General Overseer of Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria, Rev Sam Aboyeji has allayed the fear of death saying Christians should learn to face it with confidence.
He gave the admonition in a message titled, “facing death with confidence” during the funeral service of Rev Mrs. Victoria Boyejo who died on August 16, 2020, at Rhode Island, USA.
Rev Mrs. Boyejo was the wife of Pastor Dr. James Boyejo, the pioneer President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, and also one of the founding fathers of the Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria. She died at the age of 71. Her husband had earlier passed on in 2011.
Aboyeji: It is futile fighting death
At the funeral ceremony which attracted top church leaders in Nigeria and several dignitaries including past General Overseers of the church, Aboyeji said it is futile trying to fight death noting that “Whether we like it or not it will come”
He said at the event which held at the headquarters of the church in Yaba, Lagos, that, “the more we avoid death the more it comes up. This is telling us that the end of the age is here. It is a price everyone has to pay. The only people who are shielded from dying are those who were not born. If you have a birthday, you must have a death day. It is appointed unto all men to die once and after that judgment.”
Aboyeji who became the General Overseer of the church a couple of years ago said of the late Rev Mrs. Boyejo that she has gone to be with the Lord.
He recalled that he once had to agree with his mother that his “grandmother should die.”
“In my family, they live for so long. My grandmother became so old that she was beginning to have bedsores. My mother had to be travelling back and forth to take care of her. At a point, we had to pray that God should take her home. It was that same week that we prayed that she passed on.”
While noting that believers have the privilege of being able to face death with confidence he said “only those who don’t know where they are going are afraid of death”
Quoting from 2Tim 4v7-8, he said, Paul had so much confidence in where he was going that he was not afraid of death. “He knew where he was going. He was so sure of his salvation. If you know where you are going you won’t be afraid.” He said.
Aboyeji gave the example of how people get prepared when they want to travel. “Some people prepare days ahead if they are going on a trip. I remember when my wife and I travelled on holiday abroad and we were preparing to come back. We had to start preparing three days before the journey. We suddenly discovered that our passport could not be found.
“We had to search for it frantically and discovered that the passports were in the trash bin. If we had not started preparing, the passports would have been thrown away and our journey would have been frustrated. That is the same principle that applies to us in our journey here on earth. We need to prepare because heaven is a prepared place for prepared people. You can’t get to heaven by luck. You have to be sure of your destination when you leave this world.”
Referring to Apostle Paul, he said, “Paul was confident of his walk with God. He had successfully completed his assignment. He had fought the good fight of faith, he had completed the race and he was ready to go.”
He explained that part of the reason Paul was ready to go was that there was a crown of glory waiting for him. “He said a crown of glory was waiting for him. He was sure the race had been completed. He had finished his course. That was the assurance that Paul had.”
He said further that that Rev Mrs. Boyejo had finished her race and had gone to her reward stating that believers have no reason to be afraid of death. “those who should be afraid of death are those who don’t know where they are going.”
Archbishop John Osa Oni paid glowing tribute to the late Rev Mrs. Boyejo at the funeral service describing her as a woman of great grace who made much impact while alive. Several other dignitaries paid tribute to the late matriarch in the published programme of the event.
Rev Mrs. Boyejo is survived by two children and grandchildren