UNBROKEN ALTERS,UNBROKEN CURSES AND UNBROKEN COVENANTS

1
 PART ONE

UNBROKEN ALTERS

2
 CHAPTER ONE

UNEXPLAINED MISFORTUNES

After creating everything else on earth including man, the richest person then was the first man on earth
as all the minerals of the world belonged to him and all the animals of the earth belonged to him. God
was happy with His creation including man. Then where did things go wrong for the man?

In God’s plan for man’s life, He had clearly commanded man to be fruitful and multiply. This explains
why the majority of men and women will always have children with ease. Then where did barrenness
come from? Surely the same God who said. ‘Be fruitful and multiply,’ did not turn around and command
certain people not to be productive. How can the same God who gave women a womb make the same
women barren?

Others may want to argue that when man sinned in the garden of Eden, he was cursed. No, God
does not curse and bless at the same time, He is God who changes not (Malachi 3 vs. 6). No, God
blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over
the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."
(Genesis 1 vs.28). What God cursed was the ground and not man.

Why do we have people who get married only for a short time and the husbands die and they never get
married again? Why do we have ladies who bear children for men in love but the same men who yesterday
would die for them treat the same women as filthy rags and reject them? Why do such people have to live
a life time without husbands? Why in the first place would God connect a person to a wrong partner?

Then there are misfortunes which seem to follow certain families. In some families, people do not
live beyond a certain age. In other families, whole families have been wiped out by non-hereditary
diseases like HIV and Aids. Why would Aids appear to have been sent to certain families? In some
3
families, all siblings are either divorced or they lost spouses to death. In some families, whole
families are in second marriages and yet in others no one seems to get remarried after the first
misfortune.

Consider the case of the Kennedy Family in America. The Kennedy family is a great political and
business dynasty, one of the richest families in America. From plane crashes to assassinations the
family has suffered a disproportionate share of misfortunes for a single family. We outline below
some of the misfortunes that they experienced.

1941: Rosemary Kennedy lobotomized

5She was the eldest daughter of Joseph P Kennedy Senior. She is believed to have suffered from
lack of oxygen at birth hence she lagged behind in terms of developmental milestones. She was
sent to a school for the intellectually disabled so that she could get extra attention. As she hit her
twenties, she experiences violent mood swings and fits. Her father decided to subject her daughter
to a new experimental procedure called lobotomy. The procedure was botched and it left her with
the intellectual capacity of a two-year old. She became unable to walk or talk. She spent the rest
of her life in care giving institutions as the family feared that her condition could damage their
political ambitions.

1944: Joe Kennedy Jr killed in action

The eldest of the Kennedy sons, Joe Jr, was a naval aviator. In August 1944, he went to Britain on
a bombing mission. Unfortunately, an explosive carried in his plane detonated early destroying
Kennedy’s plane killing him and his co–pilot instantly. He was just twenty–nine years of age.

1948: Kathleen ‘Kick’ Kennedy dies in a plane crash.

She took a private plane to Paris to visit her father. Her plane was caught in a storm which subjected
the plane to severe turbulence. When they emerged from the clouds the plane was in a deep dive,
moments away from impact. Despite attempts to pull up, the strain on the plane was too much and
it disintegrated. All four on board were killed instantly.

August 1963:New Born Patrick Kennedy dies.

On 7 August 1963, J.F. Kennedy’s wife gave birth to premature baby boy whom they named
Patrick. He only lived for 39 hours.

November 1963: John F Kennedy is assassinated.

On 22 November 1963, president J.F. Kennedy was assassinated after being in power for less than
three years. He was 46.

1964: Ted Kennedy escapes a plane crash.

4
Nine months after the death of his brother, J.F. Kennedy, Ted, then a 32 year old Senator, had a
plane crash whilst travelling to Massachusetts to campaign. He survived the crash.

4 June 1968 David Kennedy and mother are saved from drowning

David , the fourth son of Robert F. Kennedy together with her mother were saved from drowning
by his father, Robert F. Kennedy.

June 1968: Robert Kennedy assassinated

RFK as he was affectionately known by his supporters was a prominent Democratic member. He
had previously served as US attorney General between 1961-1964. He was subsequently Senator
for New Yok. By 1968, he was a leading candidate for the Democratic Party presidential nominee
following in the footsteps of his brother John

Shortly after winning the California primary on June 5, he was shot dead by a young Palestinian
who wanted to retaliate for his pro–Israel stance during the 1967 Israeli war. He was 43 years old.

1969: The Chappaquiddick Incident

Late one evening in 1969, Senator Ted Kennedy left a party on Chappaquiddick island to drop
another party guest, Mary Joe Kopechne back at the landing ferry. The car skidded off the bridge
into the water. Ted Kennedy escaped and swam to safety leaving Mary trapped in the car and she
to drowned

1973 Ted Kennedy Jr.’s leg is amputated

In 1973, Ted Kennedy’s son was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a form of bone cancer. The leg was
amputated in November 1973.

1973: Joseph Kennedy II has a devastating accident

He was the son of the late R.F. Kennedy. At the age of twenty, he was driving a Jeep in Nantucket with
six other people including his brother David and his girlfriend, Pamela Barkley. Pamela was left paralysed
whilst David was injured.

1984: David Kennedy dies from an overdose

David never really recovered from the trauma he had experienced, watching his father being
assassinated live on television. HHE was also touched by the injury to his girlfriend. He took to drugs. He
was found dead in 1984 having overdosed a combination of cocaine and prescription medication.

December 31, 1997 Michael Kennedy dies

5
He was the sixth child of Robert Kennedy. He died in a tragic skiing accident. He was on a ski trip with
several members of his family when he died. The family was said to be playing a game of football while
on the their skis and Michael was not wearing safety gear nor a helmet. He hit against a tree and died.
He was 38 years old.

1999: JFK Junior dies in a plane crash

John Jnr, who was born two weeks after his father was elected president of America had become a
prominent professional Lawyer in New York. He flew from New York to Massachusetts via Matha’s
vineyard to attend a family wedding with his wife and sister in law. The plane was reported missing after
failing to arrive on time and failed respond to communication.

Wreckage and debris was later found in the Atlantic Ocean and their bodies were discovered several
days later on the sea bed. It is thought that Kennedy became disoriented during a descent over water at
night resulting in the crash.

September 2011 Kara Kennedy dies

On September 16 2011, Kara Kennedy, the only daughter of Ted Kennedy died of heart attack while
working out at her health club. She was 51 years old. Nine years earlier she had had a portion of her
lung removed as part of treatment for lung cancer.

May 2012: Mary Richardson Kennedy dies

She was a wife of Robert F Kennedy Jr. but they had divorced. She could not live up with divorce and she
took to substance abuse. She committed suicide on 16 May 2012.

August 2019 : Saoirse Roisin Kennedy Hill

Saoirse was a grand daughter of Robert F. Kennedy Sr. She was only 33 when she committed suicide on
August 1 2019 .

April 2020: Maeve Kennedy Townsend Mckean and Gideon Mckean.

Maeve Kennedy Townsend Mckean, grand daughter of Robert F Kennedy Sr and her 8 year old son went
missing while they were self–isolating in a vacation home on the Chesapeake Bay. The bodies of the two
were later discovered. It was revealed that the two were playing kickball behind the house which
borders a small shallow cove on the bay. The ball went into the water and she and her son got into their
canoe hoping to quickly retrieve the ball and return to dry land. Unfortunately, they were pushed away
by winds into the open bay and they did not wear life jackets. They were being pushed deep into the
water. Efforts to rescue them failed and they both drowned. It was an extremely sad incident.

Why on earth would a single family which has not harmed anyone have such tragedies over a period of
eighty years? Will the tragedies ever stop? These are questions we would ask ourselves if we were
members of the famous Kennedy family.

6
The story of Nancy

Nancy was a very beautiful young girl who lived in Harare. Both her parents had died early but they had
left a few properties which sustained her siblings and her. At the age of twenty–three, she met John and
they fell in love. John was a Chemical Engineer in Harare. A week before their traditional marriage, John
died in a car crash. Nancy was devasted. For the next two years, she stayed out of love as she was still
too hurt to get into another relationship.

Then she later fell in love with Samuel. Samuel was a very loving young man. He was a Chartered
Accountant and worked for a famous international company. His employment package included two
fully paid for international holiday trips outside the region per year and t two fully paid for holiday trips
within the SADC region .He was a high flying young professional. Five years after they got married, their
house was broken into by armed robbers who shot and killed Samuel, leaving behind two sons. Nancy’s
life was turned upside down.

Four years later, Nancy met Tafara, a well to do young business person. Tafara was a divorcee with his
own children. They got married at a colourful wedding and Nancy thought her star was rising once more.
Three years into the marriage, the Zimbabwean business environment took a serious nose dive.
Inflation short to over 1000%. Two prominent banks closed within six months of each other, taking with
them huge amounts of Tafara’s companies. Meanwhile, Tafara was heavily borrowed. He started to sell
some of his properties as he was failing to settle the bank loans. He lost some of his properties to banks
as he could not keep pace with the repayments. His children who were in the country’s top schools of
Lomagundi College and Peter House College, were pulled out as he failed to raise the school fees. Tafara
developed high blood pressure. He sold his last house in the leafy suburb of Borrowdale and went on to
buy a house in a high density suburb of Budiriro in Harare. He failed to reconcile himself to the sudden
change of fortunes.

A year after they moved to Budiriro, Tafara had a severe stroke which left his whole right side paralysed
and without speech. Unfortunately, by that time, he was no longer on medical aid cover as he could not
afford subscriptions. The public hospital system in the country had literally collapsed. Tafara died , three
weeks after suffering from the stroke and eft behind a daughter with Nancy. For the third time, Nancy
was thrown into mourning. She now faced the uphill task of providing for three orphaned children.

Twice, Nancy contemplated committing suicide but she felt sorry for her children hence she threw away
the evil idea. Why on earth would three different men who came into Nancy’s life at three different
times all suffer the same fate? Was there any unbroken alters, curses or covenants against her
marriage?

The story of James

James was a pastor with a local church in Harare. He had recently graduated from a theological
seminary. He met Mary, a twenty–four year old woman whose parents had both died. She worked as a

7
housemaid in the same neighbourhood as him. They got married within a year of meeting each other. A
colleague of ours officiated at the wedding.

Exactly two months after the wedding, the man died in a car crash. Technically, the marriage failed.
Why did the marriage fail? Were there any unbroken alters or covenants?

The story of Bhiza

Many years ago, pastor Shoko employed a man they nicknamed Bhiza. He had lost his wife five years
earlier. In 1992, he met a young beautiful single mother and they agreed to get married. They formally
went through the traditional marriage and the wife moved in with Bhiza. On their second night together,
Bhizas failed physically to met with his wife even though his heart desired. The next day, Mr. Bhiza was
sick. He could hardly handle an empty cup of tea as his hand shook violently. He could not stand still as
he was just shivering yet he was sweating.

Bhiza was taken to hospital and to every possible specialist in Harare bit they all could not locate the
cause of his sickness. Six months into the illness, his body started swelling. All possible tests were
conducted but the nature of the disease could not be established until he sadly died.

All his challenges started after he had had sex with his wife. The parents of his wife had approved the
marriage but the two had challenges. Looking back, the questions to ask are: Were there any unbroken
alters in the life of the wife or husband? Were there any curses against the wife or husband? Were there
any unbroken curses or covenants on either party? How can people avoid challenges of this nature?

The story of Chido

Chido was a nurse by training. She had a child out of wedlock when she was nineteen. The man refused
to marry her. Five years later, she met Jacob and she was formally married traditionally. The two had a
wonderful relationship for five years. During that time, they were blessed with two boys. Thereafter,
things took an unforeseen direction as Jacob left the family home and moved in with another woman.
The marriage broke down beyond reconciliation.

Four years later, Chido met Emmanuel. They formally got married after a year of dating. The
relationship was full of promise. Emmanuel worked for a prominent bank in Harare. They were later
blessed with a daughter. After four years, Emmanuel was retrenched by his employer . Getting another
job in the same industry proved difficult. As a couple, they mutually agreed that Emmanuel had to go to
South Africa and look for a job. Emmanuel would go and stay with Chido’s brother in South Africa as he
looked for a job.

Emmanuel eventually got a job with the a top South African Bank. He moved out of his brother–in–law’s
house. He was given a resident permit and work permit in South Africa. Chido was looking forward to
permanently moving to South Africa to live with her husband in whom she had invested so much. Things
went well for them for a year. After a year, Jacob fell in love with Rudo, a Zimbabwean professional who
worked for another bank. Jacob simply changed accommodation and left without making people know

8
what his next address was. He also changed his numbers and the job. Chido was not able to contact
Jacob for five years until the relationship had broken down to beyond reunion.

On reflecting, Chido wondered why three different men wo did not know each other and never
contacted each other would leave her in almost similar circumstances. Are there outstanding spiritual
issues? She wondered. At that time, it dawned on her that all her three sisters were also struggling in
their marriages and each of them was in her second marriage. She looked further up and realized that
two of her sisters and two of her brothers all her different fathers from her. Why were her sisters and
her facing the same fate as their maternalgrandmother and mother? She wept bitterly.

The story of Nhamo

Many years ago, Pastor Shoko worked employed a young man called Nhamo. He had a degree in
Accounting. Three times, the man had been fired for various reasons where he had worked before. Both
his parents were late and he had struggled to finance his education. Three dismissals from three
different employers in a row were unusual. Was there a curse following him?

The story of Pastor Shoko

In 2003, I was running three thriving businesses, a college business, a paper distribution company and a
trucking company with thirteen international trucks. In mid October 2003, a truck that was carrying
goods for a client from South Africa was involved in a head on collision in the evening In South Africa
and it caught fire. The truck and the goods were reduced to ashes except for the charred wreckage..
That incident marked the beginning of a series of misfortunes that almost made misfortune a part of my
life.

Later the same month, a truck broke down in Mutare, in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe. An
assistant mechanic who was employed by our trucking firm , who happened to be an uncle of mine died
in a car crash whilst coming from attending to the breakdown.

In December of the same year, my mother died. I was a Mama’s boy; the only son of my mother and she
was gone. It was tragic. My mother died on 18/12/2003.

On 23 December 2003, a new Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe closed ENG Discount house,
the first financial institution to be forcibly closed in the country. A consortium in which I was a key
shareholder was part of the shareholders of the discount house. Nothing was recovered out of it.

In January 2004, a key bank in the country was also shut by the authorities and it took with it a huge
chuck of our liquid resources. It was pathetic. My trucking business was heavily borrowed. Interest rates
had gone up to about 1 000% . I stood to lose almost everything I ever owned in the melee.

In February 2004, I had to shut the much loved paper distribution company which was our cash cow, as
it made sense to sell off all the stocks we had and repay debts. Besides, the foreign currency required to
import the paper was becoming extremely difficult to lay hands on.

Between January 2003 and April 2003,every truck that went out , either had a major breakdown or was
involved in an accident. During that period, a truck that was going to Zambia carrying cement rolled off
9
the Zambezi escapement called Marongorora, a few kilometers from Chirundu Border post. Neither the
truck nor the cement was salvaged. Another truck that had was carrying timber into Gaborone
Botswana overturned. Only a quarter of the timber was recovered. The rest we were made to pay for it
since we had not insured the goods in transit. The truck was also declared a write off. Then, the
inflation was so bad that it was impossible to fully insure a vehicle . The use of American dollars was not
yet legal. Another truck that was coming from Chimanimani overturned in the mountains in
Chimanimani and we lost all the timber and the truck. It was cheaper to replace the timber and the truck
than it was to hire a crane from almost three hundred kilometres away to come and attempt to retrieve
the timber and the truck from the dangerously steep slopes. Any recovery attempts would have meant
closure of the only road to the area for a minimum of two days which was impossible. We only
recovered the wreckage of the truck.

Sometimes, small vehicles going out on breakdowns would also be involved in accidents or breakdowns.
I ended up having to pay heavily for medical costs. Medical Aid facilities had collapsed or they operated
with huge shortfalls which were as good as having no medical aid cover at all. It came to a point when
we would be surprised if a day went by and there was no incident or accident.

An uncle of mine felt so sorry for me that he suggested I give some elders including him money so that
they could go and consult a witch doctor to investigate the cause of the misfortunes. He seriously
accused me of neglecting my dead relatives. I flatly rejected the idea even though I was not as strong in
the faith at the time as I am now. The question still remained as to whether anyone had cast a spell on
me or my businesses or it was just a coincidence.

The Story of Uncle Jack

He is an uncle to one of the authors so we call him Uncle Jack. His life is an epitome of total disorder. He
turned 48 in 2022. He has children with over ten women. He is not married to any. He always gets
married traditionally and goes through the normal traditional rites. The moment the wife has a second
child, he packs up his bags and leaves the home, never to return again. He goes on to start a new family
elsewhere. He runs a few businesses in Harare which have given him some money. He does not like to
live in rented apartments so he buys houses for his wives. When he is fed up with a woman, he simply
walks out of the house with a small handbag or at worst a small suitcase. He is never sued for
maintenance as he deposits money regularly into the bank accounts of his ex-wives. He ensures that his
children are well catered for and schooled. When he takes a woman to his mother’s house, he never has
sex with a woman in her mother’s home. Now he his getting fed up with the nomadic form of life. He
does not know how to solve the challenges. He wonders whether there are unbroken alters, curses or
covenants which control his behavior.

Emerging pastoral challenges.

Before the Lord Jesus left the earth after he had arisen, he called Peter three times and spoke to
him, 15When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you truly love
me more than these?" "Yes, Lord," he said, "you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my lambs."

10
16Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me?" He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I
love you." Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep."

17The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter was hurt because Jesus asked
him the third time, "Do you love me?" He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you."

18Jesus said, "Feed my sheep. I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went
where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you
and lead you where you do not want to go." (John 21 vs.15-18)

Being former shepherds we know what ‘tasking care’ implies. When one is a hands–on pastor, one
wants to ensure that all of one’s flock is healthy and happy. Amongst our congregation today are ladies
who are in their late thirties who have never been married? Some have never received a love proposal
from a man. Yet without any shadow of doubt, such women would have won any beauty contest were
they to participate in a beauty contest. Others are single mothers who are either widowed or divorced.
They love the Lord with all their hearts. They all pray, fast, pay their tithes in full and they do everything
that their pastors ask them to do. Yet they remain single. Why do they seem to be attracting society’s
rejects when it comes to men who ask them out. What is it that is so spiritually smelly around them that
they only attract ‘green bombers ‘ (giant flies) kind of men, bad mannered men who never marry? Closer
examination will show that such women always attract men with particular back grounds. Why would
that be?

Some are married but there is strife in their marriages. A lot of Bible believing, tongue speaking
Christians seem to be married to the real Satan? A closer investigation will then reveal that the woman
or man was a prayer warrior before marriage. Why then did God allow her /him to be married to a
beast?

In some cases, businesses owed by Christians who very much support ministerial work are ever
struggling. Children from good Christian families are struggling with drug addiction, sexual immorality,
drunkenness, smoking and sometimes violence. In some cases, children of Christians are criminals.

Why on earth would that be happening? Why are Christians living defeated lives? Can Bible believing
tongue speaking and fasting and obedient Christians ever be affected by evil spirits? Could it be that
they are worshiping God and Satan at the same time? Are they paying for the sins of their
mothers/fathers? Did God not say that that would not befall them?

The word of the LORD came to me:

2"What do you people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel: " 'The fathers eat sour grapes,
and the children's teeth are set on edge'?

3"As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD , you will no longer quote this proverb in Israel. 4For
every living soul belongs to me, the father as well as the son-both alike belong to me. The soul who sins is
the one who will die.

11
5"Suppose there is a righteous man who does what is just and right. 6He does not eat at the mountain
shrines or look to the idols of the house of Israel. He does not defile his neighbor's wife or lie with a woman
during her period. 7He does not oppress anyone, but returns what he took in pledge for a loan. He does not
commit robbery but gives his food to the hungry and provides clothing for the naked. 8He does not lend at
usury or take excessive interest. He withholds his hand from doing wrong and judges fairly between man
and man. 9He follows my decrees and faithfully keeps my laws. That man is righteous; he will surely live,
declares the Sovereign LORD .(Ezekiel 18 vs.1-9)

Why then are some Christians seem to be paying for the sins of their parents?

Can pastors live in sin when they are shepherds themselves? Why would a pastor live in sin? Why do
some pastors seem to be struggling with sexual sins? Why do some pastors struggle with substance
abuse? Cana pastor divorce? Why on earth would a pastor divorce? Why would pastors also seem to be
struggling with the sins of the fathers? Why do some pastors live defeated lives?

Then there is the issue of grace. Where does it come in? Paul said, 17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,
he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5 vs.17)

So do these generational curses and covenants affect true Christians? Is receiving Christ alone not
enough? These and other issues raised above is what this book seeks to address.

12
 CHAPTER 2
ALTARS
The behavior of most Christians is aptly summed up by prophet Hosea, ‘5You stumble day and night, and
the prophets stumble with you. So I will destroy your mother- 6my people are destroyed from lack of
knowledge.’ (Hosea 4 vs.5-6a)

We are very worried by the new generations which in the old days we used to call, ‘Born Locations,’. These
are people who were born and bred in urban areas. They have no idea what we mean when we talk about
witchdoctors. They have no idea what we mean by ancestral worship. It is for this generation that this book
was written; to teach them how the spiritual world is made up

The Law of Dominion

The Psalmist says, 16The highest heavens belong to the Lord, but the earth he has given to man. (Psalm
115 vs.16)

In his book, The Battle of altars, Dr. Francis Myles (2020) talks about the Law of Dominion. As the
Psalmist says, God lives in heaven but he gave the earth to man and his children. God is a God of order ,
He does not violet his own principles. The management of the earth was entrusted or delegated to man.
For that reason, God does not come into the affairs of man on earth unless man then invite Him to do
so. The same law of dominion prevents Satan from interfering with the lives of man on earth unless man
openly invite him to do so. How then does God or Satan interact with humanity?

Altars

Dr. Myles defines an altar as landing platform for a spiritual deity. A deity is a spiritual power or simply
put, a spiritual person; a person with no physical existence. An aeroplane lands nowhere else other than
at an airport. An altar may be looked at as a spiritual airport, a place where spiritual powers land and are
welcomed by human beings. It is place where the divine and humanity interact. It is a place of sacrifice.
An altar can also be looked at as a place of exchange. It is a place where God or Satan is worshiped. It is
like a spiritual base station which enables communication between the divine and humanity. At an altar,
humans meet their God/god. At an altar, humans communicate with their God/god. Thus, when humans
make a date with a deity; a spiritual power, they meet at the altar. Spirits land on an altar.

At an altar

General Purpose of an alter

An altar is built by a human being and it is dedicated to a spiritual deity. The purpose of an altar is to
sacrifice to a deity and to worship the deity. When people face challenges on earth in any form which
they think is beyond human capacity to solve, they appeal to spiritual powers to intervene and solve
their challenges. As Christians we appeal to our God when we face earthly challenges that are beyond

13
our ability to solve. Those who do not believe in God consult their gods. There are only two deities in the
world- God and Satan. Satan then delegated his worship to his agents called gods which are just demons
respectfully called gods by their followers. In Zimbabwe, people worship ancestral spirits. They also
worship some Stray Spirts which the Shona people of Zimbabwe call Mashavi. Whereas ancestral spirits
are spirits which pretend to be spirts of dead relatives (even though they are not), Mashavi are spirits
which serve particular purposes in the life of a person. These are special purpose demons. They are
highly venerated by their beneficiaries. Examples include healing spirits, foretelling spirits, hunting
spirits which enables a hunter to catch wild game, prostitution spirits which enables a prostitute to date
very rich and generous men, bewitching spirits which enable someone to be a witch etc.

In some parts of the world, people have various types of gods like the ancient Baal, goddess Asherah,
Molech atc. A lot of the so-called gods are represented by carved images. In some parts of India for
instance, even cows are worshiped as gods. Below are some of the images of gods worshiped by people

14
15
16
17
Activities at an altar
Sacrifice
When we go to an altar, we are going to meet a person who is in all ways greater than ourselves. We
meet a person whom we cannot see but he sees us. He is real yet he has no physical existence. We
meet a person who does what we cannot do. We meet a person who knows all yet we know very little.
We meet a person who holds our destiny in His hand. Everything that we ever owned is owed to that
person. He is the owner of the world and everything that is in it. We go to him for any of the four major
reasons below:

(1) To acknowledge His presence and power in our lives and thank Him for His blessings. When the
person met Abram at zero notice to him, he erected an alter as a monument, a reminder of his
encounter with Him.
(2) To seek His forgiveness for our errors of omission or commission so we go there to appease Him
when we presume that He is angry with us.
18
(3) To exalt Him
(4) To seek His intervention in our lives for challenges we face which we consider to be beyond our
solution.

We defined an altar as a place of exchange. An exchange implies that there are at least two parties.
Both parties give something and both parties receive something. The human attendant to an altar
gives something physical to the divine and the divine answers or gives something real but invisible
and intangible to the human attendant to the altar. If we approach an altar with nothing to give,
that means we are not there to sacrifice. Sacrifice means painfully parting with something of value
which is given away in exchange for something of a much higher value. Sacrifices are made to a
deity and not human beings. All sacrifices are faith backed, people surrender what they have for
something of far more value than they have given. A sacrifice differs from a donation in that :

 Donations are made to human beings or physical institutions, sacrifices are made to a deity.
 Donations are made out of pity, one person fees sorry for another hence he/she donates to
the needy.
 A donation implies a party who has more than the other. With a sacrifice, the one
sacrificing is poorer than the recipient.
 A donation may be intended to address specific needs in the life of he receiver.
 A donation is not faith based.
 A donation is not motivated by needs in the life of the donner but sacrifices are.
 Whereas with a sacrifice, there is anticipation of some intangible benefits to flow after the
sacrifices, there is no such anticipation.

God told the Israelites, 15"Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread; for seven days eat bread made
without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in that month
you came out of Egypt. "No one is to appear before me empty-handed. (Exodus 23 vs.15)

The Lord had commanded the Israelites, 20Redeem the firstborn donkey with a lamb, but if you do not
redeem it, break its neck. Redeem all your firstborn sons. "No one is to appear before me empty-handed.
(Exodus 34 vs.20) Again later on the Lord reminded the Israelites, 16Three times a year all your men must
appear before the Lord your God at the place he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast
of Weeks and the Feast of Tabernacles. No man should appear before the Lord empty-handed: 17Each of
you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the Lord your God has blessed you. (Deuteronomy 16 vs16-
17)

Thus, it was unlawful to come to an altar empty handed. It was unlawful to meet the King of Kings
empty handed. This tradition extended into the New Testament.

When the Queen of Sheba came to Jerusalem, we are told, 2Arriving at Jerusalem with a very great
caravan-with camels carrying spices, large quantities of gold, and precious stones-she came to Solomon
and talked with him about all that she had on her mind. (1 Kings 10 vs.2)

Here was a mere human Queen meeting a fellow human king. She did not go to a fellow king
empty handed.
19
When Saul and his servant were looking for their donkeys they entered the district of Zuph. 5When
they reached the district of Zuph, Saul said to the servant who was with him, "Come, let's go back, or my
father will stop thinking about the donkeys and start worrying about us."

6Butthe servant replied, "Look, in this town there is a man of God; he is highly respected, and everything
he says comes true. Let's go there now. Perhaps he will tell us what way to take."

7Saul said to his servant, "If we go, what can we give the man? The food in our sacks is gone. We have no
gift to take to the man of God. What do we have?"

8The servant answered him again. "Look," he said, "I have a quarter of a shekel of silver. I will give it to
the man of God so that he will tell us what way to take." (1 Samuel 9 vs.5-8)

Thus even when visiting a prophet, it was not good to go there empty handed.

At the time Jesus was born, there came some wise man from the East who brought presents to him.
Their origin was not known. It is believed by some scholars that they could have come from as far afield
as India. The Bible records that they presented him with gifts, believed to be several quantities of gold.
They knew that a new king had been born. They came to meet him even though he would not
recognized them. We are told that they bowed down to worship him. It is note-worthy that they did not
just come empty handed but they brought presents befitting a king. Just like in the Queen of Sheba, they
brought large quantities of gold to a king. Kings were very respected and no one could go to him empty
handed.

Jesus told his disciples, 20For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."
(Mathew 18 vs.20).

Thus, in today’s world, when people come to church, they do not come for buildings and chairs, they come
to meet Christ, their Lord. So, when we come to church, we are not coming to building but to a place
where the Divine meets humanity- we are coming to an altar! It follows then that we should always
carry a gift when we go to meet the King of Kings- Christ. We should carry gifts that are befitting
gifts to a king. Do Christians do that?

Besides the issue of the sacrifice, other issues may come to play. When we go to an international
airport to welcome an important person, do we go there after a plane has landed or before the plane
has landed? How come then people come to welcome Jesus after he has landed?

Back to the issue of sacrifices. When we go to church, we go to meet Jesus. We go to the altar to
seek his intervention into our lives, to solve several challenges that we may be facing. We go to
Jesus to seek his protection. We go to him to seek his provisions. We go to Jesus to seek guidance,
and His peace. For that reason, we should never approach the altar of Jesus empty handed.
Imagine, even during the time of Jesus, free will offerings were being collected.
41Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their
money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. 42But a poor widow came and
put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny.

20
43Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury
than all the others. 44They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything--all she
had to live on." (Mark 12 vs.41-44)

Even the Almighty God, had to bring a sacrifice to the altar when Jesus was sacrificed on the cross
of Calvary.

For a sacrifice to be acceptable, it had to come from one’s flock or herd. 2"Speak to the Israelites
and say to them: 'When any of you brings an offering to the Lord, bring as your offering an animal from
either the herd or the flock.(Leviticus 1 vs.2)

If we take someone’s bull, goat or sheep and we sacrifice it, even if it has been freely given, it is
not a sacrifice. A sacrifice must come from the person approaching the altar. Abraham had to
sacrifice his only son, Isaac. God had to sacrifice His only son, Jesus. Even the pagan Moabite
king sacrificed his eldest son, the one who was his heir when he faced defeat from the Israelites.
26When the king of Moab saw that the battle had gone against him, he took with him seven hundred
swordsmen to break through to the king of Edom, but they failed. 27Then he took his firstborn son, who was
to succeed him as king, and offered him as a sacrifice on the city wall. The fury against Israel was great;
they withdrew and returned to their own land. (2 Kings 3 vs.26-27)

When there was a national plague in Israel because of David’s sin of enumerating fighting men in
Israel, God told him to go and make a sacrifice on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
Araunah offered not just the threshing floor, but the animals and the wood too. David declined.
21Araunah said, "Why has my lord the king come to his servant?" "To buy your threshing floor," David
answered, "so I can build an altar to the Lord, that the plague on the people may be stopped."

22Araunah said to David, "Let my lord the king take whatever pleases him and offer it up. Here are oxen for
the burnt offering, and here are threshing sledges and ox yokes for the wood.

23O king, Araunah gives all this to the king." Araunah also said to him, "May the Lord your God accept you."

24But the king replied to Araunah, "No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God
burnt offerings that cost me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen and paid fifty shekels
of silver for them. (2 Samuel 24 vs. 21-24)

Finally, the sacrifice was supposed to be quality. One could not offer God an animal that had a defect. In
our generation, there are no animals as offering. We are looking for total and not partial solutions to our
challenges when we approach an altar. We must also give our best in the circumstances. I have seen
people in churches bringing in notes that are torn, notes that they know even a sweet/banana vendor
would not accept. People tend to save face and give God the worst out of what they have.

Remember, 17Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the Lord your God has blessed you.
(Deuteronomy 16 vs16-17)

The most surprising thing in today’s churches is that people of means tend to give God money which is
not enough to buy less than five sweets. People expect to give God, money which is not enough to buy a
bottle of coca cola but they expect mega blessings from the same God. Even our own children in
21
kindergarten would look at such an amount of money with disdain. Most people give God less than the
amount they give their children in kindergarten as daily pocket money.

What the majority of today’s saints lack is faith giving. Remember, 38Give, and it will be given to you. A
good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with
the measure you use, it will be measured to you. (Luke 6 vs.38)

Is there any wonder why evil people seem to have more power than Christians? Or why they sometimes
have more money than Christians? The answer is in the quality of their gifts to their gods. They do not
compromise on the quality of the gifts they give. Where they are told to sacrifice their relatives or even
own children, they will offer such to the devil. Where a hen is required, they do not go there with a
pigeon but a hen. When they give or sacrifice, they do so in faith hence they reap huge rewards. Most
Christians are generally mean.

Communication

One of the major things that takes place at an altar is communication. If a person takes a sacrifice and
puts it on the alter and it is not accompanied by express requests or commands, then the sacrifice could
as well be claimed by demons. At any Godly alter, the devil is nearby waiting for any missteps which
could lead to a person inadvertently worshiping the devil and not the true God. So there is need for
communication. The person making the sacrifice on the alter must expressly say out his/her requests to
the Lord.

Jesus told his disciples, 14You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” (John 14 vs.14)

Paul said to the Philippians, 6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition,
with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. (Philippians 4 vs.6)

After Elijah had rebuilt the altar of the Lord laid the bulls on the altar, he said, 36At the time of
sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: "O Lord , God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it
be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at
your command.

37Answer me, O Lord , answer me, so these people will know that you, O Lord , are God, and that you are
turning their hearts back again." (1 Kings 18 vs. 36-37)

Thus, at an altar, man speaks out his requests to God or praises his God and God responds to man’s
requests or praises. Satan too is spoken to at the Satanic altar by man through his various demons and
responses too are given.

Pastor Shoko tells a story of a man who loved a woman. The woman went to the same church as the
man. The man deeply loved the woman but he could not muster enough courage to confront her and
tell her what his feelings were towards her. The woman loved the man too but she was waiting for him
to say it out before she could respond positively. It went on for months until one new convert in the
church expressly told the girl that he loved her. Although the new convert was not really the best, she

22
eventually got married to him because he had expressly told her he loved her. The other guy was so hurt
that he nearly committed suicide because he had lost what he termed ‘his girlfriend.’

According to Pastor Shoko, his father had an altar through which he communicated with his ancestors.
The man was a dealer in marijuana which he normally bought from Chipinge. When he was due to travel
to Chipinge for reordering his stocks, he would wake up very early in the morning around half past four
and go to his usual place behind his bedroom hut. He would take a snuff box in his left hand kneel
down and say, “My ancestors! As your child, I am going into the bush to hunt. The forests are infested
with dangerous lions, hyenas, leopards and tigers. Give me success, I beg of you. Go before me, your
child.”

As he spoke, he would be sprinkling some snuff on to the ground. The snuff in this case would act as the
offering.

Occasionally, may be once a year, Pastor Shoko’s grandmother would brew beer which was strictly
meant for ancestral worship. Then when it was ripe, early in the morning, his father and his siblings
would gather around at back of the bedroom hut of the eldest brother and all kneel down. They would
take with them a small clay – made container called pfuko which contained part of the beer. Using a
traditional cup made out of dried pumpkin called mukombe, they would scoop some beer and pour it on
to the ground as they spoke words. They would say out the issues bothering the family. They would say,
“VaMadzitire, Mukotosi, Mbiri yaSvosve, we come before you this morning with gratitude. We are your
grandchildren, the sons and daughters of your grandson Svusvurai, the son of your son Nyika. We gather
here in gratitude for your protection. We thank you for the great harvest that you continue to give us
and the increase in livestock. We thank you Mukotosi. May you continue to bless your children.”

Pastor Shoko continues, “Then way back in 1978, there was a ceremony to bring home the spirit of my
late grandfather. Very early in the morning around half past four, before the whole community was up,
we all went to his grave. We all knelt around the grave with our heads bowed. My grandfather’s brother
had next to him, the clay container containing home brewed beer. Using a traditional cup described
above, he scooped beer from the pot and poured it on to the grave as he spoke the following words, “
‘My brother Svusvurai, it is me, Svohorika your blood brother. I have your children here with me. We
have come to collect you and bring you back into the home from the bush. You cannot continue to live
outside your homestead as if you are a foreigner. Your children acknowledge you as their father. They
need to be looked after by you. Please protect them from all evil attacks. Protect them from witches.
Protect them against accidents when they travel. Bless the works of their hands. Today is indeed a great
dead to us all as your relatives. As the youngest, please convey our gratitude to our father VaNyika, too
our grandfather VaBove, to Our great grandfather VaMadzitire and to others before them. As their
children we are happy in this day to welcome you into your home.’ As he spoke, he was pouring
traditional beer from the clay pot on to the ground.

Then a got was slaughtered. Before it was slaughtered, it was offered to the dead through the statement
of my grandfather’s cousin brother, “ My brother Svusvurai, your children have offered you this goat
and this bull as relish. Please remember to continue blessing them.” As he spoke, he poured beer from

23
the clay pot on to the goat. The whole goat was roasted and eaten by all the all the male members of
the family without salt. All the bones were buried into the ground.

Thus, there is communication at an altar.

Pastor Shoko continues with his experience on Satanic ancestral altars. Finally, in 1988, a very intelligent
cousin brother of mine died in extremely suspicious circumstances. The boy had just passed grade seven
examinations and I was in the middle of making preparations for him to go into a high school at a
boarding school.

One Saturday morning he woke up like every other day and went out with other village boys to herd
cattle. He was generally in low spirits but he never said there was an issue. Unfortunately, in the
evening, he did not return with the rest of the boys as they did not know where he had gone. A search
party was mounted that same night as male elders in the village went into the bush calling his name to
no avail. The next day the search party continued the search and they found him hanging from a tree
branch. The police were advised and they came and took the body to the nearest hospital mortuary.
Investigations were carried out and foul play was ruled out.

My father was very angry because he loved the boy very much. The boy carried the hopes of many
people in the family and those had all been crashed in one go. He suspected that the boy had been
bewitched. So immediately after burial, he went to consult a witch doctor in Chipinge, some three
hundred kilometers from where the boy lived.

He was given some concoction of herbs which he sprinkled on the late boy’s grave grave whilst saying,
“You Tatenda, you were a very intelligent person. You now know who killed you. Do not be stupid and
lie down forever. It is your turn to fight. I now command you as your father to wake and go to fight.
Wake up my son, go and seek revenge. Do not be stupid. You are not a goat that can just be
slaughtered.”

Thus, a sacrifice on any altar is accompanied by communication. What humans say is very powerful. It
creates and destroys destinies.

At an altar, there is worship

At any altar, there is reverence; extreme respect. In African culture, when we speak to elders who are
seated, it follows that we should kneel down or sit down. When people are in church, they normally
kneel down in reverence to the Lord. An altar is a place of worship therefore when people approach an
altar, they approach it with reverence. It has already been explained above how people bow down when
they are worshiping their ancestors or whenever they are performing traditional rituals.

It is the Pentecostal movement that came up with the idea of people praying whilst standing otherwise
people traditionally prayed to God whilst kneeling down.

There is exchange at the altar

24
As stated earlier, altars are erected because there are issues troubling humans. An altar then becomes
like a cheque. When one has money in a bank and they want to withdraw the money from the bank,
they sign a cheque. The bank takes the cheque in exchange for money which is given by the bank. The
whole process is initiated by a person approaching the bank.

So, when human beings go to an altar they carry physical sacrifices but when they leave the altar, they
mostly get invisible but important benefits. This has been the case with almost all altars, in humanity.

Noah’s altar and sacrifice: Genesis 8 vs 20 – Genesis 9 vs

The very first altar after the flood was erected by Noah when he sacrificed various clean animals to the
Lord. The response was immediate and powerful and the following immense benefits were drawn from
that activity:

 "Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is
evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.
 22"As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and

night will never cease." (Genesis 8 vs.21-22)

 1Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill

the earth.
 2The fear and dread of you will fall upon all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon

every creature that moves along the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into
your hands.

 3Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now
give you everything.
 4"But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it.

 5And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every

animal. And from each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man.
 6"Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has

God made man. (Genesis 9 vs.1-6)

 11I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never

again will there be a flood to destroy the earth."

 12And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living

creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come:

 13I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the

earth.
 14Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds,

 15I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never

again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.

 16Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant

between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth."(Genesis 9 vs.11-21).

Just from a single sacrifice, Noah was able to draw six major concessions from God. What would have
happened had Noah not sacrificed. What would have happened to humanity? It was only after the sacrifice
that God spoke.

The Altars of Abraham

25
Abraham had two major sacrifices which changed the destiny of his descendance forever.

8But Abram said, "O Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?"

9So the Lord said to him, "Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and
a young pigeon."

10Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds,
however, he did not cut in half. 11Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them
away. 12As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over
him.

13Then the Lord said to him, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their
own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years.

14ButI will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great
possessions.

15You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age.

16Inthe fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet
reached its full measure."

17When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and
passed between the pieces.

18On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, "To your descendants I give this land, from
the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates-

19theland of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 21Amorites, Canaanites,
Girgashites and Jebusites." ( Genesis 15 vs.8-19)

God could still have spoken as he had done without any sacrifice. However, covenants follow sacrifices,
they do not precede sacrifices. God was about to make a covenant hence there could not be a covenant
without a sacrifice! God personally demanded the animals sacrificed after Abraham pleaded with Him for
children. So, Abraham sacrificed the animals but he went home with:

 A promise for children (verse 13)

 Knowing what would happen to his descendants after he was gone and that God would be
with them. (verses 13-17)
 He had secured a land inheritance for his descendants (verse 18-19)

Thus, alters are places of exchange.

Let us look at his most prominent alter where he sacrificed his son. Again, God demanded the nature of
sacrifice he wanted.

26
9When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood
on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10Then he reached out his hand
and took the knife to slay his son. 11But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, "Abraham!
Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied.

12"Donot lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God,
because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son."

13Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the
ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14So Abraham called that place The Lord Will
Provide. And to this day it is said, "On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided."

15The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16and said, "I swear by myself,
declares the Lord , that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son,

17Iwill surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand
on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies,

18and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me." (Genesis
22 vs.9-18)

Abraham offered God his son as a sacrifice. In return what did Abraham walk away with:

 He received eternal blessings from God (verse 17)

 Eternal victories for his descendants (verse 18)

On the altar, we give what is physical and tangible which is of limited value. From the altar, we
get what is intangible and of immeasurable value. Whereas the value of animals placed on an altar
can be estimated, the value of blessings cannot be estimated. The value of victories against our
enemies cannot be estimated. The value of God’s provisions in our lives cannot be estimated. The
value of God’s peace in our lives cannot be estimated. The value of God’s company in our lives
cannot be estimated.

Jesus told his disciples, 18"I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and
whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. 19"Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree
about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. (Mathew 18 vs.18-19)

He also told them, “19I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all
the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.”(Luke 10 vs.19)

How much value honestly can any valuation expert place on the power Jesus has given us?

Consider the case of Elijah on Mount Camel. He offered two bulls as a sacrifice to God. The people got
rain. We could cite numerous examples in the Bible. All sacrifices recorded in the bible have yielded
positive results. Altars are places of exchange.

Who is worshipped on earth?

27
The spiritual kingdom is divided into two key kingdoms, the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Satan.
Both kingdoms are real but invisible. In the Kingdom of God, we find God, Jesus, the Holy spirit and the
host of angels. Angels are ministering spirits in heaven. The angels are further divided into two groups,
arch angels and ordinary angels. At creation, there were just three arch angels; angels above other
angels. These were Michael who is the Commander of God’s army, Gabriel who is God’s Chief of
communication and Lucifer who was in charge of Praise and Worship.

Lucifer then rebelled against God and sought to equal or topple God in heaven. He was defeated and
thrown down from heaven. His tail then swept a third of the angels in heaven and took them down with
him. His purpose is to ensure that people are disobedient to God. Instead of worshiping God, they must
worship him. He richly rewards those who worship him. The other name for Lucifer is Satan. Thus the
angels which were thrown down from heaven together with Satan are what are now known as demons
or just evil spirits. These spirits fight anything good in the lives of people. There are not happy to see
people living happily in harmony. They are the demons that cause strife in families, divorces,
promiscuity etc.

Types of alters.
There are two types of altars, Godly and Satanic alters. Godly altars are erected to worship God whereas
Satan altars are erected to worship Satan.

Godly altars.
These are altars that are erected for the sacrifice to and worship of God. The traditional altars were built
for one or two purposes, memorial or sacrifices.

Memorial altars

Memorial were prominent in the patriarchal era of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Each built an altar in
memory of their encounter with God. (Genesis 12 VS.7 -8; Genesis 26 vs. 25; Genesis 28 vs.18-19;
genesis 31 vs. 44-49; Genesis 35 vs. 7)

Altars on which sacrifices were made

All sacrifices which are recorded as having been made to God were made on Godly altars. These include
al altars by Noah, Abraham, Elijah, etc.

The altar of the cross of Calvary

All the other altars in the bible were a mirror of the final altar, the altar of the cross of the Cross of
Calvary. Abraham built an altar on which he took his only son for a sacrifice to the Lord. Just as he was
about to kill the son, God stopped him. On the same hills that Isaac was supposed to be sacrificed, is
where Jesus was nailed on the cross. God willingly surrendered his only son so that humanity could be
saved. After the altar of the cross, all animal sacrifices stopped.

The marriage bed

28
The marriage bed is an altar on which covenants are made. It is a place of exchange, initially between
humans but people are created according to the instructions of God. Children so born are not ours, they
belong to God. They are only entrusted to us for entertaining us, giving us company. When we grow old
and we are not able to look after ourselves, they look after us. When we die, they burry us.

The home altar

Clever well-informed people build altars to the Lord in their homes. The family altar inside a house can
be a place at which people meet for prayer.

It is also good for people to have a separate room in their home which is dedicated to the Lord as an
altar. It is also quite in order to have these special altars in bedrooms as long as they are specific places
within a bedrooms which are dedicated to the Lord. When people buy a new home, it is important to
build an altar to the Lord in the home as that counters all other evil altars that could have been raised in
the home. For that reason, I have a lot of respect for people of Eastern religions like Buddhists and
Hindus. They will always have a place for their gods in their homes and businesses places. Sadly for
Christians, not even a bible is there in a home.

Business altars

As in the case of home altars, there is need to build business altars.

Satanic altars

These are altars where the devil is worshiped. They are far more than the Godly altars we have
discussed above. We are not able to exhaustively discuss them all because they are too numerous
to be numbered with precision. The devil changed form and is worshiped in various forms by
billions of people including by tongue speaking Bible confessing Christians. God was very clear
about these Satanic altars and warned his people about them well in advance. 9When you enter the
land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. 10Let
no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or
sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft,

11or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. (Deuteronomy 18 vs.9-11)

We shall discuss a few that are prevalent in Southern Africa.

Ancestral worship
This takes place when people worship the devil in the form of worshiping the dead. Dead people never
come back to the land of the living in the form of spirits or in any form whatsoever. Any spirit purporting
to be from the dead is basically a demon. When people worship these ancestral spirits, they create altars
to these spirits. When a person dies and is buried, in most African cultures, the person is said to be out of
the home. They believe that a homecoming ceremony needs to be held which brings the spirit of the dead
formally back into the family. That action basically gives a demon legal authority to do as it pleases about
the family members. It surrenders all family members under the mercy of the demon. Accepting the
demon into the household has the same effect as accepting Jesus into one’s life for Christians. Just as
29
Jesus died and people believe in him today so do non-Christians believe in their dead. Unfortunately,
these demons kill people who are under their control. They can cause misfortunes to those under their
control so that the people under their control may have serious challenges in their lives
Due to the rural - urban migration, fewer people than in the seventies and eighties are into ancestral
worship. However, a good number of families still worship these demons masquerading as ancestral
spirits. Divisions in families will see some family members worshiping ancestral spirits whilst others not
doing so. The most unfortunate part with these desperate spirits, which are desperate for recognition by
families, is that once one family member has opened a door for them, all other family members are under
their control, as long as they are not true worshippers of Jesus Christ. Where one is a true worshiper of
Jesus Christ, he/she is not exactly bound by the worship of evil spirits. The challenge then becomes one
of spiritual standings of people.

The biggest challenge with Christians is that when they receive Christ they do not destroy such alter,
including destroying them in their hearts. It is always important to destroy these alters where they exist In
fact we suggest their destruction even if we do not know for sure that they existed because we do not know
what other families members have done in terms of receiving them into the family. Besides, altars opened
by ancestors hundreds of years before we came to be will have an effect in our lives as will be explained
later. We risk being like Rachel who carried Laban’s gods into Jacob’s life. That led Laban into asking
Jacob, 30Now you have gone off because you longed to return to your father's house. But why did you steal
my gods?" (Genesis 31 vs.30)

The altars that stand between us and Jesus Christ are mainly those of our father’s house or those of our own
creation. Is there any wonder why God told Gideon, 25That same night the LORD said to him, "Take the
second bull from your father's herd, the one seven years old. Tear down your father's altar to Baal and cut
down the Asherah pole beside it. (26Then build a proper kind of altar to the LORD your God on the top of
this height. Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down, offer the second bull as a burnt offering."
(Judges 6 vs.25-26)

God is unable to use a lot of Christians today because they have ‘altars of Baal’, ancestral altars standing
in their fathers’ households which they have not destroyed. They are prone to sin because of the evil altars
that are standing their lives.

When God told Jacob to go and build an alter to the Lord at Bethel, 2So Jacob said to his household and to
all who were with him, "Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change
your clothes.3Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the
day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone."

4So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had and the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under
the oak at Shechem. (Genesis 35 vs.2-4)

Thus, Christians rarely self-clinse themselves when they give their lives to Christ. They foolishly quote,
out of context 17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
(2 Corinthians 5 vs.17)

If this was so simple, why do people still struggle with past sins when they receive Christ? Why do children
of Christians struggle with the same sins that their parents struggled with? A good number of children of

30
Christians today struggle with drug addiction, drunkenness, smoking, sexual immorality etc. Why? We
argue that this could be because of unbroken altars in their fathers’ households.

Why did Israelites perish in the deserts?

When the Israelites moved out of Egypt, it is possible that they just left the altars in their fathers’ households
just standing. Few would have wanted to destroy the altars to their gods given that God was very new to
them. It is quite possible that a lot of them at household levels possibly secretly built alters to the Egyptian
gods whom they worshipped in Egypt. At the slightest opportunity, when Moses was away for just a month
at Sinai, the whole community – two million men including God’s first anointed priest, Aaron, was in
agreement that the devil be worshiped. They all erected altars to Satan. Thus, although the Israelites
physically moved out of Egypt, the Egyptian religious lifestyle did not move out of them.

Thus even new generations of Israelites struggled for thousands of years with idle worship because of the
unbroken altars in their fathers’ households. They continuously erected spiritual landing platforms in their
hearts for the devil in their hearts and physically their lives.

Altar of Abortion

Child sacrifices which was prevalent in ancient times as they worshiped the Molech, the Amorite god, is
not prevalent these days. A new version of it though is the murder of unborn babies. When a person decides
to kill an innocent unborn baby, sent there by God and not through any effort of man, that person is basically
worshiping Molech. That altar needs to be destroyed in the lives of those responsible. The American society
today struggles with violence and murders because they are one country which has embraced the worship
of the devil.

Altar of divination

In Africa, there is a tendency of people wanting to approach witchdoctors to be told about the activities in
the spiritual realm or the cause of death of a dead person. The majority of deaths are presumed to have been
caused by witches. They always want to know who the witch could have been. By approaching the courts
of witch doctors where they are told to take off their shoes because they will be ‘standing on holy ground”,
they will obviously be erecting an altar to the devil. Such altars, once erected, affect later generations and
should be destroyed.

Witchcraft

Witches are normal people who operate under the influence of a powerful evil spirt. The spirit loves eating
human flesh off course they physically eat human flesh through the human body. Therefore, witches have
an altar to the devil which they have to constantly service.

Upon one becoming a Christian, that alter will have to be destroyed.

Get rich quickly altars

Many people aspire to live in comfort but they have neither the resources nor the academic nor professional
capacity to uplift themselves. They then approach witch doctors who give them money making charms.
31
These charms come with conditions like feeding the so called charm with blood either of humans or animals.
A lot of money is usually made for sure but at a very high cost of lives of to the people. There may be a
requirement that one surrenders a close relative, a child, mother or father or even a sibling in exchange for
riches. Every altar requires constant servicing or refueling just like a car needs refueling. The refueling may
be through the blood of other relatives.

In the early eighties, the National railways of Zimbabwe opened branch office at Chicualacuala in South
Western Mozambique. There was a witch doctor around the area who made a lot of National Railways of
Zimbabwe employees who worked there to believe that they could get rich quickly if they purchased his
money making juju. There was only one catch though; they had to surrender the first born child. A good
number of these people who were cheated into believing the witch doctor lost their children – the eldest
daughter/son. Unfortunately, all lost the little livestock they had. Almost all died paupers. To this day, their
children struggle in marriages.

Altars raised against specific individuals-The Balaam altars

The most common altars operating in the lives of individuals today are what I would call the Balaam altars.
To understand their nature better, let us look at the story of Balaam.

Then the Israelites traveled to the plains of Moab and camped along the Jordan across from Jericho. 2Now
Balak son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites, 3and Moab was terrified because there
were so many people. Indeed, Moab was filled with dread because of the Israelites.
4
The Moabites said to the elders of Midian, "This horde is going to lick up everything around us, as an ox
licks up the grass of the field." So Balak son of Zippor, who was king of Moab at that time, 5sent messengers
to summon Balaam son of Beor, who was at Pethor, near the River, in his native land. Balak said: "A people
has come out of Egypt; they cover the face of the land and have settled next to me.

6
Now come and put a curse on these people, because they are too powerful for me. Perhaps then I will be
able to defeat them and drive them out of the country. For I know that those you bless are blessed, and
those you curse are cursed." (Numbers 22 vs.1-6)

Who was Balaam? He was a well-known powerful magician. He could invoke (send) evil spirits to work
against a person or a nation. So as the Israelites got close to the land of Moab, the king of Moab, Balak
thought that the Israelites would invade his country and destroy them in the same way they had destroyed
some countries like Jericho etc. Balaam was supposed to put a curse on the Israelites as a nation so that
they could be defeated.

The same thing that Balaam was supposed to do to the Israelites is what people do when they raise altars
against specific people. Due to family rivalry (differences), family members are looking for their modern
day Balaam (s) who are witchdoctors and they place specific curses against people. Below I will discuss
the most common altars against specific people that we have encountered in ministry over the years.

Name alters

The devil takes advantage of situations. When a child is given the name of a family member, sometimes
there are rituals that are performed in celebration of the naming of the child. This opens a legal door for
32
demons in the older family member to get into the child. So behaviourally, the younger person will be
identical to the older family member. When this happens, each time the name is called, it activates the spirit
behind the name. The life of such a person, even if he/she becomes tongue speaking, remains in shambles.

Sold to evil spirits

Many ladies struggle to get married because a close relative went to a witch doctor and sold her to evil
spirits. What happens is that a parent or uncle (father’s biological brother) will approach a witch doctor
looking for help on how to make easy money quickly. He is then asked to surrender a woman as a wife to
the money-making spirit. Usually he takes an under–garment of the target female person. When an
undergarment is not available, even a dress will do as long as it has been worn before. Suppose the female
person’s name is Joyce. The male relative of Joyce will then say, “You Joyce, today I as your uncle/father
I declare that it is my right as a father to select a spouse for you. Heavens and all my ancestors bear me
witness today that I John Moyo, have today willingly given you a husband. I confess that I will be fully
paid through the work my newly found son–in–law will perform. He shall be obedient to me and work for
me to gain fame and wealth. I hereby surrender my blood into this covenant port so that an unbreakable
covenant is today formed with my so–in–law. Under no circumstances shall you leave him. Only death can
separate you from the husband given to you by me your father. You shall not have any other husband except
the one given to you by me.”

Beyond any reasonable doubt, the fate of that woman will have been sealed. Immediately after this, the
woman will feel uncomfortable being in church. She will begin to resent anything to do with Jesus.
Numerous boyfriends maybe assigned to her at different times. Invariably she will have sex with all of
them. The more sex the woman has outside marriage, the more she is unfit to stand before Jesus and seek
deliverance from the evil spirits cast upon her. The more sex the woman has outside marriage, the more
the bewitching relative’s business booms.
As a girl, the woman may face any of the following challenges:
 No matter how beautiful, men will always shun the woman.
 She may get into lengthy sexual relationships with men but none gets married to her.
 The moment a man talks about marriage, something should happen and the man silently walks
out of the woman’s life.
 The boyfriend will hate the woman from nowhere such that all communication lines are cut. (2
Samuel 13 vs. 15-18).
We can say with 99% certainty that the woman will attract three kinds of suitors throughout her life:
 Those coming from broken families, i.e. where parents are divorced.
 Those coming from polygamous backgrounds or where the father was extremely promiscuous
 Those men who were raised by mothers only after the fathers died early in their lives.
If by any chance the woman gets married here fate is any of the following:
 She will be rejected by the boyfriend the moment she reports that she is pregnant.( (See 2 Samuel
13 vs.1-19)
 She will divorce a few years into the marriage.

33
  She will be thoroughly abused by the husband such that she will hate him very much thereby
killing the sex at home. Sometimes she is often badly beaten up.
 The husband will die a few years into the marriage. The death will either be a mysterious one or
just a sudden death, mostly accidents.
 The husband is made to go and work in a different city from the woman so that sexual contact n
marriage is reduced.
 The husband becomes so poor that the wife becomes the bread winner of the family. For that
reason, they only have sex when the woman wants sex. He loses respect even amongst his own
children. The wife calls the shorts in the marriage.
 The husband becomes a polygamist so that the two cannot have sex as regularly as they would if
the husband had one wife.
 Husband becomes extremely promiscuous so much such that the woman loses affection for her
husband.
 The woman will have abnormal mensuration cycles such that she may flow continuously for a
month in one cycle, only breaking briefly.
 The woman, may for some reason fail to bear children in the marriage even though she may have
had children before.
The challenge is that if this is done before one is a Christian, when someone then becomes a Christian,
almost all new Christians never break these alters hence they fail in marriage.

Anti-progress alters

These are alters erected by relatives who are jealous of one’s success. Remember what Jesus said, “36A man's
enemies will be the members of his own household.' (Mathew 10 vs. 36)

A jealous person will go to a witchdoctor with names of people whom he does not want to be successful.
Usually it is against siblings in a family who is very promising. A jealousy uncle may not like a situation
where a previously looked down upon family suddenly rises to be the model of success in a family where
as those who were previously well up seem to be struggling to succeed in life. A spell is than cast upon the
family to ensure that their success is checked.

The names of people to be bewitched are written on a paper and are then put in a clay pot, usually with
blood in it. The clay pot is then usually buried in the ground. The relative may say, “John, Shadrack, James,
Joyce, Loveness and Sekai, it’s me your uncle, Dambudzo. I have today come here and instructed that you
must face challenges in everything you do. You shall only be successful within a given range. Your success
shall be limited to the walls of this pot. To that end, I have made a blood covenant with our ancestors and
the heavens that this be so.”

Such covenants require usage of blood hence a black goat or a hen is slaughtered. The ceremonies are
usually private hence it is not possible to kill a cow or an ox because then that would attract the attention
of other people to assist in skinning the beast. Besides, in Zimbabwe, due to high incidences of stock theft,
cattle are only slaughtered after getting police clearance. So, a hen or a goat are usually ideal.

Implications of this curse are that people whose names are in the sealed clay pot have their fate sealed as
well. They are bound to face limitations in almost everything they do. Everything they do becomes a bit
34
mediocre. In education, they cannot go beyond a certain limit. In marriage, they may get married
customarily but may never hold a formal wedding ceremony. Their children will equally suffer the same
fate.

There are also situations where a relative of a female person goes to a river flowing with water. Names
are written on a piece of paper and all sorts of limitations are pronounced against certain people. The
names are then put in a plastic paper, wrapped up and thrown into a river. The person may say, “John,
Tapiwa, Mercy, your blessings and marriages are hereby thrown into a river. As the water flows into the
sea, so are your marriages and blessings. You shall never regain”

When Moses told Pharaoh that the Israelites be released so that they could go and worship God in the desert
he agreed with a simple condition. 25Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "Go, sacrifice
to your God here in the land." (Exodus 8 vs.25)

Thus, all Pharaoh said is – “Go but do not go too far.” That is exactly what the enemies of success say- “go
but do not go too far. Go to school but do not excel. Get married but not for long; do not go too far in
marriage.”

Spells

A spell is an evil spirt that is cast upon a person for a specific purpose. The majority of the spells are cast
by witches. In some cases, a spell is cast by witch doctors. Spells are usually short term in nature and it
does not normally cover more than one generation. It is intended to be for a specific purpose and to a
specific person. For example, if a person is writing examinations and a spell may be cast upon the person,
he/she may go partially blind during examinations or develop a severe headache during examinations such
that the person does not fully write the examination.

In parts of Mashonaland West in Zimbabwe, if a person says, “You shall see!” it means something very
bad will happen to he person to whom the words are spoken. Sometimes a person may say to an offending
person, “Rawaja ndiroro meaning that before the next meal is due, the offending person will be dead. Still
one may say,”Haudokese” meaning that before the end of the day, you will be dead.

Generational altars

These are altars raised by our relatives in times past. We do not who exactly raised them neither do we
know the nature of such altars. What we see however are their effects. Have you ever noticed that a woman’s
life mimics that of her mother? Why is that? Are you aware that where: :

 a woman’s parents did not spend a life time together whether through death or divorce,
 Parents were in polygamy,
 Maternal grandparents fall into any two of the above,

she too will struggle to hold on to a relationship and marriage?

Most pastors want to refer to it as a generational curse. We will not limit ourselves to generational curses
but this could also be due to alters of old which were never destroyed.

35
Similarly, ancestral spirits formally accepted into the family five hundred years ago are still operational in
our families today. They may not appear to be very active but they are indeed operational because our
ancestor accepted them. For, better explanation, see the explanation below.

The bed of fornication/adultery

By far, the most common alter operational today is the bed of fornication/adultery. This is a place where
two people who are not married to each other meet for sex. This is a highly valued Satanic altar. The bulk
of the ancient fertility gods were worshiped through sexual orgies. When two people meet for sex outside
marriage, they each willingly come to the alter and offer their blood to the devil as they worship
Satan. .Remember, an alter is place of exchange. They both bring their bodies which they offer as living
sacrifices to Satan. They enjoy themselves hence what they walk away with is sexual satisfaction which is
intangible a key condition in alters.

We shall be visiting this altar later on when we look at covenants. The implications of this altar on later
generations are too ghastly to imagine. Needless to say that the reason why there is so much immorality
amongst us today is because of altars raised by the parents of children in their earlier lives.

When two people get married , out of ignorance, they never bother to break the alters of adultery and
fornication. In the same way that they slept with other people’s spouses, they will also in their generation
steal other people’s spouses. Every weakness that defeated the parents will eventually visit them in their
generation.

The alter of blow job

Blow job is a term coined by prostitutes which refers to a woman sucking a man’s manhood and ingesting
the sperms. We are not ashamed of naming these things as they are because they are there. One of the most
satanic sextual activity that women do is to suck their boyfriends’ manhood. This is part of what paul
referred to as , 25They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather
than the Creator--who is forever praised. Amen.

26Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations
for unnatural ones. (Romans 1 vs. 25-26)

Thus, our women exchanged natural relations for unnatural partly through these blow job sexual activities
and partly through lesbianism. Please make sure that such altars are totally destroyed. When two people are
using protection have sex, sexually transmitted diseases may not be transmitted. However when a woman
then sucks a man’s manhood and ingests(swallows) the sperms, she is literally begging the devil for diseases
to get into her.

The altar of gays and lesbians

God hates gays and lesbians with a passion. 26Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even
their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27In the same way the men also abandoned
natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts
with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.

36
28Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to
a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29They have become filled with every kind of wickedness,
evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips,

30slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their
parents; 31they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32Although they know God's righteous decree
that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also
approve of those who practice them.(Romans 1 vs.28-32)

Upon becoming a Christian, these alters need to be totally destroyed.

The mouth altar

The mouth can also be a altar on which the devil is worshiped. When two people who are unmarried kiss
each other, they are offering their mouths as altars to the worship for the devil They approach the altar each
with his/her tongue and saliva. As they offer them to the devil, they become sexually aroused. What they
offer is tangible but what they get is intangible, satisfaction.

Altar of musterbation

This is when a man carries a woman in his mind and imagines himself having sex with the chosen woman.
Some people refer to it as armed struggle or five aside. For a man, this altar, once erected is difficult to
destroy right into marriage. The devil loves this altar become a man willingly, on his own volition offers
his blood to the devil.In no time , the devil will assign a spiritual wife to such a man and unless it is
destroyed, the spiritual wife remains and may eventually destroy the man’s marriage.

For a woman, various items are used. Some ceres themselves, squeezing their breast and nipples until they
are horny. The woman may then use a pen, a candle, cucumber, banana etc. The fairly wealthy ones in some
countries will simply buy a vibrator. This will bring sexual satisfaction but at a very great cost. When a
woman uses a vibrator, few men can match the machine in terms of satisfying the woman. It means even
in marriage, a vibrator will be a sexual partner of choice. Secondly, by arousing oneself, the devil will
quickly assign one of his millions of sex starved demons and the person will have a spiritual husband in her
life. Once he come, the spiritual husband will destroy relationships and marriages as described earlier
above.

Virtual altars – social media

As technology changes, the devil looks for new ways to be worshipped. The majority of people on earth
have all fallen foul of this altar. In a week of seven days, a person , may never read even a single verse in a
bible but the person will read and type several pages on watsapp and read several news items on social
media. There is virtually nothing wrong with all these applications. They become altars if they start taking
away a person‘s fellowship with God and the person prefers fellowship with social media.

Virtual altars – pornography

Many years ago, if one wanted to watch pornography, they would need to buy a DVD player and the
pornography disc. Not anymore. Today a person needs just one American dollar to purchase data bundles

37
and be able to watch any form of pornography. Since it is an altar, all altars need servicing hence once one
erects that altar in his/her life, the altar will need to be serviced regularly. Social scientist then call it
addiction, we call it a worship to the devil, a servicing of an altar.

Transgenerational nature of altars

Please get this very clearly, altars are transgenerational in nature; they cut across generations. They apply
to past present and future generations effectively. When clouds gather in the sky and we see the rainbow
cutting across the clouds, we all know that it shall not rain. Why? It was announced at the altar of Noah that
a rainbow shall remind God of the flood hence it will not rain.

What happened to the children of Israel, going into Egypt and coming out of Egypt after four hundred years
was pronounced at the altar of Abraham. (Genesis 15 vs.13-17)

The land of Canaan was bequeathed by God to the descendants of Abraham at the altar of Abraham . 18On
that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, "To your descendants I give this land, from the
river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates- 19the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20Hittites,
Perizzites, Rephaites, 21Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites." (Genesis 15 vs.18)

The blessings to the children of Israel were pronounced on the altar of Abraham where he sacrificed
Isaac.(Genesis 22 vs.12-18)

The personal alters you are building today, whether to the Lord or to Satan will surely visit your children
in times to come when you will not be there to reverse them. So, make sure you build correct alters to the
Lord.

38
 CHAPTER THREE

UNDERSTANDING THE NATURE OF THE ENEMY

The worst mistake an army commander can ever make is to underestimate the strength of his
opponent. It is our view as authors that billions of Christians in the world underestimate the
strength and organizational capacity of their enemy. The devil is far more organized than any
human being can ever imagine. Satan is not a school boy.

We have been to some churches and heard people singing derogatory songs about Satan and seen
them dancing and pretending to be trampling on the devil. It remains pretence, nothing beyond.
There is need to understand him better.

Lucifer the Arch Angel of Praise and Worship

Angels are spiritual people who serve God. They live forever. God created three Arch Angels.
Arch Angels are chief angels These were Michael, Gabriel and Lucifer. Michael who is in charge
of wars. He is the commander of God’s army. Gabriel is in charge of communication. Obviously
under him there are several other angels. He is the angel whom we see visiting Zechariah the father
of John the Baptist (Luke 1 vs.11) and Mary the mother of Jesus (Luke 1 vs.26). The third angel
was Lucifer who is also called Satan. He was in charge of praise and worship to God in Heaven.
He could perfectly sing and had all instruments installed in him. The skills and qualities that God
put in him are still there till today and beyond.

Perfect in Beauty

The bible says of Satan,12"Son of man, take up a lament concerning the king of Tyre and say to
him: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: " 'You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom
and perfect in beauty. 13You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you:
ruby, topaz and emerald, chrysolite, onyx and jasper, sapphire, turquoise and beryl. Your settings
and mountings were made of gold; on the day you were created they were prepared.
14
You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of
God; you walked among the fiery stones. (Ezekiel 28 vs.12)

Satan was said to be perfect in Beauty. He is not as ugly as other people may want us to believe.
There may not be and may never be a human being who matches his beauty.

He was anointed

39
This implies that God commissioned and equipped him for the job he was to do, Since he was
anointed, it implies that the job was to be done in perfection. In his book, He can sing any song in
any tune with unnatural instruments playing at the same time. The anointing was not taken away
when he rebelled against God. It is now being used for worldly purposes. At Twelve, Denis Shoko
2018, explains clearly the power of music in the spiritual realm and how most of the music sung
on earth is to particular deities. Is there any wonder now that the majority of the musicians today
are not Christians? The bulk of Rock music is in praise of Satan and his demons. Let us look at
Zimbabwe for instance. The majority of musicians are non-Christians and they hold their shows
in pubs. For that reason, some people refer to them as Praise and Worshipers of Satan.

In Christian churches, praise and worshippers who are talented are usually very proud of
themselves. It is because their god, Satan is also very proud. In some churches, members of the
praise and worship team are very sexually immoral. A good number of Christian praise and
worship teams take after their god , Satan.

Full of wisdom

Lucifer was full of wisdom. That means that he has more wisdom than any human being can ever
have. When the devil rebelled against God and was thrown out of heaven, he did not leave behind
his wisdom. He was thrown down with that wisdom. Thus, if for example you employ a person
who has no driver’s licence. You train that person how to drive and the person is formally licenced
as a driver by the government. If that person is later dismissed from employment, he does not leave
behind his driving skills, he goes with them. This is exactly what happened to Lucifer. He came to
earth with all the wisdom. The only difference is that he is now using the wisdom against God’s
people.

Even a man described by God as having been the most intelligent and most knowledgeable ever
created by God on earth, Solomon could not match Lucifer in terms of wisdom. Before Solomon
even realised it, he was a worshiper of the devil through his wives. No human being can outwit the
devil without the help of the Holy spirit. Only the Holy Spirit is superior to the devil. That is why
Jesus decided to leave Him for us to be our aid here on earth.

This is the man who has literally brought down every man God has intended to use. He fooled
Adam into disobeying God. He fooled Noah into drunkenness which resulted in him cursing one
of his grandchildren. He fooled Abraham into marrying Hagar with disastrous consequences. He
made both Abraham and Isaac liars. He fooled the blessed Judah into prostitution even prostituting
with his own daughter-in law. He fooled David into adultery and murder with disastrous effects
on his household. He fooled Solomon into idol worship and the whole special nation of God was
turned to the worship of Satan.

It is him who defiantly told the Israelites that he would follow and catchup with them. 9"The enemy
boasted, 'I will pursue, I will overtake them. I will divide the spoils; I will gorge myself on them. I
will draw my sword and my hand will destroy them.' (Exodus 15vs.9)

40
He corrupted God’s people to the extent that the Lord gave up on them In the end, nearly two
million five hundred people perished in the desert. Remember these were not just ordinary
Amorites, they were God’s elect whom the devil destroyed with impunity, in line with Exodus 15
vs.9.

It is him who ensured that even in the temple of God, the Holy Temple of God was defiled. When
it was still a tent of meeting, Hophni and Phinehas, sons of Eli, the priest of Shiloh slept with
woman in then temple of God.
22
Now Eli, who was very old, heard about everything his sons were doing to all Israel and how
they slept with the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting (1 Samuel 2 vs.22).

These were the people who were supposed to be role models of society as they were Levites hence
were the next generation of priests. Yet they profaned the Tent of Meeting. Then years later, when
the Temple of God had been built and dedicated to the Lord, the Israelites built evil shrines within
the temple of God (Ezekiel 8 vs. 5-18).

After the death of Christ, he made an idol of a miserable looking man who he called Jesus and told
Christians to bow down to the piece of wood. He fooled the biggest church ever on earth – the
Roman Catholic into idol worship through wooden or stone cast idols of Jesus and Mary. Almost
all Catholics were fooled into believing that they needed Mary to intercede between them and God.
He fooled millions of even professors in the world into believing that dead people do come back
in the form of ancestral spirits. He has fooled our youth into believing that sex outside marriage is
the norm. He has fooled the world into believing that beer is a beverage and is necessary to relieve
challenges in life. He has destroyed the destinies of billions of people over the years. Your destiny
and mine is are at risk of being interfered with.

As times changed and fewer and fewer people were consulting witchdoctors. The devil had to
come up with a new plan. He brought up the white garment church community in countries like
Zimbabwe. These offered prophecy and made people believe that they could see into the spiritual
world. A lot of people flocked to the white garment community for spiritual consultations. As the
pressure to be precise with issues of the spirit, more and more people from the white garment
church community went a gear up and got involved in occult for spiritual powers.

Unfortunately, the white garment community could not capture certain classes of the educated
community who prefer to worship in buildings where there are proper ablution facilities as opposed
to open space worship.. The Pentecostal community was his next target. When he realised the
insatiable hunger for prophecy in people, he brought up the prophetic movement which has gripped
Sub Saharan Africa today. Pastors are now consulting fetish priests for spiritual powers. The
powers are such that they can prophecy to a high degree of accurateness. The prophets usually
have a small towel, presumably to wipe out sweat during preaching but the key purpose is that
when it is waved, a lot of people become unstable and some start falling and that is viewed as a
sign of genuine spiritual powers. The spiritual powers are indeed powerful because part of the
package includes large followings of people within a short space of time even with zero crusade
41
having been conducted. The evil spiritual powers assemble people for a pastor. Any such person
brought into a church of a prophet using occultic powers cannot easily be drawn away. A single
fetish Ghananian priest called Nana Kwaku Bonsam claims to have amongst his prominent
customers, 1 700 pastors.

He has cause bloodshed in the world through wars of different kinds. As of 2022, one man, Vladmir
Putin of Russia has single handedly caused the death of thousands od people through his invasion
of Ukraine. Many families are distraught because loved ones have been lost in a senseless war. In
the land of the Bible, there has been extreme bloodletting. Wars have been raging on in the Middle
East since 2001, beginning with Irag, spilling into Yemen and Syria.

Without the Holy Spirit, we are no match for the devil. Only Jesus and the Holy Spirit are our
refuge. Outside that, we are finished.

He has unlimited access to God

Satan does what no human being has ever been able to do nor will any human being ever be able
to do, getting to the presence of God. Evil as we all know him to be, he has unlimited access to
God and His angels. 6One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord , and Satan
also came with them.

(Job 1 vs. 6)

This verse gives us another insight into the nature of our God. He interacts with his enemies and
even gives him permission to harm his own within given limits. Very few human beings would
tolerate a witch trying to befriend them, knowing fully well that the witch is an arch enemy. God
tolerates Satan. So, evil as he is, he has other privileges which even the elect of God do not have
here on earth.

He has immense power to harm

God has endowed the devil with immense powers to do harm to people on earth. He can cause
miracles to be performed as long as that will deceive people into worshiping him.
13
One day when Job's sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother's
house,
14
a messenger came to Job and said, "The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing
nearby,
15
and the Sabeans attacked and carried them off. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the
only one who has escaped to tell you!"
16
While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, "The fire ofGod fell from the sky
and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!"

42
17
While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, "The Chaldeans formed three
raiding parties and swept down on your camels and carried them off. They put the servants to the
sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!"
18
While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, "Your sons and daughters
were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother's house,
19
when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house.
It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!" Job
1 vs.13-19)

The devil is able to cause any sickness or illness on people. 7So Satan went out from the presence
of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.
(Job 2 vs.7)

Paul says of the enemy, 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers,
against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of
evil in the heavenly realms. (Ephesians 6 vs.12)

Daniel gives us an insight into who the rulers and principalities mentioned by Paul are. 12Then he
continued, "Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain
understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come
in response to them. 13But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then
Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of
Persia. (Daniel 10 vs.12-13)

God had told the Israelites that at the end of seventy years, he would visit them and take them out
of Babylon. The seventy years had passed and Daniel, as a foreigner, was now interceding for the
people of Israel’s return to Israel. God gave him a response but the angel of the Lord who carried
the response was captured by the devil and was held for twenty-one days. That also shows you the
amount of power these demons have. If they could interfere with the program of God to the extent
of holding an angel of God prisoner, then they are extremely powerful. It took the intervention,
not of any other junior angel but of the commander of God’s army, Arch Angel Michael for him
to be released.

Structure of the Kingdom of Satan

Every continent is headed by a high-ranking demon. So, there are five continental demons which
report to Lucifer himself. Under the continental demons, there are country specific demons. Below
them are provincial demons, then district demons, then area demons, family demons, and finally
demons assigned to individuals. Then there specialist demons which are also discussed below.
Thus there demons of murder, sexual immorality, armed robberies, drug abuses, drunkenness,
smoking etc. So we are under the weight of powerful spiritual forces.

43
Continental demons

Of the world’s five continents, there are certain spiritual activities which are common in some
continents which are not common in others? Let us look at the spiritual activities of some
continents.

North African countries of Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Tunisia Morocco and parts of Sudan are largely
Muslim. Although Muslims are God believing, they neither believe in Jesus Christ nor in the
Christian Bible. The opinion is the reader’s as to whether Christ is in charge in those regions or
another deity is. Sub Saharan Africa largely believes in ancestral worship or local gods. Why
would half the continent find themselves worshiping similar spirits? It is because there is a spirit
enforcing the worship of Satan.

Large parts of Asia are very religious. Despite Christianity having originated in Asia, it is least
practiced on that continent. Asians are largely spiritual but they do not believe in Jesus Christ. The
Muslim religion dominates spiritual activity in the Middle East. As one drifts into the Far East,
especially India, one encounters extreme idol worship. There, one ecnounters various types of gods
which are worshiped. Christianity is least practiced there.

North America , especially America is fairly religious . Christianity has taken root there. However,
it is in America where one finds gays and lesbians being appointed to senior government positions.
It is there where gay marriages are officially recognized . It is in America where the murder of
unborn babies through abortion is at its highest. It is there where the first Church of Satan was first
established.

South America is notorious for drug pedaling. It is in South America where drug cartels have their
leaders who are billionaires, It is there where a lot of people are killed due to drug wars.

Europe is also famous for recognition of gays and lesbians. It is in Europe where one fines sex
clubs, strip clubs and legalized prostitution and legalised brothels.

Country specific demons

Then within continents there are certain countries which are famous for certain behaviourial
tendencies. As an example, drug trafficking is prevalent in Mexico. India is famous for idol
worship, Malawi is famous for witchcraft, Botswana is famous for sexual immorality and South
Africans are known to be very violent and there are a lot of violent crimes there. There is extreme
blood-letting in certain parts of Africa. Peace is very elusive there. The regions are fighting one
war after another. These are countries like Central African Republic, Burundi, Eastern Democratic
of Congo, Chad, Northern Nigeria with their Boko Haram etc.

Then within countries, there are certain provinces or districts which are famous for certain
behaviourial challenges. For example, in America, Las Vegas. There is known as a Sin City. There
is an avalanche of Casinos in Las Vegas hence it is a gambling city. There are levels of sexual
44
immorality in the city as gays , lesbians, prostitutes are available in large quantities. There are also
strip clubs where people can strip to their birth day suits and dance.

In Paris, there are also certain districts where there are live sexual shows where people pay to
attend. In Harare, Zimbabwe, it is known that the Avenues area, the area between Josiah Tongogara
road and Hebert Chitepo Road is full of prostitutes every night.

Implications of continental, country, provincial and district demons on

Christianity

When one lives in a particular continent, country, province and district or area, it is important that
one identifies the dominant spirit on the continent, country, province, district or area. For example
a missionary who is sent to Botswana to set up churches may end up in divorce because many
beautiful well-built women will make themselves available to him with no strings attached. He
may be invited quite often to attend to church members in their homes and the large majority of
the women may be sex starved single women. We leave the reader to imagine the fate of such a
Pastor.

A missionary who goes into Malawi must be ready to confront which craft related issues. It is
important to identify key alters on which such spirits are worshipped. One may then have to get
them to be destroyed. A preacher in South America must be careful not to take on drug cartels
because he will certainly face death by the murderous cartels. Such spiritus would have to be
destroyed before one can be effective. Thus every Christian must identify operational spirits in an
area. Effectiveness is not easy until those spirits are destroyed. As Daniel states, such spirits can
interfere with our communication with Jesus and ultimately with God

Likewise, before one can effectively pray for a person, one should first have an appreciation of the
operating spirits in an area, and family. Such spirits and their altars have to be destroyed first,
Failure to do so results in a cat and mouse game.

How the devil destroys people

In his book, Two World Order, Pastor Denis Shoko 2018, made an interesting observation. He
argues that the world is divided into two kingdoms, the kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Satan.
He provides the diagram below

Kingdom of God Kingdom of Satan

45
He argues that people in the kingdom of God are beyond the reach of Satan. ?The devil has no
power what so ever over people who are in the kingdom of God. There is a protective wall, a wall
of heavily armed angels of God between the two kingdoms such that people cannot freely move
between the two kingdoms. This is confirmed by none other than Satan himself in relation to Job,
9
"Does Job fear God for nothing?" Satan replied. 10"Have you not put a hedge around him and his
household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and
herds are spread throughout the land.” (Job 1 vs.9-10)

So, if the devil is to attack a Christian, he lures him/her out of the kingdom of God. Only when a
person is in the kingdom of Satan is Satan able to attack him/her. He must first make the person
sinful as sin is the only currency with which the devil is able to purchase Christians. Without sin,
the devil has no chance of attacking a Christian.

The devil acts like a fisherman who stands at the edge of a dam and throws a fishing line into a
dam, with a hook covered by a bait. It is the greedy fish which wants to eat from the hook which
is pulled out of the water into the unfamiliar territory and that fish is destined for the pot. Likewise,
the devil stands outside the kingdom of God and throws his fishing line into the kingdom of God.
The greedy ‘fish” is what is caught.

The devil normally exploits weaknesses in a person. The weaknesses in a person create a crack
which the devil then utilises. Normally people are not able to identify their weaknesses. The easiest
way is to look at that which a person likes most, that which a person has challenges giving up. For
example, a person may be having a sexual relationship with his/her partner. The person may be so
madly interested in sex such that it becomes difficult to give up the sex. If the person decides to
stay away from sex for a week, the devil will just get the partner to insist on sex and they will
sleep.

Some of the sins are very difficult to identify. A lot of people sin without noticing that they are
sinning. They are hurt by people and they struggle to forgive those who wrong them. Some are
bitter that they have been ill-treated by people they have helped.

Renunciation of the kingdom of Satan

There is no spiritual dual citizenship - one can only be a citizen of one of the two countries and
not both. So when someone receives Christ in his/her life, he/she will have crossed into another
country, ruled by God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. The kingdom of God has its own rules.
Ideally, our words of renunciation must match our actions. As we explained in chapter two, one
reason why the Israelites perished in the desert was that they did not take Egyptian way of life and
religious beliefs from their lives. Even though physically they had left Egypt, they still practiced
things they practiced in Egypt. So, when one renounces his/her citizenship of the kingdom of Satan,
he/she must renounce all practices that are found in that kingdom. Thus one should renounce,
hatred, unforgiveness, bitterness, sexual immorality, selfishness, jealous etc. He/she should
embrace love, sharing, forgiveness etc.,

46
You are on the devil’s ‘Wanted List’.

Who amongst the human folk would lose a car to thieves and stop looking for it? This is exactly
how it is in the kingdom of Satan. As a Christian, you are a prison escapee hence you are on the
devil’s wanted list. When you then start to preach the word as an evangelist or Pastor, you move
high up the ladder of high value dangerous spiritual criminals in the kingdom of Satan. Meetings
are held at probably provincial, district and area and even at family levels about how to bring you
back into the kingdom of Satan. The meetings are a mirror of the one described below.
19
Micaiah continued, "Therefore hear the word of the Lord : I saw the Lord sitting on his throne
with all the host of heaven standing around him on his right and on his left. 20And the Lord said,
'Who will entice Ahab into attacking Ramoth Gilead and going to his death there?' "One suggested
this, and another that.
21
Finally, a spirit came forward, stood before the Lord and said, 'I will entice him.'
22
" 'By what means?' the Lord asked. " 'I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his
prophets,' he said. " 'You will succeed in enticing him,' said the Lord . 'Go and do it.'
23
"So now the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouths of all these prophets of yours. The Lord has
decreed disaster for you." (1 Kings 22 vs.19-23)

To destroy Ahab, the Lord used his key weakness of wanting to be told positives by prophets and
being hostile to true prophecy from the Lord.

Just like God holds meetings with the hosts of heaven, the devil holds meetings with the hosts of
“the dark world.” Remember, demons are basically human beings without a physical structure.
They are able to communicate with their network of demons.

When the devil wants to harvest souls, he brings down an influential leader of a church. For
example, when prominent senior member of the clergy, Reverend Andrew Wutawunashe was
accused of adultery and eventually divorced, the church split. It was a huge victory for the devil.
This was also the case in the case of Jimmy Swaggart,, a popular televangelist on his illicit affair
with a prostitute in New Orland.

The joy that Herod had when he saw Jesus is probably the same joy the devil will have when a
prominent member of the clergy is brought down (Luke 23 vs.8).

Devil’s tool kit

These are basically strategies the devil has used since time immemorial to bring down Christians.
Paul wrote to the Corinthians, 13No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And

47
God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted,
he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. (1 Corinthians 10 vs.13)

Sophisticated as the devil is, the tools he has used to bring down humanity have been basic and
largely the same from time immemorial.

Close associates

A person’s closest associates are the source of major spiritual challenges. Close associate
constitute a key opinion group. What close associates say and do influences what a person does.
For that reason, Paul wrote, 33Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character." (1
Corinthians 15 vs.33)

For that reason, God was particular about who the Israelites married, 15"Be careful not to make a
treaty with those who live in the land; for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and
sacrifice to them, they will invite you and you will eat their sacrifices. 16And when you choose some
of their daughters as wives for your sons and those daughters prostitute themselves to their gods,
they will lead your sons to do the same. (Exodus 34 vs. 15-16)

It was Eve who caused the fall of man by influencing Adam to eat the forbidden fruit. It was Sarah
who influenced Abraham to take Hagar for a wife. Today, Hagar’s children (Muslims) do not
want to leave side by side with the descendants of Sarah (Christians) in their countries because
God said,12He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone's
hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers." (Genesis 16 vs.12)

It was Rebekah who caused Isaac to bless Jacob ahead of Esau. It was Reuben who slept with
Bilhah, his father’s wife. It was Miriam and Aaron who rebelled against Moses (Numbers 212
vs.1-3). It was Eli’s children who caused his death. It was people around Saul who caused him to
disobey God. It was Amnon who rapped Tamar his sister. It was Absalom who killed Amnon his
brother. It Was Absalom who rebelled against his father, David. It was Absalom who rapped ten
of his father’s wives in the sight of all Israel. It was Solomon who killed his brother Adonijah. It
was Solomon’s battalion of wives who led him to worship foreign gods. It was Rehoboam’s friends
who advised him against being a good leader. It was Jezebel, the daughter of a Sidonian king who
led Ahab into Baal worship. It was Judas, Jesus’ chosen Treasurer who led to the arrest of Jesus.
It was the Israelites who rejected their God given messiah and nailed him on to the cross.

In our time, it is millions of men and women who violently attack their spouses- people who have
given them children! It is millions of men who were once very loved who took advantage of the
love and trust of their wives and partners and went on to dump their families for other women.

It is close associates today who lead millions of people into sexual immorality, drug abuse,
drunkenness and, smoking etc. It is close associates today who gang up to rob people. Whenever
you are around close associates, know for certain that the devil is not very far hence you must be
alert.
48
Food

A lot of the chronic diseases that people struggle with today are food related. Stomach ulcers, high
blood pressure, sugar diabetes etc are all food related diseases. When people eat their food as if
they have a covenant with food or rathenr as tablets, they risk later in life taking their tablets more
as food than as medication.

Then we have people who argue that alcohol is a beverage. However our challenge is that it is one
beverage whose destiny is the brain and not the stomach. All other beverages including liquid
beverages go into a stomach and not the brain. It is one beverages which the father is not keen to
share with the wife and children. Our argument has always been that if beer is a beverage, why
can the father of the house not allow all family members to consume it as well.

Power and fame

People in politics will do all they can to gain and retain power. Anyone who is a threat to power is
killed. In the early years of Zimbabwe’s independence, it is alleged that over twenty thousand
people were killed by government soldiers in the western Matebeleland provinces because they
were accused of supporting a dissident movement. Between 2000 and 2008, hundreds of people
also died in Zimbabwe at the hands of political violence as political parties either sought to gain
or retain power.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, millions have been displaced and thousands have died due
to perennial wars over who should rule the land. On 24 February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine as
the country sought to regain territories which were formally part of the Soviet Union. Billions are
spent each year by governments as they develop weapons for killing other people who try and take
away their territories. NATOA countries have a target defence budget of 5% of GDP per country.
The spending on defence is probably more than what is spent on education or heath. The money
is used to develop weapons for killing people. Nuclear weapons were developed to mass-kill
people.

Money

Money enables us to access things that we do not have. Paul tells Timothy, 10For the love of money
is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and
pierced themselves with many griefs.(1 Timothy 6 vs.10).

All robberies taking place are in search of money. All thieving that takes place in society is in
search of money. The prostitution that takes place in society is in search of money. People are
being murdered daily in search of money. Relatives have ceased to talk to each other over money.

Our society today is full of false prophets all because of money. A Ghanaian fetish priest called
Nana Kwaku Bonsam claims that over one thousand seven hundred African prophets are his
customers , all because of money. People are killing their close relatives or surrendering them to
49
evil spirits as wives because they want to make more money from their businesses people have
become lovers of money to an extent that they do not wish to help their relatives.

Fear

We have always joked that the word fear stands for false evidence appearing real. All fear is in the
mind. The devil uses fear to cower people into serving him. People fear witches so they flock to
witchdoctors. People fear that if they do not participate in ancestral worship, they will be attacked
by the evil spirits. Sadly fear of spiritual attacks is not restricted to the unlearned. Highly schooled
people worship the devil today out of fear.

Unfortunately, fear drives out faith. It was fear that made Abraham lie to the Egyptians that Sarah
was his sister (Genesis 12 vs.12-13) and to Abimelech as well (Genesis 20 vs.1-3). It was fear that
made Isaac lie to Abimelech that Rebekah was his sister (Genesis 26 vs. 7) . It was fear that caused
the people of Israel to rebel and choose to go back to Egypt.(Numbers 13 vs.26-33; Numbers 14
vs.1-4), .It was fear that made Saul to offer burnt offerings which only a priest could (1 Samuel
13 vs.7-10). It was fear that made Israeli men flee from Goliath yet it was faith that made David
kill Goliath (1 Samuel 17 vs.23-24; 1 Samuel 17 vs.32-49). It was fear that made Saul want to
kill David (1 Samuel 18-28). It was fear that made David flee from his enemy son, giving his back
to his enemy for the first time (2 Kings 15 vs.13-14). It was fear that caused Solomon to kill
Adonijah ( 1 Kings 2 vs.22-25). It was fear of the cruelty of the king of Judah that tore Israel into
the Northern Kingdom and Southern Kingdom (1 Kings 12 vs.1-20). It was fear that led Jeroboam
to establish high places at Bethel and Dan (1 Kings 12 vs.25-33). It was fear that led to Elijah
walking 450km (280 miles ) from Mount Camel to Mount Horeb as he fled from Jezebel. Elijah
had killed 450 prophets of Baal. He was supposed to be basking in the glory of his spiritual success
but that was all spoiled by fear of Jezebel. It is ironic that he feared death at the hands of Jezebel
but even as he fled from death , he asked for death,
3
Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant
there, 4while he himself went a day's journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down
under it and prayed that he might die. "I have had enough, Lord ," he said. "Take my life; I am no
better than my ancestors." (1 Kings 19 vs.3-40

It was fear that drove faith from Peter and he nearly sank when he was just less than two metres
from where Jesus was (Mathew 14 vs.22 -32). It was fear of the cross that made Jesus to say, "My
Father, if it is possible, may this cup be that drove faith from taken from me. Yet not as I will, but
as you will." (Mathew 26 vs.39)

Fear and faith are sworn enemies. Fear and faith cannot co-exist in a person. Fear drives out faith
and leaves a person very vulnerable to an attack by Satan. Faith drives out fear.

Pride

Pride refers to having a very high or an elevated opinion of oneself. Pride makes a person hear his
voice only and act according to his own “advice” to himself or herself. It was pride that led to
50
Satan being expelled from heaven. 12How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the
dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! 13You said in your
heart, "I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned
on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. 14I will ascend above the
tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High." (Isaiah 14 vs. 12-14)

It was pride that made Hagar to be disobedience to her mistress, Sarai. 4He slept with Hagar, and
she conceived. When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. (Genesis 16
vs.4-)

It was probably partly pride that made Saul to offer burnt offerings to the Lord when he was not a
priest. (1 Samuel13 vs.7-9)

It was pride that cost Queen Vashti her marriage. 10On the seventh day, when King Xerxes was in
high spirits from wine, he commanded the seven eunuchs who served him-Mehuman, Biztha,
Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar and Carcas- 11to bring before him Queen Vashti, wearing her
royal crown, in order to display her beauty to the people and nobles, for she was lovely to look at.
12
But when the attendants delivered the king's command, Queen Vashti refused to come. Then the
king became furious and burned with anger. (Esther1 vs.11-12)

On Tuesday, 18 October 2022, Manchester United played against Tottenham Hotspurs. Christiano
Ronaldo, the Portuguese forward was not in the first eleven team. He was very offended for being
left out of the first team. To wards the end of the game when Manchester was leading by two goals
to nil, Christiano Ronaldo was asked to get onto the game as a substitute. He declined and instead
walked out of the stadium in anger. That marked the beginning of the end of his career at the club
as he was never again included as a starting member of the team. Pride can destroy careers.

Desire for sex

Arguably the most utilised tool by the devil is sexual desire. Human beings need and enjoy sex.
God, not Satan created sex as procreation activity. God made sexual enjoyment a bonus to couples
as they mate in a creative activity. God allows sex to take place in the confines of marriage. He
does not allow sex outside marriage for any reason. For that reason, a woman is born sealed for
the father of her children. Yet people are sleeping with each other wily-nilly. The devil has made
sex a package of every relationship between a male person and a female person. He has made
people believe that it is not possible to live without sex as if one needs sex in order to live.

Worse still men are not content to sleep with just one woman even if the man is married. Men have
gone a step further to sleep with even prostitutes for a fee. They now have to pay for what God
made available for free and in abundance.

No man wants to share his woman with another man. Yet every woman on earth was created for a
specific man. In principle, she remains someone else’s wife. When a man sleeps with a woman
51
who is supposed to be someone else’s wife. he is technically committing adultery. Likewise, a
woman who sleeps with a man who is not her husband is a thief of a husband. If cheated later in
marriage, neither the man nor the woman should complain because the woman or man does not
belong any of them. Besides, any sexual activity outside marriage is worship to the devil. It is
supreme worship as both the man and the woman surrender their blood to the devil. Later in our
discussions we shall look at the covenant nature of sex.

Conclusion

Prophet Hosea aptly summed it up when he said, ”My people perish from lack of knowledge.” Our
duty as the pastoral community is to make information available, our duty is to educate and every
person has an obligation to then make a decision. I am always encouraged by the parable of the
sower (Luke 8 vs.9-18). Out of every four people we preach to or who read our books, just one
repents and that encourages us.

For that reason, even Joshua, faced with a sinful people said, 14"Now fear the Lord and serve him
with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in
Egypt, and serve the Lord . 15But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for
yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the
River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household,
we will serve the Lord ." (Joshua 24 vs.14-15)

52
 CHAPTER FOUR

DISMANTLING UNBROKEN ALTARS.

As we mentioned in Chapter Two, alters are transgenerational. Covenants that arise from altars are
binding upon future generations unless they are broken. Today, if we see the rainbow in clouds,
we know that even if it was about to rain, it will not rain because of what God said on the altar of
Noah. Today, 45% of the American economy is owned by 2% Jews. It is at the altar of Abraham
that God told Abraham that his descendants would take possession of the gates of their enemies.
Is it any wonder therefore that since its founding in 1948, Israel has never lost a war. In 967, in
just 6 days Israel had conquered nations much more numerous and larger that itself. The Egyptians
tried to come back with a war in 1973 and lost badly. Israel cannot lose because God said they
were supposed to win all the time.

Unbroken alters negatively affect future generations

Altars raised in one generation are bound to affect future generations unless they are destroyed. It
is important for one to know what altars may be operative in one’s life. To identify some of them,
one may need to take a look at the cultural and religious values of the earlier generations. What
were their beliefs? What were their values? What did they worship? How did they worship what
ever they worshipped. What wrong things may they have done which may now affect our
generation.

Juda’s altar of adultery

The sexual immorality in the house of Juda can almost be traced back to Juda himself. Juda lost
his wife early. He then started sleeping with prostitutes to the extent that he ended up sleeping
with his daughter in law. The fact that his daughter in law actually way laid him and tricked him
into sleeping with him means that Judah had made it a habit to look for prostitutes from the same
spot. That altar was not destroyed. It comes as no surprise therefore that Obed, one of his
descendants married Rahab the former prostitute of Jericho, an Amorite, an outcast whom God
had said should never come into the camp of the Israelites. It is ironic that his son Boaz, married
Ruth a Moabite woman, another outcast person whom God had said should not come into the camp
of Israel. Boaz’s grandson married Bathsheba, a non-Israeli woman. It therefore did not come as a
surprise to Solomon to marry an Egyptian woman because his ancestors had married foreign
women. Neither does not come as a surprise that David got himself involved in adultery. The altar ,
which did not end with him went beyond him. Amnon, his eldest son rapped his sister Tamar (2
Samuel 13 vs.3-16). Absalom, his third son also rapped his father’s concubines (2 Samuel 16
vs.22). It is advisable for people to look into their ancestry and look at possible altars which have
not been broken and deal with such.

The perish of Israelites in the deserts

53
When Israelites left Egypt under the guidance of their newly found God, we do not hear of them
destroying their altars. God did a great thing by making sure the people are first taught about their
newly found God before they proceeded into Canaan. However, they were not taught about the
dangers of the unbroken altars. These people still believed in the strength of their gods which their
ancestors had worshiped for generations. So even though they were physically removed from
Egypt, Egyptian religious beliefs remained in them. When Rachel left her father’s household, she
stole some of her father’s house gods. In our view, Moses never told the Israelites not to carry their
household gods. It was a fact that each of the calamities that came upon Egypt through Moses was
directed at the gods of the Egyptians, they were meant to show people that their gods were useless.
Thus Egyptians worshipped the Nile River, frogs, flies, gnats, locusts, etc. All these gods had been
rendered useless in the seeing of the Israelites. Are we really to assume that the Israelites dumped
their household gods whom they had worshipped for years when they left Egypt? That is highly
unlikely. It is our assumption that the Israelites carried with them some of their Egyptian gods and
they probably secretly worshipped them in their tents. No wonder, when Moses disappeared from
the national stage for just a month, the whole community of two million five hundred people
agreed to worship other gods and they did so. Could they have been so easily swayed into idol
worship by just a handful of people? It is highly unlikely. It is most likely that idol worship was
greatly respected.

Paul, writing to the Corinthians said,5Casting down imaginations and very high thing that exalteth
itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of
Christ (2 Corinthians 10 vs.5 - NKJV)

Thus, any transformation of a people should start from within a person and not from outside. True
transformation should encompass transformation of cultural values and beliefs and religious
beliefs. The Israelites moved out of Israel without changes in cultural and religious beliefs. When
they got into the desert, God then taught them new religious values which they were to embrace.
As is often the challenge, change is rarely fully embraced. Change is usually led by opinion leaders.
It is the same opinion leaders who often were on the forefront of wanting to go back to Egypt.

Northern Israel and unbroken altars

When Israel broke into two parts, the lager part, became known as Northern Israel and the smaller
part was known as Southern Israel or Judah. The founder of the Northern Kingdom was Jeroboam.
Not only did he tear the kingdom away from Rehoboam son of Solomon, he literally surrendered
it to the devilock stock and barrel upon inception until it was destroyed by Assyria in 722 BC.
28Afterseeking advice, the king made two golden calves. He said to the people, "It is too much for you to
go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt."

29Onehe set up in Bethel, and the other in Dan. 30And this thing became a sin; the people went even as far
as Dan to worship the one there.

31Jeroboam built shrines on high places and appointed priests from all sorts of people, even though they
were not Levites. 32He instituted a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the festival held in

54
Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar. This he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves he had made. And
at Bethel he also installed priests at the high places he had made.

33On the fifteenth day of the eighth month, a month of his own choosing, he offered sacrifices on the altar
he had built at Bethel. So, he instituted the festival for the Israelites and went up to the altar to make off
carried into Assyria and beyond.

Rebooting
Choose the master to serve

A lot of people want the best of God and the best of what the devil can offer. Even as the Israelites built
and worshiped a golden calf, they were eating the food God had provided. A lot more people pretend to be
fence sitting, they pretend to be non-aligned, playing it safe by going to church and occasionally financing
traditional functions where the devil is worshiped. This does not work. For this reason, Joshua wrote, 15But
if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve,
whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you
are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord." (Joshua 24 vs.15)

Jesus told his disciples, 24"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other,
or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.(Mathew
vs.24)

The philistines tried to serve two masters by taking the ark of God into the temple of Dagon their
god and the results were disastrous. 2Then they carried the ark into Dagon's temple and set it beside
Dagon. 3When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the
ground before the ark of the Lord ! They took Dagon and put him back in his place.

4But the following morning when they rose, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the
ark of the Lord ! His head and hands had been broken off and were lying on the threshold; only his body
remained. 5That is why to this day neither the priests of Dagon nor any others who enter Dagon's temple
at Ashdod step on the threshold.

6The Lord 's hand was heavy upon the people of Ashdod and its vicinity; he brought devastation upon them
and afflicted them with tumors. (1 Samuel 5 vs.2-6)

Rid oneself of all forms of unrighteousness.

When God told Jacob to go and build an altar to him there, 2So Jacob said to his household and to all
who were with him, "Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your
clothes.

3Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my
distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone."

4So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had and the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under
the oak at Shechem. (Genesis 35 vs.2-4)

55
Before Elijah could sacrifice to the Lord on Mount Carmel, he repaired the altar of God,
symbolising the repairing of Israel’s relationship with God.

The principles discussed in this section do not apply to people who have not accepted Jesus Christ
into their lives and have not undergone.

At personal level, there is need to rid oneself of the life of sin. One should free oneself from all
forms of malice such as anger, unforgiveness, hatred, bitterness, jealousy and sexual immorality
etc. Paul told the Galatians, 24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its
passions and desires. (Galatians vs.24)

There is need to dismantle all virtual satanic altars in a person’s life. Paul, writing to the Romans
said, 1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy
and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship.

2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.(Romans
12 vs.1-2)

There can never be any transformation without renewal of the mind. Old thought lines, old ways
of life, old beliefs e.t.c. will lead people back into sin. It is important to view sin in the right
perspective, as a true worship of the devil.

Dismantle the alters in your father’s household

Having cleaned oneself up, there is need to clean up one’s fathers’ household. Before God could
fully use Gedeon, 25That same night the LORD said to him, "Take the second bull from your father's herd,
the one seven years old. Tear down your father's altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.

26Thenbuild a proper kind of altar to the LORD your God on the top of this height. Using the wood of the
Asherah pole that you cut down, offer the second bull as a burnt offering." (Judges 6 vs.25-26)

God could not have allowed Gedeon to erect an altar to the Lord side by side with the altar of Baal
and the Asherah Pole. The evil altars had to be destroyed first. Likewise, we need to revisit our
father’s households and identify any physical altars still standing. Where there are many family
members in a family, it may not be easy to go and destroy the physical altars especially where
Christian beliefs in the family are not shared. In that case, we can destroy the effect of such altars
in our lives. We can spiritually dismantle them and render them useless especially upon our lives.
In any case, there are thousands of altars erected by our ancestors where covenants were probably
made which covenants may affect us today. It is critical that we dismantle all such altars which we
imagine having been raised by our ancestors, hundreds of years before we came to be.

As alluded to in Chapter two, almost every has his/her roots in ancestral worship or worship of
other gods. Even Abraham had his roots in idol worship. 14"Now fear the Lord and serve him with all

56
faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve
the Lord . (Joshua 24 vs. 14).

2"Son of man, confront Jerusalem with her detestable practices 3and say, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD
says to Jerusalem: Your ancestry and birth were in the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite
and your mother a Hittite. (Ezekiel 16 vs.2-3)

A sample prayer could be:

 In the name of Jesus Christ, I dismantle all altars of ancestral worship raised by my father
or any of my ancestors.
 In the name of Jesus Christ, I cancel every covenant on any altar limiting my success in
education, marriage or business and the success of my children.
 In the name of Jesus Christ, I dismantle any alter raised against my marriage, life and
business.
 In the name of Jesus Christ, I reverse every incarnation by any one on any evil altar against
my family, my success, my marriage and my business .
 In the name of Jesus Christ, I invoke the altar of the Cross of Calvary upon my family and
business.

Next we should build altars to God in our lives. These can be virtual and physical. When our hearts
start yearning for what is Godly, that means virtual altars to the Lord exist in our lives. Then we
should build altars on which we shall pray regularly. For example, at work one can have an altar.
This is a place where one chooses and dedicates to the Lord as an altar without anything being
built on it. This is very critical. People of Eastern origin who worship idols will usually have their
gods in their offices and even at their reception areas.

At home, one may have an altar in a lounge area e.g. at a fire place. If one has limited space, any
part of a room can be an altar. A kitchen table can still be an alter on which one prays or even any
part of the house for that matter. In a bedroom, one can still have a place where one considers an
altar from where the person can pray regularly.

For those blessed with space , they can dedicate a whole room to an altar. That room becomes a
family altar room. Off course a whole room cannot be an altar. A part of the room then becomes a
dedicated altar to the Lord.

Servicing an altar

God told the Israelites, 16Three times a year all your men must appear before the Lord your God at the
place he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Tabernacles.
No man should appear before the Lord empty-handed: 17Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the
way the Lord your God has blessed you. (Deuteronomy 16 vs.16-17)

All three of us have at one stage or another consulted witch doctors. No one consults a witch doctor
when they have nothing to pay for the consultation. In fact, before any consultation can be done to
57
a witchdoctor, a payment has to be made first. People normally check on the consultation fees for
a witchdoctor before the consultation day. The actual work of future telling or unraveling mystries
in a person’s life is performed by a spirit, an evil spirit which is hosted by a human being. It is the
witchdoctor who uses the money obtained at his shrine or aoltar. The spirit does not use the money.

Even when consulting a general practitioner or a specialist doctor, before being attended to, there
is a consultation fee that has to be paid. It is only foolish Christians who think that their Christian
God is consulted for free all the time.

The beauty about the Christian God is that he does not set a predetermined amount. The amount
is determined by God’s blessings upon a person. Thus, it is advisable to ensure that when every
member of a household approaches an altar, they should have something. Never should they be
empty handed.

The money can be put in a bible and the bible is placed on an altar. At the end of the week, the
money should be taken to church and be placed in an offering basket.

For anyone with a horrible back ground like some of us, Ezekiel 18 offers a window of opportunity
to realign oneself with Christ. For example, pastor Shoko’s background has extreme sexual
immorality, extreme drunkenness, extreme chain smoking, extreme drug consumption and drug
pedaling, divorce and polygamy etc. Yet his siblings and him have not been caught up in any of
the above mess. 5"Suppose there is a righteous man who does what is just and right. 6He does not eat at
the mountain shrines or look to the idols of the house of Israel. He does not defile his neighbor's wife or lie
with a woman during her period.

7He does not oppress anyone, but returns what he took in pledge for a loan. He does not commit robbery
but gives his food to the hungry and provides clothing for the naked. 8He does not lend at usury or take
excessive interest. He withholds his hand from doing wrong and judges fairly between man and man. 9He
follows my decrees and faithfully keeps my laws. That man is righteous; he will surely live, declares the
Sovereign LORD . (Ezekiel 18 vs. 5-9)

58
 CHAPTER FIVE

UNBROKEN CURSES

A curse is a statement spoken to a person limiting the growth and prosperity of aa person or a
place. Curses are spoken by people with great spiritual authority. Curses can also arise from
touching accursed things.

Generally, there is one spiritual authority and four people in human life who have spiritual
authority to pronounce a curse against another person or place. These: God or Jesus, a parent or
grandparent, a blessed person, a true man or woman of God, a person with evil spiritual powers.

When a curse is pronounced by the right authority, spiritual forces will spring into action and
ensure that the curse is effected according to the words spoken. So, what effects a curse are spiritual
forces obeying a spiritual command. Spiritual forces are very obedient. Once they have effected a
curse, only a person of a higher or equal authority can reverse the curse by instructing the same
spiritual forces to remove the curse.

Identifying a curse
The existence of a curse in a family can be derived from identifying trends in the family. A
concentration of challenges in a particular family may (not will definitely) indicate the possible
existence of a curse. Why would family members face the same challenges at almost certain stages
of their lives? The examples below are only indicative but not exhaustive.

Health

Certain diseases seem to be concentrated in particular families only. Whereas some diseases can
be said to be hereditary like cancer e.t.c, the same cannot be said of diseases like H.I.V and Aids.
Yet it is not uncommon to find a whole family being wiped out by the diseases. Why on earth
would seven siblings both male and female, be suffering from the same disease?

Premature deaths

Family members may generally live until certain ages but not beyond. The causes of deaths may
not be similar e.g. the Kennedy family discussed in chapter one..

Nature of deaths

59
The nature of deaths of members of a given family may be indicative of the possible existence of
a curse. In Chapter one of this book we made a detailed reference to the Kennedy family in
America. The deaths are all premature and they are mostly accident caused. If we go into the bible,
the deaths of David’s sons were primarily murder. Absalom murdered his brother Amnon (2
Samuel 13 vs.28-29). Absalom died in a war against his father (2 Samuel 18 vs.14-15). Solomon
murdered his brother Adonijah (1 Kings 2 vs. 25).

Marital challenges

One of the easiest way to identify an anti-marriage curse in a family is the existence of marital
challenges in a family. Almost all ladies from the same family may not have been married at all –
never married and no children

In some families, all daughters are in divorce and all sons are in divorce. Could this be just mere
coincidence? In yet some cases, everybody in the family is a divorcee, male or female? Could that
also be a coincidence? In some families, every daughter has lost a husband to death? The maternal
grandmother lost her husband early. Their mother lost her husband early then the daughters as
well. The aunt’ (mother’s sisters) all lost their husbands to premature death. All maternal cousin
sisters lost their husbands to premature death. Could surely that be a coincidence?

Then there is the issue of polygamy. Every member of the family is in a polygamous marriage.
The parents are or were in a polygamous marriage. The grand parents also were in polygamy.

Bareness

There are increasing incidences of bareness in women. True, some of it is caused by biological
challenges. However, there are incidences where a woman has been for all forms of test and
everything is reported to be medically correct and the husband’s sperm count is normal yet a couple
remains childless. It is quite possible that sometimes curses could have been pronounced against
someone or certain covenants could have been made on some evil alters against a person’ child
bearing capacity. Such curses need spiritual and not medical attention.

Substance abuse

In some families, almost everyone drinks beer, whether male or female. The majority of family
members may also be struggling with drugs. This could actually be prevalent in the extended
family?

Avenging Spirits

In yet some families, there could be incidences of avenging spirits. These could cause various
misfortunes in the family including premature deaths of members, job losses.

Transgenerational nature of curses

60
As indicated in our introduction above, curses are caused by spoken instructions to spiritual agents
to effect a curse. Unless and until an instruction is given by a person of a higher or equal spiritual
standing, a curse will remain in force for generations. Curses are extremely contagious in that they
follow blood and anyone in a given bloodline is subject to a given curse. A curse can last for
thousands of years unless it has been cancelled e.g. the case against Canaan.

The challenge with each generation is that curses spoken against earlier generations are binding
upon people’s lives and they may not. Thus, we are born with the curse in our blood. This is why
misfortunes that visited a member of the Kennedy family discussed in chapter one, in 1941 will
visit a person born in 2022. Curses have a legal right to affect a person’s life. This is why Bible
believing, tongue speaking Christians will still face misfortunes in their lives unless they have
broken the curses. For that reason, we have written this book to provide spiritual guidance to
millions of Christians on how to break the unending cycle of misfortunes in their lives.

Curses by God or Jesus

Generally all curses by God were caused by disobedience. God hates disobedience and rebellion .
He says of these two: 22But Samuel replied: "Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as
much as in obeying the voice of the Lord ? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the
fat of rams.

23Forrebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected
the word of the Lord , he has rejected you as king." (1Samuel 15 vs.22-23)

The Edenic curse

In the Garden of Eden, when man sinned against God, He pronounced two curses which negatively
affect man to this day. 16To the woman he said, "I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with
pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you."

17To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded
you, 'You must not eat of it,' "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all
the days of your life.

18Itwill produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19By the sweat of your
brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and
to dust you will return." (Genesis 3 vs.16-18)

Childbearing birth pains exist in women to this day. To this day, man has to work for food as
opposed to having it for free as it was in the garden of Eden.

The curse against Cain.

Cain and Abel presented their offerings to the Lord. The Lord preferred Abel’s offering. Out of
sheer jealous. Cain murdered his only brother. Ironically to this day, the issue of jealous between

61
elder brothers and younger brothers is a serious source of friction in families. After the murder of
Abel, God pronounced a curse against Cain, 11Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground,
which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. 12When you work the ground, it will
no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth." (Genesis 4 vs.11-12)

It is important to note that after this case was pronounced against him, we do not read about his
relationship with God anymore. If anything, we are told that his (Cain’s) descendants were wiped
out in the great flood. The human race as we know it today arose from Seth, the other son of Adam.
Noah is a descendant of Seth (Genesis 5 vs 3-29). It is important to note that when a person is
under a case, he/she does not prosper for a long time, it will always come to a sad end.

Curse against the Israelites

When a the Israelites complained against God after thereport of the spies andwere
contemplating chosing one of them tolead themback to Egypty,God was angry. 20The Lord
replied, "I have forgiven them, as you asked. 21Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory
of the Lord fills the whole earth, 22not one of the men who saw my glory and the miraculous signs I performed
in Egypt and in the desert but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times-23not one of them will ever see
the land I promised on oath to their forefathers. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it.”
(Numbers 21 vs.21-23

26The Lord said to Moses and Aaron:

27"How long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling
Israelites. 28So tell them, 'As surely as I live, declares the Lord , I will do to you the very things I heard you
say:

29Inthis desert your bodies will fall-every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the
census and who has grumbled against me. 30Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand
to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. 31As for your children that
you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected.

32But you-your bodies will fall in this desert. 33Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering
for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the desert. 34For forty years-one year for each of
the forty days you explored the land-you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against
you.' (Numbers 14 vs. 26-31

The curse was fulfilled in the desert as of the two million five hundred Israelites who crossed the Red Sea,
only two people crossed the Jordan into Canaan.

Curse against children born out of wedlock

God told the Israelites, 2No one born of a forbidden marriage nor any of his descendants may enter the
assembly of the Lord, even down to the tenth generation. (Deuteronomy 23 vs.2 NIV)

The King James version puts it as follows:

62
A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord; even to his tenth generation he shall not enter
into the congregation of the Lord.

So, basically the reference to the forbidden marriage in NIV Bible there refers to children born out
of wedlock. Generally, such children suffer from a rejection spirit. They will have been rejected
by their parents. For some reason, rejection tends to follow them. The majority of their marriages
end in divorce or premature death of a husband or wife. The men are usually extremely
promiscuous even in marriage or they end up in polygamous marriages.
1Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior. His father was Gilead; his mother was a prostitute. 2Gilead's
wife also bore him sons, and when they were grown up, they drove Jephthah away. "You are not going to
get any inheritance in our family," they said, "because you are the son of another woman."

3So Jephthah fled from his brothers and settled in the land of Tob, where a group of adventurers gathered
around him and followed him . (Judges 11 vs.1-3)

The Moabite/Amorite Curse

God told the Israelites, 3No Ammonite or Moabite or any of his descendants may enter the assembly of
the Lord, even down to the tenth generation. (Deuteronomy 23 vs.3)

God hated the Moabites because they tried to put a curse on the Israelites through Balaam. It was
the Moabite women who ensnared Israelite men and caused them to worship Baal. While Israel was
staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women, 2who invited them
to the sacrifices to their gods. The people ate and bowed down before these gods. 3So Israel joined in
worshiping the Baal of Peor. And the Lord 's anger burned against them. (Numbers 25 vs.1-3)

In disobedience to this curse, a man from Bethlehem of Juda went to live amongst the Moabites
because of a famine in Bethlehem. He paid dearly for his disobedience. 2The man's name was
Elimelech, his wife's name Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were
Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there. 3Now Elimelech, Naomi's
husband, died, and she was left with her two sons.

4They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten
years, 5both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.
(Ruth 1 vs.2-5)

The curse against the house of Eli

The sons of Eli, the Priest at Shiloh sinned against the Lord by profaning the offerings to the Lord
and by sleeping with women who served at the entrance of Tent of Meeting. The Lod pronounced
a curse against the house of Eli. 31The time is coming when I will cut short your strength and the strength
of your father's house, so that there will not be an old man in your family line 32and you will see distress in
my dwelling. Although good will be done to Israel, in your family line there will never be an old man.

33Every one of you that I do not cut off from my altar will be spared only to blind your eyes with tears and to
grieve your heart, and all your descendants will die in the prime of life. (1 Samuel 2 vs.31-33)
63
Shortly after the pronouncement of the above case, Israel went to war and in that war both sons of
Eli, Hophni and Phinehas were killed in action. On hearing about the death of his sons and the
capture of the Ark of God by the Philistines, Eli collapsed and died.

Several years later, Saul suspected that Ahimelech, the Priest of Nob, was supporting David and
helping him to evade death at the hands of Saul. Ahimelech was a descendant of Eli the Priest of
Shiloh. A whole town of priests, descendants of Eli, was wiped out in one day. 18The king then
ordered Doeg, "You turn and strike down the priests." So Doeg the Edomite turned and struck them down.
That day he killed eighty-five men who wore the linen ephod.

19He also put to the sword Nob, the town of the priests, with its men and women, its children and infants,
and its cattle, donkeys and sheep. (1 Samuel 22 vs. 18-19)

Only one person escaped, Abiatha, son of Ahimelech. He became David’s Priest throughout his
struggles with Saul and throughout his reign. Upon his death, Abiatha was caught up in a
succession wrangle between Adonijah and Solomon. He was sacked by Solomon when he became
a king. 26To Abiathar the priest the king said, "Go back to your fields in Anathoth. You deserve to die, but
I will not put you to death now, because you carried the ark of the Sovereign Lord before my father David
and shared all my father's hardships."

27So Solomon removed Abiathar from the priesthood of the Lord , fulfilling the word the Lord had spoken at
Shiloh about the house of Eli. (2 Kings 2 vs.26-27).

Unfortunately the curse against the house of Eli was such that it could not be attorned by a sacrifice.
14Therefore, I swore to the house of Eli, 'The guilt of Eli's house will never be atoned for by sacrifice or
offering.' " (1 Samuel 3 vs.14)

As the priests lived, they may not have known about the case unless Samuel had spoken to them
about it. Such is the nature of curses, we may never get to know about curses spoken against our
ancestors, which curses now affect us as a later generation.

God’s curse against Saul

Saul was the first king of Israel, very much loved by Samuel. He was however disobedient. Samuel
told him to go to Gilgal and wait for him for seven days. Yet just after the seven days were over,
he offered burnt offering to the Lord. Just as he finished, Samuel arrived. Saul tried to justify his
actions but Samuel told him, 13"You acted foolishly," Samuel said. "You have not kept the command the
Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time.

14But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed
him leader of his people, because you have not kept the Lord 's command."(1 Samuel 3 vs. 13-14)

Saul was an arrogant king. He never tried to seek God’s apology. There is no record of him ever
going to Samuel to seek to be reconciled to God. Unlike David who sinned more than Saul, Saul
was not apologetic.

64
His situation was worsened by the fact that when he went to war with the Amalekites, he did do
as God ordered. He made things worse by tearing off a holy priestly garment.
28Samuel said to him, "The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to one of
your neighbors-to one better than you. 29He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for
he is not a man, that he should change his mind." (1Samuel 15 vs.28-29)

The Bible has no record of Saul ever looking for Samuel again up until he died. The next time that
Saul looked for Samuel was at a witchdoctor, looking for a spirit of Samuel. He failed to consult
him during his lifetime and went after his spirit. It was at the witchdoctor that he was told of his
fate, that he would die the next day.

The curse against the house of David

David sinned against God by raping Uriah’s wife. He went on to order the killing of Uriah the
Hittite. God responded with a curse, not against David but against his household. 10Now, therefore,
the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite
to be your own.'

11"This is what the Lord says: 'Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity upon you. Before
your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will lie with your
wives in broad daylight. 12You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.' " (2nd
Samuel 12 vs. 10-12)

Immediately thereafter, we read of Amon, David’s eldest son raping his sister Tamar (2 Samuel
13 vs.1-19) . Later own we read of Absalom raping his father’s concubines (2 Samuel 16 vs.22).
As if to punish David for his instable sexual desires, Solomon his son, married a thousand wives
(1 Kings 11 vs.3 ).

Bloodletting continued in David’s household even after he had died. Absalom killed Amnon (1
Samuel 13vs. 28-29); Absalom was killed in a war against his father ( 2 Samuel 18 vs 14-15) and
finally, Solomon killed Adonijah his brother (1 Kings 2 vs.24 -25)

The short-term curse against Israel

When David was old, against the advice of his army commander Joab, he enumerated the fighting
men in Israel. God was not impressed. He sent Prophet Gad with a curse. 13So Gad went to David
and said to him, "Shall there come upon you three years of famine in your land? Or three months of fleeing
from your enemies while they pursue you? Or three days of plague in your land? Now then, think it over
and decide how I should answer the one who sent me." (2 Samuel 24 vs.13)

David asked God to make the choice of the punishment. God sent a plague for three days which
killed many people. At the end of three days God asked David to make a sacrifice on the threshing
floor of Araunah to end the plague.

65
Curse against the house of Jeroboam

Jeroboam was an Ephraimite whom God used to tear the kingdom of Israel from Rehoboam son
of Solomon. Sadly, the moment he succeeded, he decided to turn the newly created kingdom into
idol worship. Unfortunately, it remained so for nearly two hundred years from 930BC until the
kingdom was destroyed by Assyria in 722Bc.

When Jeroboam’s son fell ill, he sent his wife to prophet Ahijah at Shiloh. The wife went there
disguised but the Lord alerted Ahijah, whose sight was failing. He pronounced a curse against the
house of jeroboam. 10" 'Because of this, I am going to bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam. I will cut
off from Jeroboam every last male in Israel-slave or free. I will burn up the house of Jeroboam as one burns
dung, until it is all gone.

11Dogs will eat those belonging to Jeroboam who die in the city, and the birds of the air will feed on those
who die in the country. The Lord has spoken!' (1 Kings 14 vs.10-11)

The curse was fulfilled in 1 Kings 15 vs.29-30. 29As soon as he began to reign, he killed Jeroboam's
whole family. He did not leave Jeroboam anyone that breathed, but destroyed them all, according to the
word of the Lord given through his servant Ahijah the Shilonite- 30because of the sins Jeroboam had
committed and had caused Israel to commit, and because he provoked the Lord , the God of Israel, to
anger.

Curse against Ahab’s household

Ahab wanted a vineyard belonging to Naboth the Jezreelite because it was closer to his palace.
Naboth refused because he had sentimental attachment to the vineyard. Jezebel decided to connive
to murder Naboth. Ahab took over the field. God was not impressed so he sent prophet Elijah with
a curse against his household.
21'I
am going to bring disaster on you. I will consume your descendants and cut off from Ahab every last
male in Israel-slave or free. 22I will make your house like that of Jeroboam son of Nebat and that of Baasha
son of Ahijah, because you have provoked me to anger and have caused Israel to sin.'

23"And also concerning Jezebel the Lord says: 'Dogs will devour Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.'

24"Dogs will eat those belonging to Ahab who die in the city, and the birds of the air will feed on those who
die in the country." (1 Kings 21 vs.21-24)

This case was fulfilled during the reign of Jehu. 30Then Jehu went to Jezreel. When Jezebel heard
about it, she painted her eyes, arranged her hair and looked out of a window. 31As Jehu entered the gate,
she asked, "Have you come in peace, Zimri, you murderer of your master?"

32He looked up at the window and called out, "Who is on my side? Who?" Two or three eunuchs looked
down at him. 33"Throw her down!" Jehu said. So they threw her down, and some of her blood spattered the
wall and the horses as they trampled her underfoot. (2 Kings 10 vs. 30-33)

66
Jehu went on to kill all the seventy sons of Ahab (2nd Kings 10 vs.1-17)

Jesus’ curse against a fig tree

God can curse anything including places and objects. 12The next day as they were leaving Bethany,
Jesus was hungry. 13Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he
reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. 14Then he said to the tree,
"May no one ever eat fruit from you again." And his disciples heard him say it.(Mark 11 vs. 12-14).

Within twenty-four hours of Jesus having cursed the tree, the tree dried up.

The curse against future Israelites generations

When Jesus was being tried by Pilate, and Pilate suggested that Jesus was guiltless,, 25All the people
answered, "Let his blood be on us and on our children!" (Mathew 27 vs.25)

More than a thousand years later, during the second world war more than two million Jews were
cruelly murdered by Adolf Hitler in Germany. The ensuing years were followed by continuous
bloodletting between the Philistines and the Israelites. In any case the Philistines who today are a
thorn in the wrong place to the Israelites are in the regions that Joshua did not conquer. Had Joshua
conquered them as he had been ordered by the Lord, there would not be trouble for the Israelites
today. (Joshua 13 vs. 1-13)

Curses by parents
As indicated above, parents, including grand parents can place a curse on their children.

The curse of Noah against Canaan

Canaan was a son of Ham, the son of Noah. Once, Noah drank wine and lay naked in his tent. Ham entered
the tent and saw his nakedness. Instead of covering his father he told his brothers. The brothers took a
cloth and held it one on each side of the old man. They moved backwards as they covered him. When Noah
woke up from his drunken stupor and learnt that Ham had seen his nakedness, 25he said, "Cursed be
Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers."

26He also said, "Blessed be the Lord , the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem.” (Genesis 9
vs.25-26)

When Noah and family came out of the ark, God blessed them. Although Ham was the culprit, it
was not possible for Noah to then curse him because he had been blessed by a higher spiritual
authority. This also explains why Balaam could not place a curse on the Israelites. It is because
they had been blessed by a higher spiritual authority.

67
 A thousand years later, Abraham, a descendant of Shem was given the land of the Canaanites by God.
When Israelites were moving back into Canaan, the Lord told Moses, 2and when the Lord your God has
delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty
with them, and show them no mercy. 3Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons
or take their daughters for your sons, 4for they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other
gods, and the Lord 's anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you. 5This is what you are to do
to them: Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their Asherah poles and burn their
idols in the fire. (Deuteronomy 7 vs.2-5).

Thus, more than a thousand years later, the curse was still operational. Curses do not disappear
into thin air.

The curse of Jacob against Reuben

Reuben behaved improperly. He crept onto his father’s bed and slept with his father’s wove Bilhah
(Genesis 25 vs.22). Jacob got to know about it. When he was about to die, he asked his children
to come to him and listen to what would happen to each of them. 3"Reuben, you are my firstborn, my
might, the first sign of my strength, excelling in honor, excelling in power. 4Turbulent as the waters, you will
no longer excel, for you went up onto your father's bed, onto my couch and defiled it.”(Genesis 49 vs. 3-
4)

Reuben was the first-born son of Jacob. He was supposed to receive the father’s blessings to lead
his brothers. He was entitled to twice what the other brothers would get at the death of Jacob. That
he probably got but he missed the all-important blessings of the father, receiving a curse instead.
Jesus once taught that, 36What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? (Mark 8
vs.36) .

This is probably what happened to Reuben. He probably gained physical wealth from the father
more than his brothers but he lost his blessings. He lost his relationship with God hence he was
not able to produce a single king throughout history. Reubenites never produced even a single
prophet. In everything they tried to do they seem to have perfected the art of loss. Moses sent them
on a spying mission of the land of Canaan and they reported that it was not good enough for them
as the land devoured its inhabitants. Part of his descendants were rebellious hence perished when
the earth opened its mouth to swallow them. These were Dathan and Abiram. (Numbers 16 vs.1-
50).

Reubenites did not enter the land of Canaan as they chose to live beyond the desert side of the
Jordan river. (Numbers 32 vs.1-5)

The story of the Bulawayo Student

A sad story appeared in the news media in Zimbabwe in 2017. A fourth year Engineering student
at Bulawayo Polytechnic died in mysterious circumstances. His mother was single. She had a
boyfriend whom she loved very much but the young man never liked the mother’s boyfriend hence
he expressly voiced his concern but the mother stood her ground. He attacked and damaged the
vehicle of the mother’s boyfriend whilst he was sleeping in a bedroom with his mother. The next

68
day his body was found floating in a community pool in the neighbourhood. There has not been
an explanation of this since then. Misfortune met the young man.
Children need to be extremely careful about what they say to their parents.
The story of a school Headmaster and his mother
In another sad story, a man who was a headmaster at a local school in Harare had a verbal fight
with his mother whilst she ate her sadza. In rage, with tears streaming down her cheeks she
violently hit the floor with a morsel of sadza and said, “Enough of this. I can’t take this from a
child whom I bore!”
Two days later, the man died after a short illness. Since then four of the late man’s children have
died mysteriously after short illnesses. The curse is still to be broken.

A blessed person
A blessed person is equally a dangerous person to mess up with. God very jealously guards those
he has blessed. When a person does anything against them, spiritual forces swing into action in
defence of them. God told Abraham, 3I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will
curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." (Genesis 12 vs. 3)

Blessed people have Guardian Angels around them. When you do good to them, good will be done
to you. (Genesis 30vs. 27; Genesis 39 vs. 2-5) However if you do bad to them, God fights for
them as explained below.

Abraham and Pharaoh

When Abraham moved into Egypt, he lied that Sarah was his sister. Pharaoh took Sarah for a wife.
17Butthe Lord inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram's wife Sarai.
(Genesis 12 vs.17). Please note that God just intervened to protect the interests of Abraham yet Abraham
had not made any request for help.

Abraham and Abimelech

In the course of time, Abraham moved to Gerar. When he got there, he again told them that Sarah
was his sister. Abimelech took her for a wife. God responded harshly against the house of
Abimelech. And closed the wombs of every woman and possibly of every female animal in the
household of Abimelech.
3But God came to Abimelech in a dream one night and said to him, "You are as good as dead because of
the woman you have taken; she is a married woman."

4Now Abimelech had not gone near her, so he said, "Lord, will you destroy an innocent nation?

69
5Did he not say to me, 'She is my sister,' and didn't she also say, 'He is my brother'? I have done this with
a clear conscience and clean hands."

6Then God said to him in the dream, "Yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept
you from sinning against me. That is why I did not let you touch her.

7Now return the man's wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not
return her, you may be sure that you and all yours will die." (Genesis 20 vs.2-7)

Blessed people are dangerous people. God is protective over them. People need to know what
they do or say to them.

Laban and Jacob.

When Jacob escaped from Laban, Laban probably intended to fight and harm him. The Lord was
clear to him and prewarned him against anything bad he could say or do to Jacob. 29I have the power
to harm you; but last night the God of your father said to me, 'Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either
good or bad.' (Genesis 31 vs.29). God loves his blessed people and he jealously protects them.

Even evil pupil have what are called Guardian Spirits. These protect their hosts. Pastor Shoko
narrates his encounter with one of them.

The story of Jane and Vimbai

In 2009, a student at Denmak College in Harare dated two young girls in the same form but
different classes. One of them whom we shall call Jane, got to know about it. Unknown even to
Jane, she had a Guardian Spirit. Once a person with a Guardian spirit is angry, the Guardian
Spirit may just go and attack the person who offended its host, without any express instruction
being issued. Jane was angry that her boyfriend was in love with Vimbai but she did not confront
her.

The following day, Vimbai lost her marbles ( she became mad) so she did not come to school. She
sneaked out of her parents’ home in Budiriro, a suburb which lies some twenty kilometers West of
Harare city centre. She sneaked out around mid- day and walked into town, a distance of about
twenty kilometers. She came to Denmak College around lunch time, looking for Pastor Shoko.
Some students then led her to my office saying that she looked and sounded mad as she was
behaving very strangely.

I suspected foul play. However up until then, I had not dealt with any demon in my then short
pastoral ministry. Fortunately for me, two of my senior pastors were with me in the office. That
excited me the most. After about thirty minutes of intense prayers, there was no sign that the demon
was giving in. There was no manifestation nor any sign of a change.

Dejected and worried, we went into the school records to get her residential address. We drove
her to her parents’ home. They were very relieved as they had already raised a search party.
70
About five o’clock in the evening, whilst I was on my way to a mid-week service in Kambuzuma,
about ten kilometers West of Harare Central Business District where I was pastoring. I received
a call from Vimbai’s father who demanded to know where I was and what I had done to his
daughter. He sounded very menacing and he wanted to bring the child to me. I explained to him
that I had done nothing but he would not take that, he demanded to know my location so that he
could bring his daughter to me. I was very worried because two of my spiritual giants had failed
to drive the demon out. Would I manage on my own? Surely, I faced total embarrassment and I
risked being beaten up. I gave him the address to the church.

Within fifteen minutes, they were at the church, a whole minibus full of menacing looking people.
They all needed answers and I had none. I asked for patience. The service was then converted into
a deliverance session for Vimbai. God is gracious. Just as I was about to give up, the demon burst
out, “I am Jane Josh. She took my boyfriend. She is lucky to be alive. I wanted to kill her. She
must know who to mess up with.”

If ever I have been grateful to God, that day I was extremely grateful because he saved me from
severe battering by the angry mob.

As we piled pressure on the demon, with newly found confidence, to leave, she said,” I am in this
blouse.”

For some reason, she had carried with her the blouse which was part of the uniform. I took the
blouse and burnt it and the demon left her for good. I emerged as a true hero to my congregation
because the exorcism was being witnessed for the first time at the assembly. The parents were
extremely grateful and they were full of praise.

The next day, I confronted Jane who did not know anything about the issue. We prayed for her
but there was no demon manifestation on her.

Jacob and the “curse” on Rachel

When Rachel, Jacob’s second wife left her father’s household, she took with her some of her
father’s household gods. When Laban followed him up, he said to Jacob, 30Now you have gone off
because you longed to return to your father's house. But why did you steal my gods?"

31Jacob answered Laban, "I was afraid, because I thought you would take your daughters away from me
by force.

32Butif you find anyone who has your gods, he shall not live. In the presence of our relatives, see for
yourself whether there is anything of yours here with me; and if so, take it." Now Jacob did not know that
Rachel had stolen the gods. (Genesis 31 vs.30-32)

Unknown to Jacob, Rachel had the gods. Sadly, a death curse had already been released.
Unfortunately, shortly after Jacob’s encounter with God at Bethel, where He formally changed his
name from Jacob to Israel, Rachel died whilst giving birth to Benjamin. (Genesis 35 vs.16-18)
71
Curses from men of God

Men of God are spiritual live wires. They should be handled with care. A serious curse of God can
come upon a person who disrespectfully deals with a man or a woman of God. They hold the
power to curse and bless. However, God is very protective over his servants.

Moses and Miriam

Aaron was Moses’s elder brother but he worked under Moses, a prophet of God. Aaron was
anointed into priesthood by Moses (Exodus 30 vs.30). Miriam must have been much older than
Moses, probably even older than Aaron. It is her who was keeping an eye on Moses when he lay
hidden in a basket in the Nile River. It was her who suggested to the daughter of Pharaoh that she
could find a nursing mother on her behalf. Thus, Miriam was in a way instrumental in saving the
life of Moses and may have helped feed Moses as he grew up. Thus, at family level, they were
senior to Moses. Unfortunately, they stretched their seniority too far. They complained against
Moses’ Cushite wife and that God also spoke to them. They belittled Moses in that he was not the
only Prophet around as they too were prophet. They spoke to Moses. Moses did not even answer
them, God did.
5Then the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud; he stood at the entrance to the Tent and summoned Aaron
and Miriam. When both of them stepped forward, 6he said, "Listen to my words: "When a prophet of the
Lord is among you, I reveal myself to him in visions, I speak to him in dreams. 7But this is not true of my
servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house. 8With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he
sees the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?"

9The anger of the Lord burned against them, and he left them. 10When the cloud lifted from above the Tent,
there stood Miriam-leprous, like snow. Aaron turned toward her and saw that she had leprosy. (Numbers
12 vs. 5-10)

They shared parents. They sucked from the same breasts. They probably ate from the same plate
as they grew up. They had probably shared the same blankets. Moses was their junior kinsman.
However their spiritual levels were different. Moses had the highest spiritual standing of the three
siblings and amongst the Israelites. It is important to know where one is standing spiritually before
taking on higher spiritual authority

Moses’ curse against the Amalekites

When the Israelites were at Rephdim, the Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites. After
defeating them, Moses pronounced a curse against the Amalekites. 16He said, "For hands were lifted
up to the throne of the Lord . The Lord will be at war against the Amalekites from generation to generation."

16He said, "For hands were lifted up to the throne of the Lord . The Lord will be at war against the Amalekites
from generation to generation." (Exodus 17 vs, 16)

72
For that reason, God hated the Amalekites with a passion. Samuel Said to Saul. “2This is what the
Lord Almighty says: 'I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they
came up from Egypt.

3Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put
to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.” (1 Samuel 15
vs.2-3)

Several years later, the hand of the Lord was again against the Amalekites. Harman, a descendant
of king Agag, the king of the Amalekites whom Saul had spared (1 Samuel 15 vs.20) but was later
killed Samuel (1 Samuel 15 vs.32-33), planned to exterminate Jews and even set a date and sent
letters to that effect. He built gallows on which to hang Mordecai Jew in the kingdom. It is not
clear why Haman’s hatred of Mordecai increased when he learnt that he was Jewish and why he
decided to exterminate all Jews in the kingdom. He probably wanted to avenge the death of his
kinsman, including his ancestor, Agag, at the hands of the Jews. He probably knew about the
standing rivalry between Jews and Amalekites. Instead it was Haman the Amalekite who was
hanged on his gallows (Esther 8 vs.10) His ten sons also perished during the same period as they
too were hanged (Esther vs.13-14)

Moses’ Curse against Korah ,Dathan and Abiram and their followers

These, together with two hundred and fifty influential community leaders rebelled against Moses.
3They came as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron and said to them, "You have gone too far! The whole
community is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is with them. Why then do you set yourselves above
the Lord 's assembly?" (Numbers 16 vs.3)

Moses asked God not to accept their offering. He asked the rebels to present themselves before the
Lord at the Tent of Meeting with their sensors and family members. When they were assembled,
he asked them to stand away from the whole Israelite community. 28Then Moses said, "This is how
you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these things and that it was not my idea: 29If these men
die a natural death and experience only what usually happens to men, then the Lord has not sent me.

30Butif the Lord brings about something totally new, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them, with
everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the grave, then you will know that these men
have treated the Lord with contempt." (Numbers 16 vs. 28-30)

Immediately thereafter, the land upon which they stood opened up and they and their families and
possessions fell into the chasm. Immediately after that the land moved back and it was restored
with its vegetation. Men of God can be extremely dangerous. People need to be aware.

Joshua’s curse against Jericho

After defeating Jericho, Joshua pronounced a curse against Jericho. 26At that time Joshua
pronounced this solemn oath: "Cursed before the Lord is the man who undertakes to rebuild this
city, Jericho: "At the cost of his firstborn son will he lay its foundations; at the cost of his youngest
will he set up its gates." (Joshua 6 vs.26)
73
The curse was fulfilled more than five hundred years later. 34In Ahab's time, Hiel of Bethel rebuilt
Jericho. He laid its foundations at the cost of his firstborn son Abiram, and he set up its gates at the cost of
his youngest son Segub, in accordance with the word of the Lord spoken by Joshua son of Nun. (1 Kings
16 vs.34)

Curse against Michal

David had taken the ark of God from the house of Obed -Edom to the city of David. He sacrificed
and danced greatly along the way. His wife Michal looked through the window and saw David
dancing. 20When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet
him and said, "How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, disrobing in the sight of the slave
girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!"

21Davidsaid to Michal, "It was before the Lord , who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his
house when he appointed me ruler over the Lord 's people Israel-I will celebrate before the Lord . 22I will
become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls
you spoke of, I will be held in honor."

23And Michal daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death. (2 Samuel 6 vs.20-23)

Thus, even wives and children have to be very careful how they relate with a man of God because
even them are not immune to God’s curses upon their lives.

Elijah and the drought in in Israel

Elijah was a great prophet of God from Tishbe. God raised him to prophesy during the difficult
years of King Ahab. King Ahab had married Jezebel, the daughter of a Sidonian King. The god
worshiped by Jezebel was Baal. During Ahab’s reign, the worship of Baal became very rampant.
Thousands of God’s prophets were killed. There were about four hundred prophets of Baal and
four hundred and fifty prophets of Asherah. People had totally rebelled against God.

Elijah then said, "As the Lord , the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain
in the next few years except at my word."(1 Kings 17 vs.1)

It only rained after three years when Elijah had prayed to God atop Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18 vs.
41-4)

Elijah’s curse against army captains and their men

These had been sent to go and arrest Elijah and bring him to the king.. The captain went to Elijah
and asked him to come down. 10Elijah answered the captain, "If I am a man of God, may fire come down
from heaven and consume you and your fifty men!" Then fire fell from heaven and consumed the captain
and his men. (2 Kings 1 vs.10).

This happened twice. The third group did not die as the captain pleaded with Elijah to come down
and he did.
74
Elisha’s curse against forty-two youths.

These jeered at Elisha and referred to him as “bald head”. He indeed had a bald head but the
challenge was them derogatively calling him ‘Bald Head.’ He simply called a curse from heaven .
Two bears came out of the woods and they consumed the young men. Strangely, none of them
escaped. Even more strange is how forty-two of them could have been eaten by just two bears.

Elisha’s curse against Gehazi

Gehazi was Elisha’s aid. When Naaman the Syrian got healed of the leprosy after dipping himself
in the Jordan, he offered Elisha some gifts. Elisha declined to accept the gifts. Gehazi went after
Naaman and lied that his boss had asked him for the gift. He was given the gift. When he returned
to Elisha, Elisha asked him where he had been and he claimed that he had gone nowhere. Elisha
told him that his spirit had been with him as he went after Naaman. He then pronounced a curse
against him and his descendants. 27Naaman's leprosy will cling to you and to your descendants forever."
Then Gehazi went from Elisha's presence and he was leprous, as white as snow. (2 Kings 5 vs.27)

Elisha’s curse against the aid of the King.

There had been severe famine in the land of Northern Israel. Elisha went to the king and announced
that by that same time the following day, there would plenty of food in Samaria. An officer of the
king responded by saying that even if the Lord opened the floodgates of heaven, that would
possibly not happen. "You will see it with your own eyes," answered Elisha, "but you will not eat any of
it!" (2 Kings 7 vs.1-2)

The following day, as people rushed out to the Aramean camp for food, they trampled him to death, fulfilling
the curse.

Paul’s curse against Elymas

There was a proconsul called Segius Paulus who was at Paphos in Cyprus. He wanted to hear the
word of God but Elymas the sorcerer opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith.
Paul then said to him, 10"You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You
are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the
Lord? 11Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind, and for a time you
will be unable to see the light of the sun."
12
Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead
him by the hand. When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at
the teaching about the Lord. (Acts 13 vs.10-12)

It may appear as if these stories are only found in the bible and none of them apply to us in this
generation. The following real life stories swill make our readers appreciate these issues better.

75
The following three stories are mentioned by Dr. Parwaringira.

Pastor Kicked out of his residence at a church

This happened at a Baptist Church in western Harare. The congregants did not like their pastor
and they wanted him gone. He was living in a church building. They frustrated him so much that
it became unbearable. His wife was into weaving table mats and he joined him into that business
to sustain themselves. Then a good Samaritan invited him to America and when he returned, he
was bought a T35 truck and a house in Waterfalls low density suburb in Harare in southern
Harare.

However, in the ensuing months and years, a lot of unexplained misfortunes and deaths happened
in families which haunted the pastor out of his job. God fights for his servants.

Pastor pushed out of a Kuwadzana Church.

There is an AFM church in Kuwadzana Suburb in western Harare which haunted a pastor out of
his residence and church. Some of the elders had to literally force the man of God out of the church
premises. He left without saying a word. However, serious misfortunes visited those who were
vocal against the pastor. Some died after short illnesses, others lost jobs, others had mysterious
accidents. Their children also faced serious misfortunes.

The following story is told by Reverend Nhumburudzi

It happened at an AFM assembly in western Harare. A pastor was framed. A young woman went
into a pastor’s office, undressed partially and screamed. She pretended the pastor was trying to
abuse her sexually. Congregants then decided to drive out the pastor from the assembly. He
professed innocence but no one would care to listen. A great sense of guilt came upon the young
woman and she confessed that she had been sent to frame the man of God. Congregants were
decided on the fate of the pastor and they wanted him out at all cost.

On the day he left, he declared that the assembly would be doomed and would not be successful.
People jeered at him still. He left. Many years later, the assembly is about the smallest in the whole
of Harare West province, The assembly has given birth to several other assemblies which grew
bigger than itself but it has remained very small.

Please be guided, God protects his own.

The Curses of evil people

There are basically two groups of evil people who are able to place a curse on another person.
These are a witchdoctors and witches. Satanists and sorcerers can also place curses on people but
this is very rare in most African societies.

76
Witchdoctors

These are evil spiritual consultants. When one person wants to harm another person physically or
spiritually, he/she hires a witchdoctor to put a curse upon the person. Consider the case of the
Moabites. 4The Moabites said to the elders of Midian, "This horde is going to lick up everything
around us, as an ox licks up the grass of the field." So Balak son of Zippor, who was king of Moab
at that time, 5sent messengers to summon Balaam son of Beor, who was at Pethor, near the River,
in his native land. Balak said: "A people has come out of Egypt; they cover the face of the land
and have settled next to me.
6
Now come and put a curse on these people, because they are too powerful for me. Perhaps then
I will be able to defeat them and drive them out of the country. For I know that those you bless are
blessed, and those you curse are cursed." (Numbers 22 vs.4-6)

The Moabites wanted to defeat the Israelites. They wanted special spiritual powers to assist them
by putting a curse on the Israelites, by casting a bad spell on them. Huge payments are made by
people who seek to place a case on another person. 16They came to Balaam and said: "This is what
Balak son of Zippor says: Do not let anything keep you from coming to me, 17because I will reward
you handsomely and do whatever you say. Come and put a curse on these people for me."
(Numbers 22 vs. 16-17)

Curse on livestock

A jealous person can go to witch doctor to seek a curse on livestock. The livestock may not
increase . They may be lost or die in unexplained circumstances

The case of Mr. Remba

Remba had a very good job in Harare. He hailed from Zimunya district in Manicaland province.
In 1968, he bought two female cows. The cows would reproduce from time to time but either the
calves would die after a year or two or the mother cows would die. By 1998, thirty years later, Mr.
Remba still had two cows. He sold the cows and decided to concentrate on his life in town instead
of developing a rural home.

It so happened that a jealous brother had cast a curse upon his livestock.

Mr. Svoriwa and VaMutingo

Mr. Svoriwa was a villager in Makonde district in Mashonaland West. A fellow villager wanted to
borrow money to pay school fees for his children but no one was able to lend him, He decided to
sell his priced cow called Bafday. Bafday was a unique cow which delivered a calf after every
eighteen months. It produced a lot of milk and so it was a very special cow. He reluctantly sold it.
VaMutingo, an elderly lady bought the cow, given its history. From the year it got into
VaMutingo’s cattle pen, every calf it gave birth to, died after a month or two. This happened for a
77
period of five years until VaMutingo decided she would kill it. However, the original owner offered
to buy it back at twice the price he had sold it to VaMutingo. VaMutingo agreed.

When he bought it back, all the challenges it experienced at VaMutingo disappeared. The man had
obviously placed a curse on the cow.

Curse against marriages

Mr. Nyamambishi had five beautiful daughters and three sons. They lived in the Bulawayo western
suburb of Nkulumane. A jealous brother of Nyamambish approached a witchdoctor and put a
curse against his children. None of the girls ever got married. They had serious challenges with
their relationships despite being very God fearing and very educated. All the three sons were in
second marriages.

Curse against jobs

Mr. Makuto was a villager who lived in Zaka district in Masvingo province. He had four sons. One
of the sons was a truck driver, the other one was a bus driver, the third one was a school teacher
and the last one was motor vehicle mechanic. In any given year, two of the sons would be relieved
of their duties because of mistakes at work or because of retrenchments. The drivers would almost
invariably have an accident at the beginning of every year.

Witches

Witches are generally people who do not wish to be outdone by other people. They are driven by
jealousy. When someone does better than them, they want to make sure that they outdo such a
person.

The curse of Mr. Lindani

Mr.Lindani had two sons and two daughters. All his children were very intelligent. His brother’s
wife, Mai Juta was a witch. Each of the children had serious challenges during examinations right
from the time they were writing primary school final examinations. They would either have a
severe headache, turn partially blind or have serious running tummies. The problem only got
addressed when they joined a Pentecostal church and the children became prayerful.

In Mashonaland central in Zimbabwe, if a person says, “Haudokese”(meaning you will be dead

by sunset) or “Rawaja ndiroro” ( meaning you already have had your last meal, you will therefore
die before the next meal) it most certainly will be like that unless one is spiritually powerful.

Show of spiritual powers

Sometimes it happens that people may have differences and wish to settle them through witchcraft.
An interesting real-life story will illustrate this.
78
The story of Chindima and Chitimbe

The story is told by Dr. Parwaringira. These were villagers in Buhera District in Manicaland
Province in an area called Zvipani. Two villagers were at a rural beer gathering in the village at
our (the Parwaringira) homestead. Then I was still a young man. Chindima and Chitimbe were
respected elders in the village. They were well known for their use of spiritual forces to settle
scores. They had a serious altercation and each promised to deal with the other. Villagers could
not really take sides besides trying to calm them down because villagers feared both men because
they were viewed as spiritual powerhouses.

Chitimbe left the homestead and went onto a nearby hill. He returned after thirty minutes and
appeared to have calmed down and reconciled with Chindima. He just set on a bench under a tree
as it was very hot.

There are spiritual bicep bends called dumwa or madumwa if many. Chindima had both such
bicep bands; two on each arm. As he attempted to lift a beer mug, four of his madumwas fell on to
the ground without being disturbed by anyone. Usually these are very private and they are usually
fully secured. When they fell onto the ground, he was shocked and just exclaimed, “Ah! Ah! Ah!
Strange!” much to the delight of the villagers around . They all burst into laughter as they realised
that it was a sign of spiritual victory for Chitimbe who had earlier left the homestead for the hill.
Chindima quietly picked up his bands and left the beer gathering.

Curses on clothes of the deceased

Can curses or evil spirits be transferred through clothes?

We need to appreciate the power in clothing. A soldier is an ordinary person if he/she is not in
uniform. A tiny policeman or policewoman will wave down a super-link truck driven by a giant
man and he will stop. What is respected there is not the stature of the person but the uniform on
the person and the office that the person carries.

Moses, Aaron and Miriam

The bible is very clear on what happened. 1Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of
his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite. (Numbers 12 vs.1)

It Aaron and Miriam who criticized Moses over his wife. Yet when the punishment came, it landed
on Miriam alone, Aaron was not punished nor cautioned by God. It is because Aaron was putting
on a wholly Garment. Hs garment as not just a covering of the body, a normal piece of cloth, it
was a holy garment. That is what saved him. So, clothes generally carry spirits in one way or
another.

79
When Moses and Aaron sinned against God by striking a Rock with Moses’s stuff instead of
talking to the rock, and God wanted both Aaron and Moses dead, he said, 26Remove Aaron's
garments and put them on his son Eleazar, for Aaron will be gathered to his people; he will die there."

27Mosesdid as the Lord commanded: They went up Mount Hor in the sight of the whole community. 28Moses
removed Aaron's garments and put them on his son Eleazar. And Aaron died there on top of the mountain.
Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain.

Thus, God had to remove the clothing on Aaron which carried the priestly anointing. He could not
die whilst he was putting on a priestly garment. Clothing carry anointing and can also carry curses
and evil spirits in general.

Elisha and Elijah’s cloak

12Elishasaw this and cried out, "My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!" And Elisha
saw him no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them apart.

13He picked up the cloak that had fallen from Elijah and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan.
14Then he took the cloak that had fallen from him and struck the water with it. "Where now is the Lord , the
God of Elijah?" he asked. When he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left, and he crossed
over.

15The company of the prophets from Jericho, who were watching, said, "The spirit of Elijah is resting on
Elisha." And they went to meet him and bowed to the ground before him. (2 Kings2 vs.12-15)

Was the spirit of Elijah in the clock as well? Elijah had gone but Elisha used his clock to hit the
waters of the Jordan. This suggests that when a person dies, spirits may remain in the clothes of
the deceased. If the power in Elijah could remain in his clock surely spirits following dead people
may also be in their clothes.

A woman who had been bleeding for twelve years

Then we are told, 43As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him. And a woman was there
who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her. 44She came up behind him
and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.

45"Who touched me?" Jesus asked. When they all denied it, Peter said, "Master, the people are crowding
and pressing against you."

46But Jesus said, "Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me." (Luke 8 vs. 43-36)

The woman never touched Jesus but the age of his garment. So, clothes can be a medium of
transferring spiritual power.

Coming back to the issue of clothes belonging to the dead, it is our submission that some of the
clothes may contain evil spirits which were on the dead person or worse still curses. The devil
knows our culture very well. He knows the clothes will be transferred to another person. He may
80
want to take advantage of the cultural practice and move on to another person through clothes. It
must be understood that the devil operates through demons. Demons are basically people without
physical existence. They need a physical body to operate in this world. Not all clothes contain evil
spirits neither do we seek to suggest that all clothes of dead people have evil spirits. All we are
saying is that people need to be care. It is therefore advisable to make sure that such clothes are
redeemed through prayer before they are distributed.

A sample prayer could be:

Father, Lord, we know that John is dead, you have taken him from amongst the living.
He has left behind clothes and several other possessions.
These belong to the living as he has no more use of them.
Lord, in proverbs 13 vs.22, you said that a good man leaves behind an inheritance for his children
We know Lord, there could be evil spirits and curses which were following Jon
In the name of Jesus Christ, we command every evil spirit resident in any clothes or asset to go
away right now.
I declare these clothes free of evil spirits in the name of Jesus Christ.

Some people may want to use water. In which case a prayer like:
Father Lord, I am holding ordinary drinking water
In faith, I convert this water into the blood of Jesus Christ of Nazareth
Upon its usage on the clothes of John, all demons in them will live in Jesus Christ’s name.

It is then advisable to just wash and iron the clothes.

81
 CHAPTER SIX

UNBROKEN COVENANTS

Covenants
A covenant is an agreement between two parties which is usually confirmed in blood. The first
covenants were made between God and men. These included, the Adamic covenant, The Nohic
covenant, The Abrahamic Covenant, The Davidic Covenant and Christ’s new covenant.
Nature of covenants
In Jewish culture if two people made a covenant they had to kill an animal and cut it into two
equal parts. They would then separate the animals. The two people would meet at the middle of
the animals each facing his or her own piece giving each other their backs.

Each person would walk around his/her piece until they meet at the middle facing each other

82
The two people would then face each other. In the process they will have written a number 8; a
number of new beginning. They would cut their palms so that they would bleed. Then with blood
oozing out of their palms, they would shake hands with each other so that their blood would mix.

They would then swap belts which hold swords and would also swords and the meaning of that
action was to say, “ Your wars are now my wars. Whoever attacks you has attacked me and
whoever attacks me has attacked you. Your enemies are now my enemies and my enemies are
now your enemies.”
In principle, that would mean that they were one with each other. To confirm that they were one,
the parties to a Jewish covenant would plant a covenant tree as a reminder that on that tree they
had made a covenant. Breaking the covenant years later would entail uprooting the tree, not
cutting it which meant it was not possible to break the covenant. It was in fact inconceivable that
one would break a covenant. Breaking a covenant was like breaking one’s life. The covenant tree
was like a signature of the parties to a covenant. In the absence of a tree they could make a heap
of stones which would stand as a reminder of their agreement. Then they would take two stone
tablets. Each party would write his/her name on his stone tablet. These would be swapped and
kept by the parties. Many years later, descendants of the parties would honour the covenant.
They would then throw a banquet in celebration of the covenant.

44Come now, let's make a covenant, you and I, and let it serve as a witness between us."

45So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar. 46He said to his relatives, "Gather some stones." So they
took stones and piled them in a heap, and they ate there by the heap.

47Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, and Jacob called it Galeed.

48Laban said, "This heap is a witness between you and me today." That is why it was called Galeed.

83
49It
was also called Mizpah, because he said, "May the Lord keep watch between you and me when we are
away from each other. 50If you mistreat my daughters or if you take any wives besides my daughters, even
though no one is with us, remember that God is a witness between you and me."

51Laban also said to Jacob, "Here is this heap, and here is this pillar I have set up between you and me.
52Thisheap is a witness, and this pillar is a witness, that I will not go past this heap to your side to harm
you and that you will not go past this heap and pillar to my side to harm me.

53May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us." So Jacob
took an oath in the name of the Fear of his father Isaac.

54He offered a sacrifice there in the hill country and invited his relatives to a meal. After they had eaten,
they spent the night there. 55Early the next morning Laban kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and
blessed them. Then he left and returned home. (Genesis 31 vs.44-56)

Joshua and the Gibeonites

God respects agreements made under oath to the Lord. Joshua was tricked by the Gibeonites into
believing that they were coming from a distant country when in fact they were neighbours to Israel.
He made a treaty of peace with them without consulting the Lord. That treaty was ratified by the
elders under oath. When later they discovered that they had been tricked, they could not destroy
them through out the days of their lives because they had made a treaty with them. Agreements
under oath were respected by God and people. The Israelites said, 18But the Israelites did not attack
them, because the leaders of the assembly had sworn an oath to them by the Lord , the God of Israel. The
whole assembly grumbled against the leaders, 19but all the leaders answered, "We have given them our
oath by the Lord , the God of Israel, and we cannot touch them now.

20This
is what we will do to them: We will let them live, so that wrath will not fall on us for breaking the oath
we swore to them." (Joshua 9 vs.1-18)

Types of covenants
Covenants generally come in three forms:

a) Naming covenants
b) Ritualistic covenants by self
c) Ritualistic covenants by other people against another person
d) Parental covenants
e) Sexual covenants

Naming covenant

From time immemorial, people have always named their children after some relatives. For
example, John the Baptist was supposed to be named after his father.

84
59Onthe eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father
Zechariah, 60but his mother spoke up and said, "No! He is to be called John." (Luke 1 vs.48)

There is no challenge caused by naming a person after another except where the life of the senior
person has been beset with spiritual challenges. Where this has been the case, the junior person
then usually faces the same challenges as the elder person. The life of the younger person mimics
that of the elder person. In our pastoral journeys, we have encountered several such situations.
Pastor Shoko narrates two such curses.

The Story of Eliza

She had been married to John. The name was of her grandmother who had separated from her
husband several years earlier because of promiscuity. She had been customarily married to John
but they had divorced due to her promiscuity. Twice she had been caught cheating on her husband.
The husband said he could only accept her back on condition she had dealt with her spiritual
baggage as he new that she was spiritually challenged. She had a powerful spiritual husband that
entered her though her grandmother. It is the spiritual husband who brought men into her life. It
was the same spiritual husband who made sure she was caught each time she cheated on her
husband. He did not want her married but wanted her to have sexual relations outside marriage.

After several weeks of battling the demon, each time claiming to have gone forever, it still
reappeared. We realised that each time someone called her name and she responded, she was
accepting the spirit back into her life. Frustrated, we decided she should change her name
completely hence we changed her name into Rumbidzwai, which means ‘Be Praised’. We also
asked her to change even her identity particulars except her educational certificate. Only then did
we manage to completely defeat the demon.

Parents should be careful of the names given by relatives to their children. Some of the names
come with covenants. Then there is the case of birth presents that people bring. We urge parents
not to clothe their children in such clothes without first cleansing them of all for possible spirits.
Pastor Shoko explains below his experience regarding names and clothing that came as birth
presents.

The story of Betty

Betty was born in 1985. She worked for a big corporation in Zimbabwe but she was retrenched
when the company faced challenges. She got married to Dummy who was a civil Engineer. Within
six months of their marriage, Dummy was also dismissed from work for professional misconduct.
To sustain the family Betty would move around households looking for piecework such as laundry
etc.

Issues came to a head in the bedroom. At night, Dummy would sometimes grope around the wife’s
private parts and instead he would find male organs where the female organs are supposed to be.
Twice he screamed and jumped out of bed in awe, only to find that her wife was normal. He was
85
not sure if they were just nightmares or it was real. On another occasion, he really felt like there
was a man who was having sex with his wife in his presence around 2.00 in the morning. The wife
was groaning and screaming in love tones of pleasure. She appeared to be physically involved as
well as she was responding as if she was really having sex. When he checked, there was no one.
He checked with the wife and she claimed to have dreamt of having sex with the husband. When
he went back to sleep, he dreamt of a man threatening to kill him for disturbing him. The following
day, he packed his belongings and left the marriage.

Pastor Shoko met Betty in class when she was coming for an Accounting lesson for a professional
course which he taught. She looked troubled. After the lesson, he requested to have a chat with
her. Instead of opening up, she wept bitterly. She was invited to a prayer session for deliverance
the following Friday evening as Pastor Shoko conducts deliverance sessions every Friday evening.
She agreed.

During deliverance it was discovered that an aunt of hers who had given her the name Betty had
given her mother some birth presence at the time she was born. The aunt had first taken the clothes
to a witch doctor and cast a spell on them. The demon was extremely resistant and very violent.

At the end of each deliverance session, the demon would claim to go. The following Friday, when
we prayed for Betty, it would again manifest again. We changed her name to Charity. Then the
next Friday evening, we told the demon to go since the legal right had been removed through a
name change. The demon chuckled and said, “I am shocked that even pastors are stupid. Show me
the I..D.”

Then we gave the demon Betty’s national identity card. Then the demon rudely said, “Charity,
Charity, Charity? Does this look like it’s written Charity? I am going nowhere, I am here to stay.”

We realized the need to officially go through the process of changing names. Three weeks later we
met and we defeated the demon.

Names have also been used as a way of expressing family challenges or happiness. Consider the
name Jabez. 9Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, "I
gave birth to him in pain." (1Chronicles 4 vs.9) His name literally meant Pain-“Marwadzo.”

All major people that God has mightily used whose name meant something different from what
God intended, God has changed their names. Abraham was changed from Abram to Abraham and
Sarah was changed from Sarai to Sarah. Jacob ‘s name was changed from Jacob which meant
trickster to Israel, after his encounter with an Angel. Jesus changed Simon’s name from Simon
which meant unstable leaf to Peter which meant rock.

Over the years we have prayed for numerous people who have faced serious spiritual problems
caused by names. These include among others, divorce , premature deaths of husbands,
promiscuity, polygamy etc. Covenants concerning names have to be broken if a person is supposed
to have a free prosperous life. Just praying for the person without the name being changed means
86
that the alter remains intact .The name in this case may also act as an alter that has to be broken
down..

Ritualistic covenants by individuals

The desire to make money quickly has led many people into getting into ritualistic covenants.
When people decide to give their lives to Christ, it is important to dismantle the alters on which
the rituals were founded and to break such covenants.

The story of Mr. Sobhuza

Mr. Sobhuza was a businessman based in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second largest city. He ran
grocery shops. He wanted to make money quickly and so he approached a witch doctor. He was
given a small plant which was in a small flower pot. He was supposed to water it daily with a pint
of milk. He had seven daughters and a son. He was told to ensure that the plant was watered daily
with a pint of milk. Sadly, his mother died in the rural areas. He told his eldest daughter to ensure
that he poured at least a pint of milk onto the plant during his absence. He left her some money
for the milk. She decided to spend the money and watered the plant with water. It wilted and
eventually dried up within three days.

When Mr. Sobhuza got to Bulawayo, he found the plant had wilted. He immediately knew that his
business would be in trouble. From the day it was watered with water, all the girls dreamt of a
man sleeping with them. When they checked their private parts, they discovered that they had what
looked like sperms. This continued for several years. His wife started having a continuous period
and every night she too dreamt of a man making love to her.

The wife and the children sought help from Pentecostal churches. Unfortunately Mr. Sobhuza died
before he could get help.

The story of Maphosa

Maphosa hailed from Kezi District in South -Western Zimbabwe. She had a daughter with a son
of a wealthy family from the same district. However, the man refused to marry her because
Maphosa’s mother was a well-known witch in the area. Maphosa was very hurt and she decided
that she would never have children. She approached a witchdoctor from the area with a request
to spiritually tie her uterus. She was told to go and cut of the bucks of a Marula tree about thirty
square centimeters and bring them to the witch doctor.

Determined, Maphosa did exactly as she was told and she brought the barks to the witch doctor.
The witch doctor prepared a concoction which included part of the barks and gave it to Maphosa
to drink. Prior to her taking the concoction she was warned very strongly, “Make sure to make
your decision to have children before the tree trunk closes the opened area. Once the opened area
closes up, you would never have any more children.”

87
Five years later, Maphosa met Galatia and they got married. She went to the witchdoctor and she
was told to go and check if the tree trunk whose bark she had taken off had not closed up. To her
dismay, it had closed up. She was then told that she would never be able to conceive as she had
sold her uterus to the devil. After thirty years in marriage, Galathia and Maphosa died with no
child from their marriage.

The story of Mavis

Mavis hailed from Mberengwa District, a South Western district in Zimbabwe. She had a
heartbreak when her boyfriend married someone else and ditched her. In pain and agony, she gave
up on marriage. She approached a witchdoctor and requested him to close up her uterus. She was
given a concoction to take and jump a certain shrub, about thirty centimetres in height. She was
told that should she change her mind and wanted the uterus opened, she would have to jump over
the same shrub in the opposite direction.

Seven years later, she got married to Lot and she could not conceive, She went back to the witch
doctor who asked her if she remembered the shrub she jumped over. She said she did. When she
went to check on it, the shrub was one and a half meters in height. She was asked to jump over it
again in an opposite direction but she could not hence she was told that her womb had closed up
for ever. Mavis died without a child.

Once entered into, covenants are binding for life. It is important therefore to ensure that such
covenants are broken if one is to make progress in life. God respects covenants made with Satan
because willingly they were made and willingly, they should be broken. God cannot break
covenants that people willingly made with Satan. It is the same people who should break their
covenants.

In the above two real life stories, the ladies and their husbands could have gone before God in
prayer for children but there were no answers because of covenants that people had made willingly
with Satan.

The story of Goba ,Huni and Hondo

The three worked for a prominent transport company in Zimbabwe. They were based in
Mozambique. Most of them were duped into getting into occult for money by a witchdoctor in
villages near Maputo. They were promised great wealth but they had to sacrifice their own first
born children. They all agreed. Instead, a lot of them became witches thereafter. Several of their
relatives started dying mysteriously.

On average, each had about forty head of cattle. At the time they died, they were so poor that not
even a goat was available for slaughter at their funerals. None of them realised the promised
financial benefits. Almost all their daughters had failed marriages because of the covenant. All
three died early. A lot of their children had various misfortunes and could not hold on to
reasonable jobs.
88
Some made futile attempts to quit the covenants by going back to the witchdoctor but they found
him dead. All of them died before they reached seventy years.

The story of Tendai.

Tendai was based in Chinhoi, the provincial capital of Mashonaland West Province. She was in a
covenant with the devil. It was a get rich quickly covenant. She made a lot of money. However,
the woman could not have sex with a man. Every night, a snake would get into her through her
private parts and get out later.

The story of Job

Job had a bus company in Zimbabwe. He had a covenant with the devil. He would make a lot of
money but he was never allowed to enter his house whilst facing the door but he had to walk
backwards into the house.

The story of Muchocho

Muchocho went into a money-spinning covenant with the devil but the terms of the covenant was
that he could not sit on a chair in his own home nor on sofas but on a wooden stool.

The story of Mambo

He had a money-spinning covenant with the devil. Every night he had to put a whole well-cooked
half chicken under his bed. A snake would then consume the meat. Once every week he was
supposed to bring a woman into his bedroom and sleep with a woman on the bed overnight. During
the night, a spirit man would sleep with that same woman.

Some of these stories look like they are fictional stories but they are real life stories.

The story of Muchaneta

She was a single mother of two girls based in Marondera, a town about seventy kilometers east of
Harare. The year was 2017. She was lured into occult by a boyfriend who encouraged her to get
into it because they were huge financial returns involved. She agreed.

They took off for Mozambique, Tete province. When they got to a village before Tete town, they
drove to a homestead that had three tiny huts. They left their car about a hundred metres before
the homestead and started walking towards the homestead. There was an isolated hut which
appeared detached from the homestead. They headed there. It appeared more like rural shack than
a real hut. When they were about fifty metres away, they removed their shoes , turned and faced
the direction of where they were coming from. Then they walked to the hut, whilst facing the
direction from which they had come.

89
When they got there , there were asked to pay some money for consultation. Then there were asked
to state their needs. Muchaneta then explained, through an interpreter that she needed to be helped
to make money. They were told that on their way back to Zimbabwe, they were not allowed to talk
about their experiences at the witchdoctor’s home nor anything that had taken place there.

She was given a cross. About twenty centimetres long that had beads around it. The beads were in
black, red, white etc. She was supposed to take the cross to a cemetery at night with a brown ten
cent coin. The coin was to be placed under the cross and she was supposed to sprinkle some mealie
meal around the cross and speak out exactly what she wanted. In addition, she was to traditionally
clap hands in a reverend manner and say, “ Excuse me rulers of this place. I am Muchaneta Gudo.
I have come here to look for a co-worker with me. I have come to look for a person who is going
to be looking for money for me. Then she went back. She left the cross there.

In the early hours of the next morning, around three o’clock, she went back to the cemetery where
she had left the cross. Again clapping her hands she said, “I have come to take you and show you
where you are going to be staying whilst you look for money for me.”

She then went back home. When she got home, she took a wooden plate that she had been given,
put some mealie-meal under it, put the cross on it and clapping her hands reverently said, “This
is going to be your home forever as long as you work for me. However, I need you to tell me what
exactly you need from me so that we can peacefully co-exist. She took the plate and put it under
the bed together with the cross.

When she went back to sleep, she had a dream of a man telling her that the money that she would
find under the mattress in the morning was supposed to be spent in one day, all of it. No cent was
to be left behind. Ironically, this is similar to Exodus 12 vs 8-10. 8That same night they are to eat the
meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. 9Do not eat the meat raw
or cooked in water, but roast it over the fire-head, legs and inner parts. 10Do not leave any of it till morning;
if some is left till morning, you must burn it. (Exodus 12 vs.8-10)

When she woke up at day break, she checked and saw five thousand American dollars under her
mattress. She went to nearby public bars and bought everyone beer until there was no more beer
in the public bar. Still there was plenty of money left. She hired a cab to Harare and went to a
popular public bar in Harare and found that there were many people. She paid for all the beer in
the bar and asked it to be given to the patrons. One of the key terms of the covenant was that she
was supposed to be at her home every night. She was driven back in a cab. The little money that
was left, she bought herself some groceries.

The following night, she had another dream. In the dream, she was promised a lot of money which
could then be used to buy any assets of her choice. When she woke up in the morning and checked
under her mattress, there was forty thousand American dollars. She went to Harare to look for a
car and she purchased a Mercedes Benz. She looked for space to rent a shop for a boutique. The
next day she flew to Dubai to buy clothes for resale.

90
One year down the line, payback time started. Her eldest daughter fell ill and the disease was
mysterious. She died. When everyone had dispersed, she saw an African clay pot, full of blood
under her bed and she was shocked. That same night she received fresh instructions. She was
supposed to sleep with many well to do men all the time. The more she would sleep with such
men, the more she would make money. The emphasis was on well to do men. That became her
new life style and she could sleep with as many as five men per day.

.In 2019, another blow came as she lost her mother. She was advised of the death whilst she was
on her way from Zambia where she had gone to buy clothes for resale. She took care of all the
funeral expenses since she had the means. When she got home, she found that the clay pot in her
house which contained blood had refilled to the brim. She realised that she had caused the death
of her mother. She was deeply troubled.

In 2020, the blood level in the clay pot in her house had drastically gone down and she was worried
that another death was imminent. Within a few days, she received news that her father had passed
away. He had just collapsed and died. She was extremely devastated. Money lost meaning to her
as she realised that she was responsible for the premature deaths of her relatives.

One of the key terms of her covenants was that she was not supposed to give anyone money. She
was supposed to make the payments herself if anyone was in need but not to give out the money.
In 2021, her brother asked for examination fees for ordinary level examinations. She agreed to go
to the school to make payments. Unfortunately, the brother had seen a lot of money in the home
and so he stole the money and went to register. He did not use the money for registration. She went
to pay for the examination fees herself. Within a week, the brother lost his mind and in the presence
of some relatives, he confessed that he had stollen some money from the sister. That raised
suspicion amongst the relatives. Within a week he died.

One day an uncle who was very close to her asked for some money to pay medical bills. for his
wife who had fallen sick. She mistakenly handed the money to him, against the terms of the
covenant. The next morning, her other daughter, the only one left fell ill. Worried, she tried to seek
help from witchdoctors. All told her one thing, “Go back and surrender the things you willingly
took, we cannot help. This is a covenant and covenants are not broken that way.”

She called her boyfriend for assistance to be taken back to the traditional healer in Mozambique.
The men was too rude and accused her of loving money too much and accused her of breaking the
terms of the covenant. He flatly told her that he would not be part of the solution.

She decided to go back to the witch doctor in Mozambique on her own . When she was a hundred
meters away, he saw her and said to her,” Do not come near my shrine, you are dirty. I know why
you want to see me. You failed to stick to the terms of the covenant so I do not even want to see
you hear. If you forcefully come here you will die.”

Dejected she drove back home. When she got there, her shop had caught fire and all the goods
had been destroyed. The only asset she had was an aging Mercedes Benz and a house. The clay
91
pot had turned into a catlike animal. The house is not habitable either because the cat comes
into her blankets every evening insisting that they have sex.

The story of Jay Israel

He is a Zimbabwean born man who went into occult to help him grow his church, Spirit Life Mega
Church in East London, South Africa. He met a man from Ghana on Face Book. They travelled to
Bennin together. There they met an elderly man. He asked him what he wanted and he told him
that he wanted the church to grow. He was made to sleep in a room with sculptures smeared with
blood. He was cut by a razor blade and had some black substances rubbed into the cuts. He also
had to wash in water which was mixed with leaves. He had the blood of a dead pigeon smeared
all over his body. Then he was introduced to the god he was going to be worshipping. The name
of the god was Atiovi.

The following day he went into another room where this god was. There was a lot of blood in the
room. He was told to kneel before the god and told what he was to say to the god. After initiation
he was given a big horn which he was to keep in his bag. The horn was covered with a red cloth.
He was supposed to use the horn before his church services.

When he got to Zimbabwe, he was supposed to kill a pigeon or a chicken and smear the blood on
the horn which was a sacrifice to the god. He was told that he had to spill some gin on the horn
and lick the blood with his tongue.

He used the towel to get people to give him anything he wanted. When ever he put his towel on
people’s heads, they would fall. He used certain words to control crowds at church which his
followers thought were tongues. He used Bible scriptures to get people to pay him money. He told
his followers that if they did not pay tithes, they were robbing God.

In almost all occult cases, the witch doctor is not as rich as the people who seek their services. If
for sure the witchdoctor has the means of making himself rich, why would he/she be poor. Why
do the witchdoctors live in miserable conditions yet they become consultants for making people
wealthy. Why is it that none of the children of the witchdoctors are prosperous. Surely if anyone
wanted to make money quickly, the best person to consult would not be a witchdoctor but a young
man called Mark Zuckerberg, the Face Book founder because he quickly made billions and not
even millions. Why on earth would people want to copy from the book of the worst performer in
a class. It is wise to learn from the experience of other people. When we make public some of these
stories, our intention is to teach other people not to go through dead end roads. Wise people learn
from the mistakes of other people and not their own.

Covenants entered into by people against their relatives

They are commercial transactions entered into between a human agent and the devil involving the
sale of a human being to the devil for financial gain or spiritual power. They are usually money-
spinning covenants which require that the person entering into a covenant brings one of the clothes
92
of the person whom they are surrendering to the devil. The most preferred type of clothes are
undergarments. That is then taken to a witch doctor. Assuming the person whose clothes have been
taken is called Mary, the person surrendering Marry to the devil would say, at the witch doctor’s
shrine, “Mary, I am your uncle, brother to your father. My name is Samson. Today I have
surrendered you to your husband. I confirm that I have been fully paid my dowry money through
the work of your husband. I state that in our culture, a son in-law is a fruit bearing tree which
always delivers fruits all the time. My son in-law will always delver fruits to me in season and out
of season. I declare that you shall never have any other husband except the one given to you by
me as your father. I hereby surrender your clothes to your husband as a love token by you to him.
I have also brought here a goat which I kill here today to welcome my new son in-law into our
home. Your children too shall belong to him. He can marry them off as he desires.”

Sadly, Mary would never get married unless she genuinely seeks deliverance. In the majority of
cases, Mary would have a child out of wedlock and the man would refuse to marry her or they
would divorce. Over the years we have been used by God to deliver hundreds of people from these
destiny destroying spirits. We would need three large volumes of books to document all the
deliverance cases we have handled in this regard. However, we found the following two cases
outlined below, too compelling to be ignored..

The story of Sandra

She came to one of our crusades one year. At eight o’clock in the evening every day, whether she
was cooking, bathing, watching television, or eating, she would be kissed by a man she did not
see, have her breast fondled by a person she did not see, have her private parts caressed by a man
she did not see. Thoroughly aroused, she had to retire to bed temporarily. Immediately thereafter,
she would fall into a deep sleep and a man would come to sleep with her. Thereafter she would be
free to resume whatever she had been doing immediately before then. .It did not matter whether
she had visited or not, the man would come without fail. She had previously sought help from witch
doctors, white garment church community and from many other Pentecostal churches to no avail.
At the time that she came for deliverance, she was twenty-nine and a virgin. She had never had a
boyfriend all her life as no man had ever asked her out.

Sandra had been orphaned when she was still very young. An uncle had taken advantage of her
and married her off to a spirt which in Shona they call Chikwambo, a money spinning spirit. It
is through the grace of God that Sandra is now happily married.

The Story of Sekai

Sekai was a student at Denmak’s main campus in Harare central business district. Her father had
died may years earlier when she was only three. A rich jealous uncle had assigned evil spirts upon
the girl. Through the evil spirits, she had taken to dangerous drug consumption and she drank
beer. When in school or church, she would grab her throat with both her hands and attempt to
strangle herself. It would take four able bodied men to free her. Her eyes would be blood red and

93
the demon would be menacingly angry. The demon wanted her dead at all cost or at the very least
she was supposed to be made pregnant by a man and be dumped.

Sekai was delivered and today she is a senior manager in a leading commercial bank in Zimbabwe.

The story of Petros

The story is told by Pastor Shoko.

He was a student of accounting course at Denmak. Just before examinations every six months he
would fall ill. He had allegedly been diagonised with a heart problem.

One evening, while driving to my usual Friday prayer and deliverance sessions, I got a call to rush
to Petros’s house as he was said to be under a serious spiritual attack. Before the wife could finish
talking to me in her sobbing, the demon wrestled the phone away from her and angrily spoke to
me, “ Shoko, do not come here. You have for long interfered with m. Please let me get my meat.
To day I will have him. If you ever come here, I will definitely kill you.” The demon hurled the
phone against the wall.

I did not respond. I was determined to get there and assist him. On arrival, I saw four able bodied
men trying to contain the demon but they had serious challenges. When the demon saw me, it was
very angry and violent. It was truly vicious. The demon said,” My name is Dubekile. I am her
grandmother. We made a covenant under water in Sanyati River that there is no son of Ngwarai
who shall live. It is my tun now to deliver on the covenant and I must kill him today, otherwise my
colleague s will kill me.

After five minutes of prayer with no sign that the demon was backing down, the holy spirt told me
to stop and investigate. I left my team to fight it out with the demon whilst I asked the wife if there
were any clothes of the dead in the house. She pulled out a light green blanket from the mother
and said,” He got this at the funeral of her mother. It has sentimental value to him.”

Without paying attention to what she said, I angrily grabbed the blanket. I looked for a box of
matches and burnt the blanket. As I burnt the blanket, the demon left, never to return again. The
so called heart challenge which had been picked through an ECG machine disappeared. It has
been almost twenty years as at 2022 and Petros has not been hospitalised for any ailment, let alone
the heart.

Petros has been well since then and he is now a prominent business men in Harare.

Covenants entered into by Parents

Parents may sometimes enter into binding covenants which may last for generations.

94
The story of Mr. and Mrs. Moyana

The year was 2007. The couple who lived in Harare had a thriving mining business. The wife loved
God and loved to watch gospel channels. One night, whilst watching one of the channels the wife
saw and heard a Ghanaian preacher inviting African business people to a miracle working
conference. The wife insisted on attending the conference although it was a bit expensive for them.
They attended the conference in Ghana. During the conference they were given a bottle of
anointing oil.

Back home, they were supposed to smear the oil on their bodies each time they were going to their
mine. They were also supposed to go and anoint their mine. They did that and within a week, they
mined two kilograms of gold which was very unusual. Huge gold findings continued and they made
a lot of money. They were remitting huge offerings and tithes to the Bishop in Ghana.

Then the Bishop made a second personal invitation of the couple to travel to Ghana again. They
flew back to Ghana. After service, they were invited to the Bishop’s house. During lunch, the first
shock came to Mr. Moyana as he saw the Bishop taking beer instead of non-alcoholic drinks. He
confessed to Mr. Moyana that he indeed driank beer. Blinded by the money he had made, Mr.
Moyana did not take it to heart.

The Bishop asked him a few questions? “ Do you want to be wealthy, not rich?”

“Indeed Bishop, I have plans to build a business empire in Zimbabwe which includes Haulage
Trucks, Busses and several mines,” answered Mr. Moyana.

“I have the keys to the wealth of this world. Do you have the courage to walk through the process
of making big moneys because once we start, you cannot reverse until after the process?

“With his heart pounding, suspicious but not sure ,Mr. Moyana answered, ‘Yes Bishop.”

So the Bishop drove him out to a village that was about one hundred and fifty kilometres from the
city. When they got to the village, they met a man who set out the requirements. However, Mr.
Moyana insisted on having his wife by his side. So, they moved the rituals to another day.

Back to the hotel, Mr. Moyana opened up to his wife and told her that the Bishop was into occult.
However, back home they faced extreme poverty on their return because whilst they were in
Ghana, Several artisanal miners had descended on their mine, led by a renowned political figure.
Their future in Zimbabwe would be grim hence he convinced his wife to go through the process
and they agreed.

They went back the next day and went to the river where both of them were bathed by a male
witchdoctor. Even the wife was being bathed by the witchdoctor, right through her private parts
in his presence. He was then given a ring of pure gold with engraved Chinese language. There
was also a bird engraved on the ring but it had blood-red eyes. They were also given a box of
95
matches with six broken match sticks. He then told them the things given would give them the
money they needed.

Back home, they let go of the mine. Since they had made huge savings from gold in the past, they
had no financial distress of any sort. What shocked Mr. Moyana was that one day they took four
thousand American dollars to purchase a vehicle. When he went back home, he found that all the
money he had spent had been replaced. He kept the money in a big bag but it was very full of
money as even more notes than he had taken out had been put back.

Then one night Mr. Moyana had a nightmare. In that dream, he woke up to go to a bathroom. As
he got into the lounge, he realised that there were six small boys who were like old people but they
resembled five-year old people in terms of height. As he moved closer, he realized that they were
much older people because they had beards and some of the beard was white. One of them had
tattooed shoulders. Shocked, he asked them, “Who are you and where are you from? How did you
come in ?Are you thieves?”

They laughed and fell back on the sofas as they laughed at him. He tried to check if all doors were
locked and if all windows were closed and he found all tightly closed. His heart started pounding .It
ned on him then that the six match sticks that he got were actually six goblins that he had been
given.

One of the men then said, ”Boss, we are your servants. We have worked for you all these years
but you are a cruel boss because you have not paid us. We went back to our Boss in Ghana and
demanded our salary but he referred us to you. So, yaah, Boss we need a salary.”

“Since when did you work for me? What job were you doing? Where?” Mr. Moyana asked.

“Ehhe, you have a very short memory , right? Let us remind you a bit.”

Still in that dream, he went into a sort of a trance and started seeing himself getting the anointing
oil. How he used the oil to anoint his mine, how his workers found the gold after the six old men
had gone underground to dig the gold and bringing it to within reach of his workers. He could see
his wife being washed her private parts and her giving birth to six children who resembled the old
men he was facing. He was shown himself receiving the match box and the match sticks. He was
shown a vision of him buying a vehicle in South Africa and him paying for the vehicle. He was also
shown a vision of the old men going into the safe of the seller and taking back the money and
transporting it back to his house and putting it back into the bag. Each time he gave people money,
he could see a vision of the old men taking the money back into the bag.

So he asked them what they wanted and they demanded that they wanted a wife and that wife had
to be his daughter. They demanded that the child who was studying in China be brought back to
Zimbabwe within a week or they would kill her and drink her blood. It was heart breaking for him
because he only had one daughter.

96
When he woke up from the nightmare, he was sweating and shaking with fear. His wife also woke
up and complained that she had been dreaming while breast feeding six small little boys like men.
He checked her breasts and saw that the wife’s nipples had traces of blood.

The wife picked up p a phone and called the daughter and asked her to come to Harare urgently.
She promised to give her a present of the latest iphones on arrival. He was supposed to clear a
room and spread money on the floor to cover the size of a single bed. He was not to take all the
money he had.

They then drugged the girl and made her to lie on the money in the room. The moment they closed
the door, they heard voices of many people. The parents sat by the door the whole night. The whole
night, she was crying in pain. The next day they took her into her room and she just collapsed.
Then they took her to hospital and they were told that she was going mad. She was put on
psychiatric medication . She became so violent that they had to keep her chained. One day she
broke loose and took the chain and started strangling the house helper. It took the mother, the
house helper herself and a gardener to rescue the house maid. Out of fear that worse things could
eventually happen, the two were retrenched and paid off handsomely.

Then Mr. Moyana went to China to visit his two sons. When he got there, even greater surprises
were waiting for him. They told him that they were sexually in love with each other. They had
become gay. One of them is a boyfriend and the other is a girlfriend.

The wife continued to have the ‘boys’ sucking her breast every night. No matter how much she ate,
she continued to lose weight. The Moyanas are stuck. The Bishop in Ghana has blocked their lines
and cannot talk to them. ‘they are now on their own. These covenants are real and very dangerous.

Worship of ancestral spirits

One major covenant made by parents is through worship of ancestral spirits. When parents accept
dead people as their gods, this is binding upon every member of the family. When they worship
their dead, the names of the children are usually mentioned and the children become covered by
the worship. Sometimes grown up children and they visit their parents in the village. When the
children are leaving the village, parents tend to worship their dead, thank them and entrust the
journey of the children into the care of ancestral spirits.

Many years back when pastor Shoko was a young man, unexposed to Christianity but only to
village life and beliefs he remembers taking part in all forms of ancestral worship. Witch doctors
would be brought home and they would all be forced to take whatever concoction was to be taken.
Then, he was a wiling and active participant of ancestral worship in whatever form.

Apostle Parwaringira was deeply involved in ancestral worship until he was about forty years of
age when he gave his life to Christ.

Avenging Spirits ( Ngozi) Phenomenon

97
An avenging spirit is believed in African societies to be a justice seeking spirit. Across almost all
African cultures, it is generally agreed that a person who has been killed in cold blood may come
back as an avenging spirit. God has always disliked murder. He told Cain, 10The Lord said, "What
have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. 11Now you are under a curse
and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.
(Genesis 4 vs.10-11)

Thus, God personally punished the world’s first murderer. Abel became the first human being to
die. Thus , no murderer is supposed to go unpunished.

God gave a law concerning murder, 6"Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed;
for in the image of God has God made man. (Genesis 9 vs.6)

God did not provide that anyone can avenge the death of another person through the killing of a
murderer. God provided that where murder takes place, a person has to be tried and witnesses have
to be available to prove the guilt of the murderer.(Numbers 35 vs.30)

Pastor Shoko deals with the avenging spirits at great length in his book, Two World Order, 2018.
For the record, the spirit that comes back as an avenging spirit is certainly not the spirit of the
murdered but an evil spirit that will be seeking worship as almost always, they end up seeking to
be worshiped in the family in the name of the murdered person. Human beings were created by
God and are owned by God. We are all entrusted by God to look after our bodies by feeding them,
clothing them, providing them with shelter, and keeping them healthy. We do not own ourselves
hence we cannot fight beyond the grave. So, if we do not own ourselves we cannot demand
restitution from anyone. If a car is involved in an accident and it is damaged beyond repair, it is
the owner who gets paid by an insurance company and not the car itself. The dead have no use of
anything that is available in the land of the living. Solomon says of them, 5For the living know that
they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even the memory of them is
forgotten. (Ecclesiastics 9 vs.5)

So where do the dead get the memory of them having been killed? It is all fake! Only God, as the
creator and owner of a person has the right to seek revenge for murder. He has clearly stated that,
that revenge is done through the earthly established justice system; through the courts established
by His human agents. God never subcontracted evil spirits to seek justice through further killing
of his innocent people, not even the guilty person.

Suppose a murderer is murdered or a rapist is murdered , do you honestly think he/she will take
leave of hell to come and harass the living? No! Humans never come back to the land of the living
even after they die, 23In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with
Lazarus by his side.

24So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in
water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.'

25"ButAbraham replied, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus
received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26And besides all this, between
98
us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can
anyone cross over from there to us.'

27"Heanswered, 'Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, 28for I have five brothers. Let
him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.'

29"Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.' (Luke 16 vs.23-29)

What actually happens is that a spirit realises that there is a grievance and pretends that it is the
spirit of the murdered person. It then causes misfortunes and deaths in the family of the murderer.
There is no way of proving the identity of the spirit talking as there are no national identity cards.
In fact , in almost all cases, it is the relatives of the dead who arouse these evil spirits by going to
the grave and speaking to evil spirits in the name of speaking to the dead, urging the spirit of the
dead to wake up and fight. Once the relatives go to the grave of a murdered person and urge the
spirit to fight, the spirt has legal ground. If these spirits were just emerging each time there is a
murder, there would be mayhem in countries like South Africa where a person is murdered in
every hour.

Dancing to the tune of avenging spirit is dangerous to both the family of the murderer and the
family that is paying compensation. This is clearly explained below.

The story of Trish

The story is told by Pastor Shoko.

Many years ago, a young girl who was working as a house helper for a fellow pastor came to an
all-night prayer session in our church. She told me her struggles with a spiritual husband. I took
the opportunity to pray for the girl. A demon manifested and claimed to be an avenging spirit. It
claimed to be the spirit of her late aunt’s husband. She had died childless but he had fully paid the
bride price. So, per Zimbabwean culture, he was due to be given a second wife from the family
and Trish had been surrendered to him but he too had died before he could live with Trish. We
chased the demon but the host was a weak person and so it came back.

A year later, the demon manifested again and this time it was claiming to be a husband to her ,
given to her by her uncle, the father’s elder brother. Thus demons lie. At one time, it was an
avenging spirit, at another, it was a husband of her, given to the demon by the uncle.

When you encounter a demon claiming to be an avenging spirit, just chase it away, it is a liar with
no legal right at all to indwell a person. It is simply taking advantage of people’s ignorance.

Receiving of compensation for murders demanded by avenging spirits

It should be noted that the Bible does not provide for any spirit to go about killing people in the
name of an avenging spirit. The Bible is very clear that there should never be any compensation

99
for murder, 31" 'Do not accept a ransom for the life of a murderer, who deserves to die. He must surely be
put to death. (Numbers 35 vs.31)

When family members of the murderer make payments to the family of the murdered, the payment
is made to living relatives. When the living relatives receive the payment in whatever form, they
must know for certain that they are getting a gift from an evil spirit. By accepting the compensation
resources from the murderer’s family, they are basically accepting a murderous spirit into their
family. The evil spirit will obviously demand recognition such as being worshipped. The family
will formally accept a murderous spirit into the family.

Technically, the family has accepted dowry money from an evil spirit and they will have married
off their daughters including those not yet born, to an evil spirit. The receipt of any form of
payment results in a covenant between all family members of the murdered and the evil spirit..
Almost all female members in the family will not have stable marriages. Sadly, even innocent
generations coming many years after the receipt of the payment, are also bound by the covenants
Almost all their daughters who have not received Christ and have not broken the covenant may
face any of the following misfortunes: They may:

a) Be married but no dowry is paid because it was ‘already paid by the evil spirit.’
b) Lose husbands to premature death since they are already married to the spirit that brought
in wealth into the family,
c) Lose husbands to divorces as demons do not enjoy sharing wives.
d) Be married in a polygamous family as that ensures that the woman does not have a husband
all the time.
e) Have to be separated by distance from the husband with the husband in a different city.
f) Have a continuous period in marriage to prevent sex with the husband
g) Barrenness so as to make the marriage break up.

A real life case will help the reader appreciate this.

The story of the Gwapa family

Around 1913, John Dube of Negove area in Mberengwa District murdered Tichafa Gwapa a man
in his early forties, at a beer party in their village. A year after the murder, there were mysterious
illnesses in the Dube family. As was the tradition, the family approached a witchdoctor where a
spirit manifested through a sick young boy claiming to be the spirit of John Gwapa. It demanded
a young virgin girl as compensation accompanied by fourteen herd of cattle.

The challenge with an avenging spirit is that it will affect any member of the extended family. To
forestall future attacks, they decided to comply. Fourteen herd of cattle were taken to the Gwapa
family, accompanied by a young fourteen year-old girl who was the daughter of John Dube. The
woman who grew up to be known as VaMaDube was married off to a Gwapa family. She was to a
husband by the family; a young brother of the late Tichafa.

100
From about 1930 to date, female members of the Gwapa family have struggled to sustain
marriages. Some have never been married, being rejected after bearing a child out of wedlock.
The majority have been divorced or they have lost husbands to premature deaths without ever
getting remarried. Few remarried. Almost no one in their family line has had a lifetime with one
husband.

Whereas in some families a lot of money is paid as dowry for marrying a woman from a family,
the case has been different for the Gwapa family. Their son in-laws struggle to pay dowry for the
majority of their married daughters. Formal weddings are almost non-existent in the family. Those
who seem to wobble along in relationships, it is because the husbands are pathetically poor or
they are community husbands; too promiscuous to be called own husbands.

The reason for this challenge is that they went into a covenant with an evil spirt and accepted
compensation in the form of cattle from an evil spirit, nearly one hundred years ago. They married
off their daughters so they cannot receive dowry twice and more so for ‘married women.’ Their
daughters are already married to spiritual husbands. Those who are married have almost dead
sexual lives.

Effect Being a Ransom woman

When a woman is surrendered to another family as part compensation for a murdered relative, the
woman is technically being demanded by an evil spirit. The evil spirit is the true husband because
it is the one which has caused the woman to come. Unbeknown to the living, the woman is then
allocated a husband amongst the living. The physical husband will be able to make her bear
children. Usually, he does not last many years in marriage, thereafter, he has to die because he is
a hired husband and so he must be dispatched. Since the woman is a ransom woman, she cannot
be divorced and so the only way is to kill the man. Hence all men who marry such woman have a
very short lifespan.

The children biologically belong to the physical man. However, in principle they belong to the evil
spirit that caused her to come because it is the husband. Every man marries off his daughters as he
likes so the evil spirit will marry off the daughters to fellow evil spirits and the chain will continue.
They may be able to get married but the marriages have to fail either through premature deaths of
husbands or through divorce. To illustrate this point, let us look at the descendants of VaMadube,
the unfortunate woman who was forcibly married off as a teenager, to a man who was not of her
choice.

The Story of VaMaDube

She bore seven girls and five boys with two different men of the same family. Her husband died
after they had three sons and four girls. She then married the younger brother to the husband and
bore the remainder of her children.

101
All her daughters divorced in almost similar circumstances. All her daughters were accused of
cheating hence their marriages broke down. None of them lasted a lifetime in marriage. They did
not know what was causing the challenges in marriages and they died without having a clue. All
her sons either divorced or married more than one wife. Those who did not marry more than one
wife had children outside wedlock. All her female grandchildren either lost husbands to premature
death or they divorced. To this day, all her descendants struggle in marriage. The women generally
suffer the same fate of premature death of spouses, divorce, polygamy or at best extreme
promiscuity on the part of the husband. To illustrate this, we pick upon one of VaMaDube’s
daughters and trace the marital lives of the female descendants. Let us call her Sarudzai.

Sarudzai got married very well and her husband fully paid the requested dowry. In 1948, after the
birth of her last son Fayabo, her husband went into diaspora to work in the gold mines of South
Africa, then popularly known. to the locals in Rhodesia as Wenela. He only returned home in 1952.
Unfortunately he came back at night, unannounced. Out of prolonged sexual hunger, Sarudzai had
found herself a boyfriend and she was caught red handed by her husband. She escaped death by a
whisker as she ran out with her child, never to return to the marriage again. She already knew her
fate as in those days a woman caught in adultery would certainly face divorce. She was thirty years
old at the time. Sarudzai never married again for the rest of her life..

Sarudzai had two daughters- Sungai and Fadzai. Let us separately track the descendants of these
two .

Sungai separated from her abusive husband when they had only one daughter, Memory. She got
married again to Samson, She had a daughter and two sons. Unfortunately, like her mother she
did not last a life time in the marriage as she died during the war of liberation in 1978 at the age
of thirty nine.

Her eldest daughter , Memory married and divorced at thirty three years of age. She remarried
and had two sons. She died at the age of fifty-five.

Memory had three daughters. Two of them divorce before they even reached thirty. The other
daughter lost her husband to death at the age of twenty-nine. At the time of this book, they had all
not remarried.

Sungai’s second daughter was Pretty. Pretty lot her husband to death when she was only twenty
seven years old and she has not been married since then. She had one son.

Let us now trace the descendants of Sarudzai’s second daughter, Fadzai.

Fadzai had two daughters in a her first marriage and two sons. She divorced her husband at the
age of thirty-two. She was caught cheating on her husband. Her eldest daughter was Tambudzai
and the other was Tamary. She got married again briefly and had a daughter and a son. The
daughter’s name was Nyembesi. She divorced after five years and has not been married until she
died at the ripe age of eighty.
102
Tambudzai had a son out of wedlock and the man refused to marry her. Five years later she got
married to Zororai. They had two sons and two daughters together before he died in a car accident,
ten years into the marriage. She married again at the age of forty , this time to Mashapure. Five
years into the marriage, Mashapure died of heart attack. She died in a car accident six years later.

Tambudzai left three sons and two daughters. The eldest daughter was Tariro. She never got
married as the man who gave her a son refused to marry her. At the time of this book, she was still
single. The second daughter of Tambudzai is Nomusa. Nomusa has had two failed marriages
where she bore a son and a daughter. Nomusa’s eldest daughter is in divorce. Nomusa eventually
gave her life to Christ and went through serious deliverance, breaking the past curses and
covenants in her maternal bloodline. She seems to have settled well in the third marriage as she
is nearing fifteen years (2022) in the marriage.

The second daughter of Fadzai, Tamary has had two failed marriages and finally settled for a
polygamous marriage as a third wife. Her husband is a member of the white garment Christian
community

Fadzai’s third daughter Nyembesi has married twice. She too decided to retreat to the white
garment church community for spiritual protection and that seems to have helped her. However,
her first daughter is already in divorce.

We have outlined misfortunes of descendants of one lady from about 1930 until now and the
misfortunes are still continuing. Covenants cannot be wished away, they have to be broken.

Sexual Covenants

Parental promiscuity

The Shona people of Zimbabwe have three simple sayings which mean the same thing: Mbudzi
kudya mufenje hufana nyina (What a goat eats is what its young one eats). Mhembwe rudzi
inozvara mwana ane chizhumu saiyo (The young one of a gazelle is identical to its mother).
Pakatsika remberi ndopanotsika reshure (When a cow is moving, where the front hoof steps is
where the hind hoof steps as well). Literally translated, these sayings simply mean, like father like
son. A lot of behaviourial challenges that we face in this generation was caused by parents.
Generally a man’s life usually mimics the life of his father and every woman’s life normally
mimics that of the mother.

Let it be known by all women that when a woman takes off her underwear to sleep with a man
who is not her husband, she is inadvertently pulling down the underwear of her daughter. Every
weakness that has defeated a mother will almost always defeat the daughter unless she has
renounced such challenges. When a woman opens her legs to welcome a man who is not her
husband into her, she is basically opening the legs of her daughters including unborn babies.
Likewise, a man who sleeps around with many women generally has his sons doing the same as
well. In fact, our experience has been that the bahaviour of the children is far worse than their
103
parents. In fact, we always joke that Jesus said, 12I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me
will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to
the Father. (John 14 vs.12)

Paul wrote to the Galatians: 7Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he
sows.
8
The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who
sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. (Galatians 6 vs.7-8)

It must be noted that every woman a man may call his girlfriend is a special daughter of another
pair of parents somewhere. Thus, our daughters will be treated by other men the same way we treat
other people’s daughters. Remember, no man sleeps with his own daughter no matter how
beautiful she may be. The same way we abuse the daughters of other people is how our special
beloved daughters, for whom we would kill any abusive man, be treated by other men. For the
sexual abuse of other people’s daughters, our daughters will pay a price. So, when a man treats
another man’s daughter as a good for sex only and not good for marriage, that man should know
for certain that his sons will do as he has done. Sadly, his daughters, whom he values and loves so
much and from whom he expects to receive dowry from son in-laws will be equally abused by
other men as well.

David killed Uriah in peace time, after taking his wife. Is it any wonder that he too lost at least
three sons who all died prematurely? First, he lost his eldest son who was murdered by his brother
Absalom. (2 Samuel 13 vs. 28-29). Then, Absalom died in a war against his father after he had
rebelled against his father and staged a coup detaat (2Samuel 18 vs.14-15). Then finally he lost
Adonijah in a succession battle with Solomon ( 1 Kings 2vs. 24). Thus, the effects of the murder
of Uriah by David haunted him even beyond his death as Adonijah was killed by Solomon after
David’s death.

For raping Uriah’s wife, David paid dearly. First his own daughter was raped by Amnon, his own
firstborn son (2 Samuel 13 vs.1-13). Then his wives were humiliatingly raped by Absalom with
all Israel in ‘praise and worship’ (2Samuel 16 vs. 22).

Generally, relationships and marriages will almost always struggle where:

-Parents have divorced (because they will have entered into a covenant of divorces)

-Parents are or grandparents from either side were in polygamy (because they will have entered
into a covenant of polygamy.

-One of the parents died early (a defeat in any of the parents descends to the next generation to
defeat it as well)

104
It does not matter whether parents have become Christians or not, as long as the covenants they
entered into remain unbroken, the children and themselves are still bound by the covenants they
entered into. Like curses, covenants do not disappear into thin air when we become Christians.
Unless and until broken, covenants remain in force. Their sins may be forgiven and they may enter
paradise but their covenants will still haunt those on earth.

It is common knowledge to most Christian that David loved God and he greatly sinned against his
God. However, if ever there was a man who would repent from his sins, it was David. He always
repented from his sins. David never committed any sin twice. Whichever sin he was guilty of, he
repented and never repeated it.

It is also common knowledge that David loved women so much that he would die or kill for a
woman. When he killed Goliath, his eyes were partly on a woman, the king’s daughter. In the
history of mankind, it is only David who married a woman and paid a bride price of two hundred
corpses. I am sure this is evidence enough that David loved women. 27David and his men went out
and killed two hundred Philistines. He brought their foreskins and presented the full number to
the king so that he might become the king's son-in-law. Then Saul gave him his daughter Michal
in marriage. ( 1 Samuel 18 vs,.27).

Thus, David loved women but Solomon the son, loved them more than him. 3He had seven hundred
wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. (1 Kings 11 vs.3).

It is important to note that David was a descendant of Judah. Judah is recorded as having committed
great sexual sins. He slept with his daughter in-law, Tamar after mistaking her for a prostitute
(Genesis 38 vs.1318). Judah most probably was in the habit of sleeping with prostitutes. It appears
that on more than one occasion, he had picked up prostitutes from the same place hence Tamar
was able to way lay him. Thus, sexual sins in the Bible started in the house of Judah, the royal
household. The issue of non-Israelite wives did not start with Solomon but Judah. It was him who
married a Canaanite woman. Judah’s descendants, who happen to have been ancestors of David,
married non-Israeli women. In fact, they married from forbidden tribes. Salmon, the father of Boaz,
married Rahab the prostitute of Jericho, an Amorite woman. His son Boaz married Ruth, a Moabite
woman. Both women were not supposed to enter the assembly of the Israelites up to the tenth
generation (Deuteronomy 23 vs.3). So, what defeated Salmon the father; marrying a forbidden
women, defeated the son Boaz who married Ruth the Moabite. Hence, we say, a weaknesses that
a father cannot defeat will most likely defeat the son as well. So, generally our teaching is that
every weakness that defeats a father tends to defeat his descendants and every weakness that
defeats the mother tends to defeat the majority if not all her descendants unless a person stands up
to defeat the weakness. A lot of women in Zimbabwe tend to think that they are only affected by
the challenges in their paternal bloodline. Our survey seems to suggest otherwise.

At this stage, allow us to ask our readers to take a pause. Consider all the women around you who
are struggling in marriage. Nine times out of ten you will find that in their maternal bloodline,
there was divorce, early death of husband, or polygamy. We repeat this: where the parents did not
spend a lifetime together in marriage, know for certain that there are either unbroken, alters, curses
105
or covenants. Any or woman who proceeds to go into marriage without breaking the above will
almost all the time face the same fate.

Every day that rises we are either sowing, reaping or both. There is never a day that arises and
we are doing neither of the above. The question that arises then is: What are we sowing? Good
seeds or bad seeds? When Abraham went to Egypt, he had no idea that he was sowing seeds.
Wherever he went, where he set his foot as the father, his descendants set their feet there except
where God intervened. When famine struck during his time, he went to Egypt. When famine came
during Isaac’s time, Isaac wanted to go to Egypt and he was only stopped by a direct intervention
of God. (Genesis 26 vs. 1-2)

God knew that Isaac would go to Egypt in search of food hence He told him to stay in the land.
Had God not stopped him, he would have gone to Egypt.

The next generation after Isaac was that of Jacob. He spent twenty years in the diaspora. Like his
grandfather Abraham, he left his mother and father and went to live in a country that he was told
by his parents. Maybe it was just a coincidence. The next generation was that of Joseph. He too
left his father and mother, though unwillingly and went to live in a foreign country amongst people
unknown to him. He then dragged all his relatives into a land where he was ruling. When there
was a famine during the time of Jacob, they all trooped to Egypt. This sounds interesting. In three
consecutive generations, there was famine which drove them to Egypt.

Many years earlier, when Abraham went to Gerar, he lied to the king of Gerar that Sarah was his
sister (Genesis 20 vs.2). It is equally interesting to note that many years later when Isaac was in
the same place, Gerar where his father had been, he too lied to King Abimelech that Rebecca was
his sister and not his wife (Genesis 26 vs.7).

Effect of sex outside marriage

Jesus told his disciples, 18"I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven,
and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. (Mathew 18 vs.18). Nearly two
thousand years before Jesus said the above statement, two young men made an agreement. 29Once
when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished.
30He said to Jacob, "Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I'm famished!" (That is why he was also

called Edom. )
31Jacob replied, "First sell me your birthright."
32"Look, I am about to die," Esau said. "What good is the birthright to me?"
33But Jacob said, "Swear to me first." So, he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob.
34Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left. So

Esau despised his birth right. (Genesis 25 vs.28-34)

There was no written agreement neither were there any human witnesses to their agreement. However,
whatever they agreed upon is what took root because God was the witness and because whatever we bind
on earth is bound in heaven. So please take note, whatever we agree on here on earth, it is also agreed
upon in heaven.

106
The love token (Nduma)

Among the Shona people of Zimbabwe, there was a culture that recognised the existence of a
binding promise between a man and a woman to marry each other. When a man fell in love with
a woman and he wanted to marry her, the two would go before the girl’s aunt (father’s sister) and
exchange clothes as proof of their love. This was a love token which was called Nduma in Shona.
No party thereafter was allowed to date any other person. It resembled the English Engagement
where a ring is involved. If any party broke the promise, the aggrieved party could actually
approach a traditional courts and seek redress. He/she would only need to produce evidence
through the clothes given, usually a dress/shirt or a pair of trousers. The clothes given were not
supposed to be brand new but old and previously won. A cruel aggrieved lover could actually take
the clothes to a witchdoctor who could lock the person out of marriage for the rest of his/her life.
From a spiritual perspective, the person would have a legal right to place a curse on the lover.

The most common covenant being made today amongst all generations is the sexual covenant.
People of all generations across the world are kissing and having sex outside marriage. People are
therefore entering into blood covenants with people whose backgrounds they do not know. Spirits
generally follow blood. So, where another person’s blood is mutually joined with another pers’s
blood, the spirits will get into that same blood. Blood is the aerial code that connects spiritual aerial
waves. It is just like sexually transmitted diseases, they follow blood, blood is their only mode of
transport from one person to another. As explained earlier, covenant partners share in their wars,
you attack one you attack all. After kissing someone or after having sex with someone, it means
that the sexual partners share in their wars. If the sexual partner has spiritual challenges of his own
or her own, those challenges will have their way into the life of the sexual partner through blood.
If a person then sleeps with ten different partners, the person has literally joined himself or herself
with ten different people of different spiritual challenges. When two such people get married, the
marriage does not survive because too many spirits are fighting that marriage, both from the wife
and from the husband.

Implications of the sexual covenants

It is written; 24For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they
will become one flesh. (Genesis 2 vs.24)

Likewise, when two people have sex together outside marriage, they will have entered into a
binding contract before God to become one. As far as God is concerned, the two parties will be
married. Technically, anyone who thereafter sleeps with any other woman or man besides the
person he/she had sex with for the first time, is in adultery. This is why we insist on sexual
covenants being broken upon getting married. Marriages are breaking more often these days
because people are all married to the wrong people, people are living in fornication and adultery.
People who they say are their spouses are spiritually not their spouses. People are dragging too
many evil spirits into their marriages so there are serious spiritual wars in their lives..

107
Consider the case of Jacob, Laban and Rachel. When Jacob left Laban, his wife Rachel stole the
father’s gods. When Laban pursued Jacob and overtook him, he asked him a question, 30Now you
have gone off because you longed to return to your father's house. But why did you steal my gods?"
(Genesis 31 vs.30)

Jacob did not know that Rachel had taken the gods of Laban. This is the challenge with most
Christians today. They move into marriage without breaking earlier covenants. They carry over
the gods of the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of God. It does not work. In the natural world,
if a man is legally married and has a marriage certificate, he is not allowed by law to leave his wife
and be legally married to another woman. Yet a lot of spiritual fools simply receive Christ and
believe that covenants they willingly entered into become automatically cancelled. That is
foolishness at its worst. The foolishness is probably exacerbated by 2 Corinthians 5 vs. 17,
17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come.

Correct, the new has come but God respects old unbroken covenants. Unless past covenants are
broken, they will bring people into ruin in their Christian walk. Why on earth would so many men
of God be involved in sexual immorality? It is because of unbroken covenants with their past.
There is need to totally disconnect with past sexual encounters. Consider the Israelites.

The Demise of the Israelites in the desert

It is common knowledge that of the two million five hundred Israelites who crossed the Red Sea,
only two people entered Canaan (excluding children exempted by God). Why did the rest perish?
Besides many possible reasons, one reason in our view is that they failed break covenants with the
Egyptian gods whom they had and their ancestors had worshipped for centuries. When they
crossed the Red Sea, the enemy triumphantly declared, 9"The enemy boasted, 'I will pursue, I will
overtake them. I will divide the spoils; I will gorge myself on them. I will draw my sword and my hand will
destroy them.' (Exodus 15 vs.9)

Why was the devil so sure that he would follow the Israelites and be able to overtake them? The
reason is that these people had spent over four hundred years in Egypt. Their ancestors and them
were true devil worshippers for centuries. They had made blood covenants with the devil. The
devil was having covenants in his hand which even God recognized as being true.

When the Israelites left Egypt, they left the land of Egypt behind but their covenants kept them
prisoners of the past hence they became the devil’s puppets. They did not take out Egypt and
Egyptian way of life from their lives despite them leaving Egypt. Despite the atrocities that the
Egyptians committed against them, the Israelites still preferred to be in Egypt. Even as they ate
God’s food, they preferred to be in Egypt. At the slightest opportunity, the Israelites worshipped
the god they knew best -idols. (Exodus 32 vs.1-35).

Have you ever noticed that certain women will refuse to divorce an extremely violent men? The
reason is partly because of covenants that exist between the man and the woman. In our lives today,
there are men and women who, despite having married the best spouse, still remain emotionally

108
attached to an ex-lover. Despite having everything at one’s disposal, they still think of a past
partner. Such is the power of covenants to the living.

The story of Nobuhle and Njabulo

This is a very true story, it is not fiction. The two parties got married. They went to Dr.
Parwaringira, for pre-marriage counselling. He advised them to cut ties with their old
relationships because spiritually, they would be haunted by their past. They confessed to each
other and they tied the note.

Three years into the marriage, just after being blessed with their second child, challenges set in.
Three to four times a week, the husband started having nightmares. A heavily built man would
fight the husband in dreams, demanding that he should leave ‘his’ wife. He claimed to be the true
husband of the wife. The man threatened to kill the husband. Three weeks into the ordeal, the
husband could bear it no longer hence he confronted his wife. He divorced her because he feared
death.

The woman came to Dr Parwaringira in tears, requesting him to intervene. After a thorough
discussion, she discovered that, there is a man with whom she had exchanged clothes wanting to
get married to each other but the man had gone to South Africa for three years and he did not
appear too serious hence she moved. He was heartbroken.

The woman went through deliverance and the demon was driven away. It was not clear whether a
the a spell had been cast upon the woman or a guardian spirit on the man had taken up the fight
on its own accord. It was only after deliverance that the husband agreed to go back into the
marriage. As a matter of principle, from that day, we do not marry off any couple without taking
them through a session of breaking altars, curses and covenants.

Marriage breaking spirits

Africa is currently (2022) gripped by prosperity gospel championed by so called prophets. In

ancient times, prophets carried God’s messages to kings . Their residence was within the palaces.
Priests on the other hand carried people’s issues to God. The major messages carried by the
prophets of old was that people had to repent and return to God. This is not the case with prosperity
gospel. People have to make money and pass it on to the prophets. The vast majority of the so-
called prophets are occultic in nature. They use prophetic powers obtained from fetish priests and
from marine spirits. These prophets have to sleep with a given number of women per year. In
almost all cases, these prophets sleep with the ladies without any form of protection. They deposit
marriage breaking demons into the women through siemens. Once the spirits are deposited in a
person, they then control the person’s sexual behavior. This implies that one will have been
109
recruited into the worship of Satan through sex. Periodically, when a person’s blood stocks held
by Satan run low, the spirits will push the person to again go for illegal sex. Please read again the
story of Muchaneta abo to appreciate the concept of low blood stocks and what happens when the
blood stocks decrease. The person who has received such spirits will always move in the presence
of Satan and not God. Where ever the person goes, he/she will be having bad luck. The evil spirits
will always interfere with the person’s opportunities.

The following three stories are true and real as they were narrated by the people involved.

The story of Jay Israel

As explained earlier, he was initiated into occult in order to grow his church in East London. South
Africa. However, one of the key terms of the covenant was that he would be married to a mermaid.
The mermaid would come and sleep with him in his dreams. He claims to have met the mermaid
at least six times.

He was also supposed to sleep with many women. After sex, he would wipe their private parts with
a white towel. He seemed to have kept many white towels as he slept with over a thousand women.
After some time, he would gather the towels and throw them into a river or Indian Ocean in order
to appease his mermaid wife. This would cause a lot of miscarriages in the lives of the women.
Obviously the miscarriages would be a sacrifice to the same mermaid.

All his attempts to get married to some of his girlfriends were blocked by the jealous mermaid. It
threatened to kill any woman who got married to him.

All the women he obviously slept with went into a covenant with him and the devil. Invariably,
their marriages would be challenged if they do not seek deliverance.

The story of Monica, a Zambian prostitute

Monica was a prostitute for many years in the Copperbelt area and in Lusaka in Zambia. She tells
her own story below:

I am a thirty-year old international prostitute. When a man starts cheating on his wife and sleeps
with prostitutes, he is in bondage with them. I have been in this business for nine years. I had an
evil tattoo on my waist such that if I have sex with a man, he will unknowingly make a covenant
with me and he will never leave me because he is now under the influence of the dark world.

We use love portions on men in order to keep them. When that happens, they forget about their
wives and families and focus purely on us. We make men forget about their wives completely.

Some of the charms we use, we throw them into a latrine such that your wife will smell like a
latrine. Sometimes we cast evil spirits on the men such that there is no peace in their marriages.
Some of the love portions are put in food, in drinking water, in bathing water or in our virginas
110
such that a man becomes a “yes madam.” Everything we ask for, is given to us. Prostitutes are
merciless, we do not feel sorry for your wives and children as long as we get the money from men.
Sometime we buy water from funeral parlours, the water used to wash dead bodies. That water is
put in water to drink or food so that a man becomes as quest as a corpse and agrees to all of a
woman’s requests.

Sometimes we look for the roots or leaves of a tree on which a person will have hung
himself/herself and died. We then mix with some charms and cast an evil spell upon a person’s
marriage. When the men gets home, he becomes very violent and beats the wife to death.

Sometimes we use the pillow on which a man rets his head on overnight in the prostitute’s bedroom
and mix it with African juju which makes the man not think straight and thinks about no one else
except the prostitute.

I genuinely ask women to pray and fast for their husbands as they leave their homes because when
they step put of their homes, they are game to us and we hunt them down. We are professional
seducers. Men are generally weak when they look at naked thighs and that is why we expose them.

The story of Lucy

The story of Lucy was captured from a social media platform but it provides some insights into the
dangers that come with fornication and adultery and the possible covenants that come from there.
She had been taken to a witch doctor for deliverance. Under demonic possession, she revealed
that:

She sleeps with several men and after sex she takes away their sperms through wiping their male
organs with a towel. The towels are then sent to a mermaid. In return, she is given something very
big. In one year she received a house in a medium density suburb in western Harare and in another
year she was given a new car. She has also been given enough resources to set up some clothing
shops in central Harare.

Once they take a man’s sperms, the man becomes infertile. At the time of her deliverance, Lucy
had taken sperms from about eighty-nine men. Those, she had certainly made them infertile. Their
infertility makes her make a lot of money.

She explained that they seduce men because men are ever attracted to a different pair of female
thighs. She claimed to have charms which draw men to her once she looks at her. She claimed that
there is a tattoo on her private part. The moment she scratches that whilst looking at a men, the
men will fall for her. The men will produce a lot of sperms.

The terms of her covenant is such that she is not allowed to live in the first house given to her. She
is supposed to let it out. Unfortunately, married couples who live in such a house will never know
peace. They will always be fighting. When she goes to collect rentals, she sometimes seduces the
her male tenants and that creates serious disasters for them.
111
She is also not allowed to marry and have children. Her job is simply to recruit as many men per
year as possible through sexual intercourse.

Prior to the advent of the mermaid storm that hit Zimbabwe about a decade ago, there was an
upsurge of female rapists who would travel in posh cars. They would give a male traveler a lift but
they would rape him and harvests sperms. It is not clear what the sperms could have been used for.
However, given the revelations by Jay Israel and Lucy above, it may be possible that some of the
sperms were destined for the seas or rivers in appeasement of mermaid spirits.

We are all too familiar with the challenges facing marriages today. Sexual spirits are extremely
jealous. They will not tolerate marriages of any sort. We outline below some of the challenges that
marriages are facing today. Too many spirits may be fighting the couple, either claiming to be to
be the rightful husband or wife of the other partner. The spirits are so jealousy that will fight any
marriage where they are involved.

Spiritual markings for marriage

The English say birds of the same feather flock together. What these unbroken altars, curses and
covenants do is to mark people for marriages. In other words, when a person whose parents have
unbroken alters, curses or covenants is born, a spiritual report is activated in the spiritual realm to
say, “We have a baby boy or baby girl here.” A mark is then put on the child which in Shona we
would call, rupaho. Demons are then assigned to the child to make sure at an early age of his/her
life, he/she officially signs up to Satan with his/her blood so that a covenant is confirmed willingly
by her with her own blood. The spiritual mark ensures that the person is assigned a husband or
wife of a similar background. So, the boy/girl will, in his/her teens. engage in premarital sex or
gets involved in dangerous drugs, thereby signing up a blood covenant.

Three groups of spiritually challenged people

Generally, there are three groups of people who are usually vulnerable to spiritual attacks in
marriages. These are:

 People whose parents/grandparents were separated by divorce

 People whose parents/grandparents were separated through premature death of one of the
parents
 People whose parents/grandparents are/were in a polygamous relationship
 People whose parents were promiscuous

We have observed that nine times out of ten, people with the above backgrounds are always
spiritually matched.

Dead sex within marriages

112
Married couples struggle to have sex on a regular basis because of evil spirits. Couples lose interest
and affections towards each other. On their marriage bed, there may be a second man , a spiritual
husband who ensures that the two rarely mate. There is no human being who can stand the sight
of his/her spouse having sex with another person. Likewise, these spiritual husbands are extremely
angry when married couples mate. They will always do their best to frustrate any sexual activities
in the home. A woman may desire to have sex with her husband in his absence. When he eventually
comes in at day end, a strong feeling of resentment towards the husband overwhelms the woman.
The husband may get frustrated and decide to outsource the sex from outside marriage thereby
exacerbating the spiritual challenges.

Divorce

Divorce rates are far much higher than they used to be in the past. The reasons are not too far away
from us - too many spirits are fighting the married couples today. The spirits can either be spiritual
husbands or spiritual wives. Spiritual husbands consider the wives theirs and spiritual wives
consider husbands to be their own. The spirits create a buffer between lovers. There is constant
resentment of each other. Faults and weaknesses are blown out of proportion. Hatred for each party
sets in and any form of godliness in each party is completely driven away. Each party is always
presented with seemingly better options and every day prefer that parties divorce so that the parties
become agents of Satan. Each party is usually presented with various post-divorce opportunities.
The devil prefers divorce to death of any of the both spouses because he kills many birds with just
one stone. First when parties divorce, there is no way they will stay out of relationships forever.
Each party will soon find a partner. Nature demands that they have sex together, in the process,
they worship the devil. Remember each time any two parties have sex outside marriage, the devil
is worshipped. It also presents the devil with an opportunity to get into each of the parties. As will
be explained later, it means children both in the old marriage and any future marriages of the two
parties will have been surrendered to the devil even before their birth. This is probably the reason
why Jesus ordered, 18"Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and
the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery. (Luke 16 vs.19)

Premature death of spouse

Besides the issue of early divorces, there is also the issue of premature deaths of spouses. Men and
women are losing spouses early in their marriages because of these spiritual forces. Once a spirit
has a foothold in a person, it wants to dominate the person. These love spirits are so dangerous that
they may kill a spouse. The man is killed for “committing adultery with my wife.” The male spirit
considers the woman its own wife. Anyone who messes up with the wife is therefore fought to
death. Sometimes though the spirit kills the wife because “she has committed adultery.” The spirit
then says, “If I cannot have you to myself, no one else should have you.”

After the death of a spouse, the spirit will easily allow a person to have sex at will with anyone as
long as it is outside formal marriage. Sex outside marriage by anyone with children is good because
in the process, children are also surrendered because whatever defeats a parent defeats the children
as well.
113
 Violence in marriage

One of the major challenges in marriages is violence. Violence in marriage is almost always caused
by evil spirits. Usually female spirits that claim to be the wife of a man are extremely violent.
Suppose you are a woman. You arrive home in the evening and you find another woman claiming
to be the wife of your husband the kitchen, cooking food for your husband. What would be your
normal reaction. Sadly that is exactly how the spirt feels. Unfortunately the spirit had no hands so
it gets into the man, starts a minor argument, not even worthy causing a fight but it is blown out
of proportion but the wife is so thoroughly beaten that sometimes she is left for dead. Usually,
immediately thereafter, the spirit departs and the man is very remorseful, apologises and offers
help to the wife.

114
 CHAPTER SEVEN

REPENT AND FORGIVE ALL

Receive Christ as your personal Savior

In his book, Two World Order, Denis Shoko (2018) argues that there are two invisible kingdoms
on earth, the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Satan. Only those in the kingdom of God can
expect Jesus Christ to fight for them. Every animal has a God given mandate to look after its own
off-springs. No animal can ever fight for another animal’s offspring. Likewise, those in the
Kingdom of Satan cannot expect Christ to fight for them. The starting point in deliverance is
ensuring that the people wanting to seek deliverance are in the Kingdom of God. To do so, they
have to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. 9That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus
is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For it
is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and
are saved. (Romans 10 vs.9-10)

Repent

Prophet Isaiah said, 15When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you;
even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood; 16wash and make
yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong, 17learn to do right! Seek
justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.
(Isaiah 1 vs.15 – 17)

Thus, what separates people from their God is sin. The starting point in dealing with breaking
curses and covenants is therefore repentance; there is need to repent.

Adam and Eve had an excellent fellowship with the Lord their God. However, when they sinned
against God, they sought to disappear and hide from his presence. Sin separates people from their
God. It was sin that separated David from his God. 10Now, therefore, the sword will never depart
from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.'
11
"This is what the Lord says: 'Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity upon you.
Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will
lie with your wives in broad daylight. 12You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight
before all Israel.” (2 Samuel 12 vs.10-12)

When Jesus hung on the cross of Calvary he said, 46About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud
voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"--which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken
me?" (Mathew 27 vs. 46)

115
Yet earlier on, Jesus had said, 30I and the Father are one." (John 10 vs.30)

If these people were truly one, where had God gone to when Jesus cried that the father had forsaken
Him. Why would God forsake his beloved son? Remember the spiritual testimony at the Jordan,
11
And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."
(Mark1 vs.11)

The truth of the matter is that when Jesu hung on the cross of Calvary, he was carrying the sins of
humanity and the Holy God could not associate himself with sin. Remember the testimony of John
the Baptist, 29The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God,
who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1 vs 29)

So, at that point in time when Jesus was on the cross, he was carrying the sins of the world and he
was taking them into the grave. It is the sins that he was carrying which had separated him from
the father.

Please note that through out the Gospels, Jesus never referred to God as God but as His father. Yet
when He hung on the cross, He could not call him father because he had become a sinner.
Remember the John says, 12Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave
the right to become children of God--13children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision
or a husband's will, but born of God.(John 3 vs.12)

Thus, it is only those who have repented who can refer to God as their father. Sinners cannot refer
to God as their father but as God. This is confirmed by John, 43Why is my language not clear to
you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. 44You belong to your father, the devil, and you
want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the
truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and
the father of lies. (John 8 vs. 43-44)

Isaiah further says, 1Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to
hear.2But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from
you, so that he will not hear. (Isaiah 59 vs. 1-2)

So if we are sinners, which is what we are, we need to repent. Apostle John says, 8If we claim to
be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful
and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.(1 John 1 vs.8-9)

David understood the concept of repentance more than any other person in the history of mankind.
He committed four sins in one go:

1) He coveted another man’s wife

2) He murdered an innocent man
3) He committed adultery
4) He lied that Uriah had died in battle.
116
Yet to his credit, David :

1) Acknowledged his sins. He never tried to disown his sins, he owned up.
2) David always adjusted and repented.

Consider his confession and plea before God. 1Have mercy on me, O God, according to your
unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.
2
Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. 3For I know my transgressions, and my
sin is always before me. 4Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge. 5Surely I was sinful at
birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. 6Surely you desire truth in the inner parts ;
you teach me wisdom in the inmost place. 7Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me,
and I will be whiter than snow. 8Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed
rejoice. 9Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. 10Create in me a pure heart, O
God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11Do not cast me from your presence or take your
Holy Spirit from me. (Psalm 51 vs1-10)

When one looks at the sins of David, one appreciates Isaiah 1 vs. 18; 18"Come now, let us reason
together," says the Lord . "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though
they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.

Even after all these sins, God still loved David telling Solomon, 13Yet I will not tear the whole
kingdom from him, but will give him one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of
Jerusalem, which I have chosen." (1 Kings 11 vs.13).

Thus, God still affectionately referred to David as “My servant David.” This is despite his myriad
of sins. Thus, whereas sin alienates us from God, Repentance reconciles us back to God. Sin is
the glue that joins evil spirits and human beings together. When that sin is removed, evil spirits
have nothing to make them cling to a person

Forgive All

Since we too are sinners, we can only be forgiven for our sins if we ourselves forgive people who
wronged us. When teaching his disciples how to pray, he said, 4Forgive us our sins, for we also
forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation. ' " (Luke 11 vs.4)

Jesus gave three important teachings on forgiveness besides the one quoted above.
25
And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your
Father in heaven may forgive you your sins." (Mark 11 vs. 25)
23
"Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has
something against you. (Mathew 5 vs.23)
117
Thus, if we really desire to have our sins forgiven, we should be in a position first to forgive those
who have wronged us. Besides that, no sin is forgiven hence no deliverance can ever take place.

In Mathew 18 vs.21-35, Jesus taught about the parable of two debtors. One man owed ten thousand
talents (assume it is ten thousand dollars) to the king. Since he did not have the money, the king
ordered that all he had including his wife and children be sold to settle the debt. The servant
pleaded with the king that he should be patient with him since he did not have the money. Instead,
the king wrote off the debt.

As the servant went off, he found a man who owed him one hundred dinari ( assume it is a thousand
dollars). He grabbed him and began to choke him, demanding that he pays what he owed him. He
begged for time to look for the money but the servant refused and handed him over to prison so
that he could be imprisoned until the debt was repaid.

When other servants saw that the servant had been cruel to his debtor, thy went and reported him
to the King. The king was furious that the servant had been cruel to his fellow servant even though
he had had his debt cancelled. In anger the king ordered the jailers to put him in prison until he
had fully paid his debt.

Thus, forgiveness is key to our own forgiveness.

18
King David wrote, If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.
(Psalm 66 vs.18)

In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul wrote, 26"In your anger do not sin" : Do not let the sun go down
while you are still angry, 27and do not give the devil a foothold. (Ephesians 4 vs.26)

Effects of unforgiveness

Unforgiveness is a dangerous thing to human beings. If a person cannot forgive when one is
wronged, the person invites unforgiveness demons into oneself. When that demon enters a person,
it helps the person to be far more unforgiving. Please note that unforgiveness is a door keeping
demon. It has a weak legal right to live in a person but it opens doors to other more door keeping
demons. Prolonged unforgiveness will open a door to hatred. Prolonged hatred opens a door to
bitterness.

When bitterness is entertained, it opens a door to a demon called Stress. When stress is entertained
it opens a door to a demon called depression. When Depression is entertained, it opens a door to
Suicide. When suicide is entertained it opens a door to death.

For a detailed discussion on the effect of these door keeping demons, one is advised to read Two
World order, (Denis Shoko 2018).

118
 CHAPTER EIGHT

BREAKING CURSES AND COVENANTS

In chapter six we said curses arise from spiritual instructions given to spiritual forces by human
agents of the devil or by parents, grandparents, God or his servants. Covenants arise from spiritual
contracts with evil spirits. Curses and covenants are enforced by powerful spiritual forces. Spiritual
forces by nature operate on the basis of legal rights of being able to enforce a contract or a curse.
The formal procedure of breaking curses and covenants should therefore start with the removal of
that legal right through public renunciation of the curses and covenants.

Host and guests

Suppose I have allowed four people who are not my children to live with me in my three roomed
apartment. I become the host of my relatives and they are my guests. Suppose I have three children
I also live with. There may not be enough space for nine people unless the rooms are very big.
Neighbours may feel sorry for me because of my situation but they lack the legal authority to tell
the guests in my house to leave my apartment. The only person who has that right is me or my
wife as the hosts

Likewise, demons live in particular individuals. No pastor, no matter how powerful has the right
to drive demons out of a person who still wants them on him/her. The same applies to curses and
covenants. In the curse of covenants, the majority of them were willingly entered into by
individuals, especially sexual covenants. No one other than the persona involved has a right to
break those covenants. The covenant is between a person and the spiritual forces and not between
the pastor and the spiritual forces.

Known and unknown sources of curses

Where the curse is possibly known e.g. an avenging spirit, it is advisable to name the source of the
curse as the curse is cancelled. Example:

In the name of Jesus Christ, I today reject the curse of death upon my life and my children brought
about by an a spirit claiming to be an avenging spirit. I did not kill anyone. In proverbs 26 vs.2, it
is stated that a causeless curse shall not rest upon a person. Neither me nor my children ever killed
anyone. So why should my children and me be considered accomplices in a murder curse which
did not involve us. We totally reject the curse and reverse it upon our lives. In Ezekiel 18 vs.20, it
is written that the soul that sins is the one that should die. So I declare that me and my children
shall not die.

Unknown sources of curses

119
 Curses whose causes are unknown are usually bloodline curses or spells cast upon a family or an
individual. Where the mother and her sisters appear to have struggled in marriage, that curse is
likely to have an unknown cause. Such curses are cancelled by reference to their effects. Consider
a curse where a woman or women in a particular family remain single. The source may not be
known but the effects are clearly evident. Example of a renunciation statement:

In the name of Jesus Christ, I cancel any anti-marriage curse against my children and myself. I
reject any maternal bloodline curse against my marriage and against my children in Jesus Christ
name. Ezekiel 18 vs/20 says that the soul that sins is the one which should die. So, what sin have
I committed to be included in this curse. I command every spirit holding back my husband to
release him right now in the name of Jesus Christ. I reject every spirit of rejection upon my life in
the name of Jesus Christ. I take off an old woman’s face or any disgusting look upon my face put
upon me by the devil in Jesus’ name. Every spirit that drives men away from me or discourages
men to marry me I command you to come out of my life in the name of Jesus Christ. In the name
of Jesus Christ, I reject every spiritual husband assigned to me by the devil. I declare that I do not
love you and I have never loved you so come out of my life in Jesu Christ ‘s name. Any spiritual
wedding to any spirit is hereby declared null and void in Jesus Christ’s name. I reject any
association to a spirit that calls itself my father in the name of Jesus Christ. I decree and declare
that this year I will get married in the name of Jesus Christ. In Jesus Christ’s name, I invoke the
blood of Jesus Christ against any curse against my marriage.

The Pastor

All the above renunciations have to be made before a pastor and at least one other person because
it is written, 6On the testimony of two or three witnesses a man shall be put to death, but no one
shall be put to death on the testimony of only one witness. (Deuteronomy 17 vs.6)

The Pastor has to be there as an Ambassador for Christ. Once the person has rejected the curse,
the pastor may then proceed to drive out any evil spirits that may be inherent in a person. All such
spirits will lack legal ground to remain the person. As the pastor drives the evil spirits out, he
should remind them that they have been rejected hence lack legal ground to continue in the person.
I should also mention that earthly witnesses exist that prove that the spirits have been rejected.

Some pastors may prefer to use oil during deliverances whilst others prefer no oil at all.

Avenging Spirits

In his book, Two World order (2018), Pastor Shoko argues that dead people never come back to
haunt the living in the form of avenging spirits. We are clearly told, 5For the living know that they
will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even the memory of them is
forgotten.(Ecclesiastes 9 vs.5)

So where would a dead person borrow his or her memory from so that he/she remembers who
killed him/her. Never!
120
Suppose a person who has been killed was an adulterer who has never accepted Christ. Such person
is a perfect candidate for hell. Just because he was murdered here on earth does it mean the person
will be excused from passing through judgement and going to hell because he is given leave of
hell to go and harass the living. No, it does not work like that. What we believe is that avenging
spirits are evil spirits which are seekinq worship. They are seeking relevance. If as Christians we
pay compensation demanded by an avenging spirit, what we are simply doing is to promote the
worship of evil spirits. Those who receive compensation invariably have to dance to the tune of
the devil who has enriched them. Invariably, the demon will request that the family holds a home
coming ceremony for the demon. When they do so, they would be worshiping the devil. So where
a Christian enters into a deal with evil spirits, that amounts to indirect worshiping of demons.

Breaking sexual covenants

Sexual covenants are far more entrenched in people than curses because those got into people
willingly. People willingly opened doors to the devil and they were active participants. So, after
seeking the Lord’s forgiveness for sins, the next thing is to break the covenants. We need to break
them one by one if we still remember the people we slept with. Where we do not remember such
people, we just break them all as one but it is best to break them one by one.

Example:

In the name of Jesus Christ, I break every covenant that I willingly but out of ignorance entered
into with XXXXXX.

I decree and declare that, you are not my husband/wife and you shall never be in Jesus’s Christ’s
name. Every evil spirits that entered me as a result of that sexual encounter with XXXXX,I
command you to depart from me in Jesus Christ’s name.

This must be repeated several times as the person mentions several people with whom he/she had
sexual intercourse.

Thereafter the pastor can then proceed to anoint the person with oil as he /she confirms the breaking
of that covenant. It would be good if there could be at least one other person other the Pastor so
that the scriptures are fulfilled, 6On the testimony of two or three witnesses a man shall be put to
death, but no one shall be put to death on the testimony of only one witness. (Deuteronomy 17
vs.6)

121
 CHAPTER NINE

THE POWER OF SACRIFICE

From time immemorial, sacrifices have been made either to the devil or to God. The purpose of a
sacrifice is either in obedience to God or to Satan or to appeal for the intervention of a super natural
power to human challenges. When human beings want supernatural power to intervene in their
affairs, they sacrifice. The sacrifices are performed at landing platforms called altars as discussed
in Chapter Two of this book. Except on 2 Kings 3 vs. 26-28, all other sacrifices discussed in this
book shall be sacrifices made to God.

The nature of a sacrifice

As the word implies, a sacrifice is anything that is of extreme value to a person, which is available
in short supply which a person decides to give to God. Except where God has demanded a sacrifice
and He states exactly what He needs, a sacrifice shall be comprised of that which a person greatly
needs which is in short supply. Unless it is of value, God may not be moved. It is not the quantum
of the sacrifice, it is the value attached to the sacrifice by giver that matters.

What do we give as a sacrifice?

These days sacrifices take the form of money. As to how much the money should be depends on
resources and what the heart says. One should give his/her best gift worthy of a king because all
sacrifices are to God and not to a human being. Human beings may be beneficiaries eventually but
they are given to God. To illustrate the concept of sacrifices more clearly, let us look at what other
great people in the Bible gave.

Abraham gave up Isaac, his only son to be come the father of nations and for the eternal blessings
to his descendants.

Hannah had no son. She sacrificed the only son God would give him. She offered him back to
God. Samuel, an Ephraimite, became the only non-Levite to hold the office of the priest. He
became the greatest prophet after Moses, having the honour of swearing in Israel’s first king Saul
and David whose descendants would rule Israel into eternity.

Rahab, Ruth and Jephthah sacrificed their lives for God’s people. Hezekiah provided outstanding
service to God.

The widow at Zarephath had no flour and oil. That which she did not have which was in short
supply is what she gave to get more as both the flour and the oil never ran out.

122
The Israelites on Mount Carmel with Elijah were desperate for rain. We find this part quite
exciting. These people were desperate for rain. There was no river with water in the land as even
the brook Kerith had dried up. All the water must have been coming from deep wells. Yet Elijah
needed twelve large jars of water filled with water. The water was needed on top of the mountain.
Mt. Carmel has a height of five hundred and forty six metres. It is not clear whether the wells were
located at the foot of the mountain or some distance away. Whichever way, going 546m up the
mountain with a single jar of war was a big challenge. Carrying four such jars was a much bigger
task. It is possible that the jars on top of the mountain could have been fifty litres or more.
However, they needed rain and they had to sow water to get rain.

Just as Abraham sacrificed his son to be the father of nations and to gain eternal blessings for his
descendants, Jesus sacrificed his life to buy back humanity and to accord humanity eternal life.

A sacrifice does not come cheap. It is like a part of oneself that is being torn off. Imagine, the Lord
Jesus came to earth to come and die for the sins of humanity as a sacrifice, to be the sacrificial
lamb. When the time for him to go through the cross came, he agonised and pleaded with God,
42
"Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." (Luke 22
vs.42)

Effect of Sacrifices

When a sacrifice is made to God, almost always, God will not remain silent. God will always
respond to activities on the alter. Whenever a good sacrifice is made, God will always respond. It
is not in God’s nature to ignore activities on the alter. Where He does not verbally respond, He
responds through positive benefits but he always responds.

The Sacrifice of Noah

The first recorded sacrifice in the Bible is that of Noah. When he came out of the Ark, Noah
decided to make a sacrifice to the Lord. He built an altar and offered clean animals and clean birds
on the alter. God responded. 21The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: "Never
again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil
from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.
22
"As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and
night will never cease." (Genesis 8 vs.21-22)

God then blessed Noah and his sons. He ordered them to be fruitful and fill the earth. Even before
the law was issued, He told them not to eat meat from animals that had died on their own. He
outlawed murder. He reminded them that man is sacred because he was created in the image of
God. God then established a covenant with man and all the animals on earth. 9"I now establish my
covenant with you and with your descendants after you

123
10
and with every living creature that was with you-the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals,
all those that came out of the ark with you-every living creature on earth. 11I establish my covenant
with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a
flood to destroy the earth."
12
And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living
creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come:
13
I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the
earth. 14Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15I will
remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again
will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.
16
Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant
between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth." (Genesis 9 vs.9-17)

Please note that from the time that Noah came out of the ark to the time that the sacrifice was
made should have been a year or more. New animals and birds had to be born and had to grow to
be old enough for a sacrifice. Remember these animals went into the ark as a pair hence there is
no way Noah would have killed the animals without giving them time to reproduce. It was during
this same time that Noah had to grow his grape vines and they had to grow to be large enough to
produce grapes. It takes up to three years for grapes to mature. So, in other words, we may safely
say God did not speak to Noah after he came out of the Ark until after he had made a sacrifice.
There was no covenant before the sacrifices. Thus, when we sacrifice here on earth, we draw God’s
attention.

Abraham’s first sacrifice

Abraham’s background was one of Idolatry. Joshua tells us so. 2Joshua said to all the people,
"This is what the Lord , the God of Israel, says: 'Long ago your forefathers, including Terah the
father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the River and worshiped other gods.(Joshua 24 vs.2)

After being called by God, He had to teach him how to serve God through sacrifices. 9So the Lord
said to him, "Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a
young pigeon." (Genesis 15 vs.9)

How many of us would demand something from another person during a conversation for a
discussion to continue. God wanted to say something to Abraham but he could not say it before a
sacrifice because it was curse breaking and releasing huge blessings upon him and his descendants
hence God demanded a sacrifice first to be made. Sure indeed, God spoke. 13Then the Lord said to
him, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and
they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. 14But I will punish the nation they serve
as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. 15You, however, will go to your
fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. 16In the fourth generation your descendants will
124
come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure." (Genesis 15
vs.13-16)
18
On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, "To your descendants I give this
land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates- 19the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites,
Kadmonites, 20Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 21Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites."
(Genesis 15 vs.18-21)

Covenants can only be made where there is blood. Covenants with God are preceded by human
action in honour of God.

The sacrifice of Isaac

God demanded Abraham to sacrifice Isaac his only son as an offering to the Lord. Given that child
sacrifices were not uncommon during Abraham’s day amongst the locals, Abraham obliged. The
same hills of Moriah where Isaac was to be sacrificed is where the current city of Jerusalem is. On
one of the same hills is where Solomon built God’s temple. On the same hills is where Jesus was
crucified.

Just as he was about to kill his son in sacrifice to the Lord, the angel of the Lord called from heaven
and stopped him from killing his son, showing him instead a ram caught up in a thicket. 15The
angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16and said, "I swear by myself,
declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son,
17
I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars 15The angel of the
Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time
16
and said, "I swear by myself, declares the Lord , that because you have done this and have not
withheld your son, your only son,
17
I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the
sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18and
through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me."
(Genesis 18 vs.15-18)

For that sacrifice, his descendant would become victorious against their enemies..
They conquered all nations in Canaan as they established the Israeli kingdom. As late as 1967, in
just 6 days, they conquered three Arab nations – Egypt, Syria and Jordan when the nation of Israel
was only nineteen years. In1973, they fought against Egypt and Syria and emerged victorious. In
modern times, Israel has not lost any war. They have one of the best secret services in the world.

On wealth, up to fifty percent of the American billionaires are Jewish yet Jews only make up about
2% of the American population. It is also estimated that about 45% of the American economy is
held by 2% Jews.
125
Thus, just as curses cut across generations, blessings too are transgenerational.

Covenant of circumcision

In any covenant, there is usually blood involved. Any covenant carries with it rights and
obligations. On the rights or benefits side, Abraham would:

 Be father of nations as God would confirm His covenant with him and his name would be
changed from Abram to Abraham-the father of nations.
 Ishmael would be blessed too. He would have many children and would be blessed.
 Isaac, a son who was to be born to Sarah would be the child of promises and that Abraham
 His obligation under the covenant was that he was to be circumcised together with every
male in his household.

Jephthah sacrificed for God’s people

God had told the Israelites, 2No one born of a forbidden marriage nor any of his descendants may
enter the assembly of the Lord , even down to the tenth generation. (Deuteronomy 23 vs. 2) The
King James version refers to such a child as a bastard.

Jephthah was one such child. His father was Gilead and his mother was a prostitute. His brothers
drove him away from home because he was a bastard and they did not want him to share in the
inheritance of their father. Jephthah was a mighty warrior. He went to leave with the people of
Tobi where he proved to be a great warrior. Some time later, the Ammonites attacked Israel. The
elders of Gilead went to ask Jephthah to come back and become their leader and lead them into
war against the Ammonites. Jephthah agreed. We are then told, 29Then the Spirit of the LORD
came upon Jephthah. He crossed Gilead and Manasseh, passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and
from there he advanced against the Ammonites. (Judges 11 vs.29)

Thus, despite the fact that he was of a cursed background, when he sacrificed his life and went to
war against the Ammonites, the spirit of the Lord came upon the person who was cursed. Naturally,
the curse fell away.

The Sacrifice of Rahab

God had commanded Moses, 1When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering
to possess and drives out before you many nations-the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites,
Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you-
2
and when the Lord your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then
you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy.

126
3
Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for
your sons,
4
for they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods, and the Lord 's anger
will burn against you and will quickly destroy you. (Deuteronomy 7 vs. 1-4)

Before invading the land of Jericho, Joshua decided to send two spies into Jericho. When they got
there, they were hosted by a famous prostitute who operated from the fortified city of Jericho,
named Rahab. However, the king of Jericho got to know about it and demanded that Rahab
surrenders the men. She hid the man in the ceiling and claimed that they had already left. An armed
team was sent after the spies. During, that same time, Rahab struck a deal with the spies. They had
to swear that they would not destroy her family and her because she had shown kindness to them.
She was going to tie a red scarlet on her window. Any relative of Rahab who was to be in the house
would be spared death.

Remember Jesus said whatever is bound on earth is bound in heaven. Then men who made a vow
to Rahab had no idea how the wall of Jericho would be destroyed. However, when the Israelites
invaded Jericho, the wall of Jericho collapsed without any human effort. Strangely enough, only
the house of Rahab the prostitute remained standing and was the only island of life in the whole
city.

To cap it all, despite being an Amorite, a person meant to die, Rahab, the famous prostitute found
a husband in the future royal family. She married Salmon, the father of Boaz, the rich man from
Bethlehem. Thus, when we sacrificially do good to people of God, He can wipe out curses against
us.

The Sacrifice of Ruth

Ruth was a Moabite woman who had married a Jewish man. Sadly the husband had died before
they could have children. God had commanded Moses, 3No Ammonite or Moabite or any of his
descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord , even down to the tenth generation.
(Deuteronomy 23 vs.3)

Moabites had originally been born out of incest between Lot and his daughters. They also
worshiped Baal. In Numbers 25, they had misled Israeli men into sexual relations with Moabite
women and into Baal worship resulting in the death of twenty-four thousand people. God did not
want these people close to his people.

Yet there was an unfortunate widow, Ruth. We are not told about her parents as to whether they
were alive or dead. Her mother in -law clearly told her that her husband had died and she had no
other sons who could culturally marry her. Even if out of imagination, the mother in-law could get
a man to sleep with and bear a son, the son would be too young to eventually to marry her. Yet she
remained adamant, putting aside her own marriage or any possible future children amongst her
people, she told her mother in-law, 16But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back
127
from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people
and your God my God.17Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal
with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me." (Ruth 1 vs.17)

The impact of her sacrifice was heavy. God was moved by this. She married Boaz, the son of
Rahab. Boaz is the great grandfather of King David. Technically, both Rahab and Ruth became
great grandmothers of Jesus’ earthly father. Thus, the curse against Ruth was wiped off by God.
The good we do may result in curses against us being wiped off. There is power in Sacrifices.

Hannah’s sacrifice

Hannah was married to Elkanah, an Ephraimite. She was a second wife to Elkanah but she had no
children. Then she went before the Lord and sacrificed her unconceived baby to God. 11And she
made a vow, saying, "O Lord Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant's misery and
remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for
all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head." (1 Samuel 1 vs. 11)

When eventually he was born and he had been weaned, Hannah took him to Eli the priest at Shiloh
and made a sacrifice. 24After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along
with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of
the Lord at Shiloh.
25
When they had slaughtered the bull, they brought the boy to Eli, 26and she said to him, "As surely
as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord . 27I prayed
for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. 28So now I give him to the Lord .
For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord ." And he worshiped the Lord there. (1 Samuel
1 vs. 24-28)

The impact of this sacrifice was huge in both Hannah’s life and in Samuel’s life. God did not
disappoint. He always respects the activities on the alter. Please note that Hannah had no other
child except Samuel which Samuel she offered to the Lord for life. She who was barren later bore
three sons and two daughters. (1 Samuel 2 vs.21). Thus, Hannah was hugely rewarded for her
sacrifice.

Let us look at Samuel. God had commanded that only Levites would minister before God as priests.
Yet Samuel is the only non-Levite who became a priest. Even Moses did not hold all three offices
that Samuel held. Moses was both a prophet and a leader of the Israelites. However, Samuel held
three key portfolios at the same time. He was a Priest, Prophet and Leader of the people as a judge.
Whereas Moses was the first leader of the people. Samuel was the last leader of the people before
kings took office. Samuel was honoured with anointing two key kings in Israel. He anointed Saul,
the first king of Israel and anointed David whose rulership would last for ever through Jesus Christ.
Even Jeremiah puts Samuel and Moses almost at par. Then the Lord said to me: "Even if Moses
and Samuel were to stand before me, my heart would not go out to this people. Send them away
from my presence! Let them go! (Jeremiah 15 vs.1)
128
David stopped a curse through a sacrifice

Against the advice of his army commander, Joab, David counted all fighting men in Israel. God
was angry with David and pronounced a curse against the people of Israel. The lord sent a plague
that killed seventy thousand people in three days. Prophet Gad then told David to go to and offer
a sacrifice to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah 25David built an altar to the Lord there
and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then the Lord answered prayer in behalf
of the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped. (1 Samuel 24 vs. 25)

The Sacrifices of Solomon

Solomon made two significant sacrifices to the Lord. When he was crowned king, he went to
Gibeon and made a thousand burnt offerings. It is believed that Solomon offered a thousand bulls
and not rams because it was his first sacrifice to the Lord. The only challenge was that the sacrifice
was made at a forbidden high place as high places were generally used by pagan worshipers.

Nevertheless, God did not disappoint. He did not remain silent as His culture has never been to
ignore activities on the alter. There at Gibeon, that same night, the Lord appeared to Solomon and
gave him a blank cheque and asked him to name whatever he wanted that had prompted him to
make the sacrifice and the Lord would give him. Solomon only asked for wisdom so that he could
lead the people well.

God responded graciously. 11So God said to him, "Since you have asked for this and not for long
life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in
administering justice, 12I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart,
so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be.
13
Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for-both riches and honor-so that in your
lifetime you will have no equal among kings. 14And if you walk in my ways and obey my statutes
and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life." (1 Kings 3 vs. 11-14)

It is not clear if God would still have made an offer to Solomon if he had not made a sacrifice to
God. David, a man who was after God’s heart did not get the same offer as Solomon. Please note
that Solomon was not a prayerful man like David had been. He by no means was a worshipper.
There is power in sacrifice.

Then at the dedication of the temple, the mother of all sacrifices was made. In the history of
mankind, no other sacrifice of that magnitude had been made and neither will there ever be one
like that. Solomon made an impassioned plea to God concerning the people of Israel and all sorts
of challenges. He offered twenty-two thousand bulls, and a hundred and twenty thousand rams and
goats.

129
God did not remain silent. He answered Solomon’s prayer,. 3The Lord said to him: "I have heard
the prayer and plea you have made before me; I have consecrated this temple, which you have
built, by putting my Name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.
4
"As for you, if you walk before me in integrity of heart and uprightness, as David your father did,
and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws,
5
I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father when I said,
'You shall never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.' (1Kings 9 vs.3)

The widow at Zarephath

There had been a famine in Israel at the instigation of Elijah. After hiding in the brook Kerith for
a while and being fed by ravens, the brook dried up. God then commanded Elijah to go to a widow
who lived in a Sidonian city of Zarephath. Ironically, the drought had been caused by the worship
of Baal by Israelites yet God sent him to Sidonia, a land ruled by Jezebel’s father and the major
centre of Baal worship. When he got there, he met a woman at the city gate and asked her to give
him some water. As she went to get the water, Elijah asked her to bake some bread but she
responded, 12"As surely as the Lord your God lives," she replied, "I don't have any bread-only a
handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make
a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it-and die."
13
Elijah said to her, "Don't be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small
cake of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself
and your son. (1 Kings 17 vs.12-13)

It was a sacrificial giving for the poor widow. Contrary to what she thought, the jar of flour and
the jug of oil did not run empty until the next harvest. It pays to sacrifice.

Elijah on Mount Carmel

During the same drought mentioned above, Elijah presented himself to Ahab and demanded that
king Ahab bring onto Mount Carmel, four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and four hundred
prophets of goddess Asherah.

Elijah demanded that the prophets of Baal and Asherah offer a bull and put in it on the alter and
call upon fire from their God to light up the sacrifice. They failed. After repairing the altar of God
and putting two bulls on it, he put fire wood and ordered that they put up to twelve jars of water
on the sacrifice and the wood. He then stepped forward and called on God to come down with fire
and consume the sacrifice. God responded by coming down and consumed the sacrifice God does
not ignore the activities on the alter.

130
King of Moab

The king of Moab was fighting Israel. When he realised that he was on the brink of losing the war,
he took his first born son who was supposed to succeed him and sacrificed him on the wall. The
army of God, the Israelites retreated. (2 Kings 26 vs.3 vs.26-27)

The disciples of Jesus

These were family men who had wives and children. They also had specific careers which they
pursed. For example, Peter, James and John the sons of Zebedee where fishermen. Mathew was
probably a rich tax collector. They all left behind their careers never to go back to them again.
28
Peter said to him, "We have left all we had to follow you!"
29
"I tell you the truth," Jesus said to them, "no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents
or children for the sake of the kingdom of God 30will fail to receive many times as much in this age
and, in the age to come, eternal life." (Luke 18 vs.28-30)

In Mathew 19 vs.28, Jesus was far more direction his response to the same question, 28Jesus said
to them, "I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious
throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of
Israel.”

It is noteworthy that, 14The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names
of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. (Revelations 21 vs.14)

Thus , for their sacrifices, the twelve disciples have been rewarded by being core judges with Christ
as he sits on his throne in heaven.

The widow’s offering

Once when Jesus watched people putting their money into temple treasury. Amongst those putting
their gifts was a poor widow who only put in two very small copper coins. Jesus taught that the
woman had sacrificed all she had. So, in terms of value before God, she had given more than
everyone because everyone else had given out of plenty but she had given all her last coins. Hers
was sacrificial giving.

Jesus’ teaching on sacrifice

Once, Jesus was approached by a man who asked him how he could inherit the kingdom of God.
Jesus told him to observe the ten commandments. He claimed that he observed the law of Moses
to the letter including payment of tithes. Jesus then told him to go and sell everything and give to
the poor. The man went away sad. It was just a way of Jesus teaching him on the power of sacrifice.

131
The Last Blood Sacrifice

Every sacrifice that people made, put in place by God, from the time they came out of Egypt was
pointing to the final sacrifice; the sacrifice at the cross of calvary. The very first person to make a
similar sacrifice was Abraham who made a sacrifice of his son Isaac, at the same hills at on which
Jesus was sacrificed. After the sacrifice, the descendants of Abraham received physical victory
against all their enemies.

Unfortunately, people remained victims of sin and spiritually they remained bound by evil. In
addition, the earlier sacrifice of Abraham had redeemed the people of Israel from political and
economic bondage. However, outside them, the generality of humanity remined vulnerable. For
God to do that, superior blood than the blood of animals or sinful human beings was necessary.
For that reason, Christ had to be formally tried before governors and rulers and be found to be
without sin. Probably, same people who listened to him as he taught in their synagogues, the same
people whose sick he healed, the same people whose relatives he raised from the dead called for
his crucification. He died the shameful death of the cross so that we could have eternal life. Prophet
Isaiah says, 3He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4
Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted. 5But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our
iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
6
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid
on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53 vs.3-6)

Isaiah foresaw the following verse, 34Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear,
bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. (John 19 vs.34 )

It is noteworthy that after Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross of calvary, forgiveness of sins does not
require the blood of animals because that was superseded by superior blood, the blood of Jesus
Christ. All that is required now is simply to confess one’s sins and we are forgiven. Apostle John
wrote, 8If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess
our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
10
If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our
lives.(1 John 1 vs.8-10)

After the resurrection, Jesus proclaimed that, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given
to me. (Mathew 28 vs.18)

Contemporary cases of sacrifices

Is it still necessary to sacrifice during our time?

132
Questions have been raised as to whether sacrifices are still necessary during our time or all
sacrifices ended with the cross. There is a school of thought that argues that sacrifices ended with
the cross of Calvary. They argue that we are now living under grace. One thing that is over looked
by the Grace Theologians is the fact that grace is not free, there is a cost to it. First the grace has
to be claimed by receiving Jesus Christ. Receiving Christ alone is not enough as it. There is a lot
that one has to give up to follow Christ.

Arguments for contemporary sacrifices

Whilst on earth, Jesus told his disciples, 23Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after
me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24For whoever wants to save
his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. 25What good is it for a man to gain
the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? (Luke 9 vs.23-25)

What did Jesus mean by telling people to carry their cross? For over three hundred years after the
death of Jesus on the cross, there was extreme persecution of believers. Millions of believers across
the Roman empire paid with their lives. They sacrificed their lives. .Our question to Grace
Theologians is: Where was Grace? All the disciples who saw and heard from Jesus died a cruel
death each including Apostle Paul? Where was Grace when Paul was being executed? Please note
that all these persecutions took place after the sacrifice of the Cross. So, when did the so-called
dispensation of grace come into effect?

Thus, Jesus’ teaching about carrying one’s cross is a continuing Christian activity. Jesus was
referring to sacrifices. Thus, the worship of God is a sacrifice in itself. It becomes a sacrifice
because the worship of God entails an opportunity cost. There are a lot of things that one has to
give up in order to be a Christian. It means giving up sexual immorality, drunkenness, drug
consumption, fasting and subjection one’s body to hunger, denial by family members etc.

Sacrifice may also include but not limited to:

a) Time- spending time doing God’s work than own work

b) Services- Giving services to the Christian work for free e.g. being a treasurer of a church for
free.

c)Resources -Availing one’s resources e. g. Motor vehicles, space for church business for free

d)Giving sacrificially to break a curse, or covenant or just for church business

Pagans’ sacrifices

The irony of the issue of sacrifices is that pagans have never stopped approaching their altars for
sacrifices. No one ever goes before a witch doctor empty handed. Just to consult the witch doctor,
pagans carry a present. Christians come to church empty handed, yet even during the time of Jesus
133
Christ, people were making offerings into the temple treasury. When they get there, they are made
to make animal sacrifices to achieve their evil desires. Some of their sacrifices are against the
welfare of Christians.

Cases of contemporary sacrifices.

Aliko Dangote

Aliko Dangote is a well known African business magnet. He is Africa’s richest man. He is a Hausa
Muslim in terms of faith. In the early eighties, when he was in his twenties, he was on a plane to
Lagos and the plane was about to take off. He was flying from Benin City to Lagos. In Benin city
was a man of God called Benson Idahosa. He was a man greatly used by God to stop child
sacrifices in Benin City. Over the years, he had built good relationships with American pastors
such as Gordon Lindsay, Jim Baker, Dr. T.L Osborne etc who often came to his church; The
Church of God Mission in Benin City.

Once, he invited Dr. T.L. and Daisy Osborne to his church. On their return, they were late for the
plane that was going to take them to Lagos. From there they were supposed to connect to
Johannesburg that same evening. From Johannesburg, they would connect to France and then to
USA. By the time Archbishop Idahosa took his guests to the airport, he was told that the last
flight to Lagos was fully booked and not a single seat was available. The passengers had boarded
and the aircraft doors had been closed as the aircraft was beginning to move slowly towards the
runway. Bishop Idahosa drove towards the air craft, violently waving it down.

Confused and wondering what could be going on, the pilot stopped the aircraft and opened the
door so that he could talk to the stranger in front of him. Bishop Idahosa explained his predicament
but he was flatly told that the aircraft was full to capacity, not a seat was available. He requested
for permission to get into the aircraft and address the passengers because most passengers would
know him from his television program, Redemption Hour. The pilot grudgingly obliged.

When he got in, he said, “Ladies and Gentlemen, I am Bishop Benson Idahosa form the Church of
God Mission. He prayed silently. I have two of God’s important servants who have to be on this
flight without fail as they have to catch a flight to Johannesburg to night before connecting to
France and then America. If they miss this flight, it means they will miss all flights ahead of them.
I am asking for two seats from any two passengers who do not mind travelling tomorrow.

Initially, there was no response from the passengers who seemed annoyed. As he walked towards
the back, a young man s stood up and asked the other man sitting next to him to stand up. As the
men took their hand luggage, Idahosa asked the men in front, “Young man, what is your name?”

I am Aliko Dangote, and this is my assistant. I am a trader, a business man from Kanu.” The man
said.

134
Impressed, Bishop Idahosa said, “Young man, because you have stood up for me, the world will
stand up for you. God will take you and your business beyond Africa and bless you beyond
measure.”

The mostly Christian passengers on the plane shouted, “Amen!”

Bishop Idahosa turned and raised his hands with tears flowing down his cheeks and praised God.
He blessed the passengers for their patience. They clapped their hands spontaneously.

Bishop Idahosa said, “See you on Redemption Hour this coming Sunday.” He got down the stair
cases and Dr.T.L and Daisy Osborne got onto the plane.

Today, the world has stood for Aliko Dangote and it is still standing for him. He is Africa’s richest
man. The irony of it all is no Christian on the plane was able to stand for a senior Christian Minister
except a young Hausa Muslim business man. There is power in sacrifice.

Benson Idahosa rejected a million-dollar house

In 1976, Benson Idahosa and his wife were invited to America by their spiritual parents, Dr. T.L
and Daisy Osborne. They was made to choose a house of their choice in America from three
different locations. The locations were, where the rich lived, where the wealthy lived and where
the very wealthy lived. The houses were being advertised for sale.

After viewing three different houses in three different locations, they finally settled for a house
what they considered to be the best of them all. It was in the area of the very wealthy. The cost of
the house was one million two hundred thousand American dollars. The Osbornes said they would
buy the house for them.

That same night, they happily had dinner and they retired to bed. At 2 am in the morning. Mr.
Idahosa was awakened by God who told him to wake up and go back to Nigeria to preach his word
or God would kill him if he remained in the country. Initially, he declined and called God, “Devil !”
He told his wife about the voice that had awakened him up and told him to go back to Nigeria. The
wife was adamant that if it was God for sure, then He should speak to her as well, otherwise she
would not go anywhere even if it meant death. Idahosa went back to sleep. The voice called him
again and threatened to kill him if he did not go back to Africa immediately. He was sure God had
spoken to him. He woke up and packed his hand-held luggage, bade fair well to his host who too
were shocked by his abrupt decision to leave a million dollar house to go back to poor and
impoverished Africa. He took a taxi to the airport.

At the airport, he called back to check if his wife was still alive and he spoke to her. Back in
Nigeria, as soon as he landed he checked if his wife was still alive and spoke to her and told her
that he was not going to go back to America, except as a visitor. The deal had fallen off. She was
to bring the remainder of his clothes.

135
As soon as he got back, he held a crusade at which ten thousand people attended, up from an
average of two thousand people. A few weeks later, he had over twenty thousand people attending
his crusades. God eventually blessed him immensely, beyond measure and he built a palatial home.
He blessed him with money and vehicles. He became one of the wealthiest Pentecostal preachers
of his time. (Source: m.facebook.com/Heavenly Manded -How God tested Me When I Was
Desperetely In Need Of Breakthrough)

How Bishop David Oyedepo was Blessed by Bishop Benson Idahoosa

In November 1987, Bishop Oyedepo went to Bishop Benson Idahosa with a sacrifice which he
called a seed. He placed it in his hand Bishop Idahosa placed the seed in Bishop Oyedepo’s hand
and prayed for him. He said, “From today onwards, this hand shall never know dryness.”

After the death of Bishop Idahosa, Bishop David Oyedepo made a great sacrifice. He offered to
pay the salaries of the Benson Idahosa University for a whole year until the university had resettled.

It does not come as a surprise that the richest African Pastor is Bishop David Oyedepo.

Dr. David Ogbueli of Dominion City in Nigeria

He argues that there is common grace, and uncommon grace. Common grace is the grace that is
available to humanity in general. God provides oxygen to all living animals, rain, sunshine etc.
Salvation is available for free, forgiveness of sin is available for free etc. Then there is uncommon
grace which is the grace available to people who are prepared to sacrifice for the work of God. He
argues that a lot of people would love to be identified with Romans 8 vs.16-17, 16The Spirit himself
testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. 17Now if we are children, then we are heirs--
heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may
also share in his glory.

Yet few if any of such Christians would want to be identified with the suffering of Christ. When
it comes to sacrificing for the gospel, they argue that they are now living in the dispensation of
grace.

Ogbueli sacrificed to Reinard Bonki

Bonki was ana American evangelist. Dr. Ogbueli was running a small church. After closing his
church bank account and sacrificing the money to Reinard Bonki, his next crusade was in big
sports stadia which always filled to capacity.

Woman Sacrificed for a dead and dump son

A woman attended a church service led by Dr. David Ogbueli. She had a son who was deaf and
dump. After sacrificing all the cash she had on herself, during a church offering, her son ‘s ears
and mouth were opened.
136
A crippled man walked

A crippled man who could only crawl attended Dr.David Ogbueli’s church service. During an
offering, he crawled from the back of the church to the front. However the offering basket was set
up at a level higher than he could reach. As he struggled to put money into the offering basket, he
miraculously stood up and started walking. There is power in sacrifice.

Dr. Parwaringira sacrificed for the healing of his wife

One morning Dr. Parwaringiria got to the office and he was downcast. When Pastor Shoko
enquired as to why the senior man of God was in low spirits, he responded that he was running out
of solutions. For almost three consecutive months, the wife had been sick suffering from one
ailment after another,

Pastor Shoko asked him how much he had in his pocket, and the man of God said usd20. Pastor
Shoko said, “I suggest you take it to your spiritual father, Reverend Cossam Chiyangwa as a
sacrifice. I am sure she will be well.”

He oblidged. By the time he got home around mid-day, the wife had been healed and she was in
high spirits. She has not been attacked by any opportunistic ailments since then. The devil was
defeated.

Experience at Way Forward Ministries

There was once a church called Way Forward Ministries which was ed by Apostle Musa Gwese.
It was based in Chitungwiza, in Zengeza 3. He was building a huge U- shaped house. Between the
two wings there was enough parking for three cars. The top leadership of the church included
Evangelist David Mahati Maunganidze, Pastor Regie Gavhara, the late Pastor Liza Mujakachi,
Pastor Farai Muunganirwa, Pastor Fabion Maunganidze (now Dr. Maunganidze lecturing at MSU)
and

myself. Apostle Maunganidze supplied all the brinks that were needed to build the house for the
Apostle. I supplied all the timber that was required to roof the whole house. Pastor Gavhara bought
all the electrical materials required for the house and also took care of the installation since he was
an electrician. Pastor Muunganirwa, Pastor Fabaion Maungaidze and Pastor Mujakachi all played
their key roles during the construction of the house of the man of God. Before we took part in the
construction of the house, Apostle Gwese declared that it was optional to take part in the
construction of his house. However, whoever would be involved, God would reward the person
with real estate debt free. This was around 2002/2003.

Before the end of 2003, I bought a six hactre plot in Harare Drive on which to build a school. The
school has since been built and building it was never difficult.

137
Eight years later, I was offered a piece of land on lease by the City of Harare on which to build a
school. The school has since been built. It pays to invest in men and women of God.

Around the same time , I bought five residential stands in Damafalls and built three houses on
them, debt free.

Evangelist Maunganidze

He was offered a full house in Borrowdale on a two acre plot for only forty thousand dollars when
he could have paid two hundred American dollars. The house was in the famous Crow Hill Road.
It pays to invest in men and women of God.

Pastor Regie Gavara

He built a house in Norton. He did not borrow any money to build his house. It was all financed
from own resources.

Pastor Farai Muunganirwa

Pastor Farai Muunganirwa bought a plot a few years later in Goromonzi at Goromonzi Growth
Point. On it he built his house and a thriving school there.

The Late Pastor Liza Mujakachi

Pastor Mujakachi bought a residential stand in Sally Mugabe Heights. She built her house there
although she later died before she could complete the structure.

Pastor Fabion Maunganidze

He built a debt free house in Damafalls residential area.

Let it be known to anyone who cares to know that it is foolishness to ignore any chance to invest
in a man or woman of God. Yes, they are ordinary human beings. Yes, they may appear poorer
than ourselves but they have capacity to unleash immeasurable blessings upon people.

Word Of caution

We may have over emphasized the power of sacrifice to an extent that people may consider it the
only solution to their challenges. If that is the impression we have created, it is wrong. Samuel
says, 22But Samuel replied: "Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in
obeying the voice of the Lord ? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat
of rams. (1 Samuel 15 vs.22-23)

138
David goes on to say, 16You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure
in burnt offerings. 17The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God,
you will not despise. (Psalm 51 vs. 16-17)

So sacrifices alone ae not the panacea of people’s challenges. God requires and is happy with a
repentant heart more than he is with a sacrifice. At the same time, prayer alone, not accompanied
by sacrifice may not deliver intended results.

In conclusion, it must be emphasized that the devil has blinded the eyes and closed the mind of
believers. Resources have stupefied many people into believing that giving is a waste. It pays to
sacrifice.

139
 CHAPTER TEN

DO NOT CROSS THE KIDRON VALLEY

.

When David was running away from Absalom, a Benjamite called Shimei pelted him with stones.
He was angry that David had become king in place of Saul the Benjamite. 7As he cursed, Shimei
said, "Get out, get out, you man of blood, you scoundrel!
8
The Lord has repaid you for all the blood you shed in the household of Saul, in whose place you
have reigned. The Lord has handed the kingdom over to your son Absalom. You have come to ruin
because you are a man of blood!" (2 Samuel 16 vs.7-8)

When his officials wanted to kill him, David restrained them and so she continued to curse him.

On his death bed, when David was giving his final charge to Solomon the new king, David said,
8
"And remember, you have with you Shimei son of Gera, the Benjamite from Bahurim, who called
down bitter curses on me the day I went to Mahanaim. When he came down to meet me at the
Jordan, I swore to him by the Lord : 'I will not put you to death by the sword.'
9
But now, do not consider him innocent. You are a man of wisdom; you will know what to do to
him. Bring his gray head down to the grave in blood." ( 1Kings 2 8-9)

The Solomon called for Shimei and told him to build his house in Jerusalem and not go elsewhere.
Solomon clearly told him, 37The day you leave and cross the Kidron Valley, you can be sure you
will die; your blood will be on your own head." (1 Kings 2 vs.37)

Shimei agreed to the condition set by King Solomon. He made an oath to the fact that he would
not cross the Kidron Valley. He stayed in Jerusalem for three years and he was safe. Three years
later, his slaves who knew they were very safe from him if they crossed the Valley of Kidron, fled
to Gath across the Kidron Valley. Then some people told Shimei that his slaves had fled to Gath.

Out of anger, Shimei saddled his donkey and followed the servants in Gath. Unfortunately other
people told king Solomon that Shimei had crossed the Kidron Valley. Solomon summoned Shimei
and asked him why he had broken his oath to the Lord. Solomon then reminded him of the wrong
he had done to King David. Then Solomon ordered him to be killed.

140
We all have our Kidron Valleys in our lives. When we have repented of our sins and have broken
all evil covenants we entered into and all curses pronounced against us, we should be careful not
to drift back into the life of sin. Doing so would amount to crossing the Kidron Valley.

Jesus said, 43"When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and
does not find it. 44Then it says, 'I will return to the house I left.' When it arrives, it finds the house
unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. 45Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more
wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than
the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation." (Mathew 12 vs.43)

We are wanted in the kingdom of Satan

Imagine if you lost your car to a thief. Would you stop looking for the car? This is the same
situation we face in the world. When we repent and accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior,
the kingdom of God gains but the devil loses. He does not stop looking for us. Meetings are held
in the kingdom of Satan on how to get us back. Our weaknesses will be thoroughly be analysed
and strategies worked out on how to get us back into the kingdom of Satan.

In the unfortunate event that we backslide and fall back into the life of sin, the devil will punish us
for having been a run away prisoner. Consider the case of Shimei above. He was punished for the
sins he had committed many years earlier.

141