Pastor Adeboye: “The Richest Man in the World - by Femi Aribisala

Article written by Femi Aribisala. Read below
“I have houses in at least 188 countries in the world, so I am richer than Bill Gates.” (Adeboye).
Recently, a friend took me to the jewel-in-the-crown of the Redeemed Christian Church of God; a glitzy parish called “City of David” in Victoria Island, Lagos. Displayed resplendently on a wall in the church-office is a design of their current building project; a 14 storey architectural extravaganza titled “Trinity Towers.”
Is Redeemed still a church or is it now essentially a business concern? The Trinity Towers project shows the lines are now totally blurred. Jesus warns: “No one can serve two masters. You cannot serve both God and Money.” (Matthew 6:24). Nevertheless, this Tower of Babylon being built with church funds is designed both for the worship of God and for the worship of money.
The project is an appeal to crass commercialism; a blatant celebration of wealth. In this poverty-stricken Nigeria, the foundation of the building alone is expected to cost over 2 billion naira. Side-by-side with a 5,000 seat auditorium for church services are high-brow restaurants, cafeterias, indoor swimming pools, cinema halls, gymnasiums, retail shops, games arcades, lawn tennis courts, relaxation spots, and a helipad as the crowning glory. Of what relevance is all this “supermarket” in a church?
Anointing for carnality
A church-member, overwhelmed by the grandeur of it all, buttonholed me in the hallway. I did not know him from Adam, nevertheless, he held me hostage as he waxed lyrical about how the Redeemed Church was, to use his words: “taking over.” “We have already got the vice-presidency,” he said. (The vice-president of Nigeria is now a Redeemed pastor). “Next we will get the presidency,” he continued; “and then we will get DSTV;” (a South African satellite television network).
The anointing for this pride of life flows right from the top. The General Overseer of the Redeemed Church is Pastor Adeboye. A few years ago, he decided he needed a billion naira without which his “work of God” could not be done. So he confounded the Christian faith by establishing a “millionaire’s club.” To be a member, you had to hand over a million naira to him in Jesus’ name.
Thereafter, he upped the ante by calling for a “billionaire’s club.” He announced that he would be building an auditorium that can only be described as “fantabulous.” It would be a ginormous three kilometers in length and three kilometers in breadth. This project is clearly more designed to get Adeboye into the Guinness Book of World Records than it is to get the members of Redeemed into the kingdom of God.
Declared Adeboye on that occasion: “We need 1 billion naira from ten people. If you are one of them, please see my personal Secretary after we finish today.” Who are those likely to have this kind of money to give in the Nigeria of today except those who have cornered public funds? Thereafter, an announcer sought to know the members of the church who were “willing to join hands with our Father in the Lord to build a new auditorium to God’s glory.”
Vanity upon vanity
The proposed auditorium is not to the glory of God. The proposed auditorium is to the glory of Adeboye. Adeboye’s project is reminiscent of Saul’s, who built a monument to himself. (1 Samuel 15:12). Nowhere in the entire New Testament was money ever collected for putting up a building. Money was only collected for the poor. The temple of God is no longer a physical building. The temple of God is now Jesus Christ.
Pastor Adeboye is getting increasingly carried away by vanity. I have a tape of a question-and-answer session he had with his church-workers a number of years ago in which he boasted that the time would soon come when, before anybody could aspire to be president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, he would first have to talk to Redeemed Church. Nothing in the scriptures can be construed as suggesting this as one of the stated objectives of Jesus Christ.
A Redeemed church-member told me of another meeting he attended captioned: “A Day Out with the G.O.” It was a dinner for financial sponsors of one of the annual “Holy Ghost Festivals.” Pastor Adeboye boasted tongue-in-cheek on that occasion that the time would soon come when the Queen of England would plead to join Redeemed in order to work as an usherette. The audience reportedly responded with wild applause and shouts of “Amen.”
Richer than Bill Gates
At the just-concluded 63rd Annual Convention of the Redeemed Church, Adeboye declared that he is now richer than Bill Gates; widely acknowledged as the richest man in the world. He said: “I have houses in at least 188 countries in the world, where we have our churches, so I am richer than Bill Gates. Each time I visit these countries, my children would be struggling and saying daddy, come and stay with me.”
These “houses” don’t belong to Adeboye; they belong to Redeemed church. Knowingly or unknowingly, Adeboye distorts the gospel. Jesus says: “All who have given up home or brothers and sisters or father and mother or children or land for me will be given a hundred times as much. They will also have eternal life.” (Matthew 19:29).
However, Jesus words are spirit. (John 6:63). Therefore, his “houses” are entirely spiritual, while Adeboye’s are physical. Jesus does not make his disciples richer than Bill Gates. Instead, he says: “God will bless you people who are poor. His kingdom belongs to you! But you rich people are in for trouble. You have already had an easy life!” (Luke 6:20/24).
Adeboye continued: “If I announce here that tomorrow morning, I need a car to travel to the new auditorium, how many cars do you think would be made available to me by you my children? Those of you that do not have a car of your own, very soon, God will give you your own cars. So, I am appealing to you to become an incurable soul winner before you leave this convention ground and your cup will overflow.”
Anathema to Christ
This is nothing but the enticing word of man’s wisdom. Believers don’t preach the gospel in order to receive cars. We do because God commands that we do so.
Jesus had neither chariots nor horses. He had no lands and houses. Indeed, he warned a prospective disciple who wanted to follow him they would not be staying at the “Sheraton Hotel:” “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” (Matthew 8:20).
Jesus does not speak like Adeboye. He says: “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master.” (Matthew 10:24-25). Jesus’ example is anathema to Adeboye’s declaration that he is now the richest man in the world.
This is the word of Jesus the A Adeboye of this age choose to ignore: “It’s terribly hard for rich people to get into the kingdom of heaven! In fact, it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to get into God’s kingdom.” (Matthew 19:23-24).
Culled from lindaikeji.blogspot.com

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Don't play the race or skinny card. You're a piece of work' - Piers Morgan comes for Nicki Minaj in new article

In an article for Mail Online titled 'Don’t play the race or skinny cards, Ms Minaj - you’re just a stroppy little piece of work whose video wasn’t as good as Taylor Swift’s' - Piers Morgan shared his opinion on the feud between Taylor Swift & Nicki and sided with Taylor. Read what he wrote below
Superstar rapper Nicki Minaj once worked at a Red Lobster restaurant in the Bronx. She was fired for ‘discourtesy to customers’. This followed a familiar behavioural pattern. By her own admission, Minaj was fired from ‘at least fifteen jobs’ for similar reasons. That’s a lot of jobs and a lot of discourtesy.
I experienced at first hand what a stroppy little piece of work she could be when she appeared as a guest act on America’s Got Talent when I was still a judge on the show.

My three sons, aged 16, 13 and 9 at the time, were keen to get a photo with her backstage. I approached her dressing room, where she was lounging and yawning on a couch, and made the polite request.
Back came the message: ‘No.’
‘Sorry?’ I replied.
‘Ms Minaj is not available.’
‘Not even to say hello?’
‘NOT. AVAILABLE.’
My audience with her goons was over and I had to break the news to my sons that ‘Ms Minaj’ was too busy doing nothing to grant them a second of her precious time.
She proceeded to scowl her way through her entire time with AGT, on stage and off.
I thought of this when I watched Twitter blow up last night with Minaj’s angry rant about her supposed snub at the hands of the MTV Video Music Awards.
The main thrust of her fury seemed to be that her Anaconda video should have been nominated for Video of the Year, and the reasons it hadn’t been were because she’s a) black and b) not skinny enough.
Her tweets exploded like toxic firecrackers.
‘If your video celebrates women with very slim bodies,’ she raged, ‘you will be nominated for vid of the year.’
‘If I was a different ‘kind’ of artist,’ she sneered, ‘Anaconda would be nominated for vid of the year as well.’
‘When the ‘other’ girls drop a video that breaks records and impacts culture, they get that nomination.’
And on and on she flounced.
The target of her tempestuous tirade was self-evidently Taylor Swift, who did get nominated in the Video of the Year category, along with 8 other nominations, and is both white and skinny.

The main thrust of her fury seemed to be that her Anaconda video should have been nominated for Video of the Year, and the reasons it hadn’t been were because she’s a) black and b) not skinny enough.
Her tweets exploded like toxic firecrackers.
‘If your video celebrates women with very slim bodies,’ she raged, ‘you will be nominated for vid of the year.’

‘If I was a different ‘kind’ of artist,’ she sneered, ‘Anaconda would be nominated for vid of the year as well.’
‘When the ‘other’ girls drop a video that breaks records and impacts culture, they get that nomination.’
And on and on she flounced.

The target of her tempestuous tirade was self-evidently Taylor Swift, who did get nominated in the Video of the Year category, along with 8 other nominations, and is both white and skinny.

By coincidence, I myself also ran foul of Black Twitter yesterday when I responded to the current popular activist hashtag ‘#BlackLivesMatter’ by tweeting: ‘#ALLLivesmatter.’
I was trending in America for several hours as Black Twitter vented its wrath at my supposed attempt to ‘delegitimize black lives’.

One person even dubbed me a ‘white supremacist’ as the bile spewed in, despite the fact that I spent much of my time at CNN - when I wasn’t confronting gun nuts – fighting for racial equality and justice for murdered young innocent black men like Trayvon Martin.

So I have every sympathy with Taylor, who did absolutely nothing wrong.
And I have no sympathy with Nicki Minaj, who emerges as a whiny brat that just doesn’t like losing.

Her charges of racism and big-bodyism are frankly laughable when you consider that three of the five nominations for Video of the Year are black artists.
And one of them is Beyonce, whose own body is far more aligned to the Minaj school of physical beauty than Taylor Swift’s.
Further, 43 of the entire list of 75 nominations for this year’s VMAs include black artists.

Oh, and Minaj herself gets three nominations in other categories.
So the central allegations are a load of old hogwash.
The reason your video didn’t get nominated for Video of the Year, Ms Minaj, is that it wasn’t as good as the others which did.
Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Bruno Mars, Ed Sheeran and Kendrick Lamar all made better ones.

That’s not my opinion because I’m white.
Or because I prefer skinny women to more voluptuous women (for the record, I don’t…).

It’s my opinion based on watching them all, and agreeing with the nominations.
In one final dig at Taylor Swift, Minaj moaned that whereas Taylor was applauded for leaving the music streaming company Spotify, she herself was ‘dragged’ for launching a rival called Tidal.

What she failed to point out was that Taylor put her new album on Tidal, thus directly supporting it.
There’s no doubt that in the past, the music industry was, like Hollywood, rife with racism, both overt and covert.

There’s also no doubt that many of the world’s top music stars today are black, and command both the financial reward and respect that such status and talent deserves.
For Nicki Minaj, who is indisputably very talented, to play the race card just because her video didn’t get the nomination she wanted is a cheap piece of faux outrage deliberately designed to stir up unnecessary racial tension where it shouldn’t exist.
Shame on you, Ms Minaj.

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Photos: Drake looks horrified & wipes his mouth after getting a kiss from Madonna

Looks like Madonna poured a lot of saliva into Drake's mouth when she pulled his head up to give him a kiss...because his reaction after the kiss was not flattering at all. The 56 year old singer, who has said one of her dreams is to make out with Drake, invited the 28 year old rapper on stage during her performance at Coachella yesterday and made out with him. What she didn't see was Drake's reaction. He looked horrified and even wiped his mouth. Guess Drake isn't into older women. See the photos after the cut...

Drake's reaction below...looked like he was about to die...lol

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Beyonce's mum weds. See photos from the wedding on a Yacht

According to TMZ, who obtained exclusive photos, Beyonce's mum Tina Knowles, 61, married her 67 year old fiance, actor Richard Lawson in a super yacht outside of Newport Beach, California. Everyone wore white to the ceremony, including Beyonce, Solange, Blue Ivy and Jay Z. I love how Tina respected her kids and herself and went with a man her age..:-). Congrats to them. See the pics after the cut...

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Photos: Kanye West jumps into lake to perform at free concert in Armenia

Things men do for love. Kanye didn't just go to Armenia with Kim, he organized a free concert for her people which held last night in the capital city of Yerevan. He got so excited he jumped into the lake and performed to the delight of Armenians. See more photos and watch the video after the cut...

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Lil Wayne done with Christina Milian? Hints there's an opening in the harem

Lol. He has a fiancee, he's dating Christina Milian, has a weird relationship with Superhead plus all the side chicks around him but it looks like it's not enough for Lil Wayne. He took to twitter some days ago to hint that he was single and looking for something new. See that after the cut

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This photo of Paul Walker's 'ghost' with Vin Diesel has gone viral

A fan created this photo of the 'ghost' of Paul Walker leaning against a car and standing next to his friend and co-star, Vin Diesel. The photo was done in memory of the late Hollywood star, and was released immediately after Vin's emotional tribute at the MTV Movie Awards last night. The pic has gone viral.

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