It's Good To Be King

Kings, or as we call them today, presidents, prime ministers, senators, representatives, governors and the like enjoy great prestige with their political power. Their access to the treasury and ability to dispense favorable legislation and giant giveaways of public moneys ensures there is always a line of businesses and moneyed interested outside their offices willing to give a little today, for a big payday tomorrow. This makes our politicians into millionairs in short order.

This Tuesday, the 2nd of November, a number of wanna be's to the crown and those already wearing it will beg for your vote to keep them within easy access to the money machine. The televisions are covered in advertising dollars and the print media is burning through ink to make sure you know their names and it is your duty to vote. Signs proliferate the streets. There is a huge money machine surrounding elections that demands your obedience.

It is my duty to vote? Hmm, I have mostly abstained from voting since 2008. That year I voted in the primary for Ron Paul and abstained from the following national election as I could not vote for a single person on the ticket. In the thirteen years since that experience I have voted twice. Both times were to vote against proposed millage increases for additional funding to the local school district. This kind of self defense voting is also wrong because it places the voter inside the decisions of a failed State that does not need your help to pillage and rob.

For years I have felt my position against voting was the correct one, even when I stumbled against the millages. 1 Samual 8 is pretty clear what kind of kings the world has and most people want. People desire kings that hunger for empire and power, no matter which field they play on. People seek the kind of kings that use their authority to enslave the people into the games kings play. The kind of kings who get insanely wealthy at the expense of the population they keep shipping off to fight in the wars of empire. This is the kind of king Israel wanted and the kind of king God said they would get because of their lack of faith and rejection of God's peaceful ways.

Today I read Deuteronomy 17 before church. I have read Deuteronomy many times, but this is the first time I recall seeing these words and my mind was blown. Now an argument could be made that the description of king selection in chapter 17 is centric to Israel and not a recipe for all time. Why do I say this is? Starting in verse 14 Moses is informing Israel as they move into the Promised Land given by God himself, eventually they will say to themselves, "I will set a king over me like all the surrounding nations."

There is a key sentence here. Moses says, "You may indeed set a king over you whom the Lord your God will choose. One from among your brothers you shall set as king..." Moses says you cannot set a foreigner on the throne and this king chosen by God will not build armies for himself, will not collect money for himself, and will not build a harem of women for his pleasure. We already know this does not describe Israel's kings who failed in this regard as even their best kings were not perfect.

So this seems pretty clear to be a description of king selection for old Israel and not a prescription of king selection valid today. The thing we must remember is that the people were not choosing this king, like they did with Saul, David and the subsequent kings. God was choosing the rightful king and the rightful king would have all the proper credentials and behavior.  This proper king would know the Scriptures, read them, discuss them, and know them in such a manner that the whole kingdom would prosper from his judgment and wisdom.

Therefore, if Deuteronomy 17 is about king selection in Israel, what do the rest of us do? Especially today when Israel no longer exists and Christians are citizens of a foreign power not part of this world? Should we place our stamp of approval on sinful kings we know fall well short of God's expectations? I say no. The last thing a Christian should be involved in is the selection of kings in the secular world. When we sully ourselves with earthly politics we run the deep risk of driving people away and making the Gospel a message they will refuse because of us.

Christians who think voting for the anti-abortion candidate is the Christian thing to do, are ignoring the policies of that same anti-abortion king who is in favor of empire. These wanna be kings usually favor harsh sentencing requirements for drugs offenses. They often also favor an imperial foreign policy that harms innocents world wide and hurts the Gospel. Many anti-abortion kings also favor the death penalty for adults, despite proof and clear evidence that many people on Death Row have been wrongfully convicted.

So can a Christian be a single issue voter and do the will of God by ignoring all the other problems with those wanna be kings? No, a Christian cannot vote in elections for the lesser of two evils like it is their duty, because they are still voting for evil. When we look at the qualifications in Deut. 17, only Jesus meets that recipe for kingship. Only Jesus leads without thought of monetary gain, sexual increase, or greater power over his fellow man.

When God says you are my son with whom I am well pleased, we see God's annointing and selection of a king for all of humanity that will not fail us. We see the righteous king we do not deserve, but who is himself, the Word incarnate. Jesus is the only true King and we vote for him when we believe and seek forgiveness.

Christians, please do not be fooled into thinking it is your duty to vote. Christians please do not be fooled into thinking the only thing keeping the world from complete upheaval is your presence in the election booth. Look around you. It is getting uglier and uglier and you have been voting for the lesser of two evils for centuries. Remove yourself from the process and speak to all voters because that is your job. Do not alienate the baby killers or the jailers. Speak the truth in love to them so some will be won by the Gospel. We cannot allow political divisions to create barriers to the Gospel. This is the only way to end evil, by changing hearts through the presence of a true King.

Let us stay home from the election booth. Let us speak to all in love and tell them of God's provision of a Savior for all mankind.