Pope Francis expected to be welcomed by more than a million catholicsduring his US visit

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Pope Francis expected to be welcomed by more than a million catholicsduring his US visit

Pope Francis has electrified Roman Catholics in the United States with the open, accepting tone he has brought to the role, and his first visit later this year is expected to draw more than a million followers eager to set eyes on him.

The leader of the 1.2 billion-member church will also face a challenge in improving relations with conservative US Catholics, who have expressed dismay at his shift in focus away from issues like abortion and same-sex marriage, which the church has long opposed but Francis contends need not obsess about.

The city of Philadelphia began preparations more than a year ago for the pontiff’s visit in September, at the end of the weeklong World Meeting of Families. Some 1.5 million faithful are expected to turn out for an open-air Mass on the steps of the city’s main art museum, a crowd that could fill a 1.5 mile (2.4 km) stretch of parkway along the Schuylkill River, said Donna Farrell, executive director of meeting.

“What fascinates me is the degree to which he has captured the attention of Catholics and non-Catholics. I find myself in social meetings with non-Catholics talking about the Pope, and he’s the subject of great hope,” said Mark Mullaney, chairman of Voice of the Faithful, a lay Catholic organisation founded in Boston in 2002 in response to the clergy sex abuse scandal. “He’s opened doors and windows that have not been open in a long time, and encouraged discussion.”

Some 74 per cent of non-Catholics in America view Francis favorably, with some 93 percent of Catholics reporting a favourable view, according to a 2014 poll by the Pew Research Center. Both findings were well above his 60 per cent favourability rating worldwide.

Francis is also more popular with the roughly 76 million US Catholics than his predecessor, Benedict XVI, according to Pew, though not so beloved as John Paul II, who held the papacy for more than a quarter-century until his death in 2005. He was elevated to sainthood in 2014.

A vocal advocate of human rights, John Paul II drew crowds of over a million at outdoor events during his five formal US visits, while Benedict’s 2008 trip was less grand in scale.

Francis has won praise for his decision to live in a simple Vatican guesthouse and not the palace his predecessors have called home for centuries. He has also captured Americans’ attention by showing a more tolerant side of the church, famously answering a question on homosexuality: “If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge him?”

Like his predecessors, Francis has used his influence to improve diplomatic relations between countries and played a key role in last month’s restoration of US-Cuba ties. Francis wrote personal letters urging rapprochement to US President Barack Obama and his Cuban counterpart, Raul Castro, and allowed the Vatican to host secret talks.

Before his visit to Asia this week, Francis urged a similar thaw between North Korea and South Korea.

FRICTION WITH CONSERVATIVES

While Francis has not broken on church teachings on homosexuality, with Catholic doctrine condemning homosexual acts, his willingness to discuss that and other issues has upset some conservative US Catholics.

His Philadelphia host, Archbishop Charles Chaput, stirred a debate last year when he told an audience that the meetings on family issues convened by the Vatican had confused some people about church teachings, adding that “confusion is of the devil and the public image that came across was confusion.”

Some saw the comment as a criticism of Francis, although Chaput has since said those words were taken out of context and that he was “overjoyed” about the Pope’s visit.

Other conservative Catholics that have expressed concerns about Francis’ approach include Providence, Rhode Island, Bishop Thomas Tobin.

“Pope Francis is fond of ‘creating a mess.’ Mission accomplished,” Tobin wrote of the family meetings.

“There is definitely a tension,” that Francis will likely want to soothe, said Fr. James Bretzke, a professor of moral theology at Boston College and, like Francis, a member of the Jesuit order.

“What Pope Francis can do is solidify his base among the more centrist and center-left (bishops) and make it clear that he doesn’t want to punish or exclude anyone, but also make it clear that he is going to continue with this basic approach, which is pastoral outreach,” Bretzke said.

Some conservative Catholics denied that Francis had changed the church all that much, saying that more progressive Catholics were too quick to conclude that his willingness to discuss controversial topics signaled looming changes in church dogma.

“It’s despicable that so many left-wing Catholics would jump on this bandwagon. I’m disgusted by the way Catholics who know better have sliced and diced his words,” said William Donohue, president of the Catholic League. “If you take a look at his positions on, let’s say marriage and abortion, there is nothing that is in any way different from his predecessors.”

Source: Christian Today

Attorneys for Kelvin Cochran says Fire Chief sack was unconstitutional

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Attorneys for Kelvin Cochran says Fire Chief sack was unconstitutional

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed’s decision to terminate Kelvin Cochran last week was unconstitutional, according to attorneys working with the ousted fire chief as he explores legal options to sue the City.

In a recent press release, Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Kevin Theriot sternly criticized Reed’s controversial firing of Cochran on Jan. 6, one month after he was suspended without pay and forced to undergo sensitivity training for espousing his Christian beliefs in a book and handing out copies to employees.

The case has sparked nationwide debates about free speech and religious freedom and whether Cochran’s First Amendment rights were violated.

“Tolerance is a two-way street,” said ADF Senior Counsel Kevin Theriot. “That’s what a federal appeals court said not long ago about public officials who claim to love diversity while only tolerating views they themselves favor. Chief Cochran served the city of Atlanta with distinction, both before and after his post with the Obama administration. The city fired him for nothing other than his faith, and that’s not constitutional. We are currently assessing the legal options available to vindicate his rights to free speech and freedom of religion.”

In his 2013 book, Who Told You That You Are Naked?, Cochran calls homosexuality “sexual perversion” and “vulgar” and also likens it to “bestiality” among other things. He faced disciplinary action late last year after an AFRD member complained that he had shared the book with employees.

Reed insisted that Cochran was not fired for his religious beliefs but rather “because he displayed bad judgment.” He added that Cochran did not follow the correct protocol prior to writing the self-published book even though the former fire chief has said otherwise.

The City’s ethics code requires a Commissioner to get approval from the board of ethics prior to engaging in private activity for pay.

“I had legal permission to write the book from the city’s ethics officer [Nina Hickson],” Cochran recently told The Christian Post in an exclusive interview. “[It] was through a verbal conversation, there was no documentation … she said it was legal and I was authorized to write it and that she wanted a copy when I finish, after I told her what the book was going to be about.”

Cochran claimed he was authorized to write the book during a five-minute phone conversation with Hickson.

“I had legal authority to write the book, however; she cannot remember that conversation,” he said.

In a statement to CP, Hickson refuted these claims and cited the Atlanta City Code of Ordinances, Section 2-820 (d).

“The Atlanta’s Ethics Code establishes the required approval process for City Commissioners who wish to engage in outside activities for pay,” Hickson wrote in an email. “Consequently, I did not authorize Chief Cochran to write and publish the book, nor did I have the authority to do so.”

A city investigation determined Cochran had not discriminated against LGBT employees but he was fired anyway.

“The truth is that I am a man of deep faith myself, and we are a city of laws. Chief Cochran’s book, “Who Told You You Were Naked,” was published in violation of the city’s Standards of Conduct, which required prior approval from the Board of Ethics,” Reed wrote via Facebook on Tuesday.

Cochran argues however that seeking secondary approval is simply not common practice. He may use his alleged verbal authorization from Hickson as part of his claim, should he decide to sue.

“The mayor also says that I should’ve gotten permission from him which, when you operate as an executive for a city, whenever something is legal or governed by the law – there’s not a practice of getting permission from your boss if its within the scope of the law,” Cochran explained. “However, he still used that as the basis of my termination.”

Cochran, who first served as fire chief in 2008, believes that his dismissal is symbolic of a growing threat on religious freedoms facing Christians and other people of faith, which is just another reason that he is considering a lawsuit.

Since his termination, Cochran has been overwhelmed by an outpouring of public support. On Tuesday, hundreds of religious freedom advocates gathered for the “Standing for our Faith Rally” in the Georgia State Capitol rotunda and they hand-delivered a petition with 50,000 signatures to Reed’s office.

Faith Driven Consumers, an advocacy group representing 41 million Christians, has called on the mayor to reinstate Cochran as fire chief and also to apologize for his termination via its extinguish intolerance campaign which has more than 9,500 signatures.

“My spiritual convictions regarding sexuality do not equate to anger, hatred, or malice toward LGBT members,” Cochran said previously, also telling CP, “Unless [Christians] come together … we’re not going to actually have the strength politically like members of the LGBT community do.”

In 2009, Obama appointed Cochran as the fire administrator for the U.S. Fire Administration. He returned to his job as Atlanta’s fire chief the following year.

Source: Christian Post

Philippines: Pope Francis praises faith of survivors of Typhoon Haiyan and people’s solidarity

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Philippines: Pope Francis praises faith of survivors of Typhoon Haiyan and people’s solidarity

Storms greeted Pope Francis when he arrived in the central Philippines city of Tacloban on Saturday to pray for the dead and comfort survivors of Typhoon Haiyan, the country’s worst natural disaster that killed 6,300 people barely a year ago.

Tens of thousands of people wearing yellow raincoats cheered when Francis emerged from his plane in the coastal city of Tacloban 650 km (400 miles) southeast of Manila in steady rain and strong winds.

Francis began a Mass near Tacloban airport wearing a transparent yellow poncho over his vestments as heavy rain and strong winds lashed a large crowd of worshippers, who stood amid puddles in a mud-soaked field.

The storm was an eerie reminder of Haiyan, which hit the same area with 250 kph (155 mph) winds and created a seven-metre high storm surge, wiping out almost everything in its path when it swept ashore on Nov. 8, 2013.

Francis’s day trip to Leyte province gives him another opportunity to speak about climate change ahead of a major document on the environment he is due to issue in June.

The Pope will celebrate Mass at the airport and then see for himself the devastation wrought by Haiyan, the strongest storm to make landfall on record, when he goes to the nearby town of Palo to have lunch with survivors.

Speaking at the presidential palace on Friday, the Pope admired the “heroic strength, faith and resilience” shown by the Philippines as well as the solidarity people demonstrated after the typhoon.

The storm destroyed around 90 percent of the city of Tacloban in Leyte province. More than 14.5 million people were affected in six regions and 44 provinces. About one million people remain homeless.

The government estimates it needs almost 170 billion pesos ($3.8 billion) to rebuild the affected communities, including the construction of a four-metre high dike along the 27-km (17 miles) coastline to prevent a repeat of the disaster.

Nearly 3,000 victims are buried in the city’s almost half-hectare mass grave site. Hundreds are still unaccounted for.

Germanwatch, a think tank partly funded by the German government, said in a report last year the Philippines was the country hardest hit by extreme weather in 2013.

Francis waded into the climate change debate on Thursday, telling reporters that he believed that man was primarily responsible for climate change and that he hoped this year’s U.N. climate meeting in Paris would take a courageous stand to protect the environment.

The Pope said his long-awaited encyclical on the environment was almost finished and that he hoped it would be published in June, ahead of the U.N. conference in November.

“I don’t know if it is all (man’s fault) but the majority is. For the most part, it is man who continuously slaps down nature,” he told reporters on the way to Manila.

Those words were his clearest to date on climate change, which has sparked worldwide debate and even divided conservative and liberal Catholics, particularly in theUnited States.

“I think man has gone too far,” he said. “Thank God that today there are voices that are speaking out about this,” he said.

Source: Christian Today

who deserves to be a Saint?

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who deserves to be a Saint?

Pope Francis announced that on his visit to the US he was going to make Junipero Serra a saint. He had previously ‘done’ Joseph Vaz on his visit to Sri Lanka. Saints are in the news, but what’s it all about?

It sounds like fun. How do I apply?

It doesn’t work like that, and it’s not fun at all. For a start, you can’t still be alive since it’s only after you’ve died that the Church can be sure you aren’t going to do something unsaintly. Also, lots of saints have also been martyred in pretty revolting ways – St Sebastian being shot full of arrows, for instance – and even the ones who died in their beds have often lived rather uncomfortably. Think Simon the Stylite, who spent 37 years living on a platform on top of a pillar.

So who does get to be a saint, then?

A saint is someone who has lived a life of extraordinary or heroic virtue. Catholics don’t believe that they were sinless, just that they were special. Nowadays there are quite strict rules about who can be a saint, instituted by Pope John Paul II in 1982: a diocese decides on a likely candidate and an intensive survey of his or her life and works begins. The candidate passes through the stages of being recognised as a Servant of God, Venerable, Blessed and finally Saint.

Is there any flexibility?

Popes have quite a wide latitude in this respect. For instance, for non-martyrs to be sainted, two certified miracles have to have been performed through their intercession (we said the rules were strict). But Francis is to waive this rule for Junipero Serra on the grounds that he has been considered a holy man for centuries.

I got a woodwork badge in Cubs. Is it like that?

It is considerably more rigorous, but if you mean that it is a recognition that someone has achieved something special, then yes. All Christians are saints, but many Churches teach that some are worthy of particular respect and can be reliably used as an example and inspiration to us.

Let me just play devil’s advocate for a moment –

I’ll stop you there. The Devil’s Advocate was originally the person appointed to argue the case against sainthood for a candidate (officially the Promoter of the Faith), whose office was discontinued in the 1983 reforms.

Does that mean it’s become easier to be a saint?

Arguably yes; the pace has picked up quite a bit. But the process is still quite strict, and some of the oddballs of previous generations would never make it now.

Oddballs? That seems a little disrespectful.

None intended, but in earlier days the process was a lot more informal. Local people would decide for themselves, or a figure from pagan legend would become Christianised and sainted, or a bishop would decide that a local saint was just what was needed to boost the tourist trade. The Vatican got increasingly edgy about this and by 1200 the practice was banned. In 1969 the Church took a hard look at its saints list and discovered that many of them might never have existed at all. One of these casualties was St Valentine, the patron saint of cheesy greetings cards.

Not really!

Well, no. But there plenty of other patron saints with rather odd responsibilities. St Clotilde is the patron saint of disappointed children, St Drogo is the patron saint of ugly people, St Bibiana is the patron saint of hangovers, and St Hubert of Liege – a rather niche interest, this – is the patron saint of the fear of werewolves.

How do saints get to patronise particular people?

It usually relates to an interest they had in their lifetimes. Hubert, for instance, werewolves aside, is the saint of hunters. He is said to have taught that hunters ought to only shoot when a humane quick kill is assured, that sick animals should be euthanised and that females with young should not be harmed. Others have more creative associations between their lives and saintly responsibilities: St Barbara, for instance, was tortured to death by her husband when she converted to Christianity. On the way home from her execution he was struck by lightning. She is the patron saint of gunpowder and fireworks.

But does the patron saint thing really make sense?

Yes, given certain assumptions. The Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches have a much more developed idea of the Communion of Saints than do evangelical Protestants, who tend to assume that once a Christian dies they’re in heaven and that’s that. But there is nothing intrinsically odd about asking those who have predeceased us to pray for us. James (5:13) says that the prayer of a righteous person is powerful, and saints are particularly righteous; and picking someone with a particular expertise in your field is arguably sensible.

Can’t I just, you know, pray? To God?

Of course, but many would say that you can ask other people – living and even-more-living – to pray for you as well. Every little helps.

So, why is Pope Francis making saints now?

He is bringing already-existing ’causes’, which long pre-dated his papacy, to a conclusion. But there are political and pastoral considerations, too. North America is light on saints as the Church hasn’t been there very long, and giving Latin American Catholics one of their own with whom to identify is smart, evangelistically. Sri Lanka’s Catholics are a minority under a pressure; reminding the rest of the country about Joseph Vaz and his willingness to work with other faiths is also a good move.

Out of interest, are there any Protestant saints? 

The Church of England has one official saint, Charles I, whose dictatorial policies, untrustworthiness and treachery plunged Britain into a civil war that cost hundreds of thousands of lives.

Source: Christian Today

Niger: French Cultural Center and Churches attacked in Charlie Hebdo protests

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Niger: French Cultural Center and Churches attacked in Charlie Hebdo protests

Demonstrators in Niger attacked the French cultural center, set fire to churches and raided Christian shops on Friday, as protests erupted against Charlie Hebdo’s cartoons in several Muslim West African countries.

Staff of the satirical French weekly, which had angered Muslims by publishing images of the Prophet Mohammad, were shot dead by Islamist gunmen in Paris last week.

Police in Niger’s southern city of Zinder, the second largest in Niger, fired tear gas at a crowd of hundreds of people who burned French flags and tires in the streets on Friday.

“The protesters are crying out in local Hausa language: Charlie is Satan – let hell engulf those supporting Charlie,” said Aboubacar Mamane, a shopkeeper, by telephone.

Witnesses said the demonstrators ransacked the French cultural center and the homes of police officers.

Peaceful marches took place after Friday prayers in the capital cities of former French colonies Mali,Senegal and Mauritania.

Demonstrators said they were angered by the latest front cover of Charlie Hebdo this week, which despite the Paris killings again featured a cartoon of Mohammad.

“Charlie Hebdo in the toilets,” said one placard held by a protestor in Nouakchott.

The presidents of Niger, Mali and Senegal last week marched alongside more than a million French citizens to show solidarity with the victims of the Paris bloodshed, which began with a shooting attack on Charlie Hebdo’s Paris office.

But in an indication of the shifting mood, Macky Sall, president of one of Africa’s most stable democracies Senegal, said late on Thursday: “Freedom of the press should not, in our view, head in the direction of a totally pointless provocation.”

Source: Christian Today

Dozens of IS suspects are held across Europe

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Dozens of IS suspects are held across Europe

Belgian, French and German police interrogated dozens of Islamist suspects on Friday as much of Europe remained on heightened security alert after last week’s killings in Paris and raids in Belgium in which two gunmen were killed.

In Paris there was a fresh scare when a gunman took several people hostage at a post office in a northwestern suburb. A siege ended when he gave himself up to police. No one was hurt. Authorities said they could not confirm whether the incident was related to terrorism.

Belgian police questioned 13 suspects and France held two people on Belgium’s request, a day after two gunmen were killed during raids against an Islamist group that authorities said were planning to attack police.

French police said they had arrested 12 people suspected of helping the Islamist gunmen behind attacks last week on a satirical magazine and kosher supermarket in Paris.

Officials said there was no clear link between the suspected Belgian plot and the Paris attacks a week earlier, but described them as part of a common threat.

“There is a terrorist offensive,” French Prime Minister Manuel Valls told reporters. “We face the same threat.”

In Germany, police arrested two people following a raid on 12 homes and a mosque. A police spokesman said the suspects were probably part of an extremist cell that recruited fighters for Syria.

In Belgium, police uniforms, explosives and guns including four AK-47 assault rifles were found in the apartment where the two gunmen were killed on Thursday in the raid in the eastern town of Verviers. Their identities have not been released.

“This group was on the point of carrying out terrorist attacks aiming to kill police officers in the streets and in police stations,” prosecutors’ spokesman Eric Van Der Sypt said.

He declined to comment on media reports that the plotters planned to behead a policeman.

NERVES ON EDGE

In France, demand for the first post-attack edition of the weekly Charlie Hebdo remained high for the third day in a row. One kiosk in central Paris reported a thief broke in overnight and stole all its copies.

However there were violent protests in some Muslim countries against the weekly for putting a caricature of a weeping Prophet Mohammad on the cover of the new edition.

About 200 Pakistani protesters clashed with police outside the French consulate in Karachi after a demonstration against the magazine. In Niger, a protest turned violent as demonstrators set fire to churches and raided shops run by Christians. Police fired tear gas on a crowd of hundreds of people and tyres burned in the streets.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said a total 12 suspects had been detained so far in connection with last week’s Paris attacks, most of them known to police for common crimes. Judicial sources said the eight men and four women were detained in the greater Paris area.

Nerves remained on edge. Paris’s Gare de l’Est train station was evacuated for about an hour during the morning rush.

Belgian security forces were on high alert, with extra armed security in evidence at some public buildings, notably police stations. Public broadcaster RTBF said officers were told not to be on the streets alone while in uniform. Some Jewish schools in Belgiumand the Netherlands were closed.

US Secretary of State John Kerry was in Paris to convey US condolences to the nation and to lay wreaths to the victims at the two main sites of the attacks.

Kerry greeted President Francois Hollande with a firm embrace at the Elysee presidential palace. Washington has said it regretted a decision not to send senior US officials to a commemoration march in Paris on Sunday attended by dozens of world leaders.

“Today, I wanted to be here, at home with you, among you,” Kerry, speaking fluent, American-accented French, told an event. “I wanted to tell you personally of the horror and revulsion that all Americans felt at these cowardly and despicable attacks against innocent victims and fundamental values.”

Hollande earlier called the shootings France’s 9/11, referring to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in New York.

“France has come out of this ordeal with its determination intact to act on the international scene,” Hollande told an annual gathering of about 200 foreign and French ambassadors.

Belgian investigators were also examining if a man detained in the city of Charleroi on suspicion of arms trafficking had any links with Amedy Coulibaly, the gunman who killed four Jews at a kosher supermarket in Paris last week. The detained man’s lawyer told French media he had merely sold Coulibaly a car.

Source: Christian Today

Could this be true? Britain to get its first LGBT school

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Could this be true? Britain to get its first LGBT school

Britain’s first specialist state school for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender young people could open in central Manchester within the next three years, according to major news sources.

This comes after LGBT Youth North West, a charity seeking to support LGBT young people in the North West of England, received £63,000 funding from Manchester City Council. The concept of an alternative education provision for LGBT students was featured on the funding application, after young people had expressed a desire for it, but the idea is still very much in consultation stages, Sally Carr, founder and operational director of LGBT Youth NW, told Christian Today.

“We’ve been working with LGBT youth for ten years, and many young people over many years have told us the same story,” said Carr.

“We worked with over 10,000 students last year across a variety of schools to try and address homophobia, biphobia and transphobia. But we know that these students face prejudice every day.”

The concept of Britain’s first ‘gay school’ has already caused controversy, but the charity maintains more needs to be done to help LGBT students who are struggling and unsupported in mainstream schools.

Speaking to The Guardian, Amelia Lee, strategic director for LGBT Youth NW, said: “Despite the laws that claim to protect gay people from homophobic bullying, the truth is that in schools especially, bullying is still incredibly common and causes young people to feel isolated and alienated, which often leads to truanting and, in the worst-case scenarios, to suicide.”

Christian teenager Lizzie Lowe hanged herself in Manchester last year because she feared telling her parents that she was gay. She was only 14. It is tragic deaths like Lizzie’s that LGBT Youth NW is hoping to prevent, through their current work training thousands of pupils and teachers in mainstream schools, and potentially through a specialist school in the future.

Rev Sally Hitchiner, founder of Diverse Church, a support network for LGBT people which has a confidential Facebook group enabling young LGBT Christians to connect, feels that an exclusive school might help those struggling in mainstream education.

“I think it’s a tragedy that it’s needed,” she said, “but for students involved it might be a lifeline. Far too many LGBT students face misunderstanding and isolation to the point that some of take their own lives.

“However, I think the highest priority has to be enabling every school in the country to be a supportive and safe place for all of its people.”

Tory MP and former education minister Tim Loughton has spoken out against the idea of an exclusive school, saying, “I cannot see how segregating a group of young people identified by their sexuality can aid better engagement and understanding.

“The way to achieve more integration, understanding and empathy is not by segregating members of one group, and this would seem to me to be a step backwards from achieving tolerance.”

Yet, it seems that the attacks may be aimed at an idea that doesn’t exist. Carr says that their education provision wouldn’t be an exclusive school for LGBT students.

“People have failed to recognise the bigger picture,” she said. “The original suggestion is not about an exclusive school for LGBT students, but about an inclusive school for all students.

“Much like you would expect Christian schools to be absent of prejudice towards Christianity, this would be a school free from homophobia, transphobia and biphobia. These things have no place in modern British society.”

The fact that LGBT students are often bullied and isolated in UK schools is something that needs to be addressed, and Sally Hitchiner believes that Christians can be part of the solution.

“I think Christians, particularly straight Christians, need to listen more than we speak,” she said. “There’s a need to listen to young LGBT people, and if they say that the current system is not working we need to take that seriously. We need to change the system so that future LGBT people are able to live and find God and find that God loves them, both at work and at play and at church.

“That has to be our highest priority, keeping young people from giving up on life and giving up on God.”

Source: Christian Today

Nigerian Pastor speaks about the county’s next President

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Nigerian Pastor speaks about the county’s next President

There are many of us who want to know the details of who will win the next elections, who is going to be president, who is going to be governor, …just say, Father let Your perfect will be done.

247 Nigeria News reports  this story – The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor E.A Adeboye, has said only God knows Nigeria’s next president.

Adeboye made the submission on Thursday, at the just-concluded two-day Bible study programme organised by the University of Ibadan (UI) Christian Family Fellowship, at the International Conference Centre, UI.

Citing an example of a highly-placed ambassador who requested to know his opinion about the political future of the country, Adeboye said people waiting for his opinion concerning where the presidential pendulum would swing in February 14 needed not bother themselves, as his opinion did not matter, but that of God.

“Do you know that if we talk more about Jesus than we do about politics, God will take care of politics? One great ambassador asked what my opinion is about what is going on, I said my opinion does not matter. He said that was not what we wanted to hear. I said my opinion does not matter, because what God is going to do is what He will do,” the septuagenarian cleric stated. He said: “When you say you are on the side of a politician, you are on the wrong side ever possible. Because politicians never tell you the truth and you can quote me. Tell them that I said so. Politicians know how to say ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ at the same time.”

The annual event started on Tuesday, at 4:00 p.m with other sessions held at 6:00 a.m and 4:00 p.m of Wednesday, as well as 6:00 p.m on Thursday.

Adeboye, who has kept his distance from making public statements on issues relating to the forthcoming general election, while teaching on “Obedience to God’s commands,” enjoined Christians to spend more time preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ to unsaved souls rather than politics.

Quoting from the scriptures, he reeled out nine areas to include: Giving, Tithing, Purity, Transparency, Forgiveness, Love, Evangelism, among others where Christians should ensure they walk with God.

Adeboye contended that if Christians focused more on preaching the Good News and winning souls to populate God’s Kingdom, God would take care of the political situation of the country.

He admonished Nigerians to engage more in profitable pastime than dissipating their time and energy on which political candidate was good or bad, saying no human being was good.

“Do you think God is sitting down in Heaven and scratching His head on who should win (the general election)? That has been settled before we were born. Don’t waste your energy discussing this one is good, that one is bad. Is there any human being that is good?” he queried rhetorically.

Adeboye said Christians should focus on telling God in prayers that His perfect will should be done in February, saying they should also understand that God could use even His enemies to carry out His will if need be.

“Ask for the perfect will of God for the elections, instead of worrying over who will win. God can use His enemy to fulfill his will.

“There are many of us who want to know the details of who will win the next elections, who is going to be president, who is going to be governor, …just say, Father let Your perfect will be done.

“What’s God’s perfect will? …. Read more

– Source : 24/7 News

Kenneth Copeland on How to receive your healing?

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Kenneth Copeland on How to receive your healing?

Kenneth Copeland Ministries offers answer to the question : How do I receive my healing?

Answer

God has given us an amazing promise—if we pray according to His will, He will absolutely grant our request (1 John 5:14-15). The great news is that finding God’s will is not difficult because God’s Word and His will always agree. And His Word says by the stripes of Jesus you are healed (Isaiah 53:5, 1 Peter 2:24)!

Jesus told us how to act on God’s Word in John 15:7, “But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted!” To abide in God’s Word means that you meditate (read, ponder and speak) on it and obey it (see Joshua 1:8). This aligns your thinking with God’s Word. Through this transformation, Romans 12:2 says you will prove “what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

Get ready. You’re going to see some changes as you keep the Word of God in the forefront of your thinking. Your ability to hear clearly from the Spirit of God will increase. So will your faith in what the Bible says about your victory in Jesus. You will be able to take a firm stand of faith on what His Word says.

Now that you have taken a stand on the Word, believe that you receive those things you have prayed for (Mark 11:24). Your confession (speaking Scripture and speaking words of faith and hope in God instead of doubt and fear) and corresponding action (obeying what God tells you to do) will make all the difference (James 2:14-24). No matter how things look or how you may feel, choose to act and speak with the attitude that says, “God is in control and He is meeting my needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).

To provide help in building a biblically based stand of faith for healing, Brother Copeland has provided these five steps based on Hebrews 4:12-16.

FIVE STEPS FOR RECEIVING FROM GOD:

1. Present the Promises

A. Go to the Word of God and find the scriptures that fit your situation (Romans 10:17).

B. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you the promises He desires you to apply (Romans 8:1-16).

2. Pray and Worship God

A. Humble yourself before the Lord (James 4:10).

B. Lay the promises before Him (1 John 5:15).

C. Hear His wisdom and the instruction of the Holy Spirit (John 16:13).

3. Make Your Petition

A. Write your petition out as your Word-based declaration of faith (Philippians 4:6).

B. Present it to the High Priest of your confession, Jesus (Hebrews 3:1).

4. Prepare to Receive

A. Let faith and patience work together in your life (James 1:3-4).

5. Praise God for the Manifestation of Victory

A. Let every request be accompanied by your thanksgiving to the Lord for His faithfulness to fulfill His promises (Philippians 4:6; 2 Corinthians 1:20).

From : Kenneth Copeland Ministry – kcm.org

Nigerian MegaChurch Pastor, Bishop David Oyedepo furious over Boko Haram continued destruction in Nigeria

CM Editor
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Nigerian MegaChurch Pastor, Bishop David Oyedepo furious over Boko Haram continued destruction in Nigeria

The General Overseer, Living Faith Church Worldwide, a.k.a. Winners Chapel, Bishop David Oyedopo, expressed his anger over the incessant attack by the violent Islamic sect – Boko Haram. Bishop Oyedepo Says Boko Haram Is Beyond Politics.

He tells his congregation – ” If you catch anyone that LOOKS LIKE THEM (BOKO HARAM) – kill him! Kill him and pull out his neck. Spill his blood on the ground. What nonsense!”

WATCH THE VIDEO

Post by Kayode Ogundamisi.

Boko Haram’s recent attack in Baga, Borno State, which killed hundreds, possibly thousands, on 3 January has once again drawn attention to the Islamist militant group that has been terrorising northern Nigeria for more than five years.

The group is responsible for the deaths of approximately 9,000 people in total, according to the Council on Foreign Relations‘ Nigeria Security Tracker, though estimates vary and this number does not include January’s attack. The Nigerian government has said there were 150 deaths in the Baga attack, but other reports suggest it was as many as 2,000. Amnesty International has said it could be the group’s deadliest attack to date.
Read more here –  Boko Haram again

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