America is in Crisis. How Should a Christian Vote?

Mike Hosey, An Elder

The word “crisis” has been misused severely for the past several decades.  So much so that it’s misused meaning has become its accepted meaning.  When we use it today, we generally refer to a time of extreme difficulty or danger requiring serious attention.  But its actual meaning is rooted in the Greek word krisis, which means “a decision.” It is derived from another Greek word (kreinen) which means “to decide.”   Therefore, a crisis is a time in which a choice of some kind must be made. In a true crisis, that choice will lead to either disaster or recovery.  Its semantic origins are medical. Essentially, it meant (and still means) the turning point during a disease process in which the disease conquers the host, or is conquered by the host.

America is in a disease process. We have cancer, and we’ve been dying for decades. The situation is critical. Our choices in the next couple of weeks will contribute in profound ways. Will we continue down a path of disease and death, or will we begin a long and arduous climb into recovery? We can either begin treatment, or we can forego it and allow the disease process to advance to an unrecoverable stage.

In America, the highest public official in the land is not the president of the United States. It is not the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. It isn’t a congressman, or a mayor, or a governor.  The highest public official in the land is the citizen. It is the citizen who chooses those to whom he will have to answer. It is the citizen who chooses those who will make his laws.  It is the citizenry that is reflected by the philosophies, deeds and character of its leaders.  In America, God allows us to pick the leaders we deserve.

What this means is that if you are a Christian citizen of the USA, you have a duty not to vote for the man or the woman, but to vote for policies and principles that will shape your nation into the kind of community that God wants. So know what your candidates stand for, and vote in a way that best employs Godly principles and ideals from the choices you have available.  But more importantly than that, influence your immediate world in such a way that America can only produce good candidates from which to choose. 

Have You Been Raising Dead People and Practicing Witchcraft?

Mike Hosey, An Elder

Murder is wrong.  It doesn’t take a braniac to figure out that it is a terrible sin to take the life of someone else, not just because you would be destroying something irreplaceable that doesn’t belong to you, but because, quite literally, you would be marring the image of God (Genesis 1:27). But guess what is just as bad -- or maybe even worse -- than murdering someone?  That would be planning and arranging for the murder of someone.  The person who is pulling the trigger is certainly worthy of the highest punishment, but there’s something perhaps more diabolical about the person who came up with the idea, funded it, planned it, and gave the trigger puller the tools and blueprints on how to do it.

This kind of moral equivalence is seen in a variety of places in the bible.  One such place is in the story of King Saul in 1 Samuel 15:22-23.  Saul, for a variety of reasons, chose not to follow God’s order of operations.  The prophet Samuel warns him in those verses that his rebellion is just like the sin of divination or witchcraft. The Old Testament lumps divination and witchcraft in with a bunch of other terrible sins like necromancy (raising people up from the dead), and calls them disgusting, or detestable, or an abomination to God.  Did you get that?  Rebellion is as disgusting to God as necromancy. Those sins -- necromancy, sorcery, witchcraft, and divination -- all aim to usurp God’s role and authority in human affairs, and any rebellion against Godly authority is lumped right in with those sins.

When you sow discord at your work, at your church, in your family, or anywhere God has ordained an authority structure, you are sowing something that is disgusting to God. But notice how God tells Saul that he hates false sacrifice.  And notice how he tells the Hebrew people the same thing through the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 1:11-20). Then consider how he tells them both that he loves obedience more than sacrifice or ritual. Such obedience is marked by doing good, seeking justice, and correcting oppression. It is not marked by the selfishness seen in Saul, or the division seen in Paul’s warnings against those who teach contrary doctrines (Romans 16:17-18).  Instead, such obedience is marked by the submissive example of Jesus (John 5:30), and the maturity of a Godly spirit (Galatians 5:22-26). 

Have You Ever Had A Johnny Paycheck Moment?

Mike Hosey, An Elder

If you’ve been in the work world for any length of time, you have probably come across the foolish boss, or the foolish foreman, or the foolish manager who was able to just push all of your bad buttons. Perhaps that leader was even backed by the organization for which you worked. If so, you’ve probably had at least one Johnny Paycheck moment where you fantasized about pulling down the whole organizational structure as you proclaim “take this job and shove it!” while trying to keep the screen door from slamming you in your butt as you exit in a blaze of destructive angst and sweet, rebellious glory.  

But this would be wrong, and against God’s way of doing things.  Your discomfort may be truly justified, but your fantasy is nothing but pure flesh.  It’s rooted in pride.  But more importantly, it goes against God’s way of doing things.  If you were to execute your fantasy against bad authorities, wherever they are -- whether at work, at home, at your university, or your church -- you would be executing it against God.  Romans 13:1-2 tells us that God has appointed those leaders for a purpose, and that to rebel against them is to rebel against God.  It’s quite a serious charge.  Interestingly, Miriam, the older sister of Moses, speaks out against the leadership of Moses.  She was already a high figure, the first woman to be given the title prophet (Exodus 15:20). And the prophet Micah recognized her as one of the leaders that helped deliver Israel from Egypt (Micah 6:4).  But when she opposed Moses, there were personal consequences.  God struck her with leprosy.

It’s also important to think about what you would actually be doing if you realized your fantasy. First, you would be assuming God’s job, because your intent would be to exact revenge, and Paul tells us plainly that revenge is the purview of God (Romans 12:19). But perhaps the biggest consequence is that to make that fantasy real would have a negative impact on your fellow workers and the customers your company serves. In other authority contexts such as your classroom, your marriage or your church, you would impact your fellow class mates, your family members, or any other innocent person that depends on the stability of a given authority structure, and perhaps even someone who needs to see the patience or wisdom of a follower of Jesus in order to get to know him like you do. 

Americans Don't Like to Be Told What To Do!

Mike Hosey, An Elder

America was born from the throes of rebellion. Severing herself from the monarchy of Britain, she grew quickly into the most powerful and influential nation in all of history. She spawned in her people a bias toward individualism.  Americans, by far, believe they can do almost anything, and don’t need anyone over them to tell them how to do it.  We’ve always had a streak of rugged individualism. For the most part, this has been good.  But it may also help to explain why we don’t like for people to tell us what to do. As a general rule, Americans aren’t as comfortable with authority as other peoples because we have historically been so independent, and until the last half century, our culture has honed us to solve our own problems. If you are anything like me, you’ve felt this disdain for authority before. Perhaps your boss was a complete knucklehead, and he or she tried to tell you how to do your job, even though he or she had no clue about how to perform the simplest part of your assigned tasks.  Or perhaps you’ve had a pastor, or professor, or teacher who was a jerk.  If you’ve been there, I can relate.  And if you’re there right now, I feel your pain because I have been there too. But Romans 13:1-2 unequivocally asserts that we are to respect the authority over us.  Even if it is evil. Remember that Paul wrote those verses while living under the rule of a brutal Roman Empire whose leaders had no respect for Paul’s philosophy, or the gospel he preached, or the people he served.

But Paul wasn’t arguing that we should follow ungodly commands. And he certainly wasn’t telling us that we had to respect evil. He wasn’t even arguing that we have to respect rude character.  Respect for authority is simply that, respect for authority, and that’s all Paul was commanding.  So if the candidate that you don’t like (and it’s ok not to like a candidate) gets into office, you are to respect the office, not necessarily the person.  You are to respect the position, and not necessarily the character of the person who holds that position.  This is because God has placed that person in that position, and he has plans for that position, just like he has plans for you.  And frankly, neither you nor I have any right to question his wisdom regarding that placement. Don’t believe me? Just do a cursory read of Romans 11:33-36 where we are told how great God is. Finally, this doesn’t mean that opposing the leaders we don't like is wrong. Our political process allows for that opposition. In fact, it even encourages it.  But you are to do it with respect for their positions, respect for Christ as a bearer of his image, and a respect for the truth. Finally, you are to do it by following the rules of the system that allows for the opposition.