Spain no longer family friendly
Spain's Supreme Court has decided that parents may not withhold their children from homosexual indoctrination classes any longer, thereby declaring Spain to be anti-family and anti-children.
Read more here...
Friday, January 30, 2009
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Reading many blogs using a feed reader
I wrote a post at my Just thinking... blog on using feed readers to keep track of all the blogs we read. I thought that it could be helpful to you too!
Read it here!
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
"Answering that question with specificity, you know, is above my pay grade"
Obama may have told Rick Warren that knowing when a baby gets human rights was above his pay grade, which was a blatant lie, but his actions clearly prove what he truly believes on this matter.
Within a few days of his inauguration he drew a line in the sand, standing on the opposite side of where God stands on the issue!
Find out more here.
Lawyer in Obama presidential eligibility case seeks records of secret discussions
"A lawyer whose case challenging Barack Obama's eligibility to occupy the Oval Office was denied a hearing in the U.S. Supreme Court says she will demand records of a meeting between the justices and the president.
Read more here...
"California lawyer Orly Taitz, who has several cases pending over the issue of Obama's status as a 'natural born' citizen, told WND she will take action soon.
"Her case was the most recent on which the Supreme Court held a 'conference,' an off-the-record discussion at which justices discuss whether to take a case. Taitz told WND the justices decided Jan. 23 to deny her case a hearing on its merits."
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Nationwide prolife demonstration this week!
Picture courtesy AbortionNo.
Received the following from Africa Christian Action today:
Upcoming Nationwide Pro-life Marches, Outreaches and Life Chains:
Cape Town: National Day of Repentance March to Parliament and Prayer Vigil, 12:30 Friday, 30 January, Keizersgracht St, below Cape Tech. Contact: Africa Christian Action, 021-6894481 or info@christianaction.org.za.
Durban: Life Chain, Sunday, 1 February, 2pm - 4pm, Ballito Drive, meet at Everfresh Food Market parking area, contact Nina McNeil, Christians for Truth: 032 -9462738.
Phoenix (near Durban): Life Chain, Sunday, 1 February, 2pm - 4pm, 46 Lenham Drive, Unit 13, Contact: Rev Arnold Subramoney: 0732164882.
Scottburgh: Pro-life table and outreach, Saturday, 31 January, 9:00 - 13:00, Dynarc Mall (Scottburgh Shopping Mall), contact: Marge Vice: 084 409 7874 or 039-973 2244.
Randburg: Life Chain, Saturday 31st of January, C/O Braam Fisher and Jan Smuts Street, (Close to Taxi Rank and Shopping Centre, CBD). Contact: Greg Pereira, Christians for Truth: 083 359 5093 or gregory.pereira@za.saabgroup.com.
Bloemfontein: Saturday, 31 January, 9:00 - 11:00am, Kolbe Drive in front of the eastern side of National District Hospital. Contact: Faan Oosthuizen: 083 2659395 or sdoosthuizen@xsinet.co.za.
Sanctity Life Sunday - 1 February
There are over 36 000 churches and 30 000 ministers in South Africa. If just half of them could be inspired to observe Sanctity Life Sunday in repentance and prayer and to study what the Word of God teaches on the Sanctity of Life then we could begin to end the legalised killing of babies in South Africa.
"Rescue those being lead away to death; hold back those staggering towards slaughter. If you say, but we knew nothing about this, does not He who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not He who guards your life know it? Will He not repay each one according to what he has done?" Proverbs 24:11-12
Most of the medical personnel in our country are church members. Most of the mothers go to church. Most of the voters in South Africa claim to be Christians.
If Christians in South Africa could stop and look at the abortion holocaust in the light of Scripture, if we could understand something of the heart of God on this disgraceful abomination - then we would be roused to action. There are 20 million church members and adherents in South Africa. If most of these church goers could understand what the Bible teaches about when life begins, the sanctity of life, and our Christian responsibility to stand up for the right to life of pre-born babies - then we could save thousands of precious lives from abortion.
The goal of Sanctity Life Sunday is to encourage pastors in South Africa to preach on what the Bible teaches on the subject of abortion on 1 February. It is also hoped that many Christians will observe Friday, 30 January as a National Day of Repentance for the national sin of abortion.
"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 heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14
Sanctity Life Sunday: Prayer of Repentance
Almighty God, we bow before You our Creator, You are the One who has given us life and health, talents, gifts and opportunities for service. Every breath we breathe is a gift of Your grace. We acknowledge that You are also the Eternal Judge before Whom each one of us must stand and give an account of our lives. Have mercy upon us. Lord. Do not treat us as we deserve. We plead for Your mercy - for Your grace. Your undeserved favour. For we confess that we are a sinful people and we are part of a nation in rebellion against You.
We have broken Your Holy Laws.
Our leaders are too proud to bow before you in prayer at the beginning of Parliament.
At state events our leaders have committed idolatry, worshipping other gods who are not God at all.
Your Name is routinely taken in vain on national television and at cinemas and this blasphemy is constitutionally protected and regarded as "entertainment."
The Lord's Day is desecrated every week. What You ordained as a Day of rest and a Day of worship is being commercialised and abused for the worship of pleasure.
Respect for our parents and elders is being undermined everywhere by the laws, the entertainment industry and by the explosion of violent crimes against the elderly.
Every year over 20 000 people are murdered in South Africa and our Justice system is failing to protect the citizens of this land. Most of the murderers who terrorise our people escape being brought to justice. In fact our laws seem to favour the rights of the criminals and all too often criminalise the victims. Have mercy on us Lord.
Selfishness, greed, covetousness and deception are pervasive and we have become a nation infested with corruption and theft. Our Constitution entrenches the rights of pomographers to exploit people made in the image of God for profit - to take what You have made to be holy and perverted it, to take what You designed to be special and made it sordid, to distort what you intended to be private and developed it into a multi million rand exploitative industry. Have mercy on us Lord.
And we must admit that we have the hypocrisy to claim to be a "human rights society" while denying the right to life to pre-bom babies. Forgive us Lord for interpreting the Right to Life to protect guilty murderers from execution but not protecting innocent babies from receiving the death penalty through abortion.
We are ashamed that our society could have become so calloused, careless and cruel as to allow little babies to be poisoned, burned, dismembered, smothered or strangled - through abortion.
We recognise that all that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing. And we must confess that most of us, even in the Church, have shamefully done nothing to protest and work against the legalised slaughter of pre-born babies in South Africa.
You have declared that "Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me." (Matthew 25:45). We recognise that to know the good we ought to do and to fail to do it is sin (James 4:17).
We have sinned. We have not loved You with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, nor have we loved our neighbours as ourselves. We have not done unto others as we would have others do unto us. We have been thoughtless and careless. We have been self-centred and preoccupied with less important things. Forgive us for thinking so much of ourselves and so little of You and of our neighbours. Especially on this day, we confess that we have not loved our unseen, pre-born neighbours as we ought. Have mercy upon us, 0 Lord.
On behalf of our congregations, communities and nation we repent of the national sin of abortion. May You be merciful and gracious 0 Lord to forgive us our many sins and to bless us with a revival of repentance.
May You raise up many more Christians to fight for the right to life of pre-born babies.
May you grant to mothers going through crisis pregnancies _ grace, comfort, strength and the support of family, friends and congregations _ to choose life that the children may be born and brought up in the love and admonition of the Lord.
Lord, raise up more pastors, elders, deacons and church members to see the needs and to educate and mobilise their congregations to respect the sanctity of life, and lovingly support both mothers and children - especially in crisis situations.
Strengthen the doctors and nurses to resist all pressures to pervert their healing profession from saving lives to taking lives. May the medical profession stand together in resisting the overwhelming pressures to turn them into paid assassins instead of those who are true to their Hippocratic oath.
And we also pray that You may grant that those politicians who worked and voted to legalise abortion in South Africa would come to repentance. And should those guilty of unleashing this abortion holocaust steadfastly refuse to repent, then we pray that You, 0 Lord, may remove them.
May you raise up new leaders who will respect the right to life of even the most helpless members of our society and ensure that babies are effectively protected from the violence of abortion - by law.
Guide each one of us, 0 Lord, as to what we can do to save lives and love our neighbours, for we ask all this in the Name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ - Amen.
What You Can Do
Inform your congregation or cell group/Bible Study: This Sunday (1 February), is Sanctity Life Sunday. Pro-life resources: God's Miracle of Life DVD, Pro-life leaflets, Make a Difference: a Christian Action Handbook for Southern Africa. The leaflets, sermons and Bible studies can be downloaded from Pro-life Resources on the Christian Action website.
Be interceding:
• For Christians, that they would understand when life begins and that abortion is murder.
• That medical personnel would refuse to have any part in the killing.
• For mothers in crisis pregnancies, that they would find help and choose loving options such as adoption.
• That lives would be saved.
• That journalists would publish the other side of the story.
• That many more pastors would be encouraged to speak up for the right to life of pre-born babies.
• That the Lord will bring conviction of sin to those who have worked to legalise this slaughter of the innocents; and
• That the Lord would persuade abortionists to repent from this evil;
Be involved: Is your city not represented in the events listed above? Gather friends and family and pray outside your local abortion clinic or hospital. Contact Africa Christian Action for advice and resources, and let us know, so we can let others in your area know in future e-updates and on our website.
Africa Christian Action
PO Box 23632
Claremont
7735
Cape Town
Tel: (021) 689 4481
Fax: (021) 685 5884
E-mail: info@christianaction.org.za
Website: www.christianaction.org.za
Read More......
Friday, January 23, 2009
Moral Accountability: A new website
A new website has seen the light. It was started by some intellectual luminaries such as Francis Beckwith, Robert George and others, to bring to light the policies and actions of the new ultra-leftist president of the United States of America, Barack Obama. The website is called Moral Accountability. The first article is Moral Accountability: An Open Letter.
Here is an excerpt:
"In the course of the 2008 presidential campaign, a small group of Catholic and Evangelical Protestant intellectuals and activists, while saying that they personally support legal protection for the unborn and oppose the redefinition of marriage, promoted the candidacy of Barack Obama, who made no secret of his intention to wipe out the entire range of laws restricting or discouraging abortion and embryo-destructive research, or of his opposition to all state and federal initiatives (such as California Proposition 8 and the federal Defense of Marriage Act) to preserve marriage as the union of a man and a woman. These intellectuals assured their fellow Christians and other social conservatives that Obama’s economic policies would reduce the incidence of abortion, and they promised that Obama was being honest when he said that he was opposed to 'same-sex marriage.'
"Despite these assurances, we fear that the Obama administration will swiftly begin an assault on pro-life laws and pro-marriage policies. During his campaign for the presidency, Obama promised that his very first presidential act would be to push through the so-called Freedom of Choice Act, which would require federal and state funding for abortion and, in the gleeful words of the National Organization for Women, “wipe out hundreds of anti-abortion laws” across the United States. Even if he and his allies in Congress are unable to win sufficient support for this extreme measure to enact it as a package, they will no doubt seek to push through its various elements one by one. Bills will be introduced, for example, to override laws requiring parental consent or at least notification for abortions performed on minor girls—laws that demonstrably save thousands of lives every year—and laws mandating the provision of factual information about fetal development and the risks of abortion to women contemplating the procedure."
This website should prove very useful in the future!
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Geert Wilders may no longer speak the truth
Geert Wilders, the outspoken Dutch parliamentarian, who speaks out against jihadist Islamists, may no longer have a different opinion of Islam than Islam!
Free speech is no longer valid in the Netherlands, or so is the opinion of one judge that determined that Wilders should be prosecuted for criticizing Islam.
Read about it here.
What Obama's change brings America
Now that Chairman 'O' has taken up office, he will implement his changes.
Read all about it in Obama Administration Announces Radical Homosexualist Agenda on White House Website.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Government in dereliction of its duties
We keep on reading in the newspapers of armed robberies. Early on Tuesday, 20 January, an armed gang of robbers entered the Irene Village Mall, our favourite place to go watch movies, and robbed several stores.
ACDP Tshwane councillor AnneMarie Sparg says that "[t]he basic job of any government is to protect its citizens." This is demonstrably true. A simple look at South Africa's Constitution can bear that out.
The Bill of Rights, chapter 2 of our Constitution, in section 7 (2) says:"The state must respect, protect, promote and fulfil the rights in the Bill of Rights."
Now that we have established that the Constitution makes it mandatory for the government, which in this case essentially is the ANC, to "protect, promote and fulfill" the contents of the Bill of Rights, it becomes easy to show that the ANC majority government of South Africa is in serious dereliction of duty!
The Bill of Rights, in section 12 (1)(d) states:"Everyone has the right to freedom and security of the person, which includes the right... (c) to be free from all forms of violence from either public or private sources."
With the government's duty to "protect, promote and fulfill" the Bill of Rights, the fact is that they are not fulfilling their duties as described in the Bill of Rights. Whatever is claimed by the government in this regard, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and I am sad to say that there are too many people that end up as the main meal on the table of crime!
The fact that the Scorpions have seen their own demise, at the hands of this ANC government, due to their great successes against crime, shows how "serious" the government really is about crime. Further, the closure of so many different units within the police, also speak volumes of the intentions of the government.
We should give credit where credit is due, and the credit for our high crime rate MUST go to the current government!
Since this government is such a dismal failure on so many fronts, with crime as the spearhead, it is time South African citizens start thinking with their heads and not simply accept all the vacuous promises of a party like the ANC!
The statistics speak for themselves:"More people were killed in South Africa each year (1994-1999) in criminal violence than were killed in 13 years of political violence (23 758 from 9/84 to 12/97)." (Quoted in Biblical Democracy Review from the book, Biblical Democracy)
This government will also remain in power while Christians are more concerned with skin colour or immediate material benefit, whether they are white or black! Christians should stand up for truth, justice and morality! We do not have any mandate from the Lord to keep immoral politicians from immoral parties in government!
Vote for the ANC, and you side against God! The ANC has immoralized this country close to the point of no return. They are the ones who brought in abortion, pornography and legitimized homosexuality (Rom 1:18-32) by giving them the right to marry. It is under the watchful negligent eye of the ANC that crime rates shot up sky high.
As Christians, what are you to do come election day? In my opinion, make your cross next to the ACDP! You do not want to make your decision based on worldly values that are here today and gone tomorrow!
No, as a Christian you are mandated by the Scriptures to make your decisions based on Scripture and Scripture alone. That is what it means to have a Christian worldview. With that as your guide, visit the SA Voter's Guide and decide which party holds up to the measuring rod of Scripture. The African Christian Democratic Party!
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Obama is no Lincoln
Star Parker shows why Obama cannot be compared to Lincoln in her article Obama has little in common with Lincoln.
While Obama seeks "unity" to the exclusion of truth, Parker writes:"Lincoln, too, sought unity. But Lincoln's notion of where national unity would lie was far different from Obama's.
Continue reading Star Parker's article here...
"He prophetically stated the challenge after accepting the Republican nomination for the senate in 1858.
"'A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure half slave and half free. I do not expect the union to be dissolved. I do not expect the House to fall. But I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other.'
"As historian Harry Jaffa points out, 'For Lincoln, as for Jefferson and for all genuine supporters of the principles of the Declaration of Independence, the distinction between right and wrong is antecedent to any form of government and is independent of any man's or any majority's will.'"
Friday, January 16, 2009
Palestine vs Israel
The Philistines are upon us!
HT: Moonbattery
"The Palestinians in general have perfected the art of using civilians as human shields for the last thirty years because they know and understand how the West thinks and how the media works and what drives ratings. I personally was used as a human shield by them during the war in Lebanon. The Palestinians used to park their rocket launchers in front of my bomb shelter where my family hid with three other families including 9 children. I was the oldest. They used to shell Israel and then drive away knowing that when Israel responds to the target, we would get hit, hopefully die, and we would make great pictures on the evening news representing dead civilians while Israel would be vilified. Here we are 30 years later and nothing has changed. They have just gotten better at it and the Western press has continued to buy this cruel Palestinian charade."Continue reading A Petition to the U.N. on Hamas’s Crimes...
Read More......
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Rights leading to death
When a culture no longer has an objective standard like the Bible, and no authority like Jesus Christ to teach them what is right, it will eventually lead to each man unto himself, or in modern parlance, claiming one's "rights."
Dr. Al Mohler writes:"Fast-forward to 2008 and rights talk is, if anything, even more ingrained in the American character. Battles over competing and conflicting assertions of rights now emerge over some of the hottest and most contentious issues of the day. When we have run out of other arguments, all we have left is to assert that what we demand is, after all, only our right.
Continue reading here...
"Is there an end-game to all this? Well, in one sense we can see evidence of the end game in a recent article published in Great Britain. Writing in The Guardian [London], Simon Jenkins argues that the right to end one's life on one's own terms is basic to humanity, and that only 'religious primitivism' stands in the way of cultural acceptance and legal approval for assisted suicide."
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Nomination for chairman of Pikoli ad hoc committee is a criminal
Advocate Pikoli, the previous head of the South African National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), has to sit under the judgement of an ad-hoc committee that may be chaired by a criminal! This criminal is a member of parliament (MP).
After being found in the possession of a stolen car, Mr Monareng was found guilty of trying to bribe a police officer. Being an MP he would have been investigated by the NPA, clearly making this a conflict of interests.
Once again the ANC has proven to the rest of South Africa that their words on fighting crime have no meaning. How in the world can a criminal be the chairman of a committee that is supposed to investigate the fitness of a person who is supposed to head a criminal investigating unit? How can a constitution be so messed up that it allows criminals to be members of parliament.
Truly this is a banana republic led by the morally obtuse!
Read more from "ACDP objects to nomination of chairperson of Parliamentary Ad Hoc Committee on Pikoli decision", an ACDP press release.
Update:
Mr. Monareng was indeed voted in as co-chair of the ad-hoc committee. The minutes of the meeting where he was selected as co-chair can be found here.
Hamas will not rest until Israel is obliterated
Those naive enough to think that the problems in Gaza will be negotiated away must be living on the planet Venus, where the toxic gases are affecting their ability to think rationally.
Hamas, and indeed, Islam, has one goal, and that is to destroy the state of Israel and conquer the West. Of course, you do not have to believe it for it to actually happen. Islam is already busy conquering Europe ideologically. Everywhere in Europe governments are starting to cave in to the demands of Islam. Next is America. But, I am off the point!
Hamas, is not interested in negotiations with Israel. The Hamas charter is encoded with the obliteration of Israel. It is one of their main reasons for existence... to destroy Israel.
Newt Gingrich says it like this:"There are two main facts of the violence in the Middle East that all Americans -- and particularly our leaders -- should be aware of:
Continue reading Newt's commentary here.
"The first is that Hamas exists to destroy Israel. Its leaders wake up every morning with one goal -- to eliminate what they call the 'Zionist entity.'
"The second fact of violence in the Middle East is the ongoing effort by Iran (using Syria, Hezbollah and Hamas as its proxies) to undermine pro-American governments in the region."
Also read:
Disturbing images
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Monday, January 12, 2009
Police VIP Protection Unit are criminals themselves?
It certainly looks like the VIP Protection Unit consists of a bunch of thugs with criminal intent. Either that or they are simply incapable of differentiating between possible harm to their charge and a simple citizen."During the past four years, 111 members of the police's elite VIP Protection Unit - responsible for protecting the president, among others - have been charged with crimes such as murder, attempted murder, rape, armed robbery and the abuse of power."
Read more here.
Terrorism against Israel will not stop with Palestinian homeland
"A former Palestinian terrorist says the West continues to pursue a failed idea that somehow terrorism against Israel will stop when the Palestinians get their own homeland... the recent terrorist rocket attacks by Hamas have nothing to do with wanting a Palestinian homeland."
Read more from Former terrorist says West ignoring real Hamas agenda.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Hear the voice of science about gays?
Every now and again, another pro-gay person goes behind the mountain to retrieve scientific proof that being gay is genetic, aka "natural", and they cannot help it.
Almost inevitably they discover the research done by LeVay and Hamer and use that as positive proof that gays are that way due to their genes. However, both LeVay and Hamer have been debunked and their research doesn't hold much water.
Anyway, here are two posts as an introduction in that direction:
The gene and homosexuality
The gene and homosexuality - the sequel
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Review of 2008 by Dave Barry
Dave Barry wrote a review of 2008 at the Miami Herald where he is a columnist. It is a hilarious review and worth reading, just to bring some laughter into the day. Here are a few short excerpts:"In politics, Barack Obama addresses the issue of why, in his 20 years of membership in Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, he failed to notice that the pastor, Jeremiah Wright, is a racist lunatic. In a major televised address widely hailed for its brilliance, Obama explains that . . . OK, nobody really remembers what the actual explanation was. But everybody agrees it was mesmerizing.
Maybe you should read the whole review here.
"In sports, both the Kentucky Derby and the Indianapolis 500 are won by Usain Bolt.
". . . Barack Obama, having secured North and South America, flies to Germany without using an airplane and gives a major speech -- speaking English and German simultaneously -- to 200,000 mesmerized Germans, who immediately elect him chancellor, prompting France to surrender.
". . . Congress passes, and Technically Still President Bush signs, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, and everyone heaves a sigh of relief as the economy stabilizes for approximately 2.7 seconds, after which it resumes going down the toilet. As world financial markets collapse like fraternity pledges at a keg party and banks fail around the world, the International Monetary Fund implements an emergency program under which anybody who opens a checking account anywhere on earth gets a free developing nation. But it is not enough; the financial system is in utter chaos. At one point a teenage girl in Worcester, Mass., attempts to withdraw $25 from an ATM and winds up acquiring Wells Fargo."
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Should we care about issues, even when we cannot control the outcome?
I've been watching the immigration imbroglio in the U.S.A. for some time now. The U.S. government needs to act, sooner than yesterday, to sort this problem out. There are millions of people in the U.S. illegally, and if the American government keeps on sitting back, before they know it, America will be gone!
La Shawn Barber wrote in her blog post, California Supreme Court to Hear In-State Tuition Case:
"Comments like that would have sent me over the edge a couple of years ago. Today, I can’t generate much ire. In the scheme of things, is it worth getting upset over? After I’ve shuffled off this mortal coil after my four score and ten, who’ll remember or even care about my views on the country’s illegal immigration mess? Why raise my blood pressure about something over which I have no control?"
I appreciate where La Shawn is coming from on this issue, but how many issues do we really have control over? God is certainly in control of this world, but should we just sit back and ride it out? I know that this is not what La Shawn is saying, but that is what many people may think that she is saying, and many people already feel this way! Why do so many people not even vote? To them, even their little vote won't make a difference.
Yet, this is where people like these are wrong. Every vote counts! That is how presidents are elected; by the votes cast! But, coming back to caring about the issues. Perhaps you feel like your little voice is of no consequence. You are right, your little voice is of no consequence. But, when you have 1,000,000 little voices, then your little voice is no longer of no effect. What I am saying is this, each of us needs to influence others concerning the issues.
Many people have become apathetic about the issues. Look at abortion, for example. It has been 36 years since abortion on demand became legal in America. 13 years in South Africa. Abortion is still legal after 36 years and nothing has been accomplished, right? Wrong! They may be small, but strides have been made in the abortion battle.
We simply must not give up! There have been small victories in the abortion battle and the same-sex "marriage" debacle! We simply need to continue to influence more and more people, and get them to do the same.
Finally, should we stop the battle because we have no control over the outcome, and because it is obviously a losing battle? NO! We continue the battle because it is the right thing to fight against injustices and to provide justice for those who cannot fight for themselves.
Read More......
Monday, January 05, 2009
Great Global Warming predictions from 2008
Do you want to find out about the great Global Warming predictions from 2008?
Well, then visit Watts Up With That?
HT: Tim Challies
Related:
Global Warming
Thursday, January 01, 2009
2009: Politics in the year ahead
New kid on the block
Politics is a weird business. It is always difficult to predict what is going to happen next, especially when elections are at hand. In South African politics, due to the format of our party system, it becomes fairly easy to push new, and sometimes evil, legislation through. We have seen this many times with the ANC at the helm.
However, in late 2008, a new player has joined the fray in the form of COPE (Congress Of the PEople). This certainly will bring in new dynamics onto the playing field. Will it deliver a significant difference to politics in South Africa? That is yet to be seen. One thing I can almost guarantee is that the ANC will no longer have their 69% majority in parliament. That means that they will no longer have the clear-cut ability to amend the constitution. Since the acceptance of the constitution there have been 14 amendments! Do we want one party so powerful that they could change the constitution in such a way that it could be completely detrimental to the health of the nation?
Will the other parties in South Africa simply remain "also rans" after the elections of 2009? COPE already claims to have over 400 000 signed up members. Will COPE become the new opposition party? Already, many from the ANC, even in high positions, have walked over to COPE. It also seems that some from the DA also joined COPE. Will the next elections bring about a battle between the ANC and COPE, while the crumbs are left for the other parties to fight over.
White politics
The DA simply doesn't seem to be able to make headway in South African politics. The fact that it is a white legacy party counts against them. They have tried hard to break that mould, but I do not think it will change, since most of the members of the DA seem to be white legacy voters. It is a traditionally white party and it is still seen that way. They have been the opposition party since 1994, but COPE is seriously challenging that position in the coming elections. I am not sure if the DA can ever change its image of a white legacy party. The solution for this certainly is not an easy one. Racism is still very much a part of South African life, and from my experience of DA voters, is that the DA is still seen as the embodiment of that racism, whether in reality the party is such or not! Of course, the ANC has proven themselves to follow racist policies by their actions in parliament and elsewhere.
Christian politics
Will the ACDP grow its voters base in 2009 at the poll? There have been lots of movement within the ACDP and it seems that its membership base is growing, but can they translate that into more votes? That remains to be seen. Unless they tap into the votes from the church at large, I am afraid they will not make a difference. The church is its voters base. That is where they must spend their time. If its goal is to simply get votes, then going from door to door is good. However, and this I should stress, as Christians we are not to simply get votes, we are to bring about changed hearts through the gospel. Getting votes is not part of our mandate.
I know I will be stepping onto the toes of many, but a vote does not accomplish the mandate of the church found in Mt 28.19-20. The church is not called to rule the world, but to serve it through the gospel of Jesus Christ. The kingdom we are called to is not the kingdom of man, but the kingdom of God. The government of that kingdom is on the shoulders of Jesus Christ. We cannot think that if the government of God's kingdom is upon the shoulders of Christ, that the government of this world is upon our shoulders. That is simply pure presumption!
Should we as Christians then not be involved in politics? That is not what I am saying. Christians should be involved in politics, but not for the sake of politics. Christians should be involved in any sphere of life for only one purpose, to bring glory to God, and that will be accomplished by the proclamation of the gospel as we were mandated in Mt 28.19-20. If we as Christians think we must win the vote to rule the country with God's laws then we are missing the point. Sure, we do need laws that are influenced by God's laws, but we do not need a Christian government to do that! Anybody can take God's laws and use them as the basis of their own governmental laws.
What we as Christians need is an environment that is conducive to the preaching of the gospel. If a Christian party has as its ideals to create such an environment, then we are heading somewhere. Christians should be involved in every facet of politics, but must not forget that hearts are not changed by politics, but by the gospel. As Christians we must preach the gospel and fight against injustice. In politics, Christians must not aim to rule the ungodly because we have some kind of misinformed idea that we have such a mandate of government on our shoulders. We are to be in politics to right wrongs and to fight for justice for all, not just for Christians.
Perhaps a major problem that many churches might have with Christian parties in South Africa such as the ACDP and the CDP, is of a doctrinal nature. What are you as a church to do when a party asks for your support, yet that Christian party consists mainly of a certain type of Christian that adheres to doctrines that you consider false? What if the leaders of that party adhere to such false doctrine? Should you support that party for political expediency's sake, or decide against it? How will that party's false doctrine mislead them in the running of the country? Whereas false doctrine or heresy is of an eternal nature, politics is concerned with this temporal realm. In my opinion one should stand for the truth of the gospel whenever heresy is involved. So, the individual church has to stand for truth while shunning heresy. We cannot give credit to false doctrine, even when politics is involved!
Democracy: FAIL
Democracy, which is seen by many as the almighty liberator of the oppressed masses, is simply the tyranny of the many over the few! Pure democracy cannot and will not bring relief to all people. Democracy says that the majority, by whatever slim margin, may rule the minority, even against their wishes.
Democracy also allows for people, no matter how ignorant, to decide over and above other people, no matter how informed! Democracy is very much a simple power game with the winner usually the one with the most money. With too little money, parties cannot get their work done. This puts them at an immediate disadvantage to those parties with the millions in money.
On poll day, people must vote. However, how many of those people can really make an informed choice? Many people make their crosses next to the only names they know. They have never been given an opportunity to be informed. How is this a plus point for democracy? How can such a vote have the same meaning as the vote by someone that has studied all issues and compared all parties and their policies?
What is the solution to the failure of democracy? I don't know, but I will let you know when I know. All I know is that while individuals cannot govern themselves, we will continue to need a nanny state to make decisions for us, and while that is the case, democracy cannot work. There would be too many people in need of someone to help make their decisions. Who would decide for them who should be in government? The current government?
Conclusion
At the start of 2009, I pray that you will be able to make properly informed choices, and that your choices will be based, not on the shifting sands of man's finite ideas that change almost everyday, but that you will be a Biblically informed person!
Have a great 2009!
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