The Righteous Judge Part Ib

I’m not quite ready to move on to part II yet.    I have some thoughts on this post-election Thursday that I’d like to share, and, actually, they are in perfect keeping with the Righteous Judge theme.

I’ve had a lot of peace all along about the outcome of this election.  I’ve really felt that who ever the Lord wanted in the White House would be there.  He sees the bigger picture, and I trust Him.  I’m also very excited to be alive to see a black man as president of the United States.  Yesterday, while I listened to the live IHOP-KC prayer room on line feed Allen Hood (love Allen Hood) shared his memories of going to a school where black children couldn’t drink from the white children’s drinking fountain…and he’s only in his late thirties!  (I think)  So, I think the fact that Barack Obama is our new president is a wonderful testimony of how racism and prejudice are fast becoming a thing of the past.  Awesome!  

We also, now, as the body of Christ, need to pray for our new president.  Not just quote a few Bible verses about how we’re supposed to, but really  pray for him.  That he would be filled with wisdom and truth and that the spirit of revelation would be upon him.  Wow, wouldn’t it be awesome if he was convicted of his position on abortion?!

But now…for a different perspective, and you may think that these thoughts are in contradiction to what I’ve written above.  I am of a different opinion.  More often that naught, when God gave someone prophetic words in the Old Testament, they also functioned as an intercessor.  And, lest you fear I’m suffering from some allusions of grandeur, we are all  called to be prophetic voices for God.  The apostle Paul tells us to “eagerly desire” the gift of prophecy above every other gift.  (1 Cor. 14:1)  But God is not a communist in this area.  If we want more of Him, then we have to give Him more of us!

So, here goes…(oh dear, I don’t think your gonna like this).  Something else I’ve noticed in the Old Testament is that many times, as a judgement, God gave the people of Israel a king after their own hearts.  The story of how King Saul came into power is a good picture of this.  (1 Samuel 8)  The people of Israel begin to cry out for a king like the other nations, and God basically says, “Okay, you want a king like the other nations…I’ll give you a king like the other nations.”  And King Saul was a very destructive and evil king. 

The ultimate expression of this will be the Antichrist.  The first seal that Jesus removes from the scroll in Rev. 6 is the first judgement that is given to planet earth.  I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.  (v.2)  As a judgement, God removes His restraining hand (for, what we may not realize, is that throughout history, when things seemed very bad, it could have been a lot worse, if not for God’s restraining hand) and allows an evil man to come into power.  Note that he is given a bow, but not an arrow, indicating that he will rise to power without bloodshed, although what happens in the wake of his “arrival” is absolutely terrifying.  In the next three judgements we read of wars, famine, pestilence…a fourth of the earths population will perish.  Wow…all this because God chooses to step back, and basically says, “Okay, have at it.  You think you can govern yourselves…go ahead.” 

So, while I am at peace that God’s man will be in the White House, I am troubled that we have put him there.  God has given us a king after our own hearts.  Yes, I said “We.”  Many of us may not have voted for and supported a man who will make it easier for a woman to have an abortion, but we make choices every day that support his position.  We’ve grown apathetic and tired of hearing about abortion.  We gorge ourselves on entertainment, and feed our covetousness, thereby dulling our spirits so that we don’t feel the need to cry out to the Lord about an end to abortion.  We choose not to let our hearts be broken about an issue that just seems too big, too far away, and “not our fault.”  Lord, have mercy on us!

I don’t believe many of us realize the gravity of the evil of abortion, of having the innocent blood of 50 million babies on our hands.  Do we know that the Lord, in His justice, demands a reckoning for the shedding of innocent blood?  (Gen. 9:5-8, Num. 35:33)  President Lincoln believed that the Civil War was a day of reckoning for the injustice of slavery and the shedding of innocent blood done in the name of economic gain and racial oppression.   He said this about the civil war,

“Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said “the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.”

If what Lincoln came to conclude was true and if 600,000 men died on the battlefields of the Civil War to pay for the bloodshed of slavery, what will it mean if God brings a day of reckoning for the shed blood of conservatively 48 million aborted babies since 1973?  I fear that this day of reckoning will come upon our children, that my sons will be fighting in bloody war in order to appease the Lord’s justice.  For this is another Old Testament principle:  an individual can have a vibrant and deep relationship with the Lord, and he can be in right-standing with Him, but the Lord’s dealings with a nation are different altogether.  Think of how Daniel, although he was a righteous man, entered into Israel’s judgement as Babylon besieged their city. 

I would like to believe that the many Christians that voted Obama into power did so believing that somehow he would stem the tide of abortions in our country (although this is beyond my comprehension).  I don’t think this is the case at all though.  Human sentiment, and not the fear of the Lord was the motivating factor for most, I fear.  (By the way, if you do have a Biblical argument for supporting Obama I would love to hear it.  I’ve yet to hear a good one)  Jesus says seven times in Revelation, “Let him who has ears hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.”  Does the church really think that the Spirit is speaking about our economy, a war, education, ect., when a reckoning for millions of babies’ blood is required?  Oh dear, if our nation does not repent, stop abortion and ask the Lord for mercy for the shedding of innocent blood, a day of reckoning  will surely come.  For He is just…and his justice will not sleep forever.