Will Voting for Donald Trump Ruin the Evangelical Witness?

The most common objection I've received from my recent article on why I'm voting for Trump (reluctantly and grudgingly though it may be), is that I'm told if evangelicals vote for Trump it ruins the witness of the church to the watching world.
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I'm told that when believers vote for Trump they're discrediting Christ and His church and creating stumbling blocks for unbelievers to trust in Christ.

While good-intentioned as these arguments may be, I reject them for at least the following reasons: (1) The political atmosphere is only a byproduct of the cultural war, which we evangelicals as a whole have given up on long ago. If we're to worry about tainting our witness to the world, it must start first and foremost with the cultural war, (2) We have a solid history in Scripture where our fellow-saints were able to live in good conscience, given the circumstances around them, with supporting immoral people in office (or a position of political power) and even helping them attain such a position. The situation we face today is similar. And we would do well to follow their example. (3) Seeking the world's approval should be the furthest thing from us - even when it comes to politics.
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Political Power vs. Cultural Power

Politics tends to follow on the heels of culture. When you look at Israel, for example, you see them as a humbled people crying out to the Lord for help (Ex. 2:23, 24-25), and He sends them the most humble man in all the earth (Num. 12:3) to deliver them from Egypt (Ex. 3:9, 10).

Then when their culture turns away from fearing the Lord, they reject God as their king (1 Sam. 8:7) and ask for a human king in order to be like "all the other nations" (1 Sam. 8:19, 20). [Despite the fact they were supposed to be different from all the other nations in their culture, religion, and even political regime (Deut. 4:6, 7, 8).]

Eventually, their culture disintegrated from one of worshiping the one true God, in the way He prescribed, into worshiping other gods on all the high places (that is, in all the wrong ways). And when that happened, even after continued calls for repentance from the prophets He sent them (2 Chron. 24:19), eventually God gave them only two bad (or, more appropriately, evil) political choices: Stay with Coniah and see the utter destruction of Jerusalem (Jer. 21:8-10), or surrender to Nebuchadnezzar and be able to live, and, through humble prayer, even prosper (Jer. 29:7 - yes, prosper even under an unbelieving, wicked ruler).

The book of Judges, of course, shows this same theme. The culture is taken with pride and wickedness, and an evil political ruler is given to them. The culture is eventually then characterized by humble repentance, and a deliverer is given them.

I don't think we should be surprised to see God do the same thing with other nations (see the book of Jonah for one). And I'm inclined to believe He's doing the same with modern America.

So what's wrong with our culture?

Well, there's nowhere near enough space in a single blog post to document the entire list. But think about just basic categories, and I think you'll start to see some problem areas.

Enlightenment Ethos
We perceive ourselves and even pride ourselves in this country as being a very "enlightened" culture; yet we fail to see that any true enlightenment (that is, true wisdom and knowledge) must start with its foundation as the fear of the Lord (Prv. 1:7; Jn. 1:9).

And you don't have to be a genius to know that as a culture we do not fear the Lord. It's pretty obvious in our culture that fearing the Lord is in the exact opposite direction of how we pursue "enlightenment."

Enlightenment is considered "being progressive," by things as silly as not using gender specific pronouns, to things as heinous as wanting to abolish the death penalty for convicted murderers, but having no problem murdering 3,000 innocent lives a day.

While the Lord Jesus came into the world to truly enlighten us (Jn.1:9), we as a culture have come to call what is evil good and what is good evil (Isa.5:20ff), which of course invokes the judgment of God (Isa. 5:24).

Certainly there are many Christians at the forefront of some of these issues (and we haven't scratched the surface on "the issues"). But with the amount of Christians in this country and our call to expose the unfruitful works of darkness (Eph. 5:11), for the most part there seems to be a deafening silence from the church.

Of course, I would think the root of this cause is that the church itself is not basing its foundation to wisdom and knowledge on the fear of the Lord.

We're certainly not basing even our beliefs about Him on the Scriptures He's revealed to us. A recent survey by LifeWay Research found that the majority of evangelicals hold to documented heretical beliefs concerning different aspects of basic Christian theology. If we don't even really know the God we worship (Jn. 17:3), how are we going to know how to engage the culture in a way that He's commanded us?

While I think we can change, and pray that we do. As of now...

So much for our "witness" in the realm of America's "enlightenment" ethos...


Education
But speaking of true enlightenment and its foundation in the person of Jesus Christ (Prv. 1:7; Jn. 1:9; Col. 2:3), what have we done in our culture when it comes to education?

Can the majority of Christian parents say they're bringing their children up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord (Eph. 6:4; cf. Deut. 6:7), when the majority of Christian children are sent off to our "enlightened" (see above) government-run schools with government-mandated "education," which by and large is antithetical to Christian theology, virtue, and practice?

Even being in the "Bible Belt" won't change the fact that government teachers are not allowed to relate every fact our children are taught to the Creator and Sustainer of all such facts, the Lord Jesus Christ (Col. 1:16, 17, 2:3). At best Christ is ignored in our children's' instruction, and at worst He is outright denied.

This is hardly a culture that is bowing the knee to the Lord Jesus Christ. The very basic problem with this is that Christ Himself says that we can't be in neutrality when it comes to Him. We're either for Him or against Him (Mt. 12:30). And though the vulnerability of children's minds are described in Scripture as being "tossed to and fro by the waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine" (Eph. 4:14), we're somehow perfectly fine with sending them to schools that teach Jesus' Lordship is irrelevant or non-existent.

Our culture is clearly against Him in this regard. And in sending our children to government schools (and even some "Christian" schools), we're sending our children to actively learn not to be for Christ, which means we're sending them to actively learn to be against Him.

Again, I think we can change on this and pray that we do. And it's exciting to see faithful Christian schools and homeschooling families grow.

But as of now...

So much for our "witness" in the realm of "education."


Entertainment
Our vote for Trump will supposedly be a stumbling block for our evangelical witness on the grounds that he has a terrible moral character. He's a vulgar, crude, racist, sexist, womanizing, fornicator/adulterer. And if we give him power, we're giving power to vulgar, crude, racist, sexist, womanizing, fornicating/adulterating behavior.

Yet many of the Christians who oppose Trump on such grounds have no problem inviting these same kinds of people into our living rooms weekly (or daily) through our entertainment choices.

Pick a show - past, present, or future - and think of the characters on that show. Chances are (and I would say it's downright guaranteed) that some, if not many (if not all) of the characters in the shows we watch have at least one or all of the same characteristics of Donald Trump: crude, vulgar, racist, sexist, womanizing fornicator/adulterer.

And though we may privately denounce those qualities in those characters, we still watch those shows and give them cultural power.

And then we wonder why our only two practical options in this political race are Trump and Hillary. We're told not to support Trump because of his character; yet his character is the very epitome of what we support throughout the week in the entertainment choices we make. We've told the world for years what we'll accept from them. And all of a sudden when they give it to us, packaged in political form, it's somehow unacceptable?

I don't see how this isn't hypocrisy, my friends.

The difference, I see, when it comes to Trump and our entertainment choices, is that the evangelicals I know who are voting for Trump are doing so reluctantly, and at the same time are publicly repudiating his rebellion against God's commands and his unrepentant attitude.

But I'll let you decide for yourself if you are giving your entertainment choices the same public denunciation for the things those shows get wrong. As of now, I don't think the makers of such shows have received any such message (shame on me as well here - I'll admit).

One last time, I think this can change, and pray that it does.

But as of now...

So much for our "witness" when it comes to entertainment.


Conclusion on Culture
The solution of course is to take back the culture. In the meantime, we do have an important political choice coming up. And while long-term, the cultural war is the bigger fight, God uses the political power He ordains to help restrain evil (Rom. 13:1-7). So as long as we have a voice to use, I say we use it to help restrain as much civil evil as we can while simultaneously re-gaining our ground in the cultural battlefield.

Regarding entertainment I'm not saying the solution is to stop watching TV. And I'm certainly not saying the solution is to support Trump (or TV) with absolute blind support.

I'm saying, we need to live all of our lives (culturally and politically) in light of Scripture. We need to speak out against the evils of this world (Eph. 5:11) when it comes to political candidates just as much as we need to when it comes to our culture and entertainment.

But as I've said before, politics follows culture. If we want to be in a position to have candidates better than Trump and Hillary, we need to regain the fight in the cultural war, and until then, not retreat on the political war.

But that brings me to the second point...
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The Saints in Scripture
​Supporting Immoral People in Political Power

Israel had a lot of terrible rulers in their history; some of them with very reprehensible moral character. Solomon himself, though the wisest of men, did not always apply his wisdom to his own life. He ended up with 700 wives and 300 concubines (1 Kgs. 11:3). Yet Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada (1 Kgs. 1:38, 2:35) didn't fear that their witness about the goodness of the LORD was at stake when they served Solomon and even helped him achieve power.

​Ahijah the prophet helped wicked Jeroboam get into power (recognizing it was a judgment of God on Israel) and did not fear that his witness would be tarnished by doing so (1 Kgs. 11:29-39).

Daniel surrendered to Nebuchadnezzar without worrying his witness would be called into question; because, personally, he obeyed God (Dan. 1:8). And as it turned out, because of his witness, he even had a platform from which he could call Nebuchadnezzar out on his wickedness and call him to repentance (Dan. 4:27).

Previous to all of these, Samuel wasn't worried his witness about the goodness of the LORD was at stake when he anointed Saul. Can we maybe reflect on that a minute?

It's not as though Samuel didn't know what he was getting into when he anointed Saul (giving him power to be in "political office"). Even before he anointed him, he knew exactly what kind of ruler Saul was going to be:

He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots. And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men and your donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves.
-1 Samuel 8:11-17

"You shall be his slaves," says Samuel about the king on the ballet. In other words, "he will be a tyrant."

Yet Samuel anointed Saul anyway, knowing that he himself could, and would, still attest to God's goodness and maintain his witness concerning Him (1 Sam. 12:6-18).

Political leaders are rarely those who seek after God's own heart. We have only two examples of Israel Kings in all of Scripture where that was the case: David (Acts 13:22), and Josiah (2 Kgs. 23:25). The rest - even the "good" ones had severe flaws, many of them caring mainly about themselves (Isa. 39:6, 8). Yet there remained faithful men and women who gave their political support to these rulers and still maintained their witness to the goodness and justice of God (1 Kgs. 18:1, 19:18).

Yes - whatever Trump's local church is, the elders there ought to exercise church discipline concerning his unrepentant sins (1 Cor. 5:5). But that shouldn't keep a Christian from voting for him - in good conscience - in order to stop Hillary Clinton from the devastation she will cause and the mass murders of infanticide she plans to continue.

Given our two options in this election, our call to seek the welfare of our nation (Jer. 29:7), and the history of saints of old giving political support to immoral people, given their circumstances, I would think any Christian can vote for Trump without fearing they'll destroy the evangelical witness to the unbelieving world.

But that brings me to my third point:
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The Fear of the World Is the Last Thing We Need

I'm often told that the reason I'm voting for Trump is that I fear the world rather than God. I don't think that's the case. But what I do find odd is that these same people are saying they're afraid that voting for Trump sends the world the wrong message about Christians...

So, who's really fearing the world here?

​Either way, the fear of the world and what they think of us should have little, if nothing, to do with this:

If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.
-John 15:18

Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you.
-1 John 3:13

We're told that the world does hate us and will hate us. And this has nothing to do with the fact that we would - in the circumstances of our day - vote for someone like Trump.

The world will hate us because the world hates Jesus Christ (Jn. 15:18). The world is in rebellion against God (Rom. 1:18-32), does not seek for Him (Rom. 3:10, 11, 12), cannot please Him (Rom. 8:7, 8), is futile in its thinking, darkened in its understanding, and callous in its heart (Eph. 4:18, 19), lives a life of hatred through slavery to passions and pleasures (Ti. 3:3), lies in the power of Satan (1 Jn. 5:19; cf. 2 Cor. 4:3, 4), and is spiritually dead to all things concerning a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 2:14; cf. Eph. 2:1).

And yet we think that if we vote for a candidate who, though morally corrupt as he is, is clearly superior a candidate compared to the only other reality before us, the world won't come to Christ or will think less of Christians because of that?

My friends, apart from God, sin is the strongest power imaginable when it comes to our human nature (and rationalizations). The world may use "our vote for Trump" as an excuse not to come to Christ or to think less of Christians; but that's not why they won't come to Christ or think less of Christians. They won't come to Christ and/or they'll think less of Christians because they already hate Christ and are in rebellion against Him and therefore hate His followers as well.

If we're going to play this game, couldn't it also be that the world will think we're hypocritical when we say we're pro-life and then actively vote for Clinton - who has made it very clear she has no respect for the unborn people who bear God's image - or inactively let her win this election by refusing to vote, or vote for someone who we know won't win?

This Christian witness game about the world thinking we're hypocritical goes both ways, friends. And no matter how we vote, you better believe that people of "the world" (as Biblically described above) will call us hypocrites - either way - and try to say that we've turned them off to Christianity.

In reality, their own sin has turned them off to Christianity. Should we fear what they think about us when trying to decide who the better candidate would be in terms of providing us and our posterity a way to protect the unborn (supreme court justice decision), protect our own loved ones (2nd amendment issue), protect our right to legally speak out against sin (social issues, like adultery, homosexuality, corrupt political leaders, etc.), providing an economy in which free market jobs and commerce takes place in a way as to help the poor rather than enslave them (economic issues)?

In short, if we are to actively seek the good of the city, state, nation we find ourselves in (Jer. 29:7; cf. Heb. 11:13; 1 Pet. 2:11), so that we can protect our neighbors and other loved ones and provide a better future for our children - our understanding of what people-in-rebellion-against-God think of us should be the furthest thing from our minds!

The faithful Israelites were not giving up their witness of YAHWEH by preferring to be under the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar rather than the utter destruction of being under Coniah. And we are not giving up our Christian witness by preferring a Trump presidency to Clinton's.

And even if we were going to play that game, I would say our duty should rather be to the 3,000 innocent lives a day that are murdered in our country. In my understanding, doing what we can to protect them screams hypocrisy a lot less than electing someone with terrible sexual practices and foul language. Our duty is to seek the welfare of our country - which certainly includes the unborn.

Our duty is to be faithful to God, and not concern ourselves with what "the world" will think of us.

But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile,
and pray to the LORD on its behalf,
for in its welfare you will find your welfare.
-Jeremiah 29:7

Rescue those who are being taken away to death;
hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.
If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,”
does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?
Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it,
​and will he not repay man according to his work?
-Proverbs 24:11-12