Tendai Ruben Mbofana
There is a peculiar and deeply offensive brand of blasphemy that has taken root within the corridors of power and the pulpits of the compliant.
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It is a calculated and cynical manipulation of the divine to shield the demonic.
Across the globe, and most poignantly in nations ravaged by the twin plagues of tyranny and kleptocracy—including our own Zimbabwe—a dangerous narrative has been manufactured.
This narrative suggests that national leaders, regardless of their cruelty or corruption, are somehow anointed by God and are therefore beyond the reach of human criticism or accountability.
This is not just a theological error.
It is a weapon of mass deception used to paralyze the conscience of the faithful and provide a spiritual veneer to the most carnal of injustices.
To understand how we arrived at this perversion, we must look at the way scripture is ripped from its historical heart and reassembled as a cage for the oppressed.
The most common tool in this arsenal of deception is the misquoted command to touch not my anointed.
In the mouths of those defending a regime that thrives on the tears of the poor, this verse becomes a magical incantation meant to silence dissent.
Yet, when we return to the actual text in the Book of Psalms, we find a meaning that is the exact opposite of what the tyrants claim.
The anointed referred to in that context were not powerful kings or state officials.
They were the patriarchs and the people of Israel as they wandered as vulnerable, landless refugees.
The warning was a divine order issued to powerful kings to keep their hands off God’s people.
In other words, Jehovah God was not referring to political or religious leaders but to an entire nation.
Today, we see the script flipped with breathtaking arrogance.
The very leaders who are touching, bruising, and crushing God’s people have the audacity to claim that they are the ones who are untouchable.
When a leader presides over a system that drives millions into grinding poverty while a tiny elite loots the national treasury, that leader is not the anointed of God.
They are the oppressor against whom God’s true anointed—the people—must be defended.
There is nothing holy about a state-sponsored thief.
There is nothing divine about a regime that uses the security services to silence those asking for bread.
To suggest that God is the author of such misery is to insult the very character of the Creator.
Jehovah is the defender of the widow, the fatherless, and the poor.
He is not the guarantor of the security of a kleptocrat.
Then we have the frequent weaponization of the letter to the Romans, where it is written that all authority is appointed by God.
This passage is often presented as a demand for blind, unquestioning submission to any person who holds an office of power.
This is a hollow and dishonest reading that ignores the essential condition attached to that authority.
The same scripture defines the leader as a servant of God for your good.
It describes an authority that is a terror to bad conduct and a source of praise for the good.
When an administration becomes a terror to the good and a rewarder of the corrupt, it has fundamentally abdicated the mandate that justifies its existence.
Authority is an institution ordained for the sake of justice and order, but that does not mean every individual who occupies a seat of power is doing so with God’s approval.
The Bible is not a manual for doormats.
It is a record of a continuous and often violent confrontation between the divine word and the arrogance of earthly power.
If God truly did not want anyone to criticize or challenge leaders, then the majority of the prophets would have been in rebellion against Him.
Nathan did not stay silent when King David committed murder and adultery.
He stood before the king and declared that he was the man responsible for the crime.
Elijah did not pray for the success of King Ahab’s economic policies while the king was busy stealing the land of his subjects.
He confronted the tyrant and predicted his downfall.
John the Baptist did not seek a memorandum of understanding with Herod.
He denounced the king’s immorality and paid for that courage with his head.
These were not men committing sin by criticizing a leader.
They were men fulfilling their highest spiritual duty by holding power to account.
We must ask ourselves what type of leader God actually desires.
The biblical model is never one of a pampered, untouchable monarch who lives in luxury while his people starve.
The model is the shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep.
A godly leader is one who understands that power is a temporary trust, not a permanent possession.
It is a leader who fears God enough to treat the smallest citizen with dignity.
Jehovah calls for leaders who will do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly.
Humility is the absolute antithesis of the modern dictator who demands to be worshipped as a demi-god.
When a leader allows a cult of personality to flourish around them, they are entering the realm of idolatry.
When they allow their supporters to equate their political survival with the will of the Almighty, they are engaging in a spiritual fraud that borders on the occult.
The consequences of this twisted theology are visible in the hollowed-out eyes of children who go to bed hungry in resource-rich nations.
It is visible in the broken spirits of workers who earn wages that cannot buy a loaf of bread while their leaders buy fleets of luxury cars and mansions in foreign lands.
The Bible is not silent about these people.
It does not offer them comfort or “anointed” status.
Instead, the scriptures pronounce a terrifying woe upon those who make unjust laws and rob the poor of their rights.
It speaks of a God who hears the cries of the oppressed and who will eventually pull the mighty from their thrones.
Why do some within the church and the political establishment continue to push these lies?
The answer is as old as the hills.
It is about the preservation of privilege.
By convincing a religious population that their suffering is somehow divinely ordained or that their leaders are beyond reproach, the oppressor buys himself time.
He uses the fear of God to keep people from exercising their God-given right to demand justice.
This is the ultimate misuse of the name of the Lord.
It is a hijacking of the faith to serve the belly of the politician.
We must reclaim the truth.
A leader is not anointed by God simply because they managed to seize or hold onto power through hook or crook.
Legitimacy in the eyes of God is tied to the pursuit of justice and the protection of the vulnerable.
Any leader who fails this test is a failure regardless of how many verses they or their supporters quote.
We do not owe our silence to a thief.
We do not owe our submission to a tyrant.
Our highest loyalty belongs to the God of justice, and the God of justice has never called for the worship of a man who destroys the lives of his people.
The masquerade is over.
It is time to speak truth to power without fear, knowing that the God we serve is the one who sets the captives free and breaks the arm of the wicked.
● Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. To directly receive his articles please join his WhatsApp Channel on: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaqprWCIyPtRnKpkHe08
Post published in: Featured