Steve Lyston, Contributor

Everyone wants to prosper, and everybody wants to experience living beyond the hand-to-mouth situation and there is nothing wrong with that. But unless there are drastic changes to the way in which global leaders govern the earth, we are all about to see poverty increase and many more persons commit suicide as a result of the frustration.

Every earthly government must recognise that it is the government of God that causes earthly governments to prosper; and when man attempts to exclude God's government there will be numerous failures and humbling experiences.

God is the one who must establish a throne, and every throne He establishes is established by righteousness (Proverbs 16:12; Proverbs 24:3, 4). Thus, any throne that is not established by God will not stand. Building on God's principle brings prosperity, growth and increase in revenue. Furthermore, when God establishes a throne, justice, order and peace, as well as moral and social stability come with it.

Secular Government

If secular government wants to tackle poverty and deal with the needs of the people, they first need to look to the government of God to achieve such goals. People need to know their rights, not just their secular rights or that which comes by way of traditional education, but also their rights on a spiritual level, because there must be balance (Mark 6:30).

There are simple things we must seek to ensure. That we:

Seek for order.

Look to God for His blessings.

Divide and distribute the resources equally.

Leviticus 19: 36 says, "You shall have honest scales, honest weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt."

It reminds us to manage the economy in such a way that the rich and the poor are treated equally. That includes areas such as taxes, laws, policies, regulations, deals, contracts and opportunities. Everyone must also be held accountable.

Satisfying the demands of man can only be attained with God's help. God's blessings guarantee everything and all blessings come from God. When God's presence rests on a nation or an administration, all the goals and objectives are met and ideas realised.

Every leader must study the word of God and use it to guide them in decision making. They must not come against God's word or deviate from the Holy Bible. While times, seasons and laws change, God's word and His principles never change.

Family And Government

The family was the first governing institution that stood at the beginning of creation for the ordering and governing of society. When the family fails, the entire nation suffers. Every decision that is made within a nation or organisation should be made with the family in mind - whether social, economic or moral.

Before we can tackle crime, violence or the economy, we must rebuild the walls and the gates that were torn down in the family. Simply put, the state of our Government is a reflection of the state of the institution of family within the nation.

When parents fail to properly guide and instruct their children and teach them proper principles and core values, then the potential for corruption throughout the society, and an overwhelming of the penal institutions is significantly increased. Furthermore, the society then becomes prone to increased joblessness, unplanned pregnancies, and increases dependency on government programmes. Additionally, it lends itself to the creation of a culture that pushes the wrong people into influential positions, politically and otherwise.

Where is the nation headed if a significant portion of its people are living in common-law relationships, hand-outs have become the order of the day and many are no longer loyal to their nation but are instead loyal to wherever or whoever the handouts come from, for as long as they will come? Many no longer look towards the future, they focus only on now!

Government is first a God-ordained institution set in place to deal with secular matters and guided by Godly principles, because God rules in the affairs of me (Daniel 2:20, 22; Daniel 4:32).

This nation cannot afford to mimic other nations regarding property taxes. That will kill the dream of people who desire to own a debt-free home.

Additionally, our present system does not encourage small business development and growth, and if this continues, then it will, ultimately, kill the business sector. Big businesses and the economy need small businesses, and it also needs the growth of small businesses and creation of new businesses.

Steve Lyston is a biblical economics consultant and author of several books, including 'End Time Finance' and 'The New Millionaire'.