Newsletter
The Witness 08 March 2008
The Howling Wilderness… He found him in a desert land, and in the waste land, a howling wilderness; He encircled him, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of his eye. (Deut 32:10) KJV
Who did the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob find in the wilderness? Who did He send back to his own people to lead them out of Egypt? Moses was born in Egypt. King Pharaoh heard from His astrologers that a deliverer was born and tried to kill the deliverer of Israel. After 40 years of living in the King’s palace, Moses became an Egyptian. He always remembered the calling on his life. He, in an attempt to fulfill the prophecy for his life, killed an Egyptian. This did not turn out as he had expected. He had to flee and went to live in Median. Here he married and forgot about the call on His life. Although he was a highly literate and skilled man he became an ordinary shepherd tending sheep for 40 years. It was during one of his days in the dessert that God called his humbled man, whose dreams has been shattered 40 years ago. Most of the men of God who had been called by God were called after it seemed that those plans that they had dreamt of had died and became ashes. Consider Joseph, who were sold and rejected by his own brothers. He was even thrown in prison for more than two years. Even Abraham had to give up the dream which God had given him. Only after 22 years of waiting for the promise of God did God give him the son of promise. Those First Years
On the 4th of July 2000 I had a dream. This dream would be the beginning of a path of finding the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, His Son and the Holy Spirit. Up until that day, I only knew the Lord in an impersonal way. Although I knew Him from the time I was a boy and had basically grown up going to church every Sunday. I still did not know Him as a personal and living God.
In the year 1991, while studying as a student in Engineering at the University of Pretoria, the Lord, through another very radical group of students, started reeling me in again. For 8 years I was in an evangelical church. Here I learnt many things, which would lead to my growth in the knowledge of the word of God. I also learnt many other things which were not correct biblically. I lived a very legalistic lifestyle, for which I would give up my life and in that way also prevent myself from growing in the business sector. I learnt the good with the bad. After two years of being a part of this ministry I became a leader. I was not a natural leader and even feared responsibility. I was given the responsibility of mentoring and discipling 5 younger disciples. We strongly held to what we called the Jethro-principle. The entire church was divided into a network of people who were taught by those under them. As a matter of fact the whole world was divided into this amazing top-down structure. You were not allowed to date or marry a girl from another denomination. I was fully convinced that this was how it was suppose to be. After about 5 years I became a zone leader. I was responsible for 3 - 4 little cells. I was responsible for about thirty people’s spiritual well being. The accountability was strict and harsh. We had to meet people every day and share our faith with them. We had to teach them and make them into disciples. This was a continues process, which slowly made my heart become hard and stale. I used to explain it like this: “The water was still coming out of the water hose, but the tap had long ago being closed!” It was only a matter of time when the “disciple” found out he was not doing all these things for God, but for man. I started challenging leadership. I was once even used as an example as a revolutionist for Christ, but even this could not change this large organization. I attempted to change the system, but only found myself getting discouraged and angered.
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