Vera Wisdom-Bassey
The pastor of Fountain of Life Church, Pastor Tawio Odukoya, has called on political office holders to quickly find a solution to the insurgency in the North, which has continued to claim thousands of lives.
While stating that the onslaught has continued for too long, he said one of the ways politicians could address the situation was to ensure that more women were educated in the North.
He made this known at this year’s women’s programme, “New Discovery for Women,” at the church’s new auditorium in Ilupeju, Lagos.
Odukoya expressed the belief that, if women were trained and empowered, they would turn around their fortunes. He said giving birth to many children above their economic resources would also be addressed, adding that these children, if not properly trained, would become easy tools in the hands of agents of destruction in society.
The cleric also charged political leaders in the region to find a way of reintegrating children and parents who Boko Haram’s terrrists activities had driven out of their homes and whose lives had been so thoroughly devastated.
Odukoya prayed for the women to be more virtuous and admonished them to remember not the former things and to focus on God, who has promised to do a new thing in their lives.
The programme took off with soul-lifting songs as beautifully rendered by the choiristers, and the women, who were visibly excited, danced to the choir’s performance.
The auditorium, which could accommodate about 20,000 congregants, was filled to the brim. The women cried to God to meet them at every point of their needs.
The guest artiste, Mercy Chinwo, who was the Nigerian Idol Season 2 winner in 2012, was on hand to entertain the audience with “Jesus, You love me too much,” “O Meka Nnaya,” and many other gospel songs.
The congregation also testified to the numerous things that God did for them in 2018.
One of the worshippers testified to how she overcame perennial miscarriages in 2018. She said the problem stopped and she got pregnant after she was prayed for by Pastor Taiwo Odukoya. She came to the programme with her baby boy.
In her message, the women’s leader, Pastor Nomthi Odukoya, called on the women not to remember the former days, even as she quoted verses from the Book of Ecclesiastes, chapter three. She said, for everything, there is a season, and God had something new for them. She encouraged them that, no matter the circumstances of their lives, they would smile at last.
She also quoted from the Book of Luke 17, verse 32, to admonish the congregation.
“When women keep and always remember how their husbands had treated them in times past, it draws them back. Therefore, I urge you once again to remember them not; for God will do a new thing,” she said.
She tasked them to always remember the story of Lot’s wife so that it would serve as a check on them to always trust God and look forward.