By Tafadzwa Masango
IN March 2018, Rwandese President, Paul Kagame raised his reservations on the growing number of churches mushrooming in his country.
According to reports, President Kagame asked whether the mushrooming of mostly prosperity Pentecostal churches “were boreholes or wells that gave people water” and also said “they didn’t even tally with the number of factories in the country”.
In her book, Blessed, historian Kate Bowler documents the many Christians, particularly in lower socio-economic classes, who attend prosperity gospel churches and fall into giving beyond their means to their local church in the hope of receiving a greater financial blessing back from God.
As Bowler documents, however, what usually happens is the pastor and his family live in luxury while the people in the pews pay late fees on credit cards and have their utilities disconnected.
Prosperity preachers justify their wealth saying God financially blesses those who are holy. Often, Abraham and Joseph are cited as clear biblical evidence that God gives riches to those who faithfully serve him.
The preacher’s wealthy lifestyle, including private planes and immense mansions in some cases, signals to the average church member that God is richly blessing the person who is speaking this message of hope to them on Sundays.
A 2013 television series, Preachers of LA exposed the bankruptcy of a number of prosperity preachers as they defrauded their congregations.
The one common thing among the so-called prosperity preachers, prophets, and what not is that they have no real accountability. They have properly laid down structures for their looting.
Their families and close friends are the governing board. They receive millions of dollars with absolutely no accountability, and take biblical scriptures out of context to ensure that their followers do not question their thievery.
The use of money and other acts to buy favours from God is not new. On October 31 1517, Martin Luther published his 95 Theses, attacking papal abuses and the sale of indulgences.
Luther had come to believe that Christians are saved through faith and not through their own efforts.
An indulgence is ‘a way to reduce the amount of punishment one has to undergo for sins’. The recipient of an indulgence must perform an action to receive it.
The sprouting of these prosperity churches in Africa has seen governments having to deal with a new kind of criminal.
One who hides behind the cleric robe in order to commit all sorts of crimes that if committed by any ordinary citizen would see them rotting in jail for years.
Fraud within churches is a major problem, there is very little reporting and transparency.
Using the loophole of being registered under the Private and Voluntary Act, these conmen not only fleece gullible followers out of their hard-earned money, but also evade payment of taxes and under declare earnings.
But such crimes should be the least of our worries as concerned citizens.
The cultish-like nature of these prosperity churches and preachers is such that abuse is rampant, illegalities are swept under the carpet as a way of protecting the ‘prophet/preacher’ by those close to him who are benefiting from the criminal activities or by followers who are under the daze of these charismatic criminals.
Pyramid schemes and financial products
More and more of these prophets and preachers promise all sorts of material blessings and financial enrichment through some form of payment called seeding.
To take it a notch higher, an extra tactic of wringing every cent out of gullible followers is introduced, whereby they are asked to buy into a ‘special project’ that the ‘Man of God’ is embarking on.
These projects are usually money schemes that promise unbelievable rewards in a short space of time or some business idea which the so-called Man of God will directly benefit as a shareholder.
The more embarrassing ones are where they sale produce from their farms or products from their friends and associates companies under the guise of said products being ‘anointed’.
At the end of the day, most never reap these financial results they have been promised, this loss is then explained and wished away as some lack of faith or demonic attack on the church member who is encouraged to further give in order to be victorious the next time around.
We have seen our fellow countrymen and women buying everything from handkerchiefs, bricks, maize cobs all hoping to be blessed.
They have financed housing schemes, seeded, and still remain in the same financial positions, if not worse off.
The success stories always have a link, known or unknown, to the church leaders.
Prosperity gospel at threat to national security
A man or woman who claims to be a religious leader, under normal circumstances, is expected to be morally upright and give direction not just to their flock but to the nation at large.
Such people are also expected to speak up against injustices in society and offer solace and comfort to the less privileged in society.
However, what we are witnessing in Zimbabwe is depravity that does not ally with the titles these men and women accord themselves.
The drive for success is not just for those in lower positions, even those well off want to amass more and more wealth.
Business persons are promised lucrative deals and partnerships will start flowing once they give more and more.
Unfortunately, given the vulnerability of followers, some of them end up informing these Men of God on trade secrets, national secrets and business deals that are not for public consumption.
On several occasions, these so-called prophecies have been nothing more than preachers and prophets repeating what followers have told them during the expensive one-on-one sessions.
The prime victims are women, who, in a bid to seek divine intervention either for their family members or themselves, bare all to the ‘Men of God’ and this is used to extort money, blackmail or tip of associates in order to make a financial killing.
One preacher in Harare, over the years, has made it a point of getting close to those in high offices in order to have their finger on deals and thus capitalising on such relationships.
Not only that, they influence followers to suppress evidence and reports regarding his criminal activities and are not above paying to silence even the media.
Now imagine, yes imagine, someone who uses the word of God to fleece the vulnerable congregants of hard-earned money, then turns around and uses that hard-earned money to bribe and silence those who have the power and authority to not only expose, but put a stop to such criminality.
In his 2017 December State of the Nation Address, President Emmerson Mnangagwa said:
“Corruption remains the major source of some of the problems we face as a country and its retarding impact on national development cannot be overemphasized…On individual cases of corruption, every case must be investigated and punished in accordance with the dictates of our laws. There should be no sacred cows. My Government will have zero tolerance towards corruption and this has already begun.”