By CHIPEMA SAKAIMBO –

THE charismatic Pentecostal movement is under siege presumably by fake church leaders who have been accused of tarnishing the image of the church in the country.
But one clergyman has come to the defence of the church.
Victorious Life Ministries Pastor Michael Mhango feels a few fake church leaders should not compromise the good work of genuine clergymen and women who are leading lost souls to God through preaching the message of salvation.
Pastor Mhango is a strong believer in divine visions from God.
Born in 1986, Pastor Mhango is the founder of Victorious Life Ministries, a vibrant Pentecostal church in Lusaka.
Pastor Mhango said it is sad to note that because of a few bad eggs, all the Pentecostal churches that came about as a result of the Pentecostal movement of the 80s, have been given a bad name.
This is because of a number of the so-called miracles which are reportedly being  performed by thealleged fake prophets and pastors who often ask for money from people in need of miracles.
Stories of pastors turning water into petrol, pastors making wine from water, or pastors claiming that they can pray for a dead person to come to life have now become common place.
But with such stories, it has now become a terrifying trend for church leaders falling from grace after being caught in adultery scandals.
These are church leaderswho take advantage of female members they are supposed to be praying for and others who make church members pregnant through illicit love affairs and shady overnight prayer meetings.
It is the influx of such questionable prophets and pastors who are taking advantage of unsuspecting members of the public which Pastor  Mhango find disturbing.
In addition to that, there is an increase in church leaders asking their members to pay for ‘anointed’ items like pants, brooms and other objects in order to get healed and have certain problems resolved miraculously.
Pastor Mhango said people should know that fake prophets and pastors can also perform miracles but there is always a time of reckoning because what is divine will always prevail.
He said time will come when God will shame the devil and expose the men who are masquerading as pastors and prophets.
“All we need to do is pray because our God is a God of justice and we also need to remember that there will be judgement one day,” he said.
He urged people to be aware that the enemy will always try to counterfeit God’s work and attempt to discredit divine wonders.
He urged members of the public not to discredit all men of God but keep the faith and continue praying and believing in God.
According to him, true Christians should know that the Bible has prophesised that false prophets will abound in the last days.
He said it is up to the members of the public, who are the followers of Christianity, to differentiate between true men of God and fake ones.
God always sends his servants to preach the gospel in order to save people despite what some fake preachers are doing to derail this spiritual crusade.
Pastor Mhango is not daunted by the scandals rocking the Pentecostal church since his goal is to reach out to the masses through crusades and outreach programmes.
Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia (EFZ) Executive Director Pukuta Mwanza is on record for having raised concern over activities of some people who claim to be clergymen but preach doctrines that church mother bodies in the country describe as strange and potentially confusing and dangerous to members of the public.
Reverend Mwanza admitted that the church has been infiltrated by “a lot” of false prophets, pastors and teachers some of whom were bent on defrauding the public through the selling of items which are said to be “anointed”.
He regretted that the church mother bodies in the country lack a common regulatory mechanism to be able to penalise such leaders who are perceived to be going against established doctrines.
He said until the process started by the church mother bodies and the Government a few years ago  to establish a regulatory framework for the conduct of all church leaders is completed, the influx of false teachers and pastors is going to increase.
“The only thing we can do is that when the regulatory framework is in place, we can withdraw credentials if we are convinced that a person has gone off the minimum biblical teachings that are required for rehabilitation and application,” he told the national television broadcaster ZNBC in an interview.
He said at the moment, it is just free for all for whoever wants to open a church because there is no mechanism to withdraw credentials of erring church leaders.
Reverend Mwanza further said it was unfair that all erring church leaders are associated with the Pentecostal movement in the country which falls in the ambit of the EFZ.
He said the EFZ has a code of conduct.
“Anybody who is not Catholic or ecumenical is labelled as Pentecostal. But they are not necessarily members of EFZ. EFZ has got a closed system which only has specific churches that are members.
“There are plenty of churches that are not members of any church mother body and so when they are propagating their false teachings, they are easily pushed on any church mother body, but that is incorrect,” he said.
He advised people to be cautious and guard against suspicious pastors or prophets.
Pastor Mhango further said there is nothing wrong with church leaders getting involved in active politics.
He made reference to teachings in the Bible which say “When the righteous are in authority, people rejoice”.
However, he warned church pleaders against joining politics for personal gainsbecause that is not from God. He said people should be able to know such church leaders by their deeds.
Recently, President Edgar Lungu appealed to Christians to participate in politics to help stimulate economic transformation based on Christian principles.
President Lungu said that the delivery of Zambia’s political and economic programmes will be difficult to achieve if the church is not involved in the country’s governance and development.
President Lungu said this at the Christians for Lungu mobilisation conference at Mulungushi International Conference Centre in Lusaka.
“I am grateful that following the invitation, a dedicated constituency of Zambians across a denominational divide and of diverse professional as well as academic competencies, have taken up the challenge to actively participate in politics,” he said.
President Lungu warned that Zambia’s political and economic responsibilities will be difficult to attain if Christians continue taking the back seat.
President Lungu has on several occasions appealed to Christians to join politics to help in taking love and unity in the political arena.
“The role played by the church in promoting peace, love and unity can never be underestimated. This is demonstrated in many ways, but recently it’s the talks we held under the supervision of the church at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross.
“We know for a fact that the power that the Body of Christ has over the governance of us, is immense and we want to tap into this power in the governance of the nation. Brothers and sisters in Christ, it cannot be business as usual for believers,” he said.
Pastor Mhango started Victorious Life Ministries with his wife Victoria Mcarthar who is also a pastor.
The Zambia Institute of Business Trust (ZIBICT) graduate started ministering the word of God when he was 15 under the tutelage of MMD President Nevers Mumba then of Victory Ministries who was one of the pioneers of televangelism in the country.
Zambia has in recent times experienced a mushrooming of churches and an influx of church leaders with questionable credentials.
The suspicious prophets and pastors often claim to possess divine power to heal, exorcise evil spirits and bless people through ‘anointed’ items that carry luck and spiritual power to solve seemingly every physical, spiritual, professional and economic problem of those who use them.
Underwear, brooms, water, oil and other items are often sold by such pastors and prophets to congregants who are told that they will get healed, get jobs or promotions and improve their businesses through the  use of ‘anointed’ items.
But few people, if any, have publicly said whether such items work.