About Jesus  -  Steve Sweetman

 After The Election

So the American election is finally over.  I'm happy for my American Republican Party friends for winning all 3 branches of government.  That doesn't come easy or often.  For what it's worth, here are a few of my reflections on the 2016 electoral process.          

I was wrong.  Hillary didn't win, and I'm glad.  If I were an American I would be a Republican and would have reluctantly voted for Donald Trump.  I would have done so for only 2 reasons - his stand on the Supreme Court and his support for Israel.  I say "reluctantly" because I think both candidates reflect, at least to a degree, what Isaiah 3:4 says about political leaders in a nation that is beginning to suffer under God's judgment.  You can read that passage for yourself.    

Social media, where everyone calls himself an expert, was ablaze during this campaign with unsubstantiated exaggerations that bordered on, if not were, lies.  What bothered me most was that many Christians both embraced these exaggerations and spread them all over the internet without any verification of their validity.  Accuracy, not exaggeration, should be one hallmark of a Christian.       

It seems to me that many Christians might have forgotten that their first allegiance is not to their nation or the political party they support.  Christians are first and foremost citizens of the Kingdom of God.  Our leader is Jesus.  To be clear, I do believe a Christian has the democratic right to participate in the political process, not just by voting but by running for office.  Nevertheless, let's never get so caught up in the kingdoms of men that we lose sight of the Kingdom of God.    

More than in other years I noticed many Christians getting preoccupied with conflicting prophecies concerning who would be the next president.  It seemed to me that gullibility ran rampant.  I suppose this is to be expected in our Biblical illiterate Christian community.  This reminds me of 2 Thessalonians 2:11.  Paul predicted that in the last days God will send a powerful delusion so that people will believe the lie.  The Biblically illiterate and the gullible will easily believe that lie.        

I'm not convinced that we fully grasp the fact that all nations, to one degree or another, oppose God and will sooner or later pay for their opposition.  That's why God installs or uninstalls national leaders (Daniel 2:24, 4:36).  He does so to accomplish His will, which is not always to bless a nation.     

Romans 1:24 and following helps us understand one way in which God installs an ungodly head of state.  Paul said that God hands ungodly people over to their sins.  For example, if the citizens of a nation are entertained by gun violence in movies and video games, that nation becomes murderously violent.  If the citizens of a nation are given to immorality, that nation becomes immoral.  From within this violent immoral nation leaders rise to prominence.  It's common sense.  The people elect, or, God installs, an ungodly leader from an ungodly population.  People choose one of their own who will help facilitate the nation's eventual fall.  It's not rocket science.  It's Biblical prophetic theology.        

This election has been very polarizing which is evident in the subsequent demonstrations.  In Biblical terms, civil unrest is often associated with a nation under God's judgment.  "People will oppress each other - men against men, neighbour against neighbour.  The young will rise up against the old ..."  (Isaiah 3:5 NIV).      

The president elect may or may not have been your choice, but He is God's choice.  Despite the hope of many that the new president will bring God's blessing to America, that remains to be seen.  Sooner, later, or maybe even now, America, like every other nation, will be held accountable for its sins.  This being the case, be a prophetic voice to your nation.  If you have the spiritual guts, be a John the Baptist, no matter the consequences, and there will be consequences.