Jesus Christ is the salvation for our sins
There is a lot of work to be done. Whereas we Christians believe that we can only enter the presence of the living God through the forgiveness of our sins (Confession & Absolution at the beginning of the divine service), the ANC still holds to the pagan view that the spirits of the ancestors must be pacified so that their proceedings/celebrations would be blessed by these dead of days gone by. It is abundantly clear that democratization, political independence and economic prosperity do not entail conversion to Christianity per se and do not bring forth the only saving faith in Jesus Christ automatically. The danger in our time is the unwholesome mix of truth and misleading ideology and syncretistic idolatry – and our president is functioning as the most prominent first high priest of this animistic religion.
The living God clarifies in his first commandment to all people of this world: “You shall have no other gods besides me – neither up in the heavens, nor on the ground, nor in the water under the ground. Don’t pray to them and don’t serve them either!” What does that mean? “You are to love, trust and fear God above all things.”
The struggles of Elijah against the false prophets of Baal illustrate the point at stake even today in Bloemfontein. Elijah asks his people: “How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” (1Ki 18:21 ESV) We too can’t continue serving the old bygone ways of Africa, which are futile and detrimental, but must follow the new ways of Jesus Christ, who alone brings light, life and truth to this continent and all its people. There is no other way to salvation, to heaven or to the living God – only through faith in Jesus Christ.
St. Paul admonishes the Europeans of yesteryear (i.e. the Corinthians), who were also tempted by such unholy syncretism as is haunting us today: “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.” (2Co 6:14-18 ESV) We Christians in South Africa can’t continue serving the old ways and still think we are pleasing Christ our Lord. It is either or! Just as St. Paul writes to the Europeans of that day and age in his first letter to the Thessalonians: “You turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God” (1Th 1:9 ESV) – so we too need to be converted, break with the old and move to the new faith. We can’t serve both the dead ancestors and the living God.
In the letter to the Hebrews it is clarified that Jesus Christ brought the only satisfactory sacrifice once and for all. There is no other sacrifice needed to pacify the living God. The blood of goats, sheep, cattle or any other beast can’t wash away sin, can’t grant free passage and can’t bless occasions such as the ceremonies in Bloemfontein. On the contrary, this kind of futile offering and service of the dead, casts a bad spell on the practitioners and their idolatrous plans, schemes and actions. No good can come of it!
The slaughter of beasts – even magnificent bulls – is no longer necessary, yes, it is detrimental and counterproductive as it diminishes the honour of Christ and reaffirms the empty, vain and useless hopes of our pagan forebears, who served their own kin, but did not know Christ. These old and futile ways have past, since Jesus Christ has made everything new – Christmas, Good Friday and Easter – for Africa too. We now live in the time of the Holy Spirit, who was poured out over us in holy Baptism to cleanse us from the filth of the ancient sins and the hopeless clinging to ancestral spirits and other evil spirits of this time and age and has given us a good conscience trusting in Christ’s blood and cleansing alone. We are no longer under the spell or rule of the ancient spirits of this world and age, but under the regiment of the one Holy Spirit, who leads and guides us in all truth of Jesus Christ and his heavenly Father.
President Zuma and his entourage are wrong on this count. They need to repent and turn from the old, condemnable ways of serving the dead to serving the living God in the only way commendable, in faith, hope and love to God alone, in righteousness and holiness serving him alone and obeying his commandments and precepts! It is as we sing every Sunday: “Soli Deo Gloria!” joining in the choirs of the angels and archangels – just as the heavenly hosts were praising God on Christmas there in Bethlehem.
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