HARARE - When Jesus fasted for 40 days and 40 nights, he showed incomparable fortitude to triumph over obstacles thrown at him by the devil.
He refused to jump from the top of a mountain arguing, “You shall not tempt your God!”
Weary and famished, he refused food to hold on to his mission of preparing for his ministry unto men. It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God,” Matthew 4 verse 4. Jesus maintained sacred discipline and fidelity to the divine Founder, thus acting consistently with the sulvific mission entrusted to the church (Harding Meyer).
The sulvific sovereignty of the church distinguishes itself from phony and dubious characters — maintaining irreversible but distinct acts that separate Godly acts and manly acts.
Jesus did not use enticement to win souls but practical work which is summed by the scripture in John: What does it benefit a man if he loses his soul and gains the (whole) world.
Nothing captures the gospel of the Lord than the above statement.
This is why it is rather sad and misplaced to use material promises to win souls. Prophet Walter Magaya, founder of Prophetic Healing Deliverance ministry, regrettably, risks sullying his rising reputation as a man of God.
Revelations by Harpers Mapimhidze, former manager of the Sexy Angels, the pole dancing and strip group once led by Beverley Sibanda (Bev) that Magaya lured the raunchy dancer to his ministry through material promise, are thought-provoking.
Bev gave up her controversial-but-fledgling career for a container of clothes that could potentially see her setting up a boutique. Bev has become a marquee congregant, the kind of billboard and poster “girl” who fits perfectly to Magaya’s rising profile.
But there is no need for Magaya to have gone to such lengths of material promise because the numbers in his church — both midweek and Sunday — are a testament to his popularity.
He has swept the southern and western poor townships as well as a considerable part of the northern suburbs with his word.
And there could be more especially with the promise of worldly things such as the 10 houses so far bought for the “blessed” poor.
In the number crunching game, Magaya is up there with the crowd pullers such as Emmanuel Makandiwa.
I still struggle to find any fathomable reason why he should use Bev as a statement of his prophecies.
And Bev’s foolish quarrel with former mentor Zoey Sifelani which escalated to new levels following a foul mouthed rant and abusive text exchange — does put the “marquee” congregant into sharp focus.
The controversy and subsequent newspaper reports are not what Magaya and his church need, although it should be expected given what was “dangled” before Bev.
If Bev is really for God, she must let those who live in the “world” such as Zoey carry on with their life because they now live in two different worlds.
Zoey has the “world” at her feet now and Bev has “found” life. Bev claims Zoey is jealous of her and fired salvos at her warning “holy ghost fire would be all over you”.
I have not known anyone who is jealous of a Christian because God is not for sale neither is his word.
There are no material riches in God. God’s word is the same, today, tomorrow and forever! So is Jesus!
Instead, Psalm 37 verses 3 and 4 warn Christians not to be “envious of workers of iniquity.
They shall soon wither like grass. Trust therefore, in the Lord, and he shall give you the desires of your heart”.
Maybe Bev needs to have quick grounding and understand this. But for Magaya this could well be a bad advert for his ministry.
God has never been known to make material promises. “Come now, and let us reason together, said the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool,” Isaiah 1 verse 18.
Making promises of material things is like unleashing a Frankenstein which Magaya might not be able to control.
This whole affair might become sordid and cause ructions in his church.
And surely he does not need all this publicity surrounding Bev and material promises.