–– Joe Shoko
The audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.
When self-styled ‘prophets’ don’t spend time reading and preaching from the holy Word of God, they will begin to look for ways to continue keeping their followers hooked. These cleverly devised schemes would compete with any of the soap operas on television.
Emmanuel Makandiwa of United Family International Church, who has an insatiable craving for media attention was back at it again, this time with a more bizarre challenge. In recent years this blasphemous man has uttered statements like, “I am more gifted than God” and “If you go to heaven and do not find me there you have gone to hell”, yet his followers and his adherents continue to applaud in amusement and support.
Makandiwa is one of the most influential men in Zimbabwe. The services that he holds every Sunday are filled to capacity and that does not show any signs of slowing down. The auditorium can accommodate 10,000 people. This means that 10,000 souls are flocking to hear blasphemy week in and week out.
Recently during one of his services, he called upon the masses in Zimbabwe to guess what would be in his pocket the next Sunday. Anyone who was to guess what was in his pocket was going to win 1 million United States Dollars. One thing that could be considered true about his challenge is that he has the capabilities financially to hand this money to the ‘winner’ without flinching, as he has in the past been involved in money scandals worth millions of dollars. In this daring and very arrogant move, he invited so-called prophets, witch doctors, fortune tellers and many others to his church for the $ 1 million challenge. Needless to say, when it actually happened, no one guessed what was in the ‘prophets’ pocket. News later surfaced that the people who came to ‘compete’ were foreign to any religious spheres. One was said to be a mechanic and others were said to be street vendors.
False Teachers as Judgment
The Bible tells us that in the last days, there will be many false prophets around us. It sternly warns us that many will be led astray by their gimmicks and they would even go so far as to try and lead the elect astray as well, if it were possible. Instead of people going to gather to hear God’s word faithfully preached by qualified men, they are going to be entertained and have their ears tickled by wolves in sheep’s clothing masquerading as servants of the most high God. The congregants, after paying through their noses are kept in suspense in anticipation of what drama will unfold in the next week. This is what the writer of Ecclesiastes calls chasing after the wind. False teachers are waterless springs, they have a façade of substance but in truth, their teachings and actions are like chaff.
A Nation under Judgment
The way the media and people have continued to speak about what happened at United Family International Church with excitement and joy shows that Zimbabwe is really under judgment. How can a nation be held in a death grip by evident false teaching? There is a drought of truth-filled fearless preaching. Many Christians are being starved spiritually in their churches, thus they have resorted to filling themselves with such poison. In Jeremiah 23, God deals with the issue of false teachers who claimed to dream dreams and see visions; as a result, they would teach the Israelites things that they would conjure up in their wicked hearts instead of teaching according to the word of God. These prophets would approve of what is wicked, would be greedy and would catalyse the evil in the nation. This is true of Zimbabwe and God does not take it lightly. Could this be the reason why the state of affairs in our beloved country seem to only be getting worse?
A Future Judgment
One thing about false teachers is that they delude themselves into thinking that their falsehoods will last forever. In fact, they think that they will not be held responsible for what they have stood for. Peter in his second epistle says, “Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.” Any functioning brain should tremble at this warning, anyone desirous of escaping the condemnation that is to come must ensure that they turn from false teaching and teachers and plead with Christ to save them, for they have long blasphemed Him. Sadly many who are in such places know that what they are hearing is not the truth. However, they cannot move for they have been captured and bound by Satan. I wonder if a $1 million challenge will be so intriguing when the trumpet of the Lord Jesus Christ sounds and time is brought to an abrupt halt.