Hailstorms in Zimbabwe’s Cities

Hailstorms in Zimbabwe’s Cities

Exo 9:25  And the hail smote throughout all the land of Egypt all that was in the field, both man and beast; and the hail smote every herb of the field, and brake every tree of the field. 

The first hailstorm recorded in Scripture found its setting on the dark continent, and it devastated the property and lives of the children of God through the line of Ham.

Among the many causes that warranted the debilitating plagues were the atheism and the idolatry of Egypt. As the judgements of God fell upon the land in quick succession, much suffering was brought upon the beholding eyes.

One of the victims of those sore judgments, even chief among them, now bearing the human nature of Adam’s race, is Christ Himself. As Pastor Adrian Ebens explains, whenever we see the judgments of God falling, the cross of our Saviour is erected again. Not only as men resist the Spirit of Christ by breaking God’s commandments is He crucified. As men and beasts in consequence groan beneath the weight of anguish in such destructive elements, Prince Immanuel suffers along in all the affliction.

When God's restraining hand is removed, the destroyer begins his work. Then in our cities the greatest calamities will come. {3MR 314}

 The end is near and every city is to be turned upside down every way. There will be confusion in every city. Everything that can be shaken is to be shaken and we do not know what will come next. The judgments will be according to the wickedness of the people and the light of truth that they have had. {1MR 248}

When I first encountered the quotations above, my imagination suggested that such ordeals were far-fetched and might apply only to faraway counties. That is the deceitfulness of the carnal mind: to think that reproof of sin and the doom it brings is for everyone else but me. But God uses the circumstances around us to catch our attention, that we may deal with the very sinfulness within us. The greatest Teacher the world has ever made a lesson to that end:

Luk 13:1-5  There were present at that season some that told him of the Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things? 3 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? 4 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. 

The people and the disciples had thought that God had given these Galileans an excessively harsh fate due to their being terrible sinners, worse than everyone else. We think those things wouldn’t happen to us because we think we are less evil. That is often our crippled mentality, until doom comes closer to home.

During the feast of Tabernacles this year, I traveled from my country homestead to Gweru, a city in central Zimbabwe, via Masvingo town. When the blessed festal period ended, I used a different route that does not include Masvingo CBD on my journey home. Still, my home is in Masvingo province, so the closest town to us, about three hours away, is Masvingo itself.

The very day I arrived home, having bypassed the city, I received messages on my phone with the sad news that Masvingo had been struck by a horrific hailstorm!

The people I conversed with made statements like, “This has been a secret of Heaven, for no one had expected or forecasted that such would ever happen.” 

The rains in our country usually begin at the end of October or early November, but this unlikely event happened on the 5^th of October. A dark cloud from Tokwe Mukosi Dam, 72 km south of Masvingo, rose with ominous speed and blocked the afternoon sun. Then it broke into big, heavy pieces of hail, striking unsuspecting city dwellers: school-going children walking home, adults on their way to and from work, taxi drivers, and even cats, dogs, and homeless birds were struck down.

In a short time, streets were thick with hail, gates would not open, and cars, dented and with smashed windscreens, could not move. Myriads of roofs were blown off, and 90% of all glass window panes on the western side of buildings, along with solar panels, were shattered. The walls were pitted too, as hail that size had never been seen in Zimbabwe before, prompting President Emmerson Mnangagwa to declare a State of Disaster on 6 October. One report says that 17000+ households suffered damage to different degrees, especially in Mucheke, Rujeko, and Victoria Range.

I sympathized most with the event because of my uncle’s death. My father’s brother had been bed-ridden at his home since April this year. Unable to do anything without help, and immobile because of arthritis and lung failure, his family catered for him. On the fateful day, the roof was pulverized by the hail and gale-force winds, and the rains poured down on his weak body in his bedroom as he could not move to seek a better remnant of shade. He finally breathed his last just over a fortnight later.

During and after the funeral, I visited their place and saw the wreckage of the removed roof and evidence of broken windows, not to mention that all the surrounding trees had wounded bark and were more conspicuous because they were naked. The mango and fig trees I saw are sprouting new leaves again. Just as the trees in Masvingo regrow their stems afresh, the people are desperately rebuilding their shelter again in the city. And that is disheartening, because these judgements are going to come incrementally from the prophet’s mouth, and God’s people are building on sandy ground because of lack of knowledge, like in these counsels:

 We should now begin to heed the instruction given us over and over again: Get out of the cities into rural districts, where the houses are not crowded closely together, and where you will be free from the interference of enemies. {Letter 5, 1904.}

There are reasons why we should not build in the cities. On these cities, God's judgments are soon to fall. {Letter 158, 1902.}

I spoke with a few citizens about the hailstorm. The common sentiment is that of murmuring against God. One sister said, “I do not know what exactly we had done against God to deserve this.” In times of suffering, the memory of God is usually brought to attention, and the Father often suffers being misrepresented in a bad light. I wonder if that is why the four sore judgements are called God’s – that all the people begin to judge God as the one actively bringing the sword, famine, pestilence, or wild beast (See Ezekiel 14:12-23).  But at least people begin to think about God, and it’s an opportunity for the gospel of our purely non-violent Father to find a place in the ears of men seeking answers. For example, in the following verse, which can send chills down the spine, it appears as if God is boastfully threatening man with weapons:

Job 38:22-23  Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail, 23  Which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war? 

I hear the heart of a merciful Father saying that I have held back from harming you, or restrained from causing you trouble, until such a time when God’s protective Holy Spirit is largely rejected and therefore withdrawn. 

A taxi driver narrated the whole event to me, with a broken windscreen, still affected by the ripple of what happened three weeks before. I wanted to know what his superstitious mind thought it meant, and so I asked him.

“Many people say that such unprecedented events involving water and rain happen when the mermaid is about to change site.” My fellow countrymen sincerely believe mermaids are the source of rain and the water in lakes and fountains!

Act 17:30 YLT  the times, indeed, therefore, of the ignorance God having overlooked, doth now command all men everywhere to reform, 

Rev 14:7  Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters. 

Three weeks after the hail in Masvingo, it also hit Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital and biggest city. In the metropolis, hail fell only in Avondale and the surrounding areas, and it was much smaller than in Masvingo. There was no significant damage.

Most recently, between 23 and 28 October in Beitbridge, a small and different city on the border between Zimbabwe and South Africa, there were three separate hits of hail that ravaged certain school and clinic infrastructure.

Is God pleading with His children, especially in the cities, to repent and leave the populous areas? We should heed the call not only because of the weather, but also because the spiritual atmosphere in densely populated places so dries up spirituality.

Heb 4:15  For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. 

It is true that Christ is our shield, suffering the pain and woe of every sufferer in these trials. But that does not negate the equal truth that these judgments are sure to come, beginning and predominately in cities where God is largely mocked. 

With that in mind, in 2024 I pleaded with my beautiful Catholic mother to sell the undeveloped, unbuilt stand in Masvingo, which she acquired over a decade ago, and use the money for something else in the country. You can already guess the response. It was a no, with the hope that, at some point in the indefinite future, she would want to build a house there and perhaps live in it or rent it out. My question to my brethren of the Adventist faith and background is, “Are the messages to leave the cities literal, and to be heeded by our generation?” The Christ of God said:

Joh 9:4  I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. 

Psa 127:1  Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.