Politics - Rearranging Deck Chairs on the Titanic

[sparkman]

Politics is the constant topic of discussion lately.

One of my friends told me once that man's politics is only rearranging chairs on the Titanic. I thought that was a great analogy. We might make things better for a while, but ultimately man's rebellious attempt to govern himself will only prove to be a colossal failure....indeed it already has proven to be such.

There is no hope in "arms of flesh". Deliverance does not come through a man.

Jeremiah 17:5 Thus says the LORD: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD.

2 Chronicles 32:8 With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God, to help us and to fight our battles.” And the people took confidence from the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

Mankind rejected God's direction and sovereignty in the Garden of Eden. We basically told God to get lost, and did not trust him. God granted our wish and let us have our way. It seems like mankind could not learn from revelation that God is good and that we can trust Him; instead we must learn by cruel experience that sin and rebellion against God only leads to suffering of all types (physical, mental and spiritual) and ultimately to destruction.

The Bible talks about the ultimate culmination in mankind's rebellion. It is not going to be a pretty picture. Hopefully you have repented of your rebellion, placed your faith in Jesus Christ and his atoning sacrifice, and have turned your back on this failing, miserable world.

From an eternal perspective, man's attempt to govern himself is doomed to failure, and our nation's attempt to do so is likewise pathetic.

Our country has messed itself up hopelessly by jumping in bed with "lovers", or foreign allies, who are abominable. The Saudis are a great example. Besides being anti-Christ, they have abominable practices, including enslaving people, even using them for sexual purposes, despite their proclaimed morality. It's all right in the Qur'an to abuse non-Muslims in such a manner. Mohammad even allowed his companions to have sex with married captive women, with their husband and children still alive and captive..if I'm not mistaken the Hadith records the grieving of the husband and children as these rapes were happening.

Pakistani boys are obtained by them and starved to lower their weight in order to make them more effective as horse and camel jockeys. One of the major horse industry centers in the USA is located in Lexington, Kentucky. Some of the citizens of the area didn't want the Saudis involved in the local activities due to this behavior, however ultimately money makes things happen.

Yet, does our government address their immorality strongly? No, and we are not the only ones. Saudi royalty commits immoral acts in European countries with no repercussions. I have seen multiple news items about Saudi royalty committing immorality in other countries and being released with no jail time.

Do not entertain the illusion that the USA is moral. We intervene in other nations based on our own self-interest, not due to humanitarian reasons.

It may surprise you, but God faulted ancient Israel for the exact same behavior; creating alliances with immoral nations. He called them "lovers". Israel made allies with the immoral pagan nations around them, instead of trusting totally in God.

Anyways my hope is in Jesus Christ and his return, and I'm sure it's the same with those who are redeemed. We may make it better for a while by voting for a Christian candidate, but from an eternal perspective, we are just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

It won't stop me from voting for a truly Christian candidate if there is one, but my hope isn't in that. I rest in God's sovereignty and the ultimate return of Jesus Christ.

 

[JesusIsAll]

Interesting and telling of scripture, have you noticed the Lord often doesn't dignify empires or nations as even being human when He uses symbology of them, rather characterizes them as beasts? Beasts, wild animals, are covetous of prey and bloodthirsty, and, of course, subhuman. (Though, shameful for humans, animals will generally only kill what they need to eat, don't simply slaughter entire herds of other creatures.)

A passage of scripture which eerily describes the behavior of empires, including the U.S., is the following, and it should give anybody pause:

Habakkuk 2:2-12 Then the LORD answered me and said, Record the vision and inscribe it on tablets, that the one who reads it may run. For the vision is yet for the appointed time; It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; For it will certainly come, it will not delay. Behold, as for the proud one, his soul is not right within him; But the righteous will live by his faith. Furthermore, wine betrays the haughty man, so that he does not stay at home. He enlarges his appetite like Sheol, and he is like death, never satisfied. He also gathers to himself all nations and collects to himself all peoples. Will not all of these take up a taunt-song against him, even mockery and insinuations against him and say, 'Woe to him who increases what is not his-- For how long-- And makes himself rich with loans?' Will not your creditors rise up suddenly, and those who collect from you awaken? Indeed, you will become plunder for them. Because you have looted many nations, all the remainder of the peoples will loot you-- Because of human bloodshed and violence done to the land, To the town and all its inhabitants. Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house to put his nest on high, to be delivered from the hand of calamity! You have devised a shameful thing for your house by cutting off many peoples; So you are sinning against yourself. Surely the stone will cry out from the wall, and the rafter will answer it from the framework. Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and founds a town with violence!

Or a proud nation that goes its own way:

Isaiah 66:1-5 Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest? For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word. He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog's neck; he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine's blood; he that burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations. I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not. Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word; your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name's sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed.

It can get to where the Lord won't hear prayers of a nation astray, even His elect:

Jeremiah 7:14-17 Therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by my name, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh. And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim. Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee. Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

When you think about it, is it even proper to pray for anything but repentance, that a nation turn back to God, if a nation has become evil? Do we pray for the Lord to bless and strengthen evil doers, pray for the Lord to reward iniquity, to reward criminality?

The Lord rejects those who strive against Him:

Hosea 4-7 Yet let no man strive, nor reprove another: for thy people are as they that strive with the priest. Therefore shalt thou fall in the day, and the prophet also shall fall with thee in the night, and I will destroy thy mother. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. As they were increased, so they sinned against me: therefore will I change their glory into shame.

Just some things to ponder the Lord is quite vocal about in scripture, the above merely a few good examples of where pride and iniquity, that's normal, daily news of our times, will lead.

 

[popeye]

[h=2]Rearranging Deck Chairs on the Titanic[/h]
You got that one right. Good analogy.

What has happened is we lost an entire generation of youth. They are clueless spiritually.