What the Next President Will Face

All of us, armed chair politicians, are aware that we had an election finally this week, and we have a new president-elect. A very interesting situation and experience that has come about with the election of Barack Obama as the President of the United States.

You've read and observed and watched the reaction to his election, and it's a remarkable thing in many ways. I will say that in terms of America's first biracial president, when he takes office on January 20th, it is a remarkable event in American history and the American experience. There's no question about that. I grew up in the 1960s, as some of you did and others of you were fully adult by that time, but most of us will remember the episode of civil rights movements and that era that we went through in American history to come to a point in our lifetime, as many have said, that they would see a biracial individual elected to the office of the presidency. Most never thought that that would happen. Just from a political point of view and a sociological point of view, Barack Obama has accomplished a remarkable thing and what that has done in the United States of America. I don't say that it will end all racial prejudice. I don't think that that will happen. There's still obviously a deep divide on that issue in some parts of the country and among some people, although there has been a great deal of progress made. But it is remarkable. In that sense, that is to be appreciated and understood in its proper context. The policies of Mr. Obama and any man who enters that Oval Office in the end are the most important.

It's not about race. When a person walks into that Oval Office and takes up the reins of power of the most powerful country in the world, it's not about race. The other nations and issues and problems that are going to face this man, this president, are not waiting for other racial issues to be solved and they are beyond race, ethnicity, beyond gender.

The problems that are confronting him are, it doesn't matter. What will matter most will be a number of things. We could talk about policies and everybody is going to have opinions and disagreements with politicians about their particular agendas and that's what human politics is all about. From our perspective in the Church, we have a different perspective on politics and governing and nations and what happens on the world scene.

What the next president will face is probably most importantly understood, vitally understood, from a perspective of this book right here and that is our perspective on the world.

Governs our decisions and our worldview, if you will. What he will face is better understood from the principles that are found in this book. In the Old Testament, especially with the kings of Israel, you find that God had individuals who were prophets, servants of God, men of God, who went and dealt with and advised and confronted at times the various kings. With the first king of Israel, Saul, he had Samuel as a prophet of God. It was Samuel that anointed him. And when Saul needed counsel or when he messed up, it was Samuel that went to Saul. You go to the time of David, he had his own prophet, Nathan. Nathan confronted him with his sin of adultery against Bathsheba. Nathan dealt with him there. Solomon had Zadok, the priest. Jeremiah went before the kings of Judah. Isaiah dealt with Hezekiah.

You see that pattern throughout the Old Testament during the time of the monarchy with Israel.

The various prophets would go and at times counsel and at times confront the king of either Israel or Judah about their administration, their policies, and what they were doing.

And it's a very interesting thread just to look at in that regard. I wrote an article that will be in the next World News and Prophecy and did a program on this topic this week.

From this particular point of view, imagine January 21, 2009, a new president is in the Oval Office. Imagine, if you would, a servant of God, a prophet walking into the Oval Office on the first day of official business of the next administration and setting down to counsel the next president on what he will be facing, how he should govern from the Word of God.

With all the issues that are in the world today that are going to be confronting the next president, what should he know? What would a man of God say to him? If you think about that, there are a number of interesting concepts we can explore and understand because in the long run, that is probably what is most important. First of all, the new president is going to be facing a global financial crisis. We've talked about that here. I've made comments about it. But he is inheriting a financial crisis that is a once-in-a-lifetime crisis.

Alan Greenspan, the former head of the Federal Reserve, said that what has been happening over the last two months and beyond for the last year or more is really a once-in-a-hundred-year experience. Which is interesting when you think about the Jubilee aspect of the Bible that came every 50 years with a complete economic restructuring of the society. Alan Greenspan saying once every hundred years kind of neatly puts it into the context of 50-year cycles, and neatly. But it is remarkable. Nothing we have seen like this in our own time. They are calling it now the biggest recession, the biggest economic problem since the end of World War II. I don't know that I've read or seen that. Some may be saying that it's the greatest since the Great Depression. But you can look at that in different ways and come up with different comparisons. But regardless, there have been trillions of dollars that have been lost on the books. I don't know how much a trillion dollars is. Does anybody know here how much a trillion dollars really is? You could chart it out in all the zeros out there after one and what, nine zeros would be a trillion dollars. But in reality, I don't know what a trillion dollars is. I don't even know what a billion dollars is. I don't even know what a million dollars is. When you really stop and think about it, that's a lot of money.

They say, depending on who you read, $2 trillion, $11 trillion has been wiped off of the books in America or in global markets. We've seen Wall Street turned upside down. Venerable financial houses have gone out of business. Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns. Merrill Lynch had to sell itself. When I moved to Fort Wayne in 1983, I had a little bit of money from the sale of our home in Tennessee, and I didn't know what to do with it other than put it in the bank and you didn't get much then. I said, well, I should probably open a brokerage account and put it in some stocks or something there.

So I went downtown here in Fort Wayne to a Merrill Lynch broker. He was recommended by one of the members, and I made an appointment and went down there and I said, I want to open up and put this money into some accounts here and let it set. He started explaining to me a little bit about finance and how good and how solid Merrill Lynch was. He said, Merrill Lynch is as strong and as good as General Motors.

I still remember that to this day. Well, Merrill Lynch had to sell itself, and we do hope that General Motors makes it. I don't know that we have any GM retirees here. We've got several down in Indianapolis who are dependent upon their retirement and their pensions from General Motors. Look, you don't want to see GM go under. That would open up all kinds of other scenarios that none of us really want to see on Ford for that matter as well. But things have changed. It is a rock and roll experience that the financial markets are going through at this particular time.

And there are a number of reasons for it. Subprime crisis, greed, mismanagement, wrong decisions that have been made. One of the key things that I continue to look at is that the epicenter of this storm has been in America. But it has spread a contagion around the world.

Europe especially got caught with their pants down. They were exposed because they weren't prepared to handle anything like this and they have suffered more than you realize. Asia, not quite so much. They learned a lesson 10 years ago and though they have been hurt, they have not been hurt near like some institutions here in the West, in particular, in America. I still say that it is important that we look at what is happening and the perception of this in Europe and Asia and how they react to it.

I think that we are going to pull out of this. I don't know when and I don't know how steep. Some say it may be like a V, a sharp drop and then a bounce back up. Some say it's more like going to be like a U.

Some say it's going to be more like an L, a straight drop and then kind of plateau for a while. I don't know. Most economists, the experts, they really don't know either. My personal feeling, based on what little I know and I know just enough to be dangerous when it comes to this subject, I think we're going to come back, not necessarily to where we were, but I think we're going to pull out of this in time.

I certainly hope so for all of our sakes and whatever investments we have and many other things because there's a great deal of suffering that goes along with economic collapse and though we have been shielded from some of that at this point, none of us look too skinny yet and we still can put our credit cards in.

They work. We still got gas and things still are marching along. But I think there's a work that God will allow us yet to do and I think there is a work He wants done, so I factor that into it. And I also recognize prophetically there are certain events yet to happen.

So that's why I look at how Europe especially and other countries are going to react to this in order to keep themselves from being impacted by another collapse or another set of bad judgments by the United States of America. This is going to contribute to our decline in the influence of our pride and our power. And I think that Europe especially in some way is going to have to strengthen themselves economically, politically, and even militarily.

And I think that that's going to be a spinoff and an after effect down the road from this in that part of the world that will set up some of these prophecies that we read about in Revelation 17 and 18. How soon and exactly how and when, I don't know. But I do see that when you look at this decline of Israel, speaking of American Britain and what has happened here and the reading of prophecies, that the rest of the world are going to begin to form some bonds and relationships to ensure their continued growth and to reach the description that we read of in Revelation 18 of a system called Babylon the Great that is a world-girdling economic system that is prosperous.

So I don't think the whole world economy is going to collapse. And ironically, they can't let America collapse. We are too big. We are too important. We are a consumer society. We drive China's factories. The fact that China has lifted itself out of its poverty and created a middle class is because you and I love going to Walmart and buying cheap and going to Target or to Meijer, wherever we go. We love that.

And we love our consumer culture. We love our iPods, our MP3s, our televisions, and all of that is coming out of Asia. And so keeping that going in America for the rest of the world is important. So it's like if you owe the bank a million dollars, they can't afford to let you go under. If you owe them $10,000, they can let you go real quick. But if you owe them a million dollars, they can't afford it. They've got to loan you another half million to keep you going because they've got a big investment. In that sense, the world is like that with America. I think, and this is perhaps just my own personal view, but when we read these scriptures of slavery and decline in regard to America and Israel in the time of the end, I think we might understand that we are also looking in large part at probably an economic slavery that can be as bad as any other type of problem that we might find ourselves under at some point in the future. So those are some strong ideas and things to wrap our mind around. But the next president would be better served, I think, having an understanding of certain principles. There's one principle in the Bible that he could immediately, I think, see a turnaround on, and that is in Deuteronomy chapter 15. There's a statement here that has been violated and is again at the heart of some much of our problems. In Deuteronomy chapter 15 and in verse 6, this is in the context of the seven-year cycle of the cancellation of debts and the seven-year cycle of resetting forgiving debts, but in verse 6, just notice, for the Lord your God will bless you just as he promised you. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. You shall reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over you. This is a financial principle that works on the individual level and the national level. What has been violated is the fact that instead of America lending to many nations, we have begun to borrow excessively from many nations. The fact, again, I mentioned our consumer culture, our new cars, and the big homes that we've been building across the street here, and in our neighborhoods here in Columbia City, and Bluffton, and on the outskirts of Fort Wayne, these big 100, 200, 300, half million thousand dollar homes. I don't want to step on anybody's toes here if you live in any of those homes, but homes that, quite frankly, you and I know a lot of people can't afford to live in. But they've been built, they've been mortgaged and going on, and credit card debt run up, and a consumer society that has been going for these years has been financed by China, has been financed by Saudi Arabia and other countries.

We have borrowed from them to live the lifestyle that we have, and we have violated this principle.

Now, they have been willing to do that, but again, that's why they can't in one sense let us go under.

But should we wake up some morning and things have changed, and the dollar is no longer the currency of the world, and other things have happened, we will be caught in a trap like a like a bird in a cage that will have significant repercussions for our economy.

Now, to borrow is to borrow any amount of money wrong? No. The Bible does not condemn any and all forms of borrowing. Debt within moderation, debt within managed properly, is something that you can see from the scriptures that can even be allowed. But debt that is based on greed and is excessive and multiplies on itself year after year to the point where this particular principle in verse 6 is violated is a problem. And whether however you look at our national debt, it is become something that is unmanageable, but it has become an instrument of economic and foreign policy for the United States of America. Debt has been looked upon as good deficit spending and borrowing. The $700 billion bailout that they just passed, who's going to pay for that?

Well, what will happen is, as it's already been done, is they print the money.

And then it's taken to the Treasury, and the Treasury converts it into bonds and sells those bonds to places like China and Saudi Arabia, and they hold them for us and give us back dollars.

But the dollar is not backed by anything other than their confidence in us.

That's a whole other subject in terms of the dollar and money and currency, but every currency in the world is basically backed only by the confidence that somebody else has in that dollar, that euro, that yen, whatever it is. There's nothing of value behind any of the currencies of the world. That's another subject. Violation of this principle is a big problem.

And is it too late for a turnaround? I wouldn't think so, but a new president might be well-served to hear something like that. If you were listening into a conversation between a prophet of God and the next president on January 20th, you would also probably hear him talk about America's relations with the Islamic world and a need for an understanding of that part of the world and that religion from a prophetic point of view, because there are certain prophecies that do talk about a king of the south that is going to, at one point, push and make certain incursions against another power that will set off a chain of events. That part of the world in the Middle East and the religion of Islam is going to continue to play a significant role in world affairs. The next president is going to have to face the desire to pull troops out of Iraq, and that will begin to happen and probably be accelerated. And we would hope, one would hope, that the fledgling democracy in Iraq will hold and will not topple. There will probably have to be agreements with Iran to ensure that in Saudi Arabia. Those will no doubt have to be done behind the scenes. But on the other hand, those troops that are being pulled out, not all of them are going to find their way back to the United States.

Because there is another country over there that is continuing to have problems and is on the verge of collapse if things are not showed up, and that is Afghanistan and Pakistan. We do have several thousand troops in Afghanistan, and that's where the war on terror really began. The Taliban sheltered Al Qaeda, and the terrorists that hit America on 9-11 basically came from there.

It's not been proven, to my knowledge, that they really came out of Iraq, but they came out of Afghanistan. That, if you will remember, was the first country we went into in October 2001 to uproot the Taliban and put in a new government. Mr. Karzai, the guy that wears the cape, you know, and wears that green cape over there in Afghanistan. But in recent months, in the last year or two, the Taliban have come back. And they have a lot of aid from some of the tribes over there, and the problems that are in Pakistan have not been resolved. In fact, Pakistan has a very shaky democratic form of government right now. If you recall, it was just about a year ago that Benazir Bhutto was assassinated as she was running for the presidency of Iran. Eventually, her husband was elected, and there are problems there. In Pakistan, it is the military that basically is the real power. But the critical factor about Pakistan is they are a nuclear-armed Islamic power. And nobody wants to see those nuclear arms fall into the hands of radical Islamists.

And so that area is heating up. And you will see, if you don't have to delve too deeply into the news, you will see that American commanders in Afghanistan are calling for more troops.

They're talking about building up well over 100,000 troops in Afghanistan as we begin to exit from Iraq. We're not going to be leaving that part of the world. And the problem is that Afghanistan is a bed of quicksand. You'll recall 20 years ago, the Soviet Union went into Afghanistan with over 110,000 troops. They couldn't subdue it, according to their designs. They had to pull out.

The British Empire tried to subdue Afghanistan and that mountainous region in the 19th century and couldn't do it. Alexander the Great, going as far back as his time, tried to get a handle on the tribal regions of that country, the tribes that are still there but were there in his day and he couldn't fully subdue that region. It has defied every empire and now we're on the verge of seeing American troops committed in greater scope to keep that area stable.

So these are the relations that America has with the Islamic world are very, very critical.

And of course, there's Iran and Iran's desire to have a nuclear weapon. President Obama has said that that is unacceptable just as President Bush's policy has been, but they are either very, very close to building a nuclear weapon or, as some things that I read say, they already have it because they bought it from on the black market. So they're either very close or they already have it. It depends on which expert, which committee, which source you read.

And everyone knows that that is an unacceptable situation because the ruling clerics in Iran have this idea that it is their God-given duty to bring everybody else under the Quran, under Islamic law. And if they have to use a nuclear weapon to do it, that's fine, because that will usher in their version of the messianic age in the form of their Mahdi and make everything fine according to Islam. They're not afraid to do it. That's how they think. They don't think like we do in the West. They would not even hesitate to kill their own people. If doing so, in their mind, was the step to usher in a messianic age according to their belief in the Quran. So anyone who understands the ruling clerics who are the real power behind Mr. Ahmadinejad, they understand that that is their worldview, that is their mission. So it's been very well stated ever since the Ayatollah Khomeini, and they're not going to back off from that. And so that very strong messianic belief and, again, understanding where America has gone in that area, would be something a new president should well understand, because every president in recent times has been drawn into that mix to try to find a permanent solution to the Middle Eastern problems that have eluded every one of this president's predecessors. Events probably will draw him into some other attempt to make peace there. There's a unique mixture of faith, hope, and fantasy when it comes to the Middle East, and he probably will be drawn into it. The permanent solutions to that area, however, are going to come ultimately from a different source.

The new president would really do well to read the prophecies of Daniel. And if a servant of God were to go in and to instruct the new president, it would probably do well for him to take him back to the second chapter of Daniel and turn him there and point out a few things.

If you will, just go back. I'll take you there, and let's look over their shoulder.

What might be important to learn? We know Daniel chapter 2 is this world view of prophecy that comes out of the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, who had this fantastic image come up in a dream one night of the head of gold, of the chest of silver, the belly and thighs of bronze, and the feet of iron, and the toes of iron mixed with miry clay. And he saw in his dream the stone cut out without hands, strike the image on its feet, and that stone grew to fill the entire earth.

And Daniel comes in because nobody else could interpret the dream for Nebuchadnezzar. And Daniel comes in and says to him exactly what that is. You're that head of gold, Nebuchadnezzar.

And after you, these other empires will come, and it gives him the interpretation of the dream.

We all well know that particular image there. Daniel gives him this overview of world history from the time of the Babylonian Empire all the way forward. Understand that Babylon of old occupied the present area of Iraq. Okay, that's the area that we're talking about. That's where Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar were. And so we still see that as an area of the world that is a source of conflict and a churning of events. And what Daniel did in this was to offer her three lessons.

Because before he ever explained the dream in Daniel chapter 2, you will see that Daniel, after being given the commission to interpret the dream in verse 17, he went to his house and he consulted his three good friends, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, otherwise known as there you go, bingo. And in verse 18, he says that they might seek mercies from the God of heaven concerning this secret so that Daniel and his companions might not perish with the rest of the wise men. And the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. So Daniel blessed the God of heaven. Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God forever and ever for wisdom and might or his. And in verse 21, he gives really three principles, three keys, three lessons that would be effective for the new president of the United States to reflect on and to think about. First of all, in verse 21, it says regarding God that he changes the times and the seasons. God has the power over history, the long-term course of world events. World empires, world wars, and the destiny of nations and empires are in God's control. That's what it means. He changes the times and the seasons. He will take an empire through a rise and a fall and see the course of history change.

That's the spiritual dimension in history that is important to understand. When you understand that God is in charge of history, that opens up a dimension on the Bible and on prophecy and on world events, past and present and future, that you will not find anywhere else. And it is so important to understand. That is, at the key of our understanding of the Bible and history and prophecy, God changes the times and seasons. And so a president would do well to heed that.

Secondly, this verse says, he removes kings and raises up kings.

God removes kings. God raises up kings.

God raises up presidents. God may allow them to be removed.

A new president comes in at any time, whether it's this year or previous elections, and they have spent millions of dollars campaigning. They have produced films that present the candidate in the best light and evoke all kinds of images. I think of Ronald Reagan's images that you can see that were evoked because of the way they cast him. The man coming out of the west, the guy on a horseback, wearing a cowboy hat. A commander-in-chief. Richard Nixon had his publicists. Bill Clinton did his, and Barack Obama has had his. They have policies. They have ideas that they sell in their politicking that either succeed or fail. And, as I said, they spend a great deal of money. Kings, on the other hand, in our world today, like Queen Elizabeth or some other king, they rule and have their position in different ways because of different methods and means. And leaders who are in that role where they control great powers and great power is what really is being addressed here. And Daniel is saying that God removes them and he sets them up. I think we're talking here on the big stage. We're not necessarily talking about every mayor or governor or even, you know, 10 pot dictators in small countries. I don't think that that's necessarily being covered by this verse. But I do think that it is talking about leaders, prime ministers, kings in the past, queens in the past. I think Queen Elizabeth I in England was one brought to the realm for a particular time and method and fit this verse, put there by God, and lived out a lifetime for a unique purpose. I think that you can go down the list of American presidents and see certain ones that were slotted in at various times, whether it's George Washington at the beginning, Abraham Lincoln at this country's most critical moment, or Franklin Roosevelt during World War II and believe this verse and understand it. And I think even in this day and time, God allows humans to occupy with the roles in office at various times according to His will and His pleasure. That's what a president should understand because it will help keep him from the sin of pride. No matter how charismatic they are, no matter how brilliant they are, no matter how much money has been spent, in the end if they realize that they occupy their office because of this verse, what it tells us that God sets up and takes down significant rulers, then it will keep a person from looking just to himself, to his advisors, to his cabinet, to the power that they might hold in Congress and fall prey to that sin of pride.

That's the great one of the big lessons to learn about Nebuchadnezzar. He fell prey to pride, and God dealt with him in that way. And any leader, regardless of who they are, will fall, that falls prey to pride, will suffer as a result, and their people will suffer as well.

But no world leader of any significant merit, and no, occupies his or her office without the consent of God. That's important to understand. If a leader will recognize that, pride can be avoided.

Thirdly, it says he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding.

You would hope that if a new president would have a man of God to come into his office, to advise him spiritually, that this would be, again, the spiritual advice that he would get.

And it would be to put your trust in God. Recognize your wisdom, your knowledge, your understanding of issues, economic issues, world affairs. People will come from God if you submit to him. Seek and trust in him. Look to his word as the foundation of knowledge, and he will give you wisdom necessary to make wise decisions and govern justly and carefully and bring a nation through turbulent times. That's what you would want man of God to say to a president on his first day in office.

You see, America has prospered throughout its remarkable history not because of its wisdom, but because of God's blessing and God's direct blessing. Whether that blessing continues is going to depend upon the attitude and behavior of the country's leaders and its citizens.

You would hope that if a president would call the people to listen to words such as these and other words that we could turn to, to understand how far the nation has drifted and fallen from that knowledge, that a turnaround could be affected that would preserve the country's blessings.

We're in very momentous times, and challenges and changes are going to obviously face this new president, and I've only covered just a few of them. I have another article to write for part two of this. But as you and I sat here this morning and we think about the prospect of a new presidency and what lies ahead, I think we do want to remember all of these principles and many, many more. But let's not forget that God has blessed America with the great wealth and power that it has had, and that these blessings are held in his hand for as long as he wills, and he gives them to us. So regardless of the difficult times, we still are a very powerful people, economically, militarily, and politically. That could change overnight.

And so we, of all people, should understand that and be circumspect about it, but also be praying for the wisdom for this new president, and praying in this spirit. And according to these principles that I've covered here, if he were to really, truly succeed along God's path, he would need to heed and listen to these warnings that come from God's Word in order to help the country navigate this very troubled period of time that is upon us and is going to probably get worse before it gets any better to whatever degree that happens. There's hope in the future, but it's hope and trust in God that's going to be the ultimate strength of this and any other country and its leadership. So that might be some of the things you would hear if you could listen in on that type of imaginary conversation between a true man of God, a true servant of God, a true prophet of God, if you would, who might be invited into the Oval Office on January 20th to talk to the new president. It's important to think about and to keep in mind. I'll probably come back to this in another sermon as we move closer to that period of time, but if we think along those lines, I think we'll begin to have God's point of view on the subject and understand exactly what is being done.