The Foundation of Investigative Journalism founder, Fisayo Soyombo, has hit back at the head of the international headquarters of the Celestial Church of God, Venerable Superior Evangelist, Tosho Oshoffa following threats issued over his investigative report on the church.
Oshoffa while reacting to the viral video conducted by Fisayo Soyombo which exposed some of the fraudulent activities of a cleric of the church in the Ketu area of Lagos State said that there’s no forgiveness for him as he has sinned against the Holy Spirit.
“Believe me, wherever you are, start asking for forgiveness of sins. Wherever you are, whatever your name may be, start asking for forgiveness of sin, because you only left your home with the hope of destroying the image of the church; not for anything else. Nobody does it and goes scot-free.
“The Holy Spirit that you lied against, the Holy Book says there is no forgiveness. The Holy Spirit that will judge is alive; and will judge at the appropriate time,” he stated.
Reacting to him, Soyombo via a statement on Facebook said that God cannot be manipulated to confuse the discerning.
He also said that God cannot punish him because He (God) does not support lying.
According to Soyombo, Oshoffa spent minutes defending the exposed clerics because he didn’t hand them money to purchase anything on his behalf but that any practices that present falsehood to people in the guise of solutions or concoct problems for people to spark fear in them and influence them to directly or indirectly part with cash or valuables are nothing but a scam.
The statement read, “It may have been unexpected, but I’m not entirely surprised by the veiled threats of Venerable Superior Evangelist Tosho Oshoffa, the head of the international headquarters of the celestial Church of God, asking me in one breath to seek forgiveness from God but saying in another that there will be no forgiveness. Or saying there will be consequences and vengeance because I tarnished the name of God and the Celestial Church.
“The good thing is that God is not a being that can be manipulated to confuse the discerning; He is not any one person’s personal property, to be cornered by only one human. God is available to us all. From experience, I know for a fact that anyone who genuinely seeks His face, particularly through his word, will definitely find him. So, thankfully, I have access to that same God Tosho Oshoffa thinks will punish me. I know that God is a God of truth, and on no condition will he back the lying #ProphetsOfTheirPockets in Rev Oshoffa’s church.
“Quite curiously, Oshoffa spent almost 10minutes harping on why my experience in his church was not a scam simply because I didn’t hand my money over to anyone to purchase anything on my behalf. But any practice that presents falsehood to people in the guise of solutions or concocts problems for people to spark fear in them and influence them to directly or indirectly part with cash or valuables is nothing but a scam. If God wasn’t a patient God, who is Tosho Oshoffa and the fake prophets in his church to talk about vengeance and retribution? God, indeed, is a patient God.
It would also be recalled that the Celestial Church of Christ in its response to the investigation stated that the church is aware of the practices.
In a statement provided by the church’s task force, the church acknowledged that “corrupt practices and unseemly behaviour” are thriving among its members, shepherds, prophets and prophetesses.
“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,” they stated.
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.