LivePrayerDaily Devotional for Friday July 13, 2007
It is God who Allows Men and Women to Rise to Power
(Titus 3:1; Psalm 75:7; 1 Samuel 2:7; Genesis 45:8)
***A SAD DAY IN OUR NATION! Thursday was a dark day spiritually for our nation. For the first time since the Senate was formed in 1789, the opening prayer was delivered by a Hindu Chaplain. This nation which was founded on "one nation UNDER GOD," prayed to the numerous false and non-existent gods of the Hindu religion. Let me share with you a warning from God's Word. This comes from the Book of Deuteronomy, Chapter 8, Verse 19. The Bible says, "If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed." How can we expect God's protection and blessings when we have forsaken Him and are now worshipping the false gods of the world? When the next terrorist attack on our soil takes place, remember this day!
Even though the election for the next President of the United States is still 16 months away, based on who the most likely people are to win the highest office in the land, now would be a very good time for all those who know Christ as their Savior to get on their knees and start praying in earnest. I have discussed often in the past how the President is the Commander-in-Chief, not the Pastor-in-Chief. However, the person in that office has the ability to steer the spiritual direction of this nation towards God and Biblical values, or away from God and Biblical values. That is why Christians MUST be involved in the political process and make our voice heard in trying to lead this nation back to the Godly principles and values that we once held and are now so far away from.
The Bible says that it is God who allows men (and women) to rise to power. No person will occupy 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue unless God allows them to. In talking about who the next President will be, we have to look realistically at the system that is currently in place for a person to ascend to that office. As of today, it is virtually impossible, save a sovereign move of God, for someone outside of the Republican or Democratic parties to ever become President. It takes hundreds of millions of dollars and a "human machine" in all 50 states to have any chance at becoming President, and our current two-party system has insured that nobody outside of their parties has a legitimate chance at getting elected President.
Having laid that foundation, let's take a look at who the two parties will most likely nominate as their candidate for President in 2008. The Democratic Party really only has 2 people that as of today have a legitimate chance at winning their parties nomination. You have the Senator from Illinois, Barak Obama, who has yet to even complete one term in national office and lacks the experience or qualifications to run the nation. However, he is a charismatic, engaging, and well-spoken man who has gained tremendous popularity in recent months. Most likely, he will not have the finances or infrastructure to seriously contend in 2008, and is in the race for the exposure he will gain to become a real force in 2012. It should be noted that Obama was raised as a Muslim and only recently started attending a Christian church. However, the United Church of Christ he is part of is a very liberal denomination that supports gay rights, abortion, and denies the Absolute Truth of God's Word. In searching scores of transcripts, never once has he ever proclaimed that Jesus is His Savior and renounced Islam.
The most likely person who will end up being the candidate for the Democratic party is Hillary Clinton. Clinton is the current front-runner, and due to her 8 years in the White House as First Lady, her years now as a Senator from the State of New York, she has the finances and human machine she needs to not only run for President but actually get elected!
Suffice it to say, on the social and spiritual issues facing our nation, whoever ends up as the nominee for the Democratic Party will be in favor of special rights for gays, gay marriage and adoption, supporting a woman's right to kill her baby, and will not take a real Biblical stand on the social issues we face in our nation today. The fact is, no person will ever be able to get the nomination of the Democratic Party without taking stands in clear opposition to God and His Word on the key social and spiritual issues of our day since the many special interest groups that make up that party support causes in opposition to the Bible.
In the Republican party, you have three legitimate candidates who currently have the ability to make a real run for the White House in 2008. You have former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson, and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Thompson, who is most famous for being on "Law and Order," has yet to establish his candidacy and his actual position on the issues, though in the past he has been in line with God's Word on the key social issues. Giuliani supports gay marriage and abortion. Romney says he is pro-life and supports God's Holy Institution of Marriage, however, he is an active member of the Mormon cult. Don't you know that this hideous cult leading millions of souls to eternal damnation would LOVE to have one of their own occupying the most powerful office in the world?
Are there others? Certainly. Both parties have scores of people who will be trying to win their party's nomination. We will also have dozens of other parties with candidates. Some of those other parties will actually have men running who will take a real stand for God and His Word on the spiritual and social issues and be unashamed followers of Jesus Christ, but due to how our two-party system works today have ZERO chance (short of a sovereign move of God) of ever getting elected. The cold hard reality is, others in the Democratic and Republican parties simply can't raise enough money nor put together the national machine to compete with the leading candidates I have mentioned, nor can anyone outside of those two parties.
Now maybe you can understand why the first 6 years of the Bush Presidency were so critical and how devastating it was to the Christians who put him into office twice, to watch him fail to lead on the key social and spiritual issues our nation is facing despite his many promises to do so. We already saw last November how Christians stayed home, disillusioned with being lied to and used by President Bush. Based on who the most likely choices will be in 2008, I am afraid we will see Christians staying home again, since neither party will have a candidate running who is going to even try to lead this nation back to God and Biblical values, only further away.
So what is the answer? PRAYER! Pray that God will raise up a man or woman in one of the two parties who won't be afraid to take a stand for Christ, for faith, and for the spiritual and social issues of the day. I honestly don't know who that person would be, since again, without the ability to raise several hundred million dollars and build the human machine in all 50 states needed to run a national campaign, getting the parties nomination, let alone getting elected, is impossible. But God is able to raise up the right man for the right time to be President and that needs to be the focus of our prayers.
I love you and care about you so much. I will be praying for you today as you begin to do your homework and pray about those running to be our next President. As Believers, we are responsible for doing our best to elect those who will help lead this nation back to God, not away from Him. The fact is, all candidates will use God's name to try and get elected. The key is, which ones will actually honor God's name and His Word once in office.
Let me encourage you today. No matter who the next President of the United States is, it is not their job to lead this nation back to God and to Biblical values, it is the job of those who know Jesus Christ as their Savior. It is the job of the SPIRITUAL LEADERS, not the political leaders to inspire the people to righteousness! Why do we expect someone in Washington, even the President, to do the job God has called us to do? Personally, I will pray for whoever our next President is like God's Word commands us to, just like I prayed for Present Clinton every day and currently pray for President Bush every day. But I am not going to sit back and wait for even the Present to do the job God has called me to do!
I don't expect any longer our government to take a Biblical stand on the social and spiritual issues of the day. I wish they would, and will try to elect people into office who will, but ultimately it is my job to lead the people back to Biblical values. So no matter who may become the next President, never forget that if you know Jesus as your Savior, it is YOUR JOB, not theirs, to bring God's Truth into the place you live each day. Even though abortion may be legal, get a pregnant woman who is thinking of killing her baby saved and guess what, she will let that baby live! Get a man who is involved in homosexual relationships saved and guess what, when he gets married it will be to a WOMAN as God intended!
I have a strong feeling that whoever the next President is, will help to further exacerbate the spiritual decline of our nation by taking anti-Biblical positions on the key spiritual issues facing our land. I actually see this as a great opportunity for the Body of Christ to rise up and let the light of God's Truth shine in the midst of the darkness that will envelope this nation of ours. I actually see the opportunity for a real spiritual revival as our nation continues to sink into the abyss of sin and debauchery. That is why getting people saved and keeping the Absolute Truth of God's Word IN THE MARKETPLACE is the key to seeing this nation come back to God and Biblical values no matter who the next President is!!!