Universal Faith Assembly Rainbow Bible
The Anthem of the UFA
We are the UFA, From God we will not stray, Living our life each day, Happy in every way
In truth we live our lives, for faith we always strive, Always our Hope Survives, United by Family Ties
Our hearts cry to God above, Like sacrifices of pure doves, And with handshakes and warmest Hugs, we show all our purest love
We are the UFA, From God we will not stray, Living our life each day, Happy in every way.
The Book of Universal Faith
Verse One
Unity. Many coming together as one, linked by an idea, a belief, a purpose. For we are all one, daughters and sons of Eve and Adam. And the idea? Connections, to those within humanity who best meet our hearts needs, wants and desires. Connections, built with trust, respect and patience. Connections, which grow into love and appreciation. For Universal Faith is to appreciate all of God’s children, those who fill this universe, and make connections with them, one by one, to fully satisfy all the desires of knowledge that these connections can impart to us.
Verse Two
Humanity is like one body, with many parts. All of us are offspring of Adam and Eve, eternally genetically linked. Yet, as science teaches, in the 700 Trillion unique genetic designs within humanity, there are those designs which connect to us most appropriately and in the most stimulating of manners. Yet, every design has its purpose in the creators mind, and each design, each and every human gone from us and yet to be has a purpose in our life, bringing those aspects of knowledge, friendship, kindness, blessing and love we so truly desire.
Verse Three
Eternal connections. That is the purpose of our life. To find and build eternal connections. Friendships which endure not just for a day, a week, a month, a year – but friendships which endure throughout the endless eternity before us. Each of these friendships must be valued and treated with respect, for they are eternally our source of joy, love and comfort. And to begin these connections, seek out those whose focus is on the eternal – those whose belief is in eternal life – for such people have a focus on Yahweh and the gift of eternal life he has promised them, and thus are well endowed to bless you with the connections to bear the fruit you desire with all your heart. So seek ye the connections with those whose focus is on the eternal.
Verse Four
And the completion of things is the moral heart. Value those things which speak to your heart, and remember the purpose those others which do not so speak to you have in the hearts and minds of others. For not every gift of knowledge, at first, speaks to every unique human, but we find our way slowly and carefully along our eternal destiny, learning, loving, growing and living in the hands of our eternal and great God and Father, slowly appreciating every aspect of the Infinite and its place and purpose in the eternity of creation.
Thus Ends
the Book
of Universal Faith
The Torah of Noah - Section Three
272 Rules
Rule 1 – The essential idea is that the laws of your lands are taught by us, where they do not contradict the 'Rainbow Bible' in a grossly fundamental way, to be followed as the relevant legal structures of your nation or country or residence. The Law of the Land, in general, except where corrupt, applies.
Rule 2 - The current Legal codes of your nation of residency. If you are able to obtain copies of National And/Or State/province/territory legal codes from the late 20th or early 21st century of your nation, these are areas of law highly recommended for study. Naturally, society continues to progress on law, yet we are not completely certain, as a fellowship, just how the laws of nations will turn out in relation to issues of morality based on the source code of law for the UFA, which is the Rainbow Torah Scriptures. In this Third Torah we teach again that What you Acquire in Life you Acquire in life for eternity. One thing we particularly recommend collecting in life is legal codes from the 20th century, and making it of your mind and purpose to contribute these to the heavenly society of the Advancing Noah Movement, to our General Libraries. UFA, once established, should have its own libraries as a prioritisation, where the reference material of each fellowship is stored on the Fellowship hall grounds.
Rule 3 - Creationism is taught as our official doctrine, evolutionary theory is tolerated for people lacking clear insight into our faith, but not considered ultimate truth. If you sort of believe in Noahide concepts, and evolution as well, you are welcome in our fellowship, but evolution is not our official position, OK
Rule 4 - We encourage in this Rainbow Bible that you donate things to the ANM if you are a member of it, to your ANM library, and the life of its membership. Each era of ANM needs to have assets of knowledge for its members to get by in their future heavenly world.
Rule 5 - Naturalism is fine
Rule 6 - The Rainbow is celebrated as a beautiful part of God's creation
Rule 7 – We do not really study the Jewish Bible.
Rule 8 - Be Decent
Rule 9 – The Advancing Noah Movement intends to, if allowable, have a University of Education, with a library of Earthly acquired books, established in the heavenly afterworld.
Rule 10 – The Advancing Noah Movement desires to continue on earth and heaven for all eternity.
Rule 11 – The Advancing Noah Movement is trying to teach spiritual truths of life.
Rule 12 - We are of the position that Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, was the true Messiah of the Jewish people. The official document of our religion on this issue is to be kept by the upper hierarchy of the movement, and handled responsibly.
Rule 13 – An individual who desires to commit to all 7 fellowships would, in the end, really need to be part of a special order of religious, who are provided for by the Advancing Noah Movement as a whole, and given over to a great deal of prayer and Torah study and religious work.
Rule 14 – Groupings of religious members is an acceptable idea in the UFA.
Rule 15 – Religious members of UFA should not be too critical of regular members.
Rule 16 – One of the Core teachings of the Kingdom of Noah Torah is our view that the 'Legislation' of the Nations is authoritative and useful law for governing society. The nature of Civic law, currently, is that it is in a continuous state of evolution. This is not – in my honesty – acceptable everlastingly so. God's Torah does not change and remains the same from age to age. Yet the wisdom of current law of the land around the world is undoubtable. Ultimately, we feel, mankind really needs to eventually stabilise and settle down on its legal codes and cement them as bedrock for society. Hopefully they will eventually be a finalized product.
Rule 17 – Fanfiction should probably be legal, if it passes on copyright. You can't plagiarize, but original fanfiction works should be legal in our opinion.
Rule 18 – The Kingdom of Noah Torah Rules also contain 'Information' or theological 'Speculations'.
Rule 19 – Mankind should strive, as a whole, to be lawful.
Rule 20 – We believe in the fundamental right of a human to follow 'Truth' in religion. We do not believe in the fundamental right of a human to follow any religion whatsoever simply because of whim of faith, but that a complete search and acknowledgment of spiritual truth upon being taught it be acknowledged by humanity. Our view is that 'Torah' based religion is the truth means that we view all other man-made religions as false, depending on the degree they comply with torah based values and morality in general. Some religions with strong moral content are not necessarily deemed invalid by us, yet we caution and question any supposed reception of salvation by such religions lest they acknowledge Yahweh (Jehovah – Adonai – Hashem - Allah) the Living God.
Rule 21 – We in the Advancing Noah Movement have a responsibility to defend our faith and, in any discussions from peoples of other religions who want to know, for example, why we say Jesus is not God or Christ or why beliefs in their own religion are wrong, we should be able to comply with being able to teach why we believe that. Firstly, they are allowed reference to study all of our literature to make their own determinations on what we teach and, if not satisfied, and if they so choose, they may be entertained with our discussing in detail our beliefs and rationality for our beliefs. And we recommend to our movement great patience in teaching curious souls.
Rule 22 – There are traditions from the Christian religion which we find kosher and acceptable and good ideas. Both Jesus himself had good ideas and the church over history has good spiritual ideas and things that they do associated with church tradition. We acknowledge good ideas when we see one.
Rule 23 – Like Christianity, we do strongly believe in being loving people also. We don't, though, try to force our membership to commit to the power of love at all costs, but that their love should flow naturally. But we agree with the idea of love as important to the faith.
Rule 24 – Scriptural Basis and Justification for the Advancing Noah Movement core position: Genesis 1: 26 teaches that humans are made in the image of God. Thus, a human descended from Noah who adheres to the Rainbow Torah correctly has the ability to think holy thoughts as well, because God is holy. My attempt at writing the theological articles for the Rainbow Bible is to act in the image of God, and act in a holy way, and thus produce writings which are holy and appropriate for Rainbow Torah based Noahides to live by. As I have secured early copyright in mankind's history of holiness principles, the justification and validation of our Rainbow Torah based religion and, thus, as part of the Rainbow Torah Karaite Noahide community is eternal. Further, as the first promulgators of the Rainbow Torah faith, we have the legitimate right to claim first and most honoured places in the Karaite Adamide-Noahide community amongst any other potential movements. Finally, we defend the Israelite faith of Karaism as a whole, acknowledging this as the primary scripture of God's covenant with the people of Israel (and within that, in our opinion, the book of Genesis as largely the book or scripture of the Karaite Abrahamide movement).
Rule 25 – Practice a Godly lifestyle be studying the knowledge of the Advancing Noah Movement and learning it properly. Applying that knowledge is easy to talk about, much more difficult to put into practice in reality.
Rule 26 – Show yourself a keen competitor in the competition of eternal living. But stress not at those who go for gold all at once – take your time, secure your training regime, and commit in a sensible and natural way, which is not overly difficult, but more in harmony with your own nature, and success will inevitably follow.
Rule 27 – Be patient with silly people, but remember a word of caution is sometimes necessary to rebuke those who have fallen into erroneous practices.
Rule 28 – Love. It never goes out of fashion.
Rule 29 - Consider nature. God designed it. Consider man. God designed him. Consider the creations of man, yet remember, who created man?
Rule 30 – Harmony. What we all should walk in.
Rule 31 – Strive for peace
Rule 32 – Walk in safe pathways, in the light of the kingdoms of law, and avoid the dark and treacherous byways, for who knows what infidels have bred a conclave of assassins.
Rule 33 – Pray to God in your weaknesses, and if he will no longer hear prayer requests, just talk to the great saviour when you need to and share your concerns with him. He is always willing to listen.
Rule 34 – The Salvation of God is Eternal, so strive to the utmost to inculcate the salvation he teaches you regularly.
Rule 35 – The Rainbow Bibles may ultimate be published as both a unified whole and individually as well. Both intentions can be fulfilled.
Rule 36 - God is wonderful. As simple as that.
Rule 37 – Being hostile to people is unwelcome, unfriendly and discourteous. Show people respect and mind your language in the company of fair and graceful citizens.
Rule 38 – Learning to be kind is a lot about doing and a lot less about saying what a wonderful soul you are.
Rule 39 – Humility never really goes out of fashion.
Rule 40 – If you want to spend eternity arguing the point, enjoy the solitary life.
Rule 41 – Give people a break if they are going through hardships and have really felt the pressure of this world we live in.
Rule 42 – Practice patience with the ungodly. You don't really know how God might be working in their hearts.
Rule 43 – Different ways of life and different codes of law and different halakahs can be potentially developed from the Rainbow Bible. Even the same numbered one.
Rule 44 -Respect your parents, but don't let them push you around and dictate to you if they are simply to lazy to get off their own butts.
Rule 45 – Be polite with elders, and show them respect for the long walk of life they have gone through.
Rule 46 – Love also never really goes out of fashion, does it?
Rule 47 – The whole point of expressing a variety of divergent material of divergent viewpoints in the same work is that a variety of divergent material of divergent viewpoints is expressed in the same work.
Rule 48 – If it says such and such here, and an opposing such and such there, then obviously the such and such here is not teaching what the such and such there is teaching. Viewpoints – divergent – expressing thought and CONSIDERATION OF POTENTIAL POSSIBILITIES are still worth preserving and putting into a Rainbow Bible and being called Scripture. God is the chooser of its anointing as his word as such or not.
Rule 49 – A whole lot of funky information, but don't take it as gospel (heh heh) but its still food for thought, which still must be a good thing as far as I am concerned. And still scriptural enough if its decent.
Rule 50 – Spend time learning the knowledge you have accumulated in life, but when your head is full of facts and figures, try to more understand what you already know rather than endlessly fill it up with all those data bits.
Rule 51 – Hopefully God will anoint the Rainbow Bibles with his Spirit and justify them as his Word and Communicating his will. That is our hope (and intention) and we pray that God does please do as such. AMEN.
Rule 52 – True Philosophy is the study of the ideas of Theological truths.
Rule 53 – We acknowledge Karaite Judaism as the true religion for Jewish people. Karaite Zebulunism is one of our own ideas in the ANM.
Rule 54 – Work on a project, and keep at it, until you have got the job done, and at least to a standard of quite acceptable.
Rule 55 – Follow God with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding and ask for his hand in what you do, if he is willing, and surely you will have great happiness.
Rule 56 – Sometimes it might just be spiritual information, sometimes is might be true. Maybe its all justifiable. Who knows the Mind of the Lord for sure.
Rule 57 – If you find it useful then you find it useful then you find it useful.
Rule 58 – If God wanted to justify and anoint 'An Introduction to Karaite Judaism' as his eternal Word and Will for the Karaite Jewish community, we would approve of that and think it an excellent idea.
Rule 59 – if God wanted to justify a Unitarian approach to the New Testament (which literally it appears to be anyway upon careful study) and justify Jesus as 'Christ of his Generation' then we would not object to that and would welcome Christian movements as kosher and acceptable to us based upon a proven justification by God.
Rule 60 – If God wanted to Justify the Koran, and anoint it as his word, and justify Mohammed as a prophet of his, like the New Testament regardless of its origin, we would accept that and accept Islam based on the following of the Koran. We would strongly hope it maintain its message as a religion of peace, and that all extremism be strongly disavowed by them. That does not exclude passion and zeal for Islam, but Extremism of a terrorist nature would not be welcome.
Rule 61 – If God wanted to justify the Bahai scriptures and the Bab and Baha’ullah as servants of his, and anoint the Bahai scriptures as his word, we would accept that, and welcome them, like Christians and Talmudic Noahides and Muslims and Karaite Jews into inter-fellowship with us.
Rule 62 – We are not aware of any justifications, at this stage, of the above works from those iconoclasts.
Rule 63 – The unitarianization of other religions, enthroning Yahweh God as God within them, and keeping alive the kosher practices and teaching within them, alongside and new required (hopefully original) elements from God's work would be acceptable to us as well. The purification of other religions from idolatry is acceptable to our movement, and their potential justification as servants of God is acceptable to us as well.
Rule 64 – If God wanted to reboot the Commodore 64 into society and using the same base PC with further software and other innovations, we would think that a good idea. We like old things, and things which are the foundations of other things.
Rule 65 – It may be humour, but we are serious about it as well.
Rule 66 – If God wanted to justify the 'Angels Saga' including the 'Chronicles of the Children of Destiny' and the 'Chronicles of the Children of Fate' as Scripture, his word, and anoint it with his holy spirit, and as a semi-prophetical acceptable agenda of sorts, then we would accept that, and think it a damn splendifferous idea. Go Jehovah!!! Amen.
Rule 67 – If God wanted to justify the Apocrypha and Pseuedpigrapha writings as semi-scripture or semi-prophecy, then we would accept that, and any anointing by his spirit of the said works we think would be a wonderful idea. Amen. It would be great if that happened.
Rule 68 – Obviously there are contending viewpoints and doctrines and differences of opinion in the above (potentially to be justified) spiritual love affairs. But that's life, isn't it. Live and let live, I guess.
Rule 69 – Salvation is of the LORD.
Rule 70 – The LORD is God. Jesus doesn't qualify.
Rule 71 – Foundations need to be strong.
Rule 72 – If the biblical prophet of the tanakh suggested Damascus would disappear, and Damascus was a sensible enough city and ultimately remained, then we would think that acceptable and still most likely the will of God, who does relent if people repent, as the teaching of the book of Jonah makes clear enough.
Rule 73 - Thou Shalt Not Kill
Rule 74 - Thou Shalt Do No Violence
Rule 75 - Thou Shalt Not Eat Blood
Rule 76 - Thou Shalt enjoy thy rock & roll, but thou shalt not let the party get out of hand. Having a good time in life is ok, but reckless behaviour upsets a lot of people.
Rule 77 - Thou Shalt enjoy thy wine, but thou again shalt not let the party get out of hand. Drunkards always bring the mood down, and there are often fights and bickering with them.
Rule 78 - Thy Rock & Roll parties on Saturday Night is generally the best way to go. Partying all week just makes for bloodshot eyes, and unhappy hangovers.
Rule 79 - Thou Shalt not have thy personal rock and roll up too loud, and make sure it gets lower and lower as the night goes on to allow people their proper rest. Be considerate of those you live with, and let them sleep, you know.
Rule 80 - Thou shalt have thy teeth cleaned by water when you can. Clean teeth are requirements, very often, to catch that new boyfriend or girlfriend.
Rule 81 - Thou shalt get a good diet which must include some fruits and vegetables for proper health. They were made be God for your sustenance, and they are the fundamentals of a good diet.
Rule 82 - Thou shalt not eat too much meat – keep it to a minimum – too much is not good for the health.
Rule 83 - Thou shalt be concerned about thy health. If you ignore your sicknesses too much you might live a lot shorter a life than you wanted to, and a lot unhappier a one.
Rule 84 - Thou Shalt agree that you should not covet too much land to the detriment of thy neighbour’s right to also live on the land – you should not try and take it all, simply because you think you can just buy it, but you shall share your land and property with your neighbour to ensure peace, happiness, and enjoyment for all
Rule 85 - Live by Godly standards because they are eternal.
Rule 86 - Thou shalt share thy natural resources of thy nation fairly amongst the citizens. You live together as a community, so don't try and be greedy and exalt yourself over everyone.
Rule 87 - Thou shalt trade in equity, fairness and justice with all nations – do not attempt to prosper over them, but ensure they do not rip you off either – you shall have equitable, just and fair trade agreements
Rule 88 - Thou shalt make thy spare national resources available to other nations in exchange for their own resources which you can utilize
Rule 89 - Thou shalt trade fair resources for fair resources – neither party should profit unjustly over the other
Rule 90 - Thou shalt have concern for thy neighbours welfare and ensure they have access to life, liberty, happiness and the pursuit of their dreams
Rule 91 - Thou Shalt Wash Yourself after Sexual Relations to ensure no unpleasant substances affect you or others. Women, especially, can be really put of by unsightly stains.
Rule 92 - Thou Shalt Wash yourself regularly and keep yourself clean. It is good for the health, and usually improves your appearance to others quite a lot.
Rule 93 - Thou Shalt Keep Tidy. A messy life often leads to disorganisation.
Rule 94 - Thou Shalt realize that men have penises and women have vaginas – and that there is a difference between men and women in the way that God designed them
Rule 95 - Thou shalt realize that a feminine culture is a good idea for females and that a masculine culture is a good idea for males
Rule 96 - Thou Shalt Wash Your Clothes. Dirty and smelly clothes put a lot of people off.
Rule 97 - Thou Shalt Wear Clothes so as not to embarrass other people through thine nakedness. That is a principle of the Rainbow Torah.
Rule 98 - Thou Shalt Not Eat the Forbidden Fruit. It is still really a command in the end, even if you can't find anyone. But spiritual ideas perhaps still applies in some ways. An area for consideration perhaps.
Rule 99 - Thou Shalt Not Steal
Rule 100 - Thou Shalt Not Rape. Women really do not like it very much.
Rule 101 - Thou Shalt Wait until Puberty – Nature’s Signal – before practising sexual relations. Paedophiles are disrespected greatly in society.
Rule 102 - Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery, as practising sexual immorality if you have oathed to stay loyal to a partner is a sign of corruption and dishonour
Rule 103 - Thou Shalt realize that a woman who has children to more than one man is not wise
Rule 104 - Thou Shalt Honour Marriages as the foundation of a stable society
Rule 105 - Thou Shalt Treat each other with kindness and respect to build a stable society of trust and respect
Rule 106 - Thou Shalt realize that gay men can not commit sexual intercourse with each other and have babies
Rule 107 - Thou Shalt realize that the idea of gay marriages is pretty stupid as they can’t make baby's
Rule 108 - Thou Shalt practice kindness and loyalty to family members
Rule 109 - Thou Shalt have fair and true justice and judgements
Rule 110 - Thou Shalt not kidnap people
Rule 111 - Thou Shalt have a welfare system, thou shalt encourage education, and thou shalt attempt to contribute lawfulness and wisdom to the society to profit those dedicated to eternal life
Rule 112 - Thou Shalt budget carefully to ensure your spending is upon the important needs to maintain your household
Rule 113 - Thou Shalt exercise prudence and caution when it comes to the company and friendships that you keep – remember, not every supposed friend will act in your best interests or care for you properly
Rule 114 - Thou Shalt keep honest and true land boundary records
Rule 115 - Thou Shalt honour the law
Rule 116 - Thou Shalt not appoint a corrupt judge to office, and thou shalt dismiss a corrupt judge from office
Rule 117 - Thou Shalt not consult demonic entities for witchcraft
Rule 118 - Thou Shalt realize that Astrology is deceptive
Rule 119 - Thou Shalt realize that Tarot is a joke
Rule 120 - Thou Shalt realize that Magic is unethical manipulation of the rights of others through spellcraft
Rule 121 - Thou Shalt know that many people are offended by faggotry
Rule 122 - Thou Shalt know that transsexuals make some people vomit
Rule 123 - Thou Shalt realize that tattoos put some people off
Rule 124 - Thou Shalt know that coveting other peoples stuff leads to jealousy and envy and theft
Rule 125 - Thou Shalt get thine own stuff instead of being envious of thy neighbours
Rule 126 - Thou Shalt have concern for thine parents because they are raising you and feeding you in this world
Rule 127 - Thou Shalt not honour thy parents wishes if they intend sin for thee
Rule 128 - Thou Shalt not get drunk in public places – it inevitably leads to embarrassing behaviour and violence
Rule 129 - Thou Shalt not abuse cigarettes – keep your smoking practices under control and allow some time regularly for the body to abstain from cigarettes
Rule 130 - Thou Shalt avoid illicit drugs – if they become legal exercise caution
Rule 131 - Thou Shalt observe the traffic rules – if you speed, you will inevitably kill others or yourself
Rule 132 - Thou Shalt abide by common sense
Rule 133 - Thou Shalt not be proud of thine own efforts, for pride corrupts the heart into thinking itself greater than it actually is
Rule 134 - Thou Shalt realize that God made everything and designed everything – why is thine boast in a vain idol, a vain statue, a vain human, who sins constantly?
Rule 135 - Thou Shalt realize that your vain kings and queens are puffed up with pride, and attempting to usurp authority in place of God and his laws, which are true and just forever
Rule 136 - Thou Shalt realize that all civil codes are corrupted by human logic, not that of the divine, and allow sin in great quantities to prosper unchecked
Rule 137 - Thou Shalt realize that freedom of religion is freedom to sin, which is inevitable death, and regard all such societal rules which allow this as corrupt
Rule 138 - Thou Shalt repent of your sins
Rule 139 - Thou shalt not put too heavy loads of theological teaching on young minds as everyone needs to learn about the rules of life, and you can’t learn everything instantly or all at once – so thou shalt allow some people decent, fair and reasonable grace as they learn how to live
Rule 140 - Thou Shalt not worship idols
Rule 141 - Thou Shalt definitely enjoy having sexual relations with your partner when the marriage is consummated, and seeing all their bodily assets is what life is all about.
Rule 142 - Thou Shalt avoid corrupt people
Rule 143 - Thou Shalt realize that the author of these rules does not insist you agree with every single one of them
Rule 144 - Thou Shalt be civilized
Rule 145 - Thou Shalt realize that getting caught up in excessive fantasies is not wise
Rule 146 - Thou shalt practice moderation when necessary
Rule 147 - Thou shalt be merciful
Rule 148 - Thou shalt be just
Rule 149 - Thou shalt be kind
Rule 150 - Thou shalt be loving
Rule 151 - Thou shalt be honest
Rule 152 - Thou shalt be brutally honest when necessary
Rule 153 - Thou shalt humble the proud
Rule 154 - Thou shalt have honest weights and measures
Rule 155 - Thou shalt not commit fraud
Rule 156 - Thou shalt listen to wise counsel
Rule 157 - Thou shalt do all thine mockeries in a spirit of sarcastic love and affection
Rule 158 - Thou shalt rebuketh bullies
Rule 159 - Thou shalt not tolerate bullies
Rule 160 - Thou shalt verily mocketh bullies
Rule 161 - Thou shalt not engage in sexual activity with animals
Rule 162 - Thou shalt not engage in any forms of sexual bestiality
Rule 163 - Thou shalt ensure your working standards are legal, ethical, and according to the correct procedures of the company or business you work for
Rule 164 - Thou shalt not exploit anybody
Rule 165 - Thou shalt not exploit employees
Rule 166 - Thou shalt pay fair, reasonable and just wages, and provide bonuses when the situation fairly warrants – yet thou shalt also provide a decent, good and reasonable profit for yourself and any shareholders also
Rule 167 - Thou shalt not be ashamed of being rich, nor shalt thou be ashamed of being poor
Rule 168 - Thou shalt strive for wealth and success carefully to build up your estate, as God likes wealth and treasures
Rule 169 - Thou shalt not strive for wealth to a great degree if thou doesn’t really mind that much, but thou should never be jealous thus of those who do work for and strive for greater wealth
Rule 170 - Thou shalt respect land laws and rights and peoples ownership of the land
Rule 171 - Thou shalt seek calm and stable ways
Rule 172 - Thou shalt not act as an aggressor
Rule 173 - Thou shalt be friendly and hospitable towards people of good reputation
Rule 174 - Thou shalt be concerned for your family's welfare and reputation
Rule 175 - Thou shalt realize the standards of the Noahide Nations need to be decent enough for us to get along well enough with in the end for us to pursue our dreams in the spirit of eternal life
Rule 176 - Thou shalt not racially discriminate
Rule 177 - Thou shalt respect those of the opposite sex
Rule 178 - Thou shalt not abuse animals
Rule 179 - Thou shalt have no slavery in Noahide Nations
Rule 180 - Thy Nation shalt not oppress any other nation
Rule 181 - Thou shalt seek the ways of national and international peace
Rule 182 - Thou shalt have an economic and political system which acts in the best interests of every citizen, whatever the particular economic or political system you favour
Rule 183 - Thou shalt realize that both right wing, left wing and central body of any political system are all necessary for the proper functioning of a political system, and respect each components rights to exercise authority when they are in office
Rule 184 - Thou shalt not exercise political opposition simply for the sake of it, but that shalt exercise political opposition when the case at hand definitely warrants it
Rule 185 - Thou shalt listen carefully to the advice of health professionals
Rule 186 - Thou shall try to get along with your society
Rule 187 - Thou Shalt avoid hypocrisy
Rule 188 - Thou Shalt consider the needs of others
Rule 189 - Thou Shalt be concerned with your own reputation
Rule 190 - Thou Shalt be polite
Rule 191 - Thou Shalt observe the facts of Creation Science
Rule 192 - Thou Shalt raise thy children with Kindness, Justice, Fun and Love
Rule 193 - Thou shalt realize that God loved Noah and we are Noah’s Children and that God loves us as well
Rule 194 - Thou Shalt be humble enough to admit it when you are wrong
Rule 195 - God desires Noahide Nations to be Righteous
Rule 196 - Thou shalt seek calm ways to find peace for your soul
Rule 197 - God expects Noahide Nations to be Righteous
Rule 198 - God talks to Noahides and teaches Noahide peoples truths as well
Rule 199 - God expects you to remember that the sign of Noah’s Covenant is the Rainbow
Rule 200 - Thou shalt remember that Noahide Nations are Free Men and Women
Rule 201 - Thou shalt be happy in thine own Noahide achievements
Rule 202 - Thou shalt be happy in thine own Noahide successes
Rule 203 - Thou shalt be happy in thine own Noahide glories
Rule 204 - Thou shalt have just laws and just rules
Rule 205 - Thou shalt create and promote your own rules and laws and teach them to others if you believe they are just, fair, kind and well-intentioned towards people
Rule 206 - Thou shalt be happy being social or happy being independent if that is what thou desire
Rule 207 - Thou shalt disregard others if they mock thee for thy looks or thy personal tastes in things, such as clothes or music or other things
Rule 208 - Thou shalt find inner strength through being a child of God’s creation, a child of God’s love, and remember these rules are dedicated to all people, including yourself, and are for your best interests at heart
Rule 209 - Thou shalt practice love, mercy, grace and kindness
Rule 210 - Thou shalt try to see the inner beauty in people and see as God’s sees – the heart
Rule 211 - Thou shalt acknowledge the truth
Rule 212 - Thou shalt tell the truth
Rule 213 - Thou shalt lie if you want to to a corrupt person who will use it against you
Rule 214 - Thou shalt not bow to men
Rule 215 - Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself
Rule 216 - Thou shalt educate thyself and grow in knowledge when you have the time and the inclination
Rule 217 - Thou shalt encourage education and growing in knowledge in others
Rule 218 - Thou shalt not put a stumbling block in front of the blind
Rule 219 - Thou shalt protect the rights of orphans and widows
Rule 220 - Thou shalt care for the disaffected in your society
Rule 221 - Thou shalt give people a break when they need one
Rule 222 - Thou shalt not be too legalistic all the time, but thou shalt be legalistic when necessary
Rule 223 - Thou shalt exercise balance, moderation and know there is a time for all things under heaven
Rule 224 - Thou canst pray to God if thou wants to
Rule 225 - Thou shalt not feel pressured into praising God if you think it is stupid or you don’t want to
Rule 226 - Thou shalt remember that God is just a bloke as well, as we are made after his image, and he also knows how to relax and have a good time
Rule 227 - Thou shalt expect mercy from God and thou shalt grant mercy to God
Rule 228 - Thou shalt not judge God too harshly, but express your opinions freely to him on any issue you believe in
Rule 229 - Thou shalt not racially discriminate but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself
Rule 230 - Thou shalt keep prostitution to a minimum so that the land does not fall into depravity and become full of injustice
Rule 231 - Thou shalt have designated suburbs in your cities for your brothels
Rule 232 - Thou shalt not deliberately force your daughter to become a prostitute, but if she takes it up herself of her own volition thou shalt still respect, love and care for her and provide for her
Rule 233 - Thou shalt not indulge too greatly in pornography, and thou shalt get rid of your old porno collections after a while to make sure you do not get involved with old and stale debauchery, fowl obsessions over porn stars who do not want the attention, or smelly odours and substances attached to such things – keep any porn in your collections reasonably recent if you must have such things
Rule 234 - Thou shalt not offend straight people with your gay fantasies
Rule 235 - Thou shalt not practice sexual harassment
Rule 236 - Thou shalt be slutty or smutty with a person of the opposite sex in a flirtatious sense only if they appreciate such things and do not tell you to back off or say that they are not interested
Rule 237 - Thou shalt not make assumptions that all men are bastards or that all women are bitches – there is a great diversity of people amongst the human race
Rule 238 - If you are gay, better to find your own gay community, and live in designated gay suburbs or gay streets or gay housing complexes
Rule 239 - God is less concerned about gayness if it is separate from the heterosexual community into enclaves and areas of the community which don’t affect the mainstream which God prefers
Rule 240 - If you are Gay, still keep the rules of God, and do not provoke him or others who are offended by such lifestyles
Rule 241 - Keep any profane lifestyles separate and away from mainstream society so as not to bother them
Rule 242 - Thou shalt not mess around with thy neighbours property
Rule 243 - Thou shalt respect thy neighbours property
Rule 244 - Thou shalt not pressure thy neighbour into doing things they don’t want to do
Rule 245 - Thou shalt not try to control or manipulate people
Rule 246 - Thou shalt be clear in charting thy work procedures for thy workforce, and not expect things of them that are not clearly designated or shown instructions for in the work procedures and protocols manuals
Rule 247 - Thou shalt be very specific in the things required of your workers in thine work contracts, and not expect things of them which are not clearly specified
Rule 248 - Thou shalt have the right to expect workers to comply with all reasonable requests according to procedures of the workplace if they have agreed to them contractually
Rule 249 - Thou shalt have the right to make workers redundant if they are consistently working at a level lower than that required by their work agreements
Rule 250 - Thou shalt give fair warnings to workers before attempting to make them redundant
Rule 251 - Thou shalt not have sex with dead people – thou shalt avoid necrophilia and respect the rights of the dead
Rule 252 - Thou shalt not molest little children – wait until puberty before engaging in sexual practices with anyone
Rule 253 - Thou shalt have concerns for thy little ones and raise them properly
Rule 254 - Thou shalt allow adoptions when necessary, but thou shalt not attempt to usurp over the child the rights of the biological parents
Rule 255 - Thou shalt honour doctors and be careful about medical rules and procedures
Rule 256 - Thou shalt treat the mentally unwell with care and concern, and hospitalize them if and when necessary
Rule 257 - Thou shalt exercise caution with psychotic people, but thou shalt remember that they do not necessarily intend any form of lawlessness
Rule 258 - Thou shalt take the hint if the girl tells you to go away
Rule 259 - Thou shalt take the hint if the guy says you are not the one
Rule 260 - Thou shalt have the right to refuse everyone from telling you to do anything at all to simply serve their vain wishes, regardless of your age
Rule 261 - Children are supposed to comply with their parents wishes if the parents are attempting to raise their children properly
Rule 262 - It is quite ok to rebuke rebellious children to ensure compliance with the laws
Rule 263 - Thou shalt realize you are not alone in this life and this world, and it does not revolve all around you, and that you can not have all the say or everything your own way – you have to share this world with everyone else
Rule 264 - Don’t annoy people off just for the sake of it – have some respect
Rule 265 - Take issue with people off if they have a go at you for no reason
Rule 266 - Don’t exercise grudges against people
Rule 267 - Exercise grudges against people if they deserve it
Rule 268 - Everyone thinks its funny until someone loses an eye
Rule 269 - Keep your humour in check when necessary
Rule 270 - Don’t vandalize
Rule 271 - Don’t harm other people’s property
Rule 272 - Do the right thing
Proverbs of the Universal Faith Assembly on life and evangelism
* You get out of life what you put into it
* A decent sized fellowship can be earned with perseverance and patience
* Love, law and truth should be at the heart of this fellowship
* The Rainbow Should be emphasized as a sign that God keeps his promises
* Keep up a holy witness
* Teach your heart to care for and commit to the souls you are trying to reach with the good news of 'Family Values'
* Remember that Jesus, Mohammed and Baha’ullah, as well as the other major religious iconoclasts, are children of Noah as well
* Stress that Noahide faith is the 'Natural Religion' as the rainbow is nature-based
* Stress the unity of mankind as one big family - the family of Noah
* Showing mercy, love and kindness needs to be in the heart of the Universal Faith Assembly
* Stress that Noahide faith is about following the religion Noah himself followed
* With Christians stress that Jesus message of love is also very fundamental to the UFA
* With Christians stress that UFA also upholds some of the moral ideas of Jesus
* Defend the Unity of God with Christians, and sensitively teach that worship and deification of the man Jesus really is plain old idolatry in the end
* Stress that Judaism is a religion of law keeping, but it is not the central aspect of Noahidism, and that we are not promoting Jewish culture or values
* Stress that we are of 'Noah's' covenant, and not 'Abraham's' or 'Israel's'
* Remember that the Rainbow Bibles and the Chronicles of the Children of Destiny are available literature for study produced directly by the 7 Divine Fellowships
* Avoid arguments and 'Right & Wrong' situations - stress unity and not differences
* Be accepting of people of diverse backgrounds
* Don't use gifts, kind words, or other tactics deliberately to win a soul - people will see you as shallow if your heart is not in it
* Be very polite and honest with souls you are trying to win - sharing fears and doubts about your beliefs is quite OK - people do actually understand
* Give people all the facts about Karaite Noahide faith - Don't leave them guessing
* Inspire people - DON'T order them
* Put your heart into it
* Stay polite with people
* Don't burn bridges, and say 'The door is always open' if they want to discuss things at some future point
* Stress that Noahide faith is a message of hope
* Give people time - it can take years or even decades to win a soul
* Stress we believe our religion is the truth or we wouldn't bother trying to follow or promote it
* Stress that UFA is 'Family Oriented'
* Handing out fliers is also a good way to get the word out
* UFA is an assembly, like all 7DF, of accumulators and collectors, but NOT hoarders. We don't hoard crappy things like napkins and plastic bags and coke bottles made of plastic and so on. Instead we collect sensible things of value. This is a blessing and impresses others in what UFA can offer
* Help people when they are in trouble and offer them a friendly word about Noahide faith
* Wearing a Noahide T-Shirt can also be a sensible idea
* Noahides can wear beards or they can shave. If people ask about this, stress that it is not a major issue for Karaite Noahide faith
* Having pictures and posters of Noah's ark around the house is a very sensible way of familiarizing people with the faith of Noah's covenant
ADVANCING NOAH MOVEMENT OFFICIAL SPORTS – ADMINISTERED BY THE UFA
The
Karaite Adamide-Noahide sport of 'Wondraball'.
Wondraball
involves the use of a standard soccer ball It is played on an oval by
3 teams. Each team has 5 players each. The Oval is divided into 2
equal halves. Team 1 and Team 2 play against each other. Team 3 are
'Wild Cards' whose job is to cause havoc and mayhem in the game. The
object is to score goals by kicking the ball into one of the 2 corner
goals on each of the 2 corners of the oval, 2 also on the other
side of the oval. The oval is roundish, but rectangular
approximately in the playing field. Balls which go over the sideline
may be kicked back in anywhere by Team 3. While in possession of the
ball in your own half you may handle the ball with your hands but not
in the opposition half. You may throw the ball from your half into
the opposition half. The first team to score 3 goals wins the game.
It is similar to soccer but slightly different, with no assigned
goalkeeper, but you can choose one from the 5 players if you choose
to. There is no offside rule. The competition is played in a league,
and the advantage that team 3 has is that they can help a team
strategically if they choose to if it will help their own position on
the league ladder. In most other respects the general rules of soccer
apply. Wondraball
is a sport for all of the Advancing Noah Movement and Noahides of
other movements, but is administered by the Universal Faith Assembly,
the official movement of 7DF responsible for administering the sports
of the Advancing Noah Movement.
The Karaite Adamide-Noahide sport of 'Spenderball'.
Spenderball is a game using a standard soccer ball It is played on the same oval as a Wondraball oval. Each team receives 20 tokens at the beginning of the match, which has halves of 20 minutes each. Time out is not used, but delaying tactics draw penalties. The 20 tokens may be spent on various things. The key to success in Spenderball is how you spend your tokens. These include: 5 tokens – extra player for a half of the match. 1 Token – Freeze play for 1 minute (which is the only time out allowed) allowing players to recover and stop quick scoring attacks. 10 tokens – Free goal kick. 20 Tokens – 1 official goal. 15 tokens – remove an opposition's player. 17 Tokens – blindfold two opposition players for 30 seconds (may only be spent when in possession of the ball in your own half). 5 Tokens – redeem a penalty against you for play to continue as usual. 3 Tokens – Opposition Team to play in T-shirts coloured pink with pretty flowers decorated on them, and may legally be called 'Fairies'. Apart from that the general rules of Wondraball apply.
The
Karaite Adamide-Noahide sport of 'Hitball'
Hitball
involves a Softball bat and Softball. It is played on a softball
diamond. The Batter is given 5 balls and must hit the balls from his
own toss into different areas of the field. The fielding team, made
up of 5 players, are given notice when all 5 balls are in the field.
The fielders must position themselves behind the batter in a square
area. When the umpire blows his whistle the the batter must make his
decision how many plates he can run to in a circuit around the
diamond and the fielders run to retrieve the balls and must choose a
different of the 4 plates to stand on, the 5th one being a spare. If
the batter can reach a plate before it is captured he is out. The
next batter then comes out regardless of whether the player gets out
or not. After 5 outs the team retires and the opposition innings
begins. There are 5 innings per team each game. A full circuit scores
as 10 points, an individual plate scores as 1 point for each plate
made. Only one batsman may occupy a plate at a time. The team with
the most points at the end wins the game. This is an official game of
the Advancing Noah Movement, and is administered by the Universal
Faith Assembly. All Noahide movements are free to play in this
league.
The Kids Karaite Adamide-Noahide game of 'Triwar'
This is similar to the 'Tug of War' game, but the rope has a central point with 3 lengths running off of it. There are 3 teams, with 1 to 5 players on each team, and the objective is to pull both the other teams over your 'Tri-Line' It is played on a large 'Triangle' on the grass, and when you have pulled one team over your 'Tri-Line' they are disqualified, and then you win by eliminating the other team by also pulling them over your 'Tri-Line'.
THE
RULES FOR '12 INTENSE' – T12 ONE DAY CRICKET – A SPORT OF
THE 7 DIVINE FELLOWSHIPS'
Based on standard rules of T20
Cricket with following differences
1) Only 12 overs per side
2)
12 specialist Batsmen may be chosen
3) 12 specialist Bowlers may
be chosen
4) 12 specialist Fielders may be chosen
All 12
Batsman can bat. None of the batsmen are required to field or bowl.
They are 'Specialist' in this sense. This applies just the same for
the 12 Bowlers and 12 Fielders. You Don't have to use 12 bowlers, but
a minimum of 6 is required, 2 overs each as a maximum. The 12
specialist fielders do not have to bat or bowl. The wicket keeper is
included in the 12 specialist fielders.
Coin toss to determine who
bats first. 12 overs each. If all bowled out, that is the final
score. Highest score wins. In a tie, most 6s, then if equal, most 4s,
then if equal, most 3s then 2s then 1s determine victory. If still
equal then, it is only then a tie. The T12 League is administered by
the UFA Sporting Committee.
The 75 Metre Dash
Runners start at a running line, each in their own lane. A maximum of 8 runners per race. The first person past the finish line wins. Points are awarded for each placing, 8 points for first, 7 points for second, 6 points for third, 5 points for fourth, 4 points for fifth, 3 points for sixth, 2 points for seventh and 1 point for eighth. The length of the course is a straight line of 75 metres exactly.
The 75 Metre Freechoicestyle Swim
In a 75 metre length swimming pool, the race starts with the swimmers either holding on to the end rung of the pool, or choosing to dive or jump in to the water at the start of the race. Swimming down lanes, using whatever swimming style they choose, the object is to get to the end of the pool first. There are 8 lanes, and the same scoring system from the 75 metre dash is used.
Hit Wicket
Using the inner circle in international cricket matches on the ground, 20 cricket balls are placed in even divisions around the circle. Each competitor has 20 throws to hit the wicket and knock off the bails as many times out of 20 that they can. They must throw from the position each ball is placed and must stand behind the line when they throw. 1 point is scored for each wicket, the winner is the one scoring the most points.
ARKBUILD – A Truly Noahide Sport
Teams have 4 men and 4 women each. The starting point has to be at least 20 kilometres inland. The object is to build an Ark, up to biblical specifications, launch it on the waters, and the Ark has to remain on the waters with the team members until a rainbow appears. When the rainbow appears the Ark has to be rowed ashore (it must be at least 1 kilometre offshore and may be anchored), grounded on shore properly, and to win the competition all 8 members must cross the finishing line were the competition began. An optional extra is that each team also must have at least 12 pairs of differing species of animals, a male and a female of each. You need to gather enough food to ensure the Ark can remain until a rainbow appears, as you can not do any fishing on the Ark. The first team with all 8 members crossing the finish line wins.
CITYBUILD
- A SPORT OF HEAVEN
Teams of 100. The object is to build a
city in 10 square kilometres of land. You have 1 century of
competition. You must populate the city with at least 50,000 citizens
by the end of the century. Points are awarded for the quality of the
city, the total population (the more people the more points), the
harmony and civic lawfulness of the society, the quality of the
infrastructure and so on. Each team only starts with the land (which
they may not leave at all, except on the outer edges of about 1
kilometre grace space) and must mine, chop down wood and so on and so
forth to develop their civilization. The winner is the team with the
most points at the end of the century, and vast amounts of categories
on the various aspects of the quality of city life are factored in
for point scoring
The Spiritual Devotional Series of the ‘Universal Faith Assembly’
The Sermons of Spiritual Devotion of the Universal Faith Assembly
Sermon One: Sport and Life
As life works out and develops for you, it is mostly about developing a timetable or a routine in your cycles of life to organize the activities you like to do and need to do. A regular sport is an enjoyable and exciting way to spend your eternity, and 3DF recommends developing a sporting mentality in your life to fit into your life at various, hopefully regular, occasions, to find the joy and activity and happiness and other rewards an active sports life brings. Of course, sports breeds a healthy body, and it teaches values of commitment and perseverance.
Melanie Chisholm is known as ‘Sporty Spice’. Perhaps a hopeful hallmark of the ‘Universal Faith Assembly’ is that among the 7DFs, this be the usual fellowship which has a greater proactive focus on sporting competitivity, becoming the active and full of life fellowship, which contributes to the overall theme of 7DF in contributing to society in various ways and means for the benefit of mankind.
Sports Values:
Fairplay: Playing according to the rules of the sport and being ethical, decent and proper in all training and matches and associated activities with your sport, setting a good example for others
Perseverance: Persevering hard in training and working hard in competition to achieve victories and set good examples of professional behavior to others
Healthiness: Eating good foods and exercising properly to ensure your sporting conduct has the best advantage of a healthy body to compete with
Clean Living: Bringing a good attitude to your sporting community in your personal ethics and way of life so that when you compete you can be said to be of clean mind and clean body
Dedication: Remaining loyal to your sport over difficult times when other things have a calling on your life
Consistency: Producing regular results of a decent quality
Victory: Taking your sport ethic and training to the point where you are ultimately able to achieve victories in your chosen sport
Sport is an excellent way, simply, to keep fit and have a strong and healthy body. 7DF recommends a regular sport to its members. Some suggested sports to involve with include:
Cricket, Rugby League, Rugby Union, Soccer, Basketball, Softball, Baseball, Netball, Athletics, Hockey, Swimming, Cycling, Table Tennis, Tennis, Badminton, Snooker, Pool, Darts, Skiing
In all competitive behavior over your eternal life, it is important to put in a maximum effort at times to try and achieve a catalogue of victories. Yet once these are achieved, and you have looked within and proven yourself and risen to the challenge that all of us, in our hearts, dreams, desires and fantasies of glory desire to achieve – yet once these are achieved – well done. The sport, though, itself, and ongoing victory is to be followed after and sought in humility for personal satisfaction and work ethic only, rather than any stupid gloating over competitors and reasons of pride. It is for a sense of accomplishment and self-worth, rather than for pride and thinking highly of one self. But rise to the challenge when you can, I encourage you, and show a bit of spirit and a bit of passion – it will be the making of you.
Sermon Two: Charity and supporting the UFA
It is important for members of the UFA to care for each other which is one of the central tenets of being a ‘humane’ human being. Care, affection, love and devotion to our fellow mankind – our neighbour – is one of the reasons we have a lawful and good society. Because we care for each other. Sometimes citizens in our society fall upon hard times. At these times we need support systems of charitable care to ensure their health and well-being UFA believes, as does the 7DF, in a taxation system run by greater society, that includes a certain proportion of the tax put to welfare and health and disability support systems. Yet not only in an external tax system run by the nation in which we live, but also our own internal bank accounts, transparently run by fellowship pastors, account balance details accessible always by members of each individual assembly, where the Assembly takes care of its less fortunate members at times when and where the societally implemented welfare systems are not working well enough. As they say, charity begins at home. Each individual application for charity should be done on a comprehensive form, with the ‘Check Boxes’ used by the pastoral charity assessment team clearly explained and known by every individual applicant. People need to know when they qualify for charity and when they don’t. Essentially, if the need is not great enough, or too overtly frivolous, they don’t. If the need is genuine, or it is an item of use for their household which, for heavenly eternya purposes, only needs to be bought once, the expense can be justified somewhat. All members of the assembly, even successful ones, are entitled to some form of charity at some point. Contributions to the charity fund of the UFA do not need to be 10% of your income. But 1% to 2% of your ‘Net’ income is a suggested amount to put into the charity donation bags for each individual assembly.
UFA does not necessarily utilize a tithing mechanism like HNF. People can tithe if they wish to. But the Assembly general support donations should be separate to charity donations for UFA, for people who have different donation priorities. I feel, specifically for the UFA, members who donate have the opportunity to specify which area of the UFA ministry they wish to donate to. This includes: Assembly Hall Building Fund, Assembly Hall Maintenance Fund (any electricity, garbage, food, gas, cleaning, etc. costs for the Assembly Hall), Pastoral Wage Fund, Saturday Fellowship post-service BBQ provisions fund, UFA Sporting Teams Fund, Evangelism Fund, Internal and External Charities Fund, Inhouse publishing fund, UFA Schools Support fund, UFA ‘House of Broken Hearts’ fund and any other applicable area.
(FINAL NOTE: THE APPLICATION OF THIS SERMON BY ALL MEMBERS OF THE 7DF IS RECOMMENDED WERE APPLICABLE)
Sermon Three: Delegation
People in responsibility, perhaps at times with too much on the workplace, need to learn the fine art of ‘Delegation’. Delegation involves finding suitable individuals or groups, grooming them when necessary to meet the requirements and qualification for their upcoming responsibilities, and ensuring they carry out such delegated responsibilities according to procedures, protocols, rules and requirements and also according to general expectations. When looking for someone to delegate responsibilities to, look at their qualifications, their experience, their strengths and weaknesses, their intimate knowledge of how to run the required tasks, and things like initiative, aptitude, work ethic and other key designators which help indicate their probable success in the position for delegation. Usually, you should have a fair idea and know the kind of things you are looking for in a person before you delegate responsibilities to them. The greater the importance of the job, the greater the review structure should be for the assessment of the individual.
In managing a UFA assembly, or a series of assemblies, delegation is one of the key areas for a pastor to master in getting the job done. Look for enthusiastic and dedicated people most of all, even if they do not have all the requirements initially. If they are enthusiastic and ‘Want’ the position, they will grow into it and learn about the qualifications and other aspects of the work you are looking for in time. What you are presented with at the time of choosing your delegates is not necessarily the final product. Keep it as simple, in general, as those who want the job most of all and have a definite passion or other suitability for the work.
Sermon Four: Facing Life's Problems
Sometimes life is hard. It doesn't matter what they say to cheer you up, because it isn't right with the world. Your heart, your soul, you just don't feel good. Life just sucks. If God could be bothered to really give a damn about your life, it would be better, but he is happy in heaven, not living in the real world, were all day long you deal with crap, crappy people, and just a crappy life. It sucks. It just sucks. The world can go to hell, because nobody cares about the crap I have to deal with, and the problems I face in life are too much for a reasonable person. Mum cares, but doesn't understand. Dad is too caught up in his own affairs to spend time with you. Life is a constant challenge, and it never gets any better. EVER. And they like to say, you know, I've been there too Which is bullshit of course. They don't understand. Nobody possibly could. Only I have ever had these problems. Only me. Just me. Just me.
Over 6000 years ago God created the earth, and when he created Adam and Eve, they made their own decisions a lot of the time, and rebelled. And people have done that ever since. But so do you. Those decisions you made in younger years have caught up with you, and you don't realize that the mess you are in is the mess you allowed yourself to get into by making those selfish choices all along. What, do you want me to sugar coat my sermon and say to you its all everyone else’s fault, and you are a perfect angel which nobody really understands? People hate discipline and rebukes, but if you can stomach your medicine, get some divine faith into you, and face your problems with a better attitude which looks for a godly solution to the issues, and not one which moans 'Poor Me' all the time. Bite the bullet, get some religion, think about the shit others are going through, and when you learn to have a bit of compassion on those in the world who also suffer, perhaps you will get the point that life doesn't always revolve around you, God is busy dealing with 7 billion other broken hearts as well, and he has already made it clear to you in your heart and conscience the issues and the problems which you caused yourself, and that the choice to repent of the crap you yourself got into has always been yours, and you just aren't taking it. Don't blame others for your hard life. Blame yourself. Have the character to recognize you have stuffed up along the way many times, and it is your own bloody fault if your life sucks. Sure, there are difficult people. Learn tolerance, learn to appreciate their good qualities, learn to see some of the love in the world, and sometimes those problems can not seem quite so big. Get some perspective in life, and see a bigger picture. Your problems have solutions, and if you dig into a moral and faithful heart to God, pray to him, read some religion and learn to love and respect some more, life will improve. Do it God's way, and the crappy issues can be resolved.
Sermon Five: Do it God's Way – To the End
Well, if you have seen the 'Noah' movie starring Russell Crowe, you know that Noah and his family were decent sorts. They believed in the Creator God, honoured him and kept decent standards. But the rest of mankind, as Torah teaches, was into a lot of godless violent behaviour It became too much for God, and he told Noah to build the Ark. Noah did as God commanded him to. Now, because Noah did this, bit the bullet, did the hard work in building the Ark, he got saved with his family, and his descendants are now mankind. He did it God's way. Let's think about that. How about we ignore God and make our own choices. Noah says 'forget it' and doesn't build the Ark. To survive the heathen, he joins them. The family start acting crudely. His wife finds a few lovers. His sons beat people up, and are beaten up as well. Noah has stared to notice the bestiality brigade and how they rave about their crude sexual fascinations. And eating animal blood sounds fascinating to the family. And, as time passes, they sink into the sinners world, no longer calling on the Lord, part of the thing they worked so hard to escape. Does that sound familiar?
Babylon has its own rules. Its own sense of justice. But its a carnal one. The Tower of Babel is were Nimrod built his own glory, and since then people have gone on building Babel's of their own glory. Because Noah did choose to do it his own way in the end, despite choosing God's salvation plan. Because in his seed there were signs of unrepentance, and wars and murders and violence and thefts and rapes have never left this seed of good and evil. Sure, we have a lot of good in mankind, but that dark spirit remains, taunting us, asking us, like it tempted Cain, to succumb to its deliciously decadent charms. You see, often we don't do it God's way at all. And life becomes strife. But then we choose God, yet there is that core within which tells him to get stuffed from time to time, and out comes Mr Evil, delighting when we stuff up and do it our own way. Whatever shall we do?
Repent, you idiot. Put to death the sinful impulse by choosing God, and building that Ark of Salvation in your life and then – when Nimrod comes along with his pride and his glory plan – tell him to get stuffed and do it God's way to the end. And Paradise is surely your reward.
Sermon Six: Religion and Life
That doesn't apply in the real world. Or, that's for religious people. Or, that has no relevance. Or, for you but not for me. And other, well, frankly, excuses. Excuses from religion. And why? Because it's just myths and fables and is not real life. In Israel there are Israelis. Where did they come from? Modern secularists will give you all sorts of answers, but they are a people, with a book. And in that book it says God called out a man called Abraham, whose grandson was rename Israel from Jacob, the father of the Israelite people today. You see, God DOES get involved with the real world. First and foremost, its how everything got here. Look outside, at nature: the trees, rivers, mountains. The clouds, lakes, flora and fauna. All of that is Creation. And it is the Creation of God. God fashioned nature, for we are not the result of a cosmic fluke of a big bang, a universe of order arising from chaos. It's a lie of the evolutionists, nothing more, and the truth is written in the skies as well as written in your heart, if you will only acknowledge it. But more than creation, God called people, when man went astray, and formed spiritual communities from them. Enoch walked with God, and likely the faithful of the day walked with Enoch. And later Noah was called, and built an Ark. A very real Ark, which housed very real animals, which was redeemed by a very real flood. And all of that was very real history. Want to deny the flood? People do. But go study the facts of creation science long enough and honestly enough, which not everyone does, and you will get the point. The flood did happen, and it was a very real even, caused by a very real God, a God who affects the whole world universally with things that he does, from creation to flood. God works in the real world, and God work's in people's lives in a very real way when they call on his name.
But the point I am driving at is this: It has no relevance, supposedly. It doesn't affect my life in any real way. You see, the problem with that is the very shaping of your morals and decency comes from the source of God in the end anyway. You think its YOUR moral choices when and if you make them. Think again. It is the way you are fashioned which gives your heart the ability to make those choices. And, the problem with those choices is that people often choose sinful ones. And the life you live, which you might often call moral, is beset with characteristics and shades of fortune which are not always that moral. Aren't they. But, hey, that doesn't make religion relevant, does it? No. I get by. I make my own choices and live in the real world. I don't need religion, I get by well enough so far. Fair enough, you may make moral choices and live a decent enough life, and don't think you need and spiritual guidance. But is there a real heart in that life? Is there a real mercy, a real kindness, a real life? Do you really have much of a soul? Religion can and does impact the real world, and so much of the behaviours you take for granted in your neighbour and their choices of lawfulness are choices and behaviours guided by a religious principle for a great deal many of us. Yet, honestly, in your irreligiousity, which says the world would be better of without the mind controlling indoctrination of the evangelists, if you got your way, do you really think everyone who showed up with you would agree with your own basic sense of morals and rule (if you have any) anyway?
What, has atheism suddenly developed a universal code of observance? No, it hasn't. If you think there are wars amongst the religious, wait till those who have no God have a go at lawmaking. I can tell, they are not all of a sudden going to agree on everything and have a peachy all together lovely world. Dictators emerge and triumph in such situations – constantly. You see, you might think religion has no relevance, and doesn't affect your life, but it does and affects it a hell of a lot more than you know. You are just too scared to admit it. Religion offers so much in the real life, like a spiritual guidance which nourishes your heart and sets you right with God and at peace in the heart and with the world. But still you resist. And I know, personally, your life is somewhat hollow. You may, ultimately, find your salvation in love, but a love which has no faith. And that is enough for you, isn't it. Or in your friendships or family or career or group of friends. Whatever gets you through the night. But they are going to end with your life. And what then? But still, never mind. You don't need religion. It has no impact on the real world. The bible is man-made, and you are doing fine. Aren't you? Aren't you? AREN'T YOU?
No. You are not. And you feel it in your heart. And you know it. But you are too scared to admit it. Religion HAS and DOES and always WILL affect the real world. And it affects those who admit they need a guidance and a saviour and a God. It affects those who admit it and turn to him and repent of the self which really vainly believed it knew it all and dismissed it all as irrelevant. But keep on going down that road, and never mind, for it seems right to you, and its all for the extremists and fundamentalists anyway.
Isn't it?
Sermon Seven: Humour
Everyone thinks it is funny until someone loses an eye. Or a leg. Or a penis. Speaking of men without a penis, the bible calls them eunuchs. Men without a penis. What a way to go. A man who has a sex change loses his penis and has an artificial vagina created. By doing this he loses his procreative abilities (if his testicles were also removed) and can no longer achieve orgasm. One might question whether the man which says 'I am really a woman inside' doesn't actually ask why the doctor says to him – or her – oh, no. You can't actually give birth to children. You don't have a womb. But, hey, he's a woman inside anyway. Don't sweat it. You see, its not that funny losing a penis. Eunuchs usually had there's chopped off. It was done by regents often so the man wouldn't have sexual relations with women in his court. No, losing a penis isn't funny. And while the Regent may find it humorous from time to time, it's no real fun losing an eye, either. Which is were I will make my point. It's not that funny.
Humour, if you are sensible, has limitations. Getting carried away with a joke, like a jackass, can get to the point were real and actual physical harm can take place. Mock someone just that too much, and many people are bloody sensitive about themselves, they can have a go bloody quickly. And you could be the one losing the eye, or at the least getting a black one. Or, if you are the perpetrator, start getting carried away with your humorous punching on of the class idiot, and when they trip and then fall down that staircase you forgot, break their neck and end up in a wheel chair, you probably won't find Juvie, or worse, prison, that funny. Especially around the often present sodomite population, who have taken a fancy to the new pretty boy. Don't get carried away with it. A good joke has its time and its place, and with a close group of friends there are often liberties, which have been earned through knowing each other well for a time, which can be earned. Even those shouldn't be taken for granted too much. Or, frankly, even some of the stand-up comedy you get these days borders on not only offensive, but to down right rude, nasty, aggressive, disgusting and even illegal. There are limits to a joke.
Comedy is part of life, and while the Simpson's shocked people a bit, they got used to it, but sometimes I wonder if South Park exhibits comedy which is perhaps just a bit too much. Sure, Cartman wanking a dog might tickle the fancy of many an individual, but some things are perhaps just a bit too crude for public broadcast. Funny is funny, and some serious people should often learn to lighten up a little, and take a joke. Learning to laugh at ourselves is often a cure which makes us that little bit happier. But a joker, if he turns into a nemesis of Batman, has gotten to the point were, frankly, he is just a little bit too fucked up. Seriously. Sure, have a sense of humour, but learn the limits and learn when to say them and what to say, and remember there are often consequences for pushing your agenda just that little bit too far. And often very serious ones. Kapiche?
Sermon Eight: Expressing Yourself
7DF are Not Jewish. Yet, we are not Christian either. Within 5DF there exists a distinct movement or perhaps denomination called Karaite Abrahamism, in which Israelite members can assemble if they choose to join. Yet this assembly is also open to Christians, Muslims and Bahai to join also, because some of the teaching within the statements pertain to them to certain degrees.
Speaking of Jesus, one of the ways he taught elements of his Gospel was via the use of Parables. These parables often used a story as a vehicle for teaching moral lessons, but he also taught parables which relied on subtle metaphor for their interpretation, and these were often cryptic and well hidden. This way of teaching had the affect of giving him an aura of mystery, and his followers appreciated the style and way he taught these parables and the mystery within. That was some of the powerful way in which Jesus gained fame and notoriety.
The Seven Rainbow Bibles could use such methods if they chose, and perhaps some of the associated writings of the Chronicles of the Children of Destiny employ the use of 'Story' to teach lessons in a subtle way. However, usually, I like to write in a more straightforward manner, in a way of greater clarity and ease of understanding. Sure, people often like to be challenged and enjoy a sudden revelation over a hidden meaning, and can be inspired by those methodologies, but this is not the usual way of how I go about things with my own teaching.
Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Probably neither really. It is rather simply the way of how I speak and present myself linguistically. It more reflects the way my own mind works and how my own thought patterns form naturally. But my way is not the only way, nor does it have to be. For many of the morals of Jesus, and likely other iconoclasts, they have their own style of communication as, ultimately, all of us do. Probably, from all this lesson, the point I could make, I guess, is that that is perfectly ok. For a person to speak and teach in the way unique to themselves. It is often said 'Be yourself' and I think that is right. Be yourself. How you like to express yourself is a personal and individual thing, and you really shouldn't feel pressured or intimidated by others in being yourself, the way God made you. You don't answer to them on Judgement Day. You answer to God.
Sure, we all love an inspirational teacher, a grand and wise sage, even a guru of magnificent spirituality. Yet, sometimes, a more a direct and clearer approach to teaching wisdom is what is called for as well. Even dumbing it down, as they say, has its purpose. The real point, though, is that whatever works for you, whatever way you like to both receive and impart to others the lessons or knowledge you have learned in life, is yours. Its your heart, its your life, its your mind – and you shouldn't let anyone walk all over you in how you get yourself out there, or in how you communicate and speak. Say what you gotta say, however you want to say it. If its of importance or relevance people will figure it out anyway, no matter how well pronounced or eloquent you are with your wordings.
Sermon Nine: Facing the Challenge
There were instructions to Noah - to build the Ark. Noah knew what he had to do. Scripture doesn't say if God made it any clearer than that so, perhaps, one of the things we could consider as a possibility is that it was Noah's job, with the basic design factors presented, to work it all out and do it. It was a challenge, sure, and it took a century. But the thing is, he got the job done. Working with a core idea from the Most High, Noah applied himself, worked steadily for a hundred years, and completed the task. And sometimes, regardless of how much Noah was taught from God, that is all we have to work with in a task. A basic core idea we may have been given, but the detail and, the hardest part, the work, is up to us.
Often, in life, the first real challenge like this we are given which actually tests us is the school essay. We're given the essay title, and knowledge how to research books and how to structure the essay, but then, off we go. Filling in the picture is not easy, and for a lot of our first efforts we produced 200 of the 500 words required, and often in a very basic paraphrase. We might not have even done any real original thinking or consideration, but just wanted to get the job done and the work handed in, and left it at that. But is that really good enough? To build that ark Noah would have had to concentrate on detail. He would have had to ensure there was sufficient materials, that the ark, in the end, would float and that it would be strong enough to go the distance of the voyage. He needed to have all the tools made to do the building and, in the end, he had to do the actual hard work to not only accomplish the job but, and this is the important thing, to accomplish the job so that it would actually work and not fail. He had to pass the test the first time. He couldn't afford a fail.
Facing life's challenges is never easy, and sometimes the work ahead of us in life can seem incredibly daunting. But it has to be done, and if someone doesn't do my work, who will? Cheating is not a good option. With the way teachers these days use internet resources to check for plagiarism, your copied essay can be found out pretty damn quickly. And cheating is never a good way to go because you have never really learned the whole point of the exercise anyway, which will mean you lack the real understanding and knowledge necessary later on in life when that input required from yourself needs to be applied. Facing the challenge is never about a half-hearted effort, or about cutting corners to do a second rate job. A second rate ark would have sunk to the ocean floor most likely. No, you can't cheat on problems, and they have to be done properly and to the standards required for a pass. Fortunately, a school essay often has the possibility of resits and revisions to fix them up, but do you really think that in your working life your boss will always be so forgiving? Do you think he or she will accept fail after fail and cut corners and a half-hearted approach. Not usually. Facing the challenge is also often about using that mind of yourselves and actually getting those thought cogs to tick over and actually get stuck into what you know in your heart you really have to and should be doing. It's not easy. Nobody ever said it would be. But, if you really want a successful life, if that is something of a dream you have in your heart, you can't cheat. You can't cut corners. You can't put in a half-hearted effort. You have to face up to it, honestly, do the required research, use your mind and think through the required ingredients for the core solution to the problem at hand – yes, you will have to apply your mind and heart to this – and then, the hard part, going the hard distance, the hard yards, and steadily working on getting the thing done. And, like Noah faced himself, often the challenges of life have to be passed first time around. And that is never an easy thing to get used to is it? Facing the challenge has to be done honestly and with determination and, perhaps most of all, hard work. A successful Noahide in life doesn't really have any other option than that.
Sermon Ten: Forbidden Fruit
Rotten apples. Nobody really enjoys eating them, do they? Not exactly nourishing, you would think. Actually, the nourishment is ok to a degree, but there is often a little bit of disease associated with them as well. And such diseases can often make you sick. Your immune system generally handles the job of getting you better, which is part of your body and the chemical processes controlled at its peak by the brain to heal you. Vitamin C (of which oranges are a good source, as well as blackcurrant juice especially) is also a great healer in that process. But, to begin with, perhaps its best if you never really eat rotten fruit to start with. Today, in Australia very few do. We have quality food stores and markets which, usually, sell quality fruit. Sure, some are a bit questionable, and its always best to pick your own fruit from the stall (which my mother likes to do), but usually you don't have to worry. Which could make you wonder why you would want to eat rotten fruit in the first place. Doesn't really sound like a sensible choice, does it? The Serpent said to Eve, go ahead. It's tasty. It will make you as wise as the gods. She was tempted. She ate. Adam did also. Before that they were innocent, but God had commanded them not to eat the fruit. Yet she disobeyed. And they were kicked out of paradise when sin was born in them because of it.
The forbidden fruit is lot like a rotten apple, you see. Sure, there are things within it which are nourishing to a degree, because God did say it had good in it. But he said it also had evil. And perhaps those diseases which you often get in rotten fruit are a very good comparison to the evil in the forbidden fruit. Kind of makes sense doesn't it. I suppose,when it all comes down to it, that commandment still sort of applies. We don't really have any access to the forbidden fruit, but we do kind of know the difference, these days, between good and evil. In fact we know it pretty well. Which is kind of strange. Because with all the biblical knowledge in the world available to us, some of us are stupid enough to, yes, eat the good, but also to continue on indulging in the evil, and disregard God's command still. Still we rebel. Still we practice sin. Still we are headstrong and wilful and choose the pleasure we think we are going to get. But it so often ends in pain, doesn't it. It so often ends in pain. Still obey that command, is my real recommendation. Don't eat that fruit. But we still have, yet there is a blessing now as well in disguise. We are no longer so innocent, and the funny blessing is that we can be choosy now. We can choose the good and reject the evil. How do we know what is good? The Rainbow Torah has fundamental teachings on that and, if we choose to ourselves, we can research the Jewish Bible for a better idea. Yet these 7 Rainbow Bibles, which are catered for universal mankind, also attempt to teach the ideas of goodness and practising that, as opposed to evil. Sure, perhaps there are some stuff ups within my work as a whole, because I can't really claim to be as perfect as God. But we have a guide, which has been with the children of men all along. Our conscience. When God taught in genesis how the heart of those destroyed in the flood was filled with wickedness, and had made it clear to Cain that if he chose those ways he would be dominated by them, obviously mankind has some inkling that he is choosing wrong. Obviously, and especially when we feel guilt for our sins which I definitely have in youth, and I am pretty sure you have also, we have that sense of right and wrong within us to help us to understand what we should be choosing. Obedience to God and goodness.
It is not that hard in the end and, because it is very difficult to avoid knowledge of good and evil now, we must deliberately make the choice to choose goodness and holiness. If we sin, we rebel, and we all should well know the consequences for sinful types of behaviour. The people destroyed in the flood certainly learned that lesson – in the most dramatic of ways.
The forbidden fruit is still forbidden, so don't fall into the temptations of sin, and eat that rotten apple. For some times its more than a bellyache you will receive. Some times a whole lot more indeed.
Sermon Eleven: Animal's are people
God made a covenant of not sending a flood again with Noah and his offspring AS WELL as Animalkind.
7DF literally teach that all animals are living persons and beings. They have minds and souls and spirits and heart, and inherit eternity. Later on, as animals develop more intelligence many of them are capable of communicating with humans through verbally speaking. Working in regular jobs related to animal kind is quite normal as well as their knowledge and societies develop. The tiniest animals are the bacteria – the microbes. Viruses have a form of life, but are not animals or sentient beings, nor are the plants. Yet from the Brachiosaurus down to the smallest microbe, animals are persons with a personality and an identity.
Protection from cruelty to animal groups are now a fundamental and important institution within human society. We MUST treat animals well and with dignity. Using them for food is still a right of humans on earth, but this does not happen in the afterlife. Regardless, while we may humanely kill them to eat them, we may not in any way intimidate, torture, degrade or mock them, or kill them without need for food. Death penalties for murder also apply to animals, as Genesis teaches. Further, sexually violating an animal remains unlawful in general for humankind. Hunting a fox is a traditional aspect of some cultures, and tolerable, as well as duck hunting, but the animal should never be oppressed in such situations, or unduly embarrassed. In general, animal societies should be respected and afforded their natural living rights alongside humans, and oppression of any animal species is never acceptable.
Sermon
Twelve: The Doctrine of Copyright
7DF
teach that God honours copyright principle. Those of us who create
original copyrighted information (and if we desire to do this we
should pray to God the Almighty Father to ensure our works are
original) and have a good standing with God in the next afterworld
heavenly life, have the potential to profit and make a growing
eternal prosperity in life from our work. If you don't really
know what you could write about, my first and foremost suggestion is
to write the autobiography of your own life. Perhaps elaborate, in
various degrees of detail, the basic history of your life and even
the lessons you have learned along the way. Most of us are still
living quite original human lives with quite original human
experiences. Get it down on paper. Type it into your PC. And, once
you have some substantial work written, if you don't know if it will
sell or not on earth, ask God to have this released in heaven for
you. The heavenly marketplace is enormous compared to the earthly
one. Also, music. Can you compose an original tune? Photographs. Can
you take original photos? Poetry. Can you write original poetry?
Fiction. Can you write original fiction? Non-Fiction. Can you produce
a work in a field of knowledge, no matter how minor you might think
it? Personal home videos or videos of yourself talking on a subject.
These can be even put on youtube. If you want latter success in your
eternity, consider obtaining some original copyrighted information,
and pray and ask the Heavenly Father to have this released (if you
choose) to the marketplace of the heavenlies? Go for it. Use your
God-given talents. The world could end up being your oyster. Have a
little faith, my dear friends.
Sermon Thirteen: Where are the New Spiritual Teachers?
Thus says the LORD: Where is the man of ambition? The one prepared to take the bull by the horns, get off his lazy arse, and start his own spiritual ministry, with his own copyrighted doctrinal statements, his own copyrighted sermons of Glory, his own copyrighted Gospels of Hope? Or are you all so completely lazy that ye still insist on bludging off the works of Moses and Jesus and Mohammed and the rest. I desire a man, says the LORD, and if a man will not step to the plate, let a woman take his place, who has ambition for eternity, and can set forth those righteous principles of truth, from his own wisdom, his own spiritual well, his own pool of knowledge, to guide those who can not see, and to help the spiritually poor. WHERE ARE YOU MAN OF GOD????? But nay, they but defer to their holy scriptures, for they are lazy, says the LORD, without ambition, lacking drive or talent, men without insight or fresh spiritual appeal, and as the spiritual truths of the world disappear in copyright by the wise each and every day, the sermons of the future are told by those who did have an inkling to get off their arses and work like bloody hell. For the LORD seeks leaders, and has enough sheep to feed from his pastures, and Moses and Jesus and Mohammed and Baha’ullah are not complaining, for they are happy enough to fill their congregations each and every week, and now L Ron Hubbard and Paul Twitchell are enjoying their new attention for having a bloody go also. For the well of spirituality will run dry one day, and the wise will have claimed their share, and those who did not work when they had the opportunity will rue their laziness time and time again.
Sermon Fourteen -– Living for God
Living for God. If you wish to live for God, that is an admirable thing, isn't it? All your monotheistic friends will applaud you, congratulate you, and then proceed to turn on the television set, already having forgotten what the conversation topic just was. Living for God, really, can be a lonely business, because so many members of society don't really care that much what you do in the end. It's your life. If that is what tickles your fancy. In the end, don't judge yourself by the opinions of society or other people, though, and do live for God. For the godly lifestyle is an eternal one. Yet, if you crave approval from others, think first that they are not the ones who will judge the living and the dead. It is God who is your judge, so seek his approval. After all – isn't he the one you are now living for in your decision? It takes commitment, passion and endurance to do the whole walk of life to God Almighty. It isn't always easy, and initial periods of zeal can be forgotten as the long grind of your decision takes over. Finding that ability to stay committed is a rare quality in many, and it takes effort. The key is to listen carefully to wise advisors on spiritual things, apply what they say, and look within to how you will find the strength to persevere with your life choice. And then, a real key, is studying the bible from go to woe, and completing it. A completed bible reading, accomplished through patience, sows in the seed of eternal life, and with that seed you should be able to hold your head up high in time in the commitment you have made without falling short of that both God and your own heart expects of you. Living for God in the Reform Karaism tradition is still about acknowledging the Torah way of life has relevance, and while it is not about blind obedience to every whim of scripture, let scripture speak the truths it does have within it to your life none the less. Slowly, patiently, carefully, master this walk of life, and this life you are living for God, and weed out the old man, and sow in the new spiritual man regularly. It is a hard life, some may say, yet in the end when you live for God it can only work out in your best interests. And that is what it is all about.
Sermon Fifteen - A Religious Text: Life's Stabilizer
One of the criticisms often thrown at the religious is that their religion is used by them as a crutch to shield them from some of the harsher elements of life, and that they really should live by just their own viewpoints. But, in response, in reality that is the whole point of religion. That it does act as a stabilizer and support in this life from the world we live in. I, personally, recommend Jehovah or Yahweh God as the greatest of all support systems, God himself. But flowing into this creation of God's, this world we live in, are now an enormous variety of religious texts on a whole host of subjects and ways of spiritual practice. If you were going to choose one to live by, there are always the classic and big 'Scripture' books, like the Old and New Testaments and the Quran and the Bahai scriptures in Monotheism, and the various other sacred texts of other religions. But it doesn't always have to be the big scripture book which makes your day on spiritual guidance. It can be one of the minors, which might not really be a minor in the end anyway. For example, 'In Search of Wisdom' by evangelical Christian Robert Hicks, is an excellent assessment of the book of proverbs and the wisdom it offers life. You know, to my way of thinking, you could live by such a book alone as your font of spiritual wisdom. You wouldn't really need anything else after a while. Whatever tickles your fancy, really, on religion or spirituality. The Celestine Prophecy is another book I recommend. But, this is the key thing, why choose a religious book anyway? What we might often find in life is that without a religion or core set of values we affirm, life can be flaky and subject to chaotic whimsical behaviour. Always off to the latest trend or fashion - never settling into a stable lifestyle. In the end, it is really just that. Choose a book, Whatever religious book you want, and STICK WITH IT. When you learn its rules and values and ethos, and you inculcate that into your life, you STABILIZE your life with the same influence time and again. Me, personally - I am definitely the kind of person who could choose a whole host of religious books. So many I find appealing. But I have ended up with the oldest of them all, the Old Testament as a Karaite Noahide, and my own religious writings which I call the Rainbow Bible and the Chronicles of the Children of Destiny. But there are limitless options available to every Tom, Dick and Harriet. Choose one. Settle on it. Determine in your heart to stick to it for all eternity. You see, its the stability in the end that it offers which will hook you into it for eternity. The same constant theme, the same way of life, the same ability to stabilize in your life, and stick with the routine of things. And, in the end, routine is something we probably need a lot of. Especially some of the crazier of us. Thanks.
Sermon Sixteen - The Advancing Noah Movement is LBGT NON-Friendly.
We tolerate LBGTs (Lesbians, Bisexuals, Gays, Transsexuals) who adhere to a strict code of lawful behaviour in their life as acceptable for exemption from capital punishment, and accept full citizenship claims, but LBGT sexual behaviour is considered an abomination by us. As a movement, we don't really give a damn if society is pro-gay or anti-gay at any particular time. The position of a fluctuating democracy on morality does not change our essential stance from age to age. We do tolerate membership of LBGTs in our Assembly when and where a strict code of personal lawful behaviour is adhered to, and discussion and any forms of outward LBGT behaviour is kept within personal lives and does not interfere with the fuller Assembly. We do not advocate 'Keeping it in the closet' as it were, as our headship should be informed of your sexuality choices, but it is more of a practical 'Please tone it down and keep it in your private life' if you wish to fellowship with us. By the time the behaviour becomes flagrant, we do not oppose and generally support capital punishment for this behaviour. We are not anti-gay people haters. We do accept that they make their own choice on their sexual behaviour, and we view it most definitely as a choice of behaviour, rather than orientation. People become familiar with the gay spirit or feelings, think that they like it a bit, and gradually allow it into their lives. Traditionally this was called giving into temptation. Gay people can still be kind, decent, thoughtful and generally law abiding, and in this real sense we certainly do have respect for and positive views on such gay people. It's just that we know where this lifestyle leads eventually - down a rugged and slippery path. To call us homophobic is stupid - we have plenty of love and respect for our fellow men, regardless of what lifestyle choices they make. But we would encourage them not to be idiots for its is a devil's pathway in the end. So, dear Elton John, Madonna and George Michael - you are perfectly welcome to join our fellowship, and would be valued members. But even having good intentions on the road to hell does not wash that much with us in the end. Repentance is generally recommended. Your choices, though. Glad to see you can live with the consequences.
Psalms of the Universal Faith Assembly
Psalm 1
May God bless us Now and Forever. Alleluia
Psalm 2
Lord of Grace. When I stuff up, and sin, I feel guilt. And it bothers me. Because I want to be a good person.
Lord of Grace. When I stuff up, and sin, I feel shame. And it bothers me. Because I want a good standing with you.
Lord of Grace. When I stuff up, and sin, I am not at peace. And it bothers me. Because I want my life to work out properly with a blessing.
So what would I do, God, if you weren't a Lord of Grace?
Psalm 3
The Lord is a God of Kindness. The Lord is a God of Love. Surely I should show to God humility. Surely I should be as gentle dove.
The Lord is a God of Purity. The Lord is a God of Truth. Surely I should show to God Holiness. Surely unto him I should be True.
The Lord is my God. To him I sing Alleluia.
The Lord if my God. To him my heart does praise.
Be kind unto God, for he shows us all his mercy.
Be kind unto God, the glory whom we praise.
Psalm 4
The Lord of the Universe – A Mind Infinite – We ask for your guidance, we ask for your protection.
The Lord of the Universe – A heart unlimited – We ask for your mercy, we ask for your love
The Lord of the Universe – A grace untold – We ask for your thoughtfulness, we ask for your attention
The Lord of the Universe – A Wisdom Omnipotent – we ask for your teaching, we ask for your truth
Lord God Almighty, you are the source of Universal Faith, for who can deny all roads of truth lead to you
Lord God Almighty, you are the source of Universal Love, for who can deny all hearts find your touch
Lord God Almighty, you are the source of Universal Inspiration, for all will admit they are in the image of God truly made
Lord God Almighty, you are the source of Universal Prosperity, for all will admit they succeed in your blessing
Thank you God of the Universe
For your Presence
Thank you God of the Universe
For your Abounding Love
AMEN
Psalm 5
God, the Lord, of the Universal Faith, Alleluia. Amen.
God, the Lord, of the Universal Faith, Alleluia. Amen.
God, Creator, Divine Fire, Divine Glory
God, Our Maker, Divine Light, Forever Story
God, the Saviour, Divine Truth, We Adore Thee
Alleluia
Amen
We praise our God with our hearts of Love
Not vanity, but purest Love
We thank our God with hearts of Love
Not Pride you see, but purest Love
We draw close near to Yahweh
We follow Jehovah God
And know that it is peace and joy
Twixt Us
Not Whip, or Rod
God, the Lord, of the Universal Faith, Alleluia. Amen.
God, the Lord, of the Universal Faith, Alleluia. AMEN.
Psalm 6
Praise to you, Saviour of Men
Thank you for your kindness
Praise to you, salvation of life
You deliver me from my spiritual blindness
You lead me on, you chastise my forlornness
You rebuke me when I sin
But with the Lord, with God above
I can not lose, I'll surely win
Thank you God, for your grace
Thank you God, for your love
Teach me truth, every day
Praise to you. God above
Psalm 7
May Yahovah guide us, if he is willing.
May Yahovah teach us, if he is our saviour.
Yet, while we may doubt,
May Yahovah show his grace and help us regardless
Thank you Yahovah for whatever kindness you show me
Thank you God for your presence and touch
Amen
The Book of Nelson Mandela
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia – Public Domain Material
Official Education and Teaching Material for UFA. Life Lessons, Halakah and Morality and Ethics Guide Book.
1st President of South Africa
In office
10 May 1994 – 14 June 1999
Deputy Thabo Mbeki
F. W. de Klerk
Preceded by F. W. de Klerk
as State President
Succeeded by Thabo Mbeki
Personal details
Born Rolihlahla Mandela
18 July 1918
Mvezo, Cape Province, Union of South Africa
Died 5 December 2013 (aged 95)
Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa
Resting place Mandela Graveyard
Qunu, Eastern Cape
31°48′21.8″S 28°36′52.7″E
Nationality South African
Political party African National Congress
Other political
affiliations South African Communist Party
Spouse(s)
Evelyn Ntoko Mase (m. 1944; div. 1958)
Winnie Madikizela (m. 1958; div. 1996)
Graça Machel (m. 1998; his death 2013)
Children
Thembekile Mandela
Makaziwe Mandela
Makgatho Mandela
Makaziwe Mandela
Zenani Mandela
Zindziswa Mandela
Alma mater
University of Fort Hare
UoL External Programme
University of South Africa
University of the Witwatersrand
Occupation
Activist
Politician
Philanthropist
Lawyer
Religion Methodist
Known for Anti-Apartheid Movement
Awards
Sakharov Prize (1988)
Bharat Ratna (1990)
Nobel Peace Prize (1993)
Order of Lenin
Presidential Medal of Freedom
Notable work(s) Long Walk to Freedom
Signature Signature of Nelson Mandela
Website www.nelsonmandela.org
Nickname(s) Madiba
Tata
Dalibunga
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (/mænˈdɛlə/;[1] 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, politician, and philanthropist, who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black chief executive, and the first elected in a fully representative democratic election. His government focused on dismantling the legacy of apartheid through tackling institutionalised racism and fostering racial reconciliation. Politically an African nationalist and democratic socialist, he served as President of the African National Congress (ANC) party from 1991 to 1997.
A Xhosa born to the Thembu royal family, Mandela attended Fort Hare University and the University of Witwatersrand, where he studied law. Living in Johannesburg, he became involved in anti-colonial politics, joining the ANC and becoming a founding member of its Youth League. After the Afrikaner minority government of the National Party established apartheid – a system of racial segregation that privileged whites – in 1948, he rose to prominence in the ANC's 1952 anti-apartheid Defiance Campaign, was appointed superintendent of the organisation's Transvaal chapter and presided over the 1955 Congress of the People. Working as a lawyer, he was repeatedly arrested for seditious activities and, with the ANC leadership, was unsuccessfully prosecuted in the Treason Trial from 1956 to 1961. Influenced by Marxism, he secretly joined the South African Communist Party (SACP). Although initially committed to non-violent protest, in association with the SACP he co-founded the militant Umkhonto we Sizwe in 1961, leading a sabotage campaign against the government. In 1962, he was arrested, convicted of conspiracy to overthrow the state, and sentenced to life imprisonment in the Rivonia Trial.
Mandela served 27 years in prison, initially on Robben Island, and later in Pollsmoor Prison and Victor Verster Prison. An international campaign lobbied for his release, which was granted in 1990 amid escalating civil strife. Mandela joined negotiations with President F. W. de Klerk to abolish apartheid and establish multiracial elections in 1994, in which he led the ANC to victory and became South Africa's first black president. He published his autobiography in 1995. Leading South Africa's Government of National Unity, which promulgated a new constitution, Mandela also created the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate past human rights abuses. While continuing with the former government's economic liberalism, his administration introduced measures to encourage land reform, combat poverty, and expand healthcare services. Internationally, he acted as mediator in the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial, oversaw military intervention in Lesotho, and served as Secretary General of the Non-Aligned Movement from 1998–99. Declining a second presidential term, he was succeeded by his deputy, Thabo Mbeki. Mandela became an elder statesman, focusing on charitable work in combating poverty and HIV/AIDS through the Nelson Mandela Foundation.
Mandela was a controversial figure for much of his life. Denounced as a communist terrorist by critics, he faced particular opposition from supporters of apartheid. Conversely, he gained international acclaim for his activism, having received more than 250 honours, including the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize, the US Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the Soviet Lenin Peace Prize. He is held in deep respect within South Africa, where he is often referred to by his Xhosa clan name, Madiba, or as Tata ("Father"), and described as the "Father of the Nation".
Early life
Childhood: 1918–34
Mandela was born on 18 July 1918 in the village of Mvezo in Umtata, then a part of South Africa's Cape Province.[2] Given the forename Rolihlahla, a Xhosa term colloquially meaning "troublemaker",[3] in later years he became known by his clan name, Madiba.[4] His patrilineal great-grandfather, Ngubengcuka, was ruler of the Thembu people in the Transkeian Territories of South Africa's modern Eastern Cape province.[5] One of this king's sons, named Mandela, became Nelson's grandfather and the source of his surname.[6] Because Mandela was only the king's child by a wife of the Ixhiba clan, a so-called "Left-Hand House", the descendants of his cadet branch of the royal family were morganatic, ineligible to inherit the throne but recognised as hereditary royal councillors.[7] His father, Gadla Henry Mphakanyiswa, was a local chief and councillor to the monarch; he had been appointed to the position in 1915, after his predecessor was accused of corruption by a governing white magistrate.[8] In 1926 Gadla was also sacked for corruption, but Nelson was told that he had lost his job for standing up to the magistrate's unreasonable demands.[9] A devotee of the god Qamata,[10] Gadla was a polygamist, having four wives, four sons and nine daughters, who lived in different villages. Nelson's mother was Gadla's third wife, Nosekeni Fanny, who was daughter of Nkedama of the Right Hand House and a member of the amaMpemvu clan of Xhosa.[11]
"No one in my family had ever attended school [...] On the first day of school my teacher, Miss Mdingane, gave each of us an English name. This was the custom among Africans in those days and was undoubtedly due to the British bias of our education. That day, Miss Mdingane told me that my new name was Nelson. Why this particular name I have no idea."
— Mandela, 1994[12]
Later stating that his early life was dominated by traditional Thembu custom and taboo,[13] Mandela grew up with two sisters in his mother's kraal in the village of Qunu, where he tended herds as a cattle-boy, spending much time outside with other boys.[14] Both his parents were illiterate, but being a devout Christian, his mother sent him to a local Methodist school when he was about seven. Baptised a Methodist, Mandela was given the English forename of "Nelson" by his teacher.[15] When Mandela was about nine, his father came to stay at Qunu, where he died of an undiagnosed ailment which Mandela believed to be lung disease.[16] Feeling "cut adrift", he later said that he inherited his father's "proud rebelliousness" and "stubborn sense of fairness".[17]
Mandela's mother took him to the "Great Place" palace at Mqhekezweni, where he was entrusted under the guardianship of Thembu regent, Chief Jongintaba Dalindyebo. Although he did not see his mother again for many years, Mandela felt that Jongintaba and his wife Noengland treated him as their own child, raising him alongside their son Justice and daughter Nomafu.[18] As Mandela attended church services every Sunday with his guardians, Christianity became a significant part of his life.[19] He attended a Methodist mission school located next to the palace, studying English, Xhosa, history and geography.[20] He developed a love of African history, listening to the tales told by elderly visitors to the palace, and became influenced by the anti-imperialist rhetoric of the visiting Chief Joyi.[21] At the time he nevertheless considered the European colonialists not as oppressors but as benefactors who had brought education and other benefits to southern Africa.[22] Aged 16, he, Justice and several other boys travelled to Tyhalarha to undergo the circumcision ritual that symbolically marked their transition from boys to men; the rite over, he was given the name Dalibunga.[23]
Clarkebury, Healdtown, and Fort Hare: 1934–40
Photograph of Mandela, taken circa 1937
Intending to gain skills needed to become a privy councillor for the Thembu royal house, Mandela began his secondary education at Clarkebury Methodist High School Engcobo, a Western-style institution that was the largest school for black Africans in Thembuland.[24] Made to socialise with other students on an equal basis, he claimed that he lost his "stuck up" attitude, becoming best friends with a girl for the first time; he began playing sports and developed his lifelong love of gardening.[25] Completing his Junior Certificate in two years,[26] in 1937 he moved to Healdtown, the Methodist college in Fort Beaufort attended by most Thembu royalty, including Justice.[27] The headmaster emphasised the superiority of English culture and government, but Mandela became increasingly interested in native African culture, making his first non-Xhosa friend, a Sotho language-speaker, and coming under the influence of one of his favourite teachers, a Xhosa who broke taboo by marrying a Sotho.[28] Spending much of his spare time long-distance running and boxing, in his second year Mandela became a prefect.[29]
With Jongintaba's backing, Mandela began work on a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree at the University of Fort Hare, an elite black institution in Alice, Eastern Cape, with around 150 students. There he studied English, anthropology, politics, native administration, and Roman Dutch law in his first year, desiring to become an interpreter or clerk in the Native Affairs Department.[30] Mandela stayed in the Wesley House dormitory, befriending his own kinsman, K.D. Matanzima, as well as Oliver Tambo, who became a close friend and comrade for decades to come.[31] Continuing his interest in sport, Mandela took up ballroom dancing,[32] performed in a drama society play about Abraham Lincoln,[33] and gave Bible classes in the local community as part of the Students Christian Association.[34] Although having friends connected to the African National Congress (ANC) and the anti-imperialist movement who wanted an independent South Africa, Mandela avoided any involvement,[35] and became a vocal supporter of the British war effort when the Second World War broke out.[36] Helping found a first-year students' house committee which challenged the dominance of the second-years,[37] at the end of his first year he became involved in a Students' Representative Council (SRC) boycott against the quality of food, for which he was temporarily suspended from the university; he left without receiving a degree.[38]
Arriving in Johannesburg: 1941–43
Returning to Mqhekezweni in December 1940, Mandela found that Jongintaba had arranged marriages for him and Justice; dismayed, they fled to Johannesburg via Queenstown, arriving in April 1941.[39] Mandela found work as a night watchman at Crown Mines, his "first sight of South African capitalism in action", but was fired when the induna (headman) discovered that he was a runaway.[40] Staying with a cousin in George Goch Township, Mandela was introduced to the realtor and ANC activist Walter Sisulu, who secured him a job as an articled clerk at law firm Witkin, Sidelsky and Eidelman. The company was run by a liberal Jew, Lazar Sidelsky, who was sympathetic to the ANC's cause.[41] At the firm, Mandela befriended Gaur Radebe, a Xhosa member of the ANC and Communist Party, as well as Nat Bregman, a Jewish communist who became his first white friend.[42] Attending communist talks and parties, Mandela was impressed that Europeans, Africans, Indians and Coloureds were mixing as equals. He stated later that he did not join the Party because its atheism conflicted with his Christian faith, and because he saw the South African struggle as being racially based rather than class warfare.[43] Continuing his higher education, Mandela signed up to a University of South Africa correspondence course, working on his bachelor's degree at night.[44]
Earning a small wage, Mandela rented a room in the house of the Xhoma family in the Alexandra township; despite being rife with poverty, crime and pollution, Alexandra always remained a special place for him.[45] Although embarrassed by his poverty, he briefly courted a Swazi woman before unsuccessfully courting his landlord's daughter.[46] In order to save money and be closer to downtown Johannesburg, Mandela moved into the compound of the Witwatersrand Native Labour Association, living among miners of various tribes; as the compound was visited by various chiefs, he once met the Queen Regent of Basutoland.[47] In late 1941, Jongintaba visited, forgiving Mandela for running away. On returning to Thembuland, the regent died in winter 1942; Mandela and Justice arrived a day late for the funeral.[48] After passing his BA exams in early 1943, Mandela returned to Johannesburg to follow a political path as a lawyer rather than become a privy councillor in Thembuland.[49] He later stated that he experienced no epiphany, but that he "simply found myself doing so, and could not do otherwise."[50]
Revolutionary activity
Law studies and the ANC Youth League: 1943–49
Mandela began studying law at the University of Witwatersrand, where he was the only black African student in the faculty. Although facing racism from some, he befriended liberal and communist European, Jewish, and Indian students, among them Joe Slovo and Ruth First.[51] Becoming increasingly politicised, in August 1943 Mandela marched in support of a successful bus boycott to reverse fare rises.[52] Joining the ANC, he was increasingly influenced by Sisulu, spending much time with other activists at Sisulu's Orlando house, including old friend Oliver Tambo.[53] In 1943, Mandela met Anton Lembede, an ANC member affiliated with the Africanist wing of African nationalism, which was virulently opposed to a racially united front against colonialism and imperialism or to an alliance with the communists.[54] Despite his friendships with non-blacks and communists, Mandela embraced Lembede's views, believing that black Africans should be entirely independent in their struggle for political self-determination.[55] Deciding on the need for a youth wing to mass mobilise Africans in opposition to their subjugation, Mandela was among a delegation that approached ANC President Alfred Bitini Xuma on the subject at his home in Sophiatown; the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) was founded on Easter Sunday 1944 in the Bantu Men's Social Centre in Eloff Street, with Lembede as President and Mandela as a member of its executive committee.[56]
Mandela and Evelyn in July 1944, at Walter and Albertina Sisulu's wedding party in the Bantu Men's Social Centre.[57]
At Sisulu's house, Mandela met Evelyn Mase, a trainee nurse and ANC activist from Engcobo, Transkei. Entering a relationship and marrying in October 1944, they initially lived with her relatives until moving in to a rented house in Orlando in early 1946.[58] Their first child, Madiba "Thembi" Thembekile, was born in February 1945; a daughter, Makaziwe, was born in 1947 but died of meningitis nine months later.[59] Mandela enjoyed home life, welcoming his mother and sister Leabie to stay with him.[60] In early 1947, his three years of articles ended at Witkin, Sidelsky and Eidelman, and he decided to become a full-time student, subsisting on loans from the Bantu Welfare Trust.[61]
In July 1947, Mandela rushed Lembede, who was ill, to hospital, where he died; he was succeeded as ANCYL president by the more moderate Peter Mda, who agreed to co-operate with communists and non-blacks, appointing Mandela ANCYL secretary.[62] Mandela disagreed with Mda's approach, in December 1947 supporting an unsuccessful measure to expel communists from the ANCYL, considering their ideology un-African.[63] In 1947, Mandela was elected to the executive committee of the ANC's Transvaal Province branch, serving under regional president C. S. Ramohanoe. When Ramohanoe acted against the wishes of the committee by co-operating with Indians and communists, Mandela was one of those who forced his resignation.[64]
In the South African general election, 1948, in which only whites were permitted to vote, the Afrikaner-dominated Herenigde Nasionale Party under Daniel François Malan took power, soon uniting with the Afrikaner Party to form the National Party. Openly racialist, the party codified and expanded racial segregation with the new apartheid legislation.[65] Gaining increasing influence in the ANC, Mandela and his cadres began advocating direct action against apartheid, such as boycotts and strikes, influenced by the tactics already employed by South Africa's Indian community. Xuma did not support these measures and was removed from the presidency in a vote of no confidence, replaced by James Moroka and a more militant executive containing Sisulu, Mda, Tambo and Godfrey Pitje.[66] Mandela later related that "We had now guided the ANC to a more radical and revolutionary path."[67] Having devoted his time to politics, Mandela failed his final year at Witwatersrand three times; he was ultimately denied his degree in December 1949.[68]
Defiance Campaign and Transvaal ANC Presidency: 1950–54
The ANC's tricolour flag; black for the people, green for the land, and gold for the resources of Africa[69]
Mandela took Xuma's place on the ANC national executive in March 1950,[70] and that same year was elected national president of the ANCYL.[71] In March, the Defend Free Speech Convention was held in Johannesburg, bringing together African, Indian, and communist activists to call a May Day general strike in protest against apartheid and white minority rule. Mandela opposed the strike because it was multi-racial and not ANC-led, but a majority of black workers took part, resulting in increased police repression and the introduction of the Suppression of Communism Act, 1950, affecting the actions of all protest groups.[72] At the ANC national conference of December 1951, he continued arguing against a racially united front, but was outvoted.[73]
Thenceforth, he rejected Lembede's Africanist beliefs and embraced the idea of a multi-racial front against apartheid.[74] Influenced by friends like Moses Kotane and by the Soviet Union's support for wars of independence, Mandela's mistrust of communism broke down and he began reading literature by Marxists like Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, and Mao Zedong, eventually embracing the Marxist idea of dialectical materialism.[75] Commenting on communism, he later stated that he "found myself strongly drawn to the idea of a classless society which, to my mind, was similar to traditional African culture where life was shared and communal."[76] In April 1952, Mandela began work at the H.M. Basner law firm,[77] though his increasing commitment to work and activism meant he spent less time with his family.[78]
In 1952, the ANC began preparation for a joint Defiance Campaign against apartheid with Indian and communist groups, founding a National Voluntary Board to recruit volunteers. The campaign was designed to follow the path of nonviolent resistance influenced by Mahatma Gandhi; some supported this for ethical reasons, but Mandela instead considered it pragmatic.[79] At a Durban rally on 22 June, Mandela addressed an assembled crowd of 10,000, initiating the campaign protests, for which he was arrested and briefly interned in Marshall Square prison.[80] With further protests, the ANC's membership grew from 20,000 to 100,000; the government responded with mass arrests and introduced the Public Safety Act, 1953 to permit martial law.[81] In May, authorities banned Transvaal ANC President J. B. Marks from making public appearances; unable to maintain his position, he recommended Mandela as his successor. Although Africanists opposed his candidacy, Mandela was elected regional president in October.[82]
Mandela's former home in the Johannesburg township of Soweto
In July 1952, Mandela was arrested under the Suppression of Communism Act and stood trial as a part of the 21 accused – among them Moroka, Sisulu, and Yusuf Dadoo – in Johannesburg. Found guilty of "statutory communism", a term that the government used to describe most opposition to apartheid, their sentence of nine months' hard labour was suspended for two years.[83] In December, Mandela was given a six-month ban from attending meetings or talking to more than one individual at a time, making his Transvaal ANC presidency impractical, and during this period the Defiance Campaign petered out.[84] In September 1953, Andrew Kunene read out Mandela's "No Easy Walk to Freedom" speech at a Transvaal ANC meeting; the title was taken from a quote by Indian independence leader Jawaharlal Nehru, a seminal influence on Mandela's thought. The speech laid out a contingency plan for a scenario in which the ANC was banned. This Mandela Plan, or M-Plan, involved dividing the organisation into a cell structure with a more centralised leadership.[85]
Mandela obtained work as an attorney for the firm Terblanche and Briggish, before moving to the liberal-run Helman and Michel, passing qualification exams to become a full-fledged attorney.[86] In August 1953, Mandela and Tambo opened their own law firm, Mandela and Tambo, operating in downtown Johannesburg. The only African-run law firm in the country, it was popular with aggrieved blacks, often dealing with cases of police brutality. Disliked by the authorities, the firm was forced to relocate to a remote location after their office permit was removed under the Group Areas Act; as a result, their custom dwindled.[87] Though a second daughter, Makaziwe Phumia, was born in May 1954, Mandela's relationship with Evelyn became strained, and she accused him of adultery. Claims have emerged that he was having affairs with ANC member Lillian Ngoyi and secretary Ruth Mompati; various individuals close to Mandela in this period have stated that the latter bore him a child.[88] Disgusted by her son's behaviour, Nosekeni returned to Transkei, while Evelyn embraced the Jehovah's Witnesses and rejected Mandela's preoccupation with politics.[89]
Congress of the People and the Treason Trial: 1955–61
Main article: Treason Trial
"We, the people of South Africa, declare for all our country and the world to know:
That South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white, and that no government can justly claim authority unless it is based on the will of the people."
— Opening words of the Freedom Charter[90]
After taking part in the unsuccessful protest to prevent the forced relocation of all black people from the Sophiatown suburb of Johannesburg in February 1955, Mandela concluded that violent action would prove necessary to end apartheid and white minority rule.[91] He advised Sisulu to request weaponry from the People's Republic of China, but though the Chinese government supported the anti-apartheid struggle, they believed the movement insufficiently prepared for guerilla warfare.[92] With the involvement of the South African Indian Congress, the Coloured People's Congress, the South African Congress of Trade Unions and the Congress of Democrats, the ANC planned a Congress of the People, calling on all South Africans to send in proposals for a post-apartheid era. Based on the responses, a Freedom Charter was drafted by Rusty Bernstein, calling for the creation of a democratic, non-racialist state with the nationalisation of major industry. When the charter was adopted at a June 1955 conference in Kliptown attended by 3000 delegates, police cracked down on the event, but it remained a key part of Mandela's ideology.[93]
Following the end of a second ban in September 1955, Mandela went on a working holiday to Transkei to discuss the implications of the Bantu Authorities Act, 1951 with local tribal leaders, also visiting his mother and Noengland before proceeding to Cape Town.[94] In March 1956 he received his third ban on public appearances, restricting him to Johannesburg for five years, but he often defied it.[95] His marriage broke down as Evelyn left Mandela, taking their children to live with her brother. Initiating divorce proceedings in May 1956, she claimed that Mandela had physically abused her; he denied the allegations, and fought for custody of their children.[96] She withdrew her petition of separation in November, but Mandela filed for divorce in January 1958; the divorce was finalised in March, with the children placed in Evelyn's care.[97] During the divorce proceedings, he began courting and politicising a social worker, Winnie Madikizela, whom he married in Bizana in June 1958. She later became involved in ANC activities, spending several weeks in prison.[98] Together they had two children; Zenani was born in February 1959 and Zindziswa in December 1960.[99]
Mandela publicly burning his pass in 1960; he did so in front of press photographers[100]
In December 1956, Mandela was arrested alongside most of the ANC national executive, accused of "high treason" against the state. Held in Johannesburg Prison amid mass protests, they underwent a preparatory examination before being granted bail.[101] The defence's refutation began in January 1957, overseen by defence lawyer Vernon Berrangé, and continued until adjourning in September. In January 1958, Oswald Pirow was appointed to prosecute the case, and in February the judge ruled that there was "sufficient reason" for the defendants to go on trial in the Transvaal Supreme Court.[102] The formal Treason Trial began in Pretoria in August 1958, with the defendants successfully applying to have the three judges – all linked to the governing National Party – replaced. In August, one charge was dropped, and in October the prosecution withdrew its indictment, submitting a reformulated version in November which argued that the ANC leadership committed high treason by advocating violent revolution, a charge the defendants denied.[103]
In April 1959, Africanists dissatisfied with the ANC's united front approach founded the Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC); Mandela's friend Robert Sobukwe was elected president, although Mandela disagreed with the group's racially exclusionary views, describing them as "immature" and "naïve".[104] Both parties campaigned for an anti-pass campaign in early 1960, in which Africans burned the passes that they were legally obliged to carry. One of the PAC-organised demonstrations was fired upon by police, resulting in the deaths of 69 protesters in the Sharpeville massacre. The incident brought international condemnation of the government and resulted in rioting throughout South Africa, with Mandela publicly burning his pass in solidarity.[105]
Responding to the unrest, the government implemented state of emergency measures, declaring martial law and banning the ANC and PAC, while in March they arrested Mandela and other activists, imprisoning them for five months without charge in the unsanitary conditions of the Pretoria Local prison.[106] Imprisonment caused problems for Mandela and his co-defendants in the Treason Trial; their lawyers could not reach them, and so it was decided that the lawyers would withdraw in protest until the accused were freed from prison when the state of emergency was lifted in late August 1960.[107] Over the following months, Mandela used his free time to organise an All-In African Conference near Pietermaritzburg, Natal, in March 1961, at which 1,400 anti-apartheid delegates met, agreeing on a stay-at-home strike to mark 31 May, the day South Africa became a republic.[108] On 29 March 1961, six years after the Treason Trial began, the judges produced a verdict of not guilty, claiming that there was insufficient evidence to convict the accused of "high treason" for they had not advocated either communism nor violent revolution; the outcome embarrassed the government.[109]
MK, the SACP, and African tour: 1961–62
Thatched room at Liliesleaf Farm, where Mandela hid
Disguised as a chauffeur, Mandela travelled the country incognito, organising the ANC's new cell structure and the planned mass stay-at-home strike. Referred to as the "Black Pimpernel" in the press – a reference to Emma Orczy's 1905 novel The Scarlet Pimpernel – a warrant for his arrest was put out by the police.[110] Mandela held secret meetings with reporters, and after the government failed to prevent the strike, he warned them that many anti-apartheid activists would soon resort to violence through groups like the PAC's Poqo.[111] He believed that the ANC should form an armed group to channel some of this violence in a controlled direction, convincing both ANC leader Albert Luthuli – who was morally opposed to violence – and allied activist groups of its necessity.[112]
Inspired by the actions of Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement in the Cuban Revolution, in 1961 Mandela, Sisulu, and Slovo co-founded Umkhonto we Sizwe ("Spear of the Nation", abbreviated MK). Becoming chairman of the militant group, Mandela gained ideas from Marxist literature on guerilla warfare by Mao and Che Guevara as well as from the military theorist Carl von Clausewitz.[113] Although initially declared officially separate from the ANC so as not to taint the latter's reputation, it later became widely recognised that MK was the party's armed wing.[114] Most early MK members were white communists who were able to hide Mandela in their homes; after hiding in communist Wolfie Kodesh's flat in Berea, Mandela moved to the communist-owned Liliesleaf Farm in Rivonia, there joined by Raymond Mhlaba, Slovo, and Bernstein, who put together the MK constitution.[115] Although in later life Mandela denied ever being a member of the Communist Party, historical research published in 2011 strongly suggested that he had joined in the late 1950s or early 1960s.[116] This was confirmed by both the SACP and the ANC after Mandela's death. According to the SACP, he was not only a member of the party, but also served on its Central Committee, but later denied it for political reasons.[117]
"We of Umkhonto have always sought to achieve liberation without bloodshed and civil clash. We hope, even at this late hour, that our first actions will awaken everyone to a realization of the dangerous situation to which Nationalist policy is leading. We hope that we will bring the Government and its supporters to their senses before it is too late, so that both government and its policies can be changed before matters reach the desperate stage of civil war."
— Statement released by MK to announce the start of their sabotage campaign[118]
Operating through a cell structure, MK planned to carry out acts of sabotage that would exert maximum pressure on the government with minimum casualties; they sought to bomb military installations, power plants, telephone lines, and transport links at night, when civilians were not present. Mandela stated that they chose sabotage because it was the least harmful action, did not involve killing, and offered the best hope for racial reconciliation afterward; he nevertheless acknowledged that should this fail then guerrilla warfare might have been necessary.[119] Soon after ANC leader Luthuli was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, MK publicly announced its existence with 57 bombings on Dingane's Day (16 December) 1961, followed by further attacks on New Year's Eve.[120]
The ANC decided to send Mandela as a delegate to the February 1962 Pan-African Freedom Movement for East, Central and Southern Africa (PAFMECSA) meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.[121] Leaving South Africa in secret via Bechuanaland, on the journey Mandela visited Tanganyika and met with its president, Julius Nyerere.[122] Arriving in Ethiopia, Mandela met with Emperor Haile Selassie I, and gave his speech after Selassie's at the conference.[123] After the symposium, he travelled to Cairo, Egypt, admiring the political reforms of President Gamal Abdel Nasser, and then went to Tunis, Tunisia, where President Habib Bourguiba gave him £5000 for weaponry. He proceeded to Morocco, Mali, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Senegal, receiving funds from Liberian President William Tubman and Guinean President Ahmed Sékou Touré.[124] Leaving Africa for London, England, he met anti-apartheid activists, reporters, and prominent politicians.[125] Returning to Ethiopia, he began a six-month course in guerrilla warfare, but completed only two months before being recalled to South Africa.[126]
Imprisonment
Arrest and Rivonia trial: 1962–64
Main article: Rivonia Trial
On 5 August 1962, police captured Mandela along with fellow activist Cecil Williams near Howick.[127] Various rumours have circulated suggesting that the authorities were tipped off with regard to Mandela's whereabouts, although Mandela himself gave these little credence.[128] One idea was that his location had been revealed to South African police by the United States' Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which feared that Mandela was a communist; this claim later received support from an ex-U.S. diplomat who claimed involvement in the operation.[129][130] Jailed in Johannesburg's Marshall Square prison, Mandela was charged with inciting workers' strikes and leaving the country without permission. Representing himself with Slovo as legal advisor, Mandela intended to use the trial to showcase "the ANC's moral opposition to racism" while supporters demonstrated outside the court.[131] Moved to Pretoria, where Winnie could visit him, in his cell he began correspondence studies for a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree from the University of London.[132] His hearing began in October, but he disrupted proceedings by wearing a traditional kaross, refusing to call any witnesses, and turning his plea of mitigation into a political speech. Found guilty, he was sentenced to five years' imprisonment; as he left the courtroom, supporters sang "Nkosi Sikelel iAfrika".[133]
"I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons will live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to see realised. But if it needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die."
— Mandela's Rivonia Trial Speech, 1964[134][135]
In July 1963, police raided Liliesleaf Farm, arresting those they found there and uncovering paperwork documenting MK's activities, some of which mentioned Mandela. The Rivonia Trial began at Pretoria Supreme Court in October, with Mandela and his comrades charged with four counts of sabotage and conspiracy to violently overthrow the government; their chief prosecutor was Percy Yutar.[136] Judge Quartus de Wet soon threw out the prosecution's case for insufficient evidence, but Yutar reformulated the charges, presenting his new case from December until February 1964, calling 173 witnesses and bringing thousands of documents and photographs to the trial.[137]
Although four of the accused denied involvement with MK, Mandela and the five other accused admitted sabotage but denied that they had ever agreed to initiate guerrilla war against the government.[138] They used the trial to highlight their political cause; at the opening of the defence's proceedings, Mandela gave his three-hour "I Am Prepared to Die" speech. That speech – which was inspired by Castro's "History Will Absolve Me" – was widely reported in the press despite official censorship.[139] The trial gained international attention; there were global calls for the release of the accused from the United Nations and World Peace Council, while the University of London Union voted Mandela to its presidency.[140] On 12 June 1964, justice De Wet found Mandela and two of his co-accused guilty on all four charges; although the prosecution had called for the death sentence to be applied, the judge instead condemned them to life imprisonment.[141]
Robben Island: 1964–82
Mandela and his co-accused were transferred from Pretoria to the prison on Robben Island, remaining there for the next 18 years.[142] Isolated from non-political prisoners in Section B, Mandela was imprisoned in a damp concrete cell measuring 8 feet (2.4 m) by 7 feet (2.1 m), with a straw mat on which to sleep.[143] Verbally and physically harassed by several white prison wardens, the Rivonia Trial prisoners spent their days breaking rocks into gravel, until being reassigned in January 1965 to work in a lime quarry. Mandela was initially forbidden to wear sunglasses, and the glare from the lime permanently damaged his eyesight.[144] At night, he worked on his LLB degree, but newspapers were forbidden, and he was locked in solitary confinement on several occasions for possessing smuggled news clippings.[145] Initially classified as the lowest grade of prisoner, Class D, he was permitted one visit and one letter every six months, although all mail was heavily censored.[146]
Lime quarry on Robben Island where Mandela and other prisoners were subjected to hard labour
The political prisoners took part in work and hunger strikes – the latter considered largely ineffective by Mandela – to improve prison conditions, viewing this as a microcosm of the anti-apartheid struggle.[147] ANC prisoners elected him to their four-man "High Organ" along with Sisulu, Govan Mbeki and Raymond Mhlaba, and he involved himself in a group representing all political prisoners on the island, Ulundi, through which he forged links with PAC and Yu Chi Chan Club members.[148] Initiating the "University of Robben Island", whereby prisoners lectured on their own areas of expertise, he debated topics such as homosexuality and politics with his comrades, getting into fierce arguments on the latter with Marxists like Mbeki and Harry Gwala.[149] Though attending Christian Sunday services, Mandela studied Islam.[150] He also studied Afrikaans, hoping to build a mutual respect with the warders and convert them to his cause.[151] Various official visitors met with Mandela; most significant was the liberal parliamentary representative Helen Suzman of the Progressive Party, who championed Mandela's cause outside prison.[152] In September 1970 he met British Labour Party MP Dennis Healey.[153] South African Minister of Justice Jimmy Kruger visited in December 1974, but he and Mandela did not get on.[154] His mother visited in 1968, dying shortly after, and his firstborn son Thembi died in a car accident the following year; Mandela was forbidden from attending either funeral.[155] His wife was rarely able to visit, being regularly imprisoned for political activity, and his daughters first visited in December 1975; Winnie got out of prison in 1977 but was forcibly settled in Brandfort, still unable to visit him.[156]
From 1967, prison conditions improved; black prisoners were given trousers rather than shorts, games were permitted, and the standard of their food was raised.[157] Mandela later commented on how football "made us feel alive and triumphant despite the situation we found ourselves in".[158] In 1969, an escape plan for Mandela was developed by Gordon Bruce, but it was abandoned after being infiltrated by an agent of the South African Bureau of State Security (BOSS), who hoped to see Mandela shot during the escape.[159] In 1970, Commander Piet Badenhorst became commanding officer. Mandela, seeing an increase in the physical and mental abuse of prisoners, complained to visiting judges, who had Badenhorst reassigned.[160] He was replaced by Commander Willie Willemse, who developed a co-operative relationship with Mandela and was keen to improve prison standards.[161]
The inside of Mandela's prison cell as it was when he was imprisoned in 1964 and his open cell window facing the prison yard on Robben Island, now a national and World Heritage Site. Mandela's cell later contained more furniture, including a bed from around 1973.[162]
By 1975, Mandela had become a Class A prisoner,[163] allowing greater numbers of visits and letters; he corresponded with anti-apartheid activists like Mangosuthu Buthelezi and Desmond Tutu.[164] That year, he began his autobiography, which was smuggled to London, but remained unpublished at the time; prison authorities discovered several pages, and his study privileges were stopped for four years.[165] Instead he devoted his spare time to gardening and reading until he resumed his LLB degree studies in 1980.[166]
By the late 1960s, Mandela's fame had been eclipsed by Steve Biko and the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM). Seeing the ANC as ineffectual, the BCM called for militant action, but following the Soweto uprising of 1976, many BCM activists were imprisoned on Robben Island.[167] Mandela tried to build a relationship with these young radicals, although he was critical of their racialism and contempt for white anti-apartheid activists.[168] Renewed international interest in his plight came in July 1978, when he celebrated his 60th birthday.[169] He was awarded an honorary doctorate in Lesotho, the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding in India in 1979, and the Freedom of the City of Glasgow, Scotland in 1981.[170] In March 1980 the slogan "Free Mandela!" was developed by journalist Percy Qoboza, sparking an international campaign that led the UN Security Council to call for his release.[171] Despite increasing foreign pressure, the government refused, relying on powerful foreign Cold War allies in US President Ronald Reagan and UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher; both considered Mandela's ANC a terrorist organisation sympathetic to communism and supported its suppression.[172]
Pollsmoor Prison: 1982–88
In April 1982 Mandela was transferred to Pollsmoor Prison in Tokai, Cape Town along with senior ANC leaders Walter Sisulu, Andrew Mlangeni, Ahmed Kathrada and Raymond Mhlaba; they believed that they were being isolated to remove their influence on younger activists.[173] Conditions at Pollsmoor were better than at Robben Island, although Mandela missed the camaraderie and scenery of the island.[174] Getting on well with Pollsmoor's commanding officer, Brigadier Munro, Mandela was permitted to create a roof garden,[175] also reading voraciously and corresponding widely, now permitted 52 letters a year.[176] He was appointed patron of the multi-racial United Democratic Front (UDF), founded to combat reforms implemented by South African President P. W. Botha. Botha's National Party government had permitted Coloured and Indian citizens to vote for their own parliaments which had control over education, health, and housing, but black Africans were excluded from the system; like Mandela, the UDF saw this as an attempt to divide the anti-apartheid movement on racial lines.[177]
Bust of Mandela erected on London's South Bank by the Greater London Council administration of Ken Livingstone in 1985
Violence across the country escalated, with many fearing civil war. Under pressure from an international lobby, multinational banks stopped investing in South Africa, resulting in economic stagnation. Numerous banks and Thatcher asked Botha to release Mandela – then at the height of his international fame – to defuse the volatile situation.[178] Although considering Mandela a dangerous "arch-Marxist",[179] in February 1985 Botha offered him a release from prison on condition that he '"unconditionally rejected violence as a political weapon". Mandela spurned the offer, releasing a statement through his daughter Zindzi stating "What freedom am I being offered while the organisation of the people [ANC] remains banned? Only free men can negotiate. A prisoner cannot enter into contracts."[180]
In 1985 Mandela underwent surgery on an enlarged prostate gland, before being given new solitary quarters on the ground floor.[181] He was met by "seven eminent persons", an international delegation sent to negotiate a settlement, but Botha's government refused to co-operate, in June calling a state of emergency and initiating a police crackdown on unrest. The anti-apartheid resistance fought back, with the ANC committing 231 attacks in 1986 and 235 in 1987. The violence escalated as the government used the army and police to combat the resistance, and provided covert support for vigilante groups and for the Zulu nationalist movement Inkatha, which was involved in an increasingly violent struggle with the ANC.[182] Mandela requested talks with Botha but was denied, instead secretly meeting with Minister of Justice Kobie Coetsee in 1987, having a further 11 meetings over 3 years. Coetsee organised negotiations between Mandela and a team of four government figures starting in May 1988; the team agreed to the release of political prisoners and the legalisation of the ANC on the condition that they permanently renounce violence, break links with the Communist Party and not insist on majority rule. Mandela rejected these conditions, insisting that the ANC would only end the armed struggle when the government renounced violence.[183]
Mandela's 70th birthday in July 1988 attracted international attention, notably with the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute concert at London's Wembley Stadium.[184] Although presented globally as a heroic figure, he faced personal problems when ANC leaders informed him that Winnie had set herself up as head of a criminal gang, the "Mandela United Football Club", who had been responsible for torturing and killing opponents – including children – in Soweto. Though some encouraged him to divorce her, he decided to remain loyal until she was found guilty by trial.[185]
Victor Verster Prison and release: 1988–90
"Nelson Mandela – Freedom fighter in South Africa" as stated in Russian by this 1988 Soviet commemorative stamp dating from the Gorbachev era
Recovering from tuberculosis exacerbated by the dank conditions in his cell,[186] in December 1988 Mandela was moved to Victor Verster Prison near Paarl. Here, he was housed in the relative comfort of a warder's house with a personal cook, using the time to complete his LLB degree.[187] There he was permitted many visitors[188] and organised secret communications with exiled ANC leader Oliver Tambo.[189] In 1989, Botha suffered a stroke, retaining the state presidency but stepping down as leader of the National Party, to be replaced by F. W. de Klerk.[190] In a surprise move, Botha invited Mandela to a meeting over tea in July 1989, an invitation Mandela considered genial.[191] Botha was replaced as state president by de Klerk six weeks later; the new president believed that apartheid was unsustainable and released a number of ANC prisoners.[192] Following the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, de Klerk called his cabinet together to debate legalising the ANC and freeing Mandela. Although some were deeply opposed to his plans, de Klerk met with Mandela in December to discuss the situation, a meeting both men considered friendly, before legalising all formerly banned political parties on 2 February 1990 and announcing Mandela's unconditional release.[193] Shortly thereafter, for the first time in 20 years, photographs of Mandela were allowed to be published in South Africa.[194]
Leaving Victor Verster Prison on 11 February, Mandela held Winnie's hand in front of amassed crowds and press; the event was broadcast live across the world.[195] Driven to Cape Town's City Hall through crowds, he gave a speech declaring his commitment to peace and reconciliation with the white minority, but made it clear that the ANC's armed struggle was not over, and would continue as "a purely defensive action against the violence of apartheid." He expressed hope that the government would agree to negotiations, so that "there may no longer be the need for the armed struggle", and insisted that his main focus was to bring peace to the black majority and give them the right to vote in national and local elections.[196] Staying at the home of Desmond Tutu, in the following days Mandela met with friends, activists, and press, giving a speech to an estimated 100,000 people at Johannesburg's Soccer City.[197]
End of apartheid
Main article: Negotiations to end apartheid in South Africa
Early negotiations: 1990–91
Luthuli House in Johannesburg, which became the ANC headquarters in 1991
Mandela proceeded on an African tour, meeting supporters and politicians in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Libya and Algeria, continuing to Sweden where he was reunited with Tambo, and then London, where he appeared at the Nelson Mandela: An International Tribute for a Free South Africa concert in Wembley Stadium.[198] Encouraging foreign countries to support sanctions against the apartheid government, in France he was welcomed by President François Mitterrand, in Vatican City by Pope John Paul II, and in the United Kingdom he met Margaret Thatcher. In the United States, he met President George H.W. Bush, addressed both Houses of Congress and visited eight cities, being particularly popular among the African-American community.[199] In Cuba he met President Fidel Castro, whom he had long admired, with the two becoming friends.[200] He met President R. Venkataraman in India, President Suharto in Indonesia, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in Malaysia, Prime Minister Bob Hawke in Australia, and visited Japan; he did not visit the Soviet Union, a longtime ANC supporter.[201]
In May 1990, Mandela led a multiracial ANC delegation into preliminary negotiations with a government delegation of 11 Afrikaner men. Mandela impressed them with his discussions of Afrikaner history, and the negotiations led to the Groot Schuur Minute, in which the government lifted the state of emergency. In August Mandela – recognising the ANC's severe military disadvantage – offered a ceasefire, the Pretoria Minute, for which he was widely criticised by MK activists.[202] He spent much time trying to unify and build the ANC, appearing at a Johannesburg conference in December attended by 1600 delegates, many of whom found him more moderate than expected.[203] At the ANC's July 1991 national conference in Durban, Mandela admitted the party's faults and announced his aim to build a "strong and well-oiled task force" for securing majority rule. At the conference, he was elected ANC President, replacing the ailing Tambo, and a 50-strong multiracial, mixed gendered national executive was elected.[204]
Mandela was given an office in the newly purchased ANC headquarters at Shell House, central Johannesburg, and moved with Winnie to her large Soweto home.[205] Their marriage was increasingly strained as he learned of her affair with Dali Mpofu, but he supported her during her trial for kidnapping and assault. He gained funding for her defence from the International Defence and Aid Fund for Southern Africa and from Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, but in June 1991 she was found guilty and sentenced to six years in prison, reduced to two on appeal. On 13 April 1992, Mandela publicly announced his separation from Winnie. The ANC forced her to step down from the national executive for misappropriating ANC funds; Mandela moved into the mostly white Johannesburg suburb of Houghton.[206] Mandela's reputation was further damaged[citation needed] by the increase in "black-on-black" violence, particularly between ANC and Inkatha supporters in KwaZulu-Natal, in which thousands died. Mandela met with Inkatha leader Buthelezi, but the ANC prevented further negotiations on the issue. Mandela recognised that there was a "third force" within the state intelligence services fuelling the "slaughter of the people" and openly blamed de Klerk – whom he increasingly distrusted – for the Sebokeng massacre.[207] In September 1991 a national peace conference was held in Johannesburg in which Mandela, Buthelezi and de Klerk signed a peace accord, though the violence continued.[208]
CODESA talks: 1991–92
The Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) began in December 1991 at the Johannesburg World Trade Center, attended by 228 delegates from 19 political parties. Although Cyril Ramaphosa led the ANC's delegation, Mandela remained a key figure, and after de Klerk used the closing speech to condemn the ANC's violence, he took to the stage to denounce de Klerk as "head of an illegitimate, discredited minority regime". Dominated by the National Party and ANC, little negotiation was achieved.[209] CODESA 2 was held in May 1992, in which de Klerk insisted that post-apartheid South Africa must use a federal system with a rotating presidency to ensure the protection of ethnic minorities; Mandela opposed this, demanding a unitary system governed by majority rule.[210] Following the Boipatong massacre of ANC activists by government-aided Inkatha militants, Mandela called off the negotiations, before attending a meeting of the Organisation of African Unity in Senegal, at which he called for a special session of the UN Security Council and proposed that a UN peacekeeping force be stationed in South Africa to prevent "state terrorism". The UN sent special envoy Cyrus Vance to the country to aid negotiations.[211] Calling for domestic mass action, in August the ANC organised the largest-ever strike in South African history, and supporters marched on Pretoria.[212]
De Klerk and Mandela shake hands at the World Economic Forum, 1992
Following the Bisho massacre, in which 28 ANC supporters and one soldier were shot dead by the Ciskei Defence Force during a protest march, Mandela realised that mass action was leading to further violence and resumed negotiations in September. He agreed to do so on the conditions that all political prisoners be released, that Zulu traditional weapons be banned, and that Zulu hostels would be fenced off, the latter two measures to prevent further Inkatha attacks; under increasing pressure, de Klerk reluctantly agreed. The negotiations agreed that a multiracial general election would be held, resulting in a five-year coalition government of national unity and a constitutional assembly that gave the National Party continuing influence. The ANC also conceded to safeguarding the jobs of white civil servants; such concessions brought fierce internal criticism.[213] The duo agreed on an interim constitution, guaranteeing separation of powers, creating a constitutional court, and including a US-style bill of rights; it also divided the country into nine provinces, each with its own premier and civil service, a concession between de Klerk's desire for federalism and Mandela's for unitary government.[214]
The democratic process was threatened by the Concerned South Africans Group (COSAG), an alliance of far-right Afrikaner parties and black ethnic-secessionist groups like Inkatha; in June 1993, the white supremacist Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) attacked the Kempton Park World Trade Centre.[215] Following the murder of ANC leader Chris Hani, Mandela made a publicised speech to calm rioting, soon after appearing at a mass funeral in Soweto for Tambo, who had died from a stroke.[216] In July 1993, both Mandela and de Klerk visited the US, independently meeting President Bill Clinton and each receiving the Liberty Medal.[217] Soon after, Mandela and de Klerk were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway.[218] Influenced by Thabo Mbeki, Mandela began meeting with big business figures, and played down his support for nationalisation, fearing that he would scare away much-needed foreign investment. Although criticised by socialist ANC members, he was encouraged to embrace private enterprise by members of the Chinese and Vietnamese Communist parties at the January 1992 World Economic Forum in Switzerland.[219] Mandela also made a cameo appearance as a schoolteacher reciting one of Malcolm X's speeches in the final scene of the 1992 film Malcolm X.[220]
General election: 1994
Main article: South African general election, 1994
Mandela casting his vote in the 1994 election
With the election set for 27 April 1994, the ANC began campaigning, opening 100 election offices and orchestrating People's Forums across the country, at which Mandela could appear, as a popular figure with great status among black South Africans.[221] The ANC campaigned on a Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) to build a million houses in five years, introduce universal free education and extend access to water and electricity. The party's slogan was "a better life for all", although it was not explained how this development would be funded.[222] With the exception of the Weekly Mail and the New Nation, South Africa's press opposed Mandela's election, fearing continued ethnic strife, instead supporting the National or Democratic Party.[223] Mandela devoted much time to fundraising for the ANC, touring North America, Europe and Asia to meet wealthy donors, including former supporters of the apartheid regime.[224] He also urged a reduction in the voting age from 18 to 14; rejected by the ANC, this policy became the subject of ridicule.[225]
Concerned that COSAG would undermine the election, particularly in the wake of the conflict in Bophuthatswana and the Shell House Massacre – incidents of violence involving the AWB and Inkatha, respectively – Mandela met with Afrikaner politicians and generals, including P. W. Botha, Pik Botha and Constand Viljoen, persuading many to work within the democratic system, and with de Klerk convinced Inkatha's Buthelezi to enter the elections rather than launch a war of secession.[226] As leaders of the two major parties, de Klerk and Mandela appeared on a televised debate; although de Klerk was widely considered the better speaker at the event, Mandela's offer to shake his hand surprised him, leading some commentators to consider it a victory for Mandela.[227] The election went ahead with little violence, although an AWB cell killed 20 with car bombs. As widely expected, the ANC won a sweeping victory, taking 62 percent of the vote, just short of the two-thirds majority needed to unilaterally change the constitution. The ANC was also victorious in seven provinces, with Inkatha and the National Party each taking another.[228] Mandela voted at the Ohlange High School in Durban, and though the ANC's victory assured his election as President, he publicly accepted that the election had been marred by instances of fraud and sabotage.[229]
Presidency of South Africa: 1994–99
Main article: Presidency of Nelson Mandela
The newly elected National Assembly's first act was to formally elect Mandela as South Africa's first black chief executive. His inauguration took place in Pretoria on 10 May 1994, televised to a billion viewers globally. The event was attended by 4000 guests, including world leaders from disparate backgrounds.[230] Mandela headed a Government of National Unity dominated by the ANC – which alone had no experience of governance – but containing representatives from the National Party and Inkatha. Under the Interim Constitution, Inkatha and the NP were entitled to seats in the government by virtue of winning at least 20 seats. In keeping with earlier agreements, de Klerk became first Deputy President, and Thabo Mbeki was selected as second.[231] Although Mbeki had not been his first choice for the job, Mandela grew to rely heavily on him throughout his presidency, allowing him to organise policy details.[232] Moving into the presidential office at Tuynhuys in Cape Town, Mandela allowed de Klerk to retain the presidential residence in the Groote Schuur estate, instead settling into the nearby Westbrooke manor, which he renamed "Genadendal", meaning "Valley of Mercy" in Afrikaans.[233] Retaining his Houghton home, he also had a house built in his home village of Qunu, which he visited regularly, walking around the area, meeting with locals, and judging tribal disputes.[234]
Mandela moved into the presidential office at Tuynhuys, Cape Town.
Aged 76, he faced various ailments, and although exhibiting continued energy, he felt isolated and lonely.[235] He often entertained celebrities, such as Michael Jackson, Whoopi Goldberg, and the Spice Girls, and befriended ultra-rich businessmen, like Harry Oppenheimer of Anglo-American, as well as Queen Elizabeth II on her March 1995 state visit to South Africa, resulting in strong criticism from ANC anti-capitalists.[236] Despite his opulent surroundings, Mandela lived simply, donating a third of his 552,000 rand annual income to the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, which he had founded in 1995.[237] Although dismantling press censorship, speaking out in favour of freedom of the press, and befriending many journalists, Mandela was critical of much of the country's media, noting that it was overwhelmingly owned and run by middle-class whites and believing that it focused too much on scaremongering around crime.[238] Changing clothes several times a day, after assuming the presidency, one of Mandela's trademarks was his use of Batik shirts, known as "Madiba shirts", even on formal occasions.[239]
In December 1994, Mandela published Long Walk to Freedom, an autobiography based around a manuscript he had written in prison, augmented by interviews conducted with American journalist Richard Stengel.[240] In late 1994 he attended the 49th conference of the ANC in Bloemfontein, at which a more militant National Executive was elected, among them Winnie Mandela; although she expressed an interest in reconciling, Nelson initiated divorce proceedings in August 1995.[241] By 1995 he had entered into a relationship with Graça Machel, a Mozambican political activist 27 years his junior who was the widow of former president Samora Machel. They had first met in July 1990, when she was still in mourning, but their friendship grew into a partnership, with Machel accompanying him on many of his foreign visits. She turned down Mandela's first marriage proposal, wanting to retain some independence and dividing her time between Mozambique and Johannesburg.[242]
National reconciliation
"Gracious but steely, [Mandela] steered a country in turmoil toward a negotiated settlement: a country that days before its first democratic election remained violent, riven by divisive views and personalities. He endorsed national reconciliation, an idea he did not merely foster in the abstract, but performed with panache and conviction in reaching out to former adversaries. He initiated an era of hope that, while not long-lasting, was nevertheless decisive, and he garnered the highest international recognition and affection."
— Rita Barnard, The Cambridge Companion to Nelson Mandela[243]
Presiding over the transition from apartheid minority rule to a multicultural democracy, Mandela saw national reconciliation as the primary task of his presidency.[244] Having seen other post-colonial African economies damaged by the departure of white elites, Mandela worked to reassure South Africa's white population that they were protected and represented in "the Rainbow Nation".[245] Although his Government of National Unity would be dominated by the ANC,[246] he attempted to create a broad coalition by appointing de Klerk as first Deputy President and appointing other National Party officials as ministers for Agriculture, Energy, Environment, and Minerals and Energy, as well as naming Buthelezi as Minister for Home Affairs.[247] The other cabinet positions were taken by ANC members, many of whom – like Joe Modise, Alfred Nzo, Joe Slovo, Mac Maharaj and Dullah Omar – had long been comrades, although others, such as Tito Mboweni and Jeff Radebe, were much younger.[248] Mandela's relationship with de Klerk was strained; Mandela thought that de Klerk was intentionally provocative, and de Klerk felt that he was being intentionally humiliated by the president.[249] In January 1995, Mandela heavily chastised him for awarding amnesty to 3,500 police just before the election, and later criticised him for defending former Minister of Defence Magnus Malan when the latter was charged with murder.[249]
Mandela personally met with senior figures of the apartheid regime, including Hendrik Verwoerd's widow Betsie Schoombie and the lawyer Percy Yutar, also laying a wreath by the statue of Afrikaner hero Daniel Theron.[250] Emphasising personal forgiveness and reconciliation, he announced that "courageous people do not fear forgiving, for the sake of peace."[251] He encouraged black South Africans to get behind the previously hated national rugby team, the Springboks, as South Africa hosted the 1995 Rugby World Cup. After the Springboks won a celebrated final over New Zealand, Mandela presented the trophy to captain Francois Pienaar, an Afrikaner, wearing a Springbok shirt with Pienaar's own number 6 on the back. This was widely seen as a major step in the reconciliation of white and black South Africans; as de Klerk later put it, "Mandela won the hearts of millions of white rugby fans."[252] Mandela's efforts at reconciliation assuaged the fears of whites, but also drew criticism from more militant blacks.[253] Among the latter was his estranged wife, Winnie, who accused the ANC of being more interested in appeasing the white community than in helping the black majority.[254]
Mandela oversaw the formation of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate crimes committed under apartheid by both the government and the ANC, appointing Desmond Tutu as its chair. To prevent the creation of martyrs, the Commission granted individual amnesties in exchange for testimony of crimes committed during the apartheid era. Dedicated in February 1996, it held two years of hearings detailing rapes, torture, bombings, and assassinations, before issuing its final report in October 1998. Both de Klerk and Mbeki appealed to have parts of the report suppressed, though only de Klerk's appeal was successful.[255] Mandela praised the Commission's work, stating that it "had helped us move away from the past to concentrate on the present and the future".[256]
Domestic programmes
Mandela on a visit to Brazil in 1998
Mandela's administration inherited a country with a huge disparity in wealth and services between white and black communities. Of a population of 40 million, around 23 million lacked electricity or adequate sanitation, 12 million lacked clean water supplies, with 2 million children not in school and a third of the population illiterate. There was 33% unemployment, and just under half of the population lived below the poverty line.[257] Government financial reserves were nearly depleted, with a fifth of the national budget being spent on debt repayment, meaning that the extent of the promised Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) was scaled back, with none of the proposed nationalisation or job creation.[258] Instead, the government adopted liberal economic policies designed to promote foreign investment, adhering to the "Washington consensus" advocated by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.[259]
Under Mandela's presidency, welfare spending increased by 13% in 1996/97, 13% in 1997/98, and 7% in 1998/99.[260] The government introduced parity in grants for communities, including disability grants, child maintenance grants, and old-age pensions, which had previously been set at different levels for South Africa's different racial groups.[260] In 1994, free healthcare was introduced for children under six and pregnant women, a provision extended to all those using primary level public sector health care services in 1996.[261][262] By the 1999 election, the ANC could boast that due to their policies, 3 million people were connected to telephone lines, 1.5 million children were brought into the education system, 500 clinics were upgraded or constructed, 2 million people were connected to the electricity grid, water access was extended to 3 million people, and 750,000 houses were constructed, housing nearly 3 million people.[263]
The Land Restitution Act of 1994 enabled people who had lost their property as a result of the Natives Land Act, 1913 to claim back their land, leading to the settlement of tens of thousands of land claims.[264] The Land Reform Act 3 of 1996 safeguarded the rights of labour tenants who live and grow crops or graze livestock on farms. This legislation ensured that such tenants could not be evicted without a court order or if they were over the age of 65.[265] The Skills Development Act of 1998 provided for the establishment of mechanisms to finance and promote skills development at the workplace.[266] The Labour Relations Act of 1995 promoted workplace democracy, orderly collective bargaining, and the effective resolution of labour disputes.[267] The Basic Conditions of Employment Act of 1997 improved enforcement mechanisms while extending a "floor" of rights to all workers;[267] the Employment Equity Act of 1998 was passed to put an end to unfair discrimination and ensure the implementation of affirmative action in the workplace.[267]
Critics like Edwin Cameron accused Mandela's government of doing little to stem the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the country; by 1999, 10% of South Africa's population were HIV positive. Mandela later admitted that he had personally neglected the issue, in part due to public reticence in discussing issues surrounding sex in South Africa, and that he had instead left the issue for Mbeki to deal with.[268][269] Mandela also received criticism for failing to sufficiently combat crime, with South Africa having one of the world's highest crime rates; this was a key reason cited for the emigration of skilled whites in the late 1990s.[270] Mandela's administration was also perceived as having failed to deal with the problem of corruption.[271]
Foreign affairs
Mandela expressed the view that "South Africa's future foreign relations [should] be based on our belief that human rights should be the core of international relations".[272] Following the South African example, Mandela encouraged other nations to resolve conflicts through diplomacy and reconciliation.[273] In September 1998, Mandela was appointed Secretary-General of the Non-Aligned Movement, who held their annual conference in Durban. He used the event to criticise the "narrow, chauvinistic interests" of the Israeli government in stalling negotiations to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and urged India and Pakistan to negotiate to end the Kashmir conflict, for which he was criticised by both Israel and India.[274] Inspired by the region's economic boom, Mandela sought greater economic relations with East Asia, in particular with Malaysia, although this was scuppered by the 1997 Asian financial crisis.[275] He attracted controversy for his close relationship with Indonesian President Suharto, whose regime was responsible for mass human rights abuses, although privately urged him to withdraw from the occupation of East Timor.[276]
Mandela with US President Bill Clinton. Despite publicly criticising him on several occasions, Mandela liked Clinton, and personally supported him during his impeachment proceedings.[277]
Mandela faced similar criticism from the West for his government's trade links to Syria, Cuba, and Libya,[272] and for his personal friendships with Fidel Castro and Muammar Gaddafi. Castro visited in 1998, to widespread popular acclaim, and Mandela met Gaddafi in Libya to award him the Order of Good Hope.[278] When Western governments and media criticised these visits, Mandela lambasted such criticism as having racist undertones,[279] and stated that "the enemies of countries in the West are not our enemies."[272] Mandela hoped to resolve the long-running dispute between Libya and the US and Britain over bringing to trial the two Libyans, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi and Lamin Khalifah Fhimah, who were indicted in November 1991 and accused of sabotaging Pan Am Flight 103. Mandela proposed that they be tried in a third country, which was agreed to by all parties; governed by Scots law, the trial was held at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands in April 1999, and found one of the two men guilty.[280] [281]
Mandela echoed Mbeki's calls for an "African Renaissance", and was greatly concerned with issues on the continent.[282] He took a soft diplomatic approach to removing Sani Abacha's military junta in Nigeria but later became a leading figure in calling for sanctions when Abacha's regime increased human rights violations.[283] In 1996 he was appointed Chairman of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and initiated unsuccessful negotiations to end the First Congo War in Zaire.[284] He also played a key role as a mediator in the ethnic conflict between Tutsi and Hutu political groups in Burundian Civil War, helping to initiate a settlement which brought increased stability to the country but which did not end the ethnic violence.[285] In South Africa's first post-apartheid military operation, Mandela ordered troops into Lesotho in September 1998 to protect the government of Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili after a disputed election prompted opposition uprisings.[286]
Withdrawing from politics
In the latter part of his presidency, Mandela relied increasingly on Vice President Mbeki (pictured)
The new Constitution of South Africa was agreed upon by parliament in May 1996, enshrining a series of institutions to check political and administrative authority within a constitutional democracy.[287] De Klerk opposed the implementation of this constitution, and that month he and the National Party withdrew from the coalition government in protest.[288] The ANC took over the cabinet positions formerly held by the Nationalists, with Mbeki becoming sole Deputy President.[289] When both Mandela and Mbeki were out of the country on one occasion, Buthelezi was appointed "Acting President", marking an improvement in his relationship with Mandela.[290] Although Mandela had often governed decisively in his first two years as President,[291] he had increasingly delegated duties to Mbeki after that, only retaining a close personal supervision of intelligence and security measures.[291] On a 1997 visit to London, he said that "the ruler of South Africa, the de facto ruler, is Thabo Mbeki. I am shifting everything to him."[291]
Mandela stepped down as ANC President at the party's December 1997 conference. He hoped that Ramaphosa would succeed him, believing Mbeki to be too inflexible and intolerant of criticism, but the ANC elected Mbeki regardless.[292] Replacing Mbeki as Deputy President, Mandela and the Executive supported the candidacy of Jacob Zuma, a Zulu who had been imprisoned on Robben Island, but he was challenged by Winnie, whose populist rhetoric had gained her a strong following within the party; Zuma defeated her in a landslide victory vote at the election.[293]
Mandela's relationship with Machel had intensified; in February 1998 he publicly stated that "I'm in love with a remarkable lady", and under pressure from his friend Desmond Tutu, who urged him to set an example for young people, he organised a wedding for his 80th birthday, in July.[294] The following day he held a grand party with many foreign dignitaries.[295] The 1996 constitution limited the president to two consecutive five-year terms. Mandela did not attempt to amend the document to remove the two-term limit; indeed, he had never planned on standing for a second term in office. He gave his farewell speech on 29 March 1999, after which he retired.[296] Although opinion polls in South Africa showed wavering support for both the ANC and the government, Mandela himself remained highly popular, with 80% of South Africans polled in 1999 expressing satisfaction with his performance as president.[297]
Retirement
Continued activism and philanthropy: 1999–2004
Retiring in June 1999, Mandela sought a quiet family life, to be divided between Johannesburg and Qunu. He set about authoring a sequel to his first autobiography, to be titled The Presidential Years, but it was abandoned before publication.[298] Finding such seclusion difficult, he reverted to a busy public life with a daily programme of tasks, meeting with world leaders and celebrities, and when in Johannesburg worked with the Nelson Mandela Foundation, founded in 1999 to focus on rural development, school construction, and combating HIV/AIDS.[299] Although he had been heavily criticised for failing to do enough to fight the pandemic during his presidency, he devoted much of his time to the issue following his retirement, describing it as "a war" that had killed more than "all previous wars"; affiliating himself with the Treatment Action Campaign, he urged Mbeki's government to ensure that HIV+ South Africans had access to anti-retrovirals.[300] In 2000, the Nelson Mandela Invitational charity golf tournament was founded, hosted by Gary Player.[301] Mandela was successfully treated for prostate cancer in July 2001.[302]
Mandela visiting the London School of Economics in 2000
In 2002, Mandela inaugurated the Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture, and in 2003 the Mandela Rhodes Foundation was created at Rhodes House, University of Oxford, to provide postgraduate scholarships to African students. These projects were followed by the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory and the 46664 campaign against HIV/AIDS.[303] He gave the closing address at the XIII International AIDS Conference in Durban in 2000,[304] and in 2004, spoke at the XV International AIDS Conference in Bangkok, Thailand.[305]
Publicly, Mandela became more vocal in criticising Western powers. He strongly opposed the 1999 NATO intervention in Kosovo and called it an attempt by the world's powerful nations to police the entire world.[306] In 2003, he spoke out against the plans for the US and UK to launch the War in Iraq, describing it as "a tragedy" and lambasting US President George W. Bush and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair for undermining the UN, saying "All that (Mr. Bush) wants is Iraqi oil".[307] He attacked the US more generally, asserting that it had committed more "unspeakable atrocities" across the world than any other nation, citing the atomic bombing of Japan; this attracted international controversy, although he later reconciled his relationship with Blair.[308] Retaining an interest in Libyan-UK relations, he visited Megrahi in Barlinnie prison and spoke out against the conditions of his treatment, referring to them as "psychological persecution".[309]
"Retiring from retirement": 2004–13
Nelson Mandela and President George W. Bush in the Oval Office, May 2005
In June 2004, aged 85 and amid failing health, Mandela announced that he was "retiring from retirement" and retreating from public life, remarking "Don't call me, I will call you."[310] Although continuing to meet with close friends and family, the Foundation discouraged invitations for him to appear at public events and denied most interview requests.[311]
He retained some involvement in international affairs. In 2005, he founded the Nelson Mandela Legacy Trust,[312] travelling to the U.S., to speak before the Brookings Institution and the NAACP on the need for economic assistance to Africa.[312][313] He spoke with U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton and President George W. Bush and first met then-U.S. Senator Barack Obama.[313] Mandela also encouraged Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to resign over growing human rights abuses in the country. When this proved ineffective, he spoke out publicly against Mugabe in 2007, asking him to step down "with residual respect and a modicum of dignity."[314] That year, Mandela, Machel, and Desmond Tutu convened a group of world leaders in Johannesburg to contribute their wisdom and independent leadership to some of the world's toughest problems. Mandela announced the formation of this new group, The Elders, in a speech delivered on his 89th birthday.[315]
Mandela meeting with Australian Governor-General Quentin Bryce on 24 March 2009.
Mandela's 90th birthday was marked across the country on 18 July 2008, with the main celebrations held at Qunu,[316] and a concert in his honour in Hyde Park, London.[317] In a speech marking the event, Mandela called for the rich to help the poor across the world.[316] Throughout Mbeki's presidency, Mandela continued to support the ANC, although usually overshadowed Mbeki at any public events that the two attended. Mandela was more at ease with Mbeki's successor Jacob Zuma,[318] although the Nelson Mandela Foundation were upset when his grandson, Mandla Mandela, flew him out to the Eastern Cape to attend a pro-Zuma rally in the midst of a storm in 2009.[318]
In 2004, Mandela successfully campaigned for South Africa to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup, declaring that there would be "few better gifts for us" in the year marking a decade since the fall of apartheid.[319] Mandela emotionally raised the FIFA World Cup Trophy after South Africa was awarded host status.[320] Despite maintaining a low profile during the event due to ill-health, Mandela made his final public appearance during the World Cup closing ceremony, where he received a "rapturous reception".[321][322] Between 2005 and 2013, Mandela, and later his family, were embroiled in a series of legal disputes regarding money held in family trusts for the benefit of his descendants.[323] In mid-2013, as Mandela was hospitalised for a lung infection in Pretoria, his descendants were involved in intra-family legal dispute relating to the burial place of Mandela's children, and ultimately Mandela himself.[324][325][326]
Illness and death: 2011–2013
Main article: Death of Nelson Mandela
Members of the public paying their respects outside Mandela's Houghton home
In February 2011, he was briefly hospitalised with a respiratory infection, attracting international attention,[327] before being re-hospitalised for a lung infection and gallstone removal in December 2012.[328] After a successful medical procedure in early March 2013,[329] his lung infection recurred, and he was briefly hospitalised in Pretoria.[330] On 8 June 2013, his lung infection worsened, and he was rehospitalised in Pretoria in a serious condition.[331] On 23 June 2013, Zuma announced that Mandela's condition had become "critical".[332][333][334] Zuma, accompanied by the Deputy President of the ANC, Cyril Ramaphosa, met Mandela's wife Graça Machel at the hospital in Pretoria and discussed his condition.[335] On 25 June Cape Town Archbishop Thabo Makgoba visited Mandela at the hospital and prayed with Graça Machel Mandela "at this hard time of watching and waiting".[336] The next day, Zuma visited Mandela in the hospital and cancelled a visit scheduled for the next day to Mozambique.[337] In September 2013, Mandela was discharged from hospital,[338] although his condition remained unstable.[339]
After suffering from a prolonged respiratory infection, Mandela died on 5 December 2013 at the age of 95. He died at around 20:50 local time (UTC+2) at his home in Houghton, Johannesburg, surrounded by his family.[340] Zuma publicly announced his death on television.[340][341] Zuma proclaimed a national mourning period of ten days, with 8 December a national day of prayer and reflection, and a main event held at Johannesburg's FNB Stadium on 10 December 2013. Mandela's body lay in state from 11 to 13 December at the Union Buildings in Pretoria and a state funeral was held on 15 December in Qunu.[342][343] Approximately 90 representatives of foreign states travelled to South Africa to attend memorial events.[344][345] Mandela's $4.1 million estate was left to his widow, other family members, staff, and educational institutions.[346]
Political ideology
"A friend once asked me how I could reconcile my creed of African nationalism with a belief in dialectical materialism. For me, there was no contradiction. I was first and foremost an African nationalist fighting for our emancipation from minority rule and the right to control our own destiny. But at the same time, South Africa and the African continent were part of the larger world. Our problems, while distinctive and special, were not unique, and a philosophy that placed those problems in an international and historical context of the greater world and the course of history was valuable. I was prepared to use whatever means necessary to speed up the erasure of human prejudice and the end of chauvinistic and violent nationalism."
— Nelson Mandela, 1994[347]
Mandela was a practical politician, rather than an intellectual scholar or political theorist.[348] Although he presented himself in an autocratic manner in several speeches, he was a devout believer in democracy and abided by majority decisions even when deeply disagreeing with them.[349] Mandela identified as both an African nationalist, an ideological position he held since joining the ANC,[350] and a democratic socialist.[351] He advocated the ultimate establishment of a classless society,[352] with Sampson describing him as "openly opposed to capitalism, private land-ownership and the power of big money".[353]
Mandela was influenced by Marxism, and during the revolution he advocated scientific socialism.[354] During the Treason Trial, he denied being a communist,[355] maintaining this stance when later talking to journalists.[356] Conversely, biographer David Jones Smith stated that Mandela "embraced communism and communists" in the late 1950s and early 1960s,[357] while historian Stephen Ellis found evidence that Mandela had been an active member of the South African Communist Party (SACP).[358] This was confirmed after his death by the SACP and the ANC. According to the SACP, he was not only a member of the party, but also served on the party's Central Committee.[117]
"Free Mandela" protest in East Berlin, 1986
In the 1955 Freedom Charter, which Mandela had helped create, it called for the nationalisation of banks, gold mines, and land, believing this necessary to ensure equal distribution of wealth.[359] Despite these beliefs, Mandela initiated a programme of privatisation during his presidency, in line with trends in other countries of the time.[360] This decision was in part influenced by the fall of the socialist states in the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc during the early 1990s.[361] In contrast, China was developing rapidly within a "socialist market economy", and Mandela began to quote Deng Xiaoping's aphorism: "It doesn't matter whether a cat is black or white, so long as it catches mice."[362][363]
Over the course of his life, he began by advocating a path of non-violence, later embracing violence, and then adopting a non-violent approach to negotiation and reconciliation.[364] When endorsing violence, he did so because he saw no alternative, and was always pragmatic about, it, perceiving it as a means for getting his opponent to the negotiating table.[365]
Mandela took political ideas from other thinkers, among them Indian independence leaders like Gandhi and Nehru, African-American activists, and African nationalists like Nkrumah, and fitted them into the South African situation. At the same time he rejected aspects of their thought, such as the anti-white sentiment of many African nationalists.[366] He also synthesized both counter-cultural and hegemonic views, for instance by drawing upon ideas from Afrikaner nationalism.[367] His political thought nevertheless exhibited tensions between his support for liberal democracy and pre-colonial African forms of consensus decision making.[368] He held a conviction that "inclusivity, accountability and freedom of speech" were the fundamentals of democracy,[369] and was driven by a belief in natural and human rights,[370] pursuing not only racial equality but also promoting gay rights as part of the post-apartheid reforms.[371] His political development was strongly influenced by his legal training and practice, in particular his hope to achieve change not through violence but through "legal revolution".[372]
Personality and personal life
Mandela was widely considered a charismatic leader,[373] with biographer Mary Benson describing him as having been "a born mass leader who could not help magnetizing people".[374] While living in Johannesburg in the 1950s, he cultivated the image of the "African gentleman", having "the pressed clothes, correct manners, and modulated public speech" associated with such a position.[375] In the 1990s he came to be associated closely with the highly coloured "Madiba shirts" that he began wearing.[376] He was highly image conscious, and throughout his life always sought out fine quality clothes, with many commentators believing that he carried himself in a regal manner.[377] His aristocratic heritage was repeatedly emphasised by supporters, thus contributing to his "charismatic power".[378] His official biographer Anthony Sampson commented that he was a "master of imagery and performance", excelling at presenting himself well in press photographs and producing soundbites.[379] His public speeches were presented in a formal, stiff manner, and often consisted of clichéd set phrases.[380] In describing his life, Mandela stated that "I was not a messiah, but an ordinary man who had become a leader because of extraordinary circumstances."[381]
Mandela was a private person who often concealed his emotions and confided in very few people.[382] Privately, he lived an austere life, refusing to drink alcohol or smoke, and even as President made his own bed.[383] Renowned for his mischievous sense of humour,[384] he was known for being both stubborn and loyal,[385] and at times exhibited a quick temper.[383] He was typically friendly and welcoming, and appeared relaxed in conversation with everyone, including his opponents.[386] Constantly polite and courteous, he was attentive to all, irrespective of their age or status, and often talked to children or servants.[387] He was known for ability to find common ground with very different communities.[388] In later life he always looked for the best in people, even defending political opponents to his allies, who sometimes thought him too trusting of others.[389] He was raised into the Methodist denomination of Christianity, with the Methodist Church of Southern Africa claiming that he retained his allegiance to them throughout his life.[390] An analysis of his writings have led to him being described[by whom?] as a Christian humanist, who relied more upon Ubuntu than Christian theology.[391] According to Sampson, Mandela however never had "a strong religious faith",[392] while Boehmer stated that Mandela's religious belief was "never robust".[393] He was fond of Indian cuisine,[394] and had a lifelong interest in archaeology.[395]
Mandela House museum, Soweto
Mandela was heterosexual,[396] with biographer Fatima Meer stating that he was "easily tempted" by women.[397] Another biographer, Martin Meredith, characterised him as being "by nature a romantic", highlighting that he had relationships with various women.[398] Mandela was married three times, fathered six children, and had seventeen grandchildren[399][400] and many great-grandchildren.[401] He could be stern and demanding of his children, although he was more affectionate with his grandchildren.[402] His first marriage was to Evelyn Ntoko Mase in October 1944;[403] they divorced after 13 years in 1957 under the multiple strains of his adultery and constant absences, devotion to revolutionary agitation, and the fact that she was a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses, a religion requiring political neutrality.[404] The couple had two sons whom Mandela survived, Madiba "Thembi" Thembekile (1945–1969) and Makgatho Mandela (1950–2005); his first son died in a car crash, and his second son died of AIDS. The couple had two daughters, both named Makaziwe Mandela (born 1947 and 1954); the first died at the age of nine months, the second, known as "Maki", survived Mandela.[405] Makgatho's son, Mandla Mandela, became chief of the Mvezo tribal council in 2007.[406]
Mandela's second wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, also came from the Transkei area, although they, too, met in Johannesburg, where she was the city's first black social worker.[98] They had two daughters, Zenani (Zeni), born 4 February 1959, and Zindziswa (Zindzi) Mandela-Hlongwane, born 1960.[407] Zindzi was only 18 months old when her father was sent to Robben Island. Later, Winnie was deeply torn by family discord which mirrored the country's political strife; separation (April 1992) and divorce (March 1996), fuelled by political estrangement.[408] Mandela's third wife was Graça Machel (née Simbine), whom he married on his 80th birthday in 1998.[409]
Reception and legacy
Flowers left at the Mandela statue in London's Parliament Square following his death
By the time of his death, within South Africa Mandela was widely considered both "the father of the nation",[410] and "the founding father of democracy",[411] being seen as "the national liberator, the saviour, its Washington and Lincoln rolled into one".[412] Outside of South Africa, he was a "global icon", with the scholar of South African studies Rita Barnard describing him as "one of the most revered figures of our time".[413] One biographer considered him "a modern democratic hero",[414] while his popularity had resulted in a cult of personality building up around him.[415] He is often cited alongside Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. as one of the 20th century's exemplary anti-racist and anti-colonial leaders.[416] Boehmer described him as "a totem of the totemic values of our age: toleration and liberal democracy",[417] and "a universal symbol of social justice".[418]
Mandela's international fame had emerged during his incarceration in the 1980s, when he became the world's most famous prisoner, a symbol of the anti-apartheid cause, and an icon for millions who embraced the ideal of human equality.[243] In 1986, Mandela biographer Mary Benson characterised him as "the embodiment of the struggle for liberation" in South Africa.[419] Meredith stated that in becoming "a potent symbol of resistance" to apartheid during the 1980s, he had gained "mythical status" internationally.[420] Sampson commented that even during his life, this myth had become "so powerful that it blurs the realities", converting Mandela into "a secular saint".[421] Within a decade after the end of his Presidency, Mandela's era was being widely thought of as "a golden age of hope and harmony".[422] Across the world, Mandela earned international acclaim for his activism in overcoming apartheid and fostering racial reconciliation,[383] coming to be viewed as "a moral authority" with a great "concern for truth".[423]
Mandela generated controversy throughout his career as an activist and politician,[415] having detractors on both the radical left and the right.[424] Some voices in the ANC accused him of selling out for agreeing to enter negotiations with the apartheid government.[415] Concerns were raised that the personal respect and authority he accrued were in contrast to the ideals of democracy that he promoted.[415] His government would be criticised for its failure to deal with the HIV/AIDS pandemic and promote an economic model that benefited South Africa's poor.[415] Throughout his life, Mandela had also been denounced as a communist and terrorist.[425][426] Thatcher attracted international attention for describing the ANC as "a typical terrorist organisation" in 1987;[427] although she later called on Botha to release Mandela.[428] Mandela has also been criticised for his friendship with political leaders such as Castro, Gaddafi, and Suharto – deemed dictators by critics – as well as his refusal to condemn their human rights violations.[429][430]
Orders, decorations, and monuments
Main article: List of awards and honours bestowed upon Nelson Mandela
Nobel Prize.png"The Nobel Peace Prize 1993 was awarded jointly to Nelson Mandela and Frederik Willem de Klerk "for their work for the peaceful termination of the apartheid regime, and for laying the foundations for a new democratic South Africa"".[431]
Nelson Mandela graffiti by Thierry Ehrmann in the Abode of Chaos museum, France
On 16 December 2013, Day of Reconciliation, a 9-metre-high, bronze statue of Mandela was unveiled at the Union Buildings by President Jacob Zuma.[432] In 2004, Johannesburg granted Mandela the freedom of the city,[433] and the Sandton Square shopping centre was renamed Nelson Mandela Square, after a Mandela statue was installed there.[434] In 2008, another Mandela statue was unveiled at Drakenstein Correctional Centre, formerly Victor Verster Prison, near Cape Town, standing on the spot where Mandela was released from the prison.[435]
In 1993, he received the joint Nobel Peace Prize with de Klerk.[436] In November 2009, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed Mandela's birthday, 18 July, as "Mandela Day", marking his contribution to the anti-apartheid struggle. It called on individuals to donate 67 minutes to doing something for others, commemorating the 67 years that Mandela had been a part of the movement.[437]
Awarded the US Presidential Medal of Freedom[438] and appointment to the Order of Canada,[439] he was also the first living person to be made an honorary Canadian citizen.[440] Mandela was the last recipient of the Soviet Union's Lenin Peace Prize[441] and the first recipient of the Al-Gaddafi International Prize for Human Rights.[442] In 1990, he received the Bharat Ratna Award from the government of India[443] and, in 1992, received Pakistan's Nishan-e-Pakistan.[444] The same year, he was awarded the Atatürk Peace Award by Turkey; he at first refused the award, citing human rights violations committed by Turkey at the time,[445] but later accepted the award in 1999.[441] Queen Elizabeth II appointed him as a Bailiff Grand Cross of the Order of St. John (upon the recommendation of the order's Honours and Awards Committee) and granted him membership in the Order of Merit (a personal gift of the monarch).[446]
In popular media
Many artists have dedicated songs to Mandela. One of the most popular was from The Special AKA who recorded the song "Free Nelson Mandela" in 1983, which Elvis Costello also recorded and had a hit with. Stevie Wonder dedicated his 1985 Oscar for the song "I Just Called to Say I Love You" to Mandela, resulting in his music being banned by the South African Broadcasting Corporation.[447]
Mandela has been depicted in cinema and television on multiple occasions. He was portrayed by Danny Glover in the 1987 HBO telefilm Mandela.[448] The 1997 film Mandela and de Klerk starred Sidney Poitier as Mandela,[449] and Dennis Haysbert played him in Goodbye Bafana (2007).[450] In the 2009 BBC telefilm Mrs Mandela, Mandela was portrayed by David Harewood,[451] and Morgan Freeman portrayed him in Invictus (2009).[452] Terrence Howard portrayed him in the 2011 film Winnie Mandela.[453] He is portrayed by Idris Elba in the 2013 film Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.[454]
