Evidence that physical disability is not a lack of ability surfaced once more when Cindy Chilaka, a physically challenged University of Port Harcourt student, posted a video of her graduation with the title “What God cannot do does not exist.”
This multi-talented young lady, who completed a university course despite her disability and is also a talented hair stylist, shared a video in which she was dancing for joy whilst donning a t-shirt with the inscription “What God cannot do does not exist.”
The inscriptions refer to God and affirm how the concept of God and faith in his providence can help people face great odds with confidence. It is said that it is easier to climb a mountain when you know you will meet a friend at the top.
Believers and people of faith can face life’s great challenges with confidence and courage because they are assured of God’s all-loving providence as their father. This increases optimism about outcomes, and studies show that optimistic people have more positive outcomes. “An optimistic attitude helps us be happier, more successful, and healthier,” according to kidshealth.org. According to Liz Mascolo, General Mills’ business unit director, it focuses on positive outcomes (Umah 2017). “It doesn’t mean that you’re necessarily shiny and happy at all times of the day,” she says. “However, it does imply that you have the ability to look at a situation and, while it may be difficult, see around the corner and see the possibility…versus the difficulty.” (Umah 2017).
Optimism necessitates hard work, which distinguishes it from positive thinking, which is simply daydreaming about positive outcomes without putting in the necessary effort. Cynthia, despite her handicap, was very confident that God would see her through, and her faith gave her the optimism she needed to face and overcome those challenges. Her joy is shared by friends and family alike, and it stands as an indictment of those who give up and cease to strive for their dreams regardless of the obstacle. Cynthia’s completion of her graduate degree despite missing a limb and having to navigate around campus on crutches shows that those who have all of their limbs have no reason to give up.
To summarize, Cynthia’s faith in God’s providence manifested in her optimism and, as a result, fortitude until she achieved her goal, a lesson for all who face challenges of any kind.
According to an online magazine, Dice Ailes, a rising Nigerian musician, recently purchased a home in Canada for his mother. This is the video in which Dice gives his gift to his mother while she prays and dances for joy.
Dice who posted the video on his Instagram feed wrote: “Anything for you mom.” Indicating that there is nothing he would not do for his mother.
It’s heartwarming that the aspiring singer spends his first paycheck on a house for his mother.
And if you asked Dice why he did it, I’m sure he’d say, “Because she’s my mother, she gave birth to me, and that’s all.”
It makes sense; people like to honor their mothers. I’m sure Dice would buy his mother some spiritual gift (if he could) that would make her even more beautiful, such as freedom from original sin. The issue is that money cannot purchase such a gift; only God can. Because he is God, Jesus can. As a result, Christian tradition holds that Jesus protected his mother from original sin from the moment she was conceived. He bestowed the spiritual gift of the “Immaculate Conception” on her solely because she is his mother.
The dogma of the Immaculate Conception was officially declared on December 8, 1854, by Pope Pius IX, in the Bull Ineffable Deus. This document states:
The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin’”
Some may wonder, “Where is the bible?” It’s in the Bible, but only in an implied sense. For example, after Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden tree, God told the serpent, “I will make you enemies of each other: you and the woman, your offspring and her offspring.” It’ll crush your head, and you’ll hit its heel.” ‘
Given that Christians agree that “the woman” is an allusion to Mary, and “her offspring” is an allusion to Jesus, who would crush Satan’s head, this implies that the “enmity” between this woman and the serpent was predicted right from the start, and thus the woman was sinless from the start. In his encyclical “Fulgens corona,” Pope Pius XII says:
“If at a given moment the Blessed Virgin Mary had been left without divine grace, because she was defiled at her conception by the hereditary stain of sin, between her and the serpent there would no longer have been -at least during that period of time, however brief,- the eternal enmity spoken of in the earliest.
Furthermore, Jesus did not just make his mother sinless; he also filled her with grace, as the arch Angel Gabriel confirms in Luke (1: 28): “Hail, full of Grace, the Lord is with you.” Furthermore, Christ died for Mary because, even though she was born sinless, she needed to be saved just like everyone else, but Christ saved her in a unique way. Everyone else was saved by Christ pulling us out of the ditch into which we had fallen, but he “preserved” his mother from sin by preventing her from falling into the ditch through a unique privilege. Because of her important role as God’s mother, the merits of Christ’s passion and death were applied to her in advance, preserving her from sin from the moment of her conception.
Many Christians recognize Mary as Jesus’ mother, but some would hesitate to call her God’s mother. Why is this case? They argue that treating her like a goddess would be idolatry, something absurd. However, if they took the time to examine the evidence, they might discover that it is not so absurd.
In Galatians 4:4 we read, “But when the appointed time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman”. And in Philippians (2: 6) we read “His state was divine, yet he did not cling to his equality with God, but emptied himself to assume the condition of a slave, and became as men are”
As a result, Jesus has both human and divine natures. Nonetheless, because mothers give birth to people rather than natures, Mary is the mother of Jesus, who is God. As a result, we can conclude that Mary is God’s mother. Indeed, to conclude otherwise would be to commit the error of either denying that Jesus is both true God and true man. This is what happened in the fifth century, when a certain Nestorius, bishop of Constantinople, argued that Mary only gave birth to Jesus, the man, and not Jesus, the God. The reason for this is that a mere mortal cannot give birth to God.
The Nestorian position was rejected or condemned by the council of Ephesus (4:31), which affirmed that Mary is indeed the mother of God because Christ is both true God and true, man, and is one person of God.
As a result, Christians, particularly Catholics, revere her because she is the mother of God. In fact, in the fourth point of the tenth commandment, God expressly commands that we honor our father and mother, and God himself expressly obeyed this commandment. Christ honored God, his heavenly father, and Mary, his earthly mother, bestowing graces on her and protecting her from all sin from the moment of her conception until the end of her life.
Furthermore, Mary is known as the ever virgin because it is believed that she was a virgin prior to, during, and after the birth of Christ otherwise, people may question if Christ’s divine. The prophet Isaiah predicted in Isaiah 7:14 that the messiah, Christ, would be borne by a virgin. This demonstrates that Mary was a virgin prior to the conception of Jesus. In Luke (1: 34), Mary asks the Angel, “How can this be, since I do not know man?” This is further evidence that Mary made a virtuous act by remaining a virgin from her earliest youth. Finally, when the Angel appeared to Joseph in Matthew (1: 20), the Angel said, “Do not be afraid, Joseph son of David, to take Mary home as your wife, because the Holy Spirit has conceived what is in her.”
Genesis (3: 16) provides evidence of her virginity during childbearing: “God said to the woman: ‘I will multiply your childbearing pains, and you will give birth to your children in agony.’” As a result, since ruptures of the organs of child bearing are the cause of pains, which scripture tells us consequences of the original sin. Hence, it is reasonable to assume that Mary, free from original sin, was also freed from pain in child bearing and remained intact and thus a virgin even during child bearing.
Evidently, the fact that Jesus entrusted Mary to his disciple John at the moment he was drawing his last breath on the cross is sufficient proof that had no other children after Jesus. Moreover, it is fitting that Christ, as the only son of God, should also be the only son of Mary, his human mother. Similarly, just as Eve participated in the disobedience of the first Adam, ushering sin into the world, Mary, the new Eve, participates in the obedience of the second Adam, Jesus Christ, by dying on the cross, ushering redemption into the world.
Hence, Mary is co-redeemer of humanity with Jesus, through her conception, and birth of Christ, the son of God. By her gift of him to humanity, she reconciled humanity with God, and thus making us children of God. Her corroboration with her son’s death on the cross resulted in the great gift of our redemption, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in man, making us Children of God and Temples of the Holy Spirit. Similarly, Mary is also the Queen of the Universe because she is the Mother of Christ the King. Just as Jesus’ earthly life culminated in his death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven, Mary’s earthly life concluded with her bodily assumption into heaven. As Christ, her son, reigns as king of the universe in heaven, she reigns as queen of the universe in heaven. In the book of Revelation, St. John writes, “And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and a crown of twelve stars on her head.” She bore a male child, one who will rule all nations with an iron rod, but her child was taken up to God and his throne [Revelation 12:1, 5].
Finally, if Dice Ailes can give his mother a house simply because she is his mother, the fact that Christ would give his mother the gift of the Immaculate Conception simply because she is his mother should not surprise anyone, but rather makes logical sense.
What happened to the idea of men as protectors of women and children?
A crazed man recently attacked a subway train, ranting, raving and generally harassing everyone. Next, he sat between two terrified women, and as they tried to flee, he grabbed one by the hair and pulled her down, while the terrified woman pleaded for help from onlookers. Surprisingly, everyone on that train, including a few men, was bent over their phones, pretending nothing was wrong. They, like the proverbial ostrich, would rather bury their heads in the sand than play the hero who comes to the aid of a woman in distress.
Fortunately, the madman let the woman go after dragging her by the hair, but it’s chilling that this could happen in broad daylight and in the presence of so many men, and no one had the courage to stand up to him. Would those men continue to act as if nothing had happened if the madman had plucked out the woman’s eyes or cut her throat?
What explains the phenomenon of cowardice and impotence seen here? Bray (2006) contends that men are no longer men today as a result of the feminist movement’s effort to deprive men of their manhood as a necessary step toward empowering women.
While Hudson (2013) contends that the cowardice displayed on that train is a relatively new phenomenon largely caused by the modern culture of social media, which has taken away men’s edge by depriving them of regular practice in the act of being men. Thus, the author argues that they were cowards due to a lack of practice in the act of bravery, a new phenomenon created by social media, which has removed the need for face to face human interaction and thus created men who have the body of an adult but are really toddlers inside, preferring to play with their toys rather than play their part in bettering society, unlike the real men of the past.
However, it is important to note that cowardice has always characterized the nature of man and did not begin with the feminist movement or social media, but rather has its roots in sin, which causes men to selfishly shave or avoid any circumstance that would complicate or even endanger their own lives.
Over two thousand years ago, Jesus preached to the people of Israel the parable of the Good Samaritan, encouraging them to overcome their fear and go out of their way to help those in need, to be kind and merciful.
In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus tells the story of a man who was robbed and was lying on the road, and how people passing by, some of whom were priests, saw the man and crossed to the other side of the road and went away.
They, like the train passengers, did not want to get involved or complicate their lives and wished that if they walked faster, the injured man lay bleeding on the road would vanish, at least in their minds, but Jesus condemns their actions, recommending the Good Samaritan as a better alternative. Jesus suggests that the good Samaritan did what God desired in that situation by going out of his way to assist the person in need.
Precisely because the Samaritan, despite being historically hostile to Jews, overcame his prejudice and stopped to help the injured man, lifting him up on his horse and paying for his stay at the innkeeper. By using this parable, Jesus is implying that we should regard everyone as a neighbor and come to the aid of those in need. Certainly, Jesus warns us against turning our backs on our neighbor’s problems.
A Good Samaritan would jump in and fight if he saw someone being attacked, even if it meant getting his shirt torn or getting a bruised eye, but that is okay because it was the only way to provide effective help to others, and God will reward you for it.
Jesus tells this story to demonstrate the concept of the Good Samaritan, the character of those who please God and go out of their way to help others.
There is no doubt that social media culture has created a deceptive illusion that making a video of a woman being attacked and tweeting was a way of helping hand, making people who tweet feel like they are doing something, but if no one gives a helping hand, like in the case of this woman who was being attacked to free her from the grip of the mad man, then humanity has lost its humanity.
This incident reinforces the notion that the teachings of Jesus Christ are very much relevant in our current time and are far from outdated, as modern philosophers argue that modern society, with great advances in science and technology, no longer requires Jesus’ moral teaching. On the contrary, I would argue that Christ’s and Christianity’s teachings are still relevant, and maybe the only thing that can save us from the anarchy of individualism and nihilism.
After International Women’s Day, we celebrate women and all they do for society. But unfortunately, many people still haven’t figured out what a woman is.
Modern cultures view women as equal to men, and it is not uncommon to find groups or societies that regard women as superior to men. Whereas previous cultures viewed women as inferior to men, having only the role of cooking, fetching, and carrying for the men.
Some people view women as wild temptresses and seducers of men on a personal level. While others see women as loving and kind comforters full of warmth and gentleness, they are mothers and housewives.
I believe that a society’s goodness can be gauged in part by the way it treats its female citizens. According to The economist, societies that mistreat women are more likely to live in poverty(1). Sadly, the brutal and repressive treatment of women is often standard in many communities and repeatedly documented. Yet to be a truly civilized society, men are expected to treat women with respect and deference, especially their wives and mothers.
Indeed, being a mother is one of the most awe-inspiring attributes of a woman, as she is the primary caregiver and nurturer of a new life from conception to death. As a result, mothers possess a wide range of virtues and skills comparable to those of the most accomplished athletes.
Studies found a link between women’s hard work and their success as mothers in a study of women in the United States. (2) Motherhood gives these women a reason to work hard because it allows them to provide for their families, whom they adore. Put another way, the love they have for their children and grandchildren drives them to put in the long hours needed to succeed. There is an inverse correlation between motherhood value and time spent on leisure pursuits. Motherhood is not a stumbling block for successful women but rather a stumbling block for pleasure-centered women, according to the modern feminist talking points. Nonetheless, it serves as a further incentive for most hard-working women to work hard and achieve their goals and dreams. Serena Williams won a grand slam just nine months after giving birth to her first child, and Adele, one of the most successful women in the music industry, credits the birth of her son for her return to music after a period of discouragement. (3)
Even in today’s developed countries, where it appears that the distinction between man and woman is being deliberately obfuscated, that distinction is not only present but glaring. In many cases, the woman complements the man physically and spiritually, but that’s another story. Mary, the Mother of God, is the best example of a woman to look up to to understand what it means to be a woman. She is a mother, the mother of Jesus, the son of God; she is also a woman. So she was uniquely blessed and became the ancestor of everyone, especially Christians.
J. McQuillan, A. L. Greil, K. M. Scheffler, and V. Tichenor. Motherhood in the United States in the 21st Century. Official publication of Sociologists for Women in Society, 22(4), 2008, 477–496. Gender & society: official publication https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243208319359
Following the tragic death of former Miss USA Cheslie Kryst, many people around the world were left wondering, “Why?” What would drive someone like this to commit suicide? She had already accomplished a great deal in her life by the time she was thirty. She was beautiful, well-educated, and a lawyer, and she was widely regarded as the most beautiful girl in the United States. What kind of life could be anything but fulfilling in such circumstances? To put it another way, she was a success. Hers is the kind of life many young women can only dream of having.
As a result, it is puzzling why someone with such a background would commit suicide. But, according to reports, Chelsie Kryst posted a message on her Instagram page just before jumping, saying, “May this day bring you rest and peace.”
Why would someone who has lived a life that many people only dream about still be on the lookout for tranquility? Perhaps the only explanation is that she suffered from a mental health problem that only a few people knew about. As a result, anyone looking in would have the impression that Cheslie Kryst had a perfect life, that she was in control of everything, and that she was in complete control of her emotions and thoughts.
It is clear that mental health problems are often not visible, and those who do have them are difficult to identify. So many people who appear to be normal may be dealing with mental health issues, while the rest of the world is unaware of what is going on in their lives.
Chelsie Kryst tragic death serves as a reminder that not all that glitters is gold and that a beautiful body does not always imply a healthy, happy soul.
The very notions of beauty pageants and competition are being questioned once more in this case. After all, why would someone be rewarded or celebrated for a beautiful body they did not create, that they had not worked hard to acquire but was instead bestowed upon them by nature? Much unlike an athlete who trains for months or even years to achieve the level of physical fitness that will allow them to win a gold medal at the Olympics, hence we rightly celebrate their accomplishments because they had put in the necessary effort. To be sure, most athletes who achieve great success do so because, in addition to their rigorous training, they possess some inherent ability that provides them with the initial momentum, drive, or recognition that allows them to progress to the level of professional athletes. Perhaps they were already the best runner in their school, the best gymnast in their class, or the local hero on the school football team when they were in their early teens. This natural ability then serves as a motivator, propelling them to more excellent hard work and effort until they win a gold medal.
Physical beauty, on the other hand, is unmeritorious. In addition, it is transient because it frequently fades away over time, and its appeal dwindles, more importantly, beauty is not achieved through effort but is often provided directly by nature, as a gift. After all, no matter how hard or fast an ugly woman works out, she will never be considered beautiful because she lacks the natural attributes of beauty. But, on the other hand, a naturally beautiful woman attracts attention even when she isn’t trying. So what exactly is the point of that?
I realize I risk coming across as insensitive, but this could happen to anyone. Mental health issues have nothing to do with physical beauty, talent, or celebrity; they could happen to anyone.
While there is much to be learned from this, I believe there are a few lessons here for young people in this era of so much confusion: it is possible to be extremely beautiful while also being extremely unhappy, thus putting the lie to the popular belief that once you have beauty and power, you have it all.
Chelsie Kryst had it, but she was so dissatisfied that she destroyed it by hauling herself 20 stories down and smashing herself to pieces. That being said, we pray for the eternal repose of the soul of Chelsie Kryst and for God to grant her family and loved ones the strength to bear the loss.
“You cannot wait for everything to be perfect before you decide to be happy,” these were stunning words from Jane, a 30 year old young woman recently won a golden buzzer for her original song “it’s Ok” But what captivated and captured hearts of audience and viewers around world was that she has advance cancer and yet smiles shares happiness all around.
The judges and audience at the American got talent (AGT) where taken aback when she casually told them she has been dealing with cancer. “When they last tested, I had cancer in my lungs, spine, and liver,” she said, “but I want all to know that I am much more important than all the bad things that has happen to me.”
And a lot has happen to her including the loss of her husband of 5 years who abandoned her in 2020 because of her illness which started two years after their marriage. She is presently going through chemotherapy with the resultant weight and hair loss and the cancer keeps recurring, doctors says she has just two percent chance of surviving.
“Yet two percent is not zero, and people don’t know how amazing that is,” she said.
“I have had cancer three times now, and I have barely passed thirty” she said. “There are times when I wonder what I must have done to deserve such a story. I fear sometimes that when I die and meet with God that He will say I disappointed him, or offended him, or failed Him.”
On the contrary, God must be rather pleased with her ability to be happy in spite of all and right now she is an inspiration to millions who perhaps do not know how to be happy.
“You cannot wait for everything to be perfect before you decide to be happy,” she said to the lead Judge Simon who was struggling to find words to describe her courage and cheerfulness in the face of so much suffering. Words many people around the world would forever remember when they have to deal with one trouble or the other in their lives. And for that Simone gave her the golden buzzer even with the stunning rendition of her original song to a standing ovation
As for me, Jane Marczewski is a most inspiring young woman, an angelic example to many who bulk in the face of inexplicable suffering and losing their happiness become a prey to the vicious wolf of sadness and depression. This woman shines a brilliant light through the tunnel of darkness. I love her
I recently watched a documentary on the life of Jane Goodall, the British woman who studied the life of chimpanzees in the African wild. Though I enjoyed it very much, it seems her fame was due more to her stunning looks and aquiline beauty than to her studies. Still , her “Tarzan-like” courage is remarkable, and she definitely had a good nose for strong unpleasant stench, an invaluable asset in her line of work. There’s no doubt that she helped the world get a better glimpse of the private life of those hairy beasts, but even more importantly, her discoveries had remarkable influence on her own private life in ways that even she would not admit.
At the early stage of her expedition, she met and fell in love with Hugo, a young photographer who was sent by the National geographic to photograph and documents her work. It was a love affair that was– as far as all could see—unavoidable. Was there a better elixir of love than a scenario where two youngster are alone in an African jungle with to do than ogle each other and watch Chimpanzees?
One day, Jane and Hugo were watching a female Chimp mating freely with several males who took turns with her. When afterwards, she became pregnant and gave birth to a baby chimp; all the male chimps previously enamored with her abandoned her to raise the child alone. One could almost say that this female Chimp had as a natural gift, what modern feminist seek or aspire to achieve throughout sexual revolution of the 60: serial sexual partnerships with no strings attached. It can be argued female chimps had an advanced form of human feminism and high rate of single motherhood as well as lousy fatherhood, because the males play very little role in the family and the life of their offspring.
Furthermore, the couple confirmed by their observations that the female chimp with multiple sex partners, if they already had offspring, was an embarrassment to their adolescent offspring, some of whom would even attack their mother’s lovers trying to break up the ongoing act. Thus multiple sex partnership similar to modern day serial divorce in human society was terribly upsetting even for children of irrational beasts. One could understand why it is even more distressing to human children. In a 2010 study, Donahue et al, demonstrated that adolescents whose parents were divorced were more likely to experience depression and a range of psychological problems.
In spite of all these discoveries, Jane and Hugo’s marriage would end in divorce a few odd years later, and Jane would go on and marry someone else, forgetting the odd grief of the adolescent chimps at their mother’s multiple sex partners. One would have expected her to spare her son the grief she had witnessed in the baby chimp.
However, apart from this singular failure, Jane would successfully raised her son alone in the wild, struggling to replicate the love she witnessed that the mother chimps lavished on their children. But she also avoided the mistakes the mother chimps made in raising her infant son who became so attached to it’s mother and died when it’s mother died.
Fears of this propelled Jane to send her son away to a boarding school in London, a way of helping him gain greater independence from her, and perhaps have a greater contact with his father and others male companies.
Surprisingly, Jane who was a passionate believer in evolution and a feminist, failed to make the connection that the very failures and weaknesses that threatened the extinction of these beasts are what is being proposed today in the modern world as progressivism. If evolution is movement from inferior intelligence to superior rational articulate intelligence, how do we account for the return to the instinctive “multiple sex partners” and the consequent “absent fatherhood” in our post modern world? Perhaps instead of evolving we are actually devolving.
Prior to the sexual revolutions of 60’s multiple sex partnership, serial divorce, cohabitation and single motherhood— traits that Jane observed on chimp world–were abhorred in most human societies. The sexual revolution returned these straits back to human societies, a devolution back, from man to chimp. Today, only the Catholic church remains firm in her conviction that the sexual revolution is wrong, insisting that marriage is between one man and one woman, for life and maintaining that premarital sex and promiscuity are beneath the dignity of humans and indeed, by doing this, the Church is actually supporting science and evolutionary progress and rejecting the devolutionary agenda of the sexual revolution.
Approximately one year ago, I visited the Jerusalem and the holy land for the first time. One of the feelings one experiences during visits to the Holy Land is the desire to see Jesus, to get a behind the scenes, to turn back the hands of the clock and be there. There comes a time when the rocks aren’t enough, you wish to be transported back in time, to smell Mary’s cooking and watch Jesus and laugh and play, and sorrowful, you wish to help him with the cross on Calvary. Sadly is only the imagination left to fill in the gaps of centuries, and recreate the scenes and atmosphere and only very few and very gifted people are able to use their imagination so prodigiously, as for the rest of us, any means, or anyone who can assistance us see what happened there many centuries ago is more than welcome. It is craved. Thus you can imagine my joy when I came across the film, Chosen, directed by a young man named Dallas Jenkins recreating the life of Jesus so that the less imaginatively endowed can get close up view of the greatest story ever told.
Chosen
Jenkins must have inherited his father’s knack for telling stories, and I must add, for using stories to try to spread the word of God. Jenkins’ father was a Christian novelist whose bestselling novel, Left behind, sold over 60 million copies and has been adapted to serial television programs. Both father and son, teamed up to start a movie company and intent on producing family friendly Christian movies, they launched several attempt that has been successful such as “What if” a 2010 international bestseller staring Kristy Swanson, a film about a business man whose guardian Angel appeared to him to show him what he would have become if he followed the will of God for his life, a story that is so relevant to all.
Nevertheless, Chosen would appear to be the most successful of Jenkins endeavors and the one that will endear him to the hearts of millions of Christians he would have helped to get to know God and Jesus Christ even if it is only one inch better. The project started as a short film clip called The Sheppard which Jenkins made to help his church members visualize the birth of Jesus from the perspective of the Sheppard. He shot the entire movie clip at a friend’s farm, but the clip was so go that it caught the attention of VidAngel, an online streaming service looking for original content, who encouraged Jenkins to post it up on Facebook to see if people would be interested. The clip received 15million views around the world and gave birth to a multi season series about the life of Jesus called Chosen, and it is said to be the to be the highest crowd funded movie of all time.
“I’m trying to justify the faith of those who invested in this project and I’m also trying to, of course, please my Savior, and make sure that we’re doing this project for Him,” Jenkins said.
It’s sad that Christians has been edged out of the competition in the movies to the disastrous consequences and missed opportunities of bringing life savings and healing doctrines too the lost and often deceived people whose only means of knowing the most important truth of gospel comes from what they glean from poor scripts and bad acting in most Christian movie, or from the ideologically manipulated and religiously hostile Hollywood blockbusters. Jenkins has shown a good example of how to use motion pictures to bring the gospel to the hearts and minds of many.
It is the same zeal that burned in the heart of Monsignor Escriva, the founder of Opus Dei, when he wrote in 1959, “I found my love for God enkindled by considering Jesus’ zeal to set the world ablaze with his fire. I couldn’t contain the irrepressible ardour that welled up within me, making me cry out with the very words of the Master: I’ve come to set fire to the earth and what will I but that it be enkindled?… Here I am, for you have called me! He encouraged good people, Christians to get involved in the movie industries. Recalling the first time Escriva saw a color television in 1972, those who were with him wrote this account:
“At Civenna, just over four kilometers from the Swiss border, and less as the crow flies, they could get Swiss television channels. Their house had a color television set, and the first time they turned it on Monsignor Escrivá was as surprised as everyone else. “Isn’t it good?” he exclaimed. “I had no idea the image would be so clear and the color so natural. The color’s so attractive that you’re captivated no matter what program is on.”
After the television set had been turned off, he reflected aloud, “All this progress, great and small, has to bring us to give great glory to God. All noble human work, done well and used properly, is a fabulous instrument for serving society and sanctifying ourselves. I suppose the same thing happened to you as to me a moment ago when we were watching television: it was easy to raise one’s heart to God, thanking him for the technical perfection of the image and the color. And then there’s an idea which is always going around my head. I thought of the good and the evil which can be done with television and with all the media. Good? Yes, because it’s a wonderful vehicle for reaching out to so many people, capturing their attention in such an attractive way. Bad? It’s that too, because images and words can be used to spread bad doctrine and false morals. And people swallow these errors and falsehoods without realizing it, they welcome it like pure gold. That’s why I insist so much that the apostolate through the media will always be very important. And Catholics who have a professional vocation to the media, journalists, people working in the press, radio, and television, have to be present and active: to be absent would be a shameful act of desertion.”
Thus, any Christian who is not eager to share Christ with others, to make his humanity known and loved, using whatever talents, few or many, is not doing well, in fact he is lukewarm. Jenkins striving to use his talents as a movie maker to make Jesus better known is commendable. Jenkins urged on by the burning desire to tell Jesus story the way it should be told, with the pump, brilliance and genius of great masters of the big studios has come up with the brilliant master piece Chosen and on behalf of many millions of Christians the world over, I would like to say a very big thanks to Jenkins for making this effort, for not giving up and for helping us see even if minutely a little more background story of Jesus life. His adaptation are brilliant, his ability to help us visualize the real environment most of us are only able to conjure and some with great difficulty is inestimable.
Just this week, Stevie, a female member of a British rock band called, Fleetwood Mac, told the world that, thanks to her abortion, she was able to make a success out of her musical career, “If I had not had that abortion, I’m pretty sure there would have been no Fleetwood Mac”. Incidentally, this same week, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a beautiful woman of 48, is set to be confirmed as the ninth Justice of US Supreme Court, having climbed to the highest peak of a career in the legal profession that few women can dream of, while being a wife and a mother of 7 teenage children, which includes two adopted children from Haiti and one child with down syndrome. As the world stands in awe of this great woman, perhaps it is a time to take a few moments to reflect on this two very different world views.
The first world view, the world view of Ms Stevie, propagated by the ideologues of a postmodern world, is the world view that motherhood, family and children are oppressive forces, holding women back from real progress, and ensure that they never actualize their potencies. They sell this notion by celebrating the likes of Ms Stevie, flooding the front cover of their media tabloids with selfies she took in her underwears with Hollywood super star status pinned to her backside like a medal of honor, a media anointed queen of impressionable young girls.
Yet, the same devious ideologues are bending over backwards to gloss over or at best pay only grudging acknowledgment to a better and a more shining world view, that of Amy Coney Barrett, an intelligent, articulate and astonishingly brilliant woman who had faced the odds like other millions of hard working women all over the world, hard at work, while raising children, (future citizens of the world), and yet emerged brilliantly at the very top of their profession. Thus, the false narrative pushed by those who control the media has been deeply debunked by the tremendous success of Amy Barrett. She hurts their narrative, and the narrative of the abortion industry that claims that the only way a modern woman can stride to the top is if she has unrestricted access to abortion. Barrett confirmation ensures that women are deceived no longer. Women do not necessarily have to choose their careers over family, love of children. It is actually the other way round for it can be argued that Justice Barrett may not have been where she is today but for her family.
True, her record breaking achievement is not a recent thing, having been practically a pace setter all her life. She graduated in English and literature with great honors and went on to study law at Notre Dame, graduating top of her class, a keen intellect, a scholar with formidable capacity, nevertheless evidence shows that having children only makes a sharp intellect keener. This second world view has been confirmed to be a better fulfilling world view, one that leads to even more enduring success by the testimony of so many women who have gone on to achieve surpassing greatness precisely because of their love for family and children. Singer and superstar Adele said that she overcome discouragement and the urge to give up singing when she had her child because she wanted her child to know “what his mother does”. Serena William won top world tennis championship after having a baby.
At 48, Amy has shattered the entire glass ceiling in the legal and academic citadels and poised to become member of the US Supreme Court all the while juggling children, a husband and a child with special needs, in dramatic refutation of postmodernist feminist claims that family and children are obstacle to a woman’s dream. It would be inexcusable for anyone to believe these falsehoods from now on.
Furthermore, Amy’s nomination has put her in the spot light, bringing to lime light all good she has been doing secretly. She and her husband could have closed themselves up from the troubles of the world, enjoying their sheltered, blessed life of high success all by themselves. Yet they reached out to lend a hand to the less privileged, to the poor and made the decision to adopt two children from one of the most destitute countries in the world, Haiti. They lifted out those children, a boy and a girl, and brought them out of misery and into their own home, into their own lives, thus giving hope and a future to those who could not have dreamed off it.
The Barretts demonstrate that Christianity is not a theory to be espoused and not practiced, but a real dynamics that demands a radical commitment in those who choose to be called by that name. As Pope Francis says in his latest encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, “The “gospel” of save yourself is not the Gospel of salvation. It is the falsest of the apocryphal gospels, making others carry the cross. Whereas the true Gospel bids us take up the cross of others.” This action of the Barretts restores faith in humanity. Further evidence of Amy’s goodness came from a blind student who testified at the hearing saying that Amy Coney Barrett is the kindest and most generous professor she had ever had at the university and went on to narrate her story of arriving at Notre Dame as a blind student only to find out that the school did not have facilities for the blind, the type of laptop /brail she needed and finally finding herself flunking her grades went to Amy Barrett for help. After she had finished speaking, Amy told her, “Laura, this is no longer your problem it is my problem now,” and went on to solve all her problems.
Finally, according to three presently serving female Governors in the US, Kay Ivey, Kristi Noem, & Kim Reynolds, “Should Judge Barrett be confirmed, “it will be a win-win for every female—young and old alike during the past 100 years—who has dreamed of seeing women advance to the top positions of our government.”
It is hard to find good things to write about Nigeria that is why I never let an opportunity pass if one ever presents itself. Scrolling through twitter this morning, I came across a clip from Reuters about Ukamaka Okoye, a Nigerian woman who fabricates parts for motorcycles using smelted aluminum vehicle parts from the scrap yard.
According to her, she used to work as someone’s secretary in computer firm, but one day, an opportunity came for training as an auto part fabricator at Nnewi and she volunteered to attend and instantly fell in love with auto fabrication technique. Wasting no time, she set up a small factory run entirely by hand and together with her husband they began manufacturing and today they have employed some more women to help them churn out about 1000 motorcycle clutch pads and disks a day.
Her office is no air-conditioned rose smelling upscale flat, but a rented shack, hot and smoky, with blasting furnace adding to the sweltering heat of the sun blazing down her back as she works, yet she is working and working very hard, bearing witness to the truth contained the time worn refrain that when the going gets tough only the tough gets going.
In a time when countless young people are falling into hopeless despondency, Ukamaka Okoye shines the light of hope, and providing an example that if you are ready to work hard, there is no obstacle you cannot overcome and nobody has any reason to give up hope or worse fall into the temptation of engaging in crime like many young people are doing. Here is the spirit of initiative and industriousness that Nigeria and indeed the rest of Africa need to lift her from the putrid gutters of poverty.
Ukamaka and her husband have triumphed over lack of electricity Power, pipe borne water and every possible amenity that any one can imagine, and built a manufacturing firm, creating wealth and contributing their fair share in developing their country. I hope that this exposure and recognition she received from Reuters and the rest of the world would encourage investor to come forward and give her help to expand her business into a modern industry, as I know would be the case where she living in any other country other than Africa.
Yes, what a man can do, a woman can do even better. Ukamaka is a good model to many indigent young girls often tempted into prostitution and selling their bodies to survive. Ukamaka story shows that there is another way, a better way. Honest and dignified work is always available to those willing to find them, and who courageously embark on their dreams no matter the odds. Lastly the Nigerian government would do well to recognize and support Ukamaka, and more importantly study her method of enterprise so that they can guide the teaming mass unemployed young people roaming streets without direction, to emulate Ukamaka’s enterprise in other to carve a better future for themselves and the Nation.
A life without self-examination is meaningless, according to Socrates; only when we strive to learn about ourselves can our lives be worthwhile. Last year, when Denzel Washington received the American Film Institute (AFI) Life Achievement Award, this fact was made abundantly clear to those in attendance. Julia Roberts thanked Denzel for helping her get her life back on track during the filming of Pelican Brief in 1992, when she was going through a rough patch in her personal and professional life. When she confided in Denzel and his wife, she said she felt like she could open up and share her problems with them because of their genuine concern and support. An incredible story in Hollywood, where men are notorious for exploiting vulnerable women, is unquestionably this one. Not only does Denzel, a black man, help a white woman, but he introduces her to his wife as well.
Julia Roberts
He also teaches a valuable lesson to married men: If you wish to help other women, do so with your wife. That way your help will be more effective and what’s more, you will not run the unnecessary risk of endangering your marriage by getting emotionally entangled with a woman who is not your wife and whom your wife knows nothing about. The devil that drives men to adultery thrives in secrecy. When fail to introduce their wives to the women they work with, leave the door open to possible infidelity.
Again, in Hollywood where serial divorce, adultery, and infidelity are the norm, there is no doubt that a good role model like Denzel Washington who has risen to the very top of that industry and yet kept his sense of duty, family, and honor intact is in high demand.
Interestingly, when Denzel finally mounted in the midst of thundering applause, he began by thanking God and asking God’s forgiveness for what he had done badly.
Denzel delivering his thank you address
“I m up here to say thank you to God, for giving me this ability, for blessing me, for shaping me, for chastising me, for teaching me, for punishing me, for allowing me to be a vessel to touch people around the world.”
Few actors can boast of the kind of success that Denzel Washington has had in Hollywood: two times Oscar winner, starred in at least 53 movies–most blockbusters, in a career that spanned 40 years, yet even fewer actors can boast of his capacity for self-examination. While success often spurs disdain for religion, Denzel’s success, on the other hand, makes him more humble in acknowledging God and his instrument for sustaining, nurturing, and supporting him.
In his speech, he appreciated his mother at 95 and declared that his father taught him how to be a man. Turning to his wife of 40 years, he proclaimed, “I would not be alive, without Pauletta Washington. 40 years of sacrifice, 40 years of forgiveness, she taught me about faith, spirituality, love, real love, unwavering love, inspite of myself.”
Older than Denzel when they got married, Pauletta has played the balancing force in his life helping to anchor him from the illusory world of make-believe to the nitty-gritty of reality. Mother of his children, she surely must have fought many fearful battles with jealousy whenever it rears its ugly head as beautiful dashing damsels flock towards her handsome husband ready to give him anything if he so much as smiles at them. However, she did not let fear override the trusting confidence that every spouse deserves. Her devotion to the home, made him long to return home, to her and his children. Today, she is blessed to hear him acknowledge it before the rich and powerful and attest to the truth that the power of a woman is not solely in her external beauty, but the internal as well.
Unfortunately, many people claim that happy marriage is all about the money and that having made money, Denzel and Pauletta no longer need to struggle to love each other. This is not true. A cursory look at the dismal marital landscape of Hollywood full of battered, violent, and ruptured marriages, with all the abuses, infidelities, and misery is sufficient to refute this argument.
Denzel and Pauletta have confirmed that marital fidelity is possible regardless of the environment. Their example is a challenge to those who have already caved in to licentiousness to pick up the pieces and begin again, and an encouragement to the young. It also demonstrates that the prevalence of toxic culture opposed to life, values and spirit, is largely due to individual choices.
Denzel then played a video where Pauletta’s father said:
“We were put her for a reason. God created man and God intends for us to love all mankind and by being in a loving mood, caring for one another, that is our purpose for life. We should care for one another, and we should love one another.”
His words echoed the words of Jesus Christ, “Love one another by this all men will know that you are my disciples,” reminding all that all lives matter. Love does not discriminate. Jesus said to love our enemies and do good to them who hate us and thus we will be like our father in heaven. The hate we see today is proof that we have ditched the Christian faith and that witness is lacking.
“In this twitter-tweet mean world we have created for our children,” Denzel continued, “the least we can do is to consider what we have done, and think about the young people, the future and individually, collectively do the best we can to try and turn this thing around.”
Perhaps to the surprise of many of his colleagues who have been blaming President Trump for all the evil in the world, Denzel said, “I blame no one, I look in the mirror.”
“On the other side of it,” he continued, “what an opportunity we have–because tomorrow is the first day of the rest of our lives– what an opportunity we have to practice what Pauletta’s father preached.”
In the end, Denzel’s qualities as an actor, for which he was being honored, is the quality expected of all, but more especially from Christians. The Christian faith calls all Christians to do all things well as Christ did. St. Josemaria Escriva, the founder of Opus Dei, has preached the message of sanctification of work since 1928 and that Christian holiness depends on work well done, for God.
Finally, Denzel has borne witness that a well-done work leads us towards God, and that work sanctifies and sanctifies others. Millions the world over watched as Julia Roberts narrated how working with Denzel and seeing how much he loves his wife made a deep impression on her. Julia, who herself is a remarried divorcee, knows more than anyone does the challenges of marriage. She has now been married for 17 years to her present husband perhaps due to her emulating the life of Denzel, a life worth living.
I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out!” Confound me if I am wrong, but are not these prophetic words of Jesus being fulfilled before our eyes. When so many Christians have denied their love for Jesus and embraced adulterous paganism; when Christian celebrities shriek with horror when someone tries to associate them with Jesus in public for the sake of the worldly glamour, stones, men you least to expect are praising Jesus, in public and at the top of their voices. A lesson for all to see. Watch notorious Kanye West, rapper, songwriter, and Chicago bad boy praising Jesus
The saying that if you give a
hungry man a fish, you will feed him for a day but if you teach him how to
fish, you feed him for life is so true for 8 teens from northern Nigeria who
are making science- fiction movies using a broken smart phone.
No doubt, they love watching Sci-Fi movies but unlike other teens their age, the Critics company, as they call themselves, are determined to make their own. They came together 2016, started creating short film with special effects they learnt from YouTube videos.
Using a broken tripod stand to hold up a smart phone with a cracked screen, they shot a ten minute film called ‘Redemption’.
This film caught the eye of international media organization like Reuters, Aljazeera and others who celebrated them for making history by successfully making first Nigerian sci-fi movie. According to one of the young filmmakers, Godwin Josiah, their aim was to show that kids in the north are doing something different.
Support has since started pouring
in. Veteran film maker Kemi Adetiba, tweeted enthusiastically about them in
June and helped them raise $5,800 to upgrade their equipment.
Imagine what they could do with a
formal training in sci-fi movie production.
Ironically, this same youtube medium that can create porn addictions that wrecks the lives of other teens is empowering and enabling these 8 youngsters to acquire skills in movie production. This shows that it is not the media as such that is to blame when youths get hooked on internet porn but the lack of focus and motivation among young people.
Serious minded teens can sift out the best and useful things in social media and use them to advance themselves without necessarily falling prey to harmful contents as these 8 teen have aptly demonstrated.
Still, it takes guts and drive and thinking out of the box. It demands finding a dream, pushing forward and following that dream to its logical consequences.
In life, honest and productive
work is usually rewarded with fame and success, and Godwin Josiah and his
cousins are making themselves useful with a broken smart phone
Nigeria has over 70million are teenagers, but still teen productivity is so low. Experts say that this is due to skill deficiency Nigerian educational curriculum, which is shockingly theoretical rather than practical, and many teen leave school ill equipped to earn a living. Hence the high rate of youth jobless, resulting in political unrest, economic instability, drug abuse, crime, prostitution, human trafficking, terrorism and kidnapping..
The Critics Company have alerted people to the possibilities of digital media like YouTube to tutor themselves in skills that can fetch money or jobs or even help them start their own businesses.
Many handy skills can be learned via YouTube: from air-conditioning repairs to fashion designing and computer programming and countless free online tutorials on software development. Furthermore, an average low-end smart phone is chockfull of useful apps, such that an average user cannot exhaust 1% of its capability. There are apps that can transform a smartphone into a math lab, reader, and multimedia learning platform and many other things, and most are available free.
The triumph of these teen is good news for a region considered by most as educationally backward and where teens are often school shy. The Kaduna state governor, Malam Nasir El-rufai has praised their creativity, invited them to statehouse for special visit and is generally making a fuss of them. He has also offered the government’s support and constituted a team of senior officials to work on the details with their family.
Josiah and his cousin are blazing a path for African teens to follow, and confirming that with courage and determination, any African teen will not only survive, but actually thrive in these polluted waters through through hard work, unrelenting focus.
Their fame and success has even wider relevance. Teens the world over should cease being passive consumers of social media content and become innovators, leveraging on these platforms to create and market their own ideas and become creators, and contributors to human progress.
They are an indictment of those who engage in online scams popularly known in Nigeria as “419”, a scam that has given millions of Nigerians a very bad name.
They are also showing up the so called Nollywood industry, still stuck in their abysmally low quality films, rife with poorly written scripts and stale story lines revolving around time worn themes of sex, money and power.
They may yet give the Nollywood oligarchs a run for their money and possibly break their strangle hold on the industry.
With sci-fi movies like Star Wars and Avengers grossing over $900Million and $800Million respectively, a sci-fi skill set is not a bad investment and the Critics company could be pioneers in a business that could bring much needed foreign exchange flowing back into African pockets. Time will tell.
Authors-choice: Hope & Revival 