A changed lifestyle will move God. Your praying does not help. Your fasting does not move God. So change your lifestyle if you want to “move” God.

Arthur Burk – God wants our attention

“God is grievously committed to destroy the nation we live in and the economy and everything else until we get to the lifestyle change that humanity so studiously avoids. ” Arthur Burk. Arthur Burk explains  how in the year 2011 America and other countries, but in particular America was hit by a number of disasters and catastrophes, one of them the drought.

Events in South Africa

We have seen the same here in South Africa. Drought and lack of water for a period now. It is not only the drought. We have seen our economy taking huge strain after decisions by our State President in terms of his cabinet. The situation in the country overall has not changed much since the new government took over the reins in 1994. Yes, there are many more newcomers to the active economy as entrepreneurs or as salaried people in government departments. Quite a number made fortunes in the past 20 odd years, with many of them I am sure quite legal. We still have massive unemployment, we still have racism and separation to a large extent. The strategies and policies of BEE (Black Economic Empowerment) and Affirmative Action came about in our workplaces, our sports teams and even our student community. This blog does not focus on the political evaluation of what has taken place, but on the changed lifestyles that did not happen. God is calling us to change our lifestyle. He will not stop until we have listened and obeyed. God has time on his hands; we do not.

The weak rand

South Africa has taken strain, though. In 1994 you needed about R3.50 to buy one dollar. 16 years later this was at about R7.50 to the dollar. Six years later the figure is to the tune of R13.50 to the dollar after going over R15 to the dollar in 2016. Of course this cannot be the only indicator, but at the moment the rand is probably undervalued in terms of the value that it should have, but probably overvalued in terms of the lack of stability in the country. Of course exporters would want more rand ( a weaker rand) where importers would wish for a stronger rand.

Housing delivery

In 1994 the housing backlog in the country was estimated at 1,5m with the backlog growing

by 178 000 per year. The average provision for houses/housing runs at about 140 000 per year. In 2016 the government boasted that they built over 4,3m houses over 20 years. The fact of the matter is that the housing shortfall was estimated at 2,1m in 2016.

Slow economy

The economy has not been growing at a rate that is required to reduce the unemployment figure. Mr Pravin Gordhan, previous minister of Finance said in a recent speech: “In most parts of the world, with the exception of Japan, South Korea and Singapore, it took countries like ours 30 years of 10% growth to overcome the kind of inequalities, joblessness and other economic difficulties we face,” Gordhan said. “We can’t wait 30 years. We might not get to 10% growth in the immediate term. But we have to find the most creative answers possible to make sure that those tens of millions of people who find themselves in the lower rungs of the socio-economic ladder are pulled up as quickly as possible.” We have not been obtaining that growth at all in our economy and that is not necessarily the ruling party that is at fault.

Attitude is the main issue

The main issue is an issue of heart, an issue of attitude. Some white people after an early retirement or another reason for leaving their jobs said quietly, “let us wait for the new guys to mess it up”. The new employers, top employees and some politicians said under their breath, “we can do it on our own and we don’t need the old white guys around any longer.” So the statue books that prevented an integrated loving, rainbow society up to 1994 was changed, but that did not change the hearts of the majority of people in the land. We are scared of one another. We fear each other. We may even hate each other, but we do not love each other.

So it does not help to go to a prayer summit, to Sheol or to the Mosque or any other religious event if we do not change our lifestyle. Many South Africans (maybe as many as 1 out of every 50 people in the country) will attend the “It is time”- conference called by Angus Buchan. It will be hosted just outside Bloemfontein on 22 April 2017 and will attract many South Africans seeking the face of God, asking for forgiveness and repenting of sins.

It does not help if you attend a conference like this and when you get home you abuse your wife (physically) or you abuse your husband (verbally). It does not help that you travel 1000 kilometers or more and spend hours just to get to the final venue and to leave it again, but your life does not change and your lifestyle does not change. When Arthur Burk talks about changes, he says that we need to go to God to make sure what these lifestyle changes are that he requires us to do. Surely if you have been dragging your wife around by her hair in the sanctity and secrecy of your house, then this has to change. If you have been looking at whites as the enemy or blacks as the enemy this has to stop. The enemy is not identified by the colour of their skin. They are identified by their actions towards you… and then Jesus said that we should love our enemy, that we should pray for our enemy, that we should help our enemy.

There is nothing like “I am going to wait for them to mess up”. No, Jesus says we need to help and in helping we are going to demonstrate our love. There is also no thinking, “I am not going to need you anymore. I am going to show you that I do not need you.” We all need each other. If I could contribute to our country that would be great. So let us do that. That means, however, that I need to change my lifestyle. As christians we need to go and find out what those changes should be. Then we need to make the changes. These changes are not easy, but they are possible.

What does God get out of all of this?

So from a spiritual point of view – what does God get out of this? Why are we suffering like this? It seems to me that he wants our attention to change something. It is easy (well relatively easy) to say “I am sorry”, to do repentance. It is more difficult to make restitution (that is to offer some sort of a compensation to the people who were marginalised in the process). It is possibly most difficult to change my lifestyle.

When Arthur Burk talks about healing the land and the country, he says that Israel fasted and prayed, but that God seemingly for more than 20 years did not listen to these prayers (the Philistines took the ark of the Covenant, but then sent it back. The ark was not in its place for a period of more than 20 years and it was never returned until David gave the command to do that and went with 30 000 soldiers to go and take it at the first attempt. he came back three months later with a spiritual approach instead of a military approach and they brought the ark back). South Africa is in very much the same position. Of course we need to pray and ask forgiveness. We need truth and reconciliation in the church environment. The official church has not done much to build the bridges between the christians still living in the segregated areas. It is “easier” to take a trip with the church missions group to Zambia than to a nearby township 20 or 40 kilometres away. Going to Zambia means that our duty is fulfilled when we board our plane back to South Africa. Visiting a township and leaving it back home means that this is only the start of your journey with your new friends.

To my mind it is still inconceivable that one church would spend R60 000 on fencing to prevent street people to sleep close to the church where a fellow christian pastor battles to get R16 000 together to buy a piece of land (at a heavily discounted price) for a place where he could get his church premises. It does not make any logical sense that the one church spends money to keep unwanted people out when another church does not have capital to get a piece of land for their work. I do not even want to venture to the area of the spiritual sense that this does not make. Well sense may not be the right word, so let me rather rephrase this. “You show me your love out of your deeds, so in this case knowing about the need and supplying in the need in one or other way”.

A capitalistic mindset is a challenge

This must bring me to our (well some of us at least) capitalistic mindset. I am not a communist and I am not a socialist, but I am not a pure capitalist either. I am a christian first and foremost and I do believe that everything belongs to God. So profit is very important, but what is more important is to hear God’s voice and to obey him. In the end this is what will make profitability. God is the author of profit and not capitalism. There is a time when I need to distribute as well. I need to be responsible, but I need and want to hear God’s instruction on the matter. If my tradition and capitalist mindset prevents me from doing God’s work, then this is part of the lifestyle that must go; it is something that must change.

The Dove on your shoulder

There are two more people that I want to bring to our discussion of what must change in our lifestyle. The first one is Bill Johnson. When Bill talks about healing out of Intimacy he talks about the lifestyle that is required for that healing. He says that heaven is moved by the heart of individual. This also has to do with the place that I give the person of the Holy Spirit  in my life as a lifestyle. When Jesus is baptised by John, a dove descends as the symbol of the Holy Spirit. There must be continuous connectivity with the Holy Spirit. He is using the picture of a person walking around with a dove on his shoulder.
A dove would easily fly away so that if you have a dove on your shoulder you would walk very carefully. Every step that you take you will be aware of the dove and you will keep him in mind and not do anything that would scare the dove away. This is how we must live; we need a total new lifestyle to incorporate this type of walking with God and with the Holy Spirit.

Francois Carr is also talking about a changed lifestyle. Francois says that I need to see the Holy Spirit in the other person that I am having a conversation with. When I walk the Holy Spirit walks with me, he is next to me. He is also in me. When I talk to my wife, I am not only talking to her, I am also talking to the Holy Spirit in her and next to her. Would I say to him the things that I have told my wife? If I see the Holy Spirit in or next to any person that I am talking to, would I say the things to him that I would normally say? This is asking for a changed lifestyle.

So let us just be clear about something: if the person that I am talking to is not a christian, that does not mean that i do not have to respect him or her as the Spirit is not in the person. God created that person in his image and I shall respect that image of God in that person. I will also be the example of Jesus and his love so that my love could call him and pull him to Christ. There is no reason to ever act disrespectful  against anybody else.

Discipleship will get a changed lifestyle faster

So Arthur Burk talks about a changed lifestyle as does Bill Johnson and Francois Carr. God wants us to change our lifestyle. He can wait another generation or two for us to get the message. Our lifestyle must change.

Now I know that change is not easy. The best way for us to change and be changed is to be in a discipleship group with others – either to learn or to teach. If I still forget that I am talking to the Holy Spirit and my wife when I am talking to her, then I need the support of a group or a few people or one person to get that right. I also need to know how to recognise and voice my own emotions. As South Africans we have not learned this, or let me rather say, many of us have not learned to do that.

I have forgiven; let’s change our lifestyle

So I want to say of the church leadership of the past, the church where I grew up, the church where I found Jesus. I love you and I thank you for introducing me to Jesus. I am so thankful for that. I am, however, extremely unhappy and disappointed that you supported legislation that kept christians away from each other. I am even more hurt by the fact that you have not asked forgiveness from the many people like me that you have purposely and skillfully misled, even arguing the the position from the Bible. Anyway I have forgiven you for that and I release you from that guilt that you are carrying in respect of me and many other white South Africans. All I am asking now is that you open your heart to hear what God is saying about your changed lifestyle. If he calls you to take 10% or 50% of your assets to assist our brothers in need to set up a business or academy where they could get support and training to flourish if they want to, then please listen to him. If we do this as a collective, we ill truly become a rainbow nation under God. Then we will be truly brothers in Christ and not a few lonely islands in the ocean with each one trying to be more beautiful than the next one.

We will change our lifestyle because He will change us and keep changing us. We will become true disciples and continue to make true disciples.

10 April 2017

Bellville, South Africa