A roundup of the latest news and analysis on matters of faith and religion in Africa, Nigeria and the world, with stories from codewit.com and Nigeria News
In February, Pope Francis was photographed kissing his "Mini-Me" in front of a Vatican crowd. The little boy was dressed in tiny papal robes and a skull cap. The toddler's grandmother made the outfit for Carnival, when children dress up in costumes in the weeks before Lent.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
On Monday the 14th April, dozens, if not hundreds of people lost their lives in a massive bomb attack in Nigeria's capital Abuja. For most pastors and religious leaders, this is a time of mourning. A time to reach out the bereaved to comfort them and pray for them. Not so TB Joshua.
For TB Joshua, even a tragedy on his own doorstep is fair game for exploitation. Hours after this horrific attack, SCOAN edit together a video proudly claiming that TB Joshua had predicted it. In the video he claims (to audible gasps of horror): "Listen to me, my people in Nigeria. Once again, take note of this: Our security should be vigilant. I am seeing a very big strike — explosion. They should take care of Abuja — capital."
We have managed to track down the unedited version of this prophecy, given on the 10th November 2013. As usual, a critical aspect of the prophecy has been edited out (see the bold text).
Listen to me, my people in Nigeria. Once again, take note of this: Our security should be vigilant. I am seeing a very big strike — explosion. Towards the end of this month, or the middle of next month they should take care of Abuja, capital.
Based on this, the bomb was meant to happen towards the end of November and the middle of December. It happened on the 14th April.
But he predicted a bombing in Abuja, and one happened! Isn't that enough?
No! Prophecies are words from the all knowing, all powerful, omnipresent, omniscient God. Real prophecies are not 5 months wrong with their dates. Real prophecies glorify God, not the prophet. Real prophecies bring people to repentance. TB Joshua's prophecy does none of this, and due to the current situation in Nigeria it was certain to "come true" given enough time.
This "prophecy" was given on November the 10th. Just one day before on November the 9th, Reuters reported that "Intelligence available indicates that the terrorists were in the process of finalizing plans to carry out simultaneous suicide attacks in Abuja and Kano" (source). As usual, all TB Joshua was doing was reporting the news, dressed up as prophecy.
It's time Nigerians stop standing for this nonsense. This man is making a mockery of a national tragedy and exploiting it for his own gain. As Deuteronomy 18:22 says "If the prophet speaks in the LORD's name but his prediction does not happen or come true, you will know that the LORD did not give that message. That prophet has spoken without my authority and need not be feared". TB Joshua does not need to be feared, he needs exposing.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Ghana – Popular Ghanaian fetish priest intends to ask Pope Francis to "take action" against Nigerian prophet T. B. Joshua.
Priest Nana Kwaku Bonsam is set to leave for Italy on Friday, April 18, and hopes to meet the most powerful Christian leader to discuss some spiritual issues, T. B. Joshua's conduct included.
According to the Ghanaian priest, Prophet T. B. Joshua's prophecies are misleading, as he is not a true man of God and uses "tricks", having his editors fabricating stuff and posting it to the Internet and demonstrating on his TV station.
T. B. Joshua's "acting like Christ" also bothers the Ghanaian priest despite of lacking "spiritual powers".
Bonsam has even indicated that it was T. B. Joshua who killed the President of the Republic of Ghana, Professor John Evans Atta Mills.
He advised pastors and prophets to stop prophesying lies to their followers.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
General overseer of the Synagogue Church of all Nation, SCOAN, Prophet T.B. Joshua has released a video where he claimed to had prophesied the Nyanya explosion that killed over 71 persons with 126 others injured.
According to the controversial Prophet, he saw and warned Nigerians of the calamity during his live service at The SCOAN on November 10, 2013.
During the service, T.B. Joshua – known for his doom prophecies said:
“Listen to me, my people in Nigeria. Once again, take note of this: Our security should be vigilant. I am seeing a very big strike — explosion. They should take care of Abuja — capital. When I talk, you see me in a bad light. But I will keep talking. I don’t need to say the state but I am saying it. This is what I am seeing happen in Abuja. They should pray. What can they do to capture this?”
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Assemblies of God Church Nigeria General Superintendent, Rev. Paul Emeka, suspended over allegations of misconduct, financial misappropriation and other matters by a group in the church, in this interview, fires back at his accusers, saying his only offence was that he tried to protect the church. The embattled Rev. Emeka was reinstated by a court order but denied access to his office. Excerpts:
What is your position on the crisis rocking Assemblies of God Church? Everything has immediate and remote causes; so in a situation like this, you don’t really know where to start. I must let you know that there was a time we got license to operate the Evangel University. The Board of Trustees employed people and, of course, members of the church, but they began to mis-run the university, making it too expensive for us to continue.
They employed without looking back, they employed without consulting, because, by the law of the university, statutorily as the General Superintendent, I am the Chancellor and the Visitor. I am the proprietor, so I was concerned that they were spending too much. We had 73 students but they employed 135 workers. In their first salary schedule, they brought six million naira. We protested but helplessly paid.
In the second one, it went up to nine million naira and it never came down until it came to thirteen million naira. Each time we called them to give account, they said no, that they were not accountable to the BOT or even the Executive Council of the church, that they were accountable to the Governing Council. So there was a problem, nobody was accountable to us.
So the BOT, in the process of recognising and adopting a pragmatic approach in the running of the university, suspended them and set up a panel to look into how the university was being run. But these people ran to what we call Ambassadors of the Kingdom made up of those my predecessor felt had served the church and gave them the recognition as ‘Ambassadors of the Kingdom’.
It was not meant to be an association; it has no place in our constitution or organogram of the church. But somehow the people (Ambassadors) came together and began to see themselves as a pressure group or the political arm of the church. The Vice Chancellor of the university happens to be a member of the body and he ran to them and called on them to help him out.
They came to the Executive Council (EC) to see us and we asked them to wait, that we will invite the BOT and explain everything to them. They laid their complaints that the young university will soon be closed, that they were not happy that the people were suspended and didn’t care to know the reason for our action.
Few weeks later, they came up with a write up that they addressed to the Presbyters (these are pastors in Assemblies of God and are up to 2,000 in number). They didn’t address it to the EC members which is the highest decision making body of the church. This was where trouble started. All of us had different approach towards resolving it.
Germany house They came up with so many allegations that didn’t have to do with the university but other things. They alleged many things against me. For instance, they talked about a house we bought in Germany. The allegation associated with the Germany house purchase are very shapeless, the story keeps increasing by the day. They also alleged that we created the Assemblies of God Ministers Benefit Fund.
The pastors every month make contributions to that fund and, each time a pastor retires, he is given what he contributed with interest and the balance remains with the church. They also alleged that I made a pledge to the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria without consulting the EC, that my brother-in-law was the one hiring equipment and being given two million naira each time we were to do a programme and helping himself from that.
The truth is not far-fetched because the purchase of the project in Germany was started by my predecessor, the advance which was twenty million naira was paid by the General Treasurer who was serving under him and later on there was this election that brought me in when he retired and we continued from there.
The church obtained a loan from GTB and it was the responsibility of the General Treasurer and the accountants there to pay and they paid and kept remitting the money to the company until the transaction was completed. I didn’t have anything to do with the money, all I did was to go and see if it was true, the General Secretary equally went and the Assistant General Superintendent also went, all these things are in our minutes.
But when they were making their allegations, they didn’t do them as if all these things are in the minutes; they talked as if I woke up one day and carried the money to buy a property in Germany.
Retired pastors fund The allegation on the Pastors Benefit Fund started about 16 years ago. Each pastor contributes automatically to the fund and goes home with what he contributed on retirement with interest. But I discovered that each month, all the ministers of Assemblies of God contribute an average of thirty million naira but the ministers who retire in a given month don’t take up to six million naira and there was a Board set up to use that money and invest.
It was from there that we built our bank called AG Homes; that continued for many years until I became the General Superintendent. I proposed before the EC that here you have one man managing the millions of naira that the ministers are contributing and here you have the bank. He is the Managing Director of the bank as well as the Chairman of the Board, that it would be nice that we separate it so that he will continue to be the Chairman of the Board and another person the Managing Director. The Committee bought the idea.
I equally said that the ministers retiring, and given what they contributed with interest and the money remains there, they are not coming back at any time to benefit from the investment that their money was put into. I said the only way these people could have a share is that since this body doesn’t give them pension and since what the General Council pays to them as pension monthly is too small, we should do something to enhance their living standard from the money.
By the time the former Board was handing over, they had already about N2.5billion and I said it was possible to take part of this money to increase the pastors pension so that they don’t suffer too much. They accepted and adopted it unanimously. I proposed N350 million but they handed over about N1.5million and said they had invested the rest.
We said they should give us N200million so that we start helping the retired pastors and they sent it from AG Homes to the General Council account. It did not go to my personal account. The General Treasurer received it, receipted for it; but when they were writing, they started alleging and talking as if I had direct access to the money and using it on my own. It was credited to the General Council account.
Donation to PFN On the allegation about making donation to the PFN, we went to the NAC (National Advisory Committee) meeting of the PFN, all the church leaders were there. So there was this spontaneous fund raised, people were pledging fifty to one hundred million, but, on behalf the Assemblies of God, I pledged ten million naira and that was not to say I paid it immediately.
When I came back, I brought the matter before the Executive Council meeting and they approved that the General Treasurer should pay. Nobody gave me cash, it was a cheque credited in the account of the PFN. But here they said the Executive Committee did not know about it even when they paid willingly.
Another allegation about my in-law hiring equipment; the truth of the matter is that whenever we are doing a big programme, there is a central committee that will meet with sub-committees. At a time, the committee told us they now had a company owned by one Okezie and that they supply power and sound to the government at Okpara Square each time they had a programme and that if we would hire them, they would do us good.
We told them to bring them and they brought them. The central planning committee would always haggle the price with this man depending on the nature and duration of the programme. We would agree and immediately we agree on price the manager of the company would go to the accounts office where he would be given a cheque and that ends it.
Nobody gives me the money and that is the structure of the church. The General Superintendent does not have anything to do with money, we take the decisions and it is the responsibility of the General Treasurer with the people working under him to take action. Now when the Ambassadors brought their complaints and started alleging all these things, they were not in a position to know since they are not in the organogram of the church.
It was somebody that made them to know and they came up with these allegations that never existed. They are alleging over N450 million. The Executive Committee members working with me who know when all these decisions were taken, I thought they would come to my aid when these allegations were raised but some of them were of the opinion that these Ambassadors will be brought and they would be made to repeat the allegations and I would answer.
That continued until a certain time when they appealed to the General Committee. The General Committee, judicially speaking, is higher than the Executive Committee, the Executive Committee makes decisions. The General Committee is called twice a year but if a General Committee is needed, the General Superintendent can on his own call it but if it is called without the General Superintendent, the constitution says they will obtain 33 percent signatories of the members of the General Committee and they will lay it on the table of the General
Superintendent and he will invite the people for the General Committee and he equally will determine the terms to be discussed with members of the Executive Committee. Now they called the General Committee without respect to this process. They were not able to obtain it because the constitution says that the General Committee will serve as a court of final appeal and I told them that if the General Committee will serve as the final appeal, it means that the Executive Committee will serve as court of first appeal.
First of all, we have to look at it so that if the General Committee sits, we will now tell them the extent to which we have looked at it. But I never knew there was a political plan to be hatched that day. They never allowed me to execute it as constitution demands and that was on the 6th of March. I told them I wouldn’t attend because it fell short of constitutional demands.
There were text messages here and there but, before that day, I had called the police to say I was not comfortable with the meeting and asked them to stop it but the police said no, they didn’t have the right to stop a private meeting of the church, that all I needed to do was to obtain a court order to stop it.
Court order I invited my lawyer to prepare a court order to the effect. It was not to be a court order against the Assemblies of God but against certain individuals I perceived were responsible for the General Committee. But along the line, I called the lawyer and said I would want to terminate the suit, that I would be misunderstood and I asked him to leave it.
But on that very day of the meeting, somebody from among the Ambassadors and the eleven Executive Committee members standing against me was sent to go to court and look for the abandoned suit and he brought it to the General Committee.
In that meeting, the Legal Adviser of the church was the one who read it that the General Superintendent had taken the church to court and should be suspended. But some others said he didn’t take the church to court, because the Trustees are not there, the General Council is not there and Assemblies of God is not there but those there are individuals, but they wouldn’t listen.
He also failed to let them know that the suit was abandoned and the court wrote to that effect, that the suit was not in existence. Nobody was served any summons. What is happening is that there is a group of men in the church whose interests became threatened and they felt I was the one anchoring it.
But when I was making the reorganization, I didn’t deliberately do it to step on any toe, I was doing what I felt would help the church to go forward because to me, I didn’t feel comfortable that every day you stand before the church to go and raise fund, instead of people hearing sermons, you are telling them about money whereas we have ventures here and there that could yield money for the church.
Without worrying people, our offering and tithe should be enough. That was my aim. We had money. If you invest N250 million very well, it will increase the revenue of the church. As at last year, the pastors fund generated N2.5 billion from the time that scheme started, all that had been paid to the pastors was only N123million in 16 years, up to N300 million and more was spent on office.
The purpose of that scheme was not to run office or other things but to help our pastors in retirement but many of them are suffering and we felt free to our conscience to allow them in that state and pay lip service to our holiness. They said Rev Chidi Okoroafor becomes the acting General Superintendent. This is what has been rocking Assemblies of God.
But we learnt some members of the church later went to court. Is this true? I didn’t go to court. Dr Nathan Udeze and another one who is a lecturer in one of our Bible schools, Dr Ekenedilichukwu Offodile, they didn’t like what happened, they went to court and sued and the nature of the suit was in representative capacity, not only for the two of them but for any other person who did not like what happened.
We went to the court for hearing three times and the court said, return to status quo and, by this I am still the General Superintendent and Chidi remains the assistant and there is nothing like acting. Yet our people have decided to ignore the court order.
This is what is happening and on daily basis they keep writing against me. In the Assemblies of God, the maximum punishment is suspension; after suspending me, you say you are setting up a panel, so when the committee must have concluded its work, what other punishment will you give me? If you have allegations of fraud, the police is there to look into it.
How do you feel about what is happening and at what point can you leave it for God. What will be your advice to members? I have already left it for God. What I am doing is simply what God wants me to do. I have tried my best; a man does not praise himself. I have not laid bad example – morally speaking or with money. You cannot say that you found Paul Emeka messing up with women or in fact that you suspect him at all.
The salary I take is enough for me; forget about what they are writing about. Think about it, in a corporate organization, you cannot steal money alone, you cannot go and take half a million alone, there is a Treasurer and you cannot in the name of General Superintendent pounce on people’s money and you begin to cart it away. The national leadership of PFN has come and they keep turning them here and there. They should tell the world what is happening.
Somebody is retired and wants to be the father of the Assemblies of God and that is why I believe it cannot last for long because the people do not like it and God himself does not like what is happening. But we will not chicken out for them to continue even if I am out.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Today I shall go down memory lane. Life can be so complicated and sometimes we are forced to ask and answer some difficult questions. Permit me to ask a few in this contribution. Why do so many people suffer so much in life and why is this particularly so in Nigeria? Is God punishing us for our sins? Is God the source of all this evil that we see in our lives and in our land? Just look at all that is happening?
The best are crucified, tormented and persecuted whilst the wicked are celebrated and exalted. Many of our leaders are a plague and an affliction with dark hearts and many of our followers are ignorant ingrates and traitors. What is wrong with us?
Why is God punishing us like this? Why has He forsaken us? Why has He visited so much evil on us? For millions of people each day is a struggle. There are so many shattered dreams and there is so much sadness, failure and sorrow in this land.
Worst still, in Nigeria when someone is good he must be punished and when he is bad he must be rewarded. That is our record and that is our delight. One wonders why God has afflicted us in this way? Why all this evil, poverty, failure, injustice, persecution, shame, pain, cruelty and wickedness? Is He not a God of love? Why does He allow this evil to thrive in our lives and in our nation?
We are a sick nation with a sick leadership. A nation of small minds governed by small minds. A nation where the sons of slaves ride around on horseback and the sons of kings walk around barefoot. A nation where the rich and powerful lack sensitivity, compassion and humanity and where the poor have little hope, eat from the dustbins and wear second hand clothes.
A nation where truth is mocked, ridiculed and treated with contempt and where falsehood, hate, deceit and misrepresentation is exalted. A nation where light is described as darkness and where darkness is described as light. A nation where eighty year old men are described as promising and dynamic leaders, where fifty year old men are described as youths, where thirty year old men are described as children and where seven year old girls are taken as wives. This is evil.
Is it because of our sins that God has visited all this on us? Consider our quality of life and our numerous challenges? Is God the source of all this evil? Many are suffering, are in despair and are badly weighed down by their unsavoury circumstances. Yet there is still hope and the purpose of this contribution is to encourage the broken, the wounded and the disheartened and to answer some of these complex questions.
Permit me to start by saying that God is a God of love and not the author of evil. It is our enemy and adversary, satan, that delights in wickedness and he alone comes to kill, steal and destroy. He alone brings evil, sorrow, discord, fear, poverty, want, failure, death and shame wherever he goes.The bible says ''the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel'' and cruelty is the devil's stock in trade.
He alone is the merchant of misery and the dealer of suffering. God is not the source of any of these terrible things. Rather He brings life and He is full of grace, compassion, love, blessings and mercy.
He allows negative things to happen to us and to our nation only because He has given us the power to deal with them ourselves and the grace to come through them and have a great testimony at the end of it all. His word says "the righteous shall live by faith" and that "He has given us power to tread on scorpions and serpents and all the power of the enemy and none shall by any means hurt us".
That is why if only we can believe, stand firm and not allow such challenges to cause us to derail or to despair, we shall always be victorious at the end of the day and His promises for our lives shall surely come to pass.
As regards sin, we thank God that there is no condemnation for those of us that are in Christ. He shed His blood and He paid the price. Once we have confessed and truly repented of our wrongdoings the power of sin and death is completely broken in our lives. He has bought us eternal life through the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ and His resurrection and ascension. All we need to do is to claim it and just believe.
That blood brings grace and mercy and it cleanses away ALL our sins. So the source of the pain that you are feeling, and that we are all feeling, is not God but rather the devil, our collective enemy. And thank God that we have overcome Him and that we will always overcome him by the blood of the lamb and the testimonies of our lips.
God loves you very much and He is with you and not against you. You are not a loser but a winner. You shall certainly overcome. Just continue to believe and to do good. And believe and pray for our fatherland Nigeria too: one day things will change in this country and that is God's promise. Be rest assured that our Father in heaven has a plan for Nigeria too. It is that assurance from God that we are all holding on to: that is our hope and that is our strength.
He will surely deliver us one day and the yoke of the devil and his children, the Amalekites and the Midianites, over our nation shall be broken forever. I assure you that these vicious oppressors and Egyptians that we see today, the time is coming when "we shall see them no more".
So fear not and despair not: just hold on, just watch and just pray and you will see the salvation of the Lord in this land. The accusers will soon become the accused and the oppressors will soon become the oppressed. Despite all the evil, false accusations, wickedness, treachery, injustice, persecution, marginalisation, brutality, callousness, greed, bloodshed, hatred, idolatary, murder and deceit that we see around us and in this nation, we must continue to do good and to stand firm.
We must continue to exalt fairness and righteousness and we must continue to love even the unlovable and to see the best in even those that hate us and that seek to destroy our lives, our future and our country. God will deliver and in the end He will make ALL things beautiful in our land and in our lives. The Lord has spoken it and so it shall be. May God continue to be with us all and may He give us strength even in these difficult and lonely times.
Yet we must never forget the place of prayer because there is nothing that prayer cannot do. It is the engine room of all that is. It is the unseen spiritual force that makes things happen in the physical. It is the catalyst for a meaningful and positive change and without it nothing good can come.
We need to appreciate the fact that the countries that are advanced today originally had their roots and foundation in God and at some point in their various histories went through periods of massive revival having experienced immense suffering.
When one third of all the people in Europe dropped dead as a consequence of the ''black death'' (the bubonic plague) in the Middle Ages they did not stop praying or turn their back on God. They held on to their faith, called on God, received a word from Him and the evil cycle stopped.
When the Pilgrim Fathers founded America they prayed her into greatness and made God her foundation: that is why she is what she is today. Prayer and faith is the key to all things, coupled with hard work, an understanding of the times and good old-fashioned hope.
When 20 million people were killed in the First World War and 50 million were slaughtered in the Second, it was prayer and faith in God that enabled the world to survive it and move on to build a better world. It was prayer and faith in God that pulled down the Berlin wall and that destroyed the evil and godless empire of Soviet communism.
It was prayer, faith in God and the ability and courage of righteous men and women that were filled with the Holy Spirit, to rise up and say NO, that destroyed the evil that was Hitler and Nazi Germany and the vicious and racist system of government in apartheid South Africa. The Book of Job in the Holy Bible teaches us that oftentimes God allows the devil to touch us in order to test our faith in Him.
Yet He can change our fortunes in the twinkle of an eye, either for good or for bad: that is His prerogative and His nature. He can make a promise and honour it at once or wait 400 years to do so, as was the case with the children of Israel when they were in exile in Egypt. That is what makes Him God.
The most important thing to appreciate is that through good and bad, through night and day, through thick and thin and whether as individuals or nations, He is with us every step of the way, He loves us deeply and He is eagerly waiting to see our reactions to our various challenges and circumstances.
His word says "the righteous shall live by faith" and that is, indeed, the cornerstone of the christian faith: total faith in God and trusting Him to deliver us and help us in our time of need. This is because it is in our weakness and helplessness that He shows and proves His strength.
Now that does not mean that we should do nothing else. That does not mean that we should not, at the same time as praying, work hard, fight hard and shout loudly to make our country a better place. After all the bible says "faith without works is dead". This means that we must work hard at the same time as we are praying and exercising our faith, otherwise we will fail.
It means that whatever we are doing we must do it with prayer. As a matter of fact it is that prayer that will guarantee the success of the relevant venture- It is our strength and hope for a better tomorrow. Thank goodness that it actually works and, by God's grace, it will do so for Nigeria no matter how bad things may appear to be today.
Permit me to end this contribution by considering the words of Queen Victoria which were at the height and power of the British empire and in the days when the United Kingdom was truly "Great Britain''. During the Scottish rebellion in the late 19th century she said "I do not fear the armies of Scotland but I fear the prayers of John Knox".
John Knox was the spiritual father of Scotland and one of the greatest prayer warriors and intercessors that ever lived. The Queen's words smacked of deep wisdom and she did well to fear John Knox's passionate and powerful petitions to the Lord.
You see prayer delivers the captives, protects the weak, humbles the powerful, heals the brokenhearted, breaks down the strongest walls, brings tyrants to their knees and causes kings to weep and tremble. It shapes the destiny of nations and restores and rebuilds the lives of men.
There is still hope for Nigeria as long as we have faith in God and we continue to pray. And why not? He is, after all, ''our shield, our glory and the lifter of our heads''. He is ''the Author and Finisher of our faith''. God bless Nigeria.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
When I teach news writing, I talk to my students about the art of interviewing, how to get themselves out of the way and let a story unfold—lead by smart, focused questions that allow readers/listeners/viewers to make up their own minds about the information presented.
Fox Network religion correspondent Lauren Green recently provided a perfect illustration of how not to do that. Her interview with a scholar was so cringe-worthy that many of my colleagues in the academy want to use the clip of Green’s interview to teach students about avoiding bias, not leading sources to say what you want or generate a particular outcome.
Aslan, who has four degrees, including a master’s in theological studies and a PhD in the sociology of religion, was on Fox’s “Spirited Debate” to promote his latest book, “Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth.”
By way of background, the Iranian-born Aslan fled the Islamic Revolution in 1979 with his family and relocated to the U.S. As a teenager, he converted to Christianity, but later returned to Islam. He said he is married to a Christian and his brother-in-law is an evangelical minister.
While he has written about other religions, Aslan said he has spent 20 years studying the New Testament and has written four books about that section of the Bible.
Green asked Aslan why he, a Muslim, would write a historical book about Jesus—the implication being that as a Muslim this was somehow unusual and that some might suspect an ulterior motive in his choice of subjects.
Fair enough. There may be some who are unfamiliar with Aslan’s scholarship and who might wonder that very thing. Once his credentials were established, however, Green kept pounding the theme and then said that Aslan’s book differed from a number of Christian scholars.
“I am a historian with a PhD in the history of religion,” Aslan said, noting that “my job as a scholar is to write about religions.”
He said that his book contained 100 pages of notes and referenced 1,000 books written by scholars who both agreed and disagreed with Aslan.
The author tried to get into the meat of the book, which he said looked at Jesus, in part, as the leader of a movement that was so threatening to the political authorities of his state that he was arrested, condemned and crucified.
Jesus, he said, was treated as an enemy of the state and executed like a traitor.
Each time Aslan tried to discuss his findings and conclusions, Green took him back to the question of whether he could be a fair and unbiased judge of Jesus by quoting writers and pundits who attacked the book.
From an instructional point of view, however, Green pressed too hard on one angle and lost the opportunity to make her interview richer and more complete. Further, she drew a conclusion that the facts did not support. She treated a question from a viewer as if it were a challenge from a scholar, asking if Aslan could be objective about the “founder” of Christianity because the author was a Muslim.
To be sure, non-Muslim scholars have written about Islam, just as white reporters covered the Civil Rights Movement, as straight people have written about gay issues and the physically healthy about the physically challenged.
Should journalism rethink that?
We won’t even get into the argument of whether Jesus founded Christianity or St. Paul – who took Jesus’ message which aimed to prepare Jews for a Messianic Kingdom, and expanded it for all who believed in the Christ spirit.
“As a journalist who’s covered books and publishing for more than 25 years, I’ve always refrained from commenting on books that I haven’t read myself,” said author, editor and scholar Jabari Asim, associate professor of writing, literature and publishing at Emerson College in Boston.
“Unlike the Fox interviewer, I’ve actually read Aslan’s book. I found it to be provocative, persuasive and calmly reasoned. While some may find his conclusions challenging, few should find them offensive or merely arguments for the sake of argument,” Asim said. “As he states in the interview, his book is less a takedown of Christian tenets than an investigation of the historical Jesus, whom Aslan clearly admires.”
It wasn’t unfair for Green to raise the question initially about Aslan’s interest in Christianity. It was unfair that it was basically the only question she asked, in several different ways.
“The philosophical backbone of [Green's] question is that it would be impossible for someone to write about Jesus without some kind of faith-based prejudice,” said Aslan, who told Talking Points Memo that he wrote the book as an academic, not from the perspective of his faith.
“It’s weird to all of a sudden talk about it as though only practitioners of a faith can write about the prophets of that faith,” he said. “If that were true, there would be a lot fewer Islam books out there.”
The interview went viral, perhaps propelling Aslan’s book to No. 2 on Amazon.
There may be no such thing as bad publicity, but there is nothing good to be said for bad journalism.
Jackie Jones, a journalist and journalism educator, is director of the career transformation firm Jones Coaching LLC and author of “Taking Care of the Business of You: 7 Days to Getting Your Career on Track.”
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
A 49-year-old pastor, Friday Arthur, was on Friday charged before an Igbosere Magistrates’ Court in Lagos for allegedly defiling two under-aged sisters (names withheld) aged 10 and 11.
Arthur, a Beninoise, who resides at No. 856, Ikota Housing Estate, Lekki, Lagos, is facing a charge of defilement.
The Prosecutor, Sgt. Victor Eruada, told the court that Arthur committed the offence between March 28 and April 6 at the Ikota Housing Estate, Lekki, Lagos.
Eruada said that the pastor, had at various occasions, lured the minors into his room and defiled them.
He said that the offence violated Section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.
Section 137 prescribes life imprisonment for anyone convicted of the offence of defiling a child.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the victims and their female guardian were in court.
The accused, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The Magistrate, Mrs Linda Balogun, granted the pastor N500,000 bail with two sureties in like sum and adjourned the case till May 27 for trial.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
BERKELEY, CA—Challenging long-held views on the origins of divinity, biologists at the University of California, Berkeley, presented findings Thursday that confirm God, the Almighty Creator of the Universe, evolved from an ancient chimpanzee deity.
The recently discovered sacred ancestor, a divine chimp species scientists have named Pan sanctorum, reportedly gave rise over millions of years to the Lord Our God, Maker of Heaven and Earth.
“Although perhaps not obvious at first glance, there are actually overwhelming similarities between the Supreme Being of today and this early primate deity who preceded Him,” said Dr. Richard Kamen, a leading biologist who also heads Berkeley’s paleotheology department. “The holy chimp moved around on all fours, but its descendants eventually began walking upright to expend less energy while foraging across the infinite reaches of the universe. This of course led to the bipedalism of modern-day God.”
“In fact, you can see a distinct likeness to God in the chimpanzee deity’s skeletal structures, not to mention its prototypical expressions of vengeance and wrath,” Kamen continued. “The great-ape god was, however, considerably smaller in stature, having not yet developed the capacity to occupy all space and time simultaneously.”
According to experts, divine life began as a single-celled all-powerful organism roughly 3.6 billion years ago, eventually evolving into a multicelled, sponge-like deity that bobbed and floated across the chaos of the early universe. Kamen explained that over hundreds of millions of years, the godlike life form became more complex, with limbs that allowed for locomotion across the endless expanse of the heavens, and sophisticated photoreceptor cells capable of seeing all things.
Based on newly obtained evidence, the Pan sanctorum is thought to have first experimented with creation ex nihilo around 7 million years ago. Kamen noted that the chimpanzee deity made several early attempts to produce rudimentary solar systems, but on each occasion was spooked upon inadvertently creating fire, which is said to have caused it to screech loudly, angrily swat away the newly formed sun, and then scamper across the universe to hide from the flaming sphere.
“Natural selection played a huge role in the evolution of divinity, and in this regard, the adaptive value of Pan sanctorum’s immortality proved critical to its survival,” said Kamen, adding that with its opposable thumbs, the divine ancestor was eventually able to fashion primitive tools for creating crude oceans and basic mountain ranges. “Today’s Lord Almighty actually still has a small bony protuberance in the small of His back, the vestigial remains of a tail we believe was used by an even older, monkey-like god to facilitate climbing, allowing it to escape into the heavens when faced with danger.”
“That potential for threats made it an evolutionary imperative for the primate god to develop omnipotence,” Kamen continued. “As well as sharp claws and pointed incisors.”
Though its smaller brain limited its cognitive abilities, the chimpanzee deity is believed to have possessed not only self-awareness, but also spatial intelligence, object permanence, and a rudimentary capacity for knowing all that is, all that has been, and all that ever will be.
However, it was only relatively recently that the heavenly species developed the intellectual capacity for higher reasoning, critical thinking, and infinite wisdom, according to Kamen. For Pan sanctorum, he noted, the passage of divine judgment was “purely a matter of primal instinct.”
“While complex speech would not emerge until the evolution of the Cro-Magnon god from Pan Sanctorum, the chimpanzee deity was capable of using grunts and hand gestures to convey basic emotions such as happiness, anger, or the forgiveness of sin,” Kamen said. “However, it appears that the chimp deity often exhibited extremely aggressive behavior, in some cases unleashing its divine wrath with little if any provocation toward the mortal chimps it created in its own image.”
He added, “It is our understanding that these creatures lived in a kind of jungle-like forerunner to the Garden of Eden, until a day came when their enraged creator cast them out, flinging feces at them as they fled.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Vatican City (AFP) – Pope John Paul II, who will be made a saint on April 27 along with John XXIII, was an inspirational figure who helped topple communism but alienated many with his conservative views.
The first non-Italian pope in more than 400 years, and the first from eastern Europe, Polish Karol Wojtyla was immensely popular, eschewing the pomp that surrounded his predecessors and seeking contact with ordinary people.
The pontiff, who died in 2005, was beatified in May 2011, giving him the status of "blessed" for the world's 1.2 billion Catholics and placing him one step away from sainthood.
During a papacy lasting nearly 27 years, John Paul II travelled far and wide, often greeted by massive crowds as he championed peace, denounced human rights abuses and deplored the decadence of the modern world.
He left one of his most momentous acts for the twilight of his papacy — an attempt to purify the soul of the Roman Catholic Church with a sweeping apology for sins and errors committed during its 2,000 years of existence.
John Paul II was born in a small town near Krakow, in southern Poland, on May 18, 1920.
His mother died when he was eight and his father raised him, teaching him German and football.
He studied at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow where he became fascinated by theatre and wrote a number of plays.
John Paul was never a member of the Polish resistance, but the experience of war caused him to consider the priesthood.
He became a parish priest and rose steadily through the Church hierarchy, eventually rising to cardinal.
When he was elected pope in October 1978, John Paul II was 58, a robust sportsman and a relative outsider amid the vast bureaucracy of the Holy See.
He spent his holidays hiking, skiing or kayaking, and refused to be penned in by the Vatican, sometimes sneaking out of the tiny state incognito.
His first foreign visit was to his native Poland.
Despite Soviet warnings, communist authorities were unable to head off the pope's 1979 visit, when he appeared before million-strong crowds speaking powerfully for human rights.
The upshot was a huge, reinvigorated anti-communist working-class movement, the birth of Solidarity, and the steady thaw of the Soviet glacier that lay over central and eastern Europe.
– 'A man of certainties, not doubts' –
For all the pope's immense popularity, his moral teachings — notably on family values, homosexuality, birth control, euthanasia and abortion — alienated many Catholics.
Among them were reformers, the young and Third World congregations in the grip of a devastating AIDS epidemic who were disappointed at his refusal to give ground on the issue of contraception.
Dogged by the scandal of paedophile priests, the pope, at the behest of US bishops, approved new measures to punish clergymen committing sexual abuses but only after a long silence.
His refusal to denounce corrupt paedophile Marcial Maciel, the founder of the Legionaries of Christ, drew widespread criticism.
A controversial book of his personal notes, published this year in defiance of his dying wishes under the title "I'm Very Much in God's Hands", mentions sinful Catholic clergy but stops short of addressing the sexual abuse crisis directly.
"Don't the sins of bishops and priests burden Christ with a greater cross, than those of others?" he says in a passage from March 1981.
That year, John Paul II nearly died in an assassination attempt when a right-wing Turkish extremist, Mehmet Ali Agca, shot him at close range in St Peter's Square. One bullet went through his abdomen and another narrowly missed his heart.
Though the motives behind the assassination bid were never clear, conspiracy theories included a Bulgarian secret service hit ordered by the KGB and an attempt by radical Islamists to polish off the most prominent Christian leader.
The pope said the Virgin Mary had saved his life, and he had one of the bullets inserted into the diamond-studded crown of the Virgin of Fatima in Portugal.
He met virtually every significant head of state of government.
The United States, the Soviet Union and then Russia, the countries of the former Soviet bloc, Mexico, Israel, Jordan and the Palestine Liberation Organisation established diplomatic ties with the Vatican during his papacy.
John Paul II was the first pope to pray in a synagogue, in Rome; the first to enter a mosque in an Islamic country, in Damascus, Syria; and the first to preside a meeting of the heads of all the major world religions in 1986.
"He was a man of certainties, not doubts. A mystic who had both feet on the ground," one of his closest collaborators, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, said.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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