GOD AND GOVERNMENT?
Fast approaching my 89th birthday as of June 12, 2016, I’m disturbed to see a nation and people founded, yes, by God Himself as “one nation under God” but fast becoming, especially among leadership nation-wide as a nation by the people, of the people, and for the people – and, as in life, so in governments, the absence of God releases men to their own control, their own godless philosophies, their own reckless abandonment of “self, ‘my way or the highway,’ and certainly ‘less God because I want to govern myself, my family, my city as I damn well please’”, which reveals a people and nation on the fast road to fleshly decline!
To them, spiritual government is not ‘the American way’! Really? And, of course, they want the Holy Word of God out of government, out of schools and universities, out of homes and families and their own minds, and less and less and less of local and state over-sight – “Who or what government needs the advice or counsel of what some call Holy God, our Creator, Lord, Savior, and Master, because we can govern ourselves as we please, which to us means: keep the Bible out of our public domain and ways of godless living; He has no place telling us what we individually or as families, schools, businesses, or governments ought to be doing!”
It was King David, ruling over Israel by the grace of God, who, in Psalm 67:1-4, wrote: “God be merciful to us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us, That Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations. Let the peoples praise You, O God; let all the peoples praise You. Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy! For You shall judge the people righteously, and govern the nations on earth.”
But do you hear a ‘modern-society’ saying more and more: “God is not necessary in our governments, politically, morally, spiritually, individually or corporately – leave God out of our governments and out of our schools, out of our lives!” Oh, and they mean it – “To us, God has no place in our affairs because ‘good government’ (?) is allowing us to do as we please!”, which means: “less Faith, less guidance, less watch-care, less protection, less blessing of God, less Sovereign-Rule, less divine love, less of His omnipotence and more of our impotence – with many of the warped opinion that, ‘yes, we’re smarter then God Himself’!”
I know that the people of our formerly ‘great nation’ have set aside any “fear of God”. But Psalm 25:12-15 tells us, King David speaking, “Who is the man who fears the Lord? Him shall He teach in the way He chooses. He himself shall dwell in prosperity, and his descendants shall inherit the earth. The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant. My eyes are ever toward the Lord, for He shall pluck my feet out of the net.”
A “net of Godless rule” is a strong, powerful net that wraps itself around people so powerfully that they end up with spiritual curses, spiritual bankruptcy, spiritual ignorance, and a spiritual destiny they really should not desire. Numbers 22:31-34 is a wake-up call for some people, but, sadly, many national, state, and local leaders have plotted their course, omitting God, His Word and His will.
In Numbers 22:31-35 we read, Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the Angel of the Lord standing in the way with His drawn sword in His hand; and he bowed his head and fell flat on his face. “Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out to stand against you, because ‘your way’ is perverse before Me. The donkey saw Me and turned aside from Me these three times. If she had not turned aside from Me, surely I would also killed you by now, and let her live.” And Balaam said to the Angel of the Lord, “I have sinned, for I did not know You stood in the way against me. Now therefore, if it displeases You, I will turn back.”
Do you sense today in America, in Texas, in the Bedford, Texas, area a political climate that is, by some, “perverse before Me”, Holy God, the Founder of government to be Sovereignly ruled by Him – not proud, fleshly, independent of and separate from His Holy Word, wiser than God men and women?
How clear are you about Peter’s words in 2 Peter 1:2-4 that so relates to God’s people as His instruments impacting ‘godless governments’ and lives in every community? Peter wrote:
“Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”
Isn’t it a shameful position that some take, “Keep God and His Word and Truth out of OUR governments – we’ll take care of ourselves in our own way!”
But then, there are those with Peter’s wisdom and understanding! 2 Peter 1:10-11, “Therefore, brethren, [true sons and daughters of the Eternal Faith!], be even more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
You hear it in all political elections: “No God in our government – we do it our way, man’s way, the way of godlessness, and the way of fleshly compromises, alienating God and Truth from us!” Destructive heresies will seek to gain control, keep control, and hold onto man’s control and ways without heeding the Holy Word! “Alienate Truth and promote ‘our way’, which is the absence of God in our governments!”
Didn’t Peter go on to say in 2 Peter 2:19, “While they promise them ‘liberty’ [from being governed by God or His Truth!], they themselves are slaves of corruption, for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage;” Verse 22, But it has happened [does happen, will happen!] to them according to a true proverb: “A dog returns to his own vomit,” and, “a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.”
Are you aware of how many “professing believers”, having escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior, find themselves easily entangled again in them and overcome, [that their] latter end is worse for them than the beginning?
In 2 Peter 2:21 the servant of God tells us: “For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.”
Now? Prayerful intercession that Holy God, once again, will teach men, political leaders, “the way in which God chooses” – not their supposed “grass-roots” electorate! Accounting Day does come before Holy God at the Judgment Seat for, yes, their ‘political decisions’ (?)! So, newly elected politicians: Will YOU be led by Holy God and His Eternal Word?