THE General Overseer of The Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye yesterday addressed the recent tithe controversy that has been generating series of arguments on the social media by advising Christians especially his members on the dangers attached to none compliance to paying of tithe.

In his sermon tagged: Breaking Forth during a special prayer programme for Fathers, Intending Fathers and their families at the national headquarters of the church, Throne of Grace Parish in Ebute-Meta, Lagos, Pastor Adeboye asked the congregation to avoid divine curse like a plaque by pleasing God and also in paying of their tithe.

Enumerating secrets of breaking forth, Adeboye used the opportunity to react to controversial online personality, Daddy Freeze who said no Nigerian Prophet, Pastor or General Overseer is qualified to receive tithes from their members.

According to Freeze, tithe was meant to be eaten with our families in the house of God, it is biblical to use your tithe and buy beer and drink in the house of God.

Adeboye however debunked Freeze’s opinion saying ‘even mad people will not come to church to drink alcohol’.

In his words: “Avoid divine curse like a plaque, somebody show me something on the internet on the question of paying tithe or not and the fellow said tithe is suppose to be used to buy alcohol and drink in the church.

“Now you know who is talking, even mad people will not come to church to drink alcohol, no matter how crazy that fellow is, asked him to come to church and drink beer, he will tell you that he is not that crazy, because even in his madness, he knows that it is the house of God and he will refuse to do such thing. But this fellow said otherwise that tithe ought to be used to drink alcohol.

“I know who is talking and I did not want to worry myself about such person. But please do not let anybody get you into trouble by attracting God’s curse to yourself, please pay your tithe.”

“I have said it before and I will say it again and again, if your physical father curse you, it can be cancel by your spiritual father, if your spiritual father curse you it can be cancel by the general overseer, if your general overseer curse you, you can fast and pray to your father in heaven but it God curses you, where will you go, he asked.

A Saudi prince died in a helicopter crash near the Yemeni border Sunday afternoon, one day after the kingdom’s young crown prince ordered a shocking purge of princes and some of the country’s most influential leaders.

Prince Mansour Bin Muqrin was killed in the crash “while performing an inspection in remote parts of the governorate,” a spokeswoman for the Saudi embassy in Washington told NBC News.

The prince, who’s the son of a former crown prince, Muqrin bin Abdul Aziz who was pushed aside by his half-brother King Salman a few months after he took the throne in 2015, was traveling with a team of other government officials, whose fate remains unknown.

The Saudi-owned, Dubai-based satellite news channel Al-Arabiya reported seven other people also died in the crash. Prince Mansour was the son of Prince Muqrin Bin Abdulaziz, a former intelligence director and a one-time crown prince of the kingdom.

Before the crash, Saudi officials said they had intercepted a missile near Riyadh’s airport on Saturday that was fired from war-torn Yemen.

Prince Mansour Bin Muqrin’s death comes a day after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the arrest of 11 of his royal cousins, as well as nearly 40 of the country’s most powerful military officers, influential businessmen and government ministers, some of them, were reported to be potential rivals.

A young man who specialises in luring little kids left untended to in neighborhoods, with candy and biscuits, has been arrested in Kafanchan, Kaduna State.

The suspect later led the police to a human cargo warehouse in Gwagwalada where another woman who buys the kids from him, was arrested along with five other persons working for her.

Over 30 kids were rescued and the police in Gwagwalada say parents and guardians should hasten to the divisional police headquarters, Gwagwalada, to identity their children.

It was gathered that a woman found two of her missing kids among the abductees.

A gunman shot dead at least 20 worshippers during Sunday morning services at a Baptist church in Texas, news media reported.

The gunman was killed after a short chase, CNN reported, quoting a sheriff’s office spokesman in Guadalupe County. It was unclear whether the shooter died from a police bullet or at his own hand.

The worshippers were killed at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, a small rural community about 30 miles (50 kilometers) southeast of San Antonio, reports said.

Wilson County Commissioner Albert Gamez Jr. told AFP there were multiple fatalities and multiple people wounded, but he could not officially confirm the number.

With details rapidly unfolding, some unnamed officials were quoted in media reports citing tolls as high as 27 dead and 20 or more wounded.

The shooter reportedly walked into the church shortly before noon — at a morning service that witnesses said was normally attended by some 50 people — and opened fire. A two-year-old was among the wounded, the Dallas Morning News website reported.

A spokeswoman for Connally Memorial Medical Center in nearby Floresville told Fox News that “we have accepted a number of patients from the shooting.” She gave no number.

– Federal agents arriving –

A witness working at a gas station across the street said he heard at least 20 shots being fired in quick succession, CNN reported. Others nearby said the shooter appeared to have reloaded more than once.

Emergency personnel rushed to the scene, and some victims were evacuated by helicopter. Police formed a perimeter around the area, and tearful relatives and neighbors stood outside it, nervously awaiting news from inside the traditional, white-frame church.

Agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were heading to Sutherland Springs, a town of about 400, those agencies said.

President Donald Trump, who is in Japan on the first stop of a tour of Asian countries, tweeted: “May God be w/ the people of Sutherland Springs, Texas. The FBI & law enforcement are on the scene. I am monitoring the situation from Japan.”

Texas Governor Greg Abbott offered his condolences.

“Our prayers are with all who were harmed by this evil act. Our thanks to law enforcement for their response,” he tweeted, promising more details “soon.”

The shooting comes just over a month after a gunman in Las Vegas, firing down from a hotel room, killed 58 people and wounded hundreds attending an outdoor concert.

And it came just over two years after a white supremacist, Dylann Roof, entered a historically black church in Charleston, South Carolina, and shot nine people to death.

— AFP

President Muhammadu Buhari, the Sultan of Sokoto, Abubakar Saad; and Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, have again been listed among the most powerful Muslims in the world.

This is contained in a Muslim publication, The Muslim 500 in its 2018 edition.

The publication noted that there were approximately 1.84 billion Muslims in the world, making up 24.38 per cent of the world’s population.

Last year, the trio also made the list of most influential Muslims in the world.

The publication is an annual compilation of the good, the bad, and the ugly in the Islamic world.

Buhari and the Sultan were ranked 19th and 23th, respectively among the first top 50 Muslims in the world.

It explained that Shekau, the head of Boko Haram, a terrorist group in Nigeria had carried out a number of atrocities.

The publication added that Shekau speaks Hausa, Arabic, and English and claimed to have undergone theological training.

Others Nigerians listed in the publication are Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote; JAMB registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede and former justice minister, Prince Bola Ajibola.

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has declared 21 days mourning for its members killed during the military invasion of the home of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu at Afara Ukwu, Umuahia, Abia State.

This is even as the Biafra agitation group says it has discovered more corpses of her slain members in a bush within the precincts of the home of its leader.

The group equally informed that it is burying the slain members, numbering more than over 28 who were killed during the invasion, in piecemeal with 11 of such bodies already interred.

A senior member of the group, Mark Eze Ofuonye, who disclosed how some of their members were shot dead by the invading soldiers, and their corpses dumped in a bush near the home of the IPOB leader, said:

“Some of our members, numbering over 28, were murdered in cold blood by the military during the invasion of our leader’s home at Afara Ukwu. The soldiers were doing a sort of mop up operation; whenever they killed any of our members, they carried away the corpse to conceal their horrendous act but it was not possible.

“So, they filled up their trucks with our members’ corpses. The corpses we retrieved and which we are burying at present are those the soldiers could not carry.

They just came out with the intention of killing any human being or living thing that was found in the compound of our leader.

The people they met were not armed still they shot them, even people just standing nearby and those passing through the area were caught in the attack.”

Continuing, Ofuonye said: “The corpses we are burying now (referring to the day of the interview) were found inside the bush. They were shot by soldiers and they ran into the bush with bullet wounds thinking that they could receive help there but no help came their way and they died inside the bush. Some of the dead bodies were discovered last week inside the bush at the back of Nnamdi Kanu’s house. The 28 were those ones that were killed within the axis of the house of our leader. But the total number killed within this range is 305 persons.”

The IPOB chieftain who said there was no need for the operation by the Nigerian army as members of the group did not carry arms neither were they violent, added that the leadership of the group declared the 21-day mourning for their slain members.

He advised the United Nations to send its representatives to the home of their leader at Afara Ukwu to be able to see how soldiers invaded the house of a core civilian with heavy armoury and none of the soldiers sustained any scratch which he said was an indication that despite the propaganda mounted by the Nigerian army, the IPOB members were not armed.

Source: SUN News

A 53-year-old man, identified as Wendell Melton shot and killed his 14-year-old son Giovanni over his sexual orientation.

“Giovanni was abused physically and mentally and spiritually for many, many years,” said Sonja Jones, Giovanni’s former foster mom. Over the phone, Jones spoke of the teen she loved as one of her own.

Jones says she was told by another family member that part of the argument that led to the deadly shooting was over Giovanni’s sexual orientation. Jones says Wendell Melton had problems with it.

“He hated the fact that his son was gay,” said Jones. “I’m sure that inside of his mind, he would rather have a dead son than a gay son.” Court records show Wendell Melton worked for United Airlines. He once was a pilot.

Jones says Wendell threatened his son before. “I’m hearing his dad had caught him with his boyfriend before and pulled out a gun on him,” said Jones. Giovanni was a student at Coronado High School.

Jones says a beautiful life was taken away because of ignorance. “I hope they throw the book at him. I hope he never sees the light of day,” said Jones. “I hope every day when he looks in the mirror, he sees his son’s face.”