So Help Me God

We can be careful to submit to sound teaching of the Word of God, so that Christ may be exalted in us. Isaiah 30 says:
19 For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem; You shall weep no more. He will be very gracious to you at the sound of your cry; When He hears it, He will answer you. 
20 And though the Lord gives you The bread of adversity and the water of affliction, Yet your teachers will not be moved into a corner anymore, But your eyes shall see your teachers. 
21 Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, "This is the way, walk in it," Whenever you turn to the right hand Or whenever you turn to the left.

Life presents its obstacles and we face challenges and decisions on a daily basis, but we have someone who walks with us, who directs us, and shows us how to walk in His ways.  We can rely on God's guidance in the choices that we make, and He will provide wisdom as we seek Him. He provides answers in which we can be confident, and empowers us to fulfill His purpose.  We have to be willing to listen and to make ourselves available to strong teaching, by His Spirit and by pastors and teachers who are called to proclaim His truth. 

+++++

The Holy Spirit goes with us and enables us to make wise choices. Through the knowledge of God's 
Word, activated by the Spirit, our lives can reflect God's heart. Psalm 32 states:
8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye. 
9 Do not be like the horse or like the mule, Which have no understanding, Which must be harnessed with bit and bridle, Else they will not come near you. 
10 Many sorrows shall be to the wicked; But he who trusts in the Lord, mercy shall surround him.

Election Day is coming up on Tuesday, November 3, and in order to cast a ballot, you have to be registered to vote. You can check with state or county officials to find out when the deadline is.  Also, the website, MyFaithVotes.com, has important state-specific information.  You can find out about casting an absentee ballot and early voting at your Secretary of State's website.  This year, in Alabama, any qualified voter can cast an absentee ballot.

There is also a Presidential Voter Guide and a party platform comparison when you go to that website.

Faith Radio has an Election Prayer Guide available through our website.  Just go to FaithRadio.org, visit the "About Us" section and click on the prayer guide link.  It is very important that we are gathering accurate information about the candidates' views so that we can see which candidate lines up best with a Biblical worldview perspective.  And, we can be intent on seeking God's direction through prayer. 

The Freedom from Religion Foundation is seeking to prevent Alabama voters from declaring, "so help me God," when someone registers to vote.  According to a story at ReligionNews.com, the lawsuit against Secretary of State John Merrill says: “The Alabama secretary of state excludes Alabama citizens from being able to vote if they are unable to swear a religious oath,” adding, “The secretary of state’s official policy is to hinder the registration of voters who are unable to swear ‘so help me God.’ This policy violates the rights of the plaintiffs and others under the First and 14th Amendments to the United States Constitution.”

Apparently, Alabama is the only state in the union with such a declaration on its voter registration form. 

FFRF has produced what it says are three plaintiffs, and while its general M.O. is to say that it has complainants, but fails to identify them, there is an actual, living human being who is named in this story - one of the alleged three!  The article says:

Among the plaintiffs in the case is Randal Cragun, a visiting assistant professor of economics at Birmingham-Southern College, an Alabama resident and an atheist. According to the suit, he attempted to register to vote in November 2019 but noticed that the form he downloaded from the Secretary of State’s website begins with “I solemnly swear or affirm” and ends with “so help me God.”

He says that he contacted the Secretary of State's office, asking if he could strike through the words on the document, and was told that doing so would void his registration. One of the attorneys, using customary hyperbolic language, stated: "The secretary of state has willfully excluded non-theist citizens from registering to vote and is coercing a statement of belief in a monotheistic god by requiring non-theists to swear a religious oath..."

As the Disrn.com website points out in its report on this story:

A French-born woman in Massachusetts earlier this year lost her appeal to remove the phrase "so help me God" from the United States naturalization oath. The First Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the phrase is not unconstitutional.

Religion News said that the Secretary of State's office had no comment because it had not received a copy of the lawsuit.

Well, we certainly need God's help, and this phrase is a reflection, somewhat in the category of "In God We Trust," of the principles consistent with Scripture upon which this nation was founded.

And, one of the biggest headlines impacting the Christian community is a concerted effort, if not a coordinated effort, to switch at least a portion the overwhelming number of white evangelicals who voted for Trump in 2016 to vote for Biden this year.  There is even an "Evangelicals for Biden" group that has been formed.  In order to take Christian votes away from Trump, some have resorted to trying to re-define pro-life to mean something other than the intentional murder of unborn children.  

Recently, The Christian Post ran an op-ed by Ronald J. Sider, who is president emeritus of Evangelicals for Social Action, which just removed the word "Evangelicals" from its title, and Richard Mouw, the president emeritus of Fuller Seminary, who was one of the so-called "evangelical" leaders who met at Wheaton College in a controversial meeting to try to change what they viewed as the trajectory of evangelicalism, politically speaking, that is.  They cited a document that defined other issues beside abortion as pro-life issues.  The Post piece says:

Their statement acknowledges that “as pro-life evangelicals, we disagree with Vice President Biden and the Democratic platform on the issue of abortion.” “But we believe,” the statement continues, “that a biblically shaped commitment to the sanctity of human life compels us to a consistent ethic of life that affirms the sanctity of human life from beginning to end. “

The statement points out that many problems that better politics could correct violate the sanctity of human life. Poverty, lack of health care, racism and climate change all kill persons created in the image of God. They are all pro-life issues.

So, the question is: does Biden offer a better plan on this new set of "pro-life" issues? Dan Celia of Financial Issues, in a piece at Townhall.com, offers this viewpoint: "This election is not about Biden versus Trump." He says it is about a "...Party, whose one mission it is to fundamentally change America and lie about that change, compared to a party that has brought America back through its record of keeping Americans and the American worker and American family safe and strong. The other party is about killing babies and re-defining God’s words to justify their actions, instead of a place where children will live free under the safety of law and order."

Now, two left-leaning groups, World Relief, an immigration advocacy group which raises money by being paid by the Federal government for each refugee that it resettles, and the National Association of Evangelicals, has re-issued a statement called, For the Health of the Nation.  While it admirably calls Christians to love our neighbor and pursue justice, as well as to be sensitive in the area of race relations, it falls into the trap of redefining certain issues as pro-life, failing to differentiate between the intentional taking of human life through abortion, euthanasia, and other forms of taking life, contrasted with matters that would be considered to be more related to the quality of life.  Witness these lines from the document:

Uphold a comprehensive pro-life ethic that protects both the unborn and the vulnerable of all ages, enriching life through equal opportunity and justice so that all women and men may flourish;

Resist being co-opted by a political agenda and instead pursue the breadth of commitments that Jesus displayed and Scriptures teach...

Check out the signatories while you're at it - it tells you a whole lot about the drift that we are seeing in American evangelicalism. Some of the signatories are allied with the "Fairness for All" movement, in which some Christian leaders and others are willing to grant special rights to homosexuals in exchange for a vague, even mythical, idea of religious freedom.  Make no mistake - you have believers that are willing to surrender on the key issues of life and marriage; don't be that person! 

Be aware - there is deception all about.  We have to see this election in Biblical terms and stick to the issues. I would caution you to let God's Word win your heart, not a politician or an advocacy group.  Too often evangelicals criticize other believers for being "beholden" to a particular candidate or party.  I submit that party platforms do tell a whole lot about where candidates will collectively take our country. We always have to make sure our choices line up with God Word.  You may disagree with some or all of the points that I have submitted, but make sure that you agree with the principles of Scripture.