There is no doubt that pastors or prophets who vend blessings are truly misguided and greedy because salvation is a free gift that no amount of money can buy.
Church goers must therefore fully understand that paying for prayers or blessings is contrary to the way God wants us to behave.
This ‘prosperity gospel’ actually stinks because it falsely espouses the idea that Christians will receive financial blessings and material success as a result of their faith.
Jesus himself must be traumatized in his Father’s house when he sees people that have been trusted to lead in faith take advantage of those that cannot understand his message to enrich themselves.
Take the issue of self-proclaimed ‘Prophet’ Shepherd Bushiri, of Malawian origin now settled in South Africa, who after establishing his humble church in Lilongwe a few years ago, is now embroidered in numerous ‘fake’ miracles in that country purely to make money for himself.
Bushiri has been slammed by some fellow Malawians as a “conman” and a “fake prophet” who “loves money and fame”. It is believed that Bushiri rushed to South Africa after his home country had seen through his “miracles”, that they were phony.
A source in Malawi says they were shocked when South Africans welcomed Bushiri with open arms.
A close aide of Bushiri, who fell out with him in 2014 and returned to Malawi, told City Press of South Africa that, Bushiri was a charismatic man whom he now regrets knowing.
He says that at first he believed that Bushiri was a real prophet, but the more time he spent with him, the more doubtful he became and in fact he even feared Bushiri’s followers would kill him.
“I have spent more time with him to know what is fake or not. He is using a gift from God for all the wrong reasons. He made me do things I never thought I would do in my entire life,” he says.
“I once told him that one day he would get arrested for what he is doing. The day I expose where he gets his money from, I am going to be killed,” he said.
True to this man’s warning, Bushiri has been arrested and is appearing in a South African court and chances of him spending some year in prisons are growing by the day because, indeed, the wages of sin is death.
Today, many have whispered about Bushiri’s powerful intelligence team, stationed among his ushers in the church, who gather information on his congregants for him to use.
Unfortunately it is not only Bushiri in this rumpus but many out there who are daily fleecing money from their followers using the Bible in reverse.
Churches in the world, including those in Zambia, are today awash with pastors, prophets and what have you, who each Sunday, shout on top of their voices about sowing a seed of prosperity yet the followers have NEVER experienced any shortest time to harvest whatever they sow. A big disgrace!
All what ‘blind’ church goers are perfectly blissful with, is to shout ‘I receive’, yet in reality, poverty stalks them with preposterous shame.
Many Zambians have died in abject poverty after ‘sowing’ their pension money to some of our famous churches whose leaders are now living in big mansions and own luxurious cars and planes while their followers can hardly afford a decent meal in a day.
The question is not whether these blind followers ever hear the voice of false teachers, but whether they can discern which messages are false.
If you watch any television, listen to any radio or podcasts, chances are that many people today are being exposed to some form of false teaching.
Didn’t Jesus warn the world when he said: “For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. But be on guard; I have told you all things beforehand.” (Mark 13:22–23; and Matthew 24:24)
In simple, people should not be caught off guard about these false teachers that have arisen throughout church history and have multiplied in our day purely to enrich themselves through false teachings.
