Prayer, prophecy and politics in SA parliament — Tshego Motaung

Earlier this month I wrote an article asking if God still speaks to modern nations the way He did in the past?

Little did I know that before the month ended I would be in a meeting in parliament where leaders in government, business and civil society movements would be gathered, all eagerly waiting to hear God’s word for the nation.

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Confirming that indeed God does still speak to nations, but mostly God is speaking about our own nation, the theme of the meeting was based on Isaiah 66:8 – ...Can a nation be born in a day?…

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The meeting was hosted in the Good Hope Chamber and was convened by Dr Pearl Kupe and Apostle Linda Gobodo, who have risen as mothers in the nation and are leading initiatives aimed at aligning people and nations in Africa with their God-ordained destinies.

Among the government and civil society leaders at the meeting were Rev Kenneth Meshoe of the ACDP; Mmusi Maimane of the DA; Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng; Former Cape Town City Manager and Acting Judge – Land Claims Court, Dr. Wallace Mgoqi ; Errol Naidoo of the Family Policy Institute;  and business leaders such as Wendy Luhabe and Graham Power.

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There were also leaders of the Khoi San community, Royalty from Nigeria as well as leaders of different denominations and Christian organisations in the country. This meeting brought together South Africans in all their diversity.

The main speaker was Nigerian ministry leader Emmanuel Kure, a respected prophet who God has used to speak to many nations at strategic times of transition. Kure has journeyed with South Africa over the years and shares the burden to see South Africa fulfill her destiny.

Speaking with a deep passion for the nation and clearly understanding South Africa’s crucial role in moving Africa forward, Kure said: “If we lose South Africa, we lose Africa.”

Political party leaders speak
Leaders of political parties were given an opportunity to address the meeting. Rev Meshoe, one of the longest-serving members of parliament expressed gratitude to the conveners and attendees, saying the meeting was an answer to years of prayer. The active participation of Christians in praying for leadership of the nation in parliament marked a new season as it was not so in 1994, he said.

DA leader Mmusi Maimane spoke of the need to urgently address the challenge of having “two nations within the nation”, with some living in abundance, while others were poor. While government could legislate on this matter, Maimane expressed a desire to see those who have an abundance come to a place of repentance like Zacchaeus in the Bible. He was a rich man who had gained some of his riches through extortion and greed. But when salvation came to his house, he repented and gave half of his riches to the poor and committed to restore four times back to those he had cheated. Maimane stressed the need for repentance — a key that would open hearts to share wealth.

He also reminded the gathering that the kind of fast that God required was to break chains of oppression, to share food with the poor and clothe the naked – Isaiah 58:6- 7

Reflections on SA journey since 1994
Justice Mogoeng reflected on South Africa’s journey since the dawn of democracy. He acknowledged that a lot of good has been done, recalling that the ruling party had inherited a bankrupt government with a deficit of more than R250-billion, double-digit inflation and high unemployment. The national debt had to repaid at about R50-billion per annum; money that could have been directed towards development.

Today the budget deficit is about R195-billion, despite reaching surplus levels at one point; while the country faces many challenges, he attributed them to one thing – leadership. The country is in desperate need of competent men and women of integrity in order to move forward, said Mogoeng.

He highlighted the need to tackle corruption, starting in the Church, and to raise a critical mass of people of integrity to influence all spheres of society.

Other issues that need to be addressed urgently included racism, which must be rooted out; crime and securing our borders. The influx of people crossing South Africa’s borders illegally contributed to crime and insecurity in the country and was a big inhibitor to investment and economic growth, he said.

Judge Mogoeng also challenged South Africans to stop outsourcing their thinking capacity, and rather to engage with government on every subject, including international relations.

Word for South Africa
Prophet Kure reminded the meeting of sudden events that have taken place in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Ethiopia, and how these were signs that God was visiting the continent.

In Zimbabwe a military coup took place with no bloodshed – something that has never happened in Africa. South Africa and Ethiopia followed with sudden resignations of President Zuma and Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn.

While it would be easy to dismiss these events as ordinary political developments, they clearly took people by surprise as none of the three political leaders were keen to be removed. Recent reports by Emmerson Mnangagwa Jnr telling of the miraculous escape of his father, now President Mnangagwa, from attempts on his life in Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe, confirmed that there had been more to events in that nation than could be attributed to his father’s wisdom.

On South Africa, the prophet said the appointment of President Cyril Ramaphosa was God starting to position His sons to begin the work of redemption – in line with the word …all creation eagerly awaits the revelation of the Sons of God – Romans 8:19. This was the ANC assignment from the beginning, he said, through its lineage of God-fearing men who were founders and leaders of the organisation ( See Remembering OR Tambo: A man after God’s heart for more on the Christian roots of the ANC), but this assignment was somehow lost in the process.

He said he had never understood this until the day Ramaphosa, responding to Meshoe in parliament, confessed their shared history in the Students Christian Movement where he was the president. Kure however gave a stern warning to the president that if he did not resume the work of redemption the land would vomit him up.

Nation’s time of destiny
Kure spoke of the current season of 2018 – 5778 in the Jewish calendar — as a time that opens the nation to a place of destiny, in which those who have been forgotten would be remembered.

God was realigning everything and would use what was perceived as foolish to accomplish his eternal plan. For example, while many would call US president Donald Trump foolish, he explained how he was being used to address issues in God’s heart that world leaders have not had the courage to confront, such as Jerusalem and the killing of Christians by Boko Haram in Nigeria and by others in other parts of the world. He advised believers to pray that God’s agenda be advanced irrespective of their personal sentiments towards leaders.

He concluded by praying for South Africa to focus on the good future that God has prepared for her and to forget her past. He encouraged everyone to give thanks to God for all the processes that have taken place to give birth to South Africa as it is today — the good and the bad – with the understanding that God has never left or forsaken the nation.

“I dream of a united South Africa, where all the voices are collapsed into one South African voice,” he said as he prayed for unity in the nation, but challenged that it must begin with the Church.

This meeting was in many ways a confirmation of a prophetic word for SA released by Cindy Jacobs just a day before. Jacobs tells how God will cause the nation to be reconciled, healed and restored as it returns to God.