45 Christians* Killed En Route to Easter Gathering

Nearly four dozen Christians* were killed on their way to an Easter gathering on Friday after a bus they were traveling in lost control and careened off a bridge, falling 150 feet where it burst into flames upon impact.

Mercifully, there was one survivor. An eight-year-old girl made it out with serious injuries but is in stable conditions and “safe hands,” according to local health officials.

So far, only nine bodies have been identified, with the rest of them burned beyond recognition.

*The group, from Botswana, were reportedly members of the Zion Christian Church (ZCC), a charismatic denomination that is also a part of the African Zionism movement, merging Christian beliefs with African traditions. It was founded by a self-proclaimed prophet named Joseph Engenas Matlhakanye Lekganyane, and it now has nearly seven million members. It is headquartered in Moria, in the Limpopo province of South Africa.

Members of the ZCC are known for taking pilgrimages to Moria each year, with the Easter service being the main event. Their Easter Sunday service attracts over a million people as pilgrims participate in various rituals and ceremonies designed to purify them.

The ZCC has some truly questionable practices. Got Questions lists some of the Church’s doctrinal distinctives, including:

1. Baptismal regeneration: Salvation is attained by faith and triple baptism: members must be immersed in water three times, usually at a “Bethesda pool” or a “Jordan river.”

2. Pentecostal signs: Church members claim physical and spiritual healing for themselves and their loved ones through prayer; purification rites, including the use of “blessed” water (or tea or coffee); and exorcisms. Modern medicine is often rejected.

3. Prophecy: The Zion Christian Church places great importance on prophecy and believes in the existence of contemporary prophets. Members hold that, through these prophets, God continues to communicate with them and direct church practice.

4. Messianic claims: The leaders of the Zion Christian Church are held in high esteem for their holiness and prophetic ability, and some leaders are treated as messianic figures. Members of the Zion Christian Church throng Bishop Barnabas Lekganyane in public, they keep his picture in their homes, and they use his name in prayer. Various messianic titles are used to refer to Bishop Lekganyane: “Mediator, Messiah, Comforter [and] many more: King of kings, Lion of Judah, descendant of the House of David, our Father, Healer, Comforter, beloved Son of man, Son of God, Light of the nations, Head of everything, Rrago ditshaba (Father of the nations)”

5. Legalism: The Zion Christian Church observes the Sabbath and forbids, among other things, alcohol, tobacco, and eating pork. Three times a year, Zion Christian Church members are expected to travel to the headquarters at Moria City. At all times, members of the Zion Christian Church are required to wear a silver metal star on a green cloth background. Members of the St. Engenas faction wear dove pins.

6. Syncretism: Christian and African traditions and beliefs come together in the Zion Christian Church. Rituals may include holy sticks, traditional tribal dances, and a “Christianized” form of ancestral worship. Members believe they can get in touch with their dead ancestors and receive from them advice, guidance, and protection.

7. Secrecy: Few written records exist concerning the history of the Zion Christian Church. In the 1940s, the Zion Christian Church began to keep strict control over its message and activities by suppressing efforts to research its organization. The Zion Christian Church does not allow its members to discuss the church with non-members.

8. (Added by us. Huffpo UK explains) “members wear distinctive clothing and have different sets of uniforms according to age, gender and occasion. For church services on Sundays, men of all ages wear green suits, but elder women in the church wear green and yellow uniforms, and young women and girls wear blue uniforms. The women’s choir uniform is also blue. The women’s uniforms for both young and old are matched with green head wraps”