No sidelines in this election

I have tread lightly on politics as a pastor in my pulpit. I have never endorsed a candidate during a worship service on a Sunday morning. I have expressed an equality of consternation and rebuke toward both parties. I have sought to consistently exposed the frailty, futility and failure of human leaders to be able to create any utopian society.

I’m struggling to stay on the sidelines in this election. I feel it’s significant and momentous for our nation and for our freedoms. While I love politics (see my confession here),¹ our nation for complex and sundry reasons has lost its ability to do politics well. We are now a nation of partisans, not politicians.

I’ve remarked to many that ever since Donald Trump entered politics, America has become a reality TV show. You literally can’t make up the things we’ve seen since 2016. Wretched one-way censorship of conservative voices, outright lies by the intelligence community, the complete subjugation of the industrial mainstream media complex by one party, the weaponization of every three-letter government agency to persecute and prosecute dissent, and the introduction of a supposedly deadly virus that we now see had less of a mortality rate than flus. We’ve seen questionable election results and practices, two deeply flawed impeachment trials, a Democratic candidate who's never won an election or primary installed by party elites, the complete upending of society’s sexual mores and two assassination attempts.

The full-court press against morality, decency, civility, virtue and humility has been wickedly orchestrated.

Six weeks away

Now we are six weeks out from the 2024 election. Choices could not be more stark. In 2023, I wrote “Platforms matter.”

In that article I asked, “Is there a party which blames less and posits positive leadership that is unifying for the country?”²

The contrast between blaming for the past and casting a positive vision for the future could not have been more obvious at the conventions this summer.

I cannot stay on the sidelines. This election matters. Every vote (whichever you vote) matters.

A Team of Rivals

Since early summer, I’ve marveled at Trump’s creation/collection of a team of stellar communicators, leaders, and even those who formerly opposed him: Robert F. Kennedy, Tulsa Gabbard, Vivek Ramaswamy, JD Vance, Tucker Carlson, Elon Musk, etc.

I’m reminded of Doris Kearney’s book Team of Rivals which detailed Abraham Lincoln’s stunning ability to unite those who had been against him and create a coalition of dynamic leaders, inviting them into his cabinet. It was unity without uniformity.³ In an interview, Kearney said about Lincoln:

“[Lincoln’s] explanation at the time was that these were the strongest men in the country. He declared that at a time of peril, the country needed to have the strongest men, and that he couldn't deprive it of those talents…

By putting his rivals in his cabinet, he had access to a wide range of opinions, which he realized would sharpen his own thinking. It also gave him a way of keeping all those conflicting opinions together. If he didn't have a unified group fighting against the South, the fight would be impossible to sustain. So having all those opinions in his cabinet not only helped him; it helped the country as well…

But it took an enormous amount of self-confidence. What he did was unprecedented at that time. The idea was that you should appoint people who think the way you do.”⁴

When RFK ended his campaign and cast in with Trump, he communicated masterfully. His speech exposing the DNC, MSM and Big Pharma’s collusion and corruption over the past 30 years was scorching. Of course, it was cut off on most mainstream media outlets. You can watch the whole speech here:

The Christian vote

I keep seeing a pastors on Twitter - moaning, complaining, and bitterly opining that they will not vote for Trump. Their reasons are myriad. They are not equally applied to Biden (and now Harris). Some on social media have taken to calling this group of high profile Christian Never Trumpets Big Eva. Megan Basham’s uncomfortably revealing book Shepherds for Sale sheds light on the Left’s infiltration into many of the Christian institutions, publications and groups that protest against Trump the loudest.

However, Trump has been resolutely supportive of religious freedom. No one can argue that he fulfilled his promise in 2016 and appointed conservative Supreme Court judges, which resulted in the wise overturning of Roe v Wade. Since then he has moderated his previously pro-life positions. He has stated repeatedly that it’s an issue for each state to decide. That’s still a win in the short term.

So here are my thoughts on voting as a Christian.

First, there is no “Christian” vote. We must quit thinking that we are electing a pastor. This election becomes a choice for wisdom and influence, not for a candidate. We must look beyond personalities and investigate platforms.

Those political purists that demand for a president to be completely pro-life and demand that he ideologically align with all of their primary convictions are simply unrealistic. They neglect Jesus teaching about being shrewd. What’s the alternative if you don’t vote for Trump?

Second, Trump allows biblically faithful Christians into his orbit. He listens. We have not seen or sensed that from the DNC at all. Trump recently appointed another former political rival (and Cabinet member) as his National Faith Chairman: Dr. Ben Carson.

In contrast, with the DNC we’ve seen rampant sexual perversion; we’ve seen sexual identity and gender issues thrust upon children. We’ve seen uncontrolled and even astonishingly agenda-oriented immigration. A recent investigative report by the Daily Wire revealed that over 150,000 minor children that flowed through the border unaccompanied are today unaccounted for.⁵ Most think they are victims of a massive trafficking network.

Those Never Trump pastoral pundits, who insist upon a president being pastoral himself, have not succeeded in placing a conservative Christian candidate in office over the past 80 years. We must work with reality rather than fantasy. These pastors, whom many are respect, imagine a Perfect Candidate. However, any “perfect” candidate that conservative, Christ-honoring, biblical Christians would offer would never be voted for by the American public as it stands. So let’s be wise. Be shrewd. Let’s not vote for Trump – in the sense of being a personality cult that is uncritical - but let’s vote for a bigger picture, voting through Trump for the opportunity to have a voice, to influence, and to restrain the rampant evil that the Democratic Party’s unabashed extremism has bloomed.

Theological voting

I myself am not perfect. Quite simply, my understanding of biblical theology prevents me from seeing myself as better than Donald Trump or Kamala Harris.

“no one alive is righteous in your sight.” (Psalm 143:2)

“There is certainly no one righteous on the earth who does good and never sins.” (Ecclesiastes 7:20)

“…both Jews and Greeks are all under sin, as it is written:

There is no one righteous, not even one. There is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away; all alike have become worthless. There is no one who does what is good, not even one.” (Romans 3:9-12)

“The fool says in his heart, ‘There’s no God.’ They are corrupt; they do vile deeds. There is no one who does good. The LORD looks down from heaven on the human race to see if there is one who is wise, one who seeks God. All have turned away; all alike have become corrupt. There is no one who does good, not even one.” (Psalm 53:1-3)

With those foundational biblical truths, I have the conviction that wherever there is human leadership, there will be corruption, sin, complicity, conspiracy and cover ups. We are sinners by nature, and we are sinners by nurture.

We need (and have) a Savior. His name is Jesus.

These undergirding convictions impact my political decisions, because I cannot and will not find a “perfect” candidate. I long for more honorable choices than what we’ve been presented in the past 20 years, but a nation gets what a nation deserves. Our politics are downstream from our culture.

When we bemoan the character flaws, sin, corruption and hubris in the faces and lives of our candidates, we are looking into a mirror. They reflect us. Blinded by our own self-confidence and self-righteous, we demand they be perfect, even when we are unwilling and unable to be so ourselves.

And yet there is a clear choice for those desiring righteousness.

Steven Garber nailed it in his article “Making Peace with Proximate Justice.” His reflections on proximate justice were the culmination of 10 days in Europe, speaking to groups about the stench of totalitarianism and Nazism that still emitted fumes even from modern societies.

“…can we make peace with the proximate? For most of us, the weight of the world too often feels overwhelming because our longings and loves yearn for more than what is possible in this frail world, more than what we will see and hear in these shadowlands. ..The challenge is to keep our hearts alive— to keep on keeping on with gladness and singleness of heart —knowing that something is always better than nothing.”⁶

1. Loving politics is easier than loving politicians (July 2017)

In this entry, I said:

To me, politics is the art of decision-making for a group of people which facilitates governance. When we understand that, there's really nothing to hate about politics. Good politics should embrace relationships, and encourage dialogue, rational debate, and considered deliberation - all for the good of a larger group of people.

I also offered ten points to “keep political discourse healthy and wholesome:”

1. No matter your opinion, listen well to those you disagree with.

2. Identify their core values.

3. Affirm what you agree on and help them understand your core values.

4. Remember the biblical command to love people. Let love shape how you communicate in times of debate and argumentation.

5. Do not allow "love for people" to prevent you from seeing the bigger issues.

6. Conversely, do not let your staunch position on issues prevent you from loving people.

7. Play the long game. Our culture desperately wants quick fixes and ideal situations, but life is more complex and requires strategic thinking in the short-term in order to see genuine progress in the long-term. It's called compromise, and it's one of the best tools to bring two sides together.

8. Don't compromise too soon. Be patient. Even though it may seem a compromise today will get the job done, wait it out. You may not have give as much as you initially thought.

9. If those you disagree with become irrational, mean-spirited or abusive, pray for them diligently. As you're waiting prayerfully for a change of heart...

10. Lead. Make hard decisions. Even if those decisions will be criticized. Even if you will be ridiculed. Lead.

2. Platforms matter (July 2023)

3. Reviewed at 10 Recommended Books (that you may not have heard of) #2 (July 28, 2017

4. An Extraordinary President and His Remarkable Cabinet, by Ellen Fried (National Archives: Spring 2006, Vol. 38, No. 1).

5. Harris Closes DNC & Missing Minors (Morning Wire podcast: August 23, 2024)

Also read: Tens of Thousands of Migrant Youth Unaccounted for, U.S. Government Fears Many Being Trafficked, by Peter Pinedo (National Catholic Register: August 23, 2024)

6. Making Peace with Proximate Justice, by Steven Garber (Washington Institute)

For more reading on this insightful topic of the “proximate,” I encourage you to read Garber’s Finding our way to great work, even in politics: Making peace with proximate justice in Comment Magazine (December 1, 2007). He also has a chapter about the proximate in his hauntingly thoughtful book Visions of Vocation.