THE UTOPIAN SEARCH CONTINUES!

The Bible is the most misunderstood book on the planet, by those who do not read it and by many who do. The Bible is simply about a King, a Kingdom and a Royal Family of children. It was never intended to be a religious book. Its story and message are about the desire of a King to extend his Kingdom through his Royal Family. It is about government and governing.

So what is this word government? Government is about order, influence, administration, distribution, protection, maintenance, accountability, responsibility and productivity. In principle, government is the person, group or organization that executes the functions of governing. How? By exercising authority and jurisdiction over territory and a citizenry. The first Government known to man was established by the command and mandate of God to Adam and incorporates the need to order, work, oversee, guard and protect.

In the western world the roots of government reach back to the days of the Greeks. In Greek, government (kubernites) literally means to steer, to pilot, or to act as a rudder. Without government and law there is chaos. So government is the power given or derived for the purpose of making and enforcing laws for a certain territory. Governing incorporates the concepts of both power and authority. The two are very distinct from each other and we must understand them fully in order to appreciate the proper context of government. Both must be in balance for government to be successful.

Authority has to do with responsibility. Power has to do with ability. Authority has to do with empowerment; power focuses on exercising authority. Authority gives power its legality. Power without legitimate authority is dictatorship and eventually results in abuse, oppression and destruction. Authority gives power its rights. Sound familiar!?

Authority is the key to successful government. If a ruling power does not have authority it cannot govern. The authority to govern is given either by way of a popular vote or by way of natural authority. Today’s governments get their authority from people either through a process of choice or by seizing authority through force and our young nation has experienced the latter a tad too many times.

Because our IG usurped their authority by way of force they are under the impression that they have inherent authority. The only government on the earth that represents inherent authority is a monarchy. A king has the power and can give it to whomever he chooses. All other governments are formed by casting a vote or by launching a revolution. Essentially all human governments are substitutions for the ideal no matter how good these governments might be. The utopia we seek eludes us again!

The question to ponder is: if democracy is the ideal form of governing, why has it failed? Let’s inspect its origins. Democracy has its roots in the writings of the Greeks and is viewed by many people (even those in western religions) as the perfect government. Although Plato called it the fairest of constitutions he also saw weaknesses in democracy that would lead to its downfall. The rule of the people, for the people, by the people is a fine idea. But the roots of western democracy reveal that it was a reaction and rebellion against a divine choice or feudal system of governing called a kingdom.

In reality, Fiji has also fallen victim to this rebellion and has rejected Gods original design of Kingdom principles and adopted the Greek ideas and refined them to accommodate our ulterior aspirations. Fiji has never understood the potential power of a king and his kingdom because she was exposed to corrupt kings. In the absence of the perfect and ideal kingdom government concept, the concept of democracy is the best form of government invented by man to protect him from his own defective nature and selfish character. And we have time and again taken advantage of this. Despite being the best form of government it is still inundated with flaws. The very foundation and major principle of democracy, power and authority by majority vote, is the underpinning problem.

This defect is critical because even though it gives power to the majority of the people, it also places morality, values and standards for law at the mercy of this majority. All this does is legitimize the majority’s values, desires, beliefs, aspirations and preferences. The problem is that the majority vote can be the wrong vote. How many times have we seen that happen in our lifetime? It follows then that if democracy is in the people, then “we the people” become the supreme ruler of our lives and ultimate destiny. We have become our own god! No matter how educated we are, we can only lead ourselves as far as we go ourselves. If the ancient Hebrew scribe said that there is nothing new under the sun, then history has repeated the truth that man left to himself makes a poor god. Democracy without God therefore is man’s worship and elevation of himself and his own intelligence. What a disaster!

God is not subject to our politics nor can He be. He has created His own political system and governmental structure that is far superior to all forms of earthly government. In Him there is no difference between government and spirituality. The very assignment given to Adam in the Garden was a political assignment given to a spirit being living in a flesh body. If this is so in the original biblical mandate then there should be no such thing as “separation of church and state”. There is no biblical foundation to recent statements from the IG that the church must stay out of politics! We are all political and religious! There can be no separation between a man and his belief system!

JOHN DOE