Faith and Voting

Is God interested in the political leaders we select?  I would say so, definitely!  And, ultimately, He is in sovereign control of the process. He invites us to participate with Him. Daniel 2 states:
20 Daniel answered and said: "Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, For wisdom and might are His.
21 And He 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, God is concerned with the way that Christians vote.  And, I believe that is one of our responsibilities as citizens in this nation.  I've said that voting is an act of worship.  God wants to use His people to speak His truth in the shaping of public policy.  With another mid-term election coming up and primaries just 3 months away, we can become engaged in learning about the candidates, getting registered to vote - and being in prayer.

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A number of years ago, the late Bill Bright wrote a booklet on Christian citizenship and participation
in the political process. He referred to a verse in Hosea 8 - here is a passage from that chapter:
3 Israel has rejected the good; The enemy will pursue him.
4 "They set up kings, but not by Me; They made princes, but I did not acknowledge them. From their silver and gold They made idols for themselves-- That they might be cut off.

The election results from a special election in Pennsylvania indicate a victory for a Democrat candidate who positioned himself as a moderate - his name is Conor Lamb, and by less than a thousand votes, he seems to have defeated Republican Rick Saccone, pending a recount.  This is in a district that Donald Trump carried by some 20 points in 2016.

Now, keep in mind, this election would not have been necessary, save for moral missteps of the Republican Congressman who had held the seat since 2003 - according to Fox News, "Murphy was forced to resign in October amid revelations of an extramarital affair in which he urged his lover to get an abortion when they thought she was pregnant."

Even though he received significant support from the Democrat party apparatus, Lamb did not necessarily tow the party line.  NBC News reports:

Drawing on his background as a Marine and former federal prosecutor, Lamb disowned Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and staked out positions on abortion, guns and fracking that hewed closer to the GOP.

But Lamb also embraced the classics of the Democratic playbook, hammering Saccone for allegedly wanting to cut Social Security and Medicare, and uniting Pittsburgh's powerful unions behind him in a way no Democrat had before in that district.

And, the Washington Times reports that Lamb did not take aim at the President in his campaigning the day after Trump had visited the state on behalf of Saccone.

In other election news, Tennessee Republican Shane Reeves overwhelmingly defeated Gayle Jordan in a special election for the state Senate.  Fox News reports that:

Jordan is executive director of Recovering from Religion, a group that supports people who wish to leave their faith behind. She is a former Southern Baptist who left the denomination 10 years ago “when her then-teenagers began asking questions she could not answer.”

Reeves, a Murfreesboro-based businessman, made Jordan’s open atheism an issue in the election, telling the Tennessean that her “views are radical” and “out of touch with the district."

And, just up the road, in Nashville, Mayor Megan Barry resigned recently in the aftermath of the revelations that she had an affair with her bodyguard.

What do we conclude from all this political news?

There is certainly a threshold for personal behavior for our leaders - political and spiritual.  Barry and Murphy are people whose moral choices while in office put them in a position where they had lost the public trust.  And, an outright rejection of God, which can definitely inform personal behavior and shape policy, was a non-starter for the people of middle Tennessee.   One should always weigh the moral perspective and the worldview of the candidates from whom we are selecting.

I think that the Pennsylvania election also teaches us that every vote counts.  The My Faith Votes website offers a free download of Bill Bright's booklet, Your 5 Duties as a Christian Citizen.  He wrote:

It is commonly believed that decisions in America are made by a majority of the people. This is not so. Decisions are made by a majority of those who vote. As few as 16 percent of all eligible voters in a district can elect a member of Congress. Even presidents have been elected by an average of one-half the votes per precinct nationwide. 

By one vote, Texas was admitted to the Union; Hitler won leadership of the German Nazi Party; and the U.S. House of Representatives elected Thomas Jefferson as President. Your one vote does make a difference! 

We can also think about the potential impact of Christians going to the polls and voting.  Bright writes:

Only when you cast your vote do you fulfill your Christian responsibility in government. Exercise the influence that God has given you through our unique system of self-government. If you fail to vote conscientiously for godly rule, evil will increase in our nation. “When rulers are wicked, their people are too” (Proverbs 29:16). Our nation will then bear the consequences of our choices. “You will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the Lord will not answer you in that day” (1 Samuel 8:18, NIV).

The My Faith Votes site also states:

The policies and laws our leaders enact will affect America for decades to come.

As Christians, we want to see good public policies created that reflect biblical values. However, in order to see these kinds of policies enacted, we have to elect principled leaders. And in order to see principled leaders elected, we as Christians must make our voice heard by voting.

The organization, as highlighted in a recent interview, encourages Christians to think, pray, and vote.

Bright wrote:

In making your decisions, let the Word of God be your guide. “Godliness exalts a nation” (Proverbs 14:34)., so it is important to prayerfully seek God’s will in all political decisions. Israel invited God’s anger by selecting leaders without consulting Him: “They set up kings without my consent; they choose princes without my approval” (Hosea 8:4, NIV). 

If there is no qualified candidate who is spiritually mature, vote for the one whose personal principles and platform most nearly agree with your own Christian position based on the Bible.

At the NRB Convention recently, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council encouraged Christians to vote in the upcoming mid-term elections.  He said, according to NRB's website:

“We have to act upon the opportunity that we have to fortify our freedoms, and to ensure government does not again try to quarantine our Christian faith within the walls of our churches. A lot has been done, but there is still plenty to do.

“The Johnson Amendment has to be totally eliminated. The forced partnership between taxpayers and Planned Parenthood must be ended. Patient-centered healthcare must be restored and God must be welcomed back into our public life,” Perkins concluded.