“Nearly Conned by a Prophet”

You may recall my story that went by the title “Conning In the Name of God”; well, an ardent reader of this column contacted me and poured out her heart about her ordeal under the spell of such characters! As I was saying then, there are lots of good “shepherds” or Pastors out there, but there is a more than proportionate number of fake ones. I was then ambushed by a self-styled prophetess who was predicting lots of things for me, she even told me that, she could see a JEEP coming my way and a Job promotion, all these have “refused” to come true, I have been waiting for months and it looks like, I will be a “waiter” for much longer! Now, back to the current issue, this lady (I will call her Faithful), was paid a visit by one of those impromptu “prophets” and “pastors” while in the comfort of her home. I will keep the story as brief as possible because, it would take too much space and time for a verbatim narration. As I was saying, one day, as the lady was returning home from town (she hadn’t gone to work) towards midday, the “man of god”, approached her and told her that, he had been guided by the Holy Spirit to come and save her. Being a very good Christian and a “Mulokole” (Savedee) for that, she invited him into her home and they commenced with prayer. The guy was uttering words in the strange tongues (as is the case with such persons). This guy was an ideal “Pastor” aka “Prophet”, after the prayers, he asked her if she wanted him to “read” her life and reveal to her all her problems. Of course, anyone would want to know his or her threats and opportunities in order to be successful in life. He began by carefully studying the whole environment and making observations of how big the house was, how many people live there, he must have most probably studied the neighbours and all the relevant information about this lady. He seemed to know her so well and yet she did not know him at all, all she knew was that, he was a “worker of God”, the rest was vague! The guy was donning on a nice French suit and drove a nice land cruiser PRADO, crowned with a golden wedding ring; all these attract and create an atmosphere of respect and trust! Apart from that, he was neither so young nor old, he must have been in his mid-thirties. He began by requesting her to go and they pray in her bedroom, she knelt down with her eyes shut and he began yelling (at the Devil) in all languages; suddenly, he told her to lift the mattress off her bed so that he could examine the contents therein. Shocked, there was a used PAD (cortex). She was quite sure that, she hadn’t been in her period for over two weeks; neither had any one she lives with in the house. Moreover, they had carried out general cleaning just a day or two ago and that stuff wasn’t anywhere in her room! She was in a state of shock as to the origins of the PAD! The “prophet” went ahead to reveal to her that, her undergarments had been stolen as well and that, they are somewhere hanging on a tree at Kabarondo (on the way to Kibungo)! The icing on the cake was when he volunteered to drive them there in his PRADO on one condition, if they buy him Fuel of Rwandan Francs 15,000, about 15 litres! Faithful, having been to school, began smelling a rat! She willingly accepted to go with the “prophet” to recover her “undies” but told him that she did not have the money and that she was going to call a cousin who had a car to transport them. The “prophet agreed with her and told her that, he was going for “Holy water” and other items and he would be back in an hour or so. Several months down the road, he has never come back! As to who had planted the “Cortex” in the room, your guess is as good as mine! The PRADO was good bait, not many people would doubt a seemingly rich guy’s word; Kibungo would be more convincing as a witchcraft destination! I have nothing against anybody but the “False Prophets”, read Matthew 7:15 mfashumwana@fastmail.fm