"....So McNorris, amazing things happening in your life, You Have defeated the lion and the bear but Goliath is still to come..."- Pastor Tom Deuschle
My Testimony
Revelation 12:11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by
the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
Barukh HaShem Eloheinu Melech HaOlam (Blessed be the LORD our God, King
of the universe)!
Shalom!
“I would rather lose Knowing God
was on my side than win knowing that He wasn’t” these are the words that were
playing in my mind repeatedly like a scratched disc as I listened to my cousin
brother. His words almost drowning in the clutter of the noise surrounding us
but mostly from the words that kept playing in my head, words that had been
repeated time and time again by a man (One of the very few) I deeply respect and honour Pastor Tom
Deuschle and words often repeated by Dr Strive masiyiwa.
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| Pastors Tom and Bonnie Deuschle - Celebration Church International |
I knew my brother was concerned about my fate but of all the years we
had spent around our grandfather a part of me was wondering what had happened
to him to treat this Gospel as an outer garment that one can conveniently take
off when it suits him. Our late grandfather Norman C.C Hakata was a pastor and
he had instilled godly values into us or at least tried to from our childhood.
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| The late "General" Pastor NCC Hakata- my grandfather and mentor |
“Baba munini hakusi kuhotel kwauri kuenda,
ndine maface angu mapurisa kuHarare andinoziva vanokwanisa kusorta kutizviite
bho. Havamboda mari yakwanda pane kuti unovharirwa nokuti baba culpable u are not
looking at less than 2 years ndoitori minimum. Remember Henry akakuenda kuseri
akadzoka achifa ndokunge watobuda nokuti ma1 (Young bro, prison is not a
hotel. I have my guys in Harare in the police force who can make this case go
away. They wouldn’t want a lot of money than for you to go to prison. With
culpable homicide you are looking at not less than two years imprisonment which
is the minimum sentence. Remember Henry who died soon after he came out of
prison, you might not even make it out)” At these words I became greatly afraid
and I started praying in my heart, I looked at my cousin and said “thank you
bro but I can’t do that”. “Hoo Problem
yako ndeyekuti unoda kuwanza chiKristu mfana, iwe you can always repent zvapera
(your problem is you are too much of a Christian, you can always repent
after it’s done)” he retorted.
This was a conversation taking
place barely two weeks after I was involve in a tragic accident on the 13th
of September 2014 around 7pm. I ran over a pedestrian whom i had not noticed
crossing the road. I had only felt the impact of my car hitting something and at
that point I knew I had hit someone. I kept repeating the words “no no no no God
no” as i swerved and stopped at the side of the road. I ran back to look for
the person I had hit. The two way, four lane road was very busy yet no one else
had noticed him in the road. I found him lying in the middle section of the
road between the inner lane of the road due east and the one due west. As he
lay in the road motionless I started crying and shaking and lifted up my hands
to signal for help. None of the cars stopped until people close to a service
station noticed what had happened and came into the road. One person then
shouted that the man was still breathing but no one at the scene had a contact
for an ambulance and most suggested that an ambulance would take time so I
rushed and turned my car around and with help put him in the back seat of the
car to rush him to Parirenyatwa hospital. The man I had run over (Neville) was
breathing heavily yet stable, I was now mostly worried about him losing too
much blood as he was bleeding. As I was about to leave the scene a lady from
the crowd came to my window and said “My son Jesus loves you, talk to Jesus”. I
didn’t know her and neither did she know me. (In most cases in situations like
these in Zimbabwe people at an accident scene gang up and beat up the driver
regardless of who was right or wrong but here was a woman who didn’t know
whether I am a Christian or not strengthening my faith at a time like this) I
left the scene with a desperate prayer in my heart “Please God, don’t let this
man die, You are able to heal him and restore him, please don’ let him die”
When we arrived at the hospital
the doctor from the emergency room instructed me to put the man on a stretcher
and bring him into the emergency room. The man who had come with me who had said
he knew Neville was intoxicated and could not help much although he tried. It
was the most difficult task. I didn’t know how to handle an injured person and
how to lift him from the back seat of a low car onto a stretcher. I asked some
paramedics from an ambulance service parked next to my car to assist and they
declined sighting contractual restrictions that they had to adhere to. What
they could only do was to advise on how to handle the injured man which they
did. I then managed to get Neville into the emergency room and the doctor
further instructed me to go and make a police report at their in-house police
post before they could start treating him. After making the police report, the
doctor then said I had to buy a card at the reception and that is when they
started attending to him and instructed me to go to their pharmacy and buy
medication. I called a friend of mine to bring me any amount of money which he
had on him and he arrived just in time to buy the medication. When we returned
to the emergency room, the doctor said that Neville was gone. This was now
around 8:30pm. My heart sank and I felt the darkest clouds of despair enshrouding
my mind like a thick blanket.
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| Pastor Langton Gatsi- who also taught me much about prayer and being close with God |
My family arrived and we went to Harare
Central police station and went through all the procedures and reports
necessary including returning to the accident scene then returned to the
hospital and sat there in the hospital waiting for Neville’s family to get to
the hospital. The family arrived around 2am and all I could do was breakdown in
tears uncontrollably. The uncle of the deceased comforted me (In some cases
like these the relatives of the deceased will beat up the driver or refuse to
meet with him completely). We made arrangements with Neville’s family to meet later
that same day to make funeral arrangements. When I got home that morning I went
into the bathroom, stripped off my clothes and lay postrate on the floor and
cried out to God. “Just as I am as I came out of my mother’s womb…” Later on that
same day we were at Neville’s family home and the relatives welcomed us and
received us well. We assisted in the funeral process through cash and providing
some of the food eaten during the funeral until it was over. Neville’s family
(God bless them) was a God fearing family and people prayed and sang songs of
comfort and worship throughout the whole funeral. It was a painful time to go
through because I blamed myself for bringing a family together in the pain of
losing their loved one. There were some family members who said they were not
alarmed when they received the news of Neville’s death alluding to how Neville
lived his life which they said was careless. According to them the man would mostly
sleep out drinking strong liquor and cough syrup (Bronko). He had divorced
twice and was deeply troubled. His friends at the funeral sung songs about how
they used to drink cough syrup with him and get wasted together and were bitter
because no liquor was served or allowed at the family funeral. However all
these things concerning his life did not comfort me in any way, a life had been
lost, a life for which I still prayed for in faith.
After the funeral, we had to
continue with police procedures in preparation for court. Because of Neville’s
death the state laid a charge against me which amounted to culpable homicide. I
was to appear before a Magistrate’s court. During this time the cops handling
my case who had so far been so kind to me then took me aside and said my case
was not a big issue because they knew how to work the system. They could either
make the docket disappear or I could give them money and they would give part
of it to the prosecutor who would handle my case in court who in turn would
give the magistrate “his cut” in the “deal”. I said thank you for trying to
assist and I looked for a lawyer to help me with the legal language of the
courts. The cops were outraged at learning that I had chosen to hire a lawyer
instead of going the “easier and cheaper way”. “We didn’t want a lot of money”
they said “And this lawyer that you have contracted will squeeze your pockets
dry”. They then contacted my lawyer to try and cut a deal with him and when my
lawyer told me about it, I told him of how there was a reason I had avoided
that route and hired him instead and I would not be represented by a corrupt
and incompetent lawyer who needed the aid of corrupt cops to handle a case.
Because I had refused to bribe
the police officers handling my case, one of them later changed his testimony
in court against the facts recorded from the night of the accident and said whatever
he had recorded in the beginning was in error. His colleague who had been
transferred before they had asked for a bribe came to witness and confirmed the
events as they had been initially recorded sighting that his colleague was not
telling the truth.
Before
my first court appearance, I dreamt I was walking towards a prison holding some
papers in my left hand and when I got there I went to the reception and asked
to see the warden. The officers at the reception told me that I would find him
at the back of the building and directed me to go through a narrow dark passageway
which was a mortuary with shelves to put dead bodies in. I went through the
passageway and I came out on the other side and saw the warden, a tall mean
looking man coming my way. When I looked into his eyes I saw a vision of two
prison guards beating up an inmate on the ground with button sticks. He asked
me why I wanted to see him and I told him that I was supposed to be
incarcerated there and handed him my papers. He took the papers, scanned
through them and looked at me and said “Go back, you don’t belong here” and I turned
and started walking away. When I woke up I thanked God for the confirmation
though I was afraid and was unsure of my fate. I knew God had spoken and I even
shared the dream with members of our cell group and told them what I knew God
was telling me.
When I first met my lawyer he had
indicated and then spelt out how he intended to win the case by whatever means
necessary even by hook and crook. This was even before we had gone for our
first court session. I told him again that he would only do the things that
would leave me at peace with God because God is the final Judge. I would not
bribe anyone and the only money I would fork out was money for fair legal fees
which also would not include any “hidden fees” for purposes of greasing any
hands. I told my lawyer he would have to work with the facts of the matter and
nothing more. To me winning was not being exonerated from the charges but
knowing that I am at peace and in fellowship with God through it all regardless
of whether I go to prison or not. This is the same time I spoke to my cousin
brother who told me that prison was not a holiday inn especially Zimbabwean
prisons. During the same period a man I knew whose wife worked at my work place
shared his experience with me of how he had run over a little girl and he
bribed the prosecutor and magistrate with $600 and he only paid a fine of $200
which he had determined himself since the “court” had asked him how much he was
willing to pay. Prior to these events that is the man’s running over the child
I had dreamt of the accident he got involved in and sent warning to him through
his wife and asked them to pray but at this point what he could share with me was
the “wisdom” of man.
[My first court appearance was in
November 2014 and my last was in July of 2015. In April of 2015 I lost my job.
I got set up by my senior managers who connived with the two supervisors
working under me to steal money because I would not take money from sales as my
senior managers desired. They then came up with a plan and took $29000 which I
discovered after the Passover holidays and dismissed me on the grounds of being
the two supervisors manager. One of the supervisors was related to my boss who
was handling the issue. I made a police report on behalf of the company against
the two supervisors who had admitted to taking the money but the case was
withdrawn by my senior managers who immediately suspended me and later fired me
without even a hearing.]
Towards the end of my court case
my lawyer showed me his call log and he had received a call from the magistrate.
The magistrate wanted money so that he could give a favourable verdict. I told
my lawyer who had hesitated to tell me about it that I was not going to do such
a thing. Whatever the verdict he would come up with would say. The state had
clearly lost its case at law because of contradicting witnesses so there should
not have been anything possible conviction given the facts of the case. When we
returned for another court session which was supposed to be the last, the
magistrate postponed the matter without even consulting with my lawyer which he
was not supposed to do in the normal proceedings of court affairs.
[On one
of the nights before we returned to court again I met a drunk stranger whilst I
was getting sadza from a take away restaurant and he looked at me and said “Hey
don’t worry man, God is able, so remember that” and that was our entire
conversation.]
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| with the beautiful Miss Wilhelmine Wachter- my love |
We waited for the date, praying.
My girlfriend Wilhelmine Wachter, my mum Cicci Mtatiwa and her friends fasted with me. Our cell group, Zone leader and our
District pastor, Pastor Thandie prayed for me and encouraged me throughout the
period and later also told me that a host of pastors were also praying with me
including Pastor Taz. On the day, the magistrate pronounced his verdict -“guilty”
based on the testimony of the (contradicting) witnesses that had appeared
before the court. On the day when I would be sentenced which was the next day, the
prosecutor came up to me whilst we stood at the court entrance and said
“Hakata, haa wakaoma -literally-(Hakata, you are hard man)”. Then in court the uncle
to the late Neville who had been present at all the court appearances requested
to speak to the court and spoke on my behalf. He spoke of what we had done for
the family and how the family had accepted that what had happened was an
accident. I was deeply moved by this to the point of tears and after mitigation
the magistrate stood down the matter to 2:15pm which was also unusual. We went
back and I was sentenced to 210 hours of community service. My lawyer and my
family wanted to appeal but I told them it was not worth it. I said this
because an appeal could take another year of court appearances and all that
time the relatives of the deceased would have to be present in court. I
accepted the community service and told my lawyer and family that the bereaved
also needed rest from this and as unfair as the judgement might have seemed- it
is well, I was at peace, God had fought for me and I had seen His grace throughout
all that happened. It was so much grace that even my girlfriend’s father Michael A. Wachter helped
me out financially during the whole ordeal.
I served community service at
Mabelreign clinic and there I saw the favour of God at work. The clinic staff
there was very kind to me and would not let me do things they deemed hard like
digging, choosing instead to let me work inside the clinic packing pills or
taking inventory. They also arranged for counseling sessions for me concerning
which they soon realized there was no need because the Greatest Counsellor of
all counselled me. I witnessed to many I came across with. To show how God had
been gracious towards me, I met a man whose nephew had run over a child and he
was locked up the very same day despite having given one of the cops $50. The man’s
nephew was kept in custody, denied bail and was sentenced to three months
imprisonment at Chikurubi maximum prison. I have tried to get the man to go
with me and visit his nephew but up to this date he has not shown any willingness
to do so but I pray for the young man. In a month I was done with my hours. On
my last day, all the clinic staff expressed sadness at my leaving and bid me
farewell.
I want to thank God our Father through our Lord and King Yahushua for holding my hand and for being there for me through the storm and the fire. I would also like to thank My late mum and best friend Auxillia Tatisa for raising me up to fear God, Neville's family,
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| The late Honourable, her excellency Auxillia Tatisa- my mum and best friend |
Wilhelmine Wachter my best friend and love, My mum and dad Mr and Mrs Mtatiwa,
siblings (Joy, Tino and Ruva), My aunt Gladies Tsopotsa and family, My nephews Zed, Naison and family and Lucas, my Nieces Taffy and Tarisai and family friends particularly auntie Faith, My friends Simbarashe Ralph Shokobishi (God bless you mate), Janielle Beh (praying with me and encouraging me all the way from Australia), Munyaradzi Chinyemba, Sija Mafu who has written about my testimony on his website
http://www.motivated2inspire.com/index.php/what-scars-represent-in-our-lives,
Cliffton Mapfumo, Blessing Mabvuramiti, Leo, Emelda and Precious Vhiriri.
Pastors Tom and
Bonnie Deuschle, Pastor Taz, Pastor Thandie, Sister Rufaro and my cell group family (all from Celebration Church international), Pastor Langton Gatsi of One way International Ministries.
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| My parents (the rents) Bornaparte and Cicci Mtatiwa |
I pray that this
testimony will encourage all that shall come across it. It is not a testimony
of strength but of how God became my Strength when I had no hope. We live in a
world where it is “easier” to do the wrong thing than to do the right thing (having been tempted to give in) but
by His grace we do overcome. Even if we suffer it is gain for one day we shall
share in Christ’s everlasting glories. I do not regret the choices I made even
though I have suffered much for them, what I do regret are the moments when I
doubted God and feared but This God that we serve, Is a faithful God, an
awesome God.
To Him who sits on the Throne and
to the Lamb- be praise and honour and glory and power forever and ever Amen.
M c N o r r i s
