The Sunday Mail
Divine Appointments Tendai Manzvanzvike —
IN Christian prayer lingo, you hear declarations such as “return to sender” or “Haman must die.” What does it mean? And, who is an enemy?
Tendai Manzvanzvike (TM) spoke with founder of Apostolic Flame Ministries and School of Delivery, Bishop T. Oliver Chipunza (Bishop), as their church was just about on a year-end three-day Esther Fast, whose theme was “My Haman Must Die!” – in preparation for the New Year.
Bishop: We recently acquired a property in Westwood Hill, right at the top of the hill. We had seen people travelling places – you know that our people want to pray on higher places like mountains, so we have just named that place Harare Restoration Mountain, with a view to say the Christian community in Harare can come and have time with their Lord, and also as a sign to thank God, for this is my 10th year in deliverance ministry.
TM: Congratulations!
Bishop: I have seen it all, so as you get old, you need to leave landmarks where people can go and have time with the Lord. So, that’s our place now. We haven’t developed it yet.
But more specifically, we are having our annual end-of-year prayer and fasting – the Esther’s fasting, where the Biblical Esther dealt with the chief enemies of Israel, the Amalekites, who when Israel was coming out of Egypt, were the first enemy that they confronted.
From there, God made a decree that the Amalekites must be wiped out. But during the warfare, some of their descendants survived. Remember King Saul, when God through Saul told him: “I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt,” so you must wipe them out. (1 Samuel 15:2; Deuteronomy 25:17)
And the Bible says, Saul spared Agag, a descendant of the Amalekites, claiming that the people had done it.
This war went on and on until the children of Israel were exiled. In the book of Esther, we then have King Xerxes whose wife Vashti disobeyed his command. She was then replaced by Esther through the machinations of her uncle Mordecai. And thank God that Esther became queen!
However, the next stumbling block was Haman, a descendant of the Amalekites (son of Hammedatha, the Agagite). He knew the history that their forefathers were defeated by the Israelites. Haman, who was the king’s lieutenant wanted Mordecai to bow down before him but he refused, and Haman plotted again to have all the Jews annihilated based on the previous hatred.
TM: What is the implication of this historical narrative for the church, and as we enter 2017?
Bishop: In spiritual warfare, what defeated your ancestors, will also defeat you, because when a demon is assigned in a family, it does not go forever.
The Bible says when you cast out a demon, it goes in dry places, and it will keep on checking to find out whether the place it calls its house has been occupied.
So many Christians say they are suffering like the Zimbabwean situation. They shift the blame to the Government, they talk bad about politicians, about companies, their managers. In the end, they talk about anyone.
TM: Blame game?
Bishop: Yes, but the blame game in most cases has to start from your generation – the members of your blood line are the enemies of your generation.
When we have the Esther fast at the beginning of December, this is what we want to deal with – “my Haman must die”. This is a hermeneutical term where we are not saying a person must physically die, but that the spirit behind all retrogressive things must die.
At Ziklag, when they had taken everything David pursued them, and recovered everything.
So I resolved that before we enter 2017, I must deal with my Haman – that spirit that belittled and challenged me, the spirit that caused me so much pain.
And if we could trace with elders in the family, they will tell you that there is nothing new. Ndezvemumusha medu! That’s all about spiritual warfare. There is no new demon.
The demon that affected my grandparents will affect me, because they believe that they no longer have a right to go to another family.
But demons are assigned by the same master – Satan. When I defeat that spirit, it then goes and invites other spirits – like-minded spirits. That’s why!
TM: My question though is on those who have received the Lord – the new creation. Is there still need for them to go through all this?
Bishop: A Christian life is a life of warfare. The enemy fights you day-in, day-out. What you are simply saying is that we attained independence in 1980, why do we need the Zimbabwe Republic Police, the Zimbabwe National Army and the air force? We are now more on the defensive side. Know that the enemy is still there, and any time it can come.
Yes, I am born again, spirit-filled, tongue-talking, heaven bound, but my enemy has not yet been bound because the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ has not yet taken place. The devil and his demons will be bound and thrown into the lake of fire, but as of now, he is still roaming around looking for prey. (1 Peter 5)
And, when the devil fights us, he cares more about our blessings. He does not want us to enjoy the benefits of our blessings. When I am born again, I need also to live a blessed life.
The millions of Christians that go to Church, when they are praying, listen carefully. Most of them are seeking provisions from God. They pray for the sustenance of their businesses, restoration of marriages because they don’t want divorce. You find that 99.99 percent of our prayer requests are hinged more on blessings, because the devil attacks those blessings.
TM: Why is that so?
Bishop: The preaching of the Second Coming in most of our pulpits is very rare. Pastors are busy helping people get out of bondage. The devil does not only attack the spirit man because there is a permanent price – the blood – that was paid by Christ on the cross. The book Peter writes in his second letter that you have been purchased with a precious price.
So, when we go through the prayer and fasting programme, we are saying, “My Haman must die” – the Haman that is causing death, because in the Bible, he had paid so much money to have all the Jews annihilated. But through Esther, they called for a three-day fast, in order to reverse death.
So, the purpose of prayer and fasting is that we are reversing the destruction the devil is causing in this life.
In answering our question again, we are attacked by the devil irrespective of whether we are born again, because the devil does not want you to enjoy the fruits of salvation, or he does not want you to come out of chronic bondage, the bondages experienced by your ancestors.
And why am I referring to ancestors? Because they are the once who founded us. Genetically, I am tied to a spiritual umbilical cord of my ancestors. So, when demons want to enter into my life, they use my bloodline.
So, Haman wanted to destroy the children of Israel because of pre-existing ancestral hatred. And if we study our Bible again, the Amalekites were actually Esau’s grandsons.
TM: Notwithstanding, how was the year 2016?
Bishop: In our church, 2016 was a year of winning life’s toughest battles. That was our theme and we are wrapping it up, we don’t want any evil generational spirits to bewitch us into 2017, because as a church in 2017, we are saying it is a year of Divine Recovery.
There are things that we want to recover – economically; financially; martially and health-wise, because the devil comes to kill, steal and to destroy.
So what we are saying is that whatever the enemy has taken away from us as individuals, as a family, as a nation, as we enter into 2017, it is a year of divine recovery just like David pursued what was taken by the Amalekites and he recovered all.
TM: But there are disagreements regarding the Haman declarations in Esther 7 – popularly known as “back to sender”. Some say now that we are a new creation, delivered by Christ, the same Jesus admonishes us to love our enemies and to pray for those who hate us, because vengeance is His. So, when we say euphemistically that my Haman must die, aren’t we doing what Christ has already completed?
Bishop: When I say my Haman must die, it’s not me enforcing it, because it is God who has given me the authority, to cast out demons; to heal the sick. So, when we say my Haman must die, we are not dealing with a person, because the moment you have physical confrontation, that’s witchcraft.
What we are referring to is this spirit of Haman, which must be cast away from me. So, when we say my Haman must die, we are only using the personhood of the then Haman in the Bible, who was then physically executed because of the threat he posed against the Jews.
Christians must not take vengeance. The answer is for God to deal with my enemies. I must be a person of prayer and fasting, but when I am praying, I must not mention the physical enemy of my destiny. I deal with the spirit, because in the New Testament, we deal with the spirit.
TM: Is it a must for people to fast?
Bishop: Every believer must stand up once in a while and do an Esther fast. That’s our contribution to the Christian faith that before the year ends, engage yourself in prayer and fasting, and thank the Almighty for taking you through the battles, dangers, and the frustrations. You have seen it all, and you say 2016, it’s Ebenezer; and 2017 it’s Divine Recovery. Everybody needs it.
TM: Final remarks
Bishop: We don’t need to give people false hope. Our economic situation is temporary. Past 2020, things will start to rise up.
The way we suffered in the past 15 years means that our economy will grow gradually until it reaches the final peak where Zimbabwe will be retained again as the breadbasket of Africa. But I cannot declare to the nation that 2017, economic doors will open up. No! Because industry has got to be revived, etc. We still need to win life’s toughest battles.
- Note to the reader: This interview with Bishop Chipunza was held on December 1, 2016 the first day of their Esther fast. We were unable to bring it to you, due to reasons beyond our control.
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