Fear the Lord and King my son and do not join with the rebellious for those two will send sudden destruction upon them.

Proverbs 24:21-22

Pharaoh put Joseph in charge of the entire land of Egypt and as a sign that Joseph was second in command, Pharaoh gave Joseph his ring. The ring of Pharaoh was a symbol of the Pharaoh’s power. Joseph did not misuse either the ring or the power it brought. He loved his new country and he served it well. We treat our flag with respect because it is the symbol of our country. May God ever bless us with a country where we can worship Him freely and call upon His name in peace.

THE STUDY OF YOUR GOVERNMENT

Fear the Lord and King my son and do not join with the rebellious for those two will send sudden destruction upon them. Proverbs 24:21-22

Once again we take a look at the passage from Proverbs. God has told us that we should obey our government unless they tell us to do something that is against God’s Word. The leaders of our government, at all levels, have their authority because allows them to be there. As a Christian you are to let your light shine in the world. You can do that be becoming involved in your government and by carrying out your responsibilities as a citizen of your country.

HISTORY OF GOVERNMENT

The first government we read about in the Bible was what we call a theocracy. In this type of government, God is in direct charge. He tells the leaders what to do just as He told Moses what the Children of Israel were to do. When men fell away from following God’s Word, they began to set up their own type of government.

At first these governments were usually based on one person in charge. Usually this person owned a lot of land and had many people who worked for him. When he died, his son would take over the land and continue on. Because of sin, men would not live in peace and there were often wars between neighboring groups of people.

In time, neighboring groups would join together to become more powerful to protect themselves or to conquer someone else. Usually these groups working together had some type of natural relation. They might have the same beliefs, skin color, ancestors or language. There were often places where people tried to govern without a king or just one single leader. Greece and Rome were examples of this type of government.

Today, many countries have some type of democratic form of government where individuals have rights and responsibilities. The United States has a democratic republic as its government. In this type of government, people choose people to represent them. When votes are taken a decision is based on what the majority decide.

In our country we have set up a system that begins at the local level. This would be a township, village or city. These government bodies group together to form a county or parish. Counties or parishes group together to form a state and states group together to create a nation.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT STRUCTURES – TOWNSHIP

Depending where you live, you will have a certain type of government. If you live out in the country, more than likely you are part of a township form of government. There is a town board that is elected to run the government. They may hire certain people to do the day to day running of the government but the board will make the decisions. A township also has a clerk, treasurer and constable who are usually elected. If the township is large and has a big population, it may have its own full-time police force and volunteer fire department.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT STRUCTURES – VILLAGE

Another form of government that you may live in is a village. Usually a village is formed when a lot of people live in the same area and want to have some special services that aren’t possible in a wide-spread township. They may want to have sewer and water piped to their homes and have garbage picked up in front of their home. The village will have a Village Board that makes the decisions. Again, the board will hire some people to do the day to day governing. A village will often have a police force and more workers doing the things that need to be done to make the government work successfully.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT STRUCTURES – CITY

A third form of local government is a city. Cities are formed when a larger group of people live together in a certain area. They need many special services such as a police force, garbage pick- up, sewer and water piped to their homes, special rules for living so closely together, a fire department and others. Cities can have several forms of government. One form would be a mayor-council government. In this type of government, the citizens elect a mayor who carries on the day to day operation of the city. The job may befell-time or part-time, depending on the size of the city. In this form of government there is also a city council made up of men and women elected by the citizens. These councilmen represent certain parts of the city known as districts or wards. The city council makes the final decision on important items of business. In real large cities, the position of city councilman may be a full-time job. A second form of government that some cities have is similar to the one we just talked about. In this case however, the mayor and councilmen are not full-time positions. Instead, they hire a city administrator or manager to run the everyday business. The mayor and the councilmen tell the administrator what they want him to do. In this case the city administrator is not elected but rather he is hired to do his job.

The third most common form of government is similar to the ones above but there is no mayor elected by the citizens. Instead, they elect a city council which then hires a city administrator or manager to carry out the things the council wants done.