₦airaland Forum

WHY I LEFT CHRIST EMBASSY. Christ embassy is like a world within a world. If you enter there all your life plunges into this illusory world that makes you dream, yet completely disconnected from reality. You become so obsessed with it that your whole life begins to revolve around the church, you begin to live for the church and according to the church. Christ Embassy has more place in a member's life than any other area of his or her life. The church gives you an illusory identity to the point that you begin to think that everyone who is not of Christ Embassy is in an inferior world. You begin to identify with the church more than with your family, your country, your work. You become so obsessed with it that you feel that your real job, what you live for, are the goals and targets of the church. You use your workplace, your school, your university, your community only for church causes, to bring Pastor Chris' message everywhere. Add a member of Christ Embassy to a whatsapp group related to something else and he will only use that to share the rhapsody and the pastor Chris materials. At Christ Embassy even if something is in the bible, if Pastor Chris never mentioned it, then it is not the truth. I remember telling a brother that faith is a spirit and i even showed him the verse where Paul says: By the same spirit of faith...2 Chor. 4:13. As he never heard Pastor Chris saying that he refused to believe it. And such behavior is sustained in the church. In a group related to Christ Embassy you cannot share materials from another ministry until Pastor Chris recognized this man. But what are the real reasons why I slammed the church door? First of all, at Christ Embassy the pastor is revered as a god. People are so obsessed with pleasing the pastor. People are so afraid of the pastor, he has such authority over you... To understand what I'm talking about, you have to be a leader in the church. Second, the pressure of targets and competition. At Christ Embassy, we operate in terms of targets. Those targets are about souls to be won and money to be given. So much money is mobilized that if that money were directed to socio-economic development projects for members, I don't know how much impact it would have on the communities. Alas, it's all about Pastor Chris: his books, his events, his TV channels, his foundation, and his personal ministerial initiatives. You give for something you will need to pays to have access. It should be noted that Christ Embassy operates as a network marketing company. That means you move up the ladder based on the results you achieve in terms of souls earned and money given. All donations are supposed to be put in an envelope by the giver, where they identify themselves and the purpose of their donation or the branch of the partnership they are supporting through that donations. The church engages the members in a kind of competition and the members themselves also seek the sympathy or approval of the pastor to satisfy their need to feel important or superior to others. Such a competition goes as far as even in the choir and other departments where people jostle to be on the list of those who will sing to seek the pastor's recognition or appreciation. This generates conflicts between the members of the department and some who take over the choir to be the most prominent. Being close to the pastor is such a privilege for the members that they compete to occupy this place reserved for those who give more and those who mobilize the most people. Targets are set and at the end of each service the pastor meets with his leaders and their assistants to report on their targets and how many people they have brought. You cannot imagine the level of pressure and fear that people have when they have not reached their targets. This leads people to use all means sometimes beyond what they have just to reach those targets. The pastor himself is also under pressure because he is also subjected to targets from his hierarchy, from the zonal and regional pastor to the president, but also through competition with his peers. At a conference called IPPC (International Pastors & partners Conference) the best or biggest donors and pastors whose churches have grown the most are rewarded at an awards event. All pastors and members are obsessed with these awards. At another called the International Cell leaders Conference (ICLC) that brings together the best cell leaders from around the world, there is also an awards event organized which obsesses the cell leaders. I cannot mention the lack of consideration for leaders who fail to meet their targets. All church initiatives revolve around the 2 goals, more members and more money. But why did I leave Christ Embassy? The overflow was at a leaders' meeting, the pastor said: we have to try to reach out the politicians because they are the ones with the money. Where I was, I felt a feeling of holy anger, of revolt rising within me. This is a Nigerian pastor who is leaving his country, sent to my country to gain access to corrupt politicians in my country because they have money. That was the last straw! How? How did you do it? This guy has no concern for the people he leads, how the country they live in is led, how it affects their lives and their families. All the guy cares about is money by all means. How can there be any doubt when I hear that the leaders of this church are involved in money laundering activities. It's really sad. Billy Issa, for the love of God, the church and the nation!