"8. This election is about more than the next four years. The policies that Democrats and Republicans promise to enact have never in my lifetime been so different, perhaps never in American history (for the differences, see my "Letter to an Anti-Trump Christian Friend," and also the platforms of Democratic and Republican parties--the Republicans kept their 2016 platform for 2020). America is truly at a turning point, and because of the immense power that judges now have, this election could set the direction of our nation not just for the next four years, but for the next 10 or 20 years or even more. Let me explain why. If Joe Biden wins the election, and if Democrats gain a majority in the Senate, the Democratic platform promises to make Washington, D.C., the 51st state (p. 58-59), which would automatically add two more Democratic senators to the U.S. Senate, making it more difficult for Republicans to ever regain a majority. And their platform holds open the possibility of making Puerto Rico the 52nd state (p. 59), giving a potential of yet two more Democratic senators. Present Trump has appointed and the Senate has so far confirmed 212 judges who now serve in the 852 district and circuit judgeships in the United States. But that positive influence on the judicial system could be quickly diluted because the Democratic platform says they are committed to "creating new federal district and circuit judgeships" (p. 38). Trump has also appointed two of the nine Supreme Court justices (Gorsuch and Kavanaugh), and, with the death of Justice Ginsburg, he may yet be able to appoint a third justice giving the court a 6-3 majority of conservative or "originalist" justices who will rule according to the original meaning of the Constitution and laws (but Chief Justice John Roberts is an unreliable originalist vote)." - Wayne Grudem
This is what happens when you only focus on this world. All of your reasoning is focused on this world too. It skews your view. Grudem is worried about Biden winning and the dems controlling the Senate but never addresses why these things may occur. The fact is that all of those righteous Republicans Grudem has been begging the church to vote for have been trying to steal people's healthcare for years now. They have passed tax cuts for billionaires but refuse to pass a second COVID aid response. They notice when your favorite righteous party steals Supreme Court seats and gloats about their hypocrisy. And what about the people who live in Washington DC and Puerto Rico? Notice how they do not even factor in as human beings to Grudem. Instead they are automatically considered negative politically so no reason to consider them as people. By the way, why are they automatically Democratic? This is the pure carnality of politics. Because the Republican Party does not believe they can properly sell their platform in DC and PR, they automatically oppose statehood for these people. Wow. Lastly here notice the slap at Chief Justice John Roberts. I remember when Bush nominated him. The church was positively giddy. A funny thing happened on the way to Roberts being a puppet for the right wing. He realized how history judges him was more important now that his lifetime seat means he is not beholden to the party that nominated him. He is still wildly right wing but because he is not pure, he is now vilified. That is yet another reason why we do not vote as Christians based solely on one issue that requires someone in addition to the one we vote for to come through for us. These carnal politicians love using gullible Christians.
"Whoever wins this presidential election will likely be able to choose one or perhaps two justices (Breyer is 82, Thomas is 72 and Alito is 70). Even if no one retires, several Democrats have raised the possibility of adding six new seats to the Supreme Court, which could give a 9-6 majority of young, "living Constitution" judges who do not consider themselves subject to the original meanings of the Constitution and laws, but think that they have the authority to rewrite these documents according to what they now think the Constitution or law should have said. The result would be one politically far-left policy after another imposed on the country, not by laws passed through Congress and signed by the president, but by judicial rulings that would find a way to claim that these rulings are "constitutional" and therefore impossible to change by any future president or Congress. But if President Trump is reelected, the next four years will look very different from the Democratic vision. Trump will likely appoint one or two more Supreme Court justices and hundreds of additional district and circuit court judges who believe that "no one is above the law," and therefore they will not consider themselves to be above the Constitution and the laws and able to give them new meanings, but rather will consider themselves to be subject to the law, understood according to the meaning of the words at the time the law or the Constitution itself were written. Therefore, new laws will only be created, not by the novel ideas of powerful judges, but as they should be created: through the actions of state legislatures and governors and the actions of the U.S. Congress and the president, all of whom are accountable to the people through the election process." - Wayne Grudem
So much debate about originalists verses living constitutionalists. Who cares! Do you think God cares one whit! If the Democrats expand the court to 15 and then the Republicans expand it to 20, is one more soul saved for the kingdom of Christ? Can God handle one far-left policy after another? Trump will have nominated three Supremes. Is that not enough for your faith? No beloved. It will never be enough. That is why dominionists have it so wrong. Every election year since I have been legal to vote has been branded by the Wayne Grudem's of the world as the most important of our lifetime. This year is not different. The year 2024 will not be different. For this world, it will be dire and apocalyptic but for God it will just be one more year drawing to the day He returns. While Grudem and the NAR would have the church fighting over the scraps of this fallen world, the only thing that will matter to God is the preaching of His Gospel.
"9. Genuine threats to religious freedom. In my view, the most troubling possibility is the threat of a significant loss of religious freedom that would likely follow a Biden-Harris victory. The Democratic platform promises, "We will reject the Trump administration's use of broad religious exemptions to allow businesses, medical providers, social service agencies and others to discriminate." This sentence, if understood in the context of recent Democratic policy advocacy and judicial activism, predicts a whole series of lawsuits attempting to force Christians in businesses to violate their consciences by requiring that their insurance plans pay for abortifacient medicines, abortions and sex-change surgeries. It predicts that doctors, nurses and other medical professionals would be required to participate in abortions or lose their jobs. It predicts that professional counselors would be prohibited from attempting to help homosexual men and women who want to begin to live a heterosexual lifestyle. It predicts that Christian bakeries, photographers and florists would face heavy fines for "discrimination" and be driven into bankruptcy if they refused to bake a cake, take wedding photographs or provide flower arrangements for same-sex weddings. The 2020 Democratic platform says Democrats will "reject" the Trump administration's "broad religious exemptions" that today are still protecting Christians from such government oppression. In addition, this platform statement predicts that Christian adoption agencies and foster care agencies would be put out of business because of "discrimination" unless they were willing to place children with homosexual, lesbian and transgender couples. It predicts that Christian schools and colleges would be forced to close because of "discrimination" unless they allowed transgender students to use restrooms, locker rooms, showers and on-campus housing that corresponds to their chosen "gender identity" rather than their biological sex. And, if Canada and some European countries provide a precedent, this statement predicts that even pastors and other Christian leaders might be prosecuted for hate speech if they dare to speak publicly against any aspect of the LGBT-plus agenda." - Wayne Grudem
Grudem concludes with a list of topics he thinks pastors can preach about instead of the Gospel. These include religious freedom, obeying the law, abortion, sexual orientation and gender identity, marijuana, immigration and border security, global warning/climate change and military power. This may as well be the Republican Party platform! To make matters worse, Grudem tries to leverage the bible to excuse preaching about these. In the majority of these scripture citations Grudem takes things God declared for Israel and pretends they should now apply to the world. This is what the NAR is forced to do because they have no biblical leg to stand on. Let me look at just two of these:
--Immigration and border security: How does God want us to wisely apply the command to "love the sojourner" (Deut.10:19) as well as the commands to be subject to the government and obey its laws (Rom. 13:1-5)? If we dislike current immigration laws, what is the best way to get those laws changed? Is it right for a nation to have a wall to protect its borders? (Ex. 22:21, 23:9; Deut. 10:19; Ps. 122:7, 51:18; 2 Chron. 36:19; Neh. 1:3, 2:17; Prov. 25:28).
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