Thabo Mbeki’s Distortion of the Holy Scriptures
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South African President Thabo Mbeki delivered an address at the annual Nelson Mandela Lecture, held at Wits University on the 29th July 2006. This was broadcast on SABC 2 on the 30th July. I am going to quote sections of his speech at length, without comment at first, so that the reader may take in all the relevant portions of the speech together; and then I will dissect it and comment on various sections of it. To those with eyes to see, it gives a picture of the kind of South Africa envisaged by our Communist leaders, as well as (horrifyingly) the way they continue to distort the Scriptures to suit themselves, by their heresy known as “liberation theology” (religious Communism).
The Bible says, “Honour the king [ruler]” (1 Pet.2:17); and, “Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour” (Rom. 13:7). Thabo Mbeki is president of South Africa, and as such, for the sake of the office he holds, he must be honoured by all Christians in the land; but the Bible shows that it is not inconsistent with the commandment to honour the head of State, to point out his sins or wrongdoings (e.g. Lk. 3:19,20; Acts 24:24,25). If a ruler is a “fox”, for example, it is not sinful to say so (Lk. 13:31,32); and if a president preaches Marxism, or falsely quotes the Holy Scriptures, this may certainly be exposed. But this must be done with proper regard for his office (e.g. Acts 26:24-27); for regardless of the personal character of the man holding the office, God in His sovereignty has permitted him to be there (Rom. 13:1-7). Honour must be given because of the office he holds, not because of the personal character of the man occupying the office, who may not in his personal character be worthy of honour at all. We may abhor his deeds, but honour him for the office he holds, and pray for him.
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This is what he said:
“The book of Proverbs, in the Holy Bible, contains some injunctions that capture a number of elements of what I believe constitute important features of the spirit of ‘Ubuntu’, which would strive to implant in the very bosom of the New South Africa that has been born, the food of the soul that would inspire all our people to say that they are proud to be South African.
“The Proverbs say, ‘Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it. Say not unto thy neighbour, Go, and come again, and to morrow I will give; when thou hast it by thee. Devise not evil against thy neighbour, seeing he dwelleth securely by thee. Strive not with a man without cause, if he have done thee no harm. Envy thou not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways.’
“The book of Proverbs assumes that as human beings, we have the capacity to do as it says: not to withhold the good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of our hand to do it; and not to say no to our neighbour, ‘Come again, and we will give you something tomorrow’, even when we can give the necessary help today. It says that we can be encouraged not to devise evil against our neighbours, with whom we otherwise live in harmony. It assumes that we are capable of responding to the injunction that we should not declare war against anybody without cause, especially those who have not caused us any harm. It urges that in our actions we should not seek to emulate the demeanour of our oppressors, nor adopt their evil practices.
“All revolutions, which by definition seek to replace one social order with another, are in the end, and in essence, concerned with human beings and the improvement of the human condition. This is also true of our democratic revolution of 1994.
“As distinct from other species of the animal world, human beings also have spiritual needs…. Thus do all of us, and not merely the religious leaders, speak of the intangible element that is immanent in all human beings - the soul.”
(Mr Mbeki then proceeded to attack Capitalism, and said “white society” in the past was dominated by the desire to accumulate wealth, by the exploitation of the blacks. He then blamed the fact that, after 1994, society continued to be dominated by personal acquisition of wealth, and thus crime, etc., on the historical reality of white Capitalist rule!).
“R.H. Tawney wrote in his famous book, ‘Religion and the Rise of Capitalism’: ‘…granted that I should love my neighbour as myself, the questions which… remain for solution are, Who precisely is my neighbour? And how exactly am I to make my love for him effective in practice?’ To these questions, the conventional religious teachings, said Tawney, supplied no answer, for it had not even realised that these questions could be put. Religion had not yet learned to console itself for the practical difficulty of applying its moral principles by clasping the comfortable formula that for the transactions of economic life, no moral principles exist.”
(Mr Mbeki then went on to attack the Capitalist system in true Communist fashion).
“I will… make bold to quote an ancient text, which reads, in old English, ‘Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: And having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest. How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: so shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.’
“I know that given the level of education of our audience this evening, the overwhelming majority among us will know that I’ve extracted these passages I’ve just quoted from the book of Proverbs, contained in the Saint James edition of the Holy Bible.
“It may be that the scepticism of our age has dulled our collective and individual sensitivity to the messages of this Book of faith, and all the messages that it seeks to convey to all of us. In this regard I know that I have not served the purposes of this Book well by exploiting the possibility it provides, to say to you and everybody else who might be listening, ‘Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.’
“To consider her ways, means that we too, who unknowingly squash to death the minuscule pygmies of the world, as we tread the common earth as giants of the universe, means that we must develop the wisdom that will ensure the survival and cohesion of human society. It assumes that we have the humility to understand that a little folding of the hands to sleep, travel and service in defence of our nation, might impoverish us by depriving us of our regular meals, but simultaneously make us happy as the man that finds wisdom, and the man that gets understanding.
“It would be dishonest of me not to assume that what I’ve cited from the book of Proverbs will at best evoke literary interest, and at worst a minor theological controversy. But my own view is that the Proverbs raise important issues that bear on what our nation is trying to do to define the soul of the New South Africa…
“To return to the Holy Bible: the book of Genesis says, ‘In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.’ This biblical text suggests that of critical importance to every South African, is consideration of the material conditions of life, and therefore the attendant pursuit of personal wealth…. Perhaps strangely, this could be said to coincide exactly with the fundamental proposition advanced by the founders of Marxism, expressed by Friederich Engels at the funeral of Karl Marx, in the following words: ‘Just as Darwin discovered the law of development of organic nature, so Marx discovered the law of development of human history - the simple fact… that mankind must first of all eat, drink, have shelter, and clothing, before it can pursue politics, art, science, religion, etc.’”
(Mr Mbeki said that Engels then spoke of religion “evolving”, etc.; and he then quoted Lenin, along similar lines).
“…some of the earliest expression of idealism as a philosophical expression is also contained in the Holy Bible. In this regard, for instance, St. John’s Gospel says, ‘In the beginning was the Word.’
“I am sure that many in this auditorium have been asking themselves the question - why I have referred so insistently to the Christian Holy Scriptures. Let me explain - I am not about to become a Christian.” (Applause from the audience at this point).
“As Europe and the world sowed the seeds for the catastrophe later represented by the Second World War, as in a Greek tragedy, the eminent Irish poet, William Butler Yeats, like other European thinkers, sounded alarm bells that nobody seemed to hear. What he said survives today as outstanding poetry [and then he quoted Yeats as writing the following]: ‘And to strive to ensure that emanating from Jerusalem, the acre of the fountain of many faiths, no monstrous beast slouches out of Bethlehem to be born.’
“We must therefore say that the biblical injunction is surely correct - that man cannot live by bread alone; and therefore that the mere pursuit of individual wealth can never satisfy the need, immanent in all human beings, to lead lives of happiness.”
Let us now dissect and analyse what Mr Mbeki said.
1) “The book of Proverbs, in the Holy Bible, contains some injunctions that capture a number of elements of what I believe constitute important features of the spirit of ‘Ubuntu’, which would strive to implant in the very bosom of the New South Africa that has been born, the food of the soul that would inspire all our people to say that they are proud to be South African.”
Thabo Mbeki is not a Christian. As he himself said in this speech, “I am not about to become a Christian.” He is a Marxist. The first question, then, that comes to mind is: why did he spend so much time quoting from the Bible?
There are at least three reasons. The first is that he was speaking at a university, delivering a lecture. Liberals have given Mr Mbeki the reputation of being something of an intellectual, and he frequently tries to live up to this reputation. Quoting from the Bible, and specifically from the grand old King James Version, couched his speech in a veneer of intellectualism. To most “intellectuals” these days, the Bible is not the Word of God, but they like to give the impression of being well-versed with its expressions, its proverbs, and even its teachings. Mr Mbeki doubtless pandered to that, and in so doing doubtless impressed his audience with his apparent knowledge of the Bible, in much the same way as his quotations from Yeats and Shakespeare (the latter not quoted in the portions above) would have done. The fact that his biblical quotations were out of context, and utterly incorrectly interpreted, would have been lost on his doting admirers that night, who would have been for the most part as ignorant of the true meaning of God’s Word as he is.
The second reason is that SA is a deeply religious country, with at least 75% of the country’s population claiming to be “Christian.” Of course, the vast majority of these are anything but true Christians; but this is the claim they make. And in their unregenerate ignorance, they would have rejoiced that the president of SA was quoting from the Bible. To them, they would take this as a wonderful sign that the president, even though by his own admission not a Christian, had at least a respect for the Bible and thus, by extension, for Christianity. Nothing could be further from the truth.
And the third reason is the most ominous: as I make clear in my book, “Holy War” Against South Africa, the Marxist revolution that engulfed this country and ultimately swept the African National Congress to power in 1994 was a revolution supported, all the way, by Red religious leaders, wolves in sheep’s clothing, who preached the heresy of “liberation theology.” This is, in essence, religious Communism. It is Marxism dressed up as “Christianity.” “Liberation theology” uses certain verses and events in the Holy Scriptures, taken out of context, distorted, etc., to supposedly give support to Marxism. The Reds realised long ago that in a very religious country, the only way their revolution would succeed was by harnessing the power of religion to serve their purposes. And in SA they did this to a pre-eminent degree. The masses, misled by their priests and ministers who preached a political “gospel” instead of the true Gospel of Christ, came to believe that it was the will of God, the will of Christ, for the revolution to succeed. Obviously, the ANC’s leaders were only too willing to encourage this heretical doctrine to be preached in churches across the land.
As far as the ANC is concerned, the Bible is only useful insofar as its teachings can be distorted to support their cause. And this is what President Mbeki was doing at that lecture. He (or his speech-writers) had trawled through the Bible to find verses which would supposedly support his remarks. And to anyone without a spiritual understanding of the Scriptures, they did just that.
As for calling the country “the New South Africa”, this is what the Communists love to call it. It is nonsense. Their so-called “New South Africa” is now officially twelve years old. Indeed, it is even older than that.
2) “The Proverbs say, ‘Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it. Say not unto thy neighbour, Go, and come again, and to morrow I will give; when thou hast it by thee. Devise not evil against thy neighbour, seeing he dwelleth securely by thee. Strive not with a man without cause, if he have done thee no harm. Envy thou not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways.’”
This quotation is taken, word for word, from Proverbs 3:27-31. But in the understanding of a Marxist like Mr Mbeki, this passage is to be interpreted as follows: white South Africans are the “oppressors”; they “oppressed” black South Africans; and therefore it is time for the whites to give what they have to the blacks because it is what they are due. In Communist phraseology, this is called “redistribution of wealth.” The so-called “haves” must “redistribute” what they have to the so-called “have nots.”
That this is indeed what he meant by quoting this portion of the book of Proverbs, is made plain by the rest of his speech, as we shall see.
3) “[The book of Proverbs] urges that in our actions we should not seek to emulate the demeanour of our oppressors, nor adopt their evil practices.”
Again: by “our oppressors”, Mr Mbeki meant white South Africans, who until 1994 governed South Africa, and whose ancestors instituted the policy of apartheid, or separate development of the various nations within SA’s borders. This is a favourite theme of Mbeki’s, one to which he loves to return time after time in his speeches. He loses no opportunity to take a swipe at the whites, or to drum into the heads of the blacks that whites “oppressed” them, etc. He speaks with a forked tongue. On one occasion he will say that the country belongs to both black and white South Africans; then on another occasion he will say castigate the whites, demand that they do this, do that, do the next thing. And the latter occasions most definitely are far more numerous than the former.
This is not the place to show that so much of the refrain about whites “oppressing” blacks is nothing but outright nonsense. Suffice it to say that it is the only way the ANC can ever cling to power: by white-bashing. They have nothing to offer this country, no policies that could ever make it into even a shadow of what it once was under white rule - the greatest country in all of Africa, a First World wonder at the tip of the Dark Continent. All they can do is constantly harp on and on about the past. And not even the true past, but a history of their own concocting.
One other thing: Mr Mbeki said that “we” (read: black South Africans) should not seek to emulate the demeanour of “our oppressors” (read: white South Africans), nor adopt their evil practices. And yet this is precisely what they have done! Under black Communist rule, SA is a dictatorship, in which whites have become second-class citizens! The ANC constantly goes on and on about apartheid; but “apartheid” under black Communist rule is far worse than anything the white authorities ever implemented!
4) “All revolutions, which by definition seek to replace one social order with another, are in the end, and in essence, concerned with human beings and the improvement of the human condition. This is also true of our democratic revolution of 1994.”
That, as the Americans say, is absolute baloney! Revolutions are not concerned with human beings or improving their condition at all. Revolutions (and in particular Communist revolutions) are concerned with the achievement of power by the revolutionaries. This is what they are all about! The ANC, which carried out an armed revolution against the South African state in which tens of thousands were brutally killed, couldn’t care less about “human beings and the improvement of the human condition”! Those who came to power in 1994 rapidly assumed “fat cat” status, living lives of luxury while the masses who were nothing but the cannon fodder of the revolution to bring them to power grew poorer by the day. In the twelve years since 1994, South Africans are worse off than ever before. The greed and arrogance of the Red rulers knows no bounds.
Besides, how anyone can be so foolish as to believe that an organisation that comes to power after waging a brutal terrorist war can possibly have the interests of “the people” at heart, and care about improving their lot, boggles the mind. But so it is.
Note, too, how Communists now speak of “democracy.” The word “democracy” has replaced the word “Communism”.
5) When, in his speech, Mr Mbeki attacked Capitalism, note how he did it, and how - yet again - he managed to use the opportunity to attack the whites. He knows that South Africa today, under black Communist rule, is the crime capital of the world. He also knows that South Africans are disgusted with the “fat cat” lives of the new ruling black elite. But could he bring himself to acknowledge that his government has failed to maintain law and order, or that ANC politicians, parliamentarians, and cabinet members were in their positions of power solely because of greed, the desire to enrich themselves at all costs? Oh no. Instead, he said that “white society” in the past was dominated by the desire to accumulate wealth, by the exploitation of the blacks; so that when, after the ANC came to power in 1994, society continued to be dominated by personal acquisition of wealth, and crime, this was because of the historical reality of white Capitalist rule!
In other words, the only reason black Communists are caught up in the pursuit of the personal acquisition of wealth is because they inherited a Capitalist society from the whites! They are not to blame! Poor dears, they could not help it. Once again, it is the “legacy of apartheid”. In a few short sentences, he was able to equate Capitalism with the white “oppressors”, and blame them for the shocking state of the country under black Communist rule!
But wait a minute - you’re the Communists! You’re the ones who believe in “sharing wealth”! Well then, you share your own vast wealth with the masses! A great many Communists have become extremely wealthy men since coming to power in this country, but we don’t see them coming forward to “redistribute” their wealth to the poor. As with Communists everywhere, all men are equal - but some are more equal than others. President Mbeki’s own salary is so enormous that he could personally alleviate the poverty of very many of his own subjects. But no: he, being a black South African, is categorised as being among the “previously disadvantaged”, and thus exempt from having to “redistribute” wealth to assist the poor and needy. It is the whites, and the whites only, who are required to do so.
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: they will still be blaming everything on the whites decades from now. This is all they can do. They have nothing else to offer. They came to power singing that song, and they will continue singing it. Communism is built on an illusion. That illusion is that everything about “the past” was evil, and everything under Communism is a paradise. But the Emperor has no clothes! Tragically, it will be many long years before the people realise it.
6) “R.H. Tawney wrote in his famous book, ‘Religion and the Rise of Capitalism’: ‘…granted that I should love my neighbour as myself, the questions which… remain for solution are, Who precisely is my neighbour? And how exactly am I to make my love for him effective in practice?’ To these questions, the conventional religious teachings, said Tawney, supplied no answer, for it had not even realised that these questions could be put. Religion had not yet learned to console itself for the practical difficulty of applying its moral principles by clasping the comfortable formula that for the transactions of economic life, no moral principles exist.”
Who was the author Mr Mbeki quoted? Richard Henry Tawney (1880-1962) was an English writer, economic historian, “Democratic Socialist”, and “Christian Socialist”, who greatly influenced the British Labour Party. Democratic Socialist! No wonder President Mbeki quoted him with such approval, as the ANC embraces “Democratic Socialism”! But for true Christians, Tawney knew neither the Lord nor the Holy Scriptures; and this is shown even in the brief quote given by Mr Mbeki. For Tawney asked, “Who precisely is my neighbour? And how exactly am I to make my love for him effective in practice?” and then went on to state that the conventional religious teachings supplied no answer. But this is completely false; for the Lord Jesus Christ most definitely had the answer! When a certain lawyer asked Him, “And who is my neighbour?” (Lk. 10:29), the Lord Jesus answered Him by relating the parable of the Good Samaritan. He, after all, being God, is the One who gave the commandment, “Love thy neighbour as thyself” (Lev. 19:18); and thus of course He knew perfectly how to answer the question, “Who is my neighbour?”
Therefore Tawney’s statement is false. As, too, is the statement that “religion had not yet learned to console itself for the practical difficulty of applying its moral principles by clasping the comfortable formula that for the transactions of economic life, no moral principles exist.” In true Marxist fashion, such a statement assumes that religion (i.e. Christianity) has to evolve with the times, that it has to simply follow where Marxism leads. This is the ANC’s position, too. Religion only has a purpose insofar as it can be used to prop up Marxism.
7) “I will… make bold to quote an ancient text, which reads, in old English, ‘Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: And [he said "and"; the Bible says "which"] having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest. How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: so shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.’
“I know that given the level of education of our audience this evening, the overwhelming majority among us will know that I’ve extracted these passages I’ve just quoted from the book of Proverbs, contained in the Saint James edition of the Holy Bible.
“It may be that the scepticism of our age has dulled our collective and individual sensitivity to the messages of this Book of faith, and all the messages that it seeks to convey to all of us. In this regard I know that I have not served the purposes of this Book well by exploiting the possibility it provides, to say to you and everybody else who might be listening, ‘Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.’
“To consider her ways, means that we too, who unknowingly squash to death the minuscule pygmies of the world, as we tread the common earth as giants of the universe, means that we must develop the wisdom that will ensure the survival and cohesion of human society. It assumes that we have the humility to understand that a little folding of the hands to sleep, travel and service in defence of our nation, might impoverish us by depriving us of our regular meals, but simultaneously make us happy as the man that finds wisdom, and the man that gets understanding.
“It would be dishonest of me not to assume that what I’ve cited from the book of Proverbs will at best evoke literary interest, and at worst a minor theological controversy. But my own view is that the Proverbs raise important issues that bear on what our nation is trying to do to define the soul of the New South Africa.”
President Mbeki was quoting Prov. 6:6-11. Of course, he erred in that it is not the “Saint James edition”, but the King James Version, from which he was quoting; so named after King James of England, who was supportive of the great translation work which brought into being the most accurate version of the Bible in the English language. But listening to him, no doubt many were impressed, not only with his supposed knowledge of the Bible, but also with the way in which he appeared to endorse “all the messages” that the Bible “seeks to convey to all of us.” But one would be very much mistaken to assume that Thabo Mbeki does any such thing. Firstly, he is (by his own admission) not a Christian, and thus he is a total stranger to the very central message of the Bible - that of salvation from sin, by God’s grace, through faith in Jesus Christ alone. And secondly, the only “messages” he is interested in the Bible conveying to anyone, are those which he and others have themselves read into the Bible, to make the Bible supposedly support their own Marxist views on politics, religion, etc. This is again shown by his statement, “my own view is that the Proverbs raise important issues that bear on what our nation is trying to do to define the soul of the New South Africa.” If they cannot twist the Bible’s true meaning to their own ends, they have no use for it.
And then there is his arrogance in asserting what (as far as he is concerned) the text in Proverbs means! He says, “To consider her ways, means…” and then he proceeds to expound the text! - he, a man who is not a Christian, who makes no claim to be a Christian! He has the audacity, and the arrogance, to tell us what he asserts God’s holy Word, given by divine inspiration, means! The Bible speaks of those who “corrupt the word of God” (2 Cor. 2:17); “handling the word of God deceitfully” (2 Cor. 4:2). It speaks of those who “wrest” the Scriptures “unto their own destruction”, being “unlearned” (2 Pet. 3:16) - meaning they are unlearned in the things of God, however “learned” they may be in other matters; they are untaught by God, have never “learned Christ” (Eph. 4:20), have never “been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13). And for any man to look to the opinion of an unregenerate politician for the correct meaning of the sacred Scriptures is the height of foolishness indeed.
And the exposition he gave! What a confused jumble of words, what a classic example of a politician saying so much, and yet saying nothing! The wonderful teaching in the book of Proverbs about the ant says nothing whatsoever about “the survival and cohesion of human society.” And what a butchering of the text about the sluggard! His treatment of this text is not even remotely close to what it truly means! But this should not be surprising; for how could it be? He is not even a Christian, let alone a Bible expositor. He has nothing to say about the Scriptures that is of any value whatsoever. Tragically, however, many were hanging on his words, as though on the words of some biblical prophet, some great sage. We suspect that most had no clue as to what he was talking about, of course; but that would not have prevented them from assuming that he was saying something profound, the more so precisely because they could not understand it. Remember, again, the story of the Emperor’s new clothes.
“To return to the Holy Bible: the book of Genesis says, ‘In the sweat of thy brow [the Bible says "face"] shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.’ This biblical text suggests that of critical importance to every South African, is consideration of the material conditions of life, and therefore the attendant pursuit of personal wealth…. Perhaps strangely, this could be said to coincide exactly with the fundamental proposition advanced by the founders of Marxism, expressed by Friederich Engels at the funeral of Karl Marx, in the following words: ‘Just as Darwin discovered the law of development of organic nature, so Marx discovered the law of development of human history - the simple fact… that mankind must first of all eat, drink, have shelter, and clothing, before it can pursue politics, art, science, religion, etc.’”
Ah! Here we have a perfect example of how African politicians who have been influenced by “liberation theology” interpret the Bible! They look for texts which they are able to twist and distort so as to make them appear to be saying the same thing as the founders of Communism! Once again, Mr Mbeki misunderstands, and misinterprets, the Word of God; once again, he reads into it what is not there, interpreting it in the light of the Communist ideology he is steeped in. The verse he quotes is Gen. 3:19. It is not speaking of “the consideration of the material conditions of life, and therefore the attendant pursuit of personal wealth”! It was the curse of God upon Adam for his sin, and is speaking of the fact that Adam had lost what he had possessed in the garden of Eden, and from now on he and his descendants would struggle to eke a living out of the earth, and when they died their bodies would return to the dust from which God had formed Adam at the beginning. There is nothing here about “the simple fact… that mankind must first of all eat, drink, have shelter, and clothing, before it can pursue politics, art, science, religion, etc.” This is not the message of the verse at all! But President Mbeki “suggests” that this is the true meaning. And why? He does so because, by reading it through Marxist-coloured lenses, he can make it appear (to him and other Marxists) to “coincide exactly with the fundamental proposition advanced by the founders of Marxism, expressed by Friederich Engels at the funeral of Karl Marx”! And only because it is mutilated by his interpretation to supposedly “coincide” with Marxism, does he have any use for it. Remember, the Bible, in “liberation theology”, is only valuable insofar as it can be misinterpreted and mutilated to support Marxism.
And the reader would have noticed his high praise for both Charles Darwin and Karl Marx, in his quotation from Engels: “Just as Darwin discovered the law of development of organic nature, so Marx discovered the law of development of human history”. Darwin discovered no such thing, and nor did Marx. Both men were in grave, grave error. But Darwinism is essential to Communism, is at the very root of Communist theory, and thus Darwin is beloved of Communists everywhere. And as for Marx, President Mbeki has shown very plainly that as far as he and the ANC are concerned, Marxism is certainly not dead, and they subscribe to it wholeheartedly. So much for the oft-repeated refrain of those who would like to convince us all that Marxism is dead, the ANC is not Communist, South Africa is a “democracy”, etc., etc.
9) “…some of the earliest expression of idealism as a philosophical expression is also contained in the Holy Bible. In this regard, for instance, St. John’s Gospel says, ‘In the beginning was the Word.’”
Monstrous mutilation of the precious Word of God! Mr Mbeki had been speaking of the philosophy of idealism; and then once again he played the part of a Bible expositor, this time daring to distort the meaning of Jn.1:1, a verse which has nothing whatsoever to do with “idealism as a philosophical expression”! This beautiful verse says in its entirety: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” It is a verse about God the Son, Jesus Christ. He is the Word, as is clear from vv.3-14, as well as 1 Jn. 5:7, if Mr Mbeki had cared to look, and to properly search the Scriptures before waxing eloquent about that of which he has no understanding. Yet once again we see a dogmatic assertion: “St John’s Gospel says…” He is convinced that he - a man who does not even claim to be a Christian, a man who is a Marxist - has correctly given the meaning of this verse from the Word of the living God! I do not know which religious wolf in sheep’s clothing advised him that this horrible mutilation of Jn. 1:1 was correct, but whoever it was, he has led the South African president astray, and will answer for it before God on the great Day.
10) “I am sure that many in this auditorium have been asking themselves the question - why I have referred so insistently to the Christian Holy Scriptures. Let me explain - I am not about to become a Christian.” (Applause from the audience at this point).
He never really did answer why he referred so often to the Bible. But at least he was honest here: he had no intention of becoming a Christian. He was merely using verses from the Bible to attempt to prop up his Marxist philosophy. To him, the Bible is simply an ancient book which can be manhandled to say whatever a Marxist wants it to say, to fool the masses of those who falsely profess to be Christians that the Bible and Marxism are essentially one and the same.
The same Bible, which President Mbeki hijacked for his own purposes at that lecture, says, “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority” (1 Tim. 2:1,2). True Christians in South Africa pray earnestly for President Thabo Mbeki, that if it pleases the Lord, he may oneday be converted to Christ, and become a true Christian indeed.
11) “As Europe and the world sowed the seeds for the catastrophe later represented by the Second World War, as in a Greek tragedy, the eminent Irish poet, William Butler Yeats, like other European thinkers, sounded alarm bells that nobody seemed to hear. What he said survives today as outstanding poetry [and then he quoted Yeats as writing the following]: ‘And to strive to ensure that emanating from Jerusalem, the acre of the fountain of many faiths, no monstrous beast slouches out of Bethlehem to be born.’”
Yeats was no Christian. He studied the works of Swedenborg, Boehme, and the Neoplatonists, he was a member of the occultic, esoteric Theosophical Society and a friend of Madam Blavatsky, and he was taken with Hindu theology and philosophy. I do not know precisely what Yeats was going on about in Mr Mbeki’s quotation from his work (although I have some idea); but it really does not matter. The foolish practice of wading through the swamplands of unregenerate poets’ ramblings, when one can go to the pure stream of God’s own Word, is to be abhorred. It does not matter in the least what Yeats thought of religion, or of Christianity. Mr Mbeki may spend his spare moments searching through writers such as Yeats to find supposed “gems” of wisdom in them, as do many others; but for those who know and love the Lord, the Word of the Lord is all-sufficient.
12) “We must therefore say that the biblical injunction is surely correct - that man cannot live by bread alone; and therefore that the mere pursuit of individual wealth can never satisfy the need, immanent in all human beings, to lead lives of happiness.”
President Mbeki quoted part of Deut. 8:3 and Matt. 4:4: “Man shall not live by bread alone”. But he did not quote the rest of it. The Lord Jesus Christ, quoting Deut. 8:3, said: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” Here, yet again, as with all those who “wrest the Scriptures”, Mr Mbeki dislocated those words from their context, in order to prop up his own statements. Nor did he bother to mention that it was Christ who said these words! For him, the words could simply be half-quoted, without any reference to the context, nor to the divine Person who spoke them, let alone the proper interpretation.
What did the Lord mean? He meant that He was not limited to bread alone to supply the needs of man for the preservation of his life, but can provide man’s needs by whatever means He chooses; as He did for the Israelites in the wilderness, when He fed them for forty years with manna from heaven, which He commanded, and it was given miraculously. That this is the certain meaning of the words is shown from their very context in Deut. 8:3. Thus Christ, in quoting these words to Satan, was saying that even though He had no bread to eat in the wilderness, God would supply for Him, and sustain Him without it.
Again, Marxist “liberation theology” is the use of Scripture to justify whatever the Marxist wants to say. But it is extremely selective, of course: would Mr Mbeki say that “the biblical injunction is surely correct” when it commands men to repent of their sins, and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, or be eternally damned? (e.g. Mk. 16:16; Lk. 13:3,5). No, he would not. He partially quoted Matt. 4:4, and said that it was correct; but would he quote the words of the Lord just a few verses later, and say that “the biblical injunction is surely correct” which says, “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve”? (Matt. 4:10). No, he would not. “Liberation theology” uses those verses of Holy Scripture which, taken out of context and misinterpreted, can be made to appear to support some aspect of Marxism or another, but it studiously ignores all else in Holy Scripture. “Liberation theology” has no love or reverent esteem for the Bible; it is merely a useful tool with which to dupe the religious masses into believing that “God is on the side of the revolutionaries.”
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In conclusion, I repeat the quotation given from 1 Tim. 2:1,2:
“I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.”
Truly, President Thabo Mbeki must be prayed for, by true Christians! Pray for him, and pray for the land he governs, this crime-ridden, Communist-governed, collapsing “New South Africa” which the world so blindly hails as a “democratic miracle”.
August 2006
Shaun Willcock is a minister of the Gospel, and lives in South Africa. He runs Bible Based Ministries. For other articles (which may be downloaded and printed), as well as details about his books, tapes, pamphlets, etc., please visit the Bible Based Ministries website, or write to the address below. If you would like to be on Bible Based Ministries’ electronic mailing list, to receive all future articles, please send your details.
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