Pastor apologises after 'disgusting' act in church goes viral
An Oklahoma pastor has apologised after a video showing him rubbing spit into a man's face went viral.
Pastor Michael Todd from the Transformation Church illustrated a passage from the bible where Jesus heals a blind man by spitting on his hands and then touching the man's eyes, by re-enacting it on a congregation member — phlegm and all.
In a video of the sermon posted online, the pastor is seen leading the man towards the altar of the church, before loudly spitting into his hands and smearing it all over the man's face.
Churchgoers can be heard groaning in disgust in the background as he continues to wipe spit all over the man's face.
Viewers were outraged by the video, with a clip of the act circulating online — particularly with Covid cases surging in Oklahoma.
"This is just sick," one woman wrote.
"This is so wrong. I feel sorry for all his followers," added another.
Spitting pastor issues apology
Pastor Todd apologised for the video, saying it was never his intention to distract others from God’s Word and the message of Jesus.
"I apologise for my example being too extreme and disgusting," he captioned a video posted to social media.
I just wanted to acknowledge what happened yesterday when the spit hit the fan. I watched it back, and it was disgusting. Like, that was gross.Pastor Todd
"I want to validate everybody’s feelings, that that was a distraction to what I was really trying to do. I was really trying to make the word come alive and for people to see the story, but yesterday it got too live, and I own that," he said.
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He also commented on the man he spat on.
"For my brother who I love and honour so much. I just called on him. He was bald before I spit on him, and he’s still bald today, so no miracle here, and next time I’ll rethink and do something differently."
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