Live out the dual identities of "citizen of heaven" and "citizen of earth"
Experience the 2019 Canadian Federal Election: What I See and Think
▲What is the meaning of the election? Should we seek safety and follow what others say, or should we choose a good “king” in God’s eyes?
The Canadian general election in late October 2019 made the author think about how Christians should select the worthy and capable according to the teachings of the Bible.
Hard to vote
What does citizenship mean?
In previous years, I only spent two or three hours performing my civic duties as a matter of routine. I also joined groups initiated by some social enthusiasts and signed electronic petitions on various issues every now and then. I also actively encouraged my friends to participate in petitions and tried my best to attend relevant symposiums and gatherings. Before the election, learn a little about the positions of each candidate party, and then cast your vote without hesitation. But that's it. After all, participating in politics is not the focus of my life, and how much influence can I have on the political direction of the country?
However, in 2019, I really can’t sit still. Because the Canadian federal election is about to be held, but the votes in my hands are almost impossible to cast. For the first time, I felt deeply concerned about the country and the people.
The Liberal Party, which came to power with an overwhelming majority in the 2015 election, not only reneged on several important campaign promises, but also quickly passed and implemented a number of bills, making Canada a world leader in evil things. Under the Liberal government, Canada became the second country in the world to legalize marijuana. One year after the bill was implemented, not only did it fail to curb drug black market trading and reduce police pressure as expected, on the contrary, the drug use rate has increased significantly, and black market transactions and gang shootings have increased significantly. Many public places where smoking and drugs are prohibited are filled with smoke and cannot be restrained; one year after the legalization of recreational marijuana, food and drinks containing marijuana are also legal.
The Liberal Party strongly supports the promotion of extreme transgenderism, passed the assisted suicide bill, and increased the annual international aid budget to support abortion to 700 million yuan,1 but claimed that it was unable to pay the 180 million yuan in education funds and family pensions promised to Canadian veterans during the election campaign. 2. In order to protect the freedom of certain special groups, the Liberal Party has caused the majority of people to lose their freedom. In order to promote multiculturalism, it has escalated the isolation and conflicts between various ethnic groups. Canada when I immigrated 20 years ago is completely different from today.
Undoing the Liberals is the unquestionable goal of many conservative voters; who will replace them? Over the past few decades, Canada has been nothing more than an alternation between the Conservatives and the Liberals. The differences between the two parties are obvious. The Conservative Party is the representative of conservatism. But in recent years, the Conservative Party has changed!
In order to win votes, the Conservative Party has also slipped into the track of "political correctness". They no longer allow party members to raise pro-life and anti-abortion bills; they support extreme transgenderism, but suppress other citizens’ rights to freedom of thought and behavior. They even expelled a conservative candidate from the party before the election because he opposed it three years ago. Extremist rhetoric from the trans movement exposed.
In order to win over votes, conservative leaders have close ties with extremist Islamic organizations; they have adopted an attitude of maintaining the status quo and doing nothing in response to serious unfair government policies that interfere with the market economy. The Conservative Party dares not offend anyone, but only tests the bottom line of conservatives. Its political platform has become almost the same as that of the Liberal Party.
In the autumn of 2018, a group of people who had the courage to tell the truth, do practical things, and adhere to conservatism separated from the Conservative Party 3, which was "intellectually and morally corrupt to the point of being unable to reform," and established the People's Party to promote reform. gender-based governance principles to bring Canada back on track. This resonated strongly across the country. In just one year, the People's Party elected candidates for the federal election in 93% constituencies across the country, becoming the fastest-growing political party in Canadian history.
For many voters, the People's Party's ideas are long-awaited and resonant. The most prominent ones are to comprehensively protect citizens' freedom of speech and belief, protect life, and oppose the use of government resources to favor special interest groups. Small government, big market, take it. To the people, for the people, and to safeguard national sovereignty. However, the People's Party, an emerging force, has been hovering at 2% in the polls. If among the many options, the only party that suits one's ideals and values has little chance of winning, should one still vote for them? What exactly is the point of elections? Should we seek safety and follow what others say, or should we choose a good “king” in God’s eyes?
▲Six candidates, each with their own followers. Do media reports confuse the public's understanding of the candidates' positions?
Amidst the smoke, where will the voters go?
Canada’s election campaign has never seemed as bad as the 2019 election. In order to attract votes, the major political parties have made extravagant promises with small favors, which will make people's hearts flutter. But anyone with a discerning eye knows that they can hardly express any wise and specific strategies for governing the country. They mainly spend their energy and saliva on attacking and insulting their opponents, sweeping the country clean, and adding a series of scandals.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is a "state media" supported by the government. Less than a year before the general election, the government decided to allocate 600 million yuan in special funds within five years to rescue the media industry in crisis across the country4. The media with such a background will naturally speak for the "finance owners", but it has seriously affected the voters' right to know.
In recent years, the Canadian government has been able to successfully implement some extreme policies, and the media has played a big role in confusing the public and adding fuel to the flames. They publish statements that are consistent with the government and work hard to silence or demonize opposing views, undermining free speech. No one dared to say that "the emperor paraded around the city without any clothes." Gradually, people thought it was the "emperor's new clothes."
It is a serious institutional problem that the media in democratic countries is controlled by the government. Among the political parties participating in the election, only the People's Party bluntly stated that if elected, it would immediately cancel all funding for the media and allow the media to return to their role of making a living. This is naturally very unflattering to the media. Many voters did not know the inside story, but in fact the media used every means of blocking and slandering throughout the election campaign to demonize the People's Party's conservative approach to governing the country as Nazism. People across the country were incited as if they were crazy and hated the People's Party.
Not only is citizens’ right to know being suppressed, but there are also behind-the-scenes operations that influence election results. For example, in the 2017 Conservative party leader election, Hill narrowly defeated his opponent who had been leading by only 66 votes. However, after the vote count was completed, it was found that the number of valid votes was 7,466 more than the number of registered voters. All the ballots were quickly destroyed before they could be verified. 5
Two days before the 2019 federal election polling day, the Globe and Mail revealed that the consulting firm Kinsella had undertaken the "Cactus Project" a few months ago, with the goal of secretly engaging in a large-scale social media war, using slander, slander, and attacks. method to destroy the People's Party. This practice violates criminal and electoral laws. An "informed source" said it was the Conservatives who hired Kensela to do the project. The Conservative Party is well aware that the People's Party is the most capable opponent to steal votes from the Conservative Party. If this case is confirmed, those involved in the Conservative Party case will not be able to escape justice.
▲There are six parties participating in the Canadian general election in October 2019, each with its own governance principles and political stances. Can voters clarify the positions of each party before voting? !
I support you, but I can't vote for you
Although blocked by the mainstream, the reputation of the People's Party has quickly spread among the people because of its reasonable line of governing the country.
However, a "strategic voting" (the so-called "abandonment strategy" in Taiwan) mentality is widely circulated among conservative voters: "The People's Party is good, but they are too small and cannot win. Only by voting for the Conservative Party can we win." Get rid of the Liberal Party! Put the Conservative Party in power first, and then elect the People’s Party next time.”
This mentality stems from the fear of the Liberals remaining in power. In the social circles of many conservative voters, whenever there is a voice that disagrees with "strategic voting", the group will become emotional and use words such as "politician" and "selfish" to attack the dissidents, as if they His own strategy is undoubtedly the trump card for winning this election, and he does not comment on the facts that the Conservative Party is no longer conservative.
Compared with who to choose, this attitude trend towards dissent is actually more worrying. In recent years, Canada's government, media, and citizens have increasingly failed to allow different opinions to exist, let alone conduct normal discussions and resolutions on controversial issues. The public immersed in this atmosphere gradually loses their ability to distinguish and judge, and it becomes increasingly difficult to remain a minority opinion member. In this vicious cycle, the government and the media continue to cater to the public's tastes.
Once a society loses its mechanisms for normal discussions, mutual supervision, and error correction, it will become chaotic and disorderly, and absurd laws enacted to take advantage of the chaos will have far-reaching consequences. Now in Canada, too many speeches are classified as "hate speech" by law, so many people, including Christians, keep silent for the sake of safety and allow the evil waters to spread.
Pray for God’s will
I was worried and always wanted to do more, but I wanted to shrink back in the face of the complicated election situation. A voice came up in my heart many times and said: "Christians should focus on the kingdom of God and don't need to worry so much about politics!"
However, God placed me in such a church, and at the beginning of 2019, "election" was set as the theme of teaching throughout the year. The church spent more than half a year leading everyone to systematically study the major and minor prophets to gain a macro and detailed understanding of how God views the role of governments and citizens in history and at present, as well as the revelation of the prophecies about the end of the world in the Bible to citizens on earth today. The church also led the congregation to continue to pray for the country, leaders, and the new future government; on October 1, it began a 21-day pre-election fasting and prayer, and made seven prophetic prayer announcements for Canada.
The Bible reminds believers: “A man’s heart plans his own way, but the Lord directs his steps.” (Proverbs 16:9)
The systematic study in the church in 2019 expanded my horizons and enabled me to view today’s role and mission from a historical and future perspective. Politics are inextricably linked to the lives of God’s people. “Many of the things that the modern world cherishes—freedom, democracy, education, health care, human rights, and social justice—can be traced back to Christian roots. … Christians will always come first. Discern which injustices are worth fighting for, but a complete retreat will not be beneficial to the church or the country." 7 As citizens on earth, Christians should exert influence in social and political life, resist evil in the system, and safeguard freedom and justice. ; But we must be careful not to let participation in and discussion of politics become an alternative moral judgment. We must rely on prayer anytime and anywhere to seek God's will to be fulfilled.
Without prayer, God’s chosen people will turn the election campaign on earth into a war of words and forget the Great Commission; without prayer, it will be easy to give up in the face of numerous difficulties and dangers; without prayer If you pray, you will forget that history was created by God and is controlled by God until it is complete.
Through prayer, I learned to do my own research to understand the election situation, and learned to distinguish the true from the false from the overwhelming mainstream arguments. I neither underestimated my vote nor suffered from the consequences of communicating or debating with others because I valued the results too much. Emotions control.
Through prayer, I chose to be on the front lines and become a part of the history of this Canadian federal election. I joined the campaign team in the local constituency. During the month-long campaign, I walked several marathon distances in the evenings and weekends, knocking on the doors of thousands of neighbors and introducing them to the hope of Canada. Although I have experienced embarrassing rejections and ridicule, the journey of visiting each house allowed me to get in close contact with the most authentic public opinion.
Originally, when I knocked on a stranger’s door, I didn’t expect them to give me more than a minute to talk. However, after meeting many people who listened to my brief introduction, they talked about the difficult living situation of themselves and their friends, their worries about the country, their hope for a good government, their anger at the political darkness, and their anxiety about not knowing who to vote for. Many conversations It lasted more than ten minutes.
An almost 90-year-old grandmother said as soon as she opened the door: "I won't vote! There's nothing to vote for! They're all going to kill the unborn babies!" With tears in her eyes, she recounted her 70-year journey of immigration and how disappointed she was with the country now. I listened patiently and kept encouraging her to use her vote to speak out. After chatting for half an hour, she decided: "Okay! Tomorrow I will walk to the polling station with a cane to vote!"
At the end of the conversation, many people were as happy as if they had discovered a new world. One person said: "You are the only one who came to talk to me for the election. Thank you for caring so much about me!"
▲If we do not pray, we will forget that history was created by God and is controlled by God until it is complete.
Result: Defeat; Ending: Unknown
On the evening of October 21, the election results came out. The results were very different from the prayer expectations. The PPP was defeated miserably across the country, not getting a single seat. The Liberals were re-elected in a minority government. Tens of millions of voters who voted "strategically" failed to keep the renegade Conservative Party.
Could it be that this is God’s intention for Canada?
This is an excellent time to be humble before God.
What is the significance of citizens on earth participating in political affairs - for God? Or as a human being? The results of elections are temporary, just like governments are temporary. How does God use this temporary result to lead Canada to the world's final outcome? Didn’t God reveal it through the prophet Daniel: “In the days of those kings, the God of heaven will establish a new kingdom that will never be destroyed, and will not belong to any other people, but he will break in pieces and destroy all the kingdoms. This kingdom will last forever." (Daniel 2:44)
In reflection, I also regretted that I had been indifferent to "political affairs." The experience of this election has inspired me to leave the comfort zone of various so-called "correctness" more often in the future, and to watch and pray for the country, society and people.
CS Lewis said, “Read history and you will find that the Christians who have contributed the most to this world are precisely those who are most concerned about the life to come.”
Satan knows that the end is near, and is frantically carrying out destructive work on the earth. There is no area that it does not want to conquer, and politics is no exception. I have dual identities as a "citizen of heaven" and a "citizen of earth". It's time to leave my lukewarm life. I am willing to put on the full armor of Christ and go into battle, to be light and salt at polling stations, petitions, hearings, family committees, social media and various community venues, living out and preaching the gospel of grace.
1. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, June 4, 2019, https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-pledges-abortion-funding-1.5161891.
2. Global News, October 2, 2019, https://globalnews.ca/news/5966784/liberals-broken-promises/.
3. The Georgia Straight, August 23, 2018, https://www.straight.com/news/1120621/maxime-bernier-declares-conservative-party-too-intellectually-and-morally-corrupt-be.
4. The Globe and Mail, November 21, 2018, https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-media-sector-gets-595-million-package-in-ottawas-fiscal-update/.
5. iPolitics, June 1, 2017, https://ipolitics.ca/2017/06/01/cpcs-explanation-for-vote-total-discrepancy-does-not-add-up-says-pollster/
6. Saskatchewan Herald, October 20, 2019. https://saskatchewanherald.com/2019/10/20/op-ed-democracy-demands-immediate-rcmp-probe-into-tories-dirty-anti-ppc-operation/.
7. Philip Yang, "Grace is True", Campus Bookstore Press, Taipei, 2017.
True face, economic researcher, minister of literature. Be renewed every day in God’s grace, and look forward to the coming of God’s kingdom.