CHRISTIAN leader and family values advocate Errol Naidoo had the close attention of his audience at the Christian Men’s Association (CMA) breakfast last Saturday when he spoke about grave matters which should concern every Christian in South Africa.
Naidoo, the director of the Family Policy Institute, is well known for his campaigns against pornography and the legalisation of prostitution in South Africa, and has won both supporters and detractors. It was his first visit to Port Alfred.
“A nation cannot succeed when marriages are breaking down,” he began.
He said in South Africa only 35% of children live with both biological parents and almost 600 000 homes are headed by a child.
“The family is the building block of society and marriage is a cornerstone,” Naidoo said. “It’s how God made it in the beginning when he created man and created woman for the man.
“If God built it with marriage and family then that’s the only way to do it. All the government programmes won’t help.”
He said the purpose of his ministry, the Family Policy Institute, is to gather research and make submissions to government ministers and parliament.
“God has called me to serve the body of Christ, to fulfil a mandate to be salt and light,” Naidoo said.
“Many of us don’t believe what the Bible says so we don’t do it.”
He quoted Matthew 5:16, which says: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”
“How many Christians are shining their light that gets people to glorify God? Not many,” he said. “Rather we hear of pastors getting people to eat grass and spraying Doom in their faces.
“There’s massive abuse in the church of poor, vulnerable people. You hardly hear a peep from the church about this – the outrage is missing.”
Naidoo said South Africa looked to be in a very bad way, from billions of rands being lost to corruption, to crime and violence.
He said 30 people were murdered daily in South Africa, and 65 000 women and 25 000 children are raped or abused every year.
“To me, this perversion is testing God’s patience.
“You can’t ignore these things. They’re not going away. You can’t just say ‘this has nothing to do with me, I’m just going to look after me and my family’,” Naidoo said.
“When same sex marriage was legalised in South Africa in 2005 I knew it was a problem. Most South Africans didn’t want it – 91% of people said no, it’s not part of our culture. The government pushed it through regardless. Democracy died that day. We don’t live in a democracy, we live in a dictatorship run by a small group of people.”
He said there was a huge push in South Africa to get the sex industry decriminalised, but the agenda to do this was coming from overseas.
“The level of abuse of women and children in South Africa is off the charts. There is sexual trafficking. Decriminalising the sex industry will send that through the roof. How will they police trafficking?” he asked.
“We’re also fighting pornography. It’s devastating our country. You can download hardcore porn on your cellphone. Children do it and now kids are raping kids.”
He said the government had made it legal for children between 12 and 16 to have sex with each other. “Child porn is illegal, but kids are making their own porn. If the authorities get hold of it they don’t know what to do about it because it’s produced by children. They can’t prosecute children,” he said.
“South Africa is not a Christian nation. You see our policies and what’s happening… we are far from God.
“They say we’re a 79% Christian majority nation. It means nothing. There is no godly influence in this country. The church is too busy with its own thing, elevating pastors and acquiring wealth.”
He said one of the Family Policy Institute’s successful battles was stopping the legalisation of prostitution in South Africa before the 2010 World Cup. A 30-page submission he wrote was looked at by the National Prosecuting Authority and asked for by three political parties.
“I’m not a person with degrees, all I’ve got is God’s calling.”
He said there was a move in the UN to push all member states to allow children of 10 to make their own sexual choices.
“We’ve applied for representative status at the UN. We’re going to go there and I don’t know what will happen, but I’m going to position myself and be used by God.”
He said the good news is that Jesus Christ is still King of kings and Lord of lords, and the church still belongs to him.
“The church is here to be God’s agent for change, not to be a social club with melktert. South Africa desperately needs the church – the blood-bought saints of God.”
