DO ALL HAVE GIFTS OF HEALING?

As Zambia continues to reduce its HIV/AIDS rate and improves on its diagnosis, treatment and care, there has been, however, a worrying increase in the number of defaulters - people with HIV/AIDS who have stopped taking their medication. Zambian newspapers have carried reports of a worrying trend amongst some mainly self-styled and self-appointed preachers claiming to be able to cure HIV/AIDS and after praying for healing, telling followers to stop taking medication or even to burn it to prove their faith, so that God will heal them. See Report on ThinkAfricaPress site.

Throughout Africa, the Church is growing and Pentecostalism in particular has exploded. Unfortunately, alongside it, so too, has a non-affiliated, almost cult-type, of quasi-charismatic-pentecostalism with its emphasis on the 'prosperity gospel',  'health-and-wealth gospel' and the 'faith gospel' - which claims faith and donations will be rewarded by God here on earth. The idea is that God wants to bless his followers, and that these blessings can be 'unlocked' through prayer and by demonstrations of faith, which giving large sums of money as an offering to the church. This dogma smacks of the return to indulgences and clerical rapacity to my rather orthodox reformed mind.

The preachers in question are so-called prophets “anointed by God”, making them untouchable and unchallengeable to their mainly poorly educated and discipled congregations, so that any doubt, complaint or criticism against the preacher is a hand raised against God. Telly-evangelism has much to do with the growth of this ‘prosperity gospel’. In Zambia we have Trinity Broadcasting, One Gospel and Rhema, Real Christian TV that are widely watched, since they are free and an alternative to the State-Broadcaster. These channels broadcast programmes 24/7 with an over-emphasis on giving and then receiving ten-fold, healing miracles and exorcisms.

The TV evangelists from these stations have become celebrities in Zambia, attracting followers because of their fame, fortunes, influence and life-styles and clergy from all denominations try to emulate them, also in their style of preaching and praying. For many a career in the Church is such, it is not a calling but the road to status, professional and economic advancement. A Kenyan source reports that over 90% of Kenyan clergy have no call at all. They became ministers because a better career could not be found elsewhere.

What then should be the response?  Those who claim to be healed need to be retested, restart medication if necessary and find an HIV-competent and supportive Church. Some patients will still say the machines are lying or have been told by preachers that they simply did not pray hard enough or give a large enough offering to the church, so they refuse to go for re-testing.

Destroying ARVs is illegal and can lead to arrest and imprisonment. Surely encouraging HIV+ people to stop taking life-saving medicine is a form of murder? But people are reluctant to speak out against 'men of God'.

Community-based education regarding HIV/AIDS by health workers who provide home-based care, regular visits and the formation of support groups is being piloted. The Zambian media both print and broadcasting have a duty to raise awareness and warn of these "merchants of death" in churches.

Another initiative being tried is with the District AIDS Task Forces and Ministry of Health, engaging with church leaders to discuss healing and the Bible in a non-confrontational way.

In a Choma Church every Sunday before the Preaching of the Word, the preacher makes the following announcement. "There is not, and has never been, a cure for AIDS. If you are HIV positive, you can take medication called ARVs... Some people claim to have found the cure for AIDS and they want to sell it to you. It is not true. If you are HIV positive, take ARVs."

This article is in no way belittling those who stress that healing is part of the fullness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ. This can be clearly seen in the lives of ordinary but godly people, as well as in more prominent Christians honoured by God. But I also know, having myself prayed earnestly and believingly for a dear friend, that special healing will not always be granted but that God’s will shall be done. Even St Paul prayed three times for the thorn to be removed but was told to glory in his infirmity. This is an equally authentic Christian testimony as are the signs and wonders accompanying the Ministry of the Word. We need to pray for a spirit of discernment for believers to be able to judge rightly between the true and the false, and seek to be like those who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. (Heb5:15)

All Creatures That Grate and Pall!

People often ask us about the various creepie-crawlies and mini-beasties you come across here.



At this time of year during the annual inundation, the insect life here is prolific and as the water level rises and more holes, burrows, mounds and tunnels become flooded, high and dry real estate becomes a premium for all creation. So at this time you learn to share terra firma with a myriad of etymological refugees.



At the moment we are being plagued by ants. I am afraid it got so bad we blotted our green credentials by going out and buying Termodan spray to evict and extirpate the persistent columns of ants and their soldiers who were seeking refuge in our kitchen, dining-room and office, making it impossible to stand, sit or work there.



The ants quickly covered any available surface and gave any exposed human flesh a sharp and irritating nip. Since applying the spray, each morning we swept out the debris of ant corpses which looked like heaps of spilt coffee-grinds. It is now bliss, typing this, as my bare feet no longer have to be kept lifted to keep them out of the way of the marauding ants on safari underneath the desk.



Two trivial ant facts:

1. What people call ants eggs are usually the silk cocoons containing a chrysalis. The eggs are pinhead size white and shiny and found in bunches.

2. There can be more than a dozen queens in a large nest. They don’t fight or kill each other as bees do.



Another war we constantly wage is against the ravenous regiments of the wrongly named white ant. They are actually neither white nor ants but termites with soft bodies and no narrow waist like true ants. As a rule their food is wood and they do great damage by eating holes, galleries and trenches in the furniture and floors. They are not averse to books either. They are certainly industriously destructive as they cover the object they covet with a clay and saliva shell, gradually enlarging this and finally engulfing the object with termite clay, if left to their own devices.



The workers and soldiers are blind and stunted by their diet, but other brothers and sisters are fed on richer food and become kings and queens of new nests. Now, when the weather is warm and just after a heavy shower of rain, these winged termites leave the nest and fly up into the air on their nuptial flight. When they land they shed their wings and look for a place for a new nest.



These are the inswa that people in Central Africa gather and roast as relish, after they have already run the gauntlet of birds, frogs and lizards. It is reckoned only one in 10 000 survive and succeed in starting a new colony, for which we should be thankful.



Last week on our weekly trip to Livingstone our car was engulfed at Sikaunzwe by a massive swarm of ephemeroptera, known as mayflies. The high grey cloud stretched for at least 4 kilometres along the road. The car was so thickly covered by the dead insects that we needed to have it washed in Livingstone. Sikaunzwe is another area bisected by rivers, a low-lying fertile floodplain. It is a day’s march from Mwandi and where Livingstone spent his first night on the way to the Falls.



These tiny white insects are only about 5mm in length and have two pairs of wings and two tail filaments at the end of their abdomen. They do not feed and only live for a few hours, hence their name. Their only function is to mate and then lay their eggs. The eggs are laid in the water and the larvae live for a long time, feeding on decaying animal and plant matter on the waterbed. They are interesting in that they emerge in a pre-adult stage and then moult into the true imago. Sikaunzwe is a good spot to fish at the moment especially for lindombe (catfish), obviously the larvae must be an important element in the diet of local fish.



In contrast to the mayfly, the cicada is one of the longest-living insects. You hear the loud shrill love song of the male all the time here during the hot summer months during the hot noonday hours and in the still, warm nights. It can be almost deafening at times



The cicada has a long beak which it uses to pierce tree-bark to feed on tree sap. He does not make the racket by rubbing his hind legs or wings like a grasshopper or cricket. He has a pair of drums on his body just behind his back legs. He uses the rapid movement of certain muscles to vibrate the drums. The male enjoys six weeks feasting and singing before he dies.



Tuesday was Woman’s Day and I have been undergoing a gender sensitization process since then so now let me deal with the female cicada. Before dying she lays her eggs in the bark of trees. After a few weeks the eggs hatch, the offspring are similar to the adults but lack wings but are equipped with thick strong front legs and blunt teeth for digging. They drop to earth and burrow into the ground and feed off sap in roots. Depending on the type cicadas spend anything from 2 to15 years underground. After that they crawl to the surface, climb a tree and split their skin. The adult emerges and flies away.



Oh, I forgot to say only the male can sing, the female is completely silent.

As Xenophon put it over 2000 years ago:

“Happy are the cicadas’ lives,

For they are blessed with voiceless wives.”