I never liked politics, politicians, or the mainstream media. I spent the better part of my adult life avoiding the news and trying not to get caught up in all of the sensationalism that is pushed by the mainstream media. For example, years ago I was dealing with depression and anxiety after having suffered through five miscarriages and post-partum depression after the birth of my daughter. The last thing I wanted to do was focus on the news broadcasts that seemed determined to push narratives that were designed to keep their audience in a state of panic and fear. I turned it off, opting to simply look up the weather and local events on my own without being subjected to the skewed performances on local and nationwide news broadcasts. It was good for me. And I’m glad I didn’t allow them to have that much control over my mind and spirit.

As with anything, the more we allow certain ideas and thoughts to be ever-present in our minds, the more influence those ideas have on how we believe and how we live our lives. When I returned to the church back in 2009, I had been away for over 20 years. I wasn’t sure I would be able to fit in because my life had always been so chaotic and I had never been much for following the crowd. As it turns out, I stayed for several years and was very active as part of our church. During that time, I struggled through a divorce and a subsequent custody battle. I endured periods of joblessness and uncertainty, but remained hopeful because I tuned into Jesus and opted out of watching the news and following politics. At that time, it was exactly what I needed. Until my mind and soul had healed from all of the terrible things I was going through, I needed to insulate myself from the craziness that is the world.

Lately, I’ve felt the need to dig much deeper. In 2015 or so, I stepped away from my church due to a number of issues that aren’t worth discussing. For the record, I did what was right for me and my relationship with God has only gotten stronger. If at some point in the future I find another church that fits, I’ll go. But for now, I’m on a journey with God. Getting back to the topic at hand, I started looking more at politics after having a dream about Hillary Clinton. Yes, you heard that right. In the dream, I saw her in what appeared to be a cave that had been converted into a lair similar to that of Dr. Evil of Austin Powers fame. She was having some sort of event and there were lots of people there. They were all feasting on hot fudge sundaes for some reason. I had been taken to this location (which was evidently hidden), and I was told not to let them see me observing them. So, I hid in the shadows and watched as they held some big meeting. I know, that sounds a bit crazy, but try to hear this with an open mind. At that time, I was a full supporter of Hillary and I had voted for Obama twice. I fully intended to vote for her in 2016 and hadn’t really thought much about why until I had this dream. After that, I started perceiving her differently. And eventually, she flipped her position on some key points and it was then that I decided that I could no longer support her. Now, I had always been a staunch Democrat (if it is possible to be staunch when you hate politics as much as I do), and the idea of being a Republican seemed so ridiculous to me that I remember laughing and saying that I would never have a good reason to vote for a Republican. I’ve been told to never say never and in this case, it rang truer than true. I ended up voting for Trump and I don’t regret it for a moment. Instead of avoiding the news, I now find myself watching various reports and trying to pick out the bits of truth that are hidden between the lies. Now that my eyes have been opened, I can’t believe I spent most of my life taking their word for it and trusting the government to do the right thing.

Little did I know, all those years of shunning the news and not paying attention to politics had only served to achieve the goal that had been set by those who were and still are manipulating our government. When I really started looking and listening, I saw that much of what was being said and done just didn’t add up. And I began to notice that the decisions being made by our government did not necessarily reflect any kind of representation that served “the people.” For instance, how was it that these “public servants” were going in making a somewhat normal salary and coming out as millionaires? That, above everything else, just didn’t make sense. And when I started to connect some other dots, things became really unsettling. The connections that exist between some members of our Congress, corporate leaders, and the “President” himself stink of impropriety and the very definition of conflict of interest. Yet, few seem to be as upset as they probably should be about these unsavory collaborations. How often have you had to work more hours to pay your bills because the government decided to take some action that had an adverse impact on the expenses we pay as taxpayers? How often have you heard about this politician or that politician signing a new book deal or enjoying trips abroad? What about the fact that our country’s infrastructure has been steadily crumbling, yet our tax dollars never seem to be enough to take care of even the simplest of expenses.

As I look around at all of the price increases, I can’t help but wonder what impact these increases have on those who have been living upscale lifestyles at our expense. Our wages stay stagnant (if we’re even able to find decent work), yet the millionaires who run this country continue to make decisions that run contrary to what the majority of the people would want. I don’t know of anyone who was happy to see gas prices skyrocketing to over $5 or $6 per gallon. And families who were already struggling probably didn’t find it amusing when they received notice that their rent was being increased to keep up with the rising cost of inflation. I know I didn’t like it much. Whatever these individuals are doing, for some reason they seem to have forgotten that God is always watching. And He’s not impressed by the level of greed and dishonesty that He’s seeing out of the people who are supposed to be looking out for the American citizen’s best interests. God has a way of making His point in a rather huge way, once He’s allowed sufficient time for the demon in question to turn his or her life around. It may seem like He’s not paying attention, but He’s merely giving them enough rope to either climb up to higher ground or hang themselves. I’m guessing a large number of them will continue to disregard Him and end up doing the latter.

I’ve seen many Christians cite the verse in Romans 13 that says, “…let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established.” My interpretation of this is that this only applies to those in government who are followers of God. If they refuse to come under His authority, then we have no need to come under theirs. They aren’t working for Him. And we aren’t called to help build up the devil’s kingdom. We are called to help build up God’s kingdom. And those who blindly follow the wrong leader will find themselves without kingdom at all.

Praying for us all. I hope you’ll do the same.

Rebecca Benston is the owner of Higher Ground Books & Media and the author of over twenty titles currently available through Amazon and other outlets. Her books include a mystery series (The Rona Shively Stories), empowerment resources such as Wise Up to Rise Up, Don’t Be Stupid (And I Mean That in the Nicest Way), and From Judgment to Jubilee, children’s books including Grumble D. Grumble Learns to Smile, All the Scary Things, and See How Strong You Are. Benston lives in Springfield, Ohio with her awesome daughter, Mya and enjoys traveling, reading, writing, and telling it like it is. She enjoys being able to help other authors get their stories out there through Higher Ground and has recently expanded her freelance services to offer more extensive guidance as a writing coach and social media manager. For more information, you can contact Benston at highergroundbooksandmedia@gmail.com.

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