Bacon, Eggs and God

Governments

Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.

In Thailand, a dozen students gathered outside their high school. They faced the Democracy Monument and raised signs demanding wholesale change. They were from Satriwithaya School, a high school next to the Democracy Monument on Ratchadamnoen Avenue in Bangkok. To them, it is more than a reminder of previous generations’ struggles but a symbol of their own. “We don’t want to be next to the Democracy Monument,” said a student.

After a symbolic demonstration, the high school students walked over 4 kilometers to join art students at Silpakorn University in protests that share the same goals. One of them is that the Prime Minister…General Prayuth Chan-o-cha…must step down and return the power to the people. It’s a level of student involvement and activity unseen during the past six years since Prayuth seized power in a coup.

In Hong Kong, scuffles erupted between police and protesters following a march near the border, where anti-government activists shouted pro-democracy slogans and vented their anger at mainland Chinese traders. The demonstrators in Sheung Shui took aim at so-called “parallel traders” from China who buy vast amounts of duty free goods in Hong Kong and take them back to the mainland to sell at a profit.

Locals say the practice inflates prices, overcrowds neighborhoods and adds to growing tensions between Hong Kong residents and mainland Chinese.

One demonstrator said, “The mainland Chinese come here, block the streets with their bags…rents have gone up and it has made things more expensive for Hong Kongers. I want the government to know that too many of them are coming over here.”

Many people in Hong Kong are angered by Beijing’s tight grip on the city which was promised a high degree of autonomy under the “one China, two systems” framework when the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

Singapore’s Hong Lim Park is the only place in the city state where Singaporeans can protest without a police permit. Those who violate the strict rules governing demonstrations can risk up to six months in jail. The regulations are typical of the strict, authoritarian political system in Singapore, but despite the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) stranglehold, there are signs that protests in the rival Asian financial center of Hong Kong have unnerved Singapore’s ruling class.

Behind the scenes, Singapore has been crafting contingency plans in case the Hong Kong protests, which started as opposition to an unpopular extradition bill, but have morphed into a pro-democracy movement, inspire unrest in the city state of Singapore. The government is terrified that something similar could happen in Singapore and are working out their options to minimize that risk.

In the Philippines, protesters from various factions call for the “ouster” of President Rodrigo Duterte.

The groups echoed the oppressive policies and violations under the Duterte administration that are reflective of those used by the former dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Bayan Muna Representative Carlo Zarate said that the “nightmare” of the Marcos regime is coming back under Duterte’s presidency.

Duterte’s attacks on free speech and press freedom are exactly like those of Marcos, who banned and suppressed any critical reporting of his regime. The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines has accused the Duterte government of trying to silence media critics. So will freedom of speech survive in one of Asia’s largest democracies?

In the final analysis, many governments use the word “Democracy” in an attempt to describe their form of governing. Unfortunately, quite often, it is just a “mouthed” word used to conceal their underlying Socialist/Communist ideologies and to keep foreign aid flowing into their treasuries.

People around the globe are rejecting oppressive governments. And in those governments, there is no room for God. So what do believers have to look forward to? Simple, God’s perfect government.

Christ Jesus will reign from Jerusalem as the divine, uncontested sovereign. He will rule with perfect justice based on his divine laws and will not allow any political parties or politicians to misgovern as they have done in the past.

The unseen “god of this world,” Satan, the ultimate liar and deceiver, will be removed from among humankind; no longer able to influence people to think and act in a manner that is not in accordance with what is morally right and good.

All humankind will learn from and know the only true God and his way of life. No longer will people be deceived by false, deceitful political or religious notions that divide and harm the body of believers.

As followers of Jesus Christ, we understand who we are in Christ, and we know that no matter what political battles are raging in this world, our identities in him do not change. I’m not a Republican, Democrat or Independent above all else. Above all else, I’m not white, black, Asian or Hispanic. I’m not even an American above all else. Above all, who I am is who I am in Christ.

As believers in Christ, we know that the security of our future rests in the sovereignty of God…not in the earthly governance of man. This principle comes straight out of Scripture, and it is true regardless of your political ideology. Scripture tells us that God is in control, and we can trust him.