 Acknowledgement of Almighty God
Back to Guide Exodus 20:3 "You shall have no other gods before me."(NIV) 2 Chronicles 7:14 "if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."(NIV) Psalm 9:17 "The wicked return to the grave, all the nations that forget God." (NIV) Psalm 127:1 "Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain."(NIV)
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 "Who will rise up for Me against the wicked? Who will take a stand for Me against evil doers?"
Psalm 94:16 Some people watch things happen. Some make things happen. Others don't have a clue what happened! Christians are called to action! We are called to love God with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength, and we are to love our neighbour as ourselves. After relating the story of the Good Samaritan, the Lord Jesus commanded us to go and do likewise. We are commanded to rescue those being led away to death, to speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves. To go into the highways and byways to proclaim the Gospel and to win souls for Christ. We are commanded to make disciples of all nations, teaching obedience to all things that the Lord has commanded. To contend for the Faith that was once for all entrusted to the Saints. "So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land that I should not destroy it..." Ezekiel 22:30  A truly Christian education is invaluable. It will create an environment of respect for God, for His Word and for authority. It will lay foundations of discipline, moral values and a work ethic that will prepare a student for life.
Christianity is a tremendous force for education. Most of the world’s languages were first set to writing by Christian missionaries. The first book in most languages of the world has been the Bible. Christianity has been the greatest force for promoting literacy worldwide throughout history. Christianity revolutionised education by making it available to all classes and to both genders. Christians were the first to advocate universal education. The very name, universities, confirms their Christian origin. Uni Veritas means ‘one truth’. It was the Christian monks and missionaries who discipled Europe who established the first universities in Paris, Oxford and Cambridge.  All practical steps to reclaiming South Africa for Christ must start with ourselves. We must ask ourselves: How well do I know the Bible? Am I right with God? Do I know what God wants? What exactly is the will of God? How do I apply His will to various situations?
I once heard the story of a woman who was converted late in life. Her minister gave her a Bible, and every so often he would ask, ‘how far have you read.’ She was a very slow reader, and he was disappointed. One day he asked her again, and she said: “How can I read on when I have not yet put into practice that which I have already read?” How much of what we read do we put into practice? For instance, we read: “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7) But when it comes to action, we don’t resist. We rather get out of the devil’s way. Or we read: “Put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” (Eph. 6:13) But when it comes to action, we don’t stand our ground. We like to appear liberal and reasonable. We compromise and give way.  We are living in a time of crisis, chaos, crime and corruption. Yet all too many in our churches are confused, cowardly and compromising.
During a recent mission trip throughout the country I learned of many disturbing developments, farm murders, land invasions, endemic crime and corruption, the break down of services and erosion of the very foundations of civilisation. My son, Calvin, and I learned a lot about our nation’s history and heritage as we visited mission stations, schools, churches, battle sites and museums. We also learned much about the many different facets of the crisis confronting our country. Deforestation and Arson We saw vast tracts of land burned out and deforested. A man involved in forestry informed us that South Africa is approximately 60% deforested. Many of the recent fires have been the result of arson linked with land claims. MONDI and SAPPI, the two largest suppliers of paper, have particularly been targeted for land claims, and huge amounts of arson against their forests. Yet, despite this ecological disaster, I’ve read no articles in the newspapers, or on the internet, concerning it and had to physically drive around the country to learn of these developments.  There was a time when few of us were touched by crime. Then we all began to know somebody who had been affected by crime. Now each of us have our own stories of how we were stolen from, directly threatened by crime, or worse.
At a recent meeting, the 80-odd people in attendance were asked to name some of the crimes they had personally experienced. In short order, those present related house breaking, car theft, cell phone theft, fraud, assault, hijacking, armed robbery and murder - all experienced either by themselves or their immediate family, recently. At almost any social occasion, you can find South Africans swapping stories about a brush with death or the long-hand of crime having stolen from them and their loved ones. Crime is a reality that affects each one of us. The situation in South Africa got so bad that the government even placed a moratorium on crime statistics, forbidding the police to release statistics of incidents of crime in South Africa to the voters and tax payers they are meant to represent and serve.  Some people, when they hear the word “government”, think about the state capital with its large state government office buildings or the State House or Parliament. But that is only one aspect of government.
Basically, government has to do with the way in which people conduct themselves as they carry out their personal and community affairs. The Bible clearly defines four spheres of government that are all accountable to God to obey His Word. 1. Personal or Self-government is the first and most basic sphere of government (Gal.5:22-23, John 14:21). Each and every person is accountable to God for the way he conducts his life and will be judged accordingly in this life and the next. The more self-controlled, self-disciplined we are, the less we’ll need external government discipline from family, church and state. (Galatians 6:7, Rev. 20:12, Proverbs 16:32, 1 Timothy 3:45, 2 Peter 1:6). Self-government is symbolised by our consciences.  Is Revival the desire of your heart? Do you long to see the churches and communities in South Africa revived and restored to a God honouring condition?
“Restore us, O God Almighty; make Your face shine upon us, that we may be saved.” Psalm 80:7 Are you praying for a great spiritual awakening that will change our cities and our country? Is it your prayer that God may be honoured and glorified in all areas of life? “Oh that You would rend the heavens and come down, . . . come down to make Your Name known to Your enemies and cause the nations to quake before You!” Isaiah 64:1-2 Duncan Campbell of the Hebrides revival observed that: “Revival is not churches filled with people, but people filled with God.” Jonathan Edwards described revival as “a special season of mercy.”  “Those from among you shall build the old waste places; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, the Restorer of Streets to dwell in.”
Isaiah 59:12 That we live in a broken world should be obvious to anyone. That our fallen world needs changing is beyond question. When our newspapers and films glamourise immorality, undermine traditional family values and encourage selfishness, greed and lust; when criminals escape justice by legal technicalities; when half the world suffers under totalitarian dictatorships and persecution; when pornography, perversion, abortions, terrorism and the occult are increasing – then we must know that this is a broken world that needs to be changed. But most Christians have abandoned their moral responsibility to bring the Light of the Gospel into heathen darkness. Many Christians are allowing their own children to be brought up by godless humanism in state schools and entertained by occultism and pagan magic through Hollywood films and television.  “Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His Commandments.”
Deuteronomy 7:9 The Bible tells us that God seeks “godly offspring…” Malachi 2:15. The family is the basic building block of society. The battle for the family is in the very frontline of the World War of Worldviews. |
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