‘Pulpit is not for entertainment or fairy tales’

The Diocese of Lokoja (Anglican Communion) at its third session of the ninth synod of the Diocese, held recently at Christ Anglican Church Lokoja, has bemoaned the prevailing political situation in the country and urged leaders at all levels to come up with strategies to provide succour to citizens.  

The Diocesan Bishop, Most Rev. Emmanuel Egbunu, while delivering his charge at the event with the theme: Making Ready A People Prepared For The Lord, noted that though the political situation in the country gives a sense of hopelessness, there should be no room for despair. He explained that where there are epidemics, natural disasters or accidents that claim lives in the country, “the casualty figures from the needless bloodshed and well-planned murders, the people drenched in the blood of the innocent and that they only take solace in the national mourning usually declared.

“The ritualists trade human in human parts freely and openly. The daily multiple accidents resulting from the terrible condition of our roads no longer make many people blink an eye, and the Federal Road Safety Commission simply carries on their inevitable tasks. The assassins have never had a better boom in their macabre business than now,” he said.

The cleric, who was bitter with some leaders in the church and in public sphere, especially those who profess the name of God, said if they claim to believe in Christ, they should run their affairs according to His commandments. 

“When we cry in desperation about the manipulation to hijack the country by some vested interest groups and flagrant trampling of constitutional provisions, the question that comes to mind is: “Are there no people in those assemblies and political groups with a Christian upbringing and the fear of God, who were raised in Sunday schools and who were prayed for by the Church to ensure that wholesome values are protected and preserved in the public arena?”

He urged people responsible for teaching God’s Word to devote themselves to the faithful study and teaching of God’s Word in season and out of season, adding that the pulpit must not be a place for entertainment or fairy tales that are of no spiritual values. 

On the call for the return of mission schools to the church, Egbunu said people vested with the responsibility of imparting knowledge have failed, as many are not qualified to be in charge of such. He stressed that the right thing to do was to ensure that those from whom the institutions were taken should be given these schools for proper administration. 

Egbunu used the occasion to thank the current Kogi administration for its efforts towards religious balance, as exemplified in the completion of Government House Church. He also thanked Chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria, Bishop John Ibenu for his relentless interactions with government. 

The Anglican Church, he noted, had been at the forefront of development initiatives from the earliest years, especially in the education sector, and asked that the shabby treatment being endured by the church leadership be changed for the better. 

The synod featured thanksgiving service for the Diocese’s 27th anniversary, among other activities.