₦airaland Forum

Danrizzle: "A wizard of the third order". C'mon Op, give us more niames!

lol...so which is he Saruman or Gandalf.

I hope to use this thread to highlight the lives of some individuals so unique and equally strange that you may never see their likes again. Eccentric Wonderful, Crazy, Brilliant, Rare, Evil Genius. These are attributes that would describe most of them.

Please Join me in showcasing such ones you may have come across or heard about.

Bill Haast.

Bill Haast (December 30, 1910 – June 15, 2011[1]) was the director of the Miami Serpentarium Laboratories, a facility near Punta Gorda, Florida that produces snake venom for medical and research use. Haast extracted venom from venomous snakes from the time he was a boy. From 1947 until 1984, he operated the Miami Serpentarium, a tourist attraction south of Miami, Florida, where he extracted venom from snakes in front of paying customers.

Haast physically extracted venom from venomous snakes by holding them by the head and forcing them to strike a rubber membrane covering a vial. As a result of handling these snakes, Haast had been bitten 172 times as of mid-2008.

Haast was born in Paterson, New Jersey in 1910. He became interested in snakes while at a Boy Scout summer camp when he was 11 years old. He was bitten for the first time at summer camp a year later, when he tried to capture a small timber rattlesnake. He applied the standard snake-bite treatment of the time (making crossed cuts over the fang marks and applying potassium permanganate) and then walked four miles to the camp's first aid tent, by which time his arm was swollen. He was rushed to see a doctor, but quickly recovered without further treatment. His next bite, later the same year, came from a four-foot copperhead. He was carrying a snake-bite kit, and had a friend inject him with antivenom; the bite put him into a hospital for a week.

https://media.miamiherald.com/smedia/2011/06/17/19/01/1aC91a.Em.56.jpg

Haast started collecting snakes and, after initial opposition from his mother, was allowed to keep them at home. He soon learned how to handle the snakes and found one timber rattler so easy to handle that he posed for a photograph with the snake lying across his lap. He started extracting venom from his snakes when he was 15 years old, and dropped out of school when he was 16 years old.
When he was 19 he joined a man who had a roadside snake exhibit, and went with him to Florida. While there, he ended up rooming with a moonshiner on the edge of the Everglades, and became proficient at capturing all kinds of snakes.

Haast eventually returned home, where his mother had leased a concession stand at a lakeside resort. Haast added a snake exhibit to the business. There he met and eloped with his first wife, Ann. They moved to Florida so that Haast could pursue his dream of opening a "snake farm". After his wife became pregnant, Haast lost his job when the speakeasy he was working at was raided by IRS agents. The couple moved back to New Jersey, where Haast studied aviation mechanics, and was certified after four years.

With his certification, he moved to Miami to work for Pan American World Airways. After the United States entered World War II, Haast served as a flight engineer on Pan Am airliners flying under contract to the United States Army Air Corps. These flights took him to South America, Africa and India, where he bought snakes to bring back to America, including his first cobra.
The Serpentarium
In 1946 Haast decided he had enough money saved to start his snake farm. He bought a plot of land facing U.S. 1, south of Miami, then sold his house and started construction on the Serpentarium. His wife Ann did not approve, and they eventually divorced. Haast retained custody of their son, Bill Jr. and continued to work as a mechanic for Pan Am while he built the Serpentarium. During this time Haast met and married his second wife, Clarita Matthews. The Serpentarium opened at the end of 1947, still not completed. For the first five years Bill, Clarita, and their son were the only staff. Bill Jr. eventually left, having lost interest in snakes, but not before he had been bitten four times by venomous snakes.

By 1965 the Serpentarium housed more than 500 snakes in 400 cages and three pits in the courtyard. Haast extracted venom 70 to 100 times a day from some 60 species of venomous snakes, usually in front of an audience of paying customers. He would free the snakes on a table in front of him, then catch the snakes bare-handed, and force them to eject their venom into glass vials with a rubber membrane stretched across the top.

Soon after opening the Serpentarium Haast began experimenting with building up an acquired immunity to the venom of King, Indian and Cape cobras by injecting himself with gradually increasing quantities of venom he had extracted from his snakes, a practice called mithridatism. In 1954 Haast was bitten by a common, or blue, krait. At first he believed his immunization to cobra venom would protect him from the krait venom, and continued with his regular activities for several hours. However, the venom eventually did affect him, and he was taken to a hospital where it took him several days to recover. A krait anti-venom was shipped from India, but when it arrived after a 48-hour flight, he refused to accept it. He received his first cobra bite less than a year after he started his immunization program. During the 1950s he was bitten by cobras about twenty times. His first King cobra bite was in 1962. Haast was also bitten by a green mamba. Many times Haast donated his blood to be used in treating snake-bite victims when a suitable anti-venom was not available. More than twenty of those individuals recovered.

In 1949, he began supplying venom to a medical researcher at the University of Miami for experiments in the treatment of polio. The experiments gave encouraging results, but were still in preliminary clinical trials when the Salk polio vaccine was released in 1955.

On September 5, 1977, a 6-year old boy sitting atop the wall surrounding the Serpentarium's alligator and crocodile pit fell into the pit and was grabbed by a 12-foot crocodile that lunged ten feet and grabbed the boy. The boy's father and another man, Nicolas Caulineau, heroically jumped into the pit and straddled the crocodile. Nonetheless, the boy, who was battered and submerged, was killed.

The incident left Bill Haast badly shaken. He shot the 1800-pound crocodile nine times with a Luger pistol, yet it was still an hour before it died. Before this, the crocodile had lived for 20 years in the pit without incident. Haast's mental trauma over the boy's death eventually led to the closure of the Serpentarium on South Dixie Highway. Although the boy's father did not blame Haast for his son's death, Haast told reporters he wanted nothing else to do with the Serpentarium and, in any event, would never again house crocodiles there. The incident did not end Haast's interest in venom research. It did, however, lead to the eventual closure of one of Miami's most famous tourist attractions--the Miami Serpentarium

Haast closed the Serpentarium in 1984, and moved to Utah for a few years. In 1990 he moved to Punta Gorda, Florida with his snakes, where he established the Miami Serpentarium Laboratories. Haast's hands suffered venom-caused tissue damage, culminating in the loss of a finger following a bite from a Malayan pit viper in 2003. As a result of the damage, Haast gave up handling venomous snakes, and no longer kept any at his facility.
As of 2008 he continued to have his wife inject him with small amounts of snake venom. In an August 2008 Florida Trend interview, he stated, "Aging is hard. Sometimes, you feel useless. But I always felt I would live this long. It was intuitive. I always told people I'd live past 100, and I still feel I will. Is it the venom? I don't know."

Haast turned 100 in December 2010 and died on June 15, 2011

Some people have also assumed that its every child that actually wants to go school. There are so many who hate school and would rather go and sell something. I know a boy who keeps running away from school and when the dad asked him what he wants to do in life, he said he wants to be an 'Eleran'.
The father took him to a meat-seller and he sold meat for him for like 5 years, before i finished secondary school he had 'graduated' and was doing fine with his business. Now the guy is a big cow merchant and doing well for his family.

Have anyone also thought about the money management skills and haggling skills they learn all those years, you think na beans? All those market women we buy things from all over Africa, successfully managing their business for years, how do you think they learnt the business.

We hear stories of how Abiola/OBJ etc sold firewood to send themselves to school and we applaud them for such successes, but when we see others now who also have to do so, we scream child abuse....like say everything na child abuse.

Fhemmmy: Yes, wrong for the child to be selling on the street, but nothing to show that it was not after school hour, and nothing to show that the governor was not trying to do that to help the child, there are so many gray areas . . . Not saying hawking is a good thing for the kid oh, but we need to know the full detail before nailing the dude to the cross

Pls where should the child be selling the things? Inside hall or inside bank. I hawked for 18 yrs and if i have to do it again to help feed my family...i will gladly and proudly do it.

But this Sign Fireman is a walking advert for scam, just checked his youtube videos and i cant believe people can just sit through hours of that garish display of ungodliness and stupidity.
Eni to n wa iwakuwa a ri irikuri, he who looks/wants the unsual will see the unusual.

Kunbee: Couldn't he have gotten the faeces without killing her?

I dont know if he sent the boy or not, but when people are in the throes of violent death, they loose control of their bladder and pass out faeces and pee. That was the type the boy said he was asked to get not just any faeces.
The fact is that not many people knows that such occurs except those in the medical field or those who have been killing people (psychopaths) and those who read about such things/crimes.
This boy has either been killing people before now or he was actually asked to get this type of faeces by someone who needs it for ritual, if these derange and debased ritual people has found a way of using such faeces for money then Nigeria has just gotten way way worse, because you cant just arrest somebody carrying fecal matter whereas you can be arrested if a 10 yrs old human skull was found in your possession.

dhaewood: Dr. Olukoya tagged the year the passover year with reference to Exodus 12 vs 21, wherein promises would be fulfilled, he also drew a nexus between the number 14 and the passover, going to the prophecies,he said,

1. This year is going to be one of great revival

2. It is going to be a year of many questions but very few answers

3. There is going to be deliverance this year from afflictions and bondages

4. A year of monumental failure for those who trust in the occult

5. A year of harvest of babies

6. A year of wonders and mysteries

7. A year wherein strange hands shall compete for flags and damage it(to be forestalled by prayer)

8. He said something about violent storms

9. A year of deliverance for many, as the passover signified an halt to the isrealites bondage.

10. Opposition against the righteous this year shall become powerless.

11. A year of heavy angelic visitation.

12. A year for prophetic dreamers(take cognisance of your dreams this year)

13. A year when God will raise up women who are prophetic voices for the country

14. A year when many companies shall go bankrupt (to be forestalled by prayer)

15. A year of earthquakes and famine.

16. A tough year for political leaders who are not standing straight.

17. Traders shall be chased out of Gods temple this year

18. A year of marine madness(had to have these shortened, there are 12 more)

Capping it, he gave seven necessities for this year, he said you need, divine presence, divine power, divine protection, divine provision, divine purpose, divine positioning and divine promotion, in conclusion he emphasised the need for the pleading of the blood of Jesus this year also drawing a nexus with the isrealites passover. Shalom.

SCAM ALERT

Odenigbo Aroli: Oba bini don enter

You know you are damn funny...na real oba benin. I just wonder if this guy was not around with his vast knowledge of Benin history and traditions (though he is quite good in so many others), a lot of stuffs would have been forced down our throat by other Cultural warriors. But what i appreciate most than his thoroughness is his sincerity, candidness and lack of prejudice.

So well done PhysicsNerd.

truthseeker777: Wa dor mo o!!! I know this thread has been idle for a while. I need sound feedback. What will you advice us whose State of Origin is Benin and we don't know how to speak it; should we continue the generation of non-speaking binis by marrying outside the state, or should we look for a bini-speaking spouse to bridge this gap. Like in my case, Dad is Benin, Mum is Yoruba, born and brought up in Lagos (now u get the picture), the few Benin lines I know are my personal effort undecided (Hey! Wen commenting, don't blame my Popsi o) ... Just imagine, I know sabi speak bini, I come go marry from East or North, I don dilute the next generation of binis. Thanks in advance for your kind contributions. This is my very first post on Nairaland so be nice to me. I wish Nairaland has Sheke or water to pour me.

Who to marry is a personal decision, i believe you should marry someone that would give you happiness and build a good home with, where he comes from is immaterial. Both my parents are Esan and i married a yoruba girl whose mother is from Imo. I speak Esan and i speak yoruba fluently too, my baby cant talk yet but would most likely speak English better than any other language, she would understand yoruba but most likely not speak it well and she would probably not understand or speak Esan at all.
I based these assumptions on present circumstances, if i want to make her speak my language, then she would have to go and live with my parents and am not sure i would do that.

So Societal dynamics has made all cultures lose a bit of themselves and take in others, minorities like us are worse off in this aspect.

Hi Royou,

Thanks for all your efforts on Wisdom Property. Like we discussed on the phone, i paid for a piece on behalf of and i would like you to add me on the list. My email is and my number is 08113936661.
Thanks

Kenfil: I don't care. I get to eat enof food and chop enof chicken.

Thank you very much, this is more sincere, we don't have to care for any of God's law, its a God-given right to choose, it has always been about choice, but let no one sugar coat the whole thing and change it from what it is..

Christian Kids have been eating Sallah meat in primary and secondary schools, their parents never told them not to because they don't care, even in offices they people still ask their muslim friends to bring Sallah meat for them, because they don't care, Eyo festival rooted in paganism was sugar-coated to be tourism, pple went as a family with their kids because they don't care.

I believe that was the meaning of the broad road, a road where you can be what you want to be, who you want to be with, where there is no limitations and no care.

For Salvation you just have to care, but its not everybody that cares about salvation too, even if they are uprooted and transferred into God's Kingdom, they will look for a way out because the truth is not in them.

For Xtians we believe God first instituted a way of worship/life that was based on the mosaic law which became known as Judaism...now how does Judaism see birthdays:

The first century Jewish historian Josephus noted that Jewish families did not celebrate birthdays:

Nay, indeed, the law does not permit us to make festivals at the birth of our children, and thereby afford occasion of drinking to excess (Josephus. Translated by W. Whiston. Against Apion, Book II, Chapter 26. Extracted from Josephus Complete Works, Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids (MI), 14th printing, 1977, p. 632).

Now although there is no specific command against the celebration of birthdays in the Torah, the Jewish custom in those days was apparently based on the negative occurrences in the Torah surrounding birthdays, as well as the astrological implications of the celebration of birthdays (pagan practices, like astrology, were specifically prohibited in the law)

as a rule, Jews did not celebrate their birthdays. Indeed, while the dates of passing (yahrtzeit) of the great figures of Jewish history are recorded and commemorated, their dates of birth are mostly unknown. (Your Jewish Birthday. Chabad-Lubavitch Media Center. http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/2527/jewish/What-Happened-on-Your-Birthday.htm).

The later Hebrews looked on the celebration of birthdays as a part of idolatrous worship, a view which would be abundantly confirmed by what they saw of the common observances associated with these days.”—The Imperial Bible-Dictionary (London, 1874), edited by Patrick Fairbairn, Vol. I, p. 225.

The Encyclopedia Judaica could not be more blunt: "The celebration of birthdays is unknown in traditional Jewish ritual'.

Jesus Christ ushered in the new covenant and a way of life/worship which became known as xtianity. What did early Jesus Disciples say:

Here is some of what Origen wrote:

...of all the holy people in the Scriptures, no one is recorded to have kept a feast or held a great banquet on his birthday. It is only sinners (like Pharaoh and Herod) who make great rejoicings over the day on which they were born into this world below (Origen, in Levit., Hom. VIII, in Migne P.G., XII, 495)

The writings of the late third century Catholic theologian Arnobius show that, even that late, Catholics objected to the celebration of birthdays as he wrote:

...you worship with couches, altars, temples, and other service, and by celebrating their games and birthdays, those whom it was fitting that you should assail with keenest hatred. (Arnobius. Against the Heathen (Book I), Chapter 64. Excerpted from Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6. Edited by Alexander Roberts & James Donaldson. American Edition, 1886. Online Edition Copyright © 2005 by K. Knight).

The notion of a birthday festival was far from the ideas of the Christians of this period in general.”—The History of the Christian Religion and Church, During the Three First Centuries (New York, 1848), Augustus Neander (translated by Henry John Rose), p. 190.

This is what Origen said, one of the early xtians about 200 years after christ died.

Origen of Alexandria, in 245 A.D., wrote in a dissertation on Leviticus:

“None of the saints can be found who ever held a feast or a banquet upon his birthday, or rejoiced on the day when his son or daughter was born. But sinners rejoice and make merry on such days. For we find in the Old Testament that Pharaoh, king of Egypt, celebrated his birthday with a feast, and that Herod, in the New Testament did the same. But the saints not only neglect to mark the day of their birth with festivity, but also, filled with the Holy Spirit, they curse this day, after the example of Job and Jeremiah and David.

When pharaohs were crowned in ancient Egypt they were considered to have transformed into gods. This divine promotion made their coronation date much more important than their birth into the world. Scholars have pointed to the Bible's reference of a Pharaoh's birthday as the earliest known mention of a birthday celebration (around 3,000 B.C.E.), but Egyptologist Dr. James Hoffmeier believes this is referencing the subject's coronation date, since that would have been the Pharaoh's "birth" as a god.

The Greeks offered moon-shaped cakes to Artemis as a form of tribute to the lunar goddess. To recreate the radiance of the moon and her perceived beauty, Greeks lit candles and put them on cakes for a glowing effect. The Greeks most likely took the idea of birthday celebration from the Egyptians, since just like the celebration of the pharaohs as "gods," the Greeks were celebrating their gods and goddesses.

“Originally the idea [of birthday greetings and wishes for happiness] was rooted in magic. The working of spells for good and evil is the chief usage of witchcraft. One is especially susceptible to such spells on his birthday, as one’s personal spirits are about at that time. Dreams dreamed on the birthday eve should be remembered, for they are predictions of the future brought by the guardian spirits which hover over one’s bed on the birthday eve. Birthday greetings have power for good or ill because one is closer to the spirit world on this day. Good wishes bring good fortune, but the reverse is also true, so one should avoid enemies on one’s birthday and be surrounded only by well-wishers. ‘Happy birthday’ and ‘Many happy returns of the day’ are the traditional greetings” (The Lore of Birthdays, Linton, p. 20)...

The giving of birthday gifts is a custom associated with the offering of sacrifices to pagan gods on their birthdays. Certainly the custom was linked with the same superstitions that formed the background for birthday greetings. “The exchange of presents… is associated with the importance of ingratiating good and evil fairies… on their or our birthdays” (ibid.).

The traditional birthday cake and candles also have their origin in ancient pagan idol worship. The ancients believed that the fire of candles had magical properties. They offered prayers and made wishes to be carried to the gods on the flames of the candles. Thus we still have the widely practiced birthday custom of making a wish, then blowing out the candles. The Greeks celebrated the birthday of their moon goddess, Artemis, with cakes adorned with lighted candles...

tomzman: Kumuyi is one person I respect a lot but from recent happenings, right from his son's wedding, I began to lose my respect for him. His doctrines only lead to hypocrisy. Yes, we all know the origin of Christmas but the most important thing is that it is the essence of Christmas that we celebrate not the origin. Everybody also knows that Jesus wasn't born on the 25th of December, the day is just a generally accepted day to remember the birth of the saviour, nothing more. I agree Christmas might have been commercialised but that doesn't subtract from its essence. Let me also remind Kumuyi that the day he and other Christians round the world worship God in churches (i.e sunday) was named after a god. Why does he still hold services on that day? Also, did Jesus use cars when he was on earth or was there television or facebook during his time? Why does Kumuyi use all these things since they weren't used by Jesus or even the Apostles. See, the fact that something is not expressly spelt out in the Bible doesn't necessarily make it bad and it is not everytime that the crowd is wrong. The Holy Spirit is always there to guide us.

The fact that it was based on a lie and it is still celebrated with the fanfare and paraphernalia of the old pagan origin is the crux of the matter. All evidence from the Bible and early church shows that birthdays were significant and important for pagans and they enthusiastically celebrate it.
To now rename, whitewash and present it as a honour to Christ is totally wrong. Its a celebration adopted from paganism which is still celebrated with pagan rites....that makes it pagan.

Kamsy10: BUT YOU STILL HAVENT SHOWN US IN THE BIBLE WHERE SUNDAY WORSHIP IS SCRIPTURAL.
UNTIL THEN, WELCOME TO THE CLUB OF IDOLATERS.. .

Sunday has got nothing to do with this, you worship God everyday. Sunday is d day most pple have as work-free day and so would allow for most pple to congregate and worship. If u live in a country where sunday is a work day, then the service day shud be changed to their work-free day. Sunday worship is for convenience of d majority.

For those who are mention Moonday, thors-day, Freyas-day. It is not d name dat makes d day it is d celebration. So does anyone remember or celebrate any of those gods on those days, so if xtians don't continue d practise of celebrating dem under any guise den it should nt be used as a defense for d xmas celebration.

If it sounds and feel like idolatry, then it is idolatry. If it carries remnants of idoltrous worship then it is idolatry. If it was based on a lie and the lie is still being propagated then it is still a lie.

Howmanage: Watched the video, from 6:10 , saw a well dressed woman presumably fed up of being bothered by someone striking out against said person.......

I watched it and i did not see any show of shame. The video has been hyped too much...rubbish.

The report of the 16 roads constructed came out in a newspaper, the names of the streets were mentioned in the paper and has been repeated here. There is a plaque clearly stating that 16 roads were handed over.

If these were not true dat plaque would have been destroyed within 24hrs, mushin residents would have been here disproving the claims and most definitely, all d opposition parties in lagos would have been up in arms over it.

To say this is not true because there are no 16 pics of diff roads (how would u even know if he is not taking d same streets from diff pts) is either sheer mischief or utter stupidity.

The kidnapping argument holds no water with this. Once you are kidnapped, its better they are able to reach ur people on time. Even if ur fone is not wit u, they won't ask u twice before u start confessing all d numbas u know.

This story is so so fake. Its just someones imagination. Talking about beer, then ladies wearlng trousers and jumping to bomb detectors. Who wud talk like that

There is a glut of JW threads on Nairaland these days, many with very controversial topics. please OP can you return this back to the back pages.

arsenalwenger: As i said earlier, the trinity doctrine must be debunked at all cost by the JW (even if they have to lie against the Bible to achiev that), so the escape route is to turn Jesus christ to an angel (against Heb 1:4-6) and the Holy spirit to a non-living thing or active force (as against Jesus' own teaching in John 16:7-15). And this is what an average JW teaches as bible truth, thats terrible!

I am very sure if WTS change the doctrine tomorow (as they have been doing) and tell you that the Holy spirit is no longer an active force you will flow along naturally. The implication of this robotic lifestyle is that you guys are not loyal to the bible but watchtower organization (you accept what they teach as truth whether they are right or wrong).

On the subject at hand, it is quite simple that you want to relate your prophetic failures to the failure of Jonah's prediction of the destruction of Nineveh, though the events are in entirely 2 differnet context under a complete different dimensions and states.

As hisblud said earlier, was Jonah grieve that his predictions failed, hence wish he shuold die? Did watchtower accept their failed predictions as their mistake? The latter rather choose to feign ignorance that they never made predictions, that they are not inspired prophets, that their members are over-zealous, thats Jonah also made failed predictions.

The above is a classic case of superios intelligence against the gullible followers who cant question what a more intelligent master (watchtower) tell him.

Dont even talk about the trinity doctrine....that is a doctrine that is as false as any doctrine can be...That doctrine has been debated and in dispute and disrepute as soon as it came up up after the death of the faithful apostles...it only became widely accepted because of political pressure.
If you stubbornly refuse to accept the fact that JW never predicted but only expected, then what is the purpose of having any further discussion on this.

mavinc4u: there is power in every spoken word. we are the cause of our problem. can't we just see good things and say good things about Nigeria so that it would start from there. We use our mouth to condemn the country and expect it to be good. the tongue is fire and can be used to decree anything and it comes to pass. The Bible says our mouths have creative force. death and life are in the power of tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit so learn how to say God bless Nigeria. if everybody wakes up to say God bless Nigeria before their morning and night prayers, tell me if God will not bless Nigeria and make it a better place to live.

It is only in Nigeria where nothing happens that people keeps saying there is power in the spoken word...there is no power in words you just speak to the air...absolutely zero power..you need motivation and then action..if we like lets keep singing 'Nigeria go better'...it means nothing.
Its just too annoying hearing church people and this fictitious powerful tongue.

which foolish "God Bless Nigeria' should people be saying, did you not read where God says he will not answer the prayers of people whose hand s are filled with blood and not committed to change.

bokohalal: My conclusion is that he eluded the British soldiers for some time (as the then Ologbosere also did ) and considering the crushing defeat and devastation that the British had just inflicted on the Benin Empire,to have escaped capture or death for sometime from the new masters,the cowed survivors attributed his daring as supernatural and wove incredible stories into it.
You do know that the British committed genocide in old Benin?

They destroyed Benin Kingdom, i have not heard anybody call it a genocide, nor do i think it can be called a genocide.

hisblud: beautiful.. this i believe refers to WHAT God has specifically stated in his word ... but for someone to come out dogmatically to claim a "year" as being the fulfilment of God's word, i dont buy that... for me am not scoffing at the return of Yahshua, rather am expecting Him to return... but i will scoff at anyone that claims Yahshua has already come as russel and co are saying...stating also that His reign started in 1914 and that the gentile rulership has ended then... not me berny... but if you give in to his failed 1914 prediction above and anyone for that matter... that is your cup of tea not for me, man, no matter how you take scriptures to justify it!

A lot of things Russell said were misconstrued while he was alive and took great pains to explain himself, still he people still spread a lot of mis-information. First and foremost, Russell was not a prophet nor did he claim to be one, he was a student of the Bible and took time to study on his own and consulted with others also on several scriptural points. One of his famous books is studies of the scriptures.

Russell from his studies believed that Christ would appear invisibly an his manifestation would not be apparent to all immediately until much later, he met Barbour who believed and taught that Christ appeared invisibly in 1874 based on their calculation that, that year marked 6000 years from adam so therefore would usher in a 'thousand year sabbath rest'. Now he met Barbour in 1876, two years after the event was supposed to have taken place invisibly. His studies with barbour made him believe so, it could not have been a prediction if you believed something after the event was said to have occurred.

His studies of the scriptures also pointed to the year 1914 as a significant year, he has been talking about 1914 since the late 1870s. It was said that 1914 would mark the end of the gentile times and the commencement of a time of trouble or tribulation. This was how he explained the 'end of the gentile times

'
Now, dear friends, our expectation has been that these Gentile times would finish with the present year, 1914, and that with the finishing of the Gentile times, forthwith, immediately, God's kingdom would begin to manifest itself. I do not know yet that this is not true. It will have to be shown. Perhaps somebody can prove that it is not true, but I do not think anyone yet can prove that it is not true. If we come to the full end of 1914 and nothing transpires following that time to indicate the establishment of Christ's Kingdom amongst mankind, then perhaps we will have to reconsider matters; but not until then will it be necessary for us to reconsider.

Because these Gentile governments, represented by the image Babylon, Medo-Persia, etc., were given their places to occupy for a certain specific time, between the time Zedekiah's crown was taken away and the time when Messiah's Kingdom would be established. All of that time they must have. It is like a lease given to you. If you received a lease expiring October, 1914, why then, just as soon as the lease would expire it would be time for you to get out of the premises. Suppose you did not know that your lease had expired; it was long and you had forgotten it was for October 1st, 1914. You were building, planting and fixing up the house as though you were expecting to stay there forever. Now your lease has run out; what would you then expect? You would receive some notice to get out. Suppose you did not go? You would be put out.


It was an 'expectation' and never a prediction and he never said said it was 'cast in stone' that was what his critics said when he mentioned witnesses in stone i.e alluding to one of the pyramids.

Russell and his friends were ardent Bible students, they sought for knowledge, they consulted amongst themselves, they came out with what they understood from their studies, they were wrong on some things but they never said, they never said they never said they were prophets nor infallible.

bokohalal: Heard that 'shadow' thing when I was little and believed it. Know better now.

Yeah....but you know thats what makes childhood interesting, you can believe anything and get excited...thats why we try to be superman or spiderman flying all over the house.

So what exactly is the nature of Asoro's powers.

Hi Booshman,

I think this is someone you should be interested in. He is a very historical person and his family members are still alive. His name is Asoro and he was the chief sword-bearer for Ovoranwen Nogbaisi, the Oba of Benin that ruled when Benin kingdom was attacked by the British. After the City was defeated and burnt, Asoro and his band of soldiers continued a guerilla war with the British and he was said to be immortal.

He defended a road junction in Benin and declared that nobody would pass through except the King and he died defending that spot, that spot is still known as Sokponba 'except the king'.

I have heard two versions of the legend, the first one i heard when i was little is that, when he is killed and touched by the enemy he wakes up again and keeps fighting, another legend says that you can only kill him by killing his shadow.

It was said that he killed so many British soldiers that they had to look for the source of his power, he was reportedly betrayed by his wife who told them they have to aim at his shadow to kill him.
This is someone that should fit into your story, a true and verifiable warrior and legend.

Abraham knew Calamity has been decreed upon Sodom but he wanted to persuade God to change his mind for the sake of a few righteous people he thought should be living there. He felt that City should have at least 10 good people, and God said he would spare the city if he there are 10. But only 4 were found and 3 made it out safely.

This was no warning, it was an outright judgement of destruction, which would have been averted not thru sudden repentance after the destruction has been decreed but if the number of already good people there were up to 10.

In the case of Hezekiah, God was not warning him that he will die, God was telling him what was certain to occur, nobody said to avert it you need to do this, nope. He was going to die. But this was an outcome Hezekiah was not ready to accept, so he pleaded with God profusely and God changed the outcome.

There was a similar scenario with Moses, God had told him he will lead the Israelites out of egypt into a land flowing with milk and honey, Moses believed that and he worked towards it, that was a certain outcome. But Moses made a mistake and God said no, Joshua would be the one to do it. Moses pleaded for God to revert his decision, but God told him never to raise the issue again.

So God's servants believe they can talk to God and he could agree to their plea and change his plans if he wants to.

hisblud: rabzy... u welcome... now reading through what you wrote.. was the WORD "WARNING/PREDICTION" explicitly stated as berny would have us believe that only when the word "WARNING/PREDICTION" was explicitly stated then we will accept.

This what i said...

furthermore, i quoted this...

from the above, let me see how warning or prediction occurs in your post...

mmh.. ok lemme sort of a accept this....

WARNING can be applied
PREDICTION can be applied

PREDICTION can be applied

WARNING [If it had upto 10 peeps which it had not so the calamity fell]

now cutting short does not mean that there was REPENTANCE of any sort but because of His own choice not because someone's choice to repent....

One does not need to be totally dogmatic about the prediction and warning thing...sometimes it could be both. For example, it is an eternal standard of God from time immemorial that he will destroy the wicked, it is a certainty....that is a prediction and also a warning, such that any wicked person can repent repent and turn back from his ways and then live, now will all wicked people ever repent nooo...so that prediction of God will definitely come to pass, that he will destroy ungodly mankind.

In the case of Sodom and Gomorrah, it has been decreed that those cities would be destroyed before God had the conversation with Abraham, so that was not a warning. God was not expecting the Sodomites to repent, they were beyond redemption as at the time the decision was made.

Wole ki o joko oluwa mo ero okan re (come in and sit down, God knows your thoughts)

I am afraid of my friends, even you.