“All the leaders of the priests and the people became more and more unfaithful, following all the detestable practices of the nations and defiling the temple of the LORD, which he had consecrated in Jerusalem. The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because he had pity on his people and on his dwelling place. But they mocked God's messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the LORD was aroused against his people and there was no remedy.”  (2 Chronicles 36:14-16).

When a nation wholeheartedly rejects God as the children of Israel often did, His loving discipline led to calls for repentance. When His messengers were actively despised or benignly neglected no other remedy remained but punishment. As the moral majority declines into the moral minority, sexual immorality of all kinds, child murder, injustice, and man's inhumanity to man are tolerated and then embraced.  Government continues its encroachment upon religious freedom (see LCMS.org for more information), but we still have the right to vote. Inform yourself about godly leadership characteristics. Why did God's Spirit inspire all of the history of the monarchy in Israel if we were just going to ignore His wisdom?

Does character matter when choosing political leaders or are we simply voting for a “bread king” who will use the force of government to take other people's money and use it to benefit us? Are we willing to continue to subsidize organizations which are responsible for the 57,000,000 million American deaths by abortion since Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton? Does the quadrupling of our national debt have any consequences for us as individuals, our cities, states and foreign policy? Does our failure to address radical Islam's genocide of Christians in the Middle East and Africa bode well for our nation and world? Do we as individuals have any responsibility to God and country to try to improve things?

Let us prayerfully assess the challenges which confront us, effectively manage the priviliges and responsibilties we enjoy as Christian citizens of this country, and do our absolute best to build up our churches, communities and country to the glory of God.