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Friday Sermon: The Jesus Imbroglio

Published

5 years ago

December 21, 2018

Eric

By Babatunde Jose

The 1991 Gulf War, codenamed Operation Desert Storm is a watershed in the history of the Arab world and its afterburner and attendant consequences are still being felt. But, it is not the first desert storm. A storm has been raging in the ‘desert’ for more than 2000 years over a prophet of God called Jesus and his mission. Disputes concerning the nature of Jesus have deluged the earth with the blood of millions of people since his birth: From the persecution of his followers to the adoption of his creed by the Roman Emperor Constantine as state religion, followed in time by the altercation with Islam and the crusades, the Great Schism, the Reformation and the Inquisition, to present day bad blood between his followers and the followers of Islam. The name of Christ has caused more persecutions, wars, and miseries than any other name has caused. The darkest wrongs are still inspired by it. The wails of anguish that went up from Kishinev, Odessa, and Bialystok pogroms still vibrate in our ears. Whole libraries have been devoted to academic discourse on the nature and mission of the man who his followers have elevated to a position of divinity and co-equal with God: A concept that was never contemplated during the lifetime of the man but was surreptitiously made into a creed three hundred years after his demise. Even the concept of Trinity is not mentioned or enunciated in the Bible: The Platonic term trias, meaning three, was Latinized as trinitas, which gave us the English word trinity which is neither biblical nor Christian. Therefore, it is only proper in this season of Christmastide for us to peep into the Jesus imbroglio from the perspective of Islam; seeing that Jesus is also a revered prophet of Islam. What then is the Islamic standpoint regarding the personality of the Prince of Peace – Jesus?

“We Muslims believe, that Jesus (Eesa) was one of the mightiest messengers of God; that he was the Christ and that he was born miraculously – without any male intervention. The miracles of Jesus are the supernatural deeds attributed to him in Christian and Islamic texts. The majority are faith healings, exorcisms, resurrection, control over nature and forgiveness of sins. However, in the Synoptic Gospels (Mark, Matthew, and Luke), Jesus refuses to give a miraculous sign to prove his authority: “. . . and said unto them, ‘An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it. Matthew 12:39

Notwithstanding, no Muslim is a Muslim if he does not believe in Jesus!” But, Islam takes great exception to the concept of the ‘Sonship’ of God and the deification of Christ: Islam teaches the existence of a PERFECT God, meaning there is no sharer in His Nature and His Attributes: “Say: He is God, the One and Only; God, the Eternal, Absolute; He begetteth not, nor is He begotten; and there is none like unto Him.” (Quran, 112:1-4)

As regards the sons of God, no prophet can claim exclusivity of that phrase as there are tons of ‘sons’ in the Bible: The Bible contains 2541 instances. Though John 3:18 mentioned “the only begotten Son of God”; Psalms, 2:7, says ” I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.” This reference is to David which makes the ‘begotten son’ doctrine untenable as there are other instances of such references.

As for the deification of Christ and his divinity Deuteronomy 6:4 (which is the Shema recited by every Jew each morning) echoes Quran 112. Note in Mark 12:28-34 how Jesus and a Jewish scribe he encountered understood this text: “And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him; which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, ‘The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord. . . . . . . ” Mark 12:28-34. Jesus said ‘The Lord our God’.

There are many instances in the Holy Bible that corroborate the notion of one God and the messengership of Jesus. For, a messenger is defined as ‘he that is sent’; hear John: John 17:3 — “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”

The oneness of God received emphasis in the following verses: Deuteronomy 32:39, 2 Samuel 7:22; 1 Kings 8:60; 2 KINGS 5:15; 2 Kings 19:15; 1 Chronicles 17:20; Nehemiah 9:6; Isaiah 43:10,11; Isaiah 46:9;Hosea 13:4 and also in Joel 2:27. Ephesians 4:6; 1 Timothy 1:17; And many other places.

We could call Jesus many things, even as in 1 Timothy 2:5 where it is said: “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” Yes! As a mediator between man and God; but not God! For, as James 2:19 says: Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.

Two reasons have been advanced to prove that Jesus is God, according to them; Jesus is God because HE SHARES THE NATURE OF GOD, and HE IS IN EVERY WAY LIKE GOD.

Numerous verses from the Bible prove that Jesus neither SHARED THE NATURE OF GOD, nor is he IN EVERY WAY LIKE GOD. These verses negate the very concept of God in both its etymological and spiritual sense. What would God want to prove by subjecting His majesty to the challenges and tribulations Jesus was subjected to?

A “God” that was created from the seed of David: “Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the SEED of David according to the flesh.” (Romans, 1:3) Haba! “The Fruit of the Loins of David”. (Acts, 2:30); For the ancestors of “God” (Matthew, 1:1); the sex of “God” (Luke, 2:21); How Mary conceived and delivered “God”(Luke, 2:6) which means that she went through all the normal stages of pregnancy. Nor was her delivery any different from other expectant mothers see (Revelation, 12:2) and (Luke, 11:27); the country of origin of “God”: Jesus (God) was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king. (Matthew, 2:1); Jesus (God) was a carpenter by trade (Mark, 6:3), and the son of a carpenter. (Matthew 13:55). Mental, physical and moral development of “God (Luke, 2:52); “God” Was Twelve Years Old when his parents took him to Jerusalem for Passover (Luke, 2:41-42); The powerless “God” said, “I can of mine own self do nothing.” (John, 5:30);

And the ultimate contradiction was when Jesus (God) was asked about the ‘Hour’, he said: “But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.” (Mark, 13:32)

The ultimate profanity and blasphemy was the supposedly ‘capture of God’ see John, 18:2-3, thereafter “God” was arrested, bound and led away see (John, 18:12-13); “God” was humiliated (Luke, 22:63-64). “They spit in his face”, (Matthew, 26:67). And “God” was defenceless (John, 18:22-23). And “God” was condemned to death (Mark, 14:64), (Matthew, 26:66). And “He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth.” (Acts 8:32).

Finally: The Dying “God” cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost.” (Mark, 15:37)

This definitely cannot be the God we worship and pray to five times daily and whose praise we sing in churches all over the world every Sunday. There is no iota of doubt; the primitive man is higher in his concept of God the Almighty than the millions of civilized men and women of both East and West who strut the world today.

The whole discourse is centred and premised on an erroneous and fallacious conception of God. It is a noxious notion of an anthropomorphic conception of God. God has become the creation of man in the image of man; a God that wrestles with a man, who imbibe wine, who eats and is romanced by a woman who uses oil to massage his feet; these are far from the conception of God in the holy books. No doubt, the discourse is a continuation of pre-biblical age, borrowed from the Sumerian/Babylonian conception of God as an extraterrestrial. It is this that informed the various references in the bible to the Nephilim: The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came into the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown. The first mention of “sons of God” in the Hebrew Bible occurs at Genesis 6:1–4.

Yet we know from inference that Almighty God is Spirit and, in His usual glorified state, is invisible to the human eye (Colossians 1:15; 1 Timothy 1:17; Hebrews 11:27). That partly explains why John said, “No one has seen God at any time” (John 1:18). God is spirit – His nature is not flesh and blood.

Though Jesus is mentioned by name in twenty-five places in the Holy Quran, he is also addressed with respect as: “Ibn. Maryam” – son of Mary; and as “Rasul-ullah” – Messenger of Allah. He is spoken of as “the word of God”, as “the spirit of God”, as a “sign of God”, and numerous other epithets of honour spread over fifteen different chapters. There is not a single disparaging remark in the entire Quran to which anyone can take exception.

The Holy Quran refers to Jesus as “Eesa”, and this name is used more times than any other title, because this was his name. Actually, his proper name was “Eesa” (Arabic), or “Esau” (Hebrew); classical “Yeheshua”, which the Christian nations of the West Latinised as Jesus. Neither the “J” nor the second “s” in the name Jesus is to be found in the original tongue – they are not found in the Semitic languages. The word is very simply -“E S A U” – a very common Jewish name, used more than sixty times in the very first booklet of the Bible, called “Genesis”. There was at least one “Jesus” sitting on the “bench” at the trial of Jesus before the Sanhedrin. Josephus the Jewish historian mentions some twenty-five Jesus’ in his “Book of Antiquities”. The New Testament speaks of “Bar-Jesus” – a magician and a sorcerer, a false prophet (Acts 13:6); and also “Jesus-Justus” – a Christian missionary, a contemporary of Paul (Colossians 4:11). These are distinct from Jesus the son of Mary.

After a description of the high position which Jesus occupies as a prophet, the jury is out to repudiate the dogma that he was God, or the son of God, or anything more than man. If it is said that he was born without a human father, so also was Adam. Indeed Adam was born without either a human father or mother. Eve his wife, was ‘manufactured’ from the ribs of Adam without a father or a mother. Finally, there was “Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God… Without father, without mother, without descent, having NEITHER BEGINNING of days, NOR END of life…” Hebrews 7:1-3. Here is a candidate for Divinity itself, for only God Almighty could possess these qualities. Adam had a beginning (in the garden), Jesus had a beginning (in the stable); Adam had an end and so had Jesus “and he gave up the ghost“. But where is Melchisedec?

The greatness of Jesus arose from the divine command of Allah ‘KUN’-“Be”: for after that he was – more than dust – a great spiritual leader and teacher.”

Barka Juma’at and Best Wishes for a Merry Christmas!

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Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway: Prioritize Existing Unfinished Projects, Peter Obi Tells FG

Published

2 days ago

April 22, 2024

Eric

Mr. Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 general election, has advised the federal government to prioritize existing unfinished projects spread across the country instead of the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway project.

Obi, in a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday, stated that the project was a misplaced priority given the numerous unfinished roads throughout the country.

The former governor of Anambra State mentioned that the budget allocated to the Ministry of Works is insufficient for significant progress on the country’s various unfinished roads, much less their completion.

Obi therefore, advised that the government prioritize the existing infrastructural projects in the country before embarking on any new and colossal projects like the Lagos-Calabar super highway project.

“The Federal Ministry of Works 2024 capital budget of N892,461,262,656.00, additional funding from multilateral loan projects of N94,828,535,243.00, alongside other expected contributions from sources like the China-Exim Bank and the World Bank, will not be enough for serious work on all the critical roads, some of which I enumerated above, let alone their completion.

So, why embark on another huge project that will not be completed in the next 20 or 30 years?

“To do so will only exacerbate the problem of abandoned, uncompleted projects that are not contributing to economic growth and overall development.

“Therefore, while acknowledging the potential benefits of coastal superhighway infrastructure, I urge prioritization of our existing uncompleted projects. We must allocate resources towards repairing and completing existing infrastructure.

“In any development formula, the primary focus should be on completing and rehabilitating existing infrastructure rather than embarking on colossal new projects that may never reach completion within the next 30 years,” Obi said.

Back in March, the Federal Government began constructing the 700-kilometer Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, designed to extend through 9 states with two spurs leading to the Northern States.

Recall that former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, had earlier described the project as a fraud.

“Umahi had announced that Hitech would fully fund the project, and based on this, there was no competitive bidding. He (Umahi) then said that Hitech could only raise just 6% of the money for the pilot phase. This smacks of deceit,” Atiku said.

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2027 Presidential Race: Opposition Parties Under Attack

Published

3 days ago

April 21, 2024

Eric

By Eric Elezuo

While it is still a whole three years before the next general election in 2027, The Boss has learnt that opposition parties in the countries are being muffled to pave the way for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to return to, and retain power.

From the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to the Labour Party (LP), and down to the New Nigerian Peoples Paty (NNPP), crises have engulfed the rank and files, in what a source told this paper was the attempt and making of the ruling party, APC, to decimate, destabilize and make redundant the machineries of the opposition parties.

It is believed that by 2027, the apparatuses holding together the various opposition parties would have weakened irredeemably to the extent the country would seemingly nosedive into the inglorious one party state that every civil right advocate and democrats abhor.

It is alleged that all the crises in all the opposition parties are being engineered by the President Bola Tinubu-led ruling APC, with the hope of getting the fibres of their system weakened, thereby luring the members of the crisis-ridden parties into the APC.

Slightly one year after the last presidential election, the two major opposition platforms, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party, have separately been embroiled in a crisis of confidence which has diminished their capacity to provide viable opposition to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

The crises in both opposition parties got to a head. The Labour Party led by its national chairman Julius Abure held its much-opposed national convention which was boycotted by its 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi; its only governor, Alex Otti of Abia State; federal and state lawmakers elected on its platform, and the organised Labour.

In the Labour Labour, members have been embroiled in endless battle of supremacy with a faction led by Mr. Apapa steadily contesting the leadership of Julius Abure.

Consequently, the presidential candidate of the party in the 2023 elections, Mr. Peter Obi, reverence as a leader in the fold, noting that whatever the party faces presently, that Nigeria’s problems are far bigger than the crises in his party.

The LP has been embroiled in crises — ranging from allegations of misappropriation of funds, and leadership tussle, to calls for the resignation of the party’s national chairman.

TheCable reported that “On March 27, the LP conducted a national convention in Anambra state where Julius Abure was re-elected as its national chairman.

Obi did not attend the convention, fuelling speculations that he may be mulling over ditching the LP for another platform.

Speaking during an appearance on HaveYourSay247, an interactive online session hosted by Rudolf Okonkwo over the weekend, Obi said he is confident that the crises rocking the LP will soon be resolved amicably.

“Whatever is happening in the Labour Party is so minute compared to what is happening in the country,” Obi said.

“So, for me, it is something we will resolve amicably, and it is not anything to worry about. Let us worry about the country.

“Let us worry about how the average Nigerian would be able to have a means of livelihood to be able to eat, that should be our worry.”

Obi said he has no interest in being the party’s leader but only to make sure things are done properly.

“I don’t see what I do in politics as being the leader of any place or not. My position is that just like I always say, I am not desperate to be president of Nigeria, I am desperate to see Nigeria work because I know it can work,” he added.

“We have a more desperate situation. Parties are just a means to be able to contest elections. What is important is that being a leader of a party does not reduce the price of food.

In the PDP, the shenanigans of former Rivers State Governor, Mr. Nyesom Wike, has practically kept the party in constant crisis with many observers concluding that the now Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) is working for the APC, and is just a mole in the PDP. Wike has denied the allegation, however,

But news filtered in last week as that the immediate past Governor of Rivers State, and Minister may have concluded plans to attend the much advertised National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), billed to hold on Thursday, in Abuja.

Impeccable source, who is in the know, told The Boss that the minister, whose membership of the PDP is yet to be revoked even as he frolicks with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), and serving in the President Bola Tinubu government as a minister.

The Source told The Boss that Wike’s impending presence at the NEC meeting on Thursday was not unconnected with plans, already hatched with some governors, to weaken the opposition PDP.

“Yes, we have on good authority that FCT minister, Wike is planning to attend the NEC meeting tomorrow all in a bid to weaken the fabrics of the PDP, and pave the way for the continuation of the Tinubu administration come 2027, and by extension, relapse Nigeria to a full blown one party state.

“From every indication, Wike and his co-travellers, are bent on unleashing the same crisis ravaging the third force, Labour Party, and Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso’s Nigerian National People’s Party (NNPP) on the PDP for the APC to remain the only political party in the country, and ensure that Tinubu has no challenger, come 2027,” the Source said.

It would be recalled that Wike has boasted over and again that there’s no opposition against Tinubu’s re-emergence in 2027, and that they have made sure of that. He has been compensated with the Ministerial job after he withdrew support for his party, and supported the APC and Tinubu to emerge as national government.

The Source further revealed that in the attempt to actualize the intended one party state, a lot of funding is ongoing to ensure that concerned stakeholders are ‘settled’ handsomely.

Wike, prior, during and after the 2023 general elections, has been floating in between the two major political parties; the APC and the PDP. While he claim to still be a member of the PDP, he is functioning as a minister in an APC government, mocking the inability of his party to discipline him.

While political stakeholders concluded that the outcome of the Thursday’s PDP NEC meeting will determine the path Nigeria’s political trajectory will take, and that it may portend the end of multi-party system and political democracy if Wike succeeds in his plan; every page of what finally transpired at the meeting pointed to the fact.

The much touted removal of the party chairman, who is believed to be a crony of the Abuja minister, Damagum, retained his seat, with his executives.

“It is very clear to everyone that a lot of money politics is being played to cajole many loyal members of the party, forcing them into frustration, and eventually it of the party. The option afterwards, will be the APC. This, will for all intent and purpose actualize the intended one party state as an APC agenda.

The Musa Rabiu Kwankwaso-led NNPP is not faring better either. The only governor under their ticket, Abba Kabir Yusuf, just had the confidence of their party on him withdrawn. He was fighting for his political life until suddenly it was announced the the APC in Kano has collapsed its structure into the NNPP.

“This is just another APC strategy to actualize their hidden intentions. Time will reveal the very sinister agenda they harboring,” an analyst said.

Much as 2027 is still three years away, but intrigues are in play to render Nigeria a one party state, and perpetuate the APC in power. The three other opposition parties are basically under attack to bring to pass this unpopular agenda.

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Akwa Ibom Government, Governor Umo Eno Receive Top Honors at the 10th Wonders of the World Expo in Lagos

Published

3 days ago

April 21, 2024

Admin

The Akwa Ibom State Government and Governor Pastor Umo Eno were recognized with Travellers Awards at the 10th Wonders of the World Expo in Lagos for their sustained enhancement of infrastructure, support for local talent, and dedication to investment in the tourism sector. The ceremony took place at the National Museum in Onikan, Lagos.

While Akwa Ibom won the Most Active Tourism State of the Year, Governor Eno was adjudged the most Tourism-Friendly Governor of the Year at the event that had Minister of Tourism, Mrs. Lola Ade John in attendance.

According to Amb. Ikechi Uko, Founder/Publisher of ATQ Magazine, the organizers of the event which is in its tenth edition, Akwa Ibom State won the top prize “in recognition of its valiant and resourceful efforts to drive and sustain domestic tourism by promoting the industry.

‘In 2023, Akwa Ibom was one of the states that hosted World Tourism Day (WTD ) events. The state also organized the famous Christmas Unplugged, which featured music, food, and cultures from all 31 LGAs as well as ensured friendly policies.”

While hoping that the Travellers Awards would spur Akwa Ibom to do more to dominate the domestic tourism industry, the organizers hoped that the state would gradually evolve into one of Nigeria’s top international tourism destinations.

That was not all, the state Commissioner of Culture and Tourism, Sir Charles Udoh was also recognized as one of the Top 100 Tourism Personalities in Nigeria for demonstrating exceptional leadership and innovation in the travel and tourism industry, while other Akwa Ibom indigenes and entity were also celebrated: Mrs. Ime Udo, Honorary Special Adviser to the Governor( Tourism) won Tourism Promoter of the Year, Favour Udo won Tourism Photographer of the Year, Loretta Effiong and Prince Uduak Sunday (Qua Tours) were listed among the Tourism Personalities of the Year and Ibom Air won Airline of the Year International.

In his remarks, Sir Charles Udoh, who represented the Governor at the event, thanked the organizers for the awards and noted that Akwa Ibom is certainly enjoying the golden era when it comes to tourism development. He stated that Governor Umo Eno is very keen on making Akwa Ibom a leading tourism destination with his programmes and policies.

He revealed that with the new Victor Attah International Airport nearing completion, the purchase of a ferry for the Oron-Calabar route, new developments along its coastline and the restoration work that will be done at all its major tourism sites, Akwa Ibom is well on the way to becoming the number one destination for all domestic and foreign tourists.

In her speech, Tourism Minister, Mrs. Ade John hailed the organizers for hosting the Expo, where practitioners were lectured by top experts while also rewarding those who have excelled in the past year.

She affirmed that her ministry is open to partnership with public and private sector operators, adding that tourism development can only be successful through collaborative efforts.

The event, which attracted leading and budding tourism professionals, also featured interactive and entertainment sessions.

Apart from Sir Charles Udoh and Mrs. Ime Udo, the Akwa Ibom State delegation, also included: Mr. Michael Effiong James, Senior Special Assistant (Lagos Liaison) to Governor, Mrs. Eme Bassey, Special Assistant to Governor (Lagos Liaison) and Akparawa John Offiong, Deputy Director ( Culture) Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

More photos below: