The Evangelical Christian's Vote

Should an evangelical Christian settle for the path of least resistance when they go to vote? Since the early 1980's during the Reagan era it has been well-known and common-place that Bible wielding, Christ preaching people vote Republican. This is in part due to Republican social policy lining up with biblical concepts. But it also largely has to do with candidates declaring they've been born again. Those words can take a person quite far in politics. Christians, especially evangelical, often vote for those who seem to have the same religious beliefs and moral values they have.

This is why the current choice between Barack Obama, a professed Christian, and Mitt Romney, a dedicated Mormon is particularly peculiar. They are on the wrong side, if you will. Barack Obama is a democrat. Evangelical Christians are generally not democrats. In the last election there were even many debacles claiming then candidate Obama was Muslim. This was completely unfounded, not factual, and silly. Then political pundits attempted to discredit his Christian roots by showing snippets of his then pastor, Jeremiah Wright, in a tirade about the injustices European Americans have perpetrated against other Americans. Don't vote for him, his pastor said many un-American things. Also, foolish. He has repeatedly declared he practices regular, every day Christianity. No conspiracy, just the average African-American believer.

On the other hand, Mitt Romney is a practicing, high-ranking member of the Mormon church, which if we research their belief system, does not represent an evangelical Christian doctrine. They even openly discriminated against African-Americans specifically because of their skin color until 1978. He was 31 years old when the group was pressured to change policy and then did. Racism and false teaching regarding Jesus and the Father are remarkably present in their belief system. In any other time in history it would be extremely far-fetched for an evangelical Christian to even think of voting for a Mormon candidate. This is since most evangelical Christians are informed about other religions. This goes with the territory of apologetics and making a case for the Christian faith. So, it is surprising to hear pastors and evangelical Christian leaders encouraging their followers to vote for a Mormon candidate.

This is during a time when there is an actual professing, church going mainstream Christian running for office. Curious. What are the undertones here? One could write it off as racism since most of those who claim to be evangelical Christians are white southerners. But, it's too easy to pull that card. So, let's look deeper. Barack Obama, the Christian candidate and current President, has supported policies that do not reflect Christian biblical values.

He is pro-choice. This means he believes women should have the right to choose whether or not they will stay pregnant and give birth to a baby. The evangelical Christian says, and the Bible supports, that this is not a choice. A life has been conceived so, to the evangelical Christian choices are out the door.

President Obama has also come out and said he does not believe in discrimination based on sexual orientation. His administration has repealed "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and he has recently said he totally supports gay marriage. This is a change from his 2008 stance that he would support civil unions, not necessarily marriage. It sort of secures the LGBT vote, but evangelical Christians see this as blatant deviation from biblical standards and have questioned whether or not his Christianity is in name only.

Surprisingly, evangelicals have also slammed him on his illegal immigration policies. Their stand on this is not biblical, in fact, it is the opposite (Lev 19:33), but his policy lines up with theirs in this case since more illegal immigrants have been deported under Obama's administration than under any in history. Also, they aren't really coming back. Almost no one is crossing the border to come here these days. Still, no support from the evangelical Christian community for him. They are also not keen on his policies to keep so-called entitlements in tact, purporting that people are not entitled to have the government take care of them. This is also not biblical (Prov 19:17). Still, evangelical Christians staunchly support candidates who are ready to do away with these social policies in order to keep the trickle down economy in tact. Evangelical Christians will vote for a Republican and even their assumed values, as they have for decades.

The question is then, who is there to go to the poles and vote for if you really are an evangelical Christian believing the truth of the Bible? If you believe Jesus is who He said He was and that He will return to get His Church (body) then your Christian goal is to see His kingdom come. How do you go about doing that in the midst of this election choice?

The Bible only supports leadership in God's kingdom. It does not promote or condone the world's system, in any instance in the Word. When discussing leaders, He speaks of kingdom leaders, not world leaders.  One thing we must face is that America is not a Christian nation. The founding fathers didn't make it a Christian nation. They wanted it to be a nation where anyone could practice anything they wanted. No matter how evangelical Christians and conservatives want to rewrite the narrative, the Constitution and Declaration of Independence promote deism, not Christian principles. That makes our government part of a world system.

That established, the two people vying for the White House are going to make decisions for everyone, including but not limited to, evangelical Christians, liberals, conservatives, atheists, Catholics, Muslims, Jews, African Americans, Hispanics, Whites, Native Americans, Latinos, wealthy, middle class, rich, poor, immigrants, working class, and it's really difficult to draw a clear line between one candidate and the other. Do you vote for the Christian incumbent who is promoting values not supported by biblical truth? Do you vote in the candidate who says he can turn the economy around, but whose religious beliefs fly in the face of evangelical Christian doctrine? The clear choice is that there is no clear evangelical Christian choice. No Bible believing, Jesus preaching Christian can walk into a polling center this November and vote for either of these men on the premise they want to see God's kingdom come. Evangelical Christian teachers and leaders are saying to vote for the candidate who has the same morals. But at what cost? Jesus said, "Whoever will come after me must take up his cross and follow me." The cross involved unbearable rejection, pain, and severe anguish. Times for him were unbelievably wretched, but for the joy set before Him He endured the cross to see us rule with Him in His kingdom someday. He also said "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man comes to the Father except by me." This means we must be willing to stand up for His cause regardless of the pain in the consequences. If those who are claiming to be faithful evangelical Christians are willing to lay down the cross on election day to settle for the path of least resistance and vote for "the lesser of two evils" they are not fit to carry it. Have integrity. Either pray and fast for the current Christian candidate or, if you prefer, pray and fast for the other to convert. But, be careful that you don't walk into the voting booth claiming to represent the God of the universe and thereby signify that He endorses any evil at all, not even what we perceive to be the lesser one.