Church ‘all about money’

He is the ‘‘apostle of fire’’, wears white jackets, drives a black Mercedes and presides over a controversial but seemingly fastgrowing church in New Zealand and the Pacific region.

Pastor Peter Emadi, originally from Nigeria, founded the Light of all Nations church in Christchurch about 10 years ago. It has seven branches in New Zealand and several in Australia, Samoa, Tonga and Fiji. Members are promised great rewards. ‘‘God Almighty declares clearly in His Word that the tither will be prosperous – so prosperous, in fact, that there will not be room enough to receive the prosperity and blessings God has in store for the one who obeys Him,’’ the church’s website proclaims.

While many of his parishioners are from lower socio-economic groups, Emadi lives in a $1.2 million home in the Christchurch suburb of Aidenfield and drives a $60,000, 2019 black Mercedes. When he travels, he is known to stay in five-star hotels.

His company, Peter Emadi Ministries, which is in the business of nonstore retailing, owns a 1.4ha, $1.5m property in Halswell planned for a new church building. The property was bought from Christchurch developer John Fernando who is project managing the new church.

Emadi has spawned many disillusioned and disaffected former members. They say Emadi uses religion to entice them into contributing their hard-earned cash as tithes or in seminars. ‘‘Many people have lost money to this pastor thinking they were doing what God wants as he claims he hears from God,’’ one ex-member, who asked not to be named, said.

She said people were encouraged to stop their medical treatment for diseases like chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder after healing services and they suffered as a result. Videos show Emadi praying over people, getting them out of their wheelchairs and discarding their oxygen masks. In online healing services he professes to turn water into a miracle tool which alleviates arthritis, appendicitis, sore muscles and migraines. He also claims to be able to set people free of cancer.

Builder Vailoa Tiatia joined the Melbourne branch of the church in 2018 and moved to Christchurch at Emadi’s encouragement.

‘‘Because of my zeal for the work of the Lord, Peter quickly promoted me into leadership. I am a builder by trade so I started to do maintenance for free for the church. This extends to Peter’s personal businesses and his house,’’ Tiatia said.

He said he and his wife began to question Emadi when they became more familiar with the Bible and started to believe Emadi was ‘‘twisting the word of God for his own gain’’. Emadi did not tolerate questioning about the church’s finances. ‘‘He says our role is just to follow and not to question our spiritual father,’’ Tiatia said. His daughter, son and brother remained in the church, convinced Emadi was the real deal, but in his view Emadi and his miracles were ‘‘all fake’’.

Christchurch woman Sarah Stringer said many of her family members and friends remained in the church but others had left disillusioned with its money culture.

‘‘This cult of a church has ruined so many lives. Emadi tells members they will die if they leave the church [he denies this] and some people are so brainwashed they genuinely believe it.’’ Stringer did not know how church donations were used and said Emadi’s lifestyle stood in stark contrast to those of his parishioners. ‘‘In my view this man is not a man of God at all. I still can’t believe people are silly enough to call him Daddy, Papa P, or Daddy P.’’

A Christchurch businessman who came to New Zealand from Fiji said he had donated about $150,000 to the church but had decided to leave.

His family had joined hoping the church could cleanse his daughter of demons. He became even more disillusioned when the church arranged a marriage for his daughter with an ex-criminal church member who was ‘‘born again’’. The marriage lasted a few months, he said.

Emadi denies the church arranges marriages.

Another former member, Christchurch food factory worker Avishek Chand, said he had attended seminars where Emadi sought large donations for being anointed by him.

Chand said he left the church because it was ‘‘all about money’’.

Emadi said the allegations against him stemmed from Tiatia who became disgruntled after he was turned down as project manager for building the new church in Halswell. The allegations were upsetting and untrue, he said.

However, he said he did not perform or claim miracles. ‘‘I do not heal anyone. I can only pray in Jesus’ name and by the grace of God they may be healed.’’

His house and car were personal items, and had nothing to do with the finances of the church, he said. He declined to disclose his salary from the church.

The church has branches in Christchurch, Auckland, Wellington, New Plymouth, Hamilton, Tauranga and Ashburton. All are run through registered charitable trusts.

The Light of all Nations Ministries International Trust controls the Christchurch, Wellington and Ashburton branches and is the only trust in the Light of all Nations stable that has so far filed returns with Charities Services.

In its return for the year up to March 31, 2021, the trust declared an income of about $630,000 and said it was run with one full-time employee and 150 members giving 3000 free hours. The trust spent $254,342 on volunteer and employee-related payments and had $378,213 in the bank. The return did not list the Halswell property as a church asset.

The report was audited by the church treasurer, Charney Oluboyede, who, with husband Segun, is a pastor at the Wellington branch. Oluboyede has a background in hospitality.

Natasha Weight, general manager of Charities Services, said Internal Affairs had received a complaint about the Light of all Nations Ministries International Trust in 2020 but no evidence of serious wrongdoing was found.

Emadi said members had not questioned him about church finances. ‘‘The church has professional accountants to do all the accounting work. These accounts have been provided both to the Charitable Trust Board and to Inland Revenue,’’ he said.

The Halswell property was not listed as a church asset because of the requirements of the bank loan.

The finances of the churches in Fiji, Tonga and Samoa were up to the individual churches to organise, he said.

Former church members said Emadi told parishioners he stowed away on a ship to come to New Zealand. Emadi declined to say how he arrived in New Zealand and how he gained residency.