Celestial Church of Christ
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Celestial Church of Christ is an African Initiated Church originating with Samuel Bilehou Oschoffa from 1947-1950.
[edit] Founder
Samuel Bilewu Joseph Oshoffa was a carpenter born in Dahomey, now called Benin in 1909. A traumatic experience led to a spiritual awakening which led him to found the group in 1947. By divine ordinance he is called "Prophet" and he is also called Reverend, Pastor, and Founder as he was the supreme head of the church and was responsible for the church coming into being. As "The Pastor" he had ultimate and unchallengeable authority in doctrinal and disciplinary matters. This made his death in 1985, after a vehicular accident, problematic. However, the church rebounded and remains a prominent West African denomination, and now has churches all over Africa, the United states and in Europe.
[edit] Beliefs
Although the church takes elements from Yoruba thought, it also has strong similarities to the "purification movements" against paganism that are relatively common in African Christianity and also Islam. Oschoffa believed he had a mission to combat "'Satan', 'fetish priests' and other 'powers of darkness'."(Marburg article) The name for the group comes from the Bible: Deuteronomy 26:15 "Look down from thy Holy habitation, from heaven, and bless thy people Celestial and the land which thou hast given us, as thou didst swear to our father, a land flowing with milk and honey". The name signifies that they deem themselves as celestial or a representative of the heavenly on Earth.
They place strong emphasis on contacting angelic forces through prayer and being on guard against demons or sorcerers. The archangels are given strong importance. Therefore prayers are started with an invocation to Jehova, Jesu Kristi, and Michael Mimo (God the Father, Jesus, and Archangel Michael) Archangel Gabriel is said to heal and have jurisdiction of the West. Archangel Raphael is of the South and has force. Uriel is the least invoked and has the north axis though this may just be speculation. The level of importance given to invoking angels and avoiding demons is believed by some to be a Yoruba spiritualist aspect.
Members give testimonials of past instances of witchcraft. Also they believe objects can be blessed. Prophecies and dreams are deemed important to the group. They are also hierarchical with different colours of dress symbolising different spiritual ranks within the church.
