Let peacemakers arise in Zimbabwe

The Bible says blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God. Peacemakers bring conflicting parties to the negotiation table help them reach an agreement.

A pacifier, on the other hand, can use any means possible to deal with unrest and can even be violent in order to achieve the same end.

In the Bible, Moses acted as a pacifier, but failed to control his anger which led to the death of a man. Out of anger, he made a fatal error. Can one act as a peacemaker or pacifier when they are emotionally involved in the situation? Emotions can cloud one's intentions even if they were noble. Moses made an error which made others misjudge his intentions because of a moment of weakness.

The Bible encourages us to divorce ourselves from making decisions inspired by emotions. In the past month, Zimbabwe has seen violence in its cities because her citizens are angry and if the current political and economic situation is not addressed, it may boil to even more unrest. Yet in such times, as a people, we should learn to divorce our emotions from our decisions. Let God raise people of prayer who can stand in the gap as peacemakers within our nation. The past few weeks have seen church leaders rising to be peacemakers by trying to bring together our leaders for the greater good of our nation.

In 2008 and 2009, the two main political leaders, Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, came to the negotiation table for the greater good of the people of Zimbabwe and allowed the nation to have a government of national unity. This provided temporary rest for the citizens. The challenge we have is when those that are elected by people fail to understand that they are called to serve the people. Zimbabwe has been through various cycles of pain.

Let God raise men and women who will stand in prayer for the restoration of our nation. Unless good men and women do something, the wicked will continue to prosper. So it is paramount for the church to stand in its place and help with solutions to the current situation. As Christians, we should not be called just to pray and give speeches and prayers at political events. We must speak the truth that inspires change within our leaders.

Most of the major peace negations have been coordinated through the church and when the church takes its place and plays its role in the nation, real change happens. Even more, let Christian leaders like Catholic priest Father Fidelis Mukonori, who was part of the last transition that ushered in President Emmerson Mnangagwa, come on board with the support of others within the Christian community in our nation to pull our leaders to the negotiation table for the greater good of the people.

United Families International Church founder Prophet Emmanuel Makandiwa has on several occasions said if issues afflicting the country are not addressed, they will lead to more unrest because there are people who want to capitalise on the chaos.

Let us put aside emotions and look beyond ourselves and work towards national peace. Most major peace negations in history have been brought about by the church rather than political leaders. As the church, let's take our place. It's time we dealt with this unrest as a nation God bless you.

λλλλλλλλλλλλ Humphrey Mutandwa is a minister of the gospel and teacher of the Word based in South Africa. He has written several books including The Enoch Generation, Truthfulness and Theophany. He blogs at mtandwa.blogspot.com and can be contacted via e-mail or WhatsApp on +27 610286350.