COVID-19 pandemic exposes church fraudsters- Pastor Male

Wakiso, Uganda |  THE INDEPENDENT |  Pastor Moses Solomon Male, the head of Arising for Christ Ministries and outspoken critic of the prosperity gospel in Pentecostal churches is chest thumping; saying the Covid19 pandemic has exposed all fraudsters who have been preaching “the gospel of extortion”.

Male, who is living a simple life at his home in Kawempe, says he has for some time been trying to expose fraudulent preachers who claim to have supernatural powers to offer financial blessings, physical well-being and healing among their flock in exchange for material benefits in vain. 

He insists that most of the supposed miracles performed in churches are stage managed and goes on to challenge any pastor or prophet claiming to be with healing powers to pitch camp at Entebbe General Hospital and health the COVID19 victims and save the country from the pandemic.

Pastor Male, who has been struggling to restore the sanctity of Christ and to rid the Church of fake and selfish people, says COVID19 is the real litmus paper and eye-opener to Christian faithfuls to reflect on how some people have been stealing from them in the name of God.

The coronavirus pandemic that has spread to several countries across the world has had far reaching implications on religious practices in several countries including a total ban on congregational prayers to stop the spread of the virus.

Currently, Christian faithfuls ‘pray together but apart’ through virtual means. According to Pastor Male, this is a positive development, saying if it becomes the new normal, forever the faithfuls will overcome a number of challenges they face when they meet their pastors physically.

He says that with manipulation, many pastors have diverted people from instructions issued by Health experts and ended up facing miserable deaths. Pastor Male’s statement comes at a time pastor Augustine Yiga alias Abizaayo; the head of Revival Christian Church in Kawala is locked up for claiming on Television that there is no corona virus in Uganda and Africa in general.

Prior to Yiga’s statements Elvis Mbonye, the head of Zoe Ministries had also prophesied that COVID10 wouldn’t spread to Uganda. He also claimed to have powers to heal COVID19 and asked people in the affected areas to come and kneel before him to heal them.

Pastor Male also takes a swipe at pastors and religious leaders of various denominations who are asking their flock to send their offering sand tithe through mobile money and internet banking. According to Pastor Male, argues that it is high time ministers also do charity and gave back to Christians who currently can’t fend for themselves because of the lock down.

He cited several biblical teachings where David opened up the temple and handed over all he had collected to the children of Israel in times of need.

Pastor Male says whoever will be tempted to give out the little they have to support their families in offerings and later regrets or dies out of hunger will have committed suicide.

To a larger extent, Bishop Joshua Lwere, the General Overseer of the National Fellowship of Born Again Pentecostal Churches of Uganda-NFBPC agrees with Pastor Male, arguing that there are church ministers who have diverted from the true gospel of Jesus Christ.

“Some of those ministers lost track. You might see someone misleading people on issues of COVID19. We alert the general population to stick to the guidelines of Health experts,” Bishop Lwere. He says the current situation was brought by the Lord to show his supremacy and called upon all believers to pray and repent more so in this Easter season.

Uganda has registered 44 confirmed COVID19 cases in the last two weeks.

Several suspected cases are under institutional and self-isolation for the mandatory 14 in various facilities and their homes. COVID19 is spread through contact with the droplets of an infected person such as saliva on surfaces, in the air or handshaking. Health experts have recommended regular hand washing with soap and water or alcohol based sanitisers to prevent infection.

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