Relationships, Inspirations, News and Peace Advocacy : 2016-03-27

What are you doing to maintain peace in your relationship with your wife, parents, brothers, and neighbor? The rate of divorce in recent times, I feel is on the increase. Of course this is because there is no peace between the two at some point in time. Why should we even be at enmity when we can also live in peace?
Peace is supreme, peace is in our hands, what can you do to promote peace and love today? For me, I accept being the cheated for peace to reign between my neighbor and I. In my family, I do some things (funny enough) for my wife in a bit to keep the love and the peace and she really appreciates that, do I have to mind what someone says about that? Of course, nope! It wouldn't be bad if you can decide to shave your partner, bath him/her, take the responsibility of buying the undies for her, carry out some domestic activities usually done by women (bathing the baby, cooking, washing, etc.) that is not because you are weak but because you are strong enough to love and give peace a chance, it is all for love, it is attempt to protect and guard your marriage.

The 2016 Easter celebration of our Christian brethren was marked on Sunday 27^th March 2016. It was a week-long event characterized by activities as marked by the people in their different places of worship. But the heights of the event were marked on Thursday, Friday and Sunday. On Thursday was the celebration of the Maundy Thursday also know as Holy Thursday, where the Christians remember and mark the feet washing and the last supper celebration as was demonstrated by Jesus Christ. On Friday was the commemoration of the crucifixion of Jesus where He was crucified by the Jews. And by Sunday, Christians marked the resurrection of Jesus.

In my usual manner as a Christian, I was in the Church to join the millions of people of faith to acknowledge and appreciate the love and peace as was personified by Jesus Christ. Highlights of the service were singing hymns and songs of praises, prayers and supplications to the masters, Christian massages by the chief priest and songs of praise and worship. During the praises, I saw and appreciated the level of happiness as I could read from the smiles that radiate from the people’s faces. Though a few others had different and not-too-good faces, the majority were happy to have been among the living. I was elated seeing people dancing unto the risen Lord who is raised, lives and will not die again.

In the place I worshiped, the man of God gave a sermon he captioned If Christ be not risen and his text was as recorded in 1Corinthians 15:14 And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. (1Corinthians, 15:14, NKJV). The man of God explained in line with the bible text, what would have happened if Christ couldn’t have risen from the dead. But if that had happened, then, Easter, our faith and the preaching would have been vain massages. Wow! Thanks to God because Jesus is raised indeed and His resurrection has formed the significance of Easter.

I found that people celebrate Easter in different ways. So Easter celebration means different things to different people. The significance of Easter which is the heart of the matter is often distorted by ‘Christians’ of today. More often to some ‘Christians’, Easter Sunday services is more of a “traditional obligation” a part of the celebration of the commencement of spring, than it is an observance and celebration of the resurrection of our Lord. Some people come to display something new-shoes, clothing, cars, etc. Ladies can show off their new hats and outfits. To some, it means one of the annual celebrations of the Christians. For these ones, the talks about the death and resurrection of Christ are a mere tale to some people who can believe any conceivable thing. To some others, Easter celebration is all about visits and patronage to pubs doing their ‘needful;’ yet to another some, Easter is a time to visit homes, may be by traveling to their villages in celebration of one event or the other. These are the insignificant activities in Easter celebration.

According to Robert L. (Bob) Deffenbaugh, a pastor/teacher and elder at Community Bible Chapel in Richardson, Texas, ‘The death of Christ was unique, however, because it was a part of God’s eternal plan that Christ would die as an innocent sacrificial lamb, as a substitute payment for the sins of men. The sacrifices of the Old Testament system anticipated Him who was to come as the “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29; cf. I Cor. 5:7). From eternity past, Christ was designated as the perfect sacrifice, without spot or blemish, whose death could thus atone for the sins of others (Is. 53; Heb. 9:11-14; 1 Pet. 1:18-20; 2:21-25).’ The heart of Easter celebration culminates in the significance and substance of Easter. These are the primary reason any other thing to me is secondary if not inconsequential.

This informed my decision to classify peoples understanding of Easter into significant and insignificant parts. In each of the parts, there are different people that make it up, following their perception of Easter; For the insignificant part, the people do their needful, going to pubs to eat, drink and merry. The unfortunate experience of some of the people in this insignificant part is that some of the actors end up with such negative vices as drinking to stupor only to stagger and fight within or outside their circle. They also engage in such practices as illicit sexual practices, stealing, etc. Another insignificant activity that makes up these days Easter celebration is holding such events as wedding, town-hall meetings, and some other event the people may deem necessary. I am quite sure that this is not bad, after all it is biblical to marry and there is no such time defined in the bible as being the ideal time to celebrate ones marriage. This also keeps the people happy. So some insignificant activities of Easter at times is good to the people.

Attending church activities; this is like the two sides of a coin in the sense that it could also be considered as the significant part of Easter but the difference is a function of the heart. Considering this an insignificant activity could be attributed to the people who go to church activities with hearts which are not devoted to the substance of such activity. They go to church where peace is advocated but they do not demonstrate peace and love towards their neighbors. Such are the people with wicked hearts. To these ones, attending church activity is insignificant since the subject of the church could not change their mindset.

Christ’s death and resurrection is the pride of the Christians. It is an established fact and undisputable faith of the Christian brethren that Christ was crucified on the cross and on the third day he rose in accordance with the scripture. And this is what Christians today commemorate in the context of Easter. In 1Corinthians 15:14 the apostle Paul stated if Christ is not risen from the dead, then our faith, belief, practices pride are in vain. (And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. (NKJV). Had it been that Christ was not raised as was foretold by the prophets; then, to us as Christians, it would be vain and useless to preach because the substance of our preaching is, that Christ was raised up; and all our, preaching is based on that. If that were not true, the whole system would have been effort in futility and Christianity would have been an imposition. The word vain here means the idea of worthless, idle, and false. And your faith is also vain. It is useless to believe. It can be of no advantage. If Christ was not raised, he was an impostor, since he repeatedly declared that he would rise. From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day. (NKJV, Mt 16:21; 17:22, 23; Lu 9:22). So if Christ was not raised from the dead, it would be false to affirm that the Christian system was from heaven; it would be useless to proclaim such a system, as it could save no one. But amazingly, Christ is raised, and He lives and reigns with the King. Isn’t this amazingly beautiful? It is and should be our pride. This implies that Christians are serving a living God, Halleluiah! I want to state unequivocally that the death and resurrection of Christ from the grave should be the pride of every Christian. In history, no one has ever died and risen as was foretold by anyone but only Christ.

Easter reminds Christians that their faith is a living one.

The system could not be true unless Christ had been raised, as he said he would be; and to believe a false system could be of no use to any man. For this I want to add that the Christian faith is not just a living one but a living and mighty faith, Halleluiah!

Another significance of the Easter celebration is that it is to a Christian, a Season of reawakening ‘the dead but suppose to live life’; When we talk about Easter, what readily comes to the lay mans mind is resurrection of the dead, from death to life. But to the Christian, Easter is a season of repentance and resurrection. Repenting from sin and living for godliness; Repenting from fornication to live for righteousness. So Easter to a Christian is a time of reassessment of his faith and believes in God. It is such times that one needs to ask such questions as ‘is my faith living or dead? Am I at peace with God? How have I derailed from what matters?’ such questions have their answers readily made. It is a simple yes or no response. Christ gave us authority over death, sin. So any area of one’s life which is dead before Easter should be crucified on a cross for the righteousness, peace and reconciliation with the Father.

By the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we are saved. “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). It is loaded with lots of glory but people chose death rather than the glories life that is found in Him. There is an urgent call to cleave and confess the death and resurrection of Jesus to receive our healing and eternal life.

Relationships, Inspirations, News and Peace Advocacy

Thursday, 31 March 2016

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Wednesday, 30 March 2016

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President Obama and his family in a church service, What do you observe?

THE SIGNIFICANCE, INSIGNIFICANCE AND HIGHLIGHTS OF THE EASTER CELEBRATION