Renewed Hearts vs. Renewed Ballot Boxes

By Jan Markell
www.olivetreeviews.org/

Most patriotic and Christian Americans are stunned at what our leaders, both elected and appointed, are intentionally doing to this country. These are primarily godless people who loathe capitalism even though it is the only system that works in any country on the planet. So, much of America watches as the Left forces socialism (or Marxism) on us, destroys our economy, and couldn't care less what the American people think. They have no shame and virtually boast about their corruption. It seems to be a badge of honor.
But such behavior is not just a Democrat or Republican issue. The depravity of human beings is cross-denominational, cross-cultural, and affects every human being. Our very nature is fallen and those we esteem most highly can succumb to anything as a result. Corruption, greed, and selfishness are equal-opportunity character flaws.
But the "flaws" in America's leaders are, for some reason, "on display" before the entire world now. Of course they don't compare to a Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, or the mullahs of several violent nations, or the leaders who throw Christians into the gulags of North Korea. Those men are absolute evil.
Yet something is seriously wrong with some of America's people in high places. They have shut God out of everything. They mock and scorn Him. They laugh at righteous values.
America was built on the premise that our government derives it legitimacy from the "consent of the governed," but I guess that is now history. Many of America's leaders now want a secular humanist socialist machine running our nation with an agenda so corrupt it is staggering. For many, their god is government and others consider themselves a god. Their conscience is seared. Their heart has grown ice cold.
I believe God is allowing this to happen as a way of showing humanity that it needs a heart transplant. It has now been proven true -- although history has reminded us for centuries -- that the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. Today mankind does what is right in his own eyes. The Bible is not the standard. We can see how man is born a selfish sinner who must first be taught right from wrong. But God, because of His mercy, still reaches down and touches many. He transforms the lives of the most wretched every day!
Much of mankind is parading around like selfish fools. This is outlined in the Bible just as all else that is happening in our world is scripted in the Bible. Today's haughty and proud seem to be outlined in Romans 1:28-32: And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, malice, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.
I guess that covers just about every negative character trait known to man! God seems to be shining a light on these people so they stand out in today's world as an exaggeration. But their character flaws are not exaggerations! Their characters are in need of a heart transplant. They need a Savior who promises to rescue them out of their selfish, greedy pit.
We all want to "save America." But too often the interpretation of "saving America" is turning more blue states into red states! Many don't understand that changing America's political parties is not enough to turn the nasty tide.
People are missing the root of the problem. Even if political conservatives win every election in 2010 and 2012, without a "heart change," our country will not recover. God is looking for renewed hearts and not renewed ballot boxes -- which is not a put-down of our civic duty to vote and support our Constitution. God established government, but He also made it clear that man seldom carries it out properly. He will when He rules from Jerusalem.
Two hundred years ago, philosopher Edmund Burke said -- and I paraphrase -- all that is necessary for evil to prosper is for good people to do nothing. Do what you can to turn the political tide, but remember that transforming the hearts of men is what is needed first.
If God was gracious enough to save you, He can reach the hearts of the most pompous politicians who are scheming evil plans for America behind closed doors and in dark, smoke-filled rooms. God can melt the hardest heart.