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JOS, Nigeria, January 27, 2020 (Morning Star News) – Muslim Fulani herdsmen killed two Christians in separate attacks in Plateau state this month, in addition to the 13 Christians from the same denomination killed on Jan. 8, sources said.

Herdsmen invaded Torok village in Riyom County on Jan. 20, killing Reuben Bulus, a 25-year-old member of the Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN), according to Dalyop Solomon Mwantiri, a human rights activist with the Emancipation Centre for Crisis Victims in Nigeria.

“Bulus was killed at about 7:10 p.m. on Jan. 20 when herdsmen invaded his village,” Mwantiri told Morning Star News.

In Gako village, near Rim in Riyom County, another COCIN member, Ngam Stephen Dachung, was killed by herdsmen on Jan. 1, Mwantiri said.

“He was shot dead at a point at Gako-Diyan junction where many lives were previously lost to herdsmen ambushes in the area,” he said.

On Jan. 8, 13 COCIN were members slain in Plateau state’s Kulben village, Mangu County, in an attack by about 20 herdsmen that also wounded three others.

In addition, Mwantiri said, herdsmen killed a Christian woman, Mary Machief, and her baby daughter in Plateau state’s Bokkos County on Dec. 16. The herdsmen attacked them in Machief’s father’s home in Kunnet village that night, relatives told Morning Star News.

“It’s still a shock to me, I wish it were a dream,” said one relative.

Another relative said Machief was not killed instantly but died later from wounds.

“We all prayed for God to give her quick healing, but God deemed it fit to take her to eternal home,” he said.

On Dec. 22 in Tanjol near Jol in Riyom County, another COCIN member, Ayuba Lanjo, was wounded in an attack by herdsmen, said Mwantiri, who is also an attorney.

“Ayuba Lanjo was ambushed by some herdsmen; he was shot at and injured,” Mwantiri said.

Near Bukuru in Jos South County, herdsmen on Jan. 21 kidnapped Christie Peter Mwankon in Kwata village.

The 26-year-old COCIN member, daughter of a former Plateau state tourism official, was abducted after the herdsmen shot their way into the village and broke into her sister’s house, sources said.

“Christie Peter was kidnapped at about 2 a.m. in her sister’s house when the herdsmen broke into the house and kidnapped the graduate of Ahmadu Bello University-Zaria,” said area resident Solomon Kogi. “The herdsmen are demanding a ransom of 5 million naira [$US13,735] from her family.”

Source: Christian Headlines

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Article by John C. Richards, Jr. John C. Richards, Jr. is a thought-leader, gifted teacher, and gifted writer/speaker. He currently serves as the Pastor of Assimilation at Saint Mark Baptist Church in Little Rock, Arkansas. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Christian Leadership from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and previously served as Managing Director of the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College. The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily represent those of BCNN1.

Some moments embed themselves in your memory. Most people can remember where they were during 9/11—the dreadful day thousands of American lives were lost in several terrorist attacks.

Yesterday was one of those moments for me.

Besides my family, my life tends to orbit around three Bs: the Bible, books, and basketball. I love NBA basketball—at times, much to my wife’s chagrin. As our ministry team closed our worship services yesterday, one of our members delivered me the news: “Kobe Bryant died in a helicopter accident.”

My stomach dropped. I had more questions than answers.

As the tragic story unfolded, I learned that Bryant’s 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, and seven other people also lost their lives in the accident. I felt numb all day. I didn’t know what to feel.

When the numbness subsided, one thought plagued my mind. What is it about the tragic, untimely death of iconic men and women that causes a collective lament from people from various religious, ethnic, and social backgrounds?

Three things about Kobe’s life and legacy ring true. And I think they are informative—especially for believers.

The Changing Narrative on Black Fatherhood

As a father, my heart hurt that Bryant could no longer continue to nourish and develop his growing relationship with his daughter.

While I did not care for Kobe Bryant as a player, I admired him in his retirement as a father. His active involvement in his daughters’ lives and his presence after missing special moments because of a rigorous NBA schedule was refreshing.

Our country is rife with mischaracterizations about black fatherhood. Kobe had joined the litany of NBA Black father ambassadors to help shape and change the false narrative of fatherlessness in Black and Brown communities.

We lost the opportunity for Bryant’s story as a father to play out. But we are also reminded of ordinary, everyday, working Black fathers who put the same effort and love into their children’s lives.

It is no secret that we live in racialized times. Don’t get trapped in talking point tales that undermine image-bearing men and women. As believers, let us make sure we continue to believe the best about others and not perpetuate stereotypical views that alienate brothers and sisters in the faith.

The Importance of Passion and Drive

As a Christian, I prayed earnestly that those involved had heard and believed the gospel and that my passion for gospel proclamation would never wane.

Bryant was one of the hardest working players in his sport. And it paid off for him. His passion for the game of basketball led him to study it more than any other player in modern history. He didn’t want others to remember him as a disinterested member of the NBA, but as an ambassador.

He also served as an ambassador for the women’s game—helping the basketball community acknowledge and honor the work women put in on and off the court. Down to his last game, that passion never waned—he scored 60 points in his final game.

Source: Christianity Today

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With all the talk about climate change and rising temperatures, it might be hard to imagine a “Little Ice Age” in the future. But NASA’s forecast for solar activity over the next decade could mean we’re in store for a cool-down.

The sun develops spots that are about the size of earth, and they change in intensity and number over time.

According to NASA, these sunspots provide a standard gauge of solar activity. That activity rises and falls in 11-year cycles. The next one begins this year, and the current forecast calls for the weakest solar activity in the last 200 years.

Astrophysicist Dr. Jeff Zweerink of “Reasons to Believe” spoke with CBN News about the correlation between sunspots and weather on Earth.

“If it continues to drop, one thing we do know is that sunspots, they look like dark spots on the sun, so you’d initially think, ‘Oh, maybe that’s because there’s less radiation given off’,” he said.

“It turns out because of the magnetic fields going on in there, the sunspots actually emit more radiation. And so if there are fewer sunspots, we’re receiving less sunlight from the sun,” Zweerink continued.

“And so you would expect to see a continual decline in temperatures – that things might get colder over the next 10 or 15 years,” he said.

According to The New American, more and more scientists believe this lower solar cycle could spark a lengthy period of minimum solar activity leading to cooler temperatures on Earth.

It’s happened before. From the mid-1600s to the early 1700s, the sun experienced a period of low solar activity known as the Maunder Minimum. It corresponded to a time on Earth known as the “Little Ice Age.”

“We know from historical records, and these are very early observations of the sun, that there were very few of these sunspots for very long periods, from about 1650 until 1715,” Dr. Jens Olaf Pepke Pedersen of the Danish Space Institute told CBN News.

“And this particular period of low solar activity also correlates with a period where the climate at least in most of Europe and other places of the world was very cold,” he continued.

“So what they noticed is primarily in Europe, where they were taking a lot of these measurements, what they found is that the temperatures were really cold,” said Zweerink.

It was also very cold in North America. Colonial art often shows deep snows and ice-filled rivers during the winters.

Zweerink says the bottom line is if the sunspot activity continues to drop off as expected, we’re going to experience cooler weather for a while.

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Parishioners at a California church where NBA legend Kobe Bryant worshiped Sunday morning two hours before he perished in a fiery helicopter crash along with his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, and seven others in Calabasas, California, were so “stunned” when they got news of his death they could only respond initially with “silence.”

Julie Hermes, a spokeswoman for Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic Church in Newport Beach told the Daily Mail that Bryant worshiped there on Sunday morning before his tragic end. On Sunday, she said, Bryant slipped in at the back of the service as usual and left early to avoid disturbing the other parishioners.

“He attended the 7 a.m. mass prior to going to the Orange County John Wayne Airport,” Hermes told the publication.

“I imagine he went straight to the airport, because the mass was 7 to 8 a.m. I’m told generally 7 a.m. was his mass. He was very discreet. He would come in and stay at the back, and his family too, and then he would usually leave a little earlier prior to the very end of the service,” she continued. “He was very much loved at the church, and he was very devout, very dedicated to his faith.”

A call for a downed helicopter and brush fire in Calabasas went out at 9:47 a.m. local time on Sunday, Los Angeles County Fire Chief Daryl Osby said.

Hermes said that when parishioners at the church heard about Bryant’s death they were in shock. She said she attended the first mass at the church in the aftermath of the tragedy and it was difficult.

“I went to the 12 p.m. mass that was dedicated to him. Every mass since has been dedicated to Kobe and the families of all the victims,” Hermes said.

“Everybody was stunned. It was like silence. Everybody was in shock. It was very still. When the 12 p.m. mass ended, because that was the first mass after anybody knew, everybody walked out in silence and were glued to their cell phones looking up any information they could get online,” she continued.

“Our parishioners knew him not just from church but from the community, because Kobe was a great part of this community. That’s how I know him too. I live very close to him in Newport Coast. He was a like regular guy, you wouldn’t know he was a celebrity. He would go out on his own without bodyguards,” she explained.

SOURCE: Christian Post, Leonardo Blair

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