By FFWPU Nigeria
In May 2022, the wife of Bishop Abraham Adani, coordinator of our Heavenly Tribal Messiah activities in Benue State Nigeria passed on to the spiritual world, and during her funeral at Adi, the Council of Bishops in Nigeria was in attendance, and we worked together with them to coordinate the ceremony.
During that ceremony, a few of the Bishops expressed their interest in knowing more about our movement and our teachings on life before birth, life on earth, and life after death.
To sustain her commitment to our movement and Heavenly Parent, we proposed to educate the bishops who attended her funeral to keep her name alive and to advance the work of our beloved True Parents. Even though it was a funeral, we were looking into how the ceremony could become an offering to God and True Parents.
Follow up with Bishops
As a follow-up to our pledge during the event, we began working with Bishop Abraham Adani to invite and mobilize the bishops for a three-day workshop.
The three-day Divine Principle workshop for Bishops was held on 28 – 30 June 2022, on the Divine Principle and the New Future of Christianity in Jechira Hotel, Vandeikya, Benue state.
The participants were deeply inspired by the content of the Divine Principle and TF speech on the “New Future of Christianity” as well as the Cosmic Assembly speech. Since then, we have been working and engaging with the bishops with the hope that they can gain a deeper understanding of the calling and mission of True Parents.
The 11th Anniversary
As part of the preparation for the 11th anniversary of the holy ascension of True Father, we invited the bishops. They agreed to fix the induction of their leader as a Pentecostal Cardinal and use the opportunity to honor our beloved True Father in the presence of the assembly of Bishops and other community leaders.
So, the Archbishop and Council of Bishops of the Unique Christ Divine Healing Ministry in collaboration with the International Communion of the Pentecostal Bishops/Cardinal Alliance decided to honor True Father Sun Myung Moon with the award of CHAMPION OF GLOBAL INTERFAITH COOPERATION and SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT during the installation of their Cardinal at an event on September 9, 2023, in Vandeikya, Benue state. The event brought together several bishops, archbishops, pastors, traditional kings, political leaders, women, and youth leaders to witness the ceremony.
During the award ceremony, people shared several testimonies about the work and accomplishments of True Parents. With this event by religious leaders, the traditional kings are now agitating that they should be trained more on building the heavenly kingdom of God on earth and that they were supposed to honor and crown True Parents as global King and Queen as external territorial leaders to complement the spiritual leaders’ effort.
Future Plans
The Council of Bishops has announced a 12-man committee who are to mobilize the training of 120 Bishops on the Divine Principle and to work with us in Heavenly Tribal Messiah communities on blessing in churches, education of blessed couples and youths, etc. The committee is also to begin preparation for the 12th anniversary in 2024.
There is the potential for great support and endorsement of religious leaders, traditional kings, and political leaders, and we are hopeful that we can work together toward the 12th anniversary next year at a bigger and higher level.