Leaders like Myles and Ruth Munroe teach us that we are our brothers’ and our sisters’ keepers ...and challenge us to practice what we believe through our deeds ...as well as our words

 Diplomatic Farewell for Dr. Myles Munroe and his Wife Ruth

By Lindsay Thompson - BIS:

A State-Recognized Funeral was held for Dr. Myles Munroe and Pastor Ruth Ann Munroe, on Thursday, December 4, 2014 at the Diplomat Centre on Carmichael Road.  (BIS Photo/Patrick Hanna)

NASSAU, The Bahamas - People from all walks of life -- locally and internationally -- assembled at the Diplomat Centre for a Celebration of Life for the late Dr. Myles Munroe and Pastor Ruth Ann Munroe, on Thursday, December 4, 2014.

Leading the list of dignitaries and guests at The State-Recognized Funeral were: Her Excellency Dame Marguerite Pindling, Governor General; The Rt. Hon. Perry Christie, Prime Minister, and Mrs. Bernadette Christie; Leader of the Opposition Dr. Hubert Minnis; Senators, Members of Parliament, Senior Government Officials, members of the Diplomatic Corps and leaders of the international religious community.

Dr. Myles Munroe was senior pastor of Bahamas Faith Ministries International Fellowship, where his wife Ruth Ann Munroe served as co-senior pastor. The couple died November 9, 2014 when their private jet crashed into the Grand Bahama Ship Yard. Also on board that ill-fated aircraft were Dr. Richard Pinder, Pastors Lavard & Radel Parks and their son Johanan Parks all of Bahamas Faith Ministries International Fellowship; pilots Frakhan Cooper and Captain Stanley Thurston and American Diego DeSantiago.

Tributes were paid in liturgical dancing, praise and worship, with special selections by Vision singing the remake “Brand New World, and the Original Visionaires singing “Living With Jesus on the Other Side’”-- the group Dr. Munroe was a part of in the early 70s.  Grammy Award-winning Gospel recording artist CeCe Winans also rendered “Don’t Cry for Me” – one of the Winans’ greatest hits.

Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Perry Christie revered Dr. Munroe as “a man who never forgot his roots; a man who was passionately involved in Bahamian nation-building and who played an important part in that process over the course of more than three decades.”

He added, “So, let us make no mistake about it therefore, while Dr Myles Munroe was unquestionably a globalist, an internationalist, in scope of his Christian ministry and in the reach of his teachings and travels, he was at the same time a profoundly committed nationalist; a Bain town-bred Bahamian through and through.”

Senior Pastor Dave Burrows of BFMI said, ”We are gathered here to pay our final respects and tributes to two extraordinary human beings. Today, in some ways we are saddened but in other ways, we celebrate lives of purpose and destiny.”

He best described Dr. Myles Monroe, his mentor, as “a transformer; [in] that through his relationship with God and in his pursuits, no one he encountered was left without being transformed.”  And in Referencing the Bible, Pastor Burrows described Ruth Ann Munroe as “a good thing.”

The Munroes left two children son, Chairo (Myles Jr.) and daughter Charisa who likened their parents to a ‘king and queen.’

“We have lost one of the greatest fathers and mothers; and… king and queen, who have ever lived,” she said.

“Yet is it only by faith that I can stand here before and declare with much authority that Pastor Myles and Ruth Ann Munroe are not dead but are buried alive in me and my brother.”

She said that their parents were born into a life of purpose and they died fulfilling that purpose. “They transformed people into leaders and leaders into agents of change.”

Tributes were also paid by His Grace Bishop Neil Ellis, President Bishop of Global United Fellowship & Senior Pastor of Mt. Tabor Church; Pastor Gary Curry, Pastor Emeritus of Evangelistic Temple; Dr. William Wilson, President, Oral Roberts University, which Dr. Munroe and his wife attended; Dr. Peter Morgan, President, International Third World Leaders Association; Charles & Xoli Masala, Directors, Myles Munroe International, Republic of South Africa; and many others. Dr. Jerry Horner of Jerry Horner International Ministries in Columbia, Georgia, performed the Eulogy.

In a written tribute, United States President Barak Obama said, “leaders like Myles and Ruth teach us that we are our brothers’ and our sisters’ keepers and challenge us to practice what we believe through our deeds as well as our words.”

Myles Egbert Munroe was born in 1954 in Bain’s Town in a family of 11 children. He is an internationally renowned bestselling author, lecturer, teacher, life coach, government consultant, and leadership mentor. He travelled around the world training leaders in business, government, education, sports, media, and religion.

 Dr. Munroe is the country’s youngest recipient of the ‘Queen's Birthday Honors’ Order of The British Empire (OBE) Award 1998 bestowed by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, for his spiritual and social contributions to the national development of The Bahamas.

He has also been honored by the government of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas with the Silver Jubilee Award (SJA) for providing twenty-five years of outstanding service to The Bahamas in the category of spiritual, social and religious development.

Hundreds gathered at the Diplomat Centre on Carmichael Road for the State-Recognized Funeral of Dr. Myles Munroe and Pastor Ruth Ann Munroe, on Thursday, December 4, 2014.  (BIS Photo/Patrick Hanna)

A Colour Guard procession led the way into Lakeview Memorial Gardens & Mausoleums where the bodies of Dr. Myles Munroe and Pastor Ruth Ann Munroe of Bahamas Faith Ministries International Fellowship were interred, during a State-Recognized Funeral on Thursday, December 4, 2014.   (BIS Photo/Patrick Hanna)

The bodies of Dr. Myles Munroe and Pastor Ruth Ann Munroe, of Bahamas Faith Ministries International Fellowship were interred at Lakeview Memorial Gardens & Mausoleums during a State-Recognized Funeral on Thursday, December 4, 2014.  (BIS Photo/Patrick Hanna)

December 05, 2014

bahamas.gov.bs 

Dr. Myles Egbert Munroe, a Bahamian patriot of the first order

Persons Shaped by His Teachings Represents Dr. Munroe's True Monument Says Prime Minister

By Dena Gibbs - BIS

Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Perry Christie, at the Memorial Service for Dr. Myles and Pastor Ruth Munroe.  (BIS Photo/Gena Gibbs)

NASSAU, The Bahamas – At the State-Recognized Memorial Service for Dr. Myles and Pastor Ruth Munroe at the Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium, December 3, Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Perry Christie said Dr. Myles and Pastor Ruth Munroe’s true monument is represented in the two wonderful children they produced, and in many of the leading men and women of our society who were shaped by their teachings and personal example.

The Prime Minister noted Dr. Munroe’s testimony is witnessed in the leaders of our society he greatly influenced and shaped, who will continue his work, and their children “will take the baton and carry on the cause.  And that is how great nations are built, brick by brick, one family at a time; one person at a time; one generation at a time, but all moving in the same direction, guided by the same sense of purpose, guided by the same values.  Yes, that is how great nations are built, and how great nations endure.”

Before a large stadium crowd, and as part of a comprehensive programme of speakers and cultural expression -- the Prime Minister observed that we hear too little of those are doing good things “even great things, day in day out, working by the sweat of their brow; raising good families; helping out and doing good works in the community; leading lives of high purpose that ennoble themselves and ennoble us as all as a society, as a people, and as a nation under God. That’s the kind of people Dr. Myles leaves behind as his monument.”

During his condolences, the Prime Minister discussed his last meeting with Dr. Munroe and his last conversation, noting in retrospect it seemed there was a lot on his mind, “much more than normal” and that he had a sense of urgency that “the challenges of our time summoned us all to leadership in one form or another so that the problems of contemporary Bahamian society that so troubled him could be more aggressively addressed and remediated.”

He said: “I don’t have to tell you that Dr. Munroe really loved his country, this beloved Commonwealth of The Bahamas. Yes, he would go forth into the world, crisscrossing continents, flying across the great oceans of the planet but he would always come back home to play his part, a leading part, in helping to build up his country,” said Prime Minister Christie.

 “This kind of outreach was central to his sense of purpose and central to his work as an evangelist for Christ because it was clear to me that religion for Myles Munroe was not about locking oneself up in some remote ivory tower of private contemplation. Rather, it was about rolling up your sleeves and getting down into the trenches to deal with the real problems of real people living in the real world.”

 Prime Minister Christie said while Dr. Myles Munroe was unquestionably a globalist, an internationalist, in the scope of his Christian ministry and in the reach of his teachings and travels, he was, at the same time, a profoundly committed nationalist; a Bain Town-bred Bahamian through and through; a man who never forgot his roots; a man who was passionately involved in Bahamian nation-building and who played an important part in that process over the course of more than three decades.

 “And so my brothers and sisters, as Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, I therefore stand at attention today and salute Dr. Myles Egbert Munroe as a Bahamian patriot of the first order. And on behalf of all my compatriots, I offer the thanks of a grateful nation for the life and work, and for the shining example, of this great son of our soil,” said the Prime Minister.

The large crowd.  (BIS Photo/Gena Gibbs)

Liturgical dancer.  (BIS Photo/Gena Gibbs)

December 05, 2014

Bahamas.gov.bs 

Dr. Myles Munroe, and the women who men are looking for...

The Watchwoman: Myles Munroe's Dangerous Doctrine For Women

 
By NOELLE NICOLLS




A sermon delivered by Dr Myles Munroe, president and founder of the Bahamas Faith Ministries International (BFMI), has been making its way around the social sphere generating a lot of debate. I watched the video because it was shared by a close friend, even though the online group “Meeting In The Ladies Room” posted it with a message stating: “All Ladies Regardless Of Marital Status Should Watch This!”

After watching the sermon the first, second, third and fourth time, with an open mind, I still could not bring myself to understand, why and how so many women were giving it rave reviews. One woman declared the message to be “profound and powerful!!”. Another woman said: “Amazing word. I can’t wait to show this to my sons.” And yet another called for the message to be played on a “bull horn”. She said it was so “absolutely wonderful” the mighty word had to get out.

I was completely perplexed by these responses, because the same sermon that brought these women to a spiritual orgasm made me want to go out gunning to slay the wolf. I was not completely alone, although certainly in the minority, for there were a handful of dissenting voices amongst the faithful flock who thought the message was outright offensive.

Dr Munroe’s sermon speaks to the story of Adam and Eve, the first marriage in history, according to the Christian creation story, and shares lessons on the role of men and women in relationships.

In the words of Dr Munroe: “The third thing God told the man - Genesis 2:15 - is cultivate. Cultivate means to bring out the best in everything around you, to maximise the potential of everything around you, to make everything fruitful. He only said that to the male. That is why God will never give a man a finished woman.

“The male was created by God to create what he wants. The woman you are looking for, brother, does not exist. She is in your head. Your job is to take the raw material you married and cultivate her into the woman in your head. So if you have been married for 20 years and you still don’t like the product you get, that is your fault,” said Dr Munroe.

When are we going to move away from following doctrines that make women objects in a man’s world. Not only is Dr Munroe explicit in referring to a wife as a product of her husband, he says men are entitled by divine decree to create the women they want.

Such is the conditioning that occurs in abusive relationships, where men tell their women what clothes to wear, how to style their hair, the friends they can maintain and the places they can go. These are the conditions that foster relationships of power and control, the foundation of all abuse. And while the message is gendered in Dr Munroe’s context, it has broader meaning in the context of healthy relationships, because the same doctrine applied in reverse creates the same conditions for abuse.

Speaking about Jesus’ relationship to his wife, Dr Munroe said: “Jesus Christ is a real man, a real man. He has a wife, a beautiful woman. Her name was Ecclesia. He said about his wife, he said husband love your wife like I love my wife. He tells us how to do it. He says you wash her with the word, and then you remove every spot, every wrinkle, every blemish and then present her to yourself. That is mine, I did that. I produced that. Look at her. Look at her. That’s my baby.”

Our leaders need to start using language to affirm the value of men and women and their equal standing in the eyes of God; to affirm the individuality of every man and woman. Our leaders need to consider the way in which their language socialises impressionable young girls and boys, who are trying to negotiate gender relationships in their youth. His message is dangerous not only because it objectifies women, but also because it lays the foundation for the subjugation of women.

Patriarchal religious doctrines have been used for centuries as reason to deprive women of their individual freedoms, and we must never forget. Male interpretations of religious texts have been used to justify some of the most persistent and pervasive human rights abuses. And while organised religion has evolved since its brutish origins, the church has not shed all of its misguided ways.

It is in the language used by church leaders like Dr Munroe that we see those lingering remnants of the patriarchal order, in which robbed men “twisted and distorted holy scriptures to perpetuate their ascendant positions within the religious hierarchy”. It is this language that often provides the foundation and justification for the abuse of women throughout the world.

Human rights activist Jimmy Carter, the former US president, recently spoke to this very issue when he stated emphatically, along with elders from many faiths: “The justification of discrimination against women and girls on grounds of religion or tradition, as if it were prescribed by a higher authority, is unacceptable.

“At their most repugnant, the belief that women must be subjugated to the wishes of men excuses slavery, violence, forced prostitution, genital mutilation and national laws that omit rape as a crime. But it also costs many millions of girls and women control over their own bodies and lives, and continues to deny them fair access to education, health, employment and influence within their own communities.”

In Dr Munroe’s sermon, he speaks about God placing man in his presence. He was not referring to man in the sense of the human race, but rather men, represented in Adam. Eden, as in the Garden of Eden, he said represents an environment, a place of divine presence, an open door to God, where Adam was placed.

Dr Munroe further described the spiritual hierarchy that exists between man, woman and God. Referencing scripture, he said God also gave the man his word. When God commanded Adam not to “touch the tree (of knowledge)”, God never spoke to Eve. The significance, Dr Munroe suggested, is that the male is the only one to have been blessed by God with the word (a direct relationship to God). A wife, though she too is created in the image and likeness of God, has to wait to be taught by her husband, for only he stands in God’s presence and was blessed by the word.

In response to a lonely dissenter on the video feed, one faithful follower wrote: “If you find this appalling or offensive don’t read the Bible.” Part of me believes there is wisdom in her response. Another part of me wants to believe there is hope for women of the Christian faith who reject male interpretations of holy scriptures that establish gender hierarchies and justify the superiority of men.

I will certainly question any doctrine that creates a foundation and justification for the abuse of women throughout the world, no matter how divinely ordained the messenger claims to be.

Noelle Nicolls is the Tribune Features Editor. Her Watchwoman column explores genders issues in politics and culture from a feminist perspective. Follow Noelle online at Twitter.com/noelle_elleon.

March 05, 2013

Tribune 242

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