Dear friends,

The court proceedings have been going on steadily since September 2011 and finally they have started reading the charges.

It has also now become clear why Pastor Sunday Adelaja is being charged with criminal offence - the prosecutors are basing their arguments on three points:

1.    They believe that the Embassy of God Church is a cult and a sect and that Pastor Sunday is the cult or sect leader. They believe that members of the church place him on the same level with God, Jesus and the Bible and that anything he says is like a law to people who attend the church. Hence why when Pastor taught about finances and the need to save and invest for economic empowerment this became like a law to members of our church as they take his words to be the words of God.

The prosecutors claim that it was as a result of his teachings that the owners of the now collapsed company called “King’s Capital” decided to start the company and have therefore qualified him as the head of this so called “organized crime”. The prosecutors believe that he must take the prime responsibility before the law for any offense committed by Kings Capital, because he is the head of the criminal conspiracy group that aimed at defrauding Ukrainians of their earnings

2.    Their second argument is that since our church is a cult and not a normal Christian church we employ the use of psychological manipulation and brainwashing to control the will of the church members. So, according to them, members, who invested in King`s Capital, were actually manipulated through Pastor Sunday`s teachings on finances and investment to defraud them of their money.

3.    Thirdly, they argue that Pastor Sunday has an interest in the company given the fact that since the church practices what is called “tithe and offering” employees of the company as well as members of the congregation who invested would eventually bring their tithe and offering in the church. This is why according to them, Pastor Sunday masterminded the whole operation.  

So it is on the basis of these arguments that they are accusing Pastor Sunday of fraud and of heading a criminal organization which carry 12 years imprisonment.

Bear in mind, that the prosecutors do not have any documents, written or unwritten, that connect Pastor Sunday with this company. Everything is just gainsaying and presumptions. Pastor Sunday never instructed anybody to take their money to this company, and we know our church is not a cult. Pastor Sunday is not equal to God or the Bible and everybody makes their own decision. Additionally, Pastor Sunday`s name or signature is not on any of the company`s documents.  As a matter of fact, Pastor Sunday does not even know the address of this company and has never been there.

At this stage, the Pastors defense team is yet to speak, but as things are in Ukraine coming from communism, there is nothing like the rule of law or the separation of power. The judge only does what the government tells him to do. As evident in the case of the former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko now in prison, the case of the former Minister of Internal Affairs, Yuriy Lutsenkno, now in prison as well as the former President Leonid Kuchma who is currently under investigation.  

Moreover, Ukraine does not have the practice of jurors. It is only the judge that takes all the decisions and all judges are under the supervision of the governments General Prosecution’s department. So it is always difficult for any judge to try to go against his superiors.

So as the case is now, it is very clear that this government just wants to curtail the powerful and influential forces in the country and put them under check. As a matter of fact the democratically elected Mayor of Kiev and member of our church had to leave the country. This is because according to him Pastor Sunday is being prosecuted mainly because of Pastor Sunday`s connection with the Mayor and his political influence in Ukraine.

But Pastor Sunday refuses to leave Ukraine because he is believing God for His intervention. Pastor Sunday wishes to remain in the country to clear his name of all kinds of corruption, allegations and accusations.

So we ask all our friends and well wishers to hold us up in prayers and try to give us all the support possible.

Thank you and God bless!

Yours in Him,
Administration of the Embassy of the Blessed Kingdom of God For All Nations