Johannesburg - Church leaders have vowed to clamp down on pastors cashing in on people’s desperation by feeding them petrol, snakes and human hair in the name of Jesus.
Bishop Malusi Mpumlwana of the South African Council of Churches (SACC) said on Tuesday morning that the SACC had received numerous calls from exasperated people wanting intervention into the “unconventional practices”.
“It is not just unethical. There are people who are trying to make money off the desperation of people. That is exactly why you need some sort of mechanism for serving a standard on how churches are run,” said Mpumlwana.
Pastor Lesego Daniel of Rabboni Centre Ministries and his protégé Pastor Penuel Mnguni of End Times Disciples Ministries were recently filmed forcing devotees to drink petrol, eat grass, snakes and rats “in the name of salvation in Christ”.
On Sunday, a 22-year-old was the most recent victim at the End Times Disciples Ministries church in Soshanguve when Mnguni set his congregants on her to eat imaginary food out of her weaves.
The Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) student was forced to her knees
as congregants descended on her.
Kgalalelo Tlhoaele, along with other TUT journalism students, were waiting for EFF members to confront “The Snake Pastor”, as he has become known, when the attack occurred.
The photos of Tlhoaele being attacked went viral worldwide.
Pastor Ray McCauley of the Rhema Church also condemned these unconventional acts.
“Pastors need to have some sort of education. If you’ve been educated and there are people mentoring you, such unacceptable behaviour won’t happen,” said his spokesman, Giet Khosa
.
“These acts are inconsistent with the Gospels of Jesus.”
In conjunction with the SACC, Rhema held a meeting last week to discuss ways of stopping “free-styling” pastors.
“We are meeting the government to say this is a serious problem that needs solutions. People are desperate, but they shouldn’t sell their soul,” Khosa said.
The SACC plans to meet with the government in a bid to get churches not affiliated to it to be regulated.
“We have laws that protect people, so it’s not like we have to create new laws because there are churches. It doesn’t matter in whose name you do it, if you break the law, if you do something at odds with the spirit of our constitution, the state should act,” Mpumlwana said.
The SACC has also appealed to the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) to investigate the churches in question.
The SAHRC was not available for comment this morning.
After Tlhoaele’s attack, members of the EFF arrived and allegedly burnt down the tent housing Mnguni’s church.
Police spokeswoman Captain Riana van Aarde said the church had irked some residents and was being investigated.
The Star