​​One of our field teams was preaching the Gospel to a crowd of two hundred Caprivians near Katima Mulilo. They all seemed to be responding very positively until one of our workers spoke out against witchcraft. Suddenly the whole hail was filled with a rumbling sound as many angrily murmured and complained.

​One man stood up and rebuked us for condemning witchcraft
​
“It is our tradition!” he declared.

“Are you a Christian?” he was asked.

“Yes, we who are here are all Christians,” came the reply.

“Do you believe that the Bible is the Word of God?”

“Yes, we all are good church members — but how can you speak against our traditions. The witchdoctor protects us against the evil spirits, and heals some diseases that the white doctor cannot.”

Our field worker read from Deuteronomy 18:9-13:
“Don’t follow the disgusting practices of the nations. . . Don’t sacrifice your children . .. Don’t let your people practise divination or look for omens or use spells or charms, and don’t let them consult the spirits of the dead. The Lord your God hates people who do these disgusting things . . . Be completely faithful to the Lord.”

The whole hall resounded with angry shouts and threats. Clearly few of these church members were receptive to the Word of God’s condemnation of witchcraft. Nevertheless, our three field workers, on this and other occassions, patiently presented the clear commands of the Scriptures and boldly challenged these animist church members with the uncompromising Gospel message of repentance and faith in Christ.

“Decide today whom you will serve.” Joshua 24:15

“You cannot go to church on Sunday as well as to the witchdoctor on Monday,” we declared. This problem of syncretism — the mixing of ancestral worship, witchcraft and superstition with the Christian Gospel is a widespread one in Africa.

As Elijah challenged the people of Israel on Mount Carmel: 
“How much longer will it take you to make up your minds? If the Lord is God, worship Him; but if Baal is God, worship him!” 1 Kings 18:21

​Our evangelistic outreach was in response to the urgency of the situation, as SWA/Namibia geared up for United Nations military occupation, the return of SWAPO terrorists, exiles and refugees, and UN-supervised elections. Throughout that vast land we found much fear and uncertainty about the future. Some were optimistic and full of faith for what lay ahead. Most were overcome with a sense of helplessness and stunned despair. Many compared the situation in South West Africa (with UN Resolution 435) in 1989, with that of Zimbabwe! Rhodesia (with the Lanchester House Agreement) in 1979.

​Our mission was to bring a Biblical message of hope by preaching against sin, teaching on revival and challenging all to humble repentance, trusting prayer and obedient action.

The nine members of our teams travelled many thousands of kilometres to Mariental, Keetmanshoop, Gobabis, Okahandja, Otjiwarongo, Grootfontein, Tsumeb, Oshivelo, Ondangua, Oshi kati, Ruaccana, Etale, Eenhana, Ombalantu, Hurricane, Rundu, Buffalo, Katima Mulilo, Wenela and many other parts of South West.

Before we began our SWA campaign, we had several all-night prayer chains and two weeks of intensive training to spiritually prepare for the outreach. And throughout our month of meetings we experienced God’s gracious answers to the faithful prayers of those intercessors who provided our “air cover”.

Our three Frontline teams reached over 15 000 people with an uncompromising message of repentance from sin and faith in Christ. In addition, five of our members had evangelistic testimonies or messages recorded on TV by Media for Christ. And two of us recorded church services and an interview on SWABC, the national radio station.

We also specially reprinted 40 000 Gospel tracts and Frontline newsletters for distribution in SWA/Nambia. At every meeting and also in the military bases, churches, streets and homes, we distributed the printed message, as seed sown in the faith that God will accomplish His eternal will through each page.

“So also will be my Word — it will not fail to do what I plan for it. It will accomplish everything I send it to do.” Isaiah 55:11

Each of our teams were also equipped with Christian videos so that after preaching during the day, we would screen Christian films like the “Jesus” film at night as a follow-on to the spoken message. We were further able to deliver several boxes of good Christian books to coffee bars for their libraries.

Once in the “operational area”, we travelled in amoured cars as a protection against landmines. Many times we preached in the pouring rain to troops in the open veld or huddled under large Baobab trees. Sometimes we camped out in temporary bases with soldiers in the field — eating out of the famous ration packs (or “rats”, as they’re affectionately known).

Aside from challenging everyone to get into a right relationship with God, we also challenged the Christians to regular prayer for the country and action to confront the UN military force (UNTAG), drawn from 21 nations, and returning SWAPO “refugees” with the Gospel of Christ. Instead of bemoaning the present situation, we who are believers should siege this unique missionary opportunity to evangelise so many different people from so many foreign lands.

​During a recent trip to Namibia I found a crime wave in Windhoek, and a reign of terror in the Northern territories of Caprivi, Kavango and Ovambo.

​​South West Africa (now renamed Namibia) has been an increasingly important part of my life since I first visited it in 1974. Over the past years I have spent several months each year in SWA/Namibia both as a soldier and as a missionary. Having energetically ministered to all sections of the population in almost every town and corner of the vast territory, I grew to love its harsh beauty and its diverse people.

It was therefore traumatic to revisit Namibia and evaluate the effect of UN435, the military occupation by United Nations troops (UNTAG), the South African withdrawal, the return of SWAPO terrorists, the UN supervised election, and the handover of the country to the Marxist terror group SWAPO on 21 March 1990.

At first there didn’t seem to be much outward change. The Namib Air 737 aircraft which we flew in on was the same SAA aircraft we had previously used. The air crew were SAA trained and the aircraft was on loan from South Africa.

The South African built Windhoek airport looked the same, except that the blue, red and green striped Namibian flag flew over it. The South African made roads and SA financed and constructed capital — Windhoek — still looks appealing and calm. The shops are still full of South African products and the everyday lives of the people seem outwardly the same as before independence. Even the currency used in Namibia is still South African Rand!

However once you turn on the television set for the NBC - 9.00 p.m. news - you are immediately confronted with the new dispensation. Long rambling speeches by “the President”, endless interviews with SWAPO leaders, regular technical breakdowns, repeated apologies for the bad quality of film broadcasts, very little actual news, but loads of socialist terminology and propaganda. It was so blatantly bad and absurd that I was regularly in stitches with tears pouring down my cheeks in uncontrollable laughter. It helps to maintain a sense of humour.

“We call it the 9.00 p.m. Comedy Show” said one Namibian.

“It’s downright embarrassing —the Government is discrediting itself. This ridiculous propaganda is going to back-fire on SWAPO,” declared another.

“We call it the Apology Show because itso often breaks down and NBC has to apologize for the break in transmission or for the poor quality of the visual or audio material.”

You have to see it for yourself to believe it.

The same diverse selection of Newspapers are available on the streets. ‘The Namibian” is now pro-Government because it was always pro-SWAPO, “The Observer” is still anti-Government because its editor is anti-establishment. “The Times” and "Die Republican” are still pro- the DTA opposition and therefore daily expose the SWAPO Government corruption and the atrocities of its border guard “Askari’s”. But now SWAPO has its own “Namibia Today” newspaper which reaches new depths in one dimensional, unimaginative, stereo typed, inaccurate, sloppy propaganda “journalism”.

What is fascinating is the prevalence of graffiti, posters, headlines and speeches declaring how wonderful it is to be “free - at last”. As I was unable to observe any new freedoms (nor remember any visible lack of freedom before independence) I regularly asked people:

“What are you free to do now that you could not do last year?” Without exception everyone replied that increased unemployment, crime, the rampant spread of AIDS and the economic decline were the only noticeable changes. “The war is over but the war never affected us in Windhoek any way.”

“This is one of the problems”, explained one businessman. “SWAPO promised free cars, free houses, no taxes, top jobs, etc. before the elections. There is no way they can fulfil any of their irresponsible promises. So there is a growing dissatisfaction and backlash for them. People feel cheated, lied to and used. Now they see SWAPO leaders in expensive suits, in chauffeur driven new Mercedes Benz.

Nothing has changed, except the faces of the leaders. This is now leading to an unprecedented crime wave as people steal what SWAPO promised to give them.” “It’s a privatized redistribution of wealth” quipped one.

Many Namibians complained that the new SWAPO Government was squandering the country’s limited resources recklessly. Government overseas (first class) airtickets cost over R30 million in the first three and half months of independence.

The proposed Namibian budget allocates almost as much money to Government officials’ houses and mansions as it does for the entire population and whole fleets of expensive cars have been bought, and smashed. One garage had 10 new luxury cars in for repairs at one time. Each had the green GRN Government number plates. The average cost of repairs was R25 000 for each vehicle. Some had less than 300 km on the clock.

Also surprising was the large number of building projects under construction — new office blocks, shopping centres and an elaborate pedestrian mall. This was surprising because unemployment is increasing, tourism is down to 20% of the 1989 figures and the economy is depressed and declining.

The Bible Society reported that sales were down to a fraction of previous years. The South African Defence Force had purchased more Bibles than all the other institutions combined. But now the SADF had left, the Chaplaincy of the SWATF had disbanded, the local authorities were no longer purchasing Bibles for every student, tourism was down, and so were donations — because SA soldiers had been the most generous supporters of translation and Braille Bible projects. By way of contrast, in response to my queries, I was told that during the year long United Nations (UNTAG) military occupation, of the over 7,000 UN soldiers, policemen and officials, only one had once purchased one Bible from the Bible Society. Although some South Westers had purchased a few Bibles to give to UNTAG members — the numbers involved were insignificant.

With the departure of the South African Army (which was the greatest employer in SWNNamibia) and the United Nations personnel there seems little chance of providing adequate business to existing shops, let alone to over 100 new shops. Admittedly there has been a large influx of ex-SWAPO terrorists, “exiles” and returnees. And the proliferation of foreign embassies should provide a fair amount of business. But returnees and refugees are not likely to create jobs as much as increased unemployment and strain on support services.

Nevertheless despite rampant house breaking and car theft, there is widespread optimism in Windhoek. Many previously nervous and fearful residents have relaxed and are cautiously optimistic for the future. “We had expected the worst when SWAPO won but when after a week nothing had changed we realized that everything would be alright.”

“Everybody at work wanted to move to South Africa when SWAPO came in. Nobody wanted to live under a government that had come into power through landmines and terrorism. But then all the news of violence and unrest in South Africa stopped us. We are still here only because South Africa seems more unstable and violent than here.” And the NBC radio and TV reports play on this perception daily.

However Namibia has some serious problems. Firstly communist regimes seldom crack down on all dissent immediately after attaining power. That SWAPO is Marxist is plain for all to see. Nujumo condemns Israel but praises the PLO terrorists. He identifies with the MPLA of Angola, Castro of Cuba, and Gaddafi of Libya. And SWAPO’s rhetoric is Marxism and their tactics are Leninism.

It is a fallacy to relax after a few months and say it won’t get worse than this. Marxists never lay all their cards on the table. Deception is an integral part of their strategy. With the economic collapse of SWAPO’s Eastern Europe sponsors, SWAPO is now heavily dependant on Western economic aid. With its shaky and slim majority in the last election SWAPO realizes that it still has some way to go before it can fully control Namibia.

(We received many reports that SWAPO never attained a majority at all. Senior officials confirmed that 32 sealed ballot boxes were found abandoned in Ovambo. Untag officials feared that this discovery would upset SWAPO’s victory and so all 32 ballot boxes were incinerated at SWAWEK with out ever being opened.)

And SWAPO is moving to control the Media, Army and Police as its first steps. Already religious programmes on Sunday evenings have been stopped, and remaining religious programmes have been warned not to be divisive or evangelistic but only to emphasize love and peace and reconciliation.

“There is a spirit of compromise sweeping most churches,” confided one Christian leader. “The fear of SWAPO has given way to compromise and appeasement. Many ministers have sold out to the CCN (Council of Churches of Namibia) already.” Along with this spiritual apostasy has come a moral downslide. Many church leaders have indulged in extra-marital affairs, others have been abandoned by their wives. Many were overcome with suspicion, caution and scepticism. “There is a satanic attack on the Church in Namibia and it is the families which are the first target.”

Another source of instability is that untrained, and often illiterate political appointees have been promoted over the heads of experienced and qualified officers in the Army and Police.

Next, the educational institutions have been targeted. In a policy document entitled “Education in Transition: Nurturing Our Future” submitted to the National Assembly on 23 July 1990, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport proposed a compulsory non-Christian religious education to replace the present evangelical course.

3.6 (d) of that document states as its aim:

“The establishment of a non-confessional relgious curriculum where teaching about the role of different religions and other philosophies of life in the history of mankind is introduced..”

During the independence celebrations the Christians were forced to include Bahai’s, New Agers, Muslims and Liberation Theologians in the liturgy. A Peace Pole has since been planted by New Agers in Windhoek.

Even more disturbing is the news that two Full Gospel missionaries, Gert and Sharon Van der Merwe, have recently been expelled from Namibia for their evangelistic work in Kavango. Many churches have been harrassed and even closed in the Northern provinces of Caprivi, Kavango and Ovamboland. Many credible reports reached us of daily murders, robberies and looting of shops and homes by the ex PLAN fighters (SWAPO terrorists) who now form the border guards in the Northern provinces. We spoke with people who had been threatened, harassed and abused by these unruly border “Askari”. Press reports of tourists and businessmen being abused formed a normal part of the daily news. And over 1200 ex-SWA Territorial Force soldiers and policemen have fled North to join Savimba’s UNITA freedom fighters in Angola.

So, while Windhoek seems peaceful, it is the tribesmen of Caprivi, Kavango and Ovambo who have the dubious privilege of tasting “the first fruits of liberation”.

Peter Hammond

“Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You? 
Show us Your mercy LORD, and grant us Your salvation”
Psalm 85:6

A Need for Bible-based Churches
From the beginning of our ministry in Namibia, we heard many people complaining of the lack of Biblical, Christ-centered churches available for them to fellowship in. Apparently, many of the older churches have lost their zeal and effectiveness and many of the newer churches would struggle to be classified as a church by Biblical standards. Many are preaching as foundational truth what the Bible condemns as dangerous, sinful, or heretical. People are being promised many material items in the Name of Christ, but the Biblical warnings of obsessing over riches are not mentioned. ​

We Preach Christ Crucified
The focus of many churches is not Christ, at least not the Christ of the Bible. I had the opportunity one Sunday morning to preach on the attributes of Christ at a small church. After preaching at this church, I was unsure if the people in the congregation were understanding, agreeing, or even listening to what I was saying. It initially seemed as though my message was going over their heads. We heard later that many people were blessed and they were eager to listen to me the next time I preached the Word. “For as the rain and the snow come down from Heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My Word be that goes out from My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty, but It shall accomplish that which I purpose and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent It.” Isaiah 55:10-11

Fellowship with the Saints
We had the wonderful privilege of meeting other believers and experiencing sweet fellowship with them. In one location, some Christians from different backgrounds organized a combined worship service. There were about 70 people from 6 different churches and home groups. I spoke to them about love from 1 Corinthians 13. The people were very kind and friendly. They were hospitable and even blessed my wife and I with baby clothes and toys. 

Preaching, Teaching and Evangelizing
Namibia is a beautiful land full of contrasts. One can go from desert to fertile farm land to beautiful oceans or large rocky canyons. Similarly, our ministry in Namibia was one of contrasts. We went from ministering in home groups to assisting with rural church plants, to door-to-door Evangelism. We ran a two-day Evangelism Conference with a very new church. The first day we explained the way of salvation, the role of the Ten Commandments in Evangelism, simple Evangelism methods. Then, we lead a door-to-door Evangelism outreach. As always, people return from these outreaches full of enthusiasm and energy. Presenting the Gospel to others is certainly a necessary part of spiritual satisfaction and growth. The new evangelists said this is the kind of thing that they ought to be doing all the time!

Women’s Ministry
Since it was mostly women at the conference, I thought it would be a good idea for the two women in our team to address those at the conference. The women really seemed to open up. One of them told us that her husband is unsaved and that he does not support her Faith. This makes life very difficult for her. While we shared some principles from the Scriptures with her, simply having the platform to share seemed to be therapeutic for her, and we prayed for her husband’s salvation.

We went out again for another Evangelism encounter. Again, we went door-to-door. One man came with us. It was his first time to use the Way of the Master and he found it to be most helpful. Almost every conversation he had with people ended with them telling him that they wanted to give their lives to the Lord. 

Lessons Learned
During our ministry around Namibia, I had the blessing of meeting those pastors, leaders and believers who are faithful to God’s Word, passionate about Christ and set on making a difference in their churches and communities. God always keeps His people who have not bowed their knee to Baal. For true believers in Christ, man-made, emotionally charged, hyped-up experiences will not satisfy, but merely frustrate. If God is to move mightily by His Spirit, we should not settle for counterfeits, but rather practice discernment, pursue righteousness and spend time in prayer, the Word and honor Him in all we do. 

Pray for Namibia
Namibia is a large country with few solid churches. While about 91% of the population claims to be Christian, many do not attend church and few understand salvation and/or the need for Christian holiness. Syncretism and the rapid growth of Islam are also serious threats to the Namibian Church. While these are serious issues, we do praise God for the faithful men and women who are bold enough to speak out against social evils and compromises within the churches of their country. Please pray for Biblical wisdom and daily strength for those who are faithful in service to the Lord.

“Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. He will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. Such is the generation of those who seek Him who seek the face of the God of Jacob.” Psalm 24:3-6

Rev. John Clifford

Frontline Fellowship

P.O. Box 74
Newlands
7725
Cape Town
South Africa
Tel: 021 689 4480
Email: Jclifford@frontline.org.za
Blog: https://acoupleofcliffords.wordpress.com

250 Muslims have formed the “Islamic Movement of Namibia”. They also elected Imam Es al-Seppe as their leader. He said, emphasis would be given to the “proclamation and spreading of the teachings of Islam among the non-Muslim population”. Until 40 years ago, when the first Muslims came to Namibia, Islam was virtually unknown there. It received a boost when a number of Namibian students converted to Islam in a youth camp in Lesotho in 1979. The Islamic World Congress has called on all Muslim organizations to support the Islamic mission in Namibia.