Sound The Trumpet : When the wicked rule

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“When the wicked rule”
by WND David Welch
July 31st, 2009

Are you mourning yet over the spiritual, moral, cultural and political direction of our nation?

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

Why do you suppose the people mourn – literally in "physical or mental distress" – when the wicked rule, as Scripture describes? Renowned biblical commentator Matthew Henry wrote about this passage that:

The people will have cause to rejoice or mourn according as their rulers are righteous or wicked; for, if the righteous be in authority, sin will be punished and restrained, religion and virtue will be supported and kept in reputation; but, if the wicked get power in their hands, wickedness will abound, religion and religious people will be persecuted, and so the ends of government will be perverted.

Wicked rulers reject God, embrace evil and impose theft, death and destruction upon the people.

Sounding familiar?

The latest in governmental wickedness gone wild is the 63-28 passage in the U.S. Senate of S. 909, the "Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act", although its service as a gateway to oppression of freedom of speech and religion is only the secondary effect. Since all law is "legislating morality" and establishing what We the People collectively determine as the standard of right and wrong, this legislation if signed into law will take us to new depths of depravity.

I refer specifically to the inclusion of "actual or perceived … gender, sexual orientation, gender identity. …" (emphasis added) Also notice the inclusion of both gender and "gender identity" in addition to "sexual orientation." For the first time in federal criminal law we have not only codified the official acceptance and protection of any and every possible form of sexual deviancy, but have assured that there can be no firm definition.

A federal "hate crimes" bill in and of itself is just plain bad law from biblical, constitutional and criminal-justice perspectives. As John Whitehead, constitutional attorney and president of the Rutherford Institute states, "Hate crime legislation on the whole is riddled with problems – and that was the case even before protections for sexual orientation were included." His reasons include:

First, hate crime laws are shortsighted in that they favor a particular class of individuals for protection and seek to punish certain prejudices.
Second, the ramifications go far beyond the intended purpose of dissuading acts of violence against a protected class to actually chilling free speech.
Third, this expanded hate crime law creates a whole new class of investigative techniques by government agents and the police.

Anything other than equal penalties for equal crimes is a perversion of justice and creates favored classes of citizens, the opposite of what hate crimes proponents claim to be their objective.

The "adding insult to injury" element is that a major milestone of the "gay rights" movement for 30 years will have been achieved by making sexual behavior a "suspect class" or in more common lingo, granting it minority status. Their goal has been no secret, their strategy has been incredibly effective, and, perhaps most importantly for their success, their chief opposition has been neutralized.

That, of course, would be us – We, the Church.

The theological liberalism of the mainline denominations, the trend to socialism and "feel good" teaching of major evangelical pastors, institutions and publications, as well as the politics" is a distraction to the church" nonsense of even most conservative churches have created this perfect storm.

Legitimately caring, concerned and conservative Christians of any denomination and ethnic background are indeed approaching "physical or mental distress" over the rapid and rabid imposition of ungodly, wicked laws and policies by our current elected federal leadership. What we have to recognize is that just as surely as the sun rises in the east, ungodly lawmakers produce ungodly laws.

We have two effective long-term political solutions: change the hearts and minds of the lawmakers by spiritual and moral regeneration through faith in Jesus Christ, or replace the lawmakers – the "rulers" – with those who are already on that Transformation Road.

We do both by having tens of thousands of local churches, led by their pastors, effectively and consistently engaged in political awareness, education and action to promote God's priorities. This transcends the politics of personal, partisan, ethnic or any other thinking that violates His standards.

Our "mourning" should be fostered by hearts broken with the recognition of our own disobedience and our rejoicing should be inspired in that we not only serve a God of mercy and grace but that we still have the means within our hands to remove the wicked rulers and restore His righteousness. That is, if we love Him, love our families, care for the oppressed and have the will to do so.

Art's Commentary.....The above article is a good assessment of our situation, however I believe the solution is faulty. We cannot bring lasting change to our society in the area of morality and righteousness through lobbying and politics. We have seen 50 years of such attempts without any real, lasting effect. It is the very essence of New Evangelicalism to bring about change by external methods. This is contary to what God's Word calls for, we are called to preach repentance. Righteousness can only come to a nation through a recognition of sin, a turning away from sin and a turning back to God. This process is an individual matter, it only has a national effect as a large number of people experience this revival in their souls.

Jeremiah tells us that there came a time in Israel when the hearts of the people were hardened by sin and rebellion against God, just like our own day. God withdrew His mercy from Israel and all that was left to Israel at that time was judgment. God said to Jeremiah, "...Pray not for thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee," Jer. 7:16. Whether that is the case in America and Canada today we cannot be sure, however the problem is sin and rebellion against God. The solution is not a change of government policy, the solution is found in genuine spiritual revival. It is with God we have to do, not governments. It is the essence of New Evangelicalism to try to relate to the world instead of obeying God's Word and crying out against the world and its sin. We are not here to change society, we are here to bring the message of God's Word to a lost and rebellious world.

Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13