Author: Dr. OJO
Last saved by: a

Vol 12 No 1: January – February, 2009	      Promoting a Christian Agenda for the End Times

Downturn in economy leading to suicides 
       Tuesday, January 27, in the US, a  man shot his wife and five young children dead before turning the gun on himself.  He left a note that he and his wife had planned the killings after they lost their jobs at a hospital.  "Why leave our children in someone else's hands," Ervin Lupoe wrote in a letter sent to the KABC-TV television channel's website, trying to explain why he had killed the five children – two pairs of twins and their older sister.
      The suicide note indicated that Lupoe and his wife Ana, had been under investigation for misrepresenting their employment to an outside agency in order to obtain childcare money from government.  He claimed that, on 23 Dec, an administrator had told his wife and himself: "You should not even had bothered to come to work today – you should have blown your brains out."  Although an apology was offered when he complained, the couple were still fired a few days later.
        As we reported in the last edition of CA!,  last year October, a Los Angeles man beset by financial worries shot his wife, three children, and mother-in-law dead before turning the gun on himself.  And in the new year, 74 year old German billionaire Adolf Merckle, became  the first major casualty of the economic meltdown for 2009.  Apparently unable to cope with the loss of about 400 million euro in wrong investment last year, Mr Merckle took his own life, lying along a train track.               🡺page 2

Muslim TV executive beheads wife
Failing economy is not the only pressure on people living in the end times.  Confused religious-gender-matrimonial pressures were demonstrated by the recent beheading of 37 years old Aasiya Hassan by her husband, Muzamil Hassan on February 12.  What makes the story, which happened at the high-brow Orchard Park, New York, in the United States,  particularly instructive is that the couple, both highly educated had actually floated a TV station with the express goal of redeeming the stereotypical image of Islam as a violent religion that pushes its most ardent followers into extreme acts.  It is precisely in the premises of Bridges TV that Muzamil ‘Mo’ Hassan cut off the head of his tender beautiful young wife!  The Bridges TV network, available across the U.Sand Canada, was believed to be the first English-language cable station aimed at the rapidly growing Muslim demographic.  🡪 page 3

PFN holds 10^th biennial meeting
The “once- in- two- years” meeting of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria held this year, for the first time ever, outside Lagos.  The venue was the 35,000 seater auditorium of the Word of Life Bible Church, Warri - an apparent honor for host Pastor Ayo Oritsajefor (who is also PFN President) as well as an emphatic statement about the importance of a peaceful Niger Delta to Nigeria.  Present were several spiritual heavyweights including Pastor E.A. Adeboye, Rev. Uma Ukpai,  Bishops Mike Okonkwo, Margaret Idahosa, Felix Omobude,  and a host of others from all over the 36 states  of Nigeria and other countries including America, Barbadons, Chad, Cameroons, and Ghana. 🡺 page 2

Jos religious crisis still simmering?

In the last edition, we reported extensively on the carefully orchestrated killings of Christians (with some innocent moslem folks also getting caught up in the reprisal attacks) in Jos, under the guise of dissatisfaction with the results of a peacefully held Local government elections in Plateau state.
         Such was the intensity of the conflagrations that it was only recently that soldiers were withdrawn from the streets of Jos. And even then, indications are that the situation is still simmering on the Plateau.
        One recent incident was the arrest by vigilant security men of some 26 merceneries with army uniforms and sophisticated weapons to match in Jos – raising fears of a planned fresh pogrom.  The fake soldiers were discovered to be from Bauchi state (one of the states bordering Plateau state), but they were traveling in a vehicle owned by the Okenne Local Government, OLG, of Kogi state.  Chairman of the OLG, Alhaji Yahaya Karaku, admitted that the men were in the employ of his LG, arguing they are vigilante men.
(http://odili.net/news/source/2009/jan/12/505.html). 🡺 p 2

“THE THIEF COMETH NOT BUT FOR TO STEAL, AND TO KILL, AND TO DESTROY:  I AM COME THAT THEY MIGHT HAVE LIFE, AND THAT THEY MIGHT HAVE IT MORE ABUNDANTLY. “
  The Lord Jesus Christ, in Jhn 10:10

PFN Warri Meeting (continued from page 1)
 With the theme: 'His kingdom, the nation, my commitment,' the Conference deliberated on various spiritual and political issues, with an emphasis on the need for government to increase the pace and volume of developmental programmes in the Niger Delta.  The Fellowship said it was deeply touched by the prolonged neglect of the area which has contributed the lion’s share of the nation’s wealth, by successive governments, stating that “it is evidently clear that other regions with lesser financial contributions to national purse, have enjoyed more attention from the central government.” (www.nigeriansinamerica.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=256968). 
Another recurrent issue  at the meeting was the impact of corruption on the Nigerian state.  The PFN advocated zero tolerance for corruption, which was identified as the foundation of the nation’s under-development, massive poverty, high crime rate, infrastructural decay, and political manipulations.  Bishop Mike Okonkwo represented very well the mood of the meeting, when during his message, he “pronounced curses on corruption and those who encourage it in the country “ (www.ngrguardiannews.com/metro/article02//indexn3_html?pdate=170209&ptitle=Lamentation%20for%20Nigeria%20at%20PFN%20conference%20in%20Warri&cpdate=170209)
Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor who was re-elected into the office of the President of PFN for another 4-year term, lamented the apathy to politics among Christians.  He was quoted by the Guardian newspaper as saying: "It is high time Christians woke up and shook away their passive attitude and focused more on governance. We can no longer afford to remain unconcerned about the way we are being governed. I am afraid of what would happen to this nation in future if we fail to act now".  On the issues of the “Kingdom” and “my commitment”, the PFN  resolves “to continue to preach the unadulterated word of God in Nigeria and the nations for the edification of His body and soul winning.”
In a private interview granted to The Nation, one-time president of the PFN, Pastor Enoch Adeboye of the RCCG, expressed satisfaction that the PFN is living up to the expectation of the founding fathers, evidenced by increasing relevance of the body in national affairs, and effective checks in place among its  members.  When challenged by his interviewer, Pastor Adeboye also reiterated PFN’s clearly and publicly documented position on Mr Temitope Joshua of the infamous Synagogue for all Nations, Lagos.  Asked if the PFN’s position of outright rejection of  TB Joshua could ever change  or if he (Adeboye) could possibly honour an invitation to minister in the Synagogue, Pastor Adeboye said emphatically that  he could only minister at the Synagogue if first of all TB Joshua would sit with him to have both of them agree on what constitutes salvation in the Biblical context. And then Mr Joshua will further agree that he (Pastor Adeboye) should communicate that position to the congregation in the Synagogue.  www.thenationonlineng.com/dynamicpage.asp?id=77189
	The main guest preacher at the Conference was the ever-bubbling German evangelist, Reinhard Bonnke.  Bonnke urged Nigerians to pray fervently for the power of God that could lead to the transformation of lives and the nation.  A good fraction of the meeting time was spent praying for the sustainable development of Nigeria.

Suicides Spates (continued from page 1)
       It is apparent that depression and suicides are by far more of issues of a wounded emotion and cloudy perspectives than they are a reflection of actual physical damage.  For at the time of his death, Mr Merckle, (ranked 94^th richest person in the world in 2008) was still worth billions of dollars and had some 100,000 people in his employ!  So  why kill himself? Certainly not because he was poor like the case of Lupoe above.  And even in that case, there are at least millions of people, from many parts of the world who would not have minded trading places with Lupoe – even if just for the right to live in America!
In any case, the official biggest loser in the downturn economy last year is apparently still very much around, enjoying the remaining fraction of his wealth.   With a total amount of a $30 billion loss, the U.S. Forbe’s magazine listed  India's industrial tycoon Anil Ambani as topping the chart of losers for the year 2008 . The list of 10 billionaire blowups includes two more Indians - wind power major Suzlon's chief Tulsi Tanti and online gambling firm PartyGaming's founder Anurag Dikshit. 
<www.siliconindia.com/shownews/Anil_Ambani_biggest_loser_in_2008-\nid-50632.html/1/2#pstcmnt>

Jos crisis (continued from page 1)
          Why go all the way to the border of Plateau state to hire men for vigilante group for Okenne hundred of miles away?  And what were they doing at Jos with sophisticated weapons and uniforms of the Nigerian army?  So many questions that should demand solid answers from the gentleman from Okenne rather than the silly cock-and-bull story which even the state government itself initially immediately distanced itself from.  But rather than use its federal might to unravel this incident involving at least three different States, the Federal Government seems more interested in quickly closing the case and more importantly, being the one to write the final official report on the incident.  In an unprecedented move, agents of the FG openly feuded with the state government on the issue of who should set up the investigative panel into the crisis.  At the end of the day, both Federal and State governments have set up parallel Panels, while the whole world watches in wonder, how the matter would end.
      The citizenry were not going to be muted though.  The Northern Christian Elders Forum, NOCEF, pointedly accused the FG of gross partisanship in the crisis.   Speaking through its chairman, Evangelist Matthew Owojaiye, the group told journalists in Kaduna that "virtually all the Federal Government officials who visited Jos, all of whom are Muslims including the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Danbazzau and the wife of the President, Hajia Turai Yar'Adua, only visited the Central Mosque and places where displaced Muslims were being camped in Jos without visiting displaced Christians in their camps.  "They did not even have the courtesy to visit the governor who is the chief security officer of the State nor the Traditional ruler of Jos, the Gbong Gwom Jos, Dr. Victor Pam” he lamented. 
Even the indigenous Birom moslem community,  took up paid adverts to buttress the well-known point that the root cause of the mayhem  (like we had analysed in the last edition) was the efforts by the Hausa-Fulani political machine to extend their dominion to the Jos plateau  - using the usual instrument of ‘religion’.  (See their well-researched and frank advertorial in The Nation of February 2).  Like the analogy we drew (citing Islamists arrogant atrocities in Ilorin), the clear goal was to “make an Ilorin out of Jos”.
       In a short interview given during the recently concluded PFN biennial meeting at Warri, highly respected Pastor E.A. Adeboye (recently recognized by the secular Times magazine as being among the 50 most influential people in the world – the pope being the only other religious person on the list), in his usual quiet manner revealed that his number one concern about Nigeria is related to the incident on the Jos plateau.  The man of God spoke more than his usual characteristic “few words” as he reasoned:
   “When there is religious war, progress stops. And when I see the way some people are trying to use religion to achieve political ends, I feel bad. I mean take the case in Plateau state where there was an election and the election went one way or the other. Now, in the South, if there is election and you see that one party has cheated, they will attack politicians. But there, it was not so. They said there was a problem with election and they began to burn churches. Now, what has innocent churches got to do with political elections? Why must we for one reason or the other, selfish or political, plunge Nigeria into a religious war? That is my concern and every well-meaning Nigerian must cry out every day to God for” (www.thenationonlineng.com/dynamicpage.asp?id=77189)
Matrimonial Beheading (continued from p1)
      An acquaintance gave a portrayal of Muzamil ‘Mo’: "I've never heard him raise his voice," said Paul Moskal an FBI man who featured regularly on Bridges TV.  "His personal life kind of betrayed what he tried to portray publicly," Moskal said.
      The New York president of the National Organization for Women, Marcia Pappas, condemned prosecutors for referring to the death as an apparent case of domestic violence.  "This was, apparently, a terroristic version of 'honor killing,'" a statement from NOW said.  Nadia Shahram, who teaches family law and Islam at the University at Buffalo Law School, explained honor killing as a practice still accepted among fanatical Muslim men who feel betrayed by their wives.
Aasiya Hassan who trained as an architect is described as “obedient to her husband, and that she wore a traditional hijab for a time but later stopped without explanation.”  The murder occurred days after she filed in for divorce from her husband. 
Strange how it is such a dishonourable thing (in Islam) when a woman files for divorce whereas the same woman can be summarily divorced by her husband for no other reason than that he was simply tired of her.  Great shame!    (See details at
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090218/ap_on_re_us/wife_beheaded)

Children, Women, fodders in the Jihadist’s arsenal
        One of the saddest situations in the world at the present time, must be the continual and increasing use of hapless children and women as canon fodders by some unconscionable  people who seek to achieve global relevance, using religion as a platform.
       Nowhere is this phenomenon more pronounced as among the Arab people, labeled by their own people as ‘Palestinian’ refugees, so they may continued to be used to achieve political ends at the negotiation table.  So blatant and pitiful were the actions of Hamas in using innocent children as human shield during the recent impoundment of Gaza by Israel that none other organization than the UN itself has complained about this callous wastage of young lives.  Hamas had provoked the Israeli attack by a remorseless and unending rocket assaults on Israel’s civilian populations.  However, while the Israelis gave advanced notice that a particular identified rocket-site in Gaza would be bombarded and that all civilians should evacuate, the Hama not only blocked people in, but herded others in from other locations as well, thinking to arouse global condemnation of Israeli’s action from the resulting casualty. The UN further accused Hamas  (the ruling political party in Gaza) of stealing blankets and food meant for the poor and starving Palestinians, threatening to institute an investigation.  This is almost unprecedented in the history of the UN and it clearly signifies the extent of this callous, wicked, despicable and cowardly act by the Arabs.
 <http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/024708.php>
        But the suffering of women among islamic Jihadists is even sadder, as many personal stories have shown.  For instance, one of the standard ways of recruiting female suicide bombers today, is akin to the plot in a typical Wale Adenuga’s Super-Story episode.  In the version that is now sadly common among many Islamic militant groups, young females are either enticed into adultery or worse still, brutally raped.  In the unfathomable Islamic sense that is common in many Arab countries, such a woman automatically becomes a prime subject for public religious killing.  Preferably by her own close relatives – fathers, brothers, uncles, etc.  CA! has featured several incidents of such so-called “honour killings” in past editions.  
       Now, the “super-story angle” to this case is the emergence of some “pious” fellow, from nowhere apparently, who then rescues the young lady from such public and shameful execution by keeping the adultery/rape incident hushed up.  It is then a relatively easy task, convincing the scared lady to donate her life to “God” and become a martyr instead.  Now the really nasty and nauseating aspect to this increasingly popular story-line is that not just boyfriends, but now husbands and mothers, are luring unsuspecting wives/daughters into such arrangements on account of the fame and financial benefits that would be theirs in the event of a successful martyrdom operation!  (In the Western world, the version of this phenomenon is people killing their folks for the insurance pay-offs!).  .  
       A recent story from the Agence France-Presse described a woman who had up to 80 close relatives raped so as to have them recruited as suicide bombers after being sexually smeared. <www.jihadwatch.org/archives/024703.php>  And yet a new development along that line is the recent whining from the homosexual group, PinkNews (February 4), that Al-Qaeda Jihadists are also now turning to raping young men for the same recruitment purposes – after first satisfying their satanic sexual lust. <www.jihadwatch.org/archives/024714.php>

“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.  For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, …. unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, …. traitors….”
 2 Tim 3:1-4

Australian fires and Global Warming
It seems that every adverse event at the present time must eventually be traced to Global Warming.  Well, the recent fire disaster in Australia is fast degenerating into an argument about global warming, with the usual impassioned call that some far-reaching global action be urgently taken to stem a tide which is supposedly always about crossing some irreversible point!
In one of the worst brush fires that Australia has seen in decades, reports had it that over 200 lives and 1,800 homes were lost with over 1,000 square miles of land scorched.  One of the most tragic aspects to this incident is that at least in some cases, the fires were traced to arsonists who deliberately started the fire for whatever sinister motive they had.
But back to the global warming dimension, editor of the journal Australian Conservative, John Styles, is irked by claims by the Green Party that the fire incident was actually fuelled by global warming!   "Climate change has been an underlying theme of much of the coverage here," Style notes. "The climate change lobby is extremely powerful and exerts tremendous influence. The vast majority of the Australian media are on the climate change bandwagon."
	On the contrary, however, Mr Style believes the Green party probably contributed to the deadly impact of the flames with their  insistence on a policy that required every house in the shire of Nillumbik to plant vegetation all around, “so it gave the appearance on the outside of being in a forest”.  He further cites reports that indicated that several houses were lost simply because the vegetation near the house literally exploded into flames, which could not be fought fast enough – a more plausible theory than the one  suggesting that lack of adequate vegetation had led to a warming up of the environment and thus making it easy for ignition to occur.  Unfortunately, when it comes to a subject as important to New World Order kingpins, as Global Warming, sound reasoning often counts next to nothing!
Details of the reports here: www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=422210

BY THE WAY, HAVE YOU HEARD OF “THE GORE EFFECT’?
          Now this may be funny but it should be at the same time sobering.  The pile-up of “coincidents” where nature apparently defends itself against the outspoken global warming lobby is certainly food for thought.
      Trying to define the “Gore Effect”, Erika Lovley wrote: “The so-called Gore Effect happens when a global warming-related event, or appearance by the former [US] vice president and climate change crusader, Al Gore, is marked by exceedingly cold weather or unseasonably winter weather”.  (http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1108/15931.html). She gave a few instances:
 In March, 2007, a Capitol Hill media briefing on the Senate’s new climate bill was cancelled due to a snowstorm. 
On Oct. 22, Gore’s global warming speech at Harvard University coincided with near 125-year record-breaking low temperatures. And less than a week later, on Oct. 28, the British House of Commons held a marathon debate on global warming during London’s first October snowfall since 1922.
For a more detailed, even hilarious, compendium on the Gore Effect, you may check
 http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2009/03/gore-effect-strikes-again-giant-dc.html

Meanwhile, more bad news on climate change may be expected as more than 2,000 climate scientists gather in Copenhagen at press time. They will be trying to pull together the latest research on global warming ahead of political negotiations later in the year. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7934046.stm

CALM LIBRARY UPGRADED
     We are pleased to announce the on-going upgrading (new stocks of materials) of our Library/Reading Room.  Located at Room 7 of the OAU Conference Centre Annex, the Library is opened (for the time being) on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 9.00 am to 3.00 pm.  However to borrow or return books/tapes at any other day (same hours, Monday – Friday) please call Deborah on 08034163431.
      Users who have due materials with them are requested to urgently return them now.  Thanks and God bless. 

PS. Discussion and Interaction with Dr Joshua Ojo is possible at the Library on Wednesdays, between 12.00 and 2.00pm.

Vatican opens up Confession 
Concerned about the decreasing number of catholics still going to “confession,” the Vatican said it is embarking on a “relaunch [of] the sacrament of penance.”  In a news item posted on its website on Jan. 15, Foxnews explains that in the catholic sacrament of penance, people are taught that they “can receive forgiveness if they sincerely confess their sins to a priest.” 
(www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,480014,00.html).   
	As part of the relaunch, one of the most secret tribunals in the Vatican , the Apostolic Penitentiary, threw open its doors (for the first time in its 830-year history) for a two-day conference in the hope of re-attracting back catholic faithful to the confessional.  Delivering a paper at the conference which ended on Wed, Jan 14, the number two man at the Vatican, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, said “by lifting the veil of secrecy surrounding the tribunal’s work, the Vatican hopes to emphasize the fundamental role the sacrament plays in saving souls”
The Apostolic Penitentiary could be described as the number one confessional in Roman Catholicism.  Its work involves those sins that are reserved for the pope - considered so serious that a local priest or bishop is not qualified to grant forgiveness. 
       Foxnews, quoting the American head of the tribunal, Cardinal James Stafford, elaborated on these “special sins” that are increasingly being witnessed within  Roman Catholicism: “These include defiling the Eucharist….. by ordinary faithful who receive Communion and then remove the host from their mouths and spit it out or otherwise desecrate it.
      “Others include a priest breaking the seal of the confessional by revealing the nature of the sin and the person who sought penance, or a priest who has sex with someone and then offered forgiveness for the act.
      The “relaunch” effort seemed an unavoidable last ditch effort to save a truly desperate situation.  A study carried out by Italy's Sacred Heart University indicated that 47 per cent (nearly half) of people in Italy  — a majority Roman Catholic country — never went to confession or did so a long time ago. 
"We cannot hide that the sacrament of penance is threatened in this time of secularization," said Monsignor Gianfranco Girotti, the tribunal's No. 2 official. He however continued to insist that the sacrament remained "fundamental for salvation and the sanctification of souls."
Another major Vatican tribunal sharing the same accommodation with the Apostolic Penitentiary in the Palazzo, is the Roman Rota, which decides marriage annulments.  Note that the Catholic church forbids divorce – only marriage annulments are conducted.  You may wish to try to spot the difference!
Globalized Economy (contd. from back pg)
  Even in a climate like this, the FG still believes many Nigerians currently abroad will soon have no choice than to start streaming back home in view of the relatively worse economic climate out there.  So Labour and Productivity Minister Adetokunbo Kayode says he is preparing a buffer for those coming back – a seminar like no other seminar before it.  It’s hard not to be skeptical!  (http://www.thenationonlineng.com/dynamicpage.asp?id=76704). 
Strangely, for all these many glaring factual evidences abounding all around, many still  can’t read the clear handwriting on the wall announcing the imminent collapse of the current world order.  Many are still hopeful that things will somehow someday, sooner or later, return to the status quo ante.  Such people had better wise up to appreciate the momentous events, even history, playing out right in our days.  Yes, the world is not going to collapse, even if all money collapsed.  Money, after all,  is the creation of man; and with money failing across the globe as at the present time, it is inevitable that a new social and economic order is what would be invented to restore the economy.  Yes, life will continue, but the world order of 2008 is probably gone, for ever and ever!  Just like it happened in Egypt when money failed, the people sold themselves and their lands to Pharaoh - and life continued on in a different mode (see Genesis 47:15-26).
Even though these things are self evident, and they are closely following paths clearly predicted in the Bible, the sad truth is that many are just unable to see it!  The position stated above is not just some idle theoretical conjecture, but the realities are already playing out right before us.  In fact, the “major players”  (see Rev 17:17 though) are no longer making any secrets of their intentions and goals.
Warning early February that 53 million more people stand to fall into poverty in 2009 as a result of the global economic slump, France’s employment minister was quoted by the New York Times as saying: "This is the worst we've had since 1929....The thing that is new is that it is global, and we are always talking about that. It is in every country, and it makes the whole difference."   www.wsws.org/articles/2009/feb2009/pove-f16.shtml.
That difference is a great one indeed.  In the words of noted agent of the New World Order, Henry Kissinger,  the current situation “is a great opportunity; it isn’t just a crisis” (interview on CNBC, Jan 5, see for instance, (http://futurestorm.blogspot.com/2009/01/henry-kissingers-quote-on-cnbc-from.html).   Explaining further in an article which he wrote in the International Herald Tribune (Jan 12, 2009), Kissinger reasoned: “The current crisis can be overcome only by developing a sense of common purpose …The economic world has been globalized…. In the end, the political and economic systems can be harmonized in only one of two ways: by creating an international political regulatory system with the same reach as that of the economic world; or by shrinking the economic units to a size manageable by existing political structures, which is likely to lead to a new mercantilism, perhaps of regional units…. The extraordinary impact of [President Obama] on the imagination of humanity is an important element in shaping a new world order….”  (See further commentaries in The Rockefeller Plan by Dennis L. Cuddy at <www.newswithviews.com/Cuddy/dennis147.htm>
Of course, the man of the moment in all these rush towards global governance is Barack Obama.  (So much that many have resorted to naming him a possible candidate for the anti-christ – which we don’t think so, see our article at  http://churcharise.blogspot.com/2009/03/re-is-obama-antichrist.html)
Even in the midst of an unprecedented recession, Obama has so much money to spend as no one else on earth – over $1 trillion has been approved for him, borrowed from the ‘sweat and blood’ of Americans, to use in stimulating the economy back to life in what some have described as a great gamble.  
Like a man who has lost all his property at the Casino going to borrow (using his future as collateral) in an effort to win back his previous losses!  But that is not the main interest to us at Church Arise!  The big issue is the unmistaken statements being declared by the spending profile of Mr Obama.  
To the consternation of many, a good chunk of the funds are being voted to promote a leftist/socialist agenda including abortion and related issues, spurious science like global warming, etc.  No one needed have been surprised: it’s all so consistent with the Obama’s vision for change.  A vision, which coinciding exactly with the goals of New World Order agents, was instrumental to the unprecedented institutional support he received on his way to the White House. Brethren, the Change has come.  According to Daniel 12: 9-10 only the wise can understand these things.  Only the wise can shine and have lasting joy in the days that are now upon us.  Recognizing the reality and power of God and surrendering to Him in partnership are the basic marks of a wise person.

AND JUST HOW BIG IS ONE TRILLION?
Mr Barack Obama just got a stimulus package of $1 trillion through the Congress, to use and spend his way out of debt.  A Group of Americans critical of the development, has developed an advert to sensitize the people of America to appreciating just how big is $1 Trillion.  The message of the advert?
“Suppose you spent $1 million every single day starting from the day Jesus was born — and kept spending through today,” says the announcer as an image of ‘the three wise men’ flashes on the screen. “A million dollars a day for more than 2,000 years. You would still have spent less money than Congress just did.”  Actually, a stack of one trillion $1 bills would reach nearly 68,000 miles into the sky -  about a third of the way from the Earth to the moon; while you could buy all the 200 billion stars estimated to be contained in the Milky Way, if each star were to cost N1,000 – at current exchange rates! 

Sovereignty, secession issues attend Stimulus plan in the US
Meanwhile, several states in the US are coming up with bills asserting their constitutional rights to be not tied to the apron of the Federal Government in many areas of governance.  The silently brewing smoke is even leading to rumours of eventual possible secession, in some area – far-fetched as that possibility is.
         The World Net Daily has reported extensively on this development over a number of weeks.  According to the WND,  “As the Obama administration attempts to push through Congress a nearly $1 trillion deficit spending plan that is weighted heavily toward advancing typically Democratic-supported social welfare programs, a rebellion against the growing dominance of federal control is beginning to spread at the state level. So far, eight states have introduced resolutions declaring state sovereignty under the Ninth and Tenth Amendment to the Constitution, including Arizona, Hawaii, Montana, Michigan, New Hampshire, Oklahoma and Washington.”  
Each state seems to have peculiar grouse with the FG, and they are expressing it.  In Montana, the chief grouses include the apparent moves towards regulation of firearms sales , and the demand to issue drivers licenses with technology to embed personal information under the Western Hemisphere.
In Washington State, the lead sponsor of the sovereignty resolution is Republican Rep. Matt Shea. He explained to WND that "We are trying to send a message to the federal government that the states are trying to reclaim their sovereignty." Citing the Obama administration’s economic stimulus package as a “perfect example” Shea is irked that "State sovereignty has been eroded in so many areas…. there are a ton of federal mandates imposed on states, for instance, on education spending and welfare spending." 
In Arizona,  the primary sponsor of the sovereignty resolution, Judy Burges said her main concern was the continual “trouncing on our constitutional rights" by the FG.  "The real turning point for me was the Real ID act, which involved both a violation of the Fourth Amendments rights against the illegal searches and seizures and the Tenth Amendment," she said. "The Real ID Act was so broadly written that we are afraid that it involves the potential for "mission-creep," that could easily involve confiscation of firearms and violations of the Second Amendment," she said."We are a sovereign state in Arizona, not a branch of the federal government, and we need to be treated as such, she insisted. 
      "What we are trying to do is to get the U.S. Congress out of the state's business," Sen. Randy Brogdon  from Oklahoma state explained to WND.  "Congress is completely out of line spending trillions of dollars over the last 10 years putting the nation into a  debt-crisis like we've never seen before,"  Arguing that the Obama stimulus plan is the last straw taxing state patience in the brewing sovereignty dispute, an irate Brogdon fumed: "This particular 111th Congress is the biggest bunch of over-reachers and underachievers we've ever had in Congress.” “A sixth-grader should realize you can't borrow money to pay off your debt, and that is the Obama administration's answer for a stimulus package," he added.  <www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=57915>
        The report adds that another 20 states are expected to introduce similar measures.   Clearly, the change over to the New World Order is not going to be without some resistance, even among Uncle Sam’s already economically battered citizenry.

Obama re-Sworn In, Right Words, No Bible
       Meanwhile, President Barack Obama has had to repeat his presidential oath again.  This time, it was in private (but with journalists in attendance).  And significantly, no Bible was used, as apparently they couldn’t find one around in the White House at that time!  This is particularly significant in view of all the publicity and fuss made about Obama going to great length to use the same copy of the Bible Abraham Lincoln had used, for his own inauguration also.  Suddenly, at the private event, which was still considered important enough to be convened, the Bible became immaterial!   At the initial public swearing a day before, Chief Justice John Roberts had had Obama say “I will execute the office of president to the United States faithfully” rather than the required words “I will faithfully execute the office of president of the United States”.  Hence necessitating the repeat exercise.
      A cheeky commentator prefaced this no-Bible oath, with the story of  Augustus Caesar, when he was sworn into his last 10 year term of office as the Emperor of the Roman Empire.  Augustus reportedly handed the sacred tablet upon which the oath was written to Tiberius and had him read it, saying he would not take an oath he did not intend to keep! (See www.newswithviews.com/Gregory/williams101.htm )

EXHORTATION
LOVE NOT THE WORLD
“Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.  And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto myself.’ John 12:31,32.
          When in John 12:31 Jesus states that the sentence of judgment has been passed upon this world, He does not mean that the material world or its inhabitants are judged.  For them judgment is yet to come.  What is there judged is that institution, that harmonious world-order of which Satan himself is the originator and head.  And ultimately, as Jesus’ words make clear, it is he, ‘the prince of the world’, who has been judged (16:11) and who is to be dethroned and ‘cast out’ for ever.
      The time has passed when we need to go out into the world in order to make contact with it.  Today the world comes and searches us out.  There is a force abroad now which is captivating men.  Have you ever felt the power of the world as much as today?  Have you ever heard so much talk about money?  Have you ever thought so much about food and clothing?  Wherever you go, even among Christians, the things of the world are the topics of conversation.  The world has advanced to the very door of the Church and is seeking to draw even the saints of God into its grasp.  Never in this sphere of things have we needed to know the power of the Cross of Christ to deliver us as we do at the present time.
Formerly we spoke much of sin and of the natural life.  We could readily see the spiritual issues there, but we little realized then what equally great spiritual issues are at stake when we touch the world.  There is a spiritual force behind this world-scene which, by means of the ‘things that are in the world’, is seeking to enmesh men in its system.  It  is not merely against sin  therefore that the saints of God need to be on their guard, but against the ruler of this world.  God is building up His church to its consummation in the universal reign of Christ.  Simultaneously His rival is building up this world-system to its vain climax in the reign of antichrist.  How watchful we need to be lest at any time we be found helping Satan in the construction of that ill-fated kingdom.  When we are faced with alternatives and a choice of ways confronts us, the question is not: Is this good or evil?  Is this helpful or hurtful?  No, the question we must ask ourselves is: Is it of this world, or of God?  For since there is only this one conflict in the universe, then whenever two conflicting courses lie open to us, the choice at issue is never a lesser one than: God.. or Satan?
Watchman Nee (Culled from Chapter One of Love Not the World) (available at our Library).
TOPICAL ISSUE
Globalized Economy prepares the ground for globalized government

 It is no longer news that the world is in serious problem with the current global meltdown of the economy.  A recent estimate indicates that about 45 percent of world's wealth has been destroyed in a whiff. (A pointer to Rev. 18:17?)
www.reuters.com/article/GCA-Economy/idUSTRE52966Z20090311.
From the US to Europe to Africa to Asia, it is the same story of woe.  In the month of January alone, 600,000 people were laid off from their work in America, bringing the figure to 3.6 million jobs lost so far in that country in the on-going recession. 
        And almost everybody,  including President Obama – easily the most optimistic American alive, agrees that the worst is yet to come.  Japan, the world’s second largest economy is also telling stories of mass retrenchment, shortened working hours, and so on,  as the impacts of the economic meltdown bite harder. Even here in Nigeria, the so-called least affected country on earth (according to Merryl Lynch), millions are counting their dramatic losses in the stock market; and despite assurances from Central Bank governor, Chukwuma Soludo, many people are actually suspecting the financial health of many of the Nigerian banks beyond their external facades of strength.  Afterall banks like the Royal Bank of Scotland  looked rock-solid until days before it declared the largest institutional bankruptcy in the history of UK, 34 billion pounds on 26^th February.  

Church Arise! is published bi-monthly by the Church  Arise! LivingWater Ministries (CALM), P.O. Box 1674, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria. 
Editor: Joshua O. Ojo
Library: Deborah Adeosun      Circulation: Bankole Olaniyan

This newsletter is mailed out free of charges to interested subscribers. To subscribe or for some reason end your subscription, simply send a note to that effect.
Library/Secretariat: 7 Conference Centre, OAU, Ile-Ife
Phone: 0805 710 6482    or    0803 416 3431
e-mail:Joshua@churcharise.org  Website: www.ChurchArise.org
BLOG: http://churcharise.blogspot.com/)

Financial donations are most welcome from children of God, as led by the Holy Spirit. Please address cheques to CALM, Ile-Ife. We operate current account No: 1992010018999 at First Bank Plc, Ile-Ife branch.

Speculations aside, recent news report have it that  in Nigeria, 300 jobs are gone in Cadbury, and that Peugeot Automobile of Nigeria  is sending home some 565 out of its 753 workers (though one official insists they are not retrenching, only waiting for raw materials, hmm!).  Like Michellin before, PZ is said to be getting set to leave Nigeria. 🡺 p 5