If a ruler pays attention to falsehood, All his ministers become wicked. Proverbs 29:12

This proverb reminds us that when we are in a position of authority - often what we want to hear is what we are going to hear.  That is why it is so important for rulers, both religious and secular, learn to shun falsehood, lies, and deception in the counsel that they receive.  For, as this proverb says if they listen to this kind of thing - all that they will hear in the future is this type of counsel.  The end of such a swing in the opinion brought to this leader will be that all his subordinates will become wicked.

To "pay attention" to falsehood here means to listen with an intent to obey or heed the advice given.  It has the idea that as the falsehood is offered, rather than reject it, the ruler listens closely and does so with a desire to obey.  This means that the ruler's heart has a predisposition to what is false rather than what is true.  The Word of God says that a godly ruler winnows the wicked from his presence - and makes sure that falsehood will not be spoken to him as advice.

The worst aspect of this ruler's choice to pay attention to falsehood is the affect it has on his ministers.  They will become wicked.  Such a ruler tends to not appreciate men who will tell him the truth.  To be such a man means that you will speak the truth - even if the ruler to whom you speak it becomes angry and doesn't want to hear it.  Such was Daniel - before he was thrown into the lion's den.  Such were Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego before they were cast into the firey furnace.  The king only retracted his actions and his words after he had witnessed God's miraculous deliverance of these men.  Only in the case of David do we see a man who is willing to hear the truth - even if it meant a humbling of himself in repentance for his sin. 

We need to pray daily that our leaders will be men who value truth rather than falsehood.  Included in this prayer is that they will heed biblical truth when it is directly related to legislation that is pending.  Such is the case when it comes specifically to both the abortion issue as well as laws concerning sexuality, decency, and morality.  Too often over the last 30+ years our elected officials, including our president, have not even considered the Bible when making such decisions.  Outside of President Reagan, most of the pro-abortion Republicans have been paper tigers who spoke boldly but carried no stick whatsoever.  We've watch laws concerning public decency become nothing more than the latest retreat from biblical morality.  It has been disheartening to see issues of heterosexual morality, marriage, and now homosexuality made while completely ignoring the counsel of Scripture.  In fact I would have to say that currently one would find themselves shouted down and called the most horrible names to even assert strongly a biblical stance on these issues.  It is almost as if these issues are non-issues any longer.  They are definitely not the front-burner issues that they should be.  We think the greatest issue is the economy - and yet God WILL NOT bless our economy as long as we continue to abort 4000 babies a day and condone as an acceptable sexual lifestyle what He calls an abomination.  We need a president and a Congress who once again listen to and value the truth.  Until we do - not only will they be making wrong decision after wrong decision, but they will also be surrounded by more and more aids who are wicked - because their bosses listen to falsehood.

A fool always loses his temper, But a wise man holds it back. Proverbs 29:11

Anger is a difficult thing to manage because too often it is upon us before we realize it - and then we face the task of having to hold it back - to keep it from rising to the surface and exploding.  We are told in this passage that a fool always loses his temper.  That means that he has no control over his spirit.  Words like "always" and "never" are not used lightly in the Scriptures - so we see that someone who is always losing their temper - truly is a fool.

A very wise man once told me that the reason we become angry (in a sinful way) is because we cannot control something we desperately want to control.  Therefore when we become angry in a particular situation, it is because we want to control that situation - and are not content to submit ourselves to God's sovereignty and providence.  When we become angry with someone - it is because they are acting in a way that we cannot control.  We are not content to submit ourselves to God in serving them - even if they do not act in a way that is consistent with how "WE" would control them if we could.  Needless to say, I suddenly understood the core problem with much of my anger.  I was a fool who wanted to control everything according to my will - rather than living according to God's will.  I was not willing to thank God for all things and in all things.  I found His providence annoying - at least to the way that I would have been God if I could be.  Much conviction ensued - followed by repentance for thinking I was wiser than God.  Time and space does not permit me to relate how often after that I was able, by submission and surrender to God's perfect wisdom and control of my providence, to hold back my temper and anger by the working of His Spirit.

What is interesting about this proverb is that we are told that the wise man "holds" his temper back.  The word used for the holding back of our temper is the Hebrew word "shabach," which means to soothe or to still something.  Here it is used of anger that rises up within us.  The actual word for "temper" here is "ruach" which means spirit.  We learn to hold back our spirit when it wants to react in anger.  We should know from the rest of Scripture that more than one spirit can be expressed through us.  When James and John wanted to call down fire on some who rejected Jesus - our Lord responded by rebuking the two brothers.  He told them that they did not know what "spirit" they were of when they made that request.  Peter, when he told Jesus He could never go to the cross, was called Satan - because that is whose spirit was expressed through Peter.  The wise man therefore knows how to hold back the wrong kind of spirit from coming forth from him.  When angry it is easy to not soothe and control what kind of spirit comes forth from us - but we still need to soothe our spirits and make sure that what comes forth from us is not the flesh, not the wrong demonicly inspired spirit.  We need to have the spirit of God - who is patient, kind, and full of self-control - soothe our anger and keep us from reacting in rage or anger.  A wise man knows this - and practices it when he senses anger begin to rise up within him.

Men of bloodshed hate the blameless, But the upright are concerned for his life. Proverbs 29:10

In a sinful and fallen world there is something that provokes the wicked when they see a man of true integrity.  Today's proverb tells us about "men of bloodshed," and how they hate men of integrity. 

Men of bloodshed are those who have shed the blood of humans - they are either very violent men - or most often men who have murdered.  When we think of murderers though, we need to see them in two ways.  There are those who have crossed the line of literally taking someone's life by murdering them.  But there is a second type of which the Scriptures speak that encompasses far more people than one would think.  In Matthew 5 Jesus said these words, "You have heard that the ancients were told, 'YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER ' and 'Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.  But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, 'You good-for-nothing,' shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, 'You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.  (Matthew 5:21-22)

This statement of Jesus shows us that pretty much everyone in the world is guilty of murder.  If we've been angry with a brother or sister - called someone a derogatory name - we are guilty of murder before God.  We are  guilty enough to go into the fiery hell itself.  This is where murder begins, in the mind.  It is what God told Cain before he murdered Abel.  God said to him, "If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up?  And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it."  (Genesis 4:7)  Cain's murder of his brother Abel began as a thought - an angry, evil thought - which soon hatched into a heinous, murderous action.  Sin always begins in the mind - and if we do not master it there - it will yield its wicked fruit in our actions. 

Murderous men hate men of character and godliness.  The word hate here is the Hebrew word "sane" which means to hate, to consider another an enemy - to dislike, be hostile to, or to loathe another.  It is the direct antonym of the Hebrew word "anab" which means to love.  John wrote of this very incident between Cain and Abel.  He said, "For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another; not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother's were righteous." (1 John 3:11-12)

This passage in 1 John tells us exactly what our proverb today is trying to tell us.  The murderer hates the godly man.  It should be noted that the word "blameless" does not mean without sin.  It speaks of a person of integrity who desires to live a godly, moral life according to God's Word and God's precepts.  This world does not love such a man - and the more ungodly they are - the more they hate him.  We see this growing every day in our society.  Just look at how Christians are portrayed in our world today - especially in the media.  The hatred of the media elite and the ungodly in positions of power there drips off our television and movie screens.  It is difficult, unless you are watching a movie produced by a Christian, to find positive Christian characters.  This is because when a man's deeds are evil - he hates the people who pursue righteousness. 

Just an aside . . . we see this proverb lived out daily in the moral and cultural battle that is raging in our own nation today.  This is especially true when we see the actions and words of the radical homosexual movement.  The more the homosexual movement gains ascendency in our laws and in the movie and television industry - the more you will see this hatred grow.  The radical homosexual movement absolutely despises biblical Christianity because the Bible is clear that homosexuality is sin.  That will pit them against us - if we choose to remain true to the Word of God and preach the true gospel.  But, our place is not to hate the homosexual - or for that matter anyone who hates us because we hold to biblical truth and morality.  Our place is to love them even if they hate us and do violence to us in their cause to legitimatize what God calls sin.  Remember what this world system did to our Lord - the ultimate blameless man of absolute integrity.  He Himself told us if they hated Him, they would hate us as well.  But we are NEVER to turn to violence to defend ourselves from such attacks.  We must remain true to the gospel and win them by the love of God - and by the grace of His eternal gospel.

The remainder of our proverb today states that the upright are concerned for the lives of the moral and those who walk in integrity.  The literal translation of this would say, "But the upright seek his soul."  We stand with the godly man of integrity - because we see that life is more than just the 70 or so years we spend on this planet.  There is an eternal soul in each man - and that is what we should be most concerned with in life.  There will come a day when the wicked will be loosed in a way that we have not seen before in our nation.  Regardless of our most recent elections, there is not a moral, godly ascendency going on in our nation.  If there was, such moral issues such as abortion, homosexual and heterosexual immorality, decency, and the moral debauchery of our nation would be put on the front burner as the real problems we face as a nation.  As it is - we continue to worship the dollar - and when it finally crashes to the ground, which it will, we will face a country that will rip itself apart because we lack basic morality.  In that day it will be difficult to stand with the "blameless man" in our nation.  In some ways it already is.  Franklin Graham has taken several biblical stands for righteousness and he is more and more being ripped apart in the public square.  We should stand with him and with other men who stand for biblical righteousness.  Even if it becomes increasingly difficult to do so - we need to be concerned with the souls and lives of such men.  For according to this proverb . . . that is wisdom.

When a wise man has a controversy with a foolish man, The foolish man either rages or laughs, and there is no rest. Proverbs 29:9

This proverb I've affectionately named the "Bill Maher proverb."  That is because he, along with many other social liberals invite one Christian to sit on a panel with him and 2-3 other liberals.  As the program unfolds, this proverb is lived out over and over again.  If the Christian is wise at all, he will begin to present biblical truth, and at that point the controversy, the rage, and the mockery begin.  The poor Christian is usually shouted down in the midst of making any points - and the end of the matter is that he or she looks like the fool - which was the purpose of the whole exercise anyway.  After watching this three or four different times, I came to the conclusion that any Bible-believing Christian who went on this, or other programs like it, was as much of a fool as the other fools sitting on the panel.

The nature of a foolish man is to mock the things of God.  Therefore when a wise man begins to have a controversy or argument with a foolish man - he needs to know that reason or fair-minded debate will most likely not be involved in what is about to take place.  This passage tells us that what will happen is that the foolish man will "rage" against the wise man.  The word used for rage here is "ragaz" and it means to shake, tremble, be agitated, be disturbed, or be provoked.  As soon as a fool hears the Word of God, he will come to the place where he will blow like a stick of dynamite.  The fool recognizes no authority but his own.  We read elsewhere in Proverbs that the fool only delights in airing his own opinions - and only respects his own thoughts.  The idea of a God Who reveals to us absolute truth is an utter outrage to the fool.  He is enraged at the thought of anyone claiming to have a truth that can stand in judgment over his ideas - as accurate and marvelous as they are.  So when he hears a wise man (who is wise because he has learned to submit himself to what is revealed in Scripture) start to quote the Bible as an authority - BOOM! - he explodes in a rage against the wise man (yet actually he is enraged at God more than anyone else). 

The other response from the fool is to laugh at God's principles and God's Word.  This is basically done by mocking God.  Bill Maher did it by doing the movie, "Religuous."  Others have done it a myriad of different ways over the years.  Interestingly enough, most of them are dead and have the horrendous problem of explaining to God why they felt such liberty to mock Him and His Word - which is what Mr. Maher will face also if he does not come to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.  Regardless of how they go about mocking God, they do, and in the end there is no peace.  There isn't any because the fool is not about to have the wise man come away from the encounter or controversy looking good at all. 

A wise man recognizes when he is in a controversy with a fool.  He recognizes it usually because the fool will not argue reasonably, but will quickly resort to mocking, name calling, and specious arguments.  At that point the best thing a wise man can do is step away from the situation as quickly and as gracefully as he can.  The encounter will not result in a peaceful resolution.  Rage and mocking laughter will happen - but not peace.  The best thing you can do for the foolish man is pray for him, love him, and not offer him the public platform to mock God.  That is why the wise man will turn down the offer to appear on such programs - saving himself the breath, the time, and the humiliation that will come if he chooses unwisely to attend.

Scorners set a city aflame, But wise men turn away anger. Proverbs 29:8

As I sit here are write this day's "Little Bit of Wisdom," I am in a local bookstore in front of the political section.  No place is really a better example of our proverb today that this section.  Scorners in America are setting our nation aflame.  Hopefully before our nation bursts into a conflagration of mutually hated political groups - racial groups - and economic groups, we will have wise men rise up who will turn away our anger and propose solutions for our nation - without all the incindiary rhetoric.

The scorner is the one who is causing so much harm in this proverb.  The Hebrew word used here is "lason" and it means a scoffer, a mocker and refers to someone who is foolish, arrogant, and who believes their own bragging talk.  Elsewhere in the Scriptures this one is referred to as a babbler.  Their lack of wisdom from God makes them think that they themselves are god.  Thus they begin to consider themselves infallible on certain matters.  Their lack of any Biblical wisdom also means that they have a worldview that is based out of a fallen, selfish, God-despising heart.  They laugh and scoff at the 10 commandments - and think that life is far better without the Word of God clouding their minds and thinking.  These men come up with philosophies that reject God, exalt man - and that in the end encourage sin and wickedness.  Their scorning talk about God and how life should be - sets the city on fire.  What is meant here is that they inflame the minds of the people against God and His ways.

As history progresses we watch God rejected - and the world set on fire again and again with philosophies that bring destruction to mankind.  Darwin's theory of orgins that rejects God seems innocent enough - but the philosophies that degenerated out of it have caused great destruction.  Adolph Hitler took Darwin's theory seriously and came to believe that the Germanic people were the super-race.  The logical conclusion of Darwinian origins was that survival of the fittest required the destruction of the weaker and less desirable elements of the world so that the next step of evolution could come unhindered.  That kind of "inflamed thinking" led him and the leadership in Germany to systematically murder over 6 million people.  In the African continent we've watched in horror as philosophies and the inflamed rhetoric of national and racist pride have led one tribe and ethnic group to practice an ethnic cleansing of another group which they hate.  The ensuing slaughter that took place in the name of ethnic pride was nothing short of a nightmare.  When men reject God and His Word - bad things happen.  When the hiss of their viper-like philosophies begins to catch the world around them on fire - the end game makes for destruction on a scale that is hard to comprehend. 

Wise men know that such passions are rottenness in men's bones.  Their desire is to be the sons of God who are peacemakers.  They seek to turn away wrath - knowing that these passions when loosed are like pandora's box.  They are difficult, if not impossible to recapture.  All of Europe was set on fire by the twin philosophies of Nazism and Facism.  The world has yet to see the full damage that has resulted from the godless political philosophy of Communism.  Wise men will do all that they can to expose these false philosophies for what they are - the dangerous fires of scoffers who desire to set an entire city - if not an entire country aflame. 

There is an ultimate end to the scorner's tale.  Their will be an eternal fire that will burn the adversaries of God.  The ultimate scorner, Satan himself, has be behind the carnage that is produced by rejecting God and His Word.  He started it all with the question, "Has God said?" in the garden - and has been asking that question to the sons of Adam ever since.  All their wicked philosophies are simply the lie he uttered to Eve when he said, "You will not die!"  He has sought to inflame minds to think that God is withholding something from them when He forbids sin.  Countless billions have listened to his lies - and unfortunately they will be ultimately set afire for eternity in the lake of fire for their rebellion.  But . . . a wise man will turn away wrath.  Mankind deserves the wrath of God that will come for their rebellion.  But the Lord God has provided a way of salvation in Jesus Christ.  He has poured out wrath on His only begotten Son - having Him bear the wrath and punishment on the cross.  He died, was buried, and resurrected on the third day - all according to God's wise plan to turn away wrath.  Now, truly wise man take the good news of that truth - of that infinite mercy - and proclaim a provision of grace to rebels.  These wise men - as they watch the Spirit of God convict men of their sin - show them Jesus Christ - and grant them repentance and faith - turn away wrath one person at a time.  May God increase their number among mankind - and may the flames of the scorners be put out in the minds of those who are granted that His glorious grace that comes through Jesus Christ His Son.

The righteous is concerned for the rights of the poor, The wicked does not understand such concern. Proverbs 29:7

In a world where money speaks loudly it is important to have those who are advocates for the poor.  The wicked know of no such concern for this as they see the poor as a perfect target for their abuse of power.  But God makes it clear that the righteous are very concerned for the poor.

The literal translation of the proverb begins with the statement, "The righteous knows the cause of the poor."  This assumes that there is a cause for which the poor need help.  The word used here to describe the rights of the poor is a legal word.  It was used in the world of the courts and in lawsuits.  What we have then is a situation in which the legal system and the courts are not working the way they should toward the poor.  Thus they need for someone to be concerned and to know their plight. 

This is a situation that unfortunately has existed all through history - and even more unfortunately - exists today.  I watched in disgust years ago when a man who had committed a heinous murder had his sentence reduced twice because his family had the money necessary to get his case reviewed again and again.  The poor know nothing of these kinds of rights.  They don't have the money to afford the high priced lawyers who can use the system both for justice and injustice.  The poor pretty much face the system with justice alone.  Thus we see the poor going to jail - while the wealthy and influential can work the system to avoid it. 

Our proverb tells us that the righteous is concerned about these things.  They see the injustice and it bothers them.  They want to see justice blind to money and blind to political influence.  When that is not the case the righteous will fight for the cause of the poor.

The wicked don't have any kind of concern here.  In fact the proverb tells us that they don't even understand concern.  Their worldview has them as most important.  Thus, if a poor person is convicted of a crime they did not commit - or a lawsuit is turned against the poor - the wicked don't understand why anyone is upset.  In the end the wicked got what they wanted - so why all the fuss?  They just go on their way unscathed and unbothered by the legal problems of the poor. 

The reason this is important is because such things reveal the major differences between the righteous and the wicked.  The wicked cares only about himself.  He cannot see past his own desires and wants to concern himself with anyone other than himself.  The righteous are concerned because they are selfless and want God's justice to prevail in all aspects of life.  In the end - we see very clearly the contrast between the wicked and the righteous.  But in the most important sense - what we see is a godly selfless lifestyle and that of a selfish wicked person.  Knowing this we should do all we can to support the rightes of the poor.  To do otherwise would be walking in the very ungodliness that we seek to avoid.

By transgression an evil man is ensnared, But the righteous sings and rejoices. Proverbs 29:6 

Snares are usually set by a hunter for an animal.  They are set with great care and caouflaged so that the animal is unaware of their presence.  The goal is for the animal to think everything is fine - and suddenly be caught in the snare and trapped.  This normal situation with snares makes this proverb all the more interesting to us because God is warning us that certain behaviors and choices that we make actually set snares - not for another - but for ourselves. 

The way that an evil man sets a snare for himself if by his sin.  The word transgression here means rebellion.  The word speaks of rebellion against God and His laws.  So the snare that the evil man sets for himself to be caught in is his own choice to rebel against God and His laws and principles.  This ensnares him - it sets a trap for him and is bait for him as well.  The word "ensnare" here means more than just a trap.  The word actually speaks more of the bait that is in the trap.  The bait here is the whole idea of living life without any responsiblity to God and to His Word.  It is a life free from restraints - and free from serious responsilibity to God.  We don't have to worry about God and His authority.  We don't have to worry about accountability for our moral choices.  We're free to do what we want. 

This is the most effective bait available to Satan.  He catches thousands of people who don't want to be accountable to God - and who think that they truly can live however they want without consequences.  The truth is that such living places us squarely in a trap.  We cannot get past God's commandments.  We will not sidestep them - we will trip over them and fall.  Just like the proverb says, we will be ensnared when it is all over.

The righteous though sings and rejoices.  This is interesting to consider because it runs so contrary to the opening statement.  Why do the righteous sing and rejoice?  Since most proverbs present two opposing sides we can look at how that would help us understand what is being said here.  Transgression ensnares and is bait for the evil man - and yet is a motivation for the righteous to sing and rejoice.  When we look at the idea of a man being righteous we know that biblically this only happens by faith.  We are made righteous by a gift of God's grace, given because of what Jesus Christ did through His death, burial, and ressurection.  So whereas sin ensnares the evil man - the righteous one sees it and has an opposite reaction. 

The righteous man sees sin and does not see an opportunity to live how he wants.  He does not desire a life free from the constraints of the Law of God.  He sees a completely different picture.  First he sees that God is not constraining him except from doing something that will hurt himself.  Every prohibition of the Word of God is there because we need protection from the ravages of sin.  He sees the love of God at work - whereas the evil man sees God trying to rob him of pleasure he should rightfully have.  When the righteous see the love of God in His commands, he sings and rejoices!  What a wonderful, loving God he has who has marked out all the things that bring pain and destruction! 

There is something else that the righteous see in the Law of God.  He sees himself.  At first this will not be a reason to sing and rejoice because what he will see is rebellion.  He has rebelled against God and done evil as he has disobeyed God's commandments.  That is painful at first to realize - but in the end it is a reason for glorious rejoicing and singing.  It is only when we see our sinful rebellion against God's Law that we come to grasp why we need Jesus Christ.  As Galatians 3:24 tells us, ". . . the Law is given to us as a tutor, to lead us to Christ so that we might be justified by faith."  In our sinfulness we no longer are deceived and think we can be right with God on the basis of our own works.  We are led to Christ to be declared righteous by faith in what Jesus has accomplished on the cross.  There, dear ones, is the reason to sing and rejoice!

The evil man sees sin as an opportunity to live out his demented ideas of freedom.  He thinks he is free and that he will not have to be ultimately accountable for his actions.  Too bad that he will find out in eternity that such thoughts were only the bait of Satan to damn his soul for eternity.  The righteous sees sin as a reason to run to the cross of Christ for redemption and forgiveness.  He sees his sin as proof that his works are worthless in making himself acceptable to God.  This revelation from God is reason enough for him to turn to God in faith for the only righteousness that will stand in the judgment.  Knowing this is absolutely fantastic!  It is glorious and definitely turns our hearts to singing and rejoicing because of the manifold grace of God!

  When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, But when a wicked man rules, people groan. Proverbs 29:2

Ah, the Bible weighs in on politics - or at least on the kind of people who rule over a nation.  One of the things that grieved me when we were facing revelations of presidential and congressional immorality was how many people stated that it did not matter what a person did in his private life - as long as he was a good President or a good Senator or Congressman.  According to what we have written in Proverbs that kind of reasoning is very faulty.  We knew it back then - but it is good to see that what we felt in our gut is confirmed by the Lord.

The phrase, "when the righteous increase," is actually not saying that when the number of righteous people grows larger.  It is speaking of when the righteous become great - or when they are in authority.  The idea here is that a godly man rises to the point where he is given greater authority over the ruling matters of the nation.  When this happens - the people will rejoice!  Oh, that we would see this at some point in our nation.  Thus who ruled our nation early were concerned that we would have godly rulers and godly people in positions of authority.  The discussions early on when the republic was formed was whether we were "good enough people" to be ruled in this way.  Rather than the lowest common denominator being sought - we were concerned whether we, as a people, could be godly and good enough to maintain our nation. 

That is no longer the case.  In fact, it almost seems that we cheer for our godly men and women to fall and to be cast down.  We don't want heros - but anti-heros in our land.  The end of this is corruption and bad law.  We want to sink lower and lower - and are shocked when our rulers act in ways that are ungodly.  We act shocked when they are corrupt to the core.  Our real problem is that we don't demand godly leaders!  We don't tell both parties that we will not tolerate anything less.  If we did this - then those who make our laws would be willing to live according to them.  We would not have men and women making our laws who exempt themselves from having to obey them. 

We have come to grasp the second half of this proverb though.  When the wicked rule - the people mourn and groan.  The Hebrew word usually used for wicked, "ra" is not used here.  Instead "rasha" is - which points to people who are criminals.  This does describe many who rule us today.  We have people writing our tax code who don't even pay their taxes.  We have leaders who run an entire presidential campaign while hiding a child they've had in an adulterous affair.  We have Governors who run off to other countries to have sexual liasons with their mistresses and leave their posts unattended.  What we have . . . is a mess.  What is the result?  The people of the United States groan and mourn as their elected leaders take care of themselves - but who leave them uncared for and forsaken.  We have leaders who do not think ahead to how their policies will affect our children and grandchildren.  We have men and women committed to ungodly ideologies which will destroy our nation in time.  All the while we groan - and are even told that committed godly Christians are unwanted in government affairs. 

We will continue to groan if we continue to elect wicked people to office.  There is no cure for America if we continue to do this.  We must no longer consider our wallets and short-term prosperity to be our goal when choosing leaders.  What we need are godly men and women to lead us.  Men and women who desire the best for our country and for its people.  We need people of righteous character and actions to be our leaders - those who do not have this quality are wholly unsuited to lead us - now - or in the future.