People are too comfortable

Finding party agents (PAs) for next week's (March 1, 2006) elections proves to be a task that few of us were really ready to face. The ACDP does not work on the principle of big money and buying PAs for election days like other parties do. The ACDP is a thoroughly Christian party, yet it seems to me that Christians still have an aversion to politics.

Before I got involved in politics, I used to listen to and participate in conversations complaining about how the government's laws are creating a perverse society bent on its own destruction. With the regular verbal attacks against Christianity from government it was also easy to see how they could one day use the current liberal and morally depraved South African constitution to label almost anything Christians say as hate-speech and as a result Christianity will lose its freedom in this country.

In the midst of all this, South African Christians are still prone to complaining about the state of the nation, yet are not willing to actually get their hands dirty in order to bring about positive change.

At a National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) convention in Dallas, a member of the British House of Lords said "that biblical preaching could be outlawed unless Christians become more politically active." Beware the day that preachers will no longer be able to speak the truth from their pulpits concerning degenerate lifestyles such as that of homosexuals and lesbians, or even point out that Jesus Christ is to be worshipped ONLY and not Allah or some other moon-god!

If Christians do not rise up in this country as a voice to be reckoned with, I fear that our rights to free-speech and religious freedom will be curbed not so long from now. As Christians we are still very much concerned about our quality of lifestyle instead of our quality of life. There is a real difference between these two concepts. Quality of lifestyle is concerned about the car, house, neighbourhood, bank balance and level of comfort we have. Quality of life is concerned with the greater things in life such as justice, caring for the poor, truth and being able, at the end of the day, to feel that we have seriously impacted others' lives for the glory and kingdom of God, even at the neglect of quality of lifestyle!

Many Christians think that it is enough to attend church--although some do not even do that (a possible sign of apostasy?)--and perhaps even go to Bible study or cell-meeting; yet, the impact they have on their communities only reach as far as their own front doors.

In order to avert a wholesale collapse of our rights as Christians and of our nation's morality, it is absolutely imperative that we as Christians get involved in our communities and in politics. To say that Christians should not get involved in politics is like saying that motorists should not get involved in knowing the rules of using the road. I know, analogies are not always that accurate in expressing what we mean. If we as Christians do not know and get involved in the way government does things (politics), we might just one day wipe the tears away from our eyes and find that we are living in a country run by a bunch of tyrants. Then it will be too late to complain!

To say that this will not happen to us because we are Christians, I would like to tell you that you are wrong! Then you are simply denying what has been happening to Christians from the very first day of Christianity. Remember, Christ was crucified for what He proclaimed! All down history, Christians have been martyred for what they believed. It happened under the Roman Caesars, it happened after the Russian Czars, it happened in Muslim Turkey and is still happening today in Muslim countries, China, North Korea and other countries.

"When I am tempted to believe that I deserve to be safe and prosperous because I believe in Jesus, I remember the martyrs who died to preserve the Gospel for us. When I am tempted to think that believing the Gospel guarantees me comfort, I remember the missionaries who endured all sorts of discomforts and death to bring the Gospel to our continent." (Biblical Democracy, Miriam Cain, Signpost Publications, Second Edition 2004, xi)

Remember, what you "fight" for today, your children will enjoy tomorrow! If you fail today, your children will suffer tomorrow!

As Christians we need to get involved in every sphere of life, and that includes politics.

Are you going to bind up the wounds of the political "downtrodden" or are you going to be like the priest and the Levite who walked past and thought that it had nothing to do with them?

Change in this country depends on YOU! Yes, YOU! Do not leave it for the next person to accomplish! As a Christian YOU have been empowered by the Spirit of God to do mighty things for God! Even in the political arena.

Christians lost the battle of the worldviews in the first three quarters of the 20th century exactly because they withdrew from the public square. In the U.S.A. this cost them things like prayer in school and the lives of over 40 million aborted babies!

It is time, once again, that Christians take their rightful place in this world, ready to preach the gospel to all and to let that gospel carry them into every sphere of life!

Just thinking...