The General Overseer of Melchizedek Church International, Port Harcourt, Rev (Dr) Samuel Ochiobi Uruakpa has frowned at the lack of cohesion among Christians, saying the trend was doing more harm to the church than good.
The cleric who spoke to journalists in Port Harcourt on Monday ahead of the 12th Anniversary celebration of Melchizedek Church International, carpeted church leaders for what he called clear ignorance of the teachings of Christ.
The reverend minister who hails from Umuahia in Abia State, said it is an error for Christians not to see themselves as members of one body in Christ, adding that that error, if not checked could lead to outright collapse of the church.
“That error is the downfall of many churches in Nigeria today. People are celebrating their General Overseers and their churches more than God. Catholics and Melchizedek cannot see eye to eye. Assemblies of God and Deeper Life can’t tolerate each other. Jehovah’s Witness and Cherubim and Seraphim do not walk on the same road.
“But we carry the same bible, we profess the same Jesus Christ and yet we don’t come together. This is why Islam are having upper hand on us”, he lamented.
The General Overseer of the church however singled out his ministry as a commission where God is the focus. According to him, the church does not publish his image or that of his wife and pastors on billboards, banners or signpost.
“The reason we don’t put our pictures on these instruments is because we don’t preach about ourselves but Christ. That’s what I expect every church overseer to promote God more than themselves so that their followers would not be guilty of idolatory”, he said.
Rev. Uruakpa said that Christians especially in the Southern part of the country should count themselves blessed for not facing the kind of persecution their counterparts in the North are currently faced with following the hostility from Fulani herdsmen and the Boko Haram.
He said Melchizedek has every cause to celebrate the 12th anniversary reflecting God’s mercies and grace.
“Within these past years, God has used us to carry out miracles. We have conducted many deliverance crusades in places like Ogbakiri, Okigwe, Ngwaland where testimonies are still being harvested many years after” he said, stressing that a special thanksgiving service will hold on Sunday, March 31st to celebrate the victory.
