Praise-singing individuals is a social malaise in africa, look at how political leaders are praised and worshiped. very often it creates a situation wherein these bishops and leaders believes they are perpertual. however, back to the church/s (iphc included) the congregants believe these leaders possesses supernatural powers, something mystical in that they (the leaders) talk directly to god on their (congregants') behalf, the same way jesus christ operates. you can't blame africans on this one, for too long they have been oppressed and quite frankly, they need their own jesus whom they can worship. remember, the bible was used to take and partition most of africa. hence, a form of emancipation through praise-singing individuals provide solace for africans. I think this is more parallel to ancestral worship, but in this case, the ancestor is a living man who still trods the earth while in the case of the other, symbolism (tombstones or shrines) are used. its a shame though that these bishops live in affluence from donations while the subjects remain poor, ITS DAYLIGHT ROBBERY. just attend 1 of the services in Silo (iphc headquarters in Zuurbekom: just outside Soweto, Gauteng) and see how for the whole day congregants fork out millions of rands for the devine protection that Mr Modise is supposedly giving them. the ZCC in moria is no exception. these two churchs promise their congregants the ealths (health and wealth) and in the case of the iphc, the more you give away, the more wealthier and healthier you become. however, by merely observing, you can see that over 90 percent of the people in both churchs live below the poverty line. both these church, as in other church the world over, thrive on instilling fear in people. the conventional western churches promise you an everlasting fire in hell while these indegenous churchs promises protection from whichcraft, which a lot of africans strong believe in. so you pay for witchcraft proof of you are indefinitely exposed.