Is Clopas a victim of hypnotism?

27 Jan, 2019 - 00:01 0 Views
Is Clopas a victim of hypnotism? SHIMMER CHINODYA holding his novel HARVEST OF THORNS

The Sunday News

Charles Dube

THE Church Man and the Church Woman had a successful mission when they visited Clopas Wandai J Tichafa (Clopas)’s home. They were allowed into the house and it appears they had good tidings for the hosts. Clopas and his wife Shamiso are desperate to have a child. The Church Man and the Church Woman declare that God has sent them to that house to talk to them about an urgent matter.

These church people tell this family what they desperately want to hear. Obviously, Clopas and his wife want a child. On this note, the Church Woman is prompted to hit the nail while it is still hot. She tells them that God has revealed to them their problem of which they know themselves and has sent them to guide the couple away from imminent evil. To win victims to your side, threats should also come in. Like we indicated last week the Church Man adds to what his colleague, the Church Woman has said.

The Church Man says God has told them about the one thing the couple so badly desire in their lives at this very moment. The Church Woman repeats the threat when she says they were sent to pray for them to find it without falling prey to evil. Naturally, nobody would like to fall into evil. The next thing is to listen attentively to the prayers offered. When the Church Man and the Church Woman start praying for Clopas and his wife Shamiso (the couple), they have already laid firm ground. The latter would not like to fall into evil and they would not like to go against God’s wish.

These church people maintain the need for urgency they emphasised when they arrived at Clopas’s home. In their prayer they challenge the Lord Jesus to show his power and grant the couple their wish on that day. Church Man: And grant this young couple their wish, here, today.

Now, Lord Jesus.” The prayers given are so powerful and the climax comes when the Church Man triumphantly declares that the Lord has revealed to them that the couple’s wish will be fulfilled several times over and very soon.

The couple is told that they shall have three children, two boys and one boy. By the end of all these prayers Clopas is already taken up and when they are invited to attend the church people’s services on Sunday he readily accepts the invitation. We saw Clopas’s stunning testimony in the previous issue which shook the whole church.

Here is a brief of what remained of that testimony. He says he killed for money. Clopas continues his rhetoric of shameful behaviours he claims to have indulged in. He claims to have married in sin. He claims they were not married in a church, but in a village where old men and women practised sinful ancient rituals.

He sounds repentant as he says when God saw that he decided to punish them by denying them children. They tried everything, clinics, n’angas and herbs. He claims that God saw all that and sent his good messengers (Church Man and Church Woman) to pray for them.
We get proper identities of the Church Man and Church Woman, Deacon and Mai Shuro respectively. These were sent to pray and save their souls from peril and he adds that to show his strength, God granted them their wish and gave them fertility as Shamiso is pregnant now.

Is Clopas fully repentant? But, we can ask him a question – What has happened to the power of Sekuru’s herbs? A short while ago he has been persuading his wife Shamiso to ingest the stuff from Sekuru? Was the pregnancy a result of the church people’s prayer or Sekuru’s herbs? Immediately after Shamiso has taken Sekuru’s stuff the Church Man and Church Woman arrive and by the end of their session Clopas seems have been won over to the church. He makes these stunning testimonies which shock even his wife Shamiso.

Shamiso sarcastically asks her husband Clopas whether it was necessary for him to say all that to her embarrassment. She accuses him of bearing everything to the public inviting them to see all his poverty and barbarism. She interrogates him on being a biblical Jonah, Saul and Legion and whether he used to drink, gamble, whore and emphasises on whether he really killed people? The final blow is when she asks him: “And you married me in sin?” The web of lies finally catches up with Clopas and he says: “But Shami, I only wanted to impress –.”

Shamiso does not take that likely and reacts angrily telling him are felt by Clopas who expresses regret that is all he has always wanted to do – impress her, her family, the deacon, the overseer, the church people, his boss, his neighbours, the whole world. She asks him if he thinks he can impress the Almighty God, too, with all his lies.

These are very strong and wise words from Shamiso and are felt by Clopas who expresses regret. Shamiso has none of that as she asks if Clopas expects her to believe that. She tells him that she is no longer that girl he showed off at the DC’s office.

Clopas has deliberately lied in public in order to impress. The reality of the matter is that he is non-repentant. He tells all these lies to be accepted into the church. Is Clopas hypnotised by the prayers of the church people who visit his home hence falls for their whims and ends up lying and going to extremes in order to impress the church people?

A review of the book, Harvest of Thorns Classic: A play by Shimmer Chinodya. For views link with [email protected]/ or sms to 0772113207.

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