Voting For Righteousness Part 2
by Kay Arthur

". . .I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity."
-1 Timothy 2:1, 2

Beloved, we cannot be apathetic about righteousness. Apathy leads to apostasy. Apostasy means you turn away (depart) from something you once believed. This we have done as a nation. What we once considered sin and would not tolerate as acceptable behavior is now acceptable. And where does apostasy lead? To anarchy-no absolutes! The individual determines what is right and wrong.

The last five chapters of Judges summarize anarchy and the times in which we live: "every man did what was right in his own eyes." In the dark days of Judges, the people professed God but lived in anarchy. So they reaped what they sowed. When they did not honor God as God, God gave them over to idolatry (Judges 17, 18), immorality (Judges 19), homosexuality (Judges 19), and internal war (Judges 20, 21).

It's right where America is today, isn't it? Wouldn't you call it anarchy when local governors and courts flaunt the laws of our nation and marry homosexuals, granting them equal status with heterosexual marriages?

And what must you do about it if you are to be salt (a preservative) and light (a dispeller of darkness)? You must vote righteousness. You must choose daily, moment by moment, situation by situation, and opportunity by opportunity to do what is right in God's eyes. You must determine to be righteous even in the midst of unrighteousness. To be righteous is to live by what God says is right.

And you must vote-you must push aside the apathy and get up and go to the polls and vote for the candidate that is closest to the standards of the Word of God.

If you don't, Beloved, then you need to be prepared to bear the consequences of a nation that continues to rebel against the absolutes of God's Word. Get prepared for the judgments of God spelled out for us in Ezekiel 14:12-20, where God Himself says, "If a country sins against Me by committing unfaithfulness..."

Unfaithfulness is our scarlet letter, emblazoned on our foreheads. You see it not only in our relationships, our business practices, and our duties to God and His Word, but also in the chambers of our lawmakers. Our nation has been unfaithful to the God whose name is chiseled on our monuments and engraved on our currency. If you vote the economy rather than righteousness, you can rest assured the idol of greed will be crushed under the powerful hand of God; and we, like Israel, will drink the water made bitter, sprinkled with the powder of our idols (Exodus 32:20).

God gave us a wake-up call on 9/11, but time has proven we turned to Him in worldly sorrow rather than godly sorrow. We regretted our unpreparedness and accused whomever we could accuse, but we never sought our Sovereign God with a godly sorrow that would lead to repentance as described in 2 Corinthians 7. What will it take next? What will it take to get us, a nation originally founded on fear and respect for a holy Sovereign, to turn from our ungodly ways?

O Beloved, go to your knees and stay there until you’ve confessed all personal unrighteousness. Then, as Daniel did in Daniel 9, plead with God on behalf of this nation "so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity." Then get on your feet and go to the polls and cast your vote for righteousness.

We can make a difference, Beloved! The polls are our God-ordained opportunity to make a difference. And if godless leaders are voted in, in spite of our votes and prayers, then we will know we did what we could, and God will see and honor our obedience.

Benjamin Franklin, who was a deist, not a Christian, concluded his remarks with these words:

"'We have been assured, sir, in the sacred writings that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this. I also believe that, without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel; we shall be divided by our little, partial, local interests; our projects will be confounded; and we ourselves shall become a reproach and a byword down to future ages. And what is worse, mankind may hereafter, from this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing government by human wisdom and leave it to chance, war, or conquest.'"i

At Precept Ministries International, we're so concerned about the state of our nation and we're committing to prayer every Thursday at noon to pray for our country, and for this upcoming election. We invite you to join us. Go to www.PreceptsForLife.com and click the "America at the Crossroads" banner to download "A Call to Corporate Prayer." May the Lord bless you, Beloved, and may He continue to bless and preserve our great nation!

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i Marshall and Manuel, From Sea to Shining Sea, p. 18.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008