I would like to tee this all up this morning with a few preliminary observations that we can all agree upon.
First, we can note, as we have said countless times before that whatever the outcome is for this election cycle this is the Lord’s doing. Isaiah 46:10
9Remember the former things of old,
For I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like Me,
10Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things that are not yet done,
Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
And I will do all My pleasure,’
11Calling a bird of prey from the east,
The man who executes My counsel, from a far country.
Indeed I have spoken it;
I will also bring it to pass.
I have purposed it;
I will also do it. .
Now we may not ever know the true outcome of this election cycle what with all the cheating that has already happened and will likely continue to happen, and before this is all over there may be the necessity for some kind of resistance because of that cheating but even if all that is the case that outcome also is the Lord’s doing.
God is omniscient. He knows the beginning from the end.
God is omnipotent. He controls all that happens, from the cheating that occurs to the resistance that may need to arise because of the cheating.
Second, we need to affirm that if the worst happens – and nobody knows that it will – but if the worst happens, we can be oddly comforted by knowing that we as a people deserve it. God will have done us no wrong by giving us what is long overdue by way of punishment to the reprobate and discipline to the Elect.
The visible Church with notable exceptions here and there is Ichabod.
The shepherds of the Church with notable exceptions are faithless whether because they are fellow travelers like Keller Tims, Sean Lucas Michaels, or Don Piper, or whether, like so many others, they are merely, as Lenin put it, useful idiots.
Never has there been a time where it has been more the case where a mist being in the pulpit has translated into a fog being in the pew.
Beyond the condition of the Church we are living in a time where the blood of 60 million babies cries out for justice. We have decided to redefine marriage so as to mean an institution wherein a male and a female are not required. And this is only the very tip of the tip of the tip of the iceberg.
The principle in Scripture on this per Hosea 8:7 is when one sows the wind of disobedience one reaps the whirlwind of God’s remembrance.
“The LORD is slow to anger and great in power; the LORD will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. His path is in the whirlwind and storm, and clouds are the dust beneath His feet.
Nahum 1:3
On this basis alone we should pray that God might be pleased to continue to be slow to anger but if He is not slow to anger … if the time has come where the LORD intends to finally punish the guilty by turning us over to the Cultural Marxist demons we can in no way charge God with doing us wrong.
Indeed, we need to understand that it is not as if we are waiting for judgment to come but rather these matters mentioned and many like them are signs that God is already properly visiting us with the whirlwind.
These preliminary points ought to be something that we can universally agree upon.
Now let us turn to the just three of the issues that are before us this election cycle which the Scripture speaks pretty clearly upon.
The first issue is the issue of perversity. Even since the election of 2008 the issue of perversity has been front and center in our election cycles. In that election cycle 12 short years ago candidate Obama was constrained to say publicly what he denied privately,
““I believe that marriage is the union between a man and a woman.Now, for me as a Christian — for me — for me as a Christian, it is also a sacred union. God’s in the mix.”
God’s mind in terms of perversity is pretty clear
Leviticus 20:13 If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them.
This is articulated again in the book of Romans 1
6 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their [i]women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. 27 Likewise also the [j]men, leaving the natural use of the [k]woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.
So, we know the mind of God despite all the twisting that is currently going on.
Now what our the Elephants and Donkeys at the top of their tickets saying on this score?
Well, the top Elephant said this during sodomite pride month in June 2019;
“As we celebrate LGBT Pride Month and recognize the outstanding contribution LGBT people have made to our great Nation, let us also stand in solidarity with the many LGBT people who live in dozens of countries worldwide that punish, imprison, or even execute individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation.”
President of the United States Donald J. Trump, June 1, 2019.
“When the Top Elephant appointed me Acting Director of National Intelligence, the fact that I’m gay didn’t even faze Donald Trump,”
Richard Grenell
But the top Donkey seeking to be even more perverse than that said just recently during a townhall,
“The idea that an 8-year-old child or a 10-year-old child decides, ‘You know I decided I want to be transgender. That’s what I think I’d like to be. It would make my life a lot easier.’ There should be zero discrimination.”
The clear implication of this statement is that children should be allowed to decide to “transition” and that without any discrimination against them for doing so.
Now clearly the top Elephant is the lesser of two evils when compared to the top Donkey on the issue of perversity but is that sufficient reason to ignore the problem of the lesser evil of the Top Elephant?
There is another issue that is paramount and that is the issue of counterfeiting. The Heidelberg catechism teaches;
110. Q. What does God forbid in the eighth commandment? A. God forbids not only outright theft and robbery1 but also such wicked schemes and devices as false weights and measures, deceptive merchandising, counterfeit money, and usury;2
Deut 25:13-16; Ps 15:5; Prov 11:1; 12:22; Ezek 45:9-12; Lk 6:35
13 Do not have two differing weights in your bag—one heavy, one light. 14 Do not have two differing measures in your house—one large, one small. 15 You must have accurate and honest weights and measures, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. 16 For the Lord your God detests anyone who does these things, anyone who deals dishonestly.
“Money today is simply a state issue of paper stamped with a denomination. It is fiat money, it is state created with a state imposed value. Fiat money always has and always will be inflationary money. It has an arbitrary and an artificial value, it is counterfeit money.”
RJR
This is never more true then spending fiat money as stimulus.
We all know that the previous Top Donkey in office added almost as much national debt as every other president and Congress before him—combined.
Christians properly railed at this fiscal irresponsibility and yet,
Since the Top Elephant along with his party took over, the national debt has exploded by more than 7 TRILLION dollars. While the last several trillion was in response to the COVID-19 economic crisis, at least the first three trillion was on the books well before the pandemic.
New Hampshire Union Leader
Overspending and deficits are symptoms of a loss of freedom – especially for younger generations that will be strapped to unbearable debts from excessive promises that they had no benefit from or say in. Voters can’t counter socialism while ignoring rising deficits. Socialists always need other people’s money in order to enact their anti-freedom and anti-choice command and control policies. If you’re serious about stopping socialists … about hating collectivist tyranny you have to cut off the deficit spending supply line.
So, if a Christian affirms question 110 of the HC and is likewise opposed to socialism how can they yoke themselves by their vote to Donkeys or Elephants who keep spending in such a way that guarantees socialist collectivism?
Now there are other issues we could look at if we had the time but allow me to propose that just on the basis of these two issues alone, wherein God so clearly speaks, that I find it hard to understand how we can vote for candidates who support perversity and who, by their spending habits support socialism.
Having said that allow me to introduce why it is that there are good Christians here who will look at this issue differently. There are good Christians here that will say that when we consider this matter across the board clearly there is a lesser of two evils we should support. I agree that clearly there is a lesser of two evils. If it is the case that either the Donkey or the Elephant must win I far prefer the Elephant winning.
Those Christians supporting the Elephant see themselves as standing against the progressive tsunami today, and for them voting is not a sacrament; it is an act of self-defense. They believe it is one of the last mechanisms available to keep the demonic cultural Marxist barbarians at bay while we continue to try and rebuild civilization through our families, our churches, our schools, our businesses and a host of other institutions that make up civil society.
They would agree with Garrett Garet’s little book from 1938, “The Revolution That Was.” Garet wrote in 1938
“We are not holding the line against the revolution still to come, but against the fallout of the revolution that has passed us by.”
These Christian folks would say, “that one is not casting their vote to choose a replacement for Moses or Joshua. Those days are past. We are not looking for the perfect candidate. We are voting to empower an imperfect tool who is one of the last one’s willing to take the fight to the Philistines.
And there is some logic in that but the question but I can’t get past a passage like,
14 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? 15 And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? 16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you[c] are the temple of the living God. As God has said:
“I will dwell in them
And walk among them.
I will be their God,
And they shall be My people.”
17 Therefore
“Come out from among them
And be separate, says the Lord.
Do not touch what is unclean,
And I will receive you.”
18 “I will be a Father to you,
And you shall be My sons and daughters,
Says the Lord Almighty.”
What the Spirit is doing here is fairly obvious. In Corinth there developed a wideness in the latitude of the Corinthians in terms of their personal interactions. Some of the Corinthians had determined that it was an indifferent matter whether they contracted the most intimate of relationships with the pagans. Against this broadness St. Paul protests.
The Greek word for “unequally yoked together” is not found again in the NT and was likely coined by St. Paul. We get at the meaning by looking at the cognate noun in Leviticus 19:19 (You shall not let your livestock breed with a diverse kind.) Some also think there is here a reference to Deuteronomy 22:10 (10 “You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together.)
Clearly the idea of the Apostle here is that there is a unnatural linkage that ought not to be entered into by a Christian as with a someone not fitting to them. Pastors will often go to this passage to teach that Christian young people ought not to enter into marriage with those outside of Christ. There is an unequal yoke there that forbids us from doing so. Likewise, from this passage we would get the idea that Christians ought not to become business partners with those outside of Christ. Their mindset… their ethics … their goals are different because they belong to different Gods.
Now, this passage is a challenge because we dare not make it mean too much thus requiring us to have to almost leave the world, but we also dare not make it mean to little and so remove the impact of this command.
Albert Barnes, considered a liberal Reformed theologian from the 19th century helps us to see some of what I am getting at here. This is a long quote I’m cutting down for time’s sake. If it were possible you might consider going to Iron Ink to read the whole quote in context;
II. There is a large field of action, thought, and plan which may be said to be common with the Christian and the world; that is, where the Christian is not expected to abandon his own principles, and where there will be, or need be, no compromise of the sternest views of truth, or the most upright, serious, and holy conduct. He may carry his principles with him; may always manifest them if necessary; and may even commend them to others. A few of these may be referred to.
(1) Commercial transactions and professional engagements that are conducted on honest and upright principles, even when those with whom we act are not Christians.
(2) Literary and scientific pursuits, which never, when pursued with a right spirit, interfere with the principles of Christianity, and never are contrary to it.
(3) the love and affection which are due to relatives and friends. Nothing in the Bible assuredly will prohibit a pious son from uniting with one who is not pious in supporting an aged and infirm parent, or a much loved and affectionate sister. The same remark is true also respecting the duty which a wife owes to a husband, a husband to a wife, or a parent to a child, though one of them should not be a Christian. And the same observation is true also of neighbors, who are not to be prohibited from uniting as neighbors in social contact, and in acts of common kindness and charity, though all not Christians.
(4) as citizens. We owe duties to our country, and a Christian need not refuse to act with others in the elective franchise, or in making or administering the laws. Here, however, it is clear that he is not at liberty to violate the laws and the principles of the Bible. He cannot be at liberty to unite with them in political schemes that are contrary to the Law of God, or in elevating to office people whom he cannot vote for with a good conscience as qualified for the station.
(5) in plans of public improvement, in schemes that go to the advancement of the public welfare, when the schemes do not violate the laws of God. But if they involve the necessity of violating the Sabbath, or any of the laws of God, assuredly he cannot consistently participate in them.
Now as to the issue of Yoking, all I can do is point out a older understanding of political Federalism that I’ve mentioned before.
There was a time in American History when people understood when they voted for somebody they were voting for them to be their political head so that when he acted both in his public voting and in his personal life his voting and behavior reflected upon them. Because of this when a man in office acted scandalously the people in his congressional district were shamed by his behavior. They understood when their political head acted they acted. They understood because of their understanding of political federalism that they were yoked to the man they voted for so that his shame was their shame and his political action their political action.
I understand that people view the Elephant as a hope to forestall the darkness that is descending on our cities and over the whole country. I understand the pragmatism that insists on voting Elephants over Donkeys and the Marxists. I get the fear that would stampede people to vote for head Elephant. I share those fears. I would like to vote for him also on one level. However, as long as he courts the sodomite vote and as long as he spends like a Donkey I can not in good conscience join myself, through my vote to Him or recommend to God’s people that they vote for Him.
Some will counter with… “But if the top Elephant isn’t elected you’re going to get sodomy anyway plus abortion, Marxism, more Government over-reach, etc.” That likely is true but I cannot find it within me to use that as an excuse to yoke myself, through my vote, to someone who says it is his great honor to be called the “most pro-sodomite President in History.”
My position on this is accounted for by the fact that I am practicing what is called a deontological ethic while many other Christians pulling levers for the top Donkey seem to be practicing what is called a teleological ethic. In deontological ethics behavior is right or wrong as dependent on a clear set of established rules. The title (deontology) arises from the Greek word “deon” which means “duty.” As Christians we find those “rules” laid down in God’s law and are duty bound to abide by them. When I read in Scripture, “Be ye not unequally yoked,” I understand that I am duty bound not to vote for wickedness since a vote is a yoking of my permission for a candidate to pursue the behavior and policy he will pursue. The result of voting is when the candidate I voted for acts, I act. By my vote, his action, as my political covenant representative, is my action.
In teleological ethics on the other hand is a ethic of pragmatism. It holds that duty or moral obligation is to be pursued consistent with the end goal desired. So, in a teleological ethic right or wrong is dependent upon the outcome desired. From a teleological ethic standpoint voting for Trump, as an example, is considered right because the outcome of not voting for Trump would be bad. You can see the difference here vis-a-vis deontological ethics which insists that voting fro Trump is a matter of following a basic standard for behavior that is independent of the good or evil generated by not voting for Trump resulting from following that standard which is not considering the teleos of the action.
So, it is my conviction that many Christians have decided (understandingly given all that is at stake) to follow a teleological ethic in voting for Trump. I understand it. I don’t agree with it. I have decided that this matter of voting is a deontological ethic.
And what of the future going forward? What of beyond 2o20?
Dr Jeffrey Myers, the head of the Biblical Worldview ministry “Summit ministries,” said that evangelical youth are buying into socialism and Marxism without realizing what it’s doing to their faith. “They’re a generation that is fairly low in their risk-taking ability,” he explains, “and when someone says The government will take care of you just like mom and dad took care of you, that’s a pretty compelling message.”
The ministry leader says his research finds that 69% of evangelical youth who attend church don’t believe in absolute truth and think that if your beliefs offend someone, you’re the one who’s wrong.
“Even though they say they believe in God, the worldview they embrace is materialism – only the material world exists. There’s no God, there’s no Jesus, there’s no Holy Spirit, no heaven, no hell. That’s the worldview that Karl Marx embraced,” he laments.
What is wrong with us isn’t going to fixed by voting Trump.
Conclusion;
“Which way do you secure God’s blessings? Obeying Him, even if doing so results in an outcome that you don’t think is best – or – Disobeying God by voting against is clearly made known mind in an attempt to influence the outcome you think best? By voting for Trump, you are putting your faith in man and the state to secure your blessings.
Regardless of who is in office, you will not personally secure God’s blessings through disobedience.”
John MacGregor
Appendix
Touching the charge of being Anabaptist.
First, were I Anabaptist I would have made the argument that participating in voting is evil itself since voting is taking part in worldly activity. I did not make that argument and do not believe that.
Second, I have, in the past, voted for men I did not think were perfect but who did not advance the issues like increase of legal immigration, support for sodomy, and support for socialism via vast deficit spending.
Third, those who hurl the charge of “Anabaptist” are usually the ones who are compromising their conscience by voting for someone who so clearly is operating contrary to God’s revelation.