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Hey guys! I don't know about you, but I've watched both presidential debates, and I have to say that I'm terrified. I've always been a Trump supporter but I can't get over how I don't have all the facts about the debate. Hillary couldn't stress enough to go online and check her fact-checkers, but the interesting thing is it's her fact checker. Because of everything on social media and such, I can't trust anything I see. The websites are biased, both sides are focused on debunking the other side by pulling personal matters into the debate. It's killing me how I can't obtain all the facts no matter how many articles I read. So in the midst of all my stress, I asked God who I should vote for. He answered, Hillary Clinton. I stopped for a moment and dove into worship thinking that the devil was trying to trick me. When I did, God sorta laughed and said that he would tell me when I hit the voting booth.

I figured God would tell me to vote for Trump. After all, how can I vote for someone who is pro-choice and wants to take all our guns away? But he asked me if I would vote for Hillary if he asked me. Would I vote for someone who's against everything that God and I stand for, and trust in him that it would turn out good? It's a challenging thought really, because would God really vote for Hillary? So who is God voting for?

To start, let's check out the first king of Israel in 1 Samuel 15:1-9, "One day Samuel said to Saul, 'It was the Lord who told me to anoint you as king of his people, Israel. Now listen to this message from the Lord! This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has declared: I have decided to settle accounts with the nation of Amalek for opposing Israel when they came from Egypt. Now go and completely destroy the entire Amalekite nation—men, women, children, babies, cattle, sheep, goats, camels, and donkeys.' So Saul mobilized his army at Telaim. There were 200,000 soldiers from Israel and 10,000 men from Judah. Then Saul and his army went to a town of the Amalekites and lay in wait in the valley. Saul sent this warning to the Kenites: 'Move away from where the Amalekites live, or you will die with them. For you showed kindness to all the people of Israel when they came up from Egypt.' So the Kenites packed up and left. Then Saul slaughtered the Amalekites from Havilah all the way to Shur, east of Egypt. He captured Agag, the Amalekite king, but completely destroyed everyone else. Saul and his men spared Agag’s life and kept the best of the sheep and goats, the cattle, the fat calves, and the lambs—everything, in fact, that appealed to them. They destroyed only what was worthless or of poor quality.'

Okay. Let's get this straight. Saul gets appointed King. Saul gets a mission to go destroy an entire nation and leave nothing behind. Women, children, cattle, BABIES, all dead. As someone who has a soft spot for the innocent, It's no wonder that Saul would question God's decision. But as we all know God, he knows what he's doing. But rather than carrying out his orders in full, Saul went out and did a half-hearted job. He killed all the women, children, and babies, but the king and the best of cattle survived. Saul went out and kept what he wanted and destroyed what he didn't.

1 Samuel 15:10-19, "Then the Lord said to Samuel, 'I am sorry that I ever made Saul king, for he has not been loyal to me and has refused to obey my command.' Samuel was so deeply moved when he heard this that he cried out to the Lord all night. Early the next morning Samuel went to find Saul. Someone told him, 'Saul went to the town of Carmel to set up a monument to himself; then he went on to Gilgal.' When Samuel finally found him, Saul greeted him cheerfully. 'May the Lord bless you,' he said. 'I have carried out the Lord’s command!' 'Then what is all the bleating of sheep and goats and the lowing of cattle I hear?' Samuel demanded. 'It’s true that the army spared the best of the sheep, goats, and cattle,' Saul admitted. “But they are going to sacrifice them to the Lord your God. We have destroyed everything else.' Then Samuel said to Saul, 'Stop! Listen to what the Lord told me last night!' 'What did he tell you?' Saul asked. And Samuel told him, 'Although you may think little of yourself, are you not the leader of the tribes of Israel? The Lord has anointed you king of Israel. And the Lord sent you on a mission and told you, ‘Go and completely destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, until they are all dead.’ Why haven’t you obeyed the Lord? Why did you rush for the plunder and do what was evil in the Lord’s sight?'"

Okay, so this is the first job that Saul is assigned, and he disobeys. Most people would think that God's punishment to debunk Saul was harsh, but he disobeyed God's first order. If you go to your first day on a job and don't do it, why would your boss pay you, let alone keep you on? If you start to date someone and your boyfriend or girlfriend goes and cheats on you on the first day, why would you stay with them? Another interesting thing is Saul's reasoning for disobeying God. He disobeyed in an attempt to 'glorify himself'. Saul told Samuel that it was for God, but I find it interesting that someone else told Samuel that Saul did it to glorify himself. The MSG version says it best in 1 Samuel 15:22-23, "Then Samuel said, 'Do you think all God wants are sacrifices empty rituals just for show? He wants you to listen to him! Plain listening is the thing, not staging a lavish religious production. Not doing what God tells you is far worse than fooling around with the occult. Getting self-important around God is far worse than making deals with your dead ancestors. Because you said No to God's command, he says No to your kingship.'" Let's keep going.

1 Samuel 16:1, "Now the Lord said to Samuel, 'You have mourned long enough for Saul. I have rejected him as king of Israel, so fill your flask with olive oil and go to Bethlehem. Find a man named Jesse who lives there, for I have selected one of his sons to be my King.'" If you continue through the book of Samuel you find that this son of Jesse is David.

There are two positions in this story that are interesting to me. You have Saul, the king who disobeyed God, and you have Samuel. As an American and a Christian, I can relate with Samuel right now. He supported Saul. If you pay attention to the verses above it says that Samuel cried out and mourned for the quick fall of Saul. You go a chapter back and Saul had successful endeavors. Saul had something going for him. The people followed Saul. But he lost his position and instead it was given to King David. Looking at the candidates we have going for us, I have absolutely no clue what the future may hold. But I don't have to. Samuel probably had high expectations for Saul. He probably thought that Saul would go a long way as King and do a great many things. Instead, we look at the life of Saul and see a bitter man who drove himself crazy from the loss of his anointing. The last thing Samuel probably expected to do was anoint a little shepherd boy as king. But Samuel put aside his expectations, trusted God, and carried out his instructions.

I don't think it's wrong to try and gain all the facts out of this election. I have spent a long time studying the debates, and the standpoints of the two candidates. But God knows all the facts. We see the public face of Clinton and Trump, but God sees everything. He sees their weaknesses, their strengths. He knows their deepest darkest sins that the media continues to try and expose. He knows every hair on their heads! He knows the personal relationship he has with both of them, and that's something the media can't expose to the public. And best of all, he knows who will be president in the end. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, in the end, know that God's hand is in America. If we as Christians just take charge of our nation, our America, and pray together for God's will no bad can come out of this! Whether Clinton gets elected, or Trump, we serve the king of kings and the lord of lords! We serve a higher authority! Instead of believing in the next president how about we believe in the current King! Let's believe that our king knows the plans he has for America, that they are good and not for disaster.

So the fruit of this message is simple: Who is God voting for? Who is God anointing over America right now? Will we as his followers accept his choice whether it be Clinton or Trump, or will we disobey and put ourselves in more trouble than we are already in? God's not done with America, and neither should you. If you liked this post please give me a thumbs up, and if you have a question or a comment, please email me at fire.time.rsmith@gmail.com. I recently started my webcomic, The Church of Valatie, a slice of life comedy to emphasize on Christian-safe entertainment. If that interests you, be sure to check it out on tumblr ( www.tumblr.com/blog/rose-sisso… ) or here on Deviantart ( 1234rosesmith.deviantart.com/a… ). Until next week, God bless and keep your fire for God, blazing!

Description

Hey guys! I don't know about you, but I've watched both presidential debates, and I have to say that I'm terrified. I've always been a Trump supporter but I can't get over how I don't have all the facts about the debate. Hillary couldn't stress enough to go online and check her fact-checkers, but the interesting thing is it's her fact checker. Because of everything on social media and such, I can't trust anything I see. The websites are biased, both sides are focused on debunking the other side by pulling personal matters into the debate. It's killing me how I can't obtain all the facts no matter how many articles I read. So in the midst of all my stress, I asked God who I should vote for. He answered, Hillary Clinton. I stopped for a moment and dove into worship thinking that the devil was trying to trick me. When I did, God sorta laughed and said that he would tell me when I hit the voting booth.

I figured God would tell me to vote for Trump. After all, how can I vote for someone who is pro-choice and wants to take all our guns away? But he asked me if I would vote for Hillary if he asked me. Would I vote for someone who's against everything that God and I stand for, and trust in him that it would turn out good? It's a challenging thought really, because would God really vote for Hillary? So who is God voting for?

To start, let's check out the first king of Israel in 1 Samuel 15:1-9, "One day Samuel said to Saul, 'It was the Lord who told me to anoint you as king of his people, Israel. Now listen to this message from the Lord! This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has declared: I have decided to settle accounts with the nation of Amalek for opposing Israel when they came from Egypt. Now go and completely destroy the entire Amalekite nation—men, women, children, babies, cattle, sheep, goats, camels, and donkeys.' So Saul mobilized his army at Telaim. There were 200,000 soldiers from Israel and 10,000 men from Judah. Then Saul and his army went to a town of the Amalekites and lay in wait in the valley. Saul sent this warning to the Kenites: 'Move away from where the Amalekites live, or you will die with them. For you showed kindness to all the people of Israel when they came up from Egypt.' So the Kenites packed up and left. Then Saul slaughtered the Amalekites from Havilah all the way to Shur, east of Egypt. He captured Agag, the Amalekite king, but completely destroyed everyone else. Saul and his men spared Agag’s life and kept the best of the sheep and goats, the cattle, the fat calves, and the lambs—everything, in fact, that appealed to them. They destroyed only what was worthless or of poor quality.'

Okay. Let's get this straight. Saul gets appointed King. Saul gets a mission to go destroy an entire nation and leave nothing behind. Women, children, cattle, BABIES, all dead. As someone who has a soft spot for the innocent, It's no wonder that Saul would question God's decision. But as we all know God, he knows what he's doing. But rather than carrying out his orders in full, Saul went out and did a half-hearted job. He killed all the women, children, and babies, but the king and the best of cattle survived. Saul went out and kept what he wanted and destroyed what he didn't.

1 Samuel 15:10-19, "Then the Lord said to Samuel, 'I am sorry that I ever made Saul king, for he has not been loyal to me and has refused to obey my command.' Samuel was so deeply moved when he heard this that he cried out to the Lord all night. Early the next morning Samuel went to find Saul. Someone told him, 'Saul went to the town of Carmel to set up a monument to himself; then he went on to Gilgal.' When Samuel finally found him, Saul greeted him cheerfully. 'May the Lord bless you,' he said. 'I have carried out the Lord’s command!' 'Then what is all the bleating of sheep and goats and the lowing of cattle I hear?' Samuel demanded. 'It’s true that the army spared the best of the sheep, goats, and cattle,' Saul admitted. “But they are going to sacrifice them to the Lord your God. We have destroyed everything else.' Then Samuel said to Saul, 'Stop! Listen to what the Lord told me last night!' 'What did he tell you?' Saul asked. And Samuel told him, 'Although you may think little of yourself, are you not the leader of the tribes of Israel? The Lord has anointed you king of Israel. And the Lord sent you on a mission and told you, ‘Go and completely destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, until they are all dead.’ Why haven’t you obeyed the Lord? Why did you rush for the plunder and do what was evil in the Lord’s sight?'"

Okay, so this is the first job that Saul is assigned, and he disobeys. Most people would think that God's punishment to debunk Saul was harsh, but he disobeyed God's first order. If you go to your first day on a job and don't do it, why would your boss pay you, let alone keep you on? If you start to date someone and your boyfriend or girlfriend goes and cheats on you on the first day, why would you stay with them? Another interesting thing is Saul's reasoning for disobeying God. He disobeyed in an attempt to 'glorify himself'. Saul told Samuel that it was for God, but I find it interesting that someone else told Samuel that Saul did it to glorify himself. The MSG version says it best in 1 Samuel 15:22-23, "Then Samuel said, 'Do you think all God wants are sacrifices empty rituals just for show? He wants you to listen to him! Plain listening is the thing, not staging a lavish religious production. Not doing what God tells you is far worse than fooling around with the occult. Getting self-important around God is far worse than making deals with your dead ancestors. Because you said No to God's command, he says No to your kingship.'" Let's keep going.

1 Samuel 16:1, "Now the Lord said to Samuel, 'You have mourned long enough for Saul. I have rejected him as king of Israel, so fill your flask with olive oil and go to Bethlehem. Find a man named Jesse who lives there, for I have selected one of his sons to be my King.'" If you continue through the book of Samuel you find that this son of Jesse is David.

There are two positions in this story that are interesting to me. You have Saul, the king who disobeyed God, and you have Samuel. As an American and a Christian, I can relate with Samuel right now. He supported Saul. If you pay attention to the verses above it says that Samuel cried out and mourned for the quick fall of Saul. You go a chapter back and Saul had successful endeavors. Saul had something going for him. The people followed Saul. But he lost his position and instead it was given to King David. Looking at the candidates we have going for us, I have absolutely no clue what the future may hold. But I don't have to. Samuel probably had high expectations for Saul. He probably thought that Saul would go a long way as King and do a great many things. Instead, we look at the life of Saul and see a bitter man who drove himself crazy from the loss of his anointing. The last thing Samuel probably expected to do was anoint a little shepherd boy as king. But Samuel put aside his expectations, trusted God, and carried out his instructions.

I don't think it's wrong to try and gain all the facts out of this election. I have spent a long time studying the debates, and the standpoints of the two candidates. But God knows all the facts. We see the public face of Clinton and Trump, but God sees everything. He sees their weaknesses, their strengths. He knows their deepest darkest sins that the media continues to try and expose. He knows every hair on their heads! He knows the personal relationship he has with both of them, and that's something the media can't expose to the public. And best of all, he knows who will be president in the end. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, in the end, know that God's hand is in America. If we as Christians just take charge of our nation, our America, and pray together for God's will no bad can come out of this! Whether Clinton gets elected, or Trump, we serve the king of kings and the lord of lords! We serve a higher authority! Instead of believing in the next president how about we believe in the current King! Let's believe that our king knows the plans he has for America, that they are good and not for disaster.

So the fruit of this message is simple: Who is God voting for? Who is God anointing over America right now? Will we as his followers accept his choice whether it be Clinton or Trump, or will we disobey and put ourselves in more trouble than we are already in? God's not done with America, and neither should you. If you liked this post please give me a thumbs up, and if you have a question or a comment, please email me at fire.time.rsmith@gmail.com. I recently started my webcomic, The Church of Valatie, a slice of life comedy to emphasize on Christian-safe entertainment. If that interests you, be sure to check it out on tumblr ( www.tumblr.com/blog/rose-sisso… ) or here on Deviantart ( 1234rosesmith.deviantart.com/a… ). Until next week, God bless and keep your fire for God, blazing!