Good morning… After a great deal of prayer… and wrestling with my own convictions… I’m going to speak with you about the upcoming election… But… before I start… let me share a few thoughts.
First let me just say… I love you all… and I love my family… my community… my church… my country… Israel… and most of all… I love Jesus… I also love this beautiful world which God has created for us to inhabit and I am always amazed by the intricate beauty of God’s creation…
Politics… however… on the other hand… I’m not so sure about… sometimes… especially in our country… these concepts are complex… There are seldom simple solutions because we are all living together dealing with the vast complexity of life in a social system while we maintain our free will to choose… And while I have strong convictions about the need for the rule of law in particular… and the need for the guidance of such blessings as the 10 Commandments… it’s never going to be easy… due to the fallen nature of man…
What I have to say today isn’t intended to be partisan… or to get you to vote for a particular candidate… but I do believe that voting is a matter of civic duty and a Christian responsibility…
Romans 13:1-3 says… “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. 2) Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. 3) For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:”
I know that many of you are extremely passionate about politics… a particular party… or candidate… and that like me… you’re concerned about the upcoming election…
1
At the same time… I don’t want us to miss the forest for the trees… We must not lose sight that God is still sovereign and present…
We must never forget that… no matter who you vote for… or who becomes president… governor… Senator… or whatever… no one person is going to save our nation… Our hope and trust must be in God… We must bend our knee and bow our hearts to Him alone…
That being said… This morning I want us to address one of the greatest threats that our faith and our families and really… our very future… will ever have to face… One week from Tuesday… on November 5th… people all over this nation will begin to make their way to schools… and civic centers… and community buildings… to take part in the greatest privilege and responsibility in the world… that of casting their personal vote… and while there are many issues that will require your attention when you step into that voting booth… I don’t know of any other that is more important… and whose outcome is more significant than that of the “First Amendment…” ….Let me read it for you….
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
Now… I want to stop right there for just a moment… Do you see how far we have fallen in this ultra-tolerant… politically correct… open-minded society we live in? …We’ve come to the place where in this year’s election… people will have to vote to literally… not only save the First Amendment… but the Constitution of the United States… the Bill of Rights… as well as the fabric of this great nation we live in.
That’s what 50 years of taking God… the Bible… and prayer out of the public classrooms… and relegating Judeo-Christian values to the fringes of main-stream society has gotten us… That’s what 50 years of evangelical Christians wringing their hands and hiding their heads in the sand has gotten us. ..
2
We have given up so much ground in the past 50 years… over prayer in the classroom… and abortion… and the removal of God from the public square… we have retreated and retreated from one issue after another… hoping that… somehow… if we gave the secular progressives the little piece of ground that they wanted… at some point they would be happy and not want anymore… We thought that if we could just appease them… that they wouldn’t keep asking for more… and we never thought that the fight would actually end up on our own doorsteps…
Well… what we hoped would happen didn’t… and now the fight that we’ve run from for so long isn’t out there somewhere that will never impact us or our families… now the fight is in our front yard… and it’s over our very future.
But this election cycle… we have a chance to hold the line… We have the opportunity to take our heads out of the sand and draw a line in it and say… “NO MORE!!!” …We have the opportunity to charge forward and guard the sacred ground of America… We have a chance to begin to take back this nation from those who would seek to destroy it… simply by voting our Christian convictions.
I know what you’re thinking… “But Pastor… I didn’t think that Christians were supposed to be involved in politics?” …Well… that’s because you probably had some liberal teacher tell you that… giving his wrong understanding of what the separation of church and state means…
Listen… I believe in the separation of church and state… I do not want the state telling me what to believe… and I’d fight for a person’s right to believe anything… or nothing… but what I do not believe in is… the separation of God from government… So… if all of the left-wing… looney… liberals… like Ellen Degeneres and Rosie O’Donell… or Doogie Houser… have a right to vote… then the rest of us who hold to traditional… Judeo-Christian values definitely have the right… no… it’s more than that… we have the responsibility to vote.
3
The primary reason for this message began when I have heard conversations with people I love… respect… and know to be Godly who… like myself… are really struggling with the condition of our country and our choices for leadership… and I’ve realized that there’s a real struggle between the forces of good and evil… and not just personality or policy.
The second reason I wrote this sermon was a passage of scripture that absolutely convicted to me to my core about my responsibility as a pastor…
Ezekiel 33:1-6… “Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 2) Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman: 3) If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people; 4) Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. 5) He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul. 6) But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand.”
So… If the watchman sees the sword coming and doesn’t blow the trumpet to warn the people… and the sword comes and takes someone’s life… God says that person’s life will be taken because of their sin… but I will hold the watchman accountable for their blood!
In this passage… God was telling Ezekiel that He had called him to serve as a watchman to warn the people of His impending judgment because of their actions… If he didn’t do his job… then their blood would be on his hands… whereas… if he warned them and they didn’t listen… then it was all on them… “Let it not be said that I was silent when they needed me.” William Wilberforce
4
Wilberforce was an English politician that was instrumental in abolishing the slave trade in 1807 after fighting for it for twenty years… You see… in ancient times… the watchman stood on the wall as a sentinel to look out for any enemy who might be seeking to bring harm to the people… Their job was to alert the people so they could defend themselves.
It’s to this calling that I find myself today… I come to you as a watchman to sound the alarm to encourage us all as this next election approaches…
I also agree with Dietrich Bonhoeffer… who was known for his staunch resistance to the Nazi dictatorship of Adolf Hitler and persecution of the Jews… Bonhoffer said… “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act. God will not hold us guiltless.”
BUT… what about that separation of church and state thing? …What about it? …Isn’t that a real thing? Well… yes and no!
The separation of church and state is not found in any of our nation’s founding documents?
In 1802… Thomas Jefferson was asked to answer a question about religious freedom from the Danbury Baptists of Connecticut… In a personal letter… he explained that the 1st Amendment provides a wall of separation between Church and State to protect the church from government intrusion… which clearly means that the intent of the 1st Amendment was NEVER to keep the church out of the business of state… but to keep the state out of the business of the church!
However… over the years… the phrase… “separation of church and state…” has been misused to try to remove God and the church from the public square and out of government… Hence the Johnson Amendment offered by Lyndon Johnson in 1954 that sought to prohibit non-profit organizations like charities or churches from engaging in political campaign activity under the threat of losing their tax-exempt status…
5
The result was many pastors stopped speaking about the challenges of our nation… By-the-way… the Johnson Amendment is currently in the US District Court in Texas on the grounds that it prohibits and violates free speech.
The Bible teaches that we should obey the government… as long as those in authority are not violating the laws of God… However… if the government passes laws that are opposed to God’s law… we are not required by God to obey them… Remember Romans 13…
So what happens when we cross God’s red line in the sand?
The truth is… we claim to be a Christian nation… however… that is no longer demonstrably true… While the argument can easily be made that we were originally founded on Judeo-Christian principles… no matter how imperfect we have been since the beginning… that is no longer the case…
But… when the party in control makes the unfettered slaughter of unborn children a central theme of their administration… and undermines God’s natural order relative to man and woman… and upends the sacred covenant of marriage between man and woman… then celebrates deviancy at every turn… with widespread approval from our culture… we have become a nation that is mocking God… and I say this with a broken heart…
So… Should we not be advocates for our nation? …Well… complete non-involvement would be contrary to what God’s Word says about doing good in society… Wherever we live… Christians should be dedicated to the betterment of the society in which we live… Dedicated to the betterment of our family… our communities… and our country…This is a Biblical mandate…
Galatians 6:10 says… “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.”
6
The most dramatic examples of tough faith in the midst of a Pagan society… is given to us by Jeremiah… the “Weeping Prophet…” as he was forced to watch the devastation of his homeland and the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple… He had warned the people…
Jeremiah 3:12-14… “Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the LORD, and I will not keep anger for ever. 13) Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD. 14) Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:
He had told them to repent and put away the detestable things…
Jeremiah 4:1-2…“If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, return unto me: and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight, then shalt thou not remove. 2) And thou shalt swear, The LORD liveth, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.”
And to circumcise their hearts…
Jeremiah 4:4… “Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.”
That all means that our first responsibility is to warn our wayward nation… God will not be mocked…
Galatians 6:7… Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
Many have been deceived into believing that evil is good and good is evil… and flaunting wickedness as if it had no repercussions… in this life… or the next… we need to remember John the Baptist… who came to prepare the way of the Lord… He is coming soon… and now it’s our turn to prepare the way for the Lord…
7
Matthew 3:1-2 says… “In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, 2) And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Even in the Church… some Christians have bought into the lie that God is no longer Holy and righteously indignant… They think that God has somehow evolved along with them… and they have turned the mercy of God into an unspoken license to sin…
Whether God’s wrath is kindled against individual nations… or the rapture occurs and the entire world descends into unrestrained godlessness… or individual sinners step into eternity and fall into the hands of an angry God… this is still our urgent message… “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”
So what can we do at a time like this? …Listen… We may be living in a pagan land right now but we can still hearken to the same words of encouragement that God offered the exiles living in Babylon through the prophet Jeremiah…
Jeremiah 29:5-7… “Build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them; 6) Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; that ye may be increased there, and not diminished. 7) And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.”
In other words… continue to live your lives… and while you are living it… and raising your families… or whatever you are doing… seek the welfare of the society that you happen to be living in… and that means that when the election comes… support and vote for candidates who will promote the greatest good… at the local… state… and national levels… vote for policies that honor God’s provisions for the flourishing of mankind… and always respect the inalienable right for Christians to serve the Living God…
So today… I’ve come to speak with you on our upcoming election to challenge each of us to vote and to vote for what most honors God… our neighbors… and our nation… so that when we walk away we can do so with a clear conscience.
8
What can we do to advance God’s Kingdom for His glory and to stem the tide of evil in our land until Jesus returns?
First… Remember… JESUS is not on the Ballot…
Religious freedom may be on the ballot… Judeo-Christian morals and values might be on the ballot… Policies Christians hold dear may be on the ballot… but Jesus is not on the ballot… Who is on the ballot is flawed… sinful people… just life you and me.
Like it or not… this is a binary election… that is… we only have two candidates to choose from… You can write in Jesus… or some other name… if you want… but unfortunately… that’d be equivalent to sticking your head in the sand and pretending there is no election.
Like it or not… our choices for president are Harris or Trump… You might love them… you might hate them… but these are our choices… As I was listening to the VP debate… I was thinking… I wish these guys were our choices… but they’re not… So… it doesn’t matter if we preferred a different choice… our choices are Trump or Harris.
What that means is… let me say a few things about these two people that I’m hopeful you won’t find too shocking.
First… Like you or me… they’re both flawed… sinners just like us… You may perceive one of them a bigger sinner than the other… but they’re both flawed… and I think the truth is… by all indications… neither of them appears to be a believer… They may claim to be… or even hope to be… only God knows… but if they are… they certainly don’t exemplify walking in the abiding life… and secondly… As a result… they’re both going to say… or believe… or do things that we disagree with… and don’t like… and they’re going to have many morals… and convictions we don’t have… They might even have a “Savior’s complex…”
9
which I think BOTH of them do… If nothing else… they think they’re saving our country from each other… or… for their own agendas…
So… we find ourselves in a quandary… Since neither of them are Jesus… or even close… which are we to vote for? …Here’s the good news… we’re voting for a president… not for a Savior.
I don’t know about you… but I already have a Savior… and His name is Jesus… But as I’ve already said… He’s not on the ballot… So… we have to make a decision based on the reality that neither candidate is Jesus nor may they be concerned about the things of God…
NOW LISTEN CAREFULLY!!! …throughout the Bible… there are numerous times when God used sinful flawed people to accomplish His plan… as He has moved in spite of the who the leader was… and whether they trusted in Him…
We have good leaders… like David… who blew it… and pagan leaders… like Artaxerxes or Pharaoh… who God used to do great things to bless His people… Meaning that God can… and will use flawed… sinful people to bless a nation and accomplish His will… This doesn’t mean we should excuse sinful behavior or blindly vote with no awareness of the morality of these candidates… WE CAN’T! …But we also have to remember that neither are Jesus… What we need to understand is that according to Scripture… the need for righteousness is as much on US as it is on the people we’re going to elect to lead us…
Proverbs 14:34 says… “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.”
This means the fate of a nation is on its citizens just as much as it is on those who lead it… It means God has charged us to be salt and light… salt to preserve a culture in decay… and light to shine truth onto darkness. Let me put this into perspective… There are 90 million professing evangelical Christians in the U.S. yet in the last election… some 40 million chose not to vote… and 15 million aren’t even registered to vote…
10
Come on now… this isn’t the righteous exalting a nation… but the professing righteous watching their nation plunge deeper into sin and decay… I think of the words of Frederick Douglas… “I will unite with anybody to do right and nobody to do wrong.”
What this means TO ME is that while I know that we have two flawed candidates… and while we can’t ignore their character… or lack thereof… we must prioritize policy over personality…
REMEMBER… POLICIES Beats Personalities…
Here’s where I think this election is going to be won or lost because each of us has to decide if personality is more vital than policy… or… if policy tops personality.
For me… the answer is policy is more important than personality because the person will be gone in 4-8 years… but their policies can last forever… Take Social Security or the Affordable Care Act for example… These policies will go on far beyond the presidents who enacted them… And the same will be true with this next president.
Time for Truth or Consequences… there are a number of policies at stake in this election that’ll have a prolific impact upon our nation for years to come… So… we must educate ourselves on what each candidate says they value and why they value it… then compare it to Scripture to see what God thinks about it.
In no particular order… here are a few important policies to consider that I’ve heard tossed around as a political football that we really need to consider.
A… Border Security and Immigration… On one side… we have to protect our nation from those who seek to bring us harm… yet on the other… we have to be a good neighbor to the nations of the world… Now… there is a difference between caring for our neighbors and allowing ourselves to be overrun by them.
11
Acts 17:26… “God has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings.”
Zechariah 7:10… “Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. Let none of you plan evil in his heart against his brother.”
What does this mean? The juxtaposition between these verses means God is in favor of borders and immigration… In other words… we must protect our borders so that those who are un-neighborly won’t bring harm to our neighbors… and at the same time… provide a fair… and legal means for people to immigrant to establish new lives in the USA… Open borders are certainly not the answer… so which candidate will best support our national security?
B… Israel… simple… Should we support Israel?
Genesis 12:3 says… “I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse those who curses you.”
This was a promise levied by God to Abraham… promising that He’d be with… and take care of everyone in his lineage… Based on Romans… I believe this includes Israel as a nation and anyone who’s put their hope in Christ as Savior… Supporting Israel doesn’t equal blind agreement with all Israel does… yet the Bible is clear that God is an ally to Israel and to her allies… and that He will be faithful to bless those who bless Israel and Christians… Which candidate will best support Israel and Christianity?
C… Biological Sex… another that should be a no-brainer for Christians…
Genesis 1:27… “God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him;
male and female He created them.”
12
It goes without question that the Bible teaches that only God assigns biological sex in the womb… While we need to have compassion for those struggling with their identity… to support… legitimize… or celebrate the changing of one’s gender is to contribute to the problem… It is an absolute atrocity that our daughters… granddaughters… sisters… and wives can’t go to the bathroom now without fear of a biological male being present… Or that a female has to compete in sports against biological males… and this is a policy at stake in this election… Booker T Washington said… “A lie doesn’t become truth, wrong doesn’t become right, and evil doesn’t become good, just because it’s accepted by a majority.”
Which candidate will best protect God’s design of biological sex and protect the rights of women?
D… Parental Rights… again… another no-brainer for Christians…
Psalm 127:3… “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward.”
For years… parental rights have been incrementally stripped away so that in some states… the states have seized control over a child… Children are not a ward of the state, but a heritage to parents and their families.
In Minnesota… a bill was signed into law stating that if a minor has been unable to obtain… “gender-affirming care…” because one or both parents object… the courts can be given temporary emergency jurisdiction over the child… Which candidate will best support parents’ rights?
E… The Sanctity of Human Life…
Proverbs 6:17… “God hates hands that shed innocent blood.”
Seth Gruber… a pro-life activist said… “Those who murder the unborn… can’t be trusted to govern the born.” …On this sensitive issue… I want to be clear… there is NO pro-life candidate in the 2024 presidential race… Trump supports abortion thru 15 weeks… and the RNC platform has been stripped of most of its protection of life… The Harris… DNC supports abortion up until birth!
What do we do? In this case… we have to decide which candidate’s policies will best protect life?
13
The pro-abortion people will tell you that it’s not a human being… only a cluster of unformed cells… although I’m pretty sure what they will grow into… the Bible says this…
Psalm 139:13-16… “For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. 14) I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. 15) My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. 16) Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.”
These are just a few policies… I didn’t touch on crime… religious liberty… education… fiscal responsibility… war… guns… or IVF… and other issues…But the Bible speaks directly or indirectly to most of these issues… So… get out your Bible… pray… and to the best of your ability make a Biblically educated decision on the issue that you think honors God…
Remember… Your Vote Matters… it’s a privilege and our responsibility to vote… and if we love our families… our neighbors… and our country… then every Christian must vote.
How do we vote? …As a follower of Jesus… I believe we must vote as closely as possible on the basis of Scripture and a Biblical worldview that would honor Jesus…. Seek to know and understand the issues…don’t excuse yourself by saying…God will show me how to vote….compare the candidate’s position with Scripture… and most importantly… lift up your leaders in prayer. Amen! `
