Hi Boyd and all you others.
I was brought up in a country which was under a monarch and saw the evils carried out in both his and her names. I have seen evils carried out in the name of Christ!

In the Pacific the old rulers, whether called kings or chiefs, ruled by the power of their Mana (pronounced marnar) which they recieved from their supporters when they wee appointed. They did not automatically become king or chief becouse their father was but rather they had the abilities or rersources that the people needed at that time. It was only when the colonisation occurred that Britain insisted on the Europran way of inheritence be the way of passing on the kingship.

Just recently rhe old ways are starting to come back in and this is causing a lot of concern to the families of the chiefs and kings in the Pacific as they have been abusing their possitions for their own personal gains and now this looks like the gravy train is over.

Thr bible uses the term "King" as this was some thing all the people understood. The position of King was one the people preffered then(read Sanuel and the part where Saul was annointed). Gods preference was Judges and this was leaders appointed by already appointed leaders for their skills, knowledge and devotion to God. There was even a woman judge. God seemed more democratic than the people were!!

I see that when we accept Christ we vote for him we make him President of our lives. Each day I beleive we make this vote, every time we come u[ with choices we make this vote! For this reason I se my relationship more like the president than a king however I do like the old Pacific concept which seems more like the old Judges of early Isreal.

Hows that for a ramble?
Tevita

In some ways, we 21st-century Americans have no concept of what a king was, nor does most of the rest of the world. (The royalty of Europe have no real power; what power they have is all ceremonial.) Kings had power of life and death over their subjects. A king spoke; his citizens acted, no questions asked. Kings reigned for life. (If a king got senile, then his advisors and subjects had to get creative in their obedience *lol*, but he was still the king.) He was in every way a special person.

Indeed, I agree with the US' founders that a kingship gave one man too much power over others--yet my ultimate allegience is not to a man, not even to a President, but to the King of Kings.

Derek Webb (formerly of Caedmon's Call, now with a solo career) has a song that is very relevant to this thread. I also happen to love it! "A King & A Kingdom" lyrics are below:

(vs. 1)
who's your brother, who's your sister
you just walked passed him
i think you missed her
as we're all migrating to the place where our father lives
'cause we married in to a family of immigrants

(chorus)
my first allegiance is not to a flag, a country, or a man
my first allegiance is not to democracy or blood
it's to a king & a kingdom

(vs. 2)
there are two great lies that i’ve heard:
“the day you eat of the fruit of that tree, you will not surely die”
and that Jesus Christ was a white, middle-class republican
and if you wanna be saved you have to learn to be like Him

(chorus)

(bridge)
but nothing unifies like a common enemy
and we’ve got one, sure as hell
but he may be living in your house
he may be raising up your kids
he may be sleeping with your wife
oh no, he may not look like you think

I've become a big Derek Webb fan - he really seems to pour his heart and soul into his ministry of music. I saw him in concert on my birthday this past February and he told the audience that he feels that it is his job to tell the truth, regardless, through his music. Because of this, he has some very interesting, thought-provoking lyrics. If you don't already know his music, I would encourage you to check him out!

Thanks for reminding me of the song.

I became a Derek Webb fan after hearing him on the Bored Again Christian (www.boredagainchristian.com).

I have enjoyed his music, his podcast and his thoughts which are quite challenging. I recently heard Derek and Donald Miller's podcast as well.




=============

It has been interesting listening to the Old Testament. God's ideal for Israel was to not have a King. Why? Because, as we have found elsewhere, "Power Corrupts". This of course is not an absolute. Look at the role call for Israel...

Saul - Started out well but soon moved away from God.
David - "A man after God's own heart". Still had several wives, and then there was the whole Bathsheba incident.
Solomon - What can be said.... Started off well, built the Temple, over 700 wives, pretty much lost his faith thanks to adopting his wives gods.

Most others... corrupt and Godless... And the people followed suit.

The problem is that without a King, the people didn't do much better... Read Judges.

God wanted Israel to make Him king....

I may not fully understand what it is like to be under one ruler for life, but sometimes, I wonder if we kept a good president for another 16 years would make a difference for the good? At least he would be experienced.

But for Jesus, no, we do not have a vote. In fact, we have misunderstood Jesus so much that on the surface, I doubt we would have voted him in the first place. Jesus is King. In fact, he is King of all kings.

There was no voting involved, and he came through the lineage of King David.

We would like to say we vote for Jesus everyday, but that is a personal decision we have to make. Better yet, we trust him whether we vote for him or not. He is not sitting around waiting for us to vote for him. He is King and God, our vote or not, our decision or not. And that is the way it should be.

Boyd

Boyd, I am grateful that the leaders of our nation have limited terms. Inept leaders are prevented from doing too much damage. The best leaders are prevented from becoming corrupted by too much power.

On a related note, the Journey with Jesus <http://www.journeywithjesus.net/Essays/20070409JJ.shtml>; meditation for April 15 speaks to this theme.

Hopeful

Thanks Hopeful

In order for the link above to work, you need to remove the %3E that it picked up..

http://www.journeywithjesus.net/Essays/20070409JJ.shtml