News

Charl's Mission News

"Your kingdom come.  Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."  Matthew 6:10 

ONCE again, come 22 April 2009, South Africans will be casting their votes for incumbents of both the national and provincial parliaments.  This is the fourth election since the advent of what have become known as the  ‘golden years’ - which began when Nelson Mandela came to power in 1994.

South Africa has a proportional representation system, so that voters vote for parties rather than individual representatives.  One of the weaknesses of this system is that once appointed, MPs are accountable to their leader and not to the electorate.

The Golden Years

On closer examination, these ‘golden years’ of Mandela have not been as golden as one would like to believe.  During Mandela’s tenure as president, he forced ANC (African National Congress) MPs to vote for the legalisation of abortion on demand, thereby circumventing a vote of conscience on the issue.

Mandela also accepted responsibility for the Shell House Massacre in which security guards at the ANC’s headquarters attacked and killed 19 IFP  (Inkatha Freedom Party) members, who were peacefully marching past in a legal demonstration. 

Further, under Mandela’s rule, race classification, finally abandoned by the former National Party government, was re-introduced under the guise of Black Economic Empowerment or Affirmative Action.  We are the only country in the world where Affirmative Action discriminates in favour of the majority and against the minority.

Banana Republic

South Africa has arguably degenerated into what one US official referred to as a ‘Banana Republic’. 

Dinner party conversations are peppered with anecdotes about the growing number of citizens emigrating, the desirability of their various destinations, or the gruesome details of the latest murder, or rape, to make news.  Often, crimes such as murder and rape don’t even make it into the media any more, because they have become so commonplace. 

Besides the more than 20 000 murders and 55 000 rapes we experience annually, the New South Africa also has baby rapes, such as a recent incident in which two adult men raped and tore the tongue of a 16-month-old baby.    A local radio station especially interrupted one of its programmes to appeal to members of the public for financial help after the victim underwent reconstructive surgery.  

All this, leaving aside the spate of electricity blackouts and allegations of gross mismanagement of the only nuclear power station in Southern Africa, Koeberg, which have prompted some to fear a re-enactment of Chernobyl. In addition we have had to contend with water supply problems, the scourge of AIDS (we are among those countries with the highest incidence of AIDS cases), xenophobic killing sprees and millions of refugees who pour through our borders to escape the horrors of war and famine in their own countries.

Zumaphobia 

Then there is the issue of corruption. Jacob Zuma, the ANC’s third party president since Mandela, recently faced 743 charges of fraud, tax evasion, corruption and money laundering and while his partner in crime, Schabir Shaik went to jail, Zuma escaped scot-free, as the NPA (National Prosecuting Authority) conveniently withdrew all charges against him, paving the way for him to become our next president.

Zuma, an ex-Communist Party member, once served as the intelligence chief of the ANC military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe or "Spear of the Nation."

Apart from being a talented toyi-toyer (an energetic protest dance peculiar to the ANC), he is also an accomplished dancer and singer at political rallies, well known for his signature tune, the somewhat provocative and controversial: "Bring me my machine gun!" 

Freedom

Like many African states, we are quick to celebrate the day we received our freedom and independence from colonialism and white minority rule.

But it is often forgotten that most African governments still grant its subjects far less political freedom than did those previous National Party governments in this country.

In a post-apartheid South Africa, the ANC has revoked car and firearm licenses, which were previously issued for life. While dangerous criminals continue to have easy access to lethal weapons, law-abiding citizens are forced to undergo laborious procedures for "re-licensing".

Under the present regime, the right to privacy has also come a cropper. South Africans are compelled by law to furnish a plethora of unnecessary personal details to banking institutions. If they don’t, they risk having their bank accounts closed.  Our most personal information is often freely distributed to the highest bidder. 

Government has tried to dictate profit margins, rather than stimulate competition and has almost brought several industries to their knees. These include the pharmaceutical, insurance, optometrist and security industries, not to mention the state airline – SAA – which has become synonymous with corruption, drug smuggling and managerial greed.

The mass extermination of the nation’s farmers (over 2000 white farmers have been viciously murdered) and the constant threat of government land expropriation has demoralised the agricultural sector and turned us into a net importer of food, where once we were a sizable exporter. 

Government has forced several tertiary educational institutions to close with the result that many valuable educational programmes such as the MBA have been discontinued. Concerted efforts to establish a Christian University have been thwarted at every turn and it has been made virtually impossible to legally register such an institution.

Take the firearm industry. Once formidable, it has now collapsed; over 500 gun shops have closed their doors; often, those who obediently handed in their firearms to the state, have seen these very same firearms being used by violent and unscrupulous criminals.

On 31 August 2009, Gun Owners of South Africa (Gosa) will take on the government in the Cape High Court. All it is trying to do is to force Government to obey its own laws and to compensate those who have dutifully given up arms.

Gosa has brought charges of ‘theft under false pretences’ and ‘intimidation’ against senior police officials because of the means they used to force gun owners to hand over their firearms to the state.

It should also be noted that the latest firearm laws also replace the widely respected ‘presumption of innocence’ with the ‘presumption of guilt’, and searches without a warrant have become legal.

On the edge

In a country that has become a murder and crime capital of the world, the influential ANC Youth Leader Julius Malema, a man not known for his diplomacy and circumspection, has publicly announced that he and his cohorts are prepared to "take up arms and kill for Zuma!"

An ANC leader recently verbally attacked the breakaway party, COPE, accusing its members of "behaving like cockroaches and (needing to be) destroyed."  Almost the same words (cockroaches) were used in Rwanda by the Hutu government supporters to describe the mainly Christian Tutsis and lead to the massacre of almost a million Tutsi’s in the Rwandan Holocaust in 1994.

At the moment, billions of taxpayer Rand's are being spent so that South Africa can soon host the 2010 World Cup Soccer tournament.

Our economy is weathering the worldwide recession better than many more developed economies across the globe.

We have democracy, political freedom and moderate economic prosperity. Indeed, to outside eyes, all may seem well.

But is it?

No one would dare defend the racial discrimination of apartheid as morally defensible.

But it is arguable that, in some respects, the crime, corruption, chaos and Affirmative Action that has replaced it, is not much better and in other respects, is even worse.

Under the yoke of apartheid, the majority of the population was admittedly far from free. Today, with our unprecedented levels of crime, a pervasive veil of fear ensures that almost no South African is free.

Ministry Opportunities

This threatening climate makes ministry opportunities abound. 

Our Africa Christian Action ministry organises and hosts Sanctity Life Sunday, the National Day of Repentance, National Women’s Day outreaches in shopping malls, and the Life Chain. 

This year marked the 12th year of Africa Christian Action running the weekly Salt & Light radio programme on Radio Tygerberg.  This makes Salt & Light the longest running programme still broadcasted by Radio Tygerberg. 

Peter, Taryn and I also speak on many local, national and international radio stations.

Tons of food and relief aid were delivered to starving Christians in Zimbabwe.  Hundreds of prisoners were supplied with soap, toothpaste, antiseptics, rice, salt, books, stationery and other vital supplies.  Many pastors and evangelists were equipped with audiovisual evangelistic equipment and thousands of Bibles and Christian books. 

Leadership Training Courses have been conducted in Zambia, Malawi, South Africa, Kenya, Congo (DRC) and Sudan.   

We produce Frontline Fellowship News, a newsletter updating our friends and supporters about the work and make available information that will enrich your prayer life.

We have also been sending out an average of six e-updates per month.  We regularly receive feedback from around the world to these articles and news items by e-mail.

Aside from producing the regular Frontline Fellowship News, Prayer and Praise Updates and other E-Updates, we also produce the Christian Action magazine, which is distributed throughout South Africa and to 40 other countries.  We regularly receive positive feedback over the CA articles, particularly the film reviews, dealing as they do with such important culture shapers. 

Our Libraries for Pastors and Bibles and Bikes for Africa programmes have also received some tremendously encouraging responses from as far afield as Lesotho, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Ghana, India, Congo and Nigeria. 

Every month Frontline sends out many packages of books in response to requests from pastors, evangelists and students throughout Africa and even further afield. 

Thank you for your partnership in ministry

Charl van Wyk

US Visit

I'll, Lord willing, be visiting the USA and be available for meetings from 24 April – 10 May 2009.

Any ministry opportunities on radio, at home cell groups, church or public meetings etc will be most welcome.    I can report on our ministry to the Congo and Zambia.  Topics like forgiveness, South Africa’s slippery slide of surrender to the pagans (and the Christian response - working for an African Reformation) can be dealt with.    Self-defence is a topic for both Christian groups or gun associations.

Please contact Debbie at In Touch Mission International (Tempe, AZ) for any opportunities you might want to arrange.

debbie.henry@intouchmission.org or 1-888-918-4100

Should interested parties want to know more about me, they can visit: www.charlvanwyk.info

 

Congo Visit

Then the LORD said: "... but truly, as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD- " Numbers 14:20-21

Dear Friend

As many as five million Congolese have died in the wars that have ravaged the country since 1998. Humanitarian organisations believe that millions have fled their homes and hundreds of thousands of women have been raped. The people are traumatised.  I was invited by Bishop Lamba Lamba to minister in Lubumbashi.

Arrival

My arrival at Lubumbashi International Airport was without incident, only because my friends Ps Jeff, Ps Andre and the RTIV television crew were standing to one side of the terminal calling me. They dealt with all the necessary bureaucracy, something we Africans just can't do without - it's our way of creating jobs.

Then it happened; Ps Andre arrived at the vehicle and advised that the immigration official said that because I had a new passport I had to pay US$10 - I pointed out that the passport was old (1 year) and that I had already travelled to the Congo on this passport last year. The previous visa was available for all to see, and I had paid the 'new passport fee' last year - it worked - no fees.

Redtco Congress

One can get called on at anytime for a television interview whilst ministering with the Come and See Church and Redtco (The acronym stands for "The Gathering of the Children of God for the Transformation of the Congo"). Once again I was caught by surprise (in Africa we don't plan anything too long in advance) but when we arrived at the television station all the electricity went off, so the interview took place the following day.

I found out the theme of the Congress when I arrived the day before we started - my lecture topics were given at the same time.

The Minister of Education, Minister of Sport for Katanga Province and the Mayor of Lubumbashi were guest speakers at the Congress. The Mayor had her body guard in the church hall with an automatic assault rifle over his shoulder.  Not often one sees this in a church.

The main theme of the Congress was: The Search for Identity

My lecture topics included:

Youth

Of the three day Redtco Congress, one was dedicated especially to training the youth. In dealing with families as the building block of society and one of God's ordained areas of government, I spoke about the most taboo subject viz. sex and relationships. Protection was also high on the agenda.  The Congo is a gun-free zone. Then came the question from the floor: "How do we protect the young in the East (the war zone), they get kicked around like political footballs?"

I explained that arming families would be the only way to protect the young children. I then thought that a family explanation would do: "I have a firearm in South Africa that I use to protect my family...I have also armed my two little sons (6 and 8 years old) with knives (they have been well trained in the use thereof) and I've explained to them that if anyone attacks their sisters (2 and 12 years old) that they must stab the attackers with their knives."

This story was too much for my Congolese friends to contain.  The hall erupted with shocked laughter and loud discussions in the pews. My friend and interpreter Ps Oscar still has a good laugh every time he remembers the episode.

It is amazing how illustrations to African youth differ from those in Western nations e.g. I told the girls that when a boy wants to sleep with them out of wedlock, they must tell him to go and play with the crocodiles in the river.

One politician mentioned that the youth must have smaller families when they get married.  She said that if they 'only have' 5 children then they will have less problems than if they have 10 children. (I corrected her humanistic thinking during my lecture.)

Devotions

I led morning devotions at the school of 700 pupils at which Ps Andre is headmaster - the assemblies take place outside; there is no hall. The children listened intently when I dealt with the St James Massacre and how I had to deal with bitterness and forgiveness thereafter. Again when I explained that I had returned fire at the terrorists in the church, shocked laughter and discussions started.  I had to wait for the excitement to calm down before I could carry on.

I suppose when you've lived in a gun-free country, where only the government and criminals have guns (no country is gun-free, the government and thugs are always armed) it is pretty shocking to have a missionary shoot someone in church, albeit a terrorist.

Marriage

I learned how various culture groups in the Congo prepare for marriage:

The Congo is a wonderful place to work, the Congolese have had enough of the chaos of the past and are looking for real answers to life's challenges. The humanist worldview has caused the mess and people are very open to the Gospel and Biblical discipleship to see real change that will further the
Kingdom of God rather than the kingdom of man. A consignment of bicycles to help further the Gospel by 'putting wheels under the Word' is on its way to the Congo thanks to the blessing of ministry partners and friends in the USA.

Opportunities

Crime is still out of control in South Africa; burglary, murder, rape and hi-jackings are happening where we live and near the Frontline Fellowship mission.  However, the government attack on legal firearm owners is gaining momentum.  We have to renew our gun licences we were issued for 'life'. I've helped establish a court action for the state to pay compensation to those who have to hand over their firearms to the state.

Our ministry radio programme on Radio Tygerberg is still going strong and reaching tens of thousands of listeners every Tuesday.  You can listen to our programme at www.104fm.org.za at 9pm GMT +2.

Dr Peter Hammond's Biblical Principles for Africa (French Edition) has been consumed by the Congolese and is now out of print.  There are desperate pleas for more copies.  Please pray with us that we will be able to print more for these desperate brothers and sisters in Christ.   

Yours in the service of King Jesus

Charl van Wyk

Zimbabwean ministry

On 28 November 2008 a Southern African Development Council tribunal in Windhoek ruled in favour of 78 Zimbabwean farmers who, having exhausted all means for a fair trial in the Zimbabwean courts, sued the Zimbabwean government for compensation for their farms expropriated i.e. stolen, during
the land grabs by the now infamous dictator Robert (Bob) Mugabe.

The full bench of judges ruled unanimously that the confiscation of the farmers' lands was both discriminatory and racist.  The tribunal ruled that the Zimbabwean government has to pay full compensation for the land and not just the buildings - as suggested by the Zimbabwean government.

It was a tough road for the applicants.  Ben Freeth and his 75-year-old father-in-law, Mike Campbell (and his 66 year old wife, Angela) were abducted prior to the hearing.  All three were brutally tortured by Mugabe's militias for hours in an attempt to force them to abandon the court action.

Obviously Mugabe and his ruling thugs will not obey the court ruling.  Why should they?  Mugabe's ZANU-PF has already lost elections and is still hanging onto power with little international pressure to hand over the reigns to the legitimate winner, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

Mugabe's ZANU-PF has already gotten away with:

So why now obey a tribunal ruling? 

Naturally, the population first had to be disarmed before all this chaos could take place because it is very difficult for tyrants to do these things when the population is armed.

At the height of the farm expropriation program in 2000 a government decree, aimed at the white commercial farmers, forced citizens to hand in their firearms.

Again in 2005 Zimbabwean police had to order civilians to hand in their firearms - some citizens just don't listen - when they demolished thousands of homes and informal businesses in the 'urban clean up' campaign during which shanty homes of almost 1 million people were demolished. 

Thousands are dying from a Cholera outbreak since water supplies have collapsed. 

Our Frontline Fellowship mission team reported, after their mission trip, that hospitals have effectively closed down due to nurses not being paid, chronic power failures and the collapse of plumbing systems; this has hammered the final nail into the coffin of the collapsed health care system.

Frontline Fellowship is preparing another mission trip to take in supplies of Bibles, medicine, food and Gospel literature to help the suffering.

Charl van Wyk

January, 2008

“Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.” James 1:27 

Dear Friend

I've just returned from visiting the south central African state of Zambia.  The first time I really took any notice of this country was when I heard in 1987 that four missionaries had been jailed in Lusaka Central Prison under the then dictator, Kenneth Kaunda.  Kaunda, during his 27 years in power, managed to not only nationalise the copper mines but also bicycle shops and laundromats - know wonder the country fell into ruin.

Missionary Prisoners

But back to the prisoners:  Peter Hammond and fellow missionaries were crossing the border into Zambia en route to a ministry outreach to Mozambique.  The local customs officials demanded bribes but when these were not forthcoming started literally taking their car to pieces looking for illegal items; they of course found none but the missionaries were incarcerated anyway.

British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher personally took up Peter’s case at the Commonwealth Conference in Vancouver.  He was released with apologies.

Peter later returned to Zambia and preached in the prison and reached out to inmates with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  He returned on many occasions to minister and deliver Bibles, soap, food and medicines to the same prison.

Samaritan Children’s Home

I’ve just ministered with my friends Bishop John and Joyce Jere of Zambia United Christian Action.  John and Joyce run the Samaritan Children’s Home (SCH) near Lusaka.  The orphanage cares for little ones who have lost both parents, mostly to HIV/Aids.  Some of the children have been HIV positive since birth.

UNICEF and the Ministry of Community Development and Social Service have since 2005 been imposing all sorts of rules and regulations like minimum space, equipment and furnishings requirements on all local orphanages.  The standards are foreign and very difficult for local Christian organisations and churches to meet.  Strangely enough, SCH has never received the $1000 monthly government grant with which to feed the children. 

SCH has to report every child that gets sick to government and detail all the action taken e.g. doctors visits, medicine taken etc.  Government has warned those caring for orphans:  The children belong to the state, not to you; you are just caring for them (obviously at your own expense!)

Government, under UN pressure, forced SCH to have older children reintegrated with any of their extended family members.  Christians, and not Muslims or Chinese Communists, run most orphanages - and the UN is making it as difficult as possible for local Christians to run such institutions.

The children were devastated about being forced to leave; John even rented a house away from the SCH premises to accommodate those who had nowhere to go.  The house is run by a 12 year old and the children are still fed by John and Joyce.

The ministry now has much higher costs because John and his team visit all the orphans at their new homes to make sure that they get fed and go to school.  One young 13-year-old girl was raped by a neighbour of the family she was forced to live with - she has subsequently returned to SCH.

Joyce is running a Christian school at SCH for their children and others in the community.  John also reaches out to the poor and suffering in Zimbabwe and Lukulu West areas and is serving on the National Constitutional Conference of Zambia: a body rewriting the national constitution.

Preaching

I was privileged to preach at the morning service on Sunday, which lasted almost 3 hours including question time. 

Soon after the service another was held in which I was ordained a pastor and missionary of Zambia United Christian Action (ZUCA).  It is has been a privilege for me to minister with ZUCA since 1993.  The organization speaks out and is consulted by government on pro-life, Biblical justice and pro-family issues.

On this visit I delivered boxes of ministry materials to Zambia United Christian Action and to the World Baptist Evangelistic Association as well as a laptop computer to missionary Ps Somwe Fataki, to enhance his ministry amongst Congolese refugees.

Outreaches

Our National Day of Repentance outreaches and march to Parliament in Cape Town, including a time of prayer at the gates of Parliament, take place on 30 January and Sanctity Life Sunday on 1 February.

I’ve also been invited as a guest speaker to the Second International Congress of REDTCO in the Congo.  The First Congress (2005) was exceptionally well attended by hundreds of Christian leaders from all over the Congo and Africa, including lawyers, judges and politicians. 

This year I believe will be a great opportunity to minister at the Congress.  The host 'Come and See Church' also has a citywide television and radio station.

Please pray for these events – that His kingdom will come and His will be done in Africa as it is in heaven.

Many blessings

Charl van Wyk

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