Candidate Who is an Adventist Comes Close to Being Elected President of Zambia
By AT News Team, Jan. 25, 2015: Last night Edgar Lungu was declared the winner of the presidential election in the central African nation of Zambia, according to the respected international news service Reuters. This means that his leading opponent, Hakainde Hichilema, an Adventist, one of the wealthiest men in the country and an economist by training, has lost the election.
Final results were 801,342 votes (51 percent) for Lungu and 762,861 for Hichilema (49 percent) stated Zambia Reports. There will likely be challenges to the election despite the fact that “observers said [it] was conducted in a fair manner,” according to Reuters. Hichilema met with the Electoral Commission of Zambia and told journalists after the meeting that had urged the commission to delay declaring final results “until all the outstanding issues raised in the meeting are addressed,” said Zambia Reports.
Lungu was the candidate of the Patriotic Front which is aligned with Robert Mugabe, the long-time dictator in neighboring Zimbabwe. Lungu also had the support of former Zambia President Rupiah Banda.
Only a third of the eligible voters turned out in a week plagued with massive rains. The election was scheduled for Tuesday (Jan. 20) and extended to Wednesday and Thursday because of the difficulty of getting ballots to some remote villages. It was a special election called after the death of former President Michael Sata in October to fill out the last year of his term. The new President Lungu has been serving as minister of defense and minister of justice in Sata’s cabinet while Guy Scott, a white settler who was elected as vice president with Sata, has been the interim president.
Hichilema has run for president in three previous elections. He came in third all three times, gaining 25 percent of the votes in 2006, 20 percent in 2008 and 18 percent in 2011. In 2006 he ran as the candidate of a coalition called the United Democratic Alliance, and in 2008 and 2011 he ran as the candidate of the United Party for National Development (UPND).
The UPND party has a symbol that includes an outstretched hand and some have made the allegation that it is related to the Masonic Order. This resulted in a negative reaction among some Adventists in Zambia. A letter by an “Elder Brown Bwalya Chofwe” who identified himself as “a baptized and fully committed member of [the] Seventh-day Adventist church” in the Lusaka Times appealed to Pastor Harrington Akombwa, the denomination’s top official in the country as president of the Zambia Union Conference, to stay out of the election campaign. The basis of the complaint, according to the writer, was news reports that “Adventists are offended” by allegations that Hichilema “is a Satanist.”
Chofwe wrote that he “found it gross that the whole church management spent its precious time … to get involved into issues of politics.” He also wrote that “the church has no legal right to prove that HH is not a Satanist or Masonic.” It is unclear if the writer’s use of the title “Elder” is a reference to a clergy role or that of a local elder. No one by that name is listed in the Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook but because that reference work no longer includes Licensed Ministers that is not complete proof as to the writer’s status.
Zambia Reports published an opinion piece on January 16 by a Zambian living and working New York City which stated that “the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Zambia is poised to drop … HH as an elder” because “some members believe that HH’s continued stay as an elder in the church whilst carrying an alleged satanic freemason tag will have severe repercussions on the Church and its outreach.”
The article pointed out that the Adventist faith “is one of the largest Churches in Zambia.” It also stated that “Zambians do not take satanism or Freemasonry easily, especially the Pentecostals who happen to be one of the strongest voting blocs.” It described Hichilema as “standing against the … Christian candidate … Lungu” and stated that he “has not come out in the open except to say that he doesn’t know who the freemasons are.”
The campaigns have been ongoing in Zambia since November 14 last year and evidently created considerable discussion among Adventists and about the Adventist connection of the man who ends up being the number two candidate. Adventists in the United States may be faced with a similar situation in 2016 if Dr. Ben Carson, an Adventist physician, is nominated by the Republican Party, although the issues will be entirely unlike those mentioned above.
Adventists have a right to run for office like anyone else, but their candidacy can spark criticism of their religious affiliation, as it has in Hakainde Hichilema’s case. As the writer pointed out, some questions and criticisms might arise if Dr. Carson runs for president, too. Even if a candidate does not broadcast his religious affiliation, the press and his opponents are quick to turn the candidate into “that Mormon candidate” or “that Orthodox Jewish candidate.” While the publicity about the church could potentially be positive in some cases, it may be negative in others due to the critics’ attacks upon the political stance of the candidate. My advice might be: Dr. Carson was a fantastic surgeon and it could be best if he sticks to medical issues, writing, and high-paying speaking engagements, rather than making a foray into politics.
Let us not limit the issue this way. Who made both Joseph and Daniel leaders although they were in heathen Land? What if God decides to make Carson president to fulfil a purpose? The fact that the world is controlled by the Devil does not make satan greater than God. Let”s pray if God so desire to make Carson president He will do so! If it’s not His wish so be it. Our minds and ways or even how we interpret prophecy might not be as God sees it. Prayer is what matters and not discouragement . I know a lot were against Joseph and even Daniel when they were elevated to the Top but let God be true and everyone false
Sometimes it might be easy to forget these important facts.
The difference is that neither Joseph, nor Daniel were self-appointed runners for office. They were rewarded for wise and faithful service, which came from their utter dependence on God in their circumstances. (And Esther had no choice of whether to “run” for new queen, just in case that also is confused with the facts.
Well, then we have Ben Carson here in the US…
Did anyone watch(live) his speech at the GOP convention on that Sabbath Day???
I didn’t watch live, but I noticed that he spoke for 20 minutes starting at 11:30AM on Sabbath in DesMoines. I wonder about that decision when some Jewish people in politics (Lieberman, Schumer) refuse to do any campaigning on the Sabbath.
Dr. Ben Carson is a great surgeon, but he knows nothing
of politics. He is loved by the tea party gang in
the GOP. The same religious right which the SDA church warns will be foremost in using the power of the state to pass religious laws that undermine the separation of church and state, are his biggest supporters.
Also Carson is a black conservative, which the liberal media will smear at every turn. HE has already given them ample fodder with some of his speeches at CPAC gatherings. THE smartest thing Carson could do is just stay out of politics. I think the media will destroy him, and also put the spotlight on SDA church in a very negative way.
Its unfortunate for Adventist to look at things in a negative way, this should be the opportunity for the church to give support to any candidate for such high offices.
I would prefer to hear that we should be in deep and sincere prayer to hear the Holy Spirit in such cases to see whether the person is really responding to the call of God, or self-appointed “savior”.
Regarding ‘Gifted Hands’ running for president: last time I checked http://www.advetist.org the official church website stated that our church is against war, against assault riffles and guns, for the conservation of our environment, pro healthcare for all people, pro helping the poor – and in favor of Matthew 25 type treatment of others. I’m not sure how any SDA could vote for, much less run for, a Republican Party in 2016. Separation of church and state is fundamental to our beliefs. We are NOT part of the NRA, anti-
Conversely, how could any SDA vote for a Democrat party in 2016 that is pro-Choice supporting near-full-term abortions, same sex marriage, banning Christian observances in schools and public events but supporting Muslim and atheist worship rituals, banning the Ten Commandments in school and government locations, and more…
There is one issue where the SDA church ranks right up there with the religious right and that has to do with it’s treatment of gays. You can’t get any lower than the least of these my brethren, if you are gay in the SDA church. On that one, our church stands with the goats,
along with the other self swerving Bible thumpers of the religious right.
Tom, I agree that the SDA church is lacking in compassion for anyone that struggles with a lifestyle that is contrary to its interpretation of appropriate and acceptable behavior. But even with compassion for the gay person, I do not see a path for Christian acceptance of same sex marriage.
Anti-Bill of Rights, pro-segregation ‘moral majority’…
I wonder if an Adventist President would bow to the Pope, or how he would deal with issues that have implications about last day events. GW Bush is still being accused of coercing allies to support the Iraq war because of he believed that it was the precurser to Armageddon and anyone opposed to it was opposed to Jesus Christ.
“We cannot with safety vote for political parties; for we do not know whom we are voting for. We cannot with safety take part in any political schemes. We cannot labor to please men who will use their influence to repress religious liberty … The people of God are not to vote to place such men in office; for when they do this, they are partakers with them of the sins which they commit while in office.” {FE 475.2}
Good people should not vote, because they might accidentally vote for someone who turns out to be corrupt. Only bad people should vote, so the good people can blame the bad people when the elected leader turns out corrupt. After all, everyone knows that all politicians are corrupt. So it would not make sense for good people to do their best to elect a good leader.
Good people should not vote???? This is crazy. Then again how do you define “good” people. Freedom loving people should exercise their right to vote. Period. However, as christians we know there is no political solution that will offer a permanent solution to this world’s problems. JESUS has the only ultimate solution and it is out of this world.
But it is critical that as we prepare to occupy the kingdom to come, that we do not try to enforce heaven on earth in the here and now.
Render to Caesar the things that are Caesars, and to God the things that are GOd’s.
Your sarcasm is on target. I am not sure that the above statement that I quoted was a universal advice not to vote for any candidates ever. Obviously the SDA church was very involved in political issues while EGW was alive including the temperance movement and the attempts to pass Sunday legislation in the late 1800s. I only copied that quote for discussion purposes. Thank you for your comment.
The Lord is just very close to appearing. This is not the time for Adventists to battle with worldly positions. There is so much work to be done out there in the world. The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. What is going to change by Adventists being presidents or prime ministers of countries? Would that push the Second Coming further? If it would I wouldn’t like it because we want to go home now. The world is extremely bad and painful to live in. We know what’s going to happen soon who can stop it. The Papacy is busy right now to enforce the Sunday Law. Which president according to prophecy will be able to stop it. Lets pray for one another. The devil is trying to deceive even the very elect of God. Lets really pray honestly.