Ulundi. 20 November 1987

Ulundi is a small place but it is the hub of a very vast wheel of activity. It is from Ulundi that policy directives go out to reach far and distant places. It is from Ulundi that directives are given to a very diverse set of people and groups involved in a multitude of different activities. I am always so deeply aware that policy directives and practical decisions in the circumstances which we now have to see out in suffering, need to be filled with foresight and wisdom. In my leadership I keep Christ central to everything I do.

I have been blessed with many opportunities to have fellowship such as we are having today. I am always aware that Christian wisdom grows in its sharing. Without fellowship one's faith can be firm but it can be firmer in fellowship. Without fellowship one can employ intellectual powers and common sense but in fellowship there is always that deeper Christian awareness which sharpened the mind and mellows the heart.

Wherever there is Christian fellowship, Christ's Gospel to mankind should be made central. The Bible has a timeless value for everything we are and for everything we do. I have a deep respect for those who devote their lives to the spreading of the Gospel and to the distribution of the Bible. I feel greatly privileged that the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints has wanted to present me with autographed copies of the Zulu translation of the "Book of Mormon." I congratulated you Mr. And Mrs. Wilson for successfully completing the mammoth task you undertook in translating the "Book of Mormon".

In this day and age in South Africa we have to rediscover the meaning of Christ in our personal, social and national life. It is of course true that in every era mankind everywhere has to do this. It is, however, in times of deep national turbulence that the need for the discovery of the meaning of Christ is so dramatically underwritten. In South Africa there has been in recent years a hideous upsurge of political violence and a great many South Africans have been drawn into instigation violence and opposing violence with violence. Whether one supports violence with more violence or whether one opposes violence with violence, and opposes more violence with more violence, one is drawn into the escalation of violence.

I believe that we are all the children of God; that Christ died for us all and that He is to be found working on every side of every conflict. The discovery of Christ must be pursued by doing more than attempting to discover Him in one's own camp. One can really only discover Christ as one pursues the politics of reconciliation which is now so urgently needed in our country. Every Christian message directed at reconciliation and pointing to the need to make Christ King in one's own life and in the life of one's community and family, is a powerful message of hope.

I am one of those people who has the greatest respect for the sovereignty of the individual human being. Each of us is important enough for Christ to have died for us. I am aware that Christ enters different people's lives in different ways. We cannot prescribe to Him how He must go about His divine salvation of humanity. There is in the way He operates clearly a divinely appointed multi-strategy approach. He has given the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints its particular undertakings and responsibilities. I pray that God's richest blessings be with you as you go about discharging your specific responsibilities to yourselves, your fellow human beings and to your God.

I am always appalled by the extent to which there is a kind of unholy vying for importance in the work of Christ among many of Christ's followers. The divisions in each denomination and the divisions between denominations about the meaning of the Gospel in today's South African circumstances frightens me. My people are the poorest of the poor and they suffer the most from the escalation of violence. They need a clear message from the Church. They need to be sustained by a Church leadership which is itself a reconciled leadership and which is itself a leadership relevant to the suffering of the people. The more we go back to the fundamentals of the messages of Christ, the nearer we will come to being reconciled one with the other.

It is my prayer that the Zulu translation of the "Book of Mormon" will be a vehicle carrying the love of Christ into the hearts and minds of the people. A great deal of prayerful work has gone into the translation and production of the book. It is a great gift to the Zulu people and I am honored to have been given this signed copy of it.