3-21-05

"PROSPERITY Gospel - AFRICA CRISIS BREWING" -by Barnie de Wet.

In Zimbabwe... although I wasn't a tobacco farmer we all allowed our farms to become our Idols and our farms became our "reason d' etre". I lost my farm in August 2001 in the most violent way and my family and I were cast onto the streets having retained only 2 vehicles and the clothes we managed to fit into suitcases, but the faithfulness of the Lord was always there, and we survived although we have endured some very hard times. My family are still in Zimbabwe whilst I work in Mozambique.

Africa has seen a massive hunger for the Lord, and congregations can be as large as a million people (-so a lot of the TV evangelists say). Sadly though, sermons are conducted by what I call the "glitter and glitz" preachers, the ones who arrive in limousines and seem to put over a message that if you join their church you also could live in the same oppulence. In a continent where poverty is so rife, you can imagine the affect this has on the poor, and if their expectation is not met - what then! There is a RELIGIOUS CRISIS brewing here. I'm sorry for the emphasis but I do feel strongly about this, I feel that the Lord is telling me that something needs to be done about this situation An expectation is being created and if this doesn't come about, the backlash may well be devastating for Christianity, bearing in mind that the Islamic movement is also very active -- I leave you to draw your own conclusions.The ease by which the politicians in Zimbabwe have been able to sway good law-abiding citizens into committing murder and all types of crimes through a crisis of expectation is frighteneing to say the least. I fear for the future of God's work in Africa, if "Christianity" doesn't deliver what is being preached by some. The Moslems are going to have an open run at the finish line.

~Barnie de Wet.