Christ Embassy : Hallelujah or Highway to Hell ? Rev. Oyakhilome Convicted for Fraud.


Media reports that Pastor Kenneth Oyakhilome, currently pastor of Christ Embassy (CE) Church in Houston, Texas, USA was convicted in a South African court in 2007 for fraud and corruption have provoked a minor public storm amongst members of the faithful, with clarion calls for him to step aside. Court records made available to Huhuonline.com, revealed that on September 11, 2007, Kenneth Imo Obome Oyakhilome, a.k.a Pastor Ken was convicted of fraud; fined R20,000.00 and received a two-year suspended sentence for three years with choice of imprisonment .

“We are shocked by this revelation that Ken is a convicted criminal. He is a fraudster and this is not a matter that is subject to any debate. We cannot have the Gospel of Jesus Christ besmirched by such people, who hide behind the innocence of genuine believers to commit fraud”, exclaimed Pastor Javed Masih of the Jesus Fellowship International Society in Randburg, South Africa.


Chris Oyakhilome
When Pastor Ken left his family in South Africa and boarded a plane back to Houston, Texas, where he currently serves as Pastor of the Christ Embassy Church, CE officials in South Africa, qualified the move as a spiritual sabbatical. But it is now emerging that the decision to transfer Pastor Ken from South Africa to the USA was a well contrived attempt to douse the smoldering inferno that was threatening to consume Ken’s pastoral career and that of his elder brother, Pastor Christian Oyakhilome, who founded the Ministry and himself is now locked in a huge public relations battle to salvage his own battered credibility.

The moral questions hovering over the head of Pastor Ken, has cast a huge shadow of doubt over his elder brother, Pastor Christian, who has refused to take the blame for any problems associated with his brother’s profligacy and lack of moral character. The Christ Embassy Church in Houston, Texas, scorned requests for explanations from Huhuonline.com while Pastor Ken continues to defy public criticisms of official misconduct, and still retains his high profile position as Pastor of the Houston Church. Yet the Pastor Brothers have been pushing to make sure that the public remembers them -- or rather, remembers what they want them to remember.

Pastor Ken is a troubled man. As long as allegations of official misconduct continue to swirl around him, the Pastor will forever be distracted from his official pastoral duties. The distraction will come chiefly from a scandal that threatens to weaken his capacity to function as an effective Spiritual guide and leader of the Houston church. At a time when the Pastor ought to be preoccupied with issues that affect the welfare of his congregation, he has been busy rehearsing how he would defend himself against serious allegations of financial impropriety and abuse of trust. Some Christ Embassy Church members have expressed genuine alarmed at the way in which Pastor Ken is reported to have run riot in South Africa and questioned whether he still has the moral high ground to continue working in Houston as “God’s Messenger.” If religiosity in general comes with the capacity to numb the intellect, and defraud and exploit the innocent faithful, the brand of Christianity that has been on the ascendance in Christ Embassy for the past decade fosters a certain incuriousness that borders on total intellectual surrender.

For the truth of the matter is that in its practices and dynamics, the Christ Embassy Church itself has become an expression of the character of its founders. In the current configuration, the Christ Embassy Church operates more or less like a business enterprise out to make profit. It was no coincidence that Pastor Ken was more to be seen mixing it with the South African political elite (governors, ministers,), than with ordinary members of his Congregation. Such was the social proximity between the Christ Embassy Church officials and the South African elite that rumors were floated that the Christ Embassy Church and Pastor Ken had the political benediction of the ruling ANC party in South Africa. Pastor Ken, in a dynamic that works quite well for the Church and serves the ends of holders of political power, attends their (office holders') birthday ceremonies, blesses their respective families, and, at the end of each year, unfailingly prophesies positive things for the country they so spectacularly misgovern. In return, he reinforced public perceptions of being a handmaiden of political power in a country where the majority of the population (including most of his own congregation) continues to wallows in absolute immiseration?

Shell-shocked Christ Embassy Church members in South Africa are still at a loss to understand a situation where Pastor Ken who was (and in some quarters, still is) widely respected for his preachings on austerity and moral rectitude, has now abandoned Christ’s gospel of austere pietism to embrace material aggrandizement and conspicuous consumption. Before his sojourn in South Africa, the Christ Embassy Church was renowned for its emphasis on a rigorous, no frills personal regime for its members. Such unflattering apothegm was a testament to the perceived doctrinal severity of the Christ Embassy Church. This image was to change with the ascendance of Pastor Ken - and the Church's rapid transition into a new era, marked by a departure from this somber model and the development of a new, less abstemious, theological outlook whose modus operandi was primitive material accumulation. Court records showed that Pastor Ken owned a fleet of luxury cars including: a Red Chrysler; a Silver Mercedes Benz; a Gold-pleated Peugeot 407 and a Black Audi 8-cylinder series. And although married with three children, Pastor Ken paraded a harem of wivelets and mistresses drawn mostly from the congregation, including married women, who share his bedroom under the euphemistic guise of “serving the man of God.”

For emphasis, the point now is not about the criminal conviction of Pastor Ken or his material possessions, including his harem of girlfriends. The central nexus of the unraveling scandal raises fundamental questions about whether it is morally ethical for Pastor Ken to continue as Spiritual Guardian of the Christ Embassy Church in Houston, Texas. In the interest of full disclosure, if Pastor Christian, the founder of the Christ Embassy Ministry is certain about his junior brother’s innocence; if he is concerned about the impact of this salacious affair on the integrity of the Christ Embassy Ministry (not to forget his own patchy morality), he should advise his junior brother to step aside in order to facilitate an independent inquiry. An independent inquiry is guaranteed to produce one of two outcomes: a moral acquittal that should help to cleanse Pastor Ken of the stench that began to gush out since the scandal broke; or an indictment that would shred forever his name, his honor and his status in society. If he refuses to step aside, he can expect to preside over a disorderly Congregation for the rest of his tenure as Pastor of the Christ Embassy Church in Houston, Texas.

In proceeding, it is only fair to state that in taking its message to the world, the Christ Embassy Church has also, almost predictably, taken in a considerable part of the world. Today's Christ Embassy Ministry, with churches worldwide, is no doubt a successful religious brand, but like all brands, it has had to forge all sorts of shabby accommodations with sponsors and politicians, including even fraudsters and criminals. Obvious material success and a fatal conflation of ethos with criminal enterprise mean that the Christ Embassy Church that redefined Biblical economics is now in clear danger of being consumed by its creation. It is certainly not a good evidence of moral leadership for a Pastor to be confronted with daunting revelations of criminal conviction. With or without Pastor Ken, the Christ Embassy Church in Houston will still continue to exist. But whether it would be an effective Church or a disorderly House of worship would be determined by current and future events.

online source:http://www.huhuonline.com/news348.html

I never really liked any church that has turned out to be a family business. Such is the case of Christ Embassy. Sister na Pastor for Sweden, Wife na pastor for UK, relative na pastor for Kuwait, Brother na pastor for US, cousin na pastor for Iraq. The guy should go to jail since he is a false prophet even though he may be a "saint Ken" in the eyes of many.

@LA MEXX,
I Did not even know it was that hugh with all the family members heading churches all over, Everybody wants to be a pastor and not a follower. i dont blame them. tnks for the update the next step is to start building school like Convenant uni, Redeemer Uni, they just crack me up , at least more students are in school after all said and done.
Imagine Pastor Chris denying to have anytin to do with his Bro pastor Ken becos every thing went down hill for the poor guy, tks once again

But how far would these so called christains go to discredit themselves?
If this was anything to be taken seriously, we would have heard all these stuff in the said 2007.
It would only take an idle mind to search into achives to look for articles to discredit a pastor or whoever.

And for allegations and counter allegations against pastor chris and his ministry, the whole allegation thing is making no sense at all. First they said he was not of God because he dresses funkyly. Later they said it was wrong for him to use the media to advertise miracles. Later they said that his miracles are not real. Now its that his family has links to big time frauds.
And in all, he keeps succeding and {even if these so called christains dont admit it} keeps other denominations on their toes-right into their shameless faces.
Is there nothing these people can do on threads like this but to stare up juicy gossips that will attract attention of others like what our dear mis-guided soft-shell media journalists are doing to the rich and famous?
And should we even take this thread seriously since its authored by a self confessed "amebo"?

Thanks you for the insight DeeBrain ,
you fail to recognise i did not publish the news and also the link is there for you to check it out. Are you discrediting online News from Nigeria or journalists, > This is not about the church or chris . I really dont care what he does but NL is a forum where you see an article and you bring out to the audience to talk about it. Thus it would be nice to direct you tots about the article and not at the poster. and we wonder what is wrong with nigeria.And if you have noting to say simply read the article and move on. abi na bi force. if you are a member of his church i then apologise but this is not the only news article i ve posted. I like to read the news and brainstorm with other intellectuals.That is y i posted it

Another thread

yawns and leaves. .

Me i no talk anything stupid ohhhh. i just speaking my mind lol

Sirjohn,KunleOshob etc where are thou? Another juicy topic up for your contribution. Please dont forget to re-sharpen your UTC knives in readiness for beheading Pastor Chris.

maddock:

Sirjohn,KunleOshob etc where are thou? Another juicy topic up for your contribution. Please dont forget to re-sharpen your UTC knives in readiness for beheading Pastor Chris.

I am not the one to Judge pastor chris, his maker awaits him were he would give acount for all he has done, however it is the poor sheeple like you who are being led astray that i am more concerned about . As a christian it bothers me that brethen are being devoured by wolves. I sincerely hope that God would open your eyes before it is too late.

KunleOshob:

I am not the one to Judge pastor chris, his maker awaits him were he would give acount for all he has done, however it is the poor sheeple like you who are being led astray that i am more concerned about . As a christian it bothers me that brethen are being devoured by wolves. I sincerely hope that God would open your eyes before it is too late.

AMEN.

@kunle o u just said it all dont think anyone else could ve done it better
@madock AMEN oooo

thanks guys for stopping by, the thread is not to behead or thrash any pastor or religious head. its just an article and something to discuss.Remem the ultimate goal is to serve God, in ernest afterall the bible is there pick it up and read for yourself if you have doubts there is no perfect church that is why we are humans.
“I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ.” Ghandi . A quote by Mathama Ghandi

amebo dem go tire
amebo dem go tire
wetin u no see you say you see am o
amebo dem go tire

@maddock i no fit shout

I fitn't shout o.

@ maddock tat was funnnnnnnnnnniiiiiiiii lol,

@ amebo
My guy you no just get work. Why not use your precious time take do some research about wetin go benefit you than to dey look for attention by creating useless tread

@ Quadcore,
that is y we need your vote on Environmental issues .would that help you, check out the thread so we leave the religion department for the gurus like you

turned out to be a family business. Such is the case of Christ Embassy. Sister na Pastor for Sweden, Wife na pastor for UK

I dont know why you are complaining that his family are abroad. They are spreading the gospel around the world. And it is not only his family that are abroad u kno. By the way i attend Christembassy London and on of Pastor Anita's assistants told my mum that it wasnt easy for Pastor Anita when she came to establish CE in the UK, she actually didnt even have a car at first, can you imagine Pastor Anita getting on a bus with two children. But people are complaining now that she drives a BMW X5

londonbwoi:

I dont know why you are complaining that his family are abroad. They are spreading the gospel around the world. And it is not only his family that are abroad u kno. By the way i attend Christembassy London and on of Pastor Anita's assistants told my mum that it wasnt easy for Pastor Anita when she came to establish CE in the UK, she actually didnt even have a car at first, can you imagine Pastor Anita getting on a bus with two children. But people are complaining now that she drives a BMW X5

shut up. . . .thou SHAMELESS APOLOGETIC

whats wrong with boarding a bus? are those who board buses with three heads?

is pastoring not about service? must ur pastor have a car? and at whose expense? is anita too big to board a bus?
get lost with ur materialistic gospel !!!

amebo22:

Thanks you for the insight DeeBrain ,
you fail to recognise i did not publish the news and also the link is there for you to check it out. Are you discrediting online News from Nigeria or journalists, > This is not about the church or chris . I really dont care what he does but NL is a forum where you see an article and you bring out to the audience to talk about it. Thus it would be nice to direct you tots about the article and not at the poster. and we wonder what is wrong with nigeria.And if you have noting to say simply read the article and move on. abi na bi force. if you are a member of his church i then apologise but this is not the only news article i ve posted. I like to read the news and brainstorm with other intellectuals.That is y i posted it

Hmmmmmmm, i have indeed read your source and and all their claims
Accept my apologies-i did not see that you were quoting from a source.

Now as regarding the whole story, look lets get something straight{and without any hate for Nigerian journalists some of them i envy a lot for their upright and unbaised views} our journalists here should be more objective in reporting about famous and popular people.
I am not a dectective but any body can smell from that source that the people that wrote about this story are Nigerians, or Nigerian sponsored Southern African press people.
Why i am able to smell the filty hands of S/A press men here is that terrible stories were being cooked up-many of them similar as these-to try to destabilize the christ embassy crusade that was to be done sometime last year. Many of such stories {which looked like repeated episodes of some of such stories done here in Naija}centered on alleged fake miracles and many behind the scene activities that they claimed go on in such meetings which actually contradict themselves. Amongst such stories was one that talked about pastor ken being involved in drug businesses that same year{2007} and so on.
its pretty obvious that those people did not stop there after that crussade went on successfully.
Since i lost touch of most of those allegations last year, it suprised me to now see those similar articles from what i saw last year now start to resurface.

Amebo22, get this straight-there are bad media boys in the world but you cant compare them to a bad naija journalist. Even when you note the articles, you see the use of personal conclusions in the story as though the writer was passing judgement on an incident he/she was supposed to be reporting,
Its totally wrong!!!

They do this thing to every body! to our musicians, actors and actresses and i know when you and i succeed in our dreams and goals in life, they will do the same to us-they will probably publish an aricle that we are yahoo boys or we used some girl for money rituals. No body sees the struggles to get to the top.

holla

At dee brain

i am really not a fan of all this melodramatic journalist either but like i said its an article just focus on the article. Also the bad media or journalist rem its a job and they have to feed as well am not excusing them but we need to cut them some slack, have you heard the saying ( there is no news like bad news), lol
i love reading news online and compare sources eg there was an article bout the same church on Nigeria world .com but the journalist edited it and did not mention names but huhu online did mention names and locations.No body was able to detect that it was the same story but one was incomplete.
that is why i keep saying that focus on the article not on the target.Even if any pastor was painted a saint or artiste painted the opposite it does not really matter life still goes on, That is the attitude NL needs to learn, its a difficult habit to cultivate but we will get there soon.

Just becos sometin is in the news does not mean its true, all we need to do read it and pass a comment not to judge or attack the posters, Tks for your response and for taking time to verify, just like i always do ( Trust but verify)

deebrain,
I feel you, it's amazing that the same Nigerian journalists who had a fill day writing sensational headlines about Pastor Chris Oyakhilome and Christ Embassy here in Nigeria have expanded their coasts to include the foreign missions of Christ Embassy. The bible says Jesus Christ came as a "sign that shall be spoken against - Lk2:34, it's been over 2000 years and they are still talking.

Relax!! Like Joseph, he wears a coat of many colors and those who work with him, wear same with him, that is why the names of brethren, Pastors, staff etc are now beginning to show up in the articles. Grin. If all the stories published in the Nigerian media did not stop the spread, growth and expansion of the ministry, the trickles coming in from huhuonline and the likes cannot make tangible impact. The Church is marching on!!!

Pastor Chris, just keep doing what God has asked you to to do, journalists, keep talking - concoct the stories, mislead the uninformed, misconstrue the facts, but know one thing for sure, a lie, no matter how long it stays in office, can never become truth.

QED Cool
Tammy Ashley
http://uspeakoutnow./

I LAUGH MY LAUGH

THOSE THAT BOUGHT THE CAR FOR HER DEY ENTER BUS WITH THEIR CHILDREN AND BUGGIE WHILE THE WOMAN OF GOSPEL DEY CRUISE HER MOTO.
I NO BLAME HER NA THE MUMUS I BLAME,EVEN SELF RUMOURS PLENTY FOR LONDON ABOUT THE MARRIAGE OH!
NO MAKE ME TALK 4 THIS THREAD OH

why do NL people hate pastors these days, you should friggin hate your hypocritical selves

135 million nigerians of which 46% are labelled christians, let us say per chance 2% of that 46% actually pray for better things, do you not know that Nigeria can witness miraculous change, instead the bleedin 46% are blissfully ignorant of the fact that God has left the building and they have been worshiping false prophets and teachers of wealthy and prosperity. God said it and we christian fools ignored it

Seek Kingdom and Righteousness and all will be added (abi)