Mazarire Mambiro-Chibebe🇿🇲🇿🇼🇿🇦🇬🇧

I bought a couple of Ethiopian Bibles in England two weeks ago for family members who are Christian, and I wrote about the Bible here on Facebook. That post appears to have created quite a buzz in Zimbabwe, with many people now looking for it. Innov8 Bookshop says it has the Bible on order, so if you want a copy, that is where to go. So what is the Ethiopian Bible, and how does it differ from the King James Version that most Zimbabwean Christians grew up with? The Ethiopian Bible is the scripture of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, one of the oldest Christian churches in the world. It has 81 books, compared with 66 in Protestant Bibles such as the King James Version and 73 in the Catholic tradition, making it the largest biblical canon in Christianity. Its Old Testament contains everything in the Septuagint, the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures, as well as books such as Enoch, Jubilees and the three books of Meqabyan, which are not the same as the Books of Maccabees. Fragments of Enoch were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, but the Ethiopian text in Ge'ez is the only complete version to survive from ancient times, and Enoch is quoted in the Epistle of Jude, even though it is missing from most Bibles. Ge'ez, an ancient Semitic language, remains the language of worship in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, much as Latin once was in the Catholic Church. The King James Version, on the other hand, is an English translation first published in 1611 under King James I, and the editions most of us know contain only the 66 books accepted by Protestant churches, leaving out the extra books the Ethiopian church has kept for centuries.

Educated Africans can be extremely gullible. I have seen African ambassadors, doctors, lawyers, journalists and engineers swallow the claptrap of fake prophets like Walter Magaya, bowing before a man who could not even prove to the High Court that he has five O-levels. Question that madness, and they tell you that you do not understand the things of the spirit. These are crooks who have worked out that there are plenty of gullible people willing to believe anything, including human creations and constructs like religion. So you find a Zimbabwean prepared to fight another Zimbabwean to defend Christianity, without realising that had Zimbabwe been colonised by Saudi Arabia, he would be doing exactly the same thing in the name of Islam. Religion is one of Africa's biggest drawbacks. Drive down Harare Drive in Borrowdale. On the left, you see black people, many of them educated, packing churches every Sunday. On the right, you see white Zimbabweans who lost their farms, but who used their ingenuity to build companies and warehouses, and now supply agricultural equipment. Those on the left have turned factories into churches, especially in places like Bulawayo, where they pray for the people on the right side of the road to give them jobs. That is the depth of foolishness that can engulf a whole country, and many of those praying are educated. There is little anyone can do, because religious indoctrination is so powerful that it defies logic. It is also rooted in colonial indoctrination. Remember that colonialism arrived in Africa with the Bible first. The so-called word of God subdued the natives and cleared the way, and the colonialists followed. Most people who call themselves Christians do not even understand the Bible, the very book that should be their operating manual. Try to have a proper conversation with them, even quoting verses that contradict their behaviour, and they get angry. They call you a demon. They call you satanic. That is why Africa remains on its knees. Per capita, far more people pray in Africa than in Europe, but Africans walk on top of sewage. While China sends its children to sports and science academies and develops faster than the world ever expected, Africans are busy bowing in churches. It is no coincidence that religion is most pronounced in the African countries that have become failed states and basket cases. One day, I hope, common sense will come to Africa. Until Africans start using their heads as much as their knees, the fake prophets will keep getting richer and the congregations poorer.