Christian World Shocked at Oyakhilome's Divorce Mess

Pastor Oyakhilome and wife,Anita

Shock and disbelief aptly captured the mood of most Nigerians as they reacted to the crisis rocking the marriage of the founder, Believers’ Love World Incorporated, popularly known as Christ Embassy, Pastor Chris Oyakhilome over a divorce suit reportedly filed by his wife, Anita Oyakhilome.
The media was yesterday awash with report that Mrs. Oyakhilome had filed a suit at Divorce Section A, Central Family Court, First Avenue House, High Holborn, London, UK on the grounds of “unreasonable behavior” and ”adultery.”
Reacting to the development, Mrs. Nkiru Ifekwem, a lecturer at the University of Lagos described the situation as “very messy indeed.” According to her, the crisis only shows that men of God are also human beings. “This will only show that we are all humans- Pastors, Reverends, Bishops and so on. All the same, the story is quite disturbing bearing in mind that churches and mosques are the places we look up to in this part of the world as places where mentors for our younger generations shall come from,” she said.
Ifekwem further said, “The wife should have had this in mind and spared the country and our society of this embarrassment by walking away quietly.  That of course would have been a sacrifice as a Christian.  Christianity teaches us that whatever situation we find ourselves is a way of bearing the cross. Both of them should as a matter of urgency reconcile to save their followers and members of this huge embarrassment.”
In his own reaction, another Nigerian, Sammy Johnson, said he  was not surprised at the news as the pastor in question, according to him, had shown lack of respect for the body of Christ by some of his actions in the past. “I am not surprised at what I read today. The man does not have respect for the body of Christ. He shunned the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN leaders when they wanted to broker peace between himself and Chris Okotie when they were having a face-off. Pastor Adeboye, Bishop Okwonkwo and other PFN leaders were shocked when he ignored their call. He even said he was not under PFN,” Johnson noted.
A Facebook user, Cecilia Popoola, described the development as a machination of the devil to dampen the spirit of Christians in the country. “When a man of God of Pastor Chris Oyakhilome status and his wife, Anita failed to find a way of resolving their marital problem amicably, what that means is that the devil is determined to deal a devastating blow on the children of God. This calls for a serious prayer. Christians must unite in prayer on behalf of this family for God to intervene. The marriage must not break,” she declared. In his own reaction, Samuel Whesu expressed shock over the crisis rocking the Oyakhilome family and called on Nigerians not to gloat over the development. According to him, “it is quite unfortunate that this is happening to the family. One major lesson we can learn from this scenario is that nobody has all it takes to make a marriage work. The fact that you are a man of God does not make you immune to marital crisis. People must realize this and stop gloating over the issue. No sane person will rejoice over another person’s marital crisis,” he posited.
Ogboh Sandra, also reacting on Facebook, expressed disbelief that the Oyakhilomes could allow their marital crisis to get out of control. “The report has been on for sometime and one would have expected that the couple would have managed the situation well before getting to this point. It is not only about their family alone, it is about their flock, it is about Christians generally. Ministers of God of their repute are not expected to send such wrong signal about marriage because marriage is an institution ordained by God and as such it must not be brought to disrepute by children of God.”
Also reacting, Kayode Olusola, said he was not surprised that weighty allegation like adultery is rocking Pastor Chris Oyakhilome’s family. Olusola said he had had course to express doubt over the man of God since his “infamous” position on masturbation. “This is a person who claimed masturbation is not a sin. I think what is happening now is another confirmation of what many of us have said even before now,” he said.
Culled from Sun Newspaper