Jehovah Wanyoyi’ followers have offered flour and alcohol as burnt offering to overcome corona.
The government order banning social gatherings has largely influenced how religious institutions and churches operate.
Many urban churches have resorted to using online platforms to take the gospel forward in a bid to respect the social distancing order and still reach out to congregants and new souls.
Different denominations have been praying.
In Christianity specifically, leaders and faithfuls from different denominations have turned to intense prayer sessions seeking God’s intervention against the coronavirus pandemic.
In a remote Chemororoch village, deep in Uasin Gishu county, the home of the late god of the Lost Israelites of Kenya, Jehovah Wanyonyi, things are slightly different.
The faithful who have vehemently denied that Wanyonyi passed away in July 2015, have taken a different approach to overcome the “coronavirus plague” as they term it. Led by Jehovah Wanyonyi’s successor and High Priest Eliab Masinde, the faithful have resorted to making burnt sacrifices to appease heavens to stop coronavirus from devouring human beings.
They say they did not congregate.
The towering and partially edentulous Masinde said they have adhered to government order of not congregating but that has not stopped them from seeking their maker’s intervention.
Masinde said:
We don’t meet as we used to meet on Saturdays but we are praying and offering burnt offerings at our madhabahu ya Musa (Moses’ altar) to appease God
The man, who is in charge of the shrine which hosts the altar at Wanyonyi’s house which is punctuated with grass thatched houses of the late god’s different wives, said the offerings made include burning of dough made from mixing wheat and maize flour with margarine (blue band).
He also added:
We have been buying blue band margarine which we mix with either maize or wheat flour and burn them at the altar. We are waiting for a sign. Whatever we are doing is biblical.
According to Masinde, the prayers cannot commence without alcohol which is then poured on the altar.
Masinde said:
It is in the Bible. We see instances in the holy book where alcohol needed to be there before any sacrifice is made. We follow just that to ensure our offerings are acceptable.
Masinde added:
He said, together with other faithful, they have been offering sacrifices every Saturday as one way of keeping COVID-19 at bay.
So how do they do the offerings?
We give offerings by mixing two gorogoros (two kgs tins) of flour with one kilogramme of blue band and salt before burning them to ashes. We do this then pour alcohol to the altar. The holy word tells us that prophets were observing such rules and we are reminded that we should not go to the altar empty handed
The self-declared high priest explained that they are using maize flour, wheat and blue band alongside alcohol as offerings because of tough economic times that cannot allow them get goats or sheep for this rite.
They used to do offerings like Moses:
Initially, we used to buy a sheep in accordance with the doctrines which Moses used to do as sacrifice but due to current hard financial times, we use these new emblems which the faithful sacrifice to buy.
The cleric also called on Kenyans to support their prayer initiative with offerings saying he was optimistic there would be a heavenly solution for COVID-19 sooner than later.
My appeal to the countrymen is that if they avail for us offerings, we shall continue to intercede without ceasing until something happens and coronavirus leaves. Our main assignment is intercession. We will stay on the prayer watch tower until we conquer this plague.
He observed that signs like locusts, famines and strange diseases indicated end times and thus a time for all humanity to repent and mend their ways with the creator.
The priest said Lost Israelites of Kenya faithful have been tasking him to offer the sacrifices on their behalf as one way of maintaining social distancing.
We do not want to go against the rules of the land and that is why we are limiting socialisation as long as our members provide offerings. I always take up the challenge to lay them at the altar.
Masinde was, however, adamant to disclose if he was praying to Wanyonyi or the God in the Bible saying it was common sense for everyone to know there was only one supreme being whom they have worshipped since joining the movement of their deceased leader.
(H/T TUKO)