If our country is going to survive and overcome the mountainous fear of crime, the government must return to its first and second responsibilities. Additionally, the church in The Bahamas needs to repent and turn to its first work. Government is not a person, but an instrument given to the nations of the world to uphold the institutions to govern. The instrument of government is to enforce the law. Categorically, laws regulate everything in a nation; from personal behavior to collective behavior of groups, associations, businesses, institutions, organizations, etc.
There is something drastically wrong with governance in our country. The present and the past administrations appear to have lost the perspective to govern. There is a spirit of fear in the country, and it is trending in the opposite direction of what is desirable. Fear should be growing for those who are committing crime.
The amount of cars being stolen, the amount of homes being broken into, the amount of businesses being burglarized, the amount of persons being robbed and the climbing number of homicides, have created an atmosphere of fear in The Bahamas. To add insult to injury, the government is running ads talking about a safe Bahamas. Until the fear is removed, if you have any conscience, the government or the perpetrator of such ads, need to pull the sales pitch, because it is disgusting and hypocritical.
The quality of a nation is determined by the quality of its government. Characteristically, this responsibility needs to be carried out with respect to loyalty, fidelity and sincerity, by those who occupy the office, ensuring that their responsibilities are carried out effectively. The government is accountable for law and order in a civil society. This instrument of accountability has been designed by God.
The first role of government is to ensure that its people are safe. Safety indeed is a state of being. It is the condition of actually being protected against physical, social, emotional and political harm.
Safety is the first role of governance. No person can or will be able to exercise their gifts and their talents without a safe environment. Hence businesses will not be able to transact commerce, exchange, trade etc., likewise other institutions and organizations without a safe environment in which to operate.
The government is given authority by God to govern the nation. The enforcement and carrying out of the instrument of the law when it is done in various arenas bring wholeness, and provide for the protection of people, to develop and progress in a civil manner. The purpose of the government is to constrain evil in a nation. It is not for social programs.
Social programs are for the church and other civic organizations, not government. The government needs to return to its first responsibility. That is to enforce the law and constrain evil.
Romans 13:3 reads: "For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same."
Rulers in this regard refer to the government. Government is for the purpose of terrorizing evil doers, not to hinder those that are doing good works. In fact, the government should be rewarding those that are doing good works in society. More so, the government is to be a terror to those who break the law.
It is the role of government to create fear to the evil doers, those that find themselves on the opposite side of the law. It should never be the other way around. Yes, we understand the difficulty to govern the country in all of its complexities, but you were voted in to do the job. The people exercised their confidence and their trust by the fact that they elected this government.
Executive power is exercised by the Cabinet; legislative power is vested in the two chambers of Parliament. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. The government has the power to create laws that will keep people safe under any measure. If there is a question, then bring it back to the people and let them make the decision for you to carry it out. As Lincoln recognized it should be a "government of the people, by the people, for the people".
If leaders don't have the integrity to live up to their responsibility, they should resign the office rather than putting the whole nation in harm's way. The church must repent of sin. The church must return to its first business; that is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. The church has backslid in its message.
Most churches are preaching error, false doctrine. That is why the church is ineffective in The Bahamas. Many preachers are preaching a prosperity gospel. They mean prosperity in the sense of getting rich. This disproportionate emphasis on getting rich is a false perception.
Jesus died to restore man's lost soul. For that, he gave up all the splendor of heaven, came down and was rejected by men; suffered and died a dreadful and awful death to pay the price for the sins of men. You think he did this for us to get up in the pulpit to talk foolishness about prosperity. Should Jesus bear the cross alone and all the world go free? No. No.
There is a cross for you and there is a cross for me. The problem with man is his character and his integrity. The cross is a sanctifying process. It is to sanctify the believer or to rid the believer of his opinions, attitudes and feelings or his conscious subjective experience. Better known as his adamic nature. The gospel is the death, the burial and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
All Christians are called to follow Jesus Christ in his death, burial and resurrection. Without that there is no character and integrity change in the believer's life. If there is no transformation of the believer, over the years eventually the believer will become a hypocrite, fraud, phony and dissembler of false preaching and teaching. So the church must repent if there is any hope for the spiritual life of our country.
Rev 2:5 -- Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove they candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
Repent
Repentance is to express regret, to turn around in mind and action. It is to apologize for what you did or didn't do. It is to make atonement and to compensate. Nationally, we are all Bahamians, therefore we are all collectively tied together. Therefore whatever happens to our country, whether we are directly involved or not, we are subsequently indirectly involved.
Moreover, we may not have committed the felony or the act, however we are affected. Further, whatever crime is done from a personal perspective it is statistical data. Therefore we are viewed as one country. Individually, we may not have done the crime, but by saying nothing and doing nothing, we have contributed. Subsequently, we are all wired together as citizens of The Bahamas. To repent is to express regret for our personally being, or collectively being, inactive.
Heaven is appealing to all to recommit our ways to the Lord -- personally and collectively following after the nature of God, and applying the principles according to our gifts and talents; working together collectively to make our people better, hence making our country better.
o Return to a life of prayer.
o Return to set times of personal prayer.
o Return to set times of family devotions.
o Return to a life of Bible reading and studying.
o Return to a lifestyle of meditation.
o Return to a commitment to weekly or monthly fasting.
o Return to being our brother's keeper.
The church
The church is mandated to national discipleship. National discipleship, training and discipline involve:
a) God's commands and standards to keep;
b) Someone's example to learn from;
c) A promise from God to believe;
d) A warning to heed; or
e) A challenge to face.
The church is a body and a body is made up of systems. A system is a set of interacting or interdependent and codependent components forming a complex/intricate whole. Every system is delineated and defined by its spatial or its three-dimensional (3-D) and temporal boundaries, surrounded and influenced by its environment, described by its structure and purpose and expressed in its functioning.
We must return to values that strengthen the family. Ministries in the church must all work together in union. We must encourage our members and citizens to comply with the laws of the land. We must speak well and assist the public schools. We must encourage employees to operate according to the bylaws of their institutions or organizations.
o The gospel;
o The death of Jesus Christ;
o The burial of Jesus Christ;
o The resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Death: We must return to preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Preaching and teaching the need to follow Jesus in death, by the believer dying out to our old nature, our own opinions, feelings, philosophy, and ideology.
Buried: To suppress, repress, block. It is to curb by conforming and transforming the mind and disciplining the desires of the body.
Resurrection: Is to live by following the teaching of the Word of God, by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is a resurrected life.
o Rev. Dr. Patrick Paul is the general superintendent of the Assemblies of God in The Bahamas, including The Turks and Caicos Islands, and the past president of the Bahamas Christian Council.
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