Modern Christianity and Election Day

Luke 21: 34-36 "Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man."

  It seems that every four years Christianity fractures into two tribes; divided over the political landscape of this country. One tribe lines up on the side of the Republican Party, insisting that they represent traditional "family values" and as such deserves the Christian vote. The other tribe may look at the country in a broader sense, concerned about things such as poverty and war and side with the Democratic Party. Certainly the reasons differ from person to person but nothing seems more polarizing to the unity of Christians in the United States than an impending presidential election. While disagreements along party or ideological lines are to be expected, the fervor with which opinions are argued continues to be a problem within the church. The truth is that neither political party nor candidate represent Christian values nor care about the cause of Christ. Sure, you can argue the lesser of two evils theory as long as you remember that you are still ultimately voting for evil and need to thus temper your advocacy of that evil.   In this portion of scripture from the Gospel of Luke, we see Jesus warning about the signs of the end of the age; the end times we speak so much of as Christians. I think that most would agree based upon the signs we see, that these are indeed the end times. As such, it is vitally important that we keep our Savior's admonitions in mind in relation to all things. Here specifically Jesus warns us of three things which could weigh our hearts down to the point that the second coming of Christ will find us unprepared. The first thing Jesus warns us against is dissipation. The dictionary defines dissipation as:   ·          A wasting by misuse   ·          Mental distraction; amusement; diversion.   This is what politics has become in latter-day society. The voluminous amounts of political emails disguised as Christian emails are staggering. Within them is contained a political opinion, usually peppered with lies, with Jesus Christ wrapped around it. It is a diversion at best; diverting our attention from the work of God. We all have seen such bravado from Christians in their political opinions, such blind confidence. The Prophet Jeremiah reminds us though:   "But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in Him. - Jeremiah 17:7   Who is your confidence in this election season? Is it in the charm and charisma of a Barack Obama? Is it in the experience and determination of a John McCain? Has either of them done anything to deserve your confidence? Put your trust in God beloved not in the promises of man. Our confidence must be found in what God can and will do and not what either candidate promises they will do. Does that mean that we turn a blind eye toward the world we live in? Of course not. What it means is we understand that the plea for morality from God is not directed at the world, but at believers:   If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. - 2Chronicles 7:14:

 

Who are the people called by God's name? Christians beloved. God is beseeching us to turn from our wicked ways; not to demand the world does. He is instructing us to pray and seek His face; to humble ourselves. If there is one thing that is sorely lacking in the defense of Christian-political opinions these days, it is humility. Look at the reward God promises! He will hear us from heaven, forgive our sins and heal our land. We lament often the fact that we want our land healed but we sometimes seem unwilling or unable to do what is necessary to achieve that. Prayer, seeking God's will and humility. Instead we are bombarded by a sense of religiosity, which is an excessive devotion to religion instead of to Christ. Contained within that religiosity is a clear sense of moral superiority. We do not have any moral superiority beloved. We are all just sinners saved by grace. We once walked in the very darkness we sometimes lord ourselves over. What God is saying here is that you cannot expect to see your land healed if your own walk is lacking in purity, humility, prayer and an earnest seeking of His will.

So, what is God's will for you on Election Day? It is to represent Him in your walk to a sick and dying world. It is to be salt and light not hellfire and judgment. By insisting there is absolute truth within a political system of this world you ignore the warnings from God:

So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more. - Ephesians 4: 17-19

The futility the world believes in is that John McCain or Barack Obama has the answers for what ails the world; they do not. Only God does. The futility of their thinking is that electing one of them will solve their problems, and heal this land. Only God can. Within the system is a continual lust for more beloved. More power, more greed, more control. It is an illusion though. Both parties are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of their ignorance. Do not cast your lot with such darkness.

The second thing Jesus warns us about is drunkenness. From a political standpoint we can get drunk on our own sense of righteousness. That we have figured out all the ills of society and if everyone would just elect people we deem righteous, then somehow we are doing the will of God. As if the elected official will somehow lead us where God has not been able to. Israel had this problem early on when they demanded of the Prophet Samuel to appoint a king over them. Samuel was upset at this and prayed but here was God's response:

And the LORD told him: "Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will do." -1Samuel 8: 7-9

And warn them Samuel did:

He said, "This is what the king who will reign over you will do: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. Your menservants and maidservants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the LORD will not answer you in that day." 1Samuel 8: 11-18

Sounds a lot like what our government does today! When you put your faith in man this is what happens. When you look to what a king or president can do instead of God, this is where it leads. The sad response from Israel, even after this warning was:

But the people refused to listen to Samuel. "No!" they said. "We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles." 1Samuel 8: 19-20

And so it still goes today. Expecting John McCain or Barack Obama to fight our battles instead of the Lord. Expecting them to solve the wars in this world, the lack of healthcare or the crumbling economy. These are the anxieties of everyday life and they are the third thing Jesus warned us about in the key verse that would weigh us down at the end of days. As we see the results of the excessive greed and corruption the world has to offer; resulting in trillions of dollars of bailouts it is easy to be anxious. As we see that close to 25% of all retirement monies have already been lost while CEO's fly away on golden parachutes, it is easy to be angry. When jobs stagnate and there is no healthcare it is easy to be worried. These anxieties of life are very real and they naturally weigh us down.

But here is the reminder from the Lord. Neither Obama or McCain are the answer. God is the answer. When you lose your job, God is your provider. When you lose your healthcare, God is your healer. When you do not know which way to turn, God is your banner. Who is control beloved? God is in control. I have heard Christians everywhere say that George Bush was God's chosen man. The truth is that God will use whoever He allows to come to power for His own glory and for His providential will. Bill Clinton was God's man as well. As was Reagan, and Kennedy, and anyone else who has risen to positions of authority. Don't believe me? Let us look to the Prophet Daniel:

" 'The decision is announced by messengers, the holy ones declare the verdict, so that the living may know that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes and sets over them the lowliest of men.' Daniel 4:17

You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like cattle and be drenched with the dew of heaven. Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes. Daniel 4:25

We too must acknowledge as King Nebuchadnezzar had to; that it is God who is sovereign. It is God that appoints leaders over even the lowliest of men. It is our instruction to pray for such leaders, not assign piety or deity to them. Not to wrap Jesus Christ around them and claim that they somehow will be representing us, or God. I continue to see email after email extolling one candidate as the choice of Christians at the expense of the other. Within these emails are lies beloved. Pure and simple. There is a difference between a reasonable disagreement on opinion and a factual inaccuracy and we have lost that moral compass in latter day Christianity. I have seen Christians continue to allow themselves to be used by political operatives who do not care about Jesus Christ at all. Forwarding lies about someone is bad enough but to wrap Christ around those lies damages the witness for Christ we are supposed to uphold. How serious does God take this?

"Do not spread false reports. Do not help a wicked man by being a malicious witness. Exodus 23:1

The LORD detests lying lips, but he delights in men who are truthful. Proverbs 12:22

There are countless other scriptures as well as the fact that lying lips are one of the things God actually hates (Proverbs 6). Barack Obama has an unbelievably poor understanding of scripture. John McCain is an admitted adulterer who once joked about dropping a nuclear bomb on another country. Do not put your trust in either man or either party. As citizens, we are compelled to vote not as Christians. We should seek God's will and pray earnestly for direction and then follow that direction realizing that He may have a completely different will for someone else. That does not make one right and the other wrong. As long as both sought the will of God and responded to the prompting they received. We err when we start to scream for a king to fight our battles and go out before us. If we need that, then God is not out before us in our lives. We err when we confuse opinion with lies and spread gossip in the name of Jesus. We err when we allow dissipation, self-righteousness, or the anxieties of life to take precedence over the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. When we misplace our trust into the failed systems of this world. I leave you with the word of God and pray that His will be always done; this Election Day and forever:

Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save. - Psalm 146: 3

Amen.

Anthony Wade October 11, 2008