MELLOW JAMS FROM PASTOR G

Urban contemporary gospel thoroughbred Pastor G’s stellar offering “Unstoppable Rhythm, Worship and Praise” is a fitting milestone for his fifteen years in the fraternity.

The fourteen-track album, which is replete with mellow jams and powerful biblical messages, is a throwback to the early hits which endeared Pastor G with gospel music lovers.

Most of the tracks affirm and celebrate of the beauty of the Christian identity, without reverting to self-praise (an error that must be exorcised from gospel music).

“The Remedy” is already doing well on the charts but I am sure it will soon be overtaken by other tracks, especially “Tatora,” should they get fair rotation on air.

Featured artists Mau Mau, Petronella Gobvu-Sengwayo, Marbel Madondo, Tatenda and Prophecy bring their own flair aboard for an overall rich worship experience.

Born Stanley Gwanzura in 1970, Pastor G, stormed the arena at the turn of the millennium and was consistent with popular hits such as “Tshibilika,” “Handifambi Ndega,” “Zvichanaka” and “My Home.”

He had a stint at Power FM’s fortnightly gospel show “Beats with a Message,” a platform which was also graced by another gospel great before him, Brian Sibalo, during the Radio 3 years.

After taking a min-sabbatical to attend to his studies, his rebound performances with Zimpraise, notably on “It’s All About Jesus” came as a pleasant surprise for starved fans.

And now the giant performer has gathered himself together for a massive comeback, recording a live DVD concurrently with the launch of “Unstoppable” a few weeks ago.

Pastor G, is far from losing his mojo if his latest offering is anything to go by. The album is the work is seasoned from the confectionary as presaged by the opening track “Makeke.”

The album has the marks of a mature offering, with the sound is flawlessly mastered, the vocals effortlessly melodious and the message thoroughly biblical.

One can fall in love with one track, play it on repeat hours on end, pick another favourite, amazed while they had not discovered it earlier and so forth.

Pastor G is one of the gospel musicians who have defined a niche. The consistent quality which runs the tapestry of the album is commendable and an affirmation that homework is mandatory.

Even when he picks hymns from the public domain his rendering of them still mesmerises if just for the quality of vocal and instrumental delivery.

Popular hymns (originally Methodist, I believe) “Mwari Muri Zuva,” “Ndinoshamiswa Kwazvo” and “Hakuna Hama” are seasoned with a confector’s touch and given a whole new feel.

I have previously faulted the recycling of hymns as an excuse for lack of creativity but I deign to retract. New renditions, when well-executed, give hymns a new lease of life.

Oliver Mtukudzi, for one, has done a great job with hymns on “Pfugama Unamate,” “Rumbidzai Jehovah” and at least one other gospel album (apparently both the earliest and the best of the trilogy) which I have been looking for in vain.

“Tatora,” my personal favourite from “Unstoppable,” is a celebratory jam which celebrates possession of the gates and operation under an open heaven.

“Tatora chimzvimbo edu, tatora makomborero edu, tatora iyo favour yedu, tatora. Tapinda mujoy, tapinda mufavour, tapinda tapinda, tatora,” the chorus celebrates tapping into the inheritance of the saints.

I commend music from this realm of revelation because it unapologetically stands on Bible truth instead of griping on a sub-scriptural level of engagement.

Pastor G joyfully announces on the outset: “This is a voice crying out in the wilderness, a clarion call going out to all world-changers, history-makers; all those who want to make a difference. This is the generation that should take back what the enemy has stolen. Tatora!”

It is a statement that influence is changing hands; an affirmation of the Bible prophecy that the mountain of God will be exalted in the last days; an end-time manifestation of the sons and daughters of God.

The title track “Unstoppable,” which merges personal testimony, biblical exhortation to hold on to faith because God always ultimately and a colloquial catch-phrase “I am unstoppable, zvaabho, zvaabho.”

Tracks “Ndinovimba Nemi,” “Wengoni,” “River,” “Greater,” “Worship Medley” and “Heart of a Lion” make up the rest of the album.

"MUSIC FROM THE HOUSE" OF DAVID

LDC Choir in action

The House of David, one of the twin ensembles of Sam Manyika’s Mainsound Music stable, shares the worship ethic of its namesake and flagship psalmist King David.

The group’s latest offering “Music from the House” is a refreshing worship toolkit, jam-packed with applicable biblical messages.

Subtitled “Heavenly Download,” the album has the marks of wholesome gospel music – artistic edge, doctrinal angle and spiritual impact.

Sharon Manyika Machingura, Martha Zindana Mangisi, Udzu Paradza and Vimbai Mazendama deliver the vocals while Wanda Zonke’s saxophone underlies the whole effort with a jazzy signature.

The album features eight tracks all written by Pastor Manyika except for one by Udzo Paradza and a chorus in the public domain.

Just as the essence of action in Brazil right now is playing to score, the opening track “Zvinoendesa” reminds Christians that the essence of religion is praying to make heaven.

The song reminds Christians that having a good church, a range of posh rides, an anointed pastor and wealthy fellow congregants are all legitimate blessings to be cherished but not qualification enough to enter heaven.

One must individually have a note of conviction, without hiding behind pastors, denominational attributes and material possessions, that they are saved and going to heaven.

“Mupedza Nhamo” urges constant prayer as the way to stay firewalled from trouble and as the secret for basking in the power of God.

“Ndiye” emphasises the centrality of Jesus Christ to the gospel message, commendably so because there is no gospel apart from Jesus, no salvation without his cross, no remission of sins without his blood and no portal to heaven except his name.

The track points to Jesus as the all-sufficient enabler for peace, crossing over to destiny, victory over life’s challenges and continual rejuvenation for greater exploits.

“Richawa” recalls the David-Goliath story to show that no challenge is insurmountable as long as one is backed by the conquering Lion of Judah.

“Pembera, pembera parigwa mukono zvinotyisa zvaenda,” the song celebrates victory over the devil, disease, poverty, disgrace and tribulation.

In “Zvose Ndinoita” the persona declares unsparing commitment to the whole duty of saints, including the exercise of spiritual gifts, the study of God’s Word, tithing and giving, just he used to be committed to sin – small houses and all – before coming to Jesus.

“Hande” urges an entrepreneurial spirit among saints. It beckons the listener out of the comfort zone to prosperity, intimating that the “pillar of cloud” is one the move and the listener can only remain behind at their own peril.

Udzo’s song “Sevamwe” is a challenge to self-examination as to whether we are still in the faith. The song warns against holding on to a form of godliness while forfeiting its power and commends the listener to go back in time and weed out all the “lying vanities” devouring their blessings.

House of David’s sister ensemble, The Living Word Deliverance (LDC) Choir, is also on point with a recent live DVD entitled “Songs of Deliverance.”

Songs of Deliverance

I failed to establish which is the better project between the two because both offerings speak life to the soul like wholesome Christian must do, convicting, challenging and reawakening the listener to greater spiritual possibilities.

Also outstanding about the music is a consistent commitment to quality. The presentation is impassioned, painstaking and, altogether, worth the effort.

In addition to House of David vocalists, LDC features gospel thoroughbred Stanley Gwanzura (Pastor G), who staged his own live recording at Seven Arts last weekend, and Ruben Malgas.

Fifteen tracks, including “Let My People Go,” “Kana Ndichiona Ropa,” “Pane Amboona Pharaoh?” “Ruzha! Ruzha” and Sharon’s breakthrough track “Wakakosha,” all performed live, are featured on this offering.

The project is a “musical excursion that follows the deliverance and exodus of the children of God from Israel,” Pastor Manyika explains.

“As the story unfolds, the beauty of the music makes us experience the whole experience of the love and determination of God in fulfilling His promises to His people,” those that he chose to be His own,” he says.

LDC is bent on identification and projection. Viewers are tipped to locate themselves within the Mosaic odyssey and remaster confidence to make it to the end as God helps them.

“Herein we can identify with the deliverance story and with the never-changing, everlasting God of deliverance,” says Pastor Manyika.

INTELLECTUAL CERTITUDE IN CHRISTIAN THOUGHT

What's So Great about Christianity

A thread of secular-themed perspectives has flared up in the public arena to short-circuit Christianity’s claim to relevance in modern society.

Sceptical authorities, across the disciplines, are approaching Christianity from a combative angle, to diminish the faith into a residue of primitive dispensations.

Secularist notables such as Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx, Fredrick Nietzsche and Charles Darwin, have emerged as the poster-boys of the “post-Christian enlightenment.”

The gangly coalition has diffused incredulity to a point where secularist outlook is the new mainstream among laboratories of culture, while Christianity is fast becoming a preserve of extremists and isolates.

However, besides its sustained mojo outside cultural elites, Christianity boasts a rich intellectual tradition which merits closer recognition in the creative arts, criticism and apologetics.

Some of the most enduring influences in the annals of literature, John Milton, Samuel Johnson, Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, T.S Eliot, G.K Chesterton and C.S Lewis, wrote overtly to “justify the ways of God men.”

In the realm of apologetics, Lee Strobel, Carl Wieland, Ray Comfort, Alister and Joanna McGrath and others have demonstrated that Christianity is far from the intellectually bankrupt syllabus of errors that it has been branded to be.

Had great minds such as Joseph Addison, Blaise Pascal and Isaac Newton lived today, they might have been labelled the black sheep of science and philosophy, owing to the near consensus that the God hypothesis is anathema from academia.

The few apologists still holding their own are lone criers, out of pitch with the symphony of their time, but it would be grossly prejudicial to muzzle them on a “truth by numbers” mob justice clause.

D’Souza’s apologetics toolkit “What’s So Great about Christianity” is an example of the growing inventory of articulate and forceful refutations of the “God is dead” hypothesis.

“What’s So Great about Christianity” is an unsparing examination of the arguments and rhetoric underlying the secularist ferment.

The achievement of the book is its commitment to open inquiry. Open inquiry not only promises rich academic pickings but acknowledges that both believers and non-believers may be on different levels of the same ontological ladder as honest truth-seekers, hence deserve equal attention.

So instead of tapping into indoctrinatory mode and riding roughshod over alternate schools of thought with more dogma than reason, D’Souza engages atheists on their own terms (but does not allow them to leave to leave the boxing ring with nosebleed).

The book short-circuits such simplistic and overstretched assumptions as “Christianity is obsolete,” “an intelligent person cannot believe the Bible” and “Christianity has been disproven by the Bible.”

However, De’Souza’s problem statement paints a bleak picture of Christianity’s functionality in the contemporary laboratories of culture.

“No longer does Christianity form the moral basis of society. Many of us now reside in secular communities, where arguments drawn from the Bible or Christian revelation carry no weight, and where we hear a different language spoken in church,” D’Souza observes.

“Instead of engaging this secular world, most Christians have taken the easy way out. They have retreated into a Christian subculture where they engage Christian concerns.

“Then they step back into the secular society where their Christianity is kept out of sight until the next church service,” he says.

D’Souza’s prefatory alarm faults today’s Christians for being one more bunch of post-modernists who live a gospel of two truths; the religious truth reserved for Sunday and the secular truth which applies the rest of the week.

The problem with such a comfort zone is that it belies the self-sustaining convictions and institutes of Christianity and shirks the responsibility to “contend earnestly for the faith.”

Christians have embraced with relief Gould’s peace brokerage, the supposition of “Non-overlapping magisteria” (NOMA), which divides the public arena between reason and faith.

NOMA rules that the secular society relies on reason and decides matters of fact while the religious community relies on faith and decides on matters of values.

Christians’ acceptance of the pact and a generally pacifist disposition in the realm of debate has not spared the faith a series of polemics from atheists and agnostics unapologetically bent to antagonism.

“The God Delusion,” “End of Faith” and “God is Not So Great” are among the aggressive anti-faith polemics which seek to dismiss Christianity at all costs.

The best way to get around the hostility is not retreating deeper into oblivion and ceding free ammunition to sceptics. Nay, man to man, fire for fire, argument against argument.

There is no room for ambiguity and pacifism (in the realm of debate not warfare, lest I play into the hands of gleeful literalists) in Christian thought.

Christianity is by its very nature a clarion call to controversy. The Great Commission is a mandate of universal evangelism (based on specific not ambivalent claims) which does not come with a guarantee of safe sail but anticipates hostility, reproach and tribulation.

Dostoyevsky

The first fortress no atheist can dismantle in this debate is the fact that science’s assignment of a definite beginning for the universe in time and space inevitably points to an intelligent first cause.

“If every effect in nature has cause, what is the cause of nature itself? Is it even remotely reasonable to suggest that nature created itself? If for a single instant there was nothing in existence – no matter, no universe, no God – then how could there be anything at all?” queries D’Souza.

It rationally follows that the world was made and someone made it even though, on the level of empirical enquiry, we may not be able to determine what kind of creator made the universe. That creator and intelligent first cause Christianity calls God.

“Our world looks so physical, yet we can know with scientific certainty that it was the result of a force beyond physics…Science has discovered a reality which it had previously consigned to the domain of faith,” D’Souza says.

Observes Gerald Schroeder: “Theology presents a fixed view of the universe. Science, through its progressively improved understanding of the world has come to agree with theology.”

D’Souza attributes the “survival of the sacred” to the fact that some of the most important ideas and institutions of modern life emanate from Christianity

Atheism is more of a death-knell than a stimulus to such key values such as relief and elevation for the suffering and the preservation of the family institution.

D’Souza’s book is, however, needlessly flawed by his erroneous classification of Christianity as a Western religion.

Western Christendom has, through subservience into an instrument of political expediency, done more harm than good to Christianity.

Complicity with, participation in and perpetration of unforgivable atrocities such as the Inquisition, crusades, slavery and colonialism shows that the Westernisation of Christianity did more to manipulate, pervert, contradict and undermine than to advance the faith.

Christianity has a universal import which cannot be compartmentalised into narrow demographics as to do so forfeits Paul’s rainbow manifesto that “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

There still remains to answer atheists’ charge about Christianity being a menace to civil peace – a charge buttressed by the foregoing atrocities.

Thankfully, Dostoyevsky wades in just on time. His novel “The Brothers Karamazov,” tells a story of the grand iniquistor, in which Christ himself appears before the tribunal, only to be recognised, thrown into prison and told to “go and never return again.”

“The reason is clear. Christ’s teachings are those of a peacemaker. They are the very opposite of the persecutions and violence that has sometimes been perpetrated in the name of Christianity,” D’Souza says.