{"id":699,"date":"2020-07-27T17:31:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-27T15:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/botswanasending.co.za\/?p=699"},"modified":"2020-07-27T17:31:01","modified_gmt":"2020-07-27T15:31:01","slug":"ref-hendrik-du-plessis-in-conversation-with-old-dawid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/botswanasending.co.za\/?p=699","title":{"rendered":"Ref Hendrik du Plessis in conversation with old Dawid"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

News from Reformed Church\nBotswana July 2020<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Rev Hendrik du Plessis.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/td><\/tr>
\n  <\/em>\n Background<\/em><\/strong>\n <\/td><\/tr>
\n It\n all started with old Stan. He was someone with mixed blood. If I am not\n mistaken, his father was a white man and his mother a Herero. \n In\n the walkways of D\u2019kar and Gantsi we often met and then talked about this and\n that. I met him at a funeral at that time. The Hereros have a farm nearby and\n from time to time some of them are buried on the farm. Then almost all that\n is a Herero in Botswana gathers to pay their last respects to the deceased.\n Tents are pitched everywhere and this is one big festival with this sad\n undertone. \n I\n then take the opportunity not only to attend the funeral but also to hand out\n Herero Bibles. In many cases they ask me to open the funeral with Scripture\n reading and prayer for them. It was during one of these funerals that I met\n old Stan. We were at the grave site and the people were already closing the\n grave, when I heard someone talking behind me, very loudly. No one took\n notice of him. When I looked around, old Stan was standing at one of the\n graves, talking loudly to his ancestors. Some of the others who were there\n confirmed this: Uncle Stan is talking to the ancestors. I decided to have an in-depth\n conversation with him when the time came. <\/em><\/strong>At that point, he was\n already around eighty when he was not older.\n <\/td><\/tr>
\n  <\/em>\n  <\/em>\n Our\n meeting<\/em><\/strong>\n A\n while later I ran into him at our chief, April’s house. It was around 2017.\n April passed away in 2018. “Old Stan,” were my words to him,\n “I want to talk to you. When we were at the funeral the other day, I\n heard you talking very loudly at one of the graves. \u201d \u201cYes,\u201d he said, \u201cI\n spoke to one of the deceased. It is our black tradition to go to the deceased\n for help and advice.\u201d There, by the grace of the Lord, I had the opportunity\n to talk calmly with old Stan about what the Bible says about ancestors or the\n dead.\n  \n The\n Hereros generally have great respect for the Bible. Many believe that it is\n the Word of God, although they also have their ancestral rituals. They\n believe in Jesus but also in the ancestors.\n  \n An\n old Zulu once explained it to me in South Africa: \u201cWhen I pray,\u201d he said, \u201cI\n pray to my ancestors who then convey the message to Jesus so that Jesus will\n pass it on it to his Father.\u201d This is syncretism at its best.<\/em><\/strong> I\n then immediately started the conversation and said to him: \u201cOld Stan, did you\n know that the Lord absolutely forbids this in His Word. “What is\n forbidden,” old Stan wanted to know. “You may not speak to the dead\n at all.” Dumbstruck, he shook his head and said to me, he did not know.\n I then took out my cell phone and read Deuteronomy 18 to him. From verse 10\n it says: \u201c10<\/sup>There shall not be found among you any one that maketh\n his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination,\n or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, 11<\/sup>Or a\n charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a\n necromancer. 12<\/sup>For all that do these things are an\n abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God\n doth drive them out from before thee. 13<\/sup>Thou shalt be perfect with\n the LORD thy God. \n 14<\/sup>For these\n nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and\n unto diviners: but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not suffered thee so to\n do.\u201d Old Stan couldn\u2019t utter a word. He did not know what to say. “You\n see old Stan, it’s not culture. It was so from the beginning. The Gentiles\n called it culture, but to the Lord it was an abomination, so much so that He\n drove out the people who did it before the Israelites. I read to you verse 12\n again: \u201cFor whosoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD; and\n because of these abominations the LORD your God is driving them out from\n before you.\u201d\n  \n I\n further explained to him that there were people in the New Testament (1 Cor.\n 10) who thought they brought sacrifices to God. Paul admonishes them and says\n in verses 19 and 20: \u201c19<\/sup>What say I then? that the idol is any\n thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is any thing? 20<\/sup>But\n I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to\n devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with\n devils.\u201d<\/em><\/strong>\n  \n “You\n see old Stan, every time you bring sacrifices to the ancestors or even talk\n to them you do it for devils or demons. You are actually talking to demons,\n and to the Lord it is an abomination. He hates it. You imagine you are doing\n this for the Lord or for your ancestors, but in fact you are doing it for\n demons.\n  \n If\n we read Luke 16 you will see that when someone dies he can no longer return\n to this earth. The rich man in hell begged Abraham to send Lazarus to his\n brothers to warn them of the horrors of hell. He says in verse 28: \u201828<\/sup>For\n I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into\n this place of torment.\u2019 Abraham’s words to him were, verse 29: \u2018Abraham saith\n unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.\u2019 \n  \n I\n further explained to him: \u201cYou know, I grew up among black people. I\n know your language as my language. You raised me so to speak. I know your\n culture as if it was my culture and I believe it was like that for a reason\n so that I can warn you.\u201d <\/em><\/strong>\n  \n I\n then told him about someone in South Africa with whom an elder and I were\n visiting at the time. The woman told us about dreams that tormented her at\n night. It is her mother, she says, who appears to her in her dreams and she\n wants them as a family to bring a sacrifice for her and it must be a cow.\n After we explained to her that it was a demon that appeared to her in her\n dreams and not her mother, she wholeheartedly agreed with us and said to us:\n \u201cYou know, it bothered me a lot, because my mother was always a very gentle\n and loving person, she was well aware of how poor we are. As I know her, I\n believe what you say. She would never have forced or harassed us to do\n something we could not afford and then this person who appears to me in my\n dreams does not act nearly as we knew her.\u201d \n  \n Old\n Stan and I talked for a long time and he looked shocked when he left. A while\n later we met again, his words to me were: \u201cMoruti Hendrik, you must not\n think I forgot what you said to me. I think about it a lot, thank you.\u201d<\/em><\/strong>\n Not long after that, old Stan passed away. On the one hand it was sad because\n he was loved in our area, but on the other hand I was very grateful that the\n Lord made it possible for us to talk.\n  \n Not\n long after this insident, our chief said to me: \u201cHendrik, I just talked to\n old David and he mentioned to me pertinently that he was calling his\n ancestors for help and he was not ready to give up this old tradition.\u201d \n  \n Old\n David has attended our services here at D\u2019kar from time to time over the\n years. He is a true Herero and a resident of D\u2019kar. Meanwhile, our chief\n suddenly passes away in 2018. We buried him and everything went back to\n normal, but I never forgot what he told me about old David.\n <\/td><\/tr>
\n  <\/em>\n My conversation with old David<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong>\n  <\/em>\n The\n other day I was visiting one of our church members, when  old David came walking up to the house.\n Initially we just talked about this and that and waited for the right time\n and angle. Just as old David started making preparations to go I realized it\n is now or never.\n  \n  “Old David!”, I said. “I do\n not believe that anything happens by chance. It has been a long time that the\n Lord laid it on my heart to talk to you and you will not realize how happy I\n am to see you. I have seen you pass by several times and then the Lord laid\n it on my heart to talk to you, \n Therefore, I do not believe in coincidences. It is the Lord who\n arranged it for us to meet here at old Daniel’s house this morning. \u201d\n  \n Old\n David did not know what to say and must have wondered what I wanted to talk\n to him about so urgently. I started by telling him about old Stan, and how\n the Lord put it on my heart to talk to him. In time I could convey His\n message to old Stan and warn him in time, because the Lord did not want him\n to enter eternity like this. You can fool yourself by believing in the Lord\n Jesus, but if you still worship your ancestors or consult the dead, you\n should know that you are not a Christian. \n  \n In\n John 14 verse 6 the Lord Jesus says, He alone is the way and the truth and\n the life and no one can go to the Father except through Him.\n  \n We\n talked for a long time. I basically repeated my conversation with old Stan,\n with Deuteronomy 18 as the starting point, and like old Stan, old David left\n without saying a word. \n  \n I\n greeted him with the words, \u201cOld David, I believe the Lord sent you to me\n this morning. He does not want you to be lost. It rested heavily on my mind,\n and it was the Lord who did it, and it was none other than He who arranged\n the meeting.\u201d  \n  \n I\n saw him again this afternoon on the way to Gantsi. I wanted to stop to take a\n picture of him, but I do not think it would have been wise. Our conversation\n is still at a sensitive stage. Old David is about 83 years old. He may be\n older, but he still walks everywhere with his walking stick.\n  \n Please keep him in your prayers. Many\n missionaries will agree, success stories in the missionfield are very often\n the man-to-man conversations where you focus on someone’s life. May the Lord,\n if necessary, arrange a follow-up discussion in this regard.<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong>\n  \n (To\n call someone \u201cold Stan\u201d or \u201cold David\u201d is a sign of respect for being your\n senior.)\n  \n Greetings\n and blessings,\n Hendrik\n du Plessis\n <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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