*Urges people to be more committed to God’s service, have implicit faith in God
Success Nwogu
The Presiding Bishop of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission, (TREM) Dr. Mike Okonkwo, has reiterated his prophecy that Christians and Nigeria are going to experience a great move of God, which will lead to acceleration in their finances, marital and family lives, careers, security, businesses, and overall growth in 2022.
He spoke during a church service on Sunday, at TREM international headquarters, Anthony Oke, Gbagada Expressway, Lagos, Nigeria.
The church service was also used to mark the 41st anniversary of the inauguration of TREM.
TREM was inaugurated on January 04, 1981. The church commenced with a few members at No. 14 Afolabi Brown Street, Akoka, Lagos, Nigeria.
The highly revered Bishop Okonkwo told his congregation and the entire world that God will change negative indices in their lives and Nigeria, in particular, to positive indices from 2022.
Nigeria’s current debt stock is about N32 trillion, inflation is over 15 percent, the unemployment rate is about 33.28 percent, while the exchange rate is over N400 to a dollar. There is also seccession agitations, insecurity such as terrorism, banditary, kidnapping, farmers/herders clashes and arfmed robbery, in some parts of the country
But the cleric told TREMites and other people not to be bordered about the current unfavouble indices in the country. He urged them to believe in God’s word that He will turn things around for them.
He warned them against doubting God’s words and prophecies, and assure them that God was committed to fulfilling His words and promises.
He further admonished them to have implicit faith in God, abide by His dictates, and be assured of His grace and mercy.
He enjoined them to be more committed to God’s service and appealed to people who have not accepted Jesus Christ as their personal savour and lord to do so without further delay so as appropriate God’s blessings and be assured of eternal life with God.
He stated that he does not speak that God has spoken when God did not speak. He urged them to believe in his prophecy, as according to him, he heard from God and would not have spoken if God had not spoken to him.
Bishop Okonkwo said, “Do not doubt it when I stand here and said God said it. I am not in the company of those who will say God said when God did not say. I will rather keep my mouth shut and teach the word.
“It is your year, your year of acceleration.”
The cleric told that there may be challenges in their lives and Nigeria today but God certainly is in control and knows how to change things positively and in their favour.
Bishop Okonkwo said, “There may be push back which may be as a result of our disobedience, our disloyalty and making stupid decisions and making wrong choices. At times,it can be by direct attacks from the devil. But whichever way, that is not the end of your life. God has always known how to turn it around. God has always stepped in in His mercies to turn it around.”
“There is an account in the Bible that those people were so disobedient that famine hit the land to the point that parents were eating their children. 2nd Kings 6: 24-
“24, 25: At a later time, this: Ben-Hadad king of Aram pulled together his troops and launched a siege on Samaria. This brought on a terrible famine, so bad that food prices soared astronomically. Eighty shekels for a donkey’s head! Five shekels for a bowl of field greens!
26 One day the king of Israel was walking along the city wall. A woman cried out, “Help! Your majesty!”
27 He answered, “If God won’t help you, where on earth can I go for help? To the granary? To the dairy?”
28-29 The king continued, “Tell me your story.”
She said, “This woman came to me and said, ‘Give up your son and we’ll have him for today’s supper; tomorrow we’ll eat my son.’ So we cooked my son and ate him. The next day I told her, ‘Your turn—bring your son so we can have him for supper.’ But she had hidden her son away.”
30-31 When the king heard the woman’s story he ripped apart his robe.
This is a pathetic story; Two mothers will come and say, “we are so hungry, let’s boil this my little child, and eat today, let us share it so that we can survive today and after you will kill your own. That was how bad the famine was. Human flesh was being eaten. Cannibalism was the order of the day. No money in the pocket. There was no way anything could turn around.
“But there was a prophet in the land who heard the word of the Lord and the Prophet Elisha, announced to the society in 2nd King 7: 1- And Elisha said, “hear ye the word of God. Thus said the Lord, tomorrow,
Elisha said, “Listen! God’s word! The famine’s over. This time tomorrow food will be plentiful—a handful of meal for a shekel; two handfuls of grain for a shekel. The market at the city gate will be buzzing.”
2 The attendant on whom the king leaned for support said to the Holy Man, “You expect us to believe that? Trapdoors opening in the sky and food tumbling out?”
“You’ll watch it with your own eyes,” he said, “but you will not eat so much as a mouthful!”
3-4 It happened that four lepers were sitting just outside the city gate. They said to one another, “What are we doing sitting here at death’s door? If we enter the famine-struck city we’ll die; if we stay here we’ll die. So let’s take our chances in the camp of Aram and throw ourselves on their mercy. If they receive us we’ll live, if they kill us we’ll die. We’ve got nothing to lose.”
5-8 So after the sun went down they got up and went to the camp of Aram. When they got to the edge of the camp, surprise! Not a man in the camp! The Master had made the army of Aram hear the sound of horses and a mighty army on the march. They told one another, “The king of Israel hired the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Egypt to attack us!” Panicked, they ran for their lives through the darkness, abandoning tents, horses, donkeys—the whole camp just as it was—running for dear life. These four lepers entered the camp and went into a tent. First, they ate and drank. Then they grabbed silver, gold, and clothing, and went off and hid it. They came back, entered another tent, and looted it, again hiding their plunder.
9 Finally they said to one another, “We shouldn’t be doing this! This is a day of good news and we’re making it into a private party! If we wait around until morning we’ll get caught and punished. Come on! Let’s go tell the news to the king’s palace!”
10 So they went and called out at the city gate, telling what had happened: “We went to the camp of Aram and, surprise!—the place was deserted. Not a soul, not a sound! Horses and donkeys left tethered and tents abandoned just as they were.”
11-12 The gatekeepers got the word to the royal palace, giving them the whole story. Roused in the middle of the night, the king told his servants, “Let me tell you what Aram has done. They knew that we were starving, so they left camp and have hidden in the field, thinking, ‘When they come out of the city, we’ll capture them alive and take the city.’”
13 One of his advisors answered, “Let some men go and take five of the horses left behind. The worst that can happen is no worse than what could happen to the whole city. Let’s send them and find out what’s happened.”
14 They took two chariots with horses. The king sent them after the army of Aram with the orders, “Scout them out; find out what happened.”
15 They went after them all the way to the Jordan. The whole way was strewn with clothes and equipment that Aram had dumped in their panicked flight. The scouts came back and reported to the king.
16 The people then looted the camp of Aram. Food prices dropped overnight—a handful of meal for a shekel; two handfuls of grain for a shekel—God’s word to the letter!
17 The king ordered his attendant, the one he leaned on for support, to be in charge of the city gate. The people turned into a mob, poured through the gate, trampling him to death. It was exactly what the Holy Man had said when the king had come to see him.
18-20 Every word of the Holy Man to the king—“A handful of meal for a shekel, two handfuls of grain for a shekel this time tomorrow in the gate of Samaria,” with the attendant’s sarcastic reply to the Holy Man, “You expect us to believe that? Trapdoors opening in the sky and food tumbling out?” followed by the response, “You’ll watch it with your own eyes, but you won’t eat so much as a mouthful”—proved true. The final stroke came when the people trampled the man to death at the city gate.”
The cleric said there was no way such a thing could have happened by human efforts and intellect.
He emphasized that God did it by his might.
Bishop Okonkwo said, “There was no way such a thing could have happened by human standard. It was not possible under the condition they were in. Even if you decided to plant a crop, it will still take time to grow, mature, be harvested, and packaged before it is sold in the market. So time was required.
“But God you and I serve is the one that created time and controls time. When He says it, it is something that is already settled, completed, and perfected in eternity. He was not telling you what He was going to do. He was telling you what He had already done. The question is: Can He find faith on earth? ‘When the son of man comes to manifest himself, can he find faith?’
Who told you that God can not give you another body part? Who told you that He can not drain the blood in your body and heal bones that are broken? Who told you that He can not heal you of diabetes, cancer? Who told you that He can not change the circumstances of your life and that He can speak concerning in high places? Who told you?”
The bishop garnished the sermon with many Bible verses including:
Isaiah 43: 21-22
Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new.
It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it?
There it is! I’m making a road through the desert,
rivers in the badlands.
Wild animals will say ‘Thank you!’
—the coyotes and the buzzards—
Because I provided water in the desert,
rivers through the sun-baked earth,
Drinking water for the people I chose,
the people I made especially for myself,
a people custom-made to praise me.”
“(Amos 9:11-15}
11
“In that day I shall raise up and restore the fallen [a]tabernacle (booth) of David,
And wall up its breaches [in the city walls];
I will also raise up and restore its ruins
And rebuild it as it was in the days of old,
12
That they may possess the remnant of Edom (ancient enemies)
And all the nations that are called by My name,”
Says the Lord who does this.
13
“Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord,
“When the plowman shall overtake the one who gathers the harvest,
And the one who treads the grapes [shall overtake] him who sows the seed [for the harvest continues until planting time];
When the mountains will drip sweet wine
And all the hills shall melt [that is, everything that was once barren will overflow with streams of blessing].
14
“Also I shall bring back the exiles of My people Israel,
And they will rebuild the deserted and ruined cities and inhabit them:
They will also plant vineyards and drink their wine,
And make gardens and eat their fruit.
15
“I will also plant them on their land,
And they shall never again be uprooted from their land
Which I have given them,”
Says the Lord your God.
Isaiah 55:11
11 So will the words that come out of my mouth not come back empty-handed. They’ll do the work I sent them to do, they’ll complete the assignment I gave them.