Cristiano Ronaldo Plane Crash: Landing gear malfunction on impact at Barcelona.

Real Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo’s private jet has crash landed at the El Prat airport in Barcelona. It is being reported that the 31-year-old and his family was not on the plane during the incident.
Eyewitnesses reveal that emergency services rushed to the spot of the accident immediately. The cause of the accident is believed to be a malfunction in the landing gear. Nobody in the plane was hurt, except the pilot who escaped with a few minor injuries, as reported by Mirror.

Time for Mugabe to go, says Botswana President Khama.

Zimbabwe's 92-year-old President Robert Mugabe should step aside without delay and allow new leadership of a country whose political and economic implosion since 2000 is dragging down the whole of southern Africa, Botswana President Ian Khama said.

Despite his reputation as one of Africa's most outspoken figures, Khama's remarks are certain to raise hackles in Harare, where factions of Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party are locked in a bitter struggle to succeed the only leader Zimbabwe has known.

Asked by Reuters if Mugabe, who came to power after independence from Britain in 1980, should accept the reality of his advancing years and retire, 63-year-old Khama responded: "Without doubt. He should have done it years ago."
"They have got plenty of people there who have got good leadership qualities who could take over," Khama, the UK-born son of Botswana's first president, Seretse Khama, and his British wife, Ruth, continued.

"It is obvious that at his age and the state Zimbabwe is in, he's not really able to provide the leadership that could get it out of its predicament," Khama said, in comments that breach an African diplomatic taboo banning criticism of fellow leaders.

Botswana, the world's largest producer of diamonds, shares 800 km (500 miles) of border with Zimbabwe and has felt the full effects of its neighbour's economic collapse under the weight of political violence and hyperinflation since 2000.

Although the economy established in 2009 with the scrapping of the worthless Zimbabwe dollar, a slump in commodity prices over the last two years has triggered a cash crunch that has fed through into unprecedented public anger at Mugabe.

No clear potential successor has emerged from the destabilising factional fight to take over afterMugabe.

Khama said the instability was damaging Botswana's efforts to wean itself off mining - which accounts for 20 per cent of GDP and nearly 60 per cent of exports - by promoting itself as a regional logistics and services hub.

The unrest was also forcing more and more Zimbabweans to leave the country, he added.
Botswana is home only to an estimated 100,000 Zimbabweans - a fraction of the three million believed to be in South Africa - although this is still enough to strain public services in a nation of 2.3 million people.

Botswana's jails held "significant numbers" of Zimbabweans, Khama said.
"It is a big concern," the British-trained former general said. "It is a problem for all of us in the region - and it is a burden. There's no doubt about that."

Resurrection man

In the latest controversy over his health, Mugabe left a summit of southern African leaders at the end of August without warning and went to Dubai, fuelling rumours he had been taken gravely ill or may even have died.

Khama did not discuss any specifics of Mugabe's condition at the meeting but said his counterpart looked tired. "We're talking about a 92-year-old man and there's just so much you can do at that age to try and keep up."

Mugabe frequently refers to himself as "fit as a fiddle" and hints at a desire to stay in power until he is 100. After his Dubai trip, which he attributed to a family matter, Mugabe joked about online reports of his imminent demise.

"Yes, I was dead. It's true I was dead. I resurrected as I always do. Once I get back to my country I am real," he told reporters at Harare airport.

Khama reiterated his government's concerns about the credibility of the elections Mugabe has won in recent years, but said irrespective of the results no leader should cling on to power for that long.
"My opinion has always been that 10 years leading any kind of organisation - not just a country or a government, any organisation - is pretty much the maximum," he said.

During its 50 years since independence, Botswana has emerged as a politically and economically stable nation that has used its mineral wealth prudently - a rarity on a continent where such treasures have been routinely squandered, stolen or the cause of civil war.

Khama's second five-year term in office ends in 2018 when he will hand over to vice-president Mokgweetsi Masisi in a carefully scripted political succession that makes instability almost impossible.

After 2018, Khama, a keen nature-lover whose wood-panelled office is adorned with pictures of the African savannah, said he wanted to dedicate his time to tourism and conservation.

Thanks to a focus on safari tourism and a zero-tolerance approach to poaching, Botswana boasts more than 150,000 elephants, a third of Africa's entire population of the animals.

But Khama said there was no room for complacency in the fight against the illegal ivory trade given the rampant poaching in other countries on the continent.

"One day if their animals become extinct and we still have viable populations, all the guns will be focused on us," he said.

KUPPET Opposed Return of School Ranking, President Uhuru Kenyatta signed into law a Bill that returns ranking according to performance in national exams ...

Enacted: The Bill was sponsored by Kiminini MP Chris Wamalwa (Ford-Kenya) that sought to overturn a ban on ranking enacted by former Education Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi in 2014 was signed into law by President Uhuru Kenyatta. It received overwhelming support in the National Assembly and was easily adopted in early August.



  Opposed:  The Kenya Union of Post Primary Education (KUPPET) had opposed the return of school ranking in national examinations, arguing the institutions don't have uniform facilities. Sentiments seen as cover up for laziness amongst many schools and teachers.  The clever KUPPET Secretary General Akello Misori said “the government should instead come up with a check list of schools detailing facilities. “ to assert their statement above. What's your take , does ranking add value to performance of schools ?

Is St TERESA of Kolkata a Saint According to the Bible ?

In Roman Catholic practice, the saints are revered, prayed to, and in some instances, worshipped (although this is vehemently denied by Catholics). In the Bible, saints are called to revere, worship, and pray to God alone.
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Scripturally speaking, the “saints” are the body of Christ, Christians, the church. All Christians are considered saints. All Christian are saints—and at the same time are called to be saints. First Corinthians 1:2 states it clearly: “To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy…” The words “sanctified” and “holy” come from the same Greek root as the word that is commonly translated “saints.” Christians are saints by virtue of their connection with Jesus Christ. Christians are called to be saints, to increasingly allow their daily life to more closely match their position in Christ. This is the biblical description and calling of the saints…………….


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Recently Pope Francis had good words to now St. Teresa according of the Catholic Church; he proclaimed Mother Teresa a saint on Sunday of 4^th Sep 2016, bestowing the Catholic Church’s highest honor on one of the most widely admired public figures in recent history.

**Catholic beatification and canonization not biblical …………………….

In his homily, Pope Francis recalled the new saint as “committed to defending life, ceaselessly proclaiming that the unborn are the weakest, the smallest, the most vulnerable.” But he also said she confronted the “powers of this world” with “their guilt for the crime of poverty they created.”

Mother Teresa was widely hailed as a saint even during her lifetime and won many worldly accolades, including the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. Only 18 months after her death in 1997, St. John Paul II cut short the usual five-year waiting period to start the canonization process. He beatified her, bestowing the church’s highest honor short of sainthood, in 2003.

All Saints' Day is a solemn holy day of the Catholic Church celebrated annually on November 1. Who is a Saint?

According to Roman-catholic-saints.com and many other Catholic sites wanting us to learn and know the church's saints........ not left out is Pope(s) Francis deserves speedy veneration because 1^st  as a Pope he is assured to live in heaven as a saint, 2nd because he has bn active with Catholic regeneration and evangelism to a  dwindling church in numbers...... like St Teresa he is a living saint to many . Affirmed in his words while saying Mass, Pope Francis said “Saints are examples to imitate”. And noting that saints are not only those who have been canonized (against catholic teachings), but can be anyone from next door neighbors, to members of our own families or others we have met as we live our ordinary lives; the Pope said we must be grateful to them and to God for having given them to us as examples of how to live and die in fidelity to God and to the Gospel......... (Obviously he meant himself coz ordinary Catholics cannot and hv never bn canonized) .

The Catholic Church says throughout history the Church has produced great saints, proving that the Church is holy and able to provide us with what we need to reach sanctity..........

They say in reading the lives of the saints, we see that the saints each reflect, in a unique way, a special facet or virtue of God Himself. Learning about Catholic saints and their lives can inspire us to reach the summit of perfection that God wills for each of us.

A saint is also a person of remarkable holiness who lived a life of heroic virtue, assisted by the Church, during their pilgrimage on earth. They are as varied and exceptional as only God could create them, and each has his own distinct story....................REALLY!!



Question: "What are Christian saints according to the Bible?"

Answer: The word “saint” comes from the Greek word hagios, which means “consecrated to God, holy, sacred, pious." It is almost always used in the plural, “saints.” "…Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he did to Your saints at Jerusalem" (Acts 9:13). "Now as Peter was traveling through all those regions, he came down also to the saints who lived at Lydda" (Acts 9:32). "And this is just what I did in Jerusalem; not only did I lock up many of the saints in prisons …“ (Acts 26:10). There is only one instance of the singular use, and that is "Greet every saint in Christ Jesus…" (Philippians 4:21). In Scripture there are 67 uses of the plural “saints” compared to only one use of the singular word “saint.” Even in that one instance, a plurality of saints is in view: “…every saint…” (Philippians 4:21).

The idea of the word “saints” is a group of people set apart for the Lord and His kingdom. There are three references referring to godly character of saints: "that you receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints …" (Romans 16:2). "For the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ" (Ephesians 4:12). "But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints" (Ephesians 5:3).

Therefore, scripturally speaking, the “saints” are the body of Christ, Christians, the church. All Christians are considered saints. All Christian are saints—and at the same time are called to be saints. First Corinthians 1:2 states it clearly: “To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy…” The words “sanctified” and “holy” come from the same Greek root as the word that is commonly translated “saints.” Christians are saints by virtue of their connection with Jesus Christ. Christians are called to be saints, to increasingly allow their daily life to more closely match their position in Christ. This is the biblical description and calling of the saints.

How does the Roman Catholic understanding of “saints” compare with the biblical teaching? Not very well. In Roman Catholic theology, the saints are in heaven. In the Bible, the saints are on earth. In Roman Catholic teaching, a person does not become a saint unless he/she is “beatified” or “canonized” by the Pope or prominent bishop. In the Bible, everyone who has received Jesus Christ by faith is a saint. In Roman Catholic practice, the saints are revered, prayed to, and in some instances, worshipped. In the Bible, saints are called to revere, worship, and pray to God alone.

Excerpts from **Gotquestions.org 

Question: "What is beatification and canonization and are they biblical?"

Answer: Beatification and canonization are acts of the Roman Catholic Church declaring that a deceased person led a holy life. People still living can then request the blessed (if beatified) or saint (if canonized) to intercede with God on their behalf. The blessed or saint is honored and revered due to their actions while living, but they are not worshiped as God is. Honors may include feasts and masses performed in their name, as well as images and relics displayed to inspire the worshipers.

Beatification is an administrative act whereby a nominee is authorized to have a “cultus” or a specific group of people who identify with, and request favors from, the beatified. The nominee can be a martyr killed in the service of Christ or a confessor. A confessor’s life and writings must be inspected for heroic virtue (bravery and distinction marked by godly motives and not human desire), sanctity, and adherence to Roman Catholic doctrine. The deceased confessor must also have had part in a verifiable miracle. The presence of an unauthorized cultus disqualifies both the martyr and confessor from consideration.

The formal process for confirmation has changed greatly in the last several hundred years. Originally, the church required fifty years between the time of the nominee’s death and the beginning of the investigation. This has been decreased to five years. After a long inquiry, the pope authorizes the beatification, the newly beatified person is labeled “blessed,” and people of the area identified with the beatified are allowed to perform limited actions in the blessed’s name.

Canonization is a decree announcing a person has qualified for sanctification. The decree publically declares the nominee is holy and in heaven with God. Where the veneration of the beatified is limited in scope, canonization binds the universal church to honor the saint. The qualifications include all those included in beatification plus another miracle occurring due to the intercession of the person, which is seen as God’s confirmation of the nominee’s sanctity. Additional honors include specific liturgies performed and churches dedicated in the saint’s name.

The core of beatification and canonization is in the belief that very good people of the church go straight to heaven, rule with Jesus, and intercede with God on behalf of the people on earth and in purgatory. James 5:16 is used to justify the practice: “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” But nowhere does the Bible encourage seeking the attention or favor of those who have died, and praying to the dead is strictly forbidden.

Beatification, singling someone out for special status among the deceased believers, is unbiblical. All believers, whether dead or alive, are called “saints” in Scripture (1 Corinthians 1:2; Acts 9:13, 32; Ephesians 4:12). All believers are equally holy and righteous, not by our own acts, but by virtue of the righteousness of Christ imputed to us at the cross (2 Corinthians 5:21). All believers are equally precious in the sight of God and there is none who can boast of any special place before Him. Finally, developing a “cultus” (from which we get the word “cult”) around a deceased person to whom we offer prayers and petitions borders on necromancy, (consulting the dead) which is also strictly forbidden in Scripture (Deuteronomy 18:11).

Beatification and canonization are rites and traditions of the Roman Catholic Church and are based on a misunderstanding and/or misinterpretation of Scripture. Saints are the body of Christ, Christians, the church. All Christians are considered saints. All Christians are saints—and at the same time are called to be saints. In Roman Catholic practice, the saints are revered, prayed to, and in some instances, worshipped (although this is vehemently denied by Catholics). In the Bible, saints are called to revere, worship, and pray to God alone. 

Excerpts from **Gotquestions.org