Defending the Dictator?!
My last post was a non-neutral speculation post about where we might be headed on the world stage.
As this is my faith section, I feel I don’t have to stay neutral on these issues when I bring them up. Exterior content, sure. But here I can be myself and just say it like I feel it is.
This is the last time I’ll be posting about current events in geopolitical arenas for a while to focus more on craft and faith.
But while I’m not on either side (but not a mere centrist who sits on the fence only) I find the response to recent events in Venezuela to be borderline satirical.
If you had told me there are protests in favor of a drug-kingpin, dictatorial tyrant who ran over his own citizens with armored vehicles and ran a brutal regime (which still exists, so this isn’t over), and I hadn’t seen it for myself, I’d have thought it was a satirical article or news story from something like the Onion.
But no, there are contrarians for the sake of being contrarian or who hate Trump so much that they are protesting in FAVOR of a DRUG KINGPIN DICTATOR being removed from power.
WHAT?!
In what world—leftist or right—is that in any way sensible?
I don’t care how much you hate Trump. That’s a legitimately insane stance to take.
I love you as fellow human beings, but what the actual —?
I don’t agree with everything Trump does, but when the guy wins, he wins.
As Christians, we must honor our leaders and those who steer this country.
In the Bible, God often uses leaders of nations to fulfill His will for the historical narrative of the human story. Also, the Bible mentions this in various places, but here is one scripture that stands out for this situation.
“When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan” (Proverbs 29:2 [ESV]).
God installs and takes away kings as He is sovereign over history. God uses our free will in this case to make His ultimate will happen in the story He wrote as His plan from Genesis to Revelation.
Maduro being taken down is God’s will for history.
In the story of the Jewish captivity in Babylon, the wicked king Balshazzar is dethroned for Darius to take over.
“Then Daniel answered and said before the king, ‘Let your gifts be for yourself, and give your rewards to another. Nevertheless, I will read the writing to the king and make known to him the interpretation. O king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar, your father, kingship, and greatness and glory and majesty. And because of the greatness that He gave him, all peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. Whom he would, he killed, and whom he would, he kept alive; whom he would, he raised up, and whom he would, he humbled. But when his heart was lifted and his spirit was hardened so that he dealt proudly, he was brought down from his kingly throne, and his glory was taken from him. He was driven from among the children of mankind, and his mind was made like that of a beast, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys. He was fed grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, until he knew that the Most High God rules the kingdom of mankind and sets over it whom He will. And you, his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this, but you have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven. And the vessels of his house have been brought in before you, and you and your lords, your wives, and your concubines have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know, but the God in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways, you have not honored.
‘Then from his presence the hand was sent, and this writing was inscribed. And this is the writing that was inscribed: Mene, Mene, Tekel, and Parsin. This is the interpretation of the matter: Mene, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; Tekel, you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting; Peres, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.’”
Then Belshazzar gave the command, and Daniel was clothed with purple, a chain of gold was put around his neck, and a proclamation was made about him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. That very night, Belshazzar, the Chaldean king, was killed. And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old” (Daniel 5:17-30 [ESV]).
It is God alone who decides who gets to rule. God can use Trump or anyone He wants to carry out His will.
I will say this; it seems Iran is next for change. I hope Persia comes back with a righteous king so that a time of prosperity for the Middle East can come along.
And one more admonition for Christians.
If you are against Israel having the Holy Land, and against biblical Zionism, you have denied the faith and are not in good standing before Yahweh. God always keeps His covenants, from the ancient to the modern.
There are the remains of a Jewish temple underneath a pair of Islamic mosques. Meaning, Israel had ties to the land far before Islam did.
To say the state of Israel is illegitimate is to deny the very God who redeems both His chosen people and us as Christians.
When Jesus returns, He fights the Islamic nations surrounding Israel, all named by name. I truly wonder what that might mean as to whose side God is on about the Zion issue.
Just as God sovereignly allowed the Ottoman Empire to overtake the land for over a thousand years, so, too, did He sovereignly allow Israel to reform in 1948. They might rule that area for a thousand more years before Jesus returns.
They might lose the land one more time, and another Israel might rise after hundreds more years. We simply don’t know the whole timeline of God.
My point is, supporting the wicked ruler Maduro just because you hate Trump is insane. God installed both Trump and Maduro for His own sovereign purposes. All credit goes to Him.
If He had allowed Kamala to win, I would also defer to that leadership position and pray for my leader then, too.
As for the wicked leaders, their time will come, whether in this life or in the beyond.
Don’t let partisan politics affect common sense and righteousness.
Your right in a free country is to speak your mind.
But some issues can’t be defended against (pedophilia, rape, murder, etc.) and mustn’t be.
This is one of them.
May you ponder God’s sovereignty and not allow partisan thinking to overtake Christian respect. Even the disciples didn’t disrespect the wicked leaders when they were walking the Earth that they had dealt with. How much more should we do the same to one who has some issues, but doesn’t seem truly evil.
Just a quick thought on current events and my last post like this for a while unless something major happens.
Shalom and blessings to you and yours.
