Who will arrest the prophetic madness

Harare is the political capital of the country, and many administrative and political decisions are made in that city.

However, it would appear it is not only our worldly affairs' capital but also the prophetic ministry capital.

There is a common saying that if one throws a stone in a crowd whoever they hit, constitutes the majority of people in that area. It could be true that if one throws a stone in Harare they would most likely hit a prophet, politician or a trader!

Our interest is in the prophetic, however.  We used to have a few prophets, whose prophecies were so rare but true.

However, of late we have a deluge of prophecies and prophets whose pronouncements are rarely true.  This week saw upheavals at one of the prophetic ministries in Harare with a relative of the leader of a church claiming that the prophet was faking 80 percent of the prophecies in order to gain popularity.

And we thought the prophets were there to give a word that would edify the church of God.  Hell no, it is each man for himself as the men of the cloth seek to line their pockets.

Having many churches is not a problem really, but having many scandals in many churches is quite problematic.

And worse still, some of these church leaders are so young that you wonder who raised them since they are battling to raise others in their churches when they still need serious spiritual and emotional nurturing themselves.

The past few months has seen a number of happenings at churches in the capital and movement by some of the ministries from the capital to other towns, especially by the miracle prophets that thrive on crowds.

For example in the past week or so, we had a Harare-based prophet advertising his services in Victoria Falls and within a space of two days at the weekend two others descended on Bulawayo from the capital promising the miraculous.

So popular are the prophets that they are making several trips to the city now to try and satiate the growing appetite for prophecy among the citizens.

We shall not dare perch on a pedestal of piety and righteousness and seek to pronounce judgment on the "anointed" but the growing trend of pay-per-view prophets has become a cause for concern.

While we cannot accurately trace the evolution of the commercial prophecy and healing, whose euphemism is "one-on-one with the man of God", we are sure that there is everything wrong about a religion that hurtles down the marketplace, knocking down market stalls and taking over vantage positions for its prophetic products and "charms" merchandise, even in the temple.

The tug of war over the control of churches, many of them led by young men that seek to impress rather than serve, calls on many that call themselves Christians to prayerfully search the heart and mind of God regarding the suspicious turn of the church.

After all, the Bible enjoins us to test the spirits by subjecting them to scriptural scrutiny.  We may be facing many problems, both physical and spiritual, but it is still crucially relevant to subject this latter day commercial salvation to our spiritual, and even common sense microscope.