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Blind faith in rogue preachers causing havoc

By Alexander Chagema | 1yr ago | 5 min read

Dr Gideon Wamasebu left Mbale, Uganda, a healthy man on February 6. A week later, his corpse was dug up by the police from a shallow grave on the banks of River Isiukhu in Kakamega County. Preliminary police investigations suggest he is a victim of ritual killing involving a religious sect by the name 'African Kenya Sabcrynnsk of Soi Praying and Healing Church'. Quite a mouthful.

Apparently, the sect leader, Kevin Shatome, who Malava OCPD Paul Mwendwa says is an ex-convict, lured Wamasebu to Kenya with the promise he would pray and intercede for him in a personal matter. That is the power of religion and faith that it could lead a highly educated man to his death in the hands of a convicted criminal masquerading as a man of the cloth.

Shatome is not alone in this charade. The religious landscape is dotted with people who purport to possess spiritual healing powers and their inborn mastery of the human psyche aids their deceit.

A few weeks ago, police officers in Kisumu raided the Coptic Church of Father John Pesa and rescued 23 people who had been detained and lived in deplorable conditions while ostensibly awaiting healing from Father Pesa. Most of the detainees suffer mental illnesses that need medical attention. Apparently, Fr Pesa does not believe in the power of medicine and misleads his flock into defying medical science, as do some of the local sects patronised by mostly illiterate Kenyans.

Stories abound of the atrocities and fake miracles conducted by pastors in the name of religion.

Not long ago, Kenyans were treated to the exploits of Pastor Victor Kanyari and his miracles that turned out to be fake.

International exploits

But while most rogue men of God ply their trade in Africa, Sobrino Valdeci Picanto, a Brazilian evangelical pastor, shocked the world in 2021 after he persuaded his followers to engage in oral sex with him because that was his way of preaching God's word, saying that his 'milk' was sacred.

On social media sites, we have often seen young pastors stepping on the backs of their congregants, sometimes riding piggyback on them as they enter their churches. Other pastors insist on kissing lady congregants, having them remove their underwear for blessings to get pregnant. The most extreme of them rejoice in inflicting pain on their congregants through whipping as a way of getting salvation. Others have fed their followers on snakes, petrol, their urine and grass.

South African pastor Penuel Mnguni managed to convince his followers to eat snakes during a church service and they obliged him. Mnguni claimed the snakes would turn into chocolate as they chewed them. He even declared that he had "the authority to change everything into anything and it will obey because of our authority".

Another South African Pastor, Christ Penelope farted in the faces of his followers as a way of healing. "Farting near a person's nostrils is important in order for the healing power to penetrate the body and do its work," he argued.

In Zimbabwe, Pastor Alph Lukau hit news headlines after he reportedly raised Brighton Elliot Moyo back from the dead in 2019. It was an expensive joke that got him into trouble with authorities a few days after investigations revealed the extent of the prank he played on his followers just to hoodwink them into believing he had special powers of healing and resurrection.

A remarkable trait of the latter-day pastors, bishops, apostles, prophetesses, prophets is that they are barely into their 40s, are notorious for laying more emphasis on tithing and giving than on spiritual nourishment. What's more, most are streetwise, semi-literate with absolutely no training in theology.

They fit into Garrison Keillor's contention that, "Anyone who thinks sitting in church can make you a Christian must also think that sitting in a garage can make you a car." Their carefully chosen acolytes and sidekicks bombard congregants with calls to buy the pastor a good car or house. Thanks to them, religion as we knew it has completely upended.

Tyranny of religion

These rogue pastors practice a form of tyranny on their followers that turns the latter into automatons. Political activist Thomas Paine opined that "tyranny of religion is the worst kind of tyranny". In agreement, Thomas Jefferson, former US president, said that "man, once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities". Religion has been weaponised against the masses.

In Rwanda, the tyranny of religious groups on poor citizens compelled President Paul Kagame to regulate them. Today, not any Tom, Dick and Harry will pick the Black Book and run to the streets or church to preach and hoodwink the gullible. All preachers in Rwanda go through a rigorous vetting process and must possess a degree or diploma in theological studies.

A proposal by Kenya's Attorney General Githu Muigai in 2016 to regulate the activities of rogue churches and preachers in Kenya ran into headwinds after mainstream churches objected. Effective self-regulation would have ensured that some of the mushrooming churches with cultic practices and strange beliefs that run counter to biblical teachings did not get a foothold in Kenya. It would have ensured deviant militant Islamic preachers did not indoctrinate the youth.

Church leaders should acquire certificates of good conduct. This is so because the actions of some are highly questionable. Cases of rape and defilement in churches abound. Control is necessary for the maintenance of order but it should be done after consultations with all concerned parties to clear the impression that the government is determined to take away the freedom of worship and other liberties.

People genuinely seeking salvation must take heed of the bible's warning on false prophets. The book of Timothy 4: 3-4 says "For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths".

The modern-day church, especially, has youthful pastors, bishops and reverends who say they will perform miracles but there's a price tag attached to them. The import is, religion has been commercialised and turned into a lucrative con game by latter-day pastors.

-The writer is a reporter and columnist with The Standard