The Methodist Bishop of Diocese of Owerri, Rt. Rev. Denis Okechukwu Mark has called on Christians around the world to use the birth of Jesus to introduce virtues that will make the world a better place in their time.
Speaking to www.otowngist.com in Owerri, Imo State, Bishop Mark said that the birth of Jesus Christ brought light into a world full of darkness, adding that the world we live in today is full of wickedness, sin, atrocities, ritual killings, fraud and embezzlement.
“With the coming of Jesus Christ, light came into the world and men that were filled with a lot of atrocities encountered this salvation and it brought hope into their lives, their sins were forgiven”
Bishop Mark said that Christmas is the celebration of light which in life in Jesus Christ,
“Jesus brought love and the love we are talking about is agape love; sacrificial love. Jesus gave out his life at the cross of Calvary for the redemption of man”
“We are celebrating the rescue of the world from the hands of Satan” he added.
Reading from the book of Isaiah 9: 1- 3, Bishop Mark tagged his speech message of Hope, light, love, salvation, humility and righteousness, adding that Christmas exemplifies humility as it shows God taking human form to come to earth.
Speaking further, he said that Christmas is not the time to show off one’s wealth, saying that those who do so should come back to God.
“Those who live that way do not know the essence of Christmas and my message to them is to embrace the life of the person we are celebrating, so that everything about their lives will begin to change for the better”
With new strains of Covid-19 being discovered around the world with a looming second lock down in Nigeria, Bishop Mark said that the best thing is for everyone to come back to God because science and technology have not been able to give us hope.
“My message is let all of us return to God; accept this Jesus God has given to us as a gift because we don’t know from the human point of view where what is happening now will lead us, but if our lives are patterned according to the standards of the scriptures, whatever comes out of it, we will know that we are at the winning side, let all of us rededicate our lives to God, knowing that only Him has a solution to what we are going through today” he said.
Rt. Rev. Denis Okechukwu Mark said that by the grace of God, 2021 will be a great year, and one where everything will turn around.
“2021 by the grace of God shall be a year of turning around, spiritually first because the bible said in the book of Matthew 6:33, seek ye the kingdom of God and every other thing shall be added onto you. So God first, by having total turning around, positively onto the things of God, and every other blessings will definitely follow”.
