The many faces of cultism and signs we should never ignore

Anything that I’d like to say about the Shakahola horror story has already been said, so I won’t belabour what has already been pointed out.

But I feel the need to add my voice to what is being said about the cults masquerading as churches, and to which thousands of Kenyans troop to on Sundays, or on all days of the week for that matter, day and night.

And no, as it has already been established, it is not just poor, needy and desperate Kenyans who fall for the ridiculous teachings that these so-called pastors spew on the pulpit with eye-popping confidence. Even educated well-to-do Kenyans have not been spared.

Take Paul Magu for instance, the lawyer that is said to have murdered his wife and three children and left most of his property to the woman ‘pastor’ that had moved into his home. He would later kill himself.

You must have heard such stories. The fact is that there are many hard-working Kenyans who send all their salary to their pastor at the end of each month. I’m talking about men and women who have neglected their families, their children, in a nutshell, all their responsibilities to ‘take care’ of their pastors and their families – to feed their children, clothe their children and educate them, yet back home, their hungry children long stopped going to school due to lack of school fees.

Sometime ago, I was privy to the story of two women, both single, university educated and with good jobs, who turned their backs on the life they knew and moved into their pastor’s home – the man was married and had children, and according to the person that recounted the story to me, the two footed all the bills in that home, including paying rent, buying food and paying the children’s school fees.

By then, they had shut out everyone they knew, including their parents, siblings and friends. They had, of course, stopped visiting their parents, and were a no-show even on major holidays such as Christmas when most families make an effort to get together. And no, they no longer called nor answered phone calls.

I am made to understand that the first thing that cults do is alienate their prey from their social circles – family, friends, neighbours, colleagues - people that are likely to talk sense into them, to point out that they are simply a money-minting machine to them, nothing more. The chronology of events that relatives of the victims of the Shakahola tragedy is familiar – they are all talking of relatives that suddenly became detached and secluded themselves, and when they eventually left their homes for that killing field, cut off all communication with everyone that knew them.

Many years ago, I think I was in my mid-twenties, I was invited to attend a seminar targeting women, which was hosted by a popular flamboyant woman pastor. The seminar was to last three days, if I remember correctly, and was so well attended, there was barely any room to wiggle on day 1.

The church is one of the pioneers of the so-called prosperity gospel in the country, and was hugely popular with young people when it launched. It still is.

Anyway, part of the preaching on that day dwelled on the kind of man that the single women in attendance should aim for. In a nutshell, the woman pastor implored them to give a wide berth to men that did not own a car, did not live in a good neighbourhood and did not have a well-paying job.

A “daughter of the most high”, she pointed out, was not destined for poverty. Aim high, daughters, she stressed, you don’t serve a God of poverty. I wonder how many impressionable young women took this advice to heart, and how many out of this group are still on the lookout for a man with a car to marry, if they are interested in getting married, that is.

The irony is that whenever this pastor gives her life’s story, she talks about how she and her husband were dirt poor when they got married, so poor, they sometimes went to bed on empty stomachs…

Obviously, cults have many faces, not all will order you to starve yourselves and your children to death.

- The writer is Chief Production Editor at NMG. Email: cnjunge@ ke.nationmedia.com