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Tendai Manzvanzvike Divine Appointments
THE gospel of Luke and the book of Acts of the Apostles were authored by Luke, a physician. In Luke 1:1-4, the writer outlines his objective: “Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.”

He does the same in Acts of the Apostles: “In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen.” (Acts 1:1-2, NIV)

A commentator likens Luke to a historian and says, “A historian looks for original sources of information – people who were personally involved in the events being described. Luke doesn’t claim to be an eyewitness himself, but he had carefully interviewed many who were. As the Apostle Paul’s companion, Luke must have met many such sources.”

As we continue with the weekly column Divine Appointments, we believe that we are more or less doing what Dr. Luke did when he recorded events about the early church.

When eventually people check on the documentation about the church in Zimbabwe, we hope that this information will add value and understanding in how the church operated. It is not exhaustive, because it is a labour intensive exercise.

Thus this week, we publish a wide-ranging interview Tendai Manzvanzvike (TM) had with Prophet Inzwirashe Matema (IM), a familiar personality in Harare’s First Street open air services.

Prophet Matema launched Far Reaching Vision Ministry (FAREV) last Saturday on October 26. He launched FAREV exactly two years after Divine Appointments featured open air services in Harare’s Central Business District.

Part of what I wrote on October 22, 2011 was: “Street corner preachers are a common phenomenon. However, there is a place in Harare’s Central Business District where preaching has more or less been formalised … The services, led by various preachers are conducted six days a week – Monday to Sunday. Regular evangelists include Inzwirashe Matema and Trust Muparinga…”

Below is the full interview with Prophet Matema:

TM:  Who is Prophet Matema, when was he born, where, which schools and colleges did he attend and when?

IM: Prophet Matema was born Inzwirashe Matema in 1977 on October 1 at Lundi Mission Clinic in Masvingo. Let me emphasise that Inzwirashe is my birth name. I attended Zunga Primary School before I transferred to Mhungudza Primary for my secondary education. I went to Kushinga Secondary and St. Simon Secondary. Later, I enrolled for a diploma in accountancy at Masvingo Polytechnic College from 1997 to 2000.
TM: When did you get into ministry and why? Are you an ordained pastor? Are you married and do you have a family?

IM: Ministry for me commenced before I even realised that it was ministry. Firstly I went into ministry through music when I released my first album in 2002 called “Mira panzvimbo” that received a lot of airplay on ZTV‘s Psalmody programme.

In 2004, I released an album named “MuKristu wechingwa” that had a song “Chisimba” that rose to be number 1 on Radio Zimbabwe’s “Gumi dzanhasi” (Today’s top 10). So, my entry into ministry was unannounced though sure. Each time I sang, I would start by five-minute gospel message.

However, I’m not an ordained pastor, but I am an ordained prophet. I am married to Ruth Maringwa, a musician and prophetess and the Lord blessed us with two beautiful boys Inzwirashe Junior and Munopashe.

TM: You launched your own ministry. Which church did you go to before FAREV?

IM: I have been an interdenominational minister of the gospel for a long time. What immediately preceded FAREV is an interdenominational gathering called Far Reaching Vision Interdenominational Ministries. So, I’m not coming from any particular ministry though I have a history of having attended other ministries.

TM: Did the senior ministers at the former church release you and do you have a good relationship with them? Are there members of your former church that are following you?

IM: I relate with so many men of God so well though my decisions are not dependent on anyone’s approval but on what God is telling me to do.

God gave the direction of my calling and fellow men of God come with advice that maintains the direction already received from God. I don’t receive directions from anyone, I receive wisdom on how to buttress that direction.

When I decided to get onto the streets to minister after God had shown me various visions on the fact that I was supposed to change lives on the streets, I didn’t choose to get support from any white collar man of God. I did what God was telling me.

Later, men of God came to support and encourage me about what I was doing. The nature of people is that they don’t support visions they support missions.

Thousands have received Christ on the streets, thousands have received breakthroughs, thousands healing and thousands have received accurate prophecies. There are times when the presence of God is not sensed but is witnessed with the naked eye.

I’m happy that unlike many of my counterparts in ministry I stole no soul from any church. I never even attempted to. I went for the streets and obtained my followers from this unlikely place.

TM: Most people in the Central Business District of Harare know you as the Evangelist who preached and ministered to people along First Street and Speke Ave. When did you stop, and for how long where you a road evangelist?

IM: I have been ministering on the streets for three years on a daily basis with the exception of Sundays. Sundays I was invited to various ministries where I ministered for the past four years.

To launch a ministry like I did is simply to formalise what had already been doing unofficially. So, when I launched FAREV I did not despise street ministering but it is to create a facility through which souls won from the streets can be fed meat other than milk.

Hebrews 5:12 mentions that a time comes when doctrine changes from the milk type to the meat type. Hebrews chapter 6 supports that by expounding on the need to preach not just the fundamentals of Christian faith but other concepts that bring growth to the body of Christ. That is possible when a facility is put in place for such teachings to be implemented and that facility is an official ministry.

I will not stop preaching on the streets, but we intend to improve our image on the streets. By the grace of God we bought public address system worth about US$ 6000, so we are rebranding our image.

TM:  What are the positives and negatives you encountered as a street evangelist and as you started this ministry? And, who sponsored you?

IM: I think in life pride of an unqualified and undeserving person is noise whereas humility of the deserving is music. Street ministering breaks that pride. It unlocks doors into a man’s spirit in which spiritual treasures are hidden. It subconsciously creates one’s dependence on God all the time.
Street ministering is synonymous with a soldier being trained in a real battle. The likelihood of many wounds is high but what is created is a highly skilled and experienced cadre.

You face the devil eye to eye and you obtain knowledge that when you stare fearlessly in his eyes he becomes powerless. I think the desire for positives in life is a result of one’s experience with negatives.

Street ministering has become my unshakable platform for conquering the world with the gospel. When all is said and done, I don’t think I came out with any negatives from the streets, because I experienced them and quickly turned them into positives.

My memory is engraved with moments when people were prophesied to, people were healed, people were delivered and people received Christ to the effect that I can’t recall any negatives. Yes, negatives were there on the streets but they are nowhere to be found in my mind.

TM:  Street evangelism is mostly attended by men. By starting a full-fledged ministry, can we say that you are abandoning these men?

IM: I am not abandoning men because it is men who were of great assistance toward the launch of this ministry, and still are pillars in making this vision a mission. Gradually but surely, women will come on board. The advantage with men is that normally if you win a man you have won a family.

TM: What prompted you to start this ministry? Is it money, since there are claims that going into ministry these days is an easy way of having access to people’s hard-earned cash at the expense of preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ?

IM: I am happy you rightfully called them claims. I want to call them “unsubstantiated claims”. The world is full of claims and if claims were crimes most people would be in jail today.

Some claimed that the year 2000 the world would be destroyed. It never happened. Why? Because it was not the truth, it was a claim. Inside a claim exists no power to transform it into truth.

If someone needed money today it would not come to them because they need it. Suffice to say the desire for money creates no energy for money to travel from fellow inhabitants of the earth’s pockets into the pockets of those desiring it but value created by the potential recipient creates such a motion.

Look around, if people kill in order to get money, the question is why would they choose killing people if there is an easy way of accessing it? Why would a commercial sex worker risk contracting a deadly disease if ministry is an obvious way of accessing money?

If you were to ask the robber why robbing and not ministering he would tell you that it’s easier to kill than to minister. Whoever is claiming that I will challenge them by giving them a microphone in front of thousands of people and ask them to prophesy.

If they will find it easy, then ministry is a simple way to access money. Had it not been for God who called me I would have kept ministry at arm’s bay because no job equates to ministry, not only on earth but even in Jupiter.

TM:  What does it take to launch a ministry? Is it money, huge following, a calling, etc?

IM: It takes calling. Calling is one’s God obtained permission to venture into something. God’s directive is a seed that fertilises the mind of the one called and a pregnancy called vision comes into being, which when it comes to full term gives birth to direction. Direction is the mother of followership and where followership exists, material provision is guaranteed.

TM: You had beautiful posters all over, who is sponsoring you??

IM: Fundamentally, it is Jesus Himself, but technically it is those congregants who frequent the First Street place of transformation.

I don’t have super sponsors. It’s simply an aggregate of those unit dollars that congregants give to the Lord. We call them partners not sponsors. I know the Lord is raising more and more partners.

TM : What has been the reaction like since the launch? Do other pastors feel threatened or they encourage you? And, what are the major issues you deal with: prophecy, healing and deliverance or preaching the gospel.

IM: Some have been very supportive but some feel of course threatened. That’s the nature of people anyway. Getting support is good but it’s not a pre-requisite. If God be on my side who can stop me? Nobody. I came to ministry to make an impact and that is what is going to happen with or without so and so.

TM : What was the launch like – events, speakers, etc? Did other pastors attend in support?

IM: So many men of God attended in support. There was super quality music from the group, the music ministry of FAREV. It was wonderful. My spiritual brother Prophet Tavagadza was there. I shared the vision with the congregants, then preached, prophesied clean and accurate prophecies, and then deliverance took place. I wish you were there Tendai. Many shared their testimonies, fruit of the womb testimonies.

TM:  Evangelist and now prophet? Some people think that it is a marketing gimmick since the prophetic seems to be the in thing. What’s your comment? Some people also argue that churches are mushrooming everyday and most of them are confusing followers since they target some aspects of the gospel and not all. What’s your comment?

IM: I have always been a prophet. God told me that I was born a prophet. I am a prophet whom the Lord mightily uses in evangelism. My gift in evangelism does not confine me to the office of evangelist. I have prophesied to thousands accurately. I tell people their problems accurately. I pin point the source of the problems accurately and minister to them and they are delivered completely.

I have prophesied things to happen 24 hours later or a year or two years later and it has always been correct and the level of correctness is being enhanced by the Lord each day. I have told people the names of their marital partners whom they would have never met, the profession of their supposed partners and it is always 100 percent correct.
I have told people where their jobs are and exactly they later are employed by such companies. The Lord’s thousands of prophecies through me have always been compatible with reality. It’s just too numerous to remember. “Kunhonga tsono dziri kunhongwa zvadzo,” though of course it’s by grace.

No title brings popularity. It is the way we do things. Pastor Chris is all over the world, Evangelist Bonke is all over the world, Bishop T.D. Jakes never used the title prophet but they are well known. For people to think that prophesying is the in thing is simply a misconception.

I used the title prophet because, I am one. When you stroll around town at every street corner there is pornographic material sold in broad daylight. It is disgusting yet it is rare to hear people complaining that porn traders are mushrooming.

The Lord’s work seems to be a very easy target for hyper critics. As long as the work of the devil is expanding, the Lord Jesus’ will too at an accelerated rate to fulfill the scripture that the Lord will raise the standard against the devil.

If preachers are naive enough to leave the gospel unmonopolised, that means the critic must target those aspects of the gospel that those criticised preachers are not targeting. That will make the critic unique.

The problem is that people complain about the fact that some are targeting one particular aspect yet they themselves are not preaching any particular aspect themselves. I think incomplete work is a better version of work than no work. FAREV strives to preach the full gospel though.

TM: Who is your spiritual father and why?

IM: A good concept wrongly applied and unnecessarily magnified gives birth to dormancy where it should trigger action. Paul calls Timothy my son not biologically but spiritually and Elisha shouts my father, my father upon Elijah’s ascension to heaven. But who calls Paul my son? No one!

Who made more impact Timothy or Paul? Fatherhood is a great idea, but should not be viewed as foundational but as auxiliary. The same God who has been with me on the streets is still with me.

But the concept of a father is a great concept though. I think it synergises one’s abilities and spiritual gifts. But, as far as my spiritual father is concerned, it’s too early to say Tendai.

TM: What is the church’s short term and long term vision?

IM: My short term vision, is winning thousands of souls to Christ. Long term vision, winning millions of souls to Christ.

TM:  What is your message to Zimbabwe as we get to the end of the year?

IM: Be blessed, stay blessed and walk in grace. Obey the word of God and enjoy life. Zimbabwe is a great nation.

Events calendar
Event: Covenant Days of Blessing – Heartfelt International Ministries
Dates: October 28 to November 3
Venue: Belvedere Teachers’ College
Time: 6pm-9m
Guest speaker: Dr. J. Talena (Nigeria)
Host: Apostle T. Vutabwashe
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Event: Mubatanidzwa wemaChurch Epositori
Date: November 3
Venue: Borrowdale
Churches represented: Mabasa Ezviratidzo Apostolic Church; St Peters Apostolic Church (Rugare); St Peters Apostolic Church (Glen Norah); St Luke Apostolic Church; Tarbenacle Ministries Apostolic Church; Voice of Christ Apostolic Church; Spirit Angel Apostolic Church
Contact: 0772467958; 0774080574; 0772777859; 0776277436
***
Event: 50th Anniversary Celebrations – Assemblies of God, Mufakose Assembly
Date: November 9
Venue: Mufakose Assembly, Cnr Mugodo/Garwe Roads, Mufakose
Theme: Celebrating God’s grace by honouring the past and looking into the future
Guest speaker: Rev. Buti P. Msiza (RSA)
Host: Pastor J.Z.S. and Mrs Chintokoma
Contact: 0772112105
***
Event: Two-week Revival – God with us Evangelistic Ministries
Dates: November 11 to 25
Venue: Chitungwiza
Speaker:  Evangelist P. Kazingizi
Hosts: God with us Evangelistic Ministries & Life in Abundance Church
Contact: [email protected]
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Event: Gospel Musical Extravaganza – Hatfield Worship Centre
Date: November 24
Venue: Corner Elgin/Kilwinning Rd, Hatfield
Time: 9:30am to 1:30pm
Featuring: Elizabeth Chinouriri-Ankomah; Holy Choir; Victors in Christ; Godknows Chegura & friends and more
Speaker: Rev C. Chidimuro
Contact: 0773296818; 0773612172; 0772674850
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Event: Partners Conference & 4th Anniversary Celebrations
Hosts: God with us Evangelistic Ministries
Date:  December 7
Venue: Memorial Building (opposite Megawatt Building)
Speaker: Evangelist P. Kazingizi
Contact: [email protected]
***
Event: Fire Flame Conference – Royal Family Ministry
Dates: November 5-10
Venue: Riverside, Damofalls, Ruwa
Time: 6pm – 9pm
Speakers: Apostle Chipoyera; Pastor S. Khuleya
Hosts: Pastors Sam and Chipo Basera
***
[email protected]; [email protected]