CAN absolves Ozubulu Church of wrong doing, blames 'Bishop', others for building church with illicit money
- The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has warned against the use of illicit money for church operations
- CAN also blamed those who donate illicit money to the church for projects
- CAN president Samson Ayokule said donation of illicit funds to the church could provoke God's wrath
The president of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Samson Ayokunle has condemned the use of illicitly collected funds for church operations, New Telegraph reports.
Ayokunle urged those who think it is appropriate to use illicit money to build a church must have a rethink.
The CAN president also said individuals and groups which donate such kinds of funds for church operations should be weary of God's wrath.
He also absolved the church of any blame, saying churches have no powers to monitor its members and the sources of the money they bring in.
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“What CAN is doing is to let people know that if they bring any money that God does not sanction, they will rather receive curse upon themselves instead of getting His blessings," Ayokunle said.
“Our people should stop bringing illicit money to the church, it is not acceptable to God and we should double our preaching on such thing. It is part of Christian stewardship for people to give to the Lord.
“At the point where you begin to doubt what is brought is now the problem, it is very difficult to determine the point to do so because you don’t know the worth of each individual," the CAN president said.
Also reacting to the Ozubulu church killing, Ayokunle said the church needs to preach against illicit earnings by members.
He said such resources do not attract blessings to the givers.
“In the case of the Ozubulu church, it is even very much difficult when that person is not within your vicinity. I don’t think the church has the blame; the person that is giving is the person that has the blame.
“The fact that they built the church does not mean that they should kill inside the church. The church didn’t sign any pact with them that if you build for us then you come and kill yourselves or other people inside the church.
Ayokunle said the church in Ozubulu was built on the volition of individuals, therefor its leadership cannot be blamed.
“People don’t put money in tithing cards again because they say what they are giving are between them and God, so it is difficult for the ushers to know who dropped big amount.
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“Then where people are working with big corporations where their earnings can be traced nobody has the right to go to the bank to say I want to see the person’s statement of account. The bank can’t allow that and no church can just walk into the bank to check the account of its members.
“With what we are seeing now in Nigeria where we know that a whole house may be used to stockpile money, how much of the money people own now that gets to the bank”.
NAIJ.com earlier reported that St. Philips Catholic Church in Ozubulu reopened for service after an attack by some gunmen which left 13 people dead.
The attack which occurred on August 6, also left 26 others injured.
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Meanwhile, the Acting President Yemi Osinbajo last week dispatch a federal government delegation involving a team of ministers to Ozubulu.
The ministers, NAIJ.com gathered, condoled with the Anambra state governor Willie Obiano and residents of the state over the killing.
Watch this NAIJ.com TV video asking if Osinbajo is a better president than Buhari: