The Fundamentalist Tag

The Fundamentalist Tag – Introduction

The easiest way to win an argument or to get an audience on your side is to use the “fundamentalist tag” on someone who disagrees with you, especially in the realm of religion. Like the word “fascist” the word “fundamentalist” has become a convenient label to discredit, malign and pooh-pooh the opinions of anyone who respects and honors rules and regulations (doctrines, in the case of religion) and will do everything to abide by them.

Ironically, those who abhor fundamentalism will never pin the tag “fundamentalist” on a referee of a cricket, rugby or tennis match. Whenever a referee calls a fault or blows his whistle for an infringement of the rules of a game, no one dares to question his decisions because he knows the rules and is fully obligated to apply them impartially. Players who violate the rules are punished accordingly.

Imagine what would happen if some of the players balked at the referee’s decisions and called him a fundamentalist. Two possible scenarios would ensue; the objectors could summarily be sent off the field or get banned for a season or their entire life, or the referee, not so keen to be dubbed a fundamentalist, could turn a blind eye and allow the rules to be dashed without compunction. The result, obviously, would lead to chaos, giving the lesser skillful team the opportunity to win the game and the more adroit team to lose it. This example from the world of sports shows that non-fundamentalism with its aptitude to re-interpret or even change the rules is not only dishonorable and downright unfair but also dishonors the good name of that particular sport.

When applied to legal matters, non-fundamentalism is even more of an ogre. In fact, the term a “non-fundamentalist judge” is non-existent. Each judge or acting judge, before the Chief Justice or another judge designated by the Chief Justice, must swear his or her allegiance to the state’s constitutional laws as follows:

I, A.B., swear/solemnly affirm that, as a Judge of the Constitutional Court/Supreme Court of Appeal/High Court/ E.F. Court, I will be faithful to the Republic of South Africa, will uphold and protect the Constitution and the human rights entrenched in it, and will administer justice to all persons alike without fear, favour or prejudice, in accordance with the Constitution and the law.  (In the case of an oath: So, help me, God.)

A few very important elements in this oath come to light. They are:

1. I will be faithful to the Republic of South Africa.
2. I will uphold and protect the Constitution and the human rights entrenched in it
3. I will administer justice to all persons alike without fear, favour or prejudice, . . .
4. in accordance with the Constitution and the Law.

The last clause is the backbone of the oath because it provides legal judges the power to fulfill their fundamental duties in the execution of their solemn promises. As such they are fundamentally bound, not only to obey the Constitutional Laws themselves but to see that every single South African citizen abides by them. This is pure and simple fundamentalism.

If the fundamental and exact execution of a country’s constitutional laws are in place by means of an oath to secure the human rights entrenched in it, how much the more shouldn’t we honour and revere God’s fundamental “constitutional” laws and commands? Abraham called God the Judge of all the earth, and rightly so because He always executes judgment on all things and all peoples justly and righteously. (Genesis 18:25). As such, He is fundamentally the most fundamental Being who ever was, is, and shall be. He never has and never will change his commands, institutes, and rules to accommodate the wiles and wishes of sinful man.

According to John 5:22 the Father has committed all judgment to his Son, Jesus Christ who declared that He alone is the Way, the Truth and the Life by whom no man may come to the Father (John 4:16). Both these claims are undisputable, non-negotiable fundamentals, which each and every individual who walked this planet will have to acknowledge when “every knee should bow” and “every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:10-11).

Nonetheless, there are many rebels who refuse to take a good look at their knees and acknowledge that they are going to bow their knees before Jesus Christ at the Day of Judgment, and whose words and attacks have persistently been stout against the LORD. (Malachi 3:13).

A Rebel with a (hellbound) Cause

There is no need to wade through the entire Bible to identify the known rebels in Scripture. Most Christians know them by name of whom Judas Iscariot is certainly the topmost renegade of all time. Jean Oosthuizen, a rebel with a cause, and former News Editor of Die Kerkbode who was sacked by the Dutch Reformed Church for his blasphemous remarks on public forums such as Kletskerk (Chat Church), interviewed Farid Esack, a professor in religious studies at the University of Johannesburg and Dr. Peter Nagel, Senior Lecturer: Old and New Testaments at the University of Stellenbosch. The theme of their discussion was, “How should we read the holy books like the Bible and the Qur’an today, and is everything in it true and infallible?” (RSG Radio programme: “Uit ’n Ander Hoek,” 16 June 2019).

Jean Oosthuizen hasn’t changed since the Dutch Reformed Church banned him as the News Editor of their magazine, Die Kerkbode. Like so many high-profile and learned professors in well-known Universities (Stellenbosch and Pretoria), he too is actively involved in fulfilling Bible prophecy, especially the one in Psalm 2.

Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. (Psalm 2:1-5).

Bear in mind that the words of these rebels are not only stout against God (the Father of Jesus Christ) and his word (Malachi 3:13); their inordinate ramblings against the Gospel of God certainly also show that they have no respect for Allah and his prophet Muhammad’s command in Sura  5:47.

Let the People of the Gospel judge by what Allah hath revealed therein. If any do fail to judge by (the light of) what Allah hath revealed, they are (no better than) those who rebel. (Sura 5:47).

The people of the Gospel are obviously truly born-again Bible-believing Christians who assert that the Gospel of God is to its very core all about his Son, Jesus Christ, whom the Father sent to die on a cross for the sins of the world.  (John 17:3; 1 John 2:2). If, as Muhammad said, we should judge what Allah revealed in the Qur’an in the light of the Gospel (Good News), we have no other option but to reject everything the Qur’an teaches because it contradicts everything the Gospel proclaims. For instance, in Sura 4:157 Allah says:

They said (in boast), “We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah,” —but  they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not.

Fundamental Apostasy in the Extreme

To illustrate how deep many so-called scholars and preachers of the Bible who hold key positions in colloquiums at major universities in South Africa have fallen into the pit of apostasy, let me quote Dr. Peter Nagel to whom Jean Oosthuizen allotted the last thirty seconds of the programme “Uit ’n ander Hoek.”

• 

• 

Jean Oosthuizen: Peter, eventually there is one question many believers ask, and that is whether there is really only one path to heaven.

Peter Nagel: In a nutshell; if I should encounter a brother and sister, regardless of their faith, and it would mean that I must leave my Bible on my bookshelf for some time, I will do it. It follows that whenever my brother, a Muslim, a Jew, or whosoever it may be, is hurt and suffers hardships, and I need to put that text [John 14:6] aside and must leave it to gather dust, I will do so.

Many other things were said about the veracity, reliability and integrity of the Bible and the Qur’an, but this statement by Peter Nagel takes the cake. It so perfectly degrades and debases the Word of God and Jesus Christ who is the Word who came in the flesh (1 John 4:3; 2 John 1:7), that professor Farid Esack (a Muslim) had no need to say anything against God and his Word. Nowadays, the so-called Christians who have studied the Word of God and adorn the best positions in pulpits, schools and seminaries (universities of Pretoria and Stellenbosch; Julian Muller et al) are doing a marvelously better job than Jesus Christ’s enemies. Do Peter Nagel and Jean Oosthuizen have any respect for Jesus Christ’s High Priestly prayer in John 17 where He distinctly and unambiguously says, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” (John 17:17). Nevertheless, Peter Nagel has the audacity to set aside the truth and allow it to amass dust for the sake of social charity work among Muslims, Jews, and people of whatever other religious persuasions. He said in effect,

OK, Jesus, I believe that you are the Way and the Truth and the Life, and the only One by and through whom we may gain eternal life. But! Would you mind eating the dust of my bookshelf just for a while so that I can do a better job of charity work among the Muslims, Jews and people of other faiths? You must understand that I don’t want to upset or entice them to anger with your truth.

I usually don’t like to boastfully blow my own trumpet, but, as one of our country’s most illustrious and knowledgeable lecturers of the Old and New Testaments at the University of Stellenbosch, I also know that you once said, “Whosoever, therefore, shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:38).

But! You must understand that your written word (the Bible, as you may know, is fundamentally called) is littered with mistakes, innuendos, and . . . and outright lies so that it deserves to amass the dust of my bookshelf. So, please step aside so that I may help those who are in dire straits and suffering immense hardships. I am their only help whilst you wallow in the dust of my bookshelf. HALLELUJAH. AMEN.

Abraham, one of the meekest and noblest of men to walk the earth, once referred to himself as nothing but dust and ashes. (Genesis 18:27). Would they (Jean Oosthuizen and Peter Nagel) rather have humbled themselves and taken the posture of vessels of dust and ashes, like Abraham, they would never have dared to debase, malign, degrade and belittle the Lord of Lords and King of kings who once said, “But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words, thou shalt be condemned.” (Matthew 12:36-37).

Despite his stern warning, the words of these enemies of God and his Son, Jesus Christ, are shamelessly stout against them. What’s more, the Afrikaans Radio Service, Radio Sonder Grense (Radio without Borders) presents them with a public forum to spurt out their poisonous venom. Had anyone suggested that Muslims should leave their holy book, the Qur’an on a bookshelf to gather dust and spider webs, their heads would have probably already been chopped off with the Takbir cry of Allāhu akbar.

Whether this article will have any effect on our venerable gentlemen who disowned, maligned and degraded the glorious Name of Jesus Christ who, by the way, died for their sins on a rugged old cross so that they do not need to die in their sins (John 8:21, 24), is doubtful. They will probably brush it off with their “fundamentalist tag.” However, my honest and earnest prayer is that they may humble themselves under the mighty hand of Almighty God, repent of their sins and receive Jesus Christ as their only Saviour, before it is too late. The Lake of Fire is real, terrible and eternal. Moreover, there are no angles in hell from whence the inhabitants may see things from another angle (“Uit ’n ander Hoek). There is only one angle which looks like this:

There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out. (Luke 13:28)

Our Afrikaans brothers and sisters in the Lord can listen to the entire podcast here.

While Jean Oosthuizen and his cohorts are being stout in their alignment against God and his anointed, Jesus Christ, thousands of Christians are being slaughtered like sheep. The media of which RSG is a prime consort will never say or broadcast a single word about this.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/

Let me remind my persecuted brothers and sisters in the Lord what God says in his fundamental Word.

Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. (Matthew 5:10-12)

Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known. What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops. And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. (Mattew 10:26-28)

The murderous Muslims who are merely fundamentally obeying Allah who commands them to kill Jews and Christians in Sura 9:29, Sura 48:29, and Sura 5:33, are actually accruing for the Christians whom they are slaughtering great rewards in heaven. HALLELUJAH! PRAISE THE LORD JESUS CHRIST! AMEN!

Please read: The Intense Abhorrence of Apostasy