(Last Updated on January 8, 2013 by Editor)
ZIMBABWE – SPIRIT Embassy founder Uebert Angel Mudzanire on Sunday lambasted Finance minister Tendai Biti for challenging him to “produce” $10 billion required to retire government debt, saying “miracle money” was not meant for those who dipped their fingers in national coffers.
Angel also said the money was not for those who had failed to run the national economy.
“I am sorry minister (Biti), the miracle money is not for someone who has failed to account for his duties or for thieves in government,” Angel said.
Angel said although some people seemed alarmed by the “miracle money”, there were greater miracles coming this year, which he branded Epikaizo – Year of the Shadow of God – and those writing negatively about him would get tired.
“Under this year’s theme, the Year of the Shadow of God (Epikaizo), big things are going to happen,” he told worshippers on Sunday. These (issues about miracle money) are small things that you are talking about. All the newspapers writing about Angel, you are going to get tired.”
United Families International Church (UFIC) founder Emmanuel Makandiwa, who recently prophesied that Zimbabwe was headed for a gold rush that would see people picking up the precious mineral from the ground as God begins to offer divine solutions to the country’s challenges, on Sunday said people might not understand their predictions and their way of life.
Without making reference to Biti’s challenge during his sermon also on Sunday, Makandiwa said: “I am living in the supernatural sphere. People should brace for more foresights in the short distance future. Many miracles are going to be revealed. I will continue to equip my church with the understanding of spiritual things.”
Biti on Friday challenged Angel and Makandiwa to prove the authenticity of their “miracles” by helping the country secure
$10,1 billion, $260 million and $200 million to liquidate government’s external debt, balance domestic arrears and fund the referendum respectively.
This followed claims that Angel had enabled his congregants to miraculously receive money in their hands, pockets and bank accounts.
The “miracles” reportedly happened in Botswana last year during Angel’s Miracle Night and at the City Sports Centre in Harare during his New Year’s Eve service dubbed Crossover with No Carryover.
“I respect the men of God, Angel and Makandiwa, because of the miracles they are performing. But if they are printing real money, I am asking them to deposit the money in our (Treasury) account at CBZ (Bank) so that we can pay some of our arrears,” Biti was reported as saying at the weekend.
Meanwhile, Tourism and Hospitality minister Walter Mzembi in an interview yesterday came out guns blazing defending Angel and Makandiwa, saying the two should not be persecuted as they constituted the country’s tourist attractions.
Mzembi’s said the two prophets were contributing positively to the country’s tourism sector because of the international response to their “religious attractions”.
“Today, I believe securing an appointment with (Nigeria’s) TB Joshua is a nearly impossible feat for ordinary people, because of the international response to this famous religious attraction. So don’t persecute the local prophet. I endorse religious tourism itself as a source of revenue. Who is the bereaved or the aggrieved in this case? Has anyone been short-changed? These are miracles that happen when God’s presence has been invited in a specific spiritual environment and moment in time, the glory of God.
“There is no case between the prophets and their congregations, many of them well-heeled, educated and literate people who are looking for spiritual solutions to their myriad of problems. It’s the external audience and competitor churches that are crying more than the supposedly bereaved.Why?” he said
He said if Treasury needed the money, it should go to a church led by its minister, Biti.
“If Treasury wants miracle money and solutions, it must go to church led by its minister. I go to UFIC and Spirit Embassy from time to time in solidarity with the exceptional support they are giving to tourism, notwithstanding my own faith. They are a major tourism attraction. Their benchmark is TB Joshua of Nigeria to whom some of our affluent classes quietly and discreetly go for their own spiritual solutions,” Mzembi said.
Makandiwa is on record as saying he can assist people to amass material wealth – NewsDay.