NHS PSYCHIATRIST PRESCRIBES NIGERIAN CHURCH TO PATIENT

Dr Julius Awakame, pictured above, a 50 year old Ghanaian psychiatrist in the UK, is in danger of being struck off the General Medical Council's (GMC) register for allegedly telling his patient to seek help from a Nigerian church for her 'possession' by demonic forces. His patient, who happens to be a satanist, was, according to Dr Awakame's medical history notes on January 23 2014, the subject of satanic ritual abuse and in his parochial opinion, she could not be helped by medical science since there were special forces at play. He recommended the "nice holy water" from the church and even confided in a psychiatric nurse, who had enquired about his patient's condition, that she was indeed possessed. He was fired the next month from the North Essex Foundation Trust, which also passed his case on to the GMC.

His misconduct is being heard in Manchester where the panel was told that Dr Awakame gave his patient the website of the church tv station (which he said specialised in handling cases like hers) to access, even after being made aware she had a Dissociative Identity, a personality disorder. He told her that her demonic possession was a result of all the static rituals she had undergone, and that she should consider writing a book. The distraught woman said she had "switched off" after hearing her doctor tell her that no psychiatrist or psychologist could help her, the same way her parents had told her, throughout her childhood, that no one would believe, or help her.

I have no doubt that the 24 hour online tv station is Emmanuel tv, owned by prophet TB Joshua, the leader and founder of the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN). Mr Joshua brazenly promotes his 'prophetic' and deliverance (exorcism) abilities on his Emmanuel tv, and also the ability to heal all sorts of ailments. He has been mired in more controversy following the death of at least 108 persons after an illegal multi-storey guesthouse which was still under construction near his church, collapsed. He was also inexplicably absent for at least six months, only to resurface dramatically a few days into the new year, and consequently missed the first day of his trial, last November, for his involvement in the deaths caused by his collapsed building.

It is not surprising that Dr Awakame would do this, given his origins, but it grossly undermines his education (he has a masters degree from the University of London, and a PhD from the University of Leeds, as well as a medical degree from Ghana) that he should even be party to such an absurdity. Like they say, "you can take the monkey out of the jungle, but you cannot take the jungle out of the monkey," and "a pig in a suit is still a pig."

Kudos to Vinotemia for the link.

Posted by Nigerian Anarchist

GETTING CHIEFTAINCY TITTLES IN THE CHURCH

When Christ called his disciples, he did not instruct them to register in Bible schools, go to theological seminaries or get degrees as Masters of Divinity.

When I wrote my first Christian book, I sent free copies to many pastors in Lagos. One of those to whom I sent a copy sent it back with “return to sender” written on the package, even though it was addressed to his church office. I thought this was strange until Lucky Polete asked to see the package. When I showed it to him, he said: “No wonder. That is a wrong address.”

“What is wrong with it?” I asked. “He is not a pastor. He is a bishop,” Lucky replied. “If you don’t address it correctly, it will not be given to him.”

I thought Lucky’s idea a bit far-fetched. Why would a bishop return a gift because it was addressed to him as pastor? But I was curious to see if there was any truth to Lucky’s position. Therefore, I changed the title to “bishop” and instructed my secretary to send the package again to the same address.

Guess what happened? This time, not only did the book get to the man, he wrote me a reply in person, thanking me for it.

Vanity of vanities

How can anyone reconcile Jesus’ demand that his disciples shun highfalutin titles with the myriad of chieftaincy titles Christians award themselves today? We call some people Overseers, Wardens, Provosts, Knights of John Wesley, Guild of Stewards, Cardinals and Popes. We address some as those of old addressed God. We call them “Monsignor” (“My Lord”), “Venerable,” “Your Eminence,” “Your Grace,” “Holy Father,” and “Supreme Pontiff.” We even have a “Vicar of Christ,” which means Vice-Messiah.

Jesus is particularly scathing about this. He says of the religious elite: “Their lives are perpetual fashion shows, embroidered prayer shawls one day and flowery prayers the next. They love to sit at the head table at church dinners, basking in the prominent positions, preening in the radiance of public flattery, receiving honorary degrees, and getting called ‘Doctor’ and ‘Reverend’. Don’t let people do that to you, put you on a pedestal like that. You all have a single Teacher, and you are all classmates.” (Matthew 23:5-8).

Divine validation

True servants of God don’t need human pedigrees or validation. Amos says: “I’m not a prophet! And I wasn’t trained to be a prophet. I am a shepherd, and I take care of fig trees. But the LORD told me to leave my herds and preach to the people of Israel. And here you are, telling me not to preach!” (Amos 7:14-16). They told Amos not to preach because he was not a graduate from their bible colleges. He did not have their spiritual certification.

However, Jesus says: “that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.” (Luke 16:15). Titles and positions of honour are highly esteemed among men. Therefore, they are abominable to God. Seminaries and Bible Colleges need the approval of the state. This makes them of men and not of God. Credentials are used to gain and impress the world. But we are to love neither the world nor the things in the world. (1 John 2:15).

When Christ called his disciples, he did not instruct them to register in Bible schools, go to theological seminaries or get degrees as Masters of Divinity. He taught them by himself then told them to wait in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit. (Acts 1:8).

The Holy Spirit is our certification. Jesus says: “when the Comforter has come, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he shall testify of me.” (John 15:26). If we are truly working in the Lord’s vineyard, the Holy Spirit will also testify of us. This is what happened with the Apostles: “God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with different kinds of miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to his own will.” (Hebrews 2:4).

Validation of Jesus

Everything physical or natural about Jesus was designed to make natural men have little regard for him. It pleased God that Jesus should be inadequate according to all those superficial standards the world holds dear. He was born in a manger. He settled in a non-descript town, so much so that someone asked: “Can there be any good thing come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46).

Jesus came from a poor background. His father was a mere carpenter. Jesus did not go to school. Neither was he a graduate of some theological seminary. Therefore, the Jews marveled about him, asking: “How does this man know letters, having never studied?” (John 7:15).

By God’s deliberate design, Jesus was not even a Levite but was from the tribe of Judah. Therefore, he was not a priest and could not have been a priest according to the Law of Moses. He had no civil or ecclesiastical authority as a Jew. Nevertheless, signs and wonders followed him wherever he went. Thus, the Jewish religious elite demanded of him: “By what authority do you do these things? And who gave you this authority?” (Matthew 21:23).

The Pharisees maintained only they and the rulers of the Jews had the authority to validate a man’s ministry. So they denigrated Jesus: “Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him?” (John 7:49). Since they refused to certify that Jesus was a prophet, they were convinced he did not have a leg to stand on.

Church of men

But Jesus was contemptuous of man’s validation. He did not only refuse to submit to their authority, he insisted their authority was invalid because it came from men and not from God. Therefore, he asked them: “Who gave John the right to baptize? Was it God in heaven or merely some human being?” (Luke 20:4). Clearly, John’s authority came from God and not from men.

John the Baptist did not establish a bible school and insist men must register and take courses before they can be baptised. Nevertheless, in most churches today, you have to take several weeks of bible study before you can be baptised. Isaac and Rebecca did not have to take ten spiritual classes before they were married. But that is de rigueur in some churches.

Some even insist a man must have such worldly things as a cooker, a fridge and a television before he can be allowed to get married. Some have blood-tests as a prerequisite and refuse to marry anyone who is HIV-positive. Others refuse to marry those whose blood-types makes them susceptible to having children with sickle-cell anaemia.

In short, our churches are the churches of men. They insist on the credentials of men when God clearly has no regard for them. Our pastors establish their own commandments that take men back to Egypt.

Jesus was oh so different from the pastors of today. Mark says Jesus taught as one that had authority and not as the scribes. (Mark 1:22). Jesus himself says the works he does in the name of the Lord are his credentials. (John 10:25). When a man raises the dead back to life, he does not need human validation. “If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater.” (1 John 5:9).

 By Femi Aribisala

NIGERIANS ARE SLAVES TO DICTATORS ON THE PULPIT

 
As a child, I remember the antics of the likes of the late Benson Idahosa (pictured above), Patrick Ngozi Anwuzia (Zoe Ministries), and later Ayo Oritsejafor (current president of the Christian Association of Nigeria) along with his regular guest prosperity preacher, Reinhard Bonnke, who used to grace our screens with their miracle crusades which featured testimonies of the blind regaining their sight, the deaf being able to hear, and those in wheelchairs getting up and walking, or even running.  One thing that struck me then was the way my dad and his friends sneered at these televised miracles while quaffing bottles of beer in our living room. They doubted the veracity of these miracles, but they still held strongly to, and never once (at least not to my hearing), questioned their christian beliefs. Chris Oyakhilome (pictured below) enacted these same 'miracles' in the late 90's and early noughties in his very popular 'Atmosphere for Miracles' program which was banned by the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation in 2004, and South Africa did the same to his miracle broadcasts sometime in 2011. Mr Oyakhilome was recently divorced from his wife, pastor Anita, who has accused him of repeated emotional, physical, and psychological abuse, and infidelity. Let me share a personal experience of the deadliness of these miracle healing pig fart. A friend of my younger brother suddenly 'disappeared' in their fourth year of secondary school in the mid 90's. It turned out he had a brain tumour for which he underwent a very expensive, but sadly unsuccessful, surgery at the University College Hospital in Ibadan, south west Nigeria. The symptoms included some really violent seizures and very bad headaches. It was a traumatic time for this poor family whose resources were drained by this unfortunate illness. One day, I saw the young boy, on the tv, on stage with pastor Chris (as he is commonly addressed) during one of his 'atmosphere for miracles' program. My brother's friend claimed to have been healed and even did the usual 'victory (over the devil) lap' on stage with pastor Chris. He died at home about a week later. His name was Eta Ikomi; I will never forget him.

Of course there are still those who claim to perform such miracles today, but in this day of the social media and smart phones with HD video recording capabilities, it has become quite difficult to stage such 'miracles'. Many still do, but most of what they do today could pass for a magic show on stage by a veteran illusionist, but the difference here is that stage magicians do not claim any extraordinary or supernatural powers. We all know they are tricks, but we continue to be amazed at how they are able to fool us so convincingly. James Randi, a sceptic and stage magician, exposed Peter Popoff as a fraud in May of 1986. Randi was able to prove that Popoff relied on radio messages from his wife to accurately tell those who came to him for 'healing' their names, addresses and ailments. Megalomaniacs like David Oyedepo, who regularly boasts about his relationship with God on the pulpit, is a seasoned bully, conman, and liar. He has so far been unable to translate this relationship into a cure for his diabetic wife. Mrs Faith Oyedepo has a history of long absences from public appearances and nearly had her leg amputated after a small injury following a fall. She spent weeks in hospital in South Africa as doctors battled to save her leg. We can begin to ask these people very uncomfortable questions, because our monies, reverence for them, and culpable silence, keep them comfortable and snug, and enable them to continue to devise ingenious ways to fleece us.

We should not forget the last moments of many dictators such as  Saddam Hussein, Muammar Gaddafi, and Nicolae Ceaușescu who had ruled their countries with iron fists; they were all scared to die in the end. Our prosperity preachers are no different - they rule from the pulpit and enslave minds. They promise eternal life where there is most probably none, allowing us to focus on an afterlife while they enjoy all the best things that this world has to offer. Nigerians were witnesses to David Oyedepo's scam when he led his vast congregation to believe they were contributing to the building of Covenant University, one which would offer world class education, and not be plagued by the regular strike actions of grossly underpaid lecturers which characterized Nigeria's state-owned universities. The poor congregants were coerced into contributing to a special fund separate from the normal church offerings, and after the university was completed, a great majority of these people could not afford to send their children to Covenant University with its prohibitive tuition. Mr Oyedepo's excuse was that good education was not cheap. He (pictured below) currently has under construction a 100,000-seater indoor stadium-like church auditorium which will boast so many facilities, it could pass for a town; that is how stupendously wealthy he has become, in a country where at least 70 per cent of the population are poor and even more lack access to potable water. This scenario is not so different with other prosperity preachers.

We are being bullied and raped by these charlatans and despicable deceivers. They themselves are the very devil that they accuse of being responsible for our faults and failures. And like the victims of bullying and rape, we are too afraid, and too ashamed to do anything about it. That period of fear and shame is over, we can no longer watch these plunderers control  our minds and take our money. We refuse to be cash cows for these clowns who strut the pulpit in their sanctimoniousness. They are not holier than we are; it is time their filthy facade was stripped away to expose their even more putrid interior. All the fake accents, false declarations and 'prophecies', stage managed healings and miracles, and Jheri curled hair will no longer impress us. We are not sinners from birth, we are humans with the right to enjoy our lives free from the psychological bullying of an oppressive and thieving clergy. Our women should no longer be labelled "barren" nor should they be treated as second class citizens, our kids are not witches and wizards, and disabled persons deserve the love of family and friends, and favourable laws from the Nigerian government; not the false hope of a miraculous healing. We are Nigerians; we are loaded with so much potential, and we can certainly do without their god who (which) is "arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully (thank you Richard Dawkins!).

A CRITICAL PHENOMENOLOGY OF CHRISTMAS (3)

The Christian religion in its early form is the work and expression of the Christian church. But we cannot say that, speaking of Jesus as an individual man, we know that he explicitly intended to found the Christian church.” Now that we have looked at Christmas and the views of some scholars concerning the status and historicity of Jesus, let us harvest the main fruits of our discourse.
First of all, whatever the historical status of Jesus of Nazareth, it is incontrovertible that Christmas, as it is being celebrated worldwide, has no biblical warrant. It is the crystallisation of superstitious ideas and practices drawn from ancient Rome and other Mediterranean communities that constitute the substance of the Gospels. The Bible does not contain a precise statement of the actual day and month when Jesus was born.
It follows that Christmas celebration is not based on actual historical event. We have noted already how Pope Julius 1 imposed that date on Christendom, although the Jehovah’s Witnesses have consistently refused to mark the birthday of Jesus on December 25, or on any other day, because, according to the sect, he never commanded his followers to celebrate it. A devout Christian is likely to consider it sacrilegious if anyone expresses scepticism about whether Jesus of the Gospels actually lived.
However, Christian dogmatism and sentiments apart, there is no solid evidence to back the claim that he did, or that the narratives in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are historical records of real events. Indeed, there is abundant evidence indicating that Jesus is a composite figure created from the synthesis of ancient Egyptian, Persian, Greek, and Roman mythological traditions, blended with some strand of the messianic tradition in Judaism. These facts, and more, are well known to serious students of the New Testament.
Therefore, as believers celebrate Christmas, they should bear in mind that the event is more of mythology and fantasy than reality. And no matter how blasphemous it might appear to the faithful, they should know that there are good reasons for thinking that Jesus Christ, as depicted in the New Testament, is a myth as well. There might well have been a bohemian Jewish rabbi born around 4 B.C., who taught a form of Judaism different from the conventional version. But all the supernatural attributes and occurrences attributed to Jesus in The Bible were derived from, and are analogous to, superstitions and legends in ancient Mediterranean and Oriental worlds.
Take the story of virgin birth, which is very popular in many antiquated communities. In ancient Egyptian mythology, for instance, the god, Toth, was said to announce the forthcoming birth of a son to the virgin-queen Mautmes. In Persian mythology, Saoshyas, the future savior of mankind and conqueror of death, was miraculously conceived by his virgin-mother from the seed of Zarathustra, who himself was born of a fifteen year old virgin, Dughdova, after the latter had been visited by a shaft of light from the supernatural realm. Indian mythology proclaims that Krishna was born from the rib of a virgin who belonged to the royal line of Devaci. Even Buddha was said to have been born through divine intervention, not through the natural process. It is clear, from the foregoing, that the myth of virgin birth is not unique to Christianity.
We have examined the Christian celebration, Christmas, and concluded that it is not biblical. We have thrown doubt on the historicity of the character named Jesus, indicated that even if there was one, he probably was not born in December 25, and drawn attention to the fact that the miraculous stories in the gospels stories about Jesus also exist in other world religions. The implication of all this is that the historical basis of Christmas celebrations is extremely weak.
Evidently, belief in Jesus, his virgin birth and alleged mission on earth are both mythological and eschatological at the same time. They are mythological because the key events, such as his virgin birth and purported resurrection, are ruled out by science. They are eschatological given the fact that Jesus’ birth is ultimately meaningful because it has a redemptive mission for believers in the so-called judgment or last day when God would judge humankind. For Christians, the significance of Jesus’ birth does not lie in its historicity or in its agreement with the research findings of science. Rather, the “coming of the son of man” is a momentous event in human history since it provides a unique opportunity for humans, especially “the chosen ones,” to be reconciled with God after the Original Sin.
Yet, for an unapologetic unbeliever like me, the Jesus narratives instantiate the futile efforts of humanity to project its fears, hopes, anxieties, dreams and aspirations to an imaginary divine realm where the glaring evils and imperfections in the real world would be eliminated. It is unfortunate that a religion, which ought to help humanity grow spiritually, has become an instrument of deceit, glorification of self-indulgent materialism, and plain fraud. Ordinarily, one would wish that Christianity, and therewith, the Christmas celebrations associated with it, would be consigned to the dustbin of history. Unfortunately, that is not likely to happen any time soon, because religion is an attempts to satisfy, in a grossly inadequate and mostly irrational manner I must say, certain existential needs of humans. Moreover, as long as human beings continue to waste scare resources of the earth in planning to kill each other instead of deploying their incredible cognitive and emotional intelligence to reduce drastically both manmade and existential evils, religion will continue to play an important role in the lives of billions of people globally.
With specific reference to the Nigerian situation, it is obvious that for millions of people, this year’s celebrations would not be as enjoyable as they expected at the beginning of the year. Things are generally difficult, and the government of President Muhammadu Buhari is grappling with the serious challenges of nation building in a stochastic economic environment characterised by dwindling crude oil prices and steady decline in the value of the naira in relation to other currencies such as the dollar, pound sterling and euro.

Fortunately, Nigerians are very resilient people. Despite the hardships, people would eat, drink and make merry during Christmas. In my opinion, however, the best way to celebrate the occasion is for those that have to share with those that do not have. It is silly for one to have too much to drink, too much to eat and even throw away when there are thousands of people who do not have enough to eat and enjoy the festive season. At this time, and always, we should be our brothers’ keepers, in the knowledge that inspite of our differences, we are all members of the same family who need one another to be fully human. Merry Christmas in arrears to everyone. Concluded.


By Douglas Anele