Post Election Update
I'm pretty sure that what I write in these posts don't influence many people. I know that few read the pages. But I would be remiss not to post some response to the election for those few people who do. If you're having problems processing what has happened, then maybe this column will help. I don't suspect that many of my readers are having issues, but in following the news, I did see there were protests. So maybe this will help someone.
Thank you to everyone who voted. A special thanks to everyone who had to stand in line for hours. A special thanks to everyone who came back to vote after bomb scares, purportedly from the Russians, whose leaders are very happy Trump is going to be in office soon. For those who had anything to do with long lines that moved slowly, shame on you. Fix it before the next election.
To The Non-Voters
For everyone who didn't choose to avail themselves of their right to vote and help guide the country, shame on you. And I write that without regard to what party you are a part of or would consider joining. I'll give a pass if you unexpectedly found yourself in a situation where you physically couldn't vote but were planning to do so. Situations like that do happen. But if you could have voted and didn't, shame on you.
If you couldn't handle long lines due to any of life's problems, vote early or vote mail-in. If that isn't available in your area, then join with others to make it available next time. Every vote counts and is important, regardless of party affiliation. But it is equally important that you take some time to learn about the issues and really think about how they will affect you and the country in which you live. Get opinions from opposing sources. Just voting for someone whose name you've heard or is a member of the party you feel you should belong to isn't helpful to anyone, including yourself.
Many only vote every four years when there is a Presidential election or important Congress seat to be decided. Clearly, this was a Presidential election. But every election is important regardless of how many decisions are on the ballot. There are many candidates running for many offices, and frequently many important ballot issues to address. As always, pray if you have any doubts - or even if you have none, and vote accordingly.
The Results
Finally, the most important point. The election is over and there won't be any campaigning for a bit for which everyone is thankful. But remember this scripture from when the scribes were being inquisitive of Christ from Mark 12:28-34 .
12:28 And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all?
12:29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
12:30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
12:31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
12:32 And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:
12:33 And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
12:34 And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question.
To apply this, also remember his similar reply to the lawyer on this question from Luke 10:25-37 where Christ also related the parable of the good Samaritan to clarify who was our neighbor. For our purposes, this is the way to think of that scripture: If you voted for Donald Trump, then anyone who didn't do so is your neighbor in this context. If you voted for someone else, then everyone who voted for Donald Trump or didn't vote at all is your neighbor. For every member of Congress who caucuses with the Republicans, those who do not are your neighbor. And vice versa. Show love, one to another. Work together. Love your neighbor as yourself.
For many Congressmen, remember that there are some of the other party that you have also agreed to represent. In some districts, perhaps almost half of the voters voted for the other party. Remember that you are called to fairly represent all your neighbors. Remember that when you are ordered to vote party line. Do what is best for all of your constituents. They are all your neighbors.
To be clear, everyone should be thought of as your neighbor whether they are of voting age or not, registered to vote or not, actually voted or not. And just treating each other with love and in a neighborly fashion with respect and kindness doesn't mean you are going to become them or they are going to become you. There were many issues that divided the Jews and Samaritans, many based in religion which each held dear (Matthew 10:5; John 4:3-43). But we need to love each other better than we do. Samaria was specifically named by Christ as a group to reach before going to all the Gentile nations (Acts 1:8).
This election is a starting point for reaching out to each other in love. It's also a challenge to you to be more Christlike. And the challenge is to both sides. Part of me wishes the majority of the Democrats and the majority of the Republicans would both leave and form a center party and leave the extremes on both ends to themselves like the vocal minority parties of the past that are only known by name as they have passed into obscurity. There is more that we have in common than what separates us.
Thank you to everyone who voted. A special thanks to everyone who had to stand in line for hours. A special thanks to everyone who came back to vote after bomb scares, purportedly from the Russians, whose leaders are very happy Trump is going to be in office soon. For those who had anything to do with long lines that moved slowly, shame on you. Fix it before the next election.
But that isn't likely to happen. Until then, love one another. And think about who Christ would say your neighbor is.
For Newly Elected Officials and the Rich and Powerful who Control Them
For every elected official, regardless of party affiliation... What you do in your term of office affects everyone in your sphere of influence and perhaps the next level out to some degree. If you're at the federal level, then that reach could well be worldwide. But even if you're just on a city council, you could affect many others depending on the relative size of your city. If you're on a school board or college board, your decisions will shape the next generation who will have an unknown reach. Perhaps your decisions will shape a future President of the United States, or Governor, or Senator, or member of Congress. What you do matters. Always.
Whether you believe in God or not, He is watching and keeping track of everything you do. If you take a bribe (cough, sorry campaign contribution with a quid pro quo), He sees it. If you trade in stocks or bonds or pass along information to others so they can profit from information that isn't public, He sees it. If you pass legislation that He wouldn't approve of, even if makes your party, your contributors, your family, or the country or states allies or enemies happy or angry, He sees it. If you work to gerrymander your state so that your party can maintain power, He sees it. If you pack courts so your side will be overwhelmingly represented in legal disputes, He sees it. If you're a judge and you don't judge with blinders on, but judge with favoritism, He sees it.
If you aren't a Christian, maybe you're saying, "So what. I don't believe in God anyway!" So many leaders have thought that over thousands of years. Or they've believed in their own gods. Or they've believed themselves to be god. Some still do. All have come tumbling down, they've died, and they've gone to their appointed eternal destination based on their life choices. You will as well, one day.
Try not to be in the group who Christ dismisses in scriptures (Luke 13:22-30; Matthew 25:31-46). I think that both have particular relevance based on the rhetoric of the campaign. There is a weighing of the balances which will come. God will eventually judge all of our records. What we do and what our country does matters.
A Look at the Past
Our country was created for great things, and has done many great things to help the world over time. Every politician needs to ensure that they are not one who will be sent to everlasting punishment due to their treatment of the people in all the world and who they make friends with when it comes to other nations and states. The same applies to how they treat all the people in our country, whether or not they are direct constituents.
There are many leaders recorded in the Bible and throughout history who thought they were unstoppable. They thought they could do anything they saw as good in their own sight, regardless of who they hurt. As long as those they cared about were okay, then anything was permitted. They mocked God. They led people away from God. They ignored His laws and precepts.
In some cases, God stopped them Himself (Exodus 7-14 for Pharaoh, and Daniel 4:1-34 for Nebuchadnezzar, along with many wicked kings of Israel). In others, He raised up forces to stop them such as the times of captivity of Israel when not only the king but the people suffered for their wickedness due to a foreign power who was allowed to have supremacy for a time over Israel until the people turned back to God. In our recent history, there were the various large scale wars to topple evil leaders who did horrible things to so many. But no matter who you are or what level of power in government you have, God is watching and will step in if needed to put things right. Try to do right in the first place so you aren't caught up in His purge.
There will always be a purge when He decides evil has gone far enough. In Pharaoh's case Israel was there for 400 years. So a few Pharaoh's didn't see destruction while on earth. But even they had to deal with judgment when they died and faced God.
A Look at the Future
In the end, the books will be opened, and if you aren't a Christian you will be judged out of all you have done, will be shown all the times you sinned against God, and will receive an eternal judgment based on your sin. No matter what good you enjoy today, an eternity of torment is not worth it. And for the world itself, the rapture of the Church is coming which will usher in judgment for the entire world for seven years that will make all previous judgments seem tame.
In Matthew 10:28, Christ declares:
And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
If you are a Christian, you are likewise challenged to do things that will earn you eternal rewards in heaven and not worry about rewards on earth. Everything temporal that you acquire in this life will eventually go to someone else. Maybe it will be a blessing to them. Maybe they will be destroyed by it, even though you might not have been. You can never know how other people's lives you touch will finish. But that which you store up in heaven will be there forever.
Eternity is a concept we don't think much about because we can't wrap our minds around it. But I want you to really think about it as a politician, or other rich and powerful person today. If you aren't a Christian when you die, well you're forever lost and what I'm about to mention really won't matter at all to you - eternal punishment being what it is. If you are a Christian when you die, you'll be together with every other Christian who has ever died or who has been saved by other means because they were looking forward to Christ. I'm not sure what that will be like for you. You are unlikely to have security guards to chase people away that you don't want to talk or associate with in heaven.
Even if your part in politics wasn't well known on earth or broadcast in heaven, you'll still have huge numbers of people who were saved by God's grace and their faith in Christ, and were affected by what you did. All their progeny will remember as well. Maybe they were affected for good and they'll be coming by to thank you. But what about those for whom you made their lives harder or impossible or did so for someone they cared about? Were you responsible for their deportation and subsequent murder? Were you responsible for policies that made it harder to buy food, utilities, shelter? Were you responsible for policies that made it harder to get health care to survive?
As Christians, we are called to forgive so that we can be forgiven. But how will it be for you interacting for eternity with people you have wronged? If, for a hypothetical, Hitler, Stalin, Lenin, Pol Pot, or any of a host of other people who influenced the world for wrong were saved before they died, what would it be like for them living for eternity being reminded of all who never made it to heaven or did make it to heaven but you harmed? Think about it and start doing the right thing in legislation and your personal lives more often - for your eternal mental health.
And just to be clear, although the rich and powerful, and those who make laws and govern have many who will probably have comments throughout eternity, each and every one of us will have some level of that as well unless we are living as a hermit on an otherwise deserted island. Of course, then you probably wouldn't have internet so wouldn't be reading this. We all interact with people. We need to love all our neighbors as ourselves. Our own eternal mental health is important as well.
Was the Result God's Will?
When asked to publicly pray about the outcome of this election, before it was done, I could only pray that God's will would be done. I'm not naive enough to believe that His will is always done, because He has given us free will and we mess things up badly more often than not.
So first, let's look at the possibility that He had no opinion about the race. You could say, that couldn't possibly be right. Surely He cared. I'm sure He does care about us individually. But He also cares about the world, and there are many places in the world that are far worse off than we are. You might even say that in some respects the entire world is worse off than we are. Granted, there are a few things some parts of the world seem to do better than we do. Health care is one. But overall, the United States is in pretty good shape.
We were formed by Christians with a good government foundation. Regardless of your party, it is hoped that those guidelines that the founders set forth will prevail and when the next election is held we will still be here as a country and transitions of power will still occur. Neither candidate was truly outstanding. Many races were decided by people voting for the lesser of two evils. It's been a long time since there was a George Washington running for office. So it is entirely possible that it just didn't really matter to God who won and He chose not to play favorites.
But for the sake of argument, let's assume His active will was done. Personally, there are only a couple ways I can see it being His direct active will. The first is if He's planning to rapture the church eminently and needs a world peace keeper out of the way. That might let the anti-Christ come to power with less opposition. Giving Russia and other dictators a free pass won't help in keeping the peace either. If Trump doesn't go in the rapture, having someone who doesn't care about the rest of the world is a plus for the anti-Christ.
His will could also occur if He's putting our country into a time of judgment. Whether or not this is true, or if He just didn't really care which choice we made, we have to look at the campaign promises and what they could do.
The tax policies being pursued by the Republican party will be great for business, if passed. The promises of cutting taxes for individuals makes everyone who gets a break there happy. But an analysis of previous tax cuts for business and individuals show that any growth benefits are not enough to offset the tax loss and will lead to an ever increasing debt that we will be eventually unable to service. We're almost at that point now.
The fault of that is laid at Congress because they never want to cut spending to match decreased revenues. Any spending they do cut is at the expense of the people in reducing safety nets, eliminating health care options, and the like. The end of Clinton's Presidency was the last time tax and spend was under control with a manageable debt level. Since then, we've had the Bush II and Trump tax cuts which have plunged us back into a ratio worse than it was at the end of the Reagan term with his tax cuts.
Any advantages to tariffs will only occur after a very long time has passed if they happen at all. Factories don't magically appear. Any factories that do will be as automated as possible to reduce U.S. labor costs, so the help for the middle class will be non-existent.
In the meantime the debt will increase as we are forced to bail out our own industries killed by reverse tariffs as happened the last time Trump was in office. Tariffs are hard to remove once imposed due to the reverse tariffs. Prices will be inflated since manufacturing in the U.S. is more expensive. Any higher input cost from tariffs will be passed on to consumers. Interest rates will go back up to fight inflation, although perhaps not as far as recession will hit in force as well. With higher rates, U.S. debt and household debt will be tougher to manage and major purchases will be more out of reach for more people. Housing and auto industries will suffer. I know, gloomy Gus, and I hope I'm wrong. But the number of ways this could be a time of judgment for America are vast, and economists say these things are likely results of policies.
And I write these things as a warning to the party in charge of things post election. As I wrote above, God sees all you do. And he's weighing the effects of your legislation and actions on every individual - not just the wealthy or corporations. He looks worldwide as well, and not just at the United States Choose wisely. If you're saved, you'll have to live with your decisions in heaven forever. If you aren't saved, as I said, people mad at you in hell will be the least of your problems.
I do pray that Trump does better in office this time than last. Everyone should pray for that outcome. Historians ranked him near the worst president in the country's history (43/45) the first time around. That may change over time, but it is a challenge to move up from the bottom. Even just considering Republican historians rankings only moved him up a few places. So there is much room for improvement.
But his age is also a factor, so that will make everything harder this time around. He absolutely needs our prayer and some wisdom as to what campaign promises to pursue and which to ignore. Long term results versus short term is a real issue and all politicians tend to just look at the next election cycle for short term and figure anything bad is someone else's problem. Pray that this mind set stops.
God's will or not, there are many challenges ahead for the country. But also remember this important fact. God is still ultimately in control. He is watching over every Christian. No matter how tough things are for you as a Christian or how well you are doing, God sees. If you're doing well, treat your neighbors with love and help them out. Volunteer. Donate. Show your love. Pay your tithes and give donations beyond your tithes. Donate to missions that will change the world and those that will change your locality. If you don't trust a particular charitable organization, get involved and change it for the better. Your rewards in heaven will be there eternally. Whether you are hurting or well off, listen and pray to God for direction and help.
Conclusion
So what should we do? Get on with the business of the Church in saving those we can and trying to influence people to be better and seek God. It's what we are called to do.
Pray for the country, the world, and each elected official at all levels that God will save those who are lost and fill those who are saved with the Holy Spirit so that we can have peace in our lives and the world will be made a better place. Regardless of whether or not the above scenarios I've mentioned comes about, these are the things the church must do.
And when it comes to how to treat the members of the other party, please take time to read the Sermon on the Mount again. It is all good and profitable. Pay particular attention to Matthew 5:38-48 .