The WCC and the war against Christianity in S.A.
On 13 July 2004 Die Burger reported that the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) and the Apostolic Faith Mission (AFM) had rejoined the South African Council of Churches (SACC). This means that they also rejoined the World Council of Churches (WCC) from which the Dutch Reformed Church resigned in 1960 after the Cottesloe Consultation. The DRC says: "It is clear that a Church which is not a member of the SA Council of Churches, can gradually be phased out as a Church and in society. To name but one thing, the influential SACC is the body which offers access to the authorities."
(1) Dr Coenie Burger, Moderator of the General Synod of the DRC, adds: "It is wonderful to be back where we belong. We want to be part of the ecumenical community in order to help solve the country's problems." (2)
Perhaps it is useful to retrace the steps which led to the country's problems and to see what role the ecumenical community played in creating them. For instance, to what extent did this movement help abolish Reformed Christianity and usher in a secular Human Rights culture?
Moratorium on Missions
From the very beginning South Africa was moulded by Reformed Christianity. This religion gave the country peace and plenty, health and wealth. The population grew a hundredfold. South Africa became the leading nation in Africa because committed Christians of all races applied the faith and ethics of Christ to every area of life. The country enjoyed advancements which were unknown in other parts of Africa. But when the Marxist revolutionary forces became active in the land, Reformed Christianity came under pressure. The first attack came when the World Council of Churches decided that the Black Churches must become "truly African" and be "liberated from theological conservatism." In 1973 the WCC called for a suspension (a Moratorium) of missions (3). As a result, the missionary societies withdrew hundreds, if not thousands of missionaries from Africa. This left many young churches without oversight, so that they came under the influence of Marxist "liberation theologians" and "liberation movements." They learned to focus on grievances, and to move away from evangelism to political activism. The Reformed religion, they were taught, had led to oppression and injustice. They were shown a completely new Jesus - Jesus the militant revolutionary, In fact, the then SACC General Secretary, Bishop Desmond Tutu, said: "Jesus was a revolutionary. I am a revolutionary. Every Christian must be a revolutionary." (4) - "One young man with a stone in his hand can achieve far more than I can with a dozen sermons." (5)
The Kairos Document
The attack on Reformed Christianity intensified when the Kairos Document was published in 1985. (6) This document stated that the God of the Reformed religion was actually an idol, and that to use His name in the Preamble of the Constitution was blasphemous. The Preamble read: "In humble submission to Almighty God who controls the destinies of nations and the history of peoples... we declare that we are conscious of our responsibility before God and man..." The Kairos theologians claimed that the God of this Preamble was actually the Antichrist. He was Satan himself and must be fought with might. This Kairos Document was translated into many languages and distributed all over the world, especially at the conferences of the World Council of Churches. In Lusaka in 1987 the WCC gave it its full approval and sanctioned the use of violence by the Marxist "liberation movements," which were supplied by the then Soviet Union both with ideological and combat weapons.
Rustenburg: The National Conference of Churches in South Africa
When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 and the Communist threat diminished, the Government under FW de Klerk wanted to call one-man-one-vote elections. However, before doing so, the State President asked the Churches to advise him. So a National Conference of Churches was called in Rustenburg in 1990. It was co-ordinated by the head of the Programme to Combat Racism of the WCC. Once again Reformed Christianity was the chief target. The Conference issued a "Rustenburg Declaration," with which the participants repented of this religion. They confessed to "heresy", 'disobedience to God', "denial of the Gospel of Jesus Christ", "misuse of the Bible", "slowness to denounce apartheid', and "spiritualising the Gospel". Prof. Willie Jonker, a teacher of Reformed Christianity at Stellenbosch, confessed his guilt and that of the whole Dutch Reformed Church. They then affirmed the demands of the ANC, such as "more equitable wealth distribution," "removal of discriminatory laws," "affirmative acts of restitution," "restoring land to dispossessed people," "a just, democratic, non-racial and non-sexist South Africa," a "Bill of Rights," "separation of State and Church" etc. No vote was taken. The participants sang: "Now thank we all our God " And the Rustenburg Declaration was official!
National Inter-Faith Conference on Religion-State Relations
The next step in the destruction of the Reformed faith and ethos of South Africa was the National Inter-Faith Conference which was held in December 1990. It was organised by the World Conference on Religion and Peace to advise the upcoming ANC Government. At this Conference, Dr Frank Chikane, then General Secretary of the SACC, pleaded for the abolition of Christianity as the official religion of South Africa. He said: "The only viable option is a constitutionally secular state. " (7) - Later, when the ANC came to power, they drafted a new South African Constitution, and indeed, it was entirely secular. In those days 70% of the SA population claimed to be Christians. They were unhappy with the Constitution. 30000 Christians marched on Parliament and many thousands more pleaded that the words "In humble submission to Almighty God... " be included in the Preamble, but to no avail. Christianity was banished from the public arena, and the Reformed religion was replaced with a multi-faith dispensation. Now multi-faith is being taught as the only "religion" in schools. It is, in fact, atheism in disguise.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission
South Africa finally crushed Reformed Christianity and affirmed other gods, when the findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission were published. Its Chairman was the former SACC Secretary and Archbishop of Cape Town, Rev Desmond Tutu, assisted by other SACC ideologues. Having found Reformed Christianity wanting, the Commission told the Churches that they should in future devise theologies which promote multi-culturalism and multi-religion. They should also "articulate a global (non-Christian -DS) ethical foundation which is in keeping with the major beliefs of the various religions." (8) In other words, the South African Churches were exhorted to forsake Christ and Christianity altogether, and worship and serve other gods.
So we see that the long bitter struggle against Separate Development was in fact a long bitter struggle against the Reformed religion. It was a means to destroy the Christian dispensation of South Africa. If, as we are now told, life had been so intolerable, if oppression, exploitation and disadvantagement had been as bad as is now claimed - where would we be without all the doctors, professors, politicians, managers, and leaders who, now 35-50 years old, started climbing the ladder of success in the years of Separate Development?
The State's rejection of Reformed Christianity has had disastrous consequences. Christian moral laws have been struck from the law books and replaced with humanistic laws. What was once forbidden, is now allowed: e.g. abortion, pornography, homosexuality, gambling etc. This has brought much social decay. Every year, according to police information 2,5 million crimes are committed in South Africa, on average 7000 per day. About 70 people are murdered every day, and the prisons are full to overflowing. Since 1994 a farmer is killed every second day. - Public responsibility is waning. Whole sections of society pay no rates and services, and the town and city councils have accumulated debts to the order of R26 Billion. - AIDS is rampant. Whereas in 1994 7,6% of the population were infected, in 2004 it is 26,5%. Whereas in 1990 the life expectancy was 61,8 years, it is now 41,5 years. More than 100000 government officials, tens of thousands of teachers, 60000 soldiers, and 35% of all students are infected or sick, and serious social consequences are expected. (9) If only the old commandment: "Thou shalt not commit adultery," was heeded, the spread of AIDS could he stopped. But the Commandments are part of the Reformed heritage which is officially abolished. Even the Archbishop of Cape Town, the Most Reverend Njongonkulu Ndungane, says: "Christianity has too often espoused a destructive theology that links sex and sin and guilt and punishment." (10)
The Dutch Reformed Church has rejoined the South African Council of Churches because it wants to "be part of the ecumenical community in order to help solve the country's problems". But on what basis? - On the multi-religious ecumenical basis of the SACC and WCC - or on the Reformed Christian basis? The Reformed religion which is now spurned in South Africa, is one of the noblest expressions of Christianity. In its 450 year history it has wrought more charity, freedom, knowledge and progress in the world than any other religion. It brought forth great heroes of faith, and its Confessions are the best summaries of Biblical truth ever given to man - the Westminster Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism, the Belgic Confession, and even the Book of Common Prayer. These are documents which, when properly understood, ennoble individuals, families, societies and nations.
Indeed, South Africa does need to solve her problems. But the biggest problem is godlessness. As a nation we need to return to God, to love the Lord Jesus Christ, and to teach the children what He has commanded. Jesus says: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you." (Luke 12:3 1) The downward trend will be reversed, and a new hope and light will shine over Africa.
May God bless you richly,
D. Scarborough.
Footnotes:
1. The Ecumenical Commission of the DRC at the General Synod of October 2002.
2. Die Kerkbode, 13.8.2004
3. WCC Conference on World Missions, Bangkok 1973.
4. Rapport, 20.4.86
5. Daily Telegraph, London, Nov. 1984
6. Published by the Institute of Contextual Theology, the think-tank of the SACC. There were in fact three "Kairos" Documents, the other two being the Evangelical Witness and The Road to Damscus.
7. Believers in the Future, Proceedings of the National Inter-Faith Conference on Religion-State Relations. 1990.
8. Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Extract 5, Recommendations, 1998.
9. Intersearch Management Briefing, April 2004
10. The Challenge of HIV/AIDS to Christian Theology, University of the Western Cape, 30.7.04.