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Three weeks ’til US elections 2008 and folks are full of doom and gloom.  The gun boards are rife with talk about “What ‘battle carbine’ should I get?”, “What magazines for my ‘battle carbine’ should I get?”, “Who has the best price on bulk ammo?”, “What are you going to do if the obamanation gets in?”, etc.  There’s a lot of speculation about what the future holds and “The End Of The World As We Know It” (otherwise known as TEOTWAWKI)  is “just around the corner”.

Now, I’m no more in favor of “The Messiah”‘s policies than the doom and gloom crowd.  His ideas of “taking from the rich to give to the poor” are just so much warmed over communist pap – policies that have failed the world over and will continue to fail because they ignore the basic problem.  The basic problem being the fallen nature of man as well as the vastly differing talents and abilities of mankind which mean that you can NEVER have a “level playing field” by stealing from one to give to another.  The best we can do is to provide freedom so that each person can reach the place that they are able to reach without government’s encumbering “help”.  The only system that has ever allowed such freedom was put into place in 1787 when the US Constitution was ratified.  And that system was based on Biblical principles and a Biblical world view.  No, it was not necessarily “inspired by God” but the men who wrote it and who ratified it had an overwhelmingly biblical world view even though they differed greatly in their understanding of God’s will for mankind.  And that foundation gave rise to the freest society that the world has known where each was able to reach as high as his abilities would take him.  In the past few decades, however, that freedom has gradually eroded due to the encroaching tenets of socialism/communism which decree that the state is the possessor of all and that none have any rights which are not permitted/granted by the state.  This philosophy flies in the face of “We hold these truths to be self evident, that that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights…” Those words are also part of our founding, being taken from the Declaration if Independence and predating the constitution by just over a decade, and show the mentality and ideas of those who set the course for the nation.

But now, over two centuries after the founding, we have become a nation which denies that God has a role in our day to day lives.  We’ve turned our backs on our Creator and we’ve enshrined each person’s darkest urges as “unalienable rights” while denying that rights have any source other than the government.  We’ve turned our backs on godliness and placed unprincipled people at the helm of our nation.  Is it any wonder that the ship of state seems about to run aground?  Someone once observed that a democracy will only last until the people learn that they can “vote themselves largess from the public coffers”. With the recent “bailout” – not to mention decades of government funded “welfare” – we have proven that as a nation we have indeed learned to “vote ourselves largess” from the public coffers as each representative and senator seeks to bring as much pork home as possible, ignoring the greater good of the nation as a whole.

But, is it time for doom and gloom?  I think not.  Recently a friend sent me a few verses which I share with you here.

Proverbs 16:33 -Make your motions and cast your votes, but God has the final say. (The Message)

Daniel 4:32 – … the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes.” (NIV)

Daniel 5:21 - ” …. the Most High God is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and sets over them anyone he wishes. “(NIV)

Acts 17:26 – “From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries.” (NLT)

As Christians we need to remember that the Lord is Sovereign and that He is in control.  When a nation turns away from God they can only expect to lose His blessing.  I’m reminded of the following passage from 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12

They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.

WOW!  As a nation that pretty much sums us up, doesn’t it?  I can’t believe how folks are eating up the lies and deceptions being told by “The One”.  And yet when I look at how we as a nation “delight in wickedness” (how else can you describe our acceptance of every form of degeneration and how as a nation we embrace things that God has called “abominations”) I understand why God sent us this powerful delusion and also that those who believe the lie will be condemned.

So, doom and gloom?  Why?  We are seeing the natural outcome of a nation that turns away from God.  I saw the years between Bushes as a wakeup call to the nation.  And yet we slept on, ignoring the need to turn back to God’s path and hardening our hearts against Him.  Come what may, the Lord is in control and that’s all I need to know.  As Christians it may become more and more difficult and we may come under greater and greater persecution.  But what can compare with those who gave their lives for the Gospel over the centuries?  We’ve not yet reached the point of being thrown to the lions or burned at the stake – at least not in the west.  Folks in the east have been undergoing horrible persecutions for decades.  More people gave their lives for the Gospel in the twentieth century than in all the preceding centuries combined – and the western church slept on, complacent in her wealth and comfort.

Rather than doom and gloom we need to be preaching victory in Jesus the Christ – the TRUE Messiah.  If people will turn to Him then it matters not what goes on around them, they will be at peace.  And that is where our job lays, dear reader – in proclaiming the Gospel of Truth to all those around us and in calling them to repentance and new life through Christ who gave His Life to set us free from our bondage to sin.