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"There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death."
Proverbs 14:1 
Economic Suicide
The “cattle killing” national suicide of the Xhosa in 1856 in Transkei, now the Eastern Cape of South Africa, was one of history's strangest socio-economic disasters. Within twelve months the population of Xhosaland plummeted by 80%, mostly through starvation. This bizarre episode was initiated by the niece of a witchdoctor. Through mass hysteria the Xhosa convinced themselves of the need to kill all their cattle, destroy all their food and sow no crops for the future. It was economic suicide and it led to mass starvation. Evil Spirits In April 1856, two young Xhosa girls, 15 year-old Nongqawuse and 10 year-old Nombanda, were sent to chase birds from cornfields near the River Gxara. The elder girl, Nongqawuse, reported that while they were drinking at the water's edge two mysterious figures materialised alongside them. They told the girls to take a message back to their kraal that a great event was about to take place. All the people should kill all their cattle as these would no longer be needed. Once the great day came there would be no shortages of any kind, so they must tell their people that there must be no sowing or cultivation of crops and all stored grain must be thrown away. Once this had been carried out, the strangers told the girls that no further work must be done. When all the cattle had been killed the Russians would come, sweeping all the whites into the sea. (It was known that the British were fighting the Russians in the Crimean War “up North”, so it was generally assumed that the Russianswere black people).
Witchdoctor Confirms the Prophecy The girls duly carried the message back to their kraal. At first everyone simply laughed, ridiculing them for their naivety. But, the girls went back to the river the next day and received the same message. Nongqawuse was supported by her uncle Mhalakaza, who was a witchdoctor. Four days later when Mhalakaza went to the river with his niece, he could not see the figures the girl assured him were there and could hear their words only when Nongqawuse translated them for him. Nongqawuse claimed they said: "We are the people who have come to order you to kill your cattle, to consume your corn and not to cultivate anymore." Mhalakaza was instructed to take this message to the paramount chief of the Xhosa, Sarili and to all the other chiefs. 
Cattle Killing
Mhalakaza adopted the vision and message of the “New People” as his life-calling and he advanced it fervently. Mhalakaza began by killing his own cattle. Soon, his neighbours followed suit. There was general excitement at the thought of the new herds of cattle that the strange spirits had promised would appear on the great day. Over 400,000 cattle were slaughtered in Transkei. “Clothes Contaminate – Nakedness is Pure” Paramount chief Sarili listened to Mhalakaza's words and was prepared to believe that Nongqawuse had really seen the strangers. He was encouraged in this by his own hopes of seeing the British driven away from the borders of his lands; and of seeing the influence of the white men removed from Xhosa life and society. Sarili particularly objected to European clothes, saying that his naked people, coated in red clay, were “clean” compared to the whites, who wore clothes.
“The Russians are Coming!”
During 1855, before Nongqawuse's vision, news had reached the Xhosa of the Crimean War. The Xhosa hoped that the British would be beaten and that the “Russians” would come and force the whites to leave their farms so that they could be looted and their herds of cattle expropriated. The idea soon took root that Nongqawuse's strange spirits had been “Russian” black men. The Xhosa believed that the Russians were actually the ghosts of Xhosa warriors who had died and therefore they must be black. The Xhosa expected the Russians to come to liberate them. But, they were assured that none of this could happen until all their cattle had been slaughtered and their grain stores destroyed.
Missionary Warnings Ignored
By the summer of 1856 the sayings of Mhalakaza were heard throughout the land and thousands of cattle were dying at the hands of their owners. British officials were aghast at the developments, but felt helpless to stop them. Missionary Charles Brownlee, brought up among the Xhosa and fluent in their language, was prominent in visiting the Xhosa kraals to try to counteract Mhalakaza's influence, but most would not listen to his warnings. With Sarili supporting Mhalakaza's message, the Xhosa people became divided between 'believers' and 'unbelievers', with the large majority believing the vision and following the paramount chief.
The Word of God vs. Witchcraft “Thus says the Lord of Hosts: ‘Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you worthless; they speak a vision of their own heart, not from the mouth of the Lord. They continually say to those who despise Me’, the Lord has said, ‘You shall have peace’; and to everyone who walks according to the dictates of his own heart, they say, ‘No evil shall come upon you.’ For who has stood in the counsel of the Lord and has perceived and heard His Word? Who has marked His Word and heard it?” Jeremiah 23:16-18 A Possible Plot to Provoke War The British representative at Port Elizabeth, John Maclean, failed to fully comprehend the dreadful significance of what the Xhosa were doing, but sensed a plot to provoke war against British authority in South Africa. The British High Commissioner, Sir George Grey, was alerted about the disastrous development. 
Destruction is to Precede Liberation
To prove to the unbelievers that Mhalakaza was telling the truth, Sarili now went with the prophet to the Gxara riverbank where the strangers had first appeared to Nongqawuse. There he was apparently shown one of his sons who had recently died and a long-dead favourite horse, as well as acorn and beer that miraculously appeared as presents from the “New People.” Sarili was impressed. When Mhalakaza told him that all his cattle and goats must immediately die, Sarili readily agreed. Mhalakaza warned everyone present that the Russianswould not come nor would any of the other predictions come to pass until all the Xhosa cattle had been killed and all their grain destroyed. He then named places within Transkei where Russians would appear and where the dead would return to life. Sarili returned to his kraal to begin to kill his cattle. As did all the other "believers". Soon Xhosa from throughout Transkei were hurrying towards the River Gxara in the hope of witnessing a miracle. Self-Imposed Starvation With the mass-hysteria mounting and the frenzied cattle killing escalating, Mhalakaza announced a date for the fulfilment of everyone's eager expectations. At the end of 1856 Mhalakaza declared that the resurrection would occur at the time of the next full moon. Excitement reached fever pitch as the day of the full moon approached. But, in spite of the fact that hundreds of thousands of Xhosa people were earnestly anticipating it, nothing out the ordinary occurred. No Russians appeared. Nor did any cattle rise from the ground. Doubts Arise Chief Sarili began to have doubts. Already the young children were going short of food and soon the famine would be affecting everyone. He decided that Mhalakaza had better produce some of his “New People” in order to convince the Xhosa that their spectacular sacrifice was justified. Mhalakaza now was afraid and fled from his own kraal, fearing that Sarili might have him killed. 
Deceptions Increase
He sent a message to the chief saying that the “New People” had moved to "a stronghold" to wait the day. The “Russians” were not impressed with the amount of cattle killed. All cattle in Transkei must die if the “Russians” were to come. Mhalakaza made a fresh prediction: The“Russians” and the new moon would appear, 16 August. Visitors to the riverbank found that the now frequent appearance of “New People” was stage-managed by Mhalakaza and his team of Marshalls. Nobody was allowed to get close enough to speak to the distant shapes, or hear what they said. They seemed to speak only to Mhalakaza, or through him. Sometimes the prophet pointed out to sea and told the pilgrims that there were the heads of Russians "bobbing about in the water". At other times ghostly lowing was heard from unseen cattle, or bleating from invisible goats.
Cruel Hope Frenzied hysteria now prevailed in Transkei. One day at the beginning of August, an afternoon mist was seized upon, as the beginning of the Day of Deliverance. Everyone fled to their homes anticipating their deliverance. The day passed and night fell and nothing happened. Desperate Delusions Every sound was interpreted as having a bearing on the coming of “the New People”. On the great day, Mhalakaza said, two suns would rise in the heavens and collide, whereupon all the whites would be swept into the sea, which would divide revealing a road down which they would march to the place of creation, known as Uhlanga. There satan would take his revenge on all whites and on those Xhosa who had disobeyed the call to kill their cattle. Then the world would be plunged into darkness until a new sun would rise and herald the new world. This apocalyptic vision drove the Xhosa into an orgy of even more cattle killing. 
Dangerous Deceptions
The resurrection of the Xhosa dead would take place, Mhalakaza told the Xhosa. There would be a thundering of every ox-hide shield ever beaten. This would signify the approach of many herds of fine, new cattle that had been promised. New corn would cover the land and every human ill would be put right. The lame would walk, the blind would see, the old would become young, the young become younger. Nobody would have to work. Everything would always be new. Absent on the day, would be those who had died by snakebite or had drowned in river or sea. The homes, herds and farms of the whites across the river would be theirs for the taking. False Prophecy and Folly Brings Disaster “For the land is full of adulterers; for because of a curse the land mourns. The pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up. Their course of life is evil and their might is not right. ‘For both prophet and priest are profane; yes, in My house I have found their wickedness,’ says the Lord. ‘Therefore their way shall be to them like slippery ways; in the darkness they shall be driven on and fall in them; for I will bring disaster on them, the year of their punishment,’ says the Lord. ‘And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria: They prophesied by Baal and caused My people Israel to err. Also I have seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem: They commit adultery and walk in lies; they also strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns back from his wickedness. All of them are like Sodom to Me and her inhabitants like Gomorrah.” Jeremiah 23:10-14 More Deception and Delays When 16 August passed without anything happening, Mhalakaza pressed for a postponement of the Great Day. The “New People” would not appear, unless those cunning Xhosa who had sold their cattle to avoid killing them carried out the decree completely. At one stage, a rumour was spread that armies of well-armed strangers had emerged from the sea and were lining the shores, but they could only be seen by the righteous. Apparently there were not many of those around at the time. 
Doubts and Devious Deceptions
Mhalakaza next ordered everyone to thatch their huts securely as there would be a great storm and tempest on the Day of Judgment. Sarili was becoming suspicious. He was under intense pressure from his councillors, who were aghast at this willingness to continue slaughtering the nation's cattle. So once more he visited Mhalakaza at the riverbank, in order to speak to the strangers. He was told by Mhalakaza to look at the ground and, under no circumstances, to look up. He would then see the shadows of the “New People” passing across the ground in front of him. Sarili accepted all this deception and was duly convinced when the shadows passed by him. But, reports of this meeting were so embroidered as they spread, that eventually it was claimed Sarili had seen boatloads of “New People” arrive at the mouth of the river, informing him they had come to establish the freedom of the black people. Catastrophic Consequences Meanwhile, frustrated at his inability to understand the self-destructiveness of the Xhosa, Sir George Grey threatened Sarili with dire consequences, if he encouraged his people to kill any more cattle. Grey could see that starvation in the land of the Xhosa would have catastrophic consequences. Sir Grey could not understand why the Xhosa were blind to their own danger. Suicidal Stupidity As 1856 drew to a close the skies over Transkei were filled with vultures, circling and diving at the bovine and human carcasses lying in almost equal numbers in the uncultivated fields. Already upwards of 400,000 cattle had been slaughtered and in the subsequent famine, at least 100 000 Xhosa died of starvation between the Fish and Kei Rivers. Sarili, meanwhile, still showed a blind faith in the word of Mhalakaza. Each time Sarili met him, Mhalakaza had a new excuse to explain why nothing had happened at successive new moons. Sarili was so upset that he had tried to kill himself after one failure and his servants were forced to remove all knives and sharp objects from near him. Self-Deception Mhalakaza, reaching the end of everyone's patience, now spread the word that the “New People” had abandoned the Xhosa "in disgust" because they had not killed all their cattle! But, so desperate were the Xhosa by this stage that more bizarre visions were seen. Xhosa claimed to have seen Russian armies marching on the surface of the sea and people sailing in umbrellas and to have heard thousands of cattle beneath their feet. 
Demonic Deception
On 31 January 1857, a great assembly of more than 5,000 Xhosa met near the town of Butterworth. 'Believers' from all across the land attended and Sarili himself was present. There they received another message from Mhalakaza that they must all go home and kill the milk cows that had been spared so far to provide milk for the babies and young children. The cows were then to be skinned and the hides used to protect the doors from the furious lightning that would precede the arrival of the “new cattle”. This time Mhalakaza added a few new touches. Once the new sun had risen in the sky, the sea would dry up and the sky would descend to just above head height. Disillusionment On 18 February 1857, the revised and delayed day was deemed to have finally arrived. An English settler, Robert Mullins, was with a group of Xhosa when the great moment came. The sun rose and the sunset, as usual, nothing happened. Mullins recorded the day's events in his diary with clinical accuracy. In between, “Nothing much happened, except a lot of waiting and desperate hoping on the part of the Xhosa”. Mrs Brownlee, a more sensitive witness, noted, "One of the saddest sights was that of an old woman wizened with age and doubly wrinkled by starvation, decked out with brass rings jingling on her withered arms and legs. They had kept on their ornaments, hoping against hope, till too weak to remove them. As the sun set there was a silence across the land, as of death. No children laughed and played, no cattle lowed, no sheep bleated and no happy herdsmen laughed and joked with his friends at the end of a day's work." 
The Nongqawuse Syndrome
As if seeing the light for the first time, Sarili pointed at Nongqawuse and said “The reason we are broken today is on account of this girl!” But, she was not the only one to blame. Sarili, himself, had succumbed to the fantasies of the charlatan Mhalakaza, the dreamer and schemer, who had wanted to be the “Messenger.” Was Mhalakaza a madman, demon possessed, or just an inadequate human being, unable to cope with life and reality? Perhaps he even believed his own stories. The tragedy was that so too did the vast majority of the Xhosa who had destroyed their nation. “‘The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; and he who has My Word, let him speak My Word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat?’ says the Lord. ‘Is not My Word like a fire?’ says the Lord ‘and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?’” Jeremiah 23:28-29 Prophets of Deceit Invite Disaster “Behold, a whirlwind of the Lord has gone forth in fury - a violent whirlwind! It will fall violently on the head of the wicked. The anger of the Lord will not turn back until He has executed and performed the thoughts of His heart. In the latter days you will understand it perfectly. ‘I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. But, if they had stood in My counsel and had caused My people to hear My Words, then they would have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their doings.’ ‘Am I a God near at hand,’ says the Lord, ‘And not a God afar off? Can anyone hide himself in secret places, so I shall not see him?’ says the Lord; ‘Do I not fill heaven and earth?’ says the Lord. ‘I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in My Name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’ How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? Indeed they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart.” Jeremiah 23:19-16 Disaster and Death British officials who toured Transkei trying to distribute food, found heart-breaking sights. In some places the people had climbed into their grain pits to see if they had been miraculously filled in their absence. But, too weak to climb out again, they had died there. Emaciated women with children clinging to their flattened breasts raked the hard ground for roots. Starvation drove others to boil and eat their ox-hide shields or their leather skirts. Those who reached the soup kitchens provided by the British were no more than walking skeletons and many died of exhaustion a short distance from safety. A missionary wrote, “Famine has effaced all human likeness. Young men of twenty lost their voices and chirruped like birds. Children were wrinkled and withered and grey. Men and women presented the appearance of baboons and like baboons searched under stones for insects to devour.” As the vultures and wild dogs devoured the dead and half-dead Xhosa, the survivors turned to cannibalism in their last desperate urge to live, killing and eating their own children. Mhalakaza himself died of starvation along with his niece Nongqawuse. “He who tills his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows frivolity will have poverty enough!” Proverbs 28:19 Dr. Peter Hammond Gospel Defence League P.O. Box 36129 Glosderry 7702 Cape Town South Africa Tel: 021-689-4480 Fax: 086-494-8070 Email: mission@frontline.org.za www.gospeldefenceleague.org www.frontlinemissionsa.org www.ReformationSA.org See also: Farms and Freedom Under Fire in South Africa Is South Africa Entering the Second Phase of the Revolution? How Marxists Subvert Churches and Society
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“When I look at a child, I see a living, breathing person, made in God's image, for whom God has a plan. As parent educators, we need to embrace a new notion of learning...we need to engage the heart in order to effectively educate the child. Our vision of a well-educated child is a child who has a heart for learning, a child who has the tools he needs to continue to learn for a lifetime and a child who has the love to want to do it.” - Elizabeth Foss  Fleeting Youth 15 000 hours, 900 000 minutes, 54 000 000 seconds. What could we do with this time? Fly around the world 333 times, read more than a 1000 books, hike to the summit of Mount Everest 10 times… or go to school once. This is the average amount of time, a child will spend in school. Who are we giving this time to? Who are we allowing to shape the minds of our children? And whose interests do they have at heart? The Bible clearly states that a child’s education is the responsibility of the parents. Why are we giving this responsibility away? Because the state can do a better job? Because we feel we aren’t competent? Because the responsibility is too much pressure? Because we’re too lazy? Because it’s the status quo? None of these are good enough reasons to let someone else influence the development of your child’s precious mind. Proverbs 22:6 clearly states that how a child’s mind is shaped in his youth, determines his behavior and ideologies in his future: “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6  Education vs Indoctrination Let us start by looking at the difference between education and indoctrination: Education is the process of equipping students with the necessary skills, values and beliefs in order to acquire knowledge; whereas indoctrination, according to the Oxford Dictionary, is “teaching a person or group of people to accept a set of beliefs uncritically.” African American writer, Dick Gregory, puts it quite simply, “Education means to bring out wisdom, indoctrination means to push in knowledge.” This is distinctly accurate, as teaching students how to learn, so that as they get older they can critically analyse every bit of information given to them, whether from a teacher, a parent, a politician, or a priest, a child will have had a thorough and valuable education and will be able to continue to learn and grow for the remainder of his/her life. Whereas, in contrast, teaching them what to think limits the learning and therefore confines and restricts the child – the exact opposite of the intended growth, blooming and flourishing of true learning. The problem with modern “education”, and I use the term loosely, is that it is creating people intelligent enough to repeat what they’re told and to follow orders, dumb enough to think this makes them intelligent, and blind enough not to question it.  Shaping the Minds of Future Thinkers BBC News reported that children aged 5 to 16 spend an average of 6 hours a day in front of electronic screens – either TV, gaming, cell phones, tablets or computers. All these hours of screen time, being influenced by Hollywood and unachievable worldly ideals, coupled with all the hours of school and being inveigled by a pawn in a government sponsored system, how much time do you as a parent have to actually raise your child with morals and values that are in line with what you believe to be right? As clear-minded, responsible parents who love their children, we need to be very cautious and think very carefully before we give this essential responsibility and privilege to people who not only don’t truly know and care for your child and their future, like you do as the parent, but also simply are using a child as a means for socially engineering their personal progress and benefits, regardless of the detrimental effects it may have on the child and even society as a whole? Jesus clearly states that the Greatest Commandment is to love the Lord with our whole heart, and soul and mind. We often try to protect the hearts and souls of our children, yet too often, we so swiftly and willingly throw their minds, and our own for that matter, to the world to have and do with as it pleases. This is so dangerous as at the end of the day, it is in our mind that our thoughts and feelings originate, which influences our actions and the way we will then later protect our own hearts and souls. So once the world has control of our minds, we are impressionable and therefore more useful to them than if we were strong, independent individuals rooted in the truths of the Bible - that are clearly the antithesis of what the world teaches. This is why Marxist leaders throughout time have targeted the youth. We need to be informed, we need to know the truth. Unfortunately, ignorance isn’t bliss, it’s just ignorant. It is time we start taking a stand for our children, time we start protecting our youth, and time we resist the agenda of these Marxist-Communists.  Origin of State “Education” Karl Marx said in the Communist Manifesto, “The education of all children from the moment that they can get along without a mother’s care, shall be in state institutions at state expense.” Did he say this out of the goodness of his heart because he wanted every child to receive a good education and he was willing to ensure this, even at the expense of the state or himself? NO! Three of Marx’s own children died of starvation, two committed suicide, and another child conceived with his maid was sent away and never supported financially! Children’s wellbeing was definitely not his priority! It was his own selfish gain and communist agendas that needed children to be brainwashed in order for anyone to actually believe that communism could work. Communism is called a dream of a communal utopia, because you have to be asleep to believe it. John D. Rockefeller said, “I don’t want a nation of thinkers, I want a nation of workers.” Therefore they needed to hijack the system and institutions where children are taught to think, and then limit that process. They don’t want people who could think for themselves and then possibly disagree with them, they simply want puppets and pawns to do their bidding. John Dewey, the father of “progressive education” and drafter of the Humanist Manifesto and signer of the Communist Manifesto, said that “you can’t make socialists out of individualists. Children who know how to think for themselves spoil the harmony of the collective society which is coming, where everyone is interdependent.” Dewey wanted to stop children from being independent and being able to think critically. So what do you think his education system would be teaching them? Definitely not how to read and write and succeed in life. Instead they will be taught to rely on the state and comply with everything it says. This would make it easier for the masses to be controlled and not resist their agenda. Lew Rockwell put it clearly when he said, “It isn’t a coincidence that governments everywhere want to educate children. Government education in turn, is supposed to be evidence of the state’s concern for our well-being. The real explanation is less flattering. If the government’s propaganda can take root as children grow up, those children will be no threat to the state apparatus. They’ll fasten the chains to their own ankles.” And thus the original Christian model of education, raising children with morals, values, manners, independence, critical thinking and ingenuity, was done away with. And so now the aim of public education is not to spread enlightenment at all, but rather simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same level, to breed a standard citizenry, to put down dissent and originality, just as cultural journalist Henry L. Mencken voiced decades ago. The sad truth is that these Communist leaders exploited parents’ desires to do what’s best for their children’s future, and packaged it just right, and now they’ve sold it, and unfortunately too many are buying their lies.  State “Education” Not the Only Way If children started school at six months old and their teachers gave them walking lessons, within a single generation people would come to believe that humans couldn’t learn to walk without going to school. What the state wants you to believe is that state education is the only way to get educated, that’s just so that you can be easily controlled and manipulated. Not only is it not the only way, but it is the worst way, and state schools shouldn’t be an option. I am a high school teacher, I have seen what is taught in the government-mandated curriculums, even in private schools, even in many so-called Christian schools, and it is atrocious. I will write a follow-up article focused on the nonsense filling our children’s textbooks and infiltrating their minds. And not only is the content appalling, but the manner in which it is done is not conducive to a child’s learning abilities. John Holt points out that at modern day schools we ask children to do everyday, for most of the day, what few adults are able to do even for an hour. How many of us, attending, say a lecture that doesn’t interest us, can keep our minds from wandering? Hardly any! Then some would like to argue that it is socially important for children to go to school, in order to learn how to interact in society, but once again as John Holt also so accurately points out, that the socializing aspects of school are actually unnatural and actually more likely to be harmful than helpful. In actual fact, the Biblical virtues of kindness, patience, generosity and so forth are learned by children in intimate groups of two or three. Human beings tend to behave worse in large groups, like you find in school. There they learn something quite different. They learn popularity, conformity, bullying, teasing and things like that. Children can make friends after school hours, during holidays, community sports, church, the park. Is it really so radical to suggest that the current model of education is not the only way, let alone the only one that is inherently good for all children, as is often implied? Schools are not teaching children to become compassionate and independent human beings but rather, in most cases, just drugged-up obedient slaves. And in the end, we have been brainwashed by school, indoctrinated by propaganda and mesmerised by the mass media into believing that compliance is not only safe, but right and necessary. It is mandatory that we take the responsibility of our children’s education into our own hands – homeschool them, send them to small private Christian schools (not just private secular schools that attach a prayer to the beginning of the day) and most importantly, be aware of what is being taught in their curriculums. We need to be more involved and au fait with our children’s education. Sadly school is no longer a playground, it’s a battleground for the minds of our youth.  The Ugly Truth We send our children to school to receive an education. Albert Einstein said that “education is not the learning of facts but the training of the mind to think,” but this, unfortunately, is not the case in schools and universities today. What you say is monitored, even though we supposedly have freedom of speech. Anything that is contrary to what is being force-fed at these state institutions is considered hate speech. It’s so enforced that one can even commit a thought crime by thinking the wrong thing. So much for freedom. We send our children to school to learn to read, write, do maths, learn social skills, but in actual fact all we are doing is allowing the state to conform and indoctrinate our children to their lies. It’s by no mistake that education is going down hill, there are leaders in charge puppeteering the process, lowering the university standards so that under-qualified teachers are educating our youth, most of what they are actually teaching from the state mandated text books is complete disinformation, the standard to pass is dropping lower and lower, and then the university entrance credentials have to in-turn be lowered, and so we reach full circle on this detrimental downward spiral. They are purposely dumbing us down to protect their own interests. As we said earlier, critical thinking and independent individuals get in the way of their agenda. The government believes that good citizens don’t think, because thinking leads to reasoning, reasoning leads to right and wrong, being able to perceive wrong then leads to reflection, resistance and reformation. This gets in the way of their agenda, which is obviously not what they want. Therefore children are taught with rote learning, parrot fashioned memorisation style, where they are conditioned to regurgitate the propagated disinformation drilled into them. Because if something is true and correct, it must be hammered into the minds of defenseless little children, with no questions allowed, right? So in the end what they are actually learning at school is that truth comes from authority or from a show of hands; intelligence is the ability to remember and repeat; memorization and repetition are rewarded; non-compliance is punished; and ultimately taught to conform intellectually and socially. Instead, originally, education would teach that truth is truth even if no one believes it, a lie is a lie even if everyone believes it. You cannot determine truth by seeing what the majority think. Intelligence is the ability to critically analyze information (all of it, not only what is “safe” for you to know) and then come to an accurate conclusion, and to stand for what you believe in. They were then able to learn about other cultures, other religions, all parts of history and come to a conclusion. Truth doesn’t fear investigation. If something is true, it doesn’t mind if you ask questions, if you analyse everything and do your research, because it would be confident that you would always come back to the same conclusion. You would always come back to the Truth. When something is not allowed to be questioned and is instead drummed into your head and forced to be memorized, you should probably be cautious! That’s the wise thing to do, but that’s not what is taught, and that is not what is rewarded. Even the version of history that is taught in school, is heavily revised to favour our government’s agenda while hiding its crimes, and in doing so fosters an unrealistic sense of false patriotism used to manufacture our allegiance to a corporate entity masquerading as our government. Blade Nzimande, secretary of the South African Communist party, was also our Minister of Higher education for 8 years, up until last year. Why are politicians involved in educating our youth? The media and state education have successfully lobotomized society - all the better to manipulate them through fear, confusion and sensation. This isn’t a radical right wing conservative viewpoint, they have admitted it themselves. Vladimir Lenin said, “give me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted.” Benjamin Kidd, Darwinian author who wrote in his book The Science of Power, “the chief end of education…[is] to impose on the young the ideal of subordination to the common aims of organized humanity …give us the young and we will create a new mind and a new earth in a single generation.” Max Horkheimer was one of the leading Jewish Marxists of the Frankfurt school, which pioneered Cultural Marxism, and he said, “The Revolution won’t happen with guns, rather it will happen incrementally, year by year, generation by generation. We will gradually infiltrate their educational institutions and their political offices, transforming them slowly into Marxist entities as we move towards universal egalitarianism.” This is black and white, it doesn’t get any clearer as to what their aim is. And as writer G. Nascimento said, “If a man is born ignorant, to parents who are ignorant, in a society that is ignorant, lives a life of ignorance, and eventually dies ignorant, then ignorance is the norm. And thus indoctrination can be called education, hypnotism can be called entertainment, criminals can be called leaders, and lies can be called Truth, because his mind was never truly his own.” Birds born in a cage think flying is an illness.  True Education John Holt so accurately points out that “a person’s freedom of learning is part of his freedom of thought, even more basic than his freedom of speech. If we take from someone his right to decide what he will be curious about we destroy his freedom of thought. We say, in effect, you must not think about what interests and concerns you, but about what interests and concerns us.” This dismal truth echoes throughout our school corridors. And furthermore, state education destroys the love of learning in children which is so strong when they are small, by “encouraging and compelling them to work for petty and contemptible rewards, gold stars, or papers marked with a 100 and tacked to the wall, or A’s on a report card, or honour rolls, or dean’s lists, or Omega Beta Kappa keys. In short, for the ignoble satisfaction of feeling that they are better than someone else.” And this is what gets rewarded, by educators, by society, by organizations, and by parents. What I’d rather hear, is a parent who says, “I am the proud parent of a child who has resisted his teachers’ attempts to break his spirit and bend him to the will of his masters.” Children are born curious, they are always exploring. From the time a child is young, we lovingly teach them how to walk, how to talk, and once they have learned this, society tells them to sit down and shut up. “Sadly, children’s passion for learning often ends when they encounter a world that seeks to educate them for conformity and obedience only”, says educator Robert John Meehan. Education is more than just learning facts, it’s about instilling values and morals, it’s the ability and skills required to think critically and continually furthering the learning process as they engage with new information. This will help them to foster a love for solving problems and adapting to new details and circumstances in real life. Sandra Dodd points out that “kids who are in school just visit life sometimes, and then they have to stop to do homework or to go to sleep early or to get to class on time. They’re constantly reminded that they are preparing for ‘real life’, while being isolated from it.” John Holt, writer, educator and pioneer in youth rights theory, surmised that “any child who can spend an hour or two a day, with adults that he likes, who are interested in the world and like to talk about it, will on most days learn far more from their talk than he would learn in a week of school.” Don’t misunderstand me, this doesn’t replace learning literacy and numeracy. As an educator, I know the need for children to gain these skills, but they can very sufficiently be taught at home, or by a trustworthy friend of the parents’, without having all the propaganda and Marxist disinformation underlying every subject and lesson. Trade up with another mother, “you teach our children Bio, and I’ll teach them math”, or whatever it may be. This way of learning will be surpassingly greater for them spiritually, emotionally, and mentally. The greatest gift we can give our children is our time, because when we give our time, we are giving a finite portion of our life that we can never have back. Thus every moment shared with our children must therefore be both presented and perceived as being highly valued and irreplaceable. A child will feel this and therefore also value it more. Great classrooms, whether in a field, in a library, in the kitchen, in a museum, or in a rock pool, are characterized by positive, open relationships, mutual respect, and a shared responsibility for the learning process. Instead of trying to fill children with facts and knowledge that we think will be most important and needed in the future, we don’t know what field they will go into or how society will develop, for example, so rather we should try to shape children into people who love learning so much and learn so well that they will be able to learn whatever needs to be learned. Fostering this culture of intrinsic motivation for continuous learning, coupled with beliefs and virtues instilled through the affectionate and good example of a loving parent or guardian - that is a true education. That will lead to a family, a community, a nation, that will thrive on unity and mutual respect. A nation that will excel with surpassing understanding. This is true education - the education God intended for us and is described in the Hand Book of Life.
By Emma Vaughan-Jones Henry Morton Stanley School of Christian Journalism Researcher Please feel free to contact me for, or with, any information, examples or comments. Cell: 079 6130399 Email: emma@frontline.org.za hmsscj@frontline.org.za www.hmsschoolofchristianjournalism.org Related Articles: Visit the Christian Action Website for more articles on this topic such as, The Roots of Education, Education Crisis, The Value of a Christian Education, Teach Your Children How to Live, Responsible Education. Visit Christian Liberty Books for home educating resources.  9 November, marks the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. A speech at Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri, 5 March 1946, declared that “An Iron Curtain has descended across the continent”. From Stettin in the North to Trieste in the South barbed wire and barricades, walls and machine gun towers were going up, sealing off the captive nations occupied by the Soviet Union from their neighbours in the West. The Iron Curtain divided a continent and trapped hundreds of millions of people under communism. The Soviet dictator, Joseph Stalin, declared that the Second World War was not a disaster but “a great opportunity” to extend communism into the very heart of Europe.  Poland Betrayed Even Poland, for whose freedom Great Britain had ostensibly entered the war, was now little more than a satellite of the Soviet Empire ruled by men chosen by Moscow. Its population was now imprisoned behind a line of barbed wire, watchtowers and minefields - a physical iron curtain.  Secret Police To spy on its captive populations the Soviet empire set up secret police. In the Soviet Union it was the KGB, in Bulgaria it was the DS, in Czechoslovakia the StB, in Hungary the AVB, in Poland the SB, in Romania the Securitatae, and in East Germany it was the STASI (the Ministry of State Security). The STASI maintained a huge network of 90,000 secret police and 175,000 paid informants. They kept files on 4,000,000 East Germans - a quarter of the population.  Berlin Blockade The Berlin Wall was manned by 15,000 guards - the so-called Volkspolizei (VOPOS). When Joseph Stalin attempted to starve West Berlin into submission by cutting off all electricity and supplies on 23 June 1948 the Western powers responded with the Berlin Airlift. The Berlin blockade was the first serious global crisis of the Cold War. West Berlin was kept alive by an airlift of over 150 aircraft supplying an average of 5,000 tons per day. By the time the Soviets ended the blockade on 12 May 1949 over 2.5 million tons had been delivered at the cost of 60 aircrew who had died in aircraft crashes.  Korean War There were numerous hot fronts in the Cold War. The Cold War included a full-scale military war in Korea where 2 million died in the three-year conflict. Evidence has since surfaced that Stalin was planning to follow up the Korean attack with a military offensive in Europe. He was deterred by the quick international response in Korea. Protests in Berlin After the death of Joseph Stalin (5/3/53), over 100,000 East Berlin workers protested against the Soviet occupation. Two Soviet armoured divisions were sent into East Berlin to crush the protest in June 1953. Over 100 civilians were killed and 25,000 protesters arrested.  Uprising in Hungary In July 1956 a full scale uprising in Hungary shook the Soviet Empire. Mass demonstrations demanded the withdrawal of Soviet troops, and in Budapest a massive statue of Stalin was toppled. Soviet troops poured into Hungary and over 20,000 Hungarians were killed in the repression. Tens-of-thousands more were arrested and imprisoned. 250,000 Hungarians fled to the West.  The Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall was concrete proof of the failure of “scientific socialism”. To prevent Germans in the Soviet zone from fleeing to the Western zone in Berlin, a 165 km wall was constructed to seal off West Berlin's island of freedom from Soviet occupied communist East Germany. The Berlin Wall included 289 concrete observation posts/machine gun towers and 123 km of electric fencing.  Death Strip A further death strip stretching 1,393 km along the border between communist East Germany and free West Germany was constructed with: 724 observation posts/machine gun towers, 1,161 km of electric fencing, 54, 000 self-firing devices, and 190 km of mine fields.  Kill Zone Just between 13 August 1961 to 30 July 1983, 73 people were killed by the communists while attempting to escape over the Berlin Wall, 182 more people were killed attempting to escape from East Germany across the border into West Germany, 60,000 people were imprisoned for “preparation, assistance or complicity”, in attempting to escape from East to West Germany (with sentences ranging from 16 months to life imprisonment). Yet from the founding of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in 1949, more than 4,500,000 (over one quarter of the population) voted with their feet by fleeing to West Germany. 38,515 escaped from East to West Berlin by tunnels, by improvised air machines or hot air balloons, hidden inside vehicles travelling from East to West Berlin. 2,768 East German soldiers and officers on duty (including a Colonel) escaped to the West. Cuban Missile Crisis The Cold War almost went nuclear during the Cuban missile crisis, October 1962. The vicious conflicts in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia (1963 - 1975) were hot parts of the Cold War.  Invasion of Czechoslovakia Anyone who believed that communism could be reformed from within was shaken by the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. Czech communist party chief, Alexander Dubcek, attempted to create “socialism with a human face.” As a result of economic reforms in Czechoslovakia, the other East European satellite states complained that their positions were being undermined by the reforms in Czechoslovakia. The response was that Leonid Brezhnev ordered a full-scale Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia to restore orthodox communism. The Prague Spring ended in August 1968 as half-a-million Warsaw Pact troops invaded Czechoslovakia and overwhelmed the courageous resistance of Czech patriots. Détente Deception The Soviet Empire reached its peak during the period of Détente, as they sponsored, trained and armed revolutionaries to seize power in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam in 1975, Ethiopia in 1974, Guinea Bissau, Angola and Mozambique in 1975, Grenada and Nicaragua in 1979 and Rhodesia/Zimbabwe in 1980. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 was a major wake up call to those in the West who still believed in Détente.  Freedom on the Offensive As a result of this unprecedented Soviet advance there was a backlash throughout the West, epitomised by staunch anti-communist US President, Ronald Reagan, British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, West German Chancellor, Helmut Kohl and South Africa’s P.W. Botha. The West went on the offensive, directly supporting the anti-communist Solidarity trade union movement in Poland, which soon organised nationwide strikes and protests against the Soviet occupation. The USA began to arm and support anti-communist resistance movements as far afield as in Nicaragua, Afghanistan and Angola. Bankrupting the Soviets Ronald Reagan's policies forced the Soviets back onto the defensive and strategically undermined their economy. Spectacular re-armament programmes and the space based Strategic Defence Initiative (SDI) quickly left the Soviets far behind in the arms race and totally bankrupted the Soviet Union in their futile attempt to keep up with America.  The Iron Lady British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher's determination to fight to reclaim the Falkland Islands, after the Argentinean invasion, helped convince the Soviets that the West was not nearly so decadent and weak as they had imagined. Thatcher's success in reviving the British economy also helped demonstrate that capitalism had a future even while communism was bankrupting the Soviet Union in Eastern Europe. The Iron Lady had this to say about the Berlin Wall: “The Berlin Wall stands as concrete proof that when people have a choice, they choose to be free Freedom has its problems but we've never needed to build walls to keep our people in.”  Defeating the Communists Brave anti-communist resistance fighters in Mozambique, Angola, Nicaragua and Afghanistan severely bled the Soviet forces, inflicting serious defeats upon them. The Rhodesian resistance throughout the 60s and 70s had set back the advance of communism in Southern Africa and the destruction of entire Cuban mechanised divisions in Angola by South African conventional forces in the battles on the Lomba River in 1987 and 1988 convinced the Soviet Union that they would not even be able to win a conventional war against the West. Recognising Reality Russian soldiers began to refer to Afghanistan as their 'Vietnam'. As Russian casualties mounted in that conflict, the ongoing political crisis in Poland, and widespread resistance to communism throughout the Soviet empire helped convince the Soviet leaders that their bankrupt system was doomed.  The Glasnost Gulag Even under Gorbachev's much-acclaimed Glasnost, the Soviet Gulag imprisoned millions. When US President, Ronald Reagan, stood at the Berlin Wall and challenged: “Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” the Soviet Union operated 1,976 concentration camps, 273 prisons, 85 psychiatric prisons and 41 death camps. In this Soviet Gulag were incarcerated over 5,000,000 political and religious prisoners. Alexander Solzhenitsyn, author of The Gulag Archipelago, documented that between 1918 and 1953 (under Lenin and Stalin's rule) over 50,000,000 Russians served long sentences in the Soviet concentration camps - with millions perishing.  The Hypocrisy of Communism It was pointed out that while the communists claimed to have liberated Russia from the oppression of the Czars, there were 50 times more official executions under communist rule in Russia as occurred under Czarist rule in the same time period. By comparison with Russia under Czarist rule where the highest figure of political prisoners was 183,949, the communists imprisoned seventy times as many people at any one time.  Callous Disregard for Life Vladimir Lenin famously declared that it did not matter if three quarters of the population of Russia perished, as long as the remaining quarter were communist. Joseph Stalin observed: “The death of one person is a tragedy; whereas the death of a million is just a statistic!” Prayer and Protests As candlelit prayer vigils and protests spread from Leipzig, through Dresden, to all of East Germany, the East German government was bankrupt and tottering. Gorbachev's Soviet Union was also bankrupt and could no longer bail them out. So, Erich Honecker, the dictator of East Germany, turned to the West Germans (who in the past had always been willing to provide enough to keep East Germany going). This time, however, the West German Federal Government, was not willing to bail them out. They demanded reforms.  The Fall of the Wall While governments negotiated, the people in both East and West Berlin rose up to breach the wall and began to dismantle it physically. The leaders were overwhelmed by events. Days after the Berlin Wall collapsed, mass demonstrations broke out in Czechoslovakia. Vaclav Havel, long-time leader of the Resistance movement and prisoner of the communists, rose to power and dismantled communism in Czechoslovakia.  The Christmas Revolution Street fighting erupted in Romania to overthrow the brutal communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. Soon resistance spread to Bulgaria where the communists were overthrown in December 1989. In Hungary the communist government was overthrown in October 1990. In Albania the first free elections were held in March 1991. Yugoslavia split into different republics as each broke away from the communist control in Belgrade. Soon the Baltic Republics - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - were demanding and achieving their independence from the Soviet Union.  The End of the Soviet Union In August 1991 a coup in the Soviet Union was frustrated in its attempt to return the country to hard line communism. Boldly waving the white, blue and red Russian flag, Boris Yeltsin abolished the Soviet Union and pulled down the Soviet Flag. The Cold War had formally ended. Terrorist Threat from the Middle East But, even as the Cold War with Soviet Union communism ended, a new war was starting with radical Islamic terrorists declaring war on the West.  Victory Over Communism “There is nothing they despise more than weakness. There is nothing they respect more than strength.” The Cold War was won by a combination of Christian courage by persecuted Christians who endured decades of brutality, steadfast resistance by brave anti-communist soldiers who fought the Soviets to a standstill, persistent prayer and pressure from Christians in the West and the bold strategy of Ronald Reagan, which dismantled the Evil Empire. “While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption…” 2 Peter 2:19
Dr. Peter Hammond Frontline Fellowship P.O. Box 74 Newlands 7725 Cape Town South Africa Tel: 021-689-4480 Fax: 086-494-8070 Email: mission@frontline.org.za Website: www.FrontlineMissionSA.org See also: The Greatest Killer The Heart and Soul of Karl Marx Freedom Betrayed The Failure of Atheism and the Triumph of Faith in the Soviet Union The Fall of the Berlin Wall  Remembrance Day Throughout the English speaking world, the 11th November is observed as a Remembrance Day to solemnly recall the end of hostilities of World War One at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918. In time, it has come to be observed as a Memorial Day for all who died in both World Wars and in other subsequent conflicts.  Remember the Fallen The two minute silence to remember all who paid the supreme sacrifice began in Cape Town, South Africa. When the first casualty list recording the horrific loss of life in the Battle of Delville Wood, 1916, was announced in Cape Town, Mr J.A. Eagar, a Cape Town business man, suggested that his congregation observe a special time of silence to remember those in the South African Infantry casualty list. Sir Percy Fitzpatrick, the famous South African author of Jock of the Bushveld, was also a member of that congregation.  A Time of Intercession In May 1918, Mr R.R. Brydon, a city councillor, suggested to the Mayor of Cape Town, Sir Harry Hands, that a period of silence to remember those engaged in the Battlefields of Europe on the Western Front be initiated formerly at the firing of the noon day gun from Signal Hill. In May 1918, Sir Harry Hands, as Mayor, announced that 14 May 1918 at the sound of the noon day gun there would be a three minute pause. At the corner of Adderley and Darling streets, a trumpeter would sound the Last Post to reverberate throughout the city during which time all were to stop what they were doing, stand still and bow their heads in silent prayer, praying for those engaged in the conflict, remembering those who had died and thanking God for those who had survived.  Personal Losses Mr Brydon's son, Major Walter Brydon had been wounded three times and gassed once. He was killed in action on the Western Front, 12 April 1918. A few days later, Captain Richard Hands, the son of the Mayor of Cape Town, Sir Harry Hands, a member of Brydon's battery, was mortally wounded in the same battle in which Major Brydon had been killed. The daily midday prayer time initiated by the noon day gun was last observed on 17 January 1919.  An Empire Wide Time of Prayer and Remembrance Sir Percy Fitzpatrick, Member of Parliament, wrote to King George V, to propose a two minute silence throughout the Empire on 11 November 1919, to mark the first anniversary of the Armistice which ended The Great War. On 7 November 1919, King George V proclaimed: "That at the hour when the Armistice came into force, the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, there may be, for the brief space of two minutes, a complete suspension of all our normal activities… so that in perfect stillness the thoughts of everyone may be concentrated on reverend remembrance of the glorious dead." The king instructed his secretary to communicate to Sir Percy Fitzpatrick: "The King, who learns that you are shortly to return to South Africa, desires me to assure you that he ever gratefully remembers the idea of the two minute pause on Armistice Day was due to your initiation, a suggestion readily adopted and carried out with heartfelt sympathy throughout the Empire."  The Noon Day Gun – a Call to Prayer The noonday gun has been an historic time signal in Cape Town since 1806. The guns were originally used to announce the arrival of a ship. The original guns - 18 pounder smooth ball muzzle loaders - are still in use today. These are the oldest guns still in daily use in the world. The guns are maintained by the South African Navy. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13
11 November is International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted. Visit www.idop-africa.org for resources to mobilise prayer and action on behalf of those suffering for Christ. Dr. Peter Hammond Livingstone Fellowship P.O. Box 74 Newlands 7725 Cape Town South Africa Tel: 021-689-4480 mission@frontline.org.za www.livingstonefellowship.co.za www.frontline.org.za www.ReformationSA.org.za Invitation to Join the Largest Prayer Movement for the Persecuted Praying for Justice To read this article with pictures, click here. To view the Great Siege of Malta, as a PowerPoint, with pictures, click here. "Why should I care about dates and dead people?" Frequently we hear expressions of exasperation against the teaching of history. "What possible relevance could all those events of long ago have for me today?"  Real History Has Great Relevance Well, take 9/11. Did those responsible just choose an arbitrary date for the aircraft hijackings and terror attacks on 11 September 2001? The Strategic Significance of September 11 Those who know the history of Islamic Jihad can point out that September 11 is a most significant date for Jihadists. It was on 11 September 1565 that the Ottoman Turkish siege of Malta was decisively defeated.  The Great Siege of Malta Sultan Suleiman had mobilised the largest armada yet seen: 193 ships, 48,000 fighting men, including 6,000 Spahis (cavalry), and over 6,300 of the elite Janissaries, to wipe the Knights of St. John off the face of the earth and capture the strategic island of Malta for Islam. Outnumbered To oppose them on the Christian side, there were less than 700 Knights of St. John, 400 Spanish soldiers, 800 Italian soldiers, 200 Greek and Sicilian soldiers, and approximately 3,000 militia drawn from the Maltese population. Along with other civilians who were given weapons, a total force of less than 9,000 men.  The Knights of St. John The Knights of St. John were respected as the toughest soldiers in Christendom. They were in the very frontline of the battle to keep Europe safe from Islamic Jihadists. Four Months of Furious Fighting In all, over 130,000 cannon balls were fired from Turkish guns against the Christian defenders of Malta. The siege lasted from 18 May to 11 September 1565. The Turks lost over 30,000 men in their futile attempt to overwhelm the tiny Christian garrison on Malta. The day the Muslims were chased off Malta was 11 September 1565.  The Siege of Vienna The last great Turkish threat to the heart of Europe was defeated at the gates of Vienna, 11 September 1683. The siege of Vienna began 14 July 1683, and is recognised as the high water mark of the Ottoman Turkish Empire as it threatened the very heartland of Europe. The Ottoman Turkish army of 300,000 men, included 12,000 Janissaries. The Battle of Vienna A relief force of Bavarian, Saxon and Polish forces routed the Ottoman Turks, who lost over 60,000 men in the siege, of which 40,000 Turks died during the Battle of Vienna on 11 September 1683.  Defeat and Disgrace For his disgrace in losing this vital battle, the Ottoman Commander Kara Mustafa Pasha was executed in Belgrade, 25 December 1683, by strangulation. Croissant Celebration To celebrate the defeat of the Turks at the Battle of Vienna, the bakers designed the croissant, a crescent shaped pastry, to commemorate the victory of the Christian forces over the Jihadists of Islam. As the bakers put it, they had the Turks for breakfast! It was the Vienna born, Queen Mary Antoinette, who introduced the croissant to France in 1770.  Bagel Commemoration The bakers also presented the first bagel as a gift to King Jan Sobieski of Poland to commemorate the king's victorious cavalry charge which broke the Turkish lines. The bagel was fashioned in the form of a stirrup. Cappuccino and Coffee Shops Another anecdote is that, as the Viennese discovered many bags of coffee in the abandoned Ottoman encampment, the first Coffee House was opened in Vienna by Franciszek Kulczycki and a Capuchin Friar, Marco de-Aviano, invented Cappuccino.  Assassination in Sarajevo 28 June 1914 marked the shots that sparked the First World War. It was on that date that the heir to the throne of the Austria-Hungarian Empire, Archduke Frans Ferdinand, and his beloved wife, Sophie, were assassinated in Sarajevo, Bosnia. The Battle of Kosovo For hundreds of years Sarajevo had been under Ottoman Turkish Muslim rule. The Austrians had liberated Bosnia and Herzegovina from the Ottoman Turkish Empire in 1878. The date chosen for the state visit of Archduke Frans Ferdinand to Sarajevo was a date of painful historic significance for the Serbs. It was the anniversary of their disastrous defeat at the hands of the Ottoman Turks at the Battle of Kosovo, 28 June 1389.  Security Implications of Strategic Dates Archduke Frans Ferdinand and his wife Sophie, were celebrating their 14th Wedding anniversary on that same day, 28 June 1914. However, the security services should have noted the danger of a state visit to such a volatile, cosmopolitan, half-oriental city as Kosovo, particularly on such a sensitive and highly symbolic date as the anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo – a major rallying point for Serb nationalists. Everything Has Consequences So, when people question whether dates and dead people in history are of any relevance to us today, they need to remember that history illustrates the consequences of ideas and actions. In history we can see examples and illustrations of man's depravity and rebellion against God, and God's mercy, grace and sovereignty in intervening in the course of human events. History and Warnings History provides us with the visions of those who impacted society for good and ill and examples of excellence to inspire us to courageously stand firm in spite of all opposition. We need to learn from the mistakes of others, to benefit from the painstaking developments and sacrifices of the past. "To be ignorant of what happened before you were born is to remain a child forever." said Cicero. Learn From History We must learn from history, or we will repeat its mistakes. "If we do not know our own history, we will simply have to endure all the same mistakes, sacrifices and absurdities all over again." declared Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." George Santayana. Understand the Times
In the Scriptures we are commanded to understand the times, so that God's people might know what we ought to do (1 Chronicles 12:32). Forewarned is Forearmed The longer you look back, the further you can look forward. A tall building needs to lay deep foundations. A tall tree needs a deep root system. In order to understand who we are, we need to understand where we came from. We need to understand the events and issues of the past that correspond with our challenges today. In order to anticipate problems and threats in the future, we need to study the past. We need to liberate our thinking from current fashions and recognise potential potholes and traps. There are immeasurable insights and practical help to be gained from studying the people, events and issues that shaped the past and affect our present situation. "Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted… now all these things happened to them as examples and they were written for our admonition…" 1 Corinthians 10:6-11 Dr. Peter Hammond Frontline Fellowship P.O. Box 74 Newlands 7725 Cape Town South Africa Tel: 021-689-4480 Fax: 086-494-8070 Email: mission@frontline.org.za Website: www.frontlinemissionsa.org Dr. Peter Hammond is the author of Slavery, Terrorism and Islam – The Historical Roots and Contemporary Threat. See also: The Great Siege of Malta Assassination in Sarajevo The Forces Behind Terrorism and How It Can Be Defeated Resisting the Islamic Invasion Trojan Horse Reformation or Islamisation? Slavery, Terrorism and Islam is available as an E-Book Church History Manual is available as an E-Book 
With Christians under fire throughout North Africa and the Middle East, we need to remember the persecuted and learn from their steadfastness amidst suffering. Wednesday, 25th July 2018, marks the 25th anniversary of a dreadful atrocity in Cape Town, a terrorist attack on St. James Church of England, which left 11 people dead and 50 wounded.
Sanctuary Desecrated At about 7:30pm, on Sunday, 25th July 1993, while the congregation of 1,400 listened to a hymn of worship, a group of APLA terrorists burst into the church and opened fire with automatic weapons. 
“Everyone will deceive his neighbour and will not speak the truth; they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they weary themselves to commit iniquity.” Jeremiah 9:5
False Flag The term “False Flag” originally referred to pirate ships which flew flags of countries as a disguise to dissuade their victims from fleeing, or preparing for battle. Sometimes the flag of another country was used in order to blame an attack incorrectly on a targeted country. Today the term False Flag extends way past naval encounters to include countries and organisations that organise attacks on themselves and make the attacks appear to be made by their opponents. 
"I know there is a God, because in Rwanda I shook hands with the devil. I have seen him, I have smelt him and I have touched him. I know the devil exists and therefore I know there is a God!"
Shake Hands with the Devil These are the words of Canadian General Romeo Dallaire, the Commander of the United Nations Mission to Rwanda (UNIMIR). His book, Shake Hands With the Devil (which has also been made into a dramatic film), documents the unfolding catastrophe, and as he puts it in the subtitle of his book: "The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda." 24 Years Ago As the people of Rwanda soberly reflect on the holocaust which was unleased upon them 24 years ago, April 1994, there are still compelling questions which demand answers. How could such dreadful mass murder take place within sight and sound of United Nations peacekeepers without the international community doing anything to stop it? Could the holocaust in Rwanda have been prevented? What steps must we take to ensure that such atrocities do not occur again? 
April marks the anniversary of the launch of the systematic extermination of the Christian Armenians by the Ottoman Turks. The Jihad began with the arrest of 250 Christian leaders in Constantinople (what is today called Istanbul) and over 800 other Christian leaders throughout the empire, on 24 April 1915. 
To listen to the audio presentation of this report on From the Frontline, click here.
Farm Confiscations without Compensation The National Assembly of the South African Parliament sent shock waves around the country by setting in motion a process to change the Constitution so as to allow expropriation of land without compensation. The threat to private ownership of property and the clearly stated intention to remove Constitutional safeguards and protections for private ownership of property has staggered observers. Most land in South Africa is controlled by the ANC government and over 4,000 farms already acquired from white farmers, remain un-allocated. |
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