At the time of this writing, the 2016 election for president of the United States and other elected governmental offices on the federal, state, and local level will take place in a little over a month. Much attention has been given to the presidential race over the past fifteen months or so since the first candidates in each party announced their candidacies. Many in the brotherhood, myself included, follow politics closely, especially in presidential election years, and like to discuss the various candidates and races in person and online via social media and the like.
There was a time when I never thought much, if at all, about any connection between my Christian faith and political views. However, that changed in 2000 when I became a preacher and, not coincidentally, began to take my Christian walk more seriously. During that first year of full-time work I read and for the first time personally applied to myself Jesus’ command and promise in Matthew 6:33: “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” I also read for the very first time ever Paul’s charge to Timothy: “Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity” (1 Ti. 4:12). These verses became very important to me, and still are. I was 24 years old, a brand new preacher who had never planned to become one and had received no purposeful formal training. My personal biblical studies and burgeoning experiences in dealing with brethren and the lost were, along with advice from older, more seasoned preachers and brethren, all I had to guide me. I knew how easy it would be for people to condescend to me due to my age and inexperience, and so I was determined to do the best I could, however imperfectly that would be, to set the proper example before them in all areas of my life. The only way I could do that would be to put God and his will as the top priority in every single aspect of my life as best I could. That is still my goal today, and I still fallibly try to meet it. It’s a good goal for all Christians to have.
I realized that if I as a Christian first and preacher second were going to “set the believers an example” by “seek(ing) first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,” then my politics would have to completely coincide with God’s revealed will. Otherwise, I would be guilty of choosing to follow Matthew 6:33…except in the voting booth. Christ’s condemnation of the hypocritical example the Pharisees set before those who sat at their feet (Mt. 23:2-3), at the time newly discovered and studied by me, weighed heavily on my heart and I did not want that same condemnation. Thus it was that during that 2000 election year I started diligently researching God’s Word for guidance as to what governmental policy positions God would approve of and what kind of leader God would want America or any country to have so I could vote accordingly.
Something God said in the Psalms jumped out at me: “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes” (118:9), and again, “Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation” (146:3). This was a stark contrast to how I had looked at politicians previously. An honest retrospection of how I had viewed my choices for president in the 1990’s and in 2000 made me realize that I had thought them to be the only ones who could not only save America from its woes, but also make my personal life more abundant and fulfilling. My political discussions with my brethren that year—and every election year since, especially this one—made it clear that I am far from the only Christian who thinks this way. If I was going to truly trust Jesus’ promise that he would provide for my needs if I put his will first (Mt. 6:33), then I would need to follow God’s directive to put my trust in him instead of princes and politicians. Christians, please take this to heart.
David’s inspired words also caught my attention: “The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spoke to me: ‘He who rules over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God’” (2 Sa. 23:3). Solomon wrote something similar: “It is an abomination for kings to commit wickedness, for a throne is established by righteousness” (Pr. 16:12). God wants men who are just, righteous, and who fear him to rule over nations. My initial reaction to this was to wonder if I could only vote for faithful New Testament Christians since only we by the blood of Christ are completely justified and righteous…until I saw that the Bible also spoke of non-Christians possessing these attributes to a lesser degree (cf. Mt. 13:17; Ac. 10:1-2, 7, 22). I concluded that I could follow God’s parameters if I supported a candidate who, as best as I could tell, showed by the fruits or evidences of his personal and political life that he was just, righteous, and feared God (cf. Mt. 7:16-18). Any candidate whose personal life, personality, and policy positions were proven to be unrepentantly ungodly could not receive my support if I was to truly heed Matthew 6:33, 1 Timothy 4:12, Psalms 118:8 and 146:3, 2 Samuel 23:3, and Proverbs 16:12…no matter how much they promised to make my own life and the country better.
As I continued to study, I noted with interest how little the Bible had to say about the pros and cons of various domestic and foreign policy philosophies which held such prominence in what people looked for in candidates. I couldn’t find guidance on which specific economic, educational, healthcare, or foreign policies God would endorse. Rather, I found that God would rather his followers live in an impoverished nation which was rich in righteousness instead of a wealthy, unrighteous nation (Pr. 16:8). I also saw that he was looking for leaders who surrounded themselves with wise counselors whose advice they would be willing to heed (Pr. 25:5; 29:2; cf. 1 Ki. 12:6-15), men and women who were tough on crime and evildoers (Pr. 20:8, 26; Ro. 13:3-4) and who would not oppress the poor while also refusing to enable the lazy (Pr. 28:15; 29:14; 31:9; cf. 2 Th. 3:10).
Thus, I realized that if I was to put God’s righteousness first in the voting booth, a candidate’s positions on promoting what God calls righteous in our nation would have to matter more to me than their domestic, economic, and foreign policies per se. All my life, the killing of innocents in the womb and the legitimizing of the abomination of homosexuality have been matters of governmental policy. Both have been promoted and fought to be further legitimized, by various candidates, even though God condemns both (Ps. 139:13-16; Ro. 9:11-13; Ez. 18:1-20; Pr. 6:16-17; Mt. 19:4; Ro. 1:26-28; 1 Co. 6:9-10). In addition, I’ve seen candidates excuse away or defend certain crimes and criminals, candidates who themselves have oppressed the poor and needy or have promoted policies which do the same, while also enabling the lazy to continue to avoid honest work. Keeping Jesus’ and James’ admonitions to heed all of God’s will in mind (Mt. 23:23b; Ja. 2:10-11), I realized that I could not support a candidate unless I could see that they were making an honest effort to promote and defend God’s righteousness in all of these areas and humbly listen to wise counselors who upheld the same. This would have to be top priority, more important than any attractive promises about healthcare, education, foreign policy, taxes, and the like.
The last biblical truth I found was that God ultimately decides who will rule America (Da. 2:21; 4:17, 32, 34-35; 1 Ti. 6:15; Re. 1:5; cf. Ro. 13:1ff). If it is his will that an ungodly person rule our country, he will make that happen and, as Habakkuk also taught me, will do so likely to punish our country in an effort to bring us back to him (Hab. 1:1-11). Since righteousness exalts a nation and God abhors evil rulers (Pr. 14:34; 16:12), the only reason he would allow an evil ruler is to bring a nation low in order to motivate it to come back to him (cf. He. 12:5-11).
Normally as far as I can tell, there has always been at least one candidate who has come across both personally and in the policies he promotes as just and fearing God. This year is different. For the first time in my adult life, it is generally agreed in both religious and secular circles that both major candidates are personally abhorrent by biblical standards, and both promote various ungodly policies. Both have recently been under investigation for wrongdoing. Both are well known for personally saying and acting both publicly and privately in ways that are extremely ungodly. Still, both are loudly supported by those who wear the name of Christ…and the lost in the world are noticing. Social media and the blogosphere show that many are turned off to Christianity by what they (correctly) perceive to be our inconsistency.
Many Christians loudly support these ungodly choices because they are understandably scared. Yet, let’s remember that God wants us to live by faith (Hab. 2:4), to put his righteousness first, even if it seems that doing so will bring harder times, and trust that he will still take care of us. He doesn’t want us to put our trust in princes, in Trump or Clinton or anyone else. He just wants us to put our trust in him.
God doesn’t ask our help to put the ungodly into power…but he does want us to bring souls to him. The Bible doesn’t require us to vote, but we are commanded to let our light shine, set the proper example, bring souls to Jesus, and put his righteousness first. Lost souls are watching us to see if God’s standards matter outside the church building. Let’s not give them a reason to think they don’t. If we choose to vote, let’s trust in God and put his standards first.
— Jon
Carolina Messenger 