The Wind of Change in Africa

by Brenton Boshoff

In life the only true constant we will ever encounter, is YEHOVAH God. YEHOVAH has never changed nor will He ever change. He is the great Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. This is very fortunate for mankind, because when it comes to mankind there are very few constants you will ever find amongst people. In the world today, the only real certainty is change. This expression is often used by people who cannot give any sure guarantees to their promises -- or by those that realize that they are not always in complete control of the circumstances they encounter.

Change in this world is inevitable because this world is only temporary, and by Divine ordination the world we see around us will have to give way to the New Kingdom to come. As the day of the Second Coming draws nearer, the world will be experiencing change both more rapidly and more frequently. The Messiah likened these changes to the birth pains of a woman and warned us to expect these unsettling events as the day of his appearance approaches. The Messiah told his disciples to look at the signs in the world and the changes within the seasons as indicators of when the time of his coming is at hand (Matthew 24:6, I Thessalonians 5:3).

On 3 February 1960, one such sign was broadcast to an unsuspecting world and from that day onward, the world would never be quite the same again. The sign I am referring to was the infamous "Wind of Change" speech by British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan in Cape Town, South Africa. Although eloquently delivered, this speech spelled out dire consequences for millions of people throughout Africa and also effectively announced not only the end of Christian rule in Africa, but also the steady decline of Israelite control by means of religious, social and moral governance throughout the rest of the world. "The wind of change is blowing through this continent, whether we like it or not, this growth of national consciousness is a political fact." With these words Harold Macmillan sought to justify Britain's hasty relinquishing of her colonies in Africa.

The Union Buildings, Pretoria, South Africa

For centuries Great Britain was always considered to be the moral compass by which the world was steered -- and rightly so. After all, Great Britain controlled most of the world and thus the Gospel was able to be preached to the majority of people worldwide. This brought about peace and stability the likes of which have never been known before -- and many primitive cultures benefited greatly by the modern advances brought to them by the British. In doing so, Israel was fulfilling her destiny. Unfortunately, the two world wars in the first half of the twentieth century brought an abrupt end to that global institution.

After the Second World War Britain, along with the rest of Europe, was struggling to put the pieces back together of the most devastating conflict in human history. The war was especially crippling for Britain and her vast Empire. Britain was going to struggle in maintaining her massive empire and -- as a direct consequence of the aftermath of the war -- a FATAL political decision was made to relinquish all the British-held colonies in Africa and the Far East. In order to camouflage the real reason for this radical change in policy, post-war politicians sought to promote the euphemistical idea of independence to these colonies.

Whether this radical move was justified or not -- or even in the best interest of the people living in these colonies -- it was of little concern to the government of the day. As to be expected, this hasty decision played right into the hands of the Soviet Union who, under the ruthless leadership of Stalin, sought nothing less than world domination. Africa was ripe for the picking. The only country that stood in the Soviet Union's way of complete domination in the African continent was South Africa.

South Africa has always differed from the other countries in Africa in the sense that it has benefited from a relatively large white population -- known as the Afrikaner. South Africa also had a strong, independent economy that allowed it to be the strongest in Africa and even one of the strongest in the Southern Hemisphere. The majority of the white population in South Africa could trace back their ancestry to the first Dutch settlers and French Huguenots of over three centuries ago. To most of the Afrikaners, however, South Africa has always been the country of their forefathers -- with little or no ties with their European ancestors. By contrast with the rest of the white settlers in the British colonies, the Afrikaner had their own unique culture, language, traditions and their own Bible, written in their own language.

The Afrikaner thus had very few direct ties to Europe and, as a consequence, Europe was as foreign to them as the pagan ways of the black tribes living in the rest of Africa. Since the Anglo-Boer war (1899-1902) and the subsequent formation of the Union of South Africa in 1910, there had been an ever increasing nationalist drive amongst Afrikaners to gain complete independence from Britain. The followers of the Republic ideal scored their first major success when the National Party won the general election of 1948. The National Party won the election mainly on the promise that they would institute a policy called "Apartheid."

Today the word Apartheid is unfortunately synonymous with oppression and discrimination yet, in 1948, the meaning and intent behind the "Apartheid-policy" was completely the opposite. The word Apartheid quite literally means "separateness" or "to be set apart." In the official statutes of the government, the policy was referred to as "Separate Development" and that would probably be the most accurately descriptive term of what the policy really encompassed.

Since Africa's colonization in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, racial segregation had always been maintained in some form or the other and this was the conservative status quo until after the Second World War. The post-war years saw a wave of liberalism engulfing most of the Western world and suddenly traditional and conservative governance had to give way to new liberal and, in some cases, unbiblical thinking. As it happens, liberalist views often tend to come in conflict with the Word of YEHOVAH God and His Law -- and nowhere in history was this more apparent than in the post-war years.

South Africa's National Party entered a rapidly changing world with a policy that would soon bring the country in conflict with the liberal leaders of the world and with decolonizing Africa. For the Afrikaner in South Africa, this was of little consequence at the time, since they sought to be independent from the rest of the world and not to be pulled into the liberals' camp -- which they viewed with great dismay. The Afrikaner has always been a very conservative people who have traditionally been held together by their unshakeable faith in the God of Israel. Any deviation from those ideals was considered to be a betrayal to their faith and way of life.

On 20 January 1960, the Prime Minister of South Africa, Dr Hendrik Verwoerd, announced to a stunned audience in parliament that he intended to move forward on the long cherished Republic-ideal by way of a referendum in October of that year. This announcement came whilst Harold Macmillan was making his way to South Africa on an official month long state-tour through Africa. His last stop on the tour would be South Africa and, as he later admitted, this visit was to be the most difficult one of all. Harold Macmillan knew that he was going to be the bearer of bad news to a country who had had a long -- and at times difficult -- history with Britain but who, at the same time, had also proved to be a great ally to Britain in the last two world wars.

The "Wind of Change" speech was met with mixed reaction. For the Liberalists and those already in the Communist camp, the speech gave them the much needed ammunition to pursue their self-righteous agenda for a new world order. To some the speech had an ominous overtone that could not be ignored, but to an enlightened few, the "Wind of Change" speech was thought to be the start of a biblical-era known as "The Time of Jacob's Trouble" (Jeremiah 30:7). As the children of Jacob, we can certainly see this to be the case in hindsight -- but when Harold Macmillan delivered his speech few could really imagine the world we live in today.

To the Whiteman in Africa, his speech came as a rude awakening, since it conveyed in no uncertain terms the fact that Britain was severing its ties with its kinsmen living in Africa -- who were now seen as "dispensable." The English-speaking population in South Africa was especially dismayed by this announcement, since the majority of them considered themselves loyal subjects of the Crown. In a passionate reply to Harold Macmillan's speech, Dr Verwoerd argued that justice to all in Africa should also include justice to the Whiteman of Africa, who brought civilization and Christianity to the Dark Continent and who made Africa their home. "This is our home, we have nowhere else to go. We are here to stay..." was Dr Verwoerd's uncompromising message to the world.

As a positive result of Harold Macmillan's speech, the traditional division between Afrikaner and Englishmen started to grow narrower and, as a result, the referendum of October 1960 delivered the much coveted "Yes" vote that was needed for the Union of South Africa to become the Republic of South Africa.

As the wind of change swept through the rest of Africa, it left only destruction and chaos in its wake. Africa was supposed to have freedom from colonial rule, but instead Africa was being strangled by tyranny in the form of Communism. Thousands of people died in the bloodshed and chaos that accompanied their so-called independence from Britain and the rest of Europe -- with millions more eventually being plunged into misery, starvation and suppression as the infrastructure of these countries started to collapse. Once vibrant countries fell into massive decay, leaving their ignorant inhabitants in dire straits. Missionaries of the Gospel encountered terrible scenes of destruction and hardship wherever they went and, in many cases, they themselves fell victim to the evil and brutality of Communism that was bent on eradicating any Christian or European influence in these newly enslaved countries.

Many British and European settlers had to watch in horror as their farms and property were confiscated by angry mobs of Africans -- already corrupted under the influence and control of the Communist-yoke. Many of these settlers and their families were mercilessly slain on the very farms where generations of their people produced from the land the food needed to sustain these countries and their numerous inhabitants. Many fled to South Africa, where the new republic promised hope to the Whiteman of Africa who, according to Harold Macmillan, was found to be "dispensable" in the eyes of Britain and the rest of the world.

Few people in Britain could have realized how this callous attitude towards their fellow kinsmen would eventually have serious repercussions for them in their own country and ultimately lead to the present time of "Jacob's trouble." As more countries gained their independence from Britain and Europe, the more opposition was gained against Christianity and the Israelite world of the West. The United Nations Organization became the platform from where relentless attacks were launched against the Western powers in order for them to give in to a more secular and indeed atheist approach to world affairs.

Suddenly the Western world found itself dancing to the tune of pagan nations who gladly held hands with the Communists to further their own greedy ambitions. More and more Ephraim-Britain and Manasseh-America were forced to abandon their prophetic calling to be a light and blessing to this world -- cohering in adopting a policy of appeasement and in embracing multiculturalism in all its destructive forms. This has left Britain and America both morally weak and exposed to their enemies, who are showing no sign of abandoning their insidious aim towards a "One World Order" under Sharia Law.

As for South Africa, she carried the torch for Christianity and Freedom in Africa for decades after the wind of change started sweeping through Africa and the rest of the world. Unfortunately -- in the aftermath of Dr Verwoerd's assassination in September 1966 -- South Africa never fully recovered from the tragic loss of her uncompromising, yet greatly revered leader. A succession of weak, unprincipled leaders ensured that South Africa would slowly follow Britain and America down the path of appeasement and compromise. And, where the policy of Apartheid was meant to ensure freedom, security and development to all the inhabitants of South Africa, it resulted in South Africa being ostracized from the rest of the Western world who still thought it necessary to sacrifice the Whiteman of Africa to gain favor with the pagan nations of the world.

The wind of change is still blowing, not only in Africa, but indeed the whole world and thus we can only speculate on what the next change will bring. In this unsettling time of constant change -- and in the state of moral decline in which most of Israel are currently in -- we can still take comfort in the words of the prophet Hosea who encouraged a wounded Israel to look to their unchanging God to restore peace and order to them in an ever-changing world:

"Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for He hath torn, and He will heal us; He hath smitten, and He will bind us up" (Hosea 6:1).

-- Edited by John D. Keyser.

Hope of Israel Ministries -- Preparing the Way for the Return of YEHOVAH God and His Messiah!

Hope of Israel Ministries P.O. Box 853 Azusa, CA 91702, U.S.A. www.hope-of-israel.org

Scan with your Smartphone for more information