By Heaven Munyuki|
[E.P.M Mwazha —-child—-grandchild—-great grandchild—-greatgreatgrandchild—greatgreatgreat grandchild. In short we are saying the first great grandchild of EPM Mwazha has also a great grandchild.]
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Have you ever imagined yourself seeing 5 generations from you?Yes its possible if you walk in God’s path. This man also known Mudzidzisi Paul Mwazha has lived to see his 5th generation. The secret to longetivity is the love he has for Almighty God and other people.
He surrendered his earthly riches for him to be poor and bring the souls of men to Christ.
Many might wonder who this man is? Archbishop EPM Mwazha was born on 25 Oct 1918 at Holy Cross Mission in Chirumanzu. His father Joseph Mugovera Mwazha was Lobengula’s war warrior and he married Saramina who gave birth to Paul Mwazha who was named Mamvura because she thought the baby would not survive due to the Influenza epidemic which had left a lot of newborn babies dead. Indeed it is said the baby died soon after birth and her mother Saramina rushed him to Father Schmidt(a Roman Catholic Priest from Germany based at Holy Cross Mission)to perfom final rites before the baby’s burial in riverbanks of Nyautonge River.
(This was a culture and Shona norm that all babies who died before they developed milk teeth were to be buried in river banks to prevent drought ). Fr Schmidt took hold of the baby whom he had christian -named Paul, conducted the benediction prayer and said, ‘Paul I benedict you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Sprit.’
As soon as he concluded the benediction prayer, the dead baby suddenly burst into crying. All the people in the holy temple were bewildered as the baby was brought back to life and suddenly engulfed by holy spirit as they proclaimed ,’The child has been resurrected, the child has been resurrected!’
Indeed to fufill the prophecy made in the holy temple in 1918 when the baby resurrected, in 1940 when he was doing his final year of training as a teacher at Howard Training Institute in Chiweshe , Paul Mwazha saw a vision in which the sky was made wiped clean by a hand of ‘God’ which then printed in block letters the clear sky ‘RECREATION OF AFRICA.’
A a voice instantly ensued with an instruction,”Write to the university students so that they come and help you in recreation of Africa!” The work he was risen for, is to recreate Africa,taking people out of darkness (old sinful ways)to fountain of everlasting life(righteous ways).
As an educated man he also fulfilled this vision by appointing some learned men to play leading roles in the church as well as encouraging congregants to quench education thirst and this was fulfilled as we have intellectuals such as proffessors, Doctors, Engineers and all professionals you might think of ,which is uncommon to most indigenous Apostolic churches.
In 1942 whilsr teaching at Gweshe Primary School in Chiweshe, he saw in a vision an angel in form of a young boy saying to him,” Son ,do you want earthly riches?(Mwana unoda pfuma here),” he replied ,”No i want a church instead (Kwete ndinoda chechi)”.He fulfilled this later in life when he resigned from a highly paying job by then as a respected headmaster in Charter as well as selling his supermarkets and shops in Chikwanha Chitungwiza and Chirasauta. He allocated some to his sons later .
In 1951 whilst at Chideme Njanja as a headmaster and Methodist Evangelist , a voice proclaimed in a vision ,”Who shall we commission ,who will go for us?”.Paul Mwazha quickly offered himself to do the work of God.This was the foundation of his commission(kutumwa) and devine calling .
To fetch the downtrodden and bring them to glory.
In 1957 when EPM was coming from Easter Conference in Mudanda Buhera,as they crossed Mwerehari bridge in Murambinda a voice from God proclaimed “The African Apostolic Church ,VaApostora VeAfrica!”.This is where the name of his church originated from. The naming was not coined by a human being but engineered by the devine powers of the celestial heavens.People did not sit to agree on setting up a church,infact initially he had opposed the idea of starting his own church preferring to remain in Methodist and other group members in their respective churches.(By then the group was being called Mwazha Group by other people).
Indeed in the great autumn of 1959 the church was established through the authority of Charter District Commissioner. This was after he had seen in a vision being given a notebook with 3 ticks (√√√) signifying a go ahead to set up a church granted by Enkeldon court magistrate.
All these few visions and events of the many,were there genesis of his crusade in doing the work of God which is based on a mission statement which emanated from a vision in Manicaland after they had passed Makunhlanga area.A voice of God instructed ,” The mission to be accomplished is to preach the importance of the word of Jesus Christ and proclaiming the amazing powers of his salvation!”.More to reinforce this mission statement he heard a voice in a vision in Mt Darwin which said, “Endai mudyare mbeu youshe hwaMwari(go plant the seed of God’s kingdom)
As soon as he surrendered all his businesses to embark on a mission to do the work of God; he remained steadfast and never looked back, mainly being zealous to obey God’s commandments and yearning for people to repent as well as doing what the bible instructs. His joy emanates from seeing people not tiring in doing good.He himself interceding daily for the congregants to be protected by God and do his will.
At 101, the man of God is still strong and still counting.He has shunned all earthly things prefering to do God’s work ,wiping the tears of those who cry: the barren having children, miscarriages being stopped, the jobless getting jobs, the poor being raised, the demons being cast away and many more wonders being perfomed in Jesus Christ’s name who is our Chief cornerstone and emancipator.He established The African Apostolic Church with millions of followers in Africa and other continents. However he has refused to hog the limelight preferring to live a low key life characterised by humility, benevolence and prayer.
I say Makorokoto!Congratulations !Amhlope the man of God for reaching 101 years,wishing you many more years of life Archbishop Ernest Paul Mamvura Mwazha!
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_The author writes in his personal capacity._