I’m a Martial Law baby, meaning to say that I had spent my formative years during the Marcos dictatorship in the Philippines (1972-1986). In the beginning I had a positive view of military rule in the country. To its credit Martial Law halted the country’s march to oblivion.
But nothing could fully deodorize the dung heap of any totalitarian rule. Marcos’s Martial Law ultimately proved to be nothing but a petty dictatorship drenched in violence, “kleptocracy”, and cronyism.
At a certain point I wanted to see the dictatorship end. I could not support Marcos but my Christian sensibilities would not permit me to be caught dead with the opposition groups, most of whom were in bed with Marxists and their atheistic ideology. I wandered in a political wilderness, which, I think, pretty much represented the same conundrum faced by the church about Marcos’s dictatorship.
In that state of confusion, the motif of many sermons at that time was God’s straightforward response to King Solomon’s prayer as recorded by the Chronicler.
“[I]f my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14 [NIV]
I took comfort in these 40 words as the clearest prescription on how God would go about ‘healing’ a nation. The verse packs the certainty of an “if…then” formula.
People Power finally deposed Marcos on February 25, 1986. I thought then that 2 Chronicles 7:14 was finally kicking in to ‘heal’ the country. But the promising start has sputtered along the way. Twenty-one years after the EDSA Revolution our neighbors in the region have made great leaps forward while we have moved southbound deep in the Third World region. We are a whisper away from becoming a banana republic.
When will God’s ‘healing’ finally touch the country?
As I pondered this question, I realized that I don’t have any idea on what God’s ‘healing’ actually looks like.
Is the rate of GNP growth a way to measure God’s favor? Will the level of poverty or unemployment shrink if God ‘heals’ a country? Is it required for the government to be democratic or serious protector of human rights to say that God has blessed a country’s inhabitants? Are there macro economic standards or political benchmarks to prove God’s pleasure on a country?
There are historical ambiguities as well in applying economic and political measures to assess the ‘healing’ of a land. Does it mean that God favors First World countries over Third World countries? Does it mean that the wealthy European nations are praying more sincerely and submitting to God more faithfully than the poorer countries in Asia and Africa? The last I heard not even one percent of the population of most wealthy countries of the North regularly attend church. On the other hand, it is well documented that Christianity is gaining leaps and bounds in the countries of the South. What gives?
The problem, I realized, is that too much focus is placed on the ‘healing’ part of God’s response to King Solomon. The overemphasis on “what is in it for us”, it seems to me, is unwarranted and has led to confusion and frustration on the part of Christians regarding the conditions in the country.
As an exegetical point, the promise of healing in the verse pertains to drought, plagues and pestilence that have come upon Israel for their apostasy. It was God Himself who brought these calamities upon His people for their disobedience. God promised that He would remove His curse on them if they would find their way back to Him.
Aside from the fact that Israel was a theocratic regime at that time, the “if…then” clause is God’s response to King Solomon’s specific prayer in the earlier chapter (see 2 Chronicles 6:26-31). Outside of that context, I don’t know how one could measure in specific terms, as King Solomon and the Israelites could do in their situation, the ‘healing’ of a nation in our time. There are too many variables to be able to pin poor political and economic conditions in a country to the machinations of God. Being destitute does not necessarily mean that God has imposed some kind of curse on poor countries. Conversely, good economic performance by rich countries doesn’t necessarily mean they are enjoying God’s special fondness.
By focusing so much on the ‘healing’ portion of the verse, we have become inured to the idea that economic progress and political stability are the ultimate markers for the ‘healing’ of the country.
To read that much in the verse is misguided. It carries the false assumption that God has caused our woes, or that He has somehow lifted our protection from evil for reasons of His own, which He has kept from us. It is further confounded by the enigma that God has shown displeasure to a country where 8 of 10 people would express love for Christ but at the same time has granted tremendous economic progress to neighboring countries that are predominantly Islamic, Buddhist, Shintoist, Communist and Marxist. The theory pollutes our view of God.
The ‘health and wealth’ reading of 2 Chronicles 7:14 has led many of our church leaders to act in ways inimical both to the interest of the kingdom of God and the interest of the country. They have aligned the church to politics, which has damaged the cause of Christ. Doing so has also damaged their witness and ministry and, in turn, the country, which needs such witness and ministry more than anything else.
This verse does not promise that God would be serve as our economic guru or political operator if we only turn back to Him. The economy and politics are the stuff of the kingdoms of the world. Being a follower of Christ is not a pre-requisite to good citizenship in those kingdoms. Neither do Christians monopolize selfless commitment to civic duty.
The Kingdoms of the world would do what they have to do. Some of them will do well, and some of them will fail. No matter how they perform, all of them remain under the control of the devil, a fact that Christ does not dispute when the devil offered Him the position of the world’s CEO while retaining overall control.
Christ’s kingdom is not of this world. There is no distinct role for Christians, as Christians, in running the kingdoms of the world. There is no Biblical mandate, much less from looking at Christ’s life and ministry, for Christians to take over the reins of the kingdoms of the world to establish God’s rule on earth. We have no special claim, entitlement or responsibility to assume political power just because we are God’s children.
It is unfortunate that the country is struggling under poor leadership at every branch of the government. Our government leaders have no accountability and our society has served the interest of the haves at the expense of the have-nots. Sin and demonic oppression have caused havoc in our oligarchic, elitist and self-centered leadership structure and body polity. It is a somber reality.
But the mission of the church does not concern the economic and political arena. God’s response to King Solomon is not a divine formula for economic progress and political stability. The Philippines could become a first rate country and the church could still fail as God’s representative on earth.
Christ did not die to bring double-digit growth to the country’s economy nor did he die so that we can have political stability. Christ died to spread God’s kingdom through the changing of the hearts of individuals. That is our calling. And our strategy to achieve that goal is not through political power but through sacrificial love, which, in Christ’s more vivid language, means daily taking up the cross and denying our own self.
The measure of God’s true ‘healing’ is found in changed lives rather than on economic or political indicators. It’s when we learn to forsake self and live for God could we say that we are healed.
Whether the Philippines would remain the doormat of the region would depend on the collective fortitude of the Filipino people to do something about their situation. In the meantime, the church, under the radar screen, must continue to be faithful in its work. We cannot despair in what’s happening in the country and decide to engage in partisan political combat to salvage the country. That’s engaging the wrong battle. Our struggle is not against flesh and blood.
What we need to do is to trust God and remain faithful to Him. Yes, we must earnestly pray to God for peace and justice in our land. And the message of 2 Chronicles 7:14 is that God can intervene and can change the course of things, should He wish to do so.
In the meantime, our reality as a church must transcend the economic and political conditions of the country. Our weapons are spiritual and our cause is eternal. Sure, we must do our duties as good citizens. But what our country desperately needs is for the Body of Christ to create, in the midst of our present morass, an alternative reality of love and servanthood. That’s a lifetime to accomplish. The church in politics only detracts us from our calling.
