WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russia retrains ex-soldiers heading back to the battlefield

The bearded ex-driver and foundry worker, who identified himself only by his call sign, signed up with the army on Monday. By Friday, he was going through his paces at a training ground in Russia's southern Rostov region, practising firing from an automatic rifle and simulating the storming of a building.

Two and a half years into its war with Ukraine, Russia is offering one-off bonuses of up to 1.9 million roubles ($20,000) - 22 times the average monthly wage - to men prepared to sign volunteer contracts as professional soldiers.

Being able to attract people like Mara is crucial to Moscow's ability to replenish its forces and avoid resorting to another round of compulsory mobilisation. The drafting of 300,000 reserves in October 2022 proved hugely unpopular and prompted hundreds of thousands of people to flee the country.

President Vladimir Putin last month ordered the regular size of the Russian army to be increased by 180,000 troops to 1.5 million active servicemen in a move that would make it the second largest in the world after China's. In July, security official Dmitry Medvedev said nearly 200,000 people had signed army contracts since the start of the year.

"I had been working up to this moment for six months, thinking over the decision, since the enemy is no longer asleep and is crossing our borders," Mara said in a break from the training.

"We have a new generation growing up, my son is growing up, he will also join the armed forces this year. But it is better for his father to go to war than for our children to go."

Mara, who served in an engineering and sapper unit from 2003-5, said his family was supportive. "Everyone said well done, that I had made the right decision."

Another recruit, with the call sign "Ghoul", said money was not the motivation.

"Sitting in an office, working at a factory, is also a noble cause. But I am a man after all. I think that I will be more useful there (at the front) than here. With each passing hour I am convinced that I made the right choice," he said.

"You see, everyone is covered in dust, in dirt, in scratches. But we are preparing, giving our all."

One of the men's instructors, "Mityai", said they were keen to learn but starting from different levels.

"Some people have a little more desire, some a little less. Some have more physical training, some less. In principle, we equalize everyone during the course of training," he said.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Dozens of Ukrainian troops surrendered in Ugledar – MOD

Several dozen Ukrainian troops have surrendered in the Donbass city of Ugledar, which was captured earlier this week, the Russian Defense Ministry has said.

In a statement on Friday, the ministry said that as many as 83 Ukrainian troops surrendered across the front line over the past week, without providing details on the circumstances. Officials added that 44 surrendered during the “mop-up operation” in Ugledar.

The heavily fortified town in the southern sector of the front was a linchpin of Ukrainian defenses in the area, with fighting raging there since August 2022. Ugledar also sits on a hill and consists almost entirely of high-rise concrete buildings, allowing for fire control of the surrounding terrain.

On Wednesday, TASS reported, citing sources, that some Ukrainian units in Ugledar suffered “huge losses” after failing to get out of the town in time.

On Thursday, the Defense Ministry confirmed that the city was captured, later saying that Russian forces have generally taken “more advantageous” positions in that sector of the front.

Reuters/RT

Nigerians and indeed, the world, watched aghast last week as a South African grisly movie reel began to roll. Full of all the elements of a movie, it was however a real story. The cast was two black women who, on August 17, were shot and fed to pigs by a white farmer. The victims, Maria Makgato, 45 and Lucia Ndlovu, 34 were scavenging for edible food in consignments of recently expired or soon-to-be-expired produce on a farm located near Polokwane, a South African northern Limpopo province. The expired edible foods were meant for pigs. Before her gruesome murder, Makgato was mother of four sons of between 22 and five years ages. Farm owner, Zachariah Johannes Olivier, 60, had reportedly ordered his employees, Adrian de Wet, 19, and William Musora, 50, to kill the two women. Their bodies were then fed to pigs, in order to destroy evidence of their murder. Ms Ndlovu's husband, Mabutho Ncube, who came to the farm with his wife, had been shot, too but crawled into safety with his gunshot wounds. Several days later, police found decomposing, horrific bodies of the women in the farm’s pigsty, partly eaten up by the swine.

In South Africa, farming communities are severally under attacks by white farmers, exacerbating an already high crime statistics in the country. This is especially rife in rural areas, despite the official cessation of the obnoxious racist system of apartheid 30 years ago. In same August, in the eastern province of Mpumalanga, two men – a farmer and his security guard – were arrested in Laersdrift, located beside a small South African town called Middleburg, for allegedly murdering two men on a farm. Accused of stealing sheep, the men were incinerated beyond recognition. The court had to subject their ashes to DNA analysis to be able to establish their identities. In the same vein, a 70-year old white farmer, Christoffel Stoman, of Lutzville, a Western Cape province, had allegedly driven over and broken the two legs of a 6-year old boy for picking a fallen orange on his farm. The boy’s mother, walking with him past Stoman’s farm, on their way to town to purchase groceries, was horrified as his son got mowed down by Stoman.

As they watch this grisly movie, like the rest of the world, Nigerians are entitled to their shock. However, literally and figuratively, on the social and political planes, our country can be said to be grappling with leaders of similar sadism as South Africa’s Oliviers. Almost on a daily basis, Nigerians’ bodies are figuratively fed to swine, simply because they pick expired pig foods from our collective farm.

Nigerian leadership in the last seventeen months, like Olivier, has figuratively thrown Nigerians’ bodies to the swine who now take turns to feast on our flesh for supper. Nigerians are writhing under excruciating poverty occasioned by wickedness in high places. They encounter limited vision and foresight of leaders who claimed it was their time to rule but who have no time to think through the people’s plights. Perhaps the greatest Olivier-like savagery inflicted on Nigerians is the gradual destruction and undermining of the foundation of democracy by the born-to-rule taskmasters. In almost 17 months, all the institutions of democracy, like the electoral system, free press/speech and impartial judicial system have been dealt mortal blows. They are all comatose today. This speaks to that eternal aphorism that democracies are not killed by guns but by wicked undermining of its foundation.

If Nigerians are so distressed about the misrule in their country today, unfortunately, they are in a Catch-24 situation. We are locked up in a paradoxical situation from which, except an intervention of providence, we may never escape. As Sule Lamido warned recently, if the Leviathan in Aso Rock didn’t control the Senate, the Nigerian Army, Nigerian police, DSS etc and yet won the 2023 election, it is wishful thinking that anyone can stop the reproduction of this misrule in 2027. The ones at the top today have worn upon them the classical head of the Medusa. In real terms, like the sobriquet of one of the friends of Ayinla Omowura, an Abeokuta musical warlord of the 1970s, they are reincarnates of Ab’esuj’obi – one who shares kolanut with the devil.

According to the playbook of democracy, opposition deepens democracy. In Nigeria, the Leviathan has effectively castrated opposition. And this is why we should all be bothered. It is a Lagos model given federal promotion. The Leviathan then dipped his hands into his wiles pouch. From there, he brought out a colony of termites, led by a choleric dictator who is seeking political vengeance in his home state. His main assignment was to gradually corrode virtually all the internal strength of the PDP. I will not be shocked if the Leviathan is also the sponsor of the crisis in the Labour Party as well. Like a colony of pests called termites, Aso Rock and Nyesom Wike have visited on our country, using Rivers State as model, one of the most debilitating democratic devastations ever in history. This means that, whatever tyranny and limited vision leadership which Nigerians complain of today has a longer expiry period than they may think. We should all buckle up for a marathon. It is a distressing reality.

What happened in Edo State last month, coupled with the lawlessness that has eaten up Rivers State today, are clear signals that the electoral, judicial and police institutions have been ambushed. In broad daylight, with the obvious abetment of the Villa, electoral process was cavalierly thrown to the swine. The animals in turn mauled it with maniacal relish. It was obvious that Mahmood Yakubu’s INEC didn’t have any qualm licking the pus-dripping wound of the Leviathan and his accomplices.

With wanton abuse of electoral rules by INEC, advocacy for the abrogation of state electoral commissions for being lapels of state governors will not make any sense. From what is going on in Rivers today, with INEC openly in bed with a federal minister whose Hippopotamus ego will not stop from his Samson complex, any INEC-conducted state election will automatically be a from-frying-pan-to-fire situation. We will obviously be substituting local state despots for Abuja despots. In all, INEC’s Edo sham election hasn’t shown that the commission is the solution to governors’ brazen perversion of democracy. Kayode Egbetokun stands smilingly on the fringe to offer autocracy and totalitarian rule a pillow for comfort and the judiciary a final seal.

The second prong from which to look at this pig-food relationship is ethnic relations in Nigeria. As it stands, in the last nine years or thereabout, ethnic tensions here have ratcheted up so frighteningly, just like among black and white people of South Africa. When you read posts on social media, especially from both Yoruba and Igbo, a tingling feeling of foreboding will creep up your nerves. Of a truth, there is a subsisting history of almost a quarter century-old hatred ramped up between the two ethnicities. However, between 2015 and now, a heavy salvo has been unleashed on the relations between the two ethnicities, so much that if there is any slight prick, the bubble will burst finally.

The most incalculable salvo, more devastating than the machine guns of the civil war, was smashed on ethnic relations in Nigeria by Muhammadu Buhari’s eight-year rule. In my piece of May 26, 2019 with the title, Who will be Nigeria’s last president?, I argued that, by the time Buhari exited Aso Rock, there might be no Nigeria as handed over to him. My hunch was based on Buhari’s ultra-ethnocentric rule. That playbook is being revamped today. All the cement and glue that made a united Nigeria have practically been deliberately peeled off or worn out. Ethnic tensions are at a frighteningly high level, reminding one of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Buhari, on national TV, once referred to the Igbo as a “tiny dot in a circle.” It was not different from the pre-fixing of the word “cockroach” by Hutus against the Tutsi. Both depicted a negligible, expendable ethnicity. While in Rwanda, it inflamed passion and expedited genocide, in Nigeria, it bred resistance. Buhari then prosecuted this hate agenda with clinical finish, so much that, by the time he left office, ethnic relations between the east and other ethnicities landed on the borderline.

Curiously and seemingly illogically, since this current government assumed office, Yoruba and Igbo, who were united by their mutual pummeling by Buhari, have squared up to themselves in a needless ethnic animosity similar to the escalation of war between Israel and Palestine. The Leviathan has done little or nothing to quell the inflamed passion and escalation of distrusts between them. The hatreds are bereft of logic, scarcely backed by history and are mere whimsical carry-overs of political antagonisms. Why would a people who have similar histories, struggles and challenges in the hands of their mutual oppressors, hate each other this much?

It is so bad that, if one of the two ethnic stocks, like Maria Makgato and Lucia Ndlovu did, goes rummaging for edible food in the other’s compound, just as Olivier’s maniacal identity profiling of South African blacks, one will feed the other’s flesh to their pigs. Sometimes when I read very acidic but senselessly divisive posts from both sides on the social media, not only do I shudder, I wonder whether the writers were same offspring of leaders like Michael Okpara and Mama HID Awolowo/Alhaji Dauda Soroye Adegbenro? In 1964, both camps, leaders of two erstwhile politically irreconcilable parties – the National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC) and Action Group (AG) – came together to form the United Progressive Grand Alliance (UPGA) and campaigned round Ibadan during Okpara’s visit. By then, Obafemi Awolowo was locked up in the Calabar prisons by the Igbo/Yoruba common enemies.

In closing, the story of Hastings Kamuzu Banda’s government in Malawi will tell us not to take for granted the danger of a one-party state growing on the Nigerian soil. Banda’s was an extensive cult of personality. He ordered all business buildings to hang his official picture on walls. Today, a particular cap of specific branding is worn by all top officers in Nigeria today, including Villaswill Akpabio, a man who should ordinarily be at the head of checks on the excesses of the executive. Banda brooked no poster, clock or picture hung on the wall that was higher than his portrait. It was a criminal offence. Whenever any film was aired in Malawi, a video of Banda waving to the people must be mandatorily shown. Same happened whenever Malawian national anthem was played. If Banda paid visit to any Malawi city, a group of women were mandatorily expected to salute him at the airport and wag their buttocks erotically to prep up the leader’s voyeur instinct. The performances were also accompanied with special clothes that had Banda’s picture on them. He banned faiths like Jehovah’s Witnesses permanently from Malawi while other houses of worship were mandated to get his government’s approval before preaching.

One major blood-dripping hallmark of Banda’s one party state despotism happened in 1983. Three ministers in his government, Aaron Gadama, Dick Matenje, Twaibu Sangala and a Member of Parliament, David Chiwanga were suddenly found dead. At a meeting with Banda, they voiced their support for a migration from Banda’s one-party state to multi-partyism. They told him to his face that he should perish the thought of a life presidency. Not only did Banda dissolve cabinet immediately, he stripped all members of their status and ordered the three men to be rounded up. They were also tortured and bundled into a Peugeot 604 belonging to Matenje. An accident was then staged for them with their car overturned. It was later discovered that they had been murdered with tent pins which were hammered into their heads. During their burial, Banda ordered that their caskets must not be opened for public viewing. They were subsequently buried at night.

If we think the above is impossible in Nigeria, we should just keep an eye on what is going on in Rivers State. Hours to the state council election, the situation escalated into an embarrassing exchange of allegations between Egbetokun and Governor Similayi Fubara. That is democracy under the Leviathan. We must know that autocracy creeps in harmlessly, just the way music furtively slides into its listener’s consciousness. Of this, Bob Marley once sang, “one good thing about music – when it hits, you feel no pain.” There is a progressive shrinking of the civic space and its replacement with democratic stifling. Wike has suddenly become so powerful that every democratic institution – INEC, judiciary or police – is hidden under his Isiagu clothes. He arrogantly boasts, in inebriated gutturals, that he is the custodian of fire and he can set ablaze any state at his whim. The Leviathan is not bothered. Nigerians laughed at this grisly humour from a totalitarian.

Wike’s boast and the political calculation of the Leviathan who is playing games with the “head” of Nigerians, preparatory to a one-party state, remind me of the Chewa. A Bantu ethnic group of Malawi, the Chewa tribe can also be found in Zambia, Zimbabwe and a sprinkle in Mozambique. They are a very metaphysical people, renowned for witchcraftcy and secret societies called Nyau. Researches conducted by H. Debrunner, leading to the book Witchcraft in Ghana (1961) says witches play games, including football, at night like ordinary people. In order to do this, they '''cut off a person's head and play ball with it." He corroborated this with another research work by Marwick (1965) who said that similar practice was prevalent among the Akan witches of Ghana who “engage in… harmless pleasures such as dancing and playing football where they are said to use a human skull.” Incidentally, Hastings Kamuzu Banda, who personified witches’ cruelty in his presidency of Malawi, was Chewa. If, like the two black South African women, shot and fed to pigs by a white farmer, Nigerians continue to be daily fed to the swine on social and political planes by the Leviathan and his appendages, we can only chorus, “Long live Hastings Kamuzu Banda.”

Things are tumbling down fast in Rivers, with morbid signals of owls – birds of bad luck omen – crowing in the air. In many African cultures, owls are representative of bad luck or omen of death. They are feared and avoided. Wike and his Villa minders may be kneading together a script which will result in a Moses Majekodunmi being a gubernatorial placeholder in Rivers. When a State of Emergency was imposed on a chaotic Western Region in June 1962, leading to the Premier's exit from power, that singular action spelled the death-knell of the Republic. Rivers is the economic livewire of Nigeria. Its peace is the peace of Nigeria. Any tampering with the lucid-hour sanity of that Ijaw state could signal a rupture of Nigeria. It was easy for Olusegun Obasanjo to foist it on an agrarian Ekiti State. It could spell national disaster in Rivers. Hope the Leviathan and his cantankerous sidekick are listening?

Garlands for Mimiko and Farounbi on their birthdays 

Within a week, two great Nigerians celebrated their birth anniversaries of 70 and 80 years respectively. They are, Olusegun Mimiko and Akinyemi Farounbi. While the former, a medical doctor-turned politician, was governor of Ondo State, the latter, a broadcast journalist of over six decades, was Nigeria’s Ambassador to the Philippines. In my estimation, what links both men is a mental acuity, brilliance and patriotism that are difficult to define. I begin with Farounbi.

Till today, what drives Farounbi is a puzzle that may take a very long time to unravel. Woven into a common whole in him is an optimism and faith in Nigeria which many may find hard to access. He prosecutes this faith with a matchless energy that he devotes into his daily activity of speaking truth to power. Farounbi’s voice is almost a daily echo on Ibadan, Oyo State radio and television stations where he blends a profound knowledge of history with his hope that Nigeria will be better. An avid reader with an elephantine power of recall, he is a role model to anyone who still banks on redemption for this country.

At a point, Farounbi and his friend of over 60 years, Tola Adeniyi, of the inimitable Abba Saheed fame, noticed that my zeal in talking to deaf leaders and seemingly dead Nigerian situation was extinguishing. Immediately, he reached out to me sermonizing like a pastor on the pulpit. He followed it up with, in alliance with his friend, Adeniyi, convoking a miniature confab in Adeniyi’s Ibadan home. There, Nigeria was on the table for dissection and at the end of the day, they both succeeded in revving my zeal and commitment to a better Nigeria. Many Nigerians still wonder how an 80-year old man like Farounbi could still retain this high-octane zeal and patriotism for a country whose essences are dropping off like the wings of a sparrow in the hands of political vultures. I sill do, too.

Mimiko and I met for the very first time in December last year in his Ondo town home. At our meeting, I pointedly asked if he knew that I never liked him while he governed my State. He acknowledged that he knew. My Akure people believed that as governor, he held huge hatred for them in his heart. I told him. He then went on an explanation of all he did, driven by patriotism and an eye on the future.

While I wrote against his government, a détente in my heart came when a relation had to make use of the Mimiko government’s medical initiative called Mother and Child hospital in Akure. I couldn’t believe that any Nigerian leadership could conceive and execute such great medical intervention for its people. My relation was delivered of her baby without a dime demanded of her under very amazing medical care. With a general review I have been able to do about Mimiko after that encounter, especially placed side by side the general rot in governance going on in Ondo State today, I believe Mimiko is a leader whose time posterity will judge kindly.

As these two great Nigerian leaders and patriots celebrate their 70 and 80 years on earth, kindly permit me as I make a toast to their long life and good health.       

And the LORD spake unto me, saying,Ye have compassed this mountain long enough: turn you northward ~ Deuteronomy 2:2-3.

Introduction:

God takes no pleasure in the stagnation of His people. To condone stagnation is not only frustrating to destiny, it also classifies as a crime of personal injury (Deuteronomy 1:5). It is therefore pertinent for every candidate of excellence to forcefully affix expiry dates to every form of stagnation they encounter in life.

The Bible affirms that constant progress is the inheritance of all God’s covenant people (Proverbs 4:18). Hence, next levels of glory, honor and kingdom accomplishments are great possibilities for God’s people who are called according to His purpose.

I find it imperative at this stage to insistthat God has not yet finished with you.He’s still at work, and your destiny is His work in progress. Life is in phases and glory comes in diverse weights(2Corinthians 3:18; 4:17).

You may not like where you are, but you can still get to where you wish to be if you’re thoroughly dissatisfied with “same-level” identity, charging through wisely and continually aspiring for the next level.

Initiative is the drive to do this! Successful people are always thinking about what they can do to move to the next level, taking the first step and then the next step. The good news here is that initiative is free and available to every normal person; anyone can seize it.

Now, the biblical account in Deuteronomy 1:5-8 confirms that though Israel at that time was no longer in Egypt, she was snailing in her journey to the place she ought to be. So God commanded her to move forward. Getting to the top always calls for constant journeys.

There is always a “next level” in life, and it’s dangerous not to recognize this as a fact. When a destiny stops conceiving “next level”, it starts to inch closely to sure destruction. The place where vision ends is the spot where deterioration begins.

Success is in the journey! The best way to achieve your bible dream of “next level” in life is to engage covenant change through tenacity and persistence(Deuteronomy 1:7).

Meanwhile, no one can cruise (or even crawl) to the next level until he/she has decisively dealt with the limitations of the present level. Life doesn’t always give you what you want, but what you war for(1Timothy 6:12).

We all must skillfully diffuse the light, conquer all limiters and neutralize all satanic embargoes if we hope to truly sing the song of the next level of joy, glory, honor and great kingdom accomplishments on earth.

True to form, you get challenged the most just before the doors to your next levels are opened. Notwithstanding, the place where you are presently, even if it appears obscure, may be because of the famous place you are going to. Obscurity is a stage to pass through, not a place to dwell in forever.

Prominence is your destination, but you must never get bored of progress, no matter the cost. For a kite to fly, it must be rugged as it rises against the noisy wind (Psalm 35:13). If you cannot sacrifice for what you want, what you want becomes the sacrifice.

Making Covenant Room for the Change You Expect

“Next level” describes a platform you don’t see physically, and may not understand presently by human reasoning (1Corinthians 2:9). Hence, you need a repositioning, spiritually, socially and emotionally, to experience it. Excellence in life is about constant change!

Where change is resisted, progress is denied its commensurate motion. The gear of an automobile is functionally related to its speed. If the driver therefore fails to change the gear when necessary, the vehicle would just be full of noise without corresponding speed.

Progress in life is not traditional; it is transitional. In fact, in certain territories, tradition is the regular mother of stagnation.

Meanwhile, a strong covenant sense is pertinent to movement to the next level in life, family, business, career and ministry (John 8:29). When a man is in a strong covenant relationship with God, no matter the negative circumstances that may come his way, he will always recover and triumph again (Genesis 13:2; Exodus 33:12-14).

Covenant is stronger than any climate or circumstances. While others suffer, God’s covenant people can still thrive luxuriantly (Genesis 47:18,27; 3John 1:2). Next level of breakthroughs is never ending for thoroughbred covenant children of God in Christ Jesus.

Refuse to stagnate! Employ every covenant force to ensure you keep moving forward. Let the counsel of God within you react against stagnation, and be progress-conscious in every area of your life.

Prepare adequately for your next level (2Chronicles 27:6). Be disciplined. Develop your potential (Ephesians 3:20). Seek God’s ideals always (2Chronicles26:5). Be prayerful (Luke 18:1). Be bold in faith and, especially, be very sensitive to the Holy Spirit (Isaiah 40: 28-31).

For sure, greater power is needed for the responsibilities of the next level. When you are acutely sensitive in the realm of the spirit, you become a carrier of power for the next level.

However, valuable things are very costly,and rare. To obtain real Holy Ghost power requires considerable investmentof obedience and yieldedness. His anointing is precious, and it’s available only to those who are willing to pay the price (Amos 3:3).

There is oil in peanuts, but you must crush and press the nuts before you can get it. You too must be completely yielded to God as a living sacrifice in order to carry a significant weight of thepower of God (Luke 4:14; Romans 12:1-2). Be ready to die to sin and self, daily(John 12:24).

Friends and brethren, please keep in mind that God’s grand plan for His Church and for each new creation man upon the earth today is to continually move us from glory to glory (2Corinthians 3:18; Colossians 1:27).

People may have seen your life in the past, just like they saw the temple in its former glory. But the Bible says, “the glory of this latter house shall be greater than that of the former…” (Haggai 2:9). You are going forward in life, and the next stage when compared with the previous ones will surpass them in alldimensions. Keep on pressing forward by faith!

Those who refuse to press become easily oppressed! Until you press, you don’t progress to the next level. Nothing of value comes out of an apathetic lifestyle. Most things that are precious and highly valued on earth are products of sustained pressure.

Paul became the foremost captain among the apostles because he sustained his pressure of faith with a strong focus on his heavenly vision (Philippians 3:14). You too can win the prize!

Meanwhile, if you’re starting out to get to the next level, associate with people who will keep you motivated and energized, especially believers who will inspire you to achieve your best everyday.

Furthermore, let the success stories of those ahead of you motivate you to keep pressing continually. When you do these, you can’t lose.

The next level of supernatural accomplishment beckons to you. It’s very sweet, but always remember that keeping on the move is what gets you to the top. You will get there! You won’t miss it, in Jesus name. Amen. Happy Sunday!

____________________

Bishop Taiwo Akinola,

Rhema Christian Church,

Otta, Ogun State, Nigeria.

Connect with Bishop Akinola via these channels:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bishopakinola

SMS/WhatsApp: +234 802 318 4987

What is the worst thing that can happen to you?

The worst thing that can happen to you is not if one of your relatives dies, or if your house is burnt down, or if you are diagnosed with a terminal illness, or if you are robbed of all your money in cash and in the bank.

The worst thing that can happen to you is if the Holy Spirit leaves you.

The Holy Spirit is the special gift of God. He is the most important thing in your life. Indeed, He is your life.

He is the Spirit of wisdom and understanding that you need. He is the Spirit of counsel and might that you require. He is the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord without which you cannot receive eternal life. (Isaiah 11:2)

He is the riches of the glory of God that is in you. He is: “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27).

He who does not have the Holy Spirit does not have God. 

The Holy Spirit is the One who marks you as God’s property. Therefore, He is the most important thing in your life.

He lives in the heart of the born-again Christian. Therefore, “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.” (Proverbs 4:23).

When you leave home, you lock your door. When you leave your car you lock it. Which part of your body do you protect the most? Probably, your sexual organs. You see footballers putting their hands over their privates when trying to defend against a free kick. Women do something similar by always crossing their legs.

But your sexual organs are not the most important parts of you by a long shot. The most important part is your heart, which refers to your mind, will, and affections.

Heart Central

God searches the heart and the mind: “The word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12).

He defines a man by his heart: “The Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7).

Solomon says: “As in water face reflects face, so a man’s heart reveals the man.” (Proverbs 27:19). “As he thinks in his heart, so is he.” (Proverbs 23:7).

Your heart determines your well-being: “A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance, but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.” (Proverbs 15:13). “The spirit of a man will sustain him in sickness, but who can bear a broken spirit?” (Proverbs 18:14).

Two Sets of Eyes

God gave you two sets of eyes. One set is designed to control the other set. But in most men, the set of eyes designated to control the other set is often the one being controlled.

We have eyes on our heads and we have eyes in our hearts. That is why Paul says: “I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which (God) has called you.” (Ephesians 1:18).

For the unbeliever, the eyes of his heart are darkened, and only Jesus, the light of the world, can enlighten them. “For with (Him) is the fountain of life; in (His) light we see light. (Psalm 36:9).

Solomon says: “The hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord has made them both.” (Proverbs 20:12).

The eye of the heart is the seeing eye. The eyes in your head are blind eyes.

Because they have eyes in their heads, most people think they see but they do not. Their eyes impede their sight.

Bartimaeus was blind, but he had the seeing eye, the eye of the heart. So, he recognised that Jesus was the Son of David, the Messiah promised in the scriptures. “When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’” (Mark 10:46)

The Pharisees, on the other hand, were not blind. They had eyes but the eyes they had were blind eyes. They could not see Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of David.

Jesus said to them: “‘For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.’Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, ‘Are we blind also?’ Jesus said to them, ‘If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.’” (John 9:39-41).

Seeing But Blind

When Jesus called me to ministry, He said to me:

“l speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: ‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive; for the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.’ But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear.” (Matthew 13:13-16).

God opened my eyes, and I saw in plain sight the demon who had been pressing down on me in nightmares ever since I was a child. Jesus opened my eyes and I saw demons in my bedroom, hundreds of them. He opened my eyes and I saw how he kept Jonah alive in the belly of a great fish.

And so, I believe this charge of Jesus applies to me: “I now send you, to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.” (Acts 26:17-18).

Eyes of the Heart

The eyes of our hearts are designed to control what we see with the eyes of our heads. But unfortunately, most people do not use the eyes of their heart. They only use the eyes of their head.

As a result, Peter saw the glory of the refurbished temple in Jerusalem but Jesus saw the vanity of the temple:

“Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said to them, ‘Do you not see all these things?Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.’” (Matthew 24:1-2)

The eyes on your head are blind although you can see with them. But all you see with them is vanity and rubbish. You only see worthless and useless things according to God’s eternal scheme. You only see temporal things that will soon pass away forever.

It is the eye of the heart is the seeing eye. With it, you can see both the spiritual and the natural. With it, you can see God and the things of God. But God has closed our seeing eye. To see with it, He has to open it to open it, and He only does this by His grace.

Jesus says: “(God) has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, lest they should see with their eyes, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.” (John 12:40).

The blind eyes distract you from the seeing eye. The blind eyes are focused only on the physical. They distract your seeing eye ensuring that you cannot see spiritual things. They enable you to see the glory of men but prevent you from seeing the glory of God.

The natural glory of King Uzziah prevented Isaiah from seeing the glory of God. He only saw the glory of God in the year that king Uzziah died. For this reason, Isaiah made a prophetic declaration:

“Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill brought low; the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places smooth; the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” (Isaiah 40:4-5).

That is why you only connect with the spiritual when you are sleeping. You only connect with the spiritual when you close your physical eyes or are not using them.

But the seeing eye connects you with the spiritual at all times.

With your natural eyes, you can see men. With your heart, you can see God. God communicates with us through our hearts. So, do not follow your blind eyes. Follow your heart. Do not allow your heart to follow your eyes. Let your eyes follow your heart.

But there is a problem here: the heart is deceitful. CONTINUED.

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Without a doubt, Moses is definitely one of the Old Testament Bible's most well-known characters. He's connected to a whole load of prominent, often-cited biblical events like defying Pharoah Ramses II, leading the Hebrews out of slavery in Egypt, parting the Red Sea, retrieving the Ten Commandments, and was played by a grandly-bearded Charlton Heston in that old film epic of the same name, 1956's "The Ten Commandments." Folks with a bit more biblical knowledge might remember his retrieval from a basket in a river as a baby, or an incident like the one when a staff transformed into a snake. 

It's not often that the Bible provides grounded, historically helpful biographical information. In Moses' case, however, we do get a bit more info than usual. The Bible does say in Deuteronomy 34 that when Moses died he was buried in a place called Moab, "in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is." He was also apparently 120 years old, "yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone."

So Moses was buried and that's the end of it, right? Not quite. There's a very peculiar passage in the New Testament epistle of Jude, chapter 1, verse 9, that references Moses' body. "But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander." Say what? An angel and the devil chit-chatting about Moses' corpse? It seems so, but its meaning remains obscure.  

Before moving forward we should clear up a few disclaimers. First off — and no disrespect meant to believers — we only have religious texts to go on when talking about Moses. There isn't any historical evidence that anyone named Moses actually existed. He's more of a mythical figure who plays a function in the Old Testament plot and whose story mirrors earlier "folk memor[ies]" of peoples in the Levant, as The Washington Post quotes archaeologist Cyprian Broodbank. So when this article talks about what happened to Moses' body, we're talking about what Bible stories say about what happened to Moses' body. Also, when Jude talks about "the devil," bear in mind that "diabolos" — the Greek that gives us our word "devil" — is a common noun meaning "slanderer" and not a specific, hellish entity that any of us moderns would likely envision after centuries of accumulated art and stories.

Bearing all of that in mind, we've got what the aforementioned Bible verses describe happening to Moses' body after he died. Like we said and which Deuteronomy 34 attests, we at least know that his body was apparently buried and not cremated, torn apart in battle, lost at sea, or something else. In fact, depending on the translation, the passage in Deuteronomy says that God Himself buried Moses — "He buried him," with "He" being "the Lord" and "him" being Moses. As for where – the biblical "Moab" refers to the modern nation of Jordan east of the Dead Sea.

MICHAEL AND THE DEVIL

Things would be simple if the tale of Moses' body ended with his burial in Moab. But, Jude's mention of the discussion between the devil and the archangel Michael about Moses' body asks more questions than it answers. The New Testament letter of Jude, it should be noted, is believed to have been written between 67 and 80 C.E. That's between 600 and 700 years after Deuteronomy was written in the 7th century B.C.E., which itself references much older events. Jude is believed by scholars to be the half-brother of Jesus, but we don't know much about him or what we would have known about ancient Hebrew events. When he references the conversation about Moses' body, he talks about it like it's a common event that his readers already know.

Loads of articles on Christian sites have done their interpretive best to disentangle the passage in question, which isn't mentioned anywhere else in the Bible. Got Questions, in referencing the book of Revelations, suggests that the passage means that the devil protested Moses being granted access to heaven. Compelling Truth says that the passage in Jude might mean that people shouldn't worship things — including the bodies of holy people — rather than God. Finally, the English Standard Version (ESV) online Bible resource says that Jude was written to denounce false church teachers. The cited conversation about Moses — in which Michael doesn't slander the devil directly, but cites God to do so — could just be a convenient choice to make the epistle's point.

Grunge

Nigeria’s crude oil production continues to decline, falling by 40,000 barrels per day (bpd) in September, according to a report by Reuters based on a survey of OPEC’s output for the month. This decrease adds to Nigeria’s ongoing struggle to meet its OPEC production quota, which has hovered between 1.2 and 1.3 million bpd since the start of the year. The nation produced 1.35 million bpd as of August 2024, according to OPEC’s latest report.

A key issue exacerbating Nigeria’s production woes is the massive oil theft occurring in the Niger Delta, a region responsible for much of the country’s crude oil output. This widespread theft, facilitated by an intricate network of illegal pipelines and local criminal gangs, siphons off large quantities of oil, undermining the government’s ability to raise revenues and maintain output levels. Estimates suggest that Nigeria loses hundreds of thousands of barrels daily to oil theft, which has crippled efforts to boost production and meet OPEC quotas.

The situation in Nigeria mirrors challenges faced by other OPEC members, particularly Libya, whose oil output also plummeted in September due to unrest and supply disruptions. Libya’s production fell by 300,000 bpd, while Iraq also saw a decline as it attempts to align its production with OPEC targets. Meanwhile, Iran increased its output slightly, despite sanctions.

OPEC’s overall oil production fell to 26.14 million bpd in September, down by 390,000 bpd compared to August. This drop, driven by Libya’s decreased supply, contributed to rising global oil prices amid concerns over demand and growing non-OPEC supply.

Although Nigeria’s oil sector contributes only a small portion to its GDP, it remains critical for foreign exchange earnings and government revenue. The ongoing oil theft in the Niger Delta not only affects production but also deepens the country’s fiscal challenges. Revenue losses from reduced output weaken the economy’s ability to support essential services, such as infrastructure, education, and healthcare. This persistent issue, combined with other production challenges, continues to threaten Nigeria’s economic stability at a time when boosting crude oil output is vital to meeting both local demand and international commitments.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has reported that while the service and agriculture sectors expanded in September, the industrial sector contracted, marking a continued struggle for Nigeria’s manufacturing and industrial output. According to the CBN’s Purchasing Manager’s Index (PMI) report published on Wednesday, the composite PMI for September 2024 was 50.5 index points, indicating overall economic expansion for the second consecutive month, slightly up from 50.2 points in August.

The PMI serves as an indicator of economic trends within the manufacturing and service sectors. An index above 50.0 points indicates an expansion in business activities, while a reading below 50.0 points reflects contraction.

Industrial Sector

The CBN reported that the industrial sector contracted in September, registering 49.7 points, a slight improvement from August’s 49.2 points. Although this indicates a slight rebound in recent months, the sector remains in contraction. The apex bank attributed this decline to persistent challenges within the manufacturing subsector, despite some expansion in mining, quarrying, electricity, gas, and water supply activities.

One significant factor contributing to the contraction in industrial output is the rising cost of energy. The increase in petrol prices and higher electricity tariffs have placed enormous pressure on the manufacturing sector, driving up operational costs and reducing profit margins. These energy costs have made it difficult for manufacturers to maintain production levels, leading to a decline in new orders and employment, which fell to 49.9 and 48.2 index points, respectively. The CBN’s report noted that four out of the 17 subsectors surveyed, including Paper Products, recorded contractions, with manufacturing being the hardest hit.

While the Stock of Output and Raw Materials indices grew slightly at 50.7 and 51.7 points, indicating some resilience, the slower delivery times (48.4 points) reflect the ongoing struggles in supply chains, exacerbated by energy price inflation.

Service Sector

In contrast, the service sector expanded for the fourth consecutive month, with the PMI index for September standing at 51.0 points, an increase from August’s 50.7 points. This growth is primarily driven by increased business activity, rising stock levels of raw materials, and continued business opportunities. Among the 14 subsectors surveyed, nine recorded growth, with the Finance and Insurance subsector seeing the highest expansion. However, Transportation and Warehousing experienced significant contraction, likely due to the increased cost of fuel, which directly impacts logistics and freight services.

Business activity, new orders, and stock of raw materials in the service sector all showed growth, but the employment index declined slightly, ending the month at 49.5 points.

Agriculture Sector

The agriculture sector continued its positive trajectory, expanding for the second consecutive month with an index of 51.4 points in September, up from 50.5 points in August. The Crop Production, Livestock, Forestry, and Agricultural Support Services subsectors all recorded growth, while Fishing and Fish Farming contracted.

Though agricultural activities remained robust, the sector was not immune to the broader economic pressures, with the employment index also declining to 49.1 points. Rising energy costs, particularly for petrol, have impacted transport and farming operations, increasing the costs of food production and distribution.

What You Should Know

The contraction in Nigeria’s industrial sector highlights the challenges facing the country’s economy, particularly in light of soaring energy costs. The increases in petrol prices and electricity tariffs have heavily impacted production, leading to higher operational expenses for businesses and reduced output in the manufacturing subsector. These factors are further straining Nigeria’s economic recovery and compounding issues in employment, with new job creation stagnating across various sectors. Despite some resilience in agriculture and services, the industrial sector’s struggles underscore the need for solutions to stabilize energy prices and improve business conditions.

Israel targets Hezbollah intel HQ in Lebanon, Iran says it will not back down

Israel said it had targeted the intelligence headquarters of Hezbollah in Beirut and was assessing the damage on Friday after a series of strikes on senior figures in the group that Iran's Supreme Leader dismissed as counterproductive.

Israel has been weighing options in its response to Iran's ballistic missile attack on Tuesday, which Iran had carried out in response to Israel's military action in Lebanon.

Oil prices have risen on the possibility of an attack on Iran's oil facilities as Israel pursues its goals of pushing back Hezbollah militants in Lebanon and eliminating their Hamas allies in Gaza.

The air attack on Beirut, part of a wider assault that has driven more than 1.2 million Lebanese from their homes, was reported to have targeted the potential successor to the leader of Iran-backed Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, killed by Israel a week ago.

Hashem Safieddine's fate was unclear and neither Israel nor Hezbollah have offered any comment.

A blast was heard and smoke was seen over Beirut’s southern suburbs early on Saturday, Reuters witnesses said, as the Israeli military issued three alerts for residents of the area to immediately evacuate.

The first alert warned residents in a building in the Burj al-Barajneh neighbourhood and the second in a building in Choueifat district. The third alert mentioned buildings in Haret Hreik as well as Burj al-Barajneh.

In a statement early on Saturday, Hezbollah also said the Israeli army was trying to infiltrate the Lebanese southern town of Odaisseh and that clashes there were ongoing.

U.S. President Joe Biden said on Friday he would think about alternatives to striking Iranian oil fields if he were in Israel's shoes, adding that he thinks Israel has not yet concluded how to respond to Iran.

Biden was asked at a White House press briefing if he thought that by not engaging in diplomacy, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was trying to influence the Nov. 5 U.S. election in which Republican former President Donald Trump faces Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.

"Whether he is trying to influence the election, I don't know but I am not counting on that," Biden said in response. "No administration has done more to help Israel than I have."

The government in Lebanon says more than 2,000 people have been killed there in the past year, most in the past two weeks.

U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric called the toll on civilians “totally unacceptable.”

The Lebanese government has accused Israel of targeting civilians, pointing to dozens of women and children killed. It has not broken down the overall figure between civilians and Hezbollah fighters.

Israel says it targets military capabilities and takes steps to mitigate the risk of harm to civilians. It accuses Hezbollah and Hamas of hiding among civilians, which they deny.

The U.S. State Department said that an American was killed in Lebanon this week and Washington was working to understand the circumstances of the incident.

Kamel Ahmad Jawad, from Dearborn, Michigan, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Tuesday, according to his daughter, a friend and the U.S. congresswoman representing his district.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said the department was "alarmed" by the reports, and added: "it is a moral and strategic imperative that Israel take all feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm."

The latest bloodletting in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict stems from an attack by Palestinian Hamas militants' Oct. 7, 2023, that killed 1,200 and in which about 250 were taken as hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's subsequent assault on Gaza has killed over 41,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry, and displaced nearly Gaza's entire population, caused a hunger crisis and led to genocide allegations that Israel denies.

The Israeli military said some 70 projectiles were launched from Lebanon into Israeli territory on Friday evening and were either intercepted or fell in open land.

Israel sent ground forces into Lebanon this week after the Iranian missiles attacks. It has said its ground operations are "localized" in villages near the border, but has not specified how far into Lebanon they would advance or how long they would last.

Israel says the operations aim to allow tens of thousands of its citizens to return home after Hezbollah bombardments that forced them to evacuate from its north.

IRAN VOWS NOT TO BACK DOWN

Iran's missile salvo was partly in retaliation for Israel's killing of Hezbollah secretary-general Nasrallah, a dominant figure who had turned the group into a powerful armed and political force with reach across the Middle East.

Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told a huge crowd in Tehran that Iran and its regional allies would not back down.

Israel's adversaries in the region should "double your efforts and capabilities... and resist the aggressive enemy," Khamenei said in a rare appearance leading Friday prayers, at which he mentioned Nasrallah and called Iran's attack on Israel legal and legitimate.

He said Iran would not "procrastinate nor act hastily to carry out its duty" in confronting Israel.

The semi-official Iranian news agency SNN quoted Revolutionary Guards deputy commander Ali Fadavi as saying on Friday that if Israel attacked, Tehran would target Israeli energy and gas installations.

Axios reporter Barak Ravid cited three Israeli officials as saying that Hezbollah official Safieddine, rumoured to be Nasrallah's successor, had been targeted in an underground bunker in Beirut overnight but his fate was not clear.

Israeli Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said on Friday the military was still assessing the Thursday night airstrikes, which he said targeted Hezbollah's intelligence headquarters.

Earlier the Israeli military reported that it had killed the head of Hezbollah's communication networks, Mohammad Rashid Sakafi. It declined to comment on the report that Safieddine was targeted.

Hezbollah made no comment on the fate of Sakafi.

Khamenei said assassinations would just spur more attacks.

"Every strike launched by any group against Israel is a service to the region and to all humanity," he said, adding that Afghanistan should join the "defence".

FLATTENED BEIRUT BUILDINGS

In Hezbollah's stronghold in Beirut's southern suburbs, many buildings have been reduced to rubble. Nearly all the storefronts in the main market street, Moawad Souk, were damaged and the road filled with broken glass.

"We're alive but don't know for how long," said Nouhad Chaib, a 40-year-old man already displaced from the south.

The Islamic Health Authority, a civil defence agency linked to Hezbollah, said 11 medics had been killed in three separate Israeli attacks across southern Lebanon on Friday.

The Israeli military said that in the past day it had struck several weapons storage facilities, command and control centres, and Hezbollah infrastructure sites in the Beirut area.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, visiting Beirut and meeting with top Lebanese officials, said Tehran supported efforts for a ceasefire in Lebanon provided it was backed by Hezbollah and was simultaneous with a Gaza ceasefire.

Reuters

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russia knocked out most infrastructure in Ukraine's Pokrovsk, local official says

Russia knocked out around 80% of critical infrastructure in the town of Pokrovsk, a key logistics hub in Ukraine's east, as Moscow's troops inched forward, a local official said on Friday.

Serhiy Dobriak, Pokrovsk's military administration head, said Russian forces were at about 7 km (4 miles) from the town, which is at an intersection of roads and a railway that makes it an important logistics point for the military and for civilians in the eastern Donetsk region.

Russia forces have focused some of their heaviest assaults in recent weeks on Pokrovsk, which could allow it to consolidate and advance the front line in the region.

"The enemy is leaving us without power, without water, without gas. Prepares us for the winter, so to say," Dobriak said on national television.

Some 13,050 residents remain in the town and Ukrainian officials are pressing on with an evacuation plan that has been going on for some weeks. Just a month and a half ago, the town hosted more than 48,000 people, he said.

Russia continued to pummel the town on Thursday, launching a total of nine glide bombs and injuring four people in two attacks which damaged infrastructure, Dobriak said.

He said the daily attacks targeted energy facilities and other vital infrastructure. Almost half of Pokrovsk, 10 nearby villages and one smaller town were without power, he said, adding the energy infrastructure was "almost impossible to repair".

He put the level of the destruction at about four fifths of the town's critical infrastructure.

Russia denies targeting civilian infrastructure.

More than 31 months since Russia's full-scale invasion, Ukrainian forces are on the defensive and Kyiv ordered the pullout of its troops from Vuhledar, another town in the east. Kyiv's top commander this week ordered defences strengthened on the eastern front.

In a Friday morning report on the battlefield situation, Ukraine's military said that its forces repelled 30 attacks on the Pokrovsk front over the past day as Russia pushed towards the villages of Mykolaivka and Selydove.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russian military targets Ukrainian position in powerful strike – MOD

A successful missile strike hit the position of a company-sized Ukrainian tactical unit not far from the Russian border, the defense ministry in Moscow announced on Friday. The Russian military also published a video showing the moment of the strike.

Black-and-white footage apparently taken from a drone hovering over the area at first showed some vehicles moving along a road towards a small wooded area amid fields. The location is then struck by a Russian missile, with a powerful blast rocking the area. Around a dozen burning objects can then be seen at the target location after the strike.

According to the defense ministry, 12 armored vehicles as well as five pickup trucks were destroyed and some 80 Ukrainian soldiers eliminated in the attack. Kiev has not commented on the development.

The attack was carried out using an Iskander-M missile system, the statement said. According to Russian media, the strike targeted an area near the village of Frunzenka in the Ukrainian northeastern Sumy Region. Frunzenka is located less than about ten miles (15 km) away from the Russian border.

Sumy Region borders Russia’s Kursk Region, where Kiev’s troops launched an incursion in early August. They made some initial progress but were eventually stopped, according to the Russian defense ministry. Russian troops have since been successfully preventing any further advance by the Ukrainian military and also managed to win back some territory, along with a dozen settlements close to the border. Fighting in the region continues.

Ukrainian officials have stated that the main goals of the incursion were to sway public opinion in Russia and to gain a better bargaining position ahead of possible peace talks with Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Moscow has never ruled out negotiations, but only after all Ukrainian forces have left Russian territory.

Earlier on Friday, the head of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), Aleksandr Bortnikov, said that Ukraine’s Kursk operation has failed to distract Russia from its successful offensive in Donbass.

Ukraine has lost almost 20,000 soldiers in the incursion, according to the Russian defense ministry’s estimates.

Reuters/RT

Choi Soon-hwa, an 80-year-old woman from South Korea, recently shocked the world by qualifying as a finalist in the annual Miss Universe Korea competition.

Choi, a grandmother of three who turns 81 next month, never dreamed of being in the running to represent her country in the Miss Universe beauty pageant, but thanks to changes made to the contest’s selection rules, she was able to do just that. Before this year, participants were required to be between the ages of 18 and 28, but due to growing pressure to become more inclusive, Miss Universe scraped the rule, thus allowing pretty much anyone to participate. Apart from the age ban lifting, pregnant women, and women who had children or had ever been married were also allowed to compete. Now, Choi hopes to inspire others by showing that health and vitality can be maintained well into old age.

“Now that the age restriction has been lifted, I said, ‘I should give it a try.’ Whether I get through or not, I was determined to try and get this opportunity,” Choi said. “Looking beautiful on the outside is important, but I think you need to be at ease in your mind as well and know how to respect others.”

Interestingly, while this is the 80-year-old’s foray into beauty pageantry, she has been working as a senior fashion model for years, securing collaborations with magazines like Harper’s Bazaar and Elle, as well as commercial campaigns with various Korean brands. It all started at age 72 when one of the patients at the hospital she was working at as a nurse recommended she give modeling a chance.

“One of my patients told me to try modeling,” Choi said. “I thought it was nonsense… but at the same time, it awoke my old dream of becoming a model, wearing pretty clothes and doing photo shoots. So, I said, ‘Yes, I used to dream of that before, I should try it.’”

Choi Soon-hwa took some modeling classes and practiced her walking during breaks at work, and by age 74 she was making her debut at the Seoul Fashion Week.

“Becoming a model was like opening a door to a new path for me, so I planned in my mind. I said, ‘I will be successful and work hard’… When my dream came true, I thanked God and kept working hard. It’s so fun and I love it,” she told CNN.

On September 30th, during the final of the Miss Universe Korea pageant, Choi Soon-hwa fell short of her goal of representing her country in the global Miss Universe contest in Mexico, but she gave the other contestants, many young enough to be her granddaughters, a run for their money, just like Alejandra Marisa Rodríguez did in Argentina earlier this year.

Oddity Central