Expert: Dr. Ronald E. Shultz - 8/12/2006

Question
My preacher says that all the leaders of the nations of the world are there by the devine providence of God. That it does not matter who I vote for as president, God will put there who he wants.
I believe that the leaders of the nations of this world are there by the actions or inactions of mankind.
My question: Are the leaders of the nations of this world there by the divine porvidence of God?

Answer
This is one of those questions that I believe speaks to the interaction between God and man and yet shows God as the one on the throne.

Ps 75:5-7
5 Lift not up your horn on high: speak not with a stiff neck.
6 For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south.
7 But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another. (KJV)

Yes, it is God who ultimately promotes or demotes a person and we as individuals should not seek to promote ourselves in a prideful way.  (Prov 27:2)  However, that doesn't mean we can't apply for a promotion at work or run for public office.  You merely seek His will and accept the outcome.

Jer 23:3-4
3 And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.
4 And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the LORD. (KJV)

God does intervene in time and history and overrides man's decisions and puts men in leadership that He wants especially when dealing with His people.  God allowed Hitler to arise but I believe He gave the victory in WWII.  I also believe He allowed Pearl Harbor to get us to want to participate in that war so that He could use us as the rod of His anger just as He used the Assyrians against Israel when they sinned. (Isa. 10:5)  The Islamics may be God's rod against the backslidden and apostate Christian nations.  Read Habakkuk.

Zech 1:14-15
14 So the angel that communed with me said unto me, Cry thou, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy.
15 And I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction. (KJV)

Sometimes people will be allowed to chastise His people or be used as a wake up call.  In this case, they went beyond what God had in mind and now He is going to cause them some trouble.  It isn't like He was caught off guard here but He does allow the free will of men and in the darkness of their heart they go overboard.  This only proves the depravity of man and if God did not step in and stop things the horror we see today would seem like nothing at all in comparison to what would be happening.  The Tribulation was be man at His very worst until God brings forth His judgment and Christ ascends to the throne.

Rom 9:17 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. (KJV)

Of all that men that might have been in line for the throne in Moses' day God promoted this one because He knew the wickedness and stubborness of this man would allow God to show forth His might and sovereignty to His people and to avenge them of the ingratitude and harshness of the Egyptians who forgot what Joseph did for them through the power of God.  He used this man because he was the enbodiment of the "heart" of the nation.

Prov 16:9 A man's heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps. (KJV)

This has been also been said as "Man proposes, but God disposes."  Again, we cannot imagine what wicked men would do if God did not intervene.  We also know that righteousness men propose to do well but because they are humans they sometimes don't see things clearly and God has to "tweak" their plans to accomplish it in the manner that they desire or to accomplish it more perfectly.

Acts 16:6-7
6 Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia,
7 After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not. (KJV)

Here the Christians had a good thing in mind, but it wasn't God's will to go to these places.  Why? God knew these people would not be open to the Gospel at this given time or maybe never. He sent the apostles to where there was fruit ripe unto harvest.  God didn't allow the ones who doubted Him to enter into the Promised Land but allowed them to die in the wilderness. In this case, God didn't send His messengers.  We won't find out the exact cause until the Last Judgment.

Matt 28:18-20
18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (KJV)

Mark 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. (KJV)

Some teach that it doesn't matter if we really preach the Gospel or not because God has the elect already picked out and they will come to Him no matter what we do.  Well, I don't hold that position but even if I did I would have to be obedient to these scriptures and go into all the world and to every creature. The outcome is God's but the obedience is mine.

Ezek 33:7-9
7 So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me.
8 When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
9 Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. (KJV)

The same concept in Matthew is seen here in Ezekiel.  We are given the message. What people do with it is none of our affair. We are just to be obedient.

Isa 1:23-26
23 Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them.
24 Therefore saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts, the mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies:
25 And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin:
26 And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city. (KJV)

Again, God does handle and judge the evil judges of His people. The righteous get on His side.  Moses called the righteous people to his side and then God dropped the wicked into the pit via an earthquake.  Joshua told the people to choose whom they would serve.  An election is maybe a version of these things. By voting against unrighteousness we are standing on His side and being a watchman. If God chooses to use an evil man to punish the US because of our national sins we were still obedient.  I am not a big Bush fan but God did prevent two worse evils from arising.  Did God use a miracle or by raising up people to vote and destroying the craftiness of the wicked?  Did He heal Hezekiah with a miracle or medicine or both?  I don't know. Both may be the correct answer.

We did get to see that the voice of the righteous must be heard in this country or this country's doom is sure.  Indeed, we may only be delaying the inevitable but if by delaying the judgment more souls are being saved and more of God's flock are being restored then the delay is beneficial in many ways and we need to continue to be a part of that delay.  Remember Abraham asked God if He would spare Sodom for 10 people?  He should have went a tad lower but then again when God moved Lot and what was left of his family out there were no righteous left in Sodom.  When the Rapture happens this land may be toast.   

2 Chr 7:13-14
13 If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people;
14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. (KJV)

This is supposed to be a Christian nation.  The founders made covenants with God and He obviously blessed those covenants.  Now we have abandoned them and just like Israel He may be judging us trying to get us back into our covenants.  The scales are teetering and we aren't sure where they will tip betwen now and the Rapture.  Our vote may be what balances or tips the scales the right way and opens up a path for God to stall His full judgment.  I would rather make my stand and my voice known for God than saying that it doesn't matter what I do.  When I do the best I can as a citizen of Heaven to righeously impact the earthly nation to which I am an ambassador then what God disposes is up to Him.  I am being a watchman doing my job.

Obad 1:11 In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them. (KJV)

The Edomites as kin to the Jews should have helped the Jews. Instead they helped the strangers and became strangers and as guilty as the foreign invaders.  If I just stand by and do nothing while the forces of evil seek to destroy this country from within or without and do nothing then I am as guilty as they are of the evil.  I may be in a sense only a voice crying in the wilderness but better to have God hear that cry when men forbear then to forbear from crying at all.  

Prov 29:24 Whoso is partner with a thief hateth his own soul: he heareth cursing, and bewrayeth it not. (KJV)

You see the connection here?  A partner with a thief is also linked to one who hears cursing or blasphemy and does not stand against it, protest against it or in the days of the law did not report it to the priest.  

I hear all sorts of blasphemy in the halls of Congress, the Court House and the seats of education.  I have to bewray it in my preaching and in my voting.  This is especially so if I want God to exercise His right to raise up and cast down evil men and kingdoms.  Otherwise I hate my own soul and become a stranger among my people and guilty of the evil that I sit back and do nothing about. I fail enough and have enough sins.  I don't want to add that to my list.

May God richly bless you as you seek His will through His Word!