By Duncan Mlanjira
Elders of Seventh Day Adventist Church in Karonga have written a letter of protest to North Malawi Conference in Mzuzu alerting its president that their pastor M.S.J. Moyo has been asking members to remove all their clothing regardless of their gender during anointing sessions.
The letter says the elders were notified on September 13 that pastor Moyo has been conducting anointing ministry to members of the church since he joined them on 5th January, 2020.
They say the annointing service was being conducted in the preparation room of Karonga central church and the church members were being ordered not to disclose to anyone of how the service was being conducted.
This behavior is rampant amongst pastors
They allege that the pastor has been conducting this in the absence of the women victims’ husbands and that marriages of some of the married women were on the rocks.
The elders disclosed that they have shielded names of the married women who alerted them of the despicable behavior in order to preserve their marriages in the event that their husbands discover the despicable behavior.
A delegation of elders B. Msowoya, L.M. Nyirongo, T. Mboma, R. Ndawara and Mtepuka was sent to question the pastor on the allegations, who is reported to have confirmed conducting such a ritual.
A curse to religion
He is said to have defended himself that this is a church system and it is written in the Ministers’ manual and that even the President Dr W.C. Mwale and Pastor Banda also practise the ritual.
“He gave specific examples that they physically undressed pastor Moyo’s sister and anointed her when she was sick,” says the letter.
He is said to have further defended that olive oil used as medicine and that pastors are allowed to insert the oil into ladies’ private parts who have cervical cancer.
Coronavirus alert
He is also said to have told the delegation that there are only three pastors in the North who have such a gift of anointing people in such a way — Dr. Mwale, Pastor Banda and himself.
These answers shocked the delegation and forced them to seek further clarifications from the conference so that if indeed pastors are allowed to practise such annointment, then Moyo will have to be transferred from Karonga as such behavior is an abomination to the church.
Upon further investigation by district director and chairperson, pastor Banda disclosed that it was actually pastor Moyo’s late father and not his late sister who had been undressed during an annointment ritual.
The director is said to have explained that the minister’s handbook states that anointing is done in the presence of elders and the oil is applied on the forehead.
Coronavirus alert
The elders were told that if there is need to apply the whole body, then a man anoints a fellow man and if it is a woman, the pastor only prays and then deaconesses anoint their fellow woman in the absence of the pastor.
But pastor Moyo was anointing women himself and in a room with just the two of them and was touching their private parts, says the letter.
The church members that were interrogated over these allegations confirmed that pastor Moyo was quoting the Bible verses like the book of 2 Kings Chapter 5 verses 1 to 17.
The members had so much faith in their pastor and never questioned his actions, says the letter and that when Moyo was questioned if he started practising this ritual when he arrived in Karonga or elsewhere, he never responded even though the question was repeated several times.
Coronavirus alert
The elders reveal that the church members they interviewed revealed that they were not aware that Moyo’s ritual was evil since they trusted their pastor so much — thinking this was a church system as per the pastor’s claim.
The affected members now feel sexually abused and harassed with some threatening to boycott church services while some even threaten to take legal steps against the pastor and the church because the case is now widespread in the public domain.
The letter says pastor Moyo is not even remorseful of his lustful behavior and claims that as an ordained minister, nothing can happen to him.
The elders council is asking that the pastor should be transferred from Karonga also for his own safety and security.
Coronavirus alert