By Moses Okorie
365Daily – The leadership of a white garment Christian group, the Celestial Church of Christ (CCC), has cautioned its members against the use of spiritual perfume during prayers; except it is being diluted with water, as doing so will amount to abuse of process.
The church made this known in a statement, following the death of one Kayode Badru, a Lagos-based socialite who died from a candle fire incident.
Badru had visited a parish of the church in Lagos on May 3, 2021 for a thanksgiving ceremony for some youths he sponsored to the Academy for Innovative Art and Technology (ACIATECH) where he met his untimely death.
The socialite, who was based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, was said to have lit some candles and a prophet in the church thereafter began spraying perfume on him to bless him, and in the process, his body caught fire, resulting in severe burns. He died two days later in the hospital.
The church said, “Calvary greetings to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ who has called us into His Glory. Due to the incessant abuse of spiritual perfumes within the church, His Eminence has found it imperative to state, for record purposes and correction that henceforth, spiritual perfumes intended to be sprayed, sprinkled, or poured with a lighted candle should be diluted with water.
“The spraying or pouring of undiluted spiritual perfumes in its volatile state with a lighted candle is an imported culture not originally part of the tenets of the Celestial Church of Christ.
“The laid down usage of spiritual perfume within the spheres of a lighted candle by the pastor founder, Saint SBJ Oshoffa is by mixing it with water. It is high time we retrace our steps for a greater Celestial Church of Christ.
“We are all advised to adhere to this directive, any parish or member that goes against this directive will be solely responsible for the resultant effect.
“The pastor has also directed the pastor-in-council to come up with a policy document to curb alien practices that have been introduced into the tenets and doctrines of the church to safeguard the church’s divine culture as instructed by the Spirit of God through the pastor founder,” the statement added.