Bulletins
Overcoming Terrorists, Elections, and All
As we remember that 23 years ago today terrorists attacked the U.S. to an extent we had never seen previously and haven't since, some of our thoughts can't help but go to our nation and some patriotism.
Meanwhile, we are less than two months away from a presidential election many consider crucial. While I have some political views, I am not looking to share those here because my opinions are simply my opinions. We do have infallible truths that cannot be argued. I could never be a politician and run for office. But I do have a solid platform, not my platform but one God provided long before our country even was formed. If we all just followed Isaiah 58:2 -- "Yet they seek Me daily, and delight to know My ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and did not forsake the ordinance of their God. They ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching God."
Rather than a list of self-serving promises, if I were running for office I would relay to people the choices God gives us in 1 Samuel 12:14-15 -- "If you fear the lord and serve Him and obey His voice, and do not rebel against the commandment of the lord, then both you and the king who reigns over you will continue following the lord your God. However, if you do not obey the voice of the lord, but rebel against the commandment of the lord, then the hand of the lord will be against you, as it was against your fathers."
Sadly, in more ways than I want to list, our nation has rebelled against commands of the Lord. Our hope includes what was said in Lamentations 3:40-41 -- "Let us search out and examine our ways, And turn back to the lord; let us lift our hearts and hands to God in heaven."
You might be saying a candidate with such a platform has no chance of being elected. Sadly, you are probably right. In fact, do we really want to win a popular vote? Remember in Luke 6:26, Jesus said, "Woe to you when all men speak well of you, For so did their fathers to the false prophets."
No matter what happens in November or future elections, Christians can survive. No matter what we might think, we aren't the first generation facing obstacles in obeying our God. I started to go through the Old Testament to count how many good rulers and how many bad were listed. I quickly realized I might find this through Google, and sure enough, one source said the Bible listed five good kings and 33 bad. I don't know if that is accurate or not. Exact numbers don’t matter. The point is we have had and probably again will have bad rulers. Just to pick out one example, we have 2 Kings 13:1-2 which says, "In the twenty-third year of Joash the Son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoahaz the son of Jehu became king over Israel in Samaria, and reigned seventeen years. And he did evil in the sight of the lord, and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel sin. He did not depart from them."
We might be surrounded by evil, but just as we read in 2 Peter 2:4-9 how God spared Noah and Lot despite their evil surroundings, God will save the righteous today no matter who is our president, who is in congress, or who sins around us. God is not up for election. He has already won and will reign for eternity. Jesus overcame death
(1 Corinthians 15:54-47). Through Jesus, we can, too, regardless of any election or terrorist attack. We just have to obey God's commandments.
"For God is king of all the earth; sing praises with understanding. God reigns over the nations; God sits on His holy throne." (Psalm 47:7-8)
(Written September 11, 2024; Scripture quotes are from the NKJV)
- September_29_2024-1727664972.pdf (404.14 kB)
