Do not put your trust in princes,
Nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help.
His spirit departs, he returns to his earth;
In that very day his plans perish.
– Psalm 146:3-4
The Presidential Election in the U.S. is finally over (thankfully).
The tumult and the shouting have died… maybe.
Through it all, a great concern of mine has been the enthusiastic, in some cases overwhelming, endorsement of Donald Trump by a section of the Christian population.
Let me be clear that, even if I were eligible, I could not have voted for his rival, Kamala Harris. For the last 100 days she has undeniably been the more likeable candidate. But I could never have voted for her based on some of her policies – in particular for the way she made abortion front and centre in her campaign.
Even in her (otherwise gracious) concession speech (in stark contrast to Trump’s childish refusal to concede four years ago and the violence that ensued) she was still opining: “I will never give up the fight for a future where the women of America have the freedom to make decisions about their own [sic!] body.”
Yes, I am thankful that Roe vs Wade was overturned two years ago.
But Trump is the consummate politician, and it is foolish to believe that, without a moral compass, his policies will not continually shape shift.
And it is a particular concern to me that some Christians so enthusiastically endorse an individual whose life, not only flagrantly violates virtually every Christian (or just, human) virtue[1], but instead time and again demonstrates the very opposite[2].
It is foolish to celebrate Trump as though he were some kind of messianic deliverer.
I am realistic, I know we live in a fallen world and I don’t expect I can vote for someone only if he/she is squeaky clean. I am thankful we get to vote, even that we are required to vote, in this country.
But to have to choose between these two candidates?
Is this God’s judgment on a country that has lost its own moral compass?
(That is not meant as a wholesale condemnation, by the way.)
And here, in Australia? Where is our moral compass?
Can we expect any better in the future?
For your further edification consider these comments by Mike Judge (Editor of Evangelical Times, and pastor of Chorlton Evangelical Church in Manchester) which he wrote this week on the eve of the U.S. election:
If I were voting in the US election
It’s bonfire night here in the UK, and this article may just blow up in my face. So let me say, right off the bat, that I’m flying solo on this one. This article does not necessarily reflect the editorial line of ET. And I haven’t discussed the matter with the board of directors.
It’s my personal view. We will see if I’m still in the editor’s seat after this has gone live. Hopefully they will forgive me for wading into the choppy waters of the US election.
So here goes. If I were voting in the US election I’d vote for… well, I’ll come to that.
I was listening to an interesting podcast recently where one US political commentator was asked whom she thought would win and whom did she want to win. She said she was still an undecided voter and that, as decision day is now upon her, her ‘fears’ about who will win probably reveal where her head and her heart really are at.
She had been a Democrat voter in previous elections. But she said the party had gone so far into progressive la-la land with all of its woke nonsense that she could not bring herself to vote for them now.
In ordinary circumstances, that would lead her to vote Republican. But these are not ordinary times. She said Trump – with his payment to a porn star and his appalling behaviour on 6 January 2021 – put him beyond the pale. So which one does she fear the most, a Democrat White House, or a Trump Presidency?
For what it’s worth, we ought to remember that the last Trump Presidency was not nearly as bad as the mainstream told us it would be. World War Three did not kick off, as some people insisted would happen. He took a strong line against Iran and North Korea. When it comes to US foreign policy, Trump doesn’t want US troops getting embroiled in overseas actions that they can’t get out of. If he wins this 2024 election, he says he can broker a deal in Ukraine and he has positioned himself as a staunch supporter of Israel.
Domestically, during his previous time in the White House, he was a strong advocate of religious freedom and he appointed pro-life judges to the Supreme Court. That court later overturned Roe v. Wade, giving each individual state the power to decide their own laws on abortion.
Kamala Harris, on the other hand, has made abortion a central part of her 2024 election campaign, vowing to restore abortion rights nationwide.
I’m a conservative on many of the social issues that are debated in our culture. So I doubt it would come as a shock to learn that, on those issues, I’m more aligned with the Republicans than the Democrats.
But my commitment to those conservative social issues also means that the moral character of political candidates matters a great deal to me. I’m not so naïve as to believe I’ll find a politician who’s purer than the driven snow. I know I have to compromise to some extent. But there’s a limit.
For me, Trump goes beyond that limit. Well beyond.
His comments about grabbing women’s bodies, then dismissing it as ‘locker room talk’; his dodgy payment to a porn star; his unashamed narcissism; the way he pressured Mike Pence to throw out the 2020 presidential election results; his behaviour on 6 January 2021 which certainly did nothing to stop the assault on the US Capitol – all these things and more tell me I couldn’t vote for Trump.
It’s no good we, as evangelicals, telling the world that morality matters and then aligning ourselves with a man like Trump.
Does that mean evangelicals shouldn’t vote for him? No, I wouldn’t go that far. I don’t think I would vote for him, but I do understand why others would. There’s a difference between voting for him while holding your nose and voting for him with gusto. And I think for US evangelicals who are in swing states, you may feel a greater responsibility to cast your vote for the more conservative ticket.
For us evangelicals here in the UK, it’s difficult to make a true assessment. So much coverage of US politics comes to us through the filter of a progressive mainstream media.
Yet I’ve seen enough of Trump to know that I could not – in good conscience – vote for him. But I’ve also seen enough of Harris’s policies to know that I couldn’t vote for her either. That bothers me, because I believe in the importance of voting and I’ve very little patience for people who take the easy option of sitting on the fence.
But I just couldn’t bring myself to vote for either of them. So, who will win? We will find out soon enough.
And I’ll find out whether I still have the job of ET Editor.
[end of comments by Mike Judge]
Recently Eileen and I have been reading through Daniel.
As an old man in Babylon, then in Persia, Daniel was looking forward to his people returning from Exile to the Promised Land. No doubt, among the returnees, there were those who believed their change of circumstances would mean: “This will truly be the golden age of Israel. This will allow us to make Israel great again.”
But, as Ralph Davis sums up the prophecies revealed to Daniel in the last six chapters, the message is rather this:
“Daniel’s vision is telling us that history is beastly; it is scary. He wants us to hold a clear realism about life in this world… [These] verses are saying to us, now don’t be naïve about human history; don’t be so gullible as to think that some new regime or new ideology or new party will instigate some form of cosmic therapy.”[3]
“So it becomes clear that when the years of exile cease and Israel is back in the glorious land (8:9), they will have to plod through a long stretch of this troubled stuff we call history.”[4]
God is telling Daniel, “Your changed circumstances won’t usher in a golden age. It is just another step along the way, till you reach the true golden age at the end of time.”
But before then, God tells Daniel in ch 12:
“There shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time.”
Only then:
“At that time your people shall be delivered, every one who is found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt.”
Then:
“Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.”
Do not put your trust in princes,
Nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help.
His spirit departs, he returns to his earth;
In that very day his plans perish.
Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help,
Whose hope is in the Lord his God,
Who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them;
Who keeps truth forever…
The Lord loves the righteous.
The Lord watches over the strangers;
He relieves the fatherless and widow;
But the way of the wicked He turns upside down.
End Notes: [1] Eg. 2 Pet 1:5-7 “faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, love” [2] Eg. Col 3:5,8 “fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, covetousness, anger, wrath, malice, slander, filthy language” [3] Davis, D. R. (2013). The Message of Daniel: His Kingdom Cannot Fail (p. 97). Inter-Varsity Press. [4] ibid. (p. 107)