MEC DINA PULE’S MESSAGE OF SUPPORT TO THE ASSEMBLIES OF GOD CHURCH
Acknowledgement of guests
(Story ):
A story is told of an old couple that was driving on the country
side in their old vehicles that was given to them by the
Husband’s in-laws as a wedding present, and they kept it and
looked after it so well. The old woman in the passenger seat was
sited quite and the man too looked lost in his thoughts, as they
were suddenly disturbed by a fast moving vehicle with an
obviously happy looking couple with a brand new vehicle painted
the famous just married
sign at the back and on the sides visible to anyone looking. The
old couple watched speechlessly as the newly weds vehicle
disappear in the woods and the dust settling gradually. After a
while the old woman broke the silence, she said: “Bob did you
notice something about that newly wed couple” emotionlessly Bob
responded, “nothing in particular except that they were driving
faster than us”. “ “The couple was clung together driving and
looks so happy and inseparable”. Mary despondently replied. Then
Bob looked at her and said
“Mary for the past 40 years I’ve been driving and I never
moved from by driver’s seat, you are the one that drifted away
from me to occupy the extreme end of the passenger seat”
The moral of the story: God has always been there for us and
with us; we are the ones that drift away from God. He has always
been in the same position today, tomorrow and forever. We chose
to drift away from him, we chose to be the kind of people we are
today.
When God created man and woman,
they were perfect in front of his eyes and was pleased with His
creation. He gave them all, I mean all, but the biggest gift he
gave them was the gift to choose between right and wrong. This
was to be their ultimate key to freedom and self emancipation.
Today
The Assemblies of God
Statement of Fundamental Truths is a description of the
sixteen core doctrines adhered to by the
Assemblies of God. These doctrines are heavily based
on the
evangelical
confessions of faith, but differ by being clearly
Pentecostal.
Of the sixteen, four are considered cardinal doctrines
"essential to the church's core mission of reaching the world
for Christ." These are doctrines concerning
salvation, the
baptism in the Holy Spirit,
divine healing, and the
Second Coming of Christ.
As much as I agree that these mentioned four are core to the
Church, I want us to look at the
believe number ten, that reads “
The Church has a Mission to seek and save all who
are lost in sin. We believe 'the Church' is the
Body of Christ and consists of the people who, throughout time,
have accepted God's offer of redemption (regardless of religious
denomination) through the sacrificial death of His son Jesus
Christ. The church
referred to here is not the building i.e. brick and mortar, but
people, warm bodies. Until those warm bodies make a conscious
decision propelled by their conscience of the need to bring lost
souls to the fold, until then no mission is accomplished. (Luke
15: 7).
The choices that were made by individuals before you in this
church all over the world is the reason why today the
Assemblies of God,
have approximately
283,413
churches spread in over 110 countries and approximately 57 to 60
million followers worldwide which makes it is the fourth largest
international body of Christians.
It was all because of individuals and not everyone, it is
only those who were
determined to choice to do
what is right to their conscience and commit themselves to the
course in anticipation of the highest reward, salvation and
eternal joy.
Stephen R. Covey the motivator had this to say about choice. “While
we are free to choose our actions, we are not free to choose the
consequences of our actions”
As all South Africans , black and white, brown and yellow, green
and blue awaiting eagerly for the coming elections in exactly 17
days from now, some people are spending sleepless nights and
unpleasant days worrying about the outcomes of the elections
because they made wrong choices from the beginning. Some bought
tickets to wrong destinations and unfortunately they are not
aware because the train looks like is moving to were they
thought is their destination.
Ladies and gentleman, brothers and sisters, after the 22 April,
there will be those who will shout out to Noah and say” Noah but
we helped to bring timber, others saying we helped with the
collection of animals, and some will even say Noah I personally
helped you to draft the plan for the Ark as dictated by God,
Brethrens the truth is, it will be too late, the Political Grace
would have been closed at least for that period only.
The good thing is that the ANC principles are enshrined and
embedded in the Christian doctrines, We forgive and forget, We
acknowledge that people do get tempted and go astray sometimes,
we acknowledge that people do get bewitched by circumstances and
behave strangely, We acknowledged that the love of money is the
root of all evil, we acknowledge that people love power and
domination , We acknowledge that there’s political blindness in
our society, We also acknowledge that there are people who still
worship other people and put their hopes in them instead of God.
To the church of the
Assemblies of God the bible says in Psalms
111:10 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who
follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs
eternal praise.”
Brethrens , as a
society and a church in particular we are duty bound to ensure
that we make a difference to the vulnerable in society and
condemn violence against women and children. South
Africans need to join hands and declare that it is not
acceptable for women to be abused as they are the cornerstone of
a successful South Africa and we need to jealously guard their
interests so that our country could be known as a country that
is biased towards women emancipation and it’s a known fact that
once you educate a woman, you educate the nation.
As the church we should be prepared to work towards nation
building without expecting monetary gains as they are driven by
the spirit of developing our country, ensuring that better lives
are experienced by all in the country and moreover it is our
moral obligation. We need to inculcate the spirit of
volunteerism among society so that people can always look at
ways and means of extending a hand of friendship to the poor and
work towards uplifting the living conditions of our people
through various ways such as education, sport development,
capacity building, home based care etc.
We need to pursue the ideals of peace and compassion and
continue to work towards making our communities safer so that we
could protect all citizens in the country from all social malice
that continue to plaque our country including crime, substance
abuse, diseases, especially HIV and AIDS.
In conclusion, it is my prayer and my wish that as we descent to
the polls on the 22 April 2009 with
sober minds, you should know that your choice you would have
made on that day through your cross, will determine the future
of your children and children’s children.
There are always two choices, two paths to take, one is easy,
and its only reward is that it's easy.” Therefore
chose correctly, defended our democracy, our quest for unity,
transformation and a better
I would like to leave you with these words of wisdom
from
John Wooden, a
retired
American
basketball coach and a member of the
Basketball Hall of Fame when he says,
“Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are” .
May the good Lord bless the church and it’s enter leadership
Remember “together we can make it happen”
I thank you.