We have become a society that will do anything in the world to attain political mileage. Of late, one of the widely used tactics is to politicize the scripture whereby disciples of politicians will pick some verses from the bible, turn them inside out by disregarding the context within which those verses are placed in the bible, and all this, to please their political masters. The most basic lesson we learn from the Bible is that God loves order. We learn from the book of Genesis the orderly way in which God created the world. This order of things is emphasized in the bible so many times that we have to take it seriously! Apostle Paul, in his letters, emphasizes the need to honor and respect the order that God has established. Paul, from the onset, reminds Christians that the most important authority is that which comes from God. He is the supreme authority. But then God appoints other authorities in society; the government, church and home and the subjects thereto are to respect the relative authority. In Ephesians 6, Paul writes that Children must obey their parents, for it is the right thing to do. If you read the chapters prior to this, you will notice that Paul has set in place an environment for the children to be able to do this. It has to begin with the husband and wife. Paul instructs wives to submit to their husbands, while husbands are mandated to love their wives. With such an environment, Paul expects children would thrive in an environment that allows them to honor the parents. We already know that God is the supreme authority, our father in heaven. A father has authority in his home, but does this give him power to abuse his wife and children? Your guess is as good as mine. If you have noticed, people will quote Romans 13 and only present the first two verses and then go ahead to make a judgement on other leaders (never mind that judgement belongs to God). But what is the context of this message by Paul? Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. For this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are Gods ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor Notice that the government must not be a terror to good works. It has no power or authority to terrorize good works or good people. God never gave it that authority. And any government that oversteps that divine boundary has no divine authority or protection. To this end, if a government cannot appoint members of other tribes and not because of anything they have done save for their tribe, then such a government does get the protection of Romans 13. If a government does not offer security to its people irrespective of who they are or where they come from, then such a government falls out of Romans 13. If a government does not make conditions of living better for the people irrespective of whether they voted for that government or not, then that government is not protected by Romans 13. But if such authority makes sure that it is doing what God would have wanted it to do for the people, then the citizens must respect and submit to that authority. Please note that the above chapter does not make any reference to Jubilee or Cord. It is a call for people to read, learn and make an informed choice on how the government of the day is representing the authority of God. The problem in Kenya today is that we have allowed our political leaders to violate their oaths of office and to ignore, and blatantly disobey, the Constitution which is the supreme law of the land! Therefore, if we truly believe Romans Chapter 13, we will insist and demand that leaders respect the constitution. Finally, a country can only be as good as the church. The church can only be as good as the home. If there is something not working in that chain, never expect the country and its citizens to co-exist.
Posted on: Mon, 07 Jul 2014 02:05:17 +0000