Help Us Fight satan - Zuma Asks Zuma Christians

SOURCE : News24

SERIOUSLY ??!!! After he Blames Christianity for SA Tradition Failures

Help Us Fight satan - Zuma Asks Zuma Christians



Johannesburg - President Jacob Zuma on Friday called on Christians to pray for politicians, as the devil was trying to interfere with their work.

"We are here to get blessings and prayers. We want you to pray for us as leaders so that when we make mistakes, you can ask God to forgive us because Satan is always around trying to derail us," he told thousands of members of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, at Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg.

The country was faced with crime and drug abuse and prayers were needed to help fight these problems.

Zuma arrived to applause and cheering as he walked around the stadium. Thousands of people waved at him and Water and Sanitation Minister Nomvula Mokonyane as his theme song "Yinde le ndlela" (The Road is Still Long) played in the background. Others in the stadium joined in the singing.

He hugged one child, to the mother’s excitement.

"We need love,” he told the crowd.

“We must love God and those who have been entrusted to do his work. On this day, when we remember Jesus, we also ask those in charge to pray for us," he said in IsiZulu.

He called on the congregants to pray for Members of Parliament so they could behave and conduct themselves in a respectful manner.

He professed his love for the church and said the atmosphere in the stadium made him want to attend church regularly.

People were made in the image of God and had rights that should be protected and respected, he said.

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SOURCE : The Gaurdian

Jacob Zuma blames Christianity for breakdown of South African traditions

Aides say South African president was attacking western culture, not religion, after 'gravely misleading' report (????)


Jacob Zuma addresses a celebration of the 50th anniversary of Umkhonto WeSizwe, the armed wing of the African National Congress, in Soweto last week

Jacob Zuma, the president of South Africa, has become embroiled in a row over the impact of Christianity on African culture after reportedly blaming the religion for the breakdown of traditional communities.

Zuma said Christianity – introduced by European missionaries mainly in the 19th century – had destroyed the safety net for orphans, elderly people and the poor, according to South Africa's Times newspaper.

The front-page report prompted criticism from church leaders but was described as "gravely misleading" by presidential aides, who claimed that Zuma had been referring to "western culture" and not singling out Christianity.

Speaking at the launch of a road safety and crime awareness campaign in his home province, KwaZulu-Natal, Zuma was quoted as saying: "As Africans, long before the arrival of religion and [the] gospel, we had our own ways of doing things.

"Those were times that the religious people refer to as dark days but we know that, during those times, there were no orphans or old-age homes. Christianity has brought along these things."

Zuma is South Africa's first Zulu president and a devout follower of tribal custom including polygamy: last year he married his third wife after paying lobola, or bride price, at a traditional ceremony featuring singing, dancing and the wearing of leopard skins.

But like many South Africans, he balances indigenous ancestor worship with the Christian God‚ or at least gives that impression publicly. Zuma was ordained as an honorary pastor at a meeting of independent charismatic churches in 2007 and has been linked to the influential Rhema church in Johannesburg. He once declared that the African National Congress (ANC) "will rule until Jesus comes" in South Africa.
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The South African Council of Churches said it was "deeply disappointed" by his remarks this week. Reverend Mautji Pataki, the council's general secretary, said: "We do not understand why the president, whom we have always counted as one amongst us Christians, would find the Christian faith to be so hopeless with regard to building humanity."

Reverend Kenneth Meshoe, leader of the African Christian Democratic party, added: "Firstly, the president needs to be rebuked for hypocrisy because for him to blame Christianity when he knows churches were at the forefront of the struggle is disappointing, and he knows that what he said is not true, having claimed to be a Christian himself.

"Secondly, during elections he doesn't run to the graveyards to get votes from the ancestors, but he runs to churches."

Stung by the growing controversy on Wednesday, Zuma's spokesman Mac Maharaj expressed concern at the "misleading manner" in which Zuma's remarks had been reported.

"President Zuma said that while we welcome the advent of western culture, some useful traditional ways of doing things and aspects of African culture were undermined or even eroded, some of which were important for the cohesion of communities," Maharaj said.

"The president indicated amongst other things that western culture had brought about the end of the extended family as an institution, leading to the need for government to establish old age homes, orphanages and other mechanisms to support the poor and vulnerable. He added that even poverty was an unknown factor as neighbours were always ready to assist each other, giving one another milk or cattle where needed."

Maharaj continued: "This does not in any way imply a negation or rejection of Christianity. It is mischievous to draw such a conclusion. The president was simply asserting African culture as a way in which many people used to live harmoniously, and lamenting the neglect of African culture."

Mathole Motshekga, the ANC chief whip, described the reports as "gravely misleading" and added: "Irresponsible journalism will always find a creative way to mislead, and in this case it inexplicably saw an attack on Christianity in the president's perfectly sound assertion."

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SOURCE : Times Live

Now for the gospel according to Zuma

President Jacob Zuma has blamed religion, particularly Christianity, for the loss of humanity in society.

CANAAN MDLETSHE and ANDILE NDLOVU | 21 December, 2011


The ANC leader, who was ordained as a priest of the Full Gospel Church, in KwaZulu-Natal in 2007, said yesterday that the arrival of Christianity brought problems for Africans.

"As Africans, long before the arrival of religion and [the] gospel, we had our own ways of doing things.

"Those were times that the religious people refer to as dark days but we know that, during those times, there were no orphans or old-age homes. Christianity has brought along these things," he said.

Zuma was speaking at KwaMaphumulo, on the KwaZulu-Natal north coast, during the launch of a road safety and crime awareness campaign.

It is not the first time that Zuma has raised eyebrows with his comments on religion.

In June this year he was forced to apologise to the SA Council of Churches for "misusing" Jesus' name during the local government elections campaign.

As the ANC prepares to celebrate its centenary, Zuma's statements fly in the face of the ruling party's rich history of association with the churches.

The ANC was formed in 1912 at the Dutch Reformed Church in Waaihoek, Bloemfontein, and its founding president, Dr John Langalibalele Dube, was a priest.

Yesterday, African Christian Democratic Party leader the Rev Kenneth Meshoe lambasted Zuma and said his comments were "hypocritical".

"Firstly, the president needs to be rebuked for hypocrisy because for him to blame Christianity when he knows churches were at the forefront of the struggle is disappointing," Meshoe said, "and he knows that what he said is not true, having claimed to be a Christian himself.

"Secondly, during elections he doesn't run to the graveyards to get votes from the ancestors, but he runs to churches."

On the "orphanages" and "old- age homes" issues, taught children to look after their parents.

"It is ridiculous for the President to make such suggestions. It's tantamount to foolishness to blame old-age homes on Christianity. In fact we teach children to take care of elders. We teach them against 'dumping' of parents at old-age homes."

Yesterday, Zuma said it was crucial that South Africans return to the "old days of doing things" because the modern way had caused problems in society.

"We have passed laws that prohibit you as a parent [from using] corporal punishment. Today, when, as a parent, you bring your child [to] order by using corporal punishment, you are breaking the law, but the person who passed that law cannot raise your child the way you want to.

"I am not blaming such legislation but I can't be diplomatic about this. It's a fact," Zuma said.

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