The Celestial Church of Christ has reacted to the undercover investigation carried out by Foundation of Investigative Journalism which accused some members of the church of corrupt activities.
FIJ on Monday released a video documentary by Fisayo Soyombo which provided evidence of certain corrupt practices in the church.
Scenes from the video showed some cleric of the church giving fake prophesying in exchange for money.
Reacting to the development without making a direct reference to already viral video, the church acknowledged that “corrupt practices and unseemly behaviour” are thriving among its members, shepherds, prophets and prophetesses.
In a statement issued by its Task Force Corps on Monday, the church stated,
“It has come to the notice of the Celestial Church of Christ Task Force Corps of the indiscipline acts being exhibited in our parishes, especially on harvest days and events that ought to be a Holy Service to the Lord.
“All these corrupt practices are becoming rampant among our members and unbecoming of our shepherds, prophets, and prophetesses in the fold.”
Identifying some parishes glorifying indiscipline, the CCC stated that its parish in Cairo and the Idunu Joshua Parish in Lagos portray the church in an unpleasant light to the public via social media platforms.
“We are on the frontline of all these cases and we assure [sic] to bring these evil perpetrators to book and make sure all these shenanigans are flushed out of the Church,” the task force added.
The task force also enjoined news platforms not to hurriedly publish information about the church without first bringing such issues to their knowledge.
“Also we want to implore all bloggers to always be calm and not to always be in a hurry for result once we are hinted on issues, as we have to take it through investigation process before we conclude or come up with a statement as there are protocols and procedures to follow according to the laws and ethics guiding our job as enforcement team”.