The final three parts of my five part review of Everything Must Change will deal more with the application of McLaren's theories to our contemporary world and how McLaren's thinking changes our Christian perspective of global crises by changing our interpretation from a modernist/capitalist/American narrative into a King Jesus/Kingdom of God narrative.

For McLaren, the security system is the foundation of the global system and framing story because it allows the other two systems: prosperity and equity, to develop and grow in "peace."

Security is necessary for a national and global system to endure and develop, and because of this fact security is a large part of national and international budgets (i.e. USA and the UN).  The Security System is not a bad system---McLaren is quick to point out that these systems are all benign in their most basic tenets---but it has gotten out of hand everywhere in the world, save for Switzerland and the Vatican.  The decay of the security system into a whirlwind of ammo dumps and perpetual war has happened because people and politicians have begun to equate the idea of peace with the idea of weapons, so that more weapons equals more peace.  The production of weapons by peaceful nations, highlighted by the fact that the permanent members of the UN Security Council (USA, UK, France, Russia, and China) are also the five leading producers and exporters of military weapons and vehicles in the world.  Stockpiling weapons that could destroy the humanity several times over is the Security System's idea of a great peace. 

Jesus had a different idea of how to make more peace: peacemakers will inherit the earth.  He was not talking about the ironically named Peacemaker missiles the US armed forces use, but instead about people who seek to make peace, and not war with others, those who turn the other cheek and diffuse situations through humility and meekness and not through pointing a gun at their head and saying, "if you push me, hit me, or blink at me again, I'll blow your brains out (then bomb you with all the bombs I have stockpiled)." 

Security, a term that means an inward, defensive peace, the type of peace police officers and the national guard bring, has been twisted inside-out, and now applies more to an outward, offensive struggle against perceived insecurities.  The greatest example of this is that the US has a Department of Defense, yet, the department would be more aptly called the Department of Offense.  What used to be defensive about the military, in such early battles before, during, and after the Revolution (which, if we were not largely part of the American tribe, would be known as the insurgent acts of American insurrectionists against the great nation of England) was that battles were fought on American land.  Slowly and steadily, America has transformed its quest for manifest destiny from a defensive security to an offensive security---"securing" outlying lands (Texas, Mexico, California, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Florida, parts of Cuba, etc.) before we move in and set up our defenses.  Not to be critical only of America, this is the train of thought of the majority of countries in the world, and it is what runs the global Security System. 

Humans crave security.  We want a safe place to raise a family and sleep at night.  But the world has gone too far, it has become a place where having an alarm system, police on the streets, and a dog is no longer perceived as appropriate to "keep the peace."  The world has an unquenchable thirst for weapons so that they can be peaceful, guns and bullets so that killing will stop.  And that just makes no sense to a people of God who yearn for a coming King who will beat swords into ploughshares and have the lion lay down with the lamb.

Go back in time and read part one and part two.