Batshu intercepts �the last days�?
Baboki Kayawe | Thursday April 2, 2015 11:22
Miracles, and prosperity, blessings and abundance, anointing and demons, deliverance and manifestation, prophecy and receiving, fire and ‘buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurn’!
This is the language of the church of today. When they get ‘fired up’, congregants and their ‘daddies’ (as some leaders prefer to be called) curl and curve their tongues in tongues of intercession, in what they say is a fierce war against the ‘chief demon’.
“In the name of my Lord Jesus, I refuse to leave this ATM empty-handed,” a voice thunders in demand.
“You said in your word Father, that whatever I ask in Your name, You will provide. I ask of You now Messiah to pour out stacks of money from this machine.”
I recently eavesdropped on this conversation on my way to one of Gaborone’s shopping malls. Two men were laughing their lungs out, as one mimicked what he called the ‘religious lunatic’, whom he had stumbled upon at an ATM in the wee hours in the capital.
Sadly, this is how the church of today has come to be perceived. This is how the congregants and their clergy are understood to speak.
This language of ‘abundance’, which some have coined ‘the prosperity gospel’, is linked to the growth of new age Pentecostal churches, which place emphasis on direct physical experience of God through the Holy Spirit. These churches believe in and practice speaking in tongues.
Of late, the numbers of churches on our soils have swelled at a rate that surpasses the number of jobs created in the country. Prophets and prophetesses alike have descended from all over Africa, and ostensibly the ‘Kingdom of Darkness’ appears to be in deep trouble.
The religious sphere has transformed so much that every Sunday, the streets of Gaborone are filled with men and women clothed in robes, bibles under arms, and songs on the lips, spreading the Good Word.
Abundance as a theological construct, has proved irresistible for those hungry for change in their lives; be it jobs, greater incomes, less debt, stable families, loving partners or healthy children.
Serenaded and besotted, the faithful have followed the Pied Pipers of faith who, in some cases, have been revealed as false prophets, peddling false prophesy for riches.
As inequality has increased in our society, where the rich get richer and the poor poorer the healthy healthier and the sick sicker, the satisfied smug and the desperate wretched; false prophets have thrived.
Into this religious morass, Labour and Home Affairs Minister, Edwin Batshu waded recently, appearing to hoodwinked victims as a homebrewed Messiah and to critics as the ‘abomination causing desolation’.
In an unintended allusion to Matthew 24’s prophecy on the rise of false prophets in the last days, Batshu has successfully hammered out amendments to the Societies Act designed to stamp out unscrupulous pastors and the mushrooming of fly-by-night churches.
Batshu’s bone of contention is with the proliferation of churches, especially those under foreign leadership, as well as splinter churches that have been “born from struggles for leadership positions and control for church finances and assets”.
He says these churches appear to be led by ‘economic missionaries’.
“The act was last amended in 1983. Since then, societies registered have grown in numbers and in complexity. Consequently some of the sections of the act were rendered inadequate in dealing with the current situations.
“This has necessitated an amendment of the act, to take on board the emerging issues,” Batshu told Parliament at the second reading of the amendments.
There are voices that argue government has no right to interfere with divine matters. Essentially, Jesus prophesied that there would be false prophets and that they would deceive many.
“Batshu is trying to stop this prophesy from coming to be. These prophets must be left for Judgement Day when the bible says those who deceive and lie in the name of the Lord will face the consequences of their sin,” says one commentator.
“We need to see who these people really are! The first path to seeing who they really are is coming to God genuinely, instead of shopping for blessings, miracles and abundance.”
Among the raft of proposed amendments to the Societies Act is a hotly debated proposal to raise the number of people required for the registration of a religious organisation from 10 to 250.
All hell broke loose during the bill’s second and third reading, prior to adoption last Wednesday. Below are some of the choice quotations from the debates;
“I want to put it to you that the provision that puts the 250-threshold to start a church, compromises freedom. It is against freedom. It attacks our freedom” – Ndaba Gaolathe (Bonnington South)
“If you come up with a law you cannot enforce, you breed corruption. The threshold will also curtail the freedom of religion” – Pius Mokgware (Gabane/Mankgodi)
“When the calling of God comes, it doesn’t come to the whole nation, it comes to one man. So, it’s totally impossible for a preacher to convene people and preach to them, and ultimately convert them because this law is against ‘illegal worshipping’” – Ignatius Moswaane (Francistown West)
“This move is very discriminatory against the church. I haven’t spoken to God, but this move has the potential of even angering God” – Biggie Butale (Tati West)
“People remain socially connected through the church, and having 250 people makes it difficult” – Duma Boko (Bonnington North)
“Government is not against the establishment of churches in Botswana. The constitution of Botswana provides for the protection of freedom of conscience including freedom of religion” – Edwin Batshu
In a rarity for the National Assembly, a government bill was negotiated down as Batshu eventually settled for an increase from 20 members to 150, instead of the 250 he initially sought.
The tapering down was evidence that the bill crossed the political divide and thus, unlike other government bills, was not a mere matter of the ruling party against opposition members.
In the aftermath of the raucous debate and with only President Ian Khama’s signature left to make the amendments law, commentators are still coming forward on the legislation.
Botswana Council of Churches (BCC) president, Reverend Mpho Moruakgomo says the bill was a recommendation of the Social Value Advisory Commission Report produced by religious leaders and Dikgosi. He says it was never meant to target the Pentecostal movement.
“There was adequate consultation prior to its presentation in Parliament and in fact Batswana had numerous complaints about the fragmentation of churches, leading to their mushrooming,” he says.
“The law is not meant for Pentecostal churches as some people claim.
Moruakgomo says the BCC will monitor how the act’s implementation in order to ensure that it does not impede diversity and growth of the church.
“We will approach government to ensure that the guidelines are clear and that the aspect of organisation prior to registration is adequately covered,” he says.
“It would be absurd if people were not allowed room to organise because no association can be formed when deprived of organisation.”