Exorcism: Effeminate man supposedly gets ‘delivered’ from homosexuality

The shame after being prayed for by the pastor dragged his feet, as he gawked shame-faced at the congregation, while the thought of going back to his seat became a herculean task.

First, he had been outed by a pastor for being gay; yet, he had just been supposedly delivered from homosexuality.

By Seye Fakinlede

Timothy*, (name changed) had just been prayed for by a Christian Pentecostal Mission (CPM) Pastor whom his friend knew was also gay, but hid under the cloak of religion.

Aside from the public homophobic slurs on the Nigerian street, exorcism is another ordeal many effeminate men are faced with, in the hands of most Nigerian pastors and religious leaders who quickly label them gay.

Narrating a relative experience, one Ben shared a story on Facebook. He wrote:

“We went to a vigil at CPM Christian Mission, and I personally know this pastor as gay, so he said if you want God to do something for you, come out and pray at this Altar. So one girly guy came out and thereafter praying, this pastor prayed for others without saying anything bad but when it got to this guy’s turn, come and see this pastor. He said you the spirit of homosexual come out of this body, come see the way people are looking at this boy, after the prayer, shame no allow the boy go back to his seat.”

Furthermore, the attitude of the pastor received some clap back as well as a few appraisals from people who seemed to have justified his actions.

Francis* who disapproved of the pastor’s actions wrote: “the pastor is very stup*d, I say unapologetically. Even if he is not gay himself, it is very unethical for him to have discussed it in the public, even if it is God who really revealed it to him. Error of an untrained pastor. Rubb*h.”

According to Yusuf* who described the pastor’s actions as ‘nonsense’ wrote: “the man is uncultured and ill-mannered. Nonsense. Why will he do such? This is one of the reasons I hate going to church. Honestly, I don’t go to church” he wrote.

However, one Dean sort of justified what the pastor did. He wrote: “Well, let it be known that God can still use any vessel to show forth himself. You shouldn’t be bothered if the pastor is gay or not. What if he prayed for the guy and the guy is liberated, would not it be something worthy?”

In Christianity, exorcism is a common practice to drive away demons from people who are believed to be possessed by them, and it’s a practice used in many Nigerian churches as a divine cure for homosexuality, yet this comes with no progress but just a route to internalized homophobia as revealed in a research journal by Okanlawon Kehinde.

*Names have been changed to protect their identities.