Daily Sun (June 25 2014) - IT LOOKS like a bottle-store, it has the name of a bottle-store . . . But it's no place to take a hangover on a Sunday morning THE SPIRITS IN THIS BUILDING TAKE CARE OF YOUR SOUL, NOT YOUR BABALAS!
Thandi Moche found out that Les Liquor Store in Klipgat, near Mabopane, north of Tshwane was no longer a bottle-store.
"When I went into the building I saw a room full of friendly faces," she said.
"They invited me to stay, so I forgot about my hangover and praised the Lord!"
It is easy to see why Thandi was confused. From the outside it looks an ideal place to quench a thirst, with a huge sign outside informing people going by that they can buy booze inside - but once they go through the door, they discover they can only quench their spiritual thirst.
Les Liquor Store closed some time ago. Today it is the home of the El El Yon Restoration Ministry Church.
The leader of the church, Apostle Zacharia Peters, told Daily Sun the Les Liquor Store boards were not left on the building on purpose. "When we bought the building two months ago, we did not have a ladder to take down the sign," he said. "But it soon became part of the church and actually benefited us by increasing our membership." He said that from time to time people come in when the service is taking place and ask what's happening.
"People hear the music and come in to ask if we are having a party and if we are selling beer," Zacharia said. "Then I invite them to come in and we pray for them."
The pastor said they didn't really think about the sign because their work is much too powerful to worry about such things, but he agreed they should take it down. "We will probably remove it by the end of the week," he said.
He said his church had a membership of 60 people in Klipgat and another 60 at their main branch in Mabopane. "In Mabopane we changed an old butchery building into a church. I believe this old bottle-store can really reform people," he said.
See the Daily Sun mobi site for more on this and other stories....
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