The Insights

Pope Francis  IT is customary for seminarians in training for the Catholic priesthood to have pastoral experience for at least two months in a parish, during his long vacation every year. So, when others plan vacation trips to Dubai, the Bahamas, the Caribbean Islands, or Europe and the U.S., the seminarian is sent to a parish for practical pastoral experience. As a seminarian, I was sent to a village parish for my holiday apostolic work in 1987. The parish had 34 outstation churches and I had to spend at least two nights in each of them. When I arrived in one of those churches, a man who sat close to me started a conversation. “How old are you?” I told him my age. “Are your parents still alive?” I answered in the affirmative. “Are they aware of what you are doing?” I answered in the affirmative. “Are they aware that you are in this village now?” I answered yes. Then he thundered in annoyance; “And they allowed you to be roaming about villages doing this useless work an...

Pastor Lazarus Muoka What Do Men Say You Are?  John 1:47-48 states, “Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile! 48 Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.” BRETHREN, time has come when we should be concerned with what people say about us; their impression of us and the worth of the respect they have for us. Are we indeed God’s children, as we profess to be or hypocrites? Does God know you as one of His? Are you a secret or an open disciple of Christ? During Jesus Christ’s time on earth, deceitfulness was the mark of the Jewish people. To find a man, living in the midst of the Jews and still walking in uprightness, was rare, but Nathanael distinguished himself. Our Lord Jesus gave a good testimony about him as a worthy descendant of the patriarch Jacob, who not only professed to believe in t...

Bishop Olanrewaju Obembe Psalm 55:22 “CAST THY BURDEN UPON THE LORD and He shall SUSTAIN THEE: He SHALL NEVER suffer THE RIGHTEOUS TO BE MOVED.” AS we live here on earth, we all face the unexpected, as the only thing that is CONSTANT is CHANGE. Anything can happen unexpectedly in the Social, Economic and Political Global Spheres. This week, China’s BLACK MONDAY triggered negative ripple effects in the global stock markets. Chinese stocks dipped more than eight per cent ON MONDAY causing global negative losses, as investors in America, Europe and other Nations question the stability of the Asian economy. The richest man in Asia – WANG JINALIN was reported to have lost a whopping $13 Billion US Dollars during this period. The savings and income of some institutions were erased. Trillions of Dollars in turnover and savings of institutions were wiped off by the monstrous devaluation of stocks and assets. Obviously, we are the people of the end times: the level of anxiety, apprehe...

Scripture: “This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let everyone… so love his wife … as himself; and the wife … reverence her husband. Children, obey your parents …” (Ephesian 5:32-6:3). Introduction Marriage is the oldest institution on earth. Sure, man has made a good attempt at perverting marriage, but its basic concept as God intended remains even now. The primary purpose for marriage is friendship in deep intimate agape love. In God’s design it is only dissolvable by death, Matt. 19:8. Flowing from this primary purpose are very important functions like procreation, pleasure, and good parenthood. Purity, discipline and self-control are inherent in the foundational commitments and obligations of the parties. The vows exchanged create an irreversible covenant. Active Families Every member of the nuclear and extended Christian family is expected to actively cooperate with God to build the Church, the bride of Christ, and roll back...

JUST as we live in a world driven by models in virtually every field of human endeavours, so it was in Bible days. There were men and women that modeled their lives after God’s commands, and in the process became exemplars for others to follow. One of such men was Abraham, on whose worthy example, we can veritably pattern our faith today. He lived and walked by faith so much that he earned the sobriquet: “a friend of God.” The Bible records that, “by faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place, which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.” He began his life of faith by responding to God’s call to separate himself from the idolatrous worship of his people. For, “the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee.” I t is the response to this divine injunction that marked the beginning of his walk with God. His obedie...