Freedom of Worship is being abused

Zimbabwe is one of the countries that has unparalleled record of protecting religious liberty. As a result, many religious groups have sprouted with the majority having been founded on a purely commercial basis.

While freedom of worship is a fundamental right that must be respected, there are necessary limits to the exercise of this right. Some of the churches that are mushrooming are being formed by criminals bend on duping desperate and God-fearing citizens of Zimbabwe. Researchers have shown that church has become the fastest growing business in Africa.

Unfortunately, the state is not benefitting anything from these businesses for they are not paying taxes.

The state cannot continue to remain akimbo while citizens are conned in the name of church. Most of these church founders preach the prosperity gospel but no one among their sheep has realised this much preached prosperity. After all, earthly prosperity is not the essence of going to church. The Bible tells people to seek God's kingdom and righteousness first and all these prosperities shall then be added unto them. (Mathew 6:33).
 
The funny thing is that the only people who are prospering are the founders themselves. We have heard some of them flying their own kites, telling the nation that they are worth millions of dollars. No amount of theft is worse than asking a desperate congregant to buy among others, a brick, cloth, socks and oil for fortune.

However, their source of affluence cannot be traced. It does not need a clever person to see that the tithe, which is supposed to advance the word of God, is used for self-aggrandisement. The cunning ones cleanse the tithe by venturing into other business to put the people off the rail. The tithe that the congregants in their thousands pay, is not accounted for. It is just money that goes into the pocket of the so-called Prophet. I am saying this from an informed point of view, for I was a member of one of these churches.

People should not be moved by the so-called miracles. These are not signs of godliness because the devil and his angels also have such powers. You may remember that when God through Moses and Aaron changed a staff into a snake, the devil through Pharaoh's magicians and sorcerers also did the same. We should pray for discerning spirit so that we can distinguish God's power from all other powers. Failure to do this will see us falling into bottomless pits. 

The recent calamity in which 11 lives perished at one of these churhes' gathering in Kwekwe should be a wakeup call for the authorities. Government cannot watch helplessly precious lives perish at a church gathering. This could be expected at a political rally or a football match. The fact that this occurred hard on the heels of a similar disaster in Nigeria should be a cause for concern.
Mr Walter Magaya revealed that his godfather was TB Joshua and that he was the one who gave him the prophetic powers. There was a disaster at TB Joshua's building that killed over hundred people. Two months down the line, a similar disaster struck at his godson's church gathering, killing 11 people. Only God knows what is going on here.

For people who claim to be prophets, ordinarily one would expect that they should have foreseen the disasters. In the whole Bible, there is nowhere where a prophet gets his or her prophetic powers from a mortal being.
 
With the economic hardships bedevilling the nation, people can just do anything on a promise of prosperity. Unfortunately, people are losing the little they have in a bid to get more as promised by the prophets of this day.

Government should protect these vulnerable citizens the same way they protected some against Robert Gumbura who is languishing in jail.