'Snake Pastor' congratulated for his 'vast' knowledge of Bible

Pastor Penuel Mnguni, popularly known as the “snake pastor”, was on Wednesday given a pat on the back by the Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Rights Commission for his enormous familiarity with the Bible.

Mnguni appeared before the cultural, religious and linguistic community rights watchdog to answer complaints that his church had brought Christianity into disrepute.

According to a Daily Sun report, chairperson of the commission, Thoko Mkhwanazi-Xaluva “congratulated the pastor on his vast knowledge of the Bible and told him to use it to benefit others.”

Mnguni’s church made headlines in July last year after pictures went viral showing him feeding a live snake to his congregation. He was subsequently arrested and released on charges of animal cruelty.

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A man eats a snake after being commanded to do so by Pastor Mnguni

He denies feeding his congregation snakes.

“I did not feed people snakes. I fed them chocolate. It’s a demonstration of God’s faith in me. To show that God was with me, no one has died,” Pastor Penuel Mnguni said.

Mnguni told the Commission that what appears to be a snake in ordinary people’s eyes is actually food and in the eyes of God it is clean.