GOOD government is one of the most precious temporal gifts God gives to a people, while a vicious, corrupt, and incompetent government may become the greatest curse. Every citizen is therefore vitally interested in the establishment and maintenance of good government. The Christian, however, as a citizen in “two realms” has an even greater stake in good government than the non-Christian. According to 1 Tim. 2: 1-4 good government is necessary not only for the individual’s physical and temporal well-being, but also -and this primarily -for the carrying out of God’s gracious purposes concerning the eternal welfare of all men. The Christian will therefore view with grave alarm the political upheavals which have occurred in our time, especially in Russia, Germany, Turkey, Spain, England, Japan, and China. Nor will he close his eyes to the changes which are taking place in our own country today. The whole world is affected. Never before has there been a revolution so wide in scope as that which is occurring today. Technological changes have altered our way of life, and the secularism and materialism of our age have changed our attitude toward the meaning of life. A new social order and new forms of government are emerging which are all inclusive and absolute and unlimited in power, which are absorbing the functions and prerogatives of all the other creation orders established by God.
written by prof Rehwinkel in 1950
