Controversial ‘prophet’ asks woman to get into freezer

CONTROVERSIAL “prophet” Penuel Mnguni is making news again posting pictures of people he locked inside a freezer to “demonstrate the power of God”.

In pictures posted on his End Times Disciples Ministries website, Mnguni described his instruction to the woman and then a man, who could be seen getting into the freezer.

“The Man of God… while ministering about offences which causes God not to perform, commanded a young lady to enter a deep refrigerator that was on a high freezing point,” read a post from last week Sunday’s service.

Mnguni was reported to have commanded both to sleep, and when he opened the freezer 30 minutes later, the two members of his congregation woke up.

“He asked the lady who had ice on her body what was happening, and she said it had been very hot inside the refrigerator and she didn’t feel any coldness.”

That was testament to the power of God, Mnguni wrote, but some social media commentators did not take too kindly to it, calling it trickery.

“The spirit of discernment is so very important guys,” Norma Kay wrote on Facebook. She questioned the purpose of the “miracle.

Tshikhuthula Tshimangadzo Glen said: “All I see here is a dangerous and irresponsible act of magic.”

He asked why Mnguni did not rather pray for the sick and save the world. Bunny Banzi Mametja accused Mnguni of practising witchcraft, and said there was nothing good in the acts of last Sunday. “It’s about stealing from the poor and robbing them blind,” he said.

But others were full of praise for the young pastor, who rose to fame by feeding congregants snakes and other small animals, instructing them to eat grass and drink petrol in Soshanguve last year.

He became infamous as he garnered a bigger following of largely female congregants.

He was accused of brainwashing poor and desperate people, and he attracted the anger of the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities.

Chairwoman Thoko Mkhwanazi- Xaluva said he had to be reined in before he wreaked havoc.

His mind games were so effective he could “order people to strap bombs to their bodies and blow up malls and other populated areas”, she suggested.

Last month, Mnguni drove over two people during a weekend service in Mpumalanga, and boasted of being the anointed one in response to Mkhwanazi-Xaluva’s calls for him to face the Equality Court.

A blogger known only as Refilwe asked why a freezer had been in the church, and the overwhelming response from Mnguni’s followers was to ask that she and others concentrate on the miracles on display.

One of the congregants at Pastor Penuel Mnguni’s church inside a deep freezer during a church service.