How do the prophets convince the poor to hand over what little money they have?

Continuation of: African prophets According to a pastor who was a longstanding colleague of Prophet Walter Magaya, their success is built on creating powerful personality cults with a dictatorial hierarchy. He recalls how the catalyst for Magaya’s transformation was a visit to Nigeria to meet with TB Joshua, Africa’s formative charismatic megachurch evangelist, whose YouTube

African prophets

A prophet video on Facebook shares details of a UK bank account for British donations Across Africa, evangelist pastors who call themselves prophets have become more influential than politicians after accumulating feverishly devout followers. Their wealth has grown exponentially, much of it through online and cash payments attendees are expected to make. Worshippers hand over

Palestinian territory’s cultural heritage destroyed

Palestinian territory’s cultural heritage, including museums, built heritage and archaeological sites, has been damaged or destroyed …since Israel began its offensive. The UN educational and cultural heritage organisation UNESCO reported in March it verified damage to 22 sites, including five religious buildings, 10 of historical or artistic merit, two depositories containing artefacts, one museum and

Should we really accept unquestioningly the faith of our ancestors

Many people grow up in a family where there is or is not a faith or where there is atheism. A certain faith or disbelief is passed on from one generation to the next. Even if one grows up in a family where God is believed, one encounters moments where one questions certain things. Then

To be read for the third week of February

For Israel’s sake, Netanyahu must go now, argues Tim Stanley How British customer service died – and the companies that killed it Roger Bootle: Don’t despair, for American exceptionalism can provide hope for Britain Tim Stanley: For Israel’s sake, Netanyahu must go and go now Sussexes ‘won’t be stopped’ from using coat of arms in

How Evangelicals betray Christians in the Holy Land

Palestinian Christians have been disappearing from the Holy Land for decades, even though this region is where Christianity began. So what’s going on? Dena Takruri goes to Bethlehem to ask the Palestinian Christians who remain. She only speaks to Trinitarian Christians, of which she finds the Roman Catholics and the Lutheran Church.  For many Christians,

An apple as food for thought

Don Miller in “The Bible Doesn’t Say That…Does it?” writes Despite the use of a picture with a serpent and apple to illustrate my post, nowhere in the Bible does it say that the “Forbidden Fruit” was an apple. It could have been a fig, or grape, or pomegranate…or any other fruit. The apple doesn’t

Pope Francis I and World Youth Day Lisbon 2023

Hundreds of thousands of young people from all over the world gathered in Lisbon for a deeply moving experience of Catholicism.

Youngsters showing up for their Catholic faith

It is incredible how the Roman Catholic Church still manages to bring together thousands of young people these days and enthusiastically support their pope and faith. During the first week of August, all attention was for Lisbon and the World Youth Day (WYD), which gathered together young people from all over the world in a

The Bible not as complicated as you think

The Bible is not as complicated as you think The Book of books, the Bible, is presented by many as an incomprehensible old-fashioned book. However, it is an everyday book that is not as difficult to understand as many would have us believe. One just has to be willing to want to read it and