Who’s Really in Charge?

“When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.”  Proverbs 29:2

King Solomon was not only wise, he must have been a prophet who could see the future.  We have just been through one of the most contentious, drawn out, expensive, and divisive elections that we have ever faced, at least in my lifetime.  As of this writing, we still don’t know who will be the next president of the United States.  The current president has been a man who has kept many of his promises that he made when running for office in 2016.  He is a president who is loved by many and hated by many.  Those who love him, or at least appreciate his efforts to make America great again, see him as a champion of the average, everyday human being, but those who hate him do so for all sorts of reasons and have tried to get him removed from office mostly because of their hatred for him.  Of course, he has many faults, but so does everyone.

The opposition, a man who is a career politician, has seemingly not been that popular among folks, but hatred of the president has caused many to support him.  He is backed by those who favor and intend to promote socialism, a godless form of government which suppresses individual freedom and incentive, and is a precursor to communism.  Because I am a senior citizen, I remember what it was like in the 1950’s when the U.S. was in a cold war with the Soviet Union (Russia).  Their communistic form of government was and is still bent on becoming the superpower of the world as is China, another nation under the rule of communists.  The people who live in either of those two nations do not have the freedoms that we enjoy here in the U.S.  They cannot own property, have a real choice in electing their leaders, or have any real hope of prosperity.  Their leaders are the only ones who have the wealth and who wield absolute power over the common folks.  I remember as an elementary school student practicing drills in case we were attacked by the Soviet Union with the release of an atomic bomb.  We, even as children, understood that socialism/communism was a real threat and a horrible form of rule over people.  However, for several years since that time, children and college age young people, are taught that socialism is the answer to all of our problems.  They are being greatly misled, and not having the experience of what life would be like without God, freedom, and the right to pursue our dreams, they are falling for it, hook, line, and sinker.  Contrary to what they are led to believe, there is no free lunch.  Someone has to pay for all the free stuff.  They are grossly mistaken to believe that socialism will work well for all under the government’s thumb.

The above verse says that “when the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice”.  I am not saying that the current president is righteous.  I don’t know anyone who is righteous within his or her own power.  True righteousness comes from a relationship with Christ, for He gives us His righteousness.  I am also not comparing the current president to King David, who was Israel’s king about 3,000 years ago.  He was an adulterer and had the husband of Bathsheba, the woman with whom he had an affair, sent into the front lines of battle so that he would be killed to keep him from discovering that his wife was pregnant with the king’s baby.  That sounds like a plot to a Hollywood movie, but it was an actual event which took place in Israel and is recorded in the book of II Samuel, Chapter 11.  When David was confronted with his sin by Nathan, David confessed and the LORD forgave him.  He became one of the greatest kings of Israel, even though he was a terribly flawed man, and the people were blessed because of him.  God looks at a person’s heart and evaluates his or her motives.

I am not a prophet, but I am fearful that if the candidate running under the banner of a moderate, but is really controlled by the far left who want to drastically change America to fit their idea of a socialist utopia, becomes the occupant of the White House, there will be many of us God-fearing, freedom-loving individuals who will mourn the loss of our once great nation.  There is a quote attributed to Alexis de Tocqueville, a 19th century French diplomat and historian, but this quote is not found in his writings.  Nevertheless, it is very appropriate for the times in which we live.  “Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the greatness and genius of America.  America is great because it is good.  If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.”  God has been good to us in giving us a bountiful and beautiful land in which to live, raise our families, worship, and serve Him.  I hope we don’t lose it.

The main thing to remember is that God is in charge.  None of this is taking Him by surprise.  Since He is omniscient, He knew of this day since the beginning of time.  Could it be that if our current president retains his position that God is giving us one more chance to humble ourselves and seek His face, or if the candidate backed by those who desire to eliminate God from every facet of life wins the White House, could it be that God is giving us what we deserve?