Defining Kingdom Systematics

Defining the word ‘Systematics’

The word ‘systematics’ is a term used in the Biological field; it describes ‘the study of the diversity of life on the Planet Earth, both past and present, and the relationship among living things through time…the term ‘systematics’ is sometimes used synonymously with ‘taxonomy’…and taxonomy is the describing, identifying, classifying and naming of organisms…systematics is fundamental to biology because it is the foundation for all studies of organisms, by showing how any organism relates to other living things’ (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systematics).

The word ‘systematics’ is described in Collins Dictionary as ‘a study of systems…’

Defining the word ‘System’

We talk of a system referring to:

• An ideological framework that governs the behaviour & the social arrangement of a people collectively and or that shapes the nature of human existence. An example here would be capitalism as an economic ideology. What you find is that there is may be no specific legislation that defines a particular nation or society as capitalistic and yet capitalism can exist as an ideology and still shape the nature of society.
  • Ideology is defined as: a body of ideas that reflects the beliefs and interests of a nation, political system, etc. and underlies political action; the set of beliefs by which a group or society orders reality so as to render it intelligible (Collins D.).
• A system can refer to the totality of laws that govern a people or a nation e.g. constitution of a nation.
• A system can refer to an institutionalized ideology e.g. democracy is a political ideology that is institutionalized through laws, law enforcement agencies, establishment of government etc.
• A system can be a combination of ideology, processes & institutions that become the engine driver of human existence e.g. we can talk of a political system as a combination of an ideology of democracy, a process of electing or setting up governments, the formation of the various institutions of governments (example of government institutions would be various departments, municipalities etc.).
• A system can be a particular age or dispensation e.g. we can look at the 21^st century as a system that is made up of a combination of ideologies, processes, philosophy etc. Examples of the components of the 21^st century would be:
  • Liberalism that is encased in (or expressed through) democracy.
  • Individualistic philosophy and lifestyle.
  • Moral Apathy and Decay
  • Materialism that is encased in (or expressed through) Capitalism etc.
• E.g. when Paul talks about the ‘god of this age’ who blinds in 2 Cor 4:4, he is referring to a dispensation as a system.
• It is always important to note that systems will also affect the nature of human existence or will always affect the social arrangement of a people; e.g.
  • Capitalism affects and or erases people’s sense of moral and social obligation (and so can violates commands like ‘love your neighbour as yourself’).
  • Liberalism affects or determines the kind of laws we see.
• God established this understanding of connectivity between people and systems in Jer 29:7: ‘if it (i.e. the city) propers (or becomes stable), you too will be stable. And so in Jer 29:7 God deals with the need for us not only to see the connectivity between us and systems but also to see engagement of systems as one basic imperative (i.e. as an important duty) we have from the Lord.
• Systems affect the nature of human existence: this is why God wants to remove ‘the yoke of the Assyrian’ or oppressive systems (Isa 14:24&25).
• It is important that we understand that the genesis or origin of all systems is spiritual:
  • That which is natural comes from that which is spiritual (Heb 11:3)
  • Apostle John was taken away in the spirit to see Babylon (this World Civilisation), see Rev 17:3.
  • Paul says our struggle is not against flesh and blood (or mere humans) but against the structure of demonic ranks in the realm of the spirit (Eph 6:12).
  • There are demonic princes that seek to enforce themselves over the nature of human existence hence we see ‘the prince of Persia’ in Dan 10:13.
  • Jesus refers to Satan as the prince of this world (John 14:30).
  • Important to note that God is the highest Authority who rules over human affairs and who therefore conditions systems that shape human existence:
    • He sets in Kings (Dan 2:21)
    • He forms governments or systems of rulership (Rom 13:1&2).
    • All conditions of humanity in all ages or dispensations were formed through (the rhema) or through divine prophetic utterance of God so that what we see originates from Divine Intent and not out of good or bad circumstance (Heb 11:3) – this includes the systems that prevail in a particular human age (like the 21^st century).
• So what is the Process of the Formation of Systems
  • All Systems have spiritual genesis
  • Systems are formed through the consciousness, philosophy and ideology of man e.g. Eve was deceived and they both realised they were naked – Gen 3:7 (this implied shift in consciousness), i.e. this sudden realization of nakedness (when it did not matter before as seen in Gen 2:25) implied that man shifted to cosmetic consciousness. 1 Tim 4:1 tells us that the demonic realm is able to inspire human thinking into a certain ideological direction.
  • Systems are then ‘formalized’ through institutionalization e.g. we have constitution, legislations, government bodies or structures, law enforcement agencies etc. and all these are an expression of the ideology of democracy.

Defining Kingdom Systematics

Kingdom Systematics is a new branch of doctrine that deals with teaching believers both (i) the nature of the system of the world (Babylon) and (ii) the nature of the system of the kingdom of God (Zion).

Kingdom Systematics has the following objectives:

• Empowering the saints with spiritual competence so that they are able to decode and understand the apparently complex arrangement of the world system or world civilisation.
• Empowering the saints to understand the systemic nature of the kingdom of God – understanding ideological positions of the kingdom that seek to shape human politics, economics and human existence in general.

Kingdom Systematics seeks to empower believers to understand the systemic (or ideological) nature of the world in which they live

Rev 17:1  One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits on many waters.

Rev 17:2  With her the kings of the earth committed adultery and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries."

Rev 17:3  Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a desert. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns.

Rev 17:5  This title was written on her forehead: MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

The apostle John is taken away in the Spirit (vs.3) to be shown the true nature of Babylon – a Biblical Metaphor for the World System. John is therefore being shown the true nature of the world system – its character, principles and philosophy. The thing that John sees on the forehead of the woman is the inscription, ‘Mystery Babylon the Great...’ This word ‘mystery’ is the Greek word ‘musterion’ which simply means ‘a secret, something hidden’.

The issue therefore that John points out is that the world system does operate by principles, philosophies and ideologies that are outside of the scope of the naked eye or natural intellect, which means that it takes divine illumination to see into the true nature of the world system.

Rev 13:18  This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man's number. His number is 666.

Kingdom Systematics deals with imparting spiritual competence referred to in Rev 13:18 as ‘wisdom’ (this is the wisdom of the Spirit, see 1 Cor 2:6-8). According to Rev 13:18, this spiritual competence is the ability to understand the true nature of the beast – another Biblical Metaphor for the world system. The nature of the beast or of the world system can only be understood by studying the principles, philosophies and patterns that give shape and definition to the world system that we see today (this is the emphasis of kingdom systematics).

Rom 12:2  Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Col 2:8  See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.

Col 2:20  Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules:

It is important that we emphasise that the understanding of the complex arrangement of the world system is a spiritual competence.

Heb 11:3 By faith we understand that the universe (or the age)  was formed (or framed, adjusted) at God's command (or utterance), so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

Heb 11:3 clearly tells us that it is only by faith that we can comprehend the underlying principles that give shape to the prevailing conditions of the world system. Furthermore, Heb 11:3 does imply that kingdom systematics is rooted in the following elements:

• The principle of creation (beyond the fact that the earth was created, the very conditions of the world system are a deliberate act, they are not circumstantial).
• The Sovereignty of the Creator – the universe (or properly, the age) was formed at God’s command. So therefore the conditions in which we live e.g. globalisation etc. are a product of the Sovereign act of God and not the intelligence or will of men.

Kingdom Systematics is therefore concerned with the careful studying and analysis of the architecture of the world system with the aim of bringing illumination to the 21^st century believer regarding the world he/she lives in.

The current world system is made up of different systems whose interconnectedness produces the kind of human existence we see in the 21^st century(e.g. economic marginalisation of the masses of people). Such systems are politics, economics, sociality, philosophy, laws etc.

Kingdom Systematics seeks to empower believers to understand the systemic (or ideological) nature of the kingdom of God

• The word says we have been delivered from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of His Son (Col 1:13). Now the kingdom of God is in itself a comprehensive system – it has its own ideological positions and philosophy that become the foundation upon which more stable political, economic, legal and institutional systems can be built. This is why Adam could live and pioneer different things upon the foundation of the ideology and philosophy of the kingdom of God. This is why God could design an entire social, legal and economic system for the nation of Israel.
• Again we see clearly in Dan 2:31-35 that the kingdom is a system that interacts with other systems.
• And so therefore to be born again and to enter the kingdom of God is not only a ceremonial experience of salvation of our spirits but it is a comprehensive process of adopting new philosophical positions, new ideological positions, new social positions etc.
• In fact to be born again or to be born from above (John 3:3-5) is to depart from positions of the first fallen Adam and adopt the positions of the Last Perfected Adam (1 Cor 15:45-49). Both Adamic positions represent two different mankind positions.
• Believers will therefore fail to relate to the kingdom if they fail to comprehend its systemic nature. And believers can only comprehend the systemic nature of the kingdom if they fully assume the Last Adamic Nature – the nature of Christ.
• What we are essentially saying is that developing systemic competence is not only for the purpose of interacting with the world system (Babylon) but it’s also for the purpose of being an effective kingdom citizen – it therefore becomes a spiritual imperative.

Why Kingdom Systematics

Dan 1:3&4  Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring in some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility...He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians.

Dan 1:3&4 is a prophetic indicator that tells us of the need to bring the church to a place of systemic competence – ‘systemic competence’ refers to an interaction with the world system that is rooted in illumination concerning the true nature of the world system. Systemic Competence therefore makes believers not to be vulnerable to the cruelty of the world system. The only weapon we have to overcome the world system is ‘wisdom & understanding’ (Rev 13:18).

Kingdom Systematics, on the other hand, is the study of the systems of the world. Kingdom Systematics seeks to illuminate believers on the kind of world they live in and so kingdom systematics seeks to produce systemic competence.

Rev 18:4  Then I heard another voice from heaven say: "Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues;

Kingdom Systematics (as a new branch of our doctrine) seeks to illuminate our believers on the true nature of the world system so that these believers can engage a successful exodus out of the very philosophies, principles & ideologies that have oppressed the church for decades (Rom 12:2). There can be no exodus out of the world system if believers do not understand the true nature of the world.

Jer 29:4  This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:

Jer 29:5  "Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce.

Jer 29:6  Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease.

Kingdom Systematics is not only concerned with the analysis of the world system but is also a branch of doctrine that begins to look at the formation of new kingdom-compliant ideologies and systems (e.g. social, economic, political etc.) that must facilitate the human existence of the sons of the kingdom of God. Jer 29:4-6 clearly tells us that God has given us the mandate to create proper conditions conducive for effective kingdom living. We therefore cannot wait for the architects, engineers and prophets of the world system (who tend to proclaim that which is contrary to the demands of the kingdom) to define terms of living for us.

Luk 3:10  "What should we do then?" the crowd asked.

Luk 3:11  John answered, "The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same."

John did not only pioneer spiritual truth but he also used spiritual truth as a basis for formulating of kingdom ideologies and systems (e.g. he established the ideology of equity within his disciples, as seen in Luke 3:10&11).

In a day when we are rediscovering the architecture of the faith (Heb 12:18&22), that we are in fact a civilisation and not a ceremonial entity; that the faith seeks to produce a civilisation (Zion) and not a ceremonial experience – we have to (like John the Baptist) engage this process of defining our own ideologies, philosophy and systems that must become a support mechanism for our civilisation. There is no civilisation that can be expressed through ‘foreign’ ideology, philosophy and systems.

Kingdom Systematics: What are Some Elements that make up the 21^st Century World System?

• Liberalism

The issue that we see with Adam & Eve in Gen 3 was a desire to move out of the command or constitutional framework of God for human existence (as outlined in Gen 2:16&17) in order to step into a realm of absolute individual freedom. This absolute individual freedom would serve to cater for individual greed. So the man conveniently put aside divine principles set by God or the parameters for human existence (as outlined in Prov 8:27-31, Acts 17:26) and replaced these with his own (Rom 1:22,23&25). This is exactly what we continue to see in the 21^st century. Architects of liberalism continue to appeal to the greed of man by inventing positions of human existence that eventually tend to produce harm than good. Believers must therefore understand that the spirit of liberalism is infiltrating human thought in all sectors of human life, and that liberalism still presents itself as an alternative framework of human existence, as it did in the beginning, when men gave in to Satanic inspiration (Gen 3:1, 1 Tim 4:1).

• Capitalism

Capitalism continues to create a hostile socio-economic environment rooted in the principle of the survival of the fittest. Capitalism has put profit-making and wealth accumulation at the centre of human life. This is seen clearly in what shapes personal identity – material possessions (refer to 1 John 2:16). This is also seen in how nations are rated, the so-called first and third worlds – nations are measured largely on wealth accumulation or by the strength of their economies. 1 Tim 6:10 tells us that the love of money (not money itself) is a root of all kinds of evil. You just have to look around to validate this scripture. The issue that 1 Tim 6:10 is driving home is that where a people build their lives around wealth accumulation, this results in moral apathy and eventually in moral decay. The principle of optimization (which focuses on wealth accumulation) continues to compromise the state and or wellbeing of humanity. Capitalism is in fact founded on Cainism. The word Cainism is derived from the name of Cain who stepped into competition, jealousy etc. and used his strength as the older brother to kill his younger brother (Gen 4:1-16) – this became the issue of the survival of the fittest, it became an issue of social apathy (1 John 3:12,17&18) which characterizes capitalistic societies. The issue then to note here is that capitalism is not just an economic theory for economists, governments and businessmen; but it becomes another framework of existence that shapes the way people interact (societies). And so one of the issues that John the Baptist did was to confront this capitalistic mindset within his disciples and taught them a new kingdom ideology rooted in the principles of equity and collective existence (Luke 3:10&11).

• Progressive Aberration from the Prescribed Framework of Human Existence (Sin or Hamartia)

The word says through Adam or through the First Adamic Dispensation, sin entered the world (Rom 5:12). The word sin is the Greek word ‘hamartia’ and it means aberration from truth, aberration from prescribed law. That is, this word does not only describe violation of the nature of God at personal behavioural level but it also means a corporate systemic movement away from the architecture or framework of God for human existence towards a framework that is invented by men (Rom 1:21-32). How do we see this systemic deviation, by invention of new ideological positions and theories that serve to move humanity away from the prescribed framework. The issue is that there is a prescribed framework for human existence (Gen 1:26, Prov 8:27-31, Acts 17:26). The issue again here is not that man is not supposed to advance and progress – the entire system of God is built upon the principle of progression, movement and advance – hence it says ‘of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end’ (Isa 9:7). God lives in the realm of progressive illumination (Eph 3:5). The human race can therefore advance without violating the nature of God; in fact we were created to advance. So therefore aberration from prescribed law is nothing but an act of rebellion.

• Individualism

Individualism defines a philosophical position in which the interests of those around us are disregarded as we pursue our own interests. So individualism is also rooted in Cainism. 2 Tim 3:1-5 does say there will be terrible times in the last days; people will be lovers of themselves (vs.2). Now this goes against the very model of life God created. Remember the word ‘man’ used in Gen 1:26 means both individual man and mankind. This means that within the framework of God for human existence, individual human life is inextricably linked to corporate human life. In this design of life, there is therefore no space for individualism. Rom 13:9 says ‘love your neighbour as yourself’. Lev 19:16 says ‘do not do anything that endangers your neighbor’s life’. So individualism is one of the serious violations of the nature of God.

• Moral Apathy

Moral Apathy defines a situation where men are not proactively pursuing moral positions that must become the foundation of all human behaviour, human interaction and human activity. Within a morally apathetic framework of life, men are okay with compromising ethics. Moral apathy inevitably leads to moral decay; and moral decay makes the world to be more and more unstable.

• Cosmetic Consciousness

In Gen 3:7, men realised that he was naked. This marked the beginning of cosmetic consciousness that would become a foundation for all forms of human intolerance and class consciousness, e.g. racism, tribalism, sexism etc. Before the fall, man was defined by spiritual consciousness; this is why when Adam saw Eve the first words he uttered were words of covenant (Gen 2:23) and in fact before the fall, men knew he was naked (Gen 2:25) but cosmetic arrangements did not shape his existence. Within this cosmetic consciousness, men can never reconcile because they celebrate cosmetic difference instead of celebrating spiritual unity. The word does tell us that Christ wants to destroy the dividing wall of hostility in order to create one new man (Eph 2:14-18). The diving wall of hostility represents class consciousness that is rooted in cosmetic consciousness. Gal 3:28 identifies these things that separate men: there is neither Jew nor Greek (ethnic tension), slave nor free (political-economic oppression), male nor female (gender based social hostility). Cosmetic consciousness is therefore one of the first fruits of the fall and spiritual consciousness is one of the critical fruits of redemption, for just as we have borne the image of the earthly man – i.e. the First fallen Adam (cosmetic consciousness), so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man – the Last Perfected Adam (spiritual consciousness), 1 Cor 15:49.

The Kingdom of God And Civil Society Mobilisation

There is no doubt that the party political system of the 21^st century is constantly failing humanity in terms of effecting real human development on the ground. The politics of black suites and red ties has become a deficient system that only operates on a level of analysing the problems of communities without bringing any real solution. To use Jude’s words, party political systems have become like ‘clouds without rain’ (Jude 1:12). Africa is without doubt, a victim in this process, because although party political systems may have led and coordinated the struggle against colonisation, they have tended to lose vision when it comes to effecting development. This necessitates for our searching of a new political model or system that must produce more effective governance for 21^st century humanity. We have got to rise as philosophers and architects to lead that process of searching, defining and advocating this new political framework.

What does party political system mean? It means a process by which political parties get voted into government by the electorate (the citizens). Party political system is therefore an expression of representative democracy but has a tendency to project itself as ‘government by the people’ when in actual fact it is ‘government on behalf of the people’. The reality is that in a party political system, people on the ground do not have real meaningful participation in the political process, where such participation by people does exist; it exists only as confessed principle and not as an actualised reality. The only other participation you see is when people vote after every five years. And I suppose for the masses of poor people, such a voting is not an exercise of one’s executive political right, it is more of an act of begging for help. So therefore party political systems have produced an unhealthy situation where the citizen delegates political responsibility to the ‘politician’. And the politician is seen as one who has deep interest in the political conditions of a nation – in a sense; politics becomes something of a career. This careerism in politics leaves out masses of people in the political process and also leads to political apathy by masses who think that politics is for ‘politicians’. Political apathy in turn, results in an unaccountable politician. Not only so but what we see party political systems producing is petty political games between the so called ‘politicians’, where these politicians fight for power, positions and by implication, for political status.

Now as party political systems still try to find their space in the 21^st century, the citizen, the civilian on the ground is suffering. This is a reality that prophet Jeremiah captured in his prophecy in Jer 31:15, which is quoted in Mathew chapter 2 when Herod gets crazy and decides to issue a decree to kill all boys under the age of 2.

Mat 2:18  "A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more."

This great prophecy by prophet Jeremiah really captures the condition of the civilian in a day when political leadership gets crazy and greedy for power. ‘Rachel’ represents the hopeless outcry of the civilian on the ground as the political-legislative framework gets more and more hostile against the citizens.

The story of Matt 2: Identifying Parallels for 21^st Century Humanity:

• The birthing of baby Jesus (Matt 2:1) – this for us, represents the restoration of a kingdom thrust back into the church. This is currently being established through the Apostolic Reformation that continues to invade the corridors of church in the same way that the Reformation move of Martin Luther blasted the Roman Catholic Church in 1500BC. The birthing of baby Jesus represented the manifestation of the Divine Nature in time & space – ‘the Word that was in the beginning became flesh’ (John 1:1,2&14). Immortality incarnated itself into mortality, and our brother John says, ‘we have seen His glory, the glory of the One & only’ (John 1:14). This is the issue about the church configured by the kingdom of God – it goes beyond meaningless religion to download divine patterns that are out of sight of humanity and bring them to bear – so that men can once again see the nature & the wisdom of God (Isa 2:1-4, Eph 3:10).
• The announcement of the birthing of baby Jesus by the Magi (the Wise Men): these wise men (Magi) represent apostles – apostles are wise men (1 Cor 3:10, Matt 23:34). Apostles are wise men who come to announce the birthing of the kingdom of God. We know very well that since the 1990s, God has been restoring the apostolic dimension back into the operations of the church.
• The star – represents not only Christ (Rev 21:16) but the Spirit of Revelation (2 Pet 1:19, Eph 1:17) rising in our hearts (as apostle Peter says). We are in a day of divine guidance, divine regulation & divine wisdom. The Sun and Moon shall not be the source of our light (Isa 60:19&20, Rev 21:23), meaning that all natural sources of illumination are becoming more and more inferior as humanity progresses forward e.g. look at the state of educational institutions today; thick darkness is over the peoples (Isa 60:2).
• Herod – represents greedy and corrupt politicians that we see mushrooming in this 21^st century. Just as Herod changed the legislative framework in order to fortify himself as a political leader, so are we seeing 21^st century politicians doing all in their power - manipulating the legislative framework in order to hold on to power. We have to see the connection between the birthing of baby Jesus (the birthing of the kingdom of God) and the subsequent activities of Herod. There is something about the kingdom of God that affects the political landscape in a real way (Prophet Daniel captures this in Dan 2:31-45). This can only mean that the scope and agenda of the Christ and His kingdom cannot be limited to the four walls of church buildings, nor can it be limited to Sunday – it has got to affect all areas of humanity in a very real way. And so therefore to be part of Christ is not just about ‘churching’ – this implies that we need to constantly rethink the faith and church.
• The conference of Herod and the Chief Priests – gives us an indication that the corrupt politician is using all of the resources at his disposal to fortify himself. This conference reveals that intelligence systems are being stretched as the corrupt politician wants to know precise details concerning anything that threatens his power.

All of the conditions listed in the above 5 points are real issues affecting the state of the civilian (Rachel) in the 21^st century – and perhaps in this context we are focusing more on the reality of the ‘Herod’ like political leadership. All you have to do is to simply open your eyes to see these things. The civilian is therefore in a state of hopelessness (‘she is refusing to be comforted’).

John the Baptist and Civil Society Mobilisation - Reformers Are activators of Societies

This is the context within which the Kingdom of God manifests. The kingdom comes not only to empower the church but to also empower the civilian on the ground. Remember that the kingdom of God is not a ceremonial entity that gets experienced on Sunday morning (during our ceremonies) – it may be proclaimed on Sunday morning but is actualized in the day to day activities of men. The finger of the kingdom is on shaping the nature of human existence; it is not on merely bringing a people to a ceremonial encounter – this means we have to continue to rethink the church.

Luk 3:1  In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar--when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene--

Luk 3:2  during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the desert.

Luk 3:3  He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

Mat 3:1  In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea

Mat 3:2  and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."

Luke 3 describes for us the context within which the word of the Lord came to John the Baptist. It was a day of Institutional Supremacy (Luke 3:1) – all institutions were in place and in tact and yet the conditions on the ground were hostile to the civilian. Remember again the macro context – that this was a day of imperialism, where the Roman Empire had extended itself over other geo-political territories and so the Jewish nation found itself under oppression. The zealots (Jewish freedom fighters) were in constant revolt against the Roman oppression. It was a terrible day, exactly what we see happening in the 21^st century – nations extending themselves over the territories of other nations (economically, politically and socially). This was the context within which John downloaded a word from God. When John received the word, he then engaged in what we call kingdom advocacy, proclaiming, ‘repent, for the kingdom of God is near’ – the same mandate we now have from Christ (Matt 24:14).

The message of John carried with it the following components:

• ‘Repent’ (‘metanoeo’ in Greek, meaning: ‘change your minds’): John therefore advocated a philosophical revolution. He sought to bring a new system of thought to the civilian.
• John told the people - ‘if you have two tunics, share with the one who does not have’ (Luke 3:10&11): and so therefore John advocated a socio-economic revolution. He established new economic models that would effect societal change on the ground. He revealed to the people that the primary oppression was not the Roman Empire but was Individualistic Self-Indulgent, Capitalistic mindset that had invaded societies. While people were complaining against deficient corrupt institutions (e.g. greedy tax collectors & Roman Soldiers) John brought to their attention that the first culprit was their own lack of solidarity. John therefore empowered the people to establish their own socio-economic models based on the principle of equity – under John’s advocacy, people were empowered to define and build their own socio-economic models.
• John also confronted the institutions of the day (tax collectors and Roman soldiers – Luke 3:12-14) and redefined the value system that would facilitate their operations. Evidently, tax collectors and Roman Soldiers were themselves very greedy and corrupt – they represent for us public institutions (public service) that are enforcing law on behalf of governments. To tax collectors and Roman Soldiers, John advocated systemic integrity – what we may today call corporate governance.

These 3 components of John’s advocacy were all directed to the civilian.

…the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the desert… He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

John initially did not try to establish a platform or appointment with Herod, although he did engage Herod later (Luke 3:19&20). The main audience of John was civil society; this is where his message found expression. John therefore led a civil society movement (what we may call, disciples of John). And within this civil society movement, John was able to reconcile sectors of society that were irreconcilable e.g. within John’s disciples (or civil society movement), you would find tax collectors (of the Roman Empire) at peace with Jewish citizens. So therefore John literally established a new platform upon which civil society would exist. By stabling new philosophy, new economic models and new value system for institutions, John deactivated the very thing that people were complaining about i.e. Roman Oppression.

This therefore means that kingdom politics emphasizes the need to empower the civilian on the ground, so that the civilian can in turn take hold of his/her destiny. There is no question that party politics only leads to institutionalism & institutional supremacy, it disregards the priority to empower citizens so that these (citizens) can define and pursue their own destiny. It is quite obvious that party political system has generally failed the civilian – under this party political system, human civilisation has come to a stand still. Party politics delivers only on projects (e.g. infrastructure) and not on the development of humanity (or human civilisation). This Party political System has certainly failed Africa in terms of pushing beyond the frontier of liberation & independence.

Kingdom Politics must establish Civilian Governance

Gen 1:26  Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

Gen 1:27  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Gen 1:28  God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."

Gen 1:29  Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.

Gen 1:30  And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground--everything that has the breath of life in it--I give every green plant for food." And it was so.

Gen 2:8  Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed.

Gen 2:15  The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

The word ‘man’ used in Gen 1:26 is the Hebrew word ‘adam and it means both a human being and mankind. In Gen 1:26 God used the word ‘man’ in a plural sense: ‘let us make man or mankind in our image and let them rule’. This means that governance of humanity can never be looked at in an individualistic sense as liberalism suggests (i.e. individual human rights at the expense of the rights of humanity as a collective). The word ‘man’ is in fact a synonym of the word Adam. The word ‘Adam’ appeared for the first time only in Gen 2:20 as a name of the first man that God created.

‘…but for Adam no suitable helper was found’ (Gen 2:20).

The word ‘Adam’ (in Gen 2:20) means exactly what the word ‘man’ (in Gen 1:26) means. So therefore the man Adam represented all of humanity. It is in this context that the fall of Adam meant the fall of all humanity – because God works by the principle of representation (there is a world of God’s patterns, principle & system of thought that we need to understand if we are to understand how God works). In Adam, God was seeing all of humanity – the name ‘Adam’ represented also the principle of the first man who would become a seed for all of humanity. Acts 17:26 says, from one man God made all nations – i.e. Adam was to be a template for the formation of successive generations. So therefore in principle, if the seed was corrupted, if the template was wrong, then all of humanity would be corrupted (Rom 5:12,15-19). But now remember again that Jesus Christ is the Last Adam (1 Cor 15:45). So Jesus (as Adam) is the first man of the new redeemed humanity (2 Cor 5:17). In this sense Jesus presents before God a good representation, a representation of perfected humanity. Hence Paul says, ‘just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life to all men’; for just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be righteous’ (Rom 5:18&19).

Here is the issue – sometimes we are quick to complain that it was unfair that we fell into chaos because of one man’s sin, and we forget that God uses the same principle when it comes to redemption, ‘the obedience of one man makes many righteous’. In other words, God lives in the world of representation. Not only so, the principle of representation is in fact a reality in day to day operations of human life. E.g. how many companies have fallen into chaos because of one man’s misconduct (CEO), how many families have fallen into chaos because of one man’s misconduct (father). How many families have experienced stability and good life because of one man’s discipline, sacrifice and hard work (good father). The principle of representation is not only a theological principle; it is in fact a general principle that governs human life. The reality is that if I were to decide to get into a mess, there is a whole lot of people that would be affected by my decision; in the same way that my hard work, sacrifice, discipline are all creating a platform for a stable life in the future.

Now, we are on the issue of civilian governance. We are saying that representative democracy of part politics has failed humanity. We are saying that ‘Rachel’ is crying in a state of hopelessness, that democracy is truly not ‘government by the people’ but ‘government on behalf of the people’. We are saying that conditions of humanity are getting worse under party political systems. The politics of red carpet, black suites and red ties is inherently limited and incapable of serving the true interests of humanity. We are therefore saying that just as it took mass mobilisation of people, beyond party politics, to liberate Africa – our development and the development of the world will demand that we see a mass mobilisation of people, collectively holding the baton of governance.

Discerning the Political System of God – unlocking the future architecture of politics!

• The first thing to realise (in Gen 1) is that God already represents Supreme Governance. The big principle therefore that the 21^st century politician must realise is that God, who is Divine, still finds interest in forming the Adam and delegating governance to the Adam. So that governance was not just in the hands of God but also in the hand of humanity. This means that God has a plural approach to governance.
• So therefore God does take an initiate to form the man, the adam, or humanity – in the image of God. What does this say to 21^st century governments – the first and foremost thing for any government is to define the kind of civilian they want in their country and seek to form such a civilian through an effective education system. The formation of the citizenry should be the number one priority of any President. Because such an empowered citizenry can only mean less responsibility for governments. The problem with the 21^st century politician is that he lives to describe a non-existent unattainable world and therefore keep the people in a state of false hope. With time, what eventually happens is that such a people get disappointed and cry like Rachel, a hopeless cry. The 21^st century politician wants to present him or herself as some Father Christmas who has solutions for everything, you see this clearly in the manifestos around elections. This makes politicians to be like clouds without water (i.e. they have the power to keep you hoping); autumn trees without fruit; shepherds who feed only themselves (Jude 1:12).
• Emphasis on forming the adam (the civilian) implies the need for human development and therefore the need for effective educational systems that seek to produce first and foremost citizens before producing Human Resources for the Corporate World. This further means that nations must be positioned as civilisations that exist in geo-political territories. Let me state this again, that the formation of the adam by God speaks to us about the need to develop the civilians and societies before we produce Human Resource entities for the Corporate World.
• God has a plural approach to governance – but He firstly defined and designed the civilian (the adam) and then He delegated responsibility to the civilian. He gave the responsibility to rule over to humanity and not to the politician. The human God created was inherently political, in that world, there was no career in politics – but politics was the corporate duty of all men. Now we have delegated this duty to few men and women, I suppose so that we can also be about the business of self indulgence, ‘the woman saw that the fruit was good for food & pleasing to the eye & desirable for gaining wisdom’ (Gen 3:6) – this process of Eve outlined in Gen 3:6 describes again the state of the civilian that must be confronted through proper education.
• God said, ‘let them rule’ – and so God took governance from His hands and gave it to civilians. Let me say again, that party politics only leads to the supremacy of institutions (institutionalism) and centralized power. There must be a new political framework or model, that takes the responsibility to govern down to the civilian – and I don’t mean the current municipal model of governance or federalism, because these too are still locked up in the deficiencies of party politics.
• What this means is that governance must become a civilian responsibility and not only a party political responsibility – this must be the future of politics. Now here is how God did it: the LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it (Gen 2:15). This means nothing but the partitioning of the national space into small manageable civilian spheres so that there can be effective execution of civilian governance in those small civilian jurisdictions. On one level, God speaks to all of humanity about ruling the entire earth (the global space) but then He takes the man, the first human and allocates him a small civilian jurisdiction (represented by the garden) in which he (the man) would fulfill his mandate to rule. This means that there has got to be an emergence of communities that begin to establish their own civilian initiatives & systems to take care of their own developmental agenda in a much more localized & specialised context.
• Therefore, unless you see in the future, the formation of small civilian jurisdictions and societies that are empowered in every way to look after themselves, with national governments playing largely the role of oversight – then the problems of humanity will only worsen. John the Baptist empowered societies so that whereas before they’d thought the problem was the Roman Empire, they were made to realise (through John’s advocacy) that the problem was lack of self-mobilisation, the problem was lack of (societal) solidarity, the problem was individualism and capitalistic mindsets (see Luke 3:10&11). People in these small civilian jurisdictions must take the responsibility to educate their kids, to build viable local economies that are environmentally friendly, to design customized political solutions to their local challenges etc. This is the future architecture of politics – party politics has become obsolete! ‘In that He calls this covenant (or this system of human existence) new, He has made the first one obsolete, and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear’ (Heb 8:13).

Unlocking the future Architecture of Politics – Seeing through the Christ!

The Christ does not only represent the manifestation of divine principles, nature & system of thought of God (as seen in John 1:1,2&14) but He also represented humanity in its perfected state. And so through Him we see how the adam – how humanity must be designed. Remember, nations are formed through one man, Adam (Acts 17:26). This means that nations have a second chance (through Christ) to leave the template of humanity as defined in the first fallen Adam and embrace the template of humanity as defined in the last perfected Adam (Christ). E.g. issues of race and all other forms of human intolerance are characteristic of the template of the first fallen Adam. The fallen Adam lives in the realm of cosmetic consciousness and so skin pigmentation becomes the basis of identity (this can only tell you that human politics has, over the past centuries been defined by the framework of the first Adam) – the last Adam lives in the realm of spiritual consciousness and so colour of skin does not define human identity (see Gal 3:27&28) but an internal value system is what defines identity. It is in this context that within the framework of the Last Adam, we pursue the formation of one new man (Eph 2:14-18).

Well of course the problem is that until we see the Bible as a template for human civilisation, we will always relate with the Book wrongly.

• Christ is our Passover Lamb (1 Cor 5:7), i.e. Passover is neither a date nor a religious event, it is an experience - this is crucial to understand as we approach March and April. Let us leave events of Passover to the Religious and the Capitalist. Now, Passover was established by God Himself in Ex 12 as a principle of administering exodus out of Egyptian oppression by the nation of Israel. So therefore this experience of the Jews in Ex 12 becomes a reference point for all nations and not an exclusive privilege of the Jews (see 1 Cor 10:6&11). E.g. South Africa experienced her political-institutional Passover in 1994 and must continue to have Passover to implement socio-political transformation until we are truly transformed as a nation. The Passover of the Christ (through the crucifixion) broke the system of Moses and old Covenant of Law and established a new Covenant (a new system for human existence). What kind of a system was that of Moses? There are many things we can mention about the system of Moses, I will mention just one that finds relevance in this subject: The priesthood in the temple of Moses was only limited to one tribe, Levitical tribe (see Numbers 3 & Heb 9:6&7) out of the 12 tribes of Israel. This means that only 8% of the population was responsible for the spiritual governance of Israel. The death of Christ which represents Passover, facilitated for the destruction of this system – how do we know this? Because the curtain in the temple was torn (Matt 27:51, Heb 10:19&20) and so the system was stripped naked. It lost its dignity.
  When God was destroying the system of Moses, this was not just an event for the Jews in Middle East, God was (among other things) breaking all philosophies in the world that tend to limit humanity from having meaningful participation on issues of human governance (remember, Jesus is the Lamb that takes away the sin of the world and not only of the Jews – John 1:29). This would however be realised progressively over time as world consciousness would progressively change to reflect the changes God established through the death of Christ. Remember Solomon says, ‘as a man thinks in his heart so is he’ (footnote of Prov 23:7); meaning that the state of the world is nothing but a reflection of world consciousness. Man fell in his consciousness (Gen 3:6-8); Christ comes to redeem the consciousness of man (2 Cor 5:17). E.g. Africa’s Wave of Independence from Colonisation represented a change in the consciousness of Africa.
  So therefore the system of Moses, the Old Covenant of Law was representative of (among other things) human governance that becomes a privilege of the few; and so the destruction of the system of Moses was also representative – i.e. it represented destruction of all world philosophies that said only a few could govern on behalf of the many.

• Christ is the Lamb given to the world (John 1:29) and so His death represented a celebration of a global Passover, an establishment of a global system of transformation. The world is undoubtedly experiencing this Passover but in a progressive way.

• This means that the death of Christ established a new framework of human existence. What is that framework? It is the decentralization of the responsibility of governance. Whereas in the system of Moses, priesthood (or spiritual governance) was a privilege of the few (the Levitical tribe), in the New Covenant priesthood is decentralized and becomes the responsibility of all believers. Peter declares that all believers are priests (1 Pet 2:9) and Jesus is the High Priest (Heb 4:14). Now, obviously this is a spiritual principle, but we know that the spiritual becomes a metaphor and a prototype for human life (see Heb 11:3). We must read spiritual designs or political systems of God to understand how human life must be administered. So clearly within the principle of the priesthood of all believers, with Jesus being the High Priest, it is wrong to talk of the ‘politician’ as someone who is exclusively interested in politics – you have got to activate the people so that having party political systems does not become a point of deactivating masses of people from having real meaningful participation in the political process. The spiritual principle of the priesthood of all believers indicates to us that all citizens have a political duty to play; hence we are saying that there must be a creation of small manageable civilian jurisdictions where communities begin to own their developmental agenda, with national, provincial and municipal governments largely playing an oversight role, perhaps at most, providing basic services to the citizens. People must take ownership of the developmental agenda, define and design their own local systems (educational), design their own local economies and begin to enter into trade activities with other civilian jurisdictions. Unless this happens, development will not take off. Such communities existing in these civilian jurisdictions must not engage party politics but must appoint local leadership and approach politics as a social developmental imperative.

• We do also see God giving a command to man (Gen 2:16&17). The word ‘command’ is the Hebrew word ‘tsavah’ which means ‘to constitute’. So therefore the man, the civilian in this civilian jurisdiction (represented by the garden) existed within a certain constitutional framework given by God. What does this tell us in terms of the role of national governments? The role of these governments does therefore extend to providing a constitutional-legislative framework for these civilian jurisdictions.

Such a political framework is truly civilianistic in its approach and emphasis – it is true civilianism – it puts priority on the developmental agenda that is defined, administered and owned by people on the ground. It allows for local leadership to emerge in a social developmental context and not in a party political context. Such a leadership shares in the likeness of its community (Heb 2:17, Heb 4:15, Gal 4:4&5), is intimately involved with and is accountable to the people. Such must be the future of politics, an emergence of civilianistic states whose developmental agenda is administered by the civilians (local citizens) on the ground.