Chris Okotie

Ordinarily, nothing should excite public interest over a simple visit by one man of God to another. But the one undertaken by Chris Oyakhilome, General Overseer of Christ Embassy to T.B. Joshua, Pastor of the Synagogue of All Nations, stirred the hornets net recently.

In a swift reaction to the visit, Pastor Chris Okotie on 22 October 2001, fired a strongly worded letter to his namesake, Pastor Chris Oyakhilome, urging him to publicly denounce his association with Pastor T.B. Joshua. He gave Oyakhilome a five-day ultimatum, at the expiration of which he threatened to "speak publicly against him". He accused Pastor Joshua of preaching Shamanism with Christian terminology" using three mystic symbols which he said were the "Head of Jesus Christ"

Okotie described Joshua as a magician whose antics are merely to fool the world and averred that "because the Church of God... is reluctant to fight, that is why we have been threatened by the likes of Joshua". So exasperated was he that he challenged Joshua for a public show of strength, the refusal of which he counselled him to "pack his little magic box and either get out of town or face me".

Tracing the ruins which had befallen some privately owned media organisations to Pastor Joshua's power, the Household of God Church alleged that after a purported laying of hands on Pastor Oyakhilome's head by Pastor Joshua, things have never been the same with the media houses in which he (Oyakhilome) had gone to minister with the occult power he acquired from Joshua.

The controversy got to its peak with both trading accusations of threats to their lives. Mike Okiro, then Lagos State Police Commissioner, waded into the fray persuading the trio to sheathe their swords. Emerging from the Police Headquarters Ikeja, venue of the meeting, Pastor T.B. Joshua said; "A man of God is to restore fellowship with man and God. There is nothing like killing or destruction of life".

So much dust was raised in the public domain by this feud that left more questions than answers. While in some quarters, it was considered a battle of supremacy orchestrated by disgruntled individuals to rubbish the good works of the others. In others, it was seen as a manifestation of envy.

The Pentecostal Church of Nigeria, PFN, the umbrella body of Pentecostal Churches in the country, also waded into the controversy. Bishop Mike Okonkwo, the then president of the body, identified the love of money as the driving force of modern day pentecostalism.

"The PFN leadership has discovered that money has sadly, become the major yardstick for measuring success in the Church, especially the Pentecostals in this end-time. Prosperity messages have therefore taken centre stage of most preaching at the expense of full gospel messages” lamented the flustered president.

By and large, Pastor T. B. Joshua, the man in the midst of the tempestuous sea maintained stoic silence, occasionally alluding the flurry of criticisms to the newness of the things coming from his church.

"No one can do new thing without the help of the Holy Spirit. Something unique always attracts criticism, condemnation, because when something is new and beyond human understand, there is bound to be this (criticism). Jesus was called all sorts of names. Many called him Beelzebub, king of demons:..", Joshua quipped.