I don't think that means God ordained any particular person to be in office or Christians could never resist despots like Hitler and Pol Pot.
God has handed the world over to Satan; what makes you think he didn't ordain Hitler and Pol Pot? Don't forget, God allowed Babylon and the Assyrians to conquer the Jews way back when. God sometimes allows evil to go unchecked for a period so that we may experience it and repent. And as we draw nearer to the end times, we can expect the world to became more and more evil.
Further, Hitler got into power because of all those "Christians" and others voting him into power. Hitler, of himself, was quite powerless. He only had power in that he was able to infect the German people with a mad philosophy. What was needed to prevent the holocaust wasn't a civil war in Germany, but true Christianity to be preached to the people to make them see the evil of their ways.
Christians can fight a corrupt ruler, but not through war; they must do so through preaching the truth and by winning the souls of the people he rules.
I take that to mean he ordained the office as a means to ensure a just society (at least compared to anarchy) and when you resist the one who is trying to bring peace and order then you are resisting God.
This is true. However, it goes beyond that. Paul taught in many different ways that we are not to be rebels, we are not to stir up unnecessary trouble. Our job is not to shape society from the top-down, but from the bottom-up. Our job is to focus on the individuals within a society and on transforming them regardless of the government in power, regardless of the customs there. AS much as possible we are to seek to fit in.
It's our job to find people for those positions that will actually rule with justice because God is all for peace and justice.
What about in non-democratic/non-republic systems of government like a monarchy? Is it your job then?
Even in a democracy/republic, why is it our job? Don't you know all politicians are corrupt, none of them is inline with God. After all, in a democracy/republic, the one elected is the one inline with the people. If the people are in opposition to God, then your individual vote for the one "good" politician means nothing. Once again we return to the fact that we must focus on the individuals of society rather than trying to deal with heads of society.
We aren't trying to revolutionize the government, just help it to function as God intended. He asked us to pray for them, do you think he might actually care about who runs a country? :doh:
If you are trying to transform it into a Christian nation, you are trying to revolutionize it. For there are no nations which just *happen* to be in line with Christianity; especially the historical "Christian" ones.
We have been given our duty as Christians: to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, defend the weak, etc. And spread the Gospel, making disciples. It is not our job to transform the government.
A merger between Christianity and government has been tried, historically, on many occasions - and each has failed miserably.
Does he pick and choose the people? No, that's our job.
Paul indicates otherwise. Again: what about non-democratic/republic systems of government, does he choose them then?
You don't find Jesus or Paul advocating political involvement because there was no venue for Christians.
Paul was a Roman Citizen, as were many of those he was evangelizing. He could have voted and he could have advised those who could vote to do so in a manner that reflected Christian values. He didn't - because changing the government wasn't his concern.
There wasn't really anything they could do about it but pray.
He could have done more; but the government isn't our duty. That is why all he did was pray, he left it to God.
But that was then, this is now. We do have a venue and we would be remiss in squandering our opportunity to not only shepherd our churches but be a part of shepherding our civil society as individuals who have a heart for the government doing the right thing.
Forcing Christians morals through law isn't shepherding society. Puritans tried that one with the prohibition; this resulted in empowering and enriching petty criminals and organizing them into large powerful gangs. Voting for Christian-esque laws doesn't shephered the individual, who is our focus, it only creates tensions between the Christian voters and those who disagree with the Christian views.
I don't think pastors should tell people how to vote but they should encourage them to be better informed and give reasons why they think one candidate is better than the other and then leave it up to the people to make up their own minds, just like they do with theological topics.
Rather than wasting one's time studying politics, economics, etc. A Christians time is better served studying theology and putting it to practice. There is only so much time in a day, we must prioritize our efforts.
