Simba Chitsa

The trial was over before it even began. When the police finally moved on Prophet Love’s church, they found almost nothing. The money was gone. The houses and cars that people had signed away had long been sold. The papers…

Rio had not planned to stay late at the church offices that night. He had only come to lock up after a late rehearsal with the youth choir. But when he passed the Prophet’s private office, something caught his eye.…

It was late, the kind of cold Gweru night when the wind rattles every loose windowpane and slips in through the smallest gaps. The streets outside were almost empty except for the occasional car that sped past with its headlights…

The church had never looked busier. Posters for “Love Offering Sunday” clung to every lamppost in Gweru, flapping in the afternoon wind. Bright colors announced the event like a festival, the smiling face of Prophet Love beaming down on passersby.…

For Shawty, the days began to blur into one another. She would wake up to the sound of her alarm, drag herself through the motions of getting ready for lectures, and sit in class with her notebook open but her…

It was the fourth year of the Prophet’s five-year vision, what he had boldly declared “The Season of Overflow.” The church had grown beyond anything anyone had imagined. The once simple tent now sat at the heart of a sprawling…

Sundays at Prophet Love’s church had changed. The tent was no longer just a place of worship. It had become the first step in something bigger. There was constant talk of a new miracle cathedral, a structure that would rise…

Prophet Love’s name was now on every tongue in Gweru. From street corners to kombi queues, from market stalls to university campuses, people spoke about him with a mix of awe and urgency. The tent they had been using could…

Shawty’s message came in just after lunch. Shawty:Are you free tomorrow?I’m tired of thinking. Reo:I’m here. What’s up? Shawty:Should we go to Prophet Love’s church again? I keep thinking about what happened last time. Reo:You read my mind. I can’t…