God, Politics and National Election (1 of 5)5 min read

GOD AND ELECTIONS

I was listening to Pastor Bankie a few weeks back and he made a statement that resonated with me.

For the uninformed, he is a consultant pathologist with a professional career and leading a teaching ministry in Enugu state, east Nigeria.

He said (I paraphrase) that even Moses the anointed leader of the Israelites with all God’s backing could not take the people that left Egypt into Canaan because they were not ready for the land.

This was pretty instructive for me. Almost every election cycle brings up a new set of “messiah leaders” promising the best deal at the auction. If only we would raise our calling cards for a buy to the auctioneer.

I’m of the school that “people deserve the government they get because those in governance are a reflection of the people since they come from the people”

Yes, you might argue that this is over-generalization.

And I might concede that on occasion a good leader might come out of a bad society but a bad leader can’t come out of a good society.

Why?

It is easier for a good person to shine in a bad system – he or she just has to be different.

But it will be difficult for a bad person to shine in a good society – the system will force conformity or punishment.

And I know someone is going to reel to me the oft-quoted “Everything rises and falls on leadership,” quote by Dr John Maxwell.

I am not going to debate that quote. My focus is something more fundamental.

The power of leadership to create the transformation for a better life is only as good as the people that produce the leader.

And the choice of leadership is a God-ordained response to the behaviour of the people.

Yes, I just did it.

I just introduced the “God chooses leaders” concept that most people think is redundant in an age of democratic electioneering.

“The power belongs to the people”, “it is who they vote that wins”, and “The God equation is for losers”.

I have no problem if non-Christians throw this rhetoric about. My concern is more with Christians.

At the moment, most church leaders are chanting the public slogan “Get your permanent voters card(PVC), it is the power you have to change things in the country”

Voting is a civic duty that we must perform but it does not guarantee anything.

God works through every means used by man to get into political leadership. And He can work through the election process.

A foundation scripture that has governed my perception of political leadership is this

“For this has been decreed by the messengers; it is commanded by the holy ones, so that everyone may know that the Most High rules over the kingdoms of the world. He gives them to anyone he chooses— even to the lowliest of people.” Daniel 4:17 NLT

As Christians, our first call is to be the people ready to create the change God wants for our countries.

When we have the right mindset, God will work through the systems of political selection to give us the leaders right for the season.

No matter how much we vote, if we are not the right people, our votes will not lead us to Uhuru.

Let me use a point from our more recent history as a country.

Leading up to the 1993 elections, there were two presidential aspirants from 2 political parties (NRC & PDP). We had only two choices. Most people believed this was the election to move us from the military dictatorship.

As it would turn out, God didn’t see us ready as a people. He gave a prophecy through a prophet who spoke with courage.

“NRC will lose, SDP will fail, be cut off and swallowed up. The military will fall. Verdict ’93: Our God reigns”.

The prophecy didn’t make sense. There were only two parties. If one lost, didn’t it mean the other won?

Pastor Tunde Bakare was the prophetic voice to deliver the message. I still remember him saying that the Sunday after the elections, members of his church told him “hey, pastor we have voted o”

In keeping with prophecy, NRC lost the elections and SDP failed to take power because the election results were annulled.

Later that year, Pastor Bakare shared a vision God showed him during a church service at the church. He saw:

“two pieces of meat hanged by a tiny thread with labels on them. One piece was labelled SDP; the other was labelled NRC. Then a fat cat dressed in the camouflage uniform of the Nigerian Army came and swallowed up both of them. Then came an arrow from heaven and pierced the cat.”

The fat cat turned out to be General Abacha who took over the reins of government by peacefully taking out the interim government.

God used him to break the hold of a couple of power blocs in the leadership of the country. By the time God took him out, the Sultan of Sokoto did not have the kind of control over the national leadership as that position once commanded.

It is God who chooses leaders to meet the readiness of the people.

Even now, I have my candidate preference.

But I don’t pray for him to win. I pray that God will give us the leader that will bring a blessing to the country.

If my candidate wins, OK. If he does not win, I will support the next person as a sign of an answer to my prayers.

My prayer is not for my candidate to win. It is for God to bless my nation even if my candidate who I think is the best man for the job doesn’t win.

I will vote for my choice as an act of faith and believe that the outcome is an expression of God’s sovereignty in choosing the leader that matches the kind of people that we all are.

As we become better people, we will get better leaders.

Our leaders are from amongst us.

God rules in the affairs of men.