Pastor Who Smeared Spit On Man's Face During Sermon Forced To Apologise

A pastor in Oklahoma has apologised for smearing spit on a man's face during a sermon.

Footage of Pastor Michael Todd went viral this weekend after he performed the controversial act at the Transformation Church in Bixby, Tulsa.

In the clip, Todd can be seen standing alongside a churchgoer as he sniffed and snorted before spitting into his hand, prompting the crowd to exclaim in shock. Todd then held the spit in his hand as he explained that many people can hear God changing things, but they may not necessarily be able to 'see it yet'.

Check out what happened next here:

Todd collected more spit in his hand as he warned that 'receiving vision from God might get nasty', after which he rubbed his hands together and proceeded to wipe it across the churchgoer's face, leaving strings of spit dangling from his chin.

The move was met with calls of disgust from the crowd, to which Todd said, 'Do you hear and see the responses of the people? What I’m telling you, is how you just reacted is how the people in your life will react when God is doing what it takes for the miracle.'

It goes without saying that the decision to smear spit on someone's face isn't a good one in any circumstances, but it proves even more controversial in the midst of a pandemic.

Social media users have slammed Todd for the display, with reporter Chris Williamson describing it as 'one of the must repulsive acts' he'd seen 'in the name of Christianity'.

Another Twitter user commented, 'Pastor Michael Todd just spit in his hands during a church service! I’m sorry but you can preach a message without having to do something nasty like that.'

Transformation Church does not appear to have publicly commented on Todd's sermon at the time of writing, January 18, but Todd responded to the backlash with an apology video posted on Twitter this week, claiming it was 'never [his] intention to distract others from God’s Word and the message of Jesus… even with illustrations!'

In the clip, the pastor said he watched back the video of his sermon and acknowledged that it 'was disgusting', adding, 'That was gross. I want to validate everybody’s feelings. That was a distraction from what I was really trying to do. I was really trying to make the Word come alive and for people to see the story. But yesterday it got too live.'

Todd noted that spitting on the churchgoer did not result in a miracle, but encouraged people who have only seen the viral clip to watch the rest of his sermon because it could contain information that could 'potentially change your whole life'.

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Topics: US News, Viral, Twitter

Emily Brown

Emily Brown is UNILAD Editorial Lead at LADbible Group. She first began delivering news when she was just 11 years old - with a paper route - before graduating with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University. Emily joined UNILAD in 2018 to cover breaking news, trending stories and longer form features. She went on to become Community Desk Lead, commissioning and writing human interest stories from across the globe, before moving to the role of Editorial Lead. Emily now works alongside the UNILAD Editor to ensure the page delivers accurate, interesting and high quality content.