Our first visit to Santa Maria, California’s downtown mall came soon after I began working at nearby Vandenberg Air Force Base. We’d moved there from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, where our then-3-year-old daughter, Yvette, had often seen large reptiles sunning themselves along the NASA causeway. Now she spotted the moving stairway leading to the mall’s upper floor. Remembering Florida, she exclaimed excitedly "Daddy, let’s go up the alligator!"

We laughed at how innocently she’d borrowed a word from her background. But later I realized I, too, had "gone up the alligator." I’d accepted ideas about government from relatives, friends, co-workers, even ministers, without thinking twice. But now, when I "dug" into Scripture, I found to my surprise that my alligator hadn’t read the Bible! Yes, his ideas were appealing. But many of them flatly disagreed with Scripture.

I’d always believed government would have no place in a book like this. But my own study proved me wrong. As we’ll see, Scripture teaches that a nation’s government does have key roles in "loving and helping" its citizens.

One example: my grandfather’s family brought him to America from Denmark at age 5. He grew up wanting his own farm. He worked hard in the grain harvests of the Dakotas and walked the "north woods" of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan as a "timber cruiser." But neither gave him enough money to buy land.

Yet he got his farm! A government program let him "homestead" his chosen acreage in the forests of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

A giveaway? No. He earned the land with "sweat equity," investing years of hard work turning the wooded hills into useable acreage. One by one, by hand, he cut down every tree in what would later become his fields. Then he laboriously pulled or blasted every single stump from the ground.

Even when the trees were cleared, the work wasn’t over. Much of western Upper Michigan’s "soil" is just glacial rocks with a little dirt between them. Before the land could grow crops, my grandparents had to throw many thousands of those stones onto rockpiles. Each spring the frost brought a new batch to the surface, and they too had to be "picked." We were still doing that forty years later!

But the hard work was worth it. The 120 acres were his, thanks to one government program that, knowingly or not, followed the Bible’s admonition that governments should help their poor.

How does the Bible portray a nation’s leaders?

Scripture compares heads of government to shepherds or parents.

What are government’s responsibilities?

Government helps its people.

Should a nation’s leaders’ priorities be fame? Wealth? Beating the other party? The Bible says their goal is to love and help the country’s citizens That’s how Solomon began his illustrious reign:

Good rulers serve their people:

"Mordecai the Jew was the Prime Minister, with authority next to that of King Ahasuerus himself. He was, of course, very great among the Jews and respected by all his countrymen because he did his best for his people and was a friend at court for all of them" (Esther 10:3).

One ancient passage is curiously modern:

"If you see some poor man being oppressed by the rich, with miscarriage of justice ... don't be surprised! For every official is under orders from higher up, and the higher officials look up to their superiors. And so the matter is lost in red tape and bureaucracy ... Oh, for a king who is devoted to his country! For only he can bring order from this chaos" (Eccl. 5:8-9).

Before Samuel made Saul Israel’s first king, he warned the nation that its future kings would often serve themselves:

"If you insist on having a king, he will conscript your sons and make them run before his chariots; some will be made to lead his troops into battle, while others will be slave laborers; they will be forced to plow in the royal fields and harvest his crops without pay, and make his weapons and chariot equipment. He will take your daughters from you and force them to cook and bake and make perfumes for him ... You will shed bitter tears because of this king you are demanding" (1 Sam. 8:11-18).

The Israelites still insisted on a king (1 Sam. 8:19-20), so God gave them one. And many kings did fulfil that prophecy. Even Solomon drifted away from his own wisdom. 2 Chron. 10:4-16 tells how his son Rehoboam split the kingdom in two when he forgot that he was to serve his people.

Also read: Deut. 17:14-20; 1 Kings 3:5-14; 12:4-17; 1 Chron. 28:8-9; Neh. 5:14-15; Prov. 29:2; Isa. 3:12-15; 7:17.

Lack of law and order struck me late one hot California night.

I’d just pulled up to a rural grocery store when two men approached my car. Suddenly one of them opened the passenger door, climbed in, and told me to drive away!

My first unbelieving thought was "I’ve just been carjacked!" The second was "Will I ever see my family again?"

My self-invited passenger was high on drugs. He alternated between cursing violently and talking about God. I tried to play on his sympathy for my kids, who’d suffered sunburns in the day’s 118-degree heat. He finally agreed we’d stop for lotion. I didn’t want to guess whether the kids would ever see it.

As we entered the drugstore, he stayed close. No chance to get away. But after we returned to the car, he remembered something else he wanted. "Wait here," he told me.

Instead, I floored the accelerator. And after that I always locked both doors.

Mystery writer Patricia Cornwell says law and order are part of loving our neighbors. "We’ve got to bring humanity back into what we do ... This is not about politics or power or merely rounding up offenders. Policing ... must be about all of us getting along and helping each other." (Cornwell, Hornet’s Nest, Berkeley Books, c1996, p. 230.)

Government provides national security.

Israel’s armies varied greatly from time to time. Under the Judges, they were often only called to duty as needed. Later, David formed a permanent army of twelve 24,000-man regiments (also called divisions), each of which saw active duty one month per year (1 Chron 27:1-15). Jehoshophat, in contrast, had an army of over 1,100,000 men in Jerusalem alone, and placed more in fortified cities across the nation (2 Chron 17:13-19).

Israel’s laws exempted men from military service if they’d built a new house but hadn’t yet dedicated it; planted a vineyard but not yet eaten its fruit; were engaged but not yet married; or were simply afraid (Deut. 20:5-8).

I was an aerospace/defense planner for 12 years, and worked with many former military officers. None were like many movies portray them. Self-centered? Ambitious? Crazed? Not at all. Some were tough. But all were thoughtful. Disciplined. Considerate. Caring. Often kind.

Humor? Yes. One of my co-workers trained in tanks at Ft. Campbell, Kentucky. After a heavy rain, his crew worried aloud to their supervisor that the downpour had made one large mudhole on the training course too dangerous. "No problem," the trainer said. "This baby will go right through it!"

‘Doug’ and his crew weren’t convinced. They got an idea. They went to the spare parts depot and signed out a tank cannon and radio antenna. Back at the mudhole, they inserted the antenna and cannon into the soft goo at appropriate places and angles. Then they radioed their "boss."

"Sir, could you come over here? We think we have a problem!"

God’s wishes for the people he has created – in any nation – are movingly described in strong parallels to the 23^rd Psalm found in Ezekiel 34:13-15: "I will feed them upon the mountains of Israel and by the rivers where the land is fertile and good. Yes, I will give them good pasture on the high hills of Israel. There they will lie down in peace and feed in luscious mountain pastures. I myself will be the Shepherd of my sheep, and cause them to lie down in peace" (Also read Isa. 49:9-11).

But what if a nation’s leaders don’t care for the poor, needy, hungry, sick, handicapped, children, elderly, and homeless? Then Ezekiel and other Old Testament prophets strongly condemn the leaders!

"You fed yourselves and let them starve; therefore, I am against the shepherds, and I will hold them responsible for what has happened to my flock. I will take away their right to feed the flock - and take away their right to eat" (Ezek. 34:8-10).

"You haven’t ... gone looking for those who have wandered away and are lost ... they were scattered ... My sheep wandered through the mountains and hills and over the face of the earth, and there was no one to search for them or care about them ... you abandoned my flock ... and you were no real shepherds at all, for you didn’t search for them" (Ezek. 34:4-8).

"May the reign of this son of mine ... take care of the helpless and poor when they cry to him; for they have no one else to defend them. He feels pity for the weak and needy and will rescue them. He will save them from oppression and from violence, for their lives are precious to him" (Ps. 72:4-6; 72:12-14)

More Scriptures: Gen. 41:33-40; 47-57; 2 Sam. 9:19; Jer. 23:1-4; Ezek. 34:2-4; 34:11-16; 34:20-23; 34:29; Zech. 11:16.

Those Scriptures came alive for my own family in the 1990’s, when government budget cuts reportedly cost the jobs and homes of as many defense-worker families as the combined populations of Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Utah – including us! There were few news reports on those people. Liberals didn’t want to admit that reducing defense programs had human costs. Conservatives applauded the cuts and consistently refused help.

Could we have "beaten our swords into plowshares" (Isa. 2:4) and converted those wartime jobs into peacetime ones? In medicine? Space? Technology? Of course we could have! But we didn’t try.

How we treated all those families was how we treated Jesus. Will God judge us?

More Scriptures: Prov. 28:15; 29:14; 31:4-5; 31:8-9; Isa. 1:23-27; Jer. 22:15-16; Dan. 4.27.

Government provides justice for all.

Also read: 1 Kings 10:9; 1 Chron. 18:14; 2 Chron. 9:8; Ps. 45:5; 58:1-2; 58:11; 72:1-2; Prov. 8:14-16.

Government is fair and honest.

More Scriptures: Prov. 16:10; 16:12; 28:2; 28:16; 29:4; Isa. 54:14; Luke 3:10-14.

Is good government a "one-man show?"

One summer my family and I visited the public library in Challis, Idaho, set in a vast, beautiful region of mountains, rivers and forests.

When we entered, the librarian was helping another customer. Afterwards, she told us the lady had wanted to know whether residents would have any legal recourse if they lost property because the city had no police.

That got my attention. "Verna," I asked, "Challis is the largest town in a very large county. It’s also the county seat. Why doesn’t it have a police force?" I expected a typical Western answer involving some dispute between the city, county, and/or state.

Verna shrugged her shoulders, spread her arms expressively, and replied:

"He quit!"

Later, as we drove back down the main street, my oldest daughter spoke up: "Dad! Now you can speed!"

In small towns like Challis, some government departments must be a "one-man show." That can actually make such places good career choices. At my first state conference after accepting a library job in Idaho, I was named chairman-elect of our association’s Public Libraries Division. Why? Because I was good? No! Because the entire state then had only five other public librarians with Masters’ degrees, and they’d all been chairman already! Later, I served on several state-wide committees, was elected president of the Idaho Library Association, and served as the state director for National Library Week (with a $50 budget – try that for learning to be creative!). I’d never have gotten those opportunities in a larger state.

But most governments need larger staffs. Listen to Moses’ lament:

"...I can’t carry this nation by myself! The load is far too heavy! If you are going to treat me like this, please kill me right now; it will be a kindness! Let me out of this impossible situation!"

"Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Summon before me seventy of the leaders of Israel ... I ... will take of the Spirit which is on you and will put it upon them also; they shall bear the burden of the people along with you’" (Num. 11:11-17).

Good organization and capable staff members are vital to good government. The reverse is true too. "A wicked ruler will have wicked aides on his staff" (Prov. 29:12).

Israel’s exile occurred during the time of several of the world’s greatest empires. The Bible provides fascinating glimpses into how they were organized and administered. Read: Ezra 7:25; Dan. 1:3-5; 1:18-21; 2:48-49; 3:30; 5:16; 5:29; 6:1-3; 6:28.

What does the Bible teach about our responsibility toward other countries?

God condemned Edom for not helping Israel during the Conquest. Instead, Edom cheered Israel’s downfall and helped her enemies.

Israel’s plight was a result of her own sin. Yet, even then, God expected Israel’s neighbor Edom to stand by her, not make Israel’s problems worse.

"As you have done to Israel, so will it be done to you" (Obad. 1:2; 1:10-16; also read Isa. 34: 5-8.)

Why was God so angry with Edom?

When the Nazis overran much of Europe during World War II, they tried to exterminate all Jews. As in the story of Anne Frank, brave non-Jewish families saved many Jewish lives at the risk, and sometimes loss, of their own.

And though God didn’t expect Edom to save Israel from judgment, he did expect it to ease Israel’s suffering. When Edom did the opposite, God judged Edom too.

God judged several of Israel’s other bordering nations too. They included Moab (Jer. 48:27; Ezek. 25:8-11), Ammon (Ezek. 21:28-32; 25:2-7; Jer. 49:1-2), the Philistines (Ezek. 25:15-17), Tyre (Ezek. 26:2; 28:19), Sidon (Ezek. 28:21-26), and Mt Seir (Ezek. 35:1-15). Even Egypt was judged "because ... your might collapsed when Israel called on you for aid" (Ezek. 29:2-12). Ironically, Egypt was punished despite the fact that Israel disobeyed God by asking for that help in the first place (Ezek. 29:16).

We often criticize government for spending money abroad instead of at home. Yet God’s Word teaches that he does hold us responsible for helping other nations in their times of need. If we don’t, we may be judged as Edom and her neighbors were.

What should our attitude be toward taxes?

Pay them.

Also read: Matt. 17:24-27; 22:15-22; Mark 12:13-17; Luke 20:19-26.

Are taxes too high?

We’ll always think so.

But my family once received a forceful lesson on the value of taxes.

BOOM! The loud explosion woke our son Bill at 1:10 AM. Was that a gunshot? He reached for the phone, then from his door saw the glow of a fire, and called 911 for the fire department instead. That woke Yvette, who rushed outside to look, then came back to help Bill wake my wife and me. "Don’t panic, but you might want to get dressed. Our neighbor’s house is on fire!"

A large "5^th wheel" RV parked near the neighbor’s garage had exploded without warning. It set fire to the home, garage, shed, and several pickups, snowmobiles, and 4-wheelers. All were a total loss. We woke in time to hear a long series of explosions from propane tanks, gas tanks, and tires, accompanied by a loud screeching roar from a broken natural gas pipe that ignited like a volcano. I quickly took several pictures from the porch, accompanied by cries of "Dad! Get back in here! The trucks’ gas tanks are going to blow!"

A sheriff’s deputy knocked on our door to evacuate us. We spent the next couple of hours standing a block away, watching the firefighters battle the blaze, while ash and burning debris fell around us from the night sky like fiery-orange snowflakes. Even after the worst of the blaze was contained, we watched firefighters bravely walking on the home’s roof, cutting holes through which flames from the attic were still burning.

The next morning, the 5^th wheel was in large pieces all over the parking lot. Its occupant had been thrown onto the garage roof, but miraculously survived. (Our neighbor himself was in New Mexico.) Many neighboring homes had beds moved, windows broken, curtain rods knocked off the walls, or siding melted. But thanks to those valiant firefighters our home had no damage, though the yard and house were covered with burnt debris and soot. We gained new respect and admiration for firefighters and the job they do!

Our yearly tax bill for the firemen who protected our house? About $15.

In fact, taxes are the least costly way to pay for many of our families’ needs. Police, fire protection, schools, roads, water, sewers, retirement, and others are most effectively and economically met through government agencies. Let’s be honest: taxes are a key way we care for our families!

"But anyone who won’t care for his own relatives when they need help, especially those living in his own family, has no right to say he is a Christian. Such a person is worse than the heathen" (1 Tim. 5:8).

Gen. 47:13-26 tells how Joseph imposed a 20% tax on farmers’ harvests. Today, tax watch groups would have fought it fiercely! But sometimes, to "love and help," we need to "dig deep."

Do we always consider the value of taxes? Or what we’d pay without them?

The worst potholes I’ve ever seen in the US were in one state where cutting taxes was almost a religion. Besides the potholes, chunks of concrete were falling off deteriorating bridges. One major highway we drove regularly was dangerous at night because lane markers hadn’t been repainted after twisting canyon roads had been patched

Was that good or bad economy? The answer’s easy. A dollar spent filling potholes would have saved drivers many times that in repairs. The unpainted lanes guaranteed wrecks and injuries. In that state public needs got lip service, but in fact were a distant second.

That state wasn’t alone. A snowplow driver from a neighboring state told me that his department balanced its budget by not allowing overtime, no matter what. If a blizzard struck, they didn’t call out extra crews. When their 40-hour week was up, they stopped work whether the roads were cleared or not!

Yet it’s true we must be careful how we raise taxes. Beginning in the 1970’s, rising California real estate prices caused matching increases in property taxes. Homeowners living on fixed incomes simply couldn’t pay them. Many lost their homes. Nehemiah 5:18 says, "I refused to make a special levy against the people, for they were already having a difficult time."

What do we do? Look at needs. Look at ability. Look at results. Try to get the best return for our money.

Does modern technology raise or lower taxes?

Paradoxically, both. Computers, cars, planes, phones, TV, and satellites help government be far more efficient and economical. Ask government workers how they’d like to do their jobs without a computer! But those modern innovations also require whole new areas of investment and regulation. Paved roads, traffic lights, air traffic control systems, information technology, and more, all cost money.

Is that spending worth it?

One man gave me an emphatic "yes." I was eating breakfast at a restaurant in a rural California county. The customer beside me was the manager of a new drugstore being built across the street. As we chatted, he told me he’d had to tear out and replace every bit of plumbing in the new building, at a cost of many thousands of dollars!

Why?

Because that low-tax county’s building department had given him the wrong plumbing specifications!

He told me, "I came here from an urban county, where I also built a drugstore for our chain. I was frustrated with that county’s building department because it seemed to take forever to get information I needed. But when it came, it was right. Here, I get it right away – and it’s wrong!"

Obey anyway.

Of course, there are alternatives. At Big Springs, in eastern Idaho near Yellowstone Park, 120,000,000 gallons of 52-degree water flow out from beneath the mountain every day to form the Henry’s Fork of the Snake River. The springs are a visitor’s delight, in large part because they’re filled with gigantic trout, plainly protected with "No Fishing" signs.

One local story claims that years ago a tourist from Iowa drove up, parked, and strolled along the path to the bridge where the huge fish are especially abundant, passing the park ranger who was leaning casually against a tree.

The tourist saw the fish. His eyes bulged out. He rushed to his car, opened the trunk, grabbed his fishing pole, and raced back to the bridge, ignoring the ranger.

The Iowan tossed his line in the water and pulled out a two-foot trout. The ranger strolled up casually, extended his hand, and said politely "That’ll be a ten-dollar fine, please."

The tourist pulled out his wallet, handed the ranger a hundred-dollar-bill, and said "I’ll take nine more!"

Do more than required.

During the Roman occupation of Israel, soldiers often forced civilians to carry their heavy packs a mile. It was hard. Jesus’ solution? Do twice as much! Show that you’re responsible. Let your actions shame the "unreasonable" government employee.

"If the military demand that you carry their gear for a mile, carry it two" (Matt. 5:41).

What was Jesus? A conservative? A liberal?

The Bible’s answer is clear.

It’s "no." A strong "no," to both of the above!

Jesus constantly fought both the liberals and conservatives. The liberals, because they’d forgotten to love God. The conservatives, because they’d forgotten to love their neighbors. And both, because they rejected him. Surprisingly, almost eight times as many verses describe his clashes with the conservative, Bible-believing Pharisees as with the liberal Sadducees!

If early Christians could have voted, what would they have done? Want to love God? Couldn’t vote liberal (Sadducee). Care about loving their neighbors? Couldn’t support conservatives (Pharisees).

Today, those who want to love both God and their neighbors face the same dilemma.

Yes, there are issues now that didn’t exist then. But the underlying attitudes of both liberals and conservatives today are so similar to those in Jesus’ day that I have to believe he’d say much the same things to both of them now!

During elections, then, how can we be please God?

There’s no perfect answer. My family tries to look at candidates individually. We ask who’s qualified to do a good job in that position. We check impartial sources and voting records. We try to see who best shares own goals and values. And we consider the many practical, day-to-day issues that need to be addressed responsibly, but have nothing to do with our ideology.

We’ve always selected a few candidates from both parties. If there’s a common factor, it’s that most are moderates, and all care about their communities.

I believe Christ accepts us whatever our politics. His followers included anti-government zealots and Roman government tax collectors. But I’ve heard too many pastors urge us to support just one party – and drive away people for whom Christ died.

Do we say "we’re against abortion because it costs lives?" But then shouldn’t we also make sure our "neighbors" can feed their families, and see doctors promptly to check lumps in their breasts? If we searched, how many lives would we learn are lost through problems like those? I suspect we’d be very disturbed.

Do we love those lives too? How can we ignore them? Shouldn’t we be consistent? Shouldn’t we vote to help all the kinds of "neighbors" the Bible teaches us to love, not just one?

Let’s learn from groups who take the time to learn the facts behind public issues, like the League of Women Voters. Is the League always right? I’m sure it’s not. But thanks to working with it during the six years I was a city division head, I respect it highly and strongly wish more "Christian" groups would adopt its methods.

Read. Study. Listen. Watch candidate forums. Read news summaries. Don’t assume broadcasts or e-mails are true. Look up candidate Internet sites and informative but neutral sites like Congressional Quarterly’s.

Remember Prov. 18:15: "The intelligent man is always open to new ideas. In fact, he looks for them."

Vote in an informed, community-building way. That’s an important part of loving all of our neighbors.