It’s been an interesting last six weeks. My family and I made the hard decision to leave the church we had been attending the last two years, and I’m now rethinking my promotion of Trump for President. All in all, when the dust settles I believe these will be viewed as positive events/decisions. Actually, I already know they’re positive, it’s just that they were/are fraught with hard decisions and second guessing. However I don’t want to deal with these issues from a personal experience, but apply them objectively as a follower of Christ.
During this time I read In His Steps by Charles M. Sheldon. A fictional account of Christians from different churches actually living out What Would Jesus Do; not just wearing WWJD bracelets. The book illustrates how much strife and backlash one experiences from society when they live their faith 24/7 in all areas of life, especially when naming Jesus as the source of this guidance. This is why I identify myself as a Jesus-Follower; to me it has more clarity than Christian these days. Too many identify themselves as Christians, but outwardly (I shudder to ponder inwardly), would not be discernible from card-carrying pagans. Somehow, I think there would be less hypocrites of this sort if people had to identify themselves as Jesus-Followers, rather than Christians. Proclaiming oneself a Christian (at least in this country), is almost warm and fuzzy (lukewarm?); akin to being “spiritual”, and who doesn’t admire spirituality? Proclaiming oneself a Jesus-Follower punches people in the face! It conjures up all kinds of unpleasantness; such as sin, homosexuality, Hell, fornication, and worst of all: Judgement!
Actually, I’ve digressed a bit, so let’s get our focus back.
Leaving the church we’ve been attending for the last two years takes a little more explanation. It is a small (20 to 30 attendees, including us and the pastor’s family), Bible Church. We were drawn there based on an on-line Bible Study (ironically, conducted by an elder, not the pastor), I had heard what seemed to indicate the doctrinal view that I was looking for. However, over time it became clear that we differed greatly over the importance of (in my words), holiness in a true believer’s life. In a nutshell, it would be my (ours, as my family is of one accord in this), feeling of their embracing a Free-Grace stance regarding salvation. I’m sure they would perceive us as adopting a Lordship Salvation stance as I totally agree with John MacArthur in this view. I’m just as sure the reality exists somewhere between these poles, but the gap was still wide enough for us to justify finding a new church. I don’t doubt their salvation based on this differing view, but it’s hard to fellowship with others when there is disagreement in this realm; let alone not feel comfortable with the message delivered (or not delivered), from the pastor. It was a tough decision nonetheless, because we had established relationships with some great folks. But at the end of the day, church is not a social club; it’s where I want to hear the unvarnished Word of God. It’s where the sheep go to get fed; not frustrated.
Now on to the Donald. I know politics involves a certain amount of schmoozing and, unfortunately, outright lying. That’s why as a Jesus-Follower I have never been comfortable with politics. I’m all about being civically minded and involved, but only to the point I am not compromising my principles (which, of course, are founded on God’s, as shared through His Word). That being said, I’ve never heard of Trump being caught in an outright lie, and I believed he was pro-life. I now believe I was schmoozed when it comes to pro-life, as he seems to think it’s okay to kill babies in some situations (it’s never okay to kill babies). As the campaign goes on, he seems to get more political and less discernible from Clinton (or any other candidate for that matter). I mean what was that recent church debacle? He goes from a signs and wonders, hocus-pocus “church” with a female pastor to a United Methodist, female pastored mess! He received some sort of “anointed” prayer shawl as a gift (probably free to anyone with a small love offering), at the first place; and was interrupted by the “pastor” at the second place and told not to talk politics (especially if it involved saying anything negative about Clinton). You invite a major candidate running for President of the United States to speak to your group and ask that politics not be brought up – anyone out there get this? At least the silver lining of this farce was that it’s apparent Trump is not a Jesus-Follower; maybe a Christian, but not a Jesus- Follower. Both of these “churches” belong in the same category with Copeland, Osteen, Driscoll, Hinn, Meyers, and the rest of the clown princes (and princesses), of rip-off “churches”. So do I vote for a pro-choice, “spiritual” billionaire, because Hillary is even worse?
So, what is the objective take-away here? I hope it is that if you follow Jesus, and have some similar conundrums; you’ll look to God’s Word to help solve them. You will have to make tough choices; sometimes change your mind as more information comes to light.
Find a good church (even if you have to leave a bad one), and decide: are we to vote for someone (anyone), even if there are no good choices; because it’s the patriotic thing to do? – or – in the eternal picture, is it better not to vote, as we are in this world, but not of it; so why vote if there is not a candidate that Jesus would endorse?
What’s a Believer to do?
