Vol 5 No 3      ISSN 1595-6342 
 May - June  2002      

 

 
 DIRELY WANTED: CHRISTIAN POLITICIANS
The Bible Society of Nigeria (BSN) has urged "committed Christians to take part in politics since we are the salt of the earth". In a press conference by the General Secretary of the BSN, Rev Fred Odutola, "if we stand aloof and allow ourselves to be ruled by gluttons, then we should not cry that the treasury has been emptied". (Punch April 23, pg 4)
In a related event, Bishop of Egba/Yewa Diocese of the Methodist Church, Rev. Charles Odenade made a similar call on a recent OGBC Sunday Morning Live on FM programme. He believes that there were "still righteous and committed people in the country who are ready to turn the fortunes of Nigeria around. In a conference organized by the Northern States Christian Elders Forum (see below), Chief Solomon Lar lamented that "while adherents of the opposing faith have no pretence about the inseparability of religion and politics in human affairs, there was a totally misleading and fallacious belief among Christians ... that politics is a dirty and immoral activity". Christians should get involved and correct the defects rather than abstain altogether, he urged.
DEFENCE MINISTER ALERTS NIGERIAN CHRISTIANS ON IMPENDING DANGER:
  There is an underground design to totally wipe out Christianity in Nigeria, beginning from the North, the Defense Minister, General T.Y. Danjuma has warned. Not known to be frivolous, General Danjuma gave the warning at the one-day conference on "Social, Economic and Political status of Christians in the Northern States of Nigeria" organized by the Northern States Christian Elders Forum (NOSCEF) on April 20. He cited the case of Egypt and other North African countries which used to be major Christian centers in the world before Islam crept in and systematically drove Christianity underground. General Danjuma observed that in the last 2 years, there has been a massive exodus of non-Northern Christians (from the South) out of Sharia states with many of them shifting to Abuja and Jos. This, he said, was exactly what the Sharia scripts read. The solution according to the General is not far-fetched: "the solution will only come when people from interior northern states are made clergies and missionary groups headed by core-northern indigenes are sent to the villages. These are not likely to leave their people despite any persecution or threat". The General commended the Anglican Church which he said is already following this course of action.
Also present at the Conference were political bigwigs such as Chief Solomon Lar, Air vice Marshal Idi Musa, Rev. Fr. Peter Tanko, Mrs Sarah Jibril and NOSCEF Chairman Prof. Adamu Baikie. (Sunday Tribune, 21 April, page 13). CA! hopes those Southern Christians who are always quick to suggest a breaking of the country into North and South as the panacea to the various socio-economic problems will learn to see with 'Kingdom eyes'. The North is a ripe-for harvesting missionary field which should not be abandoned to the hounds of Sharia. Our brethren in the North deserve every support to win all Nigeria to Christ.

HERBAL REMEDIES TO OBTAIN NAFDAC CERTIFICATION
  In a bid to sanitize the advertisement frenzy in the print and electronic media by herbal medicine practitioners, the National Agency for Food and Drug Law Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has asked media houses to request from the herbal doctors NAFDAC certificates before publishing such adverts. According to the Director General of NAFDAC, Dr Dora Akinyili, the measure would assure that only analysed and certified herbal products are advertised and sold to the public. It will be recalled that so-called herbal doctors routinely claim they have cures for conditions such as HIV/AIDS, sexually-transmitted diseases, spiritual husbands, etc. Not only does this encourage sexual promiscuity but many are further led into spiritual bondage in the occult world. The NAFDAC action is long-overdue. Meanwhile, the Lagos State House of Assembly is not satisfied with NAFDAC certification alone. The House is urging the National Broadcasting Commission to ban adverts by traditional 'medical practitioners' completely, describing their many claims as "frivolous" and "further harmful" to patients. Chairman of the House Committee on health argued that "if orthodox medical practitioners were not allowed to advertise, there was no reason why unorthodox medical practitioners should be so allowed" (Punch April 23, page 5).
 On a similar note, the Cross River State government has banned adverts of cigarettes and tobacco products. The Advertisement of Cigarette and Tobacco Related Matters Prohibition and the State Redeemable Development Bond Bills signed by Governor Donald Duke on March 20 gave all advertisers 90 days from that day to remove all their billboards and jingles in the electronic media or pay a fine of N1,000 per day in default. Mr Duke said it was morally wrong for adverts on cigarettes to be carried on after knowing well that it is injurious to health.

 

 

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Strides in Holiness: A A new docu-drama film on the biography of Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye is out. Produced by the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) Headquarters State 2B, Lagos, the film traces the birth, early life, academic career and ministerial journey of this apostle of holiness and humility. Available in both video and CD, the production premiered on Sunday 31st March at Regency Hall, Lagos

Inter-faithism Agenda advances: The inter-faith agenda involving multi-faith prayer meetings, (popularized in Osun State), is now inching its way to Aso Rock. A group calling itself the Brave Commission Centre is advocating for a National Thanksgiving Day which will involve joint prayer sessions led by Christians and Moslems (Guardian, March 24, pg 23). The Brave Commission is apparently a confused group of individuals (many of them carrying the titles of Pastors and Evangelists) as it is not clear what 'Commission' they are pursuing. For instance a list of their activities include "Bible Reading" and "Vigorous Evangelism", but also include a provision for no conversion. This is the classical hallmark of the phony inter-faith movement. Christianity without conversion is absolutely nothing!............... Of course, Christians and Moslems (and indeed adherents of all religions) should seek to co-exist harmoniously, and there can be no room for forced conversions. But combining 'vigorous evangelism' with 'no conversions allowed' is the heights of all confusion; and can be conceived and promoted only in these perilous end times climate.

 

 

No respite for Afghanistan:
Just as Afghans were about heaving sighs of relieve with the stopping of the massive bombing campaign by the United States, natural disaster is striking: Earthquake! In the Northern province of Baghlan, 90% of the houses in the area are reported damaged and at least 1000 people are known to have died. The state of mind of this hapless people is better imagined! This fallen world is a sorry place indeed. Oh that the Kingdom of Christ would soon take over completely as in Daniel 2:44!
 
U.N UNIVERSITY EXPERTS SEEK CREATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL AGENCY AGAINST "GLOBAL CHAOS" Legal and environmental experts from the Tokyo-based United Nations' University are calling that the Rio+10 environmental meeting scheduled for Johannesburg this August should create a global body with powers over the environment, similar to those of the World Trade Organisation over international trade. However, they also acknowledged that such a call will be controversial "as governments are reluctant to turn over their powers to an outside body that could rule against them". We have pointed out several times that the environmental agenda is being used as the main platform to introduce global coercion of national governments and eventually kick-off the One World Government. Robin Mearns, co-director of the Environment Group and Fellow of the U.K. based Institute of Development Studies once said "During any 'issue-attention-cycle' in environmental campaigning, there is a phase in which the issue needs to be strategically exaggerated in order to establish it firmly on an agenda for action". That this is going on today is confirmed by a report that says the environmentalists are indeed making the situation look far worse than scientific data suggest. Gary Kah in his book The New World Religion has long warned that the eventual global body would be composed not of representatives of national governments, but "not more than 23 individuals" from UN-recognised NGOs. That the world is heading in this direction is now beyond any doubts or questions.

 

 

 

 

 
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