The adage ‘practice what you preach’ must be one of the truest axioms ever coined by a human. All it asks is that as a person who always espouses a certain philosophy, must live by it as well.
It’s the best way to show the effectiveness or otherwise of whatever world view you’re espousing, and by being a great example of your principles, you stand the greatest chance of getting people over to your side of things.
It is why I always have such a big issue with Christians, because they are nothing like the Christ they purport to adore so much. Maybe they resemble their God a little, because he has in the past been proven to exhibit some not so savoury characteristics.
Pastor Chris Oyakhilome, PhD, is the founder and head pastor of the Believers’ LoveWorld Inc, and is one of the most famous, powerful, and influential men of God in the world today.
Now as one of the biggest men of God around certainly Pastor Chris should be a paragon of virtue, an example for all to follow. Of course as human as he is, you must expect a few flaws, but nothing on the level to invalidate a big part of what he has been teaching his entire ‘career’.
Yet his wife has filed for divorce against him in a London court, claiming ‘adultery’ and ‘unreasonable behaviour’. The details cannot be published for legal reasons, but the pair of charges certainly makes for interesting reading.
Considering the Bible’s positions on adultery and divorce, Pastor Chris is heading towards a double header that would certainly not end well for him, either on this earth or with his maker.
Pastor Chris and his wife, Anita, have been married a long time, and together have built a very powerful empire. So you can be sure this is not a marriage either would throw away lightly- and indeed the rumours have been swirling for a while now, there has just been a lot of internal damage control to keep this volcano from erupting.
But it finally has, so there must be a damn good reason for that. Predictably, church members cannot see any flaws in their leader, so there is going to be a lot of ganging up on the lady, calling her all sorts of names. It’s nothing new, and when you take on a demigod you must be prepared to face the consequences.
What this illustrates though is that it’s two different things to espouse some values and to live by them. Pastor Chris is not the first pastor to face such allegations, and he certainly would not be the last.
These people go up there and act all high and mighty, so you certainly expect them to live up to those lofty standards. They keep failing to do so, but their flock cannot see them for the walking contradictions these men are.
However, this problem lies not only with the high and mighty pastors, but is symptomatic of Christians themselves, regardless of stature. If you go around pretending to be this paragon of virtue, you should not be upset when someone calls you on your bullsh*t.
For now we keep an eye on where this story is heading, and I honestly do not see any serious consequences emanating from this for Pastor Chris. But it should not stop us from individually assessing the situation, and trying to decide whether these men deserve the blind devotion they get, or that when a situation like this arises its worth assessing it dispassionately-so that we can call a spade a spade, and not a large spoon; as we are so fond of doing down here in Africa.
hmmmm 3y3 as3m oo
“… whether these men deserve the blind devotion they get”, you said? No, Chris. You’ve got it all wrong! Christians don’t go to church to offer any devotion, “blind” or otherwise, to any pastor, reverend father, bishop whatsoever. Christians DO NOT see in any human being a paragon of virtue! Christians [I say Christians, not church-goers] listen to what Jehovah God says and demands, and they endeavour to act accordingly! Period! Pastors and other men of God are only leaders, mere mortals like the rest of us. They are not expected never to fall by virtue of their status, are they? A pastor, a reverend father, a bishop, a prophet may say and do whatever they can. Bottom line is: what is God’s sovereign opinion on a given matter! A pastor may offer direction. That does not mean we Christians must follow them “blindly”. And we don’t! At least I don’t! Of course, there are numerous people who just follow men of God anyhow. But must the lack of discernment of some people that call themselves Christians be visited on the whole church and the Maker himself? No, Sir! When pastors and – indeed – the Bible itself ask us Christians to pray for the religious leaders, is that not an admission of the fact that they can’t be held as infallible or be seen as paragons of virtue? Pastor Chris is divorcing? And so what? Is he God? Is he Jesus? Who am I to judge him? And who are YOU, Chris-Vincent A. Febiri, to judge him and to seize the opportunity to disparage Christians and God? Anyway, divorce or no divorce, God exists, Jesus is alive and the church is not coming to an end! There is no clock without clock-maker and no flame that was not lit.
Real Christians don’t worship people, because regardless of how annointed they are, they fall just like you and I. We serve Jesus, not His instruments.
And also they can fall whenever and rise up whenever they confesses their sin. I believe Ps Chris deserves a second chance. His congregation needs to understand that, he needs them most in times like this.
God Bless Pastor Chris (The smart, anointed, well educated Pastor) not the other Chris we all know on this site. Hehehehehehehehhe
We are Still Behind Pastor Chris Oyakhilome and Pastor Anita, No weapon……
He is also a human being like all of us, Chris Vincent where’s ur own wife?. You cant even propose to a woman , just shut it mate
How does an attack on the writer of the article help anything???
You see typical ignoramus christian? Focus on the issue you are here glorifying the pastor and insulting writer. Na wa o
What is the issue here? How does anyone’s “impending divorce” become an issue? Aren’t there divorces and marriages and breakups and reunions and reconciliations and family dramas everyday and everywhere? Don’t miss the point, dear sistergirl. Should there be an issue, it would be the fact that somebody somewhere has decided to grab an opportunity to lambast God and cast aspersions on Christians, failing to acknowledge that human beings can have their ups and downs, and failing to accept that pastors and other men God are not deemed to be seen as gods!!! Now, dear sistergirl, don’t we hear every day of teachers, lecturers and other education personnel engaging in the unacceptable by sleeping with their students in order to give them passing marks? Does that make the education system an ignominy? Why take on the church because a pastor’s wife has decided to file for divorce? That is what I’m still trying to understand in the writer’s write-up! By the way, is “ignoramus christian” not an insult?
Most of these so called men of God know something their followers do not; they know there is no God. Everything they say and preach is just smoke and mirrors. Their words are not worth a bucket of warm spit. If they know and believe there is a God who will punish them, they will not deceive and mislead their congregation like this without fearing the consequences. So my dear Christians, if you want proof of the non-existence of your God, take a closer look at your ass raping priests, adulterous pastors, money hungry prophets and finally take a look at yourself in the mirror and remember what you did last night, the week before, the month before. If there is a God, you should all be dead and being BBQ in hell right about now.
YOU TALK TRASH, THERE IS GOD
Your ignorance and cluelesness of what christianity is my dear writer and blogger scares and appalls me
One should have the spiritual eyes to see this is another case of the devil using a woman to bring down the intended purposes of God. He will fail together with all those on his side….
Why speculate and say things that are not true? If pastor Chris was indeed involved in adultery name the woman. I know the media they will quickly drop it. As much as you wish for it to be true, am sorry to disappoint you, no weapon fashioned against the man of God shall prosper, do your worse he was called by God for His work, and no mortal can bring Him down, his ministry riches across the globe has branches on all continents, do you think the devil will be happy with him for spreading the gospel? We are solidly behind him for one reason, his vision and passion – to reach the unsaved with the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, I am proud to follow the man who will always point you to the Bible, to search truths for yourself, he says nothing without taking its roots from the Bible, my life has improved, I am a better Christian, I read my Bible with zeal, I pray with better understanding, I love everybody no matter what, I perform excellently on my job because of his teachings, i’m bold, and never give excuses why I cannot perform assignments because of Pastor Chris, I am a force to reckon with at the work place because of his admonishings, I am soo privileged to be identified with such a great man of God. Thank you pastor Chris I love you.