GOSPEL DEFENCE LEAGUE
P O Box 832, Â MILNERTON Â 7435, RSA
TEL/FAX Â (021) 510-6854
Email: dscarborough@ telkomsa.net
October/November/December 2013
Dear Friends,
On 19 September 2013 Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian  Federation, made a memorable speech about  the present  cultural decline of the West which, for two millennia, had been the stronghold of Christianity and  had been called Christendom. The West, he said, was in decline because in all areas of life it was putting Satan on the same level as God -e.g. marriage is put on a par with homosexual unions, bearing children is as valid as  having an abortion (child  murder), peace is equal to war and  democracy is equated with  bank feudalism.  He said: ” We see that many Euro-Atlantic states (the West) are busy denying or rejecting their own roots, including the Christian roots which have been the foundation of Western civilisation. – In these states the moral foundations and every traditional identity  are being denied- national, religious, cultural and even sexual  identities are denied.   They pursue  policies by which large  families are put  on the same  level  as homosexual partnerships; such politics equate faith in God with faith  in Satan.
Europe’s Self-Destruction
“In many European countries,” he continued, “people feel embarrassed and are downright afraid to speak openly  about  their  religious affiliation. –  In Europe  Christian holy days and feasts  are being  abolished or renamed. It is as if the people are ashamed of these celebrations. In this way they hide or conceal the deeper moral value of these festivities. – Those states also try to aggressively force this model  onto other countries all over the world. I am  deeply convinced that this will lead directly to the decay and primitivisation of culture. It will  lead to ever greater demographic and moral crises in the West...  What then can be better evidence of the moral crisis of Western  society than  the loss of their  (biological) reproduction? Today, almost all Western ‘developed‘ countries cannot maintain themselves reproductively.  Not even with the help of migrants. ” –
(Indeed, one of the greatest blessings of God is offspring. The Bible says: “Sons are a heritage  from the LORD, children  are a reward  from him.  Blessed  is the  man  whose  quiver is  full of them.” [Psalm 127:3] D.S.)
Putin concluded: “Without the moral values inherent in Christianity (and in other world religions), without the norms and moral values which have been formed and developed over millennia, men will inevitably lose their  human dignity  and  become brutes.  – We maintain that  it is right  and natural to defend  these  moral Christian values  and to watch over them… “(1)
The above speech comes from a man who lived and rose to prominence under the dehumanising system of Soviet Communism. He was one of its agents, a leading  officer (Colonel) of the KGB in Russia and  East Germany in the aftermath of Stalin’s purges which cost 20 million lives, mostly of Christians. But when, after the fall of the Soviet empire he looked  back, he concluded: Without Christian faith and morals man becomes a dehumanised brute and his society becomes primitive.
South Africa
Since  “ liberation” in 1994, South  Africa has  adopted the  same suicidal  pattern.  It has  followed  the secularisation policies of the First World and become the crime capital of the globe.  5,900 crimes are reported by the South African Police Service every day. 161,000 people  have been  murdered in the past 10 years. Every 17 seconds a woman/child is raped,  and R650 billion have been  lost to corruption since 1994. (2)  Nearly 4,000 farmers  have been  murdered, rewarded with death for providing life (food). (3)  In this situation the South African authorities seem to be fixated  on viewing law as either “apartheid law” or “democratic law.”  They have  spurned much  of the  old  law  founded on  Christianity  and  instead embraced the  laws  of secular humanism.  When  formulating or applying  these  laws they tolerate no moral arguments, but falsely claim that morality has no part  in law.  However, ALL LAW is legislated morality.  The only question is: By whose authority is it validated? By the authority  of a holy God, or by the authority  of sinful man?
Moral  arguments are  rejected especially in  discussions on  moral issues, such as  pornography, homosexuality and prostitution. The persistent attempt of TopTV to bring pornography into our sitting rooms by launching  three  hard  core  pornographic channels in South  Africa on  1 December 2013 (just  before Christmas!), is a telling example.  Countrywide objections have availed  nothing,  and  the Justice Alliance of South Africa (JASA), had to go to court  for an urgent  interdict to stop  porn on SA TV. So serious is this issue, that even a group  of schoolgirls joined JASA in the legal battle.
Morality
President  Putin’s warning shows how far Russia has turned its back on Soviet doctrine which, in spite of massive financial  and material support from the West, was responsible for the collapse of its empire  It also shows how deeply South Africa has opened itself up to the same destructive philosophy.  South Africa’s rulers are much affected by the great  prophets of materialism, Friedrich  Engels, Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin.
“ We reject every attempt to impose on us any moral dogma whatsoever as an external, ultimate and forever immutable moral law ,“ said Engels.  And Lenin added: “Our  morality is entirely  subordinate to the interests of the class struggle. .. ” (3)
The Bible, however, demands godliness to ensure well being.  God says: “See, I set  before you today life and  prosperity, death and  destruction… For I command you today to love  the  LORD your  God, to walk  in his  ways, and  to keep  his  commands, decrees and  laws,· then you  will live  and  increase, and the  LORD your  God will  bless you in the  land… Now choose life, so that you  and  your  children may live and that you may love the  LORD your  God, listen to his voice, and  hold  fast to him. For the  LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your  fathers.” (Deuteronomy 30:15-20)
In the New South Africa state  policy decrees that the knowledge of God be withheld from school  children and students. Young people learn  that there is no divine Judge,  no Lawgiver, no King and no Saviour but that a big bang created a world  out of nothing  and  without meaning.  “The  materialist {i.e. communist},” said Lenin, “consigns God, and the philosophical rabble that defends God, to the rubbish heap.”  And “every religious idea,  every idea  of every god,  even every flirtation with a god,  is an unspeakable abomination... ” (4)  By contrast, Christendom has  built its civilisation  on the knowledge that ‘“in the  beginning God  created the heavens and  the  earth,” (Genesis 1:1) and  that “there is one  God, and one  Mediator between God and
men, the man Christ  Jesus.” (1 Timothy 2:5) It has taught every new generation: “Love the  Lord your God with all  your  heart and  with all  your  soul  and  with all  your  mind.  This  is  the  first  and  greatest commandment. And the  second is like it: Love  your  neighbour as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37-39)
Certain  conditions in present South  Africa, especially the waywardness and  brutalisation of the youth, lead to social calamity.  ”All who hate God love  death,” (Proverbs 8:36) and the death toll is highest  among the youth.  Yet, thankfully, there are many devout  Christians who love the Lord and remember His sabbaths, who rejoice  that He sent  His Son into the world for our salvation.
It is humbling that a man  like Putin from an atheist background has to remind  us of the treasure of our heritage. Though  he is a most unlikely evangelist, let us listen to him.  In Europe God, by His Power and Spirit, built up  a unique  civilisation by which all the peoples of the earth were  blessed, especially also South Africa.
At this holy time of Christmas when  we can rise above our material  existence, let us look at things eternal. Let us rejoice that God so loved us, that He gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in Him should  not perish but have eternal life.  Let us tell ourselves: Man is not a material being.  He is a living soul!  He belongs to God. He knows that God in Jesus  Christ offers him a choice between the unspeakable joys of heaven and the horrors of Hell. What we do with Christ will decide what  He will do with us. ” To all who received him, to  those who believed in his  name, he gave  the  right to become children of God …” (John  1:12)  For, “Everyone who calls  on the name of the  Lord  will be saved.” (Romans 10:13)  Let us pray: “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” (Luke 18:13)  “… and  the  whole family  was filled with joy,  because they  had come to believe in God.”  (Acts 16:34) Let us “rejoice that our  names are written in heaven,” (Luke 1 0:20) “because I know whom I have believed …” (2 Timothy 1:12)
May God bless you richly,
D. Scarborough.
Footnotes:
1)Der Sudafrika-Deutsche, “Russland wird sich bekehren und  Europa  zur Holle fahren,”  No. 809,  2.10.2013.
2) CrimeStats South  Africa,  Crime  Stats  simplified ,  Internet  2013.
3) Wikipedia, South African Farm Attacks
4) Lee,  Dr Francis  Nigel , Communism: a Christian  Evaluation.
5) Ibid .
