Let somebody call Pastor Christopher Okotie of the Household of God Church to order. If not, he will set the whole country on fire. His unguarded utterance during his preaching sessions is put on the conveyor’s belt. It is going round and round. Prophet T.B. Joshua was the first to snare Okotie’s baggage of poisoned dish. Now it is the turn of the Catholic Church. No one knows whose turn it will be tomorrow. I hope Okotie will not say something someday that will cause religious crisis in Nigeria. Last Sunday smoke came forth from his nostril, fire from his mouth. For him all Catholic members in the world are on the way to hell because they worship Satan and are led by an anti-Christ Pope who is a friend to the Devil.
Okotie described the Catholic Church as a counterfeit church, which Satan sets up and that Catholics bow to idols and crucify Jesus every Sunday when they eat bread claiming they are eating Jesus’ body. He believed Catholics are not Christians and they do not know Jesus. For him the Pope is an anti-Christ who does the job of the devil and very soon Catholic Church will pledge allegiance to the devil. By implication the Catholic Church is yet to pledge the allegiance. Okotie has long been known as a stuntman and that is why his congregation was bewildered as he spoke. When I was browsing the Internet for a character we can compare Okotie with, the search engine presented the name: Florida Pastor, Terry Jones.
Here is a pastor in the United States of America who is also controversial. Jones organized a Koran-burning event in Polk County, a small town in Florida, to commemorate the death of nearly 3,000 Americans in the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. The Police arrested him and never allowed the Koran-burning event to take place. Similar event he organized in 2011 triggered riots throughout the Muslim world. A video posted on YouTube, which he promoted triggered anti-American violence across the Middle East involving mob rioting at United States missions in Tunisia, Sudan and Morocco.
The common denominator is the penchant of both men to desecrate other people’s belief through their words and actions. Okotie tries to achieve three objectives trying to destroy the Catholic beliefs and practices:
•To populate his church with Catholic members. He encouraged his church members to evangelize Catholic followers.
•To pretend to have the skill about Catholic doctrines and beliefs
•To pretend to be radical for Christ, hence his attempt to make Catholic Church appear satanic.
Though Okotie is popular for the wrong things like penchant to desecrate other people’s faith and marrying twice and divorcing twice, the Catholic Church will not join issues with him. The history, belief and practices of the church articulate the church’s vindication. Skill acquisition is about digging deep to understand your subject. Okotie did not give a hoot. He would rather rely on shallow intuition for his preaching. What he has done is regarded as heresy in learned parlance, a false teaching to water down the basic tenet of other people’s belief. Of course he was not talking about the Catholic Church I was born into, a church that bred me, but rather about a Catholic Church of his wildest imagination.
What is today the belief of the church started as basic statements made in the apostolic preaching of the New Testament. These simple statements then went through a long period of subjection to clarifications, elaborations and interpretations coming from differences of opinions. This endeavour became necessary in order to sift the pure and sound teaching from the erroneous. Hence, the doctrines on papacy, Eucharist, Mary, veneration of Saints and sacred images, and purgatory among others, were not obtained overnight. All have the authority of the scriptures behind them. We are talking of a church whose existence has spanned more than 2000 years founded by Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Unlike other churches, the Catholic Church has no proprietor. Jesus is its proprietor and that is why it will continue to endure. The death of a pope cannot bring about the end of the church because it is a divine institution. The Pope is the Vicar of Christ on earth. He is the visible leader of the church working vicariously for Christ, the head of the church. He is the successor of St. Peter, the prince of the Apostles. The supreme pontiff of the universal church remains an integrated symbol for Catholics. He remains the conscience of the world. His office stands for world justice, world development, and world peace. The Pope is a world leader per excellence. His office reminds the world of a suffering servant who came for the emancipation and salvation of the people: Jesus is the suffering servant who came so that we can have life and have it to the full. Jesus came so as to redeem humanity from bondage to ignorance, selfishness, greed, and sin. Hence the pope’s office promotes a common humanity redeemed and a world in solidarity: people of all races, creed and tongue working together for the good of our world.
The pope works for world peace. As a practical demonstration of this, Pope Francis is currently meeting with the leaders of both Israel and Palestine to ensure that peace reigns where there are pockets of trouble and crisis. Insecurity anywhere is insecurity everywhere. Jesus himself is the king of peace. His kingdom is a kingdom of peace, joy, love and righteousness. His name reveals his identity and mission. Jesus in Hebrew language means ‘God saves.’ This is the name the angel Gabriel gave him at the annunciation. The name ‘Jesus’ reveals his mission of salvation, his coming to save men and women definitively from their sins thereby opening the doors of heaven to humanity through his suffering, death, resurrection and ascension into heaven (Jeremiah 1: 29; Luke 1: 26 and The Creed: Summary of my faith by Fr. Dr. Emmanuel Ojo pg. 58).
The name, ‘Christ’ means the ‘anointed’. The Greek word ‘Christos’ is a translation of the Hebrew word ‘messiah’. Jesus is the messiah of the world (cf. Luke 2: 11; Matt: 20). God the father anointed Jesus, God the son, with the spirit who is the anointing (Matt 16: 16). While Catholics worship God, the creator of the world and author of human life, and Jesus Christ, the redeemer of man, we honour Mary, the mother of Jesus: not worship her. We are not to be blamed for honouring Mary; Okotie should rather blame angel Gabriel who was the first to honour her by calling her blessed (Luke 1: 28). All we say of Mary is related to her role as the Mother of our Saviour. This is the same way Okotie honours his biological mother. Mary is not only a biological mother, but also a spiritual mother. If I can hang my mother’s portrait in my living room as a reminder of the deep feelings we shared together, nothing stops a sane person hanging a portrait of Mary same way to remind us of the deep biological feelings Jesus shared with his mother as well as deep spiritual feelings we shared with her as the mother of our saviour. The honour Catholics give to Mary neither reduces Jesus as a dignified person nor removes his merit as the Saviour of the world.
Jesus remains essentially the centre of our faith and worship. He is the patrimony of the scriptures for the Catholics. We do not worship Satan. We are not on the way to pledge allegiance to Satan. Newspapers are constrained by space. If not, we would have enlightened Okotie on other aspects of the church’s belief highlighted in this piece. However, these few lines serve to affirm the foundation of our faith, the fact that we are not for Satan, not on the way to hell. Next time Okotie is on the pulpit, he should concentrate on subjects that will enhance the relationship of members of his church with their God, not on petty subject as condemning and judging other people and their belief. Judging people is against the tenet of Christianity. Jesus is the only one with right to judge.
•Kehinde is a Lecturer, Catholic Institute of West Africa (CIWA) Port Harcourt, but wrote this article from Lagos. E-mail: kennyat70@yahoo.com Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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i think okoti will b beta enlighted wen he reads this article.
ReplyDeleteThank you Kehinde. Chris Okotie needs psychiatric evaluation.I am not saying he is mad even though he shows the symptoms occasionally. A christian pastor that has married twice and divorced twice and has the propensity and high probability to marry again and divorced the third wife shows by his actions what my mouth cannot say.
ReplyDeleteThe other day, I heard that he is organizing a beauty pageant in his church!!!! Hmmmmm................... No further comment my lord.
The catholic doctrine cntravene the ten commandment that forbid us from making graven image of any person in heaven, on earth and beneath the earth. The commandment is straight forward; "do not bow to them, do not worship them for I am a jealous God." Sir, in as much as I do not support pastor Chris Okotie approach, I am of the opinion that many members do not know what they are into.
ReplyDeleteI was born a catholic, my father is still a cathechist but while in secondary school I researched about the catholic church... Intellctual laziness is what keeps many catholic without knowledge. I stopped praying the rosary long before I stopped going to catholic church. A lot is wrong with the foundation. We need no link to God except through Jesus. The Mary route is ungodly and waste of time hence the scripture says "come boldly to the throne of grace and obtain favour and find grace to help in terms of need.
Angel Gabriel was a messenger with a message to Mary with a message from the almighty to a mare mortal. It is only a matter of courtsy that greetings preceed a message. If you get to someone's house you certainly would greet. Turning such an angelic courtsy to worship disguised as honor is tantamount to idol worship.
The catholic church member must evolve the faith and unlean doctrines that are paganistic.
Well written Kehinde! God bless u.
ReplyDeleteThen why do they say "hail Mary", why do they do the sign,of the cross? Why do "teblik" like d Muslims. Lol. SMH for Catholic. My ex then left me becos I wasn't gonna marry her in her Catholic church. So much for true love. Thank God we made d right decision of separating, twud Av destroyed d mariage now.
ReplyDeleteMr. Kehinde, your article was very interesting, and it seems to me like you are a person that thinks through what they are doing/saying. That is a very respectable quality. I agree with you that Mr. Okotie has no right to judge who goes to hell, however, a lot of the other things he said was correct. I have a few issues with your article as well.
ReplyDeleteYou said, "Hence, the doctrines on papacy, Eucharist, Mary, veneration of Saints and sacred images, and purgatory among others... all have the authority of the scriptures behind them." - Please, where are these scriptures, because I have not seen them in the bible?
You said, "a church whose existence has spanned more than 2000 years founded by Jesus Christ, our Lord." - Actually sir, the catholic church has technically only existed since the year 1054. There used to be only one church before that, yes, and this church seems to have been referred to as the universal (catholic) church, yes, but this was not the "Roman" catholic church. It was called the universal church because there was only 1 of it. When the church split in 1054, one of the parts led by the bishop of Rome decided to call itself the catholic church, the other half was the orthodox/syriac church (if I'm not mistaken). The lord Jesus did not establish any church, and certainly not the Roman Catholic Church.
You said, "The supreme pontiff ... remains the conscience of the world. His office reminds the world of a suffering servant who came for the emancipation and salvation of the people." - Sir, with all due respect, these ideas are almost ludicrous. The Pope is a leader, but he is also simply man like you and I. Each man's conscience dwells within himself and (should be) guided by the holy spirit, not a mere mortal. Let's not ignore history and pretend that Pope's of the past haven't instigated some pretty horrific events. The office of the pope does not remind anyone of a suffering servant, especially since said office controls the biggest bank account on planet earth and the pope himself isn't exactly trusting God for his next meal if you know what I mean.
You said, "While Catholics worship God... we honour Mary, the mother of Jesus: not worship her." - I beg to differ. You, Sir, may not worship Mary, I do not know you. But I do know that what the majority of catholics do is not honour, but worship. As far as I am concerned, one of the highest forms of worship I give to God is prayer. Prayer is one that that should be directed only at God! However, catholics pray to Mary. You claim that this is honouring, but this is worship. Let me illustrate using 2 examples. a) The bible says we should honour our father and mother, but I am sure you would agree that 'honouring' here does not involve praying to our parents. Honour is respect and that is all it is. Why then add prayer to it? b) Consider the reason why it is possible to pray to God. God is everywhere, he is omnipresent, therefore, wherever we are he is able to hear our prayers. He is able to answer them because of his omnipotence. Mary on the other hand was just a human being. She cannot hear the prayers of everyone on earth at the same time because she is not omnipresent. Besides, Jesus said "no one comes to the father except through me" and the bible says "there is one intercessor between God and man, the man Jesus Christ: 1 Tim 2:5". Giving Mary this duty that the bible says is reserved for only Jesus is akin to elevating Mary to the status of Jesus. So you may say that all you are doing is honouring her, but your actions speak a lot louder than your words.
You said, "Mary is not only a biological mother, but also a spiritual mother" - I hope you do not mean that mary is the spiritual mother of our lord Jesus Christ, because that means you are literally calling her the Mother of God! God is eternal, Mary is created. I think one can only come to one conclusion from that.
Na wah, this my response was almost as long as the article itself. lol!
No wahala. You r convinced in your faith. Good. So I am in my faith as a Catholic. What matters is we worship the true and only one God. Let's live as brothers and sisters. Heaven should be our goal...that is what the Catholic church has taught me
DeleteWow...this is ridiculous
ReplyDeleteI think there is that thing called free speech in every country except where the military is in charge. Sometimes it is good to let someone expose his/her ignorance. Such is what this guy, Chris Okotie has done. Consider him a reckless ignoramus and stop giving him a platform to propagate his stupidity. All Nigerians know he is fake and I am just shocked his congregation tolerate him. It is time to leave the fool.
ReplyDelete@anonymous 12:45am & 3:53am, If u can hang the pictures of ur pastors in ur houses and also treat ur pastors (who are mere mortals) wid so much reverence, WAT IS WRONG IN GIVING EVEN GREATER REVERENCE TO THE WOMAN WHO GOD HIMSELF 1ST GAVE THAT HONOUR OF BEING THE MOTHER OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. The Sign of the Cross has so much significance and always reminds us of the Blessed Trinity, a Mystery u can neva understand. Av u ever wondered y God even chose her in d 1st place?
ReplyDeleteWhat was Angel Gabriel's greeting to her when he visited her?
What was Elizabeth's response wen Mary visited & greeted her?
Find that out & c dat d words of the Holy Rosary are in the Holy Bible.
Also, if u can ask ur earthly mother to pray for u, Y CANT U ASK D MOTHER OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST TO DO SAME?. Finally, if she can intercede for the couple @ d wedding feast @ Cana, just by noticing dat the wine was finished, WHAT MAKES U THINK DAT SHE CANT INTERCEDE 4 U WHEN U ASK HER TO?
But dead men or women can not interceed for anyone?! Except you are trying to turn christianity to ordinary human mythology e.g. In old yorubas belief that their dead parent do watch over them! Or do still ask your great grand parent wish I presume long dead to pray for you?. I don't agree with okotie ways but catholics pray to mary which can never be right biblically. Never read where apostle paul pray to mary in the bible!
DeleteJesus said his mother and brothers are those doing his will. Are you doing his will or pastors/pope's /reverend/imam's will
ReplyDeleteIt is unfortunate that people still attend chris okotie's church. In any case, I am not in a position to judge him. He should learn to be more responsible in his utterances.
ReplyDeletePastor Chris is on point
ReplyDeletehttp://www.jesus-is-savior.com/False%20Religions/Roman%20Catholicism/catholic_church_is_a_big_hoax.htm
http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/False%20Religions/Roman%20Catholicism/rcc6-priestly_porn.htm
this bros is sick in d head
ReplyDeleteam not a catholic but stayed in d catholic family house durin my service year and dis pple are lovely pple. check ursel man. prince abbey
ReplyDeleteif God should appoint your mother, wife, daughter, sisters or aunties to be the mother of Christ, though not possible because Jesus cannot be born twice. i will not even honour but worship them. Mary must be honour in my life everyday and if honouring her will take me to hell that means i will be there with MARY and let see how God will allow HIS chosen daughter to remain there. Okotie period! from OGE
ReplyDeleteFor those saying that Catholics worship idols, I want you to carry out an experiment, Get an idol worshiper like some Indians, pick up the idol and hide it and watch the person, s reactions. The idol worshippers will not worship. After that pick up a statue of a Catholic
ReplyDeleteand hide hide it . The Catholics will continue their worship, showing
you that the statue is an image of what we worship. Those of you who are shallow minded cannot appreciate what I am saying. You want to quote the Bible and change your Church just because you're accused of worshipping who you are not worshipping. Well, if you were worshipping Idol and Mary in Catholic that is a reason to change to a less challenging Church. The new Law of God comes with freedom to love God with all your heart and then do anything you want with the love of God behind it. A good Christian will make a crucifix and wear it to remind himself of the Lord, s sacrifices. In a Christian home there should be a paiting of Jesus Christ to tell evil Spirit and confused visitors that this is the person you worship
Depite d fact that we worship one God, we read desame Bible can't we stop embarrasing our self on social Media in d name of Church? We are all xtian and we don't worship God in d same way, we have diff believe. Pls let us come together, worship God in d same way @ desame time like Muslims. Am tired of these mess
ReplyDeleteHow I wish people read more of the Bible and learn the truth instead of playing mere religion.
ReplyDeleteHow I wish people read more of the Bible and learn the truth instead of playing mere religion.
ReplyDeleteLet us all worship ONE GOD who forbade associating any mortal with HIM! He neither begets nor is born. Until then we will continue to search for peace in this world.
ReplyDelete@9jaguy,u av said it all about dis topic,u sabi...we do not judge people to Hell but we can exhort and correct based on scriptures..kehinde abeg show us d scriptures on mary,papacy(except wen Daniel prophesied about it and its blasphemy against God),Rosary etc,ur article no carry water cos u don't know about the ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH and peter is not a prince of of d Church(or else Paul won't av challenged him wen he acted in a canal way)..Jesus is THE(not a way) WAY to d Father..Christ is building d Church and d gates of hell can't prevail..God bless you all!
ReplyDeleteCatholicism is an infussion of traditional Roman pagan practice on Christianity. It has nothing to do with Christ's salvation of mankind.
ReplyDeleteOtunba-1 Says :
ReplyDeleteWith all due respect, i dont really fancy Rev. Chris Okotie. I believe a man who is not able to lead his house (family) well, should not be allowed to lead a church (this is biblical).
However, having said that i believe all catholics should sit back and think properly about catholicism. Something is fundamentally wrong with this "sect". I was born a catholic, but am now pentecostal. For those of you who went deep into catholicism, you will agree that the song below is a popular catholic song. I have put some words in capital letters. Ascribing those words to Mary is very disturbing. Read those words very well and THINK. I am sure that if you know the bible very well (that's assuming you have and read one), you will RUN AWAY from the catholic sect.:
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O Come to THE THRONE OF GRACE
O Come to the HEART MOST PURE
To Mary, OUR HOPE OF LIFE,
IN WHOM SALVATION IS SURE
Ch: O Lady of Fatima hail
Immaculate MOTHER OF GRACE
O pray for us HELP US TODAY
Thou HOPE OF THE HUMAN RACE.
Immaculate Heart, we kneel
To CONSECRATE ALL TO THEE
The present, its pain and joy
The future all it may be
The rosary white and gold
We take from the virgin hand
A pledge of the power of God
To heal & strengthen our Land.
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This song is a show spoiler for Catholics.
Those who claim they were catholics b4 going to other churches should not think they are creating any impression. If u fail to read ur bible while in the catholic church, u ll still be the same any where any time.It is either u re on imaginably timid or something is wrong with ur spiritual life.
ReplyDeleteIf Hail Mary said by catholics is a sin then worshiping of pastors and their wives including their pictures is worse.If the Angel has describe Mary as full of Grace, who are u to say other wise. If Elizabeth under the influence of the Holy Spirit has Called Mary the mother of her Lord, it is only proper that we do the same,
ReplyDeleteThose who claim they were catholics b4 going to other churches should not think they are creating any impression. If u fail to read ur bible while in the catholic church, u ll still be the same any where any time.It is either u re on imaginably timid or something is wrong with ur spiritual life.
ReplyDelete