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Bishop Charles Ighele, the General Superintendent of the Holy Spirit Mission in Ikeja, Lagos State, on Wednesday called for a ban on Valentine’s Day celebrations in Nigeria.
Ighele made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos, against the backdrop of illicit sexual abuse attached to the day by some people.
He said that the day had been misconstrued to the promotion of romantic relationships, rather than its original promotion of aid to the needy and humanitarian works.
He described it as a deception from the devil to impose a universal day of immorality on planet Earth.
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According to him, unfortunately, many boys, girls and married people have bought into this lie about love in disregard to the agape love described in the bible.
The day is associated with a romantic demon known as Cupid. This demon is one of the rulers of the darkness of this world as found in Ephesians 6 verses 11 and 12.
Cupid is the Roman name for the Greek god of love known as Eros. The English word erotic has its roots in Eros.
The dictionary defines the word erotic as relating to or tendency to arouse sexual desire or excitement.
The celebration of the day inspires sexual feelings on people and spread sexual entertainment in order to further institutionalise sex.
The cleric added that ”cupid” influenced humans to set aside February 14, as a special day for people to do whatever they want to do with sex and the perversion of true love.
The Bible tells us that ‘God is love’, and it is very certain that God will not want His type of love celebrated this way,’ he said.
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Ighele therefore urged authorities to proscribe the day's celebration because of its bad influence on youths.
He noted that it was the duty of the government and other non-state actors, such as the church, school and family to unite to promote cultures of social redeeming values.
He added that the ban on the celebration would redeem people from destruction.
NAN reports that Valentine’s Day, also called Saint Valentine’s Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14.
The Day originated as a Christian feast day honouring a martyr named Valentine but has become a significant cultural and commercial celebration of romance and love in many regions of the world.
Although Valentine’s Day is not a public holiday, it is considered a significant cultural and religious celebration of romance in the Catholic Church.
In spite of its popularity in countries all over the world, there are some countries, where Valentine’s Day is not celebrated, most of them owing to religious beliefs.
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