Photonews: President Jonathan, Nigerians Pray At River Jordan

[Chidi Anthony Opara]

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Chidi Anthony Opara is the Publisher of PublicInformationProjects

[Segun Ogungbemi]

This is interesting. Don't they have rivers in Bayelsa State where the President can go with other Nigerians to pray? Or don't we have better rivers in Nigeria where the President and fellow Nigerians can go and pray? What is so special about river Jordan in Israel that attracted the President to abandon his high office at this material time to waste Public taxpayers' money in Israel? How many times have we seen the Prime Minister or President of Israel come to Nigeria for such a frivolous jamboree? 

I cannot imagine our President will go to a dirty river in Israel when we have better rivers in Nigeria. 

During the time of Jesus it was recorded in the Bible that people with shin disease and the physically challenged went there to bathe. And that Jesus performed miracles there. Did our President go to river Jordan to see a miracle water because such is not in his country? 

Na wa o!

Yemoja will forgive you all. Aase. 

SO

Sent from my iPhone

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[blargeo...@gmail.com]

The last time I checked, god was still residing in the watery opulence of river jordan. If truly GEJ has humbled himself to commune with the divine in his residence, we are set for a divine turnaround.

"Igba otun, igba otun"

All our national problems has been solved. Hallelujah!!!

Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN

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From: Segun Ogungbemi <segun...@gmail.com>

Sender: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

Date: Tue, 29 Oct 2013 01:35:15 +0100

To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com<usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

ReplyTo: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Photonews: President Jonathan, Nigerians Pray At River Jordan

[Ayo Obe]

So what will we conclude if there is no divine turnaround?  

I must confess that I am curious about how you checked.  Because I personally think that true humility would have manifested itself in a decision - not to use taxpayers' funds on flying here or there in what seems more like a false religious equivalence in a keep-up-with-the-Islamic-Joneses attempt - but in a quiet resolve to do the right thing and prayers addressed to God for the grace and courage to stick to that.  A serious a God would hear prayers from a sincere heart, wherever that heart might be located.

Ayo

I invite you to follow me on Twitter @naijama

[blargeo...@gmail.com]

Dear A.Obe,
My humor appears lost on you. If god truly resided once in R Jordan, he'll have fled by now with the deluge of people.

The joke is on GEJ and his easy tourists.

Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN

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From: Ayo Obe <ayo.m...@gmail.com>

Sender: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

Date: Tue, 29 Oct 2013 16:03:53 +0100

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Hopefully, we will not be making the same kind of noises should Pope Francis 1 decide to grace Nigeria with a state visit as some of his predecessors have done earlier.

In many of the world’s religions, rain is a sign of blessing, water is a purifying agent and rivers are holy: the Ganges, the Jordan River, Lake Kinneret etc...

According to Christian geography, the River Jordan is where John the Baptiser baptised Jesus of Nazareth.

Tolerance would dictate that we respect the president of Nigeria’s religion, even if the Boko Haram people may not be happy about President Goodluck Jonathan’s pilgrimage to pray for the end of bloodshed and the beginning of peace and stability and greater prosperity in Nigeria.

Let us count our blessings.

Who knows, it’s possible that as a result of presidential prayers Nigeria just beat Iran by four goals to one in the World League, Youth division.

Easy Motion tourist

[Ayo Obe]

Is that what President Jonathan went to pray for - peace in Nigeria?  While at home even a Governor's lodge is under threat because of meetings being held there?

When the Pope (John Paul II) visited Nigeria during General Sani Abacha's time, he was to have a meeting with the General, but asked that his family should also be present at the meeting.  I often wondered, as the tales of the role played by Abacha's son in the torture and maltreatment of prisoners (not to mention the assassination of Kudirat Abiola) circulated after Abacha's death, whether the Pope sensed something, sensed a need for spiritual guidance or cleansing that went well beyond the General himself.

I don't see the point in making up your mind to do something wrong, and then imagining that it can be washed away in either the literal or the spiritual sense.  It reduces the act or pilgrimage to a mockery, and if that is the case, it would have been better not undertaken.  In any case, we shall see in due course whether the baptism has been real or apparent.

Ayo

I invite you to follow me on Twitter @naijama

[Segun Ogungbemi]

"Tolerance would dictate that we respect the president of Nigeria’s religion, even if the Boko Haram people may not be happy about President Goodluck Jonathan’s pilgrimage to pray for the end of bloodshed and the beginning of peace and stability and greater prosperity in Nigeria."

To hold a public office and fail to live up to the expectation of the people will earn any public or political office holder a huge disrespect in Nigeria. That much I know. 

For the President of Nigeria to go to river Jordan to pray when Nigeria has similar waters shows how fake his religious belief is. The President is aware, I believe  that the Israelis and Palestinians have been killing themselves for many years and yet prayers at river Jordan have not solved the conflicts and wars. How does he think his prayers there will soften the hearts of Boko Haram religious sect and give Nigerians a peaceful breathing space? Or did he go there to offer prayers for the forgiveness of sin of corruption and political greed of his Political Party, PDP? 

Our President did not go for baptism like Jesus unless his visit to the place is considered a spiritual baptism. Does Nigeria need any spiritual baptism? I doubt it. 

Nigeria needs sustainable, physical infrastructural development not prayers. Boko Haram sect and other religious faiths believe in prayer and Nigeria is worse for their spirituality. 

 I have not seen in my life any Presidents or Prime Ministers from America or Europe who took their national problems in prayers to river Jordan to solve and yet they believe in the efficacy of prayer. 

I refuse to accept any religious hypocrisy demonstrated by those who stood around the President at river Jordan. 

I want to passionately appeal to Mr. Femi Falana SAN to sue the President to court on behalf of Nigerian public for using the public money for such a religious pilgrimage. 

SO
Sent from my iPhone

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Sir,

I’m sure that the president himself (and Barack Obama too, who was on a similar pilgrimage to Israel - prayers at “the Wailing wall” etc) would be among the first to tell you, quoting from his Gospel that

“all have sinned, and fallen short of the glory of God”

We are to presume the president’s four-day pilgrimage to Israel a success and that too we presume about the millions of Muslims who go on Hajj every year and pray

"Sami'Allahu liman hamidah

-          Rabbana lakal hamd !”

 Surely, you (philosopher, atheist, whatever) are not qualified to verify that the president’s pilgrimage was a failure? Let us hope that the Almighty heard their prayers. I am praying along with all those who pray to the One and Only Almighty, also for Nigeria.

You keep on selectively highlighting President Jonathan’s few moments on the banks of the River Jordan - but for other interested observers another touching moment was President Goodluck Jonathan on his knees, surrounded by some family members, friends, political allies and without a doubt one or two sycophants laying hands on him or near him and praying fervently where the photo caption declares “President Goodluck Jonathan kneeling at the tomb of Jesus Christ”

In Israel we  do not give up : we are praying and will continue to pray and work for peace, but as you know, the devil is still very active, instigating the terrorists to do evil

What you say about Boko Haram should resonate with all those who are not blood-thirsty, but the remainder of your statement, that “other religious faiths believe in prayer and Nigeria is worse for their spirituality” is short-sighted and an affront to all the struggling religious-minded people in Nigeria.

 So where is the respect we all expect from you for your innocent, fellow Nigerians, the majority of whom are prayerful?

BY the way, - thanks and praises - the Almighty delivered me from the jaws of death on the 6^th of October this year, so I cannot go that way again.

Sincerely,

We Sweden

 

 

 

 

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

“Is that what President Jonathan went to pray for - peace in Nigeria?”

( Ayo Obe)

“A serious a God would hear prayers from a sincere heart, wherever that heart might be located.” (Ayo Obe)

 This is from the horse’s mouth:

President Goodluck Jonathan on Sunday said Nigeria would have disintegrated but for the prayers of the church and other religious bodies

The conclusion is the answer to the question, where you think Nigeria would be today, without the prayers of all those who wish Nigeria well?

A proud president and grateful president of a world champion nation

God bless Nigeria....

Down memory lane, some are also asking similar questions about the Middle East.

Sincerely,

We Sweden

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

A belated two and half years later:

Professor Segun Ogungbemi ,

In last Sabbath’s Haftarah  is a succinct answer to the stream of misgivings and philosophical objections  you have expressed here   about  President Goodluck Jonathan and entourage’s   pilgrimage to Israel to pray on the banks of the River Jordan where  Jesus of Nazareth is said to have been baptised by his friend,  John the Baptiser.

Although I share your antipathy towards that expensive pilgrimage  enterprise – to some extent, at the same time  we must understand that President Jonathan was on pilgrimage not to the River Jordan per say, but to the Holy Land and that he visited many other sites in the Holy Land. If the president had been a Muslim his pilgrimage would have been to Saudi Arabia and then  of course the matter of  visiting any holy rivers would not have arisen since fortunately or unfortunately,  there are no “Holy Rivers” in Saudi Arabia. However, perhaps more important than rivers is the phenomenon that Fela attributed to Nigeria, but on a much larger scale in Saudi Arabia : “Oil dey flow underground like river”  - and that too to the chagrin of the late Golda Meir : “Moses dragged us through the desert for 40 years to bring us to the one place in the Middle East where there was no oil”

In the haftarah story the prophet Elisha glorifies God’s name by curing the skin disease of Naaman, a foreign general. The Prophet Elisha sent the general a message saying, ( Verse 10) : “ Go and bathe seven times in the  Jordan, and your normal flesh will come back and you will become cleansed.”

Verse 14 :  “So he descended  and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, as the word of the  man of God ; and his flesh was transformed to the flesh of a young boy, and he became cleansed ….”

The Full story ( a very short one)  : Kings II, 4:42-5:19  

Which does not mean to say that there are no rivers believed to be sacred in Nigeria, India, the Sudan, Egypt etc.  In fact, during my period in Nigeria (1981-84), it was said that the leader of a religious organisation known as the Brotherhood of the Cross and the Star, in Cross Rivers State, was curing skin diseases  by bathing his patients/ clients  in the river there and that people from  even faraway places like the USSR  were flying  over to Cross Rivers State for treatment. I know about this because my boss in Bakana,  Rivers State,  was an ardent disciple of the Brotherhood’s leader and she wanted to take me over there for an immersion,  but I was not in a hurry to do so after my full immersion experience in Umuahia where the fanatics  nearly drowned me. ( Oluwatoyin Adepoju could check this out : the curative nature of some of Nigeria’s  Rivers – the healing properties of their waters)

A good song : Gary Bartz : I've known rivers , lyrics based  Langston Hughes’ poem  

The Negro Speaks of Rivers

Wishing you a Good Day,

Cornelius

On Tuesday, 29 October 2013 01:35:15 UTC+1, seguno2013 wrote: