Shakahola heightened the suspicion of spiritual practices in Kenya. Kenyans have become theologically bolder.

The horrors awakened a sense of critique in Christians who were otherwise very trusting when it came to priestly instructions. Today, a big name and a slaying reputation are not enough. Kenyans have developed 'push' resistance. They stand their ground and are no 'pushovers'.

This said, Kenyans still fill stadiums to experience miracle-performing pastors. Overflowing stadiums tell of aspects of life that spirituality promises to cure. This yearning should tell priests that their services are still in high demand and that they should sanitise their craft.  

Benny Hinn was a beneficiary of an overflowing stadium. Skeptics may have hoped for a thinner attendance but it was just the opposite – bursting! For people who have listed lower attendance of crusades as one of the post-Shakahola effects, overflowing stadiums such as at the Benny Hinn crusade sent them back to the analysis desk.

Catholics and mainstreamers may have been in the congregation but their leaders were not on the dais. Hinn’s visit lay bare the divide in the contemporary Kenyan church. The split is both political and theological. The series of meetings were organised by the 'memorandum church' – the church that campaigns for the president and his crew. The rest of the church is considered critical of the government and therefore unworthy of involvement in such power-harvesting moments. 

A question: Looking at the state of the nation, if Kenya were to import a type of spirituality, which one would best serve our present situation - the Pastor Benny Hinn kind or the Rev. Martin Luther King one? Hinn was 'imported' by an initiative steered by the First Lady, thus making him a State guest. Therein lies a tyre-puncturing pothole.

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When a prophet is invited by a government, there is a latent expectation that he will assist the ruling system with a jolt of spiritual power that yields a political kick. As an imported prophet, Hinn’s State hospitality is pitched in a way to earn a favourable prophecy. To avoid such for-hire moral traps, a prophet is best when free.

In their independence, they discern more authentically as God-sent agents and not State guests. The hosting overkill pressurises a reciprocity in which prophetic pronouncements are akin to a vote of thanks.

Protest is the sting of the priest. A priest who has lost his sting is paralysed – and is a number that does not count. Stingless clergy will not be spared from the sting of the king who, upon feeding them, will deploy them not for the Lord’s work this time but for the king’s work – especially image propping and voter mobilisation. By Edward Buri, The Standard