March/April/May 2001

The first Day of Prayer for Transformation in Cape Town. What does the Bible say about abortion, child abuse, crime & punishment, education, gambling, and Sunday observance?

Dear Friends,

Easter and Pentecost are the highlights of the Christian year. They signify the power of Reconciliation and Resurrection. They speak of the renewal of man. They declare liberty from sin and bondage. They proclaim victory. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the greatest man who ever lived, has changed every aspect of human life. He says in Revelation 21:5: "Behold, I make all things new." Everything He touches is transformed.

Today, in South Africa, there is much hope of a transformation of heart, soul and lifestyle. In January, Port Elizabeth had a week-long evangelisation campaign. Night after night c. 10 000 people gathered under the banner of "Restoration." In March, on Human Rights Day, Cape Town enjoyed a Day of Prayer for "Transformation." It was a "Cape Christian Celebration," and brought together at the Newlands Rugby Stadium 45 000 people including civic leaders (plus 10 000 who watched by satellite). "And they entered into a covenant to seek the LORD God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul." (2 Chronicles 15:12) - In June, the churches of Pretoria will also unite in prayer. For Pentecost (27.5. to 3.6. 2001) they have planned a "Week of Bounty" - a time of sharing "excess quality goods (food, clothing, furniture, computers, building materials etc)," with those who are caught in a "cycle of poverty." Throughout the country the challenge resounds: "Make a difference," and the number of people who actually do so is increasing daily.

Love the Lord your God
Cape Town's prayer focus was on loving and praising God. The people prayed for transformed lives, for a transformed society, a transformed nation. The world's biggest problem, they said, is GODLESSNESS. The answer for South Africa is Jesus - the Way, the Truth, and the Life. They gathered to heed God's call in 2 Chronicles 7:14: "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." They asked God to deliver South Africa from witchcraft, satanism and false religion; from sexual immorality; drugs, alcohol, crime and corruption. In a country whose constitution does not acknowledge God but protects the rights of criminals, where perpetrators are often favoured against their victims and law abiding citizens have to live behind security bars, the people need to pray for divine protection.

Crime alone costs the country some R30 billion a year. 1) In 1999, 39% of the victims were White, 32% Indian, 18% Coloured and 16% African. 2) In the same year almost 24 000 murders were reported, a murder rate of 55 per 100 000 people. (5.7 per 100 000 in the USA) In 1999 there were also 15 000 carjackings. Since 1994 some 800 farmers have died in farm attacks - a murder rate of 274 per 100 000 - higher than that for police officials, which is 153 per 100 000. 3) - In this situation the police cannot help. Understaffed, under-equipped, under-educated, under-paid, they have criminality in their own ranks. Victims often refuse to lay charges for fear of retribution, and many witnesses have been murdered.*

The situation needs to be changed. Jesus Christ needs to "make all things new." God needs to transform the hearts of men at every level of society. The Bible needs to be regarded as "for the government of the people, by the people, and for the people," as John Wycliffe said. All South Africans need to humble themselves, and pray, and seek God's face, and turn from their wicked ways. For the true King of the country is not sinful Man, but the Holy God. The true President is the Almighty. He rules by His Law, and through Jesus Christ transforms every part of this world. As we obey God's Law and walk in His Spirit we shall have peace and freedom. In South Africa today, the Church needs to strengthen its prophetic (confrontatio-nal) and Levitical (instructional) role. For not only the individual, but also the nation, is under covenant obligation to repent and live according to God's law. If it does not, it will incur corporate guilt for tolerating evil in the civil realm.

Love your Neighbour
Pretoria's prayer focus is on "transforming the city of Tshwane, that it may become a city that would truly bring Glory to God." Theirs will be a "Week of Bounty." The emphasis is on helping the needy. It is wonderful to see how, as the state's contributions to charity wane, Christian volunteers multiply in an incredible array of charitable concerns - caring for the old, hungry, sick, and handicapped, rescuing and fostering abandoned babies, helping street children, assisting AIDS patients. Motivated by the love of the Lord they are sacrificial even at the expense of their own families. - The Government, on the other hand, which talks much about poverty alleviation, does not deliver. During the past three years it failed to pay out over R500m from the Welfare Department. In 1998/99 the Departments of Welfare, Land Affairs, Sport and Recreation, Trade and Industry, Public Works, and Public Service and Administration withheld over R4,1 billion from the poor. (Cape Times, 7.8.2000) The poor also did not receive of the vast sums raised by the National Lottery. At the beginning of 2001 only 1% had been disbursed. Consider, that in only one week of May 2001 the South African public bought R65 million's worth of lottery tickets! The poor (who buy lottery tickets from below the breadline) could have 'profited' greatly if this ungodly scheme was working as planned. Alas, the lottery (and all other gambling) does nothing to alleviate poverty. On the contrary, they cause and increase poverty. - Neither are the poor helped by the Non Governmental Organisations (NGO's) who have done so much for them. Many have had to close, because they lost their local funding (income from scratch-card schemes) and much of their overseas funding (income now channelled through the Government). *

"He who despises his neighbour sins; but he who has mercy on the poor, happy is he." (Prov. 14:21) Poverty has always been a part of life on earth, and the Church of Jesus Christ has done more than any other institution in history to alleviate it. Christians have set the pattern for relief that is copied worldwide. D James Kennedy, in his book, "What if Jesus had never been born?" says: "From Mother Teresa helping the destitute on the streets of Calcutta to the Salvation Army providing shelter for a family whose home just went up in flames, the sun never sets on Christians - individually and corporately - meeting human needs in the name of Jesus." The inspirational parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) ends with the command: "Go, and do thou likewise." It has had a great impact on Western civilisation. So has the parable of the Sheep and the Goats, (Matt.25: 40) which ends: "Inasmuch as you did it [help the poor] to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me." There is an eternal reward! Christian are also motivated by the fact that Jesus was rich but became poor for our sakes, so that we might become rich. (2 Corinthians 8:9)

The Church
At this time of spiritual and moral decline in South Africa Christians should take heart in the knowledge that the Church has made more changes on earth for the good than any other movement or force in history, for instance: It established Hospitals as early as the Middle Ages. It set up Universities at the same time. The Church gave literacy and education to the masses. It promoted free enterprise. It fought for representative government, the separation of political powers, civil liberties, and the abolition of slavery. Christians fathered modern science and discovery. They elevated women and gave dignity to the common man. They established respect for human life. Benevolence and charity came through the Good Samaritan ethic. Adultery, homosexuality, and other sexual perversions were condemned. Christianity raised the standards of justice. It civilised barbarian and primitive cultures. It codified and set to writing many of the world's languages. It inspired the noblest achievements in art and music, changed countless lives, and brought salvation to numberless souls.

All this did not happen without huge effort, great sacrifice, and eternal vigilance. It was accomplished by men and women who heeded the call of their Redeemer and were obedient to their Master - by believers who wrestled in prayer and who fought the good fight undaunted. Christians have and can again make profound changes to their cultures, but they need the will to do it. They are uniquely equipped, for they work on the basis that:

From Cape Town a challenge has gone out to all South Africa to pray for transformation, to pray that God have mercy on us, that we obey His law and make it the rule of the land. We are to be as a "city upon a hill." The eyes of all people are upon us. If we deal falsely with our God we cause Him to withdraw His present help. We shall be made a by-word in the world.

The covenant which was made at Newlands is this: "We enter into a covenant to seek the Lord with all our heart and soul." (2 Chron. 15:12) God has set before us life, and good, death and evil. We are commanded to love the Lord our God, and to love one another, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His ordinances, that we may live and be multi-plied, and that the Lord our God may bless us in the land whither we go to possess it. But if our hearts shall turn away so that we will not obey, but shall be seduced and worship other gods... we shall surely perish. Therefore, let us choose life that we, and our seed may live; by obeying His voice, and cleaving to Him, for He is our life, and our prosperity. (Deut. 30)

May God bless you richly,
D. Scarborough.

Footnotes:
* Figures taken from George FR Ellis, South Africa: The complex of problems, 2001, SAIRR Regional Topic Paper, April 2001
1. according to Dr Mark Welman, director of the MTN Centre for Crime Presention Studies at Rhoses University, cited in the South Africa Survey 2000/20001 of the SA Institute of Race
Relations (SAIRR).
2. according to a survey conducted by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC). cited by the SA Survey 2000/20001 of the SAIRR.
3. SA Survey 2000/2001, SAIRR