ISLAM, CHRISTIANITY AND THE REST OF US

We have often been told by some Muslim faithfuls that Islam is a religion of peace! R-e-a-l-l-y? A religion of peace or that of hate? Well, while not judging anybody or any religion we can seek to demonstrate hereunder how hypocritical these islamic elements could be in defence of their religion. One makes bold to declare here that he is a Christian but holds Islam and Muslims in high esteem in the spirit of secularity and religious tolerance. Like the former Nigerian Ambassador to the United Nations, 'Dan Masanin Kano' Alhaji Maitama Sule, my religion is LOVE and God is one and love! Whoever kills another for His sake is destined for the Hades!
Just recently an anti-Islam film, a video depicting Prophet Mohammad as a degenerate posted on YouTube caused (and still causing) some huge demonstrations and violence against America and her interests in the muslim world. The film titled "The Innocence of Muslims" produced by an ex-convict "Sam Bacile", led to the gory death of the American Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens and three others in Benghazi. A militant band of ignorant interlopers invaded the consulate and assassinated the Ambassador who personally helped the revolution to topple the late tyrant, Muammar Ghadafi whose 41-year uniterrupted reign came to an abrupt end with his capture and crude execution last year.
When one considers the fact that the new Libya post-Ghadafi was made possible by the Americans and other European democratic forces it becomes a tragedy for democracy, an assault on civilisation! Without the NATO forces the Libyan revolution would have turned to the current military logjam in Syria. A Syria where the embattled but adamant President Bashar al-Assad continues his killing and battering of the opposition with the international community doing nothing because of Russia and China. Today Assad remains the worst violator of human rights on a large scale in the entire world.
The chaotic (sometimes bloody) scenes from Cairo to Kabul, Islamabad to Beirut, Tunis to Tehran, Jakarta to Khartoum, Sanaa to Benghazi represented another reminder of the violent nature of the islamic faith. Attacking the American embassies and interests and burning the Stars and Stripes cannot solve the problem. Uncle Sam shall come out stronger and more united in the abiding faith in democracy, freedom and rule of law. The American values held sacrosanct can never be thrown overboard no matter the pressure from barbaric forces hell-bent on changing the course of history!
In the Institute where I teach here in my location I have Muslim friends and two of them, radical Professors trained in the US and France respectively, are very close to my family and I; they visit my house and I visit theirs even without prior notice! I am at peace with their company and they with mine as well. We always drink together every other weekend as we analyse world affairs and engage in broad enriching cross-fertilisation of ideas. Last weekend as we shared some alcoholic beverage and some roasted meat in a bar downtown we discussed about the anti-Islam Youtube film causing serious ripples in the (mostly) muslim world. We reached a communal conclusion, a consensus that whilst religious bigotry is condemnable and the release online of the film provocative it was not enough to incite people to commit crimes on the streets in the name of voicing out their anger over the film that sought to denigrate the Prophet Muhammad.
Come to think of it America never commissioned the film nor sponsored those that produced it. As President Obama and Secretary Clinton had said whilst respect for all religions are necessary and the film itself outrageous in content nothing could have justified the killing of the American Ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens and three others or the orgy of violence (being) visited on Americans and their interests worldwide. It remains an assault on civilisation, decency and reason! Blaspheming Prophet Muhammad cannot be condoned as one cannot stand any blasphemy directed at our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ of Nazareth!
Jesus Christ or Prophet Muhammad, to the best of my knowledge, never counselled anyone to kill his brother in order to defend Him or His religion! Rather the Messiah admonished us to love our neighbours as ourselves declaring that to be the greatest of the Commandments! The global project for peace in the world cannot be achieved with uncircumcised hare-brained animals wielding daggers, bombs and machettes ready to cut limbs in the name of 'sharia' or engage constituted authorities in terror campaigns.
In Nigeria we recall that many 'infidels' had been killed just for 'mishandling' the Holy Koran or doing nothing at all. In Kano one Igboman Gideon Akaluka was beheaded and his severed head hoisted on a stick in a street parade for committing an 'offense' against Islam -- we were told! And one Yoruba woman teacher was hacked to death by her students in the north for mistakenly throwing away a copy of the holy koran found with other books in an exam hall! How can a religion be so crude and cruel? What gives Muslims the right to shed blood in whatever guise or circumstances? If Christians immitate their barbaric conducts then the world would have ceased to exist by now!
In Pakistan an innocent young Christian girl was recently set up by an insane Imam by tearing a copy of the holy koran and placing same in a bag the poor girl was carrying only to raise alarm moments later accusing her of blasphemy! Thank God the detectives got cracking early enough by making a stunning discovery of deliberate attempt by the Imam to cause killings of the minority Christians in his area! The girl has been discharged and acquitted while the criminal Imam, a lunatic bigot at best, was jailed!
It is ideological madness for anyone to try to kill in defence of a dead prophet or a religion! That is why the former randy billionaire Prime Minister of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi, could be somewhat right, given the circumstances today, when he said that in terms of religious maturity and tolerance Christians and Muslims are worlds apart: the former looking at the larger picture in an effort to broaden its outlook and reform their faith overtime and the latter still stuck in centuries' old practises of blood-letting and primitive rhetorics in defense of a faith and prophet many know little about historically.
Thank God the new world order is tilted more in favour of Christians in terms of politics of Super Power and power of nations. Were America to be a muslim country with a muslim President then the world would have been constantly in turmoil. That imaginary islamic President of the free world would have since ordered troops to go wipe away Isreal from the face of the earth! Or could have since ordered President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria to cease being a praying Christian and obey the 'commandment' of Boko Haram for him to embrace Islam full-time or risk invasion! That the world is daily challenged by violence is due mainly to the Islamic recourse to sheer terror in an otherwise negotiable disputes.
It was former President George W. Bush, after the 9/11 terrorist (horrific) attack on America, who declared super-powerfully that the three axis of evil in the world -- Iran, Iraq and North Korea -- must be confronted head-on and defeated soundly if the new world order must make any sense. While Saddam Hussein had died leaving Iraq in ruins, Afghanistan and the Talibans are still mounting some ferocious resistance in the face of NATO armada but thus far terrorism has beaten a hasty retreat finding refuge in Pakistan. And today Iran still constitutes a major threat to global order with her desperate attempt to obtain nuclear weapons, something that could spell doom for Israel! North Korea is still in engaged in self-denial, living dangerously with her 'brother' South Korea while maintaining a closed fiendish society.
But the Islamic Republic of Iran must not be allowed to possess nuke for whatever reason. A country that openly calls for the annihilation of the Jewish state of Israel should be watched closely before its nuclear efforts pay off with the production of nukes. One is with the Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu when he expresses his apprehension over the desperate attempt by Tehran to obtain nuclear arms with which it hopes to balance the military equation in the volatile Middle East. But the eccentric President Ahmadinejad and the supremely-paranoid Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei must be stopped in their tracks! Tehran, as an exporter of terrorism across borders, must be disarmed!
Islam must be reformed in the positive sense of the world; as it stands today the 'reforms' we have seen thus far tend to be those of fundamentalism, terrorism, extremism and intolerant of other faiths. The might-is-right syndrome and the erronous belief that killing someone amounts to keeping in touch with heaven must be jettisoned if Islam must win global respect and recognition that it lacks today. No religion has any monopoly of violence anywhere; we Christians, we are well ahead because of our broader views and maturity. Violence is for the weak-minded and those suffering from inferiority complex while the strong proves his strenght by superior arguments and logic.
Again the "satanic verses" that are found in the Holy Koran must be expunged for Islam to be presented as a true pacific faith that value human life and tolerate secular dissent and not the present empty slogans and preachments that hit deaf ears. Salman Rushdie, even in his hiding place, must have been vindicated! While the mad Mullahs in Iran had recently increased the 'fatwa' bounty placed on his head one wonders the fate reserved for "Bacile" (Nakoula Basseley Nakoula?). One can only state here that these anti-Islam radicals are imbued with core convictions in a post-modern world where the literary works of extra-ordinary faculty and ingenuity prevail!
Between Islam and Christianity, therefore, the rest of us (especially the folks on the atheism and paganism fringes) must be given a break in a tranquil world. More than the Christian leaders (Pope, Bishops, Reverends and Pastors) the Muslim leaders have the enormous responsibility of taming the murderous monstrous rage of their faithfuls in the face of slight provocations. There is an urgent need for re-orientation campaigns aimed at dissuading violence.
While one condemns strongly the Allah Akbar-aggrandizing pontifications from the mosques and the streets we appeal to the producers of the controversial offensive film to pull it out of YouTube for peace to reign. To the Omnipotent God, the Trinity, however, be all the glory!

SOC Okenwa
soco_abj_2006_rci@hotmail.fr

RELIGIOUS LAS VEGAS: THE DECEPTION OF RELIGIOUS CLOAK

This write up is not intended to be academical or an intellectual attempt at redefining religion or how it is perceived everywhere. This is with the intention to inculcate the whole essence of what we believe and how we believe it. I am not addressing my message to those who see religion as what you portend outside more than what you should be inside. Wait a minute! My audience is actually the people I just mentioned.
People who have intricately misrepresented their beliefs and religion. People, who are cloaked with everything externally edifying but totally undignified inside. People, who have believed a lie, adopted it as lifestyle and profoundly make themselves examples of what significant religious life should be. I am pointing my arrows of love to the great masses of our people who on daily basis never bow down to reflect on their lifestyles in relation to what their Holy Book says or taught. People who are in grandiose deception of lusts for life, money and religion. Yes, lust for religion. They are professional prostitutes of the letter of the Books and completely defiant to the spirit of it. The Holy Books to them is a covering of their menace and a shield of their atrocities. I speak about a people, though so many, who are lost in their faith and relished in their misunderstanding of what religion was intended for in the first place. People with big robes and attires that are reflective of certain religion but only for show.
I call them Religious Las Vegas.
May I define religion from the dictionary before attempting to infer what it means to me? Merriam Webster dictionary has this to say about Religion:
A.    Service and worship of God or a supernatural
B.    Commitment or a devotion to religious faith
C.    Personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices
D.    A scrupulous conformity or conscientiousness to beliefs
E.    Beliefs held to with ardor and faith in service of God or deity
Every of the above points to a supernatural agent called God or Allah in the two dominant religion in Nigeria- Islam and Christianity. Another common attribute in the definitions is the sets of practices, services, attitudes, worships and beliefs that are in consonant with the different religion. The third common denomination is that Religion requires devotion, a commitment, actually scrupulous conformity and conscientiousness on the part of its adherents. Religion demands ardor and faith for it to be relevant. Taking a cue from the above then, it becomes obvious that people can easily be identified who are religious. There is the external part of the requirements of religion which are the works of it. Anyone can fake that. However, there is the part of it that imposes commitment and devotion, conformity and a hearty conscience to the dictates of the religion. The externalities are there, with its deception and hypocrisy. The internalities of religion is what is grossly lacking in our society in Nigeria.
A friend of mine told a story of a white guy who came to Nigeria to visit him. The expatriate, as we call them, went to Church with my friend who is a manager of one the international conglomerate industries in Nigeria. It was a big church with a lot of attendance. The visitor was so unsettled during the service, which was a concern to his host, he was seen looking bewildered, frustrated and infuriated at the same time. After the service was over, his host asked him what went wrong with the service and his attitude. This is what the visitor told my friend verbatim;

“I see religiosity so outspoken on the faces of the entire congregation but it was impure, ungodly and full of pretense. Can you please explain to me why the gap seen outside the church is also here in the church? I see the super rich and the unhealthy poor. I see a gulf between them too. What exactly has religion done to man or vice versa?”
The truth is we have so much of religion that is external but lack the internal truth to uphold us. This happens in the Mosque too. We have people who recite the creed of their religion very well but only listen to the voice of their greed and lust. We have Pastors and Imams, who are so embellished in their absurdities and recklessness, but with a lot of external influences, who at the same time are redefining what our religion should be. People this day simply follow those who have imposed themselves as spiritual leaders and mentor without asking questions. They are told what to do and how to do it. These hypocritical leaders have taken religion out of reach of the masses of our people. They know it all, and should not be questioned. Nigerians have relapsed into the trap of religious deception so badly that it has become a way of life.
We now have a new culture imbibed by the false teachings that are pervading our psyche and society. Violence is now been used to define Islam and greed is defining Christianity. Clerics now see personal fights and disagreements as what their followers must engage in for relevance. When my pastor is not your pastor’s friend, then we are sworn enemies. If my Ulama is disengaged from yours then we have to fight it out for reckoning. What an absurd! What a travesty!!
Our cities are riddled with all kinds of evil and our political leaders are also our religious superiors in the church and mosque. They seat “so close to God” in the special seats and just simply sleep off the message when seldomly preached.  The carriage needed to suggest concern in our plight is long gone with the winds. We are left alone on the street to fend for ourselves what the nation should have provided us, yet our leaders in the church and mosque who have it all, suggests we wait on God. Some even preached contentment with poverty along reliance on the rich. The question that begs to be answered is, who made those who are wealthy in our midst rich? How did they get wealthy?
They stole from our commonwealth and then rubbed it in on us by dropping pennies on our lap as wages or donations or helps. Who is fooling who?
The problem here is not all on the leaders but also on the followers who hitherto has refused to ask legitimate questions from their leaders.
I am sick and tired of religiously cloaked liars who in their quest for beatitudes of this world take advantage of the poor and use them as puns when there is the need for it. I have no respect for any man based on what decorations you have around your neck or your head, or the title that is attached to your name; if the basic devotion and piety that punctuates our religion is absent.
Where are our religious leaders in the face of incessant religious mayhem that has attended this nation for years? What they teach is how to retaliate and seek revenge. They take it a notch further, by teaching more on the thin string of difference that exist between Christians and Muslims. I agree that some of them do not realize that we have so much more in common than in difference. Just like life itself, my neighbor is different, but I have a command to keep peace with him in love. The two religions teach that for God’s sake.
Jihad which both religions recommends is being redefined from what the Holy Books say. The twisted minded man who claims Islam as his religion sees it as mayhem against ‘others’ who are not conformed to his way of thoughts. Twisted. Christians defines it as hatred for the Muslims because “they are out to kill us”. Jihad is simply a linguistic word that connotes internal (more than external) fight against the ‘demons’ in ourselves (self) who makes the government of God impossible in us. Jihad is when the spirit of love, patience and forbearance subdues the carnality of hatred, intolerance and disrespect. Jihad is self-control.
Enough is enough. Let all of our Religious Las Vegas go into their closet of self-evaluation and come out with the certificate of self discipline and control in order to make religion what God intended it for. Let every religious leader show the proof of internal sanctity and piety before they impose it on others.
Let us arise and take our religion back from the religious cloaked deceivers.

Olumide G Adeyinka is an Ordained Minister, Businessman, Freelance Writer and Founder of NIGARD (Nigerians Against Religious Divide).

ATHEISM IN NIGERIA

According to a recent worldwide poll called, The Global Index of Religiosity and Atheism, Africa is the world’s most devout region. Even with the global decline in religiosity, the black continent has the least number of self-proclaimed atheists in the world.
In Nigeria, 93 percent of the nation’s respondents say they are religious. (This percentage is smaller than Ghana’s.)
Perhaps fewer Nigerians would identify themselves as religious if there were assurances of safety if they declared themselves atheists. In Nigeria, people who do not profess any religion or belief in god find themselves in a perilous predicament. They are ostracized, maltreated and discriminated against.  The situation of atheists depends on many factors - the part of the country where you live - the Christian dominated South or the Muslim dominated North. It also depends on if you live in rural or urban areas, and your family background, gender, level of education, employment and income. Male atheists who are highly educated and are financially independent face less risk than their female counterparts.
In Nigeria, atheism is a taboo. It is abominable for anyone to proclaim openly that god does not exist. It is not safe and normal for people to admit being an atheist. Reactions range from sardonic incredulity, shock, anger and hatred. Atheism goes with huge costs -social and political consequences - which many people cannot afford. Generally atheists are not accorded respect. They are not treated as human beings with equal rights and dignity. In fact, in Nigeria it is better and more socially acceptable to profess a belief in any god or any religion than to profess no religion and lack of belief in god. Many people will not welcome an atheist to their homes. The general misconception is that atheists are horrible human beings, the agents of the devil who lack common moral decencies. People are made to believe that atheists can corrupt their minds or ‘souls’, and lead them to hell fire and eternal damnation. The whole idea of atheism is scary to many Nigerians, because most believe all initiatives should be founded on god, no matter how absurd or vaguely conceived such an idea is.

Nigerians socialize and marry along religious and theistic lines. Belief in god plays a prominent role when marriages are contracted. Self-proclaimed atheists may find it difficult to get marriage partners unless they are ready to convert, renounce atheism, or conceal their atheism. The dream of most young Nigerians is to marry in a church or mosque and have their marriages blessed by a clergy member, even though there are no indications that ‘blessed marriages’ succeed better than those contracted without such theistic theatrics.
In Nigeria, anyone who goes public with his or her atheism risks losing family support, care and solidarity. In 2003, a Muslim woman from the North who is acclaimed nationwide as liberal and progressive in her views visited a humanist stand where I was working during an event in Abuja. After a short discussion on what humanism was about, she said she would have nothing to do with any of her children if they renounced Islam.  Most children are not ready to go against what is often perceived as the divine will of their parents.
They prefer to pretend, and to present themselves as religious and theistic. In Nigeria, family and community links are very important because the Nigerian state is not as developed as states in the western world. People rely on their families and community members for care and support. Consequently, families often exert tyrannical control over the lives and choices of members.
For example, most people who are born in Christian families are brought up in a Christian way, attend Christian schools and marry Christian partners. Parents regard it as their duty to bring their children up in a theistic way. For a child to profess atheism is generally seen as parental, family and societal failure. Atheism goes with a stigma which most families abhor and do not want to associate with.
Furthermore, there is massive unemployment in Nigeria and atheists find it difficult getting jobs. Very often, employers demand to know people’s religious affiliation during recruitment process. Many people are forced to profess a certain religion in order to secure a job. Many atheists prefer not go open with their atheistic identity because they do not want to jeopardize their chances of getting a earning a living. Indeed, many atheists who do open up with their godless outlook risk being sacked, demoted, or remaining unemployed. Most businesses including state functions open with prayers which everybody is expected to say as a demonstration of goodwill. As an atheist, refusing to pray could easily be interpreted as a mark of ill will.
In the area of education atheists face many challenges.  Schools in Nigeria were originally started and are still managed mainly by Christian and Islamic bodies. Religious indoctrination is dominant in the school system, in a mixture of schooling and faith traditions. Teaching and preaching, instruction and brainwashing go together; classrooms and lecture halls are extensions of churches and mosques. Atheists in Nigeria have no choice but to receive faith-based ‘godly’ education or no education at all.

In politics, atheism is also a hindering factor. A few years ago, a Nigerian president said that nobody who opposed Islam could succeed politically in Northern Nigeria.  In the same vein, I submit that no self-proclaimed atheist can succeed politically in contemporary Nigeria. Atheists stand little or no chance of being elected to an office. Nigerians vote and ‘politik’ along religious lines. Nigeria has never had an atheist president or governor and may not have in the foreseeable future. Political Islam is very strong in the North while political Christianity is strong in most parts of the south. Religious affiliations play key role in the nomination, election and appointment of political candidates. Going public with one’s atheism is making oneself politically unelectable; it is like committing political suicide.
The situation is even worse in Muslim dominated communities in Northern Nigeria. Muslim majority states in this part of the country are implementing sharia law. Under sharia law, apostasy is a crime punishable by death. To be an atheist is more or less to be an apostate, an infidel or a criminal. There is really no space for atheists to operate. Being an atheist is a matter of life and death. In Muslim sharia-implementing communities in Nigeria, there are two places an atheist can be - in the closet or in the grave. Proclaiming oneself an atheist is passing a death sentence on oneself, like handing oneself over to be executed.
In addition, atheistic expressions are often regarded as blasphemy, which is another offense punishable by death or long prison sentence. An expressive atheist can be branded a blasphemer, and risk being imprisoned or murdered in cold blood by Allah’s self proclaimed foot soldiers. In 2007, a Christian teacher in Gombe state was murdered by a Muslim mob for defiling the Koran. In a region charged with Islamic fanaticism and bigotry, atheists are an endangered species and cannot survive in the open, public space. The result is, in Muslim communities, atheists live in constant fear of their lives. At the very least, they are socially and politically invisible. People who know they are atheists, treat them as third class citizens.
I do maintain, however, that there are some positive signs out there; the situation of atheists in Nigeria is slowly improving.
The poll I mentioned earlier recorded a reduction in the number of Nigerians who identified themselves as religious. That means more people identified themselves as atheists or as non-religious than in an earlier poll. 
This development can only be attributed to three factors: 1) The advent of the internet which has provided an alternative ‘safe’ space for atheists to ‘come out’, to meet, organize and express themselves in a way that has never been the case before. 2) The destructive wave of religious extremism ravaging the country has caused many Nigerians to begin questioning religious and theistic claims and pretensions.  3) The growing visibility of the New Atheist movement - driven by the bestselling publications of Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris and late Christopher Hitchens - has emboldened many atheists to leave the closets.
Still, atheists in Nigeria have a long way to go before they can be treated with full dignity and respect. Improving the situation of atheists will not be an easy feat to achieve. It will require a lot of courage, sacrifice and struggle.

By Leo Igwe

THE UNREPENTANT SINNER

IN Romans, Paul says God imputes righteousness by faith alone based on David’s assertion in Psalm 32: “Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.” (Romans 4:7-8).  But this is a gross misrepresentation of David. David does not say God imputes righteousness without works. He says God for-gives sinners who re-pent: “I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the LORD’- and you forgave the guilt of my sin.” (Psalm 32:5).
However, confession of sin and repentance are glaringly missing from Paul’s personal life.
Paul never repents of his sin of killing innocent Christians. He persecuted Christians and, even after converting to Christianity, Paul still boasts he was blameless under the law. He says: “Concerning zeal, persecuting the Church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.” (Philippians 3:6). How in heavens name can a killer of the innocent be blameless?
Paul’s self-justification does not wash. God says in the Law of Moses: “Keep yourself far from a false matter; do not kill the innocent and righteous. For I will not justify the wicked.” (Exodus 23:7).
When Paul recalls his past sin of genocide, he always has a ready excuse. He says: “I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.” (I Timothy 1:13). However, nobody obtains mercy for killing people “ignorantly.”
God says the exact opposite of Paul’s lame excuse. He says in Isaiah: “It is a people of no understanding; therefore He who made them will not have mercy on them, and He who form-ed them will show them no favor.” (Isaiah 27: 11). He also says in Hosea: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me.” (Hosea 4:6).
Paul even goes as far as to ascribe a special distinction to himself because of his sins. He says: “I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience for an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.” (I Timothy 1:16). This is per-posterous. There are many others who received forgiveness in Jesus’ ministry before Paul and in far more exemplary fashion.
For example, before healing a paralytic, Jesus said publicly to him: “Son, your sins are forgiven you.” (Mark 2:5).
Then he said to the scribes sitting there: “Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise, take up your bed and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins.” He then said to the paralytic: “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” (Mark 2:9-11).
Blaming sin
Paul says the law is to blame for making him a sinner. His rationalization is a classic in self-deception. He says: “I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, ‘You shall not covet.’” (Romans 7:7). He then gives “sin” a separate and distinct personality. Sin is an evil person fighting against Paul’s will.
Listen again to his bogus double-think: “Sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death.” (Romans 7:8-10).
Members of the jury, says Paul, sin is the culprit: “Sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me.” (Romans 7:11). We are back here to a new edition of Adam’s excuse in the Garden of Eden. Paul admits no personal culpability.
The guilty party is this sin-person who is at war with Paul. He says: “In order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.” (Romans 7:13).  Are Christians really going to buy this balderdash?
Not guilty
Paul then declares himself not guilty by pleading: “I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do.” (Romans 7:14-15). Since he does not understand his actions, he cannot be held responsible for them. Now we come to his masterpiece in self-exonera-tion.
Paul says disingenuously: “What I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.” (Romans 7:15-17).
Now we can  see why Paul never repented of his sins: he was innocent of them. When he sinned, he was not the sinner but the victim.
The sinner was this sin-person of his creative imagination that inhabited his flesh and imprisoned his mind; making it impossible for him to control his act-ions.
James quickly refutes this nonsense and warns us not to be deceived by such sophistry: “Each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved bre-thren.” (James 1:14-16).
Paul’s pathetic excuse for his sins is an unacceptable alternative to genuine remorse and repentance, and it has no place in the doctrine of Jesus Christ. Jesus says categorically to sinners: “Repent or perish.” (Luke 13:1-5).
A bogus salvation
However, Paul says: “The gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” (Romans 11: 29). This means the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable. This is not true. The birthright of Esau was revoked, as was the calling of the House of Eli, the high priest. Judas was call-ed, but his apostleship was also subsequently revoked. (Acts 1:15-22).
Jesus says: “Many are called, but few are chosen.” (Matthew 22: 14). If not all the called are chosen, then the calling is surely revocable.
Since Paul maintains the calling of God is without repentance, he and Silas led their Philippian jailer to Christ without asking him to repent. The man asked: “‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ So they said, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your house-hold.’” (Acts 16:30-31).
According to this bogus prescription, his faith would save him without the need for repentance. But compare Paul’s fallacy to the truth of the genuine apostles: “When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’
Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will re-ceive the gift of the Holy Spirit’” (Acts 2:37-38).

By Femi Aribisala

WITCHCRAFT IN THE CHURCH

Emmanuel Okonjo had had enough. His email to me from Abuja said as much. “That is the last parish of that church I will join. I am now convinced the church is a cult.” What was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back for Emmanuel. The pastor came to church that Sunday morning and laid down a decree “ex cathedra.” “Anyone who speaks against our church or against our G.O. (General Overseer) is going to die.”
Emmanuel went to the pastor and challenged him after the service. “How can you say something like that?” he demanded. However, the pastor had a ready defense. “I am not the one saying it,” he insisted. “That prophecy is from the G.O. himself.”
The pastor’s logic was impeccable. The G.O. was an impregnable defense. Nobody in his right mind would dare question his judgment. If indeed it was the G.O. who said it, then it must be from God himself.
Emmanuel took the choice of least resistance. If the G.O. is god, then he must resign from god’s church in order to find the one true God. So resign he did. After the blind man whose eyes Jesus open-ed had been excommunicated from the synagogue, then the Lord met him and revealed himself to him. (John 9:35-38).
So let me ask you a question. Does your pastor practice witchcraft? Has he ever implied that when he decrees a thing it is established instantaneously? Has he ever instructed you to speak prophetically to your offering? Has he ever told you God is going to make you a slum-dog millionaire, provided you make a few down-payments to the church? If “yes” to any of the above, then your pastor is operating in a time-honoured tradition of using witchcraft on his congregation.
Players get played
Bishop Wale Oke of Christ Life Church, Ibadan, is also the South West coordinator of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN). Sometime ago, PFN pastors from the South West were assembled at the Guiding Light Assembly in Lagos to elect a new executive. But there was something strange about that election; nobody knew the candidates.
At the last minute, a list was circulated with the names of certain pastors assigned to the different posts. We were then required to vote for only the people on the list.
Bishop Wale conducted this sham of an election. He suddenly declared that certain critical posts would not be by election but by selection. Then in full-flight oratory, he referred us to John 6:28-29.
In that scripture, the people ca-me to Jesus asking him what they should do to work the works of God. Jesus replied: “This is the work of God that you believe in him whom he has sent.” Bishop Wale then turned to us: “God says you should believe in us,” he declared triumphantly, referring not to Jesus but to him-self. “We have fasted and we have prayed and we have decided who should be the elected officers of the PFN in Lagos State.”
There was some kind of poetic justice in Bishop Wale’s manipulation of PFN pastors. We use this kind of witchcraft time-and-again on our church-members. But somehow that did not make it any more palatable when someone decided to use it on us. It was also sobering to discover that our modus operandi as pastors was actually no different from those of the Action Congress of Nigeria and the Peoples Democratic Party.
Babalawo pastors
When most people think of witchcraft, they think essentially of the hocus-pocus of “babalawos.” However, witchcraft is also a manipulative device widely used in the churches by pastors who aspire to be gods in the lives of men. Many Christians have been hypnotized by pastors. Day-in day-out, we pastors practice witchcraft on our church-members; making them submissive to our will.
In the churches of today, the fear of the pastor is the beginning of wisdom. Christians are simply scared to death of pastors. Many are required to worship us even more than God. We manipulate our congregants so effectively they believe to disobey us is to disobey God.
Illusion is every-thing. The pastor is larger than life. We admit no human failings. We quote choice-scriptures dramatically to great effect. Every so often, we declare grandiloquently: “thus says the Lord.” Sooner than later, people become convinced we are imbued with supernatural powers. When we tell them to jump, they jump. When we tell them to empty their wallets, they do so readily. We control their lives even to the ex-tent of determining who they marry.
God describes us succinctly: “Among my people are found wicked men; they lie in wait as one who sets snares; they set a trap; they catch men. As a cage is full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit. Therefore they have become great and grown rich. They have grown fat, they are sleek; Yes, they surpass the deeds of the wicked.” (Jeremiah 5:26-28).
Unrighteous decrees
Recently, a video of Bishop David Oyedepo of Winners’ Chapel, Otta, went viral on the internet. In it, the bishop is ostensibly conducting deliverance on a group of teenage girls alleged to be witches. The girls are made to kneel submissively in front of his holiness, the bishop. However, to his annoyance, one of them has the audacity to contradict him.
The girl says defiantly: “I am not a witch. I am a witch for Jesus. My own witch is for Jesus.” This response angers the bishop no end. He shouts at her: “You are a foul devil. Do you know whom you are talking to?” Then, consumed with rage, Bishop Oyedepo does something I would not have believed had I not seen it with my own eyes.
He gives the girl a very hard slap. He then condemns her to damnation, even though she came to him for deliverance. He barks at her: “Jesus has no witch-es. You are a devil. You are not set for deliverance and you are free to go to hell!”
Would Oyedepo have slapped the girl if she were Mike Tyson? Would he have slapped her if she were rich and powerful? Would he have slapped her if she were one of the major benefactors of Winners Chapel? I doubt it very much.
Isaiah says: “Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, who write misfortune, which they have prescribed.” (Isaiah 10:1). The bishop must be unaware of this scripture, because he boasts in another video: “I slapped a wit-ch here last year. She came back in February to apologise. She begged me to forgive her. She went back to her witchcraft company and they told her: ‘Ah, if the man says you are dead, you are dead. That small thing can kill you forever.”
What conclusions are his congregants expected to draw from this boast? Bishop Oyedepo implies he is so powerful; he can kill people eternally with his tongue. But surely, that is not the way of Christ. When James and John asked Jesus to call down fire from heaven to destroy a Samaritan village that denied them free passage to Jerusalem, Jesus rebuked them. He said: “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” (Luke 9:55-56).
Whatever manner of spirit is behind Bishop Oyedepo’s outrage, it does not commend him as a disciple of Christ. A disciple must be careful to bridle his tongue. Jesus warns: “Every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemn-ed.” (Matthew 12:36-37).

By Femi Aribisala

NIGERIA: ABOLISH STATE SPONSORSHIP OF PILGRIMAGES

The Nigerian Constitution provides for the freedom of thought, conscience and religion as a fundamental human right. Under the Constitution, everyone has the right to observe, practice and adhere to his/her own religious creed, in private or in public in so far as such practices do not infringe upon the fundamental human rights of individuals.
The constitutional guarantee was dictated by the multi-ethnic nature of the Nigerian State where people from irrespective of their religious inclinations, ethnic backgrounds and languages are free to interact and live in any part of Nigeria. The Constitution does not impose any  State religions on any individual, as it is done in theocratic states. Nigeria is a secular State with a secular constitution and the state sponsorship of pilgrimages is an aberration of the secular status of the State.
Pilgrimage is a journey to a sacred place. A pilgrimage is a term primarily used in religion and spirituality of a long journey or search of great moral significance. Sometimes, it is a journey to a sacred place or shrine of importance to a person's beliefs and faith. Members of most every religion participate in pilgrimages. In order to facilitate annual pilgrimages to Mecca and Jerusalem, the Federal and State Government  established the Pilgrims Welfare Boards in the States that profess the two orthodox religions in Nigeria: Christianity and Islam. But nowhere in the Constitution is it stated that government shall be responsible for sponsoring pilgrimages to the holy land in either religions. It is not an obligation but a duty done by adherents of both religions.
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In the Oriental World, pilgrimages associated with Taoism, Confucianism, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism and Hinduism are not sponsored by the State but by individuals. Recognizing the fact that religion is an individual commitment to deity, pilgrimages are seen as individual endeavours. This is not to say that a benevolent administration, with a buoyant economy cannot subsidize the cost of such pilgrimages. Basically, however State sponsorship of hajj or pilgrimage in any religion is discretionary. Sadly, In 1989, Nigeria was smuggled into the Organization of Islamic Conference in spite of the multi-religious nature of the State. The adoption of Sharia negates the supremacy of the constitution under which every other law subsumes. That was why civil society and other advocacy groups lampooned the introduction of Sharia with a view to unmasking the suffocating veil of this vile and evil law. It is therefore, unconstitutional for State Governors to sponsor religious pilgrimages.
In Islam, he hajj is one of the Five Pillars of Islam. The five pillars are the five duties that every Muslim must follow in order to be a true follower of Islam. It is the pilgrimage to Mecca - the holiest city for all Muslims in the world. Every able bodied Muslim is supposed to make at least one trip to Mecca in his lifetime. However, if he can't do it himself, he could have somebody else go on his behalf. In fact, Islam supports that an individual should not make the pilgrimage to Hajj if it causes inconvenience to his family members or friends.
The Pilgrimage to Mecca, therefore, is one of the essential constituents of the Islamic faith with the important, provision that its performance is possible and accessible in any given circumstances. The Pilgrimage to Mecca is also a sign of unparalleled magnitude. It provides unimpeachable proof of God’s existence, for it was as a result of His wishes that Prophet Ibrahim left his spouse and infant son in this desolated desert. Prophet Ibrahim got reward for this unstilted submission to Allah, by a promise from Him to make this uninviting land into a place of promise and plenty.
It is well illustrated in the Koran how a Muslim should carry out the pilgrimage as an article of faith. When a saint arose, he tried to locate the cobbler and found him out in a remote corner of the country. This person told the saint that for years he had been yearning to perform the pilgrimage and had saved the certain amount of money for this purpose. However, on the eve of his departure for Mecca he heard the cries of children from neighbouring houses for want of food and nourishment. He was so moved by the plight of the children that he gave up the idea of Hajj and gave the money instead to the mother of the children. This illustrates that God is merciful and shows mercy to those who do likewise to his creatures. Thus participation in the Hajj can acquire greater significance and meaning if it inculcates in the person the virtues of sympathy and compassion for the needy in society.
In Christianity, a pilgrimage to the Holy Land is the pilgrimage par excellence. It is a journey to the very source of Christianity, to the very place where "the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us". Visiting this pre-eminent spiritual destination is truly an experience of a lifetime and something not to be missed. The pilgrimage affords the person a unique opportunity to see the places where Jesus walked and walked his talk and performed miracles.
For Christians, Jerusalem's place in the life of Jesus gives it great importance, in addition to its place in the Old Testament, the Hebrew Bible. Jerusalem is the place where Jesus was brought as a child, to be presented at the Temple (Luke 2:22) and to attend festivals (Luke 2:41). According to the Gospels, Jesus preached and healed in Jerusalem, especially in the Temple courts. At the end of each of the Gospels, there are accounts of Jesus' Last Supper in an 'upper room' in Jerusalem, his arrest in Gethsemane, his trial, his crucifixion at Golgotha, his burial nearby and his resurrection and ascension. But in all the significance of Jerusalem and the individual’s perception about salvation is a personal experience. Human beings therefore need to be aware of the essential transience of this world and its pleasures. Christians are therefore encouraged to see themselves as 'pilgrims and strangers on the earth', 'temporary residents' whose true home is in heaven. During periods of exile, pilgrimage to Jerusalem took on additional emotional and spiritual significance. As the most important part of an pilgrimage is its spiritual education that you receive.
In Nigeria, there is nothing to show that the pilgrimages have had any positive impact on the well being of society. The practice has been that the same group of corrupt power holders compile a list of unworthy disciples to embark on pilgrimages. The state sponsorship of pilgrimage has been so politicized that people now use it as a means of obtaining money, while the spiritual essence of the exercise is lost. If the pilgrimages were having some positive effect on the public morality, government would have been encouraged to assist pilgrims. But this is usually not the case. There is no established relationship between pilgrimages and morality in the Nigerian society. 
Pilgrimages to holy places do not translate to economic growth. In a Country like Nigeria, which is wrestling with power supply and the provision of social amenities, it is immoral for government to spend the tax payers money to sponsor pilgrimages of very few people. After all, pilgrimages will not contribute to the achievement of our national vision 20: 2020 or the Millennium Development Goals. The sponsorship of pilgrimages is not part of the seven-point agenda of the present administration. Nigeria faces very fundamental development challenges such as diminishing standard of education, poor healthcare system, and other social services.
Nigeria is a nation known for religious extremism and there have been so many religious crises  in Nigeria. Nigeria has recorded more than 1,350 religious crises since independence. From the Maitasine riots to the Boko Haram, what Nigerians have benefited from are the monumental destruction of lives and property. The implication is that Religion has never helped the economy of the country. The spate of religious riots have done violence to the economy of Nigeria. Anytime there is crisis, government and philanthropic organizations are compelled donate relief in cash and materials. These could have been spent in shoring up some critical sectors of the economy.
The most recent crises are the Kano, Bauchi and Jos crises which led to monumental destruction of lives and property.  If the several pilgrimages we have made in Nigeria cannot bring about peace and stability. On the contrary, religion has precipitated serious crisis that has caused the populace pains, loss of lives and property. I accept the Marxian view that religion is the opium of the masses. If it were not so why would any right thinking person kill in the name of religion?
I strongly canvass the view that States should stop the sponsorship of pilgrims and deploy such resources to develop other critical sectors of their economy. Already, the Edo State Government has taken the lead and we expect all States in the South-South geo-political zone to follow. The South-South is the most disadvantaged zone in terms of heavy infrastructure and federal presence. The monies spent on pilgrimages can better be deployed to ease the delivery of essential social services.
With specific reference to Bayelsa State, there is no need for the State to sponsor Pilgrimages for individuals, when the State relies almost solely on the Federation Account, with very low Internally Generated Revenue profile.  It is the suggestion of this writer that the monies earmarked for pilgrimages to the holy land should be spent on the rehabilitation of Primary schools in the eight Local Government Areas of the State. Over the years, monies spent on pilgrimages have not created any positive impact on the effectiveness of service delivery. Government is grappling with the challenge of paying students’ bursary, seeking Foreign Direct Investment and devising ways of building the capacity of youth to equip them to be gainfully employed. It is therefore preposterous for Bayelsa people to protest that government MUST sponsor pilgrimages. For me, this is a clear case of misplacement of priorities in a period of economic down turn.
In other developing countries, government pick the bills of the sick especially people who have problems with heart conditions, kidney problems, liver diseases and cancer. In Nigeria, this is not the case. Healthcare should be a responsibility of the State and not religion. This is because a healthy population contributes to increased productivity. A healthy population builds a nation but a religious population encourages laziness.
The act is a negation of Nigeria as a secular State because if adherents of the  orthodox religions are sponsored to embark on pilgrimage, what happens to those who adhere to the African Traditional Religion, Hinduism, Buddhism and religions other than Christianity and Islam? In the face of daunting development challenges, It is the responsibility of government to prioritize its policies and programmes and to implement those policies that would yield maximum benefit to the greatest number of people in a utilitarian sense. There is no doubt that religion has its positive sides, but in our clime, religion seems to have been titrated to mean more of exploitation of the people.
In Nigeria, religion is no longer a touchstone of goodness and morality, which are essential for nation building, It has been transformed into a divisive element and an instrument of violence and  people fight, maim and destroy lives and property because of religion. It will be understandable if people protest for better working conditions. Religion and the pursuit of salvation is an personal affair and should not be made an obligation to the government. It is high time we distinguished between the obligations and duties of government. Bayelsa State should emulate the good example of Edo State and stop the State sponsorship of pilgrimages. It is a cheer waste of scarce resources that can be invested in other critical sectors of the economy.
Idumange John, is a University Lecturer and Activist