The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland is looking into allegations raised about a recently registered religious charity that shared content about witches.
Mountain Of Fire And Miracles Ministries (MFM) Belfast, which was registered last month, has been criticised for sharing a Facebook post in April about “five kinds of witches or familiar spirits” from a sermon.
The comments shared were by Daniel Olukoya, pastor and former chairman of MFM International, a Pentecostal charity registered in the UK.
In a blog post, the National Secular Society said the promotion of the idea of witches “could lead to the ‘spiritual abuse’ of children and vulnerable adults accused of being witches”.
It was also noted that pastor Raphael Olushola Peters made a Facebook post on the charity’s account last November that called “homosexual relations” a sin.
In the same post, he references another pastor’s comments about “sinful abortion, transgenderism and homosexuality”.
A spokesperson from the regulator said: “The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland is aware of recent media articles regarding the charity Mountain Of Fire And Miracles Ministries Belfast and is looking into the allegations which have been raised.”
Civil Society approached MFM Belfast for comment, but did not receive a response.
Background
In 2018, the Charity Commission for England and Wales opened a statutory inquiry into MFM International after it repeatedly failed to submit financial information to the regulator on time.
MFM International oversees 40 separate branches, but the regulator questioned “the adequacy of the trustees’ oversight and control over the individual branches”.
The year before, an undercover investigation by the Liverpool Echo alleged one of the church’s branches was recommending a homosexuality “cure”.
The Charity Commission said its inquiry into the charity remains ongoing.
