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28.06.2014 Feature Article

Church Leaders And Their 'body Guards'

Church Leaders And Their 'body Guards'
28.06.2014 LISTEN

My letter to Reinhard Bonnke was direct and straight to the point. Quoting some excerpts from his two books, 'Populating Heaven' and 'Evangelism by Fire', I reminded him that his primary mission was to reach Africa, from Cape to Cairo as he liked to put it. I told him that I was a product of his earlier crusades in the 80's, and that I was now a preacher, reaching people in the rural areas of northern Malawi. I challenged him that his calling was not primarily to reach Europe but Africa. As a humble man of God, he responded and told me that he was coming back to Malawi and requested to meet me. He asked me to seek out a Kenyan representative of his who would usher me into his presence at Comesa Hall in Blantyre. I had his appointment letter with me. I cancelled all my Northern engagements and took a bus down South. When I got to Blantyre, I met the Kenyan man, introduced myself to him, showed him Bonnke's letter and added that I had travelled all the way from the Northern part of Malawi. He told me that it was impossible for me to meet Bonnke, and that whatever I wanted to tell Bonnke, had to be told to him. Two days of persuasion amounted to nothing and I went back without meeting the man I had helped bring back to Malawi in 1997.

Such sad stories are a common occurrence when it comes to meeting men of God. Most men of God have barricaded themselves behind tinted goggled bodyguards and other equally stubborn and sometimes rude members of their protocol team. It is sometimes harder to meet men of God than to meet their God. This makes one wonder who is boss here, the servant of God or the God of the servant. While it is true that men of God may sometimes need a certain amount of protection, but sometimes it is taken too far. Preachers are servants of the people. They can not properly serve people if they are barricaded behind tinted goggled bodyguards. The body guards of one prophet in Zimbabwe are notorious yobbos who have roughed up reporters and confiscated their cameras. They openly declare that they are not into church business but that they are simply hired to protect the 'man of God'. There's nothing spiritual in them. Gehazi wanted to play the same game when he pushed the Shunammite woman but his boss was bright and bold enough to quickly rebuke him - 2 Kings 4 : 27

Jesus was a perfect example of a good and humble leader. Multitudes of people used to follow him but his itineraries were never coloured with pomp and convoys that our men of God are sometimes demanding these days. The only time he enjoyed some lousy and noisy pomp was when he was going to Jerusalem for the last time, riding on a borrowed donkey, after which he was to be crucified. When his disciples wanted to stop children from meeting him, he rebuked them. Sinners could easily approach him, hence the derogatory tittle - 'Friend of Sinners'. People could run to him and be saved. A case in point was the woman caught in adultery in John chapter 8. Men of God should be replicas of the divine refuge (our God). Some of the people protecting men of God behave like roughnecks. We are yet to find out what those men of God are being protected from. Does this not imply that these men of God doubt Gods ability to protect them? Are they not the same people who preach that we should 'fear not'? Protocol is needed for the sake of order but should never at any time be used to block people who need assistance. I still lament the missed Bonnke opportunity.

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