Wednesday, March 25, 2015

What Kind of Person Should Lead Us?



Before long the 2016 Presidential election will be upon us, and it will seem like nothing else in the world is going on. It gets that intense. But some are beginning to let their desires known even now concerning the highest office in the land.

One such man is Senator Ted Cruz who is the first major presidential candidate to officially declare. Cruz recently told the crowd of students at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia what he sees for the future of the country. But before doing so he made crystal clear what his Christian roots were and did so by giving a brief history of his family's beginnings. He related how it was God who repaired and saved a family heading towards chaos.

He stated: "When my Dad came to America in 1957, he could not have imagined what lay in store for him.
Imagine a young married couple living together in the 1970s. Neither one of them has a personal
relationship with Jesus. They had a little boy and they're both drinking far too much. They're living a fast life. When I was 3, my father decided to leave my mother and me. We were living in Calgary at the time. He got on a plane and flew back to Texas. And he decided he didn't want to be married anymore and he didn't want to be a father to his 3-year-old son.

"And yet when he was in Houston, a friend, a colleague from the oil and gas business invited him to a Bible study; invited him to Clay Road Baptist Church - and there my father gave his life to Jesus Christ. And God transformed his heart - and he drove to the airport, he bought a plane ticket and he flew back to be with my mother and me. There are people who wonder if faith is real. I can tell you, in my family there is not a second of doubt - because were it not for the transformative love of Jesus Christ, I would have been saved and I would have been raised by a single mom without my father in the house."

Senator Cruz is but one of the men who will eventually throw their hats into the election ring and who have expressed a solid and unashamed relationship with Jesus Christ. This means that they share many of the biblical values that should be dear to the hearts of most Christians in the nation.

That is the good news. The bad news is what Cruz said much later in his speech. He stated, "Today, roughly half of born again Christians aren't voting. They're staying home. Imagine instead millions of people of faith all across American coming out to the polls and voting our values." Did you catch that number? Half!

That statistic, if even close, is simply staggering as much as it is tragic! In the light of the nation's ongoing problems, and the blatant moral collapse of her biblical principles, how could any Christian not take a few moments to vote for a leader who would attempt to promote and regain the ideals that are closest to what a holy God clearly demands? If there were none to elect in this category, then it could almost be understood why some might fail to show at the polls. But when anyone arises that professes a sincere biblical faith and who proclaims those values that America was founded upon, to ignore supporting such a candidate is simply hard to fathom on any level.

In 1 Timothy 2:1-2 we read, "Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men,  for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence." That is God's will for His redeemed people - all of them. But this divine task would be far better served, and bring far better results, if believers would do their part to first place into authority those men and women who already stand for Godly principles knowing these will be making critical decisions that deeply impact our nation, families and churches for years to come!

Bill Breckenridge

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