BIBLICAL BRIEFS 47
The Zionist Christian Church is well-known in South Africa because of their members’ star badge, which is borne on the chest all the time, and especially their annual pilgrimage to Moria near Polokwane. You often see them at fountains, river-mouths and “holy” places where they collect waters which are ritualistically used as holy water. The ZCC is one of many, but certainly the largest and most influential religious group that initiate their followers into the Christian religion, but then subsequently link them to animistic traditions. Animism can be classified as a primitive religious culture where it is believed that everything surrounding you has a soul. Ancestors and sacred objects have the right of dictation in the world of the living. The rise of African nationalism is closely linked to the Christian faith, but newly christianised Christians however, had to integrate their faith according to their cultural and faith traditions, which resulted in their worship becoming mostly syncretistic, in other words, a blend of basic Christian convictions and animistic practices, such as ancestral worshipping. Regarding the ZCC leader, Bishop Lekganyane, it has formerly been testified at the WVC that: “He realized that unless Christianity was interpreted in a context suitable to the African lifestyle, cultural and political development, Africans would in due course find themselves as a nation alienated from its roots, rich history and religious foundation.” This blending or defilement through perversion (Lev. 18: 23-24) is unacceptable to God, because it is a sacrifice to strange gods that provoke Him (Jer. 44: 8). At various places in the Word, the believer is strictly warned not to have any contact with the spirits of the deceased (Lev. 19:31; 20: 6; Isa. 8:19). Saul lost his kingship and life as a result of this practice: “So Saul died for his trespass which he committed against the LORD, because of the word of the LORD which he did not keep; and also because he asked counsel of a medium, making inquiry of it. “(1 Chr. 10:13). Isa. 19: 3 refers to these spirits as “familiar spirits” which tell fortunes, and in other words, in truth become a mouthpiece of the Evil One. And indeed then: “what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols?” (2 Cor. 6: 14-16). In Isa. 8:19, the answer to the question is concise and powerful: “should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?” The ZCC’s emphasis on ancestral worship, the role of water spirits in their ministry, and the idolisation of their leader is the biggest objection that can be raised against this religious group.
Dr. Tom Gouws
