Christian Voting
A Blessing and a Responsibility
We are living in a country where we can choose those who will rule over us. That right has been bought and paid for by the blood of those who have fought for our freedoms. Yet there are many in the United States that take it for granted. That includes many Christians. Recent studies show that 2 of every 5 Christians took that right for granted and did not vote. About 1 in 5 eligible Christians are not even registered to vote at all.
Also, there are some Christians who say that we shouldn't vote. They reason that government is part of the world system ruled by Satan and we mustn't participate. These people would further say that it is a myth that we can bring peace, prosperity and happiness to the world by voting. They tell us you can't fix the world, or even improve it.
The truth is that Christians will never usher in the Kingdom of Jesus Christ by progressively making it better. That will only happen when Jesus returns as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And the world system is indeed ruled by Satan, who is called the "prince of the power of the air" (Ephesians 2:2). However, that doesn't mean that we are not to have anything to do with government. And if Christians can't make this world better by participating in society, then we wouldn't be called to be salt and light in this world. Salt is a preservative, and light dispels the darkness of sin. Thus, we can improve things, in some way, just by being here and doing something (Matthew 5:13-16).
I. Government is Ordained by God
Scripture, far from telling us to have nothing to do with government, tells us to submit to it. Our Lord, when asked if it is lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, said this: "Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's" (Matthew 22:21).
And Paul takes it even farther in Romans 13 when he says this:
"Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are ordained by God. Therefore, whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgement on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God's minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God's minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God's ministers attending continually to this very thing. Render therefore to all their due; taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor" (1-7).
The apostle Peter has something similar to say in his epistle. He tells us:
"Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by Him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good" (I Peter 2:13,14).
The only exception that is given in Scripture for obedience to government, is when obedience to it would cause us to disobey God. In this case we are to obey God rather than man (Acts 5:29).
II. Christians are to Pray for Their Government
Paul tells Christians that prayers should be made for all men. Then he gets more specific. Prayers are to be made:
"for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peacable life in all godliness and reverence, for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior..." (I Timothy 2:2,3).
From this, it would appear that those who are in authority can make life more peaceful for all of us, thus improving our lives.
III. Democracy is Government by the People
From what we've stated, it is obvious that God is pro-government. He intended it to maintain the peace, promote good, and punish evil. Today, we are living in a special type of government where the people have control. The definition of a democracy is "A government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives." In a real sense, we govern ourselves. This means that rendering unto Caesar would include participating in the government by electing those who would lead us.
And as we stated earlier, we are to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. It is our duty to be a positive influence in the society in which we live. And that influence brings glory to our Father in Heaven (Matthew 5:16).
Conclusion
We have truly been blessed in this society in which we live. God has allowed us to create a government in which we can promote God's will through our votes. Christians in some other countries are oppressed by the governments in which they live. Their leaders hate their faith and try to silence their voices. Those who would preach the gospel, do so at the risk of their very lives. The sad thing is that this could happen in the United States as well. But it hasn't yet. We still have a voice.
Today, in a real sense, there are those who want to drive the name of Jesus Christ totally out of our society. Voting gives us the ability to keep these people from winning and allows us to preserve and protect the freedoms that we have been given by Almighty God.
It has been said that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. May we be ever vigilant and protect the voice that God has given us in our government. In doing this, it will allow us to continue to "lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence" (I Timothy 2:1,2). And ultimately, it will permit us the freedom to continue to promote the Gospel of Jesus Christ unhindered, both in this society and throughout the world.
Comments
Great Hub. Love the way you handled this. Respectful, encouraging, inspirational. Voted up.
I second kellyteam's Bravo! What an amazing hub of His truths dear one. Prayer is an essential part of the Christian's life, as it is our direct and most personal and intimate relationship with our Lord God. We must pray in every aspect of our lives and for our nation especially in these dire times. Voted Way Up, except funny. God bless you. In His Love, Faith Reaper
I just do not agree with making this country a better place to live until Christ comes back, Clearly that is not what the bible predicts. Christ did not come to make peace but he came with a sword. If we are living in peace with society than we are compromising. Revelation is all about the fullfilment of what christ came to do. I am not over spiritulizing the word your understanding of the word is with your natural mind and the bible clearly says you can't do that. I don't want to argue and debate but I do not want to live peacful in society. I am not advocating violence either clearly if we can live peacfully we should but the truth is if we live holy and righteous lives society will become violent towards us because we exspose their unrighteous unholy living. I see this in my work place even. The early church was growing and becoming a strong influence in the earth when they were being persecuted what better witness is there than being willing to die for what you belive. All that came to a screeching halt when they compromised with Constantines peacful politicaly correct form of Christianity. It is clear that we will not agree so we will agree to disagree God bless you brother.
What I said does not contradict scripture. You are basing your whole theory on one scripture. God has ordained Government because he is a soverign God and nothing is not ordained by him. Satan coming into the garden to tempt Adam and Eve was ordained by God, does that mean they should have listened to him.
May I remind you of scripture, when Daniel was in Babylon he was obedient to king Nebuchadnezzar until he violated the commands of God. Even after Nebuchadernezzar made a decree that everyone would worship the God of Daniel, God still cut him down because that is not the way God desires his people to serve him. Gods perfect plan was to write his laws on our hearts and be governed by that. Even if you did get some christians to make a difference in the political system God would still cut that system down because it is not his perfect plan it has become the Babylonian system and is full of every work of evil.
Again may I remind you of scripture. God ordained saul to be king over isreal but there came a day when saul became full of himself and was more concerned with his position in the kingdom than the commands of God and God rent the kingdom from him and anointed David king over Isreal a man after his own heart. And I could go on and on the whole bible supports my position. Gods plan of the earth being filled with his glory will be done but not through the political system. Christ did not die for us to be waiting for him to come back and establish his kingdom he has already done that in our hearts the ball is in our court now. I just think we are being distracted from that by placing our faith in a political system. Vote if you want but please don't insinuate my non vote is the problem.God bless
Government is not ordained by God. God told Isreal what would happen to them if they chose to have a man for their king. Gods perfect plan was that he would be our king. I believe God will have what he desires the day will come when he and he alone is our king. The constitution may have been ordained by God but it was only transitional it was not Gods perfect plan obvious to me any way it has not improved anything over the years it has slowly become a corrupt system of mans fleshly lustful desires a den of satan and your vote is not going to change a thing. The kingdom of God does not come with observation and yet we continualy look to outword things to make it his kingdom come. Jesus was the seed of Gods kingdom that bwas planted in the earth and we who believe are the fruit of that seed so we certainly do have a part of the kingdom coming to its full fruition in the earth Jesus has already done all he is going to do to bring the kingdom the rest is up to us. The corrupt governmentle system is part of the seed satan has sown in the earth and also is coming to its full fruition ( the wheat and the tares) in the last days that we are in the wheat and the tares are seperated. when I look around me in America I dont see where the freedom we have has caused us to be any closer to that desire of God where only he is our king in fact it has only distracted us and caused us to become a weak pleasure seeking carnal fleshly people. Unless you follow Christ all the way to the cross you don't follow him at all!
Took a bit of a breather, but I'm back. I have some catching up to do. I really do believe it's because of the Christian that America is in the shape she is in. Not because Christianity doesn't work as some would suppose, but because we have let America slip, and as you said we have taken our rights for granted.
1 in 5 Christians aren't even registered! That's 20% of the Christian vote. All I can say is shame on us.
Bravo! Bravo! It is so refreshing to see someone that is not afraid to speak the truth from the Word of God! You have done an awesome job of expressing the truth and i am sharing here and on facebook and pinterest. Thank you so very much! Keep looking up!
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