The African Praise Experience TAPE will hold on the 26th July 2019 from 8pm till dawn.
The concert which features wholly indigenous and leading gospel artistes from Africa will hold at the Rock Cathedral home of the organizers and host church – House On The Rock, Lekki, Lagos, Nigeria.
It is being hosted by Paul Adefarasin.
Headlining The African Praise Experience (T.A.P.E) 2019 is a constellation of leading Gospel voices like Preye Odede, Sammie Okposo, Frank Edwards, Ada, Eben, Bukola Bekes, Mike Aremu, Soluchy, Kikelomo Mudiaga, Mike Abdul, Mercy Chinwo and the Lagos Metropolitan Gospel Choir (LMGC).
A whole night of electric ethnic praise and worship!
Book 2 in the Mark of the Lion series, An Echo in the Darkness picks up where A Voice in the Wind leaves off.
A year has passed and Hadassah has donned veils to protect her identity as well as the scars that now mark her body.
Believed dead, Hadassah finds employment helping a doctor in the poor section of the city and develops a knack for healing through the power of her faith. When Julia falls ill, Hadassah is forced to confront another difficult decision: should she return to the Valerian household, risking exposure and death, to help her former tormentor in the Christian tradition?
The flame between Hadassah and Marcus is ultimately rekindled, though Marcus continues to search for meaning and faith.
Turning away from the opulence of Rome, Marcus is led by a whispering voice from the past into a journey that could set him free from the darkness of his soul.
Will he find God and spiritual fulfillment, becoming the man Hadassah knows he can be?
The government has banned Somizi Buyani Mhlongo, a South African gay television presenter actor and singer from performing in Zambia.
Minister of religious affairs Godridah Sumaili says Somizi is not welcome in Zambia. He was supposed to be star guest at Lusaka’s July show.
Sumaili said the government would not condone a situation where organisations were inviting people with questionable characters that might compromise the morals of the land.
“Every country has laws. Here in Zambia, we have a constitution that guides citizens on morals and its christian values. We do not condone gayism. It is a crime and inviting such people means we are slowly accepting the vice,” she said.
She was reacting on the invitation of Somizi Buyani Mhlongo, a South African gay television presenter by PR Girl Media to the next month event.
Over the past two days, we’ve seen how the Philistines contended with Isaac over wells he and his men had dug. Like Isaac, a lot of people are being contended with and these contentions can either be physical or spiritual.
With whomever you find your gods, do not let him live. In the presence of our brethren, identify what I have of yours and take it with you.” For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them. Now Rachel had taken the household idols, put them in the camel’s saddle, and sat on them. And Laban searched all about the tent but did not find them.
Genesis 31:32, 34
Genesis 31 gives an account of how Jacob fled from his Uncle Laban’s house, where he had lived for 20 years. Rachel, his second wife and daughter of his uncle Laban, stole her father’s gods as they were fleeing. When Laban realized that the gods had been stolen, he got so furious and chased after Isaac, accusing him of stealing his gods. Jacob, knowing he was innocent, cursed whoever stole the gods, not knowing it was his wife. Rachel eventually died while giving birth to her second son Benjamin as a result of the curse.
Just like Rachel, sometimes we open ourselves up to contention without even realizing. What then are the sources of these contentions?
The gods of your family.
The gods from her father’s house that she took were responsible for her death as she would not have died if she hadn’t stolen them in the first place.
Your past
Even though she had been introduced to a new God by her husband, she could not let go of the past and embrace the new life. She still wanted to depend on her father’s gods.
The words of a superior person. Jacob didn’t curse her but only spoke, and those words came to pass.
“Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom.”
Proverbs 13:10 (KJV).
Pray with me:
Father, I come against every contention in my life. I silence the gods of my father’s house and destroy every altar speaking against me. I reverse every negative word spoken over my life in the name of Jesus, Amen.
The Great Invitation Service with Bishop Eddy Addy came off last Sunday, the 23rd of June 2019 at the Qedesh, East Legon Hills, Accra.
It was a great time in the presence of the Lord. There was dancing, singing, prophecies, blessings and most importantly, many many souls surrendered to Christ.
“The city was silently bloating in the hot sun, rotting like the thousands of bodies that lay where they had fallen in street battles.” With this opening sentence, A Voice in the Wind transports readers back to Jerusalem during the first Jewish-Roman War, some seventy years after the death of Christ.
Following the prides and passions of a group of Jews, Romans and Barbarians living at the time of the siege, the narrative is centered on an ill-fated romance between a steadfast slave girl, Hadassah, and Marcus, the brother of her owner and a handsome aristocrat.
After surviving the massacre of her family and the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, Hadassah is captured and sold to a well-to-do merchant’s family. Brought to Rome, she is pressed into service as a personal slave to hedonistic Julia Valerian.
Hadassah struggles to walk in the footsteps of Jesus and to treat her masters in a manner in keeping with His teachings, but she is forced to keep her religious identity a secret in order to survive. Confused and alone, she has only her faith to cling to as she tries to subtly bring God into the lives of her captors.
Reckless, impulsive, and villainous, Julia tries to undermine Hadassah at every turn. But Julia’s brother, Marcus, is a different sort altogether. Is it possible for a love between Hadassah and Marcus to flourish considering not only their differing stations in life, but also the gap between Hadassah’s unrelenting faith and Marcus’ lack of belief in anything?
Simultaneously, Atretes, a captured soldier from Germania, is forced to become a gladiator. This is the time of Rome’s decline and the decadence of a civilization on the verge of self-destruction serves as a powerful backdrop to the Barbarian’s struggle for survival in the arena.
Speakers: Matthew Ashimolowo, Dr Mensa Otabil, Prophet Brian Carn, Rev Canon J.John, Dr Pat Francis, Dr Jazz Sculark, Dr Samuel Rodriguez and Bishop Okonkwo
Music: Angella Christie and Tim Godfrey
Sessions: Registration is required for the Daytime School of Ministry sessions at 10am and 2pm. Sunday and evening sessions are free. Children up to 16 years old attend sessions FREE.
Book publishers are pleading with President Donald Trump to not impose what they are calling a “Bible tax.”
The United States and China have been in a trade war for months. The proposed U.S. tariffs are on $300 billion worth of Chinese goods and would impact many different industries, including all printed materials.
The proposed tax would hit Bibles and children’s books, which are primarily made in China. The companies that produce materials in China claim that they produce their materials in China because of the “unique paper, printing technology and skills needed,” according to Bloomberg.
During a seven-day hearing this week, companies affected by the tax and trade group officials appeared before the U.S. International Trade Commission to share their testimonies.
Mark Schoenwald, the chief executive officer of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, appeared before the panel of officials at the trade commission to plead the case of the publishers.
“We believe the administration was unaware of the potential negative impact these proposed tariffs would have on Bibles and that it never intended to impose ‘a Bible tax’ on consumers and religious organizations,” Schoenwald said.
Schoenwald also noted the 25% tariff would alter the entire publishing market.
If implemented, the tariff would consequently force the publishing group to raise their prices, which would lead to a Bible shortage, that would not only hurt Christian booksellers, but also ministries, churches, nonprofits, and other religious organizations, according to Schoenwald.
Daniel Reynolds, the CEO of Workman Publishing Co. in New York also appeared before the panel of officials. Reynolds pointed out that the companies can’t move production to other countries, because China has waterproof and nontoxic materials that other’s do not have.
“If tariffs are imposed, there will be fewer books available to American kids,” he said.
On the last Sunday in April, a pastor in Cúcuta, Colombia, was shocked to see his church at capacity. It wasn’t a one-time phenomenon, either; his church has since added an additional service to accommodate the crowd.
He really shouldn’t have been taken aback, he said several weeks later. After all, it’s what he’d been praying for—more people seeking Christ. And he wasn’t alone in those prayers.
For months leading up to Franklin Graham’s Festival de Esperanza (Festival of Hope) in Cúcuta, more than 300 local churches prayed and invited people to come.
Pastor Mario Diaz Ayala was one of them. He knew this was going to be an unprecedented event for his city, which sits on the border of Venezuela. The area has faced—and still faces—severe economic uncertainty on both sides of the border.
Pastor Mario served on the Festival’s leadership team and had everyone in his church inviting people to hear Franklin Graham preach at a massive soccer stadium. Church members went door to door, handing out flyers. Pastor Mario helped organize 12 of the hundreds of busloads of people who came, and others in the church used their own cars to drive people to the event.
In the two days before Easter, more than 94,000 people heard the Gospel, plus another 22,000 who attended a kid-centric evangelistic program called FestiKids earlier in the week.
“It was amazing—an incredible opportunity for this city,” Pastor Mario said.
Franklin Graham preached on Easter weekend, and hundreds came forward in response to Christ. Here’s one pastor’s story of what happened afterwards.
But any church that’s been involved in a Festival knows that’s not where it ends. What happens after people decide to start a life with Christ? Where do they go once the event is over and the venue clears out?
At every evangelistic event, Franklin Graham encourages new believers to go to church where they can grow in their faith. But it’s not just a recommendation; there are people on the ground to be sure each new Christian is connected with a church nearby.
That’s where people like Pastor Mario come in. More than 50 new people showed up at his church the Sunday after the Festival.
“We were surprised by the Lord,” he said. “The people don’t fit. There are too many people.”
And they keep coming—some who didn’t even go to the Festival.
Not that that’s a bad thing.
Before the Festival, Pastor Mario said his church had 170 members. Now it’s 250 on Sunday morning and another 250 on Sunday afternoon. His church also added a Saturday service specifically for new Christians, around 50 to 70 people.
Right now, his church is made up of three small houses situated next to each other, with no walls between. He’d like to buy a fourth house to expand the building.
It’s not all up to him to care for the new faces, though. He’s mobilized his entire church to help disciple new Christians and teach them the basics of Christianity.
Church growth has sparked a fresh wave of prayer, too. There are 15 new prayer groups just for new believers.
Another kicker: his church isn’t the only one. He knows other pastors desiring larger church spaces since the Festival because more people are showing up on the weekends.
