Heavens open at moving climax of dedication of provinces, nation to Lord

Testimonies and photos of the day

[notice]On Sunday (December 2) Christians gathered at the Union Buildings, Pretoria, to dedicate Gauteng and South Africa to the Lord in prayer. The event was the climax of a countrywide prayer campaign that was launched after the African National Congress dedicated South Africa to ancestors in January. Three people who attended Sunday’s prayer event, share their impressions.[/notice]

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Pastor Graham Barlin — History made but unnoticed by many
The greatest events of history often come and go relatively unnoticed at the time. This was the overwhelming impression about the Dedication of South Africa to God that still lingers with me. For the thousand or so of us children of God who stood huddled together in the inclement weather at the Union Buildings on Sunday it was apparent that something momentous was taking place; something the implications of which one felt would reach well beyond our lives and the lives of our children and even their children

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After an hour or so of preliminaries the dedication of Gauteng and South Africa as a whole began at 2 PM with the sounding of the shofars – a prophetic message sent into the atmosphere. Following the pattern adopted by all the other eight provinces in the land over the past year as they were successively dedicated to God, the programme included the following five steps:

1) The declaration of the Lordship of Jesus Christ
2) The repentance from all known iniquities that prevail historically in the given region
3) The renunciation of all known evil covenants that have been entered into by the inhabitants of the land
4) The establishment of the New Covenant we have in Jesus Christ as symbolised by the taking of Holy Communion
5) The dedication of the land, its peoples, institutions, resources and products to God for the extension of His Kingdom on this earth.

How wonderful it was to hear such a cross section of God’s people from every walk of life and every people group standing together, united by our common love for God and love for our beautiful land, taking responsibility for our sin and standing tall, shoulder to shoulder, trusting Him to extend His hand of Grace to this troubled nation.

The most moving sight for me in all of this however was an elderly, crippled lady who braved the elements, ignoring the obvious pain and had taken her heart in hand to be there and to be a part of this awesome moment in time. The whole Church should have been there, the entire Nation should have stood still, the rest of Africa and the World should have born witness – the Heavens certainly did!

It took the Lord to remind me that, when Jesus was born in Bethlehem so many years ago, by far the larger part of the community carried on with its day to day affairs oblivious.

Pastor Rachael Olusegun — Deep and heartfelt
The people started arriving from 12 noon, even though the meeting only started at two. Then a procession of various groups, and two horses, one white, the other brown, led by the SA Police, entered the arena. No one was riding on them and they were draped in royal colors. Symbolically the Lord Jesus Christ was riding on them.

The meeting was declared open by the master of ceremonies, Mangaliso Matshobane and the shofars were blown to gather the crowd and signifying the beginning of the meeting.

Worship and repentance sessions were led by individuals from different sectors of society. The repentance was deep and heartfelt. This was done for one hour. Thereafter renunciation of ancient covenants was done and communion was served. A dedication offering was taken and will be sent to Israel to proclaim that the resources of this land, belong to the God of Israel.

Hereafter different sectors of society were dedicated to God by representatives of the four people groups in South Africa, namely the native Africans, the first nation people group, Caucasian African group and the Indian African group. Soil was exchanged by the various representatives of the people groups to one another to symbolically declare that:
1. The land belongs to God
2. The land is big enough for all of us to live in.
3. We shall no longer kill each other for land
4. To bless each other and say that ‘you and your people must live on this land and prosper.’

It was special to see that all the people groups, which live in South Africa, were represented on the day of the dedication. Also, the exchange of soil among the elders from the different people groups, were very powerful. This was a declaration of a spiritual transaction which was made and affects this nation personally. This especially stood out for me from the whole day.

Denise Nortje — Rain did not deter prayers
I arrived at the event unprepared for the rain that soon started, but the Lord blessed me by sending someone with a huge umbrella to sit next to me . She hardly took her seat when the rain started falling. It was clear that the people where committed as everyone stayed put throughout the rain which basically didn’t cease until the end. It was exciting to be part of an event that focussed on repentance, the breaking of all ungodly covenants and dedicating the country to the Lord.

It was awesome that every sector of the society was present and repented of the sins on behalf of their sector or people group. Listening to the crimes/sins people repented of was actually horrifying and it made me grateful for the Lord’s grace thus far. I also have a much clearer picture of why this country is in the mess that it is in. Now I am excited to see the effects of the prayer in our country and I truly hope that people will turn to the Lord Jesus Christ.

After every group repented we partook in communion which was truly special. What stood out for me was the various ethnic groups taking soil and declaring that we are breaking with the covenants made at the Voortrekker and Freedom Park Monuments and saying/declaring that we do not have to kill each other to live in this beautiful country of ours.