POLITICS: FORBIDDEN TERRITORY FOR CHRISTIANS
By
OWEN VOSS
In
the long history of the Church we have a literal and terrible fulfillment of the prophesied activity of Satan. We
are told that he goes about "as a roaring lion
seeking whom he may devour." His determination to tear to
pieces the Church of Christ, and destroy the living testimony to the Redeemer
of lost and sinful men, found expression in the diabolical activity of Nero and
the unrestrained cruelty of Diocletian.
The
public slaughter of believers throughout the ages, whether the human instrument
be a rope or a military dictator, and the means employed be a fire or a sword,
or the horror of rotting in a rat-infested dungeon, the fact that all this has
happened to men, women, and even children professing the name of Christ is
undeniable evidence that what Scripture foretold would come to pass has indeed
come to pass. When it has not been expedient to devour openly, then has
Satan transformed himself into an angel of light in order to deceive.
The
manner of this deception at once suggests some form of false teaching; a
teaching that, while it contains some element of truth, is still not in
accordance with the written word. In this connection there is no greater
chaos in the channels of human thought than that which prevails as a result of attempting
to Christianize modern society; to impregnate the existing order with what
passes for the Christian Religion, and by that means build the
We
know of course that Scripture teaches us that until a set time the earth would
remain under the curse, due to the disobedience of our first parents. There
has been no later revelation of any description to tell us that the curse
pronounced in
Satan
knew that the vanity of men exults in the fascinating glory of a worldly
kingdom. Consequently he took Jesus up into an exceeding high mountain
and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. This
temptation is remarkable for the insight we have given us of the depth of
cunning to which Satan can descend. He
attracts in order to deceive. The kingdoms of this world are a very real
attraction to a mind alienated from God.
A civilization enlightened by its own education and philosophies of
life, spurred on by the impetus of its own inventions, and moving through a series
of social revolutions towards some fancied golden age or new world-order is the
mirage in the desert that captivates the worldly-minded. Its attainment
is accepted by the greatest political thinkers of the day as being merely a
matter of time. They make their speeches ring out the surety of attaining
this goal:
but Jesus, who knew the end from the beginning, in startling contrast to mere
man who knows not what a day brings forth, refused to accept Satan’s offer of
world rulership, though the offer was made at the time when the Son of Man had
no where to lay His head.
Hence,
politics, which broadly speaking is the collective activity and expedient
administration of earthly governments, are by their very nature forbidden
territory to one who belongs to the Father. The strife and clash of opposing
opinions among men seeking to rule without God clearly forbid the interference
of one separated by Christ from the wisdom of this world. The
political arena is the breeding ground for the secret diplomacy that
periodically hurls one nation at another. It is an established fact that
politics are a career, yet who would dare, nay who is competent, to say just what
particular motive is driving a politician along a certain line of thought?
It
is generally accepted that the aim of the politician is a healthier state of
society. But the lessons of history, one’s personal experience, and the
decidedly unhealthy and dangerous conditions of the political arena of our own
day do not support that view. The determination to satisfy
personal vanity and the wielding of personal power in the realm of
power-politics seem to be much nearer the truth. The gilded lie was never so much in
evidence as in our own day. Continental
political giants have been striped naked and exposed as careerists and cowards,
vultures living on the people.
It
cannot be too strongly pointed out that the social righteousness advocated by the
politician is a righteousness without God.
At best it is humanism that is wholly detached from the purity of God’s
Righteousness as revealed in Jesus Christ. Frankly considered, the
case against the believer becoming enmeshed in the political confusion that so
substantially contributes to the prevailing perplexity has been proved
conclusively. This inability to diagnose the cause of the human
tragedy made up as it is of lawlessness and suffering, the latter following the
former as night follows day, is effectively demonstrated by the desperate and
hopeless resort to a new league of nations; a new league of nations fortified
by an international police force, with the addition of the resources of modern
scientific research in the field of high-powered destructives.
It
is a fact that, continually faced with the destructive power of evil, the most
cultured and educated civilization attainable by men is literally forced to
protect itself by a more scientific and a more powerful arm of law. This
age-long struggle for supremacy between good and evil, culminating as it has
done in the nearly complete and continual victory of evil over good, even
though temporary, must sooner or later give birth to the final crisis of the
nations.
There
is an impassable gulf between the imaginations of unregenerate men and
the purposes of God according to His foreknowledge. One illustration will
suffice. According to men the cause of all world chaos and individual
stress is either unsound politics, mismanaged
industry, biased education, or perverted economics. All this they say
produces a world-crisis resulting in war, which can only be averted in the
future by a truly organized distribution of the resources of the earth.
It will be seen at once that while such a superficial explanation is made a
basis for starting another new order of any kind whatever, the real issue will
never be fought out. It is simply a tinkering with the symptoms to the
fatal neglect of the disease. Jesus left no room for doubt that in fully
accepting the implications of the death of the Cross, He was personally dealing
with the controversy that God has with the creature He made. And not only
so, but when He said, "It is finished,"
that was a plain declaration that the conflict of the ages had passed its
greatest crisis. The righteousness of God had been revealed in a display
of love and power so unique that a perfect remedy was provided in the death and
resurrection of Jesus for the disease that has cursed humanity, namely,
sin. Can it be wondered at that the ablest and most sincere politician
only adds to the confusion and misery when he seeks a solution of the world’s
troubles by deliberately ignoring the fact of
From
this it is clear that any attempt to build a new world order is simply another
way of saying, "We will not have this Man to reign
over us." It follows that if the world has rejected Christ,
then all its activity is Godless, and doomed to failure for that very
reason. No doubt men are baffled by the presumption of ministers of
religion blessing the schemes and plans for a new world order when it is
remembered that the vital international council chambers God is never even named,
let alone consulted.
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FOOTNOTES
It
is remarkable how symptoms ripen of the Advent, and how convincing they are to
the watchful eyes of those who know and believe the prophetic Scriptures.
The establishment of the ‘golden age’ is much nearer than many Christians today
suppose. No matter in which direction we turn, we see a rapid
deterioration in morality; a disregard for those in authority; an increase in
the misuse of drugs: there is an uncomfortable feeling abroad, a distress of
nations, men’s hearts failing them for fear.
An
important question for every Christian is: Where does my loyalty
lie? Am I supporting the present system which God has rejected? -
Ed.
G.
H. Lang highlighted the ever present danger for every believer:-
"A
king must needs have a body of superior officers to
serve him in administering his kingdom. King David had administrators and
priests, men who had served and suffered with him
in the long years of his rejection (2 Sam. 8: 15-18)
but Jonathan, though he loved David as his own soul and willingly resigned to
him the throne, seeking only to be second only in the Kingdom though himself
the heir apparent (1Sam. 23: 17), DID
NOT EVEN ENTER David’s Kingdom, for he did not
share his rejection. This is the moral warning - [applicable to every regenerate believer today] - the narrative seems to give. Through filial
loyalty he supported the king AND THE SYSTEM WHICH GOD HAD REJECTED, and lost
his life in its collapse. It
was the natural course not the spiritual; the latter, the path of faith, would
have been judged unnatural. Jesus had said: "He that loveth father ... more than Me, is not worthy of Me" (Matt. 10: 37). "Ye are they who have continued with Me in my trials;
and I appoint unto you a Kingdom ... that you
may eat and drink at My table in MY KINGDOM; and ye
shall sit on thrones judging ..."
(Luke 22: 28-30). This special grant was
on account of these men having gone through with Christ to the end of His
rejection. He would forgive their failings, even the severe
failure of that night. He would have regard to the dominant fact
that they had stuck to His person and cause through thick and
thin and would do so unto the end of life."
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