Vote Strategically

While Trump may not be the model Christian, he is clearly doing a far better job than his competition at protecting those who are. Anti-Christian members of our society are convincing Christians to vote against themselves by distracting us with Trump's personality.

It's important we make as strategic a choice as possible when we vote later this month. We mustn't treat this as a personality contest. This year, as four years ago, neither candidate is a gem. Don't pretend either one is. It's more strategic to vote on platforms than just on personalities. FRC made an excellent party platform summary at https://prayvotestand.org/platforms (and the full platforms are direct linked below). Giving weight to the party platforms in our voting decision is important because:

• the party informs & influences the politician (president or otherwise) far more than the individual politician informs & influences the platform, and
• politicians have proven to vote/act aligned with their party platform on average more than 80% of the time (https://www.vox.com/2016/7/12/12060358/political-science-of-platforms) over the last 25 years.

One platform is clearly superior over the other, therefore one candidate is the clear choice, depending on your worldview. You can be Christian and liberal just as much as you can be Christian and conservative. However, a Christian Leftist is kidding themselves because the Left's agenda is antithetical to the Biblical worldview. Here's a 6-minute video summarizing some differences between liberal and Left, without even taking religion into account: https://www.prageru.com/video/left-or-liberal/, and here's an overly simplistic illustration:

The leaders of both (all) political parties are human, and therefore flawed. Don't spend your time pointing out those flaws as if it's news. And don't pretend that one candidate is all honest and full of integrity while the other isn't, no one's buying that. However, it's strategically important to note the Democratic party has experienced what business people call a "hostile takeover" (an involuntary internal change of leadership) and those same people want to do the same to the entire government. The Democratic party used to be the liberal party, but is now led & controlled by Leftists. To vote for a Democratic candidate now (whether president, governor, or legislator) is to endorse Leftist ideals and invite them to become dominant in society. Liberals and conservatives have common goals, just different ways of achieving them. But Leftists have different goals entirely. Since Leftist ideas are at odds with and threatened by Christian ideas, a vote for a candidate in a Leftist-controlled party is a vote against Christian values, regardless of how the individual candidates talk, behave, or promise.

In the Old Testament, Moses relayed from God at least two types of laws:

1. moral (Exodus 20:13-14, Deuteronomy 12:31)
2. ceremonial (Exodus 30:19, Leviticus 2:1)

All were not equal (1 Samuel 15:22), the former (a) was the foundation for the later (b). When Jesus came, He was more strict about the moral law (Matthew 5:27-28, 19:7-9) and completely laxed the ceremony (Mark 2:23-28, Matthew 27:50-51). This was because the moral law was absolute, but the ceremonial law was no longer needed after Jesus (Acts 15:23-29, 1 Corinthians 10:25‭-‬27, Hebrews 10:8-9).

In the USA today, we have at least three types of laws:

1. moral (honesty, marriage, murder, privacy, property, sexuality)
2. civil (defense, education, justice, rights)
3. fiscal (budgets, debt, healthcare, infrastructure, social security, welfare)

All are not equal, the former (a) is the foundation for the later (b and c). Bickering about the later while neglecting the former is a receipe for disaster, and would be a horrible strategy for voting.

The Left says the following about morality:

1. Abortion should be legalized, have zero-restrictions, and be tax-payer funded.
1. To a Christian, the word "abortion" isn't in the Bible, but it's equivalent, "child sacrifice," is, and that was repeatedly condemned (Jeremiah 32:35). Human life begins at fertilization, not before and not after, and legalized murder is not acceptable. There are plenty of alternatives.
2. LGBTetc should be normalized and protected by law.
1. To a Christian, sexual immorality is clearly defined in the Bible, and discouraged from Genesis through Revelation (Ephesians 5:3). National accountability is a real concept and also described in the Bible (Proverbs 14:34). It's not ok to live in a country that voluntarily normalizes what God defines as sin. The USA was founded as a Christian nation so Christians should put in the effort to preserve that, not simply let it evaporate. (The Supreme Court of the US declared in a unanimous decision "this is a Christian nation" in 1892. They weren't legislating from the bench, they were stating the obvious.)
3. Anyone who identifies as female may compete in female sports and use female designated locker rooms and bathrooms.
1. To most of the rest of us, the sports issue is unfair and the locker room situation is unsafe for people with no Y chromosome. To a Christian with a strong Biblical worldview, God only made two sexes (Genesis 1:27) and our gender should match the sex declared by the genes in every cell in our body. Anything else is confusion that can and should be corrected, not encouraged nor protected.
4. Marriage is whatever we make of it.
1. To a Christian, God defined marriage (Matthew 19:4-6), the government did not, so the government has no jurisdiction to redefine it. (This was so obvious that the Supreme Court of Texas recognized it in writing in their decision in Grigsby v. Reib in 1913 and a bipartisan congress, including Joe Biden, voted in a law called the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996 with 86% yea.)
5. Popular opinion determines right and wrong. Though the opinion of the political elite dictates what is politically correct.
1. To a Chrisitian, God gave standards thousands of years ago which still apply to us today. God was our Creator and He determines right and wrong (John 16:8). Our laws should supplement that, not contradict (Romans 13:1, Acts 5:29). Political correctness is just a cover for people who can't win a logical argument by being scientifically correct.
6. Systemic racism is a huge problem in our nation.
1. Every non-Leftist I know is sympathetic to people who've felt discriminated against, but beg the question: if the racism is systemic or structural then show us the law/​policy that needs fixed? If there is none, then it's not technically systemic nor structural. Don't forget, we elected an African American to the office of president, twice. To a Christian, the concept of racism is technically misguided anyway because we're all descended from Adam and Eve and so all one race (Genesis 3:20, 10:32). The government-run atheist-lead Human Genome Project also came to the same conclusion in 2003. Discrimination and prejudice are issues that exist everywhere, and have always existed, and the citizens of the USA need to improve our selfishness no more than every other nation, because all nations are full of humans. The best solution to fixing "race" issues is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, not defunding nor transforming the police, and certainly not "freedom from religion." Replacing Christianity (such as removing the 10 Commandments) with evolution (which inherently teaches racist ideas) in society is necessarily counterproductive towards the goal of ending racism, and which political party is pushing for it?

The Left says the following about civility:

7. America was never great.
1. The Left's stance on this is based on their anti-Christian worldview. The founding of America was clearly done on Christian principles, so they feel they must discredit and abandon it, and move on to something new (that they create). Good Christians acknowledge the problems of the past (and the present) but appreciate the Godly heritage this country has and recognize God as the source of our blessings (Deuteronomy 8:17-18). We were a great nation and while in many ways we still are, the Left is destroying it (for reasons and in ways itemized on this page). That's why Trump popularized the slogan "Make America Great Again," specifically as an anti-Leftist and pro-original intent message, and so naturally the Left hates it. This is also the reason for the "1619 Project," whose goal is not simply innocent education but to slanderously discredit the USA and worse, make our children resent it so they'll willingly vote to destroy it sooner or later (Psalms 11:3).
8. The First Amendment to the USA Constitution promises freedom *from* religion.
1. In reality, it promised freedom from the government declaring an official denomination to be the official religion of the country (as had been the case in England) then it promised freedom *of* religion. Making the nation atheist is not protecting us from religion, it's forcing a specific set of beliefs on us (including evolution and naturalism). By looking at their writing, many of our Founding Fathers were clearly devout, religious people and expected us to be too. The Left is attempting to bully Christianity out of schools, the media, law, and all of society. The removal of the 10 Commandments was an example of religious persecution because simply having those monuments, posters, etc, was a recognition of history, not a forcing of people in what they had to believe. God warned His people not to forget Him after He had richly blessed them, and that warning still applies today (Deuteronomy 6:10-15).
9. Freedom of conscience (such as to not pay for an employee's abortion or not make a custom-designed cake or custom flower bouquet for a gay wedding) is just a cover by conservatives (Christians) for bigotry.
1. To a Christian, accepting God or not is a personal choice because God gives us freedom of choice, beginning back in Genesis 3. Christians simply don't want to be compelled to do or support people or activities we honestly believe are discouraged by God in the Bible. This is called "freedom of conscience," was just as much an issue in the 1700s, was granted fully by the Founding Fathers, but now Leftists are attempting to eliminate in favor of ideological uniformity. (Funny, atheists have told Christians for years how immoral it was for the church to force conformity on everyone in the middle ages, and yet how quickly they're willing to do it themselves now.)
10. The State is the source of all rights.
1. To a Christian, God gave us rights and the government is a steward of those (Leviticus 25:10, Galatians 5:1). If the government wants to afford its people more rights, that's their prerogative, as long as the state-invented rights don't contradict God-defined morality. The Founding Fathers recognized this in the Declaration of Independence, and many other places.
11. Judges should push any agenda that Congress can't.
1. To everyone else (Christian or otherwise) the separation of powers should be honored. Judges should interpret the laws as they were written by the people who wrote them and apply them to current cases. Or if a law is invalid they can and should say so. But judges aren't supposed to make policy or change it, that's the legislature's job. This isn't my opinion, it's their job description as explained in our Constitution.
12. Climate change is the greatest threat to humanity in our lifetime.
1. To a Christian, God already promised in Genesis 9:11 that He'd never destroy the earth in a worldwide flood again. It stands to reason He wouldn't allow it to be flooded by us, either (global warming) for risk that such a flood would give even the appearance of breaking His promise, which would be a first for Him. Climate change is real and not insignificant, but it's not as catastrophic as Leftists claim. Worse, the Left uses climate change and "green energy" as shams on a global scale. Leaders who shout about carbon emissions and ask for billions of tax-payer dollars to implement corrective solutions, yet fly on private jets and own private vacation homes on the beach, are certainly among the hypocrites.
13. Education is the State's responsibility, and the State allows (permits) parents to raise their children.
1. To a Christian, kids and their education are the responsibility of the parents (Deuteronomy 6:6-7, 11:18-19). Many parents choose to outsource the education part to the government, but even then it's still the parents' choice. Further, parents should truly be allowed to choose any school they want for their kids.

The Left says the following about economics (fiscal policy):

14. Nothing, other than whatever the public wants to hear. Their goal is to take over, and once they do their economy strategy nor promises won't matter. So they just listen for what people want and say that, with no intention to follow through. Because by definition they consider themselves the political elite, and they know what's best for us, and once they're in control, they'll tell us what to think about economics, and everything else. They already do this with the media. (Notice how no one simply reports facts anymore? The media used to do that. There was even a name for it, it was called "journalistic integrity." Now they tell us what to think and only if we're lucky do they give us some facts. Sadly, this new form of reporting isn't limited to Leftists, but has spilled into most other news sources, too. But it's no coincidence the trend started when Leftists were coming into power.)
1. To a Christian, how we allocate our tax dollars between social programs, and which social programs we have, should be far less important than whether we honor God or not on moral issues. Similarly, whether we abandon our foundation of Christian principles for socialist principles is far more important than our economic priorities. Because if we get the economy going but let our nation rot otherwise, the economy won't last anyway. But if we get the moral and civil issues right, we have the best chance of coming to a long term win-win scenario on the economy.

Other social issues (like nationalism vs globalism and our COVID-19 response) I may come back and comment on later. Since the Left's stance on all the above is opposite to a Biblical worldview, and based on the atheist/​humanist worldview, and looking at atheist precedence in the last 100 years around the globe, it's inevitable that once they have the power they'll make dissent illegal. They've already proven their intention to do this with the Equality Act last January, which theoretically was a fair idea, but the authors rejected recommendations to word it in such a way that would prevent it from obviously being used as a club against faith-based organizations (link). As I was publishing this blog, another perfect example came to my attention at https://pjmedia.com/culture/tyler-o-neil/2020/09/30/virginia-forces-christian-ministries-to-adopt-government-ideology-or-pay-100k-n985842. If Trump was going to make disagreeing with him illegal, then he had plenty of time to try it, but he didn't.

When Joe Biden claimed "I am the Democratic party" in the first debate, either he didn't know what he was talking about, or he didn't care. Since their party is led by Leftists, Joe and his VP will be obligated to be on the wrong side of every issue above. And while many have pointed out that Donald Trump is no saint, the reason so many Christians support him anyway is because he unapologetically stands against the Left on all the above issues. As does his VP, Mike Pence. Because of this, the Left-controlled media hates him. Since they prefer the "hostile takeover," which is easier done in secret, they can't say why they really hate him, because then you might catch on and realize you disagree with them, so instead they just relentlessly slander him, often ad hominem, or his tweets. Anti-Christian members of our society are convincing Christians to vote against themselves by distracting us with Trump's personality. The fact that he gives them a ton of ammo doesn't help. But in other words, while Trump may not be the model Christian, he is clearly doing a far better job at protecting those who are. So he's going to get my vote, as he did in 2016, as will all the other Republicans I can vote for, until the Democratic party either takes back the leadership of their own party from the Leftists, or is wholly replaced. But don't just take my word for it, read their platforms (or the 2-page summary FRC made, linked above) and decide for yourself. And please vote with more strategy in mind than whether you like the personality of the candidate.

Full platforms:

• https://democrats.org/where-we-stand/party-platform/
• https://gop.com/platform/

Once Christians can stop feeling threatened by Leftist agendas for a hostile takeover of the whole government, then we can get back to talking about the economic policy of our nation, including more fun subjects like taxes, healthcare, social security, military budgets, national debt, welfare, medicare, disaster relief, infrastructure, foreign aid, humanitarian efforts, etc.

As a side note, remember that Donald Trump is not a career politician. Back in 2016, I said the reason Trump won the primaries was specifically because he was the non-politician. Then he won November, and again I said the reason was the American people wanted to send a message to Washington DC that we're sick of their career politician baloney. Both Democrats and Republicans have a tendency to do things that annoy us, not just because they're Democrat or Republican, but because they're career politicians. So it's not really logical for us to be surprised or dismayed when Trump doesn't act like a statesman. Perhaps in 2024, the American public can do a better job in the primaries to advance a statesman (or stateswoman) who will also protect Judeo-Christian/​Biblical values. I for one think the Republicans will have a hard time finding a better candidate than Candace Owens, if she decides to make a run.

If you're concerned about Trump's ability to get anything done because of his personality, fear not, that's just Leftist media propaganda. FRC made a summary of his executive accomplishments at https://prayvotestand.org/actions. Have you noticed we've not started any wars during his time, and he negotiated peace between Israel and two of her neighbors? (Something the last 3 presidents have tried but failed.) Of course he's done some things you don't like. The only president(s) who didn't, you just don't know enough about.

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