Born and raised in South Africa compels me to follow the events there. Mandela and Bishop Tutu led the way with a Truth and Reconciliation Commission that avoided a race war and defused years of hate.
However, Crime and Vigilantism now rule the street, while corruption and partisan infighting paralyze the government and the economy struggles as South African debt just got downgraded to junk. Xenophobia and tribal hatred have brought violence to the many undocumented workers due to double-digit unemployment.
As a minority in a land, there is a realization amongst Christians that God is the only one that can change the moral and socio-political climate of that country.
Popular South African farmer/evangelist and subject of the book and film, “Faith Like Potatoes”, Angus Buchan called for a nation-wide prayer meeting called, “It’s Time” scheduled for Saturday, April 22, 2017. (Side Note …I really enjoyed the movie Faith like Potatoes…and could fully relate to Angus pre-conversion attitudes and flaws.)
Buchan said, “We are tired of people taking the law into their own hands. We are going to call upon the Lord to bring justice, peace and hope to our beloved South Africa. The day of prayer is intended for all South Africans of all genders, races, and denominations who are concerned about the malice, hatred, violence, murder, and corruption in the country,” said Buchan. He says ‘If My people who are called by My name’—that is you and I, so I want to ask you to pray for us.”
Two thousand hectares of land were already been prepared for the influx of people. Tractors had cut grass on 450 hectares of land to prepare 2 000 bales for people to sit on, although people were asked to bring their own chairs. At one stage a group of farmers donated 800 liters of diesel for the 20 tractors used to cut the grass.
Farmers in the area also allowed thousands to camp free of charge on their land and traffic was snarled for 25 miles (40 km) around the event for hours.
• One group took several days to cycle there from Cape Town.
• Others are going on motorbikes, cars, and buses.
• Some walked and the rich and the famous filled the local airports with their planes and helicopters.
This resonated with all denominations ….even those that do not agree with Angus Buchan’s old school Pentecostal theology. Churches set aside differences for a day to act in unison facing a common crisis opening their buildings for prayer meetings that day.
The prayer time was duplicated in hundreds of town and suburbs around the nation. No television broadcasts were allowed, but Christians around the country followed the event from the social media posts of their friends.
Police estimate that 700,000 braved the heat and the traffic to drive through the night to attend to pray. Over 1.7 responded online with pledges of prayer meetings around the world from Thailand to Canada, from Britain to Australia among the Expats of South Africa.
The meeting started 2 hours late due to the traffic and then Angus addressed the crowd. We all want to see our nations healed, restored, revived – yet in order for this to happen, God’s people first have to rise up and take their place. Angus Buchan focused on two key scriptures that will work in any situation, whether personal, family or national.
James 5:16 – “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”
2 Chronicles 7:14 – ” If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
After his short message, Buchan allowed people to pray on their own.
• The crowds prayed—some in whispers, and others loudly.
• Some were on their knees and others held their hands in the air as they cried to their God.
This reminds of the open air preaching of Whitefield and Wesley – when shiny tracks of on the faces of the coal miners betrayed their tears. Why is it we only turn to God in times of trouble? I know that is usually what it takes to get serious about prayer.
• Would that God could bring this to the American Church. She has been blessed by God with the resources and the people to touch the world.
• While the moral and spiritual decline in the USA has taken decades and so far it has not affected the safety of the church ….so the frog has not jumped out of the pot.
• South Africa has been baptized in radical political and economic change in one generation. It affects their safety and their family daily. They have a reason to pray. May God have mercy on us and open our eyes to our need.