Twelve years after his ministry in Kenya, East African Italian-born Catholic priest Sandro Ferretto has married Sharon Jepng’ok, a Tugen woman from Baringo County.

According to Kenya Times, the couple exchanged vows in a traditional ceremony on 6 September at Seretion Village in Kasiela, a community where Mr Ferretto previously served as parish priest.

The event brought together relatives, local leaders, elders and friends of the bride, who witnessed the Koito ceremony, a significant Kalenjin custom centred on dowry negotiations and family blessings.

Ferretto’s ministry

Mr Ferretto, 55, began his priesthood in Italy before taking his ministry to Kenya, where he spent more than a decade working with local communities.

The Diocese of Padua ordained him as a priest, and he arrived in Kenya in 2008 to begin missionary service. He worked around Kasiela and Mochongoi under the Diocese of Nyahururu and became involved in pastoral outreach, youth programmes and community-based development efforts in Baringo.

He eventually returned to Italy in December 2020 with another missionary, Fr Mariano Dal Ponte.

In 2023, the priest assumed responsibility for a pastoral unit in Saletto, Borgo Veneto, in the Padua diocese. His duties covered eight churches in the area.

His tenure, however, lasted only several months. In December 2023, he celebrated a final Mass before stepping aside from the position to take time for reflection.

The decision reportedly caught some of his colleagues off guard because he gave them little notice.

The Diocese of Padua later acknowledged his withdrawal from pastoral duties, stressing that he continued to serve as a priest and had no connection to any controversy. The diocese described the decision as a requested period away from pastoral ministry.

During his break, Mr Ferretto was reportedly involved in volunteer work with a migrant support group in Padua.

Reunion and law
Mr Ferretto later returned to Kenya and reunited with Ms Jepng’ok, whom he met during his missionary work in Baringo.

Residents of the area widely knew him as “Father Sandro” after he spent more than a decade working with families, youth organisations and church congregations. Baringo is also Ms Jepng’ok’s home region.

Catholic canon law requires Latin Rite priests to observe celibacy and bars them from marrying while they remain in active ministry. The Church considers the commitment a lifelong obligation of the priesthood.

For a priest to marry, he must first be formally removed from the clerical state through a process approved by the Vatican. Known as laicisation, the process ends his status as a priest and normally includes a dispensation from the obligation of celibacy.

Only after receiving the necessary approval can a former priest marry. Without it, the marriage would contravene Catholic canon law and would not be recognised by the Church.

Pastor Titilayo Adewale, the daughter of the late Rev. Josiah Olufemi Akindayomi, the founder of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), has firmly denied viral media reports claiming she criticized the church’s leadership or demanded public monuments to preserve her father’s legacy.

The viral post claimed Adewale criticised senior RCCG pastors for allegedly sidelining her late father’s legacy

Adewale described the claims as false and urged those circulating them to stop spreading misinformation.

She debunked the circulating stories and clarified her stance in a statement shared on Facebook page on Monday.

She said the statement attributed to her did not originate from her “either implicitly or explicitly,” stressing that her father’s greatest legacy was not tied to buildings or monuments but the lives he transformed.

“For the record, Baba’s image or lack thereof on any edifice on earth is nothing compared to making Heaven and his face being recognized there,” she wrote.

She explained that her father never encouraged the pursuit of material possessions or earthly recognition, recalling that he was reluctant even to own a personal residence because he did not place value on material acquisitions.

“My father consistently believed in building people rather than merely constructing buildings.

“He never believed in acquiring wealth or earthly possessions,” she said, adding that it would be inconsistent to suggest that he desired his name or image to be prominently associated with buildings or institutions.

According to her, the reports were aimed at creating unnecessary controversy and division within the church rather than promoting the memory of its founder.

“In my opinion, this report and similar ones are not about me, my father, or even the leadership of the RCCG. Instead, they are intended to create unnecessary arguments and division.

“Their purpose is to divert attention from the divine work currently being carried out and sow discord among us,” she stated.

She warned those responsible for circulating the reports to desist from what she described as “mischievous acts of misinformation.

Adewale also reaffirmed her support for the leadership of the church, praying for continued wisdom and strength for the General Overseer, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, and his family.

By Gabriel Agbo

Gehazi

We saw how Gehazi, the Elisha’s servant brought the generational curse of leprosy upon himself, his children, and his descendants forever; just because of greed, deception and disloyalty. God had used Prophet Elisha to cure Naaman; an Aramean army general of his leprosy. The soldier with joy and gratitude brought gifts to the man of God; which he rejected. As the general (now a new convert) was going home, promising to serve the God of Israel, the greedy Gehazi ran after him. Gehazi met him and lied to him that his master Elisha sent him to collect some of those gifts he had earlier rejected. He collected and hid them. But as he was coming in, the prophet told him all about his treacherous actions and promptly issued a generational curse upon him.

“Because you have done this, you and your children and your children’s children will suffer from Naaman’s leprosy forever’ When Gehazi left the room, he was leprous; his skin was as white as snow.”

2 kings 5: 27

Gehazi was indeed a treacherous person. Greed pushed him to run after Naaman. When he caught Naaman, he lied with his master’s name and when he was coming back he hid the ill-gotten gifts. As if that was not enough, he again lied to his master, who was asking him where he was coming from. I wonder what he had been learning from the prophet while he was with him. He was indeed deceptive, disloyal and treacherous. For all these, he succeeded in destroying his and his descendants’ destinies forever. Falsehood, deception, disloyalty and betrayal can never go unpunished. Never!

Gibeonites

The Gibeonites also resorted to deception to save themselves from the Israelites and that action eventually turned them and their generations into wood choppers and water carriers. Be careful! See it:

“Joshua did not allow the people of Israel to kill them. But that day he made the Gibeonites the woodchoppers and water carriers for the people of Israel and for the altar of the LORD – wherever the LORD would choose to build it. That arrangement continues to this day.”

Joshua 9:26-27.

Paying Evil for Good

Another treacherous act that brings generational curse upon an individual, family or people is paying evil for good. That is when you deliberately reward somebody who has done well to you with evil. This brings terrible curses not just to the individual, but to their family. The bible said in Proverbs 17:13 that,

“If you repay evil for good, evil will never leave your house.”

That is, you must make sure that you always repay good for good. You must make sure that you don’t betray a person who has favored you. If you do otherwise, the bible says that evil will come to your house, family and make a permanent abode. Some other translations say that it (evil) will remain in your house (family). And house here again means family and you know that anything that has to do with the family has already gone generational; because it will affect the children, children’s children and may go on and on. You must ensure always, without fail that you repay good for good. Even the bible said that we should go beyond that to do well to those who did evil to us. True!

David had this terrible experience from the people he favoured. They paid him evil for good and he consequently asked God to give them their due reward – punishment (curses). Let us read Psalm 35:12-13, “They repay me with evil for the good I do. I am sick with despair. Yet when they were ill, I grieved for them. I even fasted and prayed for them, but my prayers returned unanswered. I was sad, as though they were my friends or family, as if I were grieving for my own mother.”

Then in Psalm 109:1-5,

“O God, whom I praise, don’t stand silent and aloof while the wicked slander me and tell lies about me. They are all around me with their hateful words, and they fight against me for no reason. I love them, but they try to destroy me – even as I am praying for them! They return evil for good, and hatred for my love.”

Like I said earlier, David had a dose of treachery from men. From his son to his friends, his advisers to adversaries. Even King Saul, while David was showing him kindness, he was busy making every possible plan to terminate the young boy’s life out of jealousy. David then called upon God to defend and fight for him. Every victim of treachery makes one form of prayer or the other, even if it is not audible. And most times, it is a call against the treacherous person. A call for justice and God’s defence, and it is always answered. David said, “God don’t stand silent and aloof.” Did God answer him? Yes! Just check out how all his enemies, including the treacherous ones ended. Jesus, Paul, and others also reaffirmed that a betrayer is cursed. In fact, Jesus said that He knew that He was going to be betrayed, but cursed is the man that would allow himself to be used as the instrument; that it would be better he was not born. Treachery will always attract curses upon a person and his next generations.

In the case of Ham, it made them servants. For Gehazi and his descendants, it was leprosy. Gibeonites – woodchoppers and water carriers. And for those who pay evil for good, they and their next generations shall have evil dwelling permanently in their families. Watch the treacherous person and his descendants; it has never been well with them. For whatever a man sows, that he must surely reap. Be careful! Now, you have the opportunity to pray for forgiveness of those treacherous acts of yours, your parents and your family. Bow your head and admit to the Lord that you are sorry for those ungodly acts. Ask him to remove any sin that is against your bloodline. And if you have inherited anything that does not glorify him, ask him to remove it from you, your children and your children’s children. Renew your pledge to His kingdom and government, then stand and guard against the devices of the enemy. We will continue next week. God bless!

Rev Gabriel Agbo is the author of the books / audiobooks: Power of Midnight Prayer, Receive Your Healing, Breaking Generational Curses: Claiming Your Freedom, Never Again!, I Shall Not Die, Move Forward, Power of Sacrifice and many others. Tel: 08037113283 Facebook: Gab Agbo E-mail: gabrielagbo@yahoo.com Website www.authorsden.com/pastorgabrielnagbo Twitter: pastorgabagbo Whatsapp: 08164819333