KEEP WATCH

Godless Leadership: When They Don't Want God

If you missed the 2012 Democratic National Convention (DNC), Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles called the delegates to reinstate God and Jerusalem (recognized as the capital of Israel) back into its platform language. Fox News reported that before the convention, the Democratic Party had removed all reference to God and Jerusalem from the platform. In other words, no one could mention God, Jerusalem, and other "objectionable" words.

The decision to reinsert God back into the language during the convention became a huge embarrassment when Mayor Villaraigosa called for a vote to get it done. After the call, the mayor became visibly perplexed when hearing an equal number of ayes and nays. He called twice more and got the same results. Villaraigosa, unable to establish a clear majority then said, "In the opinion of the chair, two-thirds have voted in the affirmative and the amendment is passed." The delegates reacted angrily with loud boos and touted the required two-thirds majority had not been reached. Clearly, half of the delegates did not want God to be part of their future.

Although not an isolated incident, it reveals a troubling trend towards godless leadership. In April 2012, I wrote about the Titanic, the "unsinkable ship" that collided with an iceberg and sank south of Newfoundland in 1912. Days before Titanic sank, a White Star Line employee boasted, "God Himself could not sink the ship." Now, one hundred years later a political party boasted they do not need God to rule over them by brazenly voting to remove all mention of His name from the platform. The Bible says God will not be mocked by the likes of such men (Galatians 6:7), and He has given them over to debased minds (Romans 1:28). Many of these delegates support abortion, same sex marriage, and other sinful behaviors. If God has been lifting His hand of protection from the United States, what prevents Him from removing it altogether?

Titanic's final resting place remained a mystery until 1985 when oceanographer Bob Ballard found the debris field more than two miles down in utter darkness. The "ship of dreams" had been torn apart and the bow and stern discovered facing in opposite directions. Today, the political atmosphere in this country is a debris field of twisted and confused values. The minds of men are jumbled and dark. This country has been brutally torn apart by destructive, ungodly ideologies that are as different as day and night. While the iron-dissolving bacterium is slowly eating away at the iron hull of Titanic, the bacterium of opposing ideologies is slowing eating away at the Constitutional rights of every American.

An inescapable catastrophe, like the sinking of a luxury ship, is most often the result of fateful decisions (like links in a chain) that come together and tether people to a single event with little hope of escape. For the United States, it would appear all the warnings about the icebergs of fiscal irresponsibility, self-serving action by Congress, and lack of political leadership are coming together to eat away at the iron hull of the United States in a way that will send "this nation of dreams" to the bottom.

Although I wish it were not so, the truth about this nation's current situation should not be glossed over with "fairytale solutions" promised by either political party. The steel super structure of the United States, although severely damaged, is still holding but in danger of being torn in half by unseen forces and strewn over a wide area. This unimaginable scene of pending destruction strongly suggests God will have the last word in the debate between Himself and the arrogance of prideful men (Hosea 4:6). But then, what of us?

The Bible speaks of a time when the world will enter into great tribulation (Matthew 24:21). I suspect we are witnessing the beginning of such woe. Jesus spoke of this day and said that when you see these things coming upon the world, let not your heart be troubled (John 14:1). God warned the unruly people of Noah's day about the coming judgment. Both then and today, unrepentant hearts remain unmoved by the warnings and take pleasure in rejecting the very mention of God's name (Romans 1:28).

How shall they escape, those who shake their heart-rejecting fist at God with a nay vote (Hebrews 2:3)? The good news is that although this nation of dreams, like the Titanic, has suffered irrevocable damage from striking multiple icebergs, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is our strong foundation. Jesus is our watertight lifeboat wholly capable of saving all who get in before it is too late (John 3:16).

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Published 9-11-12