Saturday 29 March 2014
CAN President, Oristsejafor tells why Pastors are richer than their members in Nigeria
President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor recently bared his mind concerning the controversies surrounding churches and their flamboyant pastors.
On why there are so many poor people in churches yet rich pastors, Oritsejafor who recently completed an ultra modern 40,000 capacity church auditorium in Warri, Delta State, said
“Remember that the pastors are pasturing both the poor and the rich. They are all in the same assembly. Both the poor and the rich, those who have the means in the church take time to be kind to their pastors. That is something most people don’t realize.
They give their pastors money, food and different things. For example, a member of the church goes to his pastor and says, ‘I feel led to give you a car. Take this car.’ Now the pastor has a car. Did he steal it? As I sit here talking to you now, I can tell you that I am training almost 100 people in institutions of higher learning. Nobody is going to broadcast that.
On every 26th of December, I organize what I call poverty alleviation. I have been doing it now for about eight years.”
When asked to explain why churches milk the poor, the CAN president and Senior pastor of Word of Life Bible Church, said:
"People don’t understand what they say about the church milking the poor. Can a poor man have money to pay tithe? A man who has no job, can he pay tithe? No, he won’t be able to pay. So how do you milk a man who has no milk? In a church, you have both the poor and the rich. It is generally not the poor that finance the church.
It is those with the means. A man, for example, who earns N10,000, how much is his tithe? His tithe is N1,000. A man who earns N500,000, how much is his tithe? His tithe is 10 per cent which is N50,000. How much would you milk from a man who pays a tithe of N1000?
“We won’t say things like this usually because the church is a level-playing ground. Whether you are poor or you are rich, God sees everybody as equal. It is because of a question like this that sometimes, we have to take time to analyse things.
I even hear people say that the poor give money to start schools, but their children cannot go to the schools. How will they give this money when they are poor? The truth is that, the people who actually give this money are those who have the means to do so. Those people make it possible for churches to start schools. Now again, why do churches charge high fees in school? You didn’t ask me that, but I’m just throwing that in free. People must understand that there is a standard." he told PUNCH.
On why there are so many poor people in churches yet rich pastors, Oritsejafor who recently completed an ultra modern 40,000 capacity church auditorium in Warri, Delta State, said
“Remember that the pastors are pasturing both the poor and the rich. They are all in the same assembly. Both the poor and the rich, those who have the means in the church take time to be kind to their pastors. That is something most people don’t realize.
They give their pastors money, food and different things. For example, a member of the church goes to his pastor and says, ‘I feel led to give you a car. Take this car.’ Now the pastor has a car. Did he steal it? As I sit here talking to you now, I can tell you that I am training almost 100 people in institutions of higher learning. Nobody is going to broadcast that.
On every 26th of December, I organize what I call poverty alleviation. I have been doing it now for about eight years.”
When asked to explain why churches milk the poor, the CAN president and Senior pastor of Word of Life Bible Church, said:
"People don’t understand what they say about the church milking the poor. Can a poor man have money to pay tithe? A man who has no job, can he pay tithe? No, he won’t be able to pay. So how do you milk a man who has no milk? In a church, you have both the poor and the rich. It is generally not the poor that finance the church.
It is those with the means. A man, for example, who earns N10,000, how much is his tithe? His tithe is N1,000. A man who earns N500,000, how much is his tithe? His tithe is 10 per cent which is N50,000. How much would you milk from a man who pays a tithe of N1000?
“We won’t say things like this usually because the church is a level-playing ground. Whether you are poor or you are rich, God sees everybody as equal. It is because of a question like this that sometimes, we have to take time to analyse things.
I even hear people say that the poor give money to start schools, but their children cannot go to the schools. How will they give this money when they are poor? The truth is that, the people who actually give this money are those who have the means to do so. Those people make it possible for churches to start schools. Now again, why do churches charge high fees in school? You didn’t ask me that, but I’m just throwing that in free. People must understand that there is a standard." he told PUNCH.
Angelina Jolie buys son a swearing f-bomb toy
Angelina Jolie allowed her 10-year-old son to buy a "foul" swearing toy on Tuesday.
The Maleficent actress visited Bonanza Gifts in Las Vegas earlier this week with five of her six children, and allowed Pax, 10, Zahara, nine, Shiloh, seven, and five-year-old twins Vivienne and Knox to splash out on new games and gadgets.
Store manager Angie Hurt told Us Weekly magazine:
"The kids were having a good time. They went straight for the toy department and they grabbed their baskets and just started filling up!
"Pax bought a Swearing Finger. It's phonic operated, and it will flip off and it swears. It's really foul! A lot of f-bombs.
"[Angelina] kind of raised an eyebrow, but she didn't say anything to him. I think she just lets them get what they want."
Angelina - who also has 12-year-old son Maddox with partner Brad Pitt - spent several hundred dollars in the store and impressed fellow customers during her 45-minute spree.
Angie added: "She's just regular and normal. I had customers coming up saying 'Oh my God I just walked into Angelina Jolie's family, and everybody was so nice!'"
Gaddafi son asks for forgiveness
Slain dictator Muammar Gaddafi’s son Saadi has asked Libyans for forgiveness in an interview released by prison authorities three weeks after his extradition from neighbouring Niger.
The videotaped interview, which was aired by state television late Thursday, was filmed by warders at the capital's Al-Hadba prison, where Saadi and several other Gaddafi regime figures are being held, with the blessing of the chief prosecutor, the broadcaster said.
Saadi, who was extradited to face a series of charges including "crimes to keep his father in power" before his overthrow in the Nato-backed uprising of 2011, asked for the "forgiveness of the Libyan people and government".
He admitted without elaborating that he had been behind "acts of destabilisation against the country," the same accusation repeatedly levelled against him by the Tripoli authorities in its long campaign for his extradition from Niger.
Saadi, whose extradition had been strongly opposed by human rights groups concerned that he might face torture in prison, said he had been well treated by his jailers.
"I want to reassure my family," Saadi told the camera, adding that he was speaking on Thursday evening.
"I am doing well, I am in good health and I am being very well treated," he said, sitting at a desk in a blue prison uniform.
Saadi was best known as the head of Libya's football federation and a player who paid his way into Italy's top division.
War crimes
The 40-year-old had been off the radar since fleeing in a convoy to Niger across Libya's southern desert in September 2011.
After hanging up his football boots, Saadi forged a military career, heading an elite unit.
Days after the revolt began in the eastern city of Benghazi, he appeared by his father's side in military uniform, a Kalashnikov assault rifle slung over his shoulder.
Unlike his brothers, however, no information emerged during the eight-month uprising of him taking part in combat.
Saadi's brother, Saif al-Islam, long their father's right-hand man and heir apparent, is also in custody in Libya awaiting trial on a raft of more serious charges which prompted the International Criminal Court to issue a warrant for his arrest for suspected war crimes.
Interpol had issued a "Red Notice" for Saadi, for "allegedly misappropriating properties through force and armed intimidation when he headed the Libyan Football Federation."
Libya had repeatedly called for Saadi's extradition from Niger, which had granted him asylum on "humanitarian" grounds saying it had insufficient guarantees he would have a fair trial.
Niger said it handed over Gaddafi earlier this month, over the objections of human rights groups, because it no longer felt he would face the risk of extrajudicial killing, and because it wanted to improve ties with Libya.
The videotaped interview, which was aired by state television late Thursday, was filmed by warders at the capital's Al-Hadba prison, where Saadi and several other Gaddafi regime figures are being held, with the blessing of the chief prosecutor, the broadcaster said.
Saadi, who was extradited to face a series of charges including "crimes to keep his father in power" before his overthrow in the Nato-backed uprising of 2011, asked for the "forgiveness of the Libyan people and government".
He admitted without elaborating that he had been behind "acts of destabilisation against the country," the same accusation repeatedly levelled against him by the Tripoli authorities in its long campaign for his extradition from Niger.
Saadi, whose extradition had been strongly opposed by human rights groups concerned that he might face torture in prison, said he had been well treated by his jailers.
"I want to reassure my family," Saadi told the camera, adding that he was speaking on Thursday evening.
"I am doing well, I am in good health and I am being very well treated," he said, sitting at a desk in a blue prison uniform.
Saadi was best known as the head of Libya's football federation and a player who paid his way into Italy's top division.
War crimes
The 40-year-old had been off the radar since fleeing in a convoy to Niger across Libya's southern desert in September 2011.
After hanging up his football boots, Saadi forged a military career, heading an elite unit.
Days after the revolt began in the eastern city of Benghazi, he appeared by his father's side in military uniform, a Kalashnikov assault rifle slung over his shoulder.
Unlike his brothers, however, no information emerged during the eight-month uprising of him taking part in combat.
Saadi's brother, Saif al-Islam, long their father's right-hand man and heir apparent, is also in custody in Libya awaiting trial on a raft of more serious charges which prompted the International Criminal Court to issue a warrant for his arrest for suspected war crimes.
Interpol had issued a "Red Notice" for Saadi, for "allegedly misappropriating properties through force and armed intimidation when he headed the Libyan Football Federation."
Libya had repeatedly called for Saadi's extradition from Niger, which had granted him asylum on "humanitarian" grounds saying it had insufficient guarantees he would have a fair trial.
Niger said it handed over Gaddafi earlier this month, over the objections of human rights groups, because it no longer felt he would face the risk of extrajudicial killing, and because it wanted to improve ties with Libya.
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