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In
the Lion's Den for the World's Greatest Revolutionary
Frontline
Fellowship missionary, Charl van Wyk was invited this last
weekend to speak at a political gathering of those who attacked
the St. James Church, Charl was the one who shot back at
the terrorists. Here’s his report:
Dear Friends
Imagine being asked by the leader of the terrorist group,
which attacked your church, to come to a political rally
celebrating his home coming, in his home village! I had
met Letlapa Mphahlele several times before – the first
time was in Parliament. I also took him to my home church
for a Sunday morning service and visited Victor Verster
prison with him to share the Gospel with the Azanian People
Liberation Army (APLA) terrorist whom I had shot during
the St. James Massacre.
But this time it was 1700 km from Cape Town, in his home
village at a Pan African Congress (PAC) political meeting,
surrounded by 1000 PAC adherents who probably saw me as
an enemy! (APLA is the military wing of the PAC)
The Bloemfontein Court has withdrawn charges against Letlapa.
I struggled with whether I should attend or not. I believe
that the Civil Magistrate has the Biblical responsibility
to punish the guilty, yet we as the Church are God's ministers
of grace who have to "forgive those who trespass against
us". I understood that attending the meeting was controversial
but I saw this as a great opportunity to take a stand for
the Gospel and show the forgiveness we can have through
Jesus Christ our Redeemer and Lord.
Our Director, Dr Peter Hammond, read the first verses of
Psalm 27 as the Frontline Fellowship office staff prayed
me off on this outreach: “…The Lord is the strength
of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid? … Though an
army may encamp against me, My heart shall not fear …”
What an experience it was to attend the home coming ceremony
of Letlapa, the APLA Commander. After flying 1400 km from
Cape Town to Johannesburg, an old school friend, Theunis
Roux, who initially talked me into going to the meeting,
drove me the 4 hours to get there and all the way back to
the airport again.
Our arrival at Letlapa’s home was uneventful. The excitement
only started when I was introduced to the President and
Vice-President of his Pan African Congress political party
and didn’t know who either of them were, even when
he said: “Do you know him?” My answer was: “No!”
- Great start!
Shortly afterwards Theunis got into a conversation with
the vice-president who brought up the explosive issue of
‘land reform’. The political argument, which Mugabe
has so exploited in Zimbabwe, goes that the Whites stole
all the land from the Blacks. Theunis was not impressed
by the political rhetoric and started correcting the vice-president
on points of fact. Now there isn’t much you can tell
Theunis about the land reform laws because he has a “Doctorate
in Constitutional Law” specialising in property and
he sat on the committee that drafted the law under discussion
– Greater start!
Thankfully Letlapa took us away to meet the Queen; that’s
right, we went to the home of the Queen of the Mphahlele
People. Letlapa brought greetings and we thanked her for
the privilege of coming to visit. We then left to meet with
other dignitaries and all of us went together to her home
again and she joined the front of the party and we walked
to the hall for the meeting. We were ushered onto the stage
and were seated. Soon over a thousand people had filled
the hall.
It was a frightening experience, walking into a jam-packed
hall with revolutionaries in the audience, many of whom
would happily see me killed at any moment and probably be
proclaimed a hero for it; people who were known to be violent
and who hated Whites. The hall was overflowing, the aisles
were full, and people were standing in the doorway and peering
through windows from outside.
The local tribal chief was the MC. He was brilliant; he
made it very clear that all 22 speakers at the meeting would
not be allowed more than 3 minutes each, and he strictly
enforced discipline on the speakers. Seeing that most of
the time I didn’t understand the language of the speaker,
I set about whilst on stage, to reduce my speech for the
announced time limit.
My turn came to speak and the MC introduced me as a survivor
of the APLA attack at the St. James Church. I mentioned
to Theunis that I am relieved that they introduced me in
this way and not as the person who shot back at the APLA
assailants. Theunis answered that they would hardly introduce
me as the man that shot back at the APLA cadres and chased
their heavily armed “soldiers” away. The MC then
proceeded, stating that I would be given 15 minutes to speak.
What? I’d just reworked my speech to fit in with his
stated time limit!
I based my speech on the Gospel leaflet written by Dr. Peter
Hammond: “The
World’s Greatest Revolutionary”. The full
document is attached to this e-mail.
In summary, I mentioned The
World’s Greatest Revolutionary was a second-class
citizen in an oppressed nation under foreign occupation.
It was a time of violence and hatred but yet He lived a
life of love. He was arrested, beaten, whipped, spat at,
thorns shoved into His head, nails driven through His hands
and feet and a sword thrust into His side. His message was
so revolutionary and the authorities so threatened that
they posted guards to guard His corpse in the grave. Those
present listened intently and even groaned as I mentioned
the suffering this Revolutionary went through.
I carried on that the grave was later found empty and that
He is believed to have risen from the dead.
The revolution grew after His death, even though vicious
persecution of His followers took place. The Empire tried
to destroy His teachings; His followers were stoned, burnt
and eaten by wild animals in stadiums while crowds cheered
on. Other followers were tortured and massacred yet they
returned good for evil, love for hate and lived lives of
joy and faith. The blood of the martyrs appeared to be the
seed for the continuation of the revolution. It is said
that for every one that died in the Arena, 10 stood up in
the stadium to replace them.
The Empire was defeated from within and taken over by those
peace-loving people.
I ended: “A revolutionary life, with a revolutionary
message, Jesus Christ has continued to make a revolutionary
impact on millions of people all over the world. I call
on you to join me in this revolution.”
I delivered two boxes of Gospel literature, including the
Jesus film in the English and Afrikaans languages and 58
N.T. Bibles for the community.
I further explained that I had a historical document; in
fact it was in their local Northern Sesotho language, which
covered the life of this Revolutionary. I handed the Bible
over with a handshake to Letlapa. In it was written: “Dear
Letlapa, I pray that you will join me in following ‘The
World’s Greatest Revolutionary’, Jesus Christ.
Yours, Charl van Wyk. (John 3:16).
Letlapa was very happy that I had come to this event. Try
and imagine a White man arriving in a township, in the middle
of nowhere, driven to on some dirt roads, to meet with people
who believe that the Whites have been the cause of all their
suffering and pain and were willing to murder for their
‘just cause.’
Letlapa in his speech said, “Let us follow the example
of Ginn Fourie and Charl van Wyk, the two tireless builders
of bridges who are today here with us.
“Charl had survived Azanian People Liberation Army
(APLA) attack on the St James Church. He has every reason
to hate me, the person who ordered the attack. But he chose
to understand and forgive. Thank you Charl for your understanding
and forgiveness.”
They were to plant a tree in remembrance of those who died
in the St James Massacre
after I had to leave to get my flight back home. The following
day, Letlapa left a message on my phone thanking me on behalf
of him and his family for my attendance and also for the
gift (Bible) I had given him.
I am grateful to those who played a part in this outreach,
for their time, money, prayers, etc. Thank you to all who
made this a successful outreach. May the Lord be pleased
to bring many of these people to repentance and faith in
Christ that we may welcome them into God’s family.
May Jesus Christ be glorified and “…the earth
be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as
the waters cover the sea.” Hab 2:14
Yours in His service
Charl
van Wyk
Related
items:
Book Review
'Shooting Back - Your Right to Self-Defense'
PS
The background to this event is detailed in my book “Shooting
Back – The Right and Duty of Self-Defence” available
from In Touch Mission International in the US (Tel: 1-480-968
4100) and from Christian
Liberty Books in South Africa (Tel: 021-6897478).
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