If the Holy Scriptures are indeed holy (Rom. 7:12); if they were written by holy men of old as they were moved by God through His Holy Spirit (2 Pet. 1:21); if they are Truth (Jn. 17:17); if they must be studied in order to be approved by God (2 Tim. 2:15); if they must be lived and obeyed until the end of life in order to be saved (Mat. 4:4; 10:22); if God truly rules over the kingdoms of men and determines who leads them (Dan. 4:17), then the recent presidential election will not be decided by voters lining up at polling stations, mail-in ballots, battleground states, the Electoral College or whoever “gets out the vote.”  The winner of the election, like the winner of all elections, appointments, ascensions, takeovers, coups, etc. throughout the world at any and all times was, is and will be determined by Almighty God.

The question then becomes: why does God choose the worst of us to rule the rest of us?  It is important that we understand the purpose for which He chooses one ruler over another.  He intervenes in the affairs of mankind to reward or curse His most prized creation according to whether they obey or disobey His Holy Scriptures.  Read Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 where He makes this Truth abundantly clear.  Note that in these two very important chapters He plainly states that if the people will obey Him He will bless them, but that if they disobey Him He will curse them.  And it does not matter who they are or what they are relative to man’s religion.  Revelation 3:14-20 makes this abundantly clear.  Read Would God do That?  Use “Would” as your key word.

Ultimately the Lord intervenes in the lives of men in order to bring to pass His ultimate purpose–to lead all men to repentance and to a saving relationship with Him, just as the Apostle Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy 2:1-4 and as the Apostle Peter told the church in 2 Peter 3:9.  Note that the apostles emphasized that it is God’s will for all of mankind to come to Him and to receive eternal life.  However, man must qualify to receive it.  God intervenes in the form of blessings or curses designed to either LEAD true-hearted men to Him or to DRIVE hard-hearted men to see the errors of their ways.  Having been the recipient of both methods of divine “guidance,” you can take my word for it: BEING LED TO HIM IS BETTER THAN BEING DRIVEN TO HIM.

“But I am a Christian.  I read my Bible every day, go to church three times a week, pray, tithe …, and I still get sick just like those who don’t do those things.  I love the Lord, but my house was blown away just like my wicked neighbors’ who don’t even believe in Him.”  These are the types of responses one gets when the subject of reward-for-obedience versus punishment-for-disobedience arises.  And what is said is true–the churched and the unchurched are treated the same.  The answer involves one word: OBEDIENCE.  Judas heard and saw what the other disciples heard and saw, he had the same kind of ministry, spent the same amount of time with Jesus, etc.  However, he lost everything due to disobedience.  Adam and Eve knew the rules for remaining in good stead with God.  Religious men quote Scripture, wears crosses, professes to “love the Messiah” and call Him their “Lord.”  The problem with church people was summarized by Jesus in Luke 6:46 where He asked a group of religious people: “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord’ and DO NOT WHAT I SAY?”  In John 14:15,23 He said: “If you love Me, keep My commandments/words.”  In Matthew 19:17 He said: “If you would have (eternal) life, keep My commandments ….”  In John 15:10 He said: “If you (disciples) keep My commandment you will abide in my love, even as I have kept My Father’s commandments and (therefore) abide in His love.”  Christ’s prayers were heard by God “because He feared (Him)” (Heb. 5:7).  The believer, like the Messiah, has to obey and fear God in order to receive what is Scripturally promised.  The Holy Spirit leads God’s true people to obey Him.  “They who are led by the Spirit of God, (only) they are the sons of God” (Rom. 8:14).  The message is abundantly clear: TO RECEIVE PRESENT DAY BLESSINGS AND RECEIVE ETERNAL LIFE AT THE RETURN OF JESUS CHRIST ONE MUST OBEY GOD’S WORD/LAW/COMMANDMENTS/TRUTH.  There was no other way for God’s Messiah.  We are commanded to “walk (live) as He walked” (1 Jn. 2:6).

In the Garden of Eden Satan convinced Adam and Eve that there was another way.  The rest is history.  Which brings us to the central problem–the Counterfeit (Catholic/Protestant) Church.  Satan’s false prophets have lured billions of people into his church system by convincing them that they can disobey God and, because of their status in “the church,” still receive eternal life.  The “angel of light” uses his “ministers of righteousness” (2 Cor. 11:13-15) to convince the salvation-seeking masses to walk a path to salvation that does not require them to “count the cost” of following the Biblical God (Lk. 14:28).  A “cost” must be paid when one follows God’s command to obey His written Word.  Counting the cost necessitates that one “‘Come out from among them (the false Catholic/Protestant churches) and remain separate from them,’ says the Lord, ‘touch not that unclean thing and (then) I will receive you and be a Father to you, and you will be My sons and daughters,’ says the Lord Almighty ….  ‘cleanse yourselves of all filthiness of the flesh and perfect holiness in the fear of God'” (2 Cor. 6:17-7:1).  In verses 14-16 the Lord, through Paul, explains why His people can have nothing to do with the Institutional Church.  Paul notes that Christ and Satan, believers and infidels, righteousness and sin, God’s temple and Satan’s temple have no communion.  They are as different as night and day, holiness and evil.  God’s people are His temple.  He dwells in them (His true church) in the form of His Holy Spirit.  Only when believers come out of Satan’s false church system does God call them His people.  It is when one leaves “the church” that one realizes the “cost” of true discipleship.  Read Persecution.

Why does God reject the Institutional Church?  Because it is empowered by Satan and run by men whom he (Satan) allows to concoct their own version of the Holy Bible.  The Lord warns us about listening to man in Jeremiah 17:5: “Cursed is the man that trusts in man.”  This curse includes both types of religious men: those who create “truth” and those who believe the “truth” they create.  Because those in “the church” reject God’s gospel (Gal 1:6-9) and embrace Satan’s gospel, they are cursed by God.  He reveals His rejection of false Christians by treating them the same way He treats all other heathen.

Some may ask how this applies to voting.  Man has brought God’s wrath down on himself by electing evil men and women as their leaders who pass laws that are contrary to God’s stated will.  Generally, the populace obeys the laws generated by their evil leaders.  This is individual sin which, in concert with other sinners, creates national sin.  The legalization of abortion and gay marriage are prime examples of this legislated sin.  God arranges the placement of sinful people in leadership positions BECAUSE THE NATION HAS NOT OBEYED HIM.  Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 apply to both individuals and nations.  In those chapters God promised that if an individual or nation obeys Him they we would have no sickness, no economic failures, no natural disasters–no curses.   God sends curses on individuals and nations because of individual or national sins.  In short: GOD ARRANGES FOR NATIONS TO HAVE THE LEADERS THEY DESERVE.  Just as Noah and family, baby Moses and baby Jesus were protected during deadly times, God does the same in this era for those who obey Him.  Church sinners are disqualified from His protection.  This is the ultimate example of sowing the wind and reaping the whirlwind.  Read Would God Do That? Use “Do” as your key word.  The Lord speaks about the self     and nation destroying works of high-status people who make plans and pass laws that are contrary to His will and way.  About such people the Psalmist wrote: “Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine vain things?  The kings (leaders) of the earth form their agendas and the rulers plan against the Lord ….” (Ps. 2:1,2).  Hear God’s response to the plannings and connivings of men: “He that sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision … (God) will break them with a rod of iron; He will dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.  Be wise you kings; receive instruction you judges of the earth.  Serve the Lord with fear, rejoicing and trembling” (vss 1,9-11).  God would shower a believing, obedient nation with many blessings.  But when a nation refuses to honor Him, His judgment always follows.  Many times that judgment comes through the nation’s elected officials who make bad decisions that cause havoc within the society.  The state of California is a example of how His cause and effect system works within the political realm.

CALIFORNIA IS BURNING, and has been for months.  Why?  California is known as a sin-soaked state where sinful people elect sinful leaders who make sin-based decisions that cause the entire state to suffer.  Example: for years  lawmakers failed to order the removal of underbrush from the state’s massive forests.  Easily ignited and quick to burn, the underbrush is a disaster waiting to happen.  A campfire, a discarded cigarette–fire bursts on the scene before one can act.  Then  God sends fast traveling winds that push the fires across huge tracks of thick forest whose land is covered with thick, dead underbrush.  The combination of events and situations creates huge infernos.  He then prevents rain from falling that would put out the fires.  The result of the sins of the people of California is that their state sometimes burns for weeks on end.  This is sometimes followed by flooding which causes huge mud slides.  Still there is no learning curve because Satan has dulled the brains of his people–99% of California’s population.  He has so captured the hearts of people that they simply cannot learn the Truth of God.

The same can be said about the nation as a whole relative to the COVID–19 pandemic.  As I stated in the first posting, the nation’s current problems, including the recent election fiasco, was caused by the nation’s past sins.  God does not punish without a cause, for: “The curse causeless does not come” (Prov. 26:2).  The cause is the “wind”; the curse is the “whirlwind.”  This nation is being punished for her sins of the past, which are cumulative.  She is “treasuring up” (accumulating) sins (Rom. 2:5), and therefore curses.  Future curses will come on her because of the sins she is committing at the present time which, due to her refusal to repent and convert, will be added to (treasured up with) those of those already committed.  The sin-based cycle will continue as God-rejecting men make plans and proclaim promises which other God-rejecting people believe.  They then vote them into office.  The theological formula for disaster is:  People disobey God.  God sends curses.  Power-hungry men make plans and proclaim promises.  People elect them.  They implement their plans.  People disobey God.  God sends curses.  And the cycle continues.  As Yogi Berra said, “It’s deja vu all over again.”  Lamenting the human propensity for doing the wrong thing, a famous cartoon character of the distant pass wisely noted: “We have met the enemy, and he is us.”  L.J.