NG Kerk in Oos-Kaapland

“ Nadat daar drie maande lank intensief voorbidding gedoen is en voorbereidings getref is, het Pinkstertyd aangebreek. Die Mercy Ministries S.A. spanlede bestaande uit di. Fanie en Mada Engelbrecht, Neels en Annabet Els saam met Xhosasprekende pastoor Lucky Mabutyana en Maria Dos Santos (YWAM- agtergrond), het op 28 Mei aangekom.

Van 29 April tot 2 Mei is `n Versoeningswerkwinkel in Kuyasa tussen die VGK-x en NGK in Afrika – lidmate gehou, wat ook deur ds. Japie en Lizeth Taljaard van die NGK bygewoon is. Vaderloses het die hart van `n hemelse Vader ontdek, kommunikasiekanale tussen die familiekerke is herstel, en die twee Xhosasprekende kerke kon hulle harte teenoor mekaar uitpraat oor dinge wat spanning en verwonding tussen hulle veroorsaak het.

Hierna is twee Pinksterreekse met dieselfde tema in die NGK en VGK-A kerke onderskeidelik deur die MMSA leraars gehou en afgesluit met `n gesamentlike Nagmaalsdiens in die NG Kerkgebou. Volgens ds. Ben Kock van die VGK was dit die eerste keer in 151 jaar dat dié twee gemeentes in dieselfde kerk gesamentlik nagmaal gevier het. Ds. Neels Els se boodskap het oor vergifnis gegaan. Na die preek is geleentheid tot belydenis en vergifnis tussen die kerke gebied. Ds. Els het namens die blankes en die NGK om verskoning gevra vir die manier waarop die VGK- kerk en so ook die bruin mense behandel is. `n Groot deurbraak was toe mnr. Malgas, hoof van die verkeersdepartement, spontaan opgestaan en die blankes en NGK namens die bruin mense vergewe het, en ook om vergifnis gevra het omdat hulle die blankes so gehaat het. Trane van bevryding het vrylik gevloei.

Ds. Taljaard het die nagmaal bedien en daarna het ds. Kock die gemeente voorgegaan in gebede vir S.A., Afrika en die wêreld.

Die erediens is met `n hoogtepunt afgesluit toe die gemeente spontaan hulle hande na bo gehef het met die sing van die Oorwinningslied.

Niemand het beswaar gemaak daarteen dat die diens meer as twee ure aangehou het nie, en net positiewe terugvoering is agterna ontvang. Ons glo dit is die resultaat van volgehoue gespesifiseerde gebede oor `n lang tydperk, en ons weet dit is die begin van `n nuwe proses van die bou van verhoudinge tussen christene in ons gemeenskap.

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Ring van Oos-Londen bemagtig armstes van die armes deur 539 groentetuine

Die aanplant van groentetuine as bemagtigingsprojek onder die armstes van die armes is een van die hoopvolle ringsprojekte in ons sinodale gebied. Die Ring van Oos-Londen, in vennootskap met die CMR van Oos-Londen, is reeds vir ‘n paar jaar besig.

Kyk net na die volgende statistiek: in die periode 25 Oktober tot 19 Maart 2008 was ‘n totaal van 529 groentetuine gevestig. Dit was op die volgende plekke: Mdantsane; Openshaw; Xhamenle; Ncera; Phumlani; en Santa.

Wat kos hierdie projek? Onthou ons praat van meer as 500 tuine: Plantjies: R10,992.14; Bemesting: R2,729.89; en vervoerkoste R1,104.00. Mens kan kwalik glo dat so ‘n geringe bedrag soveel groente kan verbou. Dan word ‘n opleidingsbeampte en 6 veldwerkers ook vergoed, wat die totale koste op R42,176.03 te staan bring.

Uit die verslag oor die bestedings van die ringsprojekfondse blyk dat die werk as volg aangepak word:

Een: Opleiding word aan tuiniers verskaf. Die grond word behoorlik voorberei en hulle word geleer om die plante op ‘n rotasiebasis aan te plan. Tuiniers word oor besproeiing en die optimale bewaring van grondvog toegerus.

Twee: Tuine word omhein om die plante te beskerm.

Drie: Veldwerkers besoek die tuine gereeld om insekte deur bespuiting te beheer en die tuiniers te leer om die tuine goed te onderhou.

Hierdie projek help baie arm mense om ‘n baie meer gebalanseerde dieet te hê. Dit maak ‘n impak op werksvermoë, gesondheid en kinders se vermoë om te leer.

Die projek groei ook in die rigting van groter selfonderhouding. Tuiniers betaal R15.00 per tuin, en daar word gewerk aan die kweek van eie plantjies. Dit word op hierdie manier ook ‘n werkskeppingsprojek.

Baie geluk aan die ring met ‘n projek wat so reg in die kol in die SA-konteks is. Dit bring die goeie nuus op ‘n baie konkrete manier tot by mense wat dit dringend nodig het.

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“Dis eergister se bekeerling, daardie...”

In die vorige eNuus het ek vertel van die aangrypende gebeure in die gemeenskapsuitreik van PE-Sentraal gemeente. Verlede Sondag het ek die voorreg gehad om die erediens daar te lei.

Interessant om self te beleef hoedat die uitlanders, meestal Nigeriërs, die kerk kom bywoon. Daar was seker 8 tot 10 in totaal, en daar word vir hulle op die galery, in ‘n ruimte wat hiervoor opsygesit is, getolk.

Die “vreemdelinge” kom maar met die gebruiklike onbesorgdheid oor die begintyd daar aan, so deur die verloop van die diens. Dit was indrukwekkend om te sien hoe die gemeente hulle by die deure verwelkom en na hul ruimte begelei. Daar word werklik moeite met die ontvangs gemaak.

‘n Jong man, met ‘n regte ondeunde, lewendige gesig, was die laaste Wes-Afrikaan om te arriveer. Na die erediens hoor ek toevallig hoe een van die lidmate na hom wys en vir iemand anders sê: “Dis die ou wat nou Vrydagaand tot bekering gekom het”.

Mooi, né?

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Opleiding van lidmate met die oog op bedieningstoerusting

Die getal inskrywings staan vandag op 119 - net mooi dubbeld die verwagte getal lidmate. 53 het vir pastoraat ingeskryf en 66 vir prediking. Hierdie inskrywings kom uit 10 van die 13 ringe, en uit - verrassend - net uit 25 van die 105 gemeentes.

Daar is dus nog baie geleentheid vir groei in die toekoms.

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World Values Survey: Ons is werklik een van die mees xenofobiese samelewings ter wêreld

Rowan Philp - Sunday Times - 24 Mei 2008

Noboby hates foreigners like we do

And our hostility to immigrants — particularly other Africans — is not confined to the poor.

South Africa is, officially, the most xenophobic nation in the world.

And the country’s wealthy have been exposed as one of the two most hostile groups to immigrants.

Building on a World Values Survey on International Attitudes to Immigration, the Southern African Migration Project (Samp) has found that South Africans held the harshest views on foreigners among 29 nations surveyed before 2002.

More than 20% of South Africans wanted all foreigners barred from entering the country on any grounds, compared with 13% holding this view in Britain, 11% in China, 4% in the US and 4% in Mozambique.

And a new, unpublished Samp survey, conducted 18 months ago , found that this intense xenophobia persists in South Africa — and has grown worse in some cases.

One-third of South Africans “(would) support the government deporting all foreigners living in South Africa, even if they are there legally”, according to the survey of 3600 respondents of both genders and all races and income levels.

Other nasty attitudes exposed include a belief among most South Africans that all HIV-positive foreigners should be deported — and the conviction held by three-quarters of the respondents that the border fence should be electrified.

Responding to the shock findings, political analyst Moeletsi Mbeki, brother of President Thabo Mbeki, blamed the government’s “failure to acknowledge the crisis in Zimbabwe, failure to control the borders, and failure to grant these people refugee status” as the “real reason” for levels of xenophobia and the past month’s violence.

He said: “Sadly, it does not surprise me that we are the worst in the world on this issue — but certainly the violence could have been avoided.”

The Samp data revealed that:

* 66% of South Africans thought a major reason for foreigners to come to the country was “to commit crimes”; one in five believed it was the sole reason. Only 11% felt they came to “have a better life”;

* 62% said people from other African countries “take jobs from South Africans” — although only 17% said they actually knew of somebody who had lost out to a foreigner;

* South Africans have virtually the same negative view of legal immigrants from Nigeria, Angola, Congo and Somalia as they have of illegal aliens;

* 16% said it was “likely” they would round up a group of individuals to force the (foreigner) to leave; 9% said they were likely to take physical action; and 4% said they were “very likely” to do so; and

* Although much greater sympathy was shown towards migrants with refugee status, 53% of South Africans believed all refugees should be housed in camps near the border.

On a 0-to-10 scale, where “10” is “not at all xenophobic”, South Africans scored a hateful 3.9.

The most xenophobic South African groups, both with scores of 3.7, were found to be the poorest, earning R499 or less a month, and the richest — those with a monthly income of more than R20000.

But all South Africans — although slightly more women than men — were hostile to foreigners.

For black South Africans, it’s personal. The 2006 World Values Survey — also not yet published — showed that 21.3% of black South Africans did not want an immigrant living next door , compared with roughly 1% of whites, coloureds and Indians.

Black South Africans were significantly more suspicious of black African migrants than immigrants from Europe or North America.

Analysts said the high levels of xenophobia “do not mean we are bad people”.

Instead, University of Pretoria Professor Hussein Solomon, former immigrants project head for the Institute for Security Studies, said attitudes stemmed from “perhaps the most lopsided regional economics in the world”, in which, per capita, Mozambicans earn 36 times less than South Africans, and Zimbabweans far less than that.

“When the economy turned sour here, it was always going to happen — inevitable, but also predictable, and the government has failed to act to counter it,” said Solomon.

Immigration experts — including Forced Migration Studies director Loren Landau — said other factors had combined with economic imbalances to trigger the attacks, including:

* An 81% food price hike in three years;

* The reaching of the “tipping point” of more than 25% of residents in informal settlements estimated to be illegal migrants ;

* “The Mbeki government’s refusal,” according to Solomon, to respond to the scale of the migration with any national policy, as well as the withholding of police statistics on the involvement of foreigners in crime;

* Widespread corruption at the Department of Home Affairs, which, Mbeki said, had spurred the perception that illegal migrants might be benefiting from RDP houses due to massive ID fraud;

* an existing xenophobia – one of the most severe in the world - born of an acute nationalist pride over the “Rainbow Nation” and the fear that poorer African nations wish to plunder a rare African success;

* the sudden down-turn in the global economy – combined, according to Professor Hussein Solomon, with “a lack of understanding among the poorest that the sub prime melt down in the US and wars in the Middle East were largely behind it, leaving foreigners as the logical conclusion for why things have got worse”;

* The failure of the government to heed isolated xenophobic attacks and regular warnings from the SA Human Rights Commission, Idasa and the National Intelligence Agency; and

* “A perpetuation of negative stereotypes of migrants in the South African press” — and from public figures — according to a major report by Queens University, Canada, and Samp, which found that 52% of press reports on migration from 2000 to 2003 included negative references to migrants.

* South Africans have virtually the same view of legal immigrants from Nigeria, Angola, Congo and Somalia as they have of illegal aliens – all, with a positive view of 10% or less.

* “16% said it was likely they would round up a group of individuals to force the (foreigner) to leave . . . 9% said they were likely to take (physical action), with 4% saying they were very likely to do so;

* One in five South Africans believed crime was the primary reason foreigners came into the country; and another 8% said they came to “deal in drugs”. Only 11,8% said they came primarily to “have a better life”; and

* “Greater than half of all respondents also agreed that refugees should be forced to live in special camps near the border during their stay in South Africa.”

South Africans were found to be generally tolerant of immigrants from Lesotho, Botswana and the west.

But “positive views” of Zimbabweans, at just 12%, and Mozambicans, 14% and Ghanaians, at 11%, contrasted sharply with the 44% registered for Batswana.

Analysts said the good news for South Africans was that high levels of xenophobia, in general, “does not mean we are bad people”.

Instead, it stems from the grossly and uniquely lopsided economics of the region, in which, per capita, Mozambicans earn 36 times less than South Africans, and Zimbabweans far less than that.

Botswana and Namibians earn close to the average South African wage, and showed levels of xenophobia almost as high.

Professor Hussein Solomon, former immigrants project head for the Institute for Security Studies, said the imbalance was greater even than that of some of the world’s most unequal neighbours – such as that between Mexico and the US, or Burma and Thailand.

“It’s important to realise that, without intervention from government, this was inevitable,” said Solomon. “In the 1990s, people from poorer neighbouring countries flocked into the Ivory Coast, which had a booming economy and political stability. Locals and immigrants got along fine. Then the price of coffee plummeted and the economy went into a downturn – and suddenly immigrants were being harassed and chased out. So when the economy turned sour here, it was always going to happen – inevitable, but also predictable, and the government has failed to act to counter it.”

However, the report showed South African xenophobia to be a unique brand; distinct from that in Botswana.

When citizens of SADC countries were asked why they did not want foreigners, more than a third of South Africans cited “harm the economy” as the main reason, compared with one-in-five for almost all other Southern African nations.

The questionnaire also included an apparently arbitrary category – “It’s our country – keep out!”, which recorded nominal scores of 3 and 4% for most SADC countries.

However, researchers were astonished to find that this was the most important factor for over 15% of South Africans – higher, even, than concerns about foreigners importing crime.

Worse, the report suggested that there was the “possibility that many citizens may never view foreign-born migrants as citizens”. That’s because an astonishing 65% of South Africans ignored concepts of asylum and naturalised citizenship to say it was “very important” to be born in the country in order to be considered “a true South African”.

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Algemene Sinode reik verklaring uit oor Xenofobie

Doe Algemene Sinode het ‘n sterk verklaring oor xenofobie uitgereik en ook ‘n brief aan gemeentes gerig oor hulpverlening. Jy kan ook addisionele inligting onder die opskrif “Kennisgewings” by ons sinode se webblad - www.ngkok.co.za - lees.

Inligting gesoek oor geloofsgeloftes

Ds André Barlow, voorsitter van die Algemene Diensgroep Gemeente-Ontwikkeling, versoek gemeentes om vir hom meer inligting oor geloofsgelofte-offers te stuur. Julle kan André kontak by abarlow@ngkerkfichardtpark.co.za

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Nuwe Kruisgewys op die web

Chris van Wyk laat weet:

Die nuwe Kruisgewys oor die onderwerp van Rassisme het pas verskyn en is gepos aan alle NG predikante. Die volgende tabel bevat al die skakels om die artikels direk van die Internet af te kan laai.

Die volledige Kruisgewys 8/3 (1.98 MB)

Redaksioneel: Moderamen bekommerd oor rassisme

Voorwoord: Die droom van 'een, heilige, algemene, Christelike kerk'

Teen-rassisme vra 'n nuwe, Christelike bril

Wees oop vir die Ephesian moment

‘Sunday morning at eleven the week’s most segregated hour’

Kovsies opgewonde oor Sigh Melaletsa

Ghanese prediker se onwaarskynlike middestadvennoot

Rassisme: ’n Lidmaat se perspektief

‘n Plattelandse perspektief op multi-kulturaliteit (Net op die web)

Boekaankondiging: Brenda Salter McNeil A Credible Witness - Reflections on Power, evangelism and race (2008)

Boekbekendstelling: Andries Cilliers Waar was God? ’n Tien-week-Bybelstudie - oor hoe om as gelowige in ’n wêreld vol misdaad te (oor)leef

Skildery op voorblad - Anton Brink Gaan kyk gerus na ’n seleksie van sy werk by South African Artists .

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Uitvoerende Komitee van die Oos-Kaapse Konvent vir Eenheid

Die Uitvoerende Komitee van die Konvent vir Eenheid vergader volgende Donderdag, 5 Junie, in Port Elizabeth. Dit is ‘n vol vergadering waar besin sal word oor ‘n gesamentlike leierskapskonferensie in die Oos-Kaap. Ons sinode se besluite oor kerkhereniging (November 2007) sal aan die orde kom, en ‘n lang gesprek oor die werksaamhede van die Toerustingsburo vir Interkulturele Werkers sal plaasvind.

Oos-Kaapse Kerkorde 2007 beskikbaar - en ook die Handelinge van die Algemene Sinode 2007

Die Oos-Kaapse uitgawe van die 2007 Kerkorde, met spesifieke Oos-Kaapse bepalinge en reglemente ingesluit, het pas van die drukkers gearriveer.

Gemeentes wat die Kerkorde - tesame met hul kopieë van die Algemene Sinode se Handelinge - by die sinodale kantoor wil afhaal moet asb met Nellie Westraadt kontak maak by db@ngkok.co.za. Die Kerkorde kos R60 plus posgeld en verpakking, en kan ook deur belangstellendes aangekoop word.

Uitnodiging: Gesprek met dr Ryk van Velden oor multi-kulturele bedieninge

Hierdie uitnodiging word aan al die lesers van OosKaap eNuus gerig:

Ons bediening en ons kontekste in gemeentes het grootliks multi-kultureel geword.

Daarby is daar baie gemeentes wat besef hulle word geroep om bykomende multi-kulturele bedieninge op dreef te kry, dikwels bykomend tot bestaande eredienste en ander bedieninge.

Ons is bevoorreg om dr Ryk van Velden van die Toerustingsburo vir Interkulturele Werkers (TIW) volgende week op 'n blitsbesoek in Port Elizabeth te hê. Ek nooi jou graag uit - en bring gerus bedieningsleiers saam - om na hom te kom luister.

Hy beplan om die volgende te doen:

1. 'n Boek, "One body, One Spirit" van George Yancey, opsommenderwys voor te hou. George Yancey is 'n professor in sosiologie en die boek is die neerslag van 'n sosiologiese studie in die VSA oor multi-kulturele gemeentes. Na 'n kort bespreking oor sulke gemeentes, gee Yancey 'n kort uiteensetting oor hoe sulke gemeentes tot stand kom. Dit word dan opgevolg deur 'n bespreking van die belangrikste eienskappe wat by al die dinamiese multi-kulturele gemeentes voorkom. Die boek gee belangrike perspektiewe vir almal wat nadink oor die aard van multi-kulturele bedieinge in en deur die gemeente.

2. Na die opsomming van die boek, sal Ryk 'n gesprek lei oor die inhoud in die lig van ons eie situasie.

Die geleentheid beloof dus om mens 'n goeie perspektief te gee oor alles wat ter sake is in die ontwikkeling van hierdie bedieninge.

Die BESONDERHEDE is as volg:

Datum: Woensdag, 4 Junie 2008
Plek:    NG Kerk PE-Sentraal, Edwardstraat 1, Sentraal, PE
Tyd:     09:30 vir 10:00. Tee en koffie sal vanaf 09:30 bedien word.
          Die byeenkoms duur tot 12:00

ROETE:
Die maklikste pad is om uit Russelweg in Elliotweg te draai. (Van die see se kant beteken dit jy draai regs net nadat jy by Masterton's Koffie aan jou linkerkant verby is.)
Draai nou by die eerste kruising regs in Campwellweg en hou vir 'n paar straatblokke reguit aan.
Die kerk sit op die hoek van Campbellweg en Edwardstraat.
Vir mense van elders: Kaapweg word Russelweg voordat hy teen die see "vasloop".

RSVP asb na db@ngkok.co.za dat ons 'n idee het hoeveel koekies ons moet reël.

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Pret: Wat is jou teologiese wêreldbeskouing?

Vandeesweek leer ek die webblad www.quizfarm.com ken. Hier is vraelyste oor enige denkbare onderwerp.

Een daarvan meet jou teologiese wêreldbeskouing. Moet dit nie te ernstig opneem nie (ons sal bv die heeltemal saamstem met wat alles as “reformed” deurgaan nie), dis so bietjie oppervlakkig, maar dis nietemin lekker pret. Klik hier vir die teologiese wêreldbeskouing vraelys.

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Zimbabwe: Re-educated at the “pungwes”

Francois Botha stuur hierdie e-pos wat van ‘n Zimbabwiese vriend kom:

Dear All,
Just back from holiday in Mozambique today - a great holiday it was too.
    We have come back into the evil madness now though. Our workers are having to go to army organised rallies [pungwes] every night all night where they chant slogans and get reeducated. If they don't go the Party come to their houses and pull them out. Atrocities are beginning to happen. I heard of hands being hacked with pangas and then the bones broken on Lowood farm 2 farms away [resettlement] for using those hands to vote against Mugabe. Everyone who is over the age of 13 has to go.
    Last night we heard the drums and the chanting all night as they denounced the British and the whites etc. on the neighboring farm. So we prayed for the protection of our workers through the power of Jesus. None of them were beaten last night but tonight they all have to get reeducated on Mount Carmel.
    Several farmers in this area have been forcibly removed from their houses but they seem to getting back on again now[obviously only if they pledge to help the Party]. Nettie and Bruce Rogers were badly beaten last weekend. Nettie had a fractured cheek bone and broken ribs and a burst ear drum as well as severe bruising and Bruce had 2 vertebrae in his back cracked and also other injuries....it appears the army are in charge. They were shot at too but fortunately took no bullets themselves.
    Mike patched up a group of guys the other night who were covered in blood and their clothes soaked in it. They had been abducted from a police station where they had tried to take refuge and then were stoned. One had a hole in his head that Mike said seemed to go right in to where the brain was. Another had most of his ear hanging off and another had severe injuries to his nose. The guy with the wounds around his nose stood against the ZANU PF candidate in the last elections and is a strong Christian. I have preached at his church before.
    Bruce organised the evacuation of 4 guys who were badly beaten on a farm three farms away. The one chap had had a heavy rock dropped on his leg till it smashed in front of 300 people who were all too terrified to do anything.
    A couple of nights ago at about 3 A.M. a large thunder flash was placed in Mikes garden that was heard kilometers away. It was placed by guys in a green land cruiser - army?
    A colonel is in charge of the district now and it looks like an undeclared military operation to beat and intimidate the populace into submission. The colonel told the farmers that "you cannot vote a revolutionary government out of power". As I write I can hear a pungwe going on less than a kilometer away on the next door farm with the continuous slogan chanting and Mugabe worship. They have been told it will be every night for the next 3 weeks ...
   Your prayers and anything else you can do to put pressure on the international community and the churches to do something positive against this evil would be good. Thabo Mbeki’s ambivalence is deeply disturbing and will lead to many more deaths.
    With love in Jesus Christ who we serve and in whose ultimate victory we walk ,
Ben and the family.

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Vrae oor ‘n bediening in Kanada?

Ds Deon Slabbert, vroeër van die VGK in die Gamtoosgebied, en nou in die bediening in Kanada, skryf:

Danie - dankie vir die gereelde nuusbrief - ek wonder maar net of daar predikante is wat vrae het oor 'n bediening in Kanada (en die immigrasieproses) aangesien hier heelwat voormalige SA predikante is, veral in The Presbyterian Church in Canada. Wel, ek is bereid om as inligtingsbron op te tree vir enigeen wat aan my wil e-pos by revdeons@shaw.ca.

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Getuienis ná moord raak mense diep
Renier Scholts vestig ons aandag op die berig wat in Die Volksblad verskyn het:
May 14 2008 11:02:16:493PM

Loraine Kalp

Die geestelike gevolge wat die dood van die geliefde boer mnr. Jacques Moll sr. in die jongste plaasmoord in die Vrystaat gehad het, sal “sy tone laat krul van lekkerte”.

Só sê die vermoorde boer se jongste seun, mnr. Xavier Moll, wat in die plaasaanval gyselaar gehou is en hardop tot Jesus gebid het dat die aanvaller se geweer nie afgaan nie. Die aanvaller se geweer het toe geweier.

Hy sê dit was ’n absolute Goddelike ervaring wat hy gehad het waaroor hy nie kan stilbly nie.

Moll sê dit was asof die hemel vir ’n oomblik oopgegaan het toe hy in die stort gestaan het en die een aanvaller vir die ander gesê het om hom te skiet.

“Ek staan in daai stort en ek weet my einde is hier. Ek het die heeltyd kliphard in die naam van Jesus gebid.”

Hy sê die volgende oomblik het hy ’n helder wit lig, “wat voel soos ’n infrarooi lig wat alles warm maak”, bokant hom gesien en ’n Goddelike gevoel van vrede het oor hom gespoel. Dít is toe die aanvallers omdraai en hom saam met die kinders in die huis agter- los.

“Ek kán net nie stilbly hieroor nie. Anders sal my pa se dood niks beteken nie.”

Moll sê hy het sedert die tragiese dood van sy pa deur sy getuienis ’n oplewing onder mense se geloof ervaar.

Hy sê sy getuienis het baie mense se lewe geraak. Mense wat hom nie ken nie en die koerantberig gelees het, het hom gebel en gesê hulle ken hom nie, maar hulle het hul harte vir die Here gegee.

Hy sê ’n vrou het na sy huis gekom en haar hart in sy huis vir die Here gegee.

“Daai Moll-man se tone krul van lekkerte in die hemel om dié dinge te sien gebeur.”

Mnr. Bierman Roodt van Edenville sê hy kon Maandag nie sy oë glo toe hy die naam van Jesus op die voorblad van Volksblad lees nie.

Hy sê die berig het hom so geraak dat hy na sy kamer gegaan het om te gaan bid.

“Ek het geween voor die aangesig van die Here en ek het vir die familie geween.

“Ek het hardop gebid dat die Here die familie in dié moeilike tyd moet bystaan.”

Roodt sê sy hart was diep aangeraak.

Hy sê die onderwysers op die dorp het die berig vir die kinders voorgelees.

Roodt sê die Moll-gesin se geloof het hom en baie inwoners op die dorp aangeraak.

Mnr. Jacques Moll jr. sê deur sy broer se getuienis belewe hulle ’n oplewing in mense se geloof wat wonderlik is.

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When insults had class

"He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire." Winston Churchill

"I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure." Clarence Darrow

"He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary." William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway)

"I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it." Groucho Marx

"I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it." Mark Twain

"He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends." Oscar Wilde

"I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a friend... If you have one." George Bernard Shaw to Winston Churchill … followed by Churchill's response: "Cannot possibly attend first night, will attend second, if there is one." Winston Churchill

"I feel so miserable without you; it's almost like having you here." Stephen Bishop

"He is a self-made man and worships his creator." John Bright

"I've just learned about his illness. Let's hope it's nothing trivial." Irvin S. Cobb

"He is not only dull himself; he is the cause of dullness in others." Samuel Johnson

"He is simply a shiver looking for a spine to run up." Paul Keating

"He had delusions of adequacy." Walter Kerr

"Why do you sit there looking like an envelope without any address on it?" Mark Twain

"His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork." Mae West

"Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go." Oscar Wilde

Lady Astor once remarked to Winston Churchill at a dinner party, "Winston, if you were my husband, I would poison your coffee!" Winston replied, "Madam if I were your husband I would drink it!"

(Met dank aan Wesvonk vir hierdie briljante beledigings!)

O ja, en daar is nog hierdie enetjie wat ek eenkeer in ‘n reisgids gelees het:

Mark Twain merk die volgende op na ‘n besoek aan Parys, Frankryk:

“I spoke to them in their language, but they simply stared at me. I couldn’t make those idiots understand their own language!”

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Groete tot ons weer gesels,

Danie Mouton

Sinodale Kommunikasie

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