TRANSCRIPTED VOICE MAIL TO THE PCC ON THE OCCASION OF THE FUNERAL CELEBRATION OF THE VERY RRV. Dr. Festus ASANA BY NICO HALLE
My name is Sir Dr. Barrister Nico Halle, a bona fide Christian of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon. I come to all of you this morning, laity and the clergy, all Christians of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon. I come to you humbly on the occasion of the passing and the eventual funeral arrangements and program that has been shared by the Rt. Reverend Miki Hans, moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon, giving instructions on how the funeral should be handled.
This message is done against the backdrop of the mortal remains of the Great Reverend Dr. Festus Asana arriving in Douala -Cameroon tomorrow the 7th of August 2026. Now, we are obliged to celebrate a fallen icon, spiritual colossus.
We are all getting set to celebrate him based on his trappings, his track records in the PCC and other spiritual structures in the world. And that’s why I want to thank the Rt. Rev Miki Hans, our Moderator, for coming out with a very exhaustive funeral program for the celebration of the Great Reverend Dr. Festus Asana. Thank you very much, Moderator.
Thank you for your simplicity and thank you for having a listening ear. What for me, is most compelling is the instruction that you have given to all Pastors and Christians that on Sunday 9th of August 2026 there would be in all the churches in Cameroon and the diaspora, sermons and activities to cause the Christians to repent, to show remorse, to own up their shortcomings, to ask for forgiveness and for all of us to be reconciled once more.
There are certain platforms on which reconciliation is always executed. When there are anniversaries, when there are funerals, when there are weddings, when there are promotions, when there are rallies, etc the Lord provides all of us these platforms to be reconciled. This time around, it is a platform of the funeral arrangement for the departed moderator Asana Festus.
We cannot pretend that there hasn’t been resentment, bad blood and hate in the PCC the last few years. In the last few years and especially the year 2024.We all know how Moderator Asana was bombarded with insults and invectives by some of us especially some of our Pastors. Permit me not to get into the details. And I’m very glad to announce that by the time he passes he forgave everybody.
Truth be told he had actually forgiven everybody who insulted him, who hurt him, who wrote trash, filth about him. That is a true man of God. And so, we have an opportunity also using this platform not to pretend not to pretend that everything is okay, was fine, normal, was smooth, was harmonious. No! That would be hypocrisy.
our spirituality, we should know that, and I’m saying here, vengeance is God’s. Vengeance is God’s. The asphyxia, asphyxia, spiritual asphyxia that has existed, whether it is formal or sporadic, we are responsible. No wonder, oh small wonder, certain Pastors don’t greet each other, certain Pastors don’t greet their Christians, certain Christians don’t greet their Pastors, certain Christians do not take communion. So there is bad blood. Despicable.
This is an opportunity that God has given us to be reconciled. If we must go to the airport to receive the mortal remains of our moderator, we should be reconciled lest we are labeled pathological hypocrites. We must have to start reconciliation.
And if we must execute the funeral service in Buea, at the Buea Station Church, that is on the 12th, August, we must be reconciled. And then of course, the funeral service to celebrate this great pastor in PC Ntamulung on 14th 2026 it should be preceded by reconciliation. And finally, that same 14th, he’ll be laid to rest in Bafut. And I’m saying here that forgiving does not mean that there was no wrongdoing.
You forgive to free yourself from unnecessary bitterness and pain. I’m pleading with us all as a little Christian of the PCC who is concerned about the peace and harmony in our church. We must understand that peace only comes when there is justice.
And I’m sure that after these funeral platforms platform, we will no longer create situations where bad blood will be built again, where some Christians will be excluded, where some pastors will be excluded, where manipulations will continue to happen, where betrayal will start all over again.
We have all come short of God’s glory. Let us, let us abandon, let us abandon megalomania, greed, narcissism, self-righteousness. This voicemail is not coming from somebody who is holier-than-thou or perfect. Yet. you and me are judged every minute, of course, every second, every minute, every hour, every day, every week, every month, every year, by the people who look up to you and me, and who interact with us. So, when we interpret Mtt 7:16, do not judge. Do not judge.
It’s a fallacy, because how can we say do not judge when there are courts, when we must evaluate ourselves, when we must critically size up what we are doing? We must judge. If we do not judge, then we cannot have the basis for appointments, promotions, and transfers in the church. Then we cannot even have exercises of elections in the congregations at the level of the zones, at the presbytery, the region, and the synod. Elections are a period of judgment.
So, those who say do not judge and hang on it, I don’t know what spirituality that is. When we blunder and are criticized or corrected, we jump up to say do not judge And those who say people who have logs in their eyes, should take out the logs before they can take out the specks. This is cover-up. Period. I want to say here that all of us are sinners and we all have big logs in our eyes. It is for you to determine the size of your log. Yes.
I say here that we should not use who well? Who well? That is what we use in order to continue to sin. Oh, nobody is perfect. So, we should all continue to sin. Yes. Oh, who can throw the first stone? This is evasive statement people make within the church’s confines in order to continue to sin. Yes. Throw the first stone. They use that to placate, to justify their sins. Oh, none of us is sinless. Yes. But don’t use that as a platform to continue to sin. When you doctor the Constitution of the church, you have raped the will of all the Christians and when I use the word Christians, I mean the clergy and the laity.
When you organize rigged elections in the church, you have destroyed the very structure which is the body of Christ. I’m saying this, I’m saying this, and I can say this a million times. There should be no caucuses (KPs) in church, no manipulations, no graft, no embezzlement, no weaponization, no discrimination in church, no tribalism in church, no favoritism in church. Yet, Pastors and Christians who stand for values, and Truth are systematically jettisoned some of those in positions of authority.
This must stop in the church and I think this should stop in the church between now and the 14th of August 2026 after we finally lay to rest our moderator Festus Asana. I want to plead with the family and I’m talking about Nyango Jenny, Asana, our very, very simple, beautiful, unassuming, humble, dynamic and spiritual sister, the wife of the departed moderator to take heart, to be strong and also to forgive those who bombarded her husband with junk when she made merely a suggestion to the church that the church should ensure that the elections were free, fair, transparent, credible, peaceful and acceptable. What he received when he gave a fatherly advice was an avalanche, a plethora of insults and insults and insults.
I would suggest that all of these ma’a, ma’a, Nyango Asana, all of you, you and the children and family should forgive, forgive, and forgive, and forgive, and forgive so that you, you are at the airport genuinely smiling with everybody, you are in Buea Station congregation smiling with everybody, you are in PC Ntamulung smiling with everybody, even those who championed the bombardment of your husband, smile with everybody, and then let God take total control of what is happening.
I thank God, I thank God for a wonderful pilgrimage of the very Rev Dr. Festus Asana, the odyssey, the odyssey of the very Rev Dr. of Festus Asana, you can also indicate that the pilgrimage, as we are moving towards reconciliation, we must have reconciliation, otherwise what we will be doing in Douala, in Buea, in Ntamulung, and in Bafut, would just be, you know, cover up, make believe, you know, and you know the rest, hypocritical, we must be genuine Christians. Yes!
I share this voicemail so that we begin to meditate, reflect. I share it to everybody Pastors and Christians alike. Take what touches you and leave what does not touch you. I don’t need to have gone to a theological school or seminary to worship God because remember that salvation is individual. Everybody is working for their salvation and I’m working for my salvation. No person living on Earth now has salvation in their pocket that they are distributing. Salvation will come from God. I want us to be very serious about it.
So, I greet all of you, and I pray that, beginning today, we should begin to reflect, meditate, pray, ask God to forgive us. Yes, ask God to forgive us. And then, of course, we will now qualify to accompany the mortal at all venues wherever, smiling with everybody.
This is an opportunity for us to celebrate, to celebrate the life of a genuine pastor, but also to celebrate our own lives, if we have been living spiritually. This little message as I call it, little voicemail, should convict me, Nico Halle, and should convict those who have an open heart and mind.
I want to end by saying that, forgiving does not mean that there was no wrongdoing. It only frees one from bitterness. My dearly beloved clergy and leity, in transcribing my voicemail sent out earlier I thought I should share with you these short readings from the greatest book in world-the Holy Bible:
1) 1st Corinthians 13:1-13
2) Mt 22:37-39
3) 2nd Timothy 3-12
4) Mt 6:33
5) proverbs 22:1
6) Mt 7:12
7) Mt 7:21
TO GOD BE THE GLORY AND HONOUR.
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