Many times the church has been accused of being confined to the walls of the church building and leaving matters of national importance to non-believers.
Some have labelled the church as too spiritual to be of use in the physical realm. Christians are accused of spending time and energy praying and fasting, binding and casting while the world is falling into the abyss.
I don’t totally agree with this notion and I believe the church is not sleeping; it is steadily taking its position as the rightful agent of God for the manifestation of the Kingdom of God on earth as I report today.
Homosexuality has been legalised in many parts of the world with the West taking a leading role.
Regrettably some churches have allowed gays and lesbians to minister at the pulpit. With the rate at which Western ideology is accepted in other parts of the world including Africa, I have found it pertinent and timely to carry out the communiqué released by the Council of the African Apostles (CAA) at the recently held summit in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
CAA is a brainchild of like-minded Apostles from different parts of Africa. The prime movers of the initiative include the chairman, Bishop Tudor Bismark (Zimbabwe), Dr Mensa Otabil (Ghana), Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams (Ghana), Bishop Enock Sitima (Botswana) and Bishop Mike Okonkwo (Nigeria) amongst others.
The Gathering of Africa’s Apostolic voices was birthed from the conviction that the continent needs to hear a clear, concise and authoritative voice from the church which addresses governmental issues within the church and in national and regional matters and to contribute significantly to policy formulation, law reform and constitution amendment processes.
The statement reads: “Recent statements made by the British and United States governments (November 2011-January 2012) concerning the need for African governments to observe the “rights” of gays and lesbians in their constitutions, are disturbing and need to be taken seriously.
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
Recently the United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, addressed the African Union Heads of States meeting urging African leaders to respect gay rights.
Whilst we acknowledge the universality of human rights and hold to the belief that every human has inalienable rights of expression, association, opinion and access to basic necessities, we also note that these rights should be observed and enjoyed within the confines of what the Word of God clearly establishes.
“Our opposition to the attempts to legislate for the so called ‘gay rights’ is informed by the Scriptures of our Holy God. Furthermore, we do not believe that homosexuality is a natural condition and as such we oppose any attempts to legislate it into our constitutions.
Furthermore, we find it morally irresponsible of Western powers to attach the adoption of ‘gay rights’ to development support. Such positions affirm the long-held beliefs that the West does not relate with Africa on the basis of equality and also that such pronouncements violate the Paris Principles on Development Support.
We equally note with concern that the attempts to legalise homosexuality in Africa are being pursued by countries who have not concluded this matter in their own countries. We affirm our support to ‘like-minded’ organisations in the West and Africa currently engaged in initiatives to oppose such attempts.
“Our opposition is based on sound interpretation of Scripture and our understanding of biological reproduction as expressed in Genesis 1:28.
We believe that God’s purpose is for man to leave his father and his mother and to cleave unto his wife (woman) — to be one flesh (Gen 2:24:
‘Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.’) Indeed we seem to be allowing our perversions to misdirect our understanding of morality and what the Holy Scriptures say.
Romans 1:26-27 warns of such cases and instances of moral decadence. We have recently observed the ongoing revisionist attempts to rewrite African history and to suggest that African cultures have always had gays and lesbians thus implying such behaviour to be acceptable and normal.
We do not seek to argue the accuracy of such a discourse, but only to state that such behaviour was observed in Biblical times and was equally condemned.
If indeed our ancestors condoned such behaviour they were mistaken, but we will not be pushed into accepting such morally repulsive behaviour based on this argument.
“We as the Council of African Apostles demand the following:
• The West (especially the United Kingdom and the United States of America) withdraw their statement tying aid to the legislation of ‘gay rights’
• That Aid in whatever form should not be tied to morals, principles and/or religious beliefs
• That the African Union lead the discussion on this matter
We affirm the following:
• The right of the African people and their respective governments to chart their own agenda for development
• The need for individual governments and regional blocs to develop their own laws regarding the subject matter based on a Biblical worldview.”
All Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible.
•Feedback: [email protected]. Follow Pastor Makarimayi on www.Twitter/PEMAKARIMAYI and Facebook
