ABUSE OF PRAYER MOUNTAINS

ABUSE OF PRAYER MOUNTAINS

ABUSE OF PRAYER MOUNTAINS IN NIGERIA

A lot of abuses and crimes have crept into prayer mountains. A visit to some of them revealed that some people have turned them to their homes, living there for months and years, giving rooms for abuses like sexual escapades. Many of them have turned having mountains into business largely because many Nigerian Christians, who are not properly baked, are ignorant of who they are in Christ. Anybody who parades himself a prophet on the mountains they worship. Criminals have exploited these to deceive and rob them.

On some mountains are mentally ill people erroneously deemed as prophets, some of whom go ahead to attend to people against the rules of the mountains. Speaking on his experience on one of the mountains, Adewale Olorunleke of The Lord Our Righteousness Deliverance Ministries disclosed that on his arrival at a mountain, he met a man that claims to be a prophet in white garment. “I didn’t even bother to greet him before moving to a section opposite him to begin my prayer. After praying, I was set to go, so I moved closer to the man to greet him and to receive his prophetic blessings. The man prayed for me and even gave me anointing oil to drink. I thanked him and left. Few weeks later, I got to know through a friend that the man I took as a prophet was mentally ill and practically lives there. I was shocked and had a repulsive feelings through my body. How did I descend so low to be receiving prayer and anointing oil from a mad man? I even drank the oil for God’s sake! Since then, I have always be careful interacting with anyone I meet on prayer mountains.”

A General Overseer (name withheld) told this reporter that some of the Prayer Mountains are not properly managed. Just anybody come there to do whatever they like, some of which are directly opposite the purpose of the mountains. “The mountains,’ according to him, “were established to be centres of deliverance, places where captives are set free, not areas of bondage where negative prayers are made against rivals and competitors. It is not a place to pray for thieves who stole in government and want to hide under the anointing of some prophets. If you go to the Prayer mountains, all manner of criminals, politicians, CEOs, are brought there by pastors who are ruled by their bellies. Such things should be discouraged on Prayer Mountains, if not, God will withdraw from there.”

Giving another negative example he saw on a prayer mountain, the General Overseer said “There was a day three people, later identified as prophets of a particular denomination, came to a mountain. They put the picture of a man in the middle of a towel which they soaked in water. Two of them held the towel at both ends and began to roll it such that the water in the towel was draining down. The third man stood in the middle and was praying that as they were draining this towel of water, the anointing of a certain pastor, whom I know very well, should be draining. They squeezed the towel with all their energies till it dried and the picture squeezed badly and they left. Such things on Prayer Mountains!

Another of the scams on prayer mountains, according to Biola Ologunde, a resident of a street, in Ketu Lagos happened December 2016. According to her, “Some people in the name of prophets and pastors came to the street and began to pray using a mega phone. When people gathered to listen to them, it was time to hit their gullible minds. They claimed to have been on a Prayer Mountain for months and God showed them that particular street that 15 people living around there would die. And they have been sent with deliverance oil for people living on the street to use. Immediately, they opened their bags, inside of which was oil tied in some thousands of small nylon wrappers and people started buying. Commercial deliverance! Such scams!”

Raphael Kolawole Olorunmaiye, president of Heartbeat Miracle Ministries, also narrated his experience. “There is nothing special about the mountains. I grew up in Kaduna and after being born again, I constantly spent time on the mountain for prayer and this is personal, no interference from any third party. As a matter of fact, it is just a lonely time with God.

Now, I have been hearing of this commercial mountains in South West Nigeria. I have never been to one, but I have seen some of their prophets coming to my Church office, telling me they have been on the mountain praying and God gave them a word for me, all coming out to be fake. I made bold to say that God is not on the mountain. God is a spirit, you can meet Him in the chamber of your room or in a hotel or a camp, if you need to be separated for the purpose of concentration or attention. Let no one be deceived by the commercial activities going on the so called mountains.”

Another example was a ‘prophet’ called Jegede who came to the mountains to collect sperm in handkerchief. This story was narrated by an eye witness.

“That fateful day, Jegede came to the Prayer Mountains in the guise of a prophet. He sat in the hall where people kept their bags, change their clothings and rest. There, he would call the unsuspecting and give them prophecies. For those who bought whatever he said, he would ask them to follow him down the mountain, to a bush where he had a mat. He would promise to conduct a deliverance session on them. The person would be asked to sleep on the mat, naked. He would then moisten his palm with oil and began to fondle the penis of the client until they discharge. He would clean the semen with the handkerchief in his hand.”

The eyewitness said he must have done this for about five people that very day. At a stage, one of the clients came to his senses and reported his encounter to the custodians of the mountains called Baba Ori Oke. It became a scandal! They invited him to the office of Baba Ori Oke for interrogation. The encounter was confirmed. Immediately, he was apprehended and tied to a tree with chains. That was when the news broke to everybody on the mountain as they went to see him by the tree.

The tradition of the mountain is that people on the mountain must attend the Church on the mountain for prayers at some hours. That night, there was a prayer session between 2am – 4am. At some minutes to 3am, Baba Ori Oke and other custodians of the mountains interrupted the service. Baba Ori Oke, in a sad tone narrated what happened. The man, Jegede was asked to be brought in and some people went for him.

He was brought in and led to the podium in chains. Baba Ori Oke asked if there were people in the hall who had encountered the fake prophet, such people should come out for proper deliverance from any evil he could have inflicted on them. Four people did. They were taken into the office. Then at exactly 3am, the prophet said every prophets in the Church should raise their hands. They all did as Baba Ori Oke began to rain curses on Jegede. The curses must have lasted for ten minutes. “Today, we put a mark on you. No one who sees you will have mercy on you. Anywhere you go, you will meet with sorrows and failure. As from today, God closes His eyes on you. Your heaven is shut. We hand you over to perversion and the spirit of error. As from today, evil will attend to you. We change your thinking and mentality to that of a madman. Start thinking, walking and running around like a madman.” The curses went on and on until suddenly the man started laughing loudly and he was led out of the Church.

ABUSE AROUND AFRICA

The abuse of Prayer Mountains is not limited to Nigeria alone. The story is same in Kenya and Ghana. Pastor Moses Zewedi said, “In Kenya, many are misusing Prayer Mountains. If you wrong somebody, they will scare you by going against you on the Mountains. Adultery has also been reported on the mountains. Opposite sex who came for prayer ending up in sexual sex-capades on the Mountains. Not these alone, women are being brainwashed. Though this is not everywhere in Kenya but always, some people will want to abuse those places.”

The experience in Ghana in not different. According to King Edward Ambrose Washman in an online publication on www.peacefmonline.com, “the Atwea Mountains is now a dogging grounds for some worshipers who patronize the place daily. It is now a motel than a prayer camp. Caretakers of the place complained bitterly that used condoms are always seen early mornings at the camp, thus sex activities go on overnight among some prayer warriors who can’t control their sexual libido. Used condoms are not balloons for decorations at the place.”

RECOMMENDATION
In all, it is recommended that custodians of Prayer Mountains need to set up a better security and monitoring. If they really mean to keep the ambience holy and as a place of deliverance, they must live with the consciousness that everything good and holy would always be sought by the devil to be polluted. They need to double up their efforts to clear the mountains of people who have turned the places to homes and fake prophets who have turned them to commercial centres. If the crimes and immoralities seen on some of these mountains continue unabated, the days of miracles on the mountains are numbered. God will not come down in sinful environments.

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INTRODUCTION
THE SPIRITUALITY OF PRAYER MOUNTAINS
PRAYER MOUNTAINS IN AFRICA