Jehovah Wanyonyi’s sickness and disappearance has greeted the pages and sites of all media houses. Both locally and internationally. The digital social media has also not been left behind in covering the mysterious disappearance of Jehovah Wanyonyi the spiritual leader of the Lost Israel church of Kenya.Surprisngly; most of the local media has been sardonic in the coverage of Wanyonyi’s spiritual practice, sickness and disappearance.
The reason for this wry position of local media coverage of Wanyonyi’s predicament is not clear. Wanyonyi has not been an enemy of the media, the government or the prominent religions such as Christianity, Islam and Hinduism. Thus there is no reason for the media to mock him or his people’s spiritual practice whatsoever.
The tendency of the local media giving sarcastic coverage to Wanyonyi’s mysterious demise has led to a surprising revelation that the media in Kenya strongly believes that religion must only originate from the East. This is a mindset inspired by the existing religions of Islam and Christianity. They both have the spiritual leadership from the Middle East or Semitic origin through Muhammad and Jesus Christ respectively. The local media is wrong and misplaced. Religion can originate from anywhere and from any community. Not necessarily from Asia, as it has historically been.
All religions are devoid of logic and full of mystery. Not only Wanyonyi’s Lost Israel Church or Masinde’s ‘Dini ya Musambwa’. Even Christianity is based on mysteries and indecipherable fables from Abraham to Jesus. Theories like resurrection remain elusive and spiritual will-o-the-wisp till today.
Islam shares in the same measure of mystery and phantasmagoria. If it was Marriage to very many wives that makes Wanyonyi’s Church look ridiculous, then we must stay reminded that this is not only Wanyonyi’s undoing. These ludicrous displays are the strengths that Christians ascribes to Abraham and David. The same virtues which Islam in the chapter called Al Nisa ascribe to Godliness of Islam.
Jehovah Wanyonyi’s spiritual movement began as an anti-colonial spiritual movement. The same case to Elijah Masinde’s ‘Dini ya Musambwa’. Wanyonyi used dialogue but Elijah Masinde was militant and guerrilla like. This is the same consciousness that Aime Ceasire the Martinique poet and Negretudist displayed when reacting to French imperial oppression.