By SAM PHIRI –

COUNCIL of Churches in Zambia (CCZ) has castigated clergymen prophesying confusion and bloodshed in Zambia ahead of the August 11 General Elections.
CCZ general secretary Susanne Matale said some people who were calling themselves prophets were actually alarmists who should not be entertained.
And Reverand Matale has appealed to political leaders not to listen to such alarmists but uphold peace and not to use violence in an effort to win elections.
Rev Matale said Zambia was a Christian Nation with credible men and women of God through which God could speak and that it could not take foreign pastors to predict doom in a praying nation.
She was reacting to a ‘prophecy’ by a Nigerian Prophet Isaac Amata currently circulating on social media in which the clergyman was quoted as saying that he saw stockpile of weapons ammunition and plans to shed blood ahead of the August 11 election and that this could only be avoided by a 21-day prayer and fasting.
“We have too many of these prophets and most of them just enjoy alarming, confusing, and influencing people usually in the wrong direction. I think Zambians should be given an opportunity for God to speak to them. We should be allowed room to make a decision through the ballot,” she said
Rev Matale warned people against believing false prophecies but instead ask God to give them wisdom of assessing different manifestoes to make their own choices.
“ We will not be paying attention to the so called prophesies but continue praying so that God gives us Grace since we don’t need outsiders to tell us what we should do and who they think has been chosen for us already,” she said.
Rev Matale said it was not right for some Nigerian clergy to interfere with the smooth way Zambia had been conducting its politics and elections, stating that Zambia was a prayerful country where God would speak in His own way.
“Who said God does not speak to Zambians? In fact God has already spoken and He has already intervened against bloodshed,” she said.