January/February 1999

God is the Lord of History, and His 10 Commandments need to be applied to rule the nations.

Dear Friends,

We wish you a happy 1999, praying that God may bless you richly and prosper you in every way. The past New Year's Day was the last before the year 2000. The new Millenium is almost there, but of all its enthusiasts few mention that the 2000 years are "the years of the Lord" which started with the birth and work of Our Lord Jesus Christ. It is fashionable to now call it Y2K, counting the time in "Kilo-years", as if History = "His Story," were merely a measurement like weight (kg), volume (kl), and distance (km). The year 2000 means much more than that. It means that 2000 years ago God visited this earth to bring salvation through His only begotten Son. For 2000 years He has, by His Holy Spirit, directed the minds, hearts, and affairs of men in a new way. When looking forward to the celebration of the year 2000, we should talk about Christ, the author and Lord of History, the creator of our Christian culture. Yet, it seems, that preparations are being made to take His name out of History - past, present and future. "Peace on earth and goodwill to men", is already widely seen as coming from Man, not God. "Glory to God in the highest," is already changing into: "Glory to Man who can do all things."

Interestingly, the dating of the Jews goes back to the creation of the world, a date arrived at by the study of Biblical chronology. The year 2000 will be the Jewish year 5760. The Jews work on the premise that "God's will for Man-kind came into operation not with any particular event in human history, but with the beginning of creation." 1)

Even in South Africa history is no longer regarded as "God's will for mankind," though some Christians still see it like that. Generally, autonomous Man places himself into the centre. By his actions alone he wants to determine world events. In his Christmas message, "Victory in Jesus," Bishop Dr Isaac PB Mokoena, the president of the 4-million strong Community for Jesus, cites the 2nd Psalm, saying: "The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us." Looking at South Africa, he deplores that "with the demise in 1994 of the apartheid regime... we had hoped that the new government would reflect the views of the majority. Because more than 70 percent of South Africans call themselves Christians, we had hoped for a government that would honour God. But, sadly, it was not to be."

Throughout the world "democratically elected" governments fail to reflect the views of the people. The founders of "the New Europe", for instance, disdain the Christian nature of the continent's history by omitting reference to the Church and its role in the "Treaty of Amsterdam". They seek to create "a new (non-Christian) soul for Europe" and have appointed a multi-faith commission to harness the religions in promoting the "principles of the European Union, such as reconciliation, peace, solidarity, justice, freedom, and human dignity." 2) - South Africa is not much different. Having sidelined God with a secular Constitution, the Government, through its "Truth Commission" is also seeking to harness religion to "play a key role in the healing and reconciliation initiative..." While dis- couraging the Churches from proclaiming Christ in school and state, they call upon them to "develop theologies designed to promote reconciliation and a true sense of community in the nation," indeed, "to articulate a global (non-Christian) ethical foundation which is in keeping with the major beliefs of the various religions." 3)

It is interesting, how Governments who claim to be utterly secular take such great interest in religion when it comes to making use of its positive dynamism. It is amazing, how gladly the churches respond to such exploitation, and how ready they are to work for their own destruction. In South Africa Atheism is on the rise, as can be measured by the increasing influence of the Communist Party in national affairs. Of the 252 ANC-members in the National Assembly 80 are now registered Communists. This is a great increase from the 50 in 1994. The ANC, being dissatisfied with the slow progress of the "national democratic revolution", elected a special Committee in November 1998 which is to control all major appointments in the political, public and private sectors within its sphere of influence. This Committee consists entirely of Communists. It is chaired by Jacob Zuma. Deputy President of the ANC. Other members are: Sam Shilowa, Secretary-general of COSATU, Blade Nzimande, General Secretary of the SA Communist Pary, Gill Marcus, Deputy Minister of Finance, Nkosazana Zuma, ex-wife of Jacob Zuma, Thinjiwe Mthintso, Assistant Secretary of the ANC, Zola Skewyiya, Minister of State, and Max Sisulu, Deputy head of Denel. These people are asked not only to screen all top appointments, but also to draw up the ANC-Candidates' list for the coming elections, to determine their order of precedence, and to advise the new government on the formation of the Cabinet. 4)

It is logical to assume, then, that if the top positions are filled with Communists, South Africa will soon become a fully Communist country, hostile to Christ and His religion. This places a great responsibility on the voters in the coming elections. It demands that Christians take a stand, for God says: "I have set before you this day life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the LORD... by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his way, and by keeping his commandments... then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you... But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you this day, that you shall perish." (Deut. 30:15-20) This Word has determined the rise and fall of many a nation. For "where there is no vision, (i.e. no knowledge and understanding of the law of God) the people perish." (Prov 29:18) The prophet Hosea cried: "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." (Hos. 4:6) - And so it will be with us if we do not read, understand, and apply God's Law as recorded in the Scriptures. Someone has said:
Engraved as in eternal brass the Ten Commandments shine
Nor can the powers of darkness raze one everlasting line.

But many people believe that you cannot apply God's commandments to present day politics. They say, you cannot legislate morality! The fact is that all Law is legislated morality. Every system of law represents a system of morality. It contains laws against murder, theft, slander, and perjury. There are traffic laws to protect life. Every law on the statute book is concerned with morality. Every system of morality is based on a religion and reflects the God who authored it. - There are basically only two law systems: God-created, and Man-created. Christian, i.e. Biblical law, deals with fixed, absolute, values. God Himself is absolute. He determines right and wrong, good and evil. He determines the measure of punishment which evil deserves. The purpose of His law is to punish and restrain evil, to protect life and property, to provide justice for all. His law does not change the nature of man or save him. For the law cannot save. The only way to salvation is by grace through Jesus Christ.

Man-created law, on the other hand, has no fixed values. Modern man who is, by and large, a secular Humanist believes in Evolution, not in Genesis. Believing that all life evolves, he believes that values, too, evolve. What was right yesterday, may be wrong tomorrow. Contrary to the Bible, which portrays Man as intrinsically sinful, the secular Humanist believes that man is good, that he has unlimited potential. It is only his circumstances which make him bad. Because he is hungry, he steals. Because he is aggrieved, he kills. Because he is poor, he covets. So, in order to realise man's full potential, one must change the law - towards 'redistribution', 'human rights', 'reconciliation' etc. Once these things have been achieved by law, the earth will be a paradise. Man, indeed the whole of mankind, can thus be saved by the works of the law!

This fallacy has been the great dream of Communism throughout the ages. Man the Saviour! Man the author of truth and falsehood, right and wrong, good and evil! - Like every other country in the world, South Africa is tossed about by two conflicting religions: Christianity versus Secular Humanism. The battle of these two religions is what the coming Elections are all about. They are not about men! They are about God! Which God is ruling and will rule the country? - So when when choosing your party - look for two things: Are the candidates Christians? If they are: Do they stand for Christ? Are they courageous in combatting blasphemy, multi-faith education, Lord's Day desecration, abortion, pornography, corruption, and crime? When choosing your party, do as God does: Look upon the heart. Be like Samuel who, when Israel was in dire straights, went out to anoint the future king from among the sons of Jesse. He was tempted to anoint an elder, stronger, more impressive looking brother of David, but God said to him: "The LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart." (1 Sam. 16:7) We should therefore make a clear distinction between those who "take counsel against the Lord and His anointed" and those who "love the Lord their God with all their heart, mind, soul and strength." - "Choose Life!" says God. - "When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn." (Prov. 29:2)

May God bless you richly,
D Scarborough.

Footnotes:
1. The Jewish Chronicle, 15.4.1977. This method of dating was first adopted in the Middle Ages.
2. Topic, No 11, November 1998, Das moderne Europa soll eine "neue Seele" bekommen. - The EU Commission established a multi-faith Project called "A soul for Europe - Ethics and Spirituality."
3. Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Extract 5, Recommendations, 1998.
4. Die Afrikaner, 15-21.1.99 - Super-Komitee van Kommuniste beheer ANC.