting. A person’s actions or behaviors may not be any indication of what is going on inside of them.

2. People are doing the best they can.
I know this is sometimes difficult to believe about another person. I get that. It’s hard for me at times to believe that about others. But think about it. You know it’s true. It’s complicated! Life is complicated! People are complicated! There are a lot of moving parts inside and outside a person. Aren’t we all a little off – carrying pain, unhealed wounds, ways we protect ourselves, and other dysfunctions we have picked up a long the way?

3. You don’t have all the answers.
At times we can look at another person’s life and just see all this stupid stuff it appears they’re doing. On the outside looking in, another person’s life seems pretty cut and dry to us in terms of what they should be doing or not doing or how they are handing a situation or whatever. It’s amazing how quickly we turn into the infallible personal life coach when it comes to another person’s life!

4. Being judged hurts.
It’s quite possible that the most painful human feeling is one of being judged. There’s so much involved – silent pain; being misunderstood; rejection in the very moment we most need understanding, love and acceptance.

5. Every human being is worth love and acceptance.
Judging people often leads to objectifying them. People are not objects. A suicide happens every 20 seconds. People will often show up in our lives at the end of their rope… hanging on by a thread. The expression of love, acceptance, understanding and kindness to someone who is struggling or hurting may be the difference between them giving up on themselves and life or finding the courage and hope to keep living.

Give Everyone Grace.

Source

PerfectFortune: Nicolas Ibekwe has finally found a way to get public attention and become popular and it seems to be working for him already.

Press everywhere in the world receives money to write good stories about somebody or an events. The Briths do it through BBC while the Americans use the CNN and others. President GEJ employed one recently while the APC is also suspected to have employed the services of Sahara Reporters.

They call it image laundering....

ednut1: anoda one who collected the 50K fuel money

BobNeli: How heavy the log of wood in peoptle's eyes. But no, it doesn't itch them. What really matters to them more, is the speck of sand in another man's. Bro. Well, among the seven gifts of the Holy spirit that I know. Criticism is not one. Why dnt you discover your calling and shine with it than waste a huge amount of effort, trying to bring down someone who has already established in his God's given talent? To be candid with you. Whom God has uplifted, no one can bring down. Focus your energy on something more profitable to you, than side talk. It only shows how insignifcantly your mind has been molded. The coverage of events are only ment for distant fibbly minded watchdogs like u. Who rearely believes anything but lies. How can you also convince the teeming population who are constantly present to witness the events life and direct. Those who needn't your kind of mischief clips to confirm the truth. Can't you see that your porpoted damage to the name of the innocent, can only succeed in spreading his fame futher than not? Go and coock up more stories with ghost names. More over, God heals who He (God) wants to heal. Bible said. I will give favour to whom I want to give favour. Dnt blame the man of God for a miracle not accomplished, he is not God. He is only an instrument. When he told you that God has not sent him to your freind whom you came with. That should have atleast confirmed to you that he doesnt brag nor take the glory for himself. That he doesnt have his own healling powers. He only waits to hear from the One who sent him before he acts. If you had little iodine in your thyroid gland. The people you claimed died after their miracles. Did you ever care to inquire the kind of life they lived after? In the bible, there were ten lepers healed. According to Jesus, where went the rest nine? For only one came seeking the healler of his ailment. Not just comfortable that his ailment has been healed and then went astray. Let me remind you something here. The reason why miracles abound with men of God is not just for their (MOG) glory. It is for the people to belive that it is God who sent them. And moreover, that that same God is capable of what He promises. But the sole target is spreading the goodnews and bringing men to God. So if in a case, you received your miracle and walk away from the giver of the miracle, the devil, might still take the better of you.