Encomium
Dr. Chris Okafor is the General Overseer of Liberation Church. In a chat with ENCOMIUM Weekly, he opened up on his prediction about 2015 elections and sundry issues…
10 years down the line in your ministry, how has it been?
We really thank God for His mercies and faithfulness. God has been helpful to us in fulfilling the mandate that was given to us. We are not there yet because our best is yet to come.
You have a huge congregation and several outreaches. Last year, you were in more than 11 countries to preach the word, what else do you want?
God gave us the mandate to reach one billion souls. Though looking at it, you will know it is not easy to reach one billion souls, but He said the gospel must be preached to everyone, then the end will come. According to Matthew Chapter 24 verse 14, the end is not coming right away, but the end will come. The coming of the Lord is somehow conditional because the gospel must be preached to every creation, then the end will come. The mandate God gave to me is to reach one billion souls.
Out of the one billion souls you are mandated to win for Christ, how many have you recorded so far?
By the grace of God, we have reached a lot of people. Last year, we had crusades across the country. In Enugu state, we had over 20,000 people. The same thing was repeated at Ebonyi, Abuja, and several parts of the country. Also in Cameroun, South Africa, and America, we recorded a lot of people giving their lives to Christ. We also have our television outreaches. We have our own television, Liberation Television which reaches all African countries and about three or four countries in Europe. We are at the edge of another platform, that is called The Sky. It reaches every part of Europe and we are also in advanced talks with Galaxy. Galaxy is another network, because the network we are now is called VSAT. The one that covers the whole of Europe is called the Sky, the one that covers the whole of America and North America is called the Galaxy. Currently, we are talking to them. Through that, we can reach the one billion souls and if possible go beyond the mandate.
Do you think that is possible because one billion souls is much, even N1 billion is huge not to talk of souls?
It is possible. Let me tell you, there are people I reach through our television programmes. It’s a 24 hour service. A lot of people are watching it and many have been delivered and healed through Liberation Television. Barren women have conceived through Liberation TV and thousands have given their lives to Jesus through it.
Where are you coming from, sir, I mean, your spiritual journey?
I am a regular Christian from a Christian home. I was born and brought up from a Christian background, but I encountered Jesus Christ at eight. My parents are elders in the church. We are Anglicans. We are from a prayerful home. When my mom was pregnant with me, many prophets gave her prophesy that she is going to give birth to a great man of God who will be well known around the world.
Before your ministerial journey, did you work in any church, or served any man of God?
Like I have always said, I have indirectly been influenced by a lot of men of God. I was born in Benin and was privileged to be under the teaching of late Archbishop Benson Idahosa. I was greatly influenced by this great man of God and some other ministers.
Were you a member of any church before you started your ministry?
No, I was not a member of any church. As a matter of fact, we used to do fellowship and fellowship is not a church. When I came to Lagos, I never belonged to any church. We started Liberation City in one room. It was in the house of an Anglican priest, Reverend Chuks Eleaze. He was of great help to this ministry.
You talked about opposition, what has kept you going despite opposition of your own style of ministry?
It is God. If God is not on your side… I remember in the Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 5, they were prosecuting the Apostles, and there was a time they were arrested and on the verge of killing them. A man who was not a Christian said so this is what Jesus went through in the hands of the opposition. So, what keeps us going is that God is on our side. Again, if the opposition is not there we will not be on our toes. I pray 7-9 hours a day. If the opposition is not there I might not be praying so long. We might think everything is okay and probably be relaxing, the opposition is useful in so many ways. I have this understanding that the Israelites had enemies when they took them captive into Egypt. The Bible tells us the people of Egypt oppressed them so much, so Egyptians became so lazy that all the work were assigned to the Israelites, as punishment but today the best engineers around the world are from Israel. The Egyptians thought they were punishing the Israelites not knowing they were preparing them for a great future. So, your enemy can be a help in disguise, God said I will help and be with you. So if God says I will be with you, so we are not afraid. If the Lord be for you who shall be against you.
People said Dr. Chris Okafor is dashing and attractive. How do you cope with the issue of women which we all believe is one of the factors that pulls down many men of God…
I don’t leave my house. There are several deliberate walls built around me that make it so impossible for anybody to break. You can’t find me outside. I don’t go to events, functions or social places. My movement is house to church, church to house. You can only see me at the airport when I’m travelling. I only relax at home because I must wake up every 2am to pray till 7am, so I usually sleep in the day.
Is it true that you predicted Jonathan will win the 2015 election?
God has been accurate. He is a progressive and creative God. The Bible says every secret belongs to God, He reveals in order to redeem. There were some prophesies that were given during our cross over night and some are still coming. I remember vividly that God gave a revelation that the NUJ should pray against untimely death among its members and if possible they should come together to pray so that danger will be averted. But not too long, while we were praying, we heard one of their editors was killed. There was a prophesy about plane crash and few weeks ago, a plane crash was averted through prayer. I am not a prophet of doom. Do I prophesy evil? No! God reveals to redeem. But what is the essence of revealing it and not being heard? God spoke to me exclusively that the current president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan will be Nigeria’s president after 2015 general elections. There will be a lot of battle. There will be a lot of betrayals. There will be a lot of court cases concerning his election but at the end of the day, he will still remain the president because God showed me specifically that he has been ordained to run for two terms. God has already declared it to me. Mark what I said! If it does not come to pass, know I’m not called of God. In the second term of President Goodluck Jonathan there will be a lot of transformation, despite battles from the opposition. Then after Jonathan’s second term, the APC will take over.
When did you start two Sunday services and what is the reason?
We started in February 2014. Liberation City began two Sunday services because of space. We took these steps to curtail the overflow in the street. So, we carefully enquired from the Lord and we came to the conclusion that we should begin two services, so the first service starts by 6.45-10.30am while the second starts by 11am -1pm.
– FEMI OYEWALE
