Chad is congratulated by his team mates after netting his first and Maritzburg College’s opening goal.After the match I was thinking about witnessing at the school, but had to get home as my wife Tammy wanted to take Chad to buy him soccer boots for his 14th birthday, two days later.
Today we decided to walk to the shops – which was out of character for we normally drive, but at the same time I had in the back of my mind “I don’t want to look for parking today”. The “decision” to walk was truly God’s work as you will see how everything unfolded for His Good Pleasure. I thank God, our Father, for showing His perfect timing in all He sets out to accomplish and the persons He uses to fulfill His divine work. To unbelievers and skeptics reading this ... God is in control ... of every circumstance, of every person, of every thought, of every word and of every deed and the events that unfolded revealed that nothing happens by chance and there is a reason and an accomplishment to everything that God wants to accomplish for His Glory.
Firstly, we had to walk past a First Church of Christ, Scientist’s reading room where there was a table outside on the sidewalk, with their literature on it for people to help themselves if they wanted reading material. There was an African lady seated to the right of the table, and instead of us removing literature I decided to hand her one of our Gospel tracts and also added to the Scientology-table both the “2010” and the “Do You Think You Will RIP?” tracts.
Secondly, a little way along a young Jehovah Witness walked by me and I felt compelled to speak to him. While I engaged him in conversation, my wife Tammy, our grandson Cee-Jay and son Chad were at a distance and told me that they would be walking on. If anyone has ever tried to evangelise a Jehovah Witness you will know that there is a spiritual battle almost immediately dialogue commences, which takes place in the form of one party showing scripture followed with a counter-attack of the other party showing scripture and so forth. Today would not be any different to other times. What was unfolding was that I had to be more patient. I do confess that I was getting agitated with the JW because he only wanted to show me his scriptures from the JW’s New World Translation (“NWT”) version – the transcript that denounces the True Deity of Jesus Christ as being God in the flesh, the living God who revealed Himself as the Son of God. All he wanted was to show me the scriptures they hold so dearly to where they can try prove that Jesus is not God. He showed me text after text and the more I wanted to show him Scripture to convince him that Scripture confirms Scripture and that text should not be quoted or read in isolation, he “babbled” on and was adamant to want to prove me wrong at every turn. At one point he turned with a spirit of the “I-told-you-so” attitude that I told him he did not have a teachable spirit and he was also not giving me a chance to reveal the Truth to him. This got his attention and he asked whether he was not revealing truth to me? I said to him that he was not when he is denying Jesus Christ and he was not allowing me to participate by showing him Scriptures. At this point I referred Him to John 8:58 and asked him to turn there. He was flipping through the pages and told me to read it to him. I glanced over at his Zulu translation and although I do not speak the language I know enough that the Gospel of John is translated “Johan.” I asked him, “How can you tell me to read it when you are not even trying to find the Scripture I referred you to. I have always turned to your references when you asked me and you are constantly not turning to my Scripture references when I ask you.” At this point I meekly told him he was wasting my time as he didn’t want to read the Scriptures I referred him to and that I must leave now. Even at this point, the young man insisted he had one more scripture to show me, but I excused myself. God allowed me to speak with this young man to the point where I had to leave and meet up with the next group of Jehovah Witnesses. You will see how perfect God’s timing is in the next paragraph.The third encounter was a group of JWs, two aged African men and a younger African lady with her child in a push chair. The discussion found its way back to the question: Who do you say Jesus is? The normal response was – The Son of God. The spiritual warfare was on again, but this time the Lord was showing me how to stop the mouth of a false believer who denies His deity. I had used the Scriptures John 8:58 where our Lord Jesus was speaking to the Jews, which says: Before Abraham was, I am. The cross-reference Scripture I used was Exodus 3:14 which reads:
And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.The Scriptures are to the point and you can see that God in the Old Testament who said He is I AM and Jesus in the New Testament who says Before Abraham, I am is one and the same God. The JWs countered this by saying He was with God in the beginning and it doesn’t confirm Jesus is God. For the first time God has revealed to me to use the following Scriptures. We know that the NWT (the JW’s bible) reads under John 1:1 ... and the Word was a god (my emphasis). All other transcripts, from my understanding, using the Greek translation, John 1:1 reads:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.(In the Strong’s Complete Word Study Concordance no reference is made for god under the Scripture reference John 1:1, only God “... and the logos was theos”). If the Word (Jesus) was a god then Jesus is a god and everyone that follows Him is an idolater, for God gives us the Second Commandment in Exodus 20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. If God allows Jesus to be a god, then God (Jehovah) is a liar and a deceiver, and Scripture says it is impossible for God to lie (Hebrews 6:18). And if we break the commandments then we are liars and the truth is not in us (1 John 2:3,4). The Jehovah Witnesses could not give an answer to violating the Second Commandment if Jesus is a god.
It was at this time when I noticed to my right another younger African man, who introduced himself, named Thulise listening in on the conversation. I then saw him start engaging the older men in Zulu as he also referred to Scripture. Here was a Christian brother brought by God to labour with me in our Lord’s harvest. We had never met but it was sweet fellowship as we fought the good fight (1 Timothy 6:12). We were speaking off the same pages and to end this particular session the JWs could not counter John 20:28. I love this Scripture:
Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side; and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. ~ John 20:27-29God is Awesome and Loving and Faithful and His Word is Powerful (Isaiah 55:11). It was at this time that I got speaking to our brother in Christ, when I told him I have wanted to preach at this place but there was loud music coming from just around the corner. We both left the JWs and went to investigate. The scene was huge speakers, a sound table with a disc-jockey playing music to a gathered crowd who sat on public benches. From my experiences with my evangelist brother Phillip Shange, he has kindly translated and “painted the scene” for me to be wise when we see the following:
an African gathering of people – check
loud music – check
gospel music masquerading for people to believe this is a “godly gathering” – check (with a quick translation of the lyrics from Thulise)
mixed in with secular music – check
are people predominantly wearing goat’s hide bangles – check
I motioned to my newest soldier-brother of the faith to accompany me to ask the DJ and the woman sitting at the music desk whether we can use their equipment to preach to the crowd. We approached them and tried to speak above the music to be heard. We asked what they were “selling” and the woman answered they were doing a promotion for African traditional muti (pronounced moo-tea). We spoke to her and said that putting one’s faith in muti was not trusting God to heal people and it is witchcraft. She listened to what we said while the thumping music persisted. Thulise then drew her attention in his Zulu Bible to Psalm 107:20. Thereafter, I asked her if we could use their equipment to preach Truth. She asked what we intended to say and we counted with what is in the Bible. She mused and then she said, “Okay, but you mustn’t refer to muti.” I said if muti came up then we will have to mention it and God allowed her to give us the use of the Sangoma’s (herbalist / traditional doctor / witchdoctor) equipment. I didn’t have a translator when I set out from home, but here God provided one by bringing Thulise across my path at the exact time He had predestined. We each took up a mic – Thulise’s didn’t work at first and the DJ even adjusted the battery in the cordless microphone – they were being so helpful. So here we had a crowd, and I had equipment for the first time since I preached in Southern California at the Ambassadors’ Academy – thank you Father. God opened everything for us. I opened by thanking the people for the use of their equipment and then we proceeded with the preaching of the Law and also made reference to the upcoming election (22nd April 2009) and made an appeal to the audience to vote with their consciences. At one point I noticed a European security guard standing in the distance to my right for a while, then he disappeared (more on this later). Once we started on the Gospel of Grace and made reference about Jesus Christ being fully God and fully Man we noticed the DJ to our left motioning to his watch that time was rolling on. We continued and were drawing to the end when the DJ was now slipping in some music while we preached giving us the hurry-up. Another five minutes or so of this and he now prolonged the music. It was at this time that we had already now reached the end of our preaching when we ended off with a warning that even though this man is trying to shut us down he too will have to stand before God on the Day of Judgment. [This link is to educate Christians of the demonic work of the Sangoma].
Thulise then said he had to leave while I handed out gospel tracts to the crowd who readily took them (maybe they thought we were with the muti-sellers) and even some came and asked me for a tract or two.
After handing out tracts this is the scene from where we preached (in front of the yellow umbrella). The vehicle under the tree is where they sell the muti. What was wonderful and awesome was seeing God’s Hand in all of this – the Jehovah Witnesses who we had earlier engaged in conversation also got to hear the proclamation of the Law and the Gospel of Grace without hindering us by referring us to much more of their scriptures.
The Jehovah Witnesses are congregated in the distance at the corner (beyond the lady in the pink top and against the church wall).
More of the crowd in the opposite direction. There was also a man from the “muti-sellers” that started speaking a lot and raising his voice in Zulu over the speaker system. I asked the young man I was busy speaking to at the time what the speaker was saying. He told me that the man was “preaching” and said something along the lines that there is no God – obviously trying to hype the people to buy their muti. When there was a lull in proceedings I raised my voice and asked the question: “Who says there is no God?” There was silence. During all this I had the assurance God was keeping me safe and the boldness testified how Huge God is. This is all glory to God that He was making Himself known. This had nothing to do with me. I was just the vessel God chose to use this day. From what I also noticed was that most of the people left without buying muti. I can’t guarantee that none did, but I never saw anyone going to the vehicle under the tree.
After a time of one-to-one witnessing I spoke to a few people and one man in particular said he still prayed to ancestors to intercede on his behalf. Here in Africa there is the demonic spirit of idolatry amongst many Africans who hold fast to their culture that has been passed down through their ancestors and in some instances there is the mixing of culture with religion which is also a clear indication of satan masquerading as an angel of light and deceiving many souls. I thank God for allowing me the opportunity to speak to these religious people, but there are many who reject Jesus as the “Jesus of the colonial white man.” This is predominantly where some black-Africans (for I am a white-African, although some people can’t understand that I am not European as I was born in Africa) put their faith in the prophet of the black-man who is named Shembe. They even have bumper stickers that declare “Shembe is the way” which is a lie for the Holy Bible says in John 14:6 – Jesus saith unto [Thomas], I am the way, the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
For the African culture and the followers of Shembe this is a deception of man who is blinded by satan for the Word of God tells us: Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved (Acts 4:12). That name belongs to Jesus Christ of Nazareth (Acts 4:10).
Whilst I was in amongst the people a lady came over to me and told me that a security guard wanted to speak to me. I went over to the man who introduced himself as Ben. He told me that he had come out as he heard me speaking and had sent five people to call me. As he was still on duty working at a clothing shop’s main entrance, time did not allow us to converse without interruptions. He told me he gets off at 14h00 which I told him I would willingly wait to speak to him. It was about half an hour away, so I spent the better part of the next 45 minutes or so engaging two youngsters in conversation taking them through the Law and the Gospel of Grace. They were very attentive and asked questions so I pray God would cause them to repent of their sins and show fruit meet of repentance.
When the time arrived to speak to Ben he told me that “he has a calling upon his life” and he wants to find out what God is telling him. I told him I am no prophet – only an evangelist. But what got me was the way he spoke and he mentioned that he had gone forward at an altar call. This is when I probed him whether he prayed or the pastor prayed for him. It was the latter so I used the scenario if I committed adultery against my wife and he helped me by telling me what to say to my wife would I be sorrowful for sinning against my wife. God opened the way for me to take Ben through the Good Person Test. This was when his body language changed from being confident and bold to one crossing his arms and possibly being convicted. He never became defensive and kept saying “I am guilty of that one. A liar ... a thief ... a sinner (adulterer) ...” The Law was doing its work and I pray that Ben went home and went before God in prayer and repented to the Almighty. It was also a wonderful time that I spent ministering to him using the Scripture Ephesians 5:22-33 (Husbands and Wives) which was also a time the Lord used to minister to me, too, as we read the Scriptures.
We parted ways after exchanging numbers, and it was truly a blessed day where I saw God working and allowing things to take place as He willed. What is impossible with men is possible with God (Luke 18:27).
Late in the afternoon, one last call, on my way home, at the First Church of Christ, Scientist to leave more calling cards – FREE Please Take One...
