Tomorrow we will have a new President-elect. By now, you’ve heard all the predictions. Who will win?
Not us. Whether she wins, or he wins, the American people lose. Even if MY candidate wins…I lose. The reason?
For the first time in American history, we have two candidates who both hold worldviews different from our founding fathers. Our nation was founded on principles ensconced in theism (the belief in God). Line upon line in our founding documents show this. References to God are found throughout Washington D.C.
But the two major party candidates in this 2016 election are humanists. To be sure, both will give lip service to theism, but they are humanists. They may both check census boxes and be nominal theists, but their worldviews center around, man, not God. Both give little credence to divine or supernatural matters (unless campaigning in churches). Both stress the potential value and goodness of human beings (at least the humans that agree with them or are born). Both emphasize common human needs and seek solely rational ways of solving human problems (especially in the form of government). In the philosophical world we call this humanism.
Not only do they both share this philosophical framework, they both share a favorite vice: Greed. Both candidates have enriched themselves at the expense of others. One does it shamelessly, out in the open. The other does it under the cover of darkness.
So in a sense, these two very different people are really one-in-the-same candidate. They have different answers to political and economic questions, but they both come from a self-centered, godless perspective. How are these our only choices?
I see the answer in Romans 1…” For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them…For though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became nonsense, and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools…Therefore God delivered them over in the cravings of their hearts…” (Romans 1:18-19, 21-22, 24, HCSB)
Did God give us our wish? This isn’t unprecedented. Israel once wanted a king like all the other nations. Samuel warned them of the price tag for having a king: taxes and wars. But the people wouldn’t listen, they insisted. So God let them go their own way and gave them Saul. It harmed the nation greatly.
Is it possible that God has given us exactly what we wanted? As a nation, we’ve turned from him. We’ve pursued selfish greed. We’ve said to God: “We’ll take it from here.” So God delivered us over in the cravings of our hearts and has given us two options of greedy humanists. The only question is from which side they will lead us, left or right.
Our only hope as a nation is the same hope Paul gave to the Romans: the Lord Jesus Christ! As we noted on Sunday, He isn’t up for re-election. It’s a good thing. I’m not sure we’d vote him in.
May God have mercy on our nation,
