{"id":3713,"date":"2010-08-26T09:10:57","date_gmt":"2010-08-26T15:10:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jesusneedsnewpr.net\/?p=3713"},"modified":"2011-05-03T16:21:38","modified_gmt":"2011-05-03T16:21:38","slug":"the-injustice-of-the-church-in-nigeria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesusneedsnewpr\/2010\/08\/the-injustice-of-the-church-in-nigeria.html","title":{"rendered":"The injustice of ‘The Church’ in Nigeria…"},"content":{"rendered":"

Story by CNN reporter, Christian Purefoy<\/a>…<\/p>\n

Just after midnight, the pastor seized a woman’s forehead with his large hand and she fell screaming and writhing on the ground. “Fire! Fire! Fire!” shouted the worshippers, raising their hands in the air.<\/p>\n

Pastor Celestine Effiong’s congregants are being delivered from what they firmly believe to be witchcraft. And in the darkness of the city and the villages beyond, similar shouts and screams echo from makeshift church to makeshift church.<\/p>\n

“I have been delivered from witches and wizards today!” exclaimed one exhausted-looking woman.<\/p>\n

Pastors in southeast Nigeria claim illness and poverty are caused by witches who bring terrible misfortune to those around them. And those denounced as witches must be cleansed through deliverance or cast out.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read the rest of the story here. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Story by CNN reporter, Christian Purefoy… Just after midnight, the pastor seized a woman’s forehead with his large hand and she fell screaming and writhing on the ground. “Fire! Fire! Fire!” shouted the worshippers, raising their hands in the air. Pastor Celestine Effiong’s congregants are being delivered from what they firmly believe to be witchcraft.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":412,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church","category-crazy"],"yoast_head":"\nThe injustice of 'The Church' in Nigeria... - Jesus Needs New PR<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesusneedsnewpr\/2010\/08\/the-injustice-of-the-church-in-nigeria.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The injustice of 'The Church' in Nigeria... - Jesus Needs New PR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Story by CNN reporter, Christian Purefoy… Just after midnight, the pastor seized a woman’s forehead with his large hand and she fell screaming and writhing on the ground. “Fire! 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Pastor Celestine Effiong’s congregants are being delivered from what they firmly believe to be witchcraft.…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesusneedsnewpr\/2010\/08\/the-injustice-of-the-church-in-nigeria.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Needs New PR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-08-26T15:10:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-05-03T16:21:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Matthew Paul Turner\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The injustice of 'The Church' in Nigeria... - Jesus Needs New PR","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesusneedsnewpr\/2010\/08\/the-injustice-of-the-church-in-nigeria.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The injustice of 'The Church' in Nigeria... - Jesus Needs New PR","og_description":"Story by CNN reporter, Christian Purefoy… Just after midnight, the pastor seized a woman’s forehead with his large hand and she fell screaming and writhing on the ground. “Fire! 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