Some time ago I contacted reverend Len van Onselen about the ministry in\nBere. Reverend van Onselen is an emeritus minister who settled in Maun. He has\nbeen involved with “Word to Africa” \u200b\u200bhere in Botswana for years. He\nwanted to get involved with Bere years ago but never got that far. In our\nconversations, we discussed the possibility of getting involved in Bere\ntogether, seeing that Bere, like many other settlements, is engulfed in\nalcoholism. On one thing we agreed, if you are looking for fast results, do not\ngo to Bere. He mentioned to me that he has a black helper, an evangelist who\ncan go to Bere from time to time. I mentioned to him that we had a problem\nthere with housing and that the building had fallen into disrepair. Reverend\nvan Onselen was then able to arrange with an outreach team from South Africa to\ncome and repair the building. Currently, the building is habitable again. In\nstead of the bath that had always been there, a shower has been installed. The\nbuilding is also fenced. The veranda can now be used again to hold services. We\nwere able to hold a service there on Sunday. The only problem we currently have\nis the water connection. We are so thankful for reverend Len and his team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sunday school<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n We currently have someone there teaching the kids. Every Sunday she has\na group of children for whom she teaches (Sunday school). With our next\noutreach, I want to provide her with teaching materials that she can use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Home visits<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Home visits are one of the mainstays of our ministry there. One can\npreach and one can hand out pamphlets, but if one does not talk to a person at the\ngrassroots level, one cannot radiate the love of Christ. Friendship is one of\nthe most important approaches. When you get there, you are welcomed as a\nfriend. You drink tea with them and you eat with them and through a friend, you\nmake friends with others and it circles. Often they ask me to fetch wood for\nthem. In the afternoon we all drive together and come back with a load of wood.\nThey appreciate little things and you forge ties. When they start to trust you\nwith their problems, you realize you have an angle. The people are starting to\ntrust you. The great secret in the mission is to constantly feed them with\ninformation from the Bible. There are still so many underlying superstitions,\nand every superstition has the fear that comes with it, if I do this or that\ncertain evils are going to hit me. Then there is the underlying fear of\nwitchcraft and traditional doctors to whom they will then turn for help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A Christian can not be\nbewitched<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n During one of our Bible studies, witchcraft and, the occult powers that\ncome with it were discussed, specifically the questions of whether it exists\nand is it possible for a Christian to be bewitched.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My answer was briefly the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, it exists. The devil and his powers are like an angry dog\n\u200b\u200bon a leash. If you move within its reach, you are looking for trouble. If you\ngo to a witch doctor or show interest in the occult world you are looking for\ntrouble. You surrender to a power that will control your life. You move within\nthe reach of the devil. Of course, the dog is going to bite you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another example that they understand well is the concept of a sheepfold.\nIn this world, there are two folds, the fold of the Lord Jesus and the fold of\nthe devil. You are safe when you are in the Lord Jesus’ kraal, but if you crawl\nthrough the wire and seek help in the devil’s kraal, do not think you will\neasily crawl back. This the devil will not allow. On the other hand, the Lord\nJesus promises those who are in his fold (John 10:28 and 29) that no one can\nsnatch his sheep from his hand or his Father’s hand and they will never be lost\nforever. This is the consolation for everyone who belongs to the Lord Jesus and\nwho is in his fold. No one can bewitch me. I belong to the Lord Jesus Christ.\nNo one can cast a spell over me, because the Lord Jesus is my Shepherd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Everywhere in South Africa where I came, and also here in Botswana, there\nis a belief among the black people and also among the Bushmen, that white\npeople cannot be bewitched. My answer to them was, any man can come under the\ninfluence of the devil if he goes within his reach. The only reason whites\ncould not be bewitched in the past was that they did not have the habit to\napproach a sangoma or a devil worshiper for help, but whites who ventured into\nthe devil’s sphere allowed the dark forces to control him and take over his\nlife. Here was a white farmer in our area, a friend of mine who came to consult\na sangoma (witch doctor or shaman) here in D\u2019kar about his goats that they had\nstolen. After that, he struggled to sleep because voices spoke to him at night\nand kept him awake. Then I also had a friend in South Africa, a black pastor of\nthe Dutch Reformed Church, Rev. Makamu. He once told me: \u201cI grew up among\nsangomas (witches). Our family and relatives were sangomas. At one point, my\ncousin came from Vendaland and told me about Someone who was willing to give\nhis life for others. I was just a kid and thought about it a lot. Later a white\nDutch Reformed pastor came to our area and he told us about Jesus who gave his\nlife for sinners, and I immediately realized that this is the One my cousin\ntalked about. It gripped me so much that later in the Dutch Reformed Church I confessed\nmy faith. After that, I wanted to become a minister with all my power. When my\nfamily heard about it, they flatly refused. When they saw that they could do\nnothing to convince me, they decided to see a witch doctor, the largest sangoma\nin the southern hemisphere, in Mozambique, to bewitch me. When they got to the\nwitch doctor, he took out his bones as usual and threw them out in front of\nthem. After that, he made a snoring sound and made it clear to them that he did\nnot want anything to do with this business. \u2018This man you want me to bewitch is\na Christian and the Lord is with him. Leave him alone.\u2019 Deeply disappointed,\nthey had to return to South Africa.\u201d When I met reverend Makamu (a Shangaan)\nfor the first time, he had already been a minister in the Dutch Reformed Church\nfor many years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The question also arose during our Bible study: \u201cWhat can we do now? If\nyou went to visit a sangoma, and you realize that you are now under the power\nof the devil, what can you do?\u201d The Bible teaches you to confess your sins\nbefore the Lord. 1 John 1: 9 states that the Lord is faithful and just to\nforgive your sins if you confess them before Him. You must confess and confess\nthat you have sinned. You went to see a sangoma and you should never have done\nit. You went to the devil for help and now you are sitting with the consequences.\nYou must repent deeply of what you have done, and the Lord promises you, He\nwill forgive you and He will deliver you from the power of the devil. If you do\nnot do this, you will suffer under that power for the rest of your life and\nthen be lost forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bibles, audio bibles, and pamphlets<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n For those who can read, we hand out Bibles. Along with the Bibles, we\nalso distribute pamphlets to help them study the Bible. Even if pamphlets were\njust lying around, they could still be picked up by someone and serve their\npurpose. The audio Bibles are distributed to people who cannot read but have a\nsincere need to hear the Word of the Lord. Before handing it out, we first\narrange a Bible study. At that time it is explained to everyone, the\nimplication of John 14:23 and 24 where the Lord Jesus says: \u201c23<\/sup>Jesus\nanswered him, \u201cIf anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will\nlove him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24<\/sup>Whoever\ndoes not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine\nbut the Father’s who sent me.\u201d My answer then to them was: \u201cWe now have a\ngolden opportunity to show the Lord Jesus that we love Him and we want Him and\nHis Father to come and live with us. It’s a simple gesture of love when I\nlisten to His Word. But on the other hand, it is unfortunately also an\nopportunity to chase the Lord Jesus away and tell Him that He is not welcome in\nyour yard. Your attitude toward His Word speaks volumes. If you do not want Him\nin your yard, who is going to move in there? It’s only one and it’s the devil,\nand you bear the consequences. The Word of the Lord can therefore be for you\neither a curse or a blessing. If you do not pay attention to this audio bible,\nit carries the message that you are not interested in the Lord’s blessing and\nHis presence in your life and that you do not love Him. If the Lord is not in\nyour life, it also affects your children.\u201d There is usually a dead silence when\nyou confront them with John 14.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To conclude:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n More\nand more, one realizes how occult activities have paralyzed these African\npeople throughout the centuries. Democracy has only recently made its\nappearance in Africa. Throughout the centuries it has been sangomacracy where a\ncaptain or chief ruled with his sangomas (witch doctors). What the sangomas\ntold him was law. If the sangomas tell the chief that you are a sorcerer, then\nyou will surely die, no matter how innocent you are. You live constantly in\nfear. It is then understandable why Dingaan killed Piet Retief and his\nfollowers, with the words: “Bulalane abathakhathi.” (Kill the\nsorcerers.) It was none other than his sangomas who told him this. Here in\nD’kar too, we are constantly confronted by accusations of so-and-so who have\nbewitched so-and-so. We have someone here in our congregation who survived a\nstroke which is firmly convinced, someone in our congregation bewitched him. We\nask for your intercession for these people but we are also very grateful for\nthe multitude who are saved and delivered from this bondage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your\nbrother in Christ, Hendrik du Plessis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Rev Hendrik du Plessis Restoration of the yard and building Some time ago I contacted reverend Len van Onselen about the ministry in Bere. Reverend van Onselen is an emeritus<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":986,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/botswanasending.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/985"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/botswanasending.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/botswanasending.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/botswanasending.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/botswanasending.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=985"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/botswanasending.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/985\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":987,"href":"https:\/\/botswanasending.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/985\/revisions\/987"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/botswanasending.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/botswanasending.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/botswanasending.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/botswanasending.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/botswanasending.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Bere-bybelstudie-Jan-22-1024x768.jpg\")