Gay Community Hits Back at Zimbawes’s United Family Int.Church an Anti Human Rights Enclave


                                          

Gay remarks storm ... Emmanuel Makandiwa
  
ZIMBABWE’S beleaguered gay community has hit back at United Family International Church (UFIC) leader, Prophet Emmanuel Makandiwa who in a recent church sermon described them as mentally sick.
Makandiwa said homosexuals are mentally deranged people whom God has "surrendered to their malfunctioning minds".

“God never thought anyone could do what they are doing,” Makandiwa was quoted as saying in State media this past Sunday.
“Men trying to be women, women trying to be men, trying to run away from the natural way of things, that’s a result of a reprobate mind.”
He continued: “What amazes me is that some of these people are billionaires. Some of these people with reprobate minds are in political positions.
“Now they are passing laws to support homosexuality, defending their reprobate minds. You can’t even advise them against it, they can even arrest you for that.”
But speaking through their advocacy group, the Gays and Lesbians Association of Zimbabwe (GALZ), the local LGBT community strongly condemned the popular prophet’s comments, further threatening to expose fellow gays and association members who form Makandiwa’s big congregation.
“It is one thing for you to remain silent or neutral about homosexuality; it is quite another for you to castigate us when some of your followers are LGBTI people themselves hence statements such as the ones quoted in the Sunday Mail hinder his ability to reach out to the people that yearn for God’s love,” GALZ said in a statement.
“We should learn to show compassion and be willing to associate with those that bear the burdens of life placed upon them by others.
“Prophet Makandiwa must have conviction of the power of the Gospel he preaches to “convert”. He needs not be a modern day “Pharisee”. We are reminded of (Matthew 23:13-15).”
GALZ also accused Makandiwa of trying to impress Zimbabwe’s powerful rulers, among them rabid critics of homosexuality.
Said Galz, “One of the fundamental roles of the church is to foster love, unity, and empathy and cohesion in society.
“This does not seem to be reflected in his offensive comments that serve only to reinforce the prejudice against LGBTI people in this country and encourage persecution.
“Being a pastor is more about being willing to be led by God and changed by the people you meet than issuing infallible decrees from the pulpit.


“As a pastor and Christian, in order to serve his flock well, he might do so by admitting he is wrong and sharing his frailty than pretending he knows God's will on a given subject.
"We hope he will understand that manipulating the authority of the church to fight political battles is the most blatant sin and that he prays for a day when the question of one’s sexuality will become irrelevant and discrimination against lesbian, gay bisexual and transgender people will be relegated to the same heap containing slavery, racism (including anti-Semitism), sexism and discrimination against socially marginalized groups and people.”
Zimbabwe's gays have largely been an inconspicuous lot with most gay unions made in strict secrecy.
President Robert Mugabe has been their number one critic, at one point describing them as "worse than pigs and dogs".

At his recent 90th birthday bash, Mugabe said they were abusing their God-given sexual organs.


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