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Beatrice Tonhodzayi-Ngondo Make A Difference
Events that unfolded at the Johanne Masowe eChishanu Apostolic sect Budiriro shrine should worry every right-thinking citizen of this country.
It should also worry those who are religious.It does not matter which church one belongs too, every religious person should be concerned.
Religion and violence do not and can never go hand in hand.
Thus to see a religious place being turned into a wrestling ring with people who are dressed in church regalia, assaulting defenceless people was quite shocking.
As young girls we used to laugh at a joke of women who would threaten loudly; “Let me take off my church uniform and then I will deal with you.”
To them, church regalia was sacred hence they could not shout or even discipline an errant child till after disrobing the holy garments.
Should it still not be the case?
My daughter was shocked at those images that to this day, she is still asking; “mummy is Madzibaba Ishmael mad?” She knows her fair share of relatives and friends who wear white garments (magemenzi) and belong to the Johanne Masowe sect.
The child minder, who has looked after her since birth, falls in this bracket.
Thus she knows that these are very sane people, who are passionate about their God and just happen to worship differently.
This is why she believes Madzibaba Ishmael (he has become that popular) has gone “mad”.
To her, ana madzibabas and madzimai are very nice and helpful people so she cannot understand what she saw on television.
The usually quiet and usually submissive looking women in their white garments, wailing sorrowfully as they sang while their men hit the police and journalists just did not make sense.
Mind you, it is these very women that the nation got concerned about, leading to the visit of the shrine in the first place.
I was flabbergasted when I heard that women in this sect were being denied hospital care.
The women were also compelled to reward their husbands with a young virgin from their kith if they entered into marriage after losing their virginity.
I was dumbstricken to see these same women standing by their men.
But that is typical of the abused.
Initially, I dismissed the whole idea; thinking there was no way any right thinking woman would hand another woman to her man.
Worse; a young girl from amongst those she loves dearly.
What this sect did is proof that people can follow teachings and a leader so blindly that at his instruction, they can do anything and break the law in the name of religion.
If this sect could mercilessly beat up ZBC cameraman Relax Mafurutu, what stops them from abusing their own women and children?
What stops the women from giving away younger girls to those crazy men of theirs?
That is just a tip of the ice bag in terms of abuse cases in this sect and many others like it.
But, the abuse does not end there.
There is a lot of it happening in other churches across town where leaders dressed in well tailored suits are abusing women.
Have we not all heard of people who have denounced their parents, kinsmen and siblings and adopted families in church?
Others get angry if you question something about their church or its leader?
Jesus Christ can be rubbished but not their leaders.
Have we not heard of women who rush to do the bidding of their church leaders but cannot even respect the man who they live with everyday?
To please a religious leader, some people take family assets without their spouses’ knowledge.
Do we not all remember what Robert Martin Gumbura did to his female congregants, right under the watch of their partners and husbands?
Did we not all see beautiful women beg for his release because as far as they were concerned, it was an honour to be raped by him?
The point is that there are a lot of ills and abuse that is going on around us.
There is also a lot of fanaticism and worshipping of religious leaders by people.
Instead of worshipping God (for those of us who are Christian) some people are worshipping other people.
The danger is the human being, as a mortal, will falter and when they do, they will take everyone along with them.
American Jim Jones, who relocated to Guyana with his followers told them to give away their wealth and die with him and they did.
Back home, Madzibaba Ishmael reportedly told his followers to give away their assets.
Who in their right mind would give away everything they would have worked for when there are children to feed and other obligations to meet?
But look at how large a group of worshippers he commands?
Acts of terrorism are committed daily because someone somewhere has lost it.
Someone preached to me once that religion does not mean stupidity.
You can be religious but you still need an education and to work hard.
You cannot sit and wait for God to bless you while you sit and do nothing.
The same God blessed people with brains so they can think and he gave us all the faculties needed to reason and work.
People should free themselves from this mental slavery of “worshipping” other people.
Most of the men who beat up the police in Budiriro on that fateful day may not have necessarily wanted to do it but because their leader said so, they did it.
It is just as we saw with the Gumbura cases, where some men started raising complaints later on, yet they were there when Gumbura was eating from their sacred pots.
There is freedom in Christ, as far as I know.
Once one is forcing you, coercing you, placing you at risk, thinking for you and telling you how to live your life, ask yourself if you are still doing the right thing.
Once you begin to follow everything without questioning, ask yourself if you are still normal or sane?
Questioning, the way I understand it, is a normal and routine reaction, which actually brings better understanding of things. That is why even with the one you love, there is conflict once in a while and you work through it.
Those who never question (constructively) often get it wrong.
Thus, if you are in a church or sect where you are not allowed to speak or even ask questions, you may want to check if you are in a church or a cult.
Do not follow blindly! Always use your God-given faculties!
Online Reporter