Most prominent will be the November US presidential election \u2013 historically the high-water mark of democracy. But this election to choose the 47th<\/sup> president is set to be the most constitutionally challenging ever known. With both leading candidates portraying the other as not just \u2018bad alternatives for America\u2019 but as \u2018cataclysmic ones\u2019, Frank Bruni, in his 3 January New York Times op-ed, comments, \u201cThis isn\u2019t your usual negative partisanship, in which you try to win by stoking hatred of your opponent. It\u2019s apocalyptic partisanship, in which your opponent is the agent of something like the end of days.\u201d Is this an attention-seeking comment from a lazy journalist? If only! To the contrary, his view is drawn from what he has witnessed – one candidate describing the campaign in biblical terms as the \u2018final battle\u2019, and the other accusing his opponent as \u2018determined to destroy American democracy\u2019. (1) The mood of both candidates suggests US democracy is in deep trouble.<\/p>\n It leads me to wonder again about what John saw in Revelation 13 and how Adventists understand what he saw. I have to confess that in my early years of ministry, the very idea that the US could be anything less than ‘the land of the free’ seemed far-fetched. (2) In these times, I am inclined to listen to Paul’s wisdom: ‘not to despise prophecies – but test everything’. (1 Thessalonians 5:19 & 20 ESV)<\/p>\n But it’s not only US democracy which is under strain. While it is easy to highlight US problems, democracy in Western Europe faces similar pressure points. Liberal-democratic powers with an internationalist worldview encouraged by the European Union, are seeing serious and significant push-back. The reasons for this are complex, but one, in particular, is associated with a form of Christian nationalism (a belief that our country is based on the principles of Christian values, and we are determined to ensure that these remain, and if necessary enforce for all our citizens whoever they are, and from wherever from). (3)<\/p>\n ‘Multipolar disorder’<\/strong><\/p>\n In its preview of 2024, The Economist <\/em>describes the geopolitical condition as experiencing \u2018Multipolar<\/em>\u00a0disorder<\/em>\u2019 with \u201cThe new dynamic as one of instability”. (4) As the line of the old hymn, \u201cWhat a Friend We Have in Jesus\u201d, asks, \u201cIs there trouble anywhere?\u201d \u201cYes, there certainly is – and not just anywhere – but everywhere\u201d must be the contemporary reply. With the fear of ongoing wars in Europe and the Middle East expanding regionally, and with the temperature of \u2018cold wars\u2019 steadily rising in both the China Sea and the Western Balkans, Kendra Valentine accurately describes the mood of our times –\u00a0 \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of fear in the air these days\u201d. (5)<\/p>\n How quickly the joyful December Advent season changes once January arrives with its challenges and fears for the year ahead. And how easy it is to forget the line we sang during the Advent season from the hymn “O Little Town of Bethlehem” – “The hopes and fears of all the years, are met in thee tonight.” For isn’t the story of Advent the remedy to replace fear with hope?\u00a0 And what about the experience of the son of God moving into our neighbourhood – the mystery of God with us? \u201cAnd the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.\u201d (John 1:14)<\/p>\n Not<\/strong> Warriors but Witnesses<\/strong><\/p>\n John also vividly reminded the 1st-century Christian community to engage with evil whenever and wherever evil appears \u2013 not as warriors but as witnesses (Revelation 1-3). \u2018His glory\u2019 shines much brighter than the increasing \u2018Motipolar disorder\u2019, when Christians show and tell grace and truth as an \u2018alternative story\u2019, which \u201cUnmasks the dominant ideology of power as deceitful, rapacious, and exploitative\u201d. (6) Rather, through witness in both word and deed, the Christian is to tell the glorious story of\u00a0 “the finished work of Christ on the Cross, his ascension to reign, and his soon return.\u201d It stands in direct contrast to the ‘warrior’ mindset which seeks to resolve the problem of evil by force. (7)<\/p>\n The contrast between warriors and witnesses is a reminder at the personal level of the trap James and John fell into. After being refused lodging in Samaria because of the well-known hatred between Jews and Samaritans, the lads were fuming, and their tempers raged. “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?\u201d(Luke 9:54 ESV) Quickly remembering Elijah’s instant judgement (2 Kings 1:9), they were slow to remember Jesus’ love for the Samaritan community. Luke records his response, “But he turned and rebuked them” (Luke 9:55 ESV). The love of Christ for ‘the other’ was a signal that ‘warrior’ or ‘culture war’ behaviour has no place in His Kingdom.<\/p>\n A Lesson for the Church?<\/strong><\/p>\n As politicians of all shades from left to right make their case to serve this year, an application from Luke 9:49-56 also provides a lesson for the church.<\/p>\n “The conviction that our beliefs and our methods alone are correct has been the cause of more tragedy and distress in the Church than almost any other thing. Oliver Cromwell wrote to the intransigent Scots, “I beseech you by the bowels of Christ, think it possible that you may be mistaken.” Our tolerance must not be based on indifference but on love. We ought to be tolerant not because we could not care less but because we look at the other person with the eyes of love. (8)<\/p>\n In the midst of the current ‘Multipolar disorder’, God help us personally and the church collectively, to be growing and faithful witnesses to who He is.<\/p>\n [Photos: Shutterstock]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Buckle up your seatbelt for 2024, as geopolitically this year is destined to be a turbulent one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":17015,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,1577],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-organisational-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16994"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16994\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17052,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16994\/revisions\/17052"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/World-under-pressure.jpg\")
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