by Erwin Redinger
former co-worker in the Maphumulo Work during the late 1960s.
What I am going to say here today is how I see things. You have the right to question what I am saying or you can even disagree with me. I suggest that you ask questions if things are not clear to you. God has called me to be His servant and not a judge (to pronounce the final judgement over people), that is God’s prerogative. But because the Lord has commanded us to look at things carefully and even to expose the errors, this is what I am doing to the best of my ability.
We have prayed often and much about these things and under God I have tried to be as objective as I possibly can. And as you hear me speak you will find that I often use the words “seems like” or “appears to be” when I describe people and situations. This is not so much, because I am uncertain about things, but just because I want to leave the final judgement to God who is the All-knowing and righteous judge; Who alone sees all things and judges the intents of the heart. I will relate the things that disturbed me and that I could not understand, because they didn’t add up . You will find that I mostly refer to Erlo and Maphumulo, and that is because the place K.S.B. was only built later after I had left the so called revival. If it is still like that, and the evidence points that way, then whenever I say Maphumulo you can insert K.S.B.
1. Erlo used to belittle what happened in Lilienthal whereas I had a genuine experience with the Lord there.
They might not have had an encounter with the Lord but I can’t deny the change and transformation God wrought in my life when I asked the Lord to save me. Therefore to deny or despise it cannot be pleasing to the Lord. I know of others who were genuinely converted during that Lilienthal awakening, like my wife Gertrude, my mother and many others. One had the feeling that Erlo had to run down what happened there so that people would be more inclined to be loyal to him and his revelation.
In the book of Revelations, the Christians are warned and urged to hold fast what they have until Jesus comes and that no one take their crown (Rev. 2v25 ; 3v11).
The Lord expects His people to remember what He has done for them, and not to forget or despise it. In Deuteronomy alone there are numerous references that admonish the people of God not to forget. (Deut. 5v15 ; 7v18 ; 8v2,18 ; 9v7 ; 15v15 ; 16v3 & 12 ; 24v9 &18 ; 32v7 ) In the rest of the Bible we find many more references. If one throws out what God has done for one, then one is in danger of being led astray and to follow other gods. This becomes clear when you read the history of the people of Israel in the Old Testament. The people followed other gods when they forgot what the Lord God had done for them.
2. Another problem to me was Erlo getting his guidance from Hilda’s trances.
a) There is not anything like it in the Bible. The biblical trances were different, E.g. Paul and Peter could relate things they had seen, heard, felt and spoke while in the trance. In this case we were told that she knew nothing and could relate nothing. Even the Old Testament has nothing like this. This sort of thing occurs among the spiritists; but I am not saying that this is spiritism. I prefer to leave it to God.
b) But, if, as Erlo said, the Lord gave him this gift so that he should not go astray or into error, then it is the most foolproof system we have ever come across. In fact, it makes Erlo nigh infallible. Now here is where the real problem arises: Why were the results questionable? Why all the mistakes? E.g. Constance’s marriage, false predictions, the diamond mine, the lying etc etc etc. Was that not going astray? Was that not erroneous? If he could ask the Lord anything he wanted and he would receive an answer from the Lord, why these blatant errors? This to me was more problematic than all the other things.
c) Is it possible that we are here dealing with divination? (Acts 16 v 16 – 18)
The Lord on numerous occasions warned his people against prophets who use divination. He told them that such things are detestable in His sight: divination, sorceries, witchcraft, casting spells, mediums, spiritists etc. (Deut.18v 10-15)
In ( Jeremiah 14v14) the Lord says “The prophets are prophesying falsehood in My Name. I have neither sent them nor commanded them: they are prophesying to you a false vision, divination, futility and the deception of their own minds.”
Erlo and his group laid tremendous importance on some people’s dreams, even though many of the dreams were vague and queer. The Lord sent Jeremiah to warn the people against dreams ” Do not let your prophets who are in your midst and your diviners deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams which they dream. For they prophesy falsely in My Name; I have not sent them” declares the Lord. (Jer. 24v8 & 9)
God does speak through dreams; the Bible tells us that, but this was something else. The dreams came in like a flood and no one could make out what it was all about. Many of them seemed nightmarish.
d) Maybe this is what Revelations 2v20-23 talks about “But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and she teaches and leads My bondservants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. And I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality. Behold I will cast her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit immorality with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds. And I will kill her children with pestilence; and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds”.
It is possible even probable that the immorality here is spiritual and so are her children.
If this is what we are dealing with, then the Lord is not pleased if we tolerate these false things.
Just see how great and wonderful His commendations are for the Church in verse 19 ” I know your deeds, and your love and faith and service and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater than at first” Can there be more wonderful things said about a church than these? And yet, “I have against you.”
God does not like mixture, therefore godly people should not tolerate false prophets and prophetesses.
e) Why did we have to take our shoes off when we were with her in a meeting where she would speak in a trance? In the New Testament we don’t have occurrences like that. The emphasis was not on the outward physical but on the inward adornment i.e. humility and holiness of mind and spirit. Twice when it happened and I was there the message was simple and somewhat ambiguous.
As I have already stated, the prophesies and dreams were unclear and dubious.
Jeremiah 23v28 & 29 “The prophet who has a dream may relate his dream, but let him who has My Word speak my Word in truth. What does straw have in common with grain? declares the Lord “Is not My Word like fire? and like a hammer which shatters a rock?”
It is important to note that in the passage of Jer. 23v25-26 the prophets all claimed that the Lord sent them with a word to the people, yet the Lord say’s “I have not sent them” and “I am against them”.
One does not always know what inspires people to prophesy. Even out there in the denominations we have heard prophecies that just flow into the sand. A hit and miss doesn’t seem to worry many modern prophets.
According to Ezekiel 13v2 & 3 there are those who prophesy by their own inspiration and are foolish prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing. There are other Bible passages that tell us about prophets who prophesy for money. These same prophets say that they lean on the Lord saying “Is not the Lord in our midst? Calamity will not come upon us.”
These were prophesying to get support. If income determines one’s attitude to people then one will do what these prophets did: “When they have something to bite with their teeth, they say “Peace”. But against him who puts nothing in their mouths. They declare holy war. God says that the sun will go down on these prophets. (Micah 2v5-11)
I remember the day when we were travelling in a car together with Erlo and Hilda when Erlo remarked ” We cannot afford to lose Friedel because he has lots of money.” Money was an important factor which determined a lot of their actions.
Erlo and his immediate group would frighten and intimidate people with their dreams and messages; but people posing as the Lord’s messengers and frightening people is an old thing. E.g. Noadiah the prophetess and the other prophets tried to frighten Nehemiah and to discourage him from doing what he knew was the Lords will, but he refused to be intimidated and to follow their advice.
a) Jesus warns against people coming in sheep’s clothing but who inside are ravenous wolves.
b)He says that in the end times the prophets will show great signs and wondersto mislead people. (Math 24v11 & 24)
c) Paul speaks of those who deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting. (Rom. 16v 18)
d) Peter tells of teachers who will bring in destructive heresies. (2Peter2v1)
e) John says “Prove the spirits whether they be of God.” (1 John 4v1)
3. They lied and deliberately deceived people.
Paul says in pH. 4 v 14 & 15 ” We are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming, but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the Head even Christ.”
One of the workers, Obert Mbambo was disillusioned by all their lies. So he came to me and expressed his disgust. I did not want to receive that, so I tried to tell him that they are probably only misinformed and would not deliberately lie. But he insisted that they tell blatant lies (Baqambamanga aluhlaza). However it did not take long and I knew what he was talking about.
Proverbs 14v6 “A faithful witness will not lie, but a false witness speaks lies” So what were they? In 2 Cor. 11v13 Paul speaks of false apostles, deceitful workers disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.
True servants of the Lord ‘renounce the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the Word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending themselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.” 2 Cor. 4v2.
I can truthfully say that that was not my experience with them. They did not commend themselves to my conscience and I could not see the manifestation of truth among them. This I state categorically!
Apparently they believe there is nothing wrong with lying if you are protecting the Lord’s work. However the Lord’s work is not protected by lies, nor is it necessary to protect it with lies. The only thing that is protected by lies is the guilty party, but only until the day when God will bring it all out into the open.
Nothing breaks down relationships more than when one finds out that one’s so called friends are lying to one. The trust goes out the window and you never know when you can trust them again. This is especially so when they take advantage of your trust and lack of malice i.e. you are unsuspecting and trusting and so you become vulnerable and then to find out they have deceived you. This is terrible!
When Paul says that by the trickery of men, by craftiness and deceitful scheming they toss people around; that I can vouch for, that they did it. They were great schemers, and if they have practised it all these years they have probably perfected it by now. How one would wish that they could repent and leave their ways behind them and walk in the light with Gods people.
These tricks of theirs were referred to by them as being plans of the Spirit “Amasu ka Moya”. And they often used them on people when they questioned something and when they succeeded they would be elated and rejoiced over their success. Then came the time when they tried them on me, but instead of them succeeding in deceiving me I saw right through them (and let me state it here that at times God supernaturally showed me they were lying and it was confirmed later.) In the beginning this bothered me, because I thought “Surely if these were the plans of the Holy Spirit why don’t they work on me?” So I started to question them and soon realised that this cannot be of the Lord, because I cannot equate it with the Holy Spirit of God.
4. They used to say that God is not bound to the Bible.
This is a very dangerous statement and is tantamount to saying that God is not reliable and will not bind Himself to what He said He will do. Is it not similar to what the devil said to Eve “Has God said” in other words can one trust what He said ? He does not bind Himself to His Word . He can say one thing and yet do another. I find this very disturbing.
If they would have said God is greater than the Bible and not everything about Him is written in the Bible one could accept that. God is infinite, but they seemed to say this, because some of their things did not line up with the Word of God, and could not be supported with the Bible. I believe the Bible to be God’s revelation to man and it is for man to live accordingly and use it as a standard for his life.
5. Friedel counselled the people ‘just to bow and not to question.”
This was said to many people including myself. But what does the Bible say? Examine everything (1 Thess. 5v21) and ‘test the spirits'(1 John 4v1).
It is important to note if we believe that the Holy Spirit is the Author of the Scriptures, then it makes nonsense of the allegations that people make when they say that you are going against God if you question a thing. The Holy Spirit invites you to test the spirits. Of course you cannot test or examine things if you are arrogant and haughty, because then you have God against you. God’s servants must be humble then they need not fear the threats and intimidation. Fear is the tool with which the devil robs one of strength and courage and makes you impotent, weak and often useless.
So don’t bow to things you don’t know. If one bow’s to save ones skin, then you might be bowing to Nebuchadnezzar’s image. You must look at things properly and know why you are bowing.
Seek the Lord all the time for His help, without which you cannot discern correctly.
Jesus says “See to it that no one misleads you. For many will come in My Name, saying “I am the Christ, and will mislead many” (Matthew 24v4&5)
What Jesus is saying here is that if you are misled it is because you allowed it, and you must carry the whole responsibility for it. So, if you have been deceived and misled you need to repent and ask the Lord to forgive you. Some people say that they meant well and therefore they think that there is no need to repent. If you do not repent you will remain in confusion, but if you sincerely ask the Lord to forgive you for allowing yourself to be misled He will restore and put you back into the right relationship with Himself , and set you free to serve Him in the right way.
Jesus says many will be led astray. You can never look at numbers and say because there are so many followers therefore it must be right.
Paul says prove what the will of the Lord is ( Rom. 12v2). and he also says “learn what pleases the Lord.” ( Eph. 5v10)
We must get our queue from the Lord and not do our own thing, nor are we just to follow people blindly and irresponsibly. Yes God works through people, but the responsibility still rests with us to know that we are following the right kind of leading. Jesus says “My sheep hear my voice and they follow Me.” Do we hear the voice of the shepherd when people speak to us or do we hear the voice of a stranger?
Another area of great concern to us was that the workers did not pray together.
Unlike the revival at Pentecost they prayed together before the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and afterward continued in prayer together and they included the new converts.(Acts 1v14 & 2v42).
When Gertrude wanted to know why we are not praying together, Heino Stegen told her (and I was present) that the reason why we could not pray together was that each one would be praying to his or her own God. He could not have made a far reaching statement like that on his own initiative, but was obviously told this by the leaders (that is Erlo or Hilda or Friedel). I believe there is great significance in what he said, namely, they believed they served a different God to the others that were with them in the work. How otherwise can one explain or understand a statement like this.
To me something like this is a vote of no confidence in the Holy Spirit. Because if the Holy Spirit was in our midst then surely He will guide and lead us to the living God who is the Father of out Lord Jesus Christ, the creator of heaven and earth, and would not direct us to some strange god. The whole thing was questionable and extremely suspect.
I cannot remember us ever breaking bread together at Maphumulo. Did they believe in it? Or were they against it? Who Knows? Do they break bread together now?
7. They were extremely secretive.
Usually people who are so secretive have something to hide. Even our Lord Jesus Christ tells us that. ” Men loved darkness rather than light, for their deeds are evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God” (John 3v 19-21). It has always puzzled me why they were so secretive.
I have kept a relatively low key when it came to K.S.B., but for years we have been praying that God would reveal and expose the whole system for what it is.
In fact, just recently (about two years ago) we have been sensing that the Lord was telling us that now is the time for sorting out. No one can sort out anything who runs away from it. The only way is to face it as it is.
When I say sorting out, I am not referring only to the affairs of K.S.B. but to everything in our lives that needs to be confronted and sorted out. Paul says “Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness but instead even expose them.” (Eph. 5v11)
Jesus said that one of the signs of the end times will be people pointing one to the inner chambers and saying that Christ is there (the secret places). (Math 24v26 )
But Jesus says “Do not believe them.” They pointed us to the inner chambers and made us take our shoes off.
It is a great comfort to know that ultimately everything will be exposed, even our slackness and unwillingness to sort out. Nobody will be exempted. Paul says our reward depends on our faithfulness and obedience . So please brothers let us make ourselves available to the Lord.
8. They hated it if someone dared to confront them.
They didn’t mind confronting others and usually they would gang up against one individual with them numbering anything up to ten people. These were their tactics , but speak to them about something in their lives or ministry and they would do everything to thwart or avoid you and so try and get away from you.
In the beginning Erlo impressed us by saying God has shown him that he must listen even to a young child, because God does speak through children. He said it with such conviction that we took him very seriously, but we soon discovered that in practise it did not work like that. Even when a grown man came to speak to him, he did not listen to him, nor did he have any inclination to receive what was said. He even vehemently opposed and withstood advice (e.g. Ximba , myself and now Dr Peckham).
When I look back, I understood what he meant when he said that he would listen even to a little child. The child he was to listen to and obey was Hilda’s daughter Thofozi, who used to dream a lot and whose dreams they took very seriously as coming from the Lord. Anything outside of that circle was viewed with caution and even great suspicion. So however clear someone saw things they would not receive him because he did not come from their close circle.
How was it done in Bible times? Paul confronted things even if they involved another apostle. He exposed Peter’s hypocrisy publicly and the matter was sorted out there and then.
That Erlo had a genuine experience with the Lord in the beginning of what they referred to as the revival seems evident, but that soon strange things entered seemed just as evident. If one accepts the positive on the basis of the evidence, then one must accept that the wrongs were definitely there, also on the basis of the evidence. So there was a mixture there. Now the Bible tells us God hates mixture, and expects His people to make a separation of the unclean from the clean
“To make a distinction between the unclean and the clean.” (Lev. 11v47: 14v57; 20v25 )
“They have made no distinction between the holy and the profane and have not taught the difference between the unclean and the clean.” (Ez. 22v26)
“Therefore come out from their midst, and be ye separate” say’s the Lord “And do not touch what is unclean and I will welcome you.” (2Cor 6v17)
Just before we left for Maphumulo the Lord gave us this word. We were very sure that God was speaking to us, but were baffled by the fact that God was telling us this when we had already left the Claridge work which we regarded as unclean. At the time it was a bit confusing, but on looking back it probably was Mapumulo the Lord was meaning and warning us against and we were unwilling to listen to Him.
If we would charge them of not making a distinction of what is clean and unclean they would find that preposterous, because they believe that is exactly what they are doing with their courting and marriage laws, their confession of sins and other observances. On the outward things may even look moral and clean, but what about the other things like lying, the deceptions, the devious business deals and maybe even divination? It is those things that are a real concern to one. It is the broken lives and hurts caused by them.
The results have been hurt people, disillusioned and even crushed, while others have been mentally affected and some ending up in suicide. Even Christian doctors told me how they had to help people who were totally wrecked as a result of their stay in K.S.B.
Kwasizabantu – the place where people are helped- where many come away devastated and disillusioned.
K.S.B. people are generally not difficult to detect, they seem to be walking around with a cloud over them. A friend , a missionary from Ireland , was on the PMB produce market with Johan when she saw some K.S.B people there. She looked at them and said ” Those people over there must be K.S.B people” When Johan looked up he was surprised to see that they were K.S.B. people. When he asked her ” How did you know?” She said that she could recognise the K.S.B. people by the cloud hanging over them.
9. The children were separated from their parents:
and were taken to Kranskop on the farm to be trained by the K.S.B. workers. Such things are undermining the authority of parents and are totally unbiblical.
Even the way they did it was unbiblical and is to be questioned. They compelled these little people to pray and give thanks for everything and they were not allowed to even relieve themselves without first praying and giving thanks .A spontaneous and hearty praying and giving thanks is to be commended but a forced one is law and not grace. They did this with an iron hand. To illustrate one little fellow was taken to the toilet by my sister in law who was there at the time. This little chap had to go so urgently that he could not pray fast enough and so started wetting his pants.
I was also told that when they wet their beds , apparently from all the pressure that was on them, urine was rubbed on their faces, while others were severely beaten.
Now I believe in disciplining children but this was going too far and the worst was that it undermined the parent’s authority. These poor children must have been confused as to who really was the authority over them, the parents or these K.S.B. workers.
This is similar to the communists who take away the rights of the parents. Looking back at the system of that time it had a lot in common with the communists.
a) Communist regimes are dictatorial so were Erlo and them.
b) Communist regimes are secretive so were Erlo and them.
c) Communist regimes separate children from parents and so did K.S.B.
d) Under Communism people are afraid to speak about things that concern them . lest they get into trouble with the government and that is how it was at Maphumulo . e) Communists played wives up against their husbands and so did they at Maphumulo (and later too).
f) Communists expect blind loyalty and obedience and so do they.
10. Blind loyalty and obedience:
Friedel’s brother Heino (who is also Erlo’s brother) said to someone, in the presence of Erlo that he will stand by Erlo even if he is wrong. Erlo, who was present, never reproved nor repudiated him. Surely this is confusion of the worst kind. You need to help a man when he is wrong, and if he will not listen then stop walking with him , otherwise you are deliberately identifying with evil.
Paul rebuked Peter at Antioch openly for his compromise and the thing was sorted out there and then. But if you are going to stand by someone and support him in his wrong then you become guilty of participating in that man’s sin.
11. Leaders were told not to confess their sins to the people otherwise the people would not respect them.
I believe the opposite is true. Where leaders humble themselves and confess their sins and shortcomings the people start trusting and loving them. In previous revivals you read that leaders were so worked upon by the Holy Spirit that some shouted out their sins publicly. Even Paul said when a leader sins he should be rebuked publicly. (1 Tim 5v2)
12. Right in the beginning we were told that everyone of the Claridge Christians had demons and needed to be exorcised.
So Uncle Anton encouraged them to go to Erlo to be delivered. Erlo would make them take off their shoes, lie them on a mat or bed, and speak a few sentences in tongues and then feel them along their whole body (at that time I could have probably repeated Erlo’s tongue as I had heard it so many times). When he finished he would ask the one prayed for whether he or she felt some warmth or something in the body if the answer was in the affirmative then he believed that his prayer was answered and if not, he would counsel that person to continue searching himself to see what the hindrance was . The “patient” would then come back with more confessions and the process would be repeated. This could be repeated many times with certain people. This was a great imbalance. Many people are harassed by demons and need help, but what they did was difficult to understand as many people were just not helped.
13. Confession of sins was their main thrust and went hand in hand with the deliverance ministry and counselling.
At times people would confess their sins, even if they had done so before. They would bring it all out again just in case they were previously not forgiven.
Now the Bible tells us that we should confess our sins one to another and pray for one another. This is another way of saying “Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfil the law of Christ” However they taught one must confess ones sins to certain leaders whom they designated. This is exactly like the RCC where people confess to the priest only. There have been incidents where leaders used confessions against the one who had confessed it.
The pressure they put on people was so great that they began confessing things they were not guilty of e.g. a wrong thought would come into the mind and instead of resisting it in the name of the Lord , they would embrace it as their sin and write it down and hand it in as a confession. You see , they went further than the RC’s the people had to write down their confessions. So they had the confessions and would keep them as long as they wanted to.
All this brought many people into dreadful confusion. Many have had difficulty in coming out of this confusion and bondage. They cannot tell the difference between a temptation and actual sin. And this puts them under terrible pressure which Maphumulo exploited and used as a leverage to keep these people under their control. Could this be part of what the Bible calls trading with the souls of men? (Rev 18v13)
The sad thing is that the leaders don’t confess their sins i.e. their lying , and crooked business deals etc but demand it from their followers.
14. When one meets people from K.S.B they don’t talk about Jesus and the kingdom of God but they talk about Erlo and the Mission.
They often say “see what God can do through the obedience of one man” meaning Erlo. To me this borders on blasphemy. Jesus is the obedient one ” Through the obedience of the One, many shall be made righteous” (Rom. 5v19) refers to Jesus and not to Erlo.
It is not altogether surprising that Jesus is pushed into the background. I have been in meetings lasting up to one and a half hours and Erlo would not mention the name of Jesus or Christ once. On the farm in Kranskop I pointed it out to him so afterwards he mentioned Jesus again perhaps under duress. If we don’t preach Jesus who then do we preach? Ourselves ? (Acts 8v5 ; 9v20 &22 ; 10v42 ; 19v13)
15. Erlo sometimes did strange things.
a) At times he would walk into our bedroom at night. When we looked again he was standing in our room and talking to us. Coming into our bedroom at midnight, or at some other unearthly hour of the night, unannounced and without knocking, one would think he had something urgent or important to talk to us about, but nay, it would just be some piffly little thing that was of no significance or consequence. Whether he came in to spy on us, or what his intentions were remains a mystery.
I have wondered how he would have reacted if I barged into his room where he was sleeping with his wife, whether he would have taken to it as kindly as we did? Remember, he was still single in those days. Is that the Spirit of God who teaches people to be rude and not even to be sensitive to ordinary good manners? Let us leave it to the Lord.
b) One day he took some of us to Mtulwa. He wanted to go and talk to his Uncle Friedrich Stegen . We left Mapumulo at about midnight and arrived at Mtulwa about 1a.m. He went into the house to see Uncle Friedrich and after a while he came back and we went on our way again. Why he chose these hours of darkness to see people is difficult to understand, unless he wanted to get them off guard when they woke out of their sleep.
c) He used to spend lots of time with Hilda Dube in a room, which in the beginning was his own bedroom. This to my thinking was , to say the least, unwise, and is contrary to what the Bible says that we should avoid even the appearance of evil ( 1 Thess. 5v22)
I have known him to spend hours with her alone. In the beginning when I needed to see him, I would go to his little flatlet, and find Helen and Josfina sitting in the little lounge guarding the room. They would tell me to come back later as Erlo and Hilda were still busy in the bedroom, and then coming back later I would be told the same thing. At times I would go back and forth a few times with the same result. Now I’m glad that I am not the judge, but I do have strong reservations about something like this as it definitely seems to raise suspicions in the minds of onlookers, although I did not suspect them. Even if they were totally innocent it was still not a testimony and it wasn’t avoiding the appearance of evil. This was a daily occurrence; an everyday thing.
16. Money matters.
The handling of church funds also leaves a lot to be desired. Just compare their approach to finances with Paul’s attitude to finance. Read 2 Cor. 8v1-24. Paul was extremely careful when handling money that he should not rouse suspicion, or that he should give the wrong impressions.
Erlo did not take the church into his confidence at all. Erlo used to say “If people don’t trust me then they must not give to me,” this was a subtle way of making people feel guilty that now they did not trust him. However the real issues here are not ‘not trusting’ but a corporate responsibility which is so evident in the Bible and needs to be cultivated in the Church. They didn’t understand that principle and probably didn’t want to, because it didn’t suit them. If that principle had been adhered to, the fiasco of the diamond mine could have been avoided. Now many people are hurting. From what I can gather they were never given receipts for the amounts of money invested. If this is so, then it is the height of irresponsibility, in fact it is fraudulent. We hope they will reimburse them with interest. Many of them borrowed the money on the strength of Friedel’s recommendation.
They lacked discernment when it came to many things.
One example relates to Dave Griesel . We counselled and helped Dave but when he could not manipulate us, he left, next we heard he was at K.S.B , and I immediately said to my co workers that they would be conned by Dave. And sure enough they started using him and his testimony. Even tapes were made and circulated to get as much mileage out of this as they could. But what was the ultimate outcome? An embarrassing fiasco. I could tell you a lot about Dave and his ability to con people.
If Erlo had this amazing gift of enquiring of the Lord why was he conned? Why all these funny and horrible things? These are the big questions.
18. The K.S.B. people refer to the size of the work and how thousands have been reached in different parts of the world.
They take this to be proof that they are right and that God is pleased with them. If evidence like this proves them right , then the Zionists of Moriah of the Northern Province are the people to follow. They have probably +/- a million people gathering at Moriah over the Easter weekend. They make K.S.B. look small. Numbers or the size of the work are not necessarily proof that God approves of it.
Erlo likes telling people they must look at the fruit i.e. the size of the work or numbers of the people. Now it is obvious that he confuses the work with the fruit. The Bible leaves us in no doubt what the fruit is. (Gal 5v22)
I can assure you that boasting is not the fruit of the spirit, but is the work of the flesh. When Paul the apostle wrote to the Romans he mentions that he would like to have fruit among them also . Undoubtedly he was referring to changed lives that produced the fruit of the spirit i.e. Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness,Gentleness and Self Control.
19. The K.S.B. followers I know don’t seem to have Joy and Peace in their lives but even lack the assurance of Salvation; resulting in gloom and depression.
They seem to be full of fear: the fear of man & the fear of the devil which are destructive things. The only fear that builds you up is the fear of God when it goes together with the love of God. This brings security , and peace into ones life.
20. Areas where Claridge differed from Maphumulo.
a) At Claridge the workers prayed together with all the people there whereas at Maphumulo there were no prayer meetings.
b) At Claridge, to begin with, they tried to preach Christ . At Maphumulo they preached confession of sin
c) At Claridge they were more intellectual while at Maphumulo more simple but not necessarily less challenging.
21. Things in Claridge & Maphumulo that were similar.
a) Both were authoritarian/nearly dictatorial.
b)Both used fear to rule the people.
c) Both got very angry when challenged.
d) Both could not stand scrutiny.
e) Both had an air of superiority about them.
f) Both targeted certain people to oppose them and oust them.
g) Both did things without consulting the Church.
h) Some workers were about starved under both of them.
i) Both would not receive from others, they believed they were mature and knew better e.g. Anton ” Just think of it , Freddy Redinger said that he will pray for me – who is Freddy to pray for me?” e.g. Erlo “The whites are babies that know nothing (lutho) – they still need to be in nappies.”
j) Both had female prayer partners: Anton had Leni and Erlo had Hilda.
k) Both used workers as cheap labourers who were not paid. Yet they got huge financial support.
l) Both drove posh cars.
m) Both stuck close to those who had money and could support them.
n) Anton tried to arrange and manipulate marriages at Maphumulo it was even more blatant.
o) Anton used his brother Gerhard to do the dirty work
Erlo used his brother Friedel to do the dirty work
p) Anton loved to minister overseas and so does K.S.B and they always talk about it enthusiastically.
q) Anton led on his own with Gerhard’s help.
Erlo led on his own with Hilda’s help.
r) Anton’s ministry from Lilienthal awakening to his fall was just under 20 years, whereas Erlo’s ministry from the Maphumulo revival to the present time is just over 30 years. The periods overlapped a little.
21. Josfina’s advice.
When I was still at Maphumulo it happened that I met Josephine, as far as I can recollect it was at the washing line. She probably perceived that I was not too happy and a conversation ensued. She told me that she herself had misgivings and that there were things she did not agree with, but she said it was better for us to keep quiet, even if there are things wrong, implying that to speak out would bring trouble.
She then related a story to me to illustrate the point she was trying to make. There was a certain young man living under the jurisdiction of an iNkosi (King or Chief). One day he discovered to his horror that the Nkosi had donkey ears, but this was not common knowledge among his subjects, so to tell others would get him into serious trouble. He did not know what to do. If he told someone he would most certainly be punished, because he would be accused of insulting the Nkosi who was hiding it from his people. This thing bothered him so much he eventually went into the veiled, far from people and sat on the ground and bowing low he spoke out ” The Nkosi has donkey ears, the Nkosi has donkey ears, the Nkosi has donkey ears…..” He whispered this into the ground. This, she said, gave him some relief, because he spoke out what was worrying him, even if it was only to the soil. Josephine suggested I do the same.
I think she meant well, but if she had another agenda it did not matter to me at the time. I could not accept her advice as it would have been hypocritical to continue as though everything was well when in fact I had serious reservations that were of real concern to me . I would rather have them cleared by addressing the issues with the people concerned. I really tried to sort things out with them, but they did not listen, or accept and neither did they explain anything except that they became hostile toward me.
Now that it has involved and hurt many people the time has come to speak out publicly and openly. In the past they have often been spoken to and had plenty of time to repent and change, but have consistently refused. Now for their own sake and even for the people’s sake who are caught in their net and those who yet might be caught in the future, it is necessary to expose the “goings on” at K.S.B. If we don’t speak out we could be held responsible for the poor victims of this legalistic system.
Someone said “You can’t say that you love Truth if you don’t hate evil, and you cant say that you hate evil if you want to stay neutral.” Either you side with Truth or you will be seen as siding with evil.
Jesus said ” He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters” The natural man likes to walk the middle path of compromise but God is not pleased with it and regards such as being against Him. Let us take a clear stand against all that is not of God.
CONCLUSION:
It would appear that K.S.B is a continuation of Claridge. The thing that changed was the leadership. It was very similar to a coup d’etat. They took over power by exerting tremendous pressure on Uncle Anton only to lead the work into greater mysteries and bondage. Any work that has to be sustained by lies is extremely suspect. The situation at the time lent itself to staging a coup, because most of the people had some complaint against Uncle Anton, and so to organise a coup was not so difficult, especially after they had become known through their so called revival.
The pressures they put onto Anton Engelbrecht and how they locked him up in a room is a story on its own. They delighted themselves in telling people how evil and wrong he was and that he had to be discarded. One of their famous expressions was ” Ugangile u Maphica” Maphica was Anton’s Zulu nickname (Gangile) means naughty. “Anton is naughty” If this was said once, it was said many many times, but little did they understand at the time that they were actually describing themselves. It is sad to say they were very naughty. I do not for one moment suggest that Uncle Anton wasn’t naughty but they would have done well had they taken out of their eyes the beam first, so they could see clearer in dealing with Uncle Anton.
I hope and pray the Lord will help us not to make charges against people for the purpose of downing them , or to use other people’s faults as a platform to exalt ourselves, or to feather our own nests. May it only be for the purpose of bringing correction and for helping those who are caught up in bondage and confusion so they may be set free to serve the Lord in His way. May the Lord Jesus Christ graciously help us throught His Holy Spirit! Amen!
Erwin Redinger