₦airaland Forum

Good morning Gombs,

There is nothing wrong with what Pastor Chris wrote up there. It is Word of Faith, alright.

I hope to continue analysis on cult psychology. This thread is really not meant for debates. Like the others I have worked on, it is to warn people. You could either take a warning or not take it.

The thread will also help those coming out of the cult thinking of WoF. It would help you when God eventually liberates you from that sect you glory in today.

Keep Your Body In Health - Tuesday, April 7th . 

Pastor Chris 

Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you (Luke 10:19). 

As a child of God, your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost (1 Corinthians 6:19), which means your body isn't yours; it's owned by God. However, you're the one to keep watch over your body and keep it in health. You're the one to exercise authority over your body, keeping it free of sickness, disease and infirmity. 

The words of Jesus in our opening verse should let you know that you're not ordinary; you have the right to tell your body how it should feel. Tell your body what to do, and it'll respond. Jesus said in Mark 11:23 that you shall have what you say. If you've been struggling with an addiction, declare with boldness, "I'm not going to let anything dominate me. I keep my body in subjection to the Word of God!" Don't permit in your body anything that's not consistent with the Word of God for your life; take charge and rule over your body with the Word of God. 

When you perceive the symptoms of sickness in your body, reject them for they only become real when you say they are. Your words aren't empty; what you say comes to pass; therefore, talk to your body always, and keep it in health. Don't say, "I have a growth in my stomach and it's hurting so bad. The doctor says it's cancer". Don't talk about the growth; talk to it instead! Tell it to die and pass out from your body. Tell the pain to cease, and tell your body to function rightly in line with the life of Christ that's in your spirit. 

Christ literally lives in you! He dwells in your spirit and expresses Himself through your physical body. Your consciousness of this reality makes it easier for you to exercise dominion over your body against sickness, disease, and infirmity. 

Confession...
The Spirit of God vitalizes every fibre of my being! The God-life in me destroys sickness, disease and infirmities! I'm healthy and strong! Only the life and nature of Christ - His beauty and glory - are manifested in my physical body, because He perambulates in me, through the Holy Spirit. Halleluiah!

Further Study:
Romans 8:10-13
And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.

13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

Daily Scripture Reading 

1-Year Bible Reading Plan: Luke 11:14-36,Judges 3-4

2-Year Bible Reading Plan: Matthew 27:55-66, Leviticus 7

trustman:
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Now you're doing exactly what you accuse him of - paint him black!

But do you hero-worship your pastor chris?
Do you apply 1 Corinthians 3:21 to him? If so how?

Thank you nannymcphee for the contribution.

I had stated somewhere that I will hesitate to call Pentecostal churches that teach WoF cults bc I can vouch that a lot of them, to some extent still preach the basic tenets of scripture that can secure the eternal home of a soul.

Unfortunately I cannot say this of CEC. I believe that church has tilted into the realm of a full blown cult and thus the need for a thread like this one.

The similarities with other churches you pointed out is those churches tethering to the cliff end and themselves entering the cult realm. One other church that is clearly a cult is the Synagogue of all Nation - T B Joshua. Unfortunately CEC have love, respect and adoration for this man.

What other evidence is left on the shelf?

I will continue in other posts with chapter of Dr Martin book as he speaks on cults vocabulary.

WinsomeX:
Appendix 4 or 5 of Kingdom of the Cults have done justice the issue of why the religion of Mohammed is a cult. Pls consult that manual.

Judaism is not a cult. It is the religion of the Jews. And if properly taught and believed should lead them to the Saviour.

With this I hope you don't derail this thread any further. If you cannot defend why CEC should not be called a cult, you may sit back, read and learn a few things.

damosky12:
Sir, like Gombs earlier said: if you are so concerned about a erring church, get on your knees and pray for them that their eyes be opened. I also think you should be reading materials that is connected to the gospel of Jesus instead of that one confusing you now.Its only on the basis of the word that you can prove sth to be error."that ye may be able to prove"Rom 12:2

WinsomeX:
Yes.

Incidentally, the book also listed Islam in appendix..

I don't know your point in asking but Christians are already on guard against Islam. Its churches like yours that need to be warned against bc yours is the subtle deceiver. Islam is not.

WinsomeX:
Before I answer your question, note the bold. Now to your question:



Dr Martins is sound because he was a Christian whose persuasion came from orthodox Christianity: Reformed theology. He was well taught with four degrees, ultimately earning a PHD in theology. He was sound because he could clearly distinguish BTW what was Christian and what was cultic, this the book.

As for tithing and spiritual gifts, the recent book reviewer had himself said on minor issues, he disagreed with Walter. Example eschatology. And that those who worked on the recent edition Also were not agreed on all points of doctrine. You might find an antitither among them then.

Until you can show me where Walter taught that not tithing is cultic, you will have to make do with the topic of discuss and stop digressing from the issues on ground.

WinsomeX:
I could you wish you would heed your own advice and stay on topic. The topic on discuss here is CEC bring a cult, not tithes or cessationism. There are hundreds of threads on tithes, you can post this there and mention me, I may oblige you.

WinsomeX:
It was the introductory statement on the sect. You can download the book and read the rest yourself.

vooks:
Is WOF cultic?
Please make a point of examining the sources shared by Winsomex. Appendix B titled the Word Faith Movement paragraph 4.

The reason I asked about marriages is because that is the hallmark of cults; exclusivism. They are the only custodians of truth and outside is just ignorance and deception.

I don't know of ANY pentecostal church that frowns upon members marrying other pentecostals and it came as a surprise that CEC actively discourages that bro.

I find it decidedly convenient that you keep on throwing examples of Catholicism and JW,obvious sectarian organizations. Catholics derives their doctrine/authority from Scriptures AND Tradition;JW from their own translation of scriptures AND Watchtower Society. These two are clearly incompatible with Pentecostalism. But what about RCCG?

Once again, what's the risk of Gombs marrying an RCCG girl? By actively encouraging 'inbreeding' while being indifferent to inter-sects marriages, they are clearly DISCOURAGING such

A more relevant question is, what's so WRONG with a fine RCCG damsel?

Kenny4lyfe:
Christianity is a cult indeed

*We eat flesh;
*We drink blood;
*We speak in tongues (which is gibberish to the spiritually unlearned);
*We call forth things that be not as though they were ('cus we've come to understand that all things were made by the spoken word);
*We are so addicted to our belief such that it has become the air we breathe, the clothe we wear and the food we eat and we are resolute that nothing- not tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, unclothedness, sword, peril nor a dead on arrival thread by someone with a personal vendetta would stop us. and;
*We are led by God's spirit.
What more can I say?
We are unstoppable jor!!!!

Gombs,
First tithing is not exclusive to evangelicals. Even Catholicism teaches it
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14741b.htm
SDAs too
So for Walter Martin to have believed and taught it and yet label WOF as cultic means the distinction between tithing and WOF was clear to him.

There is something you mentioned up there to the effect that marriages within membership are strongly encouraged to 'prevent clash of doctrines' and you gave example of a Catholic and a CEC lady marrying.

Please tell me whether there are doctrines peculiar to CEC and not other evangelical churches like say RCCG, and if marriages between members of CEC and other evangelical churches are frowned upon.

Thanks buddy

WinsomeX:
As we continue the study of Christ Embassy being a cult, my hope is that the readers understand that my reference to the CEC being a cult is not in that extreme manner of a group of people who make covenants in blood and hold meetings at night. This is the reason I refused to respond to an earlier comment where an individual resorted to the dictionary to define what a cult should be. I am not doing dictionary definition of cultism here. I am looking at cults as defined by Walter Martins in his book The Kingdom of the Cults and with reference to how the bible sees them.

Apart from the Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses and Christian Science, Dr Martins also did a study of many other cult groups, including the New Age movement, etc. I was very surprised to find Word of Faith listed as a cult in the Appendix of the book although my surprise was only a confirmation of something I have long suspected.

Joagbaje has commented on this thread with a seeming witty statement that Christianity could as well be a cult if CEC is one. Like a responder said to him, such a comment cannot detract from the matter on ground.

Dr Walter Martin was a sound evangelical Christian. His theological persuasion were derived from orthodox Protestant theologies, deeply rooted in the Reformed Tradition. He was not a Pentecostal and he did not list Pentecostalism as a cult in his book. In fact he did not include WoF as a cult in the original version of his book. But his followers deemed it fit to include WoF as cultic after his death and that's why it is listed in the appendix of the book.

Quite naturally the thought of CEC being a cult sounds distasteful and I'm certain even some that are my friends in this forum may think that my assertion is a little on the extreme but shall we consider the evidences before us without bias and shall we not take heed lest this false doctrine creep into our homes and into the lives of our children? Shall we permit a modern day Nigerian Jimmy Jones tragedy before we speak out?

Another person has shared on this thread how people he knows suddenly become "new creatures" the moment they imbibe CEC doctrines into their lives. With thinking of "I'm a god", "I can fly", "I can do all things", "the world is mine", "I do everything for the money", etc, replete in their thoughts and words.

I would continue the discuss as I try to retrieve salient quotes from Dr Martins on the cultist mental state, so that you can understand the CEC member next door even better.

Cheers.

- WX.

CRI has had an official position on the subject, it has been that Christians should tithe. Walter Martin’s answer to this question was a resounding yes.

He cited Hebrews 7:8–9 as proof, arguing that just as Abraham, who was before the Law of Moses, paid tithes to Melchizadek (a type of Christ), so we who were “in his loins” as his children through faith (even as the text says Abraham’s grandson Levi was in his loins) should properly pay tithes to Christ.

Current CRI president Hank Hanegraaff has not been as vocal about tithing as was Martin, but in an upcoming book he will take the position that tithing is for today.

He cites, among other things, the fact that Jacob tithed to God long before Moses (Gen. 28:22), and long after Moses, Jesus reaffirmed tithing even while censuring the Pharisees for their meticulous practice of it to the neglect of the weightier matters of religion (Matthew 23:23).

MuttleyLaff:
There is cult, and there is cult
Is this an attempt to "get the dirt off" Christ embassy so Christ embassy can come up smelling of roses?

Joagbaje:
It's not only Christ embassy that's a cult . Christianity is a cult.

WinsomeX:
^^^

Very well, Gombs. I will accept it that you have responded to my question and queries alright.

At the risk of sounding repetitive, can you please tell me in a nutshell what the GOSPEL of Jesus Christ is? Of course, after you return from church.

WinsomeX:
Gombs, can you list out whatever grouse you have with this thread in a serial manner: 1,2,3,... and let's treat them one after the other. That way our readers can both understand us and there can be some order in the discussion.

I have stated why I believe your church is a cult. You could then state what and what in my discussion does not support this assertion.

Can we try that, please?

Believers’ LoveWorld, It’s a place, Where we share God’s love, Reaching out, With peace and love, Making plain God’s plan for all, Believers’ LoveWorld, Building a happier, World with love;

Believers’ LoveWorld, Giving your life a meaning, All we know is a life of giving, Love is shared abroad, In our heart, Believers’ LoveWorld, Building a happier, World with love;

Believers’ LoveWorld, we are one big family, you’re my sister, you’re my brother, There’s no difference, in our midst, Believers’ LoveWorld, Building a happier, World with love;

stonecoldcafe:
Op I believe you. I will make my humble submission and bow out. I'm not here to argue or trade words with anyone.

Pastor Chris is a man I always admired. While I was still @ the university, I attended the fellowship but after a month or two I had to flee. Now this is very personal. No one annoyed me or said anything but I just felt deep in my heart I was not in the right place. Shortly afterwards I got admission to a better school with a better course and left.

I had good friends who remained there. They grew up the ranks and became leaders and pastors in the church. Now here is where it gets funny. I recall one of such people becoming really distant. I tried to fill the gap but NO WAY. It was not just me but other friends who noticed it. Even her siblings became worried.

This friend was like a fanatic n the person said things we couldn't understand "I'm a god haha! I am above you. You don't understand, I walk through walls. I'm invisible haha! (Burst into tongues) my pastor said ..."

You could not reason with this person on any wave length. I knew someone else who was GREATLY persecuted for choosing to marry a fellow believer from another church. I knew another person who was totally shunned by ALL. I'm talking close friends in CE leaders and pastors just because he said God has given him a mandate to open his own church.

By the way the above brother was a fanatic, Pastor Chris talking, jerry curl hair and all that yet all that didn't save him once he claimed God had called him.

WinsomeX:
OTHERS

Other proof of the cultic nature of CEC is their violence and hate. There have been numerous occasions in which people have tried to investigate the church and have ended being beaten black and blue. A lady who supplied screen to their recently concluded ministers conference was beaten because she demanded to be paid for her services.

As for hate , readers can just sit back and see the response of Christ Embassy members to this thread. How they very easily dodge issues and aim diatribes at the critic's personality or personal lives. When this is not sufficient, they then begin to rain down curses or resort to cheap spiritual blackmail.

You, ---, occupy the latter in all these statements. You are not a Christian, you are a liar. You are not hearing the Holy Spirit, you are hearing demons. Your eternal destination is not heaven but hell. You are a son of perdition. Those who listen to you do so at great peril to their souls.

CEC members all talk like Pastor Chris; they dress like him; they copy his gesticulations and style. They seek to be like Chris Oyakhilome and not Christ.

I understand that CEC members read mostly Oyakhilome publications. If they would read anything else, it must be from the error of other Word of Faith preachers.

Members marry only members.

There is a perversive demand for money in the church, to the extent that member "sow" all their possessions and money to church. It is not uncommon to find members begging people for money to give for offering. Recently, the church began demanding money for New Year morning services. Stories of people defrauding their companies to give to church abound in the dailies. The atrocities are endless.

The biggest proof of the cult of CEC is the freedom they deny their members. Members cannot critique Oyakhilome. If you do, the threat of a curse is issued. There is a bondage to fit the "successful mold" - the impression that you have made it, so members have no qualms selling all they have so as to give to the endless demand for "pledges".

Conclusion.

It was difficult for me to conclude that CEC is a cult but having read Walter Martins, I couldn't help but do so. Christ Embassy members claim to win souls for Christ but the truth is that they are making these people twice the son of hell that they really are. This is a desperate call to our youths in this church to leave it and find some other bible church to go to.

I will stop here for now.

From my perspective, an organization can be said to be a cult from what it teaches and it's lifestyle.

We have seen that the essential teaching of CEC is WoF. While WoF is clearly false a wholesome doctrine, I hesitate to describe all churches teaching Word Faith as cults because they emphasize certain truths that still keeps them "safe". Example, many of these churches believe in Christ's deity. They encourage a heart submission to Christ's Lordship and encourage holy living. These minimums still keeps them from going overboard. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of Christ Embassy.

The following are a quick shot at why CEC is today a cult.

1. Chris Oyakhilome is their god.

While discussing cult organizations, Walter Martins made it clear that cult organization usually refer to a man or woman as their sole authority, not the bible. For Jehovah Witnesses it was Charles Taze Russell . For Christian Science it is Mary Eddy Baker. For Mormons it is Joseph Smith . And for Christ Embassy, it is Chris Oyakhilome. We only need to see how these other cult organization equate the literatures of their founders to the bible, and in many cases, subordinating scriptures to the words of their founders, to agree with me. That's the tragedy of literatures like Rhapsody of Realities, etc, in the CEC.

[s]Chris Oyakhilome is effectively the prophet and god of the Christ Embassy cult. His members consider him infallible and the anointed one, their Christ. I am told by an old member of nl that Joagbaje, a leading CE member on nl, used to refer to Chris Oyakhilome as "Pastor Christ", instead of Pastor Chris, as he fondly called by his followers. This example, and many others like it, point to the cultism that CEC church has become. [/s]

2. Sin in the Congregation.

A leading Christ Embassy follower on this forum, mbaemeka, once commented that a brother once left CEC bc he was tired of the immorality going on in their midst. He says that the brother eventually "fell" into a worse sin where he went to. The point he was trying to make was that sin is of men's heart and not environment. The point he passed across unknowingly was that sexual immorality was the order of the day in the cult of Chris Oyakhilome.

There is no greater proof of this than the widely reported divorce case BTW Chris and his wife, Anita. Anita had stated in her appeal for divorce in a British court that her husband was known to have "inappropriate relations" with ladies in church. Those in the know refer this to the endless line of lady pastor that live in the "White House", Oyakhilome residence, in Lagos. Chris has live apart from his wife since 1999 when she left to start the UK Branch of their church. Pastor Chris might require us to believe he has been celibate since then.

A study of Walter Martins work on cults reveals that the leader is usually a sex maniac. Who has unreserved access to ladies in church. They normally have failed marriages.

Sexual immorality is the order of the day among CEC members. They revel in it. My investigations reveal that married people are even known to date other people's wives and husbands in church.

3. Fake Miracles:

Like the Christian Science cult, the CEC is also known for its fake miracles. Thanks to the painstaking work of our own SirJohn here on nairaland, Chris Oyakhilome is now known as a fake miracle worker, with his healing school, a place where the sick and the gullible are reaped off of their resources without getting healed. The story of Kenya28 help seal the fake miracles story of CEC and the more recently discovered case of a man whom Joagbaje claimed to heal of HIV but who was never healed.

WinsomeX:
www.servantofmessiah.org/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2011/08/Kingdom-of-the-Cults-by-Walter-Martin.pdf

www.nairaland.com/1790500/word-faith-movements-doctrine-proponents

THE CULTIC CONNECTION IN THE WORD OF FAITH MOVEMENT

The first of the two links provided above is a PDF download link to a book written by Dr Walter Martins on cult organizations in Christendom. Dr Martin, died 1989, was considered an authority in cult organizations. Thanks to his research and work, organizations like the Jehovah Witnesses, Christian Science and Mormons, are now known as cults among church people. The book also discusses other cult organizations. This edition however composed of some addition to what Dr Martins had written. It has a section in the Appendix that discusses the Word of Faith movement, page 479. Everything that was written in that appendix was simply a confirmation of what trustman, DrummaBoy and BabaGnoni had discussed in a thread on Word of Faith. Find the thread above. The conclusion was that the Word of Faith had cultic influences, even if it cannot be called a strict cult. In my submission next, I wish to argue that the Christ Embassy Church, while teaching WoF, has finally crossed over to being a cult organization and that people need to beware of this.

I refer my readers to the two documents above for a thorough study into Word of Faith and other cults. But I will simply just do a summary on the cultic connection in Word of Faith.

The teachings of Word of Faith can be summarised in the followings, as gleaned from the Kingdom of Cults, page 479:

1. Faith in faith.

2. Confessing to Possessing.

3. The Sin of Suffering

4. Wealth (The Wheel of Fortune).

5. Health and Healing.

You may refer to the above links for a thorough understanding into these[b] five essential false doctrines of the WoF. [/b] But here I shall conclude on what exactly is the gospel of Jesus Christ and why the WOF is not Christ gospel.

THE GOSPEL

The gospel of Jesus Christ is not health and wealth. Regardless of how the Word Faith enthusiasts spin scriptures, Jesus did not die so that we all could be healthy and wealthy.

This is why Jesus came to the world and why he died:

Matthew 1:21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

Jesus came to die to save men from sin. The message of this season, Easter. Nothing more.

The bad news of humanity is that all men are born sinners. God then set in an initiative to save men. He came to the world as Christ and died for men's sins. The reason was because God is a righteous judge and will judge sin. When Christ died, God judged the sin of the world on him. So that whoever believes in Christ can have his sins judged and taken and away on the cross.

The consequence is two folds: Christians will not suffer God's judgement and Christian possess power over sin to live holy. Thus, we may not be able to say you are going to heaven but we sure can see the fruit of your life, holiness, without which no man shall see God.

WoF miss the point of the gospel when they say that in addition to redemption from sin, the cross has secured health and wealth for Christians.

The easiest answer to this position is that in Christ we see holiness and heavenliness; however Jesus suffered poverty

and identified with the sick in Matthew 25, saying "when I was sick..."; shall we say Jesus was not of God for being poor and [size=28pt]sick[/size]?

In the long run, WoF ceases to teach holiness and heavenliness. Rather their emphasis are health, wealth, success, promotion, motivation, etc.

These discussions have become important because a large section of prophesing Christians are now WoF enthusiasts.

vfactor:
Going by your definition of a cult in the 3rd post, it would mean that 90% of the churches in Nigeria are all cults. Cos they worship their founders (those who call their GO daddy and hold unto his words more than the bible), perform fake miracles and condone sin. They re also violent (verbally) when confronted with questions about their beliefs.


By d dictionary definition the above doesn't define a cult. Oxford dictionary defines a cult as a small group of people who have EXTREME RELIGIOUS BELIEFS and are not part of any ESTABLISHED RELIGION.

Going by this definition by an authority such as the Oxford Dictionary, the religious groups u mentioned above (Christ Embassy, Jehovah's witnesses) cannot be said to be a cult. For they claim to be christians and as far I know do not have extreme religious beliefs. (Especially the witnesses). I feel if any of those religious organisations should sue you for libel, u'd pay heavily. Get you facts right!!