Transgender War Climaxes in the US

With barely three months left of his tenure as the President of the United States, Barack Obama is fighting tooth and nail to deal one final blow to the core fabric of family in his country.  As we reported in 2009, in the early days of Mr Obama’s presidency:  “Indeed just a few minutes after [Obama’s] inauguration, his staff posted his agendas concerning homosexuality and abortion on the White House website. The postings also included his avowed decision to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act” (http://churcharise.blogspot.com.ng/2009/03/re-is-obama-antichrist.html ).  His latest act, in June, is the announcement by the Pentagon that openly transgender people could now serve in the nation’s armed forces (http://tinyurl.com/z84sz6y).

         But the big battle is in schools, directly affecting the critical, coming generation.  In his final salvo in that sector, in May, Mr Obama announced new rules  requiring that public schools allow transgender students to use toilet facilities consistent with whatever gender status they claim, irrespective of the gender listed in their birth certificates.  Eleven states, led by Texas went to court at that time.  With Obama’s hot aggression against non-compliant states, especially against North Carolina, which passed a law directly opposing the new rule,  ten other states, led by Nebraska have on July 8, also gone to court requesting “legal clarity” in the  interpretation of existing laws.

         The core of the matter is the meaning of the word “sex” in Title IX of the Civil Rights Act, which outlaws discrimination “on the basis of sex”.  In 2014, the Obama administration had clarified that the existing federal ban on discrimination on the basis of sex  “extends to claims of discrimination based on gender identity or failure to conform to stereotypical notions of masculinity or femininity” – in other words,  transgenders. The new rule in May was portrayed as an innocuous build-up on this definition.

        The lawsuits from the states is however challenging this interpretation by Mr Obama’s federal government.  According to the new lawsuit: “The legislative history of Title IX reveals no intent to include ‘gender identity’ within the meaning of ‘sex….The term ‘sex’, as used in Title IX and its implementing regulations, means male and female, under the traditional binary conception of sex consistent with one’s genes and anatomy.”

Backlashes to Islamic extremism grow around the world

  

       Obama’s America continues to bend over backward, pandering to Islam-inspired atrocities. Even though the Orlando mass killer (Omar Mateen) called security forces before his action, pledging allegiance to ISIS; and even though the ISIS promptly took responsibility for the dastard deed afterwards;  Obama and his officials nevertheless insist that the action that left about 50 patrons dead in the gay club where it was executed, had nothing to do with Islamic extremism, but rather a matter of gun control and homophobia!

       A miffed al Qaeda instructed their own operatives to be more careful in selecting targets in the future, so that attacks could not be interpreted any other way but as carried out in the name of Islam! (http://tinyurl.com/h4qubj8)

Threatened by the Islamists’ Myopic Dream?

     Does CA! feel threatened for the Church in Nigeria following ongoing crafty dealings by Islamists?  Not at all!  The Head of the Church knows what to do and He is firmly in control.  Of course we are concerned about the lack of sensitivity, awareness, discernment, or any other sign of maturity on display by the Church.  However, the chances of some non-church players rising up to help their master, Satan, inflict chaos in the polity is far more likely than the chances of the gates of hell driving the Church underground, as in the middle east countries. Our mandate as salt and light however requires us to resist such outcomes.

     We are therefore more concerned that while many groups of endtime players are showing good discernment and appreciation of the season by launching extra-ordinary initiatives, it’s only in a miniscule faction of the Biblical Church that we see such actions – such as renewed call to concerted prayer, true holiness, innovative and sacrificial evangelism, etc, at the present time.

     On the other side of the divide, we see Vatican astronomers intently peering into the skies, as part of their “Project Lucifer” (actual name), looking for whatever they thought would emerge.  This might be connected to the last event predicted by the Fatima prophecies and may explain some of the strange words and actions of the predicted-to-be-the-last Pope, which even catholic faithfuls have described as bewildering!  We also see a clearly mesmerized yet excited EU President, Jean-Claude Juncker, talking about leaders from “other planets” (aliens?) expressing their concerns to him over Brexit and the future of Europe! Of course, Islamists, in their desperate dash to acquiring power and restoration of their caliphate, continue to ruthlessly trample on whatever stand in their way – even if it be law, order, or sound ethics. 

Islamists plod on with their Islamization plans for Nigeria

“Have I not done it before? Will I not do it again?  What is that power? Where is that god from? Who is that man that can question My integrity over Nigeria?

“There has been a contention over Nigeria. God stood and Satan stood and gave reasons why Nigeria should be handed over to him. But Nigeria cannot be released to them, no matter what price the enemy has paid. The price cannot be compared to the price The Lord has paid. This argument has no basis. But the ones called by the Lord should arise and uphold what the LORD has done.”

 

        Granted, as we highlighted in the last edition, that it’s the Islamists in PMB’s kitchen cabinet who are calling the shots, especially in matters of appointments in the coumtry; one nevertheless wonders how the President could claim he is “ for all and for none,” or that he means well for all, as he keeps on ratifying these appointments.  With the appointments, fundamental changes are simultaneously being effected in key sectors of our national life; and they are not necessarily for the better.  Most visible, in recent times, are changes in the areas of Security, Education, Oil and Gas, and the Civil Service. You ask what then is left?

       The recent announcement of Ibrahim Idris (Moslem from Niger State) as the acting Inspector General of Police, is the latest in the top echelon of the security sector that has swung things beyond what can be reasonably described by normal unbiased statistics.  Even before this particular appointment, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) had issued a public statement expressing her disturbance “by the virtual northern Islamization of the key security units in the country.” Describing the development as “a total negation of the Federal Character principle in appointments into Federal offices” and a demonstration of  “outright disrespect for this erstwhile sacrosanct national value,” the CAN observed that the situation opens up the “possibility of a section of the country using the instruments of the state to oppress, suppress, and intimidate other parts of the nation.”  As documented in the list by the CAN,  appointments made into key security units in the nation all involving Muslims from the North currently include: Director General, Department of States Services, Minister of Defense, Minister of Interior, National Security Adviser, and Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

    To these could be added: The Chief of Army Staff, the Chief of Air Staff, the Chief of Defence Intelligence, the Commandant-General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service, the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, the Controller-General of the Nigeria Prison Service….  And now, as Solomon Arase completes his tenure as the Inspector General of Police, he is replaced by a Moslem from the North.  In other to effect this last appointment, some twenty-three more senior officers had to be retired from the Police Force.  Surely there would have been one competent and qualified Christian among that whole lot, who could have been appointed IGP!

African Leadership Summit: YCLA 2016 IS HERE!

About this time, two years ago, the highly inspirational Yoruba Christian Leaders Assembly (YCLA) was convoked.  A personal testimony from Church Arise! on the impact of that meeting has been posted on our blog at http://churcharise.blogspot.com.ng/2016/07/testimony-some-impacts-of-1st-ycla.html .

        Now the second edition of the meeting is here, but this time around it has been integrated into the wider Africa Leadership Summit.  As at press time, meetings have been successfully held at Calabar (9-10^th July) and Ile-Ife (13-16^th July).  More meetings are scheduled for Abuja (19-20 July), and Lagos (22-23 July). 

     The Ile-Ife meetings featured in addition to top leaders in Business, Academia, and Politics, a rich array of traditional rulers, who came enmasse (well over a dozen) under the umbrella of the Association of Born Again Christian Obas (AOBACO).  The Church was represented by the Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Osun State Chapter, Dr Elisha Ogundiya, together with other top dignitaries including Dr Odun Orioke, General Overseer of Christway Church, Pastor John Temitope, Pastor of RCCG Region 3, Ile-Ife, and Rev Paul Oyedokun representing the President of the Osun state chapter of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria.  One of the major transactions at the meeting was the literal enactment of Zechariah 8:23 as leaders representing various sectors physically connected with the sleeves of Pastor Reuven Berger and renounced the ancient Yoruba covenants which had hitherto influenced leadership in the various sectors of Society, replacing them with the Abrahamic Covenant of Genesis 12. 

NIGERIA: TOTTERING ON THE EDGE OF THE PRECIPICE - NCEF

PRESS STATEMENT BY NATIONAL CHRISTIAN ELDERS FORUM (NCEF)

NIGERIA: TOTTERING ON THE EDGE OF THE PRECIPICE

Wednesday 13^th July, 2016. 

 The National Christian Elders’ Forum (NCEF) received with unquantifiable alarm and shock, the report of the gruesome murder of a 42 year old Christian woman, Mrs. Eunice Olawale Elisha by Islamic assailants. According to confirmed reports, Mrs. Elisha was murdered on Saturday, 9th July, 2016, while on Christian Evangelism. Her neck was slashed and was also stabbed in the stomach at Kubwa area of Abuja, FCT.

The murder of Mrs. Elisha is another addition to the unwarranted serial murder of Christians by Islamic assailants in Nigeria. A few days ago, on 30th June, 2016, Pastor Joseph Zakariya Kura of the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) was murdered while on his farm by Fulani herdsmen in Obi LGA of Nasarawa State. Until his death, Pastor Kura was the Chairman of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Obi LGA.

On Friday 3rd June, 2016, Mrs. Bridget Agbaheme, a 74 year old Christian was murdered at Wambai market in Kano. According to reports, the woman objected to a Muslim man doing ablution in front of her shop. For daring to object to the Muslim washing rite in front of her shop, the Christian woman was murdered, in broad daylight.

Vanguard report of July 12, 2016 published that 11 persons have been confirmed dead following a violent clash between suspected Fulani Herdsmen and Gbagyi communities in Niger State. All over the nation, religious extremists, under various identities, have been engaged in serial murder of Nigerians of other faiths. Today, the worst terrorist organization in the world, Boko Haram, and the fourth most terrible terrorist organization globally, the Fulani herdsmen, are operating in Nigeria. 

These are separate from the attacks by security forces against the Indigenous People of Biafra, (IPOB) in the South East and the conflict in the Niger Delta between security forces and militants.

The National Christian Elders Forum expresses its condolence to families that have been affected in all these gruesome mindless and unwarranted murder of Nigerian citizens. It is shocking that a modern state can descend to such level of barbarity and bestial extermination of human lives.

What the nation is witnessing today can be attributed to three immediate factors:

The doctrine of hatredthat was used to indoctrinate Almajiris in the various Islamic Madrassas in the North where Muslims were deliberately taught to hate Christians and people of other faiths.

The concept of “sacred space”in which Islamists believe, for example, that the road leading to their mosque belongs exclusively to them. The “sacred space” concept is applied to every area in which Islamism has travelled. The belief is that all land on earth has been given by Allah to Muslims and it is theirs by right, to stage a Jihad to retake them.

The result of one Nation operating two political systems of Democracy and Sharia.

Nigeria is witnessing a recurring decimal of violence as a result of narrow minded religious indoctrination and the onus is on Muslim leaders in the country to take steps to reverse this anomaly in the best interest of everyone. No country can make progress and live in peace when a section of the population is consumed with hatred for other citizens.

The National Christian Elders’ Forum wishes to emphasize, once again, that the main cause of the crisis in Nigeria is rooted in the conflict of ideology – Democracy versus Sharia in which one nation has two systems of government. It is impossible to have two national ideologies (Democracy and Sharia) as we witness today. Nigeria was established by our founding fathers, British and Nigerians, as a Democratic country to accommodate all the divergent groups within the nation. Those whose aim is to turn the Nation into a Sharia state are the architects of the present distress.

The National Christian Elders’ Forum is calling on all Christian leaders to meet urgently and appraise the situation in the Nation with the Vice President, Pastor Yemi Osibanjo SAN as Chairman. There is the need for a holistic response to the relentless attacks by Islamists on Christians and Christian communities. Thereafter, there should be a meeting with Muslim leaders. This is the only way out of this agony, because while the Islamist Jihadists are few, the majority of Muslims must lead in the fight against Islamist extremism.

If Nigeria is to remain a nation that all the citizens will call their home, Islamic leaders must champion the cause of dismantling the “doctrine of hatred” and promote Democracy which guarantees freedom of choice for all the citizens. Those pushing for Sharia ideology should be persuaded by their Muslim counterparts that in a multi-cultural and multi-religious society like Nigeria, Sharia as a national ideology cannot stand. If this is not done, and done quickly, then the nation that is tottering on the edge of the precipice will be pushed beyond the brink. Christians constitute a significant portion of the Nigerian population and, it is impossible to have Nigeria without Christians.

God save Nigeria,

SOLOMON ASEMOTA (SAN)

PRESS RELEASE BY COALITION OF CHRISTIAN GROUPS ON FG REVERSAL OF EID EL FITRI HOLIDAY

PRESS RELEASE

By

COALITION OF CHRISTIAN GROUPS

 

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT REVERSES EID-EL-FITRI PUBLIC HOLIDAY

 

As Nigerians, we congratulate the Muslims in the nation on their successful completion of the Ramadan fast in 2016. However, we are disturbed by the apparent shoddiness and confusion the Federal Government brought into the declaration of the Public Holiday rounding up the Muslim religious exercise.

 

The Federal Government had earlier declared Tuesday 5th and Wednesday 6^th July as Public Holiday only to reverse itself and declare Wednesday 6th and Thursday 7th July 2016 as Public Holiday. If this was done before Tuesday was observed as Public Holiday, it would have been tolerable but declaring Thursday 7th as Public Holiday in addition to Tuesday and Wednesday is a mark of institutional unseriousness. The implication now is that three days would be work free in the week.

 

We are equally appalled that the Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazau based the decision to declare Thursday as Public Holiday on “the directive by the President General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, the Sultan of Sokoto, to the effect that the Ramadan fast continues today (Tuesday) as a result of the non-sighting of the moon”. We are not aware that Nigeria has transmuted into a religious theocratic state in which the leader of a religious group issues “directive” to the Federal Government. If the President General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs confirmed Wednesday and Thursday as Public Holiday for the Ramadan fasting, then who advised the Federal Government to declare Tuesday a Public Holiday?

 

As innocuous as some people may want to present this development, it is a dangerous signal confirming the worrisome direction of the party that promised Nigerians CHANGE from the lawlessness and impunity that seem to characterize this nation. Since the inception of the Buhari administration, it has left no one in doubt of its discriminatory leaning towards Islam as the preferred religion in Nigeria, in violation of Section 10 of the Constitution. The Buhari Administration needs to be reminded again that Nigeria is not an Islamic Theocratic State that receives “directive” from a Sultan. Nigeria is a democratic and secular nation and preferential treatment should not be accorded any section of the nation but all should be treated equally.

 

If indeed a mistake was made in declaring Tuesday a Public Holiday that does not warrant declaring Thursday a Public Holiday. Both the Federal Government and leaders of Islam should have maintained the statutory two days Public Holiday and learnt a lesson on how to not to repeat the mistake in future. It is very embarrassing the tardiness and shoddiness that the Buhari Administration has brought into governance in Nigeria. Decent and respectable people are ashamed at the flagrant acts of discrimination, nepotism, and impunity of the APC led government.

 

We wish to state clearly that declaring Thursday an additional Public Holiday is not only wrong but an insensitive approach to the management of the economy. The economic well being of the nation should not be sacrificed on the altar of religious fervor.

 

Nevertheless, having illegally appropriated an additional day as Public Holiday during the Eid-el-Fitri, the Federal Government and leaders of Islam should be prepared to repay the nation the extra day during the next Eid-el-Kabir in which we expect only one day should be approved as Public Holiday. Nigeria should not be turned into a lawless nation. The APC led government should call itself to order.

 

COALTION OF CHRISTIAN GROUPS

1.                    NATIONAL CHRISTIAN ELDERS FORUM (NCEF)

2.                  NIGERIAN CHRISTIAN GRADUATE FELLOWSHIP (NCGF)

3.                   THINK TANK FOR THE BODY OF CHRIST

4.                  CHRISTIAN LAWYERS FELLOWSHIP OF NIGERIA (CLASFON)

5.                  ASSOCIATION OF CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS IN NIGERIA (ACSIN)

6.                  STUDENTS CHRISTIAN MOVEMENT (SCM)

7.                  CHRISTIAN PROFESSIONALS FORUM (CPF)

8.                  MINISTERS PRAYER NETWORK

9.                  INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN EMBASSY JERUSALEM (ICEJ)

10.               NEMA

11.                 INTERNATIONAL PROPHETIC MINISTERIAL ASSOCIATION (IPMA) (Inc. Worldwide College of Bishops & Ministers, Africa, UK & USA)

12.                INTERCESSORS WITHOUT WALLS (IWW)

13.                WAILING WOMEN INTERNATIONAL

14.               FULL GOSPEL BUSINESSMEN FELLOWSHIP

15.                NIGERIAN FELLOWSHIP OF CHRISTIAN STUDENTS (NIFES)

16.               UNIVERSITY JOINT CAMPUS CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP (UJCM)

8^TH JULY, 2016