Friday, June 29, 2007

Schedule of Mission in Cameroon -July 11-August 8 2007

July 2007

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

There will be seminars on Isreal in Biblical prophesy on other locations still being negotiated. All pastors in Bamenda Town are invited for the Israel in Biblical prophecy seminar in Bayelle Baptist Church.

All pastors in Ndop Field are invited for the Israel in Biblical prohecy seminar in Fountain Baptist Church Ndop.


Thursday 12: Visit to Baptist Headquarter, Bamenda
Friday 13: Personal Retreat in preparation for seminars and outreach
Saturday 14: Contact Pastor of CBC Bamunka and Associate for discussion on Seminars
Visit Ndop Prison Superintendent for discussion on Prison Ministry Project
Sunday 15: Two Sermons on Christian Missions in Bamunka Baptist Church (Sunday services)
Monday 16: Seminar on Prison Ministry in CBC Bamunka. 9-11am (Break in between)
Tuesday 17: Seminar on Spiritual Life in CBC Bamunka. 3-5pm (Break in between)
Wednesday 18: Seminar on Spiritual Warfare: Identifying and Dealing with Occult Doctrines and Practices in CBC Bamunka. 3-5pm (Break in between)
Prayer Session for Cameroon. 5-6pm
Thursday 19: Visit to Ndop Prison: Message to inmates and Counseling / Gifts of food items. (Time to be arranged in PM seminar)
Friday 20: Evaluation of Prison Ministry Outreach by a Committee/Proposals in Bamunka CBC Church. (Time to be arranged with Prison Ministry Coordinators and Prison Ministry Teams after seminar)
Sunday 22: Sermon in Zion Baptist Church on Spiritual Life/ Prayers for the country
Monday 23: Seminar on Spiritual Life in First Baptist Church Babungo for all four churches in the Area.3-pm
Tuesday 24: Seminar on Identifying and dealing with occult doctrines and practices in First Baptist Church for all Churches. 3- 5 pm
Wednesday 25: Seminar ends and time for Counseling. 3-5pm
Thursday 26: Visit to Denominational Authorities in Ndop to Discuss Prison Ministry Project
Friday 27: Prison Outreach with trained teams from Churches
Saturday 28: Evaluation and Planning Meeting with Prison Ministry Coordinators in CBC Bamunka ( 9-11 am) Seminar on Israel and the Church in Biblical Prophecy (3-5 pm)
Sunday 29:9-12 am Seminar on Israel and the Church in Biblical Prophecy
Monday 30: Follow –up prison ministry outreach: Bible Studies with inmates. 9-11 am
Tuesday 31:
Meeting with Prison Ministry Coordinators: The Way Forward. CBC Bamunka. 3-5pm
Meeting with Prison Superintendent: Cooperation. 9-10 am

August 2007

Wednesday 1: 3-5 p.m Seminar on Israel and the Church in Biblical prophecy in Faith Baptist Church
Thursday 2: Families in Bamenda; Fellowship, Bible Studies/prayer
Friday 3: Radio Program
Saturday 4 : 3-5pm Seminar begins on Israel and the Church in Biblical prophecy in Bayelle Baptist Church Seminar on Israel and Biblical Prophecy
Sunday 5: Seminar on Israel and the Church in Biblical prophecy in Bayelle Baptist Church
Monday 7: Departure to Douala
Tuesday 8-9: Departure -Arrival at Amsterdam

PRAYER CONCERNS FOR ISRAEL AND THE CHURCH IN BIBLICAL PROPHECY
1.Pray for God's presence in all the seminar locations.
2.Pray that God's Spirit will stir the hearts of pastors, church leaders and all whom He elects to attend these seminars with hearts ready for God's truth concerning Israel.
3.Wisdom and humility as we contact leaders of various denominations with the message of Israel in biblical prohecy and the mission of Christians for Israel International.
4.Pray for good health and strength for a very hectic program.
5.Pray against all forms of distraction as we conduct seminars, Radio and TV presentations.
6.Pray for provision of the resources we need for this ministry.
7.Pray for God to elect men and women who will commit their hearts to God's Word concerning Israel and work dedicatedly for the first ever C4i conference in Cameroon and West Africa.
8. Pray for the actualization of this conference and a C4i branch in Cameroon in God's timming.
9. And that the mission of C4i will spread from Cameroon to other countries in West Africa as the Church grows in the knowlege of biblical revelation regarding Israel and love for God's chosen nation.
10. Pray for my wife, Eleanor as we work together.


PRAYER CONCERNS FOR PRISON MINISTRY
1. Pray that God will speak to the hearts of His people to volunteer for prison ministry in Ndop.
2. Pray for wisdom to equip volunteers with his Word.
3. Pray for the pastors and members of Fountian Baptist Church Bamunka, First Baptist Church,Zion Baptist Church Babubgo, Babessi Central Baptist Church, Berean Baptist Church Bamenda as they make arrangements to host seminars.
4. Pray for the staff of Ndop Prison Institution.
5. Pray that God will open the hearts of prisoners to receive and live by His word.
6. Pray that we will be successful with seminars.
7. Pray that there will be results after these seminars.
8. Pray for all the volunteers and coordinators of the prison ministry in Ndop.
9. Ask God for His protection as I travel to Cameroon from Holland.
10. Ask for God's protection as I return Holland on the 8th of August.
11 Pray for for all the items as you find on the program

As you ponder and pray for these things, "I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being." Ephesians 3:16

Shalom

Sunday, June 24, 2007

A Black Rabbi makes serious Claims about Jews from Cameroon

Early this year, a Dutch lady asked me in a conversation if there are Jews in Cameroon. I quickly answered "no" and never bothered about the issue. Yesterday, a German Christian again in a conversation repeated the same question. Again my answer was the same. However, no sooner had I finished than a Kenyan pastor on my right said "there could be". I was amazed and promised to check. Here is what I found. It may interest you. Please check this website. http://www.haruth.com/jw/JewsCameroon.htm or read the copy I have pasted here.

Mystery of the Ten Lost Tribes
The Jews of Cameroon
by: Doreen Wachman

A BLACK rabbi who claims to be the head of the Cameroon government in exile, has the backing of Israeli and British ultra Orthodox rabbinates to bring back the lost ten tribes from Africa. Rabbi Yisrael Oriel, currently in Manchester fundraising for his massive endeavor, revealed his amazing story.

[Reproduced by courtesy of the Jewish Telegraph Group of Newspapers UK http://www.jewishtelegraph.com]

Jews from Cameroon, he said, originate from Egypt. In order to escape the Islamic conquest of North Africa they were pushed towards the Equator and settled in Central West Africa 1,200 years ago. Yisrael, formerly Bodol Ngimbus-Ngimbus, was born into the Ba-Saa tribe. The word Ba-Saa, he said, is from the Hebrew for `on a journey' and means blessing. Rabbi Oriel claims to be a Levite descended from Moses.

Other Jewish tribes in Cameroon, Nigeria, and Mauritania he said, included Haussa, descended from the tribe of Issachar, who were forced to convert to Islam in the eighth and ninth centuries, and the Bamileke.

He said that in 1920 there were 400,000 'Israelites' in Cameroon. But by 1962 the number had decreased to 167,000 due to conversion from Christian and Islamic missionaries. However, he admitted that these tribes had not been accepted halachically although he could prove their ,Jewish status from medieval rabbinic sources.

Yisrael, whose curriculum vitae states his birth date as 'The Year of the Beginning of 'World Redemption', told me that he is over 50. His father Hassid Peniel Moshe Shlomo (Ngimbus Nemb Yemba), a textile manufacturer, scribe, mohel and tribal leader, had been imprisoned 50 times for teaching his traditional Jewish beliefs.

In 1932 he had run away from a Catholic school because they had wanted him to train for the priesthood.

Yisrael describes the condition of Jews in Central Africa between 1920 and 1960 as "a spiritual Shoah". Because of intense missionary activity, it was "like the Soviet Union where Jews had no permission for Jewish education, no batei din, synagogues or sifrei Torah. Everything was taught by oral tradition".

Although young Yisrael (Bodol) was sent to a humanist boarding school, from which he only returned home once a year, he remembers Jewish tradition from his early life at home. His grandfather had built a synagogue, now in ruins, of which his uncle had been the last gabbai. Nevertheless, even without a synagogue, the family prayed to the one invisible God in the Ba-Saa language, which, he said, contained many Aramaic words.

Yisrael was circumcised when he was eight-days-old. The men wore stone tephillin on their arms and wood on their head. His mother Orah Leah (Ngo Ngog Lum) had a large kitchen in which milk and meat were separated by six meters. Shortly before his mother died in 1957, she told him: "My beloved child, one day you will go to 'Yesulmi'." It was not till 1980 that he realized that she must have meant Jerusalem.

Meanwhile, soon after Cameroon independence in 1960. Yisrael was awarded a UNESCO scholarship to study in Strasbourg and Paris where he established an impressive academic career in law and international relations.

He was also heavily involved in Cameroon politics, having founded his own political party, the Bantu People's Party, to oppose the Cameroon government which he considered "barbaric, monolithic and fascist". Three times, he contested the position of Cameroon president.

Yisrael considers himself the only nonviolent and noncommunist Central African opposition leader, forming a Cameroon government in exile.

Whilst lecturing in Germany, Yisrael entered into a civil marriage with a woman who claimed to be Jewish. They divorced when he became sure she could not prove her Jewish roots. Their son Osiris, he claims, was kidnapped by Cameroon agents, who have repeatedly tried to assassinate him for opposition stance.

In 1980, the German government cancelled his refugee status. His home and belongings were confiscated and he was expelled. Lecturing in Greece at the time, he was advised by his lawyers to put his case to the UN High Commission for Refugee in Geneva.

Lecturing in the Swiss city to a Jewish audience on the Jews of Central Africa, Yisrael met, Elmer Benedict, the Hungarian-born Jew who helped him return to his Jewish roots. Over a cup of coffee after the lecture, Elmer asked him why his head was not covered and invited him to his home for Shabbat. As his refugee passport was expiring and he did not have a Swiss work permit, Yisrael was becoming desperate.

A friend of Elmer's, Emanuel Gay, offered him a job as a legal consultant in his business and he was able to remain in Switzerland for seven years. During this time he made a decision to start a new Jewish life and cut back on his political and academic ambitions. Meanwhile, he was coping with his own personal tragedies. Not able to return to Cameroon, he had not seen his brother Macir since he left the country and only heard of his father's death seven years after it occurred.

He made aliya in 1988 and was ordained as a rabbi by the Sephardic Chief Rabbi and appointed rabbi to Nigerian Jews. He explained that he was not able to go to neighboring Cameroon because of the political situation.

He accuses the Israeli government, of daily persecutions including the confiscation of his belongings and preventing him from working in the country. He further claims that Israel is racist in its treatment of black immigrants and accuses the Israeli government of trying to prevent the democratic process in Cameroon. He believes that the Jewish Agency and the Ministry of Aliya have documents on the Jewish tribes in Africa and fear that if there were democracy in the country, then they might want to rediscover their Jewish roots. Eli Yerushalmi of the Israeli Embassy in Britain would not comment on the allegations.

Despite all the alleged Israeli opposition against him, he claims to have helped most Israeli politicians from Moshe Shamir on the right to Yossi Sarid on the left., for the sake of `Jewish unity'.

He has published 12 books of Torah and set up a yeshiva and kollel in Meah Shearim to train staff to go to Nigeria to bring the 10 lost tribes back to the fold.

His mission is being supported by Israel's ultra-Orthodox Beth Din Zedek, Sephardi Beth Din and Rabbi Avrohom Pinter of London's Yesodev Hatorah Schools Manchester's Vaad Hatzdoko has also authorized his fundraising.

When I asked a spokesman for the Jerusalem Beth Din Zedek if he was sure that there were in fact halachically acceptable Jews in Central Africa, he replied that he accepted Rabhi Oriel's claims.

Rabbi Oriel is currently staying for three weeks at the home of Rabbi Elimelech ilberger, 58 Wellington Street East. Salford 7, where donations can be sent, as well as to Yesode, Harorah School. 2-4 Amhurst Park. London N16 WG. He can be contacted in Manchester on 0161 792 2706 or in Israel on 00972256 896285.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

The Need for a Cameroonian Social Theology from the Book of James

There are a number of reasons why a contextual theology that addresses social concerns is needful for the evangelical churches in Cameroon and why James’s Epistle is a suitable basis for such a theology.

Firstly, the social intent of James’s ethics has not received much attention in the scholarship appraisal on the Book. There are lots of trustworthy literary works on the theme of theological ethics in the Epistle of James. Many of these works tend to focus on personal ethics. They fall short of emphasis on the local church’s collective involvement in social concerns. Personal commitment to ethical life in community is fundamental. In addition, James’s ethical paradigms give impetus to collective concern for community transformation.

Secondly, there is a biblical warrant for the church’s involvement in community change efforts.
The Church as the custodian of Kingdom ideals has a biblical mandate to participate in a holistic improvement of the world order by collective means. It is worth stating that social concern is not to be an end in itself or the kingdom itself per se. It is the church’s involvement in God’s vision for restoring divine order in a world ravaged by sin. It adorns God’s kingdom, making it more attractive to those who are outside of the church.
According to the Book of James, social concern is a means by which saving faith goes public. James admonishes the Jewish believers saying, “Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do”(James 2:18). The church needs a theology that defines and explains this “showing” of her faith in the community. Churches in different settings may construct theologies peculiar to their own contexts but should conform to general biblical principles. James’s theological ethics offers such principles, which could be helpful in constructing a social theology for the churches in Cameroon.

Thirdly, liberal approaches to contextualization have forced Cameroonian protestant evangelicals either to downplay or retreat from contextual theology. For instance, Western conservative evangelicals rightly criticized the Social Gospel Movement for limiting the kingdom of God to a new social order. The proponents of this avant-garde theology believed that the new social order would be ushered in only through social reform. In the same way, the Ecumenical Movement has been criticized for allegedly limiting missions to social concern and the campaign for justice. It was initially for this reason that Western evangelicals retreated from social work.
In the same way, liberation theology, which has been expressed in Africa in the form of Black theology, theology of decolonization, and Ethiopianism have failed to emphasize the authority of the Bible in responding to various social and political situations in African contexts. Instead, most of these models while emphasizing one’s struggles in his socio-cultural environments, and dialogue between faith tradition and experience have largely failed to underscore the biblical authority over all.

Most evangelicals agree that community and context play an important role in theology, but regard with suspicion any theological formulations that downplay biblical authority. It is partly for this reason that Protestant Churches in Cameroon have not invested much effort in social change theologies. It is therefore a necessity to engage in the formulation of a social change theology that is supportable on biblical grounds.

Fourthly, context demands theologies of social change. Experiential realities have often produced theological reflections on such situations. Africa is a continent with complex turmoil. The African church was forced to react to colonialism with the theology of decolonization. Apartheid in South Africa provoked an African form of Black theology. Prosperity theology has been a way of reflecting on economic poverty in African societies. These theologies and the different ways of involvement have their pros and cons.
The Catholic Church in Cameroon through her Episcopal Conference of Bishops has been at the forefront of addressing corruption in the country. Protestant churches have been timid in the guise of separation between church and state. The church can always with humilty make a contribution to the moral and social progress of a nation without overlapping church and state. Generally, African protestant theologians have lost their fervor for social theology. This is due in part to the disappearance of some large-scale social problems; for instance colonialism and Apartheid. But poverty, disease, corruption, intertribal disputes and other social crises still abound in the church and communities in Cameroon that require the church’s attention.