In sorting through the aftermath of the 2020 election, I came across something that disturbed me more than I can possibly put into words. In fact, it would be fair to say that it has literally shaken me down to the very core of who I am and what I believe. What is that fact? What is it that I find inescapable about this election? About half of the Christians that I know voted for Joe Biden, and that percentage must be larger than that to see him get to the vote totals that he did.
How? I'm literally ready to put on sack cloth, cover my head with ashes, and sit outside my front door. I find this all so unfathomable that I am left groping in the dark. I honestly feel like I've woken up to a burning house, unable to find my glasses, and am aimlessly trying to figure out how to escape from what cannot possibly be real. Was my faith in the "church" so badly misplaced that I now have to wonder if I even belong to it?
I used a little c above because I already know that I belong to God's "Church." As a repentant sinner who does my best to live as God instructed (individually speaking), I have no questions about my salvation, however, it appears that the Church has moved away from its genuine mission, namely, the Great Commission, in an attempt to fulfill their personal desires for a social gospel. That is how we've ended up where we are, and I am left wondering just how much I belong to this man made social club that is currently calling itself the "church."
Many in the church today point to Christ's call to care for the poor, the widow, and the orphan. They aren't actually wrong for doing so, but they have also divorced it from the call to share the gospel and to call people to repentance and to change their lives. To echo the words of Christ, "Neither do I condemn you, GO AND SIN NO MORE." The "church" today loves saying the first part, but falls woefully short on the second, if they'll even say it at all.
Yet, this is a political page, not a religious one, so why am I waxing religious? Well, hang in there with me, I'm about to pull it together and bring it to synthesis.
You see, Donald Trump has many sins. Pride, crass speech, a haughty spirit, a questionable business past, and others. Yet the one that seems to have upset the most people isn't even a sin at all, and that's working within the framework of the legal system to not pay INCOME tax despite his multitude of other taxes that dwarf what any group of us might hope to pay in income tax. So this is THE BIG ONE that people are upset at him over. This is why they didn't vote for him... Well, buckle up, because I'm going to flip the board.
For all of Trump's sins, at least his policy decisions and governmental practices were in line with helping the Church to advance it's ultimate mission, namely the Great Commission. I know some people are gaffawing and picking their jaws up off of the table, but give me a moment and I'll explain that.
ABORTION
Well, it wouldn't be right not to start off with this one. Donald Trump was, for all of his many faults, the singularly most pro-life president in our national history. In fact, the ONLY one who comes anywhere even remotely close is the great Ronald Reagan, yet even he falls short of Trump in this category.
The defunding of Planned Parenthood, the prosecution of the sale of abortive fetal tissue, the refusal to defend Planned Parenthood in their Federal lawsuits against the states like Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, and others who passed the "Admitting Privilege Bills," cannot be overlooked nor stressed enough. His refusal to fund international abortion through US Tax Payer dollars is also up there with the best of his accomplishments during his presidency.
This is in line with the verses in Matthew, Mark, and Luke where Christ directly addresses the harming of Children. Donald Trump understood the magnitude of the problem, 978,000 murders of innocent children THIS YEAR to date in the United States alone. If you're upset over 200,000+ COVID deaths, but 978,000 dead children in ONE YEAR doesn't even cause you a moment's pause, well, I'm not sure I can help you.
By the way, "Black Lives Matter?" How can anyone say that with a straight face when they realize that 37% of all US abortions come from the black community despite them making up only 13.4% of our population. 361,860 of those 978,000 murders were of black children. It's a complete and utter genocide, and at its heart is this twisted and blackened philosophy that says that a life of "poverty" is worse than being killed, so let's spare them by killing them. No, I only wish I were making that up. But hey, it doesn't matter, because all I'm doing is giving someone else a "choice" right? Ok, thought experiment for you, why not let them kill the five year old sibling instead of the new one? I mean, the first one got to live five years, so to be equitable, the new one should get at least that long. Equity and equality are everything, aren't they?
No, you say? Monstrous you say? You're absolutely right, it is. It's also no different at all.
LGBTQ+ FORCED ACCEPTANCE
So, how many of you remember the lawsuit against the Christian baker who said he'd make a blank cake, but was sued because he wouldn't decorate it for a gay wedding? Or what about the Christian Photographer who refused to photograph a lesbian wedding? Oh, I'm sure you've heard about the one against the synagogue in New York that refused to allow a homosexual marriage to be performed in their building. What do they all have in common? The Obama administration's Justice Department wrote in support of the plaintiff in each of these cases, and there was Joe Biden, cheering them on, and saying that "this is what America should look like." For all of his other faults, Donald Trump, attempted to walk the middle ground on this issue. He wanted the LGBTQ+ community to be able to be legally protected (asset inheritance, end of life care decisions, et al), but he also didn't want to force those who didn't believe in it to have to participate against their own conscience. In other words, his philosophy was, "let the LGBTQ+ population do their thing, and let the religious people do their thing, and don't force either side to live contrary to their convictions."
So, again, if you call yourself a believer, how do you vote for someone that wants to force the church to accept and condone things that are clearly anti-scriptural? I get the thought process of not wanting to force them to accept what they don't believe, but that doesn't mean that you have to abdicate what you believe either. There is, and should be, a live and let live philosophy. That's what freedom is all about. We aren't talking about slavery, where people were being held captive against their will, we're talking about a personal choice to participate or not.
Forcing someone to participate against their will is, by virtue, taking someone else's freedom away. This literally makes it akin to slavery, though admittedly of a very different kind. Now it's a social slavery. You will accept "our" societal view or you will not be able to own a business, make money, or participate in society. It all smacks of "Da, Comrade, ju vill comply!"
THE "SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE" ARGUMENT
There can be no argument about the different approaches to the government between Joe Biden and Donald Trump when it comes to religious expression. This is an area where you have a VERY CLEAR contrast between the two, and I wonder how in the world any believer in Christ justifies voting for someone who has repeatedly and clearly throughout their career pushed for the silencing of Christian voices in the public square, and further, picked someone for his Vice President who has supported in her political career the removing of religious monuments, the removal of nativity scenes (even on private property), and the attempted silencing of religious evangelism by labeling it as "hate speech."
By contrast, Donald Trump, though I don't believe he's actually a Christian himself, did everything he could to support the public expression of religion. He pressed for the ability of all faiths to express their religious beliefs publicly, and regularly allowed for prayer to be visible in all of his events. Whether or not he actually believed is a moot point between he and God. Yet, his willingness to fight on behalf of the Church to restore their freedom of expression was powerful and worthy of your vote.
God used Cyrus to deliver His people from Babylon and to restore both their national and religious freedom to them. So there is a Biblical precedent of God using ungodly people to bring freedom to His people, and by extension His church. Yet, many voted in favor of a person who has proven in the past that he will, and who has said that in the future he will, attempt to restrict religious expression and to grant "freedom from religion" as a basic American right. I just don't understand how that doesn't scare believers to their core.
Now, I get it, this blog article is far more religious in nature than political. We could also talk through globalism, open borders, monetary policies, freedom restrictions, et al, but I really don't want THIS post to take on a PURELY political hue. It is INTENDED to be a blended post of both the religious and the political.
In the end, Christian believers rejected the man who was standing up for their freedom, and elected a man who has stood against them and their mission of evangelism for over forty (40) years. I'm not saying Trump is perfect, he's far from it, but I can already hear those who voted for Biden complaining about how the Federal Government is silencing them and their efforts at outreach, Bible based charitable missions, and the linking of assistance to the gospel. But don't take my word for it, go look it up and you'll hear it from Joe himself.
Well, the time to think about that is past. Now, we just have to live with the fallout and deal with the ramifications; and many of us, like me, are left to decide whether we will follow God, or man's "church."
One thing is certain, however. We now face an uphill battle on every front from evangelism to expression and even to charity. It's truly a shame, it didn't have to be this way. May God show compassion and mercy upon us, we're going to need it.
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