House Hold Of God Church At 27 Years

Radical and political Pastor Chris Okotie celebrates the 27th anniversary of his church House Hold of God today. It also marks the 30th anniversary of him giving his life to Christ.
The man of God was a top musician before he became born again christian 30 years ago.

According to Sun news reports below.
Lately, as always, the set man of the Household of God Church, Oregun, Lagos, Rev. Chris Okotie has been in the news (is he ever out of it?). The quintessential newsmaker and reporters’ delight is having a twin celebration: his 30th year as a Born Again Christian, which milestone was reached last November, 2013  and 27 years as a pastor of, perhaps, the most flambouyant ministry, this side of the world.

The church which actually started in his living room; a white duplex, tucked away inside the Zik estate in a quiet corner of Ikeja Industrial Area, clocked 27 on February 1, 2014, the celebration proper was moved to Sunday, February 2, 2014; though it all began few weeks back with the marking of his Born Again conversion last November, when he bought two luxurious automobiles – a Rolls Royce coupe 2014 Bespoke Edition valued at N120 million, and the world’s current most luxurious SUV, a Range Rover Autobiography which cost N33 million . Hold it! Rev. Okotie loves luxury cars, so, how best could he have expressed his love for Christ Jesus than to roll out these wonders on wheels? When asked why, the cerebral and controversial preacher retorted to a Punch interviewer “Our faith is predicated on the finished work of the Cross of Jesus Christ. It is vindicated by his resurrection from the dead. And it is crystallised when we personally appropriate his blood through faith.  My life is a trajectory of faith and commitment to divine servitude.  It is proof that the veracity of scripture cannot be impeached, that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him”.

“That is why 27 years ago I had nothing, but through a progressive application of the word of God, I have appropriated soul prosperity and material blessings. That is why I was able to pay N33m for the Range Rover Autobiography 2014 Executive and just over N120m for the Rolls Royce Phantom Coupe 2014 bespoke edition; to mark the occasion of 30 years of being a Christian and 27 years of being the pastor of the Household of God Church. Thirty years is symbolic because it is reminiscent of the baptism of the Lord Jesus at the River Jordan at the age of 30.  Prosperity is an integral part of the gospel. It is not an end in itself. It is the authentication and the validation of the acceptance of the Melchizedek priesthood of our Lord Jesus Christ”. With Rev. Okotie, first things come first. No pastor has celebrated ministry anniversary this way; so, you expect him to grab the headlines. The first  celebrity-pastor; first pastor-politician; first pastor to float a political party; first to run for president, four times at a stretch, if his 2015 declaration is added to his previous three attempts – 2003, 2007 and 2011. This record, may stand unbeaten as long as he lives, and since he is of the Methuselah clan (the oldest man in Bible chronicle who lived for 969 years), it may not be broken in his, presumably, unusually long life. Living long in the limelight has not bored his teeming audiences. Celebrated entertainer, Bing Crosby, when asked the secret of his long stardom, said, people didn’t see him often, so they couldn’t have enough of him. In Okotie’s case, he is an audience favourite any day because he is a man with a coat of many colours.

As mentioned earlier, his multi-coloured coat includes colours dark and brightly: celebrity – pastor; lawyer, politician, presidential candidate, fashion icon; author, political activist / columnist; role model and world class theologian, who has assumed the controversial role of a zealot for Jesus Christ in his long war against the perversion of Christ’s gospel; which began with the public reprimand of Christ Embassy’s Chris Oyakhilome for fraternizing with T.B. Joshua, whom Okotie considers to be an interloper. His latest campaign: the boldest and biggest, is his open criticism of Pope Francis and the Catholic Church, for what the Reverend called the “Perversion of the Doctrine of Christ”.

This has drawn the ire of Catholic faithful, including their top priests like the vocal Anthony Cardinal Olubunmi Okojie, who came out of retirement to join issues with Rev. Okotie. The Cardinal’s successor at the influential Metropolitan See of Lagos, Archbishop Adewale Martins has also replied Okotie in a recent Punch interview. However, aside vituperations and emotive verbiage from the Catholic faithful, few have addressed the core issues of doctrinal heresies which Okotie raised.

As if to buttress the Pastor’s argument, Pope Francis, though in a purely coincidental and clearly unrelated incident, made some statements about the Catholic Church’s soft-glove approach to same-sex marriage and tolerance of gays by his church and other explosive remarks which includes strange, new notions about the Bible’s record of Adam and Eve’s story, which the Pontiff reportedly called a fable!  Now, Okotie reasoned, if these were so, then, the entire credibility of the Word of God, which the Bible represents, is impeached. God therefore becomes a liar? Okotie, stupefied, just couldn’t stand this unprecedented apostasy coming from the Holy See.

Interestingly, this “doctrinal war is coming right in the middle of Okotie’s 30th year as a carrier of Christ, which the Pastor’s name connotes, incidentally. He once expressed surprise that he was christened Christopher prophetically as if his late dad, Chief Francis Okotie knew he’d be a zealot for Christ, not just an apostle of the Prince of Peace and Saviour of the world. It may be that at 30 years, the age at which Jesus commenced his epochal ministry after his baptism; the age when David became King of Israel, Rev. Okotie just stepped into a new ministry as a defender of the faith, which was “once committed unto the saints”. He is going about it with uncommon zeal.

Last Sunday, he remarked, quoting, Jude’s short book in the Bible where Christians were admonished to “earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered to the saints”. In other words, Okotie is just fulfilling the scriptures and what a most auspicious time to do this when the Illuminati, that notorious cult of the Beast, is promoting an unprecedented assault against the gospel of the living Christ.

It is quite instructive that what is happening now was long predicted by Rev. Okotie in his monumental book, the only book he ever wrote. “The Last Outcast”, published about a decade ago. Perhaps we need to revisit that book because its postulates clearly foretold the unfolding events in the church, and the fulfillment of the ministry of the Anti-Christ and his agents who are beginning to preach the doctrine of devils which Apostle Paul also forewarned in the book of Timothy.

Much of Okotie’s preaching  now focuses on eschatology, a revelation of the end times; a very complex subject few preachers have the knowledge and understanding to deal with. He talks about these things with a certain authority, and conveys some earth–shaking revelations which could only come from a man who is connected to the Throne of Grace. Perhaps, with the recent turmoil that Okotie’s expose on the Catholic doctrine has caused world-wide, the battle or the earnest contention for the real faith which Apostle Jude talked about has just began. This battle is now championed by Rev. Okotie as he steps into the symbolic 30th year of his ministry. That, for me, is the significance of this twin celebration, beyond the glitz and glamour that the Reverend bring to the pulpit and politics.