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COMMUNIST CHALLENGE COUNTEREDThe Speaker of the Eastern Cape Legislature, Mkhangeli Matomela declared that "Jesus was a Communist" and challenged all Christians to prove him wrong! Mr. Matomela declared in Bisho during the advisory board report: "To me Jesus was a Communist and I challenge all Christians and parties espousing Christian norms to prove me wrong!" Quoting from Acts 4:32-35, Matomela said: "All believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions were his own, but they shared everything they had." Mr. Matomela was defending the alliance between the African National Congress and the South African Communist Party, in his response to the legislature’s annual report. He said Christians, including the African Christian Democratic Party, attacked the ANC for working with Communists because they read the Scriptures wrong: "If this is not Communism at its best, please tell me what it is? You will agree with me that angels were not the first to introduce Communism and Socialist principles." (– Sapa – The Citizen 24 Nov 99) JESUS WAS NOT A COMMUNIST The claim by Mkhangeli Matomela, speaker of the Eastern Cape Legislature, that the Lord Jesus Christ was a Communist (The Citizen 24/11/99) is easy to refute. The sharing that took place in Jerusalem, as recorded in chapter four of Acts, was voluntary. This is confirmed by the Apostle Peter in verse four of the next chapter "While it (the land) remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it (the proceeds of the sale) not in your own control?" The Apostle Paul also makes clear that giving is to be voluntary without pressure of compulsion, in II Corinthians, chapter 9, verse 7. By contrast, the redistribution of wealth under Communism is compulsory, not voluntary. There is no way the two can be compared! Secondly, while there are many exhortations in the Bible to help the needy, there is no other example or exhortation to have "all things in common". It must be therefore concluded that the arrangement in Jerusalem was a purely local initiative to deal with a temporary problem. Finally, as should already be clear, the Lord Jesus gave no instructions for possessions to be held "in common". He urged the rich young ruler to distribute his wealth among the poor, but took no action to force him to do His will (Mark, chapter 10, verses 21 and 22). In addition to this Biblical response from Dr. Cain, I wrote a letter based on my personal experience in communist lands: COMMUNISM IS ANTI-CHRIST It is ludicrous for ANC politician Mkhangeli Matomela to allege that our Lord Jesus Christ was a communist. If communists really believed that Jesus was a communist why have they gone to such extra – ordinary, excessive lengths to outlaw the teachings of Jesus? My father-in-law, Rev. Bill Bathman spent over 30 years smuggling Bibles behind the Iron Curtain into Eastern Europe. During my ministry in Romania and Albania I met Christians who had been severely persecuted for their faith in Jesus. Some Christians in Albania were tortured and imprisoned for 10 years – merely for possessing a copy of the Bible! During the 1980’s in Marxist Mozambique and Angola, I saw churches burned down, Bibles burned and Christians massacred by the communist Frelimo and MPLA governments. When I was imprisoned for my missionary activities, a SNASP security policeman began his interrogation of me in Machava security prison with these words: "I am the devil! I am not only a Marxist and a Leninist, I am a Stalinist! I hate Christians!" My solitary confinement prison cell testified to this marxist’s hatred of Christians – Scripture verses, doves, crosses, prayers and descriptions of tortures endured had been etched into the walls by previous inmates. There is a world of difference between the love of Christ and the hatred of communism. You cannot equate voluntary Christian sharing and generosity with compulsory communist confiscation and theft. For
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