Franklin Graham in Manchester

Ministry Over Politics

On two consecutive Saturdays, Manchester has hosted large Christian events that filled their venues to capacity. This time it was Franklin Graham, son of the late Billy Graham, the renowned American evangelist who preached to millions a generation ago.

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To deal with my misgivings from the outset, I am no fan of Franklin Graham's politics; his association with a kind of American Christian nationalism wins him no plaudits from me. Yet I must have as much sense as an old cow: eat the hay and leave the baling wire.

It is the ministry and anointing upon a person that we pay heed to, rather than their politics, for each one carries a revelation that may speak to us in ways no one else can. For all our human flaws, the amazing grace that flows through imperfect vessels underlines why we should place our trust in God rather than in men.

Drawn by the Music

I suppose what drew me most to this event was one of the performers, Michael W. Smith, the American singer-songwriter whose praise and worship songs have served us for decades. In fact, I saw him perform in Arnhem, in the Netherlands, back in 2002.

We gathered on the other side of Manchester, at the new Co-op Live venue, which stands right beside Manchester City's Etihad Stadium; Co-op Live is the UK's largest entertainment arena. The previous Saturday, by contrast, Jerry Eze's event had been held at Manchester United's Old Trafford. Jerry Eze is the Nigerian pastor behind NSPPD, short for New Season Prophetic Prayers and Declarations, whose church, Streams of Joy International, had filled Old Trafford only the week before.

A Tale of Two Events

The logistics required to host both events were onerous, yet quite well ordered. There were, however, stark differences. The earlier gathering had a predominantly black and diaspora attendance, whilst this one was decidedly international. I dare say a religious racial divide does exist, if you choose to observe what is going on around you. Beyond that, this event started on time.

Jerry Eze's event was almost a full day: the stadium opened to receive attendees from around 10:00 am, only for the first act to take the stage ninety minutes after the scheduled noon start. I concede it was quite a task getting everyone in. Three sides of Old Trafford were filled, every side but the one behind the main stage, a crowd I would estimate at some fifty thousand people.

Indeed, so great was the demand that Pastor Eze later apologised, in a video message, to the tens of thousands reportedly turned away, though that figure has not been independently confirmed. [Premier Christian News: Apology after 'tens of thousands' reportedly turned away from prayer event at Old Trafford stadium]

Arriving at Co-op Live

On arrival at Co-op Live, I was offered the accessibility entrance, which meant stair-free access to my seat. We were given tickets at the gates, with unassigned seating, and what a cavernous place the hall was. The floor, the stalls and the upper tiers were filled, every section bar the second tier. I took a seat in the third tier, looking towards the main stage from the left.

I was seated near several large families, and the young ones, adolescents for the most part, were a restless company, with the odd kicked seat and a wandering pair of feet to contend with. Still, I would not dwell on it, for it was heartening to see so many young people present; they are, after all, the very souls such an evening hopes to reach.

Performances and Purpose

Franklin Graham was hosting an evening gathering, with doors opening at 4:30 pm and proceedings beginning at 6:00 pm, the first act being a performance from Faith Child, the British Christian rapper. Thankfully, there were subtitles for some of us to follow his act; I suppose it is a generational thing, for I cannot easily keep pace with the rapid delivery that is so characteristic of rap.

More gospel acts followed, from the traditional to the modern, until Michael W. Smith appeared, first with two unfamiliar songs and then a dip into the legacy material that some of us of a certain age remember from the turn of the century.

Interspersed between the performances were video messages, including one for Samaritan's Purse, the international relief organisation Franklin Graham heads. More acts followed before Franklin Graham himself was introduced.

A Long-Awaited Visit

Apparently, it was his first time in Manchester. I recall seeing advertisements for previous visits; it was not that he had been barred from entering the UK, but rather that the proposed venues, at one time eight in all, cancelled their bookings with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, with him as the frontman. Those cancellations came in 2020, when the venues withdrew after petitions citing concerns that his appearance would stoke division. [Open Table: US evangelist Franklin Graham claims ‘persecution’ as UK venues cancel preaching tour bookings]

His message was the traditional gospel message: the problem of sin, and where we will spend eternity. These words are carried to the ears of listeners, but it is the work of God, through the Holy Spirit, that brings the conviction leading a person to proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. Those of us from an Evangelical background must take care that we do not become inured to this fundamental gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Unchanging Message

My experience of meeting friends the previous week is a case in point. I knew where my friend had given his life to Christ, but I was unaware that I had been instrumental in ministering to him, some forty-one years ago. I still have no recollection of the conversation, yet he has woven it into the story of his Christian witness.

When Franklin Graham gave the altar call, thousands stepped forward to pray the prayer of salvation. We applauded their decisions, and it took almost twenty minutes to get everyone to the front. He led them in prayer and gave each one material and a Bible to aid them in their new Christian walk. The proceedings closed after that.

A Harvest of Souls

This event was more an evangelistic crusade for new souls, as compared with last week's, which was a prayer conference: for those who already know, and a witness for those who never knew. For my own part, I came away blessed; it was a good evening of praise and worship.

I do wonder whether another event is scheduled for the not-too-distant future. Yet, judging by the attendance I witnessed over these two Saturdays, while the established church may be suffering an attendance crisis born of its search for relevance to society today, the Evangelical and Pentecostal wings of the church seem to be enjoying a bountiful harvest of souls.

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Jerry Eze in Manchester

More Than an Internet Personality

A search for him on the web reveals that he is an internet personality, a description that barely captures who he is. He is the founder and lead pastor of Streams of Joy International and the convener of the New Season Prophetic Prayers and Declarations (NSPPD), a 7am online prayer broadcast that grew during the pandemic into a global movement across YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Mixlr. With the kind of following he commands, he is an arresting presence who has mastered the social media platforms to spread his message.

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My scepticism had a particular source. I am no stranger to Pentecostal and Evangelical settings, and I have long followed English, Australian, and American "Word of Faith" preachers, whose cultural and social frame of reference I have grown accustomed to and readily taken in. This, however, is a specific brand of exuberant Nigerian Pentecostalism that I never encountered even during my years in Nigeria. A shared heritage does not always guarantee a shared instinct in worship.

Years ago, a friend sent me links to recordings of prayer sessions, both rowdy and cacophonous, in which I could not fathom what was going on. My sensibilities, broadly Anglican and attuned to the liturgical, would have felt criminally assaulted.

Yet this, I suppose, speaks to the mystery of a God who is as attentive in all our noise as He is in our orderliness. I should not be too much of an Englishman for God; I know that He understands, listens to, and answers Englishmen too.

Getting to Old Trafford

The venue for the NSPPD UK Prayer Conference [YouTube] was Manchester United's football stadium, commonly known as Old Trafford, and getting there was quite an ordeal. The buses were filled to capacity by the time they reached the second bus stop, so we had to board a tram. I spent the ride recalibrating our journey, and we opted to get off five stops earlier, since it proved the nearest stop to the venue on foot by that route.

We met up with friends, a couple I had not seen in forty years, and as we queued to gain entry to the grounds, we reminisced about our times of youthful religious innocence. I learnt that I was the one who had ministered to the husband when he gave his life to Christ some forty-one years ago. I simply had a recollection of where his conversion had happened.

A Feat of Organisation

On finding our seats in the stadium, we sat together, and from our vantage point the ground was almost at capacity on three sides, save for the area behind the stage. The whole setup was a logistical operation involving troops of security personnel, guides, ushers, helpers, and many more volunteers. It was a feat of organisational ability that left me quite impressed.

Something about the ministry of the man Jerry Eze suggests that prayers are answered, exemplified in big notices such as "We Dey Pray, E Dey Show" and "What God Cannot Do Does Not Exist." The first, in Nigerian Pidgin English, carries the sense that when we pray, the answers show; the second is the ministry's confident refrain that no situation lies beyond God's power.

This outfit caters for a broadly black audience, with a few attendees of other races. Patrons had travelled long distances for a touch of God through the ministration of this man.

Swept Up in the Sound

When the sound of praise and worship enveloped the stadium like a roar that would put an ecstatic football crowd in the shade, I was swayed by the sheer volume, and one could easily be caught up in the mass hysteria of congregational participation.

Most of the earlier songs were unfamiliar to me. I felt like an alien impostor, persuaded beyond my comfort zone to engage as I tried to appreciate this thing. The worship leader might have allowed the microphone to carry her singing voice to the speakers, rather than appearing to perform in a stadium yet losing out to sometimes unintelligible shouting. In fairness, the sound and acoustics did seem to improve as the event went on.

Another worship leader, apparently a Nigerian gospel singer, stirred my participatory enthusiasm at the prompting of old-time songs drawn from the recesses of my memory. Closed-caption signage, readable from my seat, could have helped, nearly as much as sign language would have. The default, as I saw it, was the ability to create a raucous din through the extreme exertion of voice and bodily movement, all for maximum effect.

Give Me Substance

The most impactful message I heard in this setting came in the lyrics of "Let It Show [YouTube]" by Kaestrings, partly excerpted below:

Give me substance,
Give me proofs,
Give me presence,
Give me You;

Give me substance,
Give me proofs,
Give me evidence,
Give me You;

Give me Your substance,
Give me proofs,
Give me fire,
Let it show that I met with You.

These words clearly identify with what this ministry is all about.

Yes, I was looking for ways to engage, even as I was overwhelmed by spectacle, performance, agitation, and vigorous incantation. It was so different to me that at times I was left a total observer, waiting to be shaken out of my stupor.

Prayers and Declarations

My concern was heightened as I heard many prayers and declarations with no punctuation, and no invocation of the name of Jesus except in the songs; as things progressed, however, we heard more in that respect. The many names of God were mentioned, but prominent in the list was El Roi, the God who sees me, first spoken by Hagar, an Egyptian servant to Sarai (Sarah) in the book of Genesis and the mother of Ishmael, Abraham's first child.

All the representatives who appeared on stage to take the microphone, regardless of how far afield they had come, including from Canada, prayed in the same almost riotous manner, one I had difficulty connecting with. It brought to mind the trigger behind the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, the three Hebrew men who refused to bow to King Nebuchadnezzar's golden statue. I simply imagined it as, "at the time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music."

I concede that far more people are attuned to this environment than I am. It yields results, judging by the testimonies of impossible situations transformed and the amazing, mind-blowing stories of triumph in life and circumstance. I probably need a better interpretation of the goings-on.

Testimonies Before the Man

In the run-up to Pastor Jerry Eze coming on stage, some testimonies were shared. A few spoke of answers to prayer received at previous conferences, and others of breakthroughs that had come through attending the 7am meetings online.

These accounts appeared to steady the atmosphere and to remind the crowd why they had gathered. Whatever my own difficulty in connecting, the conviction in the room was plain, and the testimonies carried a weight that the spectacle alone did not.

Gospel Royalty on Stage

Three hours into the orchestrations and events, Pastor Jerry Eze was somewhere in the background, yet to be ushered to the podium, perhaps long after I had gone. Then Nigerian gospel royalty came to perform: Mercy Chinwo, the winner of the second season of Nigerian Idol in 2012 and now one of the most celebrated voices in Nigerian gospel, known for anthems such as "Excess Love" and "Obinasom." I know none of her music, yet even I could muster the swagger, deigning to move to it.

After her, Dunsin Oyekan, the worship leader affectionately called "The Eagle" and known for immersive songs such as "Fragrance to Fire", became like John the Baptist, preparing the way for the man of God.

That figures of such standing would grace his stage said something in itself. It lent a weight beyond the capacity crowd, and confirmed that Jerry Eze is a good deal more than an internet personality.

An Acquired Taste

At the fourth hour, Pastor Jerry Eze mounted the stage, first articulate in a call-and-response declaration over the dry bones in our lives, commanding them to rise to life and living, before we were led to see that the place we were in was too small and that we needed to break out. After being led in prayers to bare our hearts and souls to God, we were blessed by the preacher to celebrate the answers to our prayers.

Then it was testimony time, and we rose to leave. I heard that proceedings drew to a close barely half an hour after we departed.

In concluding this piece, my honest opinion is that Pastor Jerry Eze is an acquired taste; it has to grow on you. I am glad I attended, for it was revelatory, and I tried to remain as open-minded and receptive as I could, even where those long conversant with his ministry were plainly carried along and I was not.

This should not in any way diminish the wonder and miracles that others have experienced by attending this conference, for which the testimonies would tell of a God who sees me, where I am, and touches me in miraculously stupendous ways.

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Palm Sunday: Clean hands are of the conscience

Common service in the church

Probably something I have not taken due notice of before, on Sunday mornings, I will usually wake up to a live church service on BBC Radio 4, the ones from the Church of England, I am more attuned to. The time did Spring Forward to British Summer Time, though it was more like British Raining Time, this morning.

However, today, Palm Sunday, I recall that when the readings came up in church, it was like a déjà vu moment, I very remembered I had heard it before, recently too. At church, with the new normal of no congregational singing, a cantor doing most of the musical stuff in front of the congregation or in the choir, much of what we do is sitting down apart during the greeting and certain congregational recitations.

The gospel in song

The children without a Sunday School with preoccupied and distracted by toys, puzzles, or their colouring books. The gospel was first read to announce the triumphal entry of the Lord into Jerusalem on the ass of a colt the second gospel was of the Passion, the first 54 verses of 66, of the 27^th chapter in the Gospel according to St Matthew, sung by the cantor and a laudable feat at the best of times. [Bible Gateway: Matthew 27:1-54 (NRSVA)]

As I have been listening to books on Audible rather than reading them on Kindle, there was a sense of how the words we heard seems to take on life as you read the words being sung to our hearing. I could not help but see the level of human wickedness that greeted the desire for the chief priests of that day to get rid of Jesus Christ.

A window on religious wickedness

When Judas Iscariot realised what his betrayal of Jesus Christ would lead to, he went to return the 30 pieces of silver the chief priests and elders gave him for his dastardly deed and they indifferently said, “What is that to us?”, on picking up the money he threw down in the temple, they deliberated amongst themselves agreeing it was “the price of blood”, bought a piece of land with it, not for anything but the burial of strangers to whom they will have no duty, obligation, or responsibility and called it the field of blood.

They agitated the crowd to prefer a murderer and thief over Jesus Christ and even Pontius Pilate when he made to wash his hands off the matter, recognised that they were against Jesus out of envy. Just the thought that someone bringing succour, healing and peace to their people making them somewhat irrelevant as they could never rise to minister to those needs was their all-consuming passion to destroy Jesus, he had to be killed.

Culpable in every way

I could not entirely absolve Pontius Pilate, his wife warned him not to have anything to do with Jesus, he had the power and authority to set Jesus free, much as whatever the decision he took would determine the fate of Jesus Christ in that place.

Out of fear for his position and hoping to avoid an insurrection, all acts of self-preservation of status and person, he delivered Jesus to them and the ritual of crucifixion started with scourging and mockery, the act of capital punishment will also be carried out by those under his command, just as he decided to place a notice at the head of the cross declaring Jesus, the kind of the Jews.

It all made for sombre reflection; the Holy Week has begun. In these pandemic times, as we sanitise our hands to prevent disease and contamination, Pontius Pilate would never have been able to wash his hands clean of the matter that underpins the force of Christianity, the cross and the consequent resurrection of Jesus Christ. Clean hands are first of the conscience and the decisions we make long before symbolically washing them in a bowl of water would mean anything.

He holds me up

Then I found freedom

It was one Wednesday night in early April, 36 years ago that I discovered something on campus, a livelier form of religion and devotion that put me at odds with everyone apart from the community that embraced me.

There was some turmoil I did not understand going on in my life, one in which I was at school and attended lectures without any inkling of what was going on therein. Sadly, there was no one I could explain my predicament to, but I found the distraction of student union representation and religion to keep my head as things swirled around me.

My sanity mattered more

That I was a failed student probably did not surprise me, though the reasons were quite different from what my parents and some friends thought. I was fighting a battle for my sanity whilst everything else fell apart around. Maybe, I would have liked for everything to all come together, but what is a life without the trials and tribulations that make for the quality of experience?

Indeed, I can say that now, when in the midst of it, I was both helpless and hapless, yet taking each day as it comes writing the story I can tell today. Seminal in those experiences were events quite a few and one of which was the music of the time.

It’s a new sound

I had heard some Christian music that did not suggest the singers were ready to explore the talents they had, pedestrian, uninspiring, perfunctory with words that just needed mouthing and hands clapping without a sense of rhythm like God was a boring sad and an unfunny deity of the sort that mother’s religious proclivities embraced.

Then I heard Andraé Crouch, the whole concept of praise and worship changed, the uplifting music that you will learn, sway and dance to that you were moving too well to even consider clapping. You were dancing before the Lord and even if you become naked in the process like King David once did, it did not matter. [BibleGateway 2 Samuel 6:14-23 (NIV)]

He holds me up

Too many songs that became the way by which God held me through the difficult and seemingly impossible times, for I did not see any light at the end of any tunnel, I groped in the darkness and the Lord led me through the valley of the shadow of death to new green pastures and still waters, but it was a long journey through that wilderness where I strayed at times and predators were on the prowl to devour me. I was spared, saved, and protected, to tell a better a story.

Today, from my Amazon Music subscription I decided to ask Alexa to playback Andraé Crouch and that has been on for hours, reminding of how in times of trouble, I need not be troubled, I am held by the righteous right hand of God and my unsteady gait on the rocky path is kept firm in the knowledge that I will not fall, nor will I come to any harm. We have a destination and it is good to the end. [Andraé Crouch on Amazon Music]

The timely message on Our Daily Bread – God Holds Us just reinforces the sense, feeling and assurance that it is well with my soul. I want to get my maracas out for this.

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Back to the cross with meaning to me

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Back to the place I know

In many ways, I am a creature of habit, many of the things I find a sense of comfort in I have written about especially when it comes to food and travel. However, one aspect that appears in my writings much as I would rather it reflected in expression than wear it on my sleeve is my spirituality.

It has a very Christian underpinning influenced by many denominations from which I have drawn strength and support through the good and the bad times where I find endurance, resilience, hope and expectation, knowing that things shall pass, and other things shall come to pass.

In that wealth of experience, I find unusually safe refuge from the turmoil around me, that I can return to my spiritual shelter like a treehouse in the garden away in silence to calm my soul is amazing.

Calm in the memory

Whilst I was chatting to my best friend, I cannot remember what made me search for Danniebelle Hall, a gospel singer and songwriter who passed on in 2000. In my personal prayer time back in 1988, I had a cassette tape of her songs, certain lyrics in her songs ministered life to my fragile soul. When she died, there was a particular song I could not get hold of, I probably last heard it in 1988.

At least, that is what I thought when my search showed up the song on YouTube. After my phone conversation, I played back the music repeatedly amazed I could remember most of the words whilst sorting out the mondegreens. There are periods of spiritual awakening that are recreated in returning to what I know and understand, like the tried and tested that gives me some renewal.

Recalling the times

It reminds me of one night Brian and I were at the Nobel Square in Cape Town, and this young man brought out his guitar and started playing gospel music, the songs of about 20 years ago, many from the Hillsong Music and Michael W. Smith catalogue, literally, all but two I remembered and sang along to.

In my times of meditation and seeking succour, there is a place for music from a certain place, like the minstrel strumming on a harp heralding a peaceful sense of being upon my thoughts, my mind, my soul, chasing worries and anxieties to forgotten places and reaffirming faith that makes miracles of the incomprehensible.

Waxing lyrically with effort

Whilst, I was at it, I decided to get the lyrics to What Can I Do from my hearing of the song, as I could not find any record online. Here goes and if you hear differently, help me with a comment. I always thought there was a refrain, but from the lyrical genius of this lady, nothing is really the same, then add the flourish of her vocal ability, I believe this song should be heard in choirs again.

Lyrics: What can I do?

What can I do?
To be of service Lord, to you,
How can I be pleasing in your sight?
I will give all that I am,
I’ll, I’ll do everything I can,
To show the world I love you,
With all my heart and mind.

Hmm, What can I do?
I just wanna be of service Lord, to you,
How can I be pleasing in your sight?
Here’s what I’m gonna do,
I’ll give you every, everything I am,
I’ll do everything I can,
To show the world I love you,
With all my heart and mind.

Whoa, What I am to some,
May not seem like much,
Oh, but what I am sure becomes,
Something great with just one touch of your hand,
So here, Lord, here I am,
Asking you.

What can I do?
What can I do?
I just wanna be of service Lord, to you,
How can I be pleasing in your sight?
I know what I’ll do,
I’ll give you everything I am,
And I’ll do everything I can,
I’ve gotta show the world I love you,
With all my heart and mind.

Whoa, What I am to some,
May not seem like much, Hey yeah!
But what I am sure becomes,
Something great with, all I need is,
One, one touch of the Master’s hand,
Hey, hey,
So here I am Lord,
I’m asking you.

What can I do?
Tell me what can I do?
Lord, to be of service to you,
How can I be pleasing in your sight?
I made up my mind,
I’m gonna give you every, every, everything I am,
I’ll do everything I can,
I wanna show the world I love ya,
You already know it,
But I gotta let the world, know I love you,
I sure do love you,
With all my heart and mind, I love you,
You saved my soul,
That’s why I love you,
You set me free,
(Lord, I love you)
I sure do love you,
You set me free,
I love you, Jeez,
I love you, I love you,
(Sure do love you)
You’ve been so good to me,
I love you, I love you,
With all of my heart, I sure do love you Jesus,
Yes I do,
(Lord I love you)
Sure do,
Lord you know I love you,
But I’ve gotta let the world know that I love you,
I love you, I love you, Jesus,
(Sure do love you)
(Love you Lord)
Oh! Because you’ve been so good to me,
You set me free,
(Sure do love you)
You open doors that I couldn’t see my way,
(Love you Lord)
And I love Jesus,
Somehow, I gotta tell the world,
That I love you, I love you,
(Lord, I love you)
O yes, I do,
How can I say it?
How can I say it?
I love you,
Oh, I love you Jesus,
(Sure do love you, love you Lord)

[To fade …]

What Can I Do? Written by Danniebelle Hall from the album Unmistakably Danniebelle.

Thought Picnic: The gospel was never about Karma

Not what I believe

“Coronavirus is not God’s judgment on the world. We need to stop preaching Christian Karma. The Cross of Christ destroys all Karma. God wants to save the world, not hurl disaster at it!” Dr Andrew Farley

Coronavirus is not God’s judgment on the world. We need to stop preaching Christian Karma. The Cross of Christ destroys all Karma. God wants to save the world, not hurl disaster at it!

— Dr. Andrew Farley (@DrAndrewFarley) March 23, 2020

This was a tweet that appeared to encapsulate ideas I have not been able to articulate for a while. The number of religious people who look for disasters to project of a version of a vengeful and truculent deity who can only gain our attention by visiting calamity and catastrophe on his creatures.

Too many times we have heard, after an earthquake, a tsunami, a hurricane, a plague, or some natural disaster, where hapless lives are lost in stories that never get told except in the sheer spectacle of the horror that leaves us with a sense of the fragility of life and the suddenness that could end it.

In comes a religious figure who in their Jeremiad finds a greatly unmistakable sign from on high, as if we are back to our primordial animist worship practices, the gods are angry and we need to bring sacrifices up to the temples, mountains or grottos to appease the gods to spare us from another disaster.

Come with Noah’s Ark

The Christian variety of the evangelical or charismatic strand are the biggest culprits, from prophets who see the evil to come but are rarely able, willing, or equipped to navigate their flock from the apparent wrath to come, but are ready to gain the fame of having foretold the passing of the disaster. Their revelation never goes as far as to be inspired to build a Noah’s Ark as a sanctuary from the many floods, saving life and more.

Neither do I believe in Christian Karma, I separate the revelation of the God of the Old Testament from the God introduced in the New Testament through the ministry of Jesus Christ. In my view, his only act of mischief would have been when he allowed the evil spirits in a possessed man to enter swine and that drove the swine into the sea, at which point those spirits would have needed to find other hosts. [Bible Gateway - A Demon-Possessed Man Healed]

Our capacity in calamity

Like a friend opined yesterday, he said apart from the fragility of humanity, there is a resilience and strength that cannot be fully understood, the capacity of man to face adversity and come out the stronger and wiser to life and purpose. The spirits could not destroy the man even though they made his life miserable and yet the swine had no capacity to handle those spirits, their entry was an immediate suicide run in the swine.

Anyway, one of the reasons I do not believe in the concept of Christian Karma was in the words of Jesus Christ himself, when you look at the verse after John 3:16, John 3:17 says it all, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” (NKJV)

Salvation is not for retribution

You don’t save the world, believer or unbeliever, sinner, or saint, Christian, Gentile or any identity you might care to possess by destroying them. Condemnation is not the purpose, even if a natural disaster, plague, or some other adversity comes our way. The prevailing purpose, opportunity, and desire are to save, it is of salvation and triumph. That is not in any way the spirit of Karma.

So, it is with sadness when I could in my basest human instinct lay hold on Schadenfreude that I learnt that a preacher who thought COVID-19 was an exciting bout of mass hysteria had now fallen victim to the Coronavirus and passed away.

It’s a shame, I doubt his religious beliefs would have expected that, yet, we are only human. Things happen to us, but I hope in our story, we can take whatever happens and create a better happening. May his soul rest in peace and may his survivors be comforted and strengthened with fortitude in this time of loss. [RawStory]

Thought Picnic: My life really does include my partner

Coming out without fear

I find myself returning to the theme of living your own truth in terms of the things you choose to do in your life and your relationships. I have many times celebrated the coming out of people whilst also touching on other broader topics of discussion on sexuality and expression, as the references show.

Blog - Opinion: Now, a thought for Kenny Badmus' wife

Blog - Opinion: Regardless of our sexuality, our past and future is our whole story

Blog - Opinion: Tom Daley and the pursuit of happiness

Blog - Opinion: When William Haines decided against a sham marriage

The most recent coming out event was by Philip Schofield about whom I have written an extensive but unpublished blog, because the fire of my inspiration was first snuffed out and then, the season for its revelation passed. A few days ago, I could have completed the blog, but the whole exercise felt mechanical than inspired. It might yet be published because there are issues, I discuss at length in it, I have persuaded myself it would have a longer than usual incubation.

Gospels in sound and vision

Having retrieved my audio Bible collection from some old hard disks at the beginning of the week and uploaded them to the cloud, as I was seeking something to watch on my Amazon Fire TV Stick, I happened upon the dramatized Gospel of John which I watched on Amazon Prime, but it is available on YouTube too. [The Gospel of John – YouTube]

As it transpired, I then watched The Gospel of Matthew and a not particularly dramatic The Gospel of Mark on YouTube. Next was the complete reading without an interval of The Gospel of Mark at the St Paul’s Cathedral by Peter Suchet of Agatha Christie’s Poirot fame, his opening remarks before his reading got me. [The Gospel According to Mark read by David Suchet - YouTube]

My life includes my partner

He was dedicating his reading for which he was receiving no remuneration to a friend who had recently passed on, Alec McCowen who died at 91 a few months before. As I am wont to do, I immediately conducted a search to appreciate this new piece of information. I did not know the actor who appeared to have a large body of work, and was well respected in the acting community that he was honoured with a memorial service at St. Paul's Church in Covent Garden (known as "the actors' church"). This according to the Wikipedia entry to his name.

The part to living your own truth that appealed to me out of Alec McCowen’s biography was that he had a partner Geoffrey Burridge who he lost to complications due to AIDS in 1987. In 1989, he was surprised with an appearance on This Is Your Life with the consideration that he had refused to be featured on the show if his partner of many years was not acknowledged. The dissatisfaction was assuaged with voice-over in the closing titles making the relationship known.

Living your truth regardless

I can say coming out in the UK in the 1980s was sensational news, acknowledging a sexuality outside the heteronormative construct could very well end careers, though there were many personalities who were ready to walk that difficult road when others stayed in the closet or contracted lavender marriages. To acknowledge your partner died of AIDS at a time when effective treatments were still being trialled but not definitely known to be as efficacious probably opened you to unmitigated stigma and discrimination.

Alec McCowen was not going to let the memory of his partner die away just because he was being given a public platform on national television to showcase his life and his achievements. This is where he earns my utmost respect, even though I am only finding out about him 3 years after his death.

My life really includes my partner

In my view, the people we share life with must always have a say in things that pertain to us, in our presence, in our absence, and in our passing. My relationship with Brian Jenkins is developing, he is my boyfriend, my partner, my companion, and my lover. My planning, thinking, and decisions are done with consideration to consulting him, understanding how it affects him and obviously how it affects us.

We have been going out together for over a year and we hope to progress this to a formal partnership at the right time. When in South Africa, he is my next of kin and as he gets introduced to my wider family, friends and acquaintances, his prominence in my life and my affairs should be without dispute along with his primacy and involvement in matters that concern me.

I would expect as a consequence that my achievements along with my love life are fully acknowledged without hesitation, because that would be the heart of the matter or it has no heart at all and it isn’t my story being told.

Like Alec McCowen, I hope for a good innings and if I do end up with a Wikipedia page, the option for Partner: must be filled in, and it is Brian Jenkins. Thank you, Brian, for making me a very happy guy.

On the gospel of flight

Board and preach

I was amused to find an event on my Twitter timeline a few days ago, a 25-second clip of a man in old-time religion garb waving a bible and preaching the gospel on an aeroplane. From indications on the screens at the back of the seats, it would appear the aircraft was just being boarded at that time.

Can he be deplaned at 35,000ft?
Angels shall bear him up in their hands lest he dash his head against a cloud. https://t.co/U1dqgxIlKQ

— Akin Akíntáyọ̀ 🏳️‍🌈 #FBPE (@forakin) February 16, 2020

However, ignoring that piece of evidence, in a fit of pique, I suggested with a twist in the scriptural phrase the following: “Can he be deplaned at 35,000ft? Angels shall bear him up in their hands lest he dash his head against a cloud.” Some did see the humorous side of it, but others took it literally and assumed my comment was both intolerant and violent.

I now remember that I did use a similar suggestion in a blog I wrote almost 13 years ago.

Blog - Eurovision: At 35,000ft - Cabin crew open doors

Preach the bus

In the interest of full disclosure, I am a culprit too. In the 1980s, I felt compelled to preach the gospel to all and sundry. With my clearly non-Nigerian accent, I would raise my voice in commercial transport to deliver my perspective of the gospel without scaring the listeners.

On the Lagos State Transport Corporation (LSTC) buses, I could stand near the front and face everyone to preach until a bylaw was promulgated to stop preaching on those buses at the risk of arrest. Whilst the audience might have been irritated, no one remonstrated probably out of fear of being thought anti-religious in a rather hyper-religious society.

However, with hindsight, regardless of how compelled I felt to preach the gospel and the presumed onslaught of officialdom to curtail a ‘divine’ commandment, I was an irritation and an encumbrance on the personal space and peace of other hapless passengers who probably after a hectic day didn’t need a bible thumper to assault them. Yet, preachers didn’t rise to sell salvation, purveyors of snake oil remedies had goods to sell with humour and encouragement better than preachers succeeded in their aims.

Outreach to each

Back to the preacher on the plane, everything suggests this was the wrongest place in too many respects to wave a bible around in too many respects. For when the plane is boarding, the crew are probably a bit stressed trying to get everyone to their seats, just as passengers are trying to get their carry-on luggage into the overheads bin whilst trying to make way for others to pass on to their seats.

I travelled about 100,000 kilometres last year, some door-to-door journeys including stopovers lasted about 28 hours. The last thing I need on the 2^nd or 3^rd leg of my journey, one of which could last 11 hours, is someone flailing the gospel with foreboding to my hearing.

Breach the peace

Besides, I would not be surprised if certain passengers became uncomfortable to the point of distress and insisted the preacher be taken off the plane out of fear that the preacher is a religious extremist up to no good. They would be right to demand it and the captain might have no other choice. We don’t take suspicious behaviour for granted when flying anymore.

If this happened after the flight had taken off, I would think the preacher would be advised to sit down and fasten his seat belt out of consideration for safety for himself and the other passengers. If that instruction were ignored, the plane could return to the airport to have him taken off as a public disturbance and he will be charged accordingly.

Yet, societies differ in responses to this kind of behaviour. I was not sure if I was amused or intrigued when I saw a preacher on the London Underground, I rationalised, if buskers did get away with it, the preacher though he had licence too.

Impeach the speech

My use of “Angels shall bear him up in their hands lest he dash his head against a cloud.” Could be termed a modern variation of “In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.” Psalm 91:12 (KJV)

According to the narrative of the temptation of Jesus Christ, the Devil asked him to throw himself down from a height and quoted Scripture to suggest God will command angels to save him from harm. In my usage, the intention was as the preacher would be a man of faith, if he were taken off the plane at any height, the angels bear him up safer than a parachute to land safely on terra firma.

I had no doubt about this even if there were some expected the worst to happen. All said and done, if you are arrested by the urge to rise to preach the gospel on a plane, I most candid advice would be – Don’t do it! Thank you.

Nigeria: The Sweet Smell of Money is also the Bitter Taste of Stolen

Preaching the gospel of controversy

Once again a religious establishment with a sprawling business empire and an overly charismatic leader whose hubris will rival the extreme arrogance exhibited by Lucifer in the times of old is embroiled in controversy.

In fact, it appears to find myriad ways to court notoriety and be a ready receptacle for opprobrium and worse within its temple halls where violence and indifference have found expression and in the tertiary institution on its grounds that runs like a glorified secondary school.

In the case of indifference, about two years on, the child that was kidnapped from the crèche has now been reunited with its parents and that is wonderful news, a great cause for celebration more for the parents than for how it appeared the victims were treated without care or due consideration when the event occurred.

The tithe of writhe

However, now, it is another looming crisis that will determine what the character of that establishment represents.

An army tribunal recently found that one of their own had embezzled funds and as a ‘good’ Christian in church but a corrupt official beyond the temple walls had contributed the tithe into the coffers of the church in the sum of NGN 11 million ($68,497).

Now, because the majority of the moneyed in Nigeria who generally have no entrepreneurial sources of income nor are they speculators in the stock market to the extent of carting off with the bank, one can only suppose their unaudited sources of wealth have been corruptly acquired through degrees of fraudulent activity from simple influence peddling through to blatant thievery by embezzlement.

Due anywhere but right

The churches usually ask no questions because their moral compass has long lost its magnetism that once pointed due north to honest, prudent, righteous and reputable conduct to the libation of the Mammon ensconced on a throne where the sacred and most holy altar used to be.

Obviously, the church might well say they received donations and offerings in good faith, but that is the standard to which we view the secular world at which point the law might suggest the receiving party is a handler of stolen goods.

Again, it might well be a case of a mistaken and misdirected investigation, but the sleuthhounds have followed the scent of the money to pockets that might well include the collection buckets of that church. Lord have mercy.

What will they do?

If the church as it hopes to stand in the strictest moral rectitude is to maintain its integrity, it should require no persuasion to move everything possible temporal and spiritual to extricate themselves from this rotten embarrassment too foul for words to express in its odium and repugnance by returning the moneys paid with interest to the army with a loud display of the moralist dogma they preach at others but sometimes fail to observe for themselves.

One expects that this will be the case, but with an establishment literally inured to criticism, we might just have another thing to whip them with, God knows these people are gluttons for punishment, turning the other cheek with the rapidity of a lathe when convenient and acting like fiery rabid Rottweilers at other times, we’ll be red meat before we could scamper to safety. Run!

Thought Picnic: The Love of Money in the Church

Money and the church

Two articles over the last 24 hours seem to have brought into focus a crisis of confidence in the way church finances are being gathered and consequently disposed of.

There is a wider issue here and I dare say it is somewhat bordering on endemic and you will appreciate that view in a moment.

First, it was the way demands were being made to engage in a partnership commitment with the church the scriptural basis of which is no doubt suspect but the arguments put forth by the writer makes a compelling case for serious reflection. [NigeriansTalk – Casino Pentecostalism – Ebenezer Obadare]

Scandal in Britain

Then a news story in a UK tabloid suggested worshippers in the UK were being fleeced to maintain a situation in Nigeria. The story stated 73% of offerings contributed in the UK went off-shore and it was not clear if this funding was a primary charity activity undertaken by the UK church or the moneys were just been extracted for the ministry of the church leader. It included calls for a Charity Commission investigation. [Daily Mail -Laughing on his private jet - the £93m pastor accused of exploiting British worshippers]

Back in 2004, it was the second largest Pentecostal church in Britain that was involved in a multi-million pound scandal. [Rick Ross - Scandal in the second biggest Pentecostal church in Britain.] In 2005, it was the turn of the largest Pentecostal church in Britain being investigated for financial irregularities that have not been fully resolved yet. [The Telegraph - 'Wealth' church leader practised what he preached.]

Evangelicals tainted globally

Out in the United States, it was a Senate inquiry into the finances of 6 televangelists. [USA Today - Televangelists escape penalty in Senate inquiry.] In Ukraine, the biggest church there has been embroiled in a serious financial scandal too on a failed business venture that frittered away about $100 million. [Christian Today - Ukraine: Megachurch pastor in business scandal.]

Over in Singapore another megastar preacher with a superstar wife and all the accoutrements of amazing wealth was arrested on suspicions of false accounting. [Singapore News - City Harvest's founder Kong Hee, four others arrested.] Then a more bizarre case in Canada where congregants were left out of pocket by reason of “affinity fraud” that gained support from the church leaders. [The Vancouver Sun - Evangelical church in $14-million financial scandal.]

Practice lagging doctrine

All the citations above are not so much to castigate any of the organisations, many of the issues are still sub judice but this calls for serious comment and I am sure this is just a subset of a larger issue with regards to churches of this type.

I mean type because all these churches, ministries and the ministers that run them identify as evangelical and/or Pentecostal and they seem to all have similar teachings based around what is commonly known as the Prosperity Gospel.

There is scriptural basis for this slant of teaching but its projection and expression leaves much to be desired. One finds that these wealthy preachers are not modest and reserved in their show of riches that it is unbecoming, vulgar, hedonistic, ostentatious, bragging and almost evil.

Room for grave error

It excites covetousness and greed; believers are led to believe that a bartering and exchange system exists between God and man short of saying they have to pay God for blessings of health and prosperity. An objective reading of the first reference in this blog could easily imply this and it is dangerous presaging a slippery slope into error where the love of money sets people up for being agents of evil.

However, that is a different matter; the most critical issue is that these church leaders are not doing much to offer a transparent and sombre reflection such that we are found in debates about excess and abuse rather than being profitably engaged in preaching the gospel.

On the wrong side of controversy

I am saddened that many have confused the kind of controversy they are supposed to excite that should make outsiders curious about Christianity rather than being critical of practising Christians.

Churches, church organisations and leaders of such establishments should be the vanguard of probity, rectitude, accountability, transparency, honesty, clarity, responsibility and trustworthiness. It is disgraceful and beneath contempt and well as contemptuous of the gospel to find churches so remiss in character and honourable conduct.

If the church cannot give good example, the world we seek to change is definitely lost. We find church leaders behaving like new-money types with nothing to separate them from the ostentation and showiness of drug barons or hip-hop artistes. They have become outrageously acquisitive and excused this as proof of God being a rich God.

No sombreness

Then see the really rich people around the world, either scions of genteel old-money or the likes of Bill Gates or Warren Buffett who can buy anything they want but have given themselves to works of stupendous charity and unsurpassed philanthropy that puts literally every other billionaire to shame.

Then you read articles in the Forbes magazine about Richest Pastors in some country and the whole context of the article has nothing to say about the gospel but the personality and the grand lifestyles that are worthy of opprobrium because in all the investigations that I have highlighted the biggest failing of these organisations is no clear separation of ministry finances from personal finances.

In secular organisations, that will be grounds for bringing charges of financial impropriety and possibly fraudulent activity.

Responsibilities matter

Any organisation that collects money by persuasion, inducement, cajoling or proposition from the public even if the said public have willingly subscribed to the project owes the public full accountability as to how the moneys are being spent for whatever reasons along with full justification for such expenditure and where that appears to be lacking they should expect secular government organisations to wade in and sanction bad practice.

It goes without saying that the preachers should repent and change their ways, it stinks to the high heavens and it portends the odium that emanates from the pits of Hades, the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been corrupted into a Gospel of Mammon – it ought not to be so. [Wikipedia - Mammon]

Beyond their responsibilities that matter, perceptions of being completely above board matter the most with the view of not bringing the name of Jesus Christ and the body of the church into disrepute.