Friends, government is not the answer for the soul of a nation. Jesus is. And may God bring revival again to the United States of America.
So until Jesus comes, until Jesus comes, get out there, vote, be his ambassadors, be salt and light in this world, and advance the kingdom of God for the glory of God to stem the tide. of evil in our land until Jesus comes. Let your voices be heard. Let your votes be counted and let God arise and let his enemies be scattered.
Amen and amen. For the glory of God. For the glory of God.
Well, welcome to Cornerstone Chapel. Welcome to our online viewers as well. And welcome today to Election Sermon 2024. Who's ready for this?
So it has been said that if you don't want to ruin a good dinner party, then don't talk about faith or politics. Well, today I'm about ready to ruin a good dinner party because we're going to talk about both today in the house of the Lord. Now, if you're new to Cornerstone, let me explain what's going on and why today is different from most Sundays. In 2008, I was asked by David Barton, an historian and the founder of Wall Builders, whether or not I ever preached election sermons. I said, David, I don't even know what an election sermon is.
And he pointed out two resources to me that I have here. It's a two-volume set entitled Political Sermons of the American Founding Era, 1730 to 1805. These are sermons that pastors preached. over these many decades during the period prior to the Revolutionary War and subsequent to the Revolutionary War.
Because pastors understood their duty to stand in the pulpit and to take God's Word as the lens through which we evaluate everything. And the pastors would speak out about the issues of the day, the policies of the day, the politicians of the day, and even the candidates running for office. They were unashamed in their pulpits. That two-volume Set records many of those sermons.
And yes, even during the colonial period, there was voting in America. In fact, we have the privilege of living here in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the Virginia General Assembly is the oldest continuous lawmaking body in the Western Hemisphere, established July the 30th, 1619. So we have a great heritage here in Virginia of voting. We have a great heritage here in Virginia and in other states of pastors proclaiming God's Word as the standard by which we evaluate all the issues of the day.
And so the church has always played, historically at least in our country, a critical role in speaking out about faith and politics and how faith should shape our politics. Now some of you might say, well what about the... Separation of church and state, Pastor G, and shouldn't churches stay out of politics? Well, that phrase, separation of church and state, is not found anywhere in our founding documents. Not the Declaration of Independence, not the Bill of Rights, not the Constitution.
Where did it come from? Why are people throwing that phrase around so much these days? In 1802, when Thomas Jefferson was President of the United States, he received a request to answer a question.
concerning religious freedom that was posed to him by the Baptist Convention in Danbury, Connecticut. And in a personal letter, not some executive order, Jefferson in 1802 wrote to the Danbury Baptists, and he explained the importance of the First Amendment to protect religious liberties. And in that letter in 1802, he did write about building a wall of separation between church and state.
But the intent behind the letter was to help the Baptists understand that government intrusion was limited by the First Amendment and that they had religious freedom to exercise freely without religious intrusion. And so therefore, the First Amendment is given to us in part to keep the government out of the business of the church, not the church out of the business of government. But over the years, Jefferson's phrase, separation of church and state, in that personal letter, has been used to remove God from the public square and to remove church from government influence.
And it has also intimidated a lot of pastors from addressing things that are referred to as political in the pulpit. And if that didn't intimidate pastors, then the 1954 Johnson Amendment did. In 1954, Congress approved an amendment by then-Senator Lyndon Johnson to prohibit 501c3 organizations, which include charities and churches, from engaging in any, quote, political campaign activity under the threat of losing their tax-exempt status.
By the way, receiving election... Registration to vote and recruiting election officers as we're doing today is perfectly legal. It's not a violation at all of this particular law. But the 1954 Johnson Amendment did, again, intimidate pastors from speaking out for fear of losing their tax-exempt status.
Let me just say a couple of things about this. Number one, I appreciate that having tax-exempt status is a nice benefit from the government. But if I, as a pastor, don't say to you what I'm confident God wants me to say for fear of losing our tax exemption, then I am bowing to government instead of God, and I can't do that.
But let me hasten to also say that if you're giving to the church is only to get a tax write-off, Instead of giving to the Lord, then your giving is bowing to government instead of God. Thanks to one of our elders here at Cornerstone and a constitutional attorney who was argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on several occasions. Thanks to Mike Ferris.
The Johnson Amendment is currently being challenged in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Texas because it prohibits free speech. And our church is listed.
in that filing as a witness in this case because last year, three years after my 2020 election sermon, the IRS came after us, threatening to remove our tax-exempt status because of that sermon. Now, thankfully, with the help of our lawyer friends at Alliance Defending Freedom, we were able to retain our tax-exempt status. I don't know for how long, friends, and I do pray that the court throws the Johnson Amendment on the ash heap of history where it belongs.
So since 2008, and every four years since, around a presidential election cycle, I have simply revived an old tradition here in America. by bringing to you today an election sermon and to encourage you to vote, to vote according to your personal consciences and biblical values. You see, that's all I really need to do is to say, please vote according to your personal consciences and biblical values. I don't need to tell you who to vote for because I have done my best to be faithful in this pulpit week after week after week.
to speak about the current issues of our day through the lens of the Bible, so that you will be equipped to know who to vote for or who not to vote for, based on whether that candidate's policies more closely aligns with biblical values or not. So if I've done my job consistently over the years, you should already know. I don't need to stand up here and say, vote for a particular candidate. Because you hopefully have been equipped enough to understand what scripture says and to have your God-given sanctified consciences guide you in this very important decision. And it should be based on their policies, if hopefully they have told us what their policies actually are.
And by the way, by the way, please save the emails accusing me of being political today because I'm not being political, I'm just being biblical in today's teaching. You see, the fact is that the culture has hijacked the narrative on social and moral issues that the Bible has already addressed. And then the culture has twisted those things. distorted and perverted those social and moral issues into political issues, and then told pastors like me and Christians like you to stop being so political. Well, I have news for our culture.
God had a say on all these subjects long before there was even a word political. God in the Bible speaks about life, national borders, immigration, economic prosperity, biological sex, marriage, parental authority, Israel, even the environment. It's all in the Bible.
God had the first word long before anybody. And so it's important to understand, we're just talking about the biblical issues. And we're looking at what is happening in our culture, especially on the presidential election level, and saying who most closely aligns with the things that the Bible talks about.
And if Christians would come together and vote their values, we could change America. We can change America. And we can change America not because we believe in Christian nationalism.
That is a disparaging term that the left has thrown at the church because they're accusing us of trying to turn America into a theocracy. I have no illusions. We will not be a theocracy until Jesus comes again, and I pray he would come quickly.
That's when we will really be a theocracy in the world. But I say that we can change America just because we as Christians love God and love our country. What's wrong with that?
We love God. We love our country. We hold our Bibles.
We understand the importance of religious freedom and the values that the Bible speaks about because Psalm 33 12 is true. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. That's what we want for our country.
And so now that you can see where all this is going today, all that was just an introduction free of charge. I'm going to pray in a minute, and it will give any of you cover if you want to slip out while I'm praying because you feel too uncomfortable with all of this. Listen, you came in freely, and freely you can go.
No judgment. All I would ask is that if you remain, you stay courteous in God's house. This is not a place for you to protest or a time to disrupt the service so that you can get your two minutes of fame. I know the...
saying really is 15 minutes of fame, but I guarantee you it will only take two minutes for our security to show you a Bible study at Loudon Detention Center. And let me say this too, you're free to disagree with anything I have to say today. You're free to disagree and you're still welcome to be here.
We don't practice the cancel culture the way the world does. They have intolerant tolerance to people who have a different view. Okay, you can have a different view from what I'm about to say today, and you're still welcome here, as long as you are not divisive and you strive for unity and harmony in the body of Christ. Frankly, I will probably offend just about everybody at some point today in something that I'm going to be saying here, but I'm going to do my best to speak the truth and to please an audience of one, and his name is Jesus.
Amen? So with that, let's pray together. Father in heaven, we thank you for this beautiful day that you've given us. We gather here in your house.
We open up your word. We want to understand our world and our culture through the lens of the Bible. We have two candidates running for president.
We have Kamala Harris, we have Donald Trump. We have a lot of elections in other offices that are also on the ballot. And we just pray for wisdom, and we pray God for your mercy, and we pray God for your guidance, and we pray God, as Daniel 2.2 says, you raise up kings and you depose them, and we trust your righteous hand to be involved in this whole process.
to guide us, to help us, and we thank you, Lord, for the freedom that we enjoy of living in the greatest country on earth, in the United States of America. And we give you the praise and the glory and the honor together in Jesus'name, and everybody said, Amen. I'm going to read five verses out of the book of Ezekiel.
If you have your Bibles, if you would turn to the book of Ezekiel, chapter 33. Ezekiel is not quite in the middle of your Bible. It's about two-thirds in the book of Ezekiel from chapter 33. You can listen if you don't have a Bible. I'm just going to read the first five verses.
Then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, if the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be on his own head. Verse 5. He heard the sound of the trumpet but did not take warning. His blood shall be upon himself.
But he who takes warning shall save his life. This is a reference in ancient Israel to how they would select one individual to be upon the city walls to watch out for any approaching enemy or any potential attack against that walled city. And if the watchman saw such impending disaster coming or some threat on its way, the watchman would blow a trumpet.
Then it was up to the people whether they're going to heed the sound of the warning or not. And if they would heed the sound of the warning, then they would save their lives. If they just decided, oh well, no big deal, then their life might very well be required of them.
And the watchman would not be responsible because he at least did his part to sound the trumpet. In kind of that ancient parallel, I hope to serve as like a watchman today sounding the trumpet. And then you have to decide what you do with all of that. And the reason I think it's important to sound the trumpet is because The freedoms that we have enjoyed and the country that we love are in jeopardy.
And I say that not as hyperbole. I say that based on reality because of the way that our country and our culture has been trending over the past few years, really even the past few decades. Of course, I am proud to be an American.
I believe in America's exceptionalism. But I, like many of you, are concerned for her future. And I need to say this at the onset of this study together.
Do not look to a person to save us. Do not look to a person to save us. Our faith is not in a political hero. Our faith is in the Savior. His name is Jesus.
He is our only hope for America. Jesus is our only hope for America. But until he comes again, he has charged us. with being his ambassadors in this world, to represent him. And he's charged us to be like salt and light.
Salt to be sprinkled upon a decaying culture as a preservative, as an antiseptic. And light to shine the truth into a dark world. To that end, we have a moral obligation.
to represent Christ as ambassadors and to be salt and light in this world reflecting him well. And so political engagement is one way, one way to be ambassadors and to be salt and light in the world. And by political engagement, I mean advocating for policies that promote righteousness, voting for candidates who most closely represent our biblical values, praying for our elected leaders and holding them accountable, and even running for elected office.
If Christians do not stay politically engaged, guess what will fill the vacuum? Every evil, demonic practice. Good government cannot save us, but bad government can destroy us. And so the question I want to challenge us with as we approach this presidential election is this. What can we do to advance the kingdom of God for the glory of God and to stem the tide of evil in our land until Jesus comes?
That's the question I want to challenge us with. Affecting public policy and staying politically engaged is something you see throughout the Bible. You look in the Old Testament, look at the prophets of old, like Moses, Elijah, Daniel, Isaiah, Jeremiah.
They all spoke truth to power. They all confronted kings. They all influenced national laws, and they also influenced social conscience. In the New Testament, you see John the Baptist.
He wasn't afraid to confront King Herod, the most politically powerful person in that area at the time. Jesus even weighed in on the topic of taxes. He didn't stay disengaged. And when he stood before Pontius Pilate, the governor of Judea at that time, before he was crucified, he said, Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.
He was okay speaking truth to power. He was okay speaking about things that would otherwise be labeled today as political. And so I want to share three things with us that I believe will help us advance the kingdom of God for the glory of God to stem the tide of evil in our land until Jesus comes.
And here's the first one if you're taking notes. We got to get this, friends. God uses flawed, sinful people. God uses flawed, sinful people. One of my biggest concerns this election cycle.
is the Christian who wants to do the right thing, but can't vote for a candidate who doesn't have the total package. And I hear Christians talk like this. I hear them say things like, I don't like a few things about this person's personality or a couple of their positions, but I can't vote for the other candidate because they're too far from my biblical values, and so I'll just sit it out, or I'll vote for a write-in, which is a vote for no-buy.
Nobody. This is a binary election. That's it.
And listen, I understand elections are serious things with serious consequences. But please, please tell me what other decisions do you make in your life that must meet 100% of the criteria? What other decisions do you really say?
If it doesn't have 100%, I'm not doing this. I suspect... That everybody here attends Cornerstone, but we don't meet a hundred percent of what you would like.
Like some of you are like, really love the worship. The preaching guy's a little, you know. But I still come because I love the worship. Or the other one I hear is, you know, worship's too loud, don't really like it, it sounds too rock and roll.
I'll come 20 minutes late because I like the guy who preaches. I've heard you. I know.
Or I got to wear my earplugs. I don't really like, you know, how loud the worship is. But they do have good children's ministry.
Or they're not quite as charismatic as I might like, but they have good youth ministry. Or I wish they'd emphasize missions more, but they do have a good women's ministry. Listen, you don't make a decision based on 100%. You make a decision based on does this, in the majority sense, seem to fit? And does it make sense for you?
Nothing. is 100% based on certain criteria. Are you married?
Are you married? You, listen to me, you did not choose that spouse because they meant 100% of everything. You loved them and you're like, this is the best of any other choices.
And don't some of you look at me and like, no, that isn't true. I married her because she meets 100% of my criteria. Yes, she does, Pastor G. She meets 100% of my criteria. Well, guarantee you don't. Guarantee you don't.
She's gotten snoring and fungus toenails. That was not part of the original deal. So, listen, there's no perfect spouse, there's no perfect church, there's no perfect child, there's no perfect job, there's no perfect neighborhood, and Jesus is not on the ballot. There is no perfect candidate.
Get over looking for the most perfect person. But you had better vote for the better choice, not a perfect choice. Proverbs 14, 34 says, righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.
Every candidate is a flawed, sinful human being, including Kamala Harris, including Donald Trump. And I think personally that evangelicals have for too long looked for the candidate based on likability and how strong their faith was in Jesus. And if those things don't line up, then they're not good enough for me to vote for because I need to vote. for a good person because good people promote good policies, right?
Not always. Not always. And policies are always more important than personalities because personalities come and go, but policies will live long after them.
A nation will not thrive because of the righteousness of the leader, but because the leader promotes righteous policies. And that's a big difference. Because here's the reality when you read your Bibles.
The reality is that there were some righteous leaders who did unrighteous things. And there were some unrighteous leaders who did righteous things. And God used them both.
God used them both. What mattered most was the righteous thing the king did, not the righteousness of the king, per se. God used both the righteous leaders and the unrighteous leaders in the Bible.
David was a righteous leader. He was a man after God's own heart, but he committed adultery and he counted the fighting men Which incurred the wrath of God as judgment upon the nation though. He was a righteous king after God's heart God used David God used Hezekiah.
Hezekiah was also a righteous king, but Hezekiah had terrible foreign policy that also incurred the wrath of God as a national judgment. He was a righteous king, but God used him even though he did an unrighteous thing. Look at Samson.
Samson was a righteous judge who had a weakness for women, and God still used him for the benefit of the nation. And Samson ends up in Hebrews 11 as part of the Hebrew Hall of Faith. Now listen, I'm not making excuses for their bad behavior or their sin. They all paid consequences for their sin.
My point is that God uses flawed people to promote good policies for a nation. You see it all through the Bible. And God used unrighteous people too for the same reason. You look at King Nebuchadnezzar in your Bibles, King of Babylon, King Cyrus in your Bible, King of Persia.
Those two guys were pagan as pagan comes. And yet God put it on their hearts to do righteous things for Israel and for the Jewish people. And for that reason, they were unrighteous kings that God used because of their righteous policies that promoted good for the benefit of the nation.
Please stop looking at the person and look at their policies. Some of you say, well, I can't vote for the orange man. The orange man's a bully. He sends out mean tweets.
And I don't like that. the guy, you know, terrible personality. Or on the other hand, you're like, I can't vote for her. She's a cackling hen. She always is cackling about stuff.
She repeats the same dumb phrases about unburdened by what has been. And people make it about the two of their personalities. Let me tell you something on a personal level.
I'd rather have a mean orange man who gave us three Supreme Court justices to overturn Roe v. Wade than a joyful hen. who believes in killing babies in the ninth month. So we have to stop focusing on who's a good candidate because Jesus said in Luke 18, 19, no one is good except God.
So there is no good candidate. There is no righteous person, but God can still use the righteous and the unrighteous to accomplish his good purposes. Which leads me to the second point, number two, vote policies over personalities. I'm going to share with you seven, and you know, I could have chosen different ones.
This is not a, you know, the only list you could come up with, but I have chosen seven top policies with biblical support that I think are worth considering in this year's election in no particular order. Here's the first one, judges. Isaiah 126 says, God says, I will restore your judges as at the first and your counselors as at the beginning.
Afterward, you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city. What is God saying there? He's saying when you choose right judges, they will bring righteousness to the land by virtue of their decisions.
It is important that we have good judges and don't underestimate the importance of the president of the United States in selecting federal judges. In Donald Trump's single term, he appointed 226 federal judges. That is an amazing number, proportionally more than any of his predecessors who had two terms. Again, Donald Trump appointed 226 federal judges.
Obama, in his two terms, appointed 320. George W. Bush, in his two terms, 322, Bill Clinton in his two terms, 367. So proportionally, Trump comes in 226. I mean, federal judges is an important aspect of who is president of the United States. And when it comes to the nation's 13 federal appeals courts, which have final word on most legal appeals around the country, Trump appointed, get this, 54 federal appellate judges in his single term. You know how many Obama appointed in his two terms?
And let me tell you, God's in favor of borders, just in case you don't know. This is Acts 17, 26. God's not opposed to boundaries or borders. In fact, when he divides up the land of Israel between the 12 tribes of Israel, he gives land allotments according to particular...
boundaries and borders. And if God is in favor of boundaries and borders, then surely he's in favor of defending those defined borders. So national defense is an important thing.
At the same time, know the heart of God. He's also favorable toward the alien. In Zechariah 7.10, it says, do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. We should take care of the widow, the fatherless, the alien and the poor.
But when it comes to immigration, there is a right way and a legal way for aliens to come into our country. There's a right way. There's a legal way.
I know many people who were not born in the United States, who have immigrated to the United States. Praise God, we should be pro-immigration. But I know many people who have done it the legal way, the hard way. It's taken them years, years to get their American citizenship.
All the while, there are millions. How many now? 20 million who have been streaming across the southern border into our country, getting free hotels, free cell phones, free college education.
And why? Ultimately, because some people think it'll develop into a voting block at the expense of our national security. I have a personal friend who, this is first-hand information, who was down at the border last year.
He said, Gary, I saw on the other side of the border pulling up several coach buses. And you know who got off every single person in those several coach buses? Was a young... military age male from China coming right into our country. Where's the borders are?
Where's the borders are? So ask yourselves the question, which candidate will best protect our national security? Number three, I think the subject of Israel is important.
Genesis 12, 3, God says clearly, I will bless those who bless Israel, and I will curse him who curses Israel, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. I don't think it's appropriate to support every policy of every foreign nation. I'm sure every foreign nation doesn't support ours. I don't support our own, you know. So I'm not saying that carte blanche, everything Israel does is right.
But what I do know is God says we better be Israel's ally. Because he will bless those who bless Israel and God will curse those who curse Israel. And we cannot have our politicians cozying up to the enemies of Israel.
There must not be daylight between the United States and Israel in terms of our support. We have to stop criticizing the Prime Minister of Israel. That man is in the most difficult position I could possibly imagine someone to be in. And he's under tremendous pressure and scrutiny.
When Benjamin Netanyahu came and addressed a joint session of Congress on July the 25th, 2024, I think it was a disgrace that Vice President Harris, as President of the Senate, was not sitting behind him on the dais. But in all fairness, Senator J.D. Vance was out campaigning and he wasn't there either. The United States must show its unwavering support for the nation of Israel. because the threat against Israel is great from Hamas, Hezbollah, the proxies of Iran. And we must be putting pressure on Iran and stop unfreezing their assets and doing all we can to show our unwavering support for Israel, because he who blesses Israel will be blessed, and whoever curses Israel will be cursed.
And you need to ask yourself, which candidate will best support the nation of Israel? Number four, religious liberty is important, especially to us. There are 613 laws in the Old Testament when you count them all, and God summarizes the most important in 10 of them that are found in Exodus chapter 20. The first of the 10 commandments is what we call the conscience clause. It's Exodus 20 verse 3, you shall have no other gods before me.
Why is this a conscience clause? Because it means that if my allegiance is supremely to God, there are no other gods, nothing else, and no one else I worship above God. then that means I should not be required to bow down to or submit to anything or anyone that conflicts or competes with my loyalty and allegiance to the supreme God of heaven. So this is why we call it the conscience clause. We need to start to ask ourselves in this election who will defend Americans'conscience, particularly on the level of religious freedom.
It means that doctors who object to performing abortions on religious grounds won't be forced to. It means that cake makers and graphic designers and photographers who object to providing their services on religious grounds won't be forced to. It means that companies that object to providing abortifacient drugs as part of their health care program won't be forced to.
It means that Christians who object to taking a vax on religious grounds won't lose their jobs. So ask yourselves which candidate is going to preserve religious liberties and and America's conscience. Because we only have one supreme God that we should bow down to.
Number five, the issue of biological sex. God makes it clear in Genesis 127, God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them. God assigns biological sex in the womb.
We don't get to decide if we want to be a different gender. And to support that, legitimize it. or celebrate that is contributing to mental illness instead of helping people to realize the beautiful design that God created them to be.
And that's what we should be about. Booker T. Washington said, quote, a lie doesn't become truth, wrong doesn't become right, and evil doesn't become good just because it's accepted by a majority, end quote. Fourteen states currently have what are called transgender health care shield laws. Among them, Minnesota. Governor Tim Walz signed legislation last year making Minnesota a trans refuge state.
Listen to this. If a minor child has been unable to obtain gender-affirming care because one or both parents object, the Minnesota law allows courts to have, quote, Temporary emergency jurisdiction over the child. Governor Walz signed that into law. They're coming after your children.
And all this gender confusion has led to biological boys competing in girls sports, using girls restrooms, and denying girls their fundamental protection and the Title IX rights that they deserve. So which candidate We'll best protect God's design of biological sex. Number six, family. This is out of Psalm 127.3. Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord.
The fruit of the womb is a reward. I don't need to tell you, we've all seen parental rights have been incrementally stripped. We've had to fight for parental rights. Children are being targeted by progressive evil agendas. That's not an overstatement.
That is happening. We have to fight for our children. God has designed the family, and he has entrusted children to our care.
They don't belong to the state. They belong to God, and God has entrusted them to us, so we better manage what he's entrusted well and realize that if government tries to intrude in the family, it's a violation of what God's design is intended. Children are a heritage from the Lord.
They are a fruit of the womb from him. Number seven, and I'll end with this one, the topic of life. In Acts 3.15, God is called the author of life.
And in Proverbs 6.17, it says, God hates hands that shed innocent blood. So the question is, which candidate will best protect life? Now, This is where some of you may not like to hear what I have to say on this, but I got to say it anyway because the truth of the matter is this. We do not have a pro-life candidate in this race for president.
We don't. Donald Trump has moved much more in the center, much more left than what he was in 2016 and 2020. He is now going around advocating for a 15-week ban on abortion. In case People understand because I think it's a misleading label.
I think it should be referred to as a 15-week allowance, okay? The 15-week ban that he's in favor of means that you can have abortions through 15 weeks and then we shouldn't have any more, all right? Let me quote to you CDC's own number. Are you ready for this? 95% of all abortions in America happen in the first 15 weeks.
When someone is going around saying, I'm for allowing abortions for 15 weeks, you are in effect saying, I'm for killing babies just a little bit less than the other person. Okay, I gotta say this. I gotta say this.
Donald Trump, by his influence, has stripped the Republican national platform of its language, the strong language that used to support life in 2016 and in 2020. The number of words In the Republican platform, protecting life in 2016 and 2020, 1,300 words. It's been pared down to, in 2024, 90 words. The protection of life is not there like it once was.
And this is of great concern to me. What is tragic in our nation right now is that, in all truthfulness, the Republican Party today, in the area of abortion, is what the Democrat Party was 30 years ago. 30 years ago, Bill Clinton was the one who said that abortion should be safe, legal, and rare. That's basically what many in the Republican Party are saying today.
We've become the Democrat Party of 30 years ago on this topic. Now, of course, the other side is far worse. The other side is far worse. The Democrat Party has gone even further left on abortion and believes that it should be legal in all cases up until the moment of delivery. This is Kamala Harris's position, advocating for no restrictions on abortion, celebrating murder.
and then using as a campaign slogan, it's just reproductive rights. No, it's murdering babies. And in case you don't think she's serious about it, why is it that it was allowed outside the doors of the Democratic National Convention for there to be a mobile abortion clinic aborting babies as they were having their convention? If that does not speak to evil, I don't know what does.
And how can someone vote for that? That. is what is being reflected by that party.
As my friend Seth Gruber said, those who murder the unborn cannot be trusted to govern the born. My last point is this, number three, voting is not just a right, I'm convinced it's a duty. In Luke chapter 12, Jesus teaches a parable about two servants who work for the same master. The master goes away and he entrusts his work and his possessions to the servants.
And when he comes back, what does he find? Well, one he calls an evil servant because that one did not take care of, he was not a good steward of what God had entrusted to him. But the other one he calls a wise and faithful servant because he took care of what the master had entrusted to him. It's a picture of Christ. Christ has gone away.
He's the master. We are just serving him. And God entrusts a lot to us.
And one of the things he has entrusted to us is the wonderful privilege as Americans of living in the greatest and freest country in the world, the United States of America. And he's entrusted this freedom to us. And we know the saying, freedom is never free.
And so what are we going to do with what he's entrusted to us? Are we just going to sit it out? Are we just going to say, well, let everybody else vote.
I don't like this. I don't like that. So I'm just going to sit it out.
Listen, as disparaging as this sounds, every election has been about the lesser of two evils, the lesser of two evils. And we have to decide what can we do to advance the kingdom of God for the glory of God and stem the tide of evil in our land until Jesus comes. Because if we do nothing, if we check out, if we remain silent, evil will rush into the vacuum. That's why it is incumbent upon every single one of us to be engaged in all of this. Yes, I know, you might have to hold your nose when you go to vote.
But the alternative is far worse. What will happen if we don't stay engaged? Listen to me on this. There are 90 million self-identified evangelicals in America who are eligible to vote.
90 million. Of that 90 million, 40 million do not vote. And of that 90 million, 15 million are not even registered to vote.
That's 55 million evangelical Christians who are saying, I'll let evil take over because I'm going to do nothing. That's a disgrace. We have no one to blame except ourselves, and we have wicked policies. Righteousness exalts a nation.
Sin is a reproach to any people. When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice. When the wicked are in authority, the people groan. I don't know about you. I'm tired of groaning.
I don't want to groan. So it's a duty. It's not just a right and a privilege.
It's a duty. We can't remain silent. God used, I think, a great person, William Wilberforce. God used Wilberforce in British Parliament to effectively outlaw slavery throughout the British colonies.
It was his Christian faith that moved him to take the lead on this. And Wilberforce said, quote, let it not be said. that I was silent when they needed me.
Now listen, I'll wrap this up. I'll be honest with you, and maybe you can tell through some of the things I've said. I am not an enthusiastic voter this year.
I'm going to vote, but I'm not enthusiastic. Not as much as I was in 2016 or 2020. Not as much as I was the first time I voted in 1984 for, well... But it is our right and our duty to vote.
I will say this, I have never met... Vice President Harris, I have met Donald Trump twice. He is as raw and unfiltered in person as he is in public.
I was sitting with a group of about 10 pastors up in New Jersey, at his place in New Jersey, and He was unfiltered even in front of us and using foul language, and I'm sitting there going, we're pastors, and he still doesn't even care enough to watch his mouth around us? There are things I personally don't appreciate about him, but his policies, some of them. And so I think of what Frederick Douglass once said, quote, I will unite with anyone to do right and no one to do wrong.
I will unite with anyone to do right and no one to do wrong. In World War II, the United States joined forces with a bad guy, Stalin, to defeat a worse guy, Hitler. And sometimes that's what we do. We say, I don't particularly like this individual, don't even agree with all their policies, but I got to fight a greater evil. And so sometimes we do what we need to do, not because it's an enjoyable thing to do, but it's the better of the choices.
And I'll close with this. In the 1940s, Adolf Hitler gathered all the prominent clergy in Germany at his place in Berlin, and he wanted to reassure them that he had their backs. Churches in Germany were state subsidized.
And Hitler said to all these prominent clergy, he said, don't worry, with me in charge, I will take care of your subsidies. Your churches would not be harmed. One of those clergy in the room at that time, a great man of faith, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, stepped up to confront Hitler. And when he did, the other clergy took a step back. And Bonhoeffer said, Herr Hitler, we are not concerned for the church, for Jesus Christ will take care of his church.
We are concerned for the soul of Germany. And Hitler said to him, Herr Bonhoeffer, you do not need to worry about the soul of Germany. I will take care of the soul of Germany. Friends, government is not the answer for the soul of a nation.
Jesus is. And may God bring revival again to the United States of America. He's our only hope.
He's our only hope. So, So until Jesus comes, until Jesus comes, get out there, vote, be his ambassadors, be salt and light in this world, and advance the kingdom of God for the glory of God to stem the tide of evil in our land until Jesus comes. Let your voices be heard, let your votes be counted, and let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered. Amen and amen.
For the glory of God. For the glory of God.