Selfies from heaven?
and splits became the Apostolic Faith Mission, Assemblies of God and the Full Gospel Church, with the black Zionist and Apostolic churches later splitting off because of the racial equality issue.
A second wave arose in the 1960s and 1970s as a revivalist movement within the mainstream Protestant churches. The revivalists’ faith healing, speaking in tongues and fainting that was attributed to receiving the Holy Spirit alarmed the mainstream churches, and a breakaway resulted.
After 1994 and the end of apartheid, the prosperity gospel started to spread in SA, says Van Wyk. The Durban Christian Centre (“A place where miracles happen”), Hatfield Christian Church and Rhema Bible Church (founded by Pastor Ray Mccauley), became the biggest prosperity gospel churches.
The prosperity gospel was initially confined to largely white churches, notes Van Wyk, because apartheid laws prohibited the free movement of black preachers. After apartheid, the prosperity gospel took off in previously black areas and quickly spread.
A large number of pastors from Nigeria, Ghana, Malawi, Zaire (Congo) and elsewhere in Africa began to arrive in SA in 1993-1994, says Van Wyk. They were mainly young men who spoke of having been “called” to spread the prosperity gospel, and they began to evangelise in townships, open spaces and at taxi ranks.
It is difficult to call these pastors charlatans, says Van Wyk.
“The whole manifestation of their faith is money, and wanting money and asking for it is not a sign of inauthentic spirituality or a sign that you’re a charlatan … If you don’t have money it’s a sign that you haven’t been blessed by God and called by him.” South Africans have been shocked and dumbfounded by the messages of some pentecostalist pastors, who seem hell-bent on trumping the latest outlandish claim from competing pulpits.
● The trial of Pastor Timothy Omotoso, head of the Jesus Dominion Church, is perhaps the most high-profile scandal. Omotoso and co-accused Lusanda Sulani and Zukiswa Sitho are on trial for rape, racketeering and human trafficking. Port Elizabeth high court judge Mandela Makaula recused himself from the case after it was alleged that witnesses were staying at his wife’s guest house. But Omotoso still has followers despite it all.
● There was national outrage and amusement when Alleluia Ministries leader Pastor Alph Lukau released a video of the “miracle” of him raising a man from the dead. On social media it pointed out that the man in the coffin had a cellphone in his pocket; others duly posted resurrection-challenge videos of themselves returning to life.
● The opulent lifestyle of Prophet Shepherd “Major 1”B ushiri of the Enlightened Christian Gathering Church crashed after he and his wife, Mary, were charged with fraud and money laundering. The Asset Forfeiture Unit wants to attach Bushiri’s R20m jet. He is expected back in court in May.
● Incredible Happenings Church head Paseka “Prophet Mboro” Motsoeneng grabbed the headlines in 2016 for allegedly saying he had gone to heaven and taken a selfie with God, Jesus and an angel and was selling the pictures for R5,000 a pop. He later denied that he had made such a statement. More recently it is alleged that an erstwhile follower paid him R1,000 to pray for her “biscuit” (vagina) according to Timeslive. Before that, a couple whose sex life Mboro prayed for, held each other’s private parts before going all out on live TV. Mboro blames the selfies in heaven story on a setup by his one-time friend, Bushiri.
● Over at Mount Zion General Assembly, Lethebo Rabalago hit on a novel way to draw attention to his church. He was rechristened “The Prophet of Doom” after he sprayed an insecticide into congregants’ faces in an apparent spiritual cleansing ceremony during a church service in
2016. He was convicted last year on the rather mundane count of contravening the Stock & Agricultural Remedies Act.
● Earlier this year Pastor Lesego Daniel at Rabboni Centre Ministries had his congregants go down on their knees and eat grass as a way to “bring them closer to God”.