Dear readers, below is an open letter by recently resigned Envoy and Board Member Sam Matema .
AGAPE FOR ALL NATIONS MINISTRIES INTERNATIONAL (AFANMI) IN THE DOCK:
ATTENTION – AGAPE LEADERSHIP
(b) Verse 9 – “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God” – We are guilty of advancing personal agendas under the guise of ‘the Lord-said-this-to-me mantra’. This is the big one, the juicy part – the Apostle claims to have been offered a top paying job understudying former Secretary General Kofi Annan at the United Nations. The Apostle could not take up that offer because on the eve of his departure to New York, God called him to fulltime ministry and that marked the genesis of the Agape vision. I have serious reservations with this claim because of two fundamental reasons. Firstly, for all I know, UN jobs at Secretary General and Undersecretary level are political appointments. A government nominates a candidate and lobby for it. I don’t recall in 2007 and in any other year for that matter, the Zimbabwean government nominating and lobbying for one Dr Walter Masocha for a UN top post. Secondly if the UN offer really existed and God spoke against the Apostle taking up the offer, then that letter is key and central to the Agape vision because it is the basis upon which God started His conversation with Walter Masocha about his call to fulltime ministry in place of a lucrative UN job. In that regard I demand to see the offer letter from the UN and the air tickets that he claims were all ready.
(c) Verse 16 “Honour your father and your mother as the Lord your God has commanded you” – Note that this is a command from God himself. We have been taught in Agape that the Apostle can play father and the Prophetess mother in place of our parents. It is important to note that you can only get a blessing or a curse from your parent or God, Period! There are those that argue around the spiritual father mantra. In other ministries they have gone a step further to talk of a spiritual grandpa. That is bull-nonsense. 1 Corinthians 4 v 15 – “For though you might have 10,000 instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers, for in Jesus Christ, I have begotten you through the gospel. Therefore I urge you, intimate me”.
The concept of spiritual fathers is used for control, manipulation and financial gain driven largely by a Christian’s fear of being cursed. John 2 v 26-27 – “These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. 27 . But the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you do not need anyone teach you, but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things ....”
(d) Verse 18 – “You shall not commit adultery” – I don’t need to say more on this one. Cases abound in Agape of leaders at the highest level of the ministry echelons, and leadership just turns a blind eye.
(e) Verse 19 – “You shall not steal” – There are monies that the church leadership cannot account for. From the records available at the Scottish Charities Commission you get the impression that expenses were inflated. It is also fact that church monies from the sale of DVDs and other church promotional material were deposited in personal accounts as opposed to a church account. Obviously the motivation was selfish.
(f) Verse 20 – “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbour”. Other leaders were forced out of the ministry because certain leaders did not agree with them. They were forced out on trumped up charges. The story of one Jean Gasho comes to mind. An ambulance was called by senior people in the ministry who claimed that Jean was a mental case. They did this primarily because they had personal differences with her and were trying to get at her. Can Agape stoop this low?
When we are performing as dismal as highlighted above we have every reason to introspect and seriously reflect on the way we have been doing the things we have done, the way we have generally carried ourselves in the course of duty. I have observed over the years that founder members of ministries start off very well but along the way they get carried away by the fame around them. The Lord our God rejected king Saul because he turned away from Him. 1st Samuel 15 v 11 – “I am grieved that I made Saul king because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions”. Just like king Saul we have tried to put on brave faces in the face of a deepening crisis, but the writing is on the wall. The church is crying for true shepherds. 1stSamuel 15 v 14 – “What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is the lowing of cattle that I hear”
It is important to note that King Saul was prophesying under the influence of an evil spirit. Also note that the Lord was with David but had left Saul (1stSamuel 18 v 12). The point that I am trying to bring home is that we risk, as children of God, following people that are being driven by a spirit that is not of God. This explains why the bible encourages us to test the spirits. The bible also teaches and encourages us to look at the fruits of the spirit. When leaders begin to chase away those that see things differently from them, when leaders abuse church funds, when leaders demand massages from congregants, when they manipulate people into hugging them under the guise of them getting a blessing (God-said-whoever-receives-a-cuddle-from-me-gets-a-blessing mantra), etc then that fruit is not of God.
Agape we have carried ourselves in a way that leaves all the hallmarks of a cult. We have celebrated and glorified Walter Masocha through song (God send Walter) and dance (Apostle’s team) in place of God through His only begotten son Jesus Christ. We are nothing but a cult. Everything else must stop when Walter arrives. Even when you are in the middle of worship, you just have to stop and start singing, ‘God send your servant Walter’. If this is not a scandal, then what is. I would be very happy if people contribute to this piece on the basis of facts and opinions contained herein and not to be personal, emotional and violent.
Posterity is counting on us. We owe it to our children, the future generations to protect the Agape vision which, on paper is very good but has been dragged into the mud by hypocrites, power-hungry and greedy individuals. The Apostle surrounded himself with dead wood, and deliberately so. There is a leadership crisis in Agape, pretty much the same problems and challenges bedevilling ZANU (PF) and the MDC-T because these parties are modelled around individuals. Agape is modelled around Dr Walter Masocha. He is the face of the ministry. Now that the face of the ministry is entangled in the current problems, the problems will also assume the same face of Walter Masocha. Yes the crisis in Agape has a face – Dr Walter Masocha.
Apostle Walter Masocha you are the CEO of AFANMI and you take the blame for all the ills and credit for those things that go right. Jethro the father-in-law of Moses confronted Moses, Exodus 18 v 17 – “What you are doing is not good”. This is the basis of church leadership that Moses was being taught by Jethro. Verse 21 – “But select capable men from all the people – men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonesty gain, and appoint them as officials”. Most of the leaders in Agape do not measure up to Jethro’s litmus test. Blame it on the CEO. The basic leadership principle says there are no bad soldiers.
Brethren we need to be true to ourselves first. Those that are not economic with the truth will agree with me that there is selective application of the law in Agape. The church is being run the Animal Farm style – ‘All animals are equal, but with tails’. There is no consistency in terms of the application of the law. Let me just use cases from Zimbabwe to explain my point,
[a] How different is Commissioner Mandaza’s case from Envoy Dube’s (Bulawayo)? The instruction to have Commissioner Mandaza to take a back seat in view of the domestic challenges he is having was the normal thing to do. But how to you cause the Commissioner to step aside for the domestic challenges but you don’t cause the same for Envoy Dube who caused a woman congregant to be chased away from her matrimonial home because of his improper conduct with the woman? Envoy Ian, with the blessing of the Apostle, paid the $2,500.00 that Envoy Dube took from the woman. We do not know the source of these funds and the motivation behind even sidelining the local leadership that was handling the case.
[b] Commissioner Mandaza is alleged to be having an extra-marital affair so is the Apostle who is alleged to have extra-marital affairs. If the allegations against the Commissioner are true then that is improper. That the Apostle abuses congregants by getting women to massage him, allowing women to kiss him, hug him anyhow, that alone is improper conduct.
Agape leadership, the challenge that you have is to disabuse yourselves of the ostrich mentality of burying the head in the sand. You pretend all is well when the house is on fire. You are so impermeable and non-porous to criticism, different opinions and a voice of reason. Apostle your style of leadership is so ad-hoc and reactionary. You are always caught up in a love affair with your present to the detriment of the future. The thinking and reasoning is so parochial and selfish. I confronted you in Botswana Apostle regarding the Commissioner Mandaza’s issue. I called you to act on it before it damaged the ministry in Zimbabwe but you told me, “Iyo isiye yakadaro” (leave it like that). There are things you cannot wish away Apostle, and as a leader you need to use the long lenses.
How did you allow a decision to force Evangelist Walter Nhliziyo out of the leadership for having a different opinion with most of the leaders around how the ministry should handle the blog? Everyone has a right to be heard. Besides how do you fire a Volunteer and how do you allow another Envoy to write a letter of dismissal to a fellow Envoy? You appointed Evangelist Walter Nhliziyo (ostensibly on the instruction from heaven on a fulltime basis and mid-stream he was to become a volunteer) and are therefore the employer, and it must follow therefore that you generate the document to dismiss. Apostle I have very serious problems with the timing of the dismissal. There is an Envoys board meeting this weekend, and it is fact that Mr Nhliziyo is very upfront with issues. Would it be wrong if I conclude that the timing was meant to bar him from the meeting? As far as I know Apostle you have had issues with Mr Nhliziyo even before the blog. I vividly remember when you asked me why I had given Mr Nhliziyo one of my cars to use on one of his visits to Zimbabwe without your permission. Of course I told you in the face that you don’t tell me who to give and not to give my cars, and that if you have issues with Nhliziyo sort yourselves. It was all good that I drove you in the same Range Rover to your in-laws in Hurungwe and your rural home in Buhera but you did not want Walter Nhliziyo to drive the same car of a brother in Christ. Talk of true and unconditional love. Talk is cheap. How hypocritical can people be? You taught us to sing “We are heirs of the father .....” That is a powerful song Apostle, pregnant with meaning, but I am saddened that you don’t mean what you teach us. Man of God you asked me as a local business man whether the environment was conducive in Zimbabwe for you to set up an Audit firm when we were seated at the pool side at Holiday Inn Harare. What does that say about your claim that God called you to full-time ministry and that you should not be involved in any other business? This was a serious contradiction and it got me to question a number of your claims.
SAM MATEMA
[FORMER ENVOY & BOARD MEMBER – ZIMBABWE]
[23/01/2014]
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