Ethiopia repatriates 80 Ugandans duped with promise to meet Jesus

Authorities in Ethiopia have repatriated 80 Ugandans who were fleeced of their money with a promise to meet Jesus.

The leader of the team, Pastor Simon Opolot has been on the joint security team’s wanted list for duping believers attached to Christ Disciples Church in Soroti, Eastern Uganda to sell their property and prepare to meet Jesus.

According to security, Opolot said he had received a vision that Jesus was going to pick a few people to go to heaven and that those to be chosen had to be in Ethiopia.

Internal Affairs ministry spokesperson, Simon Peter Mundeyi says when the group arrived in Ethiopia, they revealed that they were there to meet Jesus on a journey to heaven.

Mundeyi explains that Ethiopian authorities then decided to gather all the people who were arriving in separate groups, confined them in one place, and later contacted their Ugandan counterparts who processed documentation for the repatriation.

“The returnees have said pastor Opolot convinced them to fast for 40 days so that they can meet Jesus on the 41st day. The condition was that to meet Jesus, they needed to be in Ethiopia, and according to him, the world would immediately end,” Mundeyi said,.

This comes weeks after over 150 people died when a self-styled pastor, Paul Makenzie in Kenya convinced his followers to fast to death in order to go to heaven.

Written by Juliet Nalwooga