South African pastor makes congregants drink engine oil for healing

A pastor in Daveyton, South Africa has joined the list of controversial clergymen who have used bizarre methods during healing services in the church. Prophet Theo Bongani Maseko of the Breath of Christ Ministries has been denounced as "reckless" for making his congregants drink engine cleaning fluid.

In an interview with South African newspaper The Star, Maseko confirmed that he made the church members drink the chemical during a recent service in order "to demonstrate the power of God."

"When we pray over anything, its poison dies. So it can't harm people. Nothing happened, no one has been to hospital," the pastor claimed.

Citing Bible verses, Maseko asserted that those who drank the engine cleaner had been "saved, healed and delivered."

"Jesus spat on the ground and made mud. He took that mud and smeared it on the eyes of a blind man and, instantly, that blindness was healed. Mark 16 v 17-18 says 'in my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues. They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover'," he said.

Thoko Mkhwanazi-Xaluva, the chairperson of Commission for Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Religious, Cultural and Linguistic Communities (CRL), urged other religious leaders to rally together to bring an end to the pastor's controversial practice. She also called for a regulatory body to monitor church pastors to prevent similar incidents.

There have been several South African pastors who have sparked outrage for using unconventional methods in the church.

Last November, several South African churches denounced Lethebo Rabalago of Mount Zion General Assembly for spraying pesticide on his congregants, claiming that it would heal them of HIV, cancer and other illnesses.

CRL said that a complaint must be filed against the pastor before it could initiate an investigation. The commission added that it had spoken to members of Rabalago's congregation, but they refused to file a complaint against him.

In December, Rufus Phala of AK Spiritual Christian Church in Makgodu, Limpopo, made his congregants drink a disinfectant while acknowledging that it could be harmful. He claimed he was instructed by God to use the chemical and said that he was the first one to drink it. He also claimed that he had received messages from people who said they were healed after drinking the disinfectant.