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Elliot Ziwira @ The Book Store
TODAY’S world has become so polarised that individuals seek flight from their suffering through flimsy wings, which either exacerbate the same suffering they purport to escape from, or create foes out of the few friends who might have remained loyal to them in the face of adversity.

Suffering is not a new phenomenon, for it has always been Man’s companion since time immemorial. But is it really God’s plan that people should suffer? Is a world without suffering possible? Could the world be a better place if suffering in all its forms were nipped out?

The Bible is awash with incidences of suffering; abject suffering, that one may be tempted to doubt the efficacy of being as enshrined in Godliness.

God is both the source of suffering and the solution to the same, for indeed the essence of being will lose meaning if Man’s existence were not tested against his faith. The story of Job purveys how hope becomes a panacea to suffering if one’s faith remains unshakeable. Jesus Christ, like all of us, was not insulated against pain, suffering and the fear of the unknown; so that humanity may understand the meaning of healing. What makes a woman endure nine months of pregnancy is the eventual thrill of holding her precious baby, which obliterates all the suffering she might have gone through, or will experience even after delivery.

Healing is infectious because it encumbers the soul and liberates inertia; without which the body becomes incapacitated.

“But healing is a hot topic: What exactly do churches mean by healing? Can healing always occur? Can healing occur without physical cure? Are the claims sustainable or fraudulent? . . . It is surmised that the popularity of divine healing in Africa arises from the poverty in the communities that are plagued by the collapse of the health care delivery system (Kalu 2008: 263, cited in Chitando and Klagba, 2013:1)

What exactly constitutes healing, especially in the age of HIV/AIDS, poverty and hopelessness? In Africa in general and pertinently in Zimbabwe, there is a remarkable rise in Pentecostalism, as multitudes seek spiritual healing to their barren travails. Elusive hope remains anchored in faith as challenges converge on the individual’s lap, and anything that proffers or pampers that hope becomes the real or imagined Holy Grail.

But in the wake of this desire for spiritual catharsis, how do believers cushion themselves against smooth talking charlatans who prey on their gullibility and poverty, since they appear to be willing vessels whose faith is cast in stone?

Healing and curing are not new phenomena, neither is Pentecostalism; which has been in existence since the early 1900s, but what exactly has prompted the upsurge in numbers, is what perchance boggles the mind.

It is against this backdrop gentle reader that the reading of the informative book, “In the Name of Jesus: Healing in the Age of HIV” (2013) edited by Ezra Chitando and Charles Klagba, published by Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiatives in Africa (EHAIA), becomes not only apt but enriching.

The resonating book, which is a worthwhile effort by contributors who among them are historians, anthropologists, scholars of religion and theologians, is a must read for those whose reading of books is not only in pursuant of academia, but the enrichment of both the mind and the soul.

The contributors, through thorough researches, trace the history of religion in Africa; the nature of healing and curing in traditional societies, the advent of Christianity and its influence on the African psyche. The book explores how healing is central to the African’s worldview of worship, through the examination of Protestant churches, the Catholic Church, African independent/indigenous/initiated/instituted churches (AICs), African religion and Pentecostalism.

African religion, sometimes referred to as African traditional religion (ART), is steeped in cultural norms which are also inspired by the concept of healing and well-being. To the majority of Africans, “health is a sign of good relations between the community of the living and the departed elders of the community (ancestors)”.

As a community, Africans have always believed in the existence of a third force when it comes to sickness and death; sickness, like death, does not come naturally, and for that reason healing is given prominence. African traditional healers are regarded in awe and respected in today’s communities, contrary to the Eurocentric view of the African and his ways.

The belief in the obtaining of an omniscient and omnipotent presence characterised the African’s worldview as pertains to healing and faith. Through mediums and or oracles who were intercessors in the communion between the living and the dead, rapport was always made possible between the physical being and the spiritual one.

Chepkwony (2005:42), cited in Chitando and Klagba, notes that: “The advent of Christianity and the dawn of colonisation in the 19th century marked the decline of the practice of healing in Africa. The missionaries and colonial governments looked down upon and greatly discouraged African beliefs and practices. Christians in particular perceived Africans as pagans, superstitious, ignorant and a lost lot in the abyss of darkness. Many colonialists and missionaries believed that all African medicine was evil and their healers “so-called witchdoctors” practise ‘black magic.’”

Therein lay the gist of the matter. Religious intolerance impedes healing, and aggravates suffering instead of mitigating it.

However, despite concerted efforts to downplay the relevance of African approaches to healing, traditional healers remain powerful as they are “believed to detect illnesses that have a spiritual origin”. The existence of spirits as espoused in African religion also played a crucial role in the establishment of AICs, which existed and still exist alongside Protestantism, Catholicism and Pentecostalism as well African religion, in that the emphasis remains on the totality of healing.

Biblical allusions to healing also help in putting the essence of faith in context. The advent of HIV/AIDS has brought new dimensions to spirituality and healing which has somehow exposed multitudes; Christians and non-Christians alike, to charlatans disguised as healers, pastors and prophets who rightfully or cunningly claim that the Holy Spirit defeats all illnesses.

Their prescription of prayers, the use of oil, holy water and other agents to effect healing sometimes defeats attempts to contain the spread and potency of HIV and AIDS as those who are said to have been healed stop taking antiretroviral therapy.

Christians and African religion practitioners have a role to play in the fight against suffering, especially in the era of HIV and AIDS. Healing is not only physical but is also spiritual.

If one believes that he or she is healed and society accepts him or her as being healed, then indeed he or she will be healed. Just as was the case with lepers who were condemned to the periphery of existence because of their condition, HIV and AIDS can only be subdued if healing ceases to be an individual effort. Everyone should be involved, with the church playing a bigger part.

People should be enlightened that ARVs are God’s plan in conquering HIV and AIDS, and that doctors, like prophets, healers and pastors are His vessels. Healing comes through the intervention of supernatural and natural forces. God’s intervention comes in many forms and what is important at the end is the realisation that the totality of healing is not an individual effort, (Togarasei in “The Bible and Healing”).

Verily, in the name of Jesus Christ, HIV and AIDS can be healed as long as all and sundry play their part in the knowledge that healing and curing are two different things; and that healing as the Bible clearly outlines, involves the use of both natural and supernatural agents.

Bio-medical healing, which is the use of modern medicines, is as natural as the use of holy oil, water, mud, leaves and roots, and also works in tandem with the invocation of supernatural forces and not against them.