Many Christians have expressed deep concern over the presidential election 2012. Vital issues related to faith and family remain at the forefront of national politics. Policies and appointments made by our next president will almost certainly contribute to either the healing or the declining of our country.
But this election presents a much bigger question than who will be in the White House for the next four years. Rather than simply choosing the lesser of two evils, concerned believers should be asking why we are faced with the current choice of candidates.
Some Christian voters say that Mitt Romney’s Mormonism makes no difference. How can that be? Mormonism may present some attractive morals, but what about the underlying teachings about the character and plan of God?
Many evangelical believers were outraged when Barak Obama announced that we are no longer a Christian nation. Yet many of those same people are now apparently willing to vote for a man who professes a religion that is in direct competition with Biblical Christianity, a religion started by a man who declared that all Christian movements and leaders before him taught a false gospel.
Others remind us that the Bible calls for a just society that cares for and provides for the weak and the marginalized. They believe that Barak Obama’s policies will ensure that we live in a nation that expresses these Biblical values. But how can we forget that Obama scoffed at the notion of using the Holy Bible as a guide for government policy?
In addition, at a time when God’s design for family is under siege, how can we overlook Obama’s record of promoting abortion and supporting so-called “gay marriage”? The deconstruction of marriage and family threatens to unravel the fabric of our culture.
By almost every measure the U.S.A. is declining, especially by the most important measure: spiritual vitality. The spiritual condition of America is shaky at best. Unless something changes we will find ourselves in a desperate situation.
Pragmatists will insist on limiting the focus of the debate to the two men who are running for office. But we must honestly ask ourselves why we are faced with such a discouraging dilemma in this election. How did we sink to our current spiritual state and what should we do about it?
Zedekiah faced a desperate situation. He was king of Israel about 600 years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem. He ruled at a time when his nation was threatened by a hostile and powerful enemy.
King Zedekiah needed a word from the Lord. So he went to the prophet Jeremiah and asked him, “Is there any word from the Lord?”
The prophet Jeremiah had a word from the Lord for Zedekiah. The king and his nation would be handed over to their enemy, Babylon. Zedekiah and Israel had ignored God far too long and it was too late for deliverance.
What is the word of the Lord for our country? Is it too late for America? I hope not. But we need to do more than vote for the lesser of two evils. We need to seek a word from the Lord.
Although the Lord’s word for Zedekiah’s generation was a word of judgment, there was still hope. A remnant would survive and rebuild at a later date.
More than seeking the right leaders for our government, we urgently need to seek God’s word for our generation. Our Lord’s policies and decisions are more important than those from Washington, after all, “The heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord” (Proverbs 21:1). Indeed, “there is no authority except that which is from God” (Romans 13:1).
God’s kingdom plan in this age will not be thwarted by either the schemes of his enemies or by the disobedience of his own people. When one generation fails, God patiently waits and raises up another generation who will faithfully carry on his work.
What will become of our generation? Let’s exercise our right and responsibility as citizens of this great nation to vote in the election Tuesday November 6. As we go to our polling places let’s prayerfully and carefully consider the spiritual needs of our society.
Above all else, let us urgently and with open hearts seek a word from the Lord for our time.
Richard Foster, Grace Baptist Church, October 2012
Printed 10/26/12 by Camden News
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