It was a shocking tale of shame sometime last week when masquerades descended on members and pastor of the Christ Apostolic Church, CAC, in Epinmi, Akoko South East area of Ondo state.
File Photo
Vanguard reports that the church which had organized a well-publicized programme in order to wage way against the devil and principalities of darkness in the community.
Ironically, the holy meeting took a bad turn when four masquerades, after rounding the town, decided to use a path beside the church to get to their hideout where they can change and share the money they realized. The church members numbering about 100 and the pastors were surprised to see masquerades coming towards the church while service was ongoing.
The ushers and one of the pastors, alongside others however formed a wall to disallow the masquerades from moving near the church. In a swift retaliation, the leader of the masqueraders, one Tunde Arohunmolase, who is now in police custody, challenged the pastor, quoting Psalm 24:1 “ The earth is of the Lord and the fullness thereof” to the pastor. He further explained that no one has the power to obstruct them from passing through the land, not even the pastor.
When Arohunmolase however noticed that the church members were not ready to let them pass, he signaled his other masquerades to run over the human wall which they did and later descended on all the church members. They invaded the church and flogged everyone alongside two of their pastors. The sacrilegious act was said to have made some of the invited members leave the scene with injuries all over their bodies while the pastors were hospitalized thereafter.
However, the leader of the masquerade group was arrested while two others escaped. This was after one of the affected reported the case to the police and the police decide to trace the masquerades to the hideout. They were met sharing their N3,000 booty. When interrogated, the arrested leader said that he was forced into the masquerade business with his other colleagues because they had nothing doing and do not want to be criminals. He said they would have made more money but for their outing which was not attached to any festival.
One of the pastors that was attacked, Jacob Ogunmola, declined comment on the incident. But one of the leaders in the church who spoke in confidence said “ what happened resulted from breakdown in communication”.
According to him, the pastors were out to prevent the masquerades from distracting the church programme and did not ask them not to do their business.
He said that the church has put the ugly incident behind it and has moved on adding that Sunday service was held in the church with an impressive attendance by church members. According to him the ugly incident “has not and will not affect the church attendance”.
Meanwhile, hell was let loose recently at the United Methodist Church, in the Oshodi area of Lagos when the church members chased out their pastor from the pulpit. Also, a South African pastor, Pastor Peniel, is popularly known for a number of strange acts. He had fed his congregation live snake. He hadturned human hair into food for the consumption of the church members.
