By Bishop Dave Chikosi
Years ago when I pastored in the City of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, we once had a curious case of a woman with a “disappearing illness.” The issue was brought to my attention by the woman’s two very worried daughters. Mother would periodically get bouts of extremely excruciating pain surge through her body. She would get weak, confused and do very little but writhe and holler in pain.
The daughters would take her for medical treatment, but as soon as they entered hospital grounds, all symptoms of pain and discomfort would disappear and mother would go back to her normal self. This went on for several months until the case was reported to us.
I decided to personally investigate the phenomenon myself. I picked up mother and her two girls in my car and drove them to hospital to see what would happen. All the way from Queenspark to Bulawayo Central Hospital mother was obviously in a lot of pain, groaning and grimacing in hellish sort of way. So I put pedal to the metal and did my best to get to the hospital soonest.
We did, and as soon as we stepped onto hospital grounds, mother was fine as frog hair. Immediately I knew we were dealing with what the Bible calls a “spirit of infirmity” and I wasn’t about to put up with the devil’s nonsense. So I asked everybody to get back into the car. We drove to a secluded place where I proceeded to kick the devil’s butt and set the poor woman free in the name of Jesus.
Doctor Luke’s Diagnosis: A Spirit of Infirmity?
One of Jesus’ disciples was a man called Luke. Luke also happened to have been a medical doctor. It is interesting that when Dr Luke saw a crippled woman who was bent over, he did not diagnose her with a medical problem such as arthritis, slipped disc or fusion of the spinal bones (technically known today as “Ankylosing Spondylitis”).
Dr Luke made a strange diagnosis. He writes: And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself” (Luke 13:11). A spirit of infirmity, not Ankylosing Spondylytis.
And just in case anyone thinks St Luke misdiagnosed, hear it from the mouth of Jesus as He rebukes a group of Sabbatarians who were against Him healing the sick on a Sabbath. Jesus angrily asks: “Should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free (Luke 13:16).
Jesus says Satan, not arthritis or Spondylytis, had bound this woman for 18 long years. Jesus also diagnosed one young boy’s inability to speak and hear as caused directly by a dumb and deaf spirit. He promptly yelled to the spirit in that young boy: “Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him (Mark 9:23). And then there was also the case of “a dumb man possessed with a devil. And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake (mark 9:32-33)
Now if there are spirits that cause deafness, dumbness and curvature of the spine, why is it inconceivable that there are spirits that cause poverty also? If demons can make sickness appear and disappear, you are deluded my friend to think demons cannot make your material wealth dwindle or altogether disappear. Who do you think stole, killed and destroyed Job’s 7 000 sheep, 3 000 camels and 500 yoke of oxen? (I mean the Biblical Job, not Steve Jobs!). Satan of course. And who restored back to Job twice the property and wealth that he lost? God did.
don’t COMMIT The Sin of Transposition
The sin of transposition is when believers, through careless reading of scripture, attribute satan’s doings to God and vice versa. The Bible, however, is very clear that “the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10). Satan is a threefold scoundrel. He is a thief, a murderer and an anarchist. He will come after you and all that is yours, like he did with Job. The reason is because he hates you my friend. He is not the least bit interested in your success and prosperity. If he could have killed you in your mother’s womb he would have.
Satan hates you because you were created in the image and likeness of God, his sworn enemy. Remember, before the creation of mankind satan was God’s highest creation, His favorite angel – wonderful and beautiful to behold. He occupied the highest ranking position in heaven until he got kicked out of heaven for stirring up rebellion. To this day he is persona non grata in heaven.
As replacement to satan, man was created “a little lower than God, and crowned him with glory and honor” (Psalm 8:5). The same glory and honor that once adorned Lucifer now envelopes mankind. You and I are thus a powerful and painful reminder of what satan once was, could have been and what he irretrievably lost.
‘MASHAVE’ IN CONTEXT OF AN AFRICAN COSMOLOGY
Our African ancestors, without the benefit of a Bible, had enough sense to realize that not all types of sickness (urwere) and poverty (urombo) are natural. Some of these cases are supernatural or paranormal. In a typical African religious cosmology the work of demons in impoverishing individuals and communities is well understood.
When a demon of poverty (shave reurombo) is active in an individual’s life, you will see a regular pattern or vicious cycle of self-sabotage in that individual’s finances and material wealth. (The avenging ngozi spirit is even more deleterious of your success and prosperity than the vagrant mashave spirits).
A person demonized by shave reurombo may build a house only to accidentally burn it down the next day. He will win the lottery only to lose the m oney on his way back home. He buys a brand new vehicle and rear ends a stationery vehicle before he even leaves the car dealership. And should he get on the Harare-London plane, his luggage likely gets shipped to Iceland or Timbuktu.
These things don’t just happen once in a blue moon: they are a regular pattern. It soon becomes clear to friends and loved ones that tsano vakagarwa neshave reurombo.
Straw Man Arguments Made by Poverty GOSPEL ADVOCATES
Advocates of the gospel of lack and poverty are quite adept at using “straw man arguments” in their attempt to refute the principles of Biblical prosperity. What is a straw man argument? It is a debating strategy used to deliberately misrepresent an opponent’s position in order to make it easier to attack. You exaggerate, misrepresent, or just completely fabricate your opponent’s argument so that your own position appears so much more reasonable.
In real life a human effigy made of straw is incredibly easy to create. It is also very easy to attack. Effigies don’t fight back. You just beat them down and proceed to declare victory. Easy like Sunday morning. But the only problem is that while you’re busy attacking the straw man effigy, the real opponent (opposing argument) is standing by unchallenged.
No one Ever Said All Poverty is Caused by Demons
In his last essay installment, (and with all due respect), Mr Learnmore Zuze, my esteemed debating partner, spend over half of his article attacking a straw man. The title of his article: “Poverty is not a demon, and wealth is not godliness” is a well-constructed straw man.
No one ever said that poverty is a demon and wealth is godliness. What those of us who teach Biblical prosperity have said is this: there are types of poverty that are caused by demons, just as there are types of diseases that are caused by demons. Demons are not the ONLY reason people are poor and sick. Sometimes the reasons are natural, but many times there is a supernatural dimension to sickness and poverty. Our African ancestors had enough sense to know that.
why Trust YOUR OWN Sweat More Than the Blood oF JESUS?
My debating partner also believes that the curse of thorns and thistles that God pronounced on the ground is still binding on everyone. So he urges his readers “murume achadya cheziya.” My question is: Ko cheRopa chinodyiwa riiniko nhai? Doesn’t he know that “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us” (Gal 3:13)? We are redeemed from the curse by the Blood Jesus shed.
There are 7 places where Jesus shed His Blood on His way to the Cross. One of those places was when the Romans placed a crown of thorns on His head until Blood flowed down His brow. The crown of thorns represented the curse of poverty that God pronounced in Eden:
“Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce THORNS and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food (Gen 3:17-19)
Thorns are a symbol of poverty. That same symbol of poverty was placed on head of the last Adam (Jesus). And when those thorns pierced His brow, Blood flowed, signaling our redemption from poverty. No longer are we to eat from the sweat on our brow, but from the Blood on His brow. This is the essence of grace i.e. getting what you do not deserve. If all you get is what you work for, how does God get the glory? After all He did for you on the Cross you still want to survive by your wits and pull yourself up by your own bootstraps? How arrogant!
(To see more articles by Bishop Dave Chikosi go to his blog http://davechikosi.blogspot.com/. Also, his book “Dynamics of Heroic Faith” is available on Amazon.com at: http://www.amazon.com/Dynamics-Heroic-Faith-Dominion-Circumstances/dp/0595415369)
