Beware of the false prophet

MDC President Nelson Chamisa waves his Christian credentials about quite a lot. It is rare that he won't have a series of quotes from the Bible at the tip of his tongue and he will invoke the Lord's name at any given opportunity.

While this is not necessarily a bad thing, like all things, if it is taken to an extreme then it can become dangerous. After all, he is not taking exams for the priesthood; Chamisa is campaigning to lead our nation in the coming years.

He has recently taken to his social media as he travels around the country to interpreting rain at his rallies as God's blessings. One of his favouritehashtags has become #Godisinit.

We are not certain what God is in, but judging by previous statements attributed to Chamisa, he has on occasion been reported to claim to commune directly with God.

During the 2013 elections, Chamisa stressed that theMDC-T was going to win, and when asked to substantiate his claims, he said: "God showed me in my dreams that Morgan Tsvangirai is going to win with a close margin, between 53 and 56%."

The Bible itself directly warns us against people who claim to speak straight to God, and to not follow them. The reason is because anyone can claim to converse with God and it will be difficult for us to identify the fraudsters, so we are called on not to believe any of them.

The Book of Deuteronomy is pretty explicit on this point. "If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass…..you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul."

Likewise there are similar admonitions throughout the Books of Matthew, John, Peter, Corinthians, and many others, all with the simple message: "Beware of false prophets" and those who claim to speak in God's name.

Nevertheless, Chamisa, ignoring these reprimands, goes even further and claims to have supernatural powers given to him by the Almighty.

During the last election campaign five years, Chamisa claimed that: "I have not eaten for the past three weeks. I have not even taken water. God is amazing, my voice is still ok and my body is still in shape."

Anyone who understands basic physiology knows that the body can not survive more than one week without water, but here was Chamisa claiming that he had survived for three.

These are not, however, mere slips of the tongue but the ruminations of someone who genuinely believes he is anointed by and receives personal messages from God.

Modern history is replete with examples of leaders who claimed to speak for God and demand action in His name, when actually it is the ambition of the speaker who uses and abuses the holy to attain the profane.

Zimbabwe can not afford to become the cult of Chamisa.

We need this election to be about vision, policies and leadership, and not allow ourselves to become hoodwinked into believing that one of the candidates is somehow a supreme being and anointed by God.

So while we welcome Nelson the candidate, we need to beware of the false prophet Chamisa.