“Stretching, mind renewing, empowering, hectic, fun, an adventure!” That is how one of the participants described the latest Great Commission Course. They came from as far afield as California and the Congo, from Arizona to Zimbabwe, from Zambia and from all over South Africa. We had several pastors and career missionaries, some heads of ministries and leaders of church groups and pioneers in missions. Some were missionary candidates at the beginning of their training, others experienced veterans who had been in the field for decades. Some had a business background, one was a nurse, another a computer programmer, another had been a commander in the Navy. The mix of nationalities, cultures, languages, backgrounds, characters, skills and personalities made for a dynamic and interesting Great Commission Course (GCC).
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Celebrating a Holocaust?
The Weekend Argus (03 February 07) Life section included an article “10,000 Abortions a Week in the first decade!” as a cause for “victory and celebration.” Correspondent Sherree Roussow described the legislation enacted by Nelson Mandela on 1 February 1997 as “the most liberal abortion laws in the world.” The article declared the abortion legislation introduced in South Africa 10 years ago: “the most amazing victory for women. It’s a celebration…”!! This seems to be a bizarre perspective on a tragic situation. I would not have thought that poisoning, dismembering or strangling little babies in the womb was any cause for celebration! Volume 1 - 1991
The KwaSizabantu Mission is widely recognised as the most successful mission station in Africa. During 2lst-25th January it was also the host of an historic Ministers Conference which drew together 750 ministers, evangelists and missionaries from 71 Christian denominations and organisations to discuss some vital issues facing South Africans. The future of Christian civilization in Southern Africa is in jeopardy. As South Africa reels from the effects of hundreds of massacres and daily terrorist atrocities, civil war seems unavoidable. The cumulative effect of decades of terrorist attacks, international sanctions, boycotts, economic sabotage and a relentless media war have undermined the entire social fabric.
Volume 1 - 1989
Sometimes, Frontline Fellowship members have engaged in literature distribution and personal evangelism outside radical churches. By making such a bold stand for Christ, we often are confronted by hostility and threats. This is an example of a heated exchange that developed during one of our literature evangelism outreaches when I was surrounded by a mob of comrades: Volume 4 - 1989
THE TRAGEDY Southern Africa is torn apart by terrorism and unrest, landmines and bomb blasts, crime and violence. Ritual murders by witchdoctors, human sacrifices and cannabilism for “muti” (medicine) are still commonplace. Desecration of churches by Cubans in Angola, bodies thrown down disused mine shafts by the North Korean-trained 5th brigade in Zimbabwe, and British-trained pilots in British-made jet combat air-craft bombing, rocketing and strafing villages in Mozambique with bullets made in Birmingham, England — these scenes are all part of the tragic picture of Southern Africa today. AN AMERICAN MISSIONARY WITH 28 YEARS EXPERIENCE IN ASSISTING CHURCHES BEHIND THE IRON CURTAIN WRITES IN GLOBAL GLACE (AUGUST 89).
SCREW-TAPE SCENARIO If C.S. Lewis was around today he might have penned a sequel to “Screw-tape Letters.” His principal character would have been promoted downward. Uncle Screw-tape is now the Under-secretary of the Department of Disinformation. He’s working out of a basement office in the Kremlin. His nephew, Wormwood, is on TDY (temporary duty orders) in Washington, assigned to the State Department. Atypical mail intercept might reveal the following: What is Happening in South Africa?
The Shared Heritage of America and South Africa To many Americans, South Africa is a regular news item of inexplicable turmoil and tragedy. Yet few realise the tremendous similarities between the history of the United States and that of South Africa. Nor do many appreciate how closely our fortunes and futures are connected. Shortly after Portuguese explorer Bartholemeu Diaz first landed on the shores of South Africa in 1488, Spanish explorer Christopher Columbus landed in the Americas in 1492. Throughout the 1600’s both America and South Africa were settled by pilgrims seeking religious freedom from Holland, France, England, Scotland and Germany. While American pioneers were moving Westwards in covered wagons to settle the vast, mostly uninhabited, interior; South African voortrekkers (pioneers) were embarking on the Great Trek Northwards and Eastwards, also in covered wagons. Just as the American pioneers had to cross the Rocky Mountain Range so too the vooctrekkers crossed the vast Drakensberg mountains. As the pioneers drew their wagons in a circle to defend their families from the hostile attacks so the voortrekkers formed the laager. Both South Africa and America had their gold rush. Both our countries fought the redcoats. Both our nations endured a vicious war between the states. South Africa was even known as the Union of South Africa (USA) between 1910 and 1960! Volume 2 - 1993
The Chairman of the Council of State of Ciskei, Brigadier O.J. Gqozo has published an eleven point statement of the Kei State National Values. At a time when so many are turning away from their Christian heritage and rejecting Biblical values it is refreshing to read these National Values: We affirm that:
Volume 4 - 1989
Regularly I hear that “South Africa is backward!” “We are ten years behind the rest of the world!” or “fifteen” or “twenty-five years”. The time gap differs but the complaint is the same: South Africa is “old fashioned”, “Victorian”, “Puritanical”, “out of step with the rest of the world.” These complaints often originate from journalists complaining about our “draconian” censorship board banning pornographic films like the blasphemous “Last Temptation of Christ.” Or from arts critics who feel deprived that we in South Africa are being robbed of the artistic merit of seeing homosexuals vomit and defecate over one another, with acid rock music throbbing in one’s eardrums in laser and neon light-lacerated public theatres, as in advanced Western nations in Scandinavia. |
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