We Have Made Kings to Rule Over Us
I am not thinking of any president in particular, but rather the presidency in general
1 Samuel 8:7-20 (NAS)
7 The LORD said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them. 8 “Like all the deeds which they have done since the day that I brought them up from Egypt even to this day—in that they have forsaken Me and served other gods—so they are doing to you also. 9 “Now then, listen to their voice; however, you shall solemnly warn them and tell them of the procedure of the king who will reign over them.”
Warning concerning a King
10 So Samuel spoke all the words of the LORD to the people who had asked of him a king. 11 He said, “This will be the procedure of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and place them for himself in his chariots and among his horsemen and they will run before his chariots. 12 “He will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and of fifties, and some to do his plowing and to reap his harvest and to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. 13 “He will also take your daughters for perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 “He will take the best of your fields and your vineyards and your olive groves and give them to his servants. 15 “He will take a tenth of your seed and of your vineyards and give to his officers and to his servants. 16 “He will also take your male servants and your female servants and your best young men and your donkeys and use them for his work. 17 “He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his servants. 18 “Then you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the LORD will not answer you in that day.”
19 Nevertheless, the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel, and they said, “No, but there shall be a king over us, 20 that we also may be like all the nations, that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.”
Indeed, there is nothing new under the sun, as it is written.
Ecclesiastes 1:9 (NAS)
That which has been is that which will be, And that which has been done is that which will be done. So there is nothing new under the sun.
Over the years, and this started very early in the republic, really taking flight with FDR and World War II, we have super-empowered the office of the President. The entire nation was turned to the service of government by FDR in the prosecution of World War II, and much of it we did not get back.
The government you elect is the government you deserve.
— Thomas Jefferson
As We the People have become weaker, we have incrementally and unceasingly transferred our power to our government in general, and the presidency in particular. And in our weakness we not only have enslaved ourselves, but our children, and their children.
Then I say, the earth belongs to each of these generations during its course, fully and in its own right. The second generation receives it clear of the debts and incumbrances of the first, the third of the second, and so on. For if the first could charge it with a debt, then the earth would belong to the dead and not to the living generation. Then, no generation can contract debts greater than may be paid during the course of its own existence.
—Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1789.
Revival
Unless there is a revival of Biblical proportions, I don’t see our way clear. The government, and the presidency, need to be put in their place, as perhaps higher powers, but subservient to the highest power. For some though, I would go so far as to say many, government is the be all and end all; there is such a thing as the civil religion, and much of the population worships at its altars.
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