GOSPEL DEFENCE LEAGUE
P O Box 587, Sea Point 8060, RSA; Tel 021-510-6854; e-mail: dscarborough@mweb.co.za
March/April 2006
Dear Friends,
Easter is the greatest historic event of all times. It declares Jesus to be "the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead." (Romans 1:4) It shows that He is "alive for ever and ever!" (Revelations 1:18) It confirms that "everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life." (John 6:40) It tells us that He "has gone into heaven and is at God's right hand." (1 Peter 2:22) It assures us that He is "able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them." (Hebrews 7:25) And it encourages us to "approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace." (Hebrews 4:16) An Easter hymn says:
"How vast the benefits divine which we in Christ possess!
We are redeemed from sin and shame, and called to holiness.
'Tis not for works that we have done - these all to him we owe;
but he of his electing love salvation does bestow."
Christ brought not only spiritual but also social blessings. He made all things new. Because of Him we enjoy a civilisation built on Christian foundations which, contrary to pagan societies, places great value on human life. Christ brought into the world compassion and mercy. He inspired men to help the poor and needy. He called the children to come to Him, and motivated the founding of schools and universities. Through Him governments started to rule "of the people and for the people," and established great civil freedoms. Science flourished through men who thought God's thoughts after Him, and a Biblical work ethic created sound economies. By Christ's inspiration even art and music reached truly sublime heights. No civilisation has been so rich in blessings as the Christian civilisation.
And yet, as Psalm 2 says: "The rulers [of the earth] gather together against the LORD and against his Anointed One. 'Let us break their chains,' they say, 'and throw off their fetters.'" And so there are strong forces today which try to de-christianise the world, including South Africa. Nowhere can this be seen more clearly than in the laws which were made after the coming of 'democracy' in 1994.
Humanism: In South Africa the most foundation-shaking event was the adoption of a new Constitution which is based on the values of Humanism. In 1996 the nation forsook its "humble obedience to Almighty God" and declared the wisdom of man (the state) to be the ultimate authority. The Government did not abolish religion. It simply declared all religions to be equal. However, when all are equal, none is valid, and atheism is king. Today, many believe that "we are all praying to the same God," and see nothing wrong in sharing prayers with pagans. But have they not read Jesus' words that "no-one comes to the Father except through me?" (John 14:6) Or that "salvation is found in no-one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved?" (Acts 4:12)
Mr Steve Swart, a Member of Parliament for the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) has listed some of the new laws which are designed to put into practice the ideals of South Africa's new secular humanist constitution:
Gambling: Whereas Christian South Africa believed that wealth is a blessing of God on work and thrift, humanist South Africa also looks to riches through gambling. Steve Swart says: "The National Gambling Act of 1996 provided for the regulation and co-ordination of casinos, gambling and wagering and provided for an initial 18 licences to be granted country-wide." 1) The "National Lotteries Act of 1997" even gave the central government its own National Lottery. Since then, countless families have been ruined financially, with serious consequences for the nation.
The Film and Publications Act, 1996: Whereas the Christian majority want good moral standards, a "Films and Publications Act was passed which only reflected the minority views of pornographers who requested that pornography be constitutionally protected." 2) It is well known that pornography is the thought, and rape is the deed. About 53,000 women and children are raped every year and many contract AIDS as a result.
The Capital Punishment and the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1997: Whereas God says: "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man," (Genesis 9:8) capital punishment was abolished in 1995.
The Choice of Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1996: Although the Bible says: "You shall not murder," (Exodus 20) abortion-on-demand was legalised in South Africa "up to and including the twentieth week of pregnancy. Taxpayers' money is used to fund and promote abortion even though most surveys indicate that the majority of South Africans are opposed to it..." In fact, nearly 500 000 innocent lives, "three times as many are taken through abortion than are taken by criminals." - The law is such that young girls do not even need their parents' permission and wives do not need their husbands' agreement. But, whoever prevents an abortion can get a jail sentence of up to 10 years.
The Education Laws Amendment Act, 1999: Whereas God holds parents responsible for their children's education, "this Act minimizes the role and authority of parents and even the provinces, to determine education policy. In the Education Laws Amendment Act 2005 provision is made for the Department to override recommendations for the appointment of teachers by School Governing Bodies." The main 'value' now to be taught is 'tolerance', especially towards other religions and other 'sexual orientations'.
The South African Schools Act, 1996: Whereas God demands that children be brought up in the fear of the Lord, this Act curtails the religious freedom of schools. Home-schoolers, too, suffer "unjustified interference," and learners have to be tested on the knowledge and practice of all faiths.
The Broadcasting Act, 1999: Whereas God exhorts Christians to propagate the Gospel by all means possible, Christian radio stations have been threatened with closure. "By redefining 'Community Radio Stations' in the bill to mean a geographical community rather than a 'community of interest," Christian stations are now maginalised, while "the public broadcaster no longer has any legal obligation to show any Christian programming at all."
The Prevention of Discrimination and Promotion of Equality Act, 2000: Whereas the Bible exhorts us to speak the truth, it is now forbidden to say anything 'hurtful' or 'discriminatory' against another religion. Steve Swart says: "The laudable stated aim of this Act, was to prohibit discrimination, including 'hate speech', on the basis of... race, sexual orientation, religion, and pregnancy. Unfortunately on closer study, the Act redefines the word 'marital relationship' to include those in a same-sex relationship and includes 'termination of pregnancy' in its definition of pregnancy." The ACDP President, Rev Kenneth Meshoe, in objecting to the Bill, said in Parliament on 26 January 2000: "(This) Bill is going to directly affect a number of rights enshrined in the Bill of Rights such as the right to freedom of belief, freedom of religion, freedom of association, freedom of speech and freedom of conscience. The ACDP regards this Bill as one of the worst and most far-reaching interventions by this government in the regulation of private life..."
The Firearms Control Act, 2000: Whereas a Christian is to "provide for his household" everything that it needs, including protection, law-abiding citizens are finding it ever more difficult to obtain firearms for self-defence while criminals have easy access to illegal weapons.
The Immigration Act, 2001: Whereas God condemns 'gay' relationships, this Act allows foreign homosexual partners to obtain permanent residence in South Africa.
The Judicial Officers Amendment Act, 2003: Whereas God has ordained marriage between a man and a woman as the basic human order, this Act offers the same rights to same-sex partners as to heterosexual couples. "The consequent legislation strikes at the very heart of family values in South Africa. Besides protecting homosexual partners, it also encourages heterosexual partners not to get married, as they will enjoy the same pension benefits."
The Alteration of Sex Description and Sex Status Act, 2003: This Act allows persons, who have had a sex change operation, to alter their sex description in the National Population Register.
The Sexual Offences Amendment Bill: Whereas Jesus Christ pronounces "Woe" over those who would harm a child, this Bill exposes young boys to 'gay' exploitation. Steve Swart writes: "The ACDP rejects the reduction of the age of consent for sodomy from the present statutory age of 19 to 16. There is no doubt that boys need to be protected from homosexual acts during their formative years... Predatory men will now be able to claim that their victims consented. If those men are to be convicted their victims will have to prove that they did not consent."
The Decriminalisation of Prostitution: Whereas God condemns prostitution, the SA Law Commission is working on a discussion paper to de-criminalise and legalise prostitution.
The End of Life Bill: Whereas God prohibits murder and suicide, the SA Law Commission is proposing "the most liberal euthanasia laws in the world."
Homosexual Marriage: Whereas God condemns homosexuality, the Constitutional Court has ruled that gay couples can have equal family life to that of heterosexuals.
The Children's Bill: Mrs Cheryllyn Dudley, another ACDP Parliamentarian, objected "to various clauses in the bill..." saying that "the bill provides for 12-year old children to carry the responsibility of consenting to medical treatment and surgical operations including termination of pregnancy. It also makes provision for 12-year olds to access contraception without parental consent. This legislation also confirms the court judgment allowing same-sex partners to adopt children."
From all these laws we see that a spiritual, moral, and legal revolution is taking place in South Africa. The nation is being forced into the secular humanist camp, and Christianity is silently outlawed. We are in the midst of a great war against Jesus Christ and the dismantling of the whole human order established by the Triune God. Hitherto, we have been living on the capital of our Christian past, but as this is being eroded the downward slide will become faster. Indeed, the Psalmist was right when he said: "The rulers of the earth gather together against the LORD and against his Anointed One..." But let us not be discouraged. Let us keep our eyes on God. Let us stand up for Jesus, knowing that "the One enthroned in heaven laughs; he rebukes them in his anger... saying, 'I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill.'" Let us be strong and unmoved, and proclaim to the world: "Be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him." (Psalm 2)
May God bless you richly,
D. Scarborough.
Footnotes:
1. S Swart MP, Religious Freedoms at Risk in South Africa.
2. Unless otherwise stated, all passages in inverted commas are quotes from Steve Swart's article.
Pagan Religions in the Light of the Bible
Humanism and other pagan religions are gaining ascendancy in the world. Therefore, the International Christian Network, on 20.11. 1999, issued a Declaration entitled "No other Name!" (Acts 4:12) One of its chief signatories is Professor Peter Beyerhaus of Germany. The following excerpt is taken from Section II,
"The Nature of Other Religions in the Light of Biblical Revelation," (translated from German by D Scarborough).
The Religious Search of Man
God created man in His image and for fellowship with Him in a life eternal. He is therefore waiting for man to return to Him.
We believe and confess: Even after the fall of man and his expulsion from God's presence, mankind retained an ineradicable longing for God. This indicates that it is God's will to bring man back into fellowship with Him.
Acts 17:26-28a - "From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being."
1 Timothy 2:4 - "God our Saviour wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth."
It is God's will to renew man from within through a spiritual rebirth.
John 3:5f - "Jesus answered, 'I tell you the truth, unless a man is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.... You should not be surprised at my saying, You must be born again.'"
2 Corinthians 5:17 - "Christ died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again."
The universal existence of religions - though diverse and conflicting - indicates the original godly destiny of man. At the same time it shows that it is impossible for him to attain this in his own power. The Gospel is the only valid answer to the longing of mankind for salvation, and so it includes a demand for mission. God the Father wants to draw all men to Himself into a close personal relationship through Jesus Christ.
John 6:44 - "No-one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day."
John 12:32 - "But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself."
1 John 1:3 - "We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with the Son, Jesus Christ."
Therefore we must reject the following widespread ideas:
1. that men have not only sought, but also found, salvation in their own [non-Christian] religions;
2. that even Christians - who have received God's full revelation in Jesus Christ (Hebrews 1:1-2) - are still seeking the truth, and that they should seek it through interreligious dialogue with representatives of other religions...
Ecclesiastes 3:11 - "God has set eternity in the hearts of men."
Acts 17:26f - "God determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him."
The Demonic Aspect of other Religions
Holy Scripture condemns pagan religions for the following reasons: that they signify a rebellion of man against God and that they are under satanic influence.
We believe and confess: Fallen men in their religious orientation and practice are motivated by a selfish desire of wanting to be like God, and to have power, knowledge and an abundant life.
Genesis 3:4-6 - "'You will not surely die,' the serpent said to the woman [Eve]. 'For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.' When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it."
Genesis 11:1 - The men of Babel said... "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves..." So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city."
Habakuk 1:11b - They are "guilty men, whose own strength is their god."
Under the influence of God's enemy, the devil, pagans worship, instead of the true God, idols who are fronts for demonic powers.
1 Corinthians 10:20 - "The sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons."
That is why fallen man's residual knowledge of God does not lead to a real, total and obedient commitment to the Lord, but to a spiritual delusion and, in extreme cases, to spiritistic slavery.
Deuteronomy 18:9-12 - "When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the destable ways of the nations there. Let no-one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practises divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD, and because of these detestable practices the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you."
Romans 1:21-23 - "Although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles."
Isaiah 44:9 - "All who make idols are nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless. Those who would speak up for them are blind; they are ignorant, to their own shame."
2 Corinthians 4:3f - "The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."
Galatians 4:8 - "Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods."
That is why the realm of pagan religions, in spite of their trace elements of truth and ethics, is under the wrath of God.
Romans 1:18 - "The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness."
Ephesians 2:3 - "All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath."
John 3:36b - "Whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him."
This wrath has been held back from members of pre-Christian religions by God's patience, but it threatens all who, having received His salvation, fall back into paganism.
Ephesians 5:3-12 - "No immoral, impure or greedy person - such a man is an idolater - has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God... Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them."
Hebrews 6:4-8 - "It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift... if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace."
Hebrews 10:26-31 - "If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God... It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."
We therefore reject the widespread tendency of contemporary theology to ignore the demonic factor inherent in non-Christian religions, and to disregard the wrath of God.
We also reject the false notion that [non-Christian] religions are harmless, and are simply "living faiths". The ecumenical programmes of dialogue, if they are only a "spiritual exchange", are syncretistic. Wherever such is found in Christian religious education or worship (e.g. through active participation of representatives of other religions) we must point out that God prohibits the mixing of Christian with non-Christian beliefs and practices. Christians are not to take part in the rites and worship of non-Christians.
1 Kings 18:21 - "How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him, but if Baal is God, follow him."
1 Corinthians 10:20 - "The sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons."
What, then, must we do when meeting people of other religions? The Declaration says: "Let us then approach men of other faiths with friendliness. Let us help them and be hospitable. And let us, in the love of Jesus Christ, show them that His offer of salvation is also for them!" Because "salvation is found in no-one else, for THERE IS NO OTHER NAME UNDER HEAVEN GIVEN TO MEN BY WHICH WE MUST BE SAVED." (Acts 4:12)