₦airaland Forum

Giannis

Gombs:
Jesus can fix your sadness, sir

I'll rather live with my sadness than continue in a cult

Gombs:
i'm never leaving. Hope you've healed?

Meanwhile...

Sad

Gombs:
Helllo!

Gombs.

Hope you've left Christ Embassy and the cult of Christian Oyakhilome?

SirJohn:
Great to know you are well. Cheers!

Sir John!

MrPresident1:
Nobody goes to hell when they die. When the spirit leaves the body, the spirit goes to God to rest. The flesh decomposes into dust.

Right here on this earth is the place of judgment.

Why are you people so stubbornly recalcitrant, isn't the bible supposed to be a book of continuous knowledge and revelation? Why do you hold on to the doctrine of a hell in the skies where God incinerates people? This is horrible doctrine!

God does not have a furnace in the skies where he incinerates people.

TB Joshua, if he truly died will reincarnate back to this each to face his punishment. He is not in any furnace up there in the skies. Neither is Hitler in any furnace in the skies too. Anyone that does has gone to rest! That is why we say tpnthe to 'Rest in peace'! And resting presupposes that there is a time period for resting! After you rest, you wake up!

Ecclesiastes 3:16
And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there.

Ok

mbaise1000:
Hmmm.
When we said this, they called us haters, now they Said it themselves, TRUTH will always find a way

Fact!

Helgreenluv:
Absolute nonsense! There was no single proof in that video. That script was written by a dumbo. Deji Yesufu abi na wetin you call yourself, you are a mumu man

Ok

Examining BBC’s Expose on Prophet T. B Joshua

By: Deji Yesufu

In April 2012, I was in Tunis, Tunisia, for a training from my place of work. Ten engineers from different countries in Africa had been picked by an organization to be trained in the use of a particular machine. The only lady among us was from Zimbabwe. One conversation I remember having with this lady was one where she asked me about Prophet T. B. Joshua. I was a bit surprised by this question, given that T. B. Joshua is about the last cultural icon that Nigerian would wish to sell to the world. But that question revealed one thing to me: Joshua, in his lifetime, carried out an aggressive marketing scheme among people from southern Africa and the man reaped a fortune in the process. I told this lady that while Joshua was indeed a preacher in Nigeria, he was a rather controversial figure who enjoyed very little acceptance among fellow Christians in Nigeria. There was too much darkness around his kind of ministry and it was safer if one kept one’s distance from him. I lost touch with that lady after that trip and I sure hope she never wasted her resources coming to Nigeria to see T. B. Joshua.

Yesterday, 8th January, 2024, the BBC published a three-part video on Prophet Temitope Balogun Joshua, and also a blog. The investigations were thorough, taking no less than three years. The revelations were immense with allegations of sexual, physical, and verbal abuse; rape; abduction; bribery; arson; and cover-up. The videos revealed happenings on the 12th of September, 2014, at the Synagogue, Joshua’s Church, when a guest house, housing numerous foreigners, collapsed, and which led to the death of 115 people – most of whom where foreigners. The videos also unveiled the person of Ajoke, a product of one of Joshua’s illicit affairs, but whom he poured so much venom and hate on, that it is impossible to imagine that that girl made it out alive from Synagogue. If anyone wishes to know the making of a cult, you must see these videos. Those of us who are ministers and are in danger of controlling God’s people in the name of compelling obedience to God, should look at those videos and learn the things we ought to do and the limits God has put on us for ministry. Then there were the hundreds of girls, many of them foreigners, who lived at the Synagogue as Joshua’s disciples – some of them staying there for as long as twenty years. The penchant to call him “Daddy” – in fact, I think that following this video, churches should outlaw the calling of any man “Daddy” – who is not one’s biological father. The thing is being abused. Then the abortion mill – how Joshua abuses these girls sexually and then force them to abort the moment they are pregnant. The starvation and sleep deprivation were another thing entirely.

In this article, I want to share three thoughts essentially: there is nothing new that the BBC uncovered on Joshua. Second: the moment you call a man a prophet, you open yourself up to all kinds of deception. Finally, within so much falsehood and deception, there is truth.

There is Nothing New in the BBC Expose. Two individuals who had worked with T. B. Joshua, Agomoh Paul and Bisola were in the video. The two of them had left Joshua’s organization with the commitment to exposing the man to the world. Joshua had sought to discredit them and, in some cases, allegedly tried to kill them. These two individuals have published videos and evidence against Joshua; but the might of Joshua’s resources and influence silenced them. Besides these two, the Nigerian Christian community has never warmed up to T. B. Joshua. Joshua had sought to join the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) to gain some legitimacy with the Nigerian Christian public. Every effort he made to do this was thwarted on the grounds that the leaders of both CAN and PFN could not trace Joshua’s roots. No one knows where he is from exactly. He had no educational records, nor did he have any mentor in ministry. He appeared to have suddenly emerged on the Nigerian Christian stage, and his manner of ministry, when observed carefully, was no different from the ones that Shamans in India employed. So, while no one could find clear-cut proofs against Joshua’s ministry, there were also too many doubts around his methods. In 2006, Rev. Chris Okotie, the musician turned pastor, alleged that Joshua had been appearing in his bedroom, threatening his life, because he, Okotie, made Joshua’s association with Chris Oyakhilome public. That matter created a little furore in the Nigerian public scene then, and the Lagos State Commissioner of Police had to invite the two individuals to his office and sort an amicable settling of the matters. In summary, there is nothing new that the BBC said on Joshua. They simply used the credibility of their own platform to relay allegations on T. B. Joshua; allegations which are already in the public space.

The Dangers of Believing in a Prophet Today. In most religions, the office of a prophet is an exalted one. He is only one step below Almighty God. Islam regards Prophet Mohammed as the last of a series of prophets that God sent to the world. Orthodox Christians hold that Jesus Christ is the last prophet God sent into the world, while Christ’s apostles are the last set of people to bring divine revelation to our world. Regardless of what you and I believe, the moment you open yourself to believing that prophets exist today, you open yourself to fresh revelations from heaven. The dangers, however, is that while time has proven the veracity of Mohammed’s prophethood for Muslims, and similarly proven that Christ is the last prophet for Christians, the life of prophets of today is still being played out and only time will tell whether these men are true or not. Biblically, a prophet is regarded as true if his prophetic declarations come to pass one hundred percent of the time (Deuteronomy 18:22). If a prophet gets all prophecies right and fails in one, he is a false prophet. Even more still, as we are seeing with T. B. Joshua, the outcome of a man’s life will determine whether he was a true prophet or a false one. Following these allegations, whoever still thinks Joshua is a prophet, will remain deceived forever. One thing is clear: the safest position to take in religion today is to regard no man as prophet – because sincerely there are no more prophets. To believe there are still new prophets today is to open ourselves to new revelations which will certainly be false revelations.

Distinguishing Truth from Falsehood. Biblically, the one true prophet is Jesus Christ. Before the coming of Christ, God sent many prophets to Israel. The greatest of these prophets was Moses. Moses gave Israel, and by extension, humanity, the ten commandments. Moses also laid out for God’s people what the primary calling of a prophet would be: “The Lord your God will raise for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear… ‘I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him’” (Deuteronomy 18:15,18). God is saying here that when the prophet arrives, he will cause God’s people to hear God, and he would lead them to obey God’s commands. In other words, the primary duty of a prophet is not necessarily prophecy; the primary duty of a prophet is teaching God’s people God’s ways and guiding them on the path of obedience. In this passage, the prophet Moses is referring to is Jesus Christ. And when we examine the ministry of Christ, you see these two emphases: teaching and a call to obedience. Despite Jesus being a prophet, most of what he did was to teach people; while on very rare occasions, he gave prophecies. Also, a cursory look at Old Testament prophets will reveal that these men were continually calling God’s people to obedience and teaching the nations the ways of God. Prophecy was usually a last resort: a kind of warning of the consequences of disobeying God.

That leaves us with a fact: the true prophet today is not the person who gives New Year declarations; or, the pastor who stands at his pulpit, declaring good on people – calling it prophecies. The true prophet is the person who teaches the word of God – this is the reason the Bible calls false prophets false teachers (2 Peter 2:1). The minister who labours to give sense to scriptures and guides the people of God towards obedience is the true prophet. It is the reason why prophecy, biblically, is regarded as forthtelling and foretelling. Foretelling is prophecy; forthtelling is teaching. Both are the calling of a prophet. So, because the best of ministers today are still sinful men, whose minds are affected by the subjectivity of their own thoughts, it is best not to regard any man at all as a prophet. It is best not to regard any statement as prophecy – because the best of foretelling will still fail. However, it is my experience in ministry and my observation of years of historic preaching, that those ministers who spend time to teach God’s people the ways of God and help them to obey God, they, sometimes, have these very rare occasions when they say things that could amount to prophecies. For a long time, in America, for example, Christian ministers have been warning of the decline of the USA because of that nation’s imbibing liberal tenets. So that the emergence of China and Russia on the world stage today is not a surprise to many. If America does not repent of her sins, it will someday return to hunt her – her sins will someday dethrone her. This is a prophecy that will come to pass – sooner or later.

Conclusion. T. B. Joshua, like Old Roger in the nursery rhyme, is dead and has gone to his grave… he is today answering to his sins before a holy God. Biblically, hell has parts – there are some parts that burn hotter than others. Joshua, if these allegations are true, is today in the hottest parts of hell. Why? Because he used a veritable tool that God has given humanity, preaching, to save men from sin… he used this for his own personal lust, pursuit of fame, and self-aggrandizement. In the process of doing this, he left a trail of destroyed lives. The hundreds of his children that were aborted by those ladies are today crying into his ears, calling for his eternal burning. I would not be surprised if Joshua is in a worse part of hell than Hitler.

Jesus would tell us to “remember Lot’s Wife”. God’s words to us, following the BBC expose on Joshua, is to remember T. B. Joshua. While Joshua may stand as an extreme in this whole business of religion, there are others who are continually defrauding people in the name of Jesus: your judgement will not be any less than that of Temitope Balogun Joshua. The call to Christian ministry is an exalted one. Teachers will be judged more severely because we have been given so much opportunity to know and also practice what we preach. Let us keep Joshua on the extreme left of an example of what a minister should never do in Christian ministry. While we keep another “Joshua” – Jeshua – Jesus, on the extreme right of what we must all pursue to do in ministry.

May God grant his people ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.

Deji Yesufu is the author of the book HUMANITY.

Source

MightySparrow:
The problem of Palestine is the writing of Mohammed. When Jews didn't accept his message, he began to write to annihilate or humiliate them and Christians . If there is no such wrote up, the biblical prophecy of Israel and others living together is fulfilled.
Mohammed also is used of God to make the neighbouring nations to hate Israel. It is still part of Last Days agenda of God in preparation for Armageddon.

I agree

Present Day Israel

Now, the land of Judea, which the British would later name “Palestine”, remained largely empty between AD70 and 1948. During this time, a lot had happened in the Middle East. Palestine was still occupied by some Jews but most of the inhabitants were Arabs, who would naturally come into the historic land and live there. These Arabs are the ones we call “Palestinians” today. Besides, Islam had taken over most of the Middle East and northern Africa as its dominant religion – and with the prevalence of Islam in the Middle East also comes an entrenched bias by the people there against the Jews. In the late 19th century, a movement called Zionism began in Europe, which called for Jewish people to return to their ancestral land in the Middle East. Naturally, the movement did not have much influence because most Jews were very comfortable where they lived in either Europe or America and saw no reason to return to some “promised land” that was largely undeveloped in the midst of a desert, surrounded by hostile neighbors. All of that changed with the coming of Adolf Hitler and his rabid antisemitism.

By the close of the Second World War, it is believed that Hitler and his men had killed no less than six million Jews in the holocaust. The United Nations, which was formed after the Second World War, sought to appease the Jews by giving them the “promised land” that they had been clamouring for. Note, however, that this land is in Palestine, inside the Middle East. A land that has Jordan, Syria, Egypt and Lebanon on its boundaries. Note also that all these nations are committed Muslim countries. In 1948, the nation-state of Israel was created to the wide jubilation of the Jews everywhere in the world – the only people who were not rejoicing were their Muslim neighbours.

From 1948 until 1973, Israel waged war after war after war with her neighbors to retain a right to her sovereignty. Backed by the United Nations, the West and the sheer grit of its people, Israel withstood all aggressions against her. The United Nations has sought to appease the Palestinians by giving them their own lands which include the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. But Hamas has committed itself to a lifelong war with Israel, while most Arab nations have settled for peace with Israel because of the economic advantage that Israel brings to the Middle East. The Palestinians also enjoy these things, except that their hatred of the Jews will not allow them to see through it to peace.

A New Reality in Our World Today

The saddest part of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is that in most news agencies around the world, Israel is being reported as the aggressor. Very few people are reporting the carnage that has greeted Israel in the killing of 1,400 of her people and the capturing of many others, including women and children. Instead, and like it has become a staple for the Western world, the news of Israel’s military pounding Palestinian cities, with the resultant deaths of women and children, is what is being reported in the news – so far 3,000 Palestinians have been killed.

News agencies are rarely talking about the fact that Israel still provides most of the medical help that the Palestinians use in that region of the world; they are not talking about the fact that Israel provides the water and electricity that runs in many Palestinian homes – especially in the Gaza strip; etc. Rather, all we hear is that Palestinian women and children are being killed. These news agencies refuse to report that Hamas, in its raging hatred of Israel, builds its headquarters under a hospital; they station themselves right in the middle of civilians – so that when Israel attacks the terrorists, the civilians die too. Then they take the photos of children killed and publish them to the world – sparking outrage against Israel. Unfortunately, this time around, it will be different. Israel will not stop the attacks until all the major Hamas leaders are brought down.

The real challenge is not even the crisis; the real challenge is that “a generation has risen that does not know Joseph”. People are blatantly ignorant of history and most of the people of our world today have no commitment to any religion and do not care about what some religious books say. The new religion of our day is progressivism. It is the idea that man is the author of his destiny – we do not need God. Therefore, faith is thrown overboard in many leading countries in our world today and people cannot understand why these two religions, Islam and Judaism, could be at loggerheads. Most Christians are sympathetic to the Jews, not because we do not have our grouse with the Jews, but because we believe the Bible. First, there would be no Christianity without Judaism. Christians believe everything the Jews believe; just that we believe more – we believe that the Messiah is Jesus Christ. The Jews reject Christ as the Messiah. Second, Christians believe the biblical account that the Jews will one day confess that Jesus Christ is their Lord (Romans 11:25-26).

The hope that these precious people of God will one day return to him, gives Christians sympathy towards the Jews and their plight. It is the reason Western nations, with their fundamentally Christian worldview, back the Jews. Unfortunately, there is an ideological shift in the West right now. Most people in the West are abandoning religion and, in their haste, to reject Christianity with it, they have moved to the political left and are now sympathetic to Islam (a case of the enemy of your enemy is your friend). It is these people who populate CNN, Sky News and MSNBC, and they are the ones feeding the ideological outlook of our own local news stations here in Nigeria.

The Way Forward

In my forthcoming book, Humanity, I write about how ideas rule our world. I also make it clear that ideas are backed by weapons. It is not enough to say you have an idea, that idea will be preserved by weapons – guns and muscles. Israel has weapons. Every Israeli male is a soldier – whether or not they are presently serving in the military. Israel is only behind America in the possession of some of the deadliest weapons this world owns. For example, in her defence, Israel built a weapon called the Dome. What it does is that it tracks every rocket shot into Israeli airspace, by Hamas, and blows it out. It takes 90 seconds for a rocket to fly from Palestinian territory into Israel – and Israel brings down the same rocket in less than a minute after it is shot. The Dome is ninety per cent efficient. What that means is that some rockets still hit their targets in Israel. But the Dome has prevented Israel from all-out war with Hamas – at least until Saturday, 7th of October. So, Israel has sufficient weaponry to protect its territory and to wage sustained warfare with all its neighbors at the same time.

Another thing that must be put into perspective as we move forward is the blessing of Providence. Israel is the people of God, and God will preserve his people. The days will come when Israel will confess Jesus Christ as Lord (Zechariah 9-14), but until then Israel will remain a force to reckon with in our world, and anyone who is a friend of Israel will remain a friend of God. While anyone who is an enemy of Israel would have God to contend with. Our world is an ideological world – and there are no ideas that are more enduring than religious ideas. It does not matter how much our world renounces religion, Christianity, Islam and Judaism will remain religious ideas forever. These religions possess fundamental differences, and adherents will naturally find themselves at loggerheads with each other. But it remains to be said that these religions are theist, and a fundamental commitment to any of their tenets will make anyone reject the leftist leanings of many in our world today. I believe that the biggest challenge we will contend with in the days to come will be atheism. This is why the crisis in the Middle East is a healthy reminder of the differences between the three Abrahamic religions.

Conclusion

God made the heavens and the earth. God has given us the whole thrust of history, from start to finish in the Bible. Scripture tells of God’s elect people Israel; it tells us of how Israel’s continual rejection of God’s laws remains a sin at the heart of his people; it tells of how Jesus Christ died to redeem all men from the sin that separates man and God; and the Bible records for us how God will preserve an elect for himself in the days to come. These elects of God will include Israel – in the days when the Jews shall say blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord (Matthew 23:39).

Peace to the Israel of God.

Source:https://textandpublishing.com/thoughts-on-the-israeli-palestinian-conflict/

Important Notes on the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict

By: Deji Yesufu

On Saturday, 7th October 2023, gunmen invaded the land of Israel in the Middle East. As of the time of this publication, 1,400 Jewish men, women and children have been killed. This incident is now regarded as the worst terrorist attack in modern times since September 11 and since the attack on the United States naval fleet at Pearl Harbor in December 1941 by Japan. Unlike most terrorist attacks that happen in other parts of the world, where it takes authorities years to find out who might be behind the attack, in this case, everyone knows who attacked Israel. Their name? Hamas. Hamas is regarded as a terrorist group by the nation of Israel; unfortunately, a lot of people in the world see them as freedom fighters. It is this ideological divide that fuels the crisis – I will return to this thought later.

Hamas was founded in 1987 with the sole purpose of wiping off the state of Israel from the map of the Middle East. Hamas has not only carried out terrorist attacks on Israel, but they have also gone forward to bring some legitimacy to their actions. They have become a political group and are today the ruling party in Palestine (to understand this better in a Nigerian context: can you imagine Boko Haram forming a political party and becoming the ruling party in this country?). Now, every time there is a terrorist attack on Israel, it is always Hamas launching offences on Israel; and then Israel will reel out her military and pound Palestine (the home country of Hamas) with bombs for days; and then the Palestinian people will begin to publish videos and pictures of children dying from these attacks; and then the United Nations will plead with Israel to stop the attacks; and then Israel will withdraw; and then we will have some peace until Hamas goes mad again. This time, however, it is different.

The sheer number of people killed in that Saturday attack has made the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, make this promise: “Hamas started this crisis, Israel will end it.” Now, this is not a mere boast: this is a final solution. Israel will invade the Palestinians with boots on the ground; they will fish out all the Hamas leaders who hide behind women and children to commit atrocities; and they will bring a final solution to this crisis. It will require military might and it may be a war that will pit other nations against themselves. It is the reason why you and I must be ideologically prepared for whatever crisis is ahead.

Historical Perspective

Islam, Christianity and Judaism are regarded as monotheist religions. They are also called Abrahamic religions because they all flow from God’s interaction with Abraham in Genesis 12. Judaism is the religion of the Jews. It is the religion that is built around the Torah: the Old Testament. Understand that Judaism, unlike Islam and Christianity, is not propagated through evangelism. There are essentially two ways people become Jews: by birth and through willing conversion. So, men become Jewish today because they were born of Jewish parents. There are some instances, however, that Gentiles observe the religion of the Jews and become Jews themselves. So despite their relatively small number, the Jews are an enduring population all around the world. There are Jews in America, Europe and even in the Middle East, this is besides the Jews in Palestine – which is the land under dispute today. Understandably, Judaism will not bow to new concepts of religion.

The New Testament account records the Jews’ clash with Christianity. It begins with the Jews’ rejection of Jesus Christ as Messiah; then their rejection of his resurrection (the Jews hold that Jesus lived and died, but never resurrected – Matthew 28:11-15); and finally, their rejection of the teachings of Christ’s apostles – which is the New Testament. So, a Jew believes the Bible but his canon ends with Malachi; they reject Matthew to Revelation. Jews’ rejection of Christ has often pitted them against Christian nations and authorities. And, historically, in reaction to their brilliant minds and doggedness, Christians have also persecuted the Jews. One blight on the life and ministry of the great Protestant Reformer, Martin Luther, was some negative remarks he made on the Jews – statements that the Nazis will use later in the early 20th century to persecute the Jews.

AD 70 remains an iconic year for the Jews and Judaism. This is some 37 years after the death and resurrection of Christ. Jesus had prophesied of this impending cataclysmic clash (Luke 19:41-44). The Jews had always been at loggerhead with their Roman colonizers but that year they clashed with the Romans and a number of Roman soldiers were killed. Emperor Vespasian sent his son, General Titus, “to teach those Jews some lessons” and he was not given any limitation. Titus moved into Judea and mowed down the Jews in thousands. The great temple at Jerusalem was destroyed, with no stone left on another (Matthew 24:2); and the remaining surviving Jews were dispersed into the diaspora. So, while a tiny remnant of Jews remained in Judea, most of them moved to other parts of the Middle East, Russia and Europe.

Then came the 7th century and the religion of Prophet Mohammed – Islam. Mohammed was born in Mecca in AD 570 and died in 632. During Mohammed’s lifetime, he had interactions with three sets of people – as he sought to proselytize the people around him – the Jews, Christians, and polytheists. Polytheism was the religion of the people of Mecca and all the Middle East in the days of Mohammed.

Now, of all the three groups of people Mohammed interacted with, understandably, the Jews were the most obstinate. So that the prophet did not have very kind words for them and at some point, even made this statement against them as narrated in Sahih al Bukhari: “Allah’s apostle said, ‘You (i.e Muslims) will fight with the Jews until some of them will hide behind stones. The stones will (betray them) saying O Abdullah (slave of Allah)! There is a Jew hiding behind me; so kill him.’” Besides this, three years before the prophet died, a Jewish woman poisoned his food. Many believe that Mohammed died as a result of this poison, but Muslims generally reject this narration. What cannot be disputed, however, is that there is a historic enmity between Jews and Muslims.

Continued in the next post below...

BadEnglish:
@op, are in anyway related to Aisha Yesufu?

the author is not related to Aisha Yesufu.

Zxcvbnmghtr:
Very true, like Deji Yesufu too. It's merely an opinion.

Yes. But opinion pass opinion. Some make it to front page of Nairaland.com.

Kobojunkie:
But according to OP's story, Spurgeon wanted his son to succeed him, so he did in fact acknowledge the business was to be kept in the family. So, what point is OP trying to make here by suggesting it should be considered a family business? The church could have turned it several times larger than it eventually did if Spurgeon's son had taken the reigns from his family.
Talk about trying to squeeze water out of stone.... e no dey work.

The author does not query sons succeeding fathers. The author thinks it right and wholesome - all things being equal. The author thinks that the self promoting spirit of Pentecostal churches however leads almost inevitably to churches running as family businesses. Truth is that if these churches were sacrificial and serving humanity, it will not be the business that most of them have become, that warrant family members succeeding themselves.

Righthussle:
Which one is pulpit ministry? It's pulpit business.

Opinions are like noses. Everyone has one.

Benekkk:
I’m an Independent Baptist and well acquainted with C.H. Spurgeon but I never knew this about him!

Spurgeon lived a short but very eventful life. There are many biographies still on him.

Kobojunkie:
Storyland! Is this the first son to succeed his Father in this business of religious houses called churches which are majorly social clubs? Or is this simply discrimination masquerading as concern.

Did you read the article?

When a Son Should not Succeed a Father

By: Deji Yesufu

Charles Haddon Spurgeon is the most recent ancestor for all of us who hold profession to the Reformed Baptist faith. When Spurgeon began to pastor the New Park Street Chapel (later named London Metropolitan Tabernacle) in 1856, one of the first things he did was to introduce the 1689 London Baptist Confessions to his congregation. Spurgeon understood the liberal bent that English Christianity was about to take, and he positioned his congregation to battle the enemy headlong. Spurgeon was, however, not always successful in everything he sought to do ministry-wise.

For example, he wanted his son, Thomas, to succeed him in the pulpit ministry at the Tabernacle. Thomas, however, had other plans. Thomas felt called a missionary to foreign lands. It is said that this troubled the great Prince of Preachers. When Spurgeon died in 1892, his pulpit was taken over by Authur Tappan Pierson. A year later, the Tabernacle inaugurated Thomas as minister at the church his father used to Pastor. The church convinced Thomas to take up the mantle the father left behind. They understood enough the pressing desires of the great Spurgeon and that the young man, Thomas, had earned the right to succeed his father.

On the 7th of August, 2023, Taiwo Odukoya, Pastor of Fountain of Life Church, with headquarters at Ilupeju, Lagos, died in far away United Kingdom. He was aged 67 years old. Taiwo Odukoya had lost his well known wife and preacher, Bimbo Odukoya, in 2005 to the ill fated Sossoliso flight that year. Prior to her death, she was known as a charismatic preacher, a motivational speaker and one of the leading female preachers in Nigeria. Taiwo and Bimbo had a son, Jimmy, before their deaths. Jimmy Odukoya is the subject of our discussion today. Jimmy Odukoya has been proclaimed the worthy successor to his parent’s legacy as founders and pastors of Fountain of Life Church.

The trouble is not with his succession; the trouble is with the hues and cries that have greeted this announcement. People in churches are worried with the reality they are faced with: it appears that church work has essentially become family business in Nigeria. People invest time, talent and treasure in church, and then watch as they are bypassed at the death of the founder, while children that know little or nothing about the church are announced successors. In this article, I want to suggest when it is ideal for a son to succeed a father. And when it is not.

Naturally speaking, where all things are the way they should be, children should succeed their parents in a family’s line of work. Biblically speaking, the Hebrew were herdsmen that took this line of business from Abraham. The Aaronic priesthood passed through the sons of Aaron. Just as God honoured the Davidic line of royal succession, so that one day, the Son of David, Jesus Christ, will rule the nations. If a father carries out a work with integrity and professionalism, a son would have long learnt the spirit of that work before even venturing into the meat of it. So that by the time the father is old and passing, the son would have long taken over. We saw this in the life of the late Queen of England. For years, Charles had taken over most of his mother’s duties. So that at her death, he just took over the running of the monarchy – seamlessly.

There is however a few reasons why things are a bit different with the Odukoyas. The number one reason concerns the spirit and life of the Pentecostal/Word of Faith religion. At the heart of this religion is not service to God but service to self. Those of us who have observed this religion have seen how the consistent testimony from within her ranks is self-promotion, success, self-preservation, self exaltation, and personality cults. So that the almost universal certainty is that the moment the founder dies, the wife succeeds him. Or, the moment husband and wife are no more, the son is the natural successor. It doesn’t matter even if the son was known more in the entertainment circles than in ministry life.

Again, the problem is not with Jimmy taking over his father’s work; the problem is with the spirit of the father’s work in the first place. If these churches had been known as places where the poor is catered for; where the sick have found shelter; where the gospel is preached and sinners are converted; and where the leaders are living sacrificial lives, no one will say anything. They will understand that Jimmy is coming to serve and not to enrich himself. At the death of Spurgeon, the church was housing the largest Christian gathering in the world. Thomas Spurgeon understood the immense responsibility he would be getting into, and the natural tendency was to shrug it off. When ministry becomes an inheritance, rather than service, people have a right to complain.

My son, Iseoluwa, will be ten years old next month. Last Sunday, after church, I commented to a few people that I look forward to him learning theology and becoming a preacher like me. But my son will not be succeeding me as pastor of Providence Reformed Baptist Church, Ibadan. If he must, my son would have to receive a call from God to serve Him in Christian ministry. Then he would have to learn theology and become personally convinced of the Reformed Baptist faith. Following that, my son would have been serving in the local church in various positions. And if at my retirement or death, the church appoints him my successor, to God be all the glory. In the natural, because I see how much sacrifice true ministry comes with and how little money one makes, I’ll be sending my child to school to become a consummate professional in the field of medicine, law or engineering. If while serving there, God calls him to ministry, that will be between him and God.

Sons can succeed their fathers in business, and usually this is how it should be. There is however too many things wrong with the Pentecostal/Word of Faith religion that lends people towards suspecting her of foul play every time they make the headlines. No one can say for sure whether it is right or wrong for Jimmy to succeed his father in ministry. The heart motivation of all parties involved in this matter alone will justify the decision. But because the Pentecostal/Word of Faith religion is almost always self serving, people have a reason to be suspicious of every action taken within these churches.

Source: https://textandpublishing.com/when-a-son-should-not-succeed-a-father/

NNTR:
This plant botanically known as Heliotropium indicum, is called scorpion tail in English and called agogo igun or igbe orí àkùkọ in Yoruba, research has shown that the plant has a significant anti-cancer effect on prostate cancer.

If anyone is suffering from prostate issue, a little quantity of the juice extracted from it twice a day and that's it, symptoms disappears

cc: VBCampaign

_{Personal text: Jesus is not a theologian. He is God who told stories.}

Thank you

UnconventionalT:
Copied

"I am a Nigerian student living in Scotland, A Nigerian Christian guy got in touch with me via WhatsApp and asked for a relationship, saying he got my number off a church whatsapp group that I haven't been to for almost a year now. He said he's prayed about me and God has told him we are good to go. He is a student too.
I was single at the time and haven't been with a Christian brother before, so I decided to give it a chance. It's roughly 2 months and I am at the point where I want to quit.

We got talking on the platform and also through calls, about a week into our relationship/talking stage he asked me to come to his place and cook for him so he can have enough food for the coming week. I was surprised because we hadn't even seen each other at that at time. I told him I cannot, he made a big deal out of it and said stuff like it's not a big deal for me to do that as his wife to be. We got over that and arranged to see for the first time, he suggested my house and I said I don't feel comfortable with either of us seeing for the first time in our houses and we finally concluded on a Bugger King outlet which isn't far from my house. This didn't go well with him tho.

We met for the first time and talked, after that he said he wanted to know my place as it isn't far from Burger King. He came to my place and stayed in my bed till around past 10pm, he tried touching and kissing, I told him I wasn't comfortable and he needed to leave because of time. He got annoyed said his intentions was to stay over at my place, he already told his housemate he isn't coming back home and it's so late now to go back. I told him I cannot allow him sleep at my house for the first time we're meeting, I have a small single bed and you intentionally didn't even say you'd sleep over before. He grudgingly left and dropped 3 packs of youghurt and a bag of unfried chips which I later discovered where all expired at the time he dropped them.

I told him about it and he made a mess out of the situation. He attends a pentecostal church and critisizes other churches, he doesn't really believe in adult taking responsibility for their actions as the devil is most likely responsible for everything, we simply have to pray against the devil.
He's asked for sex multiple times in less than 1 month, I stopped talking to him one time for about 2 weeks and we picked up again. He said he doesn't have to penetrate, we can do every other things to satisfy our flesh. He said doing all that with him is the proof of my love for him which I have strongly disagreed. Sex isn't a prove of love, we are adults and can have protected sex with anyone without loving them.
The only single thing I enjoy about him is that we communicate well, he talks a lot too and that makes our communication half argument, he finds fault in any little thing and blows it out of proportion. I have told him I don't have strength for argument in marriage since we won't be arguing over minute things that get him pissed off now.

Both of us have been getting multiple 12 hours night shifts from work and two nights ago, he asked me what he was going to eat when he gets home the following morning, I knew he was up to something. I told him I can't say, we don't live together and I don't know what you currently have at home. I suggested he buys bread on his way back home. He then asked me to cook for him to eat the following morning, I sincerely let him know I have no soup or stew myself. His response changed and he later called me on same subject, citing how I don't care enough about him to be concerned about how he is gonna eat since he's been working few nights now, he compared himself to a married man that always brings food to work at his workplace. Even gave the guy his phone to talk to me, that one too said I should do things in my power to make my man happy.

I tried to make him understand he isn't married and it might be difficult to enjoy what his married frnd is enjoying. Youve never bought me foodstuff, you haven't worked before and sent me 50 pounds or less for groceries, we are both working night shifts and I sort my own food, why are you angry I can't make out time out of my rest period to come cook at your house to stuck your fridge?

I have been in relationship where I cooked, I personally enjoy cooking, but I have never been with a man that feels to entitled to me doing that for him. He says I'm supposed to be the one cooking for him. He also believes in women abroad sharing bills, but he is too traditional to share house chores"

Run

Run away from him

izonborn098:
Increasing school fees everyday but graduates can't find worker...
My ex babe who is a graduate has abandon her certificate and want to die with hookup..

Why I Support Fees Hike in Nigerian Universities

By: Deji Yesufu

Providence Reformed Baptist Church, the local church I pastor, meets at the University of Ibadan. So, quite naturally I hear a little about happenings within the university community. The latest challenge concerns hike in school fees for students – both graduate and postgraduate studies. It all started with rumours that the University authorities planned to increase fees by almost 300%. Eventually there was indeed an increase but it was not as much as students had expected. In other universities around the country, however, this was not the case: there were large increases in fees and the students are at the moment protesting the astronomical rise. In this essay, I want to explain to students and parents alike the reason why fees in Nigerian universities will be increased ultimately if the country will need to sustain the whole idea of public tertiary education.

Education is not free anywhere in the world. The biggest challenge of the average Nigerian mind is our tendency to take things for granted. It is the reason the removal of fuel subsidy had such a shock on the nation’s economy. For a long time the price of fuel had been cushioned by the government, and the masses never felt its true weight. The moment it was removed, the hues and cries began. We forget also that public tertiary education is fully subsidised by the Nigerian government. Government pay lecturers and all staff of universities, including staff working in universities primary and secondary schools, and other university subsidiaries. Government also give them funds to run the schools. Most monies made by the universities from fees and other internally generated revenues cannot pay staff salaries. If you must have an idea of how much it will cost to run a university, ask your colleagues in private universities how much they pay. Education is not free anywhere on the face of the planet. If you must get good education, you will need to pay good money for it. This leads me to my next point.

Cheap education produces poorly trained professionals. An employer of labour in a Nigerian bank shared on Facebook some of the challenges they are having with graduates these days. The almost universal verdict is that Nigerian graduates are unemployable. He then adds that the ones that fair a bit better than the rest are those that finish from private universities. He said public university graduates are simply not what you want in your workplace. What has produced this is the cheap education that our students get from public schools. How? Simple. The best lecturers are employed by the government, yet why do they tend to produce the worst graduates? The reason is because there is no parent who will pay two million naira a year for the education of their child or ward, and then sit back and not ensure that those young people get worth for what is paid. In some of these private universities, students walk into the VCs office and report lecturers failing at their duties. What lecturer dare not come to class to teach there? And when students fail en-mass, the lecturer is called to question. Who questions public university teachers? They do and undo, then they produce unemployable graduates. Where you have cheap education, you get almost no education.

Students loan is a viable option. The Bola Tinubu government introduced the students loan facility because government knows that continual subsidy on education is not practical. In the near future, government will withdraw funding of public schools and these schools will then have to become self sustaining. The first step towards achieving this is students loans. Students will henceforth have an idea of how much it will cost them to go through school, they will obtain a loan from government (hopefully interest free), and pay the loan back so that others could use the facility in future. This way, all the funding government is putting in public schools, and that seem to be going down the drain, will be forced to circulate within the system, and be available for future generations. The only thing that threaten the loan option is the usual Nigerian administrative incompetence and corruption. But incompetence and corruption have thrived this long in this country because government has been funding it. The moment free funds are removed, every one will sit up, and the nation’s resources will be more productive.

Socialism is not sustainable. Let me apologise to this generation of students, especially when you consider that when we were in school in the 1990s, tuition was almost free. My fees all through university would not have exceeded N20,000 in total. The reality, however, is that free tuition is not sustainable. The lie that my generation and the one before me believed was a socialist worldview. The idea that the collective resources of a land should be shared to the people equally. While this is true in a sense, it is not practical in the long run. Ultimately we will have to understand that some people have been given more and others less. Everyone has a right to work and enjoy the fruit of his labour. The person who does not work, should not eat. So, the idea of a collective living off the resources of a land, will eventually give place to every man receiving his due. You may call it capitalism, but we must accept that it is the reality of our days. This will not stop charity or the support of the weak and poor, but it will end this entitlement mentality that pervade the Nigerian space. No one owes you anything – as long as they are not your parent.

Finally, understand that you are a generation reaping the results of bad leadership, so change the narrative. Children will reap the fruit of the ways of their fathers. The America and England our people are running to were built by a previous generation. The Nigeria we are running from, was ruined by a generation. A generation beat the drumbeat of war, another generation fight it. Our fathers ate sour grapes, the children’s teeth are set on edge. The good news is that adversity is good. Necessity is the mother of invention. When the fathers eat up the children’s inheritance, the children create wealth out of nothing. You are the generation that has seen a failing Nigerian state, so change the narrative. Do things differently to get a different result. Thankfully no matter how many people flee the country, there will still remain a remnant. And it takes only a few to save a failing system.

Conclusion. Many people envy the economy of Lagos, and there’s a continual exodus of people from everywhere in the country to that city. We forget that Lagos is what she is because of a thriving private sector there. The Lagos State government provide its people with functional infrastructures and the people get to work. Where there are no infrastructures, the people improvise. But no one is waiting on government in Lagos; everyone is moving. As long as government funds public universities, government will continue to fund people’s incompetence and entrenched corruption in these places. Ultimately, most government institutions in this country would have to be handed to the private sector if they will ever function properly. It has started with our universities.

Source: https://textandpublishing.com/why-i-support-fees-hike-in-nigerian-universities/

Jobs Are Not Scarce

By: Deji Yesufu

The unemployment situation in Nigeria is at an epidemic point and any government worth its salt ought to have declared a state of emergency on the crisis that has enveloped the Nigerian labour market. Now, since Nigeria has hardly ever had competent leaders, it will be a waste of time for anyone to be waiting for government to solve the employment challenge that has enveloped the country. I have also long argued that the solution to the Nigerian problem will come from individual Nigerians, thinking through the country’s malaise, and using it as an opportunity to birth workable systems from which they will profit, and the country will benefit. This essay is one of such endeavours: I will be arguing in this piece that jobs are not scarce in Nigeria, and I hope to equip my readers with the kind of mentality that will forever place them in high demand even within a country’s economy that is near comatose.

One of the best things that happened to me after concluding National Youth Service in 2003 was going to Lagos and spending almost a year attending the Latter Rain Assembly, pastored by Tunde Bakare (the church was still at their former site in Acme, Ikeja). Bakare will say “…jobs are not scarce, only faithful men are few…” I sincerely did not understand what he was saying then because it surely did not align with my reality. I was jobless and save for the monthly allowance my late mother sent me, I was next to destitute. But I felt that there was some wisdom in that phrase, and I decided to build my work-life around it. It is simple: whatever I find myself doing, I must do it so well – such that I cannot escape the sight of those seeking employees for their jobs. One day, perhaps when I eventually write my memoirs, I will enumerate how the philosophy behind this phrase has practically promoted me in life and helped me secure all the jobs and remunerations that I earn today.

The first thing that the phrase “…jobs are not scarce…” teach is that we must realize that life is some kind of paradox. Where there is death, you find life; the one that preserves his life, loses it ultimately; the rich also cry; in the midst of lack is plenty; within crisis, you find the most opportunities; etc. What this phrase tells us is that fundamental to a successful life are well-laid-out principles in the hearts of men. It means that men of principles are likely to trump life situations almost all the time. Many years ago, Sola Aladejebi, a leadership expert, told me that he would rather make a certain decision now that he had little means and stick by it than wait till he had lots of money to make those kinds of decisions. He said if this is not so, his decision would easily be linked to his economic situation. What Sola was trying to tell me is that life principles are more important than immediate economic challenges. Too many people make decisions based on their economic or immediate needs; our decisions should be anchored on proven principles. It means then that we must be discerning of the times. While others may say that things are difficult, we should realize that it is within the most difficult times that the greatest opportunities arise. Indeed, jobs may seem to be scarce; but in reality they are not.

Second, “…jobs are not scarce, only faithful men are few…” is a direct deduction from the biblical admonition that say “…he that is faithful with a little, will be faithful with much…” There are three things that an employer of labour is looking for the most in his employees: trust, diligence, and faithfulness. I have refused to put “competence” in this list because I am convinced that an employee who knows practically nothing about a job but who is trustworthy, diligent at work and ready to learn on the job, will soon add competence to the three. Then when faithfulness comes along these, you have an individual that an employer cannot afford to lose. Maple Dappa of mapemond.com will say that character is better in an employee than skill. He says that skills can be learnt but character cannot. Those who come into the labour market with character are likely to become very well sought after with time.

These two points will lead me to something I gleaned while reading Chinua Achebe’s book “There Was a Country”. Achebe explained that when he came into the Nigerian civil service in the 1950s, the white men were preparing to hand over to Nigerians as the country’s independence approached. He said at that time, things were working everywhere in Nigeria. It appears that the British saw the amiable climate in Nigeria as an advantage and were seeking to make the country a little London. He explained that less than a decade from the time the British left, Nigerians simply feasted on what the white men left behind – leaving for their children a country that is not functional. Now, while we could easily belabour this point, I saw something else there. The white man is still interested in Nigeria and will give anything to live here if we could only provide some basics of life: security and a few functional infrastructures. And even beyond that, many Europeans and Americans with means are looking for Nigerians to whom they can entrust resources into their hands to build systems that will work in Nigeria, and will provide jobs for people of this country.

This leads me to a word I learned from a Bayo Adeyinka seminar: “glocalization”. Glocalization is a hybrid of a word that combines globalization with localization. The idea is simple: the Western world is saturated and there are little or no ideas to break into their market over there. If anyone is seeking to make it big today, it is in investing in developing nations that have large populations and endless resources that the people are not tapping into. The white man who left Nigeria in the 1950s wants to return, but this time around they need middlemen in Nigeria who can help build their businesses and help it flourish. It is also to the advantage of the white man that Africa does well so that these endless streams of migrants that enter Europe and America will diminish. This is where the jobs are: with basic education, and with the character of trust, faithfulness and diligence, a graduate can easily enter work with these people and reap a fortune in the process. The experience gleaned from working with these people can even be used to set up your own business so that it becomes a win-win situation for the two parties.

It can be argued that one of the best things that has happened to the Nigerian economy is the failure of government establishments. There is nowhere in the world where a nation succeeds on the strength of governmental institutions. The best government can do is to provide basic amenities like roads, electricity, security, health, and education; the people will have to provide the rest for themselves. And no one can accuse the Nigerian government of not doing these things. In the 1970s, with the situation that led to the oil boom in Nigeria, the West had to buy oil from us, after Saudi Arabia had refused to sell oil to them, following a crisis with Israel. Nigeria suddenly entered opulence. Possessing more cash than it needed, the country embarked on massive infrastructural development – with the building of roads and the birthing of various government agencies. Eventually, the West settled its issues with Saudi Arabia, and Nigeria returned to the status quo.

By this time, our people had become used to plenty and had no idea how to manage resources. It is this situation that brought massive corruption into government life, a situation we have not been able to rid ourselves of to date. Now, our young people have finished school and there are no jobs for them. There are no jobs because there is no production. And when you don’t produce, you cannot sell and earn enough to employ people to produce more. And because there are no jobs, everyone is digging into themselves to produce something. Our young people are entering the field of information technology; there is a boom in the Nigerian entertainment industry – with Nigerian-made movies and music becoming well sought after; and private businesses are thriving (those of us in the blogging business are doing this because we seek alternative sources of income). I envision that this generation of young people will build a nation that is no longer dependent on government establishments and largesse; our young people will build private conglomerates that will rival what is happening in the West. This is where the hope is.

On a final note, let me appeal to our youths who are either entering the university or are within the four walls of a tertiary institution: the worst mentality you can possess while in school is doing a course so that you can secure a job when you finish school. The plain truth is that there are no such jobs in Nigeria. However, there is an abundance of opportunities that can rile up jobs for you. While in school, you will want to do a course that will allow you to learn a skill; build a network of friends that will help your professional life in the future; stop watching those movies and spending endless hours on social media; join organizations in school that will hone your skill and beef up your resume; by all means stop spending endless hours in church fellowships – you were sent to school to learn a trade, not religion. While in the university, volunteer your time and effort with worthwhile organizations. When you finish school and have nothing to do, these people will invite you to come and work for them either on a part-time basis or full-time – one good turn serving another. By all means, young people, be productive with your time. You will finish school and all kinds of opportunities will be waiting for you to latch on. While others complain that there are no jobs, you will be smiling and thankful that you took the counsel of this blogger.

Indeed, jobs are not scarce… only faithful men are few.

Source: https://textandpublishing.com/jobs-are-not-scarce/

Mynd44 consider for front page

Marvyx:
@VBcampaign the earth is actually a million years old or even older and even there're trickles of evidences in the Bible. There was a civilization on earth before Adam. Look into the Gap Theory . Shalom.

Ok

FRANCISTOWN:
The implications of the statement above are:

1. Traditional religion does really work for him( Which is a lie, a believe in one or more religions doesn't work for anybody)

2. You are Mr. Deji Yesufu
The writer never mentioned anything like "Mr. T hires people who mount the roof in his stead" ima fact, Mr. T was barely 2months into the business and he would rather mount roof tops instead of sitting by doing nothing.

See the words of the writer again.



Mr. Tee lives in a humble abode, he installs solar system because he would rather find himself doing something than sitting at home.

Don't speak on the writer's behalf. Though the writer wasn't explicit enough but comprehension skills should tell us who was mounting them roof tops.

Ok

Image123:
Lol, it's not a game of numbers. Otherwise, you can't compete in the sense. Nonetheless, few are the people that find the way to life, broad is the way of unbelievers. Y'all are grouped with your brothers in the original list.

Image123, you're still in this arena.

I used to be one of your transducers in the Tithe debate.

Good to read you though

FRANCISTOWN:
I just read the part 2.
Christianity didn't work for Mr. T, same as it hasn't worked for anyone except for those who were/are in delusions.

He is now a Traditionalist yet at 51 he still mounts roof tops to fix panels🤣🤣🤣

He'll soon try Islam and finally he'll discover the truth, only thah it'd be too late.

Dear atheist brothers, let's welcome a new member in advance 🤣🤣🤣

Thankfully he hires people to climb the roof for him