1997 PART TWO PROPHETIC OVERVIEW OF ZIMBABWE

PART TWO

The second part will be concerning my research and how I interpreted it in the light of Biblical principles, ie the sowing of sin has produced a reaping of social, economic and governmental breakdown.

GOD’S SIGNAL TO THE CHRISTIANS AND THE NATION

God has sent a message to Christians to wake up and seek God. He has sent us a message but I wonder if we have heard it.

Matt 16:1 Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven. 2 He answered and said to them, “When it is evening you say, `[ It will be] fair weather, for the sky is red’; 3 “and in the morning, `[ It will be] foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times. 4 “A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.”

Are we any different from the Pharisees? We Pentecostals and Charismatics are so keen on signs and wonders, just like the Pharisees were. Like them we watch the weather. We are more sophisticated so we can predict higher inflation when the dollar falls in value. But can we discern eternal issues?

The first message is in the word of God. Have we heard it? Are we taking the Lordship of Christ seriously? Are we preaching the Gospel seriously? Are we reaching out to the poor and up lifting them seriously? Are we conforming our lives to the image of Christ or the image of sophisticated intellectual cultural Christianity. The measure is the Word of God.

What about our nation? Does it take the word of God seriously? Is righteousness growing? If sin grows, judgment will come as surely as night follows day. The Chimurenga war was a clear warning that unrighteousness brings judgment. Are we listening? Our first standard is the objective standard of righteousness in the word of God. The second is our perception of the nature of righteousness we see in Christ. The third standard is any prophetic revelation. The standard of righteousness in our culture is not a standard at all.

This recent, but very strong warning was a series of crises that happened in this nation at the end of last year. This led me to research the papers so as to objectively pick up some national trends that are happening which I felt were not being evaluated on my part and the part of the body of Christ in this nation.

This is a few reports that I gleaned from the paper in one month. This is NOT a small story like the story of how a man lost his wallet to a pick pocket. It is reports that concern the most important, the most basic economic and social fundamentals in the nation. We will examine What the secular world says and then look at it in a prophetic manner. The way the secular world approaches an issue is to report WHAT happened, but not WHY. It will DESCRIBE the incident but will not give the UNDERLYING REASONS as to why the incident happened. As Christians we will not do that.

HOW DO WE VIEW THIS IN A PROPHETIC MANNER?

REPORTS FROM THE HERALD

1. report in Saturday, 1/11/97 Wednesday, 29th October, 1997 EXPLOSION IN PARK ZESA SUBSTATION For the last 3 days, most of Harare Central business district without full power. Full power to be supplied in 3 months.

Saturday, 15/11/97 Grid fault in Zambia plunges the whole of Zimbabwe into darkness for 4-6 hours.

Sunday Mail , 2/11/97 Stock market shares begin a free fall , by then 10,078

The stock market index was in the region of 11500 and it fell to 6500. It has recently partly recovered.

3. Tuesday 4/11/97. Kangai announces land acquisition. He states that Britain had agreed to fund the acquisition. He announces the parameters for the acquired farms. The parameters were in many cases ignored. 5 million hectares were to be acquired

4. Tuesday, 11/1197 Chidiayusiku Commission disrupted in its proceedings by war veterans. Television showed riot police standing at attention, watching the rioting and doing nothing.

5. Saturday, 15/11/97 Zimbabwe Dollar crashes to $19.25 per USD the day before Explanation – Talks with IMF officials break down.

6. Monday, 17/1197 students destroy 1/2 a million dollars worth of property at a High school.

Reason Better food, more time with Girls, and protest against teacher student relationships.

Research bought up the names of 13 schools which in recent months had had similar riots.

TO SUM UP.

A. We are seeing power disruption partly due to negligence.

b. Excessive Stock market volatility

c. Undermining of food production by expropriation of land

d. Chidiayusiku Commission disrupted

e. Zimbabwe Dollar crashes

f. students riot in 13 schools

The secular press will only report WHAT is happening, not the WHY it is happening. As Christians we must know why so as to counsel our flock with wise council.

The real causes of this, [the WHY ] are:

Negligence.],

Economic fear/greed [b.],

Greed, jealousy, driving corrupt and irresponsible government [c,]

Civil breakdown through flaunting of law and order, driven by a moral breakdown [d, f].

Government inefficiency and government and public consumerism, driven by political convenience and public craving of imported goods, leading to more Forex being bought than sold, more Forex being used than created. [e.]

In other words in one month we have seen the sowing of sin producing a destructive harvest that is affecting some of the most basic fundamentals of society [economic stability, civil order, good governance].

As Christians we do not see events causing events. We recognize that SIN causes moral breakdown which leads directly to social, economic and governmental breakdown. This is exactly what the prophets of the old Testament prophesied about. They did not say that events caused events. They prophesied that sin was going to produce judgment. Some of this judgment was a natural consequence of sin and others was a direct judgment. Sin is a reproach to a nation but righteousness exalts a nation.

LOOKING DEEPER

Having looked at the What, [breakdown] then the why [sin], I now wish to go deeper into the most basic causes, the basic motivations that fuel these abuses. These motivations are caused, in the main, by moral problems which is the realm of the prophet and encourager, the pastor and evangelist. The prophet must denounce moral, motivational sin, exposing its deep roots and present a solution, a way out so that the ordinary Christian may have hope in a time of social economic and spiritual breakdown..

The Christian must not be led into a humanistic positive confession Christianity. He should understand the times and, knowing the times encourage Christians IN TRIAL, IN suffering, IN times of uncertainty, pointing to the sovereignty of God, HIS ultimate purposes [Rom 8:28] HIS purging/refining dynamic.

I. Culture above the Word of God

One of the difficulties in Zimbabwe is a population which has as its moral foundation a set of moral guidelines which are traditional/ cultural and not plain Bible. This is actually the same in every nation but they have a strong influence in this nation. If you speak to people about a moral issue you will soon hear the phrase ” In our culture we do that this way.. . ” and sin is justified or twisted by cultural perspectives. For instance in the African culture, confrontation is very difficult. Secondly it is difficult to correct or differ with someone above you. This leads to a group being unable to deal with a corrupt supervisor or a negligent supervisor. The culture of obeisance to authority makes it easy for an authority figure to abuse his position. Sociologists say that western culture has a vision looking forward into the future, and therefore is dynamic [ changing] whereas African cultures are conservative [conserve what is there already and therefore more static] and its vision looks back in time [ traditions and ancestors] This makes it more difficult anticipate future effects of present actions, whereas a future looking culture will anticipate future events based on present trends, making it easier to sound an alarm and correct mistakes before they happen. They also perceive the beginning of certain trends, see its positive nature and take advantage of the trends while they are only beginning. This is why our government must consist of educated professionals as a qualification for its parliamentarians and not just war veteran ship.

Another is the syndrome of ” I have done you a favor, now you must do me a favor.” Traditionally it was “if I help you reap your crops, you give a beer drink for your workers” That was voluntary both ways, although there was a certain cultural obligation. This began as a thank you for your help, but recently [10 years] has developed into a justification for bribery. That is corruption. The correct attitude is : An employee is paid to do his job, without discrimination, and his salary is the reward for his work.

The Word of God continually confronts one concerning righteousness. In Ephesians 4 it is the put off/ put on dynamic. In Romans 12 it is the renewing of the mind. This syndrome of allowing culture to lead rather than the Word of God is common to all cultures. The Bible calls it “The World” and you cannot love the world and have the love of God in you. The world opposes God, and opposes righteousness. It fosters an environment whereby sin is passively looked on without correction or confrontation, and the future of a nation is passed over in favor of immediate benefits.

A population that is socially static rather than mobile. [eg. our peasants] can remain caught up in rural African tradition with its customs and culture. In today’s rapidly changing environment this can be unhealthy yet be unnoticed by rural peasants. In The Zimbabwe of today where 65% to 70% of the population is peasant and rural, it means that it is easy for the government to use cultural proverbs in its communication and evince a feeling of cultural pride and cultural conservatism, yet the whole country can be thrust towards ruin by the very policy being announced.

Examples are the socialist policies of the 80’s, maintenance of a large and unproductive army draining the nation of money needed for training and encouraging indigenous farmers and entrepreneurs, a big beaurocracy which was bloated and inefficient which also drained the nation of vital finance, the war vets compensation which is giving money to an unproductive sector and inspiring others to jealousy that they haven’t got compensation [An example is those who DIED fighting for the Chimurenga cause. Wives and children get no compensation, but those who ran away to fight another day get compensated]. Unless the rural peasants wake up to bad decision making by the government it is unlikely that the government will be as efficiency conscious as a western government. It also ensures that ex war vets who have positions of power in the government and who have little ability, but plenty of charisma, will remain in office compounding governmental inefficiency, social and economic breakdown.

I believe that government inefficiency coupled with political convenience will drive the nation towards chaos. As it moves towards chaos different placebos will be adopted.

FUTURE EFFECTS

The nation is going to go through a period where it will recognize that many cultural traits are healthy in a communal land environment, but are unhealthy in a national democratic environment. They will learn to have courage rather than fear towards the government, they will learn to rebuke officials rather than give lip service, they will learn that righteousness is not aimed at the immediate family, but to all. They will learn to confront the corrupt. Unfortunately this will mean a phase of civil unrest and disorder bordering on chaos until the nation learns Christian methods of rebuke, confrontation and selection of ruling officials.

Different political ploys will be adopted to counteract the growing understanding by the population of the criminal irresponsibility of the government, and the growing understanding of confrontation. These ploys will all be eventually unmasked. Eventually some in the government will have a sense of responsibility and stewardship as they are shocked by the suffering caused by their own policies. Whilst they shift the blame onto others or will they will then look for a solution. The solution will be decisions based on biblical righteousness as a pose to pandering to Chimurenga warriors, peasants, family, tribal and racial desires.

Some of these government ministers/ decision makers will even seek Christian counsel and may their counselors fear God rather than men, may they rather fear the reward of God than the intoxication of men of power humbly seeking their guidance. May they have a clear vision of God’s righteousness rather than man’s glory. The reformation will provide an environment to minister to these leaders.

II. The perception of victimhood and the response of ressentiment

the innocent poor and the guilty rich?

Nowadays in the media whether the Herald or CNN, or a sociology book, there is the encouragement of the concept of an innocent victim class and a guilty oppressing class. The thought goes like this: One class of people is described in terms of deprivation, abuse, being oppressed and victimhood. The other class is described in terms of money, privilege and power and the willful abuse of them. Because it is secular press, it describes the WHAT but not the WHY.. Thus the victim class perceive themselves as victims by circumstance. These circumstances appear to be beyond personal control. They do not perceive themselves as having choices to make which will either lessen or eliminate their difficulties. Usually the people that are blamed are a small, visible but wealthy and powerful class. In Germany it was the Jews, In Uganda it was the Asians, in Indonesia it is the Chinese, in Mozambique it was the Portuguese and in Zimbabwe it is the whites, and recently it is also becoming the wealthy political elite.

Idols for destruction, in the Harare Theological College Library makes a study of the American culture. In it the author studies the motivations of different aspects of American society and comments on them. He refers to a psychologist by the name of Ryan. Ryan’s major contribution to the literature of poverty, not a very influential one is the concept of victimhood. Those who are part of the culture of poverty, in this view, have been victimized by society. There are only two ways to interpret a situation which poor people are struggling with difficult circumstances.: Either blame the circumstances or blame the victim.

In actual fact it is incorrect to totally absolve the poor since they have their own individual moral part to play as well as their power to vote.

Prov 10:4 (nkjv) He who has a slack hand becomes poor, But the hand of the diligent makes rich.

Prov 13:18 Poverty and shame [will come] to him who disdains correction, But he who regards a rebuke will be honored.

Prov 14:23 In all labor there is profit, But idle chatter [leads] only to poverty.

Prov 20:13 Do not love sleep, lest you come to poverty; Open your eyes, [and] you will be satisfied with bread.

Prov 21:5 The plans of the diligent [lead] surely to plenty, But [those of] everyone [who is] hasty, surely to poverty.

Prov 23:21 For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, And drowsiness will clothe [a man] with rags.

Schlossberg, the author comments on Ryan’s statements by saying The humanitarian refusal to hold poor people [ and everyone else] responsible for their actions keeps them dependent, renders them impervious to challenge and therefore change, and places every obstacle in their way of their betterment. Insofar it is directed towards blacks and other minorities it is racist, because it says that they are not capable of assuming responsibility for their actions the way ” normal ” people are. Humanitarianism thus changes victimhood from accident to essence. It expands the category until it swallows the entire person. It takes away the poor person’s humanity and gives him in its place the ontological status of a victim.

the response of ressentiment, Schadenfreude and equalitarianism

Those feeling the emotions of victimhood then begin to slide towards ressentiment, Schadenfreude and equalitarianism.

Ressentiment begins with perceived injury that may have a basis in fact, but more often is occasioned by envy for the possessions and qualities possessed by another person. If the perception is not either sublimated, or assuaged by the doing of some injury to the

object of the feeling, the result is a persistent mental condition, stemming from the repression of emotions that are not acceptable when openly expressed. The result is hatred and the impulse to spite and to say things that detract from the other’s worth.

One of the most common secret elements to be repressed is Schadenfreude,

Schadenfreude is the rejoicing at anther’s misfortune; vengeance is the principle manifestation of Ressentiment. His phenomenon differs from mere envy or resentment because it is not content to suffer quietly but has a festering quality that seeks outlet in doing harm to its object.

It is encouraged by Equalitarianism. The dual effort to raise the lower classes and debase the higher has long been called levelling. This movement has been called equalitarianism

This has been the policy of this government since independence. A practical example of the effects of this is seen in the Nyamazizi resettlement area. In this area was a farm that was taken over by the government after independence. There was a multi-room farmhouse, a set of barns and a fine vegetable garden. The house and barns were pulled down. Most of the bricks were destroyed in the process but there was enough to make two or three small rondavels. The roofing was sold and the money spent. The trees were cut down so the perennial stream became a flash flood stream so the vegetable garden died. The results of this equalitarianism is that there is now no house for storage or office space, no barns for industrial use and no garden for income generating projects. However, all are equal.

In this case the farm was bought through the British willing seller willing buyer scheme. However as ressentiment, Schadenfreude and equalitarianism build up in this nation, other motivations which are deeply sinful build up, take over, and are enflamed. Alexander de Tocqueville describes one of these sinful tastes.

The depraved human heart of the covetous poor

There exists also in the human heart a depraved taste for equality, which impels the weak to attempt to lower the powerful to their level and reduces men to prefer equality in slavery to inequality in freedom.

In effect this is the motivation behind Marx’s class wars. Envy and greed. Note that coveting is one of the ten commandments which is the most basic moral foundation of a nation.

Exodus 20:17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that [is] your neighbor’s.

In another book ” Crashes, why they happen” the author says . . . . The human emotions which. . . . demand the cleansing effects of a crash are : covetousness [consumerism], greed and envy. The haves want more, the have-nots want what the others have. When they see it as unachievable a class war will break out. The have nots become hostile in order to bring the haves down to their own level. A philosophy of destruction They will derive comfort from seeing the possessions of others confiscated and the achievements of others destroyed. Crime rates soar, vandalism increases. [Only three days after this paper was first presented vandalism on a massive scale erupted in Harare with looters looting food, alcohol and goods outlets]

Unfortunately the government has long held and proclaimed the ideology of ressentiment because ressentiment is one of the main philosophies of socialism and Marxism. In effect it has topsy-turveyed envy, jealousy and covetousness, converting sin into a respectable value system. History has revealed the awful sickness of this philosophy in that not a single nation that has preached ressentiment and equalitarianism has ever prospered. Rather they have, in every single case they have suffered economically, and then socially. Now we are reaping the consequences in Zimbabwe of this. Unfortunately this ideology suits any corrupt inefficient and incompetent government in that it draws attention away from itself and onto a small, elite class, easily recognizable and quite vulnerable.

Thus after a fairly long, intense campaign about how the masses are victims of colonialism, and victimization by farmers and industrialists, farm designation happened. The consequence of this covetousness is going to be a loss of food production, leading to higher food prices and a greater need for foreign currency, lowering the value of our currency and introducing higher inflation and loss of investor confidence in us. Now here comes a syndrome of profoundness. A government preaches ressentiment and covetousness. Does it find fertile ground in the masses? At times it has, with the curious result of what follows. A government is happy that the blame is on the small vulnerable elite. The masses are angry at the wealthy efficient elite . This justifies designations and expropriations from the wealthy elite. The result is economic declension which makes every one suffer. Now the conclusion is this. In effect the government is emotionally happy and the populace is emotionally happy but in reality, the hard facts will come into fruition where the temporary comfort of designations is superseded by the long-term suffering of the people. Whereas the wealthy elite have a measure of guilt, so does both the Government and the populace.

However, whilst cunning politicians have at times succeeded in their diversion of the blame, I have found that the population of Zimbabwe reaches a point where they simply do not believe the government any more. Now the ressentiment will turn to anger at the

privileged wealthy political elite. However is this correct? Are there not democratic procedures that allow for the population to vote out incompetent politicians and retain the competent ones?

FUTURE EFFECTS

ressentiment, Schadenfreude and equalitarianism, will empower the government to continue its diversion of blame. They will continue to target farms and then mines and big businesses. It may also target property. It depends on whether the masses of Zimbabwe fall into the sin of covetousness. If they do, then designations will happen at their own long term expense.

Secondly ressentiment may happen towards the political elite, in which case general civil disorder will increase. This also is counter productive since government buildings and cars are paid for by public funds. Secondly the government will only increase the display of its power. The only solution is for the population to go to the voting polls and quietly vote incompetent officials out and righteous professionals in. A population with a consensus against a government will always eventually cause a change in that government.

However designations will happen as a form of punishment and also will happen as some political pronouncements are believed.

III. The hardening of the compassion of the wealthy.

The wealthy wish to get wealthier. Their attitudes to the poor become calloused. In the culture of some of the wealthy there is a type of laager mentality. A withdrawal from the harsh emotions of dealing with the poor. A withdrawal from the political arena. A type of attitude of ex Rhodesians

“I have my life, I am getting on with it, but involvement in the public arena with its difficulties is not for me because I belong to a minority culture. Let the others do it.”

” If the majority cultures want to mess up their land let them get on with it. Just leave me in peace to have my job, I am just trying to survive and feed my family and send them to school.”

There can also be a resentment based on covetousness that says ” How did those people get their Mercedes Benzes? It must be corruption! Ie an assumption of sin, a casting a whole race into a pool of judgment without knowing the individual facts. Some of them probably have been corrupt but the one being stared at may have acquired his wealth through hard work.

There is also the attitude of “I got where I am by hard work. If they want to have what I’ve got, let them work as hard as I have and they can have the same life style.” In other words a hardened attitude to the poor. This can also include the use of the Bible to justify one’s own riches. The thinking may go like this

” My faith is high, my confession correct, my planning correct, my persevering through difficult times. The poor do these things which is why they are poor”.

In other words self righteousness followed by withdrawing from the poor rather than having compassion on how they can be assisted to grow into the correct discipline, honesty and correct mental attitude. Others can then say ” Even Jesus warned that we will always have the poor with us, so since we will always have the poor, I can’t help them. This is called self justification. Zimbabwe has 65% below the poverty line but other nations like Japan and Britain have very few. We have to reach out to the poor, starting in our own homes and sphere’s of influence.

There is also the striving for greater riches. The thinking goes something like this. I had better get richer because the economy is sliding down down and down. The richer I get the more protection I will get from economic recession. I don’t want to be in a situation of deprivation.

Others in the wealthy community are not satisfied with moderate wealth. They have an obsession with wealth. Wealth is an ego trip. They want more and more and more and more. They are like the famous multi-billionaire [allegedly Paul Getty senior] who was asked ” You are a super wealthy person, how much more do you want?” The reply was ” Just a little more”

Wealth is intoxicating and with each ” deal” with each million there is a ” high”. With each purchase of symbols of affluence [farms, posh cars] there is a “High”. Of course it takes greater and greater amounts of money to get this high. More and more purchases.

This explains how some African nations are poor yet the president who is finally removed from office is a billionaire in US dollars. Where is God in this type of thinking? He is nowhere because man has a choice. God OR mammon. One OR the other.

Ps 37 14 The wicked have drawn the sword And have bent their bow, To cast down the poor and needy, To slay those who are of upright conduct. 15 Their sword shall enter their own heart, And their bows shall be broken.

Francis Schaeffer describes it as the impoverished values of Personal Peace and Affluence. Personal peace means to be just left alone, not to be troubled by the troubles of other people, whether across the world or across the city – to live one’s life with minimal possibilities of being personally disturbed. Personal peace means wanting to have my personal life pattern undisturbed in my lifetime, regardless of what the result will be in the lifetimes of my children or grandchildren. Affluence men an overwhelming and ever increasing prosperity – a life made up of things, things and more things – a success judged by an ever increasing level of material abundance.

Even in the Soviet union where the materialistic philosophy was that of ownership of all property by the state, there was still a political elite which was wealthy with a summer holiday cottage, wild drinking and eating sprees and personal wealth. Leonid Breshnev even had a collection of Cadillac cars, one of which was given to him by Elvis Presley. In other words whatever the philosophy, the heart of man is so corrupt that political elites cannot resist the allure of personal affluence.

However the Bible would counsel compassion for the poor and an attempt to uplift the poor around you. Compassion for your house workers and the gardener and the nearby peasants. Teach them how to improve their own lives. This is not easy but a heart of compassion for the poor is not optional. A new shirt and trousers costs more that a domestic servant’s salary. Is this right? A man working for a shirt and pair of trousers? A hard heart ignores the poor and justifies itself with rationalizations. A hard heart retreats behind a cultural wall and shuts out the pain of considering the suffering of the poor. Wesley was noted for his successes in uplifting the poor with savings societies and other measures.

FUTURE EFFECTS

First of all, God cannot bless a nation in which the rich wallow in their wealth, look down on the poor, judge them as a group as unrighteous, and then withdraws from them in the heart and then life. Flaunted wealth, despisal of the poor, self righteousness, avoidance of the poor, attainment of super riches and power through wealth can never receive the blessing of God.

Secondly there is a crop to be reaped because of the of polarization of wealth. We have covered ressentiment, Schadenfreude and equalization. This will lead to serious difficulty with wage negotiations. Rioting will happen as turnovers of companies are converted into imagined profits. The wealthy, the farmers, the industrialists will get into a predicament. If they accede to the demands of the workers, they may be bankrupted. If they do not accede, the company is neutralized by non production, firing of valuable striking workers and even destroyed through riot damage. In Zimbabwe’s case this includes the government as an employer who has just paid tens of thousands of people fifty thousand dollars each. Envy at this payout, coupled with the success of destructive rioters receiving their demands, will ensure a future studded with periodic civil breakdowns as rioters and looters take over the streets for periods.

There will be periods where there will be civil unrest and confusion, then everyone will panic and pray and wonder what to do and no other subject will be on people’s lips. Then the latest crisis will die down and most will attempt to put the matter out of their mind and avoid the subject but it will come back until the nation pursues righteousness and justice and forsakes its drive for affluence. The wise will be able to anticipate crises and will look to God in or out of crises.

IV. The addiction to materialism

This nation has had materialism preached to it for too long. First of all it was the Marxist philosophy of the Chimurenga fighters and political commissars. Topics like ownership of the means of production, the philosophies of ressentiment and equalization, bought about by simple comparisons in wealth between two different parties. The Marxist philosophy was materialistic. Now the capitalistic philosophy is just as much materialistic. Whereas Marxist philosophy pretends to have compassion but doesn’t, capitalism has no such pretensions. The television, popular magazines, books, films, and natural covetousness all drive people to selfish ambition to accumulate things, goods, fashions, comfort and ease.

As poverty increases and the battle for survival intensifies, people become more and more materialistically focused, till all, from the president to the pallet pusher, all are focused on mammon. Jesus made the choice clear. God or mammon. One or the other. Paul said that greed is idolatry. The drive for goods produces a spiritual declension. This cannot be honored by God. The ruling Zanu pf party must take some of the blame for their focusing the nation on possession of material goods, and apportioning blame on this external assessment, as well as casting the majority of the population into the pit of victimhood, again based on material possessions. this is not God’s viewpoint. It points people to false values and encourages civil unrest, and craving for wealth.

As the masses desire goods, the focus on material wealth gets more and more intense. This scenario follows. Importers import high quality high value goods that are brightly packaged, and carry with them a sense of success, like CD players, cars, 4 x 4’s, imported clothing and beauty products, imported beer etc. etc. This makes the importers wealthy. As the population grows into a type of consumerism, more foreign currency is used than is created by the economy, so the government then tightens the reign by putting import duties on the importers, and making it easier for those who locally produce goods. Then those who locally produce goods wish to get rich or make shareholders rich, so they put up the price of their goods which are now a monopoly. In other words it is a lose-lose situation. The two motivations which drive this are consumerism and the drive for wealth. As consumerism grows more demands are made on foreign currency which is needed for things like medicine, plant and equipment etc. etc.

Once consumerism and the craving for wealth grips a nation, especially a developing country like Zimbabwe, all will lose. Not only will the currency lose value but the value system of the nation will change firm relationships and righteousness to displays of wealth.

Then something else kicks in. People want to change jobs because of greater financial perks instead of job satisfaction. Corruption increases as everyone pursues the love of money and material goods. Paid government employees ask for compensation for the duties they performed for the public, and begin to accept bribes even where they know they favor they are granting is not deserved or is dishonest. This is at an advanced stage in Zimbabwe.

FUTURE EFFECTS

We can see the effects of this as hundreds of thousands of prostitutes throng even bar and shopping center, forsaking values for the false satisfaction of money. We see corruption trickling down from the highest offices to any office where a decision will bring benefit to a person. We see a ruinous fast buck mentality coming up in conversations. we see scratch card gambling taking off without as much as a taking of a breath. We see the Christians also being swayed by this same spirit. For those who want it, bondage to mammon can be justified by a faith confession, a clutching onto God’s blessing. For others it can mean going to a church where there is an atmosphere of wealth and prosperity and sophistication. For others it means doing what everyone else is doing, aiming where everyone else is aiming. [ Where’s God?] It means instant panic when their wealth is threatened [ but not panic that their walk with God- eternity-is threatened]

It is not so much future effects as present effects. Christians, lemming like, following the culture. However the effects of materialism will make most Christians aware that materialism is not God’s option. Already Christians are beginning to seek God. Some faith orientated churches may make an attempt at reinforcing faith confessions but it will not do any genuine good. What is needed is a national return to righteousness and devotion to God. The reformation will facilitate this.

Whether it is survival, Marxism or capitalism, all focus on money and goods. Corruption grows until it is like a menacing Goliath overshadowing all. Riots because of tax are followed by looting, ostensibly for food but then why are bottle stores also ransacked? What was sincere objection turns into a free for all for any group of thugs able to inspire a gathering and find a store to ransack.

Unfortunately the populace has seen the unproductiveness of quietly and respectfully negotiating. They have also seen the productiveness of violent, high profile rioting. Some recent decisions are: payment of war vets compensation, repeal of taxes to pay the vets, primary schools converted to High schools and then returned, mealie meal price raised and lowered [with a lowering of GMB 133 % maize mark up down to 100%]

I believe that the drive for materialism will decrease, and the desire to help one another and have compassion will increase. I believe that the idea of pursuit of money for its own aims will be rejected, especially as the reformation gains ground.

V. Bad Government

War the factor that put this government into power

Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The members of our present Government suffered in the Chimurenga war. They got into power through a war. The war was traumatic to the population of Zimbabwe, especially the peasants. Over 70% of the population is the rural population who respect the government for the development that has taken place but who also have a deep seated fear of the government. Not only are there echoes of the Chimurenga war, but also the rumours of the Gukurahunde massacres as well.

This will ensure that the present Government stays in power unless there is an open nationwide consensus that it should be replaced. As the inner corruption and incompetence and abuses of the government are exposed, first of all the Government will shift the blame to vulnerable groups that are a threat to it such as other races, countries and competing organizations, and then it will start to show its muscle by shows of force, and then the use of force. [Only a week after this paper was first presented the army was called out into the central business district for the first time in 20 years]

Corruption

That leaves the government in absolute power and it has had its corrupting effect. Prosecutions for the Willogate, but not for the ruling elite. Prosecutions for the housing scandal, the war victims compensation fund scandal, but not the ruling elite. Relatives of the ruling elite get massive governmental contracts [ basic preconditions flouted], but not the well qualified [airport contract, ]

Ressentiment is also fueling corruption. Many people in the government have suffered in the Chimurenga war. They hungered, they thirsted and they feared Rhodesian revenge every day. These veterans want to see benefits from their suffering. In some of their hearts they are justifying corruption as a reward of their wartime sacrifices. In the far east Tiger economies the government has assisted some well connected or high class indigenous people to industrialize the nation. The result is that there is a small clique of superrich indigenous businessmen who become bigger and bigger and bigger on government lending, then eventually take on just too many projects and become inefficient and then crash. ..

Many feel that many in our government are using their positions, not for the welfare of the country, but as a platform to attain super riches. Unfortunately it is difficult to investigate this as the press is owned by the government. Does the president really own big properties outside the country? Does the ex army commander own 12/15 farms in the Bindura / Shamva area? Did The president’s relative get the new airport contract in spite of flouting some of the basic conditions of the contract because he was a relative? Is it true that the ruling party is trying to build an economic elite up consisting of only party followers?

Incompetence Vs professional management

In 1980 certain people who were Chimurenga fighters were given positions of power, but they were incompetent. Some of these have been removed but some are still in power. Some were even removed, then replaced and their incompetence caused such embarrassment that they had to be given another post away from the limelight. Although corrupt and incompetent they still have positions of power because their qualification was that they were part of Chimurenga.

It has also been rumored, and accusations have been made in the press that incompetent department heads and even heads of billion dollar government owned organizations [e.g. Air Zimbabwe] have placed unqualified relatives in responsible positions. Again it is difficult to investigate the truth due to the withholding of information concerning these things. In the February Horizon it mentions that 25% of urban councils have been

suspended or under investigation, in spite of the fact that mayors were put in place to ensure good governance. Was the ineptitude due to the fact that the mayors are political appointees, and not management professionals?

The result is bad government. Inefficiency and negligence is on the increase. The roads are deteriorating, the street lighting deteriorating, Panic decisions are being made [ taxation for war vets[-riots]- taxation removed] price increases/ price decreases, primary schools hijacked and made secondary schools/ remade into primary schools.

Bad government leads to national poverty and division and blaming and civil breakdown

Furthermore, instead of raising up a professional government minister, inefficient, but loyal ones remain in power. Some inefficient ones were removed from office but then later on were reinstated with inept and humiliating failure with international exposure.

The logical planned method of indigenising the agriculture of Zimbabwe would have been to train indigenous agriculturists in order to take over future commercial farms, and then phasing them in over 30 years or so [ allowing for a high natural casualty rate], but inefficiency and misspending and a lack of realistic forward planning has kept the nation in poverty and prevented this type of program being effective. [ we are now nearly 20 years into independence]. What many Shona Zimbabweans have said is that the people have a right to the farms. If the government policies have failed, then it was their choice. However they had the choice and if it is messed up it is just one of life’s failures that has to be endured. This attitude is Schadenfreude, a rejoicing at brother’s misfortune. A happiness caused by another’s misfortune. However this misfortune will definitely have a disastrous effect on the economy and on the lives of every single person in the nation, especially the poor. As Christians we should not passively watch the nation plan to cause suffering to the poor in an effort to postpone declining political popularity, in pseudo show of equalitarianism.

lack of planned success Vs undealt with predictable failure

Instead of budgeting for indigenous entrepreneurship training, and then government loans and supervision facilitating their moving into the mainstream economy, it appears that a party economic elite is being raised up. Indigenous people not in the party are excluded. This has on the one hand excluded professional businessmen from the economy, on the other hand it thrusts the inefficient into the economic mainstream who will be bankrupted by the economic judgments on the nation. It also encourages a crowd of pretenders to party loyally but who are motivated by a free lunch, the quick buck, the easy road to instant riches.

Beckman says The seductive nature of speculation lies in its promise not only to make you rich, but to do it quickly and with a minimum amount of effort and energy. Men have been known to risk everything in pursuit of this alluring objective. There is of

course another way of getting rich – the hard way, through care, determination and effort.

Management by crisis

Crisis management and inept management by government such as land designation, vet payouts, taxes raised and canceled after strikes, primary schools converted into secondary schools and reconverted after riots, workers surtaxes bulldozed through parliament and canceled after riots, easy foreseen, but undealt with problems will drive the government into a corner where panic decisions will be repeated, especially as non professional government ministers ineptly plan the future of their ministries. These decisions will be noted, not only by other nations who will strip Zimbabwe of its international privileges, but who will actually withdraw more and more aid and other assistance measures, and will be compelled to warn investors to not invest in Zimbabwe.

Freeloaders

Ressentiment leads to freeloaders/ false party devotees. the allure of wealth status and privilege will be too much temptation. They will appear to be devotees of the party but they will be devotees of themselves. These freeloaders will be bankrupted [ easy come easy go]. This party favoritism is a curse on this nation and will be a curse on the nation. Good money chases bad, but borrowing and false prosperity will keep the boat afloat until they go down and help drive the economy to sickness as a pose to health. Thus we see a company tendering for the airport with the specific precondition that it will not need to borrow bridging finance from the government, and then after it wins the tender it borrows money from the government. Then it is alleged that some of the specifications of the design are faulty due to the ignorance of the architect in airport design.

Beckman says in his book Crashes, Why They Happen, that easy credit is one of the main preconditions of an economic crash. Do the well connected have access to easy credit? If they do it will produce inefficiency and a crash of the dollar. As the president grows older or as the party loses its popular favor another phenomena comes into play – that of the rats leaving the sinking ship. As the party ship begins to sink greedy freeloaders will indulge in one last mad rush to quickly enrich themselves at public expense. The ones who are ultimately victimized is the poor when the price of mealie, meal, bread, plows, seed, and fertilizer goes up and up and up and up and up. The above freeloaders must realize that the final court of appeal for the poor is God, they have free access to Him and the appeal takes ten seconds and is free of charge and the resulting courtroom appearance with the judge of the supreme court of the Universe could be abruptly bought forward.

Is Mugabe an evangelical/born again Christian?

It is difficult to say, but looking at the whole picture it is unlikely. He is a Catholic and has followed some of the Catholic stances on different issues. Some of these are the post war reconciliation, antiabortion, anti homosexual, supports the mainline socially orientated churches for their assisting the poor, and speaks out against fundamentalist “Mushrooming” churches.

From time to time you hear reports of Him asking for prayer, of allowing the elders of a Pentecostal denomination to lay hands on him, of a Pentecostal bishop regularly advising him. However the other side is that he also is seen with the Mapostori movement, and in the early 80’s put forth a capitalist face with the Americans and a Marxist face with the Russians and Chinese. Ie He shows symptoms of being a master politician. Showing sympathy to the mainline denominations, the Pentecostals, the Mapostori cults, the capitalist Americans and the Marxist Russians and Chinese. Like a multifaceted mirror, whoever looks at it from any angle will see his own face reflected in it. However he has been consistent with the Catholic antiabortion stance and the anti homosexual stance.

FUTURE EVENTS

The following will happen: Growing corruption, growing management by crisis, less and less aid and foreign investment, inflation will fluctuate to very high’s and high’s [ it is high now]

Fluctuations between temporary chaos and long term insecurity, with some periods of rising expectation of prosperity, only to be dashed as another crisis happens. Please note that these are all caused by SIN, by evil hearts. It is not a tribal or racial issue. There are very competent people of all races in the nation, but the problem is that the competent ones are sometimes corrupt, and the many competent ones are pressured into leaving the government and joining the private sector.

Others will shift blame onto any convenient target from whites to Jews to the international community, to industrialists to South Africa to droughts, El Nino, excess rainfall, a selfish population, dissolute youth, ie any target but themselves. Their excuses will grow more and more hollow. However some minorities could face periods of harassment and consequent suffering. Whites and Asians must be prepared to take the brunt of this. However the tide of popular opinion will change, rendering it difficult for the government to find scapegoats.

As the ineptitude of the government becomes clearer and clearer to the mass of the population, the government will turn to shows of force and then actual use of force. It must be remembered that those who suffered in the war and who are adopting a facade

ofdemocracy will drop that facade when their luxurious lifestyles are threatened. This will make it difficult to all as the populace will recognize that violence got the government into power and they will turn to this to enable their lifestyles to continue. I do not believe that violence will be the solution to this problem. Instead as the consensus grows against corrupt government, the government will lose the will to fight and will allow democracy to take over. This response was predicted in the Friday 16/1/98 paper presented at the encouragers group, and fulfilled when the army and the tanks were called out. Furthermore it has been revealed that a bullet from the Chitungwiza’s mayor’s gun killed a rioter.

I see the government in confusion as the consequences of sin take their course. There will be some insincere attempts to bring about change [ like the recent national Consultative assembly], then as the government is discredited a growing attempt to produce genuine reform will grow [ but not towards democracy] but it will fail as this happens and that happens to undermine their attempts. These happenings will be a direct consequence of reaping from the corrupt and bad governance of the past. There will be financial blockages of the falling dollar creating inflation, wage negotiation crises, civil unrest. There will be backlashes from the populace as the people simply do not believe the postures of the government, though some of them will be sincere.

Some in the government will hunger for a national moral renewal. Unfortunately their voice will be confused by the voices of those that insincerely pose as asking for moral renewal. When the reformation gathers pace some of those that sincerely hunger for reform will be able to bring reform into government.

The population will swing from blaming the government to blaming other groups based on color, wealth, status and tribe. This chaos will change people’s drives from affluence to survival. This will make them open to a spiritual reformation, a reformation based on repentance and righteousness. A reformation that points to the united building together of the nation as a pose to individualistic craving for riches, and a genuine aversion to corruption.

VI. Secularization

There is an international trend in secularization, the recent trend is called the new World Order. This order is humanistic in its assumptions and aims. Some of the effects of it are good and bad. Some of its ideologies are followed by the government and some are rejected. This trend comes at first through one or two sources and can be blocked, but eventually it becomes a landslide and cannot be blocked. Some angles are the world political order led by the USA, the new age spiritual movement which has gained a little ground, television which subtly conveys the message through many overseas programs, the overseas press, aid agencies and others.

In its heart, secularization is the philosophy of . Man ruling man by the wisdom of man. God is removed from the picture. Thus in the sciences and the arts God is either removed or given an insignificant reference. The result is a pressure towards unbelief, a pressure to follow this world system. A vulnerability towards sin. In this nation the secular system

was first of all socialism. Then it was capitalism and now is greed. Some concessions have been made to the church with religious programs on radio and TV, the outlawing of homosexuality and the president meeting with church leaders from time to time. Thus the secularization process does not appear to be as strong as in RSA or Europe.

The main secular message for Zimbabwe was the early post independence socialist rhetoric and a weak attempt to implement some of its policies. It has been discredited but the ressentiment equalitarian rhetoric inspired by socialism has not stopped. It flares up and dies down according to the need to regain credibility, or in the three or four months before a major policy that will discomfort or alienate the productive industrial / agricultural/ tourist sectors

Secularization will lead to a diversion of the nation from God. That in turn will rob the nation of the image of God which is the basis for all morality and justice, which will contribute to national breakdown.

FUTURE EVENTS

The pressure towards secularization will grow as the international community pressurizes Zimbabwe to conform to its philosophy, but it will be delayed by a strong Christian consensus and also by national poverty diverting attention from elitist sophisticated Armchair philosophies. Zimbabwe does not need a ” Choose your religion” approach. It needs a strong drive towards righteousness.

VII. Christianity in Declension.

I have left this till last because I wished to lay a groundwork first. By now it is obvious that there needs to be a spiritual and moral reformation. The groundwork has been laid for this by missionaries and educators. However the righteousness of God has not penetrated through the cultural barriers. Most of the politicians have been educated by missionaries, but they are secular/ self serving or even wicked in their thinking. There is a small handful who profess Christ.

The problem was that where a mission educates the peasants, false conversions are only too human. Consequently we have priests, teachers and politicians who are Christian in name only. Christ must penetrate the whole an whereby the traits and mores of culture are submitted to His righteousness. It must be admitted that if the officials were serving Christ, the suicide fall into corruption of the nation would not be able to exist. The effects of African culture and its inability to rebuke authorities or resist evil and its perspective into the past would be unable to exist. There needs to be a reformation.

Now we have mentioned the administration, we must cover the most important part, the body of professing Christians. In 1981 I heard a story of a Christian who resisted corruption by refusing a payment of USD 200,000. Since then that type of report has not been repeated.

To make it worse, the main church planting organizations such as ZAOGA and FOG are reportedly preaching a money oriented Gospel which was not preached by Jesus, Paul or

Peter or James or any of the reformers. Instead there is a big financial focus with giving the path to financial blessing, and God the source of financial blessing. These may be true but should not have the focus that they have. The followers then also become materialistic and are unable to avoid the love of money. They pride in possessions and promotion instead of the simplicity of devotion to Christ. The evangelicals hardly preach holiness and repentance any more. The Charismatic churches are intoxicated with experiences and revelations and prophecies. It is no joke when a significant church leader [ not the above] says that his ministry is to the rich! He should read the book of James.

The result is that the hunger and thirst for Christ has gone, to be replaced by a gospel that accommodates to the local culture. In churches where the wealthy go there is a type of comfortable Christianity, a teaching which will teach on historical and geographic events, but not exposure of sin and repentance, not the roots of discouragement and the solution, not the ugliness of the world and the holiness of Christ. Not overcoming sin, overcoming temptation. A compatible Christianity is preached which does not offend. It is sickening. It will not confront a materialistic self centered culture. It takes the saltiness out of Christianity and renders it useless.

Consequently fiery evangelism is out of vogue. Prayer and fasting for a week is hardly heard of. Suffering for the faith and for righteousness is not mentioned. Openly rejoicing in the overcoming of sin probably does not happen or it is unmentioned because it will make some uncomfortable. The main focus of Christians is not to go out and preach the Gospel, lead people to Christ and disciple them [ eternal reward] but on issues of this temporary world, [ temporal reward]

The eyes of Christians are dry and their hearts cold. The passion for Christ is a flicker and their thirst for righteousness can be put off in favor of immediate goals.

FUTURE EVENTS

This is the mark of laodicea and God hastily vomits it out. He will not allow this caricature of Christianity to stick to Him.

He has warned of national judgment and he is going to effect it. Christians will be discouraged from materialism and will be encouraged toward putting their priorities in order. God has shown His desire for reformation but just as two walk together so we need to walk together with God. Our part is necessary.