Why I Will Suggest A National Thanksgiving Day If I Am Close To Buhari – Dr. Afolabi

Head pastor, Palace Fire Chapel.

Dr. Joshua Afolabi is an Engineer and the Head pastor, Palace Fire Chapel situated along LASU-Isheri Road, Lagos. In this interview with Loveth Azodo, Dr. Joshua Afolabi harped on the need for national thanksgiving day which should be declared a public holiday and observed by all Nigerians regardless of their religion.

The Prophet who is spiritually fathered by Papa Ayo Oritsejafor, the founding and Senior Pastor of Word of Life Bible Church has received several International recognitions.

Why do Christains fix thanksgiving service towards the end of the year?

The Bible says O give thanks unto God for he is good for his mercy endureth forever. Thanksgiving is supposed to be an everyday activity, so why do we calve out thanksgiving towards the ending of the year? It is because we feel that is when we have the time to thank God for all he has done for us from the beginning of the year till December. It is a time to say Father we have come to thank you that we are still alive, alot of things has happened but we are still standing, Lord we thank you for being amongst the people you have chosen to be alive. Thanksgiving is not necessarily that it is going to be at the end of the year like ours we do it with programme because we are also believing God that he can touch the lives of the people.

Nigeria has faced a lot of challenges and has survived a lot, How would you suggest we thank God in Unison?

 

For Nigeria to exist alone calls for thanksgiving

Alot of things have happened that would have thrown Nigeria into extinction even America speculated that Nigeria might not exist anymore but we survived it, another person said this is the last election and we survived it, that is why I said If I’m close to the president I would suggest let a day be dedicated maybe towards the end of the year. It is not all about religion. Let a day be dedicated and everybody knows that this is Nigeria’s thanksgiving day.

It is not all about thanking God. You can not be thanking God and you will not cook and celebrate with your family and friends and also give help to a lot of people, it is different from christmas or any festive period, this should be thanks giving for Nigeria alone why? For us to be together as Nigerians, there is no war or battle that has torn us apart. If Nigeria divide today alot of African countries will be in trouble, not African countries alone, they just closed the border and country like Vietnam is crying because the rice they ship into Nigeria alone survive their country up to a reasonable percentage, they have to come to Nigeria to negotiate, UK is crying because the rate people go for holidays is reducing. So it is going to affect alot of countries that depends on Nigeria, some people depend on Nigeria to sell their market so if Nigeria doesn’t exist anymore imaging what will happen to that country.

Since we have different mode of worship, how do you think this can be achieved?

How is the swearing-in done? How is it done in the court? While swearing-in a Christain prays and a Muslim prays so it can be done the same day, just set aside a day. Since we have freedom of worship in Nigeria. It will be a National day of Thanksgiving.

What is the difference between thanksgiving, sacrifice and seed sowing

There are different types of giving, giving alms that is giving to the less privilege, there is vow like when someone say Lord if you give this to me I will give you this like jephta that said Lord if I conquer in this battle I will give you the first thing that comes out from my house after the battle and that happens to be his only child and he didn’t go back on his word, he gave her to God, that is vow. There is offering, the Bible says that shall not come before the Lord empty handed, when we come before the house of the Lord we give an offering, then there’s another giving that goes with sacrifice, it is when someone says Lord I need a miracle, Lord I need help, now for you to know I really need help I am giving this, that was what Happened in 2kings chapter 3 where a man sent his army to break into a war they couldn’t conquer the isrealites and the Bible says he took his only child and offered it as a sacrifice unto his god and the bible says that the battle turned to his favor, he needed victory, he has employed every strategy he could but couldn’t get the victory he has to give his only child and got the it, so that is sacrifice.

The reason why people give and don’t receive answers is because when they give it is not mixed with faith secondly when they give they relax when you give you back it up with prayers you have to talk to God about your sacrifices. Dedicating yourself to God is a sacrifice, you can say I will not sleep with any man till I get married, a sacrifice is striking a convenant with God because sacrifice is painful, David said I can not give to God what will not cost me anything even when they wanted to give it to him for free he rejected the offer.

Is donating to the poor and less privilege another form of thanksgiving to God?

Yes, there are times I have to go to the prisons, give to the poor, beggars. We are giving 100 Widows food, clothes in our thanksgiving service coming on the 1 December, 2019 we do that every year, so you can also give to the less privilege, widows and orphans in form of thanking God for life, you can also do that through the church, meet your pastor to identify the widows, orphans, less privilege, give to them and take care of them. This is the difference between christains and idol worshippers, they give to their chief priest to give to their gods while in the house of God, when you give to a genuine man of God he knows it is not for his belly alone but for the poor and less privilege. The way we do our thanksgiving here in Palace Fire I don’t know about anyone else, when these things come in we call the poor in the church and bless them with it though we don’t show it or announce it but after the service we ask them to wait and those that couldn’t wait we send it to them.

Is it right for clerics to publicize their givings?

When Jesus fed the 5,000 it was known, so any pastor doing anything godly like feeding the poor, it should be known we should not hide it. Before we hide these things but now we don’t, apart from people castigating Men of God, the people you give deny that you didn’t give them because they want to take same thing from other people.

Must the widows be members of Palace Fire Chapel?

Widows from any denomination, they can be our church members, thank God we don’t have any widow in church so most of them come from outside the church.

Who are you inviting for this year’s edition of your thanksgiving programme?

Yes, I am inviting a senior colleague in the ministry, Dr. Amos Phenwa, he is from Oyo state. he is also a Dr. of Divinity, he has a church in Lagos with branches in UK, US and all over the world.

What are your expectations from the programme?

I am expecting the members be available and invite their friends so that they can be blessed because the programme which will commence with a vigil service on Friday, 29th November is tagged “The Miraculous” in other way God wants to give his people miracles and God has used Dr. Phenwa in the area of miracles especially to the barren and singles, before I bring someone I look for the need of the members so now I discovered there are a lot of singles believing God for the bone of their bone.

What is your message to Christains in Nigeria?

Christians in Nigeria should be peaceful, prayerful and not go into violence to solve the challenges of this country rather praying and asking God for strategies to come our of the challenges, and I believe God will hear our prayers.