NAMIBIA AND NORTH KOREA

New Independence Museum built by NK

For a number of years now we have been observing  that North Koreans  have been used to  build  Namibian National symbols  such as the grandiose State House, a new Independence Museum and the   Heroes acre  in our capital city, Windhoek.

Given the fact that Namibia is a free  and democratic country, it is ironic  that  we should  allow  an  oppressive, sinister   regime such as North Korea, to  build  our national symbols of freedom.  

We have just heard that  North Korea  has  jailed and  possibly executed  33 Christians.

The Washington Times (March 6^th, 2014)  citing the South Korean  Daily Mail   carried the following  report,

“North Korea tyrant Kim Jong-un has reportedly ordered that 33 Christians believed to be working alongside South Korean Baptist missionary Kim Jung-wook be put to death.

Heroes Acre  Windhoek built by NK 

The South Korean missionary — who was arrested last year — and his accomplices have reportedly started 500 or so underground churches, Breitbart reported.

South Korean press cited by The Daily Mail reported that Mr. Kim has charged that the 33 are attempting to overthrow the government — the same accusation that led to the execution of the North Korean leader’s uncle, Jang Song-thaek, and all Mr. Jang’s relatives.

The missionary aides will be put to death in a cell of the State Security Department, The Daily Mail reported.

Their announced executions come just a day after reports surfaced that North Korea’s Number Two, Choe Ryong Hae, hasn’t been seen at several recent public events he normally would have attended — fueling talk that perhaps he’s the latest to be purged from Mr. Kim’s government.[1]”

Kim Jong-un of North Korea

Surely, this is an outrage! Namibia has a large professing Christian majority  and  we should not be silent on this matter. We know of course  that God will   in His time, severely judge  North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un  for  the murder of  Christ’s people, but  we also  want to remind  our government that alliances  with  such  countries  will not leave us unscathed from the wrath of God.  [Habakkuk 3:2]

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[1] Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/mar/6/kim-jong-un-calls-execution-33-christians/#ixzz2vllsCQjf

Five Foundational Matters Which The Namibian Church Should Be Praying For At This Time

Yesterday  (06/03/2014)  the  Namibian  nation was called to prayer  by our President in response to a  series of cruel  murders  of young women  by their boyfriends.  We need to understand that these murders are symptomatic of  what goes on in the heart  of our people. A mere  glimpse at the symptoms will not solve  our problems. The church has two  powerful weapons by which she may help the country:  

(i) to preach the Word  

(ii) to pray  regularly  for the spiritual health  of the nation .  

To be sure, prayer for our country needs to be an ongoing work of the church. 

Here are  5 foundational  considerations for  continued intercessory  prayer ...

1.  Pray  that  God would give  our   churches  the  ability to  see that  the neglect of  the Word of God and Prayer has indeed reaped grim  rewards. We have believed  the  lies of humanism, and its  doctrines  that teach  us to  rely on the wisdom of man  more than  the  wisdom of  the Word of God. For this we need to repent.

2. Pray that our  churches and nation  would see that  the  most basic and foundational institution  upon earth – covenantal marriage,  the foundation of the family,  is  indeed God’s idea. This sacred institution has  been  spurned  by our generation and thus   has produced  this social chaos in which we now  find ourselves.  For this we need to repent.

3.  Pray  that we would see that  we have neglected our parental duties  towards  our children. Too many children in our country have grown  up without godly  nurture  and instruction. Too many  children nowadays  grow up in single parent families,  or  are being raised  by  persons who are not their  parents.  We ought to repent  that we  have bought into modern  humanistic  values that forbid  the parent to discipline their  child in biblical love.

4.  Pray that  the Namibian church  would wake up from its   non - commitment to the authority of God’s Word, and that preachers  would arise to  fearlessly  proclaim the  whole counsel of God,  speaking the truth in love.  Pray  that God would  forgive the church  for her many sins  and restore her (2 Chronicles  7:14)

5. Pray that the Namibian government   would   have the wisdom to keep all  immoral   and subversive forces out of the land, and to firmly punish  all evil doers   and murderers appropriately and in such a way so as to  discourage any further acts of violence.  

6th of March 2014 - A Day of National Prayer!

When last have you heard of a President of any country who in response to calamity calls his nation to prayer?

President Hifikepunye Pohamba has dared to do this, against the background of media ridicule and cajoling .

Namibia is currently in the grip of a spate of angry men who kill their girlfriends, and it is continuing. This morning’s newspaper (The Namibian 05/03/2014) reports of yet again another such murder. A man stabbed his girlfriend to death in cold blood while her children were watching. This is incident number 10 since the beginning of the year !

Our president is concerned, and so should we. I have done some analysis of the ‘angry Namibian man syndrome’ in my last blog post.

There are historical precedents for calling a nation to prayer such as was the case in the days of John Wesley , the famous Methodist Preacher who tells us in his journal of a deliverance in 1756. The king of England called for a day of solemn prayer and fasting because of a threatened invasion by France.

Wesley wrote: “The fast was a glorious day, such as London has scarce seen since the restoration. Every church in the city was more than full, and a solemn seriousness sat on every face. Surely God heareth prayer, and there will yet be a lengthening of our tranquility. He added later in a footnote: “Humility was turned into national rejoicing for the threatened invasion by the French was averted.”

Below also  find an example of a proclamation and a call to national prayer and fasting in 1863 by Abraham Lincoln, the president of the USA. 

If you are in Windhoek , please feel free to join us  on THURSDAY , 6^th March 2014  for  an hour of prayer at Eastside Baptist Church  between 18h00 and 19h00  as  we intercede  with the church at large  for our nation .

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By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation

Whereas the Senate of the United States, devoutly recognizing the supreme authority and just government of Almighty God in all the affairs of men and of nations, has by a resolution requested the President to designate and set apart a day for national prayer and humiliation; and

Whereas it is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord;

And, insomuch as we know that by His divine law nations, like individuals, are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land may be but a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people? We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.

It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.

Now, therefore, in compliance with the request, and fully concurring in the views of the Senate, I do by this my proclamation designate and set apart Thursday, the 30th day of April, 1863, as a day of national humiliation, fasting, and prayer. And I do hereby request all the people to abstain on that day from their ordinary secular pursuits, and to unite at their several places of public worship and their respective homes in keeping the day holy to the Lord and devoted to the humble discharge of the religious duties proper to that solemn occasion.

All this being done in sincerity and truth, let us then rest humbly in the hope authorized by the divine teachings that the united cry of the nation will be heard on high and answered with blessings no less than the pardon of our national sins and the restoration of our now divided and suffering country to its former happy condition of unity and peace. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this 30th day of March, A. D. 1863, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-seventh.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:

WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State .