The archbishop of York has suggested that opening words of the Lord’s Prayer, recited by Christians all over the world for 2,000 years, may be “problematic” because of their patriarchal association.

In his opening address to a meeting of the Church of England’s ruling body, the General Synod, Stephen Cottrell dwelt on the words “Our Father”, the start of the prayer based on Matthew 6:9–13 and Luke 11:2–4 in the New Testament.

“I know the word ‘father’ is problematic for those whose experience of earthly fathers has been destructive and abusive, and for all of us who have laboured rather too much from an oppressively patriarchal grip on life,” he said.

His comment – a brief aside in a speech that focused on the need for unity – will divide members of the C of E, a body whose differences on issues of sexuality, identity and equality have been highly visible for years.

After Cottrell’s speech, Canon Chris Sugden, chair of the conservative Anglican Mainstream group, pointed out that in the Bible Jesus urged people to pray to “our father”.

He said: “Is the archbishop of York saying Jesus was wrong, or that Jesus was not pastorally aware? It seems to be emblematic of the approach of some church leaders to take their cues from culture rather than scripture.”

Rev Christina Rees, who campaigned for female bishops, said Cottrell had “put his finger on an issue that’s a really live issue for Christians and has been for many years”.

She added: “The big question is, do we really believe that God believes that male human beings bear his image more fully and accurately than women? The answer is absolutely not.”

In February, the C of E said it would consider whether to stop referring to God as “he”, after priests asked to be allowed to use gender-neutral terms instead.

It agreed to launch a commission on gendered language, saying “Christians have recognised since ancient times that God is neither male nor female, yet the variety of ways of addressing and describing God found in scripture has not always been reflected in our worship”.

Most of Cottrell’s speech was devoted to the word “our” rather than “father”, as a way of urging the fractious members of the synod to be a little more brotherly and sisterly in their discussions.

He told members of the synod: “We remain stubbornly unreconciled, appear complacent about division, and often also appear all too ready to divide again […] We have got used to disunity. We think it’s normal when in fact, it is a disgrace, an affront to Christ and all he came to give us.”

One of the most divisive issues within the C of E, same-sex marriage, led to a decision earlier this year to allow clergy to offer services of blessings to gay and lesbian couples who have undergone a civil wedding.

The first blessings were expected this summer, after final approving of the wording of prayers by the synod meeting this weekend. But the presentation of the prayers, plus new rules on whether gay and lesbian clergy may marry their partners, and whether to lift the existing instruction that clergy in same sex relationships must be celibate, have been delayed until November.

The Guardian, UK

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine says it won't use cluster bombs in Russia

Ukraine's Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov welcomed a U.S. decision to send cluster bombs to Kyiv, saying it would help to liberate Ukrainian territory but promised the munitions would not be used in Russia.

The U.S. announced on Friday it would supply Ukraine with widely banned cluster munitions for its counteroffensive against occupying Russian forces.

Reznikov said the munitions would help save the lives of Ukrainian soldiers, adding Ukraine would keep a strict record of their use and exchange information with its partners.

"Our position is simple - we need to liberate our temporarily occupied territories and save the lives of our people," Reznikov wrote on Twitter.

"Ukraine will use these munitions only for the de-occupation of our internationally recognized territories. These munitions will not be used on the officially recognized territory of Russia."

Cluster munitions are prohibited by more than 100 countries. They typically release large numbers of smaller bomblets that can kill indiscriminately over a wide area. Those that fail to explode pose a danger for decades.

Moscow again criticised the U.S. decision on Saturday, describing it as another "egregious" example of Washington's "anti-Russian" course.

"Another 'wonder weapon', which Washington and Kyiv are counting on without considering its grave consequences, will in no way affect the course of the special military operation, the goals and objectives of which will be fully achieved," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement.

Jake Sullivan, U.S. President Joe Biden's national security adviser, sought on Friday to make the case for providing the arms to Ukraine to reclaim territory seized since Russia invaded in February 2022.

"We recognize that cluster munitions create a risk of civilian harm from unexploded ordnance," Sullivan told reporters. "But there is also a massive risk of civilian harm if Russian troops and tanks roll over Ukrainian positions and take more Ukrainian territory and subjugate more Ukrainian civilians because Ukraine does not have enough artillery," he said.

Reznikov said the military would not use cluster munitions in urban areas and would use them only "to break through the enemy defence lines".

Russia, Ukraine, and the United States have not signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which bans the production, stockpiling, use, and transfer of the weapons.

Spain, a signatory to the convention, said it opposed the decision.

"Spain, based on the firm commitment it has with Ukraine, also has a firm commitment that certain weapons and bombs cannot be delivered under any circumstances," Spanish Defence Minister Margarita Robles told reporters at a Madrid rally on Saturday.

Britain is also a signatory to the convention which prohibits the production or use of cluster munitions and discourages their use, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said.

"We will continue to do our part to support Ukraine against Russia's illegal and unprovoked invasion," he told reporters on Saturday.

** Poland moves troops to eastern border amid Wagner fears

Poland began moving over 1,000 troops to the east of the country on Saturday, the defence minister said, amid rising concern in the NATO-member that the presence of Wagner Group fighters in Belarus could lead to increased tension on its border.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to offer mercenary fighters of Yevgeny Prigozhin's Wagner group the choice of relocating to Belarus has led to fears among eastern NATO members that their presence will cause greater instability in the region.

"Over 1,000 soldiers and almost 200 units of equipment from the 12th and 17th Mechanized Brigades are starting to move to the east of the country," Mariusz Blaszczak wrote on Twitter.

"This is a demonstration of our readiness to respond to attempts at destabilisation near the border of our country."

Last Sunday Poland said it would send 500 police to shore up security at its border with Belarus.

Poland has seen an increase in the number of migrants trying to cross the Belarus border in recent weeks. According to the Border Guard, over 200 people tried to cross illegally on Friday, including citizens of Morocco, India and Ethiopia.

Poland has accused Belarus of artificially creating a migrant crisis on the border since 2021 by flying in people from the Middle East and Africa and attempting to push them across the frontier.

A senior Wagner commander was quoted as saying on Saturday that mercenaries from the group were preparing to move to Belarus.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

US decision to send Kiev cluster munitions a sign of aggressive policy - Russian MFA

The United States’ decision to provide the Kiev regime with cluster munitions is an example of an aggressive policy aimed at dragging the Ukraine conflict out, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement on Saturday.

"The decision of the [US President] Joe Biden administration to provide the Kiev regime with cluster munitions is yet another blatant manifestation of the United States’ aggressive anti-Russian policy, which is designed to protract the Ukraine conflict as long as possible and to conduct the war until ‘the last Ukrainian’," Zakharova said.

The diplomat pointed out that by sending cluster munitions to Ukraine, Washington "will in fact become an accomplice in saturating the territory with mines and will fully share responsibility for the casualties caused by explosions, including Russian and Ukrainian children.".

Washington realizes that Ukraine’s assurances to use cluster munitions in a "careful" and "responsible" way mean mothing, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman said.

"Washington is well aware that the assurances of Ukrainian Nazis to use these indiscriminate weapons ‘in a careful’ and ‘responsible’ way are worthless. Civilians will be targeted, as it has happened every time when more and more deadly US-NATO weapon systems were sent to Ukraine," the statement said.

The United States’ decision to provide Kiev with cluster munitions is a sign of despair and evidence of powerlessness in the wake of the failure of Ukraine’s touted ‘counter-offensive’, Zakharova said.

"The transfer of cluster munitions is a gesture of desperation and evidence of powerlessness against the backdrop of the failure of the touted Ukrainian ‘counter-offensive’. Another ‘miracle weapon,’ which Washington and Kiev stake on without giving any thought to dire repercussions, will have no impact on the course of the special military operation, since its goals and objectives will be accomplished in full," the diplomat said.

Reuters/Tass

If you diligently analyze social media’s initial reactions to allegation that Mmesoma Ejikeme forged her Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) examination result, it would be difficult not to conclude that her race was her wrong. That she was wrong to have been born Igbo at a critical time like this. Or that the politics of her race was her albatross. Ejikeme has attracted so odious comments to herself, similar to one who willfully pelted on self a mound of excrement. Only on Friday, an Anambra State committee of enquiry revealed that she indeed faked the result.

Kaduna State-born Senator, Shehu Sani, on Saturday, put the issue in its starkest perspective when he wrote on his Twitter handle: “The girl forged UTME result. The commentaries for and against her are more of the fallout of the 2023 election than just forgery. For most people talking, their tongues are about the forgery, but their hearts are politics. The girl committed an offence at a time when people are looking for a reason to keep the flames of verbal war alight. The girl flew a helicopter in between the Border of Ukraine and Russia... Most Nigerians are now wearing ethno-religious and political sunglasses; everything is viewed from the perspective of that lens. We are likely going to live like this for a very long time.”

Mmesoma’s first audacity, it will seem, was living and writing the JAMB examination in Anambra State. Didn’t she realize that that was the state of origin of Peter Obi, the Labour Party presidential candidate? It looked every inch an anathema. Her second infraction, from social media comments on the forgery, it seemed, was that she shared, even if tangentially, ethnicity with Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, LP’s Lagos gubernatorial candidate. Rhodes-Vivour’s mother is said to be Igbo.

Igbo had always received the Mmesoma pushback from the rest of Nigeria. While the North superintended over the terror pushback angle against the Igbo (recall the 1966 pogrom; killing of scores of Igbo on allegation of defiling the Quran, like Godwin Akaluka; the civil war; governmental terrorist attack that ‘tiny dot in a circle’ represents, etc) Yoruba’s confrontation with the Igbo has always been intellectual. It comes in the form of disdain of Igbo’s claim to ethnic superiority. Another is the belief that Igbo leadership preferences and prejudices own ethnicity in what were supposed to be purely federal appointments.

The survival politics of the First Republic that S. L. Akintola found himself in dictated that he allied with Hausa-Fulani. It was also what was responsible for his disdain for the Igbo. It was at a time when Nnamdi Azikiwe’s West African Pilot was accused of always unfairly projecting his Igbo stock, as against seeking the balance that journalism required. Some publications in the Pilot were perceived to have authenticated this charge. For example, the Pilot’s edition of December 30, 1938, on its front page, had as lead story, Two Ibo students pass doctorate exam. The paper also placed the photographs of these Ibos, viz R. M. Ojike and J. P. C. E. Okala on its front page, as well as that of Green Mbadiwe who it said was “a Nigerian millionaire and patron of higher education” and that of M. C. Okechuku whose “maternal nephew is proceeding to America to study medicine.”

Another case in point was the lead story of the newspaper for July 18, 1941 with the screaming title, Ibibio student passes B. Sc (Agriculture) in U. S. A. The story had the photograph of the new graduate, Bassey U. A. Attah, who passed out from the College of Agriculture, Tuskegee, Alabama. Zik also had the speeches of these “Ibo achievers” published in the Pilot’s Inside Stuff column as messages home from abroad. Hardly did the Pilot have any positive report on such advancement among the Yoruba. On occasions when it did, the identity of the achiever was buried with the tag of an “African” given to the recipient of the higher degree. An example of this was the lead story of the Pilot for November 1, 1941. It was entitled, African qualifies as fellow of British Optical Association. The African in question was Olatunde Balogun.

While many claimed that Igbo’s quarrel with the Yoruba emanated from the failure of Azikiwe to clinch the region’s Premiership in 1952, it is said that the region’s disagreement with the Igbo began due to alleged favouritism and expansionism of the race. This led to the Chairman of the Nigerian Railways, Okechukwu Ikejiani, being given the Mmesioma treatment in the Western Region. Apart from campaign ground statements which Akintola made against Igbo, the Premier twisted the name of Ikejiani to a Yoruba adaptation so as to suit his pillory of the race. Akintola, reputed orator and very deep in Yoruba morphology, was wont to ask his audience, “The first (Igboman) would have, the second (Igboman) would have; what have you got?” This he deployed to underscore the nepotist character of not only Ikejiani, but the Igbo man, the typecast that conveniently suited the political conjuration of the Akintola NNDP of the time. The other famed quotation of this famous Yoruba language rich argot-dispenser was in the crisis of who became the vice chancellor of the University of Lagos between Sabiru Biobaku and Eni Njoku. They were Yoruba and Igbo respectively. Playing on both professors’ names, Akintola was said to have told an audience that “we said we would give you a man who would not die (Yoruba translation of Biobaku), yet you insisted that it is the man who eats the dead (Yoruba literal translation of Eni Njoku) that you want!”

In support of the Akintola government’s bid to typecast the Igbo as nepotist and not worthy to partner with in the alliance that was then afoot, the battle became visible in the Sketch newspaper owned by the Akintola-led government. Exactly six days into its existence, on April 6, 1964, Sketch published a letter from one Odafe Othihiwa in its Our readers’ view column that it entitled £11,000 for Ikejiani alone? It was the beginning of a long-lasting structuring regime in the Sketch against both Ikejiani and his Ibo Union. The letter thus went further to state that, “It is strange to observe that while we cry over unemployment in this country, people like Ikejiani are holding at least five different posts on an alleged total salary of £11,000… I also call on the Prime Minister to probe the activities of Ikejiani and his right wingers in the Railway Corporation. It is no political bias.”

The newspaper, in the same edition, followed this up with a feature on its back page edition of April 6, 1964 entitled 

Staggering situation in rail where it alleged that a “very serious tribal warfare” was going on in the railway corporation, and that, when the corporation’s 50,000 workers resumed, they would “break into two camps - the Yorubas and the Ibos.” It accused Ikejiani, who is “by nature very loquacious” of employing a medical doctor who earned an annual salary of £2,600 and yet had no job because the hospital earmarked for him by Ikejiani was not going to be ready in the next eighteen months. It ended the piece by attaching an appeal to the President of the Egbe Omo Olofin, H. O. Davies, by the Secretary, on account of Ikejiani’s sack of the Deputy Assistant General Manager of the Corporation, F. M. Alade, which it said “was deteriorating.” 

In the same edition, the Sketch carried a rather sarcastic story on its front page with the title, Yoruba nru, Ikejiani nsanra, meaning that, while the Yoruba race was going lean, Ikejiani (and invariably, his stock) were getting fatter. The newspaper was however forced to publish a full-page advertorial by the Ikejiani railway corporation on the staff strength, designation, tribal origin and position of workers in the corporation with the title Nigerian Railway Corporation: Facts you must know about staff position, maintaining that the accusation of tribalism was made to “inflame inter-tribal hatred in an attempt to gain political advantages to the detriment of our young country’s advancement.” But in the same edition, the Sketch published an editorial it entitled, What is official? (Daily Sketch, April 10, 1964). Therein, it accused Ikejiani of running the corporation like “secret societies, cabals or tribal cults where anything goes” and calling him to, “publish staff lists, monthly or annual returns, bulletins, Railway assets and liabilities. His own salary and allowances, as well as those of his top aids (sic) and underdogs, workers and labourers alike, must be public property.” The Akintola government later released a White paper that detailed allegations of nepotism against Ikejiani. It alleged that out of a grand total of 431 names on the staff list of the corporation, 270 were Igbo and 161 of other ethnic groups; of the 57 direct senior appointments made by the corporation, 27 were Igbo, 8 were other tribes and eight others were expatriates.

I went into the archive to bring out the above historical narrative so as to be able to explain that what we see today as acrimonious Yoruba/Igbo relations didn’t start today. In spite of the fact that the two races have a lot in common, politics and race for ascension into elective and appointive political offices have torn them asunder; so much that, like the words of Obierika to the white man in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, he "has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart." It is so bad that Hausa/Fulani who allegedly killed Igbo people in thousands through the pogrom are not as resented by the Igbo as they do the Yoruba. The ethnic fissures are indeed becoming very frightening.

Some leaders attempted to kill the ghost of this ethnic division. Bola Tinubu in Lagos and Chimaroke Nnamani in Enugu’s appointments of Igbo and Yoruba into their cabinets began to redraw this acrimonious graph and to re-contextualize the disunity. Today, the relation has become worse and is back on a cliff edge. When Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State recently appointed a renowned broadcast journalist, Ladi Akeredolu-Ale, to head his state’s broadcasting service, an otherwise knowledgeable senior journalist went to town to denounce this. As I read his doggerel, Bob Marley’s evergreen track, “they don’t want to see us unite… all they want us to do is, keep on fussing and fighting…” sieved into my head. Why are people’s hearts filled with bottomless hatred for the other man as this?

To be candid, the 2023 elections have further put a wedge on tribal relations between the two ethnicities. When you read the quantum of bile exchanged between Yoruba and Igbo on the social media, you will be pessimistic of a future for the two races together. Unfortunately for both, they have been so mutually enfolded into each other that it is in their individual interest to live in amity.

Yesterday, I read an interview granted the Vanguard newspaper by the President General of apex Igbo socio-cultural organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu. “We don’t have security problems in the Southeast. We have said ‘release Nnamdi’ because the young people are supporters of Nnamdi Kanu, which is an excuse that they give. When we look at it seriously, we have not seen any offence committed by Kanu. In fact, the court has said he should be released. As Igbo leaders, we do not see the reason he is being kept in detention. These people are giving it as an excuse for their sit-at-home. We believe that keeping Nnamdi Kanu in prison is an effort to collaborate with some elements who want to destroy the economy of states in the Southeast,” he said.

To me, Iwuanyanwu was not sincere with himself or the Igbo race in that interview. If the truth must be told, Igbo’s reaction to Muhammadu Buhari’s bigotry was extreme. No sane government would condone the vile, sadistic commentaries from Kanu before his arrest or the unleashing of terror on the Nigerian state by felons loyal to him called Unknown Gunmen. What were Igbo elders like Iwuanyanwu doing while Kanu constituted himself into such unmitigated outlawry? What were they doing while he forcefully blocked the economic windpipe of the race by declaring Sit-At-Home? Even ex-governors of the zone during the garrulous gangsterism of Kanu appeared so complicit and cowed by the roar of the uncouth lion that Kanu was. So, how has sitting at home on Mondays by the very entrepreneurial Southeast people, calculated to have set its economy backwards by billions, helped in advancing the cause of Kanu’s release or the injustices that have been forced down the throat of the race by successive Nigerian governments? Did the weekly economic injuries which Igbo inflicted on themselves by that act of calculated indolence, in any way, affect Buhari or wake him up from his eight years of perpetual somnambulist governance?

At the risk of immodesty, I am one of the few non-Igbo who can speak truth to the race. This is because I have spoken variously about the depth of love I encountered when I lived among the people. Igbo are one of the most beautiful races in the world. When then Governor Chimaroke Nnamani brought me to Enugu in 2003, he opened the water trough of the beauty, serenity and calmness of Igboland for me to gulp in abundance. Ever since, my fate seems intertwined with the land’s. Whenever I cross the Niger River, I feel at home. However, let us tell ourselves the truth: Igbo’s sheepish conformity with the illogicality of Sit-At-Home appears to the rest of the world a benign version of the suicide bomber mentality. To put it mildly, it is crazy. While the suicide bomber extinguishes self to destroy others, in Sit-At-Home, Igbo destroy themselves while assuming they are taking a pound of flesh from Nigeria. The inability of the elders of the race to stop the crimson-red dent on Igboland by Unknown Gunmen and the impression they created that violence is inextricably woven to the Igbo race, is fatal to the perception of the globe of an Igbo man.

Igbo’s immediate rash reaction to Mmesoma Ejikeme’s forged result is the same uncritical stand it took about Nnamdi Kanu’s incarceration. It was a We and Them response. Almost immediately, former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekweseli, called for further investigation into the allegation against the Igbo girl. I thought the first thing to do was to condemn the act, not necessarily the young girl and then ask for a probe. Innoson Motors, an Igbo-owned company, also immediately promised a N3 million scholarship for the young girl. Asari Dokubo, the Southsouth violence-baiting man then threw into the ring his known hatred for the Igbo. Mmesoma must be older than 19 because – wait for it – his own daughter was 15 when she sat for the same examination! What a puerile logic.

Yoruba’s reaction to the Mmesoma conundrum was also a continuation of the age-long tiff between it and its Igbo “enemy.” Which should not. Ethnicity should not have any role to play in ethical considerations. Whether Igbo, Hausa or Yoruba, wrong should have no binary name. It was this same ethno-centric position many took in the choice of who to mount political offices in the last general elections.

I think Igbo should extinguish the ghost of the incorrigible Sit-At-Home and Unknown Gunmen violence first before embarking on diplomatic shuttles for Kanu’s release. Those two issues are staining the white garment of this beautiful race.

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world ~ 1 Peter 5:8-9.

Introduction

End-time believers must be extra vigilant because the enemy, Satan, has become so vicious, virulent, violent, determined and passionate about his game of wickedness. He works to crush anything, destroy anyone and render impotent any destiny as much as he can (John 10:10).

Factually speaking, any rising profile will naturally attract the attention of the enemies of destiny, and mark it as a bigger target for the devil. The bigger the position, the stronger the opposition! It will serve your interests to understand that pretty well.

Satan is on regular surveillance, moving to and fro in the earth, seeking whom to devour and looking for a leading light to turn to darkness (Job 1:7; Luke 22:31). May you never fall prey to him, in the precious Name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Please note that the devil often appears disguised whenever he targets a destiny for destruction. This is largely because he actually lacks appeal to any sensible mind.

Occasionally, he appears in the form of a “subtle serpent” to beguile human senses and pervert judgments (Genesis 3:1-4). It was in this fashion he appeared to Eve and to Lot’s wife, and quite unfortunately, he got them (2 Corinthians 11:3).

He also sometimes disguises himself as an “angel of light” to deceive people with false views of spiritual things (2 Corinthians 11:14). Many false and misleading dreams, wrong convictions and strange personal persuasions are products of this appearance.

Albeit, whenever Satan senses that his chances are slim to get at someone in a disguised form, he always resorts to the use of brute force, intimidation and harassment. That’s when he appears like a “roaring lion” to wear down his targets or to destroy them with violent opposition, persecution, terrorism and death (1 Peter 5:8).

In this mode, Satan’s ploy is to devastate our emotions and   break our focus. These have always been his goal in all critical issues of life: disasters, protracted sicknesses, hardship, long-term delay, disappointments, chronic lack, etcetera.

Happily, God has promised to ensure that all circumstances in which we find ourselves, good or otherwise, surely end in praise (2 Peter 5:10)! Alleluia!!

Overcoming The Enemies of Destiny

As earlier mentioned, the devil always wishes to have his targets distracted, shut in, sulking and isolated. His chief aim is to keep man totally out-of-touch with God’s plan. And, the major weapon he deploys in order to accomplish this is human ignorance (Isaiah 5:13; Hosea 4:6).

No man ever rises beyond what he knows in life. Indeed, you’re what you know, even in spiritual matters. We all must be open to positive information if we hope to be victorious in the battles of life, and operate as God’s viceroy upon the earth (Psalm 82:5-6). The Bible counsels that an open rebuke is better than secret love (Proverbs 27:5-7; Hebrews 12:6).

Satan also readily engages sin as a potent destiny buster. Immorality, lust, unforgiveness, bitterness, pride, unbelief and, especially secret sins, are dangerous enemies of glorious destinies.

Of a truth, offences will come, but we should never allow them to become unhealed wounds (Luke 17:1; Romans 4:25). The oath of secrecy is the strength of sin; if you don’t want people to say nasty things about you, never do nasty things.

Furthermore, the devil also capitalizes on our apathy, or passionless living, as well as discouragement and our false sense of security in order to obliterate our destinies. A man’s foes can even be members of his own household. We must be watchful and wise!

How To Practically Overcome Satan!

I must emphasize at this point that despite the backdrop of Satan’s ardent wickedness and the notoriety of his workings, the true child of God can rest assured that it’s not everyone that he can swallow.

The believers who are sober, serious with God, humble, vigilant and prayerful are swallow-proof against him (1Peter 5:8). The youngest or even the weakest believer who can exercise a steadfast, pure and firm faith in Christ can overpower the devil.

Nothing in life can stop a man of purpose. No devil,  problem, opposition, violence, or drought has the ability to stop you. Only you can stop yourself from great achievements in life through your personal unbelief.

More so, whenever the devil is resisted, he flees (James 4:7). The devil is an already defeated foe. He knows it and each time you resist him he assumes you have known it too, and he understandably flees from you, shrinking and sighing like a lion with its tail between its legs.

Beloved friends and brethren in Christ, whatever you’re going through right now is not an accurate indicator of your final destination. Yes, the devil may have messed you up sometimes, but he cannot stall your destiny all the time, if you only learn early to enlist divine help and engage him in a sure fight of faith (1 Timothy 6:18).

Now, the best way to qualify ourselves for the help of God is to cooperate fully with the Holy Spirit and the principles of His mercy. Please, rely wholly upon the Word, like Jesus did. Be fearless like Joshua. Be humble like Moses, and stay focused like Nehemiah.

Be passionate evermore in your quest for destiny fulfillment. Dwell in Christ as He’s in you. Be prayerful, and never slack with regard to fasting. Those who wait upon the Lord never waste their destinies (Isaiah 40:30-31). This is your day, you won’t lose your luminance, in Jesus name. Amen. Happy Sunday!

** Bishop Taiwo Akinola,

Rhema Christian Church,

Otta, Ogun State, Nigeria.

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Lucid dreaming is associated with better subjective sleep quality, a higher sense of mental well-being, and lower feelings of loneliness, according to new research published in Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice. The findings suggest that while a small percentage of lucid dreams can be negative or have unpleasant aspects, lucid dreaming is generally a positive experience.

Lucid dreaming refers to the experience of being aware that you are dreaming while you are still in the dream state. In a lucid dream, the dreamer has the ability to exert some control over the dream narrative and may deliberately influence the events or actions that occur within the dream.

While there have been numerous studies highlighting the positive benefits of lucid dreaming, such as alleviating nightmares, improving motor skills, fostering creative problem-solving, and contributing to personal growth, concerns have been raised regarding its possible negative effects on sleep and mental well-being. The author of the new research, Tadas Stumbrys, conducted this particular study to investigate the potential adverse effects of lucid dreaming.

“I have been studying lucid dreaming for over a decade now, looking into its potentials, benefits,” explained Stumbrys, an assistant professor at Institute of Psychology at Vilnius University. “And every time I would give a talk on lucid dreaming, there would be always someone in the audience who would ask exactly the same question: ‘Are there any adverse effects of lucid dreaming?’ And the truth was that before conducting this research, there was not any systematic research on the potential side effects of it. This has prompted me to look into this topic.”

Stumbrys conducted an online survey with 489 participants from different countries, primarily the United States. The participants were asked to complete a questionnaire that included various measures and scales to assess their dream-related experiences, sleep quality, dissociation, and mental well-being.

The online questionnaire was distributed through social media platforms and online discussion forums related to lucid dreaming. The participants completed the survey anonymously, but they were asked to provide their email addresses to avoid multiple responses.

To understand the participants’ dream-related experiences, they were asked about the frequency of their dream recall and the frequency of specific dream phenomena like lucid dreams, nightmares, false awakenings, sleep paralysis, and out-of-body experiences. The participants were also asked about the emotional quality of their lucid dreams and whether they experienced them spontaneously or deliberately induced them using techniques.

To assess sleep quality, the participants completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, which asked about different aspects of their sleep, such as duration, disturbances, latency (time taken to fall asleep), efficiency, and subjective sleep quality.

Dissociation, which refers to a sense of detachment or disconnection from oneself or one’s surroundings, was measured using the Multiscale Dissociation Inventory. The participants rated the frequency of various dissociative experiences, such as disengagement, depersonalization (feeling detached from oneself), derealization (feeling the world is unreal), emotional constriction/numbing, memory disturbance, and identity dissociation.

To assess mental well-being, the participants completed the Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale, which focused on positive aspects of mental health. They also answered questions about feelings of loneliness and social isolation using the UCLA Loneliness Scale.

Stumbrys found that the frequency of lucid dreams was positively associated with the frequency of other sleep-related experiences such as dream recall, nightmares, false awakenings, sleep paralysis, and out-of-body experiences.

Most of the lucid dreams reported by participants were emotionally positive experiences, with only about 10% considered to be emotionally negative. Stumbrys found that dream recall frequency, false awakening frequency, and out-of-body experience frequency were significant predictors of lucid dream frequency.

The frequency of lucid dreams was not associated with total sleep quality scores or with dissociation. When examining the aspects of sleep quality separately, higher lucid dream frequency was associated with more sleep disturbances but also a greater subjective sleep quality and lower dysfunction. Similarly, when examining the different facets of dissociation separately, lucid dream frequency was linked to higher levels of derealization but fewer memory disturbances.

In terms of mental well-being, the frequency of lucid dreams was positively associated with greater mental well-being and lower feelings of loneliness. The proportion of deliberately induced lucid dreams was also associated with higher mental well-being.

The results indicate “that lucid dreaming seems to be a relatively safe approach to engage with the dream plot while being asleep, without evident detrimental effects,” Stumbrys told PsyPost. “However, people should be mindful that there is some other research showing that too intense preoccupation with lucid dream induction techniques, some of which require sleep interruption, may result in certain detrimental effects. So while lucid dreaming itself appears to be safe, putting too much effort into achieving it may not be that good idea.”

Like all research, the study has some limitations that should be considered. First, the data was collected through an online survey, which may have introduced selection bias. The participants were self-selected and may not be representative of the general population (e.g. they may have had more positive experiences with lucid dreaming). Additionally, the relationships observed are correlational and do not allow for causal conclusions.

“This study was based only on self-report and is cross-sectional, therefore causal relationships cannot be established,” Stumbrys said. “Future research would benefit from a longitudinal study observing a group of lucid dreamers over a longer period of time and measuring changes in a broader set of variables.”

PsyPost

Brain activity differs among people who feel out of touch with their peers.

There is a reason countless songs about loneliness exist. Many are relatable, since feeling alone is often part of being human. But a particular song or experience that resonates with one lonely person may mean nothing to someone else who feels isolated and misunderstood.

Human beings are social creatures. Those who feel left out often experience loneliness. To investigate what goes on in the brains of lonely people, a team of researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, conducted noninvasive brain scans on subjects and found something surprising. The scans revealed that non-lonely individuals were all found to have a similar way of processing the world around them. Lonely people not only interpret things differently from their non-lonely peers, but they even see them differently from each other.

“Our results suggest that lonely people process the world idiosyncratically, which may contribute to the reduced sense of being understood that often accompanies loneliness,” the research team, led by psychologist Elisa Baek, said in a study recently published in Psychological Science.

Feeling misunderstood

Previous studies have hinted at Baek’s findings. Feeling understood by others activates regions of the brain—the ventral striatum, middle insula, precuneus, and temporoparietal junction—that are related to social connections and reward processing, according to a 2014 study. That same study discovered that the brains of those who felt misunderstood showed more activity in regions associated with negative emotions, such as the anterior insula and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex.

For example, neurons that release dopamine—a neurotransmitter that can boost pleasure—are found in the ventral striatum. This is just one way that feeling connected can produce positive effects. On the other hand, the anterior insular cortex is highly involved with social interactions and emotions, including loneliness.

Studies like this made Baek want to see if there was something to an idea known as the “Anna Karenina principle.” Leo Tolstoy’s iconic novel Anna Karenina opens with the line, “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” To explore this idea, Baek and her team took functional MRI (fMRI) scans of the brains of 66 UCLA college freshmen as they watched short video clips of scenes associated with social interactions, such as parties and (of course) music that was supposed to be sentimental and could possibly trigger emotions.

Students participating in the study had already filled out a survey about how they felt about their social lives. Note that you can have lots of friends and a busy calendar but still end up feeling disconnected and misunderstood, which will affect the results of this survey. Those who scored above a certain level were categorized as “lonely,” while those who scored under that level were categorized as “non-lonely.”

The researchers then analyzed the fMRI scans, which show what is going on in the brain by measuring slight changes in blood flow that occur during neural activity. fMRI can also see which regions of the brain are engaged during specific activities; Baek’s team was looking for activity in those areas involved in socializing and the emotions that come with it.

Same feeling, different activity

The results of the scans were analyzed in pairs to search for intersubject correlations. This way, the researchers could identify similarities and differences in brain activity between lonely and non-lonely individuals and between any two lonely individuals or non-lonely individuals.

In this context, Tolstoy turned out to be right. The fMRI scans showed that the reactions of non-lonely individuals to the videos they watched were extremely similar. Lonely individuals had brain activity that was not only significantly different from that of non-lonely individuals but was even more dissimilar from each other, meaning that each lonely person in this study perceived the world in a distinct way.

Baek suggests that having a point of view different from others makes the lonely even lonelier, as they’re less likely to feel understood (though she does mention that it’s not clear whether this is a cause or effect of loneliness—or both). Loneliness also did not depend on social activity, as not every lonely subject lacked a social life. Even some of those who reported a decent amount of social activity in the survey, such as having many friends and participating in social events, exhibited neural characteristics that differed from those of non-lonely people.

“Lonely individuals process the world in a way that is dissimilar to their peers and to each other,” Baek said in the same study. “Future work can further test this possibility… to examine what aspects of lonely individuals’ interpretations are particularly idiosyncratic."

Anyone who is lonely can now be assured there is probably someone out there who feels just as isolated—just in a completely different way.

Ars Technica

President Bola Tinubu set up a panel to reform the country’s tax laws and fiscal policy in a bid to boost revenue generation and curb borrowings.

The committee to be headed by Taiwo Oyedele, fiscal policy partner and Africa tax leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, will work to “enhance revenue collection efficiency, ensure transparent reporting, and promote the effective utilization of tax and other revenues,” the president’s media office said in emailed statement on Friday. 

The government plans to transform the tax system to support sustainable development and achieve a minimum tax to gross domestic product ratio of 18% within the next three years, it said.

Nigeria’s tax revenue as a share of GDP was 10.9% in 2021, well below the 34.1% average from members of the OECD.

Low revenue collections have meant Africa’s biggest crude producer has relied significantly on borrowings to meet its public expenditure needs, complicating government efforts to rein in debt and fund infrastructure, education and health projects.

Since 2015, Nigeria’s public debt has increased seven-fold to about 77 trillion naira ($100 billion), according to the country’s Debt Management Office. Servicing those obligations consumed 96% of government revenue in 2022. 

The tax reforms “will not only improve Nigeria’s revenue profile but also create a more conducive and internationally-competitive business environment,” Adelabu Adedeji, special adviser to the president on revenue, said in the statement.

The creation of the committee comes a day after Tinubu suspended excise taxes on telecommunications services and some locally produced goods introduced two months ago to reduce business costs.

Since taking office on May 29, Tinubu has ended a fuel subsidy that cost $10 billion last year, removed a controversial central bank governor and eased foreign-exchange controls.

Bloomberg

Federal Government’s spending on personnel costs and debt servicing exceeded total revenues in 2022, the World Bank has stated.

It disclosed this in the June 2023 edition of the Nigeria Development Update.

According to the Washington-based bank, this was the first time the Federal Government’s personnel costs and debt servicing surpassed its total revenue.

The bank added that as a result of this, spending on capital expenditures weakened.

Personnel costs and interest payments on loans made up 59 per cent of the government’s total expenditures.

The Federal Government spent 102 per cent of its revenues on personnel costs and interest payments during the period under review.

The report read, “The quality of spending weakened in the face of financing constraints and mounting debt. Capital expenditures have been volatile, including steep contractions such as in 2022 when fiscal pressure was acute, making it more difficult to close Nigeria’s large infrastructure gap and weighing on future growth. Overall, the rigidity of expenditure has increased, squeezing fiscal space for the discretionary spending needed to meet development objectives.

“Personnel costs and interest payments comprise a growing share of total general government expenditures (59 per cent in 2022) and for the first time in 2022 exceeded total government revenues (102 per cent).”

The amount budgeted for personnel costs increased from N2.29tn spent in 2019 to N4.11tn in the 2022 budget, according to data obtained from the budget implementation report of the Federal Government.

This was an increase of N1.82tn or 79.48 per cent in three years, signalling a significant rise in recurrent expenditure.

According to data from the Debt Management Office, Nigeria’s debt servicing bill went up by 14.68 per cent to N3.36trn in 2022.

DMO said N2.93tn was spent on external and domestic debt servicing payments in 2021.

Nigeria’s debt servicing cost increased by 55.71 per cent to N1.24tn in three months.

According to data obtained from the Debt Management Office, between October and December 2022, the country spent N406.77bn on domestic debt servicing, while it spent $312.27m (N143.74bn) on external debt servicing, giving a total of N550.51bn.

However, between January and March 2023, Nigeria spent N874.13bn on domestic debt servicing, while it spent $801.36m (N368.87bn) on external debt servicing, a total of N1.24tn.

The exchange rate of the DMO, which was $1=N460.3 was used for the external debt servicing.

Punch

Federal health authorities declared a diphtheria outbreak on Thursday, a month after the disease killed a four-year-old in the capital, Abuja.

Multiple outbreaks have occurred across the country since late last year, with 798 confirmed cases reported as of June of this year, Nigeria Center for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) said in a statement.

“So far, a total of 80 deaths have been recorded among all confirmed cases,” the NCDC stated.

Diphtheria is a highly infectious disease caused by a toxin produced by bacteria that can lead to breathing difficulties, heart rhythm problems, and even death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The West African country’s health agency said it is “a vaccine-preventable disease covered by one of the vaccines provided routinely through Nigeria’s childhood immunization schedule.”

It reported that the majority of confirmed cases occurred among children between the ages of two and 14.

According to the NCDC, despite the “availability of a safe and cost-effective vaccine in the country,” a significant majority of infected people are unvaccinated.

It has urged people to get inoculated, and healthcare workers have been instructed to immediately notify disease surveillance officers about suspected cases.

Meanwhile, the Health and Human Services Secretariat in Abuja is said to have activated the diphtheria Incident Management System (IMS) to coordinate epidemic response activities.

Russia Today

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Pentagon admits disappointment with Ukrainian counteroffensive

Washington’s decision to supply Ukraine with controversial cluster munitions was partly influenced by disappointment with lackluster results of Kiev’s much-vaunted summer counteroffensive, the US Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl told reporters on Friday.

Speaking immediately after the White House announced that President Joe Biden had signed off on the delivery of dual-purpose improved conventional munitions (DPICM) to Ukraine, Kahl said that the decision was influenced by “the urgency of the moment.” 

“We want to make sure that the Ukrainians have sufficient artillery to keep them in the fight in the context of the current counteroffensive, and because things are going a little slower than some had hoped,” he said. 

Kahl admitted that “the Russians have been more successful digging in deeply, perhaps more than is appreciated.”

Kahl, the highest ranking civilian official in the Pentagon, also acknowledged that the cluster munitions would serve as a “bridge” until the US and its allies can increase production of conventional 155mm artillery shells for Ukraine.

After months of postponements, Ukraine’s counteroffensive began on June 4 with a failed attack on Russian positions near Donetsk, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. Outmatched by Russian artillery and lacking air support, Ukraine’s NATO-trained brigades advanced through Russian-laid minefields, suffering steep casualties. The Russian Defense Ministry estimated late last month that Ukraine lost around 13,000 troops and nearly 250 tanks between June 4 and June 21.

Despite these high losses, Kahl claimed on Friday that Kiev’s forces were still “probing for weak spots” in Russia’s multi-layered defensive network, and that the majority of Ukraine’s combat power “has not been brought to bear.”

American officials have been disappointed with the lack of progress, according to multiple US media reports over the last three weeks. Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials have alternated between claiming that the true counteroffensive has yet to begin, and blaming the West for not providing enough weapons to guarantee success. 

Cluster munitions are banned in more than 120 countries because when they detonate, they release many small ‘bomblets’ over a wide area, with these unexploded elements posing severe risks to civilians for years after fighting ends. The US is not a party to the ban, but maintains a prohibition on the export of munitions with a ‘dud’ rate of more than 1%.

Biden waived this ban to supply DPICM ammunition to Ukraine based on “unanimous” advice from his national security team, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on Friday. According to Kahl, the DPICM rounds sent to Kiev will have a failure rate of up to 2.35%.

** Democrats slam cluster bomb transfer to Ukraine

Several US Democrats have condemned President Joe Biden’s decision to supply cluster munitions to Ukraine, citing concerns the bombs could maim and kill non-combatants for decades to come.

Following an announcement by the White House earlier on Friday, a number of House Democrats made their opposition known, with Pennsylvania Rep. Representative Chrissy Houlahan saying the move could blur the lines of America's percieved “moral high ground.”

“A victory for Ukraine is an essential victory for democracies across the globe, but that victory cannot come at the expense of our American values and thus democracy itself,” said Houlahan, an Air Force veteran and the co-chair for a congressional caucus on unexploded ordnance.

Cluster bombs carry smaller explosive submunitions which are scattered across a target area, frequently used against infantry and lightly armored vehicles. However, due to their tendency to leave behind undetonated ‘duds’ – which can remain live in former conflict zones for decades – more than 120 nations have agreed to ban the weapon, including a majority of NATO members. 

Though Washington has not joined the international Convention on Cluster Munitions, lawmakers passed legislation in 2009 which barred exports of any cluster bombs with a ‘dud’ rate of more than 1%, which applies to most of the US stockpile. While the law effectively prohibited all foreign transfers of the weapon, the White House can waive the restriction at any time.

During a Pentagon briefing on Thursday, press secretary Patrick Ryder was asked to address concerns over cluster bombs, insisting the military would “carefully” select which type of munitions to send. He claimed any transfer “would not include older variants with dud rates that are higher than 2.35 percent” – more than double the limit set by Congress.

Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts also issued a statement questioning the wisdom of providing cluster weapons to Kiev, saying the bombs “disperse hundreds of bomblets, which can travel far beyond military targets and injure, maim and kill civilians – often long after a conflict is over.” Though Washington, Moscow and Kiev have each declined to sign the cluster bomb treaty, he observed that a long list of US allies had already banned the munitions.

Democrats Ilhan Omar and Sara Jacobs said they will soon introduce legislation that would impose a full-blown ban on cluster bomb transfers as part of foreign military assistance. Jacobs argued the weapons would “prevent the successful economic rebuilding and recovery that’s needed to ensure a prosperous Ukraine and maintain anti-corruption gains,”apparently referring to Kiev’s efforts to crack down on official graft as it seeks to join the NATO bloc.

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters on Friday that US officials “recognize that cluster munitions create a risk of civilian harm from unexploded ordnance,” but defended the move after putting it off “for as long as we could.” Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl refused to confirm how many bombs would be provided to Ukraine, but said that there are “hundreds of thousands” of such shells in US stockpiles.

** Russian air defenses down Su-25 ground attack plane in Ukraine operation

Russian air defense forces shot down a Ukrainian Su-25 ground attack plane in the Zaporozhye Region and intercepted 21 rockets of the HIMARS and Uragan multiple launch rocket systems over the past day during the special military operation in Ukraine, Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Friday.

"Air defense capabilities shot down a Ukrainian Air Force Su-25 plane near the settlement of Odarovka in the Zaporozhye Region. In the past 24 hours, they intercepted 21 rockets of the HIMARS and Uragan multiple launch rocket systems," the spokesman said.

In addition, Russian air defense systems destroyed 13 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles in areas near the settlements of Velikaya Lepetikha in the Kherson Region, Pologi and Konovalova in the Zaporozhye Region, Shipilovka in the Lugansk People’s Republic, Volodino, Valeryanovka and Staromikhailovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic, the general reported.

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

US to send Ukraine cluster munitions, NATO makes membership pledge

The United States announced on Friday that it would supply Ukraine with widely banned cluster munitions for its counteroffensive against occupying Russian forces, and NATO's leader said the military alliance would unite at a summit next week on how to bring Ukraine closer to joining.

Rights groups and the United Nations secretary-general questioned Washington's decision on the munitions, part of an $800 million security package that brings total U.S. military aid to more than $40 billion since Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who describes the conflict as a "special military operation" to protect Russian security, has said the U.S. and its allies were fighting an expanding proxy war.

The cluster munitions "will deliver in a time frame that is relevant for the counteroffensive," a Pentagon official told reporters.

Cluster munitions are prohibited by more than 100 countries. Russia, Ukraine and the United States have not signed on to the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which bans production, stockpiling, use and transfer of the weapons.

They typically release large numbers of smaller bomblets that can kill indiscriminately over a wide area. Those that fail to explode pose a danger for decades after a conflict ends.

"Ukraine has provided written assurances that it is going to use these in a very careful way" to minimize risks to civilians, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said.

U.S. President Joe Biden described the decision on cluster bombs as difficult but said Ukraine needed them.

BOTH SIDES SHOULD STOP USING CLUSTER BOMBS -HRW

Human Rights Watch has accused Russian and Ukrainian forces of using cluster munitions, which have killed civilians.

Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov criticized the transfer of these weapons to Ukraine by the U.S.

"The cruelty and cynicism with which Washington has approached the issue of transferring lethal weapons to Kyiv is striking," TASS news agency on Friday quoted Antonov as saying.

"Now, by the fault of the US, there will be a risk for many years that innocent civilians will be blown up by submunitions that have failed."

Ukraine says it has taken back some villages in southern Ukraine since the counteroffensive began in early June, but that it lacks the firepower and air cover to make faster progress.

Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield situation.

"It's too early to judge how the counteroffensive is going one way or the other because we're at the beginning of the middle," Colin Kahl, the U.S. under secretary of defense for policy, told reporters.

ZELENSKIY TOURS NATO COUNTRIES

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Turkey a day after talks in Bulgaria to drum up support for NATO membership before the alliance's July 11-12 summit.

Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan said after meeting Zelenskiy that Ukraine deserved NATO membership and that Ankara would continue working on a negotiated end to the war.

In Prague, Zelenskiy won a pledge of support for Ukraine to join NATO "as soon as the war is over", and in Sofia secured backing for membership "as soon as conditions allow."

North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg reaffirmed his view that Ukraine would become a member.

"Our summit will send a clear message: NATO stands united, and Russia's aggression will not pay," Stoltenberg said at a news conference in Brussels.

It remained unclear, however, what Ukraine will be offered next week at the summit in Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital. The alliance is divided over how fast Ukraine should move towards membership, and some countries are wary of any step that might take NATO closer to war with Russia.

Biden, in an excerpt of a CNN interview that aired on Friday, underscored the point. "I don't think there is unanimity in NATO" about Ukraine joining now, he said.

Zelenskiy has acknowledged that Kyiv is unlikely to be able to join NATO while at war with Russia. Putin has threatened unspecified action if Ukraine joins NATO.

UN WARNS RUSSIA ON GRAINS DEAL

At the United Nations, aid chief Martin Griffiths warned Russia that it should not "chuck away" an agreement it made a year ago on the safe wartime passage of agricultural exports, known as the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

If Russia does not agree to extend the deal that allows export of grain and fertilizer from Ukrainian ports, it is unlikely Western states will continue cooperating with U.N. officials helping Moscow with its exports, Griffiths told reporters.

Russia has threatened to quit the deal, which expires on July 17, because several demands to export its own grain and fertilizer have not been met. The last three ships traveling under the deal are loading cargoes at the Ukrainian port of Odesa and are likely to depart on Monday.

The United Nations and Turkey brokered the deal with Russia and Ukraine in July 2022 to help tackle a global food crisis worsened by Moscow's invasion of its neighbor and blockade of Ukrainian Black Sea ports.