BULAWAYO – Countless church ministers around the world claim to hear from God, and in Africa – it’s almost every church leader, particularly members of mushrooming Pentecostal churches who style themselves as prophets.
Christians have not reached a consensus over who are the genuine prophets of God, and so the jury remains out as more churches go up everyday led by men and women claiming a connection to the Almighty.
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits,” the Holy Bible says in Matthew 7 verse 15.
For many Christians looking for direction, they have had to be on the lookout for “prophecies” given by men of God, and those that usually appear to make accurate predictions about the future earn trust.
In Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second city, a university lecturer has developed a knack for prophesying about forthcoming events with almost forensic accuracy.
Pastor Ian Ndlovu of the Divine Kingdom Baptist Ministries founded his church in 2008 after relocating from Gwanda. From just three people meeting as a prayer group when it started in Nkulumane suburb, it has grown to several thousands with many branches.
His followers say he has given prophecies about major events in Zimbabwe which came to pass, from the 2017 military coup that ousted tyrant Robert Mugabe, results of the 2018 elections to events elsewhere in the world like the arrest of Rwanda dissident Paul Rusesabagina.
On August 19, 2020, Ndlovu staked his entire credibility on an event he said was very imminent.
“I know the vision I saw but God said I must share it in a general way,” Ndlovu told his followers at his growing new church which has moved to the Bulawayo city centre.
“There are two main protagonists in the Presidential Election in the United States of America. I saw these two men, both of them white, and when their faces disappeared I saw an ambulance being followed by other cars, moving very fast. I wondered: ‘What has happened?’
“The spirit of God said you must pray for the presidential candidates, one of them will fall ill in the not so distant future. Not that I don’t know who I’m talking about. I know who I’m talking about. It might throw that nation into confusion if one of them is hospitalised especially before the Presidential Election. Already there’s too much confusion in the United States, and the confusion will be more if one is campaigning and the other one is in hospital. Do you realise?”
On October 2, it was announced that U.S. President Donald Trump and his wife had tested positive for the coronavirus, with the November 3 election a little more than four weeks away.
Trump was taken to a hospital “out of an abundance of caution” with “mild symptoms”, the White House later announced. Trump tweeted that he would leave the Walter Reed hospital on October 5, but his campaign remained on ice.
At a Sunday service on October 4, Ndlovu reminded his church of the prophesy. How could he have known?
