FOLLOW US
U. Radebe: Address to Summit 2022, Session IVc
Written by Imboni Dr. Uzwi-Lezwe Radebe, chair, IAPD-Africa; founder and leader, The Revelation Spiritual Home, South Africa
Friday, August 12, 2022
Address to Summit 2022 and Leadership Conference,
Seoul, Korea, August 11-15, 2022
Distinguished spiritual and religious leaders, ladies and gentlemen,
I am truly honored and privileged to address this august assembly this morning. We have a big delegation of spiritual and religious leaders from all over Africa here at this Summit 2022 and Leadership Conference.
I would like to start by commending True Mother, Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, for inviting us all to this Interreligious Association for Peace and Development (IAPD) assembly. True Mother wants us all to become that magnet that will attract all of God’s children in order to build a world of interdependence, mutual prosperity and universally shared values, what she calls a Heavenly Unified World. That is, a world where we all rejoice together, respecting and loving one another as a one family under God.
It is worth noting that even before Christianity and Islam existed, our ancestors knew uMfihlakalo, our Creator, and did their best to follow His mandate. There was harmony between the traditional rulers and the imboni or spiritual leader. The imboni served as the mediator between the Creator, the ancestors and the king and his subjects. Each ruler clearly knew that to properly rule his kingdom, he needed the help of the Creator through the imboni. One of the main actions of colonial rule was to separate the spiritual leader from the ruler by discrediting the first.
These efforts separated the people from their spiritual heritage and roots. Luckily, they did not succeed completely. Many spiritual groups and movements have sprung up in different parts of the continent and, despite experiencing a lot of persecution and rejection, have flourished. I think of people like Muhammad al-Tijani in North Africa; Sheikh Ahmadou Bamba in West Africa; Simon Kimbangu and Simon Toco in Central Africa; Engenas Lekganyane, Isaiah Shembe, Anna Makhetha Mantsopa and Elliot Kenan Kamwana in Southern Africa, to name just a few. There are many more! They suffered prejudice but never gave up fighting for the spiritual revival of our continent. We are all here today thanks to their bravery.
As spiritual and religious leaders of Africa, our task is to make sure we revive and rekindle the spiritual life of our people.
Our continent is currently at a crossroads. As spiritual and religious leaders, we are committed to working together to save our continent and thus contribute to building a Heavenly Unified World of peace. It is about time we speak with one voice, respecting one another, to build a bright and shiny continent for our children and all future generations.
Today, they talk of separation between church and state. Spirituality is about having a constant consciousness of the divine; the presence of our ancestors, angels, or spiritual guides; living a purposeful and meaningful life; finding meaning in everything, including the most trivial things; and living in harmony with nature. Spirituality is pervasive. It permeates every aspect of our life. Spirituality is beyond religion as we know it. While religion today seems too formal and concerned only with a certain aspect of one’s life, spirituality is a way of life, and it can never be separated from the public sphere. In spirituality, everything is sacred. Spirituality informs everything in traditional African society, including politics, the arts and culture, religion, economics, health, eating, work, dress, marriage, and death.
Thanks to uMfihlakalo, our Creator, and our spiritual guides, the flame of spirituality is still burning in Africa, giving hope in hopeless situations.
The Mother of Peace, True Mother, said in 2020, “I went to Africa and met many righteous people. There, I spoke about God’s providence and revealed I was God’s only begotten Daughter. They all welcomed me. In particular, many religious leaders welcomed me.” We came to Korea this time to show to the world that we are such righteous people from Africa that True Mother talked about and our Creator, our Heavenly Parent can count on.
As with our forebears, we will work to restore the past by making sure we collaborate with our political leaders, advising them to go the way of our Creator and helping them to live and rule based on the principle of living for the sake of others, transcending creed, ethnicity and race. Putting the purpose of the whole first, this is the way we can contribute to make spirituality a universal commodity in Africa and. At the African Union, the representative of each country serves only the interest of his or her nation. Because of this, political organizations that are steadfastly moving in the wrong direction fiercely oppose anyone, especially spiritual and religious leaders, who dares to step forward. Politicians who espouse morality and try to steer the country in the correct direction are, on the other hand, restricted by spiritual and religious authorities. We need people who can think of Africa as a whole and who practice the principle of living for the sake of others, for the sake of the greater good.
The way to achieve peace and prosperity in Africa is to bring back our Creator as the Heavenly Parent in everything that we do. If we succeed, then Africa can become a haven of sustainable peace, an object of admiration once again. We can become an example to the world. For this, we need to build on our commonalities, not our differences—God knows how different we are!
I pray that we can all listen to this prophetic call of Mother Moon, our True Mother, to put aside our differences and work together to make Africa a God-centered Africa and the world a better place to live in.
Since 2014, I have been observing and studying Mother Moon. Through the various trips I made to Korea and the United States, I have come to appreciate the vision and love of Mother Moon for all humankind, especially Africa. I have listened to her many times, both in private and public settings, in front of political and religious leaders. She is uncompromising in her beliefs and convictions!
She is giving hope and blessing to us. Africa is rising since she started liberating and blessing us in Senegal, Zimbabwe, Sao Tome and Principe, South Africa and Niger. Current and former heads of state, spiritual and religious leaders, and traditional leaders are wholeheartedly welcoming her. She is being welcomed at the Africa Union and different regional organizations. We are proud of her and her achievements in Africa.
True Mother is working tirelessly to revive spirituality all over the world. She says, “While I am alive on the earth, we need to see at least one third of all humanity gloriously attending Heavenly Parent in their daily lives. The conclusion is that we can delay no further.”
I had the privilege of welcoming her in June 2019 to South Africa where she prayed for and liberated the youth who fought against oppression and injustice and gave their lives for the sake of my country, South Africa. On December 7, 2019, I hosted True Mother at the FNB Stadium for a continental Blessing. She brought the top African dignitaries who took part in the Africa Continental Summit in Niger to South Africa, sealing the new course for Africa. She has launched a movement for a new and shining Africa, an Africa that is God-centered and whose people and children are respected in the world, an Africa of interdependence, mutual prosperity and universally shared values. I, too, believe in that Africa, and I know that by supporting her, it is possible to build such an Africa!
Today, True Mother is calling us to work together with one voice with the African Union to secure peace and development in our continent. We have listened to this call. We will revive spirituality everywhere where secularism and atheism have gained ground.
At the end of our special session yesterday, we adopted and sign a resolution that will be introduced to the African Union. IAPD-Africa needs to become an advisory body to the African Union. As spiritual and religious leaders, we need to advise our decision-makers in the conduct of the affairs of the state and help them in the fulfillment of their mission. We need a God-centered Africa for sustainable peace and development.
I am deeply grateful to all my fellow spiritual and religious leaders who have taken upon themselves this noble task for the sake of our beautiful continent.
We hope that all the IAPD members throughout the world will support this endeavor in prayer. We believe with True Mother that this is not just for Africa but for all humanity. We are just initiating this and hope that spirituality will eventually be revived and rekindled everywhere.
May God bless all of us!
Thank you.
To go to the World Summit 2022 Schedule page, click here.