Name: DR LUIS K BUSH
Topic: BUSINESS - MARKETPLACE TRANSFORM GOVERNMENT
Content:
Spheres of Societal Transformation
GOVERNANCE
Rationale/Background
God is the ultimate and only independent authority. This must be our starting point as we
discuss the role God takes in the affairs of men, especially as his sovereignty relates to civil
government. “By Me kings reign, and rulers decree justice” (Prov. 8:15).
The First Commandment reminds us, “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exod. 20:3).
It’s been said: “Men must be governed by God or else they will be ruled by tyrants.” We are
not to make ourselves gods. Our parents are not to take God’s place and rule in the family
independently of him. Our teachers are not to take God’s place and teach as if there were
no authority that gives all the facts in the universe meaning.
Biblical Texts
• Isaiah 9:6;
• Romans 13:6;
• Deuteronomy 1:9- 18; Purpose 1:9-12, Authority 1:13, Representative 1:13, Consensus
1:14, Judicial Branch 1:16-18;
Vision Statement
Transformation of the world through the transformation of the Christian leader in
government. Government leaders can either be the greatest agents of transformation in the
land, or the greatest obstacle to Godly transformation. The Governance Focus Group
operates on the premise that it is the will of the Lord to call and assemble a diverse group of
individual government leaders, current and retired, male and female, from all parts of the
earth.
We anticipate peer relationships will be formed between leaders, as they interact together,
and that these relationships will be a blessing to each other, to the nations and to the Body
of Christ.
Working Vocational Mission Statement
To provide and ensure justice and equity for all citizens including executive, judicial, military,
law enforcement and central community services.
Purpose and Responsibilities
1. Protect the righteous, i.e. law-abiding citizens (Rom. 13:3-4, 1 Pet. 2:13-14)
2. Punish the evil doer, i.e. criminal (Exod. 20:13; 21:12; 22:2)
3. Administer God’s justice
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Principles
The Foundation of Governments
1. The Lord God is the universal Governor of all individuals and nations because He is the
Creator and Sustainer of all things (Dan. 4:17, 5:21; Isa. 9:6,7; 1 Cor. 15:25; Col. 1:17).
2. “The government” in the singular, used of ultimate government, must refer to the Triune
God, who alone has unlimited and independent authority (right to govern), power (ability to
govern), and jurisdiction (sphere of government) (Isa. 9:6, 7).
3. The Bible is the authoritative and inerrant standard by which all aspects of civil
government are to be conducted and that God holds man accountable to govern himself by
that standard.
4. God is the Originator, Sustainer, and Judge of the government of man by man.
5. Jesus Christ is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He has all authority in heaven and on earth
and all governments everywhere function by his permission and are obligated to follow his
Laws.
Jurisdictions of Governments
1. God’s government is independent and unlimited and that all human governments are
established or allowed within His sovereignty (Deut. 4:17).
2. God has established many governments. He has given each its own jurisdiction, all are
accountable to God. Among these are self government (which undergirds all institutional
governments), family government, ecclesiastical (church) government, and civil
governments (e.g., national, state, and local).
3. The various governments (including self, family, church, and state) have different Godordained
jurisdictions that exist at the same time and place, affecting the same people, and
that God desires that they respect each other’s separate God-ordained jurisdictions.
4. Without self government all other governments are destined to fail.
5. There is a jurisdictional separation between Church and state. 11. Jesus Christ, supporting
the jurisdictional separation between Church and state set forth in the Old Testament,
acknowledged and supported the legitimate but divinely limited jurisdiction of civil
government when he commanded us to “....render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s;
and to God the things that are God’s” (Matt. 22:22).
6. Ecclesiastical government, the church (as an institution with rulers), has legitimate court
powers within its jurisdiction (1 Cor. 6; Matt. 18), and that Christians should settle their
disputes within the Body of Christ, following the procedures of reconciliation set forth in
Scripture.
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The Nature and Duties of Civil Government
1. There is a vital distinction between state (i.e., civil government) and society, and that
society encompasses all governing institutions, of which civil government is one.
2. God holds civil governments everywhere responsible to protect the God-ordained rights
to life, liberty, and private property, and to keep the peace by their legitimate powers.
3. Civil government has the God-ordained power of the sword to punish evildoers and to
promote the good. This power includes capital punishment.
4. Civil government has the responsibility of administering justice, which includes and is
limited to the commendation of those who do right, the punishment of evildoers by
restitution and retribution, and the preservation of peace against domestic and foreign
oppressors, and that the fulfillment of this responsibility allows for the spreading of the
Gospel of Jesus Christ and the application of the Word of God to every area of life.
5. Nations have a right to maintain national sovereignty.
6. Civil governments have the God-given authority and responsibility to build up and
maintain a strong military preparedness to protect their citizens from foreign threats, and
that it is right and wise for them to do so.
7. Civil governments everywhere ought to follow a biblical moral order so that citizens can
work out their callings under God, and that they should treat all citizens as juridically equal,
i.e., equal in the eyes of the law.
8. Civil government has the God-ordained authority to collect personal taxes (not property
taxes) to support its biblically stated jurisdictional duties.
9. Individuals, families, churches, and voluntary associations should care financially for
widows, orphans, aliens, and the truly needy through the tithe and offerings.
10. Civil governments must maintain just weights and measures. Christians’
Relations with Civil Government
1. Christians everywhere ought to pray for their civil leaders and to honor the offices they
hold.
2. All citizens have a duty to pay a tax because of the services rendered by civil government,
and that the Church, the Bride of our Lord Jesus Christ, is tax-immune and not merely taxexempt
(the latter of which might imply authority in the state to grant or withhold the
status, making the state sovereign over the Church).
3. It is the responsibility of Christians to seek godly influence on the many civil governments,
confronting all of them with the Gospel and Law of Christ, and that for Christians to “stay
out of politics” or the political process is to disregard our duty to be salt and light to the
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world (Matt. 5:13-16) and dooms society to corruption and judgment, at least in the political
sphere.
4. It is the duty of Christian citizens to keep informed of issues, candidates, and trends in
their civil governments at all levels.
5. Christians in general and church leaders in particular, like the prophets of old, have a
mandate from God to declare society’s accountability to God through and according to his
Word in every sphere of a nation’s activities.
6. The people of God, no matter what their national ties, constitute a “holy nation” (1 Peter
2:9).
Limitations on Governments
1. Those who govern, whether in the family, the Church, or the civil realm, are ministers of
God and are thus subject to God’s Laws.
2. Wherever citizens are capable of self government, the power and bureaucracy of civil
government should be kept as small and localized as possible.
Conclusion/ Summary
With the spread of secularism and all its associated philosophies, Christian influence on
governance is needed as never before to ensure that earthly government reflects the
priorities and purposes of God. While globalization has been a major cause of the demise of
Christian character in government, it also provides a magnificent opportunity for leaders of
character to re-establish Christ’s influence in this essential area of ministry.
The global networking, encouraging and empowering of Christian leaders in government is
powerful in itself, but when done obediently for the purpose and in the power of God,
nothing can stand against it.
To be continued…
Taken from Transform World Manual
Transform World Connections
A call to transformation: transformational streams are becoming one fast-flowing river for the
healing of the nations.
Edited by Dr. Luis K Bush and a team of volunteer editors
Prayer Points:
