Matthew 5:13 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Leadership matters. God created man. He was the leader of man. Adam was to lead his wife and children under the authority of God. Adam chose to reject God’s leadership and the result was death. He died spiritually the moment he sinned. His body began to die physically the moment he sinned. Genesis 5 records the physical death of Adam as well as others of his descendants. Adam discovered that even though he rejected God’s leadership in his life, he could not escape the judgment of God. God is in charge even though man rejects Him. Man is still accountable to God.
Even after the fall, God still intended for man to be the leader in his home and in society. Governments would eventually be set up with men as leaders. God chose the nation of Israel to be His model for how a nation should run and how it could be blessed if it ran according to His rule. Due to the sin nature that all are born with, Israel as a nation was slow to learn the benefits of following God.
Abram somewhat obeyed God in leaving his homeland. He took some of his family with him and God needed to take care of that disobedience. Abraham doubted God’s ability to protect him on the way to the land He told him to go to. Abraham lied twice about his relationship to his wife. He also encouraged her to lie about their relationship. Abraham put his wife in a very dangerous place. It was due to God’s mercy that Sarah was not defiled while in harms way. Abraham and Sarah doubted God’s ability to keep His promise of a son and the result was adultery for Abraham and a son that would be a major problem throughout history from that time forward.
Isaac learned that lying is an option when in trouble. He also lied about his wife and also put her in a very dangerous position. It is a shame when men refuse to be men and look after the weaker vessel, the wife. That is quite a common problem for humanity. It all began with Adam blaming his wife for his sin.
After God blessed Israel with David as their king, they enjoyed probably the best overall environment that they ever had. In spite of that fact, David had a major problem with adultery. He lusted after other women and he also encouraged his sons in this same sin. That sin was the downfall of the nation under David’s son, Solomon.
As we look at our world today, we still hear of people who want to justify their sin of immorality by pointing back to the kings of Israel. God did not record the infidelity of men in times past as a justification for that sin. He shows us the weakness of man and the effects of that sin upon society.
Some will even dare to point to Joseph and Mary as a justification for immorality.
Joseph and Mary certainly cannot be accused of immorality or of hinting at immorality. The Bible tells us that Mary was espoused unto Joseph.
Matthew 1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.
We learn from the Bible, that espousal was a very serious commitment that a man and a woman made to each other. It was done with the approval of the parents. It could only be broken with a bill of divorcement. As we read in Matthew 1:18, there was no intimacy between the espoused couple during this time. It certainly is a work of the devil to try to accuse Joseph and Mary of immorality.
It is the sin nature in man that leads to the act of immorality, which according to the Bible, begins in the heart. Lusting after another woman is already considered adultery, by God.
When we fast forward this situation to our time, we know that the president elect of the U.S. is not a morally upstanding person. He is a lost man who is on his third marriage and has had “flings” in amongst them. It is a shame that so many professing Christians have chosen to overlook this major problem and voted for this man. We know that God put Mr.Trump into the position he is in now. It remains to be seen if he will actually become the next president. We have stated before that democracy is not a Biblical design. It is a failure wherever it is used. Let me be clear that I was not a supporter of Harris for president. She is no better than Trump. Her lack of policies was a serious problem as well.
The news has reported that two of Trump’s top picks for his upcoming government have major problems with immorality as well. One has already chosen to step away from the spotlight due to his immorality of the past. The other one is still hanging on. That man is also on his third marriage and has had “flings” amongst them. At one point he was married to wife number 2 while he impregnated another woman and after the birth of that child, his second wife filed for divorce. While his third wife was nursing their child, he went off to a conference and committed immorality with another married woman. This man, by the way, is to be the head of the U.S. army. He has proven himself to be unworthy of that position.
When the commander in chief is an immoral man, he will overlook that sin in others and the result will be a complete breakdown of society.
We can look at what just took place in Pennsylvania where there was concern over who won a certain senate seat. The Democrats wanted to cheat, as usual, to get their man into power again. The courts ruled that certain ballots could not be counted, but the chief electoral officer stated that it did not matter what the courts said. She stated that she would deliberately go against the court ruling because the rule of law did not matter anymore in the U.S. She did not say it directly, but she may have been referring to Mr. Trump’s many court cases. Eventually, the cheating Democrat candidate conceded the race and that particular act of corruption stopped. There is still much more taking place.
We know that some of Trump’s cases were brought forward to try to stop him from being able to run for president. We know some of them were fraudulent cases. However, there were enough of them that were true that in a true world, would have disqualified him from running.
Mr. Clinton, a former president did much to break down the moral fabric of that nation. However, that fabric was already in bad shape at that time. The U.S. is not Israel; however, any nation would be wise to submit to God’s authority. We have not had this since the fall of man.
Worse than the political corruption is the religious corruption that has had a major impact on the social fabric of society. As we stated at the beginning of this devotional, leadership matters.
In the Old Testament there were many corrupt priests and prophets, besides the corrupt kings. Even God’s choices for leaders often failed Him. God also showed the disaster that resulted from that unchecked failure.
When there are men who are guilty of immorality who are given leadership positions in churches, that should be a major concern to all. We know that at best, any one of us is a sinner saved by grace. As we have noted before, God’s grace is not a licence to sin. Nor is it a covering for sin.
I can remember as a young person, the stir that was caused by one of our relatives being unfaithful to his wife and eventually getting a divorce and marrying another woman. He was from a different Mennonite church than we attended, but that situation caused quite a stir in both of those Mennonite churches. The end result of that was a split in the church he attended and a new church was formed.
In our current time, these types of sins are ignored and they are not even considered as sins anymore. Divorced and remarried people become members in good standing in many churches. They are given places of leadership and the moral fabric of the churches is broken.
What message can we have to the world if we cannot honour God in our own lives. God has not changed His Word. His Word is not open for our manipulation. His Word is sure and His blessings are real. He cannot bless those who want to defy Him.
The United States is on its last legs. It is in much worse shape than the mainstream media wants to report. Canada is no better off than the U.S. The Bible records the time when “Babylon” will fall. That is in the book of the Revelation. That event will take place during the time of the Tribulation. In that text we read how the kings and the merchants of the world will mourn at the fall of that great city. The world today is already focused on economics as the barometer by which to measure its success. Economically both Canada and the U.S. are bankrupt. It is God Who is keeping them from collapsing at this time. The fake economic situation is a smokescreen for a much deeper problem. We, those who are saved, have the privilege, but also the responsibility of being a light in this dark world. If we choose to live like the world, how can we be a light?
The time is short. We are living in the last days. We have been in this state since the first century A.D. How long do we have? We do not know. We know that God is not pleased with the wickedness that is impacting all of society. He is especially displeased with the wickedness that is increasing in churches that claim to know Him. As we have been studying I Corinthians, we see that God did not condone the wickedness in that church. When we look at Revelation 2&3, Jesus Christ addressed the failures of the churches there. They needed to repent. They needed to get back to where they were supposed to be. God is no different today. We, those who are saved, need to get back to where God says we should be. We can do that. It will hurt. Sin is wicked. Sin brings much hurt. The healing comes when we turn to the merciful true God for forgiveness and cleansing. The hurt is there, but there is also the blessing of being forgiven. This is greatly needed today.
Pastor Bartel
