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of wood and drawer of water — a hand-held lot that puts its fate in the hands of other people!

It was also a Joshua-like call. After he finally led the children of Israel into the Promised Land, Joshua asked them to choose the God they will serve between the one and only true God and the gods worshipped by the nations in the land God had given them. He did so while stating his position: “But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord”. (Joshua 24:15, NIV).

Apart from the issues of sovereignty and self-determination, this year’s harmonised elections are crucial in that Zimbabweans will cast ballots which will either defend the moral and cultural values of this nation as God states in the Bible, or not.

Their ballot will either entrench the aspirations laid out in preamble of the new Constitution, which implores “the guidance and support of the Almighty God” in implementing it “as the fundamental law of our beloved land”, or not.

A recent discussion by panellists from the Association of Christian Media on Trinity Broadcasting Network made me realise the fundamental issues that makes the 2013 election historic.

Although the panellists spoke about how Christianity reshapes culture versus popular consensus, and also questioned whether Christians are losing ground in contemporary politics, it was the onslaught of the sexual revolution in the 21st century that caught my attention.

They pointed out that we are now living in a “world that is dying”, where agendas that are against Christian principles are being pushed on Africans, and the only way out is unity of purpose, in order to advance the kingdom of God.

While the birth control pill was the major determinant of the sexual revolution in the 60s prompting the church to take a stand, today it is homosexuality and same-sex marriages.

Now, turning to the 2013 election, we ask whether the ballots cast will open doors to this sexual revolution, which has taken most countries in the West by storm, despite the fact that the new Constitution in Section 78(3) spells out that “persons of the same sex are prohibited from marrying each other”.

It is a question that arises from experiences of how other cultural revolutions have ended up as part of our popular culture, contrary to constitutional provisions.

Section 5 of “Power to the people: Indigenisation and economic empowerment” says, “Zanu-PF governed this country for 33 years based on Christian values. Our First Secretary, His Excellency the President Cde R. G. Mugabe is a devout Christian who has stood firm on foreign beliefs that are contrary to God’s word”.

It adds that “Zanu-PF has rejected homosexuality (and that) God created man and woman so that they can reproduce after their own kind and homosexuality destroys the family concept and against God’s word (Leviticus 20:11-24; Romans 1:24)”.

It also says, “Our culture as Zimbabweans has never and will never accept such ills as homosexuality and bestiality to be practised in our society”.

I have written about the MDC-T leader’s changing positions on sexual orientation. At a belated International Women’s Day celebration in Chitungwiza two years ago, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai was in total agreement with President Mugabe on the issue of homosexuality, but days later, he changed his stance and said that it was not his party’s position. Read between the lines!

As a Christian, how you vote in this election will matter more than ever before. Will you vote with your spiritual conviction or you will be swayed by current trends? Which political party and/or presidential candidate will ensure that Christian values will continue to flourish?

When the liberation struggle was waged, Zimbabweans were told not to support it as Rhodesians claimed that it was promoting anti-Christian principles through its Marxist-Leninist ideology. Thirty-three years on, has Zimbabwe become anti-Christian?

In this watershed poll, the Christian vote is also critical considering that anti-Christian values are being peddled in the name of human rights.
Never mind what is enshrined in the new Constitution.

The onslaught of the sexual revolution that the Association of Christian Media referred to will determine whether Christians in Zimbabwe will through their vote defend godly values, making them the “salt of the earth” and “the light of the world”.

The past two years have already shown how fast that revolution is being spread. The West is dangling gay rights as an inducement to donor funding.

Last month, the United States President Barack Obama visited Africa and the first major issue he raised with Senegalese President Macky Sall was that of gay rights.

That wasn’t coincidental. He was just showing that the agenda setting was moving one level up. Instead of dealing with rights groups, he had to say it to his African counterparts. Saying it to one was just as good as saying it to all since the media would sell the idea.

Obama who was lauding the US Supreme Court’s landmark ruling on same-sex marriage as a “victory for American democracy” added that “at the root of who we are as a people, who we are as Americans, is the basic precept that we are all equal under the law . . . I want the African people to just hear what I believe . . . My basic view is that regardless of race, regardless of religion, regardless of gender, regardless of sexual orientation, when it comes to how the law treats you . . . people should be treated equally”.

However, Obama’s appeal for universal recognition of gay rights and same-sex marriage did not appeal to his Senegalese counterpart who told him, “We are in a Muslim country, so we certainly cannot have it here. And for me it’s not OK to have this anywhere in the world”.

Ahead of Obama’s Africa visit, US-based rights group Amnesty International issued a report on gay rights alleging that “threats to gays and lesbians were reaching dangerous levels”. All this was in the frame of promoting the sexual revolution.

It is against this backdrop that I see that the church’s voice must be heard in this election. How they vote and why they cast those votes for whichever political party or candidate is not only a matter of exercising their right to vote but it is also a moment when they have to introspect on how they will ensure that godly values prevail in Zimbabwe.

We cannot make claims of being a Christian nation when our ballot speaks otherwise.

True, there are policies they like and dislike in both Zanu-PF, MDC-T and other political parties, but on this critical issue that will not only redefine moral values but also relationships of the future, will the church follow these new-age trends or it will go by what the word of God says?

President Mugabe’s position on homosexuality is well known globally and it has not endeared him to those who support gay rights. Right now, he consistently reiterates it in his campaign messages.

It is also with this in mind that if the MDC-T website was linked to the United States of America including the Supreme Court that passed that landmark judgment on same-sex marriages on June 27, what does this imply?

We should also bear in mind that British prime minister David Cameron set the tone at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm) in Perth, Australia, in 2011.
Apart from accusing Ghana, Uganda, Zambia and Malawi of criminalising homosexuality, Britain said African states that persecute gays would have their aid cut.

Zambia’s chief government spokesperson Given Lubinda said that his country was a sovereign state and would make independent decisions and that it was improper that Cameron was using aid as a way of influencing the policies and laws of Zambia, or any other country for that matter.

Uganda’s presidential adviser John Nagenda said, “Uganda is, if you remember, a sovereign state and we are tired of being given these lectures . . . If they must take their money, so be it”.

The late Ghanaian president John Atta Mills was the first to tell Cameron off, saying that if these were the strings they were attaching, then, Britain might as well keep its aid.

After such an uproar from African leaders, we never expected President Obama to force feed the matter on Africa again; making it look Africa is incapable of choosing what it deems good and acceptable.

This is why it is an important issue in this election, together with other bread and butter issues.

For too long, politicians have publicly defended what we believe is the church’s turf, and have had to do with the backlash. God calls it an abomination, what will your vote on July 31 call it?

The West’s influence on this matter and in the church cannot be under-estimated. As the swell of the sexual revolution grows, will the church stand up to it so that Africa will in turn be the light of the world and not the “dark continent?”