The Russian Election
Russia just had their latest election. Just like the previous elections, Putin's part was resoundingly re-elected. The majority party took 349 out of 450 seats in the lower house of their parliament. The result surprised no one in our out of Russia.
The war on the Ukraine is very unpopular. Monthly troop casualties have been mounting and are currently estimated to be 30,000 to 40,000 per month. The estimates vary depending on the source, but dead and injured in the war are put at 1.4 million as of the time of the election, with some estimates higher. Of that around 450,000 have died.
To put that in perspective, 450,000 deaths is greater than the combined total of U.S. fatalities across all major conflicts since WWII. From Wikipedia, fatalities include Korea 36,574, Vietnam 58,220, Gulf War 294, Afghanistan war 2,325, Iraq 4,492, Inherent Resolve 120, and many other skirmishes that didn't quite make it to the war category but still far under the 450,000 count.
Any other country would want to stop the conflict at the voting box, especially when most don't see the purpose in it in the first place. But that is difficult in Russia. The anti-war Yabloko party was simply barred from running on the federal ballot by their Supreme Court. So there wasn't even a token of genuine resistance that was permitted.
Many observers of the election process have reported large numbers of searches and seizures, detentions, fines, imprisonment, and the disqualification of candidates of opposing parties. This isn't new. To stand out as an alternative candidate that opposes those in power has long been difficult in Russia.
Many have died. These have included Boris Nemtsov, Anna Politkovskaya, Alexander Litvinenko, Alexi Navalny, Denis Voronenkov, and Yevgeny Prigozhin from a quick Google AI summary. Opposition simply isn't tolerated.
There is also now video surveillance of the entire voting process including the vote counting. You'd think that this would keep there from being any cheating, and that may be a side effect. But think of the chilling effect of possibly seeing who votes for whom. The officials may say that they can't see those details, but this is Russia with a long history of oppression of opposition. Do you think those cameras with an unknown position and resolution don't have a chilling effect on those thinking about voting for the opposition?
I mention Russia, because they just had an election. But there are governments around the world which suffer from similar strong men or strong parties where opposition isn't allowed. Russia isn't unique.
MAGA
The United States has another election coming up, just like clockwork. The Russian elections pretty much run on like a clock to, by the way. I'll start this conversation by saying I'm still a Republican. I have been my whole life. I'll probably still be a Republican when I die. But that doesn't mean I always vote as a Republican. I've even been known to write in an independent or Democratic candidate on the primary ballot if the Republican candidate the party selected to win was particularly offensive.
But as an old man, I've seen many changes in the party come and go. And the biggest change that gives me the most sadness is the rise of the MAGA movement that glorifies President Trump. Somewhere along the way, the Republican party has stopped being a party that had ideals of small government, balanced budgets, staying out of foreign political conflicts and wars, and trying to lift up everyone who lives in the country to a better standard of living.
Many of you are probably laughing at that as the Republican party has rarely lived up to those goals, and the support of capitalism has been rife in both the Republican and Democratic parties for a long time. And I agree. The difference between the two parties is that when the Republicans are in office the military industrial complex tends to do better. When the Democrats are in office the health care and social industries tend to do better. But we are rife with capitalism, regardless of party. That's another sermon.
But what has come about in the Trump era is that unless you are a MAGA candidate that supports Trump regardless of what stupid policy he is trying to illegally implement by executive order, or whatever stupid thing that comes out of his mouth or that he texts, or whatever war he is trying to fight or whatever foreign relationship he's trying to destroy, you may as well not even run as a Republican candidate. If you are in office currently, you better not vote against what Trump wants, or you will find yourself removed from positions of power or lose in your primary the next election cycle. And that, my fellow Republicans, is wrong.
Not every politician is a bad person. Some may disagree, but there are still a few left. But many people who get into politics are corrupted by a system that gives too much money to candidates who support business or, recently, a particular leader. And the longer this goes on, the more the MAGA group starts to look like the United Russia party. Vote to support our leader. Don't even think of voting with the opposition - as either a party member, candidate, or political action figure. Support Russia, ignore the Ukraine. Don't worry about the 40 trillion+ dollar debt, that's largely there due to foreign wars and tax cuts for industry and the wealthy (most of which were Republican led or championed).
This needs to change, and it needs to change from within the party. I'd like to think a few candidates will break from the MAGA block if elected this year, but I fear that it is only words of candidates trying to distance themselves from Trump during the midterm election cycle in order to get elected, that will vaporize from their memory once they are in or back in their seats in Congress. I fear they will go back to blindly voting the way Trump wants them to vote. Just like the United Russians.
What to Do
I've advocated praying about who you vote for, and I can't stress that enough this election. The most righteous candidate there is can fall to temptation just like anyone else and become a force for evil. The worst politician you can imagine can be saved during their time of office and do more good for God than anyone would have believed possible. Only God knows the probability that either event will happen. So first and foremost, pray about who you will vote for. And then vote the way that God directs. Vote for who He tells you will be the best man or woman to take the office, regardless of party.
The Christian majority in the country is a diminishing thing. So the next thing to pray about is that the Christians who are left will draw closer to God, regardless of what party wins the election. Pray for the same thing for Christians around the world. Pray for the Holy Spirit to fill every believer with a fullness like in Acts. We need the power to witness, but we also need the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance in case there is doubt) and the gifts of the Spirit (healing, miracles and faith, discerning of spirits, imparting of divine knowledge and wisdom, and words of prophecy and the ability to speak and interpret foreign languages) to show the love of God and the power of God to this world today and every day.
The governments and nations of the world, and the United States is no exception, have gotten to be the way they are because people have largely come under the impression that there is no God or that if God exists, He doesn't pay any attention to what is going on, because if He did He would somehow put a stop to it.
Well, the day when He will put a stop to it is coming, and it will definitely surprise the majority of the people living. But as Christians, every one of us needs to pray that God will use us as He did Paul, or Peter, or any of the other leaders who God would call great through history. I'd rather let Him be the judge than who we, as Christians, might pick.
Pray that God will fill each of us to give us both the desire to witness of what God has done in our lives, what we have seen Him do in the lives of others, and that we will let His power flow through us in the gifts of the Spirit and that His nature would flow through us in the fruit of the Spirit. I'm not big on boycotts or protests or any other form of direct opposition to evil. I have enough difficulty trying to not make God mad by my own life. But Christianity needs to get back to its roots. And to be clear, all Christian leaders should re-read Jesus Sermon on the Mount and some of His teaching about not worrying about politics and get back to Jesus' basics.
You can't tell me that if people were letting themselves be used of God like the early church did, that it wouldn't get people's attention, and maybe even the attention of a few politicians. I don't think that even miracles done right in front of a few of them would make a difference, but I'm a pessimist that way. The first step in making the country and the world a better in which to live is to get people to realize that God is, and that He is watching what everyone does, and is willing to intervene in ways that politicians can't to make believer's lives better.
So pray that you will know who to vote for, and follow through, even if it means voting for someone in the opposing party. We aren't to the place where that will mean you are going to prison yet. Pray that God will change the hearts of the people in office. Remember that Jesus declared "Blessed are the peacemakers". We definitely haven't had many peacemakers in the government in a long time - the art of compromise seems dead. Finally, pray that God will change you to be a better servant of the living God.