• A makeshift church in one of the compounds.

By JOWIT SALUSEKI –

WITH many people desperately seeking for divine intervention, the country has of late, witnessed members of the clergy with an appetite of prophesying on different issues to people who hope for a miracle.
The enthusiasm for prophesy is more pronounced in high density areas where poverty levels are high hence, making many local people to fall prey to questionable messages from these Pastors who always opt to carry out their prayers in makeshift buildings or rented school class rooms.
Lusaka Townships such as Matero, Mtendere, Chawama, Kanyama and Zingalume, among others, are testimony to settlements where the mushrooming of churches has continued to flourish with multitudes abandoning their homes every weekend to receive miracles from the so called ‘men of God’.
While others are ‘receiving’ divine favour locally, some Zambians who can afford to fly out of the country resort to trekking to other countries where renowned pastors operate from.
From December 1991 when late Republican President Frederick Chiluba declared Zambia as a Christian nation, there has been an increase in the number of churches and denominations.
Foreign pastors and bishops have taken advantage of this Christian nation declaration and in their masses, they are frequently abandoning their countries of origin to flock to Zambia to preach the word of salvation at the expense of serving the many lost souls in their home countries.
Some schools of thought are even questioning whether these men of God have any biblical calling or are motivated and benefiting from the desperation of divine intrusion of the poor to cash in and make some quick money under the pretext of evangelism.
Observers allude to the fact that even the trend that has become fashionable in the country of parading people on television with some clergy busy conducting exorcism in unexplainable tongues is alien to Christianity.
They argue that the practice of showing off purportedly healed sick people on television is not supported by any gospel teachings or the Holy Bible as Jesus Himself opted to heal the sick in secrecy without seeking any publicity.
The ‘men of God’ have gone a mile further by selling ‘anointing oil and holy water ranging from K50 to K90, while others charge unsuspecting Christians to be delivered.
Some identified churches in Lusaka, charge people to be delivered from their sins and bondages which is against Jesus teachings. Some questions that beg answers includes why the Church should advertise for it service in the media.
Martin Bwalya says the money used for advertising could help the needy
In the same vein, Mr Bwalya questioned why the church wants maximum coverage when making donations to the vulnerable contradicting what the Bible says on helping the needy.
The scripture says when giving help, the other hand should not know.
“But parading the vulnerable receiving a donation is against Biblical principles and is unchristian. Why should people boast when helping the poor, it is wrong,” Mr Bwalya says
Jesus Christ, the founder of Christianity himself warned that false Christs and false prophets will come and attempt to deceive even God’s elect as indicated in Matthew 24:23-27 , 2 Peter 3:3 and Jude 17-18.
Last year, a 47-year-old Bishop Dominic Nyondo was arrested for allegedly sexually abusing nine young girls from his church. But what was strange to many was that while he pleaded not guilty to the charges, his whereabouts after eluding police, are not known up to now.
There have been claims indicating that he had thrown himself in the crocodile infested Kafue river in Kitwe. Bishop Nyondo of Holy Fire Christian Ministries in Kitwe had been charged with three counts of defilement, three counts of rape and three counts of indecent assault.
This was after he allegedly sexually abused the girls aged between 14 and 20 years old on the pretext that he was cleansing them of evil spirits.
In view of the bad picture that has been brought about by bogus prophets denting the image of the church, what then is being done by the church mother bodies in order to ensure that a lot of souls are not misled ?
Independent Churches of Zambia (ICoZ) Chairperson Bishop David Masupa says his organisation has submitted a recommendation to the Government which will ensure that only pastors who graduate from recognised theological institutions and have been scrutinised by the various church mother bodies which includes Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia (EFZ), the Zambia Episcopal Conference (ZEC) and Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ) would be allowed to preach and set up churches in the country.
Bishop Masupa implored the office of the Registrar of Societies not to slacken in its quest of ensuring that only genuine churches with traceable documents are allowed to operate in the country.
Kitwe’s Chimwemwe Union Baptist Church Evangelist Oswald Mwewa, appealed to the citizenry to develop interest in studying the word of God and suggested that if possible, people must carry Bibles on journeys and compare teachings with what is written in the Bible as it will help the nation to reduce the false teachings of the word of God.
Evangelist Mwewa’s sentiments are shared by a cross section of people whose suggestions are that, the country should have strict laws on both local and foreign influenced churches.
Last year, Burundi’s lower house of parliament had passed a Bill intended to curb the country’s “proliferation of churches.”
A government survey in 2013 found there were 557 denominations practicing in the small Central African state.
New regulations would require churches to have at least 500 members and a proper building. Evangelical churches mushroomed during and after the long ethnic-based civil war, which officially ended in 2005 after some 300,000 people had died.
The Bill received the unanimous support of MPs in the National Assembly and unlikely faced much opposition in the Senate.
The proposal to the Bill was that if no changes were made to the draft legislation, it must be signed by the president within 30 days or sent back to Parliament for a second reading.
Once it was signed into law, churches were supposed to have a year to comply with the new regulations. For a foreign church to be allowed to register, it would have to show that it had 1,000 followers.
It was common to see makeshift tents where worshippers gather by the side of the road on Sundays. Anyone can set themselves up as a preacher and there have been a few scandals over the years involving some of the smaller churches.
Some preachers had been accused of manipulating or abusing their followers. One reported case involved a preacher who said that barren women wanting to conceive should sleep with him.
Most of Burundi’s nine million inhabitants are Christian and some also follow traditional beliefs. Animist worshippers pray and perform rituals in the open to communicate with their ancestors or their god Imams.
Burundi’s President Pierre Nkurunziza – a former rebel who was first elected president in 2005 – is a born-again Christian and his wife is a preacher in an evangelical church.
While it’s not every member of the clergy who is fake, the few bogus ones are tarnishing the image of the Church, which is the body of Christ.