Tag Archives: TARIF

Capitalism and Christ-like Competition

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–– Paul Schlehlein

The audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Here’s a bit of good news from the southern region of Africa. Visa applications in South Africa that had previously moved at a snail’s pace have recently picked up to breakneck speed. For decades applicants for visas have endured the dawdling movements of the Department of Home Affairs, sometimes waiting years for simple paperwork to return. 

Not anymore. The phones of visa applicants are ding-ding-dinging, informing them their papers are ready for pickup. What changed? What’s been the secret? The answer is good old-fashioned competition. 

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Do African Churches Send Missionaries? 

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–– Seth Meyers

The audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Mission boards

A mission board is an organization that gathers together numerous missionaries and helps them with technical details like visas, finances, and networks of like-minded churches. Churches in the USA have started numerous mission boards sending out hundreds and even thousands of missionaries from America to different nations of the world. 

Roughly 64% of Americans claim to be Christian today which represents about 200 million adults. It is difficult to get precise numbers, but an estimated 60,000 Bible-believing, full-time missionaries are currently living and serving in other countries having been sent from the US. 

200 million people sending 60,000 missionaries. 

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The African Supreme Being: How Syncretism Sullies Christianity

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–– Brino Kumwenda

The audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Syncretism is when elements of different religions are combined, mixed, or blended. In sub-Saharan Africa, the devil has used syncretism to weaken the faith of many professing Christians. Most Africans are born into the African Traditional Religion (ATR), believing in the Supreme Being. ATR is so pervasive and yet many Africans are unaware of its impact on them, even after embracing another religion. As Ndemanu writes, “Africans are first and foremost members of traditional religions before any other religion”. When a foreign religion comes into African communities, most people don’t abandon their ATR. Instead, they simply combine their respective beliefs.

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Calvinism: The Cure for Racism, Not the Cause 

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–– Adapted by Tim Cantrell from Dr. Flip Buys

The audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Historian Rodney Stark describes how the early church was the first institution in the history of the world that brought people together across ethnic barriers. They were inclusive because they believed that there is one God who gathers His new people from every tribe tongue and nation.  Longtime GK pastor and professor, Dr. Flip Buys, was a white Afrikaans pastor in a black church in the 1980s in Sharpeville township, home of the infamous Sharpeville massacre of 1961 (commemorated every 21 March on Human Rights Day in South Africa).  He often had to drive to church services through burning tyres on the streets and police barricades.   

Yet Dr. Buys powerfully testifies to the gospel’s impact in seeing black and white young people converted and learning to reconcile.  He tells of how, in those tumultuous times, their church truly experienced how Christ has torn down the wall of racial division and created the “one new man” (Eph. 2:14-16).  Nothing is more potent for racial harmony than a biblical vision of God as absolutely free, gracious and sovereign – a God who truly saves sinners!  Whether we wear the Calvinist label or not, every Bible-believing child of God says ‘Amen’ to that testimony. 

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When Are Two People Really Married?

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–– Andrew Zekveld

The audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

A legal marriage certificate, or a traditional marriage based on the customs of a particular people group, has historically provided the criteria for when two single individuals become a married couple.

Of late though, there seems to be an increase of critical thought about the legal or traditional requirements of the marriage moment. This concern is certainly justified in light of the world’s increasing hostility towards Biblical marriage. The world is tenaciously holding onto the concept of marriage, but using it to describe the unions between homosexuals, transgender individuals, and even, as in the 2006 Sudanese case, between a human and an animal.

The question that demands some clarity is: “What makes a person married?” Or, as Christians sometimes phrase it, “When is a couple married in God’s eyes?”

Are the legal definitions the only criteria for getting married?

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Is HIV/AIDS a Judgment from God?

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–– Paul Schlehlein

The audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome and is a disease that destroys the body’s immune system, greatly lowering its resistance to infection. This disease is caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, also known as HIV, which is transferred in blood and sexual fluids. 

While there are treatments to slow the damage of AIDS, currently there is no known cure. 

According to one dictionary, the disease “first spread among gay men, intravenous drug users, and recipients of infected blood transfusions, before reaching a wider population. This tended to overshadow a greater epidemic in parts of Africa, where the transmission is mainly through heterosexual contact.” 

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Xenophobia and the Christian

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–– David de Bruyn

The audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Recently, a contestant in the Miss South Africa pageant withdrew because of widespread hostility to her parentage. Chidimma Adetshina, who was born in Johannesburg began receiving widespread criticism and hostility because her father is Nigerian and her mother is Mozambican.

Hostility to foreign African workers and migrants has long been a South African problem. Widespread unemployment has made South Africans resentful of the millions of Africans who have made South Africa their home, often beginning businesses or occupying paid positions. So-called xenophobia (fear of foreigners) is often touted as a problem in South Africa. 

How should Christians view those who leave their nation and settle elsewhere?

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The Pitfalls of Paternalism: Why Foreign Funds Kill African Churches

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–– Paul Schlehlein

The audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

What would happen if foreign funds to African churches suddenly stopped? Suppose that tomorrow God shut off the massive monetary pipeline flowing from the West to the pastors and Christian workers on the Dark Continent? Would the church sink or swim?

The immediate consequences would be severe because wealthy nations have pumped billions of dollars into Africa for decades. It has become a way of life. None of the top 30 foreign aid contributors come from Africa, though six of the top fifteen recipients of foreign aid are African nations. In 2017, the United States gave $34 billion in foreign aid, including $1 billion to Ethiopia, $887 million to South Sudan and $600 million to South Africa. 

Wealthy foreign nations have failed to learn that foreign aid will never help a country if the conditions for economic growth do not exist. This is why the cycle of giving never ends. Sadly, wealthy churches have not learned this lesson either. Though the numbers are not as high as foreign aid, churches from the West drive millions of dollars into African churches to support their pastors and ministries. 

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The Redeeming Value of Rugby – How Strenuous Sport Helps Boys Become Men

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–– Titus Cantrell

The audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

On September 7, South Africa’s rugby team, The Springboks, beat the New Zealand All Blacks by 18 points to 12 in another thrilling contest between rugby’s fiercest rivals. Saturday’s victory positions the Springboks as the strong favorites to win this year’s Rugby Championship, building on the winning streak of the back-to-back Rugby World Cup champions. The impact of rugby in post-apartheid South Africa is a testament to the unifying power of sport on a national level, but there is another way in which Christians can see the redeeming value of rugby on an individual level: rugby is a tool to help boys become men. 

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Marriage Procrastination: Eight Excuses for Staying Single

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–– Tim Cantrell

The audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Currently, in South Africa, we have some 24 million singles, well over half of our adult population, and marriage statistics continue their rapid decline with more and more youth waiting longer and longer to get married, if ever. Top reasons South African singles give for delaying marriage are: “Desire for independence; self-esteem and relationship reluctance; economic and social reasons; past relationships and fear of commitment”. All four of these reasons have one thing in common: they are usually selfish excuses. It is no minor offence to reject God’s good institution of marriage, His wise creation ordinance that is the cornerstone of civilisation and the primary building block for all of society. As the view of marriage rises or falls, so does an entire nation. 

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Dissecting Democracy: Is the ‘Right’ to Choose Right?

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–– Mark Christopher

The audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Reflecting on South Africa’s elections three months ago, I am reminded of how much we hear the word “democracy” in South Africa. The preamble of the South African Constitution includes the clause that says South Africa will be “a society based on democratic values.” The real question for Christians is, how biblical is democracy? Winston Churchill famously said, “Many forms of Government have been tried and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.…” 

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What Bill Gates, Spurgeon and Muslims Teach Us About Bible Memory

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–– Paul Schlehlein

The audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

The religion of Islam produces learners capable of quoting the entire Quran, their holy book about 10% the size of the Bible and about 80% of the New Testament.  

A town in Nigeria has yielded at least 10,000 students who have memorized the entire Quran from the same parchment. Hour after hour they pour over the book, reciting it before their teacher, many of them between 12-15 years old. Since paper can sometimes be a luxury in Africa, these hafiz (Quran memorisers) learn it by ear or on wooden tablets.  

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Sanctified Ubuntu: Loving One Another 

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–– Jonathan Klimek

The audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

In our world, where individualism often overshadows community, the African philosophy of Ubuntu offers profound wisdom. Rooted in the Nguni Bantu languages, Ubuntu translates to “I am because we are,” capturing the essence of interconnectedness and shared humanity.

Ubuntu teaches us that our humanity is intertwined with that of others. It calls us to a depth of care and concern for one another that goes beyond surface-level interactions. Paul echoes this sentiment in Romans 12:15–16, where he calls us to empathy, unity, and humility that demand not just mere presence but full emotional, spiritual, and sacrificial involvement in each other’s lives.

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The Dark Truth Behind Feminism’s War on Womanhood

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–– Lennox Kalifungwa

The audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

As shrill chants echo through the air and half-naked bodies move with faces twisted in fervor, an outsider might wonder what kind of place they’ve stumbled into and who these people are. But as cries of “my body, my choice” and “smash the patriarchy” resound, the scene begins to make sense—this is a Women’s March, a feminist rally where propaganda is wielded to incite mass disruption. The Women’s March, now a global phenomenon, has taken root on the African continent. Though African feminism carries its own distinct emphasis and pedagogy, it remains deeply entwined with the radical principles that birthed the movement.

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Feminism and Valuing Women as Stained Glass Windows

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–– Paul Schlehlein

The audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

What do the following three worldwide occurrences have in common? 

First, daycare centres across the globe have experienced explosive growth. In the Netherlands, for example, 85% of children under age four attend formal daycare. Every day in South Africa, more pre-schools and creches are being added to the already existing 43,000 early childhood development centres, with one company calling daycare the strongest target for business entrepreneurs. 

Second, as of 1 June 2024, 27 countries have women serve as Heads of State, a significant rise from years past. Worldwide, over a quarter of all parliamentarians in lower houses are women, up from 11% in 1995, the highest percentage being Rwanda at 61%. Currently, the world boasts well over a dozen female defence ministers, including four in Africa—Zimbabwe, South Sudan, Togo, and South Africa. 

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To Speak or Not to Speak –– When Should Christians Publicly Condemn Sin?

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–– Evan Cantrell

The audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Introduction:

On 26 July 2024, the Olympics opened with a parade of sin and decadence, including a drag parody of the Last Supper. Many South African pastors and churchgoers have taken to social media in response – either to condemn this event or to berate fellow Christians for their tone in condemning this event. In today’s article we will consider the Christian response to cultural sin and public mockery of God. Should Christians respond publicly, from the platform of social media or wherever else we have a voice? Does God need Christians to take care of His honour? Or should Christians be quiet and merely “expect unbelievers act like unbelievers”? Today we consider two questions which will frame our understanding of this controversial topic.

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A Word of Wisdom on the Worth of Women

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–– Richard Peskett

The audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Last week South Africa celebrated “National Women’s Day.” It is a public holiday which commemorates a group of women who took a stand against oppression—on the 9th of August 1956, the women marched to the Union Buildings in Pretoria to protest against the government’s unjust pass laws. National Women’s Day is thus “a reminder of the important contributions women make to society, as well as a time to ponder the advances in women’s rights.” 

Women’s Day also highlights the mistreatment of women in South Africa at the hands of men. God has made men to protect women, not to abuse them. Furthermore, God has given marriage as the hallowed place for physical intimacy between a husband and wife—it is therefore wickedness when men sleep around with women, sometimes forcibly, selfishly fulfilling the passions of their sinful flesh and leaving women to live with the consequences of their immorality. It is right to act against such abuse of women.

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On Women’s Boxing and Other Abominations

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–– Paul Schlehlein

The audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

A brouhaha has formed in the women’s boxing division of the 2024 Olympics. Imane Khelif, a boxer from the North African country of Algeria, defeated Angela Carini from Italy in 46 seconds. Carini withdrew after just two blows, saying she had never been hit so hard. She cried: “It’s not fair!”

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Am I Gay?

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–– Tim Cantrell

The audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

“Unlike the rest of the African Continent, South Africa is worlds apart when it comes to being classed as an LGBTQ+ welcoming destination.”  This is the opening line on a popular gay travel website.  According to the South African National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and other studies, approximately 5-10% of our South African population supposedly identify as homosexual in some way.  Every year in the church I pastor I hear of more friends and family of our flock being drawn in by the aggressive gay agenda in this land, and I must be ready to minister the gospel to any repentant sinner who walks through our doors or seeks biblical counsel.  Here is one example of how my wife and I have sought to minister to youth and young adults who are tempted by same-sex attraction. 

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Why Don’t Men Go To the Rural Areas?

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–– Seth Meyers

The audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Have you ever met a man who preached the gospel of Jesus Christ and taught the Scriptures honestly and consistently on the Lord’s Day in one of Africa’s 2,000 black languages? Years ago I had the privilege of speaking to a black leader of an African denomination that had more than 400 churches, and he told me that the churches in his group are, generally speaking, all using English. At a different meeting with dozens of African pastors from several countries, I could not find a pastor ministering in a black language. If you have not met a man like this, that indicates relatively, that men are not commonly going to the rural areas. 

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Should the Government Provide Free Healthcare for All?

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–– Mark Christopher

The audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Over the last 10 years, there has been a great deal of discussion and debate concerning the recently adopted National Health Insurance (NHI) legislation here in South Africa. One of the many overriding concerns of the NHI bill is its hefty price tag and how to pay for it in a country with a limited taxbase. According to a recent article, every tax-paying South African will have to add an additional 30,000 rands in annual taxes to implement NHI. 

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Good Theology Builds Economies: God’s Blueprint for Societal Flourishing

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–– Lennox Kalifungwa

The audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

The world has grown accustomed to economic turmoil. Despite the veneer of progress, inflation, high taxation, currency instability, unemployment, debt, and dependency have become entrenched as normal. Numerous efforts to mitigate these economic challenges through policy, democracy, government intervention, aid, debt restructuring, and wealth redistribution have yielded persistent issues with incremental devastation. 

An economy mirrors the values and beliefs of a culture or society. At the core of every economy lies a belief system that is fundamentally theological. Everyone lives based on their beliefs about God, which influence their thoughts, emotions, and actions. As beings designed to be governed by what they worship, humans live every aspect of their lives within theological frameworks, whether they recognise it or not. Theology is inescapable, shaping the lenses through which we perceive the world. 

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Our dating culture needs rescuing too! 

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–– Malamulo Chindongo

The audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Bible-believing Christians share a conviction about the primacy of marriage in God’s purposes. Sadly, such convictions are fading among many professing Christians. God gave us marriage as a gift; it is the very foundation of every society. Marriage lies at the core of every civilization. No group of people can flourish without healthy marriages. The Devil hates marriage, period—why? It is a unique relationship, a covenant between one man and one woman, existing solely for the glory of God. When done right, marriage brings many of God’s blessings to those who engage in it.

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Africa’s Absent Fathers: Working Away from Home and Family

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–– Warrick Jubber

Audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Among Africa’s many problems, one of its greatest is the absence of fathers from the home. The Human Sciences Research Council reports that in South Africa, over 60% of children do not reside with their biological fathers, with only 20% seeing their biological father bi-weekly. 

The importance of a father’s role in the family and especially the development of children has been the subject of extensive global research. The National Fatherhood Initiative reported that children living in father-absent homes are almost four times more likely to be poor and twice as likely to drop out of school. Children raised without the influence of a father are also reported to face significantly higher probabilities of being abused or indulging in crime, drug and alcohol abuse, and sexual promiscuity. 

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Have We Looked at All the Fields? The Forgotten Majority: 800 Words for 800 Million

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–– Seth Meyers

Audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

The population of the world now lives more in cities than in rural areas—approximately 57% to 43%. But that number is reversed for Africa where more than half still live in rural areas. 

A brief comparison of urban and rural areas

If the numbers are accurate, 1.4 billion people live in 54 countries on this continent meaning 800 million are in the rural areas. It is very difficult to determine what the word rural means precisely, but I have commonly used the tripartite metric of jobs, tar roads, and use of English. As these three become more rare, the area deserves the title rural more and more. 

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Good News for African Girls: Child Marriage & Christianity

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–– Tim Cantrell

Audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Amidst all the world’s bad news, good news was heralded from Sierra Leone last week about the outlawing of child brides, where one-third of girls are forcibly married off before the age of 18, leading to a high number of maternal deaths (because of premature pregnancy).  Child marriage is a longstanding, pagan practice in many African countries, with West and Central Africa currently leading the world with nearly 60 million child brides.  In East Africa, fathers in the Maasai tribe can give away a 12-year-old daughter, against her will, to a polygamist old enough to be her grandfather.  In the Muslim country of Mauritania, it is common in villages to find brides as young as 10 or 11 years of age. 

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Kenya’s Eco-Tax Revolt: A Christian Response

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–– Mark Christopher

Audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Over the course of recent weeks, a violent anti-tax protest erupted in Kenya beginning in the capital of Nairobi before spreading to other municipalities. At the time this article was written, protestors stormed the parliament building and set it ablaze. All of the Kenyan parliamentarians safely escaped through an evacuation tunnel. It has been reported that police have opened fire with live rounds. So far, 39 people have been reported killed, while dozens were injured. It has also been reported that some 50 people are missing and are thought to have been abducted by Kenyan police. The president of Kenya, William Ruto, has sought to ease tensions and bring some measure of calm to the uprising. 

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Ancestor Worship in the Church

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–– Paul Schlehlein

Audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Recently while preaching in Namibia, I visited a far-northern town near the border of Angola. I took my sons to a village cemetery to visit the grave of a famous missionary buried there. We looked through the overgrown grass and horizon of headstones and spotted two men kneeling before a grave, bent over in humility, lips moving silently in prayer. After some minutes they moved to the next grave marker, then the next, and the next. They confided later that they were praying to their ancestors. 

Defining Ancestor Worship

This is not uncommon in Africa. Veneration of ancestral spirits permeates traditional African culture as commonly as drumming and dancing. In the thinking of Traditional African Religion (ATR), the ancestors demand respect and remembrance. Honouring them will lead to blessing. Neglecting them will cause misfortune. 

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Does the Minimum Wage Protect Workers?

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–– David de Bruyn

Audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Because of Africa’s history of slavery and racial discrimination, African governments often believe it is their duty to protect labourers from exploitation. They believe one of the ways to do this is to enact and enforce minimum wage laws, forcing businesses and employers to pay labourers no less than a stipulated amount. 

On the surface, this seems fair. After all, shouldn’t governments stop greedy businesses from exploiting desperate people? 

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Perilous Tax Protest in Kenya 

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–– Gideon Mpeni

Audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

This past week has been marked by shocks, frustration, and what the Kenyan citizens may term as palpable failure in nation-building, state construction, and development. When the protests, dubbed “Occupy Parliament”, began on Tuesday the 18th of June, Wycliffe Muia reports that it all looked peaceful. However Anti-tax protesters in Kenya are in shock after a 29-year-old man was killed during the nationwide demonstrations against a new finance bill. Rex Kanyike Masai, who was protesting on Thursday in the centre of Nairobi, died of gunshot wounds, as reported by a doctor from a hospital in the capital, as per a local newspaper. Police fired tear gas and water cannons at largely peaceful protesters near parliament as lawmakers were debating proposals to bring in new taxes.

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