© Manchester Evening News
MIRACLE MAN: Pastor Mbenga, lead pastor at the Victorious Pentecostal Assembly in Gorton, defended his church’s use of blackcurrant squash and olive oil to ‘cure’ serious illnesses.
MIRACLE MAN: Pastor Mbenga, lead pastor at the Victorious Pentecostal Assembly in Gorton, defended his church’s use of blackcurrant squash and olive oil to ‘cure’ serious illnesses.
The Victorious Pentecostal Assembly sells the blackcurrant drink along with supermarket olive oil, claiming once they are blessed by a pastor they can cure serious illnesses including cancer, HIV and diabetes.
An M.E.N. investigation found that within 15 minutes of entering the VPA's church on Hyde Road, Gorton, we were offered a one litre bottle of the drink and a 500ml bottle of supermarket olive oil for £14.
We were told that if a terminally ill family member drank a mixture of the squash and the olive oil once a day after it was blessed by a pastor the cancer would be cured. A church leader who identified himself as 'Pastor Mbenga' also claimed to have previously cured diabetes and a brain tumour using the blackcurrant juice and oil.
He said the mixture would 'do what no man can do' through divine intervention and guaranteed the cancer would be cured.
The products retail in several supermarkets for less than £6. Any advertisement, including verbal claims, promoting products as treatments or cures for cancer is illegal under the Cancer Act 1939.
Trading standards officers have pledged to examine the evidence raised during our probe and may launch a full investigation.
