Consider Your Vote Biblically, Not Foolishly
Word-Of-The-Day: ‘(1) “Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem, look around and consider, search through her squares. If you can find but one person who deals honestly and seeks the truth, I will forgive this city. (2) Although they say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives,’ still they are swearing falsely.” (3) Lord, do not your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain; you crushed them, but they refused correction. They made their faces harder than stone and refused to repent. (4) I thought, “These are only the poor; they are foolish, for they do not know the way of the Lord, the requirements of their God. (5) So I will go to the leaders and speak to them; surely they know the way of the Lord, the requirements of their God.” But with one accord they too had broken off the yoke and torn off the bonds.’ (Jeremiah 5:1-5)
We are once again approaching a major national election, and as all elections of the past, it is the ‘most important election of our lifetime’. Perhaps it is; picking the right candidates can be a blessing, the wrong candidates can bring calamity. To the Christian, the best candidate needs to be one who follows Christ and will make decisions based on a Biblical viewpoint. The Biblical viewpoint is surprising more tolerant of other viewpoints outside of the confines of the church (while being strict to follow the viewpoint within the church), unlike those holding the secular viewpoints of the ‘woke’. Jesus Himself in Revelation 3:15-16 states He prefers someone who holds their beliefs strongly, whether right or wrong rather than to be ‘wishy-washy’ or ‘lukewarm’ in Faith.
It is Jesus, and the Faithful Christian, who wants people to freely choose Jesus as their Lord, where those of the secular worldview demands people follow their view – ‘or else’. Resistance to the secular viewpoints condemns one at minimum ridicule (deplorable, racist, homophobic) and to an extreme arrest, persecution, physical attack, even death. Christ sees resistance to Him as a decision, best left to the individual to either make the choice to receive Salvation or not after being provided the Gospel message of redemption and forgiveness. There comes a point, often at death, when God does say, ‘enough is enough’, and the time to choose has closed.
God, through Jeremiah, is providing the Israelites a message that is telling them their time is up in choosing their path to follow Him. The citizens of Jerusalem (and Israel/Judah as a whole) were wicked and in disobedience to God. They followed idols and self-serving interests, despite the Lord’s warnings. Jeremiah finds the general populace (the ‘poor’) are ‘foolish’, ignorant of God’s Word and His ways. Jeremiah finds the reason for this; their leaders (both civic and religious) were also ignorant of God and His precepts. They were, in general, ‘lukewarm’ to God at best, and in open disobedience to Him at worst through the worship of false gods and idols. It is likely the priests at the time fell into the trap the Pharisees later were entangled in; self-serving interests at the expense of the Faithful. Even though their policies were hurtful to the people the people still turned away from God to follow the ‘fools’.
Without proper leadership, who can follow God and His ways? There are many ‘churches’ who have failed their congregants by following a false Biblical doctrine, in the interests of self-gratification and promotion of self. The same can be said by citizens of nations where the leaders fail to lead for the good of the people but instead serve themselves, to gain and retain power and riches that they are not entitled to. In a democratic republic like the US, it is due to the people electing candidates (and reelecting them) in office more due to popularity, party affiliation, and name recognition. It is a failure to look into what the candidate truly represents.
If we want to see a change in the direction of our nation, we as a people in Faith following Jesus need to elect those candidates who best represent Christ and Christian values. The success of the United States was when the people trusted and followed God and allowed God’s blessing to be upon America. The demise of America and its core values can be correlated with the demise of the worship of God. Do not vote for solely those who are ‘liberal’ or ‘conservative’, but those who follow a Biblical worldview. Pray for the Lord to provide wisdom and discernment through the Holy Spirit to direct you to the best decision when you enter the poles in November.
