To cushion the prevailing hardship in the country, popular cleric and founder of Solid Rock Kingdom Church (SRKC) in Akwa Ibom State, Apostle John Okoriko, has admonished Nigerians to dismiss the fear of being killed by hunger and starvation and embrace genuine fasting.
Speaking during an on-the-spot, worldwide interview session in Eket, a local government area of the state, Dr. Okoriko maintained that deliberate staying away from food has the propensity to detoxify and regenerate the body organs to function with renewed energy.
According to him, though fasting has some positive spiritual health significance, it also helps in checking multiple health-related problems.
The monthly Interactive service with the theme; “Miracle of Fasting and Prayer” LEADERSHIP learnt, was a prelude to the 2025 fasting conference, and Okoriko, used the forum to list the inherent benefits of fasting to include body cleansing /detoxification, taming anger and other negative emotions.
He disclosed the enormous advantages of one of the Christian religion’s pillars to him, having indulged in fasting in the last 50 years and also organised several corporate prayers and fasts for the country and the people.
He said: “Fasting is my second nature . I have been able to erase old beliefs that one cannot stay without food for many days. Out of nothing, God has been faithful to me. I am proud in organising fasting every year. I am duty bound to fast because it helps to clean the body system , tame negative emotions such as anger, gluttony and violence”.
According to him, excessive eating and an uncontrollable quest for food have caused broken marriages, quarrels among families, and unnecessary rancour among brothers. He added that fasting can tame violent tendencies in men.
“Even the words you utter during fasting exercises are more powerful than the ones you speak with a stomach-filled mouth,” he explained, adding that “fasting can help individuals to gain spiritual energy.”
“Fasting means giving nature opportunity to cleanse the body. Wild animals have a healing balm within the body system. When they are hurt or sustained injuries, the healing process can be quickened. During this period, these animals abstain from food for healing of their wounds.
“Nigerians must fast to cleanse their body from toxic wastes that pollute the body, causing sickness,” he said. He urged Nigerians not to eat anything that comes their way because of hardship, but always set aside a day or two to observe fasting for their health and spiritual benefits.
“Your fasting must be 24 – hours. If you miss breakfast or dinner, it is not a fast as many believe in fasting from 6am to 12 pm. This is not fasting exercise. For your body to be impacted by fasting ,it must commence from morning to the following day,” he said.
Okoriko noted that gluttony is the basis of all kinds of sickness in recent times and encouraged Nigerians to build their faith around fasting exercises.
“You only fast with your body, not your spirit, but your fasting in the physical body will enhance your spiritual growth”.
Okoriko, while answering questions from online callers, said issues of insecurity and deliberate deployment of hunger as a weapon of war, as it’s ongoing in the Israel war on Gaza, and like Boko Haram in Nigeria, needs a government approach and political will, as well as the international aid agencies like the United Nations, to intervene.
