Six months to go. Six more months of Christians running away from their Bibles to embrace the princes of this world to save Sodom.

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It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man.It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes. - Psalm 118: 8-9 (ESV)

There is no subject that makes Christians abandon their Bibles faster than politics. It is sad every year and especially during a presidential election year, to watch Christians turn from their Savior to flawed men and women to save them. To save their money. Save their future. Save their children. What is worse though is like those who have fallen under false teaching; there is little convincing people of their folly once they have their choice in mind. It is their way or the highway and if you dare to offer otherwise you are not only considered a fool but often a bad Christian. I would spare us this merry go round this year if possible. Consider the following an election year primer for Christians who are serious about God and what His Word says. Let us start with who the Bible says we are:

Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. - 1Peter 2: 11 (ESV)

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, - Philippians 3: 20 (ESV)

This needs to be the starting point as believers when it comes to politics. This is not our home beloved. This is not our country and we do not have primary citizenship here. Yes there are secular, civic responsibilities but they have absolutely nothing to do with our true identity as a follower of Jesus Christ. Far too often we see Christians identifying themselves first with the carnality of this country and second as Christians. The result is predictable. They try to bend what is carnal into their faith. The definition of a sojourner is someone who is only staying somewhere temporarily. An exile is defined as someone who is separated from their true home. Do we get that today beloved? I understand that the eternal life is rarely preached about anymore in this worldly church we see today but this is the biblical reality. Far too many Christians identify themselves by their party instead of by their Savior. We are not Republican or Democrat. We are not conservative or liberal. These are carnal terms designed to divide men apart. Our true identity must always be found in Christ who seeks to bring all people together under His glorious rule. So the false litmus tests we always see are of the flesh. The notion that if we are Christian then we must first be of this party of that persuasion is a false premise. It confers righteousness where it does not belong. Neither party is righteous. None of the candidates seek to do the true will of God. They know how to throw out Christian sound bites but at the end of the day they do not believe as you or I, nor should we expect them to without the indwelt Holy Spirit. Here is a little test about conferring false righteousness:

President A - taught Sunday School, served as a Deacon in his Baptist Church

President B - believes that all religions serve the same God

President A is Jimmy Carter and President B is George W. Bush. Neither is righteous beloved but how does the majority of the church view these two presidents? Carter is often vilified by Christians while many consider Bush to be the only real "Christian" president we have ever had. God does not want us seeking our help from man but from Him. Now that we have established who we are, let us not lose sight of who the world is and their relationship to the Bible and God:

Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him,as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. - 2Peter 3: 14-16 (ESV)

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. - 1Corinthians 1: 18 (ESV)

For us the Bible ought to be the very power of God beloved. Why? Because it provides us with the absolute truth we need to overcome the world and the lies of the devil. But who is the Bible written for? Who is it written to? According to the Corinthians verse it cannot be intended for the unbeliever because he will consider it folly, or foolishness. Have you ever tried to impart biblical truth to an unbeliever? Even if the exchange is cordial they simply do not get it. They do not get the revealed truth of Scripture because they do not have the indwelt Holy Spirit, who the Bible says leads us into all truth. Now consider the verses from the Second Epistle of Peter, which was written to believers. Peter expressly reminds us that there are things that are hard to understand in Scripture and that unbelievers twist them to their own destruction. I think on a basic theological level we all get this. The Bible is written for us and our personal lives. Yes we can use it to help our brothers and sisters but it is not designed for us to wield as a blunt instrument against the unsaved because they will not understand it.

Yet isn't that what Christian leaders espouse we do every election season? Find the candidate that allegedly comes as close as possible to some level of "Christian values." In the hope that they will somehow lead and legislate accordingly. So we hope to legislate the Bible into the lives of people who do not know Christ. That simply will not work. Even if laws were passed or repealed that brought about some perceived moral utopia Christians are seeking it will change nothing in the eternal balance. Behavior is a product of who we are. Sin is a symptom of our fallen state. Outlawing the behavior does not save anyone. Only the Gospel is the power of God unto the salvation of men. Jesus Christ Himself was apolitical when He walked the earth. He was essentially indifferent. Give to Caesar what is his. You want my tax? Go find the first fish and it will be in it mouth. Even before Pilate He clearly stated that His kingdom is not of this world. The truth is we continue as Christians to value the wrong life. We are too busy trying to fix this fallen world, which God has already told us will pass away, instead of testifying to the eternal world that people could have. Not if they behave better but if they put their faith in Christ for the forgiveness of their sins. Remember the disciples cared a great deal about the politics of their day. They all thought the Messiah was going to deliver them from the political oppression of their day and the Roman Empire. Even after being told repeatedly that He had come to deliver them from the oppression of sin, they still held out hope for a political deliverance:

So when they had come together, they asked him, "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" - Acts 1: 6 (ESV)

This was after the resurrection! Jesus promised them He would rise from the dead and did so and as He spent time with His disciples they still preferred to focus on this life instead of the life to come. Rome still weighed more heavily upon them than the Gospel. The past is always prologue beloved. Even though the Bible says these things were written down so might learn from them we often are reluctant students. We are more concerned with some pre-fabricated notion of revival than we are with making sure our doctrine is sound so that people actually get saved. That if we could just get those unbelieving goats to behave a little better than maybe God will stay His coming wrath. How foolish we are. We are living in Rome. We are living in Sodom. We are living in Babylon. We are supposed to be pilgrims and sojourners passing through and telling people of the Promised Land that is available for all. Remember beloved; God does not promise a great end times revival. He promises there will be a great end times falling away.

The next fallacy we have to dispel concerns relative righteousness. God is not waiting for you in heaven to review your voting record. As if you will stand before Christ and He will say, "Well, I would like to let you in but"Clinton in 96? Sorry, there's the down escalator." Remember that in 2012 the majority of Christians voted for an active member of a satanic cult that believes Jesus and the devil are brothers. Yet every year we see Christians and Christian leaders outright state or at least infer that their candidate is somehow the righteous one. What they really are trying to sell is the notion of the lesser of two evils. That is a debate I do not wish to be involved in and neither should any Christian because essentially you are advocating for and arguing for evil. Lesser evil is still evil. Listen, I have no problem with Christians using the lesser of two evils strategy when casting a secular vote. The issue is in defending it as if it were righteous when it most certainly is not. We should not be caught bragging about our evil vote. We should not be defending our evil vote. We certainly should not be caught politicking for our evil vote. Why? Because at the end of the day it is still evil.

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! - Isaiah 5: 20 (ESV)

The Bible teaches us that God decides who leads all nations. Even if we just come down to his permissive will, we must realize this simple truth. God is not surprised when someone gets elected. He does not need our help either. He is God and He is on the throne. He is completely sovereign and completely in control. How arrogantly do some Christian operatives behave.

When discussing these matters it would be remiss to not address the results of the modern day political obsession and the church. The result is we collectively take our eyes off of Jesus. The modern church is so externally focused to begin with. Revival cannot happen in the world beloved. It cannot happen in this country. It has to happen within the church. The Bible says if the people called by my name will repent then the land will be healed. Remember we were not meant to be a part of this world. We were meant to witness to a greater world that waits for all. When we spend so much time externally focused it is the Gospel that suffers. We want the church to unite around a flawed, unsaved man or woman, who has spent their life in rebellion to God and is promising us the world?

This is not to say that as Christians we should not vote. There are secular responsibilities we have and everything we do should be informed by our faith. It is in the defense of the evil vote that Christians stumble. It is in inferring or accusing others of somehow sinning by casting a vote different than their opinion that they do cause others to stumble. We just fail to realize that none are righteous. Not one according to the Bible. All evil will be brought into the light. I remember in the late 1990s there was the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal. I remember the collective moral outrage by politicians trying to claim the Christian high road. Fast forward to today and we find the three main "righteous" accusers have proven to be two serial adulterers and one child molester. That is what happens when we seek righteousness in man. That is what happens when we place our trust in princes.

So we come to what the key verses teach us beloved. Many Christians and Christian leaders expend a great deal of energy in the defense of their favorite candidate or their perceived party of righteousness but we are not to trust in any man. Indeed, princes themselves are not to be trusted when we have the Lord our God. Not only are we to trust in God over man but we are to take refuge in God. We are to hide ourselves in Him. He is our fortress, our buckler and our never ending source of protection. We also pretend to believe in the sovereignty of God yet act as if He needs our help every four years. As mentioned, the Bible assures us that God decides who the kings and rulers of this world are. Nothing surprises God. He will use all things and all men in power to further His own will. Even Alexander the Great is but a mere footnote in history while God will continue forever. At his height of power, Alexander was the most powerful man on earth and had conquered the known world. Legend says he wept when he saw there was nothing left to conquer. Yet for all of the relative greatness of Alexander the Great he lived only 33 years on this earth. We are all subject to the great equalizer; death. The question is not what chair we have on the Titanic but if we know where we are going when she finally sinks.

That's the point for us as believers. It is not to try and make a carnal nation into a Christian nation. It is not to establish a theocracy. The Bible does not charge us with that. It is not to take over the seven mountains of contemporary culture. It is not to set up Joel's End Time Army. These are all horribly false teachings that distract us from the one thing we are supposed to be representing and that is the Gospel. Beloved, trust me. The ship is going down. I have read the ending of the story. God is not going to change His mind. We are all on the Titanic. We have already struck the iceberg. Is the moral decay in this country real? You better believe it! That is the end result of sin and a rebellious people. Is it anymore sinful or offensive though than what is happening in the church? No, it is not. So every four years the world turns to men and princes to try and rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic. One promises cheaper chairs. Another promises sturdier chairs filled with faux righteousness. Another promises to get those who have two chairs to share. Another promises to build a wall around your chair. And we line up behind one of these and pretend that they are God's choice. The truth is that God is not in the chair business beloved. He is in the life boat business.

Because God knows the ship is going down and the state of the chairs on the deck will not save anyone. Only the state of the life boat will. The politicians are all saying the same thing in different ways. "Sit down, and I will fix your chair." The Gospel however implores you to get up and move to the life boat while you still can. You can find safety there. You can find peace there. You can take refuge there but time is running out. So vote this year but do not cling to it as if it has any power to save anything or change anything eternally. Vote because it is a civic responsibility. Then get back to the Gospel and direct people to the life boat. The clock is ticking.

Reverend Anthony Wade -- April 30, 2016

Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.