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Bishop Thomas Muthee is a Kenyan preacher. He holds a Master's degree in Practical Ministry and founded the Word of Faith Church in February 1989 in the town of Kiambu, Kenya (near Nairobi) before going on to found approximately 400 churches in the nearby regions of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Sudan, and Gisenyi in Rwanda. The original church is also known as the "Prayer Cave" because meetings were originally held in a grocery basement. Muthee's late wife, Margaret Muthee, was a teacher, and they had two children: Joshua and Ann.

Mama Jane

Muthee and his wife returned home to Kenya from Scotland, where he had finished his graduate studies, in 1988. They soon felt that they were "called by God to Kiambu" and after six months of prayer, research, and "spiritual mapping," they came to believe that a woman known as "Mama Jane" was a witch, and thereby caused traffic fatalities, traffic accidents, crime, and spiritual oppression in the area. Muthee alleged that "top government and business leaders afraid to do anything without her approval," that at least one person per month would die in a car accident in front of her "divination house" and that she harassed his congregation. Muthee made a public demand that either Mama Jane convert to Christianity or leave town, declaring, “Mama Jane either gets saved and serve the Lord, or she leaves town! There is no longer room in Kiambu for both of us!" Soon after his followers began to pray that God would either save or oust Mama Jane, three young people died in another apparent accident in front of Mama Jane's house, according to Muthee's account. Angry townsfolk wanted to stone Mama Jane in retaliation for the traffic accidents. According to Muthee associate Rev. Peter Wagner, when the police entered Mama Jane's home to intervene, they were startled by what they believed to be a demon and shot her pet python to death. Mama Jane was then questioned by police, after which she left town.

Video of Mama Jane incident and claims made

Since the Mama Jane event, Muthee has frequently referred to this as an example of successful “mapping”, which includes locating specific witches by research and prayer, and spiritual warfare, claiming crime and traffic accidents were reduced as a result of chasing Mama Jane out of town. The event was depicted in a two part video by George Otis, Jr., in which Muthee claimed that the crime and traffic accident rate in Kiambu dropped drastically after Mama Jane left, and that he is responsible for much positive social change in the town.

Workgroup "Back to the Bible," headed by Pastor Rien van de Kraats of Kamperland, Netherlands, found no police reports or any other sources that backed up Muthee’s claims.

In 2004, Muthee delivered two sermons as guest pastor at the Kingsgate Community Church in the United Kingdom, recorded and posted at its web site, and covered in the international media. Muthee told of spiritual warfare and faith healing to the Kingsgate church members, saying that he had miraculously healed his baby daughter, born without joints in her legs, through prayer and by spiritually grappling with the devil.

Wasilla Assembly of God

Muthee at one point prayed for Sarah Palin, that God would "bring finances her way even for the campaign in the name of Jesus... Use her to turn this nation the other way around and to keep her safe from every form of witchcraft." Following Palin's subsequent 2006 victory in the governors race, this Muthee led prayer at the church was described as having “prophetic power” by church pastor, Ed Kalnins. Muthee returned to the Wasilla church for the weekend of September 20-22, 2008. The Boston Herald described this as "all smoke and no fire" pointing out that "The video of a Kenyan bishop asking Jesus to protect Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin from “witchcraft” has turned into a political witch hunt, says one Harvard expert who found “nothing unusual” about the blessing."

Humanitarian work

Muthee was a speaker at the first Exchange Africa-Australia Summit, held in Nairobi, Kenya from April 28 - May 1, 2008, at which "pastors, leaders, missionaries and business people joined together to strategically plan for significant impact on the nations of Africa."

Muthee is also currently involved with Restoration Alliance in providing potable water to Kenya.

References

1. ^ "Word of Faith Church". 2007. Retrieved 2008-09-22.
2. ^ Lampman, Jane (1999-09-23). "Targeting cities with 'spiritual mapping,' prayer". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 2008-09-22.
3. ^ Wagner, C. Peter (2008). Praying with Power. Destiny Image Publishers. pp. pp. 15-34. ISBN 0768426537. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
4. ^ Otis, Jr., George (1997). Twilight Labyrinth, The: Why Does Spiritual Darkness Linger Where It Does?. Chosen. pp. pp. 295-298. ISBN 0800792556. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
5. ^ Guthrie, Stan (2002). Missions in the Third Millennium: 21 Key Trends for the 21st Century. Paternoster. pp. p. 92. ISBN 1842270427. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
6. ^ Thompson, Paul (2008-09-18). "Palin under fire over African pastor friend who waged witch-hunt against woman he believed caused car crashes". TheDailyMail.co.uk. Retrieved 2008-09-22.
7. George Otis, Jr. (Host). Transformations: A Documentary (DVD). The Sentinel Group. ISBN 1-930612-08-7. Retrieved 2008-09-24. {{cite AV media}}: Unknown parameter |date2= ignored (help)
8. George Otis, Jr. (Host). The Quickening: Entering into the Firestorm of God's Grace (DVD). The Sentinel Group. ISBN 1-930612-16-8. Retrieved 2008-09-24. {{cite AV media}}: Unknown parameter |date2= ignored (help)
9. Gaines, Adrienne S. (2001). "Praying Down God's Power". Charisma Magazine. Strang Communications. Retrieved 2008-09-22. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
10. ^ "Translation Dutch letter nr. 24" (PDF). Workgroup "Back to the Bible". April 8, 2002. Retrieved 2008-09-22.
11. "Kingsgate Community Church downloads". Retrieved 2008-10-18.
12. Burke, Garance (2008-09-25). "Palin Once Blessed Against 'Witchcraft'". Associated Press. AOLNews.com. Retrieved 2008-09-27.
13. "Bishop Thomas Muthee from Kenya". Wasilla Assembly of God: Audio and Video Archive. Wasilla Assembly of God. 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-24.
14. "Events". www.WasillaAG.org. Razor Planet, Inc. 2008-09-19. Retrieved 2008-09-24.
15. Fargen, Jessica (2008-09-26). "Sarah Palin 'witchcraft' flap all smoke and no fire". Boston Herald. Retrieved 2008-10-18. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
16. "Speakers". Exchange Africa-Australia Summit. Exchange. 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-22.
17. "What is Exchange?". Exchange Africa-Australia Summit. Exchange. 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-22.
18. Dan Flory (2007-05-15). "Another Drop in the Bucket". African Water Projects. Restoration Alliance. Retrieved 2008-09-22.

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• Living people
• Deaths
• Kenyan Evangelicals