Founder of Christ Embassy, Pastor Chris Oyakhilome, has lashed out as church leaders again for complying with the COVID-19 ban on religious gatherings.
He described the guidelines as “wicked”, stating they were initiated to muzzle the body of Christ.
Some of the guidelines, according to the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), include wearing of face masks, suspension of Holy Communion, social distancing and body temperature check, among others.
He also berated church leaders for compliance with government directives on religious gatherings.
In his latest televised service, he stated it was odd church leaders were afraid of the virus.
He argued that one can’t believe in Jesus and be afraid of touching coronavirus patients and other viruses.
He said,
“You cannot believe in Jesus Christ and be afraid of viruses, Jesus touched the lepers and healed them… because the bible is clear, but these people who are afraid are pretending to represent Christians to the government, it’s a shame. I think the government leaders are laughing at them because if you are a Christian, and you say you are a preacher of the gospel, what gospel?
“If you are afraid of the virus, you have no gospel. Your gospel has ended, the moment you began to give such guidelines to people in the church you repudiate your faith in Christ, it’s as simple as that.”
He added that many church leaders were inadvertently planning the “persecution of Christians” and urged Christians to pray for them.
He said,
“We have to pray for many many pastors and leaders, who are scared of the diseases… May be you don’t know this the reason many churches are still shutdown is not just because of the government, it is because of many church leaders who insisted to government not to let the churches open except the churches follow these wicked guidelines.”
