The phrase “fear not” appears in the Bible 365 times, the Primate of
Nigeria, Archbishop Nicholas Okoh said, one for every day of the year.
He made his comment as he urged the faithful in Nigeria to remain calm
despite “being confronted with fear on a daily basis.” He said that that God remains unchanging, despite the political unrest, insurgency, kidnaping, and herdsmen attacks taking place in Nigeria.
“’There is no gainsaying the fact that the church is passing through tough times,” Archbishop Okoh said. “There are many oppressive tendencies now than ever before that could be regarded as satanic. Also the situations in our country today tend to create fear in the lives of Christians. . . In the midst of these, the message of God remains unchanging: ‘fear not’.
Archbishop Okoh was speaking at the sixth Divine Commonwealth Conference, being held at the National Ecumenical Centre in Abuja.
He told his audience that “God, the master planner, has gone ahead to prepare a shield for his people. No wonder then that there are 365 ‘fear not’ in the bible meaning that one ‘fear not’ is received for each day in the year.”
He urged the delegates to put the distractions of external fears to one side so that the conference programme, designed “for the Spiritual uplifting of delegates” was not wasted.