Pastors misleading sick people in the UK

WE believe that once a person goes away from home, he or she assumes a different character, but some things never change.

Many people in the Diaspora have been consumed by loneliness and have found solace in churches.

Anyone outside of Christianity may wonder why believers choose to gather once a week (often at weekends) to worship and receive the word. Those Christians who do not attend church regularly may wonder why many others in the faith choose to make this a weekly fixture. Those in the early church would meet together to fellowship, have communion, and pray (Acts 2:42).

Christians are commanded to meet regularly (Hebrews 10:25) and this gathering is a place to serve and honour one another (Galatians 5:13) and to share everyday experiences.

Those that are going through difficult times can find solace in the fact that others in the congregation have been through the same experiences and this can provide encouragement.

Those in a more fruitful season can give to others who need help in the congregation. These gatherings are now being used as healing sessions but many people have become gullible. Yes, prayers are answered and this writer believes in God, but I do not know the god of money who only heals when he is paid.

Mr and Mrs Chitima say they — like all believing Christians — have the power to miraculously heal the sick.

Mr Chitima claims to have once raised a friend from the dead.

A few years ago at their church in Chipinge, the couple laid hands on a cancer-stricken young woman who was said to have become disease-free.

These days, the Chitimas are praying for guidance on how to heal in the era of the coronavirus. Would they be in danger if they approached the sick to pray, placing their hands upon the ailing person’s body?

What about scriptures like Romans 8:2 that some interpret as saying believing Christians are free from the power of sin that leads to death?

For now, they believe healing by phone is effective. That is how they have prayed for the healing of a few people in their extended community who have the virus.

“In the spiritual realm, there is no distance or time and I am relying on the faithfulness of God that even though I can’t physically be there, I know my prayers will pierce through all that,” said Chitima (33) who runs a church in the United Kingdom.

He does not charge anything, but he will ask you to give what you would like to give to encourage God to heal. Chitima is a blessed healer and preacher. He asks church members to rate him by the funds they pay.

There is no scientific evidence that prayers can directly combat disease. However, some studies have raised prayer as a factor in inexplicable healings, and other research notes a reduction in some people’s physical pain after prayer.

The prayer being introduced by the Chitimas is locked in the heart. It will only come out if a payment is made which is strong enough to shake the doors of the heart where the prayers are locked. Unlike members of older denominations, Pentecostal and “charismatic” Christians believe that any Christian of faith potentially can be a prophet or a healer who performs miracles and speaks in tongues, curing diseases and even raising people from the dead.

Many charismatic Christians are socially and politically conservative and some had embraced President Trump’s initial dismissal of the virus as something that was not that serious which the United States would easily conquer.

At the same time, to many believers, the arrival of a pandemic that has swept through the entire world certainly looks like a sign.

As the tally of victims soars in the hundreds of thousands, those who believe that prayer can heal are turning their attention toward helping patients recover and hoping the virus will lead to many conversions.

Taking advantage of the virus, the Chitimas have maximised profits.

Mutsawashe Maponga, an 22-year-old boy, was healthy until the day he started vomiting and his parents took him to the local emergency department in a case of suspected acute gastroenteritis.

To the physicians, Mutsa appeared lethargic and was responsive only to painful stimulus.

A blood culture was obtained, while other laboratory tests were done. The blood culture later grew a meningococcus. Within hours, ‘purple splotches’ appeared on his face and legs.

Mutsa was diagnosed with meningococcemia and was put on appropriate antibiotics as well as steroids administered intravenously.

He was intubated to stabilise his airway and transported to the Luton and Dunstable Hospital. On arrival, his perfusion was poor and his blood pressure was low. The tips of all his digits were dark blue; purpura (purple splotches) was present over most of his trunk, feet and hands in a ‘stocking-glove’ distribution. Intravenous fluid boluses and vasoactive drug infusions were administered. Mutsa’s parents consented to multiple blood component therapy to treat a coagulopathy. Consulting surgeons talked to his parents about the risks, benefits and alternatives of amputation and debridement of portions of both of Mutsa’s feet, his left hand and the fingers of his right hand. The parents consented to the debridement and surgical treatment and signed the consent form.

Shortly thereafter, the family’s minister, Pastor Chitima, came to the hospital and prayed with them for God to restore life to the devitalised tissues.

Soon afterwards, the parents rescinded consent to surgical treatment and communicated that they wished to allow time to lapse so that God could heal Mutsa’s dead and injured tissues.

When the physician and the surgeon told parents that infection and sepsis would be inevitable without treatment, they agreed verbally that, in the event of sepsis, amputation should be performed.

Over the ensuing weeks, physicians met with the parents and vigorously attempted to persuade them to proceed with amputation and debridement of dead tissues. The parents remained adamant that an expectant approach be maintained.

During this time, neither sepsis nor wet gangrene, which would have offered absolute indication for surgical intervention, occurred. Despite the best efforts of the family and staff, many hours lapsed where Mutsa remained quiet and alone in his bed. He cried and was sad.

At times he cried out while gazing at his outstretched and mummified hands.

During visits, the parents read the Bible to Mutsa and assured him that God would direct his hands and feet to re-grow. The parents asserted to the staff that Jesus had arisen from the dead and shown himself to believers, and that God would revitalise Mutsa’s dead tissues.

Both family-associated and hospital-based clergy were regularly present to offer help and comfort.

Mutsa’s parents were repeatedly confronted with the ever-present and increasingly imminent reality that Mutsa needed amputation to prevent new onset of sepsis and to avoid possible death from sepsis. After almost a month in the paediatric intensive care unit, Mutsa began to experience fevers and his white blood cell count increased; both signs were indicative of developing infection.

Therapy with topical and systemic antibiotics was continued and modified.

His parents were informed of the changes and of the increasing need to consent to surgical therapy.

In an effort to reinforce the inescapable need for surgical therapy, the physicians consulted with a ‘burns’ surgeon at a neighbouring institution by telemedicine.- vazet2000@yahoo.co.uk

Read full story on www.herald.co.zw