A Word Of Peace For South Africa by Pastor Chris Oyakhilome: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

A Word for South Africa

I want to save you from trouble, because many do not understand how easily a nation can go over the cliff. Satan does not love peace; he is not one to give peace. We must know this for the last days and the judgments coming on this world.

We read from Revelation 6. When the Lamb opened the second seal, another horse went out that was red, and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, that they should kill one another, and a great sword was given unto him. Observe that construction: power was given to take peace from the earth.

What Xenophobia Really Is

The word xenophobia comes from two Greek words — xenos, meaning a stranger or foreigner, and phobos, meaning fear. It is the fear that strangers are taking over your economy, the fear that things will not go well because of them, the fear that they are harmful. That fear does not simply make you run from people — it makes you attack them.

History Warns Us

• Nigeria and Ghana, 1983. When Nigeria's oil-fueled economy crashed, young Nigerians blamed Ghanaian immigrants for taking their jobs. President Shehu Shagari ordered undocumented immigrants to leave within two weeks. The exodus, remembered as "Ghana Must Go," did not fix the economy — it only proved that scapegoats do not solve structural problems.
• Rwanda, early 1990s. The Hutus and Tutsis were the same ethnic group, sharing the same culture, schools, and churches, until colonial administrators created a divide by favoring one group over the other. When a Hutu president died in a plane crash, Tutsis were blamed and hunted. More than 800,000 people were killed. It was not planned from the beginning — it spiraled into genocide very quickly.
• Yugoslavia, 1980s-90s. Once the largest country in the Balkans, held together by economic stability as much as ideology. When the global economy shifted and the IMF demanded harsh structural adjustments, resources grew scarce. Political elites chose to blame ethnic groups instead of addressing financial mismanagement. Xenophobia was weaponized until the country tore itself apart in the deadliest conflict on European soil since World War II, with over 100,000 lives lost.
• Nazi Germany. Economic hardship led to blaming the Jews, and those who did not leave in time were caught in the Holocaust.

A society rarely begins to fracture with hatred. It starts with anxiety. When economies stagnate, when promises fail, and the future grows uncertain, human nature seeks a focal point for its frustration.

There Is a Lawful Way

The government already has structures to deal with illegal immigration. It is not for anyone in the street to decide who is legal and who is not — that decision belongs to government functionaries. If you are not happy with how immigration is being handled, protest to the government; do not take the law into your own hands.

• You do not have the authority to give an ultimatum to immigrants and tell them to leave by a certain date.
• Attacking those you accuse of breaking the law by coming in illegally is itself breaking the law.
• Even a thief caught in the act should be taken to the law, not beaten and injured.

There are three terrible forces in the world that are difficult to control once released: water, fire, and a mob. Any of these can destroy a whole city or a whole country.

I am asking the people of South Africa to prove yourselves educated, distinguished, wise, and understanding. There are no "good immigrants" and "bad immigrants" to be sorted by a mob — the government has power and responsibility to protect everyone in the country, even those facing justice, until they are lawfully judged.

Let God guide your heart. There is a right way to deal with a problem and a wrong way. Do it the right way, and make South Africa, and the whole of Africa, even greater.