This article raises questions about earlier studies in which Johane Masowe, the founder of the popular Masowe vapositori movement, has been portrayed as a replacement of Jesus Christ. This has resulted from the uncritical use of Christian orthodox views of the death and resurrection of Christ as the main background against which to interpret the experiences associated with Johane Masowe's claim to authority as a leader of a new movement. Attention is drawn to vernacular religious idioms in which life and death are dramatized in claims of authority by prophetic figures in society such as masvikiro and n'anga. I suggest that Johane Masowe is best understood as he himself stated, as a prophet whose role model was John the Baptist. The references to suffering, including the several stories of Johane Masowe's death and the miraculous restoration to good health are thus no more than a way of claiming authority for the prophet in the vernacular.
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