Owerri Knights hold retreat

Knights and Ladies of St. Christopher, irrespective of their Council, have been called upon to live a life of holiness, as bearers of Christ,

The call was made by the Head of the Chaplaincy of the Owerri Council of Knights of St. Christopher, the Venerable Solomon Okoronkwo, at a one-day retreat, organized for the Knights and Ladies of Owerri Diocese at St Michael and All Angels (Anglican) Church, New Owerri. 

In an address captioned: "LIVING A LIFE OF HOLINESS" Venerable Okoronkwo, argued that living a life of holiness must eschew impurity, arrogance, telling lies, disrespect, disregard, inability to offer a helping hand to anybody when the need arises etc, especially if they are to live as followers of Christ.

He warned that, whoever is not holy cannot see God, nor be set apart for God's holy use or purpose, adding that, anything dedicated or devoted to God is expected to be blameless, and of very high quality.

The Knights' Chaplaincy Head, frowned that many Christians do not take holiness seriously because, according to him, they do not realize that, to be holy is a commandment from God, citing Peter 1:15-16.

The Clergyman, who also made reference to Hebrews 12:10, enjoined Christians, including Knights and Ladies, to endeavour to be more like God in their daily living, so as to have the hope of resurrection, pointing out that, "God has selected His servants and called them to come out of this world, to be different and separate from the rest of the world".

He further asked the Knights and Ladies, as well as other Christians, to desire to please God in all that they do, instead of compromising their standards to please others, and to stay away from vices such as fornicating, adultery, over-eating, jealousy, envy, strife, worry, and other things which Jesus Christ did not do because He was holy.

As the Cleric further posited: "You need to have supernatural power of God because Satan, he said, is a supernatural enemy", arguing that, for them to be victorious in living a life of holiness, they need to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Personal Saviour. In the course of the lecture, he quoted many Bible portions, including Hebrews 12:14, 2nd Timothy 1:8-9, Leviticus 11;14, IPeter 1:16, Acts 5:32 etc.

Earlier in a Eucharist service, which was conducted by one of the Knights' Chaplains, and Parish Priest of St. Michael and All Angels Church, Rev. Canon Onyinyeoma Onyeagocha, the Homily Preacher, Rev. Canon Echi Nwogu, reminded the knights and Ladies that, their hearts now constitute the temple of God, and not the physical temple that used to be in the days of old, and therefore, they should allow God to live and dwell in their hearts.

Canon Nwogu, who is also one of the Chaplains of the Owerri Council of Knights of St. Christopher, described members of the Order as being privileged, since they can now worship God from their respective houses, instead of having to travel a long distance to do so, as was the case with the Israelites of old.

He warned that, time is now for us to worship God in truth and spirit, arguing that, anything less, cannot bring about salvation to any Christian.

The Retreat featured questions and answers, and clarifications to some of the issues that arose in the course of the lecture.

At the instance of the Acting President, Sir Clifford Onyekuru, one of the Vice Presidents, Dr (Sir) Amanze Ibekwe, thanked the Chaplaincy Head, Venerable Okoronkwo, for his good and thought-provoking lecture, and now a challenge to the Council members.

He noted that the lecture would now make members of the Order to devote more time, thinking of their personal life of holiness than prosperity which, he said, had been the case in the past. The Vice President also used the opportunity to appreciate the Knights and Ladies present at the retreat, in spite of the loaded programmes which the Council has had in the past couple of weeks.

(c) Christian voice newspaper