It’s been a busy time over the past few weeks as the different political parties have been trying to think up attractive vote-catching ideas to include in their manifestos. And, while the parties may change tack, as the BBC news report said this morning ‘One thing that won’t change is the daily trumpeting of policies.’
But what is a manifesto?
A manifesto is a publication issued by a political party before a General Election. It contains the set of policies that the party stands for and would wish to implement if elected to govern. (from parliament.uk)
So it has to be borne in mind that in many cases the policies included in a manifesto are only those the party would ‘wish to implement’, rather than having a cast iron guarantee – after all, we’re all human – even the party you might vote for! So we could wonder, to twist a saying, is the paper their written on worth more than the policies!
Of course, down history, manifestos have been written to state the beliefs or plans of a multitude of organisations, e.g. the Communist Manifesto of 1848 by Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels; or the Tamworth Manifesto, interestingly written by Sir Robert Peel in the year that Rehoboth Chapel, Horsham came into being. Many others can be found, usually proclaiming something controversial.
But all these manifestos are merely of man’s making, and therefore liable to fall short at best, and end in disaster at worst. But what about the one Manifesto we all can rely upon for life. I’m talking, of course of the Bible, God’s holy manifesto for his creation. This was written, yes by many authors, but so clearly under the direction of the Holy Spirit of God. And it was written for all mankind.
When compiling a manifesto with all its policies, a political party first needs to be aware of the needs of the country and should be forming policies for action to meet those needs, to improve the health and state of the nation. The wonderful thing is that God, himself knew all along what the desperate need of mankind would be – forgiveness of sin, redemption of the soul, new eternal life for all who would believe, and he loved the world so much that he sent his one and only Son to pay the price for our sins that whoever believes in Him will not perish (as is happening without him), but have eternal life.
And the almost fantastic fact is that he will never fail or forsake that manifesto; he will always completely fulfill his promises he made for his people.
So what a blessing it is to know that, while, ok, on the 12th we should place our X in the box against whom we feel we should vote for, even though we know the party they represent will inevitably fall short, but the blessing is that we’re remembering again this month the fact that God kept his promise, fulfilling his manifesto, when the Lord Jesus came into this needy, desperate world, and ‘where meek souls will receive him, still the dear Christ enters in.’
Steve Piggott
Elder
December 2019
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