You just can't make this stuff up...

Experience The 'Scent Of Christ' - In A Candle

You can find candles with just about every fragrance imaginable, from blueberry to ocean mist, to hot apple pie. Now, there's a candle that lets you experience the "scent of Jesus." And surprisingly, it's straight from South Dakota, not Bethlehem. They've been selling by the case.

"We see it as a ministry," says candle maker Bob Tosterud. Light up the candle called "His Essence" and, according to the makers, you'll experience the fragrance of Christ. "It's a very meaningful experience."

The obvious question is, 'how do you capture the scent of Jesus?'

True -- that is the obvious question.

It's all spelled-out in Psalm 45. Candle maker Karen Tosterud explains, "It's a Messianic Psalm, referring to when Christ returns, and his garments will have the scent of myrrh, aloe and cassia." Wondering what this would smell like, Karen ordered a combination of oils that produce a sort of flowery-cinnamon aroma. Then she called on a friend, who just happened to be a candle maker. "And in October, we got our first batch of 768 candles. We had no idea how it would go."

But once word got out, "It was the hottest item in South Dakota for Christmas." They went through 10,000 candles....

--WFIE, Evansville, Indiana

This is real. Here's the Web site. The candles are 18 bucks a pop. The toll-free number is 1-877-PSALM-45.

Er, didn't Martin Luther nail some theses to a door because of commerce that was not entirely dissimilar to this?

*****

(Somewhat related, but considerably scarier: this.)