Lent is not compulsory but voluntary — Prophet Adebayo
By Owoleye Oluwakayode
According to Merriam-Webster, Lent means “the 40 weekdays from Ash Wednesday to Easter observed by the Roman Catholic, Eastern, and some Protestant churches as a period of penitence and fasting.”
However, it should further be noted that between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday (which marks the resurrection of Jesus Christ) many faithful observe a 40-day period known as Lent which comes from the “Old English lencten springtime, spring” and “from West Germanic langitinaz long-days or lengthening of the day.”
Nigerian Christians especially Catholics and faithful of some other denominations on Wednesday joined their brethren across the globe to commence the forty days of prayers, fasting, alms giving and abstinence known as the Lenten season, to seek a closer relationship with their creator-God.
But according to the founder of Blessed Virgin Mary Compressive Church Ark of God Convenant Church, Prophet Adebayo said lent as the world interpretes it, is totally different from the way bible interpretes it version. Matthew 9:13-14 says, “Go then and learn what this means, I want mercy and not sacrifice; for I came to call not righteous people but sinners,” and verse 14 of the book of Matthew says, “then John’s disciples came to him and asked, why do we and Pharisee practice fasting but your disciples do not fast and Jesus answered them, the friends of the bridegroom will never mourn or lack anything because the bridegroom is with them.” Basically, fasting is for a sinner.
According to the prophet, observing lent is not compulsory, you only fast when it is needed. Fasting shouldn’t be made public according to the bible, it should be secret and self denial. It also means one on one with Almighty God asking God for mercy because we all need God’s mercy.
Furthermore, lent is not mentioned in the Bible, but rather started in the fourth century AD. Even though there is no explicit evidence of Lent in Scripture, many believers have tried to argue that Lent is based on Jesus’ temptation in the desert for 40 days. Therefore, recreating the sorrowful period before Easter day may be helpful in better understanding the disciples’ experience, but there is nothing in these verses which suggests or requires a 40-day period of fasting. Followers of Jesus can choose to fast voluntarily but fasting is not a command or requirement.
While observing a period of fasting (whether from certain foods or certain activities) is not prohibited in the Bible, there are important considerations to keep in mind. First, Jesus never commanded His disciples to fast, as was shown in Matthew 9:15.
Moreso, fasting should be voluntary, not forced. Thirdly, the temptation of pride is very strong when fasting, which is why Jesus told His disciples to not let others know they were fasting (Matthew 6:1, 17-18). To boast about one’s long period of fasting during Lent would match the Pharisees’ hypocritical pride and not be pleasing to the Lord (Matthew 6:16). Finally, Jesus has declared all foods clean, which is why requiring people to restrain from meat is problematic biblically (Mark 7:19; Acts 10:15).
When answering question about the atrocities going on in our society and why men of God are not prophesying on corruption that is happening in our country today, he replied a lot of men of God in our society today are fake, they don’t know what bible said about the end time because they read bible as literature and that’s why they exchange prayer for money. Whatever bible have said about end-time prayer cannot stop or eradicate it, and whatever God has written or destiny nobody can change it.
Concerning the 2023 forthcoming coming election, the man of God said that Asiwaju Tinubu Bola Ahmed will be next President in Nigeria come 2023, Tinubu will win the election. He said he has prophesied about Trump first election and he won and he also prophesied about Biden winning Trump and in the last American election and truly Biden won the election, making him the present American president now.
He further stated that, “Nigerian has committed a lot of sins and it’s their sins that pushed them to where they are now, however, there is still hope for Nigeria but there hope is not in government or politicians or soldiers but in individual persons. Moreso, as a child of God, you don’t criticise anyone because criticism and judgment belong to God. It is totally wrong to put accusing fingers on anyone, religion or doctrine. Nobody knows how God will do judgment.”
Lastly, he admonished Nigerians to know their God and serve God fervently because bible said those who know their God will never be tired or weary but shall do exploits any situation they find themselves.
