EMBONISWENI TEMPLE 27 NOVEMBER 2010

Sermon by Rev: M.P Mpanza

Theme: THE CONCEPT OF SHEMBE IN THEW REALM OF ONE GOD.

Hymn 2 (Hymns of Nazarenes 2) verse 1-3 1. Help me, help me oh my Lord Trough this love of childhood Which never die Amen, Amen, oh my Lord. 2. Help me, help me oh my Lord Help me through death Oh my lord. Amen, Amen, oh my Lord. 3. To proclaim, to proclaim to all nations About this love of childhood Which never die Amen, Amen, oh my lord. Background Thank you, I did not finish to sing this song for I am trying to cover time. This song was sung by the Prophet Isaiah Shembe in 1913 when he first landed on Mount Nhlangakazi. When he sang he was alone. He sang this song all these 14 days in meditation on Nhlangakazi Mountain. It is the song of sorrow.

The theme of my sermon today is as follows: The concept Shembe in the realm of one God. It is now 100 years ubuNazaretha as a religion or faith was founded (by the Prophet Isaiah Shembe).

At first I wish to emphatically explain that ubuNazaretha is a religion which falls within these religions which belong to God who is called Jehovah. UbuNazaretha is a religion which belongs to the category of religions which believe in One God who is named Jehovah. UbuNazaretha falls in the same category as Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Its teaching is based on the laws of that One God. We can therefore safely call it a

monotheistic religion. This God is the greater of heaven and earth; He is the creator of everything.

It is always the case that when heavenly personalities come to this earth, they introduce themselves. They inform us where they come from, their purpose to this world and their nature. When God Jehovah first revealed Himself to the people and founded His religion through Moses.

He introduced Himself saying: I am God the creator of heaven and earth, I am God th e creator of everything, I am the Beginning and the End, and there is no God, but me.That is how Jehovah described Himself.

If we are those people who regard the Bible as our authoritative and sacred book, we are the people who believe in that God. Even if we may be different religions like Judaism, Christianity, Islam or ubuNazaretha, we however fall in the category of that God who introduced Himself to Moses.

When Jesus came to earth the angel described him. If I am not mistaken it is in Mathew 1:20. It was explained that Jesus is the Spirit of God, he came to earth to save people from their sins, and he is the Son of God. That is how he described himself to the Christians. If Christians preached about Christianity, they base their preachings on the teachings of their Lord Jesus Christ.

WHO IS SHEMBE Today my sermon specifically relates to Shembe, to explore how he introduced himself to his followers when he came to this earth. I have stated that this religion (ubuNazaretha) is now 100 years since it was founded by the Prophet. The founder therefore properly introduced himself, and whatever he described about himself he wrote down. Even these things God sent him to do, he wrote them down. Some of the things he merely verbally conveyed them to his followers, but a lot was written down. Unfortunately throughout these 100 years the theology of ubuNazaretha became unclear. Today, instead of improving, it fast deteriorates.

When I thought of the theme The concept Shembe in the realm of one God I am trying to address that challenge, to put it clearly that ubuNazaretha is the religion which teaches of one God whose name is Jehovah. It is the religion which does not differ from Judaism, Christianity and Islam. I am trying to make a clearly well understood faith, not an unsecure faith, which, when people follow it, end up not knowing what they are following. In 1931 Shembe described himself. Among other things Shembe said the following: What I know is that the Prophet lives in the firmament and waits for the nation which has gone astray. Then God sends him to that nation. When God has decided to send the Prophet to a particular nation to teach it ways of God, He then selects from that nation a young woman and young men who have a clean heart and bind them through love. When they are in love and about to marry, the Spiritual Prophet who lives in the firmament descends and dwell within a woman.

When a woman meets her husband and gets a child, this child is born with this Spirit in him, but is unaware. He grows up like all boys till he reaches the stage when God wants to reveal Himself and work through him. It is only then that everything is revealed to the man that in fact he is the Prophet of God.

Shembe then continued: This is exactly what happened to me. I was born like everybody; I grew up not being aware that I am a Prophet of God until God invited me to the Mount Nhlangakazi. On the Mount Nhlangakazi I stayed for 14 days waiting for God. I was always in meditation.

But one day the Lord of Host came to me. He then gave me the Holy Communion. After I had swallowed one, immediately I was transformed. I was suddenly cut off from men who are born of woman and man. I was immediately spiritually in heaven, on earth and underneath the earth. I was able to remember nations God had sent me to. I then knew that it was for the 5th time that I am the Prophet of the firmament, I am the Spiritual Prophet, I am the Prophet of heaven! For Shembe to relate this story was not the end, he composed hymn 71 which goes:

Hymn 71(Hymns of Nazarenes 71) 1. Lord thou loved me Before the mountains were strong Thou ever since anointed me I am the first of Thy way. 2. I am your work of old Before the Mountains were strong Before the fountains of water Poured so strong 3. Before the fountains of the rivers Poured so strong Jehovah created me Before His way. I did not read the whole song, but here I intend to show that this song is not about the prophet Isaiah Shembe whose mother is Sitheya and whose father is Mayekisa. This song speaks about the heavenly prophet (the Prophet of the firmament), this Prophet who has been in various nations, this Prophet who eventually came to this nation and was born of the maiden Sitheya and the lad Mayekisa. This hymn speaks about that person who has no mother, no father, no beginning nor end of days. It is that person Paul spoke about in Hebrew 7. It is this person Shembe is speaking about. However if you read hymn 134, it reads:

Hymn 134 (Hymns of Nazarenes 134) 1. May the Lord bless you, Servant of the Lord To spread His Word, Servant of the Lord All these nations All the nations under heaven. 2. May the Lord bless you, Servant of the Lord To live long under heaven All these nations are waiting All under heaven. 3. May the Lord bless you, Servant of the Lord Spread His Word, Servant of the Lord These nations are waiting All those under heaven.

This hymn does not refer to the Prophet discussed above (Prophet of the firmament). This hymn speaks about the early Prophet, the prophet in flesh, the born Prophet, the Mortal Prophet. This is the Prophet we prayed to God to save him saying Lord, may the Lord be with you, may the lord protect you from your enemy, may the Lord spread His Word through you This hymn refers to the Prophet Isaiah Shembe. I hope everyone understands the difference. But the fist hymn 71, when you read verse 3, it reads: Before the fountains of the rivers Poured so strong Jehovah created me. This means that even the Prophet of the firmament was created by Jehovah. This Spiritual Prophet of the firmament, who has no beginning or end of days, who has no father or mother, who was the first to be created by God, He was created by Jehovah! It is he who says that! Therefore when I speak about Shembe in the realm of one God I want to reveal that the IBandla lamaNazaretha has Shembe as its leader in flesh, who is born of a woman and a man, it has Shembe who is the Spirit in the firmament and above all it is owned by God Jehovah (the creator of these two persons)!

We are all under the creation and the rule of Jehovah. This churchs God is the creator of heaven and earth, His name is Jehovah! All this we are involved in, over activities, over strength, over manager of doing things, our blessing and our heaven is the heaven of Jehovah! Even the human Shembe who is possessed by the Spiritual Shembe, all these persons are under the creation and the rule of Jehovah.

This church has had four Prophets or leaders. The first ruler was the Prophet Isaiah Shembe, succeeded by the Lord Johannes Galilee Shembe, then the Lord Amos Kula Shembe and presently the lord Mbusi Vimbeni Shembe. There is always some questions posed as to how the Spirit of the heavenly Prophet, which descended upon the prophet Isaiah Shembe, passed on to his three successors.

In making illustrations, I will refer to the story which is found in the Bible which is II Kings 2: I will refer to certain incidents of this case. This is the story of the Prophet Elijah who in my

comparison was similar to Shembe (Prophet Isaiah Shembe). This Prophet was always in the company of a young man called Elisha, with whom he was spreading the gospel of the Lord. One day the Word of the Lord came to Elijah and informed him that he would be taken away to heaven by the chariot of fire.

Before he parted with this young man Elijah told the boy these bad news, but told him to ask for anything before they parted. Elisha asked that the Spirit of Elijah be twice multiplied upon him. Elijahs answer was, you have asked for such a big thing, but if you see me being taken away from you, that would mean my Spirit is upon you, but if you do not see me being taken from you, that would mean that you did not inherit my Spirit why did the Prophet Elijah say that? He was revealing that the transfer of Spirit from one person to another was not within his powers; this was within Gods power and authority. The Prophet cannot choose who will be a successor in Prophecy. It is only God who can decide who will succeed another Prophet. It is God who chose Moses but Moses did not choose Joshua. Joshua was chosen by God. So was the case with Elijah, he could not choose this young man. It was only God who could choose Elisha. Even the Prophet Isaiah Shembe did not on his own choose his successors, they were chosen by God.

I wish to refer to the verses 6-8 of hymn 220. I did speak about these verses last Saturday, explaining that they were written by the Prophet on the 1 May 1935 whilst the Prophet was already bedridden. He passed away on the 2nd May 1935 on Thursday morning at 09h00 whilst the verses had been written in the afternoon on the 1st May 1935 at about 16h30. They are the last message Shembe gave before his Spirit departed. Last I emphasise that members of the church ought to know by heart these verses. We shall repeat them:

Hymn 220 (Hymns of Nazarenes 220) verse 6-8 6. Lord of heavens and earth You will soon call me Do not forget your people The holy amaNazaretha 7. Raise one from my house To lead your people Give him the heart

Which is like yours. Touch and anoint him With the oil of mercy 8. My flesh is tired It will lie in the grave My spirit shall rise And cover the new flesh. I am of primeval born For ever I shall be. These verses are not a WILL; these verses are a prayer of a person who was about to leave this earth and praying to God. The Prophet did not appoint his successor the Lord J.G Shembe, He had no power to do so for he did not appoint himself to lead this church.

When the chariot of fire, came to take Elijah, Elisha saw him leaving and he lamented and for his clothes. When Elijah left, his cloak was left behind. Elisha took this cloak and went to the river Jordan. When he came to the river he loudly shouted saying, Jehovah, God of Elijah, where are you? when he hit the water with the cloak, the water separated. It then became clear that the Spirit of Elijah was upon Elisha, the powers of Elijah were upon Elisha. The bible says that the sons of the Prophets of Jericho exclaimed saying, Indeed the Spirit of Elijah is upon Elisha, they did not say the Spirit of Jehovah is upon Elisha. They said the Spirit of Elijah is upon Elisha, and they went to him and bowed before him.

On the contrary, the sons of the Prophets of eKuphakameni, when the Spirit of God descended upon their uncle (A.K Shembe) they said, The spirit cannot descend upon our uncle and not upon us who are the sons of the Prophets. They started to look at their family tree to ascertain that according to the family tree, so and so is supposed to be the Prophet and not uncle. They then exclaimed No, our uncle is a regent! ( As if this is chief relationship). But the sons of the Prophets of Jericho, when they saw that the Spirit of Elijah was upon Elisha, they ran to him and bowed before him, for they were taught about heavenly matters.

I wish to emphasize this, that this church does not belong to any person; there are no men who ever came together and started this church. This is not the church of men or of some

people. This church does not belong to Shembe in flesh; this church does not belong to Shembe in Spirit, but Shembe, who came with this church, taught us who owns this church. He wrote down everything and instructed us to read his writings. He wrote this is in the Morning Prayer, in the evening and in the Sabbath Prayer.

Shembe says: You congregation of the Creator of heaven and earth, we now respect the great Day (Sabbath Day) which was respected by our Father the Creator of heaven and earth, when he finished creating heaven and earth, and everything, Praise Him who is worthy to be praised!. Shembe then gave us a heavenly exclamation which is said by angels and the holy ones of heaven. Let it be, let it be the praise on earth, and above, Praise Jehovah, Amen.

Hymn 159 (Hymns of Nazarenes 159) verse 5 We thank thee our Lord God of EKuphakameni Praise ye congregations Who dwell on the above (Heaven) There is the multitude of this earth On their way to reach the above. I am speaking one thing that this church does not belong to any person. At some stage the lord J.G Shembe once delved this issue. He was clarifying hymn 73. This hymn goes like this from verse 3: Hymn 73 (Hymns of Nazarenes 73) verse 3 The beautiful rock Of the amaNazaretha Which Jehovah chose For He likes it.

The beautiful rock Of the amaNazaretha Which Jehovah chose For He likes it, he has adorned himself three times with ubuNazaretha in one year, before the whole universe. Then our Lord ILanga (J.G Shembe) clarifying this hymn said, this church does not belong to me, this church does not belong to my brothers, he said these words pointing to his

brothers his elder brother Stanley and Inyangayezulu (Amos) This church does not belong to them, this church does not belong to the Priests, this church belongs to God , this church belongs to Jehova, this church belongs to the Creator of Heaven and earth. Do you understand what i am saying? (Amein: said the congregation) Therefore these leaders that God gave us did not appoint each other, but were appointed by God. The person who leads this church is always appointed by God because it is his (church). Do you understand me? (Amein!)

The sons of the Prophets of Jericho exclaimed saying, Indeed the Spirit of Elijah is upon Elisha, they did not say the Spirit of Jehovah is upon Elisha. They said the Spirit of Elijah is upon Elisha, and they went to him and bowed before him. On the contrary, the sons of the Prophets eKuphakameni, when the Spirit of God descended upon their uncle (A.K Shembe) they said, The spirit cannot descend upon our uncle and not upon us who are the sons of the Prophets. That is where the problem lies. I wish you to know that in order that a human Shembe becomes a spiritual Shembe he must be in communication with a spiritual Shembe or be imbued with spiritual Shembe. According to Mathew 1:20 Jesus is described as the Holy Spirit but in Mathew 3:16 the spirit of the Lord was seen upon him. The question is, if Jesus was the Holy Spirit, which Holy Spirit was descending upon him in terms of Mathew 3? The Holy Spirit spoken of in Mathew 1 was the Spirit which identified him as the selected one of God, whereas the Holy Spirit in Mathew 3 was the Spirit which empowered him to do the work of God. It is the same thing with Shembe the human. Shembe is not capable of healing without being endowed with the power to heal by the spiritual Shembe. It occurred at some stage that Shembe (A.K. Shembe) was engaged in praying for the sick and the crippled were made to walk. Shembe would point at a person and order him/her to rise and walk and the cripple would likewise rise and be healed. As a result many people took the crippled to be healed as they had heared of this miraculous healing. I hope you understand what i am saying. Shembe said something quite unexpected, saying I see many people bringing the cripple to me so that i can cause them to walk, i do not know how to make the cripple to walk he then further explained When i first caused the cripple to walk i was praying for the sick and

a crippled person was brought to me. I then heard a voice and i heard that it was the voice of my father (Prophet Isaiah Shembe) the voice said: Tell him to stand up and walk. The voice repeated the words twice however, i became hesitant. After that i heard another voice which was now scolding me saying; dont you hear what is being said? It is said that you must tell this person to stand up and walk! I heard that it was the voice of the Lord of Ekuphakameni (J.G.Shembe). i then said : stand up and walk! And indeed the crippled man miraculously stood up and walked.

Then father A.K. Shembe said whenever I say a person should stand up and walk it is not my instruction, i follow the word of heaven which instructs me to tell a person to stand up and walk. I cannot on my own cause the cripple to walk, if i do that the person will not walk.

I then remembered the book of Deutoronomy 18:19-20 where God says that, i will put my words into his mouth, what he utters it will happen but if the Prophet speaks on his own without being instructed by me it will not happen Shembe then said I will not do what i am not instructed to do by the word. This story reminds me the story of Jesus found in Mathew, i think it is in verse 13 where Jesus says He will not speak of his own but he will speak of what he has been told or heard and will tell you things to come. Shembe was causing the cripple to stand on the instruction of the word coming from the Prophets of the firmament, which then passed to the Prophet of the earth who then passed it to the sick, it then worked.

It does happen sometimes that we say that the angel has forsaken us when we see that things are not in order. When we say that we have been forsaken by the angel the human Shembe is always with us. This is because it is the spiritual Shembe who causes things to happen, all things are done by an angel and the angel passes them to the Shembe in flesh. May the Lord bless what you have heard. We will close this sermon by singing hymn 71. 1. My Lord you loved me Before the mountains solidified From eternity you anointed me, I am the beginning of your path.

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2. I am the work of your hands From ancient times Before the steep inclines solidified And the water springs Flowed so rapidly 3. And the rivers Were not yet rapidly flowing Jehovah created me Before his path 4. Before the creation of the depths Long before i was already born Before he created the sky And this earth 5. Before the sun shone In the firmament Before the moon shone In the firmament Let us pray

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