Christopher Peppler, Author at Truth Is The Word

Forgive – But How?

2 Comments / Blog, Home Bulletin, My Blog / By Christopher Peppler

Few Jesus-followers would dispute the fact that we need to forgive those who offend or wrong us. However, just how and when to do this can be very problematic.

I am writing this article, not just as a pastoral teaching, but as a means of working through a practical issue that has affected me and many others. Unforgiveness destroys relationships and can cause mental and even physical health problems in the offended party, so it is something we cannot ignore or postpone for too long.

Jesus’ Teaching

The Lord Jesus taught that we should forgive. He included it in the prayer format that he gave his disciples (Matthew 6:12-15) and ended with, “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins” This sentiment is repeated in Mark 11:26 and Luke 6:37.

Oh, OK, so I just need to pray, “Lord, I forgive so-and-so for this-and-that” and everything will be fine? No, that won’t do because Matthew 18 records a story Jesus told to illustrate the concept of forgiveness, which he concluded with: “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.” (18:35). The key phrase here is ‘from your heart’, and that is where the rubber hits the road (or as we say in South Africa ‘the tackie hits the tar’). It is easy to forgive in the mind, but the ‘heart’? … not so much.

There is no doubt that Jesus instructs us to forgive in a real and heartfelt way.

The Problem

The problem is not in knowing that we need to forgive, but in knowing how and when to do this. Matthew 18:15-19 sets out the Lord’s instructions regarding sin that affect the church community or its Christian reputation. It starts with ‘If your brother sins against you…’, but the better translations all add the footnote that the words ‘against you’ are omitted from some manuscripts. This omission makes more sense of the passage because the process that Jesus sets out lands up under the purview of the local church and has a form of ex-communication as the ultimate negative outcome. It does not make a lot of sense to omit the words ‘against you’ if the ‘sin’ in question is a purely interpersonal matter. So, this passage does not give us much help when it comes to personal offence and forgiveness.

Another problematic aspect is when the persons who have ‘sinned’ against you might not be aware of the hurt they have caused.

Jesus’ instruction on this is in Luke 17:3, “If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him“. So, if you have reason to think that the offender does not realise that they have offended you, then bring it to their attention and perhaps they will ask for forgiveness. However, I have found from painful personal experiences that it is often very hard to accept that the person in question could be unaware of the impact of his/her words. It is seems so obvious to you that anybody could be unaware of the damage done to your self-worth or sense of identity. This then raises another obstacle to approaching the offender … rejection and counterattack from them. Sometimes you even have the evidence of experiences to lead you to conclude that your challenge, no matter how gently made, will be aggressively rejected. Of course, the only way to find out is to approach the person anyway … and this risks further pain and humiliation.

Of course, if you are the offender, and know it, then the Lord’s clear instruction is that you immediately go and ask for forgiveness: “if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First, go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift” (Matthew 5:23-24).

So, you see, forgiveness is not always as simple as it may seem.

A Solution to the Problem

Full forgiveness in any relational sense is impossible to grant if the one causing the offence does not ask for it. However, Mark records something Jesus said that is helpful here. He said: ”When you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in Heaven may forgive you your sins.” (Mark 11:35) It is hard to imagine, in this example that the man was supposed to stop praying, dash off to find the person he held a grudge against, forgive him although he may not have asked for forgiveness, and then resume praying. A more likely explanation is that Jesus requires an offended person to adopt an attitude of heart that is willing to forgive if so asked. In other words, prayerfully commit to forgiving if asked to do so.

This conforms to the pattern we have in God’s attitude towards us; we ask him to forgive us and he does so because his heart is disposed towards this. ‘If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness’ (1 John 1:9). Luke 17:4 confirms this approach: “Even if he wrongs you seven times a day and each time turns again and asks forgiveness, forgive him.” NLT

Kevin Carson, department chair of biblical counselling at the Baptist Bible College and Theological Seminary in Springfield, Missouri, writes:

The process is a little more complex though. Although we try forgiving in our hearts before God, often the subconscious mind interferes with the integrity of this ‘attitudinal forgiveness’. We catch ourselves in moments of reflection remembering the pain and we even create an imaginary dialogue where we tell the offenders just how we feel and how they have wronged us. Sometimes, this can only be resolved when transactional forgiveness has taken place. Until then all we can do is pray for God to bless (not correct) them and, continue to restate our willingness to forgive whenever these thoughts intrude, and ensure that we are sufficiently in contact and available to receive a request for forgiveness if and when the person is convicted of the need to do so .

There are some obvious exceptions to this principle of ‘transactional forgiveness’. For instance, the person may be dead or otherwise uncontactable, or mentally unable to process and respond. In these cases, ‘attitudinal forgiveness’ must simply have to suffice and the Holy Spirit will over time deal with any residual negative emotions.

Another aspect I have not dealt with is the idea of ‘self forgiveness’ epitomised by the phrase “I just can’t forgive myself for….”. As I see it, the simple truth is that we cannot forgive ourselves for anything, but we can confess and ask forgiveness for everything. The biblical assurance is clear that, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9) To continue to live in a state of self-condemnation is surely an affront to God and a lack of faith is the scriptures?

Process and Assumptions

Let me share with you two insights that I recently acquired.

The first is that forgiveness is a process. The sort of events or incidents that create serious mental anguish cause relationship failure. If we lose relationships that we have cherished then we mourn in some way. Mourning is a process that has no fixed expiry date. Often the process involves stages of denial, anger, depression, and finally acceptance. So, although we, and others, know that we need to confront the problem and approach the offender, it takes time to do. Our hearts need to be prepared, as does the heart of the offender. If we are open to the possibility of reconciliation then the Holy Spirit will work in all the lives concerned until the time comes when things can be positively resolved.

The second insight is that we often make assumptions about the state of the other person, which turn out to be untrue or one-sided. For instance, he/she may view the break in the relationship as our fault: we walked away, we didn’t care enough to try, and so on. This coupled with a lack of awareness of the damage they have done to you can result in them taking offence and feeling that you need to ask their forgiveness.

Summary

Forgiveness is required of us by God. It starts with an attitude of preparedness and commitment to forgive the person who has caused the offence.

However, it can only be effective in its fullness when forgiveness is sought and granted. When we release the offenders and give up the right to exact a penalty, then our conscience is clear before God and our relationship with him unsullied. When forgiveness is asked for and granted, the heart is then healed and a way open to restore the relationship.

Unforgiveness is a serious threat to our mental and spiritual health and negatively affects our relationship with Jesus and his people. Unforgiveness is a double-whammy problem because it impoverishes both the offended and the offender in some way irrespective of the merits of the case. Sometimes it even affects family and friends who grieve or take offence on behalf of one party or both. It is something we just cannot ignore.

‘Our Father in heaven:

May your holy name be honoured;

may your Kingdom come;

may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today the food we need.

Forgive us the wrongs we have done,

as we forgive the wrongs that others have done to us.

Do not bring us to hard testing,

but keep us safe from the Evil One.’

TEV

Is Jesus’ Return Imminent?

Leave a Comment / Blog, Home Bulletin, My Blog / By Christopher Peppler

Every God-fearing person I know is appalled by the horrific slaughter going on in Israel and Palestine. It is shocking to see the aftermath of hateful human butchery and to hear the approval and support for barbarism.

In times like this, the question many Christians ask; “Is this the start of the end? Surely Jesus must come back soon for he alone can end this madness?”

What did Jesus Say?

As always, the best place to start in trying to answer questions like this is to read what Jesus himself said. In a previous article, I explained the structure of the primary biblical passage concerning this subject, Matthew Chapter 24. In short, Jesus answered two questions in one:

When will the temple be destroyed?
What will be the signs of the second coming and the End of the Age?

The Lord’s answer to the second question is in verses 4 to 14, 23 to 33, and 36 to 51. Assembled together they read as follows:

‘Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumours of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains. “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect — if that were possible. See, I have told you ahead of time. “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the desert,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.

“Immediately after the distress of those days “‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’ “At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other. “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door.

“No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left. “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

When Will Jesus Return?

Here are the phrases from the above passage that answer the ‘when’ of the Lord’s Second Coming:

No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come … the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him

It is quite clear that we can never know just when Jesus will come again so anyone who predicts this great event is immediately disqualified. Regarding the troubling times we live in, Paul wrote something that indicates that we should not be expecting Jesus’ return any time soon. He wrote; ‘Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labour pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.’ (1 Thessalonians 5:1-3)

In other words, Jesus will not return during a period of declared peace and safety. We are currently living in a time of widespread danger and conflict.

So perhaps it is better to consider what Jesus said about the signs that will indicate that his coming is imminent.

The Signs of His Coming

I will present them in the order they appear in Matthew 24 as this gives a sense of escalation as history moves towards its dramatic climax.

Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.
You will hear of wars and rumours of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.
Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.
There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.
Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.
At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other.
…many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.
Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold.
…this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
Immediately after the distress of those days “‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.
At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn.
They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other… when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door.

Signs 1 through 9 have been happening regularly over the last 2,000 years in cycles that become closer together and more intense with every iteration.

The change from things that happen repeatedly, to terminal events is signalled with the words, ‘and then the end will come’. The three signs that Jesus then listed have not yet occurred. We do not even have any real conception of what these will entail and just how they will occur. Massive solar system disruptions, the sign of the Son of Man, and Jesus’ actual return in power and glory. What we do know is that these great signs will immediately precede the End of the Age because Jesus said, “when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door”. Therefore, until we see these signs we cannot say that the end is imminent.

What then should we do?

We can see that the repeating cycles of history that Jesus spoke of are coming upon us often and with increasing intensity. We can read the signs of the times and it disturbs us greatly. But, what should we do at this time? Well, what we must not do is to become conveyors of false and fear-inducing rumours and speculations. Some folks have the misguided belief that by passing on alarmist and usually inaccurate and misleading information is somehow doing something positive. It is not! Instead, we should be doing just what the Lord Jesus said we should do: “So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns.”

To be ready is to be in right relationship with God and each other. To be a faithful Jesus-follower is to serve those in our circle of influence with the real food they need – love, hope, faith, encouragement, and the Gospel of Eternal Life in Christ Jesus.

The Glory in The Lord’s Prayer Doxology

Leave a Comment / Blog, Home Bulletin, My Blog / By Christopher Peppler

Most Christians are familiar with the Lord’s Prayer because most traditional churches routinely include it in their Sunday services. While I was a local church pastor, I dropped it from our order of service simply because it had become a litany spoken or sung with very little thought to what it meant.

I have written about The Lord’s Prayer before, but in this article, I want to focus on the last phrase, the doxology (a liturgical formula of praise to God), of Matthew 6:13: “Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.” In particular, I want to zoom in on the word ‘glory’ because I believe that we need to grasp the fuller meaning of this divine attribute.

The Missing Doxology

Of the various modern translations of the bible, only the New King James and the Holman’s Christian Standard Bible show the doxology in the main body of the text. The others relegate it to a footnote with the comment that only some early manuscripts include these words. The line taken by most commentators is that the ‘best’ Greek manuscripts do not include the doxology. However, the Codex Washingtonianus, and the Textus Receptus (The Received Text), derived from it, included the doxology. John Chrysostom, a late 3^rd century father of the church expanded on the doxology in his writings. Even before that, the Didache (The Teaching of the Twelve) of the late 1^st century included a slightly truncated form of the doxology. On these grounds alone, I would certainly include the doxology in the main body of the biblical text, and 1 Chronicles 29:11 adds weight to this: “Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty.”

Things that Dull the Light of Glory

The Westminster Shorter Catechism was written in 1646/1647 by a synod of English and Scottish theologians and laymen intending to bring the Church of England into greater conformity with the Church of Scotland. This catechism still represents the heart of Reformed Theology, and by this, I mean the Calvinism of the last 75 or so years.

Question number One of this catechism is phrased as: ‘What is the chief end of man?’ The answer is then given as, ‘Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever’. A more modern way of phrasing this as a statement would be ‘The purpose of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever’.

For me, this begs the question, “How do we glorify God?” Is it through praising and worshipping him? Obeying him? Testifying to others how glorious God is? It is surely all these things… but it is more. My understanding of God’s purpose for all people is ‘to come to know Jesus; to become like him in this lifetime; and to help others to do likewise’ and I will explain later how I connect this to ‘glorifying God’. This is how we glorify God.

Behind the Reformed statement of the purpose of humanity is, I suspect, an implied contention that we glorify God most by submitting joyfully to his meticulous control of our lives. Of course, this would only be sincere if we believed this core Calvinist doctrine – I don’t. I hold that we glorify God most by knowing him in and through the Lord Jesus Christ and by testifying, through words and lifestyles, to what we have come to know of his glorious nature. God’s glory has more to do with his nature than the manifestation of his presence.

On the Pentecostal/Charismatic end of the spectrum, teachers commonly understand the glory of God as his awesomeness or even as the radiance that issues from him. Yes, God is awe-inspiring and radiant, yet I doubt that this describes the essence of his glorious nature and being.

God’s Glory is Best Displayed in His Goodness

A key scripture that sheds light upon God’s glory is Exodus 33:12-23 which reads:

Moses said to the LORD, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favour with me.’ If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favour with you. Remember that this nation is your people.” The LORD replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?” And the LORD said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.” Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory”. And the LORD said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” Then the LORD said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.” NIV

This account is very well-known and mainly self-explanatory. However, here are two things to think on:

God’s response to Moses’ request to “show me your glory” was that he would cause all his goodness to pass by. The two words he then used to amplify this were ‘mercy’ and ‘compassion’. Therefore, a central idea here is that God displays his glory to humans through his goodness, mercy, and compassion.
Human beings cannot fully experience the manifestation of God himself in the physical realm. His appearance is described as ‘the sun shining in all its brilliance’ (Revelation 1:16) and we all know that we cannot look into the physical sun without blinding ourselves. So, in the Exodus account, God spared Moses this sort of damaging experience by covering him up until only the after-glow of his presence was visible. In the heavenly realm, we will be able to meet with God face to face, but we cannot do this in the present physical life: “…you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”

Jesus, the Manifestation of the Glory of God

In this world, we cannot behold God’s glorious presence yet we can ‘see’ him indirectly in his goodness, mercy, and compassion.

However, this has never been enough for material-obsessed humanity, so God incarnated on Earth as Jesus of Nazareth who said, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” (John 14:9)

I have written and spoken on the nature of Jesus so many times, but just in case someone is reading my work for the first time, then just consider the following:

He is the image of the invisible God… for God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him. (Colossians 1:16-19)
For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form (Colossians 2:9)
In the past, God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being. (Hebrews 1:1-3)

So, if we want to know what the glory of God is like we need only look to the life, ministry, and teachings of Jesus. There we find wisdom, grace, mercy, kindness, compassion, forgiveness, and any other noble quality we may think of. Divine glory in bodily form!

Human Purpose Revisited

Going back to the Westminster Shorter Catechism’s statement that: ‘Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever’, a bigger and more glorious picture now emerges. To ‘glorify God’ is to contemplate and testify to Jesus’s nature and character. It is also to live out these qualities in our world because our testimony to his glory must surely transcend just words and emotions. To ‘enjoy him forever’ is to enter into a living and eternal relationship with him in this life and the next. From glory to glory!

This is why my theological focus centres on Jesus and why I have promoted Christocentricity and a Jesus-centeredness for over four decades. It is so easy to get lost in an intellectual appreciation for God and a mind-centred witness to our world. It is just as easy to get lost in the emotional and sensory wonder of the manifestation of God’s glory in our world. But, if we look to Jesus then everything falls into place.

“Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!

Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away. But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:7-18)

To all subscribers

Leave a Comment / Admin Posts, Blog, My Blog, Special Message / By Christopher Peppler

While we were transferring the truthistheword.com site from the USA hosting company to a South African host, someone sent out a post to all subscribers about a mature adult dating service!

We are so sorry about that, but we have now sorted out the security problem and it should not happen again. However, please advise me if you ever receive anything suspect, soliciting, or crude purporting to be from truthistheword.com

We live in very strange times don’t we?!

Kindest regards

Christopher

drchrispeppler@gmail.com

On the Brink of an Abyss

2 Comments / Blog, Home Bulletin, My Blog / By Christopher Peppler

This article is about politics. Moreover, it is about South African politics, although the principles will apply to Christians living in any democratic country. The last time I wrote about our national situation we were at a distinct inflection point moving closer and closer to the edge of a Failed State abyss… and here we are again, teetering on the crumbling edge of that same abyss.

Politics is a word that describes the governance of a country, or any organised group for that matter. At a national, provincial, and municipal level, it is about the rules that prescribe how we all live together, the financial and administrative aspects of national life, and so on. It is a vitally important subject, yet so many Christians avoid it as somehow unchristian or irrelevant. Perhaps this is because Jesus did not teach anything directly related to politics or because church leaders have aligned themselves and their churches with particular political parties that have brought the Gospel into disrepute. Perhaps it is also because so many of today’s politicians are incompetent, corrupt, and self-serving.

Urgent Call to Action

In South Africa, we are balancing precariously on the rim of the Failed State abyss.

Our levels of corruption, brutal crime, unemployment, economic growth, resource management, and moral and ethical standards cannot get much worse. A liberation movement that ostensibly set out to free the majority of the population from the tyranny of the minority now governs us although they have never been adequately trained to do so.

In the main they are Marxists who have adopted some elements of capitalism in order to grow rich and powerful. Over three decades, they have attained this ignoble goal but in the process have left the people they govern in a generally worse condition than they were in under the previous regime. If we do not democratically remove this government from power in the soon-coming general elections, then almost everyone, except them, fears that we will plunge over the edge of the abyss into the horror of a Failed State. All citizens of South Africa, whether Christians or not, need to vote. However, time is so short that we need to do more than this: we need to get involved in ‘politics’ at one level or another. It is urgent!

What Did Jesus Say?

It is true that Jesus did not seem to concern himself with the politics of his day, but he did have something to say that points us in the right direction today. Peter and Paul then expanded on this in their letters.

Luke 20: 20-26 (Matthew 22 and Mark 12) records one of the best-known sayings of the Lord Jesus. The Pharisees tried to trap him by asking if it was right to pay taxes to Caesar. Jesus asked for a Roman coin that bore Caesar’s image and said, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s”. The Creator made man in his own image, and so Jesus was saying that humans should give themselves to God whose image we bare. However, Caesar’s image was on the coin and so they should give that to him. A brilliant response indeed, but we should not focus on his allusion to the image of God to the extent that we miss the implication that Jesus was endorsing the Roman governmental right to what it was due.

Paul wrote that ‘Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities…’ (Romans 13:1). He then explained why and added, ‘Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honour, then honour’. (Romans 13:7). He also wrote to Titus instructing him to, ‘Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good.’ (Titus 3:1).

Peter’s teaching on the subject is probably the most succinct of all: ‘Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honour the king’. (1 Peter 2:13-17)

The Lord Jesus, Paul, and Peter were positively interacting with the subject of politics and by so doing were giving us direction as we too interact with the politics of our nation today.

We cannot claim to have a biblical attitude towards government without engaging with the politics of our nation. This holds true even more when our nation is on life-support, as it is now.

How we can Respond

Our political response to the urgency of our times is:

To pray. Paul wrote, ‘I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone – for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness’. (1 Timothy 2:1-2) So, we need to pray urgently and persistently.
To be good citizens. Good citizens do not overthrow by force. Good citizens vote! Good citizens abstain from violent revolt but they do not abstain from the democratic obligation to vote.
To be influencers. We all have circles of influence and can communicate positively with people who perhaps do not know what to do in our time of national distress. We can point them to Jesus, speak words of hope, help them to evaluate the options before them at this time, pray for them, and influence them by living out a Christian political resolve.

The Political Options Before Us

There are three ways set before us as we approach the 2024 elections:

Support, finance, and vote for the party currently in power that has proven itself over three decades to be dominated by corrupt, self-serving, law-breaking, and incompetent plunderers.
Support, finance, and vote for the more extreme parties that pose an even greater threat to our national life than does the ruling party.
Support, finance, and vote for the emerging multiparty coalition of opposition parties that in its charter appear more in line with biblical values and in the main consist of God-fearing non-Marxist people of integrity and goodwill.

Of the three options, I know that only the third will even come close to satisfying my need to be governed by men and women who most closely conform to biblical values, principles, and priorities. I also feel strongly that only the third option will lead us into a time of peace and general well-being.

Without such conditions, we will not be able to exist and thrive as people of the book, Christians, and Jesus-followers.

By the way, political parties cannot be Jesus-followers no matter what they call themselves because they do not have spiritual life. However, their individual members can be, and often are, Jesus-followers.

The Nascent Opposition Coalition

Seven political parties have recently met to agree on a way forward and will be opening membership to all parties prepared to subscribe fully to their shared mission and governing principles. The big idea is to form a coalition government in waiting. We will all then be able to vote for any member party in the knowledge that it will be part of the post-2024 government. Together they will act, from now through to the elections, to reach the millions of citizens who have stopped voting because of disillusionment and hopelessness, and the millions who have not ever voted.

They will need our prayers, support, involvement, and financial backing to do this. If they succeed then they will shortly rule our nation and we will have the opportunity of rebuilding a godly and prosperous society.

The new coalition government will govern in accordance with shared governing principles, which they list as a commitment to:

The South African Constitution, the rule of law, and equality before the law.
Decentralising power to the lowest effective level of government.
Accountable, transparent government with zero tolerance for corruption.
A capable government that spends public money efficiently to deliver quality services to all.
A caring government that puts people first and prioritises the poor.
An open market economy.
Policies guided by evidence that they produce positive results for society.
Redress our unjust past by promoting non-racialism and unity in our diversity.

In addition to these principles, they have established the following eight priorities:

Growing the economy and creating jobs.
Ending load shedding and achieving energy security.
Achieving law and order that combats crime, corruption, and drugs.
Ensuring quality education that delivers opportunities for all.
Delivering basic services to all through high-quality infrastructure.
Building a professional public service that delivers to all and ending cadre deployment.
Ensuring quality healthcare for all within a caring healthcare system.
Building a social relief framework for South African households living in poverty.

Now these principles and priorities are not uniquely Christian or biblical, but they do not contradict a biblical Christian view. We have to concede that Jesus-followers do not constitute the majority of citizens in our country and that constitutionally we are a secular state. I would dearly love to see our constitution changed back to its original preface, ‘In humble submission to almighty God, we the people of South Africa…’ and I believe that this might well be possible under the proposed coalition government. I also believe that if people of integrity, goodwill, and intelligence governed us, we would see many godly changes coming into our national life.

Read HERE for the contract signed by the seven founding parties to the Multi-Party Charter for South Africa.

Our Involvement

You might be tempted to think that all we need to do is pitch up at the voting station and make our marks against a coalition partner organisation. However, it may not even get that far, or it may not be as effective as hoped for, if we do not act now.

Each of us needs to pray for and support the coalition and we may even need to volunteer our services and financial support to the political party of our choice within the coalition. How are they going to reach the millions of non-voters without our help? How are they going to withstand the fury of the godless without our prayer and encouragement?

The matter is urgent, the times are critical and every one of us needs to arise from our complacency or fear-induced slumber and act! May Almighty God give us resolve, perseverance, and success. May He have mercy on us!

“Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. For your hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt. Your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue mutters wicked things. No one calls for justice; no one pleads his case with integrity. They rely on empty arguments and speak lies; they conceive trouble and give birth to evil. They hatch the eggs of vipers and spin a spider’s web Whoever eats their eggs will die and when one is broken, an adder is hatched. Their cobwebs are useless for clothing; they cannot cover themselves with what they make. Their deeds are evil deeds, and acts of violence are in their hands. Their feet rush into sin; they are swift to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are evil thoughts; ruin and destruction mark their ways. The way of peace they do not know; there is no justice in their paths. They have turned them into crooked roads; no one who walks in them will know peace.

So justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We look for light, but all is darkness; for brightness, but we walk in deep shadows. Like the blind we grope along the wall, feeling our way like men without eyes. At midday we stumble as if it were twilight; among the strong, we are like the dead. We all growl like bears; we moan mournfully like doves. We look for justice, but find none; for deliverance, but it is far away.

For our offences are many in your sight, and our sins testify against us. Our offences are ever with us, and we acknowledge our iniquities: rebellion and treachery against the LORD, turning our backs on our God, fomenting oppression and revolt, uttering lies our hearts have conceived. So justice is driven back, and righteousness stands at a distance; truth has stumbled in the streets, honesty cannot enter. Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey

The LORD looked and was displeased that there was no justice. He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm worked salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him. He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head; he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak. According to what they have done, so will he repay wrath to his enemies and retribution to his foes; he will repay the islands their due. From the west, men will fear the name of the LORD, and from the rising of the sun, they will revere his glory For he will come like a pent-up flood that the breath of the LORD drives along.

“The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins,” declares the LORD”.

Isaiah 59:1-20.

Christopher Peppler