Will Christians Learn the Lesson?

by Elijah Brown
http://ketoctonbaptist.blogspot.com/
With only a couple of months left in office the liberal legacy of George Bush can teach us a valuable lesson. Eight years ago I remember contending with fellow Christians about the importance of not wasting their vote on a third party. After all “a vote for a third party was a vote for Gore,” even if there was a good third party candidate the election was much too important to waste your vote…why, if Gore wins the presidency it will be like Clinton all over again, yet worst. Besides George W. Bush was a great “evangelical” presidential hopeful that was going to restore Christian conservative values to the American system and champion the constitution..However, when President Bush was elected funding for abortion increased, government expansion went through the roof, and the homosexual agenda became more of a force than ever before. Yet, Christian leaders failed to speak out against the compromise. It was not that the liberal threat of the Clinton years was now abated; it was just that Christians who held Clinton accountable tuned a blind eye toward George Bush. As a result Christians lost the moral authority to speak out about things like just warfare, torture as an assault on the image of God, and the ethical importance of habeas corpus.

The same health care plan that was vehemently opposed as socialism under the Clintons, was passed incrementally under Bush with little opposition. Bush also put the “?” behind what is means to be fiscally conservative. After two terms, two recessions, higher inflation, a $700 billion bailout for banks (with which the government will have the authority to buy an ownership interest where ever it chooses) and out spending the national debt clock and every other U.S. President at the same time, what does the term “fiscal conservative” mean anymore?

We have seen the unprecedented expansion of federal control over education under “No child left behind,” and a faith based initiative that would expand government control over faith based organizations as well. Our second amendment rights were undermined when the Bush administration argued that our constitutional right to bear arms was subject to legislative regulation. We saw our First amendment rights to freedom of speech greatly impaired when Bush signed H.R. 2356 into law. What are Christians to make of his involvement with the establishment of the North American Union?

The list goes on and on, but this much is clear: with conservatives like this who needs a socialist? Yet the majority of Christians turned a blind eye and in the most recent election threw support to an even more liberal John McCain. A liberal, who was not pro-life, not fiscally conservative, was soft on homo-sexuality, and has proved time and time again he is no friend to the Constitution. If republicans or democrats departed from just about any other voter base they would forfeit the base support, but not so for the “Christian Right”. They will support a republican no matter who the candidate is and this election proved it. I honestly don’t think you could train a dog to be more loyal.

This much can be learned. Incrementalism does not work. When Christians attempt to incrementally change the government for the better by voting for the “better of two evils,” they are the ones who are incrementally changed. In the case of John McCain no excuse was spared in order to justify casting a vote for a man who believes it is ok to kill babies under certain circumstances.

James Dobson once promised never to cast a vote for a candidate who believed that it was permissible to kill even one single child…. Dobson changed, and not in order conform more perfectly to scripture.

Pragmatism, does not work either. Pragmatism is the default for those who have no faith in the certainty of God’s word. If we strictly adhere to scripture, they think, the enemy will gain a victory, so we need to set aside the clear teaching of scripture and determine for ourselves what is the greater good. I wonder how well that one will go over when we stand before the throne of Christ.

Obama’s victory is a product of the compromise, pragmatism, and incrementalism of conservatives. With the nomination of John McCain conservatives made the appeal for a socialist candidate, but lost against a slightly more consistent socialist. In other words if it is socialism you want, the full blown socialist will get the job done much better. If it is the restoration of the republic that you want, then John McCain does not at all present that alternative. In fact it seemed the best thing that McCain had going for him was that he was a “maverick” who was used to compromising conservative values.

Two things were made clear last night. First, contrary to popular belief, it turns out that Sarah Palin was not a modern day Deborah after all. (If she were without a doubt God would have seen fit that McCain won the election) Secondly, unlike the last eight years, it is now clear who the enemy is. Under Bush we have witnessed the initiation of socialized medicine, expansion of Government, limitations of free speech, more funding for abortion, ect, which is the same sort of things that President-elect Obama is proposing. The difference is that Christians march into the next four years with their eyes wide open and where we turned a blind eye to the Bush administration, the Obama administration will not receive the same benefit.

If there is to be any future to the Christian political thought, then Christians cannot continue to be Republican lapdogs rain or shine. There must be a return to uncompromising faith in the certainty of Gods word. Every area of political thought must be brought under the authority of scripture, and any candidate that is Biblically unqualified will have to change or give up one of their most influential voter bases. We are called to be peculiar people of faith in Christ, not people called after pragmatism and compromise. If we believe what scripture says then, it is not the voter, but God who rises up leaders for the nations. Christians read that in the scriptures, but they do not truly believe that, do they? If Christians truly believed what the Word of God said it would naturally follows that delivering a vote made in faith for a Biblically qualified candidate (even if he has “no chance” of winning) goes further to raise up strong and godly leaders then a pragmatic vote for “the better of two evils.” Leaders like Obama are given as God’s judgment against all those who disregard His word and are given to compromise.

We have four years to think over the consequence of compromise and during that time we have a lot of work to do.