Police were yesterday deployed at Kenya’s oldest PCEA church as controversy raged over the use of symbols said to be satanic.
The police action followed reports that youths would pull down symbols at Thogoto Church of the Torch in Kikuyu, which is the cradle of the PCEA in the country.
However, a demolition squad reported to have the support of senior clergy of the church, failed to turn up.
Reverend Stephen Kabuba, who led faithful in defending the symbols in the church, asked the police to leave. "What we are fighting is a spiritual war. We can’t fight it with guns,’ Rev Kabuba said.
A dispute over the symbols associated with Freemasonry has split the PCEA and has led to the destruction of priceless fittings in major church buildings in Nairobi.
On one side is a faction led by the Moderator, Rev David Githii, who associates the symbols with Freemasonry.
At least 30 stained glass windows and metal grills more than 100 years old have been removed from St Andrews Church in Nairobi, and a threat made to destroy similar symbols at the Thogoto church.
Nine windows at the Church of the Torch bear the controversial symbols, all of which Rev Kabuba said represented Christian teachings such as unity, the fear of God and His powers over evil.
One of them shows a man stepping on a serpent and a lion, and bears the inscriptions in Gikuyu naguo utheri uturaga uhotaga ngoma (the light has always defeated darkness).
Speaking to journalists after a service, former Attoney-General Charles Njonjo defended the symbols, saying it was wrong to destroy the church’s history.
He said: "The symbols have been destroyed in my opinion by demons, not Christians."