- Brighter
- Better leaders
- Better administrators and executives with demonstrated track records
- And most important – serious Christians who are living out the Christian faith?
Why do people with
those attributes stay away from the national debate? And we are left with individuals with harmful
intellectual ideologies that in no way conform to the views and the life of a
Christian. Some even seem self-serving
and arrogant.
For a few those
behaviors may develop after they become elected and take up a powerful
office. The famous quote “absolute power
corrupts absolutely” comes to mind. But
that doesn’t have to be the case, does it?
Not if we start with people who know the Lord and his commands and his
values, know themselves and live the life of obedience to God. Not if we have candidates and politicians who
see themselves truly as servants of the electorate.
To take this further,
such an elected body of leaders should, one would think, wisely and
thoughtfully staff the appointed government positions with skilled like-minded
individuals. They would not look at
their government role as an opportunity to get rich, exercise power, and build a
group of people obligated to them for their jobs.
Then we would end up
with a government that would see its role as being accountable to the people
and that would go forward as was intended when the Constitution was written.
Why don’t we have such
a government?
I think the answer goes
right to us, the people who elect the individuals. If the electorate is not knowledgeable on the
issues and the candidates, does not know what is really going on among the
individuals running and the parties, does not recognize sinister ulterior and
somewhat hidden motives, and is not itself a group of moral, God-fearing
people, well, how can it be expected to elect the people we would like
elected?
The answer – it
can’t. And that is where we are today.
Most Americans have
never wanted to be involved with politics or pay attention to the daily
happenings in Washington and elsewhere in government. So they are not knowledgeable. As long as we had good, moral, God-fearing
candidates who understood the Constitution and how America had been built and
blessed, this was still ok. But then the
general morality of the country several decades ago began a precipitous slide,
and now we live in a society that is rapidly falling away from God, accepts
behavior among people that is abominable, is constantly besieged with movies
and television programs and just general behavior of many of its most famous
personalities that is often immoral and crass and greedy, and more. Many of the electorate now have a greatly
reduced level of Christian values, if they have any at all. Many have a confused understanding of right
and wrong. And because of their lack of
interest and effort, since they don’t know the issues or the true backgrounds
of many running for office or serving in office, they just are not an informed
electorate.
The second president John Adams addressed all of this:
- “We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion . . . Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
- “Liberty cannot be preserved without general knowledge among the people.”Much further back in history, the famous Plato had some thoughts on the matter:
- The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.”
- One of the penalties of refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.”
- In politics we presume that everyone who knows how to get votes knows how to administer a city or a state.”
Again, this is where we
are.
If
a truly good candidate comes along, will the press give him adequate
coverage? Highly unlikely. We may never read or hear of his good points
unless we hear him in person.
And
the press, which itself is staffed with many apparently lost and confused individuals
focused and intrigued by this world system and not by God, will seriously even
attempt to mislead and destroy any such good candidate, anyone who does not
hide his Christian faith, anyone who is not politically correct in every word
out of his mouth.
We
are in dangerous times, dear friends. We
spiritually are at the end of this age, with the Lord soon to return. And living in this country which does not
have the government we knew years ago is a dangerous and unpleasant thing. To the extent possible, we should strive to
get as many God – fearing individuals into office as possible to counter the
evil and false doctrine that now pervades the government world, especially in
Washington but also in many states. And
we can pray that it is not too late, that we may have some impact.
When
the Lord comes he should find us still striving to move forward in his
commands, his love, his blessing. And if
we do that, for the country and in our own lives, we can’t do more.
Keep Your Eyes on Jesus!
(February
2014)
Copyright © 2014 by
John Newlin.
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