What Do You Think About This? Please comment: Legislators should leave God out of the anti-gay bill

Collins Uma: Legislators should leave God out of the anti-gay bill

by Collins Uma

Two reasons put forward by supporters of the bill are that homosexuality is not part of our culture and that it is a sin against God. No sillier reasons have been given for the passage of a an unnecessary bill which, technically, isn't different from attempting to legislate on anal sex.

A lot of thoughts have been on my mind since Nigeria's National Assembly officially criminalised homosexuality in Nigeria and prescribed up to 14-year jail terms for gay and lesbian couples and up to 10 years jail term for those who support them, including those who advocate gay rights. I say 'officially' because we have always passed homophobic sentences on people we suspect to be gay or lesbian.

In my university days, two girls got the embarrassment of their lives because someone entered their room and found them naked on the bed. The one who got into the room called out to others within the hostel to 'come and see lesbians' in their hostel. No question was asked and, before the two 'lesbians' knew it, the news was all over the campus. In their defence they denied involvement in any act of lesbianism and said they only stayed that way and didn't shut the door because there was no electricity in the hostel and the room was hot (boys were not allowed into female hostels). How many people heard their defence? How many who heard believed? The damage had been done. They became pariah until we left school.

A lecturer also became pariah because he was suspected to be gay. My friend wouldn't let the man supervise his final year project. I don't know how he convinced the Head of Department to assign another supervisor to him. The homophobia was that serious.

Two reasons put forward by supporters of the bill are that homosexuality is not part of our culture and that it is a sin against God. No sillier reasons have been given for the passage of a an unnecessary bill which, technically, isn't different from attempting to legislate on anal sex.

Culture

My wife is Tiv. Before our traditional marriage a list was given to me which included items I must provide. One item was particularly interesting to me. A wheel-barrow. Yes, I was told it is part of the tradition and culture of the people for a man who seeks a girl's hand in marriage to give a wheel-barrow, among other things, to the girl's parents. I wondered when that culture came into being. And when did wheel-barrows get to these shores that it has become a part of cultural obligations that must be fulfilled before marriage. I did not buy the wheel-barrow but when we got to the village they insisted that I pay for it and I did. It started one day but the practice has become part of the culture. The National Assembly will do well to note that they cannot decide on what is or will become a part of "our culture". There are over 300 ethnic groups in Nigeria, each with its culture or way of life and these cultures are dynamic. This leaves one wondering which culture the legislators are referring to. A Google search of the term 'Yan Daudu' will show that homosexuality in Nigeria is really not a recent phenomenon. The yan daudus are homosexuals in Northern Nigeria and they have lived among the people for over 100 hundred years. Infact, since before the advent of colonialism.

There are individual ways of life that cannot be put under the cultural umbrella. When a crime is committed the criminal is not prosecuted because he has done something which is against "our culture" but because of the injury his action has caused to the complainant. Who is the injured party when there is sex between two consenting adults? If a homosexual has sex with a minor or with a grown-up without the latter's consent then let the offender be prosecuted just like any other heterosexual who engages in such an act. Equality under the law demands this. If Adam and Steve will be imprisoned because they choose to have sex with each other instead of conforming to societal norms by having sex with Eve then one day we could have the legislators debating whether or not to imprison people like me who wear our wrist watches on the right instead of on the left hand and who prefer Pepsi to Coke. Its that ludicrous.

God

This is one excuse nobody should mention, in a secular state. In Nigeria, however, we are like the Nollywood producer/screenwriter who invokes the supernatural to resolve the conflicts in a story whenever he writes himself into a cul de sac.

When you say homosexuality should be criminalised because it is a sin against God, which God are you referring to? Nigeria is not a theocracy. We do not have a 'national God'. If it is a sin against the Christian God and/or the Muslim God, what happens to the citizen who does not worship the God the National Assembly referred to and who's prophets they have suddenly become? What happens to those who do not believe in the concept of God at all? What happens to the adherents of a 'godless religion' like Buddhism? Are we now going to compel them to live according to the dictates of Judeo-Christianity or Islam? In a secular state? Using 'God' as an excuse to bring this law into being is akin to removing all the regular courts from states that practice the Shari'a legal system and forcing everybody to be judged by the strict Shari'a codes, irrespective of each man's religious persuasion. Besides, how are we any different from the Boko Haram terrorists if we remove or cause to be removed from society those we do not like, in the name of fighting for God. Let's not even talk about the irony of a Nigerian legislator doing something for God. By the way, Leviticus 18:22 prescribes a death penalty for homosexuals. How dare these legislators reduce it to 14 years? If they're fighting for God shouldn't they be following the instruction to the letter?

If the Nigerian legislature want homosexuality criminalised it should be for better reasons and not something as hare-brained as 'culture' or 'sin against God'. Such debates and legislation will however persist as long as we sit back and hand over law-making to the incompetent ones among us because we are too posh and too elite to contest elections or register as members of political parties or stand in the sun to vote in the right candidates.

I am a born-again Christian and an ordained Minister of the Gospel, licensed to conduct marriages. I do not encourage homosexuality and I will not wed Adam and Steve or Ada and Eve but I will not send them to prison either.

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Collins Uma tweets from @CollinsUma

Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.

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Original Page: http://www.ynaija.com/collins-uma-legislators-should-leave-god-out-of-the-anti-gay-bill/

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Who’s Getting Rich With the Get-Rich-Quick Gospel?

Get-rich-quick schemes, er, programs are a dime a dozen—but they'll leave you with empty pockets and plenty of useless products if you buy into them. And the get-rich-quick gospel may cost you a little more. 

You may remember the question-mark-suit-wearing Matthew Lesko, the infomercial icon that peddled many books, including Free Money to Pay Your Bills. The New York State Consumer Protection Board exposed him for misleading advertisements, but not before he sold countless books at $40 a pop that he admittedly plagiarized. Get-rich-quick gospel gainsayers are a little more difficult to expose but not hard to discern.

Then there was the "Greatest Vitamin in the World" heist from Don Lapre. All you had to do was shell out $35 for a chance to make millions selling the vitamins, which promise to help with everything from diabetes to cancer. There's no telling how much Lapre raked in before the FDA warned the public about Lapre's false advertising. Likewise, there's no telling how much the get-rich-quick gospel preachers will stuff in their pockets before truth catches up with them.

Finding Your Miracle Money

It seems even Spirit-filled, blood-bought believers are buying into the most outlandish scams in order to make miracle money. Some of these are worldly scams; others are churchly scams. Both are leaving believers with big promises and dented bank accounts, and both show desperation or lack of discernment—or both—among many in the body of Christ.

I was talking with a pastor last weekend about a member of his church whose bank account was completely wiped out because he fell for the "Spanish prisoner" scam. You may know it as the "Nigerian 419" scam: You get an email from Nigeria (or India or Russia or South Africa) asking your help accessing unclaimed money in exchange for a cut of a multimillion-dollar inheritance. Scammers ask you to send wire transfers to pay costs associated with processing the claim.

This poor gullible saint—who was actually an assistant pastor in a local church—praised the Lord when he received the email offer. He had been praying for a financial breakthrough and saw the opportunity as a miracle answer from God!

My pastor friend—and others—warned him that it was what the old-timers called a "confidence trick," but he was either too desperate or too naive to heed the wisdom. He sowed thousands of dollars because he was utterly convinced he would soon be a multimillionaire. His lack of discernment—and his refusal to take wise counsel—devastated his finances.

The Get-Rich-Quick Gospel

The get-rich-quick gospel often works in the same way. You get email from a ministry asking for your help to keep a television broadcast on the air—or maybe even an orphanage open in Nigeria. There is nothing wrong with ministries sending out pleas for donations. The problem is what some of these ministries are promising in return. The get-rich-quick gospel scams make shallow, hollow promises that are not likely to come true for anyone—except for the few who are propagating the message.

Let's look at a couple of these gimmicks.

Maybe you've watched Christian television programs—or even seen in person—saints coming and laying money at the feet of the preacher, leaving it on the stage or even stuffing it in his pocket when he walks by. The idea here is to give to the anointing to get a quick return. They are sowing into the message they hear in order to reap a harvest. Scripturally, they stand on Acts 4:34 but blur the context, which was to distribute goods for the needs of people in the early church—not to heap up a quick financial return on a seed because of a "special anointing" on a message.

Or maybe you've seen variations of the Luke 6:38 swindle. The preacher says he had a vision or received a prophetic word that all those who commit to sow $638 over the next six months will get a massive financial breakthrough. Other gospel hucksters have offered a $1,000 return on a $58 seed—but only if you'll quickly go to the phone right now! And you'd better hurry because it's only available for 300 people who really need a miracle. Others just look for vows to give in exchange for an anointed prayer, then harrass you with letters to no end. Still others offer special anointed prayer shawls, anointing oil, special soaps or other merchandise that promise miracles in exchange for big bucks.

Common Sense and Discernment

Usually it doesn't take much discernment to recognize one of these schemes, but they aren't always so blatant. Sometimes it's much more subtle. That's why you need to stop and pray about your giving. If you sow a seed into a false prophet's pot, you aren't likely to get the reward you are looking for. Much like the local pastor who fell for the Nigerian scam, the miracle will never come.

Worldly get-rich-quick schemes and churchly get-rich-quick schemes have plenty in common. Typically, both imply a fast return on your investment thanks to a special revelation or a special anointing. Typically, both use pressure tactics to get you to let go of your cash quickly before you have time to really consider what you are doing. Sometimes they use testimonies from others who previously bought into the message and found fast success.

Don't fall for these tactics in the world or in the church. Again, the only one getting rich off get-rich-quick schemes are the ones crafting the scams—or helping promote the scams. Yes, they'll have to answer to God one day for fleecing the sheep. But that doesn't mean you don't have a responsibility to be a discerning, wise steward. So believe God wants to prosper you, but don't buy into the get-rich-quick gospel. It doesn't work any better than Lesko's Free Money to Pay Your Bills scam.

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Jennifer LeClaire is news editor at Charisma. She is also the author of several books, including The Spiritual Warrior's Guide to Defeating Jezebel. You can email Jennifer at  jennifer.leclaire@charismamedia.com or visit her website here. You can also join Jennifer on Facebook or follow her on Twitter.

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Original Page: http://www.charismamag.com/blogs/the-plumb-line/18030-who-s-getting-rich-with-the-get-rich-quick-gospel

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What Really Matters

A man once went to a minister for counseling.

"I've lost everything" he bemoaned.
"Oh," the preacher responded, "I'm so sorry to hear you've lost your faith."
"No," the man corrected him, "I haven't lost my faith."
"Well then," replied the preacher, "I'm sad to hear you've lost your character."
"I didn't say that," the man corrected. "I still have my character."
"Then I'm so sorry to hear you've lost your salvation."
"That's not what I said!" the man objected, beginning to lose patience.
The minister explained, "Well, you have your faith, your character, and your salvation. Seems to me, you have lost none of the things that really matter."

We haven't either. You and I could pray like the Puritan who sat down to a meal of bread and water. He bowed his head and declared, "All this and Jesus too?" Can't we be equally content? Paul says in 1 Timothy 6:6, "Godliness with contentment is great gain!"

From Traveling Light

Max Lucado

Godly Commands, Not Suggestions

By John Mason    The Bible does not offer suggestions; instead it commands us: To be in right relationship with our brothers.  (Matt. 5:24) To follow the rule of peace.  (Col. 3:15) Not to "get even."  (1 Thess. 5:15) To be an example to others.  (1 Tim. 4:12) To be abounding, steadfast and immovable.  (1 Cor. 15:58) To renew our minds.  (Rom. 12:2) To separate ourselves from unclean things.  (2 Cor. 6:17) To be content with what we have.  (Heb. 13:5) To be filled with the Spirit.  (Eph. 5:18) To have no fear of what man can do to us.  (Luke 12:4) Not to be like the world.  (Rom. 12:2) To avoid greed and envy.  (Heb. 13:5) To be patient with all people.  (1 Thess. 5:14) Not to quit.  (2 Thess. 3:13) To be people of quality.  (Heb. 6:12) To beware of false prophets.  (Matt. 7:15) To avoid wrong conversation.  (1 Tim. 6:20) Not to quench the Spirit.  (1 Thess. 5:19) To abstain from all lust of the flesh.  (1 Peter 2:11) To teach our children about the Lord.  (Eph. 6:4) To cast all our cares upon the Lord.  (1 Pet. 5:7) To avoid murmuring or disputing.  (Phil 2:14) To give thanks in everything.  (1 Thess. 5:18) To give no place to the devil.  (Eph. 4:27) Not to grieve the Holy Spirit.  (Eph. 4:30) To honor our parents.  (Eph. 6:2; Matt. 19:19) To submit ourselves to God.  (James 4:7) To let men see our good works.  (Matt. 5:16) To resist the devil.  (James 4:7) To put on the whole armor of God.  (Eph. 6:11) To humble ourselves.  (James 4:10) To walk in the Spirit.  (Gal. 5:25) To cast down vain imaginations.  (2 Cor. 10:5) To come boldly to God.  (Heb. 4:16) To seek God's kingdom and righteousness.  (Matt. 6:33) To forsake not the assembling of ourselves.  (Heb. 10:25) To look to Jesus.  (Heb. 12:2) To be in agreement.  (Matt. 18:19) Not to cause others to stumble.  (Rom. 14:13) To bless those who persecute us.  (Matt. 5:44) To redeem the time.  (Eph. 5:16) Not to be ashamed of Jesus.  (Rom. 10:11) To have confidence in God.  (Heb. 10:35) To worship decently and in order.  (1 Cor. 14:40) To do all to God's glory.  (1 Cor. 10:31) Source: An Enemy Called Average by John Mason  Excerpt permission granted by Insight Publishing Group

Find Your Destiny in God Through Prayer

Do you ever have times when your life seems out of control? Do you ever feel pressured and fear you are missing out on a certain quality of life because your days are so busy?

Do you worry that you are neglecting one or more areas of your life because you are trying to fill numerous roles and meet endless expectations? I've experienced that too.

Have you ever felt as if you are stuck in one place and are going nowhere? Or worse yet, have you ever felt as if you are going backward?

Have you had times when you've lost your vision for the future? Or have you been frustrated because you never had a vision to begin with?

Have you wondered whether you can actually move into the full purpose and destiny God has for you? I, too, have felt all those things.

But God doesn't want you to feel that way.

God doesn't want you to live the kind of life in which you are barely hanging on. He doesn't want you to merely eke out an existence, find a way to cope with your misery or just get by.

He has more for you than that. He has a great purpose for your life.

But it won't be fulfilled without prayer.

Do you hunger for a greater sense of the Lord's presence in your life? Do you desire to know God in a deeper way?

Do you want to serve Him better and more completely? So do I.

The good news is that this is the way God wants you to feel.

God wants you to long for His presence. He wants you to find your fulfillment in Him and nothing else.

He wants you to walk closely with Him and increase in faith and knowledge of His Word. He wants you to put all your hopes and dreams in His hands and look to Him to meet all your needs.

He wants you to totally depend on Him. That's because when you do, He can move you into the purpose for which you were created.

But not without prayer.

If we are not praying about our lives, we can too easily become people we don't want to be. We become women who hear the truth but don't act in faith to appropriate it for our lives.

We spend valuable time grappling with doubt, fear, insecurity and uncertainty. We end up going around in circles, always passing through the same territory and coming back to the same problems, same frustrations, same mistakes and same limitations. We become callused, unforgiving, anxious, impatient or unteachable.

None of this is what we want! We want to break out of any self-defeating cycle of repeated patterns and habits and transcend ourselves, our limitations and our circumstances.

We want to be more than just survivors—even though there are times we are grateful to be just that. But we want more. We want to be overcomers.

And we want to be a part of something greater than ourselves. We want to be connected to what God is doing on the earth in a way that bears fruit for His kingdom. We want to abound in God's love and blessings.

We want to live life on purpose and with purpose. We want it all—all God has for us. But we can never achieve that quality of life outside the power of God. And then only as we pray.

We've all had times when we feel completely powerless in the face of our circumstances. We know we don't have what it takes to attain any kind of permanent transformation in our lives. Our best efforts to change ourselves and our circumstances always fail to produce lasting results.

We recognize our need for a power outside of and far greater than ourselves. But there is only one power in the world great enough to help us rise above ourselves and the difficult things we face and move us into a life of purpose. That is the power of God.

Without God's power, we can't transcend our limitations or get out of our ruts. We can't stand strong in the face of all that opposes us. We are doomed to a life of spiritual mediocrity.

God wants to deliver us from all that separates us from His best. He wants to set us free from everything that prevents us from moving into all He has for us. And He wants to use us to make a difference in His kingdom. All this requires the power of His Holy Spirit.

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How do we appropriate it? Only through prayer.

CREATED FOR A HIGH PURPOSE Every one of us has a purpose in the Lord, but not all of us realize it. And when we don't have an accurate understanding of our identity, we either strive to be something we are not or compare ourselves to others and condemn ourselves for falling short.

When we don't become who we think we are supposed to be, it makes us critical of ourselves. It causes us to be insecure, oversensitive, frustrated and unfulfilled. It forces us to try too hard to make life happen the way we think it is supposed to.

God doesn't want that for you. He wants you to have clear vision for your life. He wants to reveal what your gifts and talents are and show you how to best develop them and use them for His glory. That's because He knows you will never find total fulfillment until you are doing what He created you to do.

Don't think that if you haven't moved into the purpose God has for you by now that it is too late. It's never too late.

I did everything late. I came to the Lord late. I got married late. I had children late. And I didn't start writing professionally until I was more than 40. The greatest part of my ministry happened in my 50s. I believe my best years are ahead.

Trust me, if you are still breathing, God has a purpose for you, and it is good. But God won't move you into the big things He has for you to do unless you have proven faithful in the small things He has given you. So if you are doing what you deem to be small things right now, rejoice! God is getting you ready for the big things ahead.

Although it may often feel like it, there is never a time when nothing is happening in your life. That's because whether you realize it or not, you are never standing still. You are either going forward or you're sliding back.

In order to keep moving forward, you need to become more and more passionate about God. You need to spend quality time with the lover of your soul every day.

I don't want any of us to wake up one morning and realize we didn't lay a good foundation in the things of God or didn't protect the foundation we had with prayer. This is not about getting things from God, although He has much He wants to give to us.

It's about getting into God and allowing Him to get into us. It's about letting Him make us complete. This is about a deep, intimate relationship with God and the wholeness that will be worked in us because of it.

God wants us to want Him. And when we realize that it's Him we want, it frees us to identify the longings, loneliness, frustration and emptiness inside us as our signal that we need to draw near to God with open arms and ask Him to fill us with more of Himself. It's in that kind of relationship that we will find our purpose.

But this deep and intimate relationship with God that we all desire and can't live without doesn't just happen. It must be sought after, prayed for, nurtured, treasured and protected.

THE FUTURE GOD HAS FOR YOU Though God has a plan for your future that is good, remember that the devil has one too—and it's not good. But the devil's plan for you cannot succeed as long as you are walking with God, living in obedience to His ways, worshiping only Him, standing strong in His Word and praying without ceasing.

When you live this way, according to God's Word and by the power of His Holy Spirit, you can trust that you are in the right place at the right time and that the Lord is working His perfect will in your life. You can trust that He is moving you into the life of purpose He has for you.

So don't give up if you are not seeing all you want in response to your prayers. You will! Just keep on doing what's right and refuse to give way to discouragement if things don't happen as fast as you would like them to. They seldom do.

And don't be concerned about your future. God wants you to be concerned with Him, because He is your future.

If you find yourself fearing that your future won't ever be any different than it is at this moment, please know the truth is quite the opposite. It's at these very times, when you feel as if you're not getting anywhere or you're missing the future God has for you, that God is actually preparing you for your future.

And when the time is right, He will undoubtedly do a very quick work. Though it's good to set goals, don't look so far into the future that you become overwhelmed by it.

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Look to the Lord instead. Draw close to God and do what He asks you to do, and you will see God's purpose for you become manifest in your life.

More than at any other time in history, believing women are being given an open door to become all they were created to be. They are moving out in different areas of expertise and ministry and making an important difference in the lives of those whom God puts in their realm of influence.

God is looking for women who will be committed to living His way and stepping into the purposes He has for their lives. He wants women who are willing to sacrifice themselves for His kingdom. Women who say, "Not my will, but Yours be done, Lord." He wants praying women who are led by the Spirit, who will do what it takes to be equipped and ready when He opens the doors of opportunity for them.

You are one of those women. In order to move into the purpose and future God has for you, talk to Him about it every day. Say, "Lord, show me clearly what the gifts and talents are that You have placed in me. Help me to grow in them and enable me to use them according to Your will and for Your glory. Lead me in the way I should go as I move into the future You have for me." When you do, God will "grant you according to your heart's desire, and fulfill all your purpose" (Ps. 20:4, NKJV).

Read a companion devotional.

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Stormie Omartian is the author of The Power of a Praying Woman, from which this article is adapted. Published by Harvest House.

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Original Page: http://www.charismamag.com/life/women/9764-find-your-destiny-in-god-through-prayer

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