About The Election

I've recently heard that as many as 48% of self-identified Christians will not vote in Tuesday's election. That is a number that would clearly let forces distinctly opposed to Christian values win the elections. If you think both parties are the same, you need to read their stated platforms online. They are NOT the same. If you think 1 party is not especially celebrating anti-Christian views, you need to read more Bible & stop listening to CNN, etc..
Some say the Bible doesn't tell us how to vote, that the Bible isn't as important as economics or some idea of “fairness”. Some say that Christians shouldn't even vote in a tainted, worldly process. But the Bible has been the standard of fairness for millennia. There is NO better standard as proven by millennia of experience--despite people who read what the Bible said & did not DO it! And Christians not voting? Well, I submit that as a Christian (certainly as a citizen), it's simply not following the Bible.
Christians recognize the Bible is God’s manual for living. In the Bible, God says His true followers, those who truly love Him, obey His commands. (John 14:15) The Bible says, starting with the Ten Commandments, God established His commands out of love for us and for our protection. His commands are designed to lead us in a physically and spiritually healthy, fulfilling, purposeful life with eternity in paradise when we leave this world. Whatever you've read about the Christian lives of our Founding Fathers, they understood this and designed our Constitution and Bill of Rights based on those values and principles.
Many times the New Testament tells Christians to obey government, the reasons (as here) being that we'd have the peaceful environment so we can show the unsaved that there's something more important—and that is salvation thru Christ.
The laws of our republic come from the U.S. Constitution, which requires people to vote for it to work at all. If we don't vote, we are not obeying that requirement for the function of government. So obeying government (such as rendering to Caesar what is Cesar's) involves more than paying taxes, it also requires voting. That said, it also requires us to do 2 things prior to voting: 1) Educate ourselves on God's standard regarding issues in contention and the REAL stands candidates have taken on those issues judging by their past actions & statements. AND 2) Educate ourselves re: candidates' stand on those things & vote according to who is closest to God's. Note the word “closest” there. We don't vote for the perfect person—Jesus. We rarely even vote for the person who fully embodies all of your absolutely, positively correct views. (Warning: God's standards have always been less popular than what the world touts as “good”.)
John Frame, wrote in The Doctrine of the Christian Life “in some cultures (like the ancient Romans, in which the New Testament was written) there is not much that Christians can do, other than pray, to influence political structures and policies. But when they can influence them, they should. In modern democracies, all citizens are ‘lesser magistrates’ by virtue of the ballot box.” Clearly, Christians have an obligation to vote--but according to God’s standards, not mere popularity or billfold.
Edmund Burke, 18th century thinker, has often been cited as the author of “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” He may or may not have said it, though it appears to be a true statement. What Burke surely said in 1770 was: "When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle."
Christians MUST combine—work together—and vote the closest to Godly values. Pastor Geoff                                                                                                                                          Choose some wise, understanding and respected men from each of your tribes, and I will set them over you.”      Deuteronomy 1:13