RCCG donates $20,000 to renovate Vanuatu State House

The Redeemed Christian Church of God says it has donated $20,000 towards the renovation of the dilapidated State House of the Republic of Vanuatu, an island nation in the South Pacific Ocean. The church said in a statement that a temporary residence was being used as the State House after the original was destroyed by Cyclone Uma in 1987. The statement read in part, “Receiving the donation, the Head of State of the Republic of Vanuatu, Baldwin Jackson Lonsdale, expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the Redeemed Christian Church of God for being one of the very first organisations to respond to the office’s appeal. According to the statement, the recent heavy rainfall experienced in the island has forced the already deteriorated state office to close its doors as appeals were sent to business organisations, donor partners and interested parties to help fund the renovation of the office. It added that the high office confirmed that the money had been deposited at the finance department to ensure that there was accountability and transparency for all the funds coming in towards the renovation project. Lonsdale was quoted as saying that one of the most important priorities that needed urgent attention was the construction of a presidential house. “The conditions of the current presidential residence is deteriorating so much that we have to be accommodated in a rented premises. Our office is being housed in one of the colonial residential premises; and 35 years on since independence, we are still without a presidential palace,” he said. Culled from Punch Newspaper

Canadian pastor held by North Korea

A Canadian pastor who went missing in North Korea is being held by the communist state’s authorities, his church and Canadian consular officials said Thursday. Reverend Hyeon Soo Lim, 60, has not been heard from since January 31, just after he arrived in North Korea via China. The Light Korean Presbyterian Church said his family “received notice from Canadian officials that the government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has confirmed that Mr Hyeon Soo Lim is being held in North Korea.” A Canadian government official told AFP that Ottawa is aware of a Canadian citizen detained in North Korea and is trying to help them. But, the official added, Ottawa has no diplomatic relations with North Korea and so “the ability of Canadian officials to provide consular assistance is extremely limited.” Lim went missing while on a humanitarian mission, according to church officials. He had led many aid missions to North Korea in the past involving work with orphanages and nursing homes, they said. Lim’s lack of communication was initially attributed to the 21-day quarantine imposed on all foreign visitors to North Korea to prevent any outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus. But that period would have ended on February 21, after which there was still no news, prompting Lim’s church to go public to try to determine his whereabouts. Reverend Chun Ki-Won, the director of Durihana, a South Korean Christian missionary organization helping North Korean refugees, said Lim was one of the most influential Christian missionaries operating in the North. Chun told AFP Lim had been asked to come to Pyongyang on January 31. He said this information came from other members of the close-knit circle of ethnic Korean missionaries in the United States and Canada who are involved in aid projects in the North. The reason for the invitation was unclear, but he said he feared it was political. Chun noted that some of the food-related projects Lim was involved in were linked to associates of Jang Song-Thaek, the purged uncle of leader Kim Jong-Un. Jang is known to have led many joint economic projects before he was dramatically arrested and executed for treason in December 2012. Ottawa advises its citizens against travel to North Korea. Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Rob Nicholson said, “This (case) underscores what the Canadian government has been saying: ‘Don’t go to North Korea.'” Although religious freedom is enshrined in the North Korean constitution, religious activity is severely restricted to officially-recognized groups linked to the government. Pyongyang views foreign missionaries with deep suspicion, although it allows access to some who undertake humanitarian work. However, anyone caught engaging in any unauthorized activities would be subject to immediate arrest. A number of missionaries — mostly US citizens — have been arrested in North Korea in the past with some of them allowed to return home after interventions by high-profile US figures.

Jerusalem church on Mount Zion torched

Suspected Jewish extremists set fire to a Greek Orthodox seminary building on Mount Zion in Jerusalem early Thursday, 24 hours after a mosque was torched in the West Bank. The vandals torched an annexe of the seminary just outside the walls of the Old City and scrawled “graffiti insulting Jesus”, police spokeswoman Luba Samri said, describing it as a “nationalist” attack. Police said the assailants set light to the toilet and shower block at the seminary, causing damage but no injuries. Outside, they daubed insulting slogans in Hebrew about Jesus. The attack took place just outside the Old City walls on Mount Zion, close to Dormition Abbey, a Roman Catholic institution which was targeted by an arson attack during a visit by Pope Francis last May. Following a police request, a gag order has been imposed on all details of the investigation which will remain in force until March 4. Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat condemned the attack as “deplorable” and pledged to bring the perpetrators to justice. On Wednesday, a mosque near Bethlehem in the southern West Bank was set alight and anti-Arab slogans in Hebrew sprayed on a nearby wall. Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erakat denounced the perpetrators of both incidents as “terrorists”, blaming Israel’s government for inciting the attacks by continuing its “illegal occupation and colonisation based on distorted religious claims.” The United Nations has warned such incidents could “inflame an already volatile environment.” Both incidents bore the hallmarks of so-called “price tag” attacks — a euphemism for nationalist-motivated hate crimes by Jewish extremists, which generally target Palestinians or Arab Israelis but have increasingly also hit Christian and Muslim places of worship

Edo CAN Denies Knowledge of N3m Jonathan Largesse to State Chapter

The Edo State Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Bishop Peter Imasuen, on Monday denied any involvement in the sharing of N7 billion largesse allegedly given to the national leadership of the association by President Goodluck Jonathan in which the state chapter got N3 million. Imasuen, who is also the Bishop of Benin Diocese, Anglican Communion, stated this in Benin City, while reacting to the allegation raised by a Borno-based cleric, Pastor Kallam Musa-Dikwa, that the sum of N3 million, from the largesse, was disbursed to Edo State chairman of the association. Musa-Dikwa, had on February 16 claimed that CAN got the money on January 26, 2015 and distributed N3 million to each state chairman across the country to enable them support the re-election bid of President Jonathan. But Bishop Imasuen told newsmen in Benin City that he was not aware of the money, as he did not attend the last meeting of the Christian body and did collect any money, as a state chairman. “I am not a politician; what we owe the country is prayer. So, I don’t know anything about the money. “They didn’t give me any money and I was not even there when we had the last CAN meeting; at that time, we were having the standing committee at Ughelli (Delta State). So, how would they have given me money when I was not in the meeting?” Asked if he would have benefited from the alleged largesse if he had been present, Imasuen retorted: “Collected the money for what? What will I use the money for? We are men of God; we are to pray for the peace of the country. “At the time you now take money, how will God answer your prayer? I don’t run after riches. I run after blessing; riches come and go but blessings remain.” He noted that he was only interested in performing his responsibility as a cleric, rather than engaging in partisan politics. The cleric also described the allegation as one peddled by persons whom he described as “self-made pastors and bishops” who could say anything to cause disunity. “Even if you give me money, I would be afraid; I will not sleep because the politicians will be after you, everybody will be after you, the thieves will know that you have money. So, I will rather relax my mind and be okay with whatever God gives me. “There are many people who are self-made pastors or bishops; they can say anything. If you do something I don’t like, for instance, I can go back and do certain things to distabilise you. “I don’t belong to any party; once I know that you are a credible person, I can vote for you; vote for those that can stand and defend this country. We are praying God to give us a leader who will lead us and lead the youths,” he added.

Kumuyi tells Nigerians to take their destiny in their hands

Respected cleric and the General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry, Pastor William Folorunsho Ikumuyiwa, has called on Nigerians to stop bothering themselves about the ongoing challenges facing the nation. He asked them to take their destiny in their hands by seeking God’s face for intervention. Kumuyi gave this charge during a two-day ministerial visit and campus crusade organised by the Campus Christian Mobilisation Committee of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Osun State. The former university don while preaching to thousands of people at the new religious ground of the the OAU, said, “Nigerians should take their destiny in their hands. People should not be discouraged by whatever problems they are facing now, either as individuals or as a nation”. He noted that there were two different kinds of people in the world, saying while some saw themselves as “grasshoppers”, others equally looked themselves as “conquerors”. He said, “There is need to be like the biblical Caleb, who never allowed the towering, scary figure of the giants they saw to dissuade him from entering the land of Canaan. Caleb gave a positive account of what he saw and encouraged others to be optimistic. You are what you think you are.” He prayed for God’s wisdom for members of the university in the discharge of their responsibilities. Also speaking at the event, the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Bamitale Omole, commended Kumuyi for accepting the invitation to minister on the campus. He said Kumuyi “is indeed one of the few remaining examples of the ideal Christian faith today”

Sambo using religion to divide Nigerians —APC

The All Progressives Congress has accused Vice-President Namadi Sambo and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party, of using religion to divide Nigerians. The party, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, on Thursday, said Sambo, while addressing PDP supporters in Kaduna, said the APC was pushing a Christian agenda and should be rejected at the polls because its vice-presidential candidate, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), has “5,000 churches.” The APC said, “It must baffle every right-thinking Nigerian what the vice-president stands to gain by his resort to basic instincts. It is more baffling against the background of the fact that it was his party, the PDP, that first labelled our party, the APC, as a Muslim party. “Not even when the APC elected a Christian as its National Chairman, supported by many party officials who are also Christians, did they back off from their incautious claim. It did not occur to them that our party is more religiously diverse than they have sought to portray it to Nigerians.” The party urged voters not to be swayed by those who were using religion as a campaign tool. It said some unscrupulous politicians had already begun distributing leaflets portraying the APC as a religious intolerant party. It said, “They are hoping that by further inflaming passion with the highly emotive issue of religion, they can revive their shrivelling political fortunes. That is why they have devised the latest strategy of pitting Christians against Moslems through the circulation of satanic leaflets. Nigerians should not be taken in by this cheap plot. “We ask Nigerians to disregard anyone peddling religion as a tool for securing votes in any part of the country. Faith is a personal thing to individuals and no responsible government will seek to use religion to divide the people.” Culled From Punch News

CAN got N7bn to campaign for Jonathan –Borno pastor

Fresh facts emerged on Thursday about the allegation by the Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, that President Goodluck Jonathan’s Peoples Democratic Party gave some pastors N6bn to campaign against the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), in the 2015 presidential election. A Borno State-based Pastor, Kallamu Dikwa, said the money allegedly given to the pastors by the Presidency was N7bn and not N6bn as alleged by Amaechi, who doubled as the Director-General of the APC Presidential Campaign Organisation. Amaechi had alleged that some unnamed leaders of the PDP paid N6bn to Christian clerics to campaign against the APC. But reacting to the Northern States Christian Elders Forum, who challenged Amaechi to name those pastors involved in the bribery scandal, Dikwa told journalists in Kaduna on Thursday that the said money was channelled through the leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria. Dikwa, who is the Executive Director of the Voice of Northern Christian Movement, said CAN got the said money (N7bn) on January 26, 2015 and disbursed N3m each to state Chairmen of the CAN across the country. He was also an Associate Pastor with the E. Y. N. Church (Enklesiyan Yan’uwan A Nijeriya) Farm Centre, Dikwa Road, Maiduguri, Borno State, under Rev. Emmanuel Kwajihe between 2002-2004. But the Presidency and CAN had denied this allegation. While the Presidency said that Dikwa was an agent of the APC, the General Secretary of CAN, Rev. Musa Ayake, maintained that the allegation was total falsehood. However, Dikwa, said the CAN had started threatening Christians in the state (Borno) that they must re-elect President Jonathan in the rescheduled election. He said, “It was N7bn that was given to the CAN leadership by President Goodluck Jonathan. They (CAN) later disbursed N3m each to the state chairmen of the CAN. The money was handed over to the CAN leadership on 26th January, 2014. “This is what I know. One of the CAN officials from Abuja told me that they have collected the money. The corruption in CAN is terrible. They are corrupting the body of Christ because of money. “They are now threatening Christians in Borno State that they will deal with anybody who refused to vote for Jonathan. And the CAN officials are now campaigning that if Buhari emerges President he will islamise Nigeria; and that Prof. Yemi Osinbajo will resign soon after Buhari wins to give way for Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to emerge Vice President. “And at the same time, CAN is threatening Christians in Borno if they didn’t vote for Jonathan. And the same CAN continues to blackmail Prof. Yemi Osinbajo that Islamic world has bought Osinbajo with millions of dollars, all this is because of the N7bn bribery that they have received from Jonathan.” But Ayake in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents in Ilorin on Thursday said, “At no time did CAN collect money from Jonathan to preach against Buhari or to give the impression that Buhari wants to islamise Nigeria.” Ayake added, “I do not think I will lower ourselves, our integrity and our positions to somebody who is fake, who called himself a pastor when he is not; a liar, somebody who does not even know his left from his right. I know the person, if I want to comment, I will be lowering myself and my integrity to such a thing. Please that person is not what he claims to be. “What he said is a lie. It did not happen. It will not happen. “He is a liar. We should not waste our time on him. He is not a pastor. He has never been a pastor. He is just a liar. If I should reply, I would be lowering myself. What he said is between him and his God. Let him know that when this life is over, we are going to stand before God to give an account of what we said or did in this life. Let him continue with his lies, God will catch up with him one day.” Also, the Presidency said that Dikwa was making this allegation because he belonged to the APC. It said that was the reason he would continue to say anything that could advance the interest of his political party. The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, said this in an interview with one of our correspondents. Abati said, “Is the pastor a member of the APC? He probably belongs to the APC. Since he is a member of the APC, he will echo, modify and amplify whatever Amaechi said. “I think before you do anything, you should establish the political affiliation of that pastor. “He must be a member of the APC. Otherwise, he will face his primary responsibility as a pastor. “I have no doubt that the man is a member of the APC. As a member of the APC, he will say whatever he feels will advance the course of his party.” Culled From Punch News