Tue, 24 Jan 2017 12:57:52 +0000
By Mailesi Banda
FALSE prophets that are mostly coming from other countries to form their churches in Zambia and are extorting money from citizens should not be allowed in the country, Bible Gospel Church in Africa (BIGOCA) overseer Peter Ndhlovu has advised.
Bishop Ndhlovu has since appealed to the Ministry of National Guidance and Religious Affairs to start monitoring foreign and fake prophets who have formed churches in Zambia and were extorting money from the spiritually weak.
He advised that only foreign preachers who would have gone through credible school of theology should be allowed to establish churches in the country.
Speaking in an interview with the Daily Nation, the Bishop said most pastors that are currently heading churches had not been to any Bible school and wondered where they got the knowledge they preached to people.
“There are so many fake men of God in the country who are claiming to have attended the church of Jesus Christ and have no education. This is affecting the credibility of men of God,” he said. He said for the gospel to be preached, there was need to have educated men and women of God.He advised the newly established ministry to regulate the churches and close the churches belonging to self-acclaimed pastors.
“The ministry must put its foot down and bring all the church mother bodies together to restore sanity to the preaching of the gospel. There must be a criteria to be followed for one to be a minster and preacher of the word and this must be created by the church mother bodies and the ministry of National Guidance and Religious Affairs,” he said.
He said the country being a Christian nation should not be the basis for everyone to form a church from one day to the next, adding that regulation was paramount. He stated that it was sad that people had made the church into a business. He said the church needed to preach the gospel as this was its primary purpose.
He said the gift of prophets had been abused, adding that while biblically a prophet was supposed to be under the guidance of a pastor, it was sad to see prophets forming their own churches.
“People can depart with anything in the name of getting a prophecy and if you come to understand, the Bible talks about prophecy and it approves the work of prophecy but every prophetic word must come to pass but the prophecy of today is meant to entice people to give to the man of God for his benefit,” he said
He said people were looking for physical things and that in their desperation, prophets were making money.
He stated that the gospel was not for sale, adding that the Bible said freely you have received and freely you must give but what was happening was that prophets were getting money in exchange for a prophetic word.
He said prophets wanted media attention and that people had the zeal but lacked the knowledge.
“Be careful with these prophets. They will just siphon you and ran away to their country. They are just capitalising on the state of the country being a Christian nation to rob you of your hard earned money,” he warned.
He said the men of God from foreign countries were the ones denting the image of the clergy.
