As we near the culmination of this election cycle, Christians face an ever growing push from both inside and outside the Evangelical camp for their vote. This push to elect and choose the most “godly candidate” from within Evangelicalism is becoming more prominent with each passing election cycle. Recently RC, Editor of Pulpit & Pen wrote an article “Kirk Cameron, Francis Chan Join Hands With Cultists to Promote False Gospel” which pointed out the problems with Kirk Cameron and his “Revive Us 2016” event. It is this joining in the name of unity with false teachers to promote a false gospel that leads to a pragmatic intermingling of Christianity and politics. The outcome is a version of Christianity that is steeped in Nationalism or in this case Americanism instead of a proper biblical understanding of the Christian’s role in government and politics.
With over 90 million eligible evangelical voters there can be no doubt in anyone’s mind that the “evangelical” vote is one of importance. Otherwise, politicians would not try so hard to persuade Christians to vote in their favor. It is this intertwining of the need from politicians for votes and the Christians’ lack of understanding of core beliefs that result in events such as Revive Us 2016. In a recent survey of over 3000 people conducted by Lifeway Research and commissioned by Ligonier Ministries, it was found that nearly two-thirds of Americans that identify as Christian do not understand basic theology, the Bible or the quintessential tenants of their faith. This data was presented in the article “Americans Love God and the Bible, Are Fuzzy on the Details” which concludes that most supposed “Christians” are in actuality heretics having major deficiencies in the core beliefs that distinguish Christians from other false religions.
It is this ineptness of basic biblical doctrine and teachings that are leading to a version of Christianity that is iridescent of a pre-World War II Hitler Germany. Today in America that same type sediment towards national pride, the hope in a leader that will make our nation great again and the need to have unity above all, forgetting that God called us to make righteous judgments, (John 7:24) is alive in Christianity today. Just as it was in the hearts of Germans before World War II when they sought for hope in a man and not in Christ, we find much the same here today in America. The fact that Christians know little or next to nothing about why or what they believe opens the door for a dangerous recipe of heretical proportions. It is this seeming unwillingness to understand the basics of the faith and an overwhelming willingness to jump on to anything that claims the name “Christian” that will lead many down a treacherous path of false hope in a false christ.
Events like Revive Us 2016 that promote a veneer of biblical Christianity while calling for unity with false teachers are the result of an inability to make righteous judgments. It is organizations and events like Revive Us 2016 that try and paint a false scenario in which a “Christian” that doesn’t vote for the candidate of choice will cause our nation to fall; that it is up to the Christian to make all the difference. It is this thinking that promotes the idea that America will rise and fall on how the Christians votes.
This type of thinking is not only misleading but is also deceitful. The truth of the matter is God is sovereign over all things including over this election. To pin whether or not this nation will rise to glory or fall on Christians is a false dichotomy. It may be the will of God for this nation to fall and thus no matter how many votes a candidate gets will not stop God’s will from being accomplished. God, in His sovereignty, has chosen our next leader, whether that is to be good or bad. That said, we should never negate our duty to vote as Christians or to abstain from voting if the need warrants. What we should not do is listen to those pushing a hidden agenda of Nationalism or Americanism under the guise of biblical Christianity.
We need to realize that we are never going to have “our Red Sea Moment” and we are not “David facing Goliath” as Kirk Cameron alludes to on Revive Us 2016 site. What we do have as Christians is a mandate from Christ to go forth and preach the Good New to all nations and make disciples. That is where our hope for this nation must lie, in Christ, not in a man-centered revival. Our hope must be contained in our prayer that God will grant hearts of repentance and that unregenerate hearts will become regenerate. It is only through Christ that this nation will change, by the preaching of the Gospel and the making of disciples. All other attempts will fall short and fail.
