The divorce mess between Pastors Chris and Anita Oyakhilome of Christ Embassy Church has worsened,P.M.NEWS can reveal. On Sunday, two days after it was reported that Anita Oyakhilome had filed for divorce, Christ Embassy deleted her pictures and personal information from its official website, www.christembassy.org.
Many describe the action as the beginning of a process to shut her out of the church, after she accused her
husband of “adultery” and “unreasonable behaviours” in a divorce suit filed in London last April but only made public on Friday. Christ Embassy’s new website now shows only Pastor Chris Oyakhilome,
with a broad smile welcoming his followers to the month of August, and tagging it, ‘Month of Praise’. Many describe the action as the beginning of a process to shut her out of the church, after she accused her husband of “adultery” and “unreasonable behaviours” in a divorce suit filed in London last April but only made public on Friday.
Christ Embassy’s new website
now shows only Pastor Chris
Oyakhilome, with a broad
smile welcoming his followers
to the month of August, and
tagging it, ‘Month of Praise’.
In the message on the
website, Oyakhilome also
urges his followers to “rejoice
for the joy of the Lord is your
strength.”
Also, on the website of the
Rhapsody of Realities, a daily
devotional co-authored by
the esrtwhile couple, there’s
nothing to show that Anita is
still recognised as the only
visible face on the website
among the family members is
that of her husband.
It was too early to know if the
September edition of the
Rhapsody of Realities still has
the photographs of both the
pastor and his wife as it used
to be.
In the past, when the going
was good, Anita and Chris
Oyakhilome held hands on
the church website and smiled
broadly. They projected the
image of a perfect couple.
But P.M.NEWS checks at the
weekend revealed that there
is confusion in the church
following the divorce suit
filed by Anita to end her over
two decades marriage to the
founder of Christ Embassy
Church.
In the past, Pastor Chris
headed the Nigerian branch
of the church, though he
travelled to other branches
occasionally, while Anita
headed the branch in London
and its environs.
Christ Embassy and its
founder have been embroiled
in a myriad of controversies
in the past. In 2010,
Oyakhilome was accused of
engineering a money
laundering scheme in Nigeria,
and questions swirled around
his finances because of his
glamorous lifestyle.
Many pastors and theologians
also excoriated Oyakhilome
for his “New Creation”
doctrine—a form of
gnosticism that says after a
person becomes a Christian,
any sin they commit is only in
the body and will not affect
the spirit.
In 2008, Oyakhilome’s
reputation as a faith healer
was tarnished badly in
Johannesburg, South Africa,
when a man told a Soweto
newspaper that Christ
Embassy offered him more
than $1,200 to sit in a
wheelchair and pretend to be
crippled until Oyakhilome
prayed for him.
“The man went to the media
instead of taking the money,
sparking concerns that
healings were being faked to
impress growing crowds,” said
Lee Grady in an article in
2012 published by Charisma
Magazine.
Pastor Chris Oyakhilome has
also been a target of criticism
by the Treatment Action
Campaign for his support of
faith healing to cure HIV.
Allegations that Christ
Embassy members are
reportedly being forced to
give huge sums of money in
offerings with the biggest
donors receiving the biggest
awards have left many
people concerned.
Many Nigerians have also
alleged that the church
operates like a cult and
pressures members to marry
only within Christ Embassy.
Many people also remember
the scandal involving Christ
Embassy and Sheraton Hotel
some years ago when a
member of the church, who
worked at the Sheraton
Hotel, stole money from his
employers and gave it to
Christ Embassy. But when
Sheraton approached the
church for reimbursement,
the church allegedly claimed
that the money had been
given to God and could not be
refunded.
Many also excoriated Pastor
Chris some years ago when
the church began collecting
gate fees from members for
their New Year Eve’s Service.
More recently, Oyakhilome
came under attack after he
claimed that Christians were
free to masturbate because it
was not a sin.
But the latest scandal
involving Anita and Chris, who
have two daughters, seems to
threaten the very existence
of one of the biggest churches
in Nigeria.
Christ Embassy runs several
arms including the Healing
School, Rhapsody of Realities,
and an N.G.O called the
Innercity Missions as well as
three Christian television
channels: LoveWorld TV,
LoveWorld SAT and
LoveWorld Plus.
The church is scattered all
over the world, including in
the United Kingdom, the
United States, South America
and the whole of Europe.
Stories about women bringing
men of God down are not
new. In 1988, Jimmy
Swaggart, a famous American
preacher was implicated in a
sex scandal involving a
prostitute that resulted
initially in his suspension, and
ultimately defrocking, by the
Assemblies of God.
Three years later, Swaggart
was implicated in another
scandal involving a prostitute.
As a result, Swaggart’s
ministry became non-
affiliated, non-
denominational and
significantly smaller than was before the scandals.
Many describe the action as the beginning of a process to shut her out of the church, after she accused her
husband of “adultery” and “unreasonable behaviours” in a divorce suit filed in London last April but only made public on Friday. Christ Embassy’s new website now shows only Pastor Chris Oyakhilome,
with a broad smile welcoming his followers to the month of August, and tagging it, ‘Month of Praise’. Many describe the action as the beginning of a process to shut her out of the church, after she accused her husband of “adultery” and “unreasonable behaviours” in a divorce suit filed in London last April but only made public on Friday.
Christ Embassy’s new website
now shows only Pastor Chris
Oyakhilome, with a broad
smile welcoming his followers
to the month of August, and
tagging it, ‘Month of Praise’.
In the message on the
website, Oyakhilome also
urges his followers to “rejoice
for the joy of the Lord is your
strength.”
Also, on the website of the
Rhapsody of Realities, a daily
devotional co-authored by
the esrtwhile couple, there’s
nothing to show that Anita is
still recognised as the only
visible face on the website
among the family members is
that of her husband.
It was too early to know if the
September edition of the
Rhapsody of Realities still has
the photographs of both the
pastor and his wife as it used
to be.
In the past, when the going
was good, Anita and Chris
Oyakhilome held hands on
the church website and smiled
broadly. They projected the
image of a perfect couple.
But P.M.NEWS checks at the
weekend revealed that there
is confusion in the church
following the divorce suit
filed by Anita to end her over
two decades marriage to the
founder of Christ Embassy
Church.
In the past, Pastor Chris
headed the Nigerian branch
of the church, though he
travelled to other branches
occasionally, while Anita
headed the branch in London
and its environs.
Christ Embassy and its
founder have been embroiled
in a myriad of controversies
in the past. In 2010,
Oyakhilome was accused of
engineering a money
laundering scheme in Nigeria,
and questions swirled around
his finances because of his
glamorous lifestyle.
Many pastors and theologians
also excoriated Oyakhilome
for his “New Creation”
doctrine—a form of
gnosticism that says after a
person becomes a Christian,
any sin they commit is only in
the body and will not affect
the spirit.
In 2008, Oyakhilome’s
reputation as a faith healer
was tarnished badly in
Johannesburg, South Africa,
when a man told a Soweto
newspaper that Christ
Embassy offered him more
than $1,200 to sit in a
wheelchair and pretend to be
crippled until Oyakhilome
prayed for him.
“The man went to the media
instead of taking the money,
sparking concerns that
healings were being faked to
impress growing crowds,” said
Lee Grady in an article in
2012 published by Charisma
Magazine.
Pastor Chris Oyakhilome has
also been a target of criticism
by the Treatment Action
Campaign for his support of
faith healing to cure HIV.
Allegations that Christ
Embassy members are
reportedly being forced to
give huge sums of money in
offerings with the biggest
donors receiving the biggest
awards have left many
people concerned.
Many Nigerians have also
alleged that the church
operates like a cult and
pressures members to marry
only within Christ Embassy.
Many people also remember
the scandal involving Christ
Embassy and Sheraton Hotel
some years ago when a
member of the church, who
worked at the Sheraton
Hotel, stole money from his
employers and gave it to
Christ Embassy. But when
Sheraton approached the
church for reimbursement,
the church allegedly claimed
that the money had been
given to God and could not be
refunded.
Many also excoriated Pastor
Chris some years ago when
the church began collecting
gate fees from members for
their New Year Eve’s Service.
More recently, Oyakhilome
came under attack after he
claimed that Christians were
free to masturbate because it
was not a sin.
But the latest scandal
involving Anita and Chris, who
have two daughters, seems to
threaten the very existence
of one of the biggest churches
in Nigeria.
Christ Embassy runs several
arms including the Healing
School, Rhapsody of Realities,
and an N.G.O called the
Innercity Missions as well as
three Christian television
channels: LoveWorld TV,
LoveWorld SAT and
LoveWorld Plus.
The church is scattered all
over the world, including in
the United Kingdom, the
United States, South America
and the whole of Europe.
Stories about women bringing
men of God down are not
new. In 1988, Jimmy
Swaggart, a famous American
preacher was implicated in a
sex scandal involving a
prostitute that resulted
initially in his suspension, and
ultimately defrocking, by the
Assemblies of God.
Three years later, Swaggart
was implicated in another
scandal involving a prostitute.
As a result, Swaggart’s
ministry became non-
affiliated, non-
denominational and
significantly smaller than was before the scandals.
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