Böcker av Jackson Okpale

The prevalence of Uterine Fibroid among black African women of childbearing age has dimmed their hope of conception and destroyed many marriages, homes, and lives. Many of these women did not realize the presence of this deadly scourge in their uterus until it became symptomatic. You don''t know what Oddie went through in trying to conceive after many years of marriage and no baby; yes, no single baby to show for it. The pains, the tears, the anguish, the pressure, the stigmatization, the rejection, the low self-esteem, and the shame were unimaginable. You certainly don''t know what Oddia and his wife Oddie did while they waited. They became vulnerable and followed all medical, spiritual, natural, and diabolical pieces of advice that did not work but rather left behind grave avoidable consequences; and like the Biblical woman with the issue of blood, their affliction left deep holes in their pockets. Some of those who were children when Oddia and Oddie first got married became themselves married, had their babies, and joined the free bandwagon of Senior Special Advisers. Soon, the couple became the bywords and objects of haggling by mockers, scoffers, and pretenders in the marketplace of public opinion. As a result, they retreated from public glare and stopped looking up to a God who was busy looking down at someone else. Read on if you really want to know.

The Church is at the third and perhaps final leg of its journey.  As nations undergo development, the churches of the nations that become developed relapse into complacency and lukewarmness thereby compromising their Christian faith while those of developing nations remain significantly rigid and at the extreme.  As a result, the centre of Church unity gave way and individuals resorted to self-help and define Christian faith by what seems right or wrong in their opinion.Painfully, many Christians no longer remember the object of their faith, which is, to influence others with the virtue of Christ. Those dedicated to service have become the subject of persecution. Although persecution aims at discouraging the faithfuls from professing and practising their faith, it helps in the spread of Christianity and keeps the church spiritually strong and healthy, how then can one describe a situation where it is the Church that persecutes the faithfuls?Regrettably, many churches are altering their creed to accommodate the new communities of unrepentant believers and replacing faithfuls with reprobates; they smuggle materialism into the Church and are raising hybrid of materialistic Christians.In docility, the Church has jettisoned the Christian mission for the pursuit of material wealth and is breeding a completely new generation of “Very Shallow and Ignorant Christians”, who are lacking in the basic values of the Christian faith. No wonder, when they prophecy, it no longer comes to pass.The Church: In the beginning it was not so, is the history of Christianity and the Church, which aims to build a strong base of Christian faith in individual Christians and the Church in general.

MENE, MENE, TEKEL.Nigeria is populated with many people living in a state of permanent amnesia; oblivious of the past, nonchalant about the future and particularly not engaging in deep thinking. What has passed is past and forgotten. Nigeria is a ship with plurality of captains sharply divided by estranged crew members and separated by historical inequalities. While crew members on the far left are like clay in the hands of the potter and available for spinning on the wheels of modernization, the far right remain closed in their cast-iron shell of ancient traditions and conservatism. Thus, either side treats the other with suspicion, distrust and as enemy generally motivated by bitterness, unforgiveness and deep-rooted hatred driven by the strong desires for vengeful actions and reactions. Those who were prevented from contributing their service to the administration of their people regrouped behind narrow and lethal corridors of religion, ethnicity and partisanship, metamorphosed into pressure and terrorist groups that became a clog in the wheels of governance and perpetrate acts of terror against the regime of those in power and the people of Nigeria. As a result, the fields of Nigeria have been turned into the valley of blood and death, littered with many improper graves of varied depths where the bodies of the people of Nigeria killed untimely were buried unceremoniously. Instead of punishment, the unruly receive amnesties and are treated as heroes with government recognitions and appointments. In their new position of power, they chase away the ruly and replace them with loyalists who raise disciples of unruly and corrupt people. Those charged with the task of fighting corruption do so with glittering long necklaces of corruption hanging around their well-fed necks. Since 1966, Nigeria has been running aground on 'funeral mode' and on a reverse course where everything right has become wrong and everything wrong has become right. "In Memory of Nigeria" is a collation of fragmented history of a people and a land that became Nigeria and their journey into oblivion.

Throughout His ministry on earth, Jesus Christ did not wait for the sinners and the needy to come to Him-He took the gospel right to their doorsteps. Today, church leaders have become complacent. With their flock safely gathered under one roof, leaders tend to avoid the streets and the people who brought them recognition, fame, money, and power. Some even surround themselves with thugs and bouncers for protection. In anger, many churchgoers have left to form new churches, and many more have abandoned Christianity completely. Numerous beautiful churches of architectural and historic importance dot our cityscape, but internally, they are absent of true love and unity. Instead, they are often bitterly divided, rife with disagreement and unhealthy competition among brethren. And this divisiveness is further shifting the church's focus away from the gospel of Christ. The Church is a compelling call to action-seven chapters of revelation with a goal to unify the church and reinvigorate her original God-given mandate: missionary work.