South Africa-based Malawian cleric Shepherd Bushiri has bemoaned Malawians tendency not to accept his calling, saying while the rest of Africa has received him as a prophet, Malawians seem to still have problems with it.
Of late, Bushiri has been in both the local and international media over his acquisition of a third jet, with critics arguing that his ‘lavish’ lifestyle does not reflect the status of a man who is supposed to be an archetype of humility.
In a Times Exclusive interview with host Brian Banda—which is expected to be aired on Times Television tonight from 8:30pm— Bushiri repeatedly implied that it is a Malawian mentality to think men of God should be poor.
He said in countries like Zambia, South Africa and the United States of America, no one thinks men of God should be poor “because they know that the world has developed.”
“You cannot compare now and 2000 years ago. Jesus was using a donkey or a ship and in those days a donkey was like a [Mercedes] Benz,” he said, adding that if he can use a ship today, his critics will still say he is not being humble.
He also hit at “most Malawians” who “just know the verse that talks about false prophets” rising in the last days, saying the same Bible talks about God pouring his spirit on young men so that they can prophesy and see visions.
“South Africa and other African countries have welcomed me as a man of God and not as Bushiri. Malawi and some other people have welcomed me as Bushiri, but other countries have
welcomed me as a prophet.
“…I know no matter what I can do, I will still have people in my country who will never believe me because it is biblical [that a prophet is without honour in his own country] and it has to pass,” said Bushiri.
He also defended his Enlightened Christian Gathering (ECG) church for selling anointing oil and for calling him ‘Major Prophet’, saying the same elements are prevalent in other churches in Malawi, but no one has any problem with them.
“In the Catholic church, you cannot get a rosary for free; you buy it. You cannot go into any shop and get a Bible for free; you buy it. Anything in churches we buy it and I don’t think it is new because it is Prophet Bushiri.
“…In the Catholic Church we call [some leaders] Ambuye. If they give that name to Bushiri, the whole Malawi is going to be like he is God. But if that name is given to a Catholic priest, why is it that there is no question mark?” queried Bushiri.
In his response to Banda’s observation that his critics were accusing him of lying that he had jets when he was actually chartering them, Bushiri said even if he were indeed chartering them, he sees no problem because he would still use his own money.
“There are few people who can afford to charter a jet in this country.
Even if I charter them, so what? So what is the problem? It’s my money, my personal money and it has nothing to do with them [critics], but the truth is that they are my jets,” he said.
When asked if he ever thinks of standing for presidency in elections, Bushiri laughed off the question, saying the act would be a huge demotion to him.
He also trashed suggestions that he should sell his property and give the money to the poor, saying the money that he uses to acquire the property is not public money.
“I am not using public money to be dictated to say don’t do this; use this money to do this… It is my personal money. My wife and I work for that money and to another journalist who said ‘you are coming from a poor country, why don’t you use the money for the poor’ my answer was: praise God you have mentioned that I am coming from that poor country.
“I worked hard. Those poor people should work hard and become what they want to become and praise God, in our country, we have many people who have come from poverty, from scratch, and they are doing well. That’s what we need,” challenged Bushiri.
He added that his church has a very good working relationship with the South African government to the extent that the latter provides police officers, medical personnel and fire brigades for the church for free.
Some observers have been arguing that the crowds that Bushiri is pulling from different parts of the world into South Africa could significantly address our perennial forex problems and the economy itself at large.
In the interview, Bushiri also said he has made and continues making multi-million dollar investments in areas such as agriculture, mining, education, banking and mobile technology.
But the majority of them are not in Malawi.
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