Update: Zairean Sect Expelled from New Life Church

News reaching KSB’s headquarters indicate that the Zairean sect, which has been camping at the New Life Church in Stockholm, has been expelled from the Church by New Life leadership which has detected their brand of sectarianism. The sect, which calls itself “VEM” was expelled from New Life soon after Pastor Beatrice Kamau raised the alarm through KSB. The Pastor had warned Kenyans who joined VEM to understand that it is a sect whose methods of fellowship are not in line with the teachings of Jesus Christ as written in the holy bible.

Speaking to KSB, Pastor Beatrice said that she did not attack KCU neither is she against the Union. “My concern was that KCU members were mixing with VEM which is a sect that could contaminate the new Union and mislead its members to sectarian beliefs”, she told KSB. She congratulated both Mr. Kenneth Wamburi Munge and Sofia Njoroge for setting up KCU, adding that Kenyan Christians are in dire need of such a Union. She called on Kenyan Christians to support the Union by joining it.

According to details which have been gathered by KSB, leading Kenyans who are associated with VEM are Mr. Samuel Muirani and Mr. Antony Muraya. Reports say that Muraya is an “Assistant Pastor” of VEM which is being led by a Zairean national called Stanley while Mr. Muirani is said to be an “Advisor”. KSB has also learnt that both Mr. Kenneth Wamburi and Sofia Njoroge are not members of VEM but members of the New Life Church.

When VEM was expelled from the Church, the sect moved out together with both Muirani and Muraya while Wamburi and Sofia remained at the New Life Church. KCU is neither part of VEM nor the New Life Church but an independent organization whose other officials at the time it was founded was Mr. Moses Njenga (Treasurer), Mr. Steve Khadir (ordinary member) and Mr. John Muchiri (Chairman).

Following their expulsion from New Life Church, KSB has learnt that VEM has found a new home at a Fellowship center at Västertorp managed by Pastor Samson Kariuki who moved his congregation to Västertorp from the Bagarmossen Fellowship a few years ago. Initially, Muirani was part of the Bagarmossen church through which he ventured into religion from politics but after Apostle Karanja’s visit to Stockholm last year, the Bagarmossen church leadership entered into crisis and Muirani quit the church to join Zairean dominated VEM which was by then based at the New Life Church.

In the current dispensation, VEM has moved to Pastor Samson’s camp at Västertorp as “religious refugees” aka IDCs (Internally Displaced Christians) because Pastor Samson is sympathetic to his brethren in Christ. Samson has had his own altercations with Muirani but it appears as if since Apostle Karanja is destined for Stockholm under a VEM project, the Pastor is giving VEM accommodation out of solidarity to enable the group organize the Apostle’s trip which would also be beneficial to members of Pastor Samson’s congregation by way of spiritual replenishment.

Another explanation could be that by providing VEM with a home during difficult times, Pastor Samson could be sending signals to Muirani that he needs to recognize him as a major force within the religious fraternity because it is understood that when Muirani quit Bagarmossen Church, part of the problem was that Muirani did not recognize Pastor Samson as a leader in the Movement. The two may have temporarily put aside their differences because while Muirani and his VEM companions are homeless at the moment ahead of Karanja’s visit, Pastor Samson is gaining mileage by rescuing them and consolidating his position by providing a roof where VEM can do business.

“House of Mumbi”
Muirani’s membership in VEM together with the sectarian tendencies associated with the group rekindles old memories. Just before plunging into the Bagarmossen church, Muirani had publicly been proclaiming support for the outlawed Mungiki sect in Kenya and publicly delivering traditional sermons in Gikuyu language based on the doctrine of “The House of Mumbi”. At that time, Muirani proclaimed that he was a “Pastor” in Gikuyu traditional worship.

At a Prayer meeting in Blackeberg following the death of Manto’s mother a few years ago, Muirani not only prayed in Gikuyu but advised that those who did not understand Gikuyu could ask for translations, a position that stunned non Kikuyu speakers at the meeting. His argument was that a traditional Gikuyu prayer could not be delivered in any other language apart from Gikuyu and all of us who were present were stunned. When Narc-Kenya Scandinavia was set up in Alby in 2006, Muirani evoked the “House of Mumbi” spirit and urged his Kikuyu listeners not to be ashamed of proclaiming their allegiance to the Tenets of Ngai (Kikuyu God), a religious tendency that had been embraced by Mungiki.

Unfortunately, Muirani’s “House of Mumbi” gospel was not going very far because even members of the Kikuyu community in Stockholm thought that the idea was unsellable here in the North pole. Noticing the insurmountable obstacles that stood on the way of a Mumbi inspired Church, Muirani changed strategy and joined one of the mainstream religious groups in Stockholm.

After shopping around for an appropriate structure that could accommodate his interests as he plotted his moves, he became a member of the Bagarmossen church where he quickly worked out his way and became a “Pastor”. It is at the Bagarmossen church where he met Pastor Muraya whom he later recruited into VEM after participating heavily in Muraya’s classic wedding in Stockholm which pulled a huge crowd.

However, Muirani began to face new attacks from detractors on grounds that he had assumed the title of a “Pastor” without academic qualifications. The consequence of these attacks was that Muirani quickly toned down his “Pastor profile” and settled for “Brother Muirani”. This move did calm nerves as observers settled down to study the process of Muirani’s transformation from “Comrade Muirani” to “Brother Muirani”.

At first, many Kenyans thought that Sofia Njoroge, who is also a successful business woman running Taxis in Stockholm and other business interests, was also associated with VEM. According to details, Sofia is firmly in the New Life Church together with Wamburi and many other Kenyans including Salonist Elizabeth. It has now emerged that VEM was simply renting the New Life premises and when their sectarian traits were discovered by the church, they were expelled.

A few years ago, a Zairean sect was reported in the Swedish newspapers to have beaten up a child to death as they were in the process of casting out demons from the kid’s system. When the child died, they proclaimed that the demons had been expelled but when the child failed to wake up, an ambulance was called before the sect members were arrested. In that same ritual, which shocked the Swedish society, another child was left unconscious. The leadership of the sect is currently serving jail sentences after being charged with the child’s murder. With this incident in mind, the New Life Church may have been taking precautions after the sectarian traits of VEM reportedly became apparent.

The Alfa of the Karanja Crisis
KSB has established that the problem in KCU started when the VEM allied members entered into a disagreement with the New Life allied members over the management of Apostle Karanja’s visit to Stockholm. According to a KISS agent “attached” to VEM, problems arose last month after KCU raised about 15.000kr for Apostle Karanja’s visit.

Our source has revealed that after the funds were raised, a meeting was held by KCU leadership to chart the way forward. Unfortunately, the meeting hit a snag when a VEM member proposed that KCU members should try to raise more funds to finance a round trip of Apostle Karanja from Atlanta-Geneva and Stockholm. The ticket cost was placed at 22.000 kr.

Another controversial addition that was proposed at the meeting by a VEM member of KCU was that once in Stockholm, the Pastor should be taken for a Boat trip to Finland and sight-seeing in Stockholm in a hired Limo before he could fly to Geneva. The new engagements meant that the cost of Apostle Karanja’s visit would shoot to about 40.000 kr, money that KCU had failed to raise.

However, the ultimate proposal that cracked the KCU leadership was when a VEM member proposed that since KCU had not raised enough funds,  members in the leadership needed to acquire personal bank loans to finance the trip. It is at this point that top KCU members began to get butterflies in the stomach. A KCU member explained that he was newly married and could not afford any personal loan while another member said that such a loan would provoke a crisis between him and his wife because of their tight financial obligations.

As the debate raged, a VEM member allegedly insisted that those who could not take personal loans in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ were themselves anti-Christ who had no business being in the Church. He allegedly said that the bible demanded sacrifices especially in times of need and wondered how KCU members expected blessings when they could not respond to their calling. The VEM member is said to have accused those who were against the personal loans idea of forgetting the fact that Jesus had himself sacrificed his life on the cross to wash away the sins of humanity and that under the circumstances, it was the responsibility of believers to make scarifies “at whatever cost” to further the objectives of their calling on earth.

At this point, some KCU members decided that enough was enough. They withdrew from the Karanja project and demanded a refund of money they had contributed. They also resigned from the leadership of KCU as the organization entered into crisis. Among those who resigned were the Chairman Mr. John Muchiri, the Treasurer, Mr. Moses Njenga and Ndugu Steve Khadir.

Both Sofia Njoroge and Mr. Wamburi are said to have decided to wait in order to account for funds that had been raised. In the meantime, Wamburi and Sofia released a statement saying that Karanja’s visit had been cancelled “due to lack of logistics”. The statement also called on people who had contributed to collect their money from the Union. Now that Muirani is out of KCU and VEM out of the New Life Church, it will be interesting to see how the situation develops at Västertorp in the run up to the Karanja visit that VEM is determined to host.

Okoth Osewe

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