The Dramatization and Embodiment of God of the Wilderness

This chapter marks the first hundred years of the Johane Masowe Apostles Church with something long overdue – a study of theological ideas found in a collection of sacred texts called the Gospel of God.1 These texts tell stories about the founder of the Masowe Apostles, Johane Masowe, the pillar of a church inspired by stories from the Bible. For instance, the stories about Moses acting as the leader of the people of God – victims of oppression who wander in the wilderness in Exodus – explains the ritual behavior of Masowe Apostles and migration from Zimbabwe to Botswana, South Africa, Mozambique, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya, and beyond.2 Since the 1930s, Masowe Apostles have also walked towards the fringes of cityscapes to give expression to the same quest for liberation in Zimbabwe, and wherever else in the world that the problems of life on earth have turned Masowe Apostles into believers inspired by the idea of wilderness to reach out to God. Today, Masowe Apostles are known to travel far and wide, starting with the continent of Africa, and, they are even more well-known for dressing in white robes and going outdoors to pray for salvation. As shown below, additional stories about John the Baptist and Jesus talking about salvation in the outskirts of the City of Jerusalem also inspired the development of a lived understanding of the New Testament Masowe Apostolic theology as to express in terms of oral tradition of faith. Anyone who reads the Gospel of God after reading this chapter should be able to see that the sacred texts were produced in an attempt to textualize an oral tradition of Christianity