Nobody can stop the Word of God

Kingdoms come and kingdoms go, emperors come and emperors go, sultans come and sultans go, emirs come and emirs go, politicians come and politicians go, presidents come and presidents go, prime ministers come and prime ministers go, home affairs ministers come and home affairs ministers go, political parties come and political parties go.


The only entity that is eternal is God, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. That has always been the case from the beginning of time and will be the case till the end of time.


Nobody in this world - the Roman emperors, the dictators, the racists, the bigots, the despots, the Communists  - can stop the Word of God.


The Government of Malaysia has learnt that the hard way, unfortunately.


It was only when the Malaysian government was faced with a strong challenge by the Malaysian Christians who were motivated possibly by a divine force that the government finally caved in and ended the Malay Bible issue in an amicable way.


That the Opposition coalition had quickly backed the Christian cause perhaps for their own political ends helped push the Barisan Nasional government to reverse its own foolhardy decisions.


Of course, the prospect of the Barisan Nasional coalition losing the Christian vote in the coming Sarawak state election and the next general election was taken into consideration by the Barisan leaders when they made their decision.


Actually the entire Malay Bible episode has worked against the Barisan Nasional government because the perception of the people is that it is inconsistent and weak even though Barisan leaders may try to portray themselves as accommodating, moderate and "of the people".


Anyone who followed the developments of the Malay Bible controversy would know that Barisan leaders had given conflicting, confusing and inconsistent statements on the issue.


Meanwhile, the Pakatan Rakyat leaders have been consistent in their moderate and accommodating stance that they have no issues with Malay Bibles and that followers of Abrahamaic faiths - Muslims, Christians and Judaists - can use 'Allah', the Arabic word for 'God'.


PAS leaders have even said that Christians are "People of the Book" and should be treated with respect.


So even though the Barisan Nasional government has finally decided to be moderate and allowed Bibles in all languages including Malay and Bahasa Indonesia to be imported into Malaysia without any official Ministerial stamping or serial numbering in Sabah and Sarawak - while Malay/Indonesian Bibles must have the words 'Christian publication' and a crucifix sign on the front cover in peninsular Malaysia - it is viewed as a victory for Pakatan Rakyat.


Barisan Nasional leaders could have avoided shooting themselves in the foot by shunning  the racists and bigots in their midst from the outset.