Dixie, owing
to the several cultures that make up her one unique life, has many cousins
around the world. One of the large
branches of that cousindom is found in Africa, and it is to them that we turn
with some loving words of advice, from kin to kin.
We have read
that Malawi under President Lazarus Chakwera, acting under the influence of
Pentecostalism, is becoming very supportive of the nation-state of Israel, and
that this is not an isolated phenomenon but is happening in many other African
countries as well (Nigeria, Zambia, etc.), because of, as with Malawi, the
teachings of Pentecostalism:
In June 2020, Malawi’s opposition
leader, Lazarus Chakwera, defeated Peter Mutharika in a rerun presidential
election. With last year’s poll results annulled due to fraud or irregularity,
Chakwera, a theologian, pastor, and former president of the Pentecostal
denomination group known as the Malawi Assemblies of God, secured over 58% of
the votes in this year’s race. “I do feel like Lazarus, I’ve come back from the dead,
it’s been a long journey and we feel vindicated in a way,” he told the BBC
shortly after being sworn in.
.
. .
Five months after his inauguration,
Chakwera’s Foreign Minister, Eisenhower Mkaka, announced the opening of
Malawi’s embassy in Jerusalem by the summer of 2021. It will become the first
African diplomatic mission to operate in occupied Palestine since the
1950s. In response to the decision, Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi said,
“Jerusalem, the eternal capital of the State of Israel, will be a bridge of
peace for the whole world, and I call on more countries to follow in Malawi’s
path and move their embassies to Jerusalem, the capital of Israel.”
. . .
The 1990s gifted Israeli with an
unexpected ally, the newly emergent Pentecostal movement. Influenced by U.S
evangelicals, the Pentecostals would also adopt hardline views on the
Palestinian cause. The Pentecostal wave, which had been sweeping across Africa
for the past two decades, reached a crescendo in the early 1990s for a number
of reasons.
Researchers such as Malawian writer
Mkotama Katenga-Kaunda, have attributed this phenomenon to the Structural
Adjustment Programs (SAPs) which many sub-Saharan countries were implementing
at the behest of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF). The
implementation of the SAPs left many African economies in tatters. Graduates
were unable to find jobs and unemployment spiked exponentially, significant
funding to social sectors such as health and education were cut, and crime and
political violence increased. This environment provided a fertile ground for
the burgeoning prosperity gospel.
Millions of citizens across Africa who
had lost all hope in their governments found refuge in Pentecostal churches
that promised instant solutions for issues ranging from unemployment and
sickness to finding suitable spouses. As millions flocked to these churches,
the influence and political clout of the charismatic preachers also increased.
. . .
As the newly emergent ‘theocratic
elite’ wormed its ways into presidential palaces across Africa, fundamental
changes also occurred in the political discourse. A key point was the
360-degree turnaround on Afro-Palestine relations.
The African Pentecostal movement’s
views on Israel and Palestine are largely based on the views of their peers
across the Atlantic ocean—U.S evangelicals. The basis of their position is that
Israel is God’s chosen nation and the return of Jesus Christ, that
fulfillment of prophecy, will occur on occupied Palestinian land. They also
refer back to the old testament to push the claim that Palestinian land belongs
to the Jews, a view which Pentecostal members have also been indoctrinated
with. According to this concept, it is a “sin” for one to criticize or condemn
any act committed by the state of Israel.
. . .
Pentecostal organizations, in
collaboration with right-wing political and civil organizations, have, in the
last couple of years, organized in different parts of Africa what they call,
Jerusalem Prayer Breakfasts. These poorly disguised religious events are, in
fact, political forums held for the sole purpose of mobilizing support for
Israel and ending African support for the Palestinian cause. The 2019 breakfast
in Uganda’s capital of Kampala was attended by several business leaders,
diplomats, pro-Israel legislators, and other senior government officials,
including the country’s first lady, Janet Museveni.
Numerous pro-Israel politicians and
political parties have emerged across Africa as a result of Jerusalem Prayer
Breakfasts and similar events. One prime example is the United Progress People
(UPP) Party of Zambia, which is led by a former Member of Parliament, Saviour
Chishimba. He describes himself as a “devout Christian and staunch pro-Israel politician.”
Chishimba’s party’s logo is an Israeli flag, three doves, and the blue star of
David.
In an interview with an Israeli
newspaper during a visit to Jerusalem, Chishimba described Kaunda’s decision to
cut ties with Israel as “the worst atrocity” and blamed the decision for the
country’s economic woes. He added that “Israel is a blessed nation and this is
why we should be closer to it so the blessings that God pours out on Israel
will be spilling to us.”
The UPP is just one example of the many
quasi-political organizations that have been established with the help of
Pentecostal organizations for the sole purpose of pro-Israeli advocacy and
suppressing African support for the self-determination of Palestine.
--Clinton Nzala, https://www.mintpressnews.com/malawi-just-the-beginning-how-israel-changed-political-narrative-africa/273258/
There are a
number of problems with this stance of Malawi and others.
First is the
disinformation regarding the history of the Jewish resettlement of the region
of Palestine and of the current plight of the Palestinians:
As numerous historians have documented,
Israel was established through a war of ethnic cleansing, in the words of a
major Israeli
historian, in
which approximately 750,000 men, women, and children were violently expelled.
Hundreds of villages were destroyed and much of the indigenous population was
displaced, their ancestral homes and land confiscated and the former owners
made into penniless refugees.
Today, in its pursuit of the Jewish
identity mentioned in the definition, Israel continues to confiscate
Palestinian land, actively discriminates against
the remnants of
the non-Jewish population that remain in the area, and holds the four and a
half million people in the remaining portion of their land (the West Bank and
Gaza), in two virtual prisons, their ability to leave and to return to their
homes controlled by Israel.
Palestinian villages are invaded daily, people terrorized
and abducted, homes and crops are regularly destroyed; for over a year there
was a weekly mass demonstration during which Israeli forces shot
unarmed demonstrators every week. (To see these actions go here.)
. . .
In addition, some – perhaps many – of
the members in the organizations listed above may be deeply uninformed about
what the Zionist movement did in the past and is currently enabling against
Palestinians.
They’re constantly told about rockets
from Gaza, but don’t learn about the massive Israeli violence that preceded
these largely home made projectiles and the Israeli weaponry that vastly
exceeds their extremely small impact (for the facts go here).
They hear about Arab armies declaring
war on the newly declared state of Israel, but they don’t learn that Zionist
forces had already committed numerous
grisly massacres,
had pushed out massive numbers of Palestinians, and were working to
dispossess an entire population.
While there have been numerous reports
through the years documenting Israeli human rights violations and Israel’s
systemic discrimination, the members of
these groups either do not know of these findings, or are told they are the
work of “antisemites.”
The fact is that these organizations,
with their large budgets and often very slick programs, specifically work to
inculcate their membership with myths about Israel and falsehoods about
the current reality.
(Sadly, as mentioned above, they are often assisted in this by U.S. media that
largely give us Israel-centric reporting and spin,
while often omitting essential facts.)
It is time that more Americans learn
the facts about the Zionist movement.
It is time for all Americans – of all
faiths, races, and ethnicities – to join together to oppose a chauvinistic,
deeply damaging international movement that has caused untold tragedy and harm.
The devastation this movement has caused hasn’t been limited to Palestine. It
has spilled over into the entire Middle East and North Africa, stretched into
Europe, and damaged the U.S. It has caused wars, global destabilization and
potential catastrophe.
It is not antisemitic to speak out
about world Zionism. It is obligatory.
--Alison Weir, https://www.mintpressnews.com/yes-world-zionist-congress-meeting-now/272237/
Second is
the theological errors underpinning Zionism, which are addressed by Fr Lawrence
Farley here:
https://blogs.ancientfaith.com/nootherfoundation/christian-zionism/
And here:
https://confiterijournal.blogspot.com/2019/09/israels-right-to-land.html
Third, there
are the theological errors of Pentecostalism itself, which St Seraphim Rose and
others address here:
http://orthodoxinfo.com/inquirers/inq_charismatics.aspx
We understand
the mystical allure of Pentecostalism, with its supposed manifestations of the
Holy Ghost in mankind: healings,
speaking in tongues, and so forth.
However, there is the counterfeit and then there is the genuine
article. If our African cousins are
seeking the true encounter with the Holy Ghost, for union with Him and the
miraculous manifestations of true holiness; if they desire His blessing upon
their nations and tribes - they, like every other people, will find Him and His
blessings only in the Orthodox Church.
Thanks be to God, many Orthodox mass baptisms are happening in Africa:
https://orthochristian.com/135451.html
For more on
the missionary work of the Orthodox Church in Africa:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JY3N_wf28UI
But all of
this is only a continuation of the work that the Holy Apostles began when they
brought the Orthodox Faith to Africa:
https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2020/11/16/103313-apostle-and-evangelist-matthew
https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2020/04/25/101204-apostle-and-evangelist-mark
Their work
bore fruit in a remarkable way with the Holy Desert Fathers like St Anthony the
Great of Egypt (+356):
For Africa,
then, accepting the Orthodox Faith is not an harsh, alien imposition from
without but a most joyful regaining of the Precious Pearl she had at one time
but then lost. May God grant that the
whole continent, together with all her cousins here in the South, will find and
clasp firmly forever that Pearl of Great Price, the Orthodox Church, through
the prayers of St Anthony and all the Holy Saints and Angels of Africa.
--
Holy Ælfred
the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are!
Anathema to
the Union!
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