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Christmas: Allegiance To God?
Globally, celebration of Christmas on every 25th December has been an annual festivity in Christendom, purported to be an act done in honour of Christ’s birth. Of course, acknowledgment of the birth of Jesus Christ cannot be over-emphasized. Meanwhile, what is paramount is the methodology applied and having deep understanding of why the Saviour was born and for which purpose becomes the determining factor.
Putting things in the right perspective, the notion that Jesus was born on 25th December is untrue. Unlike the notion for the observance of the first day of the week (Sunday) as the Lord’s Day of worship in place of the seventh-day (Sabbath). God who exists from everlasting to everlasting remains unchangeable and does things orderly without confusion. Truly speaking, there is no trace in the Holy Scriptures of any kind of Xmas celebration neither observance of the first day of the week as sacred.
Christianity is in religious dilemma because of various indulgences, which have crept into its domain. For instance, the believe of reincarnation, communication with the dead simply known as spiritualism; forgiveness by penance to the Roman Pontiff; infant baptism, payer through the Virgin Mary (Mother of the Messiah); adoration of images and incantations, Easter celebrations, pilgrimage to purported holy lands, et’cetra are deceptions from a religious source.
Obviously, the great controversies that has ravaged the human environment for centuries was as a result of disobedience and rebellious to constituted rules and regulations which was championed in the heavenly places by an angelic rebel Lucifer (Satan). Lucifer occupied a vital and influential position in heaven and was able to draw one-third of the angelic hosts to his side and became very rebellious to the principles of Eternal Deity.
It is true that when heaven could not contain him and his cohorts because of their disloyalty to the Supreme Creator after concerted effort were made to win him back, they were hurled to planet earth, which brought about the great disputes and rivalries in the cosmic society as evident in our present dispensation. In fact, Lucifer (Satan) caused the first holy war in heaven rev. 12 Vs 7-10.
Since the earth has become Satan’s territory as archenemy of both God and humanity, there is doubt that he would exercise all possible terminologies to distract mankind to disobey God’s rules and obligations, luring them away to his kingdom of darkness and utter destruction. It is equally true that Satan cannot manifest himself openly but operate through his agencies or machineries to execute his negative plans.
It is unfortunate that human beings had decided to embrace darkness in place of “LIGHT’ which is Jesus, Son of the living God who came into the world but the world received him not John 1 vs 9-11. No wonder the process of hearing and studying the episode of the great controversies between right and wrong for centuries now has persisted to enable every soul dwelling on the surface of the earth to fully comprehend the drama in order to enhance appropriate decision for eternity either for God’s everlasting Kingdom or for Satan’s eternal damnation and destruction.
Historically, there were four notable world empires viz: Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome respectively described on the prophetic image shown to King Nebuchadnezzar of the ancient Babylonian Kingdom in dream as recorded in Daniel chapter 2. Among the empires or kingdoms, the Roman Empire depicted with the leg of iron of the image, waxed stronger than the others, which metamorphosed from Pagan to Papal Rome.
According to the prophecy, the Roman Empire was more pronounced which performed wonderful things in Christendom, as we are all aware of scholars of the sacred compilation closely scrutinized the prophetic writings and the gospel messages. For instance, it was asserted that the little Horn i.e. Authority, Power or Kingdom would speak great things against the Most High and would cause confusion amongst God’s people and would equally attempt to change times and laws of God Daniel 7 vs 24,25 refers. The Kingdom or Authority that properly fits into the characteristics depicted herein is no doubt the Papal Authority of the Roman administration of both Church and State.
In the light of this, Emperor Constantine came onboard as the Roman Pontiff at the peak of religious ordinances and of course made some changes, which brought about the observance of Sunday as holy day and celebration of Christmas among others. Definitely, Sunday means worship of the sun god of the Romans as Prophet Ezekiel’s attention was drawn to women weeping for Tamuz as well as 25 men who faced the eastward of the temple, worshipping the sun (Ezekiel 8 vs 13-16). One would begin to imagine the genesis of confusion in Christendom.
Emperor Constantine in 321AD passed a religious decree for the observance of Sunday as a day of worship for God as every business transactions shall be shut down with exception to agriculture. To buttress these points, kindly peruse any Doctrinal Catechism booklet of the Roman Catholic for more enlightenment. Similarly, the issue of Christ and Mass was also focused. Mass is a great assembly by the Roman Catholic institution or known as Eucharist. With time, the Mass became a process to celebrating a great hunter called Nimrod on every 25th December. However, as Constantine embraced the Christian religion he also ordered that henceforth, the celebration would be conducted in honour of Christ known as ChristMass. These were some of the inducements by the Roman Authorities, which Christendom is still compromising till date.
Furthermore, there is one vital and indispensable ordinance or celebration authorized to be observed by Christians to serve as a reminder to all that Christ has done for mankind till He returns the Second time which he instituted at the Upper Room with his disciples while on earth two thousand years ago. This allimportant ordinance is known as HOLY COMMUNION or LORD’S SUPER.
Soon after the solemn ceremony, the Messiah was arrested and taken away to Golgotha by the Roman soldiers where the Saviour was crucified – Matthew 26 vs 26-29; 1st Corinthians 11 vs 24-26. Based on this directive, what Christians ought to celebrate is the Lord’s Super and not Christmas, which is man made and unscriptural.
It is notable that the Holy Communion should be celebrated or observed often for sober reflection of our relationships with the Creator and sustainers of life till he comes in his glory and not an annual festival tagged Christmas whereby the focus is on merriment and gratification of soul and body. Christendom has been at the crossroad over these issues for centuries ago and has kept deaf ears not to hear the truth and desist from the deception of the archenemy of God and mankind.
However, Christendom ought to purse and ponder over the one million questions asked by Prophet Elijah “… How long shall people be between indecision? If the LORD be God why not follow him: but if Baal, then follow him”- 1King 18 v21. Believers in the Lord should be bold enough to stand out for that which is right, otherwise why should people make the instructions of God of none effect to the detriment of man made rules. Christmas celebrations is it allegiance to God Almighty or to gods of the earth? Therfore, professed Christians ought to obey God rather than men-Matthew 15: 9; Acts 5: 29.
Ominyanwa is the editor’s guest.
G. N. Ominyanwa
The Rivers State Chief judge, Justice Simeon Chibuzor Amadi has granted pardon to six inmates standing awaiting trial at the Port Harcourt maximum correctional center.
The six lucky inmates granted pardon on Tuesday by the state Chief Judge included Nwekeala Chizoba, Samuel Emmanuel, Aniete Kelvin, Ebube Fubara and Goddey Okpara who were on awaiting trial as murder suspects and have all spent between 10 years to seven years in the custody without a proper information filed against them in the court.
Justice Amadi during a special gaol delivery exercise last Tuesday at the Port Harcourt Maximum Correctional Centre opined that the special gaol delivery was part of activities lined up to commomerate the 2024/2025 legal year in the State and restated the commitment of the state judiciary in decongesting the correctional centre and ensuring that those inmates who are not supposed to be there are removed from the custody.
The state chief judge stressed the need for all stakeholders to work together to build a society that supports rehabilitation and gives a second chance to anyone or group of people who have fallen short of the expectation of the law and have been punished accordingly.
He stressed that the National Judicial Council(NJC) encourages judges to pay more attention to criminal matters to enable them to decongests the correctional facilities, noting that since his assumption into office, his administration has been able to reduce the number of inmates in Nigerian Correctional Centres and the Port Harcourt Correctional Centre in particular, to less than 2,000 as against the over 4,000 inmates previously in the faculty.
According to him, “as they release the deserving inmates, they affirm their commitment to justice, compassion and rule of law but that they must not forget the fundamental principles of justice delivery system which is truth and fairness, integrity and equality before the law.”
I encourage you all the released inmates to return to your families and become better citizens. You must not engage in action that will return you all back to prison. Let me say that while the judges show empathy to you all, it does not absolved individuals from being held accountable for actions against individuals, corporate organisations and state which the law frowns at, ”he stated
The Chief Judge thereafter stood down the exercise to enable the DPP to intervene to case files following the fact that majority of the persons listed to benefit from the exercise are facing murder charges and adjourned to a date that will come before December.
Earlier in his goodwill message, the outgoing state Comptroller of Nigerian Correctional Centre, Port Harcourt, Felix Lawrence, who was recently promoted to the rank of Assistant Controller General, commended the state judiciary led by Chief Judge, Justice Simeon Chibuzor Amadi for their continuous effort aimed at ensuring justice and decongesting the facilities.
Other activities lined up for the event included special church service at St Paul’s Cathedral , Anglican Communion, Rebisi Port Harcourt, inspection of guard of honour by the state Chief Judge mounted by officers of the Nigerian police and a special court session held at the ceremonial court hall.
By: AkujobiAmadi
The Director General of Rivers State Bureau on Public Procurement (RBoPP), Dr. Ine Briggs, has explained that the Sir Siminalayi Fubara administration plans to enforce transparency in governance through public procurement.
Speaking at a one-day Public Procurement Enlightenment workshop organised in collaboration with the State Local Government Service Commission for newly elected chairmen, vice chairmen, secretaries and leaders of legislative assemblies, Dr. Briggs said it is key for grassroot development.
She stated that the Sir. Fubara administration plans to reduce wastage and at same time infuse efficiency in public expenditure.
The RSoPP DG said the local government political office holders remain key drivers in the new vision hence the workshop is to arm them with knowledge on how to execute projects in tandem with needs of the people.
“ Your role in the prudent management of public resources is, therefore, not just administrative it’s the cornerstone of delivering the dividends of democracy. Every procurement decision you make must reflect a commitment to fairness, transparency and accountability” Dr. Briggs submitted.
One of the key goals of the administration she further reminded the participants was to use their offices to foster economic growth through public procurement.
She warned that the law establishing the agency empowers it to penalise defaulters, but that what is more important is voluntary compliance to the laws.
In addition to that, she said urged the local government council leaders that champion the practice and implementation of public procurement law.
On his part, Acting Chairman of Local Government Service Commission, Pastor GoodLife Ben Iduoku averred that the aim of the workshop is to arm key stakeholders in the local government system to generate new ideas, innovation and strategies in tandem with government policies and programmes.
The workshop dealt on various topics on procurement planning, methods, Understanding Bid Process, including types of Construction Contracts and law.
Some participants were awarded excellence and meritorious awards as part of the programme.
By: Kevin Nengia
The 19th anniversary of the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS), Rivers State Chapter, recently ended in Port Harcourt in grand style, with participants from various schools including proprietors, the academia, civil society groups and top government functionaries charting the way forward for educational improvement.
The 19th NAPPS anniversary christened, ‘Innovation and Adaptation: Transforming Challenges Into Opportunities’ was held at Casoni Hotels, Port Harcourt.
In his remarks, the Chairman of the Rivers State Chapter of the association, Dr. Jaja Adafe Sunday expressed gratitude to the members and executives for their untiring efforts towards the achievements of the body.
He sought the intervention of government on the lingering crisis on the economy as it is affecting the running of schools.
He decried high cost of things including fuel and raw materials which has adversely affected the running of schools and payment of teachers.
Dr. Sunday hinted that the current economic situation in the nation is biting hard on the operations of schools, saying inflation, removal of fuel subsidy, fuel scarcity, poor electricity supply, tariffs and lack of government grants are some of the challenges faced by schools, and urged the members to brace up to the challenges, as it is the panacea to building a brighter future.
Guest speakers from the health sector and the academia thrilled the gathering on the essence of basic education which they said is the key to national development.
Former Dean of the Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Professor Azuru and the Chief Medical Director of Meridian Hospitals, Dr. Odo Iyke were some notable guest speakers who delivered lectures at the occasion.
Some distinguished proprietors also got special recognitions and awards.
The 19th anniversary cake was cut by the Rivers State NAPPS Chairman with representatives of the state government assisting.
