Dennis Peacocke comments on political ideologies and the Kingdom of God



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While politics in the decadent West is the politics of acquisition and consumption, in the socialist's world, it is the politics of the law of gravity; everybody is pulling down on everyone else to make sure that nobody gets ahead. This is the politics of envy.

In today's political world, the state uses taxation devices and unfair inheritance laws to make all men "equal." Yet our equality before God is not in our skills and gifts, nor in our outward circumstances. Our equality lies in our ability to obey Him. Our equality is therefore ethical. We are all equally accountable, relative to the light and knowledge we are given. The more you know of God and His ways, the more accountable you become.

Some Real Truths That Set Men Free

In contrast, the politics of the Kingdom of God is the politics of honoring the legitimate fruits of another man's labor. This means that we are not envious, but rather happy when we see God blessing the obedience of someone else. If they are enjoying the fruits of their own honest labor and skills, more power to them.

The politics of the Kingdom of God recognizes that the wealth of most men is largely determined by two things: skills and diligence (including the discipline to save, and the work and saving habits of his parents and extended family). The poor will not be poor in the future if they are given labour skills, discipline, and the incentive to save more than they spend. This is not hardball, heartless capitalism-it is the politics of the Book of Proverbs! However, God's Word requires from all citizens sacrificial charity too. And it is also a given that society has the Christian obligation to remove both the wealthy thief and the poor thief from its streets.

As Jesus told Nicodemus, "You must be born again."4

Man must be regenerated by God. An unregenerate man, to whatever degree he is able to see what is wrong with the culture, is essentially powerless to change it. Make no mistake, he can change the outwardness of the sin and injustice, but he cannot get to the root and heart of the issue. The Kingdom of God alone can lay the ax to the root of the problem.5

Spiritual reality is this: What is inside of a man determines what he creates around him. If the man is corrupt or incomplete, the environment he produces will reflect that corruption and incompleteness. It takes a righteous man to create a just society, and, when the Church realizes its responsibility to teach men to act upon these truths, a new era of history will emerge.

Reprinted by permission. This article is excerpted from Dennis Peacocke's book "The Emperor Has No Clothes" available at www.gostrategic.org

1. John 8:32
2. Genesis 3:12
3. Exodus 20:17
4. John 3:7
5. Luke 3:9 CR

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