In borrowed robes

Visualise a gospel musician that so much inspires you in the middle of revellers at a drinking joint.

Certainly, your estimation of them in the religious realm should crumble.

It is undoubted that people expect those they hold in high esteem to act and behave in a manner befitting those in such estimation.

Gospel musicians are some of those that have been condemned for a lifestyle the public never expected of them.

“The message a gospel song carries usually makes us believe those singing it are either born-again Christians or they are highly religious,” says Colliness Mwaungulu, a gospel music lover.

“But it may not be true that all of those in gospel music are born-again or highly religious. That is the reason we are sometimes told to ‘do as they say and not as they do’.”

Ndirande Anglican Voices leader Dennis Kalimbe feels the public rushes to judge gospel musicians because “it has a template in which the gospel musicians are supposed to fit.”

He says: “Just because one is a very inspirational gospel musician, people automatically feel that person is a born-again or very close to the creator.

“As such, they become so disappointed in you when they see you in places they do not expect to see you, for instance drinking joints. But these are just their expectations. The fact that one is very successful in spreading the gospel through music does not mean that person is a born-again Christian. That is an issue between the person and God.”

Kalimbe, whom you may find mingling with patrons in entertainment joints, says as a result of being put in a “template of high expectations”, most gospel artists have been forced to live hypocritical lives for fear of being judged.

“We are in gospel music for a number of reasons. Some are there because that is their only source of income and they do not have to do otherwise. The rest is for God to judge,” he adds.

Gospel songstress Princess Chitsulo concurs with Kalimbe, stressing it is wrong to make hasty conclusions even when one finds a gospel musician at awkward places.

She says there are a number of reasons one would be found at a place.

“I usually pass my free time at Sunbird Mt Soche, but that does not mean I go there to do what people do not expect a gospel musician of my calibre,” says Chitsulo.

Kelvin Sato, a Mzuzu-based gospel artist, says such prejudice has landed him in trouble a number of times.

He says: “I used to watch live football matches in drinking joints and one of these days I went to watch one at a certain joint. While there, someone who had watched one of my music videos saw me. It was something else.

“People think, for example, going to a pub means you drink alcohol. In such cases, whatever one does—good or bad—people will have already concluded. It is like what some church members believe that those from a different church will not see heaven.”

Sato says whether born-again Christian, how one conducts themselves should not be basis for people to judge them because “it is God who can judge whether one is truly born-again.”

Kalimbe agrees, saying people should allow the creator to reward one for their deeds. n