Who is our founder?

Prophetess Paulinah Nditamani Mavhungu Davhana is the founder and Archbishop of our spiritual home, Holy New Jerusalem Apostolic Church.

Her early years

On 20 June 1950, a Prophetess named Paulinah Nditamani Mavhungu was born at Thengwe (Maholoni), which is about 50 kilometres from Thohoyandou (Venda, South Africa). It was not known that this child was poised to be a friend and a prophetess of the Most High God Jehovah. She was born to Nthambeleni and Nyelisani Singo. Her father, Nyelisani, was a teacher and later a bookkeeper for several shops in Venda. Mavhungu grew up at Ha-Rammbuda. In 1967 Mavhungu was married to Phungo Davhana. They were blessed with four children, two boys and two girls. The first born son passed away early this year, 2013. Phungo and Mavhungu stayed together until their divorce in 1975. She lived alone until she received the calling of God Jehovah in her life.

Some strange things happened when she was young. She used to dream about people, such as neighbours, having passed away. She would innocently inform everybody around, including her mother about this. The same day in the afternoon they would hear that that person had indeed passed away. After several such incidents, her mother rebuked her and said to her: “In future, if you dream about somebody having passed away, do not speak about it because people will say you are a witch, they will say you are the one who killed that person”. Being a child, Mavhungu would answer her mother thus: “But mommy, what is wrong in sharing the dream I have seen with others?” Her mother then said to her: “Okay, if you dream about the death of anybody, do not tell anybody in public. Tell me first.”

In 1962, while in Std 2, she started experiencing eye problems and could not see. She was taken to Elim Hospital for treatment where she was hospitalised for two months. Her mother advised her to leave school because of the eye problems, believing that she was bewitched, but doctors encouraged her to go back to school and ordered spectacles for her. At school, teachers instructed her to sit in the front row because of her eye problems. However, she nevertheless left school in Std 5 because of the persistent problems with her eyes.

 

Miraculously healed by the power of God Jehovah

In 1992 when she was praying for a sick person at Vuwani, Venda (Limpopo), her glasses fell and the lens dropped out of the frame. When she arrived home, and was trying to put the lens back into the frame, she heard a voice saying: “Take them off, how will you heal other people when you wear glasses?” She was miraculously healed by the power of God Jehovah. Since then, she has never worn glasses for her eye problems again.

These eye problems had started after she began seeing the angels of the Lord. While singing with other people, she would collapse on the ground. When someone read the Bible, the same thing would happen. At school, other children would carry her out of the classroom after she had collapsed. Later when she began working, she continued to collapse, even at work. When she fell people thought the gods were calling her to be a sangoma (traditional African healer), but when she fell she saw angels and heard voices speaking to her.

At one stage, when she was on the ground she saw angels moving about. At first she was not aware that the heavenly beings she was seeing were the angels of the Lord. A cloud appeared in 1981, when she was 31 years old and an angel appeared in the cloud, causing her to collapse yet again. From that day on her legs were swollen and she spent many days wearing sandals to work and having people laugh at her. At one stage she collapsed at work, and on waking up, told people that she had heard a voice speaking to her saying “Go and preach the Word”. On hearing this people said she was mentally disturbed.

 

Her call to preach

As indicated above Mavhungu received her call to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ for the first time in 1981 when the angel of the Lord appeared to her in the cloud. She did not accept the calling then as she did not understand it. The Lord called her again in 1990. And this time the calling was too strong to resist. In this case she heard a voice from an angel who appeared to her in a vision on three consecutive nights, 29 April to 1 May 1990, saying: “Go and do the work of God.” The voice also said: “You are holding miracles in your hand.” Mavhungu saw a vision of an angel of the Lord from heaven with his hands opened. She was lifted up and her hands locked onto those of the angel of the Lord. She felt a very strong anointing in her hands.

Mavhungu consulted many people to try to understand what was happening in her life. None could really explain it, until one day, a woman asked her to join her and attend a prayer meeting at Thohoyandou Block F (Venda). While preaching on God’s Calling, the pastor prophesied that there was a woman in that prayer meeting who was called to do the work of God but who was refusing. Mavhungu collapsed once more and the Pastor said: “There she is.”

 

Taught the word by an angel of God Jehovah

The vision’s main message to her was to restore the ruined House of God Jehovah (Is. 58: 12). The angel of the Lord then assured her that he would guide her to ensure that she succeeded in realising this vision .The angel indicated that he would teach her the word personally for two consecutive days and that on other occasions she would only hear his voice. It happened as the angel of the Lord indicated to her. She initially wanted to go to a Bible school as she felt a calling to God Jehovah. Acquaintances also encouraged her to enrol at a Bible school. The angel said to her: “Do not go to a Bible school. I will teach you what they do not teach in their Bible schools.” (She has since delivered from the snares of the devil through the Spirit of the Lord, people who at first shunned her by saying “I have been to Bible School but I have never been taught what you are teaching me now”).

Mavhungu then spent nine months earnestly praying alone. During this time she was being taught the Word of God Jehovah – Bible lessons by the angel of the Lord. The angel said to her: “This Church I am giving to you will be the Seventh Day Church. And all the churches worshipping God Jehovah will come back to the Sabbath before the return of the Lord Jesus Christ” (II Chr.36: 18-23; Is.66: 20-24; Jer.31: 3-9). After these Bible lessons she organised a graduation party. She invited people and explained to them some of the nuggets of the Gospel of Christ which were taught to her by the angel of the Lord.

The angel said to her: “This Church will heal sicknesses, resolve marital and family problems, and set the kings and the nations free.” Later on, the same angel came to give her the name of the church: New Jerusalem Apostolic Church. The name’s registration was delayed because of the attacks from the enemy of the Lord who were against this vision. Years later, on registration it was realised that it was already in use. As a result we now use, through the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, the name New Jerusalem Prophetic Church. This is logical as our Church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone (Eph. 2: 20). In the three consecutive nights mentioned above, there was a night wherein the Lord came and anointed Mavhungu and said to her: “Go and heal the world.”

 

A visit to the heavens

During the 40-day fast and prayer, Mavhungu was taken up to the heavens. While there she saw a tree which had a “Y” shape. On either side, she saw many pastors belonging to different faiths; some in suits whereas others were in gowns with ropes and still others She did not belong to either of these groups. She was instructed by the devil to choose a particular direction, either to the left branch or to the right branch of the tree.

The angel of the Lord came immediately and took her through the middle of the two branches. A voice said to her she must not put on robes or gowns with sewn crosses. It was clear to Mavhungu that if she had taken either way she would have chosen a wrong direction. She would have ended up being a false prophet, a false pastor or a false apostle. But because she was called by God Jehovah, the angel of the Lord protected her. Mavhungu was taken up to the third heaven by this angel through the middle of the tree’s two branches.

In the third heaven Mahungu saw certain abominations which cannot be described. (She was, like other pastors, forced to eat certain things not fit for a person to eat, but she refused). This is in line with what was revealed to Apostle Paul in II Cor. 12: 1-10, when he was in the third heaven. He explained that in his case, he heard inexpressible words, which were not lawful for a person to utter.

While in the third heaven, she met four powerful people who, Mavhungu was told “Rule in the spirit world on this whole earth”. She saw spirits entering a deep pit. These were the spirits of pastors belonging to new spiritual churches. The person in the centre of this group of four indicated: “This person is not one of us” referring to Mavhungu. Immediately lightning flashed and carried her away from these spiritual leaders up to another heaven, the seventh heaven. She found many spiritual beings there. She could not see all of their faces, only the face of one of them – the angel of the Lord – who came to her and welcomed her.

The angel informed Mavhungu that she had by then passed the second river which many pastors had not passed but, said the Lord “All the pastors have passed the first river”. She had passed the first river while on earth before being taken to the third heaven. Then the Lord said she had passed the third river and also the fourth and final one. When passing through each river, she saw herself walking in the water which was neck-deep. She did not cross each of these rivers in one day. There were certain events which took place during the different stages of crossing these rivers, which Mavhungu cannot describe. After passing the final river she was taken to a very, very beautiful place.

In another vision, Mavhungu was at a church service in Venda in a dusty place – an open air meeting with a big stage. People were singing. She found herself singing this song from a Venda hymn book Ngosha ya Dzingosha by Daniel Brink Towner (1850-1919): Anywhere with Jesus I can safely go. She was immediately lifted up into the heavens. She cried and said: “Does it mean I am going up alone? I do not want to come here alone. Why is my Pastor not here with me?” The Lord said your Pastor cannot come here where you are because he has not accepted this faith. She cried and prayed that he be lifted up to this faith – the seventh heaven.

 

A powerful prophetic, healing and deliverance anointing

Prophetess Davhana has a very powerful prophetic, healing and deliverance anointing. Her faith in the Scriptures; love for the lost, the sick, those possessed and the servants of God is unparalleled. On receiving any revelation, typical of Mavhungu as we know her, she prays over it before revealing it to anybody, testing whether it is indeed from the real God Jehovah. She is truly dedicated to her vision, our vision. She believes that the law of God is the foundation for the Church of God Jehovah and that the original church of God Jehovah was established in Gen. 2: 1-4. We are witnesses of the fact that she is called by the Almighty God Jehovah and that He hears her prayers. We believe that her ministry gifts are a blessing not only to South Africa, but to Africa and the whole world. We thank You, Lord our God Jehovah, for this ministry gift to us. Hallelujah!

Scriptures: II Pet. 2: 1-6 & II Cor. 11: 13-15.

 

Message from our founder

Let’s go back to God Jehovah. Let’s demonstrate our love to Him so that God Jehovah demonstrates His love for us. Let’s reclaim the glory of God Jehovah for the real God, who created everything that has ever been created. We have to please the Almighty God Jehovah by entering into His love so that He can protect our country. If we keep God Jehovah’s commandments then He will keep our country.

We must humble ourselves, pray and seek God Jehovah’s face, and turn from our wicked ways, then He will hear from heaven, and will forgive our sins and heal our land (II Chronicles 7: 14). The Psalmist (27: 8) states “when you said, ‘Seek my face,’ my heart said to You, ‘Your face, Lord, I will seek’”).

For God Jehovah to bless and heal our country, we have to seek Him diligently. We have to seek Him with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our strength (Matt. 22: 37). For God Jehovah to intervene in the challenges facing our country, we must not just be the hearers but the doers of this first and great commandment.

(The quotation is from the NKJV, 1982)