By Pastor Butch Paugh
May 12, 2024
“I have lived, sir, a long time and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth: That God governs in the affairs of men.” (Partial Quote) Ben Franklin.
While I fully realize that in life Franklin was certainly not a born again believer in Christ, at least not for most of his life, since at one time he was a member of the “Hell Fire Club”. It would behoove the reader to research this for themselves. But this fact still does not preclude the fact that Franklin was correct in his famous quote. The only true sovereign that ultimately rules in all affairs of mankind desires that His crowning creation would recognize of his own free will, the need to accept His authority in all spheres of man’s governments, personal, family, church and civil. Unfortunately, history has very clearly proven that mankind is totally incapable in his fallen nature to follow God’s will in his personal life, much less in the civil sphere. But that does not change the truth that God always has and always will see His word fulfilled on earth as it is in Heaven! Mankind will either be governed by God and His “governmental” laws, or he will be judged by those same laws! Individually, as the church and nationally! Obviously man has been judged by God’s standards in the past, is still today and will be in the final judgment.
Now I have said all of the above to set the foundation of the point of truth I would like to establish in this article. This is going to shock a lot of folks and upset several in many cases I’m sure. God does not care what type of earthly government a nation establishes! A monarchy, democracy, oligarchy or a republic to name a few. Of course He abhors evil rulers who persecute His people for obedience to Him over themselves. But keep in mind that He will use evil rulers to punish His people for their rebellion against Him and His Kingdom laws! Ps. 106:40-42 is just one example. As John Calvin stated “When God wants to judge a nation, He gives them wicked rulers”.
A Kingdom (monarchy), a democracy (majority rule), oligarchy (a small group of men ruling), or a republic (people rule through elected representative) can all be a glory to God and be blessed of Him if they lead or govern according to His Laws, statutes and judgments! For those who perhaps learned a little American history before it was “changed” to fit our modern educational public “fool” system, you may remember this story about Ben Franklin. A lady by the name of Elizabeth Willing Powell asked Mr. Franklin, “Well, doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” Franklin’s answer was “A Republic if you can keep it.”
Whether a government is of one, a few or by the people, unless it is built solidly on the foundation of Jesus Christ and His teachings, it cannot and will not last long. All will inevitably “devolve” into chaos, tyranny and finally collapse! (Ps. 9:17)
As we have already established God’s sovereign will ultimately will be fulfilled. Ps. 76:10 says, “Surely the wrath (anger, poison, rage) of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain.” Man’s evil will not in any way interfere with God’s sovereign plan for His creation. But, do not be deceived, God is not mocked! It has always been man’s “duty” to obey the laws of God at all times in all areas of life, personal or public! (Gal. 6:7) (Ecc. 12:13) If men and women would only self-govern themselves according to God’s Word and demand their leaders do the same, any and all forms of civil authority would glorify God and nations would be peaceful and prosperous. Erwin W. Lutzer said, “When God is separated from government we are forced to accept arbitrary laws. Either God is the lawgiver or man is; either we derive our laws from the theistic universal values, or we say that the individual countries or cultures are the lawgivers. Either God is supreme or the state is supreme.” In order for those who govern to become tyrants, the people must surrender their will and obey their new “gods!” To remain silent in the face of evil or tyranny is to acquiesce to that evil/tyranny. To acquiesce is to comply and in so doing, support the evil itself.
We are “commanded” in Deut. 17:14-20 to only choose/elect “men” (brethren) that God chooses. We are not to select a stranger/non-Christian for any reason. We have been conditioned, deceived and entitled to believe the damnable lie that we have to choose the lesser of the evils offered to us by the “elite”. After all we have been told a little evil is better than more evil. So as Christians, we “must” choose the lesser evil! We have ignored to our own destruction (I Cor. 5:67 and Gal 5:9)
Francis Schaeffer made a statement in the 1970’s, “There are times in which anyone with a shred of moral principle should be profoundly angry, we live in such times”. But, as in the past, we are seeing the fulfilment of God’s Word in Jer. 5:31. The people not only condone the evil, they love to have it so!
Two more quotes and three more scriptures in closing. Albert Einstein said, “The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it”.
As we are instructed in God’s Word to elect/appoint only Christian brethren in Christ as those given authority to lead and govern. As with all, we can know them by their fruits. In my lifetime of nearly seventy six years, I cannot think of a single instance in a national election that even “church goers” have followed this commandment. Almost all of us have put our approval/vote on what we consider the “lesser” of evils! Take an honest look at what this sinful compromise has wrought in America. The “fruit” of our sin is not obeying the Word of God as referenced in the article is very obvious!
In November we will be expected to do the same thing again. Biden or Trump! Biden is an anti-christ as was his former boss, the homo Obama! Trump says in the 2016 election that he was more “pro gay” than Hillary! Melania Trump at a fundraiser as reported on ABC News, stated that she and her husband are starting a major voter outreach initiative to garner “conservative” gay and lesbian (sexual perverts) support in this election! How dare we support either of these Godless men!! Pro-American does not mean pro-Godly in either case! God cannot and will not bless any nation that compromise His laws! We know that there are no “perfect” men to vote for. Even men with a sincere desire to follow God fall short! But, only the willfully ignorant can even begin to believe that God would have us as Christians support either of these men as our leader! (Jer. 12:5/Prov. 29:2 – 14:34, Ps. 9:17, Prov. 23:1-2)
You have been forewarned! We must stop committing patriotic idolatry!
Proverbs 29:7, “An unjust man is an abomination to the just; and he that is upright in the way is abomination to the wicked”.
Take careful heed to this in Proverbs 17:15, “He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the Lord.”
Proverbs 28:4 says “They (individuals or nations) that forsake the law praise the wicked: but such as keep the law contend with them.
“All that it required for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” —Edmund Burke
© 2024 Butch Paugh – All Rights Reserved
E-Mail Butch Paugh: ctdm@hotmail.com
