Friday, August 19, 2022

The Politics of Division


I'm writing this for two reasons:
1. I am feeling indifferent
2. I feel that most of you are either as indifferent as I am, that you think you're not indifferent even though - to some level - I'm sure you are, or that you care so much about who lost or won this recent elections till you're now partisan to the divisions.

I'll explain. 

I don't know if I am right, because I don't have to be; but I just want to show us one thing: let God be true and let every other human being be a liar. So, on this one, I'm vouching for God. 

Romans 3:4 (ESV)  
By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written, “That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged.”

I once wrote here why God is always for God (I plead-pray that you read that one first for you to understand my point on this one.) And I still insist that God is currently not for any human agenda - governance, education, culture, nation, politics, media, entertainment, family, religion or economy - or whichever thing you call a mountain. God is for Himself. God is for the Church. God is for His own glory. Period. He is not here to satisfy and gratify our desires or to answer our prayers according to our own will or wishes. God is here to answer to Himself according to Himself in His own timeline, under His own rules and for His own glory. 

God (Jehovah) will work in ANY form of art, government, education system, culture, family, business, religion and media and somehow bring Himself glory. These things may be sacred or secular, but He will still do whatever He wants to do to give Himself glory. He is God. And He is unstoppable while at it. 

He can do it our way (in the manner we pray as His people) if it so pleases Him or in another way we don't know. But because He knows we love - so much - to receive glory for things we didn't do, He'd rather just do it His way. 

God knows we live to pride in our answered prayers, that's why He rarely answers them the way we would want Him to. He humbles the most prayerful of us by denying them things they have fasted for for days. He knows we love to exalt our righteous deeds above His mercies and grace, so He mostly overlooks our boasting when a "good thing" happens to us. He blesses both sinners and the righteous with the sun and the rain - and we can do nothing about it. He is God, and He is for Himself. 

He knows we always think that when "bad things" happen to us, we are either evil or are being punished for some sin, so He brought us His Holy Spirit to remind us of our righteousness in Christ. To remind us that IT IS FINISHED and we have no debt to pay whatsoever. In Him, all things happen for our good. 

He knows how warped our definitions of "good" and "bad" are. He knows we don't even notice the difference most of the time. He knows we are dumb. As dumb as stones. Or even dumber... because stones can praise. 

He knows we love to put our hope in human beings - even presidents and their regimes - even though He has already cursed everyone who does so (Jeremiah 17:5). He knows we know so little of the future, that's why He gives us hope when we are weary. He knows. He is God. He knows. He knows these things. 

He knows when we place too much trust in humans and their plans - no wonder we are so divided on which human will save us and our sickly Kenyan economy - forgetting that He is the source of all things. He knows. And by knowing all things the way He does, no one can claim to outwit Him or to be His favorite.

So if you ever think that any human president or political party can completely save this nation, you're very wrong and you're no longer on God's side. You're either alone or you are on that president's / party's side. You are as well in for a very big shock: you'll both fall. After three or five or seven or ten or fifteen years, you'll fall. Then after that, you'll have to transfer your hope to another human being. Who'll as well fall...


But if you believe that God can use anyone to do His bidding in this land for His glory, you're joining His army of a people of faith - people who move mountains. A people who believe that they'll make it. A people who prosper. A people who'll make this Kenya a nation after God's own heart. 

*******

You see, our elections this year (2022) are filled with more religious drama than any other election I've witnessed in my current short life on earth. This is because; 

1. there has been so-called prophesies from God favouring or refuting both sides of the political divide - as if God is divided in His doings amongst men
2. there has been proof (as claimed by many fanatics of whichever side) that one side of the political divide is more spiritual and God fearing than the other - as if God judges the same way men judge
3. there has been strife as to whether whatever is happening is fulfilled prophecy - human or divine - as if God works the way men do 

Politics - just like the coronavirus - is the devil's stray arrow aimed at governments but unluckily (or rather, wilfully) striking the Church. He's killing two birds with one stone. And his stone is yelling more victory to him than anticipated. The faster we notice and see this, the better. The faster we rectify how we approach politics and politicians in this country as Christians, the better. 

But let's beware of the devil's bullet shot at governance but hitting at the Church. May our eyes be wide open and as skilled watchmen, let's blow the trumpet and alert Zion so that she is not attacked unawares. 

Right before elections, most of us on WhatsApp watched a clip from Hope FM (a CITAM radio station) where Bishop J.B. Masinde was saying something close to "we'll either get the leader we want, the leader we deserve or a leader after God's own heart". This, sure, did stir some waters. 

Here is why this stirred our spiritual waters (and I wonder why we didn't discern his sentiments):

1. He meant that the choice of who will be our next president lied/lies in the people's hands. God is no longer choosing a leader for anyone, but He's giving us the leader we ask for through voting by the wisdom we currently have in Him or in ourselves. Kenya isn't a theocracy as Israel was for many years; Kenya is ruled by a constitution, and it being majorly secular, means that our way of electing a leader and justifying that election will first depend on what is stipulated in our constitution and then according to the wisdom bestowed on us by God to make godly decisions. If the election is fair and just, the leader is for all of us. 

2. Dissecting his words,
"A leader we want" would mean a leader we choose by ourselves according to our limited human understanding of our nation's past, present and future. He or she would be a circumstantial leader voted in by our volatile spiritual and emotional capabilities. 
"A leader we deserve" falls in the same category as above but also one given to us by our voting minus God's intervention or wisdom and one who comes as an answer to our sins or righteousness. 
"A leader after God's own heart" would be the one we vote in while fully depending on the wisdom God had given us to do so. It is unlikely for a secular nation to elect such a leader unless God's hand that shapes hearts compels people to do so. 

It is therefore error to try and fix God or the devil on either side of the political coin - even though God's finger is always everywhere in history and the devil is as well God's devil (Martin Luther). I don't know which of the three we chose, but if it's what is causing divisions amongst us, let's be reminded that it is of no eternal value. Leaders come and go, and nations rise and fall, but the Name of The Lord is to be esteemed forever. 

You don't have to know who I voted in to be my president, but be sure that I had my preference and I had reasons for that (you as well did.) I may have armed myself with such reasons out of data gathered from around me or from the wisdom of Scripture, but that does not make my candidate any better than another person's - especially on the basis of who God would choose for presidency in Kenya and who will accomplish His purposes for this season. 

Our combined / cumulated wisdom or foolishness brought us a leader we need to pray for. That's what matters. It's all our doing. We are all going to be victims or participants in what that foolishness or wisdom has brought us. After this, let's pray, let's advice and let's be more alert. Let us not open a door to the devil to divide us - especially those who confess Jesus as Lord - along utterly temporal political lines. 

But, again, in God's agenda, whether we are ruled over by a Nebuchadnezzar, a Cyrus, or a Artaxerxes; whether it's Herod roaming our streets or a Constantine is Rome's superior, God's chosen who know Him well will still do exploits in this land and experience everything that comes with that to the fullest. 

The righteous - just like in prophet Jeremiah's time (Jeremiah 29:28) - should now understand that they'll prosper wherever they are and under whoever rules because ours is not a Kingdom limited by/to human agenda and influence but one ruled by an eternal God. 

I rest my case.

Think about these things.


Morris 2.0