–– Lennox Kalifungwa
The audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.
Africa is a continent intimately acquainted with tyrannical regimes. For much of the last century, several African nations have hosted dictatorships like ill-mannered houseguests who refuse to leave—resulting in over 220 military coups, with 109 successful ones. Political chaos is as much a staple in African governance as bureaucratic red tape is in Western democracies. The results? Violence, censorship, corruption, towering national debt, and economic collapse. It’s the kind of grim reality that would make even a dystopian novelist throw in the towel. Yet, remarkably, many of the continent’s citizens, though crushed under the tyrant’s boot, seem to have taken this abuse as a badge of honor, treating it almost like a national pastime. In many ways, their oppression is self-inflicted.
As Abraham Kuyper once said,
“In any successful attack on freedom, the State can only be an accomplice. The chief culprit is the citizen who forgets his duty, wastes away his strength in the sleep of sin and sensual pleasure, and so loses the power of his own initiative.”
And therein lies the rub: democracy, the cure that was supposed to rid Africa of its ailments, instead turned out to be little more than a mirage. Citizens were given the luxury of choosing their oppressors—swapping one flavor of tyranny for another. African politics has become a cult of personality, where each candidate is expected to deliver their own benevolent spin on despotism. Most voters cast their ballots based on which candidate promises more welfare and handouts. In return, they demand the State preside over every facet of life—while they sit back, arms folded, muttering about how poorly things are going. But the problem, as they see it, is bad governance, not the suffocating system they demand, one that strangles morality, personal responsibility, and freedom. In their view, the government doesn’t overreach; it just doesn’t reach far enough. They can’t imagine that the very thing they worship might also be the instrument of their misery. God, in His wisdom, tends to grant such prayers.
1 Samuel chapter 8 tells us of Israel’s demand for a king, a political desire not unlike that of many modern African nations. Samuel, the prophet, was furious, but God, in His divine acquiescence, warned them of what was to come. They would lose their children, land, wealth, and tithe, along with their freedom and joy. The capstone of God’s warning, found in verse 18, is chilling: “And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.” Africa’s woes, political and economic, persist because its people have failed to acknowledge Christ as King, opting instead for the political idolatries of modern statism.
Many Africans have grown comfortable in cultures marinated in Statism, a belief that the civil government is the all-encompassing authority in life—an all-seeing, all-knowing nanny state, if you will. Statism suggests that the government is sovereign, omnipotent, and omniscient. In other words, the civil government is treated as a deity, worthy of worship and unwavering obedience. Statism, therefore, is idolatry, and tyranny is its natural byproduct.
Tyranny, we might add, is not just an unfortunate consequence, it’s divine judgment. It occurs when governments arrogantly seize power over areas of life beyond their God-ordained jurisdiction, acting as though they are the supreme authority. In essence, Statism is atheistic. When a totalitarian state reigns, it does so because it presupposes that God does not. It doesn’t fear God; it fears losing power.
What results from this grand delusion? A regulatory State that fancies itself omniscient,
perpetuating the absurd belief that it always knows best. Citizens, in turn, care less about what God desires and more about earning the government’s stamp of approval. It’s a theological tragedy of Orwellian proportions.
Wherever tyranny prevails, and a people persist in their folly and impotence to resist it, the following common traits are inevitable:
• Regulations suffocate everything.
• Taxes soar to oppressive heights.
• Private property becomes a distant dream.
• Corruption is woven into every bureaucratic procedure.
• The populace is disarmed while the police become militarized.
• Speech is tightly regulated and censored.
• People fear criticizing their leaders.
• Politicians are more powerful than the law.
• The State oversees health, education, and welfare like a meddlesome relative.
In short, tyranny turns society into a zoo where the animals are overfed, under-stimulated, and utterly dependent on their keepers.
God, in His wisdom, established three distinct governments: the family, the church, and the State—each with a unique role. The family presides over health, education, and welfare. It is responsible for educating children in God’s law and looking after the needy in the community. The church governs Word and Sacrament, nurturing souls, preaching truth, and calling society back to righteousness. Finally, the State is God’s government of justice, meant to punish evil and protect good. These institutions are supposed to hold one another accountable, not vie for supremacy.
While the State is entrusted with the authority to punish evil and protect the good, it must never overstep its God-given bounds. It does not define morality or justice; God alone does. The State’s role is to uphold righteous laws that reflect divine moral principles, and when it veers from this path, it becomes a tyrant, regardless of its supposed good intentions. And when citizens submit to such overreach, they, too, become guilty of idolatry, for they’ve placed the State on par with or above God.
There are clear boundaries that the State ought not to cross. It must not:
1. Disarm, censor, or overtax its citizens.
2. Assume lordship over public health, education, and welfare.
3. Regulate church worship principles.
4. Coerce, threaten, or murder its people.
5. Prevent citizens from owning property.
6. Create crimes for the sake of control and power.
7. Show partiality in favor of allegedly oppressed groups.
8. Surrender sovereignty to globalist overlords.
9. Redefine marriage or sanction the murder of children.
10. Bow to any power other than God Himself.
African countries, if they are to break free from the shackles of statism, must abandon the false premise that the State is the supreme authority. Instead, they must recognize that the State is a servant of God with a limited but crucial role. The responsibility, however, does not lie with the State alone.
Christians possess the only truthful principle and potency to lead a righteous resistance. They must resist the doctrine of State sovereignty and embrace a theology centered on the fear of God and the acknowledgment of His rule over all things.
This requires courage – the courage to defy tyranny, to reclaim personal responsibility, and to model a better way. The family must reclaim its role in education, health, and welfare; the church must stand as the pillar of truth, holding the State accountable; and citizens must demand that the government return to its rightful place under God. Only then can Africa hope to see the establishment of truth, beauty, and goodness.
As Samuel warned the Israelites, the cost of political idolatry is high. The African church, family, and individual must now heed that warning and act before it is too late. Failing to do so will only lead to further enslavement under the iron fist of statism, where man, not God, is enthroned as king. And when that happens, the cries of the oppressed will fall on deaf ears – both human and Divine.