The National Secular Society has reported a newly registered Christian charity to the regulator for a sermon linking homosexuality to paedophilia, bestiality and toddlers trying to have sex with their parents.
Berkshire-based Mountain of Fire and Miracles (MFM) Daniel Centre Church registered under the charitable purpose ‘the advancement of religion’ last month. Charities are legally required to act for the public benefit.
It is “only Africa and Russia” that is “saying no to gay”
In a video on the charity’s YouTube channel – titled ‘AWAKE TO CHILDREN MINISTRY (against demonic Sexual-Objectifications of Children)’ – a preacher called ‘Pastor Praise’ warns the next generation is being “homosexualised”. We are raising a generation “that will be deadly if we don’t do anything”, she claims.
The pastor claims “lesbianism reigns” in our “sexualised world”, claiming in America “they introduced condoms for five-year-olds”.
She claims a two-year-old boy “unstrapped” his mother’s bra, “began to suck her breast”, and told her to “remove your pants, let me put my pee-pee inside”. She tells another story of a four-year-old son requesting oral sex from his mother, claiming he had been taught this behaviour at school.
She repeatedly raises supposed examples of paedophilia perpetrated by gay men, including “cases of junior church teachers who were gay and have been touching the boys”, and a “practising gay” supposedly molesting children in a toilet.
She says if a “a male adult molests a younger boy, the boy will begin to develop feelings for [the] same sex”. She states: “the problem of rape right now in the world of our children is the fact that boys no longer rape girls. More boys now rape boys”.
She says America is “totally backslidden” and is the “next empire to crash” because it “has not learned from the history” of the Greeks and the Romans, seemingly alluding to tolerance for homosexuals. It is “only Africa and Russia” that is “saying no to gay”, she says.
She says the “first bestial marriage” recently took place in California, where “a man married his dog”. Opponents of same-sex marriage often compare it to bestiality.
The pastor “prayed against gay” at university but says “we never took action” and now the gay population is “alarming”. She also claims cartoons are seeking to make children gay.
Speaking about human rights, she says: “if your right doesn’t align with the word of God, it is not a right”.
The video description claims the sermon contains a “must-listen-and-must-action message” and has been published for “the public good”.
Other MFM branches promoting homophobia and ‘gay conversion therapy’
Mountain of Fire and Miracles has previously been criticised for practising ‘gay conversion therapy’ in the UK. In 2017 an investigation found a Liverpool branch of MFM offered ‘gay cure’ sessions involving intense prayer and starvation.
In a 2022 Facebook post, MFM Ministries Belfast’s pastor Raphael Olushola Peters lists “homosexual relations” alongside “offering children as sacrifices” and “sexual relations with animals” as “abominable things” which “lead to diseases, deformity and death” and “disrupt family life and society”.
Illuminati conspiracy theories and ‘sex education’
Pastor Praise also claims the reason attendance rates within the Church of England have fallen is because musicians such as Whitney Houston “joined the illuminati” and “became a trouble for the soul of the Church.”
She says she tells children: “don’t be afraid of sexually transmitted infections, there are spiritually transmitted infections”. She says she tells girls their genitals are “the holy of holies” and it is “only the high priest who is permitted to go in there”.
‘Deliverance of witches and wizards’
In another video on the charity’s YouTube channel, titled ‘The Great Deliverance’, MFM ‘General Overseer Dr D. K. Olukoya’ (pictured) claims “it’s sometimes easier to deliver the witches and wizards than to deliver a fornicator”.
Deliverance refers to liberation from evil, and can include exorcisms. Metropolitan Police guidance on abuse linked to witchcraft or demonic possession states: “Significant harm (including murder) can occur because of concerted efforts to ‘excise’ or ‘deliver’ evil from a child (or vulnerable adult)”.
In 2023, the National Secular Society raised concerns about MFM Belfast promoting a sermon on harmful witchcraft beliefs.
Other religious charities promoting homophobia
In January, the NSS raised concerns about another Christian charity, Wellspring Ministry, after its chair claimed men who dress as women are “revolting” and “repulsive”, but there is “nothing you can do against them”. The sermon noted gay people used to be taken to an “institution” and given an “injection”.
Last year, the NSS reported Christian charities for promoting ideas that homosexuality “will destroy us”, is a “degrading perversion”, and can be ‘healed by Jesus’. All three charities received “advice and guidance”.
NSS: ‘Tax payer money should not be subsidising this repugnant rhetoric’
National Secular Society spokesperson Alejandro Sanchez said: “The vicious homophobia promoted by MFM Daniel is completely incompatible with its legal obligation to act for the public benefit. Tax payer money should not be subsidising this repugnant rhetoric.
“But MFM Daniel is just the latest in a litany of charities registered under ‘the advancement of religion’ espousing virulent homophobia. The Charity Commission cannot continue to issue mere ‘advice and guidance’ – the regulatory equivalent of a slap on the wrist.
“There is still an assumption in the charity system that advancing religion is inherently beneficial. But by promoting homophobic or misogynistic views rooted in scripture, some charities are indeed ‘advancing religion’ – at least as they interpret it.
“That is why ‘the advancement of religion’ must be removed as a charitable purpose. The many religious charities which do offer a genuine public benefit can continue to do so under separate charitable purposes.”