This
is a ‘complicated’ season for popular Lagos Pastor, Rev. Chris Okotie,
even as he prepares to honour the first female one-star General in the
Nigerian Airforce, Air Commodore Habiba Garba.
She is the winner of Okotie’s Household
of God Church’s Karis Award for the year and she will be honoured on
Sunday at the Church in Lagos.
Damning widespread criticisms continue to
hit a statement credited to the controversial preacher and
televangelist, declaring that all “Catholics will go to hell.” Indeed,
this seems to be threatening to take the shine of the annual Karis
Award.
The event is a brain child of Okotie who
established it to honour Nigerians who have excelled in various
fields, but who may not have been recognised by the larger society.
The pastor is alleged to have made the
remarks while delivering a sermon last Sunday. The controversial
statement partly goes thus, “The Catholic church is a counterfeit church
set up by Satan. Catholics bow to idols and crucify Jesus every Sunday
when they eat bread claiming they are eating Jesus’ body.”
Okotie tried to justify his claims by
adding that his statements are “not out of disrespect but out of respect
for the word of God.”
Apart from the fact that he has not
debunked the claim, a post on his Facebook account on Tuesday afternoon
reinforces the argument. It simply read, “Re- Catholicism: Truth is
bitter. It lacks saccharine delights.”
The statement has further led to more
outrage by his Facebook fans and other aggrieved persons, just as his
Facebook page has been besieged by angry Nigerians who have failed to
see reasons with him.
Not surprising, most of the comments have
been uncomplimentary as the Man of God has been tagged with unprintable
names. The ensuing controversy has also pitched Okotie and Catholic
faithful against one another on Twitter and Facebook.
A group called Nigerians Catholics on
Facebook have issued a statement to this effect. The body claimed that
Okotie was simply seeking cheap publicity in its statement.
The administrator of the page wrote, “The
unguarded utterances of Chris Okotie to fellow Christians who chose to
practise their dogma in their own way shows how irresponsible and
ill-mannered he is.
“Antagonising another church with a
different principle of worshiping, but with no difference in faith
professed, portrays Christ Okotie in bad light and casts negative
shadows on his purported ministry in Christendom.
“Chris Okotie should know that if over 1
billion Catholics will go to hell because of the way they worship their
God, he too is not exempted.
“I want to state clearly to Chris Okotie
that over 1 billion Catholics going to hell will only happen in the
figment of his imagination.
“In fact, if I am to use what is written
in the Bible concerning marriage and divorce to humanly judge Chris
Okotie, then he is already number one candidate of hell.”
On his part, Kingsley Williams wrote, “ l think we all need to pray for Pastor Chris; honestly, before it gets out of hand.”
Ifeoma Goodluck, only offered prayers
for the Catholic church, as she also posted, “No weapon formed against
Catholic Church shall prosper, In Jesus name. Amen.’’
However, some people came to the defence
of the controversial pastor, with one of them being Wilfa Wilfred, who
simply said, “Please, insulting Chris and calling him names shows a
lack of faith by baby Christians. Just pray to God to forgive him. I am
not a catholic but it is only God that knows his true worshipers.”
Just like Wilfred, a certain Peter Edaile also stated on Facebook, “It also lacks sugar and honey delights but contains salt.”
Enough on the controversial statements, anyway.
Mixed reactions have also greeted what
many members of the the public termed a decision to hold a beauty
pageant in the church this Sunday. But the church has since taken to its
official Facebook to explain the concept behind what is perceived to be
a beauty pageant.
It explained that the competition tagged
Queen Esther pageant competition is geared towards selecting an
ambassador for the church.
“The evening usually features the parade
and display of beautiful women in costumes inspired by popular female
bible characters. The contestant with the most creative costume is then
crowned as the Queen Esther and gets a cash prize of one million naira,”
the post read.
PUNCH
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