What Every Christian Needs To Know About The Crusades (Part 2)

Continued from Part 1 by Dr. Peter Hammond ...

A Reaction to Jihad

The crusaders were reacting to five centuries of relentless Islamic Jihad. The Middle East was the birthplace of the Christian Church. It was the Christians who had been conquered and oppressed by the Seljuk Turks. Many of the towns in the Middle East welcomed the crusaders as liberators.

Far from the crusaders being the aggressors, it was the Muslim armies which had spread Islam from Saudi Arabia across the whole of Christian North Africa into Spain and even France. Muslim armies sacked and slaughtered their way across some of the greatest Christian cities in the world, including Alexandria, Carthage, Antioch and Constantinople. These Muslim invaders destroyed over 3,200 Christian churches just in the first 100 years of Islam.

Against All Odds

When we think about the Middle Ages, we inevitably view Europe in the light of what it became rather than what it was. The fact is that the superpower of the Medieval world was Islam, not Christendom. The crusades were a battle against all odds with impossibly long lines of supply and cripplingly inadequate logistics. It was a David against Goliath enterprise from the beginning. The chances of success for the first crusade were highly improbable. They had no leader, no chain of command, no supply lines and no detailed strategy. The first crusade consisted simply of thousands of dedicated warriors marching deep into enemy territory, thousands of kilometres from home. Many of them died of starvation, disease and wounds. It was a rough campaign that always was on the brink of disaster. Yet by 1098, the Crusaders had liberated Nicea and Antioch, and in July 1099 they re-conquered Jerusalem.

Professor Madden, the author of A Concise History of the Crusades, has observed: “From the safe distance of many centuries, it is easy enough to scowl in disgust at the crusades. Religion, after all, is nothing to fight wars over. But we should be mindful that our Medieval ancestors would have been equally disgusted by our infinitely more destructive wars fought in the names of political ideologies…Whether we admire the Crusaders or not, it is a fact that the world we know today would not exist without their efforts. The ancient faith of Christianity, with its respect for women and antipathy toward slavery, not only survived but flourished. Without the crusades, it might have followed Zoroastrianism, another of Islam’s rivals, into extinction.” But for the crusades Europe would have probably fallen to Islam and the USA and South Africa would never have come into existence.

Logistics and Economics

As the Christian History Institute has pointed out, the characterising of crusaders as only in it for the plunder and the loot betrays an ignorance of both geography and history. The vast majority of the crusaders were impoverished and financially ruined by the crusades. Crusaders, through great sacrifice and personal expense, left their homes and families to travel 3000km across treacherous and inhospitable terrain – and the shortest crusade lasted 4 years. Considering that only 10% of the crusaders had horses, and 90% were foot soldiers, the sheer fact of logistics is that the crusaders could not possibly have carried back enough loot to have made up for the loss of earnings and high expenses involved with these long crusades. Many crusaders lost their homes and farms to finance their involvement in the crusades.

There’s More to Life than Money

Perhaps self-seeking materialistic agnostics in the 21st Century cannot understand that some people could be motivated by something other than personal financial enrichment, but the fact is that many people make sacrifices for their religious convictions, and in order to help others. In the case of the crusaders, the historical record makes clear that amongst the motivations that led tens of thousands of volunteers to reclaim the Holy Land was a sense of Christian duty to help their fellow Christians in the East whose lands had been invaded and churches desecrated by Muslim armies, and a desire to secure access to the Holy Lands for pilgrims.

There was also a desire to fight for the honour of their Lord Jesus Christ, Whose churches had been destroyed and Whose Deity had been denied by the Mohammedan aggressors. In other words, to the crusaders this was a defensive war to reclaim Christian lands from Muslim invaders.

We may not share their convictions, or agree with their methods, but we ought to evaluate them in the light of the realities of the 11th and 12th centuries, and not anachronistically project our standards and politics back upon them.

Jihad vs. The Gospel

The word “crusade” does not appear in the Bible, nor is it commanded in Christianity. However, Jihad is the sixth pillar of Islam and the second greatest command of Muhammad. It is not only commended, but commanded in the Quran.

The crusades ended many centuries ago, however Islamic Jihad is carried out to this day. Millions of Christians have been slaughtered throughout the centuries by Islamic militants – such as the 1.5 million Armenians murdered in Turkey in 1915. Christians have continued to be slaughtered by Islamic militants in Indonesia, the Philippines, Sudan and Nigeria to the present day.

Therefore, before Christians fall over themselves to apologise for the crusades, which ended over 700 years ago, it would be wise to first learn from reliable sources what the crusades were all about, and study the Islamic teachings and track record of Jihad over the last 14 centuries. Those who do not know their past have no future.

Dr. Peter Hammond has been a pioneer missionary to Muslims in Sudan. He is the author of Slavery, Terrorism and Islam – The Historical Roots and Contemporary Threat.

What Every Christian Needs To Know About The Crusades (Part 1)

The blog posts titled "What Every Christian Needs To Know About the Crusades -- Part 1 and Part 2" appeared at Cameron Buettel's blog The Bottom Line and was written by Dr. Peter Hammond of Frontline Fellowship. To set the theme for the posts that will follow, I felt it was necessary to post Part 1 and Part 2 as aforementioned, before we get into the posts that deals with Bible Prophecy from a seminar I attended in Hillcrest (near Pinetown) this past Saturday March 13, 2010. The four sessions at the seminar dealt with the topics --


1. The Islamic Agenda;
2. Islam;
3. Israel; and
4. The Global Agenda.

So here goes --

The story of the Crusades is one that has seriously fallen foul of political correctness and historical revisionism. This is the first part of an article that Peter Hammond wrote in an attempt to set the record straight concerning what really happened in the Crusades almost 1000 years ago. Is the church of Jesus Christ really to blame for atrocities against muslims? What follows is a worthwhile read when one considers the number of objections Christian evangelists experience based upon a wrong understanding of history. Dr. Hammond will take it from here:

Some claim that the Crusaders were “The starting point of hostility between Islam and the West.” Disrupting “five centuries of peaceful coexistence".

What Preceded the Crusades?

However the Crusades only started after five centuries of Islamic Jihad had conquered and annihilated, or forcibly converted, over two thirds of what had formerly been the Christian world. Shortly after the Islamic conquest of Jerusalem, in 638, Christian pilgrims were harassed, massacred, and crucified.

Muslim governors extorted ransom money from Pilgrims, and ransacked churches. In the 8th Century the Muslim rulers banned all displays of the Cross in Jerusalem. They also increased the penalty tax (Jizya) on Christians and forbade Christians to engage in any religious instruction, even of their own children! In 772, the Calipha al Mansur ordered the hands of all Christians and Jews in Jerusalem to be branded.

In 923, a new wave of destruction of churches was launched by the Muslim rulers. In 937, Muslims went on a rampage in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday plundering the Church of Calvary and the Church of the Resurrection.

In 1004 the Calipha Al-Hakim unleashed a violent wave of church burning and destruction, confiscation of Christian property, and ferocious slaughter of both Christians and Jews. Over the next ten years, 30,000 churches were destroyed and vast numbers of believers were forcibly converted or killed.

In 1009, Al-Hakim ordered that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Church of the Resurrection in Jerusalem be destroyed.

When the Seljuk Turks swept into Jerusalem in 1077 they murdered over three thousand people, including many Christians. It was at this point that the Christian Emperor of Byzantium, Alexius I, appealed for help to the Western churches.

Pope Urban II challenged the knights of Europe at the Council of Clermont in 1095: “The Turks and Arabs have attacked our brethren in the East. They have killed and captured many and have destroyed the churches. On this account I…persuade all people of whatever rank, foot soldiers and knights, poor and rich, to carry aid promptly to those Christians…”

Nowhere in the call for the launch of the Crusades was there talk about either conquest or conversion. They were merely to remove the Islamic invaders from the lands that had previously been Christian, to restore religious freedom to the Holy Lands.

Myths and Misconceptions

The myth that the Crusades were unprovoked, imperialist actions against the peaceful, indigenous Muslim population is simply not accurate.

Similarly, the characterization of the Crusaders as greedy for loot, only out for personal gain, is simply out of touch with reality. Those who participated in the Crusades saw it as an act of sacrifice rather than of profit. The Crusades were in fact prohibitively expensive. Many Crusaders had to sell their property to raise money for the long journey to the Holy Land and knew that their chances of returning alive were slight. Most who did manage to survive and return came back with nothing material to show for their efforts.

Similarly the modern myth that the Crusaders attempted to forcibly convert Muslims to Christianity is a politically motivated fantasy. Search as one might through the writings and records of the Crusaders, one will not find any mention of Crusaders seeking to convert the Saracens or the Turks. The Crusaders saw themselves as Pilgrims seeking to recapture and liberate Christian lands from vicious invaders.

The Myth of Saladin

The depiction of Saladin as merciful and magnanimous is a myth. When Saladin captured the crusaders at Hattim on 4 July 1187, he ordered the mass execution of all the Christians: “They should be beheaded in accordance with Quran 47:4 ‘When you meet the unbelievers on the battlefield, strike their necks’” Saladin’s secretary Imad reported, “With him were a whole band of scholars and Sufis and a certain number of devout men and aesthetics; each begged to be allowed to kill one of them and drew their swords and rolled back their sleeves. Saladin, his face joyful, was sitting on his dais; the unbelievers showed black despair.”

In 1148, the Muslim Commander Nur ed–Din ordered the slaughter of every Christian in Aleppo.

In 1268, when Mamluk Sultan Baybars seized Antioch, he ensured that all the men were slaughtered, the women sold into slavery, the crosses in every church smashed, the Bibles torn and burned, the graves of Christians desecrated. Every monk, priest and deacon was dragged to the altar and had their throats slit. The Church of Saint Paul and the Cathedral of Saint Peter were destroyed.

On 29 May 1453, the greatest city in the world of that time, Constantinople, was conquered by the Jihadists. The Muslims “slew everyone that they met in the streets, men, women and children without discrimination. The blood ran in rivers down the steep streets from the heights of Petra toward the golden horn”. The Muslim soldiers even entered the Hagia Sophia, and slaughtered thousands of Christians worshipping in what was then the largest church in the world at that time.

A Clear and Present Danger

From the first century of Islam Muslim armies were invading Europe. Spain suffered under Islamic occupation for 8 centuries. In the 14th Century, Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, Macedonia, Albania and Croatia fell to Muslim invasions.

In 1426 the Egyptian Mukluks conquered Cyprus. In 1395 the Muslims conquered Nicopolis on the Danube River. In 1444 the Muslim armies seized Varna in Hungary. In 1456 the Turks besieged Belgrade, and even tried to conquer Rome, but were thrown back. The Muslims first attempted to seize Vienna in 1529. As late as 11 September 1683 Muslim armies besieged Vienna, but were routed by 30,000 Polish cavalrymen led by Poland’s King Jan Sobieski III.

Were the Crusades a Failure?

The constant depiction of the Crusades as a failure is not justified by the historical record. The Crusades bought Europe time. The Crusades succeeded in seizing the initiative, throwing the Muslim invaders onto the defensive, for the first time after five centuries of attack. The Crusaders bought Europe time – centuries in fact.

At a critical time, the Crusades united a divided Europe, and threw the Muslim invaders back, bringing a peace and security to Europe that had not been known for centuries. As a result of the tremendous sacrifices of the Crusaders, Christian Europe experienced Spiritual Revival and Biblical Reformation which inspired a great resurgence of learning, scientific experimentation, technological advancement, and movements that led to greater prosperity and freedoms than had ever been known in all of history.

For a picture of what Europe might be like today had Islam succeeded in conquering it, one can look at the previously Christian civilisations of Egypt and what is today called Turkey. The Copts in Egypt now make up just 10% of the total Egyptian population, and are severely oppressed. What is today called Turkey was once the vibrant Christian Byzantine Empire, the economic and military superpower of its day. Today the Christian civilization which had flourished there for a thousand years has all but been extinguished. The population of the last Christian city in Asia, Smyrna, was massacred by the Turkish Army in 1922.

(To be continued ...)

Open Letter to the South African President: Mr. Jacob Zuma

Dear Mr President,

This letter, I believe, is written to you at a time when this country is crying for proper governance. Before and ever since you have taken the presidential reigns of this lovely country South Africa, the press has had a field day with your presidential and private lifestyles -- the facts are that you have made the headlines for mostly the wrong reasons. And more recently an article appeared in the Sunday Times newspaper titled: 'It is time to talk about our moral code' (February 21, 2010). This will also be addressed in this letter.

Mr President, it appears from the press and from many other well documented articles that fraud, crime and corruption are leprous illnesses that permeates the ruling party and government in general. What is saddening is that the citizens of South Africa go largely unprotected by the corrupt and insufficient governance that makes up the disorder of the day and they are the majority who are victims of the separatist elite's non-performance and ever escalating sins of crime, fraud, greed, lawlessness and other evils that are polluting our society.

Mr President, it is time for the masses to hear the Truth and that will also include you, sir, and every civil servant of this nation.

While your party members want to protect your private life from the scrutiny of the public, what their shortsightedness and lack of understanding fails to comprehend is that when you chose to be a parliamentarian you became public domain. Mr President, you are accountable to those citizens who voted you into office and you are also accountable to those citizens who chose not to give you their democratic vote. You, sir, are therefore to rule impartially for all the peoples of South Africa and not only for the interests of your ANC comrades.

Mr President, recently stories of your 'private sex life' made public headlines, and you have acknowledged the facts that have become known. What is of great concern is the lack of morals that you are showing to a wide audience which includes our young generation -- and also the international community who have also questioned your moral ethics. It is a fact that your rule is immoral and ungodly.

Mr President, you have acted immorally and without regard for the message that you are communicating to our children and as a public figure you should be the one who is to show respect of persons, morality and maturity in leading our nation. Your actions are in violation against Almighty God's commands -- and even if you or any other person does not want to believe in the One True God, you are still accountable to Him by your behaviour.

Mr President, there has been campaigns that have been instigated by government where parliamentarians have encouraged persons to 'be-wise-and-condomise' and then tell the people to abstain from sex to prevent HIV/AIDS -- what is the true message you are sending out? Not only have you not heeded these 'suggestions' you are also making South Africa a nation of fornicators (those who have sex outside the bounds of marriage). Mr President, by your actions you are a fornicator. This can set a dangerous trend where: If the president does it why should those following him not do like wise?

The Word of God (The Holy Bible) is clear when it says:

For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh (Genesis 2:24).

From the Scripture references you will note that they are all in the singular -- a man, his father, his mother, his wife, they [man and wife] shall become one flesh. From this you can see one man and one wife makes one marriage and you become one flesh. Mr President, to say your having many wives is your custom goes against what God says and it is a flagrant sin against Him as you are defying the Almighty's rule of marriage. Mr President, The Bible says that man has invalidated the Word of God for the sake of your traditions (Matthew 15:6; Mark 7:8). By your traditions you make the Word of God of no effect.

By taking more than one wife, Mr President, you are committing adultery and thereby you are breaking the Seventh Commandment: You shall not commit adultery. Sir, you are also making your 'wives' adulteresses and by their willingness to enter into polygamous marriages, they, too, are committing adultery. Polygamy and being a polygamist are illegal acts. Mr President, playing your Zulu-custom card does not condone your sin and immoral acts. You might want to hold to your custom and 'even expect others to tolerate and respect it', but it is sin before an infinitely Holy and Righteous God. 1 John 3:4 reads --

Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.

Jesus also said

--"Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. (John 8:34)

Mr President, it is at this very time that you, and every other person reading this letter, should consider how you will stand before Almighty God on the Day of Judgment, for there is a day that is approaching --

"... because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead." (Acts 17:31, my emphasis)

Each and every person will have to give an accounting of themselves on this Great and Fearful Day. People do not know when they will die -- death comes upon people very suddenly and often by surprise and God's Word warns you --

And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, (Hebrews 9:27)

how will you kneel before God? At this point you should examine your lifestyle against God's Holy Standard, The Ten Commandments, and see where you are headed -- Heaven? Or Hell?

How many lies have you told in your lifetime? If you have told a lie you are a liar in the sight of God. You don't need to tell ten lies then a bell goes off or even ascribe a colour to your lie -- a lie is a lie in God's Wisdom. Have you ever stolen anything? This includes fraud, if you have you are a thief in the sight of God. We have already dealt with the committing of adultery, but listen what Jesus said --

"You have heard that it was said, 'YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY'; but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. ..." (Matthew 5:27,28)

We have already dealt with this crime against God and He sees even the intentions of peoples' hearts and their minds. This also includes the debauched acts of homosexual sex and marriages. South Africa became the fifth country in the world, and the first in Africa, to allow legal marriages between same-sex couples. This law which was promulgated by the ANC is a heinous stench before the LORD --

You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination (Leviticus 18:22).

Have you ever committed murder? God's Word says that if you are angry and hate anyone you have committed murder in the heart. Jesus said --

"You have heard that the ancients were told, 'YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER' and 'Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.' But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, 'You good-for-nothing,' shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, 'You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. ..." (Matthew 5:21,22)

Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. (1 John 3:15)

Mr President, murder also includes abortion which your ANC party, under the ex-president Mr Mandela, promulgated the abortion law on February 1, 1997 and since then over 900,000 South African babies have been brutally murdered officially, legally and with tax payers' money.

Have you ever blasphemed God? Or made reference to Him or His Son Jesus by not showing Him the rightful reverence He deserves? It is evident from an article that appeared in Africa News that you have openly blasphemed God by making reference that God agrees with the ANC's policies, quote:

He said church leaders must persuade believers to vote for the ANC. “When priests pray for poverty to end and for development, then it means God agrees with the ANC because the ANC stands for those things,” Zuma said.

“When you preach in your churches, just explain to the congregation – in a paragraph – about the ANC. People who love God must not play with their votes, they must vote for the ANC,” said Zuma.

He added: "We in the ANC know God. When the ANC was born, it was baptized. We have respect, we are beautiful, and we conduct ourselves in a good way."

Mr President, it is clear that you have mocked almighty God by making fun and jokes about Him and His children. If you, or the ANC, know God you will keep His commandments --

For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome. (1 John 5:3)

God says He will hold everyone guilty for using His Name in vain. [SA: "ANC to rule till Jesus comes"]

Mr President, on the Day of Judgment when the Supreme Judge of the Universe, Almighty God holds Court; and He judges you according to His infinitely Holy Standard and Righteousness and finds that you, and all sinners, have transgressed His Law and you are found to be a liar, a thief, an adulterer and a fornicator, a murderer and a blasphemer, to mention a few charges, will you be innocent or guilty? The Bible says that all who sin against God will be guilty and not enter into the Kingdom of God.

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous; nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians 6:9,10)

The Word of God is clear and concise for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). If God gives you the justice you rightfully deserve, you will be found guilty and God will send you to Hell for eternity -- it is His place that He has set aside for eternal damnation for the lawless to be punished by His Divine Wrath.

Knowing that you will be condemned into Hell for all eternity should be horrifying you at this point. If you are not trembling and fearful then you have not seen your sin as being exceedingly sinful before an infinitely, Holy, Righteous, Good, Sovereign and Just God.

There will be no entering into appeals against His judgment. There will be no Constitutional Court or Court of Appeal. God's JUDGMENT is final and binding for eternity. Receiving a guilty verdict means receiving Hell for eternity. Don't make light of Hell; it's a very real place of torment. Jesus spoke more about Hell than about Heaven. Heading for damnation in the fiery pit of Hell should concern you. It should make you extremely fearful. This is really bad news.

However, there is Good News and this is the only way man can escape Hell's eternal torment. About 2000 years ago God sent His Son Jesus Christ to this world on a mission. What took place was God choosing to reveal Himself in the person of His Son Jesus Christ, the Anointed One. The Deity of Christ is revealed in The Holy Scriptures, God's Word -- The Bible --

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. ... He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-5, 11-14)

For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. (John 1:17)

Jesus, the God-man was conceived by the Holy Spirit and He was born to a virgin named Mary --

And coming in, he said to her, "Greetings favored one! The Lord is with you." But she was very perplexed at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was. The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end." Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?" The angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God. (Luke 1:28-35, the angel sent by God to His maidservant Mary was the angel Gabriel)

He came into the world as "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).

Jesus entered into His earthly ministry and this is an account by the apostle Peter --

Opening his mouth, Peter said:
"I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him. The word which He sent to the sons of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ (He is Lord of all) -- you yourselves know the thing which took place throughout all Judea, starting from Galilee, after the baptism which John proclaimed. You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. We are witnesses of all the things He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They also put Him to death by hanging Him on a cross. God raised Him up on the third day and granted that He become visible, not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God, that is, to us who ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead. And He ordered us to preach to the people, and solemnly to testify that this is the One who has been appointed by God as Judge of the living and the dead. Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins." (Acts 10:34-43)

Therefore if God gave to them the same gift as He gave to us also after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way?" When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, "Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life." (Acts 11:17,18)

Mr President, with reference to your Sunday Times interview, I quote:

"He [Zuma] appeared shocked and surprised by the outrage that followed the scandal, telling the Sunday Times: "There are Muslims, Christians, Jews, Pedis and so on ... How do we live together with an understanding that we understand each other?

"Values may not exactly be the same, but how do we bring harmony to this?"

Mr President, the problem is not about 'understanding each other', because it is not about us and our diverse religions, values and communities. The answer is: It is ALL ABOUT GOD AND NOTHING ELSE MATTERS!! It doesn't matter what you believe in. What matters is what you believe in is it true? If the God of Creation is not centre in everyone's lives their evil and wicked ways will persist. The God of the Holy Bible has given us the First Commandment that He is to be the Only God and we all are to worship Him with all our heart, mind, soul and strength and the Second Commandment reads that we are to have no idols (gods) before Him. If man is trying to resolve anything and he has broken the first two commandments then anything else man tries to accomplish will come to naught. Worshiping other gods (including addressing songomas and praying to ancestors) is idolatry and eternal punishment in Hell awaits all idolaters. There is a real spiritual war being waged between the Kingdom of Light (God) and the kingdom of darkness (satan). Satan uses religion to keep people in the darkness blinded to the Truth -- he does not want to go to Hell only with his demons.

Man relies on religion to try appease God for their evil and wicked lives. God says in His Word, speaking through His prophet Isaiah --

For all of us have become like one who is unclean,
And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment;
And all of us whither like a leaf,
And our iniquities, like the wind take us away. (Isaiah 64:6)

The prophet Isaiah employed our righteous deeds by using the imagery of menstrual cloths used during a woman's period to picture uncleanness (cf. Leviticus 15:19-24). Man tries to get right with God by his works, but they are a stench before Almighty God. So it is through God's mercy by Him granting us grace (unmerited favour) that we can be saved. For we are justified by grace alone, through faith alone by trusting in Jesus Christ alone that a man can have his sins forgiven and be reconciled back to God.

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the air of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, including the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. (Ephesians 2:1-10)

Jesus said --

"I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me." (John 14:6)

Jesus said He is the Way and so any other way man tries to get saved by is a false way. Jesus said He is the Truth -- therefore any other 'truth' is a lie, because there can only be one Truth. And Jesus said He is the Life -- you cannot receive life through any other.

God's Promise and Warning
Thus Solomon finished the house of the LORD and the king's palace, and successfully completed all that he had planned on doing in the house of the LORD and in his palace. Then the LORD appeared to Solomon at night and said to him, "I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. "If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land. "Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place."For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that My name may be there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. "As for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, even to do according to all that I have commanded you, and will keep My statutes and My ordinances, then I will establish your royal throne as I covenanted with your father David, saying, 'You shall not lack a man to be ruler in Israel.' "But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will uproot you from My land which I have given you, and this house which I have consecrated for My name I will cast out of My sight and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples. "As for this house, which was exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and say, 'Why has the LORD done thus to this land and to this house?' "And they will say, 'Because they forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers who brought them from the land of Egypt, and they adopted other gods and worshiped them and served them; therefore He has brought all this adversity on them.'" (2 Chronicles 7:11-22, my emphasis)

A Plea to the Unsaved

There are some of you standing in these aisles and sitting in these pews, who I feel in my soul will never have another invitation, and if this be rejected today, I feel a solemn motion in my soul -- I think it is of the Holy Ghost -- that you will never hear another faithful sermon, but you shall go down to Hell impenitent, unsaved, except you trust in Jesus now. I speak not as a man, but I speak as God's ambassador to your souls, and I command you, in God's name, trust Jesus, trust now. At your peril reject the voice that speaks from Heaven, for "he that believeth not shall be damned." How shall you escape if you neglect so great salvation. When it comes right home to you, when it thrusts itself in your way, oh, if you will neglect it how can you escape? With tears I would invite you, and, if I could, would compel you to come in. Why will you not? Oh souls, if you will be damned, if you make up your mind that no mercy shall ever woo you, and no warnings shall ever move you, then, sirs, what chains of vengeance must you feel that slight these bonds of love. You have deserved the deepest Hell, for you slight the joys above. God save you. He will save you, if you trust in Jesus. God help you to trust Him even now for Jesus' sake. Amen. ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon

And with my Brother in Christ who has gone to our Lord Jesus in glory, I speak not as a man, but I speak as God's ambassador to your souls --

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. (2 Corinthians 5:20)

"... that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." (Romans 10:9)

"He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but He who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." (John 3:36)

Mr President, as an ambassador of God, I call you and the citizens of South Africa to REPENT (turn from and forsake) of your evil and wicked sin and believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is your only hope.

An unworthy sinner, saved by grace
Gary Crous
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All Scripture References are from the NASB (Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation)

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