Who’s in charge after Election Day?

By Paul Schratz

“He shall rule from sea to sea” (Psalm 72).

A Mari Usque ad Mare (From Sea to Sea) (Canada’s motto).

Depending on when you read this, the nation that stretches from sea to sea is either going to the polls or has just elected a government to hold dominion over it for the next four years.

Dominion is typically a term reserved for God and His authority over creation, although in Romans 13:1-2 St. Paul says: “Let every person be subject to higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God. Those that exist are put in place by God, so one who resists, resists the ordinance of God.”

Our elected government is chosen by the people, but put in place by God. In Canada’s case especially, that’s no exaggeration. Ours is a nation so richly blessed, millions around the world would sacrifice anything to come here.

Yet blessings can be taken away. They can also be thrown away, as we do in so many ways in Canada.

Ours is a nation that for decades has been tossing aside more than 100,000 unborn lives a year, an outrage to God and a severe wound for a country that would have been blessed immensely by those lives.

Our politicians and judges are putting the foundation of society – marriage and family – through a shredder, and telling us the result is as good for us as the institutions that have stood for millennia.

Our news and entertainment industry has all but usurped Scripture as society’s moral guide and compass.

Family breakdown and violence are treated as unavoidable, and then we’re surprised when young people grow up without self-restraint.

Now we’re entering into discussions of euthanasia and polygamy.

There was a brain-numbing amount of debate during the election about the notwithstanding clause of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms: whether Conservative Leader Stephen Harper would implement it to defend marriage, and whether Prime Minister Paul Martin would scrap it altogether.

The irony is that so much attention was paid to the notwithstanding clause, which is in the very last lines of the Charter, and no attention was given to the Charter’s very first words: “Whereas Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law.”

Scripture abounds with references to God’s sovereignty over nations:

“Let the nations be glad and exult, for You rule the world with justice” (Psalm 67).

“A nation of firm purpose you keep in peace” (Isaiah 26).

“The rulers of the earth belong to God, to God Who reigns over all” (Psalm 47).

It has been a long time since the supremacy of God was reflected in the dealings of government and the decisions of the courts in Canada.

God’s kingship over Canada has become as foreign as good taste in public entertainment. His will is left out of our will as we protest that we have no right to impose His will on others.

We may not impose His will on others, but we are called to consider His will in what we do. We may not ignore God’s law simply because we may not impose it on others.

Ours is a nation that can shine as a beacon to the world, but Canadians need to pray that the moral illness sweeping our country, pushing individual licence over human dignity and rights, can be cured. The tide that came in and washed away our supports can recede so we can build again. Let Canada remember under Whose dominion we were founded.