How Should Christians Vote? (Part 3)

“It is not an easy thing to shake off in a moment the expectations nurtured through years until they have become essentially a part of us; and though Ben-Hur asked himself what the vanities of the world were to such a One, his ambition was obdurate and would not down. He persisted as men do yet every day in measuring the Christ by himself. How much better if we measured ourselves by the Christ!” - Lew Wallace (1)

By knowingly voting for a false Christian, those within the Church are implying that God’s plan is not good enough. That they know better how to handle the affairs of this world than God. Completely neglecting the fact that when the New Testament was written Christians were regularly beaten, mocked, imprisoned, stoned to death, sawed in half, thrown to wild animals, and much more. The directives to love our neighbor, turn the other cheek, and walk the extra mile were given to a people who faced much worse than we are facing today. Even so our call to live holy, simple, and completely devoted to the Lord remains. We are not meant to be slaves to a political party or to a particular policy objective. Christians are the embodiment of Christ on earth, there is no room to disregard a part of our call. We must be holy.

“Jesus was God walking around showing His power. Jesus was God walking around showing His holiness. The horrible travesty that we have in America today is Christianity without holiness, Christianity without holiness. I accept Jesus and then go raise hell. I accept Jesus. You don’t accept Jesus at all mister. You are a deceived man. You’re no better off than if you’d never heard of God. Because one of the very first qualities of Christianity is holiness, purity, right living, right thinking, right longing. But we have a Christianity today that has no holiness in it.” (2)

Therefore, to further defend my stated position above we need to level set on right-thinking about God. If you have read some of the earlier blog posts you know I love to make sure we’re all on the same page, which I think is more critical than ever at this juncture. The reason many of us entertain supporting someone who claims Christ yet is of the world is because we lack right thinking about God. We imagine God to be too weak to save, less loving, less prudent in his justice, more susceptible to change, and more fickle in his interactions with humans. In short, we make him like us. The issue that I believe to be at the root of this erosion in right understanding of God is that it seems that many American Christians have made an idol out of America. In making an idol of our nation we have set it on a pedestal nearly as high, and for some even higher, than God himself. In small part this can be seen through the American flag being placed in equal importance to the Christian flag in many churches, reciting the Pledge of Allegiance before most Christian events, as well as the Church’s enthusiastic support for candidates who they think will give them political victory in one area while ignoring and fighting against all other possible viewpoints. Recently there have been many who have written on this and spoken about this topic, and I will go more deeply into this at a later time, but suffice it to say that America (to include the American dream of safety, prosperity, and comfort) has become the idol that many Christians worship today.

It has been subtle, but it is certainly there; as A.W. Tozer states, “The essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him. It begins in the mind and may be present where no overt act of worship has taken place. ‘When they knew God,’ wrote Paul, ‘they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.’” (3) So it began as a lack of right thinking about God, which has morphed itself into idolatry for this temporal state that we live in. I know of no one who has actively bowed down and worshiped the American flag, but I do know many people who spend more time thinking about what the Democratic or Republican party has to say on something than wrestling with what God might be saying in that situation. Any time we place something above God in our hearts it becomes an idol, however subtly it arrives there. Again, I will restate my position that I love America. This country has done wonderful things in the world and for the people who live here. It has allowed countless people to flourish, but to paraphrase another poet, I will serve my country, but I reserve my worship for God.

So what is right thinking of God? Certainly right thinking involves placing Him back on the throne of our lives, God is not a being we “accept into our heart,” we either make Him the Lord of our lives or we are destined never to truly know him. But, when speaking of God, we can only ever speak of attributes that we or the scriptures have observed that no way encompass the totality of His being. When we speak of His love, justice, or mercy we as created beings must be comfortable with the fact that our words will never be able to fully declare all that he is. As he says in Isaiah 55:8-9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than your ways are my thoughts than your thoughts.” So, one of the first steps to reentering into right thought of God should be to acknowledge that he is incomprehensible, what we know is only a fraction of a part of his character. And that is ok, because if we ever were to be able to fully define God, he would be no god at all. This is why any time someone, including me, makes a definitive claim about God all Christians should check it against scripture. Aside from scripture, I would recommend reading The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer. With the short space I have here I want to highlight two key attributes that we can see and infer from scripture. These attributes point to a God who is infinitely more beautiful, and glorious than our small creature brains can understand.

First, I want to touch on love. What we see in the Bible over and over again is a God who loves his people, he redeemed them, he fights for them, and he is seeking to this day to save the lost of every tongue and tribe and nation. The phrase “steadfast love,” in reference to God and his bearing towards us is mentioned 123 times in the psalms. Throughout the books of prophecy we see the Lord telling his people that he loves them (4) even though they turn their backs on him. That same love continues to us today as we all know from John 3:16. The great apex upon which the entirety of human history hangs on is Christ and Christ crucified. What a mystery it is, he loved us enough to send his own son to die in our place. We could not pay the price for our own sin so God came down, took on this human form, and paid the price that my blood should have paid. The riches of his glorious grace! Time and time again the Bible shows that we humans are prideful, greedy, liars, full of sin and hatred, yet he still loves us! This free gift that he offers, it is so easy to accept, but it calls us to lay down our pride. It calls us to lay aside the idols we cling to so closely.

“Could we with ink the ocean fill,

And were the skies of parchment made;

Were every stalk on earth a quill,

And every man a scribe by trade

To write the love of God above

Would drain the ocean dry;

Nor could the scroll contain the whole

Though stretched from sky to sky;

Oh love of God how rich and pure!

How measureless and strong”

- Frederick M. Lehman (5)

The Great I Am has made it possible for us to know him because he loved us! The One Who Was and Is To Come, the Alpha and Omega reached down into our cold dead hearts and breathed life. As he did to all Christians! He saved us, not so we could live to the desires of this world, but so that we could know him and love him more and more each day and when we die we will be united with him in eternity. Through his redemption we have hope, not in the passing things of this world, but in a God who loves us more than we can begin to imagine. “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:9-10) Because this love was unearned in the first place we cannot work for it. Along with the love of God comes the free gift of grace. The undeserved love with which he loves us, when we trust in Christ, covers us in the righteousness of Christ. It is this grace that sets us free from the chains of sin and death, but also of fear during this life. What have we to fear if the God of the universe loves us and has lavished his grace on us? What can anyone on this earth do to separate us from the love of God? Absolutely nothing. God’s love existed before the earth was formed and it will continue to exist throughout the long ages of eternity. That love is what holds us, sustains us, and gives us life.

The second attribute I want to cover is what Tozer calls the “transcendence” of God. (6) Similar to the fact that God is incomprehensible, the transcendence of God points to the fact that there is a chasm between us and him as wide as eternity. Humans cannot approach the holiness, the greatness, and mightiness of our God. “His body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a multitude.” (Daniel 10:6) This vision that Daniel saw inspired holy fear that is often lacking today. If, “the fear of the Lord truly is the beginning of knowledge.” (Proverbs 1:7) We need to be a people who pray for right thinking about the majesty of God to come strike a holy fear, not within the hearts of the unsaved, but primarily within the hearts of those who claim to be Christian. So that we can have knowledge, yes, and so that as Christians we are more careful about how we live our lives here. When we look rightly on God we should all experience “an acute feeling of personal insufficiency in the presence of God the Almighty.” (7) A holy fear of God will do wonders with the flippant way that American Christians toss around “his plan” and “his will” with no real understanding of either. God’s transcendence should leave us in fear and awe, and even more grateful for the great love with which he loves us.

What is our reaction to the love and transcendence of God? “We love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19) This is easy to say, but what exactly does it mean? As Christians we should take our first cue from Jesus.

“And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few, therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (Matthew 9:35-38)

When Jesus saw the lost sheep, what did he do? Did he scold them for not following the law? Did he rebuke them for sin? No, he had compassion on them. That should be our first reaction, the default, when interacting with everyone, Christians and non-Christians. Again Jesus says, “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them… But love your enemies, and do good… Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” (Luke 6:32-36) Too many times today we see Christians who are ready to cast the first stone at “sinners,” the very people Christ has called us to love. Our knee-jerk reaction is to “own the libs.” We do see a nation that has fallen away from the Christian moral ethic in many regards, but whose fault is that? Ours. The church has failed America in many ways, but primarily because we have lost our right view of God, and in turn have lost our love. The prescription is not to up the ante by legislating our morality, as the prophets of Israel showed in their day, it is our turn to repent and get our own hearts right before God. Once we get our hearts right, then we can begin to truly fulfill his plan for us on this earth and in the United States of America.

As Paul says, “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.” (Galatians 1:8) It has been extremely frustrating over the last few years to hear many so-called Christian leaders, and political operatives, claim to know what is best for the Church. They push that we must support this candidate or this policy, when that kind of definitive language is nowhere to be found in the Bible! They act as if Gods’ plan was able to be thwarted by losing an election, when it is really their own power they seek. Like the Pharisees of old they are twisting the words of God to achieve political gain. They are exploiting patriotism and the entanglement of the church with politics to increase their power and wallets while preying on regular people. Much like the prosperity gospel preachers who live in mansions and fly private jets while asking for donations, the politicians who claim Christ for their personal gain are damning more souls to hell than those outside the faith. Those that claim to have the answers to God’s will must first be examined against scripture or be found wanting.

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. (Ephesians 1:7-10)

Though it seems a contradiction to say at once that God is incomprehensible then to say that we can know him, things about him, and part of his will, Paul makes it clear. That those who are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb have received a foretaste of the divine. We see now as though dimly, and one day we will see clearly! We know in part, one day we will know in full. Much as the kingdom of God is an already, but not yet kingdom, our knowledge of God will never be complete on this side of eternity. This passage from Ephesians also highlights an important fact, that no one who is not in Christ will ever be able to have a right understanding of God. This is another reason why we should be extremely careful about who we take theological direction from. A political operative is likely not going to be a good source for sound Christian doctrine or guidance on the way of Christ. Right thinking about God involves right thinking about his plan. The Church cannot continue to fall into the trap of believing that this nation is in the Bible, or is part of God’s plan for the end times… It may very well be, but no one knows! All we know for certain is that God has redeemed us for his glory, and before he has called us to be citizens of America he has called us to love him, and love our neighbor as ourselves. Anyone trying to convince you otherwise, is probably trying to sell you something and is led by the pride of their own hearts for their own gain, not God’s.

So, if we truly value Christ above all else, if we die to ourselves daily and carry our cross and follow Jesus before our political party, before voting for a false Christian, we must count the cost. Following Jesus is going to cost us many things in this world. Our goals in this life are not the goals of the world, we cannot desire political power or policy prescriptions above our love for our neighbor. We cannot confuse the changing nature of this world with the unchanging attributes of God, whose promise to “never leave us or forsake us” (Deuteronomy 31:6) stands true if America becomes socialist, a failed state, or if we become actively persecuted for our faith. “In the darkest ages Christ has always had a church; and if darker times shall come, he will have his church still.” (8) Our call to live with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control exists whether the worst comes true or not. If we live this way, and refuse to give in to the fear that would compel us to vote for a false Christian, we will certainly lose elections. The church in America will lose political power. We may see the worst come, but even in our recent history we can see some evidence that fighting with the principles of God can be fruitful. The Civil Rights movements in the 1960s emphasized the principles of non-violence, of calling attention to injustice, racism, hatred, and fear through what I would consider a very Christian method of resistance. When the world saw Bull Conner release dogs and spray people with fire hoses who were peaceful, they saw Christ. In fact, before Bloody Sunday “On March 8, 1965, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. told marchers headed to Montgomery, Ala., the next day, ‘If you are beaten tomorrow you must turn the other cheek.’” (9) If we are fearful of a way forward and need a roadmap, looking to the Civil Rights movement would be a great place to start.

In closing, Christians must not give in to fear. All the politicians and pundits of today are trying to sell you fear, when the God who loves us tells us over and over to “fear not.” There is no policy initiative so urgent that it would justify laying aside the high calling we have and supporting someone who makes Christians look like the world. We destroy our souls, and the souls of our nation with such irresponsible management of the grace that has been given to us. One of my favorite books in the Bible is Habakkuk, specifically Habbakuk 3:17-19, I recommend everyone to read it. Here I would like to finish with a modern restatement of that passage by the theologian R.C. Sproul: “Even if the budget is never balanced, even if the stock market crashes, even if food prices skyrocket, even if my child never recovers from her illness, even if I lose my job, and even if we lose our home—yet still will I rejoice in the God of my salvation.” (10)

1) Wallace, L. (1996). Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ. Wordsworth Classics.

2) Tozer Talks. (2023, April 16). A.W. Tozer Talks. https://tozertalks.com/tozer-talks-111/

3) Tozer, A. W. (1978). The Knowledge of the Holy. HarperOne. Pg. 3

4) Hosea 3:1 for example.

5) Lehman, F. (1917). The Love of God is Greater Far. Hymnary.org. Retrieved July 5, 2023, from https://hymnary.org/text/the_love_of_god_is_greater_far

6) Tozer, A. W. (1978). The Knowledge of the Holy. HarperOne.

7) Tozer, A. W. (1978). The Knowledge of the Holy. HarperOne.

8) A Willing People and an Immutable Leader. (n.d.). The Spurgeon Center. https://www.spurgeon.org/resource-library/sermons/a-willing-people-and-an-immutable-leader/#flipbook/

9) Deb Kiner, dkiner@pennlive.com. (2021, March 7). ‘If you are beaten tomorrow, you must turn the other cheek’: Bloody Sunday, March 7, 1965. Pennlive. https://www.pennlive.com/nation-world/2021/03/if-you-are-beaten-tomorrow-you-must-turn-the-other-cheek-bloody-sunday-march-7-1965.html

10) Sproul, R. C. (1998). The Holiness of God (2nd ed.). Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.