Pray for the President

Pray for the President
by Joel Hilliker


All hail the chief.

For the past eight years, liberals have ridiculed and maligned America’s president. Now, many who call themselves conservative are eager to dish some of that punishment back.

That would be a mistake. It wasn’t right before—it wouldn’t be right now.

Perhaps it seems un-American to make such a statement. One of this nation’s founding principles was that people should be critical of the government. The ability to disparage the authorities is viewed as a benchmark of a nation’s freedom.

Did you ever look the subject up in the Bible? Does God encourage us to disparage the government under which we live?

No—in fact, God demands that every American citizen respect the office of our new president, Barack Hussein Obama.

"You shall not revile God, nor curse a ruler of your people” (Exodus 22:28, Revised Standard Version). Why would God link reviling Him—that is, esteeming Him lightly, making jokes about Him or treating Him with dishonor—with cursing a “ruler,” or public official? Because cursing government officials reflects derision toward government and authority in general—and that can certainly infect our attitude toward God, the ultimate authority. For evidence, we only need consider how our society resounds with reviling and cursing of both the government and God.

The command in Ecclesiastes 10:20 goes even further: “Curse not the king, no not in thy thought; and curse not the rich in thy bedchamber ….” So God is concerned not only with what comes out of our mouths, but also what goes on in our minds, regarding our rulers. (See also Job 34:18.)

Cursing rulers, speaking ill of the government, even disparaging rich business leaders—these are hallmarks of American democracy. Our media are filled with buffoonish caricatures, smart-alecky skits and crass jokes, all relished as signs of healthy public discussion about our leaders. On top of that, any mistake the president or other public official makes, the press and public attack with piranha-like ferocity.

The biblical view regarding proper treatment of governing officials is founded on the truth contained in Romans 13:1: “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.” Accomplishing His will through a variety of physical means, God ordains people into worldly offices. All power comes from Him. (See also Daniel 4:17.)

The passage in Romans 13 shows that God judges those who resist the leader He has installed (verse 2). A Bible-believer’s duty, then, is to submit to authorities and respect their physical offices. It is a form of submitting to and respecting God Himself. One who follows the Bible should be a model citizen. (If a human command conflicts with God’s law, however, we must obey God—and then submit to the punishment; Acts 5:29.)

In 1964, reflecting on the events surrounding John F. Kennedy’s recent assassination, Herbert W. Armstrong wrote, “God’s Word teaches us to have respect for authority. There can be no power, except as God allows. The Bible does not teach that this world’s governments are righteous, or representing God. But, so long as God allows them to wield an authority He established—even though they wield it contrary to His laws—to disrespect the government is to disrespect God.”

Yes, politicians can abuse their authority, enact misguided policy, and serve themselves or some evil purpose. Still, the office is ordained of God! Thus, we should honor that office. Though God despises abuses and corruption in leaders, it is He who will judge those leaders, not you or me.

It is true that godly men and women throughout history have had to criticize governing officials, to tell them their sins—even on commission from God. But even that, to be in keeping with the divine law, should be done with respect for the office. In the Trumpet, you will certainly read criticism of the government’s policies, but we endeavor never to take cheap shots or show personal disrespect for those filling those governing posts. You will never see demeaning caricatures in our publications.

Instead of undignified comments, here is what the Apostle Paul said we should say of our leaders: “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty” (1 Timothy 2:1-2).

Of course, that doesn’t say we are to pray for President Obama’s success in enacting policies that are contrary to God’s law. It says we are to pray for him that we may live a quiet and peaceable life.

Joseph Farah, in an article this week called “Pray Obama Fails,” called this approach “soft-minded” and “misguided.” “I do not hesitate today in calling on godly Americans to pray that Barack Hussein Obama fail in his efforts to change our country from one anchored on self-governance and constitutional republicanism to one based on the raw and unlimited power of the central state,” he wrote. “I want Obama to fail because his agenda is 100 percent at odds with God’s. Pretending it is not simply makes a mockery of God’s straightforward commandments.”

Will God answer those prayers? If God intended to protect America from the damaging policies of which Farah speaks, wouldn’t it have been easier for God to prevent Mr. Obama from winning the presidency in the first place? An honest look at what is happening in and to this country—economically, militarily, morally, socially, spiritually—shows that we are suffering curses for our sins. Frankly, those curses are bound to intensify under an administration with more respect for its own self-made ideals than for the authority of Scripture. We should have no illusions about that—and you should expect to read plenty about those curses on this website in the time ahead.

Nevertheless, the fact remains that 1 Timothy 2 tells us to offer prayers and thanks for—not against—all those in authority, and it doesn’t contain the provision, “as long as their agenda matches God’s.”

What is God trying to teach us by telling us to respect the office and submit to and pray for our president and whoever else rules over us?

1 Peter 2:13 tells us to “Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake.” For whose sake? The Lord’s.

Why? So we learn to submit to government. It will be much easier to submit to a loving God if we learn to submit to a hard boss. We all must learn the lesson of submitting to government even if it is not being applied correctly.

Look at Christ’s example. He put Himself totally in His Father’s hands, knowing God was in control of everything. When He came before Pilate, He didn’t revile—He submitted Himself to that authority. He knew that Pilate had no power but what God gave him, and that everything occurs in accordance with God’s ultimate purpose (verses 22-23; John 19:10-11).

If we can learn this lesson of submitting to whomever God puts over us in this world, it will tremendously help us in our relationship with our heavenly Father. It will, in fact, prepare us for the Kingdom of God.

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Some go to one extreme and some go to the other extreme. As far as proper respect for government and leaders, God help us to be balanced according to His Word.

As Mr. Hilliker noted, and I would emphasize in these trying times: "If a human command conflicts with God’s law, however, we must obey God—and then submit to the punishment; Acts 5:29."

Joseph Farah, of WorldNetDaily.com., is right to encourage folks to pray Obama fails.

Of course our beloved country is under a curse or they would have never elected the illegitimate Gentile Obama! But part of our repentance is to acknowledge that fact and then go forward in attitude and in actions, in words and in deeds, and make sure Obama fails by returning to biblical standards (the Law of Moses tempered with the Sermon on the Mount) and reject our physical and spiritual idolatry and immorality that have brought us to this low point where British Israelites and Jews are in grave danger.

Joseph Farah and many others need to plea to diehard Catholics & Protestants to repent - if Obama is to fail.

"We The People" can reverse the curse by repentance, so help us God, or we'll soon be ravaged by weather and war. There actually comes a time, and it appears we're almost there, when we are to no longer pray for our people, no longer to intercede for God to withhhold divine punishment from our leaders or nation! (Jeremiah 7:16; 11:14; 14:11).

Was Isaiah wrong for being critical or disparaging his government?

Isaiah 1
14 Alas, sinful nation,
A people laden with iniquity,
A brood of evildoers,
Children who are corrupters!
They have forsaken the LORD,
They have provoked to anger
The Holy One of Israel,
They have turned away backward.
5 Why should you be stricken again?
You will revolt more and more.
The whole head is sick,
And the whole heart faints.
6 From the sole of the foot even to the head,
There is no soundness in it,
But wounds and bruises and putrefying sores;
They have not been closed or bound up,
Or soothed with ointment.
7 Your country is desolate,
Your cities are burned with fire;
Strangers devour your land in your presence;
And it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.

Isaiah dared to address the issue of treacherous and destructive militant minorities in the inner cities and rebuked Israel's government and people for it!

God's Word reveals many courageous servants who didn't merely pray for their leaders but took them to task. Remember John the Baptist and Herod? Moses and Pharaoh? Elijah and Ahab? It even got JB killed for daring to speak the plain truth to power. He told Herod it wasn't lawful for him to be in his adulterous affair and everybody knew about it! To fail to do less, isn't doing anybody a favor.

Was Elijah being disrespectful when he accused the king and his family of forsaking truth for tradition and cursing the nation?

1 Kings 17
17 Then it happened, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said to him, “Is that you, O troubler of Israel?”
18 And he answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house have, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the LORD and have followed the Baals.

I don't want to be more righteous than God or more civil than the Prophets, but Christians are to learn how to judge, leaving the final judgment with the Father. Tough love is necessary at times, and facts shouldn't be dimissed as disparaging but recognized as genuine constructive criticism, even if ultra-sensitive or hypocritical folks feel disagree. Otherwise, how is it possible to obey Isaiah's divine decree to "Cry aloud and SPARE NOT and show my people their sins and the House of Jacob their transgressions"?

It was not lawful, it was a sin, for White Israelites to elect the Gentile usurper Obama, besides the fact he's never proven he's a natural born citizen (and thus very well could be illegitimate politically and spiritually), regardless if the Church of God ministers fail to say so publicly, but cowardly whisper among themselves.

Deuteronomy 17
15 ...you shall surely set a king over you whom the LORD your God chooses; one from among your brethren [your own kind] you shall set as king over you; you may not set a foreigner [Gentile] over you, who is not your brother.

Hosea 8
4 They set up kings, but not by Me; They made princes, but I did not acknowledge them...

Is the Plain Truth Too Strong?