No, Silly! It’s About the Truth!

This year’s election has been one of the most rancorous in recent memory.  That shouldn’t be surprising considering there’s a Clinton involved.  That also shouldn’t be surprising considering the two main candidates are NY liberals.

Right in the midst of all the cross-fire lie the millions of evangelical Christian voters in America.  We are a voting bloc too large to be ignored and too diverse to be lumped into one category.

But, this year – 2016 – Christians have been dealing with pressures from all directions to get and stay involved in the process.

All but the most radical, liberal Christian groups realize that Hillary Clinton would make a terrible President.  Her views are antithetical to most of our beliefs.  She is motivated by a lust for power that goes back decades and is still growing in her mind.  A committed, secular, socialist, feminist, Hillary wants to force America even further down the path to destruction than Barack Obama has already dragged it.

Because of this reality coming from the Democrat Party, it is not surprising that Christians have been seeking other alternatives; as well we should.

But, the main problem is that the Republican nominee – Donald Trump - is equally untrustworthy, if not more so.

Trump is a self-centered, shameless self-promoter whose ego has written checks his supposed expert business acumen has been unable to cash for decades.

His personal life reflects his secular, self-absorbed lifestyle.

His campaign has been riddled with incompetence, corruption, and downright unpresidential ugliness.

Yet, in desperate times, people do desperate things.  After almost 8 years of Obama’s carnage, Americans are scared, angry, and looking for a “savior” to fix the problems – both real and imagined.

Enter Trump and his opportunism.  Saying whatever he deduced people wanted to hear; and exploiting a very flawed Republican Primary system, Trump managed to secure the GOP nomination for President despite the fact that a majority of Republicans (and evangelicals) voted against him.

Now, flagging in the polls and restarting his campaign for the 3^rd time in just a couple of months, Trump is once again turning to evangelicals to “bail him out.”

I’ve heard all the self-refuting arguments as to why it is our “Christian duty” to vote for Trump.  None holds logical water.

Yet, several evangelical leaders have come out and endorsed him; some did so even when there were a number of far better, more qualified, more moral, more experienced choices available.

The fear of a “Queen Hillary” regime has so terrified these leaders that they are more than willing to look the other way from the mountainous pile of Trump negatives, flaws, inconsistencies, and downright lies.

What is worse is that they are using some dubious “Christian duty” narrative to goad sincere Christians into getting “aboard the Trump train.”

But, here is where the real problem lies.

Should Christians compromise their integrity, morals, and consciences to support a candidate who is flawed beyond the point of any rational levels of trust?

Trump, by his own admissions over the decades will say and do whatever is necessary to “close the deal.”

Do we really want to be part of that ongoing duplicitous spectacle?

How does this honor Christ?

How does this rebuild the moral foundations of America that have been crumbling since the 1960s?

How does this protect our God-given rights and freedoms?

How can we possibly trust someone whose principles are for sale to the highest bidder to guard and promote our rights?

NOPE!  We can’t.  And, that’s my point.

As Christians, we need to be all about the Truth.  If we serve the Lord of Truth, we need to reflect His Truth in all areas of our lives; that includes the political world as well.  This is true of both citizens and candidates.

America’s unprecedented success in the whole history of human civilization is founded upon the principles of Truth found in the Bible.  These truths were written into our founding documents and into the very fabric of American culture.

(Sorry, atheists.  I’m not buying the French Enlightenment/Deist argument for America’s founding.  It is without real historical factuality.)

We cannot hope to gain what we have lost by abandoning the very principles of Truth that have built and prospered America in order to have Trump “save” her.

It is true that no one candidate is perfect; as no human is perfect.  But, we are not obligated to hire dishonest plumbers, doctors, bus drivers, and architects.

Who in their right mind would ignore obvious moral flaws in people we allow to influence our lives?

Would we hire and support teachers that were felons? 

Would we hire roofers who got bad reviews from the Better Business Bureau?

Would we knowingly fly with pilots who are alcoholics?

See, we make moral choices in those we support and patronize all the time; and, rightly so.

Why should our support and votes for President be any different?

The stark reality is that we have “passed the point of no return” to elect a good, competent, trustworthy individual for President in this election.

For Republicans, that opportunity was squandered in the Primaries by splitting the conservative and evangelical vote too many ways; once again.

Far too many of us were lazy, uniformed, couldn’t see the big picture, and/or duped by a slick “snake oil” salesman.

So, now do we compromise the Truth to make the best of a bad situation?

The clear answer should be a resounding, “NO!”

Our faith and loyalty to Christ goes well beyond any temporal Presidential election.

The reality now is that the country will be harmed regardless of which candidate wins.

Do we want to be among the “co-conspirators” to America’s degradation?

Or, do we want to continue to be “salt” and “light” amidst the growing gloom and perversion?

America will survive as long as God allows, regardless who wins the election.  It may be moving closer to His judgment, given our poor election decisions of the past and the growing corruption among the political class in America.

But, if America is worth saving, it must be done so without the selling out of faith in the process.

We cannot promote lies to return to the Truth.  It simply won’t work.

The hope for the nation is a return to God.  If the people of God aren’t leading the charge, it won’t happen.

God granted America the incredible blessing of self-government under His banner of Truth.  Self-government will not endure for long is we compromise and abandon His Truth.

So, sorry so-called “evangelical” leaders – I stand in opposition to your compromised pragmatism.

I will stand on my love of the Truth and oppose all politicians I can’t trust to be honest with me and the people they seek to represent.

If that means I remain Never Trump AND Never Hillary, so be it.

 

Whether America survives or falls, I know that I will seek to remain faithful to the Author of Truth – the Truth that is eternal; not dependent upon the next polling focus group or media sound bite.