SOUL Searching

16/09/2024

SOUL SEARCHING*
Pastor Nath Ngerem

THOSE WHO HOISTED TINUBU ON US: WHERE ARE THEY?

Judging by his level of public acceptance, Ahmed Tinubu had no business in A*o Rock. However, his Yoruba tribesmen, not surprisingly, lined up for him, and could kill anyone that would dare pose a threat to his desperation for power.

Nevertheless, a few Yoruba who were not comfortable with the whole craze, spoke up against it. The leader of Afenifere, Pa Ayo Adebanjo was in the forefront and was courageous to publicly disown the whole sham. Obasanjo also did. Others, for fear of falling out of tribal favours, couldn't speak out, but their consciences could not align with it.

People knew Tinubu was not worthy of A*o Rock, but, for ulterior motives, he had to be pushed there.
As dirty and dishonorable as he was, and still is, he had to be there, at all costs.
And there, he is.

Some rightly saw the impropriety of another Yoruba running for president too soon after they had enjoyed a slot in Obasanjo.
In a multi-ethnic nation it was against equity and fair play, but tribalism beclouded people's sense of reasoning, and selfishness took over their logic.

For others, it was the personality called Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He was a bad market being peddled with a heartless desperation.

Nevertheless, people spew fire, bent rules, twisted justice, maimed,
and killed their fellow men just to have Jagaban rule over us. They succeeded, and smiled to the bank with God-damned money.

The various people that played different roles in installing the present horror of a government headed by the con master, Bola Ahmed Tinubu upon this nation;
and now the evil fruit of their labour is sadly being reaped by the entire Nation

So, where are those various players that teamed up to bring us where we are now?...

all those who, for one dirty interest or the other, pitched their tents with roguery, deceit, and gangsterism against the good of the nation...
Where are they?

all the tribal lords and champions of ethnicity who insisted on installing their ethnic choice...

Where is the group of wizards that was hired to parade the streets in their cult regalia to demonically conjure Tinubu's victory...and they 'won'....

all the INEC officials who were caught in camera massively thumb-printing the ballot papers, falsifying results, and generally manipulating figures, in favour of Tinubu...

Where are they now?

All the judicial staff who called white black and black white; turned justice upsidedown; twisted electoral laws, and made us believe that INEC was not bound by the laws put together to enhance electoral credibility.
At the end of a 'good job', they got rewarded with 300% salary increment, at the same time when government refused to grant NLC any meaningful minimum wage for workers ...
Where are those judicial workers?

The Yoruba tribal pastors, and blind spiritists who stuck to the side of tribal sentiments rather than sensibility and sound spiritual judgement; whose prophecies and visions could not see beyond their noses...
Where are they now?...

those in high positions who could add their weighty voices when it mattered most, but who chose to keep mute when unrighteousness was being hoisted over our land...
Where are they?

Those who had authority to play roles to avert this our journey to tears, pain, and agony, but chose to look the other way...

All those hired bishops who identified with darkness; stood on the side of unrighteousness; and sold their consciences...
where are they?

Those who saw a man swimming in muddy waters of fraud; a man who could not clear himself of any of the countless cases against him... ranging from his very name, to school attended, to certificate obtained, to the places he claimed to have worked...


As the nation grapples with the consequences of these acts of conspiracy against our fatherland,
the bold question is, have these players learnt any lessons?

Will they act differently if the opportunity presents itself again?

10/09/2024

*NIGERIA: SUPREME COURT INVALIDATES IGBO CUSTOMARY LAW DENYING FEMALE DESCENDANTS THE RIGHT TO INHERIT*

(May 6, 2014) On April 14, 2014, the Nigerian Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision, confirmed decisions of two lower courts, which had found unconstitutional an Igbo customary law of succession excluding female offspring from eligibility to inherit the property of their fathers. (Lemmy Ughegbe, S’Court Upholds Female Child’s Right to Inheritance in Igboland, THE GUARDIAN (Apr. 15, 2014).)

*Background*

The case originated at the Lagos High Court. When Lazarus Ogbonna Ukeje, a member of the Igbo ethnic group, died intestate in Lagos in 1981, Cladys Ada Ukeje (his daughter) sued Lois Chituru Ukeje (the deceased’s wife and the plaintiff’s stepmother) and Enyinnaya Lazarus Ukeje (the deceased’s son and the plaintiff’s half-brother) before the Lagos High Court, seeking that she be included among the persons eligible to administer the deceased’s estate. (Tobi Soniyi, Supreme Court Upholds Right of Female Child to Inherit Properties in Igboland, THIS DAY LIVE (Apr. 15, 2014).) The High Court sided with the plaintiff and voided the Igbo customary law excluding female descendants from inheritance. (Id.)

Dissatisfied with the High Court’s ruling, Chituru and Lazarus appealed the decision to the Court of Appeal. (Id.) When the Court of Appeal upheld the High Court’s decision, Chituru and Lazarus availed themselves of their right to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court. (Id.)

*Igbo Customary Law of Inheritance*

Members of the Igbo (also known as Ibo) ethnic group mainly live in the southeastern part of Nigeria and constitute 18% of the country’s over 131 million population. (Nigeria Facts, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC (last visited May 5, 2014).) The Igbo rites classify property into three categories: land, commercially valuable trees and plants, and movable property (household articles, livestock, money, and debts). (SAMUEL CHINWUBA OBI, THE IBO LAW OF PROPERTY 30 (1963).)

The inheritance rules of the Igbo ethnic group appear to largely favor male offspring over female offspring of a deceased person. For instance, although many local variations exist, inheritance of individually owned land generally follows the principle of primogeniture. (OBIORA F. IKE & NDIDI NNOLI EDOZIEN, UNDERSTANDING AFRICA: TRADITIONAL LEGAL REASONONG: JURISPRUDENCE AND JUSTICE IN IGBOLAND 118 (2001).) Therefore, when a man dies intestate, the largest share of his individual land would devolve to the eldest son, with other sons sharing the rest equally. (Obi, supra, at 199.) If the deceased does not have sons, his individual land devolves to his brothers to be shared according to seniority. (G. A. Wigwe, Igbo Land Ownership, Alienation and Utilization: Studies in Land as a Source, in IGBO JURISPRUDENCE: LAW AND ORDER IN TRADITIONAL IGBO SOCIETY 32, 39 (G. M. Unezurike et al., eds., 1986).)

Although Igbo women are by and large excluded from inheritance, some localities permit female children to inherit their father’s compound in joint tenancy with their brothers; however, in these instances, the eldest brother remains in control of the property. (Jaoyeola Mulikat Bolaji, A Comparative Study of Women’s Rights of Inheritance in Nigeria Under Islamic Law and Some Customary Law 157 (Dec. 2011), University of Ilorin website.) There are also localities in which a daughter with respect to whom a nrachi ceremony is performed (a practice in which a female child of a man who does not have male issue is prevented from marrying so that she can bear male children in her father’s name) may inherit her father’s compound, land, and house/s. (Id. at 158.)

Similar to the inheritance of individual land, the inheritance of investments on land (including trees with commercial value) also varies from one locality to another. Although such property is generally inherited by sons as corporate body, there are localities where they are jointly inherited by the deceased’s full brothers, matrilineal uncles, matrilineal half-sisters, matrilineal sist

Convent & Monastery

07/09/2024

SEARCHING
Pastor Nath Ngerem

LOVE AND MARRIAGE THOUGHTS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

As a human being, the greatest duty you owe yourself here on earth is to give yourself a happy home where you settle down to fulfill the earthly purpose of Heaven for you, before you're called back Home. That is possible only when you find the partner that is suitable for you.

Many young people have gone after money and material possession; others have gone after external flashes of beauty, only to discover that when it matters most, these can fail. While these are good additionals to life, but alone, they do not guarantee a happy marriage.

*So, what guarantees a happy marriage?*

That, exactly, is what this piece is trying to explore. Follow me.

*"I love you"*

Every lady has heard this expression at one point or the other in the course of growing up. Some not only get doses of it, they receive overdose; and it comes in various forms.
It could be in text messages, pictorials, or outrightly verbal.

Men, even those that hardly understand the meaning of love, will give out this most expensive emotional expression, indiscriminately; and this is done to obtain a girl's *open legs*; and once that is done, the 'love' is over.

Therefore, "I love you" is one of the commonest and most misunderstood expressions you hear.
And when you are told that, naturally it tingles the heart and sets it dancing. Even the hardest heart is moved, and possibly falls, depending on the emotional vulnerability of the hearer.

So, smart suitors all over the world have mastered the use of "I love you" to dribble their ways into the most difficult terrains of ladies' hearts.

Unfortunately, gullible girls have not learned to identify a fake love expression from the genuine. Consequently, countless ladies' hearts are shattered because they fell for smart playboys, who take advantage of their gullibility.

Even the suitors themselves sometimes can't even tell a genuine love feeling from natural likeness, and infatuation.
Failure to differentiate Likeness, infatuation, from *real Love* is the undoing of countless relationships, and marriages. Homes have broken when people eventually discover the fakeness of the "I love you" that lured them into the relationship trap.

Women have been abused, and sometimes punched to death by the same men that sang "I love you" everyday to them.
Others who heard love songs daily from suitors have been abandoned at the critical moments of life.

Like I said, pretty ladies get this "I love you" tonic more frequently, even the overdose, more than any other.
In most cases men are drawn to external beauty, before they find out about internal virtue of a lady.
Internal beauty is the character, manners, principles, etc, of a person.

In a case where a man is drawn by a lady's external beauty *only* without finding out about her character, that is where you have a marriage built on flashy outward vanity without a sound character base.
Same thing for ladies who fall for a man's fat bank account only.

This is where you have marriages that start with "I love you", but when those flashy externalities disappear, the marriage crashes, because it was not built on genuine love, based on character.

That someone says he loves you is not enough for you to jump into his arms. You should also love him.
That is Mutual Love.
If one partner loves and the other does not, then you have a lop-sided or unbalanced love.

*A one-sided love does not make for a sound relationship and marriage. This is because the lover will make all the sacrifice, carry all the load, show more commitment, and take more responsibilities of the relationship, while the other is on the receiving end*

Although love is in the heart, but it can be seen, because its expressions are manifest in attitudes, actions, and reactions.
The magic question therefore:

*How can you tell when someone genuinely loves you?*
Let me attempt to provide some clues.

1. *Genuine love is caring*
He bothers himself about your welfare. He may not have all the money, but he shares his little with you. Ready to provide, and not selfish.

2. *Genuine love respects you for who you are*
You may not be the prettiest girl around, but he is satisfied, and wants to spend his life with you.
You may still be struggling with your finances, but she loves you.
Just for who you are.

3. *Love is patient with you*
Watch out for anyone that wants to
move you at a break-neck speed.
He meets you today, and wants to marry you right away; and he wants to bed you immediately.
He is after something; or he's hiding something.
She is quick to lure you to bed, so she can use pregnancy to hook you.
This is not genuine love.
Genuine love waits for you to be ready.p

4. *True love trusts you*
He does not search your phone for your calls and messages; neither does he demand explanation over who and who you talk to, or greet you.

5. *It forgives your mistakes*
Watch out for anyone who won't let go of your offences. They're ready to recount your sins over and over, with bitterness.

6. *True love is ready to share in your pains*
Watch out for anyone who keeps off in your times of pain, and returns when the storm is over.
They're only happy with you in rosy moments. This is not genuine love.

7. *Love protects you and your interests*

8. *gives you peace of mind*
Does not give you any cause for fear. You feel safe and peaceful in the person's company.

etc, etc.

You may not find all these in one person 100%, but generally the person's attitude towards you leaves pleasant impressions on your heart; you will feel the impact of love.

At the beginning, it may not be rosy; but with time there will be an improvement; and you will see the willingness in the person to improve.

*There must be an improvement that tells you there is a future in the relationship*.
That is why courtship is critical; it gives you the opportunity to study, observe, and address your discomforts about the person.

Further, if you have two people who may love themselves, but they're not ready to stand the trials of the marriage, then that marriage is in danger; because every marriage has its trials and challenges. This is normal, and should be expected.

Because every successful marriage is a product of trials and challenges, each union has its areas of trials which could be financial, delayed fruit of the womb, extended family hostilities, ill health, interpersonal misunderstandings and quarrel, etc, etc.

So as you pray for marriage, pray for the grace to stand the trials of your marriage.

Finally, the greatest duty you owe your marriage is to begin to pray long before the person shows up;
for the wisdom to separate the chaff from the real; and to see through every veil of deception.

May the Lord in His mercy deliver you from a wrong choice.

My single friend, a relationship that gives your heart peace and rest is worth more than silver and gold; and no amount of patience, is too much for that.
Best wishes as you prayerfully search for that individual.
..LOVE AND MARRIAGE THOUGHTS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE...

Convent & Monastery

03/09/2024

You're a very good leader; so good that in your absence none of your followers can stand in; and the entire group is stranded, waiting for you. What do we call that?
Leadership failure!

03/09/2024

We journeyed to this place; and like every sojourner, there is time to leave. But many are carried away by the excitement of the momentary fun, forgetting there is a departure time; then suddenly they are bundled home unprepared.
Too bad.
July

03/09/2024

SOUL SEARCHING*
Pastor Nath Ngerem

SATAN, THE GREAT SERVANT OF GOD...

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."
Romans 8:28

My own thinking is, on God's final judgement day, when all shall be rewarded for whatever they did to advance God's kingdom enterprise; before Satan is finally bundled to his eternal place of torment in hell, he and all his lieutenants shall be acknowledged for their great role in advancing God's purposes; even if it was done with evil motives.
That's just my thinking.

When he was driven out of heaven after his rebellion, as Lucifer, he was boiling with vengeant anger, to unleash destruction on any of God's investments anywhere under heaven. And indeed, he is fulfilling that threat.
On a daily basis, the devil is busy vandalising Heaven's business installations across the earthscape, in attempts to frustrate the will of God.

The man Job. This man's finest, most glorious version emerged after his old self was consumed away to ashes in one of the longest, most complex onslaughts masterminded by Satan, against any man.

At the end of that encounter, what we read is:

"After this lived Job an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons' sons, even four generations. So Job died, being old and full of days."
Job 42:16, 17

And of his daughters, the Bible has this:

"And in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job..." Job 42:15

All these were accomplished, courtesy the devil. What else will anyone ask for.

*As a matter of fact, the devil, in his evil intentions, has unknowingly put in so much efforts in positively impacting God's universal businesses, continuously.*

Perhaps the greatest attempt at wrecking havock at God's business interests, was at Calvary where God's great love was to be on display, and physically accomplished.
But there was no way that love story could come through without the input from the very Archenemy of God, but who unknowingly turns out to be His biggest business partner.

So, at the end, the death of Jesus on the cross was an interplay of God's love, and the devil's hate, to bring about the great redemption story.

After that, one act of stupidity the devil will ever leave to regret was the persecutions he unleashed on the early Church, because each time he did that, the Gospel would be the better for it.

The Church had gathered on a daily basis sharing sweet Fellowship and breaking bread at their Jerusalem Worship Centre.
According to the words of Jesus, they were not to go anywhere, nor embark on any evangelical jobs until after they had received Holy Ghost empowerment.

Then came the promised empowerment, on Pentecost day; and indeed they were all equipped with power; but alas, instead of launching out for missionary exploits, they stayed put at their Fellowship venue, still breaking bread and sharing warm brotherly love.

God needed to whip them out of this anti-missionary lifestyle; and guess who was handy for that purpose, the devil, through a fierce persecution; and within a short while, they were chased out of their comfort zone, scattered abroad, and carrying the most needed commodity, the gospel of Christ.

"... And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria...
Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word". Acts 8:1,4

If that persecution hadn't descended on the early church, I can't imagine what would become of the gospel.

The devil's positive impact (although negatively intended), on the spiritual, economic, etc, lives of people is innumerable.
Is it not a wonderful thing that the very Archenemy of God is the one who has contributed the greatest to the advancement of the Kingdom of God?

Now, follow me.
Many people have woken up to prayer responsibility right in the midst of their afflictions...
..countless souls have been won, and the weak spiritual soldiers restored, because men invested their times of afflictions into God's work...

Think of the obstacles and frustrations Satan puts on our road to progress; then think of how we consequently discover several other alternatives...
.. think of how people rediscover their prayer lives while contending in spiritual battles against forces of darkness...
..think of how criminals are converted in prisons, because born again persons are wrongly sent to jail.
From satanic intentions it is jail, but for God, it is a missionary assignment meant to reach out to lost souls in jail...
..think of how Ministers have discovered dimensions of ministerial exploits while battling with devilish impediments against their calling....
..think of how financial poverty unleashed against believers have led them into exploring dimensions of doing business; and consequently, recording self rediscovery, and breakthroughs...
..think of how couples afflicted with temporary barrenness have won God's heart by bringing succour to suffering children and barren couples...

*Time and space will fail me to continue recounting how people have broken barriers, scaled fences of impediments, to achieve greatness right in their times of tribulations...*

What about the development of a most priceless attribute called Patience? This is achieved while battling with delays and frustrations orchestrated by satanic forces.

Humility is another virtue equally developed when we pass through humiliating experiences. By this,
many individuals have had their arrogant wings clipped, and can now be better used by God.

"And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure"
2 Corinthians 12:7 KJV

The meaning of the above scripture is that Paul had received so much revelational breakthroughs in ministry such that *pride and self exultation* were imminent; and these are destructive to a vessel of God.

So, God allowed Satan to send an agent to plant a "thorn in his flesh" for which he pleaded for God's intervention, to no avail.
The best he got was "my grace is sufficient for you".

Paul would have destroyed his great ministry through pride, but the humiliating "thorn" tamed him and reduced the 'almighty' man to a mere mortal who had to depend on God's grace alone.

Each time the devil creates an obstacle, God has always turned it round for His own glory and for our spiritual promotion, because that stumbling block is now used as a stepping stone for the next level.

Also, each time the devil kindles a fire to consume a child of God, those same flames are turned into God's refining fire, to bring the best out of you.

At the end, the Christian is made purer and purer as gold by those refining flames

If we catch this understanding, then every child of God will learn to see every satanic attack as necessary experience in our military expedition, which is basically what the Christian faith is all about.

Joseph caught this understanding when his brothers who sold him later met him to weep for their sins.
He told them:

"But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive."
Genesis 50:20

Indeed, "... all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."
Romans 8:28

Finally, find out what self rediscovery you can make, and the breakthroughs you can record with the current situation you find yourself.
You may have wasted an opportunity to add value to your life and those of others, if the situation ends leaving you the way it meets you.

Indeed, "the best escape rout is a tight corner"

24/08/2024

Keep following SOUL SEARCHING; it's exciting.

Convent & Monastery

24/08/2024

Hello Fans of "SOUL SEARCHING"
You can now enjoy your favorite spiritual menu on this page. Trust me, it's always nourishing, by God's grace.