Why members remove shoes, kneel when praying
BETHANY- Members of the Nazareth Baptist Church believe that God cannot hear and accept their prayers unless they remove their shoes and kneel when praying.
In an interview yesterday, Umshumayeli Dlamini said the removal of shoes was a standard practice aimed at inviting God’s presence whenever they prayed to the Creator.
Dlamini said the practice was derived from the Book of Exodus 3:5-6, where God commanded Moses to take off his shoes before setting his foot on the holy ground at Mount Sinai.
He said as Moses was confused and frightened, God introduced Himself as the God of his father, the God of Abraham, of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Dlamini mentioned that Moses then hid his face because he was afraid to look at God.
Pray
He said from the Scripture, the church learnt that there was no way they could pray to God and had their prayers heard and answered unless they took off their shoes.
The man of God said the removal of the shoes was on invitation of God’s presence before they could utter a word in prayer.
Coming to the kneeling, he said it was derived from the Book of Philippians 2:10-11, where it reads; “At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in Heaven and on earth and every tongue acknowledges that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Dlamini said there was no way the church could pray without kneeling before God.
“We consider the Bible as a map and Jesus as light. We have teachings apart from the Bible to make people understand the Nazareth Baptist Church. At times, you can read the
Bible but you cannot understand it unless someone interprets and explains it to you,” he said.
The man of the cloth also gave an explanation about the perception that the church worshipped ancestors. He started off by explaining that there was nowhere in the Bible where dead people were referred to as demons. The man of God said as a result, the church recognised the dead but did not worship them.
“When you read the Bible in the Book of Matthew 17:2, you will get to understand that Jesus took with Him Peter, James and John the brother of James and led them to High Mountain. There, He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun and his clothes became as white as light. Just then there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus,” he said.
Warned
He added that Jesus warned his chosen disciples not to tell anyone about what they saw until the Son of Man had been raised from the dead.
He said from the scripture, they learnt that there were times when people had to know the dead without worshipping them.
Dlamini said the Nazareth Baptist Church was about them as Africans. He said it was for that reason that they did not tell tales about Israel and the old prophets.
Dlamini stated that the Nazareth Baptist Church was about people of the present times in Africa.
“We have people who can give testimonies about the work of Shembe. They are all over and they can tell what had Shembe done for some for them,” he said. He stated that people received healing, blessings and good life from Shembe.