Apartheid : Latter Rain and British Israelism in South African Politics
- 5 months ago
In 2006, Nico Horn, professor in Human Rights and Law for the University of Zambia, published an article in the December issue of The Studies in Ecclesiastical History on the subject of Pentecostalism’s role in apartheid, the South African political system of segregation and discrimination on the grounds of race. Horn took notice of the political power held by Pentecostals in South Africa and, upon investigation, found that the intersection of the Second Wave of Pentecostalism and Apartheid during the decades from the 1950s to the 1980s was beyond coincidental.
When the British-Israel-inspired Latter Rain Movement began to spread into Africa, Pentecostals in South Africa began to adopt the themes of British Israelism and Christian Identity that flowed from the United States. Similar to the US version of the movement, the South African Pentecostals politically aligned against “communism” in apocalyptic themes while implementing racial segregation. It wasn’t until 1994 that the black churches began to integrate, and the AFM started to to unify itself with the black churches.
Horn established a timeline from the early Apostolic Faith Missions to Apartheid and noticed that Pentecostal leaders heavily influenced South African politics. Under the leadership of A. J. Schoeman and J. T. Du Plessis — Brother of “Mr. Pentecost David Du Plessis — the AFM had established a New Order, an unofficial group of young pastors focused on war and politics. During the 1950s, the most active years of Latter Rain, Pentecostal “empowerment” meant “state recognition, and Pentecostals were appointed as chaplains in the South African Defense Force. Wessels was very vocal in his support of the National Party, which promised (to an all-white electorate) that it would implement apartheid.
You can learn this and more on william-branham.org
Apartheid:
https://william-branham.org/site/research/topics/apartheid
Power and Empowerment in the Political Context of Some Afrikaans-Speaking Pentecostals in South Africa:
https://uir.unisa.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10500/4421/horn.pdf?sequence=1
Quote:
And so, then, after we got back up there…What was that duPlessis’ name? Not David. [A man says, “Justus.”—Ed.] Justus. Justus duPlessis, which is one of the smartest men there is in South Africa, to my opinion, and a real Christian gentleman. He was one of the sponsors of the meeting on the internat-…on the national committee.
Branham, William. 1952, July 26. Faith (Africa Trip Report) (52-0726).
When the British-Israel-inspired Latter Rain Movement began to spread into Africa, Pentecostals in South Africa began to adopt the themes of British Israelism and Christian Identity that flowed from the United States. Similar to the US version of the movement, the South African Pentecostals politically aligned against “communism” in apocalyptic themes while implementing racial segregation. It wasn’t until 1994 that the black churches began to integrate, and the AFM started to to unify itself with the black churches.
Horn established a timeline from the early Apostolic Faith Missions to Apartheid and noticed that Pentecostal leaders heavily influenced South African politics. Under the leadership of A. J. Schoeman and J. T. Du Plessis — Brother of “Mr. Pentecost David Du Plessis — the AFM had established a New Order, an unofficial group of young pastors focused on war and politics. During the 1950s, the most active years of Latter Rain, Pentecostal “empowerment” meant “state recognition, and Pentecostals were appointed as chaplains in the South African Defense Force. Wessels was very vocal in his support of the National Party, which promised (to an all-white electorate) that it would implement apartheid.
You can learn this and more on william-branham.org
Apartheid:
https://william-branham.org/site/research/topics/apartheid
Power and Empowerment in the Political Context of Some Afrikaans-Speaking Pentecostals in South Africa:
https://uir.unisa.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10500/4421/horn.pdf?sequence=1
Quote:
And so, then, after we got back up there…What was that duPlessis’ name? Not David. [A man says, “Justus.”—Ed.] Justus. Justus duPlessis, which is one of the smartest men there is in South Africa, to my opinion, and a real Christian gentleman. He was one of the sponsors of the meeting on the internat-…on the national committee.
Branham, William. 1952, July 26. Faith (Africa Trip Report) (52-0726).