An American and founder of West Africa Theological Seminary, Professor Gary Maxey has shared his 54-year-old marriage experience with a hint that forgiveness is key to a lasting marriage.

Maxey was the guest preacher at the wedding of Mercy Oluwayemi, Daughter of the Deputy General Overseer of Gospel Faith Mission International, Dr. Emmanuel Oluwayemi and Reuben Olowojoba.

The wedding took place last Thursday at the expansive auditorium of The Gospel Faith Mission (GOFAMINT), House of Glory, Aseese 1, Ogun State.

Maxey, who has lived in Nigeria for over 40 years, said marriage is a special Christian institution and nothing can be compared to the beauty of Christian Marriage.

“I believe nothing can be compared to the beauty of Christian marriage because it is established on the platform of God. God said when He sees marriage He sees something sacred. He said two shall become one and what God has joined together let no man put asunder.

“Effective communication is one of the keys to a successful marriage. Where couples don’t communicate effectively there will always be barriers in such marriage.

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“Couples need to communicate to understand the angles they are coming from. They need to communicate to sort out their differences. Where there is no communication there will be no information and we need information to grow every day both spiritually and otherwise.”

He shared his experiences and mentioned a particular incident in his 54 years of marriage. He said he offended his wife and had to apologize to her thus paving way for peace to return to their home.

Couples, according to him, must also imbibe the spirit of forgiveness. “Don’t say because you are the husband you cannot say ‘I am sorry’ to your wife. I want you to always be ready to apologize to your wife each time the need arises. Don’t feel too big to say sorry. This brings peace, joy, and happiness to your home.

He reasoned that the couple that prays together will always stay together, “Learning to effectively pray together is an essential tool that makes a marriage strong. So, prayer must be paramount. Learn how to pray without ceasing. Prayer is the master key that opens every locked door,” he said.

He advised the groom who is also a Pastor to love his wife dearly while also urging the wife to reciprocate the love with submission as stated in Ephesians Chapter 5:21.

“Those who love their wives love themselves because the wife and the husband have become one flesh.”

The father of the bride, Rev Emmanuel Oluwayemi, thanked the participants at the wedding stating that without their love and support the wedding would not have been successful.

He said, “I thank God for his mercy and glory. I thank the church leaders who spared their time to grace this occasion, it is a long list.

“I can’t start to mention names because of the constraint of time. I thank everyone who contributed to the success of this wedding in one way or the other. My heart also goes out to my brother, my friend who taught me theology, Prof. Gary Maxey. We are beneficiaries of his experience of 54 years of marriage in the sermon today.”

Prominent among the attendees was The National Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church Church of God, Pastor Sunday Akande, who stood in for the RCCG General Overseer, Pastor Enoch Adeboye.

The General Overseer, The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) Worldwide, Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye, has lamented the government’s attitude towards those with disabilities.

He spoke at the Special Thanksgiving for landlords, land owners, tenants, and real estate agents, among others.

Tagged: “In my Father’s House”, the event had Christians from across the country.

According to him, Nigeria has all it takes to integrate those persons living with disability with the laws in place.

He called for proper implementation of policy that will enhance their inclusion.

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Adeboye spoke through the Assistant General Overseer (Admin.) and the Pastor in charge of Region One, Dele Balogun.

He said: “We need to dismantle all barriers to their inclusion and engage them in practical ways across all spheres of our national life.

“This is a clarion call to Nigerians to associate with these people and other less privileged in the society.”

He called on Nigerians to depart from every form of wickedness and ask for God’s mercy as they enter the period of celebration of God’s love for mankind.

THE Planter of Christ Apostolic Church (CAC), Grace of Mercy Prayer Mountain, Adamimogo Worldwide, Prophet Sam Olu Alo has charged Christians to vote their conscience.

Alo said this at the dedication of Adamimogo Jesus City located along Ibeju-Lekki Epe Expressway.

The Commissioning coincided with the church’s Ojo Ayo 2022 Celebration.

Adamimogo Jesus City sits on a large expanse of land with an auditorium, hospital, school, administrative block, and guest houses among other features.

According to him, Christians have the moral responsibility to vote based on their conscience and not on hatred or revenge on any candidate at all levels of governance.

He warned that voting based on hatred, revenge, or religious sentiments would lead to an unpleasant situation for the country in the next four years.

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God, he claimed, told him: “if the church votes out of revenge, Nigeria may be in another war in the next four years. The regret will be much more than what we are going through at the moment.

“Let us pray. Don’t vote because of hatred. Vote as God has directed you. Don’t seek revenge against anyone. If it Igbo, Yoruba or Hausa, and you are sure that the person can deliver the dividends of democracy for Nigerians, go ahead and vote for such a one”, he said.

“It is not now that the church will be talking about Muslim- Muslim tickets. Things have gone wrong from the onset. I don’t support voting along the religious line. Let us vote for our conscience. If we toe the path of Muslim-Muslim or Christian-Muslim, we may miss it. Let us vote for our conscience and if it is the will of God, the person will emerge victorious,” he said.

The Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Job Creation Afolabi Imoukhuede tasked Nigerians to have hope in the electoral process.

He said that Nigerians should go and collect their PVCs and come out en mass and vote for the candidates of their choice. “Faith is personal and election and voting are the civil duties and responsibilities of everyone. The church must be apolitical,” he said.

As Nigerians prepare for the 2023 general election, the Founder and General Overseer of Calvary Kingdom Church, Archbishop Joseph Ojo spoke to Adeola Ogunlade on the type of leaders Nigeria needs, the qualities electorate must look out for before casting their votes for any of the candidates and other sundry national issues.

What is your take on the political outlook of the country?

The political outlook is very unpredictable and every right-thinking church leader should be careful not to just mislead their followers. It’s not an issue of religion; it’s not an issue of a tribe, that’s to me – it’s an issue of the views we have, especially the presidential candidates; what they have been able to achieve, and also, how much truth we have on their current promises.

Most of them will promise they will do this; they will change that, but they never do anything.

I think the issue is encouraging people not to allow tribe or religion to be their yardstick for deciding who to cast their votes for. They should think about their future – those of us who are old should think about our children and their future; be wise and know who you can trust with their promises. Most of them tell you what they don’t have the capacity of doing; what they don’t even know about doing. If you don’t know about doing something, you can just lift it from another person’s manifesto and you have no idea of how to go about it. That is my thinking – all leaders should be wise, pitching their fence; it’s a very dicey thing and in doing that they shouldn’t consider tribes – we are all Nigerians; they shouldn’t consider religion, we are all Nigerians. I’m a Christian and a Christian leader but we should look for people that are credible enough – look at their antecedents and what they have done; not for treasury looters. They can promise – they will do this, do that but won’t because they are hungry and amassing wealth for their generation.

With a few weeks to the general election, what role do you think the church should or can play in our political trajectory?

The role of the church and the leaders is to tell their followers, as I have said, to be very wise in casting their votes. You must not be influenced by religion, party, tribe, and all the like. You must look at the people who have offered themselves to serve if they are going to serve or they are coming to lord it. You know we are looking for servant leaders, not those who will lord it over their subject after they have received their votes. So, what we should tell our members is – don’t use ethnic considerations, don’t use religious considerations; look out for a party and a candidate that you can trust with what he has promised that he will do.

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The church is a critical stakeholder in society and with the cost of living, how is the church helping people to cope with the present reality?

For me, I will ask for people to vote for somebody we can trust that will say he is going to give us an egalitarian society, cultivation of our farmlands, and production. I know many will promise it, but I will look for someone among them who will be able to fulfill the promise and turn our uncultivated land into cultivation. From consumption to production; that is what I will tell my members. I know who can be trusted to fulfill that: I know who can say it but will never go back to it and will take another four years to deceive us. I know this country has been deceived enough – we should be wise. I’m sure if we have a good government and the pyramids in Kano come up again; the textile industry and factories in Kaduna come up again, and the different factories in Oshodi that have been turned to different uses come back on stream, I’m sure the economy will improve; people will get jobs and the cost of living will go down. It’s to know who we can trust with all these things – the possibility is there.

 As someone closer to the people at the grassroots; how would you describe the experience?

No, no, no; it’s bad, even the rich are also crying now. It is terrible; if it was when I was younger I would have long found my way out of the country but at 73/74, I’m not going anywhere – where am I going to go? So, it is tense; you know you can’t buy fuel if you even have a car. If you don’t have a car, you can’t pay for the transport and many people are getting used to trekking distances before they get to where they are going. Unnecessary and avoidable suffering – somebody should bail us out; it’s like we are locked up in the police station looking for someone to come and bail us out. We need someone to come and bail Nigerians out of the present quagmire.

 Finally, what is your position on the CBN’s currency change?

I think it’s a good thing even if it means only checking the people that have hoarded or hidden the currency and gotten it out of circulation and out of the reach of the common man. I saw some yesterday; whether this is fake, I don’t know. Some of our money are getting rotten in some warehouses – so, people are wicked. The Bible tells me we brought nothing into this world and will not carry anything away. So, maybe they were preparing it to use as their bedspread in their grave. I think it’s a good thing if they don’t have any ulterior motive to it; at least in this political corner that we are entering. This bend needed something like that and the good thing was that they didn’t let people know; it just came suddenly – that was the fine thing about it. If they had said it last year, they would have done everything they wanted to do; they would have even printed the new money before the CBN started distributing it; that’s how wicked they are.

THE Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries, a Church known for its power prayer delivery, recently at the Eko Hotels and Suites, showed another element of its gift in music.

Unknown to many, the Ministry has, over the years, raised a bunch of music talents, who have demonstrated their capacity to minister great gospel songs. They have been able to hold their own in every expression of music, whether the Acapela, praise worship and other genres.

Tagged the ‘Praise Invasion’, which was held on Sunday, 4th December, the concert threw up 25 gospel artists from the Ministry, who performed to the delight of the packed arena, peopled by members of the Church, their families, as well as several well-wishers, who were obviously not disappointed.

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These fantastic men and women proved to the enormous crowd that they indeed had talent.

The amiable General Overseer of the global Church, Dr Daniel Kolawole Olukoya, who co-hosted the memorable event with his wonderful wife, Dr ‘Shade Olukoya, regaled the audience with the feat the Church recorded as no church has done anything of this nature.

He said that, “MFM is not just about prayers alone. We have trained thousands of artistes, who have taken their art to major countries of the world, even some studying to the PhD level in music. What we have done in growing musical talents has been quite phenomenal.”

THE Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN), Lagos will continue in its good works of charity, caring for the elderly, the sick and the needy in addition to its salvation and healing ministry under the leadership of its new leader, Pastor Evelyn Joshua.

The church, which founder, Prophet T. B. Joshua, passed on June 5, 5021, also announced the opening of its first branch situated in Akure, Ondo State.

Speaking at a highly colourful thanksgiving service held last Sunday at the church auditorium to commemorate its one year of reopening post Covid-19, the church’s new leader, Pastor Evelyn Joshua, said the new branch, which structure had been in place for years, was permitted by God.

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Recall that the church never had any branch throughout the lifetime of its late founder.

Additionally, Pastor Mrs. Joshua said the Prophet T B Joshua Foundation, in its bid to preserve the legacy of its late founder, is giving a facelift to the ministry in its entirety by putting in place physical structures in his birthplace, Arigidi, Ondo State.

THE General Secretary of The Bible Society of Nigeria (BSN), Pastor Samuel Sanusi, has commended the Federal Government’s directive that the mother tongue should be the compulsory language of instruction in primary schools.

Sanusi said in a statement issued by its Manager, Media & PR, Benjamin Mordi, “this policy, which is a step in the right direction, will help to preserve our languages and cultures, as the death of a language is the death of a culture. He said there are over 500 languages in Nigeria, but many of them have gone into extinction because they were not in use.”

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He added that we have been an advocate of the use of our local languages both in the schools and at home; we are delighted the government has taken a position on this, making the mother tongue a compulsory medium of instruction for primary schools.

“As a people, we should be proud of our languages and cultures. At The Bible Society of Nigeria, we translate the Bible into Nigerian languages, and this has been helping to preserve the languages and cultures of the speakers of those languages. The Bibles can also serve as resource materials for instruction in those languages”.

“So far, we have translated the Bible into 27 Nigerian languages, while work is ongoing in 10 languages, including Nigerian Sign Language,” he said.

THE Provost of the African Church, Venerable Timothy Oluwasegun  Oladesu, has advised Christians to take their religion seriously.

He said that Christianity has been so watered by a civilization that should Jesus Christ return now, he would not be happy for the sacrifice he made through his death for sinners.

Oladesu stated these at the 60th anniversary of the Faith Revivalists Christian Mission (FRCM), Aladura, where he was the guest speaker.

He spoke on the theme: “The Christendom and Jesus: The Eternal Rock of Ages.’’

He lamented that in most churches there is no Jesus as the emphasis is on materialism, music, and unnecessary rivalry. Worse still, he regretted that churches were being overwhelmed by denominationalism and its attendant competitive spirit. “Some say, I am the best. You are not the best,’’ he warned.

The senior cleric lambasted comedians who make expensive jokes about Jesus.

Oladesu recalled that in those days companies used to come to the church to recruit new employees because of the purity of their members. Not anymore, he lamented, because many Christians have been accused or caught embezzling funds.

He said this development should be a source of worry to church leaders.

A group, The Nigeria National Christian Coalition, has called on Christians to seek more participation in the political space to deepen good governance in the country and protect the interest and welfare of Christians.

The Convener of NNCC, Apostle Titi Oluwadara, told reporters in Lagos that opinions and misconceptions that Christians dwell on to abhor politics in Nigeria have grown to become deep-rooted strongholds in their minds.

He said if these strongholds are not confronted and subdued, they will negatively affect many future generations.

“The terrible state of politics in Nigeria is an opportunity beckoning at Christians and all people of good and living conscience to step in and show the way. Christians can join politics to uproot all the vices and redefine how the game is played.

“Darkness shines when the light refuses to shine. Christians can create a new pathway in politics in Nigeria by establishing a new party based on Godly principles and foundations. They can sanitize the system also by pouring into an existing political party in their large number as an army of occupation to subdue all the evil elements,” he said.

Oluwadare said the reason they haven’t been able to step in to change the narrative is because the average Christian loves to fast and pray more than getting involved in the system.

She said Christians must, as a matter of utmost urgency, recognize that they shun politics and governance to their own peril. They run some of the best schools, operate some of the best social welfare schemes, house some of the most brilliant and kind-hearted Nigerians.

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“These are some of the best qualities needed to govern a country successfully. But because of their wrong attitude towards politics, they bury all these talents in the church and watch on as the worst of the land rule over the land and its best. What an irony!

She also said as part of effort to create this awareness, the NNCC would meet on Friday 9 at the Pistis Hub in Lagos for a summit to deliberate on the needs for the voice of the church in the nation to be heard.

Executive Director, Mobilisation Northern Nigeria of NNCC, Rev John Hayab, said it was high time Christians in the South and North came together to forge a common front in the political space of the country.

Hayab, who is also the chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Kaduna chapter, said there is a need for Christians in Nigeria to build a strong political base.

“The body of Christ because of not having a base, is therefore lacking in ability or capacity to negotiate or place a demand that can achieve or help achieve their objectives, hence, the church has little relevance at the centre of affairs in Nigeria and consequently the church and Christians end up being used as a pawn in the political chess game.

“As followers of Jesus Christ, and using the scriptures as our base, it is time to come out of oppression, multiply, be fruitful and have dominion. We must become spiritual. Spirituality is not isolating ourselves and absconding from responsibility,” he said.

The Regional Coordinator of NNCC, South-West Region, Bishop Taiwo Ajose, called for more political participation among Christians to tackle the social and moral ills in the country.

“One of the ways we can correct the ills of Nigeria is to actively get involved in the governance of the country because one of the core problems of Nigeria is leadership,” he said.

The National Executive Director, Media of NNCC, Dr. Bola Adewara said politicians have divided the church for so long, calling for a united front.

“What they use is divide and rule because they know if Christians in the north have an understanding with Christians in the south, it will be difficult to sideline Christians in politics,” he stated.

Adewara said joining politics is good for Christians and everyone with good conscience.

“Politics allows people with good hearts to take charge of making the laws for the nation. It allows people with conscience, good hearts and positive spirits to run the affairs of the nation and guarantee sustainable development. Angels don’t change any country, only good people do

“These politicians come to use us when they need our votes and when they get to power they push us aside and make appointments based on their own religion,” he added.

Also speaking at the conference, Ambassador Raphael Ogbu who is the Executive Director NNCC Diaspora, said if Nigeria must be saved, Nigerian Christians must change their perception about politics and lean over to save Nigeria from the hands of professional politicians.

He said Nigerian Christians must become born again and put off their current negative attitude about politics and governance.

“The forces of evil are climbing the shoulders of lack of righteous and good governance at every level of political leadership to destroy Nigeria while the Church is sleeping and hating politics which is the only legitimate access to governance with passion,” he added.

AS part of its goals of amplifying and celebrating talents in the Gospel music space, Evaloaded Entertainment has introduced the Kingdom Achievers’ Awards in collaboration with top gospel labels/brands.

The programme is billed to hold on the 20th of December, 2022.

Awards will feature Producer of the Year, Afro Gospel Artist of the Year, Gospel Blog of the Year, Artist of the Year (female), Artist of the Year (male), Song of the Year, Songwriter of the Year, the Album of the Year, Best Vocal Performance, and others.

In an interview with The Chief Executive Officer, Evaloaded, Sam Adejo, said,

“we are shaping the future of the gospel entertainment industry and connecting a Global audience to the gospel. ”

Adejo said that inspiring the next generation through celebrating, recognizing, and honouring gospel creatives that contribute immensely to the growth and development of the Gospel music Industry is imperative.

“Therefore, Evaloaded Entertainment is on a mission of setting up a proper structure for the gospel entertainment culture, that all gospel creatives can call a home,” he said.

Some of the A-list gospel musicians nominated for the award include Sinach, Frank Edward, Mercy Chinwo, Tim Godfrey, Okopi Peterson, Dj Horphuray, DJ Ernest, Dunsin Oyekan, Nathaniel Bassey, and Onos Ariyo.