Christians have been advised to have be obedient to God and have the fear of God as lifestyle while they wait for the second coming of Jesus Christ and not waiting until next year to go back again and start afresh.
The Presiding Bishop of Praise Centre Church International, Bishop Stafford Sibige Nwaogu gave the advice in an interview with newsmen on the Good Friday and Easter celebration after the Good Friday event of “Victory over death” organized by the church held at Praise Cathedral, New Owerri, and prayed that God will have mercy on all christians so that none can go to hell.
He disclosed that christians celebrate Easter because it reminds them of God’s goodness in raising Jesus up from dead thereby making him fulfill what was written about him as the first fruit from the dead, adding that Easter should be used as a time of personal, family or group reflection on the purpose of the passion, the death and resurrection of Jesus.
The bishop also noted that Easter should be a time when christians examine themselves to know their spiritual status as well as a time to build on the new life that came through observing the Lenten period and the holy week so as to have a new lifestyle in Christ Jesus.
Commenting on the Good Friday being the day Christ was crucified and He died, Bishop Nwaogu revealed that though in the human point of view, it should be called Black Friday, but in the spiritual dimension, his death was for the good of mankind because if he did not die, there would not have been Christianity, pointing out that Good Friday is celebrated because of its significant passion of death and burial of Christ.
He noted that some may ask why there was not the 3rd night, revealing that the reason is because the Jews followed the pattern of God in the creation of God as God started creation from evening, Friday starts from the evening of Thursday, stressing that christians use the Good Friday to commemorate and thank God for allowing Jesus to die as sacrifice.
The Bishop who was the Chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Imo State said Good Friday is the day of Passover and the feast begot the Feast of Unleavened Bread while the Feast of Unleavened Bread begot Easter which is the feast of First Fruit God gave to Israel to get ready for the actualization of the main feast but according to him, those feasts point towards Jesus and the feasts emanated from exodus of Israelites from. Egypt, therefore, he believes that the Feast of Unleavened Bread portrays Jesus in the grave and the Bible says Jesus is the first fruit from the dead, that is, fulfilling the Feast of the First Fruit.
