Separation of Church and State?

I do not believe it matters what party ticket you identify with.  I don't believe in the two party system our fore fathers started, but that is for another day.  What I am concerned about is how folks are voting. 

Why do you vote?  Is it because he is a Democrat and you are too, so he must be the right guy?

Proverbs 29:2 - When the righteous thrive, the people will rejoice.  When the wicked rule, the people groan.

I am sure some of you are groaning now.  Or did four years ago.

Did you know that God set up nations to be ruled by a righteous leader?  He put a good man in place to rule over the people to help them thrive, to grow, to flourish.  When a bad leader came into power, it was when the nation began to fall.  The people were unhappy and after a few hundred years, the nation was destroyed.  Either internally or because they were so weakend by their own turmoil they were overtaken by another nation.  God made governments so they would stabilize a nation, not destroy them.

Want an example?  The book of 1 Kings.  This isn't a story book.  It is truth.  Not just "truth" as in it is the word of God (although it is), but these are kings of the Middle East.  They are in history books...all history books.  1 Kings show all the rulers for hundreds of years.  The further they got away from God's teachings, the worse off the kingdom became.  11 generations of kings later, Omni enters the picture.  He was worse than all the other kings combined (1 Kings 16-18).  Needless to say, it was bad.

So, where am I going with this?  We should care about the private lives of our leaders.  It is their character that matters - Proverbs 16:12.   If they do not have character, they are not fit to lead us.  This includes a head of household (read: husband), our pastors or political leaders.  What is popular isn't always right.  And, of course, what is right isn't always popular.  If we are voting for people because they are popular, we aren't doing what is right. 

Do your homework.  We need to find out about the personal lives and values of the candidates.  If they aren't following the path that God set for all of us, we are setting ourselves up for failure.  And not just because we aren't getting what we want.  God will break us in the future if we continue down the wrong path.