KNOWING the True God #12
God ... and Leaders of nations?
GOD ... INTO APPOINTING KINGS AND RULERS? by Keith Hunt In 1 Samuel 24 we have the account of David cutting off part of Saul's skirt while he was "going to the washroom" in a cave, where David and his men were hiding. Then David had second- thoughts about what he had done, and said: "The Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the Lord's anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord" (verse 6). Now we have seen already in past studies that INDEED Saul was DIRECTLY chosen by God to be His anointed kind over Israel. Because of this, and with certain passages in the book of Daniel and in the New Testament, many in the past (maybe still today) have taught a really UN-balanced idea about world "leaders" and the awesome, practically to the point of "worship," idea that Christians should have towards "world-leaders of nations." The teaching is this: All world leaders are placed there by God, so better have great and honorable respect for them." While, as we have seen, this COULD BE TRUE, and the Lord could DIRECTLY place a man in power to lead a nation, He is the most powerful being in the universe after all, and certainly has the power to place a man as leader of a nation, but we need to be very careful as to how far we teach this idea. FOR, a little common LOGIC (that, sad to say, is missing in some "theology" teachings) would tell us that a man like ADOLPH HITLER should not be respected, liked, honored, or given any kind of thought that God had placed that man in power and rulership. As we look at history, past, and even in the last 100 years, we can see men taking power as leaders of their nations, only to brutalize, rape, kill, and bring sorrow and death upon all whom they considered their enemies. True, it is that God may have ALLOWED those evil men to have taken power and brought horrible sorrow and death upon tens of thousands and in some case, MILLIONS of people; but ALLOWING is one thing, but for God to DIRECTLY put into power such men over nations, is another matter altogether. We need to keep everything in the WHOLE CONTEXT of the Bible, and in the context of history, and nations in power as to the use of their power. The example is that in the context of the Roman Empire in the days of the first century Church of God, the overall context was that the Roman Empire ALLOWED the nations, like the Jewish nation, under its Empire, to WORSHIP IN FREEDOM their religion. This is self evident as we simply read the New Testament. The Jews were allowed to keep their religion, have their Temple, have their priesthood, have their sacrificial services, observe the weekly 7th day Sabbath, observe the annual holy days and Festivals of the Lord. All the Roman Empire asked of them was that they would be decent and non-violent people within the nations that constituted the Roman Empire. It is very logical then for the apostles to teach Christians to have honor and respect for such civil governments. God is the master of the universe. He is the ever ruling One. He is always the most POWERFUL and always the "authority" in the universe. Hence when we read about how the Lord decided to deal with Nebuchadnezzar in the book of Daniel, for his outlandish VANITY and "big-head-ness" (see Dan.4:28-30), God CAN and has the RIGHT and has the POWER, to STEP IN and personally get involved with that ruler IF HE DECIDES HE WILL DO!! In Nebuchadnezzar's case the Eternal Almighty DID DECIDE TO PERSONALLY GET INVOLVED WITH THIS KING AND TEACH HIM A LESSON (see verses 30-37). As Neb boy found out in no uncertain terms, God is always the KING and AUTHORITY in the universe. He CAN step in at any time and get personally involved with any nation or any person leading that nation, BUT HE DOES NOT DO IT ALL THE TIME, OR EVEN THAT OFTEN IF WE LOOK AT THE HISTORY OF NATIONS AS A WHOLE OVER ALL HISTORIC PERIODS OF MEN BEING ON THIS EARTH. Yes, he did it in Egypt with JOSEPH, a true man of God, being made RULER, AND THE KING OF EGYPT GIVING JOSEPH RULE, as we see from the book of Genesis. God got personally involved in Egypt in the days of Moses, as we see from the book of Exodus. But the FACT is that by-and-large the Lord lets the nations move along as THEY WILL, only intervening WHEN He sees fit, and for the purpose He decides and wants. Nebuchadnezzar LEARNT in a very agraphic way, that the blessed MOST HIGH ONE LIVES and all the inhabitants of the earth are as NOTHING to Him, and that He does ACCORDING to His WILL, in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can answer Him as to what He does, and to when He decides to do it (Dan.4:34-35). Most of the time God sits back and He lets the nations of this earth "do their own thing" - pick their own leaders, bad or good or in-between. Most of the time He lets man's heart go its own way, as the Proverb He inspired to be written down say: "There is a way that seems good unto the heart/mind of man, but the ends thereof are the ways of death" (Prov.14:12). God DID NOT put Adolph Hitler into power to bring the bastardly horrors that his Empire brought on the world during the Second World War! Men, the minds of men and women, put Adolph Hitler into power. Now, on the other hand, I believe it was God who had Winston Churchill, brought back from his planting flowers in his garden, called back by the British Government to LEAD Britain and her nation families, AGAINST THE EVIL HITLER, who probably was often or all the time, being inspired by Satan the Devil himself. God is not into "politics" of this world---- big mistakes have been made by people saying God put a vision in their mind, or showed them in a dream at night, who who was going to be the next President of the USA come voting time. This was done recently by one famous minister, who said God spoke to him that Donald Trump would win the 2020 election race over Joe Biden--- wwweeeellll....... he must have misunderstood, I mean he is getting old and looks like he could die any second.
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