Seeds sown for Revival Part 2 January 2016

18. Cape Town City Bowl Prayer

International intercession began in earnest with the identification of the ‘10/40 Window’. These are Asian and African countries situated between the 10^th and 40^th degree lines of latitude of the northern hemisphere. They gave a geographical focus to pray into a divinely-inspired ‘window’ given to Christians by Luis Bush, an American prayer leader. It was also used by Peter Wagner, a colleague, to rally the evangelical world in united prayer for the peoples who were still unreached with the Gospel.

Prayer Initiatives of the North affect the Cape

What happened through Gerda Leithgöb and Bennie Mostert in 1987 are examples of divine callings received by individuals. A visit to Singapore in 1988 by Leithgöb became a spur for worldwide prayer for South Africa. In the country itself she became a pioneer in using the results of research for informed prayer. She taught and implemented research on spiritual strongholds quite effectively. The biblical models come from the twelve spies who were sent to Canaan and the reconnaissance work that Nehemiah performed before the actual building of the wall around Jerusalem.

Confidence in South Africa's ability to lift herself from the constraints of apartheid were low, the economy was sliding. Fear was a constant companion to people from every racial group. It was in this time of despair that the body of Christ began standing in the gap for the nation. Even in remote parts of South Africa people were praying because of the deteriorating and explosive situation in the country. Thus vastly different groups, like those in the Mother City which gathered on a weekly basis, as well as Black women in the Soutpansberg Mountains, interceded fervently that the country might be spared massive bloodshed. Many longed for an end to the misery caused by apartheid, praying that it might cease soon.

Kjell Sjöberg, a Swedish pastor, visited South Africa in 1989 on an assignment to pray at ‘the ends of the earth’. He led a group of intercessors at Cape Agulhas, the most southern point of Africa. A national prayer network was formed that started linking with international intercessors. All of this happened fairly quietly and unnoticed. 

Several of these initiatives included fasting. In recent decades fasting and praise have been profitably rediscovered.  In May 1990, David Mniki, a pastor from the Transkei, called the first national 40-day fast.  It was here, as people waited on God, knowing that the situation was hopeless, that God clearly spoke from the book of Isaiah. The fast was localised, and not many people participated, but it was spiritually significant.  During the fast God gave the intercessors a scripture from Isaiah - ‘Can a nation be born in one day?’ (Isaiah 66:8). This was the word that spurred the church onward to believe that a new South Africa, a new nation, could be birthed and that God wanted His church to pray and believe in Him for the kairos moment in the land. As prayer initiatives sprang up around the country, Christians started to believe that with God the impossible could become reality!

A difficult Month

Personally I had to discover anew that a revival in the Mother City of South Africa would be God’s sovereign work. Our own experiences highlighted the need for more prayer. The necessity for the unity of the Body of Christ became even more clear to me.

The month of October 1996 was one in which we were tested in many ways. I started keeping a diary that went as follows one day: ‘the attack starts not only very early in the month, but also early in the day. Neither Rosemarie nor I was able to sleep properly. For Rosemarie it was the second sleepless night in a row. She shares her concern that we were getting nowhere with our ministry: “For almost five years we have toiled here in Cape Town. And what have we achieved? Almost nothing! We might as well go back to Holland.” I concede that I also feel completely depressed.’  

            Rosemarie and I were prayer walking through Bo-Kaap in October 1996 once again when nobody else joined us for the Friday lunchtime prayer. We discerned how the churches around the Muslim stronghold had been ransacked in the period before that. We were blessed to see how the Lord brought restoration, but we still did not see it as our duty to get more involved in an attempt at the unification of the body of Christ. This only started to happen slowly at the end of 2003. But we made very little progress. The most progress in this regard was in the run-up to the Soccer World Cup in 2010, but thereafter it petered out again.

Regret expressed for Christian Folly?

Christians overseas started organising a Reconciliation Walk in 1996 following the path of the Crusades. Bennie Mostert of Jericho Walls faxed the lengthy confession of the organisers through to our Western Cape CCM (Christian Concern for Muslims) Forum on the very day that we had one of our meetings. It looked to me as if God had his hand in it. But it was not easy.

                                    The lengthy confession was rejected

In our meeting the lengthy confession was rejected because it was regarded as not relevant for us in South Africa. I managed to salvage the idea, suggesting that we should write our own confession. At our Easter CCM Conference 1997 at Wellington I had to remind the missionary leader colleagues about the confession. They were clearly not keen, promptly giving me the homework to write a draft and then pass it on to all the colleagues in preparation for our leaders’ meeting in October. It was obvious that they were just procrastinating, but I did not want to let them off the hook so easily. To me the matter was much too important.          

Prayer Seminar at CEBI

What a difference I experienced at the prayer seminar led by Gerda Leithgöb at the former Cape Evangelical Bible Institute (CEBI) soon hereafter, still in April 1997. The news of the sale of the former CEBI premises to Muslims coincided with the prayer seminar. What a sense of unity we experienced in spite of the proverbial 'Sword of Damocles' hanging over us as we gathered there!  Pastor Danny Pearson led the believers of the fellowship, using the premises for church services. He also organised prayer walks in the area. That was definitely a seed for revival because the march of Islam continued unabatedly as Muslims bought up one property after the other in the area.

Gerda Leithgöb approached me to become the co-ordinator of Herald Ministries for the Western Cape. I had no peace however to accept the position.  Eben Swart turned out to be a much more suitable person for that function. Lea Barends from Ravensmead and Sheila Garvey from Durbanville were faithful quiet intercessors. Sheila had been praying faithfully for District Six for many years in its hey-day.

            In May 1997 Sally Kirkwood was approached to organise prayer for the visit of Cindy Jacobs to the Cape. She contacted people and organised a prayer and fasting chain. She felt the Lord directive was to 'establish a presence' at the venue, the Shekinah Tabernacle in Mitchells Plain. Taking along an intercessor along at a time when it was quite dangerous to go and pray at the venue, the Lord used the two intercessors to open the way for others to follow.

            The visit by Cindy Jacobs, an intercession leader from the USA, brought a significant number of ‘Coloured’ and White intercessors together. She confirmed the need for confession with regard to the troubled District Six. Sally Kirkwood played a pivotal role, taking this burden on her shoulders. When she approached me in October 1997 in this regard, I had already started with preparations for a visit of intercessors from Heidelberg (Gauteng), scheduled to come to the city the last week of that month. (This was included in the two-yearly initiative, interceding for breakthroughs in the so-called 10-40 window.)                         

Visitors to the Cape                                                                                         

At the sending of prayer teams to different spiritual strongholds in 1997, a team from the Dutch Reformed congregation Suikerbosrand in Heidelberg (Gauteng) followed the nudge of NUPSA to come and pray in the Mother City.

                                                 A team from Heidelberg

                                                (Gauteng) pray in Bo-Kaap

This was spiritually significant because Heidelberg had once been the cradle of the racist and right-wing Afrikaanse Weerstandsbeweging (AWB). That the AWB town was sending a team to pray for Bo-Kaap, might have hit the headlines had it been publicised! But all this was undercover stuff. This was transpiring at a time when PAGAD was still terrorising the Cape Peninsula. The Bo-Kaap Islamic stronghold was not geographically situated in the 10/40 window, but Bennie Mostert correctly discerned that it was the case ideologically. It had become a Muslim bastion because of apartheid.

Moravian Hill hosts a strategic Meeting                                                                              

As part of this visit from Gauteng, a prayer meeting of confession was organized for November 1, 1997, in District Six, in front of the (former) Moravian Church.[1] Sally Kirkwood not only had a vision for the desolate District Six to be revived through prayer, but she also informed Richard Mitchell and Mike Winfield about the event. The Cape prayer movement received a major lift. I asked Eben Swart to lead the occasion. That turned out to be very strategic. Eben Swart’s position as Western Cape Prayer Coordinator was cemented since he was now able to link up with the pastors’ and pastors’ wives prayer meeting led by Eddie Edson.  The event on Moravian Hill in District Six attempted to break the spirit of death and forlornness over the area, so that it would be inhabited again. However, it would take another seven years before that dream started to materialise (and abused for election purposes in 2004).  Fourteen years after 1997 not much has happened in terms of new inhabitants coming to District Six.

                                                A District Six watershed for many participants

November 1997 nevertheless became a watershed for quite a few participants.  Afterwards Gill Knaggs, Trish and Dave Whitecross became burdened to become missionaries in the Middle East. Sally Kirkwood received a more prominent role among Cape intercessors. Richard Mitchell, Eben Swart and Mike Winfield linked up more closely in a relationship that would have a significant mutual effect on the prayer ministry at the Cape in the next few years, and on transformation in the city at large.

Mike Winfield belonged to the Anglican congregation in Bergvliet, which had Trevor Pearce as their new pastor. (This Anglican parish later took a prominent role in the attempts towards the transformation of the Mother City through the prayer rallies at Newlands.)  The confession ceremony in District Six closed with the demolition of an altar that Satanists or other occultists had probably erected there.

Citywide Prayer Events

1998 brought significant steps to effect more unity in the body of Christ city-wide through the initiatives of NUPSA and Herald Ministries. Regular prayer meetings at the Mowbray Baptist Church ensued, with believers coming from different parts of the Peninsula and from diverse racial and church backgrounds. The meetings carried a strong message of unity. However, the suggestion to continue on local level in different areas, never took off. Nevertheless, the Mowbray exercise brought together two racial groups for prayer and became the forerunner of citywide events.

                                               A prayer event on the Grand Parade

                                               almost floundered after a bomb threat

A well-publicized prayer event on the Grand Parade almost floundered after a bomb threat. Prior to this, churches across the Peninsula had initially been requested to cancel their evening services on Sunday, 19 April 1998 and join this service. In sheer zeal, a Christian businessman had thousands of pamphlets printed and distributed.  Unwisely, he did not consult with the organizing committee about its content. The flyer and poster that invited believers to a mass prayer meeting against drug abuse, homosexuality and other moral concerns, unfortunately also referred to Islam in a context that was not respectful enough for some radical Muslims.  It was however also sad that certain City Bowl churches had not been prepared to close their doors even on a one-off basis for this event.

A PAGAD member apparently regarded the flyer as an invitation to disrupt the meeting, passing on a threat to that effect. The event was subsequently announced as cancelled, but a few courageous believers showed up nevertheless.  These included the late Pastor Danny Pearson, who had been deeply involved with the preparation of the prayer occasion. He believed that we should not give in to the intimidation, and that, if need be, Christians should be willing to die there for the cause of the Gospel. The meeting proceeded on a much smaller scale than originally planned. The service included confession for the sins of omission to the Cape Muslims and to the Jews. And there was no PAGAD disruption of the meeting!

More Prayer Efforts in the City Bowl

Some churches in the City participated in a forty-day period of prayer and fasting from Easter Sunday to Ascension Day 1998.  Rev. Louis Pasques of the Cape Town Baptist Church spearheaded this endeavour.  A weekly meeting with a prayer emphasis gained ground slowly after the 40-day effort from April to May 1998. Later that year, combined evening services were held once a month in the City Bowl in participating churches, with the venue rotating very time.        

A corresponding period of prayer and fasting in 1999 - this time for 120 days - was concluded in the Western Cape in the traditional Groote Kerk celebration of the Lord’s Supper when pastors from different denominations officiated. This was a visible sign of a growing church unity. At that Ascension Day event, Dr Robbie Cairncross was divinely brought into the situation.  He came to the Mother City with a vision to see a network of prayer developing in the Peninsula. His prayer for an office for his Christian Coalition/Family Alliance near to Parliament was answered in a special way when he moved into the premises of the Chamber of Commerce (SACB), a stone’s throw from the Houses of Parliament. Cairncross’ plan became quite strategic when Islamic convert Achmed Kariem, with a vision for distributing prayer information, joined the SACOB staff. Cairncross’s vision bore fruit.

A Link forged with Community Transformation elsewhere

Pastor Eddie Edson of Mitchells Plain organised two all-night citywide prayer events on 25 June and 15 October 1999. By this time White pastors started to attend the monthly pastors' gathering more regularly, even at places like Die Hok in Manenberg, a former drug den.

Rev. Trevor Pearce, an Anglican minister from the township Belhar, started joining these prayer meetings. He was no stranger to the pain and hardship of discrimination and violence, yet his gentle disposition was often used by God to fulfill the role of peacemaker. Trevor Pearce attended a Sharing of Ministries Abroad (SOMA) retreat in Richmond, Virginia. It was at this conference that he heard a new story that gripped his heart and mind. Retreat director John Guernsey told the miraculous story of God at work in the city of Cali, Columbia. Reports of saved lives, community transformation, and national influence resounded so deeply in Trevor's heart that he felt broken, thinking of his own home country. Was it possible that South Africa could ever experience this kind of transformation?

He sat and listened to every word, not missing a detail of the incredible story. It felt as though the words were exploding into his soul, and in an instant he knew that God was birthing something of such importance and significance that he could not wait to return home.

Flying home to South Africa, Rev. Pearce guarded his most prized treasures - an audio copy of the retreat and a bound copy of the soon to be published book Informed Intercessions by George Otis, jr. This documented account of what happened in Cali (Columbia) also included principles for successful community transformation.

Trevor Pearce wasted no time in meeting with Eddie Edison, who was already praying with a group of pastors for the city and the nation. As the group listened to the recorded voice of George Otis and watched the stories of transformation and redemption, they too felt that deep stirring deep within their hearts. There seemed to be so many similarities between the two countries. Drugs, death, and despair had all been part of daily life for the residents of Cali, Columbia, until the Holy Spirit brought transformation through the praying church. What satan had intended for evil, God was using for good.

At the city-wide prayer event at the Lighthouse Christian Centre on 15 October 1999 the Transformation video was viewed by the audience.

Attacks made on spiritual Strongholds

That God works in mysterious ways was of course known to all of us. A special instance of the divine ways occurred when we conducted a ten-week teaching course on Muslim Evangelism at the Logos Baptist Church in Brackenfell.

There appeared to be no immediate result. Nobody joined our ranks as co-workers. Yet, a few of the participants were deeply influenced. Among the participants there were for instance Johan Groenewald and his wife Christine, as well as Cheryl Muller, whom we took along every week from District Six. The Groenewald couple took the message to distant Eendekuil (well over 100 Km from the city) where they found a willing ear in Ds. Chris Saayman, the local Dutch Reformed minister. The Muller family in District Six was challenged to go full-time into the ministry of the Church of the Nazarene. They were however heavily attacked spiritually when Glen, the husband, had a mental burn-out while they were in Johannesburg at the theological seminary of the denomination. Johan and Christine Groenewald, along with Deon Geldenhuys, would play a significant role in the new millennium to get the Lighthouse Christian Centre into the missions’ mode.

Prayer walking once a month was another method used to break down the one or other stronghold of the deceiver at the Cape. A few Christians joined from as far afield as Melkbosstrand and Eendekuil to pray in Bo-Kaap. Results might not have been spectacular, but the lifting of a spiritual heaviness could definitely be discerned.  The group from Melkbosstrand, spearheaded by Celia Swanepoel and her husband Abrie, had been coming to pray in Bo-Kaap every year at Ramadan even before this.

Intermittent prayer at the Tana Baru cemetery, with its important kramats (shrines), especially during prayer walks in Bo-Kaap, included intercession against drug abuse and prostitution emanating from the Cape Town Docks.  We could not discern whether an informal settlement in Hout Street just below the former Muslim cemetery was an answer to our prayers. Certain inhabitants of the squatter camp brought prostitution, alcoholism and drug peddling to Bo-Kaap. The residential area had been morally quite upright before its existence.

                                      The dark spirit over the

                                      area clearly diminished

Be that as it may, the dark spirit over the area clearly diminished towards the end of the century. In 2006 Bertie de Jager, an Afrikaner linked to the Logos Christian Church of Brackenfell, became deeply burdened to pray for Bo-Kaap.

19.              Transformation Vibes from the Cape

In the Western Cape, where most commuters travel by taxi, the taxi wars were escalating. These wars were the fights between taxi associations and individual minibus taxi drivers. At the same time an organization called PAGAD (People Against Gangs and Drugs) began to fight against the high incidence of drugs and gangsterism among the young people of Cape Town. Originally started as an inter-faith civic group, their ranks soon became infiltrated by Islamic fundamentalists and radicals. As the group began to move towards militancy, Christians and moderate peace-loving members began to distance themselves from the organization. The first series of bombs were intended to warn and frighten drug dealers. Later the bombs were laced with nails and sharp objects that killed and maimed innocent people.

A famous Cape Drug Lord hospitalised

Through the late 1990s, twenty-two bombs exploded, killing and maiming hundreds of men, women, and children who happened to be in the path of this nameless cruelty. Ordinary citizens became fearful, numerous lives were lost. As chaos ruled the streets, the Church continued to pray more earnestly once again.

In March and April 1999 dramatic things happened in quick succession. Rashied Staggie, by this time a famous Cape drug lord, was shot and hospitalised. Staggie made the news headlines from his bed in the Louis Leipoldt Clinic in Bellville through his public confession of faith in Jesus Christ.  Once again, the Cape was setting the pace in the aftermath of the violence by extremists, which might eventually prove to have paved the way for the possible ultimate demise of Islam as a political force.

Eddie Edson, a pastor from a poor community in Mitchells Plain and a former gangster, had first-hand experience of conditions as he lived in the heart of the troubled areas. He had not only been gathering pastors to pray every month, but he had also started to disciple gangsters. Believers started to pray with a new fervour and determination, intentionally turning to God in prayer, attempting to access the powers of heaven for the transformation of South Africa and all of Africa.

A Drug Lord shot and killed

On Easter Sunday 1999 one of our co-workers called us, telling us that Glen Khan had been shot and killed. The Mitchells Plain gang leader and drug lord whose wife had been a secret Christian believer for some months, was assassinated on Easter Sunday - only a few days after he had committed his life to Jesus as his Lord. The next morning we rushed to Mitchells Plain to assist with the funeral arrangements because a crisis had arisen. The Muslim family was claiming to have the corpse for an Islamic funeral that was to happen within 24 hours! The young widow - still a secret follower of Jesus - insisted that he should have a funeral from the Shekinah Tabernacle where he made that commitment under the ministry of Pastor Eddie Edson.

               The new babe in Christ gave a powerful  

                            message to the packed church

When ‘Brother Rashied’ was called up to give a tribute at the funeral service, it caused quite a stir because the media had evidently been tipped off that the changed drug lord would be there as well. Almost overnight he had become a celebrity of a different sort. The new babe in Christ gave a powerful message to the packed church. Many were listening outside to the service that was relayed via the public addressing system. The funeral audience included a significant contingent of gangsters. Staggie, who had been avidly reading the Bible in the preceding weeks, challenged his followers present, quoting from Scripture that the Lord was the one to take revenge: ‘My kom die wraak toe’.  He emphasised: 'We are not going to retaliate!' Coming from someone who had virtually escaped death after an assassination attempt, the message could hardly miss the mark.

Renewed Interest in the Lives of Gangsters

The Glen Khan assassination was divinely used to bring churches together, not only for prayer, but to some extent also with a vision to reach out to Muslims in love.  Following Khan’s death, some churches showed renewed interest in the lives of gangsters. Pastor Eddie Edson discerned the need to disciple them, starting a programme of special care for gangsters who wanted to change their life-styles.

The attempt to assassinate Staggie ultimately marginalized PAGAD, the criminal extremist group which had tried to eliminate him. Two-and-a-half years later Al Qaeda, a similar group based in the Middle East, became a household name worldwide through the twin tower disaster in New York on September 11, 2001. This incident highlighted the violent roots of Islam in an unprecedented manner. These two events definitely dramatically slowed down the growth and expansion of Cape Islam during the 1980s and 1990s.

The gang war spawned a significant increase in evangelistic ministry, notably at Pollsmoor prison. After operating from Tygerberg Radio, the sister Afrikaans station of CCFM in its early days, the Pentecostal Pastor Christopher Horn started working with gangsters who had turned to Christ. He subsequently became the main chaplain in the police force for the Western Cape.

It was evident that the Holy Spirit was at work. Supernatural visitations came to the fore in March 1999. A Muslim woman phoned CCFM after she had various visions of Jesus, receiving instructions from the Lord to read portions of the Bible that very clearly related to her life. Soon thereafter she accepted Christ as her Saviour. The phone-in programmes of Radio CCFM and the sister Afrikaans station, Radio Tygerberg, proved very effective. A number of Muslims, as well as converts and secret believers were phoning in.  Elsa Raine, the CCFM worker responsible for the prayer ministry, faithfully passed on to us all Muslim-related calls for follow-up.[2] A very special result was when a Muslim lady, Fazleen, who had phoned the station in 2003, could be ministered to. Valerie Mannikkam, a missionary from WEC, proved her worth in the discipling of Fazleen. The new convert later also became a co-worker, responding to the calls of Muslim enquirers.

PAGAD marginalised 

In the wake of Glen Khan’s assassination and Staggie’s powerful testimony at Khan’s funeral, a trickle of Cape Muslims started turning to Christ. Suddenly PAGAD felt themselves threatened. It was not surprising that the group thereafter frantically sought for credibility. When ‘Muslim leaders’ wanted to speak to Pastor Edson on 13 April 1999, a confrontation was feared because reports were coming in of Muslims who turned to Christ, some of them in trains. Intercessors were alerted to bathe the proposed meeting in prayer.  A general crisis was feared once again.

Pastor Edson was surprised when the ‘Muslim leaders’ turned out to be representatives of PAGAD. This was a major turn-around on the part of the extremists. It was however quite unexpected that they had become willing almost overnight, eager to speak to church leaders. This was evidently God supernaturally at work, but Edson and other church leaders were not immediately aware of it. A few weeks prior to the meeting, PAGAD had still refused to meet any Christians or other mediators. A direct result of the 13 April meeting was the birth of the Cape Peace Initiative (CPI) - church leaders trying to mediate between PAGAD and gang leaders.

An agenda for a bigger consultation scheduled for 22 April, was agreed upon. This was arranged to take place at the Pinelands Civic Centre. There were also discussions with gang leaders on the same day. At both meetings prayer warriors interceded for the discussions, and other believers helped to serve the delegations at meal-times.

A tense moment developed when the issue of violence was addressed. The PAGAD leaders asked for permission to discuss the matter separately. It was evident to the CPI delegation that God had intervened powerfully.

                                      PAGAD was suddenly ready to

                                      speak to the government - unarmed!

PAGAD was hereafter suddenly ready to speak to the government together with them - unarmed! This was an answer to the prayers of the warriors around the country who had been interceding for the proceedings. To all intents and purposes PAGAD sensed that they had suddenly been marginalised.

A new Season of spiritual Combat

The last quarter of 1999 turned out to be another season of spiritual combat. A pattern of traumatic incidents happening during my absence from home continued when Rosemarie and I attended our WEC International conference in Natal in October 1999. When we phoned our home, we heard that our 21-year old son Danny had to counsel a Muslim background believer whom we had taken into our home. She was threatening to commit suicide.     

         Shortly after our return from our conference in Natal, I received an invitation to attend an international conference on Muslim Evangelism in Nairobi as the South African delegate, with all expenses to be paid by TEAR FUND, a British development and charity agency.

         I had furthermore heard just prior to this that I would lose my Dutch citizenship and passport unless I interrupt my residence in South Africa before January 2002. We thought that a guest lecturing period at the Cornerstone Christian College, a WEC International institution in Holland, could be the solution. We thus considered the possibility of going to discuss the matter in Beugen (Holland) en route to Nairobi.[3]

          Making extensive use of our new communication medium, the e-mail, it was soon finalized that I would be stopping over in Amsterdam en route to Nairobi.                      

Our Son Danny rushed to Hospital

The TEAR FUND-sponsored conference in Nairobi was linked to a traumatic event at home. While I was still in Europe in November 1999, our son Danny was rushed to hospital after his appendix had burst. In addition, he displayed allergic reactions to the medication given to him there. It was touch and go or we could have lost him. Rosemarie sensed that this was an attack from the arch enemy while I was absent from home.

                                               It was touch and go or we

                                               could have lost our son

Also on another score we sensed that the attack on Danny's life was demonic. At this time our second eldest son Rafael returned from Germany where he had been evangelising with Youth for Christ in a mobile bus for the greater part of the year. After his return from overseas an interdenominational youth ministry called + culture (cross-culture with the emphasis on the emblem) was about to flourish. With his music talent, Danny was quite pivotal in this movement.  Petty interference by one of the local pastors who had no vision for the unity of the Body of Christ brought the promising movement amongst youth to naught.

Two strategic Days in Holland

My two days in Holland were very special. An evening was organised on short notice for me, to speak to some of our friends and prayer partners. Martie Dieperink, one of our friends, had lost her mother. After hearing of the need for a discipling house in Cape Town where persecuted or new believers coming from Islam could be nurtured - some of them having been evicted from their homes because of their faith - she immediately offered to help us with a substantial amount as an interest-free loan. This set a process in motion for what became quite a strategic building. The furniture from the house of her mother was part of the contents of a container that was sent in 2001.

High-powered Spiritual Warfare                                                                                           When someone at the conference in Nairobi tried to share something about spiritual warfare, I had the opportunity to chip in. The impact was tangible when I reported how I had just heard how our son escaped death by a narrow margin. In the months hereafter we heard from different people how they had been praying to save Danny's life. I got the news at a strategic moment in Nairobi, when we were not making much headway in getting a draft on paper, to be used for reporting back to our respective sending bodies.

All this was happening on the eve of the World Parliament of Religions, scheduled to run from 1 to 8 December 1999. The event in the Mother City was a spur for churches to get some idea of the spiritual threat to the country.  Ironically, the opening took place at the very spot in District Six where our prayer occasion of confession had taken place on November 1, 1997 (See Chapter ??) .

                                               The detour via Holland was

                                               pivotal in procuring funds

                                               for our discipling house

I discovered that the invitation to the international conference in Nairobi was God’s strategy not only to keep me out of the limelight of the praying around the World Parliament of Religion, but even more important – the detour via Holland was destined to be pivotal in procuring funds for our discipling house.

At home the news of Danny’s fight for his life caused some Christians to recognize the need for the simultaneous urgency to pray for the World Parliament of Religions.[4]   God turned around the attack on Danny’s life and on our ministry for his sovereign purposes.

Satanic Deception sparks Prayer Effort

It soon became clear that the uniqueness of Jesus Christ was under attack at the World Parliament of Religions summit. Dr Henry Kirby, a medical doctor with close links to YWAM, joined up with Brian Johnson. (Since 1989 Johnson had been challenging the New Age religion. That movement has been putting man in centre stage, as opposed to the Creator God.) A prayer event at the Moravian Church in District Six on 27 November 1999 brought together a broad spectrum of Christian churches. That in itself was a memorable occasion. One of the groups of the World Parliament of Religions definitely went too far when participants concluded from a discussion that Jesus was a fool. This also upset many local Muslims.

Fire, Wind and Water

On the first of December, the Parliament of World Religions dedicated the land of South Africa to the elements of fire, wind and water. The question was raised what the source was of the powers that were unleashed. A destructive trinity seemed to be let loose over the subcontinent because hereafter the Cape experienced the worst fires in memory in January 2000. Furthermore, Southern Africa had unprecedented floods at the beginning of March 2000 that were linked to the hurricane Eline. The biblical Trinity is all about life and not death and destruction.

            Dr Kevin Roy, a lecturer at the Baptist Theological Seminary in Athlone ‘cooled the fires’ when he spoke at this occasion. He pleaded for the right to change one’s religion, requesting that it would be more than merely a human right on paper - that it would be practiced universally. This had already been happening at the Cape in both directions between Christianity and Islam before the PAGAD element brought the city to the brink of civil war. This tension had the potential to upset the traditional mutual cordial relations. People were turning to Islam amid the perception that it is easier to get employment when one is a Muslim. This concept has some clout at the Cape.  Muslims who got into positions of influence, appointed their co-religionists as a matter of preference. (On the other hand, Muslim people were turning to Christ more than before at the beginning of the 21st century.)

In the PAGAD trials of Ebrahim Jenneker and Abdusalaam Ebrahim in January 2000, deceit and lies were thrown around, demonstrating that the origin of the movement was clear, namely with the father of lies. When the files of the five accused in the PAGAD trial on January 25 disappeared, it was just confirming that the group was part and parcel of the crime syndicate and a corrupt judicial system.

Spiritual Conflict continues

The season of spiritual combat appeared to come to a head when conflict escalated between the notorious minibus ‘taxi’ drivers and the Golden Arrow Bus Company, both of which were transporting commuters from the townships. Nobody suspected that the shooting of a Golden Arrow bus driver would bring the Black townships to the brink of anarchy once again.

May 2000 seemed predestined to lead to the temporary pinnacle of spiritual combat, with the police force not only in disarray, but they were also frustrated by a judiciary that was perceived to be corrupt.

On Friday evening the 19^th of May 2000 a citywide half-night of prayer, attended by 6,000 people, took place at the UWC Sports Grounds in Bellville.  Here the unity of the Body of Christ was emphasised once again! In the spiritual realm it was a powerful moment when Pastor Martin Heuvel apologised on behalf of about 40 pastors present, for - among other things - their lording over their churches, for being dogmatic, and for the lack of a servant attitude. Most importantly, the proceedings were translated into Xhosa,[5] thus demonstrating that the presence of Capetonian Blacks was important to the organizers.

                        The proceedings were translated into Xhosa,

                                 thus demonstrating that the presence of

                        Blacks was important to the organizers

There was ample evidence from different quarters that demonic warfare was increasing once again. Satanist traits surfaced notably when the decapitated head of a mentally handicapped young man was abused to instil fear into people. The arrest of nineteen PAGAD members in Tafelsig, a violence-ridden part of Mitchells Plain on 21 May 2000, after a shoot-out with police, was publicised as a major breakthrough. Only three gangsters were arrested, and that not even immediately. Hence the suspicion was strengthened that the police force was siding with criminals. The necessity for transformation through revival was thus highlighted once again.         

The spiritual War heats up in the City Bowl

In June 2000 the fight in the spiritual realms was raging in the City Bowl as never before. A television report depicted how the Mother City drew gay tourists from around the world. Satanists were also staking their claims to impact the city.

                                    A bomb in a plastic bag was

                                    discovered by a homeless man

While preparations were being finalized for a Jesus March on 10 June 2000, it almost seemed as if satan wanted to foil the event through a bomb at the New York Bagles Restaurant in Sea Point, a few kilometers away from the City centre, and not many days before the march.

At the famous and well-patronized eating place, the bomb - hidden in a plastic bag - was discovered by a homeless man who was probably looking for food in the refuse bin.  However, the bomb was defused before any damage was done. 

God clearly intervened at the internationally-initiated Jesus March.  After a series of weather forecasts of rain, Pastor Lazarus Chetty used CCFM Radio to ask Christians to pray for dry conditions. In spite of the negative weather prediction, ten thousand Christians from across the religious landscape converged on the City business district.

While the Jesus March crowd was praying in the historical Dutch Company Gardens, an elderly Muslim lady committed her life to Jesus at the famous Groote Schuur hospital a few kilometres away.  Christian workers had ministered to her after she had confessed that she had a dream of the broad and narrow way, with Jesus standing at the top of the steep narrow way waiting for her. This dream had been plaguing her for 50 years. The first drops started falling well after the crowds had dispersed. 

20. The Religious Climate changes in Cape Townships

With regard to Islam, Gerda Leithgöb had already introduced research into spiritual influences at the Cape at a prayer seminar in Rylands Estate in January 1995. Such research especially investigates the  demonic or anti-Christian nature of these influences. It has been dubbed spiritual mapping. It seems that the exercise was only significantly implemented in 1999 at the Cape. Manenberg was a Cape township where it was practised with visible results. This township depicted a change in the religious climate more than any other at the Cape within a matter of months.

The Start of two special Churches

An off-sales liquor distribution centre, the Green Dolphin, changed hands dramatically when it became a church. The name Green Pastures was suggested by a resident. Even more dramatic was the turn-about of Die Hok, the former national headquarters of the Hard Livings Gang, which also became a church. The new name was Shekinah City Life Centre. In due course a fellowship was formed there under the capable leadership of Pastor Henry Wood. Almost all the elders there had been former gangsters. Pastor Eddie Edson, who had been a gangster himself in earlier days, spear-headed the Manenberg outreach.  The spiritual revolution in the notorious township received countrywide prominence through the television programme Crux on Sunday 25 July 1999.

Manenberg gang leaders hit back by forcibly recruiting young boys into their midst. In April 2000 Manenberg was still making negative news headlines with the innocent killing of children in gang crossfire. Much prayer was still needed if the crime and violence was to be stopped. Pastor Edson discerned that Manenberg was a key township in the spiritual warfare in the Peninsula. He not only requested the venue for the monthly pastors and pastors’ wives prayer meeting for July 2000 to be relocated to ‘Die Hok’, but he was also the driving force in getting a 10,000-seater tent campaign into that township. 

More rays of light started to break through. Here and there, remorse and repentance by Christians for their negative attitude towards Muslims surfaced.

                                       Cape Muslims started to abandon

                                     much of its confrontational approach

At the turn of the millennium, there were signs that Cape Muslims had started to abandon much of its confrontational approach towards Christianity, an attitude so typical of the PAGAD era (August 1996 to April 1999). In the township of Bonteheuwel for instance, the same building was used by Muslims and the Assemblies of God fellowship. This was also favourably reported in February 2000 in the Athlone News, a newspaper that is distributed free of charge in homes in that area.

Start of a new Turning to Christ?

The year 2000 saw a turning to Christ by Cape Muslims as never before. This happened especially in the Mitchells Plain area. Prominent in the evangelization was the witness of converts from Islam and the radio ministry via CCFM.

Furthermore, two terminally ill Muslim patients were not only led to the Lord, but missionaries also had quality time with them before they passed on. One of the two patients was a woman from Bo-Kaap whose husband had died because of AIDS in 1999. Her conversion to Christ was significant, because this was the first known one in the suburb for many years. Another spiritual breakthrough occurred when one of the less prominent female founder members of PAGAD accepted Jesus as her Saviour on 30 July 2000. Neither she nor the woman from Bo-Kaap professed their new faith openly.

New Manifestation of the Spirit of Violence

Eben Swart, the Western Cape prayer coordinator - in a brochure that he titled Bridging the Gap - addressed the danger of fragmentation; different groups were doing their own thing very independently. He also addressed the rift between various Christian factions. While he was praying, the words ‘spirit of violence’ came through in a strong way. He passed the challenge on to Church leaders to address the issue head-on at the Manenberg citywide prayer event.

This meeting took place in Manenberg on September 2, 2000. It was followed by a big evangelistic campaign immediately thereafter. The adjacent township of Hanover Park, along with nearby Gugulethu and Nyanga, had been significant localities not only for killings and muggings, but also in terms of spiritual warfare. John Mulinde of Uganda was the speaker at the Manenberg prayer occasion. In spite of continuous rain that certainly had kept many away, about 3,000 gathered in the big tent. The occasion was very meaningful, especially because over a third of the audience consisted of Whites, who were thus braving racial and other prejudices.  In the spiritual realm intense warfare was raging. Many tears of repentance and mutual acceptance flowed freely among the multi-racial crowd.  

                              Tears of repentance and

                        mutual acceptance flowed freely

Changes in Manenberg

Prophecies about Manenberg becoming a blessing to the city started to come to fruition when many gangsters helped fill a tent with 10,000 seats from Sunday 10 September 2000 - an event that was facilitated by the evangelist Jerome Liberty and his team. It was perhaps problematic that he introduced the various gangs present in the big tent night by night as special guests, but if there is a case to be made for ‘die doel heilig die middele’ (the goal sanctifies the methods), here was one. The method bore fruit.

                        The follow-up and discipling of gangsters

                        was a daunting task for the churches of

                        the notorious crime-ridden township

The follow-up and discipling of those gangsters who went forward in an act of commitment, was a daunting task for the churches of the notorious crime-ridden township. A secular radio station, KFM, noted the short-term result, reporting on 15 September that there was not a single incident of violence in the notorious suburb in the week of the big evangelistic tent campaign.

The healing of Manenberg continued hereafter. On May 7, 2004 a young participant in a Youth with a Mission Discipleship Training School, with their outreach linked to the local branch of the Salvation Army, wrote about this time: ‘It is also wonderful to see what God has done regarding gangsterism and crime. The entire month that we were there we did not hear a single gun shot, which is considered a miracle when comparing the situation to about 13 months ago.’ In subsequent years there was some relapse, but thankfully it did not deteriorate to the levels of the 1990s.

The Church falls asleep once again

With the PAGAD crisis seemingly abating, it looked as though the Church at the Cape was falling asleep once again. It was nevertheless quite meaningful that the proposal of a Jesus-centred drug rehabilitation centre, as part of a repentant service to the Islamic community, was accepted in principle. A prayer meeting with ministers and church members from the Southern Suburbs of the Cape Peninsula was surely strategic in the spiritual realm. Confessions were made when representatives of each of the four major South African races stood in the centre of the circle, also in confession for the debt of the Church with regard to the global spread of Islam.

            Father Clohessy, a Roman Catholic priest, was another representative from the churches who got involved with the effort to solve the social problems related to gangsterism and drug addiction. Indian shop owners, like those from Gatesville - some of whom had a stake in the lucrative drug trade - went to a pastor for counselling after a PAGAD hit list had been leaked. The suggestion was put forward to get a rehabilitation centre off the ground according to the model of the Betel centres which had proved so successful in Spain. At these centres a relationship to Jesus Christ is encouraged as central. However, when the crisis subsided, pastors simply continued with the building of their own ‘kingdoms’.

21. The Run-up to the great Newlands Event

By 1998, stories of violence were regular headlines on the front pages of South African newspapers. That Satanism was making headway surfaced not only through reports of ritualistic use of human foetuses and babies, but also in the satanic strategy of targeting the marriages of clergymen. Nationally the divorce of the well-known Pastor Ray McCauley, whom God had used so wonderfully in the preparation of the Rustenburg event of 1990, was a national setback to the evangelical cause. At the Cape the moral failure of certain ministers of influential churches threatened to bring the growing city-wide prayer movement to a halt. 

            Because of the situation in the Middle East in mid-1999, natural prayer fuel was provided by the possibility of an escalation of tension between Muslims and Jews in the Mother City. In an initiative by Pastor Eddie Edson of Mitchells Plain a series of all-night citywide prayer events started on 25 June 1999.

A special encounter followed when someone was raised from the business world. – Graham Power

A successful Businessman gets converted

Just over a year prior to all this, on 20 February 1998, Graham Power, a successful businessman, committed his life to the Lord. He had been challenged at a prayer breakfast with Peter Pollock as speaker. (Peter Pollock is a famous cricketer of yesteryear, the father of a recent national cricket icon.) At that occasion he came to faith in Christ. Hereafter he was faithfully discipled first by his pastor, Dr Dion Forster and later by Adolf Schulz, who was linked to the prayer breakfast for business people.

Transformation Videos distributed

In early 1999 Ernst van der Walt jr. started working closely with Reverend Trevor Pearce, an Anglican clergyman, in the sphere of the transformation of communities. They distributed copies of a video produced by George Otis. The transformation video’s first screening to a big audience in Cape Town took place at the Lighthouse Christian Centre in Parow on 15 October 1999. Already in the short term this showing brought about substantial change in some churches. By this time White pastors started to attend the monthly pastors’ and wives’ occasion more regularly, also at venues like Die Hok in Manenberg, a former drug den.

A Documentary reminds Graham Power of Cape Town

After attending an Alpha Course at their church and the formation of a cell group, Rev. Dion Forster showed the Transformation video to the group, which included the story of Cali in Columbia. There and then Graham felt a stirring deep within, wondering 'if it was possible in Columbia, why not Cape Town?' Graham Power, who is a member of the board of Directors of the Western Province Rugby Football Union, saw this Transformations documentary video in March 2000. It impregnated him with a strong desire to bring a prayer event to the Newlands Rugby Stadium. The story of the Mafia-style drug lords who exercised such a dominating presence in Cali (Columbia) reminded him of Cape Town.

A 24/7 Prayer Room started

„Sooispit” - the turning of the soil – in preparation for the building of a prayer room in the Western Cape, took place on February 9, 2000. Charles Robertson, a Cape Christian businessman with a heart for prayer, along with his wife Rita, generously donated resources towards a venue for the work of NUPSA in the Western Cape. The premises in Bellville were earmarked to become a 24-hour prayer room for intercessors from the entire continent.

Daniel and Estelle Brink were called to lead the NUPSA initiative to get a 24-hour Prayer Watch off the ground at the Cape. That this was spiritual warfare of a high degree became evident when Daniel Brink became critically ill shortly after commencing his new function. The Lord touched and healed him in answer to the prayers of many intercessors.

Support Comes from Abroad

Susan and Ned Hill, a couple from Atlanta (USA) and leaders of Blood ‘n Fire Ministries, visited the Mother City on an orientation visit after they sensed a call to come and minister to the poor and needy in South Africa. While they were visiting Table Mountain as tourists, their eyes were supernaturally fixed on a piece of empty desolate ground that they soon learned was called District Six. They visited the District Six Museum, housed temporarily at that time in the Moravian Chapel while the permanent locality, a former Methodist Church, was being renovated. There they heard the tragic story of the former cosmopolitan slum area of Cape Town that was demolished in the wake of apartheid legislation. Two years later they brought a team of Blood ‘n Fire Ministries to minister in the Mother City.

The evident spiritual warfare around the World Parliament of Religions turned out to be fuel to set up a half night prayer meeting on the Grand Parade on fairly short notice. Just at this time Cees Vork and Pieter Bos,[6] two prayer leaders in Holland, started praying about coming to Cape Town. It was clear that God was at work, orchestrating things when Mike Winfield and others were simultaneously busy with ‘Closing the Gates’ meetings, where they would pray around the sinful roots of our society. It was special that we could gain information from an Indonesian, as he shared what had been happening in his home country with regard to the persecution of Christians.

The Body of Christ made visible       

The unity of the Body of Christ became visible to some extent at a mass half-night of prayer on 18 February 2000 on the Grand Parade, an event organised at short notice. On the same weekend Pieter Bos and Cees Vork, representing the prayer movement in Holland, joined local Christians in confession and in praying against anti-Christian spiritual strongholds in the Cape Peninsula. Four thousand Christians from a wide spectrum of denominations gathered there.

                        Denominationalism, materialism

                        and other evils were confessed

Denominationalism, materialism and other evils of South African society in which the church had played a role in the past, were confessed. In a moving moment just before midnight, Pieter Bos and Cees Vork confessed the catastrophic contribution of their forefathers to the evils of Cape society.

A prayer network evolved towards a preliminary climax in the half-night of prayer on the Grand Parade. Since then, prayer events proliferated countrywide through the prayer watches. Here the electronic media played a big role. What a blessing it is to see how the ‘seeds’ that we had been sowing from 1992 at the Cape, were starting to germinate. 

The event on the Grand Parade was followed during the next days by strategic ‘Closing the Gates’ prayer occasions.  Other meetings like a combined church service on the Bellville Velodrome gave the impression that revival was in the air.

The moving confession of Pieter Bos because of Dutch colonial guilt at the shrine of Sheikh Yusuf at Macassar, the pioneer of Cape Islam, moved an Indonesian brother deeply. Hereafter we went to Vergelegen, the farm of Willem Adriaan van der Stel, a notorious 17^th century Cape Dutch governor. At Vergelegen we also met Dr Lovejoy Tiripei, a national of Zimbabwe, who had been a freedom fighter before he came to faith in Jesus as his Lord. He started Grace Fellowship Africa, an agency that was to impact our own ministry significantly.[7]

Remorse expressed with Tears

The visit by the two Dutch intercessors spurred powerful prayer moves in the second half of February 2000. Divine guidance was evident at the events initiated by NUPSA, addressing the sinful roots of slavery. Pieter Bos and Cees Vork highlighted the roots of a number of evils that originated in their country.     

Prayers were offered at satanic strongholds in the Peninsula that have their roots in Holland and Indonesia. Freemasonry and slavery were singled out for special confession. The Holy Spirit moved mightily as Pieter Bos and Cees Vork repented on behalf of their forefathers for their role in the slave trade. Their ancestral forebears had perpetrated ungodly malpractices that were known to be evil. At the emotional occasion on 19 February 2000 at the Cultural Museum (the former slave lodge), there was hardly a dry eye around as the Holy Spirit moved through the room. The awesome presence of God was evident when two descendants of the San and Khoi tribes (respectively the so-called ‘Bushmen’ and the ‘Hottentots’), were completely overcome by remorse for the actions of their ancestors. Tears flowed freely as descendants of a few other people groups asked each other for forgiveness.

Unity of the Body addressed again

The roots of materialism - typified by Simon van der Stel, an early Cape governor - were addressed through prayers of confession later the same month at Van der Stel’s farm Groot Constantia. At a meeting with intercessors in Stellenbosch, Pieter Bos challenged the church at the Cape to get their act together since, as a rule, revival only takes place in a unified church.    

Much of the week’s events were organised on short notice - here and there things happened on the spur of the moment. This gave rise to a great expectation that the Holy Spirit was at last ushering in the long-awaited revival. It was very appropriate that Art Katz, a Christian with roots in the Jewish faith, challenged the believers from similar background.  In prophetic style Katz did not mince his words, urging his audience to take their role seriously. He also warned that they had to be prepared for suffering.

Katz stated categorically that the Cross and resurrection are central tenets of Scripture - rather than celebration. This message was of course not so readily palatable, but definitely a word in season, a challenge to the Church at large.

Satanists at Work

The arch-enemy would not remain idle in the wake of such activity. It was discovered that satanists had been distributing cursed audio and video cassettes to various parts of the country. Subsequently, vehicle accidents occurred at these locations. The Cape Town City Bowl was confronted with the possibility of satanist activities after paint had been spilt on roads at night. The white lines formed in this way could have led to confusion that in turn would have resulted in motor vehicle accidents. Prayer was mobilised, which effectively opposed this demonic device and the spirit of death. The tool of intercession has since then been used effectively for prayer at national roads over each December festive season.

                                    In the spiritual realm

                                    something snapped

In the spiritual realm something snapped. One mission agency after the other ran into problems in the new millennium. The number of missionaries at the Cape with a link to CCM (Christian Concern for Muslims) decreased substantially by 2007, when the alliance ironically celebrated its 25-year existence, with further relocations and one case of retirement following soon thereafter.  By 2010 CCM at the Cape was merely a shadow of its glorious past where there were missionaries from different countries operating here.

Anarchy looming once again

Ramadan 2000 was accompanied by conversions to Christ, not only in other parts of the world, but also in Cape Town on an unprecedented scale. However, the enemy of souls blurred the picture at this time by reports to the contrary. Thus the deceit was there for everyone to see, as the impression was given that District Six had always been Islamic. The return of the former slum area to the original residents was abused in the run-up to the local elections of December 5, 2000. The Democratic Alliance – an arrangement of convenience between the Democratic Party (DP) and the New National Party (NNP) - had little to defend in respect of the ANC attacks. It is indisputable that the political parents of the NNP had been responsible for the forced removals of the inhabitants from District Six.  It is ironic that the reversal of apartheid - which caused Bo-Kaap to become a Muslim stronghold in the 1970s - was now attempting to do the same to the former slum area. (Muslims had been even more evidently in the minority in District Six before the February 1966 Group Areas Declaration.) On 11 February 2004 the ANC made election capital out of the visit of President Nelson Mandela in person at the handing over of the keys to the first residents who were about to return to District Six. By May 2004 the new residents had however not yet moved in. And also thereafter the building of houses proceeded painfully slow indeed! The first few houses that were built are of inferior quality to boot!

                                    Demonic forces tried to

                                    create havoc and anarchy!

PAGAD was prematurely given the blame for a bomb explosion at the car park of Cape Town International Airport on 18^th July 2000. Obviously, there were demonic forces at work trying to create havoc and anarchy! The protracted violent conflict between taxi drivers and the Golden Arrow bus company resulted in quite a number of people dead or wounded. This was a reminder that a miracle was needed to turn the tide. 

In October 2000 PAGAD members were arrested and some of their leaders tried.  The tension in the Middle East had a spin-off, when big Islamic rallies were held. The one on 14 October 2000 at the Green Point Stadium was counter-productive in respect of the Islamic faith when supporters damaged cars and property such as at McDonald’s. The crowd had been hyped up at the rally against Americans and Jews.

The prayers of God’s people - for instance that the tension between Muslims and Jews locally would not spiral out of control - were surely answered when a time bomb under the car of a Jewish man was discovered and defused before the device could cause any damage. However, a bomb explosion near to the offices of the Democratic Alliance in Kenilworth on 18 October kept the tension alive because the leader of that party, Tony Leon, was known to be a Jew. Was PAGAD getting a new lease of life? Muslim unity at the Cape seemed to be resuscitated in the wake of the Middle East conflict.

Graham Power Received a Supernatural Visitation

During their annual holiday in Spain, Graham Power had a very special dream.  He had a supernatural visitation, during which he was challenged to approach the Western Province Rugby Board for the use of their stadium at Newlands for a mass prayer event.  This was foremost in his mind when he returned to his office after his holiday, to the extent that he initially did not even notice the presence of two ladies, Barbara Cilliers and Annamie Munnik. Barbara was the coordinator for the 24/7 prayer watch in the Helderberg Basin. In Not by Might nor by Power (Power and Vermooten, 2009:32) the interaction is narrated as follows:

            'Their conversation quickly moved to prayer and to hearing the voice of the Lord. .. God was calling the Church to prayer twenty-four hours, seven days a week. .. Cape Town intercessors firmly believed that this was the time for the awakening of the prayer watchmen over communities and the city.'

                As Graham listened to their talk about faith and prayer watches. he decided that he would tell the morning group about the vision he received a few days previously on his annual holiday in Spain. As he recalled the dream, he remembered every detail. He told them about the stadium, the people. the prayers for repentance, the maroon armband with white letters, the goodie bag, and the invitation to the rest of South Africa.

                The details just seemed to pour from his mouth. As he spoke, Barbara and Annemie cast a knowing look between themselves, and as they did, both women remembered a prophetic word that had been written down when a group of intercessors had prayed together on the twelfth of August 1998.

            He promptly approached his co-directors for the use of the biggest sports stadium of the Mother City.

Opposition by the Body of Christ

Knowing that this sort of thing had never been done before 'in one hundred years', at the Newlands Stadium, Graham Power did not expect an easy ride to get permission for a mass prayer event on 21 March 2001, but what he did not envisage was massive opposition by the body of Christ. Numerous meetings were scheduled, but the response was not very encouraging. 'Standing and sharing his vision with a particular group of pastors in the city, Graham once again felt the resistance and quietly prayed for a breakthrough. Surely this could not be the state of the church?'... With time slipping away, he was beginning to doubt whether it was even a vague possibility that the church could put aside its differences, support the vision, and actually gather for a time of repentance and prayer ' (Power and Vermooten, 2009:38).

This was still the situation when he set off for a meeting in the Black township of Langa where he narrated about the momentous meeting (p.39f):  'No sooner had he finished sharing his story than he began receiving quick and vehement opposition. Concerns over insufficient time, logistics and planning came quickly...The room got hotter, and for a moment his mind wandered away from the debate until he was sharply brought back at that moment by a voice that broke through the questioning crowd.

Slowly standing to her feet, a woman called Mamela, spoke with conviction and authority. The room seemed to settle in an instant as her voice cried out, 'What is this thing? When God gives a vision we are not to question, we are to come alongside and support.'

Was this the moment that Graham and the Transformation Africa committee had been waiting for? It only lasted a few seconds, but it could be said that while God had conceived the vision in the heart of Graham Power in Spain, this moment marked the beginning of the labor pains. Could the vision finally become reality in the hearts of the people of Cape Town?

The first man to courageously stand to his feet was Reverend Willem Malherbe. It had only been one week before, that Willem had attended a presentation as a member of the Dutch Reformed fraternity in Durbanville.

This fraternity had initially expressed strong reservations against the idea of a united day of prayer. Willem stood tall among the crowd, and with a voice that tilted with his Afrikaans accent, humbly said, 'I want to support Mamela. I do now believe that this is a vision from God, and I want to support it.'

As he sat down, he too had a sense that this was a significant moment for the church in Cape Town, but never could he have imagined the impact that this day would have as a catalyst in the global story of transformation and prayer. One by one, other leaders started to nod, and then as the Holy Spirit sealed the issue in their hearts, they too stood to their feet and voiced their approval and agreed to stand in unity '(Power and Vermooten, 2009:40).

A Flourish of Prayer and missionary Activity

A flourish of prayer and missionary activity towards the end of 2000 looked set to influence the country as a whole.

          A few City Bowl ministers who had been praying together on Thursday mornings since October 1995, approached the office of Mr Mark Wiley,[8] the minister responsible for law enforcement in the Western Cape. They offered to pray for him, promising not to take more than ten minutes of his time. Wiley responded positively, whereupon a delegation of the pastors went to pray with him. A few months later however, Wiley resigned due to his inability to resolve the protracted dispute between taxi operators and the Golden Arrow Bus Company. This dispute had kept the Cape Black township dwellers in suspense for months. Everything pointed to the fact that the spiritual battle was again raging at a high pitch. 

            On 27 October 2000 the Ministers’ Fraternal of the Atlantic Seaboard organised a half-night of prayer. Wiley’s successor was Hennie Bester, who had been a school friend of Eben Swart, the Western Cape coordinator of Herald Ministries. The new provincial Cabinet minister’s request - prayer from Christians - was a catalyst to send intercessors into action. In answer to prayer, the people responsible for the bombs that had been plaguing the region, were apprehended soon thereafter. 

Rev. Trevor Pearce was instrumental in bringing the Sentinel Group, Sharing of Ministries Abroad (SOMA) to Cape Town. This included George Otis, the initiator of the well-known Transformation videos.  The group staged a three-day conference at the Lighthouse Christian Centre in Parow with international speakers from 3 November 2000. This was followed by a citywide prayer meeting at the UWC Athletics Stadium in Bellville on Sunday, 5 November. The meeting of strategic when Mamela, a powerful Xhosa got involved with translation. The meetings in Parow and Bellville were preceded by prayer events that not only coincided with a round of spiritual warfare against the occult satanist Halloween celebrations, but they were also part of a country-wide 40-day offensive of prayer and fasting for the continent.

                                    Bombs were discovered                                                                                                                             and defused

Bombs Defused

And then the miracle happened. The breakthrough the praying Christians had been waiting for, finally came. On Friday 3 November 2000 two potentially destructive bombs at a well-known shopping centre in Bellville were discovered and defused. The bombs could have caused massive loss of life, had they detonated at the intended time a few kilometres from the venue of the prayer conference in Parow. Later that very day the men who had planted the bomb were arrested and put in custody.

God had heard the cries of his people. Today it is a documented fact that since the discovery of that unexploded bomb there has not been another PAGAD bomb explosion in the City of Cape Town.[9]  Prayer was making a difference.  It could hardly have been co-incidence that the arrest of the surmised culprits happened at the time of the conference and that the 18 bombs, which had exploded in the preceding months, did not result in any loss of life. Nor could it have been mere chance that pipe bombs were discovered under a snooker table at a house in Grassy Park on 6 November 2000, a day after the citywide prayer event in Bellville.

Transformation of the Mother City of South Africa received a major push on 3 November 2000. After the Parow and Bellville events, the stage was soon set for a major occasion at the Newlands Rugby Stadium. 

On the local level churches also seemed to be playing a role in bringing about peace. On Sunday 25 February 2001, it was reported on national television that local church leaders had brokered a peace accord between two Bonteheuwel gangs, the Cisko Yakkies and the Americans.

The Newlands Event of 21 March 2001                

The Transformation programme was closely linked to intercession from the outset. It is no surprise that the 24-hour prayer watch was connected to a big prayer occasion scheduled for the Newlands Rugby Stadium on 21 March 2001. In the 21 days prior to the event more than 200 congregations joined in a prayer effort for the stadium meeting on a 24-hour basis.

                                   A satellite connection and

                                   big screens allowed more

                                   people to participate

The 21 March 2001 event was extraordinary in the extreme. Because Newlands was too small for all the people who wanted to attend, several local churches used a satellite connection and big screens to allow more people to participate. Radio CCFM and Radio Tygerberg radio stations also broadcast the unprecedented occasion live. Because it was a public holiday, many followed the prayers at home via radio and TV. 

Involving the Youth

Frans Cronje a member of the Transformation AFRICA committee who had been actively involved in mobilizing the youth to help with the logistics of the first prayer day, firmly believed that the youth would play an important role in the growth of this movement. Frans headed up a youth sports ministry called Sport for Christ Action South Africa (SCAS). He was always on the lookout for meaningful mission opportunities for the young sports people. In June 2001, just a few months after the Newlands Day of Prayer, Frans believed that God gave him a vision to mobilize Christians to run across the country, carrying a message of hope through salvation to be found in the person of Jesus Christ. The run would be called The Walk of Hope. Not only would this walk encourage people on the highways and byways of the country, but it would also serve to be an important tool in raising the awareness of this significant day. It was decided that as the city of Bloemfontein is at the heart of the nation, teams would all depart from that city and then move toward the eight stadia where a Transformation Africa Prayer Day would be held in 2002.

An immediate Spin-off of the Newlands Event

An article in the Cape Times, a local newspaper, gave wings to the prayer movement with the headline '50,000 Christians pack Newlands—Asmal slams ‘Sectarian’ Rally.' The article cited Minister Kadar Asmal as launching an attack on the ‘divisive’ mass Christian rally at Fedsure Park Newlands Rugby Stadium attended by more than fifty thousand people. Asmal reportedly said that the mass meeting constituted the gathering of a 'sectarian body' was responsible for enhancing divisions in South Africa.1

While nothing could have been further from the truth, all the main TV stations and news broadcasters led with that story in the evening news.

            God was thus using the media to spread the story. This event had received far more coverage than could have been given otherwise. What Satan had intended for evil, God was turning to good.

            As the media debate continued, the Transformation Africa Committee received hundreds of calls of support, encouragement, and promises of prayer from churches and businessmen around the country.

Graham Power - a major mover of the Newlands event - had a dream in February 2002 that encouraged him to bring the stadium prayers to Southern Africa. The Newlands event started to spread throughout the subcontinent in 2002: eight stadiums were involved with some 160,000 people attending.  In 2003 and 2004 mass prayer services were held in over 100 venues throughout the African continent.

An interesting dynamic started to get off the ground. Missionaries who had been working in other Southern African countries, started encouraging believers from the Cape Peninsula to become involved in evangelistic work. Locals like Georgina Kinsman from Mitchell’s Plain, who does not belong to the young generation, hardly needed any nudge to get involved in missionary work. In fact, she gave a major push for the Baptist Union in South Africa to become active in reaching out to the under-evangelised and forgotten peoples of Namibia and the Northern Cape. 

In a sequel to the 2006 preparation to the law to legalise same sex marriages, evangelical spokesperson and advocate for a biblical stance on Homosexuality, Pastor Errol Naidoo, left the pastorate at His People Church to launch the Family Policy Institute. On 15 May 2008 the Institute took occupancy of its new headquarters at Parliament Chambers, 49 Parliament Street, Cape Town. This was as near to Parliament as one could wish, just outside the gates of Parliament. 

Real Transformation?                                                                                                                     

In October 2006 Graham Power was once again supernaturally challenged to take another part of 2 Chronicles 7:14 to the nation, viz '... and turn from their wicked ways'.  He clearly interpreted this to include not only violence and murder, but also actions which are socially condoned or exonerated like abortion and same-sex marriages. Also white collar crime and all sorts of unethical behaviour had to be out-lawed.

In 2007 Transformation launched an independent initiative to promote ethics, values, and clean living among business and individuals called Unashamedly Ethical. It is broad-based, challenging people to make a personal pledge to ethical living, and encouraging others to do the same. In doing so, an attempt is made to turn the tide on corruption and poverty. Those companies and professionals signing the Unashamedly Ethical pledge commit themselves to the highest integrity to produce and deliver quality products and services, purposefully connecting with other companies, professions and individuals to impact the world.

22. The Stranger at our Gates

Our Friday lunch hour prayer meeting became the start of yet another venture in 1996 after Daniel, a believer from Eerste River, a distant suburb in the north of our city, who had been a regular participant in the beginning of these prayer meetings in 1992, popped in again one day. He challenged us, referring to the many French-speaking Muslim street traders from West Africa, who had been moving into the city: ‘Have you ever considered doing something about bringing the Gospel to them?’

In the meantime Louis Pasques, who was raised in an Afrikaner environment, had become the senior pastor of the Cape Town Baptist Church in 1996. He had not only become a regular participant at the Friday prayer meeting in the Koffiekamer, but he also speaks French.

                                        A public confession was made

                                    on behalf of Afrikaners for the hurts

                                        meted out to people of colour

When Blacks started attending the fellowship increasingly and because of a brave sermon in which Louis made a confession on behalf of Afrikaners for the hurts meted out to people of colour during the apartheid era, a few White people left the church. This triggered the gradual change of the complexion of people attending the church.

Forerunners of Returnees

In 1839, soon after the emancipation of slaves in the West Indies, Thomas Keith sensed God calling him to work his passage back to Africa to bring the Gospel to his own people. He was one of many former slaves from the Caribbean and America who brought the Gospel to the so-called 'dark' continent. Due to their contribution, West Africa increasingly 'lightened' in respect of the Gospel.  In this way they effectively blocked the march of Islam from the North of the continent, notably in Liberia and Sierra Leone, working unwittingly in tandem with missionaries who pioneered in Sudan and East Africa.

         I had been impacted myself while in voluntary exile in Holland when a brother there challenged me to be more loving and compassionate toward the apartheid regime, after he had read my manuscript Honger na Geregtigheid. Apart from that, I always had a burning desire to return to my beloved country.

When we returned to South Africa in 1992 I hoped that I could serve foreigners in a similar way as that in which I had been blessed in Europe.

Outreach to Foreigners

When we started to pray about the possible outreach to foreigners at our Friday lunch-hour meeting, God surely used these occasions to prepare Louis Pasques’s heart. When the destitute Congolese refugee teenager Surgildas (Gildas) Paka pitched up at the church, Louis and his wife Heidi sensed that God was challenging them to take special care of the youngster. One weekend Louis and Heidi had their parents over for a visit. They asked Alan Kay, an elder and the administrator of Cape Town Baptist Church, to provide accommodation to the destitute teenager.  Gildas captivated Alan’s heart. This was the beginning of an extended and unusual adoption process. One thing led to the other until Alan Kay not only finally adopted Gildas, but he also got  more and more involved in compassionate care of other refugees. Soon the Cape Town Baptist Church became a home to refugees from many African countries. Gildas and our son Rafael, became quite close friends.

Allain Ravelo-Hoërson (T.E.A.M.) played a big part in establishing the ministry among Francophone Africans at the church, along with other missionaries who had been working in countries where French is the lingua franca. Allain ministered there faithfully from 1998 to August 2001, when he and his wife left to study in London. He was supported by Ruth Craill, an SIM missionary, who had ministered in West Africa. She played the piano and took care of providing meals after or before the services. Moreover, the weekly Bible studies held in the Ravelo-Hoërson home for several years helped to strengthen that ministry.

                                    Many a homeless person                                                                                                               was transformed by the

                                    power of the Gospel

The Koffiekamer, once rejected as the venue for a 24-hour prayer watch, suddenly became a major channel of blessing when an Alpha Course was started there. A special role in the transformation of the city was accorded to it when many a homeless person was transformed by the power of the Gospel, and prayer meetings for the city started at that venue on every last Wednesday of the month. This is where we had increased contact with Vlok and Lynne Esterhuyse. Vlok was to become one of our stalwart intercessors at the Cape Town Central Police Station.

A positive Change towards Refugees

The attitude of Whites in the Cape Town Baptist Church hereafter gradually changed positively towards refugees. Before long, quite a few refugee-background Africans started attending our churches services, especially when special ones in French were arranged monthly and later twice a month, as an effort to equip the Francophone believers for loving outreach to the Muslim French-speakers from our continent. The word spread quite well, so that in due course also other churches started opening their doors to refugees.

The need for refugees to get employment was the spawn for the English language classes at the church to be revitalised.

This inspired the offer of free English lessons to many of these refugees, ultimately leading to the resumption of English language classes at the church as an aid to help refugees find their way in the city. The simultaneous need for a discipling house for Muslim converts and a drug rehabilitation centre gave birth to the Dorcas Trust. I hoped that the city churches could take ownership of these ventures. (That turned out to be easier said than done.)

Work among Refugees in the northern Suburbs 

Bellville Baptist Church was established in 1946 to reach English-speaking people in the predominantly Afrikaans language area. The congregation has had a heart for other minority groups ever since. In the 1970s a small wave of Portuguese-speaking refugees from Angola and Mozambique began to swell the Portuguese-speaking community of greater Cape Town. Among these was a man who was trained in Theology in Pretoria through the Dutch Reformed Church. Pastor Jose de Araujo initially established a Portuguese-language Dutch Reformed Church in Parow. After being convicted about believers’ baptism, he joined Bellville Baptist Church. From there he conducted Portuguese services and engaged in outreach to the Portuguese community. This group developed to become the First Portuguese Baptist Church, located in Goodwood.

As the country changed after 1994, many Angolans entered the country. With the arrival of Cleber Balaniuc from Brazil and the implementation of a clear discipleship strategy, the congregation grew and developed to a point where 90% of ministry functions were performed by former Angolans. While Portuguese-speaking refugees were directed to Parow/Goodwood, the Bellville congregation opened their arms to French-speaking foreigners.

The outreach to refugees became one of the most blessed aspects of the life of the Bellville Baptist Church.  The church leadership also discerned the important responsibility to develop and train Christian leaders. The Bellville church assimilated French speakers within the existing structures of the church. These have been expanded to provide Bible studies in French, English lessons and computer classes for refugees.                                    

Lima Zamba fled to South Africa from Angola in 1994. He became a follower of Jesus a few years later and married a South African. Recognizing his leadership potential and spiritual gifting, the Bellville church supported Lima through the four years he spent as a student at the Cape Town Baptist Seminary.  After completing his studies in 2006, Lima served as pastoral assistant at the Parow Portuguese Baptist Church.  He had a strong call to serve as a missionary in his home country Angola. At the end of 2007 he left to serve there as a missionary.

Angolan Refugees find their Niche

In 1999 five Angolan refugees left Upington for Cape Town where they had no friends or family. At the City office of the Department of Home Affairs the group slept outside the first night. They were then taken to the township Langa where all their belongings were however stolen. Back in the city, they ended up at the Catholic Welfare that helped them with food and accommodation for a few days. There they met another Angolan, Simao, who had met Adrian Khon, a friendly gentleman who had assisted him. Simao took them to Master Keys where Adrian was the boss. The latter gave them R20  each and told the young men to come back later as he wanted to speak to his brother Colin. The end result was that Adrian Khon took three young men to work in the city and Colin took another three Angolans to the Woodstock branch of their company where they were taught to cut keys. They were also given accommodation in Brooklyn at the Head Office in a house that Master Keys was also using for storage.

            The compassionate Beverley Stratis, our friend and prayer partner at Cape Town Baptist Church,  somehow got to hear about the Angolans. Because she was receiving an abundance of bread from a German bakery, she decided to pay the group a visit. She was met by six wide-eyed scared young men.

                                    When the Angolan refugees saw the

                                    bread they were just over the moon

When they saw the bread, they were just over the moon. Bev thereafter dropped a large black bag of bread at their home every second day or so.  The Angolans attended Bible Study every Wednesday evening at 'Loaves and Fishes', an interdenominational ministry in Observatory where they also learned the basics of the English language.

            The six young men lived in Brooklyn for five months, whereafter they found themselves another house in Maitland. The six were also taken to the Portuguese Baptist Church in Goodwood where Pastor Mendez and his wife Nessie ministered. The Brazilian couple were like a Mom and Dad to the Angolans. Luis Xiribimbi (Xiri) and Julio Fransisco are the only two still working for Master Keys. Xiri now runs the stamp making section in Cape Town. In 2007 Julio was able to take over the Rondebosch branch of Master Keys.

            Both Xiri and Julio definitely met the Lord here at the Cape. Bev Stratis also had a lot of fellowship with the young men at her big flat in Vredehoek where Julio met Yuki from Japan. She received board and lodging at Bev's home. Julio will be marrying Yuki soon.

         Xiri joined Cape Town Baptist Church and Julio started attending Mowbray Baptist Church, along with many other refugees.

A Vision partly fulfilled         

In October 2000 our prayer walk group in Bo-Kaap was very much encouraged. We met a Congolese Bible School student who was on the verge of returning to his home country as an evangelist after being impacted and trained in Cape Town.  One of our long-time visions had been to see individuals equipped in South Africa holistically who can be a blessing to their country of origin on their return there .

Alan Kay, the administrator of Cape Town Baptist Church, had been studying Theology part-time, ultimately graduating at the Baptist Seminary. After he left the Cape Town Baptist Church, he linked up with the Salvation Army,where he soon accepted a pastoral post. He also attended a newly formed fellowship of the Calvary Chapel in the church hall of St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church.

         Alan Kay had been very much involved with the ministry to foreigners at Cape Town Baptist Church since its inception in 1996. This was done by missionaries from various agencies who were fluent in French. Anaclet Mbayagu from Burundi was one a number of refugees who left Cape Town Baptist Church in 2002. He later became one of the stalwarts of the Calvary Chapel fellowship. The Calvary Chapel congregation, at which foreigners were fully integrated, soon had more members from other countries than South Africans.

Emulation in other Churches

The example of the two Baptist churches in the City Centre and in Bellville found emulation in other Baptist congregations, not always with an easily discernible link – notably in Meadowridge and Fish Hoek - but also in spiritually-related ones like the Life Church (formerly Atlantic Christian Assembly, ACA) of Sea Point and the Jubilee Church in Observatory.  Alongside these ‘mainline’ churches, nationalist ones sprang up and others, where foreigners could enjoy their home culture and speak their own language or dialect. As a direct effect of the xenophobic violence of May and June 2008, many local Christians started appreciating foreigners and the contribution they were making. However, the negative attitude towards Black Africans continued almost unabatedly in some townships. A few White churches were positively impacted through those difficult months when many a foreigner was accommodated in their church complex and in homes. Some congregations consciously launched a programme of providing employment via their cell groups. These formerly almost completely 'White' churches  – i.e. those consisting of predominantly English-speaking Caucasians - became a haven for many a new African sojourner at the Cape.                    

A ‘global Church’ in the City Bowl

Jeff and Lynn Holder, who had been missionaries in Botswana on behalf of the Southern Baptists of the USA, came to Cape Town as the missionary co-ordinators for Southern Africa in 2002. The multi-national character of the Cape Town Baptist Church appealed to them. Despite a leadership crisis there, they decided to join the congregation, rather than join another fellowship nearer their home in the suburb of Claremont. Due to Jeff’s dedicated ministry, the city congregation in due course became the catalysts for new missionary work to the Northern Cape and the ‘forgotten’ tribes of Namibia. (It was special to me that the Lord in his mercy allowed me to see some of these Remaining Unreached People Groups now getting evangelised.[10])

A group of young people from Botswana came to study in the City, staying in a hostel near to the Baptist Church. This was of course up the ally of the Holder couple who had ministered in Botswana in earlier years. Soon a whole bunch of Tswana-speaking youngsters were attending the church, some of them getting special teaching from Jeff and Lynn Holder, who used the Experiencing God material of Henry Blackaby.

A Focused Ministry to Foreigners    

During 2003 it seemed as if the Lord was leading us more and more into a ministry to foreigners. As Jeff Holder preached one Sunday, Rosemarie received a vision of our Moriah Discipling House to be used for refugee-type sojourners. In our recruiting for a couple to become house parents of the facility, the Lord had to correct us however, because we originally thought that a Cape ‘Coloured’ couple would be ideal, since we perceived that they understood the culture of the Cape Muslims the best.

Around the turn of the millennium Rosemarie was battling with the load of work around the discipling of new Muslim background believers (MBB’s) and general convert care. The majority of them were females who had been nominal Christians before their marriage to a Muslim.

We were glad that we could hand over the responsibility for the medical/hospital side of our ministry to Maria van Maarseveen, our Dutch colleague. She continued with the outreach at Groote Schuur Hospital on Saturday mornings long after she had left our team. She joined the Living Way team to minister full-time to HIV/AIDS patients.

At the end of 2002 we were praying fervently again that the Lord would give us more assistance for the general convert care. Unbeknown to us, Lynn Holder had been praying about how she could get involved.

I approached the Life Church (formerly Atlantic Christian Assembly, ACA) as part of an effort to promote the hand-made 3D greeting cards, which the MBB ladies had been making. (The Lord had undertaken wonderfully so that we could pay these ladies, giving them some regular income, although we could hardly sell the cards.) By 2003 Anthony Liebenberg had become the senior pastor of the ACA.

Pastor Liebenberg had good memories of the time when he was youth pastor of the ACA. Our son Danny had joined his cell group and he also played in the music group of their church on Sunday evenings. [The prophetic word spoken about Danny to be a link to other believers on the day we had our valedictory service in Holland in January 1992, had obviously already been partially fulfilled. The Lord wonderfully used him at the Deutsche Schule (German School) to bring new spiritual life to the Christian Union there, especially when a youngster, Chris Duwe, came to the Cape in 1996 during their Abitur (A-level) year.]

Pastor Anthony Liebenberg and the congregation was rather hesitant to allow people from outside to come and promote any ministry during a slot in their church services. Pastor Liebenberg agreed however to advertise our material, especially the 3D cards - produced by the ex-Muslim ladies - on our behalf. Because of the good rapport we had with him and the link via our son, Pastor Liebenberg did it much better than I could have done. Anthony also spoke a prophetic word over us, that we would get assistance soon. This was fulfilled when Lynn Holder joined Rosemarie with the making of the 3D cards, to be followed by Rochelle Malachowski, a YWAM missionary from the USA, soon thereafter. Rochelle was introduced to us by Gill Wrench-Knaggs.

The Going gets tough

Rosemarie and I were blessed to take a holiday break at Carmel Christian Farm in July 2003. At this occasion she had been taking some photographs of beautiful waves at Sedgefield and Knysna. In that vicinity we found Psalm 93:4 engraved on a stone. That was exactly the Bible verse that Rosemarie received on the day of her confirmation in Germany as a teenager, way back in the 1960s. ‘Mightier than the thunders of many waters, mightier than the waves of the sea, the Lord on high is mighty!'

A medical checkup was due a year after my stress-related temporary loss of memory in March 2002 (see chapter 23). This led to a period that seemed to lead to the last lap of my 'race' on earth after prostate cancer had been diagnosed.

                                    The Lord gave me a ‘second wind’

                                         after the prostate operation

Looking back over my life, it seemed as if my (semi-)academic studies and anti-apartheid activism did not bring me anywhere. But the Lord gave me a ‘second wind’ after the prostate operation in December 2003. He also blessed Rosemarie and me to discern some of the pieces in the mosaic, the puzzle of our chequered lives that were fitting so perfectly into each other. It encouraged me to prod on, although the road ahead could not be discerned that clearly. Rosemarie challenged me with regard to my chaotic research and writing activity. I had so many unfinished manuscripts on my computer. 'What would happen if something happens to you?  All that work would be in vain', was her wise counsel. The testimonies of a few Cape Muslims had been on my computer already for about two years. Some of them we had printed as tracts. The result of Rosemarie’s prodding was that Search for Truth 2 could be printed within a matter of weeks.

A Wave of Opportunity

At this time Rosemarie and I were seriously praying about relocating. After almost 12 years at the Cape in the same ministry, we thought that we should have a change (words deleted) for the last stretch before possible retirement. With our youngest daughter about to finish her schooling at the end of 2004, we even considered relocating internationally. But no ‘doors’ opened with regard to a move overseas.

                                    We felt increasingly challenged to

                                    reach out to refugees and foreigners

Instead, we felt increasingly challenged to reach out to refugees and foreigners who had been coming to Cape Town, for example by using English teaching even more as a compassionate vehicle. We prayed that the Lord would give us more clarity with regard to our future ministry by the end of 2003.

In October of that year Rosemarie had a strange dream cum vision in which a newly married couple, clad in Middle Eastern garb, was ready to go as missionaries to the Middle East. Suddenly the scene changed. While the two of us were praying over the city from our dining room facing the Cape Town CBD, a massive tidal wave came from the sea, rolling over Bo-Kaap.  The next moment the water engulfed us in her dream, but we were still holding each other by the hand. There was something threatening about the massive wave, but somehow we also experienced a sense of thrill in the dream. Rosemarie woke up, very conscious that God seemed to say something to us through this vision-like dream.[11] What was God saying?

The day after Rosemarie’s dream we heard about a conference of Middle Eastern Muslim leaders in the newly built International Convention Centre of Cape Town. We decided on short notice to take our Friday prayer meeting there instead of having it in the regular venue, the Koffiekamer of Straatwerk.

While I brought back a few others to the Koffiekamer with our Microbus, Rosemarie, Rochelle, Denise Crowe, one of our co-workers and Shamielah, a Muslim background believer, went into the Convention Centre where they surprisingly had access to the interior of the building without any security check. They walked around, praying for the delegates to the conference and for the building.

The same afternoon Rosemarie and our YWAM colleague Rochelle went to the nearby Waterfront Mall where they now literally walked into a bunch of ladies in oriental garb. The rather extrovert Rochelle had no hesitation to start a conversation with one of them. Having resided for a period among Palestinians in Israel, she is fluent in Arabic. Soon the two Christian ladies were swarmed by Arab women, who were of course very surprised to be addressed in their home language by a White woman with an American accent. A cordial exchange of words and email addresses followed.

On the personal front it seemed as if the Lord was confirming a ministry to refugees and other foreigners.  In November 2003 we baptized a Muslim background refugee from Rwanda. The Lord used Daniel Waris, a co-worker from Pakistan, quite prominently at this time. He led a few people from the group of refugees, as well as vagrants, to faith in our Lord during the last weeks of 2003. Shortly hereafter, the Lord also brought to our attention various groups of foreigners who had come to the Mother City, including a few from a Chinese minority group.

The Resumption of English Classes  

Rosemarie was reminded of her dream, sensing that God might be sending a wave of people to Cape Town from Muslim countries. We should get ready to send young missionaries to the Middle East when it opens up to the Gospel. Since the start of the Arab Spring, that started on 25 January 2010 in Egypt, this has become more concrete and urgent than ever.

                                     Many refugees have been empowered

                                            after having learned English

Already since 1996 refugees from various African countries had been coming more and more into our focus. Many refugees have been empowered after having learned English at the Cape Town Baptist Church. Heidi Pasques, the wife of the pastor, had been heading up the proceedings. In this way it was easier for the refugees to secure employment. Through internal problems at the church the classes were aborted at the end of 2001.

The Net thrown wider

I had already felt myself challenged to attempt to get the City Bowl prayer watch started in the first half of 2004. The unity of the Body of Christ, believers in the crucified and risen Saviour, has always been very much on my heart. We believed that the prayer watch movement could be a decisive vehicle to make this more visible - to be used as a powerful means to take the city for God. Soon we were serving (Uyghur) Chinese and Somalians in loving ways.  The latter group in Mitchells Plain stretched our patience. We stopped teaching English to the Somalians after a few months in mid-2005 when it became apparent that they resented being taught by Christians.

            English teaching to foreigners in a small fellowship on the corner of Dorp and Loop Street on Saturday afternoons where Gary Coetzee was the pastor, turned into a double blessing. There we could not only help a few new sojourners in our city ourselves, but we also soon found a link to the nearby Boston House on the corner of Bree and Church Streets. We supplied learners from the ranks of refugees and Green Market Square traders for their TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) students.  A Cameroonian was one of these students. With him we had on-going contact - one of those who became like additional sons and daughters.

Impacting Asians

The video version of The Passion of the Christ, plus English lessons to Chinese people who were coming to Cape Town in numbers of consequence, was the run-up to a very fruitful ministry to an hitherto unreached Asian people group.

The conversion and baptism of two Uyghur Chinese in the first quarter of 2005 was very special, the result of divine intervention, but also a special answer to prayer for an Indonesian Christian who had been praying for many years for that tribe and now she found some of them in Cape Town. One of the two converts needed a second dream  - after backsliding through a romantic contact to a Cape Muslim - to convince her that Jesus was indeed the one to follow. The other Uyghur had a similar dream of light and divine presence in his room. I had been teaching German to the young man at our home, when he also wanted to attend the group of young adults that was meeting in our home on Wednesday evenings for Bible Study.  The group was led by Danny, our eldest son.  In due course the German lessons became Bible Study after the young man had bought himself a Bible. After one of the sessions, I could see how the penny dropped when I explained to him how prophetic the last plague in Egypt was, when the Israelites had to apply the blood of the innocently slaughtered lambs to their door-posts; that this pointed to Jesus who would die centuries later as the Lamb of God. 

In 2005 our team received a special boost when Stephanie Lue, a Chinese background US American, joined us for a year. With her compassionate heart for Asians, Stephanie assisted a Korean female student with English. Soon enough this also included Bible Study until the Korean also came to know Jesus as her Lord and Saviour. Subsequently she joined a Cape Korean church where she later started teaching in the Sunday School.

No Relocation

In the meantime, Rosemarie and I had been praying regularly with Heidi Pasques, Hendrina van der Merwe and Beverley Stratis. On the last Sunday of 2003 we visited the Calvary Chapel service when we bumped into Heidi. (Demitri Nikiforos, the pioneering pastor there, had married Karen, the daughter of Graham and Dawn Gernetsky. The Gernetsky's had been the pastoral couple at the Cape Town Baptist Church. Demitri had also been the Sunday school teacher of our daughter Magdalena). Heidi hinted that she and Bev had special news for us. They could hardly wait to see us in the evening for our prayer time with them and Hendrina in Heidi's flat.

                                    This was to us the confirmation

                                      that we should not relocate

There Bev and Heidi shared how the Lord had made it clear to them that Bo-Kaap was a strategic stronghold. We were rather surprised that the penny took so long to drop with them. After all, how often had I not been inviting the congregants directly and indirectly to come and join us in the prayers for Bo-Kaap.  But we were nevertheless extremely blessed. This was to us the confirmation that we should not relocate, that we could remain in Cape Town! Hereafter the three of them, along with Trevor Peters, the tour guide of the Groote Kerk, became part of the core group for our monthly Signal Hill early morning prayer.

23. Diverse Revival Rumblings

A period of somewhat diminished spiritual conflict seemed to occur at the end of 2001.  I suffered a personal setback after I had reacted inappropriately to a manipulative phone call from our discipling house.  This set off a negative chain reaction. During the next two and a half months the tension levels in our team remained extremely high.  For my part, I was careless. After travelling by bus all night from Durban and having very little sleep, I resumed with my work rather carelessly on Friday, March 15, 2002. This ignited a stress-related loss of memory the next day.[12] After a day in hospital and further medical treatment, I was cleared - with the instruction to return after a year. We realised that there were major spiritual forces involved.

Rumblings at the Moriah Discipling House

The remainder of 2002 was a very difficult time in the ministry at the discipling house. More than once we came close to resigning.  It was a special blessing when, in October 2003, the relationship to the former house parents could be restored at the wedding of Shubashni, one of the former occupants.[13]

Mark Gabriel, the former Egyptian academic from the renowned Al Azhar University of Cairo,  repeated an invitation for us to come to the USA and assist him with itinerant work.  This seemed to us to be just the right medicine, to get away from the stressful situation for a while. The thought also occurred to me to try and promote two of my manuscripts in the USA for which there was no market in South Africa.[14]

         The trip was planned in such a way that we would stop in Germany and Holland en route. But we had to cancel these plans.  When our friends in Holland heard this, they invited Rosemarie and me to come to Europe because they knew that we so desperately needed a break.

This visit to Europe turned out to be quite important for our ministry. While we were in Holland, Fenny Pos, our special friend and contact person there, taught Rosemarie how to make three-dimensional cards which they were selling in institutions for the elderly as part of fund raising for missionary work. Back in South Africa, Rosemarie used the skill later to teach some unemployed Muslim background women who had experienced problems because of their new faith. Although the income was minimal, it made a big difference to families where there would have been no other income, and it provided regular fellowship for a few women to grow in their faith. This helped to strengthen the faith of those ladies from Islamic background, keeping them from returning to religious bondage.

A prophetic Move in District Six

Murray Bridgman, a Cape Christian advocate, felt God’s leading to perform a prophetic act in District Six. He had previously researched the history of Devil’s Peak. Along with Eben Swart, Bridgman provided some research that encouraged Dr Henry Kirby to lobby Parliament to change the name of Devil’s Peak to Dove’s Peak. (Duivenkop had been an earlier name.) Kirby’s role as the prayer coordinator of the African Christian Democratic Party resulted in a motion tabled in the City Council in June 2002. The motion was unsuccessful, fueling suspicion that satanists also had significant influence in the City Council.

On June 1, 2002 Susan and Ned Hill, an American missionary couple, joined Murray Bridgman and his wife as they poured water on the steps of the Moravian Hill Chapel in District Six, symbolically ushering in the showers of blessing that we prayed would come. Forcefully the message was confirmed that Messianic Jewish believers should be invited to join in the prayers of welcome to the foot of the Cross, to those who intended to return to the former slum-like residential area District Six.

I discerned the denominational disunity to be a demonic stronghold already very strongly in 1995. At that time we regarded our ministry to Muslims as our duty on which we should continue to focus.  I nevertheless gave as much support as possible to all attempts for churches to work together, especially in the realm of combined prayer. (The Jesus Marches of 1994, the prayer for the 10/40 window in 1995, the prayer drives and other initiatives before and after the PAGAD threat in 1996 and in 1997, the city wide prayer events, as well as the Franklin Graham campaign at Newlands of the latter year all belonged to that category.)

Moravian Hill at it again

When we started praying for a 24-hour prayer watch to be started in the City Bowl in 1999, we still prayed for someone else to be the coordinator. I felt that I had too many other responsibilities. As the year 2003 drew towards its close, we were still praying for clear direction for ourselves as a couple with regard to our future ministry.

In 2002 President Mbeki announced that the Moravian Church building in District Six, which had been used as a gymnasium by the Cape Technikon, was to be returned to the denomination. The terminal heart patient Hendrina van der Merwe, a faithful City Bowl Afrikaner prayer warrior, had been praying for many years for a breakthrough towards renewed church planting in Bo-Kaap, and for a 24-hour watch to begin at Moravian Hill. With the origin of the modern prayer movement dating back to the Moravians of Herrnhut in 1727, this would have been very appropriate. Hendrina van der Merwe hoped to be part of this prayer watch before her death.

                   I was told that I had contracted

                        prostate gland cancer

On 9 October 2003 I was told that I had contracted prostate gland cancer, which in the past had been like getting a death sentence.  However, the Lord had encouraged me with Psalm 117:18 the previous day. I saw that verse as an encouragement to ‘proclaim the works of the Lord.’ Concretely, I discerned in the word from Scripture an invitation and summons that I should attempt to finalise three autobiographical manuscripts.[15] I immediately thought that I would not be able to attend the CCM (Christian Concern for Muslims) leadership conference in Paarl over the first November weekend of 2003.

I approached the Moravian Church Board formally in October 2003, just after the rather traumatic diagnose, also meeting a few of their leaders shortly thereafter, with regard to the use of the church building. I sensed that their attitude to me had softened. (For many years I had not been invited to preach in a Moravian Church, possibly because I had joined the Baptist Church.) The request to use the Moravian Hill sanctuary was duly approved. We also received permission to have monthly meetings with Muslim background believers in their church building in District Six the following year.

The St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church complex was also considered for the purpose of a 24-hour prayer watch. Hendrina van der Merwe resided there at this time. The church hall was the venue of a half night of prayer on the 2003 Islamic Night of Power. At this occasion, Trevor Peters, who worked as the security guard of the parking lot, played a prominent part.  Increasingly, he became burdened to pray for the city.

The Lord had humbled Trevor, a former gangster and drug lord. He later became a tour guide at the historical Groote Kerk. Subsequently God brought him into the main prayer force for the city when he became a stalwart in the praying initiative at the Cape Town Central Police Station in Buitenkant Street.

Seed for Confession germinates

Quite a lot of prayer, including anointing by the elders at our church, encouraged me to be open to divine healing, especially when two further PSA tests pointed to a decrease of my prostate cancer! The seed for confession and prayer with respect to Islam appeared to have started germinating by November 2003 in Paarl at the National Leadership Consultation of CCM. Originally I would not have attended because of the pending surgery, but because I had not been admitted to hospital immediately, I thought that the door was now opened for me to attend the consultation in Paarl. There I was really encouraged!!  When Kobus Cilliers, a missionary linked to Overseas Missionary Services (OMS) suggested vicarious collective confession, it was duly accepted by the participants! Western Cape delegates were given the task to work on a joint statement. (The result of this was ultimately a manifesto drawn up a few months later.)[16]

A Case of DIY

When a further PSA test on 23 November 2003 showed a new increase of cancerous activity, I sensed that I must get serious about the matter, and although I dearly wanted to participate in the continental prayer convocation that was to take place in Cape Town from 1-5 December, I immediately booked myself in for the operation, undergoing surgery on 3 December, 2003.

In the hospital God could speak to me more clearly because I had so much time to pray. I sensed that I should stop attempting to find someone else to co-ordinate an effort to start a 24/7 prayer watch in the Cape Town City Bowl.

                                    I attempted to work towards

                                    a more visible expression of the

                                    unity of the body of Christ

I had been trying for years to work towards a more visible expression of the unity of the body of Christ, with very little success. Billheimer made the following statement, with whom possibly nobody who knows anything about spiritual warfare would disagree. ‘Any church program, no matter how impressive, if it is not supported by an adequate prayer program, is little more than an ecclesiastical treadmill. It is doing little more or no damage to Satan’s kingdom.’

The end of the episode was that I knew that it was a case of D.I.Y. – do it yourself. I should attempt to get 24/7 prayer in the City Bowl myself prayerfully. God confirmed this duly.

Run-up to a Continental Prayer Convocation

It was fitting that the prelude to a prayer convocation for the African continent at UWC, Bellville, from December 1-5, 2003 would also include a visit to Robben Island. This was a follow-up of the ‘Closing the Gates’ event of September 2001. Dr Henry Kirby, a physician at Tygerberg Hospital and a well-known intercessor, ran into problems when he tried to obtain access to the famous island as part of the prayer convocation. Just at this time, a Muslim background believer contacted Radio CCFM. Was it merely coincidence that I was on the spot at the Radio CCFM premises when her fax arrived there?

When I invited the young lady to our home for a preparatory talk with regard to a radio interview, I learned that she had been working on Robben Island for many years. Through her intervention, the necessary arrangements could be made for the prayer warriors, some of them coming from various African countries, to go and intercede on the famous island.

The 7-DAYS Initiative

As a follow-up strategy of Transformation Africa prayer in stadiums all over Africa in 2004, a ‘7-Days initiative’ was launched. Daniel Brink of the Jericho Walls Cape Office distributed the following communiqué: ‘...From Sunday May 9^th thousands of Christians all over South Africa will take part in a national night and day prayer initiative called „7 Days”.  The goal was to see the whole country covered in continuous prayer for one year from 9 May 2004 to 15 May 2005. On relatively short notice, communities, towns and cities in South Africa were challenged to pray 24 hours a day for 7 days. The prayer initiative started with the Western Cape taking the first seven weeks. Daniel Brink invited believers of the Cape Peninsula to ‘proclaim your trust that, when we pray, God will respond. Declare your trust that if we put an end to oppression and give food to the hungry, the darkness will turn to brightness. Pray that houses of prayer will rise up all over Africa as places where God’s goodness and mercy is celebrated in worship and prayer, even before the answer comes.’

Global Prayer Watch, the Western Cape arm of Jericho Walls, filled the first 7 days with day and night prayer at the Moravian Church premises in District Six, starting at 9 o’clock in the evening on May 9.  Every two hours around the clock a group of musicians would lead the ‘Harp and Bowl’ intercessory worship, whereby the group would pray over Scripture. In another part of the compound,[17] intercessors could pray or paste prayer requests in the adjacent ‘boiler room’.

What a joy it was for Hendrina van der Merwe, the fervent intercessor, to be present on the 9^th May 2004 in the Moravian Church. However, she was neither to experience a spiritual breakthrough towards new church planting in Bo-Kaap nor the start of a 24-hour Prayer Watch in the City Bowl. She went to be with the Lord on 31 December 2004 with the Bible in her hand.

Jericho Walls challenged millions of believers all over the world ‘to seek the face of the Lord and ask him to fill the earth with his glory as the waters cover the seas’ (Habakkuk 2:14) from the 6^th to the 15^th May 2005. Young people were encouraged to do a ‘30-second Kneel Down’ on Friday 13 May, and to have prayer, a ‘Whole night for the Whole World on Saturday 14 May, just before the Global Day of Prayer. ’

A Policeman invites Church Leaders

There were indicators that God was bringing things together at this time. A new man on the block, Superintendent Scanlen of the Central Police Station in Cape Town, invited City Bowl church leaders to an information session on Wednesday, 3 November, 2004. The aim of this session was 'to inform Christian leaders in Cape Town about the crime situation and to move forward to a solution through ideas that will be tabled during the mentioned information session.'  It augured well that the email was titled PROJECT PRAYER AGAINST CRIME. It reminded me of the situation in Hanover Park in 1992 when the police also called in the assistance of the churches. (When Operation Hanover Park was put into place, the effort had prayer as its focus. Within three months, conditions changed drastically in the crime-infested township at that time.) Would the city churches ever rise to the challenge in a similar way? That was still the question as 2004 approached its end.

Prayer at Die Losie

When we were still wondering whether it was feasible to go ahead with plans to have a 24/7 week of prayer in the City Bowl at the beginning of February 2005, Trevor Peters, who prayed with us at St Andrew’s at the half-night of prayer, phoned me. This was just the nudge I needed, just as my own faith in the matter started to wane.

At the monthly prayer for the City on Saturday 8 January (2005), it was decided to press ahead with another week of prayer from 30 January to 6 February as a next step towards the goal of a 24-hour prayer watch in the City Bowl. Trevor Peters, who had contact with Rev. Angeline Swart with regard to the use of the former Moravian Hill manse as a venue for a drug rehabilitation centre, was to find out whether the venue was available for the week of prayer. Our friend Beverley Stratis, who has a prayer burden for the city that stretched over decades, was requested to get in touch with police Superintendent Fanie Scanlen, to see if a room in the Central Police Station in Buitenkant Street was available as an alternative plan.

One thing led to the next within a week, until it was finalized that the week of prayer would be held at Moravian Hill. This would be followed thereafter with weekly prayer at the Central Police Station. Superintendent Scanlen put at our disposal a room called Die Losie, a former Freemason lodge in the complex. This was a significant step. 

On Sunday 23 January, 2005 the station was anointed and prayed over, signalling - as we excitedly thought - the ushering in of the victory of the Lord in the Mother City! (Until about 2003 the command structures of the famous/notorious Caledon Square Police Station had been firmly in the hand of freemasons.)

          We anointed and prayed at the police station as a sign that proclaimed the victory of the Lord in the Mother City.[18] In fact, at the beginning of 2005 there were quite a few police stations at the Cape where there was a committed Christian in command. This was a situation which must have enraged the arch enemy. In due course this was reversed.

          As we were interceding in the third story board room, I suddenly saw the Tafelberg Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) diagonally opposite me. I was reminded that this was the church from which Dr Koot Vorster, a DRC minister, the brother of a Prime Minister and a high-profile Broederbonder, operated. I had heard that he was the person responsible for certain requests to the government of the day, such as the one to get the prohibition of racially mixed marriages on the statute books.[19] When I vocalised my discovery up there in the ‘blue room’ of the police station, I was asked to pray for that church.  I knew I had to express forgiveness in a prayer once again. In my heart I sensed hereafter release from some secret grudge which I had still been harbouring inadvertently. It was very special to me when Dr Chris Saayman, formerly the DRC minister of Eendekuil, was called to Tafelberg DRC at the end of the following year.

The Sequel to the Global Day of Prayer                                                                                         

It was not quite surprising that things would start happening in the spiritual realm as a sequel to the Global Day of Prayer. As time went on, it surfaced that little prayer cells were raised in different places. Louw Malherbe, a city lawyer, became burdened to start prayer with a few other believers who were working in the legal field during their lunch hour once a week. (As I was seeking legal assistance for a refugee, I bumped into this group in 2009. The bulk of them was linked to the new fellowship Joshua Generation. The refugee, a taxi driver, was wrongfully arrested and subsequently lost his job.)

          After the week of prayer at Moravian Hill at the beginning of 2005, a few of us continued with prayer every Wednesday morning at the Cape Town Central Police Station.  This gave us credibility with the leadership of the police station. A little more than a year later, in May 2006, our request to have 10 days of 24-hour prayer in the Losie prior to the second Global Day of Prayer, was granted without any ado. An interesting addition occurred on Thursday morning 2 May 2009 when we offered our weekly prayer time in the former freemason lodge. The name of Adriaan Vlok, a former apartheid Cabinet minister came up. He happens to be the cousin of Vlok Esterhuyse, our prayer warrior participant.

Additional Disclosure

Adriaan Vlok is the only former apartheid Cabinet minister (of Law and Order) to have testified before the Amnesty Committee of the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Former President P.W. Botha had ‘intense interest’ in security. A central role was given to the police to ‘sort out’ unrest. Botha had congratulated Vlok for police operations, including the bombing of Khotso House in Johannesburg where the South African Council of Churches’ has it headquarters. Vlok received amnesty from prosecution for a series of bombings.

                                    An apartheid Cabinet minister                                                                                          apologised to a prominent                                                                                                     anti-apartheid activist

In mid-2006 Mr Adriaan Vlok came forward with an apology for a number of acts that he had not disclosed to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), and for which he could therefore be prosecuted. In a very special gesture, the former apartheid era Minister of Law and Order apologized (initially privately) to Reverend Frank Chikane, a prominent anti-apartheid activist and a trusted adviser to President Thabo Mbeki. As secretary-general of the South African Council of Churches, Rev. Chikane had been targeted by the security establishment for assassination. Subsequently, Adriaan Vlok extended his journey of repentance by washing the feet of 9 widows and mothers of the 'Mamelodi 10', who were lured to their deaths by a police agent. Their bodies were burned and buried in a field in Winterveld, near Pretoria, where the remains were found and identified by the National Prosecuting Agency.

The gesture of former Minister Vlok had a blessed aftermath when he shared his testimony in many a church all around the country.

A Prayer Venue at the Civic Centre

In due course Die Losie became our regular prayer venue. The preparation for the 2006 Global Day of Prayer, prayer drives were organised during which participants prayed Scripture.  The prayer drives converged at the Central Police Station in Buitenkant Street. God used this event to touch at least one person in a special way. Wim Ferreira had been a transport engineer working with the City Council. He was challenged to resign from his position to concentrate on prayer for the City. He was hereafter invited to work with the Deputy Mayor of the metropolis.

When all the groups had arrived at the former freemason lodge, Daniel Brink, the co-ordinator of the event, asked me to share in a few words how God had changed things at the police station. I became too emotional. However, at this moment, Wim Ferreira was deeply moved. He promptly requested a room for prayer in the metropolitan Civic Centre where he had just started to work. This was another divinely orchestrated move. A few months further on, a regular Friday prayer time was functioning in a board room of the Civic Centre. Before long, a trickle of workers from all walks of life was coming to faith in Jesus as their Lord as a result of these prayers. On Wednesdays at lunch time believers from different denominational backgrounds gathered there to pray and intercede for the city. The Lord also challenged Wim Ferreira to start a 24-hour prayer facility at the Civic Centre premises. Soon a prayer room near to the parking area on the ground floor was frequented by many people throughout the day. The foundation stone towards 24/7 prayer in the CBD of the metropolis was laid.

Mysterious Ways of God

We all know that God moves in mysterious ways. But I cannot even remember how it happened that we met a young couple from Green Point, Andy and Lizelle Draai. They started praying with us both in the Koffiekamer and at our once a month prayer meetings in Bo-Kaap from the beginning of the millennium. But then they stopped coming and we had no contact with them. Tricia Pichotta had become a recent addition to our Friends from Abroad team after she had an accident in 2007, knocked over as a pedestrian by a motor cyclist. (Her brother, a missionary colleague that we had met in Germany in 2004 at  a WEC International Leaders' Training in Germany in 2004, emailed me just after she had been discharged from hospital.)

One day Tricia told us about Paul Black, the minister of a new fellowship at the Waterfront. We followed this up, finding out that it was a new church plant of His People Ministries. When we attended there soon thereafter, our friend Tim Makamu was the preacher. He had become the senior pastor in the vibrant denomination that had planted quite a few churches in the Western Cape and elsewhere by this time. He immediately spotted Rosemarie and me in the audience and promptly called me to the front. I utilised the occasion to challenge the obviously upper class congregation to get involved with outreach to the refugees at the near-by Home Affairs premises and to come and join us, praying for the Bo-Kaap. After the meeting Andy and Lizette Draai came up to meet us.

Bev Stratis came up with the idea of performing a Jericho stint in respect of Bo-Kaap. We got ready to pray up and down Buitengracht Street along the border of Bo-Kaap on six days and doing it seven times on the seventh day.[20] On one of these prayer walks we were joined by Andy and Lizette Draai.

24. Grabbed by the Scruff of the Neck

Sometimes God has to take people ‘by the scruff of the neck’ to bring them into obedient submission, just as he once did with Jonah. This happened to Michael Share, who was challenged to leave his work in the police force to start Cops for Christ at the turn of the millennium.

                                    A cop was stranded in a shack

                                    with bullets flying past him

After being involved in a raid, Michael Share was stranded in a shack with bullets flying past him. He experienced supernatural protection. Not a single bullet hit him. This was to him a wake-up call. Through the ministry of Cops for Christ Michael Share called on policemen throughout South Africa to bring spiritual life and encouragement into police stations, when anarchy was threatening once again. Around 2002 Michael Share challenged Danie Nortje, a Cape policeman, to assist him in getting Cops for Christ off the ground in the Western Cape.

God had to move Nortje supernaturally after initial disobedience. After a boat accident off the coast of Camps Bay, during which he had to be rescued, he was admitted to Chris Barnard Memorial Hospital. At this time Danie Nortje sensed the renewed calling to get involved with Cops for Christ.

Fanie Scanlen was already a Superintendent of the Central Police Station in Buitenkant Street in the Mother City when he was stabbed seven times, narrowly escaping death. This became a turning point in his life.

Personal Challenges

Towards the end of 2003, it was my turn to be taken by the scruff of the neck. During the post-operative period in Kingsbury Hospital after the removal of my cancerous prostate, I was challenged to stop looking for other people to get a 24-hour prayer watch going in the City Bowl. With me in the same ward was Professor Eric Wood, who was quite involved with the leadership of the Students Christian Association. When a missionary colleague visited me in the hospital, it became a divine appointment when I introduced him to Professor Wood. My  colleague was hereafter used nationally to make students sensitive to Muslim evangelism and the threat of militant Islam.

Superintendent Fanie Scanlen became an important instrument in our effort to get more prayer into the Central Police Station. That was a significant part of the preparations for the first Global Day of Prayer on 15 May 2005.  Scanlen also organised a teaching course with Christian principles at the police station, which allowed us to meet other Christians working there. Trevor Peters and I started building a good relationship with Tania de Freitas, who was ranked captain.  Starting in 2006, Tania faithfully attended our Wednesday meetings, becoming God’s instrument for the transforming of many lives in the course of her duties in counselling traumatised people. Along with Vuyani Nyama, another policeman working there, meetings were organised on Fridays which very much had the stamp of revival.  People were healed and lives changed. The arch-enemy must have been very unhappy, because thereafter there was fierce opposition at the police station to these meetings.

Captain Tania de Freitas would become a fearless stalwart prayer warrior at the station who challenged the station leadership towards the end of 2009 to uphold absolute ethical norms.  This caused her to be hassled and ostrasized by many at the station.

                                 An event film sent

                            ripples around the world

An eventful Week

When the movie The Passion of the Christ was released in March 2004, it was clear that this would be another event film. Hardly anybody suspected that its ripples would go around the world with so much speed. Objections by individual Roman Catholics and Jews only gave more publicity to the controversial film. Believers in Jesus Christ, ordinary cinema visitors as well as people from different religions around the globe, were deeply moved as they witnessed the last 12 hours of Jesus Christ in the unusual movie.

God used the film to communicate the Gospel as rarely before, also at the Cape. The very opposite spirit that had motivated Muslims to go and view the movie – that of the forgiving Jesus - came through.  The message of loving your enemies, and Jesus praying to His Father to forgive his persecutors while still on the Cross, hit many a theatre-goer powerfully. Quite strikingly, many Muslims hereafter seemed to start accepting the death and resurrection of Jesus, doctrines which are denied by orthodox Islam. That Jesus addressed God as his Father surely shook many of them. (In Muslim countries children learn in a nursery rhyme that God neither has a son, nor does he beget.) The effect of the film was one of the most spectacular visible and known answers to the ten years of prayer for the Muslim world. Thousands have been turning to faith in Jesus Christ in Southern Asia and the Middle East since then.

Africa Arise!

Prayer events were held in the 58 nations and African countries with its adjoining islands of the continent were held in May 2004, linked by satellite to the Newlands Rugby Stadium. With thousands of African Christians praying, it left a deep imprint on the continent.  The theme for the afternoon was that the time had come for the ‘Dark Continent’ to become a light to the nations. In an inspiring message, Argentine evangelist Ed Silvoso led millions of believers in stadiums across the continent through prayers of repentance, dedication and commitment. Two items that recurred again and again in the prayers were HIV/AIDS and poverty relief. In subsequent years many lives were saved with anti-retroviral medication as a result of a government turn around in the treatment of HIV/AIDS patients. New ministries of compassion to the poor and needy have already arisen since the 2001 event at the Newlands Rugby Stadium and its annual repetition. One of the fruits was The Warehouse, which started at St John’s Anglican Church in Wynberg. This NGO would do stalwart work during the 2008 xenophobia-related ministry at the Youngsfield Military Camp.

A Cure for HIV/AIDS?

Research done a few years ago by the University of Stellenbosch put South Africa on the forefront of finding a cure for HIV/AIDS: A certain plant extract was found that effectively shields cells against the infiltration of the AIDS virus, thus rendering the virus powerless in its destruction of the human body. Its effect is therefore different from anti-retroviral medicine that tries to kill the virus. The research indicated that the possible new cure for AIDS has the ability to kill, in one minute, about 50 million cells infected by a virus. It seems that it slows down and might even stop the division and multiplication of the AIDS virus (Rapport, 25 July, 2004). Should this research prove to be the breakthrough all have been waiting for, it will not be as expensive as current products used. Believers throughout the country were encouraged to pray earnestly for the completion of research into this possible cure.                       

Transformation begins to take Shape

Trevor Pearce and John Thomas are two clergymen who were in more than one sense radiated the face of Cape Transformation the first years of the new millennium as they became involved on the practical level. As the pastor of the church that began CCFM radio, John Thomas utilised the medium fully already in 1999 to challenge churches, especially those of the Fish Hoek Valley, to get involved with the poor and needy. 

Specifically with regard to schooling and HIV/AIDS, Rev. Pearce was very much a pivot in an attempt to get the church and the business world partnering, an effort to change the former squatter camp at Westlake.

Concerted prayer followed by action in the Helderberg area and in Manenberg (of gangster fame) altered the respective communities significantly for the better. The annual Transformation events in sports stadiums were followed by a ‘week of bounty’, where the more affluent churches were motivated and encouraged to share with those on the other side of the economic divide. The suggestion was unfortunately hardly implemented at the Cape.

It was also interesting to see just how traditional churches were affected during the transformation of communities.  Already for many years the annual student mission events - such as the one at Stellenbosch - formed the vanguard for contemporary praise music, to move into some Afrikaans churches.  The Dutch Reformed Church of Wellington North drifted quite far from their tradition when they staged a Bambalela Festival at the beginning of 2005. The prayer meeting, which started at 6 a.m. on the Friday morning, was the start of a 50-hour prayer chain. A number of farm workers participated. Urging the congregation to get their lives in order and to start caring for others, Rev. F. J. Human was quoted as saying that the Bambalela Festival was only the beginning of a process.

Ministries to Drug Addicts

The Lord brought in new role-players to reach out lovingly to drug addicts. The Ark was a ministry that was started in Durban. When a few workers came to the Cape in the early 1990s, their ministry focused on the homeless, but drug addicts soon found their way there, where some came to faith in Christ. Teen Challenge, a ministry that was founded by David Wilkerson through a special outreach to gangsters in the USA, was God’s divine instrument for similar ministry from the mid-1990s.  They started operating at premises in the northern parts of the metropolis at Eerste River.

The drug rehabilitation ministry with arguably the greatest impact at the Cape to date is Victory Outreach. This agency was founded by Nicky Cruz, the hero of the Billy Graham-sponsored movie The Cross and the Switchblade. (Nicky Cruz was one of the first converts emerging from the work of Teen Challenge). Pastor James Brady came to the Cape with a small team in 2006.  The ministry blossomed and expanded within a matter of months. Many young people have since been delivered from drug addiction in Jesus’ name.

Restitution made practical

Dr Robbie Cairncross helped to organize a visit of Cape church leaders to Argentina in 1999.  While he was in Argentina, Pastor Martin Heuvel of the Fountain Christian Centre in Ravensmead was moved to apply the principal of restitution to the situation in South Africa.  Pastor Heuvel realized that there was a need to make restitution practical. He began by having shops run by Christian volunteers, where all kinds of second-hand clothing and other utensils could be purchased cheaply. This idea was further developed in different suburbs. Included in this demonstration of practical Christianity were various programmes related to skills training that had been running for some time to help the homeless and the unemployed, such as the initiative The Carpenter’s Shop in the Mother City.

The most advanced venture in this regard was possibly the Living Hope Community Centre in Muizenberg, using the acronym H.O.P.E. - Helping Other People Earn. Apart from providing healthy meals and ablution facilities, spiritual direction was also given, together with life skills training.  At the various Living Way ministries medical, social, psychological and spiritual care are given to those people who suffer from HIV and AIDS.  The practical Christianity that John and Avril Thomas have been displaying, earned for Rev. John Thomas the World Vision Courageous Leadership Award in 2007.

Two Cape life-changing Musicians                                                                                                                                 

The Cape has given the world many talented musicians. We highlight two of those ones whom God has used to change lives.

Restoring the Sound is a project that was birthed by Trevor Sampson, an internationally renowned professional Gospel singer, songwriter, producer and recording engineer who was born and bred at the Cape. Trevor has a vision to empower young school goers who are vulnerable to the surroundings and circumstances to which they have fallen victim. Having grown up in a township, Trevor understands the challenges and difficulties of their lives. Many youngsters, even after being exposed to good role models, fall prey to the strong influence of gangsterism and all the baggage that comes with it. As many of these kids grow up in dysfunctional families, the need to belong is great and gangs fulfill that need. In the gangs, these kids learn street survival skills of all sorts.

Trevor sees music not only as a powerful communicative tool, but also a weapon if used and channeled correctly. His intention is to equip the youth with musical instruments which he collects through his network of friends in organizations abroad. He teaches them how to use these instruments in a proper way to better themselves and, in so doing, uplift their community.

As a special musician in his own right who plays a number of instruments, Trevor Sampson has been musical  director in the evangelistic campaigns of Reinhardt Bonnke and Franklin Graham (the son of Billy Graham). He furthermore established a fully fledged community centre and musical institute named Restoring the Sound, based in the heart of Macassar near to Somerset West. Restoring the Sound became the first London College of Music exam centre in South Africa.

A Cape Musician who loves the Jews

Another talented personality and musician from the same geographical region who made a name for himself in changing lives also outside his own country is Kevin Knott. He developed a special affinity to Jews as a young man when his family fellowshipped at a church in Somerset West on Sundays, also attending the local synagogue on Fridays.  Kevin established a good relationship with the rabbi and was invited to sing at Jewish music festivals. He immersed himself in the culture of God's chosen race, in order to reach out in love to Jews. As he discovered how their customs pointed so clearly to his Saviour Jesus, he integrated that content into the lyrics of his theologically rich songs of worship an/d praise.

A part of the journey of him, his wife and three children took them to Israel where they ministered 'underground' to Jewish believers, after they had taken a step of faith, selling almost everything they possessed.

After the season in Israel, they started Apples of Gold Ministries back in Cape Town. The name is taken from Proverbs 25:11 – 'A word spoken aptly is like apples of gold in settings of silver.' Not unsurprisingly, Kevin's first CD music album, which won him the 'Best Newcomer' award from the Christian Booksellers Association, got the title Apples of Gold.

A Caribbean Journalist called to the Cape

In April 2005 Wendy Ryan, who hails from the island of Trinidad in the Caribbean and former director of Communications for the Baptist World Alliance, visited Cape Town. During that time Wendy toured the different Living Hope facilities. She observed this work of mercy and heard testimonies of how God was changing lives because of it. She felt a powerful tug in her heart. Compassion filled her soul as she felt God calling her to come to the Cape.  As complex and impossible as it seemed, God put all the plans together and - under the commission of Evangeline Ministries (EM) - Wendy returned to Cape Town in January 2006.

Sewing Classes

After listening to women in HIV support groups, the Holy Spirit impressed on Wendy that these ladies, mostly poor and under-educated, needed skills to help them earn a living for themselves and their families.  With the introduction of anti-retroviral drugs (ARV’s) they were no longer consigned to death.

With the blessing of John and Avril Thomas, Wendy began a sewing programme. Evangeline Ministries (EM) determined that this would be given free of charge to the women from the Living Hope support groups.  Once they began, Wendy was challenged to give to the women a skill and also a tool. EM decided to award each graduate from the sewing class a new sewing machine. By the end of 2011, EM has given 66 new sewing machines to graduates.

Bags Production and Computer Training

In 2006, Wendy's  women started producing shopping bags with African emblems. These bags have been sold around the world to people who visit Living Hope and have been presented to several famous people. It has also received international television coverage. In 2008, Wendy turned over the entire business to the local women who now operate it under the control of Living Way. 

In 2008 Wendy felt the tug of the Holy Spirit that she needed to do more.  As a result, Evangeline Ministries started a computer training class for the women who come to the sewing classes.  Almost all of them have taken advantage of it since none would have that access because they are too poor and worse, because of the stigma associated with HIV. 

Teach One to teach Many

Each woman receives a Bible in the Xhosa language and each class ends with Bible study and prayer.  At graduation and other times, special speakers come in to present the gospel message in the proper cultural context and invite them to accept Christ.  Some are already believers, but others are steeped in traditional spiritual ways and EM believes God when He says, 'The entrance of thy word brings light' (Psalm 119:130).  

An additional focus is now to teach women who will in turn teach others in their communities.  Three women from another informal settlement, Sweet Home Farms, are already putting their training to use and are showing the women in their HIV and AIDS group and others how to sew.  They have inspired Wendy, and the Holy Spirit has used their example to show EM the way forward.  'When we plant the seeds, God gives the harvest!' 

An Initiative towards church-led Restitution

Pastor Martin Heuvel attempted to get White church leaders to move beyond mere oral confession and especially towards restitution for the evils of apartheid over a period of more than two years. Some of the personalities whom he approached had been involved with the prayer movement in the country for a long time. In 2002 Pastor Heuvel approached Charles Robertson, long known for his prayer initiatives, and the catalyst of the monthly prayer concerts at the Cape since the 1980s. Here Heuvel found a prepared heart. This finally led to the establishment of the Foundation for Church-led Restitution, where believers from different races and church backgrounds have been meeting occasionally. They started to discuss possibilities to nudge the Church towards meaningful restitution, and especially to address and rectify the wrongs of apartheid.

This initiative of Charles Robertson looked like a step in the direction of revival. However, the implementation of real unity on biblical grounds in the spirit of the person and example of Jesus - without semantics and doctrinal bickering around issues like baptism and women in the pulpit – seems to be still some way off. The Church universal still has to acknowledge collective guilt for the doctrinal bickering that led to the establishment and rise of Islam. The maltreatment of Jews by Christians falls in the same category.  This appears to remain a major stumbling block to the collective turnaround of Islam or Judaism. One wonders why Church leaders find it so difficult to demonstrate the spirit of Jesus in this regard.

A biblical Paradigm

A biblical paradigm would be the attitude of our Lord to the Samaritan woman of John 4 and Zaccheus (Luke 19:1-11). It was not the condemnation – like the rest of their respective societies – which brought about the change in the adulteress and remorse in the reviled collaborator with the Roman oppressor, the chief tax collector. In fact, when everybody looked down upon the small man – in a double sense – Jesus looked up showing respect, displaying the opposite spirit of his compatriots. He gave Zaccheus dignity, by enjoying a meal with the notorious traitor. Jesus not only allowed despised people to serve him, but he even allowed socially repugnant people like lepers and prostitutes to touch and anoint him!

I take liberty to suggest that Church leaders – also evangelicals after September 11, 2001 – should use ISLAM as an acronym: I Shall Love All Muslims. Having experienced first-hand how powerfully the principle operated both in the wake of the St James Church massacre of July 1993 and the PAGAD scourge of August 1996 to November 2000, South Africa could show the way. Positive examples in treating groups on the fringes of society in a dignified manner could go a long way to demonstrate the spirit of love, compassion and care. An expression of regret or better still a confession in respect of the omission and neglect towards Muslims and Jews is something that still has to be addressed.

A new Version of Huguenots?

In the early 1990s gangsters and prostitutes started making Woodstock and Salt River hotspots of crime. The influx of Black African refugees into these suburbs turned the situation around to quite an extent. Because of other reasons however, these new residents were not valued. The flood of refugees – many of them came because of economic reasons - caused xenophobia.  South African Blacks saw them as a threat and competition to the already tight employment market. This unfortunately drove some of the expatriates to the lucrative drug trade - and criminals were soon on hand to take control of mafia-style operations.

In contrast to that, the Cape Town Baptist Church turned out to become a model for other congregations, not only by taking care of foreigners, but also in being blessed by them - indeed a 21^st century version of the French Huguenots.

The intensive prayer on many a Friday night into the next morning, plus intercession on some Saturday mornings, especially by those coming from the Congo region, was apt to bless the city with spiritual renewal. Competitive rivalry and materialism linked to prosperity theology cancelled much of the positive effect.

A ‘new Thing’ sprouting       

Towards the end of 2005 Rosemarie and I went through a very traumatic period as a couple. We decided to resign as team leaders of the Western Cape WEC International evangelism team. We were however personally encouraged by Isaiah 43:18, to forget the past and to expect a ‘new thing’ that had been sprouting.

During the first term of 2006 an Operation Mobilization (OM) missionary started to work more closely with us. Shipley Jacobs also had a vision to minister to foreigners. In the course of looking for a neutral venue where we could assist the sojourners from other countries with English lessons, the missionary colleague suggested that we pop in at the home of Pastor Theo Dennis, one of the OM leaders in the Western Cape.

                                     I experienced a sense

                             of home-coming once again

When Theo shared about their ministry in Coventry some years ago in the UK[21] with the title Friends from Abroad, I experienced a sense of home-coming, especially when Theo mentioned that the group no longer operated in the UK under that name. I was reminded of how I was blessed in Holland while ministering alongside a group called Gospel for Guests. Ever since our return from Holland in 1992 I had been hoping to be a blessing in a similar way to foreigners coming from other countries.

The very next day I took Rosemarie along to the Dennis home in Maitland. We started discussions for the establishment of an alliance with other mission agencies and local churches to be called Friends from Abroad. Both Rosemarie and I felt that this was the new thing that had been sprouting, a renewed challenge to get more intensely involved with foreigners.

Somalians killed in Masiphumelele

While we were in Holland in the summer of 2006 to discuss our possible resignation from WEC with our sending base leaders, we read about many Somalians who were being killed in the township of Masiphumelele near Fish Hoek. This was because of xenophobia towards them by the Xhosa-speaking original inhabitants, fanned by the traders. (Later we heard how Alan Profitt, a SIM missionary colleague, and a young student, Sheralyn Thomas, the daughter of John and Avril Thomas, were involved with negotiations between the two groups.)

We were still open to the possibility that the ‘new thing’ could still happen within WEC confines. We remained committed to operate in a positive frame of mind until the end of July, while we prayed for clarity about what God had in store for us. We were sure that our ministry in Cape Town had not been completed yet. We discerned that God was possibly using the personal trauma to shake us towards flexibility for change.

Equipping and Empowering People from the Nations

When we heard that Floyd and Sally McClung were coming to the Cape with the vision to ‘establish a training and outreach community in Cape Town that impacts Africa from Cape Town to Cairo’ and the vision ‘for a multi-cultural community that exemplifies the kingdom of God’, we became quite excited. This was more or less what we wanted to see happening, even though our vision was somewhat broader, including countries outside of Africa to be impacted from Cape Town. Getting the vision across to local Christians and pastors remains however a big challenge.

            One of the new ventures of Friends from Abroad (FFA), long before its official inauguration on 17 February 2007, with which we started before we left for Europe in 2006 was fortnightly sessions of fellowship, Bible Study and prayer with a hitherto unreached people group in respect of the Gospel, a few Uighur believers from China in Cape Town, as well as other Asians. The philosophy of FFA is to equip and empower people from the nations to serve their own people, akin to the way I had been impacted while in (in)voluntary exile in Holland.)

We resumed our contact with Bruce van Eeden, the former pastor of the Newfields EBC, with whom we had started children’s work in 1992.  (In 1995 he initiated a Mitchell’s Plain-based mission agency called Ten-Forty Outreach.) We thought that his ministry could be a valuable complement to our Friends from Abroad concept - to bless indigenous Christians and be blessed by them.

On Thursday 30 November 2006, we had a Friends from Abroad meeting, the first since our return from overseas. Here the Lord clearly over-ruled. I had invited our friend Bruce van Eeden to come and share for about ten minutes at our meeting. What a blessing it was for those present to hear how God had been using this brother from the Cape Flats in China and India! We heard at the meeting how the Lord had put Africa on his heart in recent years after visiting Uganda in 2003. After the return from there, Bruce received the vision to challenge believers of seven countries around the lakes of Central Africa to reach the northern parts of the continent. Another visit to Central Africa in April 2006 led to a conference where steering committees were formed for Burundi, DR Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda as a gateway to the northern countries of the continent.

For the rest of the evening we discussed the issues Bruce had raised, and we prayed for the Africa Arise missions’ consultation on Saturday 9 December, 2006. The inspiration for this initiative is a contemporary and adapted paraphrase of Isaiah 60:1 ‘Africa arise, your light has come.’ The event in itself was nowhere impressive in terms of numbers, but the participants discerned nevertheless that it was a unique occasion in the spiritual realms. Since then more African countries got linked to the Africa Arise vision. By 2011 there were in all 30 countries connected to Ten-Forty Outreach.

Through Pastor Theo Dennis we linked up with Ds. Richard Verreyne, pastor of the Soter Christelike Gereformeerde Kerk in Parow. Pastor Deon Malan and his wife Iona, a couple with mission ministry experience in North Africa and our colleague Rochelle Smetherham-Malachowski had become members of our core team of Friends from Abroad (FFA).

     Rochelle Malachowski and Tricia Pichotta, an American short-term volunteer, are two valued co-workers who assisted in starting up free English lessons for refugees and other foreigners at the Soter Christelike Gereformeerde Kerk in Parow. It was an added blessing that we had a short-termer from Germany at our disposal to keep the little children of the refugee ladies busy in a good way. This was a forerunner towards a weekly children’s club at the same venue with refugee and local children. Our daughter Tabitha not only assisted there, but she also kept the ministry running all on her own - long after the German short termer had returned to her home country. A jewellery workshop for refugee ladies, the bulk of them Muslims, to help them earn a few cents and teach English to quite a few of them, was part and parcel of the FFA compassionate outreach to foreigners.  Our involvement at that venue opened the rather conservative Soter Christelike Gereformeerde Kerk for subsequent fruitful ministry to foreigners, including regular French services at that venue.

Throwing the Net to the other Side?

Another word from Scripture came to the fore in the last quarter of 2006. We felt challenged to throw the net ‘to the other side’. But what would this imply? When Ds. Richard Verreyne, invited me to a meeting of the Consultation of Christian Churches (CCC) in February 2007, to prepare a big event where Floyd McClung was to be one of the speakers. At the meeting in Pinelands with Floyd McClung we set up a meeting with him. This ultimately led to our joining All Nations International.

A Pyrrhic Victory?                                                                                                                                The gay lobby showed exceptional efficiency during 2006, although the odds were stacked against them to get same sex marriages legalised. Almost all the major religious groups - with the lonely exception the spokesman for the SACC – and traditional leaders came out against a law that had no scriptural and popular backing. Very cleverly the gay lobby played their joker - the card of discrimination - which in South Africa found very eager and sensitive ears, because of the heritage of apartheid. They managed to get the ANC, which had a massive majority in Parliament, on their side with effective use of bribes.[22] Evangelical Christians had organised very well under the leadership of the Marriage Alliance, but they could never win without the backing of the ruling ANC. The law allowing same sex marriages took effect on 1 December 2006. The open question was whether the gay victory was Pyrrhic, a rather worthless piece of legislation.

Crime and Violence spiralled once again

In Parliament Rev. Kenneth Meshoe, the leader of the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP), warned that the country was invoking God’s wrath through the passing of this law. This seemed to get a prophetic dimension when crime and violence spiralled in the first two months of 2007, despite the vitriolic assurance by State President Mbeki that crime was not out of control. On the flip side, this seemed to be God’s way of stirring thousands to prayer in a way reminiscent of 1994 when the country seemed to be heading for a bloodbath of terrific dimensions.

                                    God raised people to pray for

                                    the removal of an abomination

It was good to hear soon thereafter that God had already raised individuals like Cedric Evertson, a young man, to pray for the removal of the gruwel, the abomination, as this prayer warrior saw the new law.

When only Murray Bridgman was there alone with me on Signal Hill for our monthly prayer event of 2 December 2006, I was initially somewhat disappointed. We were in the clouds, but not in a pleasant way. It was cold and wet. Murray had so much wanted to introduce me to Cedric! A cell phone call was enough to get Cedric to join us for prayer simply in the car. How exciting it was to hear from Cedric how the Lord had been leading him. The Holy Spirit touched his heart to stand in the gap like a Moses on behalf of the nation. To this end he would go to Tygerberg man alone to pray there in the morning, three days a week. Two homosexual international leaders - one  lesbian and the other 'gay' - turned their back on the movement in 2007 after becoming followers of Jesus Christ. The gay victory to get same-sex marriages legalized in December 2006, had become Pyrrhic indeed.

A massive blow was inflicted on the gay lobby when Ellen Jordan, a former brothel owner became a follower of Jesus in April 2009. The question was only when the law would go the same road as the old apartheid laws – into the dustbin of history. The road would nevertheless not be easy because everything hinged on the definition of what constitutes a marriage. Nobody would like to be a party to discrimination of any sort – also not discrimination because of sexual orientation. Yet, all major religions agree that marriage should be defined as an union between a female and a male. Both Ellen Jordan and Cedric Evertson in the subsequent years, thus before they could witness significant movement towards the repeal of the law.

Encounter with Corruption

During our outreach at the Foreshore Home Affairs premises, we soon heard from our contacts among the refugee foreigners whom we served with sandwiches and at our workshop at the Discipling House of the intense corruption at the venue. Mr Mvuso Msimang became the new national Director of Home Affairs, a government department that was notorious for corruption.  As the person who engineered wonders in another government department, much was expected of him. 

            When it came to our attention that Mr Msimang humbly invited people on grassroots level via TV to assist, I volunteered on behalf of Friends from Abroad. In a series of emails I repeated our wish as team to meet him or a representative to give some suggestions on how we think matters could be improved.

            Protests by PASSOP (People Against Suppression, Oppression and Poverty) against the undignified treatment of refugees at the Foreshore Home Affairs premises where many refugees were now also sleeping, highlighted their plight.

                                    We gladly endorsed the vision

                                       to oppose xenophobia and

                                             to fight corruption    

We were subsequently invited to meet Ms Martha Mxagashe, the new Acting Home Affairs Provincial Manager of the Western Cape. We gladly endorsed her vision to see the Western Cape take the lead countrywide to oppose xenophobia and fight corruption.

            I linked up with Braam Hanekom and other refugee ‘stakeholders’ in an attempt to address the rampant corruption at the Home Affairs offices.  We were very frustrated by the reaction to our suggestions to bring down the back log of asylum seekers through their inefficiency. We were so thankful when the national head office of Home Affairs sent Mr Dean Pillay to come and assist with this very task. How we rejoiced when corruption at the expense of the refugees seemed to have been rooted out within a matter of months. In due course I took a leading role within the group of stakeholders more or less by default along with Braam Hanekom, the leader of PASSOP. Some of the agents who had set out to assist refugees became corrupt themselves. We continued to monitor corruption at the Refugee Centre until 2011 when we were prohibited to be on the premises in a rather strange way. 

Vibes and Bribes

It was more or less an open secret that the South African Ministry of Home Affairs was one big mess. The government more or less conceded that but a correction to the system looked to be as far away as ever when Rochelle Smetherham-Malachowski[23] asked at our prayer meeting in the Koffiekamer on Friday 30 March 2007 whether we could not go and pray at the Foreshore Home Affairs premises. Perhaps she thought about the memorable precedent of October 2003, the praying at the Convention Centre, that ushered in the start of outreach to foreigners. Operating with Rosemarie at our Tuesday workshop with refugee-type ladies, she could of course hear the vibes of the bribes at that institution all the time. Talking about their experience, refugee women were speaking of how much the highly valued paper ‘costs’ which would take them out of illegality. (For a thousand Rand one could get the document the same day. For half the price one would have to wait for three weeks and without paying a bribe, you might as well forget about getting the highly valued paper.) Also at our English classes we heard the sad stories of people who had to wait for days before even speaking to an official and hearing about many irregularities. Without any discussion, we agreed to go and pray at the Foreshore Home Affairs. There we saw some of the rumours confirmed, but we were also deeply challenged about involvement practically.

         Could this involvement be the other side of the net? After some collaboration with Theo Dennis, we decided to approach a few City Bowl pastors regarding a common effort. Initial responses were positive when I asked them to pray about possible involvement. But we were wary of getting too excited prematurely. Haven’t we been disappointed more than once when we attempted to get churches of the City Bowl to do something together? Perhaps this was just God’s time. Could the plight of the destitute and exploited foreigners possibly be the vehicle to bring about the revival we have been praying for so long?

            After the prayer session there on Friday 13 April 2007, we decided to start feeding the refugees and other foreigners there once a week in conjunction with Straatwerk and local churches. This looked to me to be another wonderful opportunity to get local churches involved in a combined effort, demonstrating the unity of the Body of Christ. With Straatwerk we networked wonderfullly, but from the churches’ side only the German Stadtmission came on board with two volunteers. (It still troubles me that churches seem to stick to their little cocoon, with so little vision for the bigger Body of Christ). We stopped our 'feeding scheme' when the refugees were henceforth served at new Home Affairs premises in Nyanga. But the question was: When should we throw our nets out again? And what was ‘the other side’? We grappled with these questions, praying that clarity would come soon.

                       

Prayer at the University of Cape Town

Since 2006, young people from different churches, backgrounds and cultures in the Rondebosch area have been coming together to ‘simply’ worship once a quarter. In mid-2006 a Simply Worship service was held in the Jameson Hall of the University of Cape Town (UCT). There our son Sammy was challenged to go forward and call people to prayer at UCT. About ten people came to him afterwards, indicating their interest in joining him. They started meeting together to spend time in worship and intercession on a weekly basis, but they also spent much personal time with God in the prayer room at UCT.  Eventually they organised an event, where they decorated the prayer room and encouraged people to worship God, using their creative gifts. The students prayed continuously for 77 hours, leading to the next Simply Worship evening. There in the prayer room our son Sammy and Sheralyn Thomas, a UCT Social Science student, met each other for the first time.

Our road would cross that of the young female student quite intensely hereafter. The King of Kings Baptist Church had been very much involved in compassionate care to the Somalians at Masiphumelele. Sheralyn Thomas (daughter of John and Avril Thomas) played a major role in the negotiations between the South African Blacks and the Somalians as a young  but we were not aware of this. (Sheralyn had been hearing about our ministry to refugees from her mother and taking a keen interest in them, even before she and our son Sammy met each other.)

Disasters shake young Christians

Towards the end of our stay in Germany in July 2007, where we had gone for the wedding of our eldest son Danny, we received an email from Sammy, who had returned from Germany earlier than us. The subject of the email was ‘pray’. Sammy shared that Rüdiger (Rudi) Hauser, his close German friend who had gone to Austria to study, had been killed in a mountain cabin with some friends the day before, when a gas explosion collapsed the house. Rudi and another friend died on impact. The incident shook Sammy very intensely. He had been leading the Bible group at the German High School with Rudi.

                            Students were moved to 

                        contribute sacrificially towards a

                           deposit for a children’s home.

At a ‘Simply Worship’ event shortly hereafter, the Holy Spirit ministered to Sammy and Brendan Studti,[24] another student friend, independently of each other. They were moved to contribute sacrificially, to give savings and a bequest towards a deposit for a children’s home.

A group of UCT students now started to come to our home quite regularly on Fridays, as they prayed and organised on behalf of such a children’s home.  One of them was Sheralyn Thomas. We were nevertheless quite surprised when Sammy blessed us with his gift on Christmas Eve of 2007 -  wrapped in newspaper and containing a picture of him and Sheralyn!!

Kindred Spirits

My wife Rosemarie and I were encouraged by the arrival of Floyd and Sally McClung at the end of 2006, especially because we detected kindred spirits when we got to read their reasoning for coming to the Cape. We now started to endeavour even more to see a church planting movement established among those foreigners who have come to the Mother City of our country. We longed intensely for the metropolis to become the Father's City at last. With the McClungs, leaders of the relatively new mission agency All Nations International, we had a common experience of seeking God’s will for the next step in our lives.  Floyd and Sally had come to a dead-end in the church in Kansas City (USA) that they had been leading. We felt the same way with our mission agency here in Cape Town in respect of outreach to foreigners.

After their arrival, Floyd and Sally linked up with two YWAM missionaries. Soon YWAM and All Nations International joined hands in prayer walks in the two nearby townships Ocean View and Masiphumelele. Many different groups had been involved in the latter township, notably the King of Kings Baptist Church with their various Living Hope Projects. Pastor John Thomas and his congregation had been ministering there for over two decades.

One thing led to the next until Rosemarie and I joined the Church Planting Experience (CPx) course at the beginning of 2008, with the intention of becoming members of the All Nations International family. Along with our Friends from Abroad colleagues we now started to partner with local fellowships, to get believers in home groups from the nations equipped, hoping and praying that they would minister in their countries of origin in a similar way in the future.

The 'Ten Days for Jesus' concept had a special sequel when participants started not only to lead the event in the subsequent years but also got envisioned to take the concept in different formats to all sorts of places. In 2010 'One Day for Jesus' was held in Masiphumelele, but plans were also made to have 10 'Ten Days for Jesus' in Zambia and India.

Fires ignite spiritual Renewal

Our son Sammy invited Floyd McClung to address UCT students. This led to the group being invited to come and spend ‘ten days for Jesus’ with our  All Nations International team in Capri.

                                       Young White students assisted

                                        admirably to rebuild shacks

At the end of 2007 - from 10 to 20 December - some UCT students of the 24/7 prayer initiative, including Sammy, engaged in ‘ten days for Jesus’ with All Nations International in the Masiphumelele informal settlement. Their effort hardly started when a fire raged through the township. When the young people, most of whom were White, assisted admirably to rebuild the shacks, it created a lot of goodwill. This proved the ideal preparation for an international group from McClung and Church Planting Experience (CPx) participants to move into the area at the end of January, 2008. (CPx teaches a new dimension of church - whereby simple non-denominational independent fellowships are planted that attempt to come as closely as possible to the practice of the first generation of ‘New Testament’ followers of Jesus.)

After a series of fires in Masiphumelele and a lot of spadework by Timothy Dokyong, an All Nations colleague from Nigeria, a house church was started where the students assisted to rebuild shacks. At one of a few house churches that was started there in 2008, the most notorious alcoholic of Masiphumelele, who got the nick name Black Label (a liquor brand), was totally changed a few weeks later.

The February 2008 CPx All Nations International course had just started when fires destroyed homes in Scarborough and Red Hill, the southern-most communities of the Cape Peninsula. The whole CPx team - ably assisted by local municipalities and other interested parties - got involved in the rebuilding of shacks in the informal settlement of Red Hill.

Vulnerable Children                                                                                                                                    CPx workers partnered with a Xhosa woman named Wendy from Masiphumelele, a trusted leader and mother figure for many people. Over the years she has raised many kids who were not her own.  Today she continues caring for the children of the community by doing home visits to neglected children, and their often dying mothers. She has allowed the young people from different countries to take part in her weekly and daily walks through the community, getting them to meet these families and spend time with them. The hearts of the All Nations missionaries have been deeply touched and broken for these children and their mothers who don’t even have their basic needs met.  Many of these children eat one meal a day, consisting of mealie meal (corn meal). Almost all of them live in small shacks where the roofs are leaky and the floors are perpetually wet.
CPx participants came up with an idea of raising monthly support to help a few of the families in the most desperate situations, by beginning a monthly sponsorship programme for the children.
The young people soon started building new shacks for two of the hurting families, with doors that lock and roofs that don’t leak and where they would not be affected by the standing water.
The young adults from abroad have been networking with Sarah Bultman[25] in Grand Rapids (USA), who developed the website (www.vulnerablechildrensa.com), and who did much of the technical work.
The CPxer Missy Weismann wrote in an email: ‘We are aiming to not let these children fall through the cracks. We have connected them with women in the community who have started following Jesus, and who have a heart for their own people. Bible studies are being started in their own language, meeting in their own homes. The group gathers children who have been affected by poverty and AIDS. They try to meet with them and help them with English and make sure that we are aware of pressing needs or changes in their home situations. Wendy acts as a mom to many of these children.’
Diverse CPx Initiatives

By the beginning of 2010 Masiphumelele had become a breeding ground for projects that started to impact the continent.Bethany O’Connor, social worker from the USA and another All Nations member, is not only an integral part of this venture and intimately involved in these families’ lives, but she also started a project with pregnant women who consider abandoning or aborting their babies. Even though the venue at the King of Kings Baptist Church proved unsuitable, the Baby Safe Project took off with leaps and bounds.  Thereafter care was developed within the context of an adoption programme. The project caught on to such an extent that Christians in Holland started sponsoring the devices that could be placed in different townships. In due course enquiries came from different African countries. The general training programme to teenagers ran counter to a perception amongst teenagers that the government was funding them to have babies. Teenage pregnancies dropped significantly in Masiphumelele in due course.

To enable township pre schoolers to get more ready for education Anna Chan from Hong Kong pioneered a programme during which mothers were trained.

Networking with the Living Way programme that was linked to the local King of Kings Baptist Church, the German Gerald Schwarz utilized his passion to empower gifted young people from disadvantaged communities in entrepenueral and mangagement skills.

The Holy Spirit touched Muslims and Rastafarians

A fire of another sort - drug abuse and addiction among young and old - was destroying the nearby ‘Coloured’ township of Ocean View with its staunch Muslim population. The poor community evolved from its sad beginnings after ‘Coloured’ folk from Simon’s Town had been forcibly removed in the wake of apartheid legislation. The theological defence of the demonic ideology had been fuel for anti-Christian developments, when young people especially rejected the faith of its propagators. In due course a strong group of Rastafarians evolved with drug abuse as part and parcel of their religion. Some of the CPxers from among the 70 participants, nationals from Hong Kong to Alaska, and from Sweden to Lesotho - along with many from the rainbow nation South Africa - started to pray and evangelize there.

Jonathan Morgan from Britain felt drawn to minister in Masiphumelele at the conclusion of the teaching phase of the course. Rastafarians in both Ocean View and Masiphumelele had caught their attention during the prayer walks. They started to befriend them, listening to their beliefs such as their regard for Haile Selassie, a former emperor of Ethiopia, as the King of Kings. After many months the first Rastafarian started to see things in a different light when he started reading the Bible. To his surprise, he discovered that Jesus - and not Haile Selassie - was the real King of Kings.

                                    Changed drug addicts became

                                    the core of new house churches

Football Training Skills used

As a part of an evangelistic effort, Nash Booysen used his football training skills to train youngsters in Ocean View. The Nash Academy has the goal to help individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds to become soccer trainers. A few drug addicts became followers of Jesus. They formed the core of new house churches there. Some of the new believers had been Muslims.

Soon football matches were organised by CPxer Bruce Chitambala, a Zambian linked to the three communities of Masiphumelele, Ocean View and Red Hill. Once again this created a lot of goodwill. These and other communal activities prepared hearts for the work of the Holy Spirit. During our CPx training Rosemarie and I got involved in Masiphumelele, linking up with Somalians whom we still knew from our English teaching stint in Mitchells Plain in 2004/5.

Outreach in a Redhill Shebeen

The compassionate outreach in a Redhill shebeen, an informal liquor outlet, led to regular Bible Studies. Matters accelerated even more when the group was joined by another CPx colleague Godfrey Mosobase, a Lesotho national.

To Rose McKenna, who had attended a Jerusalem-Africa summit in June 2006, the Israeli offer of expertise - rather than funding - had made a big impact. When funds were not forthcoming, she enquired from a Community developer what would be needed for her to share the expertise which she had gained 50 years ago in the then Northern Rhodesia, now called Zambia. Moshe Ledermann, a Jewish expert, felt that a piece of ground the size of a rugby pitch would be a good start. Because fires had decimated the squatter camp, and because the Zimbabwean refugees were housed there, they immediately went to meet the CPx volunteers.

Soon McKenna linked up with the Red Hill CPx team led by Alex and Joanna Campbell, a British couple. There she was blessed when she discovered that her friends from Zimbabwe had been allotted a piece of ground at their shacks, where she could help them grow vegetables. (For two years Rose and two of her  Zimbabwean friends had been searching around the Peninsula for the required ground.)

                                    CPx volunteers lived in the

                                      shack of a prison inmate

Together with three short term CPx volunteers, the American couple Nic and Paula Watts, and another American, Liana Bumstead, the group started a garden.  As a witness of God’s love, the CPx volunteers lived in the shack of a Red Hill inhabitant who was in prison.

An informal Settlement transformed
Farming God's Way is a divinely inspired method that has been introduced and used in a number of African countries with great succcess. Johan and Nel Knol, former WEC missionary colleagues, shared with us in an email the gist of the method: A main theme is: no burning of shrubs and the like and no ploughing in order to keep the micro-organisms in the soil intact, which e.g. made the rain-paths and are nutrients to the plant. Also important is to keep the soil covered with a mulch. This is called God’s Blanket, which will hinder weed growth and prevents the soil from being beaten too much by the sun and through which 90% of the heavy tropical rains will penetrate the ground - instead of 15% otherwise - besides carrying off 94% of the ploughed or burned topsoil! This way of farming needs still lots of encouragement and a change of mindset. But the harvests are more secured and the yield much higher, whilst costs are limited. We know a Zimbabwean brother who looks after a couple of hundred orphans. He has been implementing this way of farming very carefully. His harvest was huge, much more than the farmers around him!! We learned again, as always: if we want to see God’s results, we have to apply God’s ways!!’

At our CPx course John Scholtz, a pastor from Port Elizabeth, had been teaching on the revolutionary Farming God’s Way.  The whole group was very impressed, including the team in Red Hill. Generous gifts of plants by the supermarket giant Pick’n Pay enabled the team and local folk to work together to transform the informal settlement into an environment which duly became something to be proud of.

Gerald Schwarz, who had already empowered many Blacks by teaching them the advantages of saving their money, was one of the CPx participants who not only took the lessons to heart, but who also went for further training towards becoming a trainer himself in Farming God’s Way.

These are but a few examples of what I believe we are now seeing - a significant move of the Holy Spirit among young people who are boldly and radically engaged in prayer and ministries of compassion that are often a key to revival.

19.  Christians Respond to Xenophobia

In the Weekend Argus of November 3, 2007 it was reported that a Zimbabwean refugee died of starvation

on the streets of the Cape Town CBD. Even though the facts in the report were not quite accurate, the death of Adonis Musati ignited a flood of goodwill. Gahlia Brogneri, an Italian-background Christian, became God’s instrument to launch the Adonis Musati Project.  Through this endeavour she started to care for the refugees outside the Department of Home Affairs’ Foreshore premises in a holistic way. (We had been feeding foreigners in the preceding months once a week, attempting to get local churches involved. In our case, we had little success in getting the City fellowships interested.) Gahlia got many volunteers involved in the Adonis Musati Project, also assisting the refugees in finding accommodation and employment. They also helped to get people on training courses that included security and fishing.

Two Volunteers attacked by xenophobic South Africans

The 2008 winter was approaching. The people who lived at the Home Affairs premises on the Cape Town foreshore near to the International Convention Centre did not have adequate shelter. Lili Goldberg, a 16 year-old St Cyprian’s High School Jewish learner and her mother, brought bags full of clothes and shoes to the Home Affairs refugees on May 9, 2008. There the two volunteers of the Adonis Musati Project were suddenly attacked by xenophobic South Africans. Lili was in the back of their 4x4 vehicle, passing clothes and shoes, when a group of ten South African men approached her mother from behind, hitting her. Then they smashed the window, trying to drag Lili through it. She was very badly injured and was subsequently hospitalized for weeks. Mrs Goldberg remained determined however to continue with their humanitarian godly effort.

Xenophobic Mob Violence spreads like Wildfire

This Cape occurrence turned out to be yet another forerunner of countrywide xenophobic mob violence.   Within a matter of days the mob violence had spread countrywide.

On Wednesday 21 May, 2008 mayhem also broke out in the Western Cape. Greater carnage was possibly prevented because the police commissioner of the Province had called all stakeholders and station commanders to the police Headquarters in Bishop Lavis Township the previous day, setting up contingency plans.

                                     Thousands of Black foreigners were displaced

In spite of determined efforts by the police, it took days until the situation calmed down. However, by that time thousands of Black foreigners were displaced. Their shops were destroyed and looted by criminal elements and other poor folk who exploited the anarchic situation. We were very sad to hear and read of mob violence and xenophobic behaviour in Masiphumelele and Ocean View, where our CPx colleagues had been ministering.

Xenophilia and Compassion ushered in

On Friday 23 May, 2008 I wrote in an email to our prayer friends: ‘This is not only a matter for political activists. May I suggest that we … protest in the best sense of the Latin root word: pro testare - to make a positive statement. Let us replace xenophobia with xenophilia.[26]

At this time our CPx colleague Timothy Dokyong from Nigeria, who lives in Masiphumelele, was inundated with phone calls from concerned colleagues. He felt quite safe there as South African Blacks from the neighbourhood rallied around him, promising to protect him.  Soon he joined a number of Malawian and Zimbabwians from Masiphumelele - abbreviated to Masi in All Nations parlance – in the team house in the nearby White suburb of Capri. There they engaged in intensive intercession for ‘Masi’ and all the people there.

Churches respond with Compassion                                                                                                   At a Transformation/Consultation of Christian Churches planning meeting on 31 May 2008 in Parow, it was exciting to hear how various concerned pastors enquired how they could join in compassionate action on behalf of the displaced foreigners. Among those attending the meeting there was Bishop Alan Kenyon, who was destined to play a special role in countering xenophobia in subsequent years. 

Was all this the forerunner of the revival that is to start in Cape Town, on which believers have been waiting for years? This seemed very much the case when the Lord gave a picture to Rosemarie at our home church in Mowbray on Saturday evening, May 24. (Some of the congregants were refugees from African countries).  She saw a big clay jar with a handle that was being filled with the tears of the refugees. Adjacent to the jar there was dry arid earth with many cracks.  Thereafter a big hand poured out the content of the jar on the dry earth. The moisture coming from the jar – the many tears that had been flowing all over our country, including those of the refugees among us, filled the cracks. Grass started sprouting all around the area.

                        Churches and mosques opened

                        their doors to displaced Africans

Within a matter of hours the vision became alive when reports came in of South Africans donating food, clothing and blankets. Churches and mosques were opening their doors to displaced Africans. The government dropped their resistance to accommodate the refugees in mass quarters temporarily. Many of the displaced folk were taken to the Youngsfield military camp in Wynberg, to mass beach camps erected at Blue Waters (near to Strandfontein), at Silwerstroom (near to Atlantis) and to a camp apiece at Soetwater (near to Cape Point) and Harmony Park. Big marquees were erected at these sites to deal with the emergency.

Personally all this was very special to us. In 2006 and 2007, when many tears were wetting our pillows, the Lord had been comforting us with Isaiah 43:18 and 19.  Do not call to mind the former things, or ponder things of the past. Behold, I will do something new, now it will sprout … I will even make … rivers in the desert.

Various prophecies for the continent were given over the years. I am quite aware that prophecies might still sound strange to some people in our day and age. (I include a lengthy excerpt of one of these prophecies as an appendix.)

The Country brought to its Knees

Satan may however have overstepped once again, as the xenophobic mob violence brought the country to its knees in another sense. A call for prayer was issued, asking all denominations and Christian organisations to pray on Sunday, 25 May, 2008 and in the weeks to follow for the ethnic violence in the nation. A suggestion was added to these prayers, intercession for the near-genocide situation in the neighbouring country of Zimbabwe.

                                                   There was now a groundswell of

                                                goodwill towards displaced foreigners

In the next few days we were elated to hear of compassionate action by Christians - churches and individuals - indicating that there was now a groundswell of goodwill towards the displaced foreigners all around the country. This included a report of many churches at the southern tip of our Peninsula that have been networking in accommodating refugees. A Somalian refugee friend phoned us that her family had been given refuge in the home of Americans. We were not surprised to find out that the American family was indeed Claude (Themba) and Mary Crosby, our CPx colleagues, who had also ministered previously to these friends of the Black township Masiphumelele. For his part, Themba felt blessed in Fish Hoek where they lived. Their house was soon filled with ten Somalian adults plus children.

Stolen Goods returned

The township Masiphumelele was a big exception countrywide, not caught up in and affected by xenophobic mass hysteria. The spade work of Christian mediators and workers since August 2006, along with the prayers of warriors in the All Nations International team house in Capri, was bearing fruit. When signs of trouble began there, many foreigners started leaving. Pastor Mzuvukile Nikelo, a physically small pastor, decided to tie a loudspeaker to his car. Driving up and down the streets he announced: ‘As leaders of the community we have made a clear decision. We are not attacking anyone... If you see people leaving, don’t make any bad remarks and don’t intimidate them. Let them go in peace.’ The situation in Masiphumelele became national news when stolen goods were returned to the owners. The Xhosa-speakers drafted a declaration, asking for forgiveness, inviting their fellow Africans to return to the township.

Youth Day Celebrations address Xenophobia

Every year on the 16^th of June, which is a public holiday, South Africans celebrate what the youth of 1976 had done for the education system of our country. The YWAM-related Beautiful Gate workers in Philippi and Lower Crossroads decided to have their celebrations in a church hall at Philippi, where they had drama, music and dance performances, along with poetry recitals. Their focus on that day was on issues that are faced by young people at schools and in their communities. Their skits addressed the violence at schools, as well as the widespread xenophobia.

                                    Another chance to be given

                                    to people such as ex-convicts

They hoped to teach the community folk to give people such as ex-convicts who have changed, another chance. They would then be required to practise restitution in the communities. The aim was to get the youth talking about these issues and look for possible solutions, also educating them on the effects these matters have on the next generation. Young people from different communities (Philippi, Lower Crossroads, Khayelitsha, Gugulethu and Crossroads) congregated, enjoying themselves without the influence of alcohol and drugs. Parents and kids joined to witness and appreciate the performances.

The CCC (Consultation of Christian Churches) Response

Our relationship to Richard Verreyne gave us a close link to the CCC (Consultation of Christian Churches) executive. The CCC Leaders’ Forum released a statement to the press regarding the xenophobia and violence on behalf of the Church in the Western Cape. The Leaders Forum called on all Christians to pray for the situation in our city and country. All Christians were urged to pray for 2 minutes every day at noon for peace in the communities; that all people’s dignity might be respected and restored. Some believers put a reminder into their cellphones to this effect.

A concrete result of the xenophobia issue was the formation of a think tank to work at a plan and set up structures by which the combined Church could assist the government. Tim Makamu, a leading pastor of His People Ministries and Barry Isaacs - who had just accepted taking over the coordination of the Transformation network from Graham Power - were the main pivots of this initiative. Along with our own interest and work with foreigners, it was natural that I got involved as well. We decided to investigate how the Church could supply capacity and integrity which the government lacked. Along with Andy Hawkins, a British church worker who did stalwart work in the Helderberg area, a plan was divised to give a menue to communities where pastors and community workers would network in 18 areas where we felt that the Church could give valuable assistance. At one of the think tank meetings at the His People Ministries premises Eben Welby-Solomon, one of their elders, attended. Tim suggested that I give my manuscript, a predecessor of the present book, for him to edit. I emailed this to him but I did not hear from him for well over a year.

God at Work

Nelis van Rooyen, our All Nations International colleague, forwarded to us an email about fasting that was organised in ‘the Valley’, the geographical area near to Cape Point. Hamilton Stephenson, the local New Covenant Church pastor, had been stirred by the Almighty on Sunday 8 June 2008 when he pondered on Psalm 46:10 that declares “Be still and know that I am God.....” With regard to the situation at the Soetwater Camp, where there had been the threat of mass suicide by drowning, Pastor Hamilton Stephenson was challenged to invite others in his church to join in fasting on Thursday, 12 June.  He also asked other faith communities in the area to join them. He wrote: ‘As I contemplated this Scripture and read some comments, I noticed that it speaks of Father declaring a warning to the warring nations, that they are to cease and desist from hostilities. I believe we need to proclaim a cessation of the “enemy’s wars” at this time…                                               

… We feel it right for us to take our stand. I am calling all of us to stand and declare that the “warring” in the heavenlies must cease and be still and know that God is Lord. We have felt the oppression not only in the camp, but in the Valley and also in our local faith communities.’

Some Fish Hoek, Ocean View and Masiphumelele believers from local churches joined the fast on Thursday, 12 June.

A government spokesman called for a national day of healing in view of the xenophobia. This was set for 24 June, but the churches failed to latch on to the opportunity to link prayer and humbling before God to it. The weeks of intense spiritual warfare had apparently taken its toll. Many were exhausted.

20. The Starting Gun of the Revival?

Would it be too much of conjecture to suspect that the arch-enemy might have special insights with regard to God’s plans for spiritual renewal and revival? Already in biblical times, satan appeared to try and thwart God’s plans to prosper and bless the nations. The Almighty has apparently had some special plans for the African continent for centuries, when large geographical areas of early Christianity like North Africa became Islamic. Christian strongholds like Alexandria and Carthage were turned into historical relics.  It is good to remind ourselves that when the Jewish nation, the apple of God’s eye, seemed to be at its absolute lowest point in every sense - devastated and destitute, such as during their 70-year exile - the Almighty gave them special words. The prophet Jeremiah said at this time about divine thinking: ‘… thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope…’ (Jeremiah 29:11).

A Word comes from the Lord

Just like in the hurly burly days of 1985, when waves of violence swept through the country in September and October of that year, the Lord spoke again to Michael Cassidy, the leader of the missions agency Africa Enterprise.[27] This time, in March 2008, Rev. Cassidy heard God saying to him during a time of spiritual retreat ‘Jehoshaphat!’ When he consulted 2 Chronicles 20, which reports the escapades of a lesser known king who ‘set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout Judah', Cassidy saw what God needed him to do.  He was especially touched by the prayer of Jehoshaphat in verse 12 of the chapter: ‘we have no power…nor do we know what to do, but we turn to you.’ In an exceptional repeat of the 1985 event, Cassidy convened a conference on short notice, calling it the National Initiative for Reformation in South Africa (NIRSA) to Boksburg, a suburb on the Rand.

In the evening of 12 June Mike Cassidy reported about the inaugural National Initiative for Reformation in South Africa (NIRSA) at the Lighthouse Christian Centre in Parow.  His talk on the time bombs of crime, HIV/AIDS and dysfunctional schools was scary, but he encouraged the audience with the divine word to Jehoshaphat: Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord (2 Chronicles 20:17).

The Boksburg event might well have been the birth pangs of the revival that we pray would ultimately sweep across the nation. Or was the event a few days earlier in another part of the country in Greytown (Kwazulu-Natal), the beginning?  Amazingly, over the weekend of 18 April 2008, 62 000 men attended the Mighty men’s conference with Angus Buchan.  During that time it was suggested that a mighty shift had taken place in the heavenly realms! Such a claim would be difficult to verify, but it surely was significant that so many men, hungry for the Lord, were content to stay in tents, after travelling for many hours. They came from all over the country and from as far away as Namibia, basically for prayer.

                          The Mighty Men’s Conference was more

                           than merely a flash in the pan

The first  Mighty Men’s Conference was more than merely a flash in the pan. Real reconciliation between fathers and sons took place, fathers and husbands returning home as changed men, and families were restored. This was testified to by a South African missionary who had just come back to the country.

Revival rocks South Africa!  

After her return from the mission field, Jean-Marié Jooste, a WEC missionary, wrote an article titled, Revival rocks South Africa, along with the following comments: In the last months ... everything I saw on CNN, BBC and heard from visiting friends about my country, seemed to be bad news: corruption charges against political leaders, violence against immigrants, electricity failures, turmoil in Zimbabwe…

Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised to find a different vibe in the air after my arrival back home: it all started with a film about the life of an ordinary Natal farmer who experienced an amazing personal revival and then began to impact the lives of many others: Faith like Potatoes. For the past three years this man, Angus Buchan, has had a men’s conference on his farm every year and every time the crowd grows: this year sixty two thousand men showed up!

                                    Change should not come from the Houses

                                         of Parliament but from the kitchens

The Mighty Men’s Conference with Angus Buchan was followed up with a meeting on 19 July 2008 at Pretoria’s Loftus Versfeld Rugby Stadium, which was packed with more than seventy thousand people, the greatest crowd ever to fill the stadium. In a very practical message and using Ephesians 3:14-21, Angus Buchan suggested that change in our country should not come out of the Houses of Parliament but from the kitchens. Christians must be single-minded to take the responsibility and ownership of helping those in need. 55 000 people turned up at the ABSA Stadium in Durban, the 9^th of August, 2008.

A similar event took place at the Cape’s famous Newlands Cricket Stadium on 12 and 13 September 2008. The Weekend Argus of Sunday 14 September lauded the event with a large caption GOD VISITS THE MOTHER CITY. The event had been sold out weeks before the time. With a reported 8000 persons filling in a card of commitment to Christ on the first night, a third of those attending, one stated to suspect  that revival might be in the air. Buchan moved to other South African cities and Namibia’s capital Windhoek on his evangelistic tour of the country.

Buchan as good as dead                                                                                                                                  An estimated 200,000 men registered for the 2009 event on 24-26 April in Greytown (Kwazulu-Natal) on an extended camping area of 3 million square meters.                                                                                                                        Angus Buchan had to be flown                                                                                    to hospital after he had collapsed

On the Saturday afternoon Angus Buchan had to be flown to hospital after he had collapsed. A heart attack was suspected, but after a thorough check in hospital, he was discharged without further ado. The next day he was speaking again, giving Jesus the glory for divine healing.  In the SHALOM MINISTRIES Newsletter, (May 2009) he wrote about the incident as follows: 

Dear Brethren,
...Words cannot describe what took place at MMC 2009 two weeks ago. We knew that the glory of the Lord was going to come down on that gathering because the Lord had told us very distinctly, in more ways than one, but we would never have dreamt in a million years how he was going to do it. I thought maybe it would come through the music or maybe the camp fires and the fellowship of the thousands of men that were there. I thought maybe even through the preaching, but no, God had a specific plan and He wanted to teach us about the brevity of time. If you look at that word ‘brevity’, I have always wondered what it really meant, it is derived from the word ‘brief’ and one thing that God showed us at this conference is that we are not here on this earth forever. There is a shortage of time and we need to use it in the best way possible.

What is man’s chief purpose on this earth but simply ‘to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever’. That is all that the Lord wants us to do. He has told me in no uncertain terms to shelve all MY PLANS and start to do what He has told me to do, and He will do the rest. In the space of that weekend we saw relationships, I am talking in my own personal life, restored forever. I have never seen or experienced such a magnitude of love from the men towards me and towards each other, never in my life! When that helicopter airlifted me off the farm to Pietermaritzburg, I saw a multitude of hands reaching up towards the helicopter as the men prayed for me. I was as good as dead when they put me in that helicopter and ten minutes later when we touched down at Medi-clinic (a young lady pilot flew us straight there), I was totally and completely healed and that is nothing short of a miracle! I believe in miracles and I believe in them more today. Our God is a miracle working God and He is a good God! He is nobody’s debtor and He is there for you and me. No matter what your problem or your need is, He will do it. I have preached that for 30 years but I am telling you that I lived it two weeks ago. He is on your side. A very dear brother said to me that he saw, or heard, in the Spirit, angels coming down to take me away - that is what he thought, only to realise that the angels were sent by God to protect me from any forces of darkness. We just stand amazed at the goodness of God. Remember, if the Lord Jesus Christ is your Saviour, you have nothing to fear. Paul said in Phillipians 1:21, ‘for me to live is Christ, and to die is but gain’, and I can honestly say amen to that.’[28]

Prayer Warriors invade Chambers of Government

Other interesting things had also been happening at the Cape. After Pentecost 2007, I joined Wim Ferreira and other prayer warriors in a board room at the Cape Metropolitan Civic Centre for prayer every Friday.

                                    The Lord put the unity of

                                    the Body of Christ on our

                                    prayer agenda once again

The Lord had put the unity of the Body of Christ on our prayer agenda once again. We continued with efforts to get Capetonian believers to pray together.  This was to us an important step towards the revival we yearned for.

Wim Ferreira linked up with Pastor Barry Isaacs, the new co-ordinator of the Transformation Committee. As a result of their deliberations, prayer meetings started in October 2007 at the Uni-City Council Chambers on the third Saturday morning of every month at 5.30 a.m. Wonderful answers to prayer were subsequently experienced month after month. At one of these occasions, the lack of the availability of the Civic Centre Banqueting Hall for a combined prayer event on Ascension Day touched Peter Williams, the secretary of the Provincial Parliament. He promptly extended a provisional invitation to the group to come and pray there as well.

On 31 May 2008 more than 100 believers gathered in the legislative house of the Western Cape for prayer at 6 a.m. Three days later there was a hush – and no mocking - as two Christians shared their biblical convictions at the same venue, as part of normal parliamentary procedure. This was for Peter Williams a direct result of the united prayer at that venue!

Corruption flares up once again

The satisfaction to see corruption all but stamped out at the Cape Town Home Affairs offices, was short-lived and replaced by sadness and anger. Dean Pillay had hardly turned his back, leaving Home Affairs to take up a vocational position outside of government, when corruption flared up once again. Within weeks it was worse than ever before. We battled in vain a few weeks later to try and assist someone to get refugee status.  In that case it was the obvious result of corruption at the Nyanga Home Affairs Refugee Centre.

I was so sad that things had deteriorated such a lot since March 2008 when we thought that the corruption and the duping of the destitute and hapless refugees at the Home Affairs offices had been stamped out. Now it was much worse.

A special spiritual Victory

But there were also spiritual victories. One of them happened when I was called in because a refugee lady from Burundi had collapsed at our bead workshop.[29] (A year prior to this occurrence she had been one of my English learners.)  I took her to Somerset Hospital where she was admitted and treated for about a week. After her improvement and discharge she was taken to relatives to recuperate. When however some medical backlash occurred, the relative deemed it fit to involve a sangoma, a witchdoctor. Hereafter she became completely crazy and had to be taken to a mental clinic in Stikland in the extreme northern suburbs of the city. From the mental clinic she was transferred to the psychiatric ward at Tygerberg Hospital where she was soon regarded as terminal. Family members started with preparations to take her body to Burundi for the funeral there.We discerned that we now had an extreme case of spiritual warfare.  After a day of prayer and fasting we took along with us Arsene Kamptoe, our All Nations colleague. There in in Tygerberg Hospital he led us in prayer for divine intervention in the name of Jesus.

                             The terminal patient recovered

                        dramatically as a trophy of God’s grace

She not only recovered dramatically as a trophy of God’s grace, but she also returned to the workshop a few weeks later. 

Special Healings

In revival times divine healing usually takes place. Two special cases came to our attention when we visited the Agape Centre in the rural town of Grabouw. Jessica had come to the centre as a few months old baby with hydrocephalous and cerebral palsy. The doctors told Gerrit and Ammie Coetzee, the founder-leaders, that there was little brain function and she would be like a vegetable, unable to walk or talk. Today she is a very active little girl that runs around and knows exactly what she wants, a clear result of divine healing.

Samuel came to them when he was three months old, diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy and Bulbar Palsy (the nerves in his brain stem was damaged so that he could not swallow.)  He arrived with a PEG, a feeding tube where his food goes directly into the stomach. The doctors gave him little chance of survival. So many times when they rushed Samuel to hospital with an ambulance they only had prayer to hold on to, trusting the Lord for a miracle. Today Samuel runs around, climbs on everything and is a real outdoor boy.

Country Drug Addicts and Gangsters reformed

How powerful a loving environment can be has been amply demonstrated at the self-same Agape Centre. Drug addicts or youngsters who had just come from prison became part of the youth ‘year of your life’ programme there. From the 2007 group a former prisoner who was incarcerated for five years for murder went to Bible College.  Another participant went to university and a few of them entered Eagle’s Rising, a transformation/prayer farm near to Somerset West.

To hear of a drug peddling hub becoming a church sounds very much like revival. This happened in September 2008 when Kaldumalla Madatt, popularly known as ‘Dimes’, repented in prison. He had been jailed for drug and diamond deals. Just like Zacchaeus of old, he donated a former ‘tik den’ at 18 North West Street in Rocklands, a part of Mitchell’s Plain, for the use of the Eternal Life Pentecostal Church. The former drug peddling facility became a thriving church. In January 2010 however his repentance proved not to have been very deep. ‘Dimes’ moved back to the premises, evicting the church and starting selling liquor from the building under the pretense of a a store for fast foods.

Dire Need for Prayer                                                                                                                                   

God put it on the heart of NUPSA leader Dr Bennie Mostert to invite Christian leaders for a ‘Solemn Assembly’ in Pretoria.  Pastors, youth leaders and also other community leaders in all sectors of society were challenged to come together for a day of prayer on 15 October 2008. ‘We are inviting Christian leaders from all 650 towns and cities and from all denominations and ethnic groups in the country...’

The preparation to the Pretoria event would also impart me personally when I started praying about attending the annual Leadership Consultation of CCM (Christian Concern for Muslims) having now changed its name to Partners’ Consultation (PC). The ‘door’ opened for me to attend both events.  At the PC of 2008 in Port Elizabeth there was an item on the programme on Sunday 21 September called Frustrations and Encouragements.  I perceived the contribution of one of the participants as the God-given sign to share my own frustrations with CCM, notably the handling of our proposed declaration of 2004 regarding Jews and Muslims, into which I had put so much effort, together with other missionary colleagues. In the ensuing discussion of 21 September 2008 someone suggested that TEASA should be speaking to the churches in the country with regard to such a declaration.

I used this cue to challenge the CCM executive to send an updated version of our proposed declaration of 2004 either to TEASA or Jericho Walls. I also expressed my preference for Jericho Walls, because this group does not only represent Evangelical churches.

Solemn Assembly in Pretoria

This ultimately led to Bennie Mostert inviting me to pray publicly for Jews and Muslims at the Solemn Assembly at the Moreleta Park Dutch Reformed Church in Pretoria on 15 October 2008.

                        Seven hundred believers from all over

                        South Africa converged on Pretoria

That the country was in serious need of prayer was undisputed. Seven hundred believers from all over South Africa converged on Pretoria on that day.  Mostert announced the plan to work towards a national day of prayer for the parliamentary elections of 2009 on 20 March.  The extent of participation was bound to affect the future course of the country. The question now was: would the events leading to the elections be like seed for revival or would we experience a further moral slide – or ultimately even have a situation that could be likened to Zimbabwe? It was in our own hands to work with God in this way or not.

Resumed Fight against Corruption

On 21 October 2008 I was devastated after witnessing the depth of the level of the corruption at the Nyanga Home Affairs (Refugee Centre) offices from close quarters. After seeing how one of the culprits was pretending to sell plastic sheets for the documents of the refugees, I was able to ‘arrest’ him with the aid of a security official. The Home Affairs officials inside the building confirmed that the documents in his possession were probably printed outside of their offices. However, an official note had been attached to it. The connexion to some inside official was all too clear and more or less promptly confirmed. An hour or so later I had to discover that the offender had been allowed to leave the building, without even a single charge laid against him. The officials were merely anxious because they thought that I was a policeman and that I could expose their involvement.

                            In deep despondency I felt very

                            much like throwing in the towel

In deep despondency I felt very much like throwing in the towel. But then I happened to bump into an incomplete copy of my manuscript ‘Honger na Geregtigheid’ that I had written around 1980. I was reminded of my feelings of the time in the light of the injustice perpetrated by the government of the day. Dr Tutu verbalised so well at the Rustenburg conference in November 1990 how I was feeling once again,  ‘God appeared to be quite inept and unable to bring justice and freedom... He worked to inspire the State President to act in an unexpectedly courageous manner... If anyone had predicted in September 1989 that in November 1990 virtually all the churches in South Africa would be gathered together in a national conference, most of us would have been convinced that that man must be mad. There can be no question that this conference... is a miracle’. Now able to look back at the divine intervention, I took courage to wait on God to give us the victory over the pervasive corruption at the Refugee Centre of the Department of Home Affairs.

Fruit of the Commuter Train Ministry

From time to time we heard of people who were touched during the evangelistic ministry on commuter trains. Many a Muslim who came to faith in Christ had been impacted in some way or other in this way, sometimes trying to evade a preacher in one carriage, only to bump into another one in a different carriage. A believer from Islamic background who studied at Wesley Training College in Salt River in the late 1980s, relished the preaching as a valuable supplement to her Bible knowledge to her studies. She however contemplated suicide in a difficult marriage when she was so gripped by the preaching that she missed the place where she wanted to jump from the train. One testimony that blessed us very especially who was a female bouncer who hailed from Bo-Kaap who was divinely impacted in this way.

                                       A female bouncer from

                                       Bo-Kaap divinely touched

In 2007 she was drinking in the Gospel messages on the commuter train to and from her work until she finally became a follower of Jesus. Her husband, who had been involved with drugs and alcohol, followed suit. His grandfather, who owned the property in Salt River where they lived, had been a fervent and faithful servant of the Lord. Gospel seeds have already started bearing fruit in that residential area from the turn of the new millennium with the influx of believers and churches from other parts of Africa. 

A Role for the revived Church

Home churches led by teams of young people and older folk who have been taught to be primarily obedient to the Holy Spirit – as opposed to accumulating traditional knowledge-based training – have already started to make a difference in the lives of many people. It may not even take very long for communities to be transformed as new believers share the story of how personal faith in Jesus changed their lives, their outlook and mind-set. The question is what the role of the Church – the united body of Christ - could be in the future. Accommodation to the immoral secular society of our age seems to me the sure way to fade further into irrelevancy.  In a society of brokenness where so many carry a heavy burden, scars caused by abortion, alcoholism and drug abuse, the Church faces an immense task. By contrast, the much less expedient and inconvenient road of the Cross of swimming against the stream in self-denial, in sacrificial obedience to divine commands - could contribute to transformation. This is the Church that is needed - a new distinctive community that reflects the values of the kingdom of God; a body that is an agent of healing and a place of belonging. Nothing else will suffice. Ian Cowley refers so aptly to a new voice within the possible future role of the Church at large in his book The Transformation Principle: ‘... a model for Christian discipleship that calls women and men everywhere to change their way of thinking and lay down their lives in following Jesus... those who serve the poor and care for the lost and broken-hearted people of our consumerist and self-indulgent age’. And that could be a possible route to revival.

                                    28. Revival Seeds Germinate

The week starting on 29 March 2009 was special in many a way. This was the last day of our All Nations International Conference at Africa House, the property that the mission agency had just acquired. In the afternoon we dedicated the property to the Lord in a ceremony that included ‘sowing’ Gospel seed rather literally when Bible verses were buried on the premises. The prayer included the vision that Southern Africa would become the bread basket of the continent.

Two days later, Rosemarie and her jewellery workshop colleagues were very elated when one of the Muslim refugee women from Burundi and Rwanda declared rather formally on behalf of the group that they all believe that Jesus died for their sins and that He is the Son of God. We continue to pray that this insight that has grown in them through the weekly spiritual nourishment during the workshop, may filter through to their families and perhaps even to the Muslim community at large.

Love for the Foreigner to be propagated?

Few would disagree with the notion that philiaxenia, love for the foreigner, should be propagated. Hardly anybody would object to the statement that the gifts of the sojourners from other parts of our continent should be welcomed and utilized, including those who came to our country as economic refugees.  If we accept that any resentment or hatred towards strangers must be outlawed, then it should be made an offense to discriminate against them. That would not only be a biblical mandate, but this would be something that could unite even Muslims and Jews.

The Church of South Africa received another chance in the run-up to the 2009 elections to regain lost credibility. Racial prejudice was still a huge barrier towards the unity of the Body of Christ, thus obstructing the promise of spiritual renewal.

                             Corruption at all levels of society

                                 brought the country to the

                            precipice of anarchy once again

Corruption at all levels of society – even in the judiciary – along with laws and practices that encourage sexual immorality, brought the country to the precipice of anarchy once again. But Godly people have the key in their hand.  United prayer could once again turn out to be the steering wheel of our vehicle that seemed to be heading for the abyss.  We should continue to pray for godly governance, that we might turn from our sinful, uncharitable and selfish ways, opening the channel for showers of blessing. We need to latch onto the challenge that God might heal our land if we turn from our wicked ways; that He would command his blessing if we live in peace and harmony (Psalm 133:3).

Resumption of Prayer in Seats of Government

On Saturday morning 9 May 2009 we were back in the Chambers of the City Council. For all of us this was a clear answer to prayer after political interference caused us to be thrown out of the premises for months. Two weeks later we also resumed praying in the Provincial Parliament. When Barry Isaacs announced that FIFA, the world governing body for the Soccer World Cup, turned down the request for the football stadiums to be used for the Global Day of Prayer in 2010, it was only natural for us to take this on board as a prayer challenge.  When it was announced that we would be back at Newlands Rugby Stadium at Pentecost 2010 for the tenth anniversary of the Global Day of Prayer at the venue where the South African 'stadium praying' started in 2001, in combination with a World Prayer Conference at the International Convention Centre, there was nevertheless a sense of growing excitement.  God answered our prayers miraculously. Not only did the City Council offer the use of the stadium to Transformation free of charge for a test event on 22 March 2010 - a public holiday - but subsequently other prayer events were organised at all the other World Cup soccer venues for the same day.

            On 6 June 2009 our prayer meeting in the City Council Chambers started rather gloomy when it was not only shared that our fervent intercessor Trevor Peters had just passed away the previous evening, but we also heard that the new Speaker of the Provincial Parliament, coming from the liberal DA party, would not honour the dates for our praying there until the end of 2009. This was of course a new prayer challenge.

Inspired by the memory that we could sow seeds in the 1970s and 1980s towards the repeal of ungodly apartheid laws that ripped families apart and which kept me exiled for many years, we continue the battle backstage – for the right of children to have a father and a mother, for the right of unborn foetuses to live; we continue to fight against the discrimination of foreigners. This would in my view also be tantamount to sowing more seeds of revival.

Negative and Positive Developments

Very few knowledgeable people would have become fully excited after hearing that Dr Nkosana Zuma, the ex-wife of our incoming State President, was to be our new Minister of Home Affairs. Having failed miserably as Health Minister under President Mandela, she was strangely 'rewarded' with the special Ministry of Foreign Affairs. After succeeding to turn our country almost into a pariah state by openly siding and supporting some of the biggest abusers of human rights in the world like Myanmar and Zimbabwe, one wondered what would happen to the biggest mess of all among the South African state departments.[30] We had been hoping naively that the electoral success of the DA in the Western Cape of April 2009 would lead to new people at the Nyanga Refugee Centre, only to find out afterwards that there would be no change. And then there came the High Court eviction order at the end of June. Complaints of other companies in the area led to the relocation of the Refugee Centre, to be finalised at the end of September. Rumours that the Refugee Centre was to be relocated to Khayelitsha caused a major concern, not only for the sojourners, but also for the stakeholders. Traumatic experiences at the Nyanga premises had been bad enough. Xenophobic vibes were still being experienced in many a Black township.

Encouraging Emails

Against this background, emails which I received in July were quite encouraging. On July 20 Duncan Breen, a co-stakeholder who also works quite a lot with refugees, wrote: I have some very useful info from UCT about positive developments at the RRO (Regional Refugee Office), which I will shortly ... circulate to all. There was a feeling by some that given that the centre has now been ordered to move shortly, as well as the fact that access has apparently improved with the opening hours being increased from 7 to 7, that it is no longer a need to engage directly with the Director General at this point.

This was congruent with my personal experience at the Nyanga offices, but we did not want to rejoice prematurely - thankful as we were that foreigners were now being treated n a more dignified way.

We were also greatly encouraged by what other concerned Capetonians have been doing among refugees. One of these is the Adonis Musati Project of our friend Gahlia Brogneri and her co-founder Terry Hodson.  They were of course also frustrated - like the bulk of us who work with the hapless refugees - by the corruption and mismanagement of Home Affairs officials. But they were also very much blessed by the gratefulness of individual refugees who got a new purpose to their lives, where there had been deep despair. It was a very special answer to prayer when a big improvement in Home Affairs service delivery nationally was announced via television on Tuesday 10 November, 2009.

We were very thankful that the Refugee Centre was not only relocated to a spacious venue in Maitland, but that the service there was so much better. To all of us this was an answer to prayer! When we went there at the end of November 2009, everything was peaceful and orderly.

An Attempt to legalize Prostitution

A serious effort was launched in June 2009 to legalize prostitution before the World Cup. Heading the Family Policy Institute, Pastor Errol Naidoo asked Christians to write letters of protest to the government.

Pastor Errol Naidoo wrote the following in an email on 30 July: Dallene Clark, the lead researcher on adult prostitution at the SA Law Reform Commission (SALRC) informed me they received thousands of submissions from concerned citizens across the country – the majority of whom selected the option that totally criminalises the sex industry.

According to her, the SALRC will now embark on a long and complicated process which must acknowledge every single submission before making recommendations to the Minister of Justice.

Ms Clark estimates the earliest the Minister of Justice can expect to receive the final recommendations for legislation on adult prostitution is early 2011.

The dealt a crushing defeat for those lobbying for legalised prostitution for the 2010 World Cup. And more importantly, it represented a significant victory for women and children!

In the Clouds once again

We were about to depart for our monthly Signal Hill prayer on Saturday 26 September 2009 when Rosemarie and I noticed that Signal Hill was in a cloud. After having picked up Tricia Pichotta and Bev Stratis, one of us prayed in the car: 'Lord, let us be in the clouds once again, we want to experience your special presence this morning!' And how He answered our prayer!

There on the mountain we were joined by Celia Swanepoel and two other believers who came along with her from Melkbosch Strand. Pastor Jack Bruce from the Woodstock Baptist Church joined us for the first time. Although Pastor Jack had returned from Johannesburg already some years ago, I had only met him the previous Sunday morning at a combined service with members of a Salt River fellowship consisting overwhelmingly of Central African refugees. At Signal Hill we engaged in only a short time of prayer because of the drizzle, thereafter resuming the prayer time in our home.  There we were indeed in the clouds again – in another way! With Jack Bruce and Stephan van Niekerk[31] I experienced a close bond after we had decided to continue the prayer meeting in our home. That morning we also found out that the Lord had given Stephan a vision years ago with regard to the revival that was to start from the Cape.

At the same occasion Celia Swanepoel invited us to a Christian celebration in Melkbosch Strand of the Feast of Tabernacles the following week. Another believer, Sarah Bock, had meticulously put together the big Tabernacle structure, true to size.

What a blessing this celebration was to us! While we were praying, God gave a picture to one of the participants of a torch being ignited like the one for the Olympic Games. In the ensuing days I was deeply blessed by what God was indeed doing.  I was especially excited about what was happening amongst young people. New vibrant churches had been starting in recent years in our vicinity with predominantly young people. The new generation would be torch bearers of the Gospel in the years to come. It was very special to hear soon hereafter of more celebrations of the Feast of Tabernacles that had been taking places in different churches, including a special victory over demonic manifestation at Logos Christian Church in Brackenfell.
On a very personal level, the guilt of the Church at large in respect of Islam and Judaism kept me burdened.  The disunity of the Body of Christ, along with the lack of networking between churches, remained to me another big heartache despite verbal proclamations to the contrary by certain individuals.

A national outreach effort to coincide with the 2010 Soccer World Cup called The Ultimate Goal (TUG) presented the Church at the Cape with another chance to get out of its indifference and lethargy. We latched onto this effort expectantly.

God's new Thing sprouts

At a prayer breakfast at the Lighthouse in Parow on Friday 2 October, 2009 I was asked to introduce Eternal Goal, the Muslim Evangelism part of TUG. I highlighted from Luke 5 how Peter and the other disciples saved the big fish catch. This was only made possible because they called their colleagues in the other  boat. I challenged the pastors present to network, so that the main unreached people group of our region, the Cape Muslims, could hear the Gospel properly.

I was in the clouds again in the days hereafter as I heard here and there how God has been at work not only all over the Peninsula, but especially in the City Bowl, in Bo-Kaap and Sea Point among young people. It was special to sense a semblance of  unity of the Body of Christ coming about in the run-up to the World Cup.

After our return in September 2009 from a six-week stint in Europe, we heard of quite a few things that God has been birthing in the area of prayer for the city. During 2009 three new vibrant churches had been starting in Sea Point and the fellowship with foreigners in the Schotse Kloof Community Centre in Bo-Kaap was still going strong.  Just before our departure in July I heard about a group of Christians linked to the legal fraternity praying in a Wales Street office once a week at lunchtime. We linked up more with a few of them, some of whom were attending new City Bowl and Sea Point fellowships. I also heard of new prayer occasions in the City Bowl that had been running already for some time, including a weekly prayer meeting in Prestwich Street near to Bo-Kaap . Furthermore, it was so good to hear that the Common Ground fellowship of Rondebosch would start with evening services on 18 October 2009 in the historic St Stephen's Church.  Prior to that formal start, they met for prayer for the city at large every Thursday at 17.30 p.m. at that venue.

It was also encouraging to hear that a group of young White people (delete words) were meeting on Monday evenings in prayer for the city at St Barnabas Church in Tamboerskloof. It did trouble me however that these groups did not seem to have any real interest to come together with other believers for prayer or to link up with other believers who pray on Signal Hill or in the Civic Centre or Provincial Parliament. I continue praying that I may be able forge links in this regard.

On 9 October 2009 I got very excited to hear in Khayelitsha about the Dream Team at the regional event of Worldwide Evangelization Network of South Africa (WENSA).  The 'Dream Team' is a group of young Blacks, an effervescent ministry and endeavour started by Hester Veldsman in 2003. She attempts to prepare these youngsters for missionary involvement. I had a sense of excitement, a feeling that the torch of revival could have been brought to Khayelitsha in the spiritual realm.

            On Saturday 10 October 2009, at the early morning prayer in the Civic Centre, we were blessed to hear that we can now have a mass pray event on March 22, 2010 in the new  Stadium in Green Point once again. This was an answer to prayer. At this occasion in the City Council Chambers God also gave a picture to a brother of a well that was dry originally, but which was filling up until it overflowed. And thereafter people would take the buckets of water from Cape Town to other places.  Was this about to happen, that buckets of living water would be taken shortly to the rest of our continent and even further afield?

The following day the metropolitan City Hall was the venue for a special 'countdown' - 369 days to the start of the third Lausanne International Conference. The first event in the city that gave the movement its name in 1974 brought evangelicals and ecumenicals together in holistic mission after it had been proclaimed that it was not necessary any more to send missionaries to Africa. At the City Hall event it was highlighted that the 2010 Lausanne III Conference would have to redress major wrongs of what happened a hundred years previously, namely the disenfranchisement of people of colour at the start of the Union of South Africa and at the big conference in Edinburgh where Africa was not invited. It was still regarded then as the 'dark' continent. How we can now praise the Lord for what he is doing! Africa is now not predominantly a mission field any more, but a mission force - a continent that is sending out missionaries! 

Religious leaders' Meeting with President Jacob Zuma

The religious leaders meeting on 17 October 2009 with President Jacob Zuma at Bishopscourt, a posh Cape suburb,  gave an interesting perspective on a possible change of government policy on moral issues. It afforded religious leaders the opportunity to get a first hand account of Zuma's personal ideas on the political and social challenges facing the nation.

Although representatives of all major religions were present, Mr. Zuma repeatedly described himself as a Christian and referred several times to Scripture to underscore his point. The State President challenged the Church to go beyond prayer and to find ways to ‘advise’ government on social and policy issues. He said laws on the nation’s statute books that are not in line with God’s Laws need to be revisited. He even warned South Africa about the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah. Coming from someone whose track record on sexual morality was far from impeccable,  this was nowhere credible. He had also not yet given any proof of remorse or a willingness to at least acknowledge some of the alleged fraud charges brought against him. Or was this already part of real change, a miracle in answer to prayer?  Time will have to tell.

The World Cup looms                                                                                                                                    On Saturday 3 October 2009 we had a brain storming session with a few local Christians with a sense of calling to reach out lovingly to Muslims not only during the upcoming World Cup, but also after the hype of the global event would have passed. A two-pronged strategy was confirmed. Next to the normal training of believers for loving outreach to Muslims, the converts from that background suggested that we attempt to gather all Cape Muslim background believers s once again.

Not only positives appeared on the horizon as preparations increased for the World Cup. Thus also in government circles it was highlighted that the country would not have enough prostitutes to meet the expected demand of sex tourists. Ahead of the Global sports event, human trafficking started to increase.  Cases of children being trafficked were coming to light. We became more aware of prostitutes from Eastern Europe already here in Cape Town, masquerading as dancers, who have to 'pay back' R 80,000 to the syndicate who brought them here. It became known that another syndicate - using Swahili and other African languages - was operating in the Northern suburbs of the city. They lured teenage school girls for 'week- end pocket money'. Teenagers received SMS offers of up to R1000 an hour for sex work. 

Pastor Errol Naidoo and his Family Policy Institute convened a meeting on 27 October 2009 between Western Cape Pastors and the City of Cape Town officials to address the growing threat of the illegal sex industry. Approximately 150 pastors and ministry workers from across the city were briefed by the mayoral Committee Member for safety and security, Mr J.P. Smith, on the purpose of the vice squad, the challenges they face, opposition from the Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Task force (SWEAT), and the need for more involvement from the Church.                                                                                            The response from Pastors was overwhelmingly positive. The metropolis was divided into four parts, to facilitate the efficient and effective ministry to prostitutes. Churches in these areas were asked to be responsible for establishing ministry teams to prostitutes and will focus on ‘hotspots’ in their respective areas. Ministry teams would operate parallel to law enforcement. Marge Ballin (Balm of Gilead Ministries) and Madri Bruwer of Straatwerk, both of whom had been ministering to prostitutes for many years, would be available to assist the churches.

A task force was established to drive the process and asked to meet regularly with government and law enforcement officials.  The task team would also raise funds and develop more safe houses and exit programs for prostitutes.

En route to the Soccer World Cup                                                              

It became quite strategic when Anaclet Mbayagu from Burundi asked me to join the The Ultimate Goal (TUG) outreach preparations for the Soccer World Cup. I joined the Western Cape co-ordinating group, happy to link Andre Palmer and his team with people like Barry Isaacs, Errol Naidoo and Loraine Wood.

    In another exciting dynamic two American believers, Hope Bushby and Patty Carlson, who attended the prayer walk against human trafficking with Loraine Wood and their team at the Western Cape TUG launch in Three Anchor Bay on 24 October, were inspired to return for the World Cup with a group of believers for around the clock prayer during of the global sports event.                                             

Setbacks for SWEAT                                                                                                                                 That God was answering prayers and working in mysterious ways, his wonders to perform became evident when Pastor Errol Naidoo reported on Thursday 12 November 2009 of his interaction with Ellen Jordan, a prominent brothel owner that took her case to legalise prostitution all the way to the Constitutional Court in 2002. The cost for her failed attempt was in the region of R3, 2 million. Ellen Jordan informed Pastor Naidoo that she had a miraculous experience with the Lord in her hospital room in April 2009, committing her life to Jesus Christ! Ellen almost died from complications with a ruptured colon, but God intervened and spared her life. The ex-lesbian, ex drug addict, former brothel and homosexual club owner, who had been responsible for leading the fight to legalize the sex industry in South Africa, was now confessing Jesus Christ as her Lord and Saviour!

This amounted to a major setback for  SWEAT. Ellen indicated that she now wanted to join the fight against legalised prostitution, including 'recruiting women for Jesus because she recruited women for the dark side in the past'. She became a powerful ally to help us expose the lies and deception disseminated by SWEAT and the liberal media.

That Ellen Jordan came to personal faith in Jesus as her Saviour already in April 2009, but only surfaced in November 2009, was described by Errol Naidoo as God’s perfect timing. It followed significant developments in the battle against legalised prostitution. He also highlighted the need of the unity of  the Body of Christ responding in faith and fulfilling its mandate to be ‘Salt and Light’ to society. 'God shows up in miraculous ways to encourage and strengthen our efforts.'

A National Week of Prayer

A national Week of Prayer was announced for the last week of November 2009.  In the Western Cape this was to culminate in a star prayer march to Riebeeck Square next to the historic St Stephen's Church. It was no surprise that this seemed to usher in another season of intensified spiritual warfare with the petrol bombing of the offices of Jericho Walls in Stellenberg on the night of Saturday 14 November. God's protecting hand was nevertheless evident as one bomb did not detonate. The water damage of the fire extinguishing operation caused by the other bomb was minimal.  

A task force around Pastor Errol Naidoo and March Ballin met with leaders of the City Council on Tuesday 24 November around the effort to fight human trafficking and prostitution ahead of the 2010 World Cup. Ellen Jordan, the former brothel owner, was pivotal in these discussions and the press conference that followed it. The distortions and deception of SWEAT was exposed in an unprecedented way.

No Sign of Revival                                                                                                                                 Rather by chance we saw a poster of a Muslim-Christian debate to be held in Sea Point on Friday 11 December, 2009.  I discovered in the next few days that hardly anybody known to us who was involved with Muslim Outreach, knew of the debate. I decided to write emails to invite pastors and prayer warriors to a special prayer meeting, stating that Muslims usually rock up in big numbers at such occasions - especially keeping in mind the proximity of Sea Point to Bo-Kaap. In my email to local pastors I furthermore proposed that we should not engage in competition or rivalry in terms of numbers attending the Sea Point event.  I also wrote: Instead, we would like you to encourage your church numbers who would want to attend, to come with a loving and prayerful attitude and definitely not seeing Muslims as enemies of Christians or Jews.'                                                                                  The debate did not provide fireworks in any way, but God seemed to have the last word. The electronic projector got stuck while it beamed a slide on the screen of the victorious Jesus standing there with a dove above him, reminding all and sundry of His baptism, where the divine voice proclaimed: 'this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.' It was there on the screen for many a minute.

           

Modern jihad methods

At an Islamic conference in Abuja, Nigeria, a new strategy was set out to bring Africa into the Islamic fold completely. Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa would be targeted as strategic countries in the West, East and South of the African continent. Somalians brought a new version of jihad into play in 2009. Pirates received millions of dollars from the ransom for ships with valuable cargo on board that were sailing past their coastline. The revenue was partly used for the expansion in Kenya, e.g. for the building of mosques in that country. In Nigeria churches were burned and insurrection stirred up between Christians and Muslims. Around the centrally situated city Jos, retaliation of certain Christians played into the hands of Islamists, leading to the killing of scores of Christians in the first months of 2010.           

At the Cape Islam expanded quietly, e.g. through the use of petrodollars and the flexing of economic muscles. In the Gatesville-Rylands residential area the Muslims already boasted the biggest mosque at the Cape and a massive Islamic educational institution. In recent times the minute Christian presence took a big blow when the former manse of the Indian Reformed Church was bought up by Muslims. They eagerly spread the rumour that they would buy up all the churches of the area. On another page, Somalians bought up shops, also penetrating into the CBD.

            On Wednesday 19 May 2010 Rosemarie came back from their bead jewellery workshop, she shared that her African ladies said almost in unison that xenophobia is increasing once again. They have even been harassed in trains and threatened. They would be attacked and killed after the World Cup. This was scary stuff. I was reminded how the bishop of Johannesburg, Desmond Tutu warned the government of the day in vain of the anger amongst the youth in 1976. The warning was not heeded, leading subsequently to the tragic Soweto massacre of learners. I immediately took the message to the opening of the Global Day of Prayer Conference in the Cape Town Convention Centre on 19 May 2010, sharing it with Barry Isaacs.  I was thankful to hear that a TV report mentioned that these threats were also uttered in other parts of the country.

            In answer to prayer and due to the alert and persistent actions of Anglican Catholic Bishop Alan Kenyon, the threat could be defused. He got the task force of President Zuma involved. Foreigners supplied the number plates of three cars that disseminated inciting pamphlets in the Black townships. These cars could be tracked to addresses in Grassy Park. This was possibly another PAGAD-related attempt to destabilize the country towards preparing the soil for an Islamic jihad.

            At the moving opening ceremony of the Global Day of Prayer Conference on Wednesday 19 May, 2010 the South African flag was nailed to a big cross in a prophetic act. Prior to this, three leaders prayed in repentance and confession respectively on behalf of the Khoi, indigenous people of South Africa, the Black tribes that arrived later in Southern Africa and for the Afrikaners and the other nations who arrived subsequently. The whole evening was bathed in an atmosphere of contrition and remorse. Humanly speaking, the scene was set for a mighty move of God's Spirit.  Seed was sown for the spiritual renewal of the African continent, that might become a light to the nations. A second theme running through the drama on the stage was a fire - revival fire to be lit. At the closing ceremony a prophetic word through came that God had released his angels to assist in bringing about transformation.

            Rosemarie and I were privileged to sense a snippet of the divine work behind the scenes after I had received an invitation to a meeting the following day where we would meet Brasilian policemen who attended the Global Day of Prayer (GdoP) Conference.  Jane Flack, a devout prayer warrior who had been leading intercession at the Hout Bay Police Station, had met these Brasilian policemen at the GdoP conference. On Saturday morning 22 May 2010, the Brasilians had with them a moving video produced by our very own YWAM-related Media Village in Muizenberg and Kalk Bay, that depicts how the city of Sao Paulo was transformed through prayer. At the same occasion I also heard of a Christian strategy meeting the following Saturday. I took the bull by the horns to remind the policemen present how their Western Cape leader pre-empted a major catastrophe in 2008 after the increase of xenophobic violence.

Sadly, our attempt to get the DVD to be viewed by members of the Central Police Station in Buitenkant Street via Captain Tania de Freitas, remained unsuccessful to this day. After Brigadier Goverder, a Hindu who was open to divine intervention at the station, had taken over as station commander in the beginning of 2012, he did however take the DVD, indicating that he wanted to have a look. This fed our hopes that it might still be shown to the other policemen of the station as well.

Cape Pioneers of the Church Planting Movement

At the beginning of the new millennium the City Mission discerned that the emphasis on welfare projects and the good name they won through the various ministries, had not been without a cost: their earlier focus on church planting had fallen away and new leadership was not coming through. Charles, the son of the City Mission pioneer Fenner Kadalie, left the more traditional confines to start work on farms in the Philippi area. His wife Val became the directrix of a church planting movement that grew out of their new focus as they searched for men and women of peace. Defining a church planting movement as a church that has planted at least 100 new churches through three generations of reproduced new fellowships in two years, the movement New Generation and their covenant partners has seen many new fellowships started in various African countries throughout the continent. But also in South Africa itself,  through the sacrificial ministry of David Broodryk and from here throughout the continent, new multiplying 'simple churches' mushroomed. The term 'home church' became a misnomer in the movement ably led by the dynamic David Watson, because the groups met in all sorts of venues in the market place and on different days of the week. The strategy was to pray for a 'person of peace' who already had access to some group of unevangelized people in the community that could be reached, evangelised and later discipled.

Chapter 29      Jews First!

           

Saving the World                                                                                                                           Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke is a great friend, mentor and role model to Jarrod Davidoff, leader of Saving the World Foundation.  Reinhard has graciously given Jarrod numerous opportunities to share in his campaigns. 

Jarrod Davidoff was born on 15 December 1972 in Johannesburg, South Africa. He was born Jewish, to both Jewish parents and attended synagogue where he was taught to follow the Jewish religion and the laws of Moses. At twenty years of age, Jarrod began to research if Jesus was the promised Messiah to the Jewish people. Jarrod finally received Jesus as his personal Lord and Messiah.

Most of his family rejected him because of his faith. He was taken to numerous Rabbis, in an attempt to win him back to Judaism, yet the hand of the Lord was upon him to guide and protect him.

Growing up in a Jewish community had its share of challenges, but Jarrod rose to the occasion and was always compassionate and passionate in sharing the Good News. Jarrod and his team have been conducting mass city-wide outreach campaigns, which resulted in tens of thousands of people coming to faith in Jesus.

Jarrod and the team were in Cape Town from August until the end of 2009. Between 350,000 and  400,000 children and teachers were reached in the Greater Cape Town Schools Campaign, during well over 600 School outreaches. Over the week-ends they conducted Gospel Campaigns in such diverse localities as Kraaifontein, Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha. This has been the largest single outreach initiative in Cape Town's history. In information taken from their website, just under 130,000 students, teachers and principals made decisions to receive Jesus as their Lord and Saviour in school outreaches. The big challenge was the follow-up because many of the children and students do not normally attend a church.

Muslim/Jewish Reconciliation

After the arrival of Leigh, missionary linked to Messianic Testimony and her Arab husband Rabbah (Paul) Telli in 2003/4, Rosemarie and I were very much challenged to get Muslim/Jewish dialogue and reconciliation going here at the Cape, but it did not get off the ground immediately.  In 2010 we felt ourselves addressed and challenged to give this greater priority.  At the beginning of 2010 I was deeply moved when I felt challenged in a deep way when I noted that Isaac and Ishmael, the two eldest sons of Abraham, had actually buried their father together (Genesis 25:9).  The evident reconciliation must have been preceded by confession and remorse.

I started to pray more intensely that a representative body of Christians might express regret and offer an apology on behalf of Christians for the side-lining and persecution of Jews by Christians. It is always such a blessing to remind ourselves how the apology at the Rustenberg Church consultation of

November 1990 on behalf of the DRC ushered in a new dispensation in our country.

Sovereign Moves of God

On 11 October 2010 the Lord ministered to me from Romans 1:16 when we received the LCJE Bulletin. In that edition Moishe Rosen, the founder of Jews for Jesus, highlighted 'Jews first' in his paper delivered as part of the Jewish Evangelism track at Lausanne II in Manila, 1989. In the summary of his paper of 1989 he suggested that 'God’s formula' for worldwide evangelization is to bring the gospel to the Jew first.  Highlighting the example of Paul: ‘I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation to all who believe, to the Jew first and also to the Greek’ (Romans 1:16), Rosen suggested in the same paper that ‘by not following God’s programme for worldwide evangelisation – that is, beginning with Jerusalem (Israel, and the Jews) – we not only develop a bad theology because of weak foundations, but we also develop poor missiological practices.’ I felt personally challenged to get more involved with outreach to Jews as well.

            The very next day our friend Brett Viviers, a Messianic Jewish believer, a former elder at Cape Town Baptist Church, whose daughter's prayers were instrumental in linking us up with that fellowship in 1993, visited me.[32] I sensed that this was God at work!

As a result of my meeting Brett again the next day, the resolve was strengthened to meet other Jewish believers and intensify contacts with the few we know. At our meeting Brett was encouraged to read some of my material on the Internet. Hereupon, Brett decided to start Ishmael/Isaac Christian Ministries. After having stopped attending a Sunday congregational church fellowship and rather going on mountain hikes on Sundays, Brett also started frequenting our home fellowship on Wednesday evenings. Brett also joined us on our FFA prayer walks every Thursdays in Bo-Kaap and I went with him on prayer walks in Sea Point on Fridays.

On 19 October we received an email from Liz Campbell, sharing 'that Baruch and Karen Maayan (Rudnick) and their five amazing children are back in Cape Town from Israel.  A quick and sovereign move of God, believe me, and worth coming and finding out why! … we have sent this out to not only those who know Baruch and Karen, but also to those we know will be greatly touched and taught by Baruch's ministry.'

            The meeting on the Saturday afternoon of 23 October at a private address in Milnerton with the Maayan family was a special event. I was very much embarrassed though when I broke down in tears uncontrollably. At that occasion I was completely overwhelmed by a sense of guilt. I was completely overawed by a sense of guilt towards Jews while I felt a deep urge to apologise on behalf of Christians for the fact that the Emperor Constantine and Christian theologians have been side-lining the Jews. Our fore-bears have haughtily suggested that the Church replaced the nation of Israel and the Jews. My weeping was an answer to my prayers, but it was nevertheless very embarrassing, especially as many others present followed suit. (On Signal Hill at the beginning of that month I had stated publicly the need for tears of remorse as a prerequisite for revival and that I was praying for it that I may also genuinely experience this.) The 'sea of tears' however knitted our hearts to the Maayan family. After an absence of 11 years, the Lord had called them back to be part of a movement to take the gospel via house churches from Cape Town throughout the continent of Africa, ultimately back to Jerusalem. Ethiopia featured centrally in his experiences.

Replacement Theology still an Issue?

It was very special for Rosemarie and me to attend the international LCJE Conference on 15 October, for the first time in Cape Town. Folk from all over the world who are somehow involved with outreach to Jews, including of course those who specially came for Lausanne III.  It was however very much of a shock to hear that a few lines in the draft for Lausanne III were supporting Replacement Theology - that the Church has replaced Israel as God's special instrument, missing that we have ben merely grafted into the true olive tree Israel (Romans 11:17)

            On Sunday evening 24 October I received an SMS from our friend Richard Mitchell whether he could come and stay with us for a few days. (We had been working together so closely in the mid and late 1990s in the prayer movement at the Cape and especially in the fight against the PAGAD onslaught and battle against the effort to Islamise the Western Cape, until his departure for the UK in 1999. Richard was also my presenter on the CCFM radio programme 'God changes Lives.') I knew that Richard had been attending Lausanne III, but somehow we could not find a moment to meet each other.

            Tuesday 26 October 2010 was quite eventful as I took Pastor Richard Mitchell along to Noordhoek where we had a wonderful post-Lausanne report back by Floyd McClung, our leader. He requested me to share as well, knowing that Rosemarie and I attended Connected 2010, the conference specially organised for all those who had not been invited to the main event at the International Convention Centre. Rather  spontaneously I however went overboard in Noordhoek, also sharing our concern that a few lines in the draft for Lausanne III were supportive of so-called Replacement Theology. I was promptly called to book in an email the following day, a very painful experience indeed. I had taken for granted that our concern would be shared in the All Nations context. The email rattled me quite a lot when I had to discover how deep-seated the effects of Replacement Theology still is among evangelicals.  This was even more so when we had to learn that also at the Convention Centre they needed a lot of further deliberation to draft wording which could be included in the final Cape Town Commitment document.

Cape Jewish-Muslim Relations

On Wednesday afternoon, 27 October 2010, we had a meeting lined up to launch Jewish-Muslim Reconciliation under the banner of the Lamb together with Achmed Kariem and Brett Viviers. It was very special to have the Hindu back-ground Richard Mitchell alongside me. He linked up wonderfully with Brett. We agreed to invite a few followers of Jesus from Jewish and Muslim background to a meeting on Saturday 30 November.

            A week prior to this event, I received an SMS from Baruch Mayaan who invited me to a meeting at a lunch time Gardens meeting, together with Ahmed Kariem. He informed us of their intention to have evenings of fellowship and prayer at the home of Gay French in Claremont as from the following Monday.

            Leigh and Rosemarie attended a synagogue service on Friday evening on 3 December, 2010.  Rosemarie was deeply touched to discover that Yeshua occurred so often in the Hebrew transcription of the liturgy used, which means salvation. We pray that the Lord may remove the veil and open Jewish eyes to discern Him, their Messiah on whom so many of them are eagerly waiting.

            For 16 December 2010 we had a 'Reconciliation Braai' scheduled, with believers from Jewish and Muslim background, along with a few others who longed to see 'Following the Lamb' as the route to go forward into 2011. 

            A few days later Brett, Rosemarie and I started attended a prayer meeting at the home of Gay French in Claremont with Baruch and Karen Maayan where the issue of praying for the veil to be removed, was quite central. It was highlighted that there are actually more than one veil. Jews have to discern that Yeshuah is the Messiah. Christians have been deceived to believe that the nation of Israel has been replaced by the Church. Muslims still have to discover that Muhammad was no prophet at all. In all cases it would need divine intervention to change the vision within the various groups. The very strategic and powerful prayer meetings reminded me very much of our pivotal Friday lunch hour meetings from 1992.

Muslims disillusioned with Islam

More and more Muslims started to discover that the violence evinced by some of their co-religionists is not an aberration, but that it is inspired by the teachings of the Qur’an in different places. Muslims started becoming disillusioned with Islam. They are finding out that the mechanical ritual of praying five times per day, reciting verses that they do not understand, mean very little. They discern that getting up at taxing hours of the morning and abstaining from food and water until the sunset during Ramadan are not means to becoming more spiritual. These enlightened Muslims do not fear mongering verses of the Qur’an that threaten to roast them in the fires of hell if they dare to think and question its validity.

The Arab Spring

The bewilderment in Islam became a spiral throughout the Middle East after the expression of disillusionment of Egyptian youth on 25 January 2011. Forceful clampdown by the forces of President Mubarak ultimately led to his government. Every day thousands of Muslim intellectuals started leaving Islam. They find Islam inconsistent with science, logics, human rights and ethics. Millions of Iranians have already left Islam. The enlightened Muslims of other nationalities started to follow suit. Islam is facing the beginning of its demise, a mass exodus. It is a movement that is already in motion and nothing will be able to stop it.

However, the exodus from Islam is not reserved to the intellectuals. Also average Muslims are finding that Islam is not the way to God but to ignorance, poverty and wars. They are leaving Islam to embrace other religions, especially Christianity.

Perhaps it is best to listen to the truth coming from the mouth of the horse. Already in 2009 the web site aljazeera.net published an interview with Ahmad Al Qataani, an important Islamic cleric, voicing alarm at this tendency.                                                                                                                      Followers of Jesus must now however guard themselves against triumphalism. With compassion we must pray that the disillusioned, despondent and seeking Muslims might find peace at heart via the best way without doubt - through living faith in the One who died also for their sins.

Devil's Peak to be renamed?

At the beginning of 2011 the Lord put the public manifestation of the unity of the Body of Christ on my heart once again, this time via the possible renaming of 'Devil's Peak'. I was well aware that the contentious issue came up for discussion in the city council some years ago. I believe that the matter was not handled well in 2002 – in my view abused to score political points. I was ultimately referred to the Western Cape Provincial government. With municipal elections due later that year, we were wary of repeating the same mistake.  We did not want the issue to become embroiled in the run-up to the elections.

          On election day our little group, i.e. Pastor Barry Isaacs, Advocate Murray and myself deliberated again. We requested Barry Isaacs to take the matter to the executive of the Religious Forum for input from that side as well. The matter turned out to be quite an issue. Murray Bridgman did some persevering stalwart work into the process but only by the end of 2013 there appeared some light at the end of the tunnel.

                                                            22. Conclusion

The issue of general confession by Christian leaders for failings in respect of Islam and Judaism cropped up again and again in my mind. In my view not only Christian theologians, but also many rank and file followers of our Lord and Saviour have been estranging Jews and Muslims, driving them away from personal faith in the Jesus of the Gospels. I sensed however that I had no right to push the issue, unless I had genuine deep remorse in my own heart as well. Using James 5:16 as a cue, I had been sharing my dilemma with our Friends from Abroad team colleagues at our Discipling House in Mowbray and with other intercessors. I started to pray that God would sow seeds into my own heart anew, a genuine love and compassion for the lost, the weary, the needy and the destitute.  On the other hand, it seems like a major miracle is needed for this to happen.  The opposite seems to happen worldwide. The syncretist mixing of the two world religions  - called Chrislam – gains ground slowly and even the reputable Wycliffe Bible Translators collaborated together with an evangelical mission agency in the preparation of bible translations where the Fatherhood of God and the Sonship of Jesus is compromised.

I pray that the present book might radiate and verbalise in a loving and unjudgmental way not only my sorrow and disappointment around failures of the Church at large. Simultaneously I pray: ‘Lord, forbid that the publication would further harden attitudes to these groups. Let it rather serve as seed for revival in our city, our country and our continent!’

All sorts of open-ended questions kept on milling through my head. For example, I have been asking myself how the wider Body of Christ could get involved in transformation in a meaningful way. Through our deficient collective response in June 2008 to the wide-spread xenophobia we may have missed one of the most wonderful chances given to us. Nevertheless, we are thankful that the tragedy of mid-2008 unified the body of Christ to some extent.  How are we going to respond to the challenges of 2012?

Special Divine Instruments

We should keep in mind that the Bible is full of examples of pariahs and outsiders of their society that God used in powerful ways. Ever since my studies at the Moravian Theological Seminary in District Six from 1971 to 1973, I have been sensitive to this phenomenon. The greatest instruments in the hand of the Almighty seem to have been repentant people like changed murderers (such as Moses, King David and Paul). He also used a liberated former demon-possessed prostitute like Mary Magdalene. (She became the carrier of the evangel, the Good News of the resurrection of our Lord – John 20:18).

We are still on the lookout for unlikely people from a secular perspective - like the morally despicable Samaritan woman of John 4 - to ignite divine fire on our continent in a big way. After all, didn’t God possibly use her to prepare the revival in Samaria (Acts 8), which in turn moved Philip? (This Greek-speaking deacon was the divine instrument to minister to the Ethiopian eunuch, who became the first known indigenous evangelist to the African continent.) The woman whom everyone in the village of Sychar may have despised, was God’s channel to nudge the villagers towards the discovery that Jesus was indeed the Saviour of the World (John 4:42). In our own country, the stubborn female Khoi Vehettge Vittuie of Baviaanskloof – who got the name Magdalena at her baptism - became Gods special channel in the run-up to the first church to be planted by missionaries in Genadendal.  And in recent still unrecorded history, God used former satanists and gang leaders in limited local transformation at the Cape.

Possible Signs of a genuine Revival

What could be signs of the beginnings of a genuine revival in the Cape Peninsula, which would usher in a massive movement of God on the African continent?

I believe that a significant move of the Holy Spirit among Jews and Muslims at the Cape would be a sure sign that the fervently awaited spiritual renewal has arrived, that a divine visitation is a reality and not a manipulated or hyped-up revival. This would be a miracle of such magnitude that no human being could have brought it into being.

Followers of Jesus could play a special role through intensified intercession and compassionate sharing  the love of our Master - that God may reveal himself to Jews and Muslims in places like Sea Point and Bo-Kaap, the respective strongholds of the other two Abrahamic religions in the Mother City of South Africa. It is our vision to get followers of Jesus Christ – including those from Islamic background and Jews whose eyes have been opened to Him as their Messiah – moving forward in a united way. This would be completely in line with Genesis 25:9, where the two sons of Abraham buried their father together – evidence of true reconciliation. This must have had a run-up where Ishmael and Isaac had put the mistakes and sins of their parents aside. We should take this as a special challenge for the Church to be a catalyst, to enable this where possible. I want to remain open for correction. It is my present conviction that the provocation of Jews – possibly through expression of regret, remorse, repentance and confession for pride and arrogance of the Church – might just be the trigger to ignite the dynamite. The Church must still discover by and large that the Gospel is dynamis, the power of God unto salvation ….to the Jews first (Romans 1:16). There is evidence that the Mother City of South Africa could be the advance guard of a special move of God in this regard.

A possible Catalyst towards spiritual Renewal

I believe that the combined expression of the Body of Christ in remorseful confession and repentance could be a catalyst towards spiritual renewal. It would be great if local churches could muster forces in prayer and action towards godly governance on the short term. How wonderful it would be if church leaders could be the channel, to express regret which could ignite remorse; e.g. that so many of our forebears claimed that the Church came in the place of the nation of Israel; that some of our co-religionists like Waraqah bin Naufal have been misleading Muhammad and because of that, millions are now caught in the web of religious bondage; that the Church - via our colonial heritage - has also profited from a multitude of power-related transgressions against indigenous peoples.

The acknowledgment that Islam is the result of heretical Christianity and distorted Judaism could be another possible catalyst for worldwide spiritual renewal.[33] A precedent has been set in Rustenburg in 1990 when White participants confessed their racial arrogance toward Black culture. It is high time that the Church in this country should follow this up regarding Judaism, Islam and systematic economic exploitation. It is my firm belief that the verbalizing of remorseful regret – along with any restitution that might be appropriate - could go some way towards ushering in a new future for all of us on the African continent and beyond, as followers of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords! In Luke 4:18-21 our Lord has set out the path of God’s mission to the world, viz. an evangelizing dimension – Good News to the poor; a healing and liberating dimension - restoring sight to the blind and freedom to the oppressed, also to the spiritually blind and those bound with religious chains!

Before the worldwide revival in 1904, which started in Wales, there was a period of 7-8 years where the thrust of prayer began increasing all over the world in many countries. In Wales there was suddenly an increase in prayer since 1897, a hunger for revival and a deep concern about the state of the Church. This was accompanied by a sense of awe at the holiness of God and a deep awareness of sin. This element seems to be present in all genuine revivals.

Believers in Wales prayed for seven years for revival with increasing intensity. Thereafter nations started to prosper; poverty was dealt a severe blow. That is the sort of result we would like to see! Thankfully, something similar to this has started again in different countries, possibly much wider than the one at the turn of the 20^th century, but not nearly as deep in remorse over sinful ways.

There is yet another signal that could indicate that revival will have arrived; that is, if local churches start to drop their narrow parochial mind-sets, and begin to radiate the image of the rainbow nation, reflecting a full spectrum of colours of the manifold wisdom of God (Ephesians 3:10).[34] 

However, tolerance of sin might be a stumbling block and obstacle to revival. The acknowledgement and confession of the intolerable weight of guilt has occasionally caused revivals of great proportions. The last time this happened in South Africa was in the mid-1960s.  In the tribal 'homeland' of Kwazulu Pastor Erlo Stegen was overwhelmed by his racial prejudice. His confession and restitution ushered in the Kwasiza Bantu revival, impacting the country in a big way breaking down race prejudice in an unprecedented manner. Confession also played a significant role in the start of the prayer movement in recent decades when Gerda Leithgöb and her prayer warrior colleagues started to offer remorseful confession at the Voortrekker Monument in Pretoria.

          May the Lord give to us deep remorse for the triplets of abomination that plague our country. Arrogance towards people of other religions seems to be very deep-seated. Humility in sharing the Gospel to all and sundry would be appropriate.

Let us pray that the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Holiness, may bring about a deep and broad sense of dependence on God, genuine remorse and confession of sinful practices.

The sharing of resources – material and spiritual – and the visible demonstration across the board that all walls of partition have been broken down by the Calvary event, would be a signpost indicating that we are en route to God’s new age, to the reign of the Messiah.  The event on the new Cape Town Stadium on 22 March 2010, was such an opportunity. This does not mean that every fellowship would be involved with all these aspects, but as the Church – spelled with the capital C, the Body of Christ- joins and networks, the coming of our Bridegroom is being ushered in. Together we cry out with joy and expectation: Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus, our King of Kings!

Appendix 1

Calling Upon Cape Town

Prophecy of Johan Boot 29 August 1998

Isaiah 43:18-20 'Forget the former things.  Do not dwell in the past.  See, I am doing a new thing. Now it springs up do you not perceive it?  I am making a way!  Streams in the wastelands ... to give drink to my people. 

I am doing a new thing in the city of Cape Town.  Now is the time that I will re-establish her calling.  For she has failed many times in what I have called her for.  But yet again, I will raise up a people to fulfill this call.  Cape Town is called as a cornerstone for the Gospel in Africa.  Upon her foundation My Kingdom and good news into Africa was built.  Yet she has lifted up her head and has turned from her calling.  She has been made drunk with the wine of sinners and has fallen asleep.  She is being taken over by the wicked and her calling has been forgotten.

Yet, I am again calling my people to arise and take up the responsibility to fulfill this call. I will shake this city with My anger and flood it with My grace.  I will shake it so that all will know that I am not pleased.  Yet, I will pour out My grace that those who hear My call will be drawn into My Kingdom.  I am raising a new generation who will re-establish my call upon Africa and who will run like men with wings into Africa to accomplish what I have called her to do.  I am calling (all) the spiritual fathers in this city to come together to form an army of workers who will re-establish the spiritual foundations of Cape Town.

He lifts up a banner for the (distant) nations.  He whistles for those at the ends of the earth.  Here they come swiftly and speedily (Isaiah 5:26).

When the foundation of Cape Town are firmly laid in unity upon my purpose for Africa, I will open the gates into Africa.  These are spiritual gates that have been locked for ages that I will open when my people will come as one and will walk in unity and humility.  (Isaiah 58:12, 'Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and raise up the foundations of many generations and you will be called the repairer of broken walls, restorer of streets with dwellings.')  When the spiritual fathers in the city unite, I will open the gates and My people will be released to fulfill the task.  I will release the spirit of love and wisdom to operate through My apostles and prophets in this city to lay foundations and to release My purposes into Africa. (Habakkuk 3:2 Lord, I have heard of your fame, I stand in awe of Your deeds. O Lord, renew/revive in our time, make them known in wrath remember mercy.)  Isaiah 62:10, Pass through, pass through the gates!  Prepare the way for the people.  Build up the highway, remove the stones, raise a banner for the nations.

When the foundation is established, I will raise up the young ones to go through the gates to build up the highway for the preparation of my coming (Isaiah 5 and Joel 2). 

I will raise up a banner to the nations that will be carried along this highway into Africa.  My name shall be lifted up in this continent.  For those who are first will be last and those who are last will be first.  I will use this foundation laid by my apostles and prophets to be an example to the nations.

In the place where satan has tried to divide and destroy, I will lay a cornerstone of unity.  Because of the division between Black and White through the ages, My power could not be fully released upon this continent. 

(I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them.  I will remove their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.  Then, they will follow and keep My law. Ezekiel 11;19)

If my people in Cape Town will pray, humble themselves, repent, and come as one people before Me, I will open the gates and My Spirit shall be released upon Africa.

(Joel 2:28 And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh, Your sons and your daughters shall prophecy…)

Many have spoken and prophesied about the revival that will begin in Cape Town.  'this is the key to that revival,' says the Lord.  Yet, the foundation may not be selfish, for then the revival will not come.  If the foundation is to release my people to go through and build up the highway into Africa I will send the revival.  Until that day of unity and the laying of new foundations in unity, I will not release My Spirit and blessing.  This is not the call upon one church and one group, but it is the call upon My whole Church in Cape Town.  Unless you all come as one, I will not do this.

Therefore reach out to your brother, repent for your pride and arrogance and come in unity before Me, for then I will command My blessing.

I will use the apostles and prophets in this city to gather others and to begin to run into Africa with My purpose and call.  As you move up into Africa and build up the highway and remove the stones, the church will move as one. Each one will leave his own house and will begin to build on the house of the Lord.

Yes, many will laugh and will say this is impossible, but I am He Who will act on behalf of My people.  And the world shall come to this city and they will learn from the fathers in the city and I will raise up a banner here that will never go down until I return.  It will be a place where people of the world shall come to see the power of God as it flows from the foundations of the apostles and prophets.  In many places you will find larger churches and revivals in Africa, but in no other place will you find the foundations as pure and strong.  The fathers in the city shall walk as one and shall not turn against each other, each one going his own way. 

(He is the sure foundation of our time, a rich stone of salvation.  Wisdom and knowledge, the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure.)

Arise and shine, for My light is upon you!  I am waiting for your unity, that I might fulfill My call and purpose in Africa.

Appendix 3

Excerpt from the Family Policy Institute Newsletter - January 2010, written by Errol Naidoo

On Friday 29 January, I presented an oral submission on the Review of Gambling Legislation to the Portfolio Committee on Trade & Industry in Parliament. Significantly, this was my first oral presentation to the 4^th Democratic Parliament since it was sworn in during April 2009.

Following my presentation which focussed on the devastating impact of legalized gambling on the family, I nervously waited for the response from the ANC dominated Parliamentary Committee.

I was pleasantly surprised however, when ANC stalwart, Professor Ben Turok, responded by thanking me for what he described as “the best submission he’s heard in that Committee”.

Various members of the Committee, including those from opposition parties agreed and even thanked me for taking a moral and pragmatic approach to addressing legalized gambling.

What's so remarkable about this is the fact that it confirms government’s shift in attitude toward the Church – further supporting the view that you & I will be given unprecedented opportunity to influence the nation this year. Whenever I presented a moral and pro-family argument to Parliament in the past, I was shot down for “imposing my views on others”...

Door opening

On Friday 26 September 2009 Family Policy Institute hosted Project Care’s first major meeting for 2010 at the Cape Town Baptist Church. A broad alliance of 18 Christian organisations linked forces under the Project Care banner to fight human trafficking and legalised prostitution in South Africa.

Some of the ministries involved are, Stop Trafficking Of People (STOP), Justice Acts, Not for Sale, Justice Alliance of South Africa (JASA), Christian Action Network (CAN), Victory International, Straatwerk, Inter-outreach Ministries, Feet of Mercy, Grace Outreach and Arts in Action.

Thankfully, many Churches have awakened to the growing threat of human trafficking & are joining the alliance of Church movements & ministries to end the sexual exploitation of women & children.

The Dream: Africa Ablaze with God's Glory

…I had a powerful dream and saw the continent of Africa with fires being lit all over it. East Africa was ablaze and this was the first part of Africa to ignite, but the fire of God was not limited only to the East. It touched Nigeria, the west, and ran like a river of fire down from the north to the south also. The continent changed to a scroll and I was instructed to swallow the scroll in my dream. I did this and my belly became full of the fire of God burning within me. The fire began to flow from my belly and different African nations were discernible in form in the fire. The fire speaks of the coming revival and a move of God in Africa…

… I ... saw again the continent of Africa, and understood I was looking down through many centuries of time into the past. I witnessed nations come from the west to enslave Africans and my heart was broken. Then an amazing thing happened in my dream as we transitioned to present-time revelation: The "tables were turned" and the one who had formerly been enslaved was now no longer a slave; and this African person reached out in mercy to the one from the west who had made them a slave, and immediately bridges of mercy appeared all over Africa.

The release of mercy caused Africa's borders to extend as bridges of God's mercy were sent to reach the nations. The bridges speak of African Believers anointed with the mercy of God to bring restoration to those who are now enslaved to sin in the west. Africa grew in size in my dream as God's mercy was extended—…

… God spoke to me by His Spirit and said, "The Enslaved shall become the Emancipator." Under the anointing described in Isaiah 61, African Believers are being sent out to the nations to bring deliverance to western nations who are now entrenched (and thus enslaved) in sin. …

… Africa is a gateway continent, which means that whatever is bound and loosed in Africa, will therefore be bound and loosed on the earth. Through Africa, the west can receive blessing or cursing, depending on who is doing the binding and the loosing! If the Church in Africa will rise up and take her place in divine destiny, God is going to release mighty waves of His redemptive glory through African ministers and ministries that will bring transformation to the nations.

Time for a Change of Mindset

… it is time for a shift in our mindset. It is not about what the west can bring to Africa; it is about how black and white can come together in the divine purposes of God to execute His will in the nations. May God grant us wisdom and revelation to understand our calling and its context in this hour as we walk in Holy Spirit inspired alliances…

Vision of the White Horse and the Revival Elephant

I received this vision during worship at our conference on Thursday, 21 January 2010:

In a vision I saw a magnificent white horse riding towards me; it was powerful and immediately I thought that this could be the type of horse that Christ might ride upon as the Lord of Hosts. Suddenly, the vision changed and before me was a majestic African elephant running at full speed and with absolute focus. It was a breathtaking picture of beauty and power.

The Holy Spirit said to me, "The western world thinks revival is coming on a white horse, but tell the earth to get ready because revival is coming in an unstoppable 'elephant stampede.'" The elephant speaks of the tribes of Africa as they go forth carrying the glory of God to change the nations. This does not mean that western nations will not be used by God in end-time revival, but God wants us to understand the place of Africa in His end-time destiny for nations…

The fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it; it shall not go out.

Lev.6:12

To think that one praying church in the community of Hernnhut, almost 300 years ago, continued to pray for more than 100 years in one room, giving birth to the modern day missions movement as we know it! What can be God’s plan as thousands of 24/7 prayer watches around the world continue to grow?

The ONE DAY Call

This year, exactly 150 years ago on the day of Pentecost, the revival broke out in the community of Paarl in the Western Cape Province.  This revival impacted various communities across South Africa and the world and had a profound impact on society.

At a gathering of leaders, representing different prayer networks in South Africa, in Pretoria recently, a strong call was made to mobilise the whole Body of Christ for the year 2011 to pray for revival.  An initiative called ONE DAY in the gap was adopted as a 24/7 prayer strategy for the local church, by the local church.  As part of this strategy, a local church would choose a day in the year 2011 to organise themselves to pray focussed for revival for one day of 24 hours. Some churches/prayer watches may even consider having more than one day throughout the year or even continue for a longer period like three days.

The Fire Trails initiative was born to unite National Ministries, Movements and Churches in South Africa for a period of 40 days (6 March – 16 April 2011), to support and serve local communities towards sustainable and biblical transformation. Four “trails” and two shorter “tracks” will be covered by action groups, visiting towns and cities on invitation. Other towns and cities, not on the “trail routes” are forming “stations” with events in their own communities. Christians and congregations in South Africa are invited to take hands to unite in serving their communities.

FIRE

The Bible tells of many instances where God sent fire to manifest Himself amongst people. In the Old Testament God sent fire to inaugurate the Tabernacle built by Moses and the Temple built by Solomon. In both instances the fire fell on the sacrificial altar and totally consumed the sacrifice (Lev.9:24; 2 Chron.7:1). It was this fire kindled by God Himself that was not ever to go out (Lev. 6:13). Fire fell in similar ways on other sacrifices e.g. during Elijah’s contest with the Baal priests (1Ki.18:38); Gideon (Judg.6:21) and David (1Chron.21:26). In other circumstances God’s judgment fire was sent to consume people, e.g. Aaron’s sons (Lev 10:2); complaining people (Num.11:1,2) and 250 men contending for Aaron’s position (Num.16:35). The only place in the New Testament where fire came from heaven was during Pentecost when God poured out the Holy Spirit (Acts.2:3). God Himself is known as a consuming fire (Deut.4:24; Hebr.12:29). In our days when we pray for the fire of God we refer to work of the Holy Spirit both in the lives of believers to sanctify and purify us, but also in the lives of unbelievers to convict them of sin (Joh.16:8).

Over many years there were specific prophetic words that spoke of a fire (work of the Holy Spirit) that will be kindled in South Africa and that will spread like a wildfire throughout Africa and the world. Many initiatives were initiated with the fulfilment of these prophetic words in mind. Since the gospel was brought to the sub-continent during the 17^th and 18^th centuries, revival broke out in certain communities in South Africa. The most widespread revivals occurred in 1857-1860, 1865-1888 and in 1900-1906. Most other revivals were localized and touched only certain communities.

In South Africa we have not yet experienced a revival that touched the core of the political/ social/ economic fibre of our nation. This is what many believers are longing and praying for. Fire Trails is an initiative that aims at stirring this longing for revival at a nation-wide level. It invites and encourages believers to give themselves as living sacrifices and to pray for a release of God’s manifested glory in our generation. It also encourages believers to take hands in unifying the body of Christ to take corporate responsibility for the future of our beloved country. As we pray and seek God’s face, let us trust Hom for fruit in our own lives, the lives of unbelievers and the establishment of righteousness in our nation as never before.

COMMISSIONING FROM SIGNAL HILL.  The commissioning of the Fire Trails initiative will take place on Sunday, 6 March, 3-5pm, from Signal Hill Cape Town. Trails will leave from Signal Hill and travel throughout South Africa for 40 days.  Coordinator: Arrie Hougaard (Radio Tygerberg), arrie@104fm.org.za , Tel no. 0861104104.

The following towns have already committed to be part of the Fire Trails initiative. More towns are added daily – please visit www.firetrails.co.za for more info. Please

In this newsletter I would like to share with you the vision God has given me 2011.

Prayer Mushrooms as a Key
All of a sudden in my mind's eye I had an aerial view of Cape Town. I do not know if it was from Table Mountain or if I was just floating in the air but I saw everything so clearly, the buildings, streets, parking spaces and parks.  Then I saw little mushrooms coming up in the streets and on the buildings, little mushrooms coming up everywhere. I was puzzled as mushrooms do not grow in tarmac or concrete and I asked God what this was.

He said clearly in my heart that these were the prayer groups in business and they were the true body of Christ as they were prepared to unite over denominational barriers and witness, worship and pray in the world's system. He said I must find them, encourage and grow them and start more as they needed support and motivation.

I said eagerly, that of course I would do it. 'Yes Lord'

Then the vision changed and I saw a huge mushroom cloud over the city, growing and growing like an atomic cloud enormous and vibrating with light and sunset colours. I was filled with awe as I could feel the energy and power from this explosion but it was so beautiful.

I asked God what this meant and He said this was the power that would come out of the prayer groups, saving our communities, cities and country. Isn't that exciting? We can have a part of the salvation of our world in these end times and it is our united prayers that will do it. There is great power in our united prayer.

God gave me a message concerning a Key and a combination key that I would find on the Fire trail tour.

When we arrived at Knysna, we visited the city council building. God showed our team leaders that this is a key city. We presented to them a plaque with the confirmation that they are a key in the Cape.

 When we left and walked to our car, we noticed a tree with a mushroom growing out of it. In the mushroom was a key. My friend and I said simultaneously: the key is in the mushroom!

Don't forget the website www.flywithme.co.za and the blogsite where you can see the 'Flying Lessons' with tips for victorious living by flying in God's Airplane. I am also on facebook and would love to be your friend there too. I make comments every couple of days so you can see what is happening in the 'mushroom vision'.

God bless you all,

President Jacob Zuma has come under fire for saying that people who opt to vote for opposition parties choose what he termed “hell”, the SABC reported on Saturday.

Speaking in Zulu, Zuma said if one voted for the ANC, one chose heaven but a vote for the opposition meant hell.

He was addressing people in Mthatha in the Eastern Cape as part of the ANC's registration drive ahead of the 2011 local government elections.

Salvation By No Other Name!

Electioneering for Local Government got off to a less than auspicious start when President Jacob Zuma reportedly told an ANC rally in the Eastern Cape over the weekend, “To vote for the ANC was to choose heaven, while a vote for the opposition amounted to choosing hell.” 

Response to Zuma’s comments was swift. Opposition parties condemned the president for
"religious blackmail" while some Church groups considered his ill advised remarks as blasphemous.

I conducted several radio interviews on the subject. There is nothing new about politicians misusing the name of God or Scripture to advance their political agendas. Many politicians do it.

Zuma’s unfortunate use of Biblical analogy to promote the benefits of his party cheapens the Grace of God and transgresses into territory over which the president has no power – Eternal Salvation.

Scripture is clear: “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name (but Jesus Christ) under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” Act 4:12.

Significantly, however, voting for a particular political party will not earn you a ticket to heaven but it does have far reaching implications for the family and the health and prosperity of the nation.

Many Christians do not use their vote to advance their values. You and I possess the power to effect change in our nation when we prayerfully consider our responsibility to God and country.

The up-coming Local Government Elections will provide Christian citizens with the God-given opportunity and mandate to elect Godly men and women into positions of authority.

Mr Zuma is partly correct in his remarks. If you and I fail to carefully select men and women of integrity to govern with wisdom & responsibility–we will transform the nation into hell on earth.

Consider Psalm 9:17 “The wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God.”

The prophetic role of the Church in South Africa is to ensure our political leaders and everyone in authority does not forget that we made the smooth transition to democracy in 1994 as a result of God's Grace. Consequently, we are still one nation under God with an exciting destiny to fulfil.  

This quote by Martin Luther King has special resonance, “The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool. If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority.”

I am encouraged the Church has spoken decisively on this issue. However, there were many other incidences in which the integrity and authority of the Bible was publicly undermined with little or no response from the Church. The Church must be consistent in defense of Scriptural Truth.

I believe Pastor Ray McCauley is taking the right approach by meeting with the president - seeking clarity & using the opportunity to disciple him towards a greater understanding of Scripture.

On the positive side, Zuma’s comments focussed the national media's attention on the topic of what constitutes blasphemy - the consequences for it - and how one gets to heaven or hell.

I will be discussing these issues with Kate Turkington on Radio 702 on Sunday 13 Feb at 20h30.

Please ensure you register to vote for the Local Government Elections and make doubly sure you vote your values. I will be sharing more information on this topic in future updates.

Standing

Errol Naidoo

21 October 2010, Andrew Murray Centre

I did give some of the background on that...and something interesting happened: an elderly pastor from one of the Francophone countries up north, quietly kneeled down in the midst of the gathering here in this building, and began to pray, in French. But he couldn't continue, he began to weep.  At that, a strong, younger man, a Nigerian delegate, dressed in Nigerian garb with those flowing robes, stood up and began to pray, calling out loudly and forcefully on the Lord...which led almost immediately to a near 'firestorm' of loud cryings and rapturous prayers, on the part of most of us there in the room, simultaneously... it went on for quite a while, with everyone either standing or kneeling down...

 ... my impression was that it was the Spirit, calling out to God Above...asking that the concerns of those earnest believers in the 19th and early 20th Century be returned once more to the living ...and I believe it will.

A PROPHECY FOR SOUTH AFRICA & AFRICA

Sent by Pastor Amaka Abe.

I spent my time praying one early morning while travelling in

Nigeria. Suddenly I was in the spirit and I heard the voice of the Holy Spirit.

“Write down what you are about to hear.”

Suddenly I saw the globe and the continent of Africa was in front of me. I saw myself walking from the South to the North. Everywhere my feet fell, I  saw rings similar as when a stone is thrown into a pond. These rings went from South Africa all over the continent of Africa, the sea and to the other parts of the world. I asked the Spirit what the meaning of this was and this is what the Holy Spirit told me.

“The rings you see are the healing, saving and miracle power that will start from the Southern tip of Africa. This will be a mighty outpouring of my Spirit and many will come running into my Kingdom. AFRICA WILL BE SAVED!!. 

Many people from all over the world will come to experience the power of God. You will see things you have never seen before. THIS IS NOT THE SO CALLED END TIME MOVE, but this is a move where sons of God will raise up and take their rightfulplace.”

As I moved to the North, these rings just increased in magnitude and as I stepped into Israel, I turned around and looked back to Africa. I stood amazed as I saw the cross over Africa. The foot of the cross grounded in South Africa, the left and right arms on the horn of Africa and on the Western coast of Africa and the top of the cross on the North edge. Suddenly the Spirit spoke to me again……

“My time is now, where I will make My Word come true, Africa will be saved and this Gospel of the Kingdom of God will go from South Africa to the rest of the world. From now on Africa will evangelize the world, and this initiative I will start from South Africa. The best time in the Spirit is on your doorstep South Africa, now you will see My power and love in action. In the darkest moment My light will shine and no darkness will quench it. I’m raising sons who will stand on My Word and will proclaim what I say.

Do not let your heart be troubled, don’t flee South Africa; God will bring the knowledge back to South Africa. A white cloud (Gods Glory) is rising from the South and the Glory of the Lord will cover the earth.”

About 3 months later, one morning in a church service, I was caught up in the Spirit again and God showed me another vision. This was strange because I have NEVER experience such visions before.

This is the vision: I was sitting in an aeroplane and had a window seat. We were flying very high, as if we were in outer space. As I looked out of the window, suddenly I saw a giant cross. Behind the cross I saw the globe and again the continent of Africa was facing me. Suddenly the cross fell down and as I watched it, I saw it was on its way to the earth.

The cross went straight to the Southern tip of Africa and it pecked itself in the Southern tip of Africa. Again I saw the rings as when you throw a stone into the water. I heard the same voice saying, “That is my healing and miracle power that will flow from South Africa to the rest of the world. It will start there. I have a plan and no one will
stop me”. Suddenly I saw the Southern tip of Africa becoming blood red and it moved upwards into Angola, DRC, Nigeria until it covered the whole of Africa. Again I heard the voice of the Spirit, “I will move mightily and soon you will taste My might and see what I have
in store for My children. It is time for the Spirit-filled to come together
as one. Don’t look to colour, for this move is not prejudice. Change your minds and seek Me with all of your hearts. It is time to leave your petty arguments and seek My face”, says the Lord, “for I have a plan. I am about to bless My people abundantly more than what they can think. Supernaturally you will experience My provision. Be faithful with what I give and I will open for you a window of heaven”. This word must reach each and every South African. Send it to the South
Africans overseas. Be sure, God has chosen this nation to show the world what and who He is. Send this to your friend, pray together and help us as South Africans to call Gods Word into action. Families, call on the Lord, seek His face and He will heal your houses, your businesses, your government and your churches and you will live in peace and no harm will come to you.

He knows the plans He has for us, plans of a great future and of a good hope. In Jesus Name, AMEN.

The following was received in 2011.

19-21 March 2011

3.    Prayer – to intercede according to the themes of the book of Esther, and to emphasize at least these 7 major prayer directives:

a.    Salvation for the Muslim peoples

b.    Salvation for the Jewish people

c.    Reconciliation between Jew and Arab through Yeshua

d.    Bind spirits of anti-Semitism worldwide

e.    Strengthen the local Messianic remnant in Israel

f.     Guidance for government leaders in Israel and the nations

g.    Prepare the Church to stand victorious in the events of the end times leading up to the Second Coming

...and heartily commend you for putting pen to paper (as they used to say !) to put out the call.  In the 1980's, Deb and I ventured forth with something that we pretty much KNEW was God's will...and that was to start regional, occasional missions conferences, and God rewarded that.

   What you have in mind is, I, believe another (somewhat similar) "sure bet," tho' that's not to say such Godliness will ever become THE Thing to do...it all boils down to "many are CALLED but few are actually CHOSEN..." and yet, unless we forge ahead, no one will ever know, and we will be left, in older age, saying, "I wonder what would have happened if we had answered that call and tried something?"

   My own immediate Aug. and into Sept. circumstances prevent me from putting my name on the dotted line, as I go into hosp. tomorrow for a major Hip operation, and from what I'm told, it'll be a good week or more IN Hospital...didn't know such things took THAT long...and after that, some weeks of crutches...but consider me as interested as can be.

   News items:  (1).  There is something unusual happening in Wellington that has unusual roots.  A group of mid-thirties, youngish (and I do believe ALL Afrikaner women), over the past four years or so, have banded together to form a partnership fellowship that they call "Ma's Vir Wellington."  Starting out initially in their own kitchens, they banded together for a once-a-week ''soup day," showing up at very needy sites in this Boland immediate area where kids go hungry to school, and, obviously, when they are let out. 

   So these ladies started showing up in the early afternoon, and began receiving queues of the age 9 and younger ones, for Sop en Broodtjies.  It developed into a bigger effort, and we invited them to leave their home kitchens and use the much larger, somewhat underutilized A.M. Centre's double commercial size gas stoves in our much larger kitchen, to do their thing...and at the end of 2010, they got too big for that, and had to move into larger facilities.

   This same group seems to have become more and more evangelistic with every passing month, and as of this moment, are one week into a forty day "Pray for Wellington" project, the likes of which, and the scale of which is really something unseen or unknown over at least the past 25 yrs. since we've been here! And as an added feature, they've had the chutzpah (brazenness), to wrap red ribbons around various trees on obvious main roads in this town...even on the decorative steel bars that circle Murray's Statue at the head of Church Street.   It is to draw attention, I'm told, not only to the forty day prayer emphasis, which they've set out on paper, three pages worth, with scripture verses, etc., which we here at the Centre are utilizing, daily. 

   The Africa Evangelistic Band has a two-some here for two weeks' worth of a street-by-street presentation of the gospel.  They were visionary enough to ask the main N.G.K. for a week's worth of night church openings, for evangelistic preaching...and tho' the church said no, they DID offer an alternative, which was (is) the Jubilee Hall (built in 1906) immediately adjacent to the old Samuel Mission Institute.

   That's the one we tried (and so far have failed) to get the owners, the N.G.K. Synod of the W. Cape, to return back to its original origins. It appears, that now, after nine months of prayer and some accompanying fasting...through Mar., '11...that it is not going to happen, for in that Month we received a letter of notification, saying, "The building is NOT AVAILABLE, and will not be, as it is now a permanent part of the 'New Huguenot College,'' which, incidentally, is taking steps to reconfigure its structure and curriculum, so that it can continue as a secular educational institute, much as it has tried to do these past eight or nine years.

   I only mention this because tonight's meeting in the Jubileum Zaal may well turn out as did last night's, they asked for a week's worth, and on the first night, only the three A.E.B. staffers were there, plus a rep. from our Centre...
    But I am going tonight, with our rep., if for no other "obvious" reason than to lend a hand in the Prayer circle that will be...perhaps as it was last night...taking place instead of the evangelistic rally the planners had hoped for. We DON'T want them to go away from Wellington discouraged!If they can't swing an evangelistic rally series, surely it can be a prayer meeting FOR the revival that this district needs...badly.

His understanding of the Christian life underwent a radical change in 1947 following a conference that he had arranged to which he invited members of the East Africa Revival Movement. He was very much influenced by their strong emphasis on a personal implementation of the basics of the Christian faith, in particular the healing powers of openness and repentance.

Naval Hill all-night prayer initiative from 18h00 on the 6th of January, 2012 until 06h00 of the morning of the 7th of January, 2012. This initiative is to strengthen a prayer altar that was raised on 3 November 2001, when South African leaders, intercessors and representatives of all racial groups gathered at Naval Hill to dedicate South Africa to the Lord Jesus Christ. An altar was laid with stones from towns and cities across South Africa. This was done to celebrate the Lordship of Jesus Christ in our nation. Believers are invited to join us again in a strengthening of this spiritual altar, declaring the Word of God again as the spiritual and social standard of life in South Africa. Please bring your own chairs, flashlights, refreshments, Bibles and banners for a night of worship, proclamation and celebration. Contact. ejord@mweb.co.za

Twenty years is a long time, but I’ll never forget where I was. It was just before the first Gulf War started, and I had flown to Saudi Arabia to preach the Gospel. I arrived in Dhahran and encouraged the Saudis on the street to come near to hear the message of Jesus, and a large group did come.

As I prepared to speak, I could hear the voice of Satan saying, “Do not open your mouth. If you do, you will be beheaded.” I paused and something came out of my mouth which I will never forget. I said, “Before I preach, we are going to sing a song.” Immediately, I realized how absurd my statement was—I can’t sing! As I hesitated, the air was filled with what sounded like the voice of an angel of the Lord. I turned and standing behind me was an African-American sergeant who had been watching me. He sang, with the most incredible baritone: “His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.” Tears streamed down my face. I didn’t know that soldier and had no idea he was there.

The following day, through a miracle of God, I was able to share the Gospel with Mohammad Khalid, the governor of Dhahran, the head of the Saudi Royal Air Force, and a nephew of the king. He took me with him to a meeting with the Egyptian Third Army and the Syrian High Command. At the end of the meeting, he asked me to introduce myself while he interpreted for me. Instead, I introduced Jesus.

He said to me, “Would you like me to show you where we cut off heads on Thursdays?” I said, “No, my schedule is totally filled on Thursday; I have no time.” He laughed. Years later, I met three Philippine pastors as I preached a crusade near the Bay of Manila to over a quarter-million people. They cried and hugged me and told me they had been condemned for preaching the Gospel in Saudi Arabia. Mohammad Khalid had commuted their sentences and deported them. He said to them, “You can thank Mike Evans who told me about your Jesus and his cross.”

---

[1] The church complex had been declared an historical monument, and was thus spared the fate of many buildings in District Six in the wake of Group Areas legislation. It was incorporated into the Cape Technikon and subsequently used as a gymnasium and an art studio. Holy Trinity, a congregation related to St James Church of England in Kenilworth, used it for a few years for student outreach in the 1990s.

[2] Elsa subsequently contracted cancer, ultimately going to be with her Lord.

[3] Thankfully the law was changed in the Netherlands soon hereafter, so that the drastic move was not needed.

[4] The New Age tendency was nothing new. The most dramatic precedent was possibly the spiritual forces that were set free at the time of the French Revolution, when the sovereignty of man was in centre spot in stead of the sovereignty of God.

[5] Maimela, the lady who translated the proceedings into Xhosa, was also God’s special instrument to bring Cape Blacks into the prayer movement.

[6]               I knew Pieter Bos from the start of the Regiogebed in Holland in 1988 and I had also met Cees Vork in Holland at one of the Vierhouten conferences over Pentecost.

[7]               In due course we advised all our workers to attend at least one module of their Christ-centred teaching in biblical counselling.

[8]               He is now Chairperson of the Community Safety Portfolio of the Democratic Alliance (DA).

[9]               Violent acts such as bombings and vigilantism in Cape Town subsided in 2002, and the police have not attributed any such acts to PAGAD since the November 2002 bombing of the Bishop Lavis offices of the Serious Crimes Unit in the Western Cape.

[10] At the South African WEC conference of 1996 I was very disappointed that I had not been given the opportunity to report back on many hours of research that I had engaged into on the RUPA’s, the Remaining Unreached People Groups of Southern Africa.

[11] Later we discovered that other people had experienced similar dreams.

[12] I had been declining nomination for election to the triennial WEC national field committee because I felt that one delegate for the Western Cape was sufficient. When our colleague Shirley Charlton went into retirement, I felt duty-bound to accept nomination and election. This required the occasional travelling to Durban and Johannesburg for the committee meetings.

[13] It was very sad though when Shubashni was diagnosed with cancer in a very advanced stage only a few months later. Shubashni’s funeral was to be the first of a Muslim background believer at which I had to preach. It was a moving occasion where Rosemarie also contributed a very special obituary.

[14]The Roots of Islam and A comparison of Gabriel and Jibril are both accessible on our internet blog.

[15]These and a few other manuscripts can now be found on our internet blog, inter alia I was like Jonah and (In)voluntary Exile.

[16] At the CCM Leaders' Consultation a year later, we were however back to square one again. It was felt that the organization could not speak on behalf of Christians nationally through written declarations and statements.

[17] This had been a parsonage in the hey day of District Six and the venue of the temporarily displaced theological seminary where I studied from 1971 to 1973.

[18] Until about 2003 the command structures of the famous/notorious Caledon Square police station had been firmly in the hand of Freemasons.

[19]At some stage the Lord had to deliver me personally from resentment towards the DR Church. I had also been reading that the denomination was resisting change when the government under Prime Minister P.W. Botha was ready to repeal the law in the late 1970s. (This law had effectively blocked our possible return to South Africa.)

[20]             We didn't manage to meet the challenge on the last day.

[21]             Theo and his family were confined to the UK after OM had decided that people with South African passports were too much of a liability on their ships.

[22] In the years hereafter it became increasingly clear that interest groups would buy influence via bribes and support, e.g. through substantial gifts to help the ruling party at election time. This became quite a hot potato in the run-up to the 2009 elections when the Dalai Lama had been refused a visa as a result of the prior financial support of the Chinese government.

[23]             She had married Doug Smetherham, a South African.

[24] Brendan had been participating in the Experiencing God event at the Cape Town Baptist Church in 2006 where he was impacted significantly.

[25]Sarah also assisted me in March 2008 to set up my internet blog www.isaacandishmael.blogspot.com.

[26]             Actually the word should have been philoxenia, but still meaning love for strangers. This is the word that has usually been translated in the ‘New Testament’ with hospitality.)

[27]             In 1985 four hundred Christian leaders, drawn from 48 denominations, came to Pietermaritzburg for three days of consultation. That event can possibly be considered as the birth pangs of the new South Africa. At that time Michael Cassidy issued the significant ‘Statement of Intent’ on 18 July 1985, which was followed by the National Initiative for Reconciliation (NIR) from 10 to 12 September 1985.

[28]             A record number of 400,000 men were estimated to have attended the 2010 event on 16-18 April, the lst one at that venue.

[29]             On two days a week Rosemarie and her volunteer helpers run a small workshop to enable a few refugee ladies to put some food on the table of their families.

[30]             The attention of the whole world got focused on South Africa in this regard in the run-up to the 2009 elections by the refusal of a visa to the Dalai Lama for an event to highlight the country's promotion of the Soccer World Cup with two other Noble Prize winners, Archbishop Tutu and ex-President de Klerk.

[31]             Decades ago the Lord used Ian du Plessis, Stephan's father-in-law, to expose the plans of the Cabinet Minister of Community Development, Mr P.W. Botha, to make out of Bo-Kaap a White residential area, just as it had been done to District Six. Mr du Plessis collaborated in this effort with Rykie van Reenen, a reporter at Die Burger.

[32]          Brett also assisted to renovate the run-down house in Vredehoek that we were able to buy in 1993, together with Pastor Melvin Maxegwana.

[33] I trust that I have shown conclusively that this is the case in the manuscript The spiritual Parents of Islam,   which could be accessed on our blog.

[34] From the original Greek the literal translation of the word would in fact render multi-coloured wisdom of God.