Prophecy forms an elemental part of Christianity, and prophets do not belong to the past, but indeed to the present and invariably to the future. They are timeless because their lives and the predicted fulfilment of their prophecies can span decades, even centuries.
By definition, prophets or seers are those who provide insight into the future. Whether they are secular or religious, all claim superior knowledge and spark either interest, laughter or hostility. These men and women find validity in persecution but they also deliver messages of hope, justice and the promise of a better future.
As Lionel Laborie, Visiting Researcher in History, at the Goldsmiths University of London noted, the very fact that their predictions leave no-one indifferent points to our subconscious fascination with them. The dominant attitude in the modern “woke” societies is generally to dismiss prophets as charlatans, fools and impostors, relics from the most obscure times in our history. Yet we often forget that new religious movements also appear every year.
Rational as we may think we are, we are still all ears whenever the end of the world or something sinister is prophesied. The turn of a century generally marks a psychological milestone in humanity’s collective consciousness and comes with its share of apocalyptic predictions – think of the millennium bug mania.
Even Hollywood regularly exploits this trend with blockbuster films based on natural disasters and cataclysmic conflicts, and doomsday prepping.
The fact is, religious or not, most of us accept that the world with everything in it, will end one day. The question is: when?
Robert Mugabe, the former president of Zimbabwe, died in Singapore last week aged 95 after struggling with ill health for some time. The country’s first post-independence leader dies nearly two years after he stepped down, following 37 years in office.
But his “final death” on the sixth of September this year was not the first we have heard of him during his lifetime. The nonagenarian had “died” several times in the past, at least in church prophecies.
A victim of various death hoaxes, Mugabe was quoted by the press on Sep 4, 2016, saying:
“Yes, I was dead, it’s true I was dead. I resurrected as I always do. Once I get back to my country, I am real.”
A case is to be made on how a man once loved and respected by so many in Africa and abroad ended up so unpopular that he became a niche of death prophecies to any rising preacher, pastor or prophet who wanted to score themselves a cheap ecclesiastical stunt. Evidently, he was so big a game that “seers” were jostling to foretell when he will die or to say the least, step down from the higher office he had clung on for nearly four decades.
While churches and church unions, Zimbabwe Christian Alliance and Zimbabwe Divine Destiny, for example, defied Mugabe’s government to promote socio-economic reforms and conflict resolution through prophetic action, others went up a notch to issue death prophecies for him.
Other may choose to say that it was the elder statesman’s old age and chronic health failing that placed him in a position of becoming a victim of sadist “men and women of God”.
Now that he’s gone, ultimately, we hereby highlight some popular death prophecies that were issued on the deceased during his span. Mind you, some of these claims sound true now that he’s no longer with us, but most were just wishful thinking in typical doom style prophecies.
2013: Prophet Maxillar Mumo says President Mugabe will die on 3 February.
In 2013, Kenyan prophet Maxillar Mumo prophesied shortly before the 31 July elections that Mugabe would beat the late MDC leader Morgan Richard Tsvangirai, but the later would shortly assume the presidency. A few days later he clearly explained his prophecy insinuating that President Mugabe would actually die.
2015: Austin Liabunya Foretells Mugabe’s Exact Death Date and Grace Mugabe’s Shocking Doom
In 2015, controversial but hugely popular Malawian prophet, Austin Liabunya, predicted the supposed demise of Robert Mugabe, announcing the exact date on which he was supposed to be off the face of the earth. Liabunya claimed that Mugabe was going to be the one with the earth by 31st December 2015 as he also sounded off on the supposed end of Grace Mugabe’s political career, saying that she will bequeath all her ill-gotten wealth to the public as she expands it in political campaigns.
2016: Magaya Prophet Supporter Predicts Robert Mugabe Sudden Death
In September 2016, a prophet attached to Walter Magaya’s Prophetic Healing Deliverance Ministries — and whose name remains unknown to date — made a prophetic declaration that the Mugabe’s end was near. In a televised statement, the prophet said Mugabe’s health was deteriorating and that it was God’s punishment for him for causing Magaya’s arrest for rape.
“Touch not my anointed,” the prophet was quoted.
2017: Mugadza Prophesied That Mugabe Will Die In October
Kariba-based Remnant Pentecostal Church leader and human rights activist, Pastor Philip Mugadza, made headlines after he prophesied that President Mugabe was going to die on the 17th of October 2017 and urged the nonagenarian to pray hard in order to avoid the impending death. The cleric would soon go on to pay the price as he was arraigned before a Harare magistrate facing charges of causing offence to persons of a particular race, religion or creed, or alternatively criminal nuisance. Prosecutors said it was taboo for Pastor Mugadza of the Remnant Church to predict Mugabe’s death through a prophecy.
December 2017, Apostle Johnson Suleman’s Prophecy
Nigerian Founder and Senior Pastor of the Omega Fire Ministry, Apostle Johnson Suleman, reportedly prophesied that the former Mugabe was going to die in 2018. According to Vanguard press, the prophet was speaking during the crossover service which was held at OFM Headquarters in Auchi Edo State Nigeria where he released 50 shocking prophecies for the year 2018.
January 2019: Prophet Shepherd Mesala, Bushiri And Uebert Angel
On the 6th of January this year, Zambia’s celebrated Prophet Shepherd Mesala with his colleagues Prophet Bushiri and Uebert Angel released a 2019 prophecy for Zambia and Zimbabwe. According to the prophecy shared to Zambian Watch, Prophet Mesala said Mugabe would die because his time is over on earth. The prophet says it was time for people of Zimbabwe to pray because there were a lot of things that would follow after his death.
Meanwhile, Mr Mugabe will be buried at the national heroes acre on a date to be announced.
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