By Sam Eyoboka

The recent repudiation of Holy Ghost fire prayers by the Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, Anthony Cardinal Okogie has been commended by the president of God’s Kingdom Society (GKS), Brother Oseghale Emmanuel Aighalua who said the cleric’s stance was a vindication of the position of the GKS over the years.

Aighalua said in a press statement in Salem City, Warri at the weekend that it was impressive that the Catholic leader not only condemned the practice but also went ahead to ban Catholic faithful in his area from resorting to the Holy Ghost fire prayers which involve the invocation of death and destruction on perceived enemies.

According to a newspaper report recently, the archbishop said Holy Ghost fire prayers were “against the spirit of brotherly love taught by the Lord Jesus Christ” and added that they were blasphemous, un-Christian and un-Catholic as the Holy Spirit “is not a spirit of destruction” and “does not kill enemies”.

The GKS leader said the church would always support the truth wherever it was spoken, insisting that the impression some people had that the GKS was wedded to controversy and was always ready to split hairs over doctrines were totally wrong.

“The church is only guarding against misrepresentation of the Christian faith, following the trail blazed by its founding instrument in 1934, St. Gideon Urhobo as it is only the truth that brings peace and salvation,” he said. He recalled that few years ago the church leader in the US renounced Holy Ghost fire prayers after reading a publication to that effect by the GKS. Speaking further, Brother Aighalua said that the word “Ghost” which means “the spirit of a person appearing after death”, was wrongly used by the translators of the King James Version to stand for “Holy Spirit” and “breath of life,” pointing out that modern versions have now substituted the word with the proper renderings.

“The idea that a person continues to live after death, which is the meaning carried by the word, ‘ghost’ is of course superstitious, and completely alien to the truth of the Scriptures,” he said.

Asserting that Holy Ghost fire prayers were at variance with Christ’s instruction in Matthew 5:43-48 that Christians should pray for their enemies and those who use them despitefully, he recalled that when prompted by his disciples to pray for fire to destroy the Samaritans for their slight on him, Jesus Christ rebuked them, saying he did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them, as stated in Luke 9:51-56.

He added that one of the reasons God blessed King Solomon so richly was that he did not ask for the lives of his enemies. (II Kings 3:5-15)