In Karim's blog he highlights some phrases which understandably may sound political or even treacherous. Truth be told, I too cringe at some of the words spoken by well meaning Christians sometimes.
Mr Karim blogs here:
https://akarimomar.wordpress.com/2017/06/06/evangelicals-taking-subang-for-jesus/
He says in his blog:
Seruan-seruan seperti ‘Malaysia milik Saya’, ‘Dia akan mengambil semula Malaysia untuk-Nya’ dan ‘Kehendak umum Tuhan kepada semua kita di Malaysia ialah untuk menakluk negara ini dengan Kerajaan Tuhan’, jika dibiarkan berterusan, boleh mendatangkan ancaman kepada negara.”
First let me explain the "Kingdom of God" (kerajaan Tuhan) in Christianese. This phrase was even misunderstood in Jesus time and even by his disciples who expected Jesus the Messiah to usher in "The Kingdom of God" by restoring the glory of Israel and to free them from Roman powers. Throughout history, governments and rulers have persecuted the Church because of the "threat"of "The Kingdom of God" through Jesus followers. Should earthly kings and governments be threatened by the Kingdom of God? Not at all if we understand what it is.
A good place to start is ''What the Kingdom of God is NOT'':
I The Kingdom of God is not of this world
Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world; if it were, My servants would fight to prevent My arrest by the Jews. But now, My kingdom is not of this realm. John 18:36
Jesus clarifies that His Kingdom is not an earthly government or a superpower if it were His followers would use physical force to protect Him. The Kingdom of God is out of this world. It is from another realm. It is also known as the Kingdom of Heaven.
II The Kingdom of God is not an earthly kingdom with boundaries
Jesus replied, “The kingdom of God will not come with observable signs. Nor will people say, 'Look, here it is,' or 'There it is.' For you see, the kingdom of God is in your midst." Luke 17:21
You cannot see the Kingdom of God and it has no observable boundaries. However this verse goes on to define where it is. It is in your midst. It is in you and whenever there is a community of you. So there it is, people would say this is proof of a worldwide army of Christians taking over. Well, yes and no because its not an earthly government with an earthly agenda of world dominion that Christians seek. The first verse suggest the Kingdom of Heaven is out of this world, but here Jesus says its in your midst, within you. So the best way to understand is that The Kingdom of God is the future heaven where we are going, but its influence and reign begins here on earth, now, wherever Christians are. What kind of influence and reign?
III The Kingdom of God is not militant.
Seeing the crowds, he went up on
the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.
And he opened his mouth and
taught them, saying:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for
they shall be comforted
“Blessed are the meek, for they
shall inherit the earth
“Blessed are those who hunger and
thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
“Blessed are the merciful, for
they shall receive mercy.
“Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for
they shall be called sons[a] of God.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for
righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when others
revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on
my account. Matthew 5:1-11
This is more famously known as the Beatitudes and they represent the values of the Kingdom of Heaven. In other words if you are to inherit the kingdom of heaven or to be a member of the kingdom of heaven, you will display these values; humility, meekness, hunger and thirst for what is right, be merciful, holy etc.
So when a Christian says or prays to God and says; "May the Kingdom of God come upon our land or upon Subang Jaya." What Christians are praying for are the values of the Kingdom of Heaven to be displayed whereever we are. That is humility, meekness, righteousness, mercy, peacemakers...etc. The influence of the Kingdom of heaven or of God is best reflected in the Beatitudes.
Last I check these values are values highly esteemed of any citizen in any country.
If a person then professes to be a Christian and shows none of these fruits of the Kingdom in his life or is not progressively growing in them, then we would question the authenticity of his or her conversion. Having said that, fundamental to the Christian belief is the depravity of man (To be discussed another time) or simply put that we are all sinners before a holy God and therefore will not fully reflect the Beatitudes in our life a 100% of the time. We then can look to Jesus who fully reflects the values of the Kingdom of Heaven a 100% of the time. He as our example and representative before God was mocked, spat at, crucified (which is a shameful death in those days) but yet fully displayed humility, meekness, a hunger for righteousness, merciful and holy at all times.
Christians belief that though we fail in practicing these beatitudes Christ through the Holy Spirit (Roh Kudus) will change us and transform us from inside out.
In conclusion, there is absolutely no need to fear the Kingdom of God taking over through DAP or through any Christian politician or through a zionist movement etc. There is absolutely no interest for the Church of Jesus Christ here in this earth in any country to take it over militantly and to declare it a Christian state. This is not what the Kingdom of God seeks and what it means.
