What is the unit of the values you quoted?

So, this 'drive' is not even about curbing traffic violations but about generating revenue?? This makes no sense.

And even if there were some merit to it, is it too much to ask that the public be notified first? It is high time we begin to demand (even though it is only proper anyway), that any of such policies should first be introduced to the public by extensive and proper enlightenment campaigns, long before action is taken to implement them.

How can the government enact and implement policies seemingly on the spur of the moment, especially with direct effects on the public as this one, without educating the people for whom the policies are supposedly made?

The other time it was a reactionary policy against Street hawking. Now, this. Haba!

An apt illustration of the case in point...

Insidious is the word indeed, Ishilove. But we'll worry about that when the hype that accompanies novelties as this dies down, and people have had opportunity to give second thoughts to this new obsession

I need an explanation, please.

First of all, I don't believe in Zombies. Although it seems to be an economically viable theme exploited by Hollywood, there's no such thing as walking undead, since it is appointed unto man to die once and afterwards be judged.

But perhaps the Zombie Apocalypse that Hollywood has been predicting for a while now is about to become a reality.

Or how do you explain that a 'game' has now been designed which requires people to run all over the place, their gaze riveted to the screens of their mobile devices, literally chasing shadows - virtual figures that they alone are aware of - at risk of killing or maiming themselves from colliding with objects or other humans, all in the name of entertainment? Let's talk less of the dangers of getting lost, kidnapped etc

I don't deny the ingenuity behind such an interaction, afterall, the concept has launched its innovator into the global limelight and made him custodian of the contents of several bank vaults.

It is bad enough that instant messaging has spawned a generation of absent-minded, screen-addicted individuals with more virtual than real relationships in today's world. Now, people will endanger themselves by following randomly generated directions (in my opinion) all about their city.

Nigerians are never far behind a trend, so I can only imagine that as soon as this game is available in Nigeria....(the rest can be left to the imagination)

Imagine diong this on the streets of Lagos! Make them try am for Oshodi na.

If I have misconstrued what Pokemon Go! is all about, please feel free to set me straight. I simply don't get what all the hype is. Anyone, please.

Please, what is a 'bezel-less' phone?

Siena:


All that needed was replacement of the ignition switch, which is available as a separate part. Your mechanic did not need to replace the ignition lock and key.

Looks like you now have an immobiliser issue.

Wow. What do I do now?

A few clarifications first please...

Your analogy assumes that that hamster was not bought but begotten in captivity, right?

And if that were the case, that it was born without knowledge of its mother at least, and never received nourishment from her or otherwise interacted with her, for however brief a time?

Or that it's first moment of awareness was of its keeper?

Or that it had never witnessed its owner open the door to that room in leaving or arriving, and hence thus been inspired BY THE OWNER'S ACTIONS, with knowledge of an alternate reality - that is, of other rooms and occupants?

Now, if all that could be explained, and indeed the hamster's entire existence is centered around his knowledge of and relationship with its keeper, what other reality could it imagine?

Of course, it could see the room and realize that it was restricted by a cage, but that would be the extent of its imagination, assuming as we rationalized earlier, that it had never seen the door to that room opened.

I see that the hamster could only dream of and desire things that the keeper/owner permitted it to see or to know. It could not claim sole responsibility for its own ingenuity.

Just musing too. Wotcha think?

I just read this report out loud and my
mum remarked about the commodities that the vehicles were carrying - Fuel and Tomatoes, the two most expensive commodities in Nigeria at the moment! Incredible! This must be an omen



In other news, for those who use that route, I can confirm that the vehicles have been cleared off the road, and traffic is flowing as usual now

Siena:


Hello bro.

I take it this is the original Audi V8 D11, that preceded the Audi A8? Engine code ABH. This is indeed a rare beast.

When you state the engine cranks, but doesn't fire, does it actually fire, run for about a second, then die? Are there any warning lights on the dash?

Do you have any other keys for the car?

Yes, bro. It is that very beast of a machine. So it's doubly sad that it's lying there so helplessly now.

It cranks but doesn't fire as usual. However, when fuel is introduced into the 'injector mouth' (that's the mechanic's term), the car fires and starts, runs for about 15 secs or so and shuts down. It doesn't start except the process is repeated.

Trouble started when the key stopped working in the ignition switch altogether. In other words, it was literally running freely in the ignition switch, and not selecting any of the ignition positions. We changed the ignition switch and the key too, as a result. And then all the above became the order of the day.

The mechanic says "the car has entered code." I can't make sense of that jargon. Hence this cry of help.

01) Audi
02) Quattro V8
03) 4,2L V8
04) 4-speed automatic
05) 1993
06) Not certain
07) Permanent AWD

03) Car doesn't start at all (engine cranks but does not fire)

Issue started when ignition key was changed.

Thanks Siena. My machine's been parked for a bit as a result. I will be glad to able to revive it soon

senbonzakurakageyoshi:


...Take this analogy, a perfectly round ball on a perfectly flat and smooth road. If you were to roll that ball on the road, there is absolutely no reason why it should bounce since both the surface of the ball and the road are perfectly uniform. If the ball does bounce at some point, then it means one of them is not perfect in nature, hence the bounce.

Your logic is good. But the major discrepancy is that while the road is smooth, the ball has a will to roll where it pleases, even though it has been set on a course. It can chose to follow the course or to veer from it. It can chose to bounce and can go to any length to achieve this, including inventing fictional ruts in the road to support its decision.

'Perfect' beings sinned, because they could! And so they chose to. They are not robots but cognitive individuals who could be reasoned with. Perfection in your context would apply to animals - both domestic and wild. The perfection of man's creation on the other hand, is the exact duplication of the essence of God in mortal flesh.

The only 'offense' God committed is also the one very significant factor that distinguishes man from all other creation - He gave him freewill!

...with all the attendant risks involved, such as an abuse of it. It's the same way the gift of salvation through Jesus is today also being discountenanced and abused.

Yet, God in all His Omniscience did not withhold His affection.

For further illustration...

2. Freewill will remain inherent in man after Christ returns, but it will be exercised discreetly by people who have submitted their will to God’s will. Now that is another recommendation for what to do with freewill. The state of affairs will be as it was in the garden with the first man – free to will otherwise but willing to obey God. One difference I foresee is that we will not be oblivious of the devil’s devices, and he would have been permanently incarcerated in the lake of fire, never again to deceive men.

Here’s an analogy of freewill in the context of which we are speaking:
A parent buys his toddler a biscuit he has promised him, and returns to present the biscuit to the child. The child receives the biscuit and is delighted with the gift in its entirety – the packaging as well as the prospect of relishing the contents. But after the euphoria has passed, he wants to explore the contents now. Now, imagine that the parent requests for the biscuit either to open the packaging for him or for whatever reason, and the child petulantly declines, distrusting the intentions of the parent who made the gift available in the first place?

While we can dismiss this as foolishness only a child can exhibit, it is an analogy of how we react to God. We are delighted to receive His gifts but don’t want to be instructed in how to enjoy and maximise them.

The people who will reign with Christ will be people who have by reason of God’s training and exercise, become mature to discern good from evil; people who with their will acknowledge and approve the righteousness of God and His ways.

We approve of the intelligence of creation all around us but think that our own existence is not equally and even so much more, deliberate, for whom the rest of creation was created. It is indeed a travesty and a monumental deception, the likes of which only the devil can concoct.

Is this helpful so far?

...This death like sin, is fundamentally what happens when a man cuts himself off from God and Life. He loses his purpose and becomes disoriented and disillusioned. He must now seek affirmation from other sources other than from his Creator and Father, God. It is from this condition that a man having lost everything that matters and who literally has nothing more to lose will lash out at himself and others, in a fruitless bid to acquire some measure of affirmation. Hence, the source of all the vices humans then recognize as sin.

The choice that was made in the garden was a choice of death over life - a choice to heed contrary counsel other than the counsel of God. Even having been warned of the consequences of such a choice (and like every choice) it was a wilful, deliberate decision of man to disobey God and hence, rebel against His wisdom and discretion, in instructing the man He created how to use the freewill with which he had been gifted.

When the serpent asked, ‘has God indeed said...’, his purpose was to cast aspersions on the integrity and wisdom of God in leaving instructions for the conduct of the man, to discredit God before the man. Once again, the man had the choice to reject such suggestions and stick with his original set of instructions, trusting that God who created him, appointed him to the station in which he found himself as well as the provisions to prosper in the purpose for which he was created, had sound judgement in establishing such guidelines. So, being tempted to rebel is not the sin. Because we have freewill, we will always be confronted with options to explore what’s beyond the boundaries of God’s instructions. Deciding to rebel is the seal of the sin.

In distrusting God’s intentions, man also literally cast aspersions on his own existence and acquired an insecurity complex that stripped him of his confidence. It is obvious even in modern society how this cancer afflicts men.

To your questions, senbonzakurakageyoshi,

Sin is foremost and fundamentally, rebellion against God – against His love and leadership. The subsequent vices which are visible evidence of this state of affairs in a man’s heart and which are more popularly acclaimed by humans, are only the symptoms of a much deeper problem – a disconnect from God. Sin is the transgression of the law – God’s law.

God cannot therefore, sin because He cannot rebel against Himself. He cannot deny Himself. He is the very essence of Life, and all life flows from Him. He has created all things for and with a purpose which He had decided before He brought anything into being. This is analogous to how man creates products, by first determining what purpose it will serve, and then designing it to fulfil and satisfy that purpose. God then, is the standard of uprightness and righteousness, the deviation from which is termed sin.

Sin then, is analogous to a creation breaking out of its purpose, again analogous to the malfunctioning of a product from its designed function. Ordinarily, man-made products are fashioned after and sustained on a set of physical laws which are fairly predictable and unchanging. So for instance, a car will continue to serve its purpose and fulfil its design characteristics as long as it is maintained in a manner prescribed by the maker, who is usually also able to fix any faults that may develop in the cause of its use. But that is only as far as the analogy goes.

The human being however, is unlike any man-made product because he has freewill and his life and existence is permanently tied to his Creator’s. This freewill is a gift of God to man in creating man in His image and likeness. Who then, is better positioned or qualified to instruct a person in the use of his freewill than the God who has soundly exercised this same inherent ability in creating the man and endowing him with same quality?

So, all through the Bible, God presents to us the options we have, either to live for Him or on the contrary, live for ourselves; death or life, while recommending to us the best use of our freedom of choice. Unfortunately, people want to exercise their freewill without the responsibility for the consequences. The deception of the day is that there is such a thing as absolute freedom – freedom without responsibility...

Hello,
I can help you answer some of these questions. They are indeed thoughtful questions. I will post my first responses shortly.

Gombs:


Skipped for obvious reasons.



yeah... i like this part a lot more



...and much more... But, what exactly is wrong with any of the above? Of course people take anything to extremes, but labelling them wrong all together is the greater evil.



We've been through this all, but i am willing to take you on, perhaps we may have a detailed discussion here.



would it be convenient to say, judging from your post that Jesus failed and lied to us when he said ALL power has been given unto us, and therefore asked us to heal the sick and cast out devils? i was studying last week and came upon a scripture, not that i havent seen it before, but... it gave me a whole new perspective of what Jesus did for Christians.

Hebrews 2 NIV
14 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—

15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

16 For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants .

17 For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.



oh! I said "Lord God, thank you for what you did for me, I wish I can tell all the world this". The good book just told us Jesus broke the powers of he who had the power of death and free all those who's been in bondage of fear of death. Sickness and diseases, poverty etc are not of God, they put alot of folks under bondage, and subsequently fear of death.

Every disease is incipient death, and look, the bible said Jesus did this for descendants of Abraham ONLY (Born Again). Why did the writer have to be specific about the recipients of this work by Christ?




This statement portrays partly why He came. You should know that by now na. See Jesus' purpose here, written by the disciple Jesus loved the most.

1 John 3:8 KJV
He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. [size=18pt]For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. [/size]

Saving folks from sin by giving His life was a part, delivering them to their inheritance is another. That's was why He rose, God rose Him from the dead to prove Jesus is His son with power. His resurrection gave birth to the new creation, who is not subject to the rules of this world, including sickness and poverty. Why? Because the life of God is what the new creation has, it is called Zoe - the God kind of life ie eternal life.

Sickness, disease and poverty and all form of negativities are not from God, for if they were, we all ought to do God's will, and if sickness and poverty are His will for us, we might as well strive to be sick and/or poor.



Well, it is not fitly alright to end it thus, as you did. Jesus came to destroy the works of Satan, the machinations and structures Satan has ruled the world of men with. Jesus came to give much more. Some folks say Jesus came to restore the glory Adam lost, but that's not true. Jesus brought us a higher form of it. We're the Church of Jesus Christ, and the Lord Jesus has given us His glory: "And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one" (John 17:22).

Saying Jesus came to save men from sin only (As you said "Nothing More" is erroneous. He save us from sin on the cross, that's what His death did, but what about His resurrection? That's the message of Easter, His resurrection power and the new creation.



Be ni



HA! Ogbeni

God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, FAR above all principalities and powers. Why did you omit this part?

We were all under a brutal rulership of Satan, God sent Jesus to deliver us from sin and bring us up to His rest- His glorious inheritance to the saints (Abraham's promises). That's the way it was with us before Christ came. We were like children; we were in bondage/slaves to the elements (basic spiritual principles) of this world.




but it did. A quick question bro, explain this to me as you would to a 5 year old.

3 John 1:2 Living Bible (TLB)

2 Dear friend, I am praying that all is well with you and that your body is as healthy as I know your soul is.




https://www.nairaland.com/1957135/midas-touch-balanced-approach-biblical#27289013

Maybe you need to refresh your memory sir.
"The truth is that in no way did Jesus live a "destitute, inferior, indigent, needy, impoverished, feeble, pitiful, lacking, insufficient" life. Those terms are all used in defining the meaning of the word "poor." "



Jesus was sick too? Tired? yes, but sick? cc:Alwaystrue, Bidam come and see o




your opinion, gladly, it doesn't matter.



Hab 2:14 King James Bible
For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

it's a prophecy amigo!

This is a typically sad, but excellent response! It is totally representative of all the misconstrued mindsets and teaching of Scripture that comprise and corroborate this Word of Faith movement. God help us!

To the church in Nigeria,

Greetings in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

I sincerely hope that this greeting is as true in your hearts as it ought to be. For many have known the Saviour and yet not acknowledged Him as Lord. Many have known God but have not glorified Him as God? If God is our Father, where is His honour? If He is our Master, where is His fear? If we know that His eyes will not behold iniquity, why do we persist in wrong doing? Is our God not a consuming fire? Is this not the same God before whom the mountains skip?

Where is the light of God that shines in the darkness and the darkness comprehends it not? Doesn't this light shine as brightly, here and now as it has done through the ages? If we claim to be the light, why are we overwhelmed with much darkness? Jesus said 'let your light so shine that men may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.' If this light is indeed shining, why are the men around us not glorifying God? Why do men boldly continue in evil and endorse unrighteousness? Perhaps we have placed our light under the bushel of religion and legalism and so, it gives no light. Where is the fear of the Lord by which men depart from evil?

Is this the church by which God can show His manifold wisdom to the heavenly principalities and powers? Why are Christians no longer trustworthy? How has the church of Christ descended to this level of disrepute? Why are there so many churches - many believers thereby and yet very few Christ-like individuals? Who will believe our message now, when we lack credibility?

Are these not the last days of which we were warned and admonished by Jesus, Paul and the other Apostles? Aren't we inexcusable if we faint in these days of adversity? Weren't all the deceits and heresies that abound now, predicted? Why are we caught unawares, if indeed we dare claim thus? Jesus said 'I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No man cometh to the Father but by me.'
Have we not erred? Have we not gone astray out of the Way, following cunningly devised fables and the philosophies of men in exchange for the Truth? Have we not abandoned the Life of God in Jesus and defined a life for ourselves by the standards of society, approving societal stereotypes?

Where is the accord that our forebears in the faith enjoyed? Where did the factions and denominations spring up from? How has the gathering of the brethren become a competitive event where the size of the congregation and the splendour of the place of meeting are the measures of the success of the 'church'? Where is the fellowship of the brethren by which believers received great boldness to speak the word of God without fear and encouraged each other to persevere in the onslaught against our ungodly world system? Are these not also of primary importance?

Jesus said that we would know the truth and it would make us free. Why then are many still bound with the chains of iniquity and godlessness and are unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus? Perhaps they have been fed with lies instead? Jesus also said that he who the Son of man set free is free indeed. Why then are there many unchanged lives who claim to have encountered the Son of man? Did they probably encounter the sons of men instead?

Why do many fall 'under the anointing' at every meeting and yet are unable to pursue peace at all cost with the careless driver who almost brushed their vehicles on the way home? Why haven't these wonderful experiences of the power of the 'spirit' made better, conscientious drivers of us, with strict adherence to traffic regulations, even when no one was watching and we could get away with a traffic misdemeanour? What sort of anointing then, is this?

Where and what is our confidence in the face of adversity? Now we panic and fret as the elections approach. We fear lest the nation be islamized. Why? Isn't He that is in us greater than he that is in the world? Why have we lost our peace? Did not Jesus say 'my peace I give to you, not as the world gives. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid'? Is this not the same peace that passes all understanding? The very type that Jesus had in the midst of a terrible storm on the sea of Galilee while others feared for their lives? Is this not the same peace that ought to flow through us even now and always?

Why then are we dismayed in the face of this threat, if it is indeed a threat and not political propaganda to advance the cause of some? Perhaps this is the same fear that caused Adam and Eve to hide from the Lord their God. For having disobeyed His commandment, their peace was lost and their confidence before their Maker was replaced with the guilty torment that comes of sin.

The psalmist said "he that dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. He will say of the Lord, 'He is my refuge and my strength. In Him will I trust.'" How does one get to a place when they don't know the way? The way of the Lord - the path of righteousness, is how we arrive in the secret place! o wonder we are afraid and shaken, for we cannot boldly assert like the psalmist, that we dwell in the secret place of the Lord and that He is our refuge and our strength. Our sins have separated us from Him and we have not walked in His way.

Has the wonder of technology today convinced us that we no longer need to walk in the way, but can now overfly it, with the crafts of philanthropy and faithful church attendance, in exclusion of a living, thriving relationship with the Father? No! Let us not disillusion ourselves. The saints of old and our Saviour himself, trode this path and we must as well. There are no shortcuts and there will never be.

Where are those who are called by the name of the Lord and have humbled themselves to pray and seek the face of the Lord and turned from their wicked ways, that He may hear us from on high and forgive our sins and heal our land?

Have we not been unfaithful to the Lover of our souls? Have we not committed whoredom with the false gods of fame and money and pierced ourselves through with many sorrows by the pursuit of deceitful riches? Have we not sought for ourselves, lovers of foreign origins and nations, and not of the Commonwealth of Israel? Haven't we become unequally yoked with unbelieving standards and practices? Have we not imported into the body of Christ blasphemous practices and strategies for 'church growth' that deny the Lordship of Jesus? Have we forgotten that though Paul planted and Apollo watered, it is God who ultimately gives the increase? Does the Lord not still add to His church as many as are being saved?

Have we contended for the faith that was delivered to us? Did Jude mean by this admonishment that we make enemies of our families or friends with the suspicion that they were making diabolic plots against our 'destiny'? Did he mean that we take up arms to defend ourselves against those who persecute us for our faith? Did Jesus not teach that we love our enemies and pray for those who despitefully use and persecute us? Would Jesus have so admonished us if he knew that it was impossible to live in this manner?

Didn't Paul in agreement with this, speak about the battle for the establishment of the Truth in our hearts and the deep rooting of everyone of us in love, by which means we would be steadfast, unmovable and always abounding in Jesus? Did he not share with us how the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself above the knowledge of God, and bringing to captivity every thought to the knowledge of Christ? How then has the random throwing of fire and brimstone at one's perceived 'enemies' become church culture?

Has the gospel of Christ become foolishness in its simplicity that we have to coat it with many more principles to make it appealing to the unbeliever? Like the 101 principles to financial prosperity and 7 ways to 'make it' in life? Is God's concern with the sinful nature of man and how He may conform us to the image of His son, no longer a valid concern, that we have now prioritized 'all other things' above the seeking of the kingdom of God and its righteousness?

Where are the elders who do not now lord it over the flock that has been committed to their hands? How have we in league with our church leaders, conspired against the sovereignty of our Master, by exalting these men above Christ? How have we abandoned the Shepherd of our souls to follow after hirelings? Do we not know the voice of the Shepherd anymore? It is no wonder that we want, for the Lord is not our Shepherd. We have instead let ourselves be exploited by false teachers and their damnable heresies.

Has the house of God not become a den of thieves and robbers rather than the house of prayer? Do we not make merchandise of and defraud one another? Where are the men with clean hands and a pure heart, who have not lifted up their soul unto vanity nor sworn deceitfully, that may ascend unto the hill of the Lord? Why is there a monetary value attached to every act of service or 'ministry' as is the more popular term? Where are the men who like Daniel, will refuse to bow to the gods of dishonest gain even though it is the norm in their places of employment? Men who will reject corrupt practices and the lure of the easy naira, even in their dire hour of financial need, choosing to trust God and to uphold the integrity of their hearts and like Job, to boldly say of the Lord 'though he slay me, yet will I trust Him'.

Is the name of the Lord not even now blasphemed among the Gentiles on our account? Hasn't the way of truth been brought into disrepute by our actions and inactions? How often are the tales of woe told of men who have called themselves by the name of God but have not departed from iniquity? How is it even mentioned among Christians that a 'christain' contractor does not deliver on a contract and absconds with the money? Or delivers a shoddy job to the utter disappointment of those who have trusted him to deliver excellence. Shall we not yet provide things honest in the sight of all men?

Why are men who desired and pursued the office of a Bishop, unable to manage their own families and now justify divorce? No! It was not so in the beginning. How is it that news of marital infidelity in their church is more rampant than the Good News of salvation through Jesus? Have we not allayed the fears of evildoers with false promises of peace and assured corrupt politicians that no evil would befall them? Have we not received offerings and gifts from the hands of wealthy sinners and put their minds at rest concerning the destruction that lies in the way they have chosen?

Where are the men whose word is their bond? Men who can swear to their own hurt and not change? Where are the ones for whom 'African/Nigeria time' is an insult? Those who redeem the time in these evil days even with their regard for other people's time and are punctual to meetings for the sake of God's name?

Shall we not now remember our first love and repent and do the first works of righteousness, justice and truth? Do we remember that the kingdom of God is not meat and drink but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit? Shall we not beseech the Lord to show us the ancient paths that the saints of old, Jesus and the early church walked in. For I find little or no comparison between this fellowship of the present time and the one that sprang up in Jerusalem after the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the disciples.

Shall we continue in sin because grace abounds? Shall we remain unrepentant and recalcitrant in our old ways now, after we have been illuminated by the light of Jesus? Have we looked into the perfect law of liberty and yet forgotten what manner of men we ought to be? Shall we not take away the dross from the silver that the Finer may have what to work with? That once more and in all truth, the grace of Jesus that teaches us to deny ungodliness and to live soberly in these times; the love of God in which we ought to grow in knowledge of and be constrained by and the delightful fellowship of the Holy Spirit, by which we may be instructed in the paths of righteousness, may these indeed be with us now and always.

Let him that has an ear hear what the Spirit has been saying to this church.

©UprightMedia2015

4. Square foot?

Apparently, the stance of mbaemeka, gombs et al here, is that:

The riches of Christ = Material wealth/Prosperity aka Lots of money, Affluence
Correct me if I perceive y'all wrong.

Out of curiousity, I decided to do a word search for 'riches' in the New Testament.
Here are a few excerpts and a few thoughts appended to them.

'And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.' Mark 4:19
So riches can be deceitful? How then do we escape this deceitfulness and the unfruitfulness that results from the lust for riches thereof? Before someone hurriedly suggests that the 'riches of Christ' or the 'riches that Christ gives' (as defined by the above mentioned) pose no such threat, also explain why Jesus while on earth never said anything about these riches? And why he disapproved so much of the quest for more money and worldly affluence all through His ministry?

'Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;' 1 Timothy 6:17
If God's intention is to make EVERYONE rich unconditionally, why would He tempt (if He does tempt) us with riches that are uncertain and can cause us to be highminded - a condition He doesn't want us to be in?

'Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;' Ephesians 3:8
So Paul's ministry to the Gentiles was only about raising their awareness of the extent of affluence they were entitled to by believing in Christ, as evident in this statement?

'Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.' Hebrews 11:26
So reproaches can be riches too? How come nobody is aspiring to enter into and relish or languish in these riches as well?

Honest answers only, please.

Ooops, almost forgot this part;
'But godliness with contentment is great gain.
For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.
But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.' 1 Timothy 6:6-10
At least, this is an explicit teaching on riches aka money. I think all the bases are covered. The Bible encourages diligence. If lots of money accrue to you thereby, all's well and good. But should it be the motive or the end of life especially when by God's wisdom you are able to with contentment, use what you earn to meet our daily needs, without unnecessary waste?

Thanks guys. BabaGnoni, WinsomeX et al, we're good. Let's proceed with the thread.

nannymcphee:


herein lies the problem with this prosperity message!! What is wrong with being a TAXI DRIVER?

If all taxi driver's in the world is won over to Christ, who then will drive taxi's? Without them how can people move around

I guess you're in Nigeria that's why you said this! Do you know how much those folks make in a day? But in your thinking, they don't drive big cars & own houses etc they are not wealthy!!!

God can prosper a taxi driver in the taxi business

Paul in the bible was a tent maker!! Your Jesus was a Carpenter


this is the problem with the prosperity message teaching that all Christians must/should/ought to be rich

The key word is contentment, there are people who will never have their own house all their lifetime but will be happy & prosperous paying rent (be it face me I face you, be it bungalow or duplex)

so in ur world, a true Christian cannot remain a maid, cleaner, gateman, cook etc because Jesus will elevate them.

let's do a little Mathis

a taxi driver that earns N3000/day(they earn more than this) this amounts to N90,000/month

There are graduates that teach in schools, even engineers that earn btw 10,000-45,000

Who is more prosperous ? I guess you'll say they both need Jesus

the above category of folks can only pray to God to uplift their status/bless the work of their hands & God in his sovereignty will determine how & if he answers them

NannyMcphee, this illustration with which you have used to illustrate the duplicity and inconsistency of this "get rich of die trying in 'Christ' " philosophy is excellent.

Let him who has an ear hear the truth. Unfortunately, the same pride that sponsored the initial professions might not allow these brethren examine themselves whether they are yet in the faith and retrace their steps. God help us all. What more needs to be said?