In this post I share how the concept of sovereignty works from a Christian world-view. Enjoy!
Sovereignty is a gift of God, originally bequeathed to mankind from the Creator, according to the bible one called the Lord. This was done according to scripture by giving mankind “dominion”.
Generally, this gift is not appreciated nowadays and is mostly trashed by the modern age recipients who usually just give it away to the usurper via worship of democracy. The trick used is that democracy says it is the only way; the best way, thus we entrust politicians with our hard-won gift.
“Trust us with your power”, they say and thus we do exactly that, trotting off to the polls every few years rather than entrusting Him as we are asked to do.
I recently read an article online from a 1984 USA created think-tank (CESJ) where Opportunity was put up there with Life and Family:
LIFE: We must advance the sanctity of life against false ideas and defective institutions that support a culture of death.
FAMILY: We must defend the holiness and uniqueness of the traditional family against all who would weaken this sacred institution by a rejection of traditional family values.
OPPORTUNITY: We must build a society that dismantles barriers to equal educational, economic, religious, social and cultural opportunities for the many, especially the poor and homeless, so that each person can develop to his or her fullest human potential. We reject the gross injustice that transpires when an avaricious few exploit or erect barriers to the opportunities of the many.
https://www.cesj.org/resources/articles-index/universal-declaration-on-the-sovereignty-of-the-human-person-under-god/
This sounds good, like many things do, but it doesn’t go deep enough by a long shot, IMHO.
The key component to a Christian world-view is that of Christ. I shared with another friend recently, (yes I do have a few of them from time to time!), “The universe told me …” or even “God told me” becomes, “The Lord told me …” in a Christian worldview.
The essence of this can be found in Exodus:
God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ “This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation.
Exodus 3:15
In another recent exchange a friend asked me more about what he saw as “magic powers” (as he put it), that he understood that I possess to deal with adversity. Having power over others – even to the point of life or death just comes with the territory of tapping into His will as I have tried to share with him, and others.
If you possess magic powers with “shaking the bone” I’d be keen to know of them.
As predicted, he backed off the moment that I mentioned that it was “The Lord” and that it required humility as the price to pay.
Magic powers – The Lord. I didn’t ask for anyone to die. I just spoke the truth to a man who knew (I didn’t know but he did) that when I pointed my finger at him (a form of curse), he would just shrivel up and die. He did exactly that though and he took his grandson with him on the same day in the same Savaii hospital. I found out a week or so afterwards and the villagers from Letui ascribe this event to me and as a direct consequence of this event. They are now all shit-scared of me. Speak to anyone from Letui in Savaii about “the Palagi” which is what they called me up there. This magic also showed its head in many other times and places when I lived in Samoa. I call it “living in the zone”. I have been out of the zone for quite some time since I returned to NZ but it is indeed powerful. I guess outsiders look in and see power but from the inside I see truth, and justice, perhaps even a bit of care and love, although most people I meet and speak with do not understand the deeper significance of this word “love”. Love has seven variants in Greek – phileo, agape etc … In essence when we do the honourable thing and we do it ‘FOR HIM’ which is what I have learned to do over the last four decades He sorts it – period. Yes it is kind of like magic but magic that achieves miracles of a divine nature, not for our benefit naturally speaking. While I was told about this event, I’m sure that there were others and other things I wasn’t told of up there. The problem talking about all this to another who seeks power for personal benefit is that the price is usually perceived, initially at least, as too high. The price is always simply humility. I have found that this is very hard to pay but it is worth every ounce when we choose to give it.
Too deep!” was his response:
All a bit too heavy going for me thank you Dennis.
I wish to add here that such talk is NOT a claim to perfection from me. As the saying goes, “Christians are not perfect; just forgiven!” Humility though means that we can give. It doesn’t mean that we necessarily do. Indeed one of the marks of a prophet is that we do p*ss others off. Countless times I get the words, “You never listen!” thrown at me by friends or detractors alike. What most of them fail to see is that indeed I do listen. I have heard them. Most people assume that their ideas are best and that they have the best answers. It’s just that I do not agree and won’t do or see it their way. My values differ and my objectives may be different, even compete.
Call this independence of thought or actions, an independent spirit, pig-headedness or human sovereignty, whatever. It becomes obvious around election times in the modern age when I choose not to vote and teach against this. When we choose to gift our God-given sovereignty to another man, we err, especially when we are asked to gift it back to Him in faith, the giver of that “dominion”.
This is the secret of dominion (or sovereignty) that by giving it back to Him, in faith, our cares become His.
So like many important things, this concept of dominion was first established in Genesis 1 during the creation events:
Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.”
Genesis 1:26 (NLT)
Our faith requires action, that then produces power but only FOR Him.
In order for faith to lead to salvation, it must be centered in the Lord Jesus Christ … Having faith in Jesus Christ means relying completely on Him—trusting in His infinite power, intelligence, and love.
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/faith-in-jesus-christ?lang=eng
So there, that’s what sovereignty is from a Christian worldview – God gives us the freedom to do what we will in terms of “dominion” and we demonstrate our faith when we listen up to the truth and do what He tells us to do.
Let’s all exercise faith and do it . . .
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