Legal battle begins on Monday, the 8th of May as presidential election court tribunal hears petitions from aggrieved parties. And the Africa Media Development Foundation says Nigeria has the highest recorded violations of press freedom. Tonight, in commemoration of War Press Freedom Day, we address challenges faced by journalists in the line of duty. This is PROS Politics. I am Mary Anna Cohn. The presidential election petitions court has fixed Monday for the hearing of the petitions challenging the declaration of the All Progressive Congress's standard bearer Bola Med Tinibu as president-elect. This development, the expected legal battle by candidates disputing the outcome of the 2023 presidential polls, will commence from May 8. President of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Makmudia Kubu, had on March 1 declared Tinibu the president-elect on the grounds that his party scored the major of the majority of the votes cast in the polls. The former Lagos State Governor had polled 8.8 million to defeat Atiku Abu Bakar, the People's Democratic Party, who scored 6.9 million, and Pitobi of the Labour Party that also amassed 6.1 million and 15 others. Now, dissatisfied with the results, Atiku and Abu Bakar found separate petitions seeking orders to annul the elections or declare them the winner of the polls. Joining us to discuss this and more is Right Honourable John Goh Lebo, the immediate past speaker of the Cross River State House of Assembly. And also joining us is Professor Richard Aduchi and Wakko Chahi, the Professor of Law at the River State University in Pothacka. Thank you so much, gentlemen, for joining us and good evening. Thank you very much. Good evening. Yes. All right. I'm going to start by looking at what happened and transpired during the elections and after the elections. What INEC consistently said was go to court. Now, the time is now for all to go to court and many people are saying that this will be a very critical point in Nigeria's election history. But this is not the first time that people have gone to court. And the last elections, the former vice president, Atiku Abu Bakar, also went to court to challenge the votes cast on Election Day and saying that he originally had won the elections. But we all know the outcome of that tribunal. It's not our place to pre-empt it. But I'm going to start with you, John Goh. What do you make of all that transpired during the election and after that? Well, I think this is an election that is physically won driven by too much expectation. And we see too much of expectation by the electorate. INEC has spent a lot of time trying to keep the electorate as to why this election will be the first most transparent election. It gives the impression that this election will be conducted in real time and results will be uploaded in time. And so you could see that the anxiety of the public, the electorate was high, fuelled by the opposition movement had a lot of votes out to it. Who were not impressed by the usual input in the election, who came out of it, particularly the new and the young. And so with what happened at the election, and even following that with INEC's speech after some time about the role of technology in the election, people have tried to manage that credibility before the election. Some of the young people were hoping for such an election. But what happened at the election itself, starting with first the poor deployment of the citizens, and then the fact that the results were not loaded, and the fact that the results were not loaded, some of them we have had the election. You know, has left a lot of worry and concern by the electorate. So when you see the petitions in court, you know, even the INECs go to court. If it's actually part of the election cycle, that first 33 election cycles, there's actual elections process which is the finalest post-election, which is election time. If they write a voting candidate, you know, to go on after post-election to go to court. So I think that what has happened in that a lot of Nigerians have too much hope in INEC after the election. There's a lot of hope. And that's the point then. You can see clearly from the election. When you say Nigerians have a lot of hope in INEC, talking about that hope, INEC had built up the expectations, just as you said, for Nigerians with the introduction of, you know, the transmission of results, which obviously fell face-flat during this election. And it's more like what we ordered and what we got. Billions and billions were air-macked for this elections and what Nigerians expected is not what they got. Now, you're saying that the hope has now been moved to the tribunal, but if this is what we got in the elections, who's to say that there's anything left to call hope from what will come from the tribunal? I'm asking this because you and the professor obviously are lawyers and there has been some sort of trust deficit when it comes to the judiciary in this country. So what's the shred of hope that's left for the average Nigerian to hold on to in preparation for the tribunal's hearings? Okay, so I think the fact is that you have to see if in the case, there's a second chance of this case. And the fact is the second chance of this case is that Nigerians have been subchanged by the process that was set by AIN. You have expressed a type of resistance that the high-nature man in the traditional certain house stated clearly that it is both of the elections which were transmitted in a real-time after probation. And that's the pooling and the reasonable service which was transmitted in the process. The elections were not transmitted from cities, 70 after. You can check the IRS system. You will see that this picture of blue dead in the precinct pooling in the precinct pooling in my home pooling and it was also transmitted almost for after the presidential election. Now that happened all at once. So in a lot of the precinct offices had passwords. They were not working. The precinct wasn't working. They were only going to start speech and they were only going to start speeches. So that's the second aspect. The second aspect is that all at once, it was very obvious that from what happened subsequently in the presidential election, in the government's election, this system was different. You find this where it's all about people at that point. So in Madrid, there's a size of the process of each election, a phase of things, and the field that, you know, I like to know how to be determined by the process in which the elections are not set. When the electoral body is the one telling you who's fault, I mean, it's like, they are not even ready to look at it. It's just that there's some of the issues. The electoral act has given a negative power, so that's what you want to think, to reduce some of the results of the election and then to synchronize it. And so from the complaint you had from the coalition center, from PPP and DPP agents, can you remember, you know, Lulae and Mika Ejeda had complaints, and then you're from the Liberal Party. And the fact that they didn't let the... You know that this election is headed with mud by chaos. The electoral chaos, the fact that what the election transmitted were results that were manually completed. And then transmitted long weeks. You cannot have the results of the presidential election depends on the stations. And for three, four days after the election, would have been announced, not by the police, and so on. So that has brought a lot of issues and pressure on the judiciary. Comfortately, most of the decisions that are made before the judiciary, it's not even much more, but it's not as much as possible about the challenges of the elections. It's about challenges this past, whether I next ought to have transmitted the results at the political center or at the polling unit, or whether it was not transmitted once or about three, whether the candidate who contested the election is to run the election. You are not in a successful challenge in terms of the pooling by pooling the assessment process, because a lot of the electorate and the political party do not believe that even those politicians, accreditation was compromised actually. So once you have the system generated by INEC to meet the results that are already described, it gives you very difficult in terms of challenging the election in terms of statistics of what happened before the election. It's not about what also has happened before the election, who was not part of the election, who did not get 25 seconds, whether the guidelines for the electorate are provided for transmission of the results announced at the polling unit or whether INEC and then INEC for me to say no, we are not outside and I think we are not outside the election that is held by the transmission of that at that point, and that account still lies on the political side. So this is a challenge, and the tribunal has said to not delay the launch of the period of INEC to comply with the process. Let me come to you, Professor Wokoccia. The National Legal Advisor of the All Progressive Congress, who most of these petitions are against, had agreed and confirmed about, confirmed the date, I beg your pardon, for this tribunal to start, but there's something that he said that I want to, you know, push you on. He did say that, yes, they have been briefed on, you know, the hearing, which they are ready for to defend the mandate of, of course, the President-elect, but then he did say that who told you, I'm quoting him, that the election petitions at the tribunal must necessarily be concluded before May 29. So let's look at it. What the law says in terms of these petitions and when the timeline for which it should run for, as opposed to what this man has said, help us to have some clarity. How long is this tribunal supposed to last? And of course, many have also questioned how sacrosanct May 29 is in terms of swearing in the President-elect. I think May 29 is a matter of law. It's sacrosanct. The mandate of the outgoing President will elapse on that date. And it's suspected that the incoming President will take hold on that date and be gazed on mandate. Swearing in has nothing to do with electoral contests and petition activities. What governs that is the law and the section 285 of the Constitution states clearly the time that is allowed the tribunal to handle this matters. Subsection 10 of that section says the tribunal must give his judgment within 180 days from the date of the petition. So they have 180 days. That is the law within which to finish. It has nothing to do with whether it will be before or after the date for swearing in. No. And the fact that the person is sworn in does not put him beyond the reach of the tribunal. The tribunal judgment will determine what the legal position of the parties to the election really is. So it does not matter whether it ends before or after swearing in. But swearing in is a completely different matter. The mandate of the tribunal is 180 days after which appeal must be concluded within 60 days of the filing of the appeal. So I do not think they are directly related and it will be expecting too much and expecting outside the law for anybody to expect that the tribunal must conclude the case before May 29. May 29 is about in seven days from now. It's almost impossible. Let's talk about the petitioners. The PDP and of course the Labour Party. Now some of the arguments that we've heard, obviously I'm sure that you've heard is about the FCT. The FCT has been a subject of the argument and of course the number of votes that you're supposed to have that should qualify you as winner normally in every election. That has been the bone of contention here. Let's break that down again legally and what the constitution say or the electoral act says about the number of votes that you need to have including that of the FCT and the role that the FCT plays in all of this. Section 134 Substitution Section 134 Substitution 4B makes that provision defining the scope the scope of the territory of Nigeria that the winner must win to be qualified to be declared winner where there are the number at least two political parties contesting or more than one candidate contesting and it says he should win one quarter of the votes in each of at least two-thirds of the states of the federal republic of Nigeria and the federal capital territory now I have watched with interest the much argument that has been thrown up over that provision the court is to determine I agree completely but I think I honestly find some of them absurd the constitution is in my opinion referring to the scope of the area you must win beside winning the highest number of votes now there are three rules of interpretation I am sure the court will deal with all these there is the golden rule by which the team is taking from this natural meaning the way it is presented if that does not help you in reaching a position that is conclusive and clear you have the literal rule take the letters by their English meanings and try to make sense out of it and if you do that and it still doesn't solve the problem because it's still capable of two interpretations the last option is the mischief rule the mischief rule requires you to look at the problem that you are trying to solve the problem that the legislature was trying to solve at the time the law was made and what could have been the problem that the Nigeria National Assembly was trying to solve when that provision was made because that provision is different from the provision in the 1979 constitution the mischief that occurred and what happened differently that must have led to the necessity to include the federal capital territory is that under 1979 constitution you did not have a federal capital territory that was not part of a state Legos was the capital Legos was a state so if you say to third of all the states you have covered the entire territory of Nigeria but under the 1999 constitution Nigeria now comprises artistic states and a federal capital territory which is not part of any state so unless you mean that the votes in Abuja are not to be counted then you must include Abuja when you are talking of the territory that must be that the size of the territory that you win when you must win and I think that is where for me at much is that Abuja emerged under the 1999 constitution it did not exist as an extra territory part of Nigeria but under the 1999 constitution Abuja had a community existence as a federal capital that is not part of any state and that provision simply intended rather in the votes of Abuja as part of the at least to third of the territory of Nigeria that is to be won but again as I said this is an issue that the court will pronounce on eventually I can see no reason for the opinion that has been converse on that issue first election is a leveler democracy does not admit of unequal votes all votes are equal all territories are equal so we cannot in the same vein say that there is one territory that must be won what of the 36 states the constitution does not require you to win any particular state says you must win one quarter of the votes in at least to third of the states of the entire country so it simply means you can't Abuja as a 37th territory within Nigeria and there is a section of the constitution remember the exact section that I think is in the interpretation section that says Abuja is to be treated like a state so if that is the case it simply means which will give you 24 states you need to win more than 24 states you must win at least 25 states because there is an additional territory which makes Nigeria a 37th territory structure I think that clearly is what the constitution means but again as I said these are matters that the court will have to decide let me come back to you John the issue of interim government has been bounced around by a couple of people many have said even the Labour Party has asked that governments prosecute and security agencies get these people who are proponent of the issue of interim government what do you think made these proponents come up with this idea why do you think they decided to tell this line well I think clearly the the fact of the declaration of the presence of Abuja was thrown in accordance with the law or that he actually imagine it spends from the past that the opposition party for the past two actions of the interim government he needs that it is no win the election he ought not to have been declared by INX and like Professor Omopo shall say an attempt to delay May 29 let me know what it is for me on the result of the election that is the fundamental issue but like he has already said May 29 is a formal issue that and by practice that may 29 ceremony and over to the incoming president the law does not want to divide them that is why in this instance provided period of time provided for election president he dares to prove that if he doesn't win the election the cost of the power if he doesn't win the election issue another mandate issue another document to any candidate who has a message on this because of the fact that a lot of people very agree that the confidence that INX will submit before the election know they were expecting before the election is no happen at the end and he explains for that I think that you will give your very small perspective to INX-based party and so I will give the impression maybe in the media political party may be interpreting and understanding the position of the electoral act I can tell you as a politician as a member of the political party I see a lot of these agents and leaders of the political party no even understanding the position of the electoral act we got the impression that we are still in the electronic system Nigeria does not have an electronic system if you only provide for electronic and electoral system which is not even a real fact that after the acquisition the number of electoral figures there are after the election six figures of the political party so the impression the wrong perspective drawing that is created by INX social media way over the bill of political party without the proper understanding of the steps of the electoral act we are the manual electoral you made the difference in that election in that series is the technology for the divas from which your data can be captured you see that capturing the three manuals or three systems which you need to be captured it is also the election the election is the conduct of the manual it is also the result that the political party is taking control of the political party it is also the result that the system is doing management the divas instance is not the manifest the best system Nigeria showed the impression that this was the best system was an electronic system that is not even a real fact so we need to know and then INX believes that to do this not be because of the like and the And then there is no room to have someone that still is not going to be elected to be elected. My confusion on the matter is that I believe that we need the secretaries and the government authorities who are feeling credits and who are not by themselves. Look, an agitation by a group of people will not be given legitimacy by a collective conclusion by the public that this is what we ought to see. The group has built that expectation about this issue. If they need to set, if they need to mission on the construction of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, or any of that, the law of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, that requires an adherence of that law. That means it's time to ensure that we do not have a vacuum in that public of the pressure. If that thing will be declared the winner of the election, it will be shown in expression of making sense. Of course, the space they have to assemble is finished, and we must have media expectations to remain in focus. Over a blue, maybe longer than the year when they are in office. If the court is happy, they will not possibly elect them. Another statistic of this kind will be that this is the purpose. This is the reason we need to keep quiet people. And then, finally, the education of this party that we do not see the letter as it is not an electronic system. Even the experimentation is not even electronic. So, people got the impression, and this is why the issue of the resource transmitted is all real time. At the end of the day, what we are transmitting is keeping the resource of the manor and the electronic system as it is. So, this issue, we've got a long phase. Just like you said at the opening, we're exposed to what is going. We are stuck there with that meeting, the application of the act, and now the lot of our supporters believe that what is going to be attacked is. That is why they are calling for an internal start-up. I have just one minute. Professor Wakota, let's see if you can do justice to that one minute. All of these blames and finger-pointing mostly point at INIC, with all the monies that we voted to make sure that this elections came out better than ever. But then so many would say that this elections have dragged us back into the dark ages. Who's going to be questioning INIC? Who's going to probe for accountability and for a better INIC? Do you see this happening anytime soon? If you leave it to government, government most of the time is beneficiary of whatever you are complaining about. So, I think what irresponsible and proactive people will do is prepare to campaign for extension of reforms in the electoral system to ensure that we get to the point they thought we were at when this election was held. At the point, I even also got away with that impression that we were heading towards an electronic vote. But if you look at the law, just as John also said, you will find that it is a manual election. What is guaranteed is electronic accreditation, part electronic and part manual because it will still take the register. So, I think the entire hard feeling is based on the interpretation of the law as John pointed out. And I think that what we need to do is stop the blame game, go on with our petitions and then strive to demand more reform in the electoral sector to ensure that we get to the point that we desire. Well, I guess that's the way to go. Thank you very much. Thank you. Well, up next we turn our attention to press freedom and issues affecting journalists globally. Stay with us.


Quite we need to go in beyond traditional ace and the constitutional loans and I'll provide a theoretical and a rationale for that and I'll talk about new sources for financial development and our first structure transformation in the developing world In a normal but no poverty is the number one goals in SDGs And the way to achieve that is to create job and that's goal number eight For the able people and then to create and to increase their level productivity through technology innovation in that upgrading diversification and infrastructure improvement that's SDG line and it developing country had the late commerce advantages in technology innovation in that operating and As a potentially they should be able to grow faster than I'm country and Became become prosperous and achieve Converged to the high income country certainly poverty will be eliminated however, many birth country has been trapped in low income status and In our poverty is still one of the major challenges in the world In spite of their own effort and a multilateral development institution support And we know that investment is essential for technology innovation in that upgrading and infrastructure improvement and we know after the second world world many multilateral and Violator Institute development institutions were set up to provide development ace and Concentration alone to the developing country and theoretically This kind of ace and loans can expand the capital base and allow them to make more investment for technology innovation in that upgrading infrastructure investment Then they should be able to you know grow faster and become prosperous However, most of the American country has been trapped in poverty low income status And so it's essential for us to have a little bit of we thinking fine Development assistance, you know are not successful and then do we have a new way to improve the development assistance? and I think the idea is the most important and You know from what I see the reason why is by the in our individual national effort and Global support the developing country did not succeed in in our reducing poverty and so on it's because they are guided by wrong ideas and You know the development ideas development economics was a new sub-discipline It did not come into exist only after the second world world and we know that the first execution of development economics is Structuralism try to advise the developing country to you know industrialize in order to catch up the high income country and they argue that the government should play Active role to mobile our resources and to support the modern industries, but they fail and Then in 1980 1990 the idea changed to nearly believe them I think the reason why the developing country did not perform well was because of the market government values and advise the country to you know have privatization marketization stabilization in order to allow market to function Again the country follow this approach the economy also perform poorly and during this period of time There were a few success for developing economies and you'll find there are policy framework Basically was considered as wrong policies from the mainstream ideas for example in the 1950 1960s The idea was to develop you know modern industries, but there are few successful is Asian economy They started ways not on not in persecution, but their father expert for motion not a developed large-scale industry They started traditional small-scale labor intensive and in the 1980 1990 during the transition period China Vietnam Cambodia did quite well, but they did not follow the Washington consensus They started with some kind of gradual dual track, you know approach and again at that time those kind of gradual dual track Transition was considered as the worst possible approach from the neoliberal, but it was successful So that's the reason why I think that we need to rethink the you know idea of each guy our policy effort And the idea that I like to promote is a new addition of development economics, which I call new structural economics And it's an application of modern, you know neoclassical approach to study the Determinants and the impact of structure and structure in pollution in the process of economic development by convention I should call this as structural economics, but to distinguish from the structuralism I call new structural economics The main idea is that economic structure including technology in the tree institution and so on are indulgements Indulgent or to the endowment and its structure endowment I mean labor natural resources and capital that are available in any country at any time and The fire endowments and its structure are so important because endowments is the total budget of a country at any specific time And it is a structure if you are abundant in labor force Never which will be law if you're abundant in capital capital will be relative Expensive and this kind of rated prices were determining the complete advantage of an economy and it's basically time And if you develop your technology in the tree according to your compare advantages Then the federal cost of production will be the lowest and this is what should be considered the best in that restructure you have and So for me the best industrial structure and technology structures also in darkness But for us sending the development want to raise the income how to raise the income certainly You need to move from in our low value edit manufacturing That's a very intensive to higher value edit, you know manufacturing and so on But as industrial structure is in darkness if you want to move up the industrial scale, you know the latest you need to acquire the capitals and And and if you are came on the capitals you change your endowment structure Then you will have a natural upgrading in its process You also need to improve infrastructure because when you move to market the intense industry there without power They need to have a larger market network and so on so you also need to improve the infrastructure in order to reduce transaction cost and I make the Industry you have competitive one to two into very competitive in international and the domestic economy And when you see a country was trapped in low income status or medium income status Let me this country do not have this kind of dynamic structure transformation But who will be the best way to? Kickstart this kind of Dynamical process when we know that that structure is industrial to endowments And my argument is that to develop your economy according to your competitive one is as any good anytime determined by your endowments Because if you do that and especially with you know You know at core infrastructure You can turn competitive one to just into competitiveness and then you can have a larger market You can create profit you can accumulate capitals and I can prove if you follow this approach kept accumulation of your parties and it will provide a condition for the industrial upgrading for the job creation for the property reduction and I did to develop a economy according to your compare advantage is a term only understandable to Economist for entrepreneur. They'd like to have profit and how to make the spontaneous choice or entrepreneur Become to be consistent with your compare one to G. We need to have one institution That is competitive market so you can have a relative prices, please can rewrite relative abundance or forget about this You might get so important can government also need yes government is also named because in the process in the track rating Technological innovation in nature of diversification You need to you know solve the usual coordination You also need to improve the infrastructure institutions and those are you know, we'll have a market values And so you also need to have a precipitation state and If the development assistance is used to support this kind of structure transformation and now To support this kind of structure and transformation to expand it kept the base for a falsity state to open kind of mining country Then the development assistant will be very effective And from this we understand how come the structuralism which was so popular in 1956 he failed because they talk to run sectors They talk it the kept the intensive of one sectors which the country did not have come her advantages and as a result The firm that in this kind of private sectors were not viable and the government would have to you know Create all kind of distortion to support them and as a result in of those kind of sectors become very elephant And the economic preference was poor From this we also understand how come Washington consensus did not work Because Washington consensus did not Recognize that the distortions were endangering to the need or protect those kind of sector in the older priorities And if you remove all the distortion through the structure RP and advisor by Washington consensus Those kind of will go bankrupt create a huge number of unemployment and then you are not going to have social political stability Not only so some of those kind of Firm in these older sectors very captain nation They are also we get you to national defense and if you are wanting to go bankrupt like in a Ukraine Then you're not going to have any ability to protect your shop And and and and that's one reason why the Washington consensus did not work And also watching the consensus go against the government to have some kind of for citation role for specific studies in the structures transformation And so that's reason why many countries face the issue of de-initialization Because their industry went bankrupt, but they need that will not emerge and this also Explained how come and at the time in the 1980 1990s Most of the development aids were used to do support the structural adjustment to support this kind of Structure transformation to the rule the government in our Interventions, but they did not play the role to facilitate their structure transformation and after the 1990s because of values of this, you know structural adjustment law international development Assistant equal in the market later on and a bilateral change it to a human in a human humanitarian Aids for example education hair also gender governance and so on But those are not related directly to support the structure transformation And that's the reason why we see the de-initialization. We see the public still a big issue And then how come China may not mean a few you know Transition economy they can be successful by the dual track because the dual track on the one hand They provide consistent Continuous support to the all sectors to manage stability and they play active role to facilitate the growth of the new sector to the structure transformation and so on and so they can achieve competitiveness and dynamic economic growth and they can also benefit from the Like come as our one teachers and the new sectors when they grow very rapid the community capital then you are going to have a natural Grading in a natural grading they can benefit from the late commons are the one teachers and the government pray for sedition No further in the tribe reading and so they can you know grow dynamically So this strategy transition strategies in the 1980s and 1990 seem to be a consensus among the International Academics community to be the worst possible approach now turn up to be the best approach And I made this kind of dream come work now, you know if you want to make a different development assistant to be Successful in terms of structure transformation job creation property reduction You need to expand the capital base for the government to support the structure transformation In terms of providing infrastructure in terms of you know for sedition and that's why I'm waiting most kind of thing And I in coming to now if we look in the futures In the past The savings in the high income country advance country and also in the developing country before 2000 was about the same both countries was about 25% of their GDP But after the 2000 the developing country saving increase a lot you know and developed countries in our saving Decrines substantially and especially we Include China then the contribution or saving from the developing country by the time 2010 already reached more than 50% and Developed country their contribution, you know drop down to about 15% so that means there will be more funding for supporting development from the emerging country from the developing world and Then you look into the global investment in a before 2000 about 80% of the investment In the world came from high income country But after 2000 the situation changes by the time of 2010 We developed country contribute about 50% of global investment and developing country You know including China also country about 50% But if you equals China the developing country also contribute about 2728% but looking in the future by the time of 2030 most likely Develop developed country other one country will only have about 20% of the investment in the world But the developing country, you know, if you accrue China, they will contribute to about 45% and if you include China they will contribute to about 80% So that means looking in the futures more funds will be coming from the developing country I think the projection is very consistent with Richard in our findings And especially China China currently is the second largest economy in the world China is the largest trading country in the world and most likely by China by the time of 20s You know 25 China will be a high income country and certainly China need to contribute more to the global you know development systems and China announced a lot of programs like bare road initiative like AIIB and China also pledged to give more funding in the UN 2015 and our Meetings and all and so on and especially in a four-car meeting that in 2015 China pledged to provide 60 billion US dollars in three years and in just a few days ago China Pledge to give another 50 billion to the development systems, but there's something different The emerging dollars They provide funding to promote something different in the past mostly in the you know Development and a grant will concession alone But for the emerging dollars including China's all you know more of the fund will be coming from the official an other official flow in addition to the grant and concession alone were official like loans or official, you know like Investment those kind of things so that related to more of the long and investment, but they are targeting for the structure transformation so that can fail conventional North South development aids that buy you know back and so on They are based on development experience in the developed country You know developing developing countries think are important then they use those kind of fun in concession alone or aids to support what kind of activity and and but they are untied to the trade Untied to their structure transformation But if you look in the South South Corporation Including from China India or Turkey and so on. They are more coming to you know trade or investment in infrastructure in industries and certainly they also based on their own experience about what is important and We are for city the mall to support the developing country to utilize their compartment advantages So that should be more available to you know structure transformation Jack creation and to utilize the possibility of in a tree as well as make them as advantages And so let me conclude. I you know published a book 2017 on this and the conclusion is that development assistance will be helpful for development if they are used for expanding the government resources for facilitation structure transformations and because our conventional development aids and constitutional borrowings to the poor in our heads up had a poor development result because They are not really targeting directly to help the country to have a successful structure transformation and so we need to go to you know New idea and also we also net need to tap into the new resources and luckily the new resources are more likely to you know to use force support structure transformation and But to make that we need to expand the definition and as long as any kind of fun can be used to facilitate the structure transformation in Increase it in a sustainable way those kind of thing will help us to achieve the goal a set up for the international development communities So if we follow the new ideas, maybe we have a chance to achieve the SPC by the time of time is


We're gonna be looking today at verses six through 15 here in Mark chapter 15. And so just before I even begin, I'll remind you, some of you perhaps are new to us and you may not know how I go about teaching. What I do is I try to give you a backdrop, something to look at this passage with more understanding. In this particular study, I'm gonna be giving a little bit more information to develop it with you and you'll see that as we do so. And my way of teaching is giving the information, giving an introduction, giving the information, touching each verse and closing with an exhortation. That's how I teach. And so that's what you'll see today. And so as we begin here in chapter 15 of Mark's gospel, we'll begin at verse six. I'll read to verse 15, give you the backdrop, move into the teaching verse by verse and then move on to exhortation as we conclude. Excuse me, so let's begin at verse six and I'll read to verse 15. Mark chapter 15 verses six through 15. Now at the feast, he was accustomed to releasing one prisoner to them, whomever they requested. And there was one named Barabbas who was chained with his fellow rebels. They had committed murder in the rebellion. Then the multitude crying aloud began to ask him to do just as he had always done for them. But Pilate answered them saying, do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews? For he knew that the chief priests had handed him over because of envy, but the chief priests stirred up the crowd so that he should rather release Barabbas to them. Pilate answered and said to them again, what then do you want me to do with him whom you call the king of the Jews? So they cried out again, crucify him. Pilate said to them, why? What evil has he done? But they cried out all the more, crucify him. So Pilate, wanting to gratify the crowd, released Barabbas to them and he delivered Jesus after he had scourged him to be crucified. Now at this point we know and I'll gather some background and develop it but at this point Jesus has gone through a series of interrogations. The Jewish High Council had sent men to arrest Jesus when he was in the Garden of Gethsemane. Now Jesus had become a great problem to them. They wanted him removed. You see, over the years he had become well known. He had become well known because of his teachings as well as his miracles. But the miracle that had led to his arrest was the raising of a man by the name of Lazarus. Now Jesus had raised Lazarus after he had been buried for four days and this was the miracle that provoked them to find a way to kill Jesus. Now in that conversation Christ was having with Lazarus' sister and all they had said to him, she had said to him that Lazarus had been dead for four days. And when you read your scriptures and you see that in John 11, but Lord, because he had said remove the stone and she said Lord, he's been there for four days. By now he stinks. Now for us in the Western world and in our time, the idea of why that would be something, especially four days, why would that be something that was told to him to remind him of something. And so at that time there was a common belief that after four days they were actually absolutely, truly dead. There was this tradition and somebody was writing about it and they said for three days the soul goes to the grave thinking the body may return. But when it sees the figure of the face has been changed, it goes away and leaves it. So they believed that the soul would visit the body until the fourth day because by the fourth day his visages, his outer appearance had been changed. Three days a man is in the grave and his bowels burst and after three days that defilement is seen upon his face. So when Jesus was there and he said remove the stone and he was reminded he's been in the grave for four days, he stinks by now, putrification has occurred. Because the Jews didn't embalm, they just put spices around the body. And so to remove that stone there would be to allow the smell of a dead body and they wanted to resist that but there was a reason it said four days. It's because they believed that the soul would return to the body until the body was no longer recognizable. So that miracle was when that was intended to break that superstition as well as to glorify and amplify what God was about to do what Christ was doing when he raised Lazarus from the dead. It was so incredible when that happened that many began to believe in him. In John chapter 11 verse 45 it says many of the Jews who had come to Mary and had seen the things Jesus did believed in him. So this miracle finalized the religious authorities determination to put him to death. John 11.53 says from that day on they plotted to put him to death. Their opportunity had come when Judas had made a deal with the religious leaders to betray Christ. We saw it in chapter 14 here in Mark verses 10 and 11 how it says Judas Iscariot one of the 12 went to the chief priest to betray him to them. And when they heard it they were glad and promised to give him money. So we saw it how he might conveniently betray him. So Judas's opportunity had arrived and he led the officers there to the garden to arrest Christ. Now he went before, Jesus went before the high priest Annas but Jesus wouldn't respond. He was uncooperative to his questions. So Annas had sent him to his son-in-law the presiding high priest, a man named Caiaphas. And they were trying to find a charge to lodge against him. So when he said he was the son of the blessed and that he would return in power, well that secured a charge against him. The charge that was a religious one in nature was blasphemy. In Jewish law blasphemy is a capital offense. So they had gathered again in the morning so they could formalize the charges and then they sent him to Pontius Pilate. The charges that they gave against Christ were charges of blasphemy, religious and sedition which was political. Now at first as we've seen Pilate wanted to avoid the problem, he sought a way out of it. Jesus had been brought to him but he didn't find him guilty of anything in Luke 23 verse four. Pilate said to the chief priest and the crowd, I find no fault in this man. Now when he said this, they got extremely angry but he gave him a way out because in Luke 23, six and seven, it says they were the more fierce saint, he stirs up to people teaching throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee to this place. When Pilate heard of Galilee, he asked the man we're a Galilean and as soon as he knew that he belonged to Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod who was also in Jerusalem at that time so he wants to get out of it. So he says, Galilean, wait, Herod is here, he has jurisdiction over that province, I'll get rid of him by just sending him to Herod. Now the Bible tells us that Herod had long wanted to see Christ, he wanted to see him do a miracle. So he began to ask him questions and Jesus answered nothing. The chief priest and the scribes charged him before Herod's but Jesus wouldn't respond and because he wouldn't, Herod and his men began to ridicule and to mock him. The Bible tells us that they dressed him in a beautiful robe and then they sent him back to Pontius Pilate and this act of contempt, please Pilate because he and Herod at that time had been at odds but it says in Luke 23.12, that very day Pilate and Herod became friends with each other for previously they had been at enmity with each other. No, Pilate knew that concerning Christ, he wouldn't have a problem at least with Herod. In Luke 23.13 through 17 it says Pilate, when he had called together the chief priest, the rule is the people said to them, you brought this man to me as one who misleads the people indeed having examined him in your presence I have found no fault in this man concerning those things of which you accuse him. No, neither did Herod for I sent you back to him and indeed nothing deserving of death has been done by him. I will therefore chastise him and release him for it was necessary for him to release one to them at the feast. And so that's where we pick up right now where he has sent them back. So in verse six here in chapter 15 it says, at the feast he was accustomed to releasing one prisoner to them whomever they requested. So there was a custom to do that. Now we have no information on the origin of this kind of custom. It's believed that because Passover celebrated deliverance that a release like this would be in keeping with the celebration of freedom. And there are those who believe that that may have been the origin. We don't know for sure but one thing we know, Pilate was more than willing to let Christ go. Perhaps he thought that they would ask for Jesus to be released. He was giving them an option. Perhaps he'll ask for Jesus. Well it says in verse seven, and there was one named Barabbas who was chained with his fellow rebels. They had committed murder in the rebellion. Barabbas, now this is an interesting thing I'll be touching on this for a little while as I go through this passage with you. But the name Barabbas is an interesting name.  The Hebrews will call you like I would be, this is interesting, but I would be David Bar Frank. Frank's not a Jewish name but that's what I would be. I'm the son of my father whose name was Francisco. His name was Frank. And so David Bar Francisco. Now Barabbas, Bar means son of Abba, Abbas is father. Barabbas is son of a father. That's what his name means. We're gonna see this in a moment. Now Barabbas was a violent revolutionary. According to Luke 2319, Barabbas had been thrown into prison for an insurrection in the city and for murder. In John's account, John 18 verse 40, he said that Barabbas was a robber. The word is a brigand, he was a robber. He was somebody who ambushed people and would rob them. Barabbas had led a revolt against the Romans. He opposed the Roman government. So what he was doing by force in a carnal way was he was trying to throw off the oppressive rule so they could be free from their bondage. So in his revolt, he had committed murder. Now it seems that he represented freedom from oppression. He was also willing to kill to secure a goal. Now that's an interesting contrast. It's a contrast really of the kingdom of man and the kingdom of God, Barabbas. Son of a father used violence and killing to secure freedom. Jesus, the son of the father, the true son, laid his life down to bring us freedom and to set us free from that slavery and bring in his kingdom. He didn't do it by taking somebody else's life. He laid down his own. Now as this is taking place in verse nine, Pilate answered them saying, do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews? Now the way he asked this question, notice how he phrased it, do you want me in doing that? He's revealing he hopes that they're gonna say, yes, we would like you to release this man, Jesus, yes. You see, Pilate had found no fault in him and Pilate wanted to avoid a riot. Perhaps it would calm down. Perhaps it would allow Jesus to be released and it says in verse 10, for he knew that the chief priest had handed him over because of envy. Now envy is one of the most evil sins. It's a sin that actually delivered Christ up to be crucified. That's how bad it is. Envy, you have jealousy, but you have envy. Envy's worse. Envy has been defined as displeasure when someone has what you don't want them to have. One guy said, somebody has what you don't want them to have and you want it for yourself. It's a very evil sin. They're very envious of him. They're envious of his popularity. They're envious of the fact that he is a great teacher and that he's a miracle worker. And all we have to do is look back at some scripture to see that. An example is found in John 7 how that the religious leaders had sent some officers to go and to arrest Jesus Christ. And these officers came back without him. And when they came back without Jesus, they said, where is he? And in John 7, 46, they simply said, no man ever spoke like this man. We listened to him. We were there to arrest him. And as he was speaking, we're looking for certain signs of him attempting to arouse the people, the carnal behaviors, maybe rebellion. And we were transfixed by the way he spoke. As we listened to him, we couldn't stop listening to him. You're asking us to arrest somebody like that? This is a man who speaks with authority. This is a man who brings the voice of God to the earth. And you're asking me to arrest this man? They wouldn't do it. On another occasion when Jesus was in Jerusalem, he had healed a man who had been born blind. And again, the Pharisees had objected. And so they questioned this man. They wanted to know how this had happened in and who had performed this miracle. They wanted to dispute the healing. But the man speaks very clearly. It's found in John 9, 32 and 33. The man who had been healed says this. He said, since the world began, it has been unheard of that anyone open the eyes of one who had been born blind. And then he went on to say, if this man were not from God, he could do nothing. And so the way he spoke and the things he did had caused these authorities to become greatly concerned. And Pilate knew. He knew that Jesus had been handed over because of their envy. Somebody said it like this. Envy was the low passion that influenced the chief priest. They saw that Jesus was gaining a great and increasing influence over the people by the sublime beauty of his character, by the fame of his miracles, and the constraining power of his words. Because of this, they concluded that unless he was arrested and put out of the way, their own influence would be soon gone. The whole world was going after him. Therefore, he must be destroyed. So Pilate knew that the whole that power and authority, he knew that hold. He knew the hold he could have over a person. And he saw through their fake religious zeal. He knew exactly what was moving them. Well, as this is taking place, he receives a message from his wife. She said, bring some milk and bread home. No, he received a message from his wife. In Matthew 2719, while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him saying, have nothing to do with this righteous man. I have suffered many things today in a dream because of him. Have nothing to do with him. I had a nightmare concerning him. Have nothing to do with him. Don't condemn Jesus.  Now, as I was reading this and researching the background of such a comment, many commentators believe that she was a devout woman, a religious woman, a woman of faith. And because of that, she's cautioning her husband about the Lord. It's interesting, she said, I had a dream. The source of the dream is unknown. It's likely, though, that she had heard of Jesus. God, by the way, in the old, as well as the new, would communicate on occasion through the use of dreams. Part of the last day, as Joel says, is your old man will be dreaming dreams. And I can attest to that. Job 33, 15 and 16 says it like this, in a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on people as they slumber in their beds. He may speak in their ears and terrify them with warnings. Well, this woman, Pilate's wife approaches, I have suffered many things this day in a dream. Have nothing to do with this righteous man. But as this is taking place, notice verse 11, the chief priest stirred up the crowd so that he should rather release Barabbas to them. He's concerned that they're gonna have a riot. There are a lot of Jewish people in Jerusalem, it's the Passover. There are many people who have flooded into the city. It only takes a spark to start a fire of a riot. And I don't know how many of you have ever been around a group of people that were being provoked into anger or were angry. My wife, Marie and I have had occasion on more than once to be there. We saw this when we were in Washington, DC, there were people in this particular square and they had the megaphones and they were arousing the people. They were getting them angry. And it's interesting to see how people can be stirred in that. We were also one time in New York and there was a march in New York going down from Times Square. Marie and I were in the room looking out the window because we could hear noise. We could hear the sound of a drum beating. So you heard this drum beat and so naturally I looked out and I saw this crowd and it looked like it was a dangerous crowd. So I told Marie, go and see what's going on. No, I didn't do that. We just stood by the window looking out. And it was so loud, several stories up and it was so loud and you have double pains, you could still hear it. And I thought, boy, that crowd's out for blood. Pilate doesn't want to have a riot. He doesn't want to have violence. He's already been looked at closely by Rome. He doesn't want more problems. He's trying to find out how he can release Jesus without causing a riot, but the chief priests, according to verse 11, are stirring up the crowd. They're rabble rousers, that's a word that used to be used there. They're stirring them up and trying to get them to be on their side. They're using their authority and their religious standing to actually cause these people to demand the death of a man. Think about that for a minute. These are religious leaders who are stirring people up to kill an innocent man. That's what they're doing. They want to see him put to death and so they're moving the people to call out for Barabbas. And you can almost hear this. You can almost hear the sound of the people as they're stirring them up and they're crying out, Barabbas, give us Barabbas. This is an obviously clear picture of unqualified spiritual leaders. They were so blind to Christ because of their hunger for power, even the secular leader Pontius Pilate saw through this. He saw right through it. They're envious. This man has standing. This man has usurped in their mind their authority and taken their place as a religious voice and he saw right through it. You see, in John 11, 48, the chief priests and the Pharisees had said, if we let them alone like this, everyone will believe in him and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation. The Romans will come and take away our standing, the influencers that we are in our society. They're gonna take that from us. We won't have that anymore. Plus they may come and devastate the nation because of what's going on. And so we don't want them to bring the nation to ruin but we also don't wanna lose our standing.  He represents what's within the heart of people. They wanted freedom from Rome. He represented the way to freedom and that shows us how far from God our fleshly desires can take us. They would prefer a murderer over their Messiah. They would prefer a man of action and violence over a man of peace. That shows you how far human nature really has fallen. It's interesting when you spend a little time, perhaps going to class or reading books or whatever, watching shows for that matter today. So many of them will say this. There's so many who say that human nature is actually good. The human beings are good. Now, there are some very fine human beings. Of course, we're not all as evil as we could be. And there are quite a number of people that, be honest with you, I've met some very nice people who don't have a religious faith, but they're nice people. So I would never say everybody's as bad as they could be. But I will say this. We're not as good as we can be either. When I was in college a long time ago, I took several classes in psychology. My reading, for casual reading, when I was in my mid-20s, was usually from a psychological standpoint. I did a lot of reading in that way. I took several classes. I say that to say this, that in every one of my secular college classes, every one of them, not to say every teacher teaches the same thing, but in every one of my classes I took, every one of them that were secular, the teachers would teach that human nature is good. They said we're really intrinsically good. They never answered the question of evil. If we're so good, how did evil arise? They never gave me an answer for something like that. Well, if we're that good, if we're all good, if we're born with a blank slate or whatever you wanna say, that how is it that we're not as good? Well, how is it? How can good become corrupted? And they didn't have an answer for that. They still don't. The Bible provides the answer for that. It's that we are born with a human nature that is fallen. That's what the Bible teaches. Adam and Eve, they failed their test there in the garden, if you will. And Eve took the forbidden fruit, gave it to her husband, he did eat. We receive from Adam his nature. It's called the Adamic nature in scripture that's referred to that way theologically. We receive our sin nature from the father. Our nature comes from the father.  It's what we do. And we know that's true. I mean, look at it this way.  It only makes sense to me to take the toy because I want it. He's got several. Why not take it? My son, David, did that. I brought him home from his best friend's house. He was wearing his little pajamas with the little feet, the same ones I wear. And he had, and one of his, his leg was a little longer than the other. As I carried him in, I put him down and lo and behold, he had taken Adam's little toys and he had stuffed them in his pajamas and they had rolled on down to his feet. And so I go, oh man, I've got a thief, a thief for a son. I was so mad at Marie for that, but no. So I called Debbie up. I said, Deb, I'm so sorry, Adam's mama, Debbie. Deb, I'm so sorry. David stole Adam's toys. She says, don't worry about it. Adam stole a lot of David's. So I mean, you know, when you're five years old, it only makes sense to beat up a three-year-old. It only makes sense. Why would you fight with an eight-year-old when you can beat up the three-year-old? That's human nature.  They're just too weak to do it. Anybody who's a parent knows there's some truth to that.  Their faces get all red. That's the mother. The kids are worse. Human nature, human nature. How can I argue that human nature is good if I don't take into consideration all the evil that occurs? How can I argue that? And so when people begin to argue and say, oh, we're really good, now all you need to do is see what they did to Jesus. So all you have to do, if they're so good, why did they want him crucified? And so Barabbas and their desire for Barabbas reveals their carnal desire for power and position. In verse 12, it says, Pilate answered and said to them again, what then do you want me to do with him whom you called, the king of the Jews? Well, what do you want me to do with him? Now it seems that Pilate at this point believes that Christ is innocent, but he resists fighting for his release. And so verse 13, they cried out again, crucify him. We want nothing less than his death. Well, as they're saying that, verse 14, Pilate said to them, why? What evil has he done? But they cried out all the more, crucify him. They don't care about evidence. They want nothing less than his death. Luke 23 verse 23 says it like this, they were insistent demanding with loud voices that he be crucified and the voice of these men and of the chief priests prevailed. Matthew 27, 24 through 26 says, when Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a tumult was rising, he took water, washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I'm innocent of the blood of this just person, you see to it. And all the people answered and said, there is blood beyond us and our children. Then he released Barabbas to them. And when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. No amount of reasoning would prevail. This mob was out for blood. He had made a fair, even a proper decision, but they don't want justice. They want injustice. They don't care about evidence. They want death. Now, Pilate had chosen a Jewish ritual to demonstrate that he was not guilty of injustice. When you look at your Bible in Deuteronomy in the Old Testament, chapter 21, verses six and seven, well, that portion of scripture provides a hand washing ritual when judges can't render justice. The Psalmist in Psalm 26 verse six said, I will wash my hands in innocence. And so there was a ritual. He took a Jewish ritual of hand washing to visually portray to them, I am washing my hands of this. That's part of where we get that phrase, he washed his hands of it. That's where Pilate was doing. Now, I'm washing my hands of responsibility. I wash my hands in innocence. Now, he's trying to distance himself from responsibility. So by saying that Jesus is innocent, he places the blame on the Jewish leaders. Well, what do they do?  We're willing to be held responsible for the death of this man. So verse 15, so Pilate wanting to gratify the crowd released Barabbas to them, he delivered Jesus after he had scourged him to be crucified. Pilate wanting to gratify the crowd released Barabbas. In Luke 23, 24 and 25, Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they requested. He released to them the one they requested who for rebellion and murder had been thrown into prison but he delivered Jesus to their will. Notice he released Barabbas and had Jesus scourged. Now Jesus had said this would happen in Luke 1833, they will scourge him and kill him. So he delivered verse 15, he delivered Jesus after he scourged him to be crucified. Pilate was not convinced of any guilt on Jesus' part, he knew that Jesus had been delivered because of envy. So he offers the people a choice. He's asking them who do you prefer, who do you want? He's offering them a choice, you can have Jesus or you can have Barabbas, it's up to you. Now, as this is taking place, he delivers Jesus up to be scourged. It's possible, because we'll look at this more next time we're together, but it's possible that he thought that this might touch them, it might cause them to have sympathy because the scourging guys is something that it's been called the living death. You see, at this point, Jesus had been ministering constantly. His last week was filled with ministry. His last day was filled with ministry, went into the later portion of the evening as he was teaching, then he was taken captive, he was placed before these different representatives and all, and he was tired. By this time, he was very, very tired. Not only that, when he had gone before the high priest, he was abused physically.  The officers struck him with the palms of their hands. So he's already been abused, he's already had spit, he's already been hit in the face, he's been hurt. So he's now delivered to be scourged. He was tied to a post. Some of us perhaps are aware of what scourging was, but this is the description of it. He was tied to a post with his hands over his head, so that opened him up on his back. He was completely open and exposed. His face, his back, and his neck were all exposed. There were two men, they were called liptors, they're torturers, and they took turns striking him from one side and the other. They were using a whip that had a short wooden handle and several straps. Each one of those straps were made out of leather, and they were embedded with bits of sharp lead, or with sharp bones or spikes. So each stroke cut the flesh until the veins and the entrails were laid to bear. One writer said often the whip struck the face knocking out eyes and teeth. It ended in fainting and even in death. It was called the living death. According to Jewish law, when somebody was scourged, they could only be scourged with 39 lashes. Jesus had no less than 39 lashes, and sometimes they would go more just to mock the Jewish legal system. As this is taking place, and you can almost, if you take a moment to think, you can almost hear the sound of a whip. You can almost hear the sound of it hitting human flesh, being aware of the sharpened bones or spikes, the ripping of the flesh and the moaning and the groaning of Jesus. You can almost, in your mind's eye, just imagine what he was going through. Again, this fulfilled prophecy in the Old Testament, the book of Isaiah chapter 50 verse six, I gave my back to those who struck me, my cheeks to those who plucked out the beard. I did not hide my face from shame and spitting. They grabbed the face of Christ and he had a full beard as the Jews of his Jewish men of his day did. They grabbed his face and pulled out his beard. And my children were small when they were learning to grow, to walk rather. Couple of them I learned, but from this what I'm about to share, but I used to wear a full beard. For a long time I had a full beard. And so I would kind of be over my babies and you know, dads do, I remember. And the baby would be moving her hand, his hands or whatever, and then grab my face. They would grab my beard and they would, and I'd go, whoa, and I'd pull back and they would stand up by holding on to my beard. Yeah, it hurts. Even with a small baby, it hurt when they would grab, hold, and twist because you gotta get a good, you know, good grip.  So I learned a long time ago and some of you ladies did too. No, some of you guys did too. That part of your face is kind of tender. I got in trouble by the way one time when I was in New York, I was teaching at a friend of mine's church, an Italian fellow, dear guy and his wife, and I was talking to his wife and him, and we were visiting him many years ago now, and I said to, they're both Italians, so I said to him in front of his wife, I said, do you know why Italian men grow mustaches? He says, no, I don't. I said, to look like their moms, and when I said that, that's when I discovered Italians can get mean, you know, and it wasn't him, he laughed, it was the wife, but anyway, grabbed the beard. In Isaiah 53, four and five, Isaiah said this, surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted, but he was wounded for our transgressions, he was buried bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement for our peace was upon him by his stripes we are healed. The apostle Peter in 1 Peter 2, 23 and 24 said it like this, when he was reviled, he didn't revile in return. When he suffered, he didn't threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously, who himself bore our sins in his own body on that tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness by whose stripes you were healed. When Jesus died, his death provided healing for our wounded souls, because sin wounds us from within, Jesus' death provided healing for us within. He spiritually heals our broken hearts as he forgives us of our sins. I was reading something, I'll do more research on this, I'm gonna do a little further reading on this, I don't want you to be misled by what I'm about to say, but I found it interesting, interesting enough to share with you. I was listening to a professor or a doctor who was sharing something about memory, and I'm always interested in things related to memory, and he was saying that through scientific investigation and all, and this is a guy who has no reason to say this other than to say what is current, and perhaps I may have a nursing professional, medical doctor or whatever here, you can share with me if you'd like about this if it's incorrect, but I was reading, I'm only repeating what I'm actually listening to his lecture in, and he said, he said, we have discovered recently through various means of research that not only does your brain retain memory, we already know that of course, he said, but there are actual memory receptors in your heart. I thought, how interesting is that? Memory, he said, you can actually store memories in your heart, now I find that very interesting for a lot of reasons, but one of them is that Jesus said, I came to heal the broken hearted, I wonder if we were honest with God before God just ourselves, some of us are able to do so in front of others, some of us are restrained by our own inhibitions to be able to do that for whatever reason, but if we were honest, I wonder how many of us could say that you have suffered with a broken heart, you have suffered with pain, a memory that is so deep that you can actually sometimes almost feel it in your heart. I don't know, I'm interested in this because when Jesus said, I have come to heal the broken hearted, that may have a deeper meaning than I before have come to understand, but I do know this, I do know that his stripes that he took for us, he took them on himself for us by his stripes were healed, was not a guarantee for physical healing, was a promise that he would heal your brokenness inside. I have things they should grow older, you're gonna deal with things and we just do, that's just part of growing older in this body that I have. But the one thing that God has done is he can heal you from here, from inside. Jesus, when he took upon himself, my sin, your sin, has also given me the remedy for a broken heart because he wants to and can and does heal us from the inside out, by his stripes we have been healed. When he took that, when he took those, the scourging the way that he did when his body was so destroyed by these people and it's done for the purpose, it's part of it to try and satisfy the bloodlust of these people and also maybe to even provoke them to some form of sympathy because we'll see how Pilates brings Christ out and he's arrayed in robes of mockery and all in, he says, behold the man, look at him, look at what he's done, look at him, behold him, all they wanted was crucifixion. Crucify him, put him to death, but that's why he came. He heals our broken hearts and he takes away our sin. Now Peter made reference to Israel's desire for Barabbas in Acts 3.14 when he said, you disowned the holy and righteous one and asked for a murderer to be granted to you. You didn't want your Messiah, you wanted your murderer, you didn't want the one who gives life, you wanted the one who takes it and that comment applies to this day because when people are looking for leadership and not necessarily looking for virtue, they're looking for power, they're looking for somebody who can change things to make them happy, it hasn't changed, it hasn't changed. Human beings still desire the wrong things and that's why the gospel is the only message that sets you free. When you understand that God forgives sinners and transforms lives and brings peace to you, you can see a transformed society. Our father, we ask that you would.


Kentucky State Police are conducting a murder investigation after a Floyd County man was found dead inside his home on Branham's Creek Friday afternoon. There were some concerns about the health and safety of the person inside. When they did make enter, they found the body of Paul Fultz, who is from Branham's Creek, deceased inside his residence. There was an autopsy performed Saturday. The evidence collected there has been processed as we speak. The detectives are out, camped in the area and interviewing people that may know or seen something. At this time, we do believe it to be a murder. We're not exactly sure on the time of death yet, but we do believe he had been in there at least a day, maybe two. As always, anybody's got any information in the area, may have seen something and heard something. Even if they just saw a vehicle pull in and pull out or something, may have something to do with this case. We would ask him to call the Kentucky State Police or the Sheriff's Office.


This is my first one ever I'm trying on lingerie for y'all and y'all know I just got my body done and I love to show it off So I'm pretty excited and my sister is going to be writing these lingerie says so It should be interesting. So if you're new here. Hey girl, welcome back to my channel If you're new here, my name is Kyra. Do not forget to like comment and subscribe And we're just gonna hop right into the hall. So this like I said, it's a savage X Fenty haul They are sponsoring this video. I love their lingerie. It's so comfortable. It's so easy and breathable. I love Undergarments where it's just so comfortable and easy for me to wear because I just don't like being uncomfortable Especially under my clothes. It just it doesn't work out. So yeah So make sure you check out the link down below so you can become a VIP member and you can always Cancel your membership at any time which X Fenty offers these styles of bras. I'm a 32a 42h these lingerie lounge wear wheat wear and more sizes. I love such X Fenty.  So get to check the link down below Also, I forgot to mention you get to get 65% off when you sign up to be a VIP member So make sure you check the link down below and let's just get right into the video Okay, y'all. So let's just get started into the haul. So this first piece is a full cozy One-piece jumpsuit set. I love it. It's so comfortable I wear this so many times and I wash it so many times and the quality of savage X Fenty is unmatched because I Washed it and it still feels super soft and you know, like how sometimes fleece wear It can get like those little, you know fleece Circle things on there, but this does not have that and I love the quality the zippers rose gold and it just says Savage X Fenty all over in monogram And it says savage X Fenty right here and it has a hood So it's perfect to wear out, but you know, you can wear this as a lounge or set so yeah, so What do you write this? Okay, so what do you write it? that's in Okay, so this next set is the daisy lace set I love this one because I love the lace on here on the bra part and it's wireless and in the front You know easy access. It's unhookable right here in the front so you can just like bow and I love the adjustable Brallette part You can make it as white as you want or as skinny as you want Like that like a swim to top, but I like the versatility versatility of it Oh, it depends on your mood. Like I said savage X Fenty depends on your mood. It's super cute. Oh She's there So what do you write this?  What do you write this? Why What It's supposed to be on me Oh This is gonna be demonetized anyway, so Yeah, I'm so swollen right now.  It's super sexy. Oh, so this next outfit is my favorite Like this is a jumpsuit with they call it a keyhole I guess cuz it's like a bee But I love like the deep V. I love the Z back is super sexy But yeah, so comfortable like I love this outfit Like I can literally wear this all the time and I love how like when you wash like I said when you wash up It's X Fenty. It doesn't look dingy or anything like that I love the material it still looks super black after I washed it so many times because I've been wearing this Around the house and it's so comfortable. I Love this outfit. So, what do you write this here? What do you write this?  It's like a floral type of material and it's super sexy I love this green. It's like a silk how this silk material feels on me is so soft. Y'all like it's literally so soft And yeah, you see you see homegirl back there So what do you write this and I love how comfortable this is this is wireless. Just so comfortable Yeah, I give us a eight Just because it's a little big on me I could go smaller and have homegirls sitting up a little bit more This next set is the Nasari online lace bra let bra I Love the lace on this and I love the underwear especially just because you know, like when you pull your panties up more It gives you more shape to your body So it has these strings right here that add extra detail to doing that and I just love that And I love the shape of this bra this bra that I love the lace on here The lace detail is the same lace as that green one piece. I just showed you I just love this green like I love this deep green on me and then The underwear is so flattering in the back Especially with this little detail right here. So cute. This bra is so comfortable You can wear this like under a blazer or anything like that like a piece of clothing You don't just have to wear as like underwear. So Yeah, so create your own vibe with savage XMT periods. So what do you write this? She's giving very much nine. Okay. Yeah, so this the next body suit is the Nasari Body suit with the front piece cut out super sexy I love how it looks like a penny but still attaches like as a bra And then also one thing that I love about this is that it's so comfortable And I like I said, this is definitely festive and definitely going to be holiday appropriate This is what I would wear if I'm like in a house chilling with my boo And you know, it's Christmas time with like a white robe. Oh, it's just a vibe What do you write this Kiera, what do you write this? So this next piece is the underlined bra purple with the savage Yeah, savage X Fenty logo all over the breast area and it's like a mesh material on top of like Yeah, it's a mesh material But it's still big so it's like double lined with like mesh or something And then I have these underwears to go with it very high waisted Super comfortable and breathable because my homegirl needs it and I just love this It's so comfortable to wear under clothes and everything like that I already know what you can write this 30 You annoying y'all her favorite color is purple. So Yeah, I love this their panties are super comfortable y'all like you know how like some panties just rise up and just Just is not Suitable for our homegirls down there. We need something breathable and you know So, yeah Huh, you can definitely get a good price on this for if you become a VIP member.  Period go ahead and place you a order girl, but they are always My sister on the website right now order her savage X Fenty period poo But this next set is the logo bralette in this blue cold way blue color. They call it a blue cyber cafe color, but I Love this blue on me. This one is my favorite set. So I give this a 10. This set is so comfortable I love the bra on it. Um, it's very hard for me to find comfortable bras. Yeah, I swear to you That's why I barely be wearing them But this bra is my fave and then this is like a thong My panty to go with it. Yeah So make it on camera and it's like a triangle thong in the front What do you get this reddit the savage Fenty all over the breast area with the mesh is so It's so sexy sexy. Okay. What do you like this? Why Like This is the lacy now racy underline bra, I cannot get over how comfortable the savage X Fenty bras are y'all like Normally like they would be hurting me like right under here, but this is so comfortable like this band underneath And then I love the lace detail on this delay mesh material. This is like the perfect t-shirt bra to wear and Then these are the matching panties very high-waisted and then they have this little bow detail in the back And like I said savage X Fenty panties do give you a lot of room so they don't write up I love the detail on the underwear. So what do you write this? It's a 10 to me cuz it's for comfort it's all about comfort for me and sexiness at that so we love and Then also y'all I do have these tight very sexy and appropriate for the You know Holiday season coming up.  Okay, surprise your boo, or you can wear them under clothes Whatever you want to do. Okay girls. So that is it for this video I hope you guys enjoyed me showing y'all these savage X Fenty pieces because I just love putting on loungewear sets especially now because you know she's the right and tight and Yeah, so make sure y'all check out the link down below so y'all can become a VIP member and then anything from the savage X Fenty lines like loungewear the bras the underwear Everything is just a one. So you will not be disappointed Like I said, my favorite piece from the haul is that black jumpsuit with the keyhole. That's my favorite Also, this is my second page just because It's so comfortable. But yes, so sexy like clearly I can wear underwear under this What's up? So, yeah, so I hope you guys enjoyed and I'll see y'all in the next video. Bye