Time of Distress (9) - Political Messiahs

As the Time of Distress progresses, smaller governments will collapse under the strain. The governments of some small nations will not be able to cope with the pressure and will go broke. Politicians will be so overwhelmed by these situations and and flee from office. Many smaller nations will fall into anarchy, because no one is willing to take the risk of running for office and there is no money to maintain the structures of government. Jeremiah described what it will be like.

“In that day,” declares the LORD,
“the king and the officials will lose heart,
the priests will be horrified,
and the prophets will be appalled” (Jer 4:9).

This will produce huge disappointment and political leaders will be cursed.

Distressed and hungry, they will roam through the land; when they are famished, they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God. Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness (Is 8:21-22).

The situation will be slightly different in larger nations. Local councils and regional governments will grind to a halt, as revenues disappear and politicians flee from power. People will look to national and federal governments for deliverance from trouble. Political power will shift from the local to the center in a last desperate attempt to bring order in the emerging chaos. The larger the nation, the longer political messiahs will be hold out by promising deliverance and hope.

We live in a very materialistic age, where people are obsessed with their physical comfort. When difficult times come, the majority of people will submit to political messiahs who promise to restore their affluence. If even if they are uneasy about losing their freedom, the will not do anything about it, because they believe in peace and security, even though it is disappearing. Whereas previous dictators gained power by military force and police power, the people of the world will welcome political messiahs, because they promise to deliver them from distress.

These political messiahs will not succeed, because they are working without God. Things will get worse and worse, despite their best efforts. They will demand more and more power in order hold things together, but will usually make the situation worse.