Let the politicians bicker, for they are impotent

Well, this society, this world, is going through one of those inevitable corrections. If you cannot do something for ever, it will stop.

I am not the first person to quote Margaret Thatcher here, but she was correct: the socialist project continues until they run out of other people’s money. When you cannot get people to loan money to you. when poverty is increasing in your country, then you are doing it wrong.

You either correct yourself, or you will be corrected. The hard men, the financiers, will shun you. Your military will leave. Your people will rebel. And your cities will become a ruined heap. Anyone who considers that this cannot occur in this time has not meditated on the fate of Detroit.

Isaiah 25:1-9

¹   O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you, I will praise your name; for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure.
²   For you have made the city a heap, the fortified city a ruin; the palace of aliens is a city no more, it will never be rebuilt.
³   Therefore strong peoples will glorify you; cities of ruthless nations will fear you.
⁴   For you have been a refuge to the poor, a refuge to the needy in their distress, a shelter from the rainstorm and a shade from the heat. When the blast of the ruthless was like a winter rainstorm, ⁵  the noise of aliens like heat in a dry place, you subdued the heat with the shade of clouds; the song of the ruthless was stilled.
⁶   On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear.
⁷   And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples,
the sheet that is spread over all nations;
⁸        he will swallow up death forever. Then the Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken.
⁹   It will be said on that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us. This is the LORD for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.

John 16:16-33

¹⁶“A little while, and you will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me.” ¹⁷Then some of his disciples said to one another, “What does he mean by saying to us, ‘A little while, and you will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’; and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?” ¹⁸They said, “What does he mean by this ‘a little while’? We do not know what he is talking about.” ¹⁹Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Are you discussing among yourselves what I meant when I said, ‘A little while, and you will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’? ²⁰Very truly, I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice; you will have pain, but your pain will turn into joy. ²¹When a woman is in labor, she has pain, because her hour has come. But when her child is born, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world. ²²So you have pain now; but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. ²³On that day you will ask nothing of me. Very truly, I tell you, if you ask anything of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. ²⁴Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.

²⁵“I have said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures, but will tell you plainly of the Father. ²⁶On that day you will ask in my name. I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; ²⁷for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. ²⁸I came from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and am going to the Father.”

²⁹His disciples said, “Yes, now you are speaking plainly, not in any figure of speech! ³⁰Now we know that you know all things, and do not need to have anyone question you; by this we believe that you came from God.” ³¹Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? ³²The hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each one to his home, and you will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me. ³³I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!”

You may wonder why I have highlighted the verses about strong and hard men. These verses resonate me, for I am a New Zealander, a child of the British Empire, and anyone who thinks the Brits got that empire by being nice has not read history. We got it by being the most effective and piratical bunch of merchants in the world, backed by a navy that ruled all the oceans.

But we were broken. The empire that ruled a quarter of the world is no more, and the British Government functions as an outpost of the EU.

If you turn from God, and turn towards the idea of a secular Jerusalem, worshipping the city of God or the creations of GOd instead of God, honouring freedom, or the people, or the motherland above all, you will fall.

Britain was also great because, on balance it was good. Those same merchants resented the missionaries who not only preached the word but advocated for the indigenous, and reminded the potentates that the tea labourer in the field was as worthy in the sight of God as the a banker in the city. And when that stopped, (and it did) then Britain tottered. Two decades of Labour rule — From Atlee until Thatcher — and the nation fell. We became more interested in equality and progress than Christ.

Therefore, do not fall into the trap of worshipping King and Empire, or God, King and Empire. Worship Christ. Let the politicians bicker, for they are impotent.