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By Carl Herbster
This is an election year in the United States of America.
In November we the people will decide who will lead this nation for the next
four years. Some say that Christians should not get actively involved in the political
process. Others act as if politics could be our salvation. Both are wrong.
Christians must be involved in society if we want to preserve our society as
salt and direct our society with light (Matt. 5:13-16). At the same time, our highest calling as
Christians is to preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ so that men and
women can be saved (Mark 16:15) and then to teach them all the things the Lord
has commanded us in His Word (Matt. 28:19, 20). One of the things we must teach
Christians is how to be salt and light in our country as we also try to reach
this world for Jesus Christ.
There are many issues that concern
Christians in our society and in this election year. There are five that I
think are the most important for Christians to understand and fight for. All of
these issues are clearly communicated in the Word of God. Every Christian
should know where the candidates stand on these topics and should vote
accordingly. It is not personality that should determine our vote; it is not
political party that should determine our vote; Biblical principles should
determine whom we vote for and work for in this upcoming election.
The first and most important issue
in our society is life. God and God alone should be the giver and taker of
life. The killing of the unborn or the unwanted is a violation of the sixth
commandment, "Thou shalt not kill" (Exod. 20:13). I do not understand how any born-again Christian
could vote for a candidate who supports abortion or euthanasia. When man takes
life into his own hands, he is usurping the authority of Creator God and is
acting like a god himself (Rom. 1:25).
As Christians, we must be pro-life, and we must reject candidates who are not.
Christians also should be pro-family.
This starts with the understanding of what constitutes a family. God created
woman for man, not man for man (Gen. 2:22, 23). He told man and woman to come
together as one in order to populate the earth (Gen. 1:28). It is impossible for a homosexual
marriage or union to accomplish God's purposes for marriage. Homosexual
relationships are contrary to God's Word (Lev. 18:22; Rom. 1:27).
Christians must stand against homosexual relationships of any kind and must
stand for the traditional family.
The candidates we vote for should
also stand with families on many other issues. This includes defending parents
who want to put their children in a Christian school or who want to educate at home.
This includes allowing parents to discipline their children according to Biblical
standards. This includes supporting tax policies that strengthen the family
rather than handicapping it. We as Christians must stand with candidates who
stand with the family.
Moral issues must matter to us. Sin
is often tolerated in our society. We must humble ourselves and pray, seek
God's face and turn from our wicked ways if we want God to hear from Heaven,
forgive our sin, and heal our land (2 Chron. 7:14). That is why Christians must
stand against pornography, drug abuse, and other activities that violate Biblical
morality. Some people say that government cannot legislate morality. However,
government legislates morality all the time, even in simple things such as
speed limits. The question is not whether government will or will not legislate
morality-the question is which morality will be legislated? Remember what the
Bible says: "Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any
people" (Prov. 14:34).
Christians must stand for righteousness in their communities and in their
nation. We must maintain a pro-Biblical morality in our attitude, in our
actions, and in our votes.
One of the most important issues in
a presidential election is the appointment of judges. God tells us that the government
officials are supposed to bring good upon those who do good and evil upon those
who do evil (Rom. 13:3). In our society judges determine how to interpret and
enforce the law. The president of the United States appoints Supreme
Court justices, who are the final authority in determining whether or not a law
is constitutional. God is a just God, and we should be a just nation. We must
elect officials who will appoint judges that understand and interpret the law, not
judges who would change the law. We do not need judges who legislate from the
bench. We do not need activist judges; we need accurate judges. All Christians
should be pro-justice, voting for candidates who will promote law and order in
our society.
Of course, as Christian believers
we understand the importance of religious freedom in our society. The First Amendment
of the Constitution makes it plain that Congress should not pass any law that
would establish a state religion or prohibit the free exercise of any religion.
We must fight to protect our religious freedoms, or soon Christianity will be
banished from our society. The attacks on Christmas, on the pledge to the
American flag, and on the national motto "In God We Trust" are current areas of
battle. The hate crimes legislation that is introduced in Congress each year
seeks to silence preachers and churches by making it illegal to preach against
certain sins clearly condemned in the Bible. As a preacher, I must obey God
rather than man (Acts 5:29).
I do not want to break the law, but I do have a higher authority than man's
law. We must fight to protect not only the freedom of speech, but also the
freedom of religious speech in the pulpits across our land. We must find out
where candidates stand on religious freedom and make sure that they will
protect the rights of God-fearing Americans.
Pro-life, pro-family, pro-morality,
pro-justice, and pro-religious freedom-these are the qualities that should
motivate Christians to vote for specific candidates. These are the major issues
that will make the difference in determining whether or not God continues to
bless America
(Ps. 33:12). When I started AdvanceUSA, these five issues were the causes for
which the organization was founded. That is why we compare candidates on these
issues on our website (www.advanceusa.org). Every Christian should know where
the candidates in this presidential election stand and should vote on
principle, not on personality or politics.
In these desperate days, we need
prophets who will stand up and speak out as did the prophets of old. We need
preachers all across the nation who will go to their city council meetings, to
their state legislatures, to their US senators and representatives, to their governors,
and even to the president of the United States, speaking the truth in love
about these issues (Eph. 4:15). We need Christians all over America to vote
according to these principles and to support candidates who stand firmly on
these Biblical issues. We need believers to be salt and light, as the Lord
Jesus Christ commanded. After all, if the salt loses its effectiveness, it
becomes good for nothing in the battle for righteousness (Matt. 5:13). I pray that this will not
happen this year or any year in our country's future. I know it will not happen
with me. I pray it will not happen with you.
Dr. Carl Herbster is the senior pastor of Tri-City Ministries
in Independence, Missouri. For ten years he was the president
of the American Association of Christian Schools. He is the founder and
president of AdvanceUSA, a conservative advocacy group in Washington, DC.
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