Great Nations have Great Leaders
Many times in the Old Testament, God’s prophets (those who brought His message to the people) taught that if a nation is to be great, it must have good leaders. To the nation of Israel, the Lord once said: “Your princes are rebellious, And companions of thieves” (Isaiah 1:23). He went on to tell them that the widows, and the children who had no parents, could not receive fair treatment from rulers like these.
History has proven that the greatest nations have been those whose leaders believed in God and respected the teaching of His Word.
Thomas Erskine once served as Lord Chancellor of England. He wrote: “I am deeply devoted to the truths of Christianity.” Sir William Blackstone was one of Great Britain’s leading teachers of the law many years ago. He said that the belief that God is watching our conduct is one of the most important foundations of a nation’s law system. That is why, in most courts of law, people are asked: “Do you promise to tell the truth–so help you God?”
Sir William Gladstone, one of England’s most famous Prime Ministers, said: “Most men at the head of great movements are Christian men.” Gladstone believed that the proofs which show that the Bible is from God cannot be shaken.
George Washington, the first president of the United States, once wrote a book containing a record of some of the prayers he prayed during his morning and evening worship periods. In one of these, the “father of our country” asked God to help this nation respect and obey Him, so that the people might have a place among the great nations of the world.
Andrew Jackson, our seventh president, wrote a “will” before he died. (This is a kind of “letter” that explains how you want your things to be divided after you die.) He said: “The Bible is true. Upon that sacred Book I rest my hope of eternal salvation through the merits of our blessed Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
Abraham Lincoln, one of our best presidents, said that the Bible “is the best gift God ever gave to man.” He also said that without the Scriptures, we could not “know right from wrong.”
A nation will prosper when it obeys the laws God has given in His Word. When it rejects Divine Truth, it someday will fall. Many years ago, leaders in France made fun of the Bible. They tied a copy to the tail of a donkey, dragged it outside the city, and burned it. Since that time, the French government has fallen thirty-five times! It does not pay to mock God.
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