Alfred Sasako’s narrative of the Christian Fellowship Church (CFC), which appeared on Solomon Star No. 8879, dated 7 September, 2024, was a rephrasing/rewriting of an earlier narratives from the Tavuli News titled “Survivors Courages Account Exposes Severe Abuse and Coercion by CFC Group A Leader,” and a much earlier one in “the Burning of houses at Raro Island” (South New Georgia).
Before responding to Alfred Sasako’s narrative, perhaps, a brief understanding of the CFC will help dispel the ignorance that have emerged from the narrator’s mindset.
The Christian Fellowship Church is truly a Black men’s Church, founded by an indigenous Solomon Islander, the late Silas Eto (spiritual name, Holy Mama) of Kolobagea Village of North New Georgia. Its origin is Methodist, acknowledging the trinity, and the personification of the Holy Spirit (born again) as the consummation of being a Christian.
The Church was incorporated in 1965 and is an independent local Church and still active to date. And to understand the CFC, one needs to understand the founder, his teachings, and theology.
Therefore, to comprehend the context from which the founder and subsequently the Church developed, one must understand the basis of the elevation of the Christian to earn God’s absolution and sanctification. In the search for absolution and sanctification, one must live the life that allows the reverence of God through the little things that one does.
This is so because it is important to instantly realise that the greatness of God comes from the little things that men do. This is the ascending order of the reverence of God. Important as well, is the advantage that the humbleness of a man makes nobody to be somebody. In other words, humility is the basis of gratitude or recognition: You must be nobody to be somebody. This is the descending order of the recognition and awe that men earned from God.
When the late Silas Eto was baptised to become a member of the Methodist Mission at the age of 13 in 1918, he became a confirmed Christian in the Methodist Mission. At the age of 18 in 1926, he knew that he could only be a true Christian leader if he had Jesus in his heart. This early realisation in his Christian life, developed in him the yearning to find Jesus, and thus began his life of prayerfulness.
Moreover, his college years (1927–1932) at the Methodist Head station at Munda, West New Georgia, earned him the popularity of being a man of prayer. He prayed always until his death in 1983.
The late Silas Eto (Holy Mama) was a nobody, and from that standpoint, he sought Jesus. In his search for Jesus, his only possession was a New Testament that he carried with him all the time wherever he went.
The yearning to find Jesus galvanised in him the understanding that a Christian must go through a process of transformation that would allow him to be physical in appearance and living but spiritual in life, where the negativisms (emotionality) would be replaced by the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, he was not prepared to settle for being a Christian. He sought to move beyond being a Christian and be elevated to born-again status and eventually become the son of the living God. In other words, he recognised that a mortal must not be Christian all his life or must become a Christian and personify the Holy Spirit, thus Jesus (in trinity), to become a born-again Christian and thus son of God.
The born-again status is when the Holy Spirit merges with the birth-spirit (of the Christian) and eventually replaces the birth-spirit so that the mortal now becomes a Holy-Spirit-powered mortal. At this point of merging and replacement of the birth-spirit by the Holy Spirit, the Christian allows Jesus— by interlocking motion of the trinity – permits God the Father into the heart/life of the mortal. This is the descending order of the trinity into the life of the Christian.
The ascending order (elevation into holiness) in the context of the born-again Christian is that the Christian embodies the Holy Spirit and vice versa. This merger enabled the embodiment of Jesus in the born again, who then becomes the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus is the embodiment of God the Father – the spirit of God – and by this transformation process, the born-again Christian is configured in the heart of God the Father—the heavenly kingdom of all God’s children. When the born-again Christian enters the trinity configuration and vice versa, he now enters the trinity cyclical motion into eternity that transforms him to be physical in appearance and living but spiritual in life and where the fruits of the Holy Spirit now showing in his life.
This occurs in the blink of an eye, and the mortal would not feel it except a changed life full of love, joy, peace, and the rest of the fruits of the Holy Spirit. The transformation sequences should give the repentant the ultimate finality of being a Christian—that is, a Christian ought to be the son of God to dwell in the kingdom of God.
This is the only process and qualification to be a son of God, and that can enable a mortal to live in the kingdom of God. In other words, there are no Christians in the kingdom of God but sons of God – holy and godly. God self-exist in his holy temple – Jesus in the Holy Spirit – in a Christian.
Of the physique of the mortal, the spirit is alterable. The life of the mortal is designed so that the Holy Spirit of God can merge and replace the birth-spirit and to align it in the same wavelength, and hence, allows the divine process to consummate, and thus, transforming the physical being into a physical spiritual or spiritual-physical (identical dimensions) in appearance and living but spiritual in life and demeanour.
This transformation elevates the Christian from the life of a Christian to the life of Jesus. This means that the life of the Christian moves from repentance to salvation, and the life of Jesus is from born again to eternity. The life of Jesus is Holy Spirit—the embodiment process that allows the Christian to be spiritual in life yet physical in living. Therefore, this point in the transformation allows the born-again Christian to be the son of God. This should disclose the understanding that there are only two options and lives that the Christian needs to progress through for the finality in becoming the son of God: (i) the life of Christian, and (ii) the life of Jesus.
The life of a Christian is the life seeking for Jesus. The Christian engages in praising, worshipping, singing, Bible reading, and praying. This life is conducted by way of the teachings of the Holy Scriptures.
The life of Jesus is the embodiment of the Holy Spirit through which both Jesus and God the Father dwell in the Christian. Thus, when a Christian lives the life of Jesus, he becomes qualified to become the son of God. This esoteric knowledge reflects the singularity of Jesus being the only son and is the only name from which the born-again Christian can enter the kingdom of God.
The personification belief is founded in the promise that was made by Jesus that says, “And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter that He may abide with you forever” (St. John 14:16). The receipt of the Holy Spirit (embodiment) or Holy Spirit man does not, in any way, reduce the spiritual trinity. The holy deities are in interlocking alignment.
The summation of the theology is:
The Holy Spirit is the way to Jesus, the truth about Jesus, and the life of Jesus.
Jesus is the way to God, the truth about God and the life of God.
… and is the functionality of God in heaven, in the world and in man.
And this is the foundation of the CFC.
Alfred Sasako narrative was rephrasing/rewriting of earlier commentaries cited at the outset of this brief – a public knowledge and not much about CFC except various incomplete understandings of the Church.
And merely revitalize the call to investigate what believed to be probable criminal occurrences done by a break-away group from the CFC that became known as Group A. However, what was masked in the narrative was a hateful feeling against the CFC – or a struggling spirit in a man – that wished ill-will on the CFC.
This was obvious in the sweeping assertions, including the intent to consider the members of the Church non-Christians. The generalizations (rhetoric) in many parts of the narrative, inclusive of identifying J D Tausinga as the son of Holy Mama as if to suggest he supports the criminality of the Church, is preposterous. His membership of Parliament belonged to the population of the constituents of the constituency he represented – on the principal of universal suffrage. He does not support criminal activities but the rule of law.
And thus, the sweeping allegations, (i) violence against young girls, (ii) drug-trafficking, (iii) closure of schools, (iv) people disappearing without traces, were made to establish the CFC as a criminal entity, a non-Christian community, and hence, consider deregister the Church should it fail the fundamental tenets of its logo – whatever that may mean. The contrary is true: CFC does not engage in criminality but peace-loving – and like all other people of other Churches – respect the rule of law.
The CFC is people – not merely a name of a Church – who venerate/worship Jesus in trinity like all other introduced Churches. The communal spirit that appeared to be a thorn in the heart of the informer and Alfred Sasako were written from anthropological and economical perspectives, from scholars trying to understand the nature of the Church, and in relation to their studies, and nothing of its spirituality. The spirituality of it goes beyond communal/united efforts to provide for the communities, and is the interrelationship based in Jesus Love as opposed to Christian love that is a lip service and falsity of Christians.
CFC strongly believes that in Jesus LOVE there is no criminal activities.
Nevertheless, the assertion/allegation is sweeping to make people believe CFC has deviated from its originality or has lost its Christian life, thus, engage in criminal activities. An expression of a blind spirit/soul within – struggling spirit to release itself within – and showing pretentiously a self-righteous mindset.
Thus, CFC denies – on behalf of its the members – that it had at any time engages in (i) violence against young girls, (ii) drug-trafficking, (iii) closure of schools, (iv) people disappearing without traces, and further states that, (a) the Church is not a criminal entity, (b) conforms to Christian life and values, and (c) has not gone astray from its aims and objects, i.e. to promote and live Jesus love.
The CFC still administers two primary schools, Kinamara and Paradise Primary schools. A new secondary school is now open at Paradise, and will have year 8 in 2025. The secondary school is a Provincial registered in partnership with CFC. Construction of teachers’ houses (3 x 2 bedroom) in progress and will complete at the end of the month. Soon after, similar (3) staff houses and the school hall will commence and expected to complete first quarter of 2025. These are all CFC – community projects.
Therefore, CFC is still active in education, providing learnings for school age children.
There is no classification – Group A/B – in the CFC. The classifications of CFC Group A and Group B is an invention, advanced by the faction who called themselves CFC Group A. This faction does not believe in the Christian doctrine of trinity, the fundamental of Christianity. Their lack of understanding of the trinity as the functional aspect God in the salvation of man, coupled with non-attendance of Church services/worships, now for 14 years, made it obvious that the group does not have a Church – and cannot be called CFC. Sundays of the 365 days a year are fund-raising days for the welfare/comfort of the progenies of the late Rev Egan Rove, one of the offsprings of Holy Mama.
Thus, the division orchestrated by Group A – as noted by the narrative – is based on an indoctrination rule, barring the group to disassociate themselves from members of CFC. The emerging Group A – whatever it is – has rules governing their conduct, including barring the members to interact with their relatives (in the CFC of the late Holy Mama). The indoctrination is: no brothers, sisters, papas, mamas or relatives and tribes – they are living a life of exclusion from the members of CFC.
Members of CFC were/are chased out from their own villages – unwelcome to return. Complains of intimidations and harassments, burning of properties belonging to individual members of CFC made to the Police fell on deaf ears. Prohibition orders granted by courts – restraining the perpetrators committing further wrongs – evaporated into thin air with no police action.
From the Christian Fellowship standpoint, there are no opposing camps in the CFC. The members of CFC do not interfere or hate or dislike people of all churches, let alone group A. If there is opposition from camps as related in the commentary, then it is an external mindset to the understanding of CFC, perpetuated by the faction who identified itself as Group A. It is this group that identified the true CFC as B, and attempted to make believe that A is still CFC, although, it had deviated from the CFC of the late Silas Eto (Holy Mama) and had been living in apostasy.
CFC is well and alive regardless of the assumption of it undone. The offsprings of the late Silass Eto (Holy Mama) – namely Noelyn Tipiqe, Oliver Cromwell, and J D Tausinga are still alive.
The Church is a spiritual entity contrasting the mindset that assumed it secular, as sought in the intent of the mindset, “if the movement fails the test of its logo – whatever that means (my editorial) – of the Christian Fellowship Church should be changed. The word “Christian” should be omitted….” To invite the public to consider CFC as atheist entity is indeed not correct – thoughtlessness at its best. Why consider the wrong of some to be for the whole CFC? To become a Christian is an individual choice, so is Jesus as salvation.
Be reminded: No one except Jesus will select who goes or not to heaven; the task is not for the Christian mindset. Even the most knowledgeable or evangelical may not go to heaven.
On behalf of the members, CFC denies ever engages in (i) violence against young girls, (ii) drug trafficking, (iii) closure of schools, (iv) people disappearing without traces. And further, CFC disassociate itself from any groupings, as it is ONE church by virtue of its constitution. CFC is not B.
To condemn criminal activities is one thing, to falsely condemn a Church on criminality is another. Alfred Sasako needs to exhibit his journalistic learning about the understanding of the power of misinformation. Thus, should have confined his narrative to the need to investigate the alleged criminal activities of a certain group. After all, the same call was made to the law enforcement agencies in earlier press releases by concerned citizens.
In summation, Alfred Sasako’s narrative was a rewriting of earlier commentaries, its importance was the refresh the call for the investigation into the probable criminal activities of some original members of CFC.
If there is a lesson needs to be learned by hateful mindset, let it be this: Jesus does not stop us from going to Hell, rather, he wants us to we love one another. Love one another is the prerequisite of avoiding Hell. Jesus is Love.
I pray that you take time to understand the CFC and hence, develop and nurture Christian brotherhood on Jesus love one another command. And pray, that we make Jesus real in our Christian life, brotherhood and understanding and relationship. And then we can all chorus, To God be the glory, great things he had done. Amen.
Respectfully Submitted: In the service of the Lord.
JD Tausinga.
(For Christian Fellowship Church)
