The Ten Commandments of
Voting
I.
Put no other gods before the LORD, God
Almighty / His Son, Jesus Christ.
II.
Duty is ours; results are God's.
III.
To win at any cost is too expensive if you give up
that which matters most.
IV.
God is our greatest hope and our greatest danger. He owes us
nothing.
V.
Christianity founded America; Christian virtue is necessary for
self-
government.
VI.
As Christians, it is not our job to win but simply to faithfully
persevere.
VII.
Voting is a test.
VIII. Reject the
popular notion that everyone's vote is just as important as another's.
IX. Accept
no lies. Trust and support no one who uses twisted
definitions.
X. Give unto Caesar that which is Caesar's; that which is God's belongs
to Him.
(despite the name, written by
mere man and not God)
Explanations of each of the points above follows.
I.
Put no other gods before the LORD, God
Almighty / His Son, Jesus Christ.
This is self-explanatory.
It is the Great Commandment (Exodus 20:3, Deuteronomy 5:7) that
applies to all aspects of our lives. Voting is no different.
Everything about our lives should be centered around the Lord.
Of course political decisions should be made with God's 'issues'
first as laid out in the Scripture above our own choices. The
Republican party is a lesser god. Will He find us faithful?
- Samuel Adams said:
Let each citizen remember at the moment he is
offering his vote that he is not making a present or a compliment to please
an individual--or at least that he ought not so to do; but that he is
executing one of the most solemn trusts in human society for which he is
accountable to God and his country.
- Deut 30:19 (NIV) This day I call heaven and
earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you
life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so
that you and your children may live Josh 24:15 But if
serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for
yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods
your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the
Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my
household, we will serve the LORD."
II.
Duty is ours; results are God's
This web site details this truth. John Quincy Adams
understood the right principle. As Christians, we should
follow God's direction from His Scriptures whether it makes sense or
not. Whether we think we will win or not. God guarantees
results when we truly lose our self to please Him.
- Daniel 2:21 He (God) changes times and
seasons; he sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom
to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.
- Daniel 4:17 "`The
decision is announced by messengers, the holy ones declare
the verdict, so that the living may know that the Most High
is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to
anyone he wishes and sets over them the lowliest of men.'
III.
To win at any cost is too expensive if you give up
that which matters most.
The great pastor, Charles
Spurgeon, said: 'When given the choice between the lesser of two
evils, choose neither'. If God's values (issues) truly
are first for Christians, to choose any politician who violates any
of these values is to displease Almighty God Himself. This
opens us up for His judgment upon we who have rejected Him. It
is better to vote for someone who has no chance of winning yet the
vote will be counted against someone who failed at God's position.
IV.
God is our greatest hope and our greatest danger. He owes us
nothing.
"Not
only is God America's Greatest Hope, God is America's Biggest
Threat! ...
God is about ready to impeach America!"
This was from a sermon by the
late Pastor Adrian Rodgers some time ago. This is even
more true today, a very Biblical principle as seen elsewhere on
this web site and throughout the Bible. We ask for God's
judgment by our rejection of Him and His direction.
- George Washington wrote in his
1789 Inaugural address: The propitious smiles of Heaven
can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and
right which Heaven itself has ordained.
- George Mason (known as the father of our Bill of
Rights) wrote in 1787:
Every master of slaves (similar to the abortion ‘issue’ today)
is born a petty tyrant. They bring the judgement of heaven upon
a country. As nations cannot be
rewarded or punished in the next world, they must be in this. By
an inevitable chain of causes and effects, Providence punishes
national sins, by national calamities.
Deuteronomy
28: 45 All these curses will come upon you. They will pursue you and
overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the
LORD your God and observe the commands and decrees he gave you. 46
They will be a sign and a wonder to you and your descendants
forever. 47 Because you did not serve the LORD your God joyfully and
gladly in the time of prosperity,
Jeremiah 7: 16
"So do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for
them; do not plead with me, for I will not listen to you.
Jeremiah 11:
14 "Do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for
them, because I will not listen when they call to me in the time of
their distress.
Amos 5: 21 "I
hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your
assemblies. 22 Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain
offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice
fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. 23 Away with
the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your
harps. 24 But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a
never-failing stream! 25 "Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings
forty years in the desert, O house of Israel? 26 You have lifted up
the shrine of your king, the pedestal of your idols, the star of
your god-- which you made for yourselves.
V.
Christianity founded America; Christian virtue is necessary for
self-
government.
It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too
often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but
by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded
asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.
VI.
As Christians, it is not our job to win but simply to faithfully
persevere.
2 Timothy
2:4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside
to myths. 5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure
hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties
of your ministry. 6 For I am already being poured out like a
drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. 7 I have
fought the good fight, I have finished the race , I have kept
the faith.
VII.
Voting is a test.
Don't vote unless carefully studying the
candidates and the issues. If Christ is in the voting booth with you,
would He find you faithful? Basically, each of our lives are recordings of
what decisions we made in every situation we find ourselves in.
Each decision we make is known to God and when we claim to be His
people, He expects us to strive for excellence and to strive to
choose as His scriptures direct. Our vote is an opportunity
for us to show God how much He means to us. It is an
opportunity for us to show faith in His provision for His children
when we go against flawed common thinking that is considered normal
in our society.
Will we choose political
expediency or choose to follow the examples of the great men in
the Bible who risked everything to show their faith and love of
God? Would Daniel compromise? Paul? Joseph?
God's direction is to vote for the
candidate who best exemplifies God's values. If this
individual has no chance of winning, or lacks 'electability', this
choice is not different. God's ways are not our ways. He
calls us to be faithful, even if man's reasoning would dictate to do
otherwise. Multiple web pages on this site explore the
outcome if we would make faithful, yet uncommon decisions in this
manner. We would also 'win' politically if we choose to stand
firm for God. Yet, we have chosen to follow a lesser god when
we choose to vote for someone else and we continue to lose
politically, a form of God's judgment on us.
VIII. Reject the
popular notion that everyone's vote is just as important as another's.
An informed voter is not equal
to an uninformed voter. With discernment, a vote is of more
value.
First, it is positively counted as a vote for someone
worthy, whether or not that individual wins. Second, it is a
vote counted as for God's values, especially if it goes against
common flawed reasoning and is seen as not trying to achieve
political gain or personal gain but is seen as a vote in faith.
Third, if Christian voters would give up flawed assumptions as to
who might win for the Republicans and pick a candidate in that
manner; choosing a candidate who may not have 'a chance' but who
stands firm for God's values, this would then become a very strong
candidate, despite the small number of Christians willing to vote in
this manner.
For example, if there are 5 candidates for the
nomination in the GOP, one who is strongest in God's values in
actions and in speech, and the Christians voted for him as a unified
block. All of the other voters who lack such a specific focus
on the most important values would be diluted among the 5
candidates. A Christian's vote is a witness to all others.
IX.
Accept no lies. Trust and support no one who uses twisted
definitions.
There is some truth to the common
saying, 'the devil is in the details'. When politicians write
bills that give amnesty only to claim it is not amnesty (such as
Sen. John McCain), they cannot
be trusted. When parsing terms such as the definition of the
word "is", is, they cannot be trusted.
If we choose to accept
this, we will find they will betray us. What we don't know
will ultimately hurt us. If we cannot transparently follow the
tracks of someone untrustworthy, we fall victim to their mischief.
Economics are portrayed by unscrupulous politicians as sound at the
same time our 401k plans lose value and we find
ourselves unable to retire as planned. Their mischief
has personal consequences on each of us.
| Noah Webster (1832) The moral principles and
precepts contained in the Scriptures ought to form the
basis of all of our civil constitutions and laws…All the
miseries and evils which men suffer from vice, crime,
ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery and war,
proceed from their despising or neglecting the precepts
contained in the Bible.
When you become entitled to exercise the right of
voting for public officers, lit it be impressed on your
mind that God commands you to choose for rulers just men
who will rule in the fear of God. The preservation of a
republican government depends on the faithful discharge
of this duty;
If the citizens neglect
their duty and place unprincipled men in office,
the government will soon be corrupted; laws will be made
not for the public good so much as for the selfish or
local purposes;
Corrupt or incompetent men will be appointed to
execute the laws; the public revenues will be squandered
on unworthy men; and the rights of the citizens will be
violated or disregarded.
If a republican
government fails to secure public prosperity and
happiness, it must be because the citizens neglect the
divine commands, and elect bad men to make and
administer the laws. |
Despite common rhetoric to the contrary, our nation was not
founded as a "democracy" but as a constitutional republic.
Evidence is still seen of the last vestiges of the "Republic on
which I stand" in the 2000 election of G.W. Bush who won the
election though received less votes than Al Gore. This is not
insignificant. A democracy invites self-centered decision
making by voters in the polls and by their representatives when a
republic tends to bind all parties to limits placed by the
constitution. This protects the people from unscrupulous (or
even selfish) decisions that hurt the health of the nation and, most
importantly, the people.
X.
Give unto Caesar that which is Caesar's; that which is God's belongs
to Him.
As Christians, our entire
existence is enslaving ourselves to God. Therefore anything
that touches on God's values requires us to do as God directs.
As slaves, His direction supersedes our own desires. What then
is Caesar's? Only obedience to government's requirements that
are not contradictory to God's.
America was founded by the
phrase: "No king but Jesus". This does have great meaning.
Our government is established bowing to Christ, not King George or
any other "Caesar". God's law was the foundation for our law.
The founders understood that at best, people were flawed and we
cannot be trusted with power. Therefore everyone was equally
subservient to God's law. We are equally owners of this
nation.
What do we owe Caesar in this
country? The duty to hold firm to the standard set by our
founders. We do not bow to the government, we bow to God.
We become model citizens as we exhibit dutiful benevolence toward
others. It becomes our duty to stand for the form of
government paid for by our founders. It is our turn at bat.
We have no right to hand it over to ungodly individuals or groups
(e.g. the United Nations) who do not agree the government is
subservient to God.
Our God given freedoms are
removed by ungodly groups who decide they may decide what freedoms
they may allow us. You can bet Caesar becomes oppressive when
this is the case.
Now, just what belongs to Caesar
and not God?
Colossians 1:16 For by him
all things were created:
things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether
thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created
by him and for him. 17 He is before all things , and in him all
things hold together.
