Superman was once a boy, too. He grew up eventually and dealt with all kinds of grown-up evil in this world. Running for president is similar to that. It is playing the big-time hero in a big-boys’ game. The rules change from simple to complex, from fair to crooked and from child-like to devious. Well, that sounds almost like high-school capers or college frat-life.
Who said the world has truly grown up? Politics, in general, can be as dirty as a baby’s diaper in the morning. But it can also be as clean as, well, the heart of, ah…, Clark Kent? I’ve been a fan of Superman since childhood. But, we have to deal with the coming elections as mature people, no matter how unheroic and, well, childish sometimes our candidates may seem. For even kids need to be serious for once in their short lifetime. How then do we separate the grain from the chaff, the substance from the media hoopla in this election campaign? How do we help the still undecided millions to choose the best “bet” for their future?
I made quite a long and winded pitch in four previous articles entitled “The Heart and the Spirit of a Nation”, hoping to provide voters with a deeper view of our national ills and the appropriate prescription for them. Yet, it seems the ordinary voter only wishes to see the shallow waters or even the debris or scum floating on the water surface and making do with removing only that part of the pollution that is visible. For them, the only – and simplistic -- answer to such a perceived problem is a public servant who carries a net that will scoop up all that dirt. But what about the dregs underneath, the black soot and the blood-stains that make the waters murky and stinky? Is there a human force strong enough to reverse the trend to our own social, political and spiritual decay? None. As in Noah’s days, only God can save us from ourselves. The lesson remains true today.
Given the problem and the required solution, who should we choose to be president? Is it Noynoy? Or Villar? Gibo? Or someone else?
Obama based his candidacy on the idea of change. Correction! Everyone uses the word as the magic spell to charm votes out of people. Change is a good thing. We all need change for a change. Just how we should attain it is the big question.
At the very least, we must make the initial step of producing change by following the steps of those who have, by their committed lives, pursued change and now show us the way to a greater and unified change for all. Such kind of leadership is the only one we need and must trust and follow for our own good. Christ led the way to such leadership – for He is the Way -- and there is no other. He is the real and mature hero-leader we need – not Superman or any Super-politician. What we direly need is someone who can inspire us all to follow the Way and His ways to bring about genuine change in our nation.
Who then among our candidates is worthy of the title: Genuine-Change Agent? One who – like every worthy Christian -- has gone through a personal transformation and triumphed in life’s essential battles: search for self-identity, accepting one’s destiny and achieving one’s eternal purpose. Anything less than these make us mere humans and not children of the Divine Nature.
From being an atheist to a believer, from an ideologist to a preacher of God’s righteousness and from an evangelist to a crusader for good governance, Bro. Eddie Villanueva, fits the bill for the president WE ALL need. No, make that: for the president that God wants us to have. Now, that may be too presumptuous – reading God’s mind for 94 million Filipinos.
Well, if Apostle Paul could claim that he and the early Christians “had the mind of Christ”, how hard is it for modern Christians to achieve the same thing? “All authority” had been to Christ by the Father in Heaven. To have the mind of Christ, therefore, means to be channels of Christ’s authority here on Earth. How Christians live is the picture of Divine Power – through the indwelling Holy Spirit – moving and giving them the ability to live pure and righteous lives. God’s kingdom must live in the hearts of humans before it can eventually transform human governments and societies.
No one else among the candidates has that clear vision in his heart and spirit that Bro. Eddie bears. We may not perceive him to be the image of the dashing and suave Clark Kent we dream to have as our hero in the Palace, but he has the willingness to provide us the unifying goal that we must achieve as a nation of God. The opportunity given to our nation to attain God’s plan is clearly shown in this one man’s desire to bridge the gap between political and spiritual administration. If we, because of our myopic or biased minds, fail to appreciate this divine plan, then we miss our chance to save as many people as possible from further suffering and even destruction in the gathering storms ahead.
To be sure, it will not be the president alone who will do all the work of changing our society. He will only fail just as Moses failed because of the unbelief of the Israelites. But like Joshua, Bro. Eddie can be our leader to lead us to our own Promised Land if we, by faith, uphold his leadership on our individual shoulders. The leader who leads with righteousness cannot bear the gargantuan weight of national government if the people will not bear their own share of the load through living righteous lives themselves.
Corruption in government can stop – and it will – if we vow to allow God to work in our lives even now, before we go to the polls to cast our vote. Today, let as choose to let God guide our steps to His life-giving and glorious presence. For no unclean soul can appear before the great God of Heaven. As a nation, we cannot hope to cleanse the evil in our land if we do not begin the necessary step given to us by God Himself toward healing our land.
Do we wait then to vote before God begins to heal our land? Or do we ask for His healing now before we make the decision to submit to His way of healing our nation? The answer is simple: Embrace change now! Voting will not solve our problems. The presidential elections will not solve our problems. God holds all the answers to our problems. Choosing the right leader – or, more precisely, choosing God’s righteous leader for our country – is the best step we can take to begin the renewal of our nation.
Bro. Eddie Villanueva is our God-given opportunity for a renewed and greater Philippines of the future. That is why I choose him to be our next president.
(Painting above: "Christ Healing the Blind Man" by Spanish painter El Greco.)
(Drawing above: Superman using x-ray vision.)
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