THE government, through Tourism Minister Walter Mzembi, will soon unveil a religious tourism policy which was born out of a realisation that many people from around the world are attracted to religious shrines.
Ropafdzo Mapimhidze
Religious tourism is not something new, as many countries have experienced unprecedented visits by people from all corners of the world seeking the Presence of God, deliverance and healing through visiting these Holy Places.
Some of the religious destinations in the world include the Synagogue Church of All Nations (Scoan) which has raised Nigeria’s flag high across the world as thousands of people travel to that country seeking healing from God through Prophet TemitopeBalogun(TB) Joshua.
Israel is another country which benefits greatly from religious tourism. Yearly, millions flock to Israel to see and have a spiritual experience at the home of Christianity.
The Lady of Lourdes in France receives millions of visitors each year seeking healing because a 14-year-old girl from Lourdes France named Bernadette Soubirious saw apparitions 18 different times of a woman who Bernadette declared was the Virgin Mary the mother of Jesus Christin 1858.Every year millions of pilgrims travel to Mecca, the largest gathering of Muslims.
Zimbabwe is endowed with many religious shrines where miracles have occurred. They are the Bernard Mizeki shrine in Marondera, Mutemwa Mountain in Mutoko, Zaoga Prayer Mountain in Bindura, Johane Marange in Manicaland, Matopo in Matabeleland, Mbungo Shrine at Defe Dopota in Gokwe where the Zion Christian Church which was founded in the 1920s by Engenas Lekganye of South Africa and Samuel Mutendi of Zimbabwe. It is now being run separately with Samuel’s sonBishop Nehemiah Mutendi heading ZCC in Zimbabwe.
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Pilgrims travel from countries such as Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, the United Kingdom, the United States and Zambiato MbungoShrine at Defe Dopota every year to pay homage to their founding father at the shrine.
The hardly known 113 Prayer Mountain in Harare is one area where great miracles and angelic visitations are said to be a common occurrence.
The 113 Prayer Mountain, which is open to all denominations for free, is located in the northern suburbs of Harare and it started operating in 2009.
People from all churches come daily for prayer. In September 2009 when the Prayer Mountain opened, one woman said she experienced a heavenly visitation of angels singing.
“I was there with a group of three other women, when place area where we were became so bright as though bulbs had been lit under the trees. We heard the most beautiful voices singing one popular song titled Alpha and Omega and three other choruses.
“I was also healed from asthma, HIV, diabetes and high blood pressure after this encounter,” 54-year-old Fadzai Mudzamiri said. A man from Cameroon, Issa Bebe, who is married to a local woman, gave a testimony this week about how he was healed from an incurable disease on the mountain.
She could neither walk nor sit up straight and doctors literally pronounced him dead. It was then that he asked his wife to take him to the Prayer Mountain.
“When I finally reached 113 Crowhill Road, I only had enough strength to crawl up the mountain on my knees. When I reached the Chapel on the mountain I fell asleep on the floor,” he said.
He recalled that while he was sleeping, he heard a voice telling him to change his sleeping position and face to the right before turning to the left again.
“I felt someone scratching my shoulder. I looked around there was noone. Then a voice told me to stand up. I do not know where the energy came from, but I did. As I looked down the mountain, I saw my wife coming up the mountain and I started walking down to meet her. She started screaming Praise be to God. This is how I was healed,” Bebe said.
There have been many such miracles, healings, breakthroughsand angelic visitations at the 113 Prayer Mountain, says Resident Pastor Pension Mudonzvo.
“Healings and miracles are a free gift from God to His children. It is disgusting to note that there are so many prophets in Zimbabwe duping vulnerable individuals and selling stuff claiming they can realise their healing in that manner,” he said.
Over a thousand local people and foreign visitors have since March this year come to the mountain who have encountered angelic apparitions.
“I came to the Prayer Mountain to seek a deeper spiritual relationship with God, ask for spiritual gifts and money to start a business and I received them all,” reads one entry in the book. A visiting prophet from the DRC, Jeremie Ntumbawa Kulu of International Power Ministries saw a vision of an angel standing by the baptism pool when he recently visited the Prayer Mountain.
There is also a drum that once contained the Ark of the Covenant which is believed to have been brought from the Middle East centuries ago by the Lemba People. It is in a museum in Harare. In 2010, Professor Tudor Parfitt, author of The Lost Ark of the Covenant, did a research on the Lemba People who are the owners of the Ark and traced their heritage back to the Jewish priesthood in Jerusalem and how the Ark found its way into Zimbabwe.
Owner of 113 Prayer Mountain, Irene Brickus Chikaka, who also wrote the book God Smiled On Me said she recently had an encounter at her home which is located on this property.
On April 14, she shot some random pictures of my house after I had redecorated it because I wanted to send the pictures to my three children that live in the US.
“I had them developed and printed, but noticed something on one of the pictures I noticed an unusual light on one of the wooden chairs at the main entrance of the house. I checked to see if it was damaged or something, but there was nothing wrong with the chair. I then showed the picture to Pastor Mudunzvo and some other pastors from different denominations that visit the place who all confirmed that the light was a Pillar Of Fire showing God’s presence at 113 Prayer Mountain,” Brickus-Chikaka said.
A research on the Pillar of Fire reveals that the only known photograph of a Pillar of Fire was taken in 1950 in Houston, Texas which appeared over the head of a great prophet known as William Branham.
Later that week, Buckster-Chikaka saw the face of Jesus Christ on a wooden panel facing the chair where the Pillar of Fire appeared. “I have lived at this house for many years and sat in those chairs facing that wooden paneling, but I never saw this until after the Pillar of Fire appeared on that chair.
Many people believe the 113 Prayer Mountain is the piece of land mentioned in the famous Cindy Jacobs prophecy pronounced in 1998 which said.
“The river is going to flow through Zimbabwe and I see a powerful torrent of water, a mighty rushing torrent, and many fish. I see that there are strongholds in the church of division and the accuser of the brethren is active to discourage souls. An army of women with the Deborah anointing will march across the land. They will be like a net all over Zimbabwe with prayer. With a powerful anointing, the women first and men following. I see ancient thrones coming down, reconciliation between black and white, the spirit of racism which goes back further down to the tribes. I will use Zimbabwe like a jewel; she will help feed the world with beautiful produce. God will break the curse that came through civil war . . . the curse will be broken. I know nothing about Zimbabwe. The land will produce beautiful beef. New factories will be built. Zimbabwe has the ministry of reconciliation that reunites the African people. The anointing of reconciliation will be all over Zimbabwe. Do not be afraid of the change. Although it looks like you are going backwards. I have a plan for you. Satan thinks he is advancing, but I will expose wickedness at high levels. Do not be afraid. Satan will try to bring war; this army will be used to stop war and bloodshed. A treaty will be written with other nations. Zimbabwe will be used like Switzerland to bring the healing of nations to break ancient things. Your nation came through trickery, but God will restore it.
“You will be given a piece of land, a beautiful place to pray. You will build a place to watch and pray. It will be like a compound with a place to sleep. The Annas will give their lives for intercession. Senior citizens will have places to stay and give their time to pray day and night.”
On October 17 2001 Jacobs also spoke about Zimbabwe and the Africa Covenant Church of Pittsburg. She said God showed her that Satan was afraid of Zimbabwe and God’s angels will fight his troops through an army of intercessors that the Lord would raise and use to heal Africa.
In the prophecy, God revealed to Jacobs that he would break the spirit of violence and transform Zimbabwe into a peace-maker and restore all the wasted years.
“With the many positive prophecies spoken over Zimbabwe, which many people however view with skepticism, there is the fact that the Ark of the Covenant is in Zimbabwe is a sure confirmation that God will surely prosper Zimbabwe,” says Pastor Mudonzvo. In an interview with Tourism minister Mzembi yesterday this week on Monday, he said globally there are nearly 1, 1 billion arrivals and out of that, 300 million international arrivals are moved and inspired by religious tourism.
“The 300 million tourists are inspired by faith based tourism where Christians and Muslims are motivated to travel for spiritual reasons. This translates to about 25% to 30% of global movements. The figure is even higher for domestically inspired tourism which moves 4 to 5 billion per annum globally and I think that interprets to more than 40% of domestic travels.
“This is an industry that needs to be understood first at policy level and then create space for it in our planning to motivate growth.
“It is for these reasons that we have created a religious desk that has a non-aligned status. It would be folly for any government to disregard the church because the church has since time immemorial been a player in state matters and the foundation of political states was actually church based, but with development of new philosophies like for democracy, that separation was ushered in somewhere along the line resulting in church now standing on its own,” he said.
He said the government has extended hospitality statutory instruments to the church to grow church inspired businesses because church is the biggest market, and that it was in driving this agenda.
“We have an interest in enshrinement and we can assist 113 Prayer Mountain and register it with the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority. If they need to value add, we will extend our duty rebates to 113. We don’t intend to tax on tithes and offerings as reported by some sections of the media, but their church businesses like for example the popular restaurant run by Celebration Church along Borrowdale Road, is taxable,” he said.
He noted that the Judgment Night, A United Family International Church (UFIC) event which this year thousands of pilgrims from around the world, was typical example of what churches can do to boost tourists.
“We have to incentivise such sites so that we also smile better when tourists flock to Zimbabwe for religious purposes. We are encouraging church inspired hospitality and all churches in Zimbabwe should start thinking big,” he said.
“Last Sunday I went through Beatrice Road where an estimated 180 000 faithful’s were gathered at the Prophetic Healing Deliverance Ministries (PHD) and you can imagine if water was sold at this venue for US1 each, how much business would be generated from there,” Mzembi said.
A media practitioner who cannot be mentioned for professional reason said: “We have everything here in Zimbabwe and all we have to do is explore these religious tourism sites and realise our miracles. These are real and all we need is to take a step of faith and believe in what we have locally,” she said.
