An Open Letter to Christian Voters

2016-08-07

To my friends in the Lord:

I am writing to you in an effort to show what has been on my mind for years now concerning political involvement, and how such involvement in many ways has affected our testimony to the world.

Ever since I was saved, and even more as I get older, I started asking myself repeatedly, “Why do we do things the way we do?” Our extremely fierce loyalty to the political process, especially to one of the major political parties, seems often blind, and I am just not getting it anymore.

Two major political parties own our political system. We may feel as if we have a choice, but that choice is mostly illusory, as “delegates” have the final say. Even the closed primary system of most states force the “outsiders” out. We do not know all of what is going on behind closed doors, but we do know that computer hackers exposed one party of rigging the election in the favor of their nominee. There was a huge outcry and disappointment when the losing candidate’s supporters looked on while he endorsed the winner at their convention.

Why? Because their hope was in a politician, a political savior, and in short, in men.

We as Christians should not hope in men, as we read in the Scriptures: “It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man” (Psalms 118:8). But our actions betray us.

There are two political parties, and when I see them, I see them this way. The first is the party of “Bible-believing” Christianity (please do not ignore the quotation marks) and its unholy matrimony with big business, racism, sexism, xenophobia, and warmongering. The other one is the party that proudly touts its allegiance to infanticide and religious pluralism. Regarding the first of these two parties, you may protest some of this, especially the racist, sexist, and xenophobic parts. However, the presidential candidate representing that party is blatantly for all of these things. Many of the so-called “evangelicals” (I do not know what that means anymore) have blindly endorsed this man as the one who is going solve all of our problems. This is just as it was with the first century Jews, who wanted a political messiah that would save them from Rome, not Jesus Christ who would save them from their sins. These are your choices, American Christians! Which one are you going to identify with?

So why are Christians endorsing such a man? Some say he is the lesser of two evils. I would be retired now if I had a dime for every time I heard this. The Bible clearly tells us, “Abstain from all appearance of evil” (1 Thessalonians 5:22). We fail this Scripture if we follow that advice. I know I have in the three presidential elections in which I voted. Or maybe it is the tired slogan, “If you do not vote for X, it is a vote for Y.” Is God not in control anymore? Is Jesus no longer the King of kings? Do we really have to be slaves to the world political system?

The devil often likes to give us two choices that are both bad, as if there were no other choice. Calvinism versus Arminianism. Public school versus private school. And yes, Republican versus Democrat. The former’s candidate versus the latter’s. But, praise God, there is another choice out there, and that is to walk away from the whole paradigm.

Before the 2010 midyear elections, a man stood up in church, and gave us a challenge. He said to remember that Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). I will never forget it. This is your “WWJD” for this situation. From then on, I went to the polls, voted for local candidates and state constitutional amendments, but largely stayed away from the other candidates. But now, the more I think about it, all of this is using the world’s methods to change society. We are wrong in this thinking.

First, we are trying to use the world’s methods to affect society. The Lord’s Word tells us, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:12). After this, He enumerates spiritual solutions to the battle in which we find ourselves. Spiritual problems in our country and communities require spiritual solutions, not worldly ones.

You could agree with all of these things, but you might say to yourself, “I believe we have spiritual problems, but it will not hurt to vote.” Here is where I think that is not the case. First, every time we share our political views of such and such a candidate, whether in person, or on the Internet, it reveals to the world that our faith is in a political messiah that will “help” God along with His plan. It also identifies us with all of the baggage that the political candidates vomit out to the media all day long. I don’t need to rehearse all of that here; in this election, you know exactly what I mean.

You also assume that your vote actually counts. We saw email exchanges in which one party was trying to rig the election in the one candidate’s favor. This is something that was uncovered, and who knows what other corruption is going on in secret! Remember how an angel of the Lord dragged Ezekiel throughout the land of Israel, to show him what awful corruption was going on behind closed doors (Ezekiel 8)? You know it is the case with us today.

Likely, having read this, you will probably vote the same way. But I ask you to please make this a very prayerful issue. If I am wrong, that is fine. I don’t have to be right. But you have to seek the Lord and do what is right by faith.

The real two choices we have before us is God’s kingdom, and the kingdom of this world. They are mutually exclusive. These things I hope we can agree on:

I really do not think I will ever vote again. Maybe you shouldn’t either. But whatever we do, we must decide that we live in God’s kingdom, and are mere sojourners in this world.

Here are some interesting articles that you should read. These will definitely wake you up a bit.

[NOTE: The articles are no longer available. Linking to cached copies.]

Thanks for reading. Blessings to you.