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| Pastor Amos Dada |
By OLUWAGBENGA BANKOLE
The District Superintendent of Christ Apostolic Church, Bethel Canada, Pastor Amos Dada has aid that for Nigeria to become a better society and the nation we all dream of, the falling altar must be repaired.
Pastor Dada said this in his Independence Day speech obtained by CAC NEWS.
He stated that no lasting and fulfilling nation is built without an altar, adding that not even the separation of state and religion can change the fact that the people who constitute a nation are religious.
He further stated that; “recently there was a circulation on the social media about the achievements of the nation of Israel - a people of 8 million, in 70 years of existence as a nation. The Prime Minster who gave the catalogue of achievements concluded by attributing the attainment to the influence of Yaweh whose throne is represented by the altar. Thus, any time Israel is in trouble they go back to the altar. Interestingly, the first mention of Altar was from Noah immediately after the deluge. He apparently did that for two reasons. To appreciate God for rescuing the remnants from the destruction by the flood and ask for mercy and guidance in the process of earth rebuilt. Similarly, the whole issue of tabernacle building in the wilderness by Moses and his patriot is about one purpose – the altar. The whole story about building and rebuilding the Solomon's temple is about the altar. When the Midianites were troubling Israel and God wanted to help them out by motivating Gideon to take leadership position, Gideon's first practical action was to raise an altar, after which God corrected him to first destroy the idolatrous altars of his father's house.”
According to Pastor Dada, “For Nigeria to become a better society and the nation we all dream of, the falling altar must be repaired. You may want to pose questions at me such as; don't we have enough churches and mosques? Why are we still where we are? What are they doing in those churches and mosques that our nation instead of making progress seems to be declining, depreciating and disintegrating? Almost everyone in the country either carry a Bible or a Quran yet, we seem to be going from good to bad, worse to worst, Why? I strongly believe the reason for this terrible situation lies in the fact that the altars in the churches and the mosques have fallen. We have turned the bible and the Quran faced down and marched over them. We have refused or rejected the content of the scriptures in principle and in practice.”
“In 1Kings 18 when the great altar repairer was about to repair the altar, Elijah took 12 stones and thus symbolically repaired the altar of each tribe of Israel. The best we can do is to use each state and the Federal capital to represent the altars of Nigeria. Therefore, I hereby offer these 37 socio-spiritual altars that need urgent repair so we can refuel the great automobile call Nigeria and put it at auto cruise in order to get to our destination safely:
1.The altar of truth
2.The altar of honesty
3.The altar of integrity
4.The altar of righteousness
5. The altar of unity
6. The altar of wisdom for governance
7. The altar of knowledge
8. The altar of love for one another
9.The altar of serving the true God
10.The altar of praying the right prayer
11.The altar of national building
12.The altar of accountability,
13.The altar of transparency,
14. The altar of hard work,
15.The altar of entrepreneurship,
16. The altar of trustworthiness,
17.The altar of patriotism,
18. The altar of sincerity,
19.The altar of care for one another .
20.The altar of probity
21. The altar of reliability
22. The altar of dependability
23.The altar of virtue
24.The altar of tolerance 25.The altar of justice
26. The altar of commitment to nation building
27.The altar of creativity and innovation
28.The altar of contentment
29.The altar of resourcefulness
30. The altar of diligence
31.The altar of excellence
32.The altar of godliness
33.The altar of respect for rule of law
34.The altar of allegiance to our nation
35.The altar of development
36.The altar of nationalism
37.The altar of care for this generation and the generations to come,”
“My call is to President Buhari and all the citizens of Nigeria born and unborn - Repair your altars. Nigerians seem to like the blame game but Jesus was against such. He said “And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye[s] when you have a log in your own? 4 How can you think of saying to your friend,[d] ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? 5 Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.” Matt 5:3-5,” he stated.