POLITICS: ORIGIN AND THE NATURE OF GOD AND MEN. PART ONE
Man is said to be a social being. God affirmed this when He declared in the beginning in Genesis 2:18 AMP
'Now the Lord God said, It is not good (sufficient, satisfactory) that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper meet (suitable, adapted, complementary) for him'. We find a corollary of this in Scriptures when the Teacher said in Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 AMP 'Two are better than one, because they have a good more satisfying reward for their labor; [10] For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!' So man was not created to be alone.
Aristotle said “ Man is by nature a social animal; an individual who is unsocial naturally and not accidentally is either beneath our notice or more than human. Society is something that precedes the individual. Anyone who either cannot lead the common life or is so self-sufficient as not to need to, and therefore does not partake of society, is either a beast or a god"
Truly, only God is self sufficient enough to be alone. But God Himself who has that right to be alone by virtue of His status as Creator, exists in some form of Trinity. All through the Scriptures we see God relating to some kind of Peers. For instance, in Genesis 1:26 KJV 'And God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." '. 'Let us'?! But to show it was no slip of speech, God said it again else where in Genesis 11:7 KJV 'Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.' So it is in God's nature Himself to be sociable. He is no loner even at that lofty realm. As a man, the Lord Jesus Christ was mostly in the midst of people and then He chose twelve to be with Him. God is neither alone nor aloof. Okay.
Man is a political being- whether he was originally designed to be, we shall consider later. Politics is a product of the society. No matter how we generalise Democracy, a society will evolve her own politics. So, is man not a political being? Just how far can a person go social without being political? What exactly is Politics? Politics is an art of engaging the society. It is the process where man (or a group of men) uses (an)other men to advance his own interest. Wikipedia defines Politics (from Greek: πολιτικός politikos: "of, for, or relating to citizens") is the practice and theory of influencing other people. And the moment two or more people are gathered together, there is politics in the midst of them. It is in the nature of every human to seek his own interests first. So where and when interests align, a people exert subtly on the others. That is politics and that is why politics is found in friendship, in families, in companies and in chirches. It has been said that there are no permanent friends but interests. That is politics
Where you will not find Politics is in God- at least, not the way we understand it. Neither The Father, The Son nor The Holy Spirit seeks to sway the the Other to suit His own interests. They all seem to have one common interest always or the Son and the Spirit simply allign with the Father's interest.
See what Jesus Christ says about Himself and the Father;
John 5:30 KJV
I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.
John 8:28 KJV
Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he , and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.
See what Jesus Christ says about Himself and the Holy Spirit;
John 16:13-14 KJV
Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. [14] He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
Hebrews 10:7 KJV
Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.
And then He said this about Himself, the Father and the Spirit;
John 16:15 KJV
All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
The Three Persons of God seem to be very secure in their divine placements or roles. No scheming, no politics. Does it then mean Politics is scheming? How do use do Politics without scheming?
The first and last time Politics happened in Heaven, God reacted fast to stamp it out- along with all the schemers. The Chief Schemer was a being called Lucifer. He had become envious of Christ and carried alomg with him a third of the angels to rebel against God. Let us see;
Revelation 12:3-4 KJV
And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.
[4] And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.
Isaiah 14:12-14 KJV
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
[13] For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
[14] I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
Ezekiel 28:2 KJV
Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord God ; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God:
Revelation 12:7-9 KJV
And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, [8] And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. [9] And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
Politics ended there and then in Heaven God's Throne. Now how did Politics enter the world of men? Lucifer. Please ne patient. This piece is not going to say Politics is evil. In fact, it will teach how to play it the God way. After all, all God's leaders emerged through some kind of politics. We shall see all of these later.
So Lucifer introduced Politics into the world of men. It happened that in the beginning when God made man, He gave him a duty and a commandment. He gave him a wife too. God equally defined the woman's place- to help the man. So God made them social but not political. Man answered to God, the woman answered to her man. It would be politics if the man had a different idea from that of God and sought to influence the woman. And it would equally be politics of the woman had a different idea from that of God or her husband and sought to sway her man. That was exactly what happened.
Lucifer came to the woman with a different idea. Subtle; sounded not too different from God's commandment and looked even beneficial to the couple. Unknown to her, it was all to satisfy Lucifer's interest. Man fell for Lucifer's scheme. If only Man had known that Lucifer was a schemer. The Scriptures warned us in Ephesians 6:11 AMP 'Put on God's whole armor the armor of a heavy-armed soldier which God supplies, that you may be able successfully to stand up against all the strategies and the deceits of the devil.'
We are to be heavily dressed up like a combat ready soldier all because of Lucifer's schemes. This is exactly how every politician is. And if man is a political being, every man is suspect. What a world we are in! Scriptures told us this about the heart of men.
Jeremiah 17:9 AMP
The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly perverse and corrupt and severely, mortally sick! Who can know it (perceive, understand, be acquainted with his own heart and mind)?
Proverbs 26:25 AMP
When he speaks kindly, do not trust him, for seven abominations are in his heart.
I will leave you here in this first part to check your own heart. Are you indeed a political animal? Driven by your interests and where they allign with some other people? In your father's house, in your office and even in your church? What are your schemes- conscious and unconscious? Examine your self and we will take it from there in the second part.
In Part 2 we shall see how God's people tried over time to legitimise politics and how to circumnavigate this murky waters in line with God's will.
See you next time.
- Adeolu Olumodeji
