There are numerous testimonies of miraculous healings and restorations from all over the world.
On evangelical television programmes, we see alleged cripples throwing away their crutches and walking away from the podium unassisted after a soulful session of healing through prayer.
We have heard of those afflicted with HIV/AIDS, cancer and other incurable illnesses claiming to have had their health restored through prayer.
Should we believe in pastors and prophets and how they perform and deliver us from various diseases?
The prophets have taken our country by storm.
They normally advertise themselves in newspapers, on television and fliers. They are known to specialise in miracle healing and allegedly provide services one would not normally get at Gaborone Private Hospital or Princess Marina Hospital.
And most of them are foreign.
The generality of Batswana is divided on just what these pastors and prophets can do through the power of prayer.
Some say they are fake, adding that all they want is popularity while playing psychological games with people by convincing them that they will deliver them from demons and bad spirits, with believers saying only by faith can one be healed.
Skeptics allege that these pastors and prophets are genuine fakes who hire people to pretend to be sick and disabled then appear to have been healed on television shows and at public prayer meetings.
Sitting in wheelchairs, they are wheeled around while pretending to be physically ill, then stand up and walk as soon as the pastor finishes praying for them.
Among the most famous of them are Nigerian TB Joshua and Pastor Chris who have thousands of followers all over the world.
The scope of their ministry is Jesus having said for them to go to the entire world to preach the gospel covering many parts of Africa; they believe their massage is going around the world as they do that by the power of spirit.
According to the pastors, their miracles are real and just because you don’t believe they are real does not mean they are not real.
They say everybody has the right to believe what they want to believe.
“A miracle is something beyond the normal course of events,” they say. “It’s an inexplicable intervention by a supernatural power in the natural affairs of man. There is this issue of people falling down when they are touched by the pastor or prophet, it’s important to them as they realise that the power of glory of God is more than a man can accommodate. When the glory of God overwhelms a person, he or she cannot stand.”
