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| Gumbura |
If prophets in the country were to be described in economic terms then Zimbabwe probably has more prophets per capita than any other nation on the continent and supply has begun to outweigh demand. It seems every citizen can have three or four prophets administering their spiritual needs.
But this phenomena where the number of prophets and churches is increasing at a rate that threatens to outnumber the figure of congregants, has led to confusion.
The issue of salvation and the supreme law of love, is now overshadowed with that of distinguishing between the true and false prophet.
Time that must be spent on perusing and understanding the Holy Word is now spent debating who is the real and true man or woman of God.
Matters to do with religion and religiosity, the belief and the execution of the belief, prophecy and magic have proved to be contentious.
The issue of prophets is not new, in pre-colonial times we had them, the likes of John Marange of the apostolic church Jowane Marange.But since the turn of the millennium they are coming on board in droves.
And these have come with a hoard of miracles and marvels they are supposedly dishing out ranging from miracle money, miracle babies, miracle cures.
They are even “curing” terminal diseases like HIV/Aids, possess abilities to make people lose weight without breaking a sweat.With the scripture clearly directing us not to judge for we will also be judged (by the Almighty), it has proved difficult for people to candidly come and challenge some of these supposed men of cloth that in a number of instances have gone on to engage in anarchic behaviour.
Yet the scriptures speak of false prophets with power to perform clairvoyant antics attributed to God and present their magic as prophecies to enhance or promote their work and subsequently line their pockets.
Indeed, prophecies and miracles have been done, most which equal and claim to “surpass” even those that were performed by the Son of Man (Jesus Christ) himself and other prophets that include Moses and Elijah.
The difficult part for the ordinary man and woman is to prove the truthfulness or bogusness of the prophets since divination has become central to Zimbabwe’s social and economic transformation.
Religion is proving like the German philosopher, Karl Marx, put it “to be the opium of people”.
Time, nonetheless, has helped demystify and weed out pretenders, though many still come on board to try their luck.
Over the years, a good number of people claiming to be men of the cloth have been shown to be charlatans.
Often on a daily basis we read of prophets that have been arrested for committing various crimes ranging from rape, theft and murder among other offences.
Recently, it was reported by some Ghanaian publication that a delegation of pastors from Ghana was coming to meet the country’s leadership over targeted Zimbabwean ministries that were deceiving people through trickery and evil practices.
“Making money is one of the major factors leading to the rise in the numbers of these people because they play on the psychology of unsuspecting citizens.
“Status on its own is another pushing factor since prophets or traditional healers occupy a fairly high status in the society they are respected or even feared,” notes Prof Claude Mararike, a University of Zimbabwe sociologist.
Robert Martin Gumbura
The RMG End Time Message church leader’s case is still fresh.He made headlines, enjoying a lavish lifestyle that he obtained through milking his unsuspecting followers. Gospel of intimidation was his doctrine.
For long he managed to dodge the law through intimidating congregants that he abused.The now disgraced man of cloth is infamous for claiming to have the power of handing over anyone who crossed his path to Satan.It only took a few courageous individuals to bring his malevolence to an end by reporting the matter to the police.
Gumbura was subsequently arrested and sentenced to 50 years in prison. Of these, 10 years were suspended on condition of good behaviour and was left with an effective 40-year jail term.
Evangelist Mathias and Mildred
At one point their congregation became the talk of town.
The duo of Evangelist Mathias and Mildred would perform all sorts of miracles that included among other things “healing” the crippled.
As is the norm, Zimbabweans from all walks of life started flocking to their church. Within a short space of time, the pair was already boasting of huge turnouts for each and every of their services.
Plans to expand the congregation around the country and subsequently the region were hatched. With funds pouring in matching the volumes of congregants, the plans were, indeed, feasible. But as the roll-out plan was in motion, the church was hit by allegations of Satanism and use of juju. That proved to be the beginning of the two’s demise.
They tried all sorts of public relations but it did not work.
Following the public revelation of the allegations, congregants from the church who had previously followed the two evangelists religiously, started to come forward making all sorts of allegations and accusations. The church is no longer as popular as it used to be (though it still exists), and no evidence has been put forward to pin them to Satanism.
Boniface Muponda
He has enjoyed both worlds of supernatural powers. He first came on to the scene in the early 90s claiming to be a prophet with healing prowess. But recently after keeping a low profile following the highly publicised sodomy case in which he was acquitted, the self-styled spiritualist recently popped up claiming he was now leading an apostolic faith sect while at the same time practising as a traditional healer in Uzumba, Mashonaland East.
The prophet-cum-traditional healer says he has no problem mixing Christianity with traditionalism as all involved spirits. In fact, he claims that he has always been a traditional healer, from the time he was trading as a prophet.
According to reports, Muponda prays for people in the morning to noon and from thereafter he puts on his traditional garments and consults the spirits.
He is famed for healing people with fertility problems.His Norton and Kuwadzana houses used to swarm with people needing his assistance during his heyday.
Gilbert Deya Ministries
The self-proclaimed Archbishop of Gilbert Deya Ministries, who claims to have super powers to create “miracle babies” from mothers without necessary intercourse, Gilbert Deya, was arrested in 2013 for sexual offences in the United Kingdom.
The Kenyan preacher (Deya) whose church claims to have more than 35 000 members and once set up a fast growing assembly at the Rainbow Towers Hotel in Harare, was arrested after investigations were opened that he allegedly inappropriately touched a 14-year-old girl.
Other charges before this one were three counts of rape and one count of attempted rape against another female church member. Apart from these charges, Deya also has other accusations that link him to the stealing of five children aged between 22 months and four-and-a-half years between 1999 and 2004 and delivering them to infertile or post-menopausal women as miracle babies.
His wife, Mary Juma Deya, faced similar charges of child abduction and was in 2004 jailed for two years by a Kibera court for abducting a two-year-old baby.
Source-Online
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