Pastor Lazarus Muoka, General Overseer of the Lord’s Chosen Charismatic Revival Ministries, TLCCRM, at the Easter Crusade of the church, “Covenant of Peace and Blessings”, had a chat with Sunday Independent’s Chinyere Abiaziem and select journalists on the way forward for Nigeria. Excerpts:
Could you throw more light on what the programme ‘Covenant of Peace and Blessing’ is all about?
All of us know that over 2000 years ago, Christ came and paid the price for our sins; he suffered for us, was killed, buried and on the third day he rose again for our justification. That is why we celebrate Easter. It is a celebration for Christians all over the world because without that event human beings would not have got salvation. Jesus Christ’s death, burial and resurrection gave right to salvation. So in this programme ‘Covenant of Peace and Blessing’, we want the brethren and everybody who came here today to know that Christ’s death earned us victory over all our problems both seen, unseen and every kind of problems. In Christ Jesus, it is all over because he carried away all our sorrows; Christian Has taken away our sins. Whoever gives his or her life to Christ has eternal solution. That person has freedom over sin and over afflictions of the devil. What that implies is that, if you have a sickness and you know the cure, the affliction is as good as cured. That is why the Bible says that if therefore the son shall set us free we shall be free in deed. Through Him, we have all things, my God shall supply all our needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. So in Christ our problems are over, we have all solution in Jesus.
But what is your Easter message for those Nigerians who do not believe in Jesus Christ?
Seeing that Jesus Christ paid the price for our sins, carried away our sorrows, my advice to Nigerians is that they should all come to Christ according to his invitation. He said: “Come unto me all who labour and are of heavy laden and I will give you rest. There are lots of problems here and there. But it is only in him that we have freedom and solutions. So all should come to him, amend their ways and begin to live their lives according to will of God. I believe that Nigeria’s problems and the problems of the world are man-made problems. The problems can be solved if everybody begins to align with Christ. This is because God has solution to the sin of Adam which brought sufferings to humanity, through Jesus Christ. Humanity should embrace Christ so that all their problems will be over. In Jesus Christ, humanity can live victorious life and overcome all life challenges.
The issue we have today has to do with insecurity, and as a man of God what are you telling our leaders as solution to this insecurity?
Except the Lord builds the house, the Bible says that builders builds but in vain. The solution of man’s problems lies only in Jesus Christ. People must embrace Christ, they must be born-again, give their lives to Jesus Christ, and then we will all live in a Nigeria of love. And nobody will engage in killings, robbery and all the wickedness and vices we are experiencing in the land today. If the whole people will all repent, the matter will be solved. But if we choose to bank on human security, though that is needed, it has limitation. Human security fails if Christ is not there. You have heard the testimonies of those who came with AK47, who came with knife and other lethal weapons, yet could not prevail over the chosen ones because they are in Christ. You heard the testimonies various; those that came to kill yet could succeed, the million boys did not succeed; because we are in Christ, our problems are over in Jesus Christ. The issue is that we are preaching the truth; if anybody will imbibe the truth, accept the truth, that person will enjoy the presence of God. There lies the difference between the Lord’s Chosen Church and other churches.
Some have said that intolerance and lack of love among Nigerians is the breeding ground for insecurity in the land. How can the grace of Easter, which is borne out of pure love, help us to attain peace in Nigeria?
You talked about love. Love without Christ is counterfeit; He that is in God wedeth in love. If anybody is talking about love and he is not child of God it is a deception. You cannot give what you don’t have. This love is mechanical love; anybody can say he loves you and still kill you because the person doesn’t have Christ. You don’t want me to preach like others; just say what others are saying. I won’t say what others are saying because what they are saying is love one another. You can’t love one another without Christ. If you love one another without Christ you can still kill the person. The solution of man’s problems is simple; come to Jesus, be born again and begin to live according to the will of God. Love will be there, mercy will be there, conversion will be there, fear of God will be there and when these things are there, evil will not have its way. All I want you to know is, let Nigeria return to Christ, fear God and depart from all evil.
We are familiar with your ‘Hope for the Needy’ programme, but we learnt of another ‘Hope For The Barren’ held 10 years ago. What is it all about? And why was it delayed?
Thank you very much. Actually it was ‘Hope For The Barren’ that metamorphosed to ‘Hope For The Needy’ because sometimes people want the interpretation that suits their understanding. But we have also realised that ‘Hope For The Barren’ addressed a particular issue and people are in serious demand that they be addressed again; and that is the issue of barreness. We know that when you have faith, for instance, the programme is ‘Hope For The Barren.’ If you are barren and you come with great faith, that matter will be addressed again. But then that bareness is not confined to bareness of the womb. It covers all forms of human bareness. The hope will be there and that hope is Jesus Christ. When we come according to his word which says where two or three are gathered in His name there He is right there in their midst. When we come to that programme on May 11 and 12, I am assuring you every kind of bareness will be addressed. That is why we are returning to the programme ‘Hope For The Barren’. God Has led us to return to it and address the issue of bareness once again.
You have had many crusades recently. What impact has the crusades had in the lives of people?
The impact of our crusades is what we are seeing and hearing today. You are hearing people who had various needs that were addressed. By that also, you find that those who were gamblers are now transformed. Those who were robbers and those who were into all kinds of vices are transformed. Now, that is the benefit. Our crusades change lives and makes the people and our society become better. You had a particular testimony about how a dead person was inviting members of her family to go to the Lord Chosen and get born again. The dead person said she was murdered and would not like her relations to die like her. But you know that the dead person there is actually an angel of God because God was just using the body because he knows that is what will likely make the relations to believe. But a sister of the dead lady still did not believe. She was asking if it is only Lord’s Chosen church that God answers prayers. When she said that, she died. Now when she goes to hell, she will know that Chosen is a unique place and God uses it for a purpose. The point is the crusades we are having regularly are changing the lives of people in a positive way. That is why you hear of armed robbers being transformed, the lives of people being transformed and all sorts of ungodly characters being transformed. So our crusades have effect.
Leah Sharibu, is still in Boko Haram captivity because of her faith in Christ. What is your advice to government in this regard?
My advice is rather to everybody including government. We should all pray that God should intervene. This is an issue that concerns everybody. We should all pray so that the people holding Leah Sharibu will release her, because only God can do it.
No comments:
Post a Comment