Zimbabwe Police Label TB Joshua A Sorcerer

Evangelical and Pentecostal Christianity are powerful forces in sub-Saharan politics. So, too, is the belief in prophecy and sorcery.

In Zimbabwe, it is tense times, with uncertainty about President Robert Mugabe’s health, the dates of the next election, and whether constitutional and other reforms will be achieved. Taken together, faith and politics are the context for the Zimbabwean partisan wrangling over a Nigerian Pentecostal preacher.

Zimbabwean prime minister and opposition presidential candidate Morgan Tsvangirai has allegedly invited the Nigerian televangelist and faith healer Temitope Balogun (‘TB’) Joshua to Harare to be the guest speaker on Africa Day, May 25, a “National Day of Prayer.” In response, the police, dominated by President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party, are pulling out all of the stops to prevent the visit. A senior police officer accuses Joshua of being a “false prophet,” and screened at the Harare police headquarters a video that dwells on Joshua’s alleged womanizing, titled “T.B. Joshua’s Evil Doings Finally Revealed.” Close Mugabe ally, the schismatic Anglican bishop Nolbert Kunonga, accuses Joshua of “Satanism” and of being “diabolical.” Previously, other pro ZANU-PF clergy have claimed on state-controlled media that Joshua’s preaching is “judgmental, partisan, and unorthodox.” The apparent anger of Mugabe’s supporters also reflects that many Zimbabweans, like others in sub-Sahara Africa, treat prophesy, “Satanism,” and the “diabolical” with deadly seriousness. Hence, the denunciation of Joshua as a “false” prophet.

Joshua earlier prophesized that “an African leader” would die in sixty days. In fact, the president of Malawi died shortly thereafter. More recently, he has prophesied that another “African leader” will fall “critically ill’ and be hospitalized soon.

For Mugabe, who reportedly suffers from prostate cancer and seeks medical treatment in Singapore regularly, this “prophecy” is probably too close to home. It doesn’t help that Joshua has apparently been invited to Zimbabwe by Tsvangirai who might somehow benefit from Joshua’s charismatic preaching whenever the elections are held.

An estimated 15,000 attend Joshua’s Nigerian services on Sundays, at his Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN). He also runs Emanuel TV, which broadcasts via satellite and Internet. He has affiliated congregations in Ghana, the UK, South Africa, and Greece. Zimbabwe police are reportedly investigating a “fraudster” church in Harare allegedly linked to Joshua. His faith healing ministrations have included South African rugby players.

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Men who have an extramarital affair more likely to die of a heart attack

Researchers in Italy examined monogamy among men and discovered an interesting correlation -- having an extramarital affair increases men’s risk of having a deadly heart attack.

It’s almost cliché: a middle-age man having s*x with a woman who is not his wife keels over in flagrante delicto, what’s known as sudden coital death (oh yes, it has a medical name). But like some stereotypes, it appears to be based in truth, says Dr. Marc Gillinov, a heart surgeon at The Cleveland Clinic and co-author of the book "Heart 411," which looks at cases of sudden coital death, among other cardiac events. (Gillinov did not participate in this study.)

The researchers -- from the University of Florence -- examined the medical literature related to cheating by searching for “unfaithfulness,” “extramarital affairs,” “infidelity” and “men.” Reliable statistics about cheating are hard to find because most people claim to be morally opposed to cheating and don’t chat to scientists about it. The authors report that anywhere from 15 to 25 percent to as many as 30 to 50 percent of men cheat at least once in their lives. Then the researchers looked at a variety of physical and mental health factors and the rates they occur in both monogamous and un-monogamous men.

Doctors have long known that men live longer if they consistently have sex into old age, but knocking boots only provides a health boost if it occurs with the same partner in a familiar place. Sex into old age only helps if you’re doing it with your spouse. Sudden coital death occurs most frequently when a man engages in coitus with a woman who is not his long-term partner.

While scorned wives might believe these results make sense on a karmic level, the authors found them surprising. Generally, cheating men have better hormonal and vascular function, meaning they’re healthier than monogamous men (finally, a reason to be excited that your man is a couch potato).

But the authors believe that the act of trying to keep an affair secret might contribute to cheating men’s increased risk of a deadly heart attack.

“It’s the added stress of trying to have a secret affair,” says Gillinov. “You are doing things that you don’t normally do.”

Cheating men frequently have affairs with younger partners and these men feel they have to drink, smoke, and eat more to keep up with their mistresses. All this adds up to increased heart rate, blood pressure, and anxiety, which can contribute to a heart attack. Although, s*x itself is no more strenuous than walking up a few flights of stairs.

“It’s also like there is a medical reason for fidelity,” Gillinov says.

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