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 his time seeding their horses, chariots, donkeys, sheep or cattle as a precondition for some future worldly prosperity.
THE hours immediately before 31 December 2016 brew a shocker when preacher Emmanuel Makandiwa released a message requesting worshippers to make a cash seed in the seven digits in order for them to “access blessings from God in the next 24 hours”, failure of which the heavens would not open to them.
The message was released by Pastor Prime Kufa and broadcasted live on the church’s TV channel and it was said to be a message from the prophet himself. Each adult person was urged to pay at least USD$77 or $770 going forward in the sevens (those below-18 years were to pay at least $7). The message cryptically drew from the Bible that seven was a prophetic number hence its congruity with God’s blessing.
Resultantly, a plethora of questions rose from the declaration primarily on whether God’s blessing can be purchased. Social media rang with indignation. An ugly war erupted, with the preacher’s followers defending the cash seed declaration. Prominent lawyer Advocate Fadzai Mahere waded into the storm when she made a sharp rebuke of the seed request, instead urging worshippers to use their money for productive things:
“If you have $770, hire a stockbroker or a financial advisor. Make your money work for you passively. Invest in learning how to use money more efficiently…Remember God makes it rain, you choose how you sow.”
She advised people to work for their success;
“If you want 2017 to be a fabulous year for you, you will have to work damn hard for it, there shall be no quick fixes, no cucumbers, no sewage, no Doom and most of all, no stupidity. If you are to give, do so wisely.”
I found it compelling to reproduce Mahere’s strong comments chiefly because they are pregnant with sense. She, nonetheless, became a recipient of vitriol from backers of the religious scam. Surely, any serious Bible readers should see this deception for what it is and call it by the appropriate name; it is this kind of conduct which will bring us to the objectionable prospect of a legal framework being crafted against religion. The fingerprints of deceitfulness are visible in the whole operation.
Now, here is why this cash seed is fraudulent from a purely biblical standpoint. Never in all Christian or biblical counsel was ANY blessing or gift from God conferred on anyone through use of money. No man can buy the gift of God or bribe God into awarding blessings. 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 his time seeding their horses, chariots, donkeys, sheep or cattle as a precondition for some future worldly prosperity. Jesus never, at any rate, demanded the so-called seed to perform miracles. As a show of true Christianity, he never gained materially from the miracles he performed.
The new breed of gospel is clearly a manipulation of the gullible. In essence, the following verse clearly outlines God’s criteria for giving anything that people request: This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us (1 John 5:14). Our desires should be in sync with God’s will. The discretion to bless belongs to God according to his will. God’s will not human will prevails. One does not amass blessings by splurging their hard-earned cash on an already fabulously wealthy prophet who may not even recognize the sacrifice or contribution. Blessings are the prerogative of God.
Any objective observer of this new breed of gospel can foresee lawsuits coming as has always happened with these cons. The last few years have witnessed high profile lawsuits arising from such practices. The High Court so far has heard the matter of a businessman who sued Uebert Angel of Spirit Embassy for duping him of his pricey Bentley motor vehicle on the understanding that he would reap threefold.
A similar matter was to hit the courts again; Walter Magaya of Prophetic Healing Deliverance was slammed with a $2m lawsuit arising from an unfulfilled prophecy. The case was a replica of the case against Angel. It was reported that an aggrieved Harare business couple allegedly showered Magaya with classy vehicles and cash as a ‘seed’ to fulfill a prophecy that they would soon own an airline. The seed was a precondition for the fulfillment of the prophecy. The couple, Upenyu and Blessing Mushangwa later sought to recover a Landrover Discovery 4 valued at R890 000 and $15 000 they ‘seeded’ in cash after they were given the airline prophecy.
This is the fundamental flaw of the prosperity gospel fronted by the prophet-led churches that by giving to God, you sort of ‘bribe’ him into releasing blessings. This is a clear case of deceit; if this kind of message had been true it would imply that God condemns the poor. In fact, this message isolates the poor.
What, for instance, happens to those who can’t access the $77 cash seed? It simply means they don’t qualify for God’s blessing which is glaringly false. The Bible expounds and upholds the concept that God gives freely and in as much as we freely receive we must freely give. What Makandiwa’s church is advocating is contrary to the natural godly principle of freely giving and more profoundly, cheapens God by making him a buyable entity.
In any case, has anyone ever wondered where this seven-digits money goes to? Who is to say a church leader is God’s representative on earth? It is with utmost sadness that many well meaning people pour their hard-earned cash in these scams when their parents in drought-hit Zimbabwe are suffering. I feel strongly against this highly misleading message of giving in order to get as it lowers the Gospel to some form of barter trade.
There is no magic or transfer of blessings that happens on the midnight of 31 December. People should work and pray for God’s will. These are cons and the Christian world should be advised.
E-mail: lastawa77@gmail.com.