Founder of the Believers’ Love World Incorporated, popularly known as Christ Embassy, Pastor Chris Oyakhilome, has urged members of his congregation to pray for his estranged wife, Anita.
Breaking his silence on the allegations of adultery reportedly levelled against him by her, he described them as “frivolous charges.”
Oyakhilome also lamented that the media had been writing all sorts of “stupid things” about him and his marriage.
Noting that Jesus Christ was also accused of different allegations during his lifetime, Oyakhilome asked Nigerians to refrain from unfairly criticising him.
He was quoted by an online news portal, TheCable, as saying this while giving a sermon in his church on Sunday.
He said, “You don’t know who a man of God is. I don’t go in that direction. I wasn’t accused of the things you said, nor did I commit those stupid things that you said and I don’t need to go into that level in such discussions. Jesus Christ was accused by many – a lot of frivolous charges. There will always be those who would like for it to be true. But you know, in spite of the accusations against Jesus, it didn’t change who he was. It didn’t change him.
“There are preachers and there are men of God. I am not a preacher; I am a man of God and I go in the way I’m asked to go. It may cause some troubles with individuals but that’s not because I have done something wrong and when it comes to Reverend Anita, what I will say to you is ‘pray for her’.
TheCable added that Oyakhilome, who appeared visibly disturbed during his first few minutes on stage, acknowledged that divorce was unbiblical but suggested he could consider the option should his wife insist on it.
He recalled that Jesus passed through similar travails and eventually overcame. He said that although so many people were making mockery of him, he would remain steadfast and not lose focus.
“Don’t act like those people. If you are married to a man of God, it doesn’t make you automatically mature. You can make mistakes; you can do something that is wrong. But some people expect the wife of a minister to definitely be at the level of that minister and so they may be looked upon and the expectation may be like that, but it’s a positional thing.
“If a man of God is married, it doesn’t automatically mean that the wife of a man of God is therefore a woman of God. That’s not the way it is in the Bible. That’s why you don’t really find the wives of men of God mentioned in the Bible. How many of them? Who was Peter’s wife, did you ever know her name? You never find that out. Who was John’s wife? Did you ever read the name? What about all the other Apostles? How many of their names are written in the Bible. You never find their names.”
“You have to understand something about a man of God. A man of God is not just someone who worships God or preaches God. A man of God is handpicked by God, set on course by God. If you study the scriptures, you will not find one man of God go against God, sinning against God.
“The only things you might find will be a man of God, maybe in two different kinds of ways. Moses, for example; when he struck the rock twice, [he] was provoked by the anger of the people. [It was] not because he wanted to do something against the Lord.
“No man of God does something against the Lord. “Are you hearing me? A man of God is set on a course; there is a type of life that he is given. Then you have a young man, a young prophet; he wasn’t named; he was deceived by another man of God and so he went in a direction that God said ‘don’t go’. TheCable
