Is SA on brink of collapse? — Marian Fitz-Gibbon

These are words that have been used over and over by opinion writers, top businessmen and women, you and I over the decades.

One asks whether they are warning words to jerk the various sectors to wake up from a slumber lest we hear the shuddering feet of the masses crying for food or the revolutionaries baying for blood.

My friend you think it’s the unions you need to be afraid of, but perhaps it’s the voices of a mothers holding their hungry, crying babies.

It’s been said that trust is earned when actions meet words. There have been many words spoken with promises for a changed future in the country regarding deliverables. The man and woman on the street are looking and waiting desperately for change.

There is only so much creativity that a family can endure with a few loaves of high-priced bread and a bag of mealie meal.

Let’s extrapolate this a little bit further. If leaders are careless with the little things concerning supply and demand, they cannot be trusted with any increase that might follow. Adopting a philosophy of entitlement entwined with corruption leads swiftly to a governance that will certainly not yield a sustainable increase. This is a theory we’ve tested in almost all sectors and have come up short. So would it be wrong to say: “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.” (Abraham Lincoln)

Broken trust
Trust takes years to build, seconds to break, and forever to repair. If one considers that South Africa is ranked in the top 5 for crime in the world it may give us incentive to want to swing that around and do what we do best: pray and then act.

Perhaps we might remember the turnaround stories of bad to good in the Bronx in New York. It’s really sobering when we must face incompetence’s and shortfallings, but a shouting minister of police who yells in anger and spews political verbiage reminds us that it will take a lot for us to build trust again.

We take comfort from the words in Job: “Yet I am not silenced because of the darkness, nor because thick darkness covers my face’ and for those who would challenge unrighteousness, do not be intimidated nor be silenced, but boldly speak up.”

Load shedding impact

The stark reality is that our country is on the brink of collapse due to the ongoing stage 4 to 6 load shedding. It’s said that the economy is losing R400 billion a day and will not survive if this does not stop.

This is nothing in comparison to the ongoing construction mafia which seeks to undermine construction development in different provinces. Surely a miraculous intervention is something every church can pray into besides for any of the other teetering or failed sectors.

I’ve always had a Pollyanna attitude towards life, but no doubt Pollyanna is not going to fix this massive mess. But hundreds of well-trained, shoulder-to-shoulder men and women facing the national disaster in every sector might.

I challenge you to look at the “7 mountains” from the man in the street’s point of view and gravely answer the question: “Are we are not on the brink of disaster?”

Perhaps embracing the truth could begin to set us free from clinging to any misconceptions, while at the same time never denying the fact that God is able to help us.

Nehemiahs arise
Let’s stop and reflect on our history, we as South Africans are fundamentally a warring nation in the good sense of the word. We have stood together and fought some of the toughest battles any nation could face. We need to recognise that the overcoming and determined spirit is in our DNA and it’s rising again in the face of extreme adversity.

If you ask the average Christian, or man in the street if he or she knows what’s really going on at the very core of the country, they don’t really know. But one thing they’re certain of is that where their family and friends have come under pressure “it’s just got to stop” and “it’s only God who can fix this mess”.

I don’t know about you, but when people get together with one heart and agree that God can do it, somehow God breaks through the trash and the answers come.

Brick by brick we can rebuild this nation. If nations can get together and help rebuild Ukraine while Russia is still attacking them, then my friend, we can pick up our bricks and rebuild this nation.

Do you remember the prophetic word that may encourage you, that said even though our children would go to the nations, they would come back? I wonder if it’s their talent or finance or insight that will be coming to help in our desperate time of need? Is this that hour?

Power, prophets and politics

The heart of the prophet should carry the heart of the one who created him or her — Who weeps over the plight of His people. A true prophet feels the pain of the marginalised, the rejected, the misunderstood, the ones who have no voice and for those who beg.

When religion or the prophetic and politics are in an incestuous relationship, religion turns rulers into gods and political leaders corrupt religious leaders with wealth and gives them power to impose religious beliefs on unbelievers. This dear reader is manipulation at its worst.

Today, there are prophetic voices on almost every issue, sometimes on both sides. There are pro-Eskom prophets and anti-corruption prophets, pro-economic reform prophets and pro human rights prophets, pro freedom of religion, prophets of different parties and so the list goes on.

In just one sector the fear of sabotage and threats of intimidation in the higher echelons continues in spite of the influence of the prophetic which was called to bring the heart of the Lord. How can we judge true prophets from false prophets?

Follow the money. No prophet in the Scriptures was ever rich. “What did you go out to the desert to see?” asks Jesus about John the Baptist in Luke’s Gospel. “Someone dressed in fine garments. Those who dress luxuriously and live sumptuously are found in royal palaces.” A true prophet does not get rich speaking for God.

Who are the prophet’s friends? A true prophet is friends with the poor and the powerless. A false prophet keeps company with the rich and powerful. Jesus was criticised for keeping company with tax collectors and sinners. “Put no trust in princes,” says the psalmist in Psalm 146. Prophets should not get in bed with politicians.

For whom does the prophet speak? The job of the prophet is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. False prophets tell their people what they want to hear. What good is it to be found grovelling over political leaders, as others challenge them to protect the marginalised and serve the common good.

One must ask the question: is the prophet a prophet for a party by ignoring the sins of his friends and not fully for God?

Motives of your heart

To respond to these situations with a right heart attitude is critical. One gets swept away with the “opportunity” that lies ahead and the possibility of being led down the road of corruption becomes the slippery slope that’s got no return.

To wrap this up or to put it in a nutshell. To say you have the ear of the president and you don’t have the heart and accurate word of the Lord is a nation on the brink of collapse. Surely then, the people will have their say at the end of the day.

We cannot, no cannot shut this nation down just at any cost.

Collapse#revolution#unions#crime#pray#politics#loadshedding#mafia#prophesy

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