James Archibald / Cape Town, July 21 () - Pastor Penuel Mnguni, 24, was arrested at the weekend for animal cruelty after posting pictures of him feeding live snakes to members of his congregation on Facebook.
Pictures posted on Facebook by the End Times Disciples Ministries group on July 15 showed several pictures of live snakes being eaten.
Accompanying the pictures, the group said, “Those with small faith eats only vegetables but the ones with a great faith eats everything. During service Man of God commanded a snake to change into a chocolate and it obeyed. People ate it and enjoyed it.”
The pictures caused shock and anger among social media users, with local animal rights group Tshwane SPCA laying charges of animal cruelty against the selfproclaimed 'prophet'.
A police spokesman said the Mnguni was arrested outside his church on Saturday, Rekord North reported.
The ministry, located in Soshanguve, 25km north of the capital Pretoria, operates from a tent next to the pastor's home. Proclaiming himself as a prophet, Mngunyi has has had congregants eating hair, drinking petrol and even stripping naked in past services, cliaming them to be displays of God's power.
The pastor appeared in court today [Monday] and was released on R1500 ($120 or 325 liras) bail.
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