MY DIVINE MISSION
Rev Mpanza is the founder of the Nazarite Church of God. Although he is the founder of the Church, the occurrence of the Church was not out of zeal or enthusiasm to preach the gospel of God, but it was an instruction from Heaven. Further details are explained below.
It was on the 4th of January 2010, on a Monday morning, when the Angel Hlaleleni arrived and said to me; “I have been sent by Lord Galilee Shembe (Ilanga), he said; ‘Tell that boy to build for me a House of Jehovah; a House of Jehovah is a Church. In this church he will teach people the correct way of worshiping God Jehovah in the same manner as my father did teach amaNazaretha (Nazarites).’”
I then said; “If the Lord by that meant that I should be the leader of the Church of amaNazaretha, I do not see how I can do that, because I am not of Shembe family?” The Angel replied and said; “The Lord did not say lead the Shembe Church, but he said build the House of Jehovah.” I then kept quiet. But I did not feel well about this whole thing. I and my wife discussed this matter and we were not happy about what the Angel had said. In my heart, I suspected that this Angel was misleading me. I decided that I could not go through with her plan. That was the last day the Angel talked about this issue.
But she came back in May 2010, and told me that I should not attend the commemoration service of Prophet Isaiah Shembe in May, because there was a plot to oust me. I did not heed to her warning, but a day before I was to attend the commemoration, I received a phone call from a certain Priest who warned me not to attend the commemoration service, because there was a plot to oust me from the Church. The Angel came after that call and said; “So do you now see that I did not lie to you?” I did not attend the commemoration service of May 2010 because of that warning.
From May 2010, I lived under constant harassment from these Priests. In July, I attended about two Sabbath services at eBuhleni. I had to try by all means to avoid these Priests. After the July Church gathering, the Angel came and informed me that the Priests were plotting to come and oust me from the temple I headed on 21 August 2010. It happened as the Angel had said, 14 Priests and Evangelists arrived, led by Rev. M.H.Mthethwa. But their plot failed because the whole congregation was on my side.
After this attempt, the Angel came to me very upset, and she said; “Lord Galilee is angry with you, he says he has told you several times to leave the eBuhleni Church, but you refuse to do so. The Lord said you must know that although the Priests so far have failed to oust you from the church, but they will definitely succeed in October. The Lord said that if they succeeded to do that, you must know that he will have nothing to do with you, for he cannot work with someone who has been excommunicated from the Church. You must know that after your excommunication from church, two possibilities await you, you will either commit suicide orturn to alcohol.
‘Make a choice now, either leave eBuhleni now before they oust you in October and work for God, or wait to be excommunicated, and end up an alcoholic.” I said; I prefer to leave now and work for God. “On the 31st of September 2010, I announced that I was leaving eBuhleni Church.
But after I had left eBuhleni, the Angel told me another side of the story as to why I was constantly harassed by the Priests. She said; “The harassment you endured at eBuhleni was intentional, because if it did not occur you would not have agreed to leave the eBkuhleni Church, because of your faith and love you have for it. But the decision for you to lead the Church was taken many years before you were even born.’
‘Heavenly Messengers came to the Prophet Isaiah Shembe and told him that although he had worked so tirelessly to restore the ubuNazaretha( Nazarene) faith to its original state after its demise, after Jesus left this world, but it will again end after the Prophet, and it will be the Prophet’s own family that will bring about its demise.
The Angel said; “The Heavenly Messengers asked the Prophet how he will avoid this situation that will occur in the church.û The Prophet replied and said; “I have an orphan given to me by Jehovah, may God bless her, so that in her seed a child arise who will have the Spirit of Shembe, so that when that time comes he may be able to protect the ubuNazaretha faith.”(My mother, Landiwe, was an adopted daughter of the Prophet).
The Heavenly Maiden then said; “Rev. Mlangeni was against the Prophet paying dowry of a total of 18 cows for your mother, but the Prophet said he knew what he was doing, because children who will be born by this child, although not being Shembe by surname, but will possess the Spirit of Shembe. The Prophet knew before you were born that you will save the Nazarene faith (ubuNazaretha).”
The Angel then said; “That time is at hand, after uThingo (M.V. Shembe the leader who passed in March 2011) this Church is going to have too many Shembe leaders, it will be marred by leadership squabbles, and that will be the demise of the faith of Jehovah; it will be eradicated by the seed of the Prophet. This church will be a laughingstock of the world. Now you have to protect the Nazarene faith, whilst all members of Shembe family turn the church into a Shembe fiefdom and each vie for leadership in the church, yours will be preaching the Gospel of Jehovah, putting the Nazarene faith back to its original state, and restoring people back to the Jehovah.”
The Angel then said that the present state of the faith has to transform. The church must no longer be viewed as a Church for the Zulu nation, because it has already been in Zululand for almost 100 years, it’s about time the Nazarene Gospel is taught to all people irrespective of their nationality or tribe.
Ever since we met this Angel, she always talks about Lord Galilee Shembe more than other leaders of the church. From the first day she told us about Shembe, she said she had been sent by Lord Galilee (Ilanga). On the 16th of December 2011, at about 21h30, the Angel came with a hymn about Lord Galilee (Ilanga). Here are some of the lyrics:
“Go well our Father, lremember us our Lord where you go. Mourn for us all ye people, Jehovah has forsaken us, we are in darkness. Our joy has diminished, return Father, return our Lord. We miss you.
Jehovah has heard us, our Lord has returned, thank you! Rejoice ye who love him, tears and darkness have vanished. Rejoice with us ye angels, for the return of our Lord to us, we say halala!”
In August 2010, it was for the first time that I heard the Angel talking about all three Shembessimultineosly. She came to us looking worried, and said; “I am sent to you by the three Lords of ekuPhakameni, they said they are concerned about the future of the Church because it is going to be the laughingstock of the world. They said that they now rely on you to rescue her from this disaster.” Then she spoke in a sorrowful voice and said; “My brother, my hope is also in you, do not forsake me, be strong!” But she did not explain to me exactly what bothered them so much.
The Angel changed the way many things are done in the Church of the amaNazaretha, but for today I cannot explain every change. As we have explained, everything the Angel proposes, she asks for my view, unless she comes with a direct message from Lord Galilee (Ilanga).
The Angel then said; “There’s a lot to be done to transform this Church as it is presently viewed as a Zulu Church. She has to be restructured in such a way that it is acceptable by all people as a church fitting to all nations. From henceforth you will not just be known as NAZARITES but NAZARITES OF GOD, because you will be preaching the Gospel that will bring people back to GOD, the Gospel that has nothing to do with the Shembe family, nor the Zulu nation.
For you not to get involved in the Shembe leadership squabbles, this Church will be independent, you will be its leader and you will be known as THE SHEPERD OF SHEMBE’S FLOCK, you will not be called INKOSI (Lord) as the other leaders of the church are called, but you shall remain the Priest.” The Angel then stopped the Nazarites of God from wearing amabheshu (Zulu man’s traditional attire) and imiqhele (crowns made of animal skins) in the church. She has also forbidden women from wearing izidwaba (Zulu skirts made from cow skin). She also stopped the wearing of Zulu traditional attire during the holy dance. She designed dance costumes for married women with fabric instead of skirts made from cow skins. She instructed that men should wear white shirts and ties and black trousers when attending the Sabbath service.
She retained the Scottish kilts for men during holy dance, and for maidens she instructed that they continue to wear costumes that were designed for them by the Prophet (Isaiah Shembe), but do away with Zulu traditional attire. She discouraged the use of beads, saying that it cannot be universally available, instead she introduced an embroided design instead of beaded costumes. The big difference that is visibly seen between members of the Nazarites Church of God and the rest of amaNazaretha of different Shembe factions is that Zulu traditional attire and skin crowns are not worn, our ears are not pierced. The women also do not wear leather skirts during the Sabbath days or when performing the holy dance.
The Angel did away with Zulu traditional wedding ceremonies where a cow has to be slaughtered and the bride be sprinkled with its bile, in order to be accepted by the groom’s family ancestors. She said this type of marriage is religiously not acceptable, for it is for people who are ancestral worshipers. She then said there is only one marriage, that is the one solemnised by a Priest before God. That marriage is complete. A marriage solemnised in church cannot be performed a second time by another person (as is the case with people who infuse ancestral worship with God. They get married in church and then go home and perform another ceremony for ancestors).
In the Nazarites Church of God whenever a woman’s wedding has been solemnised in the church, she is fully married and must wear the religious women’s 14 (black belt worn around the waist by married women in church). The Angel said the belt of 14 has nothing to do with our traditional customs, for it is a church uniform. Therefore, all the women whose marriage was solemnised in the church are entitled to wear the belt of 14.
The Angel then gave us new seating arrangements in the church service. Girls who are no longer virgins, but have no children, sit separately from maidens, but not with married women. She said those with children should remain as they were sitting in the married women’s section, for they are mothers like married women.
The Angel designed holy dance costumes for all unmarried women who are members of the church and said they should all participate in the holy dance regardless of their marital status. Hlaleleni argued that religiously, one who has fully repented and is allowed to attend the Sabbath service, participate in all church activities etc, cannot be prevented from performing the holy dance. “How can someone who participates in woman’s 14 service and tithes, but then at the end gets told she cannot participate in the holy dance because is a sinner?” She asked. The Angel further stated that the teachings by some men that an unmarried woman does not enter heaven, is fabricated lie.
The Angel rejected polygamy, she said although there is nowhere in God’s law where it is forbidden, it upsets peace within a family unit and in the Church. But a person who joins the Church already a polygamist cannot be forbidden from being a member of the church, because polygamy is not a sin.
The paramount Gospel the Angel preached is that we fight ancestral worship found within the Nazarene faith. There is nothing the Angel loathes more than people who are mediums and those who slaughter animals for their ancestors. Her teaching began in verse 3-4 of the Sabbath prayer. She said; “Shembe even wrote down that for you to be accepted in Heaven, you will praise Jehovah by keeping His Commandments that He wrote to you through His servant Moses.” She then said; “Therefore, this Church is built on the foundation of the Mosaic laws and the teachings of the prophets. The first of the Ten Commandments says; “You shall have no other gods before me.”
She then read from the palm of her hand the book of Exodus 22:20 which reads as follows; “He who sacrifices to other gods except to Jehovah alone will be destroyed.” She then continued and said:
“If God said the penalty for a certain sin is death, you should know that that sin is a serious offence, which cannot be forgiven. Those who make sacrifices to ancestors, or to other gods, God said they will be condemned for eternity. So you cannot say that you are a Nazarite and at the same time be a diviner or a fortune-teller, for in Levi 20:27 Jehovah says; “A man or a woman who is possessed by the ancesyral spirit shall surely be put to death…”
The Angel then said; “Everything that has to do with ancestral worship or sacrificing to ancestors, is to serve other gods. One cannot serve other gods while at the same time saying you belong to the Church of Jehovah.” This Gospel against ancestral worship became very strong, it made us enemies of other Nazarene sects and all who worship ancestors.
This became a spiritual warfare as many people did not accept this Gospel, some cursed us, others threatened to attack us, saying our Gospel is misguided and we are teaching African people to do away with their culture, some chose to leave the Church. But this talk from our distractors actually invigorated the Angel; she condemned everything that has to do with ancestral worship, she then composed a song the lyrics go as follows:
“Satan hates us, for we are forbidden to worship him in his alters (umsamo). He now makes feasts for us in order that we are forsaken (by the Lord). Your strength has been defeated by Jehovah, our Lord. Your praise we made in your alters has been weakened. Halala we thank you Lord, You have reverted us to Jehovah. We shall always remember you, for your mercy and love!’
‘Our Lord, You are the costume of our souls. We are adorned by you, You are an ever blooming flower. Holy art thou Lord of the amaNazaretha , holy art thou our Lord. Abide with us good Sun, shine upon us forever!’ “
There are many things that the Angel explained to us about the dangers of worshipping ancestors which, because of space we cannot explain for now; more on this subject can be found in the book “UbuNazarethanamasiko”. The Angel also emphasisedthat ancenstral sacrifices we make in our practices like notifying ancestors about a child, a wedding ceremony, informing ancestors about your new home and all other practices which require you to slaughter cows or goats is to worship other gods.