I start with the name of Allah, the Beneficent and the Merciful. I seek salvation from Satan, the accursed. My dearest viewers, my brothers and sisters from across the world. As-salamu alaikum jami'an wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. May the peace, blessings and the protection of Allah SWT be with you. I would like to thank you for tuning in to another episode of the Ramadan show, exclusively here on Imam Hussain TV with me, your host Dr Shabir Tejani. Insha'Allah, today we hope to impart some more pearls of wisdom to you so that we can be your one-stop shop for the holy month of Ramadan. I would like to encourage you once again and humbly ask you to send in your videos, your pictures and your blogs from across the world to tell us how you prepare for this holy month. Insha'Allah, we can share these with the rest of our viewers as well. Once again, don't forget to join us on social media by using the hashtag IHTVRamadan. Please join us on Facebook, Instagram and on YouTube as well where the show will be uploaded tomorrow, insha'Allah. Before proceeding on to the show, I would just like to quote a quick saying from the Holy Quran. Allah SWT says, remember me and I'll remember you. And this is such a short quote but so profound. In our times of need and desperation, if you remember Allah SWT, surely in those times Allah SWT will ease those burdens upon us. And in the times of joy, if you remember Allah SWT, then those times of joy will be ever more improved and ever more increased. Insha'Allah, we hope that if we follow this saying, then we'll succeed in this world and in the hereafter. During this episode of spiritual refinement, insha'Allah, I want to talk about a specific dua. That dua that we've been taught by the 12th Imam to recite on a daily basis or a nightly basis during the holy month of Ramadan. And that is none other than Dua Ifteta. The holy Imam, the holy 12th Imam, alayhi salam, asks us to recite it every night during Ramadan because of its excellent ability to mold a man's attitude towards Allah SWT as it expresses, as it says, many, many aspects of a human being. And it also describes the grace of Allah SWT. This dua is not only a supplication for our needs but a teaching of the very fundamentals and roots for our faith. It's a way of planning life. It remains our responsibility to plot the chart of life as we create a beautiful dua or recite this beautiful dua rather during the holy nights of Ramadan. I'll talk about two sections, insha'Allah. The first section of the dua describes different qualities of Allah SWT reveals the graciousness and the love that Allah SWT has for us. The section of the dua can be further divided into the following parts. Part one, the praise of Allah SWT as is the etiquette of Dua Ifteta. It begins with raising and glorifying Allah SWT. This is not because Allah SWT requires praise but it's the etiquette of doing the dua. We ask him or we elevate his status before we ask for our supplications. And it's to remind the supplicant of the supreme being which is Allah SWT. Secondly, there's emphasis on the oneness of Allah SWT. The third part of this section is the generosity of Allah SWT. Finally, it's the relationship of Allah SWT with a human being. Although it is us who needs Allah SWT and should strive towards him, it is Allah who invites us and encourages us to come towards him. He who shows love, he who shows mercy and he who continues to bless us in many, many ways. Section two of the dua is where we send peace and blessings upon the Prophet and the Ma'asumin, peace and blessings be upon them all. And we discuss the role of the 12th Imam, Al Jalla Allah Farajah. The first part is when we send salawat on the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. After remembering the oneness of Allah SWT and remembering Allah, the next most important part of faith is his messenger, the Holy Prophet, peace be upon him. And then we bless the Ma'asumin, peace and blessings be upon them all because after the Prophet, they're the next representatives on Earth. After which we discuss or we talk about the role of the 12th Imam, you see in every era Allah SWT has sent a representative on to Earth to guide his creatures, to guide the human beings, to establish truth and justice on the planet. The last part of the dua iftitah talks about the coming of the 12th Imam, preparing the believers for the anticipated establishment for the rule of Earth of Imam Mahdi, peace be upon him. Praying for help and for victory of the 12th Imam reminds us that we're actually awaiting him and need to prepare for his coming. We become aware of our responsibilities in his occultation and the importance of training ourselves for his reappearance. The salutations to the Imam are not limited to simple salutations but instead are expanded in several phrases and then attention is focused on the last Imam at the end of the dua. Firstly we say, oh Allah, please send blessings to the custodian of your commandments, the vigilant guardian, the reliable patron and the awaited establishment of justice.  In this passage, we ask Allah to support our Imam with the Holy Spirit. The concept of the Holy Spirit is very important especially for the Shi'a. According to the Quran and various narrations, one of the jobs of the Holy Spirit is to support and guide the good people. For example, the Quran says that the Holy Spirit supported Prophet Isa, peace and blessings be upon him. We're reading the Quran. It says, when I strengthened you with the Holy Spirit, if we are good and pious people, we too can hope that Allah will support us and one of the ways in which He does this is by asking the Holy Spirit to help us. It should be mentioned that whilst the Sunni scholars normally identify the Holy Spirit with the archangel Jibra'il, alaihi salam, Shi'a Muslims are taught by the Holy Imam's peace and blessings be upon them to hold that the Holy Spirit is a creature higher than the level of Jibra'il. Towards the end of the dua, we make a very beautiful and important request to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala for ourselves. We say, oh Allah, let us bear witness that which you make known to us is the truth and let us attain that which we fall short to do so. The concept of bearing is very important regarding this Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says in the Holy Quran, the likeness of those who are charged with the Torahat and then they did not observe it is as the likeness of the donkey bearing books, evil is the likeness of the people who reject the communication of Allah and Allah does not guide the unjust people. Therefore someone may be given a divine book but it does not mean that they will necessarily be able to bear it, meaning that they may not be able to bear and take it on board. So it is important to carry and uphold the truth as we know it and to take on board whatever is available to us and whoever is able to do this will achieve a high position. Last but not least, let's remember that it's important to recite one verse of the dua and understand it instead of reciting the whole dua without understanding it at all. Obviously if you can recite the whole dua and also try and memorise it, it would be beneficial. But the real beauty of it, the real essence of the dua is within the translation, within the meaning and if you can read the meaning or understand the meaning you can make a stronger bond towards Allah SWT the Holy Prophet, his guides after him the Imams alayhi salam and finally a close connection to the Imam of our time, Imam Mahdi alayhi salam. The Holy Prophet Muhammad may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him in his progeny was asked O Prophet of Allah, which of the two months possesses a greater reward? Rajab or the month of Ramadan? The Holy Prophet may the peace and blessings be upon him in his progeny replied nothing can be compared to the month of Ramadan in terms of reward. As we go around the world and look at how people prepare themselves for the holy month of Ramadan I've been doing my research talking to friends and family talking to other people to see how they around the world prepare for this holy month and today my research has taken me to Sydney, Australia Sydney is a city, one of the largest cities in Australia it's found on the south-east coast of the country of Australia it has a large and diverse population of all races, of all backgrounds of all religions the people in Sydney, Australia the Shiites especially they're found in different races so there are the Indo-Pakistani community there is the Hogyi community the Iraqi community the Lebanese community and the Iranian community and all of them have their own centres obviously during the month of Ramadan because of the government and because of the country being non-Muslim the working hours don't change very much and therefore people have to go to work during their routine hours and then come home and rest for a bit before the time of Iftar now during these episodes we've talked a lot about long hours of fasting, extreme heat however in Australia it's a slightly different story because this year during the month of Ramadan it will be their winter and the days are actually shorter than usual and they fast and Alhamdulillah because of the shorter days they're able to keep up with their fasts without having the same trials as people on the other side of the world who have to have 20-22 hour fasts and the routine is about the same depending on which culture they belong to so in some cultures in some people they tend to have Iftar at home after prayers and then they go to the mosque for Majalis and then for Dua'as as well and Amal on the nights which are specific for them after which they come home and they get themselves ready for Sahur and Fajr and then ready for the next day as I've said before the children are especially encouraged to fast during this month so in the shorter days in this time of the year if they fast one or two days they're given gifts and encouragement so that they're ready for the older age when they get to adulthood and get to the age where they have to fast of Sydney, Australia the Shias especially they invite one another to their communities so they can get together as a congregation as a large community and celebrate when it comes to the time of Eid and especially during the nights of Amal where the community comes together in congregation and prays together supplicates together, repents together and they find beauty in this so that they can enjoin and galvanize themselves as a community insha'Allah I hope you can send your videos and your pictures your blogs about how you prepare yourself for this holy month we would love to air them and show the rest of the world what you do to prepare for this holy month as I've said before and I'll say it again I find it astounding how practices vary from across the world but even more of a miracle even more astonishing is that in all of that there is only one goal one destination that we all have and that is the love of Allah SWT and the Ahlul Bayt alaykum as-salam Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Raheem dearest brothers and sisters as-salamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh may peace and blessings of Allah be upon each and every one of you today we came to another market in the holy city of Karbala to show you the atmosphere of the holy month of Ramadan in the holy city of Karbala so stay tuned with us brothers and sisters I have one of the brothers here I will ask him a few questions about the holy month of Ramadan in the holy city of Karbala may peace and blessings of Allah be upon you may you meet us in your presence and explain us about the situation of Ramadan in the city of Karbala may peace and blessings of Allah be upon you may peace and blessings of Allah be upon you the first days of Ramadan are very beautiful Ramadan is starting to disappear and the people outside the country are visiting me Imam Al-Hussain, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him people are starting to get excited and the first days that started or the first days that appeared and the people started to visit these Karbala days are very beautiful and they are safe and safe thank God Karbala is a gift for them and their family may peace and blessings of Allah be upon them may peace and blessings of Allah be upon you in the holy city of Karbala he is congratulating you and the Islamic Ummah on the holy month of Ramadan and he is saying that since the start since the first day of the holy month of Ramadan the visitors from Iraq and other countries are coming to the holy city of Karbala to visit the holy shrines of Imam Al-Hussain and his brother Abel Fadl Al-Abbas then they come to this markets to buy souvenirs for the family members and their friends what is the difference in your work at the beginning of the month of Ramadan and at the end of the month of Ramadan from coming to the holy days the first days that started since the first month of Ramadan of course it is the holy month for people who always visit Imam Al-Hussain and his brother Abel Fadl Al-Abbas for the first days do not be excited for the first days that they are the most Karbala people for the first 10 days it would be just a visit but the last days since the month of Ramadan they always visit the holy shrines even those who come to the holy city of Karbala those who come to visit the holy shrines to visit the holy shrines always the last days visit the holy shrines to be the most people to visit the holy shrines gucken to the mosques ad the holy behavior bland 4 days I ask brother about the difference between the first days of the holy month of Ramadan and the last days or the last decade of the holy month of Ramadan when we come closer to theый he is saying that since the visitors on the first days of the holy month of Ramadan comes from the holy city of Karbala usually do not have visitors sell too much things here but when it comes closer to the days of the Eid and the visitors from Karbala from other provinces of Iraq and from other countries come to the holy city of Karbala we have more visitors here and as a result they they can sell more things to the visitors of Abiyah Abdullah al-Hussain. In today's health tips and medical advice inshallah I want to talk about our short series that we've been going on about from yesterday's episode where we go through the stages of life. Yesterday we explored childhood inshallah today we'll talk about pregnancy. Pregnancy is one of the most natural phases in a woman's life it is a phase where they go through many changes in their human body it's a phase in which they have to cater for the fetus or the baby that's growing in their womb it's a phase in which the severe hormonal changes in the body and it's a phase in which they have to take good care of themselves so that they can be the best possible mother and allow the child who's in their womb to develop as much as possible. There are specific illnesses or specific problems associated with pregnancy and obviously when it comes to pregnancy we have to be as doctors very careful how we manage pregnant women what medications we give them and also we have to be aware that there are times during the pregnancy where things if even subtle things may be the first signs of something more serious. Pregnancy itself is split into three trimesters which means three different parts and each trimester is used for a different thing or each trimester the baby grows or develops in a different way and as a result that's actually devised or it actually forms the basis for the way in which we investigate the mother especially in the United Kingdom. The first trimester is the trimester that's used for initial development of the baby and as a result we have something called the booking scan at 12 weeks which is at the end of the first trimester. This is where we look at the viability of the fetus i.e. is there a heartbeat we look at the initial structure we can't tell about organs such as the heart or the kidneys but we can tell generally if the fetus is there if the heart's beating and if there's anything grossly problematic at that stage however the anomaly scan which is done usually around 20 weeks looks at things like the heart looks at the kidneys looks at other parts of the fetus's system and it can identify if there's any problems because the second trimester is when the organs grow and that's why we do the anomaly scan at this time during the life of the fetus. Inshallah I'll talk about specific problems that are associated pregnancy now. The first one obviously is called it's called preeclampsia I'm sure many of you have heard of it but I'm sure as to what it is and what symptoms to look out for preeclampsia essentially is a condition in which the mother or the lady excretes protein through their urine and as a result because of the lack of protein in the blood more fluid escapes from the vascular system and therefore can cause the fluid to build up in different parts of the body so you can get fluid build up around the liver fluid build up around the brain and you can also get an increase in blood pressure we as doctors if we find a lady who's suffering from headaches for example we'll always do a test of the urine we'll always measure the blood pressure and preeclampsia is one of the first signs that something can be quite wrong with the pregnancy and as a result sometimes what happens is that we have to deliver the baby early in order to try and ease this problem associated with pregnancy. Other problems associated with pregnancy obviously are vomiting. Sometimes vomiting can be normal within the pregnancy especially during the first trimester but if it's excessive we call it hyperemesis gravidarum. This is a condition in which the mother loses so much fluid through the vomiting that we have to admit them to hospital we have to make sure they're an IV fluid so that we can replenish their fluid stores and rehydrate them. This can be something that is very very burdensome something that's very very difficult to manage especially for the mother because normally during pregnancy you're at home with your family but during this time it can be very difficult as you're in hospital. This is one of the conditions which we as doctors have to manage very very very carefully because dehydration is can be one of the first signs that something's not quite right something's worrying. The other problems associated with pregnancy are obviously medication if someone's on certain medications already then as doctors how do we alter those medications without causing a big change or fluctuation to the system of that person. So especially on women with epilepsy we have to change the anti-epileptics around and make sure that the anti-epileptics they're on do not cause harm to the fetus. Other things that we have to be careful about are medications for women who have mental health problems such as depression or psychosis and so forth. Even something as simple as controlling vomiting we have to be very thoughtful about which medications we give the women because even the simplest forms of anti-epileptics or anti-sickness tablets can be harmful to the baby. Finally simple things like painkillers can also be very harmful depending on which one you choose. We never give out NSAIDs which are things like ibuprofen because they can be damaging to the fetus. Like I've mentioned before the pregnancy is there in three parts. Usually the third part and the last part of the pregnancy is when the lungs develop. Therefore in babies who are born premature at about 30 weeks or 32 weeks their lungs are not developed enough for them to be able to breathe and sometimes you find that the premature babies have to be put onto a ventilator initially and that is to help them to breathe. They're given something called surfactant which is a special fluid which allows the lungs to open up. This surfactant is actually produced in our bodies at about 32 weeks once we're in the mother's womb. Insha'Allah I hope that this episode has been useful. This is an episode in which we've talked about pregnancy from a very very medical point of view. We've not talked about it spiritually or from the mother's point of insha'Allah we'll explore that in one of the other episodes where we talk about the role of the mother and the role of the mother in the upbringing of the child. But pregnancy essentially is one of the most difficult times during a woman's life but it's the time which is the most satisfying once the pregnancy is over. Obviously pregnancy itself is just the beginning of a long journey of a long road in motherhood but insha'Allah I hope that if you pay heed to these advices that I've given and pay heed to the tips that I've given you'll be able to have a successful pregnancy. Finally I just want to talk about nutrition during pregnancy. This is obviously one area in which as a woman you're very much focused in upon. Firstly the first thing we do as doctors is put all women who are pregnant on folic acid and then after that other things to be very careful of is having the right amount of vitamins and minerals in your system making sure that if you can taking vitamin tablets or taking lots of fruit and vegetables. One thing that we advise to avoid during pregnancy is liver because liver has very high concentrations of vitamin A and vitamin A can be toxic to the fetus. Also during pregnancy light exercise is very useful because you can get pains and aches in the muscles around the womb especially during the last few weeks of pregnancy. During these weeks as the baby grows the ligaments are pulled and you get pain in the back but if you have prepared for this by doing some light exercise during the pregnancy it should make the pain more bearable. Insha'Allah I hope that this has been a useful session and useful few minutes for you and insha'Allah if you pay attention to the tips I've given you you can have a successful pregnancy and insha'Allah raise your children in the way of the Ahlul Bayt alayhim as-salam. Imam Hassan peace be upon him like all the other imams was granted divine knowledge by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and he demonstrated this right from his childhood. Once Imam Hassan was asked what are the ten things that are stronger than one another? Imam Hassan peace be upon him replied among the strong things is stone even stronger is iron which is used to break the stone even stronger is fire which is used to melt the iron even stronger is water which is used to extinguish the fire even stronger is the clouds that carry water even stronger is the air which float the clouds and even stronger is the angel which moves the air even stronger is the angel of death which takes the life of the angel who moves the air even stronger is death which comes upon even the angel of death and even stronger is the will of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala which governs death and governs everything that that happens in the world. In this episode, the poem I wanted to present is something that is slightly different to the norm, slightly different to the other episodes. It's not something recited, it's something that's spoken. It's something I've written on Imam al-Hussain because he forms such an important part of my life. He's more than just a person that I look up to. He's so much more than just an individual of personality. He's everything about life. He is life. And I wanted to impart this vision that I have of Imam al-Hussain to you, the viewers. And I've written it up in the form of a poem. So insha'Allah if you can bear with me for a few minutes so you can get that vision that I have of him in your hearts as well. I don't think about Hussain the man because Hussain the man is a comprehension that is far beyond me. I just think about your name Hussain because your name alone gives me an insight into your personality. Your name Hussain is so special in a world where nothing's as it seems. Your name Hussain is hope for those who have nothing left to dream.  Your name Hussain is the answer to every transgression. Your name Hussain is strength for those who live every day in fear. Your name Hussain is the hand that wipes away the every tear. Your name Hussain is like the palm that reaches over the side when someone is dearly clinging on to the cliff edge of life. Your name Hussain gives us belief in humanity and morality. Your name Hussain gives us patience in the face of brutality. Your name Hussain is company for the one who stands alone. Your name Hussain is belonging for the person who is disowned. Your name Hussain is direction for those who are lost or astray. Only one mention of your name and then they find their way. Your name Hussain heals the wounds of innocent persecution. Your name Hussain is the beginning of every revolution. It gives the oppressed a voice and empowers them with a choice to stand up and rise against falsehood and lies. But you see, Hussain is not a name for aggression. It is another name for love and for compassion. It is not an encouragement for hostility. It is the very principles of selflessness and nobility because no matter how great your tribulation is, how troubled your situation is, how deep your devastation is, how extreme your desolation is, how severe your deprivation is for however long the duration is. Just say the name Hussain from the heart and every one of your trials will move afar. Whatever they are, however deep the scar, I know what I'm saying must sound bizarre. It is as if the word Hussain speaks to your very soul, giving you a new lease of life and some control.  So the question is, have they met that man?  He who changed the course of time, the only thing he did was to decline for there to be any form of crime against humanity or humankind because this was unacceptable in his eyes and so he gave the ultimate sacrifice. No, they haven't. Yet, so many stand toe to toe with death just to say his name with their final breath 1400 years have elapsed. Has the story of Karbala faded perhaps? No, it is alive today as it was on that fateful day because Hussain's act wasn't for himself. It was a lesson for mankind. You see, there is a Hussain inside all of us, one that we have to find. So when others ask me what is so special about the name Hussain, I tell them that the essence of life is within this very name, your name, Hussain. The Holy Prophet Muhammad may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him and his progeny was asked, O Prophet of Allah, which of the two months possesses a greater reward, Rajab or the month of Ramadan? The Holy Prophet may the peace and blessings be upon him and his progeny replied, nothing can be compared to the month of Ramadan in terms of reward. As we conclude this episode of the Ramadan Show, I want you to leave you with a few final words, a final thought. And this is from a very famous French proverb, a French saying. And that is that it's never too late to do good. What this means is that in our lives we'll get opportunities until our very last breaths to do something good and every opportunity we get is a mercy, a blessing from Allah SWT. This is upon us to make use of those opportunities and to try and do good with that in order so we can get close to Allah SWT and hopefully on the day of judgment we'll be resurrected with the righteous. I would like to thank you once again for watching and inshallah I hope you can send in your videos, your pictures, your blogs about what you do on a day to day basis in the month of Ramadan. Please don't forget to join us on Twitter with the hashtag IHTVRamadan. Like our page on Facebook, please subscribe to us on YouTube and also join us on Instagram. Finally I would like to ask you to please pray for us and most importantly pray for the reappearance of the 12th Imam, alayhi salam. I bid you farewell with these following words. Wassalamu alaykum jami'an wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.


You're welcome back to the breakfast on plus TV Africa. It's now time for off the press the segment of the breakfast So I would take a look at the national dailies and make sense of it today We're invited public affairs analyst mr. Ezekiel. Yeah, I took to join us. Good morning. Thanks for being here Good morning always a pleasure to be here fantastic. All right. Let's begin with a punch in his paper the headline reads Ipob Masab asylum Offer to protect those who need it UK replies FG The rider says updates to the Biafran separatist notes expected shortly says UK. Hey commission Offer confirms victimization of Ipob Masab and that's according to the Southeast women's professional in youth and Above the headline we see the story here saying Nigeria businesses lose 29 billion dollars annually to poor electricity. That's according to the World Bank knocked down tractors experts worry as Senate approves fresh 1.5 billion dollars and 995 million euros loan a Professor here saying pantomy was Imam when 80 BU Muslim community issued fatwa fatwa is Death sentence we believe it should fatwa and killed my son in a mask Pantomy was Imam when 80 BU Muslim community issued fatwa Killed my son in a marks and below the headline here on the punch in his paper We see the stories here saying police trail gone men over ambush and killing of amoteco operative Soldiers tackle police as Kaduna Vasity students Abductors demand 800 million Naira Abia max drug lord's house for demolition Ndla arrests baron with 100 kilograms of cocaine Under monarchs demand more policemen as three construction workers kidnapped We can't end terrorism without weapons COAS chief of Amnesty staff tells Senate and lastly here on the punch newspaper Chinese loan conditions install 1525 megawatts and four billion Dollars a man be the power project on the front page of the punch newspaper. You can see the picture of a road and the caption here says this is shongo bus stop or song or bus stop and Ali is boo And along the legos a becata expressway. This is song water one state on Wednesday We can see the state of the words there very bad We can see how much you know water has basically, you know gathered there state of the road very bad All right, we need your for structural work going on in every part of the country moving on to the daily Independent let's see what we can find over here. I remember Shala. We are to allow rift deepens Loyalist clash of our shown depth profile Senate okay, he's Buhari is 2.6 billion dollars external loan request. We're still taking more money And also the big one there in security federal government town hall meeting adopts state police One's attorney autonomy rather granted local governments Recommendations to be presented to NEC today Also gunmen killed to two policemen burned station in Enugu Legos plans own power market to generate supply and PFN urges Buhari to address call for separation Senate blast customs for budgeting to billionaire for retirement incentive and federal government caution the lead promoting Disintegration once they will suffer breakup consequences more. We can also find here Greenfield University students have doctors demand 800 million Naira ransom on the Guardian newspaper Senate approves Buhari's fresh loans of 1.5 billion dollars and 995 million Euros and meet rising debt. We saw the story again the punching's paper It goes on to say more worries as a papa. This is a Below the headline more worries as a papa gridlock worsens defies ecolop solutions FAC silent over pantomies alleged link to Al Qaeda and Taliban customs in pounds 42 drums of explosives from Benna Republic Gone men kill one have docked 23 at Greenfield University Demand 800 million Naira ransom over 1600 inmates still at large six months after Benin jail breaks and We see an editorial here above the headline on the punching spray on the Guardian newspaper It says federalism is the answer after all And now let's move to the nation newspapers Senate okays government's plan to take 1.5 billion dollars and 995 million euro loans Also Apple acquires Nigerian app for 1 billion dollars Man kills mom over property buries her inside compound Also on the nation this morning Akira Dulu rejects a Jai is offered to return to vehicles And also killings abductions in all your own dough Kaduna in Ugo and Delta Abductor's of Kaduna varsity students demand 800 million Naira I'm a tech cooperative shot dead and three policemen killed in another attack on station We can also find on the nation this morning. No cash for police the new IG Usman Baba laments Nine suspects arrested over alleged over attack rather on Soludo the CBN says don't reject lower dollar bills We think we'll take a pause here and bring in our guest mr. Isikio I talk. Thank you so much once again for joining us Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Thank you for having me All right, go ahead. There's a lot of these stories. Which where would you like to start from you see? We run a country where we really don't understand the fundamentals of governance And it bothers me Because I've always said and a lot of people agree that after God the next most important institution is Government I've said this before and I say it again. I want to look at one two three institutions Number one. I want to look at ebom air. Okay number two. I want to look at Our super egoo's and number three. I want to look at our government if we look at these three institutions Nobody's going to bring just anybody to be the pilot for the CEO of Ibom air because they want it to be Profitable so they do very rigorous profiling to make sure that they make they get the best person that understands the Number two, we look at our super egoos. There was a time when we had to remove our son sia-sia in Nigeria and to bring in a foreigner We needed a competent coach to take us to the world cup and yet when it comes to our country We really don't think that it's important for us to interrogate leadership profiling not just at the presidency Or at the governor's level, but who are our senators who are our house of reps members? Who are our governors? How do we choose these people? Do we really understand their role? We really understand how important it is. Let me come down to the basics as of today Chapter 2 section 14 subsection 2b of our constitution states Emphatically that the security and welfare of the people Shall be the primary purpose of government. I'm quoting directly Chapter 2 section 14 subsection 2b in which case the two elements are security and welfare if we understand the essence of government as enunciated Expressly in the chapter. I just put it chapter 2 section 14 subsection 2b of our constitution that says the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government if we Appreciate that and I gave you the ebom a illustration. I don't know where you stop hearing me boom the Super egoos and Nigeria where we do not joke with who we profile as The leader or the driver of ebom air, you know, and we don't joke with who is going to be the coach of the Nigerian national team But why do we Think that anybody can be our president anybody can be our national assembly member Anybody can be our governor. I think the time has come when we need to understand the implications Why do I bring this up a man like panter me? It's safe that a man who was beaten by a snake becomes afraid of everyone if you have any trace at all whatsoever to anything that has to do with insecurity Boko Haram insurgency just for the sake of Ensuring that you do not as much as Entertain any of this stuff. Mr. Pantami himself ought to do this nation the favor Let me put it that way of stepping out number two, I'm getting really really really Frustrated as a person with our president and What frustrates me is that I don't know to what extent he is aware of what is going on in the nation And I know that I've had a lot of reports about how he's a good man in love this country, but I want to say that Things make me to Have a second thought completely and for a man that has just Barely two years to leave office out of eight. I think that his advisors his family members his friends Wishing well should really go and have another conversation with him. Okay, and see to what extent he can finish All right, Mr. A. A. Toke. Let's turn to another big story. We've seen on the punchiness paper this morning It reads iPod Massob asylum offer to protect to those who need it UK replies the federal government we if you recall the United Kingdom had granted asylum to members of iPod and Massob You know on the basis of a political persecution the federal government had replied to this You know basically criticizing the UK for their action, but the UK has replied now saying that You know they protect who need protection and that all human rights claims You know received from Nigerian nationals are considered on the basis of international merits and in accordance with international obligations Do you think this move by the UK basically justifies? You know the stance of you know iPod and you know maybe even reinforces You know what human rights activists have been saying that these people indeed have been prosecuted in the country You see it still does tells from where I started from We have people in government who don't understand the dynamics of problems and international diplomacy and policies if they did as act today, they will be able to read the Body language of what I should call the international communities Okay, now in a country where iPod says we don't want to be a part of Nigeria You know that agitation is a global best practice so to speak And when there is an agitation What a country does is to interrogate the agitation and not to victimize the agitators And We see iPod being prescribed as a terrorist organization. It's like what's going on here at the really terrorist So was you you know the word terrorist is an international You know it sends you know waves into the system and the interrogate And it's difficult for you to really see I Terrorist organization particularly in a country where the Fulani headsmen are not branded as such and I don't like some of the things that I put You know, I don't like some of the things they did, you know, but I Don't that it comes close to what goes on in the northern part of Nigeria so with this the international communities have seen and branded it as Victimization and the moment you put a group of people who are agitating as a Victimized group. The next thing is for you to rally round to protect them. And that is what I was just Okay Was to show itself as not Victimizing the people by way of interface by way of dialogue. All right, miss. I am talking No, we actually we actually got pretty much what you said miss.  Rather than victimizes people. We actually got your point. I want us to still talk security issues You've I'm sure you must have also been following the Greenfield students abduction It's in the news this morning that there is an 800 million Naira ransom that has been demanded You know, it almost starts to sound like, you know, we We haven't solved our kidnapping problem in Nigeria We have a new inspector general of police and there was of course some hope that tactics will change Things might be different. But what's your reaction to this and you know, we remember they're still I think 39 They were kidnapped in Katharuna a lot longer ago. We're still in captivity till now. All right. We seem to We're struggling with saying I talks network this morning. We hope that we can reconnect with him In the news the Greenfield University students who were kidnapped There's a news across the papers this morning saying that there's an 800 million Naira being demanded for their release and it once again takes us back to conversations on abductions on ransom being paid on our security setup How can we put an end to kidnappings? Is this the new business in Nigeria for criminals? And how easy really is it for?  Aren't any, you know security checkpoints along the roads as much as they are in the southeast and have you know heading from You know, Lagos to the southeast how easy is it to take dozens of people, you know into captivity What are the parents of these students going to be dealing with, you know, right now? And of course the prayers that they will all come back alive and you know, they would be rescued I'll send it to you a couple of days ago. How do you expect a person who? Barely ends, you know, 100,000 every month A family that maybe has parents that are retired has only three kids that are, you know Still trying to find their way through life And then there's a 50 million Naira ransom on one of them Where do they get money from? And the kidnappers are saying that, you know, they're basically torturing the students and that That's normal tactic And that if they don't, you know, bring the money they're going to kill them That's that's no more tactic I can imagine that there's a lot of people in Nigeria today that are in debt because they have to borrow money to Pay ransom, you know, and free their family members I can imagine that there is a lot of those, you know People who have to reach out to uncles or family friends to take one, two, five, ten, you know, million In order to get their family member back, you know, out alive Does the Nigerian government, you know, have a properly set up negotiating team? You know, in our police force, do we have a properly set up negotiating team That will be able to have proper negotiations with these kidnappers? Find out where they are Find out, you know, if there's, you know, possibility of paying ransom I mean, I wish that was true But people who have had, you know, issues like this Will tell you that even the police will ask you for money for a charge card That they don't even have a charge card on their phones They would ask you for money to fill their car That they need money to do these investigations So you would begin to fund the police Fund the government, I mean, you're an extension of the government Fund the government to make sure that your loved ones are returned home And so Fisaya Shoyombo shared something that he experienced sometime last year A friend of his who was kidnapped And, you know, their journey till they finally got him released You know, he was kidnapped with a colleague The person who they asked to bring the ransom money When he dropped the money, one person was released And then the person who dropped the money was kidnapped Was taken And so they had to, you know, spend another two weeks Negotiating and finding ways to make another ransom payment For these two new people now that were kidnapped And all of that And in that period, you know, according to his story He barely got any assistance from the Nigerian security agencies From the police and from whoever He barely got anything Only thing that he, you know, that came in handy Was a private security person or consultant Who was with them all through that period And helped them throughout the negotiating And ran some payment and all of that It's not a good place that we are as a country And we can't cover it up with trains We can't cover it up with, you know, some level of infrastructure That has been fixed Who is going to ride those trains if nobody is safe Where are those trains going to take anybody to? I mean, what will the current administration boast of? And what do we really brag, you know, with? Talking about infrastructure that you mentioned It just leads me to the next story We've seen this, you know, on the nation newspaper We saw this on the Guardian as well It says Senate approves, you know, the Guardian reads Senate approves Buhari's fresh loans Of, you know, 1.5 billion dollars, 995 million euros And mid-rising debts And we know that just 11 months ago You know, the president also, you know, got approval To borrow about 5.5 million dollars as well Infrastructure deficits That's what they're saying they want to use this money for And this is despite public concerns About Nigeria's rising debt profile We saw from a president's governor of those states Gordon Owaseki, you know, mentioned this recently And he's generated, you know, attracted lots of criticism You know, from the government, you know, talking about this And regarding this, you know, debt issue Thank God we're having a... Miss Anya, welcome Yeah, welcome back We're sorry about that What can you hear us now? I can... Okay, so we're talking about, you know, the rising debt profile in Nigeria And the Senate's approval of Buhari's fresh loans That's unit of, you know, billions of dollars and millions of euros And that's amid the rising debt profile of the country So the Senate basically saying is that this loan You know, is for infrastructure development And that they will be funded By the Export-Import Bank of Brazil To finance the government's, you know, agricultural projects And that also this, you know, money will be funded Also by another bank here that they mentioned So what do you have to say about this? What are your comments about this constant borrowing, you know To fix infrastructural deficits in the face of rising debts in the country? If you can, please squeeze your thoughts into a minute So we can wrap up the program Go ahead, Miss Anya, talk I think that there's a feedback I'm getting, let me try to really help you go on this Number one is that there's absolutely nothing wrong in getting loans Absolutely nothing wrong If I had my say like where would people borrow a lot more That we have a very, very sensitive technical challenge And that challenge is that we have not been able to be professional In the way we do things When you go borrowing, it's one of the most sensitive Undertakings you can do on behalf of a nation or a people Because a debt is a debt It has to be paid back So people who are petropic and responsible Will scrutinize and look at the exit strategy And think beyond their channel in office It's not enough for you to say, oh let's get things done So that they will say we did this And at this point I think I need to caution Nigeria Because imagine somebody who thinks of tomorrow And plans and lanes foundation And is extremely professional and catastrophic And he leaves office having laid foundation Will we remember those people Or will we say oh we didn't see the school that built We didn't see this that they got That's why we need to have like a certain consistency We need to come back and re-interrogate our governance structure Because we need to have something that can stay sustainable for 30 years All these people coming for the next four years Or eight years to also show they did this and leave And whatever debt they accumulate They say it will be paid back after our time It is killing this country We need to come back and re-evaluate Our governance structures and systems and processes These are the things that govern this So why do you say they have grown that low Is it because they know this is what is in the larger interest of the country Which is based on governance Or is it because they also need money to get done What they want to do so that they can look good Notwithstanding whatever the larger implication is All right, Mr. Keryanthok Thank you very much for your time this morning We apologize for the slight network issues that we had to deal with But we always appreciate your conversations on the program Thank you for joining us Yes, thanks again I appreciate you Thanks so much You're welcome Stay with us here on the breakfast It's plus TV Africa on a Thursday morning And we're going to be back after the short break To tell you what happened today 22nd of April many many years ago Stay with us


This is the VOA Special English Technology Report. A team of scientists in the United States has created a new kind of mouse that has an immune system similar to that of humans. The scientists hope their research with these mice will speed up development of a vaccine to prevent human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV. Scientists from the Reagan Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard are carrying out the new research. Earlier research has shown that certain individuals with HIV have immune systems that do better at controlling the AIDS virus. These individuals are commonly known as elite controllers. They often live longer with the virus and have fewer problems early on. Todd Allen is one of the lead authors of the new study, which was published in Science Translational Medicine. He says some people are able to control HIV very well. By using the new experimental mice, the researchers hope to learn what it is about the immune systems of these elite controllers that causes them to deal with the HIV virus better than others. The humanized mice were created using stem cells and tissue from human donors. Some of the tissue was taken from the liver and thymus. The thymus is a large gland at the bottom of the throat. It trains T lymphocytes or T cells to attack unwelcome microbes. In that way, it protects the body from infection. When the scientist infected the so-called humanized mice with the HIV virus, the T cell reaction in the mice was exactly the same as that of humans. Earlier research using rhesus monkeys helped scientists understand how the virus attacks cells. These monkeys were seen as good replacements for humans because they could easily be infected with the primate version of HIV, known as FIV. But genetic differences in the two versions of the virus and the immune systems suggested that monkeys were not the best candidates for HIV research. Todd Allen says the experiments with the new humanized mouse did a better job of showing what happens in the human body with the AIDS virus. He says the experimental mouse permits researchers to test the discoveries they have made about individuals infected with HIV. Todd Allen and the other researchers hope further studies with the humanized mouse will lead to an HIV vaccine. For VOA Special English, I'm Carolyn Presuti.


Chapter 5, beginning at verse 1, reading to verse 5. I was going to take you to verse 4, but I'll take you to verse 5. Solomon writes, Walk prudently when you go to the house of God and draw near to hear rather than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they do evil.  For a dream comes through much activity and a fool's voice is known by his many words. When you make a vow to God, do not delay to pay it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you have vowed better not to vow than to vow and not pay. So as we've been going through the book of Ecclesiastes, the author Solomon has been commenting on things that he has seen, and we've seen some of these things as he's spoken of them. He has seen injustice, he's seen envy and loneliness, he has seen the transience of power and popularity. And so he's been pointing out that life under the sun is filled with vanity, it's grasping for the wind. So as he's been contemplating what we would refer to as a natural life, he now considers the spiritual life. He had paid a visit to the temple and while he was there, he had observed the worshipers. And as he was doing that, he couldn't help but notice that many were not sincere believers. Now what made him so sure of this? He noticed that they would offer sacrifices, but they would not keep their vows to God. So what he was looking at was hypocrisy, and it seems that they did not see this in themselves. They seemed oblivious to the fact that they were offending God. That's why in verse one he says that they do not know that they're doing evil. So as he's observing this, he's moved to issue a warning, and this is what we're looking at as we introduce in verse one. He issues a warning, he says, walk prudently when you go to the house of God. Walk prudently. That's another way of saying be on your guard, watch your step. You should never approach the worship of God in a careless manner. Be cautious in your behavior as you approach God in worship. Now obviously we don't worship God in the temple in Jerusalem. We know that God can be worshiped wherever we choose to worship him. We understand that because we know that the worship of God isn't restricted to one geographical place or one building. In the book of Acts in chapter seven, it tells us that the most high-does and dwelling temples made with hands. As the prophet says, heaven is my throne, earth is my footstool, what house will you build for me, saith the Lord, or what place, or what is the place of my rest? Has not my hand made all of these things? So God doesn't dwell in a temple made with human hands. We know that God occupies earth, the earth is his, every single bit of it. And so it's not as if we go to a special place to worship, but the fact is as we worship and as we worship, we need to understand that worship is not just saying things, but worship is a way of life. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit and we worship him wherever we are. So he says, walk prudently. He says, prepare our hearts as we come before the Lord to worship him. We ought to worship the Lord is what he's saying carefully, not in a casual kind of flippant manner. When I was a young believer, I went to Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa. It was a small chapel building at that time. And I still remember going in and I've shared this with you before in terms of how small the chapel was. It's had around two, three hundred people. People were seated everywhere. And as a brand new believer going to church and actually enjoying it, I had this freedom. I had a sense of like just it was such a joy to be there. And I can remember the casual way I began to look at joining with these people. And one day somebody brought a beach ball in, kind of like you see at angel games. And I think I've seen them and I don't watch the angels really. I like professional teams, but I bang. But you know how they, they did it in church. And I'm sitting there and someone had brought in a beach ball and they hit it and they were bouncing it around the pews. I didn't think anything of it. I thought, wow, this is freedom. You know, they're not restricted. They're not stuffy. And then the elders came out. They must have been at least 20 years old, 21. The elders really were. They were very young, 19, 20, 21. And they came walking out and one of them took the beach ball and I'm watching what he's doing. I'm a brand new believer. And he said, this is where we worship God. It's not a playground. And I've never forgotten that. I've never forgotten that. This is where we worship God. It's not a playground. It's not a place that you come and basically just have a casual kind of flippant way of approaching the throne. God is a God of grace, but he's also an amazing, awesome, powerful God. And if there's anything that I've bemoaned over the years, it's been as I've looked upon much of the church world. I've had plenty of time to do so now. There seems to be a lack of reverence sometimes, as a matter of fact, often. And sometimes, and I've seen photos, some of you have, I've seen videos of the different kind of what they call worship services today. I've seen where they've had some speaker, they've put him in a wire and he's come from the back of the church on a wire and he comes down and lands on the platform, things of that nature. And it's like a circus and it becomes entertainment. We have to guard our hearts. We have to be aware of the fact that this may just be a building, but we're worshiping God, we're worshiping God as we gather together. And the right relationship that we should have with God is the relationship of a creature, us, one who has been created with the Creator Himself. And when you have that kind of understanding, then that's gonna produce in us an attitude of humility. It's like what the psalmist said in Psalm 8 verse 4, when he said, oh Lord, what is man that you care for him?  What are we in comparison to you is the absolute question. The answer is we're nothing, that you should even consider us, that you should even think about us. It ought to humble us. So Solomon is saying, listen, when you worship God, come prepared. Come prepared, not to be entertained. Come prepared to hear from him. You see, genuine worship occurs when we've devoted our hearts as well as our wills to him, and that will happen when we take the time to be prepared to meet him in worship. And so I made a note, I'll just share it with you. I'd encourage us all to resist rushing around as we get ready to go to church. There's an awful lot, I know that, of rushing around before we go. And sometimes we can get ourselves into an emotional state because, you know, because we're running a little bit late. If you're a parent, you may have a couple kids who you've tried to get ready, and I understand some of that. We had four small children at one time. And for Marie especially on a Sunday to try and get them ready to go to church, it was difficult. I get it. And yet at the same time, you can lose sight of where you're going and what you're doing. You know, because I've seen it.  And then one of the kids goes outside and falls down in the mud or whatever and dirties themselves up. And then you get real upset. Oh, we got to change him in. Here's a husband usually sitting in the car honking the horn while the wife's running around doing what she's doing. Come on, lady. Don't you see what time it is, that kind of thing. And they finally get together. Now the husband and the wife are a little bickering a bit as they're driving and if I could only reach you, kids, I'd break your legs. You know, we're going to church. Maybe God will heal you. I'm so mad. And there you go. You're going to church. And then, you know, it's just this pandemonium. And then you pull into the holy driveway and everybody suddenly becomes angels. It's just an amazing thing how that takes place. We need to be ready. Prepare your heart for Sunday services. I wrote a few things for Sunday services. Well, this is just advice. Prepare for church services on Saturday night. Get the clothes ready ahead of time. Put the kids to bed if you have children on time. Organize your time. Understand that it takes time to get ready. So give yourself enough driving time to get here. And as you're doing so, you can be preparing your heart to worship in song. And you'll be ready to hear what the Spirit says. Because sometimes when I come up, I'll tell John after the first service or whatever, I'll say, what was a quiet service today? There was a lot of anger in that room. They must have had a really difficult time getting here. Or they just can't stand the way you do the bulletin. We're going to have to get rid of you. Have your heart prepared. Remember where you're going. This lady had come to church and there was a time when they used to put these rollers in their hair. Some of you ladies might remember it.  And she said, because I'm going some place important after church.  We have to be aware. Where are you going? I'm going to worship my King. I'm going to hear the word of God so that my life can be transformed for the better. I can be a better person so I can be a better worker, father, mother, son, daughter, whatever. I can just be a better person and I'll be better because I'm going to hear something from the Lord today that's going to help me to see Him and to serve Him. Notice how he says again in verse one, draw near to hear. So prepare our heart as we approach God's word that we might hear Him as He speaks. Draw near speaks of a, and I looked this up, I wanted to see what the thought of that would be. Drawing near speaks of a personal relationship. It speaks of actual kinship as you're related. Your child, a relative, a loved one can draw near to you but a stranger can't. You can be standing there and somebody you know very well will walk up and invade your space. Now, I'm one of those people who doesn't like people that close to me, just that invades my space. I get kind of awkward, but there are some people who can do it. My grandchildren, the littlest ones can come up and grab hold of me and hold on to me. That's not invading my space. My wife can do it. My loved one, my closer friends can walk up and put their arm around me. They're not invading. It speaks of a kinship, it speaks of a relationship and that's what he's saying. Draw near to God. Come close to Him. Draw near to Him that you might hear from Him. When he speaks of it, draw near to hear, he's saying draw near so that you might understand. The word hear speaks more of just hearing with your ears, just the sound. It means to listen with a heart of understanding, with a willingness to obey. It speaks of having a discernment of what's being said and being able to perceive and pay attention to what's being spoken. You see, when God's word is rightly divided, God is speaking to His people. And that's something many fail to understand. We need to understand that Bible studies aren't simply talks. They're not just somebody up here talking. It's when we're here to hear God speak to us. In Matthew 10, 19 and 20, when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak, for it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak, for it is not you who speak, but the spirit of your Father who speaks in you. When we gather to hear the word rightly divided, it's the spirit of the Lord speaking to us. So you don't walk in haphazardly, just kind of whatever. In 1 Thessalonians 2.13, Paul said it like this. He said, for this reason, we also thank God without ceasing because when you receive the word of God, which you heard from us, you welcomed it, not as a word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe. I was listening to a Jewish believer the other day, and he was saying something. I'll just compress his words to the main point. He says, you need to understand when God is speaking, God is doing a creative work. He said like when it says in Scripture, and God said, let there be a light. It was speaking of his creative power through his spoken word. And the point is, is when the word of God is being divided rightly and received by faith, he's doing a creative work in us. And if we approach the word of God understanding that if we receive those things that his word teaches us, our life will be transformed. Well, that's the way we ought to come to church. That's the way we ought to gather for our studies. We need to understand that we are approaching the Lord of the universe. Remember when the Lord God was speaking to Moses in Exodus chapter 3, verse 5, he had said to Moses, do not draw near this place.  If we have that understanding, I guarantee you, if I enter into the house of God carefully drawing near to here rather than to give the sacrifice of fools, God is going to speak to me and my life is going to be transformed because his word is rightly divided. And that's what Solomon is saying. Now notice in verse 1 how he says, the sacrifice of fools. The sacrifice of fools is an offering that's made without obedient faith. That's because only a fool can think that he can pull the wool over God's eyes. In Matthew 15, verse 8, God said it like this. He said, these people draw near to me with their mouth, honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. So don't make the sacrifice of fools. Don't make this vow to God, this offering to God with no intention of keeping what you're saying. Verse 2, do not be rash with your mouth. Let not your heart utter anything hastily before God. God's in heaven and you on earth. Therefore, let your words be for you. And so do not be quick to speculate about heavenly things.  All of us have friends who know more than the manager or the coach on the team when we're watching a game. Oh, he should have done this and they should have done that. They're armchair, armchair quarterbacks. We all have been that or we all have friends who are. Well, there are armchair theologians too. You know, and every once in a while I have met one or two. You know, you should use this scripture when you said that there. You know, they're not listening to the study. They're correcting it. And so some people think themselves to be theologically deep, but they're speaking wrongly in the name of God. They speculate concerning heavenly things. They try to explain God to people and it reveals very often that they have a zeal, but they're still in need of maturity.  There needs to be an attitude of humility. As we're going through the book of Acts, we're ultimately going to come to chapter 18 and we're going to read about a man named Apollos. Apollos is a young Christian when we're introduced to him in chapter 18, verses 24 through 26. And when you read those verses and I'll just gel them for you, he's described in a certain way. Apollos, this young Christian is described as eloquent. He's mighty in scripture. He's instructed in the way of the Lord. He's careful to teach accurately and he's bold. But he only knows the baptism of John. So there are two older believers who are there listening to him as he's sharing. And Aquil and his wife Priscilla take him aside and they explain the way of God to him more accurately. And the Bible tells us that he received from them. There are some young people who are very eloquent, very energetic, very filled with ideas and zeal. And their passion is something that rubs off on people. But unfortunately they're not, they're not solid in God's word. So the people get hooked on their, on the passion. But what's being said isn't correct. And you ought to see it when they're corrected because there have been times when I as an older believer have said, you know, that's a very zealous state. But you need to realize that it was biblically incorrect. What are you talking about? I've got all these people, et cetera, et cetera, they love me. Well, the bottom line is, is we need more people like Apollos who are aware of what they're saying so that they can learn from the, from those who have been there before. We need to remember that when we speak for God, it is a great responsibility. In the book of Isaiah, chapter six, verse five, Isaiah said this, woe is me for I'm undone. I'm a man of unclean lips. I dwell in the midst of people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts. I'm a man of unclean lips. There are those I heard people say, yeah, Isaiah had a profanity problem. He was a cussing prophet. No, that's not what he's saying. What Isaiah was saying is the things I say of God haven't been right, haven't been thoroughly correct, not that they're filled with error, but I have developed even a greater understanding of who he is by my confrontation with him. And I realize that the half of what I'm saying does not give him honor. It didn't give him the glory he should have had.  He was a man who was awakened to humility. In Job 38 verses one and two, it says that the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and he said, who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? And that's one of the more powerful portions of the book of Job. To me, it's when the Lord reveals himself to a man who in the first chapter is stated to have been a man who was by God himself stating concerning this man that he is a righteous man, that there's nobody like him. And yet you see all the way into the 38th chapter after Job goes through all those things that he goes through that Job ultimately says. I heard of you with the hearing of my ear, but now I see you with the scene of my eye. I've been walking in faith. I've been saying those things that I knew to be true because I received them from those who came before me. But now I have a deep personal knowledge of who I'm speaking about. So if you want to have a kind of clarity in the way you share. And I pray that every one of us it's important for us to get to know who God is, because even as when the Apostle Peter was on that boat and Jesus had cast off from the shore and Jesus used that boat as a floating pulpit and ministered and he turned to the Apostle and told him to cast out and drop his nets and he'll get a large catch of fish. And we remember the story, how that the Apostle Peter said, we fished all night, we got nothing.  What do preachers know about the real world? You know, you should stick talking to people's spiritual lives and let me do the fishing. That's inherent in what he's saying. He says, but nevertheless at your word. And that's when he drops the net and they catch so many fish that the net begins to break. And then Peter's words were the wisest when he said, depart from me. I'm a wicked man. Because when you draw close to God, you see yourself for who you are.  You see yourself for being less than you thought you were. That produces real humility because everybody looks beautiful at three o'clock in the morning with the lights off. But when you turn the lights on and you see yourself for what you really look like, the more the light, the uglier we are. The closer you draw to the Lord, the more of yourself you see. And it's not pretty. That's why we say God be merciful to me. I'm a sinner. I don't want to speak in ways that do not give honor to you. Somebody once said, those whose thoughts have their origin in this world cannot speak about God without error. He says in verse three, a dream comes through much activity. A fool's voice is known by his many words. Our lives can be so busy that when we dream, our dreams can be confusing. So our prayers can also be filled with confusion with many words. In other words, we don't know what to pray for. So we pray for whatever is on our mind. So he's saying, even when you're praying, be very aware of what you're saying. Bring your petitions to God with few words. They'll be fervent, but they can be few. Why is that? Well, Matthew six, verses six and seven. Jesus said, when you pray, go into your room. When you've shut the door, pray to your father who's in the secret place.  And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as they heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. God already knows what I need. And I simply should approach him as a father who would know. Now he goes on in verse four, when you make a vow to God, don't delay to pay it. He has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vowed. Better not to vow than to vow and not pay.  Nor say before the messenger of God that it was an error.  For in the multitude of dreams and many words, there's also vanity. Fear God. And so making a vow to God when he says, when you make your vow to God, that's making a promise. That's making an oath. Now in the Old Testament promises were not required, but when they were made, they were to be honored. In Numbers 30, verse two, it says, if a man makes a vow to the Lord or swears an oath to bind himself by some agreement, he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth. So he's saying, do not make promises to God that you do not intend to keep and delaying to pay it. When he says in verse six, don't let your mouth cause your flesh to sin. Well, these are those who are making promises. But they're trying to bribe him to get him to do something. And when he speaks of the messenger, that's the priest. When he comes to collect that, which was promised. Don't be telling him, oh, I, I rashly said that I made a mistake. And I really wasn't going to give him that. Verse seven says, in the multitude of dreams and many words, there's also vanity. Fear God. Now most dreams are insignificant. I have the weirdest dreams. I bore my wife with them all the time. I just wait for her to wake up and I'll say, this is the craziest thing happened to me last night. And she can't get away from me because she's next to me and I make sure she doesn't. Then I tell her these crazy dreams. Well, most dreams are insignificant. And the point he's making is so are vain and empty promises. So here's your answer. The answer, fear God, don't make false promises to him. It is better to not make a promise than to make one and not keep it. One of the things that we need to honor is our word. I've shared this recently. I'll say it briefly again. Be a person of your word. When you say you're going to do something, then do your very best to do it. But be very careful, Solomon would be saying, to not make rash promises to God that you don't intend to keep. And Versailles, if you see the oppression of the poor and the violent perversion of justice and righteousness in a province, do not marvel at the matter. High official watches over high official and higher officials are over them. Moreover, the prophet of the land is for all, even the king is served from the field. So he who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver, nor he who loves abundance with increased white. Well, this is also vanity. So Solomon in Versailles is seeing government officials using their authority to serve themselves. It's a good thing that doesn't happen anymore.  Pecking orders still exist. People get preferential treatment because of who they are or related to all the time. And people will always dominate over those who are at the lower level. And so instead of justice, the matter will be lost in red tape as well as officials who pocket the funds. When he says in verse nine, the prophet of the land is for all, the king even himself is served from it. Well, when things are done fairly, he's saying everybody benefits. The king himself benefits from government that is honest and efficient. Now he says in verse 10, he who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver, nor he who loves abundance with increased, this also is vanity. Why is that? Well, when goods increase, they increase who eat them. So what prophet have the owners except to see them with their eyes? The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of the rich will not permit him to sleep. So Solomon speaks concerning wealth. Now the reason he's addressing this is because when we're in love with wealth, then we are being robbed of God's blessings. For many possessing great wealth is the goal of their lives. They see advantages gained by the wealth, and they pursue those advantages. They'll set a goal, they'll work, they'll achieve that goal, but in pursuit of the wealth, they forget God. Why is that? Because they're driven by greed. Now greed is an excessive desire to possess more than what you need or deserve.  Whatever you feed it is never enough. How much is enough? A little bit more, but you have all of that. Yeah, I do, and I'd like a little bit more. Well, what happens is when you're driven by it, you forget God. Why? Because you're pursuing gain and wealth. Solomon's already shared what he would refer to as a futility of gaining wealth. He said that he had gathered silver and gold. He had gathered the special treasures of kings, and he went on to say in chapter two in verse 18, he said, I hated all my labor because I have to leave it all behind. All of my labors are wasted because they were lacking eternal perspective. And so he's addressing myths concerning wealth. He's addressing the myth that money can buy happiness, that money can solve every problem, that money brings a complete peace of mind, and that money brings security. So he said in verse 10, the one who loves silver will never be satisfied with silver. In other words, money cannot buy happiness. When you have an appetite for something, you're never gonna be fulfilled. When you're always looking for the wealth or the increase of your revenue that will never satisfy you. Now, I've heard people say, you know, I know that money doesn't buy happiness, but I'd like to find that out for myself, so I hope I get a whole lot of it. What happens is people can begin to not only love it, but they think about it all the time, they strive for it constantly, ultimately the controlled buy it, and then they guard it. And their lives are driven by desire for money, and all they think about is how much more can I get, and they lose everything. At the end of the day, there are very few things that last forever. I don't know, at the risk of bumming you out, and I keep looking at the time because we're gonna have communion, and I wanna make sure I go through this. Let me tell you this very quickly. The one thing that lasts forever is relationship. The one thing that lasts forever is your relationship with God, and the one thing that we should pursue above all things is relationship with Him and with other people, number one. The other day I awakened, it wasn't a dream, it was just one of those cloudy thoughts that you have. Sometimes when you awake, as you're trying to become oriented to be aware of where you're at and what you have to do, and what day is it, that kind of thing. And this thought hit me, and I hope it doesn't bum you out, but if it does, good. It made me think. I remembered something my mother had told me. It's funny how these things happen. My mom told me this, and I'll say this briefly. She said, son, she said, your grandfather was leaving for work, and he and your grandmother, my dad's mom and dad, he and your grandmother had had an argument. And so your grandfather was about to step out of the house to go to work, and he turned to give his wife, my grandmother, a goodbye kiss. He's going to work.   She said, you know what happened? I said, what? Your grandfather went to work. My grandfather worked in a lumberyard, a shop, where there was a lot of grinding and sign cutting of wood. And the particles, a lot of you already know this, but there's a dust that forms in there that is very flammable. It can explode, and that's what happened that day. My grandfather was enveloped in a ball of flame at work that day. He was hospitalized. My mother was six months pregnant with me. I never knew my grandfather.  And she said to me, never fall prey to that kind of thing, David. And I wakened to remember that, and the words came to my heart. One day, the last time you say goodbye will be the last time you say goodbye. Now, that's just not coming from just some old man. That's just a fact, because if you think for a moment of some of your friends that you saw, and you said, I'll see you later, and you never had a chance to see them ever again, you know exactly what I mean. Sometimes the last time you say goodbye is the last time you say goodbye. So the only things that matter are relationships. It's not the money. Money is a tool. It can even be a blessing, but it is not our goal. Our goal should be relationship. Our goal should be loving one another and doing those things. Jesus said, watch out and be on your guard against all kinds of greed. A man's life doesn't consist in the abundance of his possessions. He says when goods increase verse 11, they increase who eat them. Money doesn't solve every problem. We need money just to survive. But money isn't the solution to every problem I have. Solomon says the more you have, the more people are around to help you spend it. If you hit a jackpot, the IRS will help you give money to the government. And wealth helps you discover friends and relatives you didn't even know you had. They'll show up and be willing to enjoy your hospitality. That doesn't happen normally to someone with no money. Proverbs 14, 20 says the poor man's hated even by his own neighbor, but the rich has many friends. So many who are wealthy never know who really loves them and who is using them. And a lot of times you see these very old men with these very young women. And I know that's true love. And verse 12, he says the sleep of a labor man is sweet. That deals with the myth that money brings peace of mind. Solomon points out that ordinary working men sleep better than the rich. While the rich have security guards and fences, video alarm systems on their homes, bulletproof vehicles and all kinds of things to protect them and their goods. And very, very rich people have insomnia because they're never able to get any rest. And so be careful about that, why? While he continues, there's a severe evil which I have seen under the sun. Rich is kept for their owner to his heart. Those riches perish through misfortune. When he begets a son, there's nothing in his hand. As he came from his mother's womb, naked shall he return to go as he came. He shall take nothing from his labor which may carry away in his hand. And this also is a severe evil. Just exactly as he came, so shall he go. And what profit has he who has labored for the wind? All his days, he also eats in darkness. He has much sorrow, sickness and anger. And here is what I've seen. It's good and fitting for one to eat and drink, to enjoy the good of all his labor in which he toils under the sun. All the days of his life which God gives him, it's his heritage. As for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth and given him power to eat it, eat of it to receive his heritage, to rejoice in his labor, it's a gift from God. For he will not dwell unduly on the days of his life because God keeps him busy with the joy of his heart. So this I'll just condense. What you have here is the myth that money brings security and I'll just read my notes and go through it this way. What you have here is a wealthy miser. He ends up losing his fortune through bad business decisions. He thought that all of his problems would be solved when he became rich, yet through poor money management, he ended up with nothing to leave behind. So, afraid of letting his money work for him, he became a miser and he lost it all. In the end, he was back where he started from, having nothing to leave for a son. He trusted in his riches and he was let down. And because he was rich, he thought that his riches would be his protection as well as his identity, but he lost it all. And when he lost it all, he had no parachute to break his fall. In verse 17 tells us he ends his days in sorrow, sickness, and anger. Why is that? Well, ultimately we die and take nothing with us, but we do end up giving an account to the Lord. Proverbs 22 verse two says, the rich and the poor have this in common. The Lord is the maker of them all. And so he concludes in verses 18 following, this is what I've seen. It's fitting to work faithfully, to enjoy good things of life and to see it as a blessing. God will take care of him. A person rejoicing in God's blessings won't have regrets. Why is that? Well, he has learned where to put his trust and because of it, he's blessed. It's like what Paul said in 1st Timothy 6 verse 17, command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God who gives us richly all things to enjoy. If the Lord has blessed you with finances, he's saying enjoy them, but don't forget that God blessed you. Don't begin to trust in those things. I am telling you beyond a shadow of a doubt that it's absolutely true. Many a person who began saying, God, I just want you to bless my hands so that I can do things for you has been blessed so much that ultimately they forget who's the one who's blessing them. I remember J. Vernon Nagy saying something and I'll close with this. Now that a man had approached him, I believe it was J. Vernon, a man had approached him and said to him, Dr. Nagy, I need you to help me. I made an oath to God and I want you to give me a way to get out of it. And J. Vernon Nagy said to him, what was the oath? He said, well, I told God that if he blessed my hands, I would give him 10% of everything I made in my business. He said, and I faithfully did that. He said, the problem is, is my business has grown so much, I can't afford to give 10% anymore. So I'm asking, is there a way for me to no longer give to him 10%? And J. Vernon said, well, no, I can't give you a way to get out of keeping the promise you made to God, but I can do this. I can pray that God will break you to the point where you're so poor you can afford to give to God what you promised him. So we have to be very careful. It's a good thing that the Lord can bless us and indeed he does. But the things that we have, I never to take the place of our trust in him. Solomon said, this is something I've learned. To work hard, to be able to labor and sleep in peace is a good thing. But when you have so much money that all you do is have insomnia over it, you've missed the boat. You've missed on what is really the most important thing.


The COVID-19 pandemic caused a significant reduction in contact rates among the Dutch population. A longitudinal survey was conducted to measure changes in contact rates over the course of the pandemic. The survey included 1659 participants from April to August 2020 and 2,514 participants from December 2020 to September 2021. Participants were asked to report the number of unique contacts they had with people outside their households each day. As the pandemic progressed, the number of contacts reported by participants increased, suggesting that relaxation of social distancing restrictions led to higher contact rates. This article was authored by Jantien A. Bakker, Lawrence Bogard, Philippe Buttels, and others.


and welcome to the session in which we would look at an exercise or a CPA exam simulation that deals with contract modification. As of September 20 X2, Roger Distributors Inc. made the commitment to Staples to sell 150 iPhone-comparable covers for a total of 1500 at a rate of $10 per unit. The covers were to be delivered to Staples over a six-month period, however, after delivering 90 covers, the contract between the two companies was modified and Roger agreed to deliver an additional 45 for $427.50, which will give you a selling price of $9.50. Simply put, what they did is now they decided to sell those additional ones for $9.50, additional 45. It's important to note that all sales between the two companies were conducted on a cash-on-delivery basis and the cost for each cover for Roger is $4 because we're going to be preparing journal entries using the Perpetual Inventory System. Record the journal entry for the sale for the first 90 covers. Well, we sold 90 covers. It was $10. That's the price per unit, so we are going to receive $900, so we debit cash 900, credit sales 900. We said the cost for each unit is $4, $4 times 90 unit is 360. Pretty straightforward, nothing unusual about it. Before we proceed any further, I have a public announcement about my company, farhatlectures.com. Farhat Accounting Lectures is a supplemental educational tool that's going to help you with your CPA exam preparation as well as your accounting courses. My CPA material is aligned with your CPA review course such as Becker, Roger, Wiley, Gleam, Miles. My accounting courses are aligned with your accounting courses, broken down by chapter and topics. My resources consist of lectures, multiple choice questions, true-false questions, as well as exercises. Go ahead, start your free trial today. No obligation, no credit card required. Now, record the journal entry for the sale of 10 additional covers after the contract modification. Now, the contract was modified and we made an additional 10 sale of additional 10 unit. Now, here's what we're going to assume. Assume that the price for the additional covers reflect standalone selling price at the time of the contract modification. Well, what does that mean? It means the additional 10 unit are independent from the new contract. They represent a standalone selling price. Also, the additional covers are distinct from the original product as Roger regularly sell these products separately. They have a standalone price and they are totally distinct. Well, what does that mean? It means we have an independent sale of 10 units and those 10 units, 10 more covers are sold for $10. Well, 10 units times $10 will give us $100 in cash, credit sales $100. Now, cost of goods sold is $40, which is $10, 10 units times 4, which will give us debit cost of goods sold credit inventory. Now, we are going to change the scenario. How? Well, we're going to change the scenario assuming it's not a standalone price. Now, when does the $9.50 kick in? Just kind of if we're going with this scenario. Remember, we had 150 units originally. We sold 90. We are left with 60. So, as long as we're selling those 60, we're going to keep selling them at $10 assuming that the price for the additional cover reflect standalone prices. They have nothing to do with the old contract. They're independent from the old contract. So, when do we kick in that $9.50 when we sell that 151st unit? Then we have the new price. Let's change the scenario a bit. Let's record the journal entry for the 10 more covers assuming that the pricing for the additional product does not reflect the standalone selling price for the additional product and the prospective method is used. Once we say the prospective method is used, we have to go back and look at the previous contract blended with the new contract because those new contract, they don't have a standalone. They don't reflect standalone selling prices. What does that mean? It means they are part of the old deal. So, the reason now you're selling for $9.50 each unit is giving a discount for the customer. So, there's some sort of a discount. So, we have to compute a blended price. Remember, we started with $1.50. We sold 90 units. So, we still have 60 units. 60 units. Now, in addition to the 60 unit, we are delivering 45. So, for the 60 units, they have a $600 sales price over old. The 45 new units, they have $427.50. Together, total of $1,027.50 divided by 105 units, the blended price, the blended price or the blended sale price is $9.758. Before selling 10 units, we're going to debit cash for $97.85, credit sales for the same amount, debit cost of goods sold for $40 that does not change, credit inventory for $40 as well. Now, what should you do now as a CPA candidate or as an accounting student? Go to Farhad Lectures, look at additional resources that's going to help you with your courses, with your CPA, CMA, whatever review you are doing, whatever accounting certification you are studying for, invest in yourself, invest in your career. It will pay dividend down the road. Good luck, study hard and stay safe.


According to the Kama Sutra, every single food has its own taste and own texture which in turn gives rise to its own different kind of passion and my favorite is the kinds that when you bite into them all that juice comes out and the juice collects inside your mouth and then you run your tongue inside your mouth and gather up all of that taste oh my god it's so erotic isn't it and so Radica from Radical Kitchen our Kama Chef is today going to show us what to make with strawberries an entire feast of wonderful sensual things because as we all know strawberries are considered anaprodisiac because I think because the red color and the shape that they are and how you actually place them into your mouth oh my god it can be so sexy and you're just going to make it even sexier with a few things that we can actually make yeah out of it so you make it sexy like this I'll try it with my knife so I'm going to make a strawberry salsa it's a very easy recipe but it's really full of flavors and the way you've described it it's just got a bit of everything so a bit of crunch a little bit of zing and a bit of oomph it's just going to make you fly so all you need is chopped strawberries chopped red onion lime juice chopped green chilies depending on how much oomph you want chopped coriander leaves some salt the balsamic vinegar once the salsa is ready all you need is some bread some crackers some cream cheese to add to the strawberry sensation I'm going to show you how to make a strawberry daiquiri what you need is frozen strawberry sugar syrup lime juice water ice put it all together in a blender and go buzz this is without alcohol but you know what you can do what you want you can add some ground I'll have it this way so Radhika is this how we're going to have your sensual strawberry feast boss table please let's go no sensual feast here simple table


OK, so let's do this question. It says calculate the maximum yield of sodium hypochloride you would get if you started with a mass of sodium hydroxide of 28.4 milligrams. So let's try to do that problem. So I know you guys don't know all of your polyatomic ions but sodium hypochloride is this thing here. That's bleach. So it's actually a good one to kind of remember since bleach is such a common household substance. But anyways, so recall, this is just like the last problem we did. In fact, it's the same reaction equation. So remember with the reaction equation it gives us that reaction equation gives us kind of a conversion factor. So in this case, what did we want to do? We wanted to convert sodium hydroxide to sodium hypochloride. So we have that mole to mole conversion. So let's just write that up here just to remind ourselves. So for every two moles of sodium hydroxide that we get, if we have a maximum yield that means 100% goes to product, we'll have one mole of the sodium hypochloride. So it's been presented with milligrams, which is a mass. But we gotta convert that to moles. And we know a mass to mole conversion, which is called the molar mass, right? But the mass that the molar mass gives us is in grams, right? So we're gonna have to convert milligrams to grams prior to using the molar mass conversion, okay? So and we, here I shouldn't have erased it, but we wrote down the molar mass for sodium hydroxide last time, it was 40.00. So one thing I am going to ask you, does anybody remember the conversion factor between milligrams and grams? I'm 1000 milligrams per gram. Yeah, 1000 milligrams per gram. If you don't remember that, something you're supposed to remember, not gonna be given to you. And I'm just gonna use sodium hydroxide there as a placeholder because we're going to convert from the sodium hydroxide to the sodium hydroxide. Remember we want to do moles because we need to use that mole to mole conversion, right? So we're gonna have to use the molar mass of sodium hydroxide. So on the bottom, 40.00 grams of sodium hydroxide on the top, one mole of sodium hydroxide. That's gonna cancel out grams of sodium hydroxide there. Now we have moles of sodium hydroxide, but we wanted grams of sodium hypochloride, right? So we've gotta figure out the number of moles of sodium hypochloride first. So we've got this conversion factor here, which is two moles of sodium hydroxide to one mole of sodium, okay? So that's gonna cancel there. Remember when we're talking about that maximum yield that's implying you want the weight, okay? So we're going to have to figure out something that converts moles of sodium hypochloride to grams of sodium hypochloride. Of course we all know that's the molar mass by now, right? But we haven't figured it out for sodium hypochloride yet. So let's just write down the units. And then we'll figure out the number of cells. Okay? So I'm just going to do this on the calculator. If you're having trouble figuring out molar mass, please again go back to the molar mass videos. So molar mass of sodium hypochloride has been 22.99 plus 16 plus 35. 74.44 grams per mole. So hopefully I'm moving on to the same answer. So that goes here. So all we do is just go across, divide the things. So 28.4 divided by 1,000, divide that by 40, divide that by two, and then multiply that by 74.44. And well this is in grams. Why don't we convert that to milligrams, okay? So we'll get a number that is a little more presentable. Okay, so let's just convert it to milligrams for fun. So one gram of sodium hypochloride is 1,000 milligrams. I'm going to take that number and multiply it by 1,000. And I get a number. Okay, again it didn't tell me to put it in milligrams or grams for that matter. So I could have chosen whichever one I wanted. But I think this is an easier number to just look at and understand with those units. So I kind of like to do appropriate units. It wouldn't have been incorrect if you put 2.64 times 10 to the negative two grams, okay? So there was one other thing I wanted to say about this. Now I'm not remembering. Remember, oh, maximum yield, right? 100% of reactant goes to product. Okay, that's what maximum yield. 80% yield, yeah, you would take this as 100% yield and multiply that by 0.8, okay? I mean we could do a formal count. That's like the short way, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah, so what we're going to do to the next problem is to do a percent yield problem, okay? Where I can actually show you to cancel out with units, you know, but effectively, yeah, you're just going to multiply both points, okay? Well, how would you figure out the percent yield if you weren't given the percent yield? So they would have to give you the number of moles or the mass of the product too, okay? Any other questions? Those are all good questions.