Evaluate the Issues, Ignore the Caricatures, and Remember That You Already Have A King
Every four years brings another opportunity for American citizens to vote for the presidential candidate who best represents their values. Many people say that this election is the most important one of our lifetimes. That this could be the election that will change America as we know it. That democracy itself is under attack.
The truth is that no one really knows when and if American democracy will end between now and the end of the world as we know it. All we know is that right now, we have a decision to make between two presidential candidates who could not be more dissimilar in their policies, their visions, and the way they will likely protect (or not protect) the most sacred of all treasures to those who call ourselves Christian: our faith.
While there are many opinions swirling around about how Christians should vote, the most important piece of data I’ve come across this election cycle is this: as many as 32 million Christians may not vote in the upcoming election. That’s nearly 10% of the U.S. population and 15% of the American Christian population. Overall, nearly 1/3 of Evangelical Christians say they may not vote in the upcoming election.
This is certainly enough to sway the election one way or another, especially when considering the race may be the closest in U.S. history[1] and Donald Trump carries nearly 90% of the evangelical vote.[2]
Here are three ways that Christians can go to the polls with confidence and vote for their values in 2024.
Evaluate the Issues
Two Big Issues on the Top of Many Voters’ List
Every election cycle, we are faced with sorting through a host of issues that greatly impact the present and the future of our society. This year, there are several on the ballot that the majority of people agree are most important. Others have been brushed under the rug, but should still matter a great deal to born-again Christians.
When it comes to issues like the border and economy, Democrats and Republicans generally agree that their candidate is the one who is more likely to fix the issues. While I believe the candidates’ track records say otherwise, this is an area that is open to debate. If you genuinely believe that Kamala Harris will fix the border and immigration crisis that has plagued our country for far too long (which, despite being anointed the “border czar” four years ago, she did not), then a point can be given to her on this issue. The same goes for the economy. If you think that her policy and plan for the economy are more likely to be effective than Donald Trump’s (who oversaw one of America’s historically strongest economies for nearly three straight years during his previous term), then a point should go to her. On the other hand, if you think that Donald Trump is more likely to get our economy back on track, chalk one up to him.
I would only advise that individuals take the time to actually read about the candidates’ plans for each issue and seriously consider which one will be more effective before jumping to a conclusion on either issue:
Kamala Harris’ Policy Page: https://kamalaharris.com/issues/
Donald Trumps' Policy Page: https://www.donaldjtrump.com/issues
Issues That Should Matter to Bible-Believing Christians
Next comes a host of issues that should be at the top of Christians’ minds but seem to have faded into the background for some. One of them, the issue of abortion, is talked about ad nauseam by the Harris Campaign and the Democrat Party in general. This is because statistics show that the majority of people in the United States side with the democrat party on this issue, believing that abortion should be legal in all or most cases.[3]
Even though this is a winning issue for the Democrats, Christians do not agree with the mainstream view on abortion. We believe that unborn children, while nascent, are created by God and are to be granted the same rights and privileges, the same dignity, as those who are born. Scripture speaks at great length about his issue. When it comes to where one stands on abortion, anyone who takes the Bible seriously should consult the Scriptures when discerning this matter.
When you boil down the issues that should matter most to Christians, it is clear that the democratic platform stands diabolically opposed to what is most sacred to many people of faith.
For Donald Trump and the Republicans, this issue is settled. Trump has repeatedly said that he would not take any further action on the issue of abortion and that it is up to the states to decide what their individual laws will be on the issue.
For traditional constitutionalists, this is the right decision. To those Evangelicals who wish Trump would push for a national abortion ban and are disappointed by his refusal to do so, I would say this: be thankful for what he accomplished by nominating constitutionalist judges in his first term. Get busy doing the work in your local community and state that the church has been doing on a national level for years. If you want the unborn to be protected by law in the United States, it is up to you to begin influencing your local community in a way that ensures that happens on a state and local level.
As for the other issues that should matter a great deal to Christians: the transing of children, the redefining of family, and the continuous attack on religious liberty being brought by the LGBTQ community, these are issues that all score points in the column of Donald Trump.
Sadly, the amount of people who identify as LGBTQ has more than doubled in the US since 1990, and the amount of transgender youths has more than doubled over the past five years.[4] If anyone is denying that these are real issues affecting our society, I would lovingly but firmly ask them to take their head out of the sand. Countless local stories can be found on any given day about men competing in women’s sports, about assaults taking place in high school bathrooms by adolescent boys who identify as girls, about a Christian company or individual being canceled or fired for not supporting the LGBTQ movement, etc. If this doesn’t matter to you, it should. The Bible clearly teaches that God made men and women, that homosexuality is an affront to God’s created order and detrimental to the individuals who practice it, and that family is a divine institution created by God with the purpose of reflecting Christ’s love for his church. These are not issues Christians should be quiet about. In this election, there is only one person who promises to protect Christian rights and values, and it’s not Kamala Harris.[5]
When you boil down the issues that should matter most to Christians – abortion, the transgender movement’s push to influence children, the constant pressure being placed on the First Amendment (religious liberty) by the LGBTQ movement – it is clear that the democratic platform stands diabolically opposed to what is most sacred to many people of faith. When you tune out the talking heads, rhetoric, and propaganda being swirled around by all sides and look squarely at the issues, it is difficult to deny that a vote for the Democratic Party is nothing less than a vote for a party that hates the values that Bible-believing Christians represent.
Don’t Be Swayed by Caricatures
While anyone who honestly evaluates the issues in a given election cycle insulates themselves from being persuaded by caricatures, precautions still must be taken to avoid getting sucked into the cartoon-like depiction of the candidates.
As a country, our differences have never been more pronounced. Our disagreements have never been more stark. The division has never been more rampant. This should not come as a surprise to anyone. When something as irrefutable and binary as human gender, male and female, becomes no longer agreed upon, divisions will become extensive. When institutions like marriage, which have been an established part of humanity since the very beginning of time, start getting redefined and definitions changed to appeal to a small minority of people, new lines get drawn.
But the problem we face today has moved beyond the redefining of sacred institutions like marriage and biological realities like human gender. We’ve reached the point where we don’t just disagree on basic facts, we are also being constantly gaslit by those who wish to chisel away at every remaining foundation stone upon which our society rests.
They tell you that Donald Trump is a threat to our democracy. He is a fascist who only wants to get hold of power so he can hold onto it forever and establish a totalitarian state. Meanwhile, the democratic elites who undoubtedly conjure up these talking points are the same group of people who, not even 100 days ago, ran a successful coup against the sitting U.S. President (whom they tell us is still fit enough to remain in office) only to install a separate candidate that received no votes in the Democratic primary because none took place.[6] These same people, along with their alphabet media colleagues over at CNN, MS(NBC), CBS, and ABC, have made a daily habit of disingenuously asking, “Why is there so much division in our country?” Only to spend hours before and after said question talking about how Donald Trump is the second coming of Hitler.
Gee, why all the division?
Meanwhile, the current democratic candidate for president refuses to answer any questions about how she plans to fix our nation’s problems with in-depth, serious answers. Her few basic, surface-level talking points only get repeated in response to every question: “I’m going to stop price gouging,” “I’m going to help the middle class,” “We’re going to fix the border and immigration crisis.” Yes, but how are you planning to do said things?
Crickets.
Meanwhile, any time a Kamala Harris campaign surrogate seemingly speaks, tweets, or breathes, they manage to mention “Trump’s Project 2025 agenda.” While they claim to be the party of honesty and authenticity, they always seem to forget that Trump has only ever spoken against The Project 2025 Initiative. This plan was mainly written by a Heritage Foundation[7] employee who no longer works for the organization. It would be like trying to link Kamala Harris to the Communist Manifesto because her father held well-documented Marxist beliefs while teaching at Stanford.[8]
The list of caricatures could go on forever. To be clear, it’s not all one-sided. However, when one takes off their party lenses and looks squarely at two things: 1) the issues on the ballot and 2) the reality of what’s happened in our country over the last sixteen years, it becomes very clear how much the Democrat Party has changed. What used to be the party of labor and “the little guy” has become the party of Washington elites, the deep state, censorship, and a corporate media conglomerate that acts as a partisan extension of the party and its values, not to mention the Hollywood elites and the richest people in America (save Elon Musk, of course).
Remember, the True King Is Already on His Throne
What’s the most important thing for Christians to remember when they go to vote sometime between now and November 5th? That the True King, the one who sits at the right hand of God Almighty, is already on the throne of thrones, and he is ruling over world events with impeccable attentiveness and precision.
We Christians shouldn’t put all our stock in elections because we don’t put our stock in this world.
God is intimately aware of everything that is happening in this crazy, fallen world. Not only is he in complete authority over what’s happening now, but he also knows and has prepared every facet of future events. He is somehow miraculously, sovereignly, causing the events of world history (including today, tomorrow, and November 5th) to work together toward a perfect ending that he has already written. One day, the True King will return, and his people will inhabit a new earth wherein righteousness dwells.
Does this reality mean that Christians shouldn’t get involved in what’s happening here and now? Of course not. God wants and expects his children to be the salt and light of the earth.[9] To be people who are constantly doing good in the world, actively persuading and influencing the societies we inhabit to uphold and defend righteousness, justice, truth, and love. In a free society where people have fought and died in order to give us the right to vote for elected leaders (something the early church couldn’t have imagined), Christians have an obligation to not only make their voices heard but also to do everything in their power to ensure that lives are protected, the truth is upheld, and the religious liberty we practice under is passed on to the next generation.
We Christians shouldn’t put all our stock in elections because we don’t put our stock in this world. Regardless of what happens in this year’s election, we know that God is ultimately in control and that our citizenship only resides in America for as long as this life lasts. Our eternal, everlasting citizenship is in God’s Kingdom, the one that Jesus came to inaugurate and establish. The one that he is currently presiding over. No matter who wins the upcoming election, our message remains unchanged. There is only one true king, and that’s Jesus Christ.
[2] Based on the demographics, if all evangelicals voted in the election it would be a landslide for Trump.
[3] https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2022/07/06/majority-of-public-disapproves-of-supreme-courts-decision-to-overturn-roe-v-wade/
[4] https://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2022/06/10/study-estimates-transgender-youth-population-has-doubled-in-5-years
[5] She recently told pro-life protesters who shouted “Jesus is Lord” at a campaign event, “you guys are at the wrong rally”: https://nypost.com/2024/10/20/us-news/christian-students-in-wisconsin-speak-out-after-kamala-harris-told-them-they-were-at-the-wrong-rally/
[6] She also received no votes in the 2020 democratic primary, because she dropped out before the first ballot had been cast.
[7] The Heritage Foundation is a conservative think tank in Washington DC.
[8] https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/us/who-is-kamala-harris-father-donald-harris-who-trump-accused-of-being-a-marxist-in-the-debate/articleshow/113263386.cms?from=mdr
[9] Matthew 5:13-16
How Christians Should Vote in 2024
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