GOOD LEADERS AND BAD

History is replete with nations whose leaders were alternately good and bad. The good leaders would provide security and prosperity, and then the bad leaders would come along and cause discord and poverty. The cycle repeated itself time and time again.

The same could have happened in the USA were it not for the president’s limited terms, either by losing an election or by assassination or death, or simply choosing not to run again. And now the President has a limited time he may remain in office which is two terms or eight years. This purges the bad but also, unfortunately, limits the good.

The United States has had forty-five presidents in its 243 year history, which is an average of 5.4 years for each. Compare that to the USSR which had eight leaders in its seventy years, which is about 9 years for each. And ancient Israel and Judah had nineteen kings in about 450 years, averaging 24 years a piece.

The Bible gives a detailed account of both the good and evil kings who reigned over the two nations. The evil ones were evil indeed and the good ones very good. Of course some were just mediocre, like a few of our presidents. What separated the aforementioned kings was their devotion to Jehovah God and his laws and commandments. Theirs was a spiritual standard, and God still has these standards.

But unlike a monarchy, the USA is a representative republic wherein Congress and the Supreme Court have coequal authority with the Executive. So the overall spirituality of our nation is laid at the feet of all three branches. And that actually trickles down to the individuals in our government, both elected and appointed. We vote for the elected officials who in turn appoint staffs, assistants, and department heads. These then hire more unelected persons. All of these make up our federal government. And the states, counties, cities, villages and townships all operate in a similar fashion.

God judged Israel’s leaders, but He also judged the citizens. Some folks followed the leaders, good or bad, and some followed God’s leading despite who was king. We can learn from the Bible or ignore its teachings about national spirituality. We can follow leaders who are opposed to God or we can follow God in spite of what some in the government are saying and doing. The choice is there for each of us.

COPYRIGHT 2019 BY CARL E GUSTAFSON