Religion

Kenyan Cardinal Urges Compassion for Extremist Killers

Published

9 years ago

April 9, 2015

A woman sobs into her scarf after she viewed the body of a relative killed in last Thursday’s attack on Garissa University College in northeastern Kenya, at Chiromo funeral home, Nairobi, Kenya, Wednesday, April 8, 2015. Al-Shabab gunmen rampaged through the university at dawn Thursday, killing over 140 people in the group’s deadliest attack in the East African country. Four militants were slain by security forces to end the siege just after dusk. (AP Photo/Sayyid Azim)

CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA, Associated Press

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Some relatives of students who were mercilessly gunned down by Islamic militants said Wednesday they would pray for forgiveness for the killers, responding to a Catholic archbishop who visited a morgue where victims’ bodies are being kept.

Cardinal John Njue, the archbishop of Nairobi, prayed with some of the families with a son or daughter, nephew or niece who died in the April 2 assault on Garissa University College by al-Shabab, the extremist group based in neighboring Somalia. Four gunmen killed 148 people and then also died when Kenyan security forces regained control of the campus later in the day.

“You should pray for your enemies, so that they can change,” said Teresa Kiiru, whose cousin, 22-year-old Obeddy Oking, died in the attack. “As Christians, we are told to forgive those who sin against us.”

Many family members have described, sometimes bitterly, the death of a child in the Garissa slaughter as not just an emotional blow, but also the loss of an “investment” into which they had poured money and hopes. Making it to university is a big achievement in Kenya, where many people don’t get opportunities that open the way to a financially secure life.

Some home villages of the dead students, seen as bright stars who were making their communities proud, are reportedly experiencing collective grief. On Wednesday, the morgue began releasing bodies to grieving families, who prepared to take the coffins on long bus journeys for burial at home.

“Take courage and do not give up,” Njue told relatives sitting under a tent at Nairobi’s Chiromo Funeral Parlour. “These are the challenges that come in our lives. Some of them are most probably too heavy … heavier than we can be able to bear, humanly speaking. But let us try what we can.”

The cardinal said he hoped the Garissa attack would become a “moment of re-examination” of ways to improve security for Kenyans following numerous allegations that the government response was slow and initially ineffective. He appealed for a “process of compassion” for the perpetrators, despite their terrible deed.

“We pray then for all those who are concerned with this,” he said. “We are not dealing with animals, we are dealing with human beings … If this were to happen to them, I don’t think any of them would ever be joyful.”

The message resonated with Evelyn Wakholi, whose 18-year-old daughter, Milly Yonbo, died in the attack.

“The Bible says: ‘Do not judge,'” Wakholi said. “It’s painful, but what can we do?”

Then she wondered aloud why the killers, one of whom has been identified as the son of a Kenyan government official, had to kill young people rather than the elderly. Youths, Wakholi declared, could withstand the suffering, and unlike their elders, have yet to experience the fullness of life.

Milly’s aunt, Josephine Shiyuka, said her Christian faith dictated forgiveness for the killers, noting Jesus Christ forgave those who crucified him. Those who helped the gunmen might still turn back from their violent creed, she said.

“If they’re living, they still have time to change,” she said.

Al-Shabab, however, has warned of more attacks after the Garissa bloodshed. It said “Kenyan cities will run red with blood,” according to the SITE intelligence monitoring group.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta vowed a sharp response to last week’s attack. Kenyan warplanes attacked suspected militant positions in Somalia, and the government said Wednesday that it was freezing accounts of organizations and individuals suspected of financing Islamic extremists.

The freeze applies to 85 companies and individuals identified because of suspicious transactions, said senior treasury official Kamau Thugge. The list includes organizations dealing in remittances to Somalia.

After praying with families at the morgue, the cardinal said in an interview with The Associated Press that parents of the dead were going through a “very, very trying time” and that what the attackers did was “really horrible,” but he held out hope that militants would repent.

“Let us pray for them, that they may come to a point of undergoing a metamorphosis” in which they realize “they are dealing with life,” Njue said.

However the bereaved father of Oking, the 22-year-old student who died in Garissa, said he did not have such hope.

“I don’t have any compassion for the terrorists, because I took my child to school. Today, I am taking him dead,” said the father, John Wanyonyi Okodoi.

“I had invested a lot in that child; from childhood, high school to university,” he said. “Even his brothers — I dropped them for the sake of this child because he performed so well. I asked the family, ‘Let him go so he would come and help us.’ Today we are completely desperate. We have no future. We are only being given hope, but the gateway to see that hope is bleak.”

___

AP writer Tom Odula contributed to this report from Nairobi.

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COMMENTARY: Prayer is Your Power

Published

1 year ago

February 6, 2023

Oakland Post

Prayer is about faith. It is believing that God hears us.

Faithful Utterances

By Dr. Froswa Booker-Drew | Texas Metro News

This week, a friend informed me that she was following the ambulance to the hospital with her husband. Her husband was going through a major health crisis. She wasn’t the only one who reached out—a friend’s mother had unexplained pain and another friend contacted me about her friend’s son who was hospitalized with pneumonia. Each of them asked that I pray for them.

I consider it an honor to pray for others. Prayer is powerful and I love that I have a group of friends who I can turn to that I call the “prayer warriors” that when I send a text to lift up the concerns and issues of others before God, they go into battle mode.

Prayer is a weapon and I think many of us don’t understand its power until we need it. For many of us, it’s a routine, something that’s more about religion than it is about relationship. We have gotten prayer twisted as some exchange solely for stuff. God is not a celestial Santa Claus dropping off gifts. Prayer is an opportunity to go before to God sincerely in relationship. “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others.

Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.” (Matthew 6:5–8)

Prayer is about faith. It is believing that God hears us. “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16) I realize that my prayers are even more powerful when I am in relationship with others seeking God: “For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them” (Matthew 18:20). It’s dangerous when we see prayer as a way to manipulate God into doing what we want. There is nothing wrong with bringing your requests before God but it’s important to check our motivation and intention. It’s also important to know that just because God doesn’t answer our prayers in the way that we want does not mean that God doesn’t love us.

It doesn’t mean that God does not hear us. It does not negate the omnipotence or goodness of God, either. We must believe that God is able. “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6) It’s easy to blame God when things don’t go the way we want them to—”the rain falls on the just and the unjust” (Matthew 5:45).

Terrible things happen to good people often. We live in an unjust world with people making decisions that are informed more by profit than people. We cannot take those principles into our relationship with God. We must believe that “… all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28) …. God is concerned with our hearts, with people and cares for us even when things don’t go the way we’d like. I can report that all of the individuals we prayed for had excellent results.

God is good! Yet, I realize that this isn’t always the case. Prayer is powerful. God wants us to have this daily form of communication. 1 John 5:14, tells us: “And this is the boldness we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.” Don’t use prayer just when you need something. Just as all relationships require consistent communication for growth and results, the same is even more important in our relationship with God. Prayer is a powerful partnership with God that can move mountains when we believe!

Dr. Froswa’ Booker-Drew is the host of the Tapestry Podcast and the author of three books for women. She is also the Vice President of Community Affairs for the State Fair of Texas. To learn more, visit drfroswa.com.

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Black History

AFRICAN-ISH: The First Christmas Story

Both Joseph and Mary were of the lineage of David, Joseph descended from David’s son Solomon (and Bathsheba), and Mary extended from another son Nathan. Therefore, they were required to go to the little town of Bethlehem, in Judea and there, in a cattle shed Jesus was born. (Bethlehem is 70 miles south of Nazareth and 5 miles southwest of Jerusalem).

Published

1 year ago

December 26, 2022

Oakland Post

The four Gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke and John chronicled the full theme of Christ as the universal Savior.

By Simon Burris

The narrative of Jesus’ birth and proof of his Hamitic (Black) African bloodline* began in the Old Testament in the book of Genesis chapter 10, in the Land of Ham, located in southwest Asia and Africa. Three most prominent Hamitic personalities: Abraham, Isaiah and David.

People and places of Hamitic origins are underlined.

(1) Abraham the patriarch was Babylonian (Ethnic Ethiopian). Gen. 11:31; (2) Isaiah a prophet lived 750 years before Christ, predicted the virgin birth was a nephew of Amaziah a Judahite (Canaanite) king; and (3) David the great king of Israel was a descendant of Abraham, also of Tamar and Rahab (Canaanites).

The (Hamitic) Genealogy of Jesus Christ: Matthew 1:1-17; Luke 3:23-34

The Birth of Jesus: (about 6-4 BC)

Mary the virgin mother of Jesus and her husband Joseph the “foster” father of Jesus, a carpenter, lived in Nazareth, a town in northern Palestine.

At this time Emperor Augustus of the Roman Empire decreed that a census would be taken. Everyone in his domain had to go to his or her hometown to register. He probably ordered Cyrenius ( Quirinius ) the Afro Roman governor of Syria / Judeadistrict to take charge and supervise the mandate.

A short time later shepherds from the countryside as well as Wise Men (Magi) from neighboring countries Arabia, Babylonia,and Persia traveled to the nativity site, paid homage and worshiped the infant-Savior.

Now Joseph was warned by the Lord in a dream that Herod the Edomite king of Judea was plotting the murder of the child, fled with his family to Egypt, returning to Nazareth after the death of Herod.

Jesus had siblings, brothers Joseph, Simon, Epistle writers James, Jude, and several sisters. The last mention of Joseph occurs in the Gospel of Luke when he and Mary take the 12-year-old Jesus to Jerusalem. Mary played a vital role all through Jesus’ life, from the day He was born till the time of the crucifixion.

Conclusion: The four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John chronicled the full theme of Christ as the universal Savior. *Descendants of Ham’s sons Cush (Ethiopia), Mizraim (Egypt), Put (Libya) and Canaan (Ancient Palestine/Israel). Genesis 10: 6-20

Footnotes: Why is Christmas celebrated on December 25?

The ancient Romans celebrated the winter solstice on December 25 as the birthday of the SUN; the Babylonians and Persians -SON of the SUN. Some 300 plus years after Jesus’ earthly demise, Roman Emperor Constantine in 336 legalized this date as the birthday of the SON of GOD – JESUS the CHRIST! Originally: Christ’s Mass.

Eurocentric racism: Pope Julius II in 1508 commissioned Michelangelo, Raphael and other Renaissance artists and church scholars to portray and depict almost all major biblical characters as Europeans (Caucasians), save servants and slaves.

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Activism

SDA Churches Join Outreach Efforts to Find Solutions to Upsurge of Violence

the Northern California Conference of Seventh Day Adventists (SDA) held their annual Convocation at Grand Avenue Seventh Day Adventist Church in Oakland. Seven hundred people came together in celebration and worship. The theme was “Embracing Change.”

Published

2 years ago

October 16, 2022

Oakland Post

From left to right: Pastor Raymond Lankford, Elder Busayo Alabi, Pastor Damon Washington, Sister Rose Robinson, Pastor Garrett Anderson, Pastor Edwin Brown, Pastor Willie Johnson, Pastor Virgil Childs.

By Post Staff

On Oct. 8, the Northern California Conference of Seventh Day Adventists (SDA) held their annual Convocation at Grand Avenue Seventh Day Adventist Church in Oakland. Seven hundred people came together in celebration and worship. The theme was “Embracing Change.” The guest speaker was Dr. Myron Edmonds, who pastors in Cleveland, Ohio. He spoke about how Christ wasn’t a traditionalist, and the work isn’t being done because some in the church don’t wish to change and they tend to demonize new ideas.

Throughout the day, the Mobile Medical Health Van operated by Immanuel Temple Seventh Day Adventist Church out of Oakland sat in front of the church and provided health screenings and community resource information to the general public. The Medical Van, which was gifted to the church by Pastor Raymond Lankford of Healthy Communities, has provided free health care services throughout Alameda County for the last few years. The prayer of Pastor Damon Washington of Immanuel Temple Church, who was ordained during the afternoon program, is for their health ministry to partner with the other providers like OPIC and Oakland Workforce Agencies and to combat the ongoing health disparities and violence within the city and beyond.

They have pledged to work with the Chaplains, the OPIC and the Formerly Incarcerated Giving Back, who want to make amends for the damages they have done to harm Oakland.