THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT.

     For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed. (1 Corinthians 15:9-11)

    And now, I'm sure that in this we have found lots of impersonations. And an impersonation, friend... A person that would impersonate something is the most miserable person that I would know of. Isn't it much better just to be yourself? As Congressman Upshaw used to say, "Don't try to be nothing that you hain't." Well, that's pretty good. Don't try to be nothing that you are not. Just be yourself. And then, if you want to be a Christian, just ask Christ. He will take your old nature out, put a new nature in; then you don't have to impersonate anything; it's just your normal life that you're living.

    And as long as you got malice, envy, strife, all these things of the world, then you know Christ isn't in there. The Bible said, "If you love the world, or the things of the world, the love of God's not even in you." See, 'cause the Life of God isn't in you. The Life is in there, it just produces itself; it just lives its way out. Don't try to say, "I'm a Christian because I joined church." That's one way. "I'm a Christian because I sing in the choir." That's something else. "I'm a Christian because I preach the Gospel." That doesn't make you a Christian. "I'm a Christian because I spoke with tongues." That don't make you a Christian. "I'm a Christian because I danced in the Spirit." That don't make you a Christian. "I'm a Christian because I shouted." That don't make you a Christian. "I'm a Christian because that I quit smoking; I quit drinking." If you did it within yourself, there's something wrong yet. That's right. We mustn't do these things in ourself. If there's something in us that just simply takes the world out of us, then it begins to bear fruit of itself.

     And now, the fruit of the Spirit is not joining church. The fruit of the Spirit is not quit smoking cigarettes. The fruit of the Spirit is not to speak with tongues. The fruit of the Spirit is not to pray for the sick and they be healed. The fruit of the Spirit is not to prophesy or preach. But the fruit of the Spirit is found in Galatians 5:22: Love, joy, peace, goodness, longsuffering, faith, meekness, gentleness, that's the fruit of the Spirit.

      Now, no matter how much you preach, you got a real ill-temper, don't do you much good to preach. See? No matter how much you join church and try to impersonate, if you're crabbing and nasty with your neighbor, you'll never win him to Christ then. See? It's the fruit of the Spirit. As my wife used to tell me, "Actions speak louder than words." That's right. Live me a sermon instead of preaching me one; that's a good thing; live me a sermon.

OUR GOD IS AN AWESOME GOD.

The lord we are serving is a faithful God. He protects his children from harm, the only thing we owe him is to trust in him with all our heart. He loves to protect his children, just like the promises he gave to us in Psalm 91. He always keep watch over us, he neither sleep nor slumber. We don't need to be fearful knowing fully well that he is with us. 

Mark 4 v 38-40. When we are fearful it affects our action, attitude,even the tone of our voice and our decisions. Fear drowned the faith of the disciples. They saw the raging storm but could not see the reigning Christ👑 with them. 

There is difference between praying in faith and praying in fear. There is also difference between praying looking at God and praying looking at the enemy. Although they cried unto God but  they cried in fear 😱

In them was no understanding of what God can do.  You are bound to forget all the promises of God and the past testimonies of your life when you give in to fear. 

House Wife Poured Hot Water On Her Husband for denying her sex ( Graphic Photo )

     An aggrieved housewife, Awele Nwani, 35, allegedly bathed her husband, Frank Nwani, with hot water, claiming that her hubby denied her sex for three weeks. 
The incident happened in Ibusa, Oshimili South Local Government Area of Delta State.


The mother of six children, now on the run, also alleged that her husband had been having sexual affairs outside and threatened to make life unbearable for him.

But the victim (husband) dismissed her wife’s claim as untrue, saying his wife had been sleeping around. He said:

 “My wife has been sleeping around, hence I stopped sleeping with her for three weeks. It is a taboo in my tribe and she violates the laws.”

Frank stressed that his attempts to stop her illicit affairs outside proved abortive when he took the decision to starve her of sex.

Trouble started last Thursday when the victim returned from a visit to a friend’s house during nightfall and in his usual jokes, called his wife a lazy woman, leaving her in wide anger as she fired back to call the husband a wizard.

Sources said while their quarrel lasted, the woman disguised to have put the quarrel behind her, dashed to the kitchen where she allegedly boiled water and unknown to the husband who was relaxing in the parlour, bathed him with the water and disappeared.

Police officers at the Ibusa Police Division, who did not want their names in the print, confirmed that the woman disappeared with the sum of N200,000 being daily contributions the husband received and kept in her custody.

The police said they were on the trail of the suspect while the victim is said to be receiving treatment in a private hospital.

A better whip to beat your wife.

    WHEN some men clear their throats, their wives develop symptoms of tuberculosis. Those are men who are neither bullies nor mad dogs. They do not get a kick from kicking their wives around the house. They do not beat their women just to prove they are men. And their women know when to pull the brakes. So, there are men and there are men. Mad men, wife beaters and men who know how to enforce discipline in their homes.

    We’ve heard enough of men who kick their women in the tummy when they are pregnant and those who cause their women to wear D&G ‘bones’ to cover up dark patches on their faces after slapping sessions. We have also heard enough of women who make their husbands so miserable, the poor men lose it and go berserk. In other words, there are wife beaters, women batterers all over the place and women with vile mouths who don’t know when to duck when they see a flying punch. So, there is no point belabouring the violent point. It is bad to be foul-mouthed and worse to be a wife or woman beater. Is there then a middle road? Of course. Only dumb men don’t know how to discipline their women without raising a fist. Wife beaters should learn from their women. We, the daughters of Eve do not beat men and yet smart men don’t toy with us.

    We do not give our men black and blue faces to get them to buy us gold, diamonds, the latest SUV and build us houses. They do all those things nice and easy and we know how to express our gratitude. But men who insist this is a man’s world don’t know jack about making their women do what they want. All brawns, no strategy. A woman will tell a man to go to hell and the dude is actually going to look forward to the trip. Well, it’s absolutely a woman thing. We were designed by God with that particular element. Poor men, what do they know?

   But wait, I found men who know how to get their women to fear and revere them. Their women confessed so. Some men told me how they do it. The lesson in all I learnt is unless you escaped from a psychiatric hospital, there is no reason to beat the woman in your life.

   Bimpe is 40 and said her husband simply shuts down all activities at her oil installation.Alfred does not actually freeze his wife’s account when she errs, he simply insists on a proposal and due process for every expense. Like Cross River State Senators, Bayo deploys the hunger strike strategy and Nath makes Bo- la Ige proud with his siddon look approach. Let’s take them one by one.

Bimpe’s story

‘Babe, you know I married in my old age. At 37, I had been around and I do not joke with my sex life. I knew if I was going to keep my pants on, I must marry a man who can hold them in place. My husband may be guilty of all sins and inadequacies but he is all the man I want in bed. The thought of him gets me through a bad day, believe me. He is a long distance runner who is skilful every step of the way. He knows my weakness and he exploits it to the hilt. If I step out of line, he wears a belt with his pyjamas.

He’s got plenty of self-control anyway, so he’s difficult to seduce. When I’m serving penance, that’s when my husband wears what advertises his ‘goods’ in the house- great biceps, firm thighs. He would give me long lingering kisses and that’s it. He’s very fashion conscious and when he’s punishing me, he wears all those things that keep the women ogling him. The total torture is lethal, more lethal than I can put into words. I love him to bits and so, of course, I can’t stand the punishment for more than three days. After that I beg and make sure I do exactly as he pleased. It’s working for our marriage.

Afred’s story

My wife knows I’m generous and that is also the weapon I use to whip her in line. Once I start asking for explanation on how the house-keeping allowance is spent, why she can’t travel for summer or why they all have to go to Gambia instead of Spain, she knows it’s not because I’m broke. I refuse to talk about her demands for anything that has to do with money. All aso-ebi for parties are rejected. I ask for special dishes, soups. But no extra kobo comes out of anywhere. We do not run generator all night. The big cars stay in the house because their keys stay in my locked-up wardrobe. Even the children know when things are not right. My attitude is if I’m not happy in my home, everybody joins the unhappy train. Period. It works for me.

Bayo’s story

If my wife offends me, I refuse her food. I eat outside until she apologises and stops whatever it is that has rubbed me up the wrong way. Sometimes she is angry too and ignores me and my hunger strike. When she does that I step up the strategy by bringing food home, warm it in her microwave while whistling and I eat it on the dining table. That leaves her wondering where the food came from. Oh, to make that angle effective, I do not bring anything that looks like it is from a fast food eatery. I bring real native food like pounded yam and vegetable packed in a beautiful food flask complete with hand towel and bottled water and wine, all in a nice basket. And no matter how tired I am when I get home, I eat my ‘food from outside’ and tell the house help to put the flask back in the car.

Nath’s story

I go out a lot when my wife offends me until she returns to her senses. If she calls me while I’m out, I tell her I’d call back later. I never do. If she greets me, I grumble. I stay in my room when I’m in the house. If she feigns illness to get my attention, I call the doctor to come to the house but I make sure I leave before he arrives. I know what hurts her and the silent treatment is the most potent. I’m ordinarily a jovial person. We talk a lot. We are each other’s best friends. We even gossip like two girls. We drink wine on the balcony and swap jokes but when she offends me, I withdraw all that. She is a banker and likes to return home where she can relax. Instead of beating her or shouting, I simply listen to my old school blues and watch wrestling. Otherwise, I’m out with the boys and I let her know.

So, what did we learn folks? There are many ways to kill a cat. Find another whip to beat your wife otherwise you are a certified psycho.

The alert on Zika virus.

THE world was justly alarmed last week when the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned that the Zika virus, a mosquito-borne infection, has been reported in 21 countries in South America and the Caribbeans. The WHO Director-General, Margaret Chan, observed that the virus was spreading explosively in the world and that its threat has grown from mild to alarming, necessitating the convening of experts to do a world-wide assessment.

The Federal Government has, in a quick response, instituted travel restrictions to Latin American countries by pregnant women until the situation improves. The virus has been linked to cases of microcephaly, the birth of babies with underdeveloped brains. More than 4,000 such babies have been born in Brazil since May last year, forcing the country, which is to host the 2016 Olympics Games, to repeatedly assure the world that it is on top of the situation and that athletes and fans need not fear for their health during the Games.

The Zika virus, on face value, seems a fairly innocuous infection. It is neither infectious nor contagious, although there has been an unconfirmed report of a transmission through sex. Only 20 per cent of those infected become ill and the symptoms are the fairly familiar symptoms of other tropical maladies – fever, rash, joint pain, conjunctivitis (red eyes) — which set off no alarm bells. The illness is usually mild and the symptoms last for several days to a week and rarely require hospitalisation and no death has been directly reported as arising from them.

But, the effects rise to stratospheric heights when the virus attacks pregnant women. Birth abnormalities are a mother’s nightmare, and Zika has been held responsible for children born with abnormally small craniums and brain deficiencies. At least four countries – Brazil, El Salvador, Colombia and Ecuador – have advised their women to abstain from getting pregnant for at least two years. The hope is that within that period, the world would have found a way round the Zika virus. Such optimism is supported by a report that Biotech International Limited, an Indian company, has developed the world’s first vaccine against the Zika virus, and had filed a vaccine patent about nine months ago.

The vector for this scary virus is the aedes mosquito family which is also the carrier for dengue fever and yellow fever. There are fears that the virus could be brought into the country through importation of used tyres from Latin American countries. Since there has been no known case of the Zika virus in Nigeria, the Federal Government must mobilise all state governments and health facilities to be on emergency footing in terms of information dissemination and in monitoring of any symptoms that may have any similarities to those of the Zika infection.

It may be necessary for Nigeria to restrict the importation of goods from the affected countries. Otherwise, we must ensure a pre-embarkation inspection of all such imports and the fumigation of the containers that carry them into the country. We need hardly say that aircraft flying in from Brazil and other South American countries must be fumigated immediately on arrival.

We think it was most thoughtful for the Federal Government to impose travel restrictions on pregnant women. Microcephaly is a dreadful disease which not only impairs the speech of the afflicted child but also blocks its mental development. Because of the newness of this disease, it is not yet known the extent of the damage and whether the symptoms are reversible with time and therapy. All hands must be on deck, therefore, to forestall its entrance into the country. It is our hope that given the world’s attention and determination to seek a solution for it, it will not be long before some answers are found.

The advent of the Zika virus underscores our inability to win the war against mosquitoes. Malaria continues to be one of the major causes of death of Nigerians and a great reminder of how much more we need to do in the fight against mosquitoes. We urge the Federal Ministry of Health to return to the Ebola playbook, and once more lead the charge in the campaign for cleanliness and environmental sanitation. We need to deny mosquitoes any breeding place in this country. Our scientists should also join in the quest to counter the Zika virus.