Kenyan Pastor Bans Female Congregants From Wearing Underwear in Church
A pastor in Kenya is making headlines for recently banning his female congregants from wearing underwear to church, telling them to avoid wearing the garments in order to be closer to God.
The pastor, described only as the Rev. Njohi by The Kenyan Daily Post, reportedly asked his female congregants at the Lord’s Propeller Redemption church in Dandora to arrive at Sunday’s service without underwear or bras. The pastor’s reasoning was that the undergarments are “ungodly,” and people need to be “free in ‘body’ and ‘spirit’ to receive Christ,” according to the local newspaper. The church is located in an eastern suburb of Nairobi.
According to Nigerian Watch, the pastor also said he made the new rule for women so God can enter their bodies easily. The pastor added that women who continue to wear undergarments to church will suffer “dire consequences,” and encouraged mothers attending his services to check their daughters to make sure they had obeyed the new rule.
As UK Metro reports, an eyewitness attending Njohi’s congregation says many of the women attending the services did in fact obey the rule, showing up to the church without underwear. The UK Metro points out that it is unclear why Njohi has advised women to leave their undergarments at home but still allows men to wear theirs.
Njohi has received media attention for his strange new rule, and some are not pleased with the pastor’s edict, arguing that it is an attempt to take advantage of women under the ruse that they are doing something godly.
“This SICK Pastor probably wanted to lay hands on these unsuspecting women folk!” commented News One, a website describing itself as catering to “black America.” Twitter comments regarding the news ranged from people saying “wow!” to “shaking my head.”
In a similarly strange story that took place in early January, Pastor Lesego Daniel of Rabboni Centre Ministries in South Africa commanded members of his church to eat grass, saying that the Bible states that Jesus had his disciples, other than the 12 listed, do unconventional things to prove their faith and obedience to God.
