The Days After Easter

Oops! The holidays have come and gone like a flash in the pan! Quite short but long, depending on the way you see it. Easter break is always one season I look forward to. Apart from all the spiritual significance of Easter, the holiday affords one to take a break from the ‘hustling and bustling’ of life be it from work, school, business, etc. Of course, its been hectic and laborious since the beginning of the year, particularly in a country like ours where the essentials of life don’t come easy. But thank God for Easter, a time of the year when the government, whether they like it or not, must declare two days public holidays – each for Good Friday and Easter Monday. So, essentially, we have four full days of rest including the weekend. In reality however, in this part of our world, most of us never had rest as we spent most of the time searching endlessly for petrol in long and excruciating queues, coupled with the worsening blackout of power. Well, that’s story for another day.

My main subject for discourse today focuses on the days after Easter. In the Bible, after Jesus had resurrected, he spent 40 days on earth appearing to His disciples. It must have been one of the finest moments for these folks as it was before their very eyes this great event was happening. Prophecies given thousands of years before had just been fulfilled, wow! Amazing, isn’t it? Those 40 days would have been one of exceeding great joy among the believers; it must have been days of conquest, celebration and revival. Quintessential Jesus spent the time teaching His disciples more doctrines about the kingdom and strengthening their faith as well as equipping them for the challenges ahead. 

Similarly, as it was then, so should it be today. We just commemorated the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It shouldn’t stop there for us Christians. The days after Easter should essentially be some of the finest moments of our lives here on earth. Like never before, we need to crave the presence of Christ in our lives and fellowships. Wherever the disciples gathered, Jesus would always appear in their midst. This further proves Jesus’ words earlier in Matthew 18:20 that “where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” We should spend the days after Easter conscious of the abiding presence of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ “and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” 

Nothing should becloud our joy these days succeeding Easter. Indeed, they should be days of conquest, celebration and revival. Easter doesn’t and shouldn’t just end on Sunday. No! The reverberation of Easter continues till the end of the year and thereafter. Despite the situation our country’s economy throws at us and all the seeming vicissitudes of life that confront us daily, Easter should reawaken our hopes and assurances in the unflinching words of Jesus. For the fact that He resurrected from the grave according to His word, we should also believe Him that He is able to do exceedingly and abundantly, above all we ask or think according to this very resurrection power.

More than ever before, we must rededicate ourselves to the Great Commission.  Our days after Easter should be devoted to sharing the gospel with other people.  That was what preoccupied the disciples after Jesus' resurrection.  That was the mandate they received from the Lord before His ascension into heaven.   Let us all go out and preach the gospel in the highways and hedges...everywhere indeed! 

EASTER: Don't miss the fundamental message

It's Easter Sunday once again! And I dare say Happy Easter to everyone of us. It's always a thing of joy to commemorate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is because this event remains the bastion of hope for the Christian faith. It is the very essence of Christianity. Had Christ not risen from the dead, Christianity would surely be non existent. Little wonder the Roman government and Jewish leadership at that time did everything possible to cover up His resurrection including the use of propaganda.

Hence, every Easter reminds us that Jesus came to the earth in human form, lived among men, was killed by crucifixion, buried and on the third day, he rose again and appeared to many and afterwards, ascended into heaven! That is the fundamental message of Easter and we mustn't get it wrong.

We are also not unmindful of the attempt by the world system to pervert the essence or significance of Easter. We hear that Easter was actually the modified name of the Queen of Heaven called the Eastern Star which was reportedly hated by God. But the Pontiff of Rome at the time ruled that Easter must be observed, which was actually a time to worship this queen, rather than the remembrance of when Jesus died and resurrected. If we remember the conspiracies by the world system against the birth and life of Jesus Christ, then it shouldn't even come as a surprise when we see the lies, controversies and further conspiracies being concocted by the same system to rubbish the essence of Easter.

As we celebrate Easter today, Christians must not be unmindful of the fundamental message of the resurrection of Christ. Jesus himself made this message crystal clear upon his resurrection as recorded in Mark 16:15 "And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." The fundamental message in Easter therefore is the Gospel. The reason why all these events happened is because of the gospel. That is why the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 1:16 "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek."

Every Christian therefore must seize this opportunity of the Easter celebrations to re-internalise the fundamental values of the gospel. For ease of explaining what the gospel is, I coin it as follows:

G - Grace of God

O - Omnipotence of God

S - Salvation of God

P - Peace with God

E - Eternity with God

L - Love of God

Now, these six things are the sum of the fundamental message of Easter. Jesus is the GOSPEL personified. We should not only believe it, we must live it and most importantly, preach these intrinsic values of the gospel.

One again, to all Christians in Nigeria and indeed all over the world, Happy Easter from JSN blog.

STRANGE!!! Pastor to spend weekend in coffin and "resurrect" on Sunday!

Na wa ooooo!!! Things we hear everyday! A pastor in Louisiana, USA is raising eyebrows with his unusual plan to mark Easter. He plans to spend the weekend in a coffin and resurrect himself on Sunday, reports television station.

Bishop Rickey Moore of Shreveport sealed himself in a coffin Friday. He plans to remain in that coffin without access to food, water or a bathroom for 36 hours.

He'll come out at 3am on Easter Sunday. Some critics call the plan extreme and even sacrilegious.
But Moore says he just wants to get people's attention.

"If it takes people talking about me and criticizing me for trying to remind them of what Jesus did, I don't mind wearing my crown," he said.

What you should look out for in a Pastor

There is no gainsaying that Nigeria is a deeply rooted religious country, with Christianity and Islam contending for prominence. Many people have had to question why the level of decadence in the society is incredibly high especially when compared to other liberal societies where religion is quite insignificant among the people. Almost every landscape of Nigerian towns and villages are dotted with churches of all credo and creed. If these churches were to be that effective and impactful, I am pretty sure that our society would be far better than it is today. 

The church is a place primarily for worship. In fact, Jesus himself called it a “house of prayer”. It is also described in scriptures as the ground and pillar of truth. The church is a place of fellowship with other Christians and more importantly, the house of God. However, in Nigeria, people go to church for various reasons. Some of these reasons include socialisation, miracles, prophesies, business transactions, entertainment, and some just for the sheer purpose of identifying with a church. 

Whatever may be our reasons for attending church services, I believe the leadership of the church must be set right so that at the end of the day, people are enlightened and become better Christians. Someone once said that everything rises and falls on leadership – and I believe that strongly! May I just add that the impact of a church is not necessarily based on the sophistication of its architecture or the lushness of its ambience, neither is it based on the sonorousness of the choir nor yet the eloquence of the preacher but it is based on its foundational principles and the reverence and projection of same by the leadership of the church. Suffice it to say that the pastor gives form to a church. How the pastor steers the affairs of the church goes a long way to determine the quality of its members. 

You may want to review the qualities to look out for in a pastor as outlined below:

• Must be above reproach 
• Must be a husband of one wife 
• Must have children that are believers. If they can’t rule their own home, they surely can’t be a church leader. 
• The pastor must be free from debauchery (extreme indulgence in sex, alcohol, or drugs) 
• He must be free from insubordination 
• He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered 
• He must not be a drunkard 
• He must be hospitable 
• He must be a lover of good 
• He must be self-controlled 
• He must be upright 
• He must be holy 
• He must be disciplined 
• He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught 
• He must be respectable 
• He must be able to teach 
• He must not be violent but gentle 
• He must not be a lover of money 
• He must not be a recent convert 

In future posts, I shall be taking on these criteria one after the other in order to drive home the point. 

If your pastor falls short of these standards, you may want to look out for one that possesses them. And if you are a pastor out there and you think you don’t meet the above criteria for pastoral work, why not begin to work on yourself immediately because more often than not, the destiny of your church members depends on how much you are able to impact them with your exemplary lifestyle. Jesus said, “Can the blind lead the blind? Shall they not both fall into the ditch? The disciple is not above his master: but everyone that is perfect shall be as his master.”

One Thing at a Time

One thing I love the Yorubas for is the way they describe God. They say, among other things, that God is Great and Mighty (Oyigiyigi). He is also the Arugbo Ojo Gbogbo (The Ancient One who spans the past, present and the future), The Apase wa ni pa ase re la fi da ohun gbogbo which means The One who has authority to give orders, and by His orders have all things been created. These adjectives greatly describe the infiniteness of the Almighty God, even though words remain insufficient to describe Him. 

But have you ever asked yourself why it took this Oyigiyigi six whole days to create the world? Why did He, being the Apase wa ni pa ase re la fi da ohun gbogbo, not just give explicit orders for the creation of the world within a split second? Why would he have to confer with ‘others’ to create man as recorded in Genesis 1:26? These actually got me thinking and my conclusion is that God takes one thing at a time. He is indeed a God order. 

However, we human beings seem to do things on the contrary. We seem to lack the patience to achieve things gradually. We just want to get things done ‘sharp sharp.’ Natural or social order is always predicated on man’s respect for divine, timeless and immutable imperatives. It is indeed a divine, timeless and immutable imperative from our Maker to do things one at a time. There are no shortcuts to achieving success. When we try to outsmart ourselves, we end up shortchanging ourselves. We know some protagonist of ‘multitasking’ may contend with this perspective, yet it is critical to state that we are not wired up to multitask but to focus on just one thing at a time. 

I have seen some women who say they want to have their kids all in a row and stop having children. Sweetheart, there’s something called child spacing. You can’t just get your kids all in a row without the consequences. Some women have even lost their lives in the process. Same thing applies to our educational pursuits, financial quests, social aspirations, career prospects, marital goals, political inclinations and indeed every other facet of life. We must understand that “the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happens to them all.” 

Therefore, let’s stop chasing the things of life as if we are the determiners of destiny. There’s time for everything. An ancient proverb states that everything comes to him who waits. As we go about conducting the affairs of our lives this week and indeed for the rest of the year, let us take things with ease and refrain from an acquire-all-at-once mentality.

Like the 16th century German poet, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote,

“Like the star that shines afar,

Without haste and without rest,

Let each one wheel with steady sway

Round the task that rules the day,

And do their best.”

It just gonna be one thing at a time, darling. Do have a blessed and fulfilling week ahead. 

Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo Turns 64!

Hip! Hip!! Hip!!! Hurray!!! My hat is doffed for this amazing preacher of the gospel and servant of God, Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo as he turns 64 today.  For over 40 years, Pastor Matthew (as he is fondly called by most of his flock) has been entirely committed to propagating the gospel of Jesus Christ to all the nations of the world.  He is the Senior Pastor of Kingsway International Christian Centre with international headquarters in London. 

To me, Pastor Matthew is an epitome of the cardinal virtues of the christian faith namely, hardwork, faith, rectitude, simplicity, intellectualism, civility, kindness, integrity, among several others. His messages cut across the christian life, finance, integrity, family and relationships. I can say wholeheartedly that the ministry of Pastor Matthew has tremendously blessed my life and I believe, millions of lives out there who are fortunate to sit under his ministration or listen to him via media broadcasts all over the world. 

May God continue to uphold you my dear Pastor, bless you beyond measure and give you the grace to carry on till the end of time. 

Happy birthday Pastor Matthew!!! Your years on earth has been indisputably fruitful. Here's dedicating this Lady Antebellum's timeless lyrics to you on your birthday. 

Never Alone

May the angels protect you, trouble neglect you

And heaven accept you when it's time to go home

May you always have plenty, your glass never empty

And know in your belly, you're never alone

May your tears come from laughing, you find friends worth having

With every year passing, they mean more than gold

May you win but stay humble, smile more than grumble

And know when you stumble, you're never alone

Never alone, never alone

I'll be in every beat of your heart when you face the unknown

Wherever you fly this isn't goodbye

My love will follow you, stay with you, pastor, you're never alone

Well, I have to be honest as much as I wanted

Im not gonna promise that cold winds won't blow

So when hard times have found you and your fears surround you

Wrap my love around you, you're never alone

Never alone, never alone

I'll be in every beat of your heart when you face the unknown

Wherever you fly this isn't goodbye

My love will follow you, stay with you, pastor, you're never alone

May the angels protect you, trouble neglect you

And heaven accept you when it's time to go home

So when hard times have found you and your fears surround you

Wrap my love around you, you're never alone

Never alone, never alone

I'll be in every beat of your heart when you face the unknown

Wherever you fly, this isn't goodbye

My love will follow you, stay with you, pastor, you're never alone

My love will follow you, stay with you, pastor, you're never alone

That El-Rufai Religious Law

I have been pondering over the Religious Regulation Bill that was sent to the Kaduna State House of Assembly by the Mallam Nasir El-Rufai led executive government. Well, for those who are not yet familiar with the Bill, here is a synopsis of it. 

The Religious Regulation Bill, designed to replace the Religious Regulation Edict of 1984, is geared, among other things, towards regulating Christianity and Islam as it seeks to create an inter-faith Ministerial Committee to be appointed by the governor and exercise control over Jama’atu Nasril Islam, JNI, and the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN. The creation of an inter-faith Ministerial Committee, to be appointed by the governor shall issue licenses to religious bodies. Without such licenses, you cannot preach. 

Honestly, I see this bill as a contravention of our nation's constitutional provision on the freedom of religion and propagation of same. Section 38 (1) of the 1999 constitution and Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Right, provide:“Every person shall be entitled to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, including freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom (either alone or in community with others, and in public or in private) to manifest and propagate his religion or belief in worship, teaching, practice and observance.”

To me, religion is a very delicate issue any responsible government would want to toy with. There are several areas of society begging for development and Mr. El-rufai would do well to channel his energy towards a meaningful development of Kaduna state rather than stirring the nest of religious crisis in his state.  Regardless of any justification the government may want to put forward, censoring religion under whatever guise is totally unacceptable, immoral, illegal, and against the multi-religious framework of the Nigerian nation-state. What do you guys think? 

Other high-points of the controversial bill include: 

No external preacher can preach in Kaduna without a permit. 

The committee has the power to refuse to issue licenses. No criteria are given as to what will qualify one to have a license issued to him or for one to be denied a license. 

While the law does not regulate traditionalists in the practice of their beliefs, they are to have a representative on the committee which regulates the Christian and Muslim religions. 

The bill empowers JNI and CAN to keep records of churches and mosques including data of preachers. (The law does not stipulate what ‘data’ is required to qualify for license). 

The law criminalizes the use of religious CDs, flash drive and other communication gadgets except in churches, mosques or other places of worship or personal houses. The implication is that you cannot listen to Christian tapes in your car or at any place except your house and in a church. If you preach without a license, you are guilty of an offence punishable by two years imprisonment. 

If you hold any Christian gathering even in a church and use loud speaker (microphone) after 8.00 p.m, you are guilty of an offence punishable with two years imprisonment. If you listen to a message in your car, you are guilty of an offence punishable by two years imprisonment. If you hold a crusade or any programme or any other kind of programme and use a loudspeaker at the said programme as long as it is not a church, you are guilty of an offence punishable by two years imprisonment. 

The bill criminalizes the abuse of religious books and makes it punishable by two years imprisonment. (It does not define what ‘abuse of religious books’ mean. It criminalizes the use of derogatory terms in describing any religion and makes it punishable by two years imprisonment. It does not define what ‘use of derogatory terms in describing any religion’ means.) 

Every preacher will have to obtain one year license (renewable every year) or risk two years imprisonment. If you invite any external preacher (i.e. preacher from outside Kaduna State), such a person must be licensed for the duration of his/her stay and the body issuing the license has the right to reject the external preacher if it feels he is not qualified to preach in the state.