We thank the Lord for his faithful and fearless Servant Pastor Mpfariseni Mukhuba who when the South African government threatened to close the doors of the church in South Africa during the Covid-19 pandemic didn't keep quiet but advocated for the churches of God to remain open because closing the doors of the church is unbiblical. She also encouraged the saints to not accept being told not to go to church and she always reminded them of the scripture in Hebrews 10:25 that says, " Do not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing". She would continuously encourage the saints to contend for the faith by speaking openly against church closures as Jude chapter 3 teaches us.
Every chance the Servant of God got, she would preach about how unfair and unconstitutional it was for the government to expect Christians in South Africa to close church doors and pray from home. She always denounced such rules as "Nonsense" . She would always ask how are churches super spreaders for the Corona virus meanwhile everything else seemingly doesn't spread the virus. She would always ask the government why the church was being treated in such a biased manner.
Her public opinion about how the church was being treated in South Africa soon made her to be target number one. The JMPD( Johannesburg Metro Police) became like a dog with a bone when it came to Pastor Mukhuba's church. They would frequent the church premises just to harass the Servant of God, disturb the services or maybe find something they could use against her in order to silence her.
On one particular regular visit that is on the 28th of February 2021, the JMPD came to the church gun blazing. When they approached the church with their big guns and as many as they were, the Servant of God Pastor Mukhuba encouraged the church not to fight but to pray in the name of Jesus. She continued to say, " let our crime be nothing but prayer". The children of God obeyed the Servant of God and they were peaceful despite the disruption caused by the JMPD with their violent acts at the church.
I believe the JMPD were now fed up with this woman of God who was not relenting from going against what the government wanted the Christian community to accept as "status quo" and that is the churches of God are corona virus super spreaders and that they must be closed. The Servant of God would always say," we will obey the government as the bible teaches us to obey, but if the government encourages us to disobey God, then we will disobey the government."
On that fateful day chaos erupted in Pastor Mukhuba's church. Men,women and children were shot with live ammunition, others sprayed with pepper spray. While the Servant of God Pastor Mukhuba, her husband Professor Mukhuba and other congregants were pushed into Police vans and driven to the police station where fake charges were pressed against them. The JMPD became so hostile against Pastor Mukhuba and the congregants as if some devil entered them and made them to be so angry such that they beat up a young innocent man black and blue. If the Servant of God hadn't stopped the big bellied Police man from jumping on the young man, he could have lost his life that day. The young man to this day still struggles with his mental and physical health after what was done to him that day by JMPD police officers. Pastor Mukhuba and the arrested saints were soon released on bail and videos of what took place that day circulated social media. The South African media houses had their different versions of what took place that day at Pastor Mukhuba's Church and most of which was lies because none of them took the trouble to go and interview the church to find out what exactly transpired. The government also kept quiet about the attempted massacre against innocent churchgoers as if nothing happened. Their silence was suspicious and bizarre, and we wondered if maybe the JMPD acted on their order.
Pastor Mukhuba did not allow her arrest to stop her from doing the work of God as despite the traumatic events that took place at her church on the 28th of February 2021, she still went ahead to hold a service few days from that traumatic day. This was on the 6th of March 2021 when she held a healing service and the JMPD unashamedly returned to her church in military style hoping to further bully and silence her. They came with numerous police vans, nyalas, water cannons and a helicopter just for unarmed , harmless and innocent churchgoers. To this day we still don't know what the intention of such an invasive act was because there are many places were such state resources can be used effectively but that is never the case. Why was a woman of God who is harmless and her church threatened or intimidated in such a manner? When real hard core criminals are out there and are let to continue to roam the streets of South Africa.
These attacks by the JMPD on the church soon opened everyone's eyes. The Servants of God and the saints started to be aware of the detriment of closing church doors and they began to speak in one language with the Servant of God Pastor Mukhuba. They stood together and spoke in one voice and stood against church closures and that was when the government relented and opened church doors. The church in South Africa celebrated as they were now permitted to celebrate Good Friday in church without any heavy restrictions in April 2021 as well as to continue with all the other services thereafter. Soon after that all restrictions on church attendance fell off. Church was back to normal. Praise Jesus that the anti christ agenda that the government was trying to push in South Africa did not succeed.
The Servant of the Most High God Pastor Mukhuba, and those she was incarcerated with continued to painfully attend court for 3 full years. During this time they were very much uncertain about their freedom as many suspicious things would happen in the court as those who had faked charges against them were trying to cover up their lies. During this time, the Servant of God did what the bible teaches us that Paul did in 2nd Thessalonians chapter 3. She gathered the workers of the church and asked them to meet on Zoom every morning and evening to pray for them. It was in these Zoom meetings where the Word of God was shared every day without fail and the Servant of God would always encourage the saints to rely on the Word of God as it never fails. The saints continued to trust in God even when sometimes it would seem as if there was no coming out of the trap that the JMPD had set for the church. The saints continued in steadfast prayer and we saw the events of the court soon changing to our favour. We saw the faithful hand of God at work as there began to be confusion in the camp of our enemies. Those who claimed to have testimonies against the church of Pastor Mukhuba began to expose and destroy themselves as their testimonies were not matching and were rather tearing down the testimonies of the others that they were working with. Pastor Mukhuba likened these events as what happened in Esther chapter 7:10 where Haman was hanged on the same gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. The JMPD unprovoked chose to start war with the church but ended up in trouble with the law themselves as they got tangled up in their own lies. On the 29th of March 2024, on the 40th court appearance, Pastor Mukhuba and her co-accused were declared not guilty! This was a complete victory for the church in South and the world.
We have learned from the Servant of God Pastor Mukhuba not to back down or allow ourselves to be bullied when it comes to our Christian faith no matter how painful the circumstances may be. We must always stand for what the Word of God teaches us and contend for the faith as we are taught in Jude 3. We shall contend for the faith!