'Magicians, Satanists hiding behind church'

MAGICIANS and Satanists are now hiding behind the name of the church to hoodwink people into believing that they have the gift of prophecy and can perform miracles.

This emerged at a Johanne Masowe Gospel of God Church meeting held in Odzi recently, which was attended by more than 2 000 people from Botswana, South Africa, Kenya, Mozambique, Zambia as well as Zimbabwe.

The president of Apostolic Christian Council of Zimbabwe, Bishop Johannes Ndanga in an interview on the sidelines of the meeting said his church organisation would soon have a conference to have spiritual guidance on how to tackle the issue which has taken the country by storm.

"Magicians have been with us for a long time, but the problem is that they are now using God's name to hoodwink people. The problem of Satanism has reached unprecedented levels in the country and as church leaders we have every reason to be worried. People are being duped everyday into believing that there are people with the gift of prophecy and can perform miracles.

"We used to have magicians who would go around performing stunts on teachers and schoolchildren, but they have since upped their game and now using the name of God to do so. This is unacceptable. In DRC magicians used to change newspapers into money after putting them in magical pots and we are witnessing this phenomenon today in Zimbabwe. Since when did newspapers become money? The Bible is clear that during the last days we will see many people claiming to be possessing so much power and claiming that they are God-sent, yet they are out to cause mayhem."

"We are hearing stories of elderly people giving babies to miracle children, snakes are now everywhere in homes and churches and accidents are continuing killing and maiming people. This is a clear testimony that some of the so-called church leaders are using juju to enhance their powers. These people need blood to enhance their powers hence the so many accidents we are experiencing these days. Our conference will help us to have spiritual eyes to stop this madness affecting our people," said Bishop Ndanga.

He said true prophecies like that of the late Johanne Masowe come to pass.

"In 1934, Baba Johanne walked from Chitungwiza to Zvimba Communal Lands where he prophecied about President Mugabe becoming the first black leader of Zimbabwe. He first approached Chief Matthew Zvimba and told him that he was looking for the Karigamombe family. He spent the night at Chief Zvimba's homestead and during that night, the chief had a vision of white birds that had congregated to pray and in the morning he asked Baba Johanne to preach to them and convert them into Christianity, but he (Baba Johanne) had none of it and told him that he was on a mission to deliver a special message to the Karigamombe family.

"When he arrived at the Karigamombe homestead there was a stump of a tree that was cut down and Baba Johanne asked three times who had cut down the tree. The owner of the homestead, Mr Gabriel Karigamombe came out holding an axe and enquired who was asking that question at his homestead. Baba Johanne told him that the man who had cut the tree's son would be the first black man to be the President of this country. The prophecy came to pass as President Mugabe went on to become the first President of Zimbabwe," he said.

Turning to the split in the Gospel of God Church, Bishop Ndanga, said: "We were mandated to mediate in the wrangle and I want to assure everyone here present that very soon you will be united again. Our matron, Vice-President Joice Mujuru, mandated us to mediate and we were given April 20, 2013 to have finalised this issue and we will surely deliver. The church is there to unite people and we will engage all the parties involved. We will have a 12-member committee from both factions for a meeting to be held on April 20 at a venue to be advised in Harare. We will also extend an invitation to everyone who tried to intervene in the dispute in the past. Nothing will stop us from finding a lasting solution because your late leader, Baba Johanne was a man of peace who helped to unite so many people through his preaching and prophecies. As leaders, you should be able to find each other and lead by example. Surely, you members gathered here will be able to visit your holy shrine in Gandanzara soon," he said.

Speaking at the same occasion, the Minister of State for Presidential Affairs, Didymus Mutasa, who was standing in for Vice-President Mujuru, said divisions in churches were now a cause of concern.

"There is mayhem in Anglican, while United Methodist Church was recently hit by defections. What is really happening? We want to see peace prevailing in churches with members praying together. All members of the Johanne Masowe Gospel of God Church should have access to their holy shrine where their founding father was buried.

"I want to call upon Bishop Ndanga and his team to find a lasting solution because we cannot allow the current situation where members gathered here have been exposed to the vagaries of weather over the past two years with the hope of visiting the shrine.

"It is not only members that are affected by the current scenario as President Mugabe cannot visit the shrine if people are divided like this. We want a united church," he said.

Earlier on, sisters in the church touched many people when they openly wept pleading with the powers that be to intervene in their dispute.

The church donated blankets and bales of clothes to Mujuru to be distributed to charitable homes of her choice.