There is a picture on social media currently causing a spectacle in which a particular well clad ‘Remnant Prophet’ mimics the ‘Triumphal Entry’ with his followers laying down palm branches. It seems like the picture is from his last year’s visit to Angola.

That it resurfaces at this time of the year when Christians are celebrating Christ’s entry into Jerusalem one week to His death revives the discussion. But unlike Christ, we may not be seeing the crucifixion of the current ‘prophet.’

Elvis Mbonye is a man who for many is larger than life. Some worship as they kiss his shoes. They indeed raise their petitions to him in their time of crisis, even producing poetry, honoring him as a god in their ecstasy. And they mean all of this, defending their actions with a sort of wolfish zeal.

I showed this picture of Mbonye to one of my Canadian friends with whom we go to church. ‘You have to give it to him’ my friend quipped, ‘he is well dressed.’ I nodded. And apart from his savvy choice of suits, his predictions are admittedly quite spot on. That is why he manages to maintain the following he has.

Last year someone asked me to write about Zoe Fellowship, and although from the start my conviction was that what goes on at the Kyadondo Grounds is quite bizarre and unbiblical, I chose not to address it then. I find it prudent to write something now.

A brief cultural background should be proper for us to understand why Mbonye, Bushiri and the likes succeed in what they do.

The field of prophecy is one that has always been intriguing for an African. Tertullian’s supposed Montanism is a classic example of this hunger in our hearts as Africans for the prophetic word. Now whether Tertullian himself was a Montanist is a discussion for another day.

The African heart yearns for the supernatural and is restless in the mundane, the reason why some people go to church on Sunday and visit a witch doctor on Wednesday and see no contradiction.

When a well-branded man combines the sound of the sacred with the ‘demonstration’ of the supernatural, the African is won over. And if the surgical sword of Scripture has hardly shaped his desires, this lure for quick sensual displays dissolves into a deadly delight.

It is thus essential for us to see how we make our preachers. The ‘prophets’ we love are a reflection of our hearts. First, we deceive ourselves, and then we seek for who else can fan the flames of false fantasies in our hearts. In the words of the Apostle Paul, we do not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have our ears tickled, we accumulate for ourselves teachers in accordance to our desires, turning away our ears from the truth to myths (2 Tim. 4:3-4)

False prophets and teachers do not succeed in deceiving us without our cooperation. We grow them, and they feed on us. We nurture them, buy their lies at a high cost, supply them with our praise, and as they fully grow they plunge their teeth down to where it hurts, choking us to death.

‘Your prophets have seen for you, false and deceptive visions; they have not uncovered your iniquity, to bring back your captives, but have envisioned for you false prophecies and delusions (Lam 2:14).

The success of Mbonye’s prediction ministry does depend on us closing our Bibles. We do not ‘search the scriptures’ to see if these things are so (Acts 17:11). Just as it is with the witchdoctor, we trust fully with our hearts those whose promises confirm our wishes. We do not ponder or pray.

It is as if when we received Christ as Lord, our heads were left on the altar, or served to Herodias on a silver platter. If indeed we have tasted and seen Christ and not lied to ourselves, for the nature of deception is such that we deceive ourselves that we are not deceived. We may think we are remnants when we are actually reprobate.

We do not love sound doctrine, and we do not like the hard work of studying scripture on our own. And because sound doctrine is far from us, ‘prophetic’ fellowships mushroom around us, and we even lack an understanding of the distinction between prophecy and prediction.

The Difference between Prophecy and Prediction

In the Old Testament, God spoke to His people through prophets who were ordained by Him. Like the priests and kings, the office of the prophet was to point to the coming one, the second Moses. We remember Moses carried out the functions of a priest, prophet, and king of Israel (and so did Samuel). But apart from these two, God set up three offices to keep Israel in His ways until Christ, who is the true Priest-King-Prophet.

Every Old Testament Prophet was a pointer to Christ who is the fulfillment of that office. That is why Jesus could say ‘For all the prophets and the Law prophesied until John’ (Matt. 11:13). John was the last Prophet of the Old Testament caliber. Whoever now uses the Old Testament to establish his authenticity as a prophet is a liar.

But we also should know that the Old Testament speaks of many who claimed to be prophets and predicted things that came to pass (Deut. 13:1-3). And yet we are warned against them, for the Bible calls them liars.

In other words, just because someone’s prediction comes to pass, it does not mean that God has sent him. It is possible for the messengers of Satan to appear as servants of light.

Jesus tells us of such men on the last day in Matt. 7:15-22: “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits.’ And ‘Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name, perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’

Notice that Jesus does not say that He no longer knows them, but ‘I never knew you.’ This distinction is crucial. Jesus is telling us that it is possible to prophesy ‘in Jesus’ name’ when you never belong to Him. So how do we know who belongs to Him?

‘You shall know them by their fruit.’ From the context, the fruit does not refer to their predictions, but rather their character and doctrine. Listen to what Paul speaks to Timothy in 1 Tim. 4:16: ‘Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.’

A man who has no expository preaching has no business on the pulpit. And whoever claims to speak for God but is oblivious to what God has spoken through scripture and history is not a Remnant but a Liar. He is a wolf in a sheep’s skin, a false prophet. Christianity is 2000 years old, and we should be skeptical of someone who claims to teach anything new.

Prediction is not prophecy, and just because someone’s predictions come to pass, this does not mean he is a Man of God. ‘For Satan, himself transforms himself into an angel of light’ (2 Corinthians 11:14).

Conclusion

Remember that we nurture false teaching by our silence or our praise. We, however, must be like Bereans who searched their Bibles daily to see ‘if these things are so.’ We must not leave our brains home when coming to these ‘fellowships.’

We must read our Bibles and pray every day if we want to grow. No one can do this for us brothers and sisters. The hunger for the prophetic must be fulfilled by Christ as revealed in Scripture, for God who at various times in various ways spoke to us through the prophets has in these last days spoken to us by His Son (Heb 1:1-2). Jesus is enough brethren, so let your joy be complete in Him.

Do not also forget that ‘The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason, God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness’ (2 Thess. 2:10-12).