Observations©
By Donald S. Conkey
How did the United States Congress ever allow the government of the United States to reach a point where a financial crisis could seriously jeopardize America’s financial creditability if the debt limit is not raised by August 2, 2011? This current scenario is politics at its worst – and at its best.
Politics at its worst because the politicians have allowed this crisis to happen – at its best because a new crop of politicians are attempting to reign in the out of control politicians who, in my opinion, have lost sight of why they were elected; to serve the people, not to seek power and glory for themselves.
And like every government that has self-destructed from within, corruption at every level of government has become a way of life that leads to self-destruction. Corruption of appointed leaders was so prevalent in ancient Israel that “the people” asked for a king to replace their theocratic form of government. But before Saul was anointed king the Lord told Samuel to tell the Israelites what a king would bring them – and events played out just as the Lord told Samuel and led to Israel’s self destruction and the dispersion of a once mighty people. Is America immune from self-destruction? No!
While listening to the charges and counter charges about the August 2 deadline I would often wonder if there would be a scriptural parallel to what is happening in America today – a growing divide and class warfare, often perpetuated by the progressive’s money elite, a direction that does not bode well for America’s continued prosperity and individual freedoms.
I then searched the scriptures and found three verses in Joshua and Judges that I believe tell us why what is happening in America today is happening. The two scriptures found in Judges 2. Verse 7 reads, “And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord, that he did for Israel.” 10 reads “And also all that generation were gathered unto the fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.”
While reading these words I saw this parallel. It describes exactly what has happened here in America during the past 235 years. Only devote atheists continue to deny that the writings of the Founding Fathers confirm they strongly believed their ‘Creator’ ‘played a major role in allowing them to break with Great Britain, then the dominate nation in the world, and establish a new nation ruled by law with a mission statement and written constitution, and destined to become a beacon of freedom for freedom loving people worldwide. Some even believe the Constitution of the United States will be the governing document that will be used to govern all nations when His Kingdom is finally established.
One defining phrase, in Judges 2:7, states: “and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua.” This phrase could be likened to those presidents elected after America’s Founders died off, perhaps with the exception of Abraham Lincoln who believed in and depended on Jefferson’s ‘Creator’ to keep America from self-destruction during the darkest days of its Civil War.
And after the founding generations died off “there arose another generation … which knew not the Lord (as the Founders had known and felt his presence), nor the works which he has done.” And these following generations who “knew not the Lord, nor the works he had done in creating America” turned from the Founder’s Creator.
Another similarity: Joshua and George Washington were similar. Both were brilliant generals and leaders of people and of a nation. Both strongly believed in their God, and both chastised their people shortly before their deaths, Washington in his farewell address and Joshua in Joshua chapter 24:15. It reads: “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose ye this day whom ye will serve, whether the gods your fathers served … or the gods of the Amorites …, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Counsel still valid for America’s leaders today!
Perhaps “We the people” of America, especially our elected leaders, would do well to “choose this day whom we will serve” on August 2, the ‘Creator’ of America’s Founders or the gods of the generations that knew not the Lord – nor his works in helping to create America.