It’s brisk business for cash-for-prayers churches

A child prays during a church sermon

By Peter Letiwa

How Ms Karani spent the borrowed money

Sh17,000

Amount she spent to buy anointing oil. The oil packed in small bottles cost between Sh1,000 and Sh1,500, depending on spiritual needs

Sh5,000

What she paid for prayers to get a spouse. She was desperate to get a partner and borrowed money to pay the preacher.

Sh14,000

Spent on prayers to get a job. Ms Karani trusted that through her preacher, God would answer her prayers for a job, and was ready to pay.

Having been jobless for three years after college, Ms Carole Karani, 25, joined a church in Nairobi to seek divine intervention. She believed that through her preacher’s prayers, the good Lord would grant her a good job and a husband.

“I was desperate and needed help from God. I had no job, no money, and it’s hard to survive without an income, especially if you live in the city. That is why I went to church to pray through the assistance of my pastor,” she says.

However, she soon learnt that prayers in that church were not for free. But this did not deter her because she thought that if she got what she was seeking, then it would be a small price to pay.

“I had a job, but the company I worked for collapsed and I joined others on the streets. I went to many offices, but to no avail.”

Ms Karani joined the little known-church in the city in September 2008. She soon realised that money played an important role in her daily spiritual nourishment.

“You had to go to church with money. The preachers demanded money during a session called ‘planting a seed’. I was so convinced by the preachers that by ‘planting a seed’, one receives blessings and what God has in store for them,” she adds.

Ms Karani says “planting a seed” costs around Sh1,000 per session, depending on one’s divine needs.

“If, for instance, you are looking for a job, you might be asked to pay about Sh1,500, while a problem in your marriage will set you back Sh3,500 for prayers for you and your spouse.”

Ms Karani told her pastor that she only wanted a good job and a marriage partner. “If a woman is seeking a husband, prayers will cost her Sh5,000. I was in dire need of a partner and I also wanted a job.

Despite being jobless, I had to find money to pay for these divine services.” And where was she to get the money from?

“I borrowed from friends and tried to convince my parents about my new-found faith in God. Most of the time they sent me the money. I also sold my cell phones and other property to raise cash for the preacher to pray away my troubles,” says Ms Karani.

She adds that every Sunday after service, church boys would hawk “miracle fruits” and “fortune soaps” that cost between Sh500 and Sh1,000.

The “anointing oil” packed in small and large bottles cost between Sh1,000 and Sh1,500, depending on one’s purchasing power and spiritual needs.

High cost of a miracle

For the five months and three weeks that she was a member of the church, Ms Karani spent Sh17,000 on anointing oil, Sh5,000 on prayers for a husband, and Sh14,000 for prayers for a job. She also spent about Sh18,000 to buy “fortune soaps”, “miracle fruits”, and “white divine clothing”.

“Before I realised that I was being taken for a ride, I had paid more than Sh50,000 in less than six months. A small hotel I had tried to start after losing my job collapsed because I used all the profit to pay for prayers.

But nothing changed in my life. I never got a man to marry me and I am still jobless. But I have learnt a bitter lesson: that some church leaders are fraudsters and continue to deceive innocent people by taking away their hard-earned money.”

But some Christians are convinced that “planting a seed”, buying a bottle of “anointing oil”, and paying for prayers are part of contributions to the church.

Ms Fridah Makena in Nairobi says paying for prayers is fine. “I have no problem giving money to my pastor. I need divine intervention through him. I also know that he has no job and there are many activities going on in church that need money.

As a committed Christian, I have to abide by what the Bible says; to give God as much as I can to get His blessings.” But is it necessary for one to pay for prayers? And what does the Bible say about the Church and money?

Reverend Paul Selel of Neema International Church, Mombasa, says the money factor in the modern church has been accelerated by ignorance about Bible teachings.

“Nowhere in the holy book is it written that a person has to pay money to get blessings from a preacher. Many up-coming “Bible teachers” distort the meaning and teachings of the Bible and use it as a way to enrich themselves.

Many churches today operate like supermarkets; asking for money, money, and more money. Without money, some preachers will even boycott church services or complain in public that the money contributed is not enough. That is not biblical,” he says.

According to Prof Zablon Nthamburi, a religious studies and philosophy lecturer at the Kenya Methodist University in Nairobi, the Bible is against those who conduct commercial activities in church.

“When Jesus went to the temple in Jerusalem in John 2:13-16 and found people buying and selling cattle, sheep, and doves, He drove them out and poured out their coins, telling them to stop making His father’s house a market place,” says the professor.

If people needed animals, says Prof Nthamburi, it was okay to sell to them. The concept was not evil, but it was how and where the merchants sold their goods that angered Jesus.

“They did it in the temple, a place devoted to prayer and worship. They also cheated people when conducting their business. Jesus had a right to chase the deceivers out of His father’s house.

This is similar to what is happening in the modern church, which is now like an enterprise. It is money that causes people to sin and go against God’s teachings.

Money has made people fight in churches and caused misunderstanding between leaders. The love of money is apparently the root of all sinful acts in the modern church.”

He says there is nothing wrong with tithes and offerings. “These are acceptable in the Christian faith as a sacrifice to God. But the motives behind the giving are what matters.

If the tithes or offerings are given in accordance with God’s will and direction, and for what purpose they are given, then there is nothing wrong with them.

There is so much misunderstanding, misinformation, and misuse of tithing today that a book can be written on the subject,” says the professor.

In the book of Matthew 6:24, the Bible condemns the love of money. The chapter reads: “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.

You cannot serve both God and money.” Prof Nthamburi adds that the issue of money in the church boils down to the motives of the Christians themselves.

“The bottom line is, why are you giving the money, in the first place? Is it sacrificial, which is acceptable to God, or are you giving out of your wealth?”

Dr Joe Omollo, a clinical psychologist at Crossway Psychological Institute, believes that most Christians have been brainwashed by those who claim to be prophets.

“When someone crams all the verses of the Bible and starts preaching to someone who rarely reads the Bible, chances are that the latter will be influenced by that person’s opinions, whether wrong or right.

So that even if he or she asks for money, the one who has been manipulated will give because of the trust they have in that person. “The best way to deal with this is for Christians to read the Bible and understand what it says about money.

Once they do this, it will be difficult for them to get duped.”

–Daily Nation