In 1963 Hollywood released a slapstick movie titled, “It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.” That’s a fair description of the political environment in America right now. I’ve not seen anything so bizarre in my lifetime as the events in the present presidential campaign. However it’s not a comedy, it’s reality…and it’s on the verge of becoming a tragedy.
The two leading Democratic presidential candidates are a 74 year-old socialist and a 68 year-old former president’s wife who could possibly be indicted for her mishandling of classified information while serving as Secretary of State. Over half of the American people say the front-runner for the next President is dishonest and not to be trusted.
The leading Republican candidate has been married three times and reminds me of a boastful, crude playground bully. A few years ago he supported partial birth abortion and gay marriage. In last week’s debate he suggested President George W. Bush intentionally lied about the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Yet he has been endorsed by the President of Liberty University and a good many evangelicals. His two nearest competitors are inexperienced, first-term senators who are attacking and destroying each other. Go figure! Could this really be happening?
In an unprecedented move this past week the Pope weighed in on the American Presidential race by stating anyone who proposed building a wall between Mexico and the United States wasn’t really a Christian. That’s bizarre considering the Vatican itself is encompassed by a 39 foot-high wall to protect the pope and the resources of the Catholic Church. It’s also strange since during his nearly three years in office the pontiff has said nothing critical of the current U.S. president who is the most pro-abortion president in history.
Recently the President of the United States visited a mosque with known-terrorists ties and then this past Saturday chose not to attend the funeral of a Supreme Court justice who served his country for thirty years. That decision puzzled even some of the President’s allies and was regarded by his opponents as an unprecedented bipartisan snub.
What strange times! This is unlike any political situation in my lifetime. What is wrong? Why so much chaos and bipartisan rancor? What in the world is going on? It’s indeed a mad, mad, mad, mad world.
Remember the warning of our second President, John Adams? “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” A democracy is a terrible system of government if the majority of people are amoral. If three men and two women are marooned on an island and the three men decide it’s okay to rape the women, that’s democracy…at its worst. Democracy only works if there is a common moral consensus.
America began as a nation based on a common belief that God was the source of human rights. But in the last fifty years we’ve removed daily Bible reading and prayer from the public education system, we’ve legalized the killing of millions of unborn babies and have defied God’s word concerning marriage and the family. Some even mock the concept of a Creator. We tolerate injustice, promote greed and lead the world in producing and exporting pornography.
No wonder the foundations of our political system are cracking and threatening to collapse. The Scripture warns, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life” (Gal. 6:7-8).
Could it be that God is just allowing us to reap what we’ve sowed? Like an old-time father who secretly watches his son sneak a chew of tobacco and lets him experience the consequences of nausea for his own benefit, could it be that God is patiently allowing us to see what happens when we reject Him? Could the current chaos be His patient way of pleading with us to repent and return to Him?
Next month a group of influential Christian leaders from Kentucky are gathering to pray and seek God’s guidance for ways to initiate a spiritual awakening in our state. We believe that revival is our only hope. We don’t need a new president; we need Divine intervention.
Dramatic spiritual reversals happened in Bible days. Revivals also occurred in American history – some of the most significant initiated in Kentucky. A significant revival can happen again if enough believers will get serious about repentance, confession and total surrender to the will of God. God promises, “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).
Pray that God will guide our meeting next month and pray that He will send revival and heal our land. Otherwise we have no hope. But, “…with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26).
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