Veteran actor and broadcaster Patrick Doyle has criticised members of Pastor Lazarus Muoka’s The Lord’s Chosen Church for using the phrase “I am a chosen,” asserting that it should never be associated with the body of Christ as their focus is not on God.
Taking to his Facebook page on Saturday, Patrick expressed his disapproval of the popular phrase.
According to him, the members of the church are not directing their devotion toward Jesus Christ when they chant the phrase, but rather to their General Overseer (GO), Pastor Muoka.
He wrote, “The phrase ‘I am a chosen,’ as used by members of the religious sect called ‘Chosen,’ should never be connected to the Body of Christ.
“The members of this sect do not have Jesus in mind when they chant the phrase. Their adoration is unequivocally directed at a man, their GO, and the sect he founded. The phrase does not mention or even imply Jesus in any way.”
He went on to criticise the association of the phrase with Christian faith, calling it a mockery.
“To infer that the nonsensical phrase is remotely connected to giving glory to the name or person of our Savior, Jesus Christ, is to make a mockery of our faith.
“Bloggers and content creators using the phrase are not mocking the Church of God but the sect in question and its founder.”
The pastor also addressed clergymen who have spoken out against the ridicule of the phrase, stating, “Members of the clergy who cite mockery of that phrase as an attack on the faith are gravely mistaken.
“Their defense of this phrase is, in fact, an endorsement of a sect that places its GO above Jesus, reducing the importance of Christ in their worship.”
In his post, Patrick clarified that his comments were not an encouragement to mock Christianity but emphasised that this specific instance of mockery does not target the faith as a whole.
In response to Patrick’s post, Bishop Kenneth Ebolum disagreed, suggesting that the actor could not claim to know what is in the hearts of the members and that he would only be correct if they were chanting the name of their GO directly.
Patrick fired back, stating, “Mouka’s indoctrination of his members to the point of deifying his person and the sect is what’s damaging Christianity. I don’t need ESP to determine that the chant is not directed at Jesus.
“From the abundance of their indoctrinated hearts, their mouths speak words that deify their sect and not Jesus, as Jesus is clearly not mentioned by them.”
He further criticised the intense loyalty of the church members to the sect, equating it to brainwashing.
The 63-year-old is a member of Chris Okotie’s Household of God Church.
Patrick Doyle’s remarks come amidst a growing social media trend around the phrase “I am a chosen,” which gained attention after influencer VeryDarkMan publicly questioned the authenticity of testimonies shared by members of The Lord’s Chosen Church.
