The Church and the 2020 Presidential Election: In God, not Government, we Trust

Like millions of conservative Americans, the 2020 presidential election took me by surprise. If the U S Supreme Court does not review the situation, and take legal steps to undo the wrong done by voter fraud, then without question, the leaders of the most godless, and socially radical political party every spawned in hell, shall be allowed to rule the American culture.

Like so many others, I had hoped, and prayed, that God would honor a man who has honored Him, not perfectly, but respectfully, by defending the Christian faith, promoting religious freedom, inviting prayer for himself, and for the nation.

If a godless and radical political party is allowed to hold the reigns of American government, for just a little while, Christians must remember some basic tenets of the Christian faith.  

First, remember that the source from whom all events flow is God, not government, not chance, not Natural Law, and definitely not ourselves. In the midst of political upheaval, war, famine, sickness, disease, death, and personal distress, it is easy to become so emotionally involved that the heart fails to remember that God is in control of all that was, is, or every shall be.

The Church can find courage and comfort in God. He is still on His throne. “Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure” (Isaiah 46:9, 10).

“Have faith in God when your pathway is lonely.
He sees and knows all the way you have trod;
Never alone are the least of His children;
Have faith in God, have faith in God.”

Second, remember that Christians are destined to suffer tribulation. I know there is a popular theory of escapism. Millions have been taught to believe that one day the good people, the redeemed of the Church, shall be caught up out of the world. Those who are left behind shall suffer unimaginable tribulation. While the theory has found widespread support among many Christians, there is no Biblical basis for such a belief. Despite the books, movies, and Bible schools founded on this broken reef of hope, the Scriptures reveal the following. 

The word tribulation is found twenty-two times in the Authorized Version. The word tribulations is found four times.

To suffer tribulation (Greek, thlipsis) is to suffer affliction, to be troubled, to suffer due to the pressure of circumstances, or the antagonism of persons.

In examining the passages that speak of tribulation, it becomes evident that all of God’s people in all ages, have known emotional, spiritual, and physical affliction.

The Exodus Generation. “When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice” (Deut. 4:30).

The Post Exodus Generation. “Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation” (Judges 10:14).

Professing Believers. “Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended” (Matt. 13:21).

Tribulation also comes to those who are not God’s people in the form of Divine discipline.  “Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile” (Rom. 2:9).

Of particular concern is the Christian and tribulation. The Bible clearly makes the following statements.

The disciples of Christ, for as long as they are in the world shall have tribulation. “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

Only through much tribulation will the saints enter into the kingdom. “Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22).

The value of tribulation is that it works patience.  “And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience” (Rom. 5:3). “Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer” (Rom. 12:12).

To endure tribulation is not to be loved less by Christ, for nothing shall separate us from His faithful love. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” (Rom. 8:35).

God finds a special way to comfort the saints who suffer. “Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God” (2 Cor. 1:4).

Paul could find reasons to rejoice in the very midst of tribulation, and therefore did not want anyone else to worry on his behalf.

There was spiritual growth in the saints at Corinth. “Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my glorying of you: I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation” (2 Cor. 7:4).

There was personal growth in patience. “And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience” (Rom. 5:3).

Faith was being increased. “So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure” (2 Thess. 1:4).

There was a bond of unity being experienced. “Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory” (Eph. 3:13).

When believers at Thessalonica were surprised at the suffering they had to endure, Paul reminded them he had taught that Christians must suffer. “For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation; even as it came to pass, and ye know” (1 Thess. 3:4).

John on the isle of Patmos does not divorce himself from tribulation, nor does he ever say of himself that he represents those who shall not suffer tribulation. On the contrary, John considers himself at the moment of his writing to be a companion in suffering.  “I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Rev. 1:9).

The tribulation of the saints is well known to the Lord, and is for a stated purpose. “I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. 10 Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life” (Rev. 2:9, 10).

Always, God’s people emerge victorious out of tribulation, no matter how great.  “And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Rev. 7:14).

In all the Biblical passages there is not a single word that God will spare His people from the purifying effects of tribulation. Just the opposite is stated, and demonstrated time and again. The story of the Old Testament, the writing of the New Testament, the documentation of 2,000 years of history, testifies to the blood of the saints in the church. Any teaching which seeks to exempt God’s people from tribulation, during any period of human history, will not find support from the 26 passages that uses this word. The Church in the twenty-first century will suffer, in some form, according to the will of God, for her good, and His ultimate glory.

A third foundational principle to remember is that it is perfectly normal to grieve the loss of what has been, or might have been. Other nations have been in a far worse place then where America is in 2020. In the sixth century BC, after the fall of Judah, the Jews who arrived as exiles on Babylonian soil, after the terrible destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, sat down and wept.

“By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy” (Psalm 137:1-6).

There is nothing wrong with loving one’s country, and weeping over its demise. But remember that the judgment of God is just. If God is angry with America, He has many reasons to be filled with wrath against the sin He sees.

America is a nation that legally allows the Holocaust Industry, Planned Parenthood, to function and kill babies.

America is a nation in which a large part of the population is addicted to drugs. America is a nation that promotes pornography.

America is a nation whereby every deviant lifestyle that is contrary to nature is openly practiced and promoted.

America is a nation that continues to greedily consume, and squander, the wealth of generations to come.

America is a nation in which millions support a major political party that official denies the existence of God.

America is a nation that has banned prayer from public schools, and the Bible.

In as far as God might be giving the nation over to a reprobate mind, for a short period of time, let the Church pray that, His anger will endure, but for a moment, so that, “in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning” (Psalm 30:5).

Let the Christian, above all others, say, “It is well, it is well, with my soul,” even though things are not well with the soul of the nation.