Interviewed By Charly Ndi Chia & Ernest Sumelong
Reverend Pastor Emmanuel Masok, who has recently laid claim on driving out evil spirits from possessed people, has, in an exclusive interview with The Post, called on all Cameroonians to repent and become righteous. The 35-year-old pastor, who has put in 10 years in the ministry, contends that Cameroonians have chosen the path to Sodom and Gomorrah, and their journey to that doom is fuelled by immorality, evil, greed, materialism, money, power and loose sex. Pastor Masok, of Bassa/Douala extraction with a good Anglophone background and upbringing, says he was called to the ministry when he was a child. He has raised a ministry to fight a new demonic phenomenon (mermaid spirit) that finds easy hostage in school children. He also warns those in power who want to cling on and make others poor to be prepared to meet with God face to face and account for their activities on earth.
The Post: Could you tell us how you became an exorcist?
I raised my ministry, by God's grace and power, to meet up with the existing realities of our people. Recently, there has been a new manifestation of the evil one, affecting and dealing with children and contaminating them with marine power; what is known today as the mermaid spirit. I raised my ministry to meet this need. These things are not taught in the seminary, but to me it is an added research or an added impetus owing to what you find in the field.
How comfortable are the Presbyterian Church authorities with your activities as an exorcist?
I have been practising for sometime now and I have never had any query from anybody. The Moderator has never queried me either by writing or verbally and neither has my immediate boss given me any query letter. So I think we are on the right foot.
Is the church hierarchy proud of you as an exorcist?
The Moderator is proud of all his pastors.
Including the dissident ones?
He is still proud of the dissident ones because as a father he hopes to change them to something better. He doesn't throw the children out no matter how bad they are.
Last year, a student of the University of Buea confessed to you that she caused the road accident in which some lecturers perished; today, another girl has told you that she was responsible for the fatal Kenya Airways crash in Mbanga Pongo. Would you call this a scripted drama or real life story?
When they come to me, they come as people who are spiritually sick. In the course of the deliverance, they begin to reveal what is happening to them. The girl who talked about the Mbanga Pongo crash, I had never met her. When they come, they do not come as people who want to give me some information; they come as those who need deliverance. In the course of their deliverance they begin to reveal to us their macabre activities.
We call them to speak because we want to put the devil to shame and when we are through with each case, we call them to make public testimonies. The recent testimony was given before a 3000-man crowd and I wonder why anyone would find any joy declaring his/herself a murderer, a bloodsucker.
I have seen in your papers that you journalists are trying to hide the faces of these people and it indicates that it is dangerous to stand and make such claims. You are protecting their faces because they are willing to say something, which, to them, is true but they are afraid that the public will not comprehend them.
We have a feeling that these fellows might be mental cases who in their insanity, come and give you this yarn about 'mami water' and you fall for it…
These are not mental cases because when they come, you can see that they are sick and need deliverance and after the deliverance they make these confessions. They make these confessions with clear eyes and with all clarity of mind. These people are not delivered of mental sicknesses but from spiritual possessions.
After the confessions, when you meet them they would tell you the same thing. To say that they are mental cases is unfair. How many people would go in front of a crowd and say they have killed people and they are witches. How many times have mad people come to your office to tell you that they caused the plane crash at Mbanga Pongo?
Not very long ago, a nut case visited "Equinox Radio" in Douala, claiming he was a messenger from God, with a mission to bring peace to Cameroon. He was armed with a Bible and some fetishes. When he wasn't accorded air time he went amok, destroying computers and other equipment. Do the cases you have handled manifest similar tantrums of madness?
Jesus would not come to destroy a place. He would come to give life to people. Secondly, if such a person comes towards me, we would not begin by him giving a testimony but it would be for him to first of all be healed, then he would tell us where he is coming from.
He might not give you the chance to work with him if he is raving mad…
The cases that come to us give us the chance to work with them. They come to us and we work with them for a period of one or two months and later they make their confessions with clear minds. Someone called from Britain that he wanted to talk with the university girl who testified about killing university dons. I told him the girl was available and he could talk to her directly. They give the testimonies, not me. I don't know of what benefit it would be for a child to stand in front of 3000 people and say 'I killed 3000 people.'
Are you some kind of spiritual consultant? Do you have a sign board, inviting people to consult you for a small fee?
I don't have a sign post in my house or in my ministry. I am pastor of a church; I pray for people and they get healed. People come from every part of Cameroon and they want me to attend to them. I have no sign post.
How long have you been delivering and how many people could you have delivered in your ministry?
I think by the grace of God we have delivered above 300 people. Last time there were about 20 people in one room. They brought many cases from Mabanda and the other day people brought to us over 100 cases from a school that had problems. We don't keep count; my estimation might be low or very high even.
Could one say that this society is drifting to a Sodom and Gomorrah context, hence, all these cases of mermaid and marine spirits manifesting today? This wasn't quite the case a few decades back?
Immorality and evil has reached such high standards today that it is possible for the devil to penetrate our people. The devil uses sex to have a covenant with people and you know how loose we are. We have a loose sex culture and the minds are all fertile with sexual feelings. Wherever sex thrives, be sure the devil will always prevail.
You heard a few years ago about homosexuality; this was not a common culture in Cameroon. We are talking about loose sexual habits and the prosperity of evil; greed, materialism, money, power and sex. These are the things that would cause the evil one to thrive among a group of people. And I tell you the truth; we have pitched our tent towards Sodom by our actions and we are going towards that direction.
The devils have changed their means of operation. Now they pass through children in schools, using things like sweets to destroy households and families. Before now, they used to tie down pastors and a whole congregation. But now, many pastors are raising their ministries, so they are passing through children.
But some pastors have this double fidelity. They preach to their congregations even as they are bona-fide Rosicrucian?
Our church is very clear on this; you cannot be a Rosicrucian and at
the same time be a pastor. If you say you know pastors who are
Rosicrucian and carry the Bible, then I challenge you to speak into
their faces; expose them.
Certain pastors, especially from these Pentecostal contraptions, have
taken advantage of the prevailing poverty in the country, to
commercialise the Gospel. They are practically auctioning God's word to
the highest bidder. Do you belong in this fold? Are you Pentecostal in
any way?
Well, all Christian churches are Pentecostal, but I know you are talking of a "brand of ministry". I don't want to say any particular group of people are guilty about this issue. Anybody can commercialise or use the Gospel for a wrong end. They are not doing them because they come from a particular denomination, but it is because of loss of purpose. When you lose purpose and commitment and the fear of God, you can sell Jesus Christ. Judas who sold Christ was not a Pentecostal.
Would you agree that these Pentecostals are proliferating and constituting a menace; people master a few passages of the Bible and talk smatteringly about how they can heal the sick, curse people, provide single women with husbands, while charging large sums for their "miracles"?
It is quite common in the society. They say where there is good, there would be evil. Where there would be good prophets there would be bad ones. I tell you that an evil prophet can only prosper with evil Christians because if the Christians themselves were sound, they would purge out these prophets.
The human society has exploited the situation of others; whether the church or government. Do you know that our government has used poverty as a political weapon to make the people so bare that they can accept anything? We are calling on the Christians to be alert and even pastors should purge themselves of those who are commercialising the Gospel, those who want to create a Jesus industry be making money out of it.
The Christians should make it a point of duty to purge out those who are commercialising the Bible. There are others who are not commercialising the Gospel but are doing some other hypocritical things.
Some of the people you have delivered have directed you to where their demonic kingdoms are found. Isn't this where you could have launched your fight?
We have done so. At the close of 2007, we put ourselves together and assembled in a spiritual battle and two things happened in Kumba; the prevalence of mermaid spirits in schools reduced significantly. There is a school near the Lake region in Kumba, where there was a mermaid spirit. It has been disposed.
The second is that we committed ourselves to pray for the twin elections in Kumba. We had gotten wind people were already using juju for politics and we started praying and we can say with confidence and glory to God that there were results. There was total confusion in Kumba and there is this party where elections have never taken place.
Even when it came to representation in Parliament the elections had their own troubles and confusion and Kumba has remained like that and we do not have any representation politically.
Similarly, we have a head of state who is virtually becoming a headache of state. He wants to stay in power for life, which is dangerous to the polity. How would the spiritual medicine you applied in Kumba politics help to rid this nation of a dictator?
Now, this is possible for the whole of Cameroon. We should not spend time talking; we should spend time praying. In the Book of Esther, the Jews put themselves together in a three-day fast to stop annihilation by a foreign ruler who wanted to exclude the Jews in Persia at that time.
I challenge the pastors and churches to come together and pray. We should not eat from the king's cup or the king's table. If we eat and drink the wine of the king, we will become contaminated and we cannot pray for the nation. But we can possess this land for God. Who are the people who rule in government places? They are Christians. Speak into their eyes, go down on your knees and pray; it is possible.
All these things you have said, have you suggested to the Moderator that they could be implemented for there to be dynamism in the Church?
The Moderator is a leader and he knows that Christians ought to go on their knees and pray for the nation. No one has to remind him. The call of his ministry is the liberation of the people. Let me say that he is attacking the matter at another level. Perhaps a time would come when he would invite everybody to go on their knees and pray.
Pastor, you are not married at almost forty. Do you want to be a bachelor at forty so that you can be a bachelor forever? Are you into some kind of celibacy?
I have not taken an oath of celibacy, but I am not married presently.
Are there no women in your life?
It is not a matter of women. There is time for everything, let's say for now it is not yet time.
And talking of women, why is it that most of those who come to you for deliverance are women? Is it that they are more devilish than men or that they have a better hosting facility for the demon?
Here we are talking about the marine spirit and in the marine kingdom, women are the prevalent forces. We have a few men who are down the marine world, but they are more of slaves. On the surface of the earth such men are useless but they have been tied down there.
Do you believe that if everyone else recognises their sinful situation and resign themselves to God, these mermaid spirits would have been rendered useless?
It is very true. Put on your spiritual armour. If you read Ephesians Chapter 16-18, it says put on the whole armour. He says anyone who believes will cast out demons in my name. He says again in his words; I have given you authority to trample over snakes and scorpions. When you lose your spiritual authority you are exposed to the devil.
There is a hedge around us all and the Angel of the Lord encamps around those who put their trust in Him. But when you allow the hedge to have a hole, they will penetrate you. When you do not know the spiritual protection you have, you cannot even claim it. Let all Cameroonians repent and put on the righteous armour of God.
The recurring decimal in your answers so far, has been that Cameroonians should return to God; may be there is some other message you want to put across to your Christians and the rest of mankind.
Everybody is church, church, church, but very few people are worshipping. The majority of our people are still playing hide and seek with God. I think we should stop these things. We are seeing the effects. How can we say we are thriving in our religiosity and we are still poor and desperate? I think spiritual prosperity will lead to material prosperity.
How about telling those in power that there is life after power?
We know the famous poetry of Oxymandias that says after ye mighty and distress, after everything will pass away, you will meet God face to face. And we all know that authority forgets a dying king. And when you pass out, you will not go with power; you will not go with property, you will not go with any of these things.
So, nobody should hold on so strong to the things of this life because they are ephemeral; they will pass away. But there are eternal values that go with us. So, I want to advise everybody… political administrators and civil society, they should not behave as if there is no being higher than us.
We all will give account of every single minute we spend on earth. Even in the political front, some of us are already raising our voices against the idea to have a life president. But for now, I prefer to stay quiet on this, but I think such a move would not be welcome. It would be the beginning of the end.

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