A Catholic priest in Kitui puzzled mourners when he said men were to blame for the horrible happenings in churches including Shakahola forest deaths.
He said men contribute by letting their wives and children mingle freely with pastors who have failed morally.
Parish priest Onesmus Macharia from St Patrick’s Migwani in Mwingi West was presiding over the burial of Sammy Katunge Mbuvi, 62, at Muthungue village, Itumbi in Migwani sub-county on Wednesday.
He blamed men for encouraging cults by letting their wives and children attend church services without them.
“Why do you let your wife attend church without you? Don’t you know some immoral church ministers can even have an affair with your wife? Are you not supposed to be with her as her security in church?” Fr Macharia asked.
He said most churches had stopped worshipping God and congregants turned to worshipping pastors.
Fr Macharia said the biggest Christ church today, including the Catholic Church, lacks male church attendance.
He urged women to drag their men to church every Sunday.
He warned Christians against joining religious groups founded on dogmatic doctrines where one is pulled and pushed down as a way of receiving “god’s blessings”.
“The signs of the end times are clear. False prophecies where some clergy lure their followers that they are actually Jesus Christ. Be careful,” the priest said.
At the same time, Fr Macharia asked men to respect their wives to avoid families getting strained or broken.
The controversial Malindi preacher Paul Mackenzie is behind bars for the deaths of hundreds of his followers in Shakahola in Magarini, Kilifi county.
Pastor Ezekiel Odero of the New Life Prayer Centre in Mavueni, Kilifi is also linked to Mackenzie. Odero’s church and his World Evangelism TV were shut down by the state last week following his arrest.
