Don't give under pressure. Give of your volition. If it's going to make you grumble, or unhappy, or bitter, don't give it. God loves a cheerful giver. There's no compulsory giving in the New Testament. Have a healthy relationship with money. Love of money will make you amenable to evil. Jesus warned against Mammon.

#Illuminare - ON FAITH - THE FINALE: FAITH NUGGETS

Begins now 👇 1. Over the past eleven weeks we have held communion on the subject of faith. Together, we navigated the theology of faith as espoused in scriptures. #Illuminare

#Illuminare - ON FAITH PART 10: NINETY-NINE PLUS ONE

Begins now 👇 1. In the last few weeks, we’ve been treating the subject of faith. There are many dimensions to faith. In this article, we’re going to be looking at faith for venture and innovation. Happy reading. #Illuminare

#Illuminare - ON FAITH PART 9: HOW FAITH WORKS

Begins now 👇 1. So, here’s how the faith thing works. It’s like a machine. Think of a car engine with three gears or cogs that are all held together by a fan belt. That’s what the machinery looks like. #Illuminare

ON FAITH PART 8: HEALTH AND WEALTH

Begins now 👇

#Illuminare 1. The Bible says to visit the house of mourning if you want cogitative wisdom. Ecclesiastes 7:2-4. The house of mourning is not necessarily a funeral parlor. A hospital qualifies as house of mourning. #Illuminare

ON FAITH PART 7: THE AGENDA

1. Humanly speaking, Jesus had to have been an extraordinary individual. There are no two ways about it. While his betrayal was in progress, and he knew what was going on, he instituted the rite of communion. 1 Corinthians 11:23 AMPC. #Illuminare 2. He just carried on with the program. Communion was the dramatized pre-announcement of the program of atonement. This is in consonance with God’s time-honored tradition of announcing stuff before it happens. Isaiah 42:9. #Illuminare

1. It’s virtually impossible to appreciate the full ramification of the New Testament without recourse to the legal construct undergirding it. The New Testament is resolutely mounted on a tripod of commercial law, criminal law and constitutional law. #Illuminare 2. There are other legal dimensions but those are the major three. Without those legal authorities the New Testament will not be efficacious in heaven, on earth or under the earth. It will just be history. #Illuminare

1. I’m always perplexed and even get dumbfounded every time I receive a mail from a reader of Illuminare and the content reveals he or she is unfamiliar with the byproducts of the atonement of Jesus – what we call New Testament realities. #Illuminare 2. These are our rights in Christ Jesus. Satan of course capitalizes on such ignorance with demonic oppression. And yet the Bible says you will not experience oppression. Isaiah 54:14 NET. If you don’t know your rights Satan will oppress you. #Illuminare

1. For some reason Jesus decided to come to earth and bifurcate human history at a time medical science was rather primitive. Society was technologically backward. #Illuminare 2. There were no cars, donkeys were the primary means of transportation. There was no air travel either. Astronomy was tied to astrology. Why did he choose that point in time? Why not now for example, or the turn of the century? #Illuminare

1. Law school was kind of a blur for me. I had lost interest in law, but I wanted to see the program through. That way no one can accuse me in the future of inability to pull off a law degree whatever direction I chose to follow. #Illuminare 2. With the benefit of hindsight that direction seemed pretty clear. I had had art exhibitions while in university. My interests were tending more and more towards branding. I was particularly interested in corporate identity design. #Illuminare

1. Last week we began the teaching on faith. We concluded that faith is not our problem since the scriptures tell us God has dealt to every believer “the measure of faith.” Romans 12:3. And that follows a pattern of giving. #Illuminare 2. The Bible says, “Everything we could ever need for life and godliness has already been deposited in us by his divine power.” 2 Peter 1:3. God is enormously generous to us. The New Testament is all about his gifts. #Illuminare

1. Without a doubt there are challenges in life. And they come in various shades and sizes. As you study responses to those challenges however, you soon realize some people will rather be pitied than fight the good fight of faith. #Illuminare 2. They derive comfort from a feeling of helplessness. There’s that feeling of self-righteousness - “I don’t deserve all these trials. Life is unfair to me. My life is full of difficulties. Why me?” #Illuminare

1. My dear son, this is my seventh and final letter to you on Nigeria. I hope I’ve stirred your consciousness. #NigeriaNotes 2. Given the incredible resources of the country, Nigeria ought to be great. I’m not talking about natural resources, I’m talking about the human resources. #NigeriaNotes

1. My dear son, let’s discuss a little bit of policy this morning, let’s look at the educational system. Your generation is going to take over soon, and you’ll need to design policy. #NigeriaNotes 2. The high-level unemployment you’re seeing is an indication something is not quite right with our educational system. #NigeriaNotes

1. My dear son, the elephant in the Nigerian parlor is the subject of federalism. It’s a pity it’s rather been reduced to two things – control of natural resources and the question of state police. #NigeriaNotes 2. So framed, the idea becomes foreboding. The issue of control of natural resources raises the question of economic viability of certain regions; the question of state police raises the specter of the feasibility of a dismembered Nigeria. #NigeriaNotes

1. My dear son, today I want to address a fundamental issue. It’s so fundamental it’s affecting our approach to governance. You see, we have a choice. It’s either we run a country, or we run a nation. #NigeriaNotes #ENDSARS 2. Running a country is about administrative chores – files, bureaucracies, meetings, parastatals, memos, departments, mindless directives... Running a nation on the other hand focuses attention on the people. There’s empathy. #NigeriaNotes #ENDSARS

1. My dear son, when I was young, I used to hear the phrase “fejerun”. That was a Lagos slang. They came up with it same way your generation came up with #sorosokenodeydisguise. #NigeriaNotes #ENDSARS 2. It’s the picture of a man manually powering a bike strenuously uphill. Unlike a motorized bike, it is said to run on human blood, hence “fejerun”. “Eje” is blood in Yoruba. #NigeriaNotes #ENDSARS

1. My dear son, let me tell you your main advantage over my generation. You’re digital natives, we’re Neanderthals. There’s a digital divide, a middle wall of partition separating my generation from yours, to use a Pauline-speak. #NigeriaNotes #ENDSARS 2. To build the future of Nigeria you have to bring digital tools and digital thinking to the game. It’s how Elon Musk changed the game in the car industry. He replaced the dashboard in the car with a tablet, brought Silicon Valley thinking to car manufacturing. #NigeriaNotes

1. My dear son, I was very proud you took part in the demonstration yesterday - very proud you didn’t consult me, you and your sister. She’s at the barricades in Lagos. #NigeriaNotes #EndSARS 2. I was discussing with my law school set on our WhatsApp platform the other day and I told them our generation just witnessed a phenomenon – we just watched our kids take over from us. #NigeriaNotes #ENDSARS

1.Perhaps the real issue in the #ENDSARS campaign is the capital word, IMPUNITY. It is the belief in the exemption from the rule of law, a thug's definition of the use of power. #EndPoliceBrutality #ReformPolice 2.Impunity permeates our society - from the brigandage in our political system, to the Okada rider who rides against the traffic knowing he can pay off the law cheaply, to the use of convoy as a weapon of brutalisation, etc. #EndPoliceBrutality #ReformPolice

1. When I was five or six years old – I can’t remember the exact age - I had a profound experience. I was transported to a place called Golgotha - the skull-shaped hill where Jesus was crucified. #Illuminare 2. I do not know whether it was in the body or out of the body, to use an expression of Paul. It was Good Friday. The sky had turned willowy gray, pliant, like a dough mix. And I found myself at the scene of the crucifixion. #Illuminare