Showing posts with label Angus Buchan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Angus Buchan. Show all posts

Monday, December 4, 2017

How Israel Plays Into South African Revival That's Reaching the Halls of Power - Charles Gardner ISRAEL TODAY

How Israel Plays Into South African Revival That's Reaching the Halls of Power

Monday, December 04, 2017 |  Charles Gardner  ISRAEL TODAY
A momentous prayer meeting took place in the South African Parliament last Friday that is likely to have significance for generations to come.
The focus was on reconciliation, with white people asking forgiveness from blacks, and blacks confessing their sins against the white community in recent years.
Many were reportedly brought to tears during an extended time of prayer and confession, after which farmer-evangelist Angus Buchan addressed MPs and other dignitaries about the need for faith in South Africa.
One MP, Steve Swart, even confessed the government’s anti-Semitism during World War II when Jews who had fled the Holocaust were not allowed to disembark in Cape Town.
The meeting was held in the Parliament’s former main chamber where many discriminatory laws were passed, and was by invitation only due to the venue’s maximum 250 capacity.
Anneke Rabe, praying on behalf of South Africa’s whites, sought forgiveness for the way they had treated the nation’s black, Coloured (mixed race) and Indian population along with other minorities – for oppressive laws, land dispossession and the way the churches condoned apartheid:
“I repent for the way that we shamed, humiliated and oppressed you…for those who died under the evil system of apartheid in Sharpeville, Soweto and many other places; for the inferior education you received under that system; for the pain, anguish, fear and shock you had to endure; for the detentions, imprisonments, tortures and violence.”
Cape Town intercessor Ashley Cloete, a descendant of slaves and the Khoi people, was reduced to tears “when one speaker after another recalled laws that had affected my life down the years such as the Group Areas Act and the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act.
“As a result of the former law, and the related practice of so-called ‘slum clearance’, almost all the buildings and places of my childhood memories had been eradicated. And the latter law was the reason for my exile of just over 18 years,” he told Gateway News.
Representing the Evangelical Alliance of South Africa, Rev Moss Nthla prayed “with a deep sense of awareness of the grace you showed us through what many have described as the miracle of 1994 (the relatively peaceful transfer of power).”
But he went on: “I stand to confess our failure, as a people, to be good stewards of that miracle. We have neither sought nor walked in your ways. As a result, we have harmed ourselves and each other as South Africans. I ask for forgiveness that sadly, a growing number of white South Africans have been made to feel unwelcome in this country and that they have no future for themselves or their children (a possible reference, in part, to the policy of positive discrimination favouring blacks over whites for jobs). I further ask for forgiveness for the thousands of farmers who have been murdered in our country by black people.”
Commenting later on the reference to anti-Semitism, Ashley Cloete said: “The attitude of our present government towards Israel is of course something that we are not at all proud of as followers of the Jewish Jesus, our Lord and Saviour.” (There are moves afoot to downgrade diplomatic ties with Israel). And he also referred to regular worship on Signal Hill (adjacent to Table Mountain) “in our Isaac-Ishmael prayer battle for Jews and Muslims”.
Driving through the wilderness through which the ancient Israelites wandered for 40 years during my recent tour of Israel, I was profoundly struck by the wonder of how they were able to survive in such arid conditions. It was to teach them to depend on God for everything, and learn that “man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4.4, Deuteronomy 8.3) There were no bakeries or bottle stores there; they had to trust God, who duly provided manna from heaven and water from the rock.
It also occurred to me that trusting God was not an option for them; it wasn’t reserved for the ‘religious’ – they were all in it together. Judaism sees no separation between the sacred and the secular; it’s all part of life. And neither should Christianity, whose roots are in Judaism. That is where we fall down so often.
But South Africa’s Christians have taken the bull by the horns and stepped straight into the very heart of government. Didn’t Jesus say the gates of Hell would not prevail against his church? They are not shy about their faith, or happy to keep it to themselves. They know it’s the only hope for the nation’s future.
Clearly, God has anointed Angus Buchan and others for such auspicious moments, but we have to ask if there is someone in Britain, with comparable courage and conviction, who is prepared to raise his voice among our politicians?
Angus knows where his strength comes from – the mighty power of the Holy Spirit that was first poured out in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost.
In 1960 British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan also addressed the Cape Town Parliament warning of “winds of change” blowing through Africa among nations seeking their independence from colonial powers.
But our farmer friend knows that the only wind of change God requires from leaders in these dark days is the acknowledgement of rule from heaven above, and the restoration of our Judeo-Christian heritage.
As with Nehemiah rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem and Ezra drawing the people back to God by reading the Law, so South Africa is experiencing a restoration – both in spirit and in truth.
Our need in Britain is the same; chiefly for reconciliation with God, though working together in unity with our Christian brethren is a vital first step, without which our secular nation will not fully grasp that we love one another.
Like Angus and his fellow leaders, we also need courage – the sort that caused those who witnessed the boldness of Peter and John to recall that they “had been with Jesus”. (Acts 4.13)
We too need to repent – over the shameful laws we have passed that contradict the commandments handed down to us on Mt Sinai; and over our treatment of Israel, who gave us God’s Law in the first place.
Thankfully, an anti-Semitic campaign calling on the British Government to apologize for the Balfour Declaration (promising to do all we could to restore Jews to their ancient land) has come to nothing. If anything, we should apologize for trying to prevent its eventual implementation, largely through appeasement of Arabs opposing it.
Worse still, we prevented Jews trying to escape the Holocaust from entering the Promised Land through our policy of limited immigration during the (internationally-approved) Mandate we held over the region.
And since we’re discussing South Africa, perhaps we also need to repent over our disgraceful dealings with the Afrikaners, 26,000 of whom perished in the British concentration camps during the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902.
I am still proud to be South African, despite my problems with immigration when initially refused re-entry to the UK on my recent return from Israel. My loyalty to the country of my birth is chiefly due to the god-fearing Afrikaners who rescued my orphaned great-grandfather and his siblings from possible death in the veldt following the roadside murder of their widowed father.
My great-grandfather, also Charles, was subsequently brought up in the parsonage of the Rev Andrew Murray, a much-loved revivalist who, together with his famous son of the same name, became a father-figure for Dutch Reformed evangelicals throughout the country.
The passion for Jesus exhibited by so many Afrikaners today is in no small way connected, in my opinion, to the legacy left by the Murray clan – I happen also to share Scottish ancestry with both Angus Buchan and the Murrays.
But it’s about the heart more than our genes. May passion for God’s rule over our nations drive us to our knees, as we are witnessing so powerfully in South Africa, where 1.7 million Christians converged on a farmer’s field to pray for the nation back in April. Amen.

Charles Gardner is author of Israel the Chosen, available from Amazon, and Peace in Jerusalem, available from olivepresspublisher.com
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Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Farming for God - Charles Gardner ISRAEL TODAY

Farming for God

Wednesday, April 26, 2017 |  Charles Gardner  ISRAEL TODAY
The South African revival to which I referred in an earlier dispatch is now in full bloom, as evidenced by an extraordinary prayer meeting attended by an estimated 1.7 million people.
The call to prayer – named It’s Time – came from farmer-evangelist Angus Buchan in response to allegations of corruption in government, an intolerable crime rate, violent student protests and immorality at many levels.
Affectionately known as Oom Angus, the preacher has made a huge impact on the nation since experiencing a dramatic encounter with Christ in 1979. In recent years he has focused his attention on men, imploring them to live up to their responsibilities by leading their families in prayer and dedication to God.
For seven years he held annual weekend camps at his KwaZulu-Natal farm Shalom, initially hosting just family and a few friends, but eventually drawing some 400,000 men. Similar events, known as Mighty Men Conferences, have since spread to other parts of the country as well as the UK.
But with the country now embroiled in chaos led by a government apparently steeped in corruption, Angus believed it was time to call Christians to serious prayer – and the venue chosen was 2,500 acres of farmland near the central city of Bloemfontein.
Believers responded by travelling from all parts of the country to set up camp, pray over many issues such as abortion, crime, injustice and poverty and draw inspiration from the beloved evangelist with his uncompromising message focused on living according to the Bible’s precepts.
“You will sleep with no-one until you are married!” he urged young men, adding (echoing a phrase used by Britain’s legendary Pentecostal evangelist Smith Wigglesworth): “God said it; we believe it and that settles it.”
An Israeli flag could be clearly seen fluttering in the breeze as a video camera panned across a sea of people stretching some 1.4 kilometers from the main platform, and strong gusts of wind accompanied prayers in scenes akin to the initial Holy Spirit outpouring recorded in the New Testament Book of Acts (chapter 2, verse 2).
I mention the Israeli flag to further support the thesis of my previous article on the subject – that blessing the Jewish people is a key to revival, something the UK church has yet to grasp.
In addition to YouTube videos, I have friends taking part who have kept me informed of progress, and it is difficult not to see this as further fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy that “in the last days I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh” (Joel 2.28). Such a time could quite conceivably coincide with the restoration of Israel along with the judgment of those nations opposing them (Joel 3.1f).
It’s Time is evidently inspired by the biblical promise of healing for Israel when God’s people humble themselves and pray. The relevant verses from 2 Chronicles 7.13f read: “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain (South Africa has been suffering a severe drought), or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
I do not have an exact count of the attendance at this event, but my sources told me that as many as 1.7 million people had registered beforehand. That is equivalent to the population of Tel Aviv, Israel’s largest city, and greater than Birmingham, Britain’s second city.
Clearly, prayer leads to revival, along with blessing Israel as I have already emphasized. For it is my belief that there is a distinct correlation between this move of the Spirit and a general understanding and support of Israel, to whom Christians are indelibly attached – if we cut ourselves off from our Judaic roots, the Church cannot truly exist. (Romans 11.17f)
Churches in all parts of South Africa – incorporating black and white as well as English and Afrikaans-speaking – are bursting with new life as they prove a counter-cultural provocation to secularists, humanists and others (who are trying it on there too) and especially to a government reportedly rife with corruption and virulently opposed to Israel, even to the extent of virtually cutting off diplomatic ties with the Jewish state. This is in spite of the fact that it was Jews who led the resistance to apartheid in the days of the old whites-only Parliament.
Angus, who has led a similar gathering in Israel, has proved a huge inspiration as he urges men to run their homes, love their wives and discipline their children in the fear of God, leading to inevitable clashes with political correctness.
Moreover, the default position of many of South Africa’s churches today is an understanding of God’s everlasting love for Israel and of the church’s enormous debt to them – for the Bible, for their Saviour and much more. A friend of mine put it this way: “If you don’t believe in God’s plan for Israel, you’re an atheist.”
The point is that these South African Christians have woken up, having for the most part learnt to love God’s chosen people. But UK churches are in desperate need for re-education in biblical truth.
For revival, you have to be in the right place with God so that, as far as is possible, his thoughts become your thoughts (see Isaiah 55). We don’t worship Israel, as they are human and sinful like us, but we do worship the God of Israel who has blessed us with his precious Word and with his Son, the Jewish Messiah, who is “the way, the truth and the life” (John 14.6).
I have re-visited my home country a number of times in recent years to see family and friends, and I became aware that it was no longer divided along apartheid lines, but between those who live in fear – the secularists who erect huge steel barriers to protect their property from burglars – and those who live by faith and in freedom, who love their neighbours and believe in the country’s future under God.
I appreciate that Jesus warned of deception in the last days, but I feel that sometimes we are in danger of straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel on this point. Author/preacher R T Kendall, writing of how Israel as a whole failed to recognize their Messiah when he came, says: “We are all so sure that we would recognize the authentic when it arrives. You could not have told a Sadducee or a Pharisee that the Messiah would come to Israel without them knowing and acknowledging him. But he came and they rejected him.”
Get a grip. This revival is authentic. And if we wish the same for our nation, we need to humble ourselves and pray, repenting of our wicked ways, especially over our treatment of God’s chosen people.
MIGHTY TURNOUT: Men gather in great numbers for the Karoo Mighty Men’s Conference in the heart of South Africa’s farming community. Picture: Robert Southey

Charles Gardner is author of Israel the Chosen, available from Amazon, and Peace in Jerusalem, available from olivepresspublisher.com
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Wednesday, April 5, 2017

South Africa’s Shalom! - Charles Gardner ISRAEL TODAY

South Africa’s Shalom!

Wednesday, April 05, 2017 |  Charles Gardner  ISRAEL TODAY
Although hundreds of thousands – perhaps millions – have been affected by it, few in the Northern Hemisphere seem to have heard of the South African revival.
I’m not referring to the 1860 awakening led by my ancestor (by adoption) Andrew Murray[1], but to a current movement that is drawing huge crowds – especially men – to Christ. And it is my belief that there is a distinct correlation between this move of the Spirit and a general understanding and support of Israel, to whom Christians are indelibly attached – if we cut ourselves off from our Judaic roots, the Church cannot truly exist. (Romans 11.17f)
Churches in all parts of South Africa – incorporating black and white as well as English and Afrikaans-speaking – are bursting with new life as they prove a counter-cultural provocation to secularists, humanists and others (who are trying it on there too) and especially to a government rife with corruption and virulently opposed to Israel, even to the extent of virtually cutting off diplomatic ties with the Jewish state. This is in spite of the fact that it was Jews who led the resistance to apartheid in the days of the old whites-only Parliament.
One man perhaps stands out among the many leaders of this movement for the influence he has had – and that is Angus Buchan, a humble farmer who doubled as an evangelist soon after a dramatic encounter with Christ in 1979.
His campaigns reaped rewards, but then God called him to focus his attention on men – and he has been faithful to this task ever since, drawing both young and old men to weekend camps initially held at Shalom, his KwaZulu-Natal farm, for seven consecutive years.
It began with just family and a few friends but, six years later, was accommodating a staggering 400,000 men who had gathered from all corners of the land to hear the uncompromising word of God challenging them to take responsibility as head of their families by serving Christ with all their hearts.
The so-called Mighty Men’s Conferences have since spread elsewhere, including the UK, as faith in God has swept across the countryside like a prairie fire. Friends of mine from the Karoo area of the Cape, who in the early days travelled 500 miles to join the camps in far-off KwaZulu-Natal, are now involved in helping to host events in their own farming district.
Angus has proved a huge inspiration as he urges men to run their homes, love their wives and discipline their children in the fear of God, leading to inevitable clashes with political correctness. But as the corridors of political power darken, the light of Christ shines brighter.
Author of the best-selling Faith Like Potatoes which has been made into a powerful movie, Angus has also led meetings in Israel, where Pentecostal-type manifestations such as a mighty, rushing wind (see Acts 2.2) have been evident.
Moreover, the default position of many of South Africa’s churches today is an understanding of God’s everlasting love for Israel and of the church’s enormous debt to them – for the Bible, for their Saviour and much more. This is certainly reflected in the publishing realm, led by Joy magazine (also published in Afrikaans as Juig), the biggest circulation Christian periodical outside the United States. The same can be said for the popular South African news portal, Gateway News.
A recent event involving CMJ (the Church’s Ministry among the Jewish people), for whom I volunteer, bore this out in no uncertain terms. One of our workers travelled a thousand miles from Cape Town to KwaZulu-Natal to speak at a Christian gathering about the significance of Yom Kippur – the Day of Atonement – and how Jesus is the fulfillment of this Jewish holiday, their holiest day of the year.
About 70 people turned up to hear her at a farm in the shadow of the Drakensberg mountains, where I grew up. It so happened that a secular Israeli family touring South Africa rang to inquire about overnight guest accommodation. The owners, Hendrik and Ina Goosen, warned them that a Christian meeting would be taking place. But they said they didn’t mind, and the family – mum, dad and three children – turned up for the entire talk which was followed by refreshments. They were overwhelmed by the experience, and by the love people had for Israel.
I have re-visited my home country a number of times in recent years to see family and friends, and I became aware that it was no longer divided along apartheid lines, but between those who live in fear – the secularists who erect huge steel barriers to protect their property from burglars – and those who live by faith and in freedom, who love their neighbours and believe in the country’s future under God.
Following the latest London terror attack, a South African journalist friend of mine told me of how his daughter was commuting from Wimbledon to central London when the 7/7 terrorist attack occurred (in 2005). “She ended up taking a long walk to work along Tottenham Court Road and only found out what was happening by viewing TVs in shop windows. She was 23 at the time and very much a junior at her work, but we were proud of her witness when her colleagues asked her to pray for them all on that day.”
South Africa has a wonderful spiritual legacy. I have already mentioned the legendary devotional writer and revivalist Rev Andrew Murray who, after learning Dutch in Holland, came out from Scotland to pastor Afrikaners who had fled the British-ruled Cape in search of more favourable pastures. The country was also greatly influenced by the Pentecostal pioneers of the early 20th century – particularly John G Lake and David du Plessis – and it was around this time that the young Nelson Mandela was strongly influenced by Methodist missionaries, who also paid for his education.
My thesis of the link between Holy Spirit revival and love for the Jews is backed up by another famous Scot, Robert Murray McCheyne, along with his fellow countryman Andrew Bonar, who together encouraged the evangelization of the Jews back in the 1830s. Both led missions to Palestine (as it was then known) and Jewish communities in Europe. And when revival broke out in his local parish of Kilsyth, McCheyne took this as a sign of God’s promise to Abraham and his heirs that “I will bless those who bless you” (Genesis 12.3). God’s favour was on them because they honoured the Jews, the apple of God’s eye.[2]
On the other side of the same coin is the horrendous legacy of the so-called Berlin Declaration of 1909 in which 56 evangelical leaders concluded that the Pentecostal outpourings at Azusa Street in Los Angeles in 1906 and in Sunderland, England, in 1907, were of the devil. Werner Oder, a UK-based pastor and son of a Nazi, believes this amounted to blasphemy of the Holy Spirit and sowed the seeds of the Holocaust.[3]
It is interesting that, despite early success in Europe, the Pentecostal movement made comparatively little impact on this part of the world whereas it has been a very different story in Asia, Africa and South America.
I appreciate that Jesus warned of deception in the last days, but I feel that sometimes we are in danger of straining at a gnat but swallowing a camel on this point. My favourite author/preacher R T Kendall, writing of how Israel as a whole failed to recognize their Messiah when he came, says: “We are all so sure that we would recognize the authentic when it arrives. You could not have told a Sadducee or a Pharisee that the Messiah would come to Israel without them knowing and acknowledging him. But he came and they rejected him.”[4]
Some years ago I received a dramatic vision of revival in Doncaster, my home town, during a celebration service involving a number of churches, and immediately shared it with those present. It was of a beautiful new square complete with fountains, trees and smart buildings, and I told them that, although I believed God was saying this would indeed become a reality, it was also a picture of revival to come.
Two weeks later the local paper published an artist’s impression precisely reflecting that vision – and this lovely square, complete with 16 fountains, now adorns the Waterdale area of the town centre and is flanked by the new municipal offices and a modern theatre called Cast, where the town’s pastors recently met for the first time for mutual encouragement. A similar feature, also with fountains, has now been announced for the area adjacent to Doncaster’s railway station.
I keep telling friends and pastors here that, if they wish to see this vision (of revival) fulfilled, they must start blessing Israel – by praying for them, helping their poor, defending them from unwarranted attack and anti-Semitism and, most of all, by reaching out to them with the very gospel which has so blessed us (Romans 1.16 & 10.14).
In South Africa, meanwhile, up to a million people are expected to descend on the central city of Bloemfontein (which, incidentally, translates “flower fountain”) in a fortnight’s time (April 22) to pray for their nation following a call from the man they have all come to know as Oom (Uncle) Angus!
Don’t forget that Jesus is returning – not to London, New York, Paris or Cape Town, but to Jerusalem, as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah! (Revelation 5.5)
If you really love Jesus, you will love the Jews!
PHOTO: MIGHTY TURNOUT - Men gather in great numbers for the Karoo Mighty Men’s Conference in the heart of South Africa’s farming community. Picture: Robert Southey

  1. My orphaned great-grandfather, also Charles, was brought up in the Murray parsonage in Graaff-Reinet, 500 miles from Cape Town. Our family is forever indebted to Rev Andrew Murray Snr and his wife Maria, who had 16 children of their own!  ↩
  2. Peace in Jerusalem by Charles Gardner (olivepresspublisher.com) p164  ↩
  3. Peace in Jerusalem p162/3  ↩
  4. Why Jesus Died (Monarch Books) p40  ↩

Charles Gardner is author of Israel the Chosen, available from Amazon, and Peace in Jerusalem, available from olivepresspublisher.com
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