JUST when everybody thought the tiff between Walter Magaya of Prophetic Healing and Deliverance (PHD) ministries and Vapostori was dead and buried, the PHD leader has, yet again, pulled a shocker, hitting below the belt at the white garment sects in another round of unsolicited attacks (Marine Spirits Part 2).
Magaya contends that God instructed him to expose the “Vapostori cult which belongs to the marine kingdom”. Magaya has not taken prisoners in his incessant attacks. He actually states that the Vapostori should, in essence, be banned as they belong to the manifestly evil underworld which hinders true worship. (Magaya Gossip: Prophet Magaya says to Mapostori 'Mune mweya yetsvina and every mupostori is a failure')
Probably, the worst and most quoted statement in Magaya’s second round of attack is: “If you belong to the Vapostori sect you are naturally empowered to fail”. Magaya has stirred a hornet’s nest and the furious Vapostori, led by Apostolic Christian Council of Zimbabwe (ACCZ) president Johannes Ndanga, have stated clearly that Magaya has now crossed the line. He just stoked the anger in the Vapostori camp.
Resultantly, Vapostori have fired a salvo at Magaya citing that he does not worship the God in Heaven but a Nigerian god and, further, that he derives his powers from serpents. They have described him as worse than n’angas and accused him of trying to ‘own’ all the prostitutes, musicians and footballers.
It’s now a full scale religious war. They (Vapostori) have vowed not to rest until “we expose Magaya for what he really is”. The Vapostori have sought legal permission ‘to destroy the artefacts’ which they claim Magaya uses to draw people to his church. “He has snakes that live in oil. The same oil is given to people as anointing oil. We want to destroy them. God has showed us,” said one of the Vapostori.
Magaya’s ministry, from its inception, has never been short of controversy. In fact, the recent hurly-burly with Vapostori comes hard on the heels of Magaya having been involved in a nasty brawl with masquerades (zvigure) who have threatened to march to his church. Zvigure refer to African cultural tradition associated with high secrecy yet Magaya has taken to revealing their secrets through alleged ex-members. Even the members of the groups are not known to the public but move around as masquerades. They aggressively guard their rituals and it is a surreptitiously closed group.
It would appear that Magaya, whose own name and denomination has been mired in all sorts of controversies ranging from adultery, playing live secular music in church to murder, has perfected the pharisaic trick of righteousness by condemnation.
Politicians too are masters of the art of righteousness by condemnation. As an example, a politician may accuse an opponent of being a puppet to the end that the voter will reject the opponent in question and view the former as better than a puppet. And to be balanced, a politician may accuse an opponent of having run-down the economy so as to appear a more credible candidate to restore the economy. It’s a mind game.
Walter Magaya has been rousing bees at an alarming rate since the beginning of the year. By bashing other groups through the righteousness by condemnation strategy, it is believed Magaya wants to draw everyone to himself. The Bible is awash with religious authorities who mastered this art of righteousness by condemnation. It is pharisaic to cast blame in order to appear righteous.
Pharisees would make themselves appear blameless by reproving others. Perhaps the finest expose of this trick is the incident recorded in the book of Luke 18:11; “The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: ‘God, I thank you that I am not a sinner like everyone else, swindlers, unjust, adulterers or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get…”
This mentality was very prevalent during Christ’s times. People thought by condemnation they become righteous. It is very enlightening how Jesus Christ responded to this: Between the tax collector (who acknowledged his sinful ways) and the self-righteous Pharisee, Christ said, “I tell you, this man (tax collector) went down to his house justified, rather than the other (Pharisee). For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” Christ was not the one to remain quite in the face of those perverting Christianity but he would not want people seeking to justify themselves by condemning others.
Magaya is himself dogged by humongous controversies and for him to launch an onslaught on Vapostori, whether or not they are wrong, is to a great degree pharisaic. Indeed Magaya must remove the plank in his eye before he tries to remove the speck in the Vapostori.
Learnmore Zuze can be reached at lastawa77@gmail.com
Magaya contends that God instructed him to expose the “Vapostori cult which belongs to the marine kingdom”. Magaya has not taken prisoners in his incessant attacks. He actually states that the Vapostori should, in essence, be banned as they belong to the manifestly evil underworld which hinders true worship. (Magaya Gossip: Prophet Magaya says to Mapostori 'Mune mweya yetsvina and every mupostori is a failure')
Probably, the worst and most quoted statement in Magaya’s second round of attack is: “If you belong to the Vapostori sect you are naturally empowered to fail”. Magaya has stirred a hornet’s nest and the furious Vapostori, led by Apostolic Christian Council of Zimbabwe (ACCZ) president Johannes Ndanga, have stated clearly that Magaya has now crossed the line. He just stoked the anger in the Vapostori camp.
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| Prophet Walter Magaya |
It’s now a full scale religious war. They (Vapostori) have vowed not to rest until “we expose Magaya for what he really is”. The Vapostori have sought legal permission ‘to destroy the artefacts’ which they claim Magaya uses to draw people to his church. “He has snakes that live in oil. The same oil is given to people as anointing oil. We want to destroy them. God has showed us,” said one of the Vapostori.
Magaya’s ministry, from its inception, has never been short of controversy. In fact, the recent hurly-burly with Vapostori comes hard on the heels of Magaya having been involved in a nasty brawl with masquerades (zvigure) who have threatened to march to his church. Zvigure refer to African cultural tradition associated with high secrecy yet Magaya has taken to revealing their secrets through alleged ex-members. Even the members of the groups are not known to the public but move around as masquerades. They aggressively guard their rituals and it is a surreptitiously closed group.
It would appear that Magaya, whose own name and denomination has been mired in all sorts of controversies ranging from adultery, playing live secular music in church to murder, has perfected the pharisaic trick of righteousness by condemnation.
Politicians too are masters of the art of righteousness by condemnation. As an example, a politician may accuse an opponent of being a puppet to the end that the voter will reject the opponent in question and view the former as better than a puppet. And to be balanced, a politician may accuse an opponent of having run-down the economy so as to appear a more credible candidate to restore the economy. It’s a mind game.
Walter Magaya has been rousing bees at an alarming rate since the beginning of the year. By bashing other groups through the righteousness by condemnation strategy, it is believed Magaya wants to draw everyone to himself. The Bible is awash with religious authorities who mastered this art of righteousness by condemnation. It is pharisaic to cast blame in order to appear righteous.
Pharisees would make themselves appear blameless by reproving others. Perhaps the finest expose of this trick is the incident recorded in the book of Luke 18:11; “The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: ‘God, I thank you that I am not a sinner like everyone else, swindlers, unjust, adulterers or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get…”
This mentality was very prevalent during Christ’s times. People thought by condemnation they become righteous. It is very enlightening how Jesus Christ responded to this: Between the tax collector (who acknowledged his sinful ways) and the self-righteous Pharisee, Christ said, “I tell you, this man (tax collector) went down to his house justified, rather than the other (Pharisee). For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” Christ was not the one to remain quite in the face of those perverting Christianity but he would not want people seeking to justify themselves by condemning others.
Magaya is himself dogged by humongous controversies and for him to launch an onslaught on Vapostori, whether or not they are wrong, is to a great degree pharisaic. Indeed Magaya must remove the plank in his eye before he tries to remove the speck in the Vapostori.
Learnmore Zuze can be reached at lastawa77@gmail.com
