Religion and politics: taboo topics. I’m a preacher. Volitionally I venture in to the former. The latter, I avoid like the plague ...until now. Conscience compels me.
You have heard the pointed saying, “A people get the government they deserve.”. This time in my own nation, I fear that is true. This Presidential election of 2016, offers two specious candidates, to put it politely. Pick your poison. Our choice lies between a lunatic kook and a lying crook.
Now, if I just offended you by either of those coarse monikers, then either you are a blindly loyal partisan, or you simply aren’t paying attention. One candidate engages in repeated sophomoric antics including crude mockery and name calling. Outrageous and indefensible comments feature misogyny while bordering bigotry, flavored with healthy doses of vulgarity. (My mother washed my mouth out with soap for far less.) The painfully-parsed other, deftly dodges repeated criminal indictment with such sordid history of obfuscation, fabrication and falsification it makes the Kremlin cringe. Sixty-six percent of American people consider this candidate grievously lacking in integrity (53% don’t trust the other). And still, they secured the nomination. What does this say about our culture? Here’s the truth: truth no longer matters.
A generation or two ago, these shysters would have been thrown out on their ear. Now both are hailed with a gusty cheer. Our nation must be smoking what we have just legalized. Jeremiah 6:15 and 8:12 come to mind with the stern assessment, “My people have forgotten how to blush”. Have we no shame? The answer to that would be...”No”. Let me be crystal clear in my diagnosis: Abandon our moral foundation, then forfeit ability to distinguish between right and wrong; and just plain stupid. Example: contemporary bathroom battles raging in this, ‘the land of the free and the home of the brave’. …But no longer simply the male and female….
Moral abdication is the reason we are in this mess. Hence, politics is not going to fix it. (Yes, I will hold my nose, grab an air-sickness bag, and vote.) The Bible teaches in Daniel and Romans that God sovereignly appoints rulers. It’s going to take some exegetical elasticity for me to submit to that one. I’ll try.
The solution to our situation is spiritual. I know; there I go with religious talk again. Indeed, unapologetically! ...You got a better option?... Our penitent prayer may not correct this election, but perhaps it can save the country…if we make it in tact to the next election.
God’s Word implores, “If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves, and turn from their wicked ways, and seek My face; then I will hear from heaven, I will forgive their sin, and heal their land.” II Chronicles 7:14.
That’s correct: the issue is sin. Personal and national. Again, Scripture captured it long before we did, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” (Proverbs 14:34) Sound relevant? There is only one remedy for sin. Repent.
God help us. He’s the only one who can.