About two weeks back, our president announced that churches (including mosques, synagogues, temples, etc.) are essential services and may resume services and prayer meetings under strict gazette guidelines with special reference to numbers, social distancing and sanitization. Most churches were only expecting to resume services from level 1, so this announcement that churches may resume […]
One pastor asked another on a 9Marks site: “How do I respond on Sunday to my congregation in the face of George Floyd’s death?” George Floyd’s death sparked a conversation amongst pastors as to the treatment of “black” people by law enforcement officers, especially during lock down (and, in this case, in the USA). How […]
Today I took the completed Marriage Register to the Department of Home Affairs in the City Center. Everyone is supposed to stand on the “social distancing lines” to create the 1.5 meter gap between each other. This does not work. An official comes and questions why you need to be there. After explaining, I was […]
Under level 3 lock down (starting from June 1st), clergy may perform marriage services. There are certain requirements, though. Only five people may be present. The clergyman, the bride, the groom and two witnesses. This was a totally new experience for me as a marriage officer, and to add stress, we decided to invite people […]
As I said yesterday, it is amazing what you see when you walk. Driving a vehicle requires serious concentration, but walking permits spying out the scenery. So, I saw this queue outside a bottle store. It was rather surprising that the customers were elderly men and young women. Level 3 lockdown permits the sale and […]
A few days ago, the United States Supreme Court ruled that a law restricting abortions in Louisiana is unconstitutional. This was a landmark decision where Chief Justice John Roberts joined liberal justices in the 5-4 decision in a blow to anti-abortion groups. The same court struck down a similar policy in Texas in 2016. Once […]
Today was an extremely interesting day. As I started off on my walk I observed, that the traffic was so normal, no one would think we started level 3 lock down today. I decided to increase my distance to 7.5 kms and saw a man standing outside a slot machine/gambling house. It was coldish. Even […]
A neighbour of ours works for a man who owns a number of super markets. He is a refrigeration technician. Last week, he put a note on our street’s WhatsApp group saying the one store was selling 2kg bags of sweet potatoes for R10. To us, this was a great buy. Today, we decided to […]
Do you believe God can put the same thing into two different minds around the same time? On a morning walk about a week back, I started thinking about the possibility of starting a webpage for ministry. For more than two months, I have been writing daily notes of a devotional nature and recently have […]
George Whitefield was a great itinerant preacher. He was fearless of man (and magistrates) and true to the gospel. Many souls were saved through his evangelistic ministry. When he preached in the field, he could draw any amount of people from one thousand to 30 thousand. Some spoke badly of his preaching and sought judges, […]