IT was interesting last week to see on social media, some prophets somewhere bathing their congregants. This incident, whether true or not is not unique as many such things have been happening in many churches today.
Each passing day, the media, especially social media, is awash with headlines of fake pastors who are breaking homes and dividing families by abusing women congregants sexually.
Many doctors, prophets, reverends, bishops and many others, form their own churches where they are carrying out bizarre activities like abusing women in all forms, including sexually.
These people hold on to anointing oils and ‘holy water’ as a means of extorting money, and sexually abusing their women victims.
Some of them sell those items to the women at very exorbitant prices and the people buy with the hope of having their problems sorted out.
Some years back, a married overseer at Zion Church in Livingstone was fined K20,000 as compensation for committing adultery with one of his married church members.
Prophet Gift Ngulube, 41, appeared in the Livingstone Local Court after Christopher Kwengele, 36, sued him for committing adultery with his wife Patricia Muyesongo, 32.
Kwengele told senior Local Court Magistrate Mulonda Mulonda that he was demanding K30,000 as compensation from Ngulube.
“My wife started congregating at Zion Church this year on January 24 where Prophet Ngulube is the overseer. He is also her former lover. One night, she received a phone call when we were sleeping and she went outside to answer,” he said.
“But after waiting for her to return for 10 minutes, I decided to follow her only to find the two having sex in our unoccupied servant’s quarter,” he said.
“I heard my wife screaming in sexual excitement with this preacher man on top. And when I entered the quarter, behold, this so called prophet was naked on top of my naked wife. I tried to separate the two but ironically, the preacher man who was not using any condom, pleaded with me to allow him to ejaculate and then settle the matter,” said the owner of the wife amidst faces registering surprise in a fully-packed Livingstone court.
Muyesongo is definitely not the only woman who has been duped by her church pastor. Many clergymen tell heir women congregants that they can only have their demons released from them by being intimate with them.
It is sad to note that many of these women believe and accept what these pastors tell them. They are afraid to challenge what they are told because of the belief that these ‘clergymen’ have special magical powers to see through their hearts, and are able to see whatever goes on in their private lives.
Not too long ago, another woman in South Africa, is reported to have said that a pastor slept with her for healing.
Yvonne Smith, 36, from Orlando East, Soweto claimed that the “healing” in exchange for sex took place over a couple of months.
Yvonne felt there was need to put an end to pastors who take advantage of people like her.
“I suffered a stroke last year in August. I was in and out of hospital but was not getting any better. I was invited to the church where the pastor concentrated on me and prayed for me.
“After I got better, the pastor started making sexual and financial demands. I could not face going back to the pain that I felt while I was sick, because I could tell he was powerful,” she said.
And when queried, the pastor said that he thought the sex was just her gratitude for helping her during her healing process.”
Elsewhere, another pastor is reported to have ordered women to strip and kiss their backs to attract marriage.
At another church, the pastor believed that he can exorcise demons from his female followers by sticking his fingers in their private parts in full view of his congregation.
Elsewhere, at another church, the pastor regularly serves up snakes to his congregants to eat, pledging they will turn into chocolate. Many oblige and lick it up. In Kenya, a flashy “pastor” on national television admitted swindling his congregation, with the defence that they were not coerced.
Just recently, a South American pastor had his congregation feed on his semen in the auspices of ‘holy milk’.
Elsewhere again, another pastor was exposed for sleeping with two of his daughters, one of whom was a 15-year-old whom he deflowered.
The 37-year-old pastor was charged in court for allegedly defiling a minor.
According to police documents, the mother and her 15-year-old daughter needed prayers to cope with the burdens of life.
The girl’s mother reportedly invited pastor Jackson Mwangi Ndegwa of Jesus of the Lord Church to her home in September during the teachers’ strike when her daughter was home. The youthful pastor was reportedly introduced to her by a friend.
A report filed at the police indicates that during the prayers which were conducted at the mother’s house in Bahati, Nairobi, pastor Ndegwa is said to have declared that the woman and her daughter were possessed by evil spirits that called for longer prayers.
The mother told police that Pastor Ndegwa “had extraordinary powers because while praying for us, he touched me around the breasts and I became confused.”
It was reported that after more than an hour, pastor Ndegwa allegedly turned to the woman’s daughter and enquired whether she had a boyfriend or was in an intimate relationship, claiming he had ‘seen’ a man in her life who has been having sex with her.
Pastor Ndegwa then reportedly suggested that the prayers be done out of the city. Apparently, he could only pray for mother and daughter one at a time. “I let him pray for my daughter at a hill he suggested in Limuru and gave him money for transport,” the mother claimed.
Before leaving at around 6:30 pm, the pastor reportedly requested the woman and her daughter to visit a nearby clinic in Hamza for HIV screening, claiming that he had seen dark spirits.
It was reported that on arriving in Limuru, the pastor told the girl that it was dangerous to proceed to the hill at night and booked a room instead for overnight prayers.
At around 10 pm, the victim claimed that the ‘man of God’ asked her to remove all her clothes so that he could apply anointing oil on her to drive away evil spirits.
The minor told police that, “He applied oil all over my body and finally in my private parts before telling me to have sex with him to drive out evil spirits”.
Pastor Ndegwa, according to the girl, had sex with her twice without using protection before returning her home the following day with instructions that she must bathe twice and change clothes.
On learning about what happened, the angry mother allegedly sought audience with pastor Ndegwa over the matter and he suggested that they meet later that month to settle the issue amicably.
However, according to the woman, he started playing hide and seek with her. She then reportedly sought the help of police who lured him to a trap on October 15.
The pastor who appeared in court on October 19 faces another charge of committing indecent act with a minor by touching her private parts and fondling her breasts without her consent.
In court, pastor Ndegwa stunned the court when he said, “It is not true that I defiled the girl since I have been in an intimate relationship with the mother.” He was stopped from giving evidence until the hearing of the case on December 11.
As already stated, such happenings are found all over Africa, where congregations often blindly act on the leadership’s instructions, without challenging them.
They faithfully queue to buy miracle oils, and the women even sleep with pastors so that they may be impregnated with the Holy Spirit.
Some clergymen make up these miracles just to take advantage of the poor unsuspecting women to satisfy their sexual needs.
Many other such stories remain untold as some women go through hell at the hands of their own clergymen due to ignorance and naivety of the highest order
“Unfortunately many of us women definitely are more inclined to do what the Pastor says even when it is wrong and he knows it,” one Lusaka woman said.
She adds, “We have been brought up and taught to listen to our pastor.”
While the Pastor needs to be condemned for taking advantage of the sick woman, it is necessary to point out that many women do these actions with the Pastors willingly.
This is because there is nowhere in the Bible where it is written that you can be healed if you sleep with a pastor.
In as much as these ‘pastors’ perform evil deeds, women need to wake up and understand their Bibles well.
When it comes to spiritual belief, many women continue to be cheated maybe because of being vulnerable.
Most women remain sexual targets even by ordinary men and other leaders in the church.
Women’s rights have been and continue to be abused by some clergymen in the name of religion.
As the Bible says in the Book of Hosea 4:6, “My people fall for a lack of knowledge.”
These women even pay the pastors huge sums of money only to be duped and defiled by someone they trusted.
When pastors overstep professional boundaries with someone under their care, they become sexual predators.
The damage caused by clergy and other church leaders as they indulge in sexual abuse goes beyond the victims. It violates the spiritual life of the entire church community and there is a massive sense of betrayal.
Not to recognise that this is a pastor blatantly abusing his power and call it “an affair” is a bad excuse as it attempts to blame the one who was betrayed the most.
Granted, life is tough and can be cruel but the question is, at what point does all this abuse end for these vulnerable sisters?
Women beware! Such abuse by someone who is not even your husband should come to an end. You hold the key to stop such vices.
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