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July 5, 2021
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We all knew a kid in school who just had to run everything. Remember the classmate who insisted on picking the games you’d all play at recess, where you’d go after school, even who was “in” or “out” of your group? In high school, that kid had a compulsive need to be the leader of every student organization. You just wanted to say, “Hey! You’re not the boss of me!” Whatever happened to those kids? I wouldn’t be surprised if most ended up in government. We certainly have no shortage of people there who think they know how to live your life and spend your paycheck better than you do.

I’m convinced the world is divided into people who just want to live their own lives and those who, for some reason, have an uncontrollable urge to tell everyone else how to live. Unfortunately, to that latter group, government seems like the ideal place to work, and at the moment, they are getting 99.9% of all the attention from the media. As more of them gravitated toward government, Congress abdicated much of its legislating authority to unelected bureaucrats. Their bureaus grew like kudzu, and so did their regulations with the force of law (but no input from the people.) Then one day, we looked up and discovered we had a crushing national debt and were paying huge salaries to an army of people who enforce how big your soda should be and who couldn’t be fired and who is allowed to come into your daughter’s locker room. That’s when sane people realized that government is the LAST place these out-of-control control freaks needed to be.

The temptation for government to overreach is hardly new. In fact, it stretches back to the beginning of recorded history, and I bet even earlier than that. There’s a story in the ninth chapter of the book of Judges in the Old Testament about Gideon’s son Abimelech, who craved leadership and stature - not to serve the people but to control them and make them serve him. He said, “Give me dominion over your lives, and I will simplify your existence.” Wow, does that sound familiar? It’s basically the entire 2020 Democratic platform. Our government has taken us pretty far down that same road, but does your life seem any simpler -- or just a lot less free?

Anyway, back to Abimelech. He had a very smart younger brother, Jotham, who came up with a clever tale about three trees: an olive tree, a fig tree, and a vine tree. All three were fine trees that produced lots of fruit. All were offered the exalted position of “King Of All Trees,” but all three turned it down. The plant that wanted to be “King Of All Trees” was the bramble bush, a weak plant that produces no fruit at all. Jotham’s point was that only the weak and nonproductive have the desire to rule everyone else. Does that lesson not resonate like a gong right now?

When anyone aspires to a position of power, take a long, hard look. If that person seemingly crawled out of the cradle with an ambition to be President, then beware! Anytime someone talks about “running the country,” alarm bells should sound. No one – not the President, not Congress, no one person – “runs the country” or should aspire to. That’s why the Founders took such pains to divide and limit federal power, and why we need to reinstate those limits that have been blurred in recent years, whether by Presidents ruling via executive order or out-of-control judges legislating from the bench or unelected bureaucrats abusing their power to try to influence the results of elections. If we allow any one person or entity to ignore those limits and assume the power to run everything, we won’t be able to stop them when they run America into the ground.

We should pick leaders who resemble the trees in the Bible story that don’t need or crave power but that have shown they bear good fruit. As it is said, by their fruits ye shall know them. Government has more than enough nuts already.

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Comments 26-39 of 39

  • Carole Kniepkamp

    07/05/2021 02:37 PM

    Our only comfort is to know that God is always in charge.

  • Linda Diodato-Morris

    07/05/2021 02:31 PM

    Truer and more wiser words we're never spoken. Thank you for a very encouraging article. Have a blessed Fourth of July holiday.

  • Stein Franken

    07/05/2021 01:39 PM

    This article which draws the comparison between Abimelech and Jotham's fable of the trees is spot on. We are governed today by petty commizars at every level of government, from municipalities to counties to states and on to the federal government. I didn't realize it at the time but Reagan was right when he warned us about Big Government.

  • Elaine Bettez-Wabel

    07/05/2021 01:31 PM

    Really good, thanks ????

  • Ray Crews

    07/05/2021 01:04 PM

    Our pastor said, "our forefathers did not just create a Declaration of Independence, but a Declaration of Dependance on God was included in our government."

  • Darrell R Cutshaw

    07/05/2021 12:51 PM

    Agree 100%. And why I voted for you for President... Perhaps it's not too late for God to send us those leaders. We'll continue to pray...

  • Jan Hoover

    07/05/2021 12:29 PM

    Oh wow and double wow. Your reference to Abimelech was so spot on it was stunning. There truly is "no new thing under the sun." It seems we have reached the place where humanity has opened the Bible and said, "God has said, Thou shalt not, so let's do just that." I so enjoy your emails. Thank you for being a voice for God and reason in a totally mixed up world.

  • Sherry Reimers

    07/05/2021 12:27 PM

    Thank you sir for your wisdom and common sense approach. My outlook is always more positive after reading your thoughts.

  • Jerome J. Hall

    07/05/2021 12:27 PM

    Great commentary & application. Those of us who read our Bibles know how this interaction played out. Abimelech had murdered his brothers to seize the crown. But God judges him by allowing his partners in the conspiracy to turn against him. "Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech:" Judges 9:23 KJV. This resulted in endless conflict, sort of what we are seeing between the socialists & corrupt Democrats today. Abimelech's evil reign was ended by a random eruption of feminism. "And a certain woman cast a piece of a millstone upon Abimelech's head, and all to brake his skull." (Judges 9:53) So the assumption that leftists are some kind of monolithic loyalists, is one that discounts the active agency of God who will allow their personal ambitions to be stoked, and have the bully's in the playground fight it out for who gets to be in charge. Meanwhile, as long as Joe Biden get's his ice cream, that is all that matters to him!


  • Nancy Claire Scharff

    07/05/2021 11:45 AM

    this was so good! so enjoy your articles

  • Diane Massad

    07/05/2021 10:33 AM

    The imagery and worthiness of the Three Trees reference...can fill [will fill] my mind. The role you fulfill, so well, of a person who combs their knowledge bases and then formulates a teachable message that will give benefit to many: a-h-h- thank-you for your creations via words.

  • Ruth Lee Hair

    07/05/2021 10:33 AM

    Your essay on government out if control is spot on. Your Old Testament reference to the time of Judges reminds us all how true and infallible is God’s word. It is as true today as it was 3000 years ago. People are always the same. Thanks be to God for sending Jesus so that we may live in a right relationship with him in spite of our sin.

  • G R Mortenson

    07/05/2021 10:28 AM

    Good and interesting essay, but I am afraid you may be looking at the issue strictly through a political lens. I agree that many such people who feel compelled to "run" things end up in government, at one level or another. In fact, it is government that empowers people at many levels of its organization to make very important decisions about one's freedom and life choices. For example, ever encountered a TSA airport inspector who relishes their 10 minutes of power over you? However, in business and in most jobs, this level of influence is far less broad than the entire population and conduct of daily life. Sure, business managers have some out-sized influence inside the company of employment, but only senior executives have much influence outside the company. Not so with government people, where even a low-level clerk at the IRS or FBI can really influence one's whole life. So your political lens is good and appropriate, but to bifurcate everyone into merely two groups (general citizens who just want to live their lives) and the political class doesn't explain all cases nor outcomes.

  • Justin Blanchard

    07/10/2020 04:16 PM

    I enjoy reading your posts Mike. I agree with your analysis. There are more nuts in DC than a fruitcake.

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