A prominent comedian, Mboswobeni “30 Cent” Mulugana, is now tackling the hardcore, hard-hitting topic of bogus churches and spiritual ministers who use fake miracles to win people's confidence.
In a recent WhatsApp video clip, 30 Cents made fun of people who still flock to crusades for miracles and not necessarily to learn more about the word of God.
“In the world of today, some religious ministers are using God’s name like a criminal would use a gun to force money out of the victim’s pocket,” he said. “If you don't give a pastor this much, you are promised to suffer that much – it’s like that.”
The comedian, who became popular as an actor, film director and producer of the movie 30 Cents about a decade ago, said it was high time people learnt to shift their focus from human beings and place it on God. “Why do we have to see our pastors as ‘small gods’ (from the ‘big God’),” he asked.
He said certain religious preachers presented God as a fearful being and drummed fear and dread into the audiences’ heads, saying that if they did not do as the pastor told them, they would suffer. “That’s what people are being taught,” he said.
30 Cents is among the most booked comedians and masters of ceremonies for church events in Vhembe. When Limpopo Mirror asked him what the churches who invited him said about his jokes, he said: “I don’t think they find them bad or else they would have stopped inviting me a long time ago. They know that there are good, honest pastors on the one side and the bad, deceitful ones of the other side.”
30 Cents encourages every believer to read and study the Bible and to stop trusting in fellow human beings.