SHEMBE AND THE GOSPEL OF RECONCILIATION - 14 MAY 2016
NB: THE BRODCASTED CERMON EXCLUDE THE ANALYSIS ON NHLANGAKAZI
May the Sabbath day be a blessing to the holy multitude. Today's topic for the sermon is "Shembe and the Gospel of Reconciliation."
AmaNazaretha hymn 149:
"Everyday they manifest how they hate each other; yet it is so beautiful to see umNazaretha loving one another, holding one another's hand, being united. MaNazareta be united, you will be loved by Jehovah. Do not be separated, you will be forsaken by Jehovah. Love each other and be one, you will be loved by Jehovah.
They are like that in heaven, time and again they always truely love each other. Manazaretha be united, you will be loved by Jehovah. Come maNazaretha, enter in love; that home is open, we will be invited one by one, till we are all there,!because of this love."
"May" is the month on which Prophet Isaiah Shembe, who we, as amaNazaretha, call uBabamkhulu, passed on. He died on 2nd May 1935.
In many instances we weigh the prophet's power by the miracles he performs, but I do not know how one can compare the prophet's power, for all such powers are divine, they come from God. If any prophet can perform any miracle on his own, that prophet would not be the prophet of God, he would be receiving his powers from other gods.
Here we mention things Prophet Isaiah Shembe spoke with his own mounth, things he did with his own hands and the places to where he travelled with his own feet preaching the good tidings of God.
All we have mentioned can be pointed that the Prophet said this and that; what he has done can also be pointed that the Prophet has done this and that; where he has travelled to, the places can always be pointed that he came to this and that place.
As we often maintained, the Shembe never attended school, but in spite of all that, he composed about 216 hymns, 5 liturgies and many other prayers and sermons, being assisted by his scribe. Though we cannot mention the entire work of the Prophet, but when such work is put together, it will be a massive work not comparable to any other prophets, especially the Istralite prophets.
Traditionally it is said that the Torah was written by Moses, but from its content, it is clear that some of the writings in the Torah were written by other scholars. A lot of work of the Torah was edited and compiled by different scholars some years after Moses.
The same applies to the New Testament, no writings were done by Jesus Christ, his sermons and miracles are the collections and writtings of the scholars long after Jesus passed on.
But here in uBuNazaretha, we are fortunate in that a lot of work was personally dictated to by the Prophet himself, being assisted by his scribe.
One of the hymns the Prophet composed is the one we have quoted, which says," Everyday they manifest how they hate each other." This hymn was prophetic of what was going to happen amongs the amaNazaretha at later years.
This fight amongs the amaNazaretha is something the Prophet forsaw long ago, and he warned about it. He openly stated that if we fight one another we will be excluded from entering heaven, but we will be thrown to hell.
It is not only this hymn where the Prophet warned that if we hate each other we will not enter heaven. In hymn 199 Shembe writes," Childeren of God love one another, they will never separate from each other, and also they will never quarel.
If they quarel, to whom do they belong, for there is no quarel in heaven. We belong to one Person, we should be loving one another, each time and each minute.
Children of heavenly Father love one another each time and each minute. Do not be separated you eathly people, be united and be one, like heavenly people."
Enemity caused by the cecesion of one church from another is not a new thing, it is too old. At first there was only one Christian church, the Roma Catholic church; but later churches like Wesleyan, Anglican and Lutheran churches ceceded from this church.
When these churches ceceded from the Roman Catholic Church there was such great enemty between them and the Catholic Church; this church called them "Protestants" as we call each other "amaphekula or terrorists"
However, at a later stage there emerged Christians who were full of the real Holy Spirit on all sides; who started to ask the real cause of the quarel. They asked themselves that since they were all Christians, all being the followers of Jesus Christ, what were they fighting about.
They asked themselves whether the denominational separation should be so important to an extent that they be forsaken by Jesus Christ? At the end they realised that what they were engaged in was senseless, for they are all united in one thing, that they are Christians, their king is Jesus Christ. The word "Protestant" then disappeared.
Today Christian denominations are in thousands, each denomination comes from one another, there is no fighting; they are now truely religious and civilised. This religious in-fighting and vilification of one another is now left with the amaNazaretha, we do this in spite of the teachings of our Prophet that we should love one another.
I however still hope that even amongs amaNazaretha there will be children with the Spirit of Shembe, who are truely religious. They will come from these factions and read these hymns of the Prophet, and ask themselves that if they accept Shembe as their leader, what are they doing, where this enemity amongs themselves will eventually lead them to?
To encourage hatred has different causes. You may hate a person because he iltreated you, or you believe that he iltreated you, but in many instances hatred is caused by jelousy or envy.
There are many people who, when you ask why they hate each other, they cannot give any reason; the hatred is sparked by jelousy. Lord Galilee Shembe once made a parable of a frog and a star. He said there was once a star which fell in the wild. Many animals came to see this star, as they were fascinated by its illuminating bright light. Amongs these animals there was a frog. When this frog saw this shining star, instead of becoming fascinated by its brightness, it was immediately full of jelousy which sparked hatred of the star.
The frog then jumped till it reached the star, it then ejected saliva on the star's face. The star asked why the frog was doing that? In reply the frog said" I am disgusted by your brightness; why are you shining?"
There are many people who hate something because it is beautiful, they hate its beauty. That kind of hatred is created by jelousy, you cannot do anything about it; you cannot heal a person suffering from that kind of hatred, for it is led by Satan.
Maybe we the amaNazaretha, we also need to trace this hatred against each other and find out where it comes from. If it is from Satan, we abandon it; so that we become the children of God, we become heavenly children!
There are things you cannot separate the umNazaretha from, unless you yourself are irreligious. Firstly, it is the Prophet.. All amaNazaretha are naturally so. We may be separate factions, but we are not factions when it comes to the Prophet, for to us uBabamkhulu is like Jesus Christ to the Christians. This has nothing to do with the surname, but our faith is like that; you cannot separate all the amaNaretha from uBabamkhulu.
Secondly, it is to be umNazaretha. To be umNazaretha means to keep the Comandments of God Jehovah as we were taught by the Prophet. No one can take from you ubuNazaretha. You can move from one denomination of amaNazaretha to another, or you simply do not go to any church, you remain at home. No one can take from you ubuNazaretha, if you still want to be umNazaretha.
One of the hymns of amaNazaretha says," Thou holy mNazaretha, do not forsake me, though I did bad things before you. Remember oh Lord those agreements, which You alone did, because of Your mercy."
To be umNazaretha means to live a heavenly life which no one can take from you, for it is something you chose for yourself without anyone's interference.
Another thing which we as amaNazaretha have is the village of eKuphakameni and the mountain of iNhlangakazi. To amaNazaretha eKuphakameni is our Jerusalem.
All religious people believe that there is the earthly Jerusalem and the heavenly Jerusalem; this is the Biblical teaching. Our Prophet also taught us that there is the earthly eKuphakameni and heavenly eKuphakameni.
The earthly eKuphakameni stands for the heavenly eKuphakameni; the earthly eKuphakameni is the New Jerusalem. There is a hymn composed by the Prophet which is sung when the amaNazaretha acompany the corpse to the cemetery.
This hymn 49 goes," When I leave the gates of eKuphakameni, let me be completely adorned. May my heart make offerings with wild liles, and be completely adorned.
As I leave eKuphakameni, let my spirit be adorned and lack nothing. As I approach the garden of Eden, I will be fully joyful as I go to eKuphakameni."
This amaNazaretha hymn clarifies that when the umNazaretha dies, his spirit first goes to the earthly eKuphakameni, thereafter passes to the heavenly eKuphakameni. This is Prophet Isaiah Shembe's teaching. Therefore there is no umNazaretha who can say he no longer belongs to eKuphakameni.
EKuphakameni is religiously the home of all amaNazaretha, for that is what Shembe taught us. EKuphakameni is the home of all amaNazaretha through their labour. The home of eKuphakameni was built through the collection of offerings from all the amaNazaretha.
It does not end there, the amaNazaretha physically built eKuphakameni; it is the Headquorters of all amaNazaretha. Before the Prophet passed on, he made a Will where he legally donated eKuphakameni to the Nazareth Baptist Church.
Therefore eKuphakameni is not just the home of the Prophet, but legally it belongs to Nazareth Baptist Church as a Mission; it has a Title Deed.
When in 1977 there was a faction fight amongs the amaNazaretha which resulted in the death of people at eKuphakameni, the police, not the court, separated these factions into two, one on the Southern side and the other faction on the Northern side.
The one on the Southern side has the church cemetery and the one on the Northern side has the church hall and the tombs of the Prophet and that of Lord Galilee Shembe. To this day there is no person who is legally responsible for eKuphakameni; people are staying there factionally. Because of this scenario it will always be difficult to develop that home to anything, other than that this may again later cause another factional in-fighting.
As there are two factions at eKuphakameni, but there was never any official dermacation of this home into two factions. The police only separated the fighting factions. This is the real historical situation of eKuphakameni.
However, there is still a hope that children will emerge who have the Spiritual Shembe, who will be able to solve this matter amicably, without any fight and without going to court. If this matter is left in this situation, it may later cause another church in-fighting. This thing must be corrected in time and not left hanging in this manner.
There is no umNazaaretha who can be refused to use Kwabhekabezayo church cemeteries for burial purpose; there is no umNazaretha who can be refused to attend church service in eKuphakameni Church hall, for that hall belongs to us all.
Above all, there is no umNazaretha who can be refused to see the tomb of the Prophet and that of Lord iLanga. This will be tantamount to a Christian being refused to go to Jerusalem and see the tomb of Jesus Christ.
The eKuphakameni can be compared to a situation where one man has many sons. Other sons may leave the main home and start their home for various reasons. If one son start a home called Kwazakhele, he will be called that so and so of Kwazakhele, and other sons will be called by the homes they have established.
That is why we have the amaNazaretha of eBuhleni, of eKuphakameni, of eThembezinhle, of Ginyezinye and of Philangezwi. We are called by the names of the homes where we stay, but that does not mean that by starting those homes we have lost our rights of belonging to eKuphakameni, which is the headquorter of all the amaNazaretha.
All the amaNaretha belong to eKuphakameni religiously, laborously and legally. As religious people, we must accept that eKuphakameni is the home of us all. We must thereafter come together and agree how this home remain the New Jerusalem of amaNazaretha.
About 1992 Lord Amos Shembe ( iNyangayezulu) called us and told us that he wanted to be buried at eKuphakameni near his father the Prophet. An application was made to that effect, but such request, for some reasons, did not succeed.
However, he further requested that if this matter of eKuphakameni is resolved, we should exhume his bones and re-bury them at eKuphakameni near his father. It will be a proper thing if amaNazaretha do not forget this request of iNyangayezulu. As we are the sons and daughters of eKuphakameni, we shall always have religious, laborous and legal right to be of eKuphakameni.
To deny yourself that you belong to eKuphakameni is to deny your birthright, that would mean that you are not clear about our faith of ubuNazaretha. Religiously and peacefully all factions need to come together and resolve this matter amicably.
The title of this sermon is "Shembe and the Gospel of Reconciliation." The mount iNhlangakazi situation is similar to eKuphakameni situation, as there are the amaNazaretha who no longer go to this mountain.
Not to go to the mountain by other amaNazaretha was not caused by any religious undermining of this holy mountain, but it was to avoid this in-fighting of the amaNazaretha over the attendance to the mountain.
Like the eKuphakameni situation, the iNhlangakazi situation must eventually be attended to, people should not find themselves avoiding going to iNhlangakazi because of the in-fighting, but they must not go to iNhlangakazi because of the reasons of their own.
What need to be understood is that all the amaNazaretha have a right to go to iNhlangakazi at any time ; even those who now do not go to iNhlangakazi, they will at any time go to iNhlangakazi whenever their situation allows them to do so.
But in order that everything is smoothly dealt with, we need to be guided by the words of the Prophet which says," MaNazaretha be united, you will be loved by Jehovah; do not be separated, you will be forsaken by Jehovah. Love each other, you will be loved by Jehovah."
Therefore we must do everything peacefully and being guided by the religious truth, and fight that we become united, being guided by the teachings of our Prophet who sang and said" All the amaNazaretha must be one like the cement clay!"
May the Lord bless His Word.
Sermon By:
Rev M.P. Mpanza
revmpanza@nazarites.org.za
0712198223 (WhatsApp)
NB: THE BRODCASTED CERMON EXCLUDE THE ANALYSIS ON NHLANGAKAZI
May the Sabbath day be a blessing to the holy multitude. Today's topic for the sermon is "Shembe and the Gospel of Reconciliation."
AmaNazaretha hymn 149:
"Everyday they manifest how they hate each other; yet it is so beautiful to see umNazaretha loving one another, holding one another's hand, being united. MaNazareta be united, you will be loved by Jehovah. Do not be separated, you will be forsaken by Jehovah. Love each other and be one, you will be loved by Jehovah.
They are like that in heaven, time and again they always truely love each other. Manazaretha be united, you will be loved by Jehovah. Come maNazaretha, enter in love; that home is open, we will be invited one by one, till we are all there,!because of this love."
"May" is the month on which Prophet Isaiah Shembe, who we, as amaNazaretha, call uBabamkhulu, passed on. He died on 2nd May 1935.
In many instances we weigh the prophet's power by the miracles he performs, but I do not know how one can compare the prophet's power, for all such powers are divine, they come from God. If any prophet can perform any miracle on his own, that prophet would not be the prophet of God, he would be receiving his powers from other gods.
Here we mention things Prophet Isaiah Shembe spoke with his own mounth, things he did with his own hands and the places to where he travelled with his own feet preaching the good tidings of God.
All we have mentioned can be pointed that the Prophet said this and that; what he has done can also be pointed that the Prophet has done this and that; where he has travelled to, the places can always be pointed that he came to this and that place.
As we often maintained, the Shembe never attended school, but in spite of all that, he composed about 216 hymns, 5 liturgies and many other prayers and sermons, being assisted by his scribe. Though we cannot mention the entire work of the Prophet, but when such work is put together, it will be a massive work not comparable to any other prophets, especially the Istralite prophets.
Traditionally it is said that the Torah was written by Moses, but from its content, it is clear that some of the writings in the Torah were written by other scholars. A lot of work of the Torah was edited and compiled by different scholars some years after Moses.
The same applies to the New Testament, no writings were done by Jesus Christ, his sermons and miracles are the collections and writtings of the scholars long after Jesus passed on.
But here in uBuNazaretha, we are fortunate in that a lot of work was personally dictated to by the Prophet himself, being assisted by his scribe.
One of the hymns the Prophet composed is the one we have quoted, which says," Everyday they manifest how they hate each other." This hymn was prophetic of what was going to happen amongs the amaNazaretha at later years.
This fight amongs the amaNazaretha is something the Prophet forsaw long ago, and he warned about it. He openly stated that if we fight one another we will be excluded from entering heaven, but we will be thrown to hell.
It is not only this hymn where the Prophet warned that if we hate each other we will not enter heaven. In hymn 199 Shembe writes," Childeren of God love one another, they will never separate from each other, and also they will never quarel.
If they quarel, to whom do they belong, for there is no quarel in heaven. We belong to one Person, we should be loving one another, each time and each minute.
Children of heavenly Father love one another each time and each minute. Do not be separated you eathly people, be united and be one, like heavenly people."
Enemity caused by the cecesion of one church from another is not a new thing, it is too old. At first there was only one Christian church, the Roma Catholic church; but later churches like Wesleyan, Anglican and Lutheran churches ceceded from this church.
When these churches ceceded from the Roman Catholic Church there was such great enemty between them and the Catholic Church; this church called them "Protestants" as we call each other "amaphekula or terrorists"
However, at a later stage there emerged Christians who were full of the real Holy Spirit on all sides; who started to ask the real cause of the quarel. They asked themselves that since they were all Christians, all being the followers of Jesus Christ, what were they fighting about.
They asked themselves whether the denominational separation should be so important to an extent that they be forsaken by Jesus Christ? At the end they realised that what they were engaged in was senseless, for they are all united in one thing, that they are Christians, their king is Jesus Christ. The word "Protestant" then disappeared.
Today Christian denominations are in thousands, each denomination comes from one another, there is no fighting; they are now truely religious and civilised. This religious in-fighting and vilification of one another is now left with the amaNazaretha, we do this in spite of the teachings of our Prophet that we should love one another.
I however still hope that even amongs amaNazaretha there will be children with the Spirit of Shembe, who are truely religious. They will come from these factions and read these hymns of the Prophet, and ask themselves that if they accept Shembe as their leader, what are they doing, where this enemity amongs themselves will eventually lead them to?
To encourage hatred has different causes. You may hate a person because he iltreated you, or you believe that he iltreated you, but in many instances hatred is caused by jelousy or envy.
There are many people who, when you ask why they hate each other, they cannot give any reason; the hatred is sparked by jelousy. Lord Galilee Shembe once made a parable of a frog and a star. He said there was once a star which fell in the wild. Many animals came to see this star, as they were fascinated by its illuminating bright light. Amongs these animals there was a frog. When this frog saw this shining star, instead of becoming fascinated by its brightness, it was immediately full of jelousy which sparked hatred of the star.
The frog then jumped till it reached the star, it then ejected saliva on the star's face. The star asked why the frog was doing that? In reply the frog said" I am disgusted by your brightness; why are you shining?"
There are many people who hate something because it is beautiful, they hate its beauty. That kind of hatred is created by jelousy, you cannot do anything about it; you cannot heal a person suffering from that kind of hatred, for it is led by Satan.
Maybe we the amaNazaretha, we also need to trace this hatred against each other and find out where it comes from. If it is from Satan, we abandon it; so that we become the children of God, we become heavenly children!
There are things you cannot separate the umNazaretha from, unless you yourself are irreligious. Firstly, it is the Prophet.. All amaNazaretha are naturally so. We may be separate factions, but we are not factions when it comes to the Prophet, for to us uBabamkhulu is like Jesus Christ to the Christians. This has nothing to do with the surname, but our faith is like that; you cannot separate all the amaNaretha from uBabamkhulu.
Secondly, it is to be umNazaretha. To be umNazaretha means to keep the Comandments of God Jehovah as we were taught by the Prophet. No one can take from you ubuNazaretha. You can move from one denomination of amaNazaretha to another, or you simply do not go to any church, you remain at home. No one can take from you ubuNazaretha, if you still want to be umNazaretha.
One of the hymns of amaNazaretha says," Thou holy mNazaretha, do not forsake me, though I did bad things before you. Remember oh Lord those agreements, which You alone did, because of Your mercy."
To be umNazaretha means to live a heavenly life which no one can take from you, for it is something you chose for yourself without anyone's interference.
Another thing which we as amaNazaretha have is the village of eKuphakameni and the mountain of iNhlangakazi. To amaNazaretha eKuphakameni is our Jerusalem.
All religious people believe that there is the earthly Jerusalem and the heavenly Jerusalem; this is the Biblical teaching. Our Prophet also taught us that there is the earthly eKuphakameni and heavenly eKuphakameni.
The earthly eKuphakameni stands for the heavenly eKuphakameni; the earthly eKuphakameni is the New Jerusalem. There is a hymn composed by the Prophet which is sung when the amaNazaretha acompany the corpse to the cemetery.
This hymn 49 goes," When I leave the gates of eKuphakameni, let me be completely adorned. May my heart make offerings with wild liles, and be completely adorned.
As I leave eKuphakameni, let my spirit be adorned and lack nothing. As I approach the garden of Eden, I will be fully joyful as I go to eKuphakameni."
This amaNazaretha hymn clarifies that when the umNazaretha dies, his spirit first goes to the earthly eKuphakameni, thereafter passes to the heavenly eKuphakameni. This is Prophet Isaiah Shembe's teaching. Therefore there is no umNazaretha who can say he no longer belongs to eKuphakameni.
EKuphakameni is religiously the home of all amaNazaretha, for that is what Shembe taught us. EKuphakameni is the home of all amaNazaretha through their labour. The home of eKuphakameni was built through the collection of offerings from all the amaNazaretha.
It does not end there, the amaNazaretha physically built eKuphakameni; it is the Headquorters of all amaNazaretha. Before the Prophet passed on, he made a Will where he legally donated eKuphakameni to the Nazareth Baptist Church.
Therefore eKuphakameni is not just the home of the Prophet, but legally it belongs to Nazareth Baptist Church as a Mission; it has a Title Deed.
When in 1977 there was a faction fight amongs the amaNazaretha which resulted in the death of people at eKuphakameni, the police, not the court, separated these factions into two, one on the Southern side and the other faction on the Northern side.
The one on the Southern side has the church cemetery and the one on the Northern side has the church hall and the tombs of the Prophet and that of Lord Galilee Shembe. To this day there is no person who is legally responsible for eKuphakameni; people are staying there factionally. Because of this scenario it will always be difficult to develop that home to anything, other than that this may again later cause another factional in-fighting.
As there are two factions at eKuphakameni, but there was never any official dermacation of this home into two factions. The police only separated the fighting factions. This is the real historical situation of eKuphakameni.
However, there is still a hope that children will emerge who have the Spiritual Shembe, who will be able to solve this matter amicably, without any fight and without going to court. If this matter is left in this situation, it may later cause another church in-fighting. This thing must be corrected in time and not left hanging in this manner.
There is no umNazaaretha who can be refused to use Kwabhekabezayo church cemeteries for burial purpose; there is no umNazaretha who can be refused to attend church service in eKuphakameni Church hall, for that hall belongs to us all.
Above all, there is no umNazaretha who can be refused to see the tomb of the Prophet and that of Lord iLanga. This will be tantamount to a Christian being refused to go to Jerusalem and see the tomb of Jesus Christ.
The eKuphakameni can be compared to a situation where one man has many sons. Other sons may leave the main home and start their home for various reasons. If one son start a home called Kwazakhele, he will be called that so and so of Kwazakhele, and other sons will be called by the homes they have established.
That is why we have the amaNazaretha of eBuhleni, of eKuphakameni, of eThembezinhle, of Ginyezinye and of Philangezwi. We are called by the names of the homes where we stay, but that does not mean that by starting those homes we have lost our rights of belonging to eKuphakameni, which is the headquorter of all the amaNazaretha.
All the amaNaretha belong to eKuphakameni religiously, laborously and legally. As religious people, we must accept that eKuphakameni is the home of us all. We must thereafter come together and agree how this home remain the New Jerusalem of amaNazaretha.
About 1992 Lord Amos Shembe ( iNyangayezulu) called us and told us that he wanted to be buried at eKuphakameni near his father the Prophet. An application was made to that effect, but such request, for some reasons, did not succeed.
However, he further requested that if this matter of eKuphakameni is resolved, we should exhume his bones and re-bury them at eKuphakameni near his father. It will be a proper thing if amaNazaretha do not forget this request of iNyangayezulu. As we are the sons and daughters of eKuphakameni, we shall always have religious, laborous and legal right to be of eKuphakameni.
To deny yourself that you belong to eKuphakameni is to deny your birthright, that would mean that you are not clear about our faith of ubuNazaretha. Religiously and peacefully all factions need to come together and resolve this matter amicably.
The title of this sermon is "Shembe and the Gospel of Reconciliation." The mount iNhlangakazi situation is similar to eKuphakameni situation, as there are the amaNazaretha who no longer go to this mountain.
Not to go to the mountain by other amaNazaretha was not caused by any religious undermining of this holy mountain, but it was to avoid this in-fighting of the amaNazaretha over the attendance to the mountain.
Like the eKuphakameni situation, the iNhlangakazi situation must eventually be attended to, people should not find themselves avoiding going to iNhlangakazi because of the in-fighting, but they must not go to iNhlangakazi because of the reasons of their own.
What need to be understood is that all the amaNazaretha have a right to go to iNhlangakazi at any time ; even those who now do not go to iNhlangakazi, they will at any time go to iNhlangakazi whenever their situation allows them to do so.
But in order that everything is smoothly dealt with, we need to be guided by the words of the Prophet which says," MaNazaretha be united, you will be loved by Jehovah; do not be separated, you will be forsaken by Jehovah. Love each other, you will be loved by Jehovah."
Therefore we must do everything peacefully and being guided by the religious truth, and fight that we become united, being guided by the teachings of our Prophet who sang and said" All the amaNazaretha must be one like the cement clay!"
May the Lord bless His Word.
Sermon By:
Rev M.P. Mpanza
revmpanza@nazarites.org.za
0712198223 (WhatsApp)
