NEWS & ANALYSIS

"Eat grass and be blessed!" - Daily Sun

The front page and lead story of SA's largest daily newspaper, January 10 2014

Daily Sun (January 10 2014) - IT IS just plain, ordinary grass that you find anywhere . . . But after their pastor has prayed, members of a Tshwane church fall to their knees and chomp it.

THEY SAY IT TASTES LIKE ALL-BRAN!

The strange behaviour affects members of Rabboni Centre Ministries at Tshwane University of Technology's Garankuwa campus in Zone 2.

Photos of them stuffing handfuls of grass into their mouths at a recent service have hit social networks.

During the preaching by Pastor Lesego Daniel, church members are said to fall into "abnormal sleep" which allows the pastor to walk on their backs without them feeling pain.

A woman congregant told Daily Sun the members sometimes talk in tongues and never get ill from eating grass.

The woman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, described it as "another of the miracles" that happen at the church.

The grass-eating usually happens on the last Sunday of the month, she said.

"I first witnessed it in June 2012 when I joined the church, but I was told it had been happening before that."

She said not all members of the congregation eat grass - "only those who are troubled by the Holy Spirit".

In a recent sermon, she said, the pastor told them the grass would taste like All-Bran and it would not make them sick.

"He was demonstrating the power of the Holy Spirit. And sure enough, the people who ate the grass said it tasted like All-Bran."

When Daily Sun contacted the church we were told that Pastor Daniel had gone to a farm where a church was to be built.

When a reporter arrived at the farm, near Rosslyn, a service was under way on the mountainside.

The pastor prayed in strange tongues and several members of the congregation started trembling and fell into trances.

Church members were ordered by the pastor to "wake up". Some of them looked dizzy. The pastor then got a big round of applause.

See the Daily Sun mobi site for more on this and other stories....

 

The Daily Sun is South Africa's largest daily newspaper with an average circulation of 291,132 (Audit Bureau of Circulations 3rd Quarter 2013) and a readership of 5.7m (as per AMPS 2012ab). Its Facebook page can be accessed here. It can be followed on Twitter here. To find about advertising on the Daily Sun click here.

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