by Marko Kiroglu

South Africa vs Israel and God

What will happen if a country lifts its hand against the almighty God?

After 30 years of growing anti-semitic sentiments, the South African government has launched a legal war against Israel, God’s prophetically chosen nation, in favour of terrorists. 

The demotion of our national cricket Under-19 team captain, David Teeger, from his position only because he happens to be of Jewish origin is yet another horrible atrocity committed against Jews of our country lately. This blatantly anti-semitic move by Cricket South Africa sent shockwaves across our country and set a horrible precedent. The message is loudly and clearly broadcasted: No Jew is welcome in public leadership positions in South Africa any longer. We are now officially an anti-semitic country just like Nazi-Germany.

It is a terrible day indeed.

The Jewish community, who has always felt relatively safe in our country, are now frogs in boiling water. Many of them are noticing the heat and packing up. As most of our Jewry happens to be hard working business people and investors it is not difficult to predict the economic domino effect after their departure. This is indeed a very sad day in South Africa. As a nation we have now plunged ourselves into new moral and spiritual lows by turning against God's own people. 

It is very sad to see that in a country like South Africa where more than 80% of the population claims to be Bible believing Christians, our government, many academics and even some churches choose to fight against Israel and her Jews. It is now obvious that our so-called Christian nation does not read the Bible and does not care about what God says. So after all, it is now undeniably clear that this is no longer a Bible believing Christian nation, but a Jew hating paganist nation.

The Bible makes it very clear that to stand against Israel is the surest way of calling for God’s wrath instead of His blessings. In other words, to fight against Israel is to fight against God. 

Through His prophet Zechariah (2:8-9), God makes a very serious warning in regards to the dealings of nations with Israel:

 "For he who touches you touches the apple of His eye. For surely, I will shake My hand against them and they shall become spoil for their servants"

There will be severe heavenly repercussions on this government and on our country for our treatment of God's people. 

God is The Protector of Israel

The Israelites were invaded and exiled multiple times throughout history and eventually scattered all over the world. They were left without a country and subjected to the holocaust. Miraculously, after nearly two thousand years, God brought them back to their homeland in 1948. They became a sovereign nation again in fulfilment of ancient prophecies such as Ezekiel 36-37. 

What about nations and powers that tried to exterminate them? Have you heard from the Amorites, Philistines, Babylonians, Assirians and Nazis lately? God wiped them out and preserved His first born nation against all odds. He has a role for the nation of Israel and He promised them the kingdom of Messiah on earth for 1000 years. All the enemies of Israel will be dealt with by God Himself but Israel will one day become the prime nation of the 1000 year long Messianic kingdom of God in accordance with Bible prophecies such as Zechariah 14 and Revelation 19-20.  God remains faithful to the promises and covenants He made to Abraham, Moses and David with regards to the children of Israel. In Spite of Israel’s rebellion, God continues to keep His covenants. 

Persecution of Christians coming to South Africa

There is a trend in history that predicts the fall of Christianity in countries where the Jews have been expelled. This trend can be observed in the recent history of the Middle Eastern nations, Europe and Russia. When nations and governments excel in their anti-semitic rhetoric to the point that all their Jewry either gets expelled or are forced to leave to  survive. However, even after the Jews are gone, the momentum of hatred and evil that began with anti-semitism does not stop with the extermination of the Jewish population. 

Historically, the nations that have exterminated their Jewish population have turned against their Christians after the Jews became extinct in their countries. The only Christians that could survive in those countries are the ones who willingly accepted to become the political puppets of their nations to save themselves from total extermination or expulsion. This is precisely what happened in all the Middle Eastern nations, most of Europe and the Russian speaking world.

In light of this trend in the recent history of nations, growing anti-semtism and Jew hatred in South Africa signals approaching days of persecution and oppression of Christians in our country. 

Trust in God in these uncertain times

You are probably becoming a bit sweaty under the collar while reading all of this. This is frightening news. But what are we called to do with our fear? We must bring it to the feet of God. Remind ourselves what we know about our Almighty God from His word. 

God is good. He loves His children, and if you have given your life to Him, that includes you. Romans 8:28 assures us that “in all things God works for the good of those who love Him “ All things include even this terrible situation. Even when you are surrounded by evil and are being scorched by God’s wrath on those around you, you will not burn. He will sustain you.

Perhaps His love and faithfulness is not enough assurance for you. As we face our uncertain futures, our greatest comfort should be that He who loves us and He is sovereign. His might and authority knows no end, there is never a situation in which He is powerless.

In Psalm 135:6 we read that 

“Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all depths.”

Proverbs 21:1 reminds us:

 “The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.”

Kings, in our case our government, have no power beyond which God allows them. 

Psalm 2 is a great reminder of how God sees the demonic hatred and evil plans of the kings of the earth against His anointed one and God laughs at them and their evil plot.

Now you are probably asking yourself, how can a loving God allow the wicked plots of the devil to rule in our country? In our broken sinful world, God works His good and perfect will in mysterious ways. We know that God has gone before us and as He is all knowing and wise, we must trust Him. 

In the story of Job we see God’s sovereignty over evil. Job was a righteous God fearing man. He even went so far as to make regular sacrifices for sins that his children might have committed. Satan had to travel from earth to the Heavens to get God’s permission to torment Job. He approached God’s throne and accused Job of being good and faithful only as far as his fortune was great and his life was prosperous. God knew this was not true. He allowed Satan to do as he liked with Job, but forbade him to touch the man himself. After Satan killed Job’s livestock and all his children, Job was left in mourning and poverty. But still he remained faithful to God. Satan persisted and God permitted him to take his torment even further. Eventually Job suffered day and night with sickness. Though miserable and angry, Job still did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing. Job was rewarded, God gave back everything he lost, and doubled it. Through it all, God was faithful and sovereign.

Like Job, we too are at the mercy of God. Try as we may, we cannot create our own fortunes and our own destinies. God is sovereign over our health, life and death. If we surrender to Him, we can rest in His faithfulness. We can brave the storm. Knowing that all would be well, Jesus lay sleeping in the storm tossed boat while the accompanying disciples feared for their lives. (Matthew 8:23-27) We do not have to toss water out of the boat, doubt the Lord and accuse Him of not caring. We can be calm in the midst of it all, trusting in Him.

Whether we embrace it or not, our lives are in the hands of the almighty and loving God. Remember who He is as he tells you

 “I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.” (Deuteronomy 32:39)

Let the Holy Spirit Lead You

We must not forget that we have the power of the resurrection in us, the Holy Spirit who “will teach us all things” (John 14:26). We must allow Him to guide us.

There is great power in prayer. When we humble ourselves before the Lord, he will exalt us (James 4:10). Let us humbly ask for the forgiveness of our country’s sin against the Jews and for God’s mercy for those who do not associate themselves with anti-Semitism. Let us separate ourselves from them in the eyes of the Lord. 

‘‘This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, he hears us” (1 John 5:14). 

We know that it is God’s will for us to bless Israel, as He promised Abraham in Genesis 12: 1 - 3. Now we are not only being called to pray for Jews thousands of kilometres away, but for those right on our doorstep. We must pray for their safety, but moreover for God’s good and perfect plans for them to be executed. We must pray for their salvation.

Most of our Western lives have been fairly comfortable, we have not been confronted with serious political crises. We need to page back in history, to the remarkable life of Corrie Ten Boom. Corrie was a young Dutch woman from a Godly Christian family under Nazi rule in the Netherlands. Supported by her father and sister, she risked her life to hide Jews in a secret room attached to her own. Her whole family was arrested, taken to prison and later to various concentration camps. After years of imprisonment in Revensbruck, Corrie was released as the result of a clerical error. A week later all the women in her section were sent to the gas chambers. No doubt, this was God’s blessing to Corrie for her self-sacrificial service to His people, the Jews. Corrie’s sacrifice echoes Jesus’ explanation of love to His disciples:

“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13:)

Although we face uncertain and frightening times, we are also presented with a wonderful opportunity. We have the opportunity to step out of passive and comfortable Christian lifestyles and into real service of the almighty God. By serving His people and persisting in our faith in dark times, we can say that we truly are running the race. In the end we will receive our crowns. (1 Corinthians 9: 24)

This article is compiled by Christine Van Reenen from the semon of Marko Kiroglu on 21 January 2024