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Continuing our discussion from part four, while we can hope and pray for the Salvation of those people who are at the helm of worldly governments, from reading the Scriptures, I believe that it is safe to assume that similar to Agrippa and his ancestors, or just like evil Emperor Nero, most of said leaders will probably reject God's gift when they are given an opportunity to accept the Lord. Let's face it. As I noted earlier, they are of the world, and all most of them care about are the things of the world, namely power, fame and wealth. Not only that, but in examining God's Word, and using that as an example, it seems that the current pattern of stiff rebellion will continue, as the world becomes even more corrupt and evil in its ways. I am reminded of what the Apostle Paul also wrote to Timothy:

"But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived."


Please notice that this verse comes immediately after the verse I shared with you at the end of part four regarding persecution. In short, if we follow the Biblical pattern, then the way it always seems to play out is like this:

1. A period when people gladly accept the Gospel.
2. A period of spiritual apathy and frigidity.
3. A period when rejection and rebellion begin.
4. A period of persecution against God's people.

Tell me, my friends. Is that not what we are seeing more and more with each passing year, as people grow tired insofar as hearing the Christian Gospel is concerned? They are becoming just like the stuffed turkey I mentioned to you in part four.

Once people have knowingly rejected God's mercy through the Salvation that He offers them, then this is where I believe that all of the other verses I have shared in this series come into play. Once they have made a clear choice against God, then I believe that we are really no longer under any further obligation to pray for them. While the Apostle Paul advised his readers to hope and pray for the Salvation of kings and such, it cannot be forced on them. It must be by their own free choice. Then, as we've discussed in part two, once they have made a clear choice and rejected the Word of the Lord, we should follow Jesus' own advice as found in the Gospels, as we see by the following group of Bible verses:

"Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you."


"But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another . . ."


"And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them . . ."


"He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad."


Please ask yourself this question: Do any of those verses even remotely sound like we should stay and continue to pray for such callous individuals who have knowingly rejected the Gospel? Obviously not. What they do say is "Don't fight, take flight!" In part three I shared the following verse with you:

"The face of the LORD is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth."


If the previous verse clearly informs us that the Lord's face is against evildoers -- which strongly suggests that He does not even hear their prayers -- and that His only desire is to destroy them, then why should we continue to waste our time on them? I can tell you from my personal experiences that the more you pressure an individual after they have already heard the message of Salvation, the more likely they are to harden their heart even more, and reject the message further. Such people become so deceived by their own pride and vanity, that they actually reject God's mercy, as we see by the following verse:

"They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy."


In other words, God will not have mercy upon those people who reject the truth of the Scriptures, and who live in delusion. So the question is this: Is it possible for a certain person, or even an entire nation of people, to become just so wicked in their ways that the Lord might specifically tell us to NOT even pray for them? Taking my question a step further, is it also possible that national government leaders can likewise become so extremely evil, that contrary to the Apostle Paul's admonition in 1 Timothy 2:1-3, we should NOT pray for them as well?

Well, sad to say, the answer is actually a resounding "Yes!". If you personally find this answer difficult to believe, then I ask you to consider the fact that the ancient Israelites -- who were God's very own people at that time -- became just so wicked, and so corrupt, and had backslidden from the Lord so far in their rebellion and apostasy, that several times in his book, the Prophet Jeremiah very specifically wrote that the Lord commanded him to NOT even pray for them. Why does the Lord tell Jeremiah this? Because the sins of the people have in fact separated them from God. For those of you who have also realized the similarities between ancient Israel and the modern United States of America, these verses might be quite an eye-opener for you:

"But YOUR INIQUITIES HAVE SEPARATED BETWEEN YOU AND YOUR GOD, and your sins have hid his face from you, that HE WILL NOT HEAR."


"Therefore PRAY NOT THOU FOR THIS PEOPLE, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee."


"Therefore PRAY NOT THOU FOR THIS PEOPLE, neither lift up a cry or prayer for them: for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto me for their trouble."


"Then said the LORD unto me, PRAY NOT FOR THIS PEOPLE for their good. When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence. Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, the prophets say unto them, Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place. Then the LORD said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart. Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that prophesy in my name, and I sent them not, yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land; By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed. And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and they shall have none to bury them, them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters: for I will pour their wickedness upon them."


"We have transgressed and have rebelled: thou hast not pardoned. Thou hast covered with anger, and persecuted us: thou hast slain, thou hast not pitied. THOU HAST COVERED THYSELF WITH A CLOUD, THAT OUR PRAYER SHOULD NOT PASS THROUGH."


"Now we know that GOD HEARETH NOT SINNERS: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth."


Notice how the Lord also warns Jeremiah of the coming fate of the many false prophets in Israel, who prophesied of peace, safety and plenty, when He actually had the opposite in store for them. I wonder how many false seers there are in America today who do this very same thing. They wave their red, white and blue flags and sing "God Bless America", and are living under such strong delusion, that they don't even realize that God is about to send them His judgments! The Dominionists in particular all shout "Make America great again!" and "America will be great again as soon as Donald Trump is re-elected!", not realizing that America has already become so evil, that it is possible that she has already passed the point of no return. They sound just like the false prophets of Israel who likewise promised peace and prosperity. Wow! What a parallel!

No doubt some scoffers will immediately say "Ah yes, there he goes again with his talk of coming gloom and doom!" Well, for those of you who are so foolish as to doubt my words, allow me to remind you that from the time that the Prophet Jeremiah began to prophesy to Israel, a total of forty years passed before God's judgments actually fell upon those wicked people by way of King Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian invasions.

In similar fashion, when Jesus prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem and Herod's temple in His Olivet Discourse, we know that forty years passed before it was destroyed in 70 A.D. by the Roman General Titus and his legions. In the case of the Genesis Flood which occurred during the days of the Patriarch Noah, between one hundred and one hundred and twenty years passed before the rains began to descend.

The point is, God is extremely merciful. He is slow to anger. He is patient or what the Bible calls longsuffering. He gives His rebellious and foolish children plenty of time to repent of their wickedness and sins. This is why His judgments are so righteous when they finally fall. We have the opportunity to either repent, or else to continue to fill up our cup of iniquity. This applies on both a personal level, as well as on a national level. Please consider the following verses which clearly describe God's true, patient, merciful nature:

"And refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them; but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage: but thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest them not."


"The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever. He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust. As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more. But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children; To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them."


"The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy."


"It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness."


"And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil."


However, as I mentioned in part two, God will NOT wait on us to repent forever. Sooner or later, His judgements will begin to fall. As such, we need to understand that judgment delayed does NOT equate to judgment postponed. That is precisely why I have personally become convinced that, sooner or later, His righteous judgements will fall on America, because She has simply become so evil. She no longer even tries to hide her sins. She flaunts them openly in God's face.

Returning to our main topic of discussion, as we see by the previous verses from the Book of Jeremiah, not only does the Lord tell us that He does not hear the prayers of the wicked, but He also informs us that there are times when He does not even want His own children to pray for them either. Now, this brings us to a crucial point of this discussion. Consider the warning the Lord offers in the seventh chapter of the Gospel of Matthew:

"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them."


While Jesus was applying His words to false prophets, it is obvious that we can apply His counsel to other situations as well. Not only should we apply the Lord's words to our own lives, but we should apply them to anyone who claims to be a Christian. This includes our government leaders. That is the gist of my main message to you in this series. Now for those of you who insist that following the Apostle Paul's advice, we should pray for the president and other leaders of the government of the United States of America, allow me to ask you a pointed question.

While some of these politicians claim to be Christians, and while we sometimes see them in made-for-TV photo ops as they attend church services, do these men and women truly display the fruits of a true, God-fearing, Bible-believing Christian in their personal lives, in the political decisions which they make, and in the various positions which they embrace?

I am sure that I do not need to lead any of you by the hand in answering this question. You are all familiar with what kinds of policies and practices the current leadership has supported. You are fully aware of the current status of gay and lesbian rights. You are aware of who openly supports and promotes the murderous act of abortion under the false guise of so-called women's reproductive rights. You are also aware of how transgenderism has confused and corrupted the minds of elementary school-aged children. You're aware of how many countries have been mercilessly bombed, supposedly all for justifiable reasons. And there are many other wicked things they do which we will probably never even know about.

Based upon your knowledge of these issues, can you honestly say that the US government leaders who make these kinds of ungodly decisions are true Christians? Can you honestly say that they're worthy of the prayers of other Christians? Can you honestly say that you are convinced in your heart that it is God's Will for you to pray for these kinds of leaders?

Now, please understand that I am not trying to paint with a broad brush here. I realize that not all politicians have supported these ungodly policies. There are certain people in government who have in fact voiced strong opposition to some of these policies, precisely because they do strive to adhere to Christian principles in their lives. So it is very important to divide the wheat from the tares. However, we're talking about the bad apples here, of which, sadly, there are indeed many.

As I pointed out in part two of this series, the results of our prayers depend upon three factors. If one of them is not aligned with the other two, then our prayers will be totally ineffective. In plain talk, they are useless. So tell me, do you believe that the politicians who create these devilish policies, and who make these decisions which contradict the Word of God, are truly trying to align their wills with the Will of the Father? Does the fruit of their lives prove it?

Taking all of these different points into consideration, as members of God righteous Kingdom, and His global spiritual nation of born-again Believers, I am of the opinion that in matters of prayer, our primary obligation is to pray for our own Kingdom and nation, to pray for our spiritual elders and our brethren in the faith, and to pray for the Lord's lost sheep who still remain in the world, but who are destined to become His children. This seems to be the overall statement of all of the verses I have found in the New Testament.

Only that one set of verses written by the Apostle Paul and addressed to Timothy, makes mention of praying for worldly leaders. Yet even those verses seem to be mainly concerned with the general Salvation of all men. As we have discussed, once they reject that Salvation, once they turn their backs on God in favor of worldly power and wealth, they have made their clear choice to remain the children of darkness, and the children of the world. As we saw clearly in the verse from John chapter seventeen, the Lord did NOT pray for the world. He only prayed for His own followers.

Throughout this series, I have done my best to show you what the Holy Scriptures plainly teach us concerning the subject of praying for one's government leaders. I have shown you directly what is stated in the Old Testament as written by the Prophets. I have shown you what Jesus personally taught. And lastly, I've shown you what the Apostle Paul wrote too.

So what will you do? I certainly cannot decide for you, and I don't wish to decide for you. As in all of my articles, I have done my best to provide you with the verses I've found which are pertinent to this subject. How you pray, where you pray, how long you pray, and for whom you pray, is of course entirely up to you. I just hope that you are not praying for someone whom the Lord has already turned His back on, and for whom He does not even want us praying. The Scriptural evidence is there. You decide for yourself, as you feel led by God's Spirit. As the Apostle Paul also wrote:

"


As I mentioned earlier, there are a lot of bad apples within the U.S. government. There is one bad apple in particular who I want to discuss before bringing this series to an end. At this current time, we are only two weeks away from the 2024 U.S. presidential election. In fact, in some states, early voting has already begun. As you will know, the candidates are Donald Trump on the Republican ticket, and Kamala Harris on the Democratic ticket. It is Harris who I wish to discuss.

In parts three and four of this series, we discussed "brute beasts , made to be taken and destroyed", "reprobate silver" which is rejected by the Lord, and "vessels of wrath fitted to destruction". Some people are born reprobates, and remain reprobates their entire lives. In other words, they reject the Lord, and the Lord rejects them.

While my Democratic-leaning readers will obviously not like to hear this, quite frankly, at this point in time, I would say that given Harris' various positions and the evil things which she supports and promotes -- such as abortion rights and LGBTQ rights -- she qualifies as both a wicked person and a reprobate. I simply do not believe or accept that any truly God-fearing, Bible-believing Christian would support such things. Furthermore, I don't believe that Harris has any intention of repenting of her wickedness. She is sixty years old and very set in her ways.

Let's be clear about this. Harris has plainly stated that if she should win the election, she will sign a constitutional amendment re-establishing abortion as the law of the land, the minute that such a bill hits her desk. She publicly said this during the April 10, 2024 presidential debate.

How much more proof do we need than that to see how wicked this woman is? Do you honestly believe that she is a genuine Christian? We all know -- or at least should know -- that all politicians are chameleons who will change the color of their skin depending on which way the political wind blows, for the sake of political advantage. They'll pretend to be Christians when they're really no such thing in their hearts or in their daily lives. Yet sadly, gullible Christians continue to be deceived by them year after year.

As I point out in some of my abortion-related articles such as "Abortion: The Slaughter of the Innocent" and "The Fruit of the Womb", the Bible plainly state that God HATES people who shed innocent blood, and that children are a blessing from the Lord, as we can determine by the following verses:

"These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren."


"Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward."


What can be more innocent than the estimated 63,000,000+ unborn babies who have been murdered in cold blood in the USA since Roe v. Wade became the law of the land in 1973? Sadly, that horrendous number only represents the legal, known abortions. Who knows how many others there have been.

So again, in my opinion, Harris is a very wicked person. She is a hard-hearted reprobate who simply knows how to put on a good act for the sake of political advantage. Her fruits do NOT reveal her to be a genuine Christian who truly believes in or respects the Bible, or the sanctity of human life.

Furthermore, it is of concern to me that should Harris win the upcoming election, she could turn out to be a vessel of wrath which the Lord uses to chastise this nation, due to its backslidden condition and stiff rebellion against the Lord. I believe that God uses such liberal leaders to allow a nation to fill up its cup of iniquity before His judgments fall.

So just as I cannot tell you who to pray for, neither can I tell you who to vote for, assuming that you vote at all. It is entirely up to you and your personal faith, and how you feel led by the Lord. However, personally, I really have no inclination to pray for Harris. Regarding voting, here on Guam we can't vote in federal elections. Now does this mean that I believe that God can't change Harris' heart? No, of course not. God can do whatever He likes, whenever He likes, to whomever He likes. After all, the Apostle Paul engaged in persecuting and killing Christians, yet the Lord totally turned his heart and life around, exactly as we saw earlier in Proverbs 21:1.

However, at the same time, as I explain in "Free Will and Personal Choice" and "Do You Want Love and Light, or Rod and Wrath?", God made each of us a free moral agent. He did NOT make us to be mindless robots. Thus, we have the free will to choose what we want or don't want. But whatever we choose, we must be willing to accept the consequences of our choices. As we discussed earlier, Harris has made her choice regarding the abortion issue. It is a part of her campaign platform.

We are talking about someone who wants to reinstate the right to murder unborn babies on a constitutional level. Legally undoing such an amendment would be quite difficult. When was the last time an amendment was removed from the Constitution? Out of curiosity, I asked ChatGPT about this. Consider this:

----- Begin Quote -----

"No amendment has ever been removed from the U.S. Constitution. However, one amendment, the 18th Amendment (which established the prohibition of alcohol in 1920), was effectively "reversed" by a later amendment, the 21st Amendment, which repealed it in 1933. This is the only instance of one constitutional amendment directly overturning another. While amendments can be repealed or overridden by subsequent amendments, none have been "removed" from the Constitution itself."

----- End Quote -----

So that is why ever since Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court on June 24, 2022 in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, liberals have worked feverishly to circumvent that ruling by going through Congress instead. They understand how extremely difficult it would be to repeal a constitutional amendment passed by Congress and signed by the president.

Of course, Kamala Harris is just the person to help them to accomplish this devilish deed. She is a person who is in fact heavily counting on her position regarding abortion rights to help her to win the election. This is a person whose heart is not going to change. She is a wicked reprobate who does not care what God thinks. That is why I cannot in good conscience pray for her. Furthermore, I don't believe God even wants me to do so, as per the previous verses I shared with you. Kamala Harris will do whatever God has ordained for her to do, even if it means taking the United States of America further down the dark path of sin and rebellion against the Lord. God help us all if she should win the 2024 presidential election!

With these thoughts, I will bring this article to a close. It is my hope that you have found it informative, enlightening, and I pray that it has been a blessing in your life as well. If you have an account with Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or with any other social network, I would really appreciate if you'd take the time to click or tap on the corresponding link that is found on this page. Thanks so much, and may God bless you abundantly!

For additional information and further study, you may want to refer to the list of reading resources below which were either mentioned in this article, or which contain topics which are related to this article. All of these articles are likewise located on the Bill's Bible Basics web server. To read these articles, simply click or tap on any link you see below.

Bill's Bible Basics Articles:

Are You a Burning Ember for the Lord?
Are You Just a Baby Huey?
Beholding the Evil and the Good
Beware of Dominionism!
Beware of the Pauline Extremists!
Civil Disobedience and Christian Persecution
Do You Want Love and Light, or Rod and Wrath?
Don't Ever Underestimate Our Spiritual Enemy
Free Will and Personal Choice
Have You Read the New Scriptures Yet?
He Who Fights and Runs Away: Choose Your Battles Wisely
Is the Message of Salvation Meant for All Men?
Love, Mercy, Forgiveness and Chastisement
Modern False Prophets and Worldly Ecumenism
Not Everyone Is a Child of God
One From Beyond: Hebrew of Hebrews
Rise of the False Church
The Children of God and Politics
The Fruits of Disobedience
The Heavenly Vision: Have You Got It?
The Holocaust: Did God Make a Mistake?
The Public School System and School Prayer
To Pray or Not to Pray? That is the Question
To Vote, or Not to Vote
Tradition or Truth? Old Wine or New Wine?

Bill's Bible Basics KJV Bible Verse Lists:

Desperate Prayer KJV Bible Verse List
God Raises Up Leaders KJV Bible Verse List
God Turns Away From Prayer KJV Bible Verse List
Morning Prayer KJV Bible Verse List
Obey the Powers That Be KJV Bible Verse List
Pray for Whom? KJV Bible Verse List
Prayer KJV Bible Verse List
Prayers of Jesus KJV Bible Verse List
Watch and Pray KJV Bible Verse List

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