Bartholomew's Notes

Here’s an odd one – a famous Kenyan jazz musician named Joseph Hellon heads a church called the Finger of God Ministries, and has recently announced that he intends to run for president. As his running-mate he has named Esther Arunga, a former TV news anchor and lawyer who has recently quit her career and moved into the “church mansion”. Arunga has also ditched her fiancé, a certain Wilson Malaba, claiming he is dishonest.

Now an ex-member of the church has leaked emails supposedly sent to Hellon from Benny Hinn, but which Hinn’s spokesperson says are fraudulent. In these emails, Hellon is instructed to persuade Arunga to leave Malaba and to instead become engaged to a musician named Quincy Timberlake (aka “Fizzle Dogg”), who is an old school friend of Hellon. The emails also claim – presposterously – that Timberlake is a former boyfriend of Whitney Houston (“who wants him back”). Meanwhile, Hellon complains that

…police had visited [his] residence to investigate claims that he was a drug dealer and a pimp running a cult. “My house was searched last week, computers and phones confiscated and I was arrested, spent a night at Kilimani Police Station and later arraigned in court, before getting out on bond,” he said.

Further details are in the Nairobi Star. We learn that

Church members take communion (including wine, bread and salt) twice a day. Hellon was reluctant to comment on the practice saying, “I will not get into details of the dogmatic practices of the church. If you would like to know, come and register.” The newly registered members of the church go through Bible school up to the certificate level, after which they are eligible for baptism by Apostle Hellon.

The church also holds monthly jazz nights, attended by “TV anchors, musicians, models and professionals”.

Hellon’s church does not have a website, but Apostle Hellon has a recently-deleted Facebook page, which can be seen here.

According to this site, Hellon is the originator of “Hellonic Jazz”, which “combines Kenyan-American music with European music”. The site also tells us that it has been promoted in the UK by a certain Damille Timberlake, and that Quincy used to be in a band called “Moya” . Here’s a taste of Hellon and Timberlake in action:

Filed under: Uncategorized