Mr. President! Are You Willing To Do The Right Thing?

     I seldom write about politics, convinced that the institution (basically, for the most part) corrupts those who participate in it. To generalize, the politicians with the most money are usually elected and are beholding to their contributors, who are usually comprised of major corporations whose goals are to influence the enactment of laws to benefit their coffers.

     However, we did see a news item that caught our eye, in the midst of the tumult of the immigrant protest marches across the country, in response to the “anti-immigrant law” passed by the Arizona government, which allows law enforcement to indiscriminately stop and question any resident if they believe they are in this country illegally. They have been doing this for the longest time one wonders why they needed to pass such a law, other than to symbolically appease residents who do not want Mexicans in their neighborhoods.

     It went by unnoticed by many (and under-reported by main stream media) that in essence, President Obama has tabled any immediate proposals or response to solve the imminently incendiary problems that immigration reform represent, instead he plans focus on his healthcare and economic agenda. Believe it or not, those are much easier to address than immigration reform.

     Obviously, the upcoming election year could be harmful to a Democrat Administration, so he pushed the immigration issue to the back burner, which has infuriated both pro and con. Here again, this is why we have great disdain for politics because it’s really not about responding to critical issues by doing the right thing, it’s all about being reelected to office and maintaining power to fill their coffers even more so. Sadly, not even the Tea Party Movement can remove these crooks; but God can!

     The Bible clearly shows us that God is sovereign and that it is He who gives kingdoms to whomever He chooses. Many believe God gave the US Kingdom to Barack Obama because he said all the right things, (especially about helping the poor) that got him elected. Others say he lied and has been running the country the same way as previous administrations, which basically thrive from the benefits of being in office: More power and more money to the already privileged elite!

     If anything, we believe God gave the present US kingdom to Obama so that the world could see one more time that today’s Kingdoms don’t respond to God’s precepts, they only respond to their idols of fame, power and money, at the expense of the poor and oppressed. Be it Republican, Democrat, Tea, Green, Independent parties, they are all the same and this is why we are in the same predicament we have been in for decades.

     The books of 1st and 2nd Kings and 1st and 2nd Chronicles give explicit accounts of the early Kingdoms of the Israelites; clearly showing us that those kings who obeyed God’s laws flourished while those who believed in their own power and might have always failed. In essence, God reacts according to his stated precepts (especially about His creation bowing to other gods), and those who go against Him will reap what they sowed.

     In the Book of Daniel (chapter 4) we see a vivid example of this as it recounts the kingdom of King Nebuchadnezzar. This vain ruler controlled most of the free world of that period. He was so caught up with his own ego and self-importance that he even erected a giant statue of himself and demanded his subjects to bow before it or die.
     Apparently, the king had a dream that frightened him tremendously, and he sought out someone to interpret it. Daniel (the same guy who was protected by God when he was cast into the lion’s den) was summoned and Daniel, after hearing the king recount his dream, basically told him that he better change his ways (egoistically in belief his mighty kingdom was a success due to his own efforts) or he would be punished if he didn’t acknowledge that it has been God all along who blessed him.
     Daniel advised the King and said “Therefore, O king, be pleased to accept my advice: Renounce your sins by doing what is right and your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed. It may be that then your prosperity will continue.

     The king didn’t relent therefore he received his due punishment (Let him be drenched with the dew of heaven, and let him live with the animals among the plants of the earth, his mind was changed from that of a man and was given the mind of an animal, until seven years passed by for him). The Bible doesn’t state what happened to the Kingdom during those seven years that Nebuchadnezzar was being punished; maybe it thrived under new leadership, maybe it didn’t. We would like to think that the King’s replacement did the right thing, especially after seeing what happened to the old king. Doing the right thing takes a lot of courage and it may even cost a person their crown. But, I would venture to say that God would keep that man (or woman) around for another term. Only history can be the judge; but, the main issue we are dealing with here is the punishment of this once great king, who paid a heavy price, for not doing the right thing!

     After seven years of this punishment, King Nebuchadnezzar obviously learned his lesson and his sanity was restored, honor and splendor were returned to him as he was given back his throne and he became even greater than before. He began praising God and exalted and glorified the King of heaven, acknowledging that everything God does is right and that all of his ways are just and those who walk in pride he is able to humble:


All the peoples of the earth
are regarded as nothing.
He does as he pleases
with the powers of heaven
and the peoples of the earth.
No one can hold back his hand
or say to him: "What have you done?"

     Nebuchadnezzar was succeeded by a series of weak rulers. Then, in 539 BC, the forces of the rival Persian Empire infiltrated Babylon's formidable defenses, and the city fell. The Persians held power for about 200 years, before being conquered by the Greeks; then, they in, turn were supplanted by the Romans. Vain rulers (politicians) and subtle and clever dictators continue to rule in un-Godly manner to this day. History is replete with cruel and arrogant leaders who flaunt their power, and hold their people captive to their vanity.

     Most people will respond and say, “Yea, Yea, big deal, Nebuchadnezzar’s story is just an old fable and it cannot be applied in today’s political atmosphere.”
     Well, we have had “Doughting Thomas’ for centuries, and God usually makes them feel foolish when they see the future unfold before there very eyes.

     Who truly knows? Based solely on common sense, it appears to us that doing the right thing is the way to go. Leaders, who bend to those who are applying pressure for their own selfish reasons, may win out, in the short run. But does that bode well for the oppressed, those whom God is greatly concerned about?

     The lackadaisical manner in which America’s leadership is responding and reacting to the immigration crisis, it looks like this issue will fester as it has for the last 10 to 15 years, one that has been ignored by most kings in the past.

     In doing so, a dark cloud looms in the horizon, one which could take us back to the 1860’s, when the issue of another oppressed people led this country into a civil war, where brothers, sisters and cousins fought and killed each other, instead of calmly and judiciously doing the right thing!
     To accomplish this task, plain and simple, we need leaders who are willing to do the right thing! Doing the right thing means we do it God’s way. Most people don’t believe the problem of immigration can be solved other than to drive 12 million Mexicans back to Mexico. Many of these folks claim they are Christian but yet deny that God has enough power to solve this problem other than by enacting laws or beefing up law enforcement to begin extricating as many Latinos as possible out of their (own American) country.

     Well, doing it God’s way requires true faith in Jesus Christ, trusting He will respond to our prayers, if they are said and done for all the right reasons, which usually means to pray that His will be done! That is unless we have another agenda!

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For more information about Joe’s blogs, web sites and his two recently published books: The End Times Passover and Why Christians Will Suffer Great Tribulation (Author House), click here. Joe Ortiz