Nothing wrong with clerics going into politics, says Okafor

From one of the suburbs of Lagos State, Senior Pastor of Liberation City, Ojodu, Dr. Christian Okafor’s spiritual voice resonates. In the face of the prevailing challenges in the country, his views on various issues were sort and he bared his mind to Cynthia Alo. Excerpts; Were there early signs in your life that showed you will play the role you are playing now? Yes! I started prophesying at the age of eight. I was born in Benin City. There were some circumstances. Before I was born my mother had only one boy, my late elder brother. The rest were girls, about three girls to four ahead of me. To my father, it was like woman, you didn’t come here to give birth to only girls, I am going to get another wife. This was a source of concern to my mother, and she prayed and eventually she became pregnant and when the pregnancy was about two months old, a lot of prophets and prophetesses told her that she was going to have a baby boy and he shall be a servant of God and God will use him greatly and he shall be known all over the world. She bought a portrait of Jesus which she was placing on her womb. Eventually when she gave birth to me, she called me by the Igbo name, the light of God and the English name Christian. Pastor Christian Okafor Pastor Christian Okafor What is the main thrust of your service to GOD? I function in all the fivefold ministries. I was born a prophet, but as my work and relationship with God pro-gresses, He gave other gifts to me. Is the concept of casting out demons is real? Oh! It has never been more real more than it is now. You know, the Bible says though we dwell in the flesh but we do not war by the flesh; for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal; they are mighty through God; to the pulling down of stronghold. What this implies is that it is the spiritual that controls the physical and the spiritual is more real. So, talking about casting out demons, talking about mira-cles, we generalised it. So when we see these things happen, we can only know it’s God, Jesus cast out demons, Jesus raised the dead, Jesus did mighty miracles and he said we are going to do greater things than HIM. Do you have any regret so far as a man of GOD? No regret! There is no mission that God gives to you that you will not have one challenge or the other. Even the lions have challenges, because he is the king of the jungle. The lion too has the flies to wave off. God has been faithful, we cannot regret. How do you combine your ministrations with your role as a family man? Both roles are synonymous because I am the senior pastor of Liberation Ministry. I am their father and in my family, I am the father. That makes it easy. The only difference is that, in my family, I am biologically their father and also spiritual head because the Bible says the man is the head and also in the church I am also their spiritual father and we know when to draw the line. What is your advice to your fellow men of God? Well, this is the end time and Satan is militating against the Church through different platforms. The only thing they should do is to live in peace and pray together and accommodate one another because a house divided against itself shall not stand. That is why I shudder when other men of God criticize other men of God. What I tell people is that I was not called into ministry to judge anybody. God will judge. So, it is not in the hand of anybody to judge anybody, let God judge. What is your stand on the issue of tithe? Tithe still remains the stand-ard of God. I tithe. So, it is not like teaching people what I am not doing. It is not by force. I am a tither per excellence, I tithe till tomorrow. How do you respond when peope talk of the proliferation of churches…. Well, as far as I am concerned, we need more churches. Look at it from this angle, we have very powerful, prayerful churches and evil is till raging; what if there were no churches, you can imagine what would have happened to our country Nigeria. You know that very soon, all these insurgency and other challen-ges we are going through will be a thing of the past. We should be praying for Nigeria. Nigeria should pray towards 2015 because I see the Nigerian flag with blood stain and torn into two. Nigeria might not remain one except we pray. Do you think government is paying much attention to the spiritual role men of God are playing in the country? It depends on the people the government relates with. I know any nation that will prosper should also work with the spiritual authority because the Bible says in Isaiah 8, the government shall be upon our shoulder. The government it is talking about here is the spiritual government and every time the Church prospers, every time the country prospers it was because of the Church. So, the government needs the Church as never before. They need to work closely with the Church not just by name but those that are really gifted and anointed in such area. How do you see involveent of men of God in politics? As far as I am concerned, there is nothing wrong with men of God going into politics. After all, people who are not men of God have been involved and nothing changed. So, if it will take a man of God to change it, the Bible says when the righteous is on the throne, the people rejoice. If we have credible men of God who can rule, why not. - See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/09/nothing-wrong-clerics-going-politics-says-okafor/#sthash.HHGR2Nsr.dpuf