False teachers are taking the African church by storm.
Some of the worst theological aberrations from the West have found home and are thriving in Africa. The Health & Prosperity Gospel, Little-gods Theology, and Name-it-Claim-it ministries have mushroomed across Central, Eastern and Southern Africa over the past twenty years. These ministries assure people that they have god-like power to speak their desires into reality, as long as you believe God will deliver the goods.
Many in the west rejoice to see the gospel taking root in Africa. Sadly in many cases the true gospel of Jesus Christ is being lost in a mad-pursuit for immediate here-&-now solutions for sickness, impotence, bad luck, business failure, barrenness, and a host of other maladies. The authority of Scripture has been substituted for the authority of “prophets” and the authority of personal experience.
African prosperity preachers are some of the richest men on the continent. One extremely popular Nigerian prophet has a large following in Zambia. Those who can afford to make pilgrimages to his church in Lagos in hope that they will be healed. Now this prophet sells bottles of holy water that is widely popular in Zambia. The bottle of water has a label with this message: “Anointing water: For good health & Breakthrough in all areas of your life and for the SALVATION OF YOUR SOUL.” Holy water is so popular in churches that the Zambian government has expressed concern because of people who stop taking their drugs for HIV believing that holy water has healed them.
In response to these theological aberrations our 10th annual Leadership Conference at CABC dealt with the theme: