Chapter 2: From Blessings to Curses

“South Africa could be the first Black African democracy to go seriously wrong—not so much the dawn of freedom as of something uniquely horrible.” Peregrine Worsthorne’s words published in his weekly contribution to the London based Sunday Telegraph newspaper, May 1, 1994, sent a chill up the spine. This respected commentator speaks from a perspective of experience when airing his reaction to the “dawn of freedom” mentality, which swept the liberal politicians, public and press in reaction to the 1994 South African elections. He speaks with bitter words against Western liberals who could not face up to, nor admit, the truth about Russian communism in the 1920s and 30s, and who in the 1960s and 70s could not bear to admit the truth about African democracy.

Reflecting on the Ghana experience in the 1960s, Mr. Worsthorne states, “Ghana was the first newly independent black state to reject democracy. Since then every other black state has followed suit. Yet still Western liberals are obstinately determined to allow hope to triumph over experience.” The marvel of the liberal dream for the African continent is that their hopes for the “dawn of liberty” in South Africa ring so hollow against the backdrop of every “democratized” black state having followed suit in the wake of Ghana, one by one, rejecting democracy outright!

Liberals turn a blind eye to the thousands of blacks who died, mainly in the provinces of Natal and the Transvaal as the communist-inspired and Islamic-Russian funded anc pursued “democracy” in order to be elected to the seat of national power. The anc-sacp’s failure to gain control of the National Party which dominates the Western Cape and the Inkatha Freedom Party-led Kwa Zulu-Natal region will inevitably lead to increased socio-political tensions in South Africa.

Sea Gates Blessing

Millennia ago, God spoke to Abraham, the “father of the faithful,” and blessed him. In Genesis 22:17 it is recorded that God told Abraham, “thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies.” When speaking to Rebekah, the future wife of Isaac, Rebekah’s mother and brother obviously knew of God’s promises to Abraham’s offspring. “And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them” (Gen. 24:60).

In his book The United States and Britain in Prophecy, Herbert W. Armstrong stated, “Prior to World War ii, the American and British peoples had acquired more than two-thirds of the cultivated resources and wealth of the world. Yet, astonishing wonder though it be, we acquired nearly all of it rather suddenly, since the year 1800. Never in all history did anything like this occur. Never did any people or nation spread out and grow so suddenly and rapidly into such magnitude of national power.”

This was the result of the deliberate and timely fulfillment of God’s promises to Abraham’s seed. Britain and America are the offspring of Joseph, Isaac’s grandson. Joseph produced two sons, Ephraim, from whom sprung the British peoples, and Manasseh, from whose descendants the American nation was born. Both these nations between them controlled the choicest parts of the world’s surface from the early 1800s to the mid-1940s, including the world’s major sea gates!

It is most significant that the new government in the republic of South Africa failed to win local control of the four principal harbors—the sea gates to this country! Those who control the sea gates will control the flow of sea trade! Durban and Richards Bay harbors in Natal account for nearly 80 percent of South Africa’s seaborne inflow and outflow of goods. Chief Buthelezi, of the Zulu-Inkatha party, holds control over these sea gates—a most powerful economic weapon.

At Africa’s southwestern tip lies the Cape of Good Hope. Administration of the Western Cape currently remains in the hands of the white-dominated National Party. Thus, control of the major merchant port of Table Bay and naval base, Simonstown (near Cape Town), is still vested in the hands of South Africa’s Israelitish minority. The Russian bosses of the sacp have not succeeded in their long-term aim of gaining control of South Africa’s rich mineral wealth only to have their plans to control the flow of minerals and metals exports frustrated at South African ports! Watch for potential strife that may lead to the seizure of these sea ports by the anc-sacp.

Blessings and Curses

After God’s merciful deliverance from Egypt, Moses reminded ancient Israel of the blessings which God promised to these descendants of Jacob through the obedience of Abraham, the father of the faithful. “And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God” (Deut. 28:1-2). There follows a listing of physical blessings—blessings of physical wealth and abundance as promised by God to Israel’s offspring.

In verse 7, God promises, “The Lord shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways.” In verses 9-10 it is made clear that the continuance of the fulfillment of these promises is conditional upon Israel’s obedience to their God! “The Lord shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways. And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord; and they shall be afraid of thee” (vv. 9-10).

In verse 13 God declares that Israel would lead other nations, if she obeyed her God: “And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them” (v. 13).

Biblical and secular history prove that ancient Israel did not remain in obedience to God for very long. God provided great motivators to Israel to encourage their obedience—the promise of wonderful, bountiful blessings for obedience to His law. However, curses would come as a result of disobedience! “But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee” (Deut. 28:15).

Daniel is an end-time book (Dan. 12:49). He said these prophecies were for the latter days (Dan. 9:13-14).

Israel waited 2520 years, in accordance with God’s prophetic timing, to receive those great blessings promised to Abraham and passed on to the house of Jacob. The United States and Britain in Prophecy gives a complete explanation of the withholding of the birthright promises to Israel.

Due to the gross disobedience to their God and His perfect law, God prophesied the captivity and scattering of the nations of Israel. In Leviticus 26:18, God promised Israel, “I will punish you seven times more for your sins.” As Mr. Armstrong proved in The United States and Britain in Prophecy, one day is as a year prophetically (Ezek. 4:4-6; Num. 14:34). A prophetic year is 360 days. Seven times 360 years is 2,520 years. In accordance with God’s impeccable timing, Israel went into captivity at the hands of the Assyrians in 721-718 b.c. (2 Kings 17:18, 23). It was not until 2,520 years later that the descendants of Israel sprung suddenly into history. Speaking of this incredible fact of history, Mr. Armstrong stated in the above-mentioned book (pp. 127-129): “But when that 2,520-year withholding of the birthright had expired, God was faithful to His unconditional promise to Abraham! Not because of any British or American goodness, superiority, or worthiness, but because of God’s faithfulness to His promise, beginning in 1800 these two birthright peoples suddenly burst forth as the greatest world powers in all history!…

“The most amazing fact of all history is the sudden skyrocketing from virtual obscurity of two nations to the most fabulous wealth and economic power ever possessed by any people. Britain became Great Britain—a gigantic, stupendously wealthy commonwealth of nations—the United States, the greatest nation of history.

“More amazing still are the unbelievably shocking facts of the present—of how—and why—we are losing it faster than it came!”

Great Britain and her vast commonwealth of nations, together with the United States, have enjoyed stupendous wealth and national blessings over the past two centuries. However, rapidly rising curses due to disobedience now plague these Israelitish nations, descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh, as they sink rapidly into a vortex of godless immorality, greed and corruption born of the same rebellious mind that their forefathers exhibited millennia ago.

Just as ancient Israel was destined to become captive to her enemies for rebelling against her Maker, so her modern-day descendants, the nations of Britain and America in particular, face the same fate in the very near future. Readers of The Philadelphia Trumpet magazine will know that the Philadelphia Church of God is charged with a commission to “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins” (Isa. 58:1).

We will not withdraw from this commission! Editor in chief of the Trumpet, Gerald Flurry, is powerfully declaring, in the pages of that magazine and many free booklets, numerous prophecies of the Bible which predict the soon-coming fall of Britain and America as they and the other nations of Israel stand on the brink of captivity and slavery at the hands of their traditional enemies! “But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee…. The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low. He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail…. Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things; Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the Lord shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee” (Deut. 28:15, 43-44, 47-48).

Loss of Sea Gates

The imminence of this captivity has been accelerated over the past three decades by the progressive loss of the Israelitish nations’ prime sea gates! Speaking of the importance of the blessings bestowed by God on Israel through the gift of these international sea ports, Mr. Armstrong wrote: “…the nations who are Abraham’s racial descendants are to possess the gates of their enemies. A gate is a narrow passage of entrance or exit. When speaking national, a ‘gate’ would be such a pass as the Panama Canal, the Suez Canal, the Strait of Gibraltar. This promise is repeated in Genesis 24:60 to Abraham’s daughter-in-law: ‘Be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them.’

“…We must look for a people forming more than one nation—yet all one people, children of Abraham—either now or in history who possess the sea gateways of the world, or we must deny the Word of God. It is a test of the inspiration of the Bible and of God’s power to rule this world!” (ibid, pp. 23‑24).

Due to Israel’s rebellion, God has declared prophetically in Deuteronomy 28:52, “And he [your enemies, see v. 48] shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land: and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which the Lord thy God hath given thee.” Again, God states, “And toward her young one that cometh out from between her feet, and toward her children which she shall bear: for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly in the siege and straitness, wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates” (v. 57).

There will come a time shortly, when the enemies of Ephraim and Manasseh (the British and American peoples) shall mount a siege against them and starve them by cutting off the flow of provisions as they close their former sea gates! God prophesies that some at that time will even turn to cannibalizing their own offspring in an effort to physically survive! This is but one outcome of horrible curses brought upon Israel to correct her for rebelling against the benevolent God who literally showered her with the choicest blessings of earth for almost 200 years in modern times!

Port Elizabeth, in the Southern Cape province of South Africa, is the only major sea gate presently under the control of the new anc-sacp government in South Africa. The Natal sea gates of Richards Bay and Durban remain very vulnerable, no longer under the control of Ephraim, but now controlled by the Zulu-Inkatha party of Chief Buthelezi who currently is favorably inclined toward the West (Britain and America). However, principal Russian-controlled strategist behind the anc-sacp success, communist boss, the late Joe Slovo (a former colonel in the Russian kgb), stated that Chief Buthelezi would become “a mere smell in history.” One would have to assume, at least as seen through the eyes of the late Joe Slovo, that it is only a matter of time before any resistance to communist aims in Natal is neutralized.

Government Appointments

Some believe that the initial appointment of Chief Buthelezi to the “Home Affairs” portfolio by the Mandela government reeked of a cynical strategy to place the chief in a no-win position. Chief Buthelezi must succeed in merging nine regional legislatures, speaking eleven different tongues, hailing from tribal backgrounds with a proven history of confirmed enmity. The chief would seem to be standing on very shaky ground in terms of political longevity.

It is also interesting to note the recent appointment in South Africa’s new government of Pik Botha, the former longest serving minister for foreign affairs in South Africa. As head of Foreign Affairs, it was Pik Botha who was the driving force behind the republic’s initiatives towards negotiations with the ANC and a coalition government of “national reconciliation.” The most astute commentators in South Africa have long suspected that Pik Botha was the prime strategist behind the United States-approved capitulation of the former government of F.W. DeKlerk to the communist dominated ANC-SACP coalition.

Don McAlvany, in his incisive analysis of the South African situation, stated in his April 1994 McAlvany Intelligence Advisor, “In all of these negotiations, Foreign Affairs has worked closely with the U.S. State Department—as if in joint venture.” McAlvany goes on to infer that a precedent was set for this “joint venture” when Mr. Botha, together with a representative of the U.S. State Department, “forged the ‘peace accords’ which delivered Namibia to communist domination and betrayed unita.” The primary goal of the communists in the South African takeover has been seizure of the vast mineral wealth of the country. Realising this, it becomes clear that the one selected to serve in the office of minister for mining would have to be a man the anc-sacp can trust. Pik Botha was chosen as the new minister for mining!

Great Betrayal

Once blessed mightily at the hand of God, South Africa has been betrayed by its leaders and by many of the prime beneficiaries of God’s lavish blessings. Today, South Africa is giving away to her traditional enemies that which God gave to them, undeservedly, due to the obedience of the progenitor of the nations from which many of these liberal leaders descended—Abraham! Speaking of this infamous phenomenon, Mr. McAlvany stated, “South Africa did not just fall into the abyss of revolution, upheaval, bloodshed and destruction. The country which was once the most beautiful, peaceful and prosperous in all of Africa (and perhaps in the whole world) was pushed over the edge…. It was pushed by leftists, pro-communists and globalists…globalists in the New World Order who see the communization of South Africa as a major stepping stone to their socialist dream of world government; and it was pushed by the global communist movement still headquartered in Moscow who see the capture of South Africa’s vast mineral wealth as a major stepping stone to their own version of world government under Communism.

“In this writer’s study of history from the ancient world to the present, he has never seen a more wicked, evil, duplicitous betrayal of a people by their leaders than the present sellout of the South African peoples of all races to communist slavery” (ibid, p. 28, emphasis mine).

Believe it or not, there has been a greater betrayal of universal consequence, perpetrated by no other institution than God’s own true Church! The Worldwide Church of God (wcg) once traced its tortuous history back to the original apostles and the founding of God’s own true Church on the day of Pentecost in a.d. 31. That Church once stood as a beacon, warning the nation of South Africa of its impending doom, unless it repented!

One of the WCG’s most astute commentators at that time was Gene Hogberg, who wrote the “Worldwatch” column for the Worldwide News, a bi-monthly newspaper produced by the wcg. On February 4, 1985, Mr. Hogberg wrote, “Nevertheless, in the United States, an emotionally charged ‘moral crusade’ has been launched. Municipal, state and university pension-fund operators, for example, are being pressured by protesters to ‘disinvest’ stocks of those companies doing business in South Africa. The aim is to force the corporations to leave the country.”

Quoting from columnist Patrick Buchanan, Mr. Hogberg went on to write, “the activists have declared economic war. They have chosen the path of confrontation rather than cooperation to effect the political aims they desire. If they are successful in their efforts, the most dire consequences could befall not only South Africa, but the United States even more so, since it is dependent upon South Africa for key minerals such as chromium, manganese, vanadium and others” (emphasis mine).

That was over twelve years ago! The Worldwide Church of God was then loudly warning the world of the consequences of its treatment of South Africa! Where is its voice today? It is a Church which has betrayed its commission. Today, WCG leaders say, “prophesy not.” They are guilty of a great betrayal of their God-given commission to warn this world of the consequences of its rebellion against its Maker and Sustainer, the God of this universe!

In the same article, Mr. Hogberg quoted the following from the British newsletter, Special Office Brief (May 17, 1984): “It should not be forgotten that the Soviet Union has never deviated from its stated objective of world domination. To achieve this it will have to gain control of the mineral-rich Southern Africa, and its strategy in gaining this control is to aggravate tensions and hamper the search for peaceful solutions.”

Mr. Hogberg sifted the world’s media intelligently and biblically while the wcg was under the administration of Mr. Armstrong, who was proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom of God to the world. Mr. Hogberg’s enlightened commentary discussed inevitable world events in light of Bible prophecy. In the August 5, 1985 Worldwide News, he wrote: “But, once again, why the revolutionary mentality now? The clearest answer came from a man whom I felt was the most eloquent of the parliamentarians I talked to, Salam Abram, a member of the Indian chamber, called the House of Delegates.

“‘There are,’ Mr. Abram said, ‘elements within our borders who do not want to see reform succeed.’ In other words, the pressure on South Africa, both from within and without, has come from the forces who fear that the country’s new governmental structures (gradually admitting Indians, ‘coloreds’ and eventually at least urban blacks into the process) could, as Mr. Abram said, have ‘an even chance of success.’ And success would keep South Africa tied to the Free World system.”

Mr. Hogberg continued along these same lines in the July 28, 1986 Worldwide News (emphasis mine): “…the fabric of South Africa is fragile and complex. It has the capacity to ‘fragment into a bloody chaos of warring factions,’ in the words of the Journal [Wall Street Journal, July 16, 1986].

“In a nutshell, it is one of these factions, the African National Congress (anc) that is pushing the worldwide sanctions drive and presenting itself as the only alternative political force. Unlike Chief Buthelezi, it is committed to exclusive political power. Being too weak to gain power on its own it needs the world’s help to isolate and bring down the South African economy.

“Its leaders concede that many lives may be lost in the process [and they have—over 13,000 alone since the anc was unbanned four years ago!]…

“Thus the Commonwealth, like the British Empire before it, appears doomed, yet another indication of Ephraim’s fading glory (Hosea 7:8-9; 13:3).”

That was written eleven years ago—well in advance of the handover of South Africa by the DeKlerk government to the anc-sacp. Back then (1986), the Worldwide Church of God was still trumpeting a warning to that nation and to the world of what would befall South Africa! Where is the voice of the wcg now? It is thunderous in its silence.

Speaking of this very time in which we are now living, Gerald Flurry, pastor general of the Philadelphia Church of God, wrote in his booklet, The Lion Has Roared (p. 3), “This is a time when God’s Church is growing lukewarm—in the same context of a famine of God’s word in the Great Tribulation. It is the same story as in Revelation 3:14-20.”

Amos 8:11 states, “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.” In this context, Mr. Flurry continued, “The WCG has always applied this directly to God’s Church. The famine follows immediately on the heels of a watering-down process in God’s Church! When you see the watering down, God thunders to us that ‘the end is come upon my people Israel’! (Amos 8:2; see also Ezek. 7:2-3).”

Gene Hogberg has been silenced! The Worldwide Church of God no longer understands prophecy as it relates to current and future world events. It is in a process of spiritual implosion! The Philadelphia Church of God is the sole remnant of that voice which once cried out in the wilderness, warning the nations of the mounting curses they are reaping due to breaking God’s laws, and the impending Great Tribulation coming upon the house of Israel for its rebellion against God (Matt. 24:21).

The nation of South Africa, once greatly blessed by a beneficent God whose promises cannot be broken, is rapidly on its way to experiencing Great Tribulation! They have fallen victim, as have the masses of this world’s society, to a gigantic lie! “The broad mass of a nation…will more easily fall victim to a big lie than to a small one”—so spoke Adolf Hitler, master liar and murderer of millions.

As Mr. Flurry has written in a previous edition of the Trumpet, the Russian mind seems to have a peculiar proclivity to creating, publishing and accepting lies! The great lie that has been foisted off on society in relation to South Africa is the great deceit that the country has been liberated from apartheid, while actually it has fallen into the hands of Russian-influenced liberals who have since achieved their declared aim of destroying the former conservative government of South Africa.

Richard Nixon was more astute than to accept this lie. In his book The Real War, he wrote, “The Soviet leaders have their eyes on the economic underpinnings of modern society. Their aim is to pull the plug on the Western industrial machine. The Western industrial nations’ dependence on foreign sources of vital raw materials is one of our chief vulnerabilities….

“The Soviet Union seldom acts without a purpose, and its purposes are always strategic, never moral. Thus its persistent efforts to stir further the already troubled waters of southern Africa have to be viewed against the backdrop of the resources in that part of the world.

“The Soviets are not in Africa to liberate. They are there to dominate, control and exploit” (emphasis mine).

At the beginning of this chapter, we quoted British commentator, Peregrine Worsthorne. He incisively cuts through the liberal, socialist lie, to the core of the matter, fearing the possibility of “something uniquely horrible” emerging from the change of government in South Africa.

Notice the proximity of prose between Worsthorne’s summation and that of a once enlightened Gene Hogberg when he wrote in the June 30, 1986 Worldwide News: “One wonders if the ominous prediction issued by South Africa’s former Prime Minister John Vorster will come true. The alternative, he said in 1974, to peace and cooperation in the subcontinent of Africa is ‘too ghastly to contemplate.’”

You cannot afford to be blinded from the truth as so many have become today. You need to understand where world events such as those happening in South Africa are leading. These events will soon impact on your very life, if they do not already! Study God’s prophetic word! Remember, over one-third of your Bible is devoted to prophecy and most of that is happening now, in our time, or soon will be! You need to understand world events in the light of Bible prophecy. These are the times, as Jesus Christ admonished, to watch and pray! (Matt. 24:42-44; Luke 21:36). The events in South Africa are a dreadful warning to the American and British peoples and, indeed, to all of the descendants of Israel. Unless we repent, our future is “too ghastly to contemplate”!