Briggs writes, “I was fortunate to hear Dr. Tokunbo Adeyemo at a conference in Nairobi in 2005. I will never forget what he (Adeyemo) said about sight versus vision.”[1] Adeyemo said and Briggs quotes:

Sight sees problems, vision sees potential,
Sight sees plight of man, vision sees power of God,
Sight sees barriers, vision sees bearings,
Sight sees buffeting, vision sees blessings in disguise,
Sight sees the natural, vision sees the supernatural,
Sight sees the visible, vision sees the invisible,
Sight sees the present, vision sees the past, present and future,
Sight sees danger only, vision sees opportunity as well,
Sight sees dead ends, vision sees new beginnings,
Sight sees the status quo, vision sees the possibility,
Where sight gives up, vision goes on.

I hope you will be challenged by the quote above to be a man and woman of vision in life.

• Another  Soldier, Dr. Stephen Mutuku  Sesi has gone Home!
• The Blood of Jesus: Not Less Significant
• Praying in the Name or in the Blood of Jesus: The Bible speaks for itself
• Christianity in Africa Blog: A Note of Appreciation and Performance in 2011
• Africa International University:  A Student’s Testimony
• Is the Holy Communion for Healing?
• “Though He Be Dead, He Yet Speaks”: Reflections from the First Tokunboh Adeyemo Memorial Lecture [Part 1] 
• “Though He Be Dead, He Yet Speaks”: Reflections from the First Tokunboh Adeyemo Memorial Lecture [Part 2]
• One Year Down the Line: A Tribute in Remembrance of Professor Steve de Gruchy (1962-2010)
• Nigeria at 50: 50 Post-Independence Theologians Worth Celebrating
• He Holds the Future!
• Facebook: A New Love Showroom and Romance Centre
• “Pleading the Blood of Jesus”: A Common Error in Prayer-1
• “Pleading the Blood of Jesus”: A Common Error in Prayer -2
• …what Post Observers say about “Pleading the Blood of Jesus“
• Muslim-Christian Relations in Nigeria: Towards and Evangelical Approach
• Factors Responsible for Muslim-Christian Unrest in Nigeria: A Socio-Political Analysis
• The Fall of an Iroko Tree: A Tribute in Honor of Dr. Tokunboh Adeyemo (1944-2010)
• Recommendations to Nigerian Christians on Prosperity Gospel-1
• Recommedations to Nigerian Christians on Prosperity Gospel-2
• Jesus Christ’s Teaching on Wealth and Poverty -1
• Evaluation in the Biblical Concept of Wealth and Poverty – 1
• Evaluation in the Biblical Concept of Wealth and Poverty – 2
•  Problems, Prospects, and Effects of Health and Wealth Gospel in Nigeria (Part 1)
• Problems, Prospects, and Effects of Health and Wealth Gospel in Nigeria (Part 2)
• Pentecostalism: A Phenomenon in Modern Christianity in Africa

Dr. Jonathan Armstrong & Babatomiwa Moses Owojaiye

If your answer to the question above is yes, then I encourage you to read the testimony of a friend. Dr. Jonathan Armstrong visited Nigeria for the first time in August 2011. We were in Nigeria to facilitate a week seminar at ECWA Theological Seminary, Igbaja. Jonathan’s visit to Nigeria left an indelible mark on his life. Enjoy your reading!

Miracles in Nigeria[1]

By Dr. Jonathan Armstrong

“Do you have a visa? You’d better check on that…”

Three days before I was schedule to board the plane for my flight to Nigeria, my wife Linda brought up the visa question. Up to this point, the only African countries I had visited were Kenya and Tanzania, and for those countries the process is as simple as purchasing a visa at the airport upon entry.

Unsure, Linda did a quick search on her computer and pulled up a website that specifically stated that Nigerian visas cannot be purchased at the airport.

Everything seems so obvious when you’re looking back on it.

Growing anxious, I stayed up that night until the American embassy in Nigeria opened to ask how to apply for a visa. “Even if you were somehow permitted to board the plane,” the woman at the other end of the phone told me frankly, “you’d be arrested upon deplaning here in Nigeria.”

That wasn’t the news I was hoping to hear.

After a lot of panic and prayers and an astonishing series of “God things” that resulted in someone at the Nigerian embassy in Washington DC taking a personal interest in resolving my problem, I boarded a flight to Nigeria only two days later than planned and arrived the night before the seminar was scheduled to begin.

God is good.

My co-leader Moses Owojaiye met me at the airport, and we had the first of many wonderful conversations. Moses is a native Nigerian who recently completed his M.Phil in Nairobi, and the paper he submitted to fulfill that requirement is currently being considered for an award given to the most significant thesis in any discipline submitted at an African University. To share leadership duties with Moses was a great privilege, and his deep insight into the African church was an education in itself for me.

One of the themes of our conversations, however, was the different way miracles are perceived in Africa and in the United States. Here in the West, we tend to think of miracles as “God breaking the laws of nature.” But according to this definition, we can never actually witness a miracle. No matter what phenomenon we experience, it can only inform our understanding of natural laws. A law whose definition encompasses everything that’s observable can never, of course, be broken.

Instead, we hedge our bets. We call them “God things,” those moments when we believe God orchestrated a series of circumstances for a specific purpose. Africans, however, are more willing to take that leap of faith and risk a raised eyebrow. Africans call them “miracles.”

I put the question to Moses. “So, the fact that I was able to get a visa in 48 hours was a miracle?”

“Yes,” he said, smiling, “a big miracle!”

The seminar went even better than we hoped. The group of students and faculty was the largest we’ve ever had, and they were a very timely and disciplined group. After enjoying the president’s hospitality for breakfast, Moses and I would begin lectures at 7:30 every morning. Lectures ran for 5 hours with Moses taking the final hour. The highlight for me was often the group discussion Moses facilitated at the end of the day, focusing on the way the theology of the church fathers spoke to the specific issues facing Africa and African evangelicalism today.

When it came time to return to the USA, I experienced another of those God things I’m learning to call miracles. The journey was scheduled to be the longest single trip of my life—40 hours of travel from Igbaja to my home in Spokane, Washington, by plane and car combined.

The hospitality in Africa was generous and unfailingly kind, but I admit that by the time I boarded my first flight I was already looking forward to a hot shower after the limited electricity and sponge baths of the seminary. When I reached the airport in Lagos, my heart sank as I noticed the long queue of suitcases in front of me stretching all the way to the check-in counter. The flight from the day before had been overbooked and many people had not been able to board, meaning that today’s flight was likely to share a similar fate. Discouraged and growing anxious at the back of the line, an airport official approached me out of the blue and asked a strange question.

“Are you a Christian?”

Surprised, I said, “Yes.”

“Something in my spirit told me you were a Christian,” he said. He then proceeded to tell me that he would like to upgrade my ticket to business class on the flight from Lagos to Frankfurt. Not only would I be able to make my flight, this meant I would be able to recline to sleep on the flight and—best of all—take a hot shower at the first class lounge when I arrived in Germany. It’s funny how grateful you can feel for a few hours of sleep and a shower.

Calling these things miracles may cause some believers to get uncomfortable. The events seem so small and are easily explained away as the generous impulse of a stranger or the random happenstance of life. Some people worry that if we see start seeing God in everything, we’ll lose our sense of responsibility and succumb to a lazy fatalism. Certainly we need to exercise wisdom as well as faith when we interpret the world around us, but let’s not be afraid of claiming an act of unexpected goodness for a God we know to be good.

If these miracles still seem small, let me share with you one last event that truly spoke to my heart. On the last day of the seminar, Dr. J.B. Lawal (the President of ECWA Theological Seminary, Igbaja) rose to address the group and say a few words about the events of the week. After speaking about the historically poor relationship between Africa and the West, he gestured to me and said with incredible grace: “You are one of us… you have seen Christ in us, and we have seen Christ in you.”

Love is always the greatest miracle.

This trip changed me and changed the way I view acts of God. Let’s start calling “God things” what they really are. Let’s start calling them miracles.

The New Testament frequently connects the blood of Christ with our redemption. For example, Peter says, “You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your fathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot” (1 Peter 1: 18-19).[1]

In other words, the precious blood of Jesus is the price that was paid for the redemption our souls in order for us to access God’s salvation from our hopeless sinful state. Grudem adds that,

The blood of Christ is the clear outward evidence that his life blood was poured out when he died a sacrificial death to pay for our redemption – “the blood of Christ” means his death in its saving aspects. Although we may think that Christ’s blood (as evidence that his life had been given) will have exclusive reference to the removal of our judicial guilt before God – for this is the primary reference – the New Testament authors also attribute to it several other effects.  The effects include the following:

1. By the blood of Christ our consciences are cleansed –Hebrews 9:14
2. By the blood of Christ gain bold access to God in worship and prayer – Hebrews 10:19
3. By the blood of Jesus we are progressively cleansed from our sin – 1John 1:7; Rev. 1:5
4. We able to conquer the accuser of the brethren through the blood of Christ that was shed on the Cross – Rev. 12: 10-11
5. We are rescued out of a sinful way of life -1 Peter 1: 18-19.[2]

Above are the things that the Bible tells us the blood of Christ had accomplished for genuine believers in Christ. We do not have to activate it now in order for the blood to start working; it has been working since the very day Jesus Christ died on the Cross.  Scripture’s emphasis on the blood of Christ also shows the clear connection between Christ’s death and the many sacrifices in the Old Testament that involved the pouring out of life blood of the sacrificial animal. These sacrifices all pointed forward to and prefigured the death of Christ.[3]

Conclusion

We can see from our discussion above that the blood of Christ works for the redemption of our souls and for our deliverance from Satan’s kingdom where sin rules and reigns. It is very worrying to hear Christian today plead the blood of Jesus on shoes, cars, and utensil to mention just a few. The role of the blood of Jesus is far deeper than that – it is the very essence of our faith. The precious blood of Christ is what gives us access to God having being ‘jailed’ by Satan through our sinful lives. As important as the blood of Jesus is, it maintains a different but not less significant position in our faith. When it comes to prayer, the Bible teaches us to pray to God in the name of Jesus.  In the words of Grudem, praying in the name of Jesus speaks of his power, authority and personality (Proverbs 22:1; Eccl. 7:1). When Peter commands the lame man, “in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk (Acts 3:6); he is speaking on the authority of Jesus, not on his own authority.[4]   Although the blood of Jesus is not less significant; Christians should understand that it was shed for our salvation not for praying. It is only proper as leaders of the Church to communicate proper, balanced, sound theology. The health of the Church is very important. So, the blood of Jesus is never a substitute for the name of Jesus in prayer; and the former is not a consolidation either. The name of Christ does not need any additional supplements to work – it is the most powerful name on earth!

• The name of JESUS is holy and awe-inspiring – Psalm 111: 9

He has paid a full ransom for his people. He has guaranteed his covenant with them forever. What a holy, awe-inspiring name he has!

I. WHAT JESUS TEACHES ABOUT HIS NAME

• Jesus says “ask anything in my NAME …(not in my blood) – John 14: 13-14

You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. 14 Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!

• The NAME OF JESUS unlocks any door – John 15:16

You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name.

• Demons bow to the NAME OF JESUS…(not his blood) – Matthew 7:22

On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.

II. WHAT THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST LEARN ABOUT THE NAME OF JESUS

• The NAME of Jesus casts out demons …(Not his blood) – Luke 9:49

John said to Jesus, “Master, we saw someone using your name to cast out demons, but we told him to stop because he isn’t in our group.”

III. THE APOSTLES AND BELIEVERS OF THE EARLY CHURCH PRAY IN THE NAME OF JESUS

• The Name of Jesus is above all other name and it has authority over all of God Creation – Philippians. 2: 9-11

Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

• The name of Jesus does supernatural healing/miracle … (not by pleading his blood)- Acts 16: 16-18

One day as we were going down to the place of prayer, we met a demon-possessed slave girl. She was a fortune-teller who earned a lot of money for her masters. She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, and they have come to tell you how to be saved.”

This went on day after day until Paul got so exasperated that he turned and said to the demon within her, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And instantly it left her.

• The Apostles of Christ pray and do ministry in the NAME of Jesus – Acts 4:23-31

As soon as they were freed, Peter and John returned to the other believers and told them what the leading priests and elders had said. When they heard the report, all the believers lifted their voices together in prayer to God: “O Sovereign Lord, Creator of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them—you spoke long ago by the Holy Spirit through our ancestor David, your servant, saying, ‘Why were the nations so angry? Why did they waste their time with futile plans? The kings of the earth prepared for battle; the rulers gathered together against the Lord and against his Messiah.’ “In fact, this has happened here in this very city! For Herod Antipas, Pontius Pilate the governor, the Gentiles, and the people of Israel were all united against Jesus, your holy servant, whom you anointed. But everything they did was determined beforehand according to your will.  And now, O Lord, hear their threats, and give us, your servants, great boldness in preaching your word.  Stretch out your hand with healing power; may miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they preached the word of God with boldness.

• The NAME of Jesus performs wonders that money cannot  - Acts 3: 1- 6

 Peter and John went to the Temple one afternoon to take part in the three o’clock prayer service. As they approached the Temple, a man lame from birth was being carried in. Each day he was put beside the Temple gate, the one called the Beautiful Gate, so he could beg from the people going into the Temple. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for some money. 4 Peter and John looked at him intently, and Peter said, “Look at us!” The lame man looked at them eagerly, expecting some money. But Peter said, “I don’t have any silver or gold for you. But I’ll give you what I have. In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, get up and walk!”

• The NAME OF Jesus in the greatest of all names – Acts 4: 12

             There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.

            For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Romans 10:13

IV. CONCLUSION

It is not only safer to pray in the name of Jesus; it is also biblical. Our Lord Jesus Christ could have taught us to plead his blood while praying but he did not. The name of Jesus is the most powerful name with which we are taught by the word of God to pray. In spite of the persecutions that the early Church went through, they prayed in the name of Jesus. Remember their days were closer to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ than ours, yet they never pleaded his blood in their prayers as we have seen from biblical accounts. Instead, they pray in the name of Jesus!  Let us all learn from the church in Philadelphia. Jesus Christ testifies of the church in Philadelphia thus: “I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.” (Revelation 3: 7-8). Beware of distraction; pray only in the name of JESUS!

References

• Photo from The Passion of Christ Movie
• All Bible quotations from New Living Translation [NLT].

A Note of Appreciation and Performance in 2011

I wish to take this opportunity to welcome you into the year 2012 and also to thank you for finding time to visit this blog once or more in the course of 2011. Your visits and comments are truly appreciated and have added value to this blog. We look forward to more of your visits and comments in 2012.

According to the annual blog performance report given to me by WordPress today January 1, 2012, this blog in 2011 was visited by people from different countries representing six continents of the world with visitors from the North America and Africa leading. See the distribution below as ranked by WordPress:

North America                                                                      

• The United States                             88.4%
• Canada                                                  8.4%
• Trinidad and Tobago                         1.1%
• Jamaica                                                0.5%
• The Bahamas                                      0.4%

Africa

• Nigeria                                              40.4%
• Kenya                                                31.3%
• South Africa                                     13.5%
• Zimbabwe                                         3.2%
• Ghana                                                2.5%

Europe

• The United Kingdom                         45.4%
• Iceland                                               31.5%
• Germany                                            3.6%
• Poland                                                3.3%
• Netherlands                                       2.3%

Asia

• India                                                 43.6%
• Singapore                                          9.6%
• Philippines                                        7.8%
• Malaysia                                            6.9%
• United Arab Emirates                        6.4%

Oceania

• Australia                                          77.3%
• New Zealand                                  22.7%

South America

• Brazil                                              70.6%
• Argentina                                      11.8%
• Ecuador                                          5.9%
• Suriname                                        5.9%

My Prayer for you in 2012 and Beyond

May the year 2012 be a year of unprecedented favor, breakthroughs, and grace for you. May the Lord cause his face to shine upon you. May the Lord grant you the will and grace to walk with (and work for) him in a higher dimension and in a deeper relationship. May your life be a true testimony of what it means to be a Christian anytime, anywhere, and everywhere. Remember, it is better to be small in Israel than to be great in Babylon! May the light of the Lord shine in your darkness! May the Lord grant you direction in your confusion and in (your) life. May the Lord grant you success in all your undertakings according to his will for you. May the Lord grant you the desires of your heart according to his will for your life. May the devil and all his marshals fail in all their attempts against your life and family. May you continuously experience the presence of God and may it be well with you. Above all, may you lead a humble life; may you be coachable and obedient to the Master; and may your life bring glory to God in the year 2012 and beyond. I pray all these for you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Dr. Sesi was an ordained minister of the Africa Inland Church (AIC) Kenya where he labored as a pastor and once served as a District Administrator. According to The Journey, “Dr. Sesi taught for many years as a lecturer in Islamic studies and was once the chairman of the Department of Missions for The Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology (NEGST). He was also the President of the Makobe Children’s Home, an AIDs orphanage in Shimba Hills, Kenya.”[1]

Rev. Stephen Sesi earned his PhD degree in Intercultural Studies with bias in Islamics from the famous Fuller Theological Seminary. He will be greatly missed by his family, country – Kenya, the Church in Africa, students, colleagues and friends. Sesi was one of the few (evangelical) Christian Islamicists we have in Africa. His interest in the area of Christian-Muslim relations was not hidden. Dr. Sesi was passionate about  how we as Christians should relate with our Muslim brothers and sisters and how we can lovingly tell them about Jesus Christ. In what could be deemed as one of his last scholarly interactions with colleagues before his struggles with cancer began, Dr. Sesi was one of the 50 scholars who attended the International Academic Conference on African Christian and Islam held in Accra, Ghana from 6^th to 10 July, 2010 – a true confirmation of his passion for Muslim outreach.

Until death, Dr. Sesi was the Acting Director of the Institute for the Study of African Realities (ISAR), one of the three constituent schools of Africa International University. Humanly speaking, and considering the unceasing tension between Christians and Muslims in most part of Africa, one would have thought that now is the best time to have the likes of Sesi in the strategic ministry of the Christian Muslim relations of the Church in Africa. But our God know the best! The words of Dr. Douglas Carew are fitting consolation for us in times such as this: “the Lord gave, the Lord has taken away. Even as we mourn at this time we affirm with Job, “I know my redeemer lives,” and stand in the assurance that our Lord Jesus is “the resurrection and the Life.”

Let us pray that God will raise more disciples of Christ and labourers in His vineyard like Sesi for His Church in Africa and indeed for His Church around the world. Dr. Stephen Mutuku Sesi is survived by his wife Dr. Josephine Mutuku, and three sons – James, Judah, and Jesse. Indeed, to God be the glory for a life so impact -full and a life well spent!

• Academic Excellence: Africa International University (AIU) is undoubtedly one the leading Christian universities on the continent of Africa with excellent academic track records. Academic excellence was my first attraction to AIU.
• Excellent Faculty: Besides, AIU parades brilliant Professors who are able to stand shoulder to shoulder with their counterparts around the world. The faculty integrates faith with learning and actively combines scholarship with professional practice in their various fields of specialization. The teachers are not just excellent in teaching; they are also excellent in research and mentoring.
• On the context study environment and problem-solving approach to learning are part of benefits I am getting here. AIU gives an education that is tailored towards responding to the needs of my society as well as a training that aids me towards achieving the mission of God for my life.
• Truly International: The international nature of AIU is also a factor one cannot easily brush aside. Over the last 25 years, AIU has attracted faculty, staff and students from about 40 nations of our world representing the continents of Africa, Asia, Europe and North America.  This provides me opportunity for networking as well as the privilege to learning with and from people from diverse cultures and backgrounds.
• Excellent Learning Resources & Environment: The Tony Wilmot Memorial Library (TWML) of AIU has a collection of more than 50, 000 volumes of book with vast access to thousands of online journals, articles, monographs, and free books to aid learning. Just like AIU, TWL is arguably one the strongest Christian Libraries in Africa today. AIU is located along Dogoretti Road, in Karen area of Nairobi on over 50 acres of land. The campus is beautiful, green and serene for learning. Additionally, there is 24/7 on-campus internet access and a growing Computer Laboratory for students who do not own personal computers. The very welcoming and friendly faculty, staff and students make you adjust and feel at home quickly.
• Alumni Making Giant Strides: The graduates of AIU are ‘transformative agents’ making positive impacts in all strata of human society in Africa and around the world. It pays to be part of such a team!

Conclusion

I strongly believe that my training in AIU is preparing me to actively engage the challenges facing my society by providing cutting edge scholarship as a theoretician and balanced/Bible based leadership as a practitioner. Challenges of poverty, bad leadership and governance, corruption, unemployment etcetera need to be faced head on by the Church, and I have been positioned through my training here not only to respond to them but also to train the younger generation of leaders to see this a part of their callings. My desire is to develop Bible-based and solution-driven leadership in the African Church and the world through my preaching and teaching ministries; thereby raising a generation of people that will see the need to positively impact the African Church and the society as a non-negotiable task.You are welcome to be part of the transformation story! Please see the university website for further details: http://www.negst.edu/

The Devil has not changed his tricks! The Devil as usual has introduced a new dimension to his tricks by making Christ’ very clear instruction on the Holy Communion complicated for Christians. Devil’s intention is simple- to mislead believers.

Here, I will not concern myself with the much debate that the subject of Holy Communion has generated over the years. Issues such as frequency (how often should the Holy Communion service be conducted/administered?), time (what time of the day should it be conducted?), eligibility (who qualifies to participate?) and the elements- bread/body and wine/blood (is it a leavened or unleavened bread? Is it an alcoholic or non-alcoholic wine? Is the body and the blood the real presence of Jesus Christ, or transubstantiation, or transignification, or sacramental union, or memorialism, or consubstantiation, or impanation, or consecration, or words of Institution?[1] I will only concern myself with a development in the practice of the Holy Communion that is fairly new to me.

It is now a common phenomenon and practice in some part of Africa (and probably across the world) for certain preachers to teach and administer the Holy Communion primarily for healing purposes. These teachers teach their sick adherents that they could obtain healing by participating in the Holy Communion. On a numbers occasions, I have heard some pastors charged their congregants to claim healing for themselves in the cause of participating in the Holy Communion. Is this Christ’s purpose for the Holy Communion? In my opinion, there is nothing wrong to pray for and desire healing for our sick brethren; but it is very misleading to teach and also to make them believe they could obtain healing by participating in the Holy Communion. I understand that healing is a “commodity” that is in a very high demand, yet that does not mean people should be deceived in their quest to get healed of their ailments.  The following are some the reasons why I believe it is wrong to administer Holy Communion primarily for healing:

• There is no single biblical reference to support the practice. Even 1 Corinthian 11: 17-34 that the exponents of this practice usually quote to support their practices says nothing about receiving healing through the Holy Communion.

• Jesus never practiced or commanded it. There is no single place in the Bible where Christians have been commanded to partake in the Holy Communion for healing purposes.

• It is against Christ’s purpose for the Holy Communion. Jesus’ purpose is very clear in I Corinthians 11: 23-26: “Do it in remembrance of me!” I am sure that if Christ had wanted us to do it for healing he would have communicated the same to us in a very clear way.

• The Apostles and Christians of the early Church never practiced it. We heard of the many miracles of healing that the Lord performed through his apostles in the Church but none of the healing was received through the administering of the Holy Communion yet the practice was frequent in those days [Acts 2: 42-47; 19: 11-12]. The mother in-law of Peter was sick and in fact, Paul had a thorn in his flesh, yet neither Jesus Christ nor his apostles administered the Holy Communion to heal the sick [ Matthew 8: 14-17; 2 Corinthians 12: 1-10.

• As against healing believers, the Bible makes it clear that careless participation in the Holy Communion could lead to sickness, weakness and physical death (See 1 Corinthians 11: 28-30).

In conclusion, we worship the All- mighty, All-knowing and the miracle-working God! He has the sole will and power to heal and not to heal. He could work through any means to heal and perhaps through the Holy Communion, but this MUST be left to His prerogatives ALONE. Preacher should desist from trying to help him by creating doctrines that are not founded on the TRUTH – the Bible. This is therefore a solemn warning to those who are guilty of this strange teaching to beware! To administer the Holy Communion mainly for healing purposes is not biblical. Christians should remember that Jesus said in the last days, “… false  and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you ahead of time” (Matthew 24: 24-25, NIV).

Anigbogu complimented Dr. Kasali by challenging African Christian leaders in all strata of the society to fight for the future of the continent. His discussion was centered around “Facing Brutal Fights about Africa and Its Future.” In the words of Anigbogu, “we are here not so much about hearing speeches but to stand up from here and go out to make positive difference in our continent and in our world.  He quarried that, “how long will it take to convert the knowledge into action in Africa?  He observed that majority of African leaders that went through the best universities in the world have performed below the expectations of their generations and nations. He lamented that, “why go to the best universities in the world and failing to make the best of it in on our land? Why we are so educated and yet lack life enhancing skills?” He noted that Adeyemo’s vision is not only about knowledge; it is knowledge applied with renewal of minds.

He argued that the cause of bad leadership in Africa is due to the fact that the biblical principle of mentoring has been given little or no attention. He noted that the Lord aims at using the many new Christian universities springing up across Africa as avenues to correct that wrong. According to Anigbogu, the new generation universities started especially by new generation Churches aim at helping students major on how to solve problems facing our continent. He advised that the Church leaders should learn to use biblical principles to respond to Challenges facing Africa. This according to him “is a major shift already understood by some new generation universities in Africa.’’ He counseled stakeholders in university administration in Africa to rethink their approaches to education in Africa. Anigbogu added that, well thought-out policies and problem-solving approach to studies will not only produce great minds but it would also help our universities rival the best universities around the world.

Anigbogu observed dependency mind-set as another factor responsible for poor leadership in Africa. He described it as sad that even in the 21^st century many African leaders still seek developmental help from abroad when we are already due for creating competitive opportunities. This according to him explains why we are always looking for aids and yet we have been immensely endowed by the Almighty God with several resources. Many mineral resources have been taken away by nations that have learned to process and later sold to us. According to Vincent, those nations are able to perform far better than we do because of their mind-set, dominion mind-set.  It is therefore a challenge to university leaders to raise leaders with dominion mindsets. Anigbogu concluded that only leaders with such minds could bring positive and transformational change to our society. He noted that events surrounding the life of  Tokunboh Adeyemo show lived and died for the cause of leadership in Africa. Anigbogu challenged his audience to learn from the life of Adeyemo. Anigbogu concluded his speech with a big and heart-searching question begging for answer by all who attended the meeting: “if you die today will you be remembered for what you consumed or what you created/contributed?”

In his closing remarks, Dr. Douglas Carew, the Vice Chancellor of Africa International University noted that, “if Byang Kato envisioned NEGST [Nairobi, Evangelical Graduate School of Theology, now Africa International University); Tokunboh Adeyemo midwifed it.

Carew added that what we now have as Africa International University was a dream of Adeyemo. He remembered Adeyemo as a scholar and thinker per excellence. Carew argued that for Africa to move from a depending to productive continent; we must pay urgent attention to research.  Research according to Carew is key to producing transformational leadership! Carew was however quick to add that, “transformation of mind is not enough; we need continuous renewal of mind.  He explained that Romans 12:1-2 reveals that transformation of the mind is essential to developing Christians of integrity, noble character, and value; and that is evident in the life of Paul the Apostle by the virtue of his encounter with Christ on his way to Damascus. Carew argued that Christians must be renewed in their minds, wills [commitment] and their worship of God to be able to make any positive impact in the society.

In conclusion, Dr. Douglas Carew recommended that for the Church to able to sufficiently respond to the challenges facing our continent today it needs to take note of the following:

1.      Have a clear view of the gospel: The great dichotomy between the secular and sacred should be discouraged as much as possible in order to have a gospel that reflective and engaging. The dichotomy between the secular and sacred only shows the gospel as a privatized enterprise.

2.      Develop a clear view of Christian society: Why is the Church in Africa so vocal on what we are against but very quiet on what it stands for? What is our identity? We need to have a clear understanding of not just Christian principle but also of Christian virtues.

3.      We need a bigger picture of the Christian society as seen by Adeyemo.

4.      African Church leaders need to understand of current intellectual discuss, ideas, and structural arrangement that forms societies. We should not under-estimate the power of thinking. This is essential for us to be able to engage the social, political, economic and other issues that could shape our continent. We should be able to critique those rationales from a Christian perspective. Hence the need to have Christian professionals in all strata of our society.

5.      Christian leaders must note that reflective engagement calls for developed strategies for change.