The Prime Minister’s temporary blindness could have been the result of divine intervention, according to the head of Evangelical community River of Love.
Pastor Gordon-John Manché told Times of Malta he would not exclude the possibility that God had inflicted Joseph Muscat’s blindness to help him “see the light”.
The Prime Minister was temporarily blinded in both eyes after sustaining UV radiation burns during a party activity in Żurrieq on Sunday.
Screen shot of comment has been tampered with
His injuries are suspected to have been caused by a stage lighting problem and Dr Muscat is expected to make a full recovery.
Reflecting on this, Pastor Manché yesterday aired his views on Facebook.
In a public comment, the outspoken pastor quoted a passage from the bible that reads: “And Jesus said: ‘For judgement I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see and that those who see may be blind’.”
Pastor Manché, however, claimed that a screen shot of the comment had been tampered with, insisting that a large chunk had been deleted.
“That is not the comment I wrote. There was more to what I had written,” he said, adding that in his original comment he had questioned whether God would smite the Prime Minister or not.
Pastor Manché claimed that, after quoting the bible verse, he also wrote: “Is this a coincidence? Who knows? We pray that God will have mercy on our nation and our leaders. On the other hand, we pray that the grace of God should touch all those who are hurt and be healed equally.”
When asked whether he thought Dr Muscat’s temporary blindness had been God’s work, he said: “I am making an observation. Could it be? Is it possible? Is God speaking to us?
“It is a possibility and if it is, or whether it is not, I still ended up saying I will pray for them and I will pray for our nation.”
The pastor’s post sparked a flurry of comments on social media, with many disassociating themselves from his stand.
“I am a Christian and do not agree with this type of belief. This sort of thing has been frowned upon for a long time,” Jacob Brincat wrote on Facebook.
This is not the first time that the Evangelical community has raised eyebrows.
Last week, it presented parliamentarians with a 10,000-signature petition in the hope of blocking the Civil Unions Bill.
The move followed a stand taken last month by a number of the community’s members who had spoken against a local play, Jiena Nħobb, Inti Tħobb (I love, do you love?), which they felt “promoted the sin of homosexuality”.
Pastor Manché defended his stand on gay adoption and against the Civil Unions Bill last night on Times Talk on TVM.