Northern Cape pastor claims to “pray the gay away”
Pastor Rooies Strauss claims he “frees” people from the demons of autism and homosexuality (YouTube)
A pastor from Groblershoop in the Northern Cape has ignited controversy with his prayers aimed at supposedly exorcising demons that he claims cause autism, depression, and homosexuality.
Rapport recently exposed the dangerous activities of Rooies Strauss, described as both a crocodile farmer and a preacher, who boasts over 83,000 followers on Facebook.
In a YouTube video, Strauss is seen praying for a young man who appears to have autism. “This guy was highly autistic. Thank you, Lord. Out, autism!” he exclaimed as the man fell backwards.
Strauss, who admits he is not a medical expert, appears to not be aware that autism spectrum disorder is a developmental disability caused by differences in the brain.
In the video, Strauss also asserts that the devil “steals intelligent people,” which is “why there are so many homosexuals in the arts.”
Strauss told Rapport that he knew of many cases of “homosexuals who have been set free,” but he added that many choose “not to be set free.”
South African environmentalist and TV presenter David Pepler condemned Strauss’ “reckless” comments on Facebook, stating that “attributing autism and homosexuality to demons is truly evil.”
Responding to the Rapport article in a video, Strauss welcomed the media exposure as free advertising for his cause. He claimed to have worked in the police, investigating Satanism, and said he had his own demons driven out by another pastor.
Strauss, who recently returned from missionary work in Ukraine, reiterated that people who suffer from autism, depression, and homosexuality come to him because “they want to be set free.”
He revealed that in his youth, he used to make jokes about gay people until he started working with them and witnessed their pain, including those who “were molested and became homosexuals.” Today, he said, “I work with them, I cry with them, I feel sorry for them, and I help them – and many have been set free.”
Strauss also insisted that “no one is born homosexual,” asserting that “there are demonic elements involved [in homosexuality].”
Attempting to change or “cure” someone’s sexuality through prayer or exorcism is a form of conversion therapy, which is based on the false belief that homosexuality is immoral, an illness, or a deviation.
Conversion therapy has been discredited by mental health and human rights groups, including the World Psychiatric Association, as ineffective and harmful. It is associated with depression, anxiety, substance abuse, homelessness, and suicide.
I’ve been keeping an eye on this dude, that sofTUBE video of the “exorcism” is horrific, there’s testimony of an “ex-gay” (from Springbok) who was (tortured) at that place for 4 years, this week end some young man who was there for an undisclosed reason committed suicide, I hope the Human Rights Commission will sort him out, but are we as a community doing enough to support our people coming from extremely conservative parts of the country/hard circumstances, are we just selfish hedonists living it up and sharing pictures of ourselves doing just that? Why is there no safe place for people whose parents would be willing to send them to this guy to be “corrected”? Then again, can we actually be trusted to support young people in desperate circumstances to get them on their feet or would these spaces just operate like those wealthy pensioners in the city who always have some young, desperate guy rejected by his family to exploit? So many gay guys are wealthy, the community could certainly fund some kind of support? FUCK!
Wow I’ve yet to find a more biased article on the internet with more presupposing and no basis therefore. Truly one of the most terrible written articles. To say “which is based on the false belief that homosexuality is immoral, an illness, or a deviation” one would assume that the writer would make a least a single argument as to what he bases morality on amd why he believes homosexuality to be moral.
One also hopes you would get an explanation as to how Rooies is wrong about autism, rather that saying “appears to not be aware that autism spectrum disorder is a developmental disability caused by differences in the brain” and assuming that the writer can contribute these “differences” to everything BUT demons. I’m not saying rooies is right. But the writer is clearly not using his own brain, we expect journalists to use their brains.
But no that’s not what we get. Just a bashing without substance.