Sulu composes for Makandiwa

Renowned Dendera artiste, Suluman Chimbetu, has composed a jingle for Prophet Emmanuel Makandiwa's forthcoming "Judgement Night 2" pencilled for the National Sports Stadium on April 19.

The jingle, largely a remix of his late father, Simon Chimbetu's, hit Kumagobo, speaks of a graduate who has finished school and has learnt his trade but is facing difficulties in securing employment in the urban areas of this country and is now contemplating  going for "Judgement Night 2" to seek some divine solution to his problem.

In the jingle, the persona is aware of the cause of his unemployment, mhepo dzakandisona (evil spirits) and therefore wants to go kwaMakandiwa kujudgement Night for remedy.

Chimbetu captures the difficulties that this young man is enduring in his quest for employment and reminisces on these challenges when the persona lays bare his transport options to the venue and his resolve to be there whether" nengoro (on a scotch-cart), netsoka (on foot) or necommuter (by public transport).

The young man's conviction that he will get salvation and deliverance during the highly-anticipated Judgement Night 2 shines through the jingle.

The persona tells his loved one that the issue of his salvation, like that of the biblical Zacchaeus, who climbed a sycamore for him to have a glimpse of Jesus Christ, would ensure he would be at the venue come April 19.

Sulu then delves into the often-debated issue of spiritual fatherhood when he captures the persona's journey to the venue of the Judgement Night 2 as a journey back to the father, "kunaBaba kuJudgement Night."

It comes out, from Chimbetu's lyrics, that the persona's journey to the venue is some sort of home-coming by a prodigal son who has realised he needed to get back to his source (Spiritual Father) for deliverance and blessing.

Prophet Makandiwa's last Judgement Night, on April 6, 2012 was a hugely popular and extraordinary all-night church gathering. No church event has had that impact, before, during and after it had been staged like that unique Easter Friday night at the National Sports Stadium.

More than 120 000 people gathered at the stadium. That the 60 000-seater stadium was filled to the brim was amazing.

That more than 30 000 saints sat on chairs around the athletics track surrounding the football pitch was a spectacle, and seeing another 30 000 more being accommodated at the Magamba Hockey Stadium where some overflow facility had been arranged was beyond human comprehension.

It was not just a church all-night prayer meeting; it was a prophetic coming together that drew people from all walks of life, different parts of the country, continent and, indeed, the whole world.

Locals from outside Harare started trickling in a day before the event and the church had to arrange accommodation for them at the venue while hotels reported brisk business as foreigners from Mozambique, Zambia, South Africa, Botswana, Switzerland, Brazil, England and Italy, just to mention a few countries, that booked themselves in before the event.

And that it was a Passover gathering with a difference was never in doubt, from the thousands gathered, the power and quality of the word preached, the prophecies given, the PA system in use and the general preparations that had been put in place for the event. It was a night well-lived!

It now appears Judgement Night 2, like its 2012 predecessor, will be a massive life-transforming spectacle, what with the enthusiasm already generated. Commuter omnibus talk, newspaper headlines and indeed the massive billboards dotted around the country, capture the Judgement Night 2 mood that has already gripped the nation.

As night will give in to the morning on April 20th, 2014, one expects, as was the case with the morning succeeding Judgement Night 1 on April 7, 2012, that a lone white bird would circle around the stadium five times, announcing, as did the dove from Noah's ark (Genesis 8:11), that all was well outside and, as the Prophet has promised, "that our nation has been remembered at last".