Mysterious Personal Divine Ways June 2022

Mysterious Personal Divine Ways Contents 1. Spiritual Catalysts 2. Challenges of My Twenties 3. A Radical Activist 4. The Stewardship Issue 5. Back to Africa? 6. Flexing Missionary Muscles 7. A Touch of Gulliver 8. Testing Times 9. In the New South Africa 10. Whippings as a Blessing 11. Blessings and Backlashes 12. Under Attack 13. The Strong Wings At Work 14. Traumatic Incidents During My Absence 15. A City 24-hour Prayer Watch 16. In the Crucible 17. Ministering to Both Jews and Muslims 18. A New Season of Spiritual Warfare 19. Embroiled in National Issues Foreword The death of Nelson Mandela brought back many memories. It also inspired me to tell my story for our grandchildren. The present booklet is the second instalment on this score after WHAT GOD JOINED TOGETHER in 2015. God's 'higher ways' are better than our ways! This faith notion came into play in my life again and again. The first significant time was via encouragement by the ‘Watchword’, a Bible verse from the Moravian textbook for some January day in 1963, just after I had finished senior secondary schooling. It was Isaiah 55:8-9: “'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,' declares the Lord. 'As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” This was a nudge for my parents to send me to college by faith for teacher training. Another factor towards the present (attempt at) publication was the 'discovery' that God often uses calamity and disaster quite often, turning them around to come to his sovereign purpose. The hymn God Moves in Mysterious Ways with the background of the poem of William Cowper seems to encapsulate this notion so well. The notion hit home at the beginning of the big Corona lockdown of March 2020 when two friends died who seemed to be on the mend. One of our spiritual daughters almost succumbed to the pandemic as well. In answer to the prayers of many Muslim background believers that came to the fore through a whatsapp group that she had started just prior to this, the ministry among Cape Muslims was taken to a new level. I was learning anew that God is adept at turning things around for our good. Yes, his divine ways are mysterious, but His thoughts are better than ours. A few other lessons of His 'higher ways' crystallised in this period of my life, namely that He must build the house (Psalm 127:2) and that His sovereign timing is supreme . Thus the insight I gained might be perfectly in order but God will also have to determine when that could be implemented. Picking up the theme of God's 'higher ways' in my life, they were linked at times to deep pain in the lives of other people. I came to learn that adversity and suffering seem to be among God's special instruments to bring about significant change in the lives of people and even in countries. Leukaemia and the ultimate death of my teenage hero were for instance part of the run-up to my calling into ministry in 1968. This led to studies in Germany, which ushered in a romantic relationship and my ultimate exile from the country due to an apartheid law. Twelve years later the same sequence, namely the same type of cancer and the death of my only sister would bring me back to the country. That resulted in a six-month stint in South Africa with my wife Rosemarie and our two eldest sons, by special permission of the government. It has been quite a humbling experience to discern divine over-ruling in my life. I made some grave mistakes that had tragic consequences and intense pain - not only for many around me - but also for others. God thankfully rectified my mistakes sovereignly. How glad I am that He did not answer all my prayers, such as the one for a possibility to avoid or circumvent the life of an exile. I loved my country so much that it pushed me into a serious dilemma. I furthermore thought arrogantly that I could contribute better towards racial reconciliation while living in South Africa rather than if I would live abroad.) One of the most striking divine corrections was when the Father turned around my unjustified extreme anger at the actions of the government and my Church Board in November 1978 towards the end of a visit to the country. This caused my initial refusal to meet Professor Johan Heyns, the chairperson of the Broederbond, the apartheid think tank. A repentant willingness to meet Professor Johan Heyns might have contributed more to a process of change. My subsequent correspondence with Professor Heyns was tarnished by arrogant activism. Nevertheless, a change in the views of Prof. Heyns and many other Dutch Reformed Church ministers regarding apartheid ultimately led to a major denominational somersault in 1986. This turned out to be a pyrrhic victory. I am quite sad that some unknown right-wing person, probably an Afrikaner, was angered so much by the changed stance of Professor Johan Heyns in this process that he assassinated the servant of God on 5 November 1994. This gives me ambivalent feelings when I look back to what happened subsequently. In God’s divine wisdom, my exile would become one of many instruments towards political change in the country. This simultaneously enabled me to return to the Republic of South Africa with my family in 1992. Drafts of The Unpaid Debt of the Church and a few other unfinished manuscripts were on my computer when I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. (A number of years ago I was very strongly impressed by the guilt of the Church in general, not only in the establishment and spread of Islam, but also through the pervasive replacement theology that is still keeping Judaism and the Jews side-lined. According to the replacement theory the Church is the ‘new Israel’, substituting the nation that was according to the Bible elected by God to be a blessing to the nations.) The Bible is quite clear on the role of Jews and the nation of Israel as the apple of God’s eye. ) At that time – on 8 October 2003 to be exact – I was encouraged by the ‘Watchword’, as the Moravians have been traditionally calling the 'Old Testament' Scripture for the day: ‘I will not die but live and proclaim what the LORD has done’ (Psalm 118:17). My wife Rosemarie challenged me to get some order in my writings, because if something would happen to me, all my years of research and writing would have been useless. I had to try and finish at least some of the unfinished manuscripts. Cape Town, June 2022 God Moves in Mysterious Ways God moves in a mysterious way,     His wonders to perform; He plants his footsteps in the sea,     And rides upon the storm. Deep in unfathomable mines     Of never failing skill; He treasures up his bright designs,     And works His sovereign will. Ye fearful saints fresh courage take,     The clouds ye so much dread Are big with mercy, and shall break     In blessings on your head. Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,     But trust him for his grace; Behind a frowning providence,     He hides a smiling face. His purposes will ripen fast,     Unfolding ev'ry hour; The bud may have a bitter taste,     But sweet will be the flow'r. Blind unbelief is sure to err,     And scan his work in vain; God is his own interpreter,     And he will make it plain. 1. Spiritual Catalysts I was almost 60 years old already when my wife challenged me with a penetrating question. She wanted to know where my 'honger na geregtigheid' and my anger at injustice came from. For the first time in my life I shared with her there on the rocks of Kommetjie near to Cape Point two childhood injustices. Floyd McClung, the leader of our Church Planting Experience (Cpx) had sent us in twos to pray with each other, challenging married couples to go 'deeper'. Not only in District Six, where I spent the bulk of my childhood, things were 'happening' about which nobody spoke. Only many years later I discerned the link between the sexually transmitted disease for which I had to be treated at the Free Dispensary in Buitekant Street and the abuse of the vagrant with whom I went willingly upon his promise to give me a shilling. When some gangster sexually abused me soon thereafter in one of the nearby ally's of Cape Town's slum area near to the CBD for a sixpence, I allowed him to do it without any protest and without hardly thinking much about it. The equivalent of five and ten cents was big money to me when the only money I briefly possessed was the penny I would get from the 'motjie' (Muslim lady) nearby when I would buy something for her at the 'babbie' (Spaza shop) on the corner. The injustice of both incidences was nevertheless ingrained subconsciously in the four or five year old roaming boy, who knew almost every street below Hanover Street, where the trolley buses were driving drove up and down. I had been already a high school teacher with four years experience when I was shocked to hear of men being approached in toilets for sex. This happened on on ocean liner, the Pendennis Castle in January 1969 on my way to Europe. This was the first time that I left my country. In my first TV experience in London a few days later, I heard about Syphilis and Gonorrhea for the first time. South Africa was still a morally clean country where vice was happening very much on the periphery of our lives. Apartheid would change so much, also impacting my life significantly! Another childhood experience of injustice was ingrained in my memory a few years later when a big boy claimed that a new spinning top that I had just received from a relative, to be his. We were playing on the street and both toys landed in the middle. I could not appreciate my mother's subsequent 'wisdom of Solomon' at all. She took the two spinning tops behind her back, after which the other boy promptly picked my new top. After all, Mommy knew that I had received it earlier that day from our aunt! Many years later, after my return from Europe as an adult during the seminary winter vacation of 1972, I reminded her of that incident, only to find out that she was actually deliberately teaching me a a lesson on suffering injustice. The challenge of Floyd McClung via Rosemarie would be so liberating! I was not aware how deep the childhood injustices had still been lurking in my soul. Positive Childhood Spiritual Catalysts Before I entered primary school, I could be found in places where I was not supposed to be, in spite of a sound Christian home background. When I turned six, I detested the idea of going to school. My freedom would be curbed... (Photo: In front of our house in 30 Combrinck Street, District Six with some relatives, holding the hand of my favourite ‘Aunty’ Patsy Roman, our neighbour, who was actually still a teenager at the time.) When ‘Aunty’ Bertha Roman – our next door neighbour of Combrinck Street - wanted to take me home at one such occasion, I had the audacity to 'command' one of the many roaming dogs of the slum-like District Six: ‘sa! Byt haar! (Charge, bite her!). It surely was God’s grace in my life that we moved from there, at an age where I was quite receptive for wrong influences. On the other hand, my heart was touched at an early age when I listened to an open air service near to our home in District Six at which John 3:16 was sung - For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son. The Moravian tradition, from which both of my parents came, served as an effective foil to the slum-like surroundings of my early childhood. Thus it was logical to them that we would attend the Zinzendorf Primary School and the Sunday School at the same venue. At the end of 1954, we moved to a big property of 8 plots in Tiervlei, as the Cape suburb Ravensmead was called in those days. Here we were regarded as ‘rich’ because we were one of very few families that possessed a brick house: almost all the other people, who resided there, lived in shacks of some sort. Denominational Prejudice Broken Down I am thankful that God used people from other countries and cultures to enrich my life, also in respect of faith. The breaking down of denominational prejudice and my appreciation of other church traditions started in District Six. Tiervlei, later to be renamed Ravensmead, was still quite rural at that time. There were many sandy roads. Living in Northway Road, we initially attended the nearby Moria Sendingkerk (the local Dutch Reformed Mission Church) as a family on Sunday mornings. In the afternoon we joined the Moravian services in the garage of Mr Charles Grodes, the owner of a taxi fleet of two vehicles. The denominational school up the road that my siblings and I attended was linked to the Volkskerk, the first indigenous Cape church where we learned the denominational anthem ‘Protea, protea. ..blom van ons vaderland’ (Flower of our fatherland). After only two years in Tiervlei, a significant change came my way. When girls in the neighbourhood would tauntingly link me up to one of them, I was glad that an opportunity came my way to 'flee' from that situation. My grandfather, Oupa Joorst, asked my parents from the Elim Mission Station whether I could come and help them as a ‘stuurding’, an errand boy to fetch water, go to the shop for them. Although the idea did not really appeal to me to go to the country-side, I gladly went to Elim. As children we did not mind emptying the toilet buckets.1 because this was 'lucrative', child labour that was not frowned upon. Each one of us got sixpence for the job. Gospel Seed Sown Into My Heart Quite an amount of Gospel seed was sown into my heart in various ways. The memorizing of Bible verses from memory while at primary school in Elim would come in good stead in later years. A special Scripture portion was the first verses of Isaiah 53. We had to memorise how the prophet wrote about an unknown suffering person who was compared with a lamb taken to be slaughtered. I understood this to be prophesied about Jesus, the Lamb of God. He did not open His mouth when he was falsely accused. Towards the end of February 1958 ‘Oupa Joorst’ became very ill. The doctor stated that he was not going to live very long. Soon his children and grandchildren came from as far away as Enon in the Eastern Cape to say farewell. The end came on 8 March 1958 just as I came from school for the noon break. I went straight to Oupa’s bedroom, where the neighbour, Ta’ Stienie Daniels, tried to push me out of the room, but it was too late! She could not stop me experiencing something very special! I was privileged to see the radiant joy on the face of the aged saint going ‘home’. He evidently saw something which nobody else of us at his bedside saw. He stretched out his arms expectantly, as if he was being fetched, with his face lighting up for a moment. And then it was all over... This left an indelible mark on me to discern that Oupa obviously knew where he was taken’. I was however terrified because I was nowhere certain where I would go to if I would die. How I detested the enforced midday nap which Auntie Maggie foisted on me and my brother Windsor, who later also joined me in Elim. (She had come to care for 'Oupa Joorst' after her divorce and the death of Ouma Joorst). But God used that circumstance to speak to me. The reading of a tract and the practice of the church brass band - while I was waiting for the church bell to toll for 2.30 p.m. so that I could go and play - combined to frighten me. I was not yet ready to meet God if I would die ... Changes in Tiervlei The situation back home in Tiervlei changed drastically when our Dad had lost his job as a blocker at a milliner factory where they produced female hats. After Daddy had become unemployed in 1957, no factory in the clothing industrial union was inclined to employ a middle-aged worker on top wages. The financial situation at home thereafter deteriorated to such an extent that my parents saw no other way than to take our sister Magdalene out of school as the eldest of the four siblings. She co-operated willingly to try augmenting the family budget. Even when Daddy eventually did get work as a night porter at Mupine, the hostel for workers of the insurance company Old Mutual, the total earnings were still not enough to keep four children between ten and fifteen years old at school. (My younger brother Windsor and I had already been taken care of by Daddy's grandparents and Aunty Maggie on the Elim Mission Station. With the family income still not sufficient to cover the daily needs, our Mom ultimately joined Magdalene at Footmaster, the same sock factory in Parow, after these attempts with domestic work proved to be very unsatisfac­tory for the family life - with a meagre income to boot. Secondary School Challenges For my secondary school training I had to return to the Cape Peninsula from the Elim Mission Station, attending Vasco High School, one of the only three in the northern suburbs designated for ‘Coloureds’. Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine! Our school principal, Mr Braam, was a fervent Methodist lay preacher who challenged us time and again with the song ‘Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine.’ He would stress the certainty he had personally experienced when he accepted Jesus as his Saviour. This made me quite jealous because I did not have that assurance. Nicholas (commonly called Klaas) Dirks was a member of the Boys’ Brigade. One day he invited me to an event staged by the Sendingkerk Boys’ Brigade at the Goodwood Showgrounds to be held on 17 September 1961. The open air congregation was going to be addressed by a certain Dr Oswald Smith from Canada. It turned out to be an evangelistic service where I surrendered to the claims of Christ. The Lord used the Canadian preacher to challenge me to consider that Jesus did not only die for the sins of the world at large, but also for my sins. For Standard Eight (Grade Ten) Richard Arendse had shifted into Nicholas Dirks’ place as the best friend in the class. When the Arendse family had to leave the ‘Acres’ of Goodwood in the wake of the Group Areas implementation, their family bought the house that my uncle, Pappa Joorst, had rented in Eendrag Street, Bellville South (This was one of the few residential areas where 'Whites' who lived on the wrong side of the railway line, actually moved out as ‘Coloureds’ moved in.) Interest in Politics The Sharpeville and Langa events of 1960 made itself felt all over the Western Cape. I had really started to hate apartheid but not 'Whites' as such. The subtle education of discriminating society and the oppressive government paid its toll. Thus I had been thoroughly influenced to look down on 'Blacks'. At the time of the Sharpeville shootings and the march of thousands of 'Blacks' from Langa to the Caledon Square Police Station in March 1960, I was one of the first to leave the school premises of Vasco High School when a rumour went around that the ‘kaffers’ were coming. With fear and trepidation we left the school building. I displayed more courage in writing a letter to the Prime Minister, Dr Verwoerd, at this time. In my draft letter of protest I addressed the inequalities and injustice of the political system. However, I did not post the letter immediately. But I was not really sad when my father discovered the letter in my school blazer when it had to be sent for dry cleaning at the end of the school term. A serious reprimand followed: “Do you also want to go and languish on Robben Island?” I did not fancy that prospect. It was well-known that this was the fate of people getting involved in resistance politics. I had no intention to join the league of Robben Islanders. My interest in politics and in the struggle for democracy received a tremendous boost at Hewat Training College. Many a lecturer supported the struggle against apartheid, although they were in general quite careful. (Quite a few teachers were dismissed at this time or posted to rural places for sharing their political view too openly.) Great was my disappointment though when two of the best lecturers, Mr Herbert (History) and Mr Hanmer (Geography) left for England and Canada respectively. Were they not running away from the responsibilities like Jonah? Medical Studies? As I was finishing high school, one of our high school teachers, Mr Muhammad, thought that I should apply to the University of Cape Town to engage in medical studies. In fact, my father also mentioned the possibility of a bursary. The news of my results at school inspired some resident of Mupine - the Old Mutual Insurance Company in Pinelands, where my father was working as a night porter - to offer sponsoring me for medical studies at the University of Cape Town, but I never even gave it a thought. I felt myself much too inferior to attend a ‘White’ university. I also had no feeling for the medical profession at all. But I was definitely not going to attend the inferior apartheid-tainted 'Bush' University College that had just started for 'Coloureds' in Bellville South! If the Lord Does Not Build the House The final Matric exams were quite strenuous. I wrote my last paper - Geography – three weeks after the first one. On the day before this paper, I was completely exhausted after many late nights and early mornings, trying to put in the last cramming sessions. We had a teacher for that subject who was nowhere qualified for it. This was a situation at the time that was so typical in all secondary schools for learners who were not 'White'. We were not well prepared for the Geography paper. Often I studied together with Attie Louw and Attie Kotze, two class mates who lived nearby. I worked out a strategy for myself to make the best of the situation. But I had no energy left when I turned to the Bible that evening for a special word. In my Bible I had a book mark from the Bible Society with scripture verses and portions for various occasions. Under a heading like 'extremities' or 'exhaustion' I found Psalm 127. 'If the Lord does not build the house.... in vain you work so hard from early morning until late at night.' That was just the word I needed. I was definitely not copping out by going to bed immediately. The examination paper seems to have been made tailor-made for the strategy that I had worked out. I praised the Lord that I passed quite well in that subject, unlike the bulk of my class mates. Spiritual Catalysts of My Teenage Years The open air occasion at the Goodwood Showgrounds on 17 September 1961 was my first serious positive encounter with Jesus and a challenge to become his follower. I responded positively but I was not properly discipled hereafter, becoming more or less back-slidden. Indirectly, this was a catalyst, teaching me the importance of discipling of new believers. At the beginning of 1963 I was spiritually revived under the preaching and teaching of Ds. Piet Bester, the new local Sendingkerk minister of Tiervlei. He became a big influence in my life at that time, notably for missionary and evangelistic outreach. To all intents and purposes he was my mentor. God's Higher Ways Impacting Me Returning to our Tiervlei home in the late afternoon of early January 1963, the next major intervention followed after I had learned that I had been accepted to study at Hewat Teachers’ Training College. I was quite surprised when my parents disclosed that they felt that I could proceed straight away to ‘Hewat’. (Prior to this it had been agreed that I would try and get any secular employment for a year.) Encouraged by the ‘Watchword’ from the Moravian textbook for the day, Isaiah 55:8: 'My ways are not your ways …', my parents decided to send me to college by faith. Special Local Youth Services At the monthly local youth services in the Moravian Church of Tiervlei, I had been inviting not only experienced (lay) preachers from other churches, but also teenagers like myself. Attie Louw, who had been with me in our Matric class, was one of them. After Matric, Attie proceed to theological studies when I went to Hewat Teachers’ Training College. Attie Louw also had contacts via the Christian Students Association (CSV). In our denomination I did not fit in the mould. Along with two young Sunday School colleagues with the name Paul who had the typical Cape Moravian surnames Engel and Joemat,2 I would often launch out in an arrogant way to ‘get the Moravian Church back on track’ with regard to biblical conversion. The two Pauls and I sometimes used unconventional means. Bible choruses were regarded as sectarian in those days, but we had the respected Chris Wessels on our side. Chris had been in Holland and Germany before he returned to the church’s service and thereafter he became travelling secretary of the Christian Students Association. In that capacity he would impact quite a few ‘Coloured’ young people around the country, including Allan Boesak. Ready to be Ex-Communicated Attie Louw recommended a student colleague, Allan Boesak from Somerset West, to invite as a preacher. (Allan happened to be one of Chris Wessels's primary school learners when Chris started as a teacher..) Allan not only preached at one of our youth services, but he also slept over at our home the previous night. This afforded me with a good opportunity for theological discussion. Allan Boesak’s dedication to the Lord made a deep impression on me. I eagerly grabbed the occasion to sound Allan out about the christening of infants. (Pertaining believer’s baptism a Pentecostal friend had been influencing me.) Allan Boesak couldn’t really convince me, but I was satisfied that he was honest enough about it, that he believed that infant christening is the sign of the new covenant, a substitute for circumcision. He explained that the christening of babies is the equivalent of the visible sign of the old covenant of God with Israel. Neither did the similar arguments used by Ds. Piet Bester of the local Moria Sendingkerk make a big impression. In other ways Ds. Bester was however such a big influence in my life at that time. If my Pentecostal friend had come on a certain Saturday afternoon to take me to a baptismal service in a lake as he had promised, I would have gone with him: I was ready to be immersed and thereafter to be ex-communicated from the Moravian Church because of believers’ baptism. That is what happened to people in those days who dared to get ‘re-baptised’. But my new friend didn't pitch, so I stayed in the Moravian Church. A Major Turning Point in My Life When Allan Boesak spoke about the ‘stranddienste’, the beach gospel services of the Students Christian Association at Harmony Park, he sowed seed into my heart. This seed germinated when my Moravian soul mate Paul Engel joined me at Hewat Training College in 1964. Paul also spoke about the Harmony Park beach outreach. A major turning point in my life occurred when Paul Engel nudged me to attend the evangelistic outreach of the Students’ Christian Association (SCA) at the seaside resort of Harmony Park that was scheduled to start just after Christmas at the end of 1964. The Christmas of 1964 found me spiritually in tatters. I was on the verge of getting ready for the Harmony Park ‘stranddienste’ (the evangelistic beaches services), but I was feeling spiritually completely barren. In desperation I called to the Lord to meet me anew. I had nothing to share with anybody, unless He would fill me with His Spirit. And that He did. The Harmony Park beach outreach would change my life radically. I was spiritually revived there. At that occasion my friendship was forged with Jakes, a young pastor who came to join us after a long drive through the night from far-away Umtata in the Transkei. Student Contributions to Revival The Christen-Studentevereniging (CSV), the Afrikaner sector of the Student Christian Association (SCA), produced many prominent leaders in Church and society. At a camp for theological students in Genadendal, Esau Jacobs, a ‘tokkelok’ (theological student) from the Dutch Reformed Sendingkerk, was deeply moved by the ecumenical work of Ds. Beyers Naudé and the Christian Institute. Jacobs (or Jakes as he became widely known), started his pastoral ministry in the Transkei. He inspired many young students, including me. At the student evangelistic outreach at Harmony Park from New Year’s Day in 1965, Jakes introduced ‘spiritual warfare.’ There he started to ignite a vision for outreach to Muslims in me, albeit still fairly vaguely. My First Personal Contact With Spiritual Warfare For the other participants it might not have been so significant, but the unity of the Christians coming from different church backgrounds there left an indelible mark in my heart. I did not know the divine statement yet that God commands his blessing where unity exists (Psalm 133:3). There I received an urge to network with other members of the body of Christ, with people from different denominational backgrounds. I also saw the Holy Spirit at work there, as I had not experienced before. Along with my new friend Jakes and David Savage from the City Mission, I started learning the power of prayer there at Harmony Park. (David Savage later became a pastor in the Full Gospel Church and still later he became the Principal of Chaldo Bible School, the theological institution in Wynberg-Wittebome for ‘Coloureds’ of the denomination.) When Jakes came into the tent one night after a long discussion with a Muslim, he quoted Jesus’ words about prayer and fasting. This was my introduction to spiritual warfare. Impacted by the Unity of Believers At the beach evangelism the following year a friendship to Henry (Jatttie) Bredekamp started. His visit to our home in Tiervlei would impact him when he heard of my extra-mural studies at UWC. He overtook me handsomely with academic studies. (Our friendship resumed later when I could assist him in Holland with a contact to research at archives there. After our return to South Africa in 1992, Jatttie was heading up the historical research at UWC as professor. He would assist me in that capacity with my own research into the history of Cape Islam.) Looking back to the momentous 'stranddienste', and also at subsequent student camps that I attended, we possibly missed out on becoming an even bigger influence on society by just practising the South African slave-master 'way of life', in stead of using the biblical model of servant leadership. The 'juniors' were required to do manual work for which the leaders seemed to be too good. Nonetheless, the Harmony Park student outreach contained seed for spiritual revival. It contributed to the spiritual maturing of leaders such as Rev. Abel Hendricks, who led the 1964/5 camp, along with Rev. Chris Wessels, a young Moravian minister. Quite a few of the participants at this evangelistic outreach played significant roles in the opposition to apartheid in later years. Some of these friends lost their evangelical zeal in the process however. I would most probably also have belonged to this group if I had not been led to a wife, who was used by God to keep me on a different course. (This was also the cause of my leaving the country at a time when I could have become embittered like so many of my friends.) Allan Boesak, Jattie Bredekamp, Franklin Sonn and David Savage are but a few young men from these Harmony Park outreaches who subsequently became influential members in their respective denominations and in society at large. Fighting Ideologies The vision to attempt bringing believers from the different races together - at least occasionally - was ignited in my heart during the memorable beach outreach in Harmony Park in 1964/65 when I discovered how powerful it is when Christians operate together in prayer and action. Hereafter I wanted to fight the prevailing racist ideology I hoped to display the unity in Christ corporately and, if possible, also publicly. However, there was no real opportunity to put this into practice. My efforts to pray with young Youth for Christ Afrikaner believers in Bellville, to evangelise with Wayside Sunday School ''Whites' or just to practise fellowship with believers from the privileged race found no resonance, also not with English-speaking folk. The closest to this was some meetings of the Christian Institute. Spiritually I however never felt very close to them spiritually, as I had experienced in Harmony Park or subsequently with other student believers of the VCS. Picture: Leaving home as a young teacher. The big empty space gives some indication of the residential plots, much of it was used for gardening by our father) Activism As a Teacher In 1966 I was subtly nudging my High School learners to stay away from the celebrations for 'Coloureds' at the Goodwood Showgrounds commemorating that we had five years as an independent Republic. This was however already regarded as an infringement by the government. A teacher colleague was dismissed in the wake of the ‘celebration’ for influencing the children politically. That I was almost posted to the countryside as punishment, hardly had any effect on me. I was not going to allow this intimidation to deter me from taking a principled stand on such issues. (Decades later – in 2008 - I would use this 'tool' again in addressing the corruption at Home Affairs, spreading the word that the refugees should try and get the money back which had been taken from them illegally through bribes and other forms of corruption.) I also challenged my teacher colleagues - as a form of protest - that we as ‘Coloureds’ should request to get the lower salaries of the ‘'Blacks'’. That would be demonstrating our seriousness about racial equality. I found no one interested in this proposal. Every teacher colleague I spoke to was only eager to get parity with the 'Whites'. My Call Into the Ministry Another teenage hero of mine was Reverend Ivan Wessels. He contracted leukaemia at the beginning of 1968. He passed on after a few weeks in Groote Schuur Hospital, only 43 years old. Instead of the planned weekend Sunday School Conference, almost the whole Moravian Church establishment gathered the Saturday in Lansdowne for the funeral of one of its most promising sons. When Bishop Schaberg challenged the congregation: ‘Who is going to fill the gap caused by our deceased brother’, I discerned God’s voice in my heart. Back home in Tiervlei after the funeral, it was not difficult at all to go to my knees and say ‘Yes, Lord, I’m prepared to be used by you to fill the gap.’ Rev. Daniel Ivan Wessels The next day I was completely surprised when Reverend August Habelgaarn, a member of the church board, approached me with the question whether I would be interested in a bursary for two years of theological studies at the Johanneum in Wupperthal (Germany).3 This was to me clear confirmation of the call of the Lord the previous day. Another few months down the road, preparations were well advanced towards my leaving for Germany at the beginning of 1969. (Some of the people who came to see me off at the quayside: From left to right (front row): my friend Jakes, my Brother Kenneth, nephew Clarence on the arm of our dad, Brother-in-law Anthony Esau, Bishop Schaberg, Mommy, my sister Magdalene and sister-in-law Malie, Back Row: V.C.S. student camp friends John Tromp, Martin Dyers, Richard Stevens John was also a local Tiervlei Calvinist church youth friend. Martin was a fellow student at Hewat, and Richard was a class mate at Vasco High School) (On the day of my departure with the Pendennis Castle. My close friend Jakes is standing between my mother and me. My dad is on the extreme left with John Tromp, a friend from the Calvin Protestant Church in Tiervlei) 2. Challenges of My Twenties Just before I left South Africa in January 1969, I bought an autobiographical booklet Tortured for Christ by Pastor Richard Wurmbrand, in which the author described how he had been persecuted in communist Romania. It made a deep impression on me. In Germany I soon had the opportunity to listen to the testimony of the Romanian pastor himself and hear about the experiences of Christians in the Communist countries. Hereafter, I received the periodical of the organization founded by Wurmbrand regularly. In later years, praying for the persecuted Christians in Communist countries was quite often on our prayer agenda, later also as a family in Holland. Wrong Praying? Praying for the right marital partner should be very normal for every believer. Can one however pray wrongly in this regard? Many of my peers were already married or getting married in the 1970s. Romances thus started to play a bigger role in my life, after I had previously decided that in terms of priorities, I was too busy with other things like studies and service for the Lord to have time for a girlfriend. For someone who has been raised in South Africa as a ‘Coloured‘ and about to go to study in Germany, other dynamics come into play. I was determined from the outset not to marry a German girl because that would have prevented me from returning to South Africa due to the laws of the country at the time. I thought that I would be of more use inside South Africa than outside of the beloved country. I had not been in Europe for two weeks when ‘it’ happened. I fell in love as never before. I was really thrown into a spiritual crisis. I asked the Lord to take away my infatuation. I felt myself committed to a task and a commission that was awaiting me in South Africa. I had to learn the hard way (well, really?) that also my emotions had to be brought under God’s rule! His ways were indeed higher, also with regard to my future marriage partner. I still had to learn that it was not proper to prescribe to the Lord the race to which my future wife should belong. When Rosemarie Göbel entered the Jugendbund für Entschiedenes Christentum with her student colleague and friend Elke Maier in May 1970, I experienced something as close to a ‘love at first sight’ as ever there was one, especially after I had spoken to her afterwards. I could not keep it to myself, blurting it out and telling my two Stuttgart room mates immediately about ‘Rosemarie Göbel aus Mühlacker’, even though I still hardly knew her. This was however only the beginning of a roller coaster romance that would take me to the mountain tops of elation and the pits of disappointment and despair after my return to the Cape in October 1970.4 Our Home Expropriated My romantic experiences were not the only clash with apartheid at this time. I had received a letter from my mother in June 1969 with the news that our property was being expropriated under the guise of slum clearance. (We had heard from family members that business people from Bellville South had been approached whether they were interested in buying our property to build shops on it, but we considered this as a wild rumour. After all, as residents of a solid brick house, we did not count ourselves among the category of slum dwellers.) I was furious, wallowing in a mixture of anger, despair and disappointment. That my mother could refer to God's will made me very upset. After receiving her letter, which fuelled my 'hunger after justice', I wrote an angry letter to the Parow Municipality, sending copies to various persons and institutions, including the Department of Home Affairs. This could have landed me in hot water. I briefly even contemplated joining the armed struggle. That my mother could accept the injustice of the expropriation so easy was quite difficult for me to swallow. She must have received special grace to relativise it that they could help my sister to buy property with the money that they had received and to also move to the house of our grandparents. Daddy had infinitely more problems with the injustice meeted out. A heart ailment triggered early retirement a few years later. Challenges For Muslim Outreach The Moravian Theological Seminary of the early 1970s in District Six was a ‘liberated area’ - as one of our lecturers dubbed the premises in Ashley Street. The Seminary was closely involved with the activities of the Christian Institute. But it was also regarded by the government of the day as a dangerous place because people of different races were entering and leaving there. The only surprise was that only one student colleague landed in prison because of our outspoken anti-apartheid attitude and activities. A few of us were interrogated by the ‘Special Branch’. The emerging ‘Black Theology’ made us as students quite sensitive to the context in which we were studying. Thus we noticed for instance the irrelevance of the curriculum with regard to our surroundings. With Muslims all around us in District Six after the bulk of the Christians had left - obeying the Group Areas legislation without protest - it was indeed an anomaly that Islam didn’t feature prominently in our curriculum. It was more or less an optional. (Muslims refused to allow their mosques to be demolished. Many more Christians than Muslims thus left the residential area, creating a situation that made the Islamic presence quite strong.) The Seminary lecturers had no qualms when I asked whether my friend Jakes could be invited for a few lectures on Islam after the end of the year exams in 1972. In the atmosphere of openness at the Seminary, our lecturers had no problem to add some lectures for non-academic purposes. My knowledgeable close friend Jakes was only too happy to oblige. In his person Jakes would keep the interest in Muslim Evangelism burning at a time when Christians were completely oblivious of the challenge. His interest in this field was however completely stifled while studying in Holland in the 1980s. Nevertheless, he influenced a few people including me and Henry Dwyer, another Dutch Reformed Minister, to get involved with outreach to Muslims. A Cradle For Radicalism The University Christian Movement (UCM), which began in opposition to the government’s apartheid policy, became the cradle for radicalism where Black Theology and Black Consciousness could flourish. This created an unhealthy mixture of anti-apartheid, anti-Afrikaner resentment. Our seminary was affiliated UCM. (Scripture Union and Campus Crusade for Christ radiated breezes of biblical non-racial fresh air. Barry Isaacs, who joined the latter ministry, became a widely respected Church leader in the new millennium.) On the other hand, many Christians naïvely overlooked the innate convenience in man to hold on to privilege. Some of them needed 'Black Theology' in the 1970s and 1980s, for example via the Kairos Document of 1985, to shake them out of their cosy zones. Stellenbosch University played a prominent role with its annual mission week at the Studentekerk. This was emulated at other tertiary institutions all around the country. Floyd McClung was a popular speaker at different venues. At the Hofmeyr Centre of Stellenbosch Jan Hanekom would influence scores of students at the end of the 20th century, linking some of them to the South African Association of World Evangelisation SAAWE). A Choice Required Through the mediation of Rev. Henning Schlimm, the Moravian Seminary director, Rosemarie secured a teaching position at St Martini Lutheran Church in the city as a Kindergarten teacher. ( In a letter of the Minister of the Interior her presence in South Africa was stated as a condition, for her to be reclassified as a 'Coloured'. Subsequently she was however refused a work permit. It was clear that I had to choose between Rosemarie and South Africa. John Ulster, a cousin had put this to me in so many words soon after my return from Europe. I found that very hard to swallow. I wanted both. District Six Gets an Islamic Flavour In District Six something was happening quietly. During my two years of residing there while studying at the Moravian Seminary, we witnessed how the residential area was getting an Islamic flavour so to speak in front of our eyes. (Jews had moved from the area residentially long before the 1966 proclamation. Their shops in Hanover Street were being demolished one after the other.) Christians were moving out in greater numbers than Muslims and their churches were being demolished. (The churches had accepted compensation from the government for their buildings.) The Muslims opposed the legislation fiercely, refusing to take money from the government as bait which would have led to the demolition of their three mosques in the residential area. Houses, shops and many churches were bulldozed in the 1970s, leaving the impression ultimately that the area had been Islamic. This would have severe ramifications into the 21st century. Opposition to Group Areas Legislation Fierce opposition to the Group Areas related declaration of District Six, which included the refusal of 'Whites' to buy property there, reverberated well into the 1980s. This was one of the reasons that caused the government to back down on the demolition of Bo-Kaap, which had been deceptively called the ‘Malay Quarter’. Some of the churches there closed their doors. Individually, Christians embraced Islam in order to continue living there. Some of the believers who worshipped at the churches of St Stephen’s and the Anglican St Paul’s had started leaving the residential area, because of this legislation. However, these two congregations continued operating, in spite of the Group Areas restriction. By 1980, Bo-Kaap had become a Muslim stronghold with very little Christian influence left. Deep Soul Searching God had to humble me to accept His choice of a wife. I still somehow did not want to leave South Africa. There seemed to be only one way out: I had to choose between the love for Rosemarie and my love for the country. One of my personal goals was to oppose racial prejudice wherever it would surface. Operating almost exclusively within the confines of the ‘Coloured’ community, I knew that we also had to address the superiority complex in respect of 'Blacks'. My inner tussle came to a head one August Sunday of 1973 when we had the Congregational Church pastor Bongonjalo Claude Goba5 as the speaker at our youth service on compassion Sunday. Claude Goba’s sermon brought me to some deep soul searching. Was I not like Jonah, running away from the problems of our revolution-ripe country? This was the very last thing that I wanted to do! My inner voice told me that I should apply in time for the extension of my passport that would have elapsed on January the 16th the following year. By applying in time for such an extension I would have been able to get peace at heart with regard to my leaving the country. I just couldn’t face the real possibility of a negative response to my application. The result was a fierce struggle in my heart between the love for my country and my love for a foreign girl who would take me out of my trouble-torn heimat. So much I wanted to make a contribution towards racial reconciliation. I thought, perhaps a bit arrogantly: “I am of more use in my native country than anywhere else.” I would be brought down from that presumptuous pedestal. It would have solved the problem for me if I had fallen in love with a ‘Coloured’ girl. In fact, I actually started praying along those lines. This would have been proof to me that I was not destined to venture into the life of a voluntary exile. Was I still gripped too much by apartheid thinking? Hesitantly, I opted to leave the country without applying for the passport extension, with little hope of ever being able to return. I did resolve though to fight the matter, to work towards returning to my home country by 1980 with my future wife Rosemarie. To this end I intended to attack the discriminatory laws from abroad, to enable our return as a couple or as a family. A Youth Rally in the Old Drill Hall. In another initiative the seminary was prominent. Dr Beyers Naudé, well known for his opposition to apartheid via the Christian Institute (CI), that he had founded, was invited to address a youth rally on Youth Power in the Old Drill Hall. This was typical of the position of the Seminary in opposition to the government. Dr Naudé was lodging with Henning and Anne Schlimm and their family in Rondebosch. There Dr Naudé heard about my pending departure for Germany to take up a position as assistant pastor and about the link to my darling Rosemarie. (Henning and Anne Schlimm had been my confidants during the three years of my studies at the seminary.) In the months prior to my scheduled departure, various leaders of the Christian Institute (CI) had their passports confiscated just prior to their respective departures from Jan Smuts Airport, Johannesburg. Although I was only a very inconspicuous CI member, one could never know. The presence of Dr Beyers Naudé at our youth rally did not augur well for me. I wrote to Rosemarie that I would phone her from Johannesburg if the government would prevent me from leaving the country. This thankfully didn’t happen. Ducking and Diving on Honeymoon Two years later – March 1975 – Rosemarie and I were already in South Africa on our very special honeymoon. We had to do some ducking and diving because Rosemarie had actually received a visa on the condition that she would not travel to South Africa “accompanied by your future husband.” To ensure that our plans would not be wrecked on Jan Smuts Airport, Johannesburg, I was quite untruthful. I gave the impression in my correspondence to my parents and friends that Rosemarie would come alone. It would have been quite easy for the authorities to send one (or both) of us back with the next flight or to lock me up. I still possessed a South African passport. Thankfully nothing untoward happened on that four-week honeymoon stint like arrest or even harassment by police. Confessing a Lack of Virtue My conscience didn’t leave me in peace because we had circumvented the condition of Rosemarie’s visa. However, I also felt that we should encourage the South African government towards real democracy. A letter to the Prime Minister served this double purpose well enough, but I went too far when I tried to justify our actions. In this letter, I displayed a lack of Christian virtue by hitting back quite hard at the officials because of the bureaucratic blunders made by the Consulate in Munich. I was courting trouble by sending a copy of this letter to the Consulate. I “earned” the jitters a few days later: an element of revenge on my part had clearly played a role. I should not have been surprised when my activist attitude triggered a quick response. The consul twice tried to contact me telephonically, but on both occasions it was unsuccessful. When the consul phoned the second time, he threatened with disciplinary measures, under which we understood the confiscation of my passport. Rather fearfully I was at the phone in the office at the set time. (We had no telephone in our apartment.) I suspected that it would be about our visit in South Africa and my letter to the authorities. It was very reassuring though that I knew that Rosemarie and other friends were praying while I was on the phone with the consul. The Lord worked mightily: in the course of a few minutes the tone of the consul changed 180 degrees from tough to cordial. In the end he actually offered his aid in a very friendly tone if I should ever encounter any problems in Europe. A ‘Peaceful’ Front to Change the Racist Structures? In Germany I was soon reading and receiving the airmail edition of the International Star. Thus I kept abreast of developments in South Africa. In June 1976 I read how trouble was brooding in Soweto. I had been reading how trouble was brooding in Soweto. Learners were protesting against what they perceived as the enforced imposition of Afrikaans. However, the fierce reaction of the police on the 16th of June took all of us by surprise. With Pastor Uwe Holm from the Landeskirche, the Lutheran State Church, I spontaneously got involved in organizing a protest meeting in the ‘Kaiser Wilhelm Gedächtnis’ Church in central Berlin. The 16th of June 1976 made even more of an activist out of me. I feared an escalation of violence that could lead to a bloodbath in my beloved South Africa. My activism was pushed into top gear. I regarded it as my moral responsibility to continue working towards a non-racial set-up in South Africa, using non-violent means. I attempted to start a ‘Peaceful Front' to change the racist structures of our country. I wrote letters in all directions. But support was not forthcoming. The brutal government repression of the peaceful protest of the students was to all and sundry the proof that the days for boycotts and the likes were over. My compatriots overseas felt that the government in our home country could only be toppled through the barrel of the gun. All bar one of those whom I approached had given up on the option of peaceful transition to change in South Africa. Our friend Rachel Balie, who was studying in Berlin, was the only one of our circle of countrymen and -women who were still supporting the idea of non-violent change. The Power of Confession After my ‘Soweto’ speech in West Berlin I was catapulted into the role of mediator in a dispute between foreign African students and the local authorities. This effort of mediation caught the eye of Heinz Krieg, who was connected to Moral Re-armament.6 He and his wife Gisela befriended Rosemarie and me. In April 1977 we received a phone call from our church head office in Bad Boll (Germany) with the question whether we would consider pastoring the congregation of Utrecht in Holland. The church authorities needed someone who could learn Dutch quickly. Heinz Krieg gave me a challenging book as a parting gift when we left for Holland in September 1977: South Africa, what kind of change? I was confronted once again to become an activist for racial reconciliation in my home country. A visit to the Moral Re-armament conference in Caux (Switzerland) at the end of 1977 brought home to me the power of confession very intensely. The apology of the daughter of Ds. Daneel on behalf of Afrikaners for the hurts caused by apartheid legislation impacted me quite intensely. The Moral Rearmament practice of writing down thoughts fuelled my activist spirit. Hereafter I wrote various letters of protest to Cabinet ministers. Rosemarie felt that I was wasting my time. She was sure that my letters would never reach the likes of Mr P.W. Botha. I persevered nevertheless, but after 1982 the letters became very sparse compared to the years 1978-80. Involved With the Discriminated and Persecuted I resolutely continued towards my goal of wanting to return to South Africa, by attempting to get the apartheid laws gradually repealed. (Much later I changed my views in my correspondence with the South African authorities significantly, after I had discerned from Scripture that one could not reform a wicked system; that it had to be eradicated completely.) When we moved to the historical Moravian complex of Zeist, I was not aware of the special heritage of the place in recent decades. (One of the inhabitants, Sister Kooy, had actually been involved in the evangelical movement of Holland during the Second World War when they were caring for the persecuted Jews and for the destitute, along with Dutch people like Corrie ten Boom and Brother Jan Kits (sn).) In due course we would also get involved with practical support for persecuted believers behind the 'Iron Curtain' of Eastern Europe. 3. A Radical Activist Rachel Balie, who had returned to South Africa after the completion of her studies, wrote that Chris Wessels, a minister colleague and long-time friend in whose home Rosemarie and I had still been on our honeymoon journey, had been imprisoned. Nobody from his family knew where he was incarcerated. He was never formally accused or brought before a court of law. Later we understood that his main offence was that he helped to care for the families of political prisoners. Shortly before this, Steve Biko died while in police custody. We feared that the same thing could happen to Chris. My activism was immediately aroused. Vigorously I tried to nudge the Moravian Church leaders into action on behalf of our brother in detention. Initially it involved something of a battle to get our church authorities in Bad Boll (Germany) on board, but they finally also pushed other Western countries to write to the respective S.A. Embassies. We heard later that this move possibly saved the life of Chris Wessels. The Unsound Premise of My Calling to Utrecht The premise of my calling to the Moravian congregation of Utrecht was not sound. Robin Louz, a Surinamese brother representing the Utrecht congregation, had heard me attacking the South African Moravian Church for its double standards. The occasion was a visitor from the Broederkerk church board of South Africa to the Synod in 1975. I embarrassed him, exposing the lack of support of the church board for the banned brother Wessels in Genadendal (On our honeymoon we had visited the old pensioner.) The Surinamese brother present thus thought that they would get a young ‘political’ radical pastor. He didn’t bargain for one who was also an evangelical, one who was deeply influenced by a moral radicalism to boot. Later this would cause a lot of strain. After merely three months I was involved in a head-on collision with my Utrecht church council, because I was too undiplomatic in my sermons. I challenged the congregation on moral issues, as well as towards complete submission to the claims of Christ. My referring to terminology of the Count Zinzendorf, the founder of the Renewed Moravian Church - about winning souls for the Lamb - was maliciously misconstrued as something tantamount to sheep stealing. After I had used testimonies of Moral Re-armament people from South Africa in a church service on Christmas Day, this was equated with the practices of Jehovah’s Witnesses.7 But I was not going to budge. In fact, I almost revelled in fighting for biblical truth. I was however rather unwise to be so radical almost at the outset of my tenure in the congregation. * * * My interest and involvement in Moral Re-armament taught me to jot down insights and things that I wanted to do during my ‘quiet time’. I started collating all the documents and my correspondence pertaining to our struggle with the authorities in South Africa, giving the manuscript the title Honger na Geregtigheid.8 Also the Moravian Church authorities came under fire as I tried to nudge them to be more active towards racial reconciliation and equality between the privileged ‘Coloureds’ and the ‘Blacks’ in the denomination. Thus I challenged the leadership to merge the ‘Coloured’ congregation of Manenberg and the Xhosa one of Nyanga just over the railway line, to be served by the same pastor. A Terrible Fright We had started making preparations for a second visit to South Africa when we got the fright of our lives. Rosemarie went to Dr Wittkampf, our home doctor in Zeist, because she noticed a lump in her throat. He immediately phoned the hospital - he suspected a tumour! We were already over-sensitive after a series of terminal cancer cases occurred in our circle of friends. In this atmosphere it was all gloom. Tears were flowing freely. I hurt Rosemarie immensely when I was so insensitive to clearly verbalise her possible passing on as an opportunity to return to my home country. What a strain this brought to our marriage, the first really serious disagreement in our blissful marriage because I was so careless to mention this. She was not yet ready to return to my home country with me. After the traumatic experiences in the run-up and aftermath of our honeymoon, she had come to resist this possibility fiercely. She did not want to raise children in such a racist environment. Her prayers thus went along the line of “Lord, I’m prepared to serve you anywhere in the world, but not in South Africa!” The Holy Spirit did somehow speak to Rosemarie through this experience. She now became prepared to serve the Lord in South Africa if He would spare her life. But she did not share this with me at that time. I was however far from ready to lose her! In our utter despair we turned to the Lord in prayer. At this stage we read a Bible verse, John 16:20, that comforted us extremely: “Your grief will turn to joy!” A few weeks later the tumour was removed in an operation. The laboratory examination showed that the tumour was benign! Indeed, our grief turned to exceeding joy! Apartheid Has the Beating of Me In September 1978 I left for South Africa for a six-week tour with Rosemarie and our son Danny. Experiences there with the Moravian Church leaders at the Cape and with the folk of Moral Rearmament (MRA) during this visit, were quite traumatic. The stark differences between the township and shack surroundings of Sherwood Park, Manenberg and Crossroads on the one hand - and the posh residential areas like Glenhaven and Fish Hoek on the other hand - were hitting us as never before. And then there was the general indifference to the injustices that seemed all-pervading, not even mentioning the rationalisation of it by people from whom I least expected it. Petty apartheid bureaucracy was adding insult to injury. Disappointments in the church and their reaction to the imprisonment and restriction of Chris Wessels, our friend who had been detained without trial - along with racist experiences on the train from Cape Town to Johannesburg, had the beating of me. It brought me to the point of utter frustration and despair, deciding to leave South Africa - never to return! That a Cabinet decision was necessary to give clarity whether we could travel in the same compartment as a family, together with bureaucratic bungling, really embittered me. Now I was really like Jonah, completely disgruntled. I Threw in the Towel It looked as if apartheid had knocked me out. I threw in the towel in a mixture of anger and disappointment. This was not a sacrificial Isaac experience as in 1973. Nor was it Jonah again running away from responsibility. I had simply resolved to give up the fight! But I was also extremely angry. Howard Grace, a British Moral Rearmament full-time worker, fetched us from Park Station in Johannesburg. He had to bear the brunt of my anger. When I was still fuming, Howard mentioned during the car trip to Umdeni (the villa of the movement, where we were scheduled to stay in the rondavel for the next few days) that he wanted to introduce me to the influential Professor Johan Heyns. The moment of his kind gesture was the worst one the MRA man could have chosen. At that point in time I was definitely not prepared and interested to meet the chairman of the Broederbond, the apartheid think tank. On that November Saturday the MRA people of Johannesburg surely did not encounter a happy Christian. I am ashamed to say that I relished whipping an old lady verbally because she clearly expressed her sympathies with the government. With as much venom as I could muster, I shared how the various agents of the apartheid government had been maltreating my family and me. A Farewell Gesture of Solidarity Therefore it was no wonder that Howard Grace and others suspected in the evening that I was craving after sensation by phoning Dr Beyers Naudé to find out where he was worshipping. There was thus ample reason for the one or other MRA member to surmise that I was not sincere in my wish to want to worship with Dr Naudé. One of them actually suggested that I more or less had a martyr complex, hoping to be thrown out of the church.9 I received special grace, so that I could still keep my cool! What possibly helped was that I had given up. I intended the visit to Dr Naudé’s church to be my farewell gesture of solidarity with the politically oppressed of the country. Someone Must Have Been Praying for Me Terribly angered by the Moravian Church Board and the government, I was now determined never to put my foot on South African soil again. Someone - or perhaps even more than one person - must have been praying for me. Rosemarie and I, along with a few believers linked to Moral Rearmament, visited the church that Dr Naudé attended regularly. He entered there always as the last person, just before the bell would toll so that the minister and his church council could step out of the vestry in procession. Dr Naudé would then leave as the first congregant at the end of the service because he was not allowed to speak to more than one person at a time. His wife came to us after the service, organising that we could follow him in his car to their home, while she would teach at the Sunday School. The Father hereafter used the well-known Oom Bey Naudé - who was loved by many who were not 'White' and hated by those who supported apartheid - in a special way. A miracle happened that Sunday. I was changed supernaturally from within through the visit to the Naudé home. God used the banned Dr Beyers Naudé and the congregation where he worshipped to bring me to my senses. A divine touch cured me of my intense bitterness and anger towards the country that - paradoxically - I so dearly loved. Dr Naudé’s lack of bitterness impressed me tremendously. Dr Naudé’s complete lack of bitterness impressed me tremendously. After the church service we also met Ds. Joop Lensink, a Dutch national, who ministered to 'Blacks' in the mining compounds! He and his wife invited us to their home the same evening, where we heard of their courageous compassionate moves, taking care of 'Black' homeless children. In fact, after the red-letter Sunday I really wanted to make amends for my racist bias. Hereafter, I set out to work quietly for the lifting of the ban of the beloved Dutch Reformed Minister, who had meant so much to me.10 Determination to Fight the Apartheid Ideology In His sovereign way God used the events of that Sunday to make me more determined than ever to fight the demonic apartheid ideology from abroad. I saw a ministry of reconciliation again as my special duty to the country of my birth. As part of this effort, I continued to collate personal documents and letters with more verve, hoping to get it published under the title ‘Honger na Geregtigheid’ (Hunger after Righteousness). In this manuscript I included and commented on my correspondence with the rulers of the day. Yet, I wanted to win the government over, rather than expose their practices abroad. As a means to this end, I targeted the Dutch Reformed theologians whom I believed could play a pivotal role. In my resolve to work towards racial reconciliation, I went out of my way to meet Professor Johan Heyns and a delegation of Dutch Reformed ministers, who attended a synod in Lunteren when they visited Holland in 1979. A few months prior to this I was not interested at all to meet the chairman of the Broederbond! The delegation furthermore included Dr O'Brien Geldenhuys and Professor Willie Jonker. I arranged to meet them again at the Amsterdam airport Schiphol on their return to South Africa. These three would be quite influential to bring about significant changes in the Dutch Reformed Church in the years hereafter. I urged the clergymen to get the ban of Dr Beyers Naudé lifted, challenging them also with regard to membership of a secret society. Prof Willie Jonker, whom I still knew from my District Six Seminary days, took me aside to explain to me that he was not a member of the Broederbond. I was elated to read later that the one oro other of them had responded positively, however without initial success, to get the ban of Dr Beyers Naudé lifted. An interesting sequel to my meeting with the Dutch Reformed ministers was that Mr van Tonder, a top official of the South African Embassy in The Hague, who was also at the airport, visited us in Zeist shortly hereafter. (Only a few weeks before, Mr Reg September, who was at that time an influential ANC official in Lusaka, pitched up in our home on the Broederplein of Zeist.) Personal Ministry of Reconciliation A fairly extensive correspondence followed with different role players on the South African scene. I targeted Dutch Reformed theologians of South Africa especially of whom I believed could play a pivotal role in effecting change for the better in my home country. I sensed a personal responsibiity to engage in a ministry of reconciliation, aimed to heal rifts where I discerned them. Thus I attempted to get (the later Arch) Bishop Desmond Tutu and Dr Allan Boesak reconciled. The latter, along with his Broederkring cronies, were at loggerheads with the likes of Bishop Tutu - people who were still prepared to talk to President Botha. It also affected me personally when my correspondence with the government estranged me to some extent from my best friend, Jakes. My effort to get Dr Boesak and Prof. Heyns reconciled was unsuccessful, but I was happy to hear later that Bishop Tutu and my former evangelism buddy Allan Boesak were again operating in concert. Professor Heyns went on in the mid-1980s to become one of the divine instruments of change in his church to take the denomination away from apartheid thinking and attitudes. (It is generally believed in South Africa that a right wing extremist, who could not accept Heyns’ role in the dramatic turn-around of the denomination, was responsible for his assassination in November 1994). 4. The Stewardship Issue Before I left the South African shores in 1973 I had been influenced deeply at the fairly unknown theological institution in Ashley Street in the heart of District Six in yet another way. The Moravian Seminary not only increased my awareness of political justice, but during the three years from 1971 to 1973 I also became very sensitive to structures that perpetuate economic inequality. Having written an assignment on the role of the poor in the ‘Old Testament’, I wanted the Church to become more relevant in the fight towards economic justice. Economic Inequality Bashing My Conscience As a teacher I had already battled with the discriminatory racial income disparity of South Africa. Having been on the receiving end of injustice was in fact some consolation because I knew that we as ‘Coloured’ teachers were earning almost double that of our 'Black' counterparts. And we had much smaller classes to cope with to boot. But I also felt uncomfortable that I was earning much more as a single young man than breadwinners who had to make do with much less and with whole families to feed. A side effect of my studies at the Moravian seminary was that I lost much of my zeal for evangelism. Gradually it was substituted with political involvement in the struggle against apartheid. In a sense Prime Minister Vorster was not completely off target when he accused me of ‘making politics under the guise of religion’. (This was his standard reply to religious objection. He possibly had not even read my letter himself after I had challenged him in October 1972, to be used by God like President Lincoln in the USA to get our country out of the cul de sac it was in, heading for disaster.) From 1 December 1973 I had become an unmarried assistant minister of the Moravian Church in Germany, earning a salary that was a multiple of what my colleagues with families and many years’ experience earned in my home country. This was not the first time when structural inequality was hitting my conscience. Come January 1974, my guilt syndrome was driving me almost crazy when our salaries were increased by almost 10%. (This constantly happened the next few years, adding agony to injury). After our marriage in 1975, I felt very much alone when even my wife could initially not understand how I felt. Our very first Christmas in Berlin highlighted my dilemma. We received a fat bonus – the Europeans were calling it a 13th monthly salary - in a climate where the birth of Jesus Christ disappeared in the wake of the commercialised atmosphere all around us. (Of course, in Cape Town it had not been much different. Already there I had my problems with the abusive commercialism at Christmas time.) Rosemarie couldn’t understand my emotions at first, but gradually she became more sensitive to my feelings in this regard. At the Christmas of 1976 I experienced the extreme ‘Weihnachtsrummel’ (Christmas commercial hype) of Berlin in such sharp contrast to the needs of our brothers and sisters in the Transkei. (I had kept up correspondence contact with Reverend Willy Mbalana, who was the Moravian minister in Sada. The latter village was an apartheid creation, a ‘resettlement area’ where redundant people were dumped - such as those who returned with diseases from the goldmines.) A Voluntary Sharing of Resources? It was crystal clear to me that the annual salary increases in Germany were only possible because of the disparity between rich and poor countries. This bugged me. I discerned how Europe was firmly in the grip of materialism. Suddenly I saw 'White' South Africans in a different light. I discovered that they were similarly enslaved and imprisoned by a system of injustice. I wanted to take a principled stand but I felt myself so helpless. I did stage my protest in a quiet way by refusing the salary increase. In further negotiations with the church authorities it was agreed that the increase would be used for the church’s mission work. My fight against apartheid received a new direction in this way. I hereafter challenged various leaders of the apartheid state in letters to set the example to the rest of the world by a voluntary sharing of the resources with the poor. My role models at this time were Jan Amos Comenius and Count Zinzendorf, who took their cues from the Bible. When I continued my theological studies at the Moravian Seminary in Bad Boll (Germany) in 1974, these two men of God became quite important to me. That Comenius had stated that we should erect signposts that would point to the reign of the coming King, inspired me. Thus it was not so important any more if one does not see any immediate fruit of one’s actions. Similarly, the example of Count Zinzendorf through his day-to-day Umgang mit dem Heiland (conversing with the Lord) and his high view of the Jews, challenged me significantly. My Bubble Blown God humbled me at this time. I was still very much of an anti-apartheid activist exile, one who longed to return to his beloved South Africa and fighting to achieve it. I gave a copy of Honger na Geregtigheid to Hein Postma, the principal of the local Moravian primary school in Zeist, whom I got to know when he addressed the congregation at a love feast. He and his wife Wieneke became very good friends of Rosemarie and me. With Hein's loving advice my bubble was blown. In his view, Honger na Geregtigheid was too critical, it was not loving enough. He compared it to an overdose of medication to a sick patient. Hein, furthermore, noted that he missed forgiveness, love and compassion in the manuscript. Honger na Geregtigheid was too critical, an overdose of medication to a sick patient! I sensed that Hein Postma had a kindred spirit, the real servant attitude of the Herrnhut Moravians. It did not matter one bit that he worshipped at another fellowship on Sundays. When he invited us to a weekly Bible study with other local Christians that he was leading with Wim Zoutewelle, a biology teacher at the local Christian high school, I accepted without any ado. Through this influence I regained some of my evangelistic zeal that I had lost during my activist anti-apartheid period. Hein Postma was God’s instrument to point out a basic deficiency of Honger na Geregtigheid. His loving advice was seed into my soul. I hoped hereafter that I would be able one day to become such a blessing to foreigners to South Africa. That was ultimately the seed for starting Friends from Abroad that we would establish in Cape Town in 2006. Attempting to Get the Ban on Dr Beyers Naudé Lifted A few months later I was reading in a Dutch newspaper that a church delegation from the influential (‘White’) Dutch Reformed Church was in Holland to attend a synod. The delegation included Professors Johan Heyns, Willie Jonker and Dr O'brien Geldenhuys. I took the initiative to go and meet them in Lunteren. I saw this as a chance to make amends for my stubbornness and headstrong refusal to meet Professor Heyns on our visit to Johannesburg the previous year. However, the only possibility that Prof. Heyns, the leader of the delegation, could offer me was to meet them at Schiphol Airport just before their return to South Africa. There I made the DRC church leaders very uncomfortable. Almost at the outset of our airport rendezvous I referred to Dr Beyers Naudé, stating quite bluntly that I thought it would be great if they could attempt to get his ban lifted. I had, furthermore, taken with me the draft manuscript of ‘Honger na Geregtigheid’ in a big open envelope. Taking for granted that Dr Naudé’s mail was being fiddled with, I naïvely requested one of them to take the envelope along with them and hand it over personally. Just as naïvely I hoped that theologians of that calibre would play a role in repentance of and rectifying apartheid practices. I challenged them also with regard to membership of the Broederbond, a secret society. Prof Willie Jonker, whom I still knew from my District Six seminary days, took me aside to explain to me that he was not a member of the Broederbond. Love Drives Out Fear I engaged in some correspondence with Prof. Heyns and other DRC churchmen. Via a document with the title Liefde Dryf die Vrees uit (Love drives out fear)11, I argued among other things that politics based on fear is a cul-de-sac. Arrogantly I highlighted that the traffic sign for a cul-de-sac is basically a deformed cross. The perfect love personified by Jesus' death on the Cross of Calvary should be our guideline to drive out fear (1 John 4:18). Professor Heyns seemed to have made amends thereafter. In the 1980s he went on to become one of the divine instruments of change in his church. My flurry of letters might even have made some contribution to change. I was of course elated to read later that some of the Dutch Reformed church leaders had responded positively, however without initial success to get the ban of Dr Beyers Naudé lifted. Because of the well-publicized tampering with post by the Special Branch of the police - which I had experienced myself - I contrived to send the draft manuscript of Honger na Geregtigheid to Dr Naudé with the delegation. This move was not completely wise, as I would discover later. The ban of Oom Bey was ultimately lifted in 1984. I really rejoiced when I heard how Professor Willie Jonker started the ball of confession rolling at Rustenburg in November 1990, confessing in his personal capacity and on behalf of his denomination. The government of the day and the Afrikaans press slammed the Rustenburg confession in general, but in the spiritual realm a deep impact was definitely made. A Substitute for Circumcision? During a Bible Study with Hein Postma, Colossians 2:11,12 was read: “In him you were also circumcised... with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith...” Although baptism was not discussed at all that evening, the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart. I was moved to discover that ‘circumcision of the heart’ - conversion to faith in Jesus Christ - was the actual basis of baptism according to the above-mentioned Bible verse. My own argument for practising the tradition of christening of infants was pulled from under me. Subconsciously I was still somehow influenced by the Calvinist argument – sowed into my heart years ago by Allan Boesak and others - in defence of the christening of infants. According to this view, the christening of infants as the sign of the new covenant replaced circumcision, which is the visible sign of the old covenant of God with Israel. I was now reading there in Colossians about the circumcision of the heart. I was hit for a six. I had not yet looked critically at the replacement theory, whereby it is believed that the Church replaced Israel. From the context of Colossians 2 it was clear to me that conversion through faith in Jesus was meant. The Last Straw In the preceding years and following in the footsteps of the Count Zinzendorf, I got to love Israel and the Jews increasingly. As I now started to think of it more deeply, the untenability of the christening of infants struck home. How could the Church substitute circumcision, a practise so sacred to the Jews? In the course of my participation in a liturgical commission of the church I was troubled intensely by the formulation in the Moravian christening liturgy. That has been described as baptismal regeneration. Thereby eternal life is apportioned to babies at their ‘baptism’. This was now really the last straw to me. How could I continue with the practice with a good conscience? I knew that I couldn’t carry on with a practice that had indeed become a tradition that nullifies the power of God (Mark 7:13). The seed was sown in my heart for opposition to Replacement Theology. I promptly put the problem to my church council. They were very sympathetic, especially after a traumatic common experience had transpired only weeks prior to this with a difficult church member. They suggested that I should discuss the matter with my minister colleagues. My problem with infant ‘baptism’ developed into a saga that included many tears. In the end we found a compromise: I could continue as a pastor, without having to christen infants. This could of course not go on for any length of time. I was offered another post where I would not have to christen babies. Because the issue of radical stewardship had however become quite important to Rosemarie and me, we could not accept a post where we were required to compromise on this issue. We agreed that I would terminate my services in the Moravian Church at the end of 1980. Attempting to Win Over the Afrikaners I still hoped that ‘Honger na Geregtigheid’ could be published in South Africa in Afrikaans first, in my attempt to win over the Afrikaners. I had to agree with my friend Hein Postma that the manuscript was possibly an overdose of medicine to a sick society. He noted that he missed love and compassion in it. I took his loving divinely inspired advice to heart I hereafter toned it down, planning three smaller booklets, of which the first one concentrated on issues around the Mixed Marriages Act. I continued, albeit rather subdued, revamping the manuscript, highlighting the issues around the prohibition of racially mixed marriages and our own experiences, calling it ‘Wat God saamgevoeg het’’12 (‘What God joined together’). The intention was also to diminish the possible shock effect for Afrikaners in that way. I hoped of course secretly that this could facilitate my return to South Africa. Remaining in Jerusalem Through our connection to Moral Rearmament, we got befriended to the work of the ‘Offensive Junger Christen’ in Bensheim, Germany. Their working method sounded very much along the lines of our own thinking. Soon we were seriously considering moving house to Germany. To our disappointment nothing came from our application to join the ‘Offensive’. No clear reason for the refusal was given, although we suspected that our critical attitude towards the christening of infants might have been the problem. By October 1980 we still had no new position and nowhere to go after the termination of our work in the church. It was understood that we were required to vacate the parsonage at the end of the year. At this stage we called to the Lord for a word, for guidance. We were surprised when Luke 24:47 almost jumped out. The verse mentioned ‘beginning in Jerusalem’. It was not clear to us how to interpret it. We thought it to mean that we should remain in our Jerusalem, Zeist. But this seemed impossible! From two other groups we had firm promises that we could join them - with accommodation included - if we would have no place to go to. But nothing was forthcoming from either of them when it came to the push. Our friends who prayed with us stood firmly in support. To us this was very much an encouragement. They knew that it was really a step of faith for us. Mixed Marriages Act to be Scrapped? I was following the developments in the country closely. One of the most dramatic developments occurred when Mr P.W. Botha, the Prime Minister, stated publicly that he was ready to scrap the (prohibition of racially) Mixed Marriages Act. He challenged the churches to come with a united viewpoint, which he probably knew would have been almost impossible. Initially another visit to South Africa seemed a non-runner towards the end of 1980. Rommel and Celeste Roberts, a couple from South Africa, suddenly popped up in Zeist. We had met Rommel in Caux (Switzer­land) at a conference of the Moral Rear­mament (MRA) in December, 1977. After his training as a Cath­olic priest, Rommel got involved in ministry at the Modderdam squatter camp near Bellville. There he met Celeste, a 'White' Catholic nun. They broke all the normalities of South African “way of life” to marry in South Africa. (Couples who did this would exchange marriage vows in some neighbouring country and then live there or in another country.) Rommel himself had been released from prison just before their departure. He was never brought before a court of law because of his role in the bus and student boycotts of that year, but the couple feared a new arrest. Therefore they were very happy for the opportunity to get away from the police hunt. Probably more than anybody else in South Africa they had courageously challenged the “Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act”. When they came to visit us in Zeist, Celeste was pregnant. A complica­tion not only extended their stay with us, but she also came close to losing her life because of it. In what amounted to a miracle, her life was saved. Because of her illness and hospitalisation, Celeste stayed with us much longer than they had intended. Just at this time we received the news in August 1980 from South Africa that my only sister Magdalene had contracted leukaemia. She had played such an important part towards the education of us, her three younger brothers. God used Celeste to sow seed into our hearts so that we started enquiring after the cheapest possibility to go to South Africa. We decided initially more or less that I should go to South Africa alone. The date of my mother’s pending 70th birthday (on 28 December) was however far from convenient. There were so many other complicating factors militating against a visit. More than one hurdle was cleared thankfully so that we could start the process to visit my family and to say farewell to my sister, expecting her to pass away in due course. An Unexpected Stint in South Africa A nerve-wrecking few weeks would follow until we finally received the visa for Rosemarie and our two boys literally on the last minute. We could thus finalize our travelling plans at last. Unfortunately, all seats on the connecting flights from Johannesburg to Cape Town were already booked by this time – a week before Christmas. We had no option than to sleep over in Johannesburg. My seminary colleague Martin October and his wife obliged without hesitation that we could lodge with them in the Moravian parsonage. The conditions under which the visit to the Cape would took place, were nevertheless overwhelming. We were basically going to visit my dying sister. We had no idea what would happen on our return to Holland because we had more or less used our last savings for the air fares. It suited me perfectly that my seminary colleague Martin October was willing to take me to Bishop Tutu and Dr Beyers Naudé on our return to Holland. From the Bosmont manse I made a few phone calls. Among others I contacted Dr Beyers Naudé. When I heard from Dr Naudé that he had never received the manuscript that I had sent with the delegation of DRC theologians the previous year, I was now all the more keen to discuss my manuscripts with him and Bishop Tutu. We left our winter coats with Martin and Fanny October, intending to collect them on our return to Europe. This did not happen however. More turbulent weeks followed which ultimately led to an unexpected stint of six months in South Africa. On arrival at D.F. Malan Airport, the name of the international airport of Cape Town at that time, we heard that my sister had died the evening before. In a series of events prior to our scheduled return to Holland, we discerned God’s hand clearly. This happened especially during the evening devotion of 19 January 1981 in Elim. My late father was reading the scriptural Macedonian injunction: ‘Kom oor en help ons.’ Our mother was furthermore quite ill at that time. Her passing away was actually anticipated. With Daddy’s heart condition, which caused him to go on early retirement, it was a big question whether I would see one or both of them alive again. The Anti-Apartheid Spirit Hardened Me By this time I had however become quite a hardened anti-apartheid activist. The only constraint I had was that I waged my opposition from a religious platform, aware that the unity of believers was all-important. (We were very much encouraged by a multi-racial group from different churches in Stellenbosch that had been started by Professor Nico Smith and a few pastors. This was a sequel to the SACLA event in Pretoria in 1979.) Rosemarie was deeply moved when she saw how our brother-in-law Anthony was struggling after the death of his beloved wife, our late sister. My darliing could not understand why I insisted to go to Johannesburg in the remaining week before our departure for Holland. The anti-apartheid activist spirit had made me uncompassionate. Many people asked me why we do not stay longer when they heard that I had no employment in Holland on our return there. According to certain trusted people to whom we turned for advice like our friend, the Anglican Pastor Clive McBride, I should easily get a post with my good reputation as a Mathematics teacher, plus the dearth of qualified colleagues in ‘Coloured’ schools for that subject. When I checked it out, this was confirmed. But I was not to be moved to stay longer in Cape Town. I wanted to proceed to Johannesburg. Not even the possibility of my mother passing on soon - and that I would not see any of my parents again - could move me significantly. Divinely Cornered On the afternoon that had been scheduled for our final time together, my special friend Jakes was at hand, taking us to the Strandfontein beach. A strong wind was blowing there. In the evening we were due to take the train to Johannesburg. This time we had received government permission to travel in the same compartment as a family without any ado, albeit that it bugged me that one still had to ask for permission. My manuscript Honger na Geregtigheid had evidently done some intimidating work in government circles. When we arrived in Sherwood Park at the home of the Esau family, the small train tickets were however nowhere to be found. I must have lost them in Strandfontein. With the strong wind there, it would have been futile to go back and try and find them. I knew that God had caught up with me once again. I was like Jonah, trying to run away from the responsibility to my parents and the bereaved family. The Holy Spirit had thankfully softened me up by now. Reticently I agreed to stay in Cape Town for another week. My parents were pleasantly surprised when we pitched up in Elim once again. This time we had interesting news for them. We had decided to extend our stay in South Africa unless I got the Religious Instruction teaching post in Holland for which I had applied. After the extra week in Cape Town, everything was cut and dried. It was confirmed that I did not get the teaching post. We should try and stay in South Africa till the end of June. The church in Holland graciously agreed that we could leave our furniture in the parsonage in Zeist. Indirect Muslim Evangelism I took up a teaching post at Mount View High School in Hanover Park. During the short spell of teaching in 1981, I had a good percentage of Muslim pupils in my classes. During the intervals I had some interesting discussions with a teacher colleague, Mr Hoosain Solomons, a devout Muslim. Just after Resurrection Sunday, Mr Cassie, the principal, asked me to address the school assembly in the weekly devotional exercise. In my mini sermon I stressed that Mary Magdalene had previously been an outcast and that she had been demon-possessed before she became a follower of Jesus. The pupils from the despised township could obviously fully identify with the message that I shared. I furthermore highlighted in my message that the outcast Mary Magdalene became the first evangelist of the resurrection of Jesus according to John’s gospel. This was solid Contextual Theology. Others would perhaps have called it Black Theology. In my talk I challenged the township pupils and teacher colleagues, stressing that this could only happen to Mary Magdalene because she had first committed her life to Jesus as her Lord. Of course, that was outright evangelical language. I was deeply moved to see how open some Muslim learners were to the radical claims of Jesus. Be it as it may, this sermonette harvested for me acceptance from the pupils in the highly politicised school. (The suspicion at the school that I was a government informer had been almost tangible. The reason was clear. My story must have been very strange to them, having come from Holland and having had a sister who had passed away. ) In the Heat of the Battle We had to request the extension of the visas of Rosemarie and the children. That could still be turned down. With my track record of opposition to the government, the granting of visas for them could not be taken for granted. It was not easy at all as we had to struggle through all sorts of apartheid red tape. Repeatedly Rommel and Celeste Roberts invited us to come and stay with them. The couple had been with us in Holland for a few months after they were more or less forced to flee from the country the previous year. They were not only known as political activists, but just like us they were a racially mixed couple. To accept their offer would have meant inviting trouble with the government. After all other efforts to get temporary accommodation had failed, we had no other excuse available to turn down their generous offer. Rosemarie and the children valiantly joined me in dangerous ventures, such as going with me to Crossroads as part of a church delegation after a bus load of ‘illegal’ 'Black' women had been forced to return to the Transkei. A crisis followed when the group returned to the Cape with a hired bus through secret compassionate assistance of the South African Council of Churches under the leadership of Bishop Tutu. This sort of defiant opposition was of course very much against the wishes of the government. Defying the Government Rosemarie and our two sons also joined me to Hanover Park when I decided to stand with students of Mount View High School. We were defying the government with a programme of alternative teaching on the ‘compulsory holiday’ on June 1. (Secondary school learners at many schools had decided to oppose the celebration of the birthday of the Republic which was normally celebrated on 31 May. )The director of ‘Coloured’ education had given a strong warning if anybody was found on school premises on June 1. On this day the police actually stepped in when a few pupils entered the school premises illegally through a hole in the fence. During these tense weeks we had to reckon all the time with the possibility that any one of us adults residing in our house in Haywood Road, Crawford, could be killed or arrested. In the meantime, I had become quite bitter once again. Spiritually I still had to learn that God was more interested in my relationship with Him than in my activism. Of course, I regarded my political activism as a part of my service for Him, part and parcel of an effort to get the races reconciled to each other. Our six month presence at the Cape had nevertheless been fairly impactful. The law that prohibited 'Whites' to marry people from the other races was finally repealed in 1985. Towards the end of our stay Rosemarie had however more than enough of all this friction, turmoil and uncertainty. This was a scar that caused tension in our marriage. I still yearned to return to my Heimat despite the strenuous time. She was still ready for missionary work anywhere in the world, as long it was not in South Africa! Posting Clothing to Needy Families On our return to Holland, we discovered that a new small evangelical church had been started in Zeist by our friends. I retained links with the Moravian Church while we also got intensely involved with the new fellowship that had no formal membership. A visit to the new Panweg fellowship by Shadrach Maloka, a friend and a 'Black' evangelist from South Africa, whom I knew already from my first period in Germany when he ministered in Stuttgart and Liebenzell. His visit ignited the sending of clothing to needy evangelists who were linked to his ministry. Rosemarie was sensitive to the nudge of the Holy Spirit. Financially we were just making ends meet at this time as a family, but we had a surplus of clothing because we received used garments from different people. This encouraged us to start distributing clothing to missionaries, evangelists and other needy people. In our spacious home, the former parsonage, we always sub-rented at least one room or helped someone with accommodation - and yet we still had space to spare. A part of a big upstairs room that was only used as a guest facility, was changed into a small 'bring and share' clothing ‘boutique’ from where Dutch female believers could come and help themselves, giving a donation in return. From the funds received in that way, we sent cartons with clothing to missionaries and needy believers in various countries. Missionaries from overseas could come and make their pick there. Thus Salou and Annelies, a befriended YWAM couple from Cameroon, even filled a vehicle that they had received as a gift before they returned to that country. The Seed of Confession Germinates From Holland I had entered into correspondence with a few 'White' Dutch Reformed ministers in South Africa from 1979, impressing on them the need for confession as a prelude to racial reconciliation. The powerful impact of confession and restitution, which I had experienced within the confines of Moral Rearmanent, was obviously working through. The Reformation Day statement that became known as the ‘Witness of the Eight’ of 31 October 1980 - seemed to have given the confession ‘snowball’ momentum. It was an encouragement to me that two members of the Dutch Reformed Church delegation, whom I had met at Schiphol Airport, were in this group, viz. Professors Heyns and Jonker. That Professor Willie Jonker was among this group was not really surprising to me. At the Dutch airport he had taken me aside to explain that he was not a member of the Broederbond. Two years later, a bigger group of Dutch Reformed theologians published a confession. Indeed, the good seed of confession appeared to be germinating. I was following the developments in the country closely via the weekly international edition of The Star of Johannesburg in the late 1970s. The Wall of Communism Under Attack After the Second World War Communism became a threat to peace globally. The issue of spiritual warfare only came to the fore to some extent in 1975 with Paul Billheimer’s book Destined for the Throne. In 1980 Jim Wilson brought out Against the Powers. This was possibly the starting gun for an increase in spiritual warfare, although at this stage it was still only happening against the backdrop of the Cold War between the Soviet Block and the West. Communism was seen as the threat to the Church par excellence. Pastor Richard Wurmbrand, who had been imprisoned because of his faith in Romania, had alarmed the church already in the late sixties in a booklet with the title Tortured for Christ. Persecuted Christians, who succeeded in coming out of Communist countries, aroused the sympathies and interest of believers in the West. Much to the chagrin of Moscow, a polish pope was elected to the Vatican in 1978. The new pope’s support to the trade union Solidarity in his home country would erode much of the Soviet influence in the years hereafter. In Stuttgart I had the opportunity to hear Pastor Richard Wurmbrand speak. Soon I was supporting the cause of the persecuted Christians in the Communist world with prayer and financially. Along with believers in different parts of the world, I started to pray regularly for persecuted Christians in Eastern Europe and China. Ideological Deception The South African imam Ahmed Deedat begun the resurrection of Islam had already ideologically after he perceived as humiliation on Cape Town's Green Point Track on 13 August, 1961. The vindication of the living Christ that day became counter-productive through literature distributed to Muslims, such the use of a poor 19th century testimony booklet about the convertion of someone from Islam. Ahmed Deedat deceived many a Christian subsequently through sly distortion of the Bible, notably his abuse of the Jonah story to suggest that Jesus was not dead.Around 1980 the radical side of Islam came to the fore. Ayatollah Khomeini set out to achieve world domination. In the life and teaching of Khomeini the violent side of Muhammad's legacy surfaced clearly. The German theologian Marius Baar wrote a bestseller with the title Das Abendland am Scheideweg (The Occident/the West at the Crossroads), that was published in 1980. Very accurately he set out the choices, pointing to the biblical prophesies of the end times. He had suggested that the demonic use of oil reserves could be a sinister emulation of the Holy Spirit of which oil is the biblical symbol. The oil-rich Gulf states bought one Western company after the other. Islamic world-wide domination became an ominous possibility. Ahmed Deedat went around the world hereafter, seeking to debate Christian apologists. Even when he clearly came off second best like at a debate with Josh McDowell in Durban in 1981, his team would 'doctor' the footage in such a way as if he had been the victor in material disseminated by the Islamic Propagation Centre, that he started in that city. Video cassette would be going around the world depicting how he had beaten Josh McDowell. (In this case however, an amateur vision of the full debate was also made by Christians, now available at https://youtu.be/-7nxQ5_QlvE.) The Apartheid Ideology in the Mix The diabolic apartheid ideology got into the mix when Christians and Muslim leaders joined hands in opposition to it. Two of the leaders of the United Democratic Front (UDF), Dr Allan Boesak and Advocate Dullah Omar, were often seen sharing the stage together. The fallacy was spread – possibly unintentionally - that Christians and Muslims are serving the same God. Marriage swelled the numbers of Cape Muslims, when the Christian partner converted to Islam (and remained Muslim even after divorce). Often these marriages had been ‘prepared’ by a pregnancy. The Islamic Revolution Rebounds at the Cape A major growth factor of Islam transpired ironically in the resistance to apartheid. The Islamic revolution resonated at the Cape when Muslims joined the United Democratic Front ‘en masse’ in the wake of the success of Ayatollah Khomeini and his Islamist extremists in 1979. Becoming Muslim was seen as part and parcel of the ‘struggle’ against apartheid. The success of Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran echoed into Bo-Kaap, a suburb below Signal Hill in the city area that had become completely Islamic because of apartheid legislation. There a graffiti slogan on a wall suggested 'the only solution – the Islamic revolution'. We had no clue at that time that we would get involved quite intensely in the spiritual battle against both Communism and Islam in due course. 5. Back to Africa? Very surprisingly, Rosemarie did not object to the prospect of a return to South Africa after we had heard from Hein Postma that the Dorothea Mission was looking for missionaries to work among the youth of Soweto. I had little hesitation to apply. However, I clearly mentioned that racial reconciliation was dear to us. The Dorothea Mission probably regarded my stance as too political because we never received any reply from them. Via friends we heard a few years later that our application was fiercely debated. With us being a racially mixed couple, this was of course quite a hot potato in a mission agency that was very close to Afrikaner thinking, if not completely immersed in it. The next few years I applied for numerous teaching vacancies in Holland. My South African nationality however made me suspect because I purposely refrained from mentioning my race in all applications. I did not want to be employed because of sympathy for an apartheid victim. On the other hand, not being Dutch, i.e. having a foreign accent on the phone and in the classroom, was not to my advantage either. Amid the uncertainty of permanent employment, our daughter Magdalena Erika - named respectively after my late sister and Rosemarie’s mother - was born on 17 March 1982. Jakes and Anne Joined us in Holland I was elated when Jakes and Anne joined us in Holland with their little boy Alain, although we had become somewhat estranged from each other in the interim. Jakes and Allan Boesak opined that isolating the 'regime' in South Africa as the best way to oppose apartheid. I was not convinced, although I had stopped writing letters to Cabinet ministers. The teaching stint at Hanover Park in 1981 healed the temporary rift because of our different views of opposing people in government. Every Friday afternoon we had fellowship at his home in Pelican Park, the manse of the Hanover Park Sendingkerk. We agreed to disagree in this matter, albeit that I also attended Broederkring meetings at that venue on certain Sunday evenings together with pastors and academics across the racial barriers. A return to Southern Africa was however still high on my list of priorities. When we heard of a teaching position in Lesotho, I was of course quite interested. But also other ‘doors’ never seemed to open, with my South African passport constituting a significant obstacle to get into any African country. Different missionaries who worked in South Africa would visit us when they were on home assignment. Thus we got to know Dick and Rie van Stelten, a missionary couple from the little town of Josini in Northern Natal, as well as Cees en Els Lugthart, who were working with the Dorothea Mission at the headquarters of the Dorothea Mission in Rosslyn, north of Pretoria. I knew Shadrach Moloka, originally likewise from the Dorothea Mission. Early Morning Prayer Again While he was still at (high) school Rens Schalkwijk, who returned with his parents from Jamaica in 1978, joined the weekly prayer group at the Moravian Widow’s House. This was the one link to the denomination that I kept intact throughout our period of ministry in Zeist. (I joined it in 1977 when Lotte Reimeringer led the prayer group until she left for the US to assist a frail Corrie ten Boom. Thereafter Rens’ mother led the prayer group at the Zinzendorf House next to their home. With Rens I felt spiritually very much on the same wave length. In 1982 the young man suggested that the two of us should come together for early morning prayers just like our spiritual ancestors had been doing. In this practice we were soon joined by Peter van Veldhuyzen, a young member of a new non-denominational church that had been formed while we were in South Africa. (The fellowship later became commonly known as the Panweg fellowship, and still later the Ichthus Gemeeente.) The three of us prayer walked in the nearby forest before Peter left for his work. At that time I was unemployed after a year of Religious Instruction. Baptismally Immersed Rens invited me to a meeting in a local church by a certain Reverend Bennett, a British evangelist, who preached a series on the prophet Jonah. Without the speaker mentioning it as such, I was convicted one evening by God’s Spirit that Jonah actually requested to be thrown into the sea. I suddenly saw in this move a pristine form of believer’s baptism. (Earlier I had immersed myself in our bathtub after being challenged by the story of Bilquis Sheikh, a Pakistani believer.) I noted that Jesus also went to be baptised by John. Soon thereafter I requested to be immersed. Hein Postma baptised me at the fellowship linked to his father-in-law, Brother Braaksma in Baarn. I knew that this step could cut me off completely from the Moravian Church, but I wanted to be obedient to the Lord. Later I heard how my former colleagues attempted to bar me from all Moravian pulpits in Holland. Reverend Jan Schalkwijk, the father of Rens, protested heavily. I continued to preach in his church in Haarlem from time to time until we left for South Africa in 1992. The Start of the Goed Nieuws Karavaan The 1982 prayer effort with Rens and Peter van Veldhuyzen culminated in our setting up the ‘Stichting Goed Nieuws Karavaan’ in Zeist that had various facets of evangelical outreach. Another young man, Peter Kalmijn, was one of the youth group members of the Panweg fellowship that met in our home. He had returned from Austria with his mother Geertje and his brother Hans in 1981, where their parents had been missionaries. On one of our youth evenings in 1982 Peter mentioned that the organizers of the ‘Kinderkaravaan’ - a local outreach to children - were looking for a leader. This was at the time when I was unemployed. I was teaching Religious Instruction on three days a week at College Blauwcapel in Utrecht. That temporary position was however one big frustration and little joy. When we volunteered to take over the leadership of the ‘Kinderkaravaan’, I immediately put forward my vision for a broadly based evangelistic outreach - also to the youth, the unemployed and to the Huis van Bewaring13 in Utrecht. Children’s clubs became the main focus of the Goed Nieuws Karavaan.’ We changed the name on purpose to keep the link to the parent body, but simultaneously indicating that we wanted to do more than merely children’s work. Out of this ministry a children’s choir evolved, where the children of the Panweg fellowship were the mainstay of the little choir for many years. Toos Spilker, one of our first children’s workers, who came to a living faith in Jesus around 1980, led the choir all these years - although she never enjoyed any training in music or choral work. The children’s choir was still functioning many years after we had left Zeist, consisting amongst others of children from the original participants. Toos worked closely with Fenny Pos, who later became our contact person in Holland. A Wide Range of Evangelistic Activities The first meeting of the envisaged local evangelistic agency was attended by the aged Sister Kooy, a member of the Moravian Church.14 She was already over eighty years old at that point in time. At the meeting I suggested a wide range of evangelistic activities – in many of which I had been personally involved. Already since 1977 I had participated in the prison ministry as a pastor; for a few months I had also worked among drug addicts in Amsterdam. After the meeting Sister Kooy came to me, saying wryly: ‘Listen, brother Cloete, I cannot get involved in children’s ministry or one of these things you have mentioned. But I would like to start a weekly prayer meeting in my home’. (Her home became the venue for the weekly meeting of a faithful few until 1996, when she went to be with the Lord.) Within a few months the ‘Stichting Goed Nieuws Karavaan’ was a reality with workers from many local fellowships and others in the region. There was general excitement to get involved. People started to come and join us even from outside the town of Zeist. It was surely unique that we soon had workers from three doctrinally different Bible Schools of the area. Two were located in Zeist and the other one in nearby Doorn. From 1992 onwards the group was also praying for us in Cape Town. The spiritual mainstay of the Goed Nieuws Karavaan ministry was the weekly prayer meeting at the home of the aged sister Kooy. A Contribution to Church Unity Our hope that we could do this work full-time was not fulfilled. God sent in finances miraculously for a vehicle but for the rest there were just sufficient funds to buy material for the children’s work. Much of the expenses for the ministry were taken care of by the workers themselves. Even though our initial hope was not confirmed to become full-time workers for the Lord in this local evangelistic endeavour, we did make a major contribution to church unity in the country at large due to the centrality of Zeist. (For many Dutch Christians it was initially very strange that people from extreme church backgrounds so far apart as the ultra-conservative Christelijk Gereformeerde Kerk and Pentecostals could work together in harmony.) When they left our area to other parts of the country, former workers emulated the networking effort of which they had been a part. Our local effort coincided with the national evangelistic outreach of Campus Crusade called Er is Hoop (There is Hope). Co-workers that had been with us could slot in with various local groups that were formed all over the country. Jeugd met een Opdracht (Youth with a Mission) and Youth for Christ had also created a lot of goodwill for interdenominational evangelistic efforts. Meagre Local Church Support No other local ecclesiastical grouping supported the work of the new evangelistic work of the ‘Goed Nieuws Karavaan’ like the Panweg fellowship. In fact, many of our workers got into the one or other problem in their own church because they co-operated with Christians from another denomination. Only the Panweg congregation supported the idea of fellowship with other believers in Jesus more or less full-heartedly at that stage. That people from different church backgrounds could work together was completely new to the bulk of them. That we could stay together for years, till we left for our orientation in England as missionary candidates in 1991, was a surprise to many. The group continued in a low-key manner with evangelistic activities in Zeist even into the new millennium. Quite a few of our co-workers became involved in missionary work in different parts of the world over the years. The vehicle - an old mobile shop - for which the Lord had miraculously supplied funds at the end of 1982, was sold just prior to our entering full-time missionary work. We had hoped to get the support of local churches, but this was not forthcoming. In fact, many of our workers were discouraged in their own churches. The mutual prejudice was in many a case very deep-rooted. Thankfully we could also build on the foundation of co-operation of a few local believers in tent campaigns in previous years. Prayer Warfare When we came to Holland we were fairly ignorant with regard to unseen things happening in the spiritual realm. However, we should have known better because we had been reading about occult realities in the literature of Kurt Koch, a German theologian. In the course of our experiences with our congregation I was leading in Utrecht, we started to catch up. We soon knew that we were back in the spiritual battlefront. In the run-up to the birth of our son Samuel in July 1984 we were clearly confronted with occult forces. Rosemarie had excruciating pains in her back during the pregnancy with our Samuel. She feared that evil forces were trying to kill the foetus. We had learnt about generational curses and influences in the meantime. Rosemarie heard from her father why he never wanted a son. Through generations some curse had rested on their family coming via the sons. One night when she had this heaviness and fears again, she woke me. When she told me this, we immediately prayed, breaking the curse in Jesus name! That was the last time that Rosemarie had these problems, albeit that the actual birth of Samuel was not plain sailing at all. Samuel’s birth brought Brigitte Röser, a Dutch friend who has been visiting us from Germany from time to time, closer into the family frame. We asked her to become his godmother. In later years she would become our contact person for the distribution of our newsletters in Germany. Knowing that we were now in the front-line of missionary outreach, we were not surprised any more at the attacks that we recognized as demonic. Yet, we still had not discerned clearly the links between Communism, Islam and other anti-Christian forces. A Period of Great Uncertainty After ceasing to function as a minister of the Moravian Church, a period of great uncertainty followed. This coincided with the practical need to feed the family. It was not easy at all to get employment as a teacher of Religious Instruction and my South African (Bachelor of Arts) degree was not recognised in Holland. I decided to resume studies in Mathematics, not only as a way of getting a post more easily, but also as a vehicle with which I could return to Africa in ‘tent-making’ missionary work. We really wanted to get involved with missions, but no door seemed to open. One of the major handicaps was my South African passport. In the mid-1980s a speaker from OM (Operation Mobilisation) pitched up at one of our Panweg church meetings. I hoped to venture into one of the Middle East countries as a missionary. A simple comparison of the number of missionaries in Islamic countries brought home to me the dire need to share the gospel there. It was clear that I could not go into one of the closed countries as a Christian minister of religion. I was thus highly motivated to get an updated Mathematics teaching qualification for this purpose. Rosemarie was however not at all enthralled at my idea of going to a country like Egypt. But she initially patiently agreed that I could continue with my studies in Mathematics, in order to use that as an entrance into one of the countries that were closed for Christian missionaries. * * Although I had no proof that my activism had contributed in any way, I did sense some satisfaction when the law in my home country that prohibited people from different races to marry, was finally repealed in 1985. This caused me to test the waters back home with regard to take up a teaching post in South Africa. The Group Areas Act, which prescribed where the respective races were required to reside, was however still operating as a major hurdle to a return to my Heimat. A Great Interest in Missionary Work Our diminutive evangelical fellowship at the Panweg in Zeist maintained a great interest in missions in general. From the word 'go' the fellowship supported various missionaries. Liesbeth Walvaart and Bart Berkheij had been linked to the group before they went to England where they studied at All Nations Bible College. In the loving low-key missionary outreach of the Goed Nieuws Karavaan team that Rosemarie and I were leading, we now started to work with many Moroccan and Turkish children and serve the youth of Zeist. We had a fairly close friendship to Bart Berkheij, praying with him through many obstacles before he was finally accepted as a missionary. And how happy was he to introduce to us his British fiancée Ruth! A special bond developed between Ruth and Rosemarie after their marriage. The two were pregnant almost at the same time when we expected our three youngest children. How did we empathise with the Berkheij family as they struggled for many years to go through all sorts of preparations until they could finally go to Mali with the Red Sea Mission! They knew how I yearned to return to Africa and how no door seemed to open for us.. Over the years quite a few of the ‘Goed Nieuws Karavaan’ co-workers either became missionaries in other parts of the world or influential church workers. A sad part of this endeavour was that we had not yet fully understood the ramifications of spiritual warfare. Two of our former co-workers had to return from the mission field as medical wrecks. Mirjam Adriaanse is now with the Lord and Liesbeth Walvaart was divinely healed after having been a psychiatric patient for many years. In the case of Liesbeth she was already preparing to go to Djibouti when our ministry started getting off the ground. Mirjam Adriaanse served the Lord among the inhabitants of the refuse dumps in the city of Manila in the Philippines after her stint with us. When we left for South Africa in 1992, we had however learnt the importance of getting prayer covering. By 1986 Rosemarie could still not appreciate at all my idea of wanting to go to a Muslim country like Egypt. This was not easy at all. I had just turned 40 and our fifth child Tabitha was born on 25 April 1986, the very day I had a Maths examination to write and thus not able to be present for the birth. (Apart from our first born, who came lifeless into the world, and Danny, who was delivered via a Caesarean, I was privileged to be present at the birth of the other three chirdren). The information in one of the OM leaflets however effectively nailed the door to me to proceed with any procedure to be accepted by that mission agency: ‘Don’t wait until you are 40 or when you have five children.’ A phone call to the WEC International Headquarters in Emmeloord likewise discouraged me. I erroneously got the impression that they expected me to go to a Bible School again. That put paid to our joining WEC initially. Later we understood that we would probably not have been accepted at that time, because of mission policy. New couples with five children would not have been accepted. Opposing the Ceauşescu Regime Financially we could not afford to go on holiday as a family, but we had learned by now to take bigger steps in faith. In 1987 we prayed that the Lord would use a period of vacation in the southern German village of Tieringen in a strategic way. We had heard that the German government heavily subsidized that facility to enable big families to go on holiday. Tieringen would become the beginning of the next chapter of our fight against the atheist East European Communist regimes. There we met Erwin Klein and his family, who had just come out of Romania because of his German ancestry. Through them we not only got valuable inside information, but we also received addresses from Christians in Romania. After September 1987 we started sending used clothing to Romania from our 'clothing depot’. The Holy Spirit was evidently orchestrating things. From the little Dutch town of Zeist almost a mini Romania fever broke out in support of the persecuted Christians. Believers from different church backgrounds supported various mission organizations that supported Romanian Christians. We gradually comprehended why God kept us in Zeist, our ‘Jerusalem’. This town is situated more or less in the middle of the Netherlands. Parcels with clothing and articles that were scarce in Romania, were sent to different addresses supplied to us by the Sina Klein. Our ‘clothing depot’ came in handy. A major source of income for this project was females who ‘purchased’ dresses (Often some of the dresses ‘bought’ were back in the ‘boutique’ after a few weeks, ready for resale or to be sent to some foreign country.) For some Dutch believers who had never before considered wearing used clothing, this was a new experience in good stewardship. From the proceeds of our 'boutique' we have started sending parcels to missionaries and needy believers in various countries. This gave the jitters to people like the Romanian dictator Nicolau Ceauçescu, who tried to prevent his nationals from having contact with the outside world. Soon the communist regime of Romania was ‘attacked’ also by other compassionate ways and care for the persecuted Christians. Clandestine visits to Romania followed from different parts of Holland. Various organizations that brought aid to the Communist world intensified their aid to Romania, although this had not been formally orchestrated. This was seemingly part of God’s Master Plan to break down the Communist stronghold in answer to the prayers of followers of Jesus around the world. Of course, this made the Ceauşescu regime quite nervous because their nationals were not expected and allowed to have contact with people in the West. Paternal Neglect My Mathematics studies caused a lot of frustration because I had so little time for Rosemarie and the children. From 1985 I attended lectures on two evenings per week and often thereafter still studied or worked after coming home because I was also teaching simultaneously. One evening per week every fort-night there was also the church council meeting, apart from me being the leader of the city-wide evangelistic work of the Goed Nieuws Karavaan that we had started at the end of 1982. Almost every evening of the week I was not at home. The children only really saw me on the weekends. We tried to compensate for this by doing something together on the Sunday afternoons that they would enjoy. It surely was a good idea when I started taking time with one child apiece separately over the weekends. This could be just going for a drive by bicycle, eat ice cream or whatever they would wish and which would not be expensive. This was also excellent for the education of our children, but it petered out however after only a few months. (We did continue the practice of me washing the dishes with one of the children in turn for many years, until I succumbed to Rosemarie’s request to buy a second-hand dish-washing machine because of the many guests we always had.) Regional Prayer Rens Schalkwijk had been coming in and out of our home - so much so that he was a natural choice to become the godfather of our youngest daughter Tabitha in 1986. One day he came along with the suggestion that we should resume our times of prayer, but perhaps in a different way. In January 1988 we started a Sunday evening prayer meeting at our home. Rens brought along another couple, Ria and her fiancé Lukas Hartong, who had been students at the local Pentecostal Bible School. Out of these prayer times Rens was ‘delegated’ to attend a meeting with David Bryant, an international speaker who had come to challenge the Dutch Christians with regard to Concerts of Prayer. In August 1988 - through the active urge of Rens Schalkwijk and his contacts with Pieter Bos, the prayer movement in Holland got underway. Rens and I were soon leading the first unit of the ‘Regiogebed’ of the Netherlands - that of Driebergen-Zeist. However, the summer of 1988 also brought a terrible shock when we heard that Bart Berkheij and his children had lost Ruth his wife. The young mother was killed in a car accident. They had been in Mali only for a very short time! We had been feeling ourselves so close to them. Suffering From Spiritual Suffocation Before long I got involved in yet another skirmish. I ran into problems with a few members of our Panweg fellowship because a few Roman Catholic nuns had participated in the ‘Regiogebed’. Some believers had obviously been so brainwashed by anti-Catholic indoctrination that they could not believe that born-again people - especially nuns - could be in the ‘Church of the Pope’. The unity of the body of our Lord was an issue about which Rosemarie and I felt that we could not compromise. Other simultaneous tensions in the fellowship brought matters to a head. We soon suffered from spiritual suffocation. It was very special when we received a letter from Dick van Stelten15 in Josini (South Africa). This confirmed to Rosemarie and me that we should consider moving on. To all intents and purposes a split had occurred in the fellowship. The internal differences there coincided with a financial and transport crisis within our family. Our old VW minibus needed expensive repairs at a time when we had a negative banking account for the first time. We had been scraping the barrel for many years, but we somehow never landed in the red. Now this had also happened. We decided to attend the nearby Full Gospel ‘Figi’ congregation, until such time when we would be ‘mobile’ again. The problem of transport was really not a crucial issue because everybody in Holland uses the bicycle all too often. As a family we were regularly on the road on a Sunday afternoon in that way, with our two youngest children respectively transported by Rosemarie and myself. We were slated, slandered and unfairly criticised, but we nevertheless hoped that matters could be resolved and that reconciliation could be achieved. It never entered our head to defend ourselves. We nevertheless yearned to return to the fellowship with which we had so many happy memories over the previous seven years. But it was not to be. The reconciliation did not come about until much later, when the children were already settled in the new church environment of ‘Figi’. It took some time for me personally to get warm in the much bigger new fellowship, but once we joined a home cell in 1989, things improved considerably. That this congregation would not fully support the ‘regiogebed’ was nevertheless a matter of distress to me. The building of an own kingdom was very much rife, also in the ‘free churches’. We had proved a point in the meantime with the work of the ‘Goed Nieuws Karavaan’. This local evangelistic ministry was going well with around thirty co-workers from different denominations, involved in a wide range of evangelistic ministries. We had demonstrated to Dutch Christians that it was possible for people from different church backgrounds to work together if doctrinal tussles were not allowed to cause quarrels, if they would only concentrate on the uniting person of Jesus. My Dream to Return to Africa Buried? Rosemarie and I had been attending the annual mission day of the Evangelical Alliance regularly in Amsterdam. Year after year we went there, hoping that the door to foreign missions would open up. When we went to Amsterdam in 1988 we had actually more or less given up the possibility to enter missionary work. My dream to return to Africa was all but buried. Our eldest son Danny was about to enter secondary school and there were four more siblings to follow. When Tabitha would be finished with her education, I would have been almost at pension age. On top of it, it seemed improbable that any mission agency would be prepared to accept a family with five children. For years we had been attending the annual mission conferences, but everything still seemed remote. We went to Amsterdam nevertheless, from where I took along a leaflet from Africa Inland Mission (AIM). It struck me that they were looking for teachers at their boarding school for the children of missionaries in Kenya. When we spoke to the representatives of AIM, they encouraged us, even noting other possibilities because of my training and background. The only problem was my South African passport. But seeing that I had been in Holland so long, they suggested that I should apply for a Dutch passport. The visit of the Dutch AIM leaders was the catalyst to start using the book Operation World, praying with our children through the African countries, one day ata time. In this way we hoped to discern in which country the Lord would use us. The effect of these prayers at meal times was initially not positive at all, if not counter-productive. The sprouts did not seem excited at all at the prospect of having to leave Europe for what they perceived as primitive Africa. But our children now noticed that we meant business in respect of missionary involvement. Cutting Off My Own Roots? The suggestion to apply for Dutch citizenship was easier said than done. That I would then have to apply for a visa to visit my parents and my home country did not even enter my mind at that stage. My main problem was the feeling of despair at cutting off my own roots. It had been traumatic already that not only our home, school and church in District Six had been razed to the ground, that my high school in Vasco suffered the same fate because of the Group Areas Act and that our home in Tiervlei/Ravensmead had to be vacated under the guise of slum clearance. Would I now also have to lose citizenship of the country I loved so intensely? I nevertheless buried my pride and inner turmoil, sensing that a step of obedience was now required. We had been praying all the years for the opportunity to return to Africa for missionary service. How could I opt out now? Surely I could not be a Jonah again, running away from responsibility in disobedience? * * A few months later God confirmed the move in a sovereign way. It all started when our black and white TV set, which we had bought in Berlin in 1975, packed up just prior to the Olympic Games of 1988. When the entertainment appliance started giving trouble, we decided not to replace it. The pending Olympic Games were however something we thought that could also have some educational value for our children. Our quest after a second-hand model from the newspaper resulted in us agreeing to take a TV set on loan via a befriended family. Their aged mother was not using her set much in the old age home. However, we insisted that we would keep the TV only for the duration of the Olympic Games. For many years we had not been in the position financially to consider going to South Africa again. Somehow we could however scrape some cents together so that I could go with one child. My parents had not yet seen our daughter Magdalena. One of the obligatory visits was of course Wellington, where my friend Jakes was now the pastor. He decided to return to the pastorate, turning down a bursary for finishing his doctorate or a position at the University of South Africa with Professor David Bosch, who was already one of South Africa’s most prominent theologians.16 A Dispute Turning Into a Blessing As we drove from Lienzingen in Southern Germany back to Holland, after my return from South Africa and after having spent a few days with our family in the European summer of 1988, Rosemarie and I were involved once again in a subdued dispute that had been a cause of anxiety and tension in the family - my Mathematics studies. I also had some responsibility in our church congregation apart from leading the Goed Nieuws Karavaan, so that there was little time for the family. I now possessed a Mathematics qualification for Dutch secondary schools, but I was considering to add another year to upgrade my teaching diploma. That would give me more options for getting permanent employment. We agreed that I would only do that extra year if God would give us someone who would take responsibility for the driving of the vehicle to the various Goed Nieuws Karavaan children’s clubs of Zeist. For the very same Friday evening our ‘coffee bar’ outreach was scheduled. Our faithful co-worker Harmen Pos came of his own accord to tell me that God had laid on his heart to take over the driving of the vehicle that gave its name to the organisation. He became not only the chauffeur of the vehicle, but also the maintenance man. Harmen cared for the missionary truck like his baby until we sold the blessed evangelistic tool in 1991, just before our going full-time into missions. 6. Flexing Missionary Muscles 1988 ended so full of hope. After serving in many temporary teaching posts in Holland, I really yearned to settle down. I had an updated secondary Maths teaching certificate in my pocket and I was on the verge of getting an even higher qualification in that subject. I had no intention of continuing academic studies as such, but the idea of venturing into missions was somehow blocked out of my mind by November 1988. I finally had a teaching position in the town Huizen, half an hour away, a post that could become permanent. After all the dark years of employment uncertainty and scores of applications - plus the local Moravian congregation breathing down our necks to move out of the former parsonage - light at last seemed to break through. The prospect of having a home of our own in the picturesque little town of Huizen, with a permanent teaching post in the offing, was just too attractive after the years of uncertainty. It all but nullified my vision for missionary involvement. It would definitely require another ‘Jonah experience’ to get me back on track in terms of a calling to missions. Blows Galore The year 1989 started with turmoil. Every Saturday evening Rosemarie and I had been praying with our neigbours, the old brother and sister Rapparlié for years. This we did until they went to an old age home. Subsequently, two members from the Panweg fellowship, Martje van Dam and Gré Boerstra, had been coming to us for a time of prayer every Saturday evening. But Martje, who had survived the death sentence of breath cancer for almost 11 years, was now terminally ill. Her cancer recurred. * * * We have a family tradition to wake the birthday boy or girl early in the morning as parents and siblings by singing the prayer of Martin Luther “Führe ihn (sie) O Herr und leite...” [Guide o Lord and lead him (her)]. When we performed the meaningful ritual for our eldest son Danny on the 4th of February, we had no clue of the blows that would hit our family that day. First of all the news came through that Martje van Dam passed away. But we knew that this could happen any day. We were not prepared for it however when a phone call from Mühlacker informed us that Papa Göbel died in his car after he had contracted a heart attack. As if all of that was not enough, we heard that a close friend from our Panweg fellowship, Els van Wingerden, had been diagnosed with breast cancer. To the Van Wingerden family we had quite close ties not only because they had five children of similar age than our sprouts. They had left the Reformed Church with similar battles as we experienced in the Moravian Church. Hans, the husband, was ill with a serious rheumatic problem. He was in constant pain. They were also battling financially all the time. Children’s clothing was shared to and fro between the two families. Together we had been battling with a crisis at the Panweg fellowship, which we had left. The Van Wingerden family still stayed on for some time under much duress. But that was not the end of the calamities. As I travelled from school in Huizen with a teacher colleague one afternoon, I heard from him that my teacher predecessor wanted to return to the secondary school. It was just the time when the decision on my probationary three months was due. I knew that I could not compete, because I did not belong to the right denomination. Being in a foreign country in a situation of unemployment makes one also very vulnerable. The odds were stacked against me. Yet, I now at least I had an up-to-date Dutch Mathematics teaching diploma, hoping to have an upgraded one in a few months. The Lord used this circumstance to throw us back into exploring a possible involvement in missions, where we wanted to be in the first place. I had almost forgotten that I had applied for Dutch citizenship in order to get to the African mission field. I had to come to grips that all the disappointments had actually been forging another Jonah experience. I was running away from my calling. … And Joy Information that we received during the funeral of our father (-in-law) in Germany comforted us. For years we had prayed that he would come back to the Lord. (At a family camp the whole family committed their lives to Jesus, but there was no spiritual growth. He had no devotional nourishment.) It was very special when our dear Mama Göbel told us that he had been carrying in his wallet (that was found in his pocket at his death) the letter that Rosemarie wrote to him just before our wedding. In this letter she requested Papa Göbel to attend our wedding, and in it she apologised for the trauma she had caused them through her friendship to me. Although he did not attend, he evidently treasured that letter. Another Blow After an old German couple, the Scheunemanns, had been sleeping in our home as guests of the Rapparliés, our downstairs neighbours in Zeist, we started receiving Weltweit, the German two-monthly newsletter of WEC (Worldwide Evangelisation for Christ) International. After we had read there about a family camp to be held in the little town of Braunfels, we decided to book in faith. We had no money for such luxuries as holidays but we had learnt by now that we could trust God for that because we definitely needed a break. The Lord provided miraculously once again. We had hardly arrived in Braunfels when the news reached us that Rosemarie’s mother had contracted a stroke, that she had been admitted to hospital. This was only a few months after her father had passed on. Rosemarie left by train for Mühlacker, starting a period in our life that would require more visits to her mom. The holiday brought WEC International into focus as a possible mission agency with which we could serve, although we still had AIM as a back burner when I expected to get my passport the next year, i.e. 1990. (At our application for Dutch citizenship the accompanying letter stated that we had to reckon with a two-year waiting period.) Financially in the Red When a letter arrived from The Hague regarding my application for Dutch citizenship, they also mentioned an administration fee of 400 guilders. This was occurring at a time when we had no savings available. Ever since I left the pastorate we had been scraping the barrel financially almost all the time. Rosemarie and I went to the Lord with the letter in prayer. I still had the turmoil in my heart, really struggling with the prospect of having to give up my South African citizenship. God intervened in a clear way when a befriended couple that was struggling themselves financially, wanted to give us 800 guilders for a new TV set. I was overawed that God sent in double the amount we needed! It turned out that the brother, who brought the money, was actually using it as a litmus test on the evangelical Christians. Our friend was sure that we would be too proud to accept their generous offer. He did not know that we had been praying for confirmation with regard to the money for my Dutch citizenship. He was just as surprised when I showed him the letter. He agreed that we could use the money for that purpose and other more urgent needs. I was reassured at the same time that God was in the move of my having to hand over my South African passport. Another Special Month October 1989 would become one of the very special months in our lives. God works in mysterious ways his wonders to perform. Unwittingly I was preparing my return to Africa, to my dear Heimat at that. In that month travelling would be ushered in to different countries of Eastern Europe and West Africa, both of which I had never visited before. On 4 October 1989 I wrote a letter to President De Klerk, the new president, after I sensed an inward conviction because of my activism and arrogance that I duly confessed in the letter. Over the years I had written quite a few letters to the new presidential incumbent’s predecessors and to some of the Cabinet ministers. Africa, Here I Come At the annual Dutch national mission day of the Evangelical Alliance of 1988, a sequence of events led to my application for a Dutch passport. The same event, now a year later, was held in the small town of Barneveld. We were challenged in October 1989 when Marry Schotte of WEC International shared there in Barneveld about a mission school in Vavoua (Ivory Coast) where they needed teachers. We soon arranged for her to come and visit us. The attitude of our children in respect of Africa changed when Marry Schotte came along with a video of the mission school in Côte d’Ivoire where she was teaching. Videos were still something special in those days. Suddenly the children caught the vision to go with us to Africa. The needs of the WEC school in Vavoua seemed geared to what I could offer. In this school for the children of missionaries, they had departments for Dutch and German children. The common language of the school was English. I could teach Maths - for which they indeed had a vacancy - in all three languages. As a next major step in our planning and praying within the family, we were due for our WEC candidates’ training course in January 1991 at Bulstrode, near to London, at the International HQ of the mission. At our extended weekly family devotions even the little ones now started to pray fervently for a teacher to accompany us to England where we were required to do our WEC candidates’ course. The original idea of joining AIM disappeared gradually but in later years we were to have renewed contact with AIM missionaries. Challenging Invitations I hardly had opportunity to digest this challenge when along came our friend Wil Heemsbergen with a repeated invitation to join a bus trip to Romania with all expenses paid, to assist on the pastoral side of the touring bus to the Communist stronghold. I had stated the first time that I was not really at ease to accept the invitation because of my situation of unemployment, waiting on replies to applications. It was now already well into October. I had just heard that my most recent applications for teaching posts were unsuccessful. Thus I would theoretically be free to join the group. But there was still another hurdle - my possession of a South African passport which could cause problems for the other participants. I was uneasy about it, after my experiences every time I had to cross a border into East Berlin in earlier years. I explained to her my predicament, fearing that I could cause problems for the rest of the group. Wil promptly relayed my reservation to Jan van de Bor, the Dutch leader of the mission agency Voice of the Martyrs and the organiser of the trip. Although the organisers wanted to give it a go with me on their bus - in spite of my South African passport, I was still somewhat uneasy. I hardly had opportunity to digest this challenge when our friend Bart Berkheij, who lost his wife in a car accident the previous year, phoned me with a request. He wanted me to join him on a trip to Mali at the end of January 1990. All expenses would be paid for him and a friend, to go and wind up things where he had served with his family. I declined Bart’s initial invitation because I was still unemployed. I was not trying to evade a difficult task. In fact, it all sounded very attractive to get a feeling of West Africa in the light of our own preparations to go to Côte d’Ivoire. However, I found it ethically unsound to plan this while I was still hoping to get a teaching post. Everything looked cut and dried when I heard that someone else was chosen to join him on his trip to Mali. 7. A Touch of Gulliver I completed my upgraded teaching diploma, but that also signaled the end of my teaching career in Holland. When I applied for a post in Gouda, the principal confided telephonically that he wanted to employ me but that the two Maths teachers on his staff resisted the move because they were not qualified for the subject. With future retrenchments expected because of a merger, their own jobs would then have been on the line if I were appointed. No other application for a teaching post was successful. Yet, God was at work. Unwittingly I assisted in preparing my return to Africa, to my dear heimat at that! In an aerogramme of confession to President De Klerk, the new South African president, I repented of my activism and arrogance, offering an apology. More than once Rosemarie vocalized that I was wasting my time. She was sure that my letters would never reach the likes of Mr P.W. Botha. I persevered nevertheless, but after 1982 the letters became very sparse. This aerogramme was sent after many months of inactivity on this score. Interaction With the Iron Curtain ‘Brother Andrew’ van der Bijl discerned matters of the spiritual warfare of that time quite clearly. Trained as a Worldwide Evangelization Crusade (WEC) missionary, Brother Andrew visited Prague at the time of the Soviet invasion in 1968. His eyes were opened. In obedience to the Lord he developed a programme of Bible smuggling. He founded Kruistochten (Crusades), a ministry on behalf of the persecuted church. Very few people in the mainline churches discerned what was going on. Isolated voices warned, like the German Reverend Rolf Scheffbuch, who attended the WCC plenary conference in Nairobi in 1975, but the course was set. It took only a few more years before 'inter-faith' was the official position of the WCC. (It was not uplifting to hear from him, my leader in Stuttgart at the Evangelical 'Jungmännerwerk', about some of the wrangling in Nairobi personally.) Brother Andrew wrote a book in 1977 about the ideological battle for Africa. He was a regular speaker at a church fellowship that met in the Figi cinema that was situated about a hundred meters from our home in Zeist. From its beginnings that Full Gospel fellowship was closely linked to the work of Open Doors. (Later we as a family joined that congregation in Holland, which also became our spiritual home and supporting church over the years.) In 1989 we prayed especially for Communist countries, notably for the German Democratic Republic, Hungary and Romania. We were really encouraged by the news that came through from Leipzig in East Germany. Christians there seemed to have become the vanguards of the surge towards real democracy in their Communist-ruled country. A Special Prayer Meeting The ‘regiogebed’ that we started in our area in August of the previous year, congregated every first Thursday of the month for a Concert of Prayer. At our meeting of Thursday, 4 October 1989, I mentioned in passing to someone that I had posted a letter to President De Klerk that day. Spontaneously a teacher from the nearby town of Doorn, a one-off visitor of our prayer meeting who overheard this, suggested that we devote more time that evening to pray for South Africa. Nobody objected. That must have been supernatural guidance. It was the only occasion that we did it in that way, praying for only one country and not for other people and other issues. Nobody of us present at the regiogebed was aware that President De Klerk would meet Archbishop Tutu and Dr Allan Boesak, my friend of our common teenage years, the following week. That strategic meeting became in a sense a watershed in the politics of the country, the prelude to the release of Nelson Mandela and the end of apartheid. Also in other countries - especially in South Africa itself - people had been praying for a change of the suicidal direction of the political system.17 This regiogebed prayer meeting was special to me in another sense. This was one of the very first opportunities in evangelical circles where I experienced clear support for my opposition to my government at home.18 There had always been individuals from evangelical ranks who had given support, but the lead from the Evangelische Omroep was very ambiguous. Some people even perceived the Dutch evangelical radio station as being supportive of apartheid. There was somehow the idea still going around that a good Christian had to be supportive of either apartheid or Communism. I was opposing both, but not so isolatedly any more as in earlier days. A Repeated Invitation Everything looked cut and dried when I heard that someone else was chosen to join Bart on his trip to Mali. The dust was not yet fully settled on this issue when along came our friend Wil Heemsbergen with a repeated invitation and request to go along to Romania to assist on the pastoral side of the touring bus to the Communist stronghold. It was now already well into October. I had just heard that my latest applications for teaching posts were unsuccessful. My hope of getting an appointment as a Maths teacher in Holland was all but dashed. But this cleared the way for me joining the 'tour' group to Hungary and Romania, all expenses paid for pastoral and counselling duties I would have to be ready to perform. But there was still the other hurdle - my South African passport. I repeated this to Wil that she promptly relayed to Jan van de Bor, the Dutch leader of the mission agency and the organizer of the trip. Even though the organizers wanted to give it a go to have me on their bus - in spite of my South African passport - I was not really at ease. A Dreaded Khaki Envelope Then it happened! In the post there was the dreaded khaki envelope from the Dutch Department of Justice. Surely this was the fine for my driving through the red traffic light – and photographed - in Germany a few weeks prior to this. Imagine my elation when this was not the case. Instead, it was a letter on behalf of Queen Beatrix to inform me that Dutch citizenship has been granted to me! Out of the blue I heard that my application for Dutch citizenship was successful. I was waiting for the test of language proficiency that I had expected as the next step of the process. Now I could get my Dutch passport, so much earlier than what everybody had anticipated! In fact, within a few days I had the passport, ready to be off to Hungary and Romania! Many believers in Zeist covered us in prayer for the trip to Romania, one of the prime Communist strongholds of the time. Hungary and Romania The experiences in Hungary and Romania were sobering, emotionally not easy to handle at all. Hungary had already started opening up to the West. The hospitality of the Reformed Christians, our hosts, was overwhelming. In Western Europe, where materialism had taken its toll, I had become used to cooler receptions. I was specially blessed to see that Christian literature was freely available in Budapest. We delivered the bulk of our special load – Russian Children's Bibles and other literature that was forbidden in almost all the Soviet-Block countries in a Reformed Church. Other believers would take the literature in small quantities to the various countries that were still in the grip of Communism. We slept one night with families from the congregation ahead of the main part of our mission - the Communist stronghold where the dictator Nicolae Andruţă Ceauşescu was ruling with an iron hand. As we were driving there the next day, one of the passengers - who had been a Hungarian before her marriage to a Dutchman, picked up on the news via the radio that a warning was spread against a bus with tourists from the West. The border officials deemed it important to relay this to the national radio station. We were ‘in the news’. What a special item! The intention was of course to label us. As we had dumped our 'dangerous' material already in Budapest, the scrutiny of Romania's Securitate at the border was nerve-wrecking but it transpired without a hitch. Romania was a completely different cup of tea compared to East Germany or Hungary. It was forbidden for Romanians to have contact with foreigners. I was a rookie on a trip of this kind. In daytime we were just tourists, but we were expected to go to our rooms quite early. Only a few selected people in our group knew about the clandestine operations at night. Everything happened in utmost secrecy to secure the safety of the local Christians. Only once I was one of the select group privileged to take clothing to a local address. All this we did in broad daylight. The Dutch leader of The Voice of the Martyrs and a few other regulars would be involved with clandestine operations. If we were asked by anybody where we were going, we would have simply inquired after the way to the hotel where we were staying. As we were walking with suitcases, this was intended to remove any suspicion. We prayed that nobody would see us slipping into a side ally that led to a flat entrance and especially that nobody would notice that we had left the suitcases with the Romanian believers after our departure from the home. However, nobody at the address where we delivered the gift suit case with content could speak a Western language. And yet, we had such wonderful supernatural fellowship in the Lord. What a joy our presence brought to those Romanian believers we visited! The gesture that Christians in the West have not forgotten them, made their day! A Traumatic End to Our Trip One of our group protested at the border on our return to Hungary when a guard insisted on taking his video camera for inspection. This was a mistake onto which Securitate latched – an excuse to put the whole group through stringent questioning. They had done their home-work properly, interrogating those tour group participants who did the clandestine work. They extracted enough information - using a search that included the underclothing of one of our participants. They found a letter that had to be posted in the West. A sad question was what would happen with the couple whose son in the West would have received the letter. We travelled back to Holland in a very sombre mood. What would Nicolae Ceauşescu and his cronies do to the families we had visited and assisted? What a blessing it was therfore to hear soon thereafter of a mass protest movement starting in Timişoara, a city that we had visited. Rebellion in Romania While we were in Romania, something significant had happened elsewhere. We missed the television viewing of the breaking down of the Berlin wall on November 9! In Romania it was of course not shown on the State TV. There the population was fed with the ‘staple diet’ - the diverse activities of the Ceaucescu clan at almost any time of the day. It was something of a consolation when we heard soon thereafter that there was rebellion in Romania. At this time I was working part-time at the East Europe Mission for a few days per week when it became clear that a position as teacher in Mathematics was remote. But the process to become missionaries in Africa had of course also started. Now and then I was taking Bibles and other material aid on behalf of the East Europe Mission to Switzerland. The loads were scheduled for the Communist countries. Other people would take the valuable goods further. The fighting in Timisoara near to the Hungarian border soon got to a critical stage. Tineke Zwaan, one of our Goed Nieuws Karavaan co-workers, phoned us with a suggestion. She wanted to come over with her husband Gideon so that we could have a special session of prayer for Romania. (We had close contact with Tineke for many years, when she was still single and unemployed. She had been one of the founder workers of our evangelistic team of the Goed Nieuws Karavaan. ) I suspect that we were one of many groups around the world that were divinely raised at that point in time to pray for the Communist stronghold to crumble. Within a matter of days, the days of the dictator Ceaucescu were counted. The Almost Complete Demise of Communism In the next few months the almost complete demise of Communism took place. Albania was one of the few countries that was still resisting the winds of change. When I heard from the aged sister Kooy, our faithful prayer warrior, that the diminutive Gesina Blaauw of the Antique Mission had been working with Albanians, it was only natural that she should be invited as one of the next speakers at our monthly ‘regiogebed’. I was not privileged to listen to Gesina Blaauw myself, because divine moves were already afoot to get me more deeply involved with the next ideology: Islam. I had hardly returned from Romania, when Bart Berkheij approached me again to accompany him to West Africa, mentioning that the friend who would have joined him, had pulled out. This time I was happy to accept the invitation to join him to go to Mali on condition that he would join me in going to Cote I’voire. Last not least, I now had a Dutch passport. In Côte d’Ivoire I hoped to explore the situation at the WEC mission school where I wanted to go and teach. A Trip to West Africa The itinerary could soon be finalised. I would join him on the trip to Mali for two weeks and the third week he would accompany me on an orientation trip to the Ivory Coast. We were scheduled to fly back to Europe from Abidjan, the capital city of Côte d’Ivoire on 16 February, 1990. The last day in the West African metropolis was exceptional. I had already enjoyed the bus trip from Vavoua, during which I had a meaningful ‘conversation’ with a student who had studied German. I practised my recently acquired little bit of French, translating a tract about the lost sheep of Luke 15 into German, for him to check. The openness for the Gospel in the West African metropolis impressed me deeply. Bart and I spent the morning doing some sightseeing and shopping – buying small artefacts to take along for the families at home! Nostalgia overtook me as I looked over the Islamic city! When I saw a few mosques, it so much resembled the old District Six, the slum-like area of my childhood. I had thought that South Africa was almost completely out of my mind in terms of a return there! But in a fleeting moment I was overwhelmed by nostalgia. It was strange that my trip was supposed to be an orientation for us as missionaries to West Africa, but I was now also ambivalently longing to return to my home country once again. On this day Nelson Mandela was released. I was quite sad that I could not witness the event via a TV set! Is the way opening up for me to return home after all? For the moment I was however set on returning to Côte d’Ivoire to come and work in the WEC mission school in Vavoua. With the 'iron curtain' of Communism and the edifice of apartheid all but shattered by February 1990, supernatural intervention occurred in Abidjan to nudge me to tackle the daunting wall of Islam. With my Dutch missionary friend Bart Berkheij, I landed in a 'mosque’ by accident. When all the shops closed down at lunch time that Friday, we had no opportunity to continue our memento shopping spree. We simply took a seat next to the road, when prayer mats were rolled out all around us. Bart was sitting obliquely behind me. Somehow I had the impression that he was also doing the obligatory raka’ts, the Islamic cycles of bodily movements accompanying the prayers. Thus I simply joined in, imitating the people in front of me. Suddenly I heard an angry stifled shout-whisper: ‘Ashley, wat doe je daar!’ (Ashley, what are you doing!) What a bashing he gave me hereafter for going through the Islamic motions. Strangely enough, I felt embarrassed, but I did not feel very deeply sorry from within... I Experienced a Thrill As I looked at the people in front of me, I experienced a thrill. It was as if the Lord was reassuring me that these bodily movements were no more than meaningless tradition; that some day the Islamic wall would also crash like the communist ‘iron curtain’ had started to do. The experience of that day helped me to persevere over the next decades with low-key missionary work among Muslims although it seemed as if we were wasting our time. (In the 1990s Islam was expanding all the time at the Cape. Muslims were buying property in Cape Town and they were building mosques all over the Cape Peninsula, even in former 'White' areas. I treasured the Abidjan experience in my heart, assured that the days of the Islamic deception were numbered.) The experience during this trip would be so encouraging that I was highly motivated to return to the Ivory Coast for a spree of teaching. Back home in Holland we deemed it fit to speak to the leaders of the local Full Gospel Church about our mission plans, even though we had been church members for less than a year. The dynamic ‘Mama’ Heijnk was quite contented when she heard that I intended to go and teach. She stated clearly that as a congregation they were financially committed to ‘Kruistochten’ (Open Doors), although she felt that more missionaries should go to the Muslim world. At the discussion with the new church leadership team a few months later - the old Heijnks had taken a back seat - they were quite surprised that we didn’t mention financial support. Not very long hereafter, the elders progressed even further along a new road: they committed themselves to substantial regular monthly support for us. (That promise became the basis of what we would trust the Lord for rental payments in Cape Town in 1992.). As we travelled in West Africa I had lots of time during which I wrote a diary of the trip. A friend in Zeist who had access to a computer volunteered to type it for me, but somehow I never saw the handwritten manuscript again. This was yet another casualty of my literary escapades. The Yoke of Ritual Bondage As the years went on, we discerned that many Muslims were wrestling under the yoke of ritual bondage. The question became even more pressing: How should all those millions of people who are still yoked, ever get rid of it? As my wife and I read 2 Corinthians 3 once again, we were reminded that Martin Luther only got into the freedom of Christ when he discovered that he needed a Saviour. This occurred when he developed a deep sense of urgency about his own sin. We realized anew that this is something that only God can accomplish in a sovereign way. God doesn’t need us, but we can be instruments in His hands to change the world, especially through prayer. The three weeks were sufficient to excite me about possibilities to share the gospel in West Africa. The discussions at the school in Vavoua, Ivory Coast, were promising, although I foresaw that as a chapter, merely as a prelude to get into other missionary work after a few years. But I still had to get fluent in French (Rosemarie had not even started learning this language). * * The Lord used the trip in yet another way. While I was in West Africa, our long-standing friend Geertje Rehorst visited Rosemarie one evening. After she had to return from Austria with her two teenage sons, we helped to make them feel at home in the new environment as part of the youth group held in our home. When Geertje heard from Rosemarie that we were praying for a teacher, she asked all sorts of questions. Because she had to stop teaching a few years before this on health grounds, we never even seriously considered Geertje as a possible candidate to help us out. When her son Peter visited us with his wife Annelies soon after my return from West Africa, we told them of our predicament, our need of a teacher to accompany us to England for our missionary orientation. He promptly responded with ‘Have you thought of my mother?’ At the School for the Blind Geertje had been teaching children of different age groups. When we invited her over one evening to put the question to her, Geertje confirmed that she knew all along that the Lord wanted her to go with us to England. She was only waiting on us to approach her. Come Over and Help Us! On my return from West Africa there were quite a few letters awaiting me, two of which were challenges to new areas of ministry. Most of all I was surprised that Rosemarie appeared quite tense about my response to a letter from South Africa. Out of the blue there was a hand-written letter from Pietie Orange, a friend from our Tiervlei/Ravensmead days. There was not much in Pietie’s letter in terms of contents, but very clearly there was the clarion call: COME OVER AND HELP US. Under normal circumstances I would have jumped at this opportunity to return to my home country, but with many different missionary opportunities that have suddenly opened up, I was quite confused. The experiences in West Africa especially were still fresh in my mind. For years the doors to mission services seemed to remain closed and now there appeared to be many doors wide open. Which was the right one? I was surprised to sense Rosemarie’s excitement about the possibility to go to South Africa. She knew of my fervent desire to return to my home country. In the early years of our marriage it caused a lot of strain when she sensed that I perceived it as a sacrifice to be in Europe. Through my ‘Joseph experience’ the Lord had already thoroughly dealt with my craving after a return to South Africa. (Just like Joseph who was exiled to Egypt and who could never return to his homeland, I was in the meantime prepared to serve the Lord anywhere in the world, quite willing never to return to South Africa if that was the confirmed divine guidance.) However, the African continent was still my silent preference. With Campus Crusade I had started to do some voluntary work in Holland with their devout worker Bram Krol. Also from that side we were challenged to go and work full-time. I had learned to use the four spiritual laws and we started seriously to buy a house in Zeist from where we would operate. (Rosemarie’s parents wanted to help us with capital towards this end when her father was still alive). I also got to know Cees Rentier and David Appelo through this outreach. Cees worked with us in our Goed Nieuws Karavaan outreach and later led a major ministry of loving outreach to Turkish people in the Netherlands. David Appelo was to play a big role in helping me to get a manuscript prepared for the Golden Wedding anniversary of my parents in January 1991. We decided to move further along the road towards the teaching post at the WEC school for missionary kids in Ivory Coast, unless the Lord would close the ‘door’. Lovingly Jean Barnicoat, the directress of the WEC mission school, pointed out in a letter that the age and number of our children militated against such a venture. I was shattered to some extent when this reply came. This was definitely no Jonah stint. I had been looking forward so much to serve in Vavoua, starting to learn French to that end. God continued to work in mysterious ways. Two years later we were back in Cape Town. Journey Into the Unknown In his faithfulness the Lord intervened once again. Out of the blue we received a phone call from Dick and Ann van Stelten, a missionary couple in the little town of Josini in South Africa, near to the Mozambican border. They invited us, challenging us to come and take over their work. Through a process of elimination we felt guided to WEC International (Worldwide Evangelisation for Christ). Jacob and Emmy Spronk, the Dutch WEC leaders, were very supportive that we should go and explore the work in Northern Natal, to see if the Lord confirmed it. Perhaps it could become a new venture of the mission agency. My mother was due to turn 80 at the end of that year and the Golden Wedding anniversary of my parents was due shortly thereafter. After all the trips to other countries of the preceding months, we hardly had liberty to share our vision with other Christians, namely to visit South Africa on orientation. How could one sell that to other folk, especially in view of the finances needed? In official terms I was still unemployed. Gradually every hurdle was taken as we decided to take the eldest and youngest of our children along on the journey into the unknown. We were severely tested as we prayed about going to serve in Northern Natal. In a TV programme on Dutch TV the reporter mentioned that Natal was worse in respect of violence than Lebanon and Northern Ireland put together. Was this the sort of situation into which we wanted to take our children? In obedience to the Lord we nevertheless planned to start a visit to South Africa in Pretoria, visiting the Lugtharts, a Dutch missionary couple linked to the Dorothea Mission. From there we trusted that we would get to the Van Steltens in Josini somehow. Pretoria was still very much an apartheid bastion in the year 1990. In the morning we attended the church of our friend Shadrach Maloka in Garankuwa just outside of Pretoria, to whom we had been sending parcels with clothing. It was no surprise to me when we heard that I would not be able to attend the evening service of the Afrikaanse Baptiste Kerk, but that Rosemarie could. We got the message. I was not allowed to attend because I was not 'White'. The Lord Turned the Tables The Lord himself turned the tables when Cees Lugthart came to me the Sunday afternoon with an ‘unanimous request of the church council’. Their pastor had contracted a slip disk at the morning service. Now they wanted me to preach in the evening. Never before had someone of colour attended the church, and now I would be on their pulpit! I used to write out the full script of my sermons. Rosemarie gave me thumbs down after my first draft. The old carnal activist in me had resurfaced. The Lord gave me grace to revamp my draft, to serve without any resentment. And the heavens did not come down! In fact, from the reactions of the congregants afterwards it seemed to have been an eye-opener for many of them. A Sense of Home-Coming In a wonderful way transport was supplied for us to get to Josini. A ‘bakkie’, a transport vehicle with only one seat for two or three passengers was put at our disposal to take to Durban. Our two children that we had taken with us – Danny, our eldest son and Tabitha, our youngest – had ample space under a canopy at the back. In Josini it was clearly confirmed that the Lord did not call us to serve in Ubombo, a school for Zulu children. On the other hand, when we joined the national conference of WEC in Durban, we experienced a sense of home-coming. Although we did not know anybody present, we felt that we belonged there, in spite of a hick-up or two.19 Durban was the ideal preparation for our candidates’ orientation at Bulstrode in England soon after our return from South Africa. Also in Cape Town, the next step, things fell in place. It was agreed that we could return there at the beginning of 1992 with a role in representative work and possibly for evangelistic work among students. The Lord at Work in Different Ways After the WEC leaders in Holland had suggested that we should have ‘contact persons’ before we would set out to our mission field, Rosemarie mentioned Harmen and Fenny Pos, our faithful ‘Goed Nieuws Karavaan’ co-workers. We could not have asked for more devout persons. The way they rallied around us became the example for other missionary support groups in our own church and even for many other groups in the Netherlands. The Lord used the time in Bulstrode, the international WEC Headquarters near London, to bring Geertje Rehorst back into missions. Soon hereafter she started to learn Spanish, becoming the member care person for a few missionaries in Spain. (This was still quite a few years before it became the in thing in mission agencies to make someone responsible for member care.) When we served in Zeist among Moroccan and Turkish children, we were not aware that the Lord had started to prepare us for a future ministry among the Muslims of Cape Town.20Serving as a missionary in a Muslim country was nevertheless one of the options I kept in mind as a definite possibility. And then there was of course the visit to Mali and the Ivory Coast that had struck a chord in my heart to reach out more to those who were suffering under Islamic bondage. The procedure to become WEC missionaries had already started when we suddenly became very uncertain. We asked ourselves what would happen if WEC turned us down or if we decide not to join that agency after all. Then we would be without any accommodation. We knew how difficult it was to get a house even for a couple or a small family. With our five kids, would such a step be responsible? We decided to put out a ‘fleece’ to test the waters. If the Lord would give us people who would be willing to come and stay in our home and pay the rent for the six months of our missionary orientation, we would know for sure that God was confirming our call. We indeed got a couple who had no children and both of whom were employed. That sounded perfect to us, looking like God’s perfect provision. 8. Testing Times Come January 1991, we were already in Bulstrode, the headquarters of WEC International for the Candidates’ Orientation Course. The Lord used this time to start moulding us for our future ministry in Cape Town. Here we were introduced to the concept of spiritual warfare for the first time in a clear way. Never before had we heard about terms like prayer walks, about strategic and targeted prayer although I had practised it before, for example in Zeist, together with other believers. The Gulf War Paradigm The Gulf War at the beginning of the year made things very practical. In one of the devotionals the assistant of Patrick Johnstone at the International Office of WEC demonstrated why it was necessary for the allied aeroplanes to prepare the area for the onslaught of the artillery. I should have known more about spiritual warfare because Count Zinzendorf, the founder of the renewed Moravian Church, had introduced a term like ‘Streiterehe’ - the warrior marriage - centuries ago. (According to this concept the married partners sacrificed to be separated from the spouse for extended periods.) But all of this I had interpreted as not valid for our time. At Bulstrode this changed because the Gulf War made the issue so practical. Furthermore, fundamentalist Islam became ever more clearly visible as a threat to world peace. Field Study As part of our missionary training at Bulstrode we had to write an assignment called a ‘field study’ about the country where we intended to go to. I had been giving talks about different aspects of South African life, but discerned that I did not know enough about the culture and history of the Indian population of my country. We agreed that Rosemarie could study the politics, economy and related issues, while I would make a study of the South African Indians. This led me into looking at Hinduism and Islam, their two major religions. My experience in West Africa also influenced me in yet another way. I now also thought of the 'Black' South Africans as potential missionaries to the Muslim countries of the continent. I also noted how I was impacted while in exile, hoping that we could one day also inspire foreigners in South Africa in a similar way to go and minister in their home countries. In the months hereafter I started writing my thoughts about these matters which ultimately led to a treatise I called ‘A Goldmine of Missionary Recruitment.’21 During my field study I discovered that Bo-Kaap, the residential area below Signal Hill, had become even more of an Islamic stronghold because of apartheid. A seed was sown into my heart. The schooling of our children at Bulstrode belonged to the highlights of their educational career. Tante Geertje would often take them into the spacious grounds of the castle-like surrounds and a special relationship developed to Joyce Scott and her husband Chris. Howard and Jill Sayers as the Candidate secretaries did their bit to make the experience very memorable to all of us as missionary candidates. Tests of Faith In Bulstrode our faith in the divine provision was tested to the full when our rent in Holland had to be paid while we were also required to pay simultaneously for our stay at the WEC International Headquarters. Matters came to a head when the couple staying in our home did not honour their commitment in this regard. Phone calls to Holland to the couple living in our house were of no avail, merely harvesting empty promises. We now however experienced one miracle after the other when we were enabled to pay both our rent in Holland and for our stay in England over a period of four months. We experienced again how the Lord saw us through. Not once we were not able to pay our rent. Differences With the WEC Leadership In our correspondence to WEC South Africa we did mention that we wanted our hands free to evangelize among the Muslims. But the South African WEC leadership desperately wanted to use us for representation in the Western Cape. The stated strategy of WEC in SA was to focus on recruitment, and not to get involved with new ministries. We understood that we would not have a free hand to reach out to Muslims. Some miscommunication took place. We decided to defer our acceptance as WEC missionaries, but we continued with the necessary paperwork to return to South Africa. Luckily all the differences could be resolved. Later in the year we were accepted as WEC missionaries. Missionary Orientation in Emmeloord During my brief study of Islam in South Africa in Bulstrode, I had already discovered that Bo-Kaap, the residential area below Signal Hill, had become an Islamic stronghold. I discerned that some spiritual warfare might be needed to tackle this fact. When we returned to Holland from Bulstrode, I challenged the Christians there to send their ‘prayer batteries’ to Bo-Kaap, to bombard the area - before we as missionaries could go in as the infantry. (I was initially not aware that the Society of International Ministries (SIM)22was already active there with door-to-door outreach even though we had no concrete plans for involvement.) The Holy Spirit had obviously started to prepare me for ministry in the prime Muslim area of the Mother City of South Africa. We celebrated Rosemarie’s 40th birthday in Emmeloord. My gift to her was a manuscript ‘Op adelaars vleugelen ’ (On Eagle Wings), alluding to the text Henning Schlimm that had used at the occasion of our wedding in Königsfeld in March 1975. Clearing a Big Hurdle A major hurdle was the airfares for us as a couple plus five children, of which two would have to pay adult fares. We furthermore decided that a container would be the most economical way to get our belongings to Cape Town, even though the bulk of our furniture was quite old and tattered already and some appliances had been bought second-hand in Holland. The Lord sovereignly helped us in these major steps of faith. The circumstance that we considered as a ‘fleece’ became quite an affliction when the couple that stayed in our home in Zeist for six months did not pay the rent promptly. They finally paid the rent in a lump sum after we had spoken to their pastor. We experienced once again how the strong divine wings of the eagle were seeing us through. Not even once did we have to delay the payment of rent and we always had sufficient to contribute towards our stay in Bulstrode. With the belated lump sum payment of the rent we now suddenly also had sufficient finances not only for the airfares to South Africa for the seven of us, but also for the transport and rental of a container with our possessions! All in all this was another big learning curve to trust the Lord for finances, without appealing for funds. We appreciated very much this pillar of the WEC ethos. Starting a Missionary Prayer Meeting In Emmeloord, at the Dutch HQ of WEC, we heard of the advisability of having a missionary prayer meeting in our home church. Shortly after our return to Zeist, we invited Don and Kryniera Koekkoek, a couple from our church for a cup of tea. They had occasionally been supporting our ‘Goed Nieuws Karavaan’ evangelistic ministry. Kryniera shared during their visit how God had challenged her to stimulate prayer for missionaries. Another couple in our church was about to go to Bhutan as missionaries. When we spoke to Hans Riemersma, one of the elders, he was very sympathetic to our request, but he was rather sceptical. (Apparently, other people had already tried something similar, but tradition in the church had smothered every effort in that direction.) Surprisingly but thankfully, we soon hereafter had regularly monthly prayer meetings for the missionaries of the church started in the home of the Koekkoek couple. That subsequently became an important feature in the calendar of the church. Serving Diversely During the last few months in Holland before our departure to South Africa, I helped out on one day in the week as a teacher of Religious Instruction at Barthimeus, the local school for the Blind, where Geertje Rehorst had taught before she was boarded. On another day of the week I assisted in the office of the Eastern Europe Mission. This led also to my taking clothing and Bibles for persecuted and needy Christians to Switzerland on behalf of the mission over certain weekends. From there other people took the goods to Communist countries. On these trips in a small truck with comfortable seating for at least five people, I was given permission to take the family members along. Because we would sleep with our family in Southern Germany, this saved the mission quite a few Dutch guilders. On our last trip in December 1991 - also intended as our farewell to the family in Germany - we had to face the reality of spiritual warfare as never before. Satan evidently wanted to prevent us from going to South Africa. Attacks From Different Sides When Rosemarie and I left for Switzerland from the home of the Brauns in Lienzingen, with the intention of returning there the same evening. It was touch and go! We would come so close to losing our lives. Apart from the literature we had brought from Holland, we also picked up quite a number of Russian Children’s Bibles at Licht im Osten in Korntal, near Stuttgart. The load was thus quite heavy herafter. A lot of snow in the mountainous region of Southern Germany about 50 Km before the Swiss border with the van loaded with books, made driving hazardous in the extreme. As we slid across the road on the heights, we were praying almost all the time. And then it happened! We skidded off the road. We discerned God’s protecting hand when the truck with the heavy load was thankfully just at a place where there was a parking place. If the slipping had been at almost any other spot in that mountainous area, we would have gone done into the depths to a certain death. Soon thereafter we had to face an onslaught of another sort. Accusations came at us that really made us feel very guilty to go to South Africa. It was suggested that I had been only abusing the interlude of the Ivory Coast as a smokescreen, to prepare the way to take my family to South Africa. That was fully comprehensible. Everybody knew how dearly I wanted to return to my home country. A Last Hurdle Rosemarie had her share as well of the attacks, because she was accused of callously leaving the care of her ailing mother to Waltraud, her sister. From Holland we could at least come during the school holidays to take over some of the burden. We returned to the Netherlands with heavy hearts. We cried to the Lord to intervene. Our tickets were booked by now and the container ordered. The Lord would have to send in someone to help Waltraud with the care of our mother. Otherwise we would have no liberty to go! It was special that our friend Tom Zoutewelle now brought us in touch with a retired nurse who spoke German and who was prepared to go and help Waltraud with our Mama. This cleared the way for us. It was however never necessary to call on that help. But we were now free to go to Cape Town in January 1992! 9. In the New South Africa Our colleague Shirley Charlton had arranged accommodation for us in the Cape Evangelical Bible Institute for the month of January, 1992. A deafening roar at half past four on the first morning after our arrival woke us with a shock. The cause was the prayer call from the seven mosques within a radius of two kilometres of the Cape Evangelical Bible Institute.23 This was the first indication that the Lord was perhaps calling us to get involved with the Cape Muslims. But we were not starkly aware of it as yet. Two Priorities The number one priority was now to get permanent accommodation. Issue number two was to get the schooling of the children sorted out. Already during the occasion of our spying the land in December 1990 we thought that our two eldest children should attend the German school. There they ultimately enrolled all five children. Also Tabitha was accepted for the first grade although she was only five years old. The South African government published its intention to scrap the Group Areas Act. This made matters a lot easier, giving us more options to find suitable and affordable accommodation. We followed up all sorts of advertisements in line with our 'budget', the equivalent of R1500 monthly, which our home church had pledged. We hoped to find a four bedroomed house so that we could also have a guest room. At one of the houses there was a swimming pool. At the next occasion when we prayed as a family for the right accommodation, our seven year-old Magdalena saw no problem to include a house with a swimming pool in her prayer request. Finding a suitable house that was more or less affordable was akin to looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack. Soon we were prepared to settle for a three bedroomed house, but also in this regard it was not easy at all. Whenever the home owners heard how many children we have, there was no interest. Thus we soon made a point of mentioning our five children right at the outset whenever we enquired. That spared us unnecessary waste of time, petrol and further disappointments. We were quite frustrated when all our attempts at getting accommodation seemed to have brought us nowhere. We were in quite dire straits because we had to get out of the Bible School before the end of the month. Strategic Contacts The Bible School period was quite strategic in terms of contacts. We had met Johan van der Wal and his wife Maaike in our home church in Holland a few months before we came to South Africa. Through them we got to know interesting contacts. Thus we got to know Alan de Cerff and his American wife Jennifer, who served at UCT under the banner of Campus Crusade. In turn, we got to know other people and groups through the De Cerff couple like the motor car mechanic cum pastor of the EBC Church, Warren Abels, as well as the Community Bible Fellowship at the Baker House in Crawford. Sleeping on the Street? This was still the position on Thursday, the 30th of January. We could not believe our eyes when a house with four bedrooms plus another room was available in the suburb called Gardens at ‘our price’. It was furthermore not very far from the German school, albeit that a busy road had to be crossed. The timing seemed to be perfect, because it was almost the end of the month and we could move in straight away. The wife of the house owner took for granted that her husband would agree to have us because he was a German-speaking Swiss. We were really in the clouds when the phone call confirmed that he indeed agreed initially. We were already praising the Lord at supper time in the Bible School, when the public phone in the dining room rang once again. This time it was the husband himself. He had just heard from his wife that we have five children; this was a major problem to him. They would not rent their house to us. When I returned to the supper table with the shattering news, all of us were devastated. Little Tabitha vented her fears spontaneously as she cried uncontrollably: ‘Will we now have to sleep on the street?’ This was a reality in Cape Town anno 1992. How thankful Rosemarie and I were when our son Rafael could console her: ‘No, the Lord will see to it that we need not go and sleep on the street.’ I had a big lump in my throat at the child-like and yet also mature faith into which our son had started to grow. As a family we had been experiencing so many special answers to prayer. And we did not even share with the children the financial challenges we had been experiencing! On the last Sunday of January we shared our housing predicament with the Community Bible Fellowship at the Baker House in Crawford. The believers there promised to pray for us in the all-night event on the coming Friday. Something Happening in the Heavenlies On Friday the 31st of January we packed all our belongings together, without knowing where we would be going the next day. On Sunday the bulk of the Bible School students was expected to arrive. We were now clinging to our last hope. Shirley Charlton, our WEC missionary colleague, was going to ask her landlord whether we could move into her two-bedroom flat in Diep River temporarily. She would then go to a friend. When we approached Shirley the Saturday morning, this last hope was all but dashed … We were not aware how many people were praying for us. Of one group we knew. They were Christians from the Community Bible Fellowship in Crawford that we had attended. They would pray right through the night from Friday to Saturday, also for us! In the heavenlies something had obviously been happening, because somewhere in the suburb of Kenilworth – a few kilometres from Crawford - a Greek lady could not sleep. Ireni Stephanis never had problems with sleeplessness – not even when her husband died - but that night she constantly had to think about the family from Holland about which she had heard from Shirley Charlton. Ireni was curious whether the family of seven had found accommodation in the meantime. After hearing of our predicament, Ireni offered to share her big house. Her daughter had just married and left the home. Ireni’s two adult sons were living elsewhere. They would not be around for some time. When we learnt this story the Saturday from Shirley Charlton we stood there in awe! We could only marvel at the timely intervention of the Lord. It looked to be the most practical thing to sleep at the Bible School for the last time. Even in this little detail we could see the hand of the Lord. At this time we met someone who offered to assist us with the clearance of our container, once it would land in the Cape Town Docks. Calls Towards Muslim Evangelism The deafening roar at half past four the first morning after our arrival had projected a message. Almost from the word go we got in touch with a big problem of the Cape communities - drug addiction. On the first Sunday after moving to Kenilworth, we attended the Living Hope Baptist Church with Ireni Stephanis. A couple there told us about their daughter who was addicted to drugs and who subsequently became a Muslim. We were immediately reminded of the successful Betel Ministry outreach of our mission agency to drug addicts in Spain, seeing this as a loving avenue of service to the Muslim community. This was yet another nudge that we should get involved in compassionate outreach to that part of the Cape population. The problem of drug addiction in the Cape Muslim society was highlighted again and again. We were thus confronted with the need of a centre for rehabilitation where people could be set free through a personal faith in Jesus. (Our mission agency WEC had significant success in Spain. Many former addicts started out from there as missionaries to other countries. This had became our model for the drug addicts of Cape Town.) We were yearning to share the vision with Capetonian Christians. The initial response was however general indifference. Further Search for Accommodation After moving over to Kenilworth, we resumed our search for a house to rent. Ireni Stephanis said that we could stay at her house as long as we would need the accommodation. But we really wanted to get into our own home and of course, we did not want to abuse Ireni’s hospitality. One Sunday afternoon we decided to just go and have a look at a house in Brunswick Road, in the upmarket suburb Tamboerskloof. Normally we would not even have considered living in the relatively expensive residential area. But this would be quite near to the German School. Not to scare the home owner too much from the outset, we left the three young ones nearby in our ugly-looking Microbus. We liked the town house but because of the rental tag, we never gave it serious consideration. It would have been suitable, but it was a bit small for a big family. A special bonus was that the town house was within walking distance of the German school. The monthly rental would be about 15% above the monthly pledged gift from our home church in Holland. On the other hand, we would be saving on the costs of commuting them to school. We heard that the lady owner, whose children had also been attending the German school, had remarried. Thus the house in Tamboerskloof had become redundant. Nevertheless, more out of courtesy and because we had no other option, I gave the phone number of Ireni Stephanis to the couple. Rosemarie was quite surprised when the German gentleman phoned us the next day. She was not aware that he took our telephone number. We were over-awed when the owner ultimately gave us the option of renting the house at the price we could ‘afford’, although they could have received more from another interested prospective tenant. When Rosemarie was asked what we were prepared to pay, it was clinched – well over 10% less than the original sum. We could not do otherwise than seeing this as a special gift from the Lord! Just at this point in time we heard that the container with the furniture had arrived. Our new landlady agreed that we could move in, almost a week before the end of the month - without any extra cost! Thus it was not necessary to leave the container in the docks for any length of time. That would have amounted to added costs for the storage. We could just praise the Lord for his wonderful provision. Prayer Walking in Bo-Kaap Soon after our move to Tamboerskloof Rosemarie and I decided to do prayer walking in the adjacent Bo-Kaap, asking the Lord to lead us to those people in whose hearts the Holy Spirit had already done preparatory work. But we sensed very soon that we should not be alone in this venture. We discovered that we needed the prayer backing of other believers. As a family we had started to attend the city branch of the denomination that later became known as the Jubilee Church/ Dave and Herma Adams, the local leaders of the fellowship at the Cape Town High School, had a vision to reach out to the Muslims, although the new denomination was not supportive of such outreach. Friday Lunchtime Prayer Meetings More prayer walks in Bo-Kaap resulted in the resumption of a fortnightly prayer meeting in mid-1992 in the home of Cecilia Abrahams, the widow of a Muslim background believer in 73 Wale Street. We hoped to reverse the effect of apartheid on Bo-Kaap, praying that the suburb would become more than merely the nominally Christian residential area it had been in earlier days in spiritual terms. Two regular attendees of the city Vineyard Church congregation were Achmed Kariem, a Muslim background believer and Elizabeth Robertson, who had a special love for the Jews. At the prayer meetings Liz and Achmed were regulars from the beginning. Our prayer meetings thus had an Isaac-Israel component because these two believers love both Jews and Muslims, just like us. We had as an ultimate goal the planting of at least one simple church in the most extreme Islamic stronghold of the Cape Peninsula. We were furthermore yearning to see our vision implemented, to be part again of a congregation that has the unity of the Body of Christ as a priority, where mutual close fellowship and outreach on more than only one day of the week is a reality. (This was partially realized during our time in Zeist, Holland, where we had real fellowship with local believers from different denominational backgrounds as we ministered together with the Goed Nieuws Karavaan initiative from 1982-1991). At one of these Bo-Kaap meetings, Achmed Kariem suggested that we start a lunchtime prayer meeting on Fridays, it is at the same time that Muslims attend their mosque services. Such prayer events started in September 1992 in the Shepherd’s Watch, a small church hall at 98 Shortmarket Street. A Special Impact on (Cape) Jewry When the Bo-Kaap prayer meeting in the Abrahams’ home in Wale Street was changed to a monthly meeting, it made room for a prayer event where intercession for the Middle East was the focus. The new monthly meeting at our home in Tamboerskloof, and later in the suburb of Vredehoek from 1994, also included prayer for the Jews, those in Israel as well as for those in Sea Point, the hub of Cape Jewry. The goal of these prayers was that Jews may recognize Jesus as the prophesied Messiah. The catalyst for the Jewish part of the prayer meeting was Elizabeth Robertson, whom God had used to stir the Jews of Sea Point in 1990. (She had been confronted at that time with a very difficult choice when she was about to convert to Judaism, in preparation for her marriage to an Orthodox Israeli national.) Special Operations from Cape Townships Bruce van Eeden, a pastor from Mitchell's Plain who was powerfully touched by God in 1990, started Great Commission Conferences in ‘Coloured’ residential areas. After ministering at one of these conferences in 1992, Rosemarie and I started to assist with children’s ministry at the Newfields Clinic near the township of Hanover Park. There Ps Bruce was the pastor at an Evangelical Bible Church congregation. Law enforcement agents could not handle the criminality At this time, I participated in the establishment of Operation Hanover Park. The stimulus for the latter operation was given by Everett Crowe, a police officer, who approached the local churches in a last-ditch effort to bring back peace to the Hanover Park township that seemed to be ruled by gangsters. The law enforcement agents could not handle the criminality in the area any more. Operation Hanover Park was led by Pastor Jonathan Matthews of the Blomvlei Baptist Church, the main driving force behind the initiative. A Saturday afternoon prayer meeting of the City Mission fellowship with which I linked up, became the precursor to a monthly event of Operation Hanover Park towards the end of 1992. Believers of diverse church backgrounds who came together to pray once a month on a Saturday afternoon in different church buildings, was the mainstay of this Operation. Dean Ramjoomia, a Muslim background believer who grew up in a gangster-related environment, was eager to serve among the gangsters as the local evangelist on behalf of the churches. A tract that he wrote and designed, made quite an impact. (Picture of Tract, p.10 Part 3, Revival Seeds Germinate) Blomvlei Baptist Church gave the Ramjoomia family accommodation on the church premises and a few other churches pledged financial assistance. Things looked quite promising. Furthermore, it seemed as if our vision - to get local churches networking in missions and evangelism - was coming to fruition. At least, this was how it appeared! At the same time, this would also give an example to believers in other parts of the Cape Peninsula and possibly elsewhere as well. This was a model to combat criminality and violence – through united prayer and action! Operation Hanover Park was on the verge of achieving an early version of community transformation at the beginning of 1993. That was however not to be. A leadership tussle stifled the promising movement. I chose to refrain from involvement because I feared being perceived as an outsider, who had come from overseas not too long ago. Looking back, this was one of the big mistakes I made. I should have taken that risk. A Fallacy and Good Moves My attempt at uniting churches of the city area had hardly any effect. I tried to nudge local churches to pray for Muslims. We organized for converts from Islam and various missionaries to speak in different churches on the Sundays during Ramadan 1993. When I observed that this merely resulted in entertainment - with no subsequent commitment - I aborted the attempt. Hereafter I challenged churches towards loving outreach to Muslims whenever they invited me to preach and bring along a MBB with a good testimony. The result was that I received far less invitations to come and preach subsequently. Years later the Lord taught me that unless he builds the house to unite His body, I was wasting my time and energy. Here and there we were blessed to witness gospel seed germinating. The WEC prayer group that met in our Tamboerskloof home, was so much more committed and interested. Margaret Curry, a member of this monthly group of a few elderly ladies, introduced us to the matron of St Monica’s Maternity Home in Bo-Kaap. (Margaret Curry had been a missionary with the Hospital Christian Fellowship). This was very strategic. In Hanover Park we started the first cell group with male Muslim background believers. In Hanover Park we started the first cell group consisting of male Muslim background believers. There we studied biblical personalities that also figure in the Qur’an. In the research and studies for this cell group I was very quite fascinated and humbled to see how biblical figures that are mentioned in the Qur’an, foreshadow Jesus in the Hebrew Scriptures and Talmudic sources. I also discovered that many pointers to the Cross and Jesus’ crucifixion had been omitted in the Qur’an.24 In due course I found that almost all Islamic doctrinal tenets had been derived from Judaism or heretical Christianity.25 I made no serious attempt to disseminate the insights gained at this time, preferring to operate low-key. (I got a close link to CCFM at that time.) This was possibly another mistake of this phase of our ministry. The Hanover Park cell group petered out after September 1993 in the wake of a demonic attack on me via a conman that masqueraded as a new believer who had just come out of drug addition and Islam. I learned the hard way that spiritual warfare is real. The Lord brought us through this torrid ordeal in answer to the prayers of saints, both in Europe and in South Africa. Home or Hearth? David Appelo, my Dutch friend that I got to know during my stint with Campus Crusade, felt that we should try and publish the manuscript that I had given to my parents in a form that would be more than merely family history. I allowed him to revamp the manuscript for wider publication. I was not completely happy that he changed the title from Home or Hearth to Involuntary Exile.26 He went to considerable expense to prepare a few hard-bound copies - a complete autobiographical book edited on my behalf a few months into 1992. Too emotional, I however had little hesitation to refuse my full co-operation for this publication because David Appelo had not complied to our original agreement that he would send the manuscript on a ‘floppy disk’ first. My intention - that it should be a testimony to God’s goodness and grace - was coming through insufficiently in my view after his editing attempt. I was nevertheless sad to disappoint David, who had gone to such length to prepare Involuntary Exile for publication. Using the written word as a part of our ministry still had to take off. But I did start to collate testimonies of Muslim background believers in Cape Town. Fruitful Networking I realize now - after almost 30 years - how special it was that I got into contact with two Xhosa speakers and a Zulu within the first three months back at the Cape. Two of them became members of a cross-cultural choir that we started. One of them was a Zulu Bible School student and the other a Salvation Army officer from Langa. That I bumped into Elijah Klaasen, a pastor from Gugulethu on the Grand Parade soon after our arrival, was definitely providential. (He had been the bold young pastor of 1981 who translated for us when Celeste Santos and the late Nomangezi Mbobosi fought for the women who had been transported back from the Transkei. Celeste and Nomangezi were the generals and pivots of the valiant fight in the Battle of Nyanga!) In the course of my representation work of our first year I met Martin Heuvel, a pastor from Ravensmead. It was only natural that I would visit him when I helped prepare the October 1992 visit of Patrick Johnstone, the author of Operation World, a book that has been influencing prayers for missions like possibly no other with the exception of the Bible. A touch of nostalgia was hardly to be prevented when I visited the premises of the Fountain Family Church complex in Ravensmead. (Our family property had been there and from where the family had to move.) When Shirley Charlton organised for me to preach at the Docks Mission Church in the Mitchell's Plain township Lentegeur, another meaningful contact ensued. Pastor Walter Ackermann had a heart for missions second to very few people far and wide. I was soon preaching there regularly until Pastor Ackermann left the church at retirement age. Having ministered to Nelson Mandela on Robben Island, he was keen to introduce me to the prominent politician when he became the State President. Pastor Ackermann was rather concerned with the way the Mandela government accepted financial assistance from the oil-rich Arab states. However, I could not quite see how a single meeting with the President could influence matters. That I declined that opportunity was something which I still regret immensely. It was false humility. I should at least have asked God to either enable such a meeting or close the door. The Goodwill of Promising Beginnings Evaporate Much of the goodwill of the promising beginnings in our country after the 1992 referendum seemed to evaporate during the transition to democratic government. Over the Resurrection commemorative weekend of 1993, the country seemed to have been pushed over the precipice of major racial conflict. On 10 April 1993, the news reverberated throughout the country that Chris Hani, an outspoken Communist who had been mooted for a top position in a possible ANC-led government, had been assassinated. A ‘White’ woman provided information that led to the prompt arrest of the alleged perpetrators, two right-wing activists. This fact helped to lower the political temperature momentarily, but the situation remained extremely tense. Satan overplayed his hand however in July 1993. So-called freedom fighters stormed into the evening service at the St James Church in the Cape suburb of Kenilworth, killing and maiming several people. This massacre turned out to be a divine instrument par excellence. A movement towards racial reconciliation in the country received a massive boost. Those family members who lost dear ones were given divine grace to forgive the brutal terrorists. The killing of innocent people during a church service sparked off an unprecedented urgency for prayer all around the country! Other Types of Revival Seed Various types of ‘revival seed’ were sowed during the 1990s. Some of the most notable ones transpired through the various prayer networks, for example the Network of United Prayer in Southern Africa (NUPSA) and its successor from 2002, Jericho Walls. (The leader, Ds. Bennie Mostert, collaborated closely with the AD2000 & Beyond Movement.) Operation Desert Storm was the successful U.S.-allied response in 1991 to the attempt of Saddam Hussain’s Iraq, to crush neighboring Kuwait. That US-led operation had a significant impact. Many Christian soldiers distributed Arabic Bibles when the Allied troops moved around the Middle East. Coming fairly soon after the fall of the Soviet Empire and their successful seven year prayer campaign, Open Doors launched a new campaign, ten years of prayer for the Muslim world. Floyd McClung and other Youth with a Mission (YWAM) leaders retreated to a secluded place in Egypt in 1991. There the Lord gave them the vision for prayer mobilization during Ramadan - the Muslim Prayer Focus - to be printed as booklets that would trigger unprecedented changes in the Muslim world. The 30-day Muslim Prayer Focus was printed and distributed around the Globe with information on different issues relating to Islam. This was repeated for many years until the internet option made its actual printing more or less redundant. CCM (Christian Concern for Muslims) in South Africa printed their own version of the Ramadan Muslim Prayer Focus for 2003 and since then every year till 2017, after which it moved into electronic mode. In 1993 the first teams started praying through information gained from serious research. From 1993 South Africa also participated in the Praying through the Window initiative that was launched internationally by the AD 2000 Prayer Track. An Ideal Opening for Satanism Crime increased and drug trafficking spiralled! The warfare from the enemy of souls was conducted in the Cape Flats townships mainly through drug addiction, gangsterism and prostitution. These vices proved the ideal opening for satanism. In the mid-1990s the drug- and gang war kept the Mother City of South Africa in suspense for months. Violence, rape and gangster activity grew rapidly. (These triplets of vice still remain unsolved problems of the City and the country as a whole.) A situation developed by the end of the 20th century that could only be countered with spiritual warfare on a national scale. A Dynamic Church Evolves A Christian surfing club was started at the Cape Town Baptist Church in 1991 as an attempt to reach unchurched surfers. Nathan, the son of Graham Gernetsky, the pastor, invited his friend Terran Williams. Demitri Nikiforos and Nathan Gernetsky were two other teenagers who, like Terran Williams, later went into full-time pastoral ministry. Nikiforos became the pioneering pastor of Calvary Chapel in the Mother City and Terran Williams became the leader of the Common Ground denomination in 2017. Heidi Pasques and Carol Günther, an American volunteer, pioneered with the teaching of English to foreign students. With predominantly Asians attending these lessons, the church started to become quite cosmopolitan. Another ministry, to people with homosexual tendencies or who had been damaged in that area, brought healing and help to many. These people received assistance at the Cape Town Baptist Church when the issue was still muzzled in other churches. Sadly, country-wide a situation in gender politics evolved later so that it became politically incorrect to see marriage as a union between a male and a female. Due to clever manipulation and the use of bribes, the ANC majority in parliament legalized same sex marriages in 2006. (These bribes would be dwarfed by the corruption within the ANC later.) An Impact Via Bo-Kaap Minaret Calls The Lord himself seemed to confirm our link to Cape Town Baptist Church, using the eight-year-old daughter of one of the elders of the church. The girl had been terribly troubled by the calls from the minarets in the nearby mosques of Bo-Kaap. Her father, Brett Viviers, a Messanic Jewish believer, suggested that she should start praying for the Muslims. Heidi Pasques and her husband Louis were interested to become missionaries to a Muslim country. This became the factor that ultimately nudged me to join the congregation formally with our family. Furthermore, two members of our Bo-Kaap prayer meeting, Hendrina van der Merwe and Daphne Davids, already belonged to the congregation. Yet, Rosemarie was not quite convinced that this was where we should link up church-wise. Its proximity to Bo-Kaap, where we wanted a spiritual breakthrough, clinched the matter for me. There is where we wanted to plant a home church. Rather hesitantly she agreed to join the congregation. ` We had apparently not yet learned the lesson well enough, that we should not proceed with major decisions like this without complete unity as a couple. We could nevertheless serve at that congregation in many a way subsequently for the longest stretch to date in a single congregation. Carol Günther was part of our the cell group that met on Wednesday evening in our home initially, and later in that of Alan Kay, a Telkom employee. He later became the administrator of the church. A later addition to the group was Gershin Philander, a young man who was raised in the tradition of the Plymouth Brethren. He had a phenomenal knowledge of the Scriptures. Other Blessings The Lord used the Messianic prophecy of Isaiah 60 as part of a devotional in one of the Friday lunch hour prayer meetings at the Shepherd’s Watch to call Gill Knaggs into the mission to the Muslim World. She attended the prayer meeting on a once-off basis, but this was enough to set her in motion, to pray about getting involved in full-time missionary work. There were also other blessings. It seemed as if our vision of a prayer network across the Peninsula was coming off the ground slowly. The Isaiah pericope was an encouragement to me to expect Muslims to come to the Lord in due course in a significant way. (We had started praying for the Muslim world as part of an Open Doors call to do it for ten years. Soon Gill was used by God to get YWAM in South Africa more interested in the Muslims. Concretely, an interest developed in Egypt, where the mission group started to network with the Coptic Church in that country via the links through Mike Burnard of Open Doors.) Gill Knaggs began a weekly prayer group for the Muslims in her home. Was this the start of the exciting fulfilment of our vision to get a network of prayer across the Peninsula? This was unfortunately not to be, albeit that the group of Muizenberg would pray at their home for quite a few years. The diminutive Baptist Church congregation of Woodstock called a minister. What a blessing it was when we heard that Edgar Davids accepted the call to be their pastor. Just before our departure for Europe, I had been praying in Mountain Road, Woodstock with a few students of the Baptist Theological Seminary This augured well for a close link to the denominational sister City congregation only a few kilometres away where Louis Pasques was now the interim pastor. Edgar Davids proved to be a real visionary and a man of God, along with his devout wife Sandra. Soon I was preaching a mini series there on the Samaritan woman of John 4 that I had expanded in the meantime. The minute fellowship took the step in faith to start renovating the ruin of the local former 'White' Dutch Reformed Church. A committed believer who belonged to this fellowship, brought me in touch with Munti Kreysler, one of her Muslim neighbours of District Six. In turn, we hereafter met Maulana Sulaiman Petersen, the brother of this Muslim lady who was living in the former Afrikaner city stronghold Tamboerskloof. Maulana Petersen was an influential Cape Islamic clergyman who had studied in Pakistan for many years, a scholar of note. I got to know him fairly well. Prayer Warfare in Woodstock In March 1994 a group of theological students of the Cape Town Baptist Theological Seminary served also in Woodstock during a local missions' week. Pastor Graham Gernetsky, the senior pastor of Cape Town Baptist Church invited me to share teaching with him, along-side Bobby Maynard, a church member with in depth insight in missions and related topics. Pastor Gernetsky reacted positively to my suggestion to engage in prayer warfare with the students not only in Bo-Kaap, but also in nearby Woodstock. This would amount to an attempt to take back some territory that satan had stolen through drug abuse, prostitution and gangsterism. During a prayer walk with the students as part of the missions' week, a local Woodstock resident mentioned Pastor William Tait and his fellowship He had started his ministry there in 1989 as a local Assemblies of God congregation. They were ably assisted by the small local Baptist Church under an inspiring pioneering new minister, Pastor Edgar Davids. The 1994 missions' week became the start of closer co-operation between the Fountain of Joy Assemblies of God fellowship and the small local Baptist Church that had no minister at the time. By 1990 Woodstock had become the drug hub of the metropolis. The Face of Woodstock Changing Towards the end of the millennium, Woodstock slowly changed its religious complexion. The centre of drug-peddling and prostitution moved to areas which were more lucrative. Pastor Tait and his church Pastor Edgar Davids was in poor health, a kidney patient, when he finished his studies at the seminary. The fellowship met in a house in Mountain Street, Woodstock where the congregation also met for all their meetings. Edgar Davids, a visionary pastor, challenged the few members to buy the former Dutch Reformed Church in Aberdeen Street. The building had been ransacked by homeless people, some of them Angolan refugees. It had ultimately become a ruin more or less. Inspired by their sickly pastor, the members began to restore it with financial and practical aid from North Carolina believers in the USA. A kidney transplant and dialysis treatment however merely extended Pastor Davids's suffering. Sadly, in March 1998, Edgar Davids passed on to eternal glory. The Fountain of Joy Assemblies of God, the new name of the vibrant fellowship with Pastor William Tait, initially rented a dilapidated building from the Woodstock Presbyterian Church which found it difficult to survive in the fast deteriorating suburb. The fellowship began in 1994 to conduct prayer meetings every morning on weekdays at five o’clock. God started using the two fellowships of Woodstock to gradually change the face of the suburb so to speak in front of our eyes. What a joy it was to have close links with the two congregations. The restored churches, respectively in Clyde and Aberdeen Streets, that once had been the shame of local Christianity, became a visible testimony to God’s renewing power in that suburb. We continued praying that something similar would also happen in the spiritual realm. Strategic Contacts One of the events organised in the first term of 1993 by the Western Cape Missions Commission was a workshop at the Cape Town Baptist Church with John Robb of World Vision. I used the list of participants at this event to organize the Cape Jesus Marches the following year. In this way, I updated my contacts for further mission endeavour in the Western Cape. There I met Trefor Morris and Freddie van Dyk, two City Council workers. Trefor was closely linked to Radio Fish Hoek, a pioneering Christian radio station, that later changed its name to Cape Community FM (CCFM ). Trefor became a regular at our Friday lunch time prayer meeting while he was assisting with work on the OM missionary ship the Doulos in the City dockyard. He was also the link for Rosemarie and me to be invited to the radio station to give some advice and teaching to the ‘prayer friends.’ These were the people who had to advise Muslims who phoned CCFM for telephonic counselling.            Trefor’s radio series on old churches was valuable to me as an inspiration for further research. It was a model for a series on biblical figures in the Qur’an and the Talmud that was transmitted via the radio station towards the end of 1997 and repeated in 1999. Trefor Morris became my Fish Hoek link and a hopeful recruit for the envisaged prayer network in the Cape Peninsula. (The seed of the vision of a prayer network germinated in the new millennium when the Consultation of Christian Churches (CCC) in the Western Cape, in conjunction with Jericho Walls, attempted to stimulate the formation of houses of prayer across denominational barriers.) Freddie van Dyk, a elder of the Logos Baptist Church of Brackenfell, became a regular attendee at our Friday lunch hour prayer meeting. Danie Heyns was another member of Logos Baptist Church who would become a pivotal link as a contact in the organisation of Jesus Marches in June 1994. Planning of Jesus Marches Jesus Marches were planned for a Saturday in the month of June 1994 all over the world. A friend and missionary colleague from Sheffield (England) wrote about their preparations for a Jesus March in their city. Inquiries on this side of the ocean dropped the co-ordination of the whole Western Cape effort into my lap. I had high expectations when I co-ordinated about 20 prayer marches in different parts of the Cape Peninsula, liaising closely with Danie Heyns and Chris Agenbach with regard to the northern suburbs of the city and the immediate ‘platteland’ (country side). Strategic contacts were forged at this time, notably to a few churches in Mitchell's Plain and Logos Baptiste Gemeente in Brackenfell. I hoped that this venture would result in the network of prayer across the Peninsula. However, the initial interest that our second attempt - with an updated slide series - had stimulated in various churches, fizzled out. I shared at this time what I had researched about the influence of the Kramats, the shrines on the heights of the Cape Peninsula. A strategic contact of this initiative was Trefor Morris, who was closely linked to Radio Fish Hoek, a pioneering Christian Cape radio station. Trefor had been a regular of our Friday lunch time prayer meeting until his retirement. He became a link to the radio station so that Avril Thomas, the directress, subsequently invited me to come and give some advice and teaching to the ‘prayer friends’ of the station. They had to speak to those Muslims who phoned Radio Fish Hoek. Spin-offs of the Jesus Marches As the Jesus Marches approached, the vision grew to achieve a spiritual breakthrough among the Cape Muslims. I was very much aware that concerted prayer was needed. We were able to initiate a few prayer groups, but the majority of them petered out. (Seed was sown nevertheless for the effort of Jericho Walls that was much more successful in the new millennium.) In the mid 1990s Sally Kirkwood led a prayer group for the Cape Muslims at her home in Plumstead. Later she played a prominent role among Cape intercessors. Another group was formed by Gill Knaggs in Muizenberg. Concretely, an Egyptian connection was established there. YWAM started to network with the Coptic Church via links through Mike Burnard of Open Doors. Rosemarie and I were hereafter asked to teach at a YWAM Discipleship Training School (DTS) in Muizenberg in 1996. This culminated in a close friendship with a former shaykh from Egypt, whom we were asked to host for the practical part of his DTS. This turned into a precious time of in-depth learning around the roots of Islam in heretical Christianity. (Subsequently I wrote a manuscript with The Spiritual Roots of Islam as title.) As a result of the 1994 Jesus Marches, some Cape churches got to learn more about the local missionary work of WEC International among Muslims. The Logos Christelike Kerk in Brackenfell became a major distributor of the Ramadan Prayer Focus. Freddy van Dyk, an elder of the church, who worked at the Cape Town City Council, was a regular at the Friday lunchtime prayer meeting at the Shepherd’s Watch. This participation led to some members of that prayer group eventually taking a course in pastoral clinical counselling by Dr Henry Dwyer in the second quarter of 1996. Freddie van Dyk’s attendance at our Friday lunch hour prayer meeting also led to a very strategic hospital outreach every Saturday morning to cancer patients at Groote Schuur Hospital. There one of our co-workers met Ayesha Hunter, a MBB who subsequently became a valuable co-worker as a radio presenter via Cape Community FM (CCFM). (When CCFM started a radio programme aimed at Muslims in 1998, Gill Knaggs was available to write the scripts - something she continued to do for many years.) A Backlash A lesson during the missions' week with Baptist Seminary students ‘backfired’. We included early prayer times with the students, starting at 5 a.m. One morning my wife Rosemarie shared what she had ‘discovered’ in Galatians 1:8,9 – that even an angel could bring a flawed message, if that would deviate from the original Gospel revealed in the Bible. This amplified to us the origins of the Qur’an. We had been learning that the revered Islamic prophet Muhammad believed – after thinking initially that it was God himself – that an angel had brought to him the Surah (chapter) that starts with the notion that man was made out of clotted blood. (Muslims believe that the angel Gabriel had brought these revelations to Muhammad, their prime prophet.) We were filled with more compassion towards Muslims, as we realized that they have been severely deceived collectively in this way. This, plus the gift of a booklet that we received in Germany during our home assignment in 1995, became to me the pristine beginnings of an in-depth comparative study of the Angel Gabriel in the Bible, the Qur’an, the Talmud and the Ahadith. Islamic traditions of Muhammad’s words and deeds are regarded as equal in authority to the Qur’an. The consistent omission of the Cross in the Qur’an could not be coincidence I furthermore discovered how deceptive the arch-enemy was, that he had indeed been masquerading as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14). Thus the consistent omission in the Qur’an of everything alluding to the Cross of Calvary could not be coincidence. The latter discovery came to the fore as I prepared myself for teaching Muslim background believers. One of the lessons of the missions week was emotionally quite painful. As I taught the theological students about the history of Islam in the Western Cape, I broke down in tears after I had to discern how deeply there was still resentment in my heart towards the Dutch Reformed Church. I deduced that it had expanded significantly when I had been reading how the denomination opposed the government when Mr P.W. Botha and his Cabinet were ready to repeal the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act. (This was the law that had been keeping me in exile for almost two decades.) The increasing number of expatriates in Cape Town came into focus as future missionaries to their own people. Africans as Future Missionaries Two of the student participants at the mission week were Kalolo Mulenga and Orlando Suarez, respectively from Zambia and Mozambique. (The seed had already been sown in my heart to see Africans as future missionaries during an orientation visit to the Ivory Coast in 1990, where we had hoped to go as a WEC missionary family.) Now the increasing number of African expatriates in Cape Town came into focus as future missionaries to their own folk, just like the Samaritan woman of John 4 in the ‘New Testament’. Orlando Suarez would become one of the first of those foreign Africans to return to his home country, albeit that in his case it was not completely voluntarily. The lessons in cross-cultural outreach that the Master Teacher passed on to us through chapter 4 from John’s Gospel, would guide us during the next few years. I not only used the conversation of our Lord Jesus with a woman from another culture as a prime example for the outreach to Cape Muslims, but by now we were concentrating our work on the local converts from Islam. (We noticed how much more effectively they were reaching out to their own people. Salama Temmers and Ayesha Hunter would become among those who came through the ranks of our ministry. Subsequently quite a few of them would be used powerfully elsewhere.) An Extra-Ordinary Weekend Camp The preparation for a weekend camp with juveniles from Hanover Park developed into a major strain on our nerves. Two days before the camp was scheduled to start, I was the only one of the leaders left with reasonable health. Cheryl Moskos, our Hanover Park co-worker, was down with a heavy flu that more or less ruled her out and Rosemarie was out of contention due to a slipped disk. The Wednesday evening Rosemarie stayed at home because of the slipped disc. It was just as well, because now she was at home to take a crucial phone call from our SIM missionary colleague Horst Pietzsch. He had been approached by Anthony Duncan, a young missionary from Frontline Fellowship who wanted to get involved with local mission work before his next stint to more dangerous operational areas. That phone call swung things around. We decided to go ahead with the camp. At that stage cancellation seemed to be the only logical conclusion. God used a chiro practitioner to whom we went the next day. Rosemarie was back in action before the weekend. To God be the glory! What a blessing the camp became to those children, the majority of whom had hardly been out of the township Hanover Park where they were born and bred. Death is So Normal! All the more the shock was great when the news came through a few weeks later that Anthony Duncan was killed in a motorbike accident on his way from Angola. We were surprised how little reaction the youths showed when we broke the news to them. We realized that death had become so normal to the children and young people from a township. Gun killings and other forms of unnatural causes of life termination belong to everyday life. My presence at a meeting of the Alpha Centre, the venue of our weekly children’s clubs, led to our being approached by Shehaam, the mother of a few of our children’s club. Their youngest child had just been declared terminally ill because of an unknown virus. This got the ball rolling for more sessions of counseling and prayer when Rosemarie and I visited her. At one of these visits she shared a very special dream she had of a man with a long stick walking on grass that was very green. When I turned my Bible to Psalm 23 she got so excited!! 'That's exactly what I saw in my dream!' she exclaimed. She was like a ripe apple, ready to be picked. She was the first Cape Muslim that we were blessed to lead to the Lord and to disciple subsequently. This discipling was quite a challenge. Collating Stories of Muslim-Background Believers In June 1992, Majiet Pophlonker and Zane Abrahams, two Muslim-background believers, visited our home with their families. After hearing Majiet’s moving story, seed was sown into my heart to write down the testimonies of converts from Islam. At one of the discussions with Manfred Jung, a SIM missionary colleague, the idea was mooted to publish the testimonies of local Muslim-background believers as a networking effort. I enjoyed collating the stories from some of these believers, sometimes making notes. Another two of these special stories came from Salama Temmers and Esme Orrie. The former would become special co-workers, presenters of a radio programme. The result was Op soek na waarheid, a booklet that we planned to launch at a prayer seminar in January 1995. Assisted by Attie Kotze, a secondary school class mate who had become an Afrikaans teacher and a pastor of the Rhenish Church in the meantime, eleven of the stories were finally selected and prepared for publication. Once I took a cassette tape recorder to a house, where the believer from Muslim background shared how she came to faith at a mass evangelistic meeting with Reinhard Bonnke in 1984, along with many other Muslims. This struck a chord in my heart. I wondered what had happened to all the other Muslims who made a public profession of their faith as an indication of their intention to follow Jesus. This amounted to a wake-up call to Rosemarie and me. We decided to focus on the discipling of a few Muslim background believers. This proved to be very strategic! Breakthroughs in the Spiritual Realm Local Christians joined Bennie Mostert when he led a group to pray at the Islamic shrine of Macassar. In October 1992 the group interceded at the shrine of Shaykh Yusuf, the person generally acknowledged to have pioneered Islam in South Africa. At this occasion Bennie Mostert encouraged the group to concentrate on uplifting Jesus. I shared with Bennie and Jan Hanekom,27 another giant of the South African mission scene, some of my research on the history of Islam in South Africa. The prayer at Sheikh Yusuf’s shrine that day probably signified a breakthrough in the spiritual realm. Although the Cape churches in general remained indifferent, individual Christians started showing an increasing interest in praying for the Muslims. A new brand of convert from Islam emerged nevertheless, people who were bold and willing to suffer ostracism and persecution for their faith in Jesus Christ. One example is Esmé Orrie. For a long time after her conversion in July 1992, she was very fearful and suspicious. However, from 1994 she started to testify boldly in churches and on the radio. A Cape fellowship ushered in spiritual dancing, using visible artifacts in worship A link to the Cape Flats township intercessors existed through a fellowship in Greenhaven which was led by Mercia and Vincent Pregnalato, to which I was invited. This couple held the fort in an area that had become Islamic in the late 1980s. This fellowship also ushered in spiritual dancing, using visible artifacts like flags as part of worship. This example spread in due course to audiences throughout the country. Publications As a Networking Effort? We planned to launch Op soek na waarheid at the prayer seminar in Rylands. Elizabeth Robertson, one of our Bo-Kaap and Vredehoek prayer meeting regulars, painted a beautiful cover for the booklet, a typical Bo-Kaap scene. I was very eager to see the publication as a combined effort of various mission agencies. But because of its sensitive nature, not a single one of my missionary colleagues was prepared to stick his neck out. Converted Muslims could be exposed to persecution if the testimonies would be published. Furthermore, the person(s) responsible for the publication of the booklet would have to reckon with the same treatment. In the end, I had no other option but to use the mission agency WEC International to which we are linked, as the publishers. The compiler and the names of the converts remained anonymous. This was a weak link in the publication. However, we had to protect the converts, some of whom had reason to be quite afraid, because of threats and intimidation. Praying Into Islamic Strongholds My personal connection to the countrywide prayer movement was expanded when I met Gerda Leithgöb, a visiting intercessor from Pretoria. She had led prayer of confession on behalf of Afrikaners at the Voortrekker Monument and also introduced the use of research for prayer in South Africa in different cities. I promptly invited her as the guest speaker - along with Ds. Davie Pypers - for the prayer seminar in Rylands Estate, that focused on Islam. In preparation of the seminar, I gave to Gerda Leithgöb some of my research on the establishment and spread of Islam. Among other things we also started praying into the area of Islamic strongholds like shrines which keep them in spiritual bondage. 10. Whippings as a Blessing The new year 1995 started very well. We received notice of a substantial sum of money paid into the account of our mission by Rosemarie’s godmother. We saw that as God’s provision to enable us to book air tickets for a four-month home assignment in Holland and Germany. Our home church is in the former country; Rosemarie’s family and other supporting friends are in the latter one. There would also be sufficient funds for the printing of Op Soek na Waarheid. Just after the summer school holidays we had a Muslim seminar lined up in Rylands, a predominantly Indian residential area. That we could have the event in a Muslim stronghold was already significant. The time I scheduled for the publication of the testimony booklet was however much too tight. This was only the start of many a disappointments and attack. It was clear that the booklet of testimonies was strategic in our spiritual fight against the arch enemy’s hold on people. We had no clue that this would unleash one whipping after the other. Spiritual Forces Unleashed We still had little clue of the spiritual forces that are unleashed during the Islamic month of Ramadan. We still had to learn that because we had been thrust into the front line of the spiritual battle at the Cape, we needed a lot of prayer covering. The battle heated up during Ramadan. In two cases we escaped serious car accidents on the highway by a whisk. In one of the instances it was very near to a miracle that Rosemarie was not killed. Some strange things also happened to our 1981 model Mazda that we had bought after our minibus was stolen. Twice I had to be towed to a garage where they found nothing amiss with the vehicle. Also thereafter we had no problems with the car. It was evident that there were dark powers at work. Our nerves were tested to the extreme when our two-monthly missionary allocation did not arrive. It left the bank in Holland all right, but inexplicably it never arrived in the FNB bank account of our mission headquarters in Durban. Turmoil and Stress Some tense weeks followed when the airline with whom we had booked, cancelled our seats. (Cape Town was fast becoming a favourite destination for tourists.) The tension in the family to get seats became so bad that everyone in the family forgot our 20th wedding anniversary on 22 March. A minor car accident in the morning that day when I hit a car down the road that was reversing out of his car port was a small part of what we saw as a satanic backlash. The run-up to our home assignment in Germany and Holland, scheduled to start at the end of March, 1995, was one big turmoil and stress. Apart from the money issue - which was resolved just in time - there was a major problem to get seats. One international airline had a special offer for which we provisionally booked. Because we did not secure our seats with payment, we lost the seats. But by this time also the other airlines had no cheap seats available for a family of seven. Our nerves were all but wrecked! A Red-Letter Day All is well that ends well, the saying goes. The wedding anniversary - twenty years after the special ceremony in the Moravian Church of the Black Forest village Königsfeld - nevertheless turned into a red-letter day. On that memorable Wednesday morning we baptized five converts who came from Islam, including a female convert from Hanover Park and Nasra Stemmet from Woodstock. At that occasion we also heard about Johaar Viljoen, who had won over many Christians to Islam in his Islamic hey-day. The former imam came to faith in Jesus in the prison of Caledon. His conversion in 1992 - a demonstration of the power of prayer - shook many Islamic inmates who regarded him as their imam. It had been a very special blessing for Rosemarie and me to witness how Shehaam, a mother of five children, four of whom were attending our children’s club - came through to a living faith in Jesus. As we discipled her, we didn’t even dare to mention baptism. In fact, we shared the gospel with her but we spelt out the consequences very clearly. The big responsibility - taking her with five children into our home if her husband would kick her out after her conversion - was a possibility we had to face squarely. We were not ready for that. It was nevertheless a joy for us to lead her to the Lord - after she had phoned us - but we did not encourage her to share her new faith with her husband. We suggested that he should see the difference in her life first. But the seed was sown into our hearts for the need of a discipling house where we could walk a road with new believers. On that evening the home ministry group of our church fellowship sprang a big surprise on us. We had no clue what they were up to when they came to our home for a special farewell. Everybody in the family had forgotten that it was our wedding anniversary, but Carol Günther did not. She arranged with the other participants to bring along enough to eat to make it a very special celebration. The day became perfect when the gentleman of Club Travel, who had been working overtime, phoned around 9 p.m. that he could secure seats for us, thus only a few days before our intended departure! The three older children could fly on a youth fare of Lufthansa, with the rest of us flying Air France. Lack of Unity in the Leadership A week of early morning prayer at the Cape Town Baptist Church, with a speaker from Zimbabwe hyped up some excitement while it patched up the lack of cohesion in the leadership. But the writing was already on the wall. There was no real unity, the basic ingredient for any effective outreach. This was simultaneously a loop hole for the arch enemy. A few months later a serious rift in the leadership scattered the dynamic fellowship. During our absence overseas, the crisis continued, after which Pastor Gernetsky did not see his way to continue. The congregation that had been in the forefront of evangelistic outreach in the Mother City, became an 'also ran' in due course. Strife in the leadership at the beginning of the new millennium dumped the fellowship in the doldrums from which it never recovered. When we returned as a family from an extraordinary hot summer in Holland to an icy Cape Town, the whippings resumed. Already in the first few days one incident within our own family was very traumatic. Our son Samuel contracted double pneumonia. Early on the first Sunday morning back at the Cape we had to rush him to Somerset hospital. It was touch and go or we could have lost him! 11. Blessings and Backlashes It seemed as if our vision of a prayer network across the Peninsula was coming off the ground slowly. Gill Knaggs, who had been touched at one of our Friday prayer meetings, now helped with the editing of the English translation of my booklet ‘Op Soek na Waarheid’. She also began a weekly prayer group for the Muslims in her home that continued for quite a few years. I was very happy to hear at this time about pastors from different denominations coming together for prayer in other residential areas. I decided to link up with Dr Ernst van der Walt of the Rondebosch Dutch Reformed Church and a few colleagues including Pastors Fenner Kadalie from the City Mission and Theo Bowers from the Full Gospel Church. Closer contact with the Rondebosch congregation followed, especially with a prayer group of older members at the retirement home linked to the church. There Erika Böhler, the church worker, initially led this group on Sunday mornings at 7 a.m. For many years I visited this prayer group from time to time until it ceased in 2006. At the Cape Town Baptist Church a small pastors’ group started with Louis Pasques and Edgar Davids in 1995. After the serious rift at the City church which caused Pastor Gernetsky to leave, Louis had a torrid time. Rosemarie and I decided not to leave the sinking boat. Louis and I would often pray together through this crisis. Ishmael and Isaac: Sons of Abraham As I continued my studies of different biblical figures in the Bible that are also found in the Qur’an – that I had been using in our meetings with our Muslim background believers - a pattern became clear. I discerned that all pointers to the Cross of Calvary in the 'Old Testament' are consistently omitted in the Qur’an. To check my discovery, I also studied the same personalities in the Jewish Talmud. Here I was struck by a further tenet, viz. how close early Christianity was to Judaism. Yet, I detected that many Christians have to be reminded forcefully that both Ishmael and Isaac were sons of Abraham. I discovered furthermore that the traditional rivalry of Jews and Muslims has hardly any basis in the Pentateuch: Moses was living quite peacefully among the family of Jethro, a Medianite priest. (The perceived violent nature of Ishmael and Esau seemed to be much stronger in the perception generally, enhanced by the known mutual prejudice and animosity of Jews and Muslims in the Middle East.) Even though I knew that one should not equate Muslims with Ishmaelites, it was nevertheless good to 'discover' that the Midianites were regarded as Ishmaelites (Judges 8:24, Gen. 37:25‑27).28 Someone pointed out to me that the descendants of Ishmael are actually referred to in the Bible much clearer than I had ever thought. In the context of Messianic prophecy and global salvation, Isaiah 60 speaks of various peoples who will come to God when they see His light. To some Christian people ‑ and very likely also to Jews ‑ it may be discomforting that among those who will come to the glory of the returning (coming) Messiah will be ‘Midianites’, who are regarded by many as the traditional enemies of God’s people. In fact, Kedar and Nebaioth, the two eldest sons of Ishmael, are mentioned by name (Isaiah 60: verses 6 and 7). More and more I discovered that the enmity between the descendants of Ishmael and Isaac is definitely not central in the 'Old Testament'; that this is part of satan’s strategy of divide and rule. Cape Muslim Clerics Highlighted Furthermore, I noted that Cape Muslim ulema (Cape Islamic clergy in general) are not of the extremist type generally. The vocal, violent expression increased gradually, but this was still representing a small minority of Islam at the Cape. This was demonstrated when the Cape ulema (Islamic clergy) strongly objected to the killing of Rashaad Staggie by PAGAD on 4 August 1996. They even distanced themselves from PAGAD at a later stage. I am grateful to a Muslim academic of Bo‑Kaap, the late Dr Achmat Davids, where I could always pop in for a chat about my research. I was positively impressed how he reacted to my criticism of some of the things that he and Robert Shell had been writing. Davids actually encouraged me to go ahead with a publication at the South African library that however never took place. Increasingly, I got to understand the difficulties and the day‑to‑day struggle of followers of Muhammad in their search to please God. The example of one of their prominent Sufi leaders, the late Maulana Sulaiman Petersen ‑ became to me the background to discern the equivalent of a Muslim in the Bible: the Roman centurion Cornelius (Acts 10). The Roman soldier excelled through his giving to the poor and his regular prayers. God who sees the heart, responded to the alms to the poor and regular prayers ‑ which would be the equivalent of two pillars of Islam. Cornelius received a supernatural vision. The net result of my research on Islam and the spread of this religion in the Western Cape has been a sense of tremendous guilt. The Stranger in Our Gates Our Friday lunch hour prayer meeting became the start of yet another venture after a believer who had been a regular in the beginning of our prayer meetings, popped in again one day. He challenged us, mentioning the many French-speaking Muslim street traders from West Africa, who have been moving into the city: ‘Have you ever considered doing something about bringing the Gospel to them?’ At this time Louis Pasques, who was raised in an Afrikaner set-up, had become the senior pastor of the Cape Town Baptist Church. Alan Kay had resigned his well-paid job at Telkom to become the administrator of the congregation. He became the leader of a church home ministry group. As Alan was living just a street away from us, we joined the group at his home on Wednesday evenings after our return from Europe. We started to pray about the matter of foreigners at our Friday lunch-hour meeting. God surely used these occasions to prepare Louis Pasques’s heart. He had not only been a regular at the prayer meeting in the Koffiekamer, the premises of Straatwerk at 108 Bree Street, but he also speaks French. Due to this fact and possibly also because of a brave sermon during which Louis confessed publicly on behalf of the Afrikaners for the hurts to people of colour, West and Central Africans started attending the church. When the destitute 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. When Louis and Heidi had their parents over for a weekend visit, they asked Alan Kay to accommodate the Congolese teenager. Gildas crept into Alan’s heart, setting off an extended and unusual adoption process. The attitude in the church hereafter gradually started to change positively towards refugees. Before long, quite a few of them started attending our services, especially after special French-speaking services were arranged first monthly and later twice a month as our effort to equip the French-speaking believers for loving outreach to the Muslim French-speakers from our continent. The need for refugees to get employment was the spawn for the English language classes at the church to be revitalised. The simultaneous need for a discipling house 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. ( Only three congregations joined, of which the two other ones stopped after only a few years.) Contacts With Individual Muslim Leaders For years I had the illusion that one should just be able to sit down with Muslim academics to show them how they have been deceived. Having seen how a few academics like Professors Willie Jonker and Johan Heyns had been used by God to bring Afrikaners to repentance, I hoped that Muslim leaders would then lead their people into freedom once they understand the truth of the Gospel. The contact with Dr Achmat Davids was quite cordial, but our conversations never went really deep. I learnt a lot from him about the history of Islam, even though I soon challenged him on some issues. He was a genuine academic, taking my opposition in his stride. On theological topics he was somewhat out of his depth. Through the contact with Maulana Sulaiman Petersen I realised not only how naive my assumption was, but also that our ministry with Muslim converts could actually become quite perilous. When I tried to arrange with Majiet Poblonker, a Muslim background believer, to pay Maulana Petersen a visit with us, his true colours came out. He shouted very angrily at me on the phone that I had the temerity to want to bring an apostate into his house! I was very surprised that a learned Muslim could be so intolerant, not prepared to interact with an ex-Muslim in his home. At one of our first private conversations, I chatted to him casually when I visited him in the City Park Hospital29, I was very much aware that he was terminally ill. Rather casually I cited John 14:6, where Jesus said “I am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father but by me”. The absolute statement clearly shocked him. Knowing that he was a critical heart patient, I feared for a moment that he might pass out. I did not want to be the cause of his death. He nevertheless allowed me to pray with him in the name of Jesus as I did. Soon hereafter I visited him at his home in Newfields. There he gave honour to Allah, who brought him through once again. Not long thereafter at Lebaran(g), the Eid celebration at the end of Ramadan, Rosemarie and I went to wish him for the occasion as we travelled back from a Bible School in Strandfontein. After listening to his argument that there are many ways to get to God, I conceded this as a possibility, but concluded our dialogue more or less in the following way: ‘There may be different roads to God because everybody is unique. There are different avenues, but there is only one entrance because Jesus said: “I am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father but by me.” This was the same Bible verse that had shocked him a few months before this in City Park Hospital. I saw now how the penny dropped with him, but I also discerned his determination. He was evidently convicted, but to concede as an Islamic leader that one had been wrong all of one’s life, would of course never be easy. Even though he was on death’s threshold, he was not prepared to risk ostracism by going through the door of faith in Jesus. Hereafter we never had a good talk again. He was obviously avoiding me, until he finally passed on into eternity. Centre for Missions at BI Remembering my personal experience in 1972 in District Six, when I noted the gap in our seminary curriculum, I approached various Bible Schools to find out what was taught about Islam at these institutions. I discussed with our missionary colleague Manfred Jung of SIM the possibility of teaching Islamics and at different Bible Schools. When Patrick Johnstone visited South Africa once again, he also spoke in the Moravian Chapel in District Six, where a student ministry from the Church of England had started on Sunday evenings. At that occasion Dr Roger Palmer of the YMCA and a board member of the Bible Institute of South Africa (BI) in Kalk Bay aired his vision to have a centre for missions at BI. After Colin Tomlinson, a missionary from MECO (Middle East Christian Outreach), returned from the field on home assignment, the BI venue was secured.30 An interesting partnership developed at the course of January 1999 when local churches started sponsoring believers from other African countries to attend our course. Two F’s - Frustration and Fight The WEC conference of 1996 was memorable in more than one sense. At an international leadership conference in 1994 the various sending bases were challenged to look at the remaining unreached people groups in terms of the gospel in their geographical areas. As I had already given much thought along those lines, e.g. through my document about South Africa as a goldmine for missionary recruitment, I took on the challenge to research the topic before the next conference for Southern Africa. I expected to be given the opportunity to share the result of my research with the rest of the conference in May 1996. Here however, I experienced one frustration after the other until I had to leave by bus again on the Friday, without being given the opportunity to report back. The same conference in early May 1996 had an interesting aside when we heard that Ahmed Deedat, the well-known Muslim apologist, was admitted to hospital. With a missionary colleague from Brazil I went to the hospital where we prayed for Imam Deedat, who was however in a coma. Deedat had gone one step too far though. Local Christian clergymen including the missionary Dave Foster of AEF, requested Deedat to retract the offensive remarks he had made in a large advertisement in a Durban newspaper. They warned the well-known Muslim leader that he would have to reckon with God's wrath in the case of his refusal. True to his reputation, Deedat refused to do anything of the sort. Promptly he was knocked down by a stroke. An instance of divine wrath would have been a logical conclusion. But even after his partial recovery he gave no indication of repentance. For many years Deedat remained in a condition that resembled a coma. He never recovered to normality before his death in 2005. Our Ministry a Threat in the Spiritual Realm? That our ministry was posing some threat in the spiritual realms got home to us after we taught at Youth with a Mission in the first quarter of 1996. After having heard me sharing at our first BI course for prospective missionaries, a member of the His People Church, who was linked to Youth with a Mission, asked me to come and teach at their base in Muizenberg. At this time a former shaykh from Egypt had just come to them to do a Discipleship Training School (DTS) there. He had to flee his home country after he decided to follow Jesus. Also in Johannesburg there had been attempts to assassinate him. The base leadership requested us to host him for the practical part of his DTS. The presence of the Egyptian in our home turned out to be a fruitful two-way experience; I learnt such a lot from him, for example when he referred to the Ebionites. My own discovery that Muhammad, the founder of the religion, had been intensely influenced by the Jews, led to studies in Judaism and subsequently to my personal discovery of the Ebionite Judeo-Christian roots of Islam. I went on to examine other Christian roots of that religion.31 I detected very soon that Christianity had a much greater debt to pay in respect of Islam than I was aware. I learned that Muhammad had been misled by a sectarian view of Biblical belief. I discerned that this is only one of many causes of what I dubbed ‘the unpaid debt of the church’. I wrote a treatise with that title. How sad I was when I discovered how Islam adopted one doctrine after the other from heretical Christianity; yes, that even reputable theologians and church fathers like Augustine played a role in this development. And then there was the role of the emperor Constantine, he drove a rift between the Jews and Christians when he gave special favours to the latter group. I was also reminded how paganism was made fashionable via the worship of the sun god, making Sunday a compulsory day of rest in 321 CE. This would to keep me uneasy for many years. When I shared this with Christians, there was surprise, but also opposition and denial. Like the harsh realities around the practices of apartheid in the not too distant past, it was apparently very difficult for followers of Christ to swallow these hard truths. Over the years many believers took note more readily. In the age of the internet it was even taken on board more or less. To this day there has been little evidence of remorse though. The Egyptian on the Run Again The Egyptian’s presence was not without hick-ups, however. He joined me on a preaching engagement at the Moravian Church in Elsies River on the last Sunday of July 1996 where our friend Chris Wessels was the pastor.32 We offered copies of Against the Tide in the Middle East, the Egyptian's testimony and Search for Truth for sale. That evening he also shared his testimony at a youth service at the same venue, where Christians from other churches of the area attended. I made a crucial error in the morning, omitting to warn the congregation to pray before they would pass any testimony booklet to Muslims. Three days later, on Wednesday 31 July, it was clear that the Egyptian’s life was in danger yet again. Heinrich Grafen, a missionary colleague, phoned me to warn me that Maulana Petersen was looking for the Egyptian. A few minutes later Maulana Petersen phoned me as well, enquiring after the whereabouts of the apostate from Egypt who wrote a booklet with very offensive material. It was indeed not so wise of the Egyptian to include a comparison of Muhammad and Jesus in the testimony booklet. He had intimated in the booklet that Muhammad was inspired by the devil. We had another Salman Rushdie33 case on our hands; in fact, we had him in our home! The Need of a Hide-Out The ‘co-incidence’ of a combined meeting of the home ministry groups at our church the same evening gave us the opportunity to share the need of a hide-out for him. That turned out to become a decisive stepping-stone for Debbie Zaayman. She offered her flat because she was due to go away for a few weeks. Another few weeks later she was a participant at our Love Your Muslim Neighbour course in Kenilworth. Although already almost at retirement age, the 57-year old nurse subsequently decided to venture into missions, entering the Africa School of Missions the following year. And soon thereafter she was on her way to the mission field, to the Indian subcontinent as a ‘tent-maker', by using her nursing skills in a loving way to the down and outs there. Her departure became simultaneously the opportunity for us to upgrade our ‘fleet’, taking over her 1989 Mazda for a song. That car would give us years of faithful service until it was stolen in 2001. A Lebanon Scenario The killing of Rashaad Staggie by PAGAD (People Against Gangsterism and Drugs) a few days later on 4 August 1996 was the next major stimulus for prayer. It brought personal relief to us, because in the resulting turmoil the fundamentalist Muslims apparently forgot to hunt further for the Egyptian! The PAGAD issue highlighted the fear of and resentment (sometimes even hatred by some Christians) towards Muslims. The veiled threat of a Muslim State was now mentioned more often than was healthy for good relations between the adherents of the two major religions at the Cape. On Saturday 17 August 1996, surmised Satanists broke into the Uniting Reformed Church in Lansdowne, attempting to arsonize the building. The arson attempt on the church was thankfully downplayed in the press. Satanists were accused of the attempt. Thankfully the damage was not too extensive. When Pastor Walter Ackermann phoned me after reading the article in the newspaper, we were seriously challenged because a Muslim Evangelism course one evening per week was due start at that venue soon thereafter on the 27th of August, 1996. We had unwisely called the course ‘Sharing your faith with your Muslim neighbour’ in the pamphlets that we printed to advertise the course. We were not aware that Lansdowne was actually a PAGAD stronghold. With the arson attempt occurring only two weeks after the Salt River execution, the frightful possibility of a Lebanon scenario challenged Christians to get their act together. A wave of prayer followed, after which we decided to put out another ‘fleece’. It was decided to test the famous but ill-fated St James Church that had been attacked in July 1993 as a possible venue for our course, instead of cancelling it outright.34 The name of the 10-week course (one night per week) that eventually did take place at the St James Church in Kenilworth, was changed to ‘Love your Muslim neighbour’. The PAGAD Crisis - a Wonderful Opportunity? The crisis that followed the PAGAD eruption of August 1996 presented the churches with a challenge, a wonderful opportunity to impact the problem areas of the Cape townships. With the danger of a Lebanon scenario very real - everybody was just waiting for the gangsters to hit back with a vengeance - a meeting for church leaders and missionaries was organised at the Scripture Union building in Rondebosch. Here the suggestion was put forward to organise a mass prayer meeting on the Athlone Stadium. I suggested Jesus-centred drug rehabilitation there in Rondebosch as a possible solution. But this should also be a service to the Muslim community. The Bet-el centres, which had proved so successful in Spain, was still our model. Many people, who have recognised the harmful effect of drugs, were finding it so difficult to get rid of the addiction. Yet, many drug addicts around the world have in the meantime experienced the liberating power of a personal faith in Jesus. A certain pastor attacked me indirectly, suggesting that we would be abusing the vulnerability of drug addicts in this way. Somehow the message filtered through to the Muslims who started soon thereafter with a rehabilitation facility at Schaapkraal and in Observatory. After a few years Teen Challenge started their centre at Eerste River. When the crisis in the Mother City subsided, pastors simply continued with the building of their own ‘kingdoms’, shelving the drug problem into some invisible drawer. A Base for New Initiatives? In September 1996 we suddenly received access to St Paul’s Primary School, Bo-Kaap, through a teacher, Berenice Lawrence, to whose home I had taken our Egyptian friend. Berenice’s husband Elroy had been at our home in Holland in 1978, while he was attending Spes Bona High School.35 Now Berenice came with the request to bring people like the Egyptian academic who had fled his home country after his father tried to shoot him - and possibly other foreigners - to their school. I jumped at this idea to broaden the minds of the Bo-Kaap children, to open them up to the Gospel in a loving and non-threatening way. The first one of these people was the Egyptian. I was overwhelmed by the thought that the Lord might want to use use our church to minister to Africans from other parts of the continent On Sunday October 6, 1996, I preached at the Cape Town Baptist Church. Towards the end of the sermon my emotions got the better of me and I could not finish my sermon. I broke down in tears when I was overwhelmed by the thought that the Lord might want to use our fellowship to minister to Africans from other parts of the continent. Seed was sown. (Within a few years there were more people of colour – the bulk of them foreigners - attending the church than 'Whites'.) A few days later, during our lunchtime prayer meeting with City Bowl ministers, Bruce Rudnick - a Messianic Jew - joined us. Bruce was the leader of the Beth Ariel Fellowship of Messianic believers in Sea Point. (I had been attending Beth Ariel meetings on Friday evenings occasionally). In the prayer time with Louis Pasques and Bruce Rudnick, I felt quite strongly that Messianic Jews should play an important role in the leadership of the world missionary movement and ideally, that this should also start happening in Cape Town. A Difficult Month I had to discover anew: If there were to occur a spiritual breakthrough, a revival in the Mother City of South Africa, it would be God’s sovereign work. Our own experiences highlighted the need for more prayer. October 1996 was a month when we were once again very much involved in spiritual warfare, often at the receiving end. I started writing a diary that included the following: “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...” Prayer walking by me and Rosemarie in October 1996 for a simple home church to be planted in Bo-Kaap, the (former) Muslim stronghold, brought us anew to the discovery that demonic forces were at work that are trying to destroy the churches of the city centre. The necessity of church unity was more than evident. It had to become one of our priorities. Somehow we forgot that we had learned that we should not be doing this sort of thing alone as a couple. The risk of spiritual warfare became very evident when one of our children came to us in the middle of the night with all the signs that he had been attacked demonically. He appeared to have become mentally insane. This seemed to Rosemarie the signal for us to stop with our ministry. To her the price was too high to have to sacrifice anyone of our children. Reminding her of the false alternatives I had to face years ago when someone suggested that I should choose between my love for her and that for my country, I pointed out that we had to fight in prayer for our son. This definitely paid off. He came through the crisis with flying colours. Intercessors From Various Areas June Lehmensich, a regular at the Friday prayer meetings and an office worker for the City Council, had participated in the pastoral clinical training course with Dr Dwyer in Lansdowne. She also attended the ‘Love your Muslim neighbour’ course at St James Church (Kenilworth) in 1996. Subsequently she became a pivotal figure as she spread the vision for prayer, taking it right into the Provincial Chambers and the National Parliament. June was simultaneously the personification of faithfulness and perseverance, as well as a link to a prayer group with a long tradition at the Cape Town City Council. I organised the launch of the 30-day Muslim Prayer Focus booklets in the historic St Stephen’s Church of Bo-Kaap for November 1996. Bennie Mostert arranged the annual country-wide distribution, ensuring that the vision of prayer for Muslims once a year was guaranteed. However, the bulk of agencies linked to Christian Concern for Muslims (CCM), did not adopt the vision fully. Intercessors were coming together from different places once a month at the Sowers of the Word Church in Lansdowne, where the veteran Pastor Andy Lamb was the leader. Sally Kirkwood, a Cape intercessor of note, had already been prepared by the Lord. She had started a prayer meeting at their home in Plumstead for Cape Muslims in the mid-1990s with Arina Serdyn, an Afrikaner retired teacher. Along with other intercessors she became God’s instrument for increasing prayer awareness in the Mother City. Cynthia Richards from Africa Enterprise, and later a pastor of Camp Bay United Church, was another important cog in this regard. She visited the various ministers fraternals of the Peninsula, organising prayer meetings in preparation for an evangelistic campaign with Franklin Graham, the son of the renowned evangelist Billy Graham (I had given to Cynthia the phone numbers which I used for the Jesus Marches of 1994). The Franklin Graham campaign was scheduled for April 1997. 12. Under Attack The evident demonic attack via one of our children in October 1996 was not an isolated experience. Other attacks were not so fierce, but nevertheless very real. However, every time we experienced how the Lord would bring us through, more than once quite supernaturally. We were blessed that I could remind Rosemarie how I thought that I had to choose between South Africa and her in 1970. We would not allow the enemy to make us choose between the ministry and our children. We are so thankful for intercessors in different parts of the world who were praying for us at that time. We would otherwise hardly have been able to survive all the onslaughts mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Ramadan Attacks In previous years we had experienced major spiritual attacks during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. In 1994 I twice had the experience that our car had to be towed away but no fault to be found. The year thereafter Rosemarie was almost killed in a car accident and during the same period we skidded on the high way and miraculously came out of the incident unscathed. In 1997 we experienced it almost as a satanic taunt when Rosemarie had symptoms of being pregnant just after Ramadan. Just prior to this we were so happy when a friend of Bo-Kaap brought her in touch with a home-craft club in the area. A pregnancy would have meant an abrupt end to her involvement with the new friendships. A subsequent scan did not show any foetus. A month or two later, when she was admitted to hospital for a suspected miscarriage, there was no trace of any pregnancy when the gynaecologist scraped the womb. What was this all about? Crises in the Ministry I had to learn the hard way through this experience once more that we should not give satan too much honour. Soon we discovered that the deceiver was actually attacking our marriage relationship once again. A tension developed as Rosemarie could not accept the validity of my office ministry, including research and writing. Indeed, I was far too much on the phone, organising various teaching courses and working on my computer. This was happening at the expense of person-to-person contact. Communication between us was completely insufficient. The Lord used the crisis to help me regain sight of the priority of actual outreach to the lost and the needy. The trauma was very real when the sale of the CEBI Bible School to a Muslim buyer came up during a prayer conference with our friend Gerda Leithgöb of Herald Ministries. This had been the venue where we spent our first month in South Africa in 1992. A Significant Evangelistic Campaign Pastor Walter Ackerman from the Docks Mission Church in Lentegeur was one of few pastors I knew at this time who had a very broad vision for both missions and prayer. I could call on him on short notice for assistance, for example when a friend from Holland wanted to be baptised in the middle of winter (It was Pastor Walter Ackerman who phoned me, after he had been reading in the Week End Argus of the arson attempt of a church in Lansdowne in August 1996). It was really significant for the Cape Town metropolis in April 1997 when churches across the Cape Peninsula and from almost every denomination joined hands for a big campaign at the Newlands Cricket Stadium with Franklin Graham. Pastor Walter Ackerman from the Docks Mission Church in Lentegeur and Pastor Elijah Klaassen from a Pentecostal fellowship in Gugulethu/ Crossroads, worked tirelessly to enlist people from the Cape Flats and 'Black' churches respectively for this event. Transport from the townships was provided free of charge. This thus became the model for the Transformation stadium events of the new millennium. I had met Elijah Klaassen the first time in 1981 when I was part of a church delegation in Crossroads when the government wanted to send women and children back to the Transkei. I met him by chance again in 1992 when he was addressing a group on the Grand Parade, an effort to challenge banks to give loans to 'Black' entrepeneurs. My attempt to use him to rope 'Black' pastors into a prayer network for the Peninsula was however not successful. Eben Swart became the Western Cape coordinator for Herald Ministries, working closely with NUPSA (Network of United Prayer in Southern Africa), which had appointed the Nigerian Pastor Willy Oyegun as their coordinator in the Western Cape. Important work was done in research and spiritual mapping, along with Amanda Buys, who founded Kanaan Ministries. Some of her clients had been involved with Satanism. Ernst van der Walt (jr) had ministered in China with OM on short term and Amanda Buys had been involved with the counseling of Christians with psychiatric problems. Regret Expressed for Christian Folly? Christians overseas started organising a Reconciliation Walk in 1996, following the path and commemorating the Crusades 1000 year ago repentantly. 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 Western Cape Forum CCM 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 could write our own confession. Had my colleagues forgotten how the Rustenburg confession ushered in our democracy? At our Resurrection weekend CCM Conference of 1997 at Wellington I had to remind the missionary leader colleagues about the confession. They were clearly not keen to engage, 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 too easily. To me the matter was much too important. Whether that was wise, is another matter. Confession without remorse is possibly not worth much, if anything at all. I nevertheless took the challenge upon me. Hopes and Dreams Dashed During the year 1997 I had to see many of my hopes and dreams being dashed. All our efforts to see the strategic old CEBI Bible School saved for Christianity, failed. It had been my dream to see this building used for the initial language teaching of future missionaries. When the relocation of our national WEC HQ was discussed, this building had become another dream. I had to take the latest disappointment in my stride. One Knock After the Other The general disappointment at the basic disunity among our missionary colleagues was only one of a series of knocks in quick succession. Just prior to the Resurrection weekend conference in Wellington we had to bury my father on the Elim mission station and shortly thereafter Rosemarie had to fly to Germany for the funeral of her mother. I was encouraged when I visited my dear friend Jakes - breaking away for a few minutes from the CCM conference in Wellington. He shared his resolve to go on early retirement soon. Thereafter he wanted to get more involved with Muslim outreach. That made me quite happy, but it was not to be. A Special Prayer Seminar Still in April 1997 the news of the proposed sale of the Bible School to Muslims at this time coincided with a prayer seminar at the former Cape Evangelical Bible Institute! How wonderful was this prayer seminar with Gerda Leithgöb! What a sense of unity we experienced in spite of the gloom hanging over the seminar. (The late Pastor Danny Pearson led the believers of the fellowship that did many a prayer walk in the area from there.) Gerda Leithgöb approached me to become the Western Cape co-ordinator of Herald Ministries, but I had no peace to accept. I definitely saw the need for strategic prayer, but nowhere did I sense a call for leading intercession events. Eben Swart turned out to be a much more capable person for this function. The visit by Cindy Jacobs from the USA brought a significant number of ‘Coloured’ and 'White' intercessors together at the Shekinah Tabernacle in Mitchell's Plain. She confirmed the need for confession with regard to the blight of District Six. When Sally approached me in October 1997 about the matter, I had already started to prepare a visit of intercessors from Heidelberg (Gauteng) that had been referred to me by Bennie Mostert. Intended to focus on Bo-Kaap Bashings One After the Other Just prior to the Resurrection Week-end Christian Concern for Muslims (CCM) conference, we got a phone call from my brother Kenneth that our Dad had been admitted to the hospital in Bredasdorp. Preparations had been made for him and our Mom to be admitted to an retirement home in Grabouw, where my brother Windsor and his family resided. A second phone call notified us that Daddy had taken a turn for the worse and that his passing away was anticipated. Rosemarie and I drove straight to Bredasdorp. When we arrived there, Daddy had already passed on. A few days later we buried him on the Elim Mission Station. We were still recovering from this shock when Rosemarie had some premonition as she was doing a chore in the kitchen that her mother was passing away. She was not surprised when her sister phoned hours later that this was indeed the case. Rosemarie flew to Germany for the funeral of her mother. More Knocks, But Not Knocked Out While Rosemarie was in Germany, I spoke telephonically to Nadia36, a Muslim background believer who had just prior to this become a believer. Nadia manipulated matters cleverly, so that I arranged with Rosemarie telephonically that we would take her into our home after Rosemarie’s return from Germany. Louis and Heidi Pasques, our pastor and his wife, agreed to accommodate Nadia until Rosemarie would be back. This we did quite sacrificially. At the same time this highlighted the need for a discipling house. A little more than a month later he contracted a stroke. When I prayed with his wife Ann in hospital, he was in a coma, with little hope given that he would survive. The next day our dear Jakes was with the Lord. When Rosemarie and I arrived at the church for his funeral, there was not a single seat available. I did not mind at all to sit on the wooden step just next to the coffin, which contained my late friend. I narrowly missed hitting a drunken man on the highway on our return journey from Wellington The man suddenly crossed the highway while I was driving at approximately 120 kph. Completely exhausted physically and emotionally, we arrived home. By this time our nerves were really stretched! Back in Vredehoek on the same evening of Jake’s funeral, Nadia manipulated in such a way that Rosemarie still agreed to drive her to friends in Silvertown, 15 Kilometres away. Joyce Scott, our missionary colleague from England, who was with us at the time, accompanied her to Silvertown. When they arrived home from there, Rosemarie collapsed. She had symptoms of having contracted a serious stroke (Temporarily she could not see anything and her hearing was also impeded! We feared that she had become blind.). (Photo: Rosemarie with Joyce Scott, our missionary colleague from England) Divine Provision Ekkehard Zöllner, a befriended doctor, referred us to a Christian specialist who diagnosed immediately that Rosemarie had a stress-related nervous breakdown. I was very near to burnout myself, completely exhausted - battered and bruised by the circumstances of the weeks prior to my best friend’s funeral. The specialist, to whom we were referred, ordered us at least two weeks’ rest. It was so good that Joyce Scott, our missionary colleague from England, a nurse, was on the spot. She spoilt our children to the hilt as we left for Betty’s Bay, to the holiday home of the Edwards family from our church for a few days. Soon thereafter, Maria van Maarseveen, a member of our home church in Holland, came to do some practical work with us from her Bible school, the Africa School of Missions in White River. With Nadia in the very late state of her pregnancy, it was handy to have Maria, a qualified midwife, with us. During this period Maria sensed a call to come and join us after completing her Bible School training. Like-Minded Partners In his divine wisdom the Lord had already started to raise like-minded partners. I attended the monthly pastors and wives prayer meeting on the second Thursday of January 1998 after an absence of many months. Pastor Eddie Edson asked me to address the group off the cuff about the latest issues in Muslim outreach. As a result, an ‘unknown’ visiting brother gave me his address card with a scribbled note as we lined up for tea at the end of the meeting. The content of the note had me looking up: ‘You don’t recognise me, but you were my Sunday School teacher!’ The circle was complete. Ernest, the writer of the note, hailed from the Sonnenburg (also spelt as Sanneberg) family in Ravensmead. The Lord had used his parents to thrust me into missions when I was still an arrogant rebellious teenage Christian. When Rosemarie and I visited Ernest and Eleanor, his wife, we sensed an immediate bond. Exactly those ideas that had been on my mind for years - and that I had struggled to put over to pastors - were aired by them. It turned out that Ernest also had training as a journalist. He had been writing a regular newsletter to about 100 pastors. Soon Rosemarie was ministering together with Eleanor in a factory every Thursday at lunchtime. Unfortunately, this ministry soon petered out. The factory ministry would be resurrected in a different but more satisfactory form in 2003. June Lehmensich has been one of the regulars at our prayer meetings. She brought various believers belong from the Cape Metropolitan Council that went through a complete re-organization in 1997. Reggie Clarke became one of the new regulars. Through him our contact to the Lighthouse Christian Centre of Parow received more substance. This was one of the churches with which I had contact when I co-ordinated the Jesus Marches in 1994. Unfortunately the early promise of this contact faded, but it was revived soon through the involvement of Eben Swart, who belonged to the congregation and Billy Marais, a pastor. (The latter had been a Baptist minister in Three Anchor Bay before the fellowship there merged with the Sea Point Assemblies of God. He was a pastor of the Lighthouse Christian Centre only for a few months, but just long enough to be a catalyst for the fellowship to open up for City-wide prayer events.) I was happy to help facilitate the link to Eddy Edson, who had been the driving force of the meetings of ‘Coloured’ ministers. The Hospital Ministry The hospital ministry, led by Rosemarie and June Lehmensich, had interesting ramifications. At the Groote Schuur Hospital37 she and June especially started visiting the cancer ward. A very special case occurred when we heard about a patient, Ayesha Hunter, who had undergone surgery. Rosemarie understood that she had more or less been sent home to die. This sort of situation was of course happening quite regularly from time to time in the cancer ward. What a surprise it was when Reggie Clarke, a church member of the Lighthouse Christian Centre, mentioned at one of our Friday prayer meetings that Ayesha Hunter would share her testimony at one of their church home cell meetings. It turned out that the Lord had touched her body, healing her. She was now ministering to patients on behalf of the Cancer Association. Soon a contact was established. At that time we went to Grabouw more or less every second week, after our mother had been admitted to Huis Silwerjare, a home for the aged. In the hospital Rosemarie met an old Muslim lady from Belhar who seemed to be quite open to the gospel. As Belhar would not be too much of a detour en route to Grabouw, we popped in after the old terminally ill patient had been sent home basically to die. When we visited her, she spoke very lovingly about her grandchild who evidently had made her quite jealous to experience the wonderful love of Jesus. The old Muslim lady understood that die liefde van Jesus is wonderbaar (the love of Jesus is wonderful). Her heart was wonderfully prepared, so that Rosemarie could lead the old sick (grand)mother to the Lord. When we went to visit her again a few weeks later en route to Grabouw, we found a devastated couple that was not only in bereavement about their mother – they had been expecting that - but also because of the death of their 17-year old daughter. A man who was ‘playing with a pistol’ killed the young girl so-called accidentally. The parental couple went on to rave how other children loved their daughter at Kensington High School but they stopped short of accusing anybody. When they mentioned that the perpetrator had links to PAGAD, we suspected that it was no accident after all. Radio Opportunities Rosemarie and I would have loved to attend the Global Consultation of World Evangelisation (GCOWE) in Pretoria in July 1997, if only it were to utilise the opportunity to visit our son Danny. He was doing a year of orientation with Trans World Radio before the start of his tertiary studies in Electrical Engineering. But the ‘door’ never opened to enable us to go to Pretoria. After the experiences of March to May of that year, we understood why. However, the Lord did His thing in a sovereign way. Shortly after the GCOWE conference, we got a phone call from the Cape Community FM (CCFM) radio station. Avril Thomas, the directress, had been challenged at the conference to look at ways and means to spread the Gospel via the radio responsibly, also to other religious groups. At that stage CCFM had been passing telephonic contacts from Islamic background to us. With a fairly full work load already, I did not see my way clear to commit myself to a regular radio slot. However, Rosemarie challenged me. How could we let such an opportunity slip to enter many Muslim homes? After serious consideration, I envisaged adapting my series of the lessons of Jesus on cross-cultural communication. I had been using this series on the revolutionary conversation of Jesus with the Samaritan woman in John 4 as devotionals at various Muslim evangelism training courses. However, after more thought and prayer, Rosemarie and I thought that the series was not suitable for radio evangelistic impact. Instead, I used a series around common personalities of the Abrahamic religions, material which I had been using at the meetings with male Muslim background believers in Hanover Park. The result was ten talks about personalities such as Moses and Abraham, after more private study of the Qur’an and the Talmud. The proximity of not only two Western Cape theological faculties, but also a Jewish and a Muslim library, apart from the Cape Town Campus of the South African Library38 made matters so much easier for me in terms of research opportunities. The consistent denial of the Cross in the sacred book of the Muslims was more than compelling. It was just too subtle to be man-made. Knowing some of the history of the compilation of the Qur’an available at that time, the question was how I could share this theoretically devastating information in a loving way to a possible Muslim audience. The fact that I would also be addressing Christians and Muslims via the radio simultaneously was quite daunting. During one of our prayer walks in Bo-Kaap it became clear to me that I should not expose myself on the air in view of the possibility of PAGAD reprisals. Someone else should read the script. CCFM agreed to the suggestion. A Regular Radio Programme The contact to CCFM turned out to be quite strategic. After the initial radio series we felt that we should switch to a regular programme. We were praying about the format when we heard that Salama Temmers had resigned her full-time post at Standard Bank. Along with Ayesha Hunter, we would have two possible presenters from Muslim background for our envisaged programme. When we spoke to Avril Thomas about our plans, we heard that Gill Knaggs had volunteered to assist, just prior to our meeting with her. (Gill had been our contact in Muizenberg for a few years, but we did not know of her experience in secular radio work). PAGAD was still breathing down our necks, soon also in the radio work. From the outset I felt compelled to mention to Avril the possibility of the bombing or arsonising of the radio station. But she was brave enough to take the risk. The greater risk would fall on Salama and Ayesha, two converts from Islam. But they were brave, ready to lose their lives for the cause of the Gospel. On Wednesday, 7 January 1998 we took the decision to forge ahead. We would trust the Lord, come what may. The same evening we were encouraged to read a newspaper report that the Muslim radio station had employed a convert from Christianity who had married a Pakistani cricketer. The precedent created space for us to follow suit with less fear of PAGAD reprisals if the Muslim radio station could use converts coming from Christianity. Soon the format of the slot on the radio evolved - it would be a 15 minute women’s programme on a Thursday morning during one of the Life Issues slots, with Gill writing the scripts and the presentation done by Salama and Ayesha alternately. Phone calls to the station gave witness that many homes, factories and even shops were impacted by the programmes. They ran until CCFM restructured their programmes in 2004. In that year the radio station was given permission to broadcast for 24 hours per day. Time for Confession? I thought for a long time that it was high time that we as Christians should begin paying off the debt with regard to Islam and Judaism. Remorseful confession would be the right way to start, I thought, followed by concrete steps of restitution. (Through my studies and research I discerned that the establishment and spread of Islam in South Africa was part of the unpaid debt of the Church.) But how could we convey the need for confession to the Church at large? I knew that we had (and still have) to be patient. Remorse is not something, which we can bring about through our efforts. Only God can do that. I hoped to disseminate the results of my studies so that clergy and missionaries could discover the need for confession. But ‘doors’ would just not open. Or was I not persevering enough? Or was the timing not correct? Normally I would not have regarded the attendance of the CCM leadership conference in Johannesburg as a high priority. To go to big expense to attend a conference of which the purpose and sense was not so clear to me, seemed to me a luxury. The optimal use of my time was also part and parcel of stewardship to me. A major draw-card for the visit to Gauteng was the possibility of seeing our son Danny, who was with Trans World Radio (TWR) in Pretoria for a missionary year. The ‘final straw’ to go to Gauteng was the contact to the Dutch Reformed Suikerbosrand congregation in Heidelberg (Gauteng). They wanted to come and undertake a prayer journey to the Mother City, to come and pray for the Cape Muslims. I thus decided to attend the conference on the Reef and visit Heidelberg thereafter. A Case of Overkill? At the CCM conference itself it was possibly a case of overkill when I suggested in my draft confession - which I had sent quite late to the conference participants - that it should also be read in mosques. Because Ramadan and the start of 1998 coincided, it appeared to me a good opportunity to present the confession. The timing of my suggestion was unwise, because we got sidetracked. Thus it was actually not so surprising that the discussion of the confession itself was postponed to the next CCM conference at Resurrection week-end of 1998. The overall reaction to my suggestions did not augur well for the future. I had the silent fear that not many colleagues were behind the idea. One of them was honest enough to state publicly that he was against my suggestion. Another one assured me privately afterwards that he wanted to work with me on the re-drafting of the confession. My personal further participation in CCM (Christian Concern for Muslims) got a serious blow when I could not discern a clear commitment to prayer with my colleagues. I was however ashamed that the participants almost cold-shouldered Bennie Mostert, after he had come especially from Pretoria with the new copies of the 30 day Muslim Prayer Focus. The interest in taking booklets was minimal. I really could not understand how the colleagues expected a breakthrough in the ministry to Muslims without an increased prayer effort! The Unpaid Debt of the Church? After hearing certain things said at that CCM leadership consultation, I thought that I should try to disseminate the results of my studies as a matter of urgency. The title of the initial research was The unpaid debt of the Church. However, the publication was not confirmed, disappearing to the pile of unpublished documents. Yet, the conference also had positives. The main speaker, Dr Wasserman, came from the Carmel Mission in Southern Germany. He confirmed my suspicion of demonic involvement in the compilation of the Qur’an and I received important catalysts for further research. With regard to confirmations of my own independent study - the result of meticulous computer analysis with regard to the names of God, was just astonishing. I was for example not aware that the Arabic equivalent of Yahweh did not feature in the Qur’an at all. Instead of gaining support for the idea of confession to be done by churches throughout the country at the beginning of 1998, I was shattered. I sensed that even if I had succeeded in gaining support, it would not have been from the heart. Very few colleagues had remorse with regard to the guilt of Christians and Christianity. Basically only God could do that. I would have to find a way to disseminate my research in a way that the Holy Spirit could use to that effect. What an awesome task! For some of the participants, the Muslims had a bigger guilt and that was for them the end of the story. In AWB Territory I would have left Gauteng a very frustrated and despondent person if I had to come back to the Cape straight from the CCM Partners' Consultation. Instead, I returned from there overjoyed. The big difference was the visit to Heidelberg in Gauteng, where I met the group of believers that was about to leave for the Cape the very next day. At the occasion of the sending out of prayer teams to different spiritual strongholds in 1997, a team from the DRC Suikerbosrand congregation from Heidelberg (Gauteng) followed the nudge of Bennie Mostert to come and pray in Bo-Kaap. In the spiritual realm this was significant because Heidelberg was the cradle of the racist Afrikaanse Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) when the town belonged to the Transvaal province of the old South Africa. While I was still in Heidelberg, I heard telephonically that Fatima, a Muslim background believer, was about to lose the house that she had inherited as the only daughter. Just prior to this, she resigned her work at the factory to care for her mother. (We had been discipling her during lunch times.) Her family was pressurizing her to return to Islam if she wanted to keep the house. A Muslim lawyer would see to it that she gets the house under this condition. We were blessed and over-awed as we witness how she was determined not to recant, even if that would mean losing her house. The believers in Heidelberg joined in prayer for this emergency. Dropping Our Low Profile? Up to this point in time, our involvement with Muslims and the converts coming from Islam was very low-key. We thought that the moment had arrived to go public with the unjust way in which Fatima was treated. But this could have entailed losing the low profile that has been so beneficial for our ministry. The Lord intervened. It turned out that her mother did not sign the last will and testament, which stated that Fatima was disinherited because she had left their religion. The document was declared null and void. Being the only heir, the house was now awarded to her. Traumatic experiences around Nadia and another Muslim background believer that we had taken into our home amplified the urgent need of a discipling house, where people like these could be assisted more effectively. Also with Fatima it was touch and go or she could have become homeless and destitute with her two sons. A Scintillating Week of Spiritual Warfare A few weeks before I left for the Reef, I had to prepare the visit of the group from Heidelberg. Sally Kirkwood phoned me at this time because she was burdened with the barrier of guilt over the City with regard to District Six. Intercessors had discerned that Cape Town was like a sleeping giant that was tied by its shoulders. I took her to Bo-Kaap where we prayed. There the Lord reminded her of a prophetic word that was originally given for Jerusalem, but which she sensed that she had to apply to the Mother City of South Africa. The afflicted city would be spiritually rebuilt with beautiful gem stones. The dramatic weekend on the Reef was followed up by a scintillating week of spiritual warfare, including an unforgettable day of repentance and reconciliation in District Six. As part of this visit from Gauteng, a prayer meeting of confession was organized for November 1, 1997 on a gravel patch near to the former Moravian Church39 in District Six. Sally Kirkwood, who had a prayer group for the Cape Muslims at her home in Plumstead in the mid-1990s, played a pivotal role in this prayer event. Our contact with Gill Knaggs increased at this time. She brought along Dave and Trish Whitecross (Dave Whitecross had been helping Mark Gabriel with the editing of manuscripts). Through this event the citywide prayer movement got a major push because I had asked Eben Swart to lead the occasion in District Six. That turned out to be very strategic. Hereafter Sally came to the fore more prominently among Cape intercessors. Richard Mitchell, Eben Swart and Mike Winfield linked up more closely at this occasion in a relationship that would have a significant mutual impact on the prayer ministry at the Cape in the next few years. Eben Swart’s position as Western Cape Prayer coordinator was cemented when he thereafter got linked to the pastors and wives prayer meeting led by Eddie Edson. Mike Winfield belonged to the congregation in Bergvliet, that got Trevor Pearce as their new pastor. (The Anglican Church in Bergvliet later took a leading role in the attempts of transformation of the Mother City.) Richard Mitchell left for England at the end of 1999. The ceremony on November 1, 1997 saw tears of remorse flowing freely. English-speaking South Africans, Afrikaners and foreigners repented of their respective roles in exploiting the apartheid situation. The seed of tears shed at that occasion would germinate in due course in the form of a big prayer event on Newlands Rugby Stadium on 21 March 2001 and bringing fruit when the Annual Global Day of Prayer was ushered in from Cape Town, starting in 2005. Addressing Gangsterism Again When the PAGAD crisis of 1996 in the Mother City subsided, pastors continued with the building of their own ‘kingdoms’. Because the gang war had erupted once again in November 1997, TEASA (The Evangelical Alliance of South Africa) called a meeting at the Baker House in Athlone. At this occasion I addressed the group, challenging them from Scripture how Jesus used outcasts like prostitutes; that David was at some stage little more than a gang leader. The PAGAD issue had highlighted the need for a drug rehabilitation centre. Anew we started to pray such a centre into being. What a blessing it thus was when we got in touch with the work of Pastor Ian Murray and his team on a farm in Philadelphia. A few members of that ministry team had been drug addicts themselves. The prospect of Eddie Hofmeyer40 becoming the new pastor of the City Mission fellowship in Salt River brought a note of excitement. Our dreams were however dealt a serious blow soon thereafter. We had to witness how Nadia turned away from Christ. We had discipled her for many months and we also heard that her drug-addicted nephew was not allowed to go to the farm in Philadelphia, a rural village near Durbanville, where Ian Murray was ministering with his team. The reason given by the Muslim family was shattering to me - they would not allow him to go there because it was a Christian institution. This dampened my eagerness to get a rehab centre off the ground. We were not prepared to hide the fact that our intended rehab centre should be Jesus-centred, but I also hoped that we could serve the Muslim community in this way. Another Friday Prayer Initiative Our Friday prayer meeting became the start of yet another initiative when Onne Mellema, a regular participant, casually threw in a matter. He shared with us that Vision S.A. - the ongoing consultation in the wake of the Franklin Graham campaign - was planning a weekend in Lansdowne in March. The Lord had laid on my heart since the beginning of that year to pray for Dean Ramjoomia, who had been inactive for a few years in terms of outreach and service among gangsters. We really longed to see him being used among the gangsters again. He was living in Lansdowne in a spiritually back-slidden state with his family. God used the ensuing visit by me and Onne to rekindle in Dean's heart the desire to return to the Lord. Towards the end of 1998 he was already making restitution for some of the things he had been committing during his period of back-sliding. In the beginning of 1999 he started attending a Bible School. At this time the PAGAD scourge was threatening to cause major disruption in the city. The need for a response in the form of a Rehabilitation centre had become pressing. It was only natural that we challenged our brother and his wife to pray about a leadership role in the envisaged Bet-el related Christian rehab centre that we hoped to start at the Cape. Rays of Light A ray of light broke through in 1998 as more city pastors joined our weekly prayer that we were now having in the German Lutheran Church. Louis Pasques had caught the vision for united prayer to get a breakthrough in the City Bowl after attending a conference with the Argentinian Ed Silvoso in 1996. Over a period of 40 days after the Resurrection weekend of 1998, Christians from different backgrounds throughout the country were joining in a fast. A week of prayer meetings with speakers from different churches was organised. But also here the initial promise was not realised. Yet, a core of pastors kept coming every Thursday for many years hereafter. Through my reading I initially perceived the role of the missionary Dr Philip in the emancipation of slaves as extremely significant. I meant to discover that an important stimulus for the formal abolition of slavery worldwide had been given at the Cape. Dr Philip, who had been a missionary at the Cape, through his book Researches in South Africa and his personal friendship to William Wilberforce, influenced matters worldwide. It is of course common knowledge that the British evangelical parliamentarian became the main driving force towards the outlawing of slavery. The appointment of Thomas Pringle as secretary to Britain’s Anti-Slavery Society in 1826 after a stint at the Cape, where he had been a staunch fighter for press freedom, has hardly been recognised in the emancipation of slaves. Later I discovered in my research that Dr Philip was not much more than an important catalyst. Nevertheless, my understanding of his role inspired me to see history repeat itself. I sensed a challenge to avail myself to spread the information to my fellow Capetonians. Could we be the avant garde yet again, this time to emancipate the world of Islamic demonic religious enslavement, to usher in the return of the King of Kings? Private Arabic Lessons Both Maulana Abrahams and Achmat Davids died in 1998; the latter only a day after I still had an interview with him at the studio of Radio Voice of the Cape. After all our experiences, I knew that only prayer could make the difference. I still hoped to get into dialogue with young Muslim academics, who might be more open to listen to the credentials of the Gospel. I started learning Arabic in 1999 - through private lessons by a student from Tunisia. In this way I hoped to get the necessary foundation to start as a student at the University of the Western Cape the following year. Unfortunately my full schedule did not allow me to persevere with the lessons. I saw these lessons however also as a way of building trust with the North African student with whose wife Rosemarie had close contact. Demonic Conspiracies For years I had been aware that the various expressions of apartheid were diabolic. In my studies I became aware of satan’s success at keeping the spiritual descendants of Abraham apart. It is a tragedy of history that the really great men were loners who seemed to have insufficient vision for the spiritual dynamics of separation as a tool of the enemy. Paul, the unique apostle, and Martin Luther, the special reformer, both belong to that category. It is sad that all these men were obviously headstrong, but basically misunderstood.41 I asked myself how Paul, who was prepared to give his life for his people (see Romans 9-11) could be perceived by the Jews as someone who had cut himself off from them? To me, there was only one explanation: it was a demonic conspiracy! How different things could have been if Muhammad, a big statesman, had been explained the Gospel clearly and committed himself in faith to Jesus - not to downplay the Master to be merely a prophet, not the Son of God. It was so sad to discover that Muhammad and Islam actually had precedents for their doctrines in heretical Christianity. 13. The Strong Wings At Work The new workers who settled in nicely into our WEC evangelistic team brought valuable additions to our ministry. Our Indonesian colleagues Nim and Nur Rajagukguk met influential people from Bo-Kaap at their Consulate. They also brought us in touch with a Chinese medical doctor, a convert from Islam, with whom Nur had come into contact in Hong Kong when she was working there as a missionary. Quite a close relationship developed to Richard Mitchell and his family after I had joined them for prayer at Rhodes Memorial. Together we resumed early morning prayer meetings on Signal Hill. When the opening came for a regular testimony programme on Friday evening on Radio CCFM, Richard Mitchell was a natural choice. The programme ‘God Changes Lives’, with him as presenter, was naturally also used to advertise citywide prayer events. Citywide Prayer Events Such an event on the Grand Parade in 1998 almost floundered after a bomb threat. Churches across the Peninsula had initially been requested to cancel their evening services on Sunday, 19 April 1998. In sheer zeal, a Christian had thousands of pamphlets printed and distributed, without proper consultation with the organizing committee in respect of the content of the pamphlet. The flyer and poster that invited believers to a mass prayer meeting against drug abuse, homosexuality and other vice, unfortunately also referred to Islam in a context that was not respectful enough for some of the PAGAD (People against Gangsterism and Drugs) radicals. A PAGAD member apparently regarded this as an invitation to disrupt the event. The meeting was subsequently announced by radio as cancelled. A few courageous believers including Pastor Danny Pearson, who had been deeply involved with the organization of the event, felt that they should not give in to the intimidation. If need be, Christians should be willing to die for the cause of the Gospel. The meeting on the Grand Parade went ahead, albeit on a much smaller scale than originally planned. The prayer event included confession for the sins of omission to the Cape Muslims and to the Jews, a slot which I led at that occasion. The unofficial renaming of ‘Devil’s Peak’ to ‘Disciples' Peak’ - led by Pastor Johan Klopper of the Vredehoek Apostolic Faith Mission Church - and regular prayers at Rhodes Memorial, was part and parcel of spiritual warfare. These venues had been strongholds of satanists. A mass march to Parliament on 2 September 1998 in response to the perceived attack on community radio stations was followed by a big prayer event on Table Mountain a few weeks later. A prayer day, this time as an effort to rename the reviled peak ‘God’s Mountain’, was called for 26 September 1998. A few thousand Christians prayed over the city from Table Mountain. This event inspired a new initiative. A few believers from diverse backgrounds would hereafter come together again for prayer on Signal Hill on Saturdays every fortnight at 6 a.m. Soon thereafter, early Saturday morning prayer meetings also commenced at Tygerberg, Paarl Rock and on the Constantia Heights. Christians from different churches thus demonstrated the unity of the body. The Signal Hill prayer in the first Saturday every month continued for many years, ultimately in the Isaiah prayer room in Vredehoek. Prayer Efforts in the Cape Town City Bowl A forty-day period from Resurrection Sunday to Ascension Day 1998 included days of prayer and fasting by a few churches in the City Bowl. Rev. Louis Pasques of the Cape Town Baptist Church, who also displayed a vision to reach out to the Cape Muslims with love, spearheaded this endeavour. After trying hard since September 1995 to get a ministers’ prayer group going in the City Bowl, this weekly meeting with a prayer emphasis gained ground slowly after the 40 day prayer effort from April to May 1998. A corresponding move in 1999 - this time with a prayer period of 120 days - was concluded in the Western Cape in the traditional service of the Groote Kerk on Ascension Day, 1999. At this with participation of ministers of different denominations event Dr Robbie Cairncross was divinely brought into the equation. He had been prepared by the Holy Spirit, coming to the Mother City with a vision to see a network of prayer developing in the Peninsula. After hearing me speak at the Groote Kerk that day, an appointment was set up. I was able to introduce him to the leaders of the Cape Peace Initiative, which had been formed in the wake of the PAGAD (People against Gangsterism and Drugs) disruptions in 1999 (see below). His prayer for an office for his Christian Coalition/Family Alliance near to Parliament was answered in a special way, and he could move into the premises of the Chamber of Commerce at 4 Church Square, a stone’s throw from the Houses of Parliament. Dr Robbie Cairncross’ plan became quite strategic when Achmed Kariem, a convert from Islam with a vision for distributing prayer information, came onto his staff. Unfortunately the plan faltered somewhat when Robbie Cairncross had to leave the Chamber of Commerce because of financial constraints. I was able to introduce Eric Hofmeyer as successor of Achmed Kariem to assist Robbie Cairncross. Anarchic Conditions In the beginning of 1999 PAGAD was still terrorising the Cape Peninsula, part of a sinister plan to Islamise South Africa. They attempted the violent overthrow of the government in the Western Cape where the bulk of the Muslims in the country are living.42 Gangsters and other criminals gladly jumped on board with high-jackings, rape and all sorts of crime to make the Western Cape ungovernable. Some of them enjoyed the anarchic conditions created. They started taking protection money not only from shop keepers, but even dared to request this in individual cases from churches. It was touch and go or we as a family were also bereaved at this time. I was having a week-end retreat in the little village of Mc Gregor with our friends Elma and Freddy van Dyk when Rosemarie reported a traumatic experience telephonically. In the era before we had the use of cell-phones at our disposal, she was taking our daughter Magdalena to one of her friends in Sea Point. After using a telephone booth to find the exact location of Magdalena’s friend, she returned to our VW Minibus, vehicle for use as township taxis. She was about to drive off, the engine of the vehicle running already when her head was supernaturally turned to the right, just in time to notice a man with one hand going for the vehicle handle next to her. In the other hand he had a pistol. Reacting instantly, she pressed down the locking knob, driving off without looking into the mirror. This caused some pandemonium on the road. The potential high-jacker fled without anybody noticing what the reason was. Not only Rosemarie and Magdalena were thus spared an even more traumatic experience. Former Gang Leaders Shot Achmat Cassiem, the leader of the Hisbollah-Hamas related Qibla, was a frequent spokesman for PAGAD. Rashied Staggie, the Cape drug lord and leader of the Hard Livings Gang, had become quite well known with frequent media appearances. At this time Staggie was shot and hospitalised, with PAGAD almost sure to be behind the assassination attempt. He made the news headlines soon thereafter from his bed in the Louis Leipoldt Clinic in Bellville through his public confession of faith in Jesus as his Lord and Saviour. He recovered miraculously. Shortly hereafter Glen Khan, another Hard Living gang leader and drug lord, committed his life to the Lord at the Shekinah Tabernacle in Mitchell's Plain. He had become a Muslim after his marriage to Lameez, who subsequently became a secret believer. She had been counselled by Ayesha Hunter, one of our co-workers. Glen Khan heard the gospel in this way as well. He was clandestinely funding a feeding distribution scheme to poor kids related to the Hard Living gang for which Ayesha took some responsibility. Sharing the gospel with them, she used the first letters (HL) of the notorious gang, calling the children the Heaven’s Little Kids. We returned from our annual CCM conference in Wellington in high spirits. For the first time WEC International was represented there with a substantial contingent. My efforts, which started already in 1996, to nudge the umbrella organisation to give guidance to the Church at large confessing our sad role in the establishment and spread of Islam, looked promising at last. Thrown Into the Spiritual Battlefield We were however thrown into the spiritual battlefield on another level much sooner than we could anticipate. Our spirits were already dampened the same afternoon when the bag of Maria van Maarseveen, our Dutch colleague, was stolen from our minibus in front of our house while we were drinking coffee and before we would take her to her home nearby. In broad daylight the vehicle was broken into. Only a few hours later, we were shattered when Ayesha phoned, telling us that Glen Khan had been shot and killed. The next morning we left for Mitchell's 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 would have happened within 24 hours! Lameez, the young widow and still a secret follower of Jesus, was very brave to refuse to release the body of her late husband for such a funeral. She knew of course how Glen had just recently made a public commitment, indicating that he also wanted to follow Jesus. She insisted that he should have a funeral from the Shekinah Tabernacle where he made that commitment under the ministry of Pastor Eddie Edson. Lameez requested me to speak on behalf of the family in the church at the funeral, even though I never got to know Glen personally. I did not mind at all when instead ‘Brother Rashied’ was called up to give a tribute just as I was about to speak. This caused quite a stir because the media had evidently been tipped off that Rashied Staggie 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 funeral service that was relayed via the public address system. The funeral audience included a significant number of gangsters. Staggie, who had been avidly reading the Bible in the preceding weeks, challenged his many followers present, quoting from scripture: ‘My kom die wraak toe’ (Vengeance is Mine, Romans 12:9). “We are not going to retaliate!” Coming from someone who had virtually returned from the brink of death because of an assassination attempt, the message could hardly miss the mark. (I did not mind at all that I did not speak. This kept me out of the limelight and PAGAD attention. Ayesha and the family were however disappointed though that I left quietly, not even attending the graveyard ritual. They wanted me to speak there on behalf of the family as a plan B). Aftermath of the Glen Khan Funeral In the wake of the Glen Khan funeral on 7 April 1999 and the powerful testimony of Staggie at that occasion, a trickle of Muslims started turning to Christ. Suddenly PAGAD was marginalised even more. It was not surprising that they frantically sought to get credibility. This was God at work supernaturally, but Pastor Eddie Edson and his colleagues were not immediately aware of it. When Ps Edson phoned me the afternoon of 13 April for prayer support because ‘Muslim leaders’ wanted to speak to him in the evening, we feared a confrontation because rumours were spread that Muslims have been coming to faith in Jesus, for example as a result of preaching in the trains. We called the intercessors to bathe the proposed meeting with ‘Muslim leaders’ in prayer. A crisis was feared once again. Pastor Edson was surprised when the ‘Muslim leaders’ turned out to be no less than representatives of PAGAD. This was a major turn around on their part. It was however quite surprising that the PAGAD leaders now had become willing, almost eager to speak to Church leaders. Only a few weeks prior to this occasion they refused to meet any Christians or other mediators. Whatever the deceiver had planned in terms of havoc, was thus curtailed. A direct result of all this was the birth of the Cape Peace Initiative (CPI). Pastor Richard Mitchell, who was closely involved with the CPI attempt at negotiating peace between the gangsters and PAGAD, kept Rosemarie and me informed. (We had become quite close to Pastor Richard Mitchell, last not least through our fortnightly prayer at Signal Hill Saturday mornings at dawn. Thus we could pray intelligently for the proceedings on 22 April.) The meeting with PAGAD that took place at the Pinelands Civic Centre was followed by discussions with gang leaders the same day. Eben Swart, whom I had linked to the predominantly ‘Coloured’ praying pastors at a strategic prayer occasion on 1 November 1997, started to work closely with Eddie Edson, who remained the steadfast motor for citywide prayer events. With Swart’s base as the Lighthouse Christian Centre, 'White' churches more readily linked up in the Cape Peace Initiative (CPI). ‘Coloured’ pastors verbalized their disquiet to Eddie Edson that the Cape Peace Initiative gave the impression of making PAGAD fashionable. Some clergymen were unhappy that the CPI leaders had been speaking to PAGAD. (I wonder whether this was the seed Pastor Eddie Edson organised occasional all-night citywide prayer events, one each on 25 June and 15 October 1999. Natural prayer fuel was provided by the possibility of an escalation of tension between Muslims and Jews in the Mother City, because of the situation in the Middle East. Community Transformation Around this time Reverend Trevor Pearce from the Anglican Church linked up with Ernst van der Walt (jr) in a vision to spread the Transformations video, which was just being distributed worldwide. The Transformation of Communities, led by Reverend Trevor Pearce, saved the Cape Peace Initiative (CPI) after it had come in disrepute. At a half night prayer meeting on the Grand Parade, much of the unity was restored. The same weekend two Dutchmen, Pieter Bos and Cees Vork,43 representing the prayer movement of Holland, joined local Christians in confession for the sins of the forefathers and in praying against satanic strongholds in the Peninsula. Trevor Pearce had been impacted by the vision during a visit to Washington D.C., starting a procedure to invite George Otis and Allistair Petrie to the Mother City for a conference of his denomination from 29 October to November 2, 2000. Soon it was agreed to add a conference at the Lighthouse Christian Centre in Parow from 3-5 November of the same year. Trevor Pearce likewise had a vision for citywide prayer. The Transformation concept brought the evangelicals from the mainline churches and the Charismatic-Pentecostal traditions together. Even more significant was the fact that the prayer event at the Lighthouse Christian Centre in November 2000 saw the end of the bombing spree that kept the city in suspense for months. 14. Traumatic Incidents During My Absence The pattern of traumatic incidents happening at home during my absence continued when Rosemarie and I attended our WEC conference in Natal in October 1999. When we phoned our home we heard that our 21-year old son Danny had to counsel Nazeema, a Muslim background believer we had taken into our home. She threatened to commit suicide.44 To Nairobi via Holland and Spain 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 was less excited about the invitation when I discovered that my departure would coincide with the return of our second eldest son from Germany. Rafael had been evangelising with Youth for Christ in a mobile bus for the greater part of the year. Knowing that travelling in Africa by air is very expensive, I enquired how much a ticket to Europe would cost. I had just heard that I would lose my Dutch 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 institution in Holland, could be the solution. We thought that it would be good to go and discuss that en route to Nairobi.45 Rosemarie pointed out to me that a visit to Madrid would be more important to get some movement towards the Jesus-centred Cape drug rehabilitation issue for which we had been praying so long. The international Headquarters of the WEC-related Bet-el Ministries is in Madrid. Without much more ado the itinerary was finalised. I would fly with the Royal Dutch Airlines (KLM) to Nairobi via Holland and Spain. A Strategic Detour The first and third venues of this overseas trip turned out to be quite strategic on the short term. My two days in Holland were special, pivotal in getting funds for our discipling house. An evening was organised on short notice to speak to some of our friends. There I showed a picture of the house we intended to buy for use as a discipling house. The mother of Martie Dieperink, one of the believers who attended that event, died soon after my visit. Martie thought it fit to put funds at our disposal, which we would need to secure the house as a loan. Shortly after having heard of the need of a discipling house in Cape Town where new believers coming from another faith cared for, she immediately offered to help us with a substantial amount as an interest-free loan, to be paid back over a period of five years. This set in motion the acquisition of a building that became an important asset of our ministry. The furniture from the house of her mother was part of the content of a container that was sent in 2001. The visit to Madrid did not deliver the goods on the short term, but seed was sown. In 2003 Elliot Tepper, the leader of the Betel Ministries, informed us that Cape Town is high on their agenda for the start of a new rehab centre, even though we did not have a couple ready to go to Birmingham in England for training. Dean Ramjoomia had originally been earmarked for this venture, but this was not confirmed. We were encouraged when Abass Buffkins, a Muslim drug addict, was not only supernaturally set free, but he also became an avid student at an evening Bible school. His prowess was such, also in his church, that we had liberty to use his testimony in a tract, as I did with a few other Muslim background believers. A Traumatic Event at Home The Nairobi conference ran parallel to a traumatic event at home. While I was still in Spain, our son Danny was rushed to hospital after his appendix had burst. He turned out to be allergic to the medication given to him. Later Rosemarie shared how it was touch and go or we could have lost him. If she had not bumped into Dr Dave Stickels, a member of Cape Town Baptist Church on the corridor, things might have ended differently. Rosemarie sensed that this was another attack from the enemy while I was away. She alerted prayer warriors at home and abroad. I received the news at a strategic moment in Nairobi, when we were not making much headway to get a draft on paper that we could report back to our respective sending bodies. When someone at the conference 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 had escaped death. In the months thereafter we heard from different people how they had been interceding on Danny’s behalf. Special Convert Care When Esmé Orrie was about to celebrate her 50th birthday, our friend Magdalene Overberg approached us with the request whether we could celebrate this at our home. (Esme was not only persecuted out of her home in Mitchell's Plain and terribly harassed by the family, but she was also completely ostracized by her mother and children). Other converts and friends in our ministry had become her new family. The occasion turned out to be also a red-letter day, not only for Esmé, but also for June Lehmensich. Due to the apartheid prejudices and practices of Cape society, quite a few families were ripped apart. June was one of those who had been completely cut off from some of her relatives. What a joy it now was for her to meet some of the relatives, who had come for Esmé’s birthday. Things started to happen in a big way when Zulpha Morris, a Muslim lady from Mitchell’s Plain, became a Christian through divine intervention in July 1998. Through a further vision she was challenged to convert her home into a shelter for abandoned babies and abused women. In spite of many attacks and difficulties – also from the side of the government – she persevered. Miraculously her Muslim husband sacrificed his house and even his garage for the venture. She received assistance from many churches – also from overseas. Soon the Heaven Shelter of Rambler Road in Beacon Valley (Mitchell's Plain) not only received visitors from all over the world, but many Muslims also came there for prayer, knowing very well that the prayers would be offered in Jesus’ name. Rosemarie did regular Bible studies with a few women. This was fruitful when Zulpha and her husband decided to start a weekly cell group of Muslim background believers from the Mitchell's Plain area. Soon quite a big group was gathering at their home every week, sometimes including more than 20 Muslim background believers. Cape Town Emulates Sodom Sexual perversion became a spiritual stronghold, which soon had the country firm in its grip. The new government since 1994 outlawed racism, but it opened the floodgates of sexual perversion with laws to legalize abortion and allowing homosexual tourism to thrive. Cape Town took the continent-wide lead to emulate Sodom when the Western Cape’s person responsible for tourism seemed to have a free hand to promote the Mother City, to compete with San Francisco and Sydney for the title of the gay capital of the world. We was rather sad to read that support for the gay movement was forthcoming from the Dean of St George’s Cathedral, the church that played such a big role in opposition to apartheid. Louis Pasques made a point of it to share his personal experience and deliverance with the dean of the cathedral, but that appeared to be like water on a duck’s back. A casino in Goodwood with all the known vice surrounding such institutions - at the site where in former years agricultural shows and evangelistic meetings were held46 - typified the moral degradation of the metropolis. A 24-hour prayer watch was needed to counter this. Dear Hendrina van der Merwe, faithful prayer warrior of our Bo-Kaap group, had been praying for years for such a prayer watch. The evident spiritual warfare around the World Parliament of Religions was fuel to set up an all-night prayer meeting on the Grand Parade on short notice. It was clear that God was at work orchestrating things when Mike Winfield and others were simultaneously busy with ‘Closing the Gates’ meetings, where we were looking at the sinful roots of our society. It was special that we could gain from Nim Rajagukguk sharing of what had been happening in his home country Indonesia in the preceding years. (The bulk of slaves at the Cape originated from the Indonesian Archipelago.) Towards a 24-Hour Prayer Watch In September 1999 a new type of initiative had emerged worldwide. God started to speak nationally about 24-hour prayer watches. We felt that this is what Cape Town needed more than anything else. What better place for the 24-hour prayer watch could be found than the Moravian Hill Chapel in District Six that now belonged to the Cape Technikon? Murray Bridgman, a local advocate had similar ideas. In 2002 the government gave the Moravian Hill complex back to the original owners. Hendrina van der Merwe, our faithful but sickly prayer warrior, had been praying for years for a 24-hour prayer watch to be started at the Moravian Church. When this turned out not to be practical, I approached the Moravian Church towards the end of 2003 formally, pointing to the origins of the modern prayer movement going back to Herrnhut in 1727. The initial request was approved, along with permission to have monthly meetings with Muslim background believers in the District Six church where I received my initial spiritual nourishment in my childhood. The actual 24-hour prayer watch there could however not be implemented. 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 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 that congregation, rather than other Baptist churches nearer their home. Due to Jeff’s dedicated ministry in missions, our congregation became in due course the catalysts for new missionary work to the Northern Cape and ‘forgotten’ tribes of Namibia. How wonderful it was that the Lord in his mercy allowed me to see some of these Remaining Unreached People Groups now getting evangelised.47 Rumblings at the Moriah Discipling House 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.48 After a day in hospital and further medical treatment, I was cleared - with the instruction to return after a year. We realized that there were major spiritual forces involved. 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 one of the former occupants.49 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 few weeks. 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.50 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 Ministry to Foreigners During 2003 it seems as if the Lord was leading us more and more to a ministry to foreigners. While Lynn Holder’s husband Jeff preached one Sunday, Rosemarie received a vision of our Moriah Discipling House to be used for refugee-type foreigners. In our recruiting for a couple as house parents of the place, the Lord had to correct us because we thought that a Cape ‘Coloured’ couple would be the ideal because they understood the culture of the Cape Muslims best. Rosemarie was battling with the work load around the discipling of new Muslim background believers (MBB’s) and general convert care. The bulk of them were females. We were glad that we could hand over the responsibility for the medical/hospital ministry to Maria van Maarseveen, our Dutch colleague. At the end of 2002 we were praying again that the Lord would give us more assistance. At the beginning of 2003 Lynn Holder had been praying how she could get involved. At this time I approached the Atlantic Christian Assembly (ACA), as part of an effort to promote the hand-made 3D cards, which the MBB’s had been making. The Lord had undertaken wonderfully so that we could pay these ladies, giving them some regular income, although we hardly sold cards. Anthony Liebenberg, the pastor, had good memories of the time when he was youth pastor of the ACA. Our son Danny 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 were sent out by our home church in Holland, had obviously already been partially fulfilled because the Lord had already wonderfully used him at the German School to bring new life to the Christian Union there, especially when another teenager, Chris Duwe, came to the Cape in 1996 during their Abitur (A-level) year. By 2003 Anthony Liebenberg had become the senior pastor of the the Atlantic Christian Assembly. Because of some internal decision the congregation would apparently not allow people from outside to come and promote anything during church services. Anthony volunteered to do it on our behalf. Because of the good rapport we had with him and the link via our son Danny, he 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 Malechowski soon thereafter. Rumblings at Our Local Church We were increasingly less happy at the Cape Town Baptist Church. A rift between the pastor and administrator around the turn of the millennium affected matters tremendously. In the wake of this schism two 'camps' developed in the church. My attempt at mediation had little chance of success because of our known friendship to Louis and Heidi. When both Louis Pasques and Alan Kay resigned, rumblings continued for months. On top of that, the marriage of Heidi and Louis Pasques headed for divorce. Many a member left the church. A big chunk of the foreigner constituency joined the new church plant of Calvary Chapel that Demetri and Karen Nikiforos had started. The Going Gets Rough We had been taking some photos at Sedgefield and Knysna of beautiful waves during a time of holiday in July 2003. Somewhere 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 the Andreaskirche of Mühlacker way back in the mid-1960s. ‘Mightier than the thunders of many waters, mightier than the waves of the sea, the Lord on high is mighty! A Medical Check-up Due A medical check-up was due a year after my stress-related temporary loss of memory in March 2002. This led to a period that seemed to lead to the last lap of my 'race' on earth. After going to the doctor for the blood pressure check-up at the end of September 2003 - without having any complaint - he suggested a PSA blood test because of my age. The physician hereafter referred me to an urologist, who did a biopsy on 7 October 2003 – just to make sure as he said! Perhaps the arch enemy tried to knock me out. I was so confident that the result of the biopsy would be negative because I had no physical discomfort up to that point in time and the two doctors to whom I had spoken, pointed out that the PSA count was only minimally above normal – a high count would have pointed to cancerous activity. Neither of them had initial reason for concern. There could be other causes of the high count like infection. Cancer!! When a phone call came from the hospital on Thursday 9 October 2003, I was caught off-guard. Without any ado the urologist, Dr Aldera, shared the result of the biopsy: I had contracted prostate cancer in an early stage. Through an extra-ordinary set of circumstances, the Lord however prepared me for the diagnosis. At that time – on 8 October 2003 to be exact – I was encouraged by the ‘Watchword’, as the Moravians have been calling the Old Testament Scripture for the day traditionally: ‘I will not die but live and proclaim what the LORD has done’ (Psalm 118:17). I was told that I had contracted Prostate Gland cancer 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 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 in the vision. 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. Rosemarie woke up, very conscious that God seemed to say something to us through this vision-like dream.51 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. There they 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' lady 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 baptised 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. 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 due 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. In his book Destined for the Throne. Paul 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 this 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. The next year the Father would remind me via Psalm 127 though that I should wait on Him to build the house. And that He did when a 24/7 facility started on the ground floor of the Civic Centre that operated for many years until the Covid-19 pandemic put it on hold. But by that time, in March 2020, the World House of Prayer had started in the suburb Observatory as an important one of 7 global venues. It has been a special blessing to be involved with the start of both prayer 24/7 facilities. 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 what was dubbed the Arab Spring, that started on 25 January 2011 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 and resumed in 2006. 15. A City 24-hour Prayer Watch For years, I have been striving towards achieving a more visible expression of the unity of the body of Christ, with very little success. The unity of the body of Christ, believers in the crucified and risen Saviour, had been very much on our hearts. I thought that a City 24-hour prayer watch could be a decisive vehicle to make this more visible. Seed for Confession Seemed to Germinate After the cancer diagnosis many people prayed for me. This included public anointing at our church, encouraging me to be more open to divine healing, especially when two new PSA tests pointed to a decrease of the cancer! The seed for confession and prayer in respect of Islam appeared to have started germinating by November 2003 in Paarl at the National Leadership Consultation of CCM which I initially would not have attended this because of the pending surgery. I was not so keen any more to be involved with CCM which was supposed to be a networking agency. It appeared to me completely unsatisfactory. Coming together only twice a year, with hardly any personal contact in between, was to me too meagre. Whatever I had tried in terms of getting the co-workers together for prayer, it reaped very little response. Because I had not been admitted to hospital yet, I thought that I should attend the consultation at Paarl. There I was really encouraged!! It seemed as if the seed of prayer and confession had at last started to germinate. When Kobus Cilliers, a missionary linked to Overseas Missionary Services (OMS) and a missionary from Mozambique suggested expression of confession, it was duly accepted by the Consultation! After this event Western Cape delegates were given the task to work on a joint statement. Run-Up to a Continental Prayer Convocation As part of a prayer convocation for the African continent at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) from December 1-5, 2003, it was fitting that a prelude to the gathering 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 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. It was more than mere 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 island. Another PSA test pointed to rapid increase of the cancer. Thus I could not attend the prayer convocation. I Booked Myself in For an Operation I decided to act immediately, booking myself in for an 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. The Lord gave me a ‘second wind’ after the prostate operation 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 by my cousin, Patrick Cloete, a printer. Through my hospitalisation for the prostate gland operation, God over-ruled. I was challenged anew to look at the City Bowl 24-hour prayer watch as a matter of priority for the first half of 2004. . The Net Thrown Wider Soon God began to expand our ministry. We were serving (Uyghur) Chinese and Somalians in loving ways. The latter group in Mitchell's Plain stretched our patience. We ultimately had to stop teaching English to the Somalians after a few months in mid-2005. It became quite clear that they resented being taught by Christians. Driving the 30 plus Km., only to find out that nobody was ready for an English lesson was not encouraging at all. Teaching English to foreigners in premises on the corner of Dorp and Loop Street on Saturday afternoon in a small church where Gary Coetzee was the pastor, turned into a double blessing. There we could not only help a few new sojourners in our city to get settled, 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 African traders in the city for their TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) students as guinea pigs. A Cameroonian trader was one of these students. With him we had on-going contact. When we invited him to share a meal with us, we discovered that Hausa was his home language. This was the cue to watch one of the More than Dreams testimonies, a DVD with five stories of Muslims who had a dream of a man clad in a white robe. This would ultimately evolve into a weekly Discovery Bible Study (DBS) with a few foreigners who were Muslims. Impact of an Event Film 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 diverse individuals 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 twelve 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, after the movie, many Muslims 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. Contact With Special Foreigners For an Indonesian missionary colleague in our team who had previously served in China, it was quite special to watch the video version of The Passion of the Christ in our home, together with two Uyghur females from China. Our colleague had a special burden for the Uyghur, a Muslim tribe in the Northwest of the vast and populous country. For years she prayed for those people, without seeing any change. Now God had brought some of them to Cape Town. Within months we had contact with other Uyghur folk who had come to Cape Town. (The increased interaction with the Peoples' Republic of China brought many nationals from that country to Cape Town. With the Olympic Games of 2008 in Beijing looming, students came to learn English in our city.) The conversion and baptism of two Uyghur Chinese in the first quarter of 2005 were very special, the result of divine intervention. One of the two converts needed a second dream to convince her that Jesus was indeed the one to follow. In the first dream she had asked God Almighty to reveal to her which one was the one to follow. She had discerned that it had to be either Jesus or Muhammad. Her room was brightened up with a supernatural light early the next morning. She came under a strong conviction of sin simultaneously, knowing that Jesus was there. His divinity was so natural to her that she prayed spontaneously: “Jesus, forgive me my sins!” The other Uyghur person, a male, had a similar dream of a person that radiated light, sensing a divine presence in his room. In due course a group of Asians was meeting once a month on Sunday afternoon for Bible Study. The couple from Indonesia would become the parents at our discipling house for people from another faith background. (During the xenophobic mob violence of 2008 we also took in believers from Zimbabwe to whom we had ministered at the time.) The Unity of the Body – a Matter of Priority? When I was in hospital for my operation, I was challenged anew to take the City Bowl 24-hour watch as a matter of priority for the first half of 2004. The unity of the body of Christ, i.e. believers in the crucified and risen Saviour, has been very much on our hearts. We believe that the prayer watch could be a decisive vehicle to make this more visible - to be used as a powerful means to take the city for God. After Rosemarie had challenged me about my indecisiveness with my manuscripts, I started revising a manuscript Some Things wrought by prayer. I noted how radical I had been in earlier days. The issue of worship on a Sunday – with its pagan background that had estranged us as Christians from our Jewish roots - were bogging me once again as I was reading Jewish authors. I was ready to be radical to resign from the Cape Town Baptist Church, but not ready to join another church fellowship. I was also quite wary to start yet another church fellowship on my own. The knowledge that Constantine and other Church Fathers have been side-lining Jews, weighed quite heavily. Had I done it, we would have congregated on Saturdays. This might have caused major bewilderment among other believers. The unity of the body of Christ was the issue which held me back from taking any step which could rock the boat of the Church in the Cape Town City Bowl in this regard. Aware that the house church movement in China seemed to be the closest to New Testament Christianity in our day and age, this was our model. The ongoing crisis at the Baptist Church was however quite a push as well. I preferred to procrastinate, to the frustration of Rosemarie. She liked the fellowship at the Calvary Chapel, that we started attending occasionally. I also enjoyed the good exegetical preaching of Dmitri Nikiforos. (His wife Karen is the daughter of Graham and Dawn Gernetsky, a previous pastoral couple of the Cape Town Baptist Church. He once had our daughter Magdalena in his Sunday School class. But I had some reservations about monologue-type sermons.) New Crises Brian Wood had hardly started at Cape Town Baptist Church when a new crisis developed around a very trivial matter. The new minister took me and Jeff Holder into his confidence. It was good that I had declined nomination to the diaconate of the fellowship more than once and Jeff was a fairly new man on the block. I was now however also attacked at this time for purported ‘laundering money’ from overseas. The member of the church council who came with the accusation had been a trustee of the Dorcas Trust on behalf of the church. He should have known better. (When I did not want to keep the money earmarked for our Discipling House in our private account until the Dorcas Trust would be finalised, I had asked Alan Kay as the administrator whether we could keep the funds temporarily in the church account of the church.) That this was interpreted as 'money laundering' got me really upset, but I just decided to take it in my stride.) Those funds would facilitate the purchasing of the discipling house. A new crisis developed in the church council over some gay organist who had played there. Suddenly we heard that three influential members resigned because of this. A few other members also left the church in the wake of the saga. We also felt like leaving but we decided to stay on because of our children. Just as there had been the consideration of saving a sinking ship and giving support to Louis Pasques in 1995, it was again the children which still kept us there. Visitors from Many Nations 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 Holders 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 Bible teaching from Jeff and Lynn using the Experiencing God material of Henry Blackaby. Our son Danny was the leader of the worship team at this time. He now intertwined songs from other cultures and languages. In due course the fellowship became one of the first churches in the Cape Town City Bowl with adherents and visitors from many nations on any given Sunday. Moves Towards a Global Day of Prayer Daniel Brink, the Jericho Walls leader in the Western Cape, phoned me to approach the Moravian Church leaders for permission to use the District Six building to host the launch of the 7-days prayer initiative on 9 May 2004 as a follow-up strategy of Transformation Africa prayer in stadiums all over Africa in 2004.52 This was the complex where I had received my theological training from 1971 to 1973.) I gladly obliged. In the run-up to this event, some of us were reminded of the special prayer occasions of the late 1990s. Daniel Brink distributed the following communiqué: ‘...From Sunday May 9th 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. At the launch of the 7-days prayer initiative, I approached Bennie Mostert, the national leader, to write a forward to a manuscript containing my researches on the answers to prayer at the Cape through the centuries. I had written them as two booklets ‘Some Things wrought by Prayer’ and ‘More things wrought by Prayer.’53 The 7-days prayer initiative moved through the country, a week apiece of 24 hour prayer at a different city or town. At this occasion, on 9 May 2004, I approached Bennie Mostert to write a forward for my researches on the results of answers to prayer at the Cape through the centuries. What a joy it was for Hendrina van der Merwe, the fervent Afrikaner intercessor, to be present on that opening evening in the Moravian Chapel. However, she would neither experience a spiritual breakthrough towards new church planting in Bo-Kaap nor the start of a 24-hour Prayer Watch in the City Bowl. On the 31st of December 2004, with her Bible in her hand, she went to be with her Lord! The 7-days initiative event was the start of the initiative that went around the country until 15 May 2005, the first Global Day of Prayer. The 7-DAYS Initiative On relatively short notice, believers in communities, towns and cities in South Africa were challenged to pray twenty-four hours a day for one week apiece. 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 seven days with day and night prayer at the Moravian Church in District Six, starting at 9 o’clock in the evening on May 9, 2004. 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, intercessors could pray or paste prayer requests in the adjacent ‘boiler room’. From the 6th to the 15th of May, 2005, 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). 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.’ The Travelling Bug in the Family The travelling and missions bug seems to have bitten all our children. Influenced by Siggi Steger, who studied and operated successively at Cornerstone Christian College and the German Stadtmission, our son Rafael opted to do a post-Matric year with the Teemobil, the evangelistic vehicle of Youth for Christ in Germany in 1999. After finishing Bible School he went to the USA for cross-cultural experience, jobbing there. This was followed by a stint in East Germany, which led to him returning to Chemnitz, where he started teaching English, while serving with a very interesting combination of the Salvation Army and the Jesus Freaks. Our eldest son Danny had an initial stint with Trans World Radio in Pretoria. After working for a few years as electrical engineer with a German firm in the Cape suburb of Diep River after his university studies, he applied to serve with Operation Mobilisation (OM) in Germany, to do a year of volunteering there. In the headquarters in the Southern German town of Mosbach he was especially engaged in the preparation of the massive 2003 European version of Teen Street, leading a team thereafter to Slovenia. Our daughter Magdalena went to the USA and Vavoua in the Ivory Coast for her post-matric year. Sammy chose to do a year of studies in sound engineering after Matric, arguing that he did not do the German Abitur (A levels) as his two older brothers had done at the German school. In 2004 we allowed him to do a DTS with the Media Village of YWAM in Kalk Bay in the first half of the year. Strategic ‘Home Assignment’ When another family wedding, that of Johannes, a nephew and his fiancéé Desiré was scheduled for mid 2004 in the Southern German village of Lienzingen, it was decided that I would go ahead of them to do some ‘home assignment’ on my own. Rosemarie and our two remaining children at home would join me later. During the four months of May to August 2004 the Lord in his mercy wonderfully enabled us to fill the empty nest gap. After speaking to Susanne Koch in Eppstein at the German WEC Headquarters, the possibility of Trekkers (Short-term workers) came into our frame once again. Some correspondence started with a young girl Hannah Noelle, who was finishing Abitur, the German school-leavers’ year. She wanted to join a mission team for three months. We had already decided in our team that we could only engage short-termers that are prepared to stay for a minimum of six months. She agreed to that. Traumatic weeks followed while I was in Eppstein and thereafter lodging with Klaus and Luise Hinkelmann in South West Germany. Rosemarie informed me telephonically that the request of Tabitha for a Dutch passport led to a threat from the consulate that my dual nationality was questioned. This would also affect our children. My blood pressure, that had become quite stable, shot up once again because of the double blow! The interview with Gottfried and Susanne Schittek, another German couple that wanted to come to Cape Town, brought us together with Susanne Koch once again. At this occasion we heard about Christiane (Chrissy) Schlue, another short termer. She originally wanted to join the WEC ministry with children in crisis in Brakpan. On our last Sunday in Lienzingen Chrissy happened to come to nearby Mühlacker for a missionary valedictory service of a friend. She ultimately not only joined our team for a stint of nine months in Cape Town, but she also joined our son Danny’s worship team in the church. The end of this story was that Danny followed her in 2005 to Southern Germany to do a year of Bible School there. They ultimately got married on 28 July 2007. During this time our daughter Tabitha also started emailing a certain young man with the name of Michael Mee in Cape Town very intensively. What a blessing it was that we had the various short termers from November 2004 with us. They temporarily filled the gap that our own absent children had left. Almost the whole family was present at the wedding of Johannes, Rosemarie’s nephew who married in mid-2004. Sammy stayed on in Europe, doing some casual work in the second half of the year and earning funds to go and assist missionaries in Kazakstan from December 2004 for a month. Rosemarie and I were very uptight with this idea, remembering how we had almost lost him due to double pneumonia after our return to South Africa in 1995. We knew that winter temperatures in the part of Central Asia where he would be heading, could easily drop to minus 40 degrees. However, Sammy was adamant, insisting that he saw that as a divine commission. Opposite Fortunes Sammy was vindicated. During the month that he was there, the temperatures were quite moderate and it turned out that he could assist to prepare Gospel material for Uyghur, an unreached people group that the Lord had just started to bring to Cape Town. It was very special when he brought audiovisual resources along, which we could pass on to persons from that people group. Back at the Cape he assisted a Uyghur believer to serve from her home, constructing a sound studio there. Tabitha, the youngest of the siblings, was less fortunate. For her first choice, a DTS at Muizenberg, she was turned down when the course was full in respect of applications. She ultimately landed in a DTS in Jeffrey’s Bay. There the outreach side of the training, the proposed trip to Brazil, could not take place. After marrying Mike Mee, the youth pastor of Pinelands Methodist Church, the travelling bug that took her older siblings to different parts of the world, got hold of them as well. The couple served in Nepal for three months in ???. We felt quite uncomfortable for months on end at the Cape Town Baptist Church, especially after the Holder family had returned to the USA. We hung in there especially because we still had two children in the church by the end of 2005. Not many months down the road also John Welsford, the youth pastor, resigned and soon thereafter his father who had put it many hours of voluntary work to get the church books on par, also decided to leave. It seemed as if the church went from one crisis to the next. 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. Would the city churches rise to the challenge in a similar way? That was still the question as 2004 approached its end. Prayer at Die Losie I felt very much challenged to attempt a 24-hour prayer watch in the City Bowl the first week of February, as Jericho Walls suggested. The first feelers were not positive enough to nudge me into action. 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, a car guard and tourist guide at the Groote Kerk,who prayed with us at St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church at a half-night of prayer, phoned me. This was just the nudge I needed, just as my own faith in the matter started to wane. I was not aware that he had been in touch for months with Reverend Angeline Swart, the leader of the Moravian Church at that time. In a very short space of time, I managed to put a programme together, approaching various speakers with whom I had been in contact over the years. 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, would enquire 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. We were blessed to hear a few days before the event that the superintendent of the Central Police Station in Buitenkant Street, notorious in the apartheid days as Caledon Square and thus a real neutral venue – had a room for us for 24-hour prayer. He 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 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.) As we were interceding in the third story board room, I suddenly saw the Tafelberg Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) diagonally opposite from where I was sitting. I was reminded that this was the church which Dr Koot Vorster, a DRC minister, the brother of a Prime Minister and a high-profile Broederbonder, pastored. I had read 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.54 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. After the week of prayer at the Moravian Hill complex, a few of us went to go and pray at the Losie every Wednesday morning. 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. Nadine Badenhorst was an up and coming lawyer in this group who would become a stalwart fighter with Mike Swain later with ForSA in the fight to protect freedom of religion in our country. (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, 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.) A Prayer Venue at the Civic Centre In due course Die Losie became our regular prayer venue. As 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. At lunch time on Wednesdays believers from different denominational backgrounds came 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 firmly laid. Little Movement in Respect of Guilt Towards Islam On the other issue that was close to my heart, confession for the role of Christians with regard to the origins and spread of Islam, there was no movement in South Africa. Yet, apart from the flicker of hope, which I had experienced via Kobus Cilliers, and the missionary colleague from Mozambique in November 2003, hardly anything of consequence happened. In the aftermath of the conference we worked on a document that we subsequently called a manifesto because other missionary colleagues had problems with the word confession. The result of the discussion with a few colleagues on 23 April 2004 at the home of Manfred Jung was going to be sent to Professor Greyling and Herb Ward, who had co-ordinated our training course at the Bible Institute of South Africa in previous years. When I returned from Europe a few months later, I found that this was not done. In fact, I was maligned at the CCM leadership conferences of 2004 and 2005 in my absence and the manifesto was sent to the scrap heap of unused material. From a completely unexpected source assistance came when the annual national Missionary Congress, organised by UNISA, was held in Stellenbosch in January 2006. The two main plenary lectures were held by Professor Farid Esack and Dr Allan Boesak. The former academic apologised in his personal capacity and on behalf of Islam what his religion had done in bringing the peoples of Africa in neo-colonial bondage. In his paper Dr Boesak had intimated the issue. Very much aware of how he had helped to cause the spread of the religion at the Cape , I deemed this the chance to get some movement. After pointing to his role in my life and honouring him publicly for it, I suggested that Dr Boesak should take a leading role in getting the church to repent. He felt though that he was not the right person to do that, which was quite comprehensible in the light of negative publicity and his imprisonment not too long prior to this event. 16. In the Crucible Towards the end of 2005 new workers who had joined our WEC team brought such a lot of disruption and criticism that we informed our national leadership that we want to step down as team leaders. This did not go down well, ushering in the most traumatic months of our lives to date. We were not really happy when our daughter Maggie indicated that she wanted to travel the world after her graduation in Social Science. She wanted to return to Europe to earn a few British pounds at first. When she phoned from the north of Spain a few months later where she was learning Spanish while selling fruit and vegetables, we were still not really worried, but not happy with her roaming life style. Her next port of call was due to be the UK again, moving over to Scotland. Our son Rafael was serving with the Salvation Army in Eastern Germany at this time bi-vocationally, while teaching English (He had completed the Cambridge University-related CELTA course here in Cape Town.) Traumatic Months In a phone call with our son Rafael in Germany, who had been visiting our daughter Maggie in Scotland, he hinted vaguely that something was not in order with her life-style. We had already picked up that she was spiritually back-slidden and not attending church any more. In a phone call from there she told us that she would go to Holland soon. Maggie congratulated Tabitha on her birthday, the 25th of April, but Tabitha did not read this, as she had changed her email address. When we heard nothing from Maggie on Mother's Day, 14 May, we became really concerned, informing our friends in Holland to try and find out what had happened to her. For weeks the uncertainty carried on, during which we had no clue of her whereabouts. We even feared that she might be dead. After a few more days of terrible inner turmoil and wet pillows, Tabitha one day looked into her old email inbox. There was Maggie's birthday congratulations. What a relief this was to us, encouragement that she might still be alive. In Need of Counselling This coincided with what seemed like our last months in WEC International. We had already decided to resign at the end of July more or less, but we still kept things open. We still hoped however that matters could be resolved. But this was not to be the case. In fact, on the last minute we decided to stay away from the annual conference that was held at nearby Simonsberg, near to Stellenbosch. But it all was of no avail. We started to make travelling arrangements to go to Holland to have our final talks regarding resignation with our sending base leaders in August. In the run-up to and after the WEC conference in Stellenbosch in May 2006, we experienced a very traumatic period of our ministry. In ongoing discussion with our leaders we could not identify ourselves with their way of giving leadership. In fact, it traumatized us so much that we needed personal counselling. Our nerves were on end and we had no energy left to continue with our missionary work. We consulted Dave Peter, a YWAM missionary whose advice, counselling and ministry helped us to remain sane. The advice of our counsellor helped us to carry on. He challenged us, never to leave a ministry in defeat. We were going through the motions towards the end of July during what we perceived as our final weeks in WEC, with two short-termers staying with us. When two of the WEC leaders from Durban were in Cape Town once again, Rosemarie and I took time out to seek the will of the Lord whether we could still proceed with WEC in South Africa. We came to the conclusion that our leaders were operating in an Old Testament way - where kings and prophets more or less determined what should happen. In so many words, one of our leaders responded in this way when we raised our objections against hierarchical structures, which we perceived as going against the spirit of the WEC ethos.55 After we had hinted that we considered resigning, we were advised that we would then have to go to Holland, our sending base. We felt that we could only do this in August at the earliest because we still had short-termers serving and living with us. Near to Getting Burned Out We had not yet fully recovered from the shocks when the lack of news from our daughter Magdalena in the Netherlands strained our nerves further. She had sent an SMS from Scotland in mid April that she was heading for Holland from where she would send us a new number. We never received anything from her for weeks. Subsequently there was that unforgettable Sunday afternoon in mid-July 2006! A phone call from a very tearful and repentant Maggie, phoning from Holland and informing us that she was pregnant. She had been living for many months with a Spaniard, also in Scotland. This is what Rafael had seen, but which he did not feel free to divulge. Our deep disappointment was strangely enough mingled with relief that our daughter was still alive. Our own understanding of the Word with regard to leadership differed strongly with that of our national leaders. We feared that leadership could be abused in an authoritarian way. We were especially blessed when the leadership backed down, offering us a ‘sabbatical’, an extended time out. We were thankful that we could still re-schedule our travelling itinerary to be in Valencia, Spain, for the birth of our first grandchild on 22 September, 2006. Continuing with Reservations Because we did not want to delay the actual start of the ministry of the new mission agency Friends from Abroad unduly, we decided to use only seven weeks for an extended holiday cum home assignment. It helped us on a visit to the Dutch headquarters in September 2006 to discern that miscommunication once again had led to a series of events about which we had become quite resentful. We returned to South Africa quite hopeful for a new start. In October 2006 we were back at the Cape. We were however hardly back when the ‘battle’ resumed. We were especially sad that a situation arose whereby we had no say in the running of the discipling house, which came into being through our endeavours and which had been running through gifts from our family and friends in Germany and Holland. It now became more a matter of time before we would finally resign. Yet, we resolved that we did not want to be like Jonah on this score. We had to face the truth of the Word that we were being led out of WEC. We still wanted to leave WEC in victory, asking God to lead us clearly and unambiguously in the new thing, which we believed was sprouting, all set to get going with Friends from Abroad We were advised by our counsellor to speak to Trevor Kallmier, the international director of the mission who was due to be in our region for the conference of the Evangelical World Alliance. Subsequently, a new structure was implemented, which enabled us to continue with WEC in South Africa, albeit with reservations because all the differences were not completely resolved. 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. Just under three years later Sheralyn became our granddaughter) 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 sensed that God was possibly using the personal trauma to shake us towards flexibility for change. Kindred Spirits My wife Rosemarie and I became quite excited 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’. This was more or less what we wanted to see happening, 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. We 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 had 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 their church in Kansas City (USA).) We felt the same way with our mission agency here in Cape Town in respect of outreach to foreigners. Equipping and Empowering People From the Nations 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. We did Bible Study with a few Asians, including Uyghur believers from China in Cape Town, a hitherto unreached people group in respect of the Gospel. The aim 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 I was serving 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 sensed that his ministry could be a valuable complement to our Friends from Abroad concept - to bless indigenous Christians and be blessed by them. 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). As treasurer we had Marie Opperman, a former missionary in Taiwan. 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. A weekly children’s club at the same venue with refugee and local children evolved. Our daughter Tabitha not only assisted there, but she also kept the ministry running all on her own. 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? A 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? Richard Verreyne invited us to a meeting of the Consultation of Christian Churches (CCC) in February 2007, to prepare a big event where Floyd McClung would 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. 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 about the intense corruption at the venue. Mr Mvuso Msimang became the new national Director of Home Affairs, a government department that had become 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 invited people on grass roots level to assist, I volunteered on behalf of Friends from Abroad. In a series of emails I offered to meet him or a representative to give some suggestions on how we as team thought that matters could be improved, notably around xenophobia and corruption. 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 in opposing xenophobia and fighting corruption. I linked up with the leader of PASSOP, Braam Hanekom and other refugee ‘stakeholders’ in an attempt to address the rampant corruption at the Home Affairs offices. We were however very soon frustrated by the reaction to our suggestions to bring down the back log of asylum seekers through their inefficiency. We were very 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 was given a leading role within the group of stakeholders, along with Braam Hanekom. Some of the agents who had set out to assist refugees had become 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. We Joined All Nations International 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, attempting to get believers from the nations equipped, hoping and praying that they would minister in their countries of origin in a similar way in the future. Confrontation With the Holocaust In one of the sessions Floyd McClung challenged us to ‘tithe’ our ministry time. For years Rosemarie had been battling with the guilt of the Germans in respect of Jews. She was deeply convicted, deciding to try and devote a tenth of her ministry time to loving outreach to Jews. This implied quite a challenge for her as a German in the light of the anti-Semitic Nazi history of her nation. Rosemarie was challenged to share the platform with a holocaust survivor. God was not slow in answering her prayer. Soon thereafter, our friend Leigh Telli challenged Rosemarie to share the platform with a holocaust survivor. Our involvement in the All Nations International CPx course was a genuine reason for procrastinating the issue. Rosemarie however finally accepted the challenge. Rosemarie and a Polish Holocaust Survivor At a meeting in Durbanville on 31 May 2008, Rosemarie shared the story of her upbringing as a post-World War 11 child in Germany. David, a Polish holocaust survivor, was the other speaker at this occasion. Quite a few Jews present at that occasion were clearly touched. Rosemarie highlighted the fact that she learned to appreciate Jesus as the scapegoat for our sins. Among other things she said in her talk: ‘… I also stand here this afternoon with great humility. After having listened to David and his enormous sufferings during these horrible years of the Holocaust (and what this caused most probably for the rest of his life) brings myself as a German descendant to a place of utter humility and shame. And yet I want to thank God that He has given me this opportunity to stand here today. For many years I was searching for a way to express my deep feelings of regret, sorrow and shame as a German in respect of what has happened, to Jewish people in general, but even more so towards those who have suffered so much themselves during the Holocaust and those who have lost family and friends in a senseless and cruel way…’ Rosemarie closed with the following remarks: …I also want to ask forgiveness for the Church, whose role should have been to stand up for the Jews in the times of horror, instead of being mainly silent. As for myself, it feels like being insulted myself when anybody says something negative about the Jews. I love them with all my heart and I am glad that I had the opportunity today to speak out what has been in my heart for a long time. God bless you all.’ Hope Springs Eternal  After this event in Durbanville a Jewish lady asked Rosemarie to come and speak to her group in Sea Point. This took place at a follow up meeting in August 2008. There she, Leigh Telli and Cecilia Burger, a veteran Dutch Reformed church worker among the Jews, were warmly welcomed.      Rosemarie was thereafter invited to share her story    Unexpectedly, Rosemarie was thereafter invited to share her story at various meetings with Jews, including one with another Holocaust survivor, to Jewish business people on the 20th of April 2009. The organiser of these events was an energetic 85-year old, Mirjam Lichtermann, herself a holocaust survivor.  Rosemarie received another invitation to a Jewish home in Claremont on 20 May 2009, and to a meeting in Sea Point the same day. On this occasion, Rosemarie was heavily attacked with depression in the days before these events. She prayed fervently as she felt so completely inadequate. The Lord encouraged her, not only with a word from Matthew 10, that she should not fret about what she should say. She deemed it a special privilege to encourage the Jews with Isaiah 40:1 Comfort ye my people.... For quite a while after these opportunities, things went quiet in respect of Jews. We continued to pray that God would bring natural Jewish contacts on our path. The CCC Response Our relationship to Ds. Richard Verreyne, a FFA board member, 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 two minutes every day at noon for peace in the communities; that all people’s dignity might be respected. 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. A plan was devised to give a menu to communities where pastors and community workers would network in 18 areas where we felt that the Church could give valuable assistance. This was however subsequently only implemented to some extent in the Helderberg area. New Outreach to Somalians The biggest ministry challenge for us was always the outreach to Somalians of whom the biggest concentration in our country is in the suburb Bellville. The African Islamic Propagation Centre is also situated in Bellville near to the station in the same complex. Aware that a breakthrough among the Somalians in Bellville could make an international impact with a snowball effect, we were always careful not to rush things. To get the Christians in Bellville towards some semblance of unity proved to be quite a challenge, just as it remained a big problem to see something similar happening in the City Bowl. In 28 March 2009 Emeritus Professor Pieter Els held a seminar on Muslim Evangelism at the DRC Church of Bellville West where his son Johan was a minister. This led to a teaching series in conjunction with Metro Evangelical Services (MES), led by his daughter-in-law Ilse. We included practical outreach on the last Friday of every month into the area that had become almost completely Somalian residentially and in other ways. In 2010 there were an estimated 20,000 Somalians in Bellville alone. Pastor Tertius Bezuidenhout of the local Wynstok congregation joined in this venture with a few congregants. This resulted in an outreach by the fellowship to the Somali community, using soccer as a tool to forge friendships with members of the Wynstok fellowship. That congregation retained their love and interest in the Somalians to this day. In 2017 a link to new Operation Mobilization missionaries could be forged in a networking capacity. Bongani Mahlangu and Tanner Chadwick emerged as leaders of this outreach in due course. From 2019, Tertius and various church members started joining us for outreach on many a Thursday at the Methodist Church on Green Market Square, praying there with many a visitor. Prayer Outreach in Bo-Kaap By 2010 we had been praying for Bo-Kaap for many years. Blair Carlson, the director of the Lausanne III Conference, got accommodation at Mesopotamia Place in Leeuwen Street for him and his family. They came to prepare the global event at the International Convention Centre a few months before the conference, and they were due to stay there for a few months thereafter. Noting that the venue used by the Lausanne III Conference was more or less equidistant from Sea Point and Bo-Kaap, the respective Cape strongholds of Judaism and Islam, I had hoped that the conference could express some form of regret or even confession for the negative ways in which heretical Christianity had impacted Islam. We prayed that breakthroughs in Sea Point and/or Bo-Kaap might lead to simple house Christo-centric fellowships in these suburbs and lead ultimately also to reconciliation of the respective communities under the banner of the Cross. We perceived this as something that could send ripples to the rest of the continent, from Cape Town to Jerusalem. We even hoped that it would ultimately trigger a spiritual revival. Dreams and visions of various believers encouraged us to prod on. Our prayers in this regard were not visibly answered, but years later one could read diversely how God used that conference to influence matters elsewhere. (One of these effects is the impact on cities, as you can read in one of the appendices.) Young Zimbabwean Servants Munyaradzi Hove was a lone participant from Zimbabwe at the 2008 CPx of All Nations International. He was a member of the small team that Rosemarie and I led for the outreach phase of the CPx. The outreach at Green Market Square would have significant ramifications when a little 'simple church' could be started there. One of the participants, Valentine Chrume, also hailed from Zimbabwe.   Munya personified the vision and philosophy of Friends from Abroad more than anybody else before or after him. After he returned to his home country, initially as a part of teams that he led, he and other All Nations young people led some people in Victoria Falls come to faith in Christ. Sustainability of new simple churches remains a big challenge, but a dent was definitely made via the spreading of the Gospel into areas that had been unreached or unevangelized. CPx Impact On Bo-Kaap After we had finished the teaching section of the Church Planting Experience (Cpx) in the first term of 2008, Rosemarie and I were appointed as leaders of a Bo-Kaap 'home church', along with two couples from Cameroon and Nigeria respectively, as well as Munyaradzi Hove from Zimbabwe. Munya became like a son to us. The five CPxers plus the son of the Nigerian couple lived at our Discipling House during this practical part of the course. (During the xenophobic mob violence of that year we gave shelter to a few young Zimbabweans and one from Rwanda in our Discipling House. Munya became our temporary house father.) The following year the Bo-Kaap 'home church' of CPx was accommodated at our home in Vredehoek with Munya as the leader. At this time we only had our youngest two children still living with us. Thereafter, when he returned there permanently in 2010, he gathered the new disciples of our Lord in discipleship groups and simple churches. We were blessed to see also others impacted at the Cape, believers who would return to their home countries or who went to other countries to share the Good News of Christ. Subsequently God used Munya in many an African country to get simple churches planted, notably Botswana, Uganda, ....... In 2010 Gerda and Lourens Scheepers led the CPx team. This stint impacted them to follow it up with service in Morocco, from where they were ultimately evicted by a government hostile to Christian missionaries. In Bo-Kaap Gerda blazed a trail with low-key loving service at the Islamic Schotsche Kloof Primary School, where Mignonne Schumann from Friends from Abroad (FFA) would serve learners from 2016 into the present. Discovery Bible Study Using English as a vehicle to serve Muslims from other countries was another way to befriend foreigners. One of those we taught was a trader from Cameroon whom we subsequently invited for a meal. His home language is Hausa. This gave us a natural invitation to ask him to watch the DVD More than Dreams since Hausa is one of the original five languages of Muslims in the DVD with English subtitles. These Muslims saw Jesus in a dream. In this dream He appeared to them attired in a white robe. In the course of our outreaches in the city and at the Home Affairs Refugee office, we served the people there with some beverages. There we met a few foreigners who displayed openness to the Gospel. In due course we would invite many a Muslim along to Discovery Bible Study (DBS). How special it was when we could ultimately become 'parents' to an expatriate couple who got married at the Home Affairs office in 2016. The husband came to faith in Cape Town after being one of our DBS participants. We had baptised the Senegalese trader and a another DBS participant together. He subsequently met his wife from another continent at a Bible School. The couple and two children are now ready and poised to go and serve in a country that is still firmly closed to the Gospel. World Cup Outreach The football World Cup of 2010 afforded us a unique opportunity to touch the nations. The event was another vehicle to reach out to many juveniles who knew very little about the Gospel before that event. During a visit to our own children in the UK prior to that, we had been inspired by OM missionary colleagues who operated there with a literature table. Ahead of the global event we procured hundreds of tracts in different languages. We finally received permission to set up a literature table on Green Market Square. We also had many copies made of More than Dreams, a DVD that God had been using to speak to many Muslims around the world. (Prior to the big event, copies of the More than Dreams DVD had been dubbed into French and Arabic.) One of the highlights of our World Cup outreach was the day when Algeria played in Cape Town. On the day that their national team played here, we distributed many DVD copies to the Algerian fans who were quite conspicuous in their green and white attire. What made this outreach very special was that our missionary colleague Rochelle Smetherham, on a visit during 'home assignment', bumped into a Syrian national there in Washington D.C. in 2012. The person reacted excitedly when she saw a copy of the More than Dreams DVD. The Syrian wondered whether this was the same DVD about which Algerians were raving! Another evangelistic attempt targeted the North Koreans who also played in Cape Town. This is an extremely closed communist country in respect of the Gospel. The hostess of our City Bowl His People home ministry group, Amanda Nkhosi, held a top position in the Cape Tourism industry. She had access to people who organised the accommodation of the various teams. Through Amanda Nkhosi we found out where the North Koreans were lodging. At that time, we had a (South) Korean language student living with us. She had come to faith in the Lord here in Cape Town through the loving outreach of a Chinese-background short term missionary colleague from the US. The student was attending a Korean congregation where she was involved in ministry to children. We procured Korean Bibles through that fellowship. After a number of phone calls, we succeeded in getting the Bibles to the hotel in the suburb Newlands where the North Koreans were lodging. At the end of their stay we fetched the remainder of the Bibles. Using our Open Doors contacts, these Bibles were couriered to North Korea. Is it too outrageous to hope that we might still hear some day how one or more of these Bibles impacted North Koreans? Dreams of a Man in White After the World Cup we continued with weekly outreach every Thursday at the Central Methodist Church on Green Market Square. We had been very much encouraged during the World Cup to use the More than Dreams DVD. We interacted with traders in the city and elsewhere, trying to find out whether any of them could possibly be open to the Gospel. It had become well known that many Muslims had become followers of Jesus, after having seen a man in white in a dream. It didn’t pan out for us in a similar way, but it did give us quite a lot of encouragement. (In one case Rosemarie bumped into the leader of an expatriate community in Cape Town who had three dreams of Jesus.) In another scenario, a young man with a dream of Jesus became part of a chain reaction that resulted in another African trader ultimately prepare for ministry in North Korea. (The latter trader had been impacted at the Cape via English lessons and subsequent attendance of our Discovery Bible Study group.) Treasure Hunting We had heard from different sources of a new method of evangelism called Treasure Hunting. In August 2011, when a Dutch missionary occasionally joined our bead workshop with refugee ladies, we decided to get some teaching about it. After two training sessions, we started applying some of the teaching and began practising Treasure Hunting. We would have some exceptional experiences in the course of the next few months doing this. We were not at all surprised that we met folk from Bo-Kaap 'by chance' in the city from time to time as some of our 'treasures'. Treasure Hunting gave us such fun as we evangelised. We used this method especially when groups came to join us, such as those who came from overseas through the Youth with a Mission (YWAM) base in Muizenberg. A Cloud Over Ministry The intense involvement of Muslims in illicit drug peddling frequently had a connection to gangsterism. In 1992 we were involved in a fairly successful response to the gangster violence through Operation Hanover Park in a networking effort of local churches. All too often, the gang lords were Muslims. Many a businessman with collar and tie was a co-religionist who plied the same trade. The Cape Peace Initiative of the late 1990s possibly had the biggest impact of all peace accords with gang leaders. It became the divine instrument that ultimately marginalised PAGAD (People against Gangsterism and Drugs). Simultaneously this period had catapulted Rashied Staggie, a drug lord, into prominence. Rashied Staggie became the proverbial ‘Achilles Heel’ of gangster conversions. So many gangsters returned to their previous lifestyle after their parole or discharge from prison. Staggie had become quite an embarrassment to Church folk after he had been paraded publicly – possibly prematurely – as a sort of trophy at the big Newlands Stadium event of March 2001. After he was finally set free from prison on parole, he displayed no remorse nor did he become positively involved with Christians, although Pastor Ivan Waldeck, a former gang leader from Hanover Park, assisted him with employment. The links to drug peddling continued to play a role in the background of many township pastors. When the locally produced drug called ‘Tik’ (crystal methamphetamine) swept across the Cape Peninsula, causing great devastation among the youth, we attempted to revive Operation Hanover Park. (The drug had been virtually unknown as late as 2003.) This attempt was seriously impeded when it became known that certain pastors were on the payroll of drug lords. The link between township pastors and drug-related activity, along with back slidden drug addicts, would remain a weakness. This hung like a cloud over wonderful ministry and victories in the outreach to gangsters and other criminals in prisons. 17. Ministering to Both Jews and Muslims During a lunchtime prayer meeting of City Bowl ministers in October 1996, I spoke to Messianic Jewish pastor Bruce Rudnick, pastor of the Beth Ariel Fellowship of Messianic believers in Sea Point. Subsequently I got to know him better at church meetings at that fellowship on Friday evenings. Fulfilment of Messianic Prophecies For many centuries the fulfilment of Messianic prophecies was not emphasized in sermons or church teaching. So-called ‘Replacement Theology’ remained in vogue, even in evangelical Christianity. The common belief was that the Church had replaced Israel. This opinion started to change gradually, notably at the Lausanne Consultation of Jewish Evangelism global event here in Cape Town in 2010. Isaiah 19:25 given a boost by the so-called 'Arab Spring' For a long time, Isaiah 19:25 was regarded by some believers as a prophecy of the widespread conversion to Jesus as the Saviour and Messiah in Egypt, (As)syria and Israel in that order. The general interpretation of the prophecy was understood by some believers as the run-up to the reign of our Lord as global ruler for a thousand years. This view was given a boost by the so-called 'Arab Spring' in North Africa, after which thousands of Muslims started to turn their back on Islam, and many a Jew – even among the Orthodox ones - came to recognise Jesus as Messiah. This also happened increasingly in Israel, notably among those who came from Eastern Bloc countries. Towards Muslim/Jewish Dialogue and Reconciliation For many years our love for the Jews found very limited expression. This changed to some extent from 2004 when we increased our networking with missionary colleagues who ministered to Jews. During 2004 our messianic Jewish missionary colleague Edith Sher organised a prayer breakfast in Sea Point, during which a Cape Muslim background believer also gave his testimony. Lillian James was a long-standing contact and one of our prayer partners. She grew up bilingually in Woodstock among people of different cultures. After she had become a committed follower of Jesus, she got to love both Jews and Muslims. She had been one of the believers who attended our prayer meetings for the Middle East, where we prayed for both groups. Lillian introduced us to Leigh Telli whose husband comes from Muslim background in North Africa. Leigh has a special love for the Jews. This served to confirm our calling of ministering to foreigners and also linking our ministry to Messianic Jewry. Rosemarie and I were encouraged anew to attempt stimulating Jewish dialogue at the Cape. We were ready for another attempt towards facilitating reconciliation under the banner of Jesus, with the aid of Messianic Jews and other followers of Jesus – notably also those coming from Muslim background. More Reconciliation Moves The next step was a seminar on reconciliation on February 19, 2005. In our preparation for the seminar, we worked closely with Leigh Telli. In her contribution she shared about the role of the descendants of Isaac in the last days, and I did the same for those of Ishmael. (Our co-worker Rochelle Malachowski who had been working in Palestine, reported on the ministry of Musalaha in the Middle East.) Subsequently a manual of our papers was printed, in which some of Leigh’s paintings also featured. Soon hereafter we conducted an open air service in Camps Bay called ‘Shalom Salam’, signifying our intention to reach out to both Jews and Muslims. These efforts became the start of a close friendship between Rosemarie and Leigh Telli, and a strengthening of the ties to Edith Sher. Edith Sher started a weekly radio programme on Sunday afternoon Edith Sher started a weekly radio programme hereafter on Sunday afternoon via CCFM under the auspices of Messiah’s People. (Edith became an important additional source of information for my manuscript Pointers to Jesus, in which I highlight how the Hebrew Scriptures that is commonly called the 'Old Testament', profoundly point to Jesus as the Messiah.) Confrontation with the Holocaust Rosemarie and I had joined All Nations International, led by Floyd and Sally McClung. In one of the sessions Floyd challenged us to ‘tithe’ our ministry time. For years Rosemarie had been battling with the guilt of the Germans in respect of Jews. She was deeply convicted, resolving to try and devote a tenth of her ministry time to loving outreach to Jews. This implied quite a challenge for her as a German in the light of the anti-Semitic Nazi history of her nation. Rosemarie was challenged to share the platform with a holocaust survivor. God was not slow in answering her prayer. Soon thereafter, our friend Leigh Telli challenged Rosemarie to share the platform with a holocaust survivor. Our participation in the All Nations International CPx course was a genuine reason for procrastinating the issue. Rosemarie however finally accepted the challenge. Rosemarie and a Polish Holocaust Survivor At a meeting in Durbanville on 31 May 2008, Rosemarie shared the story of her upbringing as a post-World War 11 child in Germany. David, a Polish holocaust survivor, was the other speaker at this occasion. Quite a few Jews present at that occasion were clearly touched. She highlighted the fact that she learned to appreciate Jesus as the scapegoat for our sins. Among other things she said in her talk: ‘… I also stand here this afternoon with great humility. After having listened to David and his enormous sufferings during these horrible years of the Holocaust (and what this caused most probably for the rest of his life) brings myself as a German descendant to a place of utter humility and shame. And yet I want to thank God that He has given me this opportunity to stand here today. For many years I was searching for a way to express my deep feelings of regret, sorrow and shame as a German in respect of what has happened, to Jewish people in general, but even more so towards those who have suffered so much themselves during the Holocaust and those who have lost family and friends in a senseless and cruel way…’ Rosemarie closed with the following remarks: …I also want to ask forgiveness for the Church, whose role should have been to stand up for the Jews in the times of horror, instead of being mainly silent. As for myself, it feels like being insulted myself when anybody says something negative about the Jews. I love them with all my heart and I am glad that I had the opportunity today to speak out what has been in my heart for a long time. God bless you all.’ Hope Springs Eternal  After this event, a Jewish lady asked Rosemarie to come and speak to her group in Sea Point. This took place at a follow up meeting in August 2008. There she, Leigh Telli and Cecilia Burger, a veteran Dutch Reformed church worker among the Jews, were warmly welcomed.      Rosemarie was thereafter invited to share her story at various meetings      Unexpectedly, Rosemarie was thereafter invited to share her story at various meetings with Jews, including one with another Holocaust survivor, to Jewish business people on the 20th of April 2009. The organiser of these events was energetic 85-year old Mirjam Lichtermann, herself a holocaust survivor.  Rosemarie received another invitation to a Jewish home in Claremont on 20 May 2009, and to a meeting in Sea Point the same day. On this occasion, Rosemarie was heavily attacked with depression in the days before these events. She prayed fervently as she felt so completely inadequate. The Lord encouraged her, not only with a word from Matthew 10, that she should not fret about what she should say. She deemed it a special privilege to encourage the Jews with Isaiah 40:1 Comfort ye my people.... For quite a while after these opportunities, things went quiet in respect of Jews. We continued to pray that God would bring Jewish contacts on our path naturally. Isaac and Ishmael Reconciled? I was significantly touched at the beginning of 2010 when I was blessed to comprehend on a deeper level that Isaac and Ishmael, the two eldest sons of Abraham, had buried their father together (Genesis 25:9). The evident reconciliation between the two sons of Abraham was probably preceded by confession and remorse. Or was there some reconciling agent involved? (Subsequently I also discovered that Isaac ‘breathed his last and died at a ripe old age, joining his ancestors in death. And his sons, Esau and Jacob, buried him, Genesis 35:29). I started to pray more intensely that a representative body of Christians might express regret and perhaps offer an apology on behalf of Christians for the side-lining and persecution of Jews by Christians. Tears Rather Than Laughter? For years I had been examining the history of genuine revivals. I discerned that, as a rule there had been: (a) united prayer across man-made barriers of church denomination and race and (b) genuine remorse, accompanied by tears. These phenomena would help to show that a revival had not been hyped up artificially. The first Saturday of October 2010 I stated publicly on Signal Hill the need for tears of remorse, as a possible condition for genuine revival. I was praying privately that I might also genuinely experience this. (In different places we had been seeing ‘laughing in the Spirit’, notably in the Toronto movement of the 1990s, but the deep remorseful crying to God as I had been reading about, was lacking.) Quite soon thereafter, my prayer in this regard would be answered, publicly and very embarrassingly! Jews First On 11 October, 2010 the Lord ministered to me from Romans 1:16 when we received the Quarterly Bulletin of the Lausanne Consultation for Jewish Evangelism (LCJE). That edition of the LCJE Bulletin highlighted the legacy of Moishe Rosen, the founder of Jews for Jesus. In the paper that Rosen delivered as part of the Jewish Evangelism track at Lausanne II in Manila in 1989, he highlighted 'Jews first'. In the printed summary of his paper, Rosen proposed 'God’s formula' for worldwide evangelization as the bringing of the Gospel to the Jew first. God’s blueprint for worldwide evangelisation Using 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), Moishe Rosen proposed 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 involved with low-key loving outreach to Jews. The very next day, a long-time friend, Brett Viviers, visited me. He was a Messianic Jewish believer, and a former elder at Cape Town Baptist Church. His daughter's prayers for Muslims were instrumental in linking Rosemarie and me up with that fellowship in 1993. I agreed to start Ishmael Isaac Ministries with him, joined by Barauch Mayaan soon thereafter. On the Muslim side, Achmed Kariem joined in our early deliberations. Brett and I did many a prayer drive together in Sea Point. Years later, I would also join Amanda Hattingh and other prayer warriors on the occasional prayer walk in that suburb. Overawed by a Sense of Guilt On October 19, 2010, we received an email from our friend Liz Campbell, with whom we had started prayer meetings for the Middle East in the early 1990s. She shared '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 by Baruch's ministry.' The meeting with the Maayan family on Saturday afternoon, 23 October, at a private address in Milnerton was a defining moment. Baruch shared his conviction that he was sent to Cape Town a second time. He used the example of Jonah to challenge believers with the message of the Highway from the Cape to Jerusalem. I felt very much embarrassed there I felt very much embarrassed there when I broke down in tears uncontrollably. 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 our forebears had been side-lining the Jews. My excessive weeping was an answer to my own prayers, but it was nevertheless very embarrassing, especially as many others present followed suit. The 'sea of tears' however knitted our hearts to the Maayan family. The Lord had called them back to be part of a movement to take the Gospel from Cape Town throughout the continent of Africa, and ultimately back to Jerusalem. Replacement Theology Still an Issue? It was very special for Rosemarie and me to attend an event that was linked to the international LCJE Conference on 15 October, 2010. For the first time this was held in Cape Town. People from all over the world who were somehow involved with outreach to Jews attended - including those delegates who specially came for Lausanne III. It was however very much of a shock to us to hear that a few lines in the draft document for Lausanne III were supportive of so-called Replacement Theology. Christians have been haughtily suggesting down the centuries without scriptural backing that the Church has replaced Israel as God's special instrument, somehow omitting that we have been 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 organized for all those who had not been invited to the main event at the International Convention Centre. Rather spontaneously I shared our concern that a few lines in the draft for Lausanne III were supportive of so-called Replacement Theology. Replacement Theory Still Deep-Seated Among Evangelicals Soon thereafter I was called to book in an email, a very painful experience indeed. I had taken for granted that our concern would be shared in evangelical circles. The email rattled me quite a lot when I had to discover how deep-seated the effects of Replacement Theology still was 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. The flaw was thankfully corrected in the final revision when it was published in the Cape Town Commitment. The flaw was thankfully corrected in the Cape Town Commitment. Start of the Highway Fellowship On Wednesday afternoon, 27 October 2010, I had a meeting with Achmed Kariem and Brett Viviers as part of an attempt towards Jewish-Muslim reconciliation under the banner of the Lamb. Soon thereafter, Baruch Maayan approached Brett Viviers and me. At a meeting in the Company Gardens, he announced that he would start with weekly prayer on Monday evenings at the home of Gay French in Claremont. We agreed to invite a few followers of Jesus from Jewish and Muslim backgrounds to a meeting on Saturday, 30 November. The 30 November meeting in Sea Point would become the beginning of what became known as our monthly Highway meetings, during which however the Ishmael element was unintentionally pushed aside. At the end of 2010 we made another attempt at Muslim/Jewish dialogue and reconciliation, an effort to link Messianic Jewish believers and Muslim background believers at the Cape. Soon it was decided to have ‘Highway meetings’ every last Saturday of the month at the Sea Point High School. Pastor Light Eze, a Nigerian pastor, who had responded obediently to a divine call to rally the Church at the Cape to repentance and prayer, was at this time fairly closely linked to the group. He had also started a fellowship in Parow, where Maditshaba Moloko, a business woman, became a prominent member. She would also become connected to the Maayan family and the Highway fellowship when the family moved to Pinelands. Simple Local Churches on the Route to Jerusalem Obedient to Romans 1:16 and Matthew 28:19 and 20, we attempted to share the Gospel with Muslims and Jews. We prayed that some of these people who would have been open to the gospel, might become followers of Jesus. As the new believers had to be discipled, we hoped that ultimately we would possibly still see the one or other enlisted in the planting of simple churches on the route to Jerusalem - the spiritual African Highway from the Cape to Jerusalem ­- and ultimately to the ends of the earth. Rosemarie and I hoped to take this as a focus for the last period of our ministry and service. This was however not easy at all to implement, because we were also leaders of Friends from Abroad, where there was no vision for Isaac/Ishmael reconciliation at that stage. Neither was this the case with our All Nations colleagues. It is still our firm hope that clear evidence of reconciliation of Jews and Muslims at the Cape may send some powerful signals around the globe. In Cape Town we have the special situation where we have sizeable minorities of Muslims and Jews, next to the majority group of Christians. On top of that, we have a heritage and history where representatives of the three Abrahamic religions have lived harmoniously next to each other for decades in places like District Six, Bo-Kaap and Green Point until the 1950s. Of course, at that time no one even remotely thought of the possibility of movements like those that we now have in the Middle East called Lech Lecha and Musalaha, where both Jewish and Arab Christians meet from time to time. (Lech Lecha bring young people from both Jewish and Arab background together. Musalaha is a non-profit organization that works towards reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians based on the Biblical principles of peace, justice, and love. The name Musalaha comes from the Arabic word for 'reconciliation'. Musalaha was founded in 1990.) Run-up to the 2011 Jerusalem Prayer Convocation In mid-2011, Baruch Maayan challenged us at one of our Monday evening prayer meetings to pray about becoming part of a group to attend the annual Jerusalem prayer convocation. On June 27 Baruch, his wife Karen and a few other believers in Claremont prayed fervently that the Lord would confirm clearly whether Rosemarie and I should step out in faith to join the Jerusalem convocation. Knowing that our children wanted to sponsor Rosemarie for her 60th birthday in July 2011, so that we could fulfil a secret wish of going to Israel together, I prayed now for confirmation for finances for myself. (Rosemarie had served in a children's home in 1973 after she had been black-listed for entry into South Africa.) The very next day I received a letter from Germany, which informed me that I would receive a small monthly pension, retrospectively from 1 January 2011. I sensed that this was the confirmation to trust the Lord for all the funding necessary for the Jerusalem convocation. For Rosemarie it was very special that she could now be a part of the South African delegation. (When she served in a children's home as a volunteer in Israel for a few weeks in 1973, their leader had taught from a Bible study during her visit to the Holy Land that nations would in future be going up to Jerusalem.) When we left for Israel for the annual International House of Prayer (IHOP) convocation in Jerusalem in October 2011, we had one special prayer: We did not want to be the same on our return to South Africa. The Lord clearly answered our prayers in this regard. In the Holy Land At the convocation itself we took a firm decision to spread the word of the Highway of Holiness to our personal contacts. As a group of eleven South African Christians from diverse racial, and geographical backgrounds (Messianic Jewish, ‘Black’, ‘Coloured’, Afrikaner and English-speaking), that was attending the IHOP convocation in Jerusalem, we prayed separately for our country. At the first session we set out issues for praise and prayer. Even before we looked at praise points, the concern came up to pray in remorse and confession for divine forgiveness, because of the biased expressions of certain South African leaders in Church and State regarding Israel. Arabs and Jews in Harmony At the prayer convocation we were blessed to listen to Arab and Jewish pastors who were meeting each other regularly. In every effort of reconciliation, a price has to be paid. This is the basis of Paul’s challenge to all followers of Jesus, to be reconciled to God and to accept his gift in faith, the death on the cross for our sins. The biggest price of all has already been paid by no less than God himself, who gave his one and only, his unique son to reconcile us to himself. What a surprise it was for Rosemarie and me to hear and see how Orthodox Jews and Arabs were actually living in close proximity in the controversial East Jerusalem. We were sad that many people were still clamouring for this portion of land to become the capital of a Palestinian State and thus perpetuating the strife, instead of praying that the day might be hastened when they would serve the Almighty together as descendants of Isaac and Ishmael. This would of course be the culmination of the fulfilment of Messianic prophecy. We were challenged concretely towards increased commitment to usher this in through the Highway of Holiness from the Cape to Jerusalem. A video from Singapore mentioned something about a prayer room where intercessors could intercede around the clock. Rosemarie picked this up, sharing with me the vision of getting a prayer room facing Israel at our home. In April 2019 Pastor Callie Liew from Singapore came to explore whether Cape Town should have one of seven world prayer towers. It seemed as if things were coming together via the vision in Jerusalem in 2011 which had impacted us. Is This Your Idea, Lord? Because of inclement weather conditions on the first Saturday of December 2012, the prayer warriors met at our home. (They would have gone to Signal Hill.) What an encouragement it was when Baruch Maayan climbed on to the roof above our dining room, where we hoped the prayer room facing Israel could be built. There he anointed the place. A big challenge was the funds for the project, but our faith had grown after so many experiences over the previous decades that God was faithful. We trusted Him to see us through if the prayer room was His confirmed will. Here and there a financial gift came in towards the project, but nothing substantial. We became unsure whether it was indeed the Lord's commission to have the prayer room built. Or was it just a nice idea? In His faithfulness, the Lord confirmed this, when Rosemarie came out of our dining room door on a beautiful sunny January morning, surprised by a special phenomenon. This was no less than a modern-day variation of the fleece experience of Joshua in the Bible. Above the awning and the area adjacent to it on the edge of the table on our north-facing balcony, there were rows of drops, whereas the rest of the balcony was completely dry. Because the awning was just below the place where the prayer room would be built, we gladly interpreted this as divine confirmation of the project. A few weeks later, just before the Passover weekend, we had a devout young German medical student visiting us. He worked in one of our townships as an intern. When he heard about the prayer room project, his down to earth question was how we expected to fund it. We did not hesitate to tell him that we expected God to do it. Over-awed and Dumb-Founded We were however very much over-awed, dumb-founded, when the very next day we received an email from Holland. The Dutch HQ of WEC International had received a bequest for the missionary work of the Cloetes in South Africa in 2010, which had just been cleared. The Dutch WEC folk of the Netherlands were not compelled to pass this on to us since we were not WEC missionaries any more. The committee felt however that they should honour the wish of the deceased. We had no qualms to accept the bequest. We were blessed because it more or less covered the bulk of what we would still need for the building of the prayer room. How we rejoiced at this divine intervention and provision! Issues Around a Prayer Room Rosemarie and I did not expect to get the prayer room without some difficulty. That it would become a big nightmare was however not what we wished. We were initially very much blessed when Doug Smetherham, a structural engineer and the husband of our missionary colleague Rochelle, expressed willingness to donate his services towards the project. The preliminary steps would however keep us on edge for months. There were so many delays to get the plans ultimately approved at the city council. And then there was the actual building which ultimately led to an asthmatic condition of Rosemarie because of the dust emitted. The pinnacle of this challenge was a serious mistake made by the Christian builder to whom we had given the task, which was compounded by exceptionally unseasonal heavy rain in February 2012. Our daughter Tabitha and Mike visited us just as Rosemarie and I were praising God while we attempted to address the flooding of our kitchen! We had learnt through experience that praising God in adversity is such a powerful weapon in spiritual warfare. The choice of another builder to complete the job would become another wonderful chapter of God's over-ruling. The testimony of Cecil John, a former gangster, whose Kingdom ministry was the use of his exceptional building skills to empower broken people, had all of us in tears - overawed by the divine work in and through sinful human beings like us! 18. A New Season of Spiritual Warfare At one of our Monday evening prayer times with Pastor Baruch Maayan in Claremont, we heard about the intention of the ANC to commit the country to the ancestors of their founders and past leaders at its centenary celebrations from 6 - 8 January 2012. This led to a season of intensive spiritual warfare in which Pastor Light Eze, a Nigerian pastor, played a prominent role. He had responded obediently to a divine call to rally the Church at the Cape to repentance and prayer. In an email I suggested that we cherish and celebrate the Christ-like legacy of ANC founders like John Dube and Albert Luthuli, but in the same email I also mentioned that we have to oppose the abomination of ancestor worship. The programme for a week of special prayer was prepared by Pastor Eze and a few other prayer leaders. Another Name Change Effort of a Mountain Peak The name change of Devil’s Peak was high on our prayer agenda at this occasion. Noting that racial prejudice, discrimination of all sorts, unwitting demonic activity through ancestor worship and freemasonry have been practised in traditional religious rituals, repentance and forgiveness were included in our prayers. Central in all of it was the uplifting of Jesus. 'Jesus, we enthrone you!' was our theme song throughout the week. We invited believers to join us. We prayed that the Unity of the Body of Christ might be visibly demonstrated in the prayer event. Pointers to Divine Approval Supernatural things seemed to point to divine approval, such as water coming from the ground next to St George's Cathedral where we were praying - as if it was coming from a well!. This could never have been manipulated. Similarly, water dripping from the lions' mouths at Rhodes Memorial, was very special. Deep remorse was evident at the evening at national parliament for some of the laws promulgated that encouraged sexual immorality. We prayed for a reversal of them. Our prayers at the Green Point Stadium addressed sexual immorality especially, but they included also thanks and praise to the Lord for the victory of 2010 when the Lord so wonderfully answered our prayers regarding human trafficking. (Hundreds of prostitutes had been ‘imported’ for the World Cup. They were hardly used because so many men who came to the event brought their wives or partners along.) The last evening definitely ‘took the cake.’ There on Signal Hill we have never had such a diverse crowd before – one of the best representations of the body of Christ that I had ever experienced in every respect. Very special was the extended session of praying for Israel and for the Jews. Pastor Chris Eden of Bridges for Peace showed us from Scripture where we have faltered as a nation and as the Church. The prayers included repentance for the replacement of Israel by the Church down the ages and for the side-lining of Jews. Pastor Light then invited all persons present with a special link to a nation, to pray and repent on behalf of his/her nation, in its dealing with Israel. Eighteen countries from all continents were represented. Pastor Maditshaba Moloko, a Tswana intercessor, led us in a prayer of blessing Israel. The congregation was then requested to stretch our hands to the north, so to speak in the direction of Israel. At that moment a rainbow was visible around the moon. What a confirmation this was of the divine unction on the ‘apple of His eye!’ A Bull's Eye in Spiritual Warfare Spiritual warfare at Rhodes Memorial seemed to be a proverbial ‘Bulls Eye’. Our battle had as target the corruption that was associated with the administration of President Zuma. Advocate Murray Bridgman had been putting some persevering work into the process of the name change to Doves' Peak. We decided subsequently that we would use ‘word of mouth’ as our new strategy to achieve our goal. A Significant Backlash We must have angered the arch enemy at least to some extent at this time. Some of the main Cape evangelical role players experienced the one or other form of attack at the beginning of 2012. It was touch and go or I was eliminated by a heart attack on the night of 30/31 January 2012. This happened a few days before a Transformation Africa mountain peak name change event, that was set for Saturday 4 February at Rhodes Memorial. I would have been one of the speakers. Three severe artery blockages should have taken me out but God had fore-stalled this massive attack on my life. A few days prior to this, Beverley Stratis, a good friend of ours and a faithful intercessor, received a vision while she was praying. She saw a dark cloud and a life-threatening vibe of death surrounding me in this vision. That was the cue for her to engage in intense intercession for me. About two weeks later Erika Schmeisser, an intercessor who attended our Saturday evening fellowship with Pastor Maayan regularly, came up to me to tell me about her special experience. She had heard that I had a heart attack. At that moment she woke up from a massive pain in her chest. Fearing that she was going to die, Erika immediately sensed that this was the experience of someone else who was having this severe pain. This circumstance highlighted Isaiah 53 to me in a special way. Initially it was suspected that I had contracted a ‘slight heart attack’. (With the low pulse that I had, the doctor who sent me to hospital for an EKG, was rather perplexed that I had been driving our car by myself.) At the angiogram performed on me two days later, it surfaced that I had a complete blockage of a main artery and two severe blockages on another one. Any one of the two occurrences could have caused death. At Vincent Palotti Hospital the nurses were very surprised that I had no need for tablets for pain in the chest region. The Gospel message became clear to me as never before, namely how Jesus could bear our sins, ailment and pain vicariously, in our stead. Three stents gave me a new lease of life. Unintentionally, the venue of our Rhodes Memorial prayer would trigger off a train of actions with ramifications on various university campuses as far afield as Oxford in England and Los Angeles in the US in 2015. Run-up to the Visit of Pastor Umar Mulinde In search of a Muslim background follower of Jesus and speaker with a love for Israel, Cecilia Burger, the Lausanne Consultation for Jewish Evangelism coordinator at the Cape, surprisingly invited Pastor Umar Mulinde from Uganda. He was however still very sick indeed. In fact, he had a major operation only ten days before his arrival in Cape Town in August 2012. Pastor Umar Mulinde had miraculously survived an assassination attempt. On Christmas Eve 2011 after a church service, where many a Muslim received Jesus as Lord and Saviour, Pastor Umar was on his way to his car when he heard someone calling, pretending to be a congregant, “Pastor, help me!” As he turned around, acid was thrown into his face. He ran back to the church and more acid was thrown onto his back. In unbearable pain, he was rushed to a hospital in Kampala. Due to inadequate medical facilities and further attempts to kill him, Pastor Mulinde was taken to India to receive medical treatment and from there through a spectacular divine sequence of events, Pastor Mulinde landed in the Sheba Medical Centre in Tel Aviv, Israel. There he received the best treatment he could have enjoyed anywhere in the world. The acid badly burnt the right side of his face and he lost the use of his right eye. Despite his brittle health condition, his schedule at the Cape was filled with many meetings. He was convinced that the Lord wanted him to visit South Africa. (By the time he came here, he had already undergone five major operations.) He is Our Peace The South African Lausanne Consultation on Jewish Evangelism (LCJESA) conference theme with Pastor Umar was taken from Ephesians 2:14, “For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility…” A few days later, a very remarkable meeting took place in our home on Tuesday afternoon 28 August 2012. In the audience of over twenty people more than half of them were Jewish. Pastor Mulinde’s deep love for God’s chosen people and his concern for the safety of the land of Israel became apparent in the course of the afternoon. A Jewish woman with a background in radio broadcasting asked the million-dollar question: “So what led you to become a Christian?” Pastor Mulinde shared how he came to accept Yeshua as his Lord and Messiah. At the end of his message, one of the Christians, Jamie Campbell, felt prompted to pray for Pastor Mulinde. He concluded his prayer with the words “...in the Name of Jesus, the Messiah”. The Visit of Pastor Youssef Ourahmane A phone call from Dr Ernst van der Walt from his retirement abode in the sea-side town of Hermanus towards the end of 2012 would thrust me soon into activist mode to organise meetings for Pastor Youssef Ourahmane, a former Muslim from Algeria. This visit would become a blessing to our own ministry after Ps. Tertius Bezuidenhout had told a fairly new Algerian believer at the Cape about a meeting with Pastor Youssef Ourahmane. At this meeting he was challenged to attend a Bible School, which he subsequently did. In due course John, the new name he chose, would be leading a home church of MBBs. In February 2013 we had Pastor Youssef Ourahmane sharing at various venues how there had been a revival in that country. Before 1980 the number of born-again followers in Algeria could be counted. In 2013 there were already over 100,000 believers in the country. He had personally seen imams, Islamic scholars and terrorists come to faith in Jesus.) Subsequently the Algerian government said to the church leaders: 'You must train your pastors!!!' Permission was given for a Bible School to be built. At the various events during the first days of March 2013 that they addressed at the Cape, Pastor Youssef and his wife did not only share these facts, but they also shared with us their ‘secret’ – a prayer chain. A Fasting and Prayer Chain Takes Shape We warmed to this idea and decided to pursue it. The response for the prayer and fasting chain was fairly positive. On Friday 19 April a few people came to our home to pray and a few more showed interest to participate. An email from Pretoria announcing a National Day of Prayer for 19 May 2013, sparked a country-wide reaction. That was the background of my question to other Cape prayer warriors to join in some way. The reaction was quite swift. Within a few days the Drommedaris Hall of the Good Hope Centre in the City was booked and plans made for a meeting from 2-5 pm on the 19th of May. MBBs and Messianic Jewish Believers Uniting? Jack Carstens, the leader of the David and Jonathan Foundation, who has been supporting Messianic congregations in Israel substantially for many years, organised a meeting for Messianic Jewish Believers in Brackenfell for 20 April 2013, along with our missionary colleague Cecilia Burger. This was the first time that such an event took place in Cape Town. About forty people attended, including a few MBBs. Two Muslim Foreigners of Bo-Kaap Impacted Pastor John Miller introduced a Muslim lady to us who had a child at the school in Vredehoek where the city congregation of His People Ministries had their office. The Indian background Zimbabwean of mixed parentage was married to an abusive Somalian. She was living in Bo-Kaap at the time. After a few counselling sessions with her and a situation at a mosque where she displayed openly that she had enough of Islam, we could lead her to the Lord in our prayer room. Subsequently she accepted discipling and ultimately became quite a committed believer. A young man from Sudan who had also been living in Bo-Kaap came to the Lord at this time. With another MBB from Senegal we baptised him in December 2013. The Indian background Zimbabwean was baptised soon thereafter. (Their unique stories are recorded in the booklet Into the Light, and accessible on our internet blog.) During the next few months, we came into contact with a few other male MBBs, where accommodation became a matter to be addressed. At some stage we had three of them living in our home! Sabbatical Snippets In the run-up to a three-month sabbatical in 2014, the bulk of which was spent in Europe, we heard about the conversion of male Muslims on a surprising scale at that time. Before our departure we had been involved in the discipling of a gang leader. His conversion, along with that of two other gang leaders, led to a substantial decrease of criminality in the Athlone area. Because email contact was very common by 2014, we were blessed with news snippets from the Cape, such as a prayer march in the Northern suburbs in which our colleagues Dennis and Denise Atkins, our Discipling House parents, were significantly involved. Upon our return from overseas, our excitement was dampened when we heard that the presence of various Muslim background males, some of them new believers, had caused a crisis at our Discipling House. The need for a parallel institution, one for male Muslim background believers (MBBs), seemed to be urgent. Two of these new believers, one from the Ivory Coast and the other from Sudan, were residing at our home. We also heard that our friends in Holland started making plans to send us a container in which they intended to send various artefacts, as they had done at the beginning of the millennium. We were very much blessed when Andre van der Westhuizen, a member of the DRC Bergsig Church in Durbanville, took a keen interest. Along with a few members of that congregation, he wanted to assist to bring a Discipling House for males into being. When Almo Bouwer, a builder and a member of that congregation, revealed that the Lord had challenged him to build something in District Six, the venture was also linked to the mountain peak name change operation that was still an ongoing prayer point. The intention to try and purchase or build another building turned out to be premature. While we took it in our stride that the new MBBs came from the drug culture, we knew that this would not be easy. A Forward Push of the Five-Fold Ministry Events to highlight the five-fold ministry kept the prayer for revival alive. (Referring to Ephesians 4:11, the four-fold or five-fold ministry became more prominent in charismatic and Evangelical Christian circles. Five offices are mentioned in the Word, namely those of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors (or "shepherds") and teachers.) A significant move in the spiritual realm occurred when Maditshaba Moloko, who had been ordained as pastor, was appointed as the co-ordinator for the annual Jerusalem prayer convocation in 2014. The gifted intercessor and visionary moved with her business into office space on the 20th floor of the Thibault Square building in mid-2015. Soon thereafter, a monthly prayer meeting for Jerusalem started there. These premises would become the venue for many strategic city-wide meetings, such as one ahead of a big event at the Lighthouse Christian Centre in Parow in July 2015. Limited Church Unity The enthusiasm of the Highway event of November 2014 at the Lighthouse Christian Centre started dwindling after a few months. We were however blessed by an initiative of Elizabeth Jordaan of Jericho Walls in Durbanville in April/May 2015, which linked the Cape with believers in Malaysia and Holland. Some evidence of Church unity was displayed at this time. Pastors Michelle and Arthur Coetzee, a couple from Krugersdorp that has a ministry in the prophetic realm, were invited to bring a message from God that they were led to share with the Church in Cape Town. On Sunday, 7 July 2015, the Body of Christ was called to come in unity for worship and prayer. The 'Uniting in Prayer and Worship' meeting on the 7th July was a most inspiring and exciting event. As a symbol of unity and dying to self, the leaders knelt and cast their crowns, symbolic of their ministries, at the foot of the cross. Different people prayed for seven 'gates of influence' in society: Family, Belief systems(church), Government, governance and leadership, Economy Education, Science and Technology, Media, Arts and Culture. Another big prayer event labelled as a National Day of Repentance for South Africa. was called for the 13th of September the same year. The main event was in Bloemfontein where the ANC had dedicated the country to the ancestral spirits. In the Mother City an event was arranged on short notice to coincide with that one in St Mary's Catholic Cathedral just outside Parliament,. That we united for prayer with Roman Catholic believers was quite significant. Crossing the Jordan! At the beginning of 2016 Rosemarie and I were challenged and blessed by the sermon of Wilna van der Merwe, the new pastor of First Century Vineyard Church. (Three years prior to that we looked at our attending this congregation as a transition, hoping that we could mentor a leader of a Bo-Kaap home church.) Wilna used Deuteronomy 11:11f as her point of departure: You are crossing the Jordan to take possession of a land of mountains and valleys that drinks rain from heaven... Bo-Kaap was the 'Jordan' that we wanted to cross. We still hoped and prayed for simple churches to be started in Bo-Kaap and perhaps assist with some monitoring to MBB leaders there. ‘Crossing the Jordan’ became our goal as we prayed more intensely for three ministry to take over from us in a leadership capacity. We were blessed when shortly thereafter, Theo and Mignonne Schumann, an Afrikaner couple that was serving as missionaries in Mozambique, contacted us. They intended to return from there soon because of the education of their two teenage children. God had challenged them to serve Malay people when they heard about our ministry via a colleague. (A sector of the present-day Bo-Kaap was known in earlier days as the Malay Quarter.) In due course they started serving there as our successors. 19. Embroiled in National Issues Rosemarie and I started to pray in a more targeted way for new ventures to get involved with. Strangely enough, I got more embroiled in national issues in an aside. When I turned sixty-five in December 2010, we started looking more intensively at ‘re-tyring – ‘putting on new tyres’ as I called it - not merely re-treading old ones! We seriously considered relocating to the Middle East to share the Gospel in a low-key way there among Arab speakers, and also engaging in some itinerant teaching. During our sabbatical in 2014 when we were in Holland for two weeks, we were very much challenged by the fact that hardly anything was done by believers there in a loving outreach to the Moroccans, many of whom had been living there for generations. But also that was not confirmed. Ignition of the #Mustfall Movement We have been praying at Rhodes Memorial for many years occasionally, aware that this was a satanic stronghold. The statue of Cecil John Rhodes on the UCT campus triggered the Rhodes Must Fall movement. The first protest, and the action that started the Rhodes Must Fall campaign, occurred on 9 March 2015. A train of ‘Must fall’ campaigns followed. That led to the Fees Must fall and Zuma Must Fall campaigns. The latter one became rather anarchic in due course. Students used occupation, civil disobedience and violence during their protests. Property and vehicles were damaged, buildings gutted. The Embassy Downgraded In October 2015 our ANC government gave red-carpet treatment to HAMAS leaders. This had an immediate backlash in the spiritual realm. It was the complete opposite of blessing Israel, going from bad to worse. The Muslim minority in the ANC, led by Nellie Pandor, the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation who is married to a Muslim and the vocal grandson of Nelson Mandela succeded in getting the Embassy in Tel Aviv downgraded. Also at the United Nations our envoy shifted the country's stance on Middle East matters from a neutral position towards a clear bias in favour of the Palestinians. With other followers of Jesus we were not surprised when this was followed by the clear downward slide got the country economically. The short-sighted actions of our government did however also spark an escalation of prayer. Intense spiritual warfare ensued. Via the befriended parliamentarian Steve Swart of the ACDP we tried to address this matter. In the fortnightly prayer with him in Parliament, this matter came up from time to time. Five and a half years later, the downgrading to consular status as some ANC politicians wanted, did not transpire. We continue(d) to pray that our country may be a conciliatory blessing in the Middle East conflict. South Africa on the Rise? At the beginning of 2016, various Christians felt challenged to oppose the negativity in South Africa. The argument of the South Africa must rise campaign – an initiative of Pastor Errol Naidoo, the well known leader of the Family Policy ministry - was that ‘If everything must fall - then eventually, the nation will fall’. The death of our revered (former) President Nelson Mandela in December 2013 inspired me to make our love story available in hard copy for our grandchildren. This led to the low-key publication of WHAT GOD JOINED TOGETHER in 2015. Our son Sam started‘#hopeforsa’ as a catch word in the South Africa must rise campaign using WHAT GOD JOINED TOGETHER in the campaign through Facebook. A groundswell of prayer came out of concern because of the student unrest and the seemingly never-ending corruption in government circles. The 'State Capture' report in which the actions of various government officials were exposed, brought some correction, but its effect was minimal. United Prayer for South Africa During a meeting in January 2016 with church leaders in the 20th Floor premises at Thibault Square of Pastor Maditshaba Moloko, it surfaced that nobody knew whether anything was happening in the Cape Peninsula regarding the United Prayer for South Africa initiative. I had picked up through Gateway News that Pastor Robbie Black of East London had the vision to get South Africans to pray on Sunday the 26th of February 2016 at 14:00h. He said: “It is time for us as Christian believers to rise, take a stand and unite in prayer for our nation. I pray that you as a fellow Christian will share in the excitement and join us in the United Prayer for South Africa … to have a prayer session at prayer points all across our country, mobilizing as many towns and cities as possible.” Just like 1994 when my inquiry brought the Marches for Jesus in the Western Cape into my lap, I hereafter found myself attempting to get United Prayer for South Africa off the ground in our part of the country. This time round it was however fairly easy with the technological advances of emails and whatsapp at our disposal. In due course I found Terence Phillips, with whom I have been praying at various occasions already, notably on Saturday mornings, willing to take that over. Surprising Input From Elsewhere From two different sources I heard that Rev. Peter Chapman, who had come to serve at the Gardens Presbyterian Church, had a heart for the unity of the body of Christ. After making an appointment with him, we lost little time to get a pastors’ weekly prayer time and interaction started there. Advertised as a private meeting with Dr Richard Harvey, a Messianic Jewish believer from the UK, we also had a few of our Muslim background believers from Algeria and the Ivory Coast present, along with Jewish friends. Our hope that this could be the start of a divine move to forge more visibility of the Body of Christ in the City Bowl was soon thoroughly dampened, when we could not even get other pastors to join us for prayer one-off. A Water Crisis Towards the end of 2016 a crisis started building up as the dams in the Western Cape were approaching critical levels. Parallel to this, fires had to be extinguished at different places. Many of the fires which caused extensive damage were probably arson-related, started by politically motivated people. The result was a mighty wave of prayer as these fires coincided with a serious shortage of water. Thousands of churches around the country prayed for rain on 22 January 2017. When we had to find a venue on short notice for a meeting with Omri Jaakobovic of Hosting of Israeli Travellers (HIT) on 1 April 2017, Peter Chapman and his Gardens Presbyterian congregation obliged immediately. The service took on a deeper significance when we decided to turn the event into the first of a three-part 10th anniversary celebration of Friends from Abroad. That occasion evolved into a monthly combined worship time on the last Sunday of every month. Countering a Threat Around Jerusalem The real threat of a tense situation around Jerusalem and a ‘so-called’ Peace Conference in Paris on 15 January 2017, spawned a world-wide call for prayer. Followers of Jesus linked with Israel and other Jews, prayed that the enemies of God might be scattered and confused. God did this in no uncertain way. At this time the incoming new US President Donald Trump had put the moving of the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem high on his list of priorities. The UK sent a low-profile delegation to Paris and clearly stated that they would not sign the final statement. Likewise, in New York on 17 January 2017, a divisive UN Security Council resolution was not passed. That would have given the right of way to the Palestinian Authority to divide Jerusalem unilaterally. It is Time ...! Crime, corruption and a general wave of negativity was sweeping the nation during the first months of 2017. Pastor Angus Buchan announced ‘It is Time ...!’, calling intercessors to come to Bloemfontein for a day of prayer on 22 April. He expected a million intercessors to attend. However, there were only six weeks to prepare! This would have been impossible humanly speaking!... But God! From all around South Africa Christians came in their numbers in all kinds of vehicles. Modern technology enabled an event of a magnitude that would have taken ages to prepare a few years ago. It is significant that Ps. Angus Buchan mentioned in his sermon cum prayer that we would be able to witness the result in Parliament. (This happened on Friday, 24 November 2017 when 150 intercessors and believers from across South Africa gathered in the old parliament precincts. It was there where all the apartheid laws had been enacted.) Many intercessors prayed for the end of the corrupt regime of President Zuma. That was not to be, not even by an extended process. Parliamentarians were required to vote in a secret ballot on 8 August, 2017. This could theoretically have been a way, also for ANC members, to express no confidence in him. However, President Zuma survived not only that vote of no confidence, but also many exposures of corruption, that had become known as a part of 'state capture'. It seemed that a miracle was needed to unseat him before the elections of 2019. Run-Up to 40 Days of Worship After our return from Europe at the end of August 2016, we seriously contemplated another extended stint in Holland in 2017. Major problems during our absence at our Discipling House brought about second thoughts. We wanted our succession as leaders of Friends from Abroad to be properly in place, before attempting another extended stint abroad. We ultimately left for only six weeks. There we heard that a Brazilian couple, Francis and Mildred Lire, had a vision for 40 Days of Worship in South Africa that should start on 24 September 2017. The Lord opened a door for Francis and Mildred to come and live in the Mother City quite near to us in Vredehoek in September 2017, just prior to the 40 Days of Worship. We changed the venue of our monthly combined worship time to Rhodes Memorial for that occasion. Next to worship, praying for rain was a common topic at various other venues all around the Western Cape. There we prayed of course also for the name change to Doves' Peak. A Prophetic Word from Jerusalem A prophetic word was brought to Cape Town from Jerusalem by two couples linked to the Succat Hallel prayer room just at the time when we had a Unite in Worship and Prayer Committee meeting. The group relayed the prophetic vision of a wave across Africa that would shake witchcraft and idolatry. An email of Rick Ridings, a Jerusalem Succat Hallel prayer leader, triggered a prayer event at Cape Point. Cape Town intercessors, together with those who had come from Jerusalem decided that Baruch should be the person to strike the waters there with his staff in a prophetic action. Later that day we heard that Baruch Maayan was planning to be in South Africa within the next two weeks! The country was economically in dire straits after the State President had appointed Mr Des van Rooyen, an ANC back bencher as Minister of Finance. This was perceived as grave neoptism, him giving such ans important position to a crony who had hardly displayed or command skills for this position at all. The currency plummeted significantly. That fifty intercessors showed up on very short notice on Friday 11 December, 2015 at the venue, for which entry was quite expensive, was something akin to a miracle. Led by Baruch Maayan, a group of leaders and intercessors performed a prophetic act at Cape Point. The impact and effect of the prayer was quite significant. That President Zuma heeded the advice given to him was a special miracle. (Subsequently he stubbornly held on to his position in spite of many calls to step down, including many from within the ranks of his party.) In a desperate act to salvage the sliding economy of the country, Mr Zuma appointed Mr. Pravin Gordhan, a former Finance Minister, who had an excellent track record. The Rand recovered to a level almost to where it had been before the appointment of Mr. van Rooyen. Believers continued to pray a few more times around the possibility of economic collapse. A Response to the Murdering of Farmers One ‘Settler, One Bullet’ was a rallying cry and slogan of the Azanian People's Liberation Army (APLA), the armed wing of the Pan African Congress (PAC), during the struggle of the 1980s against apartheid in South Africa. The slogan parodied the African National Congress's slogan 'One Man, One Vote', which eventually became 'One Person, One Vote'. ‘Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer’ was the competing war cry of Peter Mokaba of the ANC at the April 1993 funeral of assassinated South African Communist Party leader Chris Hani. (When the fight against apartheid was nearing its end, a settler was defined as a ‘White’ participating in the oppression of indigenous people. It thus did not include all ‘White’ South Africans. Those 'Whites' whose 'sole allegiance was to Africa' were considered part of the African nation. They were excluded from the settler category.) In 2015, the student activist group Rhodes Must Fall and other affiliated movements revived the slogan by chanting 'One Settler One Bullet' at rallies at the University of Cape Town and by statements on social media. A gradual increase of farmers being killed reached its peak in October 2017 when in different parts of the country ‘White’ farmers gathered for prayer, joined by other Christians. At the Cape quite a number of ‘Coloureds’ joined in these events. Inside South Africa hope was fanned that the end of the Zuma era was nearing when Cyril Ramaphosa was elected as President of the ANC at their annual congress in December 2017. Many were still hoping that Jacob Zuma would step down voluntarily, so that there would not be a leadership clash. This would however not be the case. By contrast, true to what had happened in the years prior to this, Zuma clung to his position fiercely. That Ramaphosa deemed it fit to participate publicly in ancestor worship, dampened the spirits of Christians who had been hoping for spiritual renewal within the government party. It’s Time Again! In mid-January 2018 Ps Angus Buchan sent out a WhatsApp call for another It’s time occasion like the one in Bloemfontein of 22 April 2017. Buchan selected the venue as Mitchell's Plain after reading the testimony of Ashley Potts in a Scripture Union booklet. (The former drug addict from Mitchell's Plain subsequently became the director of the Cape Drug Centre and a member of the Executive of the Concerned Clergy of the Western Cape.) Ps Buchan referred to Ashley as his “Macedonian man”. He felt that God wanted the It’s Time prayer event to be held at Mitchell's Plain. He did not know that the suburb was a bastion of satanism. He had merely acted in obedience to what he sensed was a divine calling. The Name of Ps.Angus Buchan Abused Someone abused his name to call intercessors to a time of prayer for rain on Wednesday 24 January at 13h. The hoax message, claiming to be from Ps. Angus Buchan, and written in his style - referring back to last year’s historic “It’s Time” prayer day in Bloemfontein - spread rapidly through Christian social media networks. South African believers, concerned about the water crisis in the Western Cape, took up the call all over the country, for an hour of prayer from 1pm to 2pm on Wednesday 24 January, sharing the message widely, promoting it in churches and at events, and planning ways to participate in the national prayer event in groups or alone. Swieg Nel, an influential member and co-ordinator of the ACDP party in its early days, took a special role in keeping this whatsapp group going. Jericho Walls posted a call to prayer on its website, saying: 'Several groups asked for Christians to unite in prayer on Wednesday 24 January 2018 to pray especially for the water crisis in Cape Town, but also for the drought that was plaguing nearly the whole country. Pray as individuals, but try to unite in prayer in groups anytime between 12:00 and 14:00 or in the evening.' Although the effect might have been blunted when the message was corrected by Ps Buchan, as not from him, the response was tremendous. Denominational boundaries crumbled as people came to pray in diverse venues and in homes. I attended this prayer meeting in the Mowbray Baptist Church, taking along a few people, including a Hindu background follower of Christ and a MBB. The intercessors decided to make this a weekly event to pray for rain and revival. Here I got to know believers better who are linked to the Message Trust, an agency that had been operating at the Cape since 2014. Alastair Buchanan, an old stalwart and friend since our short stint at the beginnings of the Jubilee Church in the early 1990s, had been the pivot of Message Trust, with Anja Morkel as his very able assistant. Down the years the lives of many homeless and struggling people have been touched and changed through this blessed incarnational ministry. At the Cape they started to give convicted drug addicts and former gangsters a new chance in life. Reporter for Gateway News? When Andre Viljoen asked me to write a report of the preparatory event with Angus Buchan at the Lighthouse Christian Centre on Wednesday, 7 February 2018, ahead of the ‘It’s time’ event scheduled for March 24, I had no hesitation because I would have gone anyway. What a special joy and privilege it was to write articles for Gateway News in the weeks prior to the event in Mitchell's Plain. A Divine Response On Tuesday 13 February, something happened in the spiritual realm which linked the praying for rain at the 'It's Time' event to the Zuma administration. There was a strange dark cloud hanging over the centre of Cape Town. This was followed by an extended roar of lightning and thunder not normally heard here at all. It felt as if God was speaking. And then the news came that President Jacob Zuma would resign! The nation had to wait till the late hours of 14 February before Zuma finally resigned. There must have been some divine intervention because he had been clinging to power just like Robert Mugabe had been doing in Zimbabwe a few months prior to this. Intercessors perceived this as a wonderful gift from our loving heavenly Father. Land Grabbing Legalized? President Ramaphosa indicated in his 2018 State of the Nation address that ‘expropriation without compensation’ would be implemented. However, that a resolution to this effect was passed in Parliament soon thereafter, took many of us by surprise. Emotions ran unusually high during our prayer time in the provincial parliament on Saturday, 10 March. Just prior to this, the Democratic Alliance gave open support to the Gay Parade on 24 February. Same sex marriage and abortion were two issues, next to land grabbing - which appeared superficially to be tantamount to the legalizing of theft – that Christians felt should be addressed. The scary scenario of Zimbabwe at the beginning of the millennium, when 'White' farmers lost land big time, came to mind. The country, that had been called the bread basket of Africa, was reduced to a poverty stricken region from which the citizens fled in their thousands to South Africa. Expropriation Without Compensation to be Implemented The alarm caused by the February 2018 decision in the South African parliament to expropriate land without compensation, brought a few Christians together once again. The idea came up to provide biblical guidelines to the electorate in view of the 2019 elections. Using our Doves' Peak committee as nucleus, a few other Cape Christians representing different organizations, were asked to join this ‘think tank’. We were quite thankful that the government thereafter ordered public hearings around the matter. This differed to the previous steam-rolling of new legislation. The ANC could have abused their two-thirds majority with the aid of the EFF. We attempted to get 'into Parliament', to dialogue with different political parties. Via Steve Swart, the ACDP member of Parliament and a friend, it was fairly easy. On 20 April 2018 quite an array of pastors pitched up, including some however who had a score to settle with the Christian party. Our goal was therefore more or less still born. Steve Swart was subsequently a member of a government commission that went around the country to give rank and file folk the chance to verbalize their opinions about the sensitive issue that was dividing the nation along racial lines. Pro Testare I was reminded of my stance during the apartheid era, proposing that believers should interpret protest to these laws with its unethical and unbiblical tendency from its Latin root pro testare. I was ready to share at a public hearing at the Friends of God (AFM) Church in Goodwood that my brothers and I were standing by the decision of our parents to forgive the government of the day for the unfair expropriation of our property when we received a pittance as compensation in Tiervlei/Ravensmead. In due course Patrick Kuwana, a learned Zimbabwean economist who lives in Pretoria, joined the think tank. Murray Bridgman and I went to Parliament in person to deliver a substantial document. We were quite thankful that the country-wide reaction to the government intention at least delayed a steam-rolling of legislation which could have converted our country into a second Zimbabwe. Abuses By Pastors Addressed The Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities (which got known as the CRL Rights Commission) was formed in 2002, drawing its mandate from the constitution. The necessity of this commission became clear in the second decade of the millennium, when all sorts of abuses by pastors went viral. In due course the strange practices of certain pastors – many of whom happened to be expatriates - would aggravate the tension between 'Blacks' and foreigners. South African folk using the title of pastor and even of bishop, were guilty of similar practices. The CRL Rights Commission produced a report in 2016 entitled 'The Commercialization of Religion and Abuse of People’s Belief Systems'.  This report recommended that: the CRL (as an institution of State) should be given the power to license (and thereby control) religious practitioners and places of worship. the CRL should be given the power to be the 'final arbiter of religion' with the 'final decision powers'. CRL Rights Commission Recommendations Rejected After due democratic process and hearings before the Portfolio Committee of Parliament’s Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) these recommendations were rejected. Instead, COGTA recommended that a national religious leaders conference take place to consider the issues/concerns raised by the CRL’s Report and to develop solutions by (and for) the religious community. They further recommended the development of a Code of Conduct as a benchmark and a standard of voluntary accountability for the religious community. Code of Conduct For Religions In April 2018, a meeting of 70 plus senior religious leaders mandated the South African Council for the Protection and Promotion of Religious Rights and Freedoms (SACRRF) to draft a code of conduct for religious practitioners. They were selected for this task because the SACRRF had previously authored the Charter of Religious Rights and Freedoms. Emeritus professors of Johannesburg University and Stellenbosch University respectively, Rassie Malherbe and Prof Pieter Coertzen constructed a very commendable document. In the interim, Marxist-oriented groups in Rwanda and Angola had succeeded to get many churches closed. The Cultural Religious and Linguistic (CRL) Rights Commission, led by a Marxist chair lady, appeared now to try to achieve the same in South Africa by hook or by crook. The work of the two learned gentlemen to draft the above-mentioned document seemed to have been brushed aside as she wanted to regulate religion and even attack the Church. The CRL Rights Commission subsequently co-organised a Religious Leaders Summit, which took place at Rhema Church, Randburg, a suburb of Johannesburg, on 13 February 2019. This event was attended by around 800 senior religious leaders from across the faith spectrum. At the meeting, there was an overwhelming consensus that the religious community accepted the CRL Rights Commission's declaration that they were 'handing over the process' to the Summit and therefore no further input from the CRL Rights Commission on this matter was required. Importantly, it further resolved that a local, provincial and (ultimately) national consultative process would now take place to consider viable solutions to the abuses and malpractices in the religious sector. Run-Up to the 2019 Elections In April 2017 the New Nation Movement (NNM) was started and mooted as an alliance of related organisations, institutions and persons. The primary value of the NNM could have been in relationships between diverse persons and entities, drawn from across the length and breadth of the nation. Three of its leaders met evangelical and community leaders in the Cape suburb Table View on 9 September 2018. It was advertised as a 'Kingdom movement'. At the meeting, attended by churchmen plus a few Khoesan political leaders, they were challenged to state clearly that Jesus would be the King. The attempt to be inclusive, and not offend Muslims and other faiths, would however be an albatross of a promising movement. It was stated subsequently all too clearly that it would not be Christian-based. At a meeting with three leaders of the NNM in Durbanville I had no liberty to join the Western Cape leadership although I remained supportive of the movement. With other believers who honoured the perseverance of this group to get individuals standing as independents, we rejoiced at the ultimate result in a victory in the Constitutional Court on 11 June 2020. A situation was created which would make the local elections of 27 October 2021 quite interesting. Strategy to Save the Church at Large FOR SA played a major role in facilitating a participatory, consultative process in many cities and regions across South Africa. The Concerned Clergy of the Western Cape (CCWC ) worked closely with that body. In collaboration with Freedom of Religion South Africa (FOR SA ) facilitated the first stage of a process that seeks to gather the national church around the commitment made to draw up a Self Regulation policy document by October 2019. On Friday ,12 April 2019 , we agreed in a meeting to a strategy that was sent in a letter to Church leaders:. : In the Western Cape congregations were called to gather within their various sub councils. These 24 independent gatherings would provide an opportunity for the church to share its views on self regulation. These gatherings were to take place by Saturday, 25 May 2019 and /or latest 22 June 2019. These meetings would be arranged and facilitated by leaders from within its own sub council. The CCWC and FOR SA will assist with all the presentations and group discussion materials needed for consultation meetings. One would have thought that the success of Marxist-oriented groups in Angola and Rwanda could be a wake-up call to churches. This was however not the case. I was asked to call a meeting for our sub council. We had a meeting on Saturday 18 May 2019 at Mowbray Baptist Church, which was poorly attended. No other sub council succeeded in calling a meeting. The CCWC expressed the hope that the Church - from metropol through to the national level - would present to government, our nation and to the world an outcome that examples the unity of Christ‘s church and the power it has to contend for righteous justice (Ephesians 4:2-4). This was not realised by far. I was blessed to be able to use my personal friendship to Professor Rassie Malherbe via membership of All Nations International. The purported concerns became more or less redundant when the draft Code of Conduct was hereafter brought back into play and discussed in different forums. When the new CRL Rights Commission was formed, the vindictive lady was not re-elected. The attempt to regulate religion (i.e. more especially the Church) seems to have been put on the back burner at least. Two years later the attack on the Church resurfaced fiercely in a much more refined way via the Pepuda Bill. After winter comes the summer. After night comes the dawn. And after every storm, there come clear, open skies.” Any person could have said this, but after the Scottish reformer Samuel Rutherford had said this, it has since then been quoted now for centuries. The truth behind Samuel Rutherford’s statement was highlighted by Pastor Shaun Aspeling of the Woodstock Baptist Church in one of his daily devotional messages. He highlighted this truth via the life of our Lord, leading '… Jesus to see beyond His crown of thorns to a crown of majesty; beyond the nails in His hands and feet to an exalted name in Glory; beyond the betrayal and abandonment of His disciples to the love and worship of those who would believe in Him; beyond the visible suffering to the invisible glory..., This is the same perspective we should have in our trials. While it is true God can make good come from the worst difficulties, He never asks us to paint a rosy picture of the distress, pain, disappointment, or discomfort we feel, or to pretend it doesn’t exist. Instead, He encourages us to look beyond the present hardships we face to the blessings which will come if we don’t quit. … Glossary Afrikaners:'Whites' of primarily Dutch descent, whose home language is Afrikaans. Apartheid: A formal system of racial segregation. Forcefully implemented by the National Party after it came to power in 1948, it entrenched 'White' domination in virtually all sectors of South African life. Bo-Kaap: The geographical area of the Cape Town City Bowl which borders the lower slopes of Signal Hill. It is sometimes also erroneous referred to by parts of the area, viz the Malay Quarter or Schotse Kloof. Ds.: The abbreviation of dominee, the pastor of an Afrikaans-speaking Reformed congregation. It is derived from dominus, which means means. master; sir; a title of respect formerly applied to a knight or clergyman, and sometimes to the lord of a manor. Heimat: German word for homeland, rather Fatherland, with a strong emphasis on home. Translation as Fatherland misses the aspect of ''home sweet home'. Kramats: the graves of Islamic saints of the faith evolved into shrines. Khoe (formerly known as hottentotten or khoi) and San (formerly called Bushmen: the indigenous first nation people of Southern Africa