Greedy ‘prophets’ escape death by a whisker

By James Kuria

When some Christians are reminded about the second coming of Christ, they quake in their boots fearing they may be caught unawares when the day comes.

It is therefore no small matter when a ‘prophet’ walks into a village one morning and announces the date of Jesus’ second coming only for the son of God to fail to show up.

This is was what happened in Kesses village in Eldoret two weeks ago.

According to the residents, a young man arrived in the village and said that he had been sent by God to tell the people to prepare themselves as Christ would be coming back that Sunday.

"I have been sent from heaven to come and let you people know that Christ is coming back," he said.

"You are lucky because not everyone will receive this good news."

The ‘prophet’ revealed that he had sent a message to the people of Haiti to warn them about the earthquake and urging them to flee but they did not listen to him.

He also claimed to have prophesied the 1998 bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam.

To ensure that his message reached the right people, the he visited churches where he found faithful praying and waiting for him since he had sent them prior information about his arrival.

Greater vigour

In all the churches he attended, the young man solicited for tithes and offerings. He justified his demands by quoting the Bible where it says the worker is worth his payment.

Four days later he was on the same mission although members of the community were starting to become suspicious.

Village elders and church leaders had met and started making inquiries about him. Church leaders said his message was misleading because no one knows the day Christ will come.

Furthermore, a true prophet would not demand payment even from the poor.

After investigations by elders, it was discovered that the young man was a third year student at public university in the area and was out to defraud the villagers.

A close companion revealed that the so-called prophet had managed to rake in more than Sh5,000 a day and this probably motivated him to preach his ‘gospel’ with greater vigour.

The young man was usually flanked by two fellows who were not allowed to reveal their names.

On the day before the expected coming of Christ, the ‘prophet’ and his disciple were confronted by elders moments after they had left a home where they had received a gift of Sh2,000.

Failing to escape, they threatened the elders that they would cause an earthquake. Their threats fell on deaf ears.

Local church

When they were questioned about their faith, the two young men accompanying the young man said they knew little about Christianity and were only offering security to the ‘prophet’.

The elders decided to lock them up in a room at the local church and wait for the following day to see if their prophecy would come true.

The message of their arrest spread like a bush fire and the following day there was a large gathering of people in the church grounds.

False prophets

Everyone was anxious to see what would happen next although the church leaders had told the people not to fear because they were false prophets.

Some people who had heeded the ‘prophet’s’ advice accused the elders for harassing God’s messengers and demanded their release.

At 4pm there were still many people outside the church.

By 6.00pm, they had run out of patience and started baying for the blood of the three culprits.

When one of the elders opened the door of the church, the crowd charged at them and rained blows on them.

The three confessed to having collected more than Sh15,000 in seven days.