Ancient Words Ever True

I wish to go out of my way this Christmas season to celebrate Mary the mother of Jesus. Mary became to us the Second Eve in a similar way that Jesus became the Second Adam ; for whereas through Eve Sin came into the world of humans, through Mary the Permanent Cure for Sin was delivered to us. Mary represents the rediscovery / restoration of the esteemed value of women; for whereas Eve brought shame to womanhood, Mary wiped off that shame. Apostle Paul would not even let women teach or assume authority. Why? Because it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. However, Mary represents the total removal of that stigma. "For behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed; for he that is mighty hath magnified me and holy is his Name. " (Magnificat) Mary represents the importance of spiritual receptivity. In Mary, we discover what we really are: simple humans called upon by God to bear Christ in our bodies, through our lives, to our world. All who...

There are two prayers that many people here will have prayed. Anyone who’s lost someone in an untimely way, particularly perhaps a child, sibling or parent, a very close friend…. one is, ‘Make them better. Lord, make them better. Get them out of this. May they recover and be healed.’ The other is when that prayer has passed. A lot of people pray, ‘Lord, let me join them. Take me as well.’ The fact that we’re all sitting here today is because, for many of us, neither of those prayers were answered in the way we hoped. But time goes by and we begin to rebuild our lives. We never “get over it” — that’s such an atrocious expression — but we do begin to rebuild. You live with this gap, as Caroline and I did more than 30 years ago when our eldest daughter died, and you begin to rebuild. In those days Child Bereavement UK was not around, or if it was we didn’t know about it. Our daughter died five days after a car crash on the way back from France. We were moving back to the UK after s...

If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it. - Lord Kelvin If you do a simple reading of the book of First John*, you will see the phrase "By this we know..." (or something similar) appearing over and over again. What can we learn from this? GOD has not given us commands without putting measures by which we can measure how well we are doing in our obedience to Him. So, child of GOD, you will do well to take some assessment of yourself with regards to your walk with GOD based on the guideposts GOD has provided. If we are sincere with ourselves, then... We can actually know whether or not we know GOD. We can actually know how much we know GOD. We can actually know whether or not we love GOD. We can actually know how much we love GOD. We can actually know whether or not we are walking in error. We can actually know whether or not we dwell in Him. We can actually know whether or not He abides in us. We can actually know whether or not GOD ...

Although we have several Christians interested in, speaking about, and actively involved in politics and governance of their nation, the number is very minuscule when compared to the critical mass of people required to deliver sustainable development, best practices in industries and the society, and grow or nurture great citizens though schools and families. In the context of this piece, the term “Christian” refer only to those who “…repent truly of their former sins, steadfastly purposing to lead a new life; have a lively faith in God’s mercy through Christ, with a thankful remembrance of his death; and be in charity with all men.” (Catechism, BCP 1928) Nathan the Prophet Nathan as a prophet of God is quite popular in scripture especially for courageously speaking truth to power. His beautiful allegory of a rich man and a poor man's little lamb shocked the king when he declared "Thou art the man". As if that wasn’t enough, he went on to declare the a...

Now, I've been thinking lately about that interesting conversation Jesus had with His disciples after His resurrection (Acts 1:6-8). While it appears Jesus downplayed their question and changed topic, what we have there as Jesus’ response is actually the divine strategy for restoring the kingdom. I could hear Jesus saying to them (and us now), “The restoration of the kingdom is not My business exclusively; I’ll need you to be my witnesses. And when this gospel of the kingdom is preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, then the end will come; ushering in the New Jerusalem!” The role of a witness is to give a testimony of what s/he knows about an issue under contention with the hope of getting his/her audience to believe him/her, and judge the issue according to his/her testimony. To be highly successful in witnessing, you need two things: Credibility and Platform. Platform, because you need people to hear you; and Credibility, because you need them to believe you...

Three times every year, tens of thousands of our young people are flushed into the labour market. Majority hope and pray to get a job. However, the supply or manpower is much higher than the demand; as a result, many employers raise the bar unnecessarily high to limit the size of the pool. One common one is Years of Experience. Another one is Age. Only very few firms have a genuine provision for fresh graduates today. We’ll look at Scripture – the story of David – for useful tips on how to land a good job with zero years of experience. Job Vacancy So there was this vacancy in a company called “The Army of Israel.” The job role is simple: kill Goliath. The remuneration: you’ll marry the king’s daughter and everyone in your family will never have to pay tax. (Sounds to me like a very good retirement package). David the Shepherd Boy Once upon a time, there was war in Israel. David’s elder brothers were part of Israel’s army. One day, David, at the instruction of his dad, went...

So we read Genesis 1:1 - In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. But then, what did He do before creating thee universe? This is really a tough question and the answer, if any, is not so obvious from scripture. Maybe the question has never crossed your mind before now; maybe it has. But since you're here now, we shall attempt to provide an answer. We pledge to stay within the confines of what is already reveale d to us. We will look at a couple of places, then draw a logical conclusion. Let's do this! If we run straight to John's First Letter, with Genesis 1:1 in mind, we'll find a powerful description of this 'God' that created the heavens and the earth. This understanding of God, hopefully, will bring us a step closer to the answer we're searching for. After all, common sense suggests that you'll need to know someone enough to know the things the person could (not) have done. Now, John tells us, "This is the message we h...

Why do some relationships fail? Why are some relationships better than others? We may not know; but we hold this view: that our relationships can be much more successful and fulfilling IF we keep CLOSELY STUDYING how God relates with us. We have below 5 key points that seek to illuminate more on our view. The list is by no means exhaustive, but you'll remember the points here easily with the acronym: CCOCC . Read on. 1. Choice Prototype: A good study of scripture reveals that we are chosen by God; and we must choose God for our relationship with Him to advance beyond platonic. God chose us! He says, "Ye are a CHOSEN generation (1Pet 2: 9). Before you were born, I CHOSE you... (Jer 1:5 CEV)." And we must choose Him, forsaking all other gods for any meaningful thing to start. "He came to His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, He gave to them authority to become the children of God, to those who believe on His name... (John 1: 11...

"Great things He hath taught us, great things He hath done, And great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son; But purer, and higher, and greater will be Our wonder, our transport when Jesus we see." - Fanny Crosby We wish to remind us all that God has a lot more to offer us. We (may) have learnt great things from the Lord; we (may) have seen or heard some of the great things He hath done; we (may) even have great rejoicing through Jesus. BUT there is more. The best is yet to come. This is our hope! The most interesting part being that "...when He shall be revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." "And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure." Maranatha

"These searched for their family records, but they could not find them and so were excluded from the priesthood as unclean." - Ezra 2:62 NIV When you come across certain scriptures, you can't help but shudder. The above passage was about three families in Israel who claimed to be from the lineage of priests when the Israelites were about to go back to their land under Ezra. I am not sure at what point their actual genealogy was ditched and they started claiming priests, seeing they've spent so many years in sin, and eventually in Babylon; but that lie wasn't to continue forever. There was a book! And on that day they were disqualified, it didn't matter whether it was their parents that deceived them or they formed the lie themselves. Notice also that to clear all doubts, these men were allowed to search for their names by themselves. They cannot blame the custodian of the book for not seeing clearly or for skipping their names mistakenly. I am chall...

Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them. Ecc 12:1 “...While the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them.” Let us consider the last parts of the above verse, as we take one more look at the subject of remembering one’s Creator. We had established the importance of remembering our Creator, especially in the days of our youth. But King Solomon does not stop there: he goes on to speak grimly about old age, which he describes as “the evil days”. Those days are not evil in the sense of what happens around us, but in the sense of what changes in the human body/soul and how drastically people become different compared to when they were much younger. The next six verses (vs. 2-7) are dedicated to describing these changes and their attendant implications. For any young person who enjoys “chopping life”, these changes are ver...

Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them. Ecc 12:1 “…In the days of thy youth...” We began earlier to consider the admonition of King Solomon to remember our Creator. That admonition, as we discover, was primarily addressed to young people. Though men of all ages must seek God, it is most important for young people, who have unique features that make it easier for them to seek God, and who have ample time to reap the fruits of their actions. It is almost as if a young man is sitting across the room from the now aged king as he pens those words, “…in the days of thy youth…” He will go on to describe the various features of old age that make it difficult to seek God, and the apathy that becomes the attitude of older people towards the things they once passionately pursued. But first of all, let us consider those golden words – “in the days of thy youth.” Scripture stat...

Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them. Ecc 12:1 “Remember now thy Creator...” Let us pause for a moment to consider these powerful words from a man who had it all, and who had seen it all. Solomon was the wisest man that ever lived until the coming of Jesus, and his wealth and influence could hardly be quantified. In rounding off the book of wisdom (Ecclesiastes), his final admonitions began with the words before us: “Remember now thy Creator...” It is amazing that man has to be instructed to ‘remember’ his own Creator. A broad reading of Scripture reveals that man is often pre-occupied with the challenges and troubles of day-to-day life without asking questions about their Creator (Job. 35:9-14, Isa. 51:13). We are often concerned about how to meet our needs, solve our problems, improve our living conditions, and so on. And this seems very understandable. However...

The 2015 General Elections (Phase 1) has come and gone. We congratulate all Nigerians who have displayed so much patriotism yesterday in coming out to vote, bearing the harsh sun and rain, faulty card readers, late-coming INEC officials etc. Our hearts are with all those who lost their loved ones in the course of the election in the few places there was violence. May the good Lord console them. It is no coincidence that today (a day after the Presidential elections) all over the world, Christians celebrate the Triumphal Entry of Jesus to Jerusalem (Matthew 21). The Spirit is laying a couple of things to mind: (1) All this was done so that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, "Tell the daughter of Zion, Behold, your King comes to you, meek, and sitting on an ass, even a colt the foal of an ass." (vs 4-5) We wish to announce to the Church, especially the Church of Christ in Nigeria that our King is coming to us! We do not place our hope in eart...

It’s fascinating that a lot of Christians don’t seem to like non-Christians, often referred to as the lost or the unchurched. Often we want to keep away from messy people—perhaps missing the obvious that we are messy as well. Who’s on Your Friends List? It’s interesting that after coming to Christ and growing in knowledge, we often distance ourselves from former friends. We seem to have less time for the hurting and struggling. We’ve found the thing that meets the need in our lives, but keep our distance from those who need the very thing we’ve found. I don’t think this separation is intentional, but it happens, and in the end, our intentions don’t matter. Jesus lived differently. One of the common criticisms Jesus faced was that he spent too much time with sinners. How many of us could be accused of spending too much time with the unwelcomed and unappreciated? It wasn’t that Jesus was waiting for Paul to write “bad company corrupts good morals” in 1 Corinthians. No one better und...