I hope that believers will remember to place their trust in Christ rather than man in the coming election.
"It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man." Psalm 118:8
So often every election cycle I encounter believers who speak more about the candidates and politicians than they do about Christ, it seems backwards to me.
When we place our emphasis on man's solutions, and usually they are fiscally focused, then we are trusting in the whiles of men to save us rather than the righteousness of Christ to direct us.
If we are to be honest we are more concerned about being financially safe and seek after our freedom more than any other matters.
There is no one righteous in our political system; they have all bowed the knee to Baal figuratively speaking, time after time after time. The powers that be, know how to manipulate the emotions and fears of the unthinking populous, and they are masters at their skill.
Those who claim to be conservative in the political machine are not righteous, nor do they care that they are, they have one goal and that is power over the people. Since we do not live in a dictatorship, they must devise continual manipulations to deceive the people. One way they do this is to find out how certain blocks of voters think, and target them with well written material that leads the voter to believe they have their best interest at heart.
In the speeches and literature that is distributed, is contained vague and meaningless verbiage that causes the reader to interpret the message in terms of his own bent. For example, someone who is not happy with welfare will receive the same literature as someone who supports it, the language might look like this, “we know the system is broken and we are here to try to fix it.” Anyone reading this sentence will interpret the message in terms of their own bias. The welfare supporter will say, “Yes they will give us more money and freebees.” The opponent of welfare will read it and say, “Yes, we need to have less welfare.”
These political tricks in advertising are very effective because most people will not ask any questions to clarify the message. We accept our fast food political messages as readily as we do the food from the local drive up restaurant. As long as we remain a culture that likes to think in snippets of information and are lazy in their life experience, these kinds of manipulative messages will work.
As believers we seem to feel it is easier and more acceptable with our friends, to speak in conservative terms about our favorite candidate rather than calling for prayer and speaking of Christ to those around us.
When we speak in political terms we can maintain friendships and revel and glory in one anothers pride over a cause. But when we speak of our Lord continually, we are an embarrassment and are much more likely to lose the companionship of our friends and family. Believers are embarrassed at the mention of Christ. I can not count the number of times I entered into a conversation with a group of conservative believers, only to be snubbed for attempting to point our focus back to Christ.
Could we please remember that no man will save us, that Christ may have other ideas to work in our country than the way we think and whoever is in power is there because Christ put Him there.
Romans 13:1 God says, “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that existare appointed by God.”
Vote, if you must, but God will not be happy with those who whine about His decision over the outcome. Our job on this earth is not to set up governments nor to tear them down, but to spread the Gospel.
If we were to go to a country as a missionary, we would not be expected, by our supporters, to involve ourselves in the politics of the people we serve in our host country. Our job is to preach the gospel and guide new believers into a walk of holiness and righteousness. If we could understand that we are not citizens of this world, and that our objective is not to live free for our own pleasures, but to continue in the teaching of the Word of God day and night. If we do this, there will be little time for politics.
We have been brain washed in our country from childhood, in the school class rooms, that we must have freedom at all costs, but I see no scriptural mandate for this. I enjoy my freedom and thank the Lord for it, but if the Lord takes it away, I would have no right to be angry that it is gone, nor am I commanded by Christ to fight the government to retain it or retrieve it.
This mentality of freedom at all costs has infected our thinking in marriage and child rearing. We have been taught that we should live the way we desire, putting up with no hardships and fighting for our rights and desires as though they were paramount to all of life. This is the reason for our rampant divorce, abortion, homosexuality, freedom of press to distribute any and all manner of filth in the market place and why we will no longer tolerate correction or rebuke.
Modern American Christianity plays like a bad soap opera, with it’s people running to and fro like lemmings head to the sea to destruction, fooled and manipulated by every wind of ungodly doctrine to fulfill their lust for selfish freedom and pleasure.
There is only one hope for us now as a nation and that is repentance, and it must start in the house of God. Perhaps we could start by speaking less of our political options and more about holiness in the sight of God. Then the Lord will work. God will not be second place to anyone or anything. Unless He is first, He will not work on our behalf.
