Founder and President of Believers LoveWorld Incorporated alias Christ Embassy Pastor Chris Oyakhilome has condemned the government’s plan to regulate the duration of church services.
Churches will be required to limit the duration of services to one hour at a time, and only on Sundays, according to a guideline released by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19.
But in a broadcast to members of his church, Oyakhilome threatened that the number of hours government officials were imposing on churches was what they had left in the world.
He said, “We can serve God as he wants us to, not as somebody says we should.
“I am appalled that some people have the audacity to tell us how many hours we can spend in church. How dare you?
“What in the world do you think you are? Your time is short. You cannot tell God’s people how long they can spend in church. If you built the building for them and you are saying you are not going to let them enter the building, maybe because you built it.
“But if you didn’t, you have no right to tell God’s people you’re going to spend one hour or two hours in church. I tell you, the number of hours you tell them they have in the church is the number of hours you have left.â€
Oyakhilome had in an earlier sermon criticised some preachers who agreed to the closure of churches over COVID-19 without consulting with fellow church leaders.
The televangelist who has branches in several parts of the world including UK and the US has repeatedly promoted a conspiracy theory about COVID-19 and 5G mobile networks.