Faith: Chairperson of the Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Rights Commission, Thoko Mkhwanazi-Xaluva. Photo: Supplied
The Chairperson of the South African Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Rights Commission, Thoko Mkhwanazi-Xaluva, is not wrong. She is imprecise. And imprecision, in a religious climate already drunk on emotion, is easily weaponised.
What she is observing is not faith. It is theatre. And the church has been supplying the costumes.
When she says no one talks to God, she is not denying prayer. She is rebuking the idea that God chats to men through mobile phones, WhatsApp voice notes or impulsive inner chatter divorced from discernment and Scripture.
The Bible is unambiguous. God speaks by His Spirit to the spirit of man, not to his theatrics. Romans 8 makes that clear. Those who are led by the Spirit are sons. Sons are not guided by noise.
When she says those who claim God told them things should be examined, she is not mocking revelation. She is exposing spiritual fraud. Jeremiah 23 condemns prophets who run although God never sent them, who speak although He never spoke.
The psychiatric ward language is clumsy, yes. But the abuse of God’s name to justify lies, manipulation and personal gain is far more offensive than her phrasing.
From points three to seven, she is largely correct, even if unintentionally prophetic.
The modern church has become a circus. Not ecclesia. Ecclesia is a governing assembly: called out, disciplined, accountable. What we have now is spectacle without submission. Performance without holiness. Power without character. Jesus never called His body a church in the modern sense. He called it ecclesia. We changed the word and it lost its weight.
Christians being treated as cows to be milked is not an insult. It is an observation. The monetisation of fear, blessing, prophecy, oil, water, soil and access has turned pulpits into kiosks. The New Testament model of shepherding has been replaced by extraction.
Christianity is indeed a thing. A religion. And that is precisely the problem. Christ did not come to found Christianity. He came to indwell men. Paul does not say “I follow Christ”. He says “Christ lives in me”. The gospel is not imitation. It is an incarnation. Sons do not follow. Sons abide. Sons are seated. Sons move from identity, not aspiration.
Her eighth statement about angels is silly and unnecessary. It distracts from the real indictment.
But nine and 10 land with uncomfortable accuracy.
Many believers are under spells. Not demonic spells necessarily but relational and psychological captivity to charismatic authority. The Bible calls this the fear of man. And it brings a snare. When pastors become ridiculous, it is not because God has lost His power. It is because accountability has been removed.
Now to the heart of the matter.
People are marching to defend pastors. Not the truth. Not holiness. Not repentance. But empires.
When Israel sinned, God did not organise a prayer march to protect the temple industry. He handed them over to Babylon. The temple was destroyed. The priests were silenced. The land rested. God did not defend religious infrastructure that no longer reflected Him.
This moment is no different.
God has allowed this exposure. Not because the state is righteous but because the church has become immature, selfish, unaccountable and arrogant. Salt that loses its savour is not persecuted. It is trampled. Jesus said so.
The golden calf must die. And it will not be killed by protest. It will be killed by repentance.
Judgment begins in the house of God. Not because God is cruel but because He is serious about His name.
Those who have distorted Scripture, commercialised grace, silenced correction and mocked holiness should not be shocked when protection is withdrawn. Babylon is not always punishment. Sometimes it is mercy.
The question is not whether the church is under attack.
The question is whether the church is willing to grow up.
Reverend Lionel Jean Michel is a Johannesburg-based journalist, Thought Leader and communications strategist. He writes on faith, leadership, politics and society, bringing biblical insight and public interest analysis to contemporary African conversations today.