adminBeatrice Tonhodzayi-Ngondo Make A Difference
The media have been awash with the Pastor Gumbura issue over the past weeks.
The online media are awash with it; so are the social networking platforms where a page under the title “Matigumbura Pastor Gumbura” has been created.
On this page, started by females, people get the chance to discuss this evil called rape and its negative effects on not only the survivor but society as a whole.
Independent End Time Message founder Robert Martin Gumbura is currently in court where he is facing multiple rape charges.
The pastor, who already has 11 wives and 30 children, is claiming that he was having love affairs with some of the women who are accusing him of rape.
He is also accusing a rival pastor of being behind the smear campaign.
Today, I am writing not to look at the merits of Gumbura’s defence or what is going on in court, for the experts should run with that.
However, I would like to look at this evil that is called sexual violence and this brainwashing of people by men of the cloth or shall we call them men of the so-called word.
The church has been for long the only place known for being a safe haven. It is therefore very disturbing that the church has become dogged with controversies such as the Gumbura one, which is playing out right before our eyes.
Even before this, there have been cases where pastors and other religious leaders have been exposed to be wolves in sheep’s clothing.
For when a pastor or religious leader allegedly rapes those who are under his watch, what does that show? When a religious leader is caught with someone’s wife, what does that mean? When the very person who is supposed to help people pray for salvation becomes the one who threatens to commit their souls to the devil, is that Christianity?
While hailing the many good religious leaders in our midst, lest the Devil rejoices over us turning our backs on the very institution called Church, there is need to confront the serious headaches that bogus churches and their leaders pose to us as a country.
There is also need for adults to take responsibility for making clever and well thought out decisions.
Something about the Gumbura case that shows that there was a problem from a long time back, is his having 11 wives who gave an interview recently proclaiming how well they live and how much they love and are loved by this man.
As I read their story and looked at their pictures, tears fell.
There is something so sad about these women and many others who act as enablers to men who are sick and need help rather than to be enabled.
While I can understand two women loving one man and vice versa, (these things happen) I cannot understand 11 women claiming to love and be loved by one man.
I cannot understand their supposed understanding of how he is still going after more women even after he has successfully managed to get them to believe that what is going on in their homes, where they take pictures of each other naked and have group sessions, is normal and characteristic of a happy home.
That is brainwashing. It is not normal.
A male colleague of mine once complained to me about how his wife kneels before the pastor and takes out all the precious cutlery and crockery in their home to serve the pastor should he pass by their home and yet she never kneels before her hubby.
We laughed it off but he was bothered about how some women respect their pastors so much, even more than their husbands.
He said whatever the pastor says, his wife would follow without any discussion with him.
Another male colleague said his wife had given his car away to her pastor without discussing with him. He was so angry that he was contemplating divorce.
We spoke him out of it and engaged the wife about the importance of communicating with him on all issues before acting.
What I concluded from all this is that many women respect their pastors a lot and there is no problem with this at all. There is a problem, however, when one begins to idolise the pastor and to accept everything that the pastor, a mere mortal, says and suggests.
Unless I don’t get it somewhere, pastors are mere mortals, who despite their spiritual gifting, can fall.
I actually pray for my pastors all the time that they may be protected because the Devil is surely after them, as they are responsible for winning souls to God.
Accepting them as mortals will stop people from following blindly when it becomes clear that the pastor is leading them astray.
There have been many reports of women who have been raped by their pastors and religious leaders. These women have kept quiet. It is that which is disturbing.
If one’s husband or partner is supposed to be their closest confidante (sexual intimacy implies a closeness that supersedes a lot, does it not? ) why then keep a secret from them?
When one takes money and other family belongings to the pastor without talking about it with the partner at home, what are we saying? Already boundaries would have been crossed and there is need for a re-think.
This shows that one has abdicated all responsibility to think and make wise decisions. When one stops thinking because of religion, there is a problem surely.
God, to me, has been so good in that he has given all of us capacity to think.
But clearly, as shown by the 11 women in Gumbura’s home and many others who are said to be keen to join them, plus many others whose cases have not come to the attention of the world in similar situations where religious leaders sleep with them, take what they want from them and virtually own them, some of us are abdicating on our responsibility to use the brains we have been given.
“Kunamata hakusi kupusa” (faith does not mean stupidity), one female pastor recently preached at an event I attended and I agreed with her teachings.
There has to be a limit to what we will take from someone, no matter their office. If a leader tells you that you should leave your partner, will you do it?
Will your leader tell you who to marry too? Is it them who will leave with that person?
Shall you sleep with a leader because they say so?
Shall you marry someone because they tell you it is divine? Shall you follow someone blindly because they have threatened to commit you to the Devil? So if they tell you to die, you will do it too?
Does Jesus Christ’s coming in a few days’ time not give us the freedom to be able to stand firm and declare in his name that we will not be shaken? Let us never abdicate on our responsibility to think. There is the difference!
Merry Christmas.
Online Reporter