Yesterday I had an opportunity to share the word with a Baptist brother from Oklahoma City over the Internet. For about an hour and a half we talked about our spiritual experiences and encouraged each other on the way of Christianity. After our discussion (voice chat, like telephone) I could not stop praising the Lord for the technology. In this last days the gospel does indeed have wings, who needs to travel across the seas to preach the gospel when you can preach it from your own home.
Pray for me and my newfound friend Randy, as we will be continuing to share the word in the next few days. I must also add that he is one of the most devoted Christians I have ever met. He is employed as a State prosecutor, yet is very active in evangelism, in the past few months he has bought and distributed 4000 booklets on the gospel of John. He surely does make many of us to be ashamed because we do not have time to do anything for the Lord.
This what you need in order to chat (voice) over the Internet:
1. A PC with Internet connection
2. Microphone and speakers (of course a sound card)
3. Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0x - complete installation
You can download (3) from Microsoft site for free at http://www.microsoft.com/ie/download, unless if you have the explorer 4.0x CD.
When you install it, do a full installation, not the standard one. It will install a NetMeeting icon, that's the voice & video chat utility.
Note: download might take a long time.
For about $150.00 you can buy a camera, then you communicate with live pictures.
Send me a note if you need any assistance, I am connected to ils5.microsoft.com Server in NetMeeting.
Jeremiah Ravhengani "PENTECOST 98?" 02/07/1998
I have been trying to get some discussion about Pentecost 98 with little success, but I have these questions that are bodering me. What is it that Brother Fitz Henry was doing differently to what we have always been doing. Is it the message? Is it the style of presentation? What have we learnt? Can we do another Pentecost 99 without him? Is it possible to have live Pentecosts all over the country?
Jeremiah Ravhengani "Camp Meeting Weekend?" 28/06/1998
We attended our first Camp meeting out of South Africa. It was a very wonderful experience. What impressed me most was organization and order, it was just excellent. Most of the other procedures are the same as back home. One other thing that I found interesting was the dress, unlike in SA where people won't go to Camp Meeting because they do not have a new dress/suit, the dress was very simple and modest in the ADULT section. In the youth section, it was another story all together, you could count those wearing a shirt with a tie (Not to mention a jacket), most people (this includes both youth and adults) were either wearing shorts (both male and female) or jeans with T-shirts. Still in the youth section, the music included some Love-songs and Rap with some kind-of Christian lyrics. It seems like the world is slowly creeping into the church.
May God help us all.
Tankiso Letseli "Secular Minded People, Muslims, African Independent Churches: An Unentered Territory?" 28/06/1998
I noticed that whenever we conduct our Evangelistic Campaigns, we tend to specialise on specific religious groups - the Methodists, Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans, Faith Mission, Assemblies of God, etc. All these have one thing in common - they believe in Jesus Christ and His Bible. We have not made an intentional effort to reach the atheists, secular people, especially those who hate God, Christ and His Word. We ignore the Muslims because we term them "hard people." They are not hard, but ignored. We have not yet impacted the Nazarenes (Shembe group), Zionists (Lekganyane group), and those who hate God and His Bible.
Jeremiah Ravhengani "Adventist Professional Association?" 28/06/1998
I would like to thank Dr. Radebe for raising this issue, the idea of formation an Adventist Professional Association is long overdue. Before I get too excited about this issue let me hear the response of other SASDA members to this idea.
I believe that the internet can be a good vehicle to bring professionals together. I currently have a small list of SDA professionals, last week I sent out a note entitled "Invitation to share", if you didn't receive that note or you know other Adventist who are online and they were not on that list, please send their/your email address to us.
Mabel Radebe "Adventist Professional Association?" 25/06/1998
Greetings and happy to hear from you. Thanks very much for helping
us utilise technology to our advantage as Adventists. May I just discuss
something that is in my mind right now. There is an interest from various
quarters to form an association of Adventists professionals, but this
does not seem to be properly coordinated. The G.C. Education director,
Dr. Rasi would also like to have us on the international network and
would be happy to have our list. What's your view on this and what is
the state of art at the moment?
K Mokwena "What happened to khoroni?" 24/06/1998
Does it mean that we no longer have issues to discuss? I would have thought
that after Pentecoste 98 the discussions will be so many that updating the
webpage will be overwhelming for the webmaster.
It looks like we no longer attend khoro and we are sure missing not only the
lively discussions but also the online fellowship.
Let's keep the light on!
Mod "GC Pentecost 98 Report" 08/06/1998
Soweto, South Africa … [ANN] With upwards of 300,000 watching the final satellite broadcast of Pentecost ’98 on May 30 at over 470 downlink sites throughout the continent, gospel outreach sees a new hi-tech day in Africa.
The five-week daily broadcast from Vista University, Soweto, hosted by Jamaican lay evangelist Fitz Henry, clearly demonstrated the practical possibilities of such a satellite delivery system, according to program director Brad Thorp.
Thorp, who heads up the Adventist Global Communication Network, admits the success of the program far exceeded expectations.
"To have the numbers build up dramatically week after week is truly inspiring," says Thorp. "And for the program to reach 300,000 people with the Bible’s good news is an overwhelming concept. For me personally, it’s a dream come true."
Brainchild of Robert S. Folkenberg, president of the Seventh-day Adventist World Church, the plan for Pentecost ’98 was conceived during a visit to Soweto in 1997.
"I am so delighted that this dream became reality so quickly," says Folkenberg. "Now if anyone has any doubts about satellite evangelism, just look at what’s happening here. It’s amazing!"
Evangelist Fitz Henry is totally convinced. "Satellite evangelism is the way forward. We see the Holy Spirit being poured out here, and all over Africa," he says.
Local Adventist church leaders are equally enthusiastic.
"Pentecost ’98 is the biggest program we have ever attempted here in South Africa," reports Velile S. Wakaba, president of the Adventist Church in South Africa. "I have never seen anything that makes the church work like this program. The church is alive! This new technology will help us in communicating the gospel with the larger community and with our members."
Paul Mawela, president of the Adventist Church in the area that includes Soweto reflects his changed perspective.
"I used to look at the townships and wonder how we would be able to reach all those people," says Mawela. "Now I can see how! We are reaching people right where they are. For example, among the Tsonga tribe we have had very little impact. Now we have one satellite downlink in a church member’s garage, and 100 Tsonga people are gathering there. This is a real breakthrough."
Chris Botha, president of the Adventist Church’s Transvaal Conference, welcomed the opportunity to work together and share in gospel outreach.
"Pentecost ’98 is just the beginning of a true pentecost revival," says Botha. "We wondered about people’s reaction because we didn’t know what to expect. We certainly didn’t realize it would have such an impact. But those who were critical have now become positive. Working together on this project has brought many benefits, and now we have the opportunity to change and be patient with one another. Changes must not take place because of political pressure—we must work with a mission strategy. The gospel truly builds bridges."
The full results of Pentecost ’98 will not be known for some time. However according to preliminary reports, thousands have already been baptized in some 41 countries, reports Thorp.
Click here to see the pictures Pictures
Mod "Joe Crews Classic Radio sermons" 05/06/1998
Click here to read or listen to some of Joe Crews sermons. Most people will know him by his book 'the creeping compromise', which deals with the church standards.
Mod "Pentecost 98 Update" 02/06/1998
Would someone out there give us the latest Pentecost 98 update, it does not have to official. What we would also like to know is your own expirience of Pentecost 98?, what is that that you are going to remember it for? what have your gain? What have we as church learnt from Pentecost 98? Has Pentecost 98 create any excitment for evangelism? How can we keep that fire burning till Jesus come?
Jeremiah Ravhengani"Why buy a Bible when you can download one for free" 01/06/1998
Mod "New look page" 01/06/1998
Mod "The End of the Word, an outreach testimony of Mashudu Madaba" 25/05/1998
Jeremiah Ravhengani "Catholics on Adventism" 22/05/1998
Pastor T Letseli "TOC Pentecost 98 Update" 21/05/1998
Mod "This and That" 20/05/1998
Pastor J Mongwe "This and That" 21/05/1998
About Jan Marcussen - there are errors in his book about Sunday law. I
checked him out with the GC the other year and got a report about him
(disfellowshiped and dismissed - quite sad!) Ofcourse that info was
relevant only because of the nature of my inquiry - the fellow is
advocating agaisnt the regular Adventist congregating - have seen some of
his somewhat anti-Adventist videos. ABCs that sell his book would only do
that because of ignorance on the theological errors in his book - or purely
to make money. I will have my secretary type the GC report on the guy (hope
I kept it safe somewhere) and will post it here.
There's excitement here about Pentecost - and the Lord is blessing
tremendously. This morning I listen to a report from one church site where
50+ decided for baptism. I know there are even greater reports from other
areas. I was talking to Ps Letseli this morning- he's planning to post a
"full-partial" report.
In the meantime - I think the rocks are beginning to shout the parousia - I
think we've quite for too long (Lord have mercy).
God blesssss abundantly
J M MONGWE
Mod "New entries in the Sediba sa Bophelo" 20/05/1998
Here are some of his essays; please feel free to raise issues that you might not agree with, or that you need further explanation or discussion on.
NOTE: If you have something to share, sermons, personal testimonies, etc. please send them to us at masabatha@hotmail.com
Mod "Guess what I have just found? Pentecost 98 Web site!!" 20/05/1998
Mod "Interesting links" 19/05/1998
Jeremiah Ravhengani "SDA TV on the WEB" 15/05/1998"
Other Adventist Radio stations you can listen to over the Web:
Revelation 18:1 Talks about the angel whose glory lightened the whole earth, this is of course a great revival that will come just before the end of
this world's history, what Adventists like to call the time of the latter rain. I have always wondered how this light is going to enlightened the
whole world, but as I was watching this TV program, when I see man of God preaching the truth with such power, and when I realize that these
programs are been shown all over the world, I was convinced that this gospel can easily reach the whole world within a short period of time.
"And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come".
Silas Sedupane "Pentecost 98 Update" 15/05/1998"
All in all, the message has the power of the last days. It
does not seem to rebuke only those who do not keep the Sabbath but also some of
us who are too relaxed.
The emphasize is to have a relationship with Jesus and follow in his footsteps.
"The law cannot save us-it shows we are sinners, We are saved by grace if we
admit what we have seen on the mirror.
Jeremiah Ravhengani "Homosexualism" 13/05/1998"
Veli Mokwena "Homosexualism" 12/05/1998"
Mod "Feed back" 11/05/1998
Mod "A testimony from Mashudu Madaba" 11/05/1998
Jeremiah Ravhengani "What must I do to be saved?" 06/05/1998
This reminded me the experience that I had few years ago. Around 1993 when I was a youth leader at Soshanguve SDA church, it was my habit to take a group of young people (mostly from TNG) on Sundays to go and witness in an unentered area. They had a lot of interesting experiences, in some houses after they had preached the family would insist that they stay for lunch. But there was this particular day when two young men went out to preach in the same area, our theme in those days was the soon coming of Jesus Christ, after they had preached to the whole family, the head of the family was so impressed by the gospel of the Second Coming of Jesus that he said to them, what must I do to be ready to meet Him?" These young men knew the story of Peter during Pentecost, so they reply '"Repent and be baptized", the man replied "I have already done that", the young men then said to him obey the commandments, the man said "I have do that", the young men then said to him "You must attend church", the man said "I do that also, what more must I do", the young men were without words they then said to him "you are fine " and they left.
I do not know about you, I often found myself battling with the simple issues of the gospel, like how does God saves people? not the theoretical part of the issue but the practical part of it, I suppose it is just a miracle. So friends, when we go out we must expect miracles, and we must not be suprised when people believe, sometimes I think we are so much used to seeing people rejecting the gosple that we are suprised when they accept the message.
MOD "GC Pentecost 98 Update" 07/05/1998
"We were delighted with the overall way in which the meetings have begun this first week," says Brad Thorp, president of the Adventist Global Communication Network and program coordinator for Pentecost ‘98. "Many organizational details had to be finalized and thank God everything has come together in a wonderful way."
Speaker Fitz Henry's presentations are uplinked live by satellite to hundreds of sites across Africa, including Angola, Botswana, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Rwanda, Swaziland, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. Large numbers of participants attended the first night in Rwanda (16,000) and Malawi (30,000), reports Jean Emmanuel Nlo Nlo, communication director of the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s Africa-Indian Ocean Division.
Warren Judd, technical producer for the series, says that the technology is working well and the programming is very successful.
"The transmissions have been successfully received as far away as Windsor, England as well as in most of the countries of Africa," says Judd. "There is a lot of excitement over the series and there are some churches in Rwanda where 300 people are inside a church watching the broadcasts and another 1,000 people are standing outside the church just listening to the sound only!"
Pentecost ‘98 runs daily until May 23, and is being broadcast in 16 languages.
Jeremiah Ravhengani "New items" 06/05/1998
MOEKETSI MAFORAH "Update on Pentecost 98" 30/04/1998
Kebogile Mokwena "Re - New Sermons" 30/04/1998
Mokwena "Re - Surrogate motherhood" 30/04/1998
Jeremiah Ravhengani "Pentecost 98" 28/04/1998
Jeremiah Ravhengani "New Sermons" 27/04/1998
Jeremiah Ravhengani "RE: Surrogate Motherhood" 27/04/1998
Jeremiah Ravhengani "Weekend" 27/04/1998
Jeremiah Ravhengani "RE: Pentecost Update" 24/04/1998
Thabo Molefe "Pentecost Update" 22/04/1998
Jeremiah Ravhengani "Why is it so quite out there" 22/04/1998
Jeremiah Ravhengani "Homiletic gymnastics" 21/04/1998
Asaph Mokotjo "Homiletic gymnastics" 21/04/1998
Jeremiah Ravhengani "The old, old issue 20/04/1998"
Jeremiah Ravhengani "The baker, the singer, the preacher, the Adventist 20/04/1998"
Jeremiah Ravhengani "Site updates 20/04/1998"
Asaph Mokotjo "SASDA 20/04/1998"
I believe it is now apparent that a forum for exchange of spiritually-sound
and Bible-based ideas ga has been created.We should thank God for the
privilege of speech and technology. If in the past the invention of a
telephone we seen as a breakthrough the we should praise the Lord all the
more for this platform. Let us move forward in faith.
The Lord will bless.
Thabo Molefe "E.G White electronic library 20/04/1998"
Tankiso Letseli "SASDA Online 17/04/1998"
Velaphi Mokwena "SASDA Online 17/04/1998"
Jeremiah Ravhengani "Web site changes" 17/04/1998
Kebogile Mokwena "God's special Message for Today"
TANKISO LETSELI "Pentecost '98!" 16/04/98
Kebogile Mokwena "Service of the Ellen White Estate" 16/04/98
TANKISO LETSELI "Lechabile!" 16/04/98
Jeremiah Ravhengani "Invitations" 16/04/98
Yours in Christ,
Kebogile Mokwena "Pentecost 98" 16/04/98
Jeremiah Ravhengani "SASDA Online?" 15/04/98
Preachers, Preachers where are your sermons? Someone might be encouraged by
them, please send them to me ASAP.
In a little while we will be going home!
Jeremiah Ravhengani "Pentecost 98" 15/04/98
Thabo Molefe "Pentecost 98" 15/04/98
Jeremiah Ravhengani "Pentecost 98" 15/04/98
Kebogile Mokwena "Pentecost 98" 15/04/98
Jeremiah Ravhengani "Khoroni" 15/04/98
Kebogile Mokwena "Khoroni" 15/04/98
Kebogile Mokwena "Surrogate Motherhood" 15/04/98
Jeremiah Ravhengani "Surrogate Motherhood" 14/04/98
Justice Mongwe "SURROGATE MOTHERHOOD" 14/04/98
Thabo Molefe "SURROGATE MOTHERHOOD" 13/04/98
Click here to download a Bibles and some Bible tools I have downloaded one which was 3.5M and I was impressed. Just a caution, don't try to download a very big file especially if your network is slow, start by trying small files.
On Wednesday (03/06/97) we will be relaunching our home page with some few improvemnets, we hope the new changes will make navigation on this site more easier.
As I have promised, here is the outreach testimony of Mashudu Madaba
The end of the world . It can also be found under Testimonies in the Sedoba sa Bophelo. What this testimony shows us is that, what ever our occcupation might be, God can use still us to spread the Gospel. As a computer programmer he was doing it in the networks. Are you a teacher, do it in class room, Are a lawyer? do it in court. Are you a journalist? do it in the newspaper, Are you a tea-maker do it in the kitchen. Our prayer is that all of us may be inspired by testinmonies like this go out and spread the gospel for the time is short.
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Have you ever wondered what Catholics think or say about us? Here it is from one of their web sites Catholics on Seventh Day Adventism
Please read it and tell me what you think
Click here to see the TOC Pentecost Update
I would like to thank Pastor Mongwe for his message. To all of you at there, you have heard from the horse's mouth, delete 'Jan Marcussen' from your book marks if you have already included it. I have also removed the link from this site. Let me take this time to request you to challenge anything and everything that is found on this site, including the links. 'To the law and the testimony if they do not speak according this Word', they will be removed.
Once more thanks to Elder Mongwe for opening our eyes
Hi out there! Long time no visiting this site - been vey busy of late. Also
too much misery with school work. Am impresssed by the activity. Pentecost
doing quite fine -have baptism this week. I will also wade in the water to
bury a few of the souls. Robert Folkenberg is landing in JHB airport at
13H00 this afternoon - from there the motorcade will proceed to Sandton
Hotel for cocktails. Guess he got to be around for baptism on Sabbath.
I have added five new entries into the Sediba sa Bophelo section; all of them from come from an old friend in Kwazulu-Natal, Prof. Frikkie de Waal. Brother Frikkie is an Accounting Professor at University of Durban-Westville. He is a very sincere honest man of God, who believes in the old time religion. A truly man of God. If they were more Adventists like Frikkie and his wife Nella, the impact of Adventism in SA will have been very different. He serves unofficially as sponsor/chaplain for Seventh Day Adventist Students Society (SDASO not to be confused with SDASA) at UDW. He has been actively involved with the prison missionary work.
All the that I hoped to achieve has already been done, and here it is:
Pentecost '98
Here are some of the interesting links that I came across while surfing the net:
The first one is a paper written by JN Andrews, "7 Reasons for Sunday-keeping Refuted" . JN Andrews, for those who know their church history will remember that he was the contemporary of E.G White, and the first official missionary of the church to be sent to Europe. Andrews University is named after him.
Even though I hold strong views against watching Television, yesterday I fell into this temptation. This was not from your normal television set (since I do not own a set I was sure I will nerver fall into this tempatation), but from the internet. As I was surfing on Adventist materials on the net I came across the Three Angels Brodcasting Network (3abn), a television station which is own and operated by Seventh Day Adventists. I was very impressed by the programing. Last night they had a presentation on the Sabbath and the state of the dead. Their website if http://www.3abn.org , you need at least a 28.8 Kbs modem and you also need to install Realplayer; which you can download for free from http://www.realplayer.com
--- Matthew 24:14
Pentecost is a revival for both Adventists and non-Adventists. The truth is presented so
simple and the preacher emphasize that people should follow Jesus (not church
leaders or preachers) and to read the Bible prayerfully.
This is the way of presentation that has always been valid, yet obscure.
The ten commandments were focussed for the last two weeks.
The Ten Commandments are presented in this way.
Some Adventist keep the day, but they do not have a true relationship with the
Man of the Day. And further break other commands.
Others keep other commands and skip the 4th.
The seventh day is an appointment to meet Jesus. If one sets his own time, Jesus
will not be available so such time.
It is not important to claim to keep the day, but to have a relationship with
the man of the day. Just as an analogy of a husband who works far from home. His
lover(Wife) prepares and waits for him on Friday. They spend the Saturday
together and they do not want to be disturbed. Just as we have to seize our
week's toil and focus on him to renew us and enjoy fellowship with him.
This is in a nutshell. many more later...
What is more shocking is that some of our theologians, who are paid by
the tithes of the church go as far as writing books in support of homosexualism and feminism and all other contemporary and fashionable sins. Some of you might not be aware of the divisions that exist among our theologians. They are some among us who no longer believe in the fundamental teachings of the church. I am going to deal with this issue in more details when in my next mail.
Coming back to the issue of homosexualism. The argument that is very popular is that some of the homosexuals just can't help it because they are born like that; this means God is to be blamed for He created them like that. What people often forget is that the Bible says that we are born in sin and sharpen in iniquity (Ps 51:5). All of us we are born with the tendencies to evil. Some have tendencies towards polygamy, some stealing etc. But Jesus came to save us from our sins (Mat 1:21), as one man puts it, He did not can to save us in our sins but from our sins. While we need to be sensitive and understanding to people who are trapped in sin, I agree with Bro. Veli that we need to preach repentance. All those who repent and receive the free gift from God, the Bible says God gives them the power to become children of God (John 1:12). If religion lacks the power to change people, it is not worth its name. So to be an Adventist and still be proud of been a homosexual is a contradiction. I heard one man saying that there are no contradictions in life, if you find any contradictions check you premises, one of them is wrong. Why call yourself an Adventist when you do not want to follow what the head of the church, Jesus Christ says. All these are just signs of the end; this world is ripe for judgement. The Bible says as it was in the days of Noah so shall it be in the time of the end. I am convinced that soon and very soon we shall see the skies opening and the Kings of kings coming in His Glory. The Bible says when you see these things began to happen lift up you eyes for your salvation is at hand.
The prophet of the Lord, Jeremia, in his book the sixth chapter, verse
sixteen, admonishes us to stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old
paths, and walk therein. It is unfortunate that some of our brothers and
sisters, who are called children of God, are flatly refusing to walk in those
paths. I read a disturbing article the other day. I say it is disturbing
because it shocked me. I read about the SDA Kingship, which is a group,
according to their claim, consisting of current and former Adventists and some
pastors, who minister to the spiritual, emotional, social, and physical well
being of individuals who are lesbians,gay men, bisexual, and transgendered
individuals, families of such individuals and their friends. According to
their belief, the Holy Bible and the spirit of prophecy are quiet about the
subject, hence they do not consider homosexuality as sin. I do not know what
does your bible say about the subject and those who participate in such acts.
Mine says that homosexuality is sin. God could have not destroyed Sodom and
Gomorrah if this was not a sin to be frowned at.
When I read from Review and Herald Nov.10 1884, pp. 120 and 121, Ellen White asks, Is
there not enough transpiring about to show us the dangers that beset our path?
She states that everywhere are seen wrecks of humanity, broken-down familiy
altars, broken-up families. There is a atrange abandonment of principle, the
standard of morality is lowered, and the earth is fast becoming a Sodom. The
Sodomitish practices which brought the judgment of God to the world, and
caused it to be deluged with water, and which caused Sodom to be destroyed by
fire, are fast increasing. We are nearing the end. God has borne long with the
perversity of mankind, but their punishment is no less certain. Let those who
profess to be the light of the world , depart from all iniquity.
She further says in Testimonies vol5 218 that "impurity is today widespread, even among the
professed followers of Christ. Passion is unrestrained; the animal
propensities are gaining strength by indulgence, while the moral powers are
constantly becoming weker... The sins that destroyed the antediluvians and the
cities of plain exist today, not merely in heathen lands, not only among
popular professors of Christianity, but with some who profess to be looking
for the coming of the Son of man. If God should present these sins before you
as they apper in His sight, you would be filled with shame and terror".
Friends, I have many more quotations from Ellen White to prove that the spirit
of prophecy is not quiet about the issue. Please, take time to read Romans
1:24 to the end. Let us pray for these friends of us.
As for their claims that they have the support of pastors and other educators,
God has warned us about such pastors in 2 Timothy 4:3-4. Because their ears
are itchy and yet they don't want to listen to sound doctrine, what else can
they do but to heap to themselves teachers who will tell them that "all is
well with their practices"!!
Let us remember that Christ Jesus died for them too and let us keep on praying
for their souls to repent!!!!
Veli Mokwena
Let us hear from you. Sometimes it feels very lonely in this World Wide Web, it is good sometimes to know that one is not all alone. Please send us you comments, suggestions. We are currently trying to invite SDASA, AMICUS Helderberg and every body to come to the party. We would like your testimonies, prayer requests etc. Some have been sending us messages to include in our Daily bread, we appreaciate that, anything that can encourage someone in this pilgrim journey, will be greatly appreaciated.
In Joel 2:28 the bible says
"And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions". Could this be the time prophesied about. Listen to this testimony from Mashudu Madaba , you can also find it in Sediba sa Bophelo. This is a personal message that I received from him. Mashudu is trained as a pastor, teacher, computer programmer and currently works as a reporter for a Johannesburg weekly computer newspaper. He has served as a missionary in Namibia. He is more than a friend to me, he is a blood brother, we have come a long way together. I got the ideas of electronic evangelism from him. In the next few days he is going to be giving us some more testimonies on that subject.
Just to encourage those who have not started witnessing, I have this story to tell.
This morning I had a very humbling experience. A former high school class mate, who now lives in California, phone me after receiving the "Love letter" mail, and he said to me that he was very shaken by the message, and he wants to be ready to meet Jesus when he comes, and he wants to know what must he do.
Back to my story I suggested to my friend that we start an online Bible study so that we can learn more about preparing for Christ's Second Coming.
Soweto, South Africa … [ANN] At least 80,000 people are experiencing the satellite outreach program ‘Pentecost ‘98,’ a gospel-based broadcast from the stadium of Vista University, Soweto that began on April 25.
I had a wonderful expirience this past week, we visited the Adventist college in Massachuset, Atlantic Union College. As one who does not have Adventist educational background I was impressed by everything.
I have added a new message "Clouds are gathering" in the Sediba sa bophilo section, it one of those messages that comes from my heart not necessarily from my head. I have also added a message that I have been sending to many of my non-Adventist friends and colleagues entitled "Love letter" '. Feel free to comment on these messages.
The pentecost 98 lecture series commenced on a high note on sabbath evening of
25 April 1998.The launch was done in a great
style. There are a number of churches who purchased satellites
throughout the country and in the whole continent.
The word is reaching people in a manner never imagined before. Let us pray for
the success of this project.
Thanks a lot Jerry for information on Pastor O'Ffill's sermons. I was
particularly impressed by "Holiness our Destiny" because I, like him, has
often been perplexed by some of the coments that I have heard in our Sabbath
school classes. Adventists seem to be getting more and more apologetic about
the high calling that God has extended to His people, even calling other
adventists "legalists". I did not hear this so often when I was home but here,
at least in the part of the USA that I am in, it is a popular teaching.
I am therefore happy to learn that there are pastors who still preach the
untainted, uncompromising gospel of the Kingdom.
My response again to this issue. I think that we will not find a biblical
term to call or name surrogate motherhood as a sin. After all, especially in
biotechnology, there are so amy developments that if we were to start
classifying them and assigning a "sin" name to each, we may fail to keep up
with such developments. Let us remind ourselves again about the news that hit
the media last year when Dolly the sheep was cloned(which is another area of
biotechnology). On reporting the birth of Dolly, the Newsweek magazine's
headlines were " Little sheep, little sheep, who made thee?" The response of
many Christians, myself included, was that we saw man arrogantly shaking his
fist in the face of the Almighty, telling Him that what You can do, I can do
better. (By the way, there are doubts now whether the cloning was genuine) I
also read the electronic Mail & Guardian and wonder whether you saw the report
of the goat that was born in Zimbabwe this week which was half human. Man is
experimenting with so many things it makes me scary.
One of the atheists commented that it shows that man himself is god and God
can no longer claim to be the only creator of life. As humans we can create a
better species by going steps further, like choosing the colour of hair,
intelligence, gender etc that we would decide for our offspring. My conclusion
to this response is , in the case of surrogate motherhood, whose child is that
offspring?[i.e. biologically, whose genes does the child have, emotionally,
who has that special connection with the child ( something that cann not be
explained physiologically), and spiritually who is responsible for the
spiritual guidance of that soul?]
Still waiting for input
Seeing that members are taking a lot of time in sending me there sermons, I
went sermon hunting. I have added a sermons by Pastor Richard O'Ffill, who is
an Associate speaker for American Cassette minitries and an Evangelist for the
Florida conference of the SDA church. Few weeks ago, I had a priviledge of
meeting him and listening to him speak, I was very impressed, All I can say about
him is that he preaches what Adventist who like to call the present truth.
You can get more of his material on this URL:http://www.ao.net/~acm
Coming back to this issue. Last week I sent a mail to the GC information
department asking about the stand of the church on this issue, I still
have not got the respond. My view is that there are two issues involved.
Pastor Mongwe and Kebo have addressed themselves to each of this points. Firstly
Kebo sees this debate from the point that God is the one who gives children;
Seeing that God knows what is best for us, could it be that having a uterus
problem (or whatever is the problem) is a way that God is denying us of this gift?
Therefore by going the route of surrogate motherhood, we are like children who
climb on the chair in order to reach the top shelve of the cupboard
where the Mother has hidden the sweets. Or is Surrogate motherhood another
solution that God has provided to a problem that was caused by sin?
Let us remember that medical missionary work is said to be going hand in
hand with the gospel. The question then is where do we draw the line?
Would the issue be different if the child was born in the test tube?
This first point addresses the ethics of the issue.
The second point addresses the morality of the issue. By placing a ferterlized
egg in somebody 's uterus, does this constitute adultery? Then the question
Pastor Mongwe puts is 'What is adultery?' Jesus says " If you look at a woman
lustfully you have already committed adultery". So adultery like many other sins
is committed in the mind, then in most cases, sexual intercourse is the results of
adultery of the heart. In my view surrogate motherhood from this perspective
does not constitute adultery.
How was you weekend? I had a very good weekend. I was visited a small Black
church in Plainfields, New Jersey. We had I wonderful day. In the afternoon a
group called "Reflections" from Broolyn presented a mini concert. Like what
usaully happens back home, there was a now-now male voice singing tunes like,
"There is no need standing up for the right ...." This only made me feel home
sick, wishing I was part the great exicitement of Pentecost 98. Anyway that was
my weekend how was yours.
Once again Thanks Thabo, for keeping us updated. Please continue with the good
work.
From Tuesday onwards all the Pentecost updates will be featured on the
Pentecost 98 page (the link is on the home page).
If it were possible I would like us to feature the following:
May you all have a happy Sabbath
Hi all,
Pentecost'98, begins on Sabbath 25th April 1998, the venue is looking
pretty with all the banners,lighting and sound equipment almost
completely set up.
The mass choir and all the musicians have been rehearsing every
evening, tents and medical stalls are being set up ...all I can say is
let us pray even harder, this is the real event that is going to
change the lives of many people out there.
Banners and posters have been put up in streets throughout Soweto and
Johannesburg, there will also be an interview on one of the SABC
television channels, with one of the members of the Pentecost '98
public relations committee...look out for it this coming Sunday(those
who are in the country),I will furnish proper time and details of this
tomorrow.
A few glitches have been experienced though, but let us continue
praying, as I believe the Lord will manage this project successfully
till the end.
Your prayers are greatly needed to ensure that all goes extremely well
Watch this space!!!
Thabo Molefe
Did I say something wrong? Or has Satellite taken all the excitement from the Internet?
The past to days I have been trying to register this site to as many search engines
as possible (the ones that are free of cause). I even approached the webmaster
at Helderberg College, so that the word can reach even the shores of Capetown.
I believe this is an idea whose time has come, so let the word go out! We do
not need to wait for 5 years before we can get together and share ideas.
Let me hear from you, share you thought and ideas in any topic with the rest of the
Republic and the world
What issue in particular do you want to raise in this story?
Greetings in the name of the Lord.
Please unpack I Kings 13
Asaph
What is the relationship between dress and Salvation? We are saved by grace
through faith; does it matter how we dress? Doesn't God only look at the heart?
So, is it wrong to wear jeans when going to church? How about jewelry? Most
Adventist seems to agree that it is not necessary for woman to wear hats in
church, actually the SDA Bible commentary says I Cor 11 3-16 only applies to
the Corinthians. Can't we use the same argument for I Peter 3 3,4?
You might be interested to know that they are some SDA churches where, they
wear shorts, jeans and all kinds of jewelry to church.
What do you do with a baker who no longer remembers the recipes, or a singer
who can't remember the tunes, even if it is a preacher who can't remember the
verses? What about an Adventist who has forgotten that Jesus is soon coming
back. I suppose we should call ourselves the "Seventh Days" but not the
"Adventist",
maybe that's why they call us Masabatha. Adventism is not what we do on the Sabbath
day, but what we are every day. Whether you are going down Church street in
Pretoria, or going up Market Street in Johannesburg, one should be able to
point at you and say "there goes a man/woman who is waiting for the Second
Coming of Jesus. For this reason SASDA Online from this week onwards will
feature a weekly reminder of the Second Coming of Jesus. We again request
you input.
To all those who are in South Africa, please note that because of the 6 hours
time difference from where I am, My day starts at 14:00 SA time, so my morning
updates are between 14:00 and 15:00. I will be a good idea for you to visit
the site again after 15:00 to see the latest updates.
Your humble servant
If I say this is a superb idea that will obviously be an
understatement.This is definitely one of the many ways our caring Lord
wishes to make himself known to us.In this I see a way of encouraging one
another all the more especially as we see 'the day' approaching.
My prayer is for the Lord to gives us added wisdom,vision and strength to
make this an effective in-reach and out-reach tool.
I desire to support this means not only with input but with my knees as
well.
I would like to thank Kebogile for informing us about the Ellen White
estate site on the net.
I found it extremely helpful and could not draw myself away from it, I
had been attempting to buy these books for the sole purpose of lending
them out to some people that I often discuss with...now it is a lot
easier I can just refer them to the E.G White electronic library!!!
Praise Lord for this.
Man, I am not sure of your question. It has never crossed my mind that we
can infringe on anything without going through the right channels. I see
this as an independent initiative which does not require any permission
from anyone. We owe it to ourselves to communicate and come up with a
newsletter. In fact, we should be commended more than be condemned. God
bless.
Hi, Jerry
I'm responding to your concerns. Let me hasten to say that in my opinion there
is no need to affiliate to any church structure since this is a discussion
web page which is a discussion group. In my opinion, if you want to discuss
something, you don't need to affiate to a church structure. We don't need a
constitution or any redtape. I think the operation of this website is just
okay as it is now.
In the next few weeks I will continue to make some improvements on this site, If
you have some suggestions please send them to me.
To aviod having very one long file, I will group messages per week. If we start
having a lot of messages in one week, I will then group the messages per day
or per topic. I am currently looking for a three angels .gif file to replace the
rotating world on the front page, if you have it please send it to us.
Happy Sabbath to you all.
Now, just now, is the time for us to be watching, working, and
waiting.......The end of all things is at hand.... The Spirit of the Lord is
working to take the truth of the inspired word and stamp it upon the soul so
that the professed followers of Christ will have a holy, sacred joy that they
will be able to impart to others....
Taken from Maranatha, page 107, paragraph3
Pentecost '98 is coming and the devil is fighting hard to keep us from
succeeding. At the moment we are still battling to get the satellite
dishes mounted on our churches because satellite dishes are hard to find,
and our churches, as usual, like to relax until the last moment. The
campaign will start on the 25 April to 30 May. Plans for follow-up are in
place, soul are ready. You may need to know that we already have first
fruits of Pentecost '98. God bless.
To everyone out there
Until last night I did not know about this service but found it so inspiring
that I would like to draw it to the attention of those that did not know of
its existence. From it you can actually access Sister Whites' books,
manuscript etc and also use search words or phrases to get information about
any topic of interest.
The internett address is http://www.egwestate.andrews.edu
I found it helpful because you can even get information without buying(or
borrowing) books.The advancement in technology is really working to our
advantage!
Keep on searching the scriptures until He comes
I would like to commend Jerry for this brilliant idea, and this is a
potential for great things. I read with interest the views of some of the
contributors, especially on the issue of "surrogate motherhood." There was
a time when life and Adventism were viewed in terms of right and wrong,
black and white, this or that, yes or no, but these days there are grey
areas - where sometimes an answer to a question is "yes and no."
Technology and scientific discoveries are beginning to cause us to re-think
and re-state some of our beliefs. It seems as if we have to come up with
more answers and explanations from issues raised by the "increasing of
knowledge." It seems as if we no longer worry and wince at the Apostle
Paul's hard sayings and concepts. We are beginning to pay more attention
to challenges from outside the Scriptures before we could actually
formulate responses to those which are already encased in the Holy
Scriptures.
I see this newsletter (website) as the dawning of the new age. An
opportunity for great things and a forum to express independent thought.
It is true that in our quest to perfect this undertaking, there will be
mistakes and shortcomings, but I pride myself because they will be African
mistakes - and definitely they will require African solutions as opposed to
borrowed and foreign ones.
Apart from affording ourselves an opportunity to express our thoughts and a
forum for discussion, I see this venture as an opportunity to socialise and
fellowship electronically. God bless.
Tankiso Letseli
I have been sending out invitations of this format:
We would like to invite you to what is currently known as "South African
Seventh Day Adventist Online" (SASDA Online). This is a new initiative,
actually it only started last week. The idea is to have an environment
where Adventists in SA can share ideas, and encourage each other as we
wait for the soon return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We will be
glad if you can visit our web site at http://www.angelfire.com/sd/masabatha ,
where you will get more information.
Your participation will be greatly appreciated.
This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a
testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
Could it be that God is going to use technology (Internet & satellite) to
finish the work of the gospel?
Jerry Ravhengani (SASDA Moderator)
You can forward this message to other Adventists, or you can send me their
Email addresses, as others have been doing, and I will invite them.
Hi Thabo
Thanks a lot for the information. I was fortunate to witness the Net 96 and
the Preparation for the next millenium (1997), both of which were run by
satellite and believe me, it is an uplifting experience. We will be praying
for our people at this time so that we can experience what the apostles
experienced back then.
I am overwhelmed by the way this idea have quickly developed. Last week I
knew nothing about creating web pages, actually the very word html scared me.
But God has provided it all, knowledge, web site, email, all for free. Glory
be to own God, for His mercy endures forever.
But there are some things that I am not too sure about like, the legality of
this body, do we need to get permission from the Seventh Day Adventist church
in order to use their name?
Do we need to affiliate to any of the church structures? Do we need a
constitution? Or will some form of aims and objectives be enough? What
should be our name, theme etc ?
At the moment I have not advertised this page in the Internet, because I
would like us to iron out the above issues first.
Your input will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks Thabo, for your prompt response, please keep us posted on
further developments
Hi Kebo and all out there,
Pentecost '98 is scheduled to start on the 25th April, it will be held
at the Vista University auditorium in Soweto. It is scheduled to run
for 5 weeks or until the Holy spirit determines.(It will start daily
at 18:30 and run for about 2 hours).
A lot of work is still happening behind the scenes to prepare for it,
as you can expect, it is a huge project.There are working committees
to prepare for things such as transportation, finance,medical and
health requirements,establishment of new
churches,literature,prayer,deacon duties etc.
We are expecting up to 15 000 people to attend daily, this requires
both financial and human resources. For people who are not in Gauteng
to give assistance, the best you could do is to join all of us in
prayer during the day, prayer times are 6:00 am,11:00 am and 7:00 pm
(S.A time) to pray for the success of this huge project.
Perhaps those who are in different time zones could pray at time that
will suit them in their areas.
This will be broadcast throughout Africa and internationally via
satellite.
The evangelist for this project is Brother Fitz Henry who hails from
Jamaica.
I have sent a mail to Pastor Letseli asking more infor about this. But if there
is anybody out there who have any information please send it to us.
Kindly give me more information about this: when it will be etc. Any
information can be sent via email or sent to 1311 Whaley Street
Apartment 913, Columbia, SC 29205
Kebo Mokwena
Khoroni is a Tshivenda name for a place where traditionally, people used
to gather to discuss issues that affects the community. Nyambedzano means
discussions. As you might have already realized from the name of the web site that
I am trying to make the site as African as possible, whatever that means. I am
now looking for Shagaan make for news, a Sotho name for inspiration or sermons,
and a Nguni name for information or directory. Any other suggestions will be
appreciated
Kindly tell me what the term means. Also the term that was previously used on
this same space a day ago
Kebo Mokwena
In response to this discussion, I think the issue is not what the church
manual says but how the holy spirit moves in our hearts. I also think that we
must acknowledge that the church manual must not be used to replace our
responsibilty towards the chidren that we bring to this world. There are many
moral and Christian dilemmas which can not and will not be addressed by the
church manual. What is of paramount importance is therefore whether just
because something can be scientifically done we the liberty to do it. My
personal response is that when it comes to childbearing, we must think
seriously of the life of the potential human being, remind ourselves that
Christ died for him/her and critically examine our conscience whether if given
a choice we would be happy to be born under those circumstances. This
particularly referes to the question of identity which troubles so many
people, even those born under "normal" circumstances. May God be with us as we
meet so many scientific dilemmas that raises questions and challenges our
Christian principles. This of course, includes the question of human cloning
which is under discussion in many circles.
From Kebogile Mokwena
Can somebody out there, supply me with the page in the church manual which
talks about this issue?
Thabo indicates what he would like to see discussed if we had this thing -
what is it called ? A website or what? Pardon the display of the abundance
of ignorance - whatever it is - I think it is a good idea. Look even me am
able to use it! Yaa, I was saying may be we could start talking on the
subject right away. As South Africans - presumably mainly Africans, I would
be interested in the dialogue on the issue. I guess some of the issues
surrounding the matter are: What is adultry/fornication eventually. What is
sex(ual intercousre)? Does the fact that the premaritally pregnant woman is
SEEN to be pregnant contribute onto our current position on the discipline.
Would we equally worry if she was to be "silently" pregnant? The point is -
is (premarital) pregnancy THE problem?
J M MONGWE (TEL. 083 266 8016, 011 640 3084)
For instance I am interested to start a discussion around surrogate
motherhood and the issue of pregnancy being considered a public sin
according to our church manual, if an unmarried woman falls pregnant,
it is assumed that she has committed adultery, what if it is pregnancy
by artificial insemination or if she is carrying a baby for a sister
who is medically incapable of carrying her own baby.
I was just keen to hear people's views and also realised that it would
also help a lot of us to engage in studies and research which would later help
give clarity in our churches as I believe this problem will hit us soon.
