Five Presidential Disqualifiers, Pt 2
“NO MAN CAN BE CREDITED WITH EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP WHO IS DISCREDITED BY
AN IMMORAL LIFE.”
4. IMMORALITY
Fourth,you don’t think do you that we in America could ever come to the time when Hugh Hefner would be the president and Larry Flynt would be the vice-president? Not so many years ago I would have never even dreamed of asking such an off-the-wall question, but now I am no longer sure that it is off the wall. If it is, it just fell on the table.
“Far fetched,” you say! “Not anymore,” I say. For some time now we have had two openly gay members in the U.S. House of Representatives. They were elected by the voters in their states who knew full well that their candidates were gay and proud members of the homosexual and lesbian communities. They are both Democrats, namely Barney Frank of Massachusetts and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin. As to the states that voted them in, surprise, surprise!
I doubt very much whether the grass roots American even knows that in the U. S. House of Representatives, 50 Democrats and 2 Republicans have joined together to form a gay rights caucus for lesbians, homosexuals, bisexuals and transgenders. The two Republican Representatives who are members of the caucus (LGBT) are Illeana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida and Christopher Shays of Connecticut. What is even worse, not only do many Americans not know this, they really don’t care. Of course, the average American doesn’t believe that Satan exists either, and if he does, so what!
Just think, if the hard-core Democratic left had its way, we could be facing a 2008 Democratic ticket for president and vice-president made up of Barney Frank and Tammy Baldwin running against the Republican ticket of John McCain for president and Sarah Palin for vice president. “Far out,” you say. Think again!
This is how far it has gone in the good ole U.S. of A. We now have perversionists writing laws in America. It is like inviting Cain to come to your church to speak on the sanctity of human life. It is like inviting Hosea’s wife Gomer to come and speak on the sacred covenant of marriage. It is like inviting King Herod to your church to conduct seminars on moral purity and marital fidelity. It is like inviting Judas Iscariot to give a lecturer on covetousness. It is like inviting a Pharisee to preach against hypocrisy.
I believe with all of my heart that this is why government today is so mistrusted by the people. The fact is:
“LEADERSHIP WILL LOSE ALL CREDIBILITY IF EXERCISED
BY THOSE WHO HAVE NONE.”
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GODLY GOVERNMENT – GODLY NATION
We are commanded in I Timothy 2:1-2,
“First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and
prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be
made on behalf of all men, for kings
and all who are in authority, in order that we may lead a
tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.”
Paul is saying among many other things that godliness in people’s lives has everything to do with godly government over people’s lives. Notice the purposeful prepositional phrase “In Order that.” Powerful! Pray for kings and all who are in authority in order that we may live our lives in all godliness and dignity. He is talking here about all men and all governments. We don’t hear often enough pastors praying for godly government! There is no more important prayer to be prayed.
The Greek word for godliness is eusebeia which means reverence for and worship of God. Critical! Of course, for that is where all true godliness in government and in the citizenry comes from – reverence for and worship of God. For a lot of people, even church people, this business of praying for godly government and godly citizenry is nothing more or less than sanctified whine and ecclesiastical verbiage. Why? Because people’s rating of government is at an all time low, and that these days is easy to understand. However, the Apostle Paul clearly sees this cause and effect relationship between godly government and godly citizenry as a major priority issue. This election year and on November 4, 2008, prayer for godly rulers must also be our priority prayer and our chief voting guide.
Godly government accomplishes godly citizenry in two ways. First of all, we read Romans 13:3,
“For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior but for
evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what
is good and you will have praise from the same.”
In other words:
“THE PRIMARY PURPOSE OF GOVERNMENT IS TO SECURE
OBEDIENCE TO MORAL LAW, AND THEREBY
STOP DISOBEDIENCE.”
How? Very obvious again:
“BY PRAISE FOR OBEDIENCE, AND BY THE FEAR OF
PUNISHMENT FOR DISOBEDIENCE.”
Let us remind ourselves that in this day and age that to be, as they say, a “Good, Law Abiding Citizen” means more than it has ever meant in the history of this nation. That is the purpose of government and when that purpose is achieved, only then can we live a quiet, peaceful, godly and dignified life.Think today of those African nations such as Rwanda, Sudan and Darfur where the governments do not stand up against roving gangs of thugs who kill, rape, pillage and burn entire villages to the ground. In some cases the thugs are the government.
Not only godly and dignified citizenry by governmental legislation and law enforcement, but by godly governmental example! Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus these words in Ephesians 5:3,
“But do not let immorality or any impurity or greed
even be named among you….”
Today, not only is immorality and impurity being named among us, but immorality and impurity are being endorsed by the modern church as well as being elected to governmental offices by the public. We now have gay clergy and gay government officials.The Greek word for immorality is porneia which means fornication or whoredom. He is talking about sexual sins, i.e. sexual intercourse before marriage, sexual intercourse outside of marriage, gay perversion and sex with prostitutes. The gamut! Not only is it being named in church and government, but who could have ever imagined that:
“IMMORALISTS ARE NOW BEING ORDAINED AND ELECTED TO
PREACH AND LEGISLATE MORALITY.”
But the horrific fact is:
“AN IMMORAL PREACHER OR LEGISLATOR IS NOTHING MORE OR
LESS THAN A PREACHING AND A LEGISLATING SIN.”
Or to take it a step higher:
“AN IMMORAL PRESIDENT, SENATOR OR REPRESENTATIVE IS
NOTHING MORE THAN A HIGHLY EMPOWERED VICE.”
I guess then that we could say that an immoral, ungodly president of the United States is really a vice president.
We must remain strongly focused upon the fact that godliness is not a posture or a phrase. It is not a mere pretense or religious expression. As we have already seen in Politico-Religio Rhetoric, it has become the trick of candidates, and the political engine of politicians and political parties to secure votes from the fundamental right wingers. When all it really amounts to is a vogue cover for hypocrisy! God-talk has become the shibboleth of politics. That means that it nothing more than the form of godliness overlaying moral impurity and rot.
If we think that moral purity in a president has very little to do with moral purity in people’s way of thinking and living, we have never been more wrong in our lives. Allow me to quote from my book Is God With America concerning the ungodly and immoral years of President Bill Clinton. On page 128 we read, “In this regard, an elementary school counselor reportedly told USA Today that the publicity about the president’s alleged behavior sent a damaging message to the children she counsels. She said, ‘If we had a group of 8, 9, 10, 11 year olds sitting around this table, 99% of them would say, ‘No big deal, everybody does it.’”
Continuing the quote: “Likewise, sixth, seventh, and eighth-grade boys at a Denver middle school rationalized a sharp rise in lewd language, groping, pinching, and bra-snapping this way, ‘If the president can do it, why can’t we?’ That is the way it is with our children isn’t it? Children will always see through our duplicity. It is really hard to get away with anything around kids. Given the adult’s hypocrisy and the child’s propensity to evil, they will always follow our dark side, and not our fake, cover-up side. They see right through our Jekyll, and latch on to our Hyde…”“When an ordinary man blows it, the whole family suffers. When a president morally falls, the whole nation suffers. Given their tendency to sin, they will now more readily imitate the president’s lusts than obey God’s laws.” End of quote.
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PERSONAL MORALITY – BREAKING ONE – BREAKING ALL
The President of the United States must have a moral mouth in public and in private. Listen, if a man has a potty mouth, you can be assured that he also has potty mind and heart. For we read in Matthew 12:34,
“…For the mouth speaks out of that which
fills the heart.”
If you want to know what’s in a candidate’s heart, remember this principle:
“A MAN’S MOUTH IS THE TABLE OF CONTENTS OF HIS HEART.”
But more than this, if he is a man who has a vile mouth, you can be sure that there are other areas in his life where he is also being immoral. Our mouth reflects our heart, and an impure and dishonest mouth and heart will also have other skeletons in the closet. Always! What do I mean? Follow along please.
I didn’t always think this way because I didn’t look at the Ten Commandments as a whole, but more like ten isolated and disjointed injunctions thrown together. Therefore I graded myself on a percentage basis. If I kept more commandments than I broke, the plus side of the ledger would make up for the minus side of the ledger, and I would then get a passing grade from God.
Sorry, I know now that this is not how morality functions. That would be against the whole nature of God and therefore against the whole nature of morality. So it is that James 2:10 states:
“For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in
one point, he has become guilty of all.”
An individual cannot be a good moral person, as some are want to say, without a complete concurrence of all the principles and ingredients in the Decalogue functioning in moral harmony. When we are dealing with the commandments of God, we are in fact dealing with God’s nature which is a perfect, cohesive whole. If I drop a blob of spaghetti sauce on my white shirt, the entire shirt is stained and totally unwearable. If you will, one spot has totaled the shirt. So with God’s holiness:
“IF ONE LAW OF GOD IS STAINED, THEY THEN
ALL ARE STAINED.”
If you will:
“IF ONE OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS IS DISOBEYED, WE HAVE
BECOME DISOBEDIENT TO ALL TEN.”
Therefore, I should not be surprised to also find in my life that if I am in principle breaking all of God’s laws by breaking one of God’s laws, then I can be sure as well that at the least I am actively violating several others. If you will, disobedience to God in one area is a cancerous malignity that metastasizes to the other areas. It is sort of like the principle in I Corinthians 12:26,
“And if one member suffers, all the members
suffer with it….”
If I steal from my neighbor, it is because I am coveting what he has. And for sure, I will lie about it if I am ever questioned. If am feeling the heat of the law or get caught, I more than likely will curse my bad luck and curse God too. I surely do not love my neighbor. I don’t love God either, for I am in principle breaking all of His laws, and actively breaking several. It always gets that messy.
A most tragic and sad example in this regard, is the long, pathetic true story of what has historically come to be known as “Watergate.” I think the most painful element of all was the unofficial comment – the thoroughly human and heart-rending comment of David Eisenhower when asked his opinion about the Watergate tapes. He said, “Well, this is not the man I know around the table at home.” Frankly, he was testifying about the fact that he was caught off guard when President Richard Nixon, his dad-in-law, was cursing and swearing on the tapes with his co-conspirators. But it was undeniable.
Dick Nixon because of the cohesive nature both of morality and immorality, not only proved to be a curser, but a liar and a crook as well. He put himself first and not God, and thereby had another god before God – himself! That is how it always works!
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APPROVED BY PEOPLE – JUDGED BY GOD
As with all men, so with the President of the United States, it is not an easy thing to remain morally upright before God and have the nation’s approval rating of him high at the same time. Why? Because of the people that constantly are seeking his favor which in turn will secure their financial support and votes for himself and his political party! After all, preferment deserves preferment.
There is a powerful truth found in Proverbs 29:26,
“Many seek the ruler’s favor, but justice for man comes
from the Lord.”
That NASV translation looses something that the KJV preserves:
“Many seek the ruler’s favor; but every man’s judgment
cometh from the Lord.”
Many seek the ruler’s favor! Some things have never changed through the ages. Feminist lobbyists! Environmental lobbyists! Pro-choice lobbyists! Animal-rights lobbyists! Gay-rights lobbyists! Pharmaceutical Lobbyists! Industrial lobbyists! Construction lobbyists! The list goes on and on ad infinitum. Many seek the rulers favor. They try to get to the White House through Capitol Hill. They apply the lobbyist craft as artists, with all the forms of bribery and cunning in their repertoire to secure the advantage for their self-advancing agendas.
The president with his senators and representatives must make choices day by day as to whether they are going to court the lobbyists and special interest groups or obey the standards of God’s Word. They will make their judgments based upon who and what they esteem most in their hearts, God or mammon. Will they crown truth or crush it? It all hinges on whether they are seeking material pleasure and earthly success or seeking to please God.
But every man’s judgment comes from the Lord! The wisdom of the world looks no further than the horizontal as its point of reference. All of its determinations and designs go no further than earth and time, without conscience or religion being allowed to stand between it and temporal advantage. In other words, worldly wisdom seeks to create policies that will lift itself up to all the carnal plenty, pleasure, power and pomp that this old tired world can afford. And if that is accomplished, then the worldly wise are convinced that they have realized the utmost, and have experienced their greatest end in life. Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die! Let’s party! And Washington has as many of them as Hollywood does if not more and bigger.
And in it all:
“BECAUSE THEY BELIEVE THAT THEY WILL ONLY BECOME DUST IN
THE GRAVE, THEY ALLOW SIN TO TURN THEM TO DIRTBEFORE THEY GET THERE.”
So we have had a president dirtying the White House by turning it into a brothel, a senator dirtying his senate chair by patronizing expensive prostitutes, and senators and representatives alike dirtying both chambers of Congress with money laundering and corruption charges. We now have U.S. congressmen becoming inmates and ex-convicts on a rotating basis. We have gone in government from term limits in office to terms of sentences in prison.
In stark contrast, the godly man strongly agrees with I Corinthians 3:19,
“For the wisdom of this world is foolishness
before God.…”
Why? Because He who is spiritually wise in the Lord knows that it does not all end here, but only begins. He knows that one day he will stand before God and be judged for all of his actions, decisions and policies as to whether they have been moral or immoral, just or unjust. He lives with the strong conviction of the truth of II Corinthians 5:10,
“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,
that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the
body, according to what he has done,
whether good or bad.”
In short, every man’s judgment comes from the Lord, and every Supreme Court and lower court judge will be judged by the Lord. Oh the irony of it all! Those who all of their lives passed judgment on others will not be able to pass judgment on their own final state. With all the men who one day stood before them, they will all stand before God.
Does the presidential candidate give strong evidence that what guides him is not that he will be approved or disapproved in the court of man as his guidance system? But rather that he will one day give account to and be judged by God? The worst possible candidate for the presidency is one who has no concept of God the righteous Judge, but only conceives of God as somebody who is up there watching. So is the man in the moon! “Somebody up there was watching me,” is how Barack Obama referred to God in his recent television interview with Diane Sawyer on 20/20.
God forbid that we would have a president who does not believe in hell, does not believe in eternal judgment, and does not believe in eternal punishment. Why the emphasis on belief in Hell? First, because there are growing number of churches and people who don’t believe in Hell but they do believe in Heaven. Second,
“BECAUSE THOSE WHO DON’T BELIEVE IN HELL MORE OFTEN
THAN NOT EITHER LIVE LIKE HELL OR SPEAK F
OR HELL OR BOTH.”
That doesn’t mean they won’t be religious, for there are multiplying pastors and parishioners today who call themselves Christians and yet don’t believe in any of these things either. Part of modern Christianity is censoring them and part of modern Christianity is producing them. It does mean that such a president when it comes to morality will be a lose canon in the White House pointed at the soul of the nation.
In this regard, Rick Warren failed to address any of this in his nationally televised interviews of John McCain and Barack Obama. It left me deeply distressed. Their accountability to God first and not to people was not addressed or challenged, nor were their convictions about one day standing before the King of the universe to be judged and sent either to Heaven or Hell. Saddleback Church sounded more like “The Saddleback Television Network,” and Pastor Rick Warren sounded more like Commentator Rick Warren.
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WHERE THEY SIT – HOW THEY STAND
The late Senator Hubert Humphrey once said something that contains a strong truth:
“YOU MUST REMEMBER IN POLITICS, HOW YOU STAND
DEPENDS ON WHERE YOU SIT.”
Wow! Boy is that the truth! He was referring to partisan politics that has stalemated government today, and to the political party seating arrangement in the United States House of Representatives and Senate. Those on the other side of the aisle! It is more like those on the other side of the border between the two Americas.
But for the Christian politician, he knows not only that he represents God, but that as Paul states in Ephesians 2:6, God has:
“…seated us with Him in the heavenly places,
in Christ Jesus.”
Truly for the Christian leader, where he is seated does determine how and where he takes his stand. On every issue, because the Christian presidential candidate is seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, he stands not on one side of the aisle or the other, but above the political aisle. He speaks far more as God’s oracle than he does as a party politician.For the Christian politician, the true Majority Leader of the Senate and Speaker of the House is Almighty God, not Harry Reed or Nancy Pelosi. For the Christian President of the United States, he doesn’t hold the most powerful office in the world, not even close. God does! Compared to God, he is but a safety patrolman at the school crossing corner, and he knows it.
We indeed can tell where a Christian president sits by where he stands on the issues. He doesn’t sit in an oval office. He is seated with God in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And it shows by where he stands regarding homosexuality, same sex marriage, abortion, and religious rights to name a few. Where are John McCain and Barack Obama seated? Look carefully at where they stand!
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SOCIAL MORALITY
A president must not only have a strong personal morality, but a strong social morality as well. It wasn’t that long ago that many “Christians” opposed Civil Rights for our African-American citizens. I don’t want to open up old wounds, but it was only slightly over 40 years ago when we had segregated lunch counters and segregated bathroom facilities. Each time I deal with this it is repulsive but true nonetheless. We were totally blind to the suffering that economic, vocational and even ecclesiastical segregation had caused.
Some say that we are still blind to it. Because the sins of racial discrimination and segregation were popular did not stop Martin Luther King. He fought against this hideous blight of social immorality which cost him his life. Today, we need leaders with a strong social morality like Senator Robert Kennedy who did not talk out of both sides of his mouth, but stood firm for social justice and righteousness to his dying day, i.e. social morality.
Social morality is a very broad category. There are many burning social-moral issues! And we need a president who is not merely morally reactive, but morally proactive! We need the spirit of Judah in our next president when Judah said to his brother Simeon in Judges 1:3,
“Come up with me…that we may fight….”
If I may get personal for a moment, I have been troubled that during the current George Bush eight year presidency the focus has been almost totally on intelligence strategies and war against terrorism. I agree in principle with the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, though I am appalled at the sophomoric ways in which the Iraq war has been handled until very recently. In the meantime we have been caught with our moral pants down. I am praying for a president that will call up America with him to fight in the war against America’s number one enemy, and that is social immorality.
Doug Larson some years ago put in this way:
“IT TOOK ONLY FIFTY YEARS FOR MOVIES TO GO FROM SILENT
TO UNSPEAKABLE.”
We need a frontal assault on the movie, television, video game, internet and magazine industries that are the greatest moral pollutants in the nation and the world. We need to lance these putrid boils on American society before it can begin to heal. I don’t hear any of the candidates talking about the social-moral war that must be waged in America. It troubles me no end. It is the forgotten battlefield, and we are losing the war. Listen:
“FIGHTING AGAINST THE PORNOGRAPHERS MUST BE AMERICA’S
MORAL EQUIVALENT OF ALL OUT WARFARE.”
We are living in the day when a polluted river of immoral filth is pouring forth from Hollywood, television, internet and magazine producers virtually uncontested. By way of insane contrast, we’re also living in a day mind you, in which the film industry puts PG ratings on Billy Graham films, which means that a pre-teenage child should not be exposed to Christianity without the parent’s consent. It is secular humanism’s attack on Christianity.
You can be sure of the following tell-tale indicators of the true moral fiber or lack of it in a national leader’s heart. I have to tell it like it is, and this too must also be our guide come November 4, 2008. Here are some strong moral guidelines for our people’s godly voting responsibility:
“IF THE CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT DEEPLY FEELS THE CLAIM
OF A STRONG MORAL MANDATE, HE WILL BE AT THE
FRONT OF SOCIAL-MORAL BATTLEFIELDS.”
If you will:
“A MORAL CANDIDATE WILL MANIFEST A A STRONG DISTASTE
FOR VULGARITY, POLLUTION, AND UGLINESS. HE
WILL EVEN USE THE WORD SIN.”
However:
“HE OR SHE THAT DOES NOT OPPOSE MORAL FILTH
INVITES IT.”
Or again:
“HE OR SHE THAT IS NOT ACTIVELY RESISTING MORAL FILTH IN
SOCIETY IS LONGING FOR T IN THEIR AFFECTIONS.”
And again:
“ANY GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL WHO DOES NOT HACK AT THE ROOTS
OF MORAL ROT IN SOCIETY IS SECRETLY
HUNGERING FOR THE ROTTEN FRUITS.”
Social morality includes something else that is the very dearest to our Lord’s heart. During the long presidential primary and election campaigns, I have been struck over and over again how the candidates are always focused on the middle class. It is all about the middle class! Making a middle buck on the way to big bucks! Middlers being able to chase and realize the American dream! Protect and provide for the middle class! And only if the upper class thrives will it then trickle down to the middle class.But if Wall Street and Rich Street aren’t a major part of our concern, it will be bad for all. So if needs be, when times call for it, bail out the toppers on Wall Street or else we won’t be able get the middlers to Rich Street. Presidential Campaign 2008!
Something here is way out of focus. Look the Lord straight in the eye and tell Him that this is what He is about. What Jesus is all about is not the first ones, not the second ones, and not even the third ones. Not the first class, or the second class, or even the third class. He is all about the last ones. The bottom dwellers! Yes, the bottom feeders. Not those who are climbing the economic ladder, but those who have no ladder to climb and are barely staying alive. Not the upper class! Not the middle class! Not even the lower class! All of these are still too classy. Jesus is all about those who are classless. They may be at the bottom or don’t even exist in political agendas, but they are at the top of Christ’s agenda. His social priority class has been named by Him in Matthew 25:45,
“THE LEAST ONES – THE LEAST CLASS”
Jesus is not just talking about giving to the poor. Though He is! Read His Word! He is not just talking about being concerned about feeding, clothing and housing the have-nots. Though He is! Read His Word! He is talking first of all about having His heart of love for the down and out. (I Corinthians 13:3) The other things then will follow. Feeding the hungry! Clothing the naked! Sheltering the homeless! Visiting the sick and imprisoned! Yes, yes, yes, yes! But only if it is done from a heart of love! And Jesus makes it very clear in Matthew 25,
“WHAT HAPPENS TO ALL OF US IN ETERNITY DEPENDS UPON WHAT
WE LOVINGLY DO FOR THE LEAST CLASS IN TIME.”
Christ’s priorities are totally absent in the presidential campaigns. Conspicuous by their absence! Blaring by their silence! It is shameful! It is immoral! The least class should be the priority. They aren’t. Sad to say in this regard, no matter who we vote for, we are not voting for Christ. For inasmuch as we didn’t do it for the least ones, we didn’t do it for Christ.
Ben Haden tells of Misery Hill. It is in the Western mountains of North Carolina between Lake Logan and Hazelwood. There was a poor mountain dirt farmer living there by the name of Cabe Colfer. He lived with his wife Annie and their five small children. In the fall of the year, Mr. Colfer took sick and died. IIt was a terrible winter that year; and when summer came, a hunter made a horrifying discovery. He found the remains of Annie Colfer and her five children in a single plank bed on a mattress stuffed with leaves. Seems mother and children had frozen to death the past winter.
The hunter, who had been hunting ground hogs, found a bottle and the following prayer tucked inside:
“My name is Annie Colfer, wife of deceased Cabe Colfer. Mother of Maggie, Clint, Rose, Carlene and Little Carl. Dear God, please help us bear up. The older, Maggie and Clint, have a bad way to breathe. They can’t run or play. Baby Carl has a bad cough that grows worse each day. This day there was frost. There’s no wood for winter, no shoes for my children – have only mush for food – won’t last long. Please God, accept the widow’s might as an offering. My prize possessions – my first baby’s shoe. My beautiful ring Cabe gave me on my wedding day. All the money I have – two dimes. And my comfort – your sweet Words – my Bible. I have no right to ask for much, but please don’t let my children suffer. I’ve tried every course, now I place my trust in you. Don’t worry about me. Please dear God, see after my little ones. Amen
This year, what candidate has Christ’s class, the least class, as the priority in his heart, speeches and policies? If you can find one, please let me know. I’ll vote for him in a heartbeat!
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5. IGNORANCE
Fifth, our Lord laid out a simple but profound principle in Matthew 15:14,
“…If a blind man guides a blind man, both will
fall into a pit.”
Of course, the blind leading the blind is not only double jeopardy, it is sheer folly. According to our Lord, it’s also the pits. Blind people are not led by blind lead dogs. They are led by trained and wise seeing-eye dogs. It is a warming and inspiring thing to watch the guide dog lead so knowingly, lovingly and protectively the blind person entrusted to his care. It is an amazing thing every time I am privileged to see it.
I am in no way belittling the blind in our society. God forbid! In fact, they would concur that a blind person in one of our modern cruise ship’s cabins is safe, but when a blind man is at the helm of the ship, no one is safe.A blind man of course is not culpable for his blindness, as if anybody should ever be. Nor is the one who is severely limited in his mental ability culpable because of his not understanding. However, it would be the height of culpability all the way around to put an ignorant man at the head of government.If someone is ignorant and illiterate, let him be so in his own limited sphere whatever that may be. But for goodness sake do not put his mental defects and deficiencies on display in any high place, to the serious imperilment of all of those under him. This too must strongly direct us in our choosing a president and vice president to lead America.
WANTED – A PRAGMATIC PRESIDENT
In the KJV rendition of Jesus’ parable of the minas, He tells us all something very, very important in Luke 19:13 that few people understand:
“…Occupy till I come.”
We get sidetracked by such hereby such phrases as, “Ready for immediate occupancy,” or “The occupants were not at home,” etc. That is not at all the meaning of our Lord’s command to occupy! We must realize that “to occupy” in our Lord’s parable does not mean to sit around and take up time and space. Sadly, that is what a lot of retirees and TV couch potatoes do these days. No, no, no, this is not the Master’s meaning whatsoever.
It is more than significant that the Greek word for occupy here is pragmateuo! Jesus is commanding us to “Be pragmatists!” In other words, don’t waste your time and take up space sitting around reminiscing or daydreaming or theorizing. Get down to hard cases and brass task. Ask, “What works?” Be practical and productive. Figure out what needs to be done, how to get the job done and then do it. Here’s the problem and here is the solution and here is how to carry it out. A leader in this complex and chaotic world must be a pragmatist thinker and a determined doer.
We need godly pragmatists in the White House and in the U.S. Congress now. Instead what we have in Congress are cement heads and roadblocks that are getting nothing done, because they are far more concerned about getting their own way rather than doing what is good for all of the American people. In the meantime, while they rant and rave and resist each other, our nation has fallen into the pits of moral and monetary collapse.
True isn’t it, anyone can talk about problems. We can talk about problems until the cows come home, and still be ignorant at the end of the day. In fact, the cows will have produced more milk than we have solutions.I don’t much care to be around people, for that matter around politicians either, who only talk about how bad things are. I want to know how to make them better and fix them. Hey, any dog can bark, but that barking mutt would make a very bad hunter for he would scare all the birds away. Also, I would rather have a dog who hunts and points than the one who just sits, barks and pants like today’s politicians.
There are many, many things that President George Bush has done extremely well, though the far left says that he is the worst president in American history. Did he make mistakes? Who doesn’t! Guilty of indiscretion? Sure, we all are at times. But not guilty of indecision and non-implementation! George Bush occupied the office of the presidency, because he is a pragmatist in his own right.
How?By navigating this nation safely through some of the most turbulent terrorist seas that this nation has ever sailed! By going after the Taliban in Afghanistan which was one of the main strongholds and training grounds of Al Qaeda! By going after and removing Saddam Hussein who had terrorized and murdered tens of thousands of his own citizens for years, as well as paying suicide bombers to blow up Israelites! By creating the Patriot Act thereby implementing high-tech intelligence measures to stay one step ahead of the terrorists and their bloody and maniacal schemes! Listen:
“EVEN AS IT IS THE FAITHFUL SHEPHERD’S FIRST RESPONSIBILITY
TO PROTECT THE FLOCK WHEN THE WOLVES COME, SO IT
IS THE PRESIDENT’S FIRST RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT THE NATION WHEN
THE TERRORISTS COME
.”President George Bush did his best to comfort us with his rod and staff. He was the nation’s shepherd as well as its president.
Yes it was, is and will be costly. But what so many self-centered, self-protecting moaners and groaners fail to realize is this:
“BECAUSE THE SUICIDE BOMBERS ARE HELL BENT IN DESTROYING
AMERICANS AT THE HIGHEST PRICE, DO WE EVEN DARE TO
THINK THAT OUR MILITARY WILL KEEP AMERICANS
SAFE AT THE CHEAPEST PRICE?”
Our Commander-In-Chief and his soldiers understand this. Many Americans do not because they don’t want to. Our next president had better understand this too, for when elected it will be too late for him in time of necessary war to escape it and go to England and smoke pot but not inhale it.
President George Bush not only protected us nationally but judicially. He nominated conservative Supreme Court justices who would judge on the foundation of historic Judeo-Christian principles of righteousness and justice which this nation was founded upon! This is George Bush’s praiseworthy pragmatic legacy in his eight years at the helm. Mr. President we salute you.
NEEDED – SONS OF ISSACHAR
It is said in the Bible of the sons of a certain Issachar, who was the ninth son of Jacob, in I Chronicles 12:32,
“…Men who understood the times, with knowledge
of what Israel should do….”
That has always been the urgent need of Israel and its leaders. It is now as well and always will be. Israel’s leaders must carefully and strategically defend her people, her nationality and her land all the while surrounded by nations and terrorists groups who hate her and want her destroyed. Ahmadinejad of Iran makes very clear his fierce antisemitism.
They were the sons of Issachar. Not just one of them had understanding of the times, and the knowledge of how to implement that understanding. They had each other! All of them together! Listen:
“THE PRESIDENCY OF THE UNITED STATES IS NOT AND NEVER
MUST BE A DO IT-YOURSELF PROJECT.”
Proverbs 11:14 states:
“Where there is no guidance the people fall, but in
abundance of counselors there is victory.”
The president must surround himself with the maximum number of wise and seasoned counselors in the maximum number of decisions at the maximum depth. But he must not surround himself with a bunch of yes-men and parakeets who have learned to squawk, “Heil Hitler.”A healthy presidency is not one in which all dissent is flattened, but one in which there is total freedom to speak and to be spoken to. Otherwise there can be no government of the people, by the people and for the people. Only then will we have a son of Issachar in the White House, and only then will America have:
“A PRESIDENT WHO UNDERSTANDS THESE UNPRECEDENTED TIMES,
WITH THE KNOWLEDGE OF WHAT AMERICA SHOULD DO.”
When we read that the sons of Issachar understood the times, and knowing what Israel had to do, the key word here is “Understands.” Understanding! There it is! You and I both know what disasters occur from a phrase such as, “I just didn’t understand.” After misunderstanding or no understanding, it is anybody’s guess what can happen, and generally none of it will be good. Which then causes the stunned and ashamed words, “What was I thinking anyway?”
God knows that we need a president who understands the dynamics of the nation’s economy, and then does what must be done! The national deficit and debt today are enormous not only, but they are dishonest and obsene. We claim that we are concerned about future generations, and yet we have mortgaged generation after generation by irresponsibly spending trillions of dollars and yet being unwilling to pay for it. God give us somebody as president who understands the absurdity of and wrongness of this, and knows what to do about it and then does it.
When we think of the understanding ability of man, we must say that it is the leading faculty. It is the General of the Army. It is the fountain of the mind. We are not talking here about a peripheral, but rather the main frame. This is the whole enchilada. That is why we read words like those in Proverbs 4:7,
“…and with all your acquiring, get understanding.”
Human understanding doesn’t only determine, but confidently dictates with decisiveness. It not only persuades but commands. It is not only the essence of man’s intelligence, but it makes what would otherwise be unintelligible intelligible. It not only apprehends but sheds light on and through that which it has apprehended. It enables man effectively to determine, decide and do effectively. Understand? If you will:
“MAN’S UNDERSTANDING IS BOTH JURY AND FOREMAN. IT
DECIDES AND ANNOUNCES THE VERDICT.”
UNBELIEVERS – WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING
When Adam was created, his understanding had no conjectures, uncertainties or ambiguities. He was ignorant of very little except sin. But when he sinned he became ignorant of everything except sin. Compared to what his general understanding, as well as his spiritual and moral understanding were before his fall into sin in the garden, all light in his soul literally went out. His overall understanding went from being an open door to a key hole. And even the key hole got plugged.
So that we read in Psalm 53:2 about the entire human race:
“God has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men,
to see if there is anyone who understands….”
It sounds as if God took a complete inventory of the entire human race to see if there were any who had understanding. It could not be stated more plainly about the human race than it is in Romans 1:31,
“without understanding….”
The inventory report was bleak to put it mildly. The fact is that when God searched for true understanding concerning the Lord and the meaning of life in natural man, there was none! Zero!
This is exactly why we read in I Corinthians 2:14,
This is exactly why we read in I Corinthians 2:14,
“But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit
of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot
understand them, because they are
spiritually appraised.”
It is been stated that:
“NONE ARE SO BLIND AS THOSE WHO WILL NOT SEE.”
It is even truer that:
“NONE ARE SO BLIND AS THOSE WHO CANNOT SEE.”
Men think that they are so smart today. Compared to Adam before the fall, in and of ourselves we are all ignoramuses. So what man is left with are ignorance, unbelief, confusion, uncertainty and frustration. Frustrated by his ignorance and limited in his performance! Therefore phrases like “I am just not sure,” and, “I really don’t know what to do,” and “I just don’t know what to think,” and, “I just don’t know what to make of it,” are common. In short:
“THAT WHICH IS OUTSIDE OF MAN’S UNDERSTANDING IS ALSO
OUTSIDE OF HIS ABILITY TO DO WHAT MUST BE DONE.”
Getting back to man’s being blind and the Lord’s warning about the blind leading the blind in Matthew 15:14 for a moment! Again, no disrespect meant to the blind in our midst. However, it wouldn’t be that uncommon for a blind man to conclude categorically that there are not and there never can be things like colors, pictures and landscapes, because he cannot see them and therefore cannot form in his mind a true idea or perception of them.And I am sure you get the point. Natural man is born spiritually and morally blind, and cannot form in his mind the notions of crisp, sharp and clearly delineated categories of absolute right and wrong, black and white, darkness and light. He cannot fathom the existence of moral absolutism or of an absolute Law Giver! Nor does he want to, for man by nature loves the darkness rather than the light, for it doesn’t expose their sins. (John 3:19)
BORN AGAIN PRESIDENTS – BORN AGAIN JUDGES
This is exactly why it is so hugely important to elect a born again president who will nominate born again Christians to the judiciary. I can’t emphasize this enough. Why? Because they are the only ones who can spiritually and morally see with the eyes of their understanding! Nobody else can!That is exactly why Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3:3,
“…Truly, truly I say unto you, unless one is born again, he
cannot see the the kingdom of God.”
Think about it! There it is! Only the born again child of God can spiritually and morally see Heaven and Earth from a Kingdom of God perspective, and see God’s definitions of right and wrong in His Word as absolute truth. The eyes of his spiritual and moral understanding have been opened.We must have a man in the leadership of this nation who is led by the Spirit of God. In other words, he must be a born again Christian! It is possible to have a brilliant man of vast knowledge in the White House, but at the same time having little if any true spiritual and moral understanding.
Hear me! When you read the Word of God to a natural man, all that he hears is only sounds banging on his eardrum. That is why Jesus said again and again, “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” Very few do, spiritually and morally speaking. Therefore:
“AMERICA NEEDS NOT ONLY A PRESIDENT WHO HEARS THE WORD
OF THE LORD, BUT WHO HEARS THE LORD OF THE WORD.”
And again:
“YOU CANNOT OBEY GOD IF YOU CAN’T HEAR HIM, AND YOU
TRULY CANNOT HEAR HIM IF YOU DO NOT KNOW HIM.”
The spiritually and morally deaf-dumb-blind gene pool in the world is massive. The Lord tells us what is out there for the President of the United States to choose judges from in the Gentile world. It is not a pretty picture! We read the Lord’s challenge to the Ephesians in Ephesians 4:17-18,
“…That you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in
the futility of their mind, being darkened in their
understanding, excluded from the life of God,
because of the ignorance that is in them….”
The president must be Holy Spirit led in his judicial choices, otherwise he will be someone cut off from God nominating for the judiciary others who are also cut off from God. Without the Holy Spirit in his life, He will not only be the blind leading the blind, but he will be the blind nominating the blind. He will not only be the ignorant leading the ignorant, but he will be the ignorant nominating the ignorant for the Supreme Court and the lower courts in America.
We have seen light break through the darkness under born again President George Bush, and we must not allow that light to be extinguished. We must more than anything else turn on more light in America’s darkened-in-their-understanding judiciary.
Ephesians 4:17-18 explains everything! That is exactly why judges today judge good to be bad and judge bad to be good. They approve same sex marriages and the killing of babies, and then outlaw prayer, the Bible and the Ten Commandments in America’s schools, junior colleges and universities. I am reminded of Psalm 82:2 and 5,
“How long will you judge unjustly, and show partiality to the
wicked?”“They do not know nor do they understand, they
walk about in darkness….”
Today justice in America is indeed blind! American judges are discriminating against the righteous and are showing partiality to the wicked on an increasing basis. Again this election year, our religious freedoms hang in the balance.
Let’s face the hard and non-negotiable fact here:
“RIGHTEOUSNESS MUST FIRST BE MADE CLEAR TO THE
UNDERSTANDING BEFORE IT CAN BE EXECUTED
IN RIGHT JUDGMENTS.”
This explains why we read what we do today about the American courts. I think of the young woman in Jacksonville, Florida. She gave birth in April of 1990, and instantly killed the child. The judge sentenced her to two years in prison and 10 years of birth control – meaning birth control outside of marriage. When she marries, the birth control requirement is waived.Is something out of whack here? The judge thought not. After all, she was young. Panic stricken! She really didn’t fully understand what she was doing. Extenuating circumstances! And after all, it was only a few seconds old fetus.
Murderers are being now paroled on the basis of good behavior, as well as to make room for the exploding drug-user inmates that are overcrowding America’s prisons. The greater percentage of these paroled murder and manslaughter inmates go out of prison into society and repeat the same horrible behavior. We see it over and over again.
Because of blind, ignorant judges, we are torn in America between conflicting philosophies – accountability for crime and excusability for crime. Under the excusability for crime theory, the idea is that it is the fault of everyone and everything else. The society, the parents, the family, the white man, the financial structure, poverty, drugs, alcohol, insanity and on and on it goes.Under the accountability crime position, there are those who think you should be held accountable for your crimes, whatever those crimes are. Regardless of your color, regardless of your poverty or wealth, regardless of where you live or the disadvantages in your life!Full accountability is what God teaches in His Word. An eye for an eye, with no mitigating circumstances. Moral definitiveness and accountability are again at stake in this election, for excusability is finding its way into every courtroom of this nation, and we need no longer marvel at the results.
Or again, Catharine Stubblefield Wilson was the mother of four children. She was also a grandmother. She became from her exclusive home in the Los Angeles area the largest distributor of children’s pornography in the United States. She advertised by mail: “If you would like to join my club, send $3.00. The money was sent to Denmark, and then deposited in Swiss banks.She distributed 500 X rated movies of little boys and girls — all nude, all in sexual positions. When she was discovered and brought to trial, she was asked why she pleaded innocent. “Innocent,” she said, “because it is just like selling toothpaste or cigarettes. She indicated that was simply the sexual preference of certain people…and she was meeting a sexual preference. where have we heard that phrase before.? Her estimated net income per year was over $500,000.Was she convicted under State law? Yes! What sentence was she given? Four years! Was she convicted under Federal law? Yes? what sentence was she given? Ten years! Were the four years to run in addition to the ten years? No! Concurrently! She ended up serving far less.
Do we realize that no child poses for such films or pictures until they have been molested and violated? She should have been put away for life without parole.
CONCLUSION
The year was 1812. James Madison was president of the United States. Great Britain has several maritime laws on its books that were interfering with U.S. commerce. U.S. anger over these laws was so great that the United States declared war. Later we learned that these laws were actually repealed by Great Britain the day before war was declared. But the U.S. had no way of knowing, because there were back then no speedy ways of communicating that message.
To make matters worse, after two years of fighting, on Christmas Eve, 1814, British and American negotiators concluded the Treaty of Ghent to end the war. Unfortunately there was no way to contact the troops on the field. Two weeks later the British troops attacked New Orleans, which was being defended by a mixed bag of American regulars and volunteers commanded by General Andrew Jackson. The British suffered two thousand casualties and total defeat. The Americans only had a hundred casualties and complete victory.
The reason the war started after the main grievance had been settled and continued after the peace treaty had been signed was communications. The only way for news to travel was by sea, and the fastest sailing ship could cross the Atlantic in two weeks, but three weeks was normal and four weeks not unusual. So when the British attacked New Orleans, the peace treaty was literally still at sea. God have mercy!
May we enable our people to so vote that God will not have a problem communicating with the White House for the next four years. May there be no disconnect between the Oval Office and the Throne Room in Heaven! May there be constant two way communicating and mutual understanding. May God so enlighten His people that they will do all within their power to prevent a spiritual and moral dunce from going to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Amen
