1Sam. 12:1 Samuel said to all Israel, “I have listened to you in all that you have said to me, and have set a king over you. 2 See, it is the king who leads you now…13See, here is the king whom you have chosen, for whom you have asked;

I’ve heard many passionately express that ‘the church is not the place for politics!’ Sadly enough, because of the church’s conventional desire to ‘respect the opinion of others,’ we’ve seen politics as a secular issue and have succumbed to loose associations with political agendas endorsed by modern day court prophets. James Dobson and Pat Robinson give us the issues with which to be concerned, based upon what they have identified as critical to the possible collapse of the American family and in turn the American Nation.

Not least amongst these issues have been abortion, homosexual marriage and maintaining autonomy independent of the forces that would form a ‘one world government.’ In the end, the American church is looking for a representative who will carry out its ideals in what encompasses our ‘American Dream.’ A definitive sign of this associative politic will be the many campaign posters of desired candidates that will fill the lawns of our houses of worship.

We’re about a year out from the elections of the 44^th President of the United States of America. The hype surrounding this election is again directed at the public profiles of the future leaders of the ‘free world.’ Based upon their partisan representation, patriotic allegiance, religious affiliation and now ethnic and gender association, 125 million American citizens will exercise their right to choose for themselves a leader to guide them into what they hope to be a predictable future based upon the fulfilled promises of their President elect.

One of the myths of democracy is that political power is accountable to the people. The idea is that we are no longer under the tyranny of monarchs, but have an established system that gives voice to the masses in regard to the direction of it’s future. Ideally, democracy is to produce a nation governed by the opinions of it’s people, but two centuries of experience with this social experiment has proven that we are in no different place than Israel almost 3 millennia ago. Whether we admit it or not, the emphasis on choosing for ourselves a president is indicative of the fact that we will be subject to the rule of a powerful human being who has the ability to change the course of our future– even if we do get to ‘choose’ him/her.

So what’s the difference between a King and a President? Not much. Both are the political figureheads and commanders of the military. Both live in the capital city, in the capital house. Both have authority to affect every person under their rule. Both are human.

In the bible, it is God’s compromise with humanity that allows for kings to rule over his people. Even though God’s role as the authoritative governor of humanity was fabricated into creation itself, because of humanities desire for a visible ruler, God yielded to their request for a king.

1 Sam 8:13b…see, the LORD has set a king over you. 14 If you will fear the LORD and serve him and heed his voice and not rebel against the commandment of the LORD, and if both you and the king who reigns over you will follow the LORD your God, it will be well; 15 but if you will not heed the voice of the LORD, but rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then the hand of the LORD will be against you and your king.

God’s compromise in allowing a human individual to rule over his people was accompanied by a stipulation that both the nation and the king should fear the LORD, heed his voice and not rebel against his word.

Any nation with a human being ruling over them can never allow for that human to determine what is right and wrong without accountability to the command/word of God. We must not fall victim to the indoctrination of kings, which leads the people into an acceptance of their divine approval as a way to have their rule authorized by God. Evidence of such activity is found in the many preachers who announce, with a misappropriation of Romans 13, that the President is God’s chosen to rule the nation – the election itself is a proof that God has nothing to do with the selection of the President/King, as the verse states ‘here is the king whom you have chosen…’

A human leader is God’s compromise until the King of kings and Lord of lords establishes his eternal Kingdom. Until then, that elected leader is accountable to God by obedience to his commands in the form of exacting legislation subjected to that authority. In this way, any king will do; he functions as a servant to do what is right – according to the command of the LORD, not according to what seems ‘right in their own eyes,’ but as revealed through his word manifested in justice and righteousness.

This is not a call to anarchy, it’s a call to order – a scattered humanity being gathered under the rule and reign of the their rightful King, regardless of what imaginary borders attempt to accomplish by their false boundaries, humanity can be joined together in this ‘earth that is the Lord’s and everything in it!’

There is no stronger political statement than, “Jesus is LORD.” The in-breaking of the Kingdom of God, as reflected in Jesus’ prayer, “your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth…” is a subversive front whose origin is not of this world, but is breaking into it whenever human beings reject the ultimate governance of nations and kings when they refuse to be accountable to the justice and righteousness of God as mandated in his word. This transfer of citizenship, from earth to heaven, embraces the inevitable truth that ‘every knee will bow, every tongue confess,’ every nation, every kingdom, even the United States of America, that Jesus is Lord!

Who is going to be the next President of the United States? Does it even matter when Jesus is LORD? Are we really focusing on the proper issue here? Will we look to a human to solve our global crisis, or will we give ourselves humbly over to God as a sign to the world that only He is the rightful King of humanity!? Only he has the plans that will embrace all of creation in a re-ordering of that which he intended this world to be – good.

Whose face is on that dollar bill? “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar; give to God what belongs to God.” “As for me and my house we will serve the LORD.”