Rev Chris Oyakhilome, founder of Believers Love World, also known as Christ Embassy Church, has lambasted pastors that have refused to reopen their churches due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Oyakhilome said such pastors have denied the faith, stressing that they are no longer believers.

Addressing his members yesterday, Oyakhilome said, “If you refuse to open church for fear of being infected, you were never a believer.

“This is a great concern because there were churches that were thought to be churches until recently. We find a lot of ministers who were thought to be advocates of the gospel advocating for shutting down the churches because they cannot guarantee safety.

“It is pressure like this that reveals what is a church and what is not. Do they really believe in God, the same God of the patriarchs in the Bible?”

“When you get to that point where you are afraid of opening churches for fear of being infected, you have denied the faith. You never believed,” he said.

Recall that pastors like the Serving Overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church (CGCC), Tunde Bakare, had warned against the reopening of churches.

Bakare had told Christians not to allow any religious leader or government official, to lead them like a sheep to the slaughter house.

Also, Pastor Sam Adeyemi of Daystar Christian Centre had said his church would open when it’s safe.