A retired Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, Anthony Cardinal Okogie, has warned the Senior Pastor of the Household of God Church International, Lagos, Chris Okotie, against speaking out of ignorance or face public ridicule.
The cardinal was reacting to a recent controversial comment credited to Okotie that “all Catholics will go to hell”.
The flamboyant Okotie had while criticizing the Catholic Church in a sermon, said the church was “a counterfeit church set up by Satan”, adding that Catholics “bow to idols and crucify Jesus every Sunday when they eat bread claiming they are eating Jesus’ body”.
The comment has since generated widespread condemnation from Catholics, who fumed over the propriety or otherwise of such a comment. But Okotie stood his ground saying “Truth is bitter”, in apparent response to the reaction his sermon generated.
Describing the Catholic Church as “a counterfeit church set up by Satan,” Okotie said, “They (Catholics) are not Christians and have never been. They don’t know Jesus. They believe that when they eat bread on Sundays, they are eating the body of Jesus. its ritual”, he added.
Okogie, however, flayed the comment saying it was wrong for the 55-year-old pastor to speak on what he knew little or nothing about.
He said, “It is always good to talk on what you know, not on what you do not know. The problem we have today is that a lot of people put their mouth in what does not concern them because they want people to know that they too are there; that they can be reckoned with.
“I don’t think that is the way to do things, no. I think the best thing is to always put your mouth where God puts it, if you don’t want to be disgraced”, Okogie warned.
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