For eight days last month, the city of Warri and environ in Delta State experienced a new kind of reawakening. The yearly Christian Feast of Tabernacles of the God’s Kingdom Society (GKS) with its loaded activities took the oil city by storm.
Thousands of members of the church also known as “the Church of the Living God,” from all over Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, the United States and the UK thronged Warri to celebrate the holy Feast of Tabernacles which the President of GKS, Brother Felix Ekundayo Adedokun, said was instituted by God Almighty through the servant Moses during the exodus of the natural Jews from Egypt to Canaan for them to observe throughout their generations.
The feast is a special occasion when all GKS members converge on Salem City in Warri, the place where the founder of the church, St. Gideon Meriodere Urhobo, made headquarters in 1948, after founding the church in Lagos in 1934.
The feast is chiefly marked by lectures on Christian doctrines and existential topics delivered by ministers of the Church, brothers and sisters well-versed in the Bible. It was learnt that over 16 sermons and lectures were delivered during the 2023 feast of Tabernacles.
It is also a time when the GKS Women Fellowship meet to discuss pertinent issues that affect sisters, proffering solutions using biblical pronouncements. The highlight of the women fellowship is the Kroghwa Day, usually preceded by processions within Warri metropolis – where they support the ministry with welfare packages in pickup trucks.
The GKS children equally had a special session of their own where they gathered at the St. Urhobo Square to listen to sermons and receive words of admonitions. The old members are not left out – through the CONFAM, a charitable group concerned for caring for the aged members of GKS who are 70 years and above, are given special care. Brother Williams Oweibo, former national chairman and one of the coordinator of the initiative said through the body the GKS provide medical assistance and others to the aged members so they can live longer.
The feast ended with a huge procession which took off from Salem City, Warri, the headquarters of the Church through different locations in Warri and literally shook every corner of the city. Thousands of worshippers on feet and in trucks decorated with banners rolled through the literal “oil City of Nigeria,” like one giant rally train, members singing to the sound of Christian songs wafting from live cultural bands on many open trucks.
This was followed in the evening by the holy Convocation, or the final service ending the Feast of Tabernacles, where the President gave his address titled “The Issue of Supremacy of God Almighty Will Soon Be Permanently Decided” where he emphasized the powers God deployed to subdue Satan and his evil antics in the world. He charged members and even political leaders to act in the fear of God Almighty. He posited that when the just administer the affairs of man in the fear of God, there will be justice, equity, fairness and composite growth and development. He cautioned that the actions of men, whether in secret or open will be accounted for before God, as recorded in Ecclesiastes 12:13 &14.
The atmosphere inside the well light St. Urhobo Square was simply electrifying. Sea of worshippers waving white handkerchiefs in unison danced to Christian songs wafting from huge speakers hanging overhead.
The huge pulpit with impressive lighting schemes which doubled as a stage and had earlier hosted the Christian Musical festival – where all branches of GKS from all over Nigeria and abroad – showcased choreographed dance steps embellished with Christian songs to the admiration of worshippers.
In a media chat with journalists, the President of GKS who spoke through the General Secretary, Brother Benedict T. Hart, gave further insights on why GKS celebrates the Feast of Tabernacles yearly, the difference between GKS and the Pentecostal churches and the journey so far since 1934 when GKS was founded.
He said “the Feast of Tabernacles is celebrated on account of Zaccaria chapter 14, verse 16-19 – there is a specific command from God Almighty that those who live in this age, those who can come against Jerusalem – Jerusalem here signifies God organization – not the Jerusalem in Palestine – that they should go on from year to year to celebrate the feast of Tabernacles and leave the children of Egypt, that is the ungodly – will not have rain or blessing. We celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles every year in keeping with the prophetic injunction that people living in this age should celebrate the feast.
“We also do so because of the example set by our Lord and saviour, Jesus Christ, who took active part in the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles during his days here, and said in John Chapter 7 verse 1-38 “I’m showing you an example to do as I have done” and in John 13, verse 15-17, and then Jesus Christ himself is the antitypical tabernacle, not the one built by hand but by God Almighty – the one built in the wilderness was a type, Jesus Christ is the antitype, if you go to Hebrews 9 verse 11 and Hebrews 8 verse 1-2 and Revelation 21, verse 3, says tabernacle of God is with men, that is a prophecy referring to this age of Christ’s second presence.
“So, Christ is with us now in spirit, he has set the motion the machinery for bringing into fulfilment the divine promise of God which will culminate in the destruction of Satan the devil and establishment of internal peace and order.
“The most important aspect of the feast is the preaching of the word of God to the people. The lord Jesus Christ also did so. In the midst of the feast Jesus Christ preached and the people were marvelled “how knoweth this man letters having never learned?” So, preaching the word of God is the most important aspect. During the feast we preach up to sixteen sermons both for doctrinal subjects and existential subjects, and women also assemble and preach to themselves and the children also sermon is preached to them,” he said.
Responding to the question of the difference between GKS and Pentecostal churches, the President explained that the Pentecostal churches say they drew their background from what happened on the day of the Pentecost, that’s the 50th day after the celebration of the Passover, when the apostles received the holy spirit.
He said “Now, that holy spirit given to the apostles is a fulfilment of prophecy of Joel in Joel Chapter 2, verse 28-32. Earlier, our Lord Jesus Christ had told the apostles they should not leave Jerusalem, they should stay there until the holy spirit will come upon them in fulfilment of the promise he gave to them in John 14, verse 26 and 27, and chapter 15, verse 26, that they will see the holy spirit. Now when the holy spirit came on that day of Pentecost, they began to speak in different languages, languages that they did not know before. People who spoke the languages were not the 120 men and women who were in the upper chamber in Jerusalem. If you read Act chapter 2 from verse 13, those who received the holy spirit were the apostles.
“So, Pentecostal churches believe that it’s everybody that receives the anointing and speaks in tongues. Everybody cannot receive the gift of anointing. Anointing is for a specific class of people on the little floor in Luke 12 verse 32 and distinct from the other sheep in John 10 verse 16, these are the people who are called Jehovah witnesses. A witness is someone present when something takes place and therefore can testify from personal observation and God told Moses in Numbers 12 verse 6 that if there be a prophet among you, I will reveal myself to him in a vision. How can you be a witness of God, how can you be an apostle of Christ or a saint when you have not seen God in a vision you have not seen Jesus Christ in vision? Every prophet of God sees God in a vision. In Act 32 from verse 13, when the apostles started to speak in tongues, other people were there making mockery of what happened, said, ‘these men are full of new wine’. The point I’m making here is that it’s not true that all the believers received the anointing.
“So, the true servants of God cannot be doing signs and wonders just like the false prophets. The Pentecostal also believe that everybody can do miracle – signs and wonders – but the Bible does not say so – in fact, the miracle God did were works of mercy.”
The President eulogized St. Gideon Meriodere Urhobo, the pioneer president and founding instrument of the church. He said St. Urhobo did a lot to educate, admonish and advise the bourgeoning independence movement at that time – the Nigeria youth movement, the NCNC, Herbert Macaulay, Zik, the Action Group – against the use of violence to drive the British out of Nigeria.
Adedokun said in the course of time the church started spreading from Lagos to Port Harcourt, Warri and so many other places and abroad and that in 1948, Salem City was acquired and became the headquarters with branches in so many other places.
To cap the feast, the GKS Women Fellowship gave out meritorious awards to distinguished members. The chairperson of the Women Fellowship, Sister Cindy Igba-Ujene said the award was to appreciate members who had served the church meritoriously for many years.
She said, “We call it meritorious award. Some of these members have been around for the past 79 years, some of them are in their 90s, they’ve been around ever since serving God in truth and in spirit. So, we recognized that it’s time for us to recognize their activities hence we decided to give this award. The awards were grouped in several categories, such as those who have been able to bring in innovations, those who have been able to discharge their duties with fear of God and with results and so many other things were considered in bringing in such persons in the categories.”
The church, through Prof. Hope Eghagha, Chairman of the GKS Laity worldwide, gave insights into future expansion projects of the LOC for the church – which would make the headquarters, Salem City, have capacity to host the yearly Feast of Tabernacles and the multitude that attends.
He disclosed that N56 million had been set aside for the commencement of the construction of the gallery, the uppermost sitting area inside St. Urhobo Square, which he said would ensure that every member is seated during programmes. He thanked the members for their commitment and urged those who made pledges to redeem them.
