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Simbarashe Bepete, Correspondent
The history of mankind is in many respects the history of great men. It seems to be pre-ordained by divinity that much of what stirs and moves humanity is vested in singular individuals. For instance, it was the single-minded leadership of Mao Ze Dong that transfigured Chinese society from the feudalism of its ancient dynasties to the idealism of a ‘social democracy with Chinese characteristics,’ that is present day China.
It is universally accepted that all men are created equal, for God is not a respecter of persons. What brings about disequilibrium are the varying vocations, callings and deeds of men. It seems to be the peculiar lot of some people to rise to a level of significance that towers over fellow men.
On 5 July 2023, the promotion to greater glory of Zimbabwe Assemblies of God Africa (ZAOGA) Forward in Faith founder Archbishop Professor Ezekiel Guti was announced. The news was received with heartfelt sadness among a wide cross section of our society.
The highest office in the land issued a poignant commiseration message that pointed to Baba Guti’s salt of the earth contribution to Zimbabwe as a country.
Zimbabwe is an interesting country. I have done my own fair share of traveling and have found Zimbabwe to be unique. Baba Guti used to humorously remark that Zimbabwe was one of the best countries to live in in the world, save for the potholes.
During his lifetime, Baba Guti blazed a trail. Together with his beloved disciple and companion Apostle Dr Eunor Guti, preached the gospel in just about every big country in the world and in many little-known, far-flung countries, bearing the missionary torch like very few have ever done or will ever do.
Yet he remained a Zimbabwean at heart. He had an expressed fondness for Zimbabwe. The last conference that I personally attended with him in presiding authority was the 2022 MOI International Conference held in Harare. During this conference, he gave a prophetic word that in the near future, Harare would become one of the modern cities in the world. It must also be noted that his last official residence was in Chitungwiza where God had directed him to stay. This bears testimony to the fact that he was as Zimbabwean as all of us.
My parents became believers in ZAOGA in 1983. I don’t think there is anything that has positively influenced our trajectory as a family like their decision to join ZAOGA. You see, ZAOGA is a unique church that transcends the liturgical. Its impact reaches right through to the lifestyle and economic standing of an individual. One of Baba Guti’s often quoted statements is that if you join ZAOGA with one jacket, after a few months you must, by God’s providence, have more than one jacket.
The founding of ZAOGA in 1960 coincided with the onset of the wave of independence in Africa. Post-colonial Africa, as a social construct, was initially premised on the notion that Uhuru or political freedom would automatically usher all the previously disenfranchised into the promised land. This was soon to be proven to be a mirage promise by the socio-economic realities that unraveled in many African countries after the advent of independence. It is my opinion that it is in this context of pre- and post-colonial Africa that Baba Guti’s legacy can be most felt and appreciated.
It must be said that colonialism brought with it the baggage of an identity crisis on the African consciousness. This debasing or de-construction of the African soul through colonisation was the pre-occupation of many African writers in the 20th century. Literary works like Things Fall Apart, House of Hunger, No Longer At Ease, Waiting for The Rain, Nervous Conditions and many more, have all pondered on the question of whether the moral and morale breach brought about by racial subjugation was at all repairable.
Baba Guti and his fellow pioneering Pentecostal ministers became in many respects repairers of that breach. Pentecostalism to which Baba Guti belonged and so earnestly served, is an offshoot of mainline Christendom. Charismatics as they are often called, are somewhat differentiated from traditional Christianity and or Catholicism in that they emphasise more on the working of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer.
Charismatics hold that man is essentially a spirit that has a soul that lives in a body. While classic philosophers like Descartes have posited that to think is to be or ‘I think therefore I am’, Pentecostalism as a religious movement and philosophy asserts that man’s existence is more about the spirit than the mind.
Over the years, Pentecostalism has become so relevant in Africa to the point that Africa today hosts one of the largest populations of Pentecostal believers in the world. This is probably so because native African knowledge systems are by their very nature rooted more in the spiritual than the intellectual. So, to the African folk a more spiritual brand of the Christian faith has understandably resonated more than other ecumenical traditions. It was in fact an unassuming African American preacher William J Seymour who is credited to have kindled and fanned the fire of Pentecostalism in the Azusa Street revival of 1906.
This revival which took place in downtown Los Angeles, USA gave birth to denominations such as Assemblies of God and the Apostolic Faith Mission. It is speculated that sometime in the 1930s, missionaries from one of these two denominations preached a sermon in one of the small towns in the then Rhodesia that was later narrated to a young Ezekiel Guti by his mother Mbuya Dorcas.
According to the ZAOGA church history book, hearing this sermon about how sinners would be thrown into the lack of fire in the afterlife marked a turning point in Baba Guti’s life.
This message pierced through his heart and caused Ezekiel to individually seek salvation from the creator of the universe. It was during this time, before he had joined any formal church that he started having spiritual encounters that are recorded in the church History book. Baba Guti would later say of this period, “I met God before I met a preacher.”
From that time onwards, Baba Guti grew in his faith and never wavered from it through many trials and tribulations.
ZAOGA FIF in time became a self-supporting and formidable institution with a footprint in more than 150 nations and states. Many lives are still being transformed and enriched through the ministry and legacy of Baba Guti. The establishment of a University, many theological colleges, primary and secondary schools, technical colleges, a hospital, preschools, multiple state of the art national centers, numerous church buildings in Zimbabwe and all over the world, without any donor support, have affirmed the unique seed and mandate that was given to Baba Guti. He was also a prolific writer of note having published multiple books rich in Christian doctrine and counsel. And yet the setting up of all these institutions nor his considerable output as a writer was not the hallmark of his ministry, rather it was the preaching of the gospel and the leading of many souls to Christ.
This is what remained his primary and guiding passion. To many of us who came under the influence of his ministry, Baba Guti was a treasure trove of knowledge, wisdom and the Love of God. His magnality, conviviality and unmistakable humility shall sorely be missed.
I find comfort and strength in the words of Apostle Dr Joseph Guti, “the vessel that carried the treasure has departed, but the treasure remains with us.”
Online Reporter