The United States is in the middle of a Presidential election year like no other. We can expect increasing levels of vitriolic ads and political rallies. The political battle lines have been drawn. It’s republicans versus democrats, with an independent candidate thrown in as a potential spoiler for one or other of the two parties.

The current political climate is what someone called “the quick fix model for living,” which “accentuates speed, instant results, and appearance and packaging, culminating in the illusion of power and control.” There appears to be an underlying belief in the U.S. that one of these candidates can “fix” what is wrong with the country, as if societal and cultural change is a drive-thru menu where the right combination of items can result in total satisfaction. “A quick fix mentality is very much a part of American culture - weight loss companies make millions of dollars promising instant results, Cliffs Notes books dilute classical literature into bite-size chunks that can be nibbled casually, music is available for instant download, and new release movies can be purchased from the local “bootlegger” on the same day they are released. This “amoral free-market consumerism” (Schneider, 2008) offers “instant answers and pat resolutions” to the problems we are facing while the real problems remain unaddressed. As anyone who has ever succumbed to the temptation of a fad diet can attest, until the underlying issues causing weight gain are addressed, nothing will really change. The same can be said for the present political climate. “(from the blog: Politics and Existentialism: Quick Fix Politics and an Awe-Based Democracy, Lisa Vallejos)

One candidate promises boldly and assuredly that if reelected he will pick up where he left off in “making America great again.” Can one man, with the help of both House and Senate, and the Supreme court, make America great again? If he makes it to the ballot box in November, I will vote for him. Do I believe he can do some great things for us – far, far better than the current administration? Yes! Do I think the answer for our ills and issues can be solved from a top-down-big-government approach? No!

“Politics is the "quick fix" approach to cultural transformation. "The next presidential election will turn the tide. A change in the Supreme Court will bring our nation back to righteousness. If we could only get more conservatives elected to office." None of this will do it. Only a long-term effort to change all facets of society will bring about significant and lasting transformation. This means changing the hearts and minds of millions of people” (Gary DeMar).

Here’s the bottom line: Government is only as good as the people who create it. Family, church, and civil governments reflect self-government, whether good or bad. At the civil level, a nation gets what it votes for. Civil government, no matter how righteously conceived, cannot make people better. Leadership, like water, rises to its own level, the righteousness of the people. The maintenance of good government is dependent on good people, and good people are the product of a good heart which comes from the miracle of regeneration, which only comes from the hearing and believing the good news of the gospel of the kingdom of God.

William Penn, the English Quaker best known for founding the colony of Pennsylvania as a place for religious freedom in America, wrote, "Let men be good, and the government cannot be bad; if it will, they will cure it. But, if men be bad, let the government be never so good, they will endeavor to warp and spoil it to their turn."

James Madison, architect of the US Constitution, fourth president of the US said, "We have staked the future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it ‑ we have staked the future of our political institutions upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves according to the 10 Commandments of God."

Dennis Peacocke was correct when he stated, "If the laws of a society reject God's ultimate laws... all that society can produce is more criminals. The State that breaks God's laws will produce citizens who break their state's laws. Everything produces fruit after its own kind."   

The invitation of humanistic governments is "Let Big Brother be your shepherd. He will lead you beside new waters; he will prepare your table; he will care for you. Come dwell with him, his rod and staff will comfort you."

This is the cry of Americans everywhere. Take care of all our needs. Give us peace and prosperity at any cost. Pastor Joe Morecraft was right when he observed, "This political crisis in America is a religious crisis. As men change their faith, their politics, worldview and social order change. As America's faith becomes less and less Christian and more and more pagan, its politics, worldview and its social order become more and more dominated by paganistic superstition, magic, hedonism, and slavery.”

As a nation, we have moved from a “republic” to a “socialist democracy” which is “Communism-Lite.” We cannot seem to learn from history that socialism in any and every form is anti‑Christian. It is paganism that makes the State and idol. It elevates the State above God. Socialism is urged by people who have lost faith in God and in the power of their religion to motivate men, and who have resorted to government and the coercive power of the State as a substitute. Socialism seizes, divides, expends, and dissipates wealth. It always produces poverty. Few will work hard if they know they are going to be robbed of the fruits of their labor. On the other hand, those who receive something for nothing learn to depend upon it. The appeal of socialism is the promise of something for nothing.

We must understand clearly and without exception, that a nation will exhibit either self-government under God, or the State will be used of God to implement tyranny to avoid anarchy. On May 28th, 1849, Robert C. Winthrop (1809-1894), descendant of Governor John Winthrop, first governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony, addressed the Annual Meeting of the Massachusetts Bible Society in Boston showing that there is no third way.

“All societies of men must be governed in some way or other. The less they may have of stringent State Government, the more they must have of individual self-government. The less they rely on public law or physical force, the more they must rely on private moral restraint. Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled. either by a power within them, or by a power without them; either by the word of God, or by the strong arm of man; either by the Bible, or by the bayonet. It may do for other countries and other governments to talk about the State supporting religion. Here, under our own free institutions, it is Religion which must the State.”

Our only hope is for the followers of King Jesus to repent of our selfish, sinful, escapists, isolationists lifestyles, and implore Him to invade our land with pervasive spiritual awakening and a radical reformation. The outcome of such intervention from Heaven is not so things will return to the old ways of business as usual, but so His Great Commandment and Great Commission will become the Main Thing and the spread of the fame of His name will begin to turn the nations to God.

Have mercy upon us, O Lord!