Jehovah’s Witness Church members decry marriage restriction

Some members of Jehovah's Witness have come out to condemn their church's stance against them marrying outside their faith. According to Jehovah's Witness' doctrine, members of the church are to only marry themselves and not from any other Christian faith. If they do, it's seen as an act of immorality. And people who marry outside the church are usually expelled from the church and treated as non-members.

The members say this has kept them unmarried for years and in some cases, get married to members who they are not attracted to. Continue...

Confirming the church's position to PM News, an elder in the church, Elder James Etop, says the church's position is in accordance with biblical instructions. He said that if members are allowed to marry anyhow their faith would be affected. He said the teachings from other churches are different from the ones they have and so they try to protect their members from being affected. He took the case of heaven and earth teaching as an example

"For instance, there is nothing like hell fire as propagated in many churches. Hell fire was mentioned just as an illustration by Jesus Christ when He was saying the parable of Lazarus and the rich man in the Bible. If a member marries such a person who believes in such doctrines which is against the teaching of the Witness, it will definitely affect his or her faith.” he said.

According to Etop, members are not literally compelled to marry one another but if they marry outside of the church, the church would not honor such a union or an invitation to the wedding ceremony.

A jealous father-of-twelve who burned his 24-year-old lover to death when she tried to leave him for his 18-year-old son has been jailed for life, UK Daily Mail reports

Ashley Williams, 49, hit Julie Beattie, 24, over the head with a hammer before he doused her in a mixture of petrol and diesel fuel.

She managed to stagger out of her home in flames like a ‘zombie' and gasp: ‘Ashley did this to me', before collapsing. She later died of horrific injuries.

Two children aged four and five witnessed the murder and became the youngest witnesses to give evidence at a murder trial. Continue...

Her sister Lucie Beattie described arriving at their south London home to see Williams put on his coat and walk out as Ms Beattie burned, screaming, behind him.

He carried out the attack in revenge because the mother of his four children was packing her bags to live with his son Ashley jnr from a previous marriage.

He claimed that he had thought he was involved in a 'water fight' and that she had been throwing the fuel at him - but he had no idea how she actually became ignited.

But he was convicted of murder at the Old Bailey by a jury of six men and six women. He showed no emotion as the verdict was announced while the victim’s family wept and clutched each other’s hands. He was jailed for life and told he must serve minimum of 25 years before being considered for release.

Williams was married to Monica Williams and the couple had eight children together before they divorced in 1999.

He then started a relationship with Linda Beattie, the victim’s mother, before he moved on to Julie.

Ms Beattie was aged only 16 when she gave birth to their first child in 2009. The court heard that Williams became increasingly possessive and would not let his partner have a tattoo or wear revealing clothes.

Ashley Jnr, 18, moved into the flat in Walworth, in September 2012 and began a sexual relationship with his father's girlfriend four or five months later, it was said

When Williams found out, he banned his son from having anything to do with Ms Beattie and tried to exile him from London. He threatened to ‘break every bone in his body’ if he refused to leave town.

On July 18 Ms Beattie and Ashley Jnr travelled to Birmingham together.

The couple had come back to London on the day of her murder, the same day Williams had sent a number of texts, begging Ms Beattie for forgiveness. In one message he said: ‘I tried over and over with you Julie. ‘I wish you nothing but the best... I’ll always love you, I just showed it too late, please forgive me Julie.’ He also sent his children bizarre messages blaming them for the break up of the relationship. In one he stated: ‘When my life is done..mark these words of your father, my curse will begin.'

When Williams came home from work at 11am he locked her inside the house. Her sister Lucie Beattie collapsed in court as she relived the moment she saw her sister emerge from the house in flames. She said when she went to the house Ms Beattie screamed: ‘He’s going to kill us.’ When she returned minutes later she saw smoke billowing out of a window and ran in screaming: ‘Where’s Julie.’ She sobbed as she told the court: ‘I pushed open the kitchen door and a lot of smoke came out. ‘I saw Julie. She was in flames,’ she wept. The victim walked out of the house and rolled onto the floor before sitting down with her hands and legs out in front of her. Witnesses said that her clothing and some of her skin was actually on fire. Neighbours poured water on the victim and wrapped her in wet blankets while they waited for emergency services.

Williams was arrested in a park close to the home later the same day, with self inflicted injuries. In court he claimed he was not trying to kill himself because of what had happened to the victim - but because he was upset that the fire had damaged the kitchen.

Williams, of Walworth, who had denied the charge, was convicted of murder.

Culled from UK Daily Mail

GRAPHIC IMAGES: BOMB EXPLOSION ROCKS NYANYA MOTO PARK

Bomb blast kills many at Abuja motor park

Oh dear. This is not good. Two blasts at Nyanya Motor Park on the outskirts of Abuja this morning April 14th has killed several hundreds of  people with many injured.

The blast occurred at the crowded bus station around 6.30am today during rush hour as commuters were about to board buses and taxis to go to work in central Abuja.  Buses full of people were struck. It is believed that one of the buses,or a red car which blew up completely was parked overnight at the motor park or driven there this morning, was loaded with the bomb that went off this morning.

The explosion occurred in a section of Nyanya park allocated to luxury buses. An eyewitness said he saw at least two truck loads of corpses being removed from the scene..

"This morning there was an explosion at the Nyanya Motor Park," Manzo Ezekiel of the National Emergency Management Agency said. "Rescue teams are on the ground"

Now there are some really gory photos from the ugly incident this morning.

 Find it after the cut. *viewer discretion advised*

There's No way I can be Faithful to One Woman' – Femi Kuti Finally Shares the True Story behind his Crashed Marriage

Afrobeat maestro, Femi Anikulapo-Kuti, has finally opened up on his crashed marriage. The musician, who is currently in Paris, France where he is due to perform at the biggest African music festival in Europe, went down memory lane and recalled how he met, married Funke, his ex-wife and mother of his first son, Made, right down to their divorce in this new interview I found on DailySun. He also spoke about other intimate issues. It is a vintage Femi – candid, honest and brutally frank! Enjoy it. Interview seems long but it's very revealing, guys. What would you suggest as the best way to love a man like Femi?

Because of Made, maybe you and Funke see to talk about common things but we are shocked to see her sitting next to you at ‘Femi Segun’s burial?

She is the mother of my child and we are very friendly, we even call each other. At least, what I manage to do is not to let the breakup affect Made first of all, and our relationship. Human beings must fight. There must be misunderstanding sometimes. It is now left to us if we are matured enough to overcome these problems.

To some people, breakup is so bitter that they end up hating each other. I manage to take my hatred and throw it away, and still respect her as a human being and the mother of my son, and most importantly for the love of my son who needs his mother. If she too understands that he needs his father then we must get rid of our misunderstanding. He was the one at the church who said ‘please sit beside my mother’; I had to oblige him. I could have refused because I went with my girlfriend, so I told my girlfriend not to be annoyed and she understood.

Does it mean you and Funke may come back as husband and wife?

I doubt it. But you never know. You never know what God has in plan for you. What if you say never and something just happens? If they told me she would leave my house one day, I would have said it is impossible. So, if she comes back one day, you never know what can happen. One sickness can hook you down and she might be the person by your bedside, what would happen? I don’t pray for it but you never know what God has in plan for you. So, I am not the one that tempts fate. Right now, I am content, I am happy, we are friendly and my children are also happy.

Tell me your greatest memory of Funke?

Are you trying to bring us back because this question is mischievous (laughs). There are many great memories of her. I can’t say one or two because it is not possible to throw 10 years away. There are great, good and bad memories. All are memories.

How did you meet Funke?

I met her at a restaurant where I was playing jazz, at a place called ‘44’ in Ikoyi. She came with my cousin, Funmi Ransome-Kuti, they were in UNILAG together. She was so beautiful and she was looking at me, so I knew she likes me. So, I told my cousin to introduce me to her. That’s how we met.

How did you eventually propose to her?

I didn’t propose; one day, I just told her that ‘from today, we are boyfriend and girlfriend’. She said, ‘ha ha, what kind of love is this?’ I said, ‘when we have been calling ourselves everyday, are we misleading ourselves? And it was on a Christmas Eve. I said to her ‘from today you are my girlfriend, if you have a boyfriend, get rid of him now because I must not see him when I get to your house’ and she laughed. That was how we started.

I am sure you don’t want to pull that off your mind so soon?

It is off. Like I said, I have a new life. I am staying with two of the mothers of my children; we all stay in the same house. I have a very good family. They are content, but they respect Funke. If Funke comes, they will excuse us. They are very respectful of her. Don’t forget we are in Africa; this is the way we grew up, so if she comes around they give her the respect. If I go to the church and she is there, if I say ‘please I have to sit with her’, they will accord her the respect. And I am sure she has her life.

Can we ever get together? I can never say no, because something can happen that may be for good or bad and we’ll be together again.Never say never! If you ask if I am happy right now, I am very happy not just with my relationship, I am also very happy with my children who are progressing, which is really my priority. At 52, I have experienced a lot. If I die today, I cannot complain in heaven that I did not enjoy my life.

My biggest challenge is to ensure my children have a good life. I want the children to grow up very stable and that requires a lot of sacrifice on my part. I cannot use my selfish, jealous or whatever interest to disrupt their future, which is the same attitude I have with Made. He is doing very well. He is playing piano well. And probably if I use his mother’s problem as an obstacle in his life, it might just be worrying him. And you never know why children have psychological problems, but it is the parents’ duty to always protect their children. ‘Nobody send us message; we slept with each other, we born pikin, you now want to give the pikin problem.’ I don’t indulge in that. Since there is a child involved, I try my best to keep my reservations to myself by just facing the truth.

You don’t believe in monogamy?

Yes. I grew up in a polygamous home. I grew up wanting to be like my father. I grew up wanting to have many women; that was my training. I will not tell you it is right or wrong. You see my son, he believes in monogamy. He has one girlfriend that he has been following for many years, and they want to get married. I don’t pray for them to breakup. If they want to even get married in the church, I will not stop him. Whatever he wants to do I will not use my own life to rule, direct or control my children. They must have the liberty to choose because if they fail or succeed, they have to understand it is their life. I can always be a good father. I will have to teach them how to take good decisions because I love them. I am not going to discourage my son by saying ‘what if she breaks your heart, so get ready for heartbreak’, because I don’t pray for it. I can only support him. If he is successful and even if he breaks up with this girl, he might still go for another person. But for whatever reason, this is the life he has chosen for himself and I love it that he is happy.

Because of the way I was brought up, there is no way I can be faithful to a woman. I will not even try it. I wasn’t trained to do so. I didn’t grow up with that attitude. I grew up in the real house of Kalakuta where there were women and I loved it. So, I wanted the same thing for myself. Now, I don’t have the life of Kalakuta but I know that I can’t leave that dream and say I want to be faithful to one woman. I will rather be by myself; truth, I love my freedom. I don’t love the part that I owe anybody anything. Even the people with me know that I love my freedom. I like to sleep when I want to sleep, if I want to go out I love to enter my car and go on my own; I love my independence. I was brought up with total independence.

Did you give Funke a ring, that ‘with this I thee wed’?

No, she bought the ring.

And you put it in her finger?

Yes, in the registry.

That makes you a monogamist so you cannot marry another wife under the Nigerian law?

I am not a monogamist because we are divorced.

It looks like you sacrificed all when Funke was with you?

No, I didn’t. When we got married she was pregnant and I knew it was a boy. I didn’t know how I knew but I just knew. I told her ‘we will get married, but I will never be faithful to you’. She knew one of my dancers then was my girlfriend. I have been dating her long before I met Funke.

Funke’s mother and I are not good friends. When she (Funke’s mother) came back into her life, we started having problems. I don’t know if that is part of the problem or if it is Funke who is bored with the marriage or her friends were talking to her, whatever the reason, I tried my best to bring her back. I tried to even change my ways. Many things went on, those that are close to me know that I went out of my way, when I saw that I was wasting too much energy, I had to relax. Funke and I didn’t talk for a long time. It took us years to understand that there is a son in our midst.

I don’t want to open the can of worms because we have settled all these. It is something that we have left behind. I have forgiven her and I will not tell you that I was totally right, but was I sincere in my marriage? Yes be rest assured that I was. I wasn’t doing anything that she wasn’t warned of before. That I won’t have girlfriends? She knew that I was a very humble polygamist. I tried to be as discreet as possible but you know the more you are getting popular, the more people are taking your tales to your wife. She might find condoms in my car that I forgot to hide very well, who knows?

Why then did people blame your sister, Yeni, all this while…?

I will never reveal to you why our marriage broke up, but YK (Yeni) definitely was never part of it. YK and I even fought because she advised Funke to take Made along with her, and I said if she takes Made I am in trouble, because I love Made and I want him to be with me. All my life was circled around Made, so if Funke had gone with Made maybe I would have committed suicide, because everything in my life in that marriage was based on Made.

I saw Made as my inheritor; I saw him as the next Anikulapo to take the music to another level. So, my investment emotionally, financially, everything was stationed on Made. If Funke had left with Made, I didn’t have another child, and a politician had already threatened me that what if Made dies? So, I thought that was a threat from the government saying they will kill Made. I was very protective of Made, which was another reason I decided to have other children. What if I lose Made? What will I do? If you check the Anikulapo and Ransome-Kuti families, there are not many boys; everybody is just having girls. So, the only inheritor of the Kuti dynasty was Made. My cousin in America had a girl, Yeni had a girl, others also had girls, and Made was the only boy. I thought of protecting him or else the Anikulapo-Kuti clan will die. Seun also had a girl; the only person that recently had two boys was Kunle. He just had his own boys when Made was already a teenager.

We heard your father had a son in the US

He didn’t have a son in the US; it is in Australia.

Have you met him? What is his name? How did he meet you?

Yes. His name is Couney. I went to play in Sydney and he came to meet me there. That was about four or five years

Did Fela ever tell you about him or how did you know?

Fela told us about one woman that probably got pregnant for him. She told Fela she was pregnant but she disappeared with the pregnancy. Fela now came and told us the story. He (Couney) met my sister on Facebook and told her the same story. And he traced his mother because his mother put him up for adoption, so when he met his mother, she then told him that his father was Fela.

How old is he?

I am a year older than him.

So, he is part of the inheritors of Fela?

Yes, but he doesn’t want to be known. He doesn’t want anything, he just wants to meet us, and case closed.

He answers Kuti too?

Are you not inviting him to Nigeria for a visit?

He will make his decision. He doesn’t want much publicity. It was his son who wants to know the family. He has met us, if he wants to go the extra mile that is his business.

What does he do, is he into music?

He is into drawing. I don’t know much about him. We talk once in a year. I went to Australia early this month and my sister told him I was there, but he didn’t come to meet me because he was busy. Don’t forget that 50 years of our lives have passed, where do we want to start the friendship. He is a very nice person. He is probably a Fela’s son, we cannot say for sure except there is a DNA to prove it.

And to do that, would you have to bring Fela from the grave?

But from my perception he looks like Fela.

Let me shock you guys a bit. The biggest critics of President Jonathan, the opposition parties or cliques, the rabble-rousers and all were mostly there at the wedding! Charles Novia

Hilarious! Charles Novia shares his Experience at President Goodluck's Daughter's Wedding Yesterday

Post written by Charles Novia, published on NewsWireNGR:

I just attended the wedding reception of President’s Jonathan’s daughter, Faith and her husband, Godswill. I am sure most of you saw it live on television but I just might write a behind-the-scene review of what happened in the hall which you could not see. I might write that later.

Let me just give a slice of it; all these big men you guys see in power and out of it are all hustlers like you and me! The rush to enter the hall, ehn? Captains of industries and Government officials were in a flux and fight to enter the hall which was barricaded by stern security men at the International Conference Centre.

The protocol is that once the President enters the hall; the doors are shut and no one gets in or out till the President leaves. So, there was a scramble to enter. Me sef shame for some people. Chai!There were rumpled and creased clothes on people after the scamble. A couple of ladies lost their headscarves and headties and gave us shocking glimpses of their ‘Abolo’ heads! Chai!

The President’s Security detail at the venue were stern but professional. They didn’t give a hoot who you were. Orders are orders. Everyone who entered; those that mattered wanted to be seen by the President or First Lady and a small line of diffident favour-seekers or friends was formed but many could not pass through the security detail to just greet Mr President.

Let me shock you guys a bit. The biggest critics of President Jonathan, the opposition parties or cliques, the rabble-rousers and all were mostly there at the wedding! I was shocked! Ehn! Politicians! That’s how they deceive you all by crying wolf and abusing the President yet they run to him to prostrate at night or in private!Those of you who follow blindly these people una go see! Be careful!

I even saw Dele Momodu, who lambasts President Jonathan every week for the past four years on Thisday backpage on Saturday, taking pictures and going round shaking hands. He shook my hands too. Egbon! Look, in politics there are no permanent friends or enemies: just permanent interests!

I must hand it to GEJ, he shielded his family from public glare. I mean; how many of us know he has three biological children and three adopted with this new bride being an adopted child he took in about 15 years ago? Very touching. The couple got gifts of over 60 brand new cars as presents from what a close source told me. ‘Bastardly rich’ Nigerians fell over themselves to give presents. Chai! There was a group of orange-scarved women who caused a stampede in the hall after the wedding rushing for gifts and stuff! Wetin? People nor get shame? The presents given to the guests were magnifique! Not anything ostentatious but just cool.

This Nigeria is great, sha! Odiegwu!

Wonders!! Meet The 8year Old Girl Who ''Cures Cancer'', HIV With A Single Touch

Meet The 8year Old Girl Who “Cures Cancer”, HIV With A Single Touch 8 Year old Alani Santos could be called a wonder as she keeps amazing people with the level of her faith in God considering the fact that her father was a car thief who recently became born again.Santos claims to be channeling God’s power to perform faith healings, curing everything from Cancer to HIV. She claims to perform miracles at her father’s church in favela of San Gonzalos, just outside Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. Alani who has been healing people for the past two years says she enjoys making people feel better and would love to become a doctor in future so she can heal the sick She says: ‘To see God working though people and their lives, that is very pleasing. ‘I pray and God performs miracles. My Dad interviews people who say I have cured them.’ Describing her ‘powers’, Alani says: ‘A lot of the time I just touch people, sometimes I pray and worship and the person is cured.

So how do you milk a man who has no milk? Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor

President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor in an interview with Punch yesterday bared his mind on the notion that Nigerian pastors milk their poor church members. Excerpts: People claim churches milk the poor and live big on them. What’s your take on this?

It is cheap to criticise; even to criticise what you don’t understand. 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?

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. The church wants to maintain the standard. In those days, some people will say that when missionaries started school, it was free. Don’t forget that those missionaries were being financed from different places. Who is financing us today? We are financing ourselves. If I got free financing,why won’t we make education free? You must also understand that at the time, the cost of living was not the way it is today. The educational system of Nigeria is in serious trouble, so we need to up the standards. And to do that, you should be able to hire the best hands. If you hire the best, how do you pay them? Where do you get the money to pay them? How do you put the right infrastructure in place? How do you do many of the things that need to be done? How do you run the generators?

Why do you think we have so many poor people in the church and many rich pastors?

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 realise. 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 organise what I call poverty alleviation. I have been doing it now for about eight years.