“People are worried about South Africa. They are worried about where we are going. They are worried about what our grandchildren are going to inherit.
“But I want to tell you, with all my heart, with every conviction and fibre of my body, I have hope for South Africa. I see there are tremendous, tremendous possibilities. But I see there are some great conditions that need to be met if we are to see what we need to see.”
The speaker, Dr Michael Cassidy, 90, evangelist, author, Christian statesman and founder of African Enterprise, was addressing a multicultural, multigenerational audience gathered at Joy to the Nations Church, Gqeberha, to hear a message of hope for South Africa during a stop in his six-city “Legacy Tour”.
So, what was the “BUT…” in Cassidy’s hopeful vision for SA?
He said he believes that SA needs a “transformational revival” which “goes beyond the inner renewed experiences inside churches” and results in “the transformation and the reformation of society”.
He said the Early Church and the 18th Century Weslyean Revival led by John and Charles Wesley and Goerge Whitefield were two great precedents of revivals that transformed society. Both were “movements of preaching” which changed society.
Cassidy said that during his current mission of visiting six cities around the country he was “making a call for a renewal of evangelistic preaching”.
“I would like to suggest that every church or every minister here represented would consider having an evangelistic mission in your church — a one-week evangelistic meeting this year where you consciously go after the outsider. Because most churches are in maintenance mode; they keep things ticking over.”
Cassidy said John Wesley himself travelled 250 000 miles on horseback preaching the Gospel in over 44 000 sermons. “And that’s what changed England” which was in a worse state than South Africa at the time with 84 000 children working in mines for 18 hours a day under cruel conditions and people at risk of being hanged for stealing a sheep.
Through a great revival of preaching and prayer amazing things began to happen in England. William Wiberforce led a successful move in Parliament for social change and the abolition of slavery. People in every sphere of society became reformers and so there was change in education and medicine, there was prison and mining reform and a booming Sunday School movement.
“Beloved, I want to say that is what we need,” said Cassidy, urging SA Christians to “keep your eyes on the prize of tranformational revival”.
“Not just people in church singing and clapping but people who may be singing and clapping in church on Sundays, but on Monday they are changing the situation in the workplace. That’s what actually really needs to happen.
He said that in his travels around SA he is thankful to see that God is raising up voices who are calling, calling loudly for great things to happen”.
“So I want to ask you: will you cooperate with God’s plan for change? He wants to use you as an agent of change in the place where you are.”
Stating that there are “still a lot of hurts and wounds in this country that we white people inflicted upon people, both black and brown”, he said God “has committed to us the ministry of reconciliation”.
In response to a question from the audience, Cassidy said he did not believe God was going to raise up “some messianic figure” to accomplish what was needed. “I think it’s going to be hundreds and hundreds of incredible people. And it’s going to be a mass movement of people all saying: ‘I want to be part of this change.’ Because, you know, the prophetic figure can’t be in the office, he can’t be in the garage or in the factory. He can only be on their platform.”
Calling for change at the grassroots level he said “there needs to be major work on the Christian family” and that “is something that everybody should work on”.
“Kids need to be taught that there are rules in the Bible. The 10 Commandments are the 10 Commandments: they’re not the 10 Suggestions. And ‘I shall not commit adultery’ is one of them. Young people need to be taught that this way of promiscuous living and starting to sleep around from the time people are in puberty is going to absolutely destroy our country.
“We need to have major educational reform so that ethics and morals are somehow taught in our schools in a way that they never were before. Unless we do that, I tell you, we won’t save the day.
“If the family collapses, the society collapses: that is a law of civilisations and of history. So, I believe South Africa can be saved, can be fixed, but it’s every member involved.”.
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Michael Cassidy has hit the nail on the Head. The church body needs to arise and become the salt and the light…