Pastor of the Celestial Church of Christ (CCC) Worldwide, Reverend Emmanuel Oshoffa, the Board of Trustees and the Pastor in Council have condemned a video production titled Juba F’Olorun produced by Funmi Bank Anthony about the church.
The video production, which has been shared on social media, shows scenes where people clothed in the Sutana (the church’s garment) shot within a CCC parish, engaging in “lurid dance steps, smoking Marijuana, with reckless display of violence and use of very foul language.”
In a statement on Thursday by the church’s spokesman, Kayode Ajala, the CCC said the scenes in the video do not represent what it stands for.
“We are a Bible believing church that operates under the divine direction of the Holy Spirit. Our rules and tenets forbid our faithfuls from smoking cigarettes, Marijuana, use of hard drugs and consumption of any type of alcoholic beverages.
“Bona fide members of our church must not engage in any form of immorality. Fornication, adultery, night crawling and ills like fighting and back biting are an anathema.
“The damage done to the image of the Celestial Church of Christ by this totally condemnable video production is indeed enormous. It is true that as a church of God, we are slow to tow the path of seeking redress in a court of law but even at that, we cannot continue to fold our arms while the image of our church is continuously battered by others. This is not the first time that this is happening. We say enough is enough!” the statement said.
The church said it had taken the following steps – summoned the pastoral head of the parish where the video was shot; petitioned the Director General of the Nigeria Film and Video Censors Board over the video.
The statement said the church had also filed a complaint letter to the leadership of all associations governing the production and marketing of local movies across genres, including the producer of the ‘offensive’ video production with a demand of an apology to be published in at least two national newspapers.
