Popular televangelist Enoch Phiri has laid bare his dark days that saw him and his fellow pastors using his farmhouse as a meet-up for boozing and rendezvous with women.
Phiri , a Moja Love television presenter and a pastor at Restoration House Ministries in Soweto, also revealed that he contemplated suicide after going to rehab to conquer his liquoring habit.
He said the manipulation and exploitation within the religious space after his divorce, which he described as a shameful experience that cost him his friendships, was the reason he started resorting to ale.
He stated that even his colleagues in church circles began turning their backs on him.
Phiri said he realised the mistake was that the church teaches everything about building relationships and marriage but not how to handle separation.
“So, when you are going through this shameful moment, which is what we believe it is in church context, you end up going home to no one and start resorting to other means of numbing the pain. And for me, that was alcohol.
“Church has a nature of judgement, and that is when you lose everyone and start losing yourself to alcohol,” said Phiri.
Last year, Sunday World reported that Phiri left a Limpopo medical doctor an emotional wreck after he allegedly snatched a woman from his loving arms.
Phiri said he found out later that the woman, a prophetess, was married to another man.
Phiri, who is also featured on Moja Love’s talk show, AmaBishop, also made headlines after a messy divorce from his wife of 19 years, Busisiwe Phiri.
He emphasised that he always had booze in the house but would usually take random glasses of wine or whisky to quench his thirst, but later realised he had a problem when he started getting drunk and having to maintain the habit.
He said the hangovers were extreme, making him feel off the edge and giving him suicidal thoughts.
Phiri told Sunday World that this feeling always made him feel like his problems were piling up, but he always needed another bottle to get another high.
“All this ruined me. One time, I was invited to preach in London and I was never told that I have been cancelled until I got there. I heard that a certain pastor’s wife had insisted that I would be bringing the spirit of divorce. After hearing this, trust me, I went to get drunk.
“I missed a lot of Moja Love’s Abafundisi shoots because I would be wandering at home drunk or sometimes arrive there in such a state,” he said.
Phiri revealed that it has been two years since he has been to rehab in Australia but suffered a relapse recently.
This, according to the pastor, was triggered again by meeting people who encouraged him to drink. But he returned to Australia for further healing.
He said he could not even count the women who offered their love to him only later to realise that they were chasing status, fame and money.
He is planning to release his book, Divine Restoration: Embracing healing and faith after divorce, which seeks to save men and fellow pastors from drowning in societal views on divorce.
He said this book was motivated by his original life story and was looking to motivate more men out of situations that trouble them and help pastors remember that they are still human.
“Alcohol and drugs must never be used as an escape, so I am teaching people how to get over situations instead of expecting them to run before crawling. I have been through the worst and saved by random people, now I am here for them.
“I should say, my phone book has 90% of pastors but they never reach out to me; only a few do, but a random gogo on the street would shout my name and start praying with me,” said Phiri.
