Embattled Pastor Ezekiel Odero of New Life Prayer Centre and Church has distanced his church from the alleged indoctrination and exploitation of followers.
Speaking before the Senate Ad Hoc Committee inquiring into Shakahola deaths on Friday 13th, Odero said he believes in preaching the Gospel in a manner that does not hurt other people.
"I preach live but use recorded programmes at night. I do that because it makes it easier for someone to ask questions about what I preach. I do that also for government to listen to what I preach and know what I stand for"
Pastor Ezekiel
The Newlife pastor further stated that he never coerces any of his followers to fast or not to eat.
‘After service, I pray for food and people will go to eat when they want,” he stated.
Odero futher noted that he has two hotels that operate 24 hours serving his followers and they go to the hotel to eat whenever they feel like.
He added that his church has a capacity of 45,000 people who have never raised questions about his teachings.
“If my preaching were wrong, one person would have stood up and raised concerns. I do not advocate for exploitation or extreme indoctrination.”
Asked about his connection to the controversial Pastor Mackenzie, the pastor noted that he only first knew him on TV.
“I first came to know about Paul Makenzi on TV. I wanted to be on TV so I looked for him. He offered to sell me his TV station sometime in 2021, which I paid partially but later bought my own TV station. That is how I came to know him and that is all I know about him,” he said.
Pastor Odero had been summoned by the senate committee probing into the Shakahola murder, activity linked to the Good news International church of Pastor Paul Mackenzie.
The probe is linked to the discovery of hundreds of bodies at the Shakahola forest believed to be followers of Good News International Church.
Mackenzie is accused of brainwashing his followers using William Branham’s End of Days Theology and convincing them that starvation could hasten their escape from this life to be with Jesus.
As at the end of September, some 429 bodies had been exhumed from Shakahola forest from dozens of shallow graves.
Forensic examination established that 214 of them died from starvation, 39 from asphyxia, 14 from head injury while 115 remain unascertained as the bodies were badly decomposed.
The self-proclaimed pastor paul Mackenzie however still remains in custody over the mass killings , dubbed the ‘ Shakhahola massacre ‘.
