Religion & Society Blog

Mawarire a rare breed of the clergy, says Zuze

February 6, 2017
BAPTIST Pastor Evan Mawarire will go down in Zimbabwean history as one among a handful clerics who chose the least travelled and daunting route by eloquently shooting holes in government’s excesses and further, urging non­violent protests against the same before fleeing the country last year. The default tendency of the ...

Pastor Evan Mawarire’s difficult second act

February 6, 2017
I spent most of Thursday wandering in circles around the Harare Magistrates’ Court, on the aptly-named Rotten Row, waiting for police to bring Pastor Evan Mawarire to court. He never came. After arresting him at the airport on his return to Zimbabwe on Wednesday, the police are taking full advantage ...

AFCON 2017 Africa’s prophets gone on holiday

February 1, 2017
THE Africa Cup of Nations is upon us now and one thing that has been conspicuous by its absence is the flurry of prophecies and predictions by the so-called Men of God of the likely outcome in this tournament. I “googled” and searched the web to make sure I did ...

‘UFIC did not invent sacrifices’

January 21, 2017
THE issue of sacrifices in church has remained a contentious issue in modern day worship and recently, the United Family International Church came under criticism for calling for a crossover sacrifice of $77, $770, $7700 or $77 000 according to one’s ability. People should know that it has to be ...

Sowing the seed that you don’t have

January 17, 2017
FINANCIAL seeding is a controversial subject in religious circles with brickbats being thrown at church leaders that have been vocal on the subject. With the year still in its infancy, the call by UFIC founder, Prophet Emmanuel Makandiwa, for members of his ministry to sow seeds ranging from US$77 to ...

Tradition of man nullifies the gospel

January 11, 2017
THE word of God is powerful and effective. The Bible says once it’s proclaimed, it doesn’t return to God void. The tragedy of our day, however, is that many people have turned away from the gospel with the belief that it doesn’t work. When you watch their lives closely, however, ...

Cash seed: Nothing magical happens on 31 December

January 9, 2017
Auctioning of blessings exposes modern­ day churches Gifts from God are incalculable. While Jesus preached, “repent ye and be baptized”, the ‘prophets’ say “‘seed’ and get a financial breakthrough.” No amount of money can be surety to God’s blessings. Jesus Christ himself the paragon of Christianity never had people of ...

The Gospel of Christ

December 16, 2016
Motivation and life/success coaching have been used in some quarters to replace preaching of the gospel. While motivation, success or life coaching are noble fields of human endeavour, they should never be used as shades of the gospel as much as engineering or astronomy cannot replace the gospel. Positive thinking ...

South African Newspaper names Mawarire 2016 African of the year

December 14, 2016
This article is from the Daily Maverick which named Mawarire African Person of the Year THE most subversive political protest of 2016 started with a Facebook video. The quality is terrible: grainy and skew, with Pastor Evan Mawarire’s face partially cut off, his eyes obscured by the reflection of the ...

The effects of slavery on religion

December 12, 2016
From the early 15th century until the abolishing of the slave trade at the end of the 19th century, there was a free for all capture of the indigenous black people of Africa. People of the black skin were made a sought-after commodity to be captured, sold and used as ...