SCRIBE & INK

Just how are you living each day? It's one thing in my own life that I take seriously. How did I live yesterday and how am I living today? People need to examine their lives seriously. Do you live in constant fear and agitation? How often do you worry? Do you leave the house scared of road accidents? Do you come home at night scared of burglars or robbers breaking into your house? Do you walk the streets at night scared of being victim of physical attack? Are you worried that one day you might be down with an incurable sickness? Do you fear for your future or for something you can't explain?

Paul Aremo-Oluwa Dear Believer , Those years I spent as a Muslim and an Arabic scholar were defining moments in my personal history. It gave birth to the lifestyle of discipleship that proved useful to me now and I guess anyone that came out of such background.

Paul Aremo-Oluwa Dear Believer , No kidding everyone loves being valued. There is a special thing about someone or something saying or doing what makes you feel special. That is probably half the reason we tell half the world about our birthday on Facebook when we have Facebook reminder already doing that. Relax! I do that too. I want people to tell me am a great and funny guy. I want them to tell me I can break walls with the power of my mind. Who doesn’t like hearing sweet good stuffs about themselves?

The problem with the youth of this generation and nation is not the lack of the knowledge of our own  HISTORY, it is the unwillingness to KNOW anything about our HISTORY. Our attitude towards learning the past is appaulling. We like to think whatever is not adventurous or yield incentives within a short time frame is boring. We cast away history like a useless old relic. In a classic Naija youth's remark "Who E Epp?" Right? Perhaps those who banished history from the classrooms did the present youth populace a favour they were too cowardly inclined to ask. Since we can't talk explicitly about the Old how can we distinguish what is New. If we can't tell the basic composition of what the old nation consists, on what grounds, what quantitative measurement, or quality control shall be used in our analysis to avoiding past pitfalls. To restructure you must consider the existing structure. Considering the existing structure unavoidably places us on the path of...

I have found prayer and devotion does not bar unpleasant situations from happening to us all the time... Paul AremoOluwa My loyalty to the word of God is unshaken. More than ever, recently my appreciation for the Word of God has increased in an unprecedented way. The word of God can never be wrong. This year has been nothing short of trying and difficult challenges staring me in the face. It's like a surfer's experience against tidal waves. As you scurry through one upsurge the next is incoming. Then it's like your Christianity is shallow or your prayer life is weak, else why do you have to go through difficulties? Are we more or less of a Christian by the hurdles we face and scale? If Christians are heirs and sons of a living and all knowing God why do we encounter ugly situations? Where is God when you need Him? Why do we devote our lives to him only to encounter some unpalatable situation? Questions on my mind.

Paul AremoOluwa Arlington cemetery graveyard white tombstones           When I am dead. And my body lay in a temporal home.    All may seem lost and gloom may abound. “ Death is inevitable, ” I hear them say with shrill voices of agony and pain.

My disobedience wounded Him My wickedness bruised Him By my hate I grieved Him His saving hands I nailed Yet unrelenting His love became  

Solomon's war in the time of peace was the elusiveness of life's meaning... he unofficially became the founder of nihilistic thinking...  the purveyor of existential philosophy In Nigeria suicide attempt is a criminal act with a one year jail term penalty, but it has not stopped people from trying and others from succeeding. March 19, 2017, a medical doctor jumped into his watery grave from the top of the Lagos Third Mainland Bridge. October 16, 2017, a Kogi State civil servant owed months of salary hanged himself on a tree after ten days his barren wife delivered triplets. Uk, June 11 last year, Ceri Sheehan , 15, took his own life than have his parents tore him apart from his iPad. All these leave us, the living, to ponder the rationale behind suicide as we try to deal with the loss. Why do people take their own lives? Does the Bible offer explanations?

What is our excuse for not having great relationships with unbelievers or fetish people at the workplace... The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to DO and TEACH .  Acts 1:1 A believer fully understands Lord Jesus’ teachings by juxtaposing how the Lord lived with what He preached. He wouldn't say we do things that Himself didn't practice.  He rebuked the Pharisees because they say, and do not . They lay heavy burdens on men’s shoulders that they wouldn’t dare touch with their fingers. A He described them as hypocrites for doing that. How Jesus lived in the circumference of His relationships became His doctrine on relationships. It is important because we are not greater than our master but we are expected to be like Him. We can’t pay a price greater than the Lord’s in our Christian walk. If we neglect this view we would unavoidably misinterpret the Lord's teachings.

We were forced to finally learn the lessons of the first pages of the Bible –creation exists upon the framework of healthy relationships. The Good News is the good deal because God cannot do without man. Though a bold statement, it is a humbling thought. Angels and other celestial bodies are part of His eternal purpose as ministers and spectators . We however are not just part but at the centre of the eternal counsel of God. God is the author of relationship and we know from the design of His creation.

He (Jesus) elevated the righteousness of relationships as superior and authentic above the righteousness of rituals and doctrines Once in a while Christians need to pause and ask, why grace? Is grace all about the forgiveness of our sins? Could it be beyond wealth and health teachings? Did grace abolish the Law? How does grace affect all human relationships? Whatever we have known about God’s grace there is always more to learn.

POEM: Quest For Country I am a wanderer wandering in a desert of distant land among these deserted tribes. I walk among peddlers of religion and culture, their petty chatter and discordant meddling, these merchants’ sybaritic fiddling of men’s souls, mowing down as they go. Their barter trade and rhetoric banter a baffle to sanity. In this quagmire of riddles I am in search of my country. Where can I find her? The rustling leaves rotting away beneath my feet return no answer. My homeland once called Green, flowing White with peace, was known as hope to many dreams. In this dusty ash now to search, a descending journey to the catacombs of hell itself, may I see my bride, my country, unhurt and alive. To the depths I now descend.

Marriage is one of such adventure... You are bound by oath before God from its inception to remain faithful till death. Simi in her all white flowery gown and Kunle spruced up for the occasion can be seen before the altar grinning from teeth to teeth. My vision of the two love birds was temporarily blurred by my inner thoughts. Racing in my heart is the quest to know if by some profound soul searching they understand the implication of the exchange of vows. Are they devoting their lives to each other or to the construct of their fantasies about one another? When you make a pledge of for better and for Worse, in sickness and health till death do us apart , to a human (subject to change) with imperfections just as you, What are the possible upshots?

Being a Christian and an  ordinary citizen  does not mean you are incapacitated to effect any change It ’ s been a while I made any comment on issues that border on governance in Nigeria. Beyond my personal opinions I was restricted within my own bowels to do so. However, I believe the Lord will have me share how we should pray for our nation about the current event of things.  How we should pray for all regions, for all in leadership and about the current occupation of the army in the South East.

WHAT THE APOSTLES TAUGHT Grace is Christ's finished work... until ourselves become the finished work... In part II we shall wholly consider what the apostles taught the early church, by the careful layout of their warnings. But before we do, I want you to keep in your heart the thought that warnings becomes a necessity where hazard is a reality. Let's begin from Hebrews.

...forming the assumption that... nothing can make you L ose your salvation Once saved always saved or Once saved forever saved , also known as Eternal security, you probably must have heard the statement before, or argue against or for it at some point. Perhaps you are just pondering on its meaning for the first time. How does it affect Christians? Some preachers, teachers and Christians preach, teach and say, respectively, that once you are a believer (Christian) you cannot backslide no matter what. This inevitably means that once you are saved nothing you do or don't do can take you away from faith or affect your eternity in Christ. Once saved then means you are forever saved .

My help comes from the Lord, who resides within me Partnership is a mutually beneficial relationship between two people. If you want to lift a piece of furniture and you don’t have enough strength to do so, you don’t go to the gym to exercise your muscles, you ask for help; someone that will partner with you and complement for your weakness. Not all believers of Christ are aware of the importance of the indwelling of the Holy Ghost. There are many Christians who pray like orphans, who are overwhelmed by the feeling of helplessness and would cry about their lack of power and ability. They are in pursuit of human help to complement their inadequacies. Just what is the Holy Spirit doing in us?

What does the devil stand to gain in  that temporal moment a saint indulge in sin?   I weighted the theme I am about to address for weeks. I had written it half way and left it in my notes indefinitely until now. At first I could feel my reluctance to put my thoughts into words, I guess because such theme would seem like introducing the concept of the Old Testament during this Grace Revolution . Or perhaps it is a theme in scripture many would wish it disappears from the pages of the New Testament. Is the wages of sin DEATH under grace? Can believers still suffer consequences of sinful habits under grace? Do believers fall short of God's glory or virtue when we trifle with sin? How did the apostles communicate this gospel of grace?

The ultimate test of faith in prayer is revealed when prayer becomes a conversation with our Heavenly Father, when we make use of active and complete sentences and phrases as we discuss with Him P rimarily, prayer is we (believers) fellowshipping and conversing with our Heavenly Father. However, our Father has an expectation on how we should approach him while praying. If you listen and observe believers praying (especially here in Nigeria), prayer has become more of a super-religious exercising. People hold their heads screaming and shouting in prayer to God. Some would jump up and down while praying, and some believers would chant same words with their heads shaking vehemently. In so doing, prayer ceases from being a dialogue between the Father and His children and has taken a form of formal and human innovation to impress and get the attention of a supernatural being.

The New Testament presents a sharp contrast against the Old Testament way and manner of praying. That would suggest that the experiences in prayer under the Old and New Covenant are entirely on different scales...