Dr. Mohler's Tribute to Nelson Mandela

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On Thursday the 5th of December, former president of South Africa and Nobel Peace Prize winner Nelson Mandela passed away. My purpose today is not to write a tribute to this man as more capable men have already done this. The best one I have found so far is Dr. Mohler’s and you can read it here.
As I write this I am watching the memorial service of this historical figure. Since his death I have read many articles and statuses spread across social media platforms. What has been most saddening is the reaction from certain quarters of Christianity.
When some see Mandela, all they see is a communist terrorist who to some degree has been part of a secret white genocide plan; an interfaith, liberal, corrupt leader; a champion of abortion and the gay agenda. And they are happy to be very vocal about this perception. They have joined a scrum in the culture war, but have gone from ‘touch’ to ‘engage’ without pausing to think.
Why are we so surprised?
I am not sure why Christians are so surprised at the ‘idolising’ of Nelson Mandela and why they feel the need to point it out at every opportunity. Paul writes in one of his epistles, “For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? But those who are outside, God judges. ” Paul, is speaking in line with Christ, of whom John writes, “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. ”
What is the churches mission policy? How do we interact with an unbelieving world? Based on these two passages I think we should be careful when w...

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...unism, or whatever else, the indictment is on you and the church. How sad it is that there was none who openly professed faith in Jesus Christ that arose as the symbol of the end of apartheid and reconciliation. How anaemic was the church that God had to use a secular leader to bring to bear the common grace of the gospel on racial relations and human rights in South Africa? Just as God used the pagan king Cyrus, as shown by Isaiah the prophet, so in our day God used Mandela for His own purposes.
For a helpful round-up of what others in South Africa have said regarding Mandela, click here.

Works Cited

1 Corinthians 5:12-13a
John 3:17-18
1 Corinthians 2:2 http://www.examiner.com/article/ignored-by-the-media-mandela-pushed-one-of-the-most-pro-abortion-laws-ever accessed 2013-12-10 http://m.imdb.com/title/tt0372784/quotes?qt=qt0470046 accessed 2013-12-10

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