Now comes in a matter of days the most critical election America has ever faced. November 8 may well decide the future of our great country for better or for worse. And, you are going to vote, are you not my fellow Americans? If you love America and the way it is, you better!
SAMUEL ADAMS, one of the original signers of the Declaration of Independence said the following haunting words:
“Let each citizen remember, at the moment he is offering his vote, that he is not making a present or a compliment to please an individual, but that he is executing one of the most solemn trusts in human society, for which he is accountable to God and his country.”
Nothing describes the right, the privilege, the duty of voting better than those words. Samuel Adams described voting as a SOLEMN TRUST. We cast an honorable vote for our family, for our friends, for our fellow citizens. For the good of our local communities, our states, and perhaps most importantly, the great America, the United States of America. And, says Samuel Adams, in addition to being accountable to your country, your America, you are accountable to GOD. It is GOD as the author, the Creator of America, as with all other nations. It is God who charged Americans and those privileged to live in this special nation to make it and keep it the land of the brave and the free. It is God who makes kingdoms and nations and the rulers thereof. It is said in Psalms 75:6-7:
“For promotion comes neither from the East nor from the West, nor from the South. But God is the judge. He puts down one (nation) and sets up another.”
It is God who ordains the rulers of this world and our votes reflect the PROMOTION of those He wishes to rule.
Daniel Chapter 2 in Scripture says the following:
“And He (God) changes the times and the seasons. He removes kings and raises up kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding.”
So again, it is God who “removes kings and raises up kings.” That should mean that as we vote, in that solemn trust, we seek the wisdom of the God who raises up these kings and queens so that in fact, as we vote, we are accountable to HIM and to “his country.”
It follows therefore that pastors and church leaders, appointed agents of the God who removes and promotes kings should seek God’s wisdom at election time and so advise their people. Reverend Pierre Bynum of THE FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL states the following:
“Pastors and church leaders are duty-bound to give careful instruction about the morals and duties related to our elections.”
That is so, says Bynum so that “a more righteous society may be constructed.” As much as possible, the important issues of the day should be viewed and voted upon from a Biblical perspective, including says Bynum education, abortion, foreign policy, honest money, care of our parents, taxation, warfare and so much more. With those critical issues at stake, and the radical differences of opinion and approach to the presidency from Trump and Clinton, for whom will you vote?
Hear more good advice from Reverend Bynum:
“It is the proper and irreplaceable labor of Christian leaders to teach their congregations Biblical principles for self-government and for voting.”
It is the labor, the duty, the challenge, the responsibility of Christian leaders to lead, advise and consult, exhort and rebuke when it comes to the voting process. They are charged, says Bynum, with the responsibility to know the issues, and to proclaim what is right from a Biblical perspective to those voters who have ears to hear. When in doubt, you should seek the counsel of your pastor. He or she should be ready to give careful instruction about the morals and duties related to our elections.
But then comes the so-called JOHNSON AMENDMENT, the 1954 invention of Lindon Johnson which prevents pastors and other church leaders from political advocacy, that is, endorsing candidates, parties, platforms and political positions in the church and from the pulpit. Although an absolute unconstitutional restraint upon free speech, many pastors shy away from anything political within church walls. Their voices are silenced, even as they are intimidated and the voices of the servants of the God to whom we owe our solemn trust are silenced. That, says Bynum, Tony Perkins, Franklin Graham, David Jeremiah, Jack Hibbs and so many other great Christian leaders and servants is wrong, unbiblical and the raging forces of secularism win out. Does your pastor stand-up in the defense, proactively political in the service of God and Country? Does he or she?
Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council for one gets “indignant” when he thinks about Christians refusing to vote for either of the two major party Presidential candidates. Because:
“They (voters) believe both (candidates) are undesirable.”
Angry at that, Perkins says:
“I want to go into some of our churches and overturn a few tables (like Jesus of old) because we probably had the best selection of primary candidates in the history of Presidential politics.”
Half of them were born-again, Bible believing Evangelical Christians, says Perkins. And those who should have been much more actively involved in the primary processes allowed Donald Trump to win:
“Many people didn’t get involved in those primaries and sat back to see what would happen. So the conservative vote got chopped up and split in many different directions. I don’t think they (Evangelical and Christian voters) have a lot of room to complain when the choices for the general election are not the best ones.”
We do indeed have no room to complain if we were not active, if we did not vote, if we did not discuss the issues in constructive dialogue and get others to vote. But, whether Trump or Clinton, and one of those candidates flawed as he or she may be, will be our next President, Perkins says emphatically:
“It (either candidate) doesn’t absolve us from the obligation we have to vote. It is part of being salt and light.”
In short says Perkins, you, we the citizens, we the voters have an:
OBLIGATION-DUTY
To vote. If in fact you wish change in America, if in fact you are SALT AND LIGHT, then you have a duty, an obligation to vote. And you will vote in this election, will you note my fellow American?
You must for in fact it is your DUTY.
And more from Family Research Council:
“Christian voters must embrace their duty to vote, particularly for righteous candidates. Our laziness, our disrespect for the opportunity (voting) God has given us in the vote is a large sin for which we need to repent.”
There are many, says FRC, who are now FEARFUL, afraid for the families, their faith, their friends, and their future. They are afraid for America. But, says FRC:
“How many have worked to convince their Christian brethren to put on their boots and to go and vote on the appointed date?”
Have you? That is, have you put on your:
VOTING BOOTS
And, committed to voting yourself and further committed to make sure that others vote as well? And you are going to vote, my fellow Christians and conservatives, are you not? America needs your vote now more than ever.
There is another failure among conservatives and Christians says FRC, and that is the failure of faithful men and women to:
RUN FOR POLITICAL OFFICE
For that is indeed an honorable calling. When good men and women abandon the political arena, it is left only for the bad. We are ruled by them. They determine our future, the future of our children, our culture, our freedoms and particularly freedom of religion. We, says FRC, should be the ones who make those decisions and not those without faith but with radical, secular ideologies and philosophies. WE THE RIGHT-THINKING PEOPLE should be the ones in office and making those decisions. Have you ever thought about running for office, any kind of office anywhere? If a community organizer and no more can rise to be the President of the United States, why not you?
And hear the words of Franklin Graham of the Billy Graham organization:
“The United States is at a moral tipping point, and the upcoming elections could prove to be the most pivotal in our long, storied history.”
How true. Pivotal indeed. Critical, life-changing, country-changing, world-changing.
Franklin Graham goes on to state:
“I think it is the duty of every individual Christian at election time to study the issues and candidates and then go to the polls and vote.”
And, says Graham, it is further the duty of Christian men and women to offer themselves for public office. Amen to that. If radical progressives offer themselves and get elected, why not Christians and conservatives? Have you ever thought about running for office? You should.
Franklin Graham says that the Scripture says that government is ordained by God to restrain evil and reward upright behavior, citing Proverbs 29:12 which says:
“If a ruler listens to falsehood, all of his officials will be wicked.”
In short, those appointed by a bad ruler will follow his example and will themselves do wrong things. So why don’t you run for office, any office? Why not?
According to a study by political scientist Jennifer Lawless, there were 519,682 elected officials in the United States as of 2012. Can you believe that number? There are some 520,000 individuals, men and women, elected by us to rule us. It seems incredible we would need that many but why are so many wrong for America? Why? I suppose in part simply because you and I don’t run for office!
But now comes November 8, 2016 and the vote. Perkins says it is critical that we vote for all elected officials. Family Research Council also admonishes pastors and churches to “use voter’s guides and party platforms and other compliant material to help educate God’s people!” For in their words, it is THE DUTY OF A CHRISTIAN TO VOTE! And, you are voting my fellow American, are you not? America needs your vote now more than ever.
There is time for you to encourage and exhort. It is now time for Christians to put aside any discouragement and anger. Arise and pray, say right-thinking Christian leaders, and use your enthusiasm, your energy, your knowledge and discernment to make the most of Election 2016. Support and vote for the best candidates who are “most likely to deliver policies in keeping what is right,” so says FRC. No candidate is perfect. In fact, voters are turned off by both Trump and Clinton, and probably many others as well. But it is our duty, the solemn trust of the vote, to vote for the best candidate who we think will champion conservative and faithful decision making for the critical issues of our day. THAT IS OUR DUTY! And you will vote in this election, will you not my fellow Americans? America needs your vote now more than ever.
Ronald Reagan was one of America’s great Presidents. He saw it as his duty to awaken a generation of Americans to the founders’ vision of America. Those founding fathers and Ronald Reagan referred to and believed in America as:
A SHINING CITY ON A HILL
The words of Puritan leader John Winthrop taken from THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. Reagan went on to say in a most emotional way:
“A troubled and afflicted mankind looks to us, pleading for us to keep our rendezvous with destiny. That we will become that shining city on a hill.
I believe that you and I together can keep this rendezvous with destiny.”
When the Republican Party nominated Ronald Reagan as its candidate for President, Reagan said in his acceptance speech:
“Can we doubt that only a divine providence placed this land, this island of freedom, here as a refuge for all of those people in the world who yearn to breathe freely?”
And indeed, we have breathed the fresh air of freedom, so many of them for now 240 years. But freedom’s fresh air has become corrupted, and we the people are in danger of freedom’s suffocation. We are now called upon to vote for those who will protect our freedoms, our beloved Constitution, the Rule of Law, the traditional morals and values of America, in solemn trust and in the words again of Samuel Adams:
“Accountability to God and HIS country.”
I do hope and pray that you will vote my fellow American, and that you will vote right, for those candidates who will do everything possible for the great America, for the God who ordained America as it is and for those candidates who will protect and defend with all of their might the United States of America and the Constitution. Vote for freedom and the candidates who really believe in freedom. And remember the words of Ronald Reagan:
FREEDOM ONCE LOST, IS LOST FOREVER!
Let us never lose our freedoms, my fellow Americans. Vote for the best candidates who will protect those freedoms no matter the fact none are perfect. And you are going to vote, are you not? America needs your vote now more than ever.