August 16

1 Samuel 7-8 In January of the this year, I was reading concerning Obamacare. In the news at the time was how his program was requiring all companies to provide healthcare which provided abortion coverage and coverage for drugs which might cause an abortion. In as much as the Scripture indicates that human life begins at conception, and the taking of human life apart from self-defense or at the direction of God-ordained authority is murder, then to force companies to provide for abortion or abortive drugs is tantamount to forcing those companies to be accomplices to murder. Some companies such as Hobby Lobby objected that they were being forced against their conscience to provide such services. They are being forced to either comply or face fines which will drive them out of business. Naturally, I wrote Obama an e-mail which strongly expressed my dismay at such an evil practice. Two weeks to the day after I sent the e-mail, I received letter from the IRS that I was being audited. The audit continues to drag on to this day. I have a hard time believing that this was just a coincidence. Am I surprised? A little bit. Should I be surprised? Not really. Governments under the best of men have their faults. Governments under lesser men go south quickly. Is Obama a lesser man? Absolutely! It is demonstrated in his unwavering support of abortion at any age including partial birth abortion, which really is nothing less than infanticide. It is demonstrated in his unwavering demand that people like me acknowledge that homosexual relationships should be equivalent to marriage. I acknowledge that in our form of government homosexuals have the right to practice their sexual preference, but the government does not have the right to force me to pronounce it as morally good as marriage. That is just nonsense. It is similar to the government forcing me to declare that adultery, fornication and divorce & remarriage are all morally good. It is just nonsense! Yet Obama desires and demands that I agree with him. What does this have to do with the glory of God? In today’s passage the nation rejects Samuel’s sons as leaders for the nation. Instead they want a king. In so doing they were rejecting the Lord as their king. God wanted them to know what they would be getting when they asked for a man to rule over them. They would be getting military conscription, forced servitude for their sons and daughters, and taxes that are overwhelming. We are not far off. The further away from the Lord that we and our leaders wander, the greater will be our bondage to our government. Thomas Jefferson once said, “That government, governs best which governs least.” Only when a people voluntarily submit to the glory of God and obey him can a government afford to govern least. Unfortunately, we have a leader like Obama because we deserve him. We have rejected the Lord as our king in exchange for pleasure, prosperity and security. We have rejected the glory of the Lord. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john