The founder of a branch of Celestial Church of Christ in Lagos State, Aderemi Dabiri, has explained that he invited Fuji singer, Alabi Pasuma, and Afrobeat artiste, Portable, to perform at his church in order to win souls.
Dabiri faced serious criticism when the poster for his church programme hit the streets and depicted Pasuma and Portable the Zazuu crooner as guest artistes.
However, the cleric clarified his position in a video where he was addressing a delegation of the church’s task force who visited his parish to meet with him.
He said, “It is not our first time inviting guest artistes. We have been doing it without a problem and I can give you a series of instances. We cannot go where they sell palm wine or alcoholic drinks and ask them to accept Jesus Christ. If I don’t apply wisdom, they will hit a bottle on my head. That was why I thought of a way to bring them into the church.
“I also noticed that there are some notorious boys who cause trouble in the community, disturbing the authorities and engaging in cultism. I wondered how can we draw their attention so that they would have a change of heart. We have gone to places where they are and they ended up beating us. Most of the members of my church are new converts and it was through that pattern that I converted them.”
Dabiri criticised some gospel artistes for being disrespectful, which was why he preferred to invite secular musicians.
He said: “Some gospel ministers are rude. If you talk to some of them, they respond rudely, but the day I called Pasuma, he sounded respectful on the phone and also agreed with my stance.”
Dabiri informed the task force team that he had no plans to cancel the invitation.
However, he said he would keep the artistes in line at the event, especially Portable.
He said, “We will tell Portable not to dye his hair and he should not sing vulgar songs but to sing gospel music. We will also caution him not to dress inappropriately or climb the speakers.
“We will also warn him not to allow his boys to smoke here. We have invited close to 30 military personnel to man the event.”
The cleric also appealed to the Celestial Church worldwide to support his vision, as he would use his style of evangelism to make the church proud.
