REJECT GOD AND YOU ARE DOOMED

WITHOUT GOD WE ARE DOOMED (Isaiah 30-vs 18-21) - A THEOLOGICAL REFLECTION

All nations have their ups and downs in the history of their developments. We were created because God loved us so much. When hell broke lose here on earth God did not spare his only Son Jesus Christ who came for the sole purpose of redeeming us. One gift that we were given was that of free will. God did not choose to force us to love him. We are at liberty to love him or to ignore him to our peril, though. On his part God does not give up on us. He is always beckoning on us because his love is everlasting. There will however come a time when we will be told to look for God when there is still time.

The text above from Isaiah is preceded by a very strong warning on those who choose to disobey God. “Because you have rejected this message, relied on oppression and depended on deceit, this sin will become for you like a high wall, cracked and bulging, that collapses suddenly, in an instant.” (Isaiah 30-vs 12-13). Evil people can also comfort each other. Isaiah confirms the Lord’s side of the bargain, “Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are those who wait for him.” Vs 18.

Looking at the history of nations we can categorize them between those who tried to follow the God’s way and those who took the opposite direction. The old Roman Empire covered most of Europe and at some stage England. Christianity took centre stage in the development of these nations. Yes there were problems when other emerging European nations varied in the way they took God’s guidance. On the whole God was recognized. Most of the nations in Europe were built through alliances and agreements made between kings and rulers of these nations. Marriage was also used as a weapon to unite nations and to avoid war.

In 1215 King John (of the Robin Hood fame) of England was forced to sign the Magna Carta for the simple reason that he was becoming despotic. This resulted in the sharing of power between the king and his subjects. In 1965 Lord Denning had this to say about it, ‘The Magna Carta is the greatest constitutional document of all times – the foundation of the freedom of the individual against the arbitrary authority of the despot.” As a result the first parliament met in January 1265 to promulgate laws of the nation of England. Power was now shared between the King, parliament and the judiciary.

The United States of America came into being after a war of independence in the late 1700 from Britain. The foundation of this nation was based on the Bible. The founding fathers of America feared God and included in their constitution Biblical principles of freedom and liberty to all peoples. Yes, slavery made them look hypocritical. They however fought this evil and later abolished it. They recognized their mistake. To this day America displays a fear of God. America now is one of those nations in the West that has many people worshiping God than its counterparts in Europe where Christianity is becoming almost extinct.

France took renaissance and humanism too far to the extent that it had to pay the price during and after the French revolution. While bloodshed was spelt both in England and America during their transitional periods the diabolic nature of the struggle in France was because the nation was moving away from God deliberately. From Jean-Jacques Rousseau to Napoleon Bonaparte reason and humanism took centre stage and God was thrown out of the window. Things came to a head when the calendar was changed because the revolution became the beginning of time. Dates, weeks and months were changed. For fourteen years this was tried but did not work and it was abandoned.

Russia followed suit. They tried the socialist way. God was discarded and communism took centre stage. For most of the time this system was tried many people suffered and were tortured and killed to safeguard the oppressive governments in Eastern Europe which had adopted the practice. Lenin and Stalin became the icons of the Marxist regimes that emerged.

At independence in 1980 Zimbabwe took the so called scientific socialism route. Communism was advocated for to the extent that those who did not subscribe to it were labeled enemies. A one party state was introduced and the woes of people multiplied. Now we have deteriorated further for we have been forced to look to the East. The East has come with its gods. This nation has been abused by its leaders. At one stage Libya became our closest ally. By providence this did not last. Islam was going to be the major religion here.

Let us hope that the Government of National Unity GNU will usher in a new era of fearing God. We are one of those nations which will have to come up with its new constitution. Our advantage is that we have seen many constitutions and we have also seen that which was handed over to us at Lancaster House Conference is defective and has been amended 19 times. We have seen the South African acclaimed constitution and the onus is upon us to come up with a much better one.

We pray that this transitional arrangement will bring in a just system which will bring about fair and free elections at last after we have produced our own home grown constitution. We will make sure that we will be on God’s side and not pulling away from God as our nation had been forced to do. There will be no concentration of power in the individual. We are in the process of making our own Magna Carter. God bless.