Mandela Day and the Making of a New Religion

Modern
Idols for
Destruction
By Dr. Peter Hammond

United Nations Resolution
In November 2009 the United Nations General Assembly declared
18 July, "Nelson Mandela International Day"!

This they said was "in recognition of the former South African
president's contribution to the culture of peace and freedom.

" The General Assembly Resolution: "recognises Nelson Mandela's
values and his dedication to the service of humanity,
in the fields of conflict resolution, race relations,

the promotion and protection of human rights, reconciliation, gender
equality, and the rights of children and other vulnerable groups,
as well as the upliftment of poor and undeveloped communities.

It acknowledges his contribution to the struggle for democracy
internationally and the promotion of a culture of peace
throughout the world."

Personality Cults
With songs of praise and hymns glorifying Nelson Mandela
being sung by choirs and taught to school children,
we seem to be seeing the beginning of a new religion.

The ancient
pharaohs were
worshipped
as gods.

The chairmen of the Communist Party in the Soviet
Union, were elevated to cult status,

particularly in the case of Vladimir Lenin,
whose tomb continues to be a site of pilgrimage.

When Joseph Stalin was dictator of the Soviet Union,

the cult of the chairman reached new heights,
or rather depths.

Joseph Stalin closed
down over 48 000
churches, and
attempted the
liquidation of the entire
Christian Church.

Emperor Worship
In Romania, Communist Party General Secretary, Nikolai Ceausescu,
became the focal point of emperor worship,

such as the world had not seen since the days of the caesars.

Over 8,000 hymns of praise were composed,
honouring the communist dictator, Ceausescu.

Literally millions of his pictures adorned homes, offices, schools
and government buildings.

Celebrity Cults
Hollywood certainly has produced many celebrity cults.

However, the
extravagant
praise and
idolising of
Nelson Mandela
as a hero/martyr
and ideal
example,
has exceeded
all bounds.

The mythology and idolatry surrounding the Mandela cult is startling.

Indoctrination
Choirs have sung songs and hymns in praise of Nelson Mandela.
Concerts and events have been organised in his honour.
Massive posters have been erected on Civic Centres.

The Department of Education has apparently replaced education –
teaching children how to think,
with indoctrination – teaching children what to think.

In order to enable Nelson Mandela to be entered into the Guinness
Book of Records, various publicity stunts have been promoted,

including requiring children of all ages in the classroom to write
birthday cards to Nelson Mandela and sing Happy Birthday to him
on 18 July, to create new records.

Now school children are being required to write Tributes
and Dedications, praising Nelson Mandela
and no dissent permitted.

This was a directive to all schools from the Ministry of Education!

Mandela’s Abortion Legacy
This is deeply disturbing on many levels.
For example: Are pro-life Christians expected to put their values to one
side and deify the man who rammed through parliament, against all
opposition, his bill legalising abortion in South Africa?

Over one million babies have been killed, officially, legally,
in South Africa, with tax-payers' money, since Nelson Mandela signed
the Termination of Pregnancy Bill, 1 February 1997.
Life begins at conception. Abortion is murder.

Pornography is Propaganda for a
Rape Culture
The UN General Assembly may speak of Nelson Mandela's
"promotion of the rights of children, and other vulnerable groups",
but under his presidency pornography was legalised.

The South African Police Services, Child Protection Unit reported that
child rape increased over 400% as a result.

Supporting Dictators
The General Assembly may claim that Nelson Mandela "contributed to
the struggle for democracy internationally and the promotion of a
culture of peace throughout the world",

yet he closed down South Africa's Embassy in the Republic of China
on the island of Taiwan, and opened up South Africa's Embassy in
Communist China, a one party dictatorship
with a brutal human rights record.

Nelson Mandela welcomed to South Africa the longest reigning dictator
in the world, Fidel Castro,
and gave him the highest award this country can offer.

Mandela also assembled both Houses of Parliament for Fidel Castro to
address. A rare privilege.

As president, Nelson Mandela uncritically supported some of the worst
dictatorships on the planet such as Castro's Cuba,

The Killing Fields of Zimbabwe

Saddam Hussein's Iraq, and numerous other states
notorious for their human rights abuses.

Pornography is the Theory
– Rape is the Practise
The General Assembly Resolution may speak of Nelson Mandela's
"dedication to the service of humanity… gender equality…"

yet under him, pornography was legalised and prostitution effectively
decriminalised, human trafficking exploded in South Africa.

Incidents of rape exploded exponentially in the country as sex shops and
pornography were, for the first time, allowed in South Africa.

Do Not Let Facts Get in the Way of
a Good Story!
The UN Declaration describes Nelson Mandela as
"a prisoner of conscience."

However the fact is that even Amnesty International refused to take on
Nelson Mandela's case, because they asserted that he was not a
political prisoner, but had committed numerous violent crimes and had
had a fair trial and a reasonable sentence.

The Unanswered Reason Why
The most radical newspapers of the day, such as The Star and Rand Daily
Mail praised the leniency of the Court in giving away the lightest
possible sentence for such violent crimes.

In 1964, anyone in America, or Britain, or France, who committed such
crimes would have been executed.

Just and Fair
Even the Rand
Daily Mail, the
most outspoken,
liberal newspaper
at the time in
South Africa and,
in many ways, a
supporter of
Mandela and the
ANC, wrote about
the sentences
passed by the
judge:

"The sentences pronounced by Judge De Wet at the close of the Rivonia
trial are both wise and just. The law is best served when there is
firmness tinged with mercy, and this was the case yesterday.

The sentences could not have been less severe than those imposed.
The men found guilty had planned sabotage on a wide scale
and had conspired for armed revolution.

As the judge pointed out yesterday, the crime of which
they were found guilty was really high treason.
The death penalty would have been justified."

Mercy
These are the facts of history. Sentencing Mandela to imprisonment,
instead of letting him be hanged, was an act of mercy
on the part of his political enemies.

Mandela had, therefore, every reason to be grateful
and no reason to harbour a grudge against them.
He owed his life to them.

Terror Bombing Campaign
Nelson Mandela was the head of UmKhonto we Sizwe (MK), the
terrorist wing of the ANC and South African Communist Party.

He had pleaded guilty to 156 acts of public violence including mobilizing
terrorist bombing campaigns, which planted bombs in public places.

This included the
Johannesburg railway
station bombing.
Many innocent people,
including women
and children,
were killed by
Nelson Mandela's
MK terrorists.

President
Obama,
when
condemning
the Boston
bombings
declared:
"Any time
bombs are
used to
target
innocent
civilians
it is an act
of terror."

Obama denounced the Boston bombings as "cruel", "savage"
and "malevolent", yet he still seems to honour a man
responsible for many such terror attacks! Obama praises
Mandela as his "role model".

Refusal to Renounce Terrorism
South African President P.W. Botha had, on a number of occasions,
offered Nelson Mandela freedom from prison, if he would only
renounce terrorist violence. This Mandela refused to do.

Controversial
Many people may highly respect and idolise Nelson Mandela
because of the Invictus film, and the very positive image portrayed
through most of the mass media.

However,
there are many
South Africans
who would disagree.
Nelson Mandela remains
a controversial figure.

Crime Wave
Under Nelson Mandela's presidency
an average of 25,000 people were murdered each year.

Yet, to celebrate his birthdays, Nelson Mandela would regularly open
prison doors and set many convicted criminals,
including armed robbers, murderers and rapists, free.

Some of these
were murdering
and raping within
24 hours
of being released.
Well over
100,000 people
were murdered
under Mandela's
term as president.

Economic Deterioration
In 1970s, even while facing terrorism, riots and engaged in a border war
with the Cubans in Angola, the South Africa Rand was stronger than the
US Dollar. However, after years of international sanctions,
the South African Rand had fallen to R2 to the Dollar.

In Mandela's first four years as president, the Rand lost 80% of its value
and more than 2.8 million man-days were lost to strikes.

The national debt
also doubled under
Nelson Mandela's
presidency. Under
Nelson Mandela,
even with no war, no
sanctions,
no riots,
no conscription, and
with massive
international aid and
investment, the
Rand plummeted to
R8 to the Dollar and
even to R10 to the
Dollar.

Even publications such as
The Economist described
Nelson Mandela's
presidency at the time as
"a failure".
Economic deterioration and
skyrocketing crime
marred his presidency.

An Abuse of Education
It would appear to be an abuse of education to require students to write
a positive tribute, or dedication, to any political figure, whom they and
their family may have serious reservations about.

Education is teaching one how to think.

Indoctrination is teaching one what to think.

Freedom of Conscience
In any civilised and free society there needs to be room for dissent.
Medical personnel who do not want to be part of an abortion should
not be forced against their conscience to participate.

A teacher who believes in traditional family values should not be
required to teach what they see as immorality and perversion.

Nor should any student be required to idolise, whether through an
assignment, or through singing the praises of a politician.

Idolising a Mythical Figure
However, we are meant to
forget all these facts, and shelve
our pro-life, pro-family,
moral convictions and
Bow before this new idol,
sing a politician's praises
and effectively burn incense
before the image
of a new Caesar!

Refusal to Compromise our Faith
Historically, Christians have refused to bow before any idol,
nor give the worship due to the Creator alone to anyone else.

Daniel ended up in the Lion's Den,

Shadrack, Meshach and Abednego were thrown into the fiery furnace,

and countless Christians were thrown to the lions in the arena for
refusing to engage in the statism of their day.

Margaret Thatcher
Recently, Margaret Thatcher, arguable the most outstanding Prime
Minister in recent British history, died. Most of the United Kingdom
mourned and honoured her memory and achievements.

However, it would not be reasonable to expect every child, in every
school, in Great Britain to write a tribute to Margaret Thatcher,
because some would belong to families who would have disagreed
with her economic policies.

Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan is widely recognised as the greatest president
in most American's memory.

However, again, one could not imagine a requirement that every school
child in the United States would have to write a positive tribute to
Ronald Reagan, as surely there may be some who would disagree.

Divisive and Offensive
Neither is it reasonable to railroad school children in South Africa into a
celebrity cult of any past president of South Africa. Politics is frequently
divisive. We would be wiser seeking to focus our children's attention on
that which is uplifting and edifying to all.

Worship God Alone
Certainly no Christian can in good conscience, participate in idolatry.
God our Creator and Eternal Judge is the only One who deserves our
worship, praise and adoration.

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do
not let yourselves be burdened again by a yolk of slavery… You, my
brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to
indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love."
Galatians 5:1,13

REFORMATION SOCIETY
PO Box 74
Newlands, 7725
Cape Town
South Africa
E-mail: info@ReformationSA.org
Web: www.ReformationSA.org

Mandela Day and the Making of a New Religion

Mandela Day and the Making of a New Religion

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