Ideas That Influence My Vote...and Should Influence Yours

I am writing this to Christians, not nominal Christmas and Easter types, but genuine, humbled-by-their-own-sins, gracious, trying hard to love their most annoying neighbors, Christ-followers. Of course, any interested person can read this, but I'm not interested in a flood of nasty comments that I will simply delete. I don't really want to argue with anyone either. I will happily read kind, thoughtful, well-reasoned responses, meaning you've read this carefully and you have something appropriate to say. I am a Christian, imperfect but God is working on me in his holy patience, and I expect the same from my critics and friends (if there is a difference). I make a fair number of assertions without providing citations; I will add them if there is sufficient interest.

The founding and creation of the United States was a divinely guided miracle. Does that make us a Christian nation? Given all the precautions to prevent religious autocracy, I don't think so, at least not as most people might imagine it. The miracle was a nation with religious freedom; in particular, Christian freedom was preserved and protected. The founders were well-read, thoughtful, highly insightful believers, for the most part; what they sought to do was prevent what happened in England and Europe during and after the Reformation. To this day, Christian believers don't know how or, perhaps more importantly, don't care to live in unity. The perennial problem is the desire for those who believe they're right to dominate or eliminate those they believe to be wrong, clearly contrary to the teaching of Christ. The result today is a divided Church into enclaves of bickering believers; the problem in the past was bloodier, a past as recent as Ireland and Lebanon.

The end result was neither a king nor a pope, definitely not a divinely appointed monarch, not here anyway. The goal was to choose short-term citizen-leaders to serve to represent their people from communities, states, and the nation as a whole. Their power was limited to tasks specifically named, with an amendment added (the Tenth) to emphasize that, what was not spelled out was not the business of the federal government, with most left ultimately to the people. This was the genius of individual freedom written into our founding documents, a freedom that simultaneously preserved religious liberty. This also effectively ended the nobility class and created the first real equality, one that we have struggled to broaden and improve over the decades. With freedom came the opportunity to devise or choose ways to make a living, what we call capitalism, largely unrestricted by the government. That's how it was, but our government has been busy interfering with both freedom and capitalism.

Some of the founders were outspoken in their belief in the Christian faith and the need for virtuous leaders. Let's be honest however. None of us is fit for the task; we are all, every single one of us, sinners, made righteous, not by our own moral virtue but by divine declaration based on the sacrificial work of Christ. The warning: judge not unless you want to be judged in exactly the same way. Ouch! We all have plenty to hide, and I for one prefer not to have my willful, persistent failings exposed. Our judgment is far from fair; we cut ourselves plenty of leeway while we harshly pointing the finger at others (You know, that whole splinter/log business). We are especially hard on leaders, and the political class uses this to gain an advantage, often with Christians following blindly along like the sheep they are. Those who have worked diligently over the past 50 years or more to undermine the moral and spiritual underpinnings of our nation hypocritically attack their political adversaries, and many of us follow these phony angels of light.

Enter the world of 24/7 media exposure and the politics of personal destruction. Let me be perfectly clear. I will be voting for the candidate(s) who seem most likely to preserve and restore our security and Constitutional freedoms, and I don't mean security at the expense of the Constitution! I am sick of the collusion of the Left, the Democratic Party, and the mainstream media to destroy their rivals. The will dig up whatever dirt they can or make it up when they cannot find any. Many on their “side” are blatantly immoral and dishonest without difficulty, because they largely reject traditional morality, and have for quite some time. On the other side, those caught in “sin” frequently disappear into obscurity because we, the righteous, holy judges of morality, help drive them there. Is it any wonder our nation has become a moral cesspool? We have largely abandoned the gospel of forgiveness and substituted righteous indignation and arrogant pride. Given the choice, who wouldn't choose the libertine option?

You know what I think. I think we cannot restore sexual virtue without the Great Commandment. Do you recall the first three verses of I Corinthians 13? Anything done for God without love is pointless, useless, and empty. Is sex dirty? No! Sex without genuine love, however, is empty. I believe Christians are too focused on the nasty, gossipy bits. We kind of like them, even as we seem to reject them (Ever been to an old time tent meeting and heard the public confessions? Gross!). The repugnant things our leaders do—and let's be honest here, many of them do—are a reflection of us, our culture, the culture Christians have largely abandoned rather than engaged to redeem. Most people with a bit of maturity, I believe, would prefer sexual virtue tied to love and faithfulness. Is condemnation the way to help them find it? How many of us are doing anything else to help them discover that the moral purity we promote and claim is better?

So, in this democratic republic, the task for a believer is to find the most righteous, virtuous candidate, right? Never mind that he or she will never be elected (We just don't have enough moralists voting!). At least we can feel more self-righteous for doing so. Then we can spend the next 4 or 8 years decrying the state of things but proudly asserting it wasn't our choice and therefore not our fault! Well, I am not convinced!

For the last 50 years of my adult life, I have been listening to the predictions of the end times. I have never felt we were at the threshold, although I know God is in charge of the timetable. He clearly tells us not to try to figure it out or use it as a justification for withdrawal. As I've often said, we must bail water and save as many as possible, whether the boat is doomed or not. Today I feel I must add that we should not be acting like we're on a pleasure cruise either, especially when it's a cruise on a cesspool! It is not our job to “bring on” the devastation of the end times nor to pretend they will never come. What that means is we are to engage with our neighbors to love them, encourage them, forgive them, care for them, and show them what a real, loving, forgiving, grace-filled Christian looks like. So trust me, it is NOT that crap many of us spew on Facebook or wherever! What would Jesus do? Well, he most likely would do what he did under the authority of Caesar, who was certainly not a virtuous believer (Remember, his harshest words and actions were for the religious leaders, not the civic ones).

David was a man after God's own heart. Yikes! You mean the guy who arranged the death of his loyal soldier to cover up his sexual affair with his soldier's wife? Yeah, him! God sent a prophet to confront him and straighten him out, yet he still paid the price for his sins; he reaped (as did his family and people) what he had sown. I appreciate Ben Carson; he may be that prophet as far as Mr. Trump is concerned. If he was as terrible as so many Christians want to say, he wouldn't have brought Carson into his team. It disappoints me how willing so many are to let the attackers from the Left have their way. Look back. They did the same crap with every Republican candidate as far back as Reagan. Our side listens, and our candidates lose. One thing I appreciate about Mr. Trump is his ability to hold his own against all that, the first ever to do so. Yeah, I wish he was a bit more discrete, but usually holding back ends in defeat.

I confess to a struggle at this point. I have nothing good to say about Mrs. Clinton. I don't find the two candidates the least bit comparable. The only reason she is not in jail is her friends in high places. I expect some day her full story will be told, and it will be awful. That said, I should pray for her just as I believe we should pray for him (Trump although Mr. Clinton surely needs it, too). One difference, though, is he has people he respects around him. He apologized for this latest revelation. She just doubles down with the same lies and excuses.

All that said, and it should matter to us as believers, I don't want what Mrs. Clinton offers. Hers is a path of destruction, of further loss of freedom, of anti-faith, of more of what we have suffered for the past 8 years. Mr. Trump is far from perfect, but he is even farther from her agenda. A substantial majority of us believe we're headed in the wrong direction. Our national debt is, to use a popular word, unsustainable. Our immigration policies are nuts; I see it first hand as a tutor for refugees, recent immigrants, and international students. The destructive policies of Europe will lead to destruction here as well, and for what good? Government corruption is disgusting, a direct consequence of a federal and even state and city governments being too large, with too much taxpayer money, and too little accountability. She would spend more, expand Obamacare, bring more refugees, offer more expensive government programs (the better to buy votes, of course!). She would certainly appoint Leftist, anti-Constitutional, anti-Bill of Rights justices to the Supreme Court. Supporting her as a concession to the inevitable end times is foolish, as we don't know the timetable. Allowing her to gain power to make a statement about Trump's moral failings makes no sense to me whatever. Will we Christians thereby demonstrate the great goodness of Biblical morality? This is not the place for that.

As for Mr. Trump, though he is far removed from my ideal of restoration of liberty, constitutionalism, and small government, has very specific plans in that direction. I am not a racist; you only need to see with whom I spend my time to know that. I don't believe he is a racist either. He does believe in lower immigration and secure borders. He believes in tax policies that encourage business growth and, thereby, higher employment. He would likely reduce regulation which strangles business, especially small business which is so important. He would work to replace Obamacare, which is clearly a mess; nationalized medical care may work for a small country, but it simply encourages bloated bureaucracy and corruption in a large nation such as ours. We must stop using more government to solve problems caused by more government! He has promised to appoint constitutionalist justices with the hope of restoring our “nation of laws.”

You know what makes me sad? It makes me sad that the best we Christians seem to be able to do to “stand for Christ” is vote against Donald Trump. Are you serious? Oh, you'll get lots of agreement from groups on the Left—feminists, LGBT, illegal immigrants, political elitists who want to preserve the status quo, etc.—but they will assume you've joined them. Stand for Christ? The Clinton's political strategy is to humiliate Trump and drive away his support, but their intentions are far from holy, good for the Church, or even good for the country. They show every indication of desiring only power and wealth, to be the first woman President, and to advance a far Left agenda. And you will take pride in voting against Trump and giving Hillary what she wants...for Christ??

I have long been intrigued by the tension under which we American Christians live. The Bible plainly says God appoints secular governments to preserve order and restrain Satan, yet in the United States we get to help choose our leaders. As always, when considering providence, one wonders how that works. In the story of Joseph, we learn that God used for good the evil plan his brothers carried out. Yet, he commands us to love our neighbors, says we don't really love him if we don't love them, explains to us that the world will recognize us because we love each other like he loves us, says the we'll be called God's children if we are peacemakers (not troublemakers nor angry critics nor arrogant so-and-sos). It is my profound hope that those, who know, are involved with, and see me, see that which makes me a credible witness for the love of Jesus Christ because his love is evident in me. I'll leave the confusion of providence for him to explain when I'm better able to understand.

As for my vote, I will vote for the one who seems most likely to work to restrain evil and to preserve and restore the founders' vision of the United States. My vote will not be an endorsement of anyone's sin, since all are guilty, certainly in the past and, if we're honest, continuing into the present. I will pray for both/all candidates, believing he can break through to a heart not fully hardened against him. I will stand against the cynical manipulation of Christians by the Left, recognizing them for their hypocrisy, since they generally stand against Biblical morality and spirituality. I will hope and work for a Church, for believers, who care about their influence at times other than election seasons (although they do seem endless). I don't men political influence, which is virtually nothing. Rather I mean personal influence, living the love of Jesus so the unbelievers are drawn to him, his love, his forgiveness, his rebirth, his glorious, abundant life.