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past decade. Previously, the Phil–
ippines had to import rice from
abroad; today the Philippines ex–
ports rice to its hungry neigh–
bors.
Even Marcos ' critics acknow–
ledge the soundness of the pro–
gram: " Most impartía! experts
agree that more progress has been
made in the past
3V2
years than
during the past 30," said the
New
Yorker
magazine, referring to the
program in an otherwise critica!
art icle about the Marcos govern–
ment (May 3, 1976). And
News–
week
has said the "program has
restored a measure of dignity to
thousands of farmers who were
previously no better off than
serfs" ( International edi–
tion, April 1O, 1978).
land" (verse 4) , and "the king
that fait hfully judgeth the poor,
his throne shall be establíshed
forever" (verse 14) .
But human rulers cannot estab–
lish the Millennium now. Man
cannot bring about a
truly
peace–
ful, prosperous and healthy world
through his own efforts.
Hear t s and Minds
President Marcos, who is one of
the more intellectual leaders on
the world scene, has high hopes.
He sees as the most lasting
achievement of the New Society,
as he told one interviewer, "a
change of hear t among the
people ... the most lasting
product of his negative in–
fluence.
Yet there is coming a New
Society that
wi/1
change human
nature. In God's New Society,
Satan will be banished (Revela–
tion 20:2), and the positive in–
fluence of God and H is Spirit will
be allowed to affect the basic
outlook of human beings: " Then
[during God's World Tomorrow]
will 1 [God] sprinkle clean water
upon you, and ye shall be clean:
from all your filthiness, and from
all your idols, will 1 cleanse you.
A new heart also will 1 give you,
and a new spiri t will 1 put within
you: and l will take away the
stony heart out of your flesh, and
1 will give you an heart of
flesh. And 1 will put my
spirit within you ... "
(Ezekiel 36:25-27).
Th e program, of
course, has also been the
focal point for sorne criti–
cism: l t is too slow.
It
covers too little land.
It
includes too few tenant
farmers. The price the
farmer pays for his new
land is too high. And a
farmer, after making pay–
ments for his land for a
number of years, builds
up no "equity" in his land
until he finishes paying
for it. If he goes out of
business early, he has
nothing to show for his
efforts.
HELPING ESTABLISH NEW AICF PROJECTS-Stanley R.
Rader greets Philippines President Ferdinand E. Marcos,
First Lady /me/da Marcos and the Minister of Labor.
President Marcos is a
remarkable leader. How
many of his Western crit–
ics realíze that he is a
survivor of the Bataan
death march? Or that the
J
apanese secret service
tortured him in Manila's
Fort Santiago Prison dur–
ing World War II, trying
to force him to tell the
location of Filipino guer–
rilla groups? (One of the
tortu res was filling his
belly with water and
The lesson to be learned from
these cri ticisms, however, is
not
that the program is "all show, no
go," but that the good that can be
done in this world by
any
of
man's governments is profoundly
limited.
The Bible does acknowledge
that even in this present evil
world, it makes a difference
whether a human government
adopts good or evil policies. Prov–
erbs 29:2 says, "When the righ–
teous are in authority, the people
rejoice." Two other verses in the
same chapter also clearly say that
when human governors adopt pol–
icies in conformity with God's
law and principies, it can make a
real difference: "The king [ruler]
by j udgment establisheth the
September 1980
changes and reforms are in the
area of changing the character of
our people, their minds, their
hearts."
But changing the heart of man
is so much easier said than done!
" O that there were such an
heart in them, that they would
fear me and keep all my com–
mandments always, that it might
be well with them, and their
children for ever!" (Deuteronomy
5:29). The point of this verse is
that human nature- formed by
the constant influence of Satan on
the individual-is a great deal
harder to change than one might
think. As long as Satan the devil
remains the prince of the power
of the air (Ephesians 2:2), human
nature will continue to be the
jumping on it. Ferdinand
Marcos still d idn't talk.) He also
scored the highest grade ever on
the Phi lippine bar exam:
P resident Marcos, gifted indi–
vidual that he is, cannot bring the
Millennium now. If his land–
reform program works, and it
seems to be, it can make a posi–
tive di fference in the lives of
hundreds of thousands of people,
largely because it respects princi–
pies revealed by God. But the
really good news is that an even
better program is coming--one
that won ' t be subject to all the
limitations that Mr. Marcos ' crit–
ics charge are part of his pro–
gram. God's future land-reform
program is good news to the
farmers in the Philippines- and
all peoples everywhere.
o
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