World News and Trends: The grim dilemma of human government
Governments get into deep trouble when many things go wrong at once.
Governments get into deep trouble when many things go wrong at once. Britain stands in the midst of one of the nation's worst political crises in its long history, prompted largely by revelations of abuse of public funds. Editor and journalist Max Hastings commented: "All governments end in failure. But never in modern British political history has there been a collapse as startling and dramatic as that which is taking place at Westminster this week" ("Indignity and Chaos Rule: Who Will Put This Exhausted, Discredited Regime Out of Its Misery?" Daily Mail, June 4, 2009).
The New Statesman magazine observed: "The country is in the midst of the worst parliamentary crisis in living memory as well as the worst recession; and the Parliamentary Labour Party is in disarray" ("Comrade Turns on Comrade in the Dying Days of New Labour," June 8, 2009). Earlier, Daily Telegraph columnist Christopher Booker had stated that "the standing of Parliament last week fell to its lowest level in its 800-year history" ("They Fiddle While Brussels Rules," The Sunday Telegraph, May 17, 2009).
A recent editorial in The Spectator reveals how citizens are reacting. "British democracy is at a low ebb. Polling data shows that more than 80% of voters think that MPs [members of Parliament] put their own and their parties' interest ahead of those of the country; that three quarters do not trust MPs to tell the truth" ("Enough, Already," June 6, 2009). (The popular standing of the American Congress is not much better.)
The media prognosis, however, may be a bit premature. Sometimes governments hang on and live to try to govern another day. Said the Financial Times weekend editorial: "At the end of the worst week of his political life, [Prime Minister] Gordon Brown is still standing—just. The question is whether he can still govern. That must be answered because, with the challenges it is facing, Britain desperately needs a government" ("Time Runs Out for Gordon Brown," June 6, 2009, emphasis added throughout).
Daily Mail columnist Stephen Glover summed up this sad state of affairs from an overall perspective: "We will continue to be poorly governed no matter which party is in power. The root problem underlying all other problems is the low quality of our political class. Most MPs have little or no useful experience outside politics. Some of them are too young. Not many of them are intellectually distinguished ... Nonetheless these people rule us. They attempt to govern us. They spend, or misspend, billions of pounds of our money. They take us to war. They make huge decisions about our lives. And they often make a muck of things" ("The Sad Truth Is Our MPs Are Second Rate," June 4, 2009).
What Glover just described applies, in varying degrees, to all human governments throughout history. Humanity's desperate need is for the government of God to rule all nations. Its coming remains the heart of the message this magazine proclaims. Jesus taught us to pray, "Thy kingdom come." And we look ahead to the day of this awesome declaration: "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!" (Revelation 11:15). Then—and only then—will human beings be fairly and justly governed (read our free booklet The Gospel of the Kingdom). (Sources: Daily Mail, The Daily Telegraph, Financial Times [all London].)
An Article from:
Good News Magazine: July - August 2009
Course Content
Jerold Aust
Jerold Aust has served in the ministry for 52 years, as a public speaker for 58 years, a published writer for 38 years, and is employed by UCG’s Media and Communications Services. He is a Senior Writer, interviewer, and editor for Beyond Today Magazine and has taught Speech Communication for UCG’s ministerial online program and the Book of Revelation for ABC.
Jerold holds a BA in theology from Ambassador College, Pasadena (1968), an MA in Communication from California State University, Fullerton (1995), a distance-learning Ph.D (2006), and a Famous Writers School diploma in non-fiction writing (1973). Additionally, he studied post-grad communication at University of Southern California (1995), radio, TV, voice-overs, and Public Relations at Fullerton College (1995-1996), and graduate communication at Wichita State University (1978). Jerold has taught communication at the University of South Alabama (7 years) and ABC (17 years). His published works include, Ronald Reagan’s Rhetoric: Metaphor as Persuasion and EZSpeakers: Public Speaking Made Easy in 7 Steps. Jerold's overarching goal is to share with humankind its incredible destiny!
John Ross Schroeder
John died on March 8, 2014, in Oxford, England, four days after suffering cardiac arrest while returning home from a press event in London. John was 77 and still going strong.
Some of John's work for The Good News appeared under his byline, but much didn't. He wrote more than a thousand articles over the years, but also wrote the Questions and Answers section of the magazine, compiled our Letters From Our Readers, and wrote many of the items in the Current Events and Trends section. He also contributed greatly to a number of our study guides and Bible Study Course lessons. His writing has touched the lives of literally millions of people over the years.
John traveled widely over the years as an accredited journalist, especially in Europe. His knowledge of European and Middle East history added a great deal to his articles on history and Bible prophecy.
In his later years he also pastored congregations in Northern Ireland and East Sussex, and that experience added another dimension to his writing. He and his wife Jan were an effective team in our British Isles office near their home.
John was a humble servant who dedicated his life to sharing the gospel—the good news—of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God to all the world, and his work was known to readers in nearly every country of the world.
