“I did not send these prophets, but they ran. I did not speak to them, but they prophesied” (Jer. 23:21)
The body of Christ is in crisis today with the rise of the so-called prophets and many are there to deceive many. I am sitting at Rainbow Hotel in Bulawayo with a friend and am telling him that I am running late for my Bible lessons. An elderly woman, visibly distressed, excuses herself for having eavesdropped on our conversation, “My son, I am tired of these prophets who tell people wrong things.”
I was stunned by these sentiments at first because I took it as an attack on me, since I am a Christian, but I got her observation. There are dubious prophets out there who rape women on the pretext of healing them, with many females falling for this overused trick.
Examples abound of women falling into the same trap, as it seems prophets are using this method to solicit for sex from desperate women.
With social problems mounting over the past decade, many people have taken to religion as an escape route out of their troubles. And the unfortunate have fallen victim to the ‘wolves in sheep skin’ who take advantage of the situation.
A wave of prophets has hit Zimbabwe. The gospel of prosperity is also gaining ground, as people are promised 24-hour miracles on the condition they give certain amounts of money — as if the gift of God is bought.
Conference after conference is being organized and speaker after speaker has come and gone but people’s lives are not transformed, due to the fact that Jesus is not central in any of their messages.
I have seen people kneel in front of these prophets as if they are gods. Prophets like Emmanuel Makandiwa and Uebert Angel have given prophesies that expose extra-marital affairs in shocking descriptions that leave one wondering.
Then one begins to be convinced that if someone claims to be a prophet or teacher from God that does not mean that he is. Jesus in Matthew 24:11 warned us that “many false prophets will arise, and mislead many”. We have a great responsibility, therefore, to be alert for false leaders.
False leaders have distorted teachings of Christ; true leaders keep their focus on Christ. I have a problem with a pastor who teaches prosperity week in and week out subjugating Christ. Apostle Peter warns that there will “be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them…” (2 Pet. 2:1). I laughed one day when I met one Christian friend of mine who was excited that his pastor is releasing the anointing that day.
The most infamous prophet, who reportedly took advantage of women’s desperation, should be Godfrey Nzira who was convicted of raping seven women, taking advantage of his lofty position in an Apostolic Church. Nzira was sentenced to 23 years in prison in 2003 but was released seven years later on a presidential pardon.
In one bizarre case, a prophet is reportedly said to have led to the separation of a family that was seeking help because they faced marital problems. Prophet Emmanuel Musonza allegedly invited the couple to his home for counselling, where he told them that the spirits were against their marriage and they should separate – and said this despite the word of God forbidding divorce. Unknown to the couple, the healer’s main target was to sleep with the wife, and now Musonza faces rape charges.
A leader of a Bulawayo-based Church, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, described pastors who took advantage of their flock as fake and said it was difficult to control the number of prophets or register them, as new sects mushroom daily.
However, when one digs in the word of God, she realizes that as Apostle John advises us to “not believe every spirit, but to test the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God…” (1 John 4:1-3).
Likewise, Apostle Paul exhorts us “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. For in Him all the fullness of the Deity dwells in bodily form” (Col. 2:8-9).
In light of the centrality of Christ, it is not surprising that false prophets, false teachers and false religious groups distort the view of Christ. The spirit of the antichrist is very much at work in the world (1 John 4:3), and that spirit is opposed to all that God wants to accomplish through Christ. Beware of any person or group that in any way diminishes the work of Christ, including His miraculous birth, His divinity, and His death on the Cross, His resurrection or His Second Coming.
On the other hand, true leaders keep the focus on Christ, exalting Him above everyone and everything else. Their preaching and teaching is centered in Christ (1 Cor. 1:23; Col. 1:28), and their theology about Christ is in harmony with the emphasis of the New Testament and long-standing Church tradition.
THE PROBLEM WITH FALSE PROPHETS IS WIDE AND DEEP. FACTORS ARE MANY. BUT CHURCHES CAN HELP LIMIT THESE IF ONLY THEY UNDERSTAND THAT- MAN IS NOT ONLY EVIL BUT DECEPTIVELY EVIL. MANY CHRISTIANS HAVE NEVER HEARD OR READ A CHURCH CONSTITUTION, THEY DO NOT KNOW THE PRINCIPLES, ON HOW TO PROTECT THE PASTOR AND HOW TO PROTECT THE FLOCK FROM ABUSE. ONE PRINCIPLE TO STICK TOO IS THIS NO MALE PASTOR, MALE DEACON OR MALE ELDER SHOULD COUNSEL A FEMALE OR PRAY FOR THEM ON THEIR OWN. THERE SHOULD BE TWO OR THREE PEOPLE. IF MARRIED THE PASTOR MUST COUNSEL A WOMAN IN THE PRESENCE OF HIS WIFE.
In response to the shallow and misinformed article on Prophet Makandiwa, pliz do not judge the man before hearing at least one of his sermons. He teaches about the Holy Spirit, the power of sin, living a righteous life among others. How do u explain healing sessions, deliverance and even prophecy. I never used to believe it too till a person i knew personally got an accurate prophecy. He is a true prophet of God and he has never forced anyone to give money. Shame on you for trying to get cheap publicity by tryna discredit the man of God.
Vimbai, the point is that some of his sermons are heretical, even though they are done in a comical manner which makes it pass bye without you realising its a heresy, i saw some of his sermons and he said some things that were not true, im sure u saw one of his dvd’s where he was saying for example “jesus” went to hell and demons were telling satan that a corpse was coming to hell by itself etc, and he took the keys of hades from satan in there etc. The problem with such a doctrine is that its not true, he “got” the keys of death at the “cross”, meaning anyone who had faith in his blood overcame death, hence he took the “key” of death which is the power of sin and offered “life” to anyone who believed in him. Remember “the wages of sin is death” and we all sinned! So naturally death had “power” over us, we all sinned! The transaction or exchange was at the cross, he took the power of death at the cross, remember there is no forgiveness of sin “unless” there is blood, so his blood made the exchange for us from being hopeless in sin to being given life in our faith in him. The irony of you not detecting such simple things in their message clearly shows that the scriptures is true, the whole world is deceived and that satan pretends to be an angel of light, their own words will show you who they truely are. I have seen people like angel boast of degress and cars etc in one of his SA crusades at Prht Kobus church, the word clearly states we shouldnt boast in anything except in the most high. Piece of advise, its better to stay away from prosperity prophets/preachers because their doctrines focuses on the wrong things, things of the flesh – jobs, money, cars, promotions, houses etc and ignore the more important things like righteousness,justice, humbleness, sacrifice etc
OK, OK. Granted, there are false prophets out there.
But be a breath of fresh air by not just declaring who the ‘false’ prophets are, but tell us were we can find the real ones. People have real problems, the kind that Jesus solved daily in His earthly ministry. Where are they who are able to do greater things than He did as He promised us?
Gentleman there is no such thing as prosperity gospel in the bible or word of God, jesus said “this Gospel of the KINGDOM shall be preached unto all nations…” not prosperity but of the Kingdom he always emphasised that persuit of wealth over the kingdom leads to a spiritual disaster! Satan decieves by mixing truth and error this is why it is so difficult for some brethren to factor out how false this prophets are! do u think the Holy spirit operates the way we see eubert doing it? ha? holding and shaking his hand like a machine gun and people falling down? speaking jubbrish! and say its tongues? comón guys stop reading the bible and STUDY the bible! u will never be decieved!
Before you judge the next person, cultivate your own relationship with God. Salvation is about everyrhing. You are saved from sin, sickness, poverty and all the ills that are chocking people. The Gospel of Christ is a prosperity gospel. God in His Word tells us that we shall be the head and not the tail, we shall lend to nations and we shall not borrow. Prosperity is not limited to money. How come everyone who performs miracles is labelled false? Leave God to jugde those who are false. God gave you the freedom of choice. You can choose to follow Christ or the devil. Likewise you are free to choose which church to attend and which pastor or prophet to be your spiritual mentor.
hey guys you should pray for the anointing to differentiate between those who are called God and volunteers.
Well said. People must pray for the wisdom that comes from the Father in heaven, and for the spirit of knowledge and discernment. That’s the only way the God can open up people’s eyes. Also, people MUST READ THE BIBLE FOR THEMSELVES AND PRAY TO GOD so that He may reveal the truth to them. Any pastor who encourages divorce is not serving Jesus Christ.
I dnt knw abt u but Makandiwa and Prophrt Angel are as real as they come.have u ever stopped to think what would have become of the people who are prophecied to everyday,if these man had not taken up their calling.l have seen marriages being healed,homosexuality being condemnd any young pple being freed from that demon,a woman was able to save her 3children becz of the prophetic.so until u honour the prophetic annointing never think u will understand it.these guys are the real DEAL TRUE PROPHETS
Read the Bible for yourself. Ask God to help you glean the wisdom and truth that is in his Word. Please, do that for yourself. Be like the Bereans in the Book of Acts who “examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true” (Acts 17:11) NIV. And we are to do the same with EVERY PREACHER, TEACHER, OR PROPHET. Read the BIBLE for yourself. Prove what God said in the Bible is wrong if you can. Believe and be saved.
Not only does the Bible say ONLY the FATHER IN HEAVEN will know the EXACT time He will send Jesus back to retrieve His ferlowols ALSO, did you all realize that this Harold Camping guy has had false predictions before? I guess the last one was in 1994? He also says that the Holy Spirit LEFT (was removed from)us in 1988! We all know this is FALSE! Please guys, don’t be so easily deceived. It only HURTS your faith when you believe lies they don’t happen! I want to see Harolds face on Sunday.
It’s their followers that to blame. They either do not read the word or they read it ignore its warnings about false prophets. The Lord Jesus said ‘Behold I have warned before’ Mat 24:25