An Informed People
The need for Christians to leave their bubbles of comfort has never been so dire. One sure way to do this is to become politically informed.
A sure way for a father to incite excitement in his children is to say to them, “I have something to show you…” It is the same with our Heavenly Father.
There was only one political party who voted against the 1996 South African Constitution. It was the African Christian Democratic Party. They did this because the Constitution is placed above the Bible as the highest law in the land. God’s 2000-year-old word is subjugated by a nascent manmade document. In addition, the Constitution does not provide sufficient safeguards to protect the family as the cornerstone of society, and so the ACDP could not support it.1
Learning about this history inspired me to start doing volunteer work at the ACDP this year. After reading manifestos, it became starkly clear that this is the only party who actively defends and promotes Christian values. God showed me something exciting.
Our ACDP team’s first task, acting under the member of parliament Marie Sukers, was spreading awareness of the Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Bill which is currently being drafted. It has many contentious points, such as casually expressing that alcohol should be sold at schools. But the ACDP stands alone as the only party opposing clauses which seek to enforce radical ideologies at South African schools.
In order for this bill to become law, it has to go through public hearings. It was my job to contact churches and encourage them to attend these hearings, so that Godly voices could be heard.
Most people don’t know about this bill - I certainly didn’t, and I likely wouldn’t have if I didn’t join a political party. This is of course because people are generally averse to politics. And after speaking with the churches, it was clear that they too are not interested in political matters, and their congregants are therefore uninformed. Furthermore, I noticed that there is no political alignment between churches.
Yet it is true to say that for the last many decades, great good or great evil has prevailed on the political battlefield. Many Christians don’t like to hear that. And I think it is because we are so comfortable in our holy bubbles. I read the Bible, go to church, do some serving at the soup kitchen, and that’s me being a Christian. But what real good does this do when much greater evils are afoot? It is like a soldier fussing about the flies on his food when he is surrounded by the enemy.
We largely live oblivious to the evils at work in the world, and as a result, we live oblivious to the huge amount of Godly fighting that needs to be done. And so, we miss out on the adventure and excitement of real-world Christianity.
I used to think that voting for the ACDP is futile because it is a minor party with only four members of parliament. But after learning about South Africa’s proportional representation voting system, I have realised that this view is flawed. No votes are wasted because every vote goes to getting a man or woman a seat in parliament, and one more Christian mind at work in the National Assembly is indeed a force for good. Every vote counts, as they say.
I therefore encourage you to seriously consider voting for the ACDP. They are truly the only party who represent Christian values. But more than this, I encourage Christians to at least enter the political battlefield. Jesus tells us to be as shrewd as snakes as He sends us out into a world of wolves.2 In our current context, the most voracious wolves are surely politicians, and so Christians are compelled to equip themselves politically.
It was once a ground rule among my beer drinking friend group that we mustn’t speak of religion, money, or politics. I have come to see that if this was all we spoke of it would’ve indeed been a force for good, as well as a source of worthwhile conversation.
Jordan Peterson has got me thinking about this idea of being a force for good. The greatest tool for Christians to be a force for good is prayer, and the need for prayer has never been so dire. But what difference will it make if we are praying for our own inane problems when true evil is at work? How can we know what to pray for and how can we know what to fight against if we don’t know who the enemy is or where the battlefield is? We can’t. We need to be an informed people. And today, that means being politically informed.
God is saying to each of us, “I have something to show you.” Don’t ignore the call, for He is leading you where you are most needed. Woe to those who thought they were fighting and serving when in reality they were hiding.
Speech by the leader of the ACDP, Kenneth Meshoe, 1996.
Matthew 10:16.